Author's Notes: The following story is part of my Awakenings series. It fulfills my prompt request from darthsinister66 from quite some time ago, drawn from "physical affection prompts! - 22. kissing someone's cuts/bruises/scratches" I'm glad to get to this one. It takes place on Odessen, shortly after Kira returns to Corellan Halcyon. (Effectively it happens sometime between chapters four and five for those reading the series on AO3 and .) To that end, it is canon divergent, and doesn't follow the "Onslaught" story from the game.

The two lovers sat across from each other, blissfully unaware of anything or anyone else in the galaxy.

Had they been pressed they could not have said for how long their private reunion had been ongoing.

Had it been hours? Days? Weeks? They were unaware of such things.

They had slept and risen in unison with each other, but neither had any illusions that this process followed any traditional sleep cycle. They ate the meals that were left for them, but it seemed probable that this was merely taking place at convenient times to avoid intrusion and not on any consistent schedule.

No, for all intents and purposes, time did not exist. It was a concept that endured only outside of this room.

This was, perhaps, unsurprising. It had been six years since the two lovers they had been alone together.

For the lovers, the absence of those six years may as well have been six centuries.

To that end, they had rechristened their physical relationship with vigor. Indeed, they had pushed themselves to exhaustion so many times by now that they seemed to have lost count.

At this moment, however, they were simply meditating.

Or, in Kira Carsen's case, attempting to meditate.

Her lover, Corellan Halcyon, had spent five years frozen in carbonite; a prisoner of the Eternal Empire.

Kira, in Corellan's absence, had joined a resistance cell made up of Jedi and former Republic soldiers, opposing Zakuul's occupation of the known galaxy.

That cell had claimed several minor successes in that time with hit and run attacks, but after a few months their luck had run out.

Kira had escaped the devastation, but she had been left on her own for the third time in her life and the second time in two years, dating back to Corellan's disappearance, their crew's breakup and the surviving remnants of the Jedi Order "withdrawing" from the galaxy.

Guilt-ridden for surviving but determined to continue the fight, she had become desperate, eventually falling into what should have been an obvious trap where Kira herself had spent three years in carbonite, imprisoned by… whomever had been working with that Hutt on Nar Shaddaa.

An imprisonment that she'd only just been rescued from.

Kira didn't like losing and she liked feeling like a damsel in distress even less. (No matter how much her heart fluttered every time Corellan rescued her.)

Corellan, for his part, had eventually been freed by a small group of individuals dedicated to liberating the galaxy from Emperor Arcann's tyranny. Now with the former Hero of Tython as a rallying symbol, they had recruited people from all over the galaxy. Jedi and Sith. Soldiers from both the Republic and the Empire. Zakuulan expatriates and underworld smugglers. They had all come for their own reasons, but together, here on Odessen, they had been forged into the Eternal Alliance. From there, they had toppled Arcann's regime, and ultimately defeated his sister, Vaylin, as well. They had claimed the Eternal Throne, ending the threat of its fleet. And Corellan had ultimately destroyed the Sith Emperor – Vitiate, Valkorion, Tenebrae – once and for all.

Just as Scourge had predicted three hundred years before.

This victory had come at a personal price. Corellan had been forced him to confront the reality that his experiences had left their scars. On his body and his soul. That he had been holding himself together through sheer force of will.

The years had been rough for them both.

So when they'd finally been reunited, it was obvious to them both that they desperately needed to become reacquainted.

They'd taken however long it had been now reconciling the matter of examining each other's bodies. Now, they were determined to examine each other's souls. Finding those parts of the other that they were so intimately familiar with. Exploring those areas that were… new. They sought to observe the scars beneath the skin; the ones that were unfamiliar.

The two had showered after their lovemaking (albeit said lovemaking had continued in earnest while they were in the shower) and when they had emerged – clean, dried off and wearing light bathrobes – they had discovered that C2-N2 had clearly tidied their bedroom and changed their bedsheets in their absence, leaving a light meal behind for them.

Convenient. Kira mused to herself. Likely as not, Teeseven was arranging the timing of all of this. Their little friend was the only member of the Alliance who had leave to disturb them for any reason.

They could have returned to the bed after eating, but right then, they had silently agreed that this was something that they both wanted. That they both needed. It was one thing to tell each other things; snippets of the lives they had led during their time apart. They needed more.

They sought a degree of intimacy that couldn't be matched by even the most passionate exchanges in bed.

They sought forgiveness. Absolution. Affirmation.

But most of all, they sought understanding.

They were sitting closely enough that they could feel each other's breaths. (They had agreed on a 'no touching' rule for the moment; once that started, they knew there'd be no going back.)

Soon, their breathing had become synchronized. It was then that they had started reading each other's minds and spirits like open books.

Through the Force, all things are possible. Bela Kiwiiks had taught Kira so many years ago.

She doubted that this was what her old master had meant.

As she exhaled in unison with her partner, Kira felt herself opening up to him entirely sharing her pain and guilt.

Guilt for failing to keep their crew together. For what had happened to the Order and to the Republic. That she had – in defiance of her own instincts – banished thoughts of Corellan's survival and potential rescue from her mind, so that she could keep fighting.

Because she knew that he would never have given up this fight.

Guilt for surviving when so many other Jedi – and so many who had joined her resistance cell – had been killed opposing Zakuul. For falling into that trap on Nar Shaddaa, and for whatever unfinished business she'd brought to his door with her return.

Guilt for not being the one to find and free him. For not being there when he'd awoken from carbonite.

Kira could sense him feeling out her scars, like a gentle caress.

And she could feel his scars in turn.

She could feel the pain left from her absence; a pain he'd refused to acknowledge for so long, for fear that it would destroy him. That it would destroy that 'paragon Alliance Commander' identity he had built around himself.

She could feel the scars on his soul from his final battle with the Emperor of the Sith. She could read that story – like it were etchings carved onto an ancient clay tablet speaking of some epic struggle from millennia ago – as he'd learned the true story of what happened on Logol decades before, and why he had told no one once he'd learned the truth.

She could feel his guilt. Guilt for not finding Kira sooner. Guilt for not telling his companions – friends who had earned his trust time and time again – that he'd been in pain.

Guilt – inexplicably – that he'd ever been born. That so much pain and death had been inflicted on the galaxy on his behalf, if not by his hand.

His feelings for the people of the Eternal Alliance were most prevalent; this organization of people from throughout the galaxy who had chosen to follow him even now. (That was so him, on many levels.) He trusted them entirely, particularly those like Theron and Lana Beniko, who he had fought beside so many times. (That was also so very him.)

Kira could feel a tear falling down her cheek. She resisted the urge to wipe it away.

And in the end, she could feel that part of him that had touched his baser emotions; his anger, his passions, his primal instincts that were so tightly coiled that most people assumed he wasn't capable of those feelings.

(Kira, who understood him better than anyone, knew better.)

But she saw that he could now acknowledge those passions. He could acknowledge that he was a person and not just a fairytale hero from some holo-drama or Republic recruitment poster. And she realized that so long as he remembered that it would never threaten to overtake or overwhelm him again.

She could see that he was even more powerful than before; she wondered how much of that was his connection to the Force and how much of that was from his own experiences.

She saw… oh.

Kira saw that he could do this now because of her. Because she was back in his life.

Her cheeks blushed at the revelation.

That wasn't all there was to it, of course. She wasn't arrogant enough to believe that her mere presence back in his life was enough to heal his mind and soul. She remembered that for her, joining the Jedi order and later their crew had helped her with the issues of abandonment from her childhood. But those scars from Korriban and Nar Shaddaa would always be with her. No matter how accepted she felt.

And the scars on his spirit would always be with him, no matter how powerful he became.

Having had the chance to feel his very spirit through the Force, it did feel like the bleeding had stopped. He wasn't healed; he wouldn't be healed for a long time yet. And even when he was, he'd still carry scars apparent to those few who knew where to look.

Nevertheless, now he could heal. He could acknowledge his own pain, without risking losing his grip.

Emotions often blind us. Another lesson from Master Kiwiiks sprung forth in her mind. This is especially the case with primal emotions like anger, guilt and love.

Kira could concede – years later - that this was certainly the case for most people.

But it wasn't the case for him. For Corellan Halcyon, love brought clarity.

She opened her eyes.

Looking up at him, she noted that he'd allowed his robes to fall to his waist. She regarded his exposed torso with a critical eye; after all, when she'd examined him earlier, she'd been more than a little distracted.

There'd been a time when she'd known every millimeter of his body by heart. And every millimeter of his soul. She'd known every curve and contour of each. And she'd once known the story of every scar. But now, he had quite a few more, courtesy of their time apart. Most were minor; cuts, bruises, scratches… he'd always been skilled at avoiding serious injury, given that he'd likely faced more dangers than anyone else living. But inevitably she was drawn back to that huge scar on his abdomen that could only be the result of having been impaled by a lightsaber. Earlier, she had made a point of exploring that scar and the tender skin. First with the gentle touch of her fingers, then with soft, passionate kisses.

Now, having read him so well, she could feel the story of that scar on his chest. Of his fight with Arcann at someplace called Asylum. Of surviving a wound that should, by all rights, have been the end of him or anyone else. Of later forgiving Arcann as easily as most people changed their clothes.

This was the man who Kira had fallen in love with.

They could feel the other's forgiveness for their failures. The reassurance that whatever had happened, they were still one with each other in a way they could never be with anyone else.

(Of course she'd forgiven him. Those icy blue eyes and broad shoulders had always done it for her.)

Both had spent much of their lives hiding parts of themselves from the galaxy. From their enemies. From the Jedi. From their friends. Even from themselves. But neither would ever hide anything from the other again. There were no secrets between them. Indeed, they couldn't have kept secrets from each other even if they'd tried.

Kira had spent all this time reaching out through the Force for his spirit, relearning every part of him.

Now, biting her lip and extending her fingers outward, she reached out through the Force for his body.

Very gently, the Force – at Kira's command – touched him, caressing his cheek.

Had she not known him as well as she did, if she wasn't perfectly in tune with his mind and spirit, she'd have sworn that he hadn't noticed.

Kira's fingers twitched.

The Force-touch caressed downward trailing lightly down his neck and across his well-muscled chest.

His discipline continued to hold. A small smile came to her lips at the challenge.

Now her touch traced down his abdomen, parting the remnants of his bathrobe and lightly caressing Arcann's scar, still so prominent and tender.

The faintest exhale escaped from Corellan's mouth.

Kira's lips quirked at their victory.

The Force-touch moved further downward….

Corellan's pale blue eyes finally opened, locking on hers.

They burned with a passion that was new to her, but at the same time it felt so very him.

Kira just smirked back at him coyly; her own deep blue eyes dark and inviting.

A second later she shrieked in alarm as his body uncoiled in a fluid explosion of motion, pouncing on her like some predator trapping its unsuspecting prey to the ground.

The shriek quickly turned to a moan of pleasure as his lips found hers, her own robe falling open and their bodies pressing together.

This was also him. The one only she got to see. Mind, body and spirit.

To the rest of the galaxy, they could be those other people. The Alliance Commander and his Jedi consort. (She wasn't quite ready to use the label fiancé in public, even if it had been years.) Heroes and champions of the galaxy.

And it wasn't a deception. She believed what he was fighting for. And she would stand by his side for everything that came.

But here, alone together, this was who they were.

Scars and all.

Author's Notes: Developing a healthy work-life balance can be tough for many Jedi. Just ask Anakin.

My "alternate history" for Awakenings during the five-year gap follows Master Dazh Ranos' account of Kira's story in The Light Triumphant Alliance Alert. The tease they offered there was later effectively abandoned by the developers. Onslaught wasn't terrible in my opinion, but by the time it came out, I had developed this storyline.

The references to the planet Logol refer to an earlier piece I did. Read "Beginnings" in my "Heroes of Tython" series.

More on that subject another time.

I hope to write more about the people who imprisoned Kira soon.

Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you.