Bonus points if you can find my little AotC reference lmao
Chapter Ten: Voss, Part Two
There weren't many times Aurelia had ever been ambushed, but she wasn't scared now. No, she was more irritated than scared. How the hell had they'd been snuck up on? Even with their lightsabers out, Aurelia felt vulnerable. It'd been a long time since someone had gotten the drop on her and she hated it.
"Oh come on," came a husky, lilting voice behind her. A woman's voice, unfamiliar. "We were just having fun. You guys didn't have to pull those out."
From the corner of her eye, Aurelia could see a blonde man standing behind Scourge, pressing an electrostaff to his back. But she couldn't see who was behind her. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Not you." She moved to stand in front of them, her yellow, tattooed lekku twitching as she smirked, Mandalorian armor shining in the sun. Then she pointed both of her blaster pistols in Scourge's face. "The Dark Council says hello," she cooed.
Scourge made a soft noise, something between a sigh and a groan, and his body tensed up even more. But he didn't put his lightsaber back. "I assume they believe they're doing me a great dishonor by hiring a common mercenary to kill me."
The Twi'lek laughed, her eyes hard. "A 'common mercenary'? You're talking to the Grand Champion of the Great Hunt. Republic's Most Wanted."
"Wait…" Aurelia took a step back, was blocked by the stocky blonde man. "You're - you're the Mandalorian that killed Kellian Jarro."
"Technically, at that point, I wasn't a Mandalorian." She grinned. "I was actually just a common mercenary."
"But you killed him. You killed a Jedi." Aurelia ignited her other lightsaber, anger suddenly coursing through her veins. She remembered the day it happened; just a week after she had lost her own master to Darth Angral, a few days after she'd murdered him and destroyed the Desolator weapon, and she'd been feeling particularly pro-Jedi and pro-Republic. And then to hear that one of her own, a war hero, had been brutally murdered by some bounty hunter, his body left to disintegrate on an imploding cruiser? "Gods, I hate Mandalorians."
And then she attacked.
Scourge took on the Twi'lek, deflecting her attacks flawlessly and throwing in a few vicious attacks (particularly to her legs) of his own. Aurelia fought the young blonde kid, and he was insanely skilled with that bulky electrostaff. She'd only battled a handful of Mandalorians in her time, and she'd forgotten just how infuriating their armor was, how difficult it was to make even a dent with a lightsaber. So she struck where his armor didn't reach; between his shoulder plates and his knees. But even as he winced he kept fighting. And she was tiring already; they wouldn't be able to do this much longer. A quick look to Scourge told her he was feeling the same.
Kriffing Mandalorians.
Scourge called on the Force, gathering it and summoning it into a big enough wave of energy to blast the Twi'lek back, and Aurelia could feel it - almost like an electrical charge in the air. But before he could, the blonde kid slammed the butt of his electrostaff into Aurelia's stomach, and the world went half-black. She felt herself stumble backward as a deep, tight, searing pain radiated through her abdomen, her breath escaping her lungs. She couldn't breathe, and she coughed and she gasped, the next few seconds going by through blurry, tear-filled vision. It felt like minutes.
The blonde man darted towards Scourge just as he lifted his hands and knocked his electrostaff into Scourge's unguarded side. He dropped his lightsaber with a strained noise, like a gasp, and then the kid clocked him in the back of the head with the staff. He went down immediately, and Aurelia's heart hammered in her chest and she tried to breathe, but something felt like it had lodged itself between her lungs and just stabbed , over and over, with every inhale. The Twi'lek raised her wrist, aiming at Scourge's still body, for what Aurelia wasn't sure but she was damned if she'd let them hurt Scourge any worse.
She took all the pain and anger and fear she felt, gathering the Force, trying to do what Scourge couldn't do earlier, and she thrust her arms out, sending the Twi'lek back against one of the twisted trees. She hit it with a whoomph, the pistols falling from her hands, and she slumped down to the ground. The blonde man rushed toward her and another quick blast sent him back in the other direction. He smacked against a large boulder, effectively knocking him unconscious. But Aurelia didn't care; she was focused on the Twi'lek, and she advanced on the woman, lightsabers drawn, ribs screaming in agony.
"Cheater," the mercenary coughed, slumped back against the tree. Then, "You don't have to kill me, you know."
"And why not?" Aurelia reached down and gripped the woman's armor, lifting her up and pinning her to the tree. A small voice deep in her head was telling her stop, this isn't you but she didn't care. Her body was in pain (she'd probably broken a rib or two), she'd been bested by two Mandalorians, and they'd hurt Scourge. (Now, why that pissed her off most of all she wasn't sure.) "Because I'm pretty keen to just finish you right here," she snarled.
"That's not very Jedi-like."
In one fluid motion she ignited her lightsaber and held it across the hunter's throat, the blade mere inches from her skin. "I'm not feeling very Jedi-like right now," Aurelia hissed.
"Huh. Well." She cleared her throat, eyes finding Aurelia's. They were wide and cold with fear, and underneath her tough, cocky exterior Aurelia could feel that fear, that anxiety, and it only fueled her. "You know, we didn't want you. The Emperor just wants his precious Wrath back. Apparently."
"You spoke to the Emperor personally? You?"
The woman laughed, outright, though it shook, and Aurelia's anger flared up. "Don't be stupid. He had one of his Dark Council lackeys do it for him."
"Which one?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because I'm the one with the lightsaber to your throat."
"Go ahead, kill me. If I return to my client empty-handed, I'm dead anyway."
"Tell me what you know."
"What's it to you?" She grinned an impish grin, and she was all arrogance now. "'Fraid your boyfriend's gonna get got?"
Aurelia made a noise that resembled something near a snarl and a growl, and she shoved the Twi'lek back, hard, into the tree, the lightsaber even closer to her throat. Rage coursed through her veins, dark and red. She was running out of patience and Scourge was still unconscious and the entire galaxy was at stake and she just wanted to get back to the ship and sleep. "Tell me!"
"Aurelia?"
Scourge's voice was hardly a rasp and she whirled around to find him trying to hoist himself up. Relief flooded her body and she let go of the Twi'lek, no other thoughts but Scourge in her mind. Clipping her lightsabers back at her side she knelt beside him and gently cradled his head in her hands, ignoring his unceremonious frown and telling herself she was holding him like this to examine his injuries. There was a deep bruise on the back of his head, a knot there too, and his armor was split at his side where the staff had struck. His face was littered with cuts and blemishes, and she touched a particularly nasty one above his eyebrow, her fingers coming back wet and red with blood. He didn't wince or groan or anything and Aurelia had to remind herself that he couldn't feel pain. But still...
"What… what happened?" he murmured, trying to sit up.
"Ssh, just relax. You probably have a concussion. Lay back."
"Where are we? Are we on Voss? The last thing I remember…"
"We were attacked." She touched the bruise on his eyebrow again, and she focused on it, focused on letting whatever feeble healing abilities she'd picked up over the years flow through her fingertips and against his head. He arched his back slightly, a soft sigh escaping his lips, and the discoloration turned from a darkish purple back to red. Then she started on the knot at the back of his head, concentrating.
"Aurelia, why are you healing me? I cannot even feel pa - "
"I know but if you do have a concussion I don't need you collapsing on me. You're too kriffing heavy for me to carry. Now hold still."
"Great stars, this is gross." The mercenary stood a few meters away, holding her blaster pistols. "I was gonna let it go on because it's sort of sweet I guess, but… no. Ew."
"You," Scourge hissed, and he sat up. Then he groaned, hand flying to his head as he swayed slightly. Aurelia moved away and helped him stand up, not even caring that the Twi'lek was still there, still alive, only wishing that Scourge wasn't so damned stubborn and hoping he wouldn't injure himself more, the asshole. Then she watched as he broke away from her and Force choked the hunter. "Who hired you?" he demanded in a low, hoarse voice. "And you will tell me of your own accord, or I will force it from you."
"Scourge, don't torture her," Aurelia said, starting towards him, knowing that even injured he could still do a lot of damage.
"I am not listening to you this time," he hissed, not even looking at her, and tightened his Force grip on the Twi'lek. She kicked her legs, hands moving to her throat, eyes wide, lekku twitching erratically. "She will tell me, or I will kill her."
"She and I already had this conversation. Just let her go. We can get her to talk - we don't need to torture her."
He growled and unflexed his hand, and the Twi'lek fell to the ground, coughing and struggling for breath. In the same moment he whirled on Aurelia, his red eyes dark and hard. She fought against the sudden stab of dread and stood straight, refusing to look away. "Then you get her to talk or I'll - " He swayed slightly and clutched the back of his head, and this time his growl was a lot more feral.
"I will," she said calmly. " You need to rest. You're injured."
"There are more important things right now."
She sighed. Why was he so damn stubborn? "Scourge…"
"Make her talk."
After another sigh she approached the recovering mercenary. "Just do the easy thing and talk," she said. "Tell us who hired you and we'll let you go."
"Kriff." She sat up, rubbing her throat. "No amount of credits is worth this. Fine." Her blue eyes found Scourge and she said, "Darth Marr hired me to bring you to him."
He stopped, frowning deeply. "Marr - Marr wants me alive ?"
"I guess so. Not sure why."
Scourge looked at Aurelia, and she didn't need the Force to know that he was confused. But he masked it well after a moment and looked back to the mercenary with hard eyes. "What else do you know?"
"How bad you wanna know?"
He laughed once, wry and harsh. "Do not push me, hunter."
"Yeah that was pretty stupid. Can't blame a girl for trying, though."
"Tell us what we wanna know, now ," Aurelia demanded, her hand moving to her lightsaber, even though she had no intention of using it.
"Hey, okay, no need to get angry." The Twi'lek woman stood up, and her eyes drifted behind the two, probably watching her companion, and for a moment her face softened. "You didn't - you didn't kill him, did you?" she asked softly.
Aurelia turned. The blonde kid was still slumped against the rock, and Aurelia reached out to him through the Force. He was still alive, just unconscious, and she looked back at the Twi'lek. The look on her face made Aurelia sad. Yeah she was a Mando and yeah she'd killed a Jedi (and lots of other people) but she was still a person who cared about other people. This was just her job, just like Aurelia's was protecting the Republic. "He'll be okay. Now what can you tell us?"
"Not much. Marr only told me what I needed to know, but I do know that the Empire's pissed." She looked at Scourge, and he itched for his lightsaber. "I think they wanna kill you themselves."
"They won't," he said emphatically, and then he held his lightsaber out, igniting it. "And you cannot return knowing who I am and where I am."
"Whoa, hang on, I told you - "
"Scourge, don't," Aurelia said softly, looking up at him. "You don't - there's no need for this."
He frowned at her. "Just minutes ago, you wanted to kill her too. I saw you holding your lightsaber to her throat."
"Yeah but we don't have to." She lowered her voice, turning towards him. "If she returns empty-handed Marr's probably gonna kill her anyway. She won't be our problem, then."
"You don't want the guilt," he hissed.
She sighed at his words; maybe he had a point. "Just don't do this, okay?"
Scourge sighed heavily, shaking his head as his eyes bored into hers, and his face set in a livid scowl. "You infuriate me, Jedi."
"Feeling's mutual. Put your lightsaber down, okay? Please?"
He did, still glaring at her.
"For the record," the bounty hunter said slowly, as if testing her words, "I would've killed me. And my companion. So, um, thanks. I guess?"
"Just get out of here before I change my mind," Aurelia grumbled.
She slunk away towards her companion, reviving him quickly, and she supported him as they left the clearing. Scourge didn't speak, and Aurelia could feel his anger. Hell, she didn't even need the Force to feel it. It hardened his face and his eyes and his shoulders, and his hands shook from it, and she wondered why he was so... so pissed. Maybe it was just everything, especially the fact that he was officially branded a traitor now, that his Empire was trying to kill him. Her heart ached for him, even if it would make him even angrier. But he'd left everything behind for her, for their cause; his entire life and everything he'd probably ever known was back on Dromund Kaas. And now he could never go back to it.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, taking a step towards him. "I - "
"I do not need your pity, Jedi," he snapped.
"Don't shut me out. If I have to break down and talk to you about my panic attacks, you need to talk to me about this."
"About what?" He faced her with a scoff. "There is nothing to talk about."
"Don't do that. I hate that shit."
"What do you want me to say?"
She sighed heavily, folding her arms across her chest. "I don't know. I just want you to be honest with me."
He laughed, but it was a hard, bitter sound, and she winced. "Do not mistake this for something it's not. We are merely allies with a common goal, nothing more - certainly not friends."
Of course she wouldn't get anything out of him; she was stupid to think otherwise. "Fine."
"Good. Now we should - " He sighed, shaking his head again. It was accompanied by another slight swaying and he looked more perturbed than in pain.
"I'd heal you. If we were friends." Which was a lie; if he asked her to she'd do it right now, without hesitating.
He fixed her with a look. "You are insufferable."
"Takes one to know one."
"And childish."
"Tell me something I don't know." She stood up onto a nearby rock, hearing his sigh. "Now you better hold still or I swear I'll just leave you here."
"No you wouldn't."
"Try me."
"Just heal me," he snarled, and she took his head in her hands, and focused on mending his injuries. Since she had specialized in combat and not healing, it always took a lot out of her, and if she didn't concentrate right it wouldn't work. So she tried not to think about how Scourge's soft breathing and the way he clenched and relaxed made her stomach coil (and why she was even focusing on that in the first place). Her healing Force wavered and she suddenly swayed, her knees going weak. Scourge caught her with an arm around her waist, gently settling her on her feet.
"I can make it back to the ship," he said quietly. "You will not if you continue."
"You're hurt ."
"And you are weakened." He grasped her shoulders, his red eyes locked on hers. "Enough." His voice was soft. "You do not need to exhaust yourself on my account, especially when I can't feel pain.."
"Well, I - ah! " A fierce, shooting pain dug into her ribs and she couldn't help but lean against Scourge, gasping for breath as that - that thinginside her stabbed at her lungs. "Augh, oh - shit, kriff… I think that damned blonde kid broke my ribs."
"Let me help." His hand rested just under her breast and she bit back a wince as his increasingly-familiar dark side power began to flow through her. But even though she'd felt it many times now it still hurt. She could feel her bones shifting inside her, slowly stitching themselves back together, and she screamed, digging her fingers into his back. He held onto her tight. The pain lessened as the bones healed and the contusion beneath her skin loosened, and then she stayed in his arms for a moment, catching her breath.
"Better?" he whispered, and she nodded, drawing back.
"Yeah," she murmured, finding his eyes. "Thanks."
He nodded quickly. "We ought to get back to the ship."
"I hope you know I'm not letting this go," she said as they started walking.
"And I hope you know I will not talk about it."
"We'll see about that."
"Right."