Dark Angel

By Serena Kenobi

Author's note: MANY thanks for all of your wonderful reviews!! I have recently had a breakthrough with this story - I've been writing like crazy!!! I hope you like this new turn of events. PippinBaggins was also asking what Jix's views were on the Rebels. He's not exactly against them, but his loyalties are for Vader and Elena. He wouldn't betray them, but he has no love for the Empire itself, such as stormtroopers. Matter of fact, he hates them. He's only working for Vader himself. So he's kinda not on anybody's side - neither Empire's nor Rebels. He just works for Vader. Hope that clears everything up.

I also was reading I Am Me, the original one, and was appalled by the characterization, especially of Vader, the Imperials, and Xizor. Jix, too, OOC. Would anyone be interested in a rewritten version of I Am Me? It would be different, as a matter of fact, I've already started writing it. I was also thinking of a change of title...

OH YEAH. I'll be adding DARCY AKA SPECTRE, who belongs to none other than the wonderful PIPPINBAGGINS in again soon, so be on the lookout for that. Not exactly sure when I'll fit him in, but I will. Just wanted everyone to know. And he does NOT belong to me. But go read Pippin's story: Spectre!! It's really, really good!! Awesome!

Disclaimer: Once again, I own no one but Elena.


Chapter 14

Elena opened her eyes, looked at the nearby chrono. 2300 hours, she thought, we've been sitting here since 1700. That's six hours! She looked up at Jix, who was snoring quietly. His arm was still around her, and their hands were still linked. Elena thought he looked strangely peaceful; something the hardened, ruthless, mostly cynical Imperial ex-gunner agent never was when he was awake.

Not wishing to wake him, she continued to sit there, curled up into a ball. The shaking was still present, and in a few minutes, she would have to take another dose of pills to avoid the particularly bad episodes.

Elena sighed, looked at the bottle of pills on the dresser to her right. She was mostly certain that she could stand now, but the only problem was detaching herself from the secret agent. She slowly released her hand from his and tried to stealthily wiggle out from his extremely muscular arm. But just when she had started to crawl across the bed away from him, he made a low noise in the back of his throat and unconsciously tightened his grip on her waist.

Elena stiffened, inwardly cringing. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid. She leaned back and stared at him, wondering what it was that the Imperial was dreaming about. She blushed, trying not to picture what her father would look like if he saw them now.

He'd probably have a heart attack and Force-choke Jix into the next century.

Brushing those unpleasant thoughts aside, she glanced at his arm still around her waits. Carefully, she took it and delicately pulled it off and placed it down upon the pillow.

Grinning in victory, she slid off the bed, shakily stood, and went over to the dresser. She opened the bottle of pills and shoved a handful into her mouth, swallowing them in one gulp. As her head came down, her unfamiliar dark eyes locked with its counterparts in the large mirror facing her. She gazed back, her eyes sweeping over her appearance – her straight, dark hair, her nearly black eyes, the unnaturally pale skin – Elena grimaced. This didn't look like her.

I wonder how long until my powers and my blonde hair – I miss my hair – come back. And my blue eyes… she looked forlornly at the dark orbs staring back at her. I want my Skywalker blue eyes back. They're part of what makes me… me.

As she gazed into the mirror, a sudden movement on the bed behind her caught her attention, and she turned to look at Jix, who had shifted slightly, still asleep. Elena grinned and hopped back on the bed, staring at secret agent. His long dark hair, as normal, was pulled back into a ponytail and was slightly messy from sleeping on it. A few strands of hair were falling in front of his chiseled, well-structured face, and she noticed some slight stubble on his chin from not having shaved. He wore his usual tan vest that didn't cover much of his extremely well-built, bare torso and his normal dark brown pants and high black boots.

Stupid, Elena, stupid! She chastised herself, quickly averting her eyes from his face and muscular chest. You already told him that you couldn't be together… and you can't! What would Dad think?

Dad wouldn't have to know, another sly voice chipped in.

Yes, he would! I'm not lying to him about that! I've already hidden too much from him.

Well then, tell him! So what if he disapproves? What's he gonna do, disown you?

Or kill Jix.

Nah…

Elena growled softly, picking at the blanket. Note to self, she thought; don't have arguments with yourself because the argument will never be resolved.

Against her better judgment, she looked back up at Jix. She slowly reached out a hand and gently touched the agent's cheek. Gazing at the incredibly handsomeand masculine Imperial, her hand continued to search his face, running over his well-defined chin and moving upwards to brush the wisps of hair off of his forehead. Elena suddenly found herself gazing at his mouth and blushed a deep crimson. She had never kissed anyone before, nor had she ever wanted to.

But she wanted to kiss Jix right now. Very badly.

She didn't even realize she was doing it, but Elena began leaning towards him…


Jix groggily registered Elena's presence beside him as he felt her try to pull herself away from his embrace. More instinctively than anything else, he instantly tightened his hold on her slim waist, hoping that she'd just go back to sleep. However, she did not, but he didn't fight her as she pulled his arm away and got off the bed.

His eyes opening to small slits, he saw her standing in front of her dresser and taking another dose of calcium supplements. When he saw her look into the mirror, his eyes shut, and he shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable. Hoping that he hadn't scared her into believing he was awake, he became still again, his breathing even.

When he felt her crawl back onto the bed, he was tempted to open his eyes but didn't. He didn't want to ruin the moment. But his mind was trying to tell him otherwise.

You're an Imperial agent, working for Darth Vader! One of the voices shouted. You're a ruthless assassin, and you can't get blasted soft because of some girl who's practically ten years younger than you are!

Shut it! Jix snarled. She's already told me that we're stayin' friends, and I'm fine with that!

Obviously not, the other voice retorted disdainfully, anyone could see that you've totally fallen for her.

Yeah, I'll definitely fall – fall dead - when Lord Vader decides to choke the bleedin' life outta me…

Jix opened his eyes slightly as if hoping to rid himself of the other voice, and he saw Elena right in front of him, staring down at the blanket. She seemed to be having internal issues with herself, as her brows were furrowed in concentration. Maybe she was having another voice trying to knock some sense into her, too. He instantly shut his eyes again when he felt her move her head back up to look at him.

For a moment, he just sat there, as did she. She must have been just looking at him. But when he felt a warm, smooth hand on his cheek, he had an insane urge to grab the delicate wrist and push it back before he got carried away. But he didn't. He was perfectly still as the hand traveled around his face, brushed some stubborn hairs away from his forehead; and then it stopped.

He couldn't help but tense slightly as he felt warm breath on his face and knew that she was drawing closer to him – but why?

And then her mouth touched his.


It was just a simple peck on the mouth, Elena told herself. Just a taste to see what it was like.

All the while, her mind was screaming to pull away, to draw back – she was just Jix's friend, just a friend. Nothing more. There could be nothing more between them.

Nothing.

But as she felt his warm mouth on hers, she knew that it would never be the same between them. She'd simply been fooling herself into believing that the two of them could be "just friends."

But what would her father do? What would he say?

Elena, still hoping that Jix was asleep during this entire episode, began to pull away, wondering if she had made a terrible mistake. She couldn't be with him. He was a Gunnery Sergeant, assassin, and Imperial agent working forever for her father. They couldn't possibly even think about having a relationship

Elena didn't even have time to register what happened next –

Jix's amazingly strong arm promptly shot out and seized the back of her head powerfully, pulling her back into him and forcing her into a scorching, much more passionate kiss.

Elena brought up her hands to his chest instinctively to push him away, but when the kiss deepened, and she felt his soft yet firm mouth caressing hers, her hands ended up on his muscular shoulders, gripping them tightly. In the back of her mind, a small voice was screaming for her to stop, that it wasn't right.

But as Jix's other hand wrapped around her waist, she knew it was.

After a few minutes of complete bliss, Jix suddenly stilled. He pulled back, his eyes filled with something she didn't understand nor had ever seen before, and released her, letting out a long, slow breath. He stared at her, his eyes searching hers.

Elena dropped her eyes down to the blankets, her hands slipping back into her lap. As she stared at them, breathing heavily from lack of air, she noticed that they were trembling – as was her entire body – violently; but she wasn't sure if that was from the kissing or her mutant problem.

Jix was silent, but she could feel his eyes burning into her, probing her reaction.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, she dared to look up at the agent again, her confused eyes meeting his; and it seemed to her a wave, or cloud passed over Wrenga Jixton's eyes, and he straightened, gazing at her coolly.

Oh, no. He'd fallen back into his normal, irritatingly smart aleck, suave attitude, the attitude he normally used around her father and everyone else besides her. That was not a good sign.

"I shouldn't have done that," he said, his voice strangely detached. "I'm sorry." Hopping down off the bed, he strode out of the room, the door hissing shut behind him.

Elena shut her eyes, inwardly screaming at herself. Stang! She cursed. Falling backwards onto the bed, she sighed, wondering if she had ruined their friendship forever.


"There she is! Get 'er!"

The young alien sped across the street and leaped over a few swoop bikes, her red lekku bouncing wildly. She dodged a few fired shots and raced up a flight of sand-covered stairs into a small shop, taking cover behind a wall of tools. She peeked through one of the gaps in the rack to see if her pursuers had seen where she had gone, but she couldn't hear anything.

"Hey! You!"

The female Lethan Twi'lek turned sharply to see a rough-looking man standing a few feet away, his arms folded. He was glaring at her. "Yes?" She asked, her voice serene, warm, and low.

"Either buy something or get out," the man snapped. "This ain't a place for loitering. And it ain't a place for protection against bounty hunters, either."

"Fixer!" A human female came out from behind a door, "What's going on?"

The man shrugged. "Eh, just some runaway. Nothin' to see, Camie."

Camie raised her eyebrows. "What runaway?"

Fixer turned to indicate the Twi'lek, but to his surprise, no one was there.

Sylina Valcana flew down a side street and wiped a small bead of sweat off her red forehead. So far, she hadn't seen any of the hunters, but it was very unlikely that they had given up on her. A Twi'lek female, especially of her rare Lethan species, was a prize for any crime lord.

Her deep, dark eyes scanning the area in front of her, she concentrated, raised her arms. A small swirl of sand began to rise in front of her, and it grew larger and larger. She darted into the mini sandstorm, hoping it would give her cover, leaped onto a nearby, forgotten swoop-bike, gunned the engines, and sped away into the desert, leaving the city of Mos Eisley behind.

After about two hours, the bike was running out of fuel, and Sylina knew she was in trouble.

She knew she was even more in trouble when she heard the sound of more than one swoop coming up fast behind her. She turned her head to see how many enemies she was up against; and to her dismay, she saw five large, burly men coming right at her.

Gunning her swoop and hoping that she could make it to the canyon up ahead a few miles, she swerved left and right to avoid any oncoming fire.

The swoop gang still came closer, and she noticed one of them carried a large axe in his hand.

Well. There was only one other option. She looked at her fuel gauge and read the 'on empty' sign. In another few seconds, and at the speed she was going, she'd be a goner.

Sylina looked behind her once more. The bikes came even closer, and they were gaining. She turned around again. Closed her eyes, and opened them, the color of the irises changing from a dark brown to an unnatural sandy-toned shade.

In front of the swoops, a sandstorm instantly began to whip and swirl, and in just a few seconds turned into a small tornado. Two of the bikes were shot up into the tornado, and two others were sent crashing to the ground.

Only one more, but he had wisely avoided the sandstorm.

Sylina focused, her eyes still the sandy color –

The swoop's rider cried out as a particularly strong gust of sand whipped into his face, scratching it with the hard, sandy particles. He lost control of his bike and fell off, dropping into the sand. The bike flew a few more feet and burst into flames upon crashing to the ground.

Sylina's eyes returned to their normal dark color, and she slowed her bike to a stop before it crashed from lack of fuel. Hopping off it, she looked around for any sign of life. It wasn't until she heard the sound of a blaster being fired and a sizzling pain in her back that she knew she hadn't been entirely successful in ridding herself of the riders.

She dropped to the ground, dazed, and barely registered a shout of pain behind her and footsteps coming towards her. The last thing she remembered was a kind, handsome face looming over her.


Sylina bolted upright and immediately stiffened from the pain in her back. She reached up slowly and tried not to wince from the agony she felt upon touching the wound.

The wound that… had a batca patch covering it.

Sylina frowned. Looked around for her rescuer. Saw a young man sitting a few feet away, staring out into the desert. From his countenance and slouched position, he didn't appear to be at all well; and he stiffened and relaxed in a strange manner every few moments.

"Excuse me," Sylina spoke.

The young man turned around and stood up. "Oh, you're awake," he said. "I wasn't sure how long you'd–" he winced, as a jolt of pain seemed to rip through his body. "How long you'd be out."

"Are you all right?"

The young man nodded, his face sickly, pale, and drawn tightly from what appeared to be from the pain he was obviously going through and most likely from lack of sleep. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You got a pretty bad wound, but you should be okay." He glanced at her bike. "It's refilled, so you should have enough fuel to reach Mos Espa or Mos Eisely, or wherever you're going. There's also some food I put in a bag." He nodded, his deep blue eyes strangely filled with pain. "I'm sorry I can't stay, but I really should be getting home. Good luck."

Sylina stood up quickly and instantly regretted it. "But wait," she protested, "I must thank you, but I don't know your name."

The young man paused, halting. "My name is Luke Skywalker," he said quietly, and nodded again, turning and walking away.

The Twi'lek stared at him for a moment as he, somewhat unsteadily, moved away from her into the desert. She looked at her swoop, and then back at the young man, Luke – but to her astonishment, he had disappeared into thin air.

Her intelligent mind processing the information, Sylina suddenly smiled. Her day had just turned from bad to excellent.

She was not alone.

That mysterious young man was a mutant.


"Luke! LUKE!" Beru Lars searched the farm frantically for her missing nephew. "Luke, where are you?"

A tired, worn-out voice spoke from behind her, "I'm here, Aunt Beru."

Beru whisked around to see Luke leaning against the wall, and she rushed forward. "Luke, where have you been?" She demanded. "I've been searching everywhere for you!"

Luke smiled wanly. "I'm sorry… there was something I needed to do…" His eyes became distant.

She frowned. "Something you needed to do? But Luke, you look terrible! I think you have a fever! Why in the worlds would you go somewhere?" She felt his forehead and winced. "You're burning up!"

"I just… had some chores Uncle Owen wanted me to finish," Luke told her, sitting down in a chair. "Sorry for worrying you." He slowly rose to his feet. "I think I should be in bed now. I need more calcium first."

"Calcium? Why calcium? I think you need some medicine, Luke."

He looked at her, an odd expression on his face. "No, just calcium." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, Aunt Beru." With that cryptic statement, he staggered off to his bedroom, his aunt staring after him, a concerned look on her older face.

"Beru!" Her husband's gruff voice caused her to turn and face him.

"Yes?"

"Where's Luke? I can't find the boy anywhere; he's supposed to be doing his chores!"

Beru raised her eyebrows. "Owen, Luke is sick. Very sick. He can hardly walk. And besides, he told me he already did his chores."

"No, he didn't."

Confused, Beru said, "Then what was he doing?"

"Doing? Whaddaya mean? If he's sick, hasn't he been in bed?"

Beru frowned. "He just got back from somewhere. He said he'd been doing his chores, but…" she trailed off, and Owen scowled.

"That boy's been nothing but trouble," he growled. "Got too much of his blasted father in him."

"That's not his fault–" Beru protested.

"What he really needs to learn is respect!" Owen shouted, "and if he's sneakin' off to shirk his chores, then I'll have to teach him a lesson!" He stalked off, furious.

Beru sighed, shaking her head.

In his bedroom, with his ultra-sensitive hearing, Luke shut his eyes. "Teach me a lesson," he muttered, irritated. "Over my dead body."


Hoo boy. Dramatic chapster. Will Elena and Jix mend their now tense relationship? Will Owen and Beru find out what Luke's real problem is? Will Vader kill Jix once he finds out what happened between them?

Most importantly, will the authoress ever shut her mouth? Nah...

Don't forget to leave a review!! They make me happy!! Happy people update sooner...

Oh yeah! I added Jix pictures (drools) and the Jix character biography from my story onto my website, so check it out! Also I added a link on the homepage so you can read what the hot Imperial agent's really all about.

MtFbwy, and God bless!

- Serena Kenobi