Kiss and make-up?

[Ang]

Luanam, a planet of decadent excess. Filled to the brim with some of the greatest gangster this side of the maw. For the Pirate Queen Rhondall's men, it had become a place to waste away their pay. And on the rise, a young Hutt- who styled herself in a female fashion. Her name was Drolli the Hutt. She didn't take shit from anyone. That was her style. That was why her thugs were known for the most brutal acts of criminal horror... and also why no one ever came out of The Luanam Gamble a winner.

But the drinks, and the lovely ladies... and perhaps even the prospect of being able to walk out alive, kept the place a booming and bustling casino amidst the space-scrapers of the planet's largest city. It was all these reasons and more, that one shouldn't have been surprised, that one Arron Demie was a frequent sight in this particularly opulent dive. Or that where-ever that dark-blond headed young man sat, there was a flock of people just vying for a place next to him. Or a moment of his attention... which of course, was always several thousand light-years away. Unwilling to waver from those thoughts so much as an inch. Lightsaber at his hip, twin DL-44's posted on either hip as well... Arron had once again come back from the dead- like so many thieves seemed to do... and in his return, had garnished more favor from Drolli then even some of her confidants...

***

"Let's hope these leads are worth the price we paid." Cecily sneered over the comm to Kyle's X-Wing. "Nothing quite like coming into a shady place like this with no where to run or hide..." She scanned the planet's surface for a spaceport, and planned to land in one of the outlying areas. A couple of snubfighters would go for millions on the black market, and Cecily didn't exactly have millions to spend on getting them back from thieves OR the brute strength to fend them off either. "Follow my lead, we land 6 klicks south of that city. Copy?"

Kyle frowned, Cecily had gotten... well different in throughout their trip. But he couldn't see reason to blame her, she was sad. She was loathing herself in ways he couldn't even remember. Light blond hair fell about his head even as he lightly touched the controls of his X-Wing. It was the only place in the entire galaxy that he was comfortable in. Something about flying brought out some hidden gem within him.

"We paid? Capt' they damn near took my innocence..." What little of it Kyle might have actually had. "I'm just glad ya didn't agree to let me alone with them for that hour they wanted." He leaned forward on the yoke and followed her towards the South of the city. "Been interesting playin' yer wing... you sure do fly smoother than Ole Demie..."

"And that is why I was one your bosses." Cecily's ego about her flying was far from a secret. Of course, the fact that she scored the highest on all of the sims before she was promoted to XO. And had to share her wing with Nylan Antilles from the get go probably had a lot to do with it. "Watch the atmosphere, I didn't bring anything to patch your nose up with this time." And in they dove.

Kyle huffed over the comm. He didn't say anything about her flying better than him. Just that she flew smoother. Arron had shown Kyle a trick or billion, and but most of them were rough. Violent and edgy. He huffed, and rubbed at his nose as he dived, pulling into a smoother landing than he had several dozen times before that. "Hey Captain' what are you going to do when we find him?"

"Dunno, Starshine." She sighed to herself, "I don't know..." As soon as they set down and the systems were secure, Cecily released the canopy and climbed out, leaving her support harness and helmet behind. Jumping down onto the ground, the canopy lowered and locked as she went to the small cargo hold in the rear of the fighter. She pulled from it a utility belt strapped with two blaster pistols and fastened it to her thin hips, then reached up to adjust her ponytail.

Her hair was still a wet mess from the rain, and the band holding her ponytail in place had tangled itself in pretty good while her helmet was on. She struggled for a moment, and then cursed outloud. "Kriffing hair...I've had it!" She practically ripped a utility blade from her cargo hold and brought it up to the back of her head. Then, in a sawing motion, she cut through the knotted-beyond-repair ponytail and cut it completely off. This left her with an uneven haircut that was shorter in the back than it was the front, and she shook the still-damp red locks down into place. Then, she angrily threw the knife back in the hold, slammed it shut, and threw her cut hair to the ground.

"Ready?" She asked Kyle, as she ran a hand through her shorter hair on the back of her head.

Starshine flinched as he hit the ground... hand rolling across his less than average blasters. He was flinching because of how she was cutting her hair. "Capt' that looks a little... 'old school'" He was referring to her impromptu mullet she had just given herself. But without little more than a tap of his hand, he opened the hold and tossed his helmet inside. A smile catching his lips as he started off towards the city. "Ready as I'll ever be... Captain... are you alright?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?!" She snapped at him. "We're here to find Ayden, that is all. I didn't allow you to come with me to be my personal shrink, got it?"

He didn't flinch at her snapping, only raised a slender blond brow, and cast that golden yielding smile. "Because Capt' you seem.... 'Off. like something’s different... and it’s more than just missing Arron..." Kyle didn't get used to calling Ayden by his real name... "And what about if he's using that there force hiding technique? " But things looked good, the leads said there was indeed a blond carrying around a lightsaber...

"Let's just go..." Cecily didn't want to share another word with the talkative Kyle...he pretty much drove her nuts regularly, but right now...he was bringing her into the red.

They were able to get into the city via a pedestrian street that seemed to pass out their way. Cecily lead the way, both of the blasters set to kill and just inches from her grasp on her hip. Once upon a time, she thought that her ability to use the Force to sense things was a form of paranoia, but now that she had a good grasp over controlling that emotion, she was capable of using it as a sort of homing beacon, not at the same level as Ayden or a trained Jedi, but just enough for her to figure her way around and out of things. Reaching out with the Force, Cecily felt for Ayden's direction, already feeling a slight presence near her.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." She sang softly to herself.

Kyle was pretty much thinking that Cecily had gone crazy. Quite crazy as a matter of fact. And now she was singing to herself? It was starting to creep him out. With steady steps, Kyle followed Cecily’s lead.. As if that would be the key to finding their destination. Which sure enough it was.

Before long the two were standing outside of the gaudy Casino Luanam's Gamble. Where Arron was supposed to be a frequent. But looking at the building. Kyle realized there was quite a bit of territory to go over. And he didn't even know where to start looking. "What card games was Arron really good at? He never invited me to join those games..."

Cecily snapped out of it for a moment, "What? Oh...um...Not sabacc I think. I was never invited either, so don't feel bad. He only wanted to be around those that would lose easily, naturally."

…Or to keep from fleecing those that he liked. It was hard to say. Arron was a hard person to read at times. Above, in the High-Rollers lounge, Arron was sipping at some god-awful drink, that was far too expensive to be worth drinking more than one of. If he had any sense of Cecily, there were no signs. Or if he was on the move, he clearly hadn't started to. No... there was only the horrid menacing brooding, and the dark desires to hurt others.

"This is where he's supposed to frequent, lets stake it out...."

"Alright...You start at that end, I'll go from here...Stay on guard, who knows what could happen." Cecily nodded toward Kyle and separated from him, making her way toward the card tables. He was here, she was sure of it, but there was a lot of people, and it was very hard for her to concentrate on exactly where he was.

She drifted from table to table, trying not to make too much of a presence of herself, and searched the area. To help, she accepted a complimentary drink from a cocktail waitress and kept on the move.

Kyle faded into the crowd rather quickly. And Cecily blended in herself. With all the spacers and thugs, there really wasn't much to keep another face in the crowd from just blending in. If Cecily was looking for Ayden, she'd have to use her head. Amongst all these people, where would her one-time lover be? Would he come to try and find her? Or would he try to run? These were questions that she had to answer and quickly... because sure enough- someone was following her. She hadn't taken long to become a mark.

Paranoia...nope, not anymore. Cecily felt someone behind her, yet Ayden was so close by. She doubted that she was being followed by him, so she reached down and clutched a pistol in her right hand, and became all-too-ready to turn around and fry the brains of who or whatever was there. She took the beverage that she had been holding, and drank it completely down effortlessly considering she always said she wasn't much of a drinker...and paused, focused.

Whoever it was, kept walking, passing by Cecily's side, and then turning to cast a mischievous glance her way. Standing meters from Cecily was a dark haired woman with a less than.... pretty face. Few wrinkles here and there, and a body that was barely clothed, but clearly had been used by a few men... and by the smell of it, not so long ago. She winked and started back her way..."Well hello there gorgeous... "

Cecily was all too used to advances from the same-sex, afterall, she was stationed on the same ship as Rose Blackmoon and Maeve Riskyll..."Excuse me." Cecily continued to walk past her, figuring she had no time for foolish lesbian flirting. 99% of the times on the Gypsy, the words shared between the women were in pure fun, this...this was just gross in Cecily's opinion, especially since the girl wasn't even all that pretty.

The woman felt rebuffed. And sulked off. Eventually Cecily's wanderings would take her past several more advances, and then into a large crowd. Where a sign posted that it was high rollers only. Two droids stood at the only opening between the rolling blue lines that clearly were meant to keep people out. If she got a good glimpse, in the center of that crowd was Arron Demie, surrounded by a whole entourage of people...

Cecily stood there for a moment, and peered into the guarded area...seeing Ayden there at the table. Her jaw dropped, and she rushed to go past the droids...

Which quickly raised cold steel-pikes to block her entrance. And repeated a kind message. "This lounge is for our high rollers... care to join in... all you have to do is drop fifty thousand credits on a table... in either winnings or losings. Or put a hundred-thousand credits to play in the high rollers area..."

Cecily rolled her eyes. "Sorry boys...I'm with somebody in there..." And tried to push it again.

The droids rebuked her, and made a less than safe motion with the pikes. "Unless entering with a high roller, non-high rollers are not allowed."

The woman came up on Cecily's right... The guards seemed ready to pull the pikes apart. "Are you willing to go play? "

"Define 'play'?" Cecily sneered at her. "If it's cards? Then no. I happen to be pretty bad at cards and I'm really just here to see someone."

The woman laughed... "You ain't that naive..."she was licking her lips and shaking her hips, as if to imply just what it would be to play. The guards stood stoically like the droids they were. Finally the woman got close enough to the two guards, and their pikes parted ways, saying her name in recognition. If Cecily was going to get through, maybe she'd be able to do it now...

Cecily glanced at the hooker, knowing that she basically gave her way to enter the High Rollers area without causing a scene, so she followed her in, and made her way for the table. There were more than enough people around, so it would be rather hard to get Ayden's attention at this rate, especially since he seemed pretty engrossed in whatever he was playing.

But he wasn't playing any game. His eyes were closed, and his hand was wrapped around a condensing drink of some sort. Around him were people vying for his attention, and even a few women begging for a glance.

The hooker followed after Cecily and growled. "Hey! That wasn't the deal... you owe me a good night girly..."

"I...owe you nothing but gratitude. Now if you would please leave me be. I have someone here who needs me..."

She growled and moved closer toward Cecily... "Oh, lass you owe me... owe a great deal of gratitude, now don't ye go far, cause I'll be wantin' a return on my actions."

Cecily turned, and gave her an extremely cold stare. "A drink perhaps? I don't think I can afford any other...services."

"Darlin' I don't think you understand... I'm paying fer your services..."

"And so far, I'm letting you live..." Cecily glanced at a light bulb overhead near the prostitute, within a few seconds time it popped with a spark and was out, as if a sudden short took hold of it.

And that seemed to catch Ayden's attention, all eyes shifted toward the broken bulb. In a place like Drolli's Luanam Gamble, bulbs didn't shatter, they were too expensive to shatter for no reason. Monitored carefully daily, that bulb breaking was someone’s life. Ayden didn't seem to recognize Cecily, and his attention went back to the netherworld. The hooker scared, turned tail and left...

Cecily drifted then around toward Ayden's seat, there were an insane amount of people trying to get his attention, but she knew that in the end, only she mattered. First it was easy to weave her way in, then it became tighter, and some thought it necessary to shove, so Cecily shoved back, with a little help of the Force...

Ayden didn't seem to notice Cecily weaving her way in, but he did hear the sounds of grunts and growls of people being angrily pushed to the side..."Shut up.”

If you keep bugging me like this, I swear I'll have Drolli feed you to her pet rancor..." People shuddered at the coldness in his voice, at the intensity and darkness that seemed to be firmly held in his voice. Instantly the crowd starting to flitter off, save for a few people who considered themselves his 'entourage' which including several woman.

It wasn't long before she was standing nearly 3 feet behind him, but she waited....waited to see if he would turn...

He didn't. There was no indication that he knew she was behind him, or that anyone was around him.

"Ayden..."

Still no reply, as if he didn't recognize the voice... or maybe not even the name.

"Ayden...I'm here." Her mood softened as well as her voice as she looked over at the man that meant more to anyone to her right now. "Ay---" She paused, then sighed, "Arron..."

Still nothing. Until finally someone tapped him on the shoulder. He growled and looked her way... "What.?!" And finally this man coughed softly and motioned towards Cecily..."A rather good looking mynock for ya..." Ayden cast a glance over his shoulders. Stared at Cecily for a full ten seconds, and then looked away.. "Not my type. red-heads are trouble..."

[Ang]

That...pissed her off. But she took a deep breath and muttered, "You have no idea..."

Still Arron didn't yield, but the man next to him forced a laugh. "She seems way too interested in ya Arron..." Arron waved his hand and took a sip... "Tell her to buzz off, I've got to think this next raid through..."

"I think you and I need to talk."

Annoyed Ayden cast a glance behind him again, tilting down the thin black shades over his eyes. "Listen, the kid ain't mine, we only ain't been between the sheets... and your not my type... so sorry, go find some other sucker..."

Cecily smirked for a moment, let the scene continue as if she was drinking in every last bit of attention she was getting and then the very table Ayden was sitting at flipped, along with every single drink, chip, and card that was on it, onto its side in a flash, with no visible hands doing it. Cecily remained sickeningly calm, and glared down at the blonde man. "You once told me not to use my anger...Oops."

Ayden was on his feet in a heartbeat, a blaster in hand, aimed easily at Cecily.. "I've never meet ya sweets, So I never said anything to ya..." He raised the second blaster and waited for her to try something fancy. "Take a walk, and your not going to get hurt."

"Don't do this, Arron..." Damnit did Cecily hate that name, "Don't make it like this..." Cecily wasn't saber trained, that's one thing for SURE she would NEVER be allowed to touch, and there was only so much her blasters could do against him.

In his eyes, Cecily would truly see that he didn't recognize her. That he honestly and truly didn't know who she was. "Listen... babes... I don't know what’s wrong with you, but Your the one that’s going all crazy on me... you want to talk so badly, we'll talk... come on... nice and easy like... head right for that door behind you... and then we talk..." He pointed to the VIP of the high rollers club, a smaller room meant for.... private pleasures. "Just remain calm darlin'."

Cecily shook her head, "No." If she could have cried, she would have, but again, the lack of tears. "I did this to you..."

"Hey Red, come on... back up... your drawing some attention to us..." He ushered her forward with the wave of his blaster. " You didn't do shit to me, we've never met.. Come one... get moving..."

"I'm not the one with the blasters out all hoity-fucking-toity like here. Put them up, then we go."

He slapped the blasters into his holsters and followed into the private room, turning he waited for her to enter and the door to close. "What you crazy? Using the force out there is likely to get you killed kiddo..."

"Shut up..." She hissed at him. "Where are you Ayden? Get back here! Tell this facade of yours to drop his bullshit so we can deal with this situation like adults."

Ayden leaned forward..."How do you know my real name?" He shook his head..."Listen, you better watch your mouth, I'm doing you a favor here... else you'll get shot to pieces..."

"You seriously blocked me out of your memory..."

"What the hell are you blathering on about? Blocked you out of my memory? Kid, I don't know how to do that... When we leave this room, you've just gotta turn around, and walk quietly away, I'll follow you till the door to make sure no one knifes you... but man, you're asking for trouble using the force in public like that..."

Cecily closed her eyes, tried to force a laugh, but it face and half cracked on the way out, "You wanted me to meet you last week...have dinner and meet your family. But something happened...didn't it Ayden? You saw me kiss Nylan."

"Listen lady, I don't have any family. Stop calling me Ayden... and I've never met you or this Nylan guy before..."

You have a fresh wound on your abs...do you not?"

He touched his chest, and frowned... "Lucky guess, the force whispers well to you..."

"But I have a lot of fresh wounds..."

"How did you get it?"

Ayden frowned.. "I can't rightly say... probably a fight... or an accident... if I had to remember all my scars, I’d go crazy..." Of course this time he was lying. He remembered each and everyone one of his scars... but he really didn't remember those new ones... He felt a throbbing in his head, and sighed looking away.

"What planet were you last on?"

"Nar Shaddaa..."

"What happened on Nar Shaddaa?"

"I got started on working for Drolli."

"Before that."

"I got into a fight with this brown-haired punk ass pilot..."

"Before Nar Shaddaa, Arron...Where were you then?"

He reached for his head, and finally sat down in a plush leather chair, his body swaying from obvious pain that wracked through his body... "I don't know... why are you doing this to me?"

Cecily walked over to him, but didn't sit beside him, instead, she looked at him, eye to eye, her green to his blue, and pulled the longer red hair in front of her face back behind her ears so the scar from Toprawa could be seen blazing down her cheek. "Look at me..." She said softly.

He didn't. Immediately he found his gaze drifting away from hers. Force help him, he could feel such a pain in his chest that....that it was torturous to just be near her... and finally he felt like his head exploded... And his body leaned fully back into the seat... "Why..."

"Ayden..."

"WHAT?!" And the sound of his voice seemed to be enough to send shockwaves through the force, everything around her was caught in a masterful force throw... crushing them against the walls... "What?! What do you want from me?!"

Cecily was pushed back away from him, and landed on the ground rather hard. "Curse you!" She yelled, "Why did you do this to yourself!" She scrambled back to her feet, "If you truly do not remember me, Ayden Tyior, may by gones be by gones and I will do whatever I can to forget you...But you MUST snap out of this shadow, do you hear me?" She made her way back toward him, "You will NOT let this life consume you again!"

Ayden growled... and finally the pain in head was too much. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO MYSELF! YOU DID THIS TO ME!" Finally the fire awoke in him. It burned through his being.. "You... you traitor. Cold hearted betrayer. You have no right to be here. To tell me what I will and will not do... head back to Nylan, it's what you want after all..."

"You know NOTHING!" It was this moment, this confrontation, that Cecily feared, and that ice sat in her stomach now that he came to, "If I truly wanted Nylan I would not have come all this way to find you! Are you that blinded by what your eyes showed you?!"

"Blinded by what I felt?! I felt your betrayal! It made me want to rip my own heart out. He jumps into the picture, and not even a word of concern for me... Not until long after, and the guilt settles in... What kind of love is that?!"

"You don't understand...I KNEW you wouldn't understand!" Fear lead to anger, and Cecily pointed an accusational finger directly at Ayden, "You never even RESPONDED To my comms when I needed help. I could have been DEAD or worse if it wasn't for Nylan being there. OH, and for your information, we did NOT sleep together. Neither of us could bring ourselves to do it because we knew it was wrong. Wrong because I should be with YOU!"

Ayden laughed. "Look at you dance in the darkness... pathetic.." He was finding resolve, he was finding solid ground to defend on. "I tried to respond, but I was nearly killed myself! Even after getting stabbed through the stomach I still tried to make way for you... only to watch you walk hand and hand with him! No... you may not have slept together. But you wanted to. You betrayed me with your heart and mind, long before you even thought about me again..."

"And the only thing I can offer to you for it is to beg for my forgiveness! And I felt that wound in your stomach, that's how I knew it existed...Every last burn, every last suture that Ari gave you, every last pin prick and pull I felt and I still feel!"

He felt like ripping his own throat out. "Until when Cecily? Until you see Nylan again? Or someone else catches your fancy? Cecily... I'm In love with you. I love you more than words can say... but this pain... force, this pain.... I don't know if you love me, Like I love you.... and that’s just torturous"

Cecily choked for a moment. That fucking word...that horrible emotion it was attached to..."Love..." she started, but paused, "Is..." She bit her lip, "Oh kriff it all. Love is something I haven't felt the way it should be felt in YEARS, Ayden! Love was taken from me, violently. You know this...What I feel for you is akin to love but it will NEVER be what I felt for my husband. EVER. So there, no, I will probably never love you on the same level. Is that what you wanted to hear? Or did you want me to lie?"

Ayden leaned back. It was like being hit with a vibro-sledge. He didn't want to hear that. He couldn't process it for a long moment. It didn't make sense to his brain. His brain tried to shift the puzzle pieces, tried to make sense. Either you loved someone, or you didn't. She was in love with her husband but not with him. He was in love with her, just as he had been Anna and maybe even Erin... there was a long tired sigh as he stood, leaned forward and stole a kiss, before moving for the door. It hurt to just walk... "You shouldn't have come for me then. "

Cecily closed her eyes as he walked by, feeling a tingle on her lips where he had kissed her. "I wouldn't have been able to live if I didn't. I would have thought you were dead as Cedric told me you were. My father and my brother both came to tell me...armed with these very blasters I have on my hips...Because they know how dangerous I can be when I lose a loved one. They were ready to kill me before I could do it myself...but I didn't, because with you I refused to believe it. I refused to believe that you would have truly been dead. You...have kept me alive. So please don't let that last kiss become another one of my scars."

"What do you want from me Cecily? You don't love me. You just said it yourself... you lived before me... and I think.. .I think you can live without me... I love you too much Cecily to think that at any moment you might be caught up in rising passions with another man." His eyes closed and his head bowed. "Don't let the dark swallow you whole is all I ask... its not good being a shadow, not when you can be so much more..."

"Ayden...I said it was a mistake. I can't even begin lamenting my disgust over my actions..."

"It was a mistake, I understand that. We all make a lot of mistakes in our lives. But think about what was running through your mind during that mistake... when you left that planet without even trying to find me... It was far too easy for you to just drop me like a sack of bricks... I couldn't take that again. I can't..."

There were no more words for her. He had her in a corner, and there was nothing more she could do to defend herself. He knew everything...and that infuriated her.

"Cecily, you were ready to go and forget me if I didn't remember you. Maybe you should pretend that’s the case. I will always love you. I will always want to have your love. please don't doubt that..." He sighed, he really didn't know what to say to fix this...

"You want me to leave?"

He wanted her to love him. He wanted to take her back to Kuat and just forget. "I don't know what I want.... what do you want Cecily?"

"I just want everything to be as it should be...I just want...I guess I want to be happy."

Against his better judgment he felt himself once more turning. He felt his heart pang and squeeze as it warned him against future hurt, alongside that cold scowl of his mind.

"What will make you happy Cecily?"

"I just want you to come back home with me."

He wanted to remind her, he didn't have a home. He had places he stayed, scattered throughout the galaxy. But no single place where he lived. "Then that's what I’ll do... I go back to your home..." Because he had promised to himself, to make her happy. And even if she didn't love him... it could be enough to simply love her.

Cecily’s eyes widened, "Oh SHIT! Kyle is still out there! On his OWN!" She had forgotten that Kyle was somewhat of her...backup...but not really.

He almost went deadpan, before turning toward the door... "Lets go..." He popped open the control panel, walked out... a shit eating grin across his lips, his hair and clothes seemingly tousled. "Lordy! I say... that was one... difficult ride..." The crowd laughed as he wiped at invisible sweat... But Ayden could clearly hear singing, Very good singing, of a males voice... which was just annoying to his own ears.. "Force help me..."