Private On the Rocks

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora frowned, but she didn't challenge Makko on the fact that he'd owed a favor. She didn't exactly believe him. Perhaps naively, she assumed that he would've told her such a thing before.

His complement inspired her cheeks to flush warmly. Conservative by Denon nightlife standards, Cora had been unsure about her outfit. She didn't exactly feel comfortable showing as much of her skin as the dress did.

"Thank you. You look…nice too. I like your jacket." She said softly, followed by a wince when he asked the question. In that moment, Makko seemed far more focused. It was as if he'd sobered in an instant.

Cora had trouble meeting his eyes. She chewed on her lower lip, unwound her hands, picked at the hem of her dress then laced her fingers together again.

"I…" Her voice died in her throat, left knee fidgeting beneath the table. "…pushed him out a window."

Cora had never killed anyone in her life. She was unsure if Makko had, of what he would think of her. The exiled Princess had no idea that he'd been taking lives for Fractal State in exchange for another.

"They were going to execute me, but Valery stepped in and…"

Whatever she wanted to say next caught in her throat. Cora bit down on her lip harder, then suddenly burst into tears.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Little pieces of thread started to unravel. He wanted to sober up, but even through the haze he was slowly able to unravel them into one long line. The chain of events lead to dangerous places.

"Cora..."

He reached across the table and grasped her hand. Another deep breath and he forced the words into order with sheer force of will.

"I want you to know that I love you and everything I did... It was all for you."

The span of two breaths and his expression hardened.

"But right now we need to go. Now."

If Horace had died by Cora's hand then they had no interest in letting him go. They weren't safe here.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

When Makko placed her hand atop her own, Cora raised her tear-streaked face. His words shocked her like a cold ocean wave.

"I want you to know that I love you and everything I did... It was all for you."

"I…"

She breathed in deep, her nerves settling for the moment. There were so many questions, so many things she wanted to say that it was hard to choose where to begin. Cora could only stare at Makko, dumbfounded, until he decided that they needed to leave.

"What did you do? Why do we need to go?"

Cora wasn't being defiant, but she was confused. Her lips parted briefly with the urge to return his I love you, but she couldn't just yet. It wasn't that she did not love Makko in turn, but that she felt unworthy to voice her reciprocation.

"Makko…" She squeezed his hand, rising from her seat slowly. "What is going on?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Where did he begin with that question? If he laid out everything he had done, she would be furious. If not for the stupid decision he had made, but for the fact he had made it without asking her.

He had bartered with his own freedom to have her husband killed. He preferred the notion that he had been trying to buy her freedom, but that had never been guaranteed.

"I'll tell you on the way," he said, making it a problem for the Makko that existed a few minutes in the future.

He led Cora outside into the street. He'd hailed an air speeder already and one paused in front of them within seconds.

Makko climbed in before her and sat down. His apartment would not be safe, but it was a risk worth taking if he wanted to get out of the district.

"Fractal State..." he started, looking at Cora and summoning some courage.

"...they won't be happy that you're here. They kept Horace's death from me."

It was some of the truth.

"How...how are you doing?"

Another thought struck him. Valery had saved her from Horace's family. He had been far, far away and no help to her at all.

Makko had to ask himself: at what point did he stop really pushing for information on Cora and the health of the Prince?

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Seated in the speeder, Cora shut the door behind them and focused her attention on Makko. She listened quietly, intensely. She couldn't tell if Makko was struggling with his explanation because of his inebriated state, or because he didn't want to tell her.

Then he asked her a question, and Cora tilted her face towards the window to hide her grimace. Sitting primly, she still fidgeted with her hands in her lap.

She really didn't think that she'd get this far. Part of her had hoped that Hex's information had been wrong, but Cora couldn't figure out why she wanted that. Maybe because this moment was difficult, and was going to be followed by many more.

"I'm...better than when we last saw eachother." Months ago, in the garden, where his fingers had brushed against the brutalized skin at her hip. Where they'd last indulged. "Some days…are harder than others." She murmured softly. "I'm staying with the Nobles, though."

Cora drew in a heavy breath and lifted her head towards Makko.

"Why does Fractal State know about me? Why would they care about Horace's death?"

Her eyes sharpened, brows furrowing dangerously. She didn't know what he was up to, but she knew enough to know that he was leaving something out.

"How much have you had to drink?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

When they last saw one another...

Months into the marriage. She had seemed relieved to spend time walking the festival, showing off the pleasant side of her culture to her old friends. Perhaps it was with that weight lifted that she had allowed herself the indulged. In those last seconds of their last meeting her expression had shifted suddenly from ecstasy to regret. Regret and fear of the consequences.

Horace hadn't quite broken her spirit; his own death was testament to that. But, he had forced her to push her feelings deep down and remain cold and numb to his treatments.

Better than how she had been could have meant a lot of things.

"They know about my situation so..."

Because my situation was all to do with yours because I'd never loved and lost so hard.

Just a little of that thought filtered down the bond that had remained unbroken.

"I had daemon scripts out on the net trawling for news about you," he admitted. There was still more to the 'why'.

"Which means they had a good holonet runner break them to keep them reporting but not telling me about Horace's death."

Makko leaned back. Gaze drifting into the distance through the roof. The taxi span around him.

"I took a hit of something," he admitted. His gaze slowly fell. Dilated pupils narrowing on her face.

"Well done for killing that prick. I shouldn't say that, but...but... I want to think you still care about me enough that you'd have wanted me back on Coruscant to look after you."

It was unfair, but he felt a pang of jealousy that Valery and Khalil were the ones to stay her execution and offer her safety. Even know it was Valery he had turned to when Cora's wedding had broken him deep down.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora had been uncomfortable since she'd first set foot on Denon. She was uncomfortable seeking out Hex in the tattoo parlor, uncomfortable seeking out Makko in the club, uncomfortable in the quiet privacy of the air taxi.

It showed in subtle ways he might recognize, in the fidgeting of her fingers with the hem of her dress, perhaps attempting to pull the fabric over her knees. The outfit wasn't revealing by any stretch of Denon's terms, but she'd always been on the modest side.

Her searching gaze softened when she felt that tug in their bond. Cora was hesitant to let her walls down.

"You're high?" She gasped, affronted. Her voice lowered to a hiss as she leaned forward to berate him. "On…on spice? But that's illegal!"

The innocence may have been chased from her eyes, but Cora still remained naive in a number of ways. She didn't like Denon.

She leaned back heavily into her seat with a huff. Nothing she could do about that now.

"I…I looked for you. On Coruscant. When I found out where you’d gone, I…"

Cora had sobbed in private, embarrassingly enough. She hated to think that something she'd done had driven Makko away from the Jedi and back into the arms of Fractal State.

"You're hard to find, do you know that?" She mused bitterly. "I managed to track down Hex and ask her if she knew anything. She did, and her price was giving me a tattoo. Strange girl."

Strange girl indeed, yet there was a sort of kinship between them. Cora crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her back.

"This stops now. I'm here to bring you back to Coruscant.” She said matter-of-factly. "So that you can finish your training."

Cora was angry. She'd been angry for a long, long time. She would not turn the full force of her anger onto Makko; not yet. Still, it simmered beneath the surface, beneath the grief and shame and pain that she couldn’t let him see.

Resting an elbow on the windowsill, Cora watched the neon lights of Denon blend into one multicolor blur.

"I'm sure that the council can be convinced to overlook this little…mistake."

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

The tattoo. She had a new one from Hex, but it was the removal of her first that had sparked his rash action. Knowing that the levels of physical abuse Horace would administer had no limits had driven him here. It had honed his anger into a cold, sharp edge. More focused than the heat she felt now.

"It's illegal and...reslly badly timed," Makko muttered as the air speeder drew to a halt. He closed his eyes in focus. The taxi edged up against a platform of a tower block.

Makko had been assigned a two floor, open plan suite. Currently he could sense no guards.

"I want that," he agreed firmly. "I'm coming with you. I'm...so sorry I wasn't there."

In light of everything, he thought it was important that she knew those simple truths.

He felt a flash of guilt for how quickly his mind latched onto possibilities. Could it be so simple that they could just be together again?

The memory of Cora and Horace on the screen on their wedding day shattered such ideas. Cora's grimace and above her, Horace's look of sadistic satisfaction. Nothing was simple any more. Their declaration of love was on the other side all the abuse she had suffered.

Makko stepped off the speeder, the balcony doors opening directly into the apartment. A few glass bottles on expensive glass tables were the last signs of a private party from three nights before. Makko ignored them and tapped on a seemingly empty piece of polished floor.

A case rose up out of the floor and he snapped it open. It held his lightsaber, a slender sporting blaster pistol, three small black spheres the size of a fist and several vials.

Makko took a vial and injected it directly into his left arm. His mouth fell open, his pupils dilated wide and then narrowed.

Focus drugs. Perfect for honing his edge when Fractal State needed him, acceptable to counter the spice.

"We're going to go on foot for a little while," he said. The three black spheres rose from the close under their own power. Makko's gaze briefly unfocused as he interfaced with each of the remotes before they drifted away silently to scout ahead.

Finally, he took the lightsaber and hung it from his belt.

"This is my fault, but I'll keep you safe," he announced. His tucked the case back away and stood up. Suddenly, he did not look like someone who had turned their back on the Order. A single motion carried the grace and posture of a jedi warrior.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

She'd half expected him to protest, especially given her firm, demanding tone. Maybe it was the spice muddling his mind, or maybe he really didn't want to be here either.

Cora said nothing more on the matter until they pulled up to his building. A murmur of surprise escaped her as they moved from the speeder to the balcony, then further into Makko's flat.

"This is…nice?" She hadn't expected such a large, modern room. It made her wonder exactly what he'd done to earn it. Idly, she picked up one of the nearly-empty bottles to inspect its label, setting it back down atop the glass table when Makko drew her attention. The first thing she saw was him injecting something into his arm, and she rushed forward.

"What are you-!" Grasping his arm, her admonishing tone died as she watched Makko's eyes flare back into focus. Swallowing hard, she released his arm and stepped back.

All at once, something about him seemed different. He was no longer that angry boy she'd berated in the temple cafeteria, nor was he a strung-out gangster. Her focus shifted from the lightsaber to his hip, then back to his face.

"Where are we going?"

Before the case closed, Cora leaned forward and worked the blaster pistol free. Her gaze passed over him again; she'd burst into tears at the diner, but that little release had allowed her demeanor to cool and harden.

"Don't focus on keeping me safe. Focus on leaving."

Her voice was cold, uncharacteristically so. Bitter, almost.

"Who's coming after you? The men from the club?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"I've not really given you a reason to trust me right now," he admitted. The injection brought clarity. Usually it honed his senses to a sharp edge, but now it was fighting other factors. His head was pounding right behind his eyes.

"You once..."

You once told me that you would always love me.

"They're dangerous people and if they lied then I don't know what they'll do."

Think, think!

He could negotiate with Big Nasty, but the man had already failed to hold up his end of a bargain. They would only let him go if it cost them too much to keep him.

Or to kill him because he knew too much about their work.

His eyes narrowed.

"There's already a team in the lobby," he said. The emphasis on 'a team' suggested they were more than the thugs from the club.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"I am in no position to be picky."

She caught the way Makko looked at her as he trailed off. Her gaze softened for a moment and swept to the side, over to the empty liquor bottles and cigarra butts that rested on the table near the balcony.

Cora had so many questions. On some level, she thought that she understood why he'd left. Her feelings for Makko hadn't faded, but they'd been lost in a tangle of pain and shame.

You were supposed to be a Jedi Knight. She wanted to scream. You were supposed to have a better life than this.

"What exactly did they…" Cora clamped her lips shut and shook her head curtly. Now wasn't the time.

"Out the way we came, then?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko gave a single shake of his head.

It was a paradox. When she was around him she could bring chaos and confusion. But, she also brought him clarity and direction. He could be at his most off-centre, whilst still taking the most decisive action around Cora.

"I have to make a point. Make him stop now."

Or else it never would end.

A hologram appeared in the middle of the room. A heavy-set man with surprisingly pleasant features.

"Jenu, call off the squad. Please."

"Makko, you just got us worried is all," Jenu replied. He had his hands neatly clasped behind his back. He glanced just once towards Cora. "Come to the diner so we can talk."

"Jenu...I'm...I'm going now. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You don't want to hurt anyone, but you also don't seem so upset when you have to," Jenu replied. Another sideways glance at Cora.

He hadn't come this far because he was a cunning fighter. He was in his position because he knew the right things to say to twist people to his motivations. Jenu would be running for District mayor within a few years.

In this case, his problem was small. A little princess in the way of a good thing. Perhaps, if she saw a little of what Makko did she would no longer be in the way. There was a big difference between a fling with a handsome rogue and covorting with a real criminal.

"I'm not..." Makko started.

"I'm not asking Makko, I'm telling you."

"Fine. We'll do this your way."

Makko cut the holo call. He picked up something else from beside the sofa. A metallic mask.

"Cora, I have to make a point or he won't leave me alone."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora took a step back as the hologram flickered into existence.

Jenu?

So this was Nasty Jenu, a high ranking member of the Fractal State cell. At least, that was what she'd been able to glean from her informant. He looked disarmingly amiable, a surprise, but it did nothing to smooth out his vicious reputation.

Cora knew how easily a mask could be worn, and what terrible things it could hide. She had seen that up close and personal with Horace.

She stiffened when he glanced towards her. Once, twice.

You don't want to hurt anyone, but you also don't seem so upset when you have to,

Cora's gaze did not waver from Jenu's projection, but Makko would feel her tense, and even notes of apprehension in the bond that linked them. Very slowly, the pieces were falling into place.

The call ended. Silence fell between them for a long moment before Makko spoke again. Cora's gaze bounced from the mask, to Makko, then to the space where Jenu had been. She sighed, heavy and exasperated. Both hands rose to her head, fingers pressing into her temples and along the ridge of her brow, eyes fluttering closed.

"This is insane," She hissed. "Just what have you been up to, Makko? I don't know exactly what you did, but I'm sure that it was stupid."

She figured he’d been up to his old tricks; slicing, maybe selling spice. This felt…darker.

Cora opened her eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. She'd never seen Makko so focused, so determined about anything before. Except for, well…

"Alright." Her fingers slid down his arm, grasping his hand in a tight squeeze.

I have you.

"But I'm coming along."

They were walking into danger, and they both knew it.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"Turns out more stupid than I thought..." Makko started to say.

At her touch he fell silent. He turned his head and watched her hand trace down his arm. A shiver ran up his spine.

He had come back to Denon and given up one future path for himself to try and save her from her existence. They had spoken of how, when Cora was older and had given Horace heirs, she would have more freedoms in life.

But knowing her suffering so intimately made that seem like an eternity. Briefly renewing their spark of passion, claiming her body had enabled his own vindictive streak.

That brief look of surprise on her face when he had pulled her forwards and they had been joined hip to hip. Surprise at her own infidelity soon lost to the now.

It didn't matter how many nights she spent on her back, grimacing at the ceiling, she belonged to him. The burned tattoo had sealed it: Horace had to die.

Clearly, Cora had thought the same.

Her touch reignited his feelings, made fantasy reality. He squeezed her hand tightly.

Makko felt ashamed: He hadn't thought of Cora enough in the last month.

"Of course you're coming along," he quipped. And for just a moment, that overconfident smirk was there and they could have been competing at a class on Coruscant.

Makko let go of her hand. His layer of focus returned and he slipped on the mask.

The three orbs returned, circling around Makko as he unclipped his saber. He had mastered keeping the connection to each of them using them as eyes and ears, but also distractions and weapons. Each held a retractable poisoned blade.

It struck him that he did not want to kill in front of Cora. He guarded himself against such distractions as he stepped out of the door and turned down the stairs. He repeated a Jedi mantra silently and guarded himself against all emotion.

"Stay behind me."

The three orbs went first, immediately confirming the positions of the squad and then smashing into lights. They started firing blasters before Makko rushed into the room.

He had turned himself to his Jedi training to try and shield himself from the pain. It had all been put into practise and tested on Denon.

He was fast, far faster than she had seen him move before. The hit squad were well armoured and organised. Makko took out the first with an elbow to the side of the head.

He dashed back across the room. One of them took aim, but a remote slammed into his arms and threw his aim.

Makko launched himself, feet first, over a desk and into another enforcer. He was laid out in a flurry of blows.

Makko finally activated his saber, making himself an obvious target in the dark. He picked blaster bolts out of the air. He had hoped they might have fallen back at this moment, but they stubbornly held their positions

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

It was jarring to watch Makko as he shifted from the boy she'd known into the man he'd been forced to become. The teenage hoodlum she'd verbally sparred with had barely been able to lift a small stone with his mind. Now, he juggled three remotes and bladework with startling ease.

Perhaps the most surprising was the shift in his demeanor. The cold, sharp focus in his movements, and the confidence with which he now held himself.

He'd surpassed her. Cora had always been ahead of him, but necessity had taken his skill forward by leaps and bounds. She'd fallen behind; Horace had taken her saber and suppressed her ability to connect with the Force. A strange mix of pride and shame rolled over her like a wave as Makko darted forward to engage the assault team. You'll just be a liability. That thought was quickly squashed, even as she held her breath watching Makko cut a path through the hit squad.

Blaster fire hammered the desk Cora had taken refuge behind, though Makko drew most of the attention towards himself. She didn't have her saber on her—that, as far as she knew, was still mounted above her dead husband's fireplace—so she relied on her ability to manipulate the unseen currents around them. Turning out the noise of the fight, Cora inhaled deeply and let her eyes flutter closed.

Her vision faded into nothing, but her other senses heightened as she searched the darkened room. She felt the furniture around them, the heavily armed enforcers, the walls, the ceiling…the lights that the remote orbs had smashed into earlier still sparked. Cora could not influence the flow of electricity, but she could try and control what was around it.

One hand extended forward, projecting her grip and wrapping tendrils around the casing of the broken lights. One forceful yank, and chunks of ceiling rained down on the Fractal State hit squad.

A bolt of plasma grazed her outstretched hand and she yelped, drawing her arm back with a grimace. Her other hand had been wrapped around the grip of the blaster she'd taken from Makko's case earlier, and she fired back.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko felt the ripple through the Force. He was far more accomplished in manipulating people and machines than the physical world directly. That had not changed. He was, however, more sensitive to movements in the Force and more attuned to his surroundings.

He was already moving as the first clumps of ceiling material came crashing down. He took advantage of the distraction to close the distance on the next gunman. A single swipe cut his blaster in two.

Through his connection, his instructing one of the remotes to extend it's blade and watch over them. The sharp segmented metal whip encouraged the man to keep his hands up and stay still.

He heard Cora's yelp. A flutter of concern pressed against the walls of his concentration. What he maintained was analogous to a Jedi battle trance and he galvanised his focus.

It made him forget one of his decisions. His lightsaber plucked a bolt out of the air, swinging to his right and down. Two steps and he swung up to his left. The enforcer's armour barely slowly the blade as it cut from underneath his right armpit to the left of his neck. He was dead, instantly.

It was easier to kill like this. Fractal State had provided the mask, but the Jedi the tools to separate his emotions from his actions.

Two remotes swooped down with blades retracted and slammed into the back of another. Cora's blaster fire came within inches of someone who dropped their own blaster and held up their hands.

Makko stood in the center of the room, breathing heavily.

"Blasters down, lay down, hands on heads. Don't follow us."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

A cacophony of sounds. Blaster fire trading, the crumbling ceiling, the hum of a lightsaber, and the strained gurgling cry of death. Cora had forgotten what battle sounded like, but now she was suddenly reminded.

Then, it was silent.

Makko's heavy breaths and the timbre of his voice cut through the deafening quiet. Cora peeked out from behind her cover to see the enforcers on the ground. Some were splayed out, limbs curving into unnatural angles from their wounds. Others had their hands clasped over their bowed heads as instructed. With careful movements, Cora stood and made her way to Makko's side.

Wide blue eyes scanned what she could make out of the carnage in the dim lighting. Her gaze lingered on one man who'd lost his arm, the telltale singe of a plasma blade stretching across his neck and up into his jaw.

Cora's stomach turned as her focus shifted to Makko. Cold, decisive, even though the mask. This wasn't him. This wasn't the Makko that she'd fallen in love with, and she couldn't decide how to feel. She reached out, tentative, into their bond, but retreated when she felt the hard shield around his mind. She wouldn't drag him out of the moment to express her concern. Not now, anyway.

Hairs prickled at the back of Cora's neck as she whirled around, firing a decisive shot into a hand pointing a blaster at Makko's back. The enforcer hissed in pain, and Cora only realized in the following moments that she'd initially aimed for their head. Something in her thought to nudge her aim a milimeter to the right.

It was something of a relief that she still felt an instinctual surge of protectiveness over Makko.

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

Makko had started to let himself drift out of the focused state. That meant that the sudden sound of a blaster, along with the warning through the Force sent his pulse racing.

He turned to see the offending gunman cradling their hand.

"Go on, that was stupid, down on the floor with the others."

Makko had told them not to follow him, but he knew Fractal State would have set other assets to that task. Shadow runners would be watching from a distance.

As he led Cora outside he slipped mask and saber into his jacket. The three remotes hummed away, upwards into the urban jungle. There were drones everywhere on Denon. The three would continue autonomously watching for danger and what Makko really feared now: snipers.

"We might need to go sideways rather than forwards," he said to Cora. "Remember the Coruscant train?"

He did. The trance over, his emotions unflured about her and back through their bond.

"But this is worse, cos we're in their district."

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"I remember the Coruscant train." She affirmed almost bitterly. That had not been a pleasant memory. At least, not at first.

The train bombing fiasco but worse. Tonight was shaping up just fine.

Cora bit her lip and glanced to the tangle of lights and tech above them.

"Is this…my fault?" She tilted her head towards Makko, suddenly apologetic. "They wouldn't have gone after you if I didn't show up unannounced, right?"

It was a poorly thought out plan on reflection, that she could just waltz onto Denon, retrieve Makko and leave.

"Why are they trying so hard to get to you?"

Makko Vyres

 

[Makko Vyres]

"Is this…my fault?" She tilted her head towards Makko, suddenly apologetic. "They wouldn't have gone after you if I didn't show up unannounced, right?"

"I didn't give you much of a choice did I? Going off grid. Timing could have been better, but we'll make it work."

A wink and a sideways smile.

"They'll stop if it less damaging to let me go."

"Why are they trying so hard to get to you?"

He thought about that as he turned down into a side street. The focus drugs did not sit on a single scale to be weighed up against the spice. They each had their own effects and his thoughts still turned slowly.

"I left once. They really don't want me to leave this time. Know too much, too important to them it seems."

He reached a railing and glanced down. It was a thirty metre drop.

"Can you make that?" he asked, knowing that she hadn't been permitted to practise some of the skills that truly made Cora unique.