The Run

[Aela Talith]

Empress Teta
[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Wes couldn't believe the amount of blood on the floor.

The red seemed to have spilled on every corner of the room, covering the smooth marble tile and soaking into every piece of furniture, fabric, and...his mind drew to a complete blank, he felt sick to his stomach, and then suddenly he turned away. His hand shot out to grab hold of the doorframe, his nose scrunching and then suddenly his stomach emptying itself. He threw up on the floor, bile spilling out to mix with the blood below as he coughed and retched.

His stomach turned, his breathing grew heavier.

For a few seconds everything seemed to become a blur. The smell, the stench of the bodies was the only thing that drew into his mind. He couldn't stand it, he could barely keep it together. His breaths grew heavier and heavier, then suddenly he turned to Alexia.

"We need to go!" There was no option, there was nothing she could say to stop him.

Before Alexia could even get a word in Wes grabbed her by the hand, practically wrenching her from the doorway and pulling her away from the building. His other hand still clutched the briefcase, but in truth his mind had all but forgotten about why he was carrying it. Instead he simply began to run, tugging Alexia along with him as he broke out into a fast spring out of the gates of the Estate and into the streets.

Wes didn't watch where he was going, he simply ran, glancing back only to make sure Alexia was keeping pace.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Nononononono.

There was a roaring in her ears. She couldn't think. Move. React. She felt so numb. And someone screamed - a shrill scream. Just as quickly, she realized it came from her own throat.

Wes said something.

A tug on her arm nearly yanked it from her socket. And she was running in heels. Her own ragged breath filled her ears and lungs. Dark hair whipped behind her. Sweat formed on her brow.

How long had they been running? Minutes? Twenty. Thirty?

Suddenly, she couldn't see. Eyes were blurry as hot tears filled them. There was a loud SNAP and one of her heels broke and she stumbled. Weight pitched wildly to the side.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Wes could practically feel her fall, the slight tug on his hand being enough for the Forger to half turn and reach out.

His arms instantly wrapped around her, the briefcase with the all important painting dropping to the floor with a slight clatter. The Forger was no hero, he didn't exactly fit the bill for gentleman or half a dozen other things that women wanted in their lives, but he wasn't a monster. He wouldn't, couldn't leave Alexia on the ground, running for her life from the same thing as he was. There was no telling what had killed the Countess, but he already had an inkling.

"We need to go." He told her. "Get back tot he hotel."

They would be safe there, mostly. The hotel had security, they stayed under assumed names, and at the very least they'd have a few minutes to catch their breath.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She blinked back tears and looked up at him. Her mascara was definitely running. It was clear she was in shock. And...why wasn't he gone?

She would've left him. Maybe. If she'd been carrying the painting. Why was he holding onto her?

She couldn't think too much into it, nor maybe should she. Nor could she because she kept thinking about those bodies. The blood. Stomach churned.

Hotel. That sounded like a good idea. The hotel. Then she could think again.

Chin nodded numbly. She was breaking down. Her mask was crumbling and she didn't want Wes to see. Palms pushed at her wet eyes and she straightened, hobbling on her broken heel.

"Cab," voice strained and sounded hoarse. "We need a cab."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

He waited for a few moments more, his arms still wrapped around her until he was sure that she was steady enough to stand on her own. His heart was still beating faster than he would have liked, his head hurt, and his vision remained somewhat blurry. The tips of his ears burned, as though something had gotten on them. He scowled for just a second. "Stay here."

Wes told her.

The forger had no plans on abandoning Alexia, none at all. This wasn't something he could really do without her, nor did he want to leave her to her fate. If what he thought was behind this was actually behind this...they were both dead, or at least marked for death. His lips thinned as he stepped out into the street from the alleway, his hand motioning up just in time to catch a speeder cab. The driver was a droid, safe, secure, he nodded and then motioned towards Alexia.

"Come on." He told her. "Grab the case."

They had to hurry.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Arms clutched tightly around herself as he left, shrinking in. Her entire body was trembling. She fought to keep it functioning and to stay in control.

It took Wes saying her name a few times to look up. She stared at him blankly for a few moments. Case?

Tear-smudged gaze drifted down. The case! The painting. The only card left in her hand. Maybe his too.

As if she was operating by a marionette, she grabbed the case numbly and hobbled to the cab, sliding in the open door Wes offered. The case remained in her lap and her arms wrapped around it like it was a life raft on a turbulent sea on Manaan. Limbs clutched it tightly as if that could stop her trembling.

"I'm dead," she finally whispered. "I'm dead. I'm dead," and now she couldn't stop. Maybe the breakdown couldn't wait for the hotel.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Wes slid in after her, immediately giving the droid where they wanted to go.

The automaton didn't seem to care that Alexia was breaking down, nor did it seem to care about anything that Wes said or did. The droid had likely been programmed to only take people to their destinations and that was it. Some profit making taxi cab company likely thought droids were better than people, and honestly Wes couldn't really blame them. Not that he was giving it any particular thought in that moment what with Alexia having a mental break down.

"Hey hey hey." He wasn't great at comforting people. "It'll be alright."

But he was a good liar. "We don't know what happened."

Though they secretly both already assumed.

"We'll get back to the hotel, figure it out, deep breaths." His arms wrapped around her as he tried to soothe her.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Head shook. She quieted for a moment staring blankly ahead. She knew he was lying. But she was desperate enough for lies. She NEEDED lies.

She couldn't stop shaking even with his arms around her.

It was Rasho. Had to be. But it also didn't make sense. She'd messaged him and he'd given her an extension. She hadn't told him where she was going just that she'd have the money soon. How did he know?! Why? Why has he sabotaged her from paying a debt?

Unless, he never wanted her free in the first place. He was toying with her. Making her suffer. She gulped. She was seconds away from sobbing and really losing it.

The cab stopped. She had to hold it in just a few seconds longer. She could do this. Find a mask. Build a mask with crumbling pieces.

Gulping, she pulled her head away from where it was pressing into Wes' chest. She nodded to him once and followed him out of the cab. The rest was a blur. She didn't remember any faces in the lift or lobby. And when they got to the room and the door safely clicked closed behind them, she wondered how they got there.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Wes didn't really think about anything on the way up through the hotel. He gave people polit smiles, waved, even made some small talk with a man that stepped onto the elevator to get to a higher floor where the pool was. Still, inside of his head he was freaking out the entire time. He questioned everything, wondered if he was about to get shot, thought about what he would do if he had to protect both himself and Alexia. Eventually however, they got through.

The door clicked shut, and Wes immediately spoke. "What the frak."

The Forger didn't sound angry, he didn't sound annoyed, he sounded as though he were at his wits end. None of his rage was directed at Alexia this time, none of the panicked worry or the heated arguing that would usually come with this stuff.

"It was Rasho." He said plainly as he wandered back and forth. "Has to be."

Who else would do this? In Alliance space, on Empress Teta.

No one would be stupid enough.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She flinched. It wasn't because of Wes. It was because she already knew what he said was true. Her legs didn't work anymore.

She found herself sinking to the carpet of the hotel room. She sat there, trembling, arms still clutching around that case with the painting, black dress hiked up around her legs. Then the sobs came - large, ugly sobs. Body continued to shake.

Any pieces of a lingering mask crumbled away. This was Alexia raw and scared and broken down. "How....did....he....know where?" Somehow messy words made it out between gulps, sniffles, and sobs.

"Oh my Maker," she sat up a little straighter. "He's never going to let me go. He had no intentions of accepting my payment."

And why was Wes still here?

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

"There's really only a few buyers who could afford that painting." That was a hard truth, but it was there.

"Plus people knew I was selling the painting." How else would the word get out. "Not a hard leap."

He frowned. "He probably killed...everyone who could want it."

That was probably two or three people, and knowing Rasho he would have absolutely no problem doing it. The Hutt controlled more than half of the underworld on Coruscant, and with that came a lot of clout and ability to do pretty much whatever he wanted.

This situation was...well fraked.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She wobbled to a stand. Jaw set. Palms pushed tears away from her cheeks.

Arms clutched the case tightly to her body.

Wes didn't ask for any of this and she was extremely surprised he was still here. Stupefied, actually. She owed him something especially since he might not get his cut. Especially since their lives were just turned upside down.

"Maybe I should...I could go to Rasho with the painting. Try to...reason..," she gave a hysterical laugh. Yeah right. Reasoning was out of the question. "Turn myself in. Put a bounty on me. That should clear you."

She nodded numbly, clearly not thinking. But she owed Wes at least that. She'd go now. Then everything would be okay. She just had to go.

She began turning and reached for the room door, shoeless and a hot mess.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

"No." He said as he grabbed her arm. "No no no."

Wes wagged his fingers. There was absolutely no way he was letting Alexia go anywhere near Coruscant, much less Rasho the Hutt. That thing didn't think rationally, it didn't have a plan, and it certainly didn't want to keep Alexia alive for some sick purpose.

If Rasho wanted anything, it was vengeance.

"Rasho will kill you." He said simply. "There is no way."

He took a breath. "None at all that I am letting you go back there."

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Her forward momentum was halted. Watery eyes looked at his grip on her arm. "Wha-at are you doing?"

If he kept stopping her, she'd lose her nerve at being heroic. She wasn't usually. "THIS is the only way. I'm trying to save YOUR skin! If I go, he'll forget about you and have no reason to bother you," she couldn't really guarantee that, especially with Rasho. But in her mind in the moment, it made sense.

"Don't pretend like you care because I know that you don't." Arm tugged in his grip. She knew he didn't care because she was an underworlder too. No one cared. Unless it was about themselves.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

"Look." Now he sounded annoyed.

"I'm not in love with you." He was making that clear, honestly he didn't feel one way or another about her. She was just another Thief, another contact. Sure she was nice enough, and pretty, but he wouldn't throw everything away from her. "But I'm not going to let you kill yourself."

That was it, pure and simple.

His hand remained tight on her. "You go back, you die."

Pure and simple.

"I'm not letting you do that." He shook his head. "I'm not a monster."

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She blinked up at him and stopped her struggle momentarily. How did he go to declaring his unlove for her from her outburst that he was just a selfish underworlder? Did he actually think that she thought...

"Good! I didn't think you were and I don't want you to be! That is the furthest thing from my mind and I never said," voice trailed off. How did they get on this again?

Right.

"I'm just trying to FIX this. I'm NOT in love with you either." Was she getting a little defensive now? Sure. But her emotions were already fried. Being in love with someone after a few days was ludicrous.

"I don't hear you coming up with any ideas! How're we going to fix this without one of us getting killed?" She stated down at his fingers around her arm.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

"We're going to run." That was more than obvious.

There was no way either he or Alexia could fight Rasho, he was pretty sure even Jarba back on Nar Shaddaa wasn't going to do that. There was also no way they could go back to Coruscant, and imagining any form of resistance was...well impossible.

"Rasho doesn't have that great of a reach." He told her as he slowly pulled her back away from the door and into the room. "He can't really go outside of the core."

Not without friends.

"So we head to the mid-rim." Easy. "Better yet, the Outer Rim."

Or wild space.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Wes was met with less resistance as her feet dragged less and less the more he talked as he guided her away from the door. She blinked up at him. She'd traveled a lot with the circus but they'd never gone to the outer rim.

"Outer rim? But it's so...uncivilized out there." She was about to say dangerous but definitely not more than the situation they were in now. She'd heard stories, though. "There are hyperspace vortexes that make you mad. People don't even have refreshers!"

She was still coming down from that hysterical high and for the first time in her life, she really wanted a death stick.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

For a second, Wes didn't say anything. He only stared at her.

The Outer Rim wasn't exactly deadbeat and backwater now. There were planets that were quite developed and nice, though Wes couldn't pull up any of them off the top of his head. There was also of course the logic that if they went to the outer rim they wouldn't die.

That was really the important thing.

Still Wes couldn't bring himself to say anything, he only let Alexia go and stepped further into the room.

He walked over to the bed and just sat down, looking up at her like a sad puppy.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She stared at him. Palms pressed against her mascara smeared face for a moment, blotting everything out. Eyes squeezed closed. She rubbed any lingering moisture away.

"Mkay," voice was muffled beneath her palms. Hands slowly withdrew down. It was hard. The Underworld on Nar Shadda and Coruscant had been home for so long. Not safe or easy but home. Familiar. Everything would be new now.

The unknown.

"We can keep our aliases to start. Then maybe get some new ones midway. We make it there or...wild space. We survive....," voice trailed off. Wes had no obligation to her. If anything, she had one to him. If she'd known this would happen, she never would've hired him. Because she didn't betray her own unless they betrayed her first.

"If you think it would be easier and safer, we can go separately." She wanted to give him an out because he wasn't a monster. Still, she didn't trust herself. If things got too hard, would she run to Rasho just to end it all?