A Royal Escape

A Royal Escape

↬ Cal Kestis x Princess!Reader ♥

✧ Genre: fluff, a little angst from fighting, lots of action, & cute protective cal :)

✧  Word count: 2.4k

✧  Warnings: Normal star wars stuff, ex: killing stormtroopers

↬ fem! reader

✧  Summary: Taken and trapped in an Imperial base on the planet Kashyyyk, you’re hopes are low. They’re even lower the more you think about how long it’s been since you’ve seen any Jedi...

A foreign sound swished about and slashed through thick surfaces outside your highly guarded cell, disrupting your tossing and turning as you tried to sleep…but nothing had ever woken you like this. A beam of blue light shone like heaven itself coming closer to you in the dim, echoing, cell halls. The commotion, blasters, buzzing, and screams grew louder as you sat up right.

The guards surrounding your cell let out shrieks of pain like you’d never heard, collapsing as a blue ray sliced through each of them. Silence fell on the boy wielding the weapon in front of you. He fiddled with a fallen trooper’s belt and leaned towards your cell door, swinging it open. 

“Princess Y/N,” he breathed heavily, his chest rising up and down.

“Are you alright, your highness?” His sprightly eyes swept over your soft, pale blue robes. You observed him with stunned eyes leering on the white piles of stormtrooper behind him, your face still turned towards his.

“You…” you whispered thoughtfully, “you’re a Jedi.”

He nodded. “Yes, I was sent here by General Kunjo to rescue you.”

“I…” You hadn’t seen a Jedi in years. It felt like an eternity. The last Jedi you had seen was a woman who watched over you while in your palace on Naboo as a young child. You knew Order 66 had executed all…or maybe it was most of, the Jedi. The possibility that one was standing in front of you was almost impossible - but the kind shimmer in his blue eyes and the small sliver of hope inside of you convinced you he was telling the truth. The skillful way he held his lightsaber like it was a part of him definitely helped.

He reached for your hands while you stood staring silent, hunkering down slightly.

“We have to get out of here, okay? I can explain everything once we're out. C’mon, um— your majesty.”

Air pushed from your nose as you stiffened a light laugh, the corners of your mouth turning up as some of the tension in the air evaporated. 

“Though I do appreciate it, you may drop the formalities, Jedi…” 

“Cal…Kestis.” he spoke flatly, his mind preoccupied as he followed close behind you, eyes darting around the halls and corners. He glanced over his shoulder one last time as he stepped to stand directly in front of you.

You finally noticed a small droid sitting on his back. It’s head tilted as it beeped and booped quietly like a small pet.

“Shh, not now, BD-1. And no, don’t say stuff like that. Besides, I’m a Jedi, remember.” The droid beeped sadly in response, and you never in your life wished you’d known Droidspeak than in this moment.

You kept close to Cal, fear began bubbling around in your stomach the longer you tip-toed behind the Jedi. You hoped the exit was near and the troopers wouldn’t serve too much trouble, or that they just wouldn't be there at all. 

The ladder option seemed absolutely laughable as BD-1 sliced the door in front of you cracking it open swiftly. The air rushed through your hair as your eyes darted over more than twenty troopers stationed low, high, far, and extremely up close. One so close, that Cal used his hand to push you back to the safety of the small room you’d been in before, as your back hit the wall. It didn’t really hurt, but you’d noticed his hands hadn’t even touched you. The Force. A long forgotten feeling of happiness bloomed in your chest. It was short lived though, as you watched the Jedi ignited his lightsaber as he swiveled through two troopers, slicing one a bit further in hopes to distract the other two from yourself. One fumbled, caching himself then turning towards Cal. He shot his blaster hastily as Cal reflected the bolt of red, boomerang it right into the trooper's head. Before you could hear the sound of the stormtrooper’s head hitting the ground, the remaining one reached back towards you, grabbing your arm with a steel grip. You pulled and pulled, but there was no getting the trooper off of you. He gripped your other arm, pinning you down as your back met the chipping, metal floor with a booming thud.

The Jedi was reflecting blasters left and right outside the doors in front of you, taking down the men one by one before he turned back with panicked eyes.

“Cal!” You yelled as best your lungs allowed. They felt like they were being crushed into the ground. 

“Y/N!” He cried out, kicking the white armored guard off of you with a grunt. Cal sat on top of him, twirling his saber once before igniting it and pushing a hole through his chest in one swift motion.

“Are you—” before the Jedi could finish, you grabbed the blaster from the stormtrooper’s belt, holding the gun in your hand which had a familiar weight to your blaster back home. You’d had quite a bit of practice in your free time as you’d grown up. 

You ducked behind the door and peeked out, spotting one remaining trooper on the roof making his way to the stairs to get the two of you. You turned swiftly, the gun steady in your hands as you followed his body, shooting a single shot to his head. He fell with a pathetic scream, his body limp on the stairs.

Cal stood beside you, his eyebrows shooting up as his open mouth curved into a small smirk. He tilted his head, “Impressive. You’re pretty good with that thing.”

You raised your eyebrows back, smiling shortly before strolling out. There were a few more troopers on the level the two of you had walked out on, cool air blowing through your robes. Cal sliced through two as you shot another. He smiled back at you, ushering you to move towards him. 

Before you stepped forward, you heard feet hitting the ground quickly from back inside.

“Cal there’s more!” He jumped forward, slicing one as three more ambushed him, barely noticing you. You focused, steadying your hands again as you aimed at the first, hitting him right in the chest. Cal took out one. Two were still on him. The second was so close to your Jedi savior you almost didn’t shoot. But he wasn’t a normal trooper with a blaster, he was a scout trooper. He held a glowing electric staff, and Cal was hunkered over from the shocks set from his feet to his head. 

You breathed in loudly, holding it as you shot. Yes. 

The trooper fell as you ran to check on the Jedi.

“Are you okay?”

He still had a hand on his stomach, his eyebrows crumpled, but he started up at you the way you had when you first laid eyes on him only minutes ago. Wonder.

Cal had heard you were pretty tough and could take care of yourself just fine, but he honestly wasn’t expecting you to be that good. You’d saved his life. And he was going to get you off this stupid, Imperial controlled planet. 

He nodded. “Thank you. We need to get you out of here.”

“We need to get us out of here.”

The coast was clear as you ran to the edge of the landing area. But there was a problem. In front of you, the edge of the cold Imperial colors ended, replaced with a long, large hole of fog. You could barely see past it, but you knew Kashyyyk well enough that it was far.

How did he get in here?

Cal stood a little too close to the edge for your comfort. His eyes landed on a long vine in the middle of the large, gaping ravine right below his feet. 

He turned around. “Okay, you stay,” he walked back towards you, pointing a bit closer to the edge than where you stood, “right here.”

Your face questioned him, but your mouth refused to open.

“I’m gonna jump and grab that, and when I swing back, grab onto me.

“What!? Are you crazy?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“It’s how I got in here and it’s how we’re getting out,” he said in a surprisingly calm voice. 

You shook your head, your brows tightening nervously. 

“I’ve done this loads of times before. We’re gonna do this and then we’ll be out.”

You nodded frantically.

While you were busy pretending this was all a sick dream, an ear piercing noise lurched from the vine covered speakers on the Imperial base.

All guards to the left port take off strip and attack. Bring back the girl alive. Kill the Jedi.

The monotonous message repeated a few times, but you weren’t sure if that was the nasuanting echo in your head or in real life. 

You watched as Cal’s eyes wided for less than a second before a look of determination wiped off his scared one. He ran, no, sprinted faster than you’ve ever seen anyone move towards the vine. He leaped as his feet hit the edge, gripping the rope as he began to swing. 

He swung back and forth once, slowly.

The doors behind you opened.

He swung a second time. 

You heard feet, far too many to count, on the ground.

He swung a third time. 

The sound of electricity buzzing behind you made your arms shake in fear, but you couldn’t turn around. Cal finally swung back close enough to get you.

You reached as long as your arms allowed, gripping onto the boy and he fastened an arm around your back. The journey was short, and frankly terrifying even with your eyes closed. 

You felt his grip lose the rope as he breathed out heavily and your legs hit the ground.

He grunted, standing up one knee at a time as his droid beeped. He laughed momentarily, bringing a hand to yours. His strong arms pulled you up. 

“He says you’re brave. Even he didn’t like swinging at first.”

You huffed out a laugh, staring back at the defeated, frankly pissed troopers behind you. They had failed in keeping you in their quarters, and more importantly, in killing a Jedi. You could only imagine the fate they would be sentenced to. You cringed at the thought, following Cal up the rough green hill, trying to admire the lush trees and flora around you.

The walk, to what you were assuming was the Jedi’s transport, was not terribly long. You’d definitely made longer journeys, but it felt short as you both spoke and laughed, BD-1 joining in occasionally. 

The Mantis, as Cal has told you, came into your view over a wide hill. It was long and shiny, in the shape of a large ‘L’. 

Cal fiddled with his comms before speaking, “We’re back, Cere.”

“Thank the Maker you didn’t get yourself killed,” A wise sounding female voice replied from his wrist, “or the princess - who I’m assuming is also in one piece?”

Cal looked over to you. “Yup. Though I’m sure if she’d had the keys to her cell she could've made it back on her own.”

His word choice made you blush. You’d only really ever been complimented on your looks, ability to follow orders, or your ‘royal’ skills, from the day you were born. It felt overwhelming lovely to have someone compliment your physical skills. Especially a Jedi. 

“Well I’m glad you’re both safe.”

As you neared closer, a woman dressed in gray and beige with short hair came towards the both of you. Your mouth opened before she could get a single word in.

“Master Junda…” 

“Hello, Y/N. It’s very nice to see you again.”

“Wait.” Cal stated, confused by the reunion he was extremely unaware of.

Cere and yourself headed towards the ship, Cal trailing the two of you like a lost dog.

“You two know each other?”

“She knew my Jedi guard who protected me on my home planet,” you replied.

“Oh…huh.”

“Small galaxy, huh?” Cere teased, welcoming you into her ship. 

She called out to the pilot, Greeze, and walked to the cockpit, signaling to him to take off.

Cal sat on the bright orange sofa in the main area and you followed.

“Thank you, Jedi.” 

“You may drop the formalities, princess.” he said, smirking. 

You rolled your eyes and sat next to the boy, studying his face before the small droid who’d accompanied you came into your sight.

“And thank you as well, of course.”

It booped excitedly, its cute, robotic voice going low to high. You laughed at the response, sure you don't need to know the language to understand how he was feeling. 

He beeped again, this time in a softer manner, looking questioningly at Cal.

“She doesn’t…you said a lotta stuff back there, how am I supposed to translate it all?”

Your eyes narrowed in curiosity, wanting desperately to know what the droid had said about you. “I was sure he only spoke once while we were on the base...”

The Jedi rolled his eyes and sighed, bringing a gloved hand through his soft looking hair.

He gave a lazy look of annoyance to his droid, who simply booped back like he was laughing, razzing the boy to speak.

“He just said that you are pretty, and that we…” He shook his head away from you as you stifled a laugh, accompanied by a bit of warmth on your face. 

Knowing how nervous Cal was acting in front of you when he wasn’t in his element on the battlefield, all shy and timid, gave you a surge of unexpected confidence. 

“Where’d he heard that from?” Your voiced feigned innocence, an obviously sarcastic tone that even BD-1 picked up on. He raised and lowered his legs quickly, booping as he jumped on Cal’s shoulder, looking from Cal to himself.

“Oh, from him?”

BD nodded.

You smiled. Cal’s hand reached behind his neck, embarrassment laced in his features as he moved awkwardly. 

“Princess,” Cere called, “we're landing.”

You nodded, standing before turning around to look at BD, who had jumped down and take your place next to Cal.

“Well, don’t tell him,” You started, whispering loudly to the droid as Cal watched in adoration as the two of you interacted, “But I think he’s quite handsome as well.” 

You kissed the droid's head and exited the ship, turning around just outside the door as you waved one last time, your mouth outlining the words, thank you. 

Cal’s mouth went in a humble line as he tried smiling. He nodded once and mouthed back, anytime, as a smile broke out onto his face. 

Matchmaker

↬ fem! jedi! reader x Nightsister Merrin ♥

✧ Genre: fluff

✧ Warnings: none flirty merrin

<3 author’s note: I love Merrin sm and wanted to make something for her as I don't see much out there for her :)

✧ Summary: You had joined the Mantis Crew a month or so before Cal, prevously hiding after Order 66 as a worker on Coruscant where you studied Dathomir. Now, as Cal finishes his quest from Dathomir, he heads back to the ship with Merrin, where you await them…

The door to the Mantis slid open, two pairs of feet echoing like alarms on the hard ramp. You startled from your seat on the peach toned couch as Cal came into view, holding the object you were hoping he would, the Astrium.

“You found it.” Cere said softly, a hopeful tone in her voice. 

“We can open the tomb on Bogano.” Your voice came out like a breath of release, astonishment and possibility swimming through your eyes and in your head. 

“Oh, well who's this?” Greeze questioned grumpily, glaring up at the figure dressed in red stood next to Cal. You hadn’t even noticed her at first, her presence startling you and the rest of the crew. Your focus had been too strong on the small, dainty object in Cal’s hands. He was holding it like it was all the galaxy, like it was a fragile star. 

You finally took your eyes from the object to see…she had white hair tied in a relaxed bun on the back of her head, a loose strand at the front hanging from her head. Her skin was a cool, light gray, complimenting her dark lips. Tattoos, or markings of some sort framed her face like a painting. 

Beep! BD-1 chirped. 

She’s coming along… 

“What's that supposed to mean?” Greez asked, crossing his arms.

It means I’ll be joining you,” the figure spoke, with a deadpan voice. It was the first time you noticed the darker shades of gray painted in shapes on her and hands that matched the ones on her face. It was quite pretty, you had to admit, and definitely intriguing. 

You were livid with anger when Cere advised Cal go on this mission on his own. You had been studying Dathomir and the Nightsisters (and brothers) for years. But of course, the Mantis was out of rations. It had been a miserable day without food until you landed on the red, hazy planet. 

You knew of every plant, creature, what to eat, what not to, where to step…so you stayed near the ship, gathering supplies and guiding Cal over your comms through the dark corners and paths of Dathomir. 

But now, a living Nightsister stood, in the flesh, in front of you. 

“Cere, Greez, Y/N, this is Merrin.”

“She's a witch, isn't she?” Greez spoke, words shaky. Before you could correct him, the newcomer beat you to it. 

“A Nightsister. Your fear is unnecessary.” Her voice was calm and stable, like each word she said was a fact. 

“I couldn't have gotten the Astrium without her. We fought Malicos together,” Cal explained. “I trust her.”

“And we trust you,” Cere spoke. “You,” she looked at Merrin, caution in her eyes, “will have to earn it.”

“Okay…fine.” Greez grumbled. “Grab some seat! as long as she doesn't try anything funny.”

“Welcome aboard.” Cere said in a more approving voice, walking past Merrin. 

Cal tilted his head to the side, hands on his hips as he turned to the Nightsister. He seemed to pick up on your lingering eyes on the girl, looking at you once before turning back to Merrin. “I think they like you.”

You turned your head quickly to the droid sitting next to you, Cal smirking at you as Merrin sat on the couch not too far from yourself. “Be-be-beep!”

Her forehead scrunched as she leaned down towards the droid. “I don't know what you're saying.”

Cal laughed, strutting to the front of the ship where your crewmates sat. Of course he would leave you with her.

You sat for a moment, trying to build up some confidence to talk to Merrin. You had so many questions for her. What was it like living on Dathomir? How did her magick work, exactly? How did it work off-world? How was she still—

BD-1 bumped your arm with his small head, repeating what he had just asked Merrin, signaling you to translate. 

“He says he likes your tattoos.”

She looked at you, squinting her eyes in confusion. He beeped again. You couldn't help yourself, and you laughed.

“What is funny?”

“He said you guys are matching.” Merrin peered down at her crimson clothing and white skin, before deciding to say, “I guess we are. Your name is…”

“Y/N.” She nodded once. “Merrin.”

“Um… have you ever been off-world?”

“Off of Dathomir? No. I stayed with my people all my life.” You weren’t sure what to say.

“I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Don’t be. The Jedi are not responsible.” 

“I lost all my friends and family too. Well…except for Cal, I guess. But I didn’t meet him until after…

“The Jedi purge.”

You looked at her with crinkled brows and almost spoke when she continued, “Yes, Cal Kestis told me all about what happened. I…understand what you went through.” 

You nodded, a smile finding its way to your lips.

“You learn to make a new family when you lose your first one,” you said. “Everyone here is pretty great. Well, Greez not all the time, but…he’ll warm up.

She nodded, peering over you. 

“Cal tells me you were studying Dathomir’s culture and the planet.” 

Of-kriffing-course he did.

“Oh, yes…I um, did for a few years on Coruscant, helping mainly with writing about the culture and the Nightsisters.”

“Well I would like to read your work and see if it is true.”

“I don’t have any of the writings with me…”

“Oh. Of course,” Merrin whispered.

You looked at your lap, a blush crawling over your cheeks and you second guessed your past job on Coruscant. Maker, you hoped for your sake that it was all factual.

“Why does your face look like that?”

“What?” You gasped.

“It seems you have something you want to ask…am I wrong?”

“No, I just…I didn’t study Dathomir for more than four years and I…

“Would you like to learn more?” She looked at you accusingly, but almost playful. You nodded, not trusting your voice. 

Merrin took the lead, pulling out a sharp, jagged glossy half sphere. It looked like a piece out of the moon.

“I’m sure you understand that Nightsisters use magick and the NIghtbrothers do not, and that we rule over them.”

You nodded again, BD nodding as well as he watched the green glow from Merrin’s spherical object.

“Our magick uses the force but is different from Jedi. I can disappear and reappear at will, move objects, and can even reanimate—

“The dead,” you finished. “Sorry.”

“Do not apologize. You know a lot about Nightsisters. I’m impressed.” Merrin stood up, walking over leisurely yet swiftly up a few steps to the Mantis’ terrarium. She moved like smoke, graceful and satisfying. 

“Hm. You found bleeding gut and mushlings.”

“Yeah, Greez likes to keep the plants behind the glass but I’m hoping, since we left Dathomir, that he’ll let me sneak my hand in there every now and them for mushlings to use with our meals.”

 Merrin leaned in closer to the terrarium over your shoulder. She stood a few inches taller than you, her face closer to yours than almost anyone’s had ever been. 

“Hey you two! We’re landing soon, grab some seat.” Greez’s voice nearly made you jump, Merrin having no reaction. She stepped back to the couch, this time the one closer to the cockpit where the rest of the crew sat. 

You sat next to her, BD jumping over the holotable to join Cal in the front.

“This ship possesses fascinating technology,” Merrin stated.

“The Mantis is…” you leaned over to peer into the pilot area, your heart warming for your now family. “Wonderful.”

The ship jolted as you went through some turbulence, Greez muttering an apology as Cere teased his flying skills. 

Both your hands flew to the seat below you, preparing to hold on, when your right one caught a cold hand, the woman attached to it looked at you through long, pretty, dark lashes.

You let go, muttering an apology. You were sure your face was as deeply red as her clothing.

Merrin tilted her head, squinting her eyes as she studied you. 

“You are quite easy to startle, Y/N.” Your name rolled off her tongue through her accent like the ocean’s on Kamino. It made your face flush. And you breathed out a shaky breath. The ship landed, and the shaking stopped, the clicking of seatbelts letting you know it was okay to stand up. 

“I…”

“It is alright. It has been a long time since I’ve had a…”

Merrin’s entrancing brown eyes fluttered down to her hand, which ghosted over yours. 

You kept it in place, as her black painted nails led her soft fingers to interlance with yours. 

Cal came from the cockpit, the same look of excitement plastered on his face before he went on any adventure - but it was swiftly replaced with a smug one. His eyes darted over your hands once as he lifted his eyebrows at you as he smirked, jogging past you and through the ships doors with his small droid on his back.

Your comm sounded as his complacent voice came through your ear, “I knew you two would get along.”

Could you please do BF headcanons for Luke Skywalker? Thanks :3

your prayers have been answered bae🙏🙏 luke bf headcanons is up now ! <3

Luke as Your Boyfriend

↬  Luke Skywalker as a Boyfriend Headcanons ★

Anon:  Could you please do BF headcanons for Luke Skywalker? Thanks :3

✧ Genre: fluff

✧ Media: headcanon / bullet-point

↬ gender neutral reader :)

- Literally so clingy 

- Like annoyingly clingy

- But if u get annoyed at him for it he gets worse LMAO

- He's soooo supportive of anything you set your mind to

- You wanna travel to EVERY outer rim planet?? Sure !!

- Wanna use his lightsaber??? Okay !!

- Just rly sweet

- v unlike his father LMAOO

- Not as romantic as anakin, for sure more silly

- Bro is goofy fr (im sorry)

- he takes his work so serious but likes to let loose and be able to take himself less seriously when he’s around u <3

- He always likes to help you with whatever it issss

- Cleaning, work, hobbies, anything

- He gets jealous kinda easily but its only bcs he’s so skeptical

- But ur reassurance makes him feel better :)

- Expect unique gifts for birthdays & holidays

- Man likes to think exclusively outside the box

- He for sureee teaches u how to meditate

- Whether ur force sensitive or not

- It brings him so much peace & he wants you to be able to experience that as well :)

- He’s very intuitive so sometimes he knows how ur feeling before u can describe it

- He lovesss to travel🪐

- You guys take lots of trips to far off places

- He also really loves to help others

- So u gotta remind him to care for himself sometimes

- loves to cuddle

- Or just like… lay his head on ur lap

- Is super okay with (and sometimes prefers) silence

- He doesn’t find it awkward and nor do u bcs its more comforting

- No pda LOLL

- that shit is reserved for home 🙅 🙅

Anakin as Your Husband

↬  Anakin as a Husband & Father Headcanons ★

@arichardson​: “can i have anakin as your husband and a dad headcanon please!!<33”

Anon: “hi!! can i please have fluff with anakin as a dad and your husband?? <33”

✧ Genre: fluff 

✧ Media: headcanon / bullet-point

↬ gender neutral reader :)

(this is like... post Anakin turning to the dark side / what could have been)

First of all

his charm does not waver once u guys are married LMAO

still the cockiest mfer you know😏😎

he swore he could never love anyone or thing more than you until your children came along.

he’s lowkey highkey the worst cook in the world

but still tries to help out regardless

what he is really good at though !!!

is making your kids listen

espcially when they need to do something they dont want to

hes so good at getting them to clean or help out

LOVES taking them outside to do stuff

one of your kids is obsessed with flying 

and the other insists they are a jedi master.

okayokay besides kids

is actually a really good husband fr

sososososo protective 

almost too much sometimes

but you know it’s completely out of his undeying love for u

he would do anything to protect you and your kids

though he’s out quite a bit doing ~jedi buisness~ 

his fav thing ever is to lay in bed with you at night

just the two of you

and he deffo hold you like a teddy bear HAHAHA

alwayssss reasures you whenever you have doubts of anything

literally he will fix any problem u have

he’ll do anything quite literally

( 😳)

he totally wants to buy the stupidest shirts for your kids when they are first born

like the ones with writing on them that only adults find funny

and you’re like absolutely not.😐

the next day you come home to your kid wearing a shirt that says, “of course I’m awesome...just look at my dad!” and u actually almost kill him HAHAHAHA

hes competetive w ur kids

HAAHAH like any games he plays with them

holotable chess, using sticks and pretending to have lightsaber fights, racing to his ship where he shows them how to fly it, you name it.

Literally competes with them

none of that “i’ll let them win” stuff LMAO

but when they get upset ofc he will and he’ll totally comfort them

He really loves spending time with all of you

but you were his first love at the end of the day

and sometimes he wants nothing more than to just be alone with you in each other’s presence :’) 

Makes Ahsoka babysit

“This is part of your Jedi training, Snips.”

“Master--” 

“Don’t make me tell the council you’re not listening to my orders.”

A Candle in the Dark - 1

↬ fem!reader x cal kestis 

Chapter 1: Crash 🕯︎

Once a padawan before the tragic events of Order 66, you crash on Bracca, thanks to a broken ship piece and the bounty on your head. Pain and suffering were all you knew. You didn’t think Bracca could change that, but the galaxy works in peculiar ways...

✧ Genre: ANGST this chapter is sad (i promise fluff later on)

✧ Media: chapter series

✧ Word Count: 1.9k

!!! Warning tags: star wars stuff - death, violence, blood, swearing. reader deals with ptsd and reader wants to die lowkey - basically reader is going through it. reader gets hurt, details of ship crashing.

 If you aren’t sure you can read this based on these tags - no worries! I have plenty other flufflier works on my masterlist :) <3 Take care, and enjoy ! 

Air filled your lungs in one sweeping motion like a cold, swift river. Your vision lit up with sparks as icy air encompassed your body like a rough blanket. You were alive. You could feel your head recalling the events that led you to where you were as each second passed. Mist sat delicately over your messy hair and bruised, cut body. Your arms and legs shook with shock as the adrenaline slowly left you like a broken faucet.

It felt as though you had woken up from a dream, regaining consciousness and countless thoughts each moment. You turned your head once your body allowed, eyes raking over your legs. Pain shot through your right foot to your head, exploding in your brain at the sight. A massive, oozing red gash adorned your leg, water and blood pooling on the crumpled metal that was once your ship beneath you. 

You could've sworn you could hear the words in your head out loud from how loud your head was pounding. You lifted a timid, shaking hand to your temple, just to make sure this was all real, to ground yourself. You were not ready to touch your leg, but your head felt much worse than you’d imagined and your instincts were begging you to do so. A cold shock seared through you as you felt liquid on your fingers, a viscous crimson sticking to your hair and dripping down my face. You’d hit your head, and hard. The crash had shaken your whole being, and you were in shock you weren't dead. Though you were relieved to keep living, a small part of you didn’t want to. How easy it would've been to let death pick you gracefully from the fallen ship in mangled pieces scattered all over Bracca - to be lifted from the burden of being Force sensitive. 

But that was not your reality. Rather, you were laying uncomfortably; cold, wet, and bleeding out in the pieces of your destroyed cruiser. You had an odd feeling you’d never make it off of Bracca. At least, not easily. You would leave in a similar manner to how you came in. Chaotic, fire-filled, and with destruction…

As you sat, trying your hardest to gain some sense of balance and strength to finally lift yourself, your mind drifted to the actions that resulted in your condition. A broken fucking baffle of all things. You should’ve known repairing one would’ve cost you an arm and a leg. 

Spies, fugitives, scavengers, and scum alike on the run had been using baffles for as long as you knew. It was the oldest trick in the book. Didn’t want your energy signature seen? An engine baffle would make it invisible to others in the galaxy. Yours had been your saving grace until it broke. Which is how you were found, how you were mercilessly shot down, and the reason you found yourself in the middle of a large strip of hard ground on Bracca surrounded by other wrecks and pinces of ships. You nearly blended right in.

You then thought about how you really ended up here. From the beginning. Blasters firing red shots of light held by your once friends, being shot at your other friends. Padawans and Masters both fell, a forceful headache enclosing your body as you tried to take yourself out of the moment. No more.  

You counted in your head, hoping by a miracle you could walk alright, let alone stand. Your hands gripped a piece of steel stuck out to your left, your right hand placed firmly as if the mucky, wet weather of Bracca would allow it. One, two, three. With tense arms you pushed as firmly as your enervated body allowed, groaning in pain as you felt the full force of your bleeding leg try to stand. You braced yourself on a piece of wall, if you could even call it such, leaning against it like you were a small child holding onto your parents legs. Kriff. Your leg hurt. God, did it hurt. Each time you thought the pain would subside, it got worse. The panic of not being able to do anything set hard and fast, as tears dripped from your eyes. You didn’t try to stop them or wipe them away. You just let them fall. You wished you’d fallen like them, from the air, hit the ground…and just disappear. 

The wind nipped your face as you grew colder. Night was approaching as the light grey skies faded to a blueish, darker gray, large packs of clouds dotting over the sky.

It was time to find shelter. You had to move, walk, something. You moved your good leg first, groaning again as you stood straight up. The junkyard in front of you looked like a graveyard. Dark, still, and sad. There was an odd aura in the air that made your stomach swirl. You gulped and took another step, this time on your bad leg, which was not the greatest idea. 

You fell hard on Bracca’s surface, mud squelching as you made a rough impact with the ground. 

“Fuck,” you muttered. You thought it couldn’t get any worse than that when you heard a pair of footsteps that moved to ring throughout your skull. They were heavy but quick, pounding the mud deeper into the ground. You whipped your head around, pushing through the dull, constant pain in your head, and searing one in your leg, holding yourself up pitifully on the wet ground. 

Your eyes met a tall, rust-colored man who was of the Abednedo species. He had beedy eyes that were set far apart on his big face, his nostrils below his small eyes. The dark navy color of his suit nearly made him blend in with what seemed to be the single color of Bracca, if not for his large stature and orange vest. 

His brow bone furrowed as he took in your pathetic position. Legs tangled in the mud, torso twisted towards him with warm blood coating the left side of your face, as it dripped like melted ice cream. You weren't sure if it was the angle you were staring at him, or the way everything around you was spinning, but he looked like his first goal wasn’t to outright kill you. 

Instinct and memories of the last five years flooded your head as you told yourself he would. You were a stranger, no use to him: so you would die. But instead, a look of terror flooded his face as he began his plod to your crumpled body. 

“Hey, you okay?” He spoke timidly, almost as if he was afraid of scaring you. 

You grunted, trying to sit up to ready yourself for god knows what was about to happen to you, when this thick arms shot out as a maneuver to prove himself as an ally. 

“Woah, I don’t wanna hurt you, kid.” You relaxed, or more like slumped out of tenseness from exhaustion, though he didn’t seem to come with ill intent. He bent down next to your sprawled body in the mud, small eyes darting over your form. 

“Geez, you got busted up pretty bad, huh? Let me help you up.” He stood firm and tall, though his gaze didn’t seem the slightest intimidating as he held out a hand to you.

You stared at him for a while, lips in a flat line and eyebrows low, with eyes larger than you meant them to be. You unwillingly reached for his arm and he pulled you up. 

You did not in any way shape or form trust him. You’d meet creatures who’d play nice then turned their back on you after minutes, or even months. You’d met species who embraced their knack for blood, attempting to strike you down right away. You knew he was bad, everyone in the galaxy seemed to be today. But the bliss idea of death cradling you fighting with your aching knee and body caused your shaking arm to reach as pathetically as it could. He would not help you. That was just how it worked after you were forced from Coruscant. But you couldn’t find it in your tired heart or head to care. 

Your forehead tensed horrifically as your whole upper body followed, from your fingernails to your core. Fuck, it hurt to stand, even with a considerable amount of your weight leaning on the Abednedo. He seemed to have no words; yet behind his eyes you could tell how he was truly seeing you in that moment. Pathetic. To him you looked like a sad, injured kitten who needed help. 

In a flash you pushed off him to stand, wanting to do this shit on your own, but your flicker of confidence was doused the second you were straight up, eyes nearly meeting the ground before the man grabbed you with his large arms. 

“Kid, you can’t stand.”

“Stop calling me that,” you snapped. You barely recognised your own coarse, venom-filled voice. 

“Then what should I be calling you?”

Silence.

He sighed as he began walking, your body still leaning into his arm.

“I’m Prauf. This is Bracca, if you didn’t know. I’ve been uh…been working here for a while.” He took your silence as a chance to continue speaking to you, in hopes to distract the searing pain in your body. 

“We uh, used to rebuild these things.” He gestured out to the hundreds of shipwrecks and crashed parts surrounding your small path up the large, dark hill of dirt and scrap

“Now we just take 'em even more apart.” Your feet dragged on the gravelly ground, shoes sopping with mud. It felt like you were dragging bricks for feet. 

“I have to tell you, it’s not too exciting here, there’s, uh…not much to do. But you’ll get used to it.” Even the man you’d met less than an hour ago knew you were not getting off this trash planet anytime soon. 

“I need to learn more about you, kid, before the boss comes around. He’s not too fond of newcomers, especially those off-system by the looks of your cruiser.” You gave him a quizzical look, which he understood only half of when he spoke. 

“That’s what happens when you’ve been here for as long as me. I know every ship, cruiser, fighter, and piece that comes in and out of this place. You’ll learn if you haven’t got a knack already.”

“What makes you think I’ll work?” 

You'd expected the man to make a quip at you for finally speaking. Something like, “Ah, she speaks.” But you were learning that wasn’t that kind of person. Instead, he laughed lightly, air pushing from his far set nostrils. 

“Well that’s all there is to do here. You wanna fix that nasty gash on your head, you're gonna need some medical supplies and a place to stay. They won’t hand it to you without something in return.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“And I don’t think you are. You seem like one tough kid.”

“Y/N.” Your name escaped from your lips in a mumbled, but Prauf’s acute senses picked up on your single word.

He smiled slightly, slowing his pace as he gazed down at you. 

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.”