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enigmaticexplorer · 12 hours ago

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Very happy to see Hunter offer to go with Lyra, but that she accepted him! Him being protective of her had me grinning.

But now I'm no longer smiling with that ending. What's going on, Lyra? Why are you apologizing? Why are you sneaking out?

Ch 20: Keytoll

~ Master List ~ Previous Chapter ~ WC: 2.6k

Author's Note -- I couldn't resist publishing this a lil early... I'm excited for the next few chapters!!

“Hunter!” Lyra burst through his shop door. “Hunter?” she peered around the counter, stepping back in surprise as he appeared from the back. “Hey! Sorry... Um… Listen, I have to go. Urgently. There’s an old friend of mine that I’ve been trying to find for years, and she just contacted me and is trying to find a safe place to disappear. I’m taking the next shuttle to Keytoll to meet her.”

“Alright,” Hunter said slowly. His brow furrowed. “Though last I heard, Keytoll is a fairly popular outpost for the Empire… Not exactly a good idea…”

“I have no choice,” she said, with a fervence that hinted at a much greater depth.

“You trust this person?”

“I’d give my life for her in a heartbeat.”

“Wow. That’s big talk for you.”

“I mean it.” Her earnestness was compelling, and Hunter nodded slowly, eyes darting from her to the ground as he considered the options.

“You gonna be safe?”

“I mean… I’ll do my best,” she said with a helpless shrug. “I’ve gotten this far.”

“Want some backup?”

“What?” She looked up at him quizzically.

“Want… Some help? A second pair of eyes? Extra protection?” He was offering it as vaguely as possible, but realized with each passing word how much he wanted her to ask him to come along.

“I don’t want to ask you to do that,” she said, averting her own eyes now. “This is my own issue, not your burden.”

“I know,” he nodded, untying his apron with a calm intentionality now. “But if you’ll have me, I’m coming.”

“Okay… Um, thanks. That really means a lot. But at any point if you change your mind, it’s okay…” She shifted anxiously from foot to foot, still nervously staring at the floor.

“I’ll meet you at the station,” he confirmed with a nod, reaching out to grasp her hand as she turned to flit back out the door. They exchanged a meaningful glance, and he squeezed her hand before releasing it and watching her leave.

* * *

The off-world transport was a clunky old thing that seemed to be under maintenance more often than it was actually running. It had a few routes to nearby systems, where travelers could catch a ride to more popular destinations, and Keytoll was a backwater planet in the Outer Rim that, aside from being a transportation hub, didn’t have much going for it. It was decently populated in its capital city, which shared a name with the planet, but the rest of it was dusty wasteland. The city was full of tall clay buildings that rose in slightly rounded squares and rectangles from the center outward.

Hunter had put together a bit of a disguise, a fabric wrap concealing his head and face except for his eyes and a thick, dusty cloak hanging from his shoulders. He wanted to be extremely forgettable, and in the arid climate of Keytoll, he’d look just like anyone else. Lyra already wore neutral, simple clothing, but he was surprised to see that she’d gone to great lengths to braid her hair up around her head so its length was impossible to tell, and the dramatic makeup on her face was definitely a contrast from the usual. Her eyes were framed by bold swipes of black that curved up at the ends and her eyelids were brushed with smoky dark gray. The gentle shape of her lips was made to look much fuller with liner and a splash of deep red. Everything about her features was not only accentuated but changed, and he was impressed with just how much she looked like an entirely different person by taking a completely opposite approach than he had.

She took his arm as they boarded the shuttle, the look in her eyes intense and difficult to read. They sat in the back where they could see everyone getting on, and he could feel anticipation coursing through her veins.

“You… uh… You look…” he began, but she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Like an underworld performer, I know.”

“Well, I mean…” he paused, deciding between two responses. “You’re the one who said it.”

She laughed, relaxing a tiny bit, and stole a glance at him before returning to her vigilant scan of the other passengers. “How did you know what they wear there? This is impressively accurate.” She gave the cloak a little tug, unable to resist one last lingering look at his hawkish eyes.

“Tech,” he said simply.

“Ah. Handy.”

“So do you want to tell me a little more about what we’re getting into?” he asked, his voice a little constricted. They’d both been so slow to open up to one another, but the way they’d nestled into each other’s lives and hearts was undeniable. He still wanted to respect her privacy, but this was a notably different sort of activity for her, and his curiosity was getting the better of him. And, more importantly, any mission needed solid intel and strategy to be successful. The ship’s engines came online, shuddering into motion as the boarding ramp folded up and the takeoff announcement began to play.

“Breslin is… a dear friend. Family, really. We got separated when we left Coruscant, and I was afraid she was dead from the way she just disappeared and never responded to my communication. She… um… worked with me on Coruscant, and I think she was feeling the same need for a change of pace when she left. But we’d talked about going somewhere together, and then she just… vanished.”

Hunter shifted in his seat, wildly uncomfortable with so many factors to consider. “So she suddenly found you again, now?”

“Yes, and her note was short, but it just sounded like she needed some help.”

Silence sat heavy between them for a while, Hunter feeling torn between so many courses of action. He hated going into a situation without his squad and some idea of what lay ahead, but it seemed like a relatively harmless sort of escapade, all things considered. There was a strong sense of protectiveness around Lyra, but he also had a deep desire to keep Xylo as unnoticed as possible, and each new person that learned of its existence was a potential threat to its safety and anonymity.

“You really don’t have to do this,” Lyra repeated, her nerves apparent in every movement.

“I know,” he assured, reaching over to take her hand in his. “It’s fine. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any action. Might be good for me.” He didn’t believe a word of what he said.

“Old habits die hard, eh?” she attempted, referring to what he’d shared about his time as a mercenary of sorts.

“Something like that.”

When they arrived in Keytoll, they made their way through the city, keeping their heads down and appearing as inconspicuous as possible. The city was bustling with activity, species of every kind shoving their way through narrow streets and kicking up dust as they went. It was just after dinnertime, so the restaurants were releasing full and happy patrons to find their way home for the night, and Hunter kept his hand on the blaster at his side, sharp eyes scanning constantly. They arrived at their destination: a very old-looking hotel on one of the edges of a small courtyard, and after a brief check-in under a fake name, Lyra opened the door to their rented quarters for the evening.

It was a surprisingly comfortable and clean-looking room compared to the rest of the hotel and the dilapidated buildings around it. There was a very basic kitchenette, a table with two chairs, a couple of windows facing different directions in the corner, a tiny couch facing a holoscreen, and, tucked in the back near the door to the refresher, a fairly large bed. Each lost in thought about certain aspects of their accommodation, they pushed their suitcases off to the side and locked the door, ambling about the room aimlessly after shedding most of their disguises.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Lyra said abruptly, fidgeting with her purse strap as she did when nervous.

“Maybe half of you will,” Hunter chuckled, sitting on one side of it to demonstrate just how small it was. “We’ll figure it out.”

A pause.

“So what’s the plan with the friend?” he continued.

“She’s meeting us tomorrow morning. The shuttle schedules didn’t really line up so this was the best we could do. Then she’ll come back with us on the afternoon departure.”

“Sounds simple enough,” he nodded. “Where’s the meeting?”

“She said she’d send her hotel coordinates when she arrives and we can figure out a place in the middle, or just meet back at the station. Whichever is safest.”

“Mmkay.” He stretched, sidling up to the windows in the corner to scope out the surroundings. “So, until then…”

“We eat!” Lyra snickered, rummaging in her back for the few ingredients she’d brought for a simple pasta dinner. “I figured it would be better than going out…”

Hunter grinned, shaking his head fondly as she also produced a bottle of wine and began digging in the cupboards for anything to put it in. Two plastic cups and a little while later, they were nestled on the tiny couch while pasta sauce simmered on the stove.

“What do you miss most about your action days?” Lyra asked, absently swirling the red liquid in her small cup. A sigh escaped Hunter’s lips as memories sprang to mind indiscriminately, each one demanding attention as much as the rest. But they all seemed gray… heavy… so much pain and loss that had gotten him to where he was now. “Sorry, maybe that’s not fun to talk about right now,” Lyra added sheepishly.

“No, there’s just… a lot,” he began. “I mean, not a lot that I miss. But some of it, I suppose. It was fairly cut and dry… Here’s the job, you take it, you do it. Then you wait around until the next one.”

“Sounds pretty monotonous.”

“Heh. I mean, if every mission being a different objective with a risk to your life in a new way is monotonous, then sure.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to downplay the dangers,” she corrected quickly. “I just mean… there’s not a lot of freedom for you to choose your own path? Although I guess you could at any point, since the jobs are all on an individual basis.”

“Yeah… But we were kinda in a groove for a while. And,” he hesitated, considering the similar conversation he’d had with Omega months ago. “It’s a little simpler because you have one straightforward purpose. Now… I don’t know. I sometimes feel like I’m living a lie.”

Lyra’s heart rate picked up noticeably, and she tilted to be able to face him more fully. “How so?”

“So much of my life was constant chaos, I never had much time to sit around and make my own choices. All this stuff, as wonderful as it is,” he noted, lightly stroking the back of her arm, “just feels… Too simple. Like it’s all going to fall to pieces somehow. And I’ll have been too distracted by all the fluff to have seen it coming or be able to prevent it.”

“I mean…” She struggled to find the right words. “What’s the alternative? Bounty hunting for the rest of your life? You’d always have to be looking over your shoulder.”

“Yeah,” he conceded. “Maybe I’m just too… whatever… to believe that it could really be this pleasant.

“Should I try to make it less pleasant?” she asked, her attempt at humor slightly hampered by her strong undercurrent of discomfort at his words.

“And how would you go about that?” he challenged, mildly amused.

“We could always get that girl to come and beat you up again.”

“Cheap shot,” he grumbled, elbowing her gently in the side as she chuckled, relaxing a bit more into her normal self. “Although I do think I need to exercise more,” he continued, “because my pants are getting a little too tight with all your delicious cooking.”

“We can start hiking up the mountain instead of cuddling on the couch all the time,” she suggested.

“That sounds terrible.”

“It really does.”

It was far later than usual when they finally sat down for dinner, the cozy details of their homes notably missing from the generic layout of the hotel room. They ate rather quickly around some halting conversation then wordlessly began getting ready for bed. After locking herself in the refresher for a while, Lyra emerged, having cleaned off all her makeup and loosened her hair back into a braid down the middle of her shoulder blades. She had a thin robe wrapped around herself, the hems of pajama pants poking out the bottom, and Hunter felt a wave of affection at the sight.

He’d brushed his teeth and washed his face in the kitchen sink, quickly changing into soft black pants and a long-sleeved henley while she was in the refresher, and his hair fell in loose waves around his face. Lyra busied herself by plugging in her commlink on the nightstand next to the bed, then, with nothing left to do, they stared at each other for a few moments, each fidgeting slightly while waiting for the other to talk.

“The bed is pretty big,” she observed, keeping her face carefully neutral. Hunter nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I don’t think anyone should sleep on that couch,” he added.

Moving as they spoke, they found themselves each on a side of the bed, pulling the covers back tentatively before climbing in. Lyra paused to remove her robe, revealing a ridiculously endearing pajama set with long pants, a loose button-up top, and a dainty floral pattern. Hunter hid a smile, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling, and Lyra did the same for a few minutes before finally rolling on her side to face him.

“I mean… We’ve slept on the couch before… Why does this feel so different?” she confessed, and he noticed the flush on her cheeks and the way she tucked her hands protectively in front of her chest.

“It doesn’t have to be,” he offered, lifting an arm to invite her in, trying hard to appear breezy despite his own pounding pulse and the intoxication of his senses from all that the situation entailed. She hesitated for a moment, subtly biting her lip before slowly scooting across the bed to tuck herself against his side, nestling her head into the soft crook of his shoulder and resting a hand on his chest. His arm held her gently, other hand laying atop hers, and he sighed in deep contentment.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” she murmured, nuzzling a little closer to his neck and sending a little shiver down his spine. He hummed his agreement, trying to focus on anything but the softness of her body pressed along his and the calm affection that radiated from her hand where it lay over his heart.

* * *

Early in the morning, the quiet buzzing of the commlink woke Lyra with a start, and she rolled over to look at it, casting a quick glance back at Hunter’s sleeping form. His shirt was twisted, pulled tight against the curve of his side as it rose and fell steadily. She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on the words on the screen, then got up and snuck into the refresher, emerging a few minutes later fully dressed.

She tiptoed over to Hunter’s side of the bed, unable to resist brushing a tendril of hair from his face, and she bent down slowly, caressing the side of his cheek as he remained unmoving. Indescribable depths of emotion swirled in her eyes as she gazed at his features, leaning in to press one last kiss to his temple.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, closing her eyes in a singular, poignant moment of regret before tearing herself away and slipping out the door.

Song: “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi

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