#i/shara needs to spare him the knowledge/realization that she ah. knew about. Things. as keeper.

[tiredassmage]

when the deed was done

Well, ask and ye shall receive @captainderyn xD Relevant to interests, the all of 5 minute goodbye Cipher Nine should have gotten with their best Watcher-turned-Keeper. And yet it still hurts, its still bittersweet, there’s never enough time - let along a good time - for them. </3 I warn for nothing except that they needed more hugs and I might need more tissues. ;_;

And if anyone asks, I hate timelines. Send help. xD

Intelligence dismantled. The Star Cabal crumbling. It’s time to say goodbye.

“Keeper.”

She turned around, a smile already reaching across her lips before her brilliant brown eyes had even landed on him. The familiar brush of eye shadow wasn’t enough to hide the darkness around them from him, but then they’d both looked a hell of a lot better than this.

Whatever greeting she was going to return was lost as Nine quickly covered the few final feet between them and she was enveloped against his chest, carefully cradled in his arms gripping around her as tight as they could without hurting her - as if he was somewhere between cautiously terrified she’d vanish if he didn’t hold her down and worried that any further pressure might break her where she stood.

Shara smiled as she buried her face against his chest and allowed her fingers to twist into his jacket. “Well, it’s good to see you, too, Cipher Nine.”

One hand carded carefully through her hair. His breaths were stuttered and measured. Shara nestled against him a bit more and simply waited.

“I couldn’t very well leave without saying goodbye to my Keeper, could I?” Slowly, he extricated himself from the embrace, drawing back to gently frame her face.

“I’m not that fragile, Cipher,” she said, gently brushing her fingers over his knuckles. The marks of Corellia had faded - no doubt Doctor Lokin's insistence paying off. He'd been restless during their final preparations.

Twice in a matter of weeks had she sent him into the fires, then. Time really should have only made it easier.

She didn’t have qualms with mission parameters. It wasn’t a part of her programming - who she was, and surely she had suggested worse than potentially sacrificing a single officer to avert a galaxy consuming war. And there had certainly been enough pressure, given the circumstances. Loathe as she was to admit it, her recovery was taking its toll and was slower than she would have liked.

It’s what she’d tried to tell herself, anyway. But this was Nine. Her Cipher Nine.

Concern deepened the knit of his brow. “Are you alright?” His eyes narrowed. “And don’t give me any of that scripted nonsense. I know you’re capable, Keeper. But I-”

She allowed him to see a tired smile, tapping a finger lightly against his lips to silence him. “I’ll manage, Nine,” she said. “I’ll just need time.”

“Of course.” A faint breath left him that might have been a chuckle, had it been given more space. “I won’t take too much. Minister says I need to get out of here. Back to work, I’m sure.”

“As will we all.” Shara breathed a quiet sigh, letting her gaze drop with his. A free hand toyed lightly with the neck of his jacket, feigning at straightening it. It’d look different for all of them. Even she found herself hard pressed to imagine just how, exactly, the future was going to look without Intelligence. They’d seen their better days.

It was hard to imagine it’d only been some three years ago that the Minister had properly introduced her to her latest agent - even harder to picture her doubts of him at the time, not that they’d ever been personal, exactly.

But here he was, despite it all.

“We’ll see each other again.”

She smiled weakly. “You’ll be fine,” she said. She patted a hand against his chest and looked back up, catching those pale gray eyes one more time. “You’ve always been a resourceful one, Cipher Nine.”

“Shara-”

She shook her head and pressed a finger over his lips again. It was something, wasn’t it? To see him so earnest before her - a strain across his brow over widened crystal eyes she’d seen so swiftly deceive so many times. It’d be easy to say she’d lost count of the hours she’d spent monitoring his work, guarding his every movement, though it’d almost certainly be a lie.

That was okay, though. It was a part of them. Always had been. Probably always would be.

But she could not let him break their one shared silence. Not like this. Not at such an uncertain end.

“You’ve done enough, Tyr. I promise.”

His eyes searched hers for a moment longer before they dropped to the thumb he caressed along her jaw. It was better this way. Whatever happened next, she doubted the Empire was finished with either of them. This way, at least, there wasn’t anything to hold them back.

They’d sold worse lies before.

“You should go,” she said. “But-” She tucked a few fingers under his chin.

And he understood the rest. He ducked to linger in a slow kiss, trailing after her, along her lips like a slow rain on the windows back on Dromund Kaas. For only a minute longer, they chased the few elusive nights that had grounded the last three years.

And all too soon, time was up yet again.

“Take care of yourself, Shara. Please. For me?” He framed her face gently one final time, eyes closed as his forehead rested against hers.

“Stay alive.” She pushed against his chest, coaxing him to step away. “The job’s not finished, Cipher.”

“It never is, is it?” A faint smile flickered across his lips before Cipher Nine gave her a final salute. “I’ll damn well try just about anything for you, Keeper.”

“See that you do. Dismissed, agent.”