Wild Hearts [completed]

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia Thorn of Corellia, swept her long hair up in the style of her culture, fixing it in an elaborate hairdo as favored by Alderaanians. She placed the last pin just so, and examined her face in the mirror.

It was free from bruises, which was something she appreciated. Gia had a new life, having finally kicked the spice habit that her estranged husband had gotten her hooked on...and was living as far from him as possible. He was still on Umgul, betting on the blob races, and she was here, on Arcan IV.

She'd gotten a waitressing job, and was clean and sober, and had been for months now. It was something to be happy about. Gia smiled at her reflection, not knowing that today everything was about to crash down around her once more.

[Diego Van Derveld]

The deed was done.

Torin Malkert's business partnership with Barnaby Wednesdaydale had defaulted to the elderly co-signer, due to a clause allowing assets to be moved upon the death of either signee. A tragedy to be sure, Malkert had been found mauled, and the authorities were now looking to put down the "large dog" that was likely to blame. It was another day on Arcan IV. Nobody had a spare eulogy for Torin Malkert. None less than the one who killed him. Whatever Malkert's offenses against Wednesdaydale that warranted his untimely accident, the assassin didn't ask. He was paid well.

Anti-bacterial soap dripped lazily from the pump dispenser of the hotel sink, turning into frothy lather as it loosened dried blood and mud from wide, calloused hands. For Diego's brutish appearance, he was meticulous about many mundane things. He scrubbed thoroughly, and the warm water that flowed now ran clear. With the twisted tip of a piece of tissue paper, he dispatched any grime collected under his nails, and inspected every bit with an eye for detail. Satisfied, he dried his hands, staring at his nude form in the mirror. Clean. It was more of a mindset than a physical state. The act of rebellion against chaos. Some would consider it an obsessive-compulsive tendancy, but Diego saw it as a reflection of proper living. Some would see it as paradoxical, as Diego's body was landmarked in patches of dark hair that seemed to adorn his entire frame. It was who he was. Truth. He could adapt to changing worlds without becoming enslaved to conformity. Most men had last-gasp losing battles to this. They called them mid-life crises. For Diego, he was never away from the pulse. He lived life to the hilt, even-handed. The trick was to be able to give, and take away with the same hand. It was natural, and more fundamentally, a clean life. Pure.

Stepping into his bedroom, Diego arranged sets of well-pressed, but utilitarian clothes. They fit loosely and comfortably, and did not draw attention to himself. When he wished, all eyes could be upon him, if he so desired. There was a special breed of humility in this. Rattling the saber only provoked one to flee or fight. Diego slid the cotton shirt over his torso, buttoning the bottom two buttons on the collar. Drawing his hair back into a ponytail, he sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia walked towards the door, ready to start her day at work. Another day, another credit, and the rent was coming up in a week. Her hand reached for the door controls, and the front door slid open, and Gia looked up to walk through it -

- and there stood Jahn. Gia jerked backwards, and he stepped into the apartment as if he owned the place. "Gia!" He grabbed her arm as she tried to scoot around him. "Where'ya going, sweetheart?" He leaned close, and she could see in his eyes that he'd recently been biting glit.

His hand dug into her upper arm as he dragged her backwards back into the apartment. "Jahn!? What are you doing here?" Gia struggled to get her feet underneath her, and yanked back against his hold on her. "Let go!"

Jahn laughed, and looked around the place, finally releasing her arm. "Well, I got kicked out of our place...remember our place? On Umgul? Yeah I missed rent a few weeks, and borrowed against the speeder...so I scraped together what I had and came here. Heard the NR was on Arcan and the place was getting cleaned up, figured there would be a need for people of my talents around." He puffed up a little, and then deflated. "After you left me, Gia, I...I fell apart. I want you back. Please darling?"

Gia stood dumbfounded in the middle of her small living area. "What? After a year, you arrive on my doorstep and want me to take you back?" She rubbed her arm where he'd grabbed her, and went to stand by her only window. It was a large picture window that overlooked the street down below. "Jahn...no! I can't do it. I wasted good years of my life on you, and I just can't do it. How on Corellia's five moons did you find me?"

"Well, I dunno, I just arrived here and started hearing about the pretty waitress at the Spacers Lounge, from some of the NRSF soldiers around...took two and two and got you." Jahn winked, settling himself down on the sofa. "Nice place you got here. I was shacked up in a dive downtown, but this is much nicer." He patted the cushions.

"Jahn!" Gia was getting frustrated now. "Get out or I'm calling the cops!"

He stood up to his full height, his 6' dwarfing her 5'6", and walked over to her. Gia swallowed. "Calling the cops? That isn't a nice way to treat your husband." He ran his fingers through his hair, and Gia knew instinctively how this was going to end. She darted for the door, but he was faster, his hands grabbing her shoulders and yanking her towards him.

Before she could cry out, he'd laid a wet kiss on her lips. Gia struggled, and wrenched away, spitting on his feet. "Get out!" Anger overcame her reason, and she pointed at the door, which was still standing open.

Jahn laughed, and shook his head. "This is my place. You belong to me, Gia darling."

"I do not! You lost that right when you..." She faltered.

"When I what?" Jahn grabbed her arm and yanked her close again. "I seem to recall you leaving me, and you should be glad I've spent all this time finding you!" He shoved her away, and Gia stumbled and fell to the ground.

[Diego Van Derveld]

Lover's quarrel, next door. The walls weren't particuarly thick, and if Diego cared, he could piece together the conversation. But, it was the "Get out!" that got his attention. He paused in the act of brushing his teeth, leaning outside his refresher alcove, with a toothbrush still in his mouth. Even still, it was a bizarre thing for him to do...to find interest in such things not immediately concerning himself. His brow furrowed as he stepped toward the far wall.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia scrambled to her feet, but she wasn't fast enough, and Jahn's foot connected solidly with her ribs. She let out a sound half-way between a scream and a cough, and fell down again, her hairpins loosening and spilling her long dark tresses into her eyes. "Fr-"

He knelt down in front of her, and stroked her hair. "You think you can just leave me? Turn your back on two years of marriage?" She mumbled something towards the carpet, and he grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. "What was that, you frelling bitch?"

"I said it was a year and six months and sixty-two days!" Gia cried out as he backhanded her across the face.

Jahn was livid. "Don't you frelling talk back to me you piece of krasst!" He yanked her up to her feet, and started dragging her back towards her bedroom.

[Diego Van Derveld]

The argument had quickly become something worse, and as Diego listened, he could hear the hard, wet, packing sounds of feet and fists coming into contact with somebody else. From the anguished cries, the woman. A male voice confirmed it, in detail that Diego wished not to hear. A domestic struggle between husband and wife, now turned violent.

Diego stopped brushing, and rinsed. As he looked up into the mirror, he paused, looking at himself and scrutinizing. He was a violent man under many occasions, but it was controlled, and there were always rules. He could respect the sanctity of wedlock, of committment, and of family. Those who couldn't, he abhored. Some would take a look at Diego and call him savage. He would find the man who beat his spouse, and call him swine. For somebody as distant from emotion as Diego, it stirred something uncharacteristically passionate in him. His jawline tightened as he wiped at his face. He could still hear their shouting. His fists as they struck her face. Her pleading sobs.

He wished the walls were thicker. No...it wasn't that. He would rather know, because he knew what had to be done.

Diego exited his room, pausing at the door adjacent to collect his thoughts, and his approach. He calmly but firmly knocked at the door.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia planted her feet on the ground, and threw her body backwards, but Jahn was stronger. He pulled her into the room and tossed her on the bed. With one hand he ripped her shirt off, and grabbed for his belt. "I've missed you, wife." He leered at her, and she sobbed, grabbing a blanket to cover herself.

There was a knock at the door. Jahn cursed and looked over his shoulder. "Go away!" Gia scrambled off the bed, and he took two quick steps and grabbed her neck, shoving her against the wall. "Stay where I put you, you frelling woman!"

[Diego Van Derveld]

Diego repeated the knock, louder.

"I really think you should stop now." Diego spoke loudly enough to be heard, but without aggressive inflection. It was a contrast to his internal reaction, which was increasingly filling with an angry intent.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia screamed, but Jahn put his hand over her mouth and muffled it. "Mind your own frelling business, you jerk-off!" He slapped his estranged wife one more time and threw her across the bed.

There was a strange sound, the fwapfwapfwap of his belt coming out of the loops, and Gia lay there, dazed from the latest blow to her head. "Frell..." Jahn slapped her cheeks a little gentler, trying to get her to wake up more. "Quit that."

Gia opened her eyes, and screamed at him. "Get away from me you frelling psycho!" She pushed at him, and he grabbed her shoulders, and started shaking her violently.

"Stop yelling at me!"

[Diego Van Derveld]

It wasn't going to come to any sane resolution. The man was intent on having his way, and wanted neither Diego nor his wife to say otherwise.

SMASH!!!

The door splintered around the dead bolt and security lock, leaving the scant amount of fixtured wood holding fast in the frame as the rest of the broken door swung wide. Diego righted himself, straightening the thick shoulder he had used as a natural battering ram. He made no aggressive movements, but his eyes were blue as lightning in a thunderstorm, and spoke the kind of murder that could only be hinted at in the wild.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia felt Jahn let go of her and she dropped to the bed, dazed, feeling like her head was still rattling around.

"What the frell gives you the right to barge in here?!" Jahn was shouting, and Gia pulled a blanket over her, curling up into the fetal position. He would knock the intruder out and then come back here and kill her. She'd never been so sure that she was about to die.

Her cheek was painful to the touch and swelling already. Gia put her hands over her ears to block out the yelling. She had often wished to forget, and now it seemed her wish would finally be granted.

[Diego Van Derveld]

"What the frell gives you the right to barge in here?! If you're not out of he--!"

The echo of skin against skin, flesh against flesh, almost seemed to reverberate off the walls. Gia's blanket refuge was interrupted by a severe pressure from a falling body landing atop it. The form lay atop her for only a second or two, and then rose again. A muffled sound could be heard, like someone trying to shout but with something over their mouth.

Gia peered from her blanket, expecting to see her husband dealing the same inhumane punishment to this good samaritan. What she saw was...unexpected. Jahn's face was lacerated over his right cheekbone, and blood ran down in a trace to the newcomer's own hand, which stretched like a muzzle across her husband's own face. His large fingers pressed at the sides of Jahn's face, nails anchoring at the skin. It seemed that if the wild-haired man so desired, he could lift Jahn off his feet by his face.

And that is precisely what he did next...

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia stared, wild eyed, and then scrambled off the bed, trying to get away from the men. She averted her eyes, not wanting to remember this sight, although the sounds would not be blocked out.

There was a wet, gurgling sound behind her, and Gia found herself still crying as she lost her balance and fell to the floor in a heap. Her head was still ringing from the intense shaking she'd taken.

[Diego Van Derveld]

As Gia scrambled on the floor, she was suddenly hoisted back up by something grabbing at her belt, pulling her upwards until her feet touched safely on terra firma. She turned around in fright, only to find one of those large hands at her own face. Yet...this hand was gentle, far moreso than the one at Jahn's face seemed. Calloused fingers cradled her swollen contours with sympathetic care, mindful of where was painful. The hand maneuvered her frightened face to look at him. Diego looked to her, his eyes meeting her own. The look on his face diametrically opposed the visage he had shown to Jahn. It was serene, concerned, and understanding. He turned to see her bruised cheek, and turned back to Jahn, thumbing crimson away from the wound he had been given in turn. The hand seemed to constrict like a vice, and Jahn flinched. Once more, Diego turned back to Gia.

"Where else?"

[Gia Van Derveld]

She stared at him, uncomprehending, and then pointed wordlessly at her ribs. Gia's eyes were wide, and she could not look away from his face. Who are you? She could not form any words, and could not bear to recall all the other places Jahn had hurt her.

They all came readily to her mind anyway. Ten black eyes, a sprained ankle, and a cut on her left arm that had required ten stitches to close (but there was no scar). Not to mention the mental and emotional abuse she had suffered. And the spice addiction he had passed on to her. She cried silently, tears spilling onto the stranger's hand.

[Diego Van Derveld]

The hand at Gia's face released itself with barely a whisper against her skin. No sooner had it done so than it balled up, and rammed into Jahn's side. His body rocked with the impact, shaking as a punctuated, wet pop could be heard with his ribs breaking. Warm breath expelled with a whoosh as it was knocked from the man, blasting outward in a puff from his nose. His eyes watered, and his first instinct was to gasp for air...until Diego's index finger and thumb of his free hand clamped over his nose. There, Diego held him, upright, and without a breath he so vitally needed. He turned to her again.

"Where else?"

[Gia Van Derveld]

The words spilled out before she could control them. "My arm, my face, my legs...He used to beat me where my clothes would cover the bruises, but sometimes he'd forget."

She bent her head away, closing her eyes, and her hand covering her bruised cheek. "He got me addicted to spice, so I wouldn't leave him." Gia's voice was barely a whisper, "But I left him anyway."

[Diego Van Derveld]

Diego's nostrils flared almost imperceptibly. He looked Jahn up and down as he struggled, and looked back to Gia, keeping Jahn in his perilous position.

"Empty his pockets."

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia reached out shaking hands, and dipped her hand into the pocket of his pants. There was a small, photoresistant package inside, along with a few creds and a pen. She held them out, a question in her eyes.

[Diego Van Derveld]

Again, his nostrils flared. Diego looked to the contents in Gia's hands, and to Jahn's face. He was beginning to turn blue now...

Diego dropped the man to the bed, releasing the hand that bound Jahn's face, but keeping the other at his nose with enough pressure to keep him pinned to the mattress. With the free hand, Diego snatched away the items Gia held, fingers letting the pen and credit chits fall away by feel, until he held only the dark package. With a near-snarl, Diego bit away the top portion, watching Jahn gasp life-giving air back into his lungs. In a fluid motion, he replaced the hand over Jahn's mouth, but in such a way as that the contents of the package were instantly slid into his mouth. Flinging away the baggie, Diego pressed his brawny hand upward on Jahn's jaw, his other hand pressing down from the top of his skull, forcing the man to bite down on a dosage of glitterstim that should last a normal man a month. Sparks seemed to flicker from the corners of Jahn's mouth. His pupils dialated...depthless black pits into the abyss that Jahn had paid for with infidelity.

[Gia Van Derveld]

She stared at the man who was rescuing her, and the spasming Jahn on the bed seemed but a nightmare. Her eyes and cheeks were still wet from tears, and then she managed just one more word. "Why?"

[Diego Van Derveld]

Diego considered her question, looking at Jahn's form on the bed as it moved about slowly. He was dead. Though his heart was still beating, and the man was experiencing the largest high of his life, his life was at an end. It was a truth that had written itself in reality and was simply not understood for him. It was blissful ignorance of the terrible price his betrayal to Gia had earned him. In that regard, it was merciful...far merciful than Diego intended. Yet, he imagined that equal, prolonged suffering would be something the woman would never wish repeated, even if it were repeated on him. Jahn would pay his debts quickly.

When Diego looked up at her, it was with the realization that, although he had delivered her from what was in her eyes certain death, he had just sped her betrothed to the afterlife. This deed was as bittersweet as any lover's final kiss into twilight.

"Did you love him?"

[Gia Van Derveld]

She pondered that question, and looked at the man on the bed, mouth and eyes wide open, staring soundlessly at the ceiling. Gia sniffed hard, and shook her head. "I thought I did, but it was just a girlish infatuation that got out of hand. He swept me away from my family before I had time to think clearly. I thought he loved me...and so I loved him."

She looked up at the long haired man. "I left him. I haven't seen him in a year, and now this. I still don't know how he found me." Her voice faltered. "Th-thank you."

[Diego Van Derveld]

Wordlessly, he lowered himself down on his haunches, eye-level with her as she sat on the floor. Again, he reached to her face, tilting it, and scrutinizing...not only her injuries, but the beauty that lay underneath the bruises, underneath the abuse, underneath the heartache.

"Let me tend your wounds."

His words weren't a request, and his hand lowered to grasp gently, and firmly at the base of her arm, allowing her to rise to her feet in tandem with himself. Escorting her to the door, he took one last look at the aftermath he'd left behind.

"You'll have to leave this place."

He looked at her with a serious face.

"After that...we'll see if your thanks are earned."

[Gia Van Derveld]

She allowed him to hold her arm, and winced a little as his fingers closed gently but firmly around her bruised arm. "The...the police...I..." Gia looked at him, and nodded. "I'm late for work. I guess I can't go back." Her words were lame attempts of her ind to grasp the reality behind the unfolding events.

They walked out the door and she closed it behind them. "What is your name?"

[Diego Van Derveld]

He paused, turning to her as if she had asked something she should not. For a moment, he thought to dispense the lie he gave everyone. His name was Will Bedford, and he was a simple man, in a complex galaxy, who was always in either the right place at the right time, or the polar opposite. But, it was a lie becoming less believable. Even Diego could no longer cover his tracks. Especially not to her.

"Diego."

He allowed a thin smile, which was more seen through his eyes. He eased her on, leading her through his own room, and into the refresher. He afforded her a due amount of privacy to clean herself, and closed the refresher door behind. In the time that elapsed, he continued packing.

There was something there. But Diego wouldn't stop his life for it. He wouldn't even put it on hold.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia let the blanket she'd grabbed fall, and dabbed at her cheek, letting the cool water ease the hurt. Her hair was a mess, all haphazard, and pins sticking out in weird places. She licked at the cut in her lip that she'd only just noticed, and pulled the last pins out of her hair, letting it tumble to her waist in a mess of brown waves.

The Alderaanian woman ran her hands through her hair, brushing it away from her face. Her long hair covered her breasts, and she flushed a little at the thought of the handsome stranger. There was a blue mens shirt in the bathroom, and she grabbed it and buttoned it on. Her upper arm was bruised, and her cheek was still swollen, but she felt a little more composed.

Exiting the refresher, she stood a little meekly in the living area. Diego was moving about, and she caught his eye. "My name is Gia. Thank you....thank you so much."

[Diego Van Derveld]

"We don't have time to sit down over 'thank-yous'."

Diego took her by the arm, leading her in front of the mirror. He rose her shirt up at the bottom, and threatened to remove it entirely, until she grasped at it desperately with her hands, to prevent him from exposing her breasts. He hesitated, and sighed, staring at her through the reflection in the mirror with a face that was stern and slightly impatient.

"Do you want those abrasions to get infected?"

He allowed her to make that decision herself, as he applied a bottle of astringent and antiseptic salve to a gauze pad, ready to rub it on her injuries.

[Threepio]

delete!!! oh my!.

[Gia Van Derveld]

She hesitated, and then unbuttoned the shirt she'd borrowed from him, letting it fall to the ground. There was a nasty bruise on her ribs, already purpling, from where Jahn had kicked her. Gia flushed, and eyed her arm, where another bruise was forming.

[Diego Van Derveld]

"This will sting..."

Diego ran the pad across the marks on Gia's arms. She instinctively drew away from it, but Diego held her steady, a hand on her shoulder. Then, he moved to her abdomen, an arm around her waist as the other rubbed the abrasion. She gritted her teeth, steeling against the burn at the surface of the skin, as circulation increased. Diego held her close to him, continuing to clean her wounds as the pain subsided. He did this in silence.

[Gia Van Derveld]

She flinched away from the hurt, but he held her steady. He was warm behind her, and she found herself not watching what his hands were doing to her wounds, but instead studying his face.

His eyes were blue, and were intensely concentrating on...her. For once she didn't feel violated, and did not flinch away from his touch merely because he was a man. He was a man, and yet she sensed that he would not hurt her. Not like Jahn...

Gia remembered the look on her dead husband's face, and felt a surge of nausea threaten to overtake her. Her knees buckled.

[Diego Van Derveld]

"Easy!"

Diego's grasp was in the crook of her arm, and held tight, keeping her slipping legs from bringing her chin into contact with the sink. He held her steady, and could smell the waves of nausea rippling from her, as her adrenaline spiked. With his other hand, he empathically pulled back her dark locks, holding them loosely behind her.

"If you have to, let it go here. Best now than later."

[Gia Van Derveld]

She didn't have time to apologize, or even to be ashamed, but vomited into the sink, her hands grasping the cool edges of it. Gia choked and emptied her already empty stomach, her throat burning from the stomach acid she was regurgitating.

Her heart beat faster, and she stood still for a few moments, still leaning down, her slim body shaking from the experience. When she was sure nothing more would come up, she turned on the tap, and rinsed her mouth out.

[Diego Van Derveld]

It was noted that she did little more than dry-heave into the sink. Diego tightened his jawline, waiting for the spasms of regurgitation to finish their assault on the belleaguered form of Gia. Once she had rinsed the vomit from her mouth, he eased her back up, running a damp bathcloth to her quivering lip. Once clean, he tossed the rag to the counter, returning her top garment to her.

"Get dressed. We're leaving."

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia put her arms into the sleeves, and pulled the shirt on, carefully moving her long hair out of the way. She buttoned four buttons, and then walked back into the living area. "Where are we going to go?" He was pulling together his things, and she reached down to take one of his bags, never thinking that she had nothing of her own with her.

[Diego Van Derveld]

He allowed her to carry what she wished. Perhaps it was out of habit, or perhaps she needed to feel useful in some small way. It wasn't a hinderance to Diego, at any rate.

"We're leaving this place, first. Spouses are always suspects, and you don't need to stay here."

He led her down the long corridor, behaving casually and encouraging her to do the same. Nothing brokered suspicion faster than nervous people, shifting glances, and running. Arriving at the turboshaft, Diego keyed in for the ground level, and tapped a few buttons on a personal wristcomm.

"I can get you away from here. Once we do that, we can figure out the rest."

[Gia Van Derveld]

Perhaps it was shock. Whatever the reason, Gia was perfectly calm, waiting at the turbolift. "No one knew he was my husband. No one here at least. But that is my apartment." The 'lift arrived, and they both stepped inside, and turned to face the front.

Or at least, Diego did. Gia stared at the back wall, until he lightly tapped her. She flushed, and turned around, feeling incredibly stupid. The rest of the trip down was in silence.

[Diego Van Derveld]

The lift opened at ground floor, and the front door lay straight ahead. It was fifty paces, and Diego walked them straight and nonchalantly. He looked down, and Gia was looking down, as if willing her feet in a straight line, or so he thought. Along the outside, a row of speeders sat in waiting. A black sedan hovered down from above, dropping into the queue with mechanical precision. As various passengers loaded into their respective rides, the black sedan neared them. Finally, they arrived at it. Diego opened Gia's door, and eased her in. He walked to the opposite side, and hopped into the driver's seat, disengaging the droid brain navigation. As the speeder accelerated away, Diego looked sidelong at the woman, her hair blowing gently in the wind.

"I have a ship docked nearby."

[Gia Van Derveld]

She nodded, staring almost blindly out the window. Her hair blew into her eyes, and she gathered it up and wrapped her hand around its thickness, keeping it in one place.

The spaceport came up in front of them, and Diego turned towards it, the black sedan running smooth as a kitten. Gia rested her head on the inside of the door, closing her eyes until they stopped moving and he turned the engines off. She opened her eyes, and opened the door, getting outside, and standing on the duracrete.

"Which one is yours?" She looked at a row of ships, spaced widely apart. She'd never traveled anywhere for free before, except for when Jahn had taken her from her homeworld of Corellia to Umgul.

[Diego Van Derveld]

Diego pointed to the dark prow of an oval-shaped craft, docked to the left. Pointing a remote at it, a gangplank lowered noiselessly.

"Its a bit of an antique. Sailship. C'mon."

Diego led her onward, making sure she was comfortable before engaging preflight routines. The gangplank retracted, and the craft lifted up on repulsordrive, awaiting maneuvering ion engines to come online. Once they did and permission was cleared with flight control, the sailship lumbered skyward.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia clutched the arms of her seat as the ship came to life, and didn't let go until they'd cleared the atmosphere. Then she leaned forward, fascinated by the huge solar sails that came out from the front of the seat.

"Are we going any place in paticular?" She was calm again, facing the cold hard facts of her new reality. She was a fugitive, on the run from the law that would certainly be looking for her once a dead body was found in her apartment. Of course, whether she would ever be found or not depended on Diego, a man who she did not even know.

And, strangely enough, she was okay with that.

[Diego Van Derveld]

"Is there anywhere you can go? With family, friends, or somewhere you have connections?"

It was a question Diego doubted had an affirmative answer. She carried everything she owned as the clothes she wore. There was a wide-eyed desperation to her that Diego admired in its bleak determination to not simply give into the statistics of her predicament. There were those that lived and those that died. Diego rarely saw it in terms of what was deserved.

[Gia Van Derveld]

She thought a moment, and shook her head. "My family on Corellia is under the thumb of the Sith Order. I cannot return to them, in their slavery, although I miss them deeply. My parents would want me to remain free from the Order's opression." Gia absently worked her hair into a braid and bundled it at the base of her neck.

"I can make a new start for myself wherever it is you are going. Change my name, perhaps?" She frowned at that thought.

[Diego Van Derveld]

'Wherever it is you are going...'

Her words hung in the air like winter frost, and for a while, Diego only sat in silence.

"You'd have to decide thats what you want, beyond all doubt." Diego said, nearly inaudibly. She had no idea what that request entailed. Though, looking at her now, Diego already knew that if she wished it, he would grant her request. He was nearly infatuated with her strength of will alone.

"There aren't many visitors, where I come from."

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia turned her head, and looked at him. "What was that?"

"There aren't many visitors, where I come from." His blue eyes seemed to bore into her own blue eyes, and she just looked at him. He exuded the kind of masculinity that usually repelled her in fear, but she did not fear Diego. Perhaps she should have. But he had come to her, and rescued her from Jahn...

She blinked, and looked away. "The less people the better. 'People' have only hurt me." Gia's eyes stared out the front of the ship, and hardened. "I have no where else to go... Please."

[Diego Van Derveld]

Diego sat silent for an eternity, and then punched several buttons on the pilot's console. The rigging of the ship seemed to adjust in a miniscule fashion, changing the trajectory of the vessel. He finally turned back to Gia.

"There's a place, far outside the Republic, called Figaro Favoura Five. I can take you there, and give you as much money as you need to live well. There are small villages there, and the people keep to themselves."

Now he was offering not only refuge, but the means to live safely, out of his own money. Diego wasn't a greedy man, but he was practical. Charity given freely was worse than no charity at all. Yet, it all seemed the prudent choice of the moment.

"I have an old cottage, on the edge of a village there. I haven't lived there in years, and I don't imagine I ever will again. I can give you 500 credits. There is work to be had there, though the people will take time to get used to an offworlder."

He paused again.

"I can't go with you."

[Gia Van Derveld]

"Why not?" She turned back towards him, and found no answers in his demenor. "Then....I accept. I'll pay you back, once I get back on my feet." Gia fiddled nervously with her hair again. Being in debt to a man was bringing back old memories, of Sanis Prent.

But then, he'd never touched her. Not all men were bad. And those that were usually got what was coming to them. "Are they humans on Figaro Favoura Five?"

[Diego Van Derveld]

"Mostly. All in all, they're of good stock. Good-hearted folks, once you get past their rough exterior."

He smiled faintly.

[Gia Van Derveld]

She returned the smile, although she wasn't quite sure why. "Well, that's good to know." Gia settled back into the chair, and snugged her arms around her slim body. Suddenly she was exhausted, and she closed her eyes.

[Diego Van Derveld]

She slept far longer than she thought. Daylight greeted her again when she opened her eyes.

Daylight?

The sheets on the bed were white, as were most of the furnishings of the bedroom. The curtains were partly open, and through the window she saw trees...and endless stretch of trees...and overcast sky.

Diego was gone.

[Gia Van Derveld]

[Continued in <a href=http://www.swforums.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=390936#post390936>the next RP ;)</a>]