“Shhh!” ~ Part A and Part B Kalluzeb for KAW 2020 - confession/other people’s reactions prompt - day 6
I’m posting this early since I don’t think I’ll be near the computer tomorrow at all to upload, so enjoy one of the harder pics I worked on, since it had the WHOLE CREW! I managed to get BOTH prompts in on this one, I am a bit proud!
Zeb had seen the interior to his fair share of brigs and prison cells; it was an occupational hazard after all. The one he'd found himself in this time was fairly unremarkable: the usual gunmetal black walls, the uncomfortably textured grating on the floor, the camera in the corner with its blinking red light reminding him that they were always watching.
It was business as usual in the world of imperial incarceration, at least until they got to the interrogation aspect of this venture and ended his isolation.
He eyed the blinking light dubiously, tempted to destroy the thing just for some privacy. A human probably couldn't reach it, but Zeb was no human. He lifted himself from the floor, stretching his back and arms as he calculated a way to use the walls to reach the infernal device.
The lasat crouched, on the verge of pouncing, when the little red light blinked off and never came back on.
For a couple of minutes, he didn't move, staring and waiting for it to come back on. It wasn't until he heard clear sounds of some sort of scuffle outside that he snapped to attention, rising from his crouched position in time to see the cell door slide from sight.
Beyond it stood a man dressed in death trooper armor, a shock rod in one hand still crackling with energy, two regular storm troopers lie crumpled at his feet.
"We need to move."
Zeb shouldn't have been surprised to hear Kallus' voice, mildly distorted from the helmet, and yet the fact the man was standing heroically atop the fallen guards to spring the lasat from the Empire staggered Zeb. Somewhere in the distance, something exploded, which meant Sabine was likely there as well. This thought spurred him forward, and soon he and the death trooper with Kallus' voice were sprinting through hallways, a couple of which adorned with unconscious storm troopers.
"Spectre four retrieved, enroute to rendezvous point one."
It was here that Sabine turned up, and unlike Kallus, she was not undercover, her armor a bright splash of color in a dark black and white imperial space. As she skidded around the corner to join them, she tossed Zeb his bo-rifle, then unholstered her weapon.
"Loth-cat's out of the bag, gentlemen," she said, adjusting her grip on a bag she had slung diagonally over her. "Let's rendezvous with Hera and get the hell off this boat."
"Hera's here?" Zeb had found his voice, at last, nearly missing a turn in his surprise. "But she's-."
"Very pregnant, yes," Sabine answered, as the three of them slid to a halt by a lift, Kallus jabbing the call button. "Should have thought of that before you decided to go off on your own and attempt a solo break-in of an imperial facility."
In recent months Sabine was starting to sound more and more like Hera. He could imagine the looks she was giving him behind that helmet of hers as they squeezed into the lift.
"I don't suppose you want to tell us why exactly you did this?" Kallus asked, taking the brief respite of the moving lift to remove the black death trooper helmet. His cheeks were flushed, likely from the running, and his hair was a mess from the helmet.
Zeb thought he'd never looked more handsome. He didn't say this; instead, he mumbled out "not particularly" as the lift doors opened.
There wouldn't be more time to discuss it until they managed their escape. It wasn't a particularly spectacular one, considering the many times the Ghost crew had evaded the clutches of the Empire, but it was still a feat.
Sabine rounded on him the moment the cargo bay ramp began to swing closed, the motion of the ghost taking flight, causing them to sway. She dropped the bag off of her shoulder, and it fell to Zeb's feet. Kallus' back was to them, bent over the hatch controls. "The weapon makes sense, but what's with the rock?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
Zeb opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, spared answering when Kallus joined them, the sound of the Ghost entering hyperspace thrumming through the ship. Kallus eyed the lasat, examining Zeb as if to ensure he was whole. "Are you okay?"
"He's fine," Sabine said, unfolding and popping off her vibrant Mandalorian style helm. "I checked the system, and we got there before they got around to interrogation."
"Thank stars," Kallus breathed. He took a step closer, and then there was that hesitation. He curled his fingers and corrected his stance. Zeb had watched his dearest friend shy away from him in this manner many times before. "Mind telling us what was so important in that facility?"
Zeb could hardly hear the query over the roar of his own racing heart in his ears as their eyes met. At his feet, in the bag were the two things Zeb had told himself he needed to show Kallus how he felt. The man had just busted him out like a hero, and yet the lasat was frozen, afraid to confess. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and wet his lips unnecessarily.
Then, in a fit of poorly executed inspiration, Zeb kicked the bag vaguely in Kallus' direction. "Why don't you see for yourself?"
Kallus ran his hand through his hair, a nervous tick of his, and moved his gaze from Zeb to Sabine, who shrugged, made an excuse about checking on Hera, and evacuated up the ladder and out of sight into the main ship. Kallus bent low, tugging open the closure of the bag. Zeb knew the moment of recognition, as the human's eyebrows arched high as his fingers wrapped around a familiar weapon grip.
"Garazeb." Kallus' voice was breathy, as the bag fell from around his modified bo-rifle, a weapon he hadn't held since before he'd escaped the Empire at the battle for Atollon. "I was sure Thrawn had taken it whale watching."
Zeb laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, daring to allow himself a step closer. "I thought so too," Zeb said. "It was actually a bonus surprise when I got here."
"Oh good, so you didn't risk your neck just to retrieve this," Kallus sighed, still looking down at the weapon, changing its configuration then snapping it back into place.
Capitalizing on this distraction, Zeb crouched down, fishing into the crumpled bag until his fingers wrapped around the warm planes of the meteorite. It didn't glow quite as bright as it had on Bahryn, and with a fraction of the warmth, but it was whole, and back where it belonged.
Zeb was snapped back into the moment by the clatter of Kallus' newly returned bo-rifle clattering to the deck. His golden eyes were wide and fixed solely on the rock resting in Zeb's hands. He held it out, resting in his upward-facing palms, and without hesitation, Kallus stepped forward and covered it with his hands.
"You kept it."
It was the fact that had kept Zeb hoping, ever since he'd found out. Kallus had kept the meteor.
"It reminded me of you," Kallus said, eyes rising from their hands joined around the meteor to meet Zeb's.
"It reminds me of us," Zeb returns, bending slightly, bowing his head, closing his eyes, an invitation. An invitation the lasat knows full well the human may not understand or accept.
Less than a moment and there was the firm press of Kallus' forehead against his, the ghost of breath mingling just out of reach. "Us."
They stood like this for what felt like a long while, forehead to forehead, warmth of the meteorite held between them. Zeb knew there were words they needed to be saying, feelings that needed expression beyond this gesture. That would come soon, they'd carve out some time for privacy to talk, but for now, they had this.
Well, @kalluzeb, here’s my first piece for Appreciation Week. Damn if this hasn’t been one hell of a ride.
Words: 1,662
Chapters: 1/1
Relationship: Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb Orrelios
Summary:
With a certain conversation between them left unfinished and Zeb a captive of the Empire, Kallus struggles to keep himself from losing it.
Excerpt:
Breathe.
He sees the relieved look in Zeb's eyes as the Lasat pushes him clear of the line of fire, all the way through the blast door. But he also sees the way those eyes widen sharply in pain when a blaster bolt hits him in the shoulder.
"ZEB!"
Kallus flinched at the memory, on his knees in the middle of Zeb and Ezra's quarters. Struggling for the simple function of breath, he fought to draw some measure of comfort from his partner's familiar scent.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
He sees the Lasat go down, sees his body twist in agony as he hits the floor. But when he makes a move to go back to him, Zeb looks up at him with desperate pleading in his eyes.
"Go."
"Zeb-"
"Get outta here. Go!" he insists.
"You can't ask me to-"
"I said GO!" Zeb snarls, using his last bit of strength to shove his bo-rifle across the floor to Alex.
The ex-Imperial trembled as he ran his fingers over the weapon lying across his knees. For Zeb to give him this meant only one thing.
He didn't expect to survive.
Kallus' fingers close around the weapon without thought.
"Zeb- no!"
Zeb smiles helplessly at him through his pain and exhaustion. "Sorry. Guess we won't get to have that conversation after all." Then he lifts his eyes to something behind Kallus and says only, "Rex...get him outta here."
Then arms are closing around him, pulling him away from Zeb.
"No! No!" he starts in panic, struggling against the clone's hold on him. The last thing he sees before the blast doors close between them is that fool Lasat...smiling at him.
"L'ashkerrir an."
Then the door is sealed and Zeb is lost to him. He doesn't speak a lot of Lasana, but he knows enough to know the meaning of those words.
I love you.
"NOOO!"
Rex had dragged him screaming from the building. They had gotten the intel to the Alliance, but...what would be the cost paid in the end? He had decided very nearly on the spot not to find out. With the Lasat's bo-rifle strapped to his back, he had informed the Ghost crew he would be going after Zeb...even if it meant disobeying direct orders.
Hera's immediate response had been to order Zeb's rescue as Phoenix Leader.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“A sensitivity to the Force doesn’t just come out of nowhere,” he says. “It’s something that you’re born with.“
Prompts for Sunday, May 3, 2020: Force sensitive Kallus - adopting
Surprise guests in this chapter! Also, I lied again, it’s not just 3 chapters. It should just be one more after this, but I understand if you don’t trust me anymore.
“How many Rebels does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” ~ My last post for KAW 2020 since I didn’t get another one finished in time. This one is perfect for the Confused Pining prompt - Day 8 -
You silly Rebels, that’s not how you do things. Where’s all the ladders or stools? This is making Zeb realize some things at a very awkward time. But really, why did they think this was the best way to go about this?
