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“This is Gold Leader, approaching from the West. Do you copy?”
“Gold Leader, this is Green Leader,” Yibo replied from inside his X-Wing, “We copy.”
“This is Red Leader and we also copy,” he heard Xiao Zhan’s voice.
He sighed in relief when he heard him. He was alright and he and the rest of the members of his team were also getting closer, just like him. He didn’t let himself linger on these thoughts for long, though. He’d been assigned as the leader of a team for this mission, and, now more than ever, his full attention needed to be on their task.
The mission had been assigned to them after the Resistance had approached the Order to ask for help with capturing a fugitive. It wasn’t a simple matter. The one they were after was a General who had been ranked high during the Clone Wars. To Yibo, who had only ever known a time after the Galactic Civil War, the mention of the Clone Wars sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t know how the Sith General had evaded captivity for as long as he had, but he and the rest of the Jedi who had offered to assist the Resistance had sworn to bring him to justice.
The Jedi Knights who had been chosen for the mission had been selected for their flying and combat skills, as well as their control of the Force. Yibo had known immediately that Xiao Zhan would be chosen, and had been even happier when his own name had been called right after. The rest were other members of the Order that he was somewhat familiar with, but not in the way he was with Xiao Zhan.
After their last Jedi Trial that had given them the honour of being named Jedi Knights, the two of them had surprised everyone by leaving their fights behind them. The first few times they had teased one another, they had seen everyone who had been with them tense in fear, only to look as if a huge burden had been lifted from them once they’d realised that they had only been playing.
Of course, none of them knew that after training hours and outside of missions they would sneak away to remote places together.
His relationship with Xiao Zhan was the first thing Yibo had ever hidden from his Master. They both knew how dangerous it was, but neither of them could bring themselves to put an end to what they had, not when their feelings were so strong. Jedi rules be damned, they were willing to try their hardest for each other.
Sometimes, however, Yibo couldn’t help but understand why the Order didn’t allow for those kinds of relationships. Whenever Xiao Zhan would be called for missions alone, Yibo would have trouble concentrating on anything during that time, his mind in constant worry about the other’s well-being. Similarly, whenever he was sent out for some task, he would catch himself thinking that he had to make it so he could go back to Xiao Zhan, the Order not even remotely on his mind. Even when they were together, it wasn’t rare that he would wish they could steal time from their training and from Council meetings so they could be alone.
The important thing was that they had already discussed this, and that they did their best to frequently remind each other of their duties, and how they couldn’t get too distracted.
The Jedi Order had been the biggest blessing had received in his life, and he owed them and Wang Han everything. Going behind their backs and defying their rules felt like a betrayal, but when he was with Xiao Zhan, holding him close or pressing his lips against his, it felt too right to be betrayal.
And so, they held onto each other, and they took care that no one would find out about them.
Thankfully, since the end of their rivalry, they worked well together, which meant that they would often be assigned to the same missions. In this instance, they had been named as two of the three leaders of the squads that were heading out to confront General Huzro, Yibo for the Green Team and Xiao Zhan for the Red Team, along with a Mirialan Resistance member named Yixing who would be in charge of the Gold Team.
The three of them had proven to have good communication, as so far the mission was going well and without any dangers. Just like Yibo had hoped, they were coming out of hyperspace and approaching the Harrower-class Dreadnought General Huzro had been hiding on. It was still unsure if that was where he had spent the entire duration of his life after the Clone Wars, but there would be plenty of time to interrogate him once he’d been contained.
Yibo had never seen a Harrower-class Dreadnought in person before. He’d understood why multiple ships had been required to infiltrate it, knowing the size of the ship, but seeing it in person put it in a whole different perspective. For a moment he felt like they were ants being sent to overtake a Zillo Beast, but he reminded himself that a large Resistance ship was also prepared, waiting for them to deactivate the Dreadnought’s shields and defence so the rebels could swarm it. It did wonders to calm him down.
“Green Leader, approach from the East, as we planned,” Yixing commanded, refreshing the plan for everyone, “And Red Leader from the North. Catch them off guard before they can put up their shields and then move in.”
“Copy, Gold Leader,” both Yibo and Xiao Zhan replied.
While not in hyperspace anymore, they were still going very fast, and the ship was getting closer and closer, getting nothing but larger the closer they got. From behind Yibo, R6-V beeped disapprovingly.
“I know, R6-V,” Yibo told the astromech droid, “It’s big. But we’ve got this. Best duo in the galaxy, right?”
R6-V let out a long beep, as if sighing, but strengthened the power of Yibo’s X-Wing nonetheless.
The young Jedi smiled at the gesture, then kept his eyes ahead of him. Yixing’s team forked off to go in the direction their leader was taking them, and soon he would also have to break apart from the squadron to do the same. He would be leaving Xiao Zhan behind, but he had to have faith that they would both return unscathed.
Holding the controls of his X-Wing tightly, he whispered, “May the Force be with us,” before contacting the rest of the Green Team members to inform them that they were going to begin moving in.
They were still relatively far from the Dreadnought when their enemy started shooting at them. Yibo called out to his team to watch out, and luckily the other pilots he was with were highly experienced and were able to dodge attacks well. Given how heavily the ship was armed, the squadron’s goal was to approach it close enough to infiltrate it before their enemies could launch any torpedoes or missiles at them. It was wishful thinking, but with some guidance from the Force and good teamwork, Yibo didn’t see why it couldn’t work.
He fired back at the turbolasers that were attacking them, taking a few of them out with quick shots. His aim had improved a lot recently, as had his control of the Force.
Unfortunately, they were bound to encounter some difficulties, and before they could reach their ideal distance from the Dreadnought, Yixing transmitted the horrible news that they had lost a member of his team. The loss hit Yibo hard, but he tried to power forward unaffected, with the thought that after the mission was over they would have plenty of time to grieve.
By the time Yibo was confident he could try an approach on the Dreadnought, each team had lost at least one pilot. His blood was pounding in his ears, and every time he heard a transmission begin, he would beg that he would hear Xiao Zhan’s voice on the other side, desperate to know that he was still alive.
He made a swift manoeuvet, tilting all the way to the left to avoid a turbolaser’s shot, and used the opportunity to shoot at an ion cannon that he was able to blow up. He straightened his X-Wing right as the explosion licked the bottom of his ship, and R6-V whooped in surprise. He sent an apology to the droid, and continued on his course.
“This is Green Leader,” he said, “The path is mostly clear ahead of me. I think I can make an approach.”
“Copy, we’ll cover you, Green Leader,” another of the pilots on his team, who was using the codename Green 4 replied.
Yibo saw the ships of his team catch up to him and fly around him, blasting at any obstacles that came in their way. His heart warmed at the way they were so willing to help him despite only knowing him for a few hours. Then, he received some more good news.
“Green Leader, this is Red Leader,” Xiao Zhan said, “I’m also about to make an approach. We just lost Red 2, but he took down lots of turbolasers, so he left a good path for us.”
“I’ll meet you inside then, Red Leader,” Yibo replied.
He couldn’t have hoped for anything better. With the two of them inside and Yixing and the rest of the rebels covering them, he had faith that they would be able to succeed.
“Alright, R6, ready to eject me?” he asked his astromech droid as he zeroed in on the location where he’d been planning to leave his ship.
The droid beeped confidently, as if saying it wanted to be rid of him. The little droid playing hard to get never failed to lift Yibo’s spirits.
When he was only a few metres away, he counted up to three out loud to prepare himself. At three, he pulled the X-Wing to a halt, pulled up the canopy, and leapt outside, landing on the flat ground of the Dreadnought.
Immediately, he was blasted at by awaiting stormtroopers, but just like them he’d been prepared. He pulled his lightsaber out of its holster, powered it up and deflected their shots while running. Once close enough, he kicked one of them in the chest, sending him flying backwards, and quickly took care of the other two who were guarding the entrance to the ship so he could force the door open and walk inside.
His robe billowing after him, he ran into the ship and used the Force to pull a camera out of its circuit. There were bound to be countless others upon the Dreadnought, but after taking out the one at the entrance, he could move as discreetly as possible so it wouldn’t be easy to spot him.
All that was left now was to find Xiao Zhan and face General Huzro. He didn’t need any device to achieve the former. He could sense Xiao Zhan in the Force so well that it would have been a waste of time. He just had to let his senses guide him.
When he felt the presence of his partner getting closer he ran faster. Xiao Zhan must have just been fighting off some stormtroopers too, as he had his lightsaber powered up, glowing blue around him as he moved through the ship’s hallways. Yibo’s heart beat excitedly when he saw him looking right out of a fight and coming towards him, flashing him a bright smile when he finally caught sight of him waiting for him.
“Caught up at last, old man,” Yibo teased him.
“You younglings are too fast to keep up with,” Xiao Zhan teased back, and clapped him on the shoulder.
With that, they set off for the control room.
“Gold Leader, we’re inside,” Yibo sent out a message, “Prepare for phase 2 of the plan.”
“Roger,” Yixing replied instantly, and clearly in a good mood hearing that.
Just like they’d expected, as soon as they’d forced the door open, they saw the target of their mission standing in front of the Dreadnought’s front window. Two B2 super battle droids were standing behind him, and turned around when they heard the door open. Yibo clicked his tongue when he saw them. Obviously, General Huzro knew how to hide away, but wasn’t smart when it came to the droids he chose to protect him. If he wanted good protection, he should have chosen droidekas. These super battle droids were nothing but a hunk of cables, and were cut down as easily as that, just like Yibo was about to show the Sith.
He powered up his lightsaber and held it up right as the two droids charged in his and Xiao Zhan’s direction. He turned to the one that was heading for him and slashed through its middle with his saber, so quick it was nothing more than a flash of green. It cut through the droid like it was nothing, and severed it in half, falling to the ground in two pieces of metal, its cables sparkling a little as the droid’s light vanished.
The one that had gone for Xiao Zhan met a similar fate and was currently on the floor in five different pieces. Yibo tried not to think about how hot Xiao Zhan was when he fought.
With the droids out of the way, the only one that remained was General Huzro. To Yibo’s surprise, the man hadn’t turned around since they’d entered the control room, and was still looking outside, indifferent about the fact that his only protection had just been destroyed. In fact, he didn’t seem concerned at all that two Jedi were standing behind him with their lightsabers raised.
For a few moments there was silence and no one moved, then General Huzro finally spoke.
“I’ve been expecting you,” he said. With those words, he turned around. Upon seeing him, Yibo guessed that he was also a human, but the years he’d spent in hiding hadn’t been kind to him. Deep wrinkles ran across his face, but he didn’t have the sickly pallor his master, Darth Sidious, had had according to all the stories Yibo had heard of him. The General’s eyes were bright yellow, his hair white and in his hands he held the hilt of a lightsaber, toying with it as though wanting to make the two Jedi before him anxious about when he would power it up.
Yibo swallowed when faced with the Sith. He was glad Xiao Zhan was with him, or he feared he wouldn’t have been able to say anything.
“The days of the Sith are over,” Xiao Zhan said, “We have come to bring you to justice.”
General Huzro laughed. “As long as we breathe, the days of the Sith will never be over,” he replied.
“You’ve been discovered,” Xiao Zhan continued, “You can’t keep hiding.”
Yibo’s grip on his lightsaber tightened.
“All I need to do is get rid of you little nuisances,” Huzro answered, “And that won’t take too long.”
The next second, the room shone with the glow of red, blue and green.
The two Jedi sprinted forward, and the three lightsabers connected, sending out a bright white. Huzro had his raised in front of him, Yibo’s catching near the hilt and Xiao Zhan’s near the front. The General looked from one to the other before moving back and bringing his saber hand away so he could attack again. Yibo was faster, however, and leaped over him so he could stand behind him and swing his lightsaber at him again, hoping he could get the Sith’s attention on him for long enough for Xiao Zhan to be able to disarm him.
As it turned out, that wasn’t that simple. Despite his age and the many years since he last fought, Huzro was fast and precise in his attacks, and perfectly aware of his surroundings at all times. He could block one of Yibo’s attacks with ease and then dodge another coming from behind him.
Yibo was sweating as they continued that dance, and was wracking his brain to look for some kind of solution to their problem. He could see the cogs turning in Xiao Zhan’s head as his partner struggled with the same thought process.
Just then, Huzro jumped over them both and turned to attack Xiao Zhan.
In his distracted state, Yibo didn’t think at all, just ran to him and blocked the attack that in hindsight he knew the other could have also avoided.
Huzro raised an eyebrow where he stood and spun his lightsaber. Yibo suddenly felt like an invisible force was pushing him, and he was sent flying into the control room’s wall. He winced as he sat up and held up his saber again. He wasn’t that easy to break down. If Huzro wanted to toss him around then so be it. He wouldn’t give up.
But that wasn’t what the Sith had decided to do. With Yibo now far across the room, he was duelling with Xiao Zhan alone. Yibo saw his partner spin around to dodge a blow that had come dangerously close, and then jump forward in an attempt to hit Huzro’s side.
At the close proximity, Huzro held out his forearm and shoved Xiao Zhan backwards with it. His lightsaber caught a bit of Xiao Zhan’s robe and burned it, and the unexpected hit sent Xiao Zhan to the floor, powering down his lightsaber by accident.
Yibo rushed to step in, but right as he was about to swing his saber, Huzro used the Force to pull Xiao Zhan up and towards him, and grabbed him by the neck.
“Xiao Zhan!” Yibo exclaimed.
Xiao Zhan tried to reply to him, but Huzro’s hand gripped his neck tighter and all that came out was a choked sound. His hand desperately clutched his saber’s hilt, but it looked like he couldn’t move to power it up again.
Yibo held his lightsaber out in front of the General. “Let him go,” he ordered.
“Why?” the Sith answered, “When I have him right here when I can snap his neck at any moment? A wasted opportunity, don’t you think?”
He smiled a horrible grin, and Yibo scowled. He was being threatened to put away his weapon with Xiao Zhan’s life. He thought of Yixing and the rest of the Resistance members who were behind them. Maybe if he bought time until they arrived he would be able to avoid both scenarios.
Huzro beat him to it, though.
“You are Wang Han’s apprentice, aren’t you?” he asked, “I know the way you move. I fought your Master before. What do you think, has he taught you well enough so this time I won’t win again?”
“My Master is one of the highest-ranking Jedi in the Order,” Yibo replied, not allowing the reputation of the man who had raised him to be tarnished.
“Well, then, what has your Master taught you about attachments?” Huzro asked.
Yibo’s eyes flickered to Xiao Zhan before he could stop himself. He cursed himself and pushed the tip of his lightsaber closer to Huzro’s chest. His opponent retaliated by putting more force around Xiao Zhan’s throat.
“Does he know?” he continued, “That you’re defying his teaching like this? You’re not even a Padawan anymore. Surely you must know the Jedi Code.” He paused, and then with another sickening grin added, “Surely you know what happened the last time a Jedi hid his attachment from his Master.”
Yibo’s stomach dropped at what Huzro was implying. He felt the Force inside and around him flare up wildly, and by the look on Huzro’s face he could feel it too. He looked so pleased with himself that it made Yibo feel disgusted. The hand that was choking Xiao Zhan eased, however, and the small sense of relief helped him regulate his emotions.
“I’m not Vader,” Yibo said sternly.
“You think you’re stronger than him?” Huzro said, “Stronger than one of the most powerful Force-sensitives to live?”
Yibo didn’t respond to that; whatever he chose to say would be used against him. He stood his ground instead.
“I can sense it, you know,” Huzro told him, “Your anger. Your fear.”
Yibo flinched.
Huzro released Xiao Zhan’s neck, but kept him restrained from moving. “Your origin isn’t a secret,” he said, “When a Master Jedi like Wang Han takes an apprentice at such a young age there are bound to be questions. You must have them too. Who you are. Why you were left behind. You must resent those who abandoned you, don’t you? You must want to know why you were worth so little to them. And the man who took you in is forcing you to suppress it all.”
Yibo’s hands shook slightly. No one had ever talked about his origins in front of him before. The Jedi Council and the rest of the Order knew about it, but they had always treated him like Wang Han’s apprentice. Even the rest of the Padawans had never brought it up, although he’d known when he’d trained with them that they would occasionally talk behind his back, especially when he performed well.
He knew better than to open himself up to a Sith, but the way that General Huzro was bringing up his Master and making it sound like he was mistreating him was what pushed him over the edge.
“My Master is not forcing me to do anything,” he said, “I may have questions about my past, but I do not need to know the answers. If my present satisfies me then why open the door to potential grievances?”
Huzro hummed. “You are resisting, still,” he said and took some steps forward, as if he wasn’t in the slightest afraid of Yibo’s saber, “You are strong. The Jedi are wasting you. Their time has come and gone for so many centuries that it must mean something. While they struggle to keep themselves together, the dark side still thrives. Don’t you wish for more power?”
“I improve my skills with my training,” Yibo replied, his expression hardening at the realisation that Huzro wasn’t only taunting him, but also trying to turn him, “I do not wish for more than I can have. I would never disappoint my Master and everyone who believes in me by falling to the dark side.”
Even with that answer, Huzro still seemed unfazed. “We will see about that,” he said and spun around, his saber raised.
He released Xiao Zhan from the hold he’d had him in, but just when the Jedi had managed to somewhat compose himself and power up his lightsaber again, Huzro swung his weapon. In a flash of red, he severed Xiao Zhan’s hand that was holding his saber.
Xiao Zhan screamed in pain, and rage overtook Yibo.
He didn’t even pause to consider his options when he leaped through the air and brought his lightsaber down. Huzro dodged the attack, but that didn’t stop him. He rained blow upon blow down on the Sith without mercy, each of them blocked by the red saber. He was barely even seeing clearly in front of him, all he knew was that he had to take Huzro down as fast as possible and make him pay.
He spun and jumped while trying to gain the upper hand, and yet his moves were still predicted by the General and he didn’t manage to leave a single cut or burn on him.
Then, the clarity he’d needed came to him.
“Yibo!” he heard Xiao Zhan’s raspy and desperate voice, “Concentrate! Fuck, concentrate!”
It made him pause. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough for the Force to fizzle down to calmness, and all of a sudden everything was clear again. His heart was still hurting, but the fog in his mind had vanished, and his vision had returned, and he knew that he was strong enough and that he could get through this.
He faked an attack to his right, and Huzro fell for it. Using that to his advantage, he jumped to his left and kicked him. His boot met Huzro’s hip, and he fell, sliding across the floor and towards the control room’s entrance. Perfect. Like that he wouldn’t be able to reach the controls and would be easier to detain.
The General got up and swung his saber at Yibo, but this time, the Jedi calculated the move correctly and blocked it, the clash of their weapons flashing white. They held their positions, trying to overthrow the other, but both were determined to win, and they didn’t move.
Huzro summoned an object that had been sitting on the control panel to try and hit him with it, and Yibo dropped down onto his right knee to dodge it. While down, he dug his knee into the floor and, using it as his axis, rotated his left leg that was stretched out to his side so he could spin and nick Huzro’s ankle as he did.
Huzro groaned in pain and Yibo stood up again. He held out his arm and gathered the Force to himself. With that power, he slammed the Sith into the wall behind him. He twirled his lightsaber a few times where he stood and leaped up to him while swinging it so he wouldn’t have a chance to get up and resume their fight. With a quick flick of his wrist, he caught Huzro’s saber arm, cutting it off from the shoulder.
He blocked out the sound his opponent made and summoned the red lightsaber into his empty hand. He held his own one up to Huzro’s neck, and powered down the Sith one that had flown into his grip.
He wanted to look over to Xiao Zhan to make sure that he was alright, but he couldn’t afford to let the man out of his sight, not when he had him like this. Huzro was breathing heavily where he was sitting slumped against the wall. He wasn’t looking at Yibo, only at the green lightsaber that was the last bridge between life and death for him.
“Kill me,” he told Yibo like he was challenging him, “You want to, don’t you?”
“Oh, I do,” Yibo replied.
“Then why haven’t you?” Huzro asked.
The sound of a lightsaber being powered up reached Yibo’s ears. He took his chances and snuck a look to his side. Sure enough, Xiao Zhan had mustered all of his strength and was standing there, holding his blue saber in front of him with his left hand, while his right arm hung limply at his side.
Yibo’s spirit felt renewed, and he turned back to Huzro. That, right there, that was his answer.
“Because that’s not the Jedi way, and he will hate me if I do,” he said, “And I will never do anything to hurt him.”
Xiao Zhan’s lightsaber joined his and pointed at their enemy’s neck. The two Jedi Knights exchanged a look and didn’t need to say anything more.
It didn’t take long for the rest of their squad to find them. Yixing broke open the door, aiming his blaster in case he needed to use it and rushing over to them when he saw their position, followed by the rest of the squad who had set off with them. Yibo was relieved to see that they hadn’t suffered any more losses since he’d last spoken to them.
☆⊹☆
Once their enemy was detained and taken for interrogation, Yibo was allowed to completely focus on Xiao Zhan.
His partner was sitting in the Jedi Order’s medical wing as a droid fitted his mechno-arm for him. Yibo held his other hand for the entire procedure. Xiao Zhan’s astromech droid, a white and grey BB unit named J1GO, was rolling back and forward, bumping into his ankles and beeping nervously the longer she was kept away from Xiao Zhan.
After completing all the tests they had to do, the medical droid left them to tend to other patients. The mechno-arm was very realistic, identical to Xiao Zhan’s old hand as a matter of fact. But it wasn’t the same. This one didn’t have the small scar Xiao Zhan had had on his fourth finger after the time he’d tried to steal another scavenger’s loot as a kid in Jakku and had cut it while trying to run away after getting caught, it wasn’t warm in Yibo’s hand when he held it, and if he concentrated really hard he could make out the mechanisms under the synthetic skin that covered it.
“I’ll be okay,” Xiao Zhan told him.
“I know you will,” Yibo replied.
“And now you better think twice before hitting me in the future,” the other joked.
Yibo chuckled lightly, but fell back into gloom afterwards.
“Yibo,” Xiao Zhan said softly, and took his hand in his real one, “You’re stronger than General Huzro thought.”
Yibo simply stroked his hand with his thumb and didn’t speak.
The door of the room opened abruptly, and the two looked up to see their Masters standing outside. They tried to hide the way they’d been sitting and hoped that the two Jedi Masters either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t say anything. Yibo didn’t think he could take anything else that day.
Li Yuchun went straight to Xiao Zhan’s side with a look of concern. Yibo wasn’t sure what to do, but he saw Wang Han gesturing to him to come outside to speak to him, which was some kind of guidance, although he didn’t know what to say or how to behave either. Nevertheless, he complied and followed his Master out of Xiao Zhan’s room.
He and Wang Han walked through the Order’s corridors silently, until they reached a secluded area. There, Wang Han stopped and turned to his apprentice.
“I’m very proud of you, Yibo,” he said.
Yibo was stunned. “But Master—” he began, but Wang Han held up a hand to stop him.
“Your companion was injured, but you handled yourself, captured your target, and also gave a full report when you returned,” his Master told him, “That is no simple task.”
“I was weak, Master,” Yibo replied, ashamed, “I let my feelings get the best of me. General Huzro was able to see through me and used it against me.”
“But you didn’t side with him,” Wang Han said, “That’s not weak, Yibo. Do you know how many powerful Jedi with potential have turned to the dark side over smaller matters?”
Despite his reassurance, Yibo still wasn’t completely convinced. “Master,” he said cautiously, “Do you think me capable of falling to the dark side?”
He saw how his question surprised Wang Han, but before he could take it back, the Jedi started talking.
“I’ve known you for so many years,” he said, “In all those years you were never good at following rules, my boy. You wanted to break curfew every night, you wouldn’t take no when the Council told you to wait and I could never hold you back from training with the other Padawans. Even now you still cause trouble as a Jedi Knight and go against the rules, especially with Xiao Zhan. But never once have I worried that you would turn to the dark side, even after all this disobedience.”
His apprentice clung to each of his words, his Master’s faith in him giving him the most comfort than anything else.
Then, he realised something. “Wait, you said that Xiao Zhan and I break rules together,” he said.
Wang Han smiled warmly at him. “My dear boy,” he told him, “I am your Master, but I also raised you. The only one you can never hide from is me.”
“You’ve known all this time?” Yibo asked, amazed, and his Master nodded, “Then why haven’t you confronted me about it or brought us to the Council?”
“I already told you,” Wang Han answered, “You have my blessing, Yibo. I doubt Master Li also knows, but she is more forward-thinking than most of the galaxy. You can trust her.”
Yibo didn’t know what to say. He was feeling so much that his mind couldn’t provide him with any language skills to convey it all.
“Thank you,” he landed on finally, “Not just for this. For raising me. For taking me as your own.”
Really, the things the General had taunted him with were recurring thoughts he had, but where he was wrong was that, just like the knowledge of others discussing him in secret, didn’t mean anything to him. His family had always been Wang Han, and he’d never wished for anything different or to know more.
Wang Han shook his head fondly. “Thank me by continuing to be true to yourself, Wang Yibo,” he told him, “Make me proud of the son I raised, not the Knight the Order trained.”
Yibo nodded, sealing a promise.
☆⊹☆
When he returned to Xiao Zhan’s room, his partner was wearing his pilot gear.
“Let’s go for a ride,” he said, as if he hadn’t had a droid reconstructing a new hand for him just a few hours ago.
Yibo couldn’t say no to that.
With R6-V and J1GO following after them they made their way into a dual pilot ship and pulled out of the Jedi Temple.
Xiao Zhan got used to piloting with his new hand quickly, and they turned their ship’s autopilot on so they could sit back while looking for a destination in the whole wide galaxy.
“If I said that I love you, would you think I could become a Sith?” Yibo asked, out of the blue. He couldn’t explain where that had come from, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself from asking it.
“I would tell you that I would accompany you anywhere,” Xiao Zhan replied, “Light and dark.”
“Don’t say that as if you would let me turn,” Yibo argued.
“That’s not what I meant,” the other said, “What I want to say is that if I were to think of you as a Sith for loving me, then you should have to think the same about me.”
Yibo’s insides and the Force around them seemed to turn warm at that.
So much had happened that day, but he had received his Master’s blessing for his relationship, and Xiao Zhan was telling him that he loved him, and everything else faded away.
Love was a beautiful feeling, he decided, and it didn’t make him weak. It didn’t make either of them weak. Because they could be strong for each other, and the strength fueled by their love could be their shield and their weapon.
Yibo got up from his chair so he could go to where Xiao Zhan was sitting and straddle his hips. He placed his hands on either side of his love’s face and pulled him in for a kiss. Xiao Zhan’s arms circled his waist as he kissed him back and he brought him closer.
An endless infinity extended around them, the whole galaxy, and others past it, but right then, that moment felt even bigger than that for them.