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I. Then
“I don’t normally say this, you know that, but this is a really bad idea.”
Yin scowled down at Vette from her position perched precariously atop a bookshelf. “What is?”
Vette waved a hand, clearly unimpressed with the display. “You. On that rickety thing. If you hurt yourself, your precious captain would never forgive any of us.”
Yin snorted. “If he gets angry, tell him it’s his fault for leaving the two shortest people here alone with the decorating. Besides, how else do you suggest I do this?”
“If I recall correctly, it was actually Jaesa who suggested they go shopping for Life Day gifts. And you could let me; he’d kill me if you hurt yourself but he wouldn’t dare blame you if I fell.”
Yin carefully shook her head. “That’s not true. Besides, I have the Force to help m—” She cut herself off as she wobbled for a moment before grinning sheepishly.
“You were saying?” Vette’s expression was impish. “What are you doing anyway?” She scuttled into the room and stared at the small branch Yin held aloft. “Really?” Disbelief was clear in her tone.
Yin shrugged, finally managing to maneuver into position and hang the plant in its rightful place above the doorway. “What?”
“You risked both of our lives for a small branch of mistletoe? It’s not like the celebrating will even occur in your—” Vette paled, clearly realizing where exactly she was standing. “Actually, you know what? Never mind. I found out more than I needed to know last time. Forget I said anything.”
Yin laughed as she slid back onto the floor. “That was your fault, you know,” she retorted. “You should know better than to just barge into someone’s room like that. You never know what you might—”
“Riiiiiiiiight, I really didn’t need to know that. And I’m just gonna erase that image from my mind and move on.”
Laughing, Yin slung an arm around the other girl’s shoulders. “Fair enough. Now, where were we?”
II. Then
“My love?” Yin turned, beaming as Quinn stuck his head into the room. “Is this entirely necessary?”
She raised her eyebrow at him. Was he blushing?
When he still didn’t move, she gestured to him impatiently. “Come on, let me see.”
“My love, please…”
She bit her lip, hard, to keep from laughing out loud. Somehow, Jaesa had managed to purchase what was likely the tackiest Life Day sweater in the Dromund Kaas markets and bestow it upon her captain as an early Life Day gift.
And then she had managed to convince him to try it on early, though she appeared to be having significantly more trouble getting him to model it for her.
“Malavai…” She reached for him as though trying to coax him to her.
His grumpy expression said clearly that he saw right through her act, but he moved anyway, and she beamed as he caught her hand and she saw the monstrosity that he wore… over his uniform.
“Are you happy now?” he grumbled, but his words were belied by the warmth in his expression and she laughed.
“Yes,” she whispered before pulling him down for a kiss.
III. Now
The apartment was too quiet.
It wasn’t that Yin had been particularly loud, though she had certainly been that at times. But just her presence had been enough to fill the place with life. The rooms that had once seem to barely contain her energy now yawned, cavernous around them.
Quinn stood in the entranceway, barely noticing as everyone went to their separate quarters. How many times had he stood there, watching her leave? How many times had he watched her prepare, even if he were accompanying her? How many times he had told her how much he cared, asked her to be careful?
Not enough.
And he would never get the chance to make up for it.
His stomach churned as he spotted the decorations carefully piled in the corner. Yin had been so excited for the upcoming Life Day, the first they would share as a married couple. They had been planning to decorate once they returned from their mission.
He wondered whether they could still return them, or whether he would have to throw them out.
The room that he had shared with her lay before him, only a few meters away but somehow seeming impossible to reach. Had it only been a few short days ago when they woke up in each other’s arms before preparing to meet Darth Marr?
He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat, clenching his fists as he struggled to move suddenly impossibly heavy limbs.
Their room was dark, heavy with the scent of flowers and her, and his chest clenched painfully as he spotted the photo of them, taken by the then-Major Ovech during their official wedding.
A quiet sniff caught his attention and he turned to the far wall, realizing that he wasn’t alone.
Vette was hunched on the edge of the bed, the flashes of lightning from window lighting up the tear streaks on her face. She said nothing, only turning away as he moved closer and stood beside her for several long moments in silence.
“I miss her.” The words, muffled and wet, were almost a whisper but he flinched; they cut more than if Vette had shouted them.
He hesitated, then sat down next to her, sliding an arm around shaking shoulders. “I do too.”
IV. Now
She was gone.
As Quinn walked back from yet another petition to the Dark Council, shot down almost before he could open his mouth, the lively chatter in the streets for the upcoming Life Day was almost too much to bear. The Imperial military had already sent a warning that if the Emperor’s Wrath was not found soon, then she would be declared missing in action and he would be reassigned.
Never mind that she had essentially had him assigned to her crew permanently, and passed on to Jaesa in the case of her death.
But everyone had drifted apart. Pierce returned to the military, reassigned even before he had been. Broonmark had gone off in search of whoever had taken their clan leader from them. Vette had declared that she couldn’t take the stillness, the stifling inaction any longer and left on her own.
Even Jaesa had gone off on a mission of her own, with no word on when she would return.
He shook his head as he entered their apartment, dislodging the visions of festive decorations and kisses snuck under mistletoe that lingered in his memory, sending another shard through his shattered heart.
As always, he took refuge in the room he claimed as his office, first checking the Holonet for any sliver of contact from any of their former crew.
Nothing, not that it was any surprise.
He hadn’t heard from any of them since they left, though he had occasional reports of Pierce’s successes and promotions from Moff Ovech, one of the few in the military who remained in regular contact with him, who had warned him that he had to move on before they discharged him entirely.
Never mind that he would never, ever move on from her.
His resignation papers were already filled, ready to be submitted the moment they gave him a transfer, the moment they assigned him elsewhere to aid in the galaxy’s struggle against Zakuul.
He already had his assignment.
If the rest of the Empire did nothing about their missing Wrath – missing, not dead, then he would find her himself.