Title: Breakaway
Setting: KOTOR comics
Genre: AU vignette, but with references to events in Issues # 1-19 (TPB Vol. 1-3)
Summary: Zayne/Jarael romance. When friendship becomes more.

Arkania is beautiful, if you don't know anything about the culture. The snow-topped mountains glow in the morning light and the pristine appearance of the clean, white peaks could easily mask the underlying rot of segregation that permeates the cities below.

Purebloods and Offshoots – that's how it breaks down: the legitimate society of white-eyed, "pure blooded," natives and the outcasts of the same race who cannot work in the same city or ride the same transports or seek medical attention in the same facilities as their genetic forefathers.

Although Arkania is the home planet of my race, or rather, the race from which I am an "offshoot", I'd only been there once before and I'd never planned to go back again, but a malfunctioning ship changed those plans rather quickly. We landed emergently and managed to set down near a colony where Offshoots are allowed to live, which was fortunate for me and Camper, my fellow outcast. If nothing else, we would be able to venture into town in peace.

Unfortunately, we needed parts for the ship that could only be purchased in one of the major cities. Camper had not been feeling well and I wasn't about to let him travel in his condition. Gryph could have gone but we needed to be inconspicuous and Gryph was anything but subtle even when he was on good behavior. So it was up to Zayne and me. He could have gone alone – probably should have – but he's still learning his way around our ship. And maybe I didn't mind the idea of traveling with him.

Even if he is one of the most wanted criminals in the galaxy, I think Zayne is wonderful. Framed and hunted by his Jedi Masters for the murder of his fellow Padawans, he says he didn't kill his friends and I believe him. In the time we've been together, I've discovered lots of reasons to believe him. I don't know much about Jedi, but I imagine that he is how a Jedi should be. He's honest and honorable and everything a fringe girl like me could never deserve. But that was beside the point. Other than being fugitives, what did we really have in common, anyway? I decided not to think about it too hard as I pulled my heaviest coat out of a storage bin.

Layered in most of our clothes, we made Camper and Gryph promise to behave themselves and headed out to the transport station. The wind was freezing, slicing through my coat like blades of ice and we didn't talk. It was just too damn cold to drum up conversation. When we finally boarded the transport, we had a shuttle pod to ourselves and sat across from each other, shivering. Zayne bought me something warm to drink and I took my gloves off to wrap my hands around the steaming cup.

He leaned back, glancing out the window. "Is it always this cold here?"

"Don't know," I answered. And I didn't care to find out, either. The sooner we were gone, the better. "I never lived here, remember?"

"What about your parents?"

Why did everyone always ask about my parents? The last time I'd been here, I'd been in the custody of Lord Adasca and he'd asked about them, too. I glanced at the white fields speeding past through the viewport. He wasn't a pleasant memory, Lord Adasca. I'd thought him a decent man, but I'd been wrong. Horribly wrong.

"I don't know about them." It wasn't completely a lie. "Did I tell you what he said to me? Adasca, I mean?" I asked, steering the conversation away from my parents.

"No."

I turned and Zayne was leaning forward, frowning. We hadn't had much time to talk about my brief stint of captivity, although I'd assured him that I had not been harmed.

"Adasca studied my blood samples and had this crazy idea that my children could be Purebloods and restore the Arkanian race. Can you believe that?"

Zayne looked appalled. "That's genetic tampering."

I shook my head. If only he knew. Offshoots were only one of the genetic aberrations wrought on this planet over the centuries. "Scary part is that I never said he could study my blood. And what if they've already done experiments? If my genome, or whatever called it, can be altered to Pureblood, could it be altered to create other races, too?" These questions had been niggling around in my head and, until now, I hadn't spoken them aloud. And the more I talked about it, the more afraid I felt. "I mean, my kids could look nothing like me. They could be dark Kiffar or pink Zeltron or...human."

He crinkled his eyebrows, studying my face with an unnerving intensity. "Would you want that?"

"No! I'm not ashamed of what I am."

Zayne sat back as if I'd slapped him. "I didn't mean - Jarael, I would never - "

Embarrassment flooded my cheeks with heat. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong." I reached for his arm and rested my hand on the rough fabric of his sleeve. "I think I'm just getting nervous. We have to make this quick, all right? I don't want to be caught by them again. I can't -"

"You won't." He took my hands, gripping them reassuringly. "I promise that I won't let them take you."

We sat there holding hands until the contact shifted from comfortable to awkward and I pulled away first, picking up my now-tepid drink. It wasn't like I needed a guard - I'd done quite well at taking care of myself so far. But it was nice to know that he would have my back, just in case. We spent the rest of the trip going over what parts we needed for the ship and plotting the fastest and least visible route to the warehouse.

The parts dealer was nice enough to Zayne, him being human and all, but the dealer didn't even acknowledge my existence and that was fine with me. I even pulled my hood forward a little more, concealing as much of my white skin as I could. Zayne did good, remembering everything I'd taught him about bartering for ship parts, but it took a lot longer than I'd expected. By the time we'd purchased what we needed the sun was dipping below the mountain tops and we were trying to decide if we could make the last transport when a group of young Purebloods ran into us on the street, knocking me down. I started to stand up when a boot slammed down on my arm, pinning me to the frozen ground.

I twisted to kick him off, but Zayne beat me to it and shoved the boy away and positioned himself squarely between me and the laughing gang of white-eyed delinquents. The biggest one took a swing at him, which he deflected easily, and I scooted away, expecting the yellow blade of his lightsaber to appear at any moment. It didn't. Good thing. It's real hard to be inconspicuous when someone is waving a glowing laser sword around. The scuffle was brief and the gang ran away, leaving Zayne with little more than a rumpled coat when he held out his hand to help me stand up.

"Thank you," I said.

"No problem." He looked me over with a critical eye. "You hurt?"

"I'm fine. And if you had let me bring my shockstaff -"

" - you'd have wiped the pavement with them and we'd be in jail, Miss Darth Sunshine," he finished, grinning just a little too much.

Very funny. All right, maybe I was a little quick on the draw sometimes and I'd gotten a little competitive once or twice when we had sparred, but it didn't mean he had to bring up the "Darth Sunshine" name. So I threw a snowball at him. Hit him right in the face, too.

"Hey!" He swatted snow from his hair. "What the - ?"

"Never heard of a snowball, Mister Jedi Observant?"

I might have caught him off guard once, but he pelted me with two handfuls of snow before I saw him scoop them up. Well...two could play at that game. Covered in snow later, I didn't realize how much noise we were making throwing snow at each other until a shopkeep stuck his head out and told us to cut it out.

By then, it was definitely too late to head back to the ship and we found a cheap inn on a nearby corner. Still laughing and stomping snow off our boots, we shuffled around each other in the small room, arranging what few travel supplies we'd brought. "Not bad," he commented, glancing around. "You can have the bed. I'll sleep in the chair."

That chair didn't look comfortable at all and I started to protest as I took my coat off and Zayne gasped, startling me. "What?"

"Your arm." He pointed and, sure enough, it had a nice size abrasion from the jerk who'd pushed me down. "It's okay," I assured him, going to the small refresher to wash it. "Doesn't hurt."

"If you say so," he said from the other room. "What do you want to do about dinner? I can have something sent up."

"Sounds good." I stuck my head out of the refresher door. "I'm going to go ahead and shower, okay?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

Dinner had arrived when got out of the refresher and I didn't realize until then how hungry. I'd inhaled half my plate before pausing for a break to glance up and see that Zayne was looking at me strange. "Whus wong?" I asked with my mouth half full.

He hesitated, biting the inside of his lip. Was there something on my face? I wiped it just in case. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" he asked quickly.

I blinked. "A wha?"

"Boyfriend. Or...someone like that." He squirmed in his seat and continued quickly, tripping over the words like he was trying to say them too fast, "I mean, since it's just you and Camper, and he's an old man, I just wondered if you ever had any friends your own age, or anyone special, because it seems like it would be hard, you know, with you taking care of Camper and all..."

His voice trailed off and I wasn't sure what to say. There had been a time, long ago, when I hadn't been with Camper. When I was called a different name and lived a different life. But Zayne didn't need to know about that.

I looked down at my plate, clearing my throat. "Sure, I've had friends, but nothing serious, if that's what you mean.

What about you?" I countered, pointedly changing the subject. "Got a girl you left behind?"

A shadow crossed his face, briefly, then gone. Too late, I remembered that most of his friends had been killed and I wanted to crawl under the table. Stupid, stupid thing to say.

He shrugged it off, though, and answered, "My best friend's sister. I liked her but...she didn't feel the same way."

"You still like her?"

He pushed his food around for a minute and, for some crazy reason, I actually started to feel nervous about his answer. But when he looked up, it was with that cute, crooked grin and there was no hesitation in his voice. "No. It was a childhood crush. That's all."

Annoying relief washed over me and I hoped he didn't sense it. Dinner really needed to end soon because the room was getting warm. Downright sweltering. Or maybe that was just my imagination. Maybe I should go outside for some air. That was a good idea. I stood to excuse myself and jumped when Zayne grabbed my arm. It was bleeding again.

"Here." He rummaged through his bag for an Aid kit and pulled out a strip of antiseptic patches. I should have been paying attention to my arm, but instead I was acutely aware of his fingers gently covering the wound. I closed my eyes. His breath was warm and he smelled of cotton and leather and, when I opened my eyes to look down, his hands were shaking.

He finished wrapping the bandage and neither of us looked up. Instead, he slid his fingers down my arm and clasped my hand, gently. "Jarael?" His voice was hoarse and halting and I still didn't look at him. "The reason I asked about a boyfriend was because I was wondering...what kind of man would be the kind of man who could...well...be special...to you?"

I couldn't help but look at him, then. Now I was the one who was shaking. His grip in mine was firm and his brown eyes were bright and I did the only thing I could think to do: I kissed him. It wasn't exactly an answer to his question but I think he got the idea because he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against his chest. He's younger than me and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was nice. Wobbly knees nice. His lips were soft but his hands were firm and his kiss was heavy with tentative promise.

He didn't sleep on the chair that night and I woke in his arms, curled against the warmth of his chest as the horizon turned purple with the light of dawn. We stayed in bed for hours after the sun had come up for reasons that thrilled me as much as they terrified me. I wondered, briefly, what I was getting into, but then I forgot to wonder about it any more because he did everything right.

It was snowing when we finally left, but I didn't feel the cold as we walked arm in arm down the white streets. It was a lovely day and I started to say so when Zayne stopped abruptly. "Jarael? Did you happen to get the parts for the ship?"

*End*