Don't Tell My Parents

[Ellie Mors]

No Promises

Every day she'd woken up to the same things, to silken sheets that seemed to almost cling to her form, to extravagant food brought from all over the galaxy. It was a life than many were envious of, a life that many had tried to kill her for - a life of luxury, to live her life as royalty, to have all the power, the authority, over an entire star system with all of the benefits that came along with that responsibility. And, really, the benefits did outweigh the endless work that those responsibilities brought her, but it wasn't the bright colors or the jewels and the food that made her love waking up every morning. Every time she went to bed, alone, she was out like a light in hopes that the next day would come sooner.

With each passing day, with every passing hour, Lily knew that she was one minute closer to the stoic man that had lit a flame inside of her that burned hotter than any passion she'd ever felt. What were they to each other, she often wondered - but it was a question that didn't need answering, because she knew she didn't need the validation of a label to enjoy seeing him, to enjoy simply being with him. A'sharad Graush was an unlikely match for the Tetan empress, but she was so enamored with the Sith that often times the excitement would get the better of her.

It seemed like only yesterday that she'd ran away from her duties for a month to travel through First Order space with him, dyed her hair and pretended she was just another piece of arm candy for the man that was so popular with his own people.

How many days had it been now since she'd felt the prickle of the stubble on his chin against her cheek, since she'd felt the roughness of his skin against hers? Even now, closing her eyes, she could see his aloof gaze drawing her in - and the phantom touch of his body against her own haunted her every night. The answer to that question was clear as day - far too many to be just. But today that ended, after what seemed like an eternity she was finally going to see him. He couldn't come to her, not with the state of relations between the Galactic Alliance and First Order, but she could certainly charter her own transport to see him.

Enter the world of Ragoon VI, the lush paradise that was largely untouched by civilization. It had become something of a vacation world for her in recent years, a world outside of the influence of the surrounding interstellar governments like the Alliance and First Order. And, now, with the rise of the Sith Empire, the Jedi were preoccupied with a more eminent threat than an empress that had never been seen doing so much as holding a lightsaber.

A small oasis within the already beautiful lake-dotted meadow was kept secluded from the other few visitors that the planet experienced yearly, an area bought by the royal to both keep herself safe and keep herself out of the public eye and paparazzi pictures while on vacation. Well within this small area, clothed in a bathing suit she'd spent over an hour picking out the night before, was Lily Kuhn submerged up to her shoulders in the warm, crystal-clear, waters of the hot springs that would serve as her rendezvous with [member="Asharad Graush"]. She wore a small smile and a beige bikini as she waited for the man she'd yearned to see for so long.

 

[Asharad Graush]

Ragoon VI.

A planet that the Sith Lord had never even heard of, and then suddenly he was receiving an invitation to join the first woman he had ever felt... Anything with. It had been some time since they had last seen each other, and since then the Supreme Commander had fought in many more battles, and had taken so many more lives. Whether it was the execution of his own men's lives for betraying the rules of engagement in a civilian zone, or when it had been on a vast battlefield, Graush had taken them with one single goal in mind.

To win.

Coming out of a war and being the leading military figure, had done something to the Epicant-Hybrid's personality. Where he had only worn armour outside of First Order Space or places that he was unfamiliar with, now it adorned his body no matter where he went. Long legs carried him down the ramp of the landing ship.

With [member="Lily Kuhn"], things were... Different, in an indescribable way. Unfit for the fear-inducing Sith Lord Supreme Commander of the First Order, or so he thought.

Planting his feet in the earth, he grinded his teeth as his sulfur eyes swept across the meadow until he spotted the redhead.

Once, he had promised that he would free Empress Teta from the grasp of the Galactic Alliance for her. That had been when... He was a Colonel? Perhaps even a General. No matter. It hadn't happened.

He walked forward nonetheless. Perhaps there was an air of confidence lingering about the veteran soldier.

"Is that an Empress I see, or do my eyes deceive me?"

He bore a simple white t-shirt, with his typical black bottoms and laced up leather boots.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Starving

How had it started, how did they meet? When she was alone, when she wanted to dwell on the days that had came and gone, with this day quickly approaching, the awkward professionalism that A'sharad had brought with him to see her in that cafe brought the corners of her lips to a smile - not unlike the one that had sauntered its way onto her face. She could almost smell the caf in the air, recall the melodic tune of the piano and the dimmed lights that maintained that perfect ambiance, when he sat down across from her. How her cheeks had flushed when she'd drank in his appearance, so intoxicating - like the devilish smile he'd sported. Not even ten minutes in the water, her body floating with the buoyancy afforded to her, and she'd already lost herself trying to remember the chisel of his face, the shimmer of light in his brilliant eyes - so ignorant to the present, to her surroundings, that she hadn't heard A'sharad approach, not until he'd made his arrival known.

If she'd been wearing a smile before, it had grown so much larger now - her eyes fluttering open, green and vibrant, to look up at the man that made her heart skip a beat. What was it about him, what made him so different - what made him affect her so? He surprised her - not in his arrival, as she'd expected him soon, but in his demeanor - how confident he stood, proving that even the confidence he'd had in his oath to 'liberate' her world from the Alliance was infantile to this maturity about him today. She bit her lip tenderly, her brow arching to question the rhetorical one he'd given her, and swam toward the shore - not more than an arm's reach from where she'd been laying out in the shallow water, to rise in greeting. She could have said anything, answered him in a similar fashion perhaps, but physical touch was what she needed - what she knew he had lacked, that he deserved as much as she needed it, craved it.

It was a tender embrace, her small arms wrapped around his middle, with her head nestled tight against his chest, under his chin. "An empress.. but you're my king." She whispered, her gaze raising with the tilt of her head. Water dripped from her and there was no doubt that she'd dampened his clothes with her arms entwined around him, but he'd have to forgive her impatience for now. "I've missed you." Lily said with a small smile, a content smile, that was shortly followed by a light peck on his cheek. What more could she say? There weren't enough words in the seven languages she spoke to explain how much she had needed to see him again, and sometimes it spoke volumes louder to say less than to drown the moment with honeyed words. "How have you been?" She asked, allowing a small amount of concern to intermingle with the myriad of emotions that had bubbled up to the surface.

She knew he was unhappy, or perhaps disappointed, with not having yet acted on his promise to take Empress Teta from the Alliance, but she'd never placed an ounce of blame on his shoulders - it had been his way of showing her his care, and she'd taken it as a sign of genuine affection, something which had grown greater. If he thought she'd harbored even a fledgling amount of discontent with that promise he would be sorely mistaken - her discontent rested solely on the shoulders of the leaders of the Alliance that tried, even if in vain, to keep the two apart by their political squabbles and prejudice against the Ren and Sith. The fear for her people had faded with the diminishing dominance that the Alliance exerted on their worlds, but her love for him had only grown with each of these secret meetings.

And oh how she wanted to show the galaxy the power of that bond.

 

[Asharad Graush]

A'sharad couldn't imagine a world where he would be disappointed by anything that [member="Lily Kuhn"] ever did. Perhaps... Surprised, or shocked, but he couldn't think of anything else. He may have known she was on Ragoon VI, after she contacted him of course, and his confirmation of coming, but it was more than that. The way she was sat in the water, the way that beige bikini clung to her body as she turned and rose out of the water to greet him. All of it.

All of it was eclipsed when she embraced her, dripping water and all as her arms came around his midsection and his did the same as he pulled her in as close as was humanly possible.

There was the innate sensation of the water sinking into his light clothing as she clung to him. Her words gracing his ears as he said, "From the day we parted, I didn't stop thinking of you," he said as his lips brushed over her cranium, even as he was buffeted by her red hair.

When she spoke again, he reluctantly stepped back to look at her as his sulfur eyes searched her emerald ones. "...Tired." Whether it was the war with the Galactic Alliance, his administrative duties as Supreme Commander, coupled with the Moff gatherings that had occurred multiple times in recent memory, the Sith Lord claimed to be exhausted... Or perhaps, he was tired of something... Else entirely. Those very few, to be exact, the one who knew A'sharad's reason for being in the First Order's Military... Tired of not fighting. Yet, that hunger was dampened as he stared into her eyes.

"Did you see me?" He said, his lips twisting faintly into a smile. In multiple battles, there had been media coverage and footage of stormtroopers charging into battle. Reporters cast into the mix of the battlefield, there had been one documenting one of A'sharad's battalions before the Anoat Sector had been assaulted. He didn't pay much attention to anything that wasn't placed on his table at the Imperial Palace on Dosuun, but he imagined the Sith Lord Supreme Commander leading an armoured legion while riding on top of a Juggernaut was quite the sight to see as he wielded both the Force and lightsabre - One in protection of the mechanical monstrosity he rode upon, the other dealing death to the Alliance forces that his counter-attack spearheaded through. "No one suspected anything?" Of course, he spoke of the month, and probably a little more of the time that she had been away.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Uh Huh

Just the touch of his arms around her was nearly as electric as the feeling of his lips grazing her head as they embraced. She felt her heart flutter, her body feeling light, when he admitted that he'd never let her slip his mind. She'd been smiling before, but now she was beaming, more than just content with his being here - more than happy to share physical contact after being separated for so long. When he broke their embrace she looked up to him, her verdant gaze searching out his amber eyes as he spoke of his exhaustion, and she allowed her head to tilt to the side as her expression slid to comforting concern. "I can only imagine." She said quietly, wishing she could have a more normal relationship with him - to have the freedom to take him home with her, to share the burden of his weariness and give him the rest he deserved.

Where he created distance to study her eyes, she closed the gap with the outreach of her hand to caress his chin. "Every time." She answered, never having let him get out of her sight whenever A'sharad found himself being broadcast over the holonet. And how could she have? Apart from this meeting, it had been the only way she'd been able to see him, the only way she could silently cheer on the Sith from the sidelines. "I prefer you out of armor, though." Lily said teasingly with a renewed smile, her gaze sweeping over the man's body from head to toe and back again hungrily. There was, of course, something inexorably attractive about seeing him charging through the battlefield, but that attractive bravery met its match with the way he made her heart stir just standing there in a t-shirt - part of her wishing it had been the only thing he had been clothed with.

Her smile slipped a little at the mention of that month she'd spent with him, not that she didn't enjoy every moment of that adrenaline-filled trip away from home, as she recalled the shouting that had taken place after she'd returned to Cinnagar shortly thereafter. It had never been a topic of discussion that had left the walls of her palace, but it was a heated source of rising tensions for the first two days after she'd returned. Nadja had, of course, performed all the duties she'd asked of her without much issue, but it was the public gossip mill that had churned out the idea that the Empress had become sick - the illness ranging in stories anywhere from depression to cancer - after two weeks without her making an appearance in public. "There were rumors that I had been on bed rest, too sick to leave the palace, until I had returned." She said with a small sigh. There was a coincidental truth to the rumor - she'd made far more public appearances after her return, but she'd felt sick in the most painful of ways when she had came to the realization that it would be quite some time before they saw each other again. "But the Alliance never involved itself in the issue, apparently believing that I was under the weather."

"But here we are." Lily noted with an impish grin. She'd prefer to not dwell on their being apart - the only reason she'd tried so hard to have this day happen was to be with him again, after all. She let her hand slide from where it had been resting down the nape of his neck and then falling to his side where she tugged playfully at his shirt. She took a deliberate step towards him, pressing her body against his, and leaned in while standing on her toes to give her the height necessary to bring her lips to his. After a moment of silence afforded by the kiss, she broke the contact and made a half step back to give him one more once-over before she turned to move for a towel as she couldn't simply stand here to dry off in the breeze. "And I suppose nobody asked who that lovely woman with violet hair went after I was gone?" She asked coyly, reaching for the towel she had set out for herself before her swim to wrap around herself.

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

By no means was A'sharad an empath or was exceptionally skilled in the matters of feelings and women, but even he could tell that [member="Lily Kuhn"] had yearned for him for quite some time. Likely at the very moment that they had parted ways from each other so long ago. What had he been then, he wondered. A Colonel, or perhaps some General at the bottom of the First Order's Central Command. He could't remember much, he didn't put much effort into it; retrieving the memories, he was with her, and the young Graush knew that was all that mattered in that instant.

Not the defenses of the First Order, not his responsibilities as Supreme Commander, just this moment. Just... Her.

Ludolf Vaas had been a public figure. The previous man had bore his rank, a warrior. Achieving the rank of Supreme Commander had afforded him additional abilities and the potential to do them. The end result of what Vaas was... He had never found out. He was seemingly... Gone. Regardless... The man's face had been seen, the people he fought for knew who he was. Respected him most likely, but perhaps it had been the budding enlisted officer that off put him from command. The one that led offensive after offensive that led the man to disappearing. The armoured warrior that appeared impervious from harm. His cybernetic hand ran through her hair at the brief interrupt in his thought process.

He commanded from a position of fear and respect. The faceless Sith Lord that led their forces with utmost efficiency and ruthlessness. Did she know that? Did she care? There was a faint humming from him as he mused to himself.

"I'm not sure what I prefer you in," he said in answer to her own teasing. When she went on to explain her false sickness, he nodded in understanding. "Here we are..." He said in time with her, and then she was tugging at his shirt, and he let out a low chuckle as he pressed his hand against her cheek, holding it, as if one might admire a work of art. And a work of art was what he did hold in his hands. Before he could even position his hands to take off his own shirt, she was already leaning in to kiss him, to which he couldn't deny even if he wanted to as he matched her own passion. "I'm sure people asked," he said amusedly as he lifted the shirt over his head and tossed it behind him. "Just not to me," he said as he swept her off her feet and into his powerful arms.

 

[Ellie Mors]

The Only Exception

A moment of introspection, as her fingers tenderly grasped the blue cloth, brought a small, happy, smile to her face that was followed with a warm flush of red in her cheeks. She hesitated to bring the towel up to her dripping hair, letting his words usher in a momentary reprieve from dialogue, and felt content for the first time in so many months. This was the feeling she'd always wanted, that surge of lightning in her chest that gave her a release unlike any other - better than any high, far greater than the smoothest drink. If love was a drug, she was high - higher than the sun and the moon, soaring through the stars - and she never wanted to come back down; she forbade it. The reality of that this was only a temporary moment in a permanent conflict threatened to ruin her mood, but she happily abandoned that line of thought to revel in the now - the only moment that mattered to her.

She hadn't even realized he had removed his shirt, hadn't heard the crumpling of the clothing against the soft sand, until his hands, worn from use, wrapped around her middle and brought her into his arms. The towel, which she'd seemingly forgotten, fell from her hands to the ground without so much as a care in the world. She let out the sound of light, playful, laughter, while the expression she wore was one of pleasant surprise, and she shifted her position in his arms to put her arms around his neck. Wet, crimson, hair clung to her face but she didn't mind, with green eyes that were locked with his; and, for a moment that should have been an eternity, all that mattered in the galaxy were the two young lovers in each others arms. But even that moment of eye contact was eclipsed by the closeness spurred on by impulse, her lips finding their purchase on his, and the rush of warmth that burned through her was met with a release of endorphins and a surge of adrenaline.

"I love you."

There was an ache, subtle but audible, in the way she whispered those words. He was her paramour, and she'd given him her heart long before she had ever came to realize it. There was a stinging in her eyes, a dull throbbing at the base of her throat, that threatened to make her choke on her admission. It was the perfect moment, the perfect day, with the perfect man - she couldn't be happier! - but already there was a realization that this wasn't to last. She wouldn't cry about it, she wouldn't let herself bring grey clouds to their moment of paradise, but it hurt all the same to know that in less than a handful of days she would go to sleep with him, only to wake up without him the following morning. There was something beautiful in the impermanence of their touch, in a moment so bittersweet, and it was, perhaps, only that which held her together.

Despite her fantasies of freedom from the consequences of their relationship, were it ever to be made public, Lily knew she might never see the day when they could be together "forever". She blinked back the start of tears, swallowing hard, and smiled in defiance to the change in temperament.

[member="Asharad Graush"]

 

[Asharad Graush]

Simultaneously his hands pressed her even closer to his body as he tucked his forehead into her shoulder. He couldn't stare into those emerald eyes, else he wouldn't be able to resist the tempting look that lingered in her gaze, the one that was already drawing out a hunger he almost never felt from within. Raising his head, his lips traced across her jawline gently before it found her chin and then her bottom lip. Sulfur eyes raising up to look her in the eyes as she spoke those three words, he almost recoiled from the words. For a moment it took him to process, he couldn't understand what they meant. They had never been instilled in him before, it was... Training, a Sith's education which consisted of the history of their species, the blade, the Force, and how to kill the enemy.

The enemy being Jedi.

Had he not known that Empress Teta had been in the realm of the One Sith Empire, he would've considered the beautiful woman he held in his arms the enemy, in a way.

"I..." He searched her eyes, curiously, as if he was seeking her aid for something. "I'm... Not sure what love... Is." The fairly large form of the Sith Lord began lowering to the sandy earth as his hand raised up to the back of her head, cradling her red, wet head as he set her back on the floor.

There was a lingering idea of course of what it was he felt for her.

But he had never come to terms with their relationship actually lasting. Why would it? Two warring nations on the precipice of destroying each other, two important figures of opposite sides falling in love with each other? One a warrior, the other an Empress for an entire System? Darth Acarus didn't possess the compassion to teach such a thing to his children, especially not to his firstborn, the one meant to further his legacy.

A ruthless nature.

Remorseless.

"I'm... sorry."

[member="Lily Kuhn"]

 

[Ellie Mors]

Clearest Blue

Did he hear it? The pang of regret in her voice? Was that why he didn't look back - why he seemed so lost in thought? Maybe she was overthinking it - maybe he didn't know what was going on in her head, the rush of fear, that she'd spoken too soon - that she'd taken a step she shouldn't have - that the beating thrum of her blood in her ears matched the pace of the thoughts that cycled through her mind. Was she blushing? She could feel the heat behind her cheeks, the throbbing behind her forehead, and when he finally found what it was he needed to look into her eyes she could see the flickering of his golden gaze as he looked into her for something - something lost, or something he'd never had in the first place.

But it was the hesitation in his response that set the chill into her bones, the pause in his words that made her throat clench - her heart skip several beats. Even as he found the words to finish his statement she was trying to find the strength in her to speak, to apologize - the scream out, make the moment stop and go back before she'd tripped over her own desires. But she couldn't speak, her lips opened, her brow rising, upturned, and she felt the pain spreading out from her lungs, ripping the sound from her throat, as she choked on the realization that she'd been lost in a fantasy.

Had she been fooling herself? What even was she - just another girl, a quick, easy, lay? Desperate, needy?

Yeah, she could feel the answer washing over her even as she pushed herself off of him, forced herself away from the touch that suddenly felt so alien to her - so strange.

"No." She said, her voice suddenly hoarse, her face going as pale as the flowers that shared her namesake.

"Don't apologize, I'm an idiot." Lily whispered, her expression of pure shock - horrified with herself. She didn't understand what he meant, she didn't - couldn't - comprehend what it would mean to live without something as essential as love, something that was so important to her that she'd lied to the man that'd raised her and stuck with her even after her mother passed. All she could hear, all she could understand, was that he was pushing her away, and she didn't know how to take it. Didn't he know she'd been ready to give up everything for him? Had he known why it had been so hard to make the distinction - to confess? Could he have known she was going to ask him to take him with her, to help her leave behind everything and start over?

"I'm sorry.. I.. I'm sorry."

She pivoted and reached for the towel she had dropped, covering herself as if she was ashamed - physically, as much as emotionally. In her subconscious she was trying to cover up the tear that was pulling her apart at the seams, the confusion that wracked her.

Part of her knew she had to talk it out with him, that they could come to an understanding - maybe even get past this hiccup - but she'd already faced the fear of rejection and was met with what, to her, was exactly that. She glanced up to him, doe-eyed, and studied him with slowly widening eyes, as though something had dawned on her. Her throat tightened and she tried to swallow, to clear the dryness that had crept its way in, but succeeded only in making herself more uncomfortable. "I.. I think I need to go." Lily said, her composure nearly as gone as the control she had over her voice - which was as slurred as it sounded after waking up. She could feel the sting of salinity in her tear ducts, and she knew she couldn't keep herself together for much longer, so she took the step she knew he probably wanted to make.

"Love.. huh?" She choked out with an injured smile, her eyes slowly turning bloodshot as she scrambled to collect her belongings - a crop-top and a pair of shorts she'd never worn. "Just.." Lily said, her voice trailing off as she gave pause to run her tongue over her lips while she held in the urge to laugh at herself and shook her head from side to side as though to tell herself no. "Great." She muttered under her breath, moving away from him further - looking for a way out that could give her the greatest distance between the two of them. "Everything I've done to reach out to you, A'sharad? That's how I show how I felt. And I thought, when you returned that favor, it meant you felt the same. That, more than just how I feel about you, is love."

She was gone without another word, not towards the little building that had been specially constructed for this little vacation but for the shuttle she'd taken from the ship hanging in orbit to get to this remote place, the urge to break down held in check only by the tunnel vision she experienced as she ran away.

When she found herself nearly halfway to the small craft, Lily stopped to glance back over her shoulder - hoping that, maybe, he would have come chasing after her, to calm her down.

'More than anything, I am blind.'

[member="Asharad Graush"]