Private If We're Doing This

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Warm light spilled between the towering buildings of Sector 9G, filtered gold through layers of steam, smoke, and tangled overhead wiring. Neon signs still burned despite the afternoon hour. Vendors shouted over the endless industrial hum of the Vergeworks, selling fried street food beside stripped droid parts and salvaged engine components.​

​

Ace moved through it all beside Fatine with quiet familiarity, dark coat hanging loose around his frame while people subtly shifted around him as he passed. It wasn't fear, more like recognition.​

​

A conversation near a food stall lowered almost immediately. Someone standing outside a droid shop gave a small nod before looking away again. Further down the street, a pair of local runners abruptly cleared space along the walkway without needing to be told. Ace ignored most of it.​

​

"This place looked different when I was a kid." His voice carried casually over the noise around them. "Or maybe I was just smaller."​

​

The comment earned the faintest hint of amusement from him as he stepped around a leaking pipe venting steam across the street. He navigated the district instinctively, weaving through crowds and shortcuts without needing to think about where he was going. Like his body already knew the route before his mind did.​

​

Somewhere nearby, oil crackled loudly against a hot pan. Ace glanced toward the stall automatically.​

​

"You hungry?"​

​

Without waiting long for an answer, he reached into his pocket and tossed a few credits onto the counter.​

​

"Two."​

​

The older Duros vendor looked up, then visibly paused after recognizing him. "...Right away."​

​

Ace exhaled faintly through his nose at the reaction, somewhere between dry amusement and mild embarrassment.​

​

"Comes with fixing this place. I guess."​

​

But despite the humor, there was something noticeably different about him here. The Vergeworks still carried too many ghosts for comfort, but beside Fatine, the sharp edges felt easier to hold.​

​

His eyes drifted briefly upward toward the rooftops overhead before returning to Fatine again. For a second, he looked uncertain whether to continue.​

​

"I figured..." He hesitated. "If we're gonna be part of each other's lives, you should probably see where mine started."​

​

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Bondan was an absolute chithole. Fatine had enough tact not to say so out loud, but she showed it - at least initially - in the pinch of her expression.

But then, something strange happened as they walked. Instead of fighting their way through crowded streets, people started to part along their path. Voices lowered.

Nothing overt, but subtle enough to convey the quiet power and respect that Acier had cultivated here.

Fatine didn’t know exactly why it was happened, but that didn’t preclude her from enjoying the deference. Even if they were walking on a planet-sized hunk of garbage. Her boyfriend was someone here.

Ace asked if she was hungry, and before she could respond, he’d tossed a handful of credits onto the counter of some greasy food stall. Fatine raised a brow.

“Showoff,” she teased.

When Ace said that he’d take her to Bondan, she’d been excited. It was another chance to break away from the carefully curated life she’d been subjected to, and to step into something more real and raw.

“Bondan smells…” she wrinkled her nose, searching for a word that wouldn’t be too insulting. “Interesting,” she finished.

Still, the dingy lighting and sheer amount of people were enough to feel like she’d stepped into something modern and exciting. While Ace’s attention shifted somewhere higher, Fatine’s bounced from stuttering aurebesh signs to droids to a pair of aliens arguing.

Then, back to Ace.

“So, which sewage pipe did you grow up under?”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace accepted the wrapped food from the Duros before taking Fatine's portion from the counter and handing it over to her. The smell of grease, spice, and overheated circuitry lingered thick in the air around the stall. Somewhere overhead, a cargo shuttle screamed across the skyline loud enough to rattle the signage bolted to the walls. Without much ceremony, Ace started walking again, leading her deeper through Sector 9G.

"It's okay." He said after a moment, glancing sideways at her while unwrapping his food. "You can say it smells bad here. It does."

He took a bite, chewing slowly before the corner of his mouth pulled upward faintly.

"But you'll get used to it." The dry delivery made it difficult to tell whether he was joking or genuinely threatening acclimatization.

Around them, the Vergeworks continued its endless rhythm. Steam hissed from vents overhead. A pair of dockworkers argued in rapid fire Huttese while an astromech rolled directly between them without concern.

Truthfully, Ace hadn't liked the idea of bringing her here at first. The Vergeworks wasn't impressive. It wasn't beautiful. Most people with sense spent their entire lives trying to avoid or leave places like this behind.

Part of him had almost felt embarrassed by it, but it was easier to show her what made him than explain it. Easier than trying to put years of survival into words that would never fully land anyway.

When she asked about the sewer pipe, Ace lifted a hand casually toward a rundown structure half-hidden between stacked residential blocks and rusting support beams.

"Over there."

The building looked less like an orphanage and more like something condemned several years too late.

"That sewer pipe was an orphanage." He paused briefly before adding, deadpan: "But… orphanage may be too generous."

There was enough humor buried in the delivery to soften the ugliness of the statement without actually denying it.

The pair walked a little further in relative quiet after that. Ace took another bite before speaking again, voice lower this time and less guarded.

"I missed you."

It was simple yet direct, and somehow heavier than anything else he'd said since they arrived.

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine immediately tore into the skewered meat, all teeth and no grace. It tasted of an earthy, peppery spice they didn't have on Ukatis.

She snorted. "Food's not bad, at least."

Despite the snarky delivery, Fatine was in a good mood. Ace hadn't exactly jumped at the idea of a trip to Bondan, but here they were. Somewhere new. A place that had shaped the beginning of his youth.

As they walked, Fatine slipped her free hand around Ace's arm. Her attention was not on him, and it jumped from each new sight and sound to the next.

The joke about the sewer pipe was mostly that; a joke. She didn't expect him to, y'know…point something out. Not a drainage pipe, but a run-down building. Fatine wondered if this was also a joke. Then, he confirmed that it wasn't.

"Oh," was all she said at first. The delicate, sheltered maiden ripped another chunk of meat from her skewer and chewed loudly. It certainly didn't look like any orphanage she'd ever seen, more like a dilapidated warehouse.

"That really sucks." She squeezed his arm once. "Growing up in a place like that."

They moved on quickly. Fatine understood why Ace didn't want to stay.

"Yeah?" Grease stained lips quirked upwards. "Then maybe don't keep running away from me?"

Smirking, she poked his arm with the point of her skewer.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace continued eating as they walked, his attention drifting toward Fatine, watching as her eyes bounced between a multitude of things with open curiosity that she clearly wasn't trying to hide. It was endearing. Honestly, it reminded him a little of himself the first time he'd ever left Bonadan.

Then there was the way she was eating. Ace's eyes flicked briefly toward the aggressively ungraceful way she tore into the skewer before a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. Months ago, watching a noblewoman from Ukatis eat street food like she'd been raised in the Vergeworks probably would've broken his brain slightly. Now it mostly just amused him.

Truthfully, Fatine would've survived here better than most aristocrats. Probably would've made a name for herself within a week too.

When she squeezed his arm and sympathized with the orphanage, Ace just shrugged lightly.

"It wasn't the best." He admitted. "But..." He glanced ahead again, thoughtful for a second. "I wouldn't be me if things were different. Y'know?"

There wasn't bitterness in the statement. Just acceptance. Fatine's comment about him running away, followed by the poke of the skewer against his arm, pulled a faint chuckle out of him. Dry and quiet, but real enough to briefly soften the constant sharpness around him.

Ace slowed slightly then, reaching over with his free hand to wipe a streak of grease from the corner of Fatine's lips with his thumb.

"Who said I was running away?" His eyes met hers briefly. "Maybe I'm just scouting ahead and clearing a path for us."

The response carried the same teasing tone as hers, but there was something honest buried beneath it too. Something future facing.

Without really breaking stride afterward, Ace took her hand in his and subtly guided them away from the busier market corridors toward the older upper levels of Sector 9G.

The crowds gradually thinned the higher they climbed and Ace finished the last bite of his food before leaving the wooden skewer between his teeth like a toothpick.

Then he glanced sideways toward her again.

"Been meaning to ask." His tone stayed casual. "How're things back home? With the theater?" A small pause followed. "You haven't talked much about it lately."

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine gave a brief thought to who Acier might’ve been if he hadn’t grown up on this ball of scrap and smells. She supposed that he wouldn’t be him.

Then, she shrugged. “I like you the way you are. Broodiness and all.”

Something in her stilled when Ace reached over, thumb brushing grease from the edge of her lips and leaving sparks in its wake. He’d briefly wiped away the carefree, jovial nature from her personality, too.

Crimson heat surfaced over her cheeks, then prickled down her spine. It was downright frustrating as it was thrilling that he could elicit this type of response in her.

Any butterflies Fatine felt regarding their future - and she did feel them - were pushed down for the moment. They still fluttered in the deep pit of her stomach.

When he asked about the theater, about home, she hummed low and loud, on the edge of a ragged sigh. “It’s fine, I guess.” Fatine’s head tilted back, towards the grey sky and the tall, tall metal buildings that wreathed it like a jagged frame of metal and light. “I’m getting bored of stage plays. They’re so old-fashioned.”

Most of the social upheaval hadn’t affected her, anyway. She wasn’t on the marriage market, and she never really gave a second thought to the farmers and their crops. A woman of means did not have to worry where her next meal would come from.

“I’d much rather be with you,” she teased, pressing her chin into Ace’s shoulder and gazing up at him with those mischievous doe eyes. “Live the exciting life of Acier Moonbound and his weird, broody friends.”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace guided her deeper into the older upper levels of the Vergeworks while listening to her answer. The walkways here were narrower, rust creeping along railings that hadn't seen proper maintenance in years. Pipes ran overhead in tangled bundles, venting occasional bursts of steam into the cool air.

Her admission lingered longer than he expected. That she'd rather be with him made the tips of his ears warm slightly, Ace looked away and pretended not to notice it.

Then came the comment about living the life of Acier Moonbound. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, and he pulled the skewer stick from between his teeth.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be." His gaze stayed forward. "The best parts are when we're together."

The words came easily, almost casual. But there was a softness underneath them that wasn't usually there.

Ace slipped the skewer stick back into between his front teeth and chewed on it thoughtfully as they continued walking. For a few moments he said nothing.

"Maybe it's time for a change." His brow furrowed slightly as he thought. "Why not try holos? Didn't someone play Cora one time...?"

He couldn't remember the details. He only vaguely remembered seeing something about it when he was preparing to meet Cora for the first time.

Ace shrugged. "Or you can come here and work the books with me."

His tone turned dry. Completely unserious. The very idea was ridiculous, there was no universe where he wanted Fatine anywhere near the people he dealt with on Bonadan.

The industrial noise gradually changed as they moved farther from the residential blocks. Eventually the familiar outline of the scrapyards appeared ahead of them.

Mountains of scrap metal, broken droids, and discarded machinery. The entire place looked like something most people would've flown or walked past without a second glance.

Ace slowed. For a moment he didn't say anything. Instead, he glanced sideways at Fatine. The expression was unusual on him - it wasn't the Sith Knight, or the fighter, or even the man who ran the Vergeworks, but the look of a little boy who feared potential rejection.

Then his eyes shifted back toward the scrapyard.

"I know it looks... terrible. But this place was everything to me when I was a kid."

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine snorted. "Obviously."

The corners of her painted lips ticked up in a little smirk. Of course he preferred spending time with her. Why didn't he try to do it more, then?

Fatine threw her head back, the body of her hair bouncing as she let out a low hum. "Huh…I think so? It was one of Sal-Sorens, I think." She waved a hand vaguely. "They're a fancy noble family from Naboo with Hapan heritage. Everyone is gorgeous and powerful and rich, yadda yadda…"

Despite her disdain for noble life, Fatine had been forced to sit through the same lessons as her brothers and sisters. She knew who was who on Ukatis, just as every aristocrat there did. She actually liked learning about the noble houses beyond her homeworld, because they represented a lifestyle that was more modern and less repressive.

"Of course Cora would get an entire holo made about her." Fatine made a show of rolling her eyes. "Like she doesn't get enough attention already."

Ace's suggestion had merit once she worked through what it could mean for her. "Well," she started again, "I did try to audition for a smaller studio once, but it turned out to be like, a total scam. Guy was a scuzzball, but Lysander von Ascania took care of him." She picked at one of her manicured nails, tone conversational as if she didn't just allude to her brother cutting off a guy's family crown and jewels behind some greasy dive bar. "Maybe I could try again with a more reputable company. Know anyone?" she teased.

Ace's second suggestion didn't land like a joke, mostly because it sounded like scoundrel fun. "I totally should! That would be so astral."

A wash of quiet fell over them as they began moving through the perimeter of a scrapyard. A scavenger's dream, maybe. Fatine glanced to Ace, meeting the hesitation in his expression with uncharacteristic silence.

"Well, I mean, yeah," she said finally. "You grew up here. Why wouldn't it be?" She tossed her skewer aside and squeezed his arm with both hands for good measure.

"Some people think that Ukatis is a dump. And it kind of is, but it's still the place that made me."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

The mention of the Sal-Sorens drew a faint flicker of recognition. Ace had never met one, but he'd heard the name more than once during his time with the Hidden Path. They weren't just nobles, they were connected to the Jedi Order.

When Fatine complained about Cora getting all the attention, his gaze remained fixed ahead, but his thoughts drifted briefly elsewhere. Life Day, the Name Day celebration in particular. An entire gathering centered around Cora's pregnancy.

At the time, he hadn't thought much of it. But now he found himself wondering if that was normal. If growing up had always looked like that. Cora in the spotlight. Cora being celebrated. Cora being talked about. And Fatine standing somewhere just outside of it.

The thought lingered for a second before he let it go. If it bothered her, she'd tell him. Probably. Maybe.

His eyes shifted toward her when she mentioned the audition and the tension came instantly. Someone trying to take advantage of her wasn't difficult to picture, unfortunately. Then she casually added that Lysander had handled it, and the tension eased just as quickly.

Ace had seen enough of the man to know exactly how protective he was of his family. Whatever had happened, he doubted the scammer had enjoyed the experience.

"Sorry." Ace said. "I don't really involve myself in those kind of circles."

Acting studios. Producers. Agents. That entire world felt about as foreign to him as royal courts and diplomatic summits.

As they moved deeper into the scrapyard, his attention drifted across the endless fields of twisted metal and dismantled machinery. Fatine's hands wrapped around his arm and he glanced down briefly before looking back out over the scrapyard.

Her words settled easier than he expected. That some people thought Ukatis was a dump. The first time they'd met, he would've thought that was insane. Ukatis was beautiful.

Clean streets. Elegant architecture. Wealth everywhere you looked. Compared to Bonadan it might as well have been another universe.

But after getting to know Fatine, he'd learned that worlds weren't defined by their skylines. Beneath all that polish was a culture that still expected women to fit neatly into boxes. Expectations. Traditions. Rules dressed up as virtues.

It was different from Bonadan, but not necessarily better. Just cleaner, if anything.

Ace exhaled softly through his nose. Then tossed his own skewer stick aside. Leaning down, he pressed a brief kiss against her cheek.

"Making you's one of the few good reasons not to completely blow it up, yeah?"

His expression remained perfectly straight. The joke didn't. After a moment, his eyes drifted back toward her.

"I don't get it." His brow furrowed slightly. "You come from credits. Ukatis isn't..." He searched for the right words. "It's not really good for someone like you. Why not just leave? Settle somewhere else."

The galaxy stretched endlessly with thousands of worlds and millions of opportunities. From where Ace stood, freedom seemed obvious.

"You could go anywhere you want in the galaxy."

Fatine von Ascania ​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine heaved an overly dramatic sigh. “That’s okay,” she drawled when Ace insisted that he didn’t have any theater connections. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Somehow, he’d managed to make a grim jest seem light. Fatine giggled when his lips brushed her cheek, and he’d feel the subtle heat that flared just beneath her skin.

“If I’m what’s standing between Ukatis and total destruction, then they should name me a planetary hero.”

For all the ornate architecture he’d seen, Ukatis only had two major cities. The vast majority of the little agriworld was farmland, worked by peasants. Their treatment depended on the lord who controlled their fief, and though they were not enslaved, poverty was a difficult place for them to crawl out of.

Fatine’s pout twisted. She wasn’t upset, but Ace’s comment had struck something that she’d rather have kept buried.

“Is this your way of asking me to move in with you?” she teased. Her smile fell quickly, dipping into a thoughtful frown. Ukatis was everything she had ever known, even if she hadn’t felt quite a home there in a long time.

“I dunno,” she murmured. “I guess I just feel attached to it, somehow.”

Fatine didn’t want to say that she was scared of leaving the only home that she’d ever known. On Ukatis, she felt like a big fish in a small pond. On a place like Naboo or Coruscant? She’d blend into the background.

“I wouldn’t stand out as much in some place nicer, you know.” One finger idly twisted its way along a curl that rested near her cheekbone. “I enjoy being a diamond in the rough.”

Getting attention on Ukatis was easy with plunging necklines and short skirts. It wasn’t the right kind of attention - proper women weren’t supposed to be vying for eyes on them as it was - but she enjoyed it nonetheless.

“You’ve been a lot of places, Acier. Which one says Fatine to you?”

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

​

“Is this your way of asking me to move in with you?”

​

Ace's ears immediately burned.​

​

"I--" The word caught in his throat. "N-no. I mean--" His eyes widened slightly as his brain desperately tried to catch up with his mouth. "Not yet. Not-- not yet if you want--"​

​

The sentence collapsed under its own weight. Ace stared at her for a second before realization finally caught up to him. Fatine was joking. Of course she was.​

​

His shoulders slumped. "Whatever." He muttered it under his breath, ears somehow managing to turn an even deeper shade of red.​

​

For all the battles he'd fought, all the Sith, Jedi, bounty hunters, and monsters he'd crossed paths with, Fatine von Ascania remained uniquely capable of reducing him to a complete idiot.​

​

Still, as her teasing faded and she began speaking more honestly, Ace's embarrassment gradually gave way to attention. He glanced over at her while she twisted a curl around her finger.​

​

The idea that she wouldn't stand out somewhere else genuinely surprised him. It sounded ridiculous. Not because he thought she was being dramatic, but because he couldn't understand how she'd arrived at that conclusion in the first place.​

​

His gaze lingered on her for a moment before drifting forward again. The scrapyard stretched around them in rust, steel, and old memories. He found himself thinking about all the places he'd been.​

​

Bonadan. Denon. Peridea. Naboo. Desevro. Nar Shaddaa. Jedha. More worlds than he'd ever imagined seeing when he was a kid staring up at the stars from an orphanage rooftop.​

​

Then Fatine asked her question. Which one said Fatine to him? For a moment, Ace just stared ahead. Thinking. Then he answered.​

​

"Honestly?" A small smile touched the corner of his mouth. "Anywhere."​

​

His shoulders lifted in a faint shrug.​

​

"One of the best things about you is that you can go wherever and make it yours."​

​

It sounded cheesy the moment it left his mouth, but he meant every word. He'd seen a lot places. Met a lot of people. Some stayed with him, some didn't. But not many had managed to carve out their own place in the galaxy the way she had.​

​

She'd grown up on Ukatis. Before she was even born, there was a plan and a role she was supposedly destined to fit into. And despite it all, she ignored it.​

​

His gaze drifted back toward her, and a hint of admiration crept into his smile.​

​

"You became an actress. You make people notice you anyway. You did all that somewhere that wasn't exactly built for people like you. And If you can do that there, I think you'd be fine anywhere."​

​

Then he paused, a familiar look crossing his face. The one that usually meant he was about to say something either surprisingly insightful or incredibly stupid. Sometimes both.​

​

"Also..." His smile turned into a smirk. "Fatine von Ascania, you're a moron."​

​

There was so much affection in the statement that it barely qualified as an insult. Ace leaned back slightly, folding his arms.​

​

"Doesn't matter where you are. Whether it's Naboo or Nar Shaddaa..." His eyes settled on hers. "I'll always see you."​

​

The words hung there for a moment. Then he looked away again before he accidentally died from saying something that earnest.​

​

"And it wouldn't just be me." A quiet laugh escaped him. "There's this... thing you have."​

​

He gestured vaguely with one hand. The most helpful explanation he could apparently manage.​

​

"I can't describe it, and..." Ace shook his head. "I don't know how you do it. But it's hard to look away."​

​

For once, there wasn't a hint of teasing in his voice. Just honesty.​

​

Fatine von Ascania​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine lifted her eyebrows. Anywhere? Now he was just being cheesy. Of course. It was still the sort of thing she liked to hear - and Ace was never one for empty platitudes, which made his insight all the more valuable.

But the good humor started to fade from her expression, shifting into thoughtful surprise.

Was she really that adaptable? More importantly, did he really think she was that adaptable?

Fatine was never one to turn down praise, so she soaked in Ace’s words like the first summer rain on parched earth.

“Huh…” Slowly, her expression began to liven. Painted lips curved into a broad grin. “I guess you’re right about that. Ukatis doesn’t exactly hold actresses in high esteem. Not like some other worlds do.”

If Ace said it, then it must be true. And then he called her a moron. Affectionately, but it was enough to trigger a pout.

“I am not a mo-! ….oh.” A flush crept over her cheeks as Fatine shuffled on her feet. “Oh.”

He’ll always see me. He can’t look away.

Fatine had spent her life pretending. First, to be a lady. Then, to be someone else. Emotions were easier to wrangle when they weren’t supposed to be your own.

“That’s, um…”

This wasn’t another role. This was real. This was her, and him. Fatine and Acier. Acier and Fatine. Nothing else mattered in the junkyards of Bonadan.

Fatine unlaced their fingers, only to grab Ace’s hand with both of her own. She let her thumbs brush over his palm, reading the harsh calluses that had come from years of struggle.

“Promise me that you’ll always look at me like that, Ace.” She glanced to up at him through dark lashes, something vulnerable shifting through those kohl-lined eyes. “Like you won’t leave me behind like…”

Her father had died. Her elder siblings had left. And Fatine felt like she was an afterthought to everyone but Acier.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Still looking ahead, Ace's attention returned fully to Fatine as she held his hand between both of hers. The vulnerability in her expression registered immediately, mostly because it was so rare. Fatine could be loud, confident, dramatic, and stubborn, and she could fill an entire room without even trying. However, this quieter version of her appeared far less often.

His expression softened, as it always seemed to do around her, and a small smile formed on his lips.

"Nothing in this galaxy can stop me from looking at you like this, 'Tine. Nothing." The certainty in his voice left little room for doubt.

Ace didn't missed the other thing she had said either, about people leaving. Her father's death and her siblings wrapped up in their own lives, responsibilities, and problems.

To an extent, even he contributed to it. There were entire stretches of time when he was not around nearly as much as he wanted to be, pulled away by missions, obligations, and the endless chaos that seemed determined to follow him wherever he went. He did not need to imagine what that kind of absence could do to someone.

"But… I'll never leave you." His gaze held hers steadily. "Even if something happens."

Slowly, he reached up and took hold of the pendant resting against her chest, the one he had given her.

"I'll still be with you in some way."

He looked at the pendant for a second before letting it fall back into place. Then he turned toward the horizon.

"There's one last place I want to take you."

---

Night had settled over Bonadan by the time they arrived. The city below glowed with scattered neon and industrial lights, stretching endlessly beneath a blanket of darkness. The orphanage stood abandoned now, its walls worn by age and neglect, but the rooftop remained exactly where Ace remembered it.

Ace stepped toward the edge of the roof before lowering himself into a seated position. For a moment, he simply looked out across the skyline before holding out a hand toward Fatine in invitation. When she joined him, he shifted slightly so their shoulders brushed together.

His eyes lifted toward the night's sky, toward the twin moons hanging above Bonadan. They were the same moons he had spent countless nights staring at as a kid while imagining a life somewhere beyond the scrapyards. A quiet smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry for dragging you around this dump all day." He said, the moons reflecting faintly in his eyes. Then he glanced sideways toward her. "You have fun at least?"

Fatine von Ascania ​

 

[Fatine von Ascania]

Fatine hadn’t worn the best of footwear for this adventure - Ace had to help balance her climb on heels, even catch her a few times before she fell. Only one of those little stumbles had been real.

They’d made it onto the rooftop relatively unscathed. As Fatine settled next to her love, she felt their shoulders brush.

“Yeah,” she said, still slightly out of breath. Her head dropped to rest against his shoulder. Solid, comforting contact as they sat within silvery moonlight. “I never thought a literal dump could be so interesting.”

It was only interesting because Ace was here. This was the place that had made him. Life was never as pretty as the holos made it seem - even Ukatis, with it's finery, had a dark underbelly.

Fatine lifted her gaze to the twin moons, fingers absently brushing the smooth metal grooves of the pendant he’d gifted her.

“Ukatis has two suns, you know,” she murmured. He might’ve remembered, but still. “I came from a place with two suns. You came from a place with two moons. It’s kind of…” she trailed, searching for the words among the stars. Did they look the same here as they did back home? She couldn’t tell. She’s never spent that much time watching the sky.

With Ace, even the most mundane activities felt like they had meaning.

“Poetic,” she decided with a shrug. “Maybe. Or something like that.”

One finger traced along the locket’s perimeter in slow, distracted circuits. “We should do this more. Just you, me, and wherever we are. I’d like to visit the core more.”

Fatine had loved ones on both sides of this war. She’d been too young to travel without an escort during the Alliance’s height, but having family so high up in the Covenant was a kingly advantage.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Bonadan - Vergeworks - Sector 9G

Equipment:
Knight Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace lowered his head with a soft smile. Bringing her here had been a gamble. Vergeworks wasn't exactly the sort of place people imagined when they thought about taking someone somewhere special. It was rust. Smoke. Endless machinery and lives spent scraping by beneath twin moons that rarely pierced the industrial haze. Yet she'd embraced every part of it without complaint.

As the weight of her head settled against his shoulder, Ace shifted naturally, one arm sliding around her shoulders and drawing her comfortably against his side.

His eyes found her. Moonlight softened the gentle bronze of her skin, catching in the loose curls that framed her face. Warm brown eyes reflected the pale glow overhead, thoughtful as they wandered across the stars. The familiar elegance she'd been born into never truly left her, yet it was the little things he found himself noticing more these days. The faint curve of her smile whenever she was thinking. The way her nose scrunched ever so slightly when she searched for the right word. The absent-minded circles her finger traced around the pendant resting against her chest.

She somehow looked more beautiful every time he saw her. It didn't make sense, and yet every meeting left him wondering how she'd managed it again.

So he simply watched her while she spoke. Two suns. Two moons. Different worlds. Different lives. Somehow converging into this single rooftop overlooking the place that had raised him.

A faint smile lingered. "Yeah." His voice was quiet. "Poetic."

Only then did he finally lift his own gaze toward the twin moons hanging above the Vergeworks. Fatine's words settled comfortably between them.

“We should do this more.

He wanted to. More than he probably realized. She'd become the only part of his life that still felt... easy. Normal. Good. His arm tightened just enough to pull her a little closer, his shoulder leaning lightly into hers in return.

"Yeah?" A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Ever been to Atrisia?"

His eyes remained on the skyline. Truthfully, neither had he. Not really. The only time he'd set foot there, the world had been burning. Then there was the Death Star. He hadn't stayed long enough to know anything about the planet beyond the battlefield it had become. He'd like to change that.

-END-
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Fatine von Ascania ​