The skybridge inferno
The explosion ripped through the skybridge, fire and molten shards streaking across the night like meteors. Andrea ducked, cloak whipping as durasteel teeth shrieked overhead. The skyscrapers themselves seemed to shiver, throwing back the echo in low metallic groans. Coruscant—or whatever was left of it after years of Imperial dominance—was alive, and it was watching.
“Vrnnnnn! Kish!” Lightsabers clashed with the scream of dying engines. Andrea’s blue blade spun in her hands, intercepting another crimson strike inches from her face. Her heart raced, but her movements were smooth, precise. The abyss gaped below the grating, a hundred levels of neon speeder traffic, each one reflecting the chaos above.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” she spat, teeth clenched. A crimson saber hissed past her ear.
the dance of death
Her opponent, a Selkath mercenary, pressed forward with surprising grace for his hulking form. His breath stank of sulfur, his serrated teeth bared in anticipation. Andrea locked blades with him, eyes locked, faces a whisper apart. They were dancers caught in deadly rhythm—close enough for intimacy, far enough for blood.
She twisted, ducked low, and drove her saber up into his chest. His scream bounced off steel walls. His weapon spun into the void, vanishing into the neon abyss. The skyscrapers accepted him without mercy, swallowing the sound like a secret.
jesse’s arrival
She barely inhaled before a scarred Inquisitor advanced, his red blade arcing in an elegant, deadly flourish. But then—three shots rang out. The Inquisitor jerked forward, chest smoking, before collapsing onto the grating. Behind him, Jesse stood, blaster raised, its barrel glowing.
Andrea exhaled in relief, eyes catching his. He gave her that cocky half-salute he always did, and she couldn’t help the corner of her mouth twitching upward.
The city trembled again as explosions rolled in the distance. Coruscant’s towers leaned in, their mirrored surfaces reflecting fire like torches at a funeral procession. The architecture wasn’t passive—it bore witness, cold and silent, to every choice, every death.
synchronicity of battle
Together, Andrea and Jesse surged forward. Their partnership was flawless. Her saber danced in arcs of blue light, his blaster cut down shadows at her back. Rodian bounty hunters leapt from balconies, blasters firing wild. Andrea spun, deflecting shots that scorched walls and shattered transparisteel windows. Sparks rained like starlight.
“Watch out, Jesse!” she shouted, intercepting a bolt that would’ve taken his head.
Too many. The underworld bounty guilds had swarmed the sector. Andrea’s gut twisted—she couldn’t protect him and fight them all. This was why Jedi were forbidden to love. Attachment made you weak. It made them vulnerable. And yet, as her blade sank into another chest and returned like a boomerang to her hand, she knew she would break that code a thousand times for him.
the Gamorrean beast
She searched for him, panic rising. Jesse was cornered, firing wildly at a massive Gamorrean. The brute ignored the blaster fire, swinging his vibro-axe in wide arcs that split the air.
“Alliance scum!” the creature bellowed.
“No!” Andrea screamed. She reached into the Force, dragging raw power from the marrow of her bones. The Gamorrean flew backward into a ferrocrete wall, cracking it like bone. Dust rained down, pipes burst with a hiss, and the building moaned in protest as if its ribs were breaking. Andrea darted forward, pulling Jesse up before rubble crushed him.
“We have to move!” she shouted.
the alley of confession
They bolted, boots striking sparks from the grating as the architecture closed in on them. The city’s arteries pulled them downward into shadowed alleys, pipes dripping like veins, conduits pulsing with energy. The buildings whispered threats with every groan.
At last, Jesse stumbled. He bent double, chest heaving, sweat plastering hair to his brow.
“I… I can’t keep this up, Andrea,” he gasped, bracing against the wall. Steam curled around his hands.
Her chest clenched. “It’s me they want. You don’t have to—”
He cut her off, eyes hard. “I chose this.”
“But how long do we keep running? Forever?” she whispered.
“I can’t lose you,” she said, voice breaking. “I love you, Jess.”
Fury in the alley
And then the shot came—searing into his leg. He screamed, collapsing, his blood painting the durasteel.
Andrea spun, eyes wild. A squad of hunters advanced, blasters sparking the alley alive. The pipes shrieked, walls hissed, lights flickered—the architecture recoiled as though even it feared what Andrea was about to unleash.
“Don’t you dare touch him again!” she roared.
Blaster bolts lit the night. Her saber whirled, deflecting energy back into flesh. Sparks flew in neon bursts. With a gesture, she ripped the weapons from their hands and hurled them back with the Force. Their own blasters turned on them, shredding them in a storm of fire.
Wounded but together
When it was over, Andrea dropped to Jesse’s side, hands trembling over his wound. She pressed down, tried to summon healing from the Force—but nothing came. Frustration clawed at her throat.
“It’s okay,” Jesse whispered, lips brushing her ear. “A cloth will do. You saved me.”
Tears pricked her eyes. She wrapped his wound with a strip torn from her cloak. His hand gripped hers, strong despite his pain. For a moment, the city stilled, its great weight looming above them like a silent guardian, cradling their intimacy. She couldn’t help but think, that perhaps the greatest expressions of love, were in the times one had no Force to rely on. Only simple humanity.
Disgiuses in the market
Later, disguised in stolen robes, they slipped into the crowded market square. Alderaanian stone architecture loomed overhead—arched, luminous, carved with history. Unlike the steel towers, these walls breathed warmth. The city wasn’t cold here; it was protective, almost welcoming.
Andrea pulled her hood low, Jesse leaning on a makeshift cane. He scowled in his disguise dress.
“Why did I end up with the dress again?” he whined.
“You’re tall,” Andrea replied, biting back laughter.
“You’re laughing? Glad one of us is enjoying this.”
She squeezed his cheek. “You’re so adorable.”
“I hate when you do that,” he muttered, blushing.
festival crowds
They wove through the festival crowds, lanterns glowing, alien vendors shouting, scents of spice and roasted meat thick in the air. For a fleeting moment, they looked like just another couple, not fugitives.
the shuttle ride
On the commuter shuttle, Andrea felt exposed, her saber locked away. Jesse leaned close, murmuring, “Four o’clock. Someone’s been staring at you.”
Andrea turned, too obviously. Jesse yanked her down. “Which part of ‘don’t make it obvious’ did you not get?”
“Well excuse me! I’m trying to figure out what four o’clock even is!”
“Behind you. Right side. Robes. Beard. Beads.”
Andrea glanced again, subtle this time. A man cloaked in white sat staring. His eyes were sharp, his presence unreadable. The ship hummed around them, metal bulkheads creaking as though they too held their breath.
Andrea leaned into Jesse, whispering, “Maybe he’s enraptured by my beauty.”
Jesse smirked through his pain. “Highly possible. But let’s not take any chances.”
The architecture vibrated softly with the ship’s engines, pressing closer, as if reminding her: the galaxy never looked away.
Lives Between Walls 
What do you think about this?