Kissed by Fire: Cal Kestis

Chapter 7

Y/n felt weightless in that moment before she hit the water, suddenly engulfed in the waves of the blue river. Her chest filled with air, she opened her eyes and looked around the darkness for the familiar silhouette of Cal and BD. It was so quiet, so peaceful, under the water. She almost didn't want to come up. There was no war down here. No fires burning down the trees. No TIE fighters waiting to shoot them into oblivion. Here, underwater, she just was.

BD was the first to rise from the depths, shaking his head clear of water as he said, B-b-b-b-eeeeep! Cal gasped as he took in a breath of air, breaking from the water while BD jumped from the sudden appearance. Beep woo. Cal shook out his wet hair, pushing it away from his face with panting breaths as he faced the AT-ATs ahead. Looking around, he panicked when he didn't see his companion. "Y/n??" he called out, treading water and swimming around to see if he could locate her. "Y/n?!" The water burst beside him, and there she was panting with heavy breaths as Cal let out a sigh of relief. "Thought I'd lost you for a moment there," he breathed, swimming closer to her.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," she retorted, shrugging as best she could.

"You're thinking that I would want to," Cal said back, unaware of how they sounded. He suddenly flushed, looking away from her when she raised an eyebrow at his words. He let out a breath, nodding towards the three walkers that had just risen from the water and saying, "You ready to do this?"

"As I'll ever be," Y/n said back, and the three of them began swimming towards the AT-ATs, BD resting comfortably on Cal's back as he swam. Another LAAT fighter crossed the sky, shooting down a TIE fighter that rammed into an algae covered walker. Debris fell dangerously close to them, nearly knocking them off their path.

Bee boo! BD exclaimed at the sight.

"Yeah, that was a close one," Cal responded. They swam closer to the walker, the nearest one being the algae infested one. "I think I can climb the leg of this thing. It's covered in vines," he spoke out loud, managing to grab ahold of the vines.

"While you're doing that..." Y/n started, unclipping her blaster from her side. Aiming it up, she fired the grappling hook from her blaster, the hook sticking itself high onto the body of the walker. Cal watched as her grappling line lifted her from the water with ease, the boy trying to catch up with her as he climbed up to the top.

He managed to get up with relative ease, kneeling down to reach his hand out to help Y/n climb up the last part she struggled with. "Need a hand?" he asked, and she gratefully took ahold of the help. She didn't expect him to be able to pull her up with such ease as he did. But then again, having been a Jedi and a scrapper, he was bound to be strong.

A stormtrooper hadn't noticed their presence, and was sitting in an entrance. Before either of them could do anything, a blast from one of the ships in the sky knocked him from his position. He let out a scream as he fell, the two of them glancing at one another as Y/n said, "That was easy."

"Don't get cocky. This thing is still riddled with troopers," Cal spoke as he jumped into the walker, Y/n following close behind him.

It was easy to find their way through the vents. The walker looks bigger on the outside than it is on the inside. The two of them took out any troopers they found along the way, Y/n using her now trusty electrobaton back on the Scout Troopers. They opened the cockpit door, the two troopers piloting the walker blissfully unaware of their approaching presence. Cal motioned for BD to create a distraction, the droid hopping up on the console to cause the troopers to look away from their position. With the troopers confused, Cal grabbed them by their scruffs and banged their heads together, effectively knocking them both out.