Afterglow | The Clone Wars

53 | Hood of Denial

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"H-hey boss..."

Hondo stood at the grimy drink bar, prepared to poor himself an icy glass but stopped short at the timid sound of his second-in-command's voice. He turned his head to the side, the bottle frozen in the air as he patiently waited for him to continue with his sentence. Surrounding them were half-drunken pirates and partiers who were laughing and enjoying their day off from scaling the cosmos for glittering treasure.

"What is it, spit it out" he ordered, growing tired of his apprehension.

"Right, so uh, sir, the... Jedi is gone"

The pirate king immediately broke away from the bar at that and disappeared away from the mellow scene of soft, groovy music and sensual dancers. One of them tried to grab hold of his arm and attempted to pull him in for a twirl but he brushed them off with a swift gesture, leaving them disappointed.

Hondo climbed the rickety wooden stairs to the room where she had last been seen recovering, and there he disappointedly discovered that the room was clean and vacant. Even the mess from the destroyed fan had been swept away.

Not a sign indicated that she was ever even there. He sighed heavily, giving a shake of his head "never one to be satisfied where you are, aren't ya Ky?" he muttered to himself and closed the door.

"Should we go after her?" His second-in-command questioned from behind, wondering if they'd have to chase after her that afternoon and give up their only day off.

"No" Hondo replied quickly, shutting it down "there is no point"

Honda returned to the bar, back to his drink and back to his thoughts. He couldn't argue with her choice to leave, it's not like it's the first time that she had left him without saying goodbye.

However, something about this time felt different. He had hoped for it to be different. Maybe she would have decided to stay. He grabbed the bottle of alcohol again, shaking off his misfortune
"a bit early to be drinking, isn't it?" the voice filled his ears, causing for him to click his tongue in mock surprise.

He turned, laying his gaze on the Jedi that stood leaning against the surface of the bar in the dulcet smokey haze that lingered above the floor "if you ask me, too early is too late" he smirked, setting his drink down. It sloshed from the cups rim and dripped onto the wood, but he ignored it "you stayed?" he observed, it coming out more as a question than anything else.

"What?" she crossed her arms sarcastically, nodding some hair from in front of her healing bruised emerald eye that retained its familiar spark "You really think I'd disappear without a proper thank you? I'm heart-broken, Hondo, honestly"