#zekkna

Jaina leaped off the branch, using the force to slow her descent. She still crashed into Zekk, sending them both tumbling into the leaves on the forest floor.

As they laughed, a soft breeze began to pick up.

"Well done Zekk," the leaves whispered.

"You've brought me a Skywalker."

Zekk blinked, and the sunny sky that had been moments ago was dark and cloudy. He looked over to Jaina to suggest they head inside, but she was gone.

Zekk leaned to his feet, shouting her name. He spun around, desperately looking for his friend, and spotted her, standing with Brakiss' arm around her. The distance between Zekkk and the two of them flickered. Sometimes close, sometimes far. Jaina's face was pale, missing her ruddy cheeks and the sun-kissed frackles on her nose.

"You're finally proving to be good for something, I suppose," Brakiss shrugged casually.

"This is a nightmare," Zekk told himself. His fists curled at his side as he breathed deeply, but no air made it to his lungs.

"It's all in your head, he's dead," He reminded himself.

Brakiss's voice chuckled, "Are you so sure about that, street rat?"

Brakiss disappeared, and Jaina pulled a blood-red blade from swirling black robes that materialized around her. She moved towards Zekk in slow motion, but Zekk knew if he tried to run that he would fare no better.

"It's just a dream," He gasped.

Then why did he feel the heat of the blade on his chin?

Zekk's heart raced as he awoke.

Jaina. Where was Jaina?

He stumbled out of bed, falling onto the cool stone. He was at the temple. Jaina was here too, or at least she was a couple hours ago when he went to bed.

Zekk ran a hand through his hair. It was greasy again, and he'd lost another hair tie in his sleep. He wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and crawled back into bed.

"It's okay," He told himself, pressing his face into the pillow, "It was just a dream."

He squeezed his eyes shut, as if that would make everything alright.

"It's okay, she's okay."Zekk bit his lip. Opening one eye, he glanced at the chronometer. It was just after oh two hundred hours.

"She's definitely sound asleep in her own bed, with no nightmares, no visions, no dark side temptations..."

He bit his lip so hard it drew blood.

Zekk leaped out of bed, forgetting the blanket or any shoes. He slipped out into the eerie, empty hall and skipped the steps on two flights until he made it up to Jaina's room.

Standing outside the door, however, he realized just how ridiculous he was being.

"This is stupid," He muttered, running a hand over his face. He turned to go back to his room, only to see Jacen's crystal snake slithering towards him.

"HOLY KRIFF-" Zekk jumped so high his head brushed the ceiling. He plastered himself against the wall as a literal ghost crawled towards him without a care in the world.

Jaina’s door opened just as the snake slithered off into the next shadow, and Jaina stuck her head out, hair sticking out all over the place and eyes barely open.

"Snake- didn't - I -" Zekk's voice stuttered as he tried to assuage his heartbeat.

He took a deep breath, "I didn't mean to wake you up, you can go back to sleep."

He made to sneak off back to his room, but Jaina’s hand darted out, grabbed his arm, and yanked him into her room.

The door slid shut behind him, and Zekk couldn't help but feel like he'd walked into a trap. Jaina dropped his arm without ceremony, leaving him standing in the mess of spare parts she called her bedroom, and pushed even more tools and junk off of the cot in the corner.

"Lie down." she instructed, pointing to the bed.

Zekk blinked. "Um..."

"Zekk, it's three in the morning, just get in the karking bed."

Zekk got in the bed.

Technically, the cot was only made for one person, but that didn't stop Jaina from crawling in after him. The cool stone of the temple walls pressed up against his back as Jaina tucked the blanket around them. She tucked her arm beneath his head and held up a datapad, and the blue light ghosted over their faces.

"What's this?" Zekk squinted at the sudden brightness in Jaina’s dim room.

"It's a live feed of Nexu kits at a wildlife refuge on Saleucami. Jacen showed me. It's pretty relaxing, right?"

Zekk watched the kits climbing around their mother, softly growling as they play-hunted and tried to steal their toys from one another.

"Yeah, it is," He admitted, feeling like his breathing had returned to normal.

He could feel Jaina’s hand on his shoulder, soothingly stroking his hair as her eyes remained on the video. Zekk couldn't pull his eyes away either. He could almost fall asleep, if it weren't for that niggling shadow at the back of his mind.

"So what happened?" Jaina asked after a few minutes.

"Nothing," Zekk said a little too quickly.

Jaina shut off the datapad and turned on him lightning-fast.

"If you don't tell me, I'm going to keep staring at you until you do."

"You're what?" Zekk looked at Jaina, but she didn't blink. Her sharp brown eyes bored into his, drilling into his soul.

Zekk shuddered, and tried to turn away, but there was no where to go. He could still feel Jaina’s eyes on him.

"Okay, okay!" Zekk sat up and kicked off the blankets. He rolled his eyes as he heard Jaina snorting softly.

"I'm being stupid," Zekk insisted, "And you are being way too patient for you."

Jaina chose to ignore that last part, "Well what are you being so stupid about this time?" she asked.

Zekk was quiet, rubbing the blanket between his fingers.

"I had a dream that Brakiss turned you into the Darkest Knight instead of me."

Zekk sighed, unable to look up at Jaina, "And I woke up, and I was scared that you were gone, so I came to check on you, and then..."

He sighed.

"You got the kark scared out of you by my brother's favorite pet?" Jaina grinned at him.

"Yeah. That." Zekk folded his arms, trying to massage away the gooseflesh that prickled his skin

Jaina realized that now was not the time for jokes. She placed a hand on Zekk's knee.

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" she asked.

Zekk looked up at her.

"And Brakiss is dead, right?"

"Right," He sighed.

Jaina’s hand rested on his shoulder, and she pressed her forehead against his.

"If I were to ever turn to the dark side, don't you think my mom would have my shebs?"

Zekk snorted. The Chief of State was scary, but he knew that she loved her children. She scolded them and cared for them the same way his mother had done for him before she died.

"Exactly, I'm too scared of my mom to ever become a sith, let alone the Darkest Knight."

"Are you sure your mom's never been tempted by the darkside?"

"Oh please," Jaina rolled her eyes, "When the Dark Side goes to sleep, it checks under the bed for Leia Organa-Solo."

Zekk laughed with Jaina, and without thinking about it his arms wrapped around her waist. Jaina’s arms slid around his neck like it was the most natural thing in the world, and they both lay down on the bed.

Zekk still couldn't close his eyes, staring at the tools racked on the walls of Jaina’s room.

Flame welder.

Blowtorch.

Hydrospanner.

Nanopincer.

Electro-mag pulse disruptor.

Fusion lathe.

Micro-probe.

"What're you thinking about?" Jaina asked, tapping the cloth of his shirt over his chest. She wasn't demanding this time, moreso she was curious.

Zekk took a deep breath. "If I ever started going back towards the dark side, would you still try to stop me?"

"Of course," Jaina flicked his chin, "What kind of question is that?"

Zekk sighed uneasily, "I'm just worried that having these dreams means I'm falling down the wrong path again."

Jaina cradled his cheek in her hand, guiding his eyes to meet hers,

"Sometimes dreams are just dreams," She told him, "Your brain is a big lump of muscles and electricity, and sometimes it does weird stuff. You can't be an all-powerful Jedi all the time."

"So when I had that dream about giving a bath to a never-ending line of banthas, that wasn't a premonition or something?"

Jaina snorted, and Zekk felt his heart soar. He chuckled a little as well.