Imperial Intelligence Operative Cipher Nine. Seventeen hours of torture, seventeen hours of her screams rattled his soul…and she had not broken. They had to break her. He had only minutes before the sessions resumed, before he flew to other operations. He knew he shouldn't have come…but as long as he was Hunter, he was drawn to her.

"You should have kept your brainwashing program," he muttered. "It would have been less painful."

She faded in and out of consciousness. Her tangle of red curls matted with her own blood covered her face as she slowly lolled side-to-side, head hung. He stood there watching in fascination, feeling hatred and adoration, desire and confusion stirring inside of him. He should walk away. He shouldn't have come in at all. He had said goodbye on Corellia. He didn't need to see her again. Not like this. Not in the flesh. The flesh was worse. It was too hard not to—

Hunter knelt down so he could see her face, to restrain himself from reaching out. He shouldn't, but he couldn't leave without looking. Her hair was in the way. The only skin he saw was the pale edge of her cheek. It would be a shame to have come this far and leave without satisfaction, but… Turn around, he told himself. He had to leave before he crossed a line.

She groaned, swayed ever so slightly, and he couldn't stop himself from touching her. He brushed the hair from her face. There were cuts on her brow, blood on her lip, and a dark bruise on her cheekbone. A fire instantly burned in his gut. He had told them not touch her face. He would kill them when this was over. Those who couldn't follow simple orders were worthless.

She groaned again, a soft sound. Leave, he ordered himself. He had seen her face, touched her hair. It was enough. He needed to go before it was too late. But she was unconscious…and it was goodbye, after all. His fingers drifted from her hair to her cheek and he inhaled sharply, quietly.

This was wrong. This was all wrong but who would ever know? No one knew his true face, the person he was beneath this carefully crafted mask. That person hadn't counted on splintering, hadn't counted on Hunter developing a life of his own, but it was too late to take it back. Hunter was as much a person as the person beneath Hunter was, maybe even more of a person, with his own thoughts and feelings and desires. And his desire…Cipher Nine… It was already unfair, this half-life. That person couldn't deny him this last indulgence no matter how wrong it was.

Besides, his beloved Imperial agent would soon disappear from the galaxy, taking with her all of his sin.

This would be his last and only chance. Until the day he died, he would never feel this way again. Why shouldn't he indulge just a little? Go, now, before you compound your mistakes. Before someone saw him soft, weak…witnessed his perversion…glimpsed his hypocrisy, vulnerability… Take your hands off her before you have to admit to yourself that—

Her eyelashes fluttered and she made another noise. He cupped her cheek in his palm, stroked her bruised flesh, slid his hand back into her tangled hair, wrapped his fingers around the curls, and gently tugged. Her head lifted effortlessly, blue eyes glistening dazedly behind her thick lashes.

"Why did you have to be Imperial?" he asked her.

"Hun…ter…" Her lips barely formed the word, but there was no mistaking his name. She knew him even in her stupor. He liked that.

"You would've fit right in. We could've been partners, traveled the galaxy together…" She tried to say something but the words wouldn't form. "You said there were no goodbyes for us. You said you would follow me anywhere." They were soul mates, her and him, destined to never be. "You couldn't do that…but I would have wanted you to." His eyes roved the curves of her face, from her lips to her eyes. "Have wanted you…" he whispered.

"…hate…you…" she murmured, barely comprehensible.

"Shhh," he shushed her with a gentle finger to her lips. His eyes were transfixed on her inviting mouth, on his finger pushing against that soft flesh. "Don't. It will just make it harder to say goodbye."

Her lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. "Broke…restraints…" she choked out. "I'm…free…"

He smiled. Only she would say something like that in enemy hands, bound to a chair, midway through torture. But she wasn't wrong. She was free.

She struggled to swallow. "Can't…control me…anymore…"

It moved him that the thought of him holding her leash is what motivated her. "Is that what you believe?" he asked softly and her lashes fluttered, eyes almost rolling to the back of her head before snapping back to his. "But you came all this way for me."

The hand holding her hair relaxed and snaked through the thick, red tangles to wrap around her slender neck. He thought to strangle her, but instead his fingers unconsciously massaged her tense muscles. She hummed almost pleasantly. He doubted she knew exactly what was happening, just that the sensation was not pain. She was too out of it to defy him, to lie to him, to pretend, to play the usual part…

Their lives had been a myriad of identities, playing roles in countless stories to serve some idealistic notion of 'greater good'. Cipher Nine had been as much a role as Hunter was, each one a perfect nemesis to the other, so when had the actors become their characters?

"It's time," Hunter whispered. "You can't follow me anymore." He leaned in until their faces were inches apart. "This time, I'll follow you. So wait for me."

Her blue eyes gazed at him beneath thick lashes, seeing him, knowing him, but too out of it to despise him. She would give him an honest reaction, and she deserved his honesty in return. You can't deny me this, he told the person beneath the mask. Because even to that person, she was special.

Hunter took a shaky breath, leaned in, hesitated, and then gently captured her mouth. The person beneath the mask felt nothing, maybe an ounce of revulsion, but every fiber of Hunter's being was suddenly on fire. His lips moved against hers, not in a chaste touch but in a way that claimed her. He tasted the sharp, metallic tang of her blood and his tongue sought more. And for just a split second, she was kissing him back.

Then it was over. As he withdrew, his heart was pounding, breath coming in quick, head hazy from the rush. He tried to tear himself away, anger and desire and despair all hitting him at once. She fell forward as he stood and she connected with his body. He went rigid and looked down at her face rubbing against his hip.

"Don't…go…" she rasped. He immediately knelt and took her cheek in his hand. She was fading again. His thumb caressed her jaw, fingers gently clawing at her neck in reluctance to let go. But he had to. He leaned in, inhaled the scent of her hair that smelled like blood and flowers. He put his mouth against her ear.

"Goodbye, agent," he said softly. The word she murmured before she went limp and slumped over was inaudible. Hunter carefully removed her weight and stood. When he looked up, the mercenaries he had hired were returning to resume the session. He glared at them daggers of hatred and then withdrew.

There was still work to be done.

Author's Note: I feel like I need a moment to explain this. I thought the big reveal that Hunter was actually a female required me to suspend reality, to be honest, because there were too many technical reasons why it seemed unlikely that she could pull off a deception of that nature. And I had really liked the creepy and intense relationship the female agent and Hunter had up until that moment; Hunter's feelings for her seemed somewhat obsessive and even dangerous. Right before her death, when Hunter says, "It's hard not to look at you with his eyes," I thought it was a nice opening to assert the idea that "Hunter" was the male personality she had crafted that had developed a mind and will of his own...and that that man had loved Cipher Nine in a rather unstable sort of way. I just wanted to do a quick short to sort of peer into his mind concerning that feeling... So there you have my reasoning. I'm not even sure I conveyed my thoughts properly... OTL I hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't too bizarre. Thank you for your time!