"You must remember that we're peacekeepers, not warriors. Those among us who are old enough to remember the birth of the Republic still hear the clashing of lightsabers in our nightmares. No matter how dire our situation becomes, we must never repeat our forebears' mistakes." - Ganrax Tokra, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

Gerard gasped. "You're Fun Ghoul?!" he said.

"I told you we shouldn't have gone with him, and you didn't listen to me," Mikey said to Gerard. "Now we're both going to die."

Frank didn't respond. Instead, he pointed his blaster at the bounty hunter as he tried to remember her name. Every bounty hunter in the galaxy was after him, and with the Empire willing to shell out a million credits to anyone who could capture him, dead or alive, he didn't blame them. It just made it tough for Frank to keep track of all the people who were trying to kill him. He didn't fire his blaster quite yet, and thankfully, the bounty hunter and her crew stayed still too.

"Dali Kintung," the bounty hunter said, as if she'd read Frank's mind. "I'm with the Bounty Hunters' Guild." She smiled and added, "Do you even realize how long the Guild's been looking for you, Fun Ghoul? And now I've finally found you."

Frank zeroed in on Dali, making sure that his aim was perfect. If she talked for much longer, he might just have to pull the trigger. This was what she got for attacking his ship, for messing with the Most Dangerous Man in the Galaxy.

Dali shifted her blaster and fired at Gerard and Mikey, barely missing the younger of the two brothers. If Mikey hadn't ducked slightly, she would have hit him straight in the head. "Stop!" Frank shouted. "They didn't do anything!"

Dali, of course, didn't listen. Gerard and Mikey both hid in a corner, looking terrified as Dali's crew members fired at them, thankfully missing every time. Frank winced as he heard the sounds of blasters and Gerard and Mikey's screams, but he couldn't help much, not without getting shot. All he could do was try to get the bounty hunters to stop. Mikey and Gerard were innocent, yet Dali wouldn't stop attacking them, knowing that they had no way to defend themselves. She smiled as she saw just how horrified Frank was, as she heard him screaming to leave them alone.

Frank channeled his inner rage as he aimed and fired his blaster, taking out one of Dali's crew members. Gerard rushed to help, but Frank shouted, "Stay back!" He couldn't risk either of the Way brothers getting hurt.

While Dali was distracted, he aimed for her heart, but he ended up merely grazing her shoulder. As she yelped in pain, Frank pulled the trigger of his blaster over and over again, picking off each of her crew members one by one. He was angry, angrier than he'd ever been, just because this bounty hunter had dared to pick on two innocent teenagers. He didn't even care whether he made it out of this fight alive anymore. All that mattered was keeping Gerard and Mikey safe.

Soon, all of the crew members were dead, and the only intruder left alive on the ship was Dali herself. She rushed toward him, but Frank grabbed her and slammed her head into the wall of the ship. She slumped onto the floor, and for a few moments, the Black Mariah was dead silent. Frank looked out at all of the carnage and then turned back to Mikey and Gerard, both of them still paralyzed with fear.

"It's okay," Frank said as he put his blaster back in his holster. "We're safe now."

"You're not going to kill us?" Mikey said.

"Why would I do that?" Frank asked.

"Because you're Fun Ghoul?" Mikey said. "Isn't that what you do?"

"I'm not like them," Frank said. "I've done some really awful stuff, I've made a lot of mistakes, but I don't kill innocents. Ever."

Mikey still looked afraid, but Gerard was more uneasy than anything. Frank worried about them, wondering if they would ever be able to trust him again. He still wanted to take them to Ilum, but he wasn't sure if he could do that if they knew he was Fun Ghoul.

Maybe he would regret this one day. Gerard worked for the Empire, after all. Maybe he'd turn him in, but it would be worth it to know that he could still save someone, that there was still some goodness in his heart, that he was alive and had a soul.

Frank looked around his ship and saw that it was littered with dead bodies and splattered with blood. "I'm going to clean up," he said. "I'll be back soon."

He dragged the corpses into Dali's ship, and when he was done, he wiped up the interior of the Black Mariah. Then, he took control of the ship again, his heartbeat beginning to slow now that the fight was over. He disconnected the Black Mariah from Dali's ship, and he steered toward the Outer Rim. He'd sell the diamonds in Cloud City, sell Gerard's data pod on Truwel, drop the Way brothers off on Ilum, and then he'd move on with his life. Someday, he'd forget all about his run-in with the Bounty Hunters' Guild, although he doubted he'd ever forget about Gerard Way.

Frank turned back to look at Gerard. He was doodling in a sketchbook, his gorgeous hazel eyes fixated on the page. Gerard still looked a little nervous, but he mostly seemed lost in thought, like his mind was in another galaxy. He was so cute when he was like this, and Frank hated to interrupt him by asking, "What are you working on?"

"I'm just drawing," Gerard said, his eyes still glued to the page. "It helps me relax." He paused and then asked, "Could you turn a little to the left?"

"Sure," Frank said as he turned his head slightly. "Why?"

"I thought I'd draw a picture of you," Gerard said. "You have just the right face for it."

Frank smiled slightly, and Gerard kept on sketching. "Can I see it when it's done?"

"Of course," Gerard said with a smile. As he continued to draw, he added, "You know, I always thought Fun Ghoul would be taller."

"Everyone says that," Frank said. "It's not my fault that I stopped growing at age fourteen."

"I thought you'd be older too," Gerard said. "Fun Ghoul's been around since before the Clone Wars, but you're what? Nineteen? Twenty?"

"Eighteen, actually," Frank admitted.

"My God, Frank," Gerard said. "You're far too young for this."

"I left home when I was eleven," Frank said. "A group of smugglers took me under their wing, and I've been Fun Ghoul ever since. I hardly know anything else."

He knew he was giving Gerard too much information - information that he might send back to the Empire - but he wanted to trust him. He had no idea what Gerard thought of him, especially after he'd killed a whole crew of bounty hunters, but with the way Gerard looked at him, Frank wanted to believe that his traveling companion genuinely liked him.

Gerard's brother was a different story. Mikey was still cowering in a corner, too afraid to move. He was afraid of him, and after what he'd done to those bounty hunters, Frank didn't blame him. "Gerard?" Mikey whispered.

"What's up, Mikey?" Gerard said, still not looking up from his drawing.

"I'm scared," Mikey said. "Can we please go home?"

"Absolutely not," Gerard said.

"But we're literally on a ship with Fun Ghoul! We're going to die!"

"No, we're not."

"He killed all those bounty hunters!"

"He did that to protect us!"

"I can't believe I have to say this, Gee, but I'm not a Jedi, the Force isn't real, and Fun Ghoul's not your friend. We should go home."

"I'd rather be on a ship with Fun Ghoul for the rest of my life than send you back to Coruscant right now, Mikey," Gerard said. He turned back to Frank and said, "Hang on a second. I'm almost done with your drawing."

Frank waited for a few minutes, and then Gerard showed him the drawing. He smiled as soon as he saw it. The sketch was incredible. It captured him perfectly, and there was so much love, care, and affection in every stroke of Gerard's pencil. There was no question about how Gerard felt about him now.

Frank flipped through the rest of the sketchbook, and there were all kinds of drawings in there, from character studies to Imperial propaganda posters to notes on stories that he'd never written. "Wow," Frank said. "Your art's amazing."

"Thanks," Gerard said.

"No problem," Frank said. All of a sudden, he had an idea. "Could I draw a picture of you?"

"Don't you need to pilot the ship?"

"I can put it on autopilot for now." Frank pushed a few buttons on the control panel, and then he picked up a pencil and started sketching.

"You know, I don't think you're nearly as bad as the Empire makes you out to be," Gerard said while Frank was busy drawing. "You didn't have to agree to take Mikey and I to Ilum, and you definitely didn't have to defend us from those bounty hunters. You're a good guy, Frank, even if you don't know it yet."

Frank smiled. In all his life, he didn't think that anyone had ever said something so kind to him. He decided that the galaxy needed more creative, compassionate people who didn't care what everyone else thought, more people like Gerard Way. "Thanks, Gerard," he said. "That means a lot."

He put a few finishing touches on his drawing and then frowned when he saw the final product. He'd tried so hard to capture Gerard's essence. He wanted to show how talented, caring, and beautiful he was, but his drawing looked like a shapeless blob with a face. He showed it to Gerard, who burst out laughing.

"It's okay, Frank," he said. "Drawing people takes some practice. You'll get better, I promise."

"I'm better at drawing dogs," Frank said. "I have a lot of them at home."

"That's adorable," Gerard said.

"Yeah," Frank said. "I miss them so much."

"You know what I miss?" Gerard said.

"Home? Mom and Dad? Having a normal, sane brother?" Mikey interjected.

"Shut up, Mikey," Gerard said. "I miss coffee. I haven't had any since we left Coruscant."

"Hey, I know there's a really good coffee shop on Alderaan," Frank said. "Why don't I take you there?"

"Yeah," Gerard said, smiling. "That sounds perfect."

Frank turned the ship around and directed it toward Alderaan. He promised himself he'd get a cup of coffee for Gerard, no matter what. All he wanted was to make Gerard happy, and he'd do anything just to make his new friend smile again.