Never Tell Me The Odds

Chapter 10

I'm woken up by someone shaking me softly. I slowly open my eyes to see Qi'ra rolling her eyes back at me as she shakes me awake. "Come on wake up, we have to get moving"

"Alright I'm up I'm up, you can stop shaking me now" I chuckle tiredly as she stops with the shaking and backs away. I stretch out my arms and run my hand through my hair as I stand up to my feet. The three of us quickly leave the ship and begin heading into the cave with the ring.

"This seems... safe?" RJ beeps nervously, staying close to me.

"I'd watch out still. Who know what kind of booby-" Before I can finish RJ trips over a string connected to the walls. I hear something in the walls shift. So my first instinct is to step back and pull Qi'ra into me, wrapping my arms around her, so she doesn't get hurt. "-traps. Booby traps." I wince feeling something hit my side.

"Sorry.." He does a long somber beep after his sorry.

"It's fine bud.." I take a beep breath and look down at Qi'ra who I still have wrapped in my arms. "Are you ok?"

"Yea.. I'm uh I'm fine. Thank you.." She puts her hands on my chest looking into my eyes.

"Now I saved you once" I chuckle as she softly pushes off of me and rolls her eyes.

"It's about time I didn't have to save your ass" She laughs stepping over the string then she grabs RJ. "Why don't you hang in here? Then you don't have to worry about anymore traps" She smiles placing RJ in her backpack she brought.

"This works great! Thanks Qi'ra" He beeps happily as she puts the backpack back on.

"You're welcome RJ, shall we go then?" She turns to me as I step over the string and smile.

"Yes. I think we should stay close to each other.. you know just in case there's another trap" I chuckle lightly.

"Are you sure you're not just using that as an excuse to be close to me?" She raises an eyebrow at me and RJ beeps at me in amusement.

"Who says I want to be close to you?" I challenge her statement, she just shakes her head and begins walking away.

She then stops and turns her head to look at me, "Well are you coming or not?"

"Oh yea!" I jog up to her and RJ as the two of them laugh. "We need a light"

"I got it" RJ opens a latch on his head and out comes a smallish rod with a light on it.

"Whoa how does he have that?" Qi'ra asks curiously looking back at him.

"That would be me as well. I thought since we could be doing missions in the dark, a flashlight with be a good idea" I explain walking close to her.

"You've got some skill with that huh?" She looks over at me smiling.

"You think? I'm not sure how I know how to do stuff like that but I do" I chuckle looking down at the ground smiling. I hear a light chuckle from her.

I hear her gasp so I look over at her confused. She grabs my arm stopping me, "You're side! You were hit by one of those darts"

"That's what that was?" I grab the dart quickly pulling it from my side making me wince a little bit. "I'm sure it's nothing. Just a small dart" I toss it on the floor off to the side and start walking again.

"Are you sure?" She checks, speeding up to walk next to me.

"Yes I'm sure, let's keep going" I smile at her then look down at the ground. As we walk I see a weird rock as she steps down. "Qi'ra wait!" But it's too late she already stepped on it. I see something start swinging towards us. I wrap her in my arms jumping back, practically throwing myself into the wall. A big boulder tied up with a rope comes swinging past us, missing us then begins slowing down with every swing. "Are you ok? I didn't hurt you when I jumped back did I?" I feel worry wash over me as I have her take a small step back so I can look her up and down.

"I'm ok I'm ok. Thank you.. again. Now we're even" She grabs my face and kisses my cheek causing my cheeks start to burn.

"Don't mention it" I chuckle nervously then look back at RJ. "Are you ok RJ? Nothing happened to you did it?"

"I'm ok Leo, I'm safely tucked in Qi'ra's bag" He beeps as she takes a few more steps away from me.

"How about you? You threw yourself at the wall" She laughs as I reach back rubbing my back slightly.

"I'm ok, probably just a few scratches. We should keep going" I smile at her starting to walk again. This time Qi'ra places herself closer to me, her arm against mine. I hear RJ beeping so I look over at him to see him looking right back at me. I take a deep breath and look forward again. Some more walking and a few booby traps later we finally make it to the end of the cave. But to get to it you have to jump on these big rock pillars. "I'll go. You two stay back"

"But how are you going to jump back with all that Beskar?" Qi'ra furrows her brows at me with a worried look on her face.

"Trust me, I'll find a way" I grab onto the sides of her shoulders and smile softly. "Do you trust me?"

She's silent for a moment before she sighs, "Yes.. weirdly I do trust you" She half smirks at me.

"I'll take that. Even with the weirdly part" I chuckle letting go of her shoulders. "I'll be back, both of you" I look back at RJ who has started beeping nervously some more.

"Promise?" He says quietly.

"I promise" I place my hand on his head and smile. I turn around making sure the bag is securely on my back. I take a few steps back then run and jump onto the first pillar safely. Then onto the second pillar, third pillar then finally onto the platform where all the Beskar is stashed. I take the bag off of my back and begin putting the Beskar into it.

"Are you ok over there?" Qi'ra yells from across the area.

"I'm fine! Almost got all of it! I'll be over in a second!" I yell back to her, I turn to look at them to see her with her face scrunched up anxiously. I turn back around quickly putting the rest of the Beskar into the bag. I stand up to my feet picking the bag up, "Shit this is heavier than I thought it was going to be" I put the bag on my back taking a deep breath as Qi'ra and RJ watch me anxiously. So I take a few steps back again and run forward, jumping to the first pillar. But the bag weighs me down causing me to fall a lot quicker making me miss the pillar.

"LEO!!!"