THE EIGHTH [han solo]

[1.06]

Chained to the cold, stone wall with more than just a few bruises littering her stomach and face from the beating that she received courtesy of Jabba's goons. Her left eye was extremely swollen, but her right eye remained okay, there was one cut on her face, and her hands were scratched and cut up from fighting back. There was only so much she could take, and she was getting to the end of the line. She was so ready to get out of this hellish place, and once her healed a little, would take down Qu-Za. Over the past week she had resigned herself to believe that Han was either dead, captured or didn't care enough to come back for her. She was ready to break out of that place herself. She had also noted the guard schedules and which ones were more sympathetic and which ones hated her guts (more like her smart-ass mouth, but that's another story) Octavia sat down, trying to loosen the chain around her neck, because it was digging in. Luckily for her, the guard on duty was one of the more sympathetic ones.
"Help! I-I can't! I can't breathe." Octavia said, hissing and tugging at the chain, before rolling her eyes back and going limp.
"Shit! Jabba doesn't want you dead just yet Miss Nightshade." Octavia bit back the urge to correct him. That's Captain Nightshade to you. She said in her head. The guard entered the room and loosened the chain just enough so she could wriggle out of it. From her position on the floor, Octavia kicked up, hitting him right where the sun don't shine, he lout out a loud yell, and Octavia figured she should make him be quiet.
"Sorry about this." She said, and hit his head against the bench, hard. He dropped unconscious and her plan was underway. "You might have a slight headache tomorrow." She said, trying to be sympathetic with a 'sorry' smile. First things first, change out of this damned outfit. Octavia thought. She quickly changed into the guards clothes, and decided, with a smirk on her face, that she'd put him in her uncomfortable metal bikini, just because it would be a statement to Jabba. Hurt me all you want, humiliate me, sure, but I'll always get my own back. She then chained him, because she didn't want anyone coming after her. She took his keys and blaster and tied her hair back roughly, and shoved it under a cap. Maybe no one would notice the black eye. She hoped. Then she walked out of the cell room into the cell hallways. She had been in a room, with multiple cells, but no one else in them. She now knew it's because they had multiple other rooms with other prisoners. Should I check? Maybe-? She decided she'd walk in and check anyway. The room was full, but no Han. Part of her was grateful she didn't have to deal with him being annoying as she escaped. It made her escape easier. She ignored the yells of the prisoners and walked straight back out. They'd only slow her down, and she needed to be as quick as possible. She raced down the corridor, the only noise was the sound of her own uneven footsteps, ragged breathing and quickening heartbeat, all of them assaulting her senses and making her want to scream, but she was on a mission to get the hell out of the prison, before Jabba killed her, or sold her, or worse, put her to use as his personal slave. She'd never stoop that low, being near that slimy git once was good enough for Octavia. She was perfectly happy to keep her distance, preferably at least three planets away. She let her thoughts stray back to Qu-Za. She'd kill him when she got her hands on him, if she ever got her hands on him, he was known for slipping through the cracks of upper-class society like the snail he is. It was there and then, pretending to be a guard, jogging down the hallways of Jabba's prison, with one swollen eye, several bruises and a probably broken rib (yes, she thought to herself. That'd explain the extreme pain going on in my chest right now) that Octavia swore revenge on Qu-Za, for giving in and giving her away to Jabba. And it was there and then, as she shot down another guard who suspected her of not being official, she swore to herself that she'd never trust easy again. It'd take more than a few successful transactions to make Octavia Nightshade trust anyone. It was that moment a thought occurred to her. Maybe Han wasn't dead or imprisoned, maybe he'd been in on it too, an easy way to pay off his ever-growing debt to Jabba. It did seem likely. She decided that if she ever saw Han Solo again, (She shot down another guard, this was getting rather difficult) that she'd slap him, violently, across the face.

[THE MILLENNIUM FALCON
ONE WEEK EARLIER]

It took Han Solo 2 days to escape Qu-Za's. With the help of Chewie of corse, and for the past 5 days, they'd been locating Octavia, avoiding Imperials, planning how to break Octavia out, avoiding Imperials, stocking up on blaster bolts and parts. You guessed it. Avoiding Imperials. It seemed they had the Millennium Falcon on their radar all the time. It was infuriating. Han sat, with his feet on the dash (yet another bad habit he'd picked up from Octavia.) and ran a hand through his always messy hair.
"What if she's already dead Chewie." Han said defeatedly, sighing. "Is there even a point?" Chewbacca growled violently. "Okay...okay, you're not giving up until she's back here, I get it, I really do. I'm just saying, why should we risk everything for her?" Chewie growled again. "What as she ever done for us? It's not 'Karama' if it's one sided Chewie." Han rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. We'll go and try find her. It's your funeral." He muttered. "Probably mine too."

[JABBA'S PALACE
ONE WEEK LATER]

Octavia had now shot eight guards and hoped to go she was near the door soon. She was getting very sick and tired of the same gloomy and slightly damp corridors that she'd been running down for what seemed like forever, when in reality it was only fifteen minutes. The anguish in her chest wouldn't let up, and she was almost sure it was a broken rib, even with no medical training. If, no. When she got out of this maze she'd need to find some place to go to heal up. She wished that Han was still on the same side as her, because then she'd have a place to go and heal and rest up before killing Qu. She'd made that choice consciously, as she emerged into the sunlight, where to her dismay, around twenty or thirty guards were waiting for her, guns drawn and aimed at her, she smirked her signature smirk, although she had no idea how to get out of this. Truly, she hadn't thought that far. Suddenly, there were around ten less guards, the collapsed onto the floor all at once. The rest charged, not towards the unknown attacker, no, all remaining 15 charged at Octavia all at once she closed her eyes, and shot wildly, desperate to survive but almost accepting she wasn't gonna, but she wanted to go out with a bang anyway, she shot until the gun was empty and opened one eye hesitantly. Fifteen bodies lay on the ground, but not all of them had blaster bolts in them, there were a few, that were killed by something, or someone else. Looking up, there they stood, Chewbacca and Han Solo. True to her word Octavia stalked up, limping slightly and slapped him right across the face, he winced and his head jerked to the side as her hand made contact with his cheeks.
"Two weeks! Two entire weeks! Where were you?!" Her voice echoed around the completely empty piece of desert.
"We were trying to rescue you!" Han yelled.
"What a lousy rescue that was!" She shouted back. Octavia huffed loudly, then groaned at the pain in her side. Damned rib. She thought to herself.
"Come on." Said Han defeatedly. "Let's get you back to the Falcon, you need to heal up and then we can discuss the details of Chewie and I's escape." He said, tossing an arm around her to help support her weight, so she didn't injure herself even more. She shoved it off.
"I'm fine, barely a scratch on me." She said, Han raised his eyebrows. 'Barely a scratch' was the understatement of the century. He put his arm back around her, ever persistent. "Solo, I'm fine. No need to try help." She said, shoving him off. She managed to limp back to The Millennium Falcon without fully tripping or passing out, which was a good achievement. She sat on the side of the Medical Bed while R5 was inputting data, and Thunder assumed her normal position on Octavia's shoulder. Han sat opposite her, wrapping her bruised and bloodied knuckles.
"You gotta be more careful." He muttered, almost tracing a pattern across her hands as he pulled the fabric wraps around them.
"I know, I'm not gonna trust anyone else easily now." She said, sighing. "Y'know, I didn't say thanks. I'd be dead if it weren't for you." She said, swallowing her own  pride to say that. He smirked, but tried not to let it go to his own head.
"You've saved my ass a few times yourself. We'll call it even." He said, and Octavia was never more thankful for her asshole best friend, then right in that moment.

--
Again, I'm really sorry for the shortness of the last two chapters! I figured I'd split them rather than one big chapter. Oh, by the way. I don't think any of you would care, but if your wondering about my nickname, Antigone, it's said 'an-tig-oh-nee' and she's a character from a Greek tragedy, you should look her up, she's everything I aspire to be -A x