My Least Favourite Character (Han Solo Fanfic) #Wattys2016

Chapter 10 - Oasis II

The unsustainable smell of some deep roasted meat - that's all she was conscious of. It woke her up with a grimace. It took her some time to notice that the weight of the cold water that had been drenching her clothes was gone. Her limbs didn't seem to want to move. She wondered if she was dead. But the excruciating pain in her leg refreshed her mind; she vaguely visualized the pointy fin approaching her speedily in the darkness. She re-heard her own blood-curdling scream; that seemed to force her eyes open. They turned round, discovering their environment. All her visual range could capture was a dark fabric sustained by a wooden structure over her. She saw that she herself was laying on the same soft material. Using her elbows, she heaved her bones up and fell to the ground. There, she had a clearer vision of what she'd been on: it was a bunk bed, with dark blue sheets. She crawled on the ground to get a better look at where she was. It was a tiny room, with only a wood and straw chair and a trunk beside the bed. It was quite dirty; and it gave Gray the sensation that she was slightly swinging.

She attempted to get up, but the weakness of her body combined with the swinging made her stagger again. She managed to crawl on her knees, one of which was tightly bandaged in a white cloth, making the multiple red stains of her own blood stand out. She crept out of the little room and reached a narrow corridor with a row of round windows on each side. The temptation of peering at the outside was tremendous, and eventually she made it to her feet. She limped to one of the windows, and was subjected to a hard swing. The horrible smell of roast meat came to her nostrils once more and she instinctively pulled the latch of the window and put out her head to throw up - and a voice, a quite eager and cheerful voice came from behind her.

"Young lady, how are you feeling? Better?"

The words came out in a foreign accent which Gray presumed to be Asian. When she turned, she caught a glimpse of a little round man with olive skin. He had dark curly hair and big dark eyes which showed no hostility; and for that, Gray didn't feel frightened. But she couldn't answer, for another hard swing shook her and made her turn to throw up again.

"Ah, you are seasick, is that it? Well, you'd better sit down and have a glass of water, some swings here are quite nasty!"

"Yeah, I noticed..." she croaked. Then, taking a deep breath: "Where am I?"

"You are on board of the Oasis II, Miss." he answered in a proud tone. "Beautiful boat, is it not?"

"But..." Gray was confuse. "How did I get here?"

"It was this Mr. Walter Reynolds" he explained, offering her a chair at the end of the corridor. "He was holding you in his arms when I found you two in the middle of the ocean last night. He waved at us and we immediately came to your rescue. We escorted you both on the boat and you were unconscious. Your leg, I wonder, how does it feel?"

Gray opened and shut her mouth and gulped before answering, quite calmly: "It hurts."

"Oh," he said, his eyes widening as he looked at the blood-stained cloth. "Perhaps we should change that bandage. Remain seated, Miss, I'll be right back."

Gray watched him go. She felt a deep pang of gratefulness for the little man who had saved her life. And just as she thought of that, Han came into her mind. After all, he too had saved her life. She wondered where he could be, and just as she considered leaving her seat to go look for him, the so-familiar deep voice sounded behind her.

"Well, hello there."

Gray suppressed a smile before turning round in her chair to Han. His hair was messier than ever, with the wild strands of blonde hair still more abundant than his natural chestnut brown color. His mustache had gone, probably lost in the sea. He had put on his glasses (which he certainly safely kept in his big battle belt) in an attempt to reprise his role of Walter Reynolds. He didn't seem to be wounded in any way.