Jyn and Cassian trekked slowly and painfully along the coastline. The rubble of the Imperial Base slowly faded from sight behind them and the destroyed landscape gradually turned into tropical paradise once again. Jyn did her best to refrain from letting out any vocal hint of how much pain she was in. Cassian limped beside her, his wounded leg and cracked ribs making it excruciating to put just one foot in front of the other. Finally, Jyn broke the silence.
"Cassian, we have to rest. Neither one of us can barely walk, and you're worse off than I am. You have to at least get your leg bandaged." She insisted, helping Cassian sink to the soft white sand beneath them.
"Yeah... you're right... again." He grunted as he sat, cracking a smile. Jyn smirked and sat down next to him. Jyn sighed. Everything, everywhere hurt. She looked over at Cassian, who had his head back and his eyes closed. Then she noticed the mat of dried blood on the back of his head.
"Cassian, how come you didn't bandage that?" Jyn chided. Cassian glanced at her with a twinkle in his warm eyes.
"It's funny, cause I was going to, but then I saw this random girl just lying face down in the sand for no reason. I helped her, and then she rewarded me by dragging me half across the planet and in all that dragging, I just forgot about it, and--"
"Ok, ok! I get it!" Jyn let out a laugh, a rare sound from her lips. Cassian smiled as he ripped off several strips of cloth from his shirt and bound his head. "Here, let me help..." Jyn offered. She leaned over and finished the bandaging, tying it firmly. Her touch sent shivers down Cassian's spine, but he refused to acknowledge it as anything other than being cold.
All of a sudden, the odd clunking noise of stormtrooper armor began to grow louder and louder, very quickly. Jyn's eyes widened in alarm and she pulled Cassian to his feet, taking off running. Cassian tried to keep up as best as possible, his ribs screaming in agony.
"We have to hide!" Jyn cried, as she ran faster, heading for a cave etched into the cliffs that lined the beach. Shouts rang out behind them, muffled and distorted by stormtrooper helmets. Shots were fired. The blasts exploded in the sand around them, sending sprays of sand in every direction. Another blaster fired. "UNGH!" Jyn grunted and fell to the ground.
"JYN!" Cassian skidded to a stop and spun around. Jyn gripped her leg, blood spilling out from the blaster wound and pain etched in her face. Without a moment's hesitation, Cassian scooped her up and continued running.
"Cassian, put me down! You can't carry me!" She yelled over the blaster fire. Cassian didn't reply, and instead ran faster.
"I was hoping to save this for later..." He muttered.
"Save what?!" Abruptly, in one single, fluid movement, Cassian unhooked his only miniature grenade, clicked the timer button, spun around, and flung it at the squadron of stormtroopers behind them. Offset in his balance, both Cassian and Jyn tumbled to the ground, then covered their heads as the grenade detonated with a massive "BANG."
Then, absolute silence.
Jyn slowly raised herself up on her elbows and looked over her shoulder. The stormtroopers lay dead on the scorched sand, blasters and pieces of armor scattered.
"Wow... nice going." She remarked, amazed. Cassian groaned and rolled over on his back.
"Jyn, I think a few of my ribs are broken." He commented nonchalantly.
"I already knew that. You shouldn't have carried me." Jyn scolded gently, her voice laced with sympathy and pain of her own.
"How's your leg?"
"Always the gentleman, aren't we? Well, with a couple broken ribs and a head injury, I think we'd be officially even." She remarked sarcastically, collapsing on the sand.
"That's not a good thing, you know that, right?" Cassian retorted. She laughed,, for the second time in one day. He decided he liked making her laugh. Jyn struggled to her feet and limped over to the dead bodies of the stormtroopers. She picked up two of their blasters and a few un-detonated grenades. She straightened up and headed back over to Cassian. As she looked above him and into the distance, she gasped. "What is it?" Cassian asked.
"Cassian... that's an Imperial hangar!"
YOU ARE READING
A Second Chance
Fanfiction*COMPLETE* Cassian didn't expect to wake up. He had prepared himself once again for what seemed like inevitable death, although his final moments were filled with much more heartbreak than he'd ever experienced. He had looked into Jyn's eyes for wh...
