Chapter Text
The doors slammed against the walls with a deafening crash.
Everything stopped.
Inside the room…
Strapped to a stained surgical bed…
Was Ellie.
Joel’s Ellie.
She wore an oversized hospital gown that looked like it had once been white.
One side of her head had already been shaved.
An IV snaked into her arm.
Leather restraints held her wrists.
Her ankles.
Her waist.
She couldn’t even sit up.
Behind her stood a surgeon.
Gloved.
Masked.
A tray of gleaming instruments waited at his side.
Scalpels.
Retractors.
Saws.
Joel took it all in in less than a heartbeat.
Something inside him broke.
Weapons came up instantly.
Three Firefly guards spun toward the intrusion, rifles snapping into position.
Joel’s rifle answered just as quickly.
Din’s blaster tracked across two of the guards in one smooth motion.
Grogu clung silently to Din’s shoulder, ears pinned back.
Nobody breathed.
Nobody fired.
Then—
“…Joel?”
Ellie’s voice.
Small.
Confused.
“…Din?”
Her eyes widened.
“…Grogu?”
Joel didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
His eyes were locked on one person.
Marlene.
Standing beside Ellie’s bed.
Arms folded.
Like this was all perfectly reasonable.
After several long seconds, she sighed.
“Well.”
A faint trace of sarcasm.
“Looks like you found your way here after all.”
Joel’s expression never changed.
His rifle remained perfectly still.
“What the fuck is going on here, Marlene?”
She looked almost offended.
“You know exactly what’s going on, Joel.”
“We’re saving the world.”
“No.”
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
“You’re about to kill a little girl.”
Silence.
“And for what?”
He took one careful step forward.
“The chance that maybe…”
“…maybe…”
“…you help somebody?”
His voice rose.
“A chance?”
“That’s the trade you’re willing to make?”
Marlene’s jaw tightened.
“This isn’t one life for one life.”
“It’s one life for millions.”
“If there’s even the slightest chance this works—”
“You take it.”
Joel laughed.
It wasn’t amused.
It was horrified.
“You don’t even hear yourself.”
“We don’t get another chance.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“She doesn’t get another chance.”
“You think she’d want this?”
“I know she would-”
“I do.”
A small voice interrupted.
“I would.”
Every head turned.
Ellie looked at Joel.
Eyes full of tears.
“That’s my choice.”
Joel’s heart sank.
“I chose this.”
“I want this.”
“I want my life to matter.”
She swallowed.
“I want to save the world.”
She looked directly at him.
“This is my purpose.”
“My destiny.”
Joel opened his mouth—
But Din spoke first.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
His blaster never wavered.
His voice stayed quiet.
Firm.
Certain.
“No.”
He looked directly at Marlene.
“I’ve seen people like you before.”
“You tell yourselves it’s for the greater good.”
“You convince yourselves that hurting children becomes acceptable if enough people benefit.”
His helmet slowly turned.
Toward Ellie.
“That’s not hope.”
“That’s desperation.”
“And desperation has a way of making monsters out of otherwise decent people.”
Marlene scoffed.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I do.”
His voice tightened.
“I watched an empire do exactly this.”
His hand clenched around the blaster.
“They hunted children with gifts.”
“They took blood.”
“They ran experiments.”
“They justified every atrocity by saying it would protect the future.”
He looked back at Marlene.
“They believed they were saving the galaxy.”
His voice dropped.
“So tell me.”
“What makes you different?”
Ellie’s eyes widened.
She slowly turned toward Marlene.
“…Is that true?”
Marlene’s expression softened immediately.
“Ellie.”
“No.”
She crouched beside the bed.
“We’re trying to help people.”
“We’re trying to save everyone.”
“You know that.”
Ellie looked uncertain now.
Really uncertain.
She looked back at Joel.
“I…”
“I have to at least try.”
Her voice trembled.
“I want to save the world.”
Her face scrunched.
“I want my life to mean something!”
Joel finally lowered his eyes from the guards.
Not his rifle.
Just his eyes.
They found hers.
His voice cracked.
“Ellie…”
“Your life already means something. It does. It means so much, Ellie….”
She shook her head. Frustrated tears came to her eyes.
“No!”
“It doesn’t mean enough!”
She breathed fast.
“I want to save people. I want to make a change! I want to make a difference!”
“You already have!”
His shout echoed through the operating room.
Everyone froze.
Even the guards.
Joel’s breathing shook.
His voice became quieter.
Raw.
“You already made a difference.”
“You saved me.”
Ellie stared.
“My life…”
He swallowed hard.
“Before I met you…”
“It wasn’t worth living.”
Her eyes filled.
“I was surviving.”
“Not living.”
“But then you showed up.”
His voice broke completely.
“And suddenly…”
“I had something worth waking up for.”
He laughed through tears.
“You.”
“You became my reason.”
“You became my family.”
His eyes never left hers.
“Your life matters.”
“It matters to me.”
His hand tightened around the rifle.
“It matters more than anything.”
A tear rolled silently down Ellie’s face.
Marlene stepped forward.
“Ellie, don’t listen to him. He’s trying to manipulate—”
“You keep saying you want to save the world….”
Joel never even looked at her. He stayed staring right into Ellie’s eyes.
“And you still can.”
His voice softened almost to a whisper.
“Because…”
“You are my world.”
The room went perfectly still.
“So by saving yourself…”
“…you’re saving my world.”
He took one trembling breath.
“Please, Ellie.”
“Save my world.”
His tears finally spilled freely.
“Be my world.”
“Be mine.”
Ellie couldn’t speak.
She simply stared at him.
The rifles.
The blasters.
The surgeon.
The operating room.
Everything else disappeared.
There was only Joel.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Begging.
His final words came out barely above a whisper.
“Please…”
“…baby girl.”
“…say yes.”
Something inside Ellie shattered.
A sob escaped before she could stop it.
“…Okay.”
Another sob.
“…Okay, Joel.”
She closed her eyes.
“I changed my mind.”
Her voice was tiny.
“I don’t…”
She cried openly now.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.”
She turned toward Marlene.
“…Please.”
“Please let me go.”
The room changed instantly.
Every muscle tightened.
Marlene’s face hardened.
“Ellie…”
“No.”
She shook her head desperately.
“I changed my mind.”
“Please.”
Din’s voice cut through the room like a blade.
“You heard her.”
His blaster never moved.
“She does not consent.”
“Release her.”
“Now.”
The guards shifted forward.
Joel’s rifle clicked louder.
“You unhook her.”
His voice was almost frighteningly calm.
“Right now.”
“Or I’ll put a bullet through your fucking skull.”
Marlene slowly backed away from the bed.
“You know I can’t do that.”
Her hand disappeared behind the operating table.
Din spoke once more.
“This is your final warning.”
His voice carried the unmistakable weight of command.
“Release the child.”
“Now.”
The guards advanced anyway.
One step.
Then another.
Din sighed.
“So be it.”
A heartbeat passed.
He didn’t move.
Instead—
A sharp metallic whistle filled the room.
Four tiny projectiles burst from his gauntlet.
The Whistling Birds streaked through the air faster than the eye could follow.
Four impacts.
Four bodies hit the floor almost simultaneously.
Silence.
Joel was already moving.
He reached Ellie in two strides.
“It’s okay.”
His hands shook violently as he undid the restraints.
“It’s okay, baby.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ellie was crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“No.”
He cupped her face.
“It’s okay.”
“We’re getting you out.”
The final restraint fell away.
He helped her sit up.
She immediately slumped.
“Joel…”
Her voice trembled.
“They gave me something.”
“I…”
She looked down helplessly.
“I can’t feel my legs.”
His heart twisted.
“That’s okay.”
He slid one arm beneath her knees.
The other around her back.
“I’ve got you.”
He lifted her effortlessly against his chest.
“I’ve got you, baby girl.”
“You don’t have to walk.”
Din swept the room one final time.
The guards were no longer a threat.
The doctor lay with blood oozing from his skull.
Grogu peeked cautiously over his shoulder.
Then—
WEEEOOOO—WEEEOOOO—
An alarm erupted throughout the hospital.
Red lights began flashing.
Joel looked toward the ceiling.
“…Shit.”
Ellie blinked.
“…Wait.”
She looked around the room.
“What happened to Marlene?”
All three of them realized it at once.
She was gone.
Then came the pounding.
Boots.
Voices.
Shouting.
An entire corridor of it.
Reinforcements.
Din turned toward the operating room doors.
His blaster came up.
“We need to move.”
He looked back at Joel.
“You get her out.”
“I’ll clear the way.”
Joel tightened his hold around Ellie.
She buried her face against his shoulder.
He kissed the top of her head.
“Don’t worry, baby girl.”
His voice was steady now.
Certain.
“Everything’s gonna be okay.”
“I promise.”