Work Text:
Hera gritted her teeth as she peeled the gauze away from her leg. It was soaked with blood, but only a small trickle was still coming from the wound. The fyrnock’s teeth had sunk deep into her leg but seemed to have missed all the major blood vessels. She drew a long, slow breath in through her nose and let it out just as slowly between her clenched teeth. The wound was throbbing, her calf swollen to nearly twice its normal size and the muscle aching where she’d injected the antibiotics.
It's okay. That inner voice she used to soothe herself when she was in pain sounded so much like her mother’s that it hurt. It was she who’d first taught Hera how to tend to her own wounds, and others’. Her hands that Hera felt ghosting over her own, guiding her as she worked. You’re okay. Just breathe.
Her hands were shaking as she grabbed another gauze pad and pressed it to the wound. She wrapped the bandages around it, binding the dressings tightly. It wasn’t her best work, all haphazard and sloppy, but it was the best she could do right now. She’d have to change them later, anyway.
With her work done as well as it could be, Hera allowed herself to slump over for a moment and lean against the wall. She knew she’d be alright with a little rest, but right now she felt like she’d been stomped on by a rancor.
There was a knock on her door and she groaned.
“Come in!” she called. She wasn’t putting any weight on this leg until it was absolutely unavoidable.
The door opened and Hera was surprised to see Sabine enter. The girl had taken off her armor and was now dressed in comfortable civilian clothes. There was something about her that seemed off, and Hera briefly wondered if she’d been injured too. But this was Sabine. If she was hurt, she wouldn’t be coming here. Wouldn’t tell anyone unless it was life or death. The teen reminded her a little too much of herself that way.
“Can we talk?” Sabine asked. Hera nodded.
Sabine swallowed, her fingers toying with a stray thread on the hem of her shirt.
“I’m sorry,” she said at last. It wasn’t an easy phrase for her, Hera could tell. Sabine was stubborn and proud, and from what little Hera knew of her life before the Ghost, it seemed like those were traits instilled in her from birth. “For forcing my way onto the supply run. And… everything else.”
“I think Zeb, Ezra, and Chopper have a lot more to apologize for than you do.”
“Don’t worry,” Sabine said flatly. “I’m planning our revenge already.”
Hera smiled. If there was one thing she could count on, it was that Sabine wasn’t joking. If there was another, it was that said revenge would be creative and likely explosive.
Rather than warn her not to blow up anything important, Hera simply held one arm out, beckoning Sabine closer. “Come here.”
Sabine perched on the bunk beside her, and Hera slid her arm around the girl’s shoulders.
“I’m sorry, too,” Hera said. “I know you’re frustrated. But there are things we just can’t tell you.”
Sabine’s shoulders stiffened. “I know,” she said. She wasn’t happy about it. And Hera didn’t expect her to be. She’d be frustrated too if she were in Sabine’s shoes, but it really was for the best.
“Want me to fix those bandages for you?” Sabine said, eyeing the sloppily bound wound.
“Sure,” Hera said, giving the girl’s shoulders a tight squeeze.
Sabine scooted along the edge of the bunk until she could reach Hera’s leg. She carefully unwrapped the bandages and peeled away the gauze beneath them. It tugged at the edges of the wound and Hera gasped, biting down on the back of her hand.
“My mom taught me how to do this,” Sabine said absently as she set aside the ruined supplies and ripped open a new package.
“Mine too,” Hera said. Just another thing she and Sabine had in common. Most people didn’t notice it at first, but the two of them were alike in so many ways.
Sabine worked in silence for a moment, rewrapping the bandages neater and tighter with those steady bomb-builder’s hands.
“You know, you don’t have to do everything on your own,” she said suddenly, with that same hurt Hera had heard in her voice back on the asteroid.
“So that’s why you insisted on coming along?” Hera teased.
“No,” Sabine said. “I meant this. But yeah, that too. You don’t have to take on everything. If you’d been there alone –”
She stopped abruptly, her hands going still. She didn’t need to say what they both knew.
“We’re a team,” Sabine muttered. She quickly tied off the bandage and pulled Hera’s pant leg down over it. Her hands flew back to her lap as if she was embarrassed to have shown any feelings, however minimal. “We look out for you, just as much as you do for us.”
“We are a team,” Hera said. “But we have different parts to play. And sometimes mine involves handling things on my own. But I am glad you were there today.”
“I really am sorry,” Sabine said quietly, her fingers returning to that stray thread.
“I know,” Hera assured her. “But if there’s anyone I would want beside me while fighting off a pack of fyrnocks, it’s you.”
She leaned forward, grasping Sabine’s hand in hers and squeezing it tightly.
“Yeah,” Sabine said, squeezing her hand back. “You’re definitely a better battle partner than Chopper.”