Chapter Text
Comms Tower, Scarif: Cassian and Jyn
Cassian’s head was spinning. His body felt disconnected, save for the general sense of pain. He’d surely had worse, stolen victories with greater injury. He just couldn’t think of any examples at the moment. His left leg wasn’t responding much at the moment. His blaster had fallen near him in a stroke of luck, and he reached out to grab it. He began to work himself up to a seated position, and pulled back the leg of the trousers, witnessing the beginnings of an obscene bruising patterning the flesh near his knee. He let out a breath between clenched teeth, and holstered his blaster. It wouldn’t stop him from dragging the dead weight that was his body to the archive tower and beginning the climb.
With the Imperial Director gone, chasing after Jyn, he was unobstructed in his ascent. He looked up to the roof, where he hoped Jyn had gotten through. The doorway that he had been shot from lay open with the body of the Death Trooper tripping the sensor, and otherwise it looked abandoned. He couldn’t trust himself to get through the ventilation above, but if there was a lift down that corridor, he thought he could take it. Take the next chance, and the next, and refuse to let them be spent. He pulled himself up along the archival pillar until he was above the door, knowing his leg cannot take the push he would need to jump laterally into the hallway. Using his arms and his one good leg, he threw himself outwards and hoped for gravity to be gentle. It never was.
His left leg cracked against the ground as he cushioned his landing on the trooper’s corpse. The hard plastoid of the armour was only slightly better than the durasteel of the corridor floor, but the unpleasant feel of something in the body’s chest giving underneath him was immediately lost to the shock of impact that shot up into his hips. He muffled his scream of pain to nothing but a grunt by biting on his lip. There could still be Imperials on this level, however unlikely. The elevator shaft lay straight ahead, over a catwalk, though the overhead display signaled the lift was currently moving upwards. He limped to the doorframe, and moved around it carefully, blaster aiming out and then downwards into open space. He blinked, his heart twinging, and then he moved rapidly along the catwalk to the elevator doors.
He knew no faster route to get to the communication dish, and his eyes refuse to stray over the railing to the landing where stormtrooper corpses lie scattered in front of the data vault door. He took the butt of his blaster to the button’s casing, breaking it off and then began pulling out wires, without thought to their purpose. The time for hidden entrances was over, he just needed this system to break. The doors opened to the empty shaft.
It was not comfortable to transfer his weight onto the recessed maintenance ladder, and he almost fell again in the attempt. As he climbed up the floors, the tower shook from repeated shots. Something above him exploded with gusto, and the lift slid down in a shower of sparks before slowing. He was going as fast as he could, but his body was beginning to defy him. There’s only so far he could push it on willpower alone, but he was willing to cross that line. He had always sought out a cause, and finally, he had found something worth that dedication, without fear or doubt of its righteousness. The closer he got to the floor of the lift, the more he was certain that the echoing sounds were voices, over the distant battle.
“Daughter of Galen, and Lyra”
Cassian could have wept with joy. She’s still alive, still defiant. She just needed to hold on for another minute. He felt his hidden heart shatter just a little more as the thought occurred to him. K could have gotten the elevator moving quickly, could have saved him the trouble of this climb. He swallowed the taste of metal and continued climbing. Words echoed down to him.
“My father’s revenge. He put a fuse in the middle of your machine, and I’ve just told the entire galaxy how to light it.”
“The shield is up,” The Imperial Director all but spat the words out. “Your signal will never reach the rebel base.”
Cassian could hear the blood rushing through his ears as he grasped the next rung. The man was so confident in his victory, that he could not believe that a simple rebel incursion could destroy his superweapon. The rage drowned out the next words, and as he pulled himself onto the top of the lift and pries the maintenance hatch open, he readied his blaster. He lowered himself down as quietly as possible into the lift, and stepped out onto the communication tower, moving instinctively towards cover.
It was utter chaos. The air was filled with flashes as X-Wings fight some form of experimental Imperial fighters. The Rebel Fighters were clearly losing against the superior numbers, and Cassian could only trust that the shield gate was down. The rest of their renegades would not let him down but… it was not a good sign that reinforcements are still absent from the aerial battle.
“You, on the other hand, die with the Rebellion.”
Jyn stared down the white-clad Imperial officer, weaponless, from the perilous footing. She was preparing to rush Director Krennic, and damn the consequences. She wouldn’t die without trying. One more chance.
Cassian propped himself against the pillar so that his injuries would not make his aim shake. He made himself aim at the center of mass, took a deep breath, and made the most important shot of his life. The bolt struck true, and the Imperial never got a shot off. He collapsed in a whirl of white cloth. Cassian wasn’t certain whether he struck him a lethal blow, as a blur had begun to sneak in around the edges of his vision.
Jyn ducked and readied to dash forward, somewhat shocked that she was not killed. She didn’t take her eyes off of Krennic until he was prostrated and then glanced towards Cassian. He risked a small smile for her, that tiny bit of warmth, as he continued to cover Krennic. She raced to the comm panel and began the transmission. As she watched the progress bar begin to fill, she could not help but smile. They had done it. She truly had told the galaxy how to destroy her father’s mistake. The mission was successful.
She limped towards Cassian and put a hand on his arm. Only then did she notice how he still watched Krennic. She turned and lunged towards the fallen man, ready to make sure the job was finished.
Cassian’s hand caught her around the arm almost immediately, and tugged her to him, begging her to walk away from revenge just this once. He knows, he desperately knows, that need for release. There wasn’t time for that now.
“Leave it, leave it. That’s it.”
Jyn barely heard the words, as she was pulled close against him. He was shaking. She can’t imagine what his injuries are, not yet. Not until they’re safe. Krennic was as good as dead. Galen’s revenge was already slinging out into the stars above. She swung Cassian’s arm around her shoulder and began the walk towards the lift. If any of the others were out there, she and Cassian might be able to find them at the base of the tower.
Cassian was not thinking about his injuries. He was fairly sure he wouldn’t have to, soon enough. He smiled at Jyn. Somehow, he’s glad it was her with him now.
He asked, “Do you think anybody’s listening?”
“I do. Someone’s out there.”
The pair reached the door and Cassian nearly collapsed from the effort of reaching for the button to open the lift. They were too focused on each other to see the artificial moon beginning to crest the horizon behind them.
Anyone with a minor element of medical training could tell something was wrong with Cassian. He was beginning to lose time. Seconds fluttered away from him like embers from a fire. He stared at Jyn, certain she could have let him go by now to lean on the wall. He didn’t think he wanted her to.
Jyn stared up at Cassian, knowing he’s fading. There was a softness in his face now. He’s always sharp angles and confidence, but at this stage in their journey together, his face was open with wonder. He looked at her like she had hung the stars in the sky, and she wasn’t certain what to do with that. She wasn’t sure what to do with the warmth that he made her feel. A small part of her claws a minor victory, and she decides she will just hold onto him, just for a little longer. For his safety.
The doors of the lift opened moments before the entire tower shook with impact. The lights turned off and then the facility flickered over into emergency power.
They stumbled out of the base onto the sand. Jyn could feel Cassian nearly fall as he saw the bodies of their rogue rebels scattered in front of the communication tower door. He whispered the name of one of the corpses, almost inaudibly, but did not let go of her. Her hope of escape was dimming, but she felt this may not be the worst place to die if that must be their fate. There was some twisted beauty on this planet. Their feet traced their way over the rivulet in the sand caused by a downed U-Wing. Her eyes refused to pick out the faces of the dead, and she did not count the dead troopers on either side. Her focus was on getting Cassian to the sea, and he was happy to follow her.
Cassian fell to his knees as he arrived at the water's edge. He had seen the expanding cloud on the horizon once before, and he felt he would not be able to outrun this particular attack. Not this time. Jyn's arm slipped out from under him, and she supported him in sitting down, though he could sense her attention drifting. He looked up at her, his vision cleared enough to see the despondent look on her face. She was almost unable to take her eyes off the explosion. He wished desperately to comfort her, to distract her. He wants her to know she is loved before the end, but he has known too many rebels unhappy about final confessions to share his own.
“Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn.”
She smiled through watery eyes and reached for his hand. The wind has grown loud enough to hear as it pushed out towards them. It was almost like a sunrise. Their hands clasped tight together as they looked, and before he knew it she was pulling him to his knees. Her hands bunched on the collar of his undershirt, as she embraced him tightly.
It wasn’t a confession, but Cassian hopes that the unspoken meaning was intentional. He pulled her tight against him and closed his eyes. He had only moments to wonder at the way that her body fit his own, and not even that thought of lost potential could make him flinch now.