Chapter Text
Poe survived a handful of crashes. He was a pilot after all, and sometimes fucking up an emergency landing was just what a guy needed to brighten up the day… not this time though. This particular incident unfortunately left him more shaken than adrenaline hungry.
He was more or less used to the impending sense of doom. It came both with the job, as well as with his little self destructive tendencies that started growing even more vicious ever since his mother's passing, but that was a scab he shouldn't be picking at, so he let that thought disintegrate just like the back of his cockpit upon impact.
Anyway, the sense of doom, right? He usually got it while falling. It manifested as a sharp, cold pain in the middle of his chest that would go away as soon as he landed and checked that all of his limbs were in their right places, and it happened just like that this time around for about three and a half minutes before it came back after he realized that the cold he was feeling wasn't just from the decreasing adrenaline.
Poe landed on what felt like an ice planet, completely unprepared for what lied ahead and with a huge hole in his ship that was already starting to suck in ridiculous amounts of snow inside the still warm interior.
He needed to act fast, but his legs refused to work, he only managed to lift himself half up before black dots assaulted his vision hard enough for Poe to slip back onto the ground.
With a long hiss he pressed his forehead against the floor and tried again, this time with enough strength to rest his back on the front console.
When did he get out of his seat? He must have removed the safety belts half conscious… which never happened before, Poe only blacked out like that after drinking but never because of an incident. What were the chances of him having a serious brain injury? probably high, but it's not like he could do anything about it on his own...
A soft gasp left his lips at the realization that the ship was completely devoid of the annoying beeping that normally accompanied him every step of the way.
He tried to yell out for BB-8, but only a faint rasp left him. Everything hurt, everything fucking hurt and the ships temperature was dropping fast.
This planet was not on any maps he checked when choosing this unassuming route, and surprise like that on its own would've been fine if not for the absurd amount of meteors that circled its axis. They were small enough that he had no way of dodging, and before he knew it the ship went off course and was caught by the planet's insane gravitational pull… that's probably the reason why it was so hard to get up even though he wasn't badly injured.
If BB wasn't here they must have fallen out of the hole and should be somewhere outside, hopefully not too deep in the snow. At least Poe could be sure it softened the impact, but finding them inside it might be difficult, especially since he didn't have any gear or even clothes that were warm enough.
Something between a few seconds and a few minutes past before he was able to gather himself into a somewhat functioning state. He hugged his shoulders and curled himself into a tight, shivering ball before finally having a clearer look around when his dizziness fully subsided.
The ship was a mess much like Poe himself, the console completely busted and all of his belongings were missing in action or broken on the floor. The emergency lights stopped flickering just as he stood up, leaning heavily against the front seat. Other than a few scrapes and bruises he was fine, but it was hard to take full breaths in as if the atmosphere was working against him, and maybe it was, but clearly not enough to kill him so Poe should be fine, he just needed his body to adjust to the cold air.
After checking that what remained of his baby wouldn't blow up at him, he went on a mission of retrieving any loose blankets in the area which were his only options besides a sad excuse of a fluffy jacket he found on the back of his closet and a pair of googles he had no recollection of purchasing. Next he gathered a backpack of anything he deemed as essential, but light enough to carry and placed himself before the hole trying to take a look outside without falling out of it. The wind made it extremely difficult, but the orange tinted googles helped him with spotting a few trees, something that looked like a frozen lake and… a very circular trail leading towards it.
BB couldn't find their way back it seemed, so at least they helped a little with the way forward. Poe could see their small body moving vigorously in the distance, maybe they spotted something that he didn't?
Mindlessly he started pressing the array of buttons on the right side of his mysterious googles and the movement actually did something useful, one of the lenses shifted and suddenly he had a close up on his beloved droid.
They were going really fast, alarmingly so, not even turning around when Poe started shouting to get their attention.
Something was wrong.
In an instant the floor underneath Poe's feet rattled as if something had slammed against the tree trunks that were holding the whole ship slightly above ground level. He shifted his gaze away from BB and towards the trajectory of whatever passed him.
A huge chunk of snow was making its way towards his poor droid. A chunk of snow that within further inspection appeared to have a set of legs and teeth, and that chunk of snow was definitely blood thirsty enough to munch on BB's mechanical parts for the pure satisfaction of having something to chew on.
Poe didn't have a plan but he did have a blaster, so he didn't think much of it when he decided to jump down and join the chase.
His knees buckled underneath him when he hit the ground, one meter impact affecting him like two, but Poe was not a quitter he took off after the creature immediately. Due to its large size it was easy to follow after it… which now that it was in his proximity– what was he exactly planning to do?
BB reached the frozen lake and due to their inability to hold balance on something so slippery they started spinning in circles making the huge creature pause to stare at them.
Poe quickly hid behind one of the trees and pointed his blaster at it trying to aim it at its head, but he wasn't yet shooting hoping that it would realize that BB wasn't that nutritious, hoping that it would go away.
The animal was approximately two and a half meters tall, covered in thick white fur and it looked more like an omnivore than anything blood thirsty. It had huge paws, but the claws seemed to be more equipped to running and digging than hunting. If Poe didn't see how fiercely it followed BB he would've thought it would be friendly, especially with these curled horns coming out of the sides of its head, and the tilt of its body that looked like something you could put a saddle on.
There was something wrong with it, now that he could get a closer look.
The sides of the creatures stomach were sunken, and it was emitting a smell of decay. On top of that something was stuck to it's floppy ear– or to the inside of it, to be precise. It looked like a bug, or a leech.
A shudder came over him. Disgusting.
Poe doesn't know how it spotted him, but in an instant its head shifted towards him, glossy eyes staring straight through him while its wide mouth opened ever so slightly, a string of thick drool escaping it.
His blaster was perfectly aligned to shoot it in the head, and when it finally lunged his way with a sickening roar that's exactly what he did.
Its body crumbled to the ground just before Poe's feet, centimeters away from crashing him. He let out a sigh of relief and sunk to his knees only now realizing that he had been holding his breath for far too long.
World turned to static for a moment.
His first breath was too quick and it made him have a coughing fit. It only made the dizzy feeling worse and Poe had to close his eyes tightly to fight the vertigo. His next breath was more thought through, with a quick movement he covered his lower face with the blanket draped over his shoulder, and without the wind assaulting his airways he was able to steady himself, get enough air to push that awful lightheadedness aside.
His eyes snapped open when something slammed into the snow. Was the creature still alive? He should've checked it, of course killing it wouldn't be that easy!– but when his vision adjusted the animal was still dead.
Poe got up, confused he looked around.
Oh–
The parasite previously stuck to the creatures ear fell off while Poe wasn't looking. It made a small few centimeter long crater in the snow and now it laid there on its back, tiny legs pressed tightly together, mouth hole open and bloody. It was bigger than he expected when looking at it from a far.
Even though he was exhausted he took a long way towards the river instead of going next to the bodies. Poe wasn't squeamish, but something about these creatures didn't seem right. Better not risk it.
BB stopped spinning when Poe got to them, and now they just laid on their side looking in Poe's direction with helplessness he could only imagine draped over their mechanical features. To be honest he felt pretty helpless himself not being able to get a good grip on the ice. The soles of his shoes weren't made for this, but they weren't as bad as his droids slick, circular torso, so he himself didn't get stuck in an endless spinning cycle.
"Hey buddy–" he muttered to the droid leaning down to pick them up which guaranteed a few beeps in response.
"I know it was stupid, but what else was there to do? I couldn't just let it eat you." Poe had BB in his arms, and even though they weren't that heavy it was enough to make holding balance on the ice even more difficult. One wrong step and he'll end up in a split without a warm-up.
Beep, beep– beeep.
"Oh– that actually might've worked."
Beeep!
"Yes, yes I'm stupid. Now can we get back to the ship? I'm freezing, and I don't know how much we can trust this ice." He patted at it with his foot. It seemed thick, but the ice had some cracks, and if there are more of these huge creatures in the area they might regularly traverse this track therefore making the surface unstable… Poe was overthinking it. He's a skinny guy, BB is a small droid. They are going to be just fine, and even if they won't then at least he could blame the few extra pounds he gained after joining the rebellion.
The General would find it really funny, that's for sure. Especially since it was her fault.
A shadow of what looked like a massive fish swam underneath their feet, large enough to show itself through the thick ice. It was only visible for a split second before it disappeared into the depths.
Poe bit his lip.
They are going to be just fine.
BB let's out a quiet beep of despair and ushers Poe to move. He does so while trying to conclude a plan in his head. The area they landed in is covered in wilderness, going deeper into it would be a death sentence, so going back to the ship was their only solution for now. Poe will patch up the hole somehow and try to get the heating system up before going to sleep, because he's far too tired to try thinking of other solutions now. The sun is also beginning to set and he knows it's only going to get colder at night.
He's back at the place where the body of the creature lies when BB starts squirming in his arms. Poe lets them go with a sigh.
The droid moves forward using the not yet covered by the snow track Poe left behind. They don't seem to care that their human can't keep up, and honestly Poe's glad. BB can be chatty at times. They don't have airways– but Poe does, and his airways don't like this kind of weather… so it's best that BB stays far away and restrains themselves from starting a conversation.
Besides, now that he doesn't have to run he can really take a look at this planet.
It's as beautiful as it is terrifying.
The biome doesn't make sense to him. Every ice planet he's ever been on was either reminiscent of a desert or covered by needle trees where the trees here are a confusing mix of short and long with thick trunks and long branches covered in frozen over, dangling leaves. Like… something you would see in a tropical forest perhaps. Poe can swear the strange circular objects hidden behind some of these icy leaves are fruit.
He gets distracted looking up at them. He swears one of them moved!–
He can't hear BB-8's warnings through the wind, and just as he gets his bearings back, as he tries to will his feet to start moving once more something slams against his ankle.
Tiny legs find their way underneath his pant sleeve somehow even though it was tucked neatly in his shoe.
Poe screams– he knows he shouldn't panic, him panicking is more likely to get him hurt, but– it feels– it feels so disgusting, so fucking cold.
He's on the ground in an instant trying to prevent the thing from going any further into his trousers. BB comes back too at starts slamming their tiny body against Poe's leg. Eventually he shakes it off somehow and what fella out of his clothing is long slick and black, covered in a hard shell and awfully similar to the worm that was previously inside the beasts ear.
Alive and very hungry, he shouldn't have just left it there without checking if it was truly dead first. Shit.
It only takes it a moment to start running back Poe's way. He has the blaster ready, and he shoots it in its side making the worm slam against the nearest tree trunk.
This time he doesn't let his guard down he keeps his eyes on the worm. That's why he doesn't notice the second one sliding down the tree behind him, and Poe's right back on the ground in a much more compromising position since the second worm jumped on his shoulder and it's trying to get underneath the layers of fabric that cover his neck. It's far too strong for something that's supposed to be an arthropod, and its needle-like legs penetrate the clothing with frightening ease. He can feel them slice his cheek as he tries to get it off.
BB's desperate cries suddenly go quiet and Poe has no idea what's happening. Did the other creature come back to life again and is attacking his droid? or did they finally decide to abandon him after seeing how completely unlucky Poe was.
He's still trying to tug it off his face when an unmistakable sound hits him.
Heavy footsteps and beeping right by his ear.
Someone– someone's here! A humanoid.
The hopefulness he feels is brief, then he gets a glimpse of a white helmet and an electric shock goes through his whole body.
He passes out for what must be a brief moment because when he opens his eyes again he's still laying on the ground with a twitching worm right next to his face and a set of feet wearing military grade boots that are almost white enough to melt into the snow.
Poe blinks, or he thinks he blinks. It's hard to tell if the darkness before him is his eyelids or the unconsciousness calling to him like a lover left behind in bed for a morning cigarette.
Somehow he manages to get himself on his back and now he has a clear view of the stranger looking down at him. The trooper is tall– all of them are– but this one seems even taller somehow. He's all scratched up, his armor is not as pristine as what Poe is used to seeing, and there is animal fur draped over his shoulders sawed together into a very asymmetrical cloak. Handmade from scratch.
Is he stuck here? Just like Poe, but … for how long…
A knife glints in his palm held tightly with firmness that lacks hesitation.
Poe doesn't get a chance to plead his case.
The knife comes down.
It hits flesh, but it doesn't hurt. Poe's not looking. Can adrenaline really do so much that he doesn't feel it? The blade comes out with a sticky sound, there is something crunchy in it too. Did it hit the bone? It comes down again, this time to stay.
Poe opens his eyes when something trickles down onto his face. Dark and musky blood, not human, not his own.
The trooper has the worm screwed on his blade, he holds it high above Poe before hiding the body somewhere underneath his cloak in a side bag that Poe failed to notice, and wipes the knife clean on the snow.
The expressionless mask stares down at him.
It's so strange that he's not saying anything– oh, wait– he is. Poe sees the way his head moves towards his droid in something that could be read as irritation, and he's pretty sure the stranger is trying to communicate with him too. Poe just can't hear it through the ringing in his ears.
There's a hand on his shoulder. He wants to swat at it and get up on his own, but everything is spinning. Another hand comes to rest on his waist and before Poe knows it they are moving. He's far too out of it to object, and why would he even want to? This strange man is the first warm thing he felt on this planet.
With the corner of his eye he sees BB sprint forward to make a way for them through the snow, he hears a soft grunt leave the man's lips too, and Poe's body goes completely limp as he loses any semblance of himself to exhaustion.