Jyn let out a loud sigh as the turbolift door closed behind them. 'We did it,' she repeated for the fourth time. She kept reiterating it like a mantra, as if she was afraid that they will wake up and have to go through this hell again. 'All is well,' she thought. The good triumphs, the monsters are defeated, like her personal demon hundreds of meters above them. Just like in one of the stories about brave Jedi knights and cunning bounty hunters that father used to tell her before sleep. It felt like ages ago.

Cassian's arm weighing her down pulled her back from a stream of memories. Jyn looked at her partner and grinned. Cassian kept staring at her, mesmerized. Never had she looked as beautiful as at that moment, scruffy and sweaty, with streaks of dirt smudged across her face and a weight of responsibility finally off her shoulders. He tried to smile too, but it immediately got twisted into an ugly grimace of pain. 'Are you alright? Do you want to sit down for a second?' Jyn asked with concern and shifted them a bit, so that Cassian could lean against the wall. 'No, no, I'm okay,' he lied smoothly. He couldn't dare to sit - probably wouldn't be able to stand back up. 'Don't worry about it. It's not the worst wound in my life.' Jyn nodded slightly. Of course, she didn't believe a single word, but was too tired to argue.

'Cassian, I…-' she faltered, 'Thank you. For believing me, for everything. I couldn't have done all this without you. I just wanted you to know.'

'Uh-oh,' Cassian chuckled lightly. It sounded rusty, as if he hadn't done this for a very long time. 'That sounds pretty final.'

There was no need to vocalize that it was.

'You're welcome,' Cassian replied and looked deeply into Jyn's eyes. Eyes which, he knew, would soon become everything to him. They seemed blue, almost sapphire in the elevator lights, but he knew all too well that they were green, with a tiny circle of hazel around now widened pupils. Tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes, shining similarly to small kyber crystals, like one she wore constantly around her neck. Were these the tears of joy, or grief, he could not really tell. Maybe he would if he had known her better, but he didn't. There wasn't the time.

There was the time for one thing though.

With one swift movement, Cassian pulled Jyn closer and his mouth covered hers in a hungry kiss. Hungry and fiery, like he always was. He was all over her, one hand on her cheek, fingers entangled in her hair, and the other one making its way along the spine. He wanted it to convey everything he wouldn't shape into words, not yet, not in that moment. Jyn barely had time to gasp for breath, Cassian kissed her as if he wanted to devour and she adored every second of it. For the first time in her life she gave in completely and with no fear. She pushed herself harder onto him, a little whimper of pain escaped Cassian's mouth, but didn't disrupt his efforts for long. Jyn had both hands on his face, caressing his jaw gently as she let their tongues dance together freely. Years of roaming and hardship made her hands strong and calloused like hands of a man, but to Cassian they were the most delicate shimmersilk. He could feel blood soaking heavily through his shirt, but nothing else mattered in that moment apart of him and Jyn and their bodies pressed tightly together, him nearly bent over and her panting against his lips. Almost as if they weren't even there, exhausted and wounded, but somewhere else, maybe at the back of the cantina where they slipped out driven by a sudden sensation, almost a primal need, just like it should have been.

The turbolift hit the ground and cold breeze got inside the elevator, enfolding them with a sickeningly sweet stench of scorched flesh and smoke, the smell of death. They parted slowly, without a single word. There was nothing else left to be said.

Together they staggered out to the beach, trying not to look at dozens of bodies scattered around and the Death Star looming on the clear azure sky above them. Cassian lost his comm when he fell from the archive tower, but they wouldn't try to raise Bodhi anyway, he must have taken off Scarif long ago. He and maybe even some others. Some of them made it. These thoughts were soothing, bringing them comfort, even if it was just wishful thinking. One can afford it once in their life.

They made it to the shore that would be breathtaking in its beauty, in any other circumstances, and collapsed onto the sand. Jyn entangled her fingers together with Cassian's. It only took a couple of deep breaths before the ground started shaking violently as a single shot from the Death Star reached the surface of Scarif.

'Your father would be proud of you, Jyn,' Cassian said so softly that she could barely hear him. Jyn wanted to speak but the emotion squeezed her throat ever so tightly when she saw the way Cassian was looking at her. In his eyes she saw everything that could have been, everything that they could have, if only they had been given more time.

They embraced, clinging desperately onto each other as the wave was coming towards them rapidly. Jyn savoured the intense heat of Cassian's body, radiating through a thin fabric of his shirt, while Cassian kept gently stroking her hair. It felt good, it felt right. A thought crossed Jyn's mind that it's been a long time since she felt so alive.

Then together they waited for the end. Cassian felt Jyn's grip tighten on his shoulders as everything went white. She felt his last warm breath on her neck. And then the end came.

All the lights in the world were shining just for the two of them.