There was a light clank of metal. It was so light it could've been the cable swinging against the wall of the ship. But it wasn't.
It clanked once. Twice. It rolled.
Bodhi Rook had never been directly involved in combat until his defection so it took him a little longer to recognize it was a grenade. He threw himself down into the cargo hold. It was desperate. Instinctive. His natural will to avoid the explosion.
It saved his life. But barely.
The explosion rocked the ship, tearing apart everything in the grenade's immediate area. The cargo hold rumbled violently, flinging Bodhi across it. Once. Twice. He rolled.
It had been so goddamn loud, and he was immobilized. The ringing in his head matched the strange glare in his vision whenever he turned his head. Smoke was filling the hold, and he distantly heard someone coughing. Oh. He was coughing.
He was fading. He wasn't sure where- maybe he was passing out. Maybe he was dying. In a clearer headspace he'd probably want to get up, get out into open air. But he couldn't think that coherently right now.
He could barely breathe. Maybe he was dying. He didn't want to, exactly, but he'd take it if at least the message had gotten through. If the plans had gotten to the rebellion. If he was dying, he hoped that the last thing he did would mean something.
He hoped all of that. Because that was all he could do.
Footsteps overhead.
"Oh. It's just an imperial pilot."
"Imperial pilot... WAIT. Hold on... pull him out."
Baze staggered across the battlefield. Weaving. Stumbling. But his determination not to drop the possibly fatally injured Chirrut kept him upright.
He saw a rebel ship up ahead on the beach. Orders were being yelled. Rebels were scattering across the beach, checking the bodies of their own that were lying bloody all over the sand.
Generally speaking , Baze did not trust the Rebel Alliance. But they had medics. And ships. And Chirrut was not going to die today, Baze decided.
He scooped Chirrut more securely into his chest and sprinted for the rebel ship.
"I'm one with the Force, and the Force is with me." Baze began, and he did as Chirrut did and he believed in the Force.
Because that was all he could do.
Jyn was fighting.
She didn't know these people. What she did know, was that they had taken Cassian. And they were restraining her.
"Let me go!"
"Hey! Calm down!" A man was saying sternly.
She was on a ship. She was alive. But Cassian has been falling limp in her arms. And he'd looked absolutely lifeless when these people had taken him from her.
She wasn't even sure Cassian was on this ship with her.
She wanted to get away from these people. She didn't want to be trapped anymore. She strained against her captors.
"Take her to the med bay, she's in shock."
You're in shock, and you're looking for somewhere to put it.
She started crying.
Not because she wasn't strong. But she'd lost too much, too quickly this time. All her life she'd lost people. Lost places. Lost herself. She'd lost the ability to care about any of that anymore.
Until she met Cassian. And K-2 and Chirrut and Baze and Bodhi. They had given her hope again. And Scarf had taken them from her.
She felt numb and cold as she was steered down a long narrow hallway. The person directing her took her into a gray room with fluorescent lighting. There were rows upon rows of curtained off beds. She was marched down to one of the last ones and sat down on it.
Someone wrapped a blanket around her. They were saying something, but she didn't listen. Couldn't. They walked away from her, and she felt too empty to cry anymore.
She scanned the room, gave it a once over, and then she noticed a curtained window into an adjoining room. She clutched the blanket around herself and crossed the short distance to peer through it. She pulled back the curtain and saw it was an operating room. And Cassian was inside.
If he was here than maybe the others were, too.
But for right now, she just clutched her Kyber necklace. And for the first time in her life, she did as Chirrut did, and she prayed.
"I'm one with the Force. The Force is with me." She told herself.
She prayed.
For Cassian. For Chirrut. For Baze. For Bodhi. For Kaytu. She prayed.
Because that was all she could do.