Rowan and Cassian shot to awareness, straightening as adrenaline forced them to disregard their various hurts and exhaustions. Of one mind, they met each other's eyes, and Rowan nodded Cassian forward, knowing full well he would not be able to handle the heavy droid on his own with his broken ribs. He smiled a small thanks, and limped out of the elevator and into the binding sun, blaster held to the ready before him as his other hand found each and every stable surface it could to steady him as he moved toward Krennic's voice, where he could only assume Jyn was.
Forcing her eyes away from their concerned focus on his figure, disappearing around the great satellite, Rowan knelt down beside the droid, slipping her arms, already bruised from his great weight, beneath his shoulders once more, forcing her breathing to regulate itself. She threw her's and the droid's weight into her legs and heaved him upward as far as she could, blinking against the darkness that swam before her eyes. She hissed as she moved in a circle, wrenching his bulky frame about, till she finally found herself warmed by the sun rays that fell heavily upon her shoulders and blanketed her back, bringing some form of life to her quivering muscles.
With a thought to Cassian, she steeled herself and began to move steadily, slowly backward, each step testing the ground behind her before it planted itself firmly there and she shifted her weight upon her steadily weakening legs. She found herself longing for freer air, out from the tangled landscape of the various protrusions that rose from the citadel's roof, and her movements became jerky, but faster as the desire, the need, drove her onward. Her eyes narrowed, her breath became shallow, and her mind was suddenly absorbed in this great task, before the unmistakeable sound of a blaster going off broke her from her concentration, and K-2 fell with a clang to the steel floor.
She whipped about, limping past the large pillar that barred her view, till she saw Cassian, leaning back, breathing heavily against it, blaster outstretched, smoking, shaking in his hands. Krennic, limp, was stretched across the space before him, and Jyn now hurried about him as Cassian looked to Rowan, a satisfied smile playing across his lips, but Rowan's features simply held unease, and his own expression faltered and fell. The hair-raising warning was back again, and her exhaustion seemed to dissipate a little, heart jumpstarted with a lurking panic.
"What is it?" Cassian's voice was low, but any response she had was cut off by the sound of the great satellite as the programmed voice burst from a hidden speaker, and the two turned to Jyn, standing before it, staring it up and down.
"Transmitting," the computer declared, and Jyn looked to them, her eyes bright, tears glimmering there, her smile relieved. "Transmitting."
Cassian breathed out a small laugh, and his blaster fell to his side, his arms limp. Rowan herself suddenly grinned, and she felt her heart slow, hurting almost as the burning anxiety that had fueled it for so long began to fade and leave it empty, free to rest. Cassian's eyes met hers, and he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, expression soft as he nodded back the direction she'd come.
"Let's get K," he told her, voice still low from the pain of his ribs, "and get out of here."
Rowan placed her hand atop his, turning to face him, her own features seeming to lose an eternity of care as she nodded, biting her lip. She slipped her arm about him once more, and they stood, this time with the strength of peace. Rowan met Jyn's eyes then, and held her gaze, reading in them some form of hope, of satisfaction, that brought a laugh to her heart. She opened her mouth to speak, gesturing Jyn over, but was cut off by a sudden movement to her right.
Horror disfigured Jyn's face as Krennic began to shift upon the floor, crawling forward, clawing his way across it. Cassian raised his blaster, leveling it at the Director, preparing to pull the trigger, but his courage faltered and fell as Krennic began to laugh, a deep, booming, sinister laugh that echoed against the pillars and the satellite, causing the skin on the back of Rowan's neck to crawl. Cassian stumbled against Rowan, recognizing the sound just as she did, and suddenly his vision swam with the mortifying memories of Jakku and the terrifying face there that had peered out at him from the shaggy mane of a lion, hungry and malicious, sizing up its prey.
With a sickening drop in her stomach, Rowan realized the source of all her premonitions, both here and upon Wobani, as Krennic began to rise from his position upon the roof, white cloak covering his shifting, bulging form, till he emerged into the stinging sunlight as nothing other than a manticore, the manticore they had encountered on Jakku all those days ago. Opposite them, on the other side of the manticore, Jyn stumbled backward, grabbing for her blaster, her hands shaking as she leveled it at the creature.
Heart pounding, Rowan slipped her arm from about Cassian, advancing a step forward, calling out with a harsh voice, commanding her sword to form, and gripping tight the hilt as it did, finding comfort in the familiar feel of the leather beneath her scabbed palm as she readied it, moving with increasing speed toward the creature as it turned toward her, her eyes burning and red, focused solely upon the place where its face began to materialize, pulling out of the sun, its eyes cold and laughing, its expression mocking and cruel. Her breaths came short, loud in her ears, the only sound she could register as she fell forward into tunnel vision, raising her blade, muscles rippling as she brought it down.
From behind her, she heard a cry, and was suddenly pulled down by the full weight of Cassian, who had thrown himself upon her, dragging her to the ground. She landed beneath him, her sword thrown from her hand, the breath knocked from her lungs and the fight from her limbs as Cassian scrambled back against the satellite, dragging her with him despite her protests, pinning her arms to her sides as he gestured wildly toward the sky. She froze then, her body stiffening in his arms as she watched with confusion, and in some form of slow motion, an approaching U-Wing, its flight aimed directly at the tower, directly at them.
With a cry of alarm, just realizing the present danger, Jyn dove to cover beside them beneath the satellite's control panel, her blaster jamming itself into Rowan's side, causing her to hiss in pain. Before them, the manticore swung about, its deadly tail now swaying menacingly above them as it faced down the approaching ship. Bronze bullets, real, true bullets, began to pour from where the U-Wing was hidden behind the manticore's great body, and Rowan furrowed her brow in confusion as she recognized the shells that rained down upon their heads, glinting in the sunlight.
Golden ichor began to pour from the manticore's massive body as the bullets thudded into him, and Rowan suddenly moved, straining to get out of Cassian's hold as the ichor ran in streams across the ground and brought her attention back to her sword, lying discarded at the feet of the dying monster, but Cassian's muscles tightened about her.
"Get K," he told her, realizing where her attention was focused, and she nodded, understanding his intentions. He could protect Jyn with the blade, but his injuries would prevent him from being able to move the great weight of the droid. Satisfied, he let her go, and she leapt forward from their shelter, moving low along the citadel's roof till she reached the sword and kicked it back, careful to avoid making contact with the shimmering black blade. She glanced back to see Cassian take hold of it, placing himself warily between the manticore and the still horrified Jyn, readying it, eyes hardened, before she turned back toward the elevator, her heart urging her forward through the maze of pillars, though her legs felt like jelly, till she was met with the sight of the droid.
Without hesitation this time, she knelt, grabbed hold of K's shoulders for what she hoped was the last time, and heaved backward, stumbling back toward the echoing sounds of ricochetting bullets as her feet struggled to catch a foothold beneath her. As she came out from behind the pillar against which Cassian had been leaning only a few moments ago, she glanced toward the U-Wing, and nearly dropped K in shock.
There, standing in the open doorway of the ship's belly, legs planted wide, hair whipped wildly before his face by the engines of the ship and the freedom of the high air, making him unrecognizable, armed to the teeth with a massive machine gun strapped to him, looking like it had come straight from a history museum on WWI, was a satyr. Her eyes flashed in confusion, her heart pounded in a strange combination of hope and dread, and she ripped her gaze from the sight, back to the droid sagging in her arms.
Wincing at each bullet shell that bounced near, she struggled backward toward Cassian, who hollered an order for Jyn to help her and was backing toward her even as Jyn leapt to her aid, sword still outstretched, muscles tense as adrenaline poured into his veins and his eyes flashed. The weight of the droid halved with Jyn's help, and together, they began to move down the long protruding ramp from the roof, following the wild gestures of Baze, who had suddenly appeared, leaping from the ship that had now stabilized at the end of the ramp, their only salvation.
Forcing down the questions that bubbled to life and the incredulity that sent her mind reeling, Rowan tried not to focus on the increasingly mad events that she seemed to be inescapably plunging into, and she threw her legs into the fight to move K's body past the manticore still struggling against the endless bullets and down the precariously hanging ramp. At K's feet, moving with a wary haste, Cassian glanced between them and the manticore, sword still leveled at the monster, eyes fierce.
At the sight of his escaping prey, the manticore roared and leapt, fighting against the tide of Celestial Bronze, its face an agonizing contortion of pain and anger that startled Cassian despite his hardened mind, and caused him to stumble backward, but he quickly readjusted his footing and his expression steeled, his eyes burning, his lips a slight sneer.
Rowan was startled out of her close watch of the manticore by the sudden appearance of Baze at her side, pushing her a little to the left, wrapping his tree-trunk arms about the waist of the droid and heaving him with a roar into the U-Wing, causing Jyn to duck and the satyr to cry out in alarm, leaping over the clumsy steel legs that nearly took his out from under him. The momentary pause in the thunderous rattle of bullets that punctuated the dull roar of the engines gave the manticore all the time he needed, and he leapt, claws outstretched, toward Cassian, eyes a furious red.
In slow motion, the monster descended, and Rowan cried out, leaping forward to Cassian's aid, buffeted from all directions by the wind, but he stood his ground, and in a swift movement, he knelt beneath the descending mass of the creature, lifted high the blade, and plunged it into the vulnerable flesh above his heart. With a concentrated expression, he slipped from beneath the weight of the beast, hand still firmly gripping the hilt, and jerked the blade up and out of howling manticore, stumbling backward against the railing of the ramp, breathing heavily.
The manticore fell, leaden, upon the ramp, and there was a crack of steel breaking, the ramp shifting dangerously beneath their feet, the already damaged metalworks failing finally at this new blow. Alarm flashing in Cassian's eyes, he turned and made a mad dash toward the ship, following Rowan as she leapt from the falling ramp and into the dim interior, her legs nearly crumpling beneath her at the impact, and she grunted with the effort of keeping her feet, whipping about, and reaching desperately for Cassian as he, too, threw himself from the ramp.
In a desperate, fumbling moment, their hands met, slick with sweat and blood, and Jyn, watching in a heap on the floor from where Baze had grabbed and thrown her, held bated breath, heartbeats loud, till Cassian's and Rowan's grips latched hold, firm and unbroken, and Rowan was hoisted high off the ground, Cassian following, by Baze, and Cassian's face paled in surprise as they were dropped upon their feet, and sent tumbling into the benches that lined the center of the ship in a strange, hasty embrace.
Still breathing heavily, they did not move from their huddled position as they watched the ramp fall away, down toward the surface of the planet several stories below, and the door slammed shut, immersing them in a silence and darkness that contrasted wildly the explosive noise and brilliant sunlight they had just been exposed to and, for that, felt almost the more loud and blinding.
Suddenly, Rowan began to laugh, deep, booming laughs that broke loose from her gut and seemed to break the silence like a thunderclap, rocking her body violently till she was forced to squeeze her eyes shut, pressing tears from the corners of them, gripping her stomach, keeled over. Cassian watched her, horror spasming across his face, till it faded into some strange, incredulous smile, and he breathed his own laugh, his hand falling upon her shoulder, rubbing circles into her back. The madness of her laughter faded then, and she was finally able to break off, sucking in deep breaths and attempting to straighten, wiping the tears that streamed from her eyes.
"We did it," she choked out, still gasping for breath, finally meeting Cassian's eyes, grinning brilliantly.
He mimicked her expression, and nodded, breathing out, "yeah we did," his eyes sparkling.
And then Rowan remembered their strange rescue, pulling her eyes from his and glancing about the ship's belly, taking in the faces, familiar and new, pondering them. Jyn was there, eyes closed, breathing deeply in relief, and Bohdi, who stood in the entrance to the cockpit, leaning against the wall, smeared in grease and grime, and Baze, who stood beside Chirrut, resting on a bench against the wall, a satisfied grin beneath his white eyes, and the satyr, who was glancing between her and some other figure to her left, brows furrowed in some strange anticipation. Curious, she followed his gaze, till her eyes met those of a face so profoundly familiar to her that she gasped, and felt her heart pang and burn within her, and she started to her feet, to the concern of Cassian beside her, whose hand abruptly fell from her shoulder to the seat.
The figure standing before her, barely lit in the dim blue glow of the ship, hand on a sword sheathed firmly at his side, features accented by a long white scar running down his face, was Luke, and Rowan stumbled a step forward, a wild rage of emotions roaring through her heart as she fumbled with the world about her, her mind threatening to cut itself loose, her vision a tunnel to the face she had always known.
"You," she choked, and her hand lifted itself slowly from her side, moving of its own accord gently to her brother, till her expression suddenly changed, her eyes flashed, her heart burned within her, and she smacked him.
The sickening crack of flesh against flesh rang out in the dead silence of the ship, but Luke did not react, simply letting this head hang, accepting the blow he knew he deserved, his expression still, unchanged, composed as it could be. Rowan let her hand fall to her side, breathing heavily, her eyes fiery, her lips parted as she wrestled for control of the air that flowed in and out of her lungs, her eyes stinging wildly with tears, her throat closing.
An eternity seemed to pass in the belly of the ship, each face of each inhabitant tightened with anticipation, looking between the siblings with rapid-fire curiosity. His breath coming slow, Luke finally risked a glance toward his sister, raising his head slowly, timidly, till his eyes met her, and his expression was suddenly filled with a profound sorrow and a profound hope. It was the same expression they'd held when he'd seen her for the first time upon the citadel roof, smiling beside the man that now perched upon the U-Wing's bench, but it had been replaced by a deep agitation and dread when they'd hauled her into the ship, waiting for the inevitable recognition she would have, wishing he could have been anywhere but there to face the great guilt of his own abandonment.
But her anger seemed to dissipate when her eyes met his, and with a choking sob, she threw herself at him, and all his defenses fell with a crash to his feet as they embraced for the first time in what seemed forever. It lasted just a moment, before she pulled away abruptly, and his hands fell, swinging with momentum, to his sides.
"Where have you been?" she begged, her voice broken with random laughs and the occasional wiping of tears. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Coruscant," Luke told her, glancing to Clover, and then suddenly remembering all that had happened between now and then. His face fell, bringing a dreadful end to the questions that burned in Rowan's chest. Her heart sunk as he spoke again. "Rowan," he breathed heavily against the fear churning in his gut. "There's been another prophecy."
Rowan swallowed, taking a step back, steeling herself. "What does that mean?" She glanced quickly to Cassian even as Luke did, and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it concerned him. She looked back to Luke as he looked to her, and their eyes met, and she knew the answer even before it left his lips.
"It means we're going home."
