As soon as he was done eating she threw her jacket over his head and told him come on. They'd make it in under an hour but now Eris was wondering if she wanted Rey to be there when she arrived. On the one hand she wouldn't need a pilot, between the two women they had more than enough to get off the planet. But on the other hand Rey wouldn't stand for him being killed, she'd call it murder and Rey was too soft for such things. With no hands left to weigh options Eris thought she could live with Rey hating her because the alternative was her being on a run down freighter with The Order now after her.

"You said you had two plans," Poe said figuring she'd only keep him as long as she needed him. If they got wherever she was taking him to find her friend was still on the planet he knew she'd kill him. He might've been reckless at times but he wasn't stupid, and when it came to fighting – because he was sure it would – he didn't think he'd be able to take her.

Eris wanted him to stay quiet, because whether or not she'd admit it to herself – and she wouldn't – she didn't like the thought of killing him. "One and a half."

With her jacket held over his head he had to turn wide to see her. "Now we're down a half?" he asked tired of flying by the seat of her pants.

With a rumbling sigh she stopped grabbing his arm forcing him to stop with her. Though after a moment of looking at his shaded face, his furrowed brows, his frowning mouth, all framed by her jacket she couldn't take him seriously. He looked ridiculous, and she pulled it off him slinging it over her shoulder. "You see The Order anywhere?" she asked raising an arm to motion around them. "I was hired to find Lor San Tekka, I did, and they came and killed him. Then you had to go and let yourself be caught,"

"What?" he demanded insulted.

"and you told them whatever information Tekka had was in your droid. So d'you really thi- don't touch me," she said stepping away from the hand he'd raised to her arm to silence her.

"I didn't tell them anything," he said enunciating the word 'tell', feeling blood rushing to his face, swelling behind his eyes. "That was extracted from me, painfully by the way," he said as though he expected her to care. They both knew she wouldn't.

Her eyes rolled, as they'd been doing almost constantly since meeting him. "I've met Kylo Ren, I know he sucks," she said admitting she knew the pain he spoke of. "You still told him. As I was say- don't interrupt me," she said seeing his mouth open to speak again.

"I"

"Shut up. You asked me a question I'm answering it." She waited expecting him to keep talking, but he relented and stayed silent letting her continue. "As I was saying," she began again, hardening her already hard voice.

"Your attitude isn't helping," he said speaking over her, unable to resist the opportunity to piss her off.

And piss her off he did. "For fu-,"

"You're so negative."

She stared hard at his face seeing the corners of his eyes were slightly creased, and his mouth was straight but she knew he was only teasing her. And in retaliation, because she didn't feel like being teased, she pulled her arms through her sleeves and gave a short, "fine," before stalking off.

"Wait," Poe called turning to watch her go, "Eris, I wasn't," but she raised a hand without looking back and his shoulders dropped as he sighed. He hadn't been serious, at least not really. With a shake of his head he walked after her, the sun once more warming his scalp and he quickly began to overheat. It didn't take him long to catch up, and he walked with his hands stuffed in his pockets looking at her every so often to see how mad he'd made her. Traveling with her already wasn't easy, he didn't know how much worse it'd get with her being angry. He flinched again at a sudden weight falling over his head, only this time he knew what it was and he pulled the jacket back to see her face.

"That crap's not funny is it?" she asked almost innocently as she looked over at him.

As her words registered he gave a short laugh and shoved her, as he would have an old friend. "Not bad," he said letting himself appreciate her humor. It suited her as well as her name, rough and uneasy to gauge.

With a smile tugging on her mouth she fell back in line beside him. "I won't take it as well next time," she warned him though in truth she'd probably react the same. It'd been a while since she had someone to joke with, to smile with and because of; she didn't know if she was ready to have someone else.

Letting the quiet hang they walked side by side in the blistering sun. Though it didn't hang for long. "You don't think your guy's here," he said realizing the half came from the decreased likelihood they were gonna find anyone where they were going. And the more time passed the more Poe grew sure they were going to a home.

"Order's after the information which is now in your droid. They'd follow it, and since they're not here your droid's not either," she said simply.

He didn't address how she knew the information was in BB-8, he was more curious about whether she even knew what the information was because it didn't sound like it. But what he said was, "and your guy's the only person on this planet who'd help." He watched her nod realizing he didn't know what she wanted, and she'd made it clear she wanted something – enough she'd give her freedom for it. "What do they mean to you?" he asked hoping she might fill in whether it was a man or woman she was with because a different meaning went with both.

Eris was quiet as she thought, as she wondered why she was bothering to go after Rey at all – they were thoughts she rarely spared time for, thoughts too harrowing to dwell on. "A second chance," she finally answered. And at his lack of response she looked over at him to find him staring at the sand as he walked pondering her words, and most likely what they meant for him. "She's a good kid," Eris found herself saying before she'd had the chance to properly consider all the repercussions. She'd only thought of one, which was him turning to her surprised and curious. Curious was good it meant he wanted to know more and if he found her agreeable enough he might even defend her case when it came to arresting her. The only problem with that plan was her: she'd never been good at being agreeable.

Poe tried to picture her with anyone else, even a friend, but he failed. She was too hard, too guarded, too sad. However he didn't think it was impossible, she'd saved BB-8 for no real reason at all and she'd already saved his life twice – she was giving herself away without realizing it. Somewhere beneath that stone was something soft, vulnerable, and whoever this girl was she brought it out. "She wouldn't let you kill me," he stated when he realized what she hadn't said. And he found himself wondering when her thoughts in relation to his life had changed, because he hadn't noticed until then.

"Nor would she let you arrest me."

"I'm more concerned with whether you will," Poe responded in kind, watching the corner of her mouth twitch.

He wasn't bad, this pilot. Mouthy as anything, but not bad. "As you should be," she said not denying it.

That honesty had him grinning. A grin that quickly fell as they climbed an embankment, replaced by deep huffing and trembling legs. He'd been exhausted before the mission, then he'd been captured, tortured, escaped, and now walked without water under a scorching sun for hours. But her strides had lengthened and she was tired as he was, which meant they were close. So he trekked on, spotting the home when they reached the top. "How'd she,"

"Don't ask," Eris said climbing down the small sandy hill seeing the overturned AT-AT half covered in sand. Rey's speeder was gone. A part of her Eris didn't realize had been holding onto hope gave a soft weary sigh, her shoulders dropped, her feet slowed, and tired settled in her bones making every step twice the effort. Throwing back the torn tarp she looked around the empty Walker for anything to make sleep more comfortable.

Poe was less sure of himself not claiming this place as his or even a friend's – his boots clanged loudly on the metal, much louder than hers as she knew how to make her feet light. The shade was a welcomed relief and he rubbed his dry aching eyes before looking around. It was clear no part of Eris lived here, a handstitched pillow lay on the hammock where he'd set her jacket, a handstitched orange-suited pilot on a shelf, the thousands of scratches on the back wall signifying years spent in this makeshift home. But what caught his eye causing him to step closer was a small potted plant, one he knew for a fact didn't grow on the dry barren planet of Jakku – the water seemed to have evaporated completely leaving it a crisp shell of what once might've been a beautiful flower. Picking up one of the fallen leaves he held it close to his eye trying to make out a color,but he pressed too hard and it shattered into dust leaving him holding nothing. Eris had brought it back out of nothing but care for this girl, and if he was right then Eris had only known her a week.

"Here," Eris said coming around the back wall with an old folded shirt for him to use as a pillow.

He took it from her with a sincere thanks and let his back slide down the wall as came to rest. Stretching his tired legs with his head leaned back he could've fallen asleep right then, if not for her still moving around him. He watched her take a quick sip from her refilled canteen, then watched as she unwound the scarf from her head and wet part of it. "Thanks," he told her again when she handed him the pouch.

"Drink light, we'll need it tomorrow," she told him before kneeling at his side.

Doing as told, though it was much easier said than done when his mouth once more felt as dry as the desert, he took just enough to wet his tongue before screwing the lid on. At the feel of something touching the side of his head he gave a slight jerk, and turned to see what she was doing.

But she grabbed his chin and turned his face away from her. "Sit still," she told him, her tone much harsher than her actions.

Her damp scarf was cool against his warm skin as she gently dabbed at the dried blood caked on his temple and he sat still enjoying the feel of it. Letting his eyes fall closed he might still have fallen asleep, only this time it was his mind keeping him awake focused on the dull aches along his body from where he'd been hit over and over, constantly remembering the feeling of his mind being torn open as Kylo Ren looked inside.
Poe let her turn his chin toward her as she next cleaned his cheek, though her already gentle hands softened more at the sight of the bruise. Her brows were drawn together, her pouting mouth pulled tight in a frown, her eyes storing to memory the marks on his face as though she planned to repay them in kind. With her scarf no longer around her he saw her sleeves cut off at the top of her shoulder, and he spent several moments trying to figure out if her skin was purple or pink. "Why do you work for them?" he asked quietly.

Without pausing she continued the soft strokes of the scarf taking more of the blood each time. Kylo Ren didn't often deal in blows which meant these marks had come from stormstroopers – and if Poe's mouth was anything to go by he'd instigated it. She could appreciate that, had talked herself into similar situations. "I don't," she answered realizing she was right about the Resistance thinking she was with The Order.

Somehow Poe expected that answer, at least now he'd spent the day observing her. She had many opportunities to kill, and yet the only three dead were the ones that would've killed him. "And yet you're their preferred choice," he said knowing she was. The same information that led them to Lor San Tekka had mentioned her, she'd had almost a hundred assignments given by The Order and she'd successfully completed all of them.

"You're as bad she was," Eris mumbled moving on to the cut on his lip, seeing another bruise on his chin. "I go where the money is. If you paid me to take out a First Order leader I wouldn't hesitate, that doesn't mean I work for you." She finished cleaning the last dried crusting of blood and moved away from him.

"You don't believe in their cause," he said trying to figure out how she could justify helping them if she didn't care.

Throwing her scarf aside she shook her head busying herself at a counter. "Don't believe in yours either."

Poe was brought short by that, by the weight of her admission; she didn't believe in anything. She had the will to fight but no reason. He almost laughed to himself, she was another Finn only she didn't bother too much with right and wrong. Perfect, that's what he thought of her, she was absolutely perfect – The Order knew her, appreciated her effectiveness, preferred her over others, she was a double agent waiting to be used. "So what do you believe in?"

She didn't trust the sudden kindness in his voice, not when before he'd started to sound accusing. He wanted something, and it made her seethe knowing she wasn't in a position to refuse. "I believe your side is capable of being just as wrong as theirs," she told him honestly.

"Really?" he asked rising to aching feet so he could stand level with her.

She raised a shoulder offhandedly. "If your stormtrooper hadn't saved you would you have known he was good?" she asked watching him pause as he'd been stepping closer. They stood an arms distance now and she could see the doubt begin creeping in his dark eyes. "Are you so sure there aren't others like him waiting for an opportunity to act on, that you either killed or will kill before they have the chance to decide whether to act on it?"

He shook his head knowing that way of thinking, as true as it might've been, would only end in him being killed. "You can't fight a war thinking like that."

"Because your life is more important than theirs," she said filling in the gaps he wasn't saying.

"No, that's not,"

But she spoke over him: "if you wasted time questioning everyone's belief you'd get killed."

"Exactly," he said before he realized she'd backed him into a corner.

Eris didn't think she'd get him on her side or even get him to see things her way, what she wanted was for him to at least understand why she behaved as she did. It'd make him more likely to defend her when the time came. "So you make the executive decision that every life not dedicated to your cause is held at a place lesser than your own: they're the 'bad guys," she made mock quotations with her fingers, "kill 'em all. Those civilians aren't fighting for us so we can take resources they rely on for our soldiers cause it's 'for the good of the cause'. And you know what, Poe?" she asked, and he waited for her to say something else snidely to prove her way was better. "All of war's that way. Then now someday, it'll always be like that. So no," she said taking a breath and leaning against the counter behind her, "I don't believe in anyone's cause. I don't believe in right and wrong. I don't,"

"Wait," Poe said making her sigh at him interrupting her again, "how can you not believe in right and wrong? Even the 'bad guys'," he said using the same phrase she had, "think what they're doing's right, and then base their actions upon that belief." The confusion creasing his face cleared when he understood what he'd said, what she'd gotten him to say. "Right and wrong are subjective to the individual faced with a choice," he said giving her that one, whether or not he agreed with it. And he found it fascinating that at no point had she made him feel like he was required to.

Again she shrugged indifferently, the same way she lived life – uninterested, without compassion, and entirely changeable. "I look at things in terms of necessary and unnecessary," she told him, making him only one of two people she'd ever told that. Well, one, considering the other was now dead.

Contemplating that he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall finding himself comfortably open with her in that moment. "Give me an example."

"Alright, I'll use us. You think I've done something wrong and want to arrest me, in your mind you're in the right and I'm in the wrong. Me personally, I can see how you might think I've done something wrong," she said, and he snorted at her half-assed confession, "however I've never killed anyone on a planet that prohibited it so I haven't technically broken any laws which means to me you don't have the right to arrest me."

His gaze might've been on the stitching around her hip but his mind was far away as he thought of what all she was saying, and understanding what she meant. There was a man, a former hero really, who'd had ideas very similar to that – and though a smuggler was much different than a bounty hunter Poe saw the resemblance. "By that standard," he said turning his eyes back to her face, "isn't it also necessary for you to kill me?" he asked still not seeing how the two ideals were different.

"It isn't necessary," she said simply. "Had we found her here we would've dropped you somewhere safe to get back to the Resistance and we'd have gone on our way."

It didn't hit him all at once how much that viewpoint explained, it was a gradual understanding. It's why she hadn't killed BB-8, or him for that matter, they weren't part of the job therefore it wasn't necessary. However, part of the job was keeping the Resistance from finding out what The Order was after, so killing Lor San Tekka's ally to keep him from talking had been necessary. She might've been the most confusing individual he'd had the chance of meeting. "So that's the plan now, finding your friend dropping me off and going into hiding?"

This time she was the one to look away. "No, you giving away your position last night – a position they knew I'd been in only an hour before – has them under the assumption I'm with you. There is no hiding." She pushed off from the counter and walked to the bed pulling her jacket on, feeling the air begin to cool as the sun sank lower in the sky. Looking over her shoulder she saw his shadowed face waiting for a plan, impatiently as well. "We'll go to the Resistance, I'll help find her, she believes in your cause she'll stay and fight."

He watched her lay down with her back to him, her legs curled, her arms pulled around her – she looked small. "You'd be arrested," he said not understanding anything anymore. But she remained silent, stubborn, and he quickly gave up waiting as he returned to where he'd once sat leaning against the wall. Only this time he was on his back with a thin shirt for a pillow and now he felt like he knew less about her than before.

She'd been going round and round through every possibility weighing the options – most of which ended in either her dead or both of them, one included all three, and one involved Rey dying and her living. There was only one option that ended with them all being alive whether or not it's what Eris wanted. "You remember I said I'd met Kylo Ren?"

Poe turned surprised at the sound of her voice finding that in the dark without her stern face to go with it it almost sounded sweet. "Yeah," he answered.

She fell quiet again considering exactly how much of herself she wanted to give him; he was a bleeding heart if she wanted him on her side then she'd have to show him hers. "It's the only way to keep her safe." And as quickly as she'd left herself open to him she closed herself once more. "Now shut up and go to sleep."

He gave a short breathy laugh not knowing what way she rubbed him only that he didn't mind her company – she wasn't by any means an easy companion but she was better than she'd given credit. "Night Eris," he said. He smiled when he heard her grumbled, thought I told you to shut up. "I heard that," he told her.

"You were supposed to."

This time he laughed, laughed like he thought he wouldn't get to again. He could've died, should have died. It felt good to laugh, deep in his belly, splitting his face with a smile. She wasn't that bad of company at all.

.^.

Poe shot awake thinking he was back on The First Order's base and he shoved the figure kneeling over him mistaking their shadow for Kylo Ren, returning to extract more information from him. But a strong hand caught his wrist, another was pressed flat over his chest holding him down.

"You're alright."

He blinked at the soft voice and looked up at the shadow holding him unable to see clearly in the dimly lit ship. But her messy hair began taking shape and he saw a glint of purple in the faint light, a breath left him realizing he was in the AT-AT.

She stared down at him seeing the panic leave him as he settled. His groaning had woken her and she'd rolled over with her hands over her ears, but she'd still heard the clank of his elbow as it struck the wall. She'd considered being irritated until she saw the distress in his furrowed brows.

She was still holding his hand where he'd raised it to shove her and he reached his fingers to brush her cheek. Without pulling away she lowered his hand folding it over his chest, feeling his other hand wrap around her wrist to keep her there. A quiet moment passed between them, her looking at his shining eyes and he at her luminescent ones.

Vibration tremored in the air and she turned for the door hearing it fade, behind her was the sound of Poe's clothes rustling as he sat up. His breathing was still too deep and it passed from his nose in a loud heavy whoosh. Without taking her eyes off the still tarp hanging over the door she ran her hand up his chest along his neck and over his chin before she cupped her palm over his nose and mouth silencing him. Beneath the steady drum of her heart she heard a soft whine grow louder before cutting out, and the air it displaced rustled the tarp. Someone had circled back having spotted the fallen AT-AT.

As her hand slipped from his face he reached for the blaster he'd set beside his makeshift pillow and slowly pulled himself up watching her silently rise to her feet grabbing her own blaster. With her other hand she gently pushed him to the wall and held him there firm and commanding: she wanted him to stay. She'd taken on the role of protector.

He would've refused if they hadn't been trapped in that fallen walker but they made easy targets and it was possible the person outside didn't know they were there. So Poe silently watched her creep toward the door and stop, listening to the quiet shifting of sand beneath feet, before she threw herself from behind the tarp and collided with the individual who'd been about to step inside. There was a moment when she was fully illuminated by the moonlight, but then she disappeared as she tumbled in the sand and he heard a deep voice cry out as she landed a vicious blow.

And then there was silence. Holding his breath Poe strained to hear, Eris didn't make a sound so he knew if he heard someone moving it wouldn't be her. But he heard nothing more than the wind striking the metal. Carefully he pulled the blaster from his belt and inched forward, but he was stopped by her voice calling out to him.

"Poe."