She didn't turn when the door slid open with a faint airy whoosh, she didn't need to. Of course he'd sent her. "You don't know me anymore than Finn does," Rey said in a bitter cutting tone as she gathered what little she had.
A lilac hand reached across her and set a small packed knapsack on the table in front of her. With regret shining in her wide brown eyes Rey looked up at Eris' hard face. "Maybe you know me a little more," Rey admitted quietly.
Eris hummed as she sat on the edge of the table facing the wall. "You wanna talk about what Kylo said to you this time?" she asked hearing the breath Rey took. And she turned to the younger woman looking untethered and needy, seeing herself in how hard Rey was trying to pretend she didn't need anyone. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a nagging thought the more Palpatine's name came up."
Her fragile strength at hearing a truth she wasn't ready for said aloud, again, crumbled. She could feel the darkness in her, this black terrifying thing she couldn't put a name too. Luke had been afraid of her, he'd been right to be afraid. It scared her too. Sitting beside Eris Rey didn't feel as afraid, or maybe she just felt less alone. "I suppose it's too late to run away," she said staring at the bland wall.
"Yup," was Eris' toneless answer. She sat with her arms crossed feeling Rey's body rise with every breath. The quiet they created enveloped them in a way that was new for Eris, how close they felt in that small room, the air they shared, the rhythm of their hearts, she'd never grow tired of this. Their temporary infinity. "We would've been good, wouldn't we?"
Rey turned to her hearing and seeing the same want to just - go. No Kylo or Ben, no families but the one they made, no Jedi or bounties, just each other. "Yeah," she agreed on a soft mourning breath.
"I know the perfect place," Eris told her, her gaze drifting to Rey's cheek as she thought. "Still primitive in nature, untouched by war. We'd live off the land and our own labor." A simple life. Their eyes met once more and they leaned into each other feeling the warm air pass from their noses and curl around their throats.
Her heart filled with too much warmth and regret. "We'd live in peace," she said tired of the turmoil inside herself.
"With more green than you've ever seen."
Rey smiled thinking of course Eris knew that was her favorite color. It felt so alive. "Would you still go with me?" After everything Eris had lost, at knowing how much this and Poe meant to her, it wasn't fair to ask her to leave it behind.
For several quiet moments Eris thought long and hard about how much she would give this girl, if she could break her heart giving this up. Looking at that sweet pretty face Eris felt the same swell of knowing and, whether she admitted it or not, love she always had. She could live with letting this go. "Say the word," Eris told her without room for doubt in her assured tone.
Taking a shaking breath Rey let her head fall to Eris' shoulder, tucking her face in the crook of her neck, feeling Eris' warm cheek against her temple. They stayed that way for a time, not ready to give it up. But they were resigned to seeing this through. They weren't made for a simple life.
The door opened and Eris left a few steps behind Rey that grew to the length of the ship as she turned to where Cal leaned against the wall. Her eyes were filled with warmth rather than pain, her face almost as soft as his as he looked down at her. "Are you still with me?"
Five words weren't enough for the weight of that question and certainly not for its answer. "I've followed you this far, I have no plans of leaving you now." He'd follow her to the ends of the Galaxy. She wasn't an easy woman to get along with, wasn't really a good one either. But for someone who acted as though she didn't care for anyone but herself, she cared so much.
Time and necessity had done them well, allowed trust and affection to grow in the cracks of what they used to be. It wasn't what it was, but what they'd built from their ashes was good. With a gleam in her eye she reached her hand to him and without hesitation he took it and held it tight.
Eris had good instincts, for much of her youth they were all she'd had. She knew when to listen, and she knew when to trust them. And right now it was the swell of a symphony, deafening until all at once the sound would fall away and they'd be left with an echoing silence. She'd almost imagine death was in that silence, and right now they were rising towards it.
Standing behind the captain's chair she set her hand Poe's shoulder as he flew them to Kef Bir, felt his own hand cover hers for a brief moment before he returned to the controls. By the time he climbed out of the seat Eris was already at Rey's back as they glanced over the surface of this forgotten planet and the shattered remains of a death star.
There wasn't time for goodbyes, or even a plan. They were told by the leader of the planet's inhabitants they couldn't reach the Death Star until the seas calmed, but Rey turned to Eris with her face set in terrible determination. Sharing a nod Rey made her way down the hill to the cliffs, and Eris glanced first at Poe's back then to Cal. The look they shared was laced with understanding. Whatever this was it was too much for Rey who felt alone in her turmoil. Eris had been left behind by everyone who'd ever meant anything to her, she knew when it was coming.
But her love of this girl had her following her down the cliffs and into the boat much too small for the violent waves Rey steered them through.
"Where's Rey?" Finn asked noticing the absence of her. He turned wildly looking for her, feeling her unrest.
Poe pointed to the waves catching a glimpse of the stark white of Rey's clothing, and beside her a dark violet smudge. Sighing he turned to Cal finding him too stoic to have not known, and of course Eris had gone to him again.
While Finn and Jannah discussed whether it was possible to go after them Poe looked around them from the Falcon that needed repairs to Chewy who was still nursing his wounds, and then back to Eris and Rey who'd just reached the other side. Their reckless women.
"You two go after them, we'll fix the ship," he declared giving Cal a pointed look. If keeping Eris meant keeping him then Poe wasn't letting the man out of his sight.
...
They climbed the steep slope of the Death star's remains and headed inside. "You've gotta be kidding me," Eris muttered as she looked up at the metal frames extending from the ground up several hundred feet high with half of them broken.
Rey scaled the structures swiftly, her eyes and limbs used to this from years of scavenging ships. But Eris huffed beneath her as she jumped from one beam to another, and she paused to catch her breath and figure out where the next foothold was. Eris' width was strangely thin, her limbs long and lithe, but she was very dense which made her heavy.
A hand appeared in front of her face and Eris looked up at Rey who gripped the frame with one arm and her legs wrapped tight around it. Groaning Eris took her hand and let Rey pull her with her as they continued climbing.
After what felt like forever Eris lay on a still intact floor nearly panting as Rey slowly looked around feeling the power that existed here. A door grinding open had Eris pulling herself to her feet as she moved beside Rey to stare into the gaping black emptiness inside the Emperor's throne room. There was nothing inside there and at the same time there was everything. Like the final breath this dead ship drew stale air grazed their brows beaded with sweat leaving them chilled. And Rey turned to Eris.
"Don't look at me," Eris told her bluntly, her eyes narrowed as she gazed into the thick blackness. "This is your thing I'm just supporting you." She wasn't going in, and if she thought Rey would listen instead of lashing out Eris wouldn't let her go in either. She could see fairly well in the dark, but she couldn't see even an inch past this doorway.
Rey wanted to argue, the word coward was weighted on her tongue, but at some point she'd grabbed Eris' hand and was only just now feeling the strain from how hard she was holding it. This is what she'd come for, what she needed if she were to find the planet Palpatine was on so she could finally face this. Taking a breath Rey let Eris go and stepped forward letting the shadow envelope her.
The door snapped shut behind her and Rey turned with a hand raised pushing against it. "Eris?"
"Rey," Eris yelled not hearing her, her knuckles bruised from how quick she'd been to start hitting. Now she scoured the wall for a switch and when she didn't find one she pulled the blaster from her belt to blow through it.
With a sudden surge of force her head cracked against the stone and she fell limp to the floor. There was a moment's hesitation before a pair of black boots stepped beside her, his dark figure looming over her. He stood the length of several breaths before he crouched down pulling her deep purple hair out of her face, his gloved hand grazing her cheek. But he quickly pulled away, not allowing himself the weakness he'd always shown this woman, and he waited for the girl. Rey hadn't listened to him when he tried to tell her who she was, who they could be, maybe she'd listen to this.
Again the door opened and Rey stumbled out falling to her knees. She blinked at the hand outstretched toward her before her head turned tracing it back to where Eris lay on her side. Blood was beginning to pool under her head. Her eyes flicked upwards and she sucked in a breath at seeing Kylo Ren, those dark eyes that her chest heaving. A breath passed between them before she lunged.
The striking of their sabers could be heard as they drew further away from where Eris lay unconscious. Minutes passed and a hand shook her shoulder. "Eris, come on you gotta wake up," Finn told her as Jannah moved to the gutted wall to see the platforms in the foggy distance and the flashing blue and red as Rey tired herself out against a foe who wouldn't yield.
Eris shot up getting a hand around his throat so that his eyes bulged before she realized who he was. And then a sharp pain exploded behind her eye and she reached for her aching head, feeling the blood coating the right side of her face. "Kylo found us, where is she?" she demanded as she climbed on shaking legs to her feet.
With a hand around her arm Finn moved to the walkway, squinting against the fog and ocean spray to find them. "We gotta get her," he said before charging after them.
Jannah looked to Eris, who was leaning heavily against the wall with a fire in her glazed eyes. Poe wasn't here to hold her arm at her side to keep from shooting this time, she didn't like the look of Eris but she trusted Finn.
Eris blinked through bleary eyes catching the shadow of Jannah darting after Finn. There hadn't been enough time for Eris to feel out this new person so she'd settled with uneasy distrust, even if she was a rogue stormtrooper like Finn. As if trying to shake the sense back into her head Eris stepped forward letting go of the wall as she swayed on the elevated platform. The cold biting water was a relief as a wave hit the side and washed over her, her next step was steadier.
She couldn't see the glow of either saber anymore, given how much stronger than Rey Kylo was that worried her. Rey wasn't herself, she was hurt and enraged and it would make her sloppy.
"We can't get to them," Finn yelled over the rough seas as Eris made her way to squinted at the edge of the walkway above them, fifty feet maybe more, and if she missed there'd be nothing to catch her but the rolling waves that would throw her into rock and ship. "She's leaving us, Eris," he told her knowing she didn't want to hear it. He didn't wanna say it either, being left behind was a kind of pain he'd never known.
She followed the dark shape of the TIE fighter before losing it in the clouds. Then her eyes fell back to the broken walkway above them, her expression set in stone.
Finn's hand was light at her elbow trying to get her to turn away, to see the Falcon coming up on them, to see Poe because he was the only thing that'd make her turn back now. But she didn't, her eyes remained fixed on the few feet left in front her as she measured the distance between her and what was above her.
"Tell him I'm sorry," she yelled over the salty wind that tore at her wet hair.
Poe hovered over where the three stood being pounded by waves and hit the switch to lower the ramp so Cal could get them inside. "Don't you dare," he breathed looking at where Eris stood staring in the wrong direction. Even from the cockpit he could see the coil in her muscles. "Dammit," he hissed as she started running, and he threw himself out of the pilot's chair planning to bring her back himself. Chewy bellowed unhappily to him at being left with the controls.
He caught himself against Cal and moved to the end of the ramp. "Eris get your ass back here," he cried seeing her a top the other platform, too far to hear him.
With a hand on his shoulder Cal pulled him back knowing he was crazy enough to try going after her. "I'll bring her back to you," Cal swore, looking down at his pained eyes. "You have my word."
Poe sized him up and found him honest. He was a good man, and Poe didn't have the luxury of being able to stay. "It's been an honor," he said holding a hand out to him. They shook firmly before letting go and turning to the two Chewy was lowering them to. Poe grabbed Finn and Cal helped Jannah up. Neither one had righted themselves before Cal jumped down, and he turned raising a hand to Chewy in the windowed cockpit. Then he turned to Poe and gave a quick two fingered salute, a promise to bring her back.
...
He tossed the lightsaber far into the sea, ridding himself of the dark stain that had plagued him. He was free, he was Ben again. And he turned back with childish hope shining in his eyes as he looked for his father, but what was left of Han was gone. And all he found was Eris with her hair stuck to her face and her hip cocked.
"You done talking to yourself?" she asked in a dry voice, the only thing dry about her.
Not knowing what to say he nodded. He'd been the cause of so much of her pain, and instead of letting her go he'd kept her and twisted her into something like him.
Sighing at his guilt she jerked her head back the way they'd come. "I'm cold and my head hurts, let's go," she said and turned walking back.
Blinking at the level of grace she was capable he paused before following her. His long legs caught up to her quickly, that and she was purposefully slow so he'd fall into step beside her. They walked several steps together before it burst out of him. "I shot your ship down, I'm the reason you lost him." He wanted her to be angry, to hate him. He deserved nothing less.
"Yeah you keeping me alive gave that away," she told him with a wry not quite amused grin. He continued frowning, his eyes full of regret. Those damn pleading eyes. She stopped at the edge of their platform seeing Cal waiting on the one beneath them. It was Kylo's fault, all of it. Well, maybe not everything she'd played her part in all this too. "From one murdering asshole to another," she turned to him seeing a spark of hope in his dark eyes, and she extended her hand to him, "it's nice to finally meet you, Ben."
His face split with a wide shivering smile as his eyes filled with more than just the ocean spray, and he fit his hand against hers surprised at how soft it was. He opened his mouth with an apology on his lips.
"Don't make me hit you," she warned him hearing his faint chuckle. This broken boy, she'd always seen him. She pulled her hand back uncomfortable with the care they shared, and she jumped. It was neither planned nor graceful, her feet hit the floor then her knees and her left shoulder as she rolled before catching herself. Against Cal, who actually caught her.
He looked down at her a mix of humored and annoyed. "This is why Poe says you're reckless," he told her knowing she'd done that to avoid her feelings. She did a lot of things to avoid them. Sometimes he found her infuriating.
Shrugging him off she headed back inside hearing and feeling Ben's heavy body hit the platform behind her. She was wringing her hair out when they made their way to her, a smear of blood still on the floor from her head.
"What did I say about apologies?" Eris demanded at the way Ben was looking at her.
But he reached a hand to the side of her head where he'd cracked it against the wall, feeling how much it hurt her though she was too prideful to show it. He watched something in her eyes soften as he took her pain and stitched her skin back together. "I am sorry," he told her wishing it felt like enough. He'd done so much evil, the rest of his life didn't feel like enough time to make it right.
She'd never been able to hate him even when she should, even when she wanted to. Because she hated herself, or she used to because she almost liked who she was now. Who she'd become with Rey, with Poe, the only people who made her want to be better. But she wasn't ready to deal with all of this or maybe she just didn't want to, so she pulled away. "Is that out of your system now, can we go?"
His brows furrowed at the look she gave him before she began the long climb down. Exasperated he turned to Cal who could only shake his head. "You're barking up the wrong tree, mate. It's your fault I can't remember the woman I love who's now in love with someone else," Cal told him in a level tone though his eyes were burning. "You want someone to hate I'll be more than happy to." Not bothering to give him anymore of his time, after he'd taken the last seven years from, Cal jumped off the ledge and grabbed the beam as he scaled down it.
They waited until the seas calmed before they took a boat back to the main land, Eris hoped some of the other freedom fighters had remained. Rey had taken the TIE fighter and Poe had left like she asked him too, so it was just them. And they just needed one signal.
Trekking tirelessly across the moon they'd been stranded on they finally found their way to their settlement. It wasn't much and the whipping winds from the chaotic tides had worn it down but Eris almost smiled at the thin stream of smoke coming from a roof.
"Who are you calling?" Ben asked standing beside Eris as she held the old heavy datapad while Cal stood atop a hill holding the antennae where she'd finally gotten a clear signal.
Finding the signal from the ship she'd been searching for she sent a one word message she hoped would be answered – Renegade-1. "A friend," she said glancing at Ben whose brows were raised. "I have more friends than you." She rolled her eyes at his short laugh feeling the way her mouth pursed as she fought a smile.
"More than the pilot?" he asked sounding more serious than he meant, but it'd been so long since he'd done this. Had joy. She turned to him so fast he couldn't help but smile, her fondness was clear in her stern eyes. "I extracted you from his mind, his first thought when he saw you. He thought you were beautiful." It'd been the pilot's only thought as she stood in the sunlight in the doorway, before she aimed the blaster at him.
Drawing in a sharp breath she huffed shaking her head. "Do you even hear yourself?" she asked rudely feeling her face warm. But there was a loud beep that jarred them and they looked at the cracked screen of the outdated technology to see a message as short as hers – on our way.
Several hours later the two men stood back as Eris walked to the ship and shook the hand of the toothy Cathar that greeted her. "Thank you for coming. You look good," Eris told Sorba honestly. His fur had thickened and he'd put on weight and muscle in his newfound freedom, he looked healthier than the scraggly feral slave she first met.
"You've looked better," he said with a grin as he shook her hand. His bloody rescuer. Clapping her shoulder he ushered the three inside and flew them into the space outside the planet where they found at least twenty more ships filled with former slaves ready to fight. Seeing it, Eris' face was momentarily open with awed vulnerability. If this is what Poe kept going on about then she thought she finally understood.
…
What little fleet the Resistance had was flying to Exegol following the signal Rey had broadcasted for them. More would come, Poe was hopeful, he had to be because this was it. The galaxy would fall to the Empire if they lost now.
They were about halfway there when Finn came on his comm telling him they were receiving a message. Someone was answering their call. "Put 'em through," he told Finn hitting the switch to connect. He cleared his throat. "This is General Dameron of the Resistance," he greeted firmly, hearing a distinct quiet.
"General Dameron, that's got a nice ring to it."
He paused at that achingly familiar voice, both teasing and proud. "You beautiful bastard," he exclaimed softly to himself as he smiled. "I'm sending you the coordinates." It wasn't a thought, he needed her there and he knew she'd come.
"Sorba got them, we'll be a little late but we've got a good number of fighters," Eris told him as she watched the map. They'd more than a little late.
It took Poe a moment to place that name and a moment more to realize Eris had not only come back but she was bringing reinforcements. If he'd known that moment on the Falcon could be the last he got with her he'd have held her a little longer. He hit the switch to keep the communications between just his X-Wing and hers. "We make it through this I'm getting that kiss," he told her hearing a series of beeping behind him as BB8 agreed.
Light years away Eris sat as someone else's copilot with a gentle smile on her face. "You gotta catch me first."
A laugh left him in a rush of air from his chest as he shook his head. She'd never make this easy, and hell if that wasn't half the fun. "Deal," he replied, knowing when he got his hands on her again he wasn't ever letting her go.
Eris stepped back and followed Cal to get ready. If she was right it was going to be a hell of a fight, hopefully it'd turn out better than the last one. They re-equipped checking the weapons they had and their ammo, found old grenades they hooked to their gun belts. And when they were as ready as they were ever going to be they stood on the bridge waiting as they left lightspeed and entered Exegol's atmosphere.
Beside her Cal swore under his breath at the rows of ships having never imagined it'd be this great. They turned to each other sharing a heavy worried look before they looked back to the failing fight beneath them. It was now or never.
"There," Eris said pointing to the small blip on the ship's map that was tracing the receiving signal Eris had programmed. She and Cal recognized The Steadfast, Eris was the one who had its layout memorized and knew which quadrant had the most access to the mainframe so they could take it down.
Sorba flew them over the hull where Finn Jannah and the other defector stormtroopers were, and the two leapt onto the ship before the Imperial gunners could draw fire on Sorba's plane. Hailing Finn Eris motioned to the ventilation gate they were headed toward so they could get inside. "Jammer," was the only word he'd been able to make out. It took him a good minute after they'd already disappeared to figure out they were shutting the ship down, which meant he and Jannah could control the weapons and they could take out this ship.
Sliding down the duct Eris caught herself at the end and grunted at Cal falling onto her back. When he got a hold on the metal walls Eris eased the hatch open and peeked out before she jumped down with Cal following suit. "He wouldn't return the favor," Cal told her thinking she was risking too much for someone that didn't really matter.
"I know," was her honest reply. But it wasn't gonna stop her.
…
Hux stood on the bridge with his hands folded behind his back looking through the window at the sudden insurgence from Resistant allies that were tearing through their numbers. They'd have little impact on the Sith Fleet but there was a plan for that.
A faint almost unnoticed beep sounded in his pocket and the breath stilled in his chest. Casting his eyes about the room he backed slowly toward the door and slunk out into the hall. He hadn't actually thought she'd come, not that he was horribly surprised she had when she was terribly weak.
Rounding the corner he drew to a stop at the sight of the stormtrooper coming up the hall to give a report on the battle on the hull. "I was sent for an update," Hux told him standing taller though his face had paled significantly.
The trooper knew he hadn't, there was no reason for it. His hand moved to the gun hooked on his hip, but a flash of violet in his peripheral had him turning with only enough time to see his attacker before she rammed into him. Rather violently Eris grabbed his helmet and slammed his head into the wall hearing either it or his skull crack, he twitched once before falling still.
She looked up at Hux's wide blanched face. "You good?"
"You're late," he told her with bitter relief.
Huffing a sigh she joined him as they headed down the hall and he ushered her into the empty briefing room. In the center stood a consol connected to the ship where they primarily received and relayed information. Connecting their pieces they hooked up the jammer and headed back out. It wasn't long before the ship trembled all around them as the weapons began firing on itself.
Grabbing Hux Eris dragged him with her feeling a terrifying quaking beneath her feet as the ship began to crumble. Metal screeched and groaned around them like a dying beast as it caved in and they flew around the corner as Eris led them back to where Cal was waiting on the floor above them. She was moving so fast, so urgently, she hit the wall and bounced off with Hux's hand held fast in hers as she kept him with her.
"Cal," she yelled as they stumbled on the cracking floor. She hit her knee on the edge and pulled herself and Hux up with one overstrained arm. Staring down the shaking hallway to see the ladder at the end she knew they wouldn't make it. Even still she prayed for a few seconds more, it's all she needed and she could go home with Poe and Rey and even Finn and she could finally be happy. She just needed a few more seconds.
Cal knelt by the ladder with two dead Imperials behind him ducking his head as the ceiling broke off above him and hit the ground tearing through it to fall on the floor below. "Come on," he said over and over knowing they didn't have much time. They still had to get topside, only now the ducts would've collapsed in on themselves. He heard her cry out his name and he got ready. He'd grab her and go, damn the fucking Imperial. He could live with her hating him.
Looking through the opening in the floor he watched Eris hit the wall with Hux flying into her back. "Give me your hand," Cal said reaching for her.
But she felt the floor giving out, and the part of her Poe and Rey had touched the most had her turning to Hux and shoving him up the ladder moments before she fell. "Eris," Cal bellowed watching her fall two stories below before debris buried her.
A moment passed as though the galaxy itself was standing still, as the two men gaped down at the rubble she was under. "Move, I have to get her," Cal said through clenched teeth, and even then his hysteria could be heard.
As if overtaken by the care she'd shown him Hux let Cal go and slid feet first down the wall. He hit the ground hard enough he felt it rattle his bones and he nearly tripped as he climbed over the broken flooring catching sight of black cloth through the cracks. Slipping through he felt the ship tremble and he ducked expecting to be crushed as the stone shifted.
He stood on the very bottom of the ship looking down at her legs jutting out from a thick heavy slab that was crushing her. "Eris?" he tried shaking one of her legs to see if she was alive. Not that he'd leave her now.
Grunting he wedged his shoulder under the ceiling piece and tried to lift it off her, it didn't give. The next quake took him off his feet and nearly trapped his arm between two wedges of debris, and he stood grabbing his blaster having enough of this. He shot at the piece breaking it further until it was just what was covering her and he put all his weight into pushing it off her.
Breathlessly he fell to his knees beside where she lay on her right side knowing probably every bone on the left side of her torso was broken. And from the heavy wet way she wheezed something had pierced her lung. Stone cracking on the slab beside him had him jumping and he quickly grabbed Eris and started climbing. All this trouble for this infuriating woman he didn't even like, he cursed her as he stumbled.
"Give her here," Cal said as he sat at the end of the ladder to grab her. There was an explosion and he tucked into himself feeling a wall of heat as fire began to spread. It wasn't until he got his hands around her that he realized Eris' left arm had been nearly torn off and was only held on by a ligament. "You too," he said angling himself to hold Eris and him up so he could try to reach Hux.
After the Imperial had thoughtlessly risked his life to try to get her Cal figured he could at least get him out of this. But one last tremor had the debris breaking through the bottom of the ship and Cal watched as Hux fell with it into open space.
"Shit," he muttered as he scaled the ladder and headed down the quickly burning hall. The ship was leaning now as it fell against the one beside it and Cal nearly lost his footing as he held Eris against him. He was heading for the lift, which had fallen through as well. But he stood at its open doors looking up through it's wide track to see a hundred feet above him was open sky. Throwing her over his shoulder he grabbed the railing and began climbing.
Beneath him a surge of flame shot through the hall they'd just been in, he could feel it scalding his skin and he climbed faster.
It wasn't until he stood outside on the hull with Eris in his arms that he saw what the Resistance had done, the Final Empire was caving in on itself. And they were caught in the middle. Amidst the chaos he found Finn, who'd stuck close by knowing they were still in there. He made his way to him and Jannah, hearing Finn's soft exclamation at the sight of Eris' broken body. This was it then. He held her as he looked out at the wreckage they'd caused knowing if they died on this ship it would've been worth it.
But there was still hope to be found. They looked up at the roar of an engine to see Lando flying for them. They jumped from the failing Steadfast onto the extended ramp, and they took a moment to breathe knowing they were okay. Finn helped Cal get Eris up and laid her on a cot. And while Cal stepped back Finn stayed at her side brushing the hair out of her face as he listened to her slow wheezing breaths, pleading with her softly to give them just a little longer.