Episode III: Agreement
Alex definitely did not expect that. "A truce?", she asked, trying to make sure she understood him correctly. He nodded and leaned back. "Yeah. You know how this works. You promise not to kill me. I promise not to kill you." "And then?" "Together we figure out a way to leave this planet." She raised her eyebrows, quite surprised about this absurd idea by the look on her face. How did he always get those strange ideas? Yes, they had managed to talk to each other on a quite civilised way. But it never came to her mind to actively work with him on leaving this planet. "You want us to work together?", she asked, still sceptical. "Only temporarily. To be exact, just until the moment we reach a place we can both get home safely from. Then we part our ways and if we ever meet again it will be in a battle," he told her.
AN-3527 thought about it thoroughly. She probably would never be able to leave this planet all by herself. That's why his proposal actually made sense and was useful to her. But she still had some doubts. "Why?", she asked to get rid of the doubts. "Why what?" "Why are you suggesting this? We both know that you don't need me to leave this planet. Why should you voluntarily burden yourself with me, who is of no use for you?" He looked at her and thought about what to reply to that. Of course she was right. He would be able to make it off the planet without her. But the feeling in his gut told him otherwise. "Well, you never know what will happen. Maybe I will need you at some point and would regret it to have left you behind. Additionally, I already told you that this is not the death you deserve. If I kill you, it won't be her and in this manner. It will be in a decent fight. And you can be assured I won't be compassionate at all in this fight," he told her with a serious look on his face. AN-3527 nodded. She couldn't care less about the fact that he would be regretting his actions in the exact moment she and her TIE-fighter would end his life. So his idea sounded acceptable. "Fine. There is only one condition," she told him, "as soon as we have left the planet we never met. You and I, we do not know each other. And no one will ever get to know about this agreement." The dark haired resistance pilot nodded in agreement. "All right. What happens on this planet stays here. And as soon as we part ways we never met." With that, Poe held out his hand to her. She looked down at it and took it without hesitation.
"So, what's next?" she then asked him interested, still rubbing her hurting wrist. "Let me see your wrist", he replied instead of telling her. "It's fine," she protested. Poe smiled innocently and sat down next to her. "Now that we are working together, you can stop lying to me. I know I hurt your wrist with that movement." Then held his hand out to her, waiting for her to put her wrist into his hand. She hated being vulnerable and showing weakness. Her surroundings at the First Ordner did not allow any kind of weakness, because weakness usually meant an early death. And she especially hated having to show weakness when the enemy was around. But on the other hand, he knew already that she was not in her best physical condition and he was probably the only chance she got to get any kind of treatment. She had already tried herself, but she just could not do anything with only one hand. This meant that she had to trust him. Whether she wanted or not. So she put her left wrist into his waiting hand hesitantly. Poe gave her a content nod and started to slowly remove the bandage and the wooden shins. Her wrist definitely looked worse than yesterday, because with his movement he had moved the wood out of the way with his fingers and had pressured on the exact spot where her wrist was broken. The wrist was heavily swollen. Probably, he had moved the broken bones in her wrist and damaged her hand way more severely than he had intended to.
"Sorry. I didn't want to make it worse than it already was. You were just too close to my blaster for my comfort," he mumbled trying some type of excuse. The dark haired resistance fighter expected to be insulted, hit or something worse, but instead she started to laugh. "You damaged my wrist because you were afraid of me?" Poe looked into her green eyes with an insecure smile. "Something like that," he admitted "I feel honoured," she asked clearly amused. The pilot looked down to her wrist and started to scan it with his fingers. "I never doubted the fact that you are not only feisty, but dangerous as well. I just took the necessary safety precautions." The First Order pilot did not seem to resent his doings. Probably, because she would have done the same in a similar situation. She had to admit that it pleased her to know that he seemed to respect her. But it also again showed that he, even though he acted really nicely at the moment, could be serious.
Alex looked down at her wrist. It really looked nasty and she knew that the defective position of her hand that resulted from her broken wrist, had to be corrected. Otherwise her hand would never heal and never be fully usable again. "You have to correct it," she told him matter of factly. "Pardon?" "You need to correct my wrist and get my hand into the correct position. If we don't move it into the correct position now, I will never heal completely and the fight you are looking forward to is off." Poe knew she was right, but shook his head nonetheless. He was no doctor and never tried to claim any kind of medical expertise beside the basics as a skill of his. And with only those basics, he should not act here. "We will get you to a doctor who can straighten it as soon as we can. I'm not a trained doctor. When I do it, I will probably do it wrong and it will hurt too much," he told her. Poe had hoped to convince her with those arguments, but, judging by the look on her face, it did not work out. "Just stop whining and do it. I will survive." The resistance pilot looked down on her wrist and continued to scan it with his hands to figure out which the bone in her wrist got misaligned and with that how to get everything back into position. He knew he should do it as long as she was unprepared for it, so she did not expect the pain and it would be better due to the surprise. "What the hell?", he exclaimed and looked into the other direction of the cave. AN-3527 followed his look and tried to see what he saw in the cave. Poe used her distraction to forcefully grab her wrist and correct the position..
An ear shattering scream echoed through the cave. Alex turned and glared at him with glossy eyes. She never cried, but the pain had made her eyes water without her wanting to. "I thought it would be better if you were not prepared for the pain," Poe told her with an innocent smile. Alex breathed in and out slowly, hoping the pain would fade quickly. "It's okay." He shook his head. "Not really. I have to do it a second time," he said. "You are joking." Him shaking his head again signalized that he was not. Hesitantly she moved her arm back to position. Poe gave her an insecure smile. "This time you will know in advance, which will make it worse," he warned. Alex gritted her teeth. "Just do it, before I reconsider it," she replied and grabbed a nearby piece of wood. The resistance pilot nodded. He really did not want to do his. Just by looking at it, he could imagine the pain. But what could he do? He surely could not refuse to do it. So Poe grabbed her wrist a second time and moved the bone back into its original position.
Much to his surprise, there was no scream but only a pained whimper. "It's done," he told her happily and a bit proud of himself. Strangely, Alex who had turned away from him to not have to look at it, did not turn back towards him and just continued to breathe hard. "Are you okay?", he asked cautiously. "Yeah. Everything okay," she replied, but Poe did not believe her. Something was off, he felt that. So he touched her shoulder softly to turn her around. When he looked at her face, he noticed that she, probably to refrain herself from screaming, had bitten her lip. And she had done it so hard the lip was bleeding. Additionally, he could, much to her discomfort, see some already some half dried tears that had ran down her face. And he had to admit that right in this moment she did not look dangerous at all. If he hadn't known who she was, he would have hugged her. Because he also had to admit it looked kind of cute on her.
Alex quickly raised her right hand to wipe the half dried tears away quickly, but he had seen them anyway. He stopped her hand and smiled. "It's all right," he said and touched her face with his hands to wipe the tears away softly. "I think I would have passed out..." he told her with a wink. The other soldier looked at him confused. The situation appeared weird to her and did not make her comfortable at all. Poe also noticed the strangeness of the situation and reminded himself of who she was. So he pretended nothing had happened, just took her wrist and started to reattach the wooden parts and the cloth. Despite all of her protests, Poe then dedicated himself to build another wooden stabilizer for her ankle and some snow shoes for her, while Alex was preparing the dinner, which again was grilled meat on a stick. Alex thanked every spirit in the universe for the fact he was so busy that for once he was silent
Later at the fire, she was the one to end the silence between them. "So, you told me that you have a plan. How will we leave this planet, Poe?", she asked. He shrugged. "Search for some outpost or settlement on this planet and get us a transport or a ship." "Without any money?", she probed at this plan did not seem to be developed further. "Well. This could be a problem. But I guess we can figure that out later. First we need to find a settlement. I checked the closer surroundings today. There is no sign of anything. I thought maybe the crash site might get some attention by salvagers. But so far, nothing." The other pilot nodded and started to think. "How far is it to the crash site?" "A two hour walk from here. More or less, why?" She rolled her eyes. His aimlessness was worse than expected. "We need to salvage our ships," she told him. "Well, there is not much left of yours to salvage from." "I thought so. But need to have a look at it. If we ever want to leave this cave and not freeze to death outside if we can't find some shelter for the night, we need to build something to carry with us for the emergency. I guess we might be able to find at least some things in the wreckages to use." Poe smiled. She definitely seemed to have more ideas than he had. His usual plan was to just have none and just let everything happen. "You see. I knew you would be useful." "Whatever." "Do you think you can make it so far?", he asked pointing to her leg. This morning she hadn't been able to make one third of the way. "I will," she replied without hesitation. Poe nodded. She definitely was strong minded. But it was a different thing whether her body agreed with that. And he did not want to carry her back again.
They continued to sit in silence in front of the fire while eating. Which Alex considered really odd. Before, it had been difficult to get a minute of silence from him. It was not like she didn't crave the silence. On her ship there was never any, so she loved it whenever she got a minute where there was no talking, shouting, repairing, shooting or whatever. "Is something wrong?" she then asked, breaking the silence. "No. Why?" "Because since yesterday you have never been silent so long." "You told me that I talk too much. Now I don't talk, it's not okay either?" "I'm not complaining. It's just unlike you." "You don't know me." She rolled her eyes. "Fine. From the opinion I was able to make of you during the last two days, I'd say it's odd." Poe smiled. "I just can't think about anything to talk about with you." "Why not?" "Because we have passed the hostility. Your injuries are tended to. We can't start to talk about leaving until we have seen the ships, which is tomorrow. That means we would now have to engage to a nice chat. And I don't think there are many things we can talk about without giving the other useful information." "There are surely some unclassified topics we can talk about." "Like for example?", he asked She looked at him. Alex could not really think about anything right now. So she decided to change the topic "For example the fact you are lying to me right now." He raised his eyebrows. "What?" She got up, took one of the furs with her and walked over to put it around him. "You told me not to lie to you. Same goes for you. You could have told me that you are freezing. You are shivering so hard, I can feel the vibrations on the other side of the fire." "That's not a chat topic," he protested, thankful for the fur she gave him. "But it will satisfy your need for conversation. Move to the other side of the fire. It's warmer there," she instructed him. "That's your space." She rolled her eyes. "I think I will survive to sit next instead of opposite to you. I don't think you have any highly contagious illness. Now move," she again told him and made a gesture for him to go. The resistance pilot got up and sat down on the other side, wrapping himself in the fur. "It's colder than I imagined without my flight suit." Alex went over to her clothes, which she had put close to the fire to dry and felt whether they were still wet. "My clothes are almost dry. Then you can have it back," she told him. "Your leg seems to be better," he then told her with a look at her shinned foot and the fact her movements were more fluent than before. "It is." He then started to laugh. "You know, we still have not managed any kind of normal talk."
She started to laugh as well and sat down. "I guess we just need to accept we are unable of that type of conversation." "Usually I'm not." "I know." The pilot looked at her. "How?" "Come on. It takes someone maybe twenty seconds to see what kind of a man you are. And there are the stories about you." Poe raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Stories?", he inquired interested. She quickly looked away, hoping he would not pressure it further. But that hope was useless. "I shouldn't have said that." "Come on Alex. Tell me what the people in the First Order say about me. That can't be classified if it is gossip." She sighed, annoyed about the fact she now had to say something. Otherwise he would never be silent again. "They say you are the best pilot in the resistance. And that your loyalty is endless." "Well that's nothing new. And no gossip at all." He knew she was trying to avoid answering, but he really wanted to know. "Tell me the rest", he demanded. "Which rest?" "The parts you purposely left out." Alex made an annoyed sound. "Fine. They say that you are quite the handsome charmer that can get anything, that includes getting into anybody's pants, within minutes." Poe was unsure what to think about that for a second, but then he laughed. "They think I am a seducer?" She grinned. "Something like that." "And what do you think about this?", he asked amused. She gave him a confused look. "They are just stories. Stupid gossip. Nothing that I would think about. Because I am not interested in what kind of methods you are said to use." Poe shook his head as a sign he did not believe her at all. "You said it takes someone twenty seconds to notice what kind of man I am. You had more than those twenty seconds. So?" Alex sighed again. She did not really want to have that kind of conversation. By chatting she thought about talking about the weather or something stupid as that. "Come on, tell me," he pressured further, giving her a huff into the side.
"When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the way you more. You are either arrogant or just confident of your skills. I guess it's the latter. And I guess that confidence is what makes people think you are a charmer that might be using doubtful methods. Maybe you are. Maybe you are not. I don't know you well enough to tell. But I think that in general no one should ever question the methods of someone else. Everybody had their own reason to act in the way they do." When he nodded in acceptance, showing he was content with her answer she felt relieved. Thank god he didn't make her tell him that she thought he was confident of his very handsome self and she had not doubt he could make any man, woman or whatever Poe Dameron preferred, drool on the floor in seconds if he tried. "You know there is a rather attractive price on your head?", she then asked, to change the topic. "Rather attractive? Unless they have risen it significantly in the last three weeks I am still offended by the price." "Last time I saw it, it was 2 million credits." Poe smiled. "Like I said." Alex pulled her fur closer around herself and yawned. "Just keep it in mind once we meet some civilisation. You never know what information they have. And for someone on this planet it's surely a lot of money." Poe nodded. "I will." The resistance pilot looked at the obviously tired woman next to him. He was knackered as well. Maybe sleep was a good idea. "We should get to sleep now." "Yeah. We need to get up at dawn to get everything done." Poe wanted to get up and move back to his side of the fire, but she stopped him by grabbing his wrist. "It's still freezing over there," she told him and pointed to a spot closer to her. He did not protest and moved over to the space closer to her. "You could have told me if you wanted to cuddle," he joked. Alex, who was lying closer to the fire, pulled her fur closer around her, closed her eyes and turned away from him. "Fuck off. I'd rather cuddle with a wampa than with you." Poe laid down and wrapped himself in his fur, which was already starting to smell and grinned. "Good night Alex."