The first thing she noticed was how cold it was: how clear the air smelled, how quiet it sounded.
Jyn kept her eyes shut, her hands clenched on the one thing she was sure of in this world: the man that she could still feel under her fingertips.
And then, his voice.
"Jyn," he said.
"Shh," she replied, her voice no more than a whisper. "Don't you hear how peaceful it is?"
"Yes," he said. "But Jyn, you need to open your eyes."
But she did not open them. Not then, not yet. After she had been abandoned by Saw Gerrera every time she closed her eyes it was a risk: a risk that when she would open them there would be a barrel in her face. If this would be the final sleep, she didn't want to wake up, just in case.
She felt his breath by her ear, warm.
"Trust me, Jyn," she heard him say, his voice sounding better than it had ever done before. "Open your eyes."
His hands moved away from her, and at that motion she forced her eyes open.
She flinched at the brightness of the light before her eyes slowly adjusted to the images before her. She was still kneeling, her and Cassian, though he had broken their embrace, and instead his hands were holding her own.
They were in a field, what seemed to be a park: trees dotted around the fringes of the grassy expanse, and what looked like a path wound away several feet away from them.
"Where are we?" she whispered, even though they were both alone.
"I don't know," Cassian replied. "I have never believed in an afterlife. Not like this."
"Neither have I," said Jyn. "But it looks as though we have both been proven wrong."
Jyn was suddenly aware of the moisture soaking through her trousers at the knees, chilling her skin. She bent her leg to get to her feet when all of a sudden Cassian cried out.
"Ah!"
Jyn caught him before he bent over double, his hand clutching the wound at his side. The wound that had been made when he had tried to protect her from Orson Krennic.
"Cassian," she said, reaching down to properly look at the wound. It was deep. So deep that if it was not patched up soon... "Cassian, can you put your arm around my neck?"
She felt his left hand snake around her neck and grip against her shoulder. Then together, she helped push him to standing. Every step was painful, seeming ten or twenty times more so than when they had made that slow trek from the Imperial tower to shorefront on Scarif.
Twenty-five, thirty steps and they eventually made it to the fringe of the park. Together they staggered between two trees. Jyn looked left, then right. They looked like...
"Houses?" said Cassian, surprised. "Are these - gahh -"
He slumped against her so suddenly that she almost fell down on the ground herself. The blood was seeping through his clothes more quickly now, dyeing not only the dirty beige shirt but now the top half of his trousers too.
Jyn looked at the rows of houses lining the road ahead of her. Here they were, lost, in a world that could be... that could be anything, anywhere. Yet she did know one thing: Cassian was dying and if she didn't figure something else out quickly, she'd lose him, the one friend she had in this place. The closest thing she had to - to anyone since Saw, really.
She broke out of her train of thought when she heard barking behind her. Coming quickly towards them was a creature on four paws, covered in fur and with eyes fixed precisely on them. Jyn took hold of Cassian as firmly as she could, trying to draw him away, but there wasn't the time.
Jyn frowned. Up close this small, furry creature seemed less scary than it had from a distance, and right it behind was a human, running at full pelt with its eyes on the animal.
"Molly!" called out the human. Jyn's eyes widened. Was that... Basic? "Molly, don't go running off like that. God I'm so sorry, she just - Oh my god!"
The human - if she indeed was human - was a woman that was the same age as her mother the last time Jyn had seen her. Her hair was already greying at the roots, clear crows feet crinkling at the corner of her eyes. She knelt down beside her animal with a look of genuine concern on her face before quickly taking out a device that looked like a small slab. Her fingers ran over it quickly.
"My friend," Jyn said quickly, as she felt Cassian's head droop against her shoulder. "He needs help, please. Can you -"
"Yeah, I'd like an ambulance, please," said the older woman, her eyes on Cassian.
"Sorry?" Jyn frowned, before realising that the woman was speaking into the bar that was now held up to her ear. A communication device, then.
"Yes, we're at Thomas Memorial Park. West Entrance, along London Road. I've got a man here who's hurt. It looks like... it looks like he's shot. Yes, I'll stay put."
The woman looked up at Jyn, moving the comms device from her ear to her chest.
"I've phoned for an ambulance. They're on their way...?"
"Jyn," Jyn said, before instantly wishing she hadn't given her real name. Perhaps the woman didn't hear it properly. "I mean -"
But the woman had put the comms device back to her ear.
"Yes, yes, thank you."
"I'm Valerie," said the woman. "Good to meet you Jyn."
She internally winced. Well, that was something she couldn't take back now. Jyn blinked and tried to ignore the white flashes that had started to appear in front of her eyes.
"How the hell did he get like this?" said the woman named Valerie, leaning forward to get a better look at Cassian's wound, even though Jyn shielded him with her body as much as she could. "Is that a gunshot wound?"
Jyn swallowed.
"Jesus," said Valerie, scooping up her dog. "I didn't think we had anything like this out here. Gang culture in Fordham... no wonder my next door neighbour won't let her kids play outside."
And then Jyn heard the sirens and she fought the impulse to run. They weren't going anywhere, not when Cassian's legs could barely keep him standing.
"Oh, thank god," she heard the woman say, and Jyn looked up.
A vehicle was coming towards them, coloured in the brightest yellow with green chequered stripes on it. On its side she saw the words 'emergency ambulance' stamped in red capital letters. It drew up to the curb and two figures dressed in green jumpsuits - human, again - got out and ran towards them. Valerie was shouting something Jyn barely heard and the jumpsuited humans caught Cassian before he fell. Someone gently moved Jyn aside as they knelt by him. He was barely moving now, his eyes closed, the blood seeping out onto the pavement.
"No," said Jyn, her voice cracking. Her head felt so painful, and her legs... "No, I have to stay with him."
The two people in green were talking fast, saying words in Basic she did not understand, neither paying attention to her. And there was barking again. She was sure she could hear barking...
The floor started to move before her eyes, her head span, and Jyn Erso lost consciousness.
