To Rely // a Rogue One fanfiction

the ship

Cassian clutched to Jyn as she screamed in pure agony, his eyes darting for the pilot.

"What's wrong with her?" A familiar voice yelled back.

Bodhi.

A breath of release escaped Cassian's lungs. His attention quickly turned to Jyn, who was writhing in pain.

"Jyn? Jyn, look at me! Look at me!" Cassian said worriedly, cupping the side of her tear-stained face and turning it to face his.

Her pupils were tiny, the black dots almost lost in her irises. Her eyes were distant, not particularly fixated on anything. She stopped screaming, but only to bite her lip hard, enough to draw blood, to distract her even a little from the searing in her eyes. She knew her eyelids were open. But she could not see at all.

"Can't see," she choked out, dry heaving with shock.

Cassian looked at her in horror. She clutched to him, fearing that if she let go, she would fall through the blackness that was now the world around her.

"Bodhi!" Cassian yelled, "Get us back to base camp as quick as possible. Jyn's been blinded and she's in a lot of pain."

Bodhi nodded in response, his hands gripped around the ship's control system with a newfound fervor.

Cassian's mind swirled with thousands of questions. How did Bodhi find them just in time? Why were they the only ones left? All the rest of their friends - K2, Baze, Chirrut - were left to die. Why did the universe choose them? Would Jyn make it to Yavin 4? Would she ever see again? Would she even want to be in contact with him after all that or would it bring her too much pain?

Cassian's stomach lurched. Utterly overwhelmed, he grabbed for a random container astray to the left of them and vomited whatever was left in his stomach - the reality of the situation hitting him all at once.

•

After blacking out after vomiting, Cassian woke to Jyn sleeping on his stomach. It didn't look peaceful. She looked as if she had passed out from exhaustion as well. Her forehead was slick with sweat, stray dark strands of hair caught there. He could not help but brush the hair out of her face, his other hand soothing her back slowly.

With all his might, and careful not to wake her, Cassian lifted himself off the ground, carrying Jyn. He put all of his weight on his good leg, and limped around the back of the ship until he found a stray medical cot. He carefully laid Jyn down on it, and turned the corner back towards the cockpit.

He cleaned up his mess and made his way to Bodhi.

"Do you want me to pilot?" He asked, Bodhi jumping at his voice, unaware that Cassian was awake. Bodhi carefully scanned Cassian's exhausted, hunched-over frame and shook his head.

"No. Go rest. You are in much worse shape than me."

"That doesn't mean I can't pilot."

"Cassian, you barely look awake now. You are injured. At least rest before we get home."

Home.

Cassian said nothing, simply turning and limping back around the corner where Jyn laid motionless on the cot.

Refusing to leave her side for long, he laid himself down on the cold metal floor beside the cot. He watched Jyn sleep for a little before lowering his head to the floor to make sure she was alive, and when he watched the slow rise and fall of her chest, another wave of relief crashed over him.

"Stay alive," he whispered, "I'm here."

With that, Cassian laid all the way down, his eyelids shutting like heavy garage doors, and drifted back into sleep.