Will of the Many~ Poe Dameron

Pull of the Siths

The entire world was black. There was no comfort, no warmth or cold. Jagged bits of rock dug into her, pressing into the sensitive scar tissue lining her chest until she was sure it would rip open and pour her insides out. Not that they had anywhere to go.

She wished to cry out but her chest could not move. Her throat restricted, disallowing any air to pass through it.

She was stuck. Irrevocably stuck. And it frightened the hell out of her.

Then, her foot gave out and she could wiggle her toes. Her ankle freed, then her calf until she felt the barest chill prickle her ankle.

Fingers wrapped around her ankle and tugged her through the tangled bits of rock. The sharp edges moved across her skin like razor blades threatening to split her open and spill every bit of her. She was sure her blood would stain the rocks until she became entangled in them.

Her second foot fell through, then her waist. The hands grabbed her hips and tugged her down in one swift pull. Her body gave way, plummeting through the damning rocks until she fell into a damp, chilly cave.

Poe caught her before the both of them tumbled to the ground.

She began to shake immediately as her body freed from the space above. A throb radiated heat in her left arm that sunk into her chest. It encompassed her until she couldn't feel anything but the searing heat. It hurt so badly she refused to move her arm in fear of doing more damage.

Poe, however, had no problem moving as he palmed her face, then her shoulders, then he grabbed her left wrist and moved her arm. She sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes shut as the heat pinched her bicep. Her entire arm locked up and refused to move at her will.

"Are you-"

"It hurts," she croaked. "I think I overextended it."

"Okay, okay." He carefully moved her hand until her palm pressed against her right clavicle. "Can you hold it there yourself?"

Her head fell back until it hit the cavern wall. She pressed the butt of her palm into her chest, then nodded at Poe. He let go of her and moved his gentle touch to her tricep.

"I've asked Dr. Mandalo what to do if you accidentally hurt yourself while we were on mission." His fingers began to knead into the back of her arm, pressing into the tense muscle that refused to relax. "He said most likely your entire arm would tense, like with a charlie horse. He told me to carefully massage the muscle to coax it into relaxing on its own." His fingers worked slowly as he moved around to the front of her arm. When he reached her bicep she tensed and let out quick, measured breaths. "You have to try to breathe normally."

She wanted to listen to him, but it hurt so bad she wasn't sure she knew how to breathe through the pain. Still, she took in as much air as her tired lungs would allow. She managed to hold it for a moment before her chest screamed for release, then she slowly let the air out through her mouth.

"Good," He told her as his fingers continued to massage around the scar in her arm. "Again."

She followed his instruction as she took in another breath.

As they worked, Finn dropped by their side. He started to freak out, feeling himself over for injury. Serena watched him as she forced herself to take deep breaths in through her nose and letting them out slowly through her mouth.

Finn eventually calmed down, then freaked out again until he caught her eye. "Where's Rey?"

"Don't know," Poe answered absentmindedly as he kept all his attention on Serena. "She hasn't come down yet."