scavenger.

14 - space

When Anri came to, everything was still dark.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the shadows, but she knew was laying in a bed—in one of the bunks, she realized, on her ship.

Out the window, nothing but stars.

Anri squinted, a little confused. The sky was never this vivid...

She heard footsteps and shifted a little bit, stifling a moan at the pain in her abdomen. For a dizzy moment she wondered if the nightmare she'd had was real—she grabbed her chest, feeling at her breasts, and heaved a sigh. No, she was much older than she was then.

The door slid open and Anri snapped her head over to the intruder, quickly removing her hands. The lights flicked on and Jace was there. He grinned. "You're up."

"How long was I out?" Anri asked, surprised at the hoarseness of her voice.

"Not long," he replied, sitting on the side of the bunk. "Maybe 12 hours. We managed to lose the imperials. You..." Jace smiled again, looking around the room. "You did a great job with this thing. It managed to handle the jump to lightspeed on its first trip."

Anri looked out the window again, and she smiled, remembering. "I'm in space."

Jace nodded. "You're in space."

Anri started giggling. Giggling like a child. And then a pained groan escaped through her teeth.

Jace sobered at that. His eyes trailed down to her stomach, which Anri realized was wrapped up. In the cape.

"I'm getting you to a doctor," Jace said.

Anri shook her head quickly. "No—"

"It won't cost me anything. I'm taking you to Yavin-4."

She creased her eyebrows. "Yavin-4...?"

"It's a base," Jace explained, looking away from her, and he cleared his throat. "Rebel base. Since you saved me, I know they'll save you."

"I don't want them to. I fixed you up good enough, I can fix myself up too—"

"I'm still not fully healed. I just have remarkable pain tolerance."

Anri snorted at that. Jace's mouth twitched and he looked down.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Anri was taken aback for a moment, but then she looked out the window. "No apologies," she said. "Remember?"

Jace shook his head, biting back something of a smile. "No, I think all this warrants an apology."

"It doesn't. Everything I did I chose to do. And look where it got me!" Anri grinned, gesturing to the window. "Even though I'm a little messed up right now, I'll heal—and I'm here. I think even if I lost both my eyes it wouldn't matter as long as I made it here. Circumstances be damned."

"You're quite the optimist," Jace said quietly. "I really, really admire that."

Anri froze, looking over and meeting his eyes. An intense sadness oozed out of him, as it did sometimes, and she felt it. It was so loud.

"The imperials," he went on, clearing his throat. "They killed my best friend. They did it in front of me, made sure I thought it was my fault. But Bheema said, if I somehow made it out...there was hope." His voice was almost steady. It would've fooled anybody but Anri, who picked up on the slight waver in his tone. "When I saw they shot you, I thought—I must be cursed. But—"

"You're not," Anri interrupted. She somehow knew exactly what to say, and she pushed herself on her elbows to say it. "You're lucky."

Jace stared at her. He stared at her a moment longer. Anri stared right back.

"You're lucky," she said slowly, "to me."

Anri regretted that immediately. Why had she said that? Why comfort him so that he would just get more attached to her, and her to him?

She'd made this same mistake with the bounty hunter.

Jace stood up at that, pushing his hands through his hair. Anri remembered suddenly the version of him she'd seen in the holo—since then, his hair had grown longer. Much longer. And he'd thinned out so much.

"How long were you with them?" she asked.

Jace let out a bitter laugh. "I don't know. Had no way of knowing. I guess months."

"How many months?"

"Many months."

Anri laid herself back down. She didn't want to press him further. And why am I so curious, anyway?

What did they do to you?

"You should rest," Jace said, still not meeting her eyes. "Don't try to get up. We should reach Yavin-4 in a day or two."

"A day or two?!"

"Well, princess,"—Anri bristled, but then realized he didn't mean it as an insult, his humor returning—"I didn't get to fix the nav system in time, so I'm having to go by constellations for now. But, lucky for you, I've studied star maps since I was six years old."

The image brought a smile to her face. A shaggy little boy with big blue eyes staring with wonder at a star map the way she'd done with scavenged blueprints...

"How's the bounty hunter?" Anri asked, pushing the thought from her mind. "He made it out okay, right?"

"Yeah, he actually ended up being pretty useful. He's piloting now."

Anri was quiet for a moment. "He's actually a good person, you know. He tries not to be, but he is."

Jace nodded a little, the corners of his mouth twisting up in a weak smile. "He certainly cares about you a lot."

Anri frowned. "I wish he wouldn't."

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't want anyone attached to me. Or me attached to anybody." And then, pointedly, "Attached to you."

Jace turned to look at her. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but kept it shut. Anri knew what he was going to say—she was glad he held it in.

"On Yavin," she went on, carefully, "I'll stay until my wound is healed. And then I'll leave, and you can go back to whatever it is rebels do." She swallowed. "Battles and stuff."

Jace didn't respond for a moment, but then nodded slowly, clenching his jaw for a split second. "Right. I won't hold you back."

He stared at her a minute longer—as he always did—and then turned, walking out.

For some terrible reason, Anri wished he would've stayed.

She looked out the window again, and pretended that it wasn't a window—that she really was floating in space, alone where no one could bother her, surrounded by nothing but black matter and stars.

It was lovely.