Punch.
Punch.
Miss.
Cassian Andor ducked as Talia Revik went in for a swing. Her fist collided with the wall, distracting her with pain, allowing Cassian to twist her good arm around her back. He pushed her against the wall, waiting for her to call mercy.
She threw her head back, hitting Cassian's forehead hard. He groaned and became shortly disoriented, giving Talia enough time to use all her weight to push herself into him. He stumbled backwards, but quickly caught himself on the wall.
Talia used this moment to her advantage; she punched him in the side and made sure it wasn't too hard. Her other fist flew to collide with his ribs, but Cassian grabbed her by the arm and pushed her backwards before she could. She gasped and winced from the sudden pressure on her bite wound, but quickly swallowed the pain.
"Again," Cassian spat as he stood up straight. He flexed his burnt hand before getting into position, arms raised and ready to attack. Sweat dripped from his short dark hair onto his face.
"Cassian, maybe you should-"
He cut Talia off by throwing a punch her way. She ducked, blocking the next few sequential hits. She quickly swept her good leg against his, causing him to fall onto the cold metal floor of the Allanar Freighter. Cassian exhaled and hissed. He had bit his tongue during the fall; blood pooled under his tongue, mixing in with his saliva. He swallowed some of it and balled his hand into a fist, exhaling through the pain.
Talia brushed her hair back and wiped the sweat off of her brow. Her brown eyes locked onto her opponent in pity. "We need to take a break. It's been an hour."
Captain Andor felt a sting in his mind. The events flashed through his mind, as if they were trying to torture him. Talia kept it from me. How could she do that to me? After I've saved her so much? The anger that Cassian held inside bubbled back to the surface; heat began to radiate off of him at a higher level. He clenched his fists tightly and pushed himself up off of the ground.
Swing.
Swing.
Cassian missed both swings. Talia dove backwards, steadily keeping her balance each time. He put his weight into his next kick, knocking Talia into the wall. She blocked Cassian's side jab, and clocked him right in the nose in response. He covered his nose quickly and snarled, blood dripping down into his open mouth. On instinct, the pain funneled down into the deep abyss of suppressed emotions.
Talia glimpsed at her fellow rebel with wide eyes. She didn't mean to do that, but would he see it that way? She ducked and attempted to run to a better position. Cassian grabbed her from behind, setting her into a chokehold. Talia panicked for a second. She hit his arm a few times, so she could get some oxygen. Cassian held on tighter, waiting for her forfeit.
She turned her head towards the nook of his arm, took his free arm, and threw Cassian onto her back. His short burst of confusion gave her the upper hand. She rapidly threw him over herself onto the ground. A loud clank of metal sounded off and Cassian let out a loud breath.
He did the only thing he thought he could do.
Cassian's leg collided against Talia's wounded one. She cried out, collapsing onto the ground with a thud. "Always expect the unexpected," he stated lowly, spitting out some blood from his mouth.
A silence filled the air, covering for Talia's unused screams. All her weight landed on her wounded leg, making pain shoot up her body. A loud screech of nails against metal pierced their ears as Talia clawed at the ground to distract herself from her agony.
The anger dissolved into sympathy within seconds. Cassian crawled over to Talia on his hands and knees. His heart dropped at the thought of making her injury worse than it already was. "Are you all right?"
"You-" Talia exhaled through gritted teeth and whispered, "Lurdo!" She bit her lip and sat up, leaning her back against the wall for support. She gently touched her leg, wincing every now and then.
She's really spent that much time with the Ewoks? Cassian thought to himself. His dark eyes glanced away for a moment.
A short moment of silence set in until Talia took out a piece of cloth from her pocket. She strained to steady her heavy breathing to appear calm and collected, despite the searing pain in her leg. "Here. You're bleeding everywhere," Talia held out the cloth for him to take. The Captain complied, accepting the cloth and pushing it against his nose as he tilted his head back. The Kuat spy sighed softly, feeling remorse for what she did. "I'm sorry for hurting you..." she hesitated, but pushed on, "...but you have to know that you were overexerting your anger this whole time."
With that question hanging over him, Cassian's instinct came out. He changed the subject, "Who trained you to fight?" He clenched his jaw, refraining from starting a verbal fight.
She contemplated that for a moment. Should she tell him? It would just dig up a past she would mostly like to forget. But...but he did open up to her at times. In order to keep things from escalating, reciprocating the kindness would be the only way. "When you handle haywire robots, you have to know a few moves. Plus..." Talia paused. "...my ex-husband taught me a couple things before I left him."
A shock of surprise swept over his features, but the cloth covered his face enough to where Talia wouldn't see. His eyes widened for a second. She had time to have a life? How? This line of work takes all of your effort. "You were married?"
"Didn't last long. Two years max. We had...different thoughts about the way we should live life." Talia's gaze shifted to the opposite side of the room. Seeing his disapproval would've only made her feel worse. Her judgment quota had been filled long ago, along with dirty looks and stares. She softly continued, nearly reluctantly, "He was one of the few Miraluka that fell to the Empire."
A Miraluka? And here Cassian thought he knew a lot about other races. He didn't want to pry, yet curiosity bit into him. The question flies out of his mouth as if it were an interrogation, "Did you have a family?" He bitterly closed his eyes for a brief second. Not everything has to be like that. Be sincere for once.
"A beautiful little girl." Talia grinned brightly and looked down at the ground. The image of her running through a meadow replayed in her mind. She played with her fingers shyly, "She inherited her father's traits. No eyes. Force vision. Even his laugh."
The force? Miraluka... A vague memory came to mind of Mon Mothma talking about new recruits. Among them was a Miraluka. Any information after that was unimportant. Another question plagued him. "What happened to her?"
Ms. Revik frowned; she began to wring her hands anxiously. Her body stiffened and her eyes stayed glued to the ground. "Without eyes, the Sith distorted my ex-husband's force vision. Made him see things..." She trailed off nervously. With betrayal came anger. It had ignited something in her, increasing her need for justice. "At that time, my little girl was four. I was raising her with my girlfriend Anhira. She was a gorgeous Twi'lek that had taken us in.
"He found us one day. Walked into the house and found Anhira tortured and mutilated. My ex-husband wasn't there, but he was looking for us. So we fled." She picked at her nail furiously, taking out her emotions on herself. The image floating through her mind was so vivid, so real, as if that scene had been permanently burned into her brain. Talia finally spit out the answer to his question, "He didn't kill my daughter. She was the victim of another atrocity."
Silence.
"Did you love him?"
"Once," it came out more bitter than Talia was expecting.
Cassian remained quiet and set a hand on her shoulder. Talia put her hands on either side of her and raised her blank gaze to the opposite wall once more. The two sat in silence as they got lost in their own thoughts.
To lose three beloved people in one lifetime is enough pain already. Yet she persevered. There's motive to join the Rebellion...but is there more to the story? Cassian took the cloth away from his nose. The blood had clotted and stopped dripping. He set the cloth onto the ground, realizing there were more important matters at hand now that the friendly session was over. "What are you going to do after we get to the base?" He attempted to remember where his gun was. If only it were at his side.
Talia took a long breath. That was a good question. Where would she go next? Quitting the Rebellion wasn't an option, no matter what her mind negatively stated. Her brown eyes finally looked up from the floor to Cassian's. "I'll go wherever the senators need me."
Surprise swept through him for the second time that day. This woman is full of surprises, isn't she? Despite the Empire knowing what Talia looks like, she's still going to fight for the Rebellion. Her face will be plastered all over want ads, yet she isn't going to leave. That's new. Refreshing, in a sense.
At times like this, Cassian's forced to kill the rebel spies that want to leave, on orders given by General Draven. They know the spy code, and that would be incredibly useful to use against the Rebellion. A part of him sighed in relief. He didn't have to kill someone else, and honestly, it was a breath of fresh air. Is this how Talia felt when she chose not to kill that senator? "You aren't going to quit?"
"I'm not going to back down because of one bounty hunter. Sure, it's going to be dangerous for me, but when isn't it? I live the life of a spy." Even if it means taking another life... Talia shuddered, taking a calm, but shaky, breath. She tried to steady her voice, "Spies will do anything to get the job done."
The thought of what Cassian was about to do engraved itself into his mind. Could it change? Had he been wrong all this time to do that to all of those innocents? Was General Draven leading him astray? A sick feeling rose from the pit of his stomach. All he could do was just nod in agreement. As spies, they were the dark in the light.
He hated that the most.
"It should be safe for us to leave today. I'll be out of your hair in no time." Talia used the wall as leverage to stand up. She wobbled for a second, but found her balance and began to limp her way out of the room.
"Talia?" Cassian raised his eyes to Talia, who stopped in the doorway and slowly turned around. He frowned for a moment. This was something he wasn't used to. Cassian pushed the words out of his mouth in the most sincere tone he could conjure up, "I'm sorry for everything."
Talia softly smiled. Smiled. The opposite reaction Cassian thought she would give. She could see right through him, and he couldn't tell if that disturbed him more. He was always so adamant on being right, so stuck in his own world. And who could blame him? He was on his own most of the time. No interaction whatsoever. Led astray from the path of life that would give the least amount of remorse, sorrow, and personal hatred.
Honestly? Cassian managed a small glimpse of a grin at Talia's next words, a welcomed change in his book.
"Apology accepted."
AN: Guys!! This story won first place in the Star Wars Awards for the Rogue One category!! EEEEKK! I'm so happy. I've made an aesthetic for their future relationship and I'm in love with it <3