#bodhicassianweek

No matter the facility, Bodhi thought miserably, pressed his sleeve to Cassian’s head wound. There’s never any shortage of Imperial holding cells.

Cassian gave a hoarse murmur as he came round, eyes moving behind his lids. He coughed, dry and urgent, tried to sit up as Bodhi reached for his water flask.

“You’ve had a bad injury,” Bodhi said quickly, Cassian was shivering as he collapsed back onto the ground. “Do you feel numb anywhere? Do you remember our landing on Jedha?”

Cassian slitted open an eye, Bodhi held the flask for him to drink. He still seemed disoriented, and not two seconds had passed before he coughed again, this time spitting out most of the water he was trying to swallow.

“Sorry,” Cassian said thickly, Bodhi tried to rub between his shoulders.

“We’re in a containment cell,” Bodhi whispered, Cassian’s hands were fumbling for the pouch strapped to his ankle. Bodhi shook his head.

They’d already taken it.

Realising the same, Cassian swiftly abandoned the effort, his stare now travelling to each corner of their surroundings. Gritting his boot against the wall, he was about to make another attempt to stand when something stopped him, he narrowed his eyes.

“Are you hurt?” Cassian rasped. His gaze fell to the bandage on Bodhi’s arm, far shabbier than when they’d landed.

“No... this is the one I prepared earlier,” Bodhi offered, and to his surprise, Cassian shot him a woozy smile.

“Where’s Kaytoo?” was his next question, but to that Bodhi didn’t know. He hadn’t seen the droid since they were dragged from the ship.

“We’ll find him,” Bodhi murmured, realised he was reaching for Cassian’s hand. He hadn’t meant to say something so unhelpful- in fact, he couldn’t remember an Imperial prisoner ever finding anything except a labor camp sentence- but Cassian’s determination in the hangar had awakened in him something he thought the Empire had taken for good.

“Why didn’t you leave?” Bodhi asked softly. “There was time for you. And I’m an Imperial.”

The cool shadow of the cell seemed to close around them, Cassian’s stare didn’t falter in the dark.

“Are you?” he answered.

Bodhi blinked, the dull ache of his blaster wound felt nearer on the words. He remembered the shouts, a low, droning siren. He was back in the flight hangar, the words raid and lockdown echoing through the passageways. The emergency power had failed, he was bolting around the corners on memory alone.

And then there was the rebel, dark-eyed, unarmed, wrong turn, no time. The blaster was in Bodhi’s hand. He had every opportunity. He raised the weapon.

“You might need this,” Bodhi said quietly. “If you’re going to make it out of here.”

From another passageway, a volley of shots whizzed past. Bodhi turned, dived in front, the halogens shuddering overhead and the taste of carbon at his throat. When the lights spluttered back to life the rebel was gone, his wrist left burning and dark.

“No,” Bodhi said under his breath, louder when he knew it to be true.

He knew why Cassian looked so familiar.

“Not anymore.”

The admission stretched between them, Bodhi’s face was damp with tears. Cassian reached his hand, grazed the inside of his palm to Bodhi’s cheek. He looked more wounded than Bodhi had ever seen, and before he could guess, or think, or hesitate, Bodhi leant forward, brushed his lips where Cassian’s had gently parted. For a half-second the rebel’s eyes widened, raw and searching, his fingers trembled where they caged below Bodhi’s jaw. And then Cassian was kissing him back, his mouth warm and stinging and wet, rough as Bodhi pulled him close. Cassian kissed with a tenderness that knocked the air from his lungs, Bodhi’s hands tangled fiercely in the taller man’s hair, his flight goggles slipped to the floor. Cassian held him until his stare blurred bright and torn, Bodhi closed his arms around Cassian’s neck.

“If there's a chance, I want you to take it,” Cassian whispered, his mouth flinched to a snarl as footsteps sounded outside.

He looked surprisingly impassive by the time two stormtroopers entered the cell.

“Let’s move,” came the command, Cassian’s wrists were bound at his front with energy cuffs. Bodhi wondered why he didn’t receive the same treatment, the decision leaving him unsettled rather than reassured. They had barely marched the length of the holding cell before Cassian’s balance wavered, one of the troopers driving him forward with a shove. Bodhi saw a trickle of fresh blood leak from Cassian’s wound.

“I want to speak to Tss’uek,” said Bodhi, daring to hope the one officer who seemed fair was on duty. The stormtroopers only laughed, the sound so empty that Bodhi couldn’t bring himself to ask again.

“Do you know who he is, in the Alliance?” said the trooper holding Cassian. He shook Cassian for emphasis, and alarmingly, Cassian looked so drained that he didn’t notice.

“Where’s our droid?” Bodhi demanded, desperate for something to distract them. He had some idea that if he could only stall long enough, Cassian might only be pretending, he’d use some secret rebel move to free himself from the cuffs and disarm their captors in one.

The stormtroopers didn’t slow their pace.

There were no magic happy endings.

“Did you reprogram the droid?” said the taller one, jerked Cassian viciously when he stumbled. “I hope you had a backup at home.”

Cassian’s head rolled forward as he fought to remain conscious.

“Stop that,” Bodhi said softly, his nails digging into his palms as he tried to think.

“And do you have any idea what happens to traitors?” the second trooper said, quieter now. “It’s worse than what’ll happen to him. He’ll disappear without note. You’ll set an example.”

From somewhere faraway, Bodhi realised the words were meant to scare him. And, not so long ago, they would’ve. But right now, all he could see was Cassian, his face unflinching as the troopers shook him again, blood tracing the line of his jaw and spattering onto his shoulder. When they got no reaction, an armoured boot kicked into the side of Cassian’s knee. Still Cassian showed them nothing.

“Stop that,” said Bodhi, louder. He could sense his pulse racing, feel the roll of a sweatdrop over Cassian’s lip. He could hear the rattle of Cassian’s lungs as he struggled not to cry out in pain, taste blood as Cassian bit into his tongue.

“Stop! Stop it!” Bodhi shouted, his wrists were seized before he could lunge forward. In the same instant, Cassian’s energy cuffs flickered, opened and clattered heavily to the floor. The stormtrooper who had been shaking him had frozen. Bodhi could barely breathe.

“Let go of me,” he said slowly, felt the air prickle and seize as the second stormtrooper’s arms loosened from his wrists.

Cassian was trembling, from shock or from what he was seeing Bodhi wasn’t sure.

“It isn’t possible…” Cassian whispered.

It isn’t, thought Bodhi, his heart clawing in his chest. But I have to try.

“You will tell me the location of the KX droid,” Bodhi said clearly, fixed his gaze on the stormtrooper nearest to him.

“I will tell you the droid has been restrained on your cargo ship, awaiting inspection by the General,” recited the stormtrooper. Cassian held himself up on the opposing wall.

“And you will tell me the condition of the cargo ship,” Bodhi said calmly.

“I will tell you that the ship has been landlocked, all clearance codes erased,” answered the trooper. Bodhi felt his windpipe tighten, he shot Cassian a despairing look.

“If you get us onboard,” Cassian said huskily. “Kaytoo and I can do the rest.”

When Bodhi stared up, Cassian managed a grim nod. His eyes had come back into focus.

“You will provide us with your armor and weapons,” Bodhi addressed both soldiers, his tone left no room for question. “And afterward return to our cell. And lock the door,” he added.

“And forget you ever saw us,” Cassian said hopefully.

“And forget you ever saw us,” said Bodhi.

"Sir please sit down, you are in no condition to be up." The last he remembers was static, silence over the com link where Bodhi should have been. "Where's Bodhi?" His heart is beating too fast and the lights are too bright, but he stumbles forward to try and find the answer himself. When he see's him on another cot surrounded by medical personnel, Cassian's heart stops dead in his chest. Bodhi is shades of red and purple; a sunset dangerously nearing the horizon. Alive, but barely. Someone moves and Cassian sees shockingly empty space where his arm used to be. Then all the pain comes back and Cassian is falling.