[ @resistance-rogue from here.]
Adrenaline had helped Poe escape the First Order along with a friendly turncoat trooper, but the crash had all but knocked that out of him. He had no idea how long he’d been passed out in the sand, but judging by his slight sunburn, it’d been a while.
He grunted at the sharp pain in his neck, the noise shifting into a sigh as numbness spread through his whole body. He hadn’t even realized how much pain he’d been in until it was gone. He was very little help as she dragged him into the canvas. It was as if his legs had forgotten how to move. His body had forgotten a lot of things over the last week. Hux hadn’t exactly been forgiving of all the trouble Black Squadron had caused. Poe had accepted his fate the moment he’d been captured. He’d accepted it when he’d gone on the final mission after Lor San Teka. He was going to die.
For Thera to be rescuing Poe now… he had to be dreaming.
“Go where,” he managed to wheeze, the pain medication making it easier to talk.
“Nocturne.” One word answer, as she strapped him down onto the stretcher and moved to the head of it to take the weight. Any other ship she probably would have bungled the landing, caught the gear in the sand or dropped it too fast in the hurry that she couldn’t quite keep under control.
Again the contents of the box threw themselves against the lid, and again she paid them no mind. They’d had their time - a week of it in fact, until the information had come in and everyone knew that if she wasn’t given clearance to go after him she would just do it anyway.
But now ... efficiency. Focus. She hitched the lead straps around her torso and started back toward the ship, fighting the pull of the sand and dragging the stretcher behind. Adrenaline surged through her muscles as she pushed on, eyes on the distant-seeming ship and not allowing any other thought into her mind.
Not Poe’s injuries, not the limited time, not her own sweat coursing down her back as her boots finally found the solid edge of the ramp. And definitely not the idea that he could accept death, accept just leaving her. Because there was a tiny part of her that would hate him for it forever.
