(no subject)

Elsewhere in the Bar, Chirrut has found a gym. This is a very good thing, because he is intent on reteaching Baze the finer points of their craft, and it's been forever and a day since Baze has properly sparred with anyone.

"Kick higher! To here, you see? My granny can kick higher, and she died before the Jedi did!" Chirrut mock-grouses, gleeful as he harasses Baze to push himself. He is being watchful, ready to put a halt to the match if Baze looks to be at risk of overextending himself. Until that time he's going to give Baze hell.

And then something in the Force yanks his attention, leaving him standing still for the first time in the last hour.

"You never had a granny, street rat," Baze says, thoroughly annoyed and somewhat exhausted, having worn his arms out striking fruitlessly against Chirrut's bo staff with his own.

But apparently it's not all fruitless, because when Chirrut stands still for that one second, Baze slams the end of his staff into his friend's ribs, knocking him to the floor with the force of the blow.

"Chirrut!" Baze says, crouching down to help him up with his free hand. "Are you all right?"

Chirrut coughs, wincing. His ribs ache from the blow, but worse is the ache in his head, and his heart.

"Bodhi." Shy, stuttering, ferociously brave Bodhi, the lost Jedhan boy, the pilot. "Bodhi, he... I've never felt such despair. I... I think he tried to die, again."

Bodhi. Their friend, their ally.

The news hits Baze harder than Chirrut's staff ever could. Baze drops his weapon, kneeling in front of Chirrut. "Where is he?"

Chirrut drags himself up to sit properly, ignoring his newly garnered bruise in favor of opening himself as much as he can to the Force's power. He cannot reach for the answer himself, that ability is (so frustratingly) beyond him, but he can hope...

"The Infirmary." He grinds out, his voice tar and gravel from the strain. He wants to go meditate for a week. He wants to sleep for longer.

He forces himself up onto his feet instead.

Baze scrambles to his feet, all grace dissolved in his haste. He charges out into the main bar, turning unerringly to the infirmary--which he and Chirrut explored earlier just in case one of them were hurt.

Baze bursts in through the doors, searching the well-lit room for his stubborn, broken pilot. "Bodhi?" he says, spotting a figure curled up in bed. Baze slows his step as he approaches the bedside. "Bodhi, it's me. It's Baze."

Bodhi is curled in a ball around a little black furry creature that glares at Baze with amber eyes. Bodhi however, doesn't react. Other than a small shuddering sob.

Chirrut is hot on Baze's heels, an odd reversal of their usual order. He takes a firm handful of the fabric of Baze's jumpsuit, establishing a connection, a tether.

"Oh Bodhi." It's a sigh at the mess the Force has become here.

Baze reaches out hesitantly, and draws back. He reaches out again, laying a firm, gentle hand on Bodhi's shoulder. "What have you done to yourself? Why?"

Baze is baffled. His impression of the bar was of a second life, a second chance to make something of himself. He planned to enjoy every second of his afterlife. To want to die again is beyond him, beyond the pale.

A sob rattles Bodhi's narrow chest as he opens his eyes. "You're not here. You died." His voice cracks brokenly. "It's not real. None of it."

Edited 2017-04-23 07:45 (UTC)

"We did." Chirrut agrees, soft and low and gentle, "As you have. This is what comes after, for us." He doesn't understand it, he's pretty sure there wasn't a single text in the entire Temple archive that listed a cantina as an option for the afterlife, but he isn't going to complain.

"Bodhi!" Baze snaps, shaking his shoulder. He's trying to be gentle, but he's growing incensed. "We are real. We're here. Wake up!"

He clenches his teeth. "How could you do it?"

"We died. On the beach. On Scarf. But I'm alone. Alone for months." He sobs again, shaking. "But... he died. On Eadu. Why? Why would I be here. And not him."

Myrrh gives Baze a sharp look, amber eyes narrowing.

Edited 2017-04-23 08:03 (UTC)