BOOM

The Death Star released its concentrated, destructive power, and planetary demise was eminent from where Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor stood. Seeing no way out of their current situation, they wrapped their arms around each other in a crushing embrace, along the shore line of Scarif's lake.

But the explosion did not quite reach them. A shockwave still flattened them to the ground for what seemed like an impossibly long time.

Buffeted by intense heat, sharp sand, and whatever else made up the projectiles hitting her body, Jyn closed her eyes, wrapped her right arm around Cassian's curled up form and buried her face in his shoulder as she waited for the end. Breathing was intensely difficult. It seemed as though all of the oxygen across the entire planet was being sucked away from them. Gasping and fighting against her bodily instincts to lift her face and draw a deep breath, Jyn blacked out.

The end never came.

Jyn was not sure what woke her, she only knew she was conscious. What manner of consciousness though? She had never died before. Was she dead? Everything was black and eerily still. Was this what death was supposed to be like? Dark? Painful? Not fair. It shouldn't be so painful…

Gradually, as if turning up the dial on a radio, her ears started ringing as sound began to register again. Her skin pricked with heat. Her scalp felt as though it were on fire. Her legs felt as though they had been pounded by heavy hammers. In fact, her whole body felt as though it had been trampled by a stampede of wild banthas. But she was aware of herself and her body. She was alive. Alive? She should be dead after an explosion like that! As she continued to assess her current situation, Jyn was not sure what was wrong with her eyes. They were stuck shut. Move…do something. Anything. She willed herself groggily. She considered going back to sleep to escape the hurt and the pain.

No! She commanded her eyes to open. They stung, but obeyed and as her eyelashes separated from a sticky glue of tears and sand. She blinked slowly, her eyelashes brushing up against course cloth. She had her face pressed against something or some hard form. Where was she? Instantly her mind began to light up and the past few moments of the battle rushed back to her. As the memories flooded her she slowly raised her head from Cassian's shoulder, and slid her aching hands under her chest. Every move was an effort. She felt as though her body was not her own, but like a droid's, responding to poor motor signal commands. But she pressed her upper torso up and rolled to her side.

Cassian! He was still curled in a fetal position beside her. He lay still. So still. Was he alive? He had to be! Jyn pushed herself up onto her knees and reached for him. Careful not to jostle him too much, she managed to roll him onto his back.

"Cassian! Cassian? Can you hear me?" she tried to speak but her voice came out in a cracked whisper. Her chest heaved with hot, dry coughs. Her throat felt like it had an entire bag of sand stuffed in it. Her lips burned when she tried to form words. "Cassian?" She bent over his chest and checked his vital signs. He had a very faint pulse, but when she held her palm over his face, she could feel him expel an occasional breath. He was alive, but barely. Injured and badly sunburnt, like herself. She needed to get him sheltered.

Peeling herself up into an upright position, Jyn stood on wobbly legs and scanned her surroundings for the first time. Her vision spun, and it took her a long moment for her eyes to take in the scene and interpret her new reality.

The beach was stripped bare. Standing, she was the tallest item on this section of the planet's surface for miles. She could see a hazy horizon, and nothing else moved. Scarif was unrecognizable. Dusty, sandy, stretching on forever. She could have been on Tatooine for all she knew. Gone were the tall palms, beaches, and rivers she had seen on their arrival. Rocky lumps, mangled remains of buildings and ships, and sand—so much sand stretched in every direction. Even the lake her and Cassian had collapsed beside was gone, the water either evaporated or blown away.

Jyn squinted against the sun and the breeze that stirred. How much time had passed? How would she get off the planet? She shook her head violently, which caused her to throw up the scant contents of her stomach and see stars. Let's not do that again… She thought, as she reeled and righted her footing. She needed to get Cassian out of the elements. She blinked rapidly and squinted again, turning in a slow circle. There. A fallen AT-AT Walker, its head blown off, lying on its side. It looked to be at least a hundred yards away, but it was the closest thing to shelter in this boiling desert that she could see.

She dropped to her knees beside Cassian again, blinking away another nauseating head rush as she inspected him more closely. He had a massive gut wound, but the think gash had long ago crusted over. A blaster bolt scarred his upper left arm, and his right knee was swollen to twice it's normal size. The foot beneath it was twisted at an odd angle that almost had Jyn retching. Giant purple bruises covered his body. She wasn't sure if he had sustained all of that from his fall down the metal girders in the Citadel, or if he had been his with some of the shrapnel she had felt herself in the blast. Every exposed area of skin—especially the back of his neck—was badly sunburnt.

So, he was bruised and broken but he might survive the move. Anything was better than lying for dead in the hot sun. Jyn stumbled as she maneuvered herself, grabbed Cassian under his armpits and pulled.

"Gaaaaaaa!" She gasped as her battered and bruised muscles screamed and the burnt skin on her knuckles cracked. She bit her lip and winced again as her teeth did nothing good for the salty, swollen skin there. She laughed bitterly as she imagined she must look like quite a sorry sight right now…

She hooked her arms underneath Cassian's shoulders and tried again, this time grabbing two handfuls of his shirt for good measure. She pulled, shuddering against the pain, but she was able to move him this time, dragging him slowly across the sand on his back. She could do this. She was all he had, this close to death's doorstep. She had to drag him all the way to that AT-AT. So she did, in between moments of rest where she dropped her hold on him and fell to her knees in the sand, panting hard for breath, head reeling even as she fought to keep from letting the darkness claim her.

When they reached the welcoming shadow of the huge walker, Jyn left Cassian in the shade and leaned heavily against the hot metal plating beside him, sliding down to a seated position. Water. Food. Medical care. She needed all this and more for him or he would die. He would die and leave her all alone on this barren planet.