Blind Justice

"Golemancy?" Clint muttered. He traced runes over her hand again to turn off the body's unnatural reaction. The only thing keeping her warm now was his hands, at least until she pulled them away. The small bird had been carrying a note, and she read it without a word.

It didn't look good. At the very least he had to assume it really was for her, from what he knew about golemancy. The sender had to have something of hers to get it so far away, and here the bird was, flapping awkwardly away on the ground. The first order of business was to fix it. Clint gathered the pieces in his hands and did his best to mend the creature. It was still almost like fixing a real bird, he told himself, it was living in a way, so the repair didn't look so bad.

He skimmed the note over her shoulder, whoever wrote it had strong feelings for her. Something dropped in the pit of Clint's stomach, and he leaned away to give her some privacy.

"It's from their crew, isn't it?" He asked. "Tessa?"

Carefully, he reached for her hand. Their time was coming to a close, and yet, he felt like he hadn't gotten to know her as well as he'd liked. She wasn't all bad, just on the wrong side for Clint.

It felt like maybe she could mend that hole in his heart, a Navy girl fixing all the wrong that had been done to him in his life. She wouldn't replace Melissa, or his son, mother or father, friends, but she was trying to do some honest good at that was all the proof he needed. Clint laced his fingers in hers, hoping she wouldn't say anything about it, just keeping working forward.

Clint had to be happy for her. She was getting what she wanted, her sister would come home, a good man was looking for her. Hell, there wasn't another thing she could've asked for.

She threw herself on Clint and he slipped onto his back awkwardly. Bubbling laughter made its way to her chest, and he echoed the noise. He couldn't really be upset about her happiness, he was just so happy for her, and Jessie would be coming back soon. It was a good day indeed. Clint wrapped his arms around Tessa's back, the golem bird in his hand, finding that he shouldn't let go just yet.

"We're almost there." He chuckled. It was such a rare emotion for him to be happy about anything, and he was smiling beneath Tessa's frame.

"Everyone to their stations, move, now! Clint, where the fuck are ya?" Deik's voice rang out in the air, shouted from a makeshift megaphone he crafted from his hands. "Incoming!"

From seemingly nowhere a Republic striker came out of the clouds. They'd had problems with these kinds of ships in the past, their small size allowing them the same maneuvering skill as the Taivas, but their firepower was far more advanced. A massive cannon was mounted on the back, firing wildly towards the enemy Rebel ship. On deck, the crew was going wild, trying to mount a counter attack before it got too bad. The cold wasn't where they wanted to be, and the air was still thick with snow.

The entire vessel rocked in the air, throwing Clint and Tessa in the birds nest. He wrapped his arms around her defensively to spare her from the jostling. They slammed into the small wall, but not before another attack on the ship, sending them flying into the opposite side. He feared they'd be thrown in the air if they couldn't get down to the deck.

"Tessa, hang on to me, we're going do-" Clint started to say when another shot met the ship. Panic ensued as it spiraled out of control, this time throwing them both from the nest entirely.

Clint panicked, Tessa fell away from him despite his grip and he struggled to reach his hands out to grab hers. They were falling fast, nothing but blankets of snow and a vast array of mountains to meet them now. The ship was the least of his concerns, but it too was falling, far away from the pair in the birds nest.

"Tessa!"

Clint's arms were still wrapped around her, his back in the snow. It fell about them, moving on despite their crashing down, nothing else was in sight but those white specks floating down to earth. He opened his eyes just as one small piece tipped against his eyelash. It stung beyond measure, all of him hurt.

He groaned, shifting in the snow. It fell off him in chunks, like they'd been laying there for a while. They probably had been. The sky was darker and the air colder than before, if at all possible. Even so they'd fallen quite a ways from up above, so for it to still be cold, a considerable amount of time had to have passed. He just couldn't tell what time it was though.

"Tessa." He breathed. Something was broken, he could tell automatically, but Clint could wait.

The rebel gripped her tight around the waist, his other hand sliding up until it found her chest. He left his hand there, examining her without being too intrusive. Clint's alchemy made its way through her system, finding cracked bones, broken ones, all sorts of problems. There were certainly plenty between the two of them. He thanked his lucky stars for have studied bioalchemy, any longer, and they'd both be dead.

Clint slid out from under Tessa and immediately pulled his leather jacked off himself. It wasn't much, but she could absorb the small amount of heat from it while he worked on her. He placed his hand back on her chest, lowering his face to whisper in her ear.

"If it hurts, just take my hand." Clint ordered her. "Break it, just don't let go. Don't let go, Tessa."

He leaned over her in a protective stance. No one was dying on his watch, not when he was able to help. Clint cursed and thanked the Gods all in one collective breath. Then, when he was ready, he mended her bones. If she hadn't experienced bioalchemy before, it was going to hurt.

"Stay with me."

"Just hold on." He urged her.

Her face contorted in pain, and then she screamed. It was horrible. Clint couldn't stop, didn't stop for that matter, as he had to finish the task at hand. He kept his hand on her chest, the other wrapped around hers. The contact would help to distract her from the pain of mending. At least, that's what he hoped it would do. A soothing hand was more often appreciated than not.

"A little longer." Clint pleaded with her to hold on to him. She could break his hand, dig nails into his skin, that was all easily mended. Her bones would be sore, her whole body sore, but she had to be tended to before one of them blacked out, and it certainly wasn't going to be her. Not after all this time they'd spent looking for Jessie. It wasn't fair. Clint knew how to deal with the stress of broken limbs, she didn't, it was evident on her face.

It was an hour, maybe two, before Clint was done. As soon as he was sure Tessa was mostly whole, he released himself from her systems and dropped lazily at her side. He grunted, remembering his own broken body. For her though, he had to stay awake. If it took too large a toll on her body, she'd be out like a light with no one to protect her. So Clint forced himself to sit up in the snow, moving was an impossibility, and he cradled the girl in his arms. What little warmth he could offer up as a second person, he sent her way, rocking back and forth so that she might find rest.

"We're gonna be okay." He repeated like a mantra. "We're gonna be just fine."