Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars.
There is an explanation of how my calendar works in the original 'Flame of Hope' if you're curious.
Flame of Hope – Cassian & Jyn
Prologue:
Day 363/1 BBY, Scarif
"Do you think… anyone is listening?"
Jyn clutched Cassian tighter to her side as they limped awkwardly towards the turbolift, the gasp of pain in his voice concerning her greatly. She mustered up a determined, if small, smile for him. "I do." Her smile widened as Cassian gave her a fleeting flash of teeth at her optimistic tone. "Someone's out there."
Cassian hoped she was right. He doubted it, but there was always that faint glimmer of hope that had driven him onwards over the years. He glanced towards the sky even though the shield ring wasn't visible from this side of the tower, wondering if there actually was a battle going on up there, and if so, would the Rebellion ships be enough to take down the planetary shield so the Death Star plans wouldn't just bounce right back.
As expected, he didn't see Star Destroyers or Rebel Star Cruisers. But he did see a giant sphere looming over the planet.
The same giant sphere that had wiped out Jedha City.
The Death Star was here.
Cassian stopped his excruciating forward momentum and nodded to the sky.
"What?" Jyn asked, just before she turned her head. Somehow, she managed to stifle the gasp at the sight that greeted her. She set her jaw and double timed their steps towards the lift's door. "Right. Time to go. I'm not dying inside an Imperial base."
Cassian knew there was no way they could possibly get off the planet before the Death Star obliterated the area. He also knew she was more than smart enough to have come to the same conclusion. He raised a brow at her even as he relished the way her hand squeezed the arm he had draped over her shoulders for support. "And where do you intend to die, then?"
Jyn smacked the button to open the turbolift door and helped him inside before she answered. "Outside," she said as he propped himself against a wall and she hit the button to take them down to ground level. "Anywhere outside. I've spent way too much of my life trapped behind walls. I don't want to die within them, too. And especially not Imperial walls."
"Then you won't," Cassian said with promise in his husky voice as he wrapped his more functional arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. "We won't."
Jyn wrapped an arm around his shoulders in return and met those intense dark eyes that had captivated her from the first moment she'd seen them. "I'm glad I get to die with you, Cassian Andor."
Cassian's mouth twitched into a smile, ignoring the nauseous feeling caused by his wounds and the speed of the lift as it descended. He used his free hand to grasp hers and raised it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the leather gloved knuckles. "It is an honour for me, as well, Jyn Erso. There's no one else I'd rather die with than you."
Jyn's heart melted even as it whimpered at the injustice of it all. She'd finally met a man that she could see herself spending the rest of her life with and they'd only gotten three days together.
Three days.
The Force, if there was such a thing, was a cruel bastard.
She laced their fingers together for the last few seconds of the lift ride and just looked at him. She couldn't bring herself to say anything else in words, but her eyes did a whole lot of talking as she stared into his. She wanted to say that she loved him, even though she'd only just met him. She wanted to say that she would fight by his side until the war was won. She wanted to ask if he'd like to settle down with her somewhere pretty and have little Andors with her. She wanted to tell him that he was cute as hell when he was in combat mode and handsome as sin when he was looking at her like he was right now.
His dark hair clung to the sweat on his forehead and teased the bare skin of her arm that was behind his neck with a silky texture that made her want to peel off her gloves and bury her fingers in it as she kissed him for the first time. He had the most adorable bump on his nose from where it had been broken, maybe more than once. The stubble on his jaw looked like it would rasp in the most delightful fashion. And his eyes looked like fathomless pools of everything they could have had together.
Oh, how she wanted.
But she kept it all inside, because it hurt enough to think it. Saying any of it would just bring the tears to the surface that she was very determinedly keeping at bay.
Cassian returned her look with interest.
He knew what she wanted to say because he wanted to say it too. And he was just as incapable of saying anything out loud. She was gorgeous, blaster burn on her cheek and all. He wanted to hold her tight to him and never let her go. He wanted kiss those faintly trembling lips until she gasped out his name. He wanted to lose himself within her for days and discover every sensitive spot on her shapely little body.
He wanted to protect her from everything that had hurt her and everything that possibly could. He wanted to give her all the hope in the galaxy on a silver platter and make everything perfect. He wanted to spend the rest of his life making her happy, because Force knows, just being with her the last few days had sure made his world a brighter place than it had ever been.
Stars, how he loved her.
The words wanted out.
"Jyn, I..."
The turbolift settling to a stop interrupted him. Maybe it was for the best.
They were about to die, anyway.
Her eyes widened fractionally and her fingers tightened on his shoulder as her lips parted on a caught breath. Even though he'd stopped what he was saying, somehow, she knew what he was trying to say. "Me, too," she whispered before she kicked herself back into action; the looming Death Star once again present in her mind. Jyn tugged his arm back around her shoulders and wrapped her arm around his narrow waist as the doors opened into a stereotypical grey Imperial hallway.
Cassian looked at her with stunned wonder as she all but dragged his wounded carcass down the hallway. Did she just admit that she loved him back?
Somehow, that made everything so much better and so much worse. He was elated and devastated all at once. He desperately wanted to pull her to a stop and ask her if she meant what he thought she meant. And if so, spend the next hour or so kissing her in gratitude. But the reality of his screaming leg and the spreading numbness in his core from Krennic's blaster shot helped to jolt his understanding of how incredibly unrealistic that was.
Instead, he did his best to be as light a burden as possible as she ran them down endless hallways.
Jyn panted, thinking that despite Cassian's leanly muscled but too skinny form that clearly didn't get enough food, he was ridiculously heavy. She was extremely grateful when they finally reached the exit at the back of the facility. She was even more grateful that she'd more or less memorized the way out when they were wandering around not so long ago in search of a droid for Kaytoo to steal info from.
She opened the last door and they stumbled out into the light of day just in time to see a flash of green land in the ocean in front of them. It was almost enough to distract them from the bodies of their fellow Rebels lying on the sandy ground only metres from the door.
"Kriff," Cassian muttered.
And then rubble from the tower above them started to fall all around them. Jyn looked up just in time to see a huge chunk of durasteel heading straight for them. She pushed Cassian off to the side and then dove after him, hitting the sand hard.
The boulder sized piece of building impacted right where they'd been standing.
Jyn pushed up onto her hands and knees and crawled over to Cassian, grateful that she'd managed to push him out of the danger zone. "Are you okay?"
Cassian groaned and pushed himself up onto one arm. "I've been better," he said dryly. "Thanks for the save."
Jyn grabbed his arm and pulled him up onto his good foot. "I think we're even a few dozen times over by now."
Cassian grinned at her as they resumed their hobbled path towards her destination of the far edge of the beach, as far from the Imperial facility as she could get. "I like that. Calling it even. Cause we are. You would've made a great addition to our team."
Jyn snorted lightly. "Thanks."
Cassian shook his head. "No, I'm serious. You're a force to be reckoned with."
Jyn gave him a genuine smile this time. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
At this point, they couldn't really ignore the growing cloud of light over the ocean and their expressions turned grim once again. She took the last few steps to the edge of the water and they both fell to their knees in the sand, exhausted.
Cassian stifled a groan as pain shot through his leg and shifted more onto his hip and good leg. His eyes turned to Jyn, thinking that she was the most amazing woman ever. Most would be weeping buckets and wailing right now in the face of certain death, but she was dry-eyed and calm as can be.
Jyn caught his look and gave him a 'what?' look back.
A corner of his mouth lifted in amusement; she was so easy to read. Playing sabacc with her would have been fun. "Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn."
Jyn didn't know what to say to that, so instead, she reached for his hand and held it tight in a thankful grasp. He smiled at her, love shining in his dark chocolate eyes. She smiled back.
It was a perfect moment.
If only the blinding light of the encroaching blast zone wasn't there to distract them. Inevitably, their eyes were drawn to the cloud of doom, watching as it grew closer and closer.
For a minute, the wave of inescapable death seemed to move in slow motion, like it would never reach them. And in the next moment, it was suddenly almost upon them.
Jyn swallowed a whimper. "I don't want to die." The words were torn from her throat. And suddenly she was in Cassian's arms, clinging to him and refusing to look at the blast cloud anymore.
He clutched her trembling body tight and breathed her in. His pain was forgotten as he spent his last few seconds alive holding this wonderful woman that could have been his everything. He closed his eyes and prayed to the Force or the stars or anyone who cared to listen. 'Please. I don't want this to be the end. Please.'
And then there was a flash of blistering pain along every single one of their nerve endings that lasted for but a moment before their bodies were swept to particles of dust.
Jyn opened her eyes and found herself still holding Cassian as hard as she could. Over his shoulder, she saw white sand beaches and turquoise water, just like before.
She pulled back with a gasp and grabbed his shoulders. "We're alive, Cassian. We're alive!"
Cassian opened his eyes and stared at Jyn in shock. She looked cleaner, healthy, and practically glowed somehow, but otherwise was still the same, hair escaping her bun and all.
Too stunned to even want to question it, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her like he'd wanted to do for what felt like forever.
Jyn's eyes opened wider in surprise for a moment before they fluttered closed and she returned his kiss. Their mouths pressed together hungrily as she wrapped her arms around his neck and finally buried her fingers in his hair like she wanted to do. She wished she wasn't wearing gloves so she could feel it better and they magically disappeared from her hands. She hummed in pleased satisfaction into his now gentle and exploring kiss as her fingers combed through silky dark strands.
They pulled apart slightly and rested their foreheads together as they panted in wonder. "I can't believe we're alive," Cassian said. "There's no way we should have survived that blast cloud."
A loudly cleared throat had them turning their heads quickly to the side and pulling apart in embarrassment.
Jyn's eyebrows climbed up to the top of her forehead as she gawked at the tiny green... creature that was smiling at them with amusement. He couldn't be much taller than her knees and had long pointy ears and carried a short staff that he leaned on despite not looking even remotely decrepit. He wore a tidy looking beige robe that was belted on.
She had no idea what kind of being he was.
It also took her a moment to notice, but she when she did, her eyes went even wider: The Imperial facility was gone. The only thing behind the tiny green creature was more sand.
"Who are you?" Cassian asked suspiciously. He'd also noticed the lack of a durasteel tower behind them. There wasn't even a hint of debris to indicate there ever had been one.
The little creature grinned widely, showing sharp teeth. "Yoda, I am. And alive, in the most basic of terms, you are in fact not."
"What?" Jyn and Cassian said at the exact same time.
"But I feel alive," Jyn said.
"I feel better than alive," Cassian added.
"Hmmmm," Yoda said, nodding. "Injured, are you still?"
Cassian looked down at his shirt where there should have been a burnt blaster hole and found it to be in perfect condition. He pressed a hand to his side and felt no pain. He stood up and his leg held him perfectly. Jyn quickly stood up too, ready to catch him if he needed help. "Holy poodoo! I'm healed!"
Yoda laughed. "Healed, no. Transformed, yes. Part of the Force you are now. In the Afterlife you are."
"What?!" they said together again, gawking at the little green... whatever.
Yoda chuckled and waved a hand and the landscape around them transformed to a grassy meadow filled with flowers and butterflies, and there was a gleaming white city in the distance. "Come. Show you I will."
A/N: So this isn't quite the end of the story for our wonderful heroes of Rogue One, but I thought it made a perfect prologue. I will be writing their stories from childhood onward and adding it to my Flame of Hope superstory. At the moment, they only have a quick mention in that story as I've only written Scarif from Hera's point of view so far, but I hope you're inspired to check it out anyway.
And if you're wondering how Yoda is wandering around in the Afterlife even though he's not dead yet? Well, that's his secret to tell. :P
A/N: Thank you all soooooo much for reading my stories! Every fav, follow, or nice review makes me want to write that much more for you. :D :D :D :D :D
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