i. Never look back to the past. There is only now.
"Do you still remember the times before we met each other?" Chirrut asked the other people on the ship. Of course, it's only been almost weeks since they first met, but it certainly felt longer.
"When our chances of survival were significantly higher?" Cassian added. With the lack of his droid to make such comments, he took the mantle himself.
Chirrut shook his head, "We live in a constant state of dying, my friend. I mean only the days before we met."
Jyn smacked her lips, "I don't want to look back at it."
"I was with the Empire," Bodhi joked.
Baze's knee collided with Chirrut's. "I was with you."
"You still are."
If Chirrut closed his eyes, all he could really see was darkness. Only when he opened his eyes did the light overwhelm him. Jyn Erso shined more than she ever did.
But it wasn't just her. It was them. Bodhi's insecurity and Baze's confidence. Jyn's anger and Cassian's shame. And, dare he say it, his own pride. (Or his faith and the droid's pessimism, had he been among them.)
They were flawed and petty and weak in their pasts. Together, at least, they had no vulnerabilities left.
"Live together and die alone, right?" Jyn laughed as they joined the Rebel fleet back on Yavin 4, alive and together.
ii. Peace is the way of the Force. Remain neutral in between aggression.
Chirrut was blind. Having him referee a duel was not his best use. (Dueling, on the other hand…)
It began with Cassian doubting Chirrut's ability to fight the way he did on Jedha. Jyn defended him well, to the point where she challenged the captain to a fight. (Prior to this duel, Jyn had sparred with Chirrut for the same reason as Cassian.)
They were fighting on the freighter Bodhi and Cassian had commandeered from pirates in the Thassia System.
Jyn held two truncheons in her hands as extensions of her arms. The rules were set and she was allowed the weapons.
Chirrut could feel the unease rippling through her. He couldn't see what exactly was in front of him detail-wise, but judging how edgy Jyn seemed to feel, perhaps Cassian Andor had forgone his shirt to the fight.
He stood between them. "No excessive bodily harm. You reserve the right to concede." He looked at them both before adding, "Please don't break each others' faces until I can see them."
And thus the fight began:
Jyn Erso spun forward with the metal rods in her hands. Cassian stepped back, allowing the truncheon to barely graze the air at his side, before twisting his torso and locking his arm and hers in a twist of limbs.
Their faces seemed to be only inches away as Cassian pulled his elbow away in a failed attempt to disarm her of her weapons. He was one to try, considering the stun baton in his boot.
"Where have I seen that move before?" He whispered. Chirrut didn't understand the reference.
The emphasis on Cassian's question grew as he made us of the close contact to grab both her truncheons, sweep his leg under her and cross the weapons over her neck as her back hit the floor.
"I win," he muttered and tossed the metal rods away. Chirrut sidestepped so that they wouldn't hit him.
At any regular duel, it would have ended then and there. Jyn Erso (and, in extension, Chirrut Îmwe) did not think so.
For a moment, Cassian faltered as her elbow careened into his jaw. Chirrut felt like he had to stop it, but he found it entertaining.
Cassian ducked at another wild swing. Jyn threw her weight forward as he back away. She kept advancing, pushing Cassian back more and more.
Chirrut smiles. It was what she told her, so long ago, when he defeated her in their fight. The best fighters use not only skill and strength, but also their eyes. She laughed as Chirrut continued. They watch their enemies, look for the parts of them that move wrong, or are hardly on guard.
Which was the game Jyn was playing.
Point being, Cassian's leg had a hitch in it since Scarif, but it was also that leg that had swept her down almost twice. So she avoided it well.
Point being, that a captain knew his ship, every possible corner to dodge into and every nook to avoid. So she backed him up, forced him to inch away where he could.
The captain pressed his back to the far wall, surprised that Jyn had backed him up into a corner. She had spun him around so far and circled this part of the ship so much before spiraling back to the edge.
Jyn pressed him into the wall, holding his throat to her forearm.
"I concede," Cassian said breathlessly.
Jyn stepped back. Chirrut laughed loudly. Apparently, Jyn Erso still knew how to listen to instructions.
iii. The Force works through you. You do not control it.
There were nights Chirrut would wander, then nights that he would stop. This night was the infamous former.
Baze was asleep, and Chirrut would be too if not for his partner's bantha-like snoring. (Not that he wasn't used to it. It was the nightmares that bothered Chirrut.)
Besides, Chirrut liked to wander without a shadow trailing him with a repeater cannon.
There wasn't a shadow tonight. Never really was if Baze was still asleep when Chirrut walked around at night. But this time there was a light down the corridor.
Jyn Erso was distant in the hallway, walking away from Chirrut's direction. Her pace seemed slow. Soft and indistinct.
Unlike Chirrut, she did not seem to be wandering. She had that sense that she knew where she wanted to go.
Naturally, Chirrut followed her.
He should have known that Cassian Andor's room was three ways down theirs. He was a captain. The four of them were placed so close together for the same reason. Bodhi was a commissioned pilot. Jyn was a war hero. Chirrut and Baze were refugees.
She took another turn, and the sound of a door silently opening vibrated under Chirrut's feet.
Really, he didn't need to follow the girl. She was going where she had to go.
They were both just wandering where the Force took them. It took Chirrut everywhere, and it led her to Cassian Andor.
Chirrut laughed silently and turned back.
iv. Seek not the pleasures of this life, but of the world beyond it.
Bodhi was hugging Chirrut so tightly that he could feel an imprint of the man's face emboss itself into his shoulder.
Chirrut could smell the alcohol on each of them. Unlike his companions, Chirrut knew how to hold his drinks. "Your turn, captain," he said.
"Dare," Cassian announced smugly. Baze snorted in amusement while Bodhi laughed and said, "Kiss Jyn."
Jyn let go of Cassian's coat.
"No," the captain replied while sipping his bottle. (Bodhi had brought a whole dozen, selling five to Shara Bey so she would help him sneak it in. They all had a bottle each, and saved the rest for the shots)
Chirrut laughed. "Alright then, captain. You know the rules." If he counted it right, then Cassian would already be down to only his pants. At his first dare, he rid himself of his boots. He didn't bother the second time and just stripped his shirt.
Bodhi was very drunk because he was drinking in between the game very strongly. Jyn would most likely be shipped out of Yavin 4 for unruly behavior thanks to the dares she demanded from them. It was the few fun they've had since Scarif.
(Chirrut was fine. A bit tipsy to the drinking, always choosing truth and answering.)
"Kiss someone or take off an article of clothing." Considering what Cassian had left, the kissing prospect was becoming very likely.
"Alright." There could have been silence if Chirrut didn't hear his own inner cackling, then Bodhi hollered.
"Get a room you two!" Then there was the sound of breaking glass.
"Oh stars!" Baze swore. Chirrut touched the floor nearest to the sound, to have it come up sticky, smelling of alcohol and with crystals of broken glass everywhere.
"What the kriff, Bodhi?!" Jyn cried. Bodhi had just thrown his shot glass in a failed attempt of calling a toast.
If Chirrut had known, he might have joined him.
v. Understand those you surround yourself with and allow them to understand themselves.
Chirrut nibbled on bites of dried fruit. Bodhi and Baze were eating their own slices of roasted bantha. The food on Jyn Erso's plate appeared untouched.
"Eat before Hoth freezes the taste from your food," Baze said.
She kept looking behind them, towards the carved entrance. Chirrut could feel her anxiousness emanating from her.
Bodhi elbowed them gently. "She's waiting for Cassian."
"Just eat, little sister," Baze commented. "Cassian will be here later. He's doing something."
She most likely glared at them, though Chirrut couldn't be sure. Instead, he just laughed. "It's the alcohol poisoning. You know how much we drank that night."
"How much you drank, Chirrut," he corrected. "I was there to watch everything that happened that night." That night being the same one weeks ago when they drank their joy into oblivion. Bodhi remembered none of it. Baze and Chirrut knew what happened, Baze most of all.
Bodhi hadn't been told of everything, but he was smart and figured it out.
"Jyn, we know you're attracted to Cassian. We're not trying to invalidate your f—"
"I am not attracted to Cassian," Jyn replied to Chirrut.
He smiled and continued to eat his fruit. "Whatever you say." Bodhi was laughing with him, as even Chirrut could see how pink she'd gotten in her soul.
vi. Believe that things will get better and begin to change. Peace, love, and the end of all evils will begin through you.
Chirrut smiled when he realized Captain Andor was approaching them. "What is it, Captain? Are you looking for Jyn?"
Baze grunted. He really needed to stop doing that. He should have left when he wanted to instead of constantly reminding Chirrut that he was always there (—a fact Chirrut was well aware of.)
Chirrut hoped Cassian wasn't looking for her. She and Bodhi were in some unknown but certainly warm corner of Hoth, fixing the banged-up droid she brought to them. It would be difficult to explain such a thing to Cassian whilst keeping a secret.
"Am I looking for—" Cassian paused quizzically, "No, I am not look for Jyn!" He exclaimed.
"Then why do your eyes search for her when you enter a room?" Baze asked. Interesting observations on his part. He could see.
"He does?" Chirrut feigned disbelief. Such a deed was totally expected of the captain. "Is she a big person, Baze?" That his eyes find her in a crowd or out of it.
His partner disagreed. "No. Smaller than us all."
"Really?" He laughed. "If she's small, then perhaps it is who she is that appeared to be larger than us all." The way she shined was not small. "She's always seemed so large to me. As if she's perched on a table demanding attention because she deserves it."
"It's her eyes," Baze stated, "They get everyone's attention."
Chirrut faced his companion. "Not the way she holds herself or talks? Or is it just everything? If I were Captain Andor, I'd love her too."
"I don't—"
Chirrut did not stop smiling as Cassian's argument died on his tongue.
"You're not wrong," the young man said in a softer, less indignant tone. "That's exactly who Jyn is. Sometimes she can be too much."
Chirrut shared a hopeful glance at Baze's direction and laughed. "Maybe you're just not enough, Captain."
vii. To find the truth, you must first be true to yourself. The Force knows what it is you hide.
Jyn was standing in the doorway. "Thanks for covering us." He didn't need to ask what she was talking about. She was referring to the second form of Cassian's towering droid—a project Bodhi nicknamed Operation Kay-Tu-Point-Oh.
"Of course." She made two strides into their quarters aboard Bodhi's transport (really, just a freighter for people.) Hoth had just been destroyed, and the High Command had set for the fleet to split into small task forces, Rogue One being one.
"You're coming, right?" Jyn asked him, "To Cassian's name day celebration."
Not much a celebration. They were flying to Fest, Cassian's frozen homeworld. Of course, it took three years for Cassian to tell them it was almost his name day. Now, he would have only rations and an overly sarcastic droid because of his mistake.
"I'm afraid Cassian didn't invite me," Chirrut joked. "Not that I won't be going anyway."
It was a surprise party, of course. Baze had done something similar once, years ago when ideas like the Empire were dreams of fanatic Senators. The party was a non-success, since Chirrut could tell by the number of people gathering in a single chamber. Fortunately, Cassian didn't have the same senses.
"Great," Jyn said as she stood up and began to leave.
A question danced of Chirrut's tongue, an old man's curiosity. "Jyn, why are you doing this?" Why did you fix that droid? Why are you celebrating this day? Why are you still with the Rebellion? Chirrut had an answer he wanted to hear. It was the right answer, but perhaps it was not the answer Jyn Erso wanted to recognize.
She stopped her escape. "I invited you because you're Cassian's friends. You and Baze. It's going to be a stupid party if it's just me, Bodhi, and Kay-Tu. And we're the only people on this ship."
"I don't mean the invitation, Jyn." His lighthearted chide went for a more serious tone.
She shrugged. "Cassian's my friend. I care about him."
Chirrut laughed lightly, though it would have almost been sad. "If you could lie half as well as you lie to yourself, Jyn, then anyone will believe you."
viii. Home is constant. You need not find it, for it shall find you.
Chirrut knew that this was a time for miracles. Perhaps if he tried on more time, he'd get his eyesight in full working order.
They all wrapped each other in tender embraces. The war was over.
The war was over.
Luke Skywalker—the young Jedi whose shine fought gently with Jyn's—had defeated the Emperor and Darth Vader, allowing the new Republic to band together in a light of freedom and a hopeful future.
The fight was not over, if the Empire had not yet ended. Peace and freedom were opposite sides of a coin. It was improbable to have one and also the other.
Bodhi passed Chirrut a bottle of jet juice and sat with him on the boarding ramp of the transport, both breathing the air of Endor. Chirrut took the bottle but did not drink nor did he return it. An intoxicated Bodhi Rook was not the ideal beginning for a New Republic.
"So what now?" Bodhi asked. Jyn knelt over and sat with them on the ramp and drank from the bottle formerly in Chirrut's hand.
"I've never actually imagined a future with me in it," she joked.
Chirrut could feel the ramp give slightly as Cassian and K-2SO joined them. "You know what they say," the captain clinked his bottle against Jyn's and laughed, "Live short or die trying."
Baze arrived bearing bottles for everyone else. "I suppose I'm allowed to drink with you all this time?"
"It's a celebration, Baze," Cassian called, "Not a game."
There they were, five of them sitting on the boarding ramp of a stolen Imperial transport, the logo scrubbed off but left metallic scratches on the side.
Music was playing from the nearby village where the other rebels were having their own siesta. The Ewoks knew how to party.
Jyn set her bottle in the ship and pulled Bodhi up to stand with her, "Let's dance!" Chirrut poked the pilot's leg sharply.
"No," Bodhi groaned as his left knee bent, "Not drunk enough yet. Go dance with Cassian."
"We won the fight," Baze dropped his cannon on the ground, "Why not, little sister?"
Chirrut could feel her look at him and smile. Then she turned away to face the captain, "Well, why don't we?"
They walked closer to the Bright Tree Village where the festivities of the Alliance, and copious amount of jet juice, were being held.
"I'm okay with a future that has them in it," Bodhi said.
K-2SO stood by them. "There is a large statistical probability of such an event, Bodhi Rook."
Baze grunted. For once, Chirrut didn't chuckle to himself. He only smiled.
Welcome home.
ix. Do not be afraid. All is as the Force wills it.
Chirrut had spent long enough in her company to know the precise moment when Jyn Erso got up from her bed and decided to run away.
Bodhi's dear friend Leia granted Baze and Chirrut a modest home in Naboo that was apparently owned by Leia's late mother. It showed a kind view of the Lake Country and the valley beyond.
For this night, and Chirrut was grateful for this night, Jyn stayed with them.
Chirrut got up from the bed and to the balcony, where she was. Jyn was standing there under the night sky, watching the stars and listening to the soft music of the distant waterfalls.
She was clutching her pendant, and when Chirrut approached did he realize she was praying the way he did when the world went silent.
"I can't do this, Chirrut," she said just as the soft night breeze of Naboo splattered his face.
He drew the young woman into a hug. She sniffled into his shoulder, "I'm so scared."
Chirrut felt a small sense of joy expand in his chest. The person Jyn was when they met would have needed so much more to say such a thing. "So you thought you could just run?"
It's what Jyn Erso always did where she was scared. Of course.
"I just wanted to see him," she muttered. He padded his hands along the edge of the balcony, where a string of vines were set, maybe strong enough to climb down.
"It's only a night, Jyn," Chirrut reminded her. "Now go to sleep or you'll look like a Gungan tomorrow."
The glittering light that he could see pulsed. "You don't even know what a Gungan looks like, Chirrut."
"I'm not leaving this balcony with the hope that you'll just follow me, Jyn," he stated, "Because then you'd climb down those vines and Leia's people would have to carry you back up to your room.
"So go to sleep and wait for tomorrow," Chirrut continued, "And after that you can run to Cassian as much as you want when you get scared. But you shouldn't be afraid. All is the way it should be."
x. Have faith. You are one with the Force and the Force shall make you one.
Leia (the Force was very strong with her) was jumping up and down in the front, since Jyn apparently chose the ambassador as her bridesmaid. The princess' husband, Han Solo—who she apparently married then and there on Endor, was among the few witnesses of today.
K-2SO bore the title of Best Droid, and he and Bodhi were standing by Cassian's side. Hours before the wedding, while Chirrut held a crying Jyn in his arms as they stood on a Naboo balcony, Cassian had K-2 lock Bodhi in a closet for a while. It would be an interesting story at the after party.
Chirrut began to tear up. Baze always teased Chirrut about his crying at weddings. The wedding ceremonies back on Jedha were Baze's job, and while he renounced his practice long ago, Baze accepted the job of officiating the ceremony. He was there in all his hulking glory.
He finally brushed his hair, too.
Jyn's nails dug into Chirrut's arm. He did not mind the discomfort.
"Are you still scared?" He asked her.
She shook her head; and her elaborately styled hair fluffed with her, tickling Chirrut slightly where his skin met the ends of her hair. "No."
Music started to play as Chirrut led Jyn down the supposedly red aisle. Chirrut still couldn't see, but by the way Cassian's breath hitched, he could tell that Jyn must have looked amazing.
"Chirrut," she whispered just as he was about to break away to join the small crowd of a dozen, "Thank you." Chirrut squeezed her hand softly and smiled.
"May the Force be with you, Jyn Erso."
up next in the series: debug: Ten Errors Found