A.N. And here we are again! The promised sequel to Don't Leave Me Now is finally here! This is going to be many chapters long-I don't know exactly how many yet, but a lot. Updates will not be as fast as they were for Don't Leave Me Now, unfortunately-what can I say... life-but I hope to keep it weekly or bi-weekly.
Once again this will focus on Jyn and Cassian, but everyone else will be here too, including Leia and Han (and maybe Luke? Not sure about him...). As always, feedback and ideas are welcome. Hope you enjoy!
Summary: The Empire still looms over their heads, but Jyn can't help thinking that she can't really remember a time when she felt happier. Friends surround her, mission after mission with the Rebellion is successful, and she and Cassian are both lowering their walls to let each other in.
But then things start to change. A mission goes poorly, an Alliance base gets destroyed, and Cassian's smiles grow rarer and rarer.
And then the unthinkable happens: Cassian doesn't make the check in time during one of his mission. He misses the planned backup time as well. Jyn knows there's only one reason he'd miss a check in and it fills her with dread. He's M.I.A., but when Rogue One proposes a mission to go after him, the Council orders them to stand down... as if that's going to stop them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Star Wars belongs to Star Wars/Disney/Lucasfilms etc.
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The first few months on Hoth after K2 returned were the best Jyn can remember. Up until then, she didn't have many happy memories, rarely had moments to laugh or smile in a life that was always built only upon survival, but all of that changed once she joined the Alliance. In the first few months, she grinned at Chirrut and Baze's bickering, cheered whenever Bodhi mastered a new ship's controls and performed breathtaking feats with them and laughed at K2's ever present sarcasm and pessimism. So even though the Empire still loomed over all of their heads—an ever present threat—things never seemed so bad when she had her friends by her side.
But of course, she'd be lying to herself if she denied the fact that the major reason for her happiness was Cassian. Her heart fluttered whenever their eyes met, when he let a smile slip onto his face just for her, when he held her at night and woke her from her nightmares with soft murmurs in her ear.
As the weeks passed, she watched his walls slowly lower to let her in, but not only that, his entire countenance softened slightly from a hardened soldier with guilt and responsibility weighing on him, to a more relaxed and—dare she say it—happy attitude. She would have liked to take all of the credit—Leia certainly gave it to her—but she knew there was more to it.
Even now, eight months later, Cassian's past is the one topic that is still off limits in their relationship. She knows very little of the twenty years he's fought against the Empire. Cassian has never told her about the missions he ran for the Rebellion before Jeddha, but she has gotten various hints here and there from his reactions to things she says, the things he carefully doesn't say, and the things others have let slip. From all of those tidbits, she's pieced together a very rough picture and it's not pretty. She knows he's done things he deems terrible and probably even things she would consider terrible. But she can't judge him because he's always done them for a reason greater than himself and she's done horrific things for no other reason than to survive.
So she knows that the primary cause for Cassian's good mood in the first several months was the fact that the Council only sent him on recruiting missions. The Alliance had lost many rebels in the battles of Scarif and the Death Star and needed to fill the ranks as quickly as they could. Cassian had done a lot of recruiting for the Rebellion in the past—that was one thing he had shared with her—and was good at it. The Council therefore solved two problems by assigning Cassian to recruitment: they received a ton of passionate new rebels and in turn they gave Cassian time to fully heal. While he had mostly healed just a few weeks after the confrontation with Lorat, Ienvich and Baro, he still felt lingering effects for several months after, which Leia was aware of and made sure the Council knew, too.
Cassian enjoyed recruiting, he'd confided in Jyn once, a soft smile on his face. He told her that he never tried to paint the Rebellion as anything other than what it is, he didn't let the people he recruits go in thinking that they were joining a cause that will bring them glory and fame. He made sure they understood the danger and difficulty of it, but of course, he let his passion for the Rebellion bleed out into his voice. And he always selected the people he targeted for recruitment very carefully. Pretty much no one said no because of his thorough screening process. He only approached those he knew would say yes and be a suitable fit.
Once Jyn got cleared to fly missions and was promoted to Corporal in Intelligence, she had the pleasure of accompanying Cassian on a few of his recruitment missions. She mostly sat and listened as he spoke of the need to stand up for what is right and protect those who cannot protect themselves, and she knew if she were not already a member of the Rebellion, she'd be clamoring to join after listening to his speeches.
Life was good. Cassian teased her and she teased him back, they sparred with Chirrut and Baze (who both always won) and began to force Bodhi to join them, stating that since he was a rebel he needed to be able to defend himself. He joined them reluctantly at first, but soon found himself enjoying it.
But there was a definable day that things changed. A single mission that marked the turning point, the last time she can remember that Cassian fully smiled at her without holding anything back, without a flicker of anguish or darkness clouding his face…
xxXxx xxXxx xxXxx
(Five months ago).
Jyn stands in the cockpit of the shuttle, clutching the co-pilot's seat in order to stay on her feet and peer over K2's shoulder at the approaching ground of Ord Mantell.
Bodhi sits in the pilot's seat, brow furrowed in concentration as he skillfully maneuvers the ship to land in a steep sided valley in order to conceal their presence in one of the planet's numerous mountain chains.
A hand clasps her shoulder and she turns slightly in order to meet Cassian's focused gaze. "Are you ready?" he queries quietly.
She nods. "As I'll ever be." On the inside, she's nervous as hell, but she doesn't let that affect her exterior calm.
He gives her a small reassuring smile then turns towards the loading door. "Open her up, Bodhi!" he calls to the pilot. "If we're not back in less than four hours, get this ship in the air and don't look back!"
Bodhi gives them a mutinous look but says nothing.
Cassian narrows his eyes. "Kay, please keep him honest," he instructs the droid. "Start your timer now."
The droid turns to look at the pair exiting the ship. "Would you like to know your odds of making it back in that time frame? I haven't shared them with you because you asked me never to share statistics if they are in the highly unfavorable range."
Cassian rolls his eyes. "Thanks, Kay, for telling me we're doomed to fail!" he shouts back. "You be careful, too!" he calls, knowing that it was just his friend's way of sharing his concern.
The door closes behind them. They have three hours, fifty-nine minutes and eighteen seconds to trek to a hidden Black Sun station, sneak in once the majority of the guards leave due to a disturbance on the other side of the mountains (courtesy of Chirrut and Baze and a handful of other rebels), locate the people being prepared for transport as a slave shipment (including several captured rebels), and make it back to the shuttle with all of them. All in a day's work.
She and Cassian trek in companionable silence. Partly from necessity—so they are not detected—and partly because they are comfortable enough with each other that they don't feel the need to fill silences with unnecessary, useless conversation.
They make it on time and hunker down just a few hundred yards from the base. At this stage they can't use radios to communicate, as the Black Sun has monitors and will pick it up, so they have to rely on preset timing. Forty minutes to make the trek, two minutes of slush time, and then Chirrut and Baze will strike.
Three minutes later, a commotion rises from the exterior part of the camp—the part not sequestered inside the mountain—and people scurry to load in ships and launch.
Cassian and Jyn move forward two minutes later, opening the side entrance that Cassian's contact—a Black Sun operative that he turned to the Alliance—had assured him would be open and would provide a clear path to the holding cells, once the guards left to attend to the distraction. The operative couldn't guarantee how long it would remain clear, however, so they have to be fast.
They slip inside the dark tunnel and move rapidly forward through the twisting passageways. Cassian had obtained a map from his operative and had memorized it, forcing Jyn to as well. She'd done her best but had only been able to memorize the optimal route to and from the prisons. She has no idea how Cassian managed to memorize the whole thing. Especially when they'd only had a few hours to prepare.
The halls are surprisingly quiet, the echoes of their own footsteps the only noise that disturbs the air. Chirrut and Baze must have made a magnificent distraction, Jyn thinks proudly. The light is dim and it's difficult to distinguish Cassian's dark form leading the way from the shadows of the cave. She smiles to herself, thinking it fitting: Cassian has always had a fondness for shadows and incredible skill to disappear into them.
He stops suddenly and she's following so closely that she almost collides with him. She places a hand on his back in order to prevent that. As he moves to a door practically invisible in the dark—and really, how did he see that?—she turns her back to him in order to watch the hall. She breathes deeply, trying to settle her nerves, a voice in her head whispering something's wrong. She silences it.
The door opens behind her and she feels his presence move away, taking with him the small comfort she'd felt from having him at her back. Stop this, you're being ridiculous, she scolds herself as the uneasy feeling grows.
There's a muffled shout from someone in the room and it takes all of her self-control not to turn and rush in to help subdue whatever Black Sun extremist is in there. She doesn't move. She trusts Cassian to handle it, and moments later her trust is rewarded when everything goes silent.
She stays just inside the doorway as planned while Cassian goes farther into the prison, releasing people. She feels a small crowd gather at her back, the weight of their anxiety and hope giving them away, not the noise they make—they are remarkably silent, for which she's thankful. The air thickens with tension and causes her to start sweating, which does nothing to alleviate her worry.
She's so hyped up that she flinches when a hand brushes her back, until Cassian slips into her peripheral vision, a concerned look on his face. He can tell something's wrong. "Are you okay?" he breathes, voice almost soundless.
She glances at him, furious with herself for causing him worry and distraction for no apparent reason. "I just… I have a bad feeling about this…" she admits in a whisper, before shaking herself. "I'm sure it's nothing."
His frown deepens. "Don't say that. You wouldn't feel that way without a reason." Apparently he has more confidence in her than she does. "Keep your eyes sharp, we're almost out of this." He turns back to the room and motions everyone forwards toward the door. "Stay together, stay quiet and follow Jyn," he instructs quietly, gesturing to Jyn. He taps her on the back. "Lead on."
She nods, stepping forward carefully and silently, moving into the empty space of the shadowed hallway. Thirty people step out to follow her, their footsteps whispers of hope on the stone floor, each step leading them closer to freedom. She rounds a corner, then another… then another… and suddenly her instincts go crazy. They scream and she twists sideways just as blaster fire lights up the hall in brilliant red, turning what would have been a deathly blow tearing directly through her midsection into a shot that sears across her stomach.
She can't stop her cry of pain and surprise from passing her lips—Should have trusted your instincts, Jyn, her mind hisses—but she doesn't let herself dwell on it. Even as the burn sears across her stomach, she raises her arm and returns fire. Her aim is true. The Black Sun member crumples to the ground, dead before impact. The light from her shot illuminates a second man and he, too, falls to the ground when she hits him.
Jyn immediately backpedals, pushing people behind her backwards and away from the corner as more blaster fire comes from the corridor they'd just tried to walk down. Her torso is on fire but she ignores it—the safety of these people is more important than a mere graze… though, if she's honest with herself, she thinks it's a little more serious than "a mere graze."
Four figures leap forward from beside her, each with a blaster in hand—the four captured rebels, she thinks distantly—and they lay down suppressing fire, giving her and everyone else time to withdraw. Suddenly Cassian is at her side, clasping her elbow and demanding to know if she's okay. She nods quickly—no point in telling him otherwise now, there's nothing he can do about it—and the fleeting look of relief that flashes across his face both relieves her and makes her feel guilty.
He turns his attention to their now blocked escape route. "We'll have to go a different way," he growls in frustration, before rushing to the rebels currently guarding their retreat in order to communicate something to them.
Jyn takes the opportunity to briefly assess her wound. She lowers her hand and presses tentatively against her stomach. She gasps as her vision goes white and she nearly loses her footing. She braces her other hand against the wall and fights to compose herself. When she pulls her hand away from her stomach, it comes back sticky with blood. She's not gushing, but she can tell that in twenty minutes or so, she's not going to be in a good way… and it will be at least thirty minutes until they're back to the shuttle if they go twice as fast as their pace on the way out. Kriff.
Cassian appears at her shoulder and she quickly drops her hand out of sight before he can see it. He has enough to worry about right now.
"Okay," he calls, his voice calm and cool, "everyone stay together and follow me. Stealth is no longer a priority: speed is. Avax and his men will cover our retreat and once we reach ground level, head east along the ridgeline and do not stop. I will catch up with you once I've made sure we can't be followed."
He moves forward immediately at a light jog—most of these people are malnourished and cannot go faster. Jyn doesn't attempt to keep pace with him, but allows herself to be swept along in the middle of the crowd. Part of her appreciates the fact that he hadn't grabbed on to her and made sure she stayed with him, because it meant that he trusted her absolutely and knew she could take care of herself. The other part of her, the part dealing with the pain, wishes he had. That's what you get for always insisting on independence. He's listened to you, you can only be happy! It's not his fault that you got shot and would like some pampering right now.
Soon, Jyn's dropped back to the tail end of the group, just a few meters in front of the four rebels still guarding their retreat. The explosions of blaster fire do nothing to urge her tired body forwards. She hears Cassian shout "Avax, now's the time!" and wonders what he means, until she sees the squad of four halt at the corner they'd just rounded and settle in. Oh, we must be near the exit. She tries to keep going, tries to follow the last figure who disappears around a corner, but she can't. The front of her uniform is cold against her skin and a distant part of her recognizes that's because it's wet. And not with water. Her right foot steps forward and collapses under the weight of her exhaustion. I'm in better shape than this, this is ridiculous! she admonishes herself. But of course, her fatigue has nothing to do with tired muscles and everything to do with blood loss.
"Two minutes!" Cassian voice shouts again and it seems far away from Jyn. He must be at the tunnel exit and she wonders what he's doing, until she remembers him tucking charges into his jacket pocket on the shuttle and his comment just a little earlier saying he'd make sure they weren't followed. She puts two and two together. He's going to blow the exit. It's not the cave system's only exit, not by any means, but it will certainly slow down their pursuers as the Black Sun will have to backtrack and use a different one. It might give the newly freed people just enough time to get to the shuttle.
She realizes then, as she slumps against the cave wall, that Cassian hasn't noticed that she didn't make it out with the rest of the prisoners. It's so unlike him not to catch everything, but she forgives him completely. It's not his responsibility to watch out for her—she's repeatedly told him explicitly to the contrary—and he has thirty other people he's trying to save. She refuses to burden him with the guilt of her death, however, so she grits her teeth and begins crawling forward on her hand and knees, one hand clutching at her stomach in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.
She hears running footsteps and thinks it's Avax and his squad finally sounding the full retreat. Her brain rapidly comes up with two options. One, the four of them and her are all about to die because they'll stop and try to help her once they see her—she curses her weakness—and be blown to bits. Two, she'll manage to shout at them to go on without her and, if by some miracle they listen, they will live and she will die. She doesn't relish the thought of dying, particularly because she knows Cassian will blame himself, but she can't see another option.
But of course, she hadn't considered what would happen if the footsteps weren't Avax's, but Cassian's. Because of course Cassian had noticed her absence—she laughs at herself now, thinking he hadn't—and of course he'd come back for her, like he always does.
He slides to his knees beside her and she manages to look up from where her gaze had been fixed on the floor as she took one crawling shuffle at a time. His eyes are wide and his face has lost his calm, but he smiles at her reassuringly, reaching out to cup her face with his hand. "What, did you think I would leave you?" he demands quietly upon seeing her surprised face.
"You should have. Just go," she mutters, pushing at him in a futile effort. She can't walk on her own, let alone run. She'll only slow him down and she'll be damned if she's the reason he gets caught or killed.
He ignores her, swatting her hand away and pushing her back against the wall she'd been leaning against moments before—apparently she'd only made it one crawl away… huh, it had seemed farther. His eyes darken as he sees her bloody uniform, but he doesn't stop his movements. He slips his blaster into her right hand and something else into her left, then slips one arm behind her shoulders and the other beneath her knees. Then he rises to a standing position, bringing her with him, cradled in his arms. The position puts painful pressure on her wound, but she bites back her cry of discomfort.
She wraps her left arm around his neck in an effort to help and rests her right hand on her knees. She's not sure she'll actually be able to use the blaster—whether her arms will have enough strength to—but she'll damned well try.
He yells at Avax and his crew to get a move on and she hears the four men's footsteps pound behind her, the blaster fire drawing ever closer as Cassian runs for the exit, murmuring in her ear, "I told you, Jyn: no one left behind. Not on my watch."
A tiny taste of fresh air kisses her cheek as they round the final corner and the light of day explodes into the hallway from the exit that's only fifteen yards away. She clutches onto him tighter, willing them to make it through and for no enemies to be waiting on the other side. Dear Force, please.
But of course, luck has not been on their side today. So when they clear the exit, bursting into the blinding light of Ord Mantell's sun, Jyn's eyes are immediately drawn to a figure rounding a boulder, the telltale glint of a blaster leveling at the pair of them. Jyn takes aim and fires in the same heartbeat. The woman falls. Cassian doesn't even break stride, his trust in her ability to keep them safe even while wounded is absolute. He keeps running, until a few moments later he demands breathlessly, "Are they clear?"
She can see over his shoulder easily and watches as Avax and the three others race from the tunnels, diving for cover as blaster fire follows them. "They're clear," she croaks.
"Then light it up."
She's confused for a moment, until her left hand feels the weight of the device he'd thrust into it before picking her up. She squeezes the button beneath her thumb without hesitation. There's a second of delay, before the entire tunnel explodes in a spray of dust and rubble, collapsing with a massive groan. She can't help but grin at the small victory.