Salvaged and Alive
A/N: AU (but is it really AU?). At the end of R1, is it really impossible that Jyn and Cassian had survived?! This is my (wishful)take, as I'm firmly not ready to say goodbye to these characters. Not yet, anyway.
. . . . . . .
Chapter 1
"Your father would be proud of you, Jyn."
She looked into his eyes, shimmering in the welling of her tears, but more so of the ominous red heat reflected from beyond the horizon. The sand beneath her fingers shook ever so softly, but with each wave the ground reverberated in its core with gloomy and deathly conclusion. But Cassian, his eyes and his posture, showed none of the fear or defeat.
"I'd like to promise you of safety, but it doesn't look like I can do that at the moment." He even jested, with an easy smirk to match the slight crinkle of his retiring eyes. Cassian had kept his hand clutching his side, but now the hand dropped to the warm water with acceptance. And she had accepted as well.
"You don't have to. I'm ready." Jyn would've liked to give him a little smile, but she had none of the pretense and he would never ask for such. Instead, she reached for Cassian's hand, and he obliged her with not a pause. His hand was calloused and hard, but pulsated with life in her hand, there at the end of his long and mysterious journey emanated warmth and earnestness. And she dared to wish it, against her heart that feared against it, that if she could remain in that touch for a time longer than tomorrow.
Then the sky roared and thundered, in its agony of impending doom, and the ocean waves resounded in the fury of fire from within. The waves crashed and burned at their feet, and her cheeks coiled in the prickly stings of unrelenting heat drawing nearer in suffocation. The ground shook and boomed in protest, and it pulled her feet in, ready to explode in terror and in forces unknown.
It was then that Cassian pulled her into his arms, holding her in tight embrace. His warm cheek pressed into hers, and his arms steadied her frame that was shaking unaware. He held her tight, pressing her body into his, and it was then that she knew the time had come. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and didn't fight back the tears that yearned for her father, desired for a life beyond what she could dare imagine, and relegated triumphant in the hope that her own hands had beheld. She was ready, and she only had to hold on to Cassian until they stepped onto the other side.
"Jyn…" In the deafening quake, Cassian shifted her toward the shore, and against the blinding haze of the wicked glow, her eyes spotted a small Imperial shuttle hovering on the trembling sand. She thought it only a dream, a mere mirage of imagination, until the door of the shuttle opened and a desperate voice cried out.
"Get in!"
"Who are you?" Jyn yelled only in reflex, as she already knew she didn't give a damn with death eagerly waiting for her.
"Get in now!"
Cassian had no hesitation for the man in question as he huddled himself up and grabbed Jyn's arm, roughly tugging her forward. And with the strength she'd forgotten to have owned, she willed her legs to push and quicken, and her arms held onto Cassian as he recoiled in the pain he'd forgotten to have owned. And she ran, pulling Cassian as he slugged and limped, with the flickering hope that there might be life tomorrow after all.
Jyn pushed Cassian into the shuttle and quickly pressed the door shut, and the pilot didn't wait a breath longer as he launched the aircraft upward. The small shuttle rattled under the falling rocks like a hapless leaf in the storm, but there was determination and resolve as it roared in a blazing speed.
"We're not going to make it." Cassian muttered softly as Jyn sat him on the metal floor, just as he winced in pain, clutching his side with a desperate grip.
"I wouldn't bet on that, captain." The pilot managed to hear Cassian's quip and replied to him in droll precision, just as the shuttle sharply dodged a catapulting boulder of landmass intent on their way. The sky became no longer the sky as the world she knew darkened around them, and Jyn held onto Cassian in her arms, tempted to agree with his assessment of their dire bearing.
It didn't take long for Cassian to fall silent, as his head rolled gently onto her shoulder. He had passed out from the wound on his side, and Jyn laid him gingerly on the cot, covering him with her thin jacket. She held his head on her lap until the pilot steadied the shuttle and before them laid the twinkling stars of endless black. They had made it. That much, she was sure of.
"My friend needs a medic." Jyn left Cassian lying behind her, and climbed onto the passenger seat beside the pilot.
"I know. Give me an hour."
"An hour?"
"Even with the punch, that's the best I can do."
Jyn faced the pilot squarely and studied him, giving him none of the pretense of propriety or decorum. She couldn't mask the distrust of the mysterious man, regardless of how he had managed to save her life just now. And her life was in his hands, of a fact she did not like one bit. With a frustrated huff, she took in his fair complexion, dark grey eyes, tight thin lips, and robust shoulders. He looked to be close to her age, which only forced her to remember her own age of twenty-two. Her thoughts trailed off to Cassian, wondering how old he was…
"You done sizing me up?" The pilot grinned and winked at her, which heightened her peaked nerves and she weighed whether it was simply easier to kill him.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Bastian. I was your father's pilot."
"What…"
"Yup. It was me and Bodhi…" His voice broke off with trembling uncertainty, at the memory of the fallen friend, and he nodded at the consciousness of Jyn's scrutinizing eyes. "Your father gave each of us a job. Bodhi did his job, and I'm doing mine."
"What's your job?"
"Galen asked me to keep you alive when you came to Scarif."
"How…how did you know I'd come to Scarif?"
"I didn't. But your father did."
"So…you just waited…until I showed up?"
"Yup. I promised your father I would."
"But…how…?"
"When you're an Imperial pilot, you blend right in."
"I don't believe you…" Jyn stuttered hastily, uncertain as to why she didn't want to believe him, why her first instinct was to fight his words. "Why should I believe you? How do you expect me to believe any of this? For all I know, you could be flying us straight to the Imperial death sentence…"
"Look…you can trust me." He threw his hands up in feigned surrender, "I risked my own life to save your ass back there, so the least you can do is give me a chance."
"I have no reason to trust you."
"Feisty. Galen could've given me a warning about you."
Jyn chose to ignore his veiled jest, firmly electing to keep him at well-warned distance. "Where are we headed?"
"Curah."
"Never heard of it."
"That's why we're going there." Bastian smiled at her unassumingly, "It's a small planet in the outskirts, mainly of dry red desert, completely useless to the Imperial. It's quiet there, and we intend to keep it that way."
"My friend, he's hurt badly…" Jyn looked back at the still figure of Cassian lying on the cot, "If he dies in your hands, I'll kill you myself."
"Woah, woah…relax…" He turned to her with disquieting ease, "Captain Cassian Andor is…"
"How do you know who he is? How do you know his name?"
"Your faces were plastered all over the system as soon as you locked yourselves in the vault. Hence, the reason to stake down low at Curah."
"No…"
"Unfortunately, yes…" He shrugged his shoulders in mild concern, "It's one thing to escape Scarif, it's another to keep your head as an Imperial criminal. But no reason to fear, Galen knew this would happen and he prepared a hideout for you at Curah. Just didn't expect you to bring a friend."
"He goes wherever I go."
"Alright, alright…that much is clear…crystal clear."
. . . . .
"We're here."
Jyn jolted awake at Bastian's call, herself alarmed that she had let down her guard and succumbed to sleep. She simply nodded her head at Bastian, and turned her attention to Cassian in still slumber by her knees. She laid her hand gently upon his cheek, and he felt cold and clammy to her touch. He shuddered and muttered something incoherently, and she held onto his body with heart's desperation, "Hold on just a little longer…"
The shuttle landed with a soft thud, and when the door opened it was the darkest night with not a light flickering in the distance. An older man appeared midst the dry wind, and he quickly sized up Cassian slumped at her side. Jyn watched him as he touched for Cassian's pulse, and quickly called out, "Let's get him inside."
Jyn and the older man carried Cassian into a house that appeared to be a mound of dry land, and inside an older woman was seen clearing a long table, "Here, lay him here. Quickly."
Everything was happening too fast for Jyn, as the older couple took over Cassian and proceeded to undress him in the frenzy. The woman brought a small device that blinked and buzzed, and she held the device over Cassian with robotic precision. Jyn cried out to the woman in panic, "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Step back, it'll be alright." Bastian touched her arm in caution, but she breathlessly flicked off his hand.
"No, you tell me what you're doing to him."
"This device checks for internal damage, such as broken bones, bleeding…" The older woman replied calmly but swiftly, "We've got to do this quickly."
"Let me…" She scoffed at the device that was unfamiliar to her, but she couldn't just allow them to take over Cassian, "Let me take his clothes off."
Jyn pushed away the older man and took over unbuttoning Cassian's shirt, cringing and crying with horror at the sight of two large welts at both sides of his lower abdomen. Jyn looked over to his face, of his cold and sweaty forehead, and she fought back the tears that welled up at the thought of losing him, of surviving any of this without him. "Cassian…Cassian…"
"He's alive…" The older woman gently guided Jyn to step back, "And he's going to be alive. You've just got to let me do my job."
Jyn wasn't aware, but Bastian had also pulled her back as the couple resumed their care upon Cassian. The woman operated the device over his chest and abdomen, and she turned to Jyn with a slight smile, "Thankfully no bones broken or internal bleeding. Muscles are severely bruised, but I've got just what he needs to remedy that."
. . . . . .
"Jyn…" His voice was hoarse and cracked with heavy fatigue, and his eyes searched for her with alarm and distress, until she stood from her chair and stroked his arm.
"I'm here..." Cassian's skin felt warm and soft to her touch, a marked difference from not two hours ago when he was sweating cold bullets. The hot compress prepared by the older woman had soothed his wounds, and now his cheeks emanated a shade of rose designating return of certain measurable health.
"What's happened?"
"You slept for two hours…"
"I mean…" Cassian's eyes explored the surroundings with widened bewilderment, "Where are we?"
"We're at…Curah."
"Curah? Never heard of it." Cassian attempted to sit up, but his own pain cautioned against it, "Where's the…pilot?"
"Next room, with the others."
"Others?"
"Cassian…" Jyn pressed down his chest to convince him to lie down again, "You need to rest…"
"Do you have a blaster on you?"
"No."
"Great…" Cassian attempted to get up again, even with a muffled groan and clenched teeth, "We need to get out of here."
"Cassian, you're in no condition to walk, let alone make it off this table."
"She's right, Captain Andor. I suggest you stay right where you are." At the stern voice of the older woman, both Cassian and Jyn turned to face the door that swung open. There at the doorway stood the three strangers whom Jyn felt have met a lifetime ago.
But Cassian was never one to be easily persuaded by mere words, "If you knew who we were, you'd let us go."
"We know who you are, and you're not going anywhere."
"The hell we're not…" Cassian managed to gather his weak legs to kick off the table, and held out his hand to Jyn, "You ready?"
"Captain Andor…" Now it was Bastian's turn to address the irascible patient, "You will stay right where you are, until we have a word with Jyn…alone."
"What…" Jyn looked searchingly at the three, "A word? Alone?"
"Yes." Bastian motioned with an impatient flicker toward the opened door, "Right this way."
"No." Jyn recoiled at the thought of being separated from Cassian, and promptly held his hand that was stretched out for her to take, "Whatever you have to tell me, you can tell me in front of him."
"That's not possible." Bastian stated firmly, with furtive glances at the couple that had remained eerily silent, "Jyn, you must come with me."
"No. Cassian stays with me." Jyn declared resolutely, and squeezed Cassian's hand to reassure the situation, "We stay together."
"Very well, then." The serene voice of the older woman startled the company into wordlessness, just as she turned to Bastian, "Get the message."
"But…it's only for Jyn."
"Bastian, Jyn is no longer operating as one person."
"I can't…I promised…"
"It's alright. Go get it, or I will."
That must've been the last and final push that persuaded Bastian, as he trudged to the room and reappeared with a small transmitter in his hands. With a tint of reluctance, he set it up on the very table that Cassian had laid on. He flicked on the switch, and it reverberated softly with life. Then he faced Jyn with a whisper of dour countenance, "Jyn…this is from your father. He had instructed me to show it to you once you've arrived at Curah."
Jyn stared at the transmitter until it emanated a faint grainy light of blue hue, with an undeniable form of her father. He had saved her a hologram.
"Jyn, if you can see this, that means you've made it out alive from Scarif and for that I am grateful beyond words can express. I am proud of the work you have achieved, and I am at peace knowing that my mission in life had come to full fruition, all because of you. How I wish I can share this moment with you, as we look forward to the new hope, to the future where remains life holding my daughter in my own arms. Jyn, I want nothing more than for your safety, for you to live beyond this circumstance, to live to experience the hope I long for. For that purpose, I've arranged the living quarters where you stand at this moment. I will assume you've already met my trusted pilot, Bastian. And standing in front of you are Sewald and Marda Petrom, my dear friends whom I've given instructions to take care of you. Accept them into your arms as I have, and trust them as I have. I hope they will be a family to you, as they have been to me. My dear Jyn, my dear stardust, live long if only for me, if only to assuage my aching heart for you."