A/N: SO… I'm in denial. Very strong, passionate denial. Knowing myself, I'm never gonna get over that denial, because I love too deeply the souls of characters for them to ever truly dead in my eyes. For once, I'm going to do something with that denial and maybe feel better about it. Just this once, everybody lives. They might have to die first, though. Bear with me. Feel free to review if you like, but if you need to read as much as possible in as little time as possible, I completely understand.
The brightest stars have hearts of Kyber,
And how beautifully your work did shine!
The Force cried when it all went out
And thought to let the spark of Kyber live again.
Prologue:
When the explosion hit, Jyn did not feel it. The Energy shock wave had killed her and Cassian before the physical movement could shift the sand beneath them an inch. That isn't to say she did not feel at all the moment the matter of her being was destroyed, just that the feeling wasn't connected to the nerves of the body when it happened. Nor did it mean that she was one hundred percent wiped from the universe, either.
The Force is a little funny about that kind of thing sometimes.
It is especially funny when the ones that serve it so dutifully, to keep it balanced, to guard its will, are the ones asking it to be.
Before the explosion that took Jyn and Cassian, before Baze and Bodhi could watch a grenade explode just a bit too close, Chirrut Îmwe, Guardian of the Whills, was shot and became the closest one could be with the Force. Immediately every jedi and guardian and sentience with an ounce of desire to see the Force balanced who had already passed cried out for his return to life. Chirrut just smiled, content to do as the Force instructed.
When Bodhi joined him minutes later, the chorus grew louder, much to the cargo pilot's surprise.
It only gained strength with the arrival of Baze, who met Chirrut's smile with a sigh.
Jyn and Cassian returned together, still wrapped in each other's arms and the Kyber crystal, still around Jyn's neck, burning with the heat of a supernova between them. As it cooled, the cries of the dead drowned out everything but itself.
And the Force acquiesced.