Chapter 10 – Both A Little Scared
As soon as Cassian and the rest of the Imperial squad finish searching through the village for any remaining inhabitants, they collect some of the inhabitants' belongings that were left behind that would be useful for them, then set fire to the huts before heading back to their landspeeders.
The sun's beginning to set, and Cassian reluctantly takes a seat in Avena's speeder while she plops down beside him. Cassian tries to push the image of the young man he shot out of his mind. Instead, he remembers why he's even going through with this...for Jyn's protection. He tries to focus on their surroundings. Somehow...somehow, he has to figure out a way for Jyn to escape the labor camp and get away from there. If he was able to find a way for her to run away from there, what would she be running into?
"Where to next?" Cassian asks, masking his rage towards her for what she's made him do while she starts up the speeder. He can't pick a fight with her with the threat of her hurting Jyn looming.
"You'll find out," she simply says before pushing a few buttons and accelerating them out of the wooded area. They appear to backtrack a bit, nearing the forest, then veering into another direction for a little while over open, grassy land.
They approach another area of woodlands, where they weave through the trees and soon reach a large clearing where a run-down building stands. Cassian peers at it curiously, wondering what building this is. It looks deserted and certainly isn't visited often.
As they pull up along the side of it, they enter a hangar that's attached to the building, where Avena parks the speeder.
Cassian jumps out of the speeder, looking around at the hangar as the rest of the Imperials pull in in their speeders. In the middle of it, he notices two light freighters and wonders if anyone else is here.
"There are some bunks here that we'll spend the night in," Avena informs him.
Cassian grabs his knapsack out of the speeder and tosses it over his shoulder while Avena collects her things. When she walks off, he follows her.
They head to the other end of the hangar, where they go down a corridor into the attached building. They only walk a short distance when Avena stops and points to a door. "You and the rest of the men will stay in there."
Cassian nods, then walks through the doorway. The room contains a few bunk beds, but other than that, it's empty. Picking a bottom bunk, he tosses his sack onto it. It's then that two of the other male Imperial officers walk in, laughing boisterously over some kind of joke one of them told.
One of them comes up behind Cassian. "Mind if I take the top bunk?" he asks.
Cassian shakes his head. "Go ahead."
While the officer climbs up to his bed, Cassian decides to take a chance to find out more about this place. He's not sure if all the officers are aware that he isn't a true Imperial officer or if Avena only informed a select few.
"What is this place?" Cassian asks.
"Oh, I forgot you're new here," the man replies. "There used to be an Imperial training academy here. It was torn down, but they left the hangar here in case it's needed. We store fuel and tools here as well for when we're this far out. And then when we need to occasionally stay the night out here, there's these rooms. "
Cassian nods in understanding. "Are others here? I noticed those two ships in the hangar when we arrived."
"Oh, no. Those light freighters are older models, but still in working condition," the other officer answers from the next bunk over. "They're just kept here for emergency situations, if for whatever reason, we can't use the ships at the camp's hangar."
Cassian lays down on his bed, and looks thoughtfully up at the bunk above him.
As she stands in the ballroom in her long ebony dress, Jyn can't help but feel tense despite the sounds of a soothing, pleasant song being played. Where is he, where is he, where is he, the words repeat in her mind over and over again.
While she looks out at all of the Empire supporters in the crowd, searching for his face, she's caught by surprise when a pair of hands suddenly press against her hips and spin her around. Looking up, she finds Cassian in a black suit staring back at her.
He slides his one hand so it presses against her back, while his other hand grasps her palm as he leads them further onto the ballroom floor. The touch sends chills down her spine.
"I was worried about you," she remarks in a hushed tone as she raises her arm to place it atop his shoulder. "What took you so long?"
Cassian begins leading their bodies to move in time with the music. "Well, in trying to distract Krennic, he decided he wanted take me on a tour of this palace," he whispers back with a glance at the ballroom's grandeur that surrounded them. "It took a while."
"Did you get the Death Star plans?" he adds discreetly as he leans his head forward to the side of her face.
She nods, feeling the tightness of the holster around her thigh beneath her dress that is currently carrying the disk with the plans.
"Okay, we'll just need to remain here for a little while, so no one gets suspicious," he tells her.
"So in the meantime, we'll just...dance?" Jyn asks.
"If that's what you'd like."
Jyn gives his hand a squeeze and stares in his brown eyes. "I would like that very much," she says softly.
She pulls his body closer to hers as they spin across the floor for at least two more songs. It's like she's completely forgotten about the rebellion and the task at hand. All that matters is her and Cassian in this moment.
It's while they wait for the third song to commence that someone taps her on the shoulder from behind. "May I cut in?" a female voice says.
She turns to see Avena Ludu waiting expectantly. Without waiting for Jyn's reply, Avena pushes her hand off of his shoulder and pulls apart their intertwined hands.
At the loss of contact, Jyn feels cold and lonely. It's as if a winter chill blew through the room. The lights in the room are suddenly extinguished, leaving nothing but darkness.
"Cassian! CASSIAN!" she cries out, just before she stumbles and falls to the ground…
Jyn jolts awake at the sensation of falling, breathing heavily. She looks out into her cell of darkness. It appears it isn't even close to wake-up call yet, as she hears the snores of other nearby inmates.
She sits up in her bed and runs her fingers through her hair.
What a strange dream...dancing with Cassian...
Cassian had been gone for only a day. But dare she say she...may miss him? Perhaps that's what triggered the dream, which featured random events and people from their history?
Since being at this labor camp, she'd eaten her meals alone plenty of times and spent many days working in solitude, hardly speaking a word to anyone.
But today, Cassian was gone. They may have only recently started eating meals together and talking, but it already felt as if something was missing.
There had been something comforting about the fact that he was looking after her and being a friend to her...that she isn't alone as she struggles to recall the memories of her recent past while being trapped in a labor camp. That she isn't alone, period.
Because for most of her life, she's been on her own. Cassian may have told her that in the time they've known each other, they had their squad in getting the Death Star plans that sounded like a familial unit. But in her current state, she doesn't truly know what that was like and what that felt like.
She'd been part of Saw's rebels, but she never truly felt like they were all bonded together. She was still on her own despite being a part of a group...especially considering they just up and abandoned her one day.
It's almost alarming that she's found such comfort in Cassian's presence...and his touch. Whenever they'd grab hands, it always put her at ease. In the dream, she'd pulled him closer as they danced...was that a reflection of what she really wanted? To be closer to him?
Was during a time of war really the proper time to long for and have such things? All she's ever known is this war - and trying to avoid it. And all Cassian's life has evidently been is being involved in this war.
What if he up and leaves her, just like everyone else in her life, to continue to be a part of this war?
No, they can just stick to being comrades who help each other out. No need to long for anything more than that.
If only things were different...
Remembering Avena's appearance in her dream, she still wonders what she could possibly have on Cassian that makes him go along with what she asks of him. Thinking back to when she first "met" Cassian at this camp, she tries to recall all of her encounters with him and with Avena.
That first day, Cassian came to her cell along with Avena. And when Jyn asked who he was...how did Avena look? She knew Cassian was confused and hurt...but she must have been so focused on trying to figure out who he was that she never noticed how Avena reacted.
Then, when she was shot by the prisoner who tried to escape, Cassian told Avena that she needed to be taken to the medical center, but Avena brushed him off. Later, when Avena eventually had ordered for her to be taken there, she said she couldn't receive any bacta treatment, outraging Cassian...And that same day was when she was taken to the West Wing and forced to watch Cassian shoot the prisoner who attempted to escape. At the time, she didn't understand the purpose of her being there…
And that was when Avena seem to give her a significant glance. Cassian had been hesitating to shoot before that, but it wasn't until after Avena looked back at her that Cassian immediately took the blaster from her hands...
Then that evening, Cassian managed to bring her some bacta patches.
The day after, they worked out in the fields, where the stormtrooper said he was following orders to take her into the forest for no reason. He'd also informed her that Avena felt she didn't need a weapon to defend herself. Then, they were attacked by those beasts, and Avena once more ordered no bacta for her injuries.
And when she faked her visit to the medical center to see Cassian, what did he tell her after she thanked him for saving her life?
"Trust me, this is all my fault."
How could he have been at fault?
And now, whenever Avena appears, she has to act like she despises Cassian...and Cassian is hesitant to explain to her why. He won't even tell her why he goes along with her orders either.
She can't pinpoint exactly what's going on, but she realizes…
It must have something to do with me.
For Cassian, it's another day consisting of destruction, murder, and fire.
They'd invaded three small villages of rebel sympathizers located throughout the nearby woodlands that day. Cassian had been dreading the attacks, but he'd only been forced to kill two people that day...less than what he had been anticipating. He'd feared he'd be forced to kill many more but many of the villagers had escaped before the squad of Imperials arrived, most likely having heard about the other villages that had been destroyed.
The second man he'd killed that day is currently a short distance away from him, lying face down in the mud. Cassian lets his blaster hang at his side as watches the blood gradually cease its flowing from the man's back.
This is all my fault.
Avena had been beside him when he shot him, coercing him of course, by constantly bringing up Jyn's name.
As if he needed any reminder for why he's doing this. Jyn's all that runs through his mind.
She's all he has left. He can't stand the thought of her being tortured...or losing her.
As he looks around at the now burned up remnants and debris of the village, he spots Avena talking with Rolfe, another Imperial officer. Her back is towards Cassian as she focuses on the datapad Rolfe's currently showing her.
Cassian tightens his grip on the blaster at his side as he stares at her. Waves of anger rage within him. He glances around for something he can use to shield himself. Finding a large boulder nearby, he scans around him to ensure no one is paying attention to him as he makes his way over to it. He's careful not to let his feet scrape against the gravel on the ground so as to not make a sound.
He kneels down behind the boulder and peeks his head out over the top of it, eyes resting on his target.
Firmly holding the blaster, he lifts his arm to lay it on top of the rock. He could take Avena out right now. Be rid of her threats against Jyn and her vengeance.
And he could take out Rolfe too so he wouldn't know what he'd done.
What if I killed them now and then be done with it?
What if, what if, what if...
His finger hovers over the trigger as he continues to watch Avena and Rolfe quietly talk.
But then he recalls Avena's threat…
"If I die on this mission, I've ensured that Jyn will be killed."
Was it an empty threat? He wasn't sure...and he certainly couldn't risk it.
Slowly, he loosens his grip on the weapon and puts it in his holster that's attached to his belt.
He leans his forehead up against the rock and closes his eyes.
He can't take this anymore. Jyn needs to be freed.
Immediately.
Taking a deep breath, the gears in his mind turn as he begins to put together a plan.
A/N: Sooo we'll find out who was watching Cassian in the last chapter in a little while, but at least I eliminated Jyn as a possibility? :)
Thanks for reading (as usual)! I was pretty tired while editing and proofreading this chapter. Apologies for any errors!