A/N: So I had to put this all together. (I was mainly getting impatient with the story, and wanted to get this part done) Thereby, you now have a longer next chapter. Some of the consequences of being too stuck to what she had done in the past will really affect what happens now.
He heard the young woman calling herself Jyn Erso being escorted in to him. Slowly, Saw turned to the young woman, still hooded. With a nod from him, the escort removed the hood. A feeling akin to what he would assume as fatherly pride spread through his chest when he saw the small woman standing before him. She had the lift of arrogance, the pride of Lyra, with the warm eyes of her father. Even the years of being with Saw, and then the shorter years on her own couldn't quell the warmth of heart her father had bred in her. And it would always be her downfall. Another reason he had to get her away from him. Away from his people.
The weary ghost of a man could hardly believe his eyes. "Is it really you?"
"Surprised to see me?" There was no mistaking the venom in her voice, and it cut the older man to his core.
"Are we not still friends?" His hope hung on her answer. She could break him for the final time, or make him whole again. In her eyes, there was a conflict, an unknown battle behind them. Something clicked and they hardened.
"You left me. Abandoned me in a bunker with a loaded blaster and instructions not to come out till daylight. Bit of a shock to find out I was alone."
Did she not see it? Had she not noticed the too-long stares from her fellow rebels? Or the quiet dissenting whispers and furtive glances thrown her way?
"You were capable of taking care of yourself."
"I was 15!"
And she was a liability. At 15, Saw could no longer protect her. Many wanted her as a hostage. And as long as he protected her, his strength of leadership was weakened. What would have happened to the Rebellion then?
"There were whispers. Others who wanted to use you. Bargain with your life."
In her eyes he could see nothing. Saw tottered on the precipice, preparing for his soul to shatter on the pieces of his legacy below. Then the girl turned away. In the motion, there was a piece of forgiveness. He hung on to it with all he had. Regaining his sense of reality, he grabbed at his mask, breathing deeply from it.
"Why are you here, Jyn?"
"I'm here to make an introduction for the Alliance. They wanted an introduction; they got one."
His eyes narrowed. This didn't make sense.
"The galaxy is coming undone, Jyn. The Imperial flags reign across the galaxy. You care not for the Cause?"
She shrugged, a little too forced. "It's not a problem if you don't look up."
This was too staged. This didn't fit the woman who proudly used her true name to strangers to protect those with her. Or the young man's determination to protect her, both in the city as well as in his cell. He had heard of it all.
"And of your friends? What would happen now?"
"I've done my part. I'll just go on my way. The rest is up to you all."
No. This is all wrong. Saw felt betrayed. She may have been disinterested previously, but her actions were not matching up. And she was giving him no choice. He needed the truth. There were far too many traitors recently— even for Jyn he could make no exceptions.
"Two Tubes;" the Tognath reappeared from where he had slunk into the corners, "The spy. Bor Gullet."
Jyn's eyes were wild, back and forth between the two. "Bor Gullet? What's Bor Gullet?"
From behind a curtain at the back of the room, emerged Cassian, restrained and gagged, led by another guard.
"Take them both down there," Saw turned back to Jyn. "You have been lying to me."
"No! I haven't said a thing that was untrue." In Jyn's face, he could see a desperation. She knew what happened to those who lied to him. So what was the truth? He wished he knew. Either way, Bor Gullet would know the truth.
Cassian was dragged out of the room, Jyn in tow. Deep in the catacombs, they emerged into a room, light almost solely by daylight filtering in from a solitary high window. The rest was dark and murky. A cage locked out the majority of the room, and the door was opened to allow Cassian to be led in. Jyn was held at blaster point, forced to watch rather than be a part. Restrained to a chair at one end of the room, he was left by his captors. The door was swung shut and locked. Saw appeared at Jyn's side.
"What's going on?" Cassian heard her ask. Next to him, he saw a dim blue light fixture flicker on and cast it's pale light.
"You both have lied to me," Saw was behind him, but the captain still recognized his voice. "I can no longer afford liars among me. I need to know the truth. Bor Gullet will find it out for me."
"Why him?" There was something in her voice. Something he couldn't quite pinpoint.
"Because it is my choice." He heard her start to counter, when Cassian spotted the glossy nature of what was before him started to slither out of the darkness. There was a hushed silence that fell over all present.
"What- What's going to happen? Saw- what's going to happen?"
The man didn't respond.
This was to be some form of persuasion, truth serum, or torture. He had been trained for this, and time and again proven true to his training. By the time he felt the first of the tentacles reach his ankle, Cassian's mental walls were up. And when the first tentacle contacted the side of this face, and the first probe brushed his mental defenses, he was already envisioning his most innocent memories.
As the creature wrapped its tentacles around his body, in his mind, he felt gentle nudges into his defenses. However, once the second tentacle reached the side of Cassian's face, the gentleness was gone. With the force of a red-hot pike, the creature attempted to press into the deep recesses of his memories. The gentle probing had caused Cassian to be lulled, his eyes closing.
This new attack, his eyes shot open and he gritted his teeth, setting his jaw. With every attempt, the force increased. And with every one, he redoubled his efforts. He clung to his "throwaway memories". Gifts given by friends as a child. Playing in the snow on Fest. Meanwhile, while the creature played with those small memories, he would hastily repair the weakness the creature had created.
On one particularly long lull in attack, he could start to make out the sounds and sights again around him.
Jyn: "Stop it! It's useless. You're getting nowhere! This is just sadistic and parano—"
A sound of flesh hitting flesh, followed by metal.
The Tognath: "You don't speak like that to Saw Gerrera!"
He heard her growl.
Saw: "His training is making this worse, Jyn. You both have brought this upon yourselves."
Then pain. Extreme, excruciating pain. In his lack of attention, the creature had redoubled it's efforts. The red-hot pain seared through his skull from temple to temple. While he wasn't sure, there was a good chance that a scream had slipped from his lips. The creature dug through and discarded memories. It moved through his mind as a careless robber would a house he was looking for something hidden in.
Tucked in, his mother kissing his forehead.
discarded.
Anger, seething fury at his father's new uniform.
discarded.
First kiss at 15.
discarded.
The creature was nearing the memories he was under oath to keep. He found new strength to lock the creature out. It pried, pulled and pushed to get to them. Little ones started slipping through the hole the creature was creating.
Draven giving him his first mission as an Intelligence officer.
kept.
His first assasination.
kept.
K-2SO, his salve for the death of his first kiss.
kept.
A beach, with a too-bright sunset.
kept.
Stardust, and a body pressed to his.
kept.
The ground shook. Jyn knew it was too late. Fury fueled her, and she struck out with an open palm into the respirator of the Tognath, destroying it. Oddly enough, she had no feeling of guilt as it gasped and clutched at it's face. She pulled the blaster from its holster and aimed it squarely at the remaining of Saw's rebels, debilitating them. She knew they would all die soon, but she preferred if it wasn't at her hands. Finally she lined up Saw in her sights. With a pause, she lowered it. Tears were starting to brim.
"Open the door. We're all going to die. I'd prefer to die with Cassian."
For the first time, she saw clarity in the old Rebel's eyes. He nodded once. The creature had frightened back some of the way due to the explosion in the distance. She encouraged it's flight by shooting the blue light. If she had to, she would shoot it, but wasn't sure what that would do to Cassian if she did. As the Force would have it, the light did the trick.
As Bor Gullet slid back into it's darkness, Cassian's head lolled. Shooting the restraints away, she half-carried, half-dragged him out of the cell. She cradled his restless head in her lap. His eyes opened as the vibration of the incoming explosion neared, and they wandered the room aimlessly.
"Cassian." She spoke quietly, and was repaid by his eyes finding hers and locking with them.
He opened his mouth to start and she shook her head. "Cassian, it'll all be ok. Just stay with me, ok?"
The captain refused to be silent.
"The beach… Jyn… I remember. The beach… with you."
Her eyes grew wide, and her heart pounded.
"You remember?" She practically whispered.
"The beach… Stardust… a fall… Scarif…." His eyes became unfocused and started to wander again, his mind a jumbled mess.
How could he remember? The world shook harder, and masonry started breaking lose around her. It didn't matter right now. A skull rolled to her side and stared up at her. It was close. Time to start again. She held Cassian close and placed a kiss on his forehead. This time no pretend. It was time to admit who she was now. Who all of this had changed her to. She was ready for it. Forehead to forehead she closed her eyes, as the ground buckled underneath them, and darkness overcame them.
A/N pt. 2: and so we start fresh again... but to what point will she be sent...? Tune in tomorrow as we find out!