Twenty-five years ago
"Two hundred hours of community service," the judge announces, smacking the gavel down. "And if you wind up in the system one more time before you turn eighteen, Miss Erso, you'll be looking at time in a juvenile facility."
Jyn glowers at him. There goes her summer. Although, now that she thinks about it, it's not as if she had other plans.
She presumes that running away also counts as violating her terms. Spending another night filthy in a holding cell, where some ugly girl twice Jyn's size held a carved knife to her neck doesn't appeal. More time in Wobani juvenile hall is the last thing Jyn wants. She'd lose her sanity after five days.
Saw Gerrera wheezes when he sees her, ever-present oxygen tank there beside him. At least they didn't take her away from him.
If he dies…
"You'll start your work in the morning," Mon Mothma, her caseworker, tells her, red hair clipped short. Jyn barely nods. She doesn't much like being stuck in this stupid tourist town. "Seven am."
"That early?"
Mothma bites back with looks like a snort, as if she's actually amused, which would be a first for Jyn—amusing an adult. "Yes. That early."
"What kind of service?" Jyn demands, crossing her arms as she slouches, waiting for Saw.
Mothma clears her throat. "You'll be volunteering at Yavin's daycare for underprivileged kids."
Fantastic. Jyn presses her head against the wall.
"There's another boy in your neighborhood who also volunteers."
"So he's a criminal too?" Jyn asks sarcastically. Because that's what Jyn is. Possession of stolen goods. Aggravated assault. Resisting arrest.
All guilty.
"Cassian Andor volunteers," Mothma says. "Although he's also a foster—"
Another dumped kid. Although unlike Jyn, he's clearly trying to earn back his favor with the world even though it clearly couldn't give a shit about him.
"I'll ask him to take you in the morning," Mothma adds.
Jyn doesn't care. She can't wait to go home and try and sleep. Except, when she does, she sees her mother falling to the ground, her father holding her, she hears the shot, and she hears the ticking of a clock in the hospital and then the police station and at her home, when her father started working longer and longer days, avoiding her.
Running away didn't even make him fight to keep her. He didn't even show up today.
Saw at least sees her.
But he's dying, too. Car accident. Lung cancer. The universe hates her.
Jyn turns down dinner. The next morning, she grabs a pack of pop-tarts and waits on the front steps like Mothma told her too—along with an invitation to call her Mon, which Jyn turned down because it's way too similar to another name, another woman—for this goody-two-shoes to show up.
Jyn tugs on the necklace Mom gave her, the night she died. She doesn't want to think about that now.
"What would your mother think?" coaxed her caseworker.
"She doesn't think," Jyn answered. "She's dead."
"Hey," says a voice above her.
Jyn lifts her head—when did she put it down?—to see a Latino boy with dark scruff on his chin looking down at her.
"Cassian Andor," he introduces himself. "You must be—"
"Jyn," she says. Although when they first arrested her and she gave the name Liana Hallick, she hoped they'd never find her real name. Unfortunately it didn't take them very long.
Cassian nods, regarding her. Jyn stares right back at him. The sun scalds her scalp and her neck. "Let's get going."
"Cassian!" calls another kid, tall and gangly, as he runs up to them. The streets are coated in pollen. Jyn coughs.
"This is Kaytoo," Cassian introduces.
"You must be the girl who's doing community service," Kaytoo says. "With kids. I think that's a bad idea, and so does Cassian."
Jyn whirls around to glare at Cassian, who doesn't even flinch. "Fine then," Jyn says.
Why did you say that, Kay? Cassian knows why. Kay has no filter. At all.
He feels sorry for the girl. It's really unfair to her as well as to the kids. But she looks at him like she hates him now, and guilt nibbles at him because he can't exactly blame her. Given the little Draven told him about her, she has ample enough reason to distrust people, and now he's given her another one.
Cassian leads the way through the maze of streets, hoping Jyn doesn't kick him in the back.
They arrive at the building, short and squat, with two browning palm trees planted outside it. Paint chips from the sign advertising their hours, and the pavement's pitted and cracked. "I know it doesn't look like much."
Jyn cocks an eyebrow. "So are you gonna take us inside?"
"Hey," blurts out another voice from behind them. A long-haired, Middle-eastern boy jogs up, a huge grin on his face. "Are you volunteering here too?"
"They are," Jyn says, jerking her thumb. "I'm just doing community service."
"Oh," the boy says, blinking. "So am I. Community service, I mean."
"Bodhi Rook?" Cassian asks, digging through his pocket for the keys.
"What are you, some kind of supervisor?" Jyn taunts.
He meets her gaze. "Yes."
"Things make more sense now," she snaps.
Cassian scowls as he yanks open the door. This is going to be an awful month. Bodhi's blabbering to Jyn about how he likes working with kids, and Cassian remembers the file he looked at. Bodhi's crimes appear to be more other people taking advantage and manipulating him rather than malice.
Then again, Jyn doesn't look malicious either. She looks like a fighter.
Kaytoo retrieves their nametags, handing them over. Jyn's lip curls in disgust.
"My name's spelled right," Bodhi says in appreciation.
"They'll be here within the hour," Cassian says, glancing at the clock. "As will Raddus, our supervisor. But there are two kids who come regularly who have ADHD, and their parents recommend letting them run around in the back for a bit—"
"Do you actually have a yard?" Jyn asks.
"We have a fenced-in blacktop," Cassian retorts. She nods.
"I'll take them," Jyn volunteers.
Cassian blinks. He'd been about to say he would do it and they'd have to turn to Raddus or Kaytoo for direction.
"How do you know she won't run off?" Kaytoo questions.
Cassian winces, but it's a legitimate point. "I'll take them."
"Trust goes both ways," Jyn says, arms crossed, and the words land like rocks inside Cassian's stomach.
"Fine," he acquiesces.
"That is a bad idea," Kaytoo declares.
"Shut up," Cassian snaps as he pushes past, heading to get the toast ready for breakfast. Raddus arrives moments later and greets both Jyn and Bodhi with cheer, clearly delighting Bodhi and taking Jyn aback. Kids start streaming in, and while Bodhi dives right in, Jyn stands stiff, clearly not sure what to do. Not that Kaytoo has ever been any better.
When Pendra and her brother arrive, Cassian nods at her. "That's them."
"Okay." Jyn heads over, crouching down and inviting them to come out back. Pendra skips along.
"God save those kids," Kaytoo mutters.
Only five minutes passes before Cassian hears the squeal of tires, and the crash.
"What was that?" Kaytoo cries out.
A two-year-old starts crying. Bodhi grabs the kid. "Shh, it's okay."
Cassian flies outside as Raddus barks for Kaytoo to stay put.
Jyn heard the tires, but she never saw the car. All she saw was Pendra pushing her way out of the fence—shit, it's not locked? What good is a fence if it's not even bloody locked?—and the wide open street in front of the little girl.
Jyn didn't think to yell. Her legs pumping, she charged for the girl, grabbing her just as a car slammed on the horn and the brakes. Jyn threw Pendra to the side and jumped to the side.
Her palms burn, and her knee stings. Her elbow aches. Cursing, Jyn pries herself up and feels a foot land in her stomach. And she hears the crying.
Oh, right. Jyn pulls herself and then Pendra to her feet. The car must have just missed them.
Shit.
"What the hell, girl?" bellows an older man who looks vaguely familiar to Jyn. He's wearing a white suit that seems to scream summer fashion to Jyn. He slams the door to his vehicle, the front of which appears to have been torn apart by the fence.
Jyn's still wheezing. "Would you rather have hit—"
"You should make sure your brats are kept inside! Isn't that the point of a fence?"
"We're sorry!" cries out Cassian, leaping out and blocking her view of the man. "It was an accident."
"Hmph."
Cassian glances behind him. "You okay?"
She nods. Pendra's still screaming.
"Get her inside," Cassian orders, and while she hates obeying anyone, she doesn't have the energy to protest.
"Wow," Bodhi says when she staggers in, blood dripping from the gash in her elbow. "Are you—"
Kaytoo grabs Pendra, checking her over. As far as Jyn knows, the girl only has a small scrape. She's lucky. Jyn slumps down on a small stool, rummaging for a band-aid.
Cassian comes inside while Raddus goes out. Jyn cranes her neck. "No one told me the gate was open."
"That's because it shouldn't have been," Cassian says, white-faced.
"If you're going to blame—"
"I'm not blaming you." He looks at her with his eyes wide and lips open.
Are you impressed? Jyn's taken aback. She almost feels bad for the five dollars she pocketed from his wallet while he made breakfast.
Cassian mutters something in Spanish and turns back to the kids. Clearly they don't have time to waste on what ifs when they have kids that need them.
If only her father had bothered to learn that.
The day over, Cassian locks up and leaves. Raddus assured him he'll take care of things with Krennic. Knowing that man, he's not above suing a daycare for underprivileged children.
Jyn and Bodhi both did pretty well, even after that. Jyn read to Pendra for almost an hour, the girl situated on her lap, and Bodhi and Jyn seem to be getting along well enough.
"So," Bodhi says as they head down the street, empty even though it's tourist season because no tourists hang out in this part of town. "If your last name is Erso, are you related to Galen by any chance?"
Jyn stiffens. Cassian studies her, curious.
"He's my father," Jyn says.
"Your Galen's daughter?" Bodhi's eyes widen. "He's—"
"He might as well have abandoned me after Mom died," Jyn cuts in. "That's why I live with Saw Gerrera now."
"Galen Erso's your father?" Cassian repeats. "Then—that Krennic, the one who almost hit Pendra—he's good friends with your father. They work together at least."
Jyn shakes her head. "He's barely seen me in years. He's been gone on business trips for so many months that I was living with Saw Gerrera before I was legally living with Saw. Saw's more of my father than he is."
I see. Cassian frowns.
"He helped me," Bodhi says quietly.
Jyn spins to face him. Kaytoo sucks in his breath.
"He's the one who convinced me to go to the police," Bodhi blabbers. "I was helping—well—with illegal things, at the casinos, because I needed the money because my family—I want to go to college and be a pilot—and so—but it was wrong and I felt so guilty—Galen told me I could make things right, if I was brave enough to listen to what was in my heart."
Jyn's eyes dart around. Cassian catches his breath.
"You're the one who saved that little girl," calls a voice, disrupting them all. Jyn jumps.
Casian whirls around to see two kids, probably college-aged, leaning in the small gap between two buildings. The one who spoke is Asian, and judging from his eyes and his cane, blind.
"How would you know?" Kaytoo asks bluntly.
The boy's companion, a taller man with wild hair, glares at Kaytoo. Cassian grabs his friend's shoulder. Shut up!
"I heard it," Chirrut says. "You're very brave."
Jyn laughs.
Chirrut frowns. "You don't think so?"
"Who even are you?" Jyn demands.
"Troublemakers," Cassian interjects, dragging Kaytoo down the street. But Jyn and Bodhi aren't following—shit!
"I'm Chirrut Îmwe," he says. "And he's Baze Malbus."
"Jyn, come on," Cassian urges. "We've got to."
"What's all this?" interrupts a deep voice from behind him. Cassian's heart freezes in his chest as he remembers another time he heard those words, and what he did.
If he's honest, he's just pretending to be better than Jyn and Bodhi.
"We're just talking," Jyn snaps.
Oh, no. Cassian turns to see Officer Vader standing behind them, tall and imposing. "You seem to be—"
"We're going now," Cassian insists. He only realizes he's reached behind him and grabbed Jyn's arm after he's done it. Jyn doesn't resist.
"You had better," Vader advises.
"I think not, Officer Vader," a voice interrupts.
Are you kidding me? Cassian bites back a curse. Kaytoo moans aloud as Krennic appears from an alleyway. Were you waiting for us? Are you that pissed off about your blasted car?
"I think they should be frisked," says Krennic. "Two of them are completing community service, you know."
Shame melts Bodhi's face. His shoulders slump. Not Jyn. She just raises her eyebrows as if to say, try me.
"We just came from a daycare," Cassian interjects. As you know. "We don't want any trouble."
"I don't take orders from you, Krennic," Vader says. "Scurry off back to your private beach, Director."
Chirrut's lips curve in a smile as Krennic, a scowl marring his lips, turns and stalks off.
"You're not leaving," Vader says as Baze moves to head off. "I am going to search—"
"On what grounds?" Jyn shoots back.
"Suspicious behavior. Given your reputations, I wouldn't be too sassy, Miss Erso."
He knows who she is? Cassian bites the inside of his cheek. Bitter blood fills his mouth. Judging by the darting of Jyn's eyes, she's contemplating running.
"Empty your pockets," Vader orders.
Cassian squeezes her arm, hoping she understands. She slides her gaze towards him, but obeys. Bodhi pulls out two crumpled tissues and a small booklet. Chirrut has only seashells, and Baze, like Kaytoo, has nothing at all. Cassian pulls out several folded lists from the daycare, his wallet, and a small hard candy. All Jyn has is a five dollar bill.
"Where did you get this?" Vader demands.
"I found it," Jyn answers. "It's not a crime to have money, is it?"
"I find that answer vague and unconvincing," Kaytoo mutters just loud enough for Cassian to hear.
Cassian's hand instantly flies to his wallet, where he feels for the money. Nothing.
You thief! She's watching him with her chest rising quickly, clearly expecting him to say something.
But he sees the bloodstained band-aid on her elbow, and chomps down on his tongue.
"You may go," Vader says.
"That was very noble of you," whispers Chirrut to Cassian. He jumps.
"Thanks," Jyn mutters to him. She holds out the crumpled bill.
"Keep it," he tells her. He probably shouldn't have. He can hear Draven now: you're rewarding bad behavior!
"Well, I—" Kaytoo starts.
"Do you all want to stop by the penny candy store?" Jyn blurts out. "I can spend this there—we can all get something."
"That sounds good to me," Chirrut says. He deftly steps over a pothole, and Cassian wonders how he knew it was there. Baze says nothing, but his hand hovers by Chirrut's shoulder, ready to intervene.
"I'd like to," Bodhi says. "I haven't—well, I haven't done anything fun or with friends in—"
Friends. Cassian's not sure that's what they are.
"Your behavior, Jyn Erso, is continually surprising," Kaytoo comments, which Cassian interprets as a yes.