Twenty-five years ago
"We'll move in on Erso first thing after the weekend," Draven promises.
Cassian halts in the hallway, his heart pounding. What? It's got to be Galen, not Jyn. He somehow thinks it'd be better for Jyn if it were her Draven was discussing.
She's going to kill him. And me.
"Cassian?" calls Draven. "You home?"
Cassian's hands fly to his lips, which are probably still swollen from his make-out session with Jyn. After work, they went to dinner and then to the beach, where Jyn told him more about her father, about Saw, and Cassian suggested they buy brownie mix and make it back at Mon Mothma's. A few overly chocolate brownies in and they were making out until Mon Mothma cleared her throat and Cassian pried himself away, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Jyn seemed hardly flustered, in contrast.
She really does like him. And Cassian now knows, in this very moment, for absolute certainty, that she shouldn't.
"Yeah," Cassian says, keeping his head low.
"Good day?"
He nods. "Was that about Galen Erso?"
Draven cocks his head, studying Cassian. "Yes. The bastard's about to get what he deserves."
"Are you sure?" Cassian asks. "I mean—Jyn said—" He blurts out what she said Saw told her, her father's letters. "So—"
"That's a crock of shit," Draven says, waving his hand. "Saw Gerrera just wanted to comfort that girl before his death, ease his own conscience. She's better off without Galen Erso, as she already seems to know."
I don't think she does know it. But Cassian can only nod. "Good night."
"Good night."
As Cassian heads up the stairs, lightning flashes. He jumps, peering out the window. He pulls out his phone and texts the news to KAytoo.
I think the odds of Draven's assessment being correct are nearly 100%, Kaytoo texts back.
Cassian bites back a curse as he enters his room, cramped and with its low ceiling. What do you think the odds are of Jyn killing me afterwards?
She won't kill you. She'll punch you, and she'll dump you. Bodhi, Chirrut, and Baze might too. I won't. What can you even do?
What can I even do? Cassian wonders. Draven's probably right. He usually is anyways. Jyn should see that.
She won't, and he knows it.
Because she loves her father, in spite of it all. She really loves him, and Cassian—he really loves her.
He remembers being a little boy, clutching rocks that his father encouraged him to throw. "We'll make it, Cass."
He did.
Dad didn't.
What would Jyn do? If it were me?
What would you do, Dad?
Cassian swears again, keeping his voice low so Draven won't hear. He texts Kaytoo, and then eases his window open. It's not a long drop to the sodden ground.
By the third ping, Jyn's certain someone's outside her window and tossing pebbles at it. Frowning, she pries it open, sticking her head out into the rain. Her teeth start to chatter as the water runs down her back, soaking her hair.
"Cassian?" She thought it might be Chirrut and Baze, maybe. Bodhi would be more likely than Cassian.
He holds his finger to his lips and gestures for her to let him in. "I can't! Mon Mothma's—" Jyn cusses, and shoves her window open more.
Cassian shakes his head, but she ignores him. She lands on her knees and grunts.
"Are you okay?" Cassian rushes to her, grasping her shoulder.
"Fine," she wheezes. Ow. As she straightens, she kicks out her knee. Dammit. It's definitely bruised at best. "What's so important you couldn't text me?"
Cassian's eyes are wide. Rain soaks through his jacket, and his hair clings to his forehead. He shakes his head.
"What's wrong?" Fear grips Jyn. "Did something happen with Draven?"
Cassian shrugs. "Sort of."
"What's the matter?" Jyn demands. "Cassian, you look—" She doesn't like seeing Cassian look like this, as if he's dreading something. He's hope, to her. He's never not been hopeful. "Tell me."
"Draven's been investigating your father," Cassian blurts out. "He's going to arrest him at the beginning of the week."
The words sink into Jyn, cold like the rain. She shakes her head. "How do you know this?"
"I heard him. Talking." His eyes shift, and Jyn's heart lurches.
"How long have you known this?"
"The investigation—" Cassian wets his lips. "Awhile."
Jyn feels as if he slapped her. "So was that why you tried to get close to me? Because you just wanted to—to use me for information, or—"
"No!" he bursts out. "I mean—Draven did suggest—but—"
"Did I say anything?" Jyn wracks her brain. Papa.
He'll go to jail.
And if Saw's telling the truth, he shouldn't even be there.
"No," Cassian insists. "I never—you didn't—it's your father, so—"
"I may be so angry sometimes I wish he was in jail," Jyn says. "But I don't want that. You—you are a liar, you pretended to have the moral high ground and all the time you were trying to worm your way—"
"I was never going to date you! That was never part of the—"
"I don't care!" Jyn shouts. "You tried to—Draven told you to befriend me, didn't he?"
Cassian says nothing, just looks at her like a deer in the headlights. "Draven does good work, too—if your father's really working as an informant, then technically they're on the same side—"
"Deny it," Jyn says.
"So I'm sure he'll get off—"
"Deny it!" Jyn shouts, and Cassian says nothing, and she knows.
I kissed you, she thinks wildly. You told me welcome home—you made me feel as if I had something I hadn't had in years, maybe ever—you—"Why?"
"Because the world's been just as cruel to me as it has to you," Cassian tells her. "I just decided to give back a little, help make it a better place, instead of giving up."
His words cut her to her core. So that's what you really think of me?
They both glare at each other. Based on the information that he had beforehand, he doesn't think he was wrong, even if his conscience screams at him, Jyn realizes. "You make me sick."
Cassian doubles over as if she punched him. "At least I did something to try and—"
"Jyn!"
A car pulls up behind Cassian, and she spots Bodhi leaning out of the window. Baze's car!
Chirrut leaps out, and Jyn gapes at them. "What are you—"
"I called them," Kaytoo call from safely inside the vehicle. "I figured we might need to prevent a murder."
"Great to know you all think so well of me," Jyn says, her chest tight.
"That's not the case," Chirrut says. "Bodhi, Baze, and myself—we're less than pleased with this one." He points in Cassian's direction.
Cassian pales.
"We came to offer you a ride," Bodhi says, hair dripping around his face. "To see Galen and warn him, if you have to. Or to at least, you know, hash it out with him—I figure that it might be difficult to do if Draven is—"
If I leave, Mon Mothma might think I've run away.
And that's a violation of my plea deal.
Screw it. Jyn's hands shake as she runs for the car, leaping in the backseat. She reaches back to slam it as Cassian tries to get in. "What are you coming for?"
"If I'm with you," Cassian says. "I'll say it was my idea. They're less likely to think you ran."
"Great," moans Kaytoo. "I guess this means I don't get to go home and sleep."
"Feel free," Jyn snaps.
"He doesn't want to leave," Chirrut says as he slides in and Baze turns the keys in the ignition.
Rain pounds against the roof. Cassian's pulse pounds in his head. Jyn won't look at him, and he's angry with himself and he's angry with her. Can't you put yourself in my shoes for one moment?
But it wasn't right, and he knows it.
We can fix this. He hopes so. He needs it to be so.
"Wait," Bodhi says. "You can't go this way—take the left up here; it's quicker—"
Lightning flashes, lighting up the sky around them, and then darkness takes over.
"Power's out," Kaytoo reports.
"You don't say," Cassian gripes.
Baze listens to Bodhi, turning the car. They're headed into a more wooded area. A branch strikes the truck, and Bodhi gasps.
"Don't do that again, or I'll make you walk," grunts Baze, proceeding at a very slow rate.
"I'm sorry," Bodhi says. "It's just—"
"Do you know what to say to him?" Chirrut asks. Bodhi goes silent. Cassian stiffens.
"No," Jyn admits.
"If you gave up on him," Kaytoo begins. "Then why are you so upset that—"
"Because he's my father!" Jyn shouts. "Because he said he loved me, and then was never around! Because he—if what Saw says is true—he really, maybe, actually does love me, and maybe he had a better reason than just not being able to stand the sight of me because I reminded him of Mom!"
No one speaks. Blood roars in Cassian's ears. You just want him to love you.
I hope he does. For your sake. Because I love you.
"I think he'll be happy to see you," Cassian croaks out. A hand reaches around from the front seat, squeezing his shoulder. Chirrut.
Jyn shakes her head. "Maybe."
"He will be," Bodhi says.
"That's great and all," Kaytoo says. "But it's so windy out that it'll be dangerous to—"
"Shut up, Kaytoo, your disastrous predictions are—" Jyn starts.
"Predictions? You just have to look outside the window!"
"I think you mean listen, because unless you've got superb eyesight, none of us can see anything!"
"The car has headlights!"
"I have no eyesight," remarks Chirrut. Cassian's head aches as if his muscles are all coiling around his skull.
"Do you have to—" Bodhi begins, but he never gets another word out, because there's the sound of something groaning next to them, and then something flashes and it's falling towards the car, and Cassian lets out a shout, Jyn shrieks, Bodhi screams. Baze swerves sideways, and then the tree appears, slamming into the side. Glass showers all over Cassian. The car spins. He can't see—he can make out Jyn's voice, but he can't tell what she's saying— and the car halts. Cassian's head flies forward to smack into the seat in front of him.
"Shit," Bodhi breathes.
I'm not dead.
Cassian leans back, his spine throbbing. A shard of glass sticks in his thumb and he pulls it out. Blood flows, warm. Rain splatters his neck.
"Everyone all right?" Baze grunts.
"A few minor lacerations," Kaytoo reports. "And possibly a broken nose for Bodhi."
Cassian cringes. Bodhi leans over, hands covering his face. Lightning flashes, and blood streams through his fingers.
"So, not all right," Jyn snaps, fumbling to yank off her jacket. She presses it against his nose.
"Well," Kaytoo begins, and Cassian's heart dives.
"Don't you dare," Jyn snaps. "Don't you dare say it."
"I," Kaytoo says with a dramatic sigh. "Told you so."
They decide to walk the rest of the way, because they need help. Cassian loops Bodhi's arm around his shoulders. Rain strikes them so hard it feels like hail, and as he walks, he can tell his thumb isn't the only place the glass got him. A gash mars Jyn's cheek. Baze walks behind Chirrut, clearly ready to intervene if Chirrut needs it.
"If any more trees fall," Kaytoo proclaims. "We're doomed."
"Please shut the hell up," Jyn begs. "Because if you don't, you're doomed anyways."
"You couldn't take me."
"Pretty sure she could," Cassian cuts in. Both Kaytoo and Jyn look at him, though he can't read their expressions. He swallows. The rain runs in rivulets down his back.
"How will we tell which house it is?" Kaytoo wonders as they stumble up the hill. Cassian's boots slip and he tumbles to the ground, his hands digging into the mud on the road. His palms sting.
"Sorry, Bodhi," he gasps.
"I'll get him," Kaytoo says quickly, shuffling over.
Cassian gets to his knees and looks up to see Jyn holding out her hand. "Need help?"
He nods, taking her hand. She pulls him to his feet, and they stagger up the hill together. They break out of the trees, reaching an open road, perfectly paved. Rain still tumbles from the sky. Cassian shivers.
"Which way?" Kaytoo asks. Bodhi leans over, blood still streaming through his fingers. Cassian hopes the rain's making it look as if there's more blood than there is.
"You're all getting a chance to experience life from my view, or lack thereof," Chirrut comments. "Might provide some good perspective."
"This way," Jyn says, jerking her head to the left. He meets her eyes, and her gaze is unyielding. She won't give him the acquittal he wants, and he knows, somehow, that he never expected her to. Because he won't give her the groveling she wants.
Can we move on from here? he wonders.
Her eyes flicker up the street, and Cassian knows she's thinking of her father. She's hoping, because Jyn needs hope like she needs water, and so does he.
Squinting, Cassian struggles to make out houses. But Jyn knows the way. Her footsteps falter.
"This one," Cassian says, turning to face it. Not that he can see much besides just a lump sitting there among sodden grass.
He hears Jyn swallow, and her hand flexes. Cassian wishes he could grab it, could reassure her. He doesn't know what to say. Welcome home?
Not again.
"He'll be happy to see you," is all Cassian can come up with.
Jyn stares at him, soaked tendrils of hair clinging to her face. Chirrut strides past them, heading for the house.
"There's a car," Kaytoo observes. "He's home."
"Chirrut, wait!" Baze curses and struggles after his boyfriend.
"Do you want to do this?" Cassian asks.
Jyn looks up at him, and she nods. He holds out his hand.
Her palm slips into his, and he hauls her towards the front door. Brick steps lead to it, an d they make it up them.
"Do doorbells work when the power's out?" Bodhi manages, his voice garbled.
"Oh for heaven's sake," complains Jyn, stepping away from Cassian and pounding on the door with her fist.
Nothing. Cassian grits his teeth.
"Stand back." Baze surges forward, kicking the door multiple times—not hard enough to break it, but hard enough to certainly wake up anybody inside.
A light gleams above them. Cassian whirls around to peer up at a window. A flashlight shines out.
"Papa?" Jyn calls.
The window slams shut. Cassian can hear footsteps pounding on the stairs, and then the door swings open.
"Hi," Jyn says. In the beam of light, her face is whiter than the moon. Cassian nods at her. "Can we—can my friends and I come in?"
Galen Erso nods, and then his eyes widen. "What happened?" he shouts, reaching for Bodhi.
"Car crash," Kaytoo remarks. "Quite terrible, really. A tree fell—"
"It's totaled," Baze confirms, wringing water out of his matted hair. Galen takes in Chirrut's unfocused gaze and swallows.
"Come in, all of you—Jyn, take them to the living room—I'll just get something to help Bodhi out." Galen takes Bodhi from Kaytoo and presses a small black flashlight into Jyn's hand.
She switches it on, leading them up the stairs and into a sitting room complete with leather couches and hardwood floors. "You can sit," she says.
"We'll ruin the furniture!" Kaytoo objects. "And the wooden floors." Rain drips off them all.
"He won't care. He'd rather—you sit," Jyn says, wringing her free hand.
"I've got blankets," Galen calls, appearing and tossing them to Jyn. "Get warm, all of you."
Cassian wraps himself up in a green fleece. Jyn huddles next to him, jaw working but no sound coming out.
Chirrut's hand clamps down on Cassian's shoulder, and he doesn't have to speak for Cassian to know his meaning: I could comfort her, but you should.
"He loves you," Cassian whispers to her. "He seems like—like a kind man."
Jyn hands Kaytoo, sitting in the armchair across from the couch, the flashlight. She buries her face in her hands until floorboards creak again.
Bodhi drops onto the loveseat, the bleeding evidently stopping. Behind him, Galen shakes his head. "You all could have been killed."
"So you don't want to see me?" Jyn bursts out.
Galen's face crumples, and Cassian almost feels sorry for him. But there's such rawness in Jyn's voice—you abandoned her, though you were there. "Of course I want to see you, Stardust, I just—I don't want you to get hurt—I want—"
"You hurt me," Jyn says.
Galen steps back, and slides onto the loveseat. His shoulders droop.
"Saw's dead," she adds.
"I know."
"I know about what you've been doing," Jyn says as thunder groans outside. "Gathering information. Trying to protect whom you can. They're coming for you. Soon."
"They are," Cassian adds. "I live with Draven, and he's—"
"I know who he is," Galen cuts in. "Who are you? All of you?"
Cassian shifts.
"Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus—friends of mine, in college," Jyn says, introducing them. "You know Bodhi; we're doing community service together. Kaytoo and Cassian Andor—they volunteer same as us, except out of the goodness of their hearts."
Cassian cringes as the bitter edge in Jyn's tone cuts him. His gaze darts to Galen, who's nodding as he studies each of them.
"They wanted to come with me," Jyn says roughly. "To warn you that they're going to arrest you. And I know what that's like, and juvenile lockup sucks, so I can't even imagine how awful adult prison is, Papa, and I don't want you to go!" Her voice breaks, and Cassian's heart twists in his chest.
"And you're an informant, kind of," Bodhi says, voice still slightly thick and distorted. He's going to have two nasty black eyes. "So if you just tell them—"
"If you go to them first," Cassian cuts in. "They'll have to listen."
Galen appears taken aback. "And what does it matter to you what I do?" he finally asks.
"It doesn't," Cassian blurts out. "But it matters to me how Jyn feels, and I know you've probably done some—not-so-legal things—in the name of keeping your cover, but you can probably also help do away with Krennic for good, and—"
"Of course I'll go," Galen says. "You kids—" He shakes his head, and his eyes linger on his daughter, agony etched into his face, a look Cassian's seen before—his own father's face, right before the police shot him.
He was a criminal. He deserved it.
He was my father.
I still love him.
"I have documents stored at Krennic's," Galen says, stepping over to Jyn. He crouches in front of her. "Jyn—"
"She loves you and wants the best for you," Chirrut says. The implication slaps at Galen.
"I love you," Galen tells his daughter. She won't lift her fingers away from her face, so he presses his hands over hers. Cassian holds his breath.
And Jyn leans forwards, her arms wrapping around her father as she sobs.
"Stardust," Galen says, voice muffled against her shoulder. "You've never disappointed me. And I am so, so sorry—you are my treasure, not my work, not—"
Kaytoo flinches. Cassian's chest feels as if it could burst. The words pouring from Galen's lips are words he's only dreamed of, words that—
Blue lights flash on the walls, with a splash of red.
Cassian knows those lights, because he remembers the blue being unable to disguise the red smeared around his father.
"Oh no," breathes Kaytoo.
Chirrut leaps to his feet, Baze's hand closing around his wrist.
The door cracks and crashes. "Get on the ground!"
Cassian's hands fly up, and he catches a glimpse of Draven's unflinching face before more screaming drowns out every sound, and he drops to the wood, his face smashed against a carpet. He peers out, watching as Jyn sees agents handcuff her father.
"No!" Jyn shouts, and Cassian's on his knees even before she is, grasping her shoulders, holding her back.
"Get on the ground, stay on—please Jyn—" he tries.
"Papa!" she screams.
Galen looks at Jyn, and there's something more in his face now, more pain, more hope, and it's unlike Cassian's seen before. His throat closes.
"Please," Jyn begs.
"I love you," Galen chokes out, and then they take him away.