Disclaimer: Though I am a fan of Star Wars I am not as well versed as many, so there very probably will be some discrepancies with my story. Please note that this entire story is a divergence from canon, so if you have a problem with some of my mistakes just think of it that way. Thank you!

5

e·phem·er·al

lasting for a very short time.

She was curled up in her bedroll when he finally returned. She nearly pretended to be asleep as he draped his own shirt on the rock next to hers, but when her eyes followed the curve of his back she gasped. White scars lined his back and upper torso, some small and some spanning a crossed his back.

"What happened to your back?"

Cassian turned to her a sheepish smile on his face "I forget about them sometimes, give me a moment." He grabbed his bedroll and spread it out next to hers, a habit that they had picked up over the last few days, and sat down with his back to her.

"These came from lots of different things-mostly things having to do with the rebellion. But this one," he gestured to the long one spanning a crossed his shoulders, "I got it when I was six."

Jyn hesitantly reached out to touch it, drawing back a little when he flinched. "Sorry."

"It is alright, you just surprised me." He relaxed again and after a moment her fingers touched the long scar.

"What happened?"

"It was a bad day in the town where I grew up-there was a lot of unrest due to a large amount of Stormtroopers who were in the area over the past few weeks. My mother and I were at the marketplace trying to get ingredients for dinner. She was hurrying because she could feel the tension in the air. But we were not face enough."

"A Stormtrooper shot at a belligerent citizen and all hell broke loose. Suddenly everyone was fighting and there were explosions everywhere. My mother was pushing me from behind trying to get out of the line of fire when a stray blast knocked us off our feet. My shirt was on fire and I rolled to put it out but it was some of the worst pain I've ever felt. When I finally got it out I turned to help my mother to my feet but the blast had killed her."

Jyn pressed a hand to her mouth as she visualised what she had just been told. "What happened after that?"

"My father found us later and he changed from that point on. Before he would just relay information to the Rebel cause but now he fought for it outright. It was only six months later when I began to fight too."

"You were a child soldier?"

"Weren't we both?" Cassian asked wryly. When Jyn looked down at her hands he felt instantly guilty, he detached himself so much from his story that he forgot to be empathetic-especially since Jyn grew up in a very similar way to him. "I'm sorry I won't upset you anymore."

"No!" Jyn said holding up her hands "You didn't upset me I… hold on." She grabbed the hem of her tanktop and hiked it up bringing his fingers to the rigid scar that lined her ribs. "I got this when I was eleven. I was on a mission for Gerrera. We were supposed to be on a mission to gather information but the others in the mission had another directive. They were supposed to assassinate an Imperial Politician. But we were discovered and I got hit by a stray blaster shot and it grazed my ribs. I was in the medbay for two weeks."

Cassian's mind was filled the image of a young Jyn with pigtails on missions that were too much even for adults. He felt a special kind of anger at this, even though he had fought much younger than she had.

"Anyways." Jyn said pulling her shirt down "We should get some sleep, long day of cleaning out that old beast tomorrow." She lay back and pulled the blankets up to her chin, afraid that the intimacy of that moment would make it awkward to work with Cassian.

But as she drifted off to sleep she heard Cassian whisper "Goodnight Jyn."

They worked through the next two days cleaning the ship out, making many trips to the stream to clean off the rags that they'd ripped from their shirts. Finally the ship was as clean as it was going to get and looked to be in a good enough shape.

"The problem is that it's old." Cassian told her as he sat in the cockpit next to her. They'd packed everything and were going to try their first attempt to turn the ship on. "I saw things like this in the rebellion's junkyard."

Jyn's palms were sweaty with nervousness as she flipped switched and moved to press the ignition like she'd been instructed as Cassian jumped down to check if the engines were all firing up.

He nodded at her when he was ready and she pressed the ignition, the engine sputtered a few times before going silent. It was an underwhelming first try and Cassian who was frustrated by this kicked the side of the ship soundly. Much to their surprise the ship sputtered to life.

They both cheered, Jyn launched herself from the cockpit into Cassian who caught her and swung her around.

"We did it, I didn't think it was ever going to start." She said squeezing him tightly.

"I had faith." Cassian said sounding very like Chirrut "Now come, lets get ready to go before the ship decides that it doesn't want to run anymore.

They put out their fire and put everything into the ship. "Should we bring more crystals?" Cassian asked, looking over at a nearby cluster of crystals.

Jyn thought about it for a moment before shaking her head "No, they belong here." she said swinging herself up into the ship and holding her hand out to him.

He took it and she pulled him into the cockpit next to her. "Ready captain?"

"More than you will ever know," He grinned, flipping switches, "Setting course to Lah'mu. Lets get off this planet."

The trip to Lah'mu took two weeks because the hyperdrive on the ship wasn't the strongest, their jumps were very short and it took several hours before they could attempt another jump. It didn't help that Dagobah was such a remote planet on the opposite end of the galaxy to Lah'mu.

By the time that they reached their destination they were all but out of food and water-both were grateful when the planet finally came into their sights.

"My family's homestead was on the eastern side of the planet near the black sand beaches." Jyn said almost reverently as they broke through the atmosphere. It took another hour for them to find said beaches and when they did Jyn immediately saw what she was looking for.

"Put the ship down just there." She pointed at the base of a large rocky outcropping that was about a mile from the water.

Cassian did as instructed, noticing Jyn's fixation on the rock, she looked like she was itching to throw off her safety belt and jump out of the ship before they even touched the ground. "Patience." he said softly as he brought the ship down to land heavily in the black sand.

As soon as he did so she opened the door and hurried out onto the sand, running towards the rocky outcropping.

Cassian finished shutting down the ship, cursing to himself, before following her. "Jyn where are you going?" He called as she disappeared behind a large rock, as he rounded it he found the entrance to a cave and Jyn gripping the edge of a rock and lifting.

"What is that?" He asked, joining her at the mouth of what looked like a hatch opening into the ground. Webs filled the hole, clinging to the metal rungs of a ladder.

"This," Jyn gestured to the hole "Is where I hid the day they came for my father and killed my mother. I had to see if it was still here." She threw a leg over the side and climbed inside, her crystal glowing against her chest effortlessly.

"I'll be back."

"Do you think what we need is in there?" Cassian asked wanting to follow her but one look at her face told him that it would be a bad idea.

"Only one way to find out." She called from below, her hands gripped the rungs tightly, she never thought she would be climbing down this ever again after Gerrera found her. She was so afraid of this hole when she was younger, when her parents would practice their escape plan her mother would bring her down and they would sit for an hour with their weak lantern glowing in between them.

Then she had to sit by herself after watching her mother be killed-she sat in that hole long enough for the lantern to begin to lose power and for the darkness to swallow her up.

Then Gerrera found her and she'd hardened herself to the world in order to live up to this expectations. The soft little girl who had run away because she wasn't getting enough attention learned how to fight and keep up with men twice her age and size.

Jyn's thoughts were cut short when her foot hit the bottom of the hole. The crystal illuminated the space around her and she sneezed due to the dust that had been kicked up into the air. An old pillow was shoved up against the wall and the lantern sat next to it.

After a moment Jyn was about to give up when she nearly tripped over a cylindrical object. She picked it up and blew the dust off of it. She squinted into the darkness trying to see what it was but couldn't quite make it out. It was made of some sort of metal she knew that much, and it tingled under her fingers.

She hooked it onto her belt and climbed back up the hole, the light at the top making her climb quicker-she was quickly feeling claustrophobic again.

Cassian was waiting for her with his hand outstretched to her and she took it gratefully.

"What is that?" he asked once she was standing on level ground again. Jyn used the edge of her shirt to wipe away at the grime that covered the object. She was about to say she didn't know when it finally clicked.

"It's a lightsaber." She said with wonder as she held up the dented object reverently.

Cassian had never seen one in his lifetime, the Jedi had been around when he was very young but had been rare even then. They had all been wiped out and their lightsabers went with them.

"It's a little… underwhelming." he said after a moment as he ran his finger along the silver, metal. "Do you think you could make it you know… light?"

Jyn closed her eyes and let all of her focus move to her fingertips like she did with the crystal. When she opened her eyes and found that nothing had happened she shrugged "Its not that surprising, i'm no Jedi. Here, you try."

Cassian was doubtful but he took it anyway and tried to focus his energy in his fingertips to no avail. "Guess not." He sheepishly handed it back to Jyn who hooked it on her belt.

"Do you think this is what we were looking for?" Cassian asked "Should we leave now?"

Nibbling on her lower lip Jyn shook her head, "I think we need to go there." Her voice shook a little bit and Cassian knew where there was.

They left the cave and began the climb up the sand bank, at the top they could see a house in the distance. Jyn's heart thudded in her chest. She was home.

-LittleMoonLover-