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!

14
du·bi·ous

fraught with uncertainty or doubt

Cassian made his way through the streets of Mos Espa, his footsteps getting more and more frantic by the moment. He'd been so caught up in his work that when Cyrus had tapped him on the shoulder and told him that Jyn had been gone for more than two hours, he hadn't even realized it.

How could he have not noticed that she was gone for so long? He'd figured out where they had eaten lunch and the owner of the restaurant had just shrugged and said that he'd served them an hour or so ago and that they'd headed north, bath towards the center of Mos Espa and the archives.

So now he was walking up and down the streets, hesitantly calling out her name.

"Raoul." A quiet voice spoke up from one of the alleyways and for a moment his heart leaped with hope, only to plummet down to the bottom of his stomach when he turned into the alleyway to find Lyssa laying on the ground surrounded by blood.

"What happened?" He asked, alarmed as he skidded onto his knees next to her and immediately realized she'd been shot several times.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The woman babbled as he tried to press his hands to the wounds that were sluggishly bleeding still-which wasn't a good sign.

"Just tell me what happened." Cassian soothed, but felt his jaw harden as she gasped out what had happened. He knew that that bastard from the restaurant would come back to haunt them.

"I'm sorry I didn't have any other choice." Lyssa wiped at her cheeks weakly with a bloody hand, leaving a trail of blood on her face.

Cassian wanted to leave her there to bleed out, she'd come to the archives as a friend to Jyn and had betrayed her. But he could already hear Jyn's voice in his head scolding him for even thinking like that. It was almost funny to him because Jyn had never been so self-sacrificing before he'd met her.

So instead of leaving Lyssa there he picked her up as gently as he could and carried her through the city, avoiding the main streets and overly sunny roads. By the time he made it back to the archives he was sweaty, covered in blood and out of breath.

Cyrus rushed out to meet him, his face ashen with concern. "What happened?"

Cassian told him in clipped tones as he laid the young woman down on the table which Cyrus rushed to clear.

He turned to leave but Lyssa reached out and grabbed his sleeve, "They said something about Jabba the Hutt." She gasped as Cyrus cut her shirt open in order to look at her wounds "They thought I was dead already but I heard them."

Her eyes seemed to grow heavy after that as she lost consciousness "Probably for the best," Cyrus said as he worked "It will be extremely painful for her from her on out."

"Will she live?"

"It's hard to say." Cyrus patted the woman's soft black hair "I met her when she was just a little girl. Her mother was a slave who worked her entire life so that she could live as a free woman. When she died I just kind of took over."

Watching the fatherly look that overtook Cyrus's features, Cassian had to turn away. Anger churned in his gut. Anger at the woman who had sold out Jyn, anger at the slave traders but mostly anger at himself-for forgetting that they were in fact in danger.

He washed the blood off of his body and changed, his movements were robotic as he prepped his blaster.

He didn't know how much time passed from there but when Cyrus stepped into the room looking tired he assumed that it was more than an hour.

"Where is Jabba the Hutt's base located?" He asked as he holstered his gun.

"Jabba the Hutt is not somebody you want to mess with Cassian. He'd our de facto leader and the sole reason why the slave trade is so strong here."

"It does not matter." Cassian moved past the old man.

"If you will hold on for a moment I may be able to help you." Cyrus disappeared into the archives and Cassian nearly followed him but he decided to sit in the work room and watch over Lyssa, who was heavily bandaged but sleeping almost peacefully on the table.

A few minutes later Cyrus reappeared, disks filling his arms. "It has to be one one of these."

He inserted them into the computer and flipped through them until he found what he was looking for "Ah-hah!" He hooted triumphantly and moved aside so Cassian could see what he'd found.

"I knew I had this lying around somewhere, these are the blueprints to Jabba the Hutt's palace. It should help you get in, get Jyn and get out. It's not much but-"

Cassian cut him off and pulled the older man into a hug, "Thank you."

Cyrus gave him an awkward pat "Now get out of here and go get our girl back."

Jyn was lying somewhere cool and damp, her head was pounding and she let out a little groan as she came back to full consciousness.

"Looks like you are awake." A voice echoed through wherever they were and Jyn forced her eyes open.

The room they were in was craggy with sharp stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. The floor was relatively smooth and Jyn followed it all the way over to the glowing bars. She was in some sort of prison. But who was in there with her?

Sitting up she pressed a hand to her forehead before following the curve of the cell to a form sitting against one of the walls. She was wearing all black and had her knees drawn up to her chest, a sullen expression was plastered on her pretty face. She would have looked dainty and fragile except she held her shoulders in a stiffly proud position.

"Who are you?" Jyn asked as she propped herself up against the curved wall of the cell, her body still feeling weak from whatever drug they'd used.

"I should be asking you that." The woman said, her brown eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Jyn nearly rolled her eyes, "Lyra." She pointed at herself as she were talking to a child.

"... Leia." The woman finally introduced herself and sat up straight. "So why did they throw you in here?"

Leia had been stubbornly sitting in silence until they'd thrown the limp form of another woman into her cell. She'd watched the other girl sleep and for some reason the girl's face looked familiar. But when she'd introduced herself as Lyra it didn't ring any bells for her. Years later she would make the connection between the girl and where her face looked familiar and she would have to sit down with shock. But at that moment Leia was just glad to have some company.

"I was 'sold' into slavery I guess you could said." Jyn's voice was overly sarcastic "I worked at a restaurant for a while and pissed off a customer."

"I hate this planet." Leia said with disgust, "This backwater hell-hole has no redeeming features."

"I have to agree with you. So why are you in here?"

"I was breaking out a friend." Leia explained, but Jyn heard the catch in the other woman's voice on the word friend.

"Did it work?"

"What do you think?" Leia's voice was sharp and Jyn winced.

"Sorry, stupid question."

They sat in silence after that Jyn fiddling with her kyber crystal under her shirt.

"What is glowing under your shirt?" Leia moved from her side of the cell as Jyn held up her crystal.

"My mother gave it to me."

"You can make it glow? Does that mean you are Force sensitive?" Leia peppered her with questions.

"Ah no-well maybe-something like that."

Jyn didn't need to explain herself further because the sounds of heavy footsteps abruptly cut off their conversation. Jyn shoved her necklace back into her shirt and they scooted away from one another.

"I'll help you if you help me." Leia whispered as the bars disappeared. Jyn couldn't answer her but nodded.

"Quiet in here." A voice barked as a man stepped into the cell, flanked by several guards.

They didn't say anything else, just bound Leia's hands and tugged her from the room, Leia turned back to look at Jyn and gave her a resolute nod. The woman's features didn't show any of the fear that she was sure to be feeling and Jyn envied her-she wished that she could carry herself the way that the other woman did.

After she was gone and the bars had flickered back to life Jyn pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed. She was alone. She idly wondered if Cassian knew she was missing yet and whether or not he was going to come after her.

She didn't have a long time with her own thoughts because the guards returned for her and chained her hands together before half dragging her down the hall. They deposited her into a room and some clothes were thrown at her.

"Change." One of the guards growled. Jyn opened her mouth and spit at him. The guard wiped the spittle away from his face and growled "If you are not changing in the next thirty seconds I will come in here and change you."

Then the door was slammed. Jyn reluctantly took off her pants and shirt, giving her brown jacket one last caress before pulling on a brown dress. It was different from what she'd seen other slaves wear when they were working in Mos Espa. It was lighter and less bulky.

"Are you ready?" the guard didn't knock and instead just entered. Jyn barely had time to hide her crystal in her shirt. She was glad she'd already pulled the dress on, because the guard looked disappointed at the fact that he couldn't dress her himself. Disgust slimed Jyn's gut as she was tugged from the room.

She didn't know how she was going to escape yet but she would be damned if she didn't try.

Author's Note:

Eh. I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter, this is where it will get sticky (self reminder to go re-watch this part of Return of the Jedi). So more than likely I will diverge from canon at this point (well it already has diverged from canon but ANYWAYS)... Only a few more chapters and I'm still trying to work through what I want to happen and what kinds of connections I wish to make between everything. Note to self: Plan ahead better next time haha.

AnyWAYS. Sorry for babbling, until next time!

Please read and review! It gives me more motivation than you can ever know.

- LittleMoonLover -