Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for the wait, I'm amazed I'm still continuing with this thing bearing in mind I haven't really slept in the last four days. But the plot is strong with this one and it won't let me go.

Chapter 3: An Old Purpose

Jim Kirk paced the meeting room grimly, his normally open, friendly posture reduced to a stiff, violent one, his fists balled up as though they would somehow contain the frustration welling up inside him.

"Dammit Spock! How many more lives do we have to lose like this? How many more obituaries do I have to write without being able to tell their families why or how they died?"

He paused, gripping the edge of the table and allowing his head to sink. His voice lowered an octave as he spoke.

"How do I tell Jyn Erso's father that the woman who looks exactly like his daughter is not the same girl he carried around when she was five years old? How do I explain to Cassian Andor's sister that the man she's waiting to see for Christmas is a stranger? I will never regret the fact that two people, two brave and good people who would have died are now alive, but fuck, Spock, does it have to be at the expense of two others?"

Spock inclined his head and walked over, placing his hand on the Captain's shoulder, an action that would have been as alien to him as laughter before the Enterprise became his home and James Kirk became his courage.

"There is nothing we could have done, Jim. It is illogical to feel regret for something one cannot change. Had officers Erso and Andor given their lives on a mission to save two others, the result would be the same."

Jim sighed "I know Spock. I know. Sometimes I hate how much you make sense. Makes me seem like an utter moron." But he smiled, grasping Spock's hand on his shoulder and sending a green flush to the tips of the Vulcan's ears. "What should we do with our guests? I don't know if it's a good idea to release them into the wild yet, when everyone still thinks they're part of the crowd. You've been into his head, what do you think?"

"I… must admit I am fascinated by their universe. There are many things I have yet to understand, as Captain Andor only shared some select memories and explanations. But I believe in their abilities to function in this universe. They appear to have knowledge of a myriad of different cultures and races, food, lifestyle and languages, but they are human, in every other way. As far as I could understand, their values are like those of the Federation, their basic needs and emotions as well."

Spock paused, seemingly struggling with himself.

"I would speak to them about their universe, if you would allow, Captain. There are many interesting facets to such an existential experiment."

"Jim, Spock. Cut the Captain crap." Jim grinned, feeling the knots in his stomach about his two officers loosen slightly. "And I'll admit I'm curious as hell about it too. Though we have to be careful with them. By the sounds of it, they've only ever lived at war and people like that can become calculating and cruel, no matter the cause they fight for. We shouldn't let our guard down and we shouldn't give them cause to turn against us."

Jim moved to leave the room and Spock moved to follow, ever in sync, wondering when his only natural stance was behind these broad shoulders, that seemed to carry the weight of the universe on them.

"We should have a shipwide announcement and a debrief of the situation. There's no use keeping it secret since Jyn and Cassian's friends will want to see them and there's no way we can keep this under the rug. We'll let them walk free on the ship if you believe we can trust them, but I'll make sure to take some precautions." Jim turned to face Spock when they stopped at the elevator. His blue eyes hid regrets and concerns and images of it danced on the surface, as though they were an ocean with a dark treasure buried beneath, refracting its outlines and leaving the rest to mystery. "As for what we do about their families and their future… we'll just have to figure it out as we go."

And he turned away to step into the now open elevator, leaving Spock to grapple with the vicious need to touch, to see into the golden mind he'd only ever glimpsed before, beneath the surface of that blue ocean. But this was not something Spock was unused to and he followed behind, not a twitch revealing his struggle.

Cassian fingered the datapad-lookalike in his bruised hands, fiddling with the touchscreen as his thoughts slowly attempted to align themselves into something that could function. His restraints had been removed following his conversation with Captain Kirk but Jyn's remained in place as she slept, courtesy of Dr. McCoy's apprehension- I've been a doctor on this ship long enough to know the merits of keeping my patients from destroying this ship and she ain't gonna forgive the hypo any time soon.

He'd been allowed access to any public data stores the Federation owned and had begun pouring over Starfleet's history. This universe was beyond anything he'd ever imagined, so alien in its relative prosperity and yet so familiar in its diversity and conflicts. He kept expecting to wake up, to find that this world, Scarif and even Jyn were all just a dream, but every continued breath was a reminder of the strange reality he found himself in.

He glanced over at the bed beside his (as he'd done periodically since the moment he'd woken up, just to make sure, just to see her there) and allowed himself to be entranced by the relaxed expression on Jyn's face, unmarred by sharp edges of worry and defiance. She looked so fragile, her puckered lips slightly ajar, her matted hair falling in a halo around her face.

He thought: she's so young. In the space of a few days she'd lost her father and probably all the people she'd ever learned to care for. Their world had never been kind to her, had taken everything away and yet she'd kept going, marching through the galaxy like a soldier, fighting and dying on the battlefield. Would it have been better for them to simply disappear into history on that beach on Scarif? They were both prisoners of their purpose and the freedom that this new opportunity, this new universe afforded was as alien as whatever came after death. All they had to cling onto that was familiar was each other.

A swell of terrible affection took hold of him. He wanted to put his arms around her, feel them encompassing her slender frame like when Scarif's surface disintegrated around them, to protect her from the uncertainty they both faced. He didn't know what it was to look after something precious, something fragile. For most of his life all he'd known was blood and battle and deceit, a complete and utter suppression of emotions that boiled inside him like the magma beneath a planet's surface. Cassian felt, he was born sentimental, but his work with the Resistance had carved a shell so thick around that softness that he'd forgotten what it was to care for someone.

And now he'd somehow ended up in a world where the only thing he had left to care about was stubborn, brave, indomitable Jyn Erso.

She'd laugh at him if she knew.

As he looked on Jyn made a small, sleepy sound. Her eyelids fluttered. For a moment, he was afraid she'd wake up and see him watching and he turned his head back to the pad on his lap, feeling foolish.

"Cassian…" she muttered and his head snapped back as she frowned and her eyes finally flickered open.

She shot up- at least as far as she could before the restraints sent her rocketing back onto the bed. Her eyes hid a hint of panic as she struggled before they landed on his.

"Cassian." she breathed and it was relief and worry and a burning question all at once.

He made to get out of his bunk but a sudden, searing pain through his spine was warning enough (the doctor's colourful threats would not have dissuaded him) and he hissed, doubling over before he could get his leg onto the ground.

"Are—"

" 'm alright." He cut her off, resignedly lying back down onto the bunk. "It's not every day you survive the destruction of a planet with nothing worse than a bad fall."

He could feel her concern and her questions. They saturated the room like a mist, drowning out his awareness of anything else.

"What… what happened? Where are we? Who were those people? And why- " this part carried some trademark indignation "- can't I move?"

Cassian considered his options and then considered her face. He pushed himself up, wincing as his back howled in pain and swung his legs out onto the floor. He could see her protesting eyes and caught her with a pointed look before she could say anything.

"Let me." He muttered as he focused on ignoring the now-dimming pain. "I'll be fine."

He knelt down laboriously and fumbled to find the mechanism under her bunk that would set her free. His fingers brushed against a keypad and he pressed the first button he could find, hoping against hope that it would be the right one. He was rewarded with a gasp and suddenly, she was leaning over, helping him up to his feet and throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Thank you." she whispered as she buried her face in his neck.

They stayed like that, a silent prayer passing between the two, until finally, reluctantly, she pulled away and Cassian leaned against his bunk and breathing heavily. According to McCoy, he'd be in walking shape in about a week and the last thing he wanted was to extend that period.

"Jyn…" he sighed. Then he laughed. She was here, with him, alive. Right now, there was nothing out there to take her away, no Empire to fear, no wall of fire incinerating the horizon. "You won't believe where the Force delivered us."

So he told her.

Jyn listened in silence as he spoke of universes and beaming and the Enterprise, occasionally clarifying a detail with a question (So there is no Force in this universe? No Kyber?), knowing that she did not have the luxury (or the extreme disorientation) that came with a mindmeld. He told her of their hosts, of Kirk and Spock and Uhura and McCoy and finally, when he could put it off no longer, told her about the people whose lives they had replaced. He went quiet then, realising he hadn't truly believed it himself until the time had come to admit it as truth.

Jyn's face had been stony throughout the story, her usual stubbornness working as a safety net, keeping her emotions in check, but she wavered at the mention of her other self.

"She had a family." She whispered. "A father and a mother, a home."

"I know." Cassian's hand reached out until it bumped against her knuckles and she grasped it, clinging on to him as though she were drowning. "I know."

Jyn's eyes were brimming with tears. He'd not seen her like that since he'd dragged her away from her father, faster, he's gone, there's no need for you to disappear too, come on, RUN.

"We have to go back."

He stared. "What?"

"We have to go back," she repeated "To our universe."

Cassian couldn't understand, couldn't grasp what she was saying. They were safe, safe from the Empire, free to live their lives as they'd never been able to. He had nothing to go back to. Rogue One were gone, his family had been gone for as long as he could remember. This was the first moment he could be free and isn't this what she'd always wanted? Freedom? No Resistance, no fighting, just life.

"I want to finish what my father started. I can't take over the life of someone that's lived it the way I wanted to. I'll never fit in here." She looked at him, her gaze searching "I don't know what it is to not fight for my life. The Resistance gave me purpose and I can't just abandon it, not this soon after I found it. This is not my world and this is not my life."

"You…" Cassian stared at her and then felt his soul shake. "You're right. I may have been fighting the Empire my whole life, but I don't think the fight in me will ever be over. I want freedom, Force I want it so badly. But I can't sit here, in this other existence, and simply forget what my entire existence was for."

She smiled, stroking his fingers with her thumb, a calming gesture, and he felt himself shake inside.

"I guess we'll just have to figure out a way to get back then."