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You ran away the moment you heard them dismissively call you that girl. There wasn't a reason to stay after that. Every single fear of yours became true in that moment. They wouldn't believe you. Of course they wouldn't believe you. How could Cassian have been so stupid to think that they would? How could you have been so stupid to think that you had a place here?

A girl from Tatooine. A girl that wanted to be a Jedi. A girl that didn't know the Rebellion.

This place was so unfamiliar to you. Eyes you didn't recognize were on you and it made you want to cry. Homesickness filled you as you broke out into a jog, desperately trying to escape from this feeling of estrangement. The only familiar place was inside of the U-WING, and so you ran straight for that ship you hardly knew, jumped inside of it, and ducked behind the wall, out of sight, only to slide down the wall and curl up as tightly as you could in the corner of the ship.

You couldn't cry, no matter how badly you wanted to. You could only sit, fast, shaky breaths coming out of your open lips, eyes frozen ahead. Every part of you wanted to move and steal the dumb ship you were on to escape the dumb base you'd come to, but Cassian wasn't with you. You didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. That was the least you could do for him. Say goodbye.

Of course, it didn't take long for Cassian to join you. He looked at you apologetically before he sat down beside you. "I thought I would find you here."

"Where else would I be?" you asked. You rested your chin on the tops of your arms where they folded on your knees. "I don't know anybody here."

"How much of that did you hear?"

"I didn't want to listen anymore after they called me that girl. So if what they said got worse, I really don't want to know." You swallowed hard and kept your eyes ahead. "Cassian, I want you to take me home. Now."

"Home? But what about the planet killer?" 

"What planet killer?" you hissed. Tears finally sprung into your eyes as you looked at him. "I never saw a planet killer! You heard them. I only saw a vision of one. Which could've been a dream, for all I know! They're right. The Jedi are dead and gone. And even if there were still some out there... we both know that I'm not one."

"You said that what you saw was different from a dream," he said patiently.

"I know! I thought it was," you said, "but --- but you heard them. They don't believe me."

He leaned in closer to you. "We'll make them believe."

Your hands made fists that you hit onto the floor. It felt somewhat childish, but you were so frustrated to have all of this drive to do something and all of this information you didn't know why you had --- and no one wanted to act on any of it. No one wanted to take that chance. 

"How? How do we make them believe? Cassian, it was all in my head. All in my dreams. It wasn't real! I didn't witness anything and you just heard my story and believed it. I was a fool to chase any of these things and you are a fool for believing them so easily! I'm just a girl from Tatooine and we both know that."

His jaw tightened. "All right, girl from Tatooine, listen to me. If it weren't for you following those silly dreams, I wouldn't be here right now."

Your anger slipped away from you. Your shoulders dropped with the lack of weight. He was right. If you hadn't had seen glimpses of him being tortured, if you hadn't heard that woman give the location of where he was or who he was, you wouldn't have saved him. He would've been killed and the Rebellion would've died out with him. 

"I would be dead on that Star Destroyer right now if you didn't come in and save me. And I didn't believe you at first, either. But there is no reason not to take this chance. I took a chance on you and I don't regret it for a second." 

The tears continued to swim in your eyes. "But they don't..." 

"I don't care if they don't believe you," he said, voice as soft as a whisper. "We'll find our own proof. We'll save the Rebellion ourselves. I know you can do it because you saved me."

And finally the rest of your tears slipped down your cheeks as you stared at him, inches away from your face. Your chest swelled with feelings for this Captain that you'd known for such a short period of time. He was just a stranger to you, and yet he was willing to throw all credibility out the window just to make sure someone did something about what you saw.

"You're not just a girl from Tatooine," he said, shaking his head and smiling. "You've always been more than that. You're a Jedi and a Rebel."

"They don't want me," you breathed, eyes darting outside of the ship. Your voice was humorless, but your lips still twitched upward into a bitter smile. "You heard them."

"I want you," he replied easily. Your heart sputtered. "As far as I am concerned, what they want doesn't really matter. They'll learn what you're capable of as I've seen it."

"You have a lot of faith in me, Captain," you said, showing a small glimpse at a real smile. 

"I have a lot of faith in the Rebellion. And I see in you the same thing I saw in myself. A desire to do something right." He shook his head. "I couldn't forgive myself if I gave up on this now." 

"Me either." You wiped your face. "So how are we going to find proof?" 

"Tivik has information for us. It must be important if we have to go meet each other to learn what he saw. I know without a fraction of doubt that it's the planet killer he's seen."

"Then what are we waiting for?" You stood up with great enthusiasm and strength. He stood up with you, a smile on his lips as he stepped close to you. You dabbed the tears on your cheek away with the back of your hand and stood up a little higher. "We've got a Rebellion to save, don't we?" 

"We do," he said. You could feel his warm breath on your face; his chest was nearly against yours as he leaned against the wall of the ship, gazing down at you. "___---" 

"There you are. I had heard you came back. Of course I didn't believe them, considering your chance at survival was less than fifteen percent---" 

You jumped slightly at the loud voice and the heavy footsteps that came suddenly. Glancing over his shoulder, you saw the looming height of an Imperial droid. Its glowing white eyes were right on yours and you swallowed thickly, unsure of why you were seeing one on a Rebel base. 

"Kay," Cassian said, turning around to face the droid. A relieved smile stretched across his face and he approached the droid. "It's good to see you again." 

"Yes, I suppose it is," the droid replied. "They told me you had died. I told them I wouldn't be surprised if you did. That mission had an incredibly low success rate and I told you that before you went!" 

"And that is why I left you behind," he said. "If the Empire had picked you up, they would've reprogrammed you and I would've lost you forever." 

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but you really could've used a co-pilot. Although I suppose you found one." Cassian looked back at you and smiled. "She can't be a good one, though. She's crying already." 

"Kay," Cassian warned. "___, this is K-2SO, my droid." 

"I didn't know you had a droid," you said. "It's nice to meet you. I'm ___---"

"You didn't tell her about me?" Kay asked, blinking in offense. "You know, the first thing I do when I meet someone new is tell them about you!" 

"I was a little busy. Look --- this is ___, and she's a Jedi. We've got a mission to go on. Are you ready to go, or do you have things going on here?" 

"No, I don't have things going on." There was a lot of attitude in this droid's voice. You could only assume they bickered like this often. "And I didn't hear about any mission. Are you sure we have one?" 

"Yes," he said. He walked around the droid and opened up a crate on the ship, checking the space it held. "We are leaving tonight, just as soon as I pack up some supplies." 

"I don't think so," Kay replied. "How about I just got ask---" 

"No!" Cassian ran in front of Kay and smacked his palms against his chest. "Look, this mission is need-to-know only. Got it?" 

"Oh. Need-to-know as in only we know. Oh yes, I understand perfectly. I'm assuming we're not supposed to be going anywhere with this Jedi of yours." 

"Not exactly," you answered, "but this is an important mission that's crucial to the survival of the Rebellion, so we've got to take it. Whether they're supportive of our decision or not." 

Cassian nodded. "You can trust her, Kay. If you trust me." 

"I suppose I trust you. Although you left me behind after you said you wouldn't---" 

"Kay."

"Well, you did," Kay muttered, shaking his head. "Fine." 

"___ and I will go gather the supplies. You stay here and watch the ship, Kay," Cassian said. 

"It's a nice ship. Is it ours now?" he asked. Cassian nodded before ducking out of it and stepping off onto the pavement. Kay nodded thoughtfully and glanced at you. "I don't suspect our odds of getting out of anything alive will be any better in this hunk of junk, but if I tell him that, he'll only scold me again." 

You smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Kay." 

"Likewise, Jedi," he said. 

"___, are you coming?" Cassian called out. 

"Yes," you said. You jumped onto the ground and walked up to Cassian, who was standing still, waiting for you.