CHAPTER SEVEN: PEACE AND PURPOSE

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Everything was cold. The air was so freezing around you that even as you wrapped your arms around yourself, it couldn't hold any warmth to you. Which was odd, because you were standing on the familiar sands of Tatooine in the middle of the day. The suns were at their highest point above you. Like always, you were blind from their light, but you couldn't feel an ounce of it on your skin. 

Before you could ponder that too much, a sudden darkness fell over you, blocking out both of the suns. Your heart sank, because whatever you were looking at wasn't a moon, although it loomed over you in the sky like it was. It overshadowed everything that surrounded you, threatening to swallow up the entire planet. 

As you could only stare at it as it became the only thing you could see. It was too large to be a moon, too large to be a space station. It turned slowly as it grew nearer and you just knew that it was the planet killer.

Wake up! you screamed to yourself. Just wake up! 

You couldn't. Trapped, you started to back away from the Death Star, as if that would make any difference whatsoever. You started to hyperventilate as you stared into the eye of the giant object. A beam of green shot out of it and you yelled, dropping to the sandy ground just to feel it crumble beneath your body in a deep rumble and cracking noise.

A second later, you were no longer on Tatooine. You were on the cold floor of an unfamiliar, dark room with a man that you didn't know, watching him sit at a desk with his head in his hands. His trembling bony fingers gripped his tangled, greying hair as he let out a gutted sob of anguish. You stood up slowly, as if moving too quickly would alert him of your presence, but you knew that you weren't really here --- and that the man was absolutely real.

Galen Erso!

His head turned at the sounds of a shout of his name. Galen Erso was a stranger to you --- you couldn't find one familiar thing in his sad, sickly face. You had no idea who this man was or why you were seeing him until you glanced at the screens above his head and saw that he was working on the planet killer itself. He was designing it and it was killing him inside.

And then you could hear them. Screams. Shouts of agonizing pain that hadn't happened yet, but would soon. You turned quickly, your hands going over your ears in shock at the amount of them. They were piercing, they were horrifying, and they blinded you. All you could see was darkness and you weren't sure if your eyes were just squeezed shut or if your sight had really been stolen away, but you were so alone and right in the middle of all of this death

When your sight returned, it didn't know what you wanted to see, which was anything but darkness. You wanted to see your father. You wanted to see Cassian.

But you could only see destruction. And you watched as the Holy City of Jedha and the entire planet of Alderaan were destroyed with a single blast from the Death Star.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

The distant voice that echoed through your mind belonged to your father. He sounded so much older and sadder --- but you couldn't think about it too much, because the screams were overwhelming. Yes, something terrible was going to happen. And you were witnessing it in this glimpse of the future. Your hands dropped to your sides and you shook your head. "No, no, no..."

But the screams wouldn't stop. They grew louder and louder, far more piercing than before, and you could sense so many people on Jedha and so many people on Alderaan, their lives being taken away.

"No!" you screamed, and then your eyes shot open and you were back on the U-WING, fighting for breath. Your palm smacked against your chest. Your heart was beating so quickly it hurt. Your other hand gripped the side of your seat tightly.

"You're all right! You're safe, ___." Cassian was beside you, speaking in a soft whisper. You could feel the gentle weight of his hand against your shoulder. You looked at him and shook your head. Could he not see the danger he was in? The danger the entire galaxy was in? "It was just a nightmare."

No. It wasn't just a nightmare. You were trembling. You could remember all of it, every single scream. You could feel every single life being torn away in the most horrific way possible.

"Cassian---" 

"Hey, breathe, ___. You're alright now."

"No," you said, your fingers pressing so hard into the seat that they hurt. "I'm not..."

"Look at me," he said. "Just look---"

"I wasn't dreaming! It was another vision. But this one hadn't happened yet. I saw the planet killer. The Death Star. It was... it destroyed Jedha and it destroyed Alderaan. I-I think the two events were separate, but I can't tell. If they are, it wasn't by much time. So many people died, Cassian, and I felt every single one as if it were happening to me again and again..."

His eyebrows pulled together. "And you're sure it was a vision?"

"Yes," you whispered. "I can't describe it to you, but it is so different from dreaming. I knew the exact moment my dream ended and the vision began." A whimper left your lips and you pressed a hand against your mouth. "All of those people..."

"It's alright," he said. 

You shook your head again. "Please. You must believe me."

You weren't aware of the tears that were in your eyes until you blinked and they were flooding down your cheeks. You couldn't imagine how terrified you must look, but Cassian saw your tears and believed you. The wrinkle of concern never relaxed between his brows and he knelt at the side of your seat, taking your hand in his with great care. He pressed your trembling fingers between the warmth of both his palms, attempting to steady you before your breaths became too quick. 

That alone was enough to make you realize that he believed you, but he spoke it nonetheless. "I believe you."

"Truly?" 

"Without any doubt. And I'm not sure... if it's because you saved my life twice today, or maybe because I witnessed you do too many unexplainable things, but I believe you." 

"Thank you," you breathed. You paused for a moment, the corners of your mouth turning upward only slightly. "I didn't just hear all of that either. I saw things, just like I was standing there watching them unfold --- as if I were really there. And not just the planet killer. I saw a man. Galen Erso, someone called him. He was building the planet killer. Have you heard of him before?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. He looked away from you and pressed his lips into a thin line as he thought.

"What do we do?"

"We stay on course to go back to Yavin 4," he said. "We'll be out of hyperspace soon enough. As soon as we arrive, we will go tell them what you saw."

"And if they don't believe me?" you asked.

"I don't see why they couldn't."

"Because a stranger declaring herself the daughter of a fallen general who 'died' seventeen years ago might be a little unbelievable as it is," you said. "You believe me because you've seen what I have done. They've seen nothing." 

"They well," he said. He sounded so sure; it confused you. 

"I have no proof of what I've seen. I only have my memories of my vision."

Cassian confused even himself by the easiness of his reply. "And you have me to back you up. They trust me so they'll trust anyone that I trust. And maybe it isn't the most concrete lead we've had... but it's a lead nonetheless. Anything could help the Rebellion in a time like this."

Trust. There it was --- complete and utter trust. It happened so suddenly, surprisingly so. You searched his eyes for a fraction of doubt and found none. He really, truly believed you and trusted you.

Your eyes dropped to your hand that was still pressed between both of his. He seemed to become aware at the same time you did. Quickly, he pulled away, wiping his hands against the sides of his legs as he straightened up and stood. He cleared his throat. "Are you alright then?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," you said, voice still shaky. Your hand was warm and you tucked it in between your side and the inside of your arm. "I'll be fine." 

"Good. Okay." He turned away. "So we'll just keep the hope that they'll act on this and --- and that'll be enough. We'll just hope that it's enough."

In the middle of your doubt, you were reminded of yourself, sitting in the kitchen of your home, doubting the Rebellion's success before you were even a part of it. You were reminded of your father. With your eyes on Cassian's back, you said softly, "Rebellions are built on hope."

He looked at you with a look you couldn't define. It was yet another ghost of what you'd seen when you'd rescued him the first time. And although you weren't sure what to think of it, it stirred something inside of you. Something that made your stomach flutter and your heart skip a beat and gave you a desire to share your vision with the Rebellion. To take this chance. 

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