into the chaos! → luke skywalker ✓

ii. the rescuers

⋆☆* ✧✰.✦

CASSIA TARIN FELT AS IF her heart had shattered into a million pieces. Leia had been taken from their new death row cell about an hour earlier, and when she returned, she nearly collapsed on the bench and revealed the fate of Alderaan. Cas may have been a soldier trained to withstand the galaxy's worst, but she had always had a soft spot for her home planet. She loved it dearly, more than she loved most things; it had brought her comfort, and now she'd never feel that type of comfort again. The snow-capped mountains, the crisp white buildings that poked into the bright blue sky, the luscious trees and shimmering lakes that surrounded Aldera...it was all gone.

Worst of all, Bail and Breha Organa were gone. Two of the kindest people she had ever met, the couple had essentially taken her in as their own once she was given the job as Leia's personal guard. They had been the closest thing to family she had had in quite some time, and now they were dead, wiped away by the Empire, becoming yet another cost of the disgusting and destructive war.

She thought briefly of her own father, which surprised her seeing as she hadn't thought of him since she graduated the academy. Cas had grown up with a loving mother and an indifferent father, and after her mother's passing seven years earlier she hadn't really had much contact with him. The last time they had spoken was the day before she started at the academy, and the only reason she had thought of him at graduation was because she wondered what he would think of her then. She had never been good enough, and her mother's death had only enhanced that; honestly, Cas hadn't minded, not once she understood she wasn't the problem. The only reason she thought of him at that particular moment was because she knew of his fate. He rarely went off-world.

Bail Organa had been more of a mentor and caretaker than her own father ever had. Just as she and Leia had grown close, she and Bail had, too. He had treated her as an equal, even from the very beginning, and they had developed a certain bond where they trusted each other implicitly. She had learned a great deal at the academy, but had learned even more from the senator over the past three years. She had always gotten the feeling she reminded him of a few people from his past, and from the way he spoke of Obi-Wan Kenobi and a young woman named Sabé, it didn't take many guesses as to who.

Cas closed her eyes, recalling the moments shared with Bail and Breha and her instructors at the academy and random citizens in markets, hoping like hell that she was just in some terrible nightmare and she would wake up with the ability to have all of those experiences again. As she opened her eyes, though, she only saw the Imperial cell in front of her and she was hit with the cruel reminder that everything had changed. She would never get to hear Bail's advice again, nor would she be able to put together disguises with Breha. She would never get to revisit the academy and talk to recruits again, nor would she be able to visit the markets and lose herself in the artistry. Alderaan was gone, and the change had only just begun.

"We need to get out of here," murmured Cas, her voice hoarse from lack of use. They had been sitting in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, mourning their planet and the people who had been on it. Leia nodded, wiping her face with her sleeve. She cleared her throat.

"What, uh, what did you have in mind?" Cas considered their options, which were pretty slim, to be honest.

"Next time guards show up, we'll overpower them. I'll put on one of their uniforms and lead you out." Leia arched a brow, though Cas noted the lack of energy behind it. It was hard to have energy when your whole world—literally—had just been destroyed.

"It's risky, and the chances of it working are slim."

"But it's all we have." Leia let out a feeble sort of chuckle.