War Child--Rogue One

VI

The next morning, after Aden eats breakfast with us and heads back out into the cold, I obsessively go through all of our belongings to make sure he hasn't stolen anything.

Nothing is unaccounted for.

I return the hologram tablet to its shelf, safe for the moment.

Mother seems to like Aden a lot. She keeps asking me, probably fifty times a day, "Where's your friend Aden? Invite him over some time."

I just tell her that I haven't seen him around anywhere. I don't want to tell her that, for one thing, he is not my friend, and for the second, I don't trust him anyway. So if I do see him, I'll just keep my head down and walk past.

She just keeps on asking.  Honestly, it gets really annoying after a bit.

I don't see Aden for a week, and then, coincidentally, run into him again during a snowstorm.  Before he can realize it's me though, I run off through the storm back home.

The next time I see him, he approaches me.

"Cassian!"

I walk faster, pretending I haven't heard him.

"Hey, Cass!"

I turn. "You can't call me Cass."

"Sorry." He touches my arm. "I have something awesome to show you."

Something in his gaze makes me trust him for a moment, and, too chipper, I respond, "What is it?"

"A new ship just landed. It's huge!"

We walk off, right past two stormtroopers, one of whom chuckles as we pass.  I don't know what Aden wants with me, but I had better not get in trouble.

He shoulder bumps me into an avenue, and I stagger into it.

"What are you doing!" I shout.

He shushes me with a finger beside his nose.  "Were you friends with Lac?" Aden asks quietly.

"Who?"  I don't want it to be him.

"Lac. He was shot four years ago. I remember seeing a kid who looked like you hangin' around with him."

A rock falls to the pit of my stomach and drags it down to the snow. I shove him against the wall, suddenly terrified. "What are you, a spy?"

I should have brought the blaster. I rarely bring it out, only when I've got a bad feeling, or there have been a few outbreaks.

He pushes me off of him. "No. No. I'm a rebel like you."

I scoff. "I'm not a rebel." Not anymore.

"But you still want to be."

"I do not." I need to get out of here. He's probably stalling me, waiting for stormtroopers to come. Or, he isn't, and stormtroopers will come and get the both of us.

"Of course you do. Or else you wouldn't have come with me." He shrugs. "You hate them as much as I do. Your father, they killed him. And Lac. Theron. The Empire did that."

I remember the people they killed. I sigh. "I'm not going to run some sort of haphazard mission with you."

"You're not going to. You're a model citizen. They like you. Just keep looking innocent, and I'll give you some indiscreet jobs. You walk past the west base every day. That's great."

"Were you watching me?"

"Perhaps. A good rebel needs to have a good idea of their surroundings and possible resources." Aden sticks his gloved hands in his pockets.

I find myself shivering. It's cold in this alley, far from the sun.

"So, will you join us?"

"Us?"

"I don't operate alone. But you won't know everybody. It's safer that way. In case you get caught."

I shake once, to get that tight feeling out of my shoulders. "I'll join you."

A smile cracks his face. "I'll keep in touch. How's your mom?"

"She wants you to come over for dinner some time," I tell him, grudgingly.

He can't tell though, and just beams bigger. "That soup was fantastic. I can come in three days. I've got other arrangements until then."

"I'll be sure to tell her." I start towards the street, but he grabs my shoulder.

"Don't go out that way. They'll get suspicious. They don't like me, so seeing you with me will make them not like you either."

He points me to the other exit, and gives me directions on how to get to some street I recognize.

As I leave, I find myself wondering what kind of operation I've gotten myself into this time.