Rogue One- Alternate Ending

Chapter 10

~Cassian~

After allowing ourselves a split second of weakness, Jyn and I rise and survey the wreckage.

Before we where too trapped wrestling with inner nightmares and too disgusted at the sea of destruction that lay before us we did not pick out where the wreckage of the Com tower and where we should even start.

I pick out a slight oval in the distance of darker rock and when I look closer I realise its the destroyed remnants of the tower, exactly what Mothama wanted us to search.

Pointing it out to Jyn, who still looks haunted, she stands in front of me and looks out.
I wrap my as around her and press my lips to her forehead to comfort her in anyway I can.

"We might find body's..." I start but Jyn silences me with a quick kiss.

"I know, and we'll bury them, like they deserved. They where good people." She says with a glint of steel in her eyes I've come to love.

Jyn gently picks up Chirrut's worn staff and lays it in a softer patch of turned up sand that lays on a rock.

Dust and sand coats everything so it's not difficult to find a small patch just long enough and dig a slim crevice to lay the staff in.

We bury the wooden weapon in silence and can't bring ourselves to search for any decrepit reminders of our friends. Who knows what we'll find later. A cartridge from Baze's cannon, Bodhi's goggles, K2's rusty hand.

The thought comes unwelcome. K-2SO was my only friend in the rebellion. And he's gone.

Jyn and I quickly start trekking up to the wreckage we saw earlier. It didn't look like much was left but anything could be of help.

I clasp Jyn's hand as we walk. Neither of us wanting to let go as we walk towards the mound of black. Jyn leans into me and presses a kiss to my jaw as we continue walking.

Skarif hums with heat from the Sun. I think if it hadn't become what it did it would have been a pleasant planet. I can't even make out the sea across miles of wreckage but I remember the palms, the Sun and the sand making a beautiful place. And then the base, like a dagger through the heart of a child.

Jyn and me reach the very edge of the darker part of wreckage. Whatever this place was made out of, it was pretty strong, I can actually make out baseline foundations turned up in the rubble.

It seems even the empire's greatest strengths can be bought down... even if by its own weapon.

For a split second, a horrible thought of not destroying, but controlling the death star flashes in my mind.
The power. The fear.

I shake with disgust at my own thought process. Rebels don't think like that. We fight for the right cause.
Even if some (like the guy that challenged Jyn), are douches.

I tuck Jyn into my side and her arm comes up around my waist as we walk further. Jyn types a code to her holopad and points to a slightly raised part of the destruction.

"That's where the data vault was," Jyn calls to me as she releases my hand and walks forward.

As we near that part of the crater, I notice disk tapes churned up in the rock and reach down to pick one up. There's no way of knowing if the tape holds important information without loading onto rebel computers.

Jyn and I set about collecting the various data tapes. We both have bad memories of this place. Every time I lift up a small rock or shift away sand and rubble I expect to see a broken bolt from K- 2SO or a breast plate.

The thought does not sit well and try to ignore the idea that we are walking on our friend's bones.

Jyn seems equally as haunted. She stronger though- and hides her pain with a steely glare and a set jaw.