Star Wars Imagines

Speak(Cassian Andor)

"Just tell us what they're planning." You stare at your feet as the scruffy looking male attempted to get the Empire's plans out of you. You are a stormtrooper, or at least you used to be. You were captured by the Rebel Alliance. Now, you are tied to a chair, staring at your feet as the male in front of you is trying to keep a level head.

There is something strange about this man.... You can't tell exactly what it is, but you feel like you know him somehow. You can't remember anything from your life before becoming a stormtrooper. You remember you were about...seven? Eight? When you were taken away. You lived somewhere cold. Or at least you think.

"I will ask you one more time. What is the Empire planning?" The man's face is inches away from yours. You can see his eyes, but your long (H/C) hair is a curtain covering your face so the man can't see it. You don't say anything. You couldn't, even if you wanted to. You had selective mutism. You couldn't talk to men who were part of the Rebel Alliance, or handsome men, like the one in front of you, who was both. It wasn't part of the stormtrooper programing. This was just the way you were, the way you always had been. It was a bug in your system, and you hated it. The man growled and walked out of the room.

***

The same man came to interrogate you every day for the next week. He couldn't get anything out of you. It wasn't like you knew the Empire's plans anyway. They never told stormtroopers anything.

When the man was gone, you did some thinking to yourself. The memory serum used on the stormtroopers was wearing off. It needed to be injected into each stormtrooper once a month, and your due date was a week past. Little memories would flash in your mind when triggered. You remembered you were born on Fest. It was icey all year long. You hated it. You were seven years old when you were taken away to become a stormtrooper. Your parents were killed in the invasion. Tears fell down your face when you thought about them, but you wiped them away quickly. No one could see you crying.

At the end of the week, there are new guards outside of your cell. They are laughing and joking to each other. You can hear what they are saying. "...she won't tell him anything."

"Stormtroopers. They never do talk easily. Why'd they assign Captain Andor to her?"

Andor.... You've heard that name before.

"I dunno. Maybe she's special?"

"No. She's just a stormtrooper. There's nothing special about that pretty little head of hers."

"Maybe Captain Andor is assigned to her because he's the best. No one else can get stormtroopers to talk like him."

"True. Still doesn't explain why no one else could take the job."

"I heard there was no one else to do the job. Everyone's out fighting the war."

"Poor Cassian. I bet he wishes he didn't get stuck with some stupid stormtrooper."

Cassian.... Andor. Cassian Andor. Memories flash through your mind when you put the two names together.

***

Hugging a boy goodbye. Six years old. "Don't leave," you begged him.

"I have to," he answered.

"Please. Stay here."

"I can't."

"You can. Please Cass.... I don't want you to die."

"I won't die (Y/N). I'll come back for you, when the war is over."

"Will we leave Fest?"

"When we're old enough." You smiled and hugged Cass tighter.

***

(Y/N). That was your name. And Cass.... That was your nickname for him, the little boy in the memory, your first and only friend. Cass. You remember it wasn't his full name. You try your hardest to remember it.

Cassian. That was it. Cassian Jeron Andor. You close your eyes, face still tilted down so your hair covered it. You hear metal clanking, and look up. The guards pull you to your feet and place cuffs on your wrists. Then they escort you to the interrogation room, where Cassian is already waiting. He looks so different from your memory....

"Alright girl," he says, and you are confused. Cassian is your friend.... Wouldn't he be happy to see you? "I have been patient with you. I have asked you over and over again, and you won't answer. What is the Empire planning?" You try to speak, but you can't. Your stupid selective mutism won't let you. Tears prick at the corners of your eyes. You want to talk to him. He's your friend. Cassian stands up and walks over to you. "Why won't you speak," he asks calmly. When you don't answer, he grabs your chin and tilts your head up. Your hair is still in your face, so Cassian brushes it away.

"(Y/N)," he breathes, and you give him a half smile.

Cassian, you think, but can't say.

"It's been forever. I went back to Fest when I turned eighteen, but you weren't there."

I'm sorry Cassian.

"(Y/N).... Why didn't you wait for me?"

I tried Cassian. Then the Empire came....

"I looked everywhere for you."

Cassian....

"I loved you (Y/N). Ever since we met. I only realized it when I was fourteen."

I didn't know. Cassian, please--

"I thought you had left Fest with someone else. I told myself you were happy, and tried to live with it."

I never married Cassian! Don't you understand, I had selective mutism, even when we were little I couldn't speak too handsome men, you know that.

"But it was like I was dying inside."

Cassian.... Don't say that, please, you told me you wouldn't die.

"But you're a stormtrooper, and that's much worse. I can't...."

I'm sorry. I didn't choose this Cassian, please believe me.... Who am I kidding, you can't even hear me! I'm thinking these things. I can't.... Cassian screams with anger and you flinch back.

"Say something (Y/N)! Tell me you hate me, tell me I'm rebel scum, break my heart if you want to! I don't care, as long as you just say something." Tears slide down your cheeks. You try. You want to say something, to speak, but you can't. You trace the words I need paper and a pen on the dust on the chair arm. Cassian sees it, and brings them to you. You write a message to him, and hand him the paper. He reads it, and tears well up in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispers, and you smile at him and wipe away his tears. You gesture for him to hand you back the paper, and you write three more words on it. Cassian reads them, and smiles.

"I love you too (Y/N)," he says, and you hug each other.