Author's Note: (Awww. I personally love this chapter.) Chapter 23: A New AbilityJyn’s eyes couldn’t shift anywhere else, because her gaze is fixed on the old silver hilt and the purple kyber crystal on her desk. Jyn stands there, right in front of her desk with her arms crossed, with her brain searching for possible answers as to why the lightsaber was abandoned and disassembled underneath a pile of rubbish. Jyn kept thinking hard for clues, but no luck. The broader question Jyn kept wondering was: Who did the lightsaber belong to? Jyn had yet to figure out the mystery behind it, though, there was a likely chance she wouldn’t ever solve the question. Jyn had heard stories about the Jedi when she was a little girl, back when she and her parents were settled in the care of the Galactic Empire sometime after the end of the Clone Wars.
But, at least what mattered is that she scavenged parts of a lightsaber from one of the most unusual of places.
A thought came to Jyn’s mind: the base did have a technology & weapons laboratory in the upper floor of her pyramid-shaped building. If she could just spend some time there trying to build & repair the lightsaber, she could develop herself a new weapon to her arsenal.
But was Jyn suitable for that type of weapon?
She wasn’t really Force sensitive. She was no Jedi. She never trained in the Jedi arts, because she didn’t have that strong enough of the Force within her. She couldn’t levitate objects at will. She couldn’t tap into people’s mind with Jedi mind tricks. Though, she was one with the Force after her death. However, Jyn could feel the Force surging through her completely, especially when she was by Cassian’s side all the time.
“You don’t have to be a Jedi to hit someone with a lightsaber.” Jyn thought, looking up at the ceiling with her fingers rubbing her chin in deep thought.
Yes, that is true indeed. A non-Jedi, like Jyn, Cassian, Leia, and many others, could easily pick up a lightsaber and hold it in their hands, as any other Jedi would easily & simply do so. The only difference, Jyn figures, is that she didn’t have Force powers to use in the offensive against enemies. But it was alright, Jyn thought, because it wasn’t like she was anything special. She was just a regular person, just like Cassian and all those other Rebels in the entire Rebel Alliance.
Perhaps, she could just have a lightsaber with her for extreme situations.
Suddenly, Jyn feels a strong force surrounding her. She could feel it so well that she knows what was about to occur. She closes her eyes and takes deep, subtle breaths, breathing the tension out of her system. And before she knew it, she opened her eyes to find the Force spirits of her parents, Galen & Lyra, standing in front of her.
“Mother. Father.” Jyn says, with a slight smile.
“Hello, our dear Stardust.” Galen returns the greeting with a small smile of his own.
“We see you’re holding up pretty well with this Rebellion.” Lyra says, scanning her eyes on Jyn from head to toe. She has her hands crossed in front of her waist on the red sash she wore with her brown & beige robes.
“It’s much better than prison, for sure.” Jyn says cleverly, lifting one of the sides of the brown vest that she wore over her gray jacket.
Galen and Lyra both chuckles as they look at each other. They’ve watched from the afterlife how Jyn adjusted to life as a Rebel on her own, with Cassian as her man, her partner. And they were happy to see that. “That’s good, sweetheart. That’s good.” Galen says, before his smile fades.
And Jyn notices, so her smile fades as well, because she knows her parents were about to have a conversation with her.
“We sense a great deal of fear and worry in you, Jyn. It’s troubling you lately, and it has something to do about Captain Andor. Correct me if I’m wrong.” Galen declares, keeping eye contact with his young brunette daughter standing before him.
And Galen knew it, because Jyn turns away to break from the eye contact to face the other direction. Galen and Lyra look at each other with concern, then focus their attention back to their daughter. “I’m scared for him…” Jyn says.
Lyra takes a step forward. “And we’re scared for you. Both of you.”
Jyn then turns to face her parents again, with her hand on her hip. Lyra continues on. “We’re here to tell you that you don’t have to be afraid. Your family will protect you, and they will do everything in their power to do the best they can for you and Captain Andor. Believe me, Jyn. Be strong for him just as I was strong for you and your father.” Lyra tells Jyn, looking at her husband with a small smile.
Jyn nods to acknowledge & absorb her mother’s words of comfort.
“But we’re also here to tell you to be careful, because we feel something deep, and something big, will be coming the Rebellion’s way in the future.” Galen warns, much to Jyn’s concern. She takes a couple of steps towards her parents.
“Why? What will happen, father?” Jyn asks as she frowns.
“I don’t know, but I sense that it is something terrible. Far more terrible than my creation.” Galen says. He now looks down at the floor in dismay.
Jyn looks down at the floor, dismayed as well. “More terrifying than….the Death Star…?” Jyn whispers quietly to herself.
“Jyn, whatever happens, Orson must be a priority target. And I know how personal this is for you & Captain Andor. Don’t let the darkness cloud your faith, Stardust.” Galen finishes.
Jyn then shifts her attention to her mother as Lyra approaches her. Jyn raises her hand, and Lyra grabs ahold of her hand, even though Jyn isn’t able to feel her mother’s physical touch.
“Trust the Force, Jyn.” Lyra tells her daughter. “May the Force be with you…” Lyra says with a smile as she and Galen fade away.
Jyn tries her best to keep her emotions stable, because she wants to vent out the anxiety and worry out of her body now. She paces back and forth in her quarters, shifting her eyes from the floor, to the lightsaber hilt & kyber crystal, and vice versa repeatedly.
Suddenly, Jyn could feel that her chest was burning hot. “Ah!” Jyn exclaims. She looks down and sees that the kyber crystal she wore around her neck is glowing very bright, and it is warming up. Jyn could feel a strong force looming the air in her room. Her heart keeps a rapid beat. Her breaths become shallower. Somehow, her mind keeps shifting from distress to tranquility, and back. She didn’t know what was happening to her.
But after a long moment, Jyn could feel something very strong in the room, and it was coming from behind her. A very bright purple glow came from her desk.
Jyn’s eyes widen, and she gasps loudly at what she sees.
((()))
Cassian is in the lower floors, helping a few Rebels store away a shipment of crates containing food & supplies in the storage area. But Cassian jumps unexpectedly when he hears his commlink go off on his wrist. It was Jyn calling out to him loudly.
“C-C-Cassian! Come up here, now! Hurry!” Jyn yells, sounding distressed.
With confusion and worry rushing in him, Cassian’s eyes widen as he brings his commlink wrist bracelet to his mouth and responds. “What!? O-Okay! I’m coming!”
The Intelligence Officer excuses himself to the other Rebels and swiftly runs to a nearby elevator.
Eventually, Cassian arrives at Jyn’s quarters, where he examines the room. And when he sees that it’s only Jyn, he sighs a big sigh of relief as he rests a hand on his abdomen. “What’s wrong, Jyn?”
Jyn stays silent for a brief moment to gaze into Cassian’s chocolate brown eyes. Cassian stares at her, waiting for a reply. “Close the door.” She whispers to him. Unsure as to why she is being secretive at this moment, hence her whispering and her urgent call, Cassian pushes a button on the wall-mounted control pad behind him to close Jyn’s quarters door, and he approaches her so that they were an arm’s length from each other. “Cassian….watch this.”
Cassian furrows his brows in curiosity as they both turn to face Jyn’s desk. Jyn’s A180 hand blaster lay on the surface of the desk.
Just out of nowhere, the A180 pulls right in to Jyn’s gun holster strapped to her right thigh by an invisible entity.
Jyn turns to face Cassian, and she gazes up at Cassian into his brown eyes, trying to search for whether he had approval or disapproval. Cassian’s jaw dropped, and he was wide-eyed, because he was both amazed and confused by what Jyn had done.
Jyn has just discovered a supernatural ability.
Cassian looks down at Jyn in confusion. “Y-You….the Force….how!?” He asks, struggling to develop a stable, clear question.
“I’m not a Jedi, Cassian. But I think I have the Force in me.” Jyn tries to explain while keeping her forest-green eyes locked with his chocolate brown eyes full of confusion. “I was speaking with my parents’ Force ghosts. Then, I was able to do…that.”
Cassian could do nothing but stay silent and try to assess what he has just seen from his young 21-year-old lover. After a brief moment, he asks away. “….How long?”
Jyn blinks, gathering the courage to explain to Cassian. “When I was a little girl, before my mother was killed…she gave me the kyber crystal necklace. You know, the thing that brought us back. She always told me to trust the Force. But, mostly, I never believed in it until our raid on Scarif. I don’t have Jedi powers, Cassian. At least, not right now. But, I can only lift things at will, and I hope it is just only that.”
Cassian still didn’t have any words to say. He places his hands on his hips and turns away from Jyn, placing his thoughts elsewhere. Jyn gets worried about what Cassian was thinking of her. Was he thinking that she was keeping this from him all this time? Was Jyn going to become more dangerous than she already is now that she has this Force ability? Or was Jyn going to be safe with her secret power and use it for offensive means?
Was it going to affect their relationship?
Cassian sighs a big sigh of relief, and he smiles. Because, no matter what, he accepted Jyn for who she was, what she was. He believed that nothing will ever change his love for her, even though if it was just a Force ability that Jyn developed out of the blue. He knew it could help both of them in the battlefield. Cassian turns to Jyn.
“Cassian…?” Jyn asks his name, with her eyes still gazing up at him with concern.
From his powerful, unconditional love for Jyn, Cassian places one hand on her cheek, and wraps the other arm around her waist. He locks his eyes with the forest-green eyes that was searching for his approval of her. “I don’t mind a little Force.” He says softly & happily.
Jyn’s heart aches in a way that it releases all the tension built up in her system, and she sighs relief through her nostrils. She wraps both of her hands around Cassian’s hand, which rests on her cheek, and she presses her cheek firmly against his hand in an affectionate act. Her eyes close, for she is relieved that her Captain accepts her Force ability and that he has faith in who she is, and in what she has in her.