010 ────────────── NARKINA 5

 Casssian sees her. He sees her clearly.

 First, he chalks it up to be a hallucination. She couldn't be real—not here at least. Not here in the chaos of rioting prisoners. He's losing his mind and this is evidence of that. Eris Krennic isn't standing on the lift in the work room—her eyes can't be scanning for him. She can't be here, Cassian thinks. It wasn't her. His mind had to have been playing tricks on him—cruel tricks, twisting his mind as a distraction. But, then they meet eyes. A silent conversation exchanges between the two of them. I see you. It's her. Cassian sees Eris Krennic. Eris Krennic holding a large blaster, dawning Imperial suit once again, the odd shoes on her own feet. Eris Krennic has infiltrated a prison—and surely it wasn't good for anyone on the opposing side. Cassian is moving his feet before he can even think, he's going towards her and it's all he can think about.

"Attack!" Yells Kino Loy.

Prisoners erupt—tools are thrown, the walls practically shake with sounds of their angry screams. Cassian's eyes widen, holding the pipe in his hand tightly. He jams it into the lift as it comes down, stopping it. Above him, Eris grips the sides for support. How is she supposed to prove she's on their side? Cassian looks to Kino—eyes full of terror. He bolts to him, grabbing Kino in a rage, eyes crazy and erratic. "The girl—don't hit her! She's my friend! She's come to get me, she's...she's broken in! She's helping!" Cassian screams. Kino bellows the message along before Cassian is jumping to grab the lift platform, pulling himself up to her. Eris Krennic offers a hand.

He grabs it, allowing her to pull him up. Their eyes meet again, and Cassian finds every little mole and scar he'd started to forget about while in captive. "You." Eris breathes. Her heart is racing, and she feels hot all over. The feels a rush of adrenaline, and an urge to leap towards Cassian—to touch him, hug him, do something. Cassian looks at her as if she isn't really there, like she's a ghost. Around them is chaos, but they're so calm. Dead bodies of Imperial guards lay beside them but they don't pay them any mind, as Eris sees are his eyes. His body has changed so much—but his eyes, they've not changed one bit.

Cassian lets out a soft exhale at her touch, grazing her cheekbone with a roughened pad of her fingers. It happens in milliseconds before her touch is gone—and his eyes are opening again to the world around them.

"You came." Cassian states.

Eris Krennic cracks the smile he'd missed for so many months. "Couldn't just leave you here, could I? Can't be a galatic Criminal on my own, Cass. Take this," Eris says, tossing him a blaster. Cassian catches it before following Eris through the door, where the body of guard laid. Eris stepped over it carelessly, as if he wasn't even there. Eris tosses the hat off of her head and throws it to the ground for prisoner feet to stomp on. Cassian manages to catch up with her quick feet, examining her.

"Your hair." Eris shoots him some sideeye, brows furrowing.

"First thing you notice is my hair. What about this?" Eris directs her finger to the big gash on her lower jaw. "Getting here wasn't easy. That's not even the worst I've been through. I've got a lot to share, Cass." Behind them is a flock of prisoners, grabbing weapons and zap rods—they were a fully fledged army now. Eris directs Cassian, and his newly joined friend Kino Loy to a control room. The door opened at their arrival, their guns raised and their faces angry.

"Too late. There's nobody there." Kino Loy says as they enter, aiming at the man in the middle. They'd just begun to deal with the extremes of the situation—but, they were seconds late.

"You ...shouldn't be here." Says the man.

"Turn it off." Orders Kino.

"...excuse me?" The man quivers.

"Turn it off!" Kino bellows.

The man smiles. "That could mean so many things—" Kino moves his arm and aims at the other Imperial in the room, shooting him dead. Eris moved towards the third and final man, aiming her gun at him. He raised his hands in fear, before stuttering.

"I—I'll turn it off." The scared one says.

Eris flashes a fake sarcastic smile. "Thanks."

Cassian walks past Eris, towards the front man. "Step away. Now!" Cassian orders in his gravely voice, marching towards him. The man falters backwards in compliance. "Shut down the floors. Everywhere!" Kino screams. The scared one near Eris moves to do so, her gun follows. "No, no. Don't just turn it off." Cassian moves towards him, aiming his gun at the man's head. "Cut the power."

At this distance, Cassian looks...sickly. He's extremely pale, with dark under eyes.

"It's all hydro. Once we turn it off it takes months to—okay!" The man yelps as Cassian pushes the barrel into his temple. "I don't have it. He has the hydrogen." He gestures to the front man. Eris hisses through her teeth. To be thrown under the bus like that? Awful. Cassian looks to him. Kino is the one that moves. The man moves to the controls and presses a few buttons before the complete place goes dark. Eris clenches her teeth, looking around in the pitch blackness. Cassian is beside her, still aiming at the men. Dimmer lights come on, illuminating them only slightly.

"On program!" Cassian orders to the men. Eris furrows her brows in confusion but starts to understand. He's doing to them what they did to him—payback is a bitch. Beside her, Kino moves into the control desk, standing above the microphone for the intercom system. Cassian urges him to speak. "It has to be you. You do this everyday. Tell them what to do." Kino hits the button.

"My name is Kino Loy. I'm the day shift manager on level five and I'm speaking to you from the command center on level eight. We are, at this moment, in control of the facility."

Cassian shakes his head, stepping forward. "Is that the best you got?"

Kino takes a shaky breath.

"How long we hang on, how far we get, how many of us will make it out, all of this now is up to us. We have deactivated every floor in the facility. All floors are cold. Wherever you are right now, get up, stop the work. Get out of your cells, take charge, and start climbing. They don't have enough guards and they know it. If we wait until they figure that out, it'll be too late." Kino shudders. The men in the room begin to lower their arms—Eris is aiming again, a warning. They raise them again. "We will never have a better chance than this and "I would rather die trying to take them down than giving them what they want. We know they fried a hundred men on Level Two. We know that they are making up our sentences as we go along. We know that no one outside here knows what's happening. And now we know, that when they say we are being released, we are being transferred to some other prison to go and die and that ends today! There is one way out. Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill!" Kino screams.

Eris can hear the chanting from the command center—a fire sparks within her. She can see it in Cassian and in Kino. Cassian and Eris run to the entrance of the room, aiming their guns at incoming prisoners who are running through the corridors. He lets his guard down for a moment—Cassian smiles. He joins the crowd of prisoners running as sea through the halls and holds Eris' hand as he sprints. Long halls lead to stairs to more long halls before Cassian can see the daylight for the first time in months. He can feel the ocean breeze and the warm sun from here.

"One way out!" Says a prisoner before he's plunging into the water below. As some of them dive, Eris is throwing her chunky shoes over the edge, smiling widely as she looks to Cassian—who's looking to Kino.

"I can't swim." Kino says.

Cassian can't reach him in time, a man is toppling towards Cassian and pushing him in. Eris moves, too—wind blowing through her hair as she looks to the sad eyes of Kino Loy. A man at his end. Men shove Eris, shoulders bumping into her—Eris falls just as Cassian does. Plummeting like a heavy rock into the ocean, water surrounding her. It wasn't fair—Kino fought for this, and Eris was the one that got out.

 Cassian is glowing, now.

 Under the warmth of a smile fire Eris made, he wears an extremely sad smile. Kino. Another lost to the Empire. Though Cassian doesn't know if he made it out, it was unlikely. A prison surrounded by water, and not knowing how to swim at all? It wouldn't have worked. Though Eris wasn't the best in the water, she'd gotten better. Especially since it was the second she had made her away across the water that day. She had to get in there somehow, right? The Empire was so confident of their security they didn't have many guards posted outside the facility—so, Eris just found the one her size and knocked them to ass, and stole their get up and was on her way.

Cassian wears a small blanket around his shoulders, hair pushed away from his face. Eris can see how tired he is as she sits across from him, eyes tracing his features. They'd been sitting in silence for a while, but Eris doesn't mind.

"So, what happened after we got arrested?"

Eris looks toward Cassian, smiling softly. "Hoth. Um, then my dad put an order to get me out and forced me to work for him. Escaped. Now I'm here."

Cassian hums. "Hoth? What was that like?"

Eris shrugged. "It was a prison. Much like yours, actually. I was there for a few months. Cut my hair. Got into fights. Got bailed out by rich daddy." She shakes her head. Cassian nods, looking off. It seemed conversation wasn't working for them tonight. There wasn't much to say—everything was laying right in front of them. Eris stands and moves to sit beside him. "You alright?" Eris asks.

Cassian nods. "Missed you is all. I feel like I had so much to tell you and now that you're here...I can't remember." Cassian admits.

Eris furrows her brows. "Am I distracting you, Andor?" Eris teases.

Cassian nods. "Very much so. I can't even talk."

"So lets not talk." Eris suggests.

Eris and Cassian are shifting their gaze from each others eyes to each others lips. They both know what's to come. But, the tension is high and neither of them want it to die. Their hearts are sparking and beating out of their chests and they can only think of each other.

"What do you propose we do instead?" Cassian asks in a hushed low tone, staring into her own eyes. Eris feels intimidated under his gaze in the best way. It feels like she's on fire.

"Shall I show you?" Eris questions.

Cassian nods. "Suppose that would help."

Eris grabs both sides of Cassian's face and brings her lips to his—kissing him hard. Cassian wastes no time in wrapping his arms around her, engulfing her. They're melting together and becoming on, lungs burning for air but they don't care—this is all they need. Connected to each other like an invisible string, Eris and Cassian are drinking each other in, breathing each others air and testing each others taste. Eris finds her fingers in his hair and he's holding her as if she's going to fade away. Long years have led up to this, and it was better than Eris could've ever thought. This idea had crossed her mind so many times, but it had never been this intoxicating. Something about Cassian Andor is so mesmerizing and she can't get enough—he'd have to say the same about her, gripping her hips tightly and his mind racing with thoughts of her. Eris Krennic.

His Eris Krennic.