runakvaed:

if I close my mind in fear, please pry it open
a rebelcaption wrongful imprisonment

au

“-eports o…olent confrontations erupting as police
meet protesters mar..on the ca…..aga..-“

The VHS video
stutters and flickers, the image jumps and then cuts out. Jyn sighs into the
pile of police reports and newspaper clippings on the desk in front of her.

It’s been
12 years since that particular protest in the summer of 2002, and she’s lucky
the Post even kept a CNN broadcast on tape for this long. In reality she didn’t
need it, it’s mostly background noise. Jyn remembers the story well enough on
her own; a peaceful protest turns violent, police are called in, people are arrested.
Tale as old as time. She has covered similar stories herself more than once.

The interesting
difference about this one is the seven students who were arrested, seven students peacefully protesting and caught up in the very system
they so opposed. Most were detained for several months under felony riot
charges, but ultimately released after their charges were dropped. Two years
ago, Jyn planned to interview all of them on the anniversary of the protest, a
story of innocence in a system build on the backs of the innocents.

She only
ever found six of them.

For all
intents and purposes, “Andor, Cassian Jeron” does not exist past his arrest
report from 12 years ago. No credit cards, no phone numbers, no loans, no
social media accounts, no home addresses. No nothing but an oddly blacked out
copy of a police report with a photo of a sad-eyed 22-year-old boy with a
bruised face. Jyn has been starring into those sad eyes for nearly two years,
looking for the boy who would have become a man by now. A man who is
surprisingly hard to find.

The old TV
splutters with static, and Jyn turns to the pile of mail that’s about to be tipped
off her desk if she pushes the stack of paper next to her any more to the left.
The light in the office next door turns off, and Czerny knocks on her glass wall
and waves goodbye as he passes, heading out for the night. Jyn waves back.

Maybe is
she uses her mail stack as a pillow, she will actually get some proper sleep
tonight and not have to make her way home alone on the metro at 1 AM. Again.

(“Erso, heading out soon?”

“In a minute.”

Her editor eyes her with resignation, like she
knows Jyn won’t be leaving until she’s the very last soul left in the building.
If at all.

“All right. See you tomorrow.”)

That was
around three hours ago. Jyn huffs and glances at her desktop clock. Okay, four hours. Maybe she could just leave now and take the mail home with her. Except
there’s bound to be a few letters of the nastier variety in the stack, and Jyn
doesn’t really want them inside her home if she can avoid it. Though they might
make excellent lining for Emil’s litterbox.

First in
the stack is exactly that. So’s the third. The fifth is somewhat more
interesting…

Heavy manilla
envelope, no return address, her name on the front, stamped locally in D.C. Jyn
frowns, tears it open and lets the papers spill out, only to be met with the same
sad eyes that have been haunting her for years.  

PRISONER RECORD
Andor, Cassian Jeron
Prisoner ID AA-523XDC4
Montgomery County Detention Center

Jyn blinks.
In the distance she can hear the cleaning crew vacuuming the staff lounge. But in
front of her is the answer to what she’s been asking herself for much too long
now – what happened to Cassian Andor?

The prison
record is dated 2 months ago, and the answer stares Jyn straight in the face: it’s been 12 years and he’s still being
detained in prison. With no hearing, trial or sentence.