Emma and Sofia trudged up a large hill in seemingly the middle of nowhere. Both had a less than happy look on their face as they wandered behind Jenny who was marching in front of them, a hint of anger in every step she took.
She called it the 'Isolation Cabin', a cabin that was separate from the main camp and one that sat at the top of a very steep hill. No one had said a word to each other since they set off to the cabin that morning. A few deathly stares were exchanged between Sofia and Emma when Jenny picked them up from their original cabins but she made it very clear that not a single syllable was to be heard from either of them as they walked.
Emma hitched her duffel bag further up her shoulder as she huffed. Sofia stared at the floor as if the many twigs and small stones littered all over the pathway were the most interesting things ever. Both of them had been dreading the moment when they'd finally be left alone in the cabin as neither wanted to be cooped in there, stuck with each other; the idea of having to spend more than ten minutes in each other's presence was not one that appealed to either Emma or Sofia. Both let out a frustrated sigh at that very moment.
They had finally reached the cabin and Jenny came to a halting stop. She turned around to face the girls, a stormy look on her face.
"Now, I don't need to explain to you why you're here," She started. "When you are not doing scheduled activities, you will stay in this cabin. During your free time you will stay in this cabin. At breakfast, lunch and dinner you are to sit at a separate table and are not to talk to anyone else. As punishment for all the pranks you have carried out you will help the cooks clear away after lunch today. Is that understood?"
Sofia and Emma weakly looked in Jenny's direction. "Yes, Ma'am." They said together.
Jenny nodded. "Right, good. I will be back to collect you when lunch begins and know that if I hear a peep out of either of you I will strongly consider sending you both home. Now, go on, get settled. Maybe you can try and find a middle ground while you're at it." And with that Jenny left, walking through the middle of Sofia and Emma in the direction they came from, leaving them alone.
Emma's gaze held onto Jenny as she walked off and then she turned to face Sofia who only gave her a look of exasperation before turning around and walking up the many steps to the cabin. Emma followed her but no words were exchanged between the two.
***
A thick silence hung in the air as the girls unpacked their things.
Sofia got the bed on the right side of the cabin so Emma chucked her duffel down on the bed closet to the door. Still no one said anything. The silence could've been considered uncomfortable and awkward had it not been for the circumstance they were in; at this point Sofia would rather talk to literally anyone else than Emma. Heck, she could've had a full blow conversation with a brick wall and she still would've enjoyed it more than any conversation she could have with Emma.
Every action Sofia carried out she did with force. She tossed her clothes in the draws, she slammed the draws shut, any books she brought with her she threw onto her bedside table and then, when she was finished unpacking, she took out her phone and ear phones, chucked herself onto her bed and blocked out anyone and everyone (mainly Emma) by playing her music. The whole time, Emma looked up from her unpacking every now and then, mainly when Sofia slammed something onto a surface, but she remained calm.
Of course, she wasn't happy, in fact she was furious, but she knew that there would be no point in lashing out at anyone at this current moment in time; she didn't want to get into any more trouble than she already had so she kept her mouth shut. When she finished unpacking, she pulled out a book of her own from her suitcase and set it out on the bed, but she didn't actually read any of it. Instead she thought about the remaining weeks she had left at camp, where she'd be stuck in the isolation cabin with Sofia. She thought about home and her mind wondered to her mum. Would her mum have been mad at her for getting into so much trouble? It's not exactly like she was a saint herself when she was Emma's age but even so Emma wasn't so sure if she would agree with everything she'd done. She'd hate to think that she'd disappointed her mum.
Emma tried to block out any more negative thoughts and tried to focus on her book. She had a feeling that time would start to move a little more slowly.
***
At around half one in the afternoon, Jenny came knocking on the cabin's door to take Emma and Sofia to the mess hall where they ate their lunch. They were sat a small square table which was in the corner of the mess hall in silence, a sign that read 'Isolation Table' was pinned to the wall above it. After they'd eaten lunch under the watchful eye of Jenny, she then escorted them to the back room of the mess hall where they then spent the next two hours washing up every single piece of cutlery and all the dishes used during lunch; this task was also to be completed in silence as well. When they'd finished cleaning up Jenny took them back to their cabin. They didn't come out of it until dinner that evening where again, they sat in silence. To Emma it felt like she hadn't said a word in years and in some ways, she missed having someone to talk to.
The deafening silence continued all up until later that evening. It was late and the girls had been lying in bed but neither had gone to sleep. Then, to the complete shock of Emma, she finally heard Sofia's voice through the dimness of the cabin, the only light coming from a lamp outside the cabin's door.
"This is all your fault, you know." She said bitterly.
Emma rolled her eyes. "No one asked you to fight back."
"You stole my clothes after I jumped into the lake!" Sofia snapped back, shooting up to look at Emma.
"You put all my stuff on the roof of my cabin!"
"Well you! - you know what? I'm not even going to argue with you anymore. God, you're so... Stubborn!" Sofia finished with a glaring expression.
"And you're stuck-up! Look, we're stuck in here till the end of camp and there's nothing we can do about it so we might as well shut up and get on with it." And Emma lied back down onto her pillow.
There was a pause before she heard Sofia mutter under her breath. "We wouldn't even be in here if it wasn't for your stupid water balloon prank."
Emma let out a loud sigh and at this point tried to block Sofia out as she kept on rambling. "I mean, what if they tell our parents? What then? What would your mom think? Your dad?"
And Emma froze. Her dad.
No one talked about Emma's dad, he was never mentioned at home. She'd never even met him which meant it was somewhat of a sore subject for her to talk about but there was no way she would ever confide in Sofia about this. Like she'd understand. By the sounds of it, it seemed like both her parents were still together and an uncontrollable feeling of jealousy took over her. She opened her mouth to correct Sofia, about to tell her how she didn't have a dad, but Sofia didn't stop talking.
"My dad would be so mad at me if he found out how much trouble I was in right now. But did you stop to think about that? Like you'd even know what that's like," She didn't mean it like that, Emma knew that. How on earth could Sofia ever know about Emma's dad? She couldn't, but it still hurt all the same. A pained look formed on Emma's face and she closed her mouth, deciding against speaking up.
"Of course, you wouldn't think about how your actions affect everyone else because you don't have respect for anyone." And Sofia waited for a retaliation, for Emma to come back at her with a biting remark but it never came. Through the darkness she heard nothing except the sound of blankets rustling as Emma turned over in her bed so her back was facing Sofia.
Emma had no idea why Sofia's comments got to her so badly, it's not like she knew. Maybe it was the fact that she was tired or the fact that she had been on an emotional high all day but whatever it was she knew she couldn't take another second of Sofia belittling her so she rolled over and shut her eyes tight in an attempt to go to sleep.
Sofia lifted her head slightly to look at Emma; she was facing away from her in her bed.
"Emma?" She called out, but she didn't respond.
Sofia scrunched up her brow and for one fleeting moment she got the impression that somehow, she'd hurt Emma's feelings. She had no idea what had triggered Emma's sudden change in mood but Sofia decided that she wasn't going to spend another moment trying to get answers out of her so she lay back down on her bed and closed her eyes as well.
***
After the first night, the mood between the girls turned sour.
Emma, still reeling from Sofia's comments, avoided her as much as she could (which obviously turned out to be extremely difficult as they were both stuck in the same cabin) It mostly involved Emma blocking her out by sticking in her ear phones or flipping through a book.
Sofia, on the other hand, turned quieter over the next few days. It was as if she'd finally realised just how much her words had upset Emma. Usually she would be showering Sofia in insults and sarcastic remarks but she hadn't said a single word to her since that first night. Really it shouldn't have bothered Sofia this much, why should she care if someone she didn't like didn't talk to her? That's what she wanted. Right?
Sofia had no idea why it was bothering her but it's not as if she could talk to Emma about it. Emma didn't want to talk to her and Sofia couldn't blame her. They had both said things about each other before and they weren't afraid to throw insults but it was as though Sofia had crossed a line; she could feel it. What she said hadn't been about Emma, it had been about her family, her home life and really, she shouldn't have said anything because she didn't know anything about it. Sofia knew her dad wouldn't be pleased. The pranks he could've moved past but Sofia's comments, she knew that he wouldn't have condoned that kind of behaviour. But Sofia couldn't think of a way to apologise as in her mind she believed that if she so much as looked in Emma's direction she would brush her off and ignore her. She really was at a loss for words.
Eventually, the girls were allowed to leave their cabin to get drinks and food from the mess hall at different times throughout the day. They weren't allowed to hang around in there for long but at least it meant that they could get some time away from each other. It gave Emma a chance to leave when she felt like her emotions were about to boil over and when Emma left it allowed for Sofia to think about everything that had happened.
Emma liked being outdoors; it calmed her. Her and her mum would often take walks together in Hyde Park back home. Sometimes they'd take Chewie with them which was always good for a laugh when he tried to chase the birds and ducks down by the pond. When Emma was a lot younger, they always used to go to the playground that was there and the day would usually end with her mum getting them ice cream. Thinking about home now made Emma awfully home sick. She didn't usually get like this but she guessed the situation she was in with Sofia made her miss London even more.
She walked down the pathway that lead to the main camp, head down and her hands in her pockets. It was silent until Emma heard rustling in a bush a few inches in front of her. She cautiously stopped and walked closer towards it, brow scrunched up when suddenly, out of nowhere, Violet popped out from behind a tree.
Emma nearly jumped out of her own skin. "Jesus! Violet, what the hell are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm coming to see you." She replied, pushing a branch out of her way and stepping over a log, walking onto the pathway.
"And all of this is necessary?" Emma said pointedly, gesturing to Violet and referencing the fact she had just walked out of a bush when a perfectly good path was right behind her.
A thoughtful looked formed on Violet's face as she side glanced to the left. She then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point there," She said, as she removed a leaf from her hair. "But I had to come and see how you and your evil clone were getting on."
"Don't call her that," Emma sighed. "Besides it's fine. I'm fine."
"I'm surprised you two haven't bitten each other's heads off yet," Violet chuckled. "Has she said anything to you?"
Emma could've told Violet about what Sofia had said on the first night, about her dad but even Violet didn't know much about Emma's home life besides the fact that she lived with her mum and Han so she didn't mention it. Besides, Emma didn't want to cause more drama than there already was so she shook her head.
"No, she hasn't said anything." And Emma folded her arms across her chest.
"Ah, so you're giving each other the silent treatment? Good idea."
Emma let out a small laugh and Violet smiled as she paused for a moment. "Well, it's been nice knowing you Em." She said in an almost mournful tone.
Emma playfully hit her on the arm. "Oh, shut up, I'm not dying."
Violet raised her eyebrows. "You never know. You might end up ripping out each other's throats before camp is over."
"It's not like that. She's... quiet." Emma replied honestly, placing her arms back across her chest.
"For now." Violet said in a mock mysterious tone and Emma rolled her eyes, amused.
"But, seriously, I'll try and see you later. Okay? Oh, and Milo sends his good thoughts."
Emma let out another laugh. "Okay, Violet, whatever you say." And with that Violet started to back away into the bushes.
"Um, Vi?" Emma spoke up.
Violet turned around to face her. "What?"
"Maybe you'd want to go that way back to camp instead?" Emma said, pointing down the pathway.
"Oh, yeah, that might be a tad easier." And Violet started heading down the hill, turning around and giving a quick wave good bye. Emma returned the wave as she watched her go.
She didn't know exactly why she'd defended Sofia and denied she'd said anything to her. Of course, Emma still wasn't entirely okay with the things Sofia had said but it was getting easier to move past it. Maybe being cramped up in a small space together helped diffuse the tension after all.
***
That Sunday, it was if the heavens opened as rained poured out of the sky. It was the first rainfall that had occurred the entire time Sofia had been at camp and it certainly was a lot. Although the air was humid and warm, the clouds cast a dark light over Camp Redwood and the heavy rain added a hint of chilliness to the atmosphere. The pathways became soaked and muddy and the trees heavy with rain water.
Of course, weekends meant free time for everyone at the camp but for Sofia and Emma free time meant that they had to stay in the isolation cabin. Although they remained slightly bitter towards each other they didn't become hostile at any single point. The first days were rough but after having spent a few days in the same space, Emma and Sofia kind of got used to each to being around each other.
One evening for example, when Sofia was getting ready for bed, she reached down and plugged her phone in to charge. When she lay down she heard Emma's voice from across the room.
"That plugs not switched on, you know." Emma said, with a slight, if ever so forced, tone of mockery. Sofia sat up to look at Emma but she didn't even look back at her as she remained reading her book. Sofia reached down to switch the plug on, mumbling a quick, disgruntled 'thank you' before lying back down on her bed.
It was calm that day, as Sunday's at the camp usually were, and despite the rain pouring down outside her window, Sofia sat on her bed messing around with her playing cards. Emma was across the room pinning pictures up on the cork board near her bed and Sofia guessed she did this because she was missing home. At this point Sofia missed home too but she didn't dare try and make conversation with Emma about it.
The isolation cabin clearly hadn't been fixed up in a while as a bucket sat in the middle of the floor, catching rain water. The window closest to Emma was open too. It's not as if it couldn't be closed but it was far too much effort to actually close it and neither one of them could be bothered to do it so it was left untouched.
Emma glanced behind her as she watched Sofia sitting on her bed. She sat silently and this made the corner of Emma's mouth turned up slightly as she turned back to her cork board. Suddenly, the pictures started flying off the board and Emma was met with a sudden gust of cold wind. She ran over to the window and tried to close it but it wouldn't budge. She gripped it as hard as she could but to no avail. Sofia had shot up when she'd seen the pictures fly around the room and instinctively she jumped off her bed to try and help Emma close the window.
Sofia pushed the window from her side as Emma pulled. Sofia's face scrunched up as she used all her force to try and close the window. It would seem that the window didn't want to move and this frustrated Sofia. "Dios mio, it's stuck!"
Finally, with one huge pull from Emma the window slammed shut and the wind ceased. Both girls breathed in and out heavily before looking at each other.
"Thank you." Emma said, sincerely.
Sofia, shocked by the sincerity in Emma's voice, gave her a small smile in return. "That's okay."
There was a pause in the air as the two girls looked at each other before Emma turned to look at the mess the wind had created. Emma huffed. "Oh no." And she bent down to start picking up the photos.
"Here, let me help you." Sofia said, also bending down to help pick up the pictures.
Emma gave her a slight look of confusion as she grabbed the pictures off the floor. She didn't understand why Sofia was helping her but she accepted it all the same as Sofia handed her the last of the photos. "Are any of your pictures ruined?"
Emma neatly put all of them into a pile. "Um, I don't think so."
"That's good." Sofia said as she tucked her feet under her legs. She then glanced to her side and saw a picture on the floor that she must've missed. "Oh, wait, there's one left." And she reached over to grab it and was about to hand it back to Emma when she happened to take a look at what the pictures was of.
A man with light brown hair, wearing black shaded sunglasses was leaning on the bonnet of a beat up, red and white car, a big smirk on his face and a huge brown dog sat in the passenger's seat. Sofia stared at the photo curiously.
"Cool car." She spoke up.
That wasn't the reaction people usually got when they looked at the Falcon so Emma grinned surprisingly.
"Thanks! It belongs to Han, he's a really close family friend." Emma said and Sofia knew she was talking about the man leaning on the bonnet. Sofia's eyes moved over to looked at the dog and Emma saw this. "That's Chewie," She filled in. "He's Han's dog. He always rides up front with him in the car and-"
Then Sofia's gaze happened to fall on a woman with a darker shade of brown hair who was facing away from the camera, her arm draped around the neck of the dog. Sofia pointed to her. "Who- who's that?" She asked.
Emma leaned over slightly to see where Sofia was pointing. "Oh! That's my mum. She didn't know I was taking the picture or else she would've turned to face the camera. She's kind of all I have. We do everything together." She finished quietly.
Then Sofia realised. She realised why Emma had reacted so badly when she'd said those things to her on the first night; it was because she only had her mum for a parent. A wave of guilt washed over her and she quickly shoved the picture into Emma's hands, standing up and wrapping her arms around herself as if she suddenly went cold.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Emma asked, with a concerned look on her face.
Sofia shook her head. "Nothing. I'm just cold, that's all."
And then Emma stood up too, walking over to her bed, grabbing her spare jacket and holding it out towards Sofia. She'd helped her pick up her photos, it was the least she could do.
Tentatively, Sofia reached out to take it. "Thank you." She said as she slipped the jacket on.
Emma smiled. "Hey, would you look at that? It fits you perfectly." And Sofia returned her smile.
There was a moment of silence as Sofia turned around to sit on her bed and Emma went up to her trunk at the foot of her bed, opening it and rummaging around inside. She pulled out a massive purple rectangle that read 'Cadbury's Dairy Milk'.
"Want some?" Emma asked, closing the lid of her trunk.
Sofia shrugged politely. "Uh, I don't know. I've never tried it."
Emma stared at Sofia with fake shock. "You've never had Cadbury's chocolate before? How have you lived?" And Emma walked up to Sofia, broke off a piece of the chocolate and handed it to her. Sofia took it and nibbled a bit of the three squares she was given. It was good. Really good.
Sofia nodded in approval as she chewed and Emma grinned. "It's good, right?"
"It's great." Sofia replied as Emma took a seat next to her on her bed, opening the packet of chocolate more and tearing off another square.
"So, what's your mum like?" Emma asked, changing the subject. "Is she like one of those smother mothers who doesn't give you any space or does she let you go off and do your own thing?"
Sofia fidgeted on the spot as she brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Um, I don't have a mom actually. Well, obviously I did have one at some point I guess but her and my dad got divorced years ago. He never even mentions her, it's like she just disappeared off the face of the earth or something."
So, she was like her, then? Sofia too only had one parent looking after her, she'd never even met her mum in the same way Emma had never met her dad. It looks like they had more in common than they thought.
"It's so weird how no one stays together anymore." She said, biting into another square of chocolate.
Sofia nodded in approval. "Tell me about it."
It felt kind of weird, the two of them talking like this. They were talking as though they were almost friends, it was probably the most civilized conversation they'd had with each other since they met and Emma had to admit to herself that talking like this was much better than arguing; It was much less hassle.
Emma looked at Sofia thoughtfully, chewing on her chocolate. "I don't think I've ever asked you this but how old are you?"
"Well, I'll be 16 on October 17th." Sofia replied and Emma almost choked on her chocolate.
"Really?! So will I!" She returned and Sofia looked at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
"Your birthday is on October 17th? Weird."
"Yeah," Emma said in agreement and then she did a double take as she glanced outside the window. "Hey, look! It's stopped raining. Do you think Jenny will let us go get a drink?"
Emma jumped off the bed and opened the door to the cabin, walking down the stairs but stopped halfway when she didn't hear Sofia following her. She turned around to see Sofia standing at the top of the stairs, a musing look on her face.
Sofia couldn't explain it but she felt a strange feeling, one that started in the pit of her stomach. All she could do was stare at Emma. It was as though Sofia's eyes were staring right back at her; her and Emma did look pretty similar. Her jacked fitted Sofia just right, and then there was the fact that they shared a birthday...
"Aren't you coming?" Emma asked but Sofia didn't acknowledge Emma's question.
"Emma, what's your dad like?" She asked instead.
Emma shuffled around on the spot and looked down at the floor. Before she didn't feel comfortable talking about her dad but she figured now that Sofia had told her about her home life she could open up about hers.
"Uh, I don't know. I've never met him. Him and my mum split up when I was really young. I'm not really sure what happened, my mum doesn't like talking about it."
Sofia walked down a couple steps. "So, you don't even know what he looks like?"
Emma let out a small laugh. "No, of course, I know what he looks like."
"How?"
"Well, my mum had this old picture of him she kept in her bedside draw and one day she caught me looking at it so she let me keep it." Emma said as she leaned on the railing of the stairs.
Sofia's face scrunched up as though something was wrong. Emma frowned worryingly. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's nothing. It's just I feel like... It doesn't matter it's stupid." And she turned away from Emma slightly.
"If it was nothing then you wouldn't have mentioned it. Seriously what's up?"
There was a pause and then Sofia turned back and let out a loud sigh. "Emma, you've never met your dad, right? And I've never met my mom. You say that you only have one picture of your dad. Well, I only have one picture of my mom. Not to mention the fact that we share a birthday?"
Emma shook her head; not really sure what Sofia was getting at. "So?"
Sofia walked down a few more steps so she was closer to Emma. "So? Emma, doesn't all of that seem a little weird to you?"
"Lots things are weird. Sometimes that's just how things turn out, doesn't mean they're all connected." Emma shrugged.
Sofia dropped her shoulders and paused for a moment. "You're right, I knew it was a stupid idea. I don't even know why I mentioned the picture thing anyway. I mean the picture you have of your dad is probably a whole picture, right?"
What?
Did she just say what Emma thought she said? Yes, Emma did only have one picture of her dad but it wasn't a whole picture like Sofia had just implied, it was one that had a tear in it. Emma's eyes widened, slowly starting to realise what Sofia was trying to say. Sofia didn't notice the sudden startled look on Emma's face and she carried on talking.
"I'm surprised the picture I have of my mom is even still intact. It's so old and crinkled and it's ripped right down the middle and-" At this point Emma barrelled past Sofia, ran right back into the cabin and determinedly flung open her trunk, ransacking it. Sofia followed her back inside.
"Emma, what are you doing?" She sighed.
Finally, Emma found what she was looking for: the torn picture of her dad. She held it to her chest, not showing Sofia. "You said that the picture you have of your mum is old, and crinkled with a rip right down the middle? Well, this is the picture of my dad, and it's ripped too." She said slowly.
Sofia stared at the photo with a look mixed with nervousness and intrigue. "Right down the middle?" She asked in a hushed voice.
"Right. Down. The middle."
Sofia then instantly went to her bedside draw and started to look through it, pulling out a torn picture. She too held it to her chest
Emma breathed in deeply as she looked at Sofia's picture. Was this really happening?
"Okay," She said in a somewhat high-pitched voice. "How about on the count of three we show them to each other?"
Sofia nodded vigorously; she felt as though her heart was about to explode out of her chest.
"One." Emma started, breathing quickly.
"This is so insane," Sofia mumbled. "Two."
"Three!"
And at the same time Sofia and Emma turned their photos around to show each other and instantly both let out a gasp as they bought the pictures together. The tear in both pictures lined up perfectly and they fitted together like pieces of a puzzle. In that moment, it was as if everything fell into place.
Emma stared at Sofia's half of the picture with a look of disbelief. It was a picture of Jyn Erso. Her mum. It must've been a picture from years ago because she looked very young and there was a look of youthfulness in her huge grin; she must've only been about twenty years old when the picture was taken. Emma couldn't believe what she was looking at and neither could Sofia. Sofia wore a huge smile of astonishment as she looked at Emma's photo. Her dad, Cassian Andor, sat at what appeared to be a table in a pub or a bar of some kind, a warm, genuine smile on his face. Sofia was shocked at how much younger he looked and she couldn't quite believe that it was her dad on the other half of the picture. The couple sat inwards towards each other, looking at one another as if they were the only people in the room. Emma couldn't help but smile at the sight.
"That's my mum." She breathed out.
"And that's my dad." Sofia returned.
The two lowered their halves of the picture and looked at each other, both with an excited glint in their eyes.
Emma let out a shocked laugh as she tried to slow her breathing, starting to comprehend what was happening. "So, if your dad is my dad and my mum is your mum-"
"Then, that means we're related." Sofia finished.
"It means... We're sisters." Emma couldn't believe that those words were coming out of her mouth.
And Sofia and Emma naturally fell into a hug.
All the rivalry, all the bad feelings they had towards each other, everything, it all fell away in that moment. Sofia felt like a piece of her was finally found and Emma shared the same feeling.
"I'm sorry," Emma said, pulling away from Sofia. "For everything I've said and done."
"Don't apologise. I was kind of a bitch too." Sofia laughed lightly.
"It's just, I can't believe it! I'm a twin! There's two of me, I mean, two of us! This is-"
"Crazy!" Sofia finished.
"Completely crazy!"
Sofia let out another laugh. "Oh my God!" And her and Emma embraced each other in another hug.
They held onto each other tight, as if they were scared they would both be separated again then and there. It was like they were trying to make up for all the lost time in that one, single hug.
Fifteen whole years of being separated. They sure had a lot to catch up on.