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starnerd1 · 1 year

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First Foray into the Bo-Katan/Din Djarin shipping lane

So, I haven't written anything for a very long time. Like, more than 10 years long time. But this season of the Mandalorian just hit me right in the feels because I love the dynamic between Bo Katan and Din, and the force of character Katee brings to the live action version is just phenomenal. No matter how this season (or series) plays out, I'm going to ship them for life.

So, I've had this idea for a fic coming to me in sections. First, based on more recent episodes, but being the person that I am, when I sat down to finally get this down in writing and out of my head, I ended up starting at the beginning. And by that, I mean the very end of Season 2 when we are left with Din and co standing in the bridge of the light cruiser. What happened? What's the transition from that scene to where we find Bo at the beginning of Season 3?

Without further ado, here is part one of two for this 'Season 2.5: Book of Bo-Katan' (Title and chapter titles are up for debate. It's just what I thought of in the moment.) It's still rough, not fully edited/polished. I just needed to get it out of my head so I can sleep better.

The Book of Bo-Katan Kryze

In two parts.

Part 1: The Prize

The Jedi Master vanished with the foundling with the closing hiss of the lift door. How many years had it been since Bo-Katan had seen a lightsaber? A Jedi in action? A long time. Before the Purge.

Not long at all.

In the darkened view from behind her helmet, she moved her eyes to the Mandalorian, still standing like a stone. She shifted her weight and bites back a hiss of pain as the one pot shot from Moff Gideon that hit her flesh suddenly explodes in fire. Another scar to add to the tapestry. Gingerly, Bo stepped forward, over the unconscious form of the Imp slime, limping slightly with each fiery pulse of pain that shoots up her right leg. Her gaze shifts from the crumpled remains of the door to the back of the Mandalorian’s bared head. He still hadn’t moved. His helmet still sitting on the floor by his feet, his body stiff and hands clenched. Now close enough to him, she can hear the slight shake in each of his breaths.

Despite her pain, Bo bends down, picks up his helmet from the floor, and holds it out in front of him. The sharp intake of breath is audible to everyone. His eyes, those dark, grief-stricken eyes snapped in focus to the front visor of the helmet he swore he would never remove.

He turned he face towards Bo and she sees his face fully for the first time. His eyes, deep brown and deeply pained, locked on to hers behind the visor. With the slightest nod of her head towards his helmet, she said softly, “This is the Way.”

There is the slightest flush to his face. His posture straightens, he takes the offered helmet and places it back on. “This is the Way.” The helmet cannot mask the grief, the pain, in his voice. A father who gave up his foundling.

The man who has her prize.

He held her gaze for just a moment longer before walking away. Out of the Command Center.

“You are letting him walk away?” Koska asks harshly as he walks through the ruins of the blast door. Bo turned on her, glaring behind her helmet. “I will not discuss this now,” she hissed back. Koska’s face scrunched into a sneer, on the brink of a retort, but stopped as Bo closed the distance between them with a threatening step. “Not. Now,” she repeated.

Reeves backed down with a disgusted scoff, turning her attention to the unconscious Moff. Relieved, Bo turned her own attention to Cara. She was in no mood for further conflict and the pain in her leg was really starting to annoy her.

“So, is there any chance we can get your Republic to not blow us up turning in this sleemo in with this Imp ship?”

“Every chance,” Cara replied. “Just need to talk to the right people.” She paused for a moment then added, “I can’t promise they’ll let you keep the ship.”

“Consider it my part of the bounty payment,” said Bo.

Cara shrugged in response, as if to say, I still can’t make promises. “I only ever heard of one person in the Rebellion who had a light saber,” she continued, her gaze briefly looking towards where her friend had gone. “But if it is who I think it is, and he just saved our asses, it might be possible to pull off this ship as your payment.”

“Who did you hear of?” asked Fennec.

“Luke Skywalker.”

The breath went out of Bo-Katan at the name. Skywalker.

That wasn’t….possible

How?!

Anakin Skywalker died in the final battle of the Clones Wars. Ashoka told her as much. Some younger relation? Extended family?

But….that didn’t match up with Ashoka’s stories of her old master either. An only child. A former slave from Tatooine.

“We need all the ships we can get,” said Bo, pushing the line of questions from her mind. “Fennec, get Boba back here.”

“He’s already on his way.”

-------------------------------

Din Djarin had no destination as he left the Command Center. The room was suffocating. There were too many people.

May the Force be with you.

What did that even mean? Was that supposed to make him feel better? Some force to fill the raw gaping void left in the wake of Grogu leaving with the Jedi?

The crushed remains of the Dark Troopers littered the hallway to the lift. The Jedi had cut through them all with such ease. Din nearly lost his life to one. That Jedi – younger than him – made idle, easy work of dozens.

That was the point. The whole purpose to his mission. To delivery Grogu to one of his own kind, who could train him. He could teach the kid how to do this, he mused. Grogu had stopped a mudhorn in full charge. Held back the fire of an imperial stormtrooper. Crushing a division of droids was surely well within the kid’s power. Din had no idea what this power was that the Jedi had, but Grogu could do it.

His quest was fulfilled.

Stepping into the lift, Din looked straight back down the hallway, with all the littered remains, through the crumpled door to the command center. His gaze met Bo-Katan’s, her helmet removed.

The door slid shut.

This is the Way.

----------------------------

Imperial ships had surveillance everywhere. There was no surprise in being discovered. Only slightly at who chose to do so. In the empty corridors of the ship, Bo-Katan’s uneven steps rang too loudly in his ears. But then, every sound seemed too loud to him now.

He had found his way to an observation deck. Empty space filled every corner of his vision. Which way had the Jedi gone? He’d told the kid he would see him again. He would hold himself to that promise. But he hadn’t even thought to ask where they were going.

Kryze reached him, saying nothing as she took a position at a respectful distance just into his view. She made no move to say anything at first. What was there left to say? Only to challenge him for a weapon he would freely give her.

“Cara is securing the Moff in the detention cells,” she said at last.

“Pershing still in the shuttle?”

He saw her nod. “I made sure they weren’t going to be together. Koska has the good doctor locked down. Gideon has escaped too many times to trust him in the room with another Imp. He’d either kill Pershing or get his help in escaping.”

“Two bounties are better than one,” Din replied, “especially alive.”

Bo-Katan bit back a retort. She was not a bounty hunter. It wasn’t his point. And she knew that. Instead she stepped more directly into his view, her back to the star scape, and sat at the edge of a table. “I offered you a place with us before,” she began. “To retake Mandalore. Unite our People.” He was an immovable object. Unreadable. Expressionless beskar staring out into space. “That offer remains.”

A moment passed before he actually looked at her, a deep exhale dropping his shoulders a few centimeters. “Will you take the sword?” he asked her, holding the hilt out between them. “If it is so important, take it. No one is here. I can say you challenged me and won.”

She couldn’t help but glance at the hilt. Gleaming, sleek, black artistry of craftsmanship. The lore, the myth, the weight of it. The prize she so desperately wanted. Needed. She shot her eyes back up to his face, scowling. “Is that the honor your Creed taught you?” she snapped at him? “To fake battle, in victory or defeat?”

His shoulders sagged deeper at the rebuke, the hand holding the hilt dropped to his side. “I don’t care about this,” he said.

“You don’t have to. The others do and that is all that matters.”

He sighed again, clipping the hilt back to his belt. “I have to return to my Covert,” he said. “Find my Covert,” he corrected. How long had it been? Where could they have gone? He had nearly as much chance as finding out where the Jedi had taken Grogu as he did his Covert.

“We could help you.” The offer slipped out before Bo even really thought about it. Help him? Actively search for any covert of the Children of the Watch? An organization she had spent half her life trying so hard to stay away from?

He shook his head. “No. It would not serve to provoke them.” Anymore than I may have already, he added to himself. Din had broken one of the primary tenants of the Creed. He showed his face to a living being. First Mayfeld and the Imperials. Then Grogu. Even Bo-Katan. He would have to find a way to atone for this sin.

“I hadn’t intended to meet them myself,” she said, a tinge of disdain coloring her tone. “Merely provide the resources to locate them. I know many Mandalorians in exile."

Din actually seemed to consider it. That blank visage staring at her, then back out to space again. “I don’t think that would be wise. Koska didn’t seem to approve of you letting me keep the blade.”

She scowled. “Koska is in no position to approve or disapprove of my decisions,” Bo countered. The annoyance and frustration was not directed at him. If Koska reacted so badly, and so openly – even after knowing this man, the circumstances of the saber’s new possessor – she was sure to face some additional push back from her own allies once they were back together. “I will handle her.” At the very least, him joining their group could be a form of compromise. Bo-Katan may not wield the saber, but one of their number would. And it could still rally the Clans.

Still, he shook his head. “No, I must find them and return on my own.”

“Very well.”

Ahead of them, in the space outside, Boba Fett’s ship suddenly appeared out of hyperspace. Bo’s wrist comm chirped. “Boba’s here,” came Fennec’s voice.

“Yes, we can see that,” Bo replied.

“Cara’s contacted the New Republic. I don’t think I need to explain how eager they are to get their hands on the Moff. We can expect them very soon.”

“Understandable,” Din acknowledged.

“I’d rather not be here when they arrive,” Fennec continued. In other words, I’m getting out of here with Boba. Din’s nod told Bo he understood the same.

“Can’t imagine why,” Bo replied, amused. “We’ll make our way to the hanger to meet you and Fett.” The clone. The face of 250 million men.

“Understood.” Fennec closed the channel.

Din’s slightly tilted head in an obvious question. “I assumed you would want to leave with Fett,” she said. “Unless you want the imperial shuttle – you are welcome to it if you do.”

“No,” he said quickly. “Too conspicuous for a Bounty Hunter. I’ll leave with Fett.”

-------------------------------

They journeyed to the hanger in silence. In part because there was nothing else to say. But also because their attention was pulled to the full glory of the Jedi’s destruction of the Dark Troopers. The carnage was on full display the entire way there. Din observed in awe and none too little respect for the power required to accomplish such complete destruction.

The scenes brought Bo-Katan back to the Clone Wars. The handiwork of other Jedi she had witnessed against both clones and Mandalorians.

Her sister.

“Bo-Katan.”

The sound of her name ripped her back to the present. When had she stopped moving? Before her lay a Dark Trooper droid, practically unscathed save for a single lightsaber stab through the chest.

“Something wrong?” Din asked her.

She shook her head. “No. Nothing. I’m coming.”

-------------------------------

Fett stood outside his parked ship, Fennec’s back disappearing up the gangway into the ship. He looked at them both. The aged face of a Clone. One among millions Bo had seen. But his eyes had no loyalty. The clone troopers, at least, had that.

Until the Jedi Purge.

He looked to the both, to Din’s empty arms. “Fennec told me a Jedi showed up, took the kid.” His tone was matter-of-fact, but the statement hit Din in the chest like a blaster bolt.

“Yeah,” he managed to say. “Mission accomplished. Mind if I get a ride?”

Fett’s eyes flitted to Bo-Katan. “Not going to stay with the Princess?”

That broken down old clone was going to pay. She started sharply forwards but was stopped at the Mandalorian’s gesture. Annoyed, she glared at the blank plate that stared back, as if to say ‘Drop it. It’s not worth it.’ “I’ve got other business to finish,” Din said quickly.

“Suit yourself, Mando. Don’t take too long with your goodbyes.”

Bo raised an eyebrow in surprise. So, Fett didn’t know the man’s name either? “Mando can’t possibly be your actual name,” she remarked as Fett disappeared into his ship.

“It’s Din,” he said quietly. “Din Djarin.” He moved towards the gang plank of the ship, but stopped short. “Thank you, Bo-Katan Kryze,” he said, turning back around to look at her. “I know this didn’t end the way you wanted, or expected –” her eyes dropped on their own accord to his hip, where his fingers reflexively twitched next to the Dark Sabre – “But Grogu would not have survived were it not for your help. For that, I will forever be in your debt.”

“Help me retake Mandalore,” she rejoined, a small upturn playing at the corner of her mouth.

“Accept the saber,” he countered.

She couldn’t help but smile, sadly. “You know I can’t.”

His reply froze her in place: “This is the Way.”

Damn that man.

Part 2

#bo katan kryze x din djarin #dinbo #fanfic #the mandalorian #din djarin x bo katan kryze #din djarin #post season 2 leading to season 3 #DinBo fanfiction #bodin #star wars fandom #shipping these two is too damn easy #bo-katan x din #2 parter #light DinBo as this is the end of season 2 #bo katan kryze #bo katan

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