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aliorsboxostuff · 1 year

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So how about sub din who is just started to date Dom reader and hasn't taken his helmet off yet. So things are getting steamy with them both and is din sitting on readers lap grinding on him and reader asks if he wants to take a step further and din nods yes. And reader makes sure that din is comfortable and says to leave the helmet on for din and doesn't want to rush him. And leads to din first time with reader and is riding him in the control room in the razor crest. I hope you are doing good and really glad that you are taking mandalorian requests.-🐸

A/N Oh 🐸, you with your amazing ideas, and always so descriptive! Though I gotta change the 'Started dating reader' part because the Din in my heart is a socially awkward mf that needs at LEAST 6 months of relationship development before holding hands. I also hope you are doing well! Yall gotta bear with me here this is gonna be my FIRST take on a star wars fic, let alone a Mandalorian fic, so if I do make any mistakes while writing some Mando'a words here, feel free to DM me or reply so I can fix where I wrote it wrong! As always, apologies for some mistakes, english is my 2nd language, and enjoy dear Readers! <3

Ner Din'ika

Tags: Din Djarin x m!Reader, Grogu, Luke Skywalker, he's there as Grogus's teacher tho lmao, Mando'a words (Translation at the end), Bottom!Din, soft!Din, Keldabe kiss, First Kiss, Riding, Pet names, touch-starved!Din, fluff, fluff and smut, aftercare.

Din's first time with you is—as expected—filled with yearning and want and scalding touches and a kiss?

[Takes place around the time frame of Grogus training in Book of Boba Fett, but i refuse to let The Razor Crest explode so here we are]

You stand at the mouth of The Razor Crest, watching as Din supervised Grogu’s latest training with Luke. The kid has flown a total of five little pebbles and an even more impressive number of bigger boulders, seven now counting. Din, worry and protectiveness practically oozing from his armor, stands off to the side, just near the tree lines, eyes watchful of his foundling as Luke, yet again, lets the little boy fly over his head. You’d deem it dangerous, stars, maybe irresponsible. But what do you know about Jedi training?

Instead, your eyes follow the line of Din's stature. His arms are crossed, leaning against some of the bamboos. Clearly trying to resemble a sort of relaxed stance, but you can see the tension, feel it even. Comes with being a Mandalorian’s boyfriend, you chuckle. Those broad shoulders lean back, Beskar reflecting the shining light of the growing evening, slowly he turns his head to glance at you sitting on the Crest’s mouth. You meet his visor, grinning, before he curtly turns back to where he was watching his kid. Your smile widens.

You met him through Cara Dune. She’s a good friend of yours, the one who pulled you out of your boring everyday life on Sorgan, used to fish the little morsels from your villages ponds, to hanging around her and earned her respect. Until that Beskar donned man and his little green kid came. Thought he wanted to take in Cara and you were ready to step in his way, but after they dueled, they came to a truce and started their alliance. He helped the villagers fight off the raiders that once terrorized the place, and once that's done he opted to leave, not before you hitched a ride to Nevarro with Cara.

It had to be admitted, the kid did catch your heart and held on to it, so you offered to help him and Grogu find his kind. Cycles after your initial meeting, you’ve grown close with both Din and Grogu, curious at the man’s past and equally drawn to him. Then that imperial bastard, Moff Gideon, had to up and steal the kid. So you, Cara, Bo-Katan and Hell, Boba Fett himself, joined forces to save him.

The universe truly is bountiful to its protector, because you didn't take into account that saving The Mandalorians kid would give you the honor of learning his name and, by stars, becoming his boyfriend. Remembering back to those months, you still think you're the luckiest warrior in the whole galaxy to be blessed with such an amazing and loving clan of three.

Reeling back to reality, far into the field, you see Grogu has gone tired and Luke has halted their training for the day, the little green guy already slumping into the dirt below and curling in on himself. You sigh fondly, walking down the ramp and jogging to wear Grogus doe eyes are already half lidded, and he yawns.

“Come here kiddo,” You coo as you pick up his little body, cradling him in your arms. You see Luke talking to Din, too far away for you to catch, but you could see him nodding to Lukes animated chatter. You smile, glancing back down to Grogus little head burying himself deeper into your warmth, he’s already pawing at the jacket you're wearing, which makes you giggle and pull it around his little body.

Luke walks over to where you’re standing, smiling as he sees Grogu already bundled up by you. “We should have dinner first before we sleep, right Grogu?”

Now that made his floppy ears perk. Grogu immediately turns from where you were hugging him, making grabby hands and incoherent words at the idea of food, which you smile at before handing him to Lukes waiting arms.

“We’ll join you in a bit,” You said, and Luke nodded, already turning back into the direction of his temple.

On cue, Din approaches you and slides an arm around your middle, pulling you to him at which you welcome the tug. With a steady hand on the cool Beskar chest plate, the two of you watch as Grogu flails his arms around, undoubtedly talking about something that only Luke could understand, the serenity of the fields surrounding you lulls you into a sense of peace. You turn to meet Dins visor, directed at Luke and Grogu, before it slowly turns to you, making you smile softly. Slowly, you bring your hand to caress the side of his helmet, fingers edging slightly under it, taking in the feeling of that powerful metal that has saved your boyfriend countless times. His gloved hand holds your wrist, not tugging away, just an anchor, a testament to his trust in you to know you’ll never take off his helmet, to know you’re patient to let Din take his own pace.

The hand holding his helmet pulls slightly, and Din comes with. Your eyes flutter close as you feel the cold Beskar touch your crown, sighing when a shaky hand cups your jaw, bringing you closer. Despite the gap the armor creates, you’re never tired of feeling Dins hand on your nape, heavy over your pulse, burning even through his gloves. You smile, pulling back slightly, before you press a kiss to where his cheeks would be. “Let’s eat, cyar’ika,” You whisper, and you feel him nod.

You smile when he pulls back, arm still securely on your hips while the other smoothes over your jaw. You chuckle, pulling him to the smell of dinner being prepared by Luke, tugging him by his hand.

—

After dinner is done and cleaned, Din has given Grogu his nightly bath and the kid is ready to pass out at any moment. Luke has taken him to his quarters and settled the little one on his own bed, just on the other side of his room. The bots have yet to make more sleeping quarters, still focusing on more classes and storage area, so the only available bed room would be Lukes, where Grogu is also staying.

You and Din have known this from your last visits, opting to sleep in the privacy of the Crest instead. So you and Din bid the two a good night, and trek up the clearing where the ship is docked.

Din’s arm never left your side, holding and pressing slightly, making you arch a brow at him. He only stares at you, undoubtedly false innocent eyes inside that helmet. You scoff, nudging him aside before pressing the button to close the ramp, submerging the two of you in the darkness of the Crest, shards of the twin moons the only thing leading you and Din up into the hull of the ship.

His hands now roam around your body, pushing you slightly until your back hits the wall, you return his desperate touch with the same fervor. Finding the sliver of body suit on his hip not covered by his armor, you snake insistent fingers into the fabric and squeeze, his helmet not able to hide his groan.

“Easy dearest,” You smooth your hand over the area, other hand holding the side of his neck, thumb drawing soothing circles. “Let's take these off, alright?” He nods shakily.

You lead him to the compartment next to the sleeping pod, the table there clean of clutter and made to store Dins armor. Piece by piece, starting with his shoulder pauldrons, each part eased off with care, pressing a kiss to the Mudhorn signet, you can hear Dins stuttered breath. Then down to his vambraces, littering kisses from his shoulder and leading a path down to his forearm, then hands as you carefully pry off those thick gloves. You push Din slightly so his waist hits the edge of the table, pressing another kiss to the bare skin of his hand, half lidded eyes meets his visor at which you hear him exhale a ragged breath.

Carefully unbuckling the belts around his breastplate, setting it on the table before you pull off the breastplate, the bodystocking stretches over his broad chest deliciously. As you put the armor piece aside, your hand smoothes over the fabric, pressing slightly where you know Din is sensitive the most, watching him inhale sharply before you smirk, littering kisses on your way down. As you crouch, you move to take off each leg piece, first tigh guards, pressing light kisses on the exposed fabric, then shin guards and the belts on top of it, then finally the knee-pads and his heavy boots. Gentle hands stoke up slightly, pushing the end of his pants up until you feel the tickle of leg hair, Din visibly shaking on top of you, gripping the table behind him until his scarred knuckles turn white.

You smile, languidly making your way up his body, unwrapping his cape and setting it aside. The final divide between you and your boyfriend. His last brick, and the wall crumbles down.

Shaking hands clasps at your back as you press kisses on his still covered clavicle, making the fabric damp and warm as he squirms. You hear his breath grow ragged, then you bite down, just enough to hear him groan and drop his head to your shoulder, his hands holding onto you like a lifeline.

“Sleeping pod or-”

“T-the cockpit…” He falters as you press another kiss nearing his neck. “Please,”

You hum, nodding against his neck before leading him by the hand, careful touches along his hips as you usher him up the stairs. You follow suit, not forgetting to grab the lube from the compartment on the wall.

When your feet touch the cockpits floor, Din impatiently pulls you up, hands stroking over your chest, down to your hips at which he breathes raggedly under your chin. You chuckle, moving him back until he feels the control panel. He almost jumps to sit on it, but you sit back on the captain's chair, you pull him towards you, making him stumble into your lap. His whine reverberates through his helmet's modulator adding a static edge to it. You made sure he’s comfortable before sliding your hands to his back, reaching to tug the zipper down.

The zippers opens his backside into the night's cold air, making him arch into your warm touch, pressing his clothed cock to your lap. He whines from the movement, holding on to your shoulders, almost crushing them. With each skin slowly being revealed into the night's air, you press your lips against it, reveling in each whine and ragged breath you got out of Din. With every part of the suit being peeled, Din’s tanned skin is shown, bathed under the light of the moons and stars. Scars on his body paint an infinite constellation, your eyes following each one, from the deep ones to those that have grown lighter than Dins expanse of skin.

Finally, he pulls at the tight bodysuit, discarding it somewhere on the floor, and his hands paws at your jacket, labored breath impatiently prying it off of your figure. You grin, shrugging the article off, followed by your shirt, leaving the both of you shirtless and breathless. Dins shaking hand strokes down your shoulder, to your arms, before he arches into you when your languid fingers trace his sensitive back, sending jolts rippling through his body.

“Please…” Despite his helmet still perfectly secured on his head, you could feel his warmth ghosting at your neck. It truly has been a while since you and Din shared some privacy, always jumping from planet to planet, looking for more Mandalorians to repair broken bonds and doing favors that benefit Din’s covert. Only now did you and your boyfriend get to breathe in the warm embrace of peace within this planet, so you're not surprised just how sensitive Din has gotten.

“What do you need kar’ta?” Your hand holds Dins hip, no doubt leaving marks to be cherished in the morning, letting him grind himself on your thigh, broken moans and breath singing into your ears. You pride yourself for learning bits of Mando’a if only to hear his gasps each time you use it. “Hm? What do you want?”

“I- ugh,” Din grunts as he feels one hand snakes into his trousers, stroking him steadily, his precum easing the movement. You smirk, other hand tweaking one of his perked nipples, bumping your head against his, making sure the amber in your eyes burns through his visor. The need melts into his skin.

You’ve never gone past reverent touches and helping each other get off by hand, you haven't even gotten the pleasure of seeing Din fall apart by your mouth, but from the way he grinds into your touch, broken moans filling the room, his desperation leaks into your body. “Want me to fuck you?”

“Stars- Yes.” He moans when you tighten your hand just so. You nod, easing your hand away from his cock which makes him whine, until you begin to help him out of his pants.

“Okay, alright,” Your breath stutters when Din grinds over your cock, already tenting in the confines of your pants. Between you and Din’s relationship, the both of you haven't truly moved on from scalding touches and helping each other get off by hand. This is a new territory for Din, and you have to make sure he feels safe and comfortable in your embrace.

You carefully slide him out of his trousers along with his briefs and discard it with the same pile as his top, feeling his strong thighs shake underneath your touch. Fumbling for the bottle of lube, you pour just enough on your hand and warm it up a bit, before following Din’s tailbone down to the top of his arse. He shivers, whining into your shoulder as he feels your digits ghosts over his hole, already squirming in your hold.

“Come on, please,” He begs, nails scratching at your back. You slowly insert one finger, the tip first, letting the Din situate himself to the foreign feeling. He groans, burying himself deeper between the crook of your neck, his mandibles digging slightly at your jaw. The lube easies your finger to push more, deeper, until you hear his high pitch, broken moan, then slowly push in another. At that, he jerks his head to the side, chest still flushed with yours.

When you begin scissoring, Din throws his head back, arches into your touch, which beckons you to chase him, biting at the now exposed column of his neck, making sure to leave marks no one but you know and Din could feel. Din feels delirious, deeply intoxicated from both your fingers and the feeling of your warm mouth pressing over sensitive skin and old scars, jolting each time you bite down or kiss longer to leave darker spots. He scarcely remembers moaning out broken syllables that should form your name, making your hold on his hips tighten, squeezing the scarred skin.

After deeming it enough prep, you carefully pull your fingers out, pressing kisses on the planes of your boyfriend's chest, feeling him take ragged breaths, a steady hue of red throughout his body. You shuffle to discard your pants, hissing when you feel the cold air hit your heated skin. You could feel Din growing impatient, if the way he squirms could be interpreted as that, so you tug your pants off and align yourself under Din.

“Slowly baby, slowly,” You remind him, his thigh shaking with anticipation. Hands holding under his thigh, making sure gravity doesn't take hold, you lower Din’s shivering body, inch by inch. The tight heat of his hole almost stutters your hold, making you groan, feeling the head of your cock inside him. You can feel Dins graps digs into your shoulders as he gasps.

Finally, your thighs are flushed with Dins, feeling the man shudder above you as you try to regain some sort of composure, breathing in shaking breaths. Din claws his way from your pellicals to your chest, making red rivers across your chest. You groan, pushing into his touch, which in turn shifts where you sat, enough to make your boyfriend shiver.

"M-move." He manages. "Move, please."

"Anything for you mesh'la," You say as your teeth dangerously ghosts over his pulse.

Planting your feet on the metal floor, you suppress the cold that shoots up your bones and instead focus on holding Din upright, thrusting into him with each movement. His arms shakes, moves back to grip the control panel, his scarred knuckles a hue lighter. A deep growl rumbles through you when you feel Din’s hole clenching around you, raking blunt teeth across his chest. You trail reverent kisses across a deep scar that runs from his left clavicle to just under his abdomen, Din shivers. In a more tender moment, slowed down after release with the two of you tangled together, you would've asked what those scars meant, wondering about the stories of your boyfriend's life. Maybe later, much later in the night.

When you hear a mewl, almost a hurt sound coming from the man currently flushed on top of you, your lips curls into a sharp grin, before hauling Din from gripping at the ships console to fall into your grasp, his arms immediately around your neck with a choked gasp from the sudden change. With the chair supporting both of your weight, you have the advantage to claw at Din’s hips, digging calloused fingers into his skin, using your strength to push Din up and down.

You feel yourself nearing the edge, with Din clenching around you it’s hard to keep up the pace. The side of his helmet would leave an angry mark on your shoulder, making you grunt when Din lets out a broken whimper and buries his head to the crook of your neck. “C-close, baby,”

“Me too…” He lets out a breathy moan when your hand finds his dick, pumping it hastily, pushing him to his limit.

“Stars i-” You stutter when Din clenches around you. “Fuck- Wish i can kiss you,”

Slip of a tongue. Shit.

Your movement falters, a shiver shoots up when Din pulls his head back, dark visors looking straight to you, assessing you.

"Din i-" But before you could sputter out a reason, an apology for forsaking the trust he gave you, darkness suddenly envelops your vision, rendering you blind. Dins hand covers your eyes, you could feel his calluses over your skin.

Then, as if a searing star itself break the atmosphere, you feel slightly chapped lips against yours, a tickle of stubble and- Is that a mustache?

Din grunts into your mouth, realizing you still have one hand wrapped around him. He moans, moving with your thrusts, his kiss devouring your gasps as you push at him, deepening it. His tongue traces yours and confidently moves in, effectively rendering your brain into a short-circuit. Your mind briefly wonders how such a reserved man has this much skill in kissing, he’s no virgin but surely he hasn't kissed anyone beside you. Then he bites at your lower lip before bringing you deeper again with a hand on your nape, and all hell breaks loose.

You growl into the kiss, basking in the whimper he lets out as your hand moves faster and thrust grows sloppier, but definitely still hitting that spot that makes Din scream. He pulls back, inhaling sharply when you bite lightly on his jaw, feeling the hair that decorate it. Oh you’d worship him just to see his debauched face without being blind, and the thought is enough to make you cum.

You feel yourself release inside Din’s warmth, making him shiver and let out a broken moan of your name. With your hand jerking him off, he follows suit, throwing his head back, painting his chest with strings of pearly cum. Once spent, he slumps into your embrace, helmet already in place and breathing raggedly next to your ear. You pry his hand off your eyes and press a kiss to the sliver of neck you could reach.

Blinking away the little dots from your eyes being closed and pressed by his hand, you slowly steady your breath as you rub circles on Dins pelicals and lower back, feeling him sigh and melt at your touch. You can't help to let out a chuckle, which earns you a questioning sound from your boyfriend.

“Nothing, just…” You smile, licking at your lips, trying to savor Din’s taste. “Best kiss I've ever had.”

That made him chuckle, nuzzling the cool helmet against the side of your neck. “Me too.”

Your smile widens, closing your eyes and simply letting the warmth of after-sex wafts through the cockpit. Speaking of which, you should probably clean up and sleep in the proper sleeping pod. The seat, plush as it is, won't do your back any good. So you reach for your scattered pants, looking for the fabric you always keep in your back pocket. When you finally find it, you shift Din a bit to clean up the mess that went up to both his and your chest, then carefully pull out of the man, making you groan as he shivers, wiping down what leaks out of him and the remaining lube around your length.

Standing up and making your way down takes another effort, but nothing you can't do for Din, sleepy and content Din in your arms. Pushing the button to open the sleeping pod, you set him down on the edge of it before handing him a bottle of water.

“Drink, love,” You grin, before busying yourself on the table where another water bottle is kept and downing it. You hear the hushed shh of Dins helmet as it’s being taken off, then the cap of the water bottle turning. You swallow another gulp of water, before flashes of earliers heated kiss shocks you and makes you choke on the water slightly. You cough, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand before closing the bottle and setting it back.

“You uh… Done?” You clear your throat.

“Yeah,” You nod, turning back to see Dins helmet back on and him extending his arm, returning the bottle to you. You set it on the table and push him back to lie down in the pod. It’s always been a tight fit with both you and your boyfriend sleeping in it, but you make do.

When the doors are shut and the lights turned off, another hiss of Dins helmet makes your heart thump harder, but he shifts to place it on a small compartment off to the side and lays his head on your chest, one arm around you. You hook your arm around him, the other playfully raking through his curls. You could tell just from how it coils around your fingers, Din practically purring into your touch like a Loth Cat. You grin, pressing a kiss to his forehead before shifting to get comfortably on the pillow.

“Good night, Din'ika,”

“Good night, Cyar’ika,”

Cyar'ika: Darling, beloved, sweetheart

Kar'ta: Heart

Mesh'la: beautiful

Requests are open!

#din djarin x reader #din djarin x male reader #din djarin #din djarin fanfiction #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin x you #lio writes #star wars fanfiction #x m!reader #x male reader #din djarin x m!reader

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ooops-i-arted · 1 year

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Season 3 Episode 2 child development thoughts?????

Hey so you know how I've been beating the drum FOREVER of "won't it be so cool when Grogu feels more confident in himself and can be more proactive in the story?" WELL NOW WE DID IT!!!

Maybe not quite that level yet but HE SAVED DAD!! He did it!! Even when he felt afraid, probably overwhelmed, likely fighting the instinct to stay with Dad and use the Force, he did it! He conquered his own fears and kept his clarity of mind (like a Jedi) and used his Force powers and what he'd been taught by Din to quickly and readily get Din help. I AM SO PROUD OF MY BABY!!! Look at how far he's come from a little scared baby hiding in a pod!!

Scooting back to the beginning, I loved how he proudly showed Peli he could jump (and she praised him like the good aunt she is). And.... was that Grogu's first word? It did sound a bit like "Peli." This is one of a few instances we get over this episode and the next of Grogu "talking." Not stock baby sounds, but clearly trying to emulate the speech of adults in his life. We know the species can speak Basic (Yoda, Yaddle, Oteg, Vandar) so either Grogu has been strongly discouraged from trying to speak before he was taken in by Din (my personal theory) or he has a physical issue in his mouth structure that makes it difficult to speak (also a possibility but I'm not very knowledgeable, just what I've picked up from the wonderful speech pathologists at my job). I still think the real reason is a mute child is more marketable because most people don't actually like kids unless they're being cute props and not acting like actual kids. (Exhibit A: The reaction to young Anakin and Leia and being called brats for.....acting like normal kids. But let's move on from a personal pet peeve of mine.)

We've seen Din talk more and more to Grogu throughout the season as he grows more comfortable in a caretaker role, and he continues this by teaching Grogu about "their" culture. (Grogu is officially a Mandalorian now!) It's plot-relevant but it's also wonderful to see Din take an active role in Grogu's education. Din has seen the dangers of the galaxy and wants Grogu prepared, and I think he enjoys having someone to share his knowledge with and teach and parent. Grogu is clearly into it, facing Din, listening closely to him (and we KNOW when he chooses not to listen, he shows it).

Grogu showing empathy for R5 and being worried about it shows that he is developing social-emotional skills. Kids are pretty egocentric by design; they can't always meet their own needs and have to make sure they can direct an adult to get their physical, emotional, and mental needs met. Preschool is when we start teaching respect and compassion for others more purposefully (it should be modeled at all times - kids emulate what they see) because they're typically in a classroom setting and interacting with people more. While Din does do a lot of violence and killing for money, Grogu has also seen him speak politely to others, take care of people like Frog Lady when they need help, respect others' space by ducking in Kuiil and the Anzellans' dwellings, talk respectfully to others even when they disagree, so on. Din is actually a pretty good model, you know, minus the violence and the killing. I do my best to model at all times what I want my kids to act like, big moments (guiding them in using words when upset) and small (saying excuse me when I bump them, please and thank you when I ask them to do something, etc). It pays off because now my class sees and learns the expectations and by this time of the year, they aren't typically yelling across the room "Miss L he took my toy!" they're saying "I was using that, please give it back" and then coming over if needed to say "Miss L, can you help me? I was playing with that and [Friend] took it." Grogu has absorbed what Din is showing him. In turn, we see this again when Din takes Grogu's concerns seriously and reacts accordingly. To Din it's just a droid, but Grogu is worried, and Grogu can trust that Din will respond to that worry and reassure him either verbally, letting him watch on the scanner, or by fetching their poor droid friend. Grogu learns from Din because he trusts him and believes in him - just like my students learn from me and value what I say because I have demonstrated that I care about them, will treat them with respect, and can be a reliable person when they need me, and we have built a relationship off that.

We also once again see Grogu demonstrate a secure, healthy relationship with Din and the worth of Din's parenting by immediately going into his pod and sealing it when asked. A child who does not have consistent expectations or boundaries will test them to try and figure them out. Grogu knows that Dad means what he says and trusts that Din is telling him to get in the pod for a good reason, and will come get him when pod time is done. So he listens.

I loved seeing Grogu try to save Din. He's acting independently, but it's clear he's learned some skills from Din and Luke. He's able to successfully sneak right up to Din and would've probably gotten him out if the machinery hadn't clanged. He listens to Din when told to go, which had to be hard - it's scary to leave Dad even when Dad isn't in trouble! But he really shows off his cognitive skills. He's able to think through sneaking up to Dad. He's able to focus and use the Force well enough to leap several times. He shows memory skills by being able to track their path back to the N-1 and then show Bo the way back. He reacts quickly and adapts to any obstacles, even though he was scared. We see later when he's with Bo, he's much more scared and hesitant. He was definitely afraid of those dangers, but was able to push through it and not be ruled by emotion alone. That's a great show of maturity and I'm so proud of him!! His display of memory skills continues as he "communicates" to R5 to take him to Kalevala, remembering what Din has taught him. I also wonder if this will keep motivating him to keep trying to speak. Grogu wants to communicate so much! He knows it would be easier and I bet he's bursting with things to tell Din!

I was also wondering if he was able to control his pod, and yes, he finally can! This shows that not only he has matured enough to be more independent, he is trustworthy enough that Din knows he won't wander off and will be safe. The last three pods have all had controls via Din's gauntlet. Grogu could open and close the red-and-white one but we saw no ability to control it. But now he gets a big boy pod! This will really help him be more independent and proactive and safe and I think it will be good for him, so that he can keep developing his self-confidence in his own independence while still being safe. Din probably feels better knowing Grogu can escape dangers and isn't as totally reliant on him as he was in previous seasons.

Overall this was a really solid episode for Grogu. We've really seen how he's learned and matured. I hope this season gives him even more character development, and while I maintain my opinion that Disney would prefer a mute, cute-baby-noises character to better sell merch.... I hope I'm wrong and we're building up towards Grogu speaking!!

#baby yoda meta #baby yoda #grogu #the mandalorian #mandalorian spoilers

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checkoutmybookshelf · 7 months

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What is a Wraith, Anyway?

Ok, so I am primarily a Jedi girl when it comes to Star Wars, but snark-ass Corellian pilots also occupy a very soft spot in my heart. Han Solo is now and forever the GOAT Corellian smuggler and pilot, but Wedge Antillies--particularly as he is expanded in the EU books--is absolutely in the top 5 favorite pilots. I'm not overly fond of Rogue Squadron, if we're being honest, but I adore the antics and missions of Wraith Squadron. So let's talk Aaron Allston's Wraith Squadron.

*Spoilers below, so beware!*

Wedge Antillies.

Wes Janson.

Myn Donos (and Shiner).

Kell Tainer.

Garik "Face" Loran.

Falynn Sandskimmer.

Jesmin Ackbar.

Voort "Piggy" saBinring.

Hohass "Runt" Ekwesh.

Ton Phanan.

Eurrsk Thri'ag.

Tyria Sarkin.

This is Wraith Squadron, Wedge's pet project that pulled together competent officers who might have been bad at office politics or made a few too many mistakes or whose careers were otherwise dead and would jump at another chance to fly. Wedge's plan was to create an experienced, multi-talented squadron to take on the jobs for which the venn diagram of piloting, ground skills, and espianage is a circle. And while he did do that, he also somehow managed to take a bunch of hard case and traumatized pilots and transform them into a family.

The progression of the transformation though, is beautifully paced. We spend the early sections of the novel learning about each individual pilot's personal (or not so personal, given Tainer's near-paralyzing fear of Janson that tends to read as aggression) issues or motivations and getting some tentative interpersonal bonding. Interestingly, Face and Jesmin aren't hard cases or screwups. Face is tying to atone for having been the Empire's golden boy child actor in their propaganda films--although I wouldn't ever have recovered from having to sit in Ysanne Isard's LAP while she told me I was a good imperial citizen. Jesmin, however, is simply trying not to be a waste of her training because as Admiral Ackbar's neice, no commander has ever been willing to put her in actual danger.

Jesmin is, unfortunately, the first casualty of the squadron, and during the mission where she is lost, Myn Donos's R2 unit, Shiner, is unfortunately blown to peices. Myn has some seriously unresolved trauma (and arguably PTSD and survivor's guilt) from being the sole survivor of his former squadron, and Shiner's loss absolutely breaks him.

Ultimately, however, it's the loss of one squadmate and the threat of losing a second one that really cements Wraith squadron as a unit. This begins with medic Ton Phanon (attempting to) hiding the extent of Myn's breakdown from Wedge and Wes. The rest of the squadron then works to cover his shifts and duties, trying to give him time to snap out of it on his own. Eventually though, Kell overhears Wes and Wedge privately plotting how to keep buying Myn time and preventing the breakdown from landing on any official reports or paperwork.

This neatly severs the Gordian knot of Kell's fear of Wes, and ultimately gives the squad the courage to stage an intervention for Myn.

Having saved the squadmate they could, the Wraiths go on to become a tightly knit family and scary effective squad of pilots with commando skills.

I love this book. The team dynamics and the journey to find those dynamics are beautifully plotted and written, and the book flies by.

#star wars #star wars books #star wars eu books #legends continuity #wraith squadron #wedge antilles #wes janson #sci fi #science fiction #adult fiction #books & libraries #books and reading #books and novels #books #book recommendations

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burnwater13 · 11 months

Text

Recently people had been telling Grogu that Bo-Katan had been acting a lot like a ‘mom’ toward him. The best that Grogu could say about that was, “Huh?”

He didn’t know what a ‘mom’ did, versus a dad. He knew what dads did. They were like Din Djarin, as long as dad was the same as father. The Armorer had told Din Djarin that he was ‘as it’s father’. Now, Grogu didn’t like being called it, but since the Armorer had made the Mandalorian his ‘father’, then he wasn’t going to argue with her about it.

If moms were like Bo-Katan, Grogu was perfectly willing to pass on having one. He’d just as soon have a pet massiff to be honest. Keep in mind, a massiff was always happy to see you when you crossed paths. They stood and waited for you to greet them and then they stayed with you. You could share a frog or bone with them and no one complained, no matter who had the thing first. And, when you got tired, they were willing to carry you wherever you wanted to go.

The first time Grogu met Bo-Katan she helped his dad, more or less. Sure, the Mandalorians helped him. Koska Reeves had helped him out of the water. Not Bo. She was busy trying to out Mandalorian the other Mandalorians. Then, when they were all talking in the tavern, she didn’t say a word to him. She was blabbing about herself and what she wanted and needed and all that stuff. Then she tricked his dad into helping her with something dangerous rather than just tell him where he could find a Jedi. Then the Jedi she told Din about was not a Jedi. Then she was just smug about everything. None of that sounded very ‘mom-like’ to him.

For the sake of all the kids and people who had actual moms, Grogu really hoped they weren’t like Bo-Katan. He actually hoped they were like Peli Motto. Or even Greef Karga. In a pinch Cara Dune. On a scale of one to ten in ‘mom-ness’ Din Djarin and Peli were tied at ten, IG-11 was a nine, Greef was a five, Cara was a four, and Bo-Katan was still trying to climb her way up to one. It seemed like a very steep climb for her.

But then maybe she just didn’t want to be responsible for younglings? Not every person was cut out for that work. You had to guide and mentor, you had to care and help, you had to support and nurture. You also had to be made out of beskar because kids got into a lot of trouble. Maybe that’s not what the ‘Princess’ had wanted to do with herself. Grogu couldn’t blame her for that. It was a hard job and you had to work at it every day.

It made him wonder why she wanted to be Mand’alor so badly. Being a leader was like being a parent according to Master Yoda. “Care about you all as if my children you were.”

Master Kelleran had said essentially the same thing. “We are all part of the Jedi family, from younglings to masters. We support and protect each other and peace within the galaxy.”

That’s what Din Djarin did. He protected Grogu and his friends, no matter how old or young they were. But then, everyone knew that Mandalorians cared deeply about family. Which made Grogu wonder about Bo-Katan’s family.

Did she even have one? Grogu knew that Din had once had parents who weren’t Mandalorians. He had been found and raised by Mandalorians because his parents were gone. Had that happened to Bo-Katan? Had she lost her family and then been adopted by Mandalorians? Grogu didn’t think so.

He remembered her talking at the Mandalorian when they went down to the mines, just like any other time Grogu saw her. She didn’t really talk with people, did she? But he did remember her talking about her dad. So she at least had a dad. Maybe that’s why she wasn’t much about ‘mom-ness’. Maybe she didn’t have a mom. That was kind of sad.

Grogu wondered if he should have a few words with Peli? Maybe the person who was not a mom, but seemed to know all the mom rules about feeding and caring for people could help Bo-Katan out? Peli could give her some lessons. Help her learn the rules from the consolidated parenting manual that Peli said her mother wrote when she was just a youngling. Peli swore she had it somewhere at the garage, but then the pit droids misplaced it.

He still didn’t want Bo-Katan testing her mom-skills on him, but maybe that would help her be a better Mand’alor. Caring about someone other than herself could be a huge help for the Mandalorian diaspora. That seemed like that would be rule one for anyone’s manual on how to be better at anything.

#calendar prompt a day #the mandalorian #grogu #din djarin #bo-katan #I love Katee Sackoff

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galactic-pirates · 1 year

Text

Oh boy. Ok episode 9 where do I start?

Spoiler alert as always.

Ok let’s start with the positive.

Data’s line and delivery of “I hope we die quickly” was hilarious.

I loved how Seven was the first to fight back and get a phaser with an elbow to the head.

Raffi going “not a chance” and striding forward shooting because she wouldn’t leave Seven was totally badass, and warmed my shipper heart.

As for everything else…

Oh boy.

In my theorising I said maybe the changelings wanted Jack to do his mind control whoo whoo, and form a ‘collective’ as a way to bring totalitarian order/control the federation which the changelings want.

But actual Borg? Actual Borg passed down because of Picard? That was a crack theory that I thought we were all laughing about. For once I take no pleasure in having saw this coming a little bit. ESPECIALLY to be honest because there is no explanation just a “the changelings were working with the Borg all along” erm how? Why? What do they get out of it? How did they even find the Borg given that clearly…

This season has a huge problem with time and relative distance. I know space is vast and all but for them to be jetting around to all the various places those places must be within half a light year or less. I mean I looked this up when I was comparing hyperspace travel times for Stargate and warp 9 is like 2 light years a day.

Make it make sense.

So for Jack to get to the Borg in a shuttle which I am guessing was probably not warp 9? In a matter of a couple of hours it seemed, the Borg were basically hiding out for a decade in the heart of federation space? I know Jack said “transwarp portal?” but that sounded more like a question so I guess the Borg could have warped into that nebula. But I don’t know I thought they were supposed to require some proximity. I swear what was a thing re: transmitters on Voyager. I could be mistaken though I guess.

Also what the hell with the “Borg haven’t been seen in 10 years?” I guess the friend Jurati led Borg don’t count? I mean ok separate collective but it would have only been one extra sentence to explain that and then we wouldn’t be going “continuity? I don’t know you”.

At least I guess they explained how Jack could control the younger crew members due to the implanted Borg DNA. But that raises some major questions about the transporters. Pulaski was so right not to trust them because if they can materialise people with different DNA… I mean I know this wasn’t done with Federation approval but for that capacity to even exist within the technology… I watched SNW and that has Number One being arrested for being Illyrian (genetic modifications) and then the StarFleet transporters can alter genetic code. I mean ok yeah it’s a couple of hundred years later but I don’t know feels hinky. Wouldn’t people have got sick or died? I mean tampering with DNA seems super dangerous. I get that it’s all handwaved science because it’s science FICTION but it should still seem plausible.

I just don’t get it. It’s just so weird from start to finish. Like are all XB’s modded like Picard? Have none of them reproduced in the past 30 years? Why mod Picard like that anyway? The Borg don’t reproduce like that. I think I am trying to make sense of something that is just so strange.

Anyway I am momentarily amused that my pet theory that the Borg came from contamination from the killer robots in the season 1 finale, could have further weight as that’s when Picard’s brain exploded. Could it be contact through the open space portal to killer robots was trying to transmit/receive and basically getting an error message which fried his brain?

Aaaand back to episode 9. So Shaw’s probably not dead. I mean he might be but from some of the tweets I read I am doubtful. I would like him to be dead. “Redemption through death” is a time honoured trope. I don’t know if it was invented by Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, or just popularised, but it is a big thing. Shaw was a bastard who I wanted to throw out an airlock. In his final moment finally giving Seven the respect she deserved after his petty bullying abuse of power. That’s Redemption though death.

I am concerned though that if they given Seven and Raffi anything to do in the finale, it might be dragging Shaw to SickBay to revive him. Cortical stimulation etc. forget the fact that the Galaxy is on fire. Shaw probably wouldn’t even be grateful and instead lecture Seven on priorities again. In that case he would be right as risking their lives to bring Shaw back would be insane given the state of things. Especially as I don’t think it’s guaranteed that people can be brought back. Not killing Shaw when there is only a handful of seconds to think, is very different from deliberate choice over and over when he’s technically already dead.

Speaking of that scene though I get they wanted to isolate the TNG crew so they could be heroes, but Raffi stunned the last attacker. They couldn’t wait 2 seconds for Raffi and Seven to join them in the escape shuttle? Instead they left them behind to be killed. I mean that is basically what happened.

Make it make sense.

I dislike that the ‘face’ of the Borg control on the Titan is an alien, and the most obviously an alien. It feels like they didn’t make it one of the LaForges because obviously they will get saved and it’s to keep the impression of victims rather than the enemy. Also let the enemy be alien rather than human as that’s very othering. Humans are good guys right? /sarcasm. I mean it is so rare to see a non-human (unless it’s a Vulcan but that is quite rare too) sit in the Captain’s chair so of course it happens when they are the bad guy.

Fireworks in space. How does that work? I mean there is no oxygen. Technically this means all the glorious explosions of ships probably shouldn’t happen either? Clearly I am willing to overlook it in some cases but those fireworks did look weird. Dodgy CGI or…?

I am sure I am forgetting lots of points.

I think I have said a few times that this season has had a pacing problem. Never more so has that been true than now. As a writer I can tell you that on the story beats list this would be the doorway of no return which separates Act 2 from Act 3. That means there should be 25% of the story left approximately. So paced properly this episode should have been number 7, and possibly given everything they crammed in 6+7 expanded. That’s probably why we got such a glossed over “the changelings have been working with the Borg this whole time” with no explanation or curiousity as to why or how. I really can’t see how they can wrap this up with any degree of satisfaction within one single episode.

You know at the end of this ramble I am still stuck on how the crack “Borg baby” theory turned out to be true. I mean that was like the most “yeeeah it’s not going to be that” level of stupid and then they actually went there. Crack theory = canon and I still can’t believe it. I mean to be fair Trek did have the lizard baby episode on Voyager, so there is precedence for insanity, but that was a single episode, easily ignored and forgotten - not built up to over a 10 episode season establishing lore that anything that comes after will have to live with.

Is that what they call irredeemably jumping the shark?

As for the Enterprise-D I am picturing Geordi as the dad tinkering in his garage repairing his classic car on weekends now. Mostly though I am stunned that they went to the trouble/expense of replicating the bridge set and it will be used for all of one episode.

Oh! Hahahaha. So that’s where the lighting budget went? Finally something that makes sense.

#star trek: picard #picard spoilers #sam rambles (a lot)

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jetiisyandereclones · 2 years

Note

What if Hunter is really quiet and people forget that he’s in a room and he uses this fact to free the Jedi and the other darlings

I think he knows how to bide his time, wait for people to get comfortable. Everyone says crosshair is the sniper with all the patience, but hunter knows how to wait for the right opportunity.

I’ll use Vera as an example.

When the Alpha squad and crosshair brought her and her togrutan back to Kamino and put them in a holding cell, they get into an argument about who should be the ones to rehabilitate her.

Keep in mind, rehabilitation leads to a life bond.

Crosshair argues that because she chose to risk her life to save him as a child, and because he watched out for her ever since he was old enough to hold a rifle, he should be the one to do it.

Alpha 17 laughs, stating that just because she was his first tween boner doesn’t mean he has any claim on her. As for his “protection”, he may have watched her do her job on missions, but alpha gave her the best protection of all, he turned her into an arc and a dangerous one at that. She doesn’t need him, she needs someone she can look (up) to when even she can’t handle the situation.

Crosshair is furious, his face more screwed up than ever. He got right up in Alpha’s impassive face, despite not matching his height.

“Exactly. You trained her too well. She’s too good at her job and in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s exactly your brand of protection that led to her and our togrutan almost getting away. If you take her she’ll never learn to rely on us, she’ll only ever know to look out for herself, cause that’s all you taught her.”

Fordo interjected.

“You want a pet. A docile prize. You may think you know her but you know nothing. We’ve been with her since day one. Supported and protected her since she was a child. We’ve watched her grow up and turned her into the warrior she is now, and we know her every move, her every need.

You’d take her to keep all to yourself, seperate her from her togrutan, and she’d waste away to nothing. She needs us. We know what we’re doing. Know how to make sure she thrives here. And I will not see her broken to the whines of a pouty child!”

It was the most any of them had heard him speak.

The batch and the Alpha clones went on arguing like this for a good ten minutes. None of them noticed hunter quietly slipping towards the back of the room. He knew he didn’t have to do much. Just infect Kaminos systems with an outside virus that would corrupt and override all the jedis inhibitor cuffs and trackers. The central control panel was in the room next to this. It was usually under lockdown but because the alpha clones were near by the systems had sensed their DNA and unlocked.

The virus would also ensure the Biometric security grid was wiped out and the ships could be taken by the Jedi. But he had to time this right. He couldn’t be anywhere near the room when the virus was uploaded, so he set it to a delay.

When the time came and the Jedi left, he’d go with them and take omega with him. He was pained to leave his brothers behind, but these men were not the people he fought and grew side by side with.

Hunter slips into the control room, injects the virus into the system, setting it to release in an hour and slips back into the observation rooms unnoticed. The other clones were still in a heated debate about who got to “take” Vera and her love.

Little did they know the only one who would be taking Vera and the Jedi anywhere would be him. Off planet and into hiding for good.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

Alternatively

Omega:

Where you going hunter, what’s that in your hand. I thought only the alpha clones were allowed in that room.

Hunter:

#yandere clones #yandere clone family au #yandere bad batch #yandere crosshair #Yandere wrecker #Yandere tech #Yandere echo #yandere alpha 17 #Yandere Fordo #hunter and omega aren’t yanderes #little omega doesn’t know the meaning of subtlety

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silverwings22 · 2 years

Text

Caught in the Crosshairs: Chapter 36 Lights: Ellie Goulding

Series warnings: Smut, mind control, canon typical violence, childhood trauma, language, chronic illness

Chapter Warnings: children in danger, narcotics, organized crime.

Previous chapter:

Next Chapter:

"Never thought I'd be so happy to see Ord Mantell." Hunter grumbled as they stepped out of the Havoc Marauder. They were just returning from another mission for Cid, and it had been a doozy.

"Cid better be paying us extra for that one." Echo sighed, turning around to offer Miria a hand off the ramp.

"It wasn't so bad!" Wrecker laughed.

"She could have told us the drop zone was swarming with Gundarks." Hunter just growled.

Tech shook his head derisively. "It's hardly the first time she's left out key details."

Omega looked over at Miria, who'd hardly spoken in the several weeks since they'd left Ryloth. She tugged the Jedis hand gently as they started towards the parlor. "You okay, Miri? Gundarks didn't get you?"

"I'm alright, padawan mine." The woman murmured. "Simply tired."

Tired. That was her constant excuse lately, but it hardly covered it. Haunted was a better word. Or hunted.

He was after them. Hunting them down and she knew it. Crosshair was coming for them and the little snippets she'd been able to hear from his mind only told her he was angry and desperate. And she couldn't explain it to anyone, because no one understood the complexity of the Force bond between them. How did she even begin to tell how her mind, her very soul, was melded into the damaged and broken spaces in the man who wanted them all dead for the sin of being?

And how did she explain that she didn't want to sever it, because as long as she could occasionally feel the pulse of his emotions she knew he was still alive?

It was a dangerous game to play. A stray, unguarded thought could lead him right to them, and it took so much out of her to keep her guard up. She'd never had to keep anyone out like this before, especially someone else loved so much. Someone she wanted to, so desperately, show the inside of her beating heart until he could see how much she wanted to save him.

Tired indeed.

She was lost in her thoughts and hardly noticed the armored guards around the city until they stepped into the parlor. "When did this place get so popular?" Echo huffed.

Miria frowned. Cid's usual clients were nowhere to be found, only new faces and a lot of matching helmets. It made her skin crawl. "Let's just find Cid." She murmured, heading through the throng towards the office. A guard stopped her short, arms crossed over his puffed out chest. "Where do you think you're going?"

Wrecker took one look at him bucking up to their little general and put him into the wall with prejudice. “Thank you, dear.” Miria murmured, stepping over the guard casually and walking into the office.

Instead of Cid, there was a young green Devaronian man seated at her desk. Several guards immediately turned to point blasters at them, and the batch quickly returned the gesture by training their weapons on the Devaronian. He just chuckled, petting a vaguely familiar lizard creature.

“Ruby?” Gasped Omega.

“Terrible manners to barge into someone’s office without an appointment.” The man at the desk chuckled, stroking the lizard's head and scales lightly with a long nailed hand.

“This isn’t your office.” Hunter growled. “Where’s Cid?”

“She’s… out. I’ll be taking over from here.” He smirked darkly. “Though, if you’re looking for work then I might have use for you.” He gestured for his men to put their blasters away.

Miria narrowed her eyes. Everything about him screamed “gangster”. Classier, perhaps, than the Hutts, but still a distinct and unacceptable danger to Omega. To her guys. “We’ll think about it.”

“You do that.”

Miria gestured for them to walk out. “We need to leave Ord Mantell.” Hunter immediately said firmly, pushing them all lightly towards the hangar. “We can get supplies before we go, but we need to leave.”

The Jedi chewed her lip. “That leaves us vulnerable with no home base, Hunter…”

“You wanna deal with gangsters?” Hunter gave her a look. “It’s not safe here. We need to go.”

“What about Cid?” Omega darted ahead and turned around, arms out. “We need to help her.”

“She’s got a point, Hunter.” Miria mused. “It’s strategically sound, and Cid’s helped us. Besides, we’d be in more danger trying to start over since we have no contacts and no one we know we can trust.” All true points, she told herself. It was only right, and had absolutely nothing to do with the gnawing anxiety in her gut about being out in the open again with Crosshair hunting them and nowhere to hide.

That was a lot more frightening than some gangster.

“I always knew the girls were the brains of your outfit.” Huffed a voice behind Omega. Cid was standing inside the hatch door of the Havoc Marauder, hands on her hips. Hunter let out a long-suffering sigh and Omega giggled.

Mira shook her head with a faint smile. “Good to see you, Cid.”

“Get in here. Now! We got trouble.”

“Clearly.” The Jedi took Omega by the hand gently and they led the way up the hatch.

On the ship, Cid quickly laid out their situation. “I see you met Roland Durand. He’s the son of notorious gangster Isa Durand. Heard of her?”

The clones shook their heads. “Not much. Miri?”

“The Temple didn’t have many dealings with gangsters prior to the war. And no time for them during.” Miria said mildly. “But what does he want with your Parlor?”

“Ord Mantell’s easy access to multiple hyperspace routes, and my parlor’s in the middle of the action. He’s trying to make a name for himself out here, make his mother proud I guess.” Cid sighed. “But he’s trying to make a deal with the Pykes.”

Miria raised an eyebrow, shifting a little in her seat. Omega snuggled up under the Jedi’s arm nervously. “Who are the Pykes?”

“No one you want to mess with, padawan mine.” Miria petted her hair.

Cid looked at the men. “He’s got six crates of spice stored in my back office, waiting for a pickup.”

Tech raised an eyebrow. “You want to steal it and disrupt his deal.”

“You’re quick, Goggles.” Cid nodded. “We pull this off, the Pykes will take care of the problem for us.”

Miria pulled a knee up in her chair thoughtfully. “You’re not talking about going through the front door. This is covert.”

“Yeah. I don’t need the Pyke’s knowing we’re involved. Or we’ll wish we were dead long before they kill us.” Cid’s gold eyes turned to her, and Miria felt the harsh yellow of fear bleed into the Force around the trandoshan.

The human woman nodded, plated and gloved hand settling protectively on Omega’s head as she glanced at the guys. “You’ve kept our secrets. I think we can keep this one for you.”

Cid chuckled. “I knew I liked you, Stripes.”

Miria chuckled fondly and grabbed her helmet. “Grab your gear bag, Omega.”

The followed Cid down an alleyway, and once she was sure the coast was clear she shoved some crates out of the way to reveal an access hatch. “Ord Mantell’s old mining tunnels. There’s one that leads right to my back office.”

“What is to say that Durand isn’t in there when we arrive?” Tech raised an eyebrow behind his tinted lenses.

“I took care of that.” Cid explained. “He’s obsessed with that lizard he had me send you guys after, so he’ll be out looking for her for a while.”

Omega frowned. “No one’s gonna hurt Ruby, are they?”

“That lizard scratched my face, Omega.” Miria chuckled. “I think Ruby can take care of herself if she’s in any trouble at all.”

Omega sighed and nodded, clutching the strap of her gear bag as Hunter descended the ladder into the tunnel first. Miria followed, pulling a flashlight from her own pack curiously and looking around. “I didn’t realize the tunnels were quite so extensive, but that does explain why Old Ord Mantell city was in the middle of a stripped quarry.”

Tech nodded, hopping off the ladder behind her and approaching the mining transport carts. “These are quite old, but I should be able to get the motors operational…”

“Motors are too loud.” Cid hissed, climbing into the first cart. “We go manually. Stripes, Tiny, Goggles, you’re with me.”

Miria chuckled quietly and helped Omega into the cart before helping Cid pump the lever that got them moving.

“General, let me take that.” Tech murmured after a minute. He could hear her breath getting a little ragged. “You keep lookout.”

She nodded, swapping places with him and trying not to look as tired as she felt. Her flashlight raked the area below them curiously. “It echoes.” Omega whispered. “It’s kind of creepy.”

Miria chuckled softly. “It reminds me of the Hall of Acoustics back in the Temple. Depending on where you stood in the room, you could get your voice to bounce back in different ways… I used to go there and sing when I was young… it felt like there was someone singing with me.”

They arrived at a sealed door and Cid stopped the cart. “Once we open this door, not a peep out of anyone. You’ll wake the hive and we’ll all die.”

“The hive?” Hunter tensed.

“The tunnels have… a little infestation problem.” Cid sighed.

“We’re not afraid of some bugs.” Wrecker smirked.

“If I never see a Yalbec or Geonosian worm again, I’ll be quite content.” Miria muttered. “Wrecker, open the door please.”

He bounced over and yanked the door open on its old, rusted hinges before returning to the back cart and following as they carefully worked their way through a much more open cavern.

Wrecker might not have been scared of bugs, but heights were another story, and he looked nervously out at the sea of darkness and webbing scattered in deep layers far below the carts. “I don’t like this.” Omega whispered softly.

“Me either.” Miria squeezed her hand.

“I do wish we’d stop going on missions to places this dark.” Miria murmured, back pressed against Crosshairs. They were here on Devaron, helping defend an outpost from Separatists until the fleet could arrive. They’d been traveling through the dense jungle, using the massive maintained vines that connected so much of the natural world to the beautiful urban cities of this beautiful planet, when they’d been ambushed by droids. Everyone survived, but she and Crosshair had been knocked from the vine and down straight into the jungle during the skirmish. They’d managed to get a patchy, static-filled message out to the Tech to let the others know they were alive, but it was nightfall and they’d both been injured. Crosshair’s left leg was almost certainly broken, and Miria had landed badly on her right wrist that was now swollen and purple.

“You hear them skittering around in the trees, don’t you?” He murmured. They were both exhausted, and help wouldn’t arrive til the morning sun.

“Just bugs. Nothing to fear…” she said, more to herself than him, but her left hand still inched backwards until she found his and wrapped their fingers together.

“How’s your wrist?” He squeezed her fingers gently.

“How’s your leg?” She squeezed right back.

Crosshair snorted. “Took that thigh plate off. Femur’s broken, hurts like hell. Now how’s your wrist.”

She smiled. “I took my wrist bracer off too… the wrist was bent backwards. Pretty sure it’s broken too.”

“Great. I can’t walk and you can’t swing your lightsaber. Aren’t you right-handed?” He sighed. “We’re sitting ducks.”

“I can splint your leg, and we can use your rifle as a crutch while you lean on me…” She mused.

“How do you plan to splint my leg if you can’t use your dominant hand?” He huffed.

“I have another hand and the Force. The edges of the bandage might not be straight, but we’ll walk out of here. I swore after Geonosis I wasn’t going out by insects, and you don’t get to make a liar out of me, Cross..” She finally groaned and leaned up, bracing on her good hand to get to her knees and scuttle around to dig through her kit for the first aid pack.

He winced as she flipped her saber to life and cut three straight and sturdy sticks, using them to make a makeshift cage for his thigh and bandage it tightly. “Fuck…”

“Sorry, my darling. I know it hurts.” She murmured, tearing the gauze with her teeth and tying it off. “But that should do it.”

“Let me wrap your wrist, then. Gimme something to do with my hands for a minute.”

Miria smiled and sat, letting him gently explore the delicate bones in her wrist and had to check the damages. “This is going to hurt.”

“That’s okay, I’m a Bad Batcher. We’re tough.” She smiled, leaning into his hand when he cupped her cheek.

“Keep that spirit.” he murmured, turning her hand in his lap and starting to wrap it as tight as she could tolerate. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Miria swallowed hard. “Alright, let’s get you on your feet.” She murmured quietly, pushing herself up and hauling him with her left hand.

Crosshair groaned and leaned on her as she helped get his rifle up to be used as a crutch. “You got any idea which way we’re going?”

“Yes.” She shouldered her gear pack and his, wrapping an arm around his middle so he could lean on her. “Yeah… I can sense the city. Just… one step at a time.”

Miria jumped back to the present when Wrecker’s flashlight went hurtling down into the depths. Everyone froze, Cid oozing waves of barely contained panic. Miria’s hand inched towards the bag on her right hip, where her saber was stored. But there was only a tense creak and faint shifting from below, before it settled down.

Cid looked at Wrecker. “Nice going.” She whispered.

“It was an accident.” He whispered back.

“Let’s just keep moving.” Miria whispered.

Cid nodded and went back to working the lever, Miria pulling Omega back from the edge of the cart. They eventually made it over the chasm and up to the secret door to Cid’s back office. The trandoshan checked her comm and nodded. “Roland took the bait, so we can go. But let’s hurry, I don’t know how long it’ll last.”

Wrecker nodded and yanked the hatch open, shoving up a false floor that was hiding the access from the inside. It wasn’t hard to locate six huge crates of spice sitting in the corner, and the big clone started passing them back to Hunter and Echo. They moved them down to the carts, and Tech and Miria secured them.

“What do you think Cid’s going to do with all this stuff?” Omega asked, sitting on the floor of the first cart while they worked. “Spice is worth a lot of money, isn’t it?”

“I’m vaguely horrified that my little sister knows the approximate street value of illegal narcotics.” Tech muttered.

Miria chuckled weakly and shook her head. “All that matters to us is that she’s not allowed to hide it on our ship, Omega.”

Her eyes darted up as she heard a flurry of activity up the ladder. Wrecker tossed the last crate down and tossed it on the cart. “That’ll have to be secure enough.” Cid jumped into theirs. “Go, Roland’s getting in the office.”

They started working the levers furiously, just as the armored guards from earlier found their getaway tunnel and hopped into the other two carts to pursue them. “They’re using the motors, they'll catch us any minute.” Omega whispered. Miria shoved her down behind the side of the cart as the guards started firing.”

“None of that’s gonna matter if they wake the hive.” Cid hissed.

“None of it will matter if we’re shot dead, either.” Miria snapped back. “Tech, keep Omega and Cid safe.” She jumped up, saber coming up, and leapt out of their cart and into the first one the guards occupied. Tech ducked his head as Hunter went over them entirely to get in on the action.

He landed with a kick to the face of the nearest guard, Echo right behind him. Miria was deflecting shots from the second guard cart as they cleared men out of the first and tipped them over the edge. “Lock the breaks.” Miria nodded to Hunter. “Then get ready to jump.”

“Jump, why are we jumping?” Echo frowned, but locked the breaks as she said. She put her saber away, grabbed the guys by the arms, and took a Force-assisted leap from the cart just as the second guard cart came hurtling up. Echo, having figured out the plan, shot their engine controls so they had no choice but to crash.

They landed in the cart with Cid, Tech, and Omega, wincing as the crash sent men flying into the dark. “Sorry, Cid. That was louder than anticipated.” Miria said softly as Hunter and Echo went back to help Wrecker in their assigned seats.

“Let’s hope that didn’t wake the hive.” Cide just said ominously.

“Indeed.” Tech murmured. Omega squished to his hip nervously.

They passed back into the deep tunnels and Cid frowned nervously as an animalistic noise rose from deep below. Hunter frowned. “There's another cart coming.”

Miria took a deep breath. “Tech, power up the engines, we’re going to have to outrun the enforcers and the hive.”

Cid gritted her teeth unhappily. But there was no escaping that the Jedi was right. Tech dropped to start the engine. As it roared to life, there was a loud roar from below and a billion flapping wings and screeching mouths came flying up at them. “What the hell are these things?” Hunter hissed as they were swarmed and he felt teeth trying to rip into him through his armor.

Miria yanked Omega to her chest, watching the creatures ripping their pursuers apart. “Can’t these things go any faster?!” The guys were all shooting at the swarm, but it was an uphill battle with no chance of winning one shot at a time.

“Use your torches, they’re avoiding the light!” Tech yelled as the cart rocked dangerously and a crate of spice went flying over the edge.

“Not the spice!” Cid yelped.

Miria gritted her teeth. “I think your life is a little more important!” She ripped her saber up and activated it, the bright light scattering the flying creatures away from them. They hauled ass for the exit and made it out with Miria holding the swarm at bay until everyone escaped, leaving the spice where it fell and Wrecker slamming the door shut when the Jedi ran through.

She leaned against the door, sucking air like she was drowning. “What… the hell… were those?”

Tech fiddled with his datapad. “Irlings. They’re nocturnal, aggressive, and extremely photosensitive.” He finally reported.

“Not a fan.” Miria huffed, coughing into her elbow.

Omega looked sheepish. “At least we got rid of the spice.”

Cid smiled a little and put a clawed hand on her shoulder. It was nice to see the rough trandoshan having a soft spot for Omega… but Miria had a weird feeling that this was far from over.

“Are you sure the parlor is safe?” Asked Omega, looking up at Cid.

“Bolo and Ketch said the Pykes have already come for Roland. It should be fine.” Cid smiled fondly. Miria frowned, touching the blaster on her hip as she nodded to the guys. They took the wordless order and broke along the sides of the door, ready to clear the building.

She kicked the door open, and Hunter went in first. “Clear!’

Omega followed Cid in and gasped. There were dead enforcers littering the floor like trash. Miria looked away, shaking her head. So much senseless death… there was always so much death, and no reason for any of it…

“Looks like it worked better than expected.” Cid chuckled, stepping over a body. “The Pykes don’t take kindly to unpaid debts.”

Omega looked deeply disturbed by that and stepped closer to Hunter. Miria turned her head at the sound of someone stumbling, just in time to see Roland in cuffs being shoved forward by a trio of Pykes. “She’s the one you want.” He pointed at Cid. “She stole the spice, along with them.”

Miria narrowed her eyes and straightened her spine as the Pyke leader approached her. “Return the spice and we will consider this matter resolved between us.” He said in an eerily unaffected voice, eying Cid.

“We don’t have it.” Cid said quietly.

“Then you are of no further use to us. Kill them.” He waved to the other Pykes, and blasters quickly leveled at the clones. Who all brought their own guns up. Miria held her hand up.

“Unit, weapons down.” She said calmly, glancing at Cid’s stressed expression. Then her eyes moved back to the Pyke. “We do not have the spice, but we know its location. We can retrieve it, if you let the matter die there.”

“Someone with sense.” The Pyke nodded. “My patience wears thin, however. Retrieve the spice, and all will be resolved. However, the child and the woman remain here.”

“Not happening.” Hunter growled, arm coming out in front of Omega.

The Pyke fixed him with a look. “You don't understand. This is not a negotiation.”

Miria held a hand out to Omega. “It’s fine, Hunter.” she said softly. “Please take our weapons to the ship, and we’ll get them when you come back for us.” She handed her blaster, rifle, knife, and saber. Omega sheepishly handed over her bow, taking Miria’s hand. “We’ll see you soon.” Miria murmured, as a Pyke took her by the upper arm and half dragged her to the Parlor office, where she let herself be cuffed. Omega was also cuffed, and sat beside her and a deeply regretful Roland. When the batch walked out, Omega scooted closer into Miria’s arms.

“I don’t like this, Miri.”

“I know, padawan mine. But we’ll be okay.” Miria murmured. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

If Roland hadn’t felt alone before, he did now while watching them interact.

Omega looked up over Miria’s shoulder after a while, noticing a blaster left unattended and close enough she could reach. “Don’t.” Roland murmured. “They’ll kill you. If your friends don’t bring the spice back, they’ll kill us all.”

“They’ll bring it back.” Miria said calmly. “Though… the Pykes only said they would consider the matter between us and them resolved. I’m somewhat concerned for your fate, Durand.”

His green skin looked distinctly paler at that. “You should have stayed out of other people’s business.”

“You took the parlor from Cid!” Omega hissed. “We were just helping a friend.”

“It’s the Durand way. Take what you want.” He mused. “My mother has perfected the tactic.”

Miria looked at her lap. “When you always take and never give, you drive everyone away.” She said softly. “That sounds like a very lonely existence to me. Is it worth it, Durand?”

He stared at her for a long moment before Omega broke the silence. “So your mother is a criminal too?”

“You make it sound so undignified.” he muttered. “But… I wonder what she’d think if she saw me right now.”

Miria eyed him. “If she’s any decent mother, hopefully appalled you’re in such terrible danger? I know I would be, if you were my son.” She shook her head. “My own mother would be breaking down the door right now if she could see me…”

“Your mom always gets so worried.” Omega said solemnly. “She’s more anxious than you…”

Miria smiled. “She’s very… free with her feelings.”

Ruby chose the moment to go waddling past Roland and crawled into Omega’s lap. The girl smiled with delight and petted the creature's scales. Miria chuckled when the lizard headbutted her hands to demand pets from her too. “You know, you’re actually quite charming when you’re not clawing my face. Lovely little creature.”

Omega smiled and cuddled Ruby happily, before glancing over at the look on Roland’s face. “What?”

“Ruby just… doesn't usually take a liking to most people.” He finally said softly.

Omega nodded, looking back down at Ruby. “Don’t worry. We’ll get out of this… my brothers won’t let us down.”

“Brothers…?” Roland blinked, looking from Omega to Miria.

“Yes. She’s their sister.” Miria murmured, looking at him with quiet eyes.

“Then where do you fit? Or is that why you asked me if I was lonely? Because you don’t?”

Miria took a steadying breath and smiled. “There’s one more brother.” She said softly. “That’s where I fit.”

He nodded, watching Miria as she bent her knees and made a space for Omega to snuggle with Ruby in the protective cage of her armored legs. “Do you really think they’ll bring back the spice?”

“They’ve never let me down before.” Miria murmured.

It had been hours, and Omega was squeezing Miria’s hands nervously as night fell. “It’s dark, Miri. Those things are more active at night…”

“I know. But I'm sure Tech thought of something.” The Jedi hugged her a little closer to her chest. “And I’ll bet it’s spectacularly destructive, and he recorded it like he does everything, so we’ll have to watch it a hundred time while he explains how smart he is to us.”

That made Omega smile a little. “He is smart…”

Miria pushed her nose against the girl's cheek, affectionate and comforting when she needed her most. She recalled, when she was most sad and scared growing up, the feeling of Master Plo’s mask pressing against her face. She’d done the same thing for many frightened younglings over the years to make them laugh.

Omega smiled, comforted, and they all looked up as the squad walked in dragging the crates of spice. One of the Pykes came over and hauled the three hostages up to meet them at the door.

“The issue between us is now considered resolved.” The leader muttered as the other two loaded the crates onto a hover cart. He uncuffed Omega and Miria, who walked back over to the batch. Omega looked back at Roland, stopping short.

Miria glanced at her before looking at the resigned, tired face of the young Devaronian. “What are you going to do to him?” Omega whispered. “Please, he just made a mistake, he shouldn’t have to die over it.”

Cid nodded. “Kill him and you’ll have a gang war with Isa Durand. Do you really need that heat right now?”

Miria softened her approach with quiet eyes. “Cruelty begets obedience through fear. Mercy begets respect. Only one lingers when the power is no longer in your hands.”

Cid leaned in. “Just call it a bad deal and walk away.”

“We do not accept bad deals.” The Pykes shoved Roland down on his knees and pushed his head over a crate. Mira turned Omega away when a knife flashed, but the girl whipped her head around.

Instead of slitting his throat, Roland’s right horn was cut off nearly to the scalp. He yelped in pain, but there was mercifully air in his lungs to do so. “Our business is finished. It would be wise that our paths do not cross again.” The Pykes took their loot and left in a creepy huff.

Omega extended her hand nervously towards him. “Are you okay?”

Roland touched the base of his cut horn, wincing. “A small price to pay…”

Miria smiled as the girl set Ruby down and the creature ran to his arms to try to comfort him. Roland cuddled her to his chest for a long moment, eying the Jedi and child like he wanted to say something. But he finally made himself walk away, holding his pet in place of his dignity but still alive.

Cid chuckled. “First round’s on the house, you guys.”

“You owe us way more than that.” Wrecker grinned.

“Don’t push your luck, Muscles.”

He rushed past, on Cid’s tail with Echo and Tech jogging to keep up. Miria took a few steps, giving Hunter and Omega a little space. “Why’d you stick up for me, after all he’s done?” Hunter was murmuring to the girl.

“I… don’t really know. Ruby liked him… and Miri said he was lonely. So maybe he’s not all bad.”

Hunter chuckled. “Only you two could end up hostages with a gangster and somehow make a friend.”

“I like making friends.” Omega chuckled.

“Ask Miri about the time she made friends with a Sith that stabbed her.”

Miria laughed until she coughed. “That’s such a boring story, Hunter! Tell her the good ones, like when I dragged Cross out of the jungle on Daveron. I was thinking about that in the tunnels.”

Hunter chuckled. “You only had to drag him because his leg was broken from diving after you.”

“And I only needed diving after because Wrecker hit me with a scrapped droid.” She laughed. “Come on, Omega. I did promise to tell you some war stories.”

“Finally!”

#crosshair #eventual smut #explict #original character #crosshair smut #clone force 99 #caught in the crosshairs

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fanfictasia · 2 years

Text

Whumptober Day 19

Alt. Ambushed

Spoiler: This is an excerpt from The Chosen Twins

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Except they had to stay on Coruscant, and I don’t want them near Krell, anyway – he hurt them both. I can’t forget that. (I haven’t forgiven that.)

The fight goes back and forth with neither gaining ground until I hear the clones arriving. Depa appears beside me only moments later.

“So, you didn’t bring your pets,” Krell muses, shoving me a few steps back, “How unusual. Did they misplace another piece of themselves?”

“As if you’re one to talk,” I reply with a pointed look towards his mechanical hands – they’re currently exposed, visible wires showing on his hands. Anger burns inside me at the mention – I thought I trained Anakin better than to do something so stupid as attacking Dooku like that, but considering his lack of sleep and everything recently, I can understand why he wasn’t thinking clearly. But with Aniya, it was a… I don’t know. Simply a slip-up. Even if I still don’t know what to think about how both of them are part machine.

Depa joins me, and together, we attack Krell. It’s not easy, because we’ve never worked together this closely in the past, but we do… know each other.

Caleb is being left behind with the clones to cover for them and help out, but I almost wish we could have an extra hand here. Or maybe that Krell can have one less, but that’s easy enough to correct – with both of us, her has a much harder time coordinating attacks on us both, so I use my first possible chance to de-hand him.

It’s one of his already metal hands, unfortunately. If it was a normal one, it would’ve affected him far more. Now, all he does is snarl angrily and Force-shove me backwards before backhanding Depa across the face and running. Just like I knew he would. He’s not half the coward many Separatists are, but he’ll run when he knows he’s losing.

Now is definitely one of those times.

I call in my newly acquired lizard and we instantly give chance. The Jedi Master calls her padawan over so he can assist us – we can’t take even the slightest chances of Krell escaping. If we can eliminate Krell, we’ll be able to defeat the Separatists. If we can win this battle, we’ll finally win the war after three and a half years of fighting.

We can’t let him hurt anyone else.

It takes a bit to catch up with him and considering where he’s going – deeper into a more closed space, I highly suspect he’s trying to lure us away from the clones where it’ll be easier for him to focus, not trying to run. It’s strategic, and dangerous.

No sooner have we rounded a corner in between the rocky landscape than a group of Magna Guards jump us out of almost literally nowhere. The padawan is caught off-guard and knocked down by one of them with a direct blow by an electrostaff. His master slashes it in half immediately while I move to cover for them. Krell is still escaping. This was intention – he knew we were coming and where to go. He planned for it. This is an ambush, and knowing his tactics, it’s probably just intended to wear us down more so he can finish it himself.

I’m fighting four of them and Depa has about the same number. Ahead of us, Krell is escaping on his speeder, and I rip an object free from above, dropping it in front of him to cut off the escape route, uncaring that it nearly earns me a few zaps. We can’t let him go, no matter what the cost is. We came here knowing at least one person would probably die.

I just don’t want to think about how the twins would take it, but I don’t think that’ll be a concern.

I have to give ground to avoid the droids, but one by one, I cut through them, then lunge at Krell again. The others will join me once they’re ready. Krell slashes his lightsaber downwards at me, then punches me with his metal fist hard enough to throw me into the nearby rocky caveside. If I wasn’t shielding myself with the Force, I probably would’ve broken at least one something from that. From how badly it’s throbbing, I suspect it’s probably fractured, as it is.

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #fanfiction #whumptober #whumptober 2022 #whumptober day 19 #day 19 #obi-wan kenobi #obi-wan #krell #pong krell #obi-wan vs krell #day nineteen #ambushed #whump #obi-wan whump

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realhankmccoy · 2 years

Text

also accurate:

Obi Wan says Anakin is “dangerous” when the child is standing literally four feet away

He’s talking about Anakin as if he’s not there and bad mouthing and insulting him to his primary caregiver.

Anakin heard every word of this conversation and he was really upset, we know that because in the next shot he gets up, goes over to Qui Gon and says “I don’t want to be any trouble”.

Now you might not think that’s a big deal, but lets have some context here. Anakin is 9 years old and has just been freed from slavery. He was beaten and threatened by his former owner, Watto, from a very young age. This kid literally has next to no sense of self worth. He’s been someone else’s possession his entire life.

He’s just been separated from his mother, taken away from the only home he ever knew and he’s now in a strange place surrounded by strange adults who apparently don’t like him very much. He’s lonely, he’s scared, and he has no way of getting home.

And what does Obi Wan do? He makes that kid feel like on top of everything else, he’s now an unwanted burden and he’s “trouble”. Now I will concede Obi Wan was entitled to his opinion, but he could have had a more tact and consideration about how he expressed it, and not said what he did right in front of Anakin. Those are not the actions of a man (and he’s 25 here, he’s a grown adult), who has a lot of empathy or compassion. He comes across as rude, inconsiderate and arrogant. An asshole?

Anyone who can make a 9 year old kid feel like that is certainly an asshole.

And honestly, what did Obi Wan hope to achieve by telling Qui Gon Anakin was “dangerous” before boarding their ship to go back to Naboo? To make him leave him behind? Really? So he expected his Master to abandon a child in need with no money and no means of supporting himself in the middle of Coruscant

That is just plain callous. Its beyond being an asshole. Its downright shameful.

This lot were assholes too, whilst we’re on the subject.

I have come to believe that Anakin had a condition known as C-PTSD, or complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

We generally associate PTSD with soldiers and veterans, but anyone can have it, and the causes of C- PTSD are listed by mental health charities as:

childhood abuse, neglect or abandonment

ongoing domestic violence or abuse

repeatedly witnessing violence or abuse

being forced or manipulated into prostitution (trading sex)

torture, kidnapping or slavery

being a prisoner of war

You see that 5th one? Slavery. Oh yeah, Anakin was a CHILD SLAVE.

Mental health experts go onto suggest a person is more likely to develop this condition if they:

experienced trauma at an early age

the trauma lasted for a long time

escape or rescue were unlikely or impossible

Anakin was a child slave (did I say that already). So all of the above. He was born a slave, so yeah it began at a really early age, and er lasted for 9 years. Oh, yeah, and escaping from that life was next to impossible. Cos chip implanted in his head would blow him up, and all.

The Jedi freakin’ council said Anakin was “dangerous”. Obi Wan Kenobi, was basically the annoying teacher’s pet who could not wait to get down on his knees and lick the Jedi Council’s boots in Episode One, said he was dangerous.

No, you sanctimonious out of touch douchebags. He was not dangerous. He was not “of the Dark Side”.

He had a serious mental health condition because he and his mother were enslaved by a giant perverted slug

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

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Anakin and the Jedi Babies: Names and Faces

Context: Anakin and the Jedi Babies, chrono

Word Count: 6,477

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

It goes like this:

Nobody wants to separate Anakin from the children in his care until they know more about why he’s here. The gamble paid off, to some degree, and he thanks the Force that it did.

He hasn’t felt that cold in years.

He knows the logic of why the Mandalorians he’s fallen in with aren’t doing anything yet. He’s an obvious Jedi, and they don’t know why he’s here or what he’s doing. Hedging on the Mando’a and the cultural obligation to childcare hadn’t been anything close to sure, but it was... enough. He got lucky that these Mandalorians leaned on those obligations, at least to the point of keeping them all in the same room. He can sense that much, even before he opens his eyes, and he has to be grateful.

The looming hypothermia had probably nudged things in his favor.

Anakin opens his eyes to a guest room of a cell, something well-furnished and cozy, but definitely not meant to be something he can escape from. His saber is gone, and there are Force-nullifying cuffs on his wrists, and he’s pretty sure they’ve taken his--yep, vibroblade’s gone.

Fuck.

His body doesn’t want to move, and he’s still shivering a bit, but he’s mostly back to normal. When he sits up, he notices that there is, in fact, only one Force-nullifying cuff. They detached his arm.

He closes his eyes and breathes deep and tells himself it was probably medically necessary. Large pieces of metal aren’t great for maintaining homeostasis. He’ll get it back.

Probably.

“Ah!”

The voice makes him jolt, and his eyes fly open.

Two cribs, one much bigger than the other. Both are occupied. The larger one has bars, and through it...

“Snips,” he breathes, lurching to his feet and then crashing to his knees, about as graceful as a newborn eopie.

“Bah!”

“Just--just one second,” Anakin grits out, grimacing as he tries to pull himself to standing again. The fact that he’s down an arm doesn’t impact him much, but the shakiness of his legs is... a problem.

“Owwww,” Ahsoka coos with an exaggerated grimace, reacting to his pain with the innocent sympathy of a toddler. She looks, what, two? Maybe? He’s not sure if there’s anything particular about how Togruta babies age. She’s too young for words, clearly.

“I’m fine,” Anakin assures her, even as his heart sinks. She’s Ahsoka, clearly, he knows her in the Force and it can’t be anyone else, but her memories...

She recognizes him, but that’s not saying much.

He manages to get over to the chair next to the crib, but doesn’t trust himself to take her out right now. The snow and the mess of a fight before that haven’t been kind to him. Instead, he just sticks his hand through the bars and lets her grab at his fingers.

He can’t help but smile, really. She’s adorable, and she’s so damn happy to see him.

“Skyguy!”

“Oh, so you are talking,” Anakin says, part of him relaxing just a tad. “I was worried.”

“Mine,” she stresses, patting at his wrist.

“Yeah, your Skyguy,” he says. So she remembers... some things, at least. “And you’re my Snips.”

She squeals and yanks on his hand, just enough that the Force-suppressing cuff clanks against the bars of the crib. “Sky, Sky, Sky!”

Oh, she’s precious.

“You having fun?” he asks, filling the air with words faster than his head can fill with doubts. “Has everyone been nice?”

“Mmmmm,” she grumbles, falling to her butt with a huff. “Doc!”

“Oh, a doctor?” he asks, wondering at his own tone. He never expected to be one for baby-talk. “Was the doctor mean?”

“Cold!” she tells him. “Cold here!”

She taps at her chest, right where someone might check her heartbeat or breathing; the metal would be cold, and also necessary. He doesn’t fault anyone for it. Considering how poorly Anakin had fared, he’s just happy they’re all alive and mostly fine.

He doesn’t know what year it is. He knows he’s not in the year he should be. He’s vaguely aware of the name Jaster--one of the Mandos had said it while bringing him in--but he doesn’t know when Mereel’s reign ended and Fett’s began. He does know both are supposed to be dead.

Has Anakin been born yet? Has Ahsoka? Hell, has Obi-Wan?

Can he give out any real names?

A series of small, upset noises start coming up from the other, smaller crib.

He stands, but Ahsoka clings to his hand and refuses to let go. He can’t pry her off, not without his other arm, but he pulls away with quiet reassurances that he just has to check on... on...

Her brother, he says, aware that there’s more than a slight chance someone has the room bugged. He’s a Jedi in Mando custody. They aren’t stupid, and neither is he.

Obi-Wan’s the most likely to have already been born. Having the same name and face will draw attention, will cause questions, but... he can’t just rename his master like a recently-adopted pet. That’s just... wrong.

Anakin’s less shaky than when he first woke up, but he still has no way of safely picking up the kids. He reaches into the small crib, something twisting behind his sternum, and tickles under Obi-Wan’s chin.

The baby--the infant--looks up at him with wide eyes, too blue for the Obi-Wan he knows, but full of wonder and--

Love, the Force whispers through the cracks in the effects of the cuff.

“Love you too,” Anakin whispers, though he wonders if Obi-Wan would really feel like this as an adult again. Babies love easily, he thinks, and he’s the only adult that Obi-Wan knows right now. Maybe it’s just chemicals.

He stands there for longer than is probably a good idea, with the state of his body, but he can’t help it. Obi-Wan keeps grabbing at his finger and kicking with tiny legs, and sticking a tiny, tiny fist in his mouth as he tries watches Anakin.

It’s all Anakin can do to mutter a stream of meaningless nonsense as he struggles not to cry. He’s always had too many emotions, and right now he’s the only person these two can rely on. He’s the adult.

The door whooshes open.

“The medic said you were awake.”

He knows that voice. He closes his eyes and doesn’t turn, because there are a million feelings in his chest and he’s not sure which one is going to come out first.

“Sky?” Ahsoka questions, likely feeling his worry. “Issokay! Good!”

No, she wouldn’t have the mind to recognize why this familiar face she knows as friend is quite the opposite.

Anakin turns away from the crib, and smiles. “Mando.”

“Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker,” the teenager in the door says. He’s not wearing his bucket, but the rest of his armor is in place. Anakin would peg him as younger than Ahsoka was, before. Not by much, but... fourteen, maybe fifteen. The face is painfully familiar, and stays utterly neutral as he answers the question Anakin didn’t ask. “We found your Ident card after you passed out.”

Cool, so, Anakin definitely can’t change his name.

“Are they yours?” the teenager that will one day create an army says.

“They have no one else,” Anakin tells him. It’s true enough. Still, he gets the feeling that’s not what Fett’s asking. “They’re family.”

Jango squints at him. “I was told Jedi can’t have families.”

Anakin’s mind flashes to Padme and the fantasies he’d long harbored of children born free, and tears himself away. He can’t think about that right now. He can’t think of who he’s--

“Jetii!”

Anakin’s head snaps up, and he realizes he’s shaking. Fett’s not neutral anymore, just... concerned.

“I’m fine,” Anakin spits out, and leans on the crib behind him. He can hear the little ones whimpering. He has to pull his thoughts in and bundle them up into something that won’t hurt the incredibly Force-Sensitive babies behind him. “I’m--I’m all they have. They’re all I have. Are the exact words important?”

Fett doesn’t grimace, exactly, but his expression isn’t pleasant. “I guess.”

Anakin waits to see if there’s anything else coming, but no. Just an awkward silence. He holds onto his frustration, but it still gets the better of him.

“What are my chances of getting my arm back?” he asks.

“Hm?”

Anakin waves what’s left of that arm, the tied-off sleeve flapping about. “My arm. If you don’t want to give me mine back, can I at least have some kind of placeholder? I can’t pick up the babies without worrying that I’m going to drop them.”

“I can ask the medics,” Fett says. He stares at Anakin for a little more, and then asks, “Aren’t you going to ask about our plans for you, or...?”

“If you wanted to kill me, you already would have,” Anakin mutters. “Right now, these two are my only priority. I’m more likely to keep them safe and alive here than I am if I try to break out. I can be patient. I would also assume they wouldn’t have been left in a room with me, alone, if any of us were in danger of medical complications.”

Fett flushes and turns. “I’ll tell buir you’re up and active. There’s a nurse droid in the hall, I can have it handle feedings until you get an arm.”

“Thanks,” Anakin drawls, aware that he’s a little bitchy right now, but not in any mood to temper himself.

He settles himself on the floor next to Ahsoka’s crib, lets her play with his hair while the nurse droid feeds Obi-Wan, and then feeds Ahsoka herself. Anakin thinks he could probably pull the droid apart for an escape attempt if it came down to it. He hopes it won’t be necessary. He’s barely existing in the moment as it is. The droid asks Anakin if he needs anything, and he... shrugs.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Perhaps some non-perishables,” the nurse droids suggests. “Ration bars, for if you are hungry before one of the Mando’ade returns.”

Anakin shrugs again. “Alright.”

He ignores the droid after that. He’s only mostly cut off from the Force by the single cuff. He can’t blanket his Master and Padawan in his own Force presence, try to make them feel safe and calm with the fact that he’s here and ready to protect them, but he can monitor them. He can meditate, even if it’s not the way he prefers to do it. He doesn’t have the strength for moving meditation right now, but a regular meditation... he can do that.

He needs to do that, because no other stress relief option is available to him right now.

Anakin lets himself feel the babies fall asleep, the two of them radiating contentment and warmth. He lets himself trust that, for the moment, he doesn’t need to worry. He lets himself sink into an absence of thought, and then the Force guides him deeper still.

“Anakin!”

His eyes fly open.

This is not the real world.

This is not the room-cell in the Haat Mando’ade base he’s managed to stumble across.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan says again, a smile hidden in a beard and worn laugh lines about his eyes. The right age, the right size, reaching for him and--

There’s only a moment’s hesitation for Anakin to process, and then he sprints forward and yanks his Master into a hug.

“You’re good,” Obi-Wan mutters to him, rubbing his back as they both sink to their knees. There’s a click of bootheels against the empty white not-space that they’re in, and Ahsoka buries herself into their sides. Anakin pulls her in a little closer too.

They stay that for longer than is maybe necessary, but Anakin’s stress levels are sky high right now, and he needs this. A hug, even one that’s technically only taking place in his head, is important.

“Sorry, Skyguy,” Ahsoka whispers. “Thinking in the real world is... really hard right now.”

He pulls away from the desperate hug he’d started them off with, rearranges things so he’s leaning against Obi-Wan, lets Ahsoka lie down with her head in his lap, on her back and legs stretched out across the white nothingness.

“I don’t know what happened,” Anakin says. “I mean, Sith stuff, probably, but... we’re in the wrong year.”

“I’d wondered,” Obi-Wan admits. “I thought it odd that I couldn’t feel the clones, but I only have so much energy to think right now...”

“Please tell me there’s a way to fix it,” Anakin begs. “I can’t be the adult, Obi-Wan. I haven’t even been born yet, that’s how far back we are. I don’t know what to do, and I can’t just bang around making bad decisions without you there to pull me back and--”

“Breathe,” Obi-Wan tells him.

“We’re in the Force,” Anakin says, just a little hysterically. “We don’t need to breathe!”

“Actually, I think we’re in your head,” Ahsoka says. She’s pointing and stretching her feet like a dancer, but looks up to grin at Anakin like the little shit she is. “You’re the only one whose brain is big enough right now.”

“Hey,” Anakin complains, putting his entire palm over her face as revenge. She giggles and swats him away. “That any way to talk to the guy who taught you how to kill five guys in one move?”

She sticks her tongue out at him. He rolls his eyes and runs a hand over her montrals, smiling when she wriggles and makes a little chirruping noise.

“She’s not wrong,” Obi-Wan says. “Though the phrasing was unfortunate, it does stand to reason that as the only person without the brain of a toddler, you’re hosting. Our minds can’t handle the strain of our own selves, let alone sharing space.”

“Infant.”

“Hm?”

“Ahsoka’s a toddler. You’re an infant. Maybe six months.” Anakin grins, just this side of brittle. He doesn’t want to joke about a problem he can’t fix, but what else is there? “You’re the literal baby of the lineage now.”

Obi-Wan sighs over the riot of Ahsoka’s laugh. “Of course I am.”

“It’s okay, Master,” Ahsoka assures him. “Skyguy’s gonna take care of us until we can fight again.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan says, grimacing slightly. “I am sorry for you being put in such a position, Anakin. It’s certainly not an easy one.”

Anakin wishes he could say that his immediate reaction isn’t a sense of hurt, a you don’t trust me, a you don’t think I can do this, a you’re disappointed someone else wasn’t here to handle things instead.

He wishes he could make that claim and have anyone believe him, but they are in a shared meditation, and in this moment there are very, very few secrets. He does not make the effort to hide his reaction in time, and Obi-Wan catches it.

Anakin turns away as Obi-Wan’s face fills with surprise and horror. “Anakin--”

“Can we just pretend you didn’t feel that?” Anakin asks, and flinches when Ahsoka pops up from where she lies and scurries around to hug him like a vise. “Can we just pretend I’m not--”

“Dear one, there are very few people I would trust as much as you in this,” Obi-Wan says. “Those who match up are largely the people who helped me raise me when I was actually this age.”

“Being completely reliant on your padawan isn’t--”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan says, cutting him off there. “I can trust you to care for me in ways that don’t just come down to making me a useful general again. I already trust you to risk your life and safety and freedom to see us survive, given what little I remember of that storm.”

“You handed yourself over to Mandalorians you knew nothing about so we’d be safe,” Ahsoka mutters into the fabric somewhere over his ribs. “That could have gone really badly, and you still did it because you were worried about us.”

“We trust you, Anakin,” Obi-Wan says, pulling Anakin to his chest and resting his chin on Anakin’s head. “We know you.”

“You don’t even know what happened in the storm,” Anakin mutters. “You were asleep.”

“I caught enough listening to the doctors,” Obi-Wan says. He runs a hand over Anakin’s head and through his hair. “You did well, Anakin.”

Anakin wonders why they don’t do this in real life. Obi-Wan doesn’t usually hug him, let alone cuddle. Maybe it’s because they’re all stuck in too much truth in this shared meditation, and the other two are currently stuck in child bodies that crave physical affection in ways they don’t realize they’re expressing in here as well. Maybe it’s the stress.

“What even can you hear?” Anakin mutters, still in Obi-Wan’s arms. Ahsoka giggles at him, nuzzling into his side in a way he doesn’t think she’d ever let herself, normally.

“We can’t really think in the real world right now,” she muses. “Only when we’re sleeping, and probably when we’re meditating once we’re bigger. If I try to think too hard, my head hurts worse than that time Ventress got me in the head with the back of her saber.”

“Everything takes up more space than it should,” Obi-Wan adds. “It’s... all of my senses are bigger and brighter and take up more of my attention, but they aren’t very clear, really. They’re just more. I can’t focus on anything, either, except... well, the feedings.”

Ahsoka makes an annoyed noise. “The whole diapers and bottles thing is really embarrassing, by the way. Only here, though, I barely notice when I’m awake because...”

“Because you’re a toddler,” Anakin says drily.

She huffs. “How would you feel if you were stuck like that?”

That’s fair.

“I don’t remember much,” Obi-Wan says carefully. “But part of me recognizes familiar things, even if I can’t quite make the connection.”

“Was that Fett, earlier?” Ahsoka asks. “Because I thought I saw a friend, and I pretty much forgot the face as soon as they left, but--”

“It’s Fett,” Anakin confirms. “But I guess that’s good to know? You saw his face and your baby brain just assumed it was one of the clones?”

“Pretty much.”

“And we know we trust you,” Obi-Wan adds, and tightens the hug when Anakin stiffens. “Anakin, I can barely understand the world around me at all right now. It’s like being on the painkillers that don’t knock you out but leave you saying only the most ridiculous things that come to mind. You have a general understanding of what’s going on, but all your emotions are too much and the room spins, you can’t stay on one track mentally, you can’t remember what you’ve done and what you haven’t--”

“You can’t control your bladder,” Ahsoka mutters, just a touch spitefully.

Obi-Wan grimaces and nods. “An unfortunate commonality in the experiences, yes. What I was aiming to address, however, is the fact that I only remember a very few things with any reliability. Most of my adult mind, so to speak, appears to be stored in a stasis form in the Force itself, because the infant mind can only handle the barest edges of who I am. But what that infant mind knows, and what I remember thinking once I have some sense of my full self in sleep, is that there is no one I react to as positively as you, Anakin.”

“What he’s trying to say,” Ahsoka interrupts, “but can’t because he’s trying to be a serene Jedi Councilor who definitely doesn’t break the code, nosiree, is that we don’t remember much about ourselves when we’re awake, but we remember you, and we know that we love you, Skyguy.”

Anakin stares at her, and then twists around to look at Obi-Wan instead.

“Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka croons. “Stop being emotionally constipated. We’re literal babies right not, which sucks, but we’re like 90% emotion. Tell Skyguy.”

“Yes, er, Ahsoka was not incorrect,” Obi-Wan says, stroking his beard and refusing to meet Anakin’s eyes. “I, that is to say, we...”

“Master Kenobi,” Ahsoka says, a touch sharper than she might have dared if not for the reversal of their ages.

“I do love you, Anakin, and it’s one of the only things my child mind knows consistently.”

The Force does, in fact, sing with the truth of this. It circles them like a delighted tornado of emotional reality, pulsing like a coat of positivity.

Anakin buries his face in Obi-Wan’s shoulder and hugs him as tightly as possible.

“Oh! Oh dear, I--Anakin, really, this isn’t news.”

“Master Kenobi, you’re allergic to actually talking about your emotions. Let him hug you.”

“Anakin, I’ve raised you since you were nine, it would be nearly impossible for me to not care, why are you--”

“Master Kenobi, stop questioning him!” Ahsoka whines. “It’s affirmation time.”

“Ahsoka, have you been spending time with the mind healers again?”

“I was a teenager in a warzone and also Barriss bullied me into it for my own good.” Ahsoka shrugs. “I learned some stuff. You two should have gone, too. You were more karked up than I was.”

“Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan scolds.

“What are you going to do, spit up on me? You can’t exactly make me run laps, Master.”

“Both of you shut up,” Anakin mumbles, and tries to push as much of his own affection as possible into a little ball of feelings that he can just drop on the two of them while he’s still in his own brain and not somewhere he can’t touch the Force. “Just--just shut.”

Apparently, Anakin’s feelings are a lot, because Ahsoka bursts into tears and Obi-Wan zones out so hard Anakin starts worrying about him.

They’re in a mindscape, a thing that he didn’t really think happened, but does. He shouldn’t have to worry about his--

“Oh, Anakin,” Obi-Wan says, pulling him in tighter. “Why did you...”

“Skyguy, I don’t think you planned on putting in the part where you worry about nobody loving you back as much as you loved them,” Ahsoka says, raw and uneven. “Because, uh, we got that? Skyguy, that’s really wrong!”

Oh shit.

“No, you were... you were not supposed to get that,” he says, just a little strangled. “I am so sorry, that wasn’t--”

“Be our dad.”

Anakin stares down at his Padawan. She stares determinedly back.

“What?”

“Fett asked if we were yours, and you edged around the question by saying we were family, but he was asking if you were our dad. I’m guessing you didn’t want to claim that when we couldn’t agree to it, so I’m telling you now: do it. Adopt us the Mandalorian way or whatever. You were already my older brother, basically, this is just a step sideways in how we talk about it.”

He stares at her a bit more. He doesn’t have words, and his emotions are such a cyclone of conflicting thoughts that he’s surprised the Force hasn’t tossed him out.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be born, but if I am, then I need a name so I don’t have the same one as future me,” she says. She takes his hands, holds them tight and leans in close. “You’re going to be raising us anyway. The Force already made it clear there’s no fixing this, we tried asking while you were unconscious, it wants us to grow up the long way. You’re going to be our dad. Just make it official. Make me a Skywalker.”

Anakin sits up straight, looks her up and down, the determination and affection and--

He turns to look at Obi-Wan. “Master?”

“...yes, Anakin?”

“I know she said ‘we’ and ‘us,’ but I’m not letting anyone speak for anyone else. Not for something this important.”

Obi-Wan blinks at him, and then rearranges himself to something a tad more formal. He takes one of Anakin’s hands in his own. “Anakin, we’ve been family since you were nine. This is just redefining the terms. We can adjust as we go forward, but for all intents and purposes, the majority of the time, I will be that youngling in the cot. For all intents and purposes, I will be your child, and... and I would be honored for you to make that official.”

“Even if it breaks the Code?” Anakin presses.

“All is as the Force wills it,” Obi-Wan says, almost but not quite overriding Ahsoka’s, “This doesn’t break the Code.”

They both turn to look at her. She shrugs. “What? You guys are always arguing about it and Skyguy was married. I went and did some digging about what is and isn’t allowed. This adoption would be skirting the edges of some rules, since we should be taken to the creche to be raised in a communal manner, and official adoptions are discouraged for reasons relating to later padawan stuff, but since the Force is also insisting we stay with the Mandalorians, I think it qualifies as an exception and will be treated as such, retroactively, by the Council. You also won’t be able to take either of us as Padawan once that time comes. It does not, however, violate the Code in and of itself.”

“What the hell, Snips?”

“I’m impressed, young one,” Obi-Wan says, with a smile Anakin can feel. “I could have expected to see you in court in a few years, with an argument like that.”

“You knew I was married?” Anakin squeaks.

“Rex isn’t a very good liar,” she says. She then droops. “Or, he wasn’t. Wouldn’t be. He tried, at least, but I caught on. That was against the Code, though. Just so you know.”

Anakin runs a hand over his face, tries very hard not to think about what and whom he’s left behind. He can save that breakdown for later.

He chances a look at Obi-Wan.

He gets a raised eyebrow in response.

“You’re not mad?”

“I knew you and the Senator were close, considering all the kissing you did in the Arena,” Obi-Wan says drily. Anakin isn’t stupid enough to ask how he knows it’s Padme. “I didn’t know you were married, and am a little disappointed you didn’t at least tell me, or consult me before you did it, considering you were still a padawan... but no, I’m not mad. Even if I were--and I am not--we’ve time-traveled, so I’m fairly certain that qualifies as annulment. It’s a non-issue.”

Anakin pushes down the tidal wave of grief for people who haven’t been born yet, and just breathes instead. This is important. This is too important for him to just kriff it up.

“Names,” he says.

“I still want part of it to be ‘Soka,’ if you don’t think it’s too risky.”

Obi-Wan shrugs with a smile. “Almost every time I’ve posed as a Mandalorian, since my first mission with Satine, I’ve gone by Ben. It would be fitting that, now that we’re here and apparently staying, I take the name for real.”

Anakin nods. He closes his eyes, and breathes deep, and thinks that they may be among Mandalorians on a world of snow, but he has the desert in his bones and will never forget it.

“Ahsoka Tano, sister of my heart,” he says, hoping he’s getting the words right, and takes her hands in his. It’ll have more meaning here and now, where they’re both of full mind. He holds her gaze. “You ask to join my family, to be of those who walk the sky. You shed your old name as you shed the chains of your past. You become my daughter, not of blood, but of love, loyalty, and survival. My wells are your wells, and all I own and earn is to set the path of your freedom. I name you Sokanth Skywalker, she who slips through every hunter’s trap, and you are my child.”

She smiles brightly at him, and looks like she might cry. He presses his lips to her forehead. He turns to his Master. He hesitates, because it’s one thing to redefine his little sister, but...

“Obi-Wan Kenobi, father of my heart,” he says, his voice catching where it shouldn’t. He can do this. It’s weird but he can do this. “You ask to join my family, to be of those who walk the sky. You shed your old name as you shed the chains of your past. You become my son, not of blood, but of love, loyalty, and survival. My wells are your wells, and all I own and earn is to set the path of your freedom. I name you Ylliben Skywalker, he who hunts the monsters of the darkest nights, and you are my child.”

The man before him almost laughs, well aware of how absurd it is for Anakin to be the one adopting him, but keeps it limited to just a twinkle in his eye and a quirk to his lips. Anakin presses his lips to his teacher’s forehead.

He pulls both of them in close. Padawan and Master. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan.

Daughter and son. Soka and Ben. His.

“I’m still gonna call you Skyguy,” Soka says wetly. “But Mas--um, Ben. Ben can call you buir, all the Mandos are gonna love it.”

“Fine by me,” Anakin says. “I’m going to be telling you Tatooine bedtime stories, by the way. You’ll remember creche stories as you grow, but these’ll be new.”

“I do believe that would be appropriate,” Ben says, laughing just a touch. “I also think we should perhaps disband this, unless you have something else to address. You’re going to be dealing with two very cranky younglings soon.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna have headaches after this,” Soka laughs, rubbing her face against his shoulder. “But it’s okay, we got what we ne--”

“No, shut up, what you do mean, headaches? You said that was only when you were awake!”

“I mean, we’d be sobbing after like three minutes if we were awake,” Soka says cheerfully. “This way, it’s been like... an hour or whatever between all the talking and the hugging and the crying and the feelings, and we’re just gonna be grumpy.”

“Oh my--wake up!” Anakin growls at both of them. “I’m responsible for you now, wake up.”

He ignores Soka’s laughter and drags himself back to wakefulness. Behind him, he feels slight confusion and pain mixed with love and delight. Ben starts fussing.

Anakin drags a hand over his face and groans. He gets to his feet, nods to the nurse droid, and steps over to the cribs.

“Can we put them in the same one until I get my arm back?” he asks. The droid obliges, moving Ben to Soka’s crib. She immediately crawls over to him and envelops him in a hug. She pouts up at Anakin, eyes going watery, and he drops into the chair next to her and offers his hand through the bars. She grabs it.

“You’re going to be trouble for a long, long time, huh?”

She sticks her tongue out at him, and he smiles at her. Yes, trouble in spades, his Snips.

He starts telling her one of the fables of Tatooine, the really sanitized ones meant for children her age, before they got to the slave stories and haunt-tales. She falls asleep for real, no Force Shenanigans, shortly after. Ben is dead to the world by that point, making small snuffling noises whenever the blanket tickles his nose.

Anakin knows he’s got the galaxy’s dopiest smile on his face. It’s fine.

It’s a few more hours before someone stops by. He’s used the fresher by that point, helped the nurse droid coax Ben through a feeding, and helped Soka play with the little stuffed eopie they’ve given her.

“They got names, aruetti?”

He looks up and over. “Yes.”

The middle-aged man ambles over, arms crossed. “Jango said you claimed to be all they had left.”

He is. “They’re family. I’ve had a few hours to think it over, now that I’m not getting shot at or dying in the snow. To any system that allows it, I’ll be their father.”

“No chance of returning them to their people?”

Anakin shakes his head. “Soka has none who would recognize her, and I already--I already babysat her regularly, and she thought of me as a brother. It’s an easy next step.”

“And the human?”

“I... the master-padawan relationship is often one that is compared to that of parent and child,” Anakin says carefully. “My own master was like a father to me, and Ben is... Ben is all I have left of him.”

There. Not quite the truth, but... technically not lying.

Ben makes a small noise in his sleep, fussing, and Anakin reaches through the bars to brush his thumb across the infant’s chubby cheek. He smiles helplessly as Ben whines and curls in tighter on himself, pressing a tiny fist to his mouth.

“You’re good,” Anakin whispers. “We’re fine, Ylliben.”

“I don’t know what you’re hiding,” the Mando says. “But I do believe you’re doing what you can for those kids.”

“That’s all that matters,” Anakin agrees, finally looking away from his... his son.

Mine, the greedy krayt in his chest whispers.

“When are you planning on going back to Coruscanta?”

“I’m not,” Anakin says, standing and looking the man head-on. Anakin’s taller than him. That’s usually useful. “I don’t know why, but the Force wants me to stay here, or at least with the Mandalorians.”

“You want me to believe that you support my cause?”

“I don’t know your cause,” Anakin admits. “But I don’t like Death Watch, and I know you don’t either. Nobody on Coruscant is going to know to miss me, and the Force is warning me away from trying to go back. Whatever it is that needs doing, I’m supposed to be doing it here.”

The man steps forward. “Anyone tell you who I am?”

“No.”

“I’m Jaster Mereel.”

Good for you, Anakin thinks, and doesn’t say. “I’m pretty sure you already know my name.”

“I do,” Mereel says. “Wanna tell me how a Knight with a seemingly valid ident card claims nobody will know to miss him?”

“No.”

Mereel doesn’t even blink. “Try that again.”

“It means exactly what I said,” Anakin says. “The ident card is real. My training and rank are earned and deserved and bestowed by protocol. All of it was done at the Temple in Coruscant, but if you phone up the Temple with my name and face, nobody will know who I am.”

“And you’re not going to tell me why,” Mereel grouses. “What’s stopping me from calling them up anyway and asking them to come fetch your hypothermic ass?”

“...the fact that I already offered to help you?” Anakin manages. “I... I did say that part, right? That I’d help?”

“What’s stopping you from wanting to go back? And don’t give me any of that ‘will of the force’ banthashit.”

“I broke the Code,” Anakain says. The words sit heavy in his mouth, but one of his violations is lesser than the other, and-- “I married, and we’re not supposed to do that. She’s... not around anymore, but it still stands that I did it.”

The Tuskens weigh on his mind, suddenly and intensely. He hasn’t thought about them in ages, has always pushed those memories down, down, down, but--

“And they won’t take you back?”

“They might,” Anakin admits. They probably would, with his full title and everything, especially if he told them about the future. “But they wouldn’t let me keep the kids.”

Understanding flickers. “Not allowed kids?”

“It’s not... technically against the code,” he hedges. “But they’d find out about my marriage while investigating my past--” maybe, he’s not sure what kind of investigation they’d justify for a complete stranger of a knight, especially to confirm the future, but if they had a psychometric so much as touch his saber or arm, once he gets those back, there’d be a risk, “--and after already breaking the code by marrying, they’d be far less willing to bend the rules about the babies.”

He doesn’t realize how likely the risk is until after he says it, because he’s just been focusing on staying alive and following the Force, but.. they’d want the kids in the creche. He’s broken the code enough that any investigation they set to prove he’s legitimately a Jedi Knight that isn’t recorded and isn’t in the system is going to uncover something through the Force. They might not let him keep his family.

“What are their names?”

“I already--”

“Jango kept his last name,” Mereel cuts him off. “Did yours?”

Anakin looks the man in the eye, and then attempts to cross his arms in response, to mirror the pose and hold his ground. Unfortunately, he’s forgotten that he’s only got the one arm, which is really kriffing irritating.

“I gave them my name,” he says. “They’ll know where they came from, but they are mine.”

Yeah, no shit they’ll know where they came from.

Mereel’s face twitches, but the man is unreadable in the Force. Still, there’s something in the air... “So, those names?”

“Sokanth and Ylliben Skywalker,” Anakin tells him. He spells it out when the droid asks. He assumes it’s just for the medical data their droids are collecting.

“How well can you fight without your laser sword?”

“You mean unarmed?” Anakin asks, and then smiles brightly and tauntingly and waves his empty sleeve around. Mereel does not appreciate the humor. “Pretty well, but I do better when I have the Force, and am not still recovering from hypothermia. And I’m a fair shot with a blaster, but no specialist.”

Mereel eyes him for a moment, and then nods. “One of my snipers is Force-Sensitive. Never was enough to get more than some basic training in mental shields and the control to not hurt herself, but when we mentioned bringing in a Jetii, someone asked her what she thought. Came by the room while you were unconscious and said she thought you felt sad, angry, and desperate... but that she had a good feeling about where you’d be going.”

“Sad, angry, and desperate?” Anakin repeats, a little offended.

“You act like a veteran, kid,” Mereel says. He shrugs. “Damn near everyone that goes through some kind of war has all that going on. S’normal. You got Kamira’s approval, though, and that means a damn sight more. Keep your secrets for now. We’ll get there eventually.”

No we won’t, Anakin thinks. Out loud, he asks, “So, how much of what kind of work would I have to do to borrow a ship to Tatooine and earn enough to free a slave girl?”

#disaster lineage #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #jango fett #jaster mereel #time travel #mandalore #tatooine #de aging #babies #phoenix files #Anakin and the Jedi Babies

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thewriterowl · 3 years

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Now that the world has been blessed with Tooka!Luke, I was wondering if you had any headcanons about him? 👀👀👀

Oh you have unleashed this!! and for those of you who are unaware of this beautiful, gorgeous piece by @mxxnfish please take the time to look at it and reblog and love it.

So, Tooka-Luke got his hybrid-blood from his father. Anakin has the same physical attributes and has it from his mother's bloodline. He was still saved by the Jedi and went down his path...and Luke was given to his relatives but due to his appearance he was captured by lucky slavers and (for one reason or another) Kenobi was unable to save him before the whole New Hope.

Luke is super sweet and cuddly and loves attention and to be close to a physical body...before he was captured at least. He was beaten and done very poorly to break his stubbornness by the slavers so he is now a bit distrustful and hissy. He doesn't like to talk as much as he used to and he flinches from most people. He bites a lot if someone gets too close.

He's still sweet though; Luke is just has to be kind and gentle and forgiving and warm. He can't help it. Just don't back him into a corner or try to hurt the other hybrids and slaves, then he'll jump out and attack to keep them safe.

As said in the picture, Din either saves Luke or he receives Luke as a gift as being the newly crowned Mand'alor. Either way, he looks at this cute, sexy sunshine and is all "marry now, talk later."

(Din is a little obsessed with his precious to-be-Riduur as he should be)

Luke isn't trustful of him at first, which is fair, but seems to understand Din is a good man...though he can smell there is some sort of lust on him, but he doesn't act on it so Luke either thinks it's not directed at him, is something else, or is just a good guy. But Din has really nice large, warm hands and he pets really nice...so Luke starts to look out for his hands when he can for attention

(Din melts in a lustful, loving, 'omg too cute' pile of goo each time though his expression is hidden behind his helmet)

As speaking with @inky-starlight Luke looks good in almost any outfit. Tooka-Luke also looks good in any outfit. Soon he is being dressed up in a way so his cute ears and tail are nicely highlighted.

Where his tail meets his backside and his big ears are very sensitive parts of his body. Luke will practically collapse when the right amount of attention is placed on him and these areas.

Luke likes getting in Din's lap. If Din is sitting down, Luke will probably crawl on him. he doesn't mean for it to be sexual...but there are times when Din's brain short-circuits.

Many people are very jealous of Din.

Din, of course, is very protective over Luke. He knows people would still kidnap Luke for themselves or to get credits if given the chance, regardless of who his spouse is. He keeps Luke close or inside or with guards. He, sadly, can't go out on his own too often unless they are on a safe planet or they're in special areas of Mandalore (where he is still probably guarded). Luke isn't too upset about this as he likes being around people. He still gets alone time (as Din understands this need) when he's inside.

His collar was removed instantly when Din got him...but as a hybrid, he sometimes has something in him that finds comfort in that. So Din got him a specialized collar that is soft and pretty and that Luke can remove and put on by himself rather than being controlled by another. Din may urge for him to wear it when they go out just as an extra precaution to keep people at bay from kidnapping him.

When Luke falls in love with Din, he shows it. It's on his face and he greets Din happily and warmly and with so much adoration and excitement that it's like they were apart for weeks rather than maybe a couple of hours. (yes, Din melts over this as well...and may respond in kind)

Luke is a bit smol. Din is a bit thic. so Din can carry Luke. Luke really likes this and will hug his neck and nuzzle their cheeks together, beaming and purring.

Luke still has Jedi in him. Which means he jumps. He likes to get on tall places and can easily fall off them and land without injury (he's part cat and part jedi and part Skywalker??? his need to do dangerous things is off the wall)

Din may suffer a few heart-attacks when Luke does this. Even if he knows Luke will be fine, it still makes him flinch. The first few times Luke did this, Din nearly fainted. ("MY (other) BABY!!!")

Paz is not allowed to be alone with Luke. They're idiots together. Because Luke is smol and Paz is a mountain, Paz will throw luke in the air, much to the Tooka's delight. They also want to go jump off things or go fast when together. Paz is Luke's favorite guard and they become close friends. Paz will sometimes let Luke sit on his shoulders so he can see what it's like to feel tall.

Boba is also not allowed to be alone with Luke. Because he is a handsome flirt and Luke likes him and wants to sit on his lap as well. (Boba may have actually felt a little bit of fear the first time Luke got into his lap and he felt Din's murderous glare...he then proceeded to make Din suffer cause their BFFs and he's an ass...and Luke is attractive)

Grogu loves Luke's ears and tail. Especially the tail. Luke lets him play with it and wiggles it around to keep the child entertained.

Luke also loves Grogu and curls around him to protect him when they sleep. Grogu and Luke purr together. Eventually, when Din gets in, he is surrounded by purring family and he is beyond words of happy.

God i am gonna have to write a fic of this won't I?

#owl inbox #luke skywalker #dinluke #jealous din is a fave

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padawansuggest · 3 years

Text

The fact that Obi-Wan canonly makes buddies with kryat dragons and dinosaurs is just too precious. I bet that as a padawan he would sneak tookas into his rooms only for them to try and eat one of Qui-Gon’s plants and get banished to the pet friendly gardens and next week he’s trying to sneak home a nexus cub in his robes (‘no master this isn’t a cub!!!! I’m pregnant that’s why I’m fat stop pointing it out!!!’) or running around rural markets and letting the monkey lizards out of their cages and tbh??? I bet that sometimes he just comes back to the temple with eggs. Not for breakfast (he’ll fight Yoda or Grogu if they don’t stop lookin at his egg babies like that) but ones he can hatch. He steals Qui-Gon’s expensive plant lights and builds the kiddos a nest and hatches out the WEIRDEST shit ever.

consider: AU where Grogu’s egg was one of those finds and now Grogu thinks Obi is his dad cause no one’s seen an egg for his species since Yoda was a kid and everyone one week ago was all ‘PADAWAN KENOBI STOP BRINGING HOME DANGEROUS EGGS TO HATCH THE LAST ONE TRIED TO EAT MASTER YODA’ and now they’re all ‘Padawan Kenobi. You may keep bringing home eggs. But. Where the fuck did you even find this one???’ So they’re okay with it now, but this is big. This is even bigger than last year (the REASON they freak out when he brings home a new egg) when he was all ‘it’ll be fine’ and then Boga was born and she follows Obi cause that’s her mama but she’s growing and one day she’s gonna be the size of a car and they’re all nervous about that day.

Grogu gets spoiled with raw foods, belly rubs, belly kisses, and riding around on Boga’s back with a lil baby harness. Which is okay, till Boga decides she wants to try climbing walls and the baby Gets A Frighten.

Imagine Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon not being sent to Mandalore because Grogu is 3 and teething and bites everyone and refuses to be good for anyone but daddy and grandpa and Boga tried to eat Neti Jedi Master T’ra Saa when she was making leaves one week and so they need to teach both babies manners and he’s got a million pathetic small creatures clambering all over him whenever he enters any of the gardens and then he starts having visions.

See. 19 yo Obi hasn’t had visions like this in a while. About 3 years in fact. He had a lot of visions of sand a few years ago but he just figured maybe Grogu was meant to end up on a sandy planet one day (maybe, cause Din WILL be his main caregiver later, but the empire doesn’t happen in this AU, but Din is just gonna be one of the many pathetic lifeforms Obi comes home with one day) and played it off to focus on his new baby.

But now the visions won’t stop, and Qui is getting all harumphy over his lack of concentration, so Qui gathers up Obi, Grogu, Boga, and a particularly clingy tooka that’s decided Obi is her mom, into a ship and plays a galaxy wide game of hot and cold with his kiddo to figure out who they’re looking for.

They find 4yo Anakin, recently won in a bet with his mother, and free them both. They bring them both back to the temple, and Ani is young enough to happily be accepted into the creche, and the council doesn’t even attempt to disuade Obi from moving Shmi into the temple. She’s so confused and spends a lot of time petting cats while Ani is in classes. But she likes it here. It’s nice. A lizard gives her kisses. And a weird little mutant frog thing.

Anyways. Thanks.

#star wars #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #Boga #grogu

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the-last-kenobi · 3 years

Note

Dialogue prompt #17, QuiObi with a Sith!Obi AU?

Ooooh, excellent. Thank you for the prompt!

From this various prompts list

Qui-Gon was thrown violently to the floor, the Force-inhibiting cuffs around his wrists and ankles biting painfully into his flesh.

The room was cast half in shadow, half in dim amber light that spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows set into the wall he was facing — and the enormous desk set between it and himself, accompanied by a throne-like chair, and the man sitting upon it, bent over a sheet of old parchment.

The black-robed guards melted into the shadows, but Qui-Gon had no doubt they would be able to stop him, should he try to flee.

For a long while, he was left on the floor, limbs aching, the cut across his face bleeding slowly. The man behind the desk studied the ancient scrap of paper with intense focus.

It was hard to see his features in the strange light, but Qui-Gon knew who he was, as surely as he knew his own name.

“You know,” he said finally, his voice hoarse. “I always assumed that if you ever captured me it would be after an honest fight. It never occurred to me that you’d sunk so low that you’d gone straight to cowardice.”

The air seemed to thicken.

Still, the man did not look up.

“Sending actual henchmen after me?” Qui-Gon pressed. He surprised himself with the layer of bitterness that spiked through his tone, caustic and offended. “Fallen as low as you have, I thought you still had some of your character, Obi-Wan.”

The man behind the desk looked up.

He gave an audible sigh, mild and somewhat amused, like a parent dealing with a difficult child.

Qui-Gon straightened his spine as best he could and stiffened his jaw as the familiar figure of his lost apprentice emerged from behind the desk, striding through the shafts of amber light. They caught on the gold embellishments stitched into his form-fitting black robes and the robe that sat draped over his shoulders with casual grace, and on the strands of his golden-red hair and beard.

“Why would I come get you myself?” he asked, his cultured accent cutting through the gloom. “You’re not worthy of that much effort, I’m afraid.”

When Obi-Wan stepped closer, with the light glowing behind him, Qui-Gon felt a ripple of unease.

The younger man looked down on him in every sense.

And he was less familiar that Qui-Gon had thought. The youthful face had hardened; there were lines around his eyes that indicated smiles and one between his brows that spoke of deep frowns; his hair had been swept back into a low tail at the nape of his neck, flawlessly neat, as was the close-trimmed beard. His eyes were the same golden-amber as the light from outside.

He was hard, and fierce, and self-satisfied. The nightmare version of the boy who had begged to be his apprentice all those years ago.

“Do you ever tire of your own stream of consciousness, Qui-Gon Jinn?” the Sith asked, sounding amused. “When you’re not pondering how very right you are inside your own head, you’re verbalizing it to everyone around you. Isn’t it lonely?”

Qui-Gon wet his lips, staring defiantly back up at the Padawan gone Sith. “I think you know more about loneliness than I.”

“Oh, I do,” said Obi-Wan, rubbing his chin with one black-gloved hand. He quirked a smile. “You taught me loneliness, and my new Master taught it to me again. I’ve simply learned to choose my friends better, Qui-Gon.”

“I didn’t teach you loneliness,” Qui-Gon said. “You taught yourself that. With your jealousy. Of a child.”

Fire lit behind the amber eyes, and in a movement too quick to see with human eyes, the Sith grabbed Qui-Gon by the throat and half-lifted him off the floor, pulling him dangerously close so that the gold eyes seemed to swallow everything else.

“That wasn’t the beginning, you miserable fool, that was the end,” Obi-Wan whispered, so, so softly. “You think a child isn’t aware of being unwanted? You think a child can’t see when you’re disappointed, when you say nothing of their accomplishments? You think a child doesn’t know when you blame them for the death of someone you loved more? I wasn’t a pet, Qui-Gon, I was your student! I was meant to be your partner! And you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. I was too much work.”

No.

Qui-Gon choked. The hand around his throat was iron; he could breathe, but he couldn’t move an inch.

“But the traumatized, angry little boy who needed therapy and special attention and who refused to learn our ways but wanted to wield our power — oh, he wasn’t too much work, was he?” Obi-Wan demanded, still in that steady sibilant whisper. “He was powerful and you liked him, and I went from tolerated nuisance to actual obstacle. I saved your life on Naboo that day, and still you wouldn’t look at me with anything except impatience. Waiting for me to move. So I did. When Dooku came to me with his lies and his cunning, I listened. I knew a false friend from a real one by then. The scales had fallen from my eyes. So I used him, killed him, replaced him.”

“You’re selfish,” Qui-Gon snarled, trying to shout above the stab of sudden anguish the speech had delivered. “You swore to me you wouldn’t Fall.”

“And you swore to teach me!” Obi-Wan shouted in his face. “You swore to protect me, to encourage me, to Knight me! You swore many things and meant none of them. At least I tried. For twelve years I tried.”

His voice faded to a whisper again, and he dropped Qui-Gon.

The Jedi sat where he had fallen, his head lowered, his mind spinning out of control. Guilt and anger, grief and dismay, and the instinct to hide behind his own righteous decisions, they all battled inside him even as he registered a blood red saber igniting in Obi-Wan’s grip.

“And now you’re going to kill me,” murmured Qui-Gon. “Because you hate me, and you want to indulge yourself.”

Obi-Wan laughed.

The pleasant sound was so unexpected that the Jedi jerked his head up to stare, caught by the open fond amusement on the Sith’s face.

“Oh,” Obi-Wan chuckled. “Kill you? Goodness, no. I would kill you if you were a problem, Qui-Gon Jinn. But you are not. You pose no threat to me, to any of the Sith. What you are...” he leaned down again, so close their noses almost touched, and then turned at the last second and placed his lips directly beside Qui-Gon’s ear. “...is a reminder. You remind me of when I loved you, loved you and loved you and loved you, and you didn’t love me back. Not at all.”

He pulled away again, and the absence of hot breath and whispers against Qui-Gon’s cheek somehow felt like a punishment.

“Obi-Wan, I—”

“No,” said the Sith. “I don’t want to kill you. Not when you’re still so sure of yourself and your choices. Not when you can still look at me and feel justified in your hesitation to love me. I want you to feel the depths of self-scorn and loss that I felt, Qui-Gon. If I simply killed you, you wouldn’t feel loss, now would you? First you have to lose something.”

Fear shot through the Jedi like lightning.

His first thought was of Anakin.

Then he thought of Ahsoka.

Then he remembered the ghost of hot breath on his skin and the sound of Obi-Wan’s laughter, and the past tense of I loved you, and felt a different kind of fear, a new wave of grief, settle over him like a cloud.

Obi-Wan seemed to sense his thoughts. He smiled.

“The student has become the Master,” he said, his voice full of controlled delight. “I will teach you what you taught me. I’ll teach you to love me, love me, love me — and receive less than nothing in return.”

#hoo boy #that was fun #star wars #asks #my writing #writing prompts #obi wan kenobi #qui gon jinn #quiobi #implied at least #sith au #sith obi wan #star wars fic #star wars au

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beskarhearts · 3 years

Text

Mourn (Din Djarin x reader)

Connection series Pt. 9

Pairing: Din Djarin x f!reader (no use of Y/N)

Warnings: cursing, mention of family members passing away, drinking, smallest mention of prostitution, death/killing, angst (let me know if I missed any)

Word count: over 12.0K

Summary: Din mourns his newest loss and you learn that you might not be able to run away this time.

Notes: Woof! This was a big one but it’s one of my favorite chapters so far. I have a few more chapters planned before we start getting into the events from season 2!

Previous Part ____ Next Part

__________________________________________________

Din sat in the seat of his Crest, his hand tightly clutching onto the necklace in his hand. He couldn’t bear to look at it, just the feeling of the cool metal against his bare skin serving as a reminder of his lost.

He knew where she would of gone. He had mentioned the bounty had a ship that was not too far from where the Crest had landed, probably only a matter of a few hundred feet away. He had realized relatively quickly what had happened and he could probably get to her before she left, and that was assuming the ship the bounty stole even worked anymore. If she had to fix something really quick, he could definitely get to her.

Din listened as the kid let out a little mewl, sat in the passenger seat beside him. In the seat she usually sat in. The child looked over at Din with big eyes and he knew the kid understood she had left. Probably had watched her do it.

She left him. Din let in a deep breath, trying his best not to let tears fall. Because even though he would have the helmet on to cover them, he couldn’t allow himself to do it. If he did, he didn’t know how he would stop.

Din had two options. He could either find her and try to find out what happened or he could turn in his bounty and let her leave. Let her leave him like she wanted to. Like she chose to.

The Mandalorian had always been a loner. He never had anyone beside him. No friends, no family, certainly never a woman he loved. He had been accustomed to that lifestyle for many years. She had changed that though. She made him feel whole, filling in a hole in his life he hadn’t even truly understood he had. She made him feel worthy of more and made him feel like he mattered to someone. Was more than a piece of metal that took down bounties for men richer than him. She made him realize he didn’t want to be alone anymore and he wanted to spend life with someone who made his days far happier than they ever had before.

And he fell in love with her because of it. He fell in love with her personality, her warmth, and the way she opened his eyes to what life could be like, even for a man like him. She expanded his clan, his family, by one and had made life so much sweeter.

But now she was gone. Not because she had to leave or he had wanted her to. Out of her own volition. She chose to. And while Din loved her and his heart was aching, he wasn’t going to force himself on her. She didn’t want him.

Din had lost before. He would just endure another one and move on. Like he always did.

He took the necklace in his hands and placed it on the dashboard of the Crest. Din would try to ignore the pain, try to move on and find a Jedi for the kid, but he could keep this little token. Just as a small reminder of what maybe could of been.

Din cleared his throat and punched in his next location, preparing the ship for a jump into hyperspace. “Let’s turn this bounty in, kid.”

The child let out another small noise but Din didn’t bother to look. He’d just see the confusion and pain in his eyes, the same he had in his but were hidden away. He simply shook his head and heard the ship hum as it prepared to leave. Leave the planet where she could still possibly be.

“She’s gone. We’ve got to move on.”

___________________

You felt sick to your stomach.

The ship was easy to find. Din was right, it had only been a few hundred feet away, easy to run to. It was a small x-wing, probably stolen, but it wasn’t too old or damaged. Certainly in better shape than the Crest had been when you first saw it. You just had to fix the control panel, which you did with hands that shook and your heart slamming in your chest. You had worried Din might of tried to find you, knowing you were going to the bounty’s aircraft, but he must of not realized what was happening because he never came.

Once the ship was finally in order, you hauled your body into it, placing your bag at your feet, and closing the hatch of it. The x-wing smelled, probably from the Klantooinian who had stolen it. You were surprised he could even fly it and hadn’t crashed into the planet, but was thankful it was there. It was your ticket out.

But once you were in the pilot’s seat, hands ready to punch in your next location into the navigation system, you were suddenly lost. Where would you go? You couldn’t go back to Yungbrii. You had been there for so long and hated it. You couldn’t bring yourself to go back, even though your small mechanic shop may still be there. You also couldn’t risk going back there. If Din did decide to try to find you, that would probably be one of the first places he would think to stop at.

Where else would you go? You thought of the planet you had stopped at with Din that had the marketplace. There were lots of people there, meaning there would be work. You could blend in, hide away. Probably wouldn’t garner a lot of attention from anybody. But you weren’t even exactly sure where that was and that would hurt. Going to a place you had gone with Din, your family, would be pouring salt into a fresh wound. And you weren’t sure you could go there and relive those memories and not try to find your way back to Din.

You could technically go anywhere. You could punch in any location and try to start anew. You could hide away everything that had happened, like you always did, and become a new person.

But instead of just going to a random planet, you went to the one place you had ever find yourself yearning to go to. The one place, besides the Crest with Din, that had been your home. Where you had grown up and loved. It was risky and it might be the worst decision, but you punched in the coordinates.

And then you were off. To Jakku.

___________________

“He’s dead.”

Din stood across from the client who ordered the bounty. The man’s arms were crossed, his face twisted into a firm grimace. “I did the job.”

The man let out a snarl, his jaw jutting out as he tried to temper the rage consuming him. “I wanted him alive. I wanted him to suffer under my hand, not yours.”

“There were... complications.” Din tried his best to not think of her, of the sobs she had let out with the body laid out on the floor in front of her. He couldn’t let himself crack right now.

“I thought you were supposed to be best.”

“It couldn’t be avoided.”

“What? Did he try to kill that pet of yours?” The man snarled as one of his crooked fingers pointed to the carrier on his hip. Din turned to look down at his side. The kid looked right up at him, his face covered by the fabric of the bag but his big eyes and ears popping out. Din couldn’t help but to think of what her reaction would be right now. She’d probably make some sarcastic comment to the client and then given Din a look that said something along the lines of ‘what a joke’. Din shook his head, trying to shake away the thought from his mind.

“I did what I had to do. I did the job.”

“Well, I’m not paying you the full price. I’ll give you half.”

Din huffed. Half of this bounty was supposed to go to fuel alone. He needed the other half. The whole reason he did this job was because he needed the credits. If he hadn’t, then he wouldn’t have landed on that damn planet and maybe, just maybe, she’d still be around. “That wasn’t the agreement.”

“The agreement was to bring him to me.”

“I did.” Din could probably be described as an abnormally calm man. Part of it was being a Mandalorian. You get used to dealing with shady people. You get used to the looks, to being swindled, to being treated like a droid who was just meant to work away for the rest of his days. Eventually, it just became part of the scenery for Din and he never got bothered by it. But today was a bad day and Din was feeling all the emotions he was bottling up turn into annoyance with this man.

“I wanted him alive!” The man yelled, his fists clenching tightly.

Din let out a loud sigh, his hands grazing the blaster on his side which the man took notice of. “Give me my credits.” He said plainly, but he knew there was a danger to his words. He saw the way the mans hand shook slightly and his anger expression dropped for a split second. Din was aware of the effect he could have on people, the fear he could instill in them even when he had no plans of actually doing anything.

“Fine. But you are never getting hired by me ever again.”

Thank the Maker for that. Din wanted to call him a damn asshole (something she probably would of done with that dangerous mouth of hers) but instead he nodded his head and reached a hand out. The client dropped the credits in his hand with a dramatic huff, turning around without another word and storming off.

Din turned around, heading back in the direction of his ship. The town he had landed on could best be described as grimy. It was dark and dingy: a stale smell filled the air and every wall was covered in what looked like grease. There were a few buildings, including a hotel and cantina, both of which looked run down and run by folk who probably weren’t the most pleasant. Din continued strolling away until he heard a loud laugh fill the air. It was bubbly and feminine, and Din couldn’t help the pit that filled his stomach at the sound of it. It came from the cantina and it didn’t even sound like her that much but he couldn’t help it. He knew she wasn’t here. She had no reason to stop on a planet this horrid but his feel still turned in the direction of the cantina. He froze before entering. He needed to see if it was her, even though he knew deep down it wasn’t. He let out a huff before he entered the building. His eyes scanned the dimly lit cantina. It wasn’t too busy, just a few people at the bar and a couple in the corner who were practically attached to each other. The smell of liquor was overwhelmingly strong in the room and the air in it was stale. The establishment felt like a bad hangover that left you sick.

The couple in the corner finally detached themselves from each other and the woman let out another laugh. Din nodded his head. It wasn’t her. Of course not. Din went to turn towards the exit when the bartender spoke, “You want a drink or you just come to stare?”

Din was going to walk off, ignore the man like he did with most people. Din wasn’t a drinker, never really had been. He didn’t like the feeling it gave him. The numbness and the fogginess. But right now, that didn’t sound like the worst feeling. In fact, it sounded like it would be better to forget and drown his sorrows tonight rather than sit in the Crest and wallow in his pain. Din turned his head and walked towards the bar, dropping a couple credits onto the counter. “A bottle of whatever you have.”

The man nodded, his slimy fingers reaching out for the credits as he gave The Mandalorian a crazed look. He grabbed a bottle from behind the counter, one Din wasn’t too familiar with, and placed it down for him to grab. Din reached out for it, ready to leave, when the man spoke again. “You want any company, pal?”

The man leaned his head to the right and Din looked to find a woman sat at the bar, scantily clad and giving him a sickening smile. Her fingers waved at him slowly.

“No.” Din turned without another word, storming out of the cantina with the bottle grasped tightly in his hand.

___________________

Even though it was nighttime by the time you landed on Jakku, the air was still warm. The sky was dark but filled with what appeared to be a million little stars, a scene that was so juxtaposed to the environment it was in. You looked up to the sky and felt a peace in your heart, looking at the very stars you had stared into during your childhood here. You recognized certain constellations, ones your mother had taught you.

You were fatigued but your body was also cramping from being inside such a tiny ship for so long. By now, the x-wing was done for. They were meant for fighting and battle, not traveling through hyperspace for extended amounts of time, and you had sufficiently pushed the ship to its breaking point. You stepped onto the sand, feeling it give under the boots you wore. You looked around, trying to see if there was anyone nearby, but you found it was just you. You had parked not too far from Niima Trading Post, a place where you had worked and knew like the back of your hand. Part of you wanted to venture to it now, maybe find some food and a place to stay. But you had left most of your credits with Din, only a small handful in your pocket. Certainly not enough for a bed for the night. You also weren’t sure what would greet you once you traveled into the post. You had changed plenty since you lived here last and weren’t worried a lot about people recognizing you. Most people on Jakku came and went. There weren’t a lot of people who lived there permanently besides the scavengers and criminals, who didn’t bother to get to know people, and people who ran the few booths that were there. But you still felt a bit of fear in your heart at the prospect of entering the post and decided it would be better to save that for the morning, when you were more alert.

You were absolutely exhausted. You were still worn out from what had happened the day before and the long day of traveling hadn’t done you any favors. You sat down on the sand, your back leaning against a part of the x-wing. You closed your eyes, bring your hands to rub at your face. Today had been so long and you had spent most of it trying not to think of Din or the child. You couldn’t bear to do so. It would only lead to heartache. But even despite your desperate attempts to keep thoughts of your Mandalorian at bay, your chest still felt heavy and you had felt like you were on the verge of tears all day.

All you wished right now was that Din was with you. That you were in the Crest, laying in bed with him again. You could show him your home, the town where you had grown up. You knew it wasn’t much but you still think Din would of appreciated seeing it. Getting to learn more about your origin, how you had become the person you were now.

You opened your eyes, shaking your head. You had to stop thinking like that. Din was gone. You had left him and the child behind. You had left that clan. And even though that left a gaping hole in your chest, it was for the right reasons. You weren’t the type of person who could have a family. It just wasn’t part of you. That was for normal people with normal lives.

You rested your head against the hot metal of the ship and let your eyes slip close.

___________________

Din brought the bottle to his lips again. The Crest was back in hyperspace, heading to some planet on the Outer Rim. The child was asleep, in his hammock with the door closed so he couldn’t see Dins face. The ship was completely silent, except for the soft whirl of it traveling. This was normally when Din would sit in the cockpit for a while before going to bed, staring off into the galaxy. That was what he did before she came along and joined him. But now he couldn’t bring himself to sit in that seat, with the passenger one empty and without her sweet voice filling the small confines of the space. Instead he sat on the cot on the floor, the one she had slept on. His helmet had been taken off and he had rested it on her pillow. His legs were splayed out, reaching past the small cot and laying heavily on the cool floor below him. He was still adorned in all his armor, the only helmet being the only piece of metal he was bare of.

Din brought the bottle up to his lips, letting the warm liquor run over his tongue and down his throat. It was a large bottle but was now half empty at this point. It tasted like shit, definitely not worth what he paid, but he hadn’t expected much from a place like that. And in the end, it was partially doing its job. Din felt his eyes droop, his senses dull. His body fell limp against the bed that still smelled of her, like honey and fresh laundry. At this point, Din was sufficiently drunk, teetering on the edge of hammered.

He probably should stop, but he couldn’t refrain from guzzling down the drink. He had hoped it would ease his pain, make the tear in his heart mend a little. He wanted to stop thinking, to let all his emotions slip away. But all it seemed to do was make it even worse. Everything felt rawer and drinking was just pouring salt in the wound. Din’s only hope now was that he could get black out drunk and forget. At least forget tonight and the weakness he felt in this moment. The way his hands shook and his eyes glossed over. Forget the pit in his stomach and the necklace that he had put in his pocket before he left earlier.

But the problem was that he’d never forget her. Din felt something wet against his cheeks, bringing a hand up to his skin and wiping at it. He looked down at his fingers and saw that he had started crying without even realizing it. The warm tears continued to slip down his cheeks. traveling down to his chin so small drops landed on the metal of his chest plate.

“Why... why did you leave me?” Din knew she wasn’t there and he was alone, but he still spoke the words that rung through his head over and over. He would of done anything for her. Didn’t she know that? He didn’t care what was wrong or what was happening. Nothing would change the way he cared for her and loved her.

He couldn’t stop imagining the night before. The way he had held her and how her skin had felt. It had been so soft and sweet. She had filled every single one of his senses. All he could think of was her and how he wanted her, no, needed her. He should of tried to find her. He should of followed her to the ship, begged her not to go. Told her he loved her and she was his anchor.

Din wiped away the tears, putting down the bottle. He needed to sober up.

He needed to find her.

___________________

Walking into Niima Trading Post was like walking into the past. Not much had changed. The same booths were there, full of scavengers selling their parts and towns people selling their goods to the people who came and went. It was different faces but the same place and same environment. The sand still covered almost everything, almost like a blanket of snow. The post was relatively quiet this early in the morning, just the usual bustle of scavengers heading out for the day. So far you hadn’t seen anyone who you recognized, which didn’t particularly surprise you.

You continued your stroll through town, not even really considering where you were heading until you were face to face with it. You stopped completely, staring at the small garage-like building in front of you, and felt your chest squeeze. It was what had used to be your father’s mechanic shop and it looked exactly the same as it used to. Run down, but obviously well taken care of. It was pretty empty, only one small carrier in the corner that was being worked on. You stepped closer to it, letting your hand reach out and touch one of the walls. You had spent so much of your life here. This is where your father had taught you to be a mechanic and to work hard. This is the place you spent the most time with your dad.

“Do you need some help, ma’am?” You turned to the right, looking over to see a man ducking out from under the carrier that was being worked on. He was an extremely tall, large man with a long, wispy red beard and no other hair. Several grease stains were on his overalls, which were tied around his waist, a white tank top covering his upper half that was just as dirty. A sheen of sweat covered his skin and he held a tool in his right hand. He wasn’t a particularly attractive man but he had a big smile on his face that was welcoming.

“Oh... umm... no. I just,” You paused and bit your lip. “I knew the person who used to run this shop.”

The man’s smile dropped slightly and his broad shoulders sagged. “Oh, he... no longer works here. He passed away right before I started working here.”

You gave him a sad smile. “Oh. Do you run this now?”

He let out a small chuckle at your question. “Oh Maker, no. Just a mechanic. The lady runs it here.”

Your eyebrows lift up. “Who is she?”

“She was a friend of the family. Knew them before they were all killed.” He must of noticed the way you winced at the casual mention of your parents murder. “Oh, you must not know. I wasn’t at Jakku yet but I heard the rumors. Horrible, horrible thing. Whole family was killed. The only one who may of survived was the killer.”

Your eyebrows shot up at his words and you stared at him incredulously. Did the Empire make it look like you had died and left behind a killer to take the blame for the attack? “Who was the killer?”

“Believe it or not, their daughter. Rumor has it she went nuts.” The man gestured to his head, indicating the ‘killer’ had lost their mind. “No one knows for sure but she was the only one who wasn’t found so people just made their assumptions.”

You clenched your fists tightly. The Empire must of covered their tracks and gotten rid of any evidence they had come and slaughtered your family, letting the towns people of Niima gossip about what could of happened. You felt shame and anger pour into you. The very people you had known your whole life had pointed the finger at you. Jakku wasn’t the kindest place but it had been your home and you couldn’t believe that they’d label you as a killer.

“Zeke, are you bothering a potential customer with useless rumors?” You turn around at the sound of the voice you knew all too well. Your heart stopped at the sight of the woman behind you, who immediately made eye contact with you and froze.

“Oh, no ma’am. She used to know the family.” He looked back and forth between you and the woman, lowering his voice and whispering to her, “I don’t think she knew what happened.”

“Mai.” You calmly said and the woman gave you a small smile. Mai had been a long-time family friend, extraordinarily close to your grandmother. People had said they were practically sisters and you couldn’t help but to see so many similarities in her. They were both loud-mouthed and bossy, but also exceptionally kind. When your grandmother had first landed on Jakku with a daughter and no father for the child, Mai had been a helping hand, allowing your grandmother to settle down and learning about her past. She had been there at your birth and had watched you grow up. If there was one person at Jakku you ever truly wanted to see again, it would be Mai.

“Zeke, I am going to take my friend over here. You continue working on that carrier.” The man nodded and turned around, getting one last look at you before crawling back under the carrier to resume his work. Mai strode towards you, her arms immediately reaching out and hugging you tightly. “Maker. I thought you were dead.”

You clutched onto Mai and felt a wave of relief wash over you for the first time in days. She let go of you, placing her hands on your shoulders and giving you a good once-over before grabbing an arm and dragging you over to the small office attached to the garage. She pushed you into the room, locking the door behind you before once again looking you up and down like she was surveying you. “You look older.”

You let out a small chuckle. “That’s what happens when six years passes by.”

Mai rolled her eyes playfully and grinned, her arms crossing over her chest as she leaned against the door. “Still a smart ass like your grandmother?”

You nodded. “Yeah. That part didn’t go away.”

She pushed her body off the door, strolling over to the desk in the room and sitting on it, gesturing for you to sit in the chair in front of her. You dropped your bag next to it before plopping down, looking up at her as she continued to study you intently. “As happy as I am to see you, kid, what the kriff are you doing here?”

Your smile dropped and you rested your elbow against the arm of the chair, bringing your hand up to your face. “I... don’t know.”

“You can’t be here. They think-”

“That I am a killer.” You interrupted and Mai gave you a pitiful look.

“You know how people are here. Nothing else to do but scavenge and gossip.”

“So they just label me as a murderer?”

“Nobody knew anything. All they found was your house burnt down and your parents and grandmother laid out on the ground.” Mai paused as she watched your expression shift from anger to sadness. Realization washed over her features. “Fuck. You were there?”

“Of course.”

“I was hoping you had escaped before whatever happened... well happened. I thought that or you had died.” She let out a small sigh, brushing one of her gray hairs behind her ears. “What happened?”

You could sense the sadness in her voice. She had loved your family, pretty much been a member of it. Your family was a tight circle with a lot of secrets and Mai had accepted the responsibility that came with that. She knew everything about your grandmother and mother. The Force and how they had fled where they had lived in order to escape the threat of death. You had often wondered what she was thinking in the days following your family’s death, wishing you could console her and explain everything, but feared returning to Jakku. “The Empire happened.”

Mais face went slack, her dark skin seeming to pale at what you said. “Shit. How did they find out where you were?”

You had often wondered the same thing. How did they know you were Jedis and how the hell did they know where you were? Jakku was low-profile, not the kind of place people worried about. Once people came here, they usually never went back to where they were from. It was just the way it went. So why had the Empire searched Jakku for your family, just to wipe you all out even though you posed no direct threat? You shrugged and let out a sigh. “No clue. But they knew about my grandmother being a Jedi, as well as my mom having a connection with the Force. Didn’t know she wasn’t trained though.”

“So they just... killed them?”

“Yep. Mom and Dad first. Gram wasn’t there so they... umm... used some tactics to try to get me to talk.” You pulled the jacket you were wearing against your body even more, not wanting her to see what exactly they had done exactly. It would send her into a frenzy, because much like yourself, she was overly protective.

“Gram showed up and they killed her...” You voice drifts off. You were leaving out some details, things you couldn’t bear to talk about, but Mai nodded understandingly.

“I’m so sorry, kid.” She leaned over and reached a wrinkled hand out to your knee, patting it. She sat back up and shook her head, allowing herself a minute to process everything. “What did you do?”

“Took one of their ships and got the hell out of dodge.”

“Where did you go?”

“Yungbrii for a long time. Haven’t been there in months though. I was with-” You almost feel yourself say his name and stop yourself short. You didn’t want to cover that.

“Why did you go to Yungbrii?” Mai’s eyebrows wrinkled together.

“I just landed anywhere small. Lived somewhere that makes Niima look like a bustling city.” Mai frowned at your description. She knew you when you were the type of person who liked to be around others. You used to thrive off human contact. But that had changed very quickly.

“What are you doing now?”

You let out a huff. “I don’t know.”

Mai shook her head and stood from the spot on her desk. “I love you, kid, and you can stay at my place for a few days. But you can’t stay here.”

“People won’t be fond of the murderer hanging around?” You said, feeling your face pinch up into a scowl.

Mai uncomfortably nodded. “You know the people here aren’t the kindest, especially if they sense any potential threat.”

“Great.” You closed your eyes and leaned your head back. You didn’t know where to go next. You had no ship, no family or friends, almost no credits.

“I have a ship at my house. A complete piece of garbage but if anyone can fix it, it’s you. You can have it and work on it there.”

You give her a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

“But you need to find out where to go.”

“Yeah. That’s the problem.”

Mai frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “Where were you after Yungbrii?”

“What?”

“You said you haven’t been there in months. So where were you?”

Your shoulders sag and you try to not let your emotions overwhelm you. You give yourself a moment, letting out a deep breath. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not an option.”

The woman gave you a knowing look. “What happened?”

You stand from your seat, grabbing your bag. “You know, I am absolutely exhausted and should start working on the ship.” You change the topic to which Mai huffs. “You still live in the same place?”

“Of course.”

“I am going to head over there then. If it’s okay.”

Mai gave you a soft look, understanding there was something more under the surface, something you weren’t telling her. “It’s fine. But we are talking later.”

You give her a quick nod before opening the door to the office. You give her one last smile before you begin to walk towards your next destination.

___________________

Din’s head was absolutely pounding. It felt like a drill was slamming through it with every step he took and every movement. The kid had woken up with bustles of energy but every-time he made a noise, Din winced. He swore to himself he would never, ever drink again.

Luckily the kid seemed to take notice of Din’s change in behavior, calming himself and keeping his attention occupied on the metal sphere in his hand. Normally Din would take it from him, explaining it wasn’t a toy, but he didn’t have the energy to do so today and anything that kept the kid quiet was fine by him. He also had too much to think about already.

Din was sat in the pilots seat with the child buckled in beside him. His hands lightly grasped the navigator but he was frozen. Where would she have gone?

Certainly not Yungbrii. She hated that place with a passion, never haven spoken one good word about the place. Also, if she was trying to make it so Din couldn’t find her, she wouldn’t return. She would know he would think of that. Din considered the planet with the marketplace they had stopped at. It had been busy, somewhere she could blend it. But she usually didn’t run to people - she ran away from them. That would be too much for her and Din wasn’t even sure if she knew the coordinates for it. Din considered the planet they had stayed at with the flowers. But there was absolutely nothing there - no place to get food or anywhere to even live. If she took the x-wing, she probably only had one long-distance trip she could get out of it. She wouldn’t waste it on a place she couldn’t even stay.

Din felt hopeless. She could of stopped anywhere. Hell, she could of punched in some random coordinates and ran off. But that didn’t seem likely to Din. She wasn’t the type to not think before she acted. She had purpose behind every decision she made. This would certainly be no different. So Din just had to think of one planet, out of the millions out there, that she would of stopped at.

Nowhere cold. She hated the cold, having told Din once how much she detested the snow. It would be somewhere warm, where she could work in the sun. It would also not be somewhere with a lot of people but enough that she could work. She was an incredibly talented mechanic and Din knew she loved the work. It would have to be a place where maybe a lot of people didn’t live but stopped by on their way somewhere else. Somewhere where they quickly got their ship freshened up and then were on their way. She would have to find somewhere where she could either get hired or start her own place. Din then considered how she had left most of her minimal credits behind, meaning she only had a little on her, if any. She wouldn’t go to anywhere too expensive. She didn’t have the money for that. It would have to be somewhere with a mechanic shop already established, so she could get a job and make some money. Maybe somewhere where she could also sell parts from the x-wing, put some credits in her pocket before she was on her way.

But, Din also thought she would want to go somewhere familiar. She had spent so long on Yungbrii, which was the polar opposite of everything she had once known. And once she was with Din, she had gotten used to the environment. It had become a sort of home where she knew her surroundings. Knew the dynamics of the place she was at. Din imagined she wouldn’t want to throw herself into a place that had no sense of familiarity.

Then it hit him. She had nothing: no ship, barely any credits, and no family now. She was a lone wolf once again but she no longer enjoyed being on her own. She needed a sense of belonging or home or something of that nature . She also had nothing left to risk. “Dank farrik!”

Din punched in the coordinates and clasped his hands onto the ships steering controls. He had to get out of here and go, now. The kid cooed behind him and Din turned to see him eagerly looking up at him.

“We need to go get your mom, kid.” Din didn’t even consider how he had referred to her as the kid’s mom, his body and mind too busy in hyperdrive and worrying. She could be in danger. “We’re going to Jakku.”

___________________

“Well, you really went to work.”

You turned at the sound of Mai’s voice, seeing her walking towards you with two mugs in her hands. You hopped down from your spot on the ship and she handed a cup of caf to you, which you welcomed happily. It was now nearing sunset and you had spent most of the day in the sun, working on the ship. “You weren’t kidding about this being a piece of junk.”

Mai let out a hearty chuckle. “It is in bad shape. One of the worst I’ve seen.”

“Eh, I’ve seen worse.” You smiled slightly at the thought of the Crest and how you constantly teased Din about his shop being a flying death trap. The ship you were working on now was small and not even operable, but at least it wasn’t pre-empire. Just abused and in need of a little love.

“What’s with that smile?”

You dropped the grin from your face and feel your stomach twist. You had to stop thinking about Din or the kid or the Crest. It would only hurt more and more. “Nothing.”

Mai scoffed at that, taking a sip of her caff and then giving you a sly smile. “You are a bad liar.”

“Shut up.”

“Does that smile have anything to do with where you’ve been the past few months?”

You hated how much Mai knew you, how she could piece things together like this. Your grandmother was the same way, always able to know what you were thinking. You were never able to keep a secret from the two of them. “It doesn’t matter.”

Mai rolled her eyes. “I thought you were supposed to leave your angsty, secretive phase in your teens.”

“Guess I am just special.”

“Or holding too much in. You need to talk to me, kid.”

“I’m fine.” You insisted.

Mai shook her head. She looked over at your box of tools you had laid out next to your bag. “Still have your dad’s tools?”

“Oh, yeah.”

The woman bent down at the knees, reaching out to touch the box when something caught her eyes. She tugged at the wool pooling out of your bag and pulled out the blanket you had gotten at the marketplace. “This looks just like the blanket your grandmother gave you.”

You smiled as you saw her eyes brighten up. “Yeah. Found it at this booth on some random planet.” She gave you a quizzical look. “I was, umm... traveling for a while.”

“With who?”

Your smile dropped and you put down your cup, grabbing a tool and turning back to the ship. “Like I said: doesn’t matter.”

“Kid-”

“It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have been there.”

“Well, surely that’s not the case.”

Mai was persistent, just like you. Now you were realizing how annoying it was for Din when you wouldn’t stop bothering him. “He... they are better without me.”

You cleared your throat, trying to seem unbothered but the older woman saw right through you. The corner of her lip quirked into a smile and she let out a chuckle. You huffed at her and frowned. “What in the Maker is so funny?”

“I just thought I’d never live to see the day.” she said teasingly.

“What?”

“This man you traveled with... why did you leave?”

You shook your head. “Stop.”

“I just never thought I’d see the day you were in love.”

The tool in your hand dropped, causing you to jump and you looked at her with bewilderment. You had forgotten how she could read you like a book. It was flustering you. You were trying to move away from everything, not talk about it and dwell on it. “I’m not.” you defiantly said, but even you could hear your voice waiver.

“I’ve seen that look before. Your heart is hurting.” Mai’s gaze on you softened and you felt your head drop as you realized you weren’t going to get away with not telling her what had happened. “So tell me what happened with this man you love.”

“I’m just not the kind of person who can be with someone. He deserves better.” You plainly said, even though your heart was pounding and your vision was blurring with the tears that threatened to spill.

“Bullshit.” Mai rolled her eyes and put her cup of caf down on the ground, grabbing both of your shoulders after and looking you dead in the eye. “You are incredible and deserve the best.”

You rolled your eyes and pulled away. “I am a mess. A dangerous mess.”

“What in the kriff are you talking about?”

You crossed your arms over your chest. “I can’t control... it anymore.”

Mia nodded knowingly. She wasn’t a Jedi herself, but she was the only person outside of your family who knew of your family and their secret. Your grandmother had explained the Force to her extensively and she knew how you struggled and trained with her. “What happened?”

“There was a man and he was trying to hurt the kid-”

“The kid?!”

You shook your head, waving away her dramatic response. “Not my kid.” You clarified. “He was a foundling. Anyways, this man attacked me when the kid and I were alone and I... killed him. Without even thinking about it. It’s like my body went into auto-pilot and I couldn’t stop it.”

“So that is why you left.”

“Yes. What if I hurt the kid or-” You found his name almost slip from your lips and you pause.

Mai nodded knowingly. “You stopped using the Force?”

“Yes. After everybody died, I couldn’t anymore. That night they attacked... I used it to kill for the first time and I never, ever wanted to do it again.”

“Can I ask you a question?” You nod slowly and Mai let’s out a long sigh. “To clarify, every time you’ve used the Force in this way, it has been to protect people you care about?”

“Yes. I supposed that is true but-”

“And never have you ever hurt anybody who was innocent or you loved?”

“No. But-”

“And you’ve never wanted to hurt anybody who wasn’t posing a direct threat to you or your family?”

You let out a grunt as she continues interrupting. “Yes. But it doesn’t matter. Gram taught me not to use the Force to harm people. And I have multiple times now.”

Mai paused for a moment before letting out an exasperated, tired laugh. “You are so much like her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your grandmother. You are just like her. She let unnecessary guilt eat away at her.”

“What?”

“You know how your grandmother came here, escaping?”

You sighed, feeling annoyance bubble with your chest. You had heard this story so many times and didn’t know why it mattered. “Yes, but-”

“Your grandmother had done everything she could to protect your mother. Including kill a man.”

Your jaw slacked and you raised your eyebrows at her. “No. She said she never used the Force to hurt anyone.”

“That’s true. Except for once.” Mai grabbed her mug and leaned against the ship you had been working on, taking a long sip of caf as you stood there dumbfounded. “Your grandmother was attacked by her husband - your grandfather - before she left. He hadn’t know your grandmother was a Jedi and once he did, and he realized his daughter was probably one as well, he wanted your grandmother to abandon your mother and told her to never use the Force.

She wasn’t willing to do that. But he was a violent man with a bad temper. And he brutally attacked her. She didn’t lift a finger - until he started approaching your mother. Then, she did what any mother in that situation should do: she protected her child, even if it meant killing someone.”

You let out the deep breath you were holding in, bringing your hands up to rub at your temples. Your system felt like it was in overdrive. The last couple days had just been too much and this was so much information. You didn’t know whether you wanted to cry or yell. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“She was ashamed of it. Let the guilt get to her too much. Never told you or your mother.” Mai shook her head solemnly. “I am not going to say what you did felt great because it didn’t. But what I will say is that what you did was what you had to do.”

“It doesn’t feel like that.”

“That’s okay. But the very fact that you feel guilty shows you are a good person. And you only ever used the Force to protect your family when they were being threatened. There is no reason to assume you are just going to hurt people.”

You stood in silence, allowing your brain to process everything. You had spent so much time hating yourself and laying yourself in blankets of guilt that you hadn’t even considered anything else. You knew deep down you would never hurt Din or the kid. Never lay a finger on them. And there was no reason to think you would, but the fear had clouded your brain. And even with hearing Mai’s story, learning about the secret your grandmother had kept, a small part of your brain still tugged at you. If you couldn’t even protect your family, what made you think you could do it with your new family? “I’m still afraid.”

“And that is okay. But you can’t just run from it because it scares you.”

“It’s too late though. I left. I have no clue where he is and he probably hates me now.” You couldn’t even begin to imagine how Din was feeling right now. You were sure he hated you now. How could he not after you just left him like that? You had abandoned him and the kid, even though he told you he didn’t want you to leave. Even if you were somehow able to find him, he could probably never trust you again, nonetheless want you to join him and the kid.

“I’m sure that isn’t true. He is probably confused like you. So is the kid.” That could be true. Din knew something was up yesterday, but you never confided in him what exactly was wrong. You didn’t leave anything behind to indicate what you had left, only the necklace. For all you knew, he could think you left for a myriad reasons. Your heart froze at the thought of him possibly thinking you left because of him. You felt like a damn idiot. “Tell me about them. What’s the kids name?”

You paused and awkwardly chuckled. “The kid doesn’t really have a name...”

“What?” Mai furrowed her eyebrows and stared at you with confusion.

“Well, he isn’t exactly a normal child. He is a creature... I don’t really know how to explain it but we just call him the kid. Or womp rat.” You laughed as you remembered all the times you jokingly called the kid a womp rat and he would smile up at you, having no clue what you were even calling him but just glad you were around.

“Okay... that makes no sense. What is the mans name?”

“I can’t tell you that either...” You murmured quietly.

Mai tilted her head at you. “Are these two even real?”

“Yes. I just can’t tell you his name. It’s kind of against the rules.”

“The rules?”

“Um, yeah. You see, he is a... well, you know,” You stumbled on your words, worried what her reaction would be if you told her what Din was. She knew of your grandmother’s opinions about Mandalorians and weren’t sure if she shared them.

“Is he a creature too?”

You laughed at the edge in her voice. “No, he is a Mandalorian.” You watched as Mai’s jaw dropped slightly and you nervously rushed to his defense. “But he is a good man and kind and smells nice and-”

“Smells nice?”

“I am going to be completely honest: I have no clue what I am saying.” Mai let out a loud laugh at that and her eyes crinkled from the grin on her face.

“You’ve got it rough.”

You let out your own laugh and shook your head. “Yeah, I do.”

“Your grandmother is probably rolling in her grave somewhere.”

“She would of killed me.” You let out a chuckle at the though. You knew she would be livid if she found out but you also couldn’t help to think she would like Din if she got to meet him and actually get to know him. She would of appreciated his strength and admired his dedication and loyalty. She would of had to look at the man behind all the armor, but once she did, you think they would of gotten along pretty well.

“You know you have to use this ship to find him now, right?”

You let out a sigh. “He could be anywhere.”

“Can’t you use some Force voo-doo to find him?”

You rolled your eyes at her statement. “The Force isn’t a GPS.”

“If it’s so great, it should be able to do that.” She jokingly teased, throwing a wink your way before walking off to leave you be.

You sighed and looked at the ship. If you worked all night, you could probably have it fixed and ready by tomorrow afternoon. It wouldn’t be in the greatest shape, but it would be enough to fly it and find Din. You already wasted two days on this and he truly could be anywhere. But you were willing the travel the whole galaxy to find him, so you could at least explain yourself, let him know it wasn’t his fault.

You grabbed one of your tools and walked towards the ship, beginning your work again.

___________________

“How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for a woman.”

“No offense, sir, but that is extremely vague.”

The large man looked back at Din, his red beard covered in grease, along with his clothing. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows were furrowed together in confusion, but he still had a small smile on his face.

Din had landed on Jakku this morning, just a little bit of a way out from the Niima Trading Post. She had mentioned her family had lived close by here, which meant her father would of worked as a mechanic here. As soon as he entered town, he and the child asked the first person they saw where there was a mechanic shop. Din couldn’t imagine it wouldn’t be the first place she would stop at, whether it be to ask for a job or to simply see it.

The shop was small, definitely older and a little run down, but it was taken care of. Din couldn’t help but to imagine her as a child or teenager working here with her dad like she had told Din about. Seeing it gave Din a new perspective on her past. “She would of stopped by in the last day or so. She always wears this brown jacket and-”

“Oh, the family friend.” The man gave him a knowing nod and Din felt relief flood all his senses. He had been so worried he would of come here and she would of been nowhere to be found. That he had been wrong and she could’ve been on any planet, anywhere. But hearing him confirm she had been here made Din’s heart feel lighter than it had in hours and hours now.

“Yes. Where is she?”

“I don’t know. She talked to Mai and then left.” The man paused, his smile dropping slightly. “You’re one of those Mandalorians, right? If she is a bounty of yours, I’m afraid I can’t-”

“She isn’t. She is a...,” Din drifted off. Friend felt like a foolish word. She was so much more than a friend to him but that was still what he settled on. “friend.”

“Oh!” The man smiled once again. The child, who was sat in his carrier on Din’s waist let out a little peep and the man looked over at him. He gave the child a huge grin, waving a couple of his fingers at him. Afterwards, he glanced back over at Din with a shrug. “Like I said, she left and hasn’t come back. But Mai should be in soon and she might know something.”

Din nodded and let the man turn away to resume his work. He hoped desperately she was still here. He didn’t think she would of left, but it was possible she came to the shop to get a new ship and leave - though it didn’t appear any ships were for sale here.

He studied the trading post. It was early morning and was rather quiet, not much excitement happening. A few people were starting to open their booths while some headed out into the sand, presumably scavengers. Most of the people kept to themselves, the kindest individual so far being the man who worked at the shop. Din found it hard to imagine his cyar’ika having lived here. She was so exuberant and full of life. A place like this seemed so dull for her sprawling personality - though he supposed it was exponentially more exciting compared to Yungbrii.

Din kept a look out all around, hoping he’d see her. Hoping she’d walk by and he could stop her, tell her to come back. Din knew that if he found out she was gone and no longer here, it would crush him completely. He was already low on hope and he needed some. Even if she didn’t want to come back, Din just wanted to know she was safe and happy. That would be enough for him.

“Oh, Mai, someone is here to see you.” Din turned as he heard the man’s voice bellow out and watched as a woman looked over at him. She was older but still had a youthful aura to her. Her gray hair was pulled into a braid and her hands were wrapped around a mug of what Din assumed to be caf. She gave him a big smile, an action that shocked Din. He wasn’t usually greeted with a smile.

“I’m looking for someone.” Din said as she walked over to him.

She let out a chuckle, shaking her head. “Yeah, yeah. I know you are.” Her gaze drifted over to the bag on his side where the child was held and he watched her eyes widen slightly. “He must be the womp rat?”

Din looked down to the child who looked at the woman with a little frown. He loved when his mother called him a womp rat, but not so much with other people. Din looked back up at the woman who was still smiling, a sly little smirk that reminded him of his sweet one. “Where is she?”

The woman, Mai, looked up at him and nodded her head. “She is still here. Don’t worry. Good thing you came now though. She was planning on leaving this afternoon.”

Din thanked the galaxy she hadn’t left yet and he hadn’t waited to come. “I need to see her.”

“I’ll take you to her. She is at my place.”

“Thank you.”

She smiled again at him and before she turned to lead him, she quirked her head at him. “I’m glad you came.” Din tilted his helmet at her. “She mentioned you and the kid to me.”

Din wondered what he had said about him, wanting to ask but not wanting to seem invasive or waste time. He just gave Mai a small nod and she turned around, starting to walk, and Din followed her.

___________________

“Hey, kid.”

You heard Mai’s voice ring out behind you but you didn’t bother to look away. You were so close to being done on the ship when you found some big issue with the engine. You were now covered in oil, intently working away at it with a tool in each hand. “This ship is a total bitch.”

“Kid-”

“I was so close to being done and it just crapped out on me, spitting oil all over.” You huffed as you brushed a piece of hair behind your ear, knowing you got oil on your face but not really caring. “I take back what I said: this is the worst ship I’ve ever seen. I swear it’s doing it on purpose. I ought to-”

“Kid!”

You let out a grunt as she yelled out, putting your tools down and turning to see her standing in the doorway of the small garage she had. You jumped down from your spot on the ship and strolled towards her, wiping your hands on the overalls she had let you borrow. “Yes, madam?” you sarcastically responded.

“You have a friend here to see you.”

You froze and felt your heart start to pound in your chest. It had to be Din. There was no one else it could be. Who else would be here to see you? You brought your shaky hands together and took a deep breath. “Is it...”

You couldn’t bear to bring yourself to ask the question, afraid your heart would crumble if it wasn’t. “It’s either your Mandalorian or a man with a very odd taste in clothing.”

Your breath hitched in your throat. You wanted to run out, see if it was him, and hold him your arms. But you were so afraid, for reasons unknown to you. Din had come to you. He had found you and that was a good sign, right? He wouldn’t have come all this way if he didn’t want to see you. But you still nervously chewed at your lip. Mai sensed your nerves and gave you a pat on the shoulder. “He is waiting for you outside.”

You nodded your head and slowly walked out of the garage. As soon as you exited, you saw him standing there, with his back to you, and you nearly cried. It was Din, your Din. He stood upright, his arms crossed in front of him, and the child on his side sitting in his carrier. He was the first one to say anything, turning his head and letting out a coo as he saw you. His big ears that hung out of the bag twitched and his eyes brightened.

You gave him a small smile but felt it drop once Din turned around, being alerted of your presence by the child’s noises. His arms dropped but he didn’t step closer to you, his helmet steadily aimed at you. Part of you felt so incredibly happy seeing him. The sight of him standing in front of you was something you were worried would never happen again. And though it had only been a couple days, it felt like a damn year. Seeing him made you realized just how much you had missed him. You open your mouth, not knowing exactly what to say but wanting to say something, anything, just so you could hear him speak. But he was the first one to.

“You left me.”

You felt your heart instantly shatter at his words. You wanted to crawl into yourself and disappear. It wasn’t that you weren’t aware that your leaving would hurt Din, but you didn’t truly consider how much of an impact it would have on him. Maybe you did so selfishly because you know you’d stay if you did, or maybe you truly didn’t understand just how much the man cared for you until you heard the pain in his voice, the way his breath hitched in the modulator when he saw you. Hearing the inflection of his tone was what sent you over the edge. All the emotions of the last few days washed over you and you felt exhausted. “Mando-”

“Why would you leave me?”

Where did you start? There were so many things you wanted to say, but you didn’t know where to start and the pounding of your heart in your chest distracted you. You were scared. Scared to tell Din what was really going on and to watch him walk away. Or scared to find out he didn’t want you back anyways. “It is hard to explain and understand...”

“So you just leave?”

You feel yourself wince at the harsh words. Isn’t that what you always did though? Run away? You supposed it had become a habit of yours, but that wasn’t fair to yourself. Nonetheless to the man in front of you. “I’m sorry.”

Din finally tore his gaze away from you, placing his hand on his hip that the kid wasn’t at, staring into the sky. “I’m not here to force you back.”

You tried to feverishly blink back the tears threatening to spill. He didn’t want you. You had messed up this time. Din allowed one person into his life finally and then they turn around and leave. Of course he doesn’t want you. “Oh, okay.”

“If you don’t want to be with us, you don’t have to be.” You wanted to scream at yourself, tell him all you want is to be with him and the kid.

“Mando-”

“I know there isn’t something your telling me. And I assume it’s why you left.” Din looked back towards you, the sun reflecting off his helmet and making the beskar even brighter than normal. “Or maybe it is me-”

“No!” You interrupted, stepping towards him. “It isn’t you. At all.”

“Then what is going on? Because I’m lost.” You bring a hand to rub at your face, no longer caring about the grease and oil on them. You needed to just tell him, because you couldn’t handle the thought of him blaming himself for anything. “I don’t know why you can’t tell me.”

You pause and take a breath in, looking away. “Din.” You whispered.

“Please.” You heard the slight crack in his voice, the way his words wavered, and looked at him to find him stepping closer, his helmet tilted down to look right at you.

“I lied to you.”

Din tilted his helmet slightly. “What?”

“When you asked about my family. If there were Jedis... I lied.” You froze, looking up to him to try to gage his reaction but he remained frozen, still just looking down at you. You wished desperately he didn’t have the helmet, so you could see his expression and try to know what he was thinking, because right now it was like looking at a blank wall. “You need to say something.”

“I don’t... understand.”

“My grandmother was one. My mother was one. And I’m one, kind of.” You waited for his to step away from you or tell you he couldn’t do this but he stayed in the same position so you continued. “I was always taught not to tell anyone and my grandmother told me Mandalorians hate Jedis. I didn’t want to tell you and have you leave me.”

Din finally turned away from you, looking into the distance, as the child on his hip still looked up at you while cooing softly, one little hand reaching out. “I wouldn’t leave you. I told you that.”

“That was before you knew this.”

“I don’t care.”

“But-”

“I don’t care.” He repeated softly. You couldn’t see the truth in his face, but you could hear it. But you still felt your mind eating away at you.

“I’m not a good one. I didn’t even really finish training and haven’t used it regularly in years. I can’t train the kid. He will need another Jedi.”

“I don’t care.”

“I killed that man with the Force. I killed a man.”

“I don’t care.”

You let out an exasperated laugh and huffed at him, throwing a hand up. “How do you not care?”

“You do realize what my job is?”

You guess you had never really considered Din’s job. He hadn’t had to do any bounty hunting with you, the first body he had brought in being the bounty you had killed. You knew what he did, knew he had probably killed plenty of people, if not hundreds. But it never really crossed your mind or made you hesitant. He was a good man and he was only doing his job, one he had been saddled with at a young age. “Yes, but that’s different.”

“You’re right. You did it to protect the kid. ”

“But what if I can’t control it? That’s not the first time I’ve killed someone with the Force.”

“Was the last time to protect your family?”

“I mean, I tried to... yes.”

“Then I don’t care.”

“Din-”

“I don’t care about you being a Jedi or whatever you are exactly. You’re my cyar’ika, okay? This... magic stuff you have doesn’t change how I think of you.”

You almost chuckled at the way Din spoke about ‘magic stuff’, knowing he was completely clueless, but you settled on a soft smile, still tainted with sadness and regret. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me. Or the kid. You are a good person. The best person I’ve ever met.”

You felt a weight lift off your chest at his words, that little part of your mind that had been gnawing away at you fading away. You suddenly felt stupid for not telling him all this time. How had even the smallest part of you thought he had cared? You always took what you family taught you seriously, but maybe you had taken it too far. Din was different than everyone else and you should of known that he would be okay with it. And maybe you did know. Deep down, a little part of yourself always knew that in the end, Din wouldn’t care or really understand it. Maybe it was you who couldn’t accept what you were, what you had done. But you had to move on from that.

You looked up at Din and rested a hand on his chest plate, watching how it rose and fell with each breath he took. It was warm on your hand, but a welcome sensation. “I’m sorry.” you whispered out, your voice trembling.

“It’s okay.” He insisted, bringing a hand to rest over the one on his chest.

“No, it’s not. I left you and the kid.”

“And I found you.” One of his hands reached out to grab onto your wrist, the warm leather of his glove rubbing circles into the skin. “You can’t do that again though. I need you.”

You nodded up at him. “I need you, too.”

Din let out a sigh of relief and leaned his helmet against your forehead quickly. The metal of his helmet was warm, but it was a welcome feeling against your skin. You felt your heart stop racing, your hand begin to calm and shake less. You hadn’t realized just quite how much you needed Din, but you did. He was your home now. You pulled away and felt a small smile creep on your face. “You’ve got oil on your helmet now.”

You grabbed a rag out of your back pocket, handing it to him so he could wipe it away. Din did so, and handed it back to you. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” You stepped back from him, with a small smile.

“Sweet one?”

“Yeah?”

You watched as Din froze up, looking down at the ground and back up at you. His fist tightened a little and you swore you saw his hand shake for the first time. “I want you to know that I...” He trailed off and you felt your breath hitch in your throat. Please say it. “I’m glad you are back.”

You felt silly for a second at his response but just nodded in response, giving him a grin. “Me too.”

“You want to clean up and we can go?”

“Can we actually do one thing before we go?”

“Of course.”

___________________

Din watched as she stepped forwards, her gaze stuck on the sight before them. The child looked up at Din, seeming to understand the significance of the moment. He had a sad little expression on his face and stayed completely silent, sitting in the carrier solemnly. Din stood back, standing upright as he watched her kneel down on the sand and reach a hand out to graze the three stones in front of her.

It was completely silent. They had traveled a bit outside of town, to a spot where only three gravestones stood and nothing else. No names were marked on them but they stood on their own, nothing around them except for sand. Din assumed a place like Jakku didn’t have a graveyard, making this a rare sight to see.

She took a minute before standing back up and stepping back. She stood next to Din again, her gaze drifting into the distance. “Our house was somewhere right there.”

It was the first thing she had said since she told him what she wanted to do before they left. Din looked over to where she was looking. There was nothing to see, the parts of the house that had remained probably having been taken by scavengers and the rest had been ash. Din looked over at her. She was standing upright, her shoulders stood back, and her stare was intense. She looked strong. Din was shocked to see a small smile on her face. “My father once tried to plant a fruit tree here. Said somebody at the Post had given him seeds to plant. He waited months and months to see if anything would grow and when it didn’t, he dug up the seeds only for my grandmother to tell him they were teeth from some animal.” A laugh escaped her lips and Din found himself smiling. He had grown accustomed to that laugh and it had become one of his favorite sounds. He had missed it desperately.

“My mother couldn’t cook. It was actually rather pathetic how bad she was at it. But one time, for my birthday, she tried to make a cake. She got all the ingredients for it - even though they were almost impossible to find here - and worked on it for hours. And when we cut into it, it was just goo inside. I don’t even know how she did it.” She let out a louder laugh, a bigger grin on her face as she relived the memories. Din was relieved to see her like this. So often when she spoke of her family, her words always held a tint of sadness. Like she was always mourning and couldn’t accept what had been taken from her. This was the first time Din had ever heard her tell stories of her family without that sadness. She wasn’t mourning anymore. She was celebrating their lives.

“Oooh!” He heard her voice rise, clapping her hands together as she excitedly recalled another story. “One time, my grandmother tried to set me on a blind date which confused me because she always told me relationships were a waste of time. But, I went because she wouldn’t stop nagging me about it and the damn woman had me go on a date with a Crolute! He didn’t wear shoes and had flipper feet. It was awful and she thought it was the funniest prank she had ever pulled.”

Din let out a chuckle at that one, watching as she threw her head back in laughter. Even the child joined in, letting out a small noise that could be discerned as a giggle. She looked over at Din with a bright smile, the sun blazing behind her, and it took his breath away. Without thinking, he reached a hand out and grabs hers.

She looked down at their hands and intertwined her fingers. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“I’m glad you wanted me to come.”

“You can’t meet them but I don’t know.” She shrugged with a sheepish smile. “I think maybe they are somewhere. Seeing this.” Din didn’t say anything but she looked over at him. “They would of liked you.”

Din felt a warmth fill his chest. He imagined he would of liked them as well, especially if they were anything like the woman he loved. “Thank you.”

She smiled at him and leaned closer to him, their shoulders now brushing together. “Din?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go home.”

She began to tug his arm away from the gravestones, her hand still intertwined with him, and started marching towards the Crest that she now called home. Din couldn’t help to think though that his home was being held in his hand in this very moment.

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