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cc-0420 · 3 years

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au of an au: han and boba parent trap cody and obi-wan

“i’m not doing it.”

“is it really that bad?”

“there is no negotiations. you are his excellency’s best bounty hunter,” the droid translated as the slug looked to boba, “and you are his best smuggler,” he said turning to han. “the two of you will have to work together for this job or neither will get paid nor have his services again.”

“if it’s full pay, i’m in,” han responded, “no reason to turn away from this job.”

“you doubt pirates, child?” han scowls at that. “both you and fett will get the pay promised if you complete the task.”

fett didn’t even glance at han from his helmet, “if he dies, it’s not my fault,” and walks out the door.

“man, you need to chill,” han follows him like a loth-cat, “we got a better chance together, right?”

not responding to the question, “we’re taking my ship,” boba sneers, continuing his path.

“you know, my ship made the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs!”

“i don’t care.”

~~~

the ride to florrum was silent as the two men were up to their own devices. upon landing they were greeted by a group of pirates.

“what can i do for you, boys?” what han assumed was the leader inquired.

before han had a chance to speak, his companion butt in, “we were hired to pick up the product for jabba. i assume you are hondo?”

i see he avoided mentioning that were to capture this hondo under jabba’s orders, han thought, would cody do this? Maybe he should’ve commed him for advice.

“captain hondo, i am. best pirate in the galaxy,” he made a jester to the building, “come on in and we can get you a drink to settle in-“

everything went black.

~~~

“why did you do that? the drugging normally works!” a voice broke out from the ringing in his ears

“sorry, boss, but I thought the helmeted one was going to pull a blaster on you.”

after a moment, han’s eyes were finally able to peel open. he was inside a cell, it seemed, with two weequays watching him, one of which being hondo. before he could quip to them, they already left and locked the door.

han began to look around, his mind running the simulators cody would make him go through for situations such as these, when his eyes landed on the body in armor.

he snorted, not so mighty, are you, fett?

han worked to untie the bonds from his arms, then shifting to the door. kriff, he’s never seen anything like it.

suddenly, a moan was heard as fett began waking up, “what the kriff happened?”

“we got captured, no thanks to you.”

“well, it’s not like you did anything!”

“i’m a smuggler. hurting people is not my job!”

fett didn’t respond, but han would bet 10 credits he was rolling his eyes under his helmet.

“did you try and get out?”

“if i could, i wouldn’t be here,” yet still held up his free wrists, “I’ve never seen a lock like this,” han continued pointing towards the door.

“i wouldn’t have expected you to. hondo has captured jedi before. he knows his stuff,” by then, fett already freed his hands.

“how do you-?”

“ah! you boys are up!” before han could finish his question, hondo was already barging in, “and yes. i once captured my best friend, obi-wan kenobi and a few other force users in this cell.”

“oh, i know. though he wouldn’t consider you a best friend.”

“how would you know? sadly, he is long dead. i was sad to hear when the jedi were killed. he will always have a special place in my heart.”

fett scoffed, “thanks for the story. can we leave?”

“nope, jabba’s been a pain in my side for years. instead, we’ll bargain you off for the highest bidder. you both seem pretty valued by the empire…” hondo ended walking out.

“that hypocrite!”

“oh, stop pouting under there.”

the next day passed slowly, the door only opening for food. han was growing homesick. he was with cody for 5 years now and chewbacca 2. he’s taken jobs without them, but at least he was kept busy. fett lounged in his corner, sitting still. it was creepy how he never took off the mask, and han made sure to let him know.

one night, he pulls out his holo of cody. it was hard to forget, but it was easier to have on him on long missions away. the glow from it lit up the room and caught the bounty hunter’s attention.

“what’s that?”

“none of your business,” han reached to turn it off. fett clearly saw it and reached into his own armor.

he pulled out his own holocron and the same picture emerged, cody and a man with red hair and beard. when he first received the holo, han would ask cody about the man in the robes, but would always get brushed off. he learned not to ask as he recognized the faraway look in his eyes.

“how do you have that?” han spit out. cody was his family, through thick and thin and fett wasn’t welcome.

“ben is my guardian,” he said pointing to the other man.

“you know him?”

“obviously.”

the thick air was broken by fett first

“how do you know cody?”

“he’s my father,” and before fett could respond, “well, the closest thing to a father i ever had.”

fett stared again and before han could say anything else, he reached for the helmet.

underneath was the eyes he knew to love. the lips that pulled into a firm line whenever han misbehaved. the nose that would scrunch up when han disgusted him. in front of him was a young copy of cody. a clone.

“you’re a clone.”

“i’m a person.”

“why are you younger than cody?”

“cause i’m a person.”

that didn’t answer han’s questions.

“do you work for the empire like the clones?” fett asked.

“what do you mean? cody doesn’t work for the empire. the clones are there against their will! there’s chips in their brain! cody told me!”

“really?” unlike most times he talked, fett wasn’t being sarcastic, “if that’s true…”

“so, cody knows ben?” han pushed. cody told him many stories of his brothers, but not much of anything else.

“he was his jedi general before he shot him down,” fett’s eyes trailed their faces on the holo, “no one knew of the chips and began blaming the clones.”

“is that why you wear the mask?”

“no!” boba rose from his makeshift seat, “how many times do i have to tell you i’m not one of them? this helmet was my fathers. i was never a mindless soldier.”

“they’re not mindless soldiers!” growing irritated, han thought back to all the times cody stood up for him when he was in trouble. the tales he would tell of his brothers.

boba shrunk at that and whispered to himself, “they’re not mindless soldiers.”

the silence fell over them again. han trying to make out the emotions on boba’s face, while he was looking anywhere but at han.

“cody was a better brother to me than he should have been. i treated the clones like scum, but now i know this truth,” boba waved his hand around, “he never would have wanted us to fight. neither would ben.”

“i’m sorry for your loss.”

“excuse me?” boba stared, “ben is not dead,”

han stared back, “what? you said cody shot him. and cody never talks about him.”

“well,” boba paused, thinking of the pros and the cons. pros being that ben could see cody again and boba wouldn’t have to watch him be all weepy. con would be that han is lying. he weighed his options before coming to a decision, “that was the point. the jedi had to be believed to have been wiped out.”

han contemplated on his end. despite never talking about ben explicitly, cody always talked about how amazing his general was. if fett really knew him, and it seemed like he definitely did, maybe they could come to an agreement, “cody would want to know.”

“i know,” before thinking, boba added on, “they cared for each other too much.”

rather than dwell on that phrase, “can we get them to meet up again? after we get out of here.”

“ben wouldn’t want to give up his position,” boba put his holo away, “but you are right about them wanting to know. i have an idea.”

~~~

the escape was easy once the two worked together. they also decided, screw jabba and abandoned their mission. both of them were smart enough not to have a debt with him anyway.

they decided that they will each send a signal to their respected guardians saying they need help on tatooine due to a mission gone wrong. it was easy for han to come cody, in which the commander responded he’ll be there in a few hours. on the other hand, boba didn’t have a comm for ben, with the fear of giving up his position. instead, he got in contact with a tuskin raider.

han stared in shock as boba let out a series of growls and hand motions to the creatures before they ran off. at his disgruntled look, boba replied with a simple, “ben helped them out a couple times,” that didn’t answer any of his questions.

ben got their first. he looked much more aged compared to the holo. the man gave boba his best wtf face. “kenobi,” han’s head shot up at that, “sorry to bring you out here.”

suddenly, the man locked up, all emotion wiped and reaching in his robes, “are you turning me in boba?”

“no, i didn’t mean to scare you,” he looked to han, “this is a companion i made on my last bounty. he has some news for you.”

really, fett? you’re making me talk? luckily, cody’s ship was pulling in overhead, but the elderly man got more on edge. han quickly reached for his holo and pulled open the picture of the men.

“umm, this is my father figure,” he said pointed to cody, “boba said he knew you and that you should talk it out.”

ben glanced between him, boba, and the ship that was slowly opening up.

“i didn’t give away our position, but you need to know,” boba said, looking towards the ship.

cody emerged and rushed to han, enveloping him into a hug, “are you alright? did these people help you?”

his eyes swept over boba, not recognizing the armor and turned to ben who was looking at him like he saw a ghost.

“general?”

“cody?”

“i’m sorry. i couldn’t- i’m sorry…”

before he could go on, obi-wan swept him into a hug, “it’s okay, commander, it’s okay…”

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calebdumes · 3 years

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gather ye rosebuds - chapter eight

fandom: star wars rebels

relationship: kanan jarrus/hera syndulla

word count: 6.7k

rating: T

summary: Things begin to fall into place for Kanan and he is suddenly faced with a difficult decision. Does he let the past die or does he embrace it and help Hera stop Runa Tane's sinister plan?

author’s note: happy rosebuds day! thank you to all who have read and left comments/kudos/likes/reblogs/bookmarks! I hope you are liking it so far!

as always a HUGE thank you to my amazing beta and wonderful friend, @eleni-syndulla! I cannot thank you enough!

any and all likes, reblogs, and comments are greatly appreciated and don’t forget to…

Read on AO3

|| CHAPTER ONE || CHAPTER TWO || CHAPTER THREE || CHAPTER FOUR || CHAPTER FIVE || CHAPTER SIX || CHAPTER SEVEN || CHAPTER EIGHT || CHAPTER NINE || CHAPTER TEN || CHAPTER 11 || EPILOGUE

Kanan woke with a start, pain flaring up his arms as he jerked awake. His eyes blinked open, his head throbbing painfully. He was distantly aware that he was strapped to a chair, his arms and legs bound tightly, but his confinement fell by the wayside as a piercing cry echoed in his skull.

Please, Jedi.

Help, Jedi.

He inhaled sharply, gritting his teeth against the sound as it scraped violently against his ears.

“Kanan!” Hera’s voice cut through the screaming like a salve, pitched low and filled with urgency, yet soothing to his burning mind. His head snapped to his left to see her beside him, her arms and legs bound and a worried expression lining her face.

“Hera,” he breathed, “What happened?”

She frowned at him, her worry lines deepening. “I was hoping you would tell me.”

Kanan glanced around the room, trying to think beyond the ringing in his head. They weren’t in a cell or interrogation room like he expected, but rather in some sort of lab, lit by the bluish glow of computer screens. Work benches lined the prefabricated walls of the structure, data pads piled high next to strange-looking equipment. On one wall there was a window – the same window that he had Hera had been spying through. It was still dark outside, the stars muted behind the glass.

“How long–” His voice cracked. “How long was I out?”

“Too long.” Her tone was laced with concern. “What the kriff happened to you?”

“Don’t tell me,” –Kanan winced– “that you were worried about me.”

Hera frowned at him, a confusing look flickering across her face. Kanan didn’t have the mental capacity to try and work out what was lingering in her eyes, so he pushed on.

“Have you seen anyone?”

“The stormtrooper guarding the door came in a few hours ago,” she explained, watching him closely. “They didn’t say anything.”

Please, Jedi

Kanan’s attention was pulled back to the kyber crystal as it let out a horrible shriek, pain lancing though his head. His eyes caught sight of the crystal, locked away in some strange-looking box, sitting innocently on a large metal table.

Next to the box sat his and Hera’s blasters as well as his lightsaber, still neatly broken apart in two pieces. He shuddered as he registered his own kyber crystal resonating with the one trapped in the box, sympathy pains that splintered his bones. Kanan gnashed his teeth together, a moan slipping past his lips.

“Kanan?” Hera asked again. “What is going on with you?”

He screwed his eyes shut, shaking his head. The pain was building, mounting pressure that swelled inside of him until he was afraid there wouldn’t be anything left but the all consuming agony that was leeching from the kyber.

“The crystal,” he finally managed to gasp, pushing the words out through his clenched teeth. “It’s screaming.”

“The crystal is screaming?” He could hear the skepticism in her voice. “How is that possible? It’s just a rock.”

Kanan shook his head again. He didn’t know how else to say it. He didn’t know how to explain something so steeped in the Force to a person who didn’t have the same connection to the power as he did. “It’s a kyber crystal,” he said. “A lightsaber crystal.”

Beside him, he felt Hera stiffen. “And you can hear it?”

“Yes,” he panted as another wave of ear piercing cries washed over him. Whatever that box was, it was causing the crystal immense pain and it wanted out. It was calling out to him, begging, pleading, for Kanan to free it.

Please, Jedi.

Help, Jedi.

Please.

Kanan strained against his bonds, his eyes cracking open as a wet heat dripped down the side of his neck, the metallic tang of blood sharp in the air. “We have to get it out of there.”

Hera tugged on her own bound hands. “Kind of hard to do at the moment.” Then she paused. “Can’t you use the Force?” she asked. “To get us out of these binders?”

Kanan opened his mouth to respond but before he could, the door to the room opened behind them.

“Wait out here,” a hushed voice whispered, followed by the sound of soft footfalls entering the lab.

Light from the hallway spilled into the dark room for a moment before the door snapped shut, but it was long enough for Kanan to see the familiar shadows of two stormtroopers and a shorter, unarmored figure. No one spoke, the only thing Kanan could hear was the pounding in his head and the quick, nervous breathing of the new arrival.

The overhead lights flickered on and a young woman who looked to be a few years younger than Hera, with dark skin and black hair pulled into neat little braids, came to stand before them. She looked uncomfortable in her grey Imperial uniform, her brown eyes shifting between her captives like she wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“Who are you and how did you find this base?” the woman asked in a timid, shaky voice, lacking the command and disdain that was typical with Imperial officers.

“You call this a base?” Kanan looked around the small room. “I’ve seen better.”

The officer shifted nervously on her feet, ignoring Kanan’s comment and repeating, “Who are you and how did you find this base? Are you spies?”

“I think there might have been some sort of misunderstanding,” Hera said, shooting Kanan a quick look that warned him not to open his mouth again. Kanan bit down on his cheek as his vision whited out, a new wave of pain taking over his senses. He could barely make out Hera’s response over the clashing in his mind. “Our ship ran out of fuel, we were just looking for some help.”

“We scanned the area after you were discovered, we found no evidence of a ship.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Hera said calmly, as Kanan struggled to pull himself together, blinking sweat out of his eyes. “We’ve been walking for miles, looking for a place to refuel. That’s how we found your base. I’m sure if you sent one of your troopers or another officer out to canvas the area, you would find it.”

“That won’t be necessary,” the woman said, coming back into focus, her mouth turned down. She took a step towards the table and the crystal let out a pitiful shriek, causing Kanan’s whole body to flinch from the sound.

But he wasn’t the only one.

The officer had flinched too.

Breathing hard, Kanan gave her a closer look and could see the sweat starting to bead on her forehead. Her hands were shaking at her sides, balled into a tight fist and there were fine lines of pain around her mouth. A single drop of red fell from her ear and landed on the stiff grey fabric of her uniform. She swallowed thickly, a wall of dread slamming into Kanan as realization struck him.

She was Force sensitive too.

“Oh, for kriff's sake,” he muttered to himself, letting his head hang. It was laughable really. For so long he had ignored the Force, pushed it away and denied its very existence. And now, in the span of three days, he’s encountered not one but two Force-sensitives. He'd never thought the Force had a vindictive streak, but he was starting to have his doubts.

Hera shot him a sidelong glance before turning her attention back to the officer.

“Please, we were just looking for some help. We don’t want any trouble.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that. This is a classified Imperial installation. We simply cannot allow civilians to wander around.” The officer hesitated over the words.

It was what any Imperial would have said, but it sounded wrong coming from her. What she lacked in conviction she made up for in fear. She was practically shaking with it.

“So what, you’re just going to kill us?” he asked harshly, raising his head and slinging the words at her with all the vitriol he could manage. “Because we found your kriffing base?”

The officer flinched back as if he had hit her, her eyes growing wide. “I – I don’t think–”

“That’s what you’re saying, aren’t you?” he pushed on. “We found your little secret base and now you’re going to kill us so no-one else finds out.”

“N-no, I’m not–”

“Of course you wouldn’t.” Her fear was sharp and sour against the constant rattle of pain in his mind. Kanan grit his teeth against it but kept pushing. “You’ll have your troopers do the dirty work, won't you?”

“Kanan, what are you doing?” Hera hissed, her eyes wide. Kanan shrugged her off, steeling himself against the onslaught of pain and fear that was polluting the small lab. The officer was close to her breaking point, he could see it in her eyes, like cracked transparisteel ready to shatter. He just needed to apply the right pressure.

“If you’re not planning on killing us, what are you going to do, huh?” Kanan goaded. “Send us to a labor camp? Pawn us off to the slave trade? If that’s the case, I’ll take the firing squad.”

“No!” the officer slammed her hand down on the table, the sound thundering in the small room. “I don’t want to kill you!”

“Then let us go.” Hera said, her voice quiet but strong. “Let us go and we’ll forget we ever saw this place.”

Help me, Jedi.

“I can’t,” the officer said, trembling. “You don’t understand, I can’t let you go.”

“Can’t, or won’t?” Kanan spat.

“You – you are trespassers,” she said, twisting her fingers in the hem of her stiff grey uniform jacket. “You will t-tell me how you found this base a-and you will be dealt with accordingly.”

“We haven’t done anything wrong,” Hera said forcefully. “Why can’t you let us go?”

“This is a classified site. If he finds out…” The officer trailed off, her eyes sliding to the window where the faint strip of pink had taken on a golden hue, the first rays of the morning sun stretching over the horizon. Another drop of blood fell from her ear. She brushed it away with agitated fingers.

Kanan growled low in his throat, the pain in his head spiking. “Listen, lady, you either let us go or kill us now because I can’t take much more of this. So make a decision and do it quick.”

“We can help you,” Hera cut in. “If you let us go, we can protect you from the Empire.”

The officer scoffed and opened her mouth to answer but before she could make a sound, the quick rapport of blaster fire cut through the quiet. Scrambling for her comlink on her belt, she brought it to her lips.

“Trooper,” she demanded in a shaking voice. “What’s going on out there?”

Her reply was a few short bursts of blaster fire and static. A tense stretch of silence filled the room as the sounds of battle quickly fell away. The officer stood before them, her wide, fearful eyes trained on the door, waiting to see who would come through the other side.

As the doors slid open, she reached for Hera’s holdout blaster, aiming it at the figures that now crowded the entrance.

“Drop it,” a deep voice growled, clawed feet clicking on the floor as the Lasat, Zeb, stepped into the room. The officer did as she was told and dropped the blaster, raising her hands in defeat.

“You alright, Captain?” he asked his leader.

Hera’s response was drowned out by another ground shattering screech from the crystal. Kanan twitched in his seat, his throat burning with an unleashed scream. He felt movement behind him, familiar nerf leather brushing up against his skin moments before the metal binders fell to the floor with a clang.

Arms no longer confined, Kanan quickly undid the restraints on his legs and jumped to his feet. Sabine asked him a question but her voice was overpowered by the urgency ringing in his ears. He covered the distance to the table in two strides, pushing past the officer and ignoring the other beings in the room, his sole focus on the kyber.

Please, Jedi.

Help, Jedi.

He closed his eyes, the pain from the crystal searing across his flesh.

Please, Jedi.

He didn’t bother asking the officer how to open the box. Instead, he reached for his blaster and brought it down in a forceful swing. The glass shattered on impact and the power fizzled out. All at once, the screaming that had become like thousands of tiny needles pricking at his skin ceased, leaving nothing behind but a vacuum of silence.

Kanan let out a ragged breath and braced himself against the table. A dream from his past pushed its way to the forefront of his tattered mind, clawing at him with a vengeance.

Grassy plains stretching as far as the eye could see, a collection of rocks, conical in shape and swirled with delicate hues of purple and brown.

A young boy, dark-haired and with electric blue eyes, wild with untrained Force ability.

A flash of green; a gruff laugh; a chattering of binary; the sharp smell of paint.

A kyber crystal against his cold palm.

You okay, Master?

Fear. Pain. Suffering.

A crystal. Bleeding.

Agony.

A hysterical bubble of laughter threatened to spill past Kanan’s lips as he screwed his eyes shut. Things were starting to slot into place; the twisted vision from his meditation, the screaming crystal – the Force was unbalanced on Lothal and it needed a Jedi to set it right.

Picking through the shards of glass, he collected the crystal and held it tightly in his palm. Heat seeped through the thick leather of his fingerless gloves, relief flowing from the stone as he held it.

Kanan felt his blood run hot with fury. Where did this science officer, this Runa Tane and his minions, get off thinking they could defile a kyber crystal as they had? Kyber were living entities, pure representations of the Force, second only to the Jedi themselves. To keep something so sacrosanct like that in a box was an abomination.

Kanan rounded on the officer, flames of anger licking his insides. “What are you doing with them? How did you find them?”

The officer shrank back. “I – I was just doing what I was told.”

Kanan wasn’t satisfied with her answer. He took another step forward, snarling, “What do you want with them?”

“Kanan.” A hand landed firm on his arm, pulling him away from the cowering officer. Kanan glanced down, surprised to see Hera’s gloved hand gripping his forearm. His eyes darted to her face, an impassive expression highlighting her features but he could see the faint traces of concern shining in the green depths of her eyes.

Looking away, he could feel eyes on him, a mix of curiosity and fear swirling in the Force. Internally, Kanan winced. For the second time in less than three days, he had let his anger get the better of him. Rolling his shoulders, Kanan turned away from the watchful eyes and tried to take a calming breath.

Acting out of anger often led to quick results but it was a dangerous cliff to be caught on. Already he could feel an unnatural coldness slither up his spine, a hollow space forming in his chest. He was angry; angry at the Force for giving him this task, angry at the Imperials for the pain they had inflicted on the kyber, but most importantly he was angry at himself for letting his emotions rule him. But that anger wouldn’t help anything. So he thought back on his master’s old teachings and let the anger flow through him, reaching into the Force for strength..

“What’s your name?” he heard Hera ask the officer as his heartbeat slowed.

“I’m Dhara.” she replied nervously. “Dhara Lenois.”

“Why don’t you tell us what’s going on here, Dhara?”

There was a pause. Dhara’s fear returned, a sour spike in the Force. “I can’t,” she breathed. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Hera asked gently as Kanan turned back around to face the terrified officer. She looked like a trapped animal, surrounded by Hera’s crew, their weapons ready to fire if she tried to make a move. The Force trembled around her, quaking with her fear. Kanan looked closer, extending his consciousness outward. Dhara was terrified but not for herself.

“He’s threatened someone important to you, hasn’t he?” Kanan asked in a gravelly voice, his body still adjusting to the sudden departure of the crystal’s pain. “Runa Tane?”

“Y-yes” Dhara deflated, her arms dropping to her sides. “My family.”

“What's he threatened your family for?” Zeb grumbled, his purple fingers twitching on his weapon. “You’re all Imperials, aren’t you?”

“It’s an unauthorized base, you moof-milker,” the Force sensitive boy – Ezra – piped up from where he stood next to Sabine, behind the restraint chairs. An electro slingshot crackled on his wrist in bright yellow arches of stinging power. There were remnants of pain in his tone that he tried to mask and his blue eyes kept flickering to the stone clutched in Kanan’s hand. “Emphasis on unauthorized. He’s using them as leverage.” The boy’s face smoothed out into an expressionless mask when Kanan met his gaze.

Hera held up a hand to cut off any response from the Lasat and asked the woman calmly, “How did you end up here, Dhara?”

“I can’t tell you,” she whispered with an edge of hysteria. “Y-you’re rebels, aren’t you?! O-or criminals! Telling you would be treason! I can’t do that!”

The nervous energy that radiated off of the young officer was grating against Kanan’s tender nerves. He flicked another thread of his consciousness out towards her and flinched from the sharp bite of fear that had wrapped around her presence. His attempts to push her to her breaking point had worked a little too well. If they wanted to get any information out of her now, they would have to try a softer approach.

Luckily, Hera stepped towards Dhara, reaching out to grab the young woman’s elbow. “The very existence of the base is treason.” she said gently, guiding her to sit on the small cot by the door. Her crew parted with watchful eyes as they passed. “And I think you know that. Help us and we will protect you and your family.”

Dhara seemed to consider Hera’s words before deflating, sinking into the mattress of the cot with resignation. “What do you want to know?”

“Why don’t you start with how you ended up here and why Tane is threatening your family?” Hera asked.

Kanan bit the inside of his cheek. He didn’t really care how Dhara had come to work for Tane and it was pretty clear why she and her family were being threatened. She was a Force-sensitive Imperial. He had heard rumors of a specialized Imperial division that dealt with Force sensitives if they were foolish enough to get caught. They were malicious, twisted creatures of the dark. If word got out about her and her abilities, she would be looking at a fate far worse than death. Kanan shivered at the thought.

It was clear, however, that Tane was obviously using that knowledge and her family to press her into work, like Ezra had said. But if Hera wanted to drag the truth out of her, far be it from him to stand in her way.

So he leaned back against the table, clutching the crystal in his hand as Dhara began to explain.

“He recruited me right out of the Academy,” Dhara said. “He said he saw promise in my test scores and wanted to offer me a unique opportunity before another interested party got involved. He said if I worked with him, he’d increase my pay – enough to keep my father and little brother out of the factories. I didn’t know that his project was unsanctioned at the time. I only learned that after it was too late.”

“What made you realize that you weren’t working on an official Imperial project?” Hera asked in a soothing tone.

“He had me send my findings to an archived data chamber instead of the central database where all military projects are stored.” she paused, pulling at the hem of her shirt. “That, and he killed the other scientist working with me.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Scheming behind the Empire’s back was one thing, but murder made Runa Tane far more dangerous threat. And that was before Kanan even considered whatever it was he was doing with the kyber.

“Tell me about the crystals,” Kanan asked, noticing at how Dhara flinched at the sound of his voice. “What is he doing with them?”

Dhara swallowed thickly. “At first, we were simply studying them. Officer Tane had me exploring the caves, harvesting any crystals I could find, but then they started disappearing–”

“What do you mean, disappearing?” Sabine cut in, her modulated voice piqued with interest but thick with suspicion. “Was the other scientist stealing them? Is that why they were killed?”

“No.” Dhara shook her head. “The crystals kept disappearing after they were mined and then it got harder and harder to find them in the caves.”

“How could a rock just disappear?” Zeb huffed. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Kanan resisted the urge to rub his temples. His frustration with Hera’s crew and their insistent, pointless questions was growing. It didn’t matter that the crystals were disappearing – if anything, that was good news – but the longer they stopped to get an explanation they could never fully understand, the longer it took to get to the root of Tane’s plan.

“Kyber crystals are infused with the Force,” Dhara said. “They were heavily regulated by the Jedi during the Republic so we don’t know much about them, but based on what little information I was able to find, it is said that these stones could sense ill will. If they felt themselves being threatened they would simply vanish.”

“That sounds like a bunch of bantha fodder to me,” Zeb replied with a roll of his big green eyes.

Kanan growled low in his throat. “What is he doing with them?”

Dhara blinked at him, her shoulders shaking minutely in fear. Kanan tried to clamp down on his frustrations, loosening his clenched fists and extending a wave of calm through the Force. The others in the room reacted instantly, their postures relaxing just slightly.

“He’s trying to make a weapon,” she said finally, her dark eyes locking with Kanan’s lighter ones. “Officer Tane is using the kyber to make a weapon.”

He felt bile rise in his throat. Kanan looked down at the crystal in his hand and then over to where his lightsaber sat, broken in two pieces on the table. Any weapon that concentrated energy through a kyber crystal was a formidable threat. In the hands of the Empire, it could spell the deaths of thousands of millions of beings across the galaxy.

“Pretty gutsy move to make a weapon without the Empire’s knowledge,” Sabine said, still holding her blasters in her hands.

“More like suicidal,” Hera said thoughtfully, folding her arms across her chest. "How can you be so sure he’s making a weapon?”

Dhara hesitated before pointing to one of the workbenches.

“May I?” she asked.

Hera gave her a curt nod and Dhara stood to retrieve one of the many datapads stacked off to the side. Kanan watched as she flipped through the pad before handing it off to Hera with shaking hands.

“This is data from the tests Officer Tane has had me run. Once we were able to stabilize the crystal, we began channeling small amounts of energy via lasers. At first I thought he was attempting to create a sustainable power source but as you can see from the schematics, Officer Tane is trying to construct...something much more powerful.”

“You don’t know what kind of weapon it is?” Kanan asked.

“No.” Dhara responded. “And I don’t think he does either. Right now he is more concerned with focusing large amounts of energy through the kyber without resulting in a catastrophic explosion. Once he – we – figure that out, I assume he’ll start drafting up designs based on his stolen notes.”

“Stolen notes?” Hera asked, pushing herself to her feet. She crossed the short distance to the table and handed Kanan the datapad. The soft leather of her gloves brushed against his as she gave him the device. Ignoring the swoop of heat in his gut, he began scrolling through the lines of data, stopping when he came to a line of aurebesh that didn’t quite make sense. Kanan squinted at it for a long moment before he realized it was some kind of code, specially designed shorthand that only a person with the cypher would be able to understand.

Dhara hesitated. “Well, I think they’re stolen.”

Kanan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean you think they’re stolen?”

“Officer Tane was–” Dhara paused. “Removed from a top secret project on Coruscant for accessing classified data. That’s why he’s here on Lothal. I think these are the notes that got him in trouble.”

“How do you know that?” Sabine cut in, her modulated voice sharp. “That wasn’t in his personnel file.”

“He told me. Not intentionally, but something’s not right with him. He rambles all the time, always talking, obsessed with this project. I’m not even sure he sleeps anymore.”

Kanan let that information settle over the group as he set the pad down on the table. He began rolling the gleaming stone between his fingers, thinking. Revenge, greed, power – Tane seemed to be consumed by it and those dark emotions had only been amplified by the presence of the kyber. He needed to be stopped before he was able to complete his plans.

“Kanan,” Hera said with a stiff voice, pulling him from his thoughts. He looked over at her, her green skin bright in the harsh lighting of the lab. There was a swirling mass of emotions surrounding her that made him frown.

Since the day he met her, Hera had always had some sort of sense of what she was feeling, even without the aid of the Force. It was like there was a spark between them, a connection, something that sprung to life the second he saw her. Even before he knew her name, Kanan had known her. And after everything that happened between them and all those years apart, that didn’t seem to have changed. Until now. Now there was a thickening cloud that hid her from his view. It set his teeth on edge. Despite all the pain he had caused her, Kanan didn’t like not knowing how she felt.

“You don’t have to stay,” she said, her words only slightly wavering. “You’ve fulfilled your end of the mission. If you want to leave, no one here will stop you.”

Kanan’s heart twisted painfully in his chest. She was giving him an out. Because that was the type of person he was, the person she believed him to be; Kanan the coward, always the first to run when things went bad. Something in Kanan shattered.

“I’m not leaving,” he told her firmly. "I can’t leave this"

“You’re kidding me, right?” Sabine said, holstering her weapons. “You are going to trust her.” She pointed at Kanan then at Dhara who was hovering nervously over by the cot. “She’s an Imperial, so she’s either lying or stalling. We should all leave. Like, right now.”

“We can’t leave,” he said, his voice holding the weight of the Force in his tone. Beside him, he saw Hera shiver.

“What do you mean, we can’t leave?” Sabine breathed in disbelief. “Surely you of all people have to know this is a trap.”

“It’s not a trap,” Dhara said, fidgeting with the hem of the uniform top. “And I’m not lying.”

Sabine scoffed. “Yeah, right. Like we’re going to believe that.”

Kanan closed his eyes and reached into the Force again, letting it flow around him freely. The Force signatures of everyone in the room lit up behind his eyelids. He saw Sabine, a raging inferno of doubt and distrust, and by her side, Ezra. The Force curled around the teen in blue wisps, wild and untrained. Zeb was his contrast, bold and even-keeled, a steady pulse in the churning emotions in the room.

And there was Hera. Bright, beautiful Hera, glowing like a sun in the Force, a blinding star of swirling colors. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, full of self righteousness and confidence. For a moment, Kanan felt himself getting lost in her light, pulled into her orbit by her glimmering presence. He could feel her curiosity, only slightly undercut by her alarm. And there was something else, conflicting emotions tugging at her seams; emotions that centered around...him.

Kanan pulled back, shutting himself off from her glow and instead, focusing on Dhara. The officer shimmered before him, her light dimmed by suffocating vines of fear. It colored every aspect of her being but through her terror, Kanan could sense the truth pulsating beneath.

“She’s telling the truth.” Kanan opened his eyes.

Sabine scoffed. “Let me guess, you had one of your 'feelings'?”

He ground his teeth together and shot her a glare. “Yes.”

“What kind of feeling?” Zeb asked, his bulbous eyes darting between Kanan and Sabine with worry.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of feeling,” Kanan snapped, not liking where the conversation was going. “She’s telling the truth.”

“I think it matters,” Ezra interjected with his arms crossed over his chest. “Since the only thing standing between us and the Empire is your ‘feeling’.”

The hard edges of the crystal cut into Kanan’s plam as he clenched his fists. He could feel distrust oozing off of the boy, and underneath it all, fear. Fear for what Kanan was and the power that was growing inside of him.

“If Kanan believes her, then I believe her,” Hera said. Kanan blinked at her in surprise. That was...unexpected. Given the sudden wave of shock that traveled around the room, he wasn’t the only one to think that.

Sabine scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, fuming. She wasn’t happy and her anger was simmering like acid, but there was something else that suddenly made Kanan’s hackles rise. There was a shift in the Force and it was coming from Dhara.

He slowly turned to face her only to find her brown eyes alight with understanding. Her lips parted as she gaped at him. Kanan’s heart froze in his chest as the world came to a shuddering halt.

The energy in the room had changed; he could feel pressure building as something was ready to give way. Only he knew what was coming, he could see it clear as day in Dhara’s eyes. He could feel the Force moving around him, ready to reclaim a forgotten son. Kanan gripped the crystal in his hand tighter and pleaded with the universe that Dhara would keep her mouth shut.

She didn’t.

“You’re a – a Jedi!” she exclaimed. All the heads in the room swiveled towards him. “That’s how you know that I’m telling the truth!”

Kanan blanched. There was a beat of silence that was swiftly interrupted with Sabine’s harsh laughter.

“Okay, so now we all know this is a trap, right?” There was an edge of hysteria in her voice. “She’s clearly stalling if she’s accusing Kanan of being a Jedi.” When no one said anything, Sabine faltered. She took off her helmet to look Kanan in the eyes. “Right?”

“He is,” Ezra said coldly. “I found his lightsaber and some box thing. He��s a Jedi.”

“Okay,” Hera interjected with a placating tone. “Let’s all take a second here–”

“Are they telling the truth?” Sabine demanded, speaking over Hera. Kanan held her gaze, committing her betrayed expression to memory. He didn’t want her to find out like this. He would have rather she never found out at all, but it was impossible to shy away from now. With a jerk of his head, he nodded.

“I thought I knew you,” Sabine spat, slamming on her helmet and running from the room. The doors whooshed closed behind her and a stunned silence fell over the room.

Kanan grimaced. He knew this day was coming. After all, Kanan was never the type to stick around for the long run and Sabine had been his partner for nearly two years. He should have left months ago. He should have packed a bag and booked a one way trip off of Takodana, leaving Sabine behind. Because sooner or later, he’d get too close and they would get hurt. The only way to keep the ones he loved safe was to leave. His master, Kasmir, Okadiah, Hera, and now Sabine. That was how it always went.

“Can someone please explain what’s going on here?” Zeb asked.

“Bounty hunter guy is a Jedi and is probably going to sell us out to the Empire,” Ezra supplied.

“Kanan is not going to sell us to the Empire,” Hera said firmly, placing a hand on Kanan’s arm. He glanced down at it in confusion and then up at Hera’s face, but her focus was on her crew. The swirl of conflicting emotions thickened around her.

“Well, you have to admit, it’s a little suspicious that he hasn’t told anyone,” Zeb countered, eyeing Kanan up and down with blatant distrust. “His partner didn’t even know the truth. Besides, he doesn’t look like much of a Jedi to me.”

Hera sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Zeb, go check on Sabine,” she not-so-subtly ordered. “And comm Chopper, have him on the lookout for any approaching ships.”

“You got it.” Zeb grumbled, shifting his weapon in his massive paws and giving one last unimpressed glance before leaving the lab.

“Ezra, where’s the Ghost?”

“Just north of here, we hid it by some mountains.”

“Good.” Hera nodded in approval. “I need you to go get Kanan the medpac.”

“I don’t need a medpac,” Kanan responded, his voice finally returning to him in a harsh scrape.

“Yeah, he doesn’t need a medpac,” echoed the boy. Kanan shot him a glare and the kid shifted uneasily.

“Kanan, you have blood coming from your ears,” Hera said flatly. “You need a medpac.”

Kanan brushed at the drying liquid on his skin. “I’ve had worse.” He turned his attention to Dhara, who flinched under his gaze.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, her eyes drifting to the floor. “I – I thought they knew.”

“Yeah, well it’s not really something I go around tellin’ people about.” Kanan snapped. He took a breath, pushing aside the tumultuous emotions that had started taking up space in his chest.

Dhara nodded mutely before meeting Kanan’s gaze and pointing to the dried blood running from his ears. “C-could you hear the crystal?”

“All Force sensitives can,” Kanan said with a pointed look. He could see Dhara working through his answer, a flickering array of emotions crossing her face. A look of panic settled on her brow when the implications of his words settled.

“Oh,” she said faintly, collapsing into one of the restraint chairs. “Oh.”

“Hang on,” Ezra interjected with an equally stricken look on his face. “What do you mean, only Force sensitives can hear the crystals?”

Kanan bit down on his cheek. Sabine was right about one thing – they needed to move quickly. If Tane was as unstable as Dhara claimed he was, he could show up at any moment. Kanan didn’t have the time to hold their hands as they came to the unfortunate realization that the universe had cursed them.

“How did Tane find the kyber in the first place?” he asked instead.

“Old planetary scans,” Dhara said as if in a daze. “The original power signature that was recorded was written off as an anomaly…” she trailed off.

“But if Tane worked with kyber before being transferred to Lothal, he would have known what it really was,” Kanan finished, connecting the dots. “Kriffing hell.”

If it had been anyone else, anyone other than Tane – some useless Imperial that was as incompetent as they were power hungry – the kyber of Lothal could have remained hidden. He never would have been on this job and he would have never had to let the Force back into his life. But at the same time, he could feel it all around him – this was how it was supposed to be.

It was the will of the Force.

“So,” Hera said, planting her hands on her hips. Her eyes were sparkling with something, but that swirling mass of emotions was still in place. “What do you propose we do?”

Kanan rubbed his forehead, thinking. “Unless Tane made a copy of what you sent to the archive chamber, all that should be left is what’s here at the facility.” he paused, looking at the dazed look on Dhara’s face. “Can you wipe it, or doctor it, whatever you can do to make it look like Tane has lost his mind?

Dhara shook herself as if coming out of a trance. There was still a haunted, unsure look in her eye as she stood and ran a hand down the front of her uniform. “It shouldn’t be too hard to do,” she said.

“That takes care of the information here,” Hera pointed out, not taking her eyes off of his face. “But that doesn’t help with the original scans.” She bit down on her bottom lip, Kanan’s eyes immediately following the action.

“We could wipe the old scans,” Ezra said suddenly, causing Kanan to jump slightly. He looked just as shaken as Dhara, his complexion several shades paler than normal.

Kanan shook his head. “We’d have to break into the Complex again, and it won’t be as easy as it was the last time.”

Even if they had another distraction like the Empire Day parade, after their last stunt, security would be at an all time high. The only way they could wipe those records would be if Dhara agreed to do it herself, but Kanan sensed she wouldn’t be that willing – not with her family on the line. So they would have to come up with something else to keep the Empire from sniffing around. An idea sprung to the forefront of his mind as he watched Ezra fidget nervously under his gaze.

“I think I might have a plan. Dhara, where exactly did you find the kyber?” he asked Dhara.

The officer swallowed thickly. “In the caves, just beyond the camp,” she said. “At first, I could find them within a few feet of the entrance, but when they got harder to find I had to go further in.”

“Did you find anything else besides the kyber?”

Dhara fumbled her hands, thinking. “There are a few veins of ranite near the mouth, but I was led to believe that was common in kyber caves. Why do you ask?”

“You’re going to collapse the cave, aren’t you?” Hera interjected with a knowing look gleaming in her eyes. Kanan pushed aside the curl of heat that formed in his belly at the sight but sent a wink her way.

“We wouldn’t need to wipe the scans if there is nothing to find,” he said with a smirk.

“With the false data and the base destroyed, Tane will either have to let the project go or be brought up on charges for treason.” She paused, her face softening. “It’s a good plan, Kanan.”

Kanan swallowed hard, heat blooming on his face. “I need the kid though.” His voice cracked.

“What?” Ezra blinked. “Why?”

“Because Dhara has to stay here and rewrite the data, and I can’t do this by myself.”

“Then get Sabine to help you, she has more than enough explosives to blow the base and the cave. You don’t need me,” Ezra fired back.

“We’re not going to use explosives. The Empire will know if we use explosives. We need to collapse it to make it look like a natural cave-in.”

What little color was left in Ezra’s face drained.

“How are we going to do that?” he asked faintly.

Kanan looked at him pointedly and said, “We’re going to use the Force.”

#kanera #kanan jarrus #hera syndulla #star wars rebels #swr fan fic #swr fanfic #star wars #pretchatta #userplum #anoray #opalknight #eries45 #ailtara #shleby writes #gather ye rosebuds tag

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sl-walker · 2 years

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Today in Lines I Loved Writing

Tagged by @b-radley66! Tagging @whymylife-cordelia, @shadowmaat and @btwxsixesandsevens! Show us a scene or passage you loved writing and maybe tell us why you loved writing it. And feel free to tag others.

In retrospect, the decision to stop at one last bar was probably not a good one.

Shiv and Tally were less pickled than some of their brothers -- they were practically carrying the Triple R Trio now -- but they still weren't quick enough to stop Tango from wandering into one more place, drawn by the rocket ships glowing in neon in the windows, steps reeling some. Shiv opened his mouth to try to call to Tango, but then Rabbit moaned and he had to deposit the kid in an alley to make use of the compost container, and the next thing he knew, half the squad was missing and the voices from inside that bar were getting loud.

"Kriff," he murmured, head spinning some, but still steady enough on his feet. "Here, Rabbit, c'mon. Just--"

He didn't want to leave Rabbit alone, but he also didn't want to drag him into a hostile situation, so he leaned the kid against the front facade of the building -- which only had high up, narrow windows, presumably so no one could be thrown through any larger ones -- and then glanced around again before slipping inside the building.

"--frippin' Republic military--"

"--better than stinkin' dolls, on an assembly line--"

"--least we're not a buncha shitworm cowards hidin' behind closed borders--"

"Uh-- economic oppression?" Misty tried, looking around at the extremely hostile faces of a bunch of dockworkers. "We're all screwed by the same people? No?"

Shiv might have actually started laughing at that, even as he grabbed ahold of Brody -- by far the most belligerent of their squad -- to try to drag him back outside. Tango just looked thoroughly confused, wavering on his feet; Tally had moved to try to get hands on Rancor, who was likewise reeling and confused. Raze was-- frip, Raze was already at the bar and somehow managed to go completely ignored, chatting at the tender in a friendly way that seemed to disarm the man. Smarty and Castle were bristling some.

One of the bar-goers started crowding Tango, who seemed more baffled than angry about it, and said, mockingly, "Get outta here. You cut-outs are all gonna be dead within the month anyway, we don't--"

A red-and-black fist came out of seemingly no where, and the meaty thudding sound it made when it hit that guy in the mouth silenced the entire bar.

Someone asked, whispering, "What the frip is that?"

Maul squared his shoulders -- outsized by pretty much everyone around him -- put himself between the crowd and the majority of his squad and said, "That is their lieutenant. Would anyone else like to threaten my squad?"

Despite everything, Shiv found himself grinning broadly. Brody quit trying to throw himself into the fight. Tango-- unsurprisingly looked like he was in love.

And even though an unbroken glass bottle clipped him in the head within the next ten seconds, and several chairs were broken; even though fists were flying and so was the occasional tooth, Shiv was still grinning when CorSec showed up.

He only stopped briefly and cursed internally when the beautiful zeltron was one of the arresting officers.

Why I loved writing it: Shiv’s always a delightful voice. I also just got a kick out of the buildup to action, too. Misty trying to follow along on Tally’s tirade from a previous bar. And I loved the payoff. Maul had been quiet that whole time, staying sober (for multiple reasons) and at the end of it was there and ready to throw a fist in defense of his squad.

It was a fun scene in a fun chapter to write.

#shiv #maul #blackbirds: year one #witness me

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ljbrary · 3 years

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Sicktember Day Four: Headache/Migraine

literally just made it on time its a miracle

ao3 link :)

from this list of prompts

Day Three: Headache/Migraine

Title: tolerance is key (but hating everything is so much easier)

Word Count: 676

...

Loud noises and sensitive hearing don’t exactly mix well, in Ahsoka’s experience. But, well, war was war, and Togruta had incredibly sensitive hearing, and Ahsoka would just have to deal with it.

Though, how she dealt with it was a completely different story.

“If you open your mouth one more time, I will gut you with my lightsaber and have no regrets, Fives. None .”

Fives’s mouth promptly snapped shut right on queue, the blurry chatter of the space momentarily pausing, and Ahsoka decided she maybe could show a little restraint by reigning in her murderous tendencies.

But only a little.

(The soft whistling of the wind outside as their drop ship carried them up through the atmosphere toward the Resolute wasn’t so soft in her ears.)

She could feel Fives shift next to her, unable to see him with her head dipped low into her hands like the very action of gripping her montrals like there was no tomorrow would alleviate the pressure building inside them. (Spoiler alert: it couldn’t.)

I hate everything and I hate everyone but most of all I hate anatomy.

Ahsoka groaned, rubbing her forehead vigorously with one hand as a sharp throb rudely intruded her inner monologue that was bordering a cynic’s thought process.

“Hey, kid, relax!” A firm hand snagged her wrist, pulling the offending hand away from bruising her own forehead, and Ahsoka could barely hold back the growl of annoyance that was sitting low in her chest, begging for release.

Wincing instead, she screwed her eyes shut harder than before at the splitting effect the sound waves had reverberating through her sore montrals.

“Ow,” she hissed, tugging her wrist out of who she assumed was Fives’s grasp.

“Sorry, sir,” Fives said. Ahsoka bit back a groan. Couldn’t he just shut up? “Can’t have you rubbing your brains out; that’d be a bit hard to explain to the General.”

Ahsoka grunted in response, viciously scrubbing at her eyes with the palms of her hands; the pressure felt nice fighting against the searing throb building behind them.

Wisely, Fives seems to recognize when to keep his mouth shut this time, and Ahsoka didn’t hear him for the rest of the journey back shipside.

And well, if the ride there was bad, this was even worse; the harsh, raw noise fizzling in and out sharply like a radio tuned to the wrong station, Ahsoka could tell the echolocation of her montrals was screwed over from their sensitivity.

Her headache was absolutely piercing , and she’d rather stay curled into this little, grumpy ball she’d become than face — or rather, hear — the chaos of a post-battle war ship.

But, well, Fives had always been intuitive; always been the first to adapt to any situation — it was what made him so reliable despite his big mouth and even bigger personality.

And however much Ahsoka was not in any way, shape, or form thankful for his large mouth, she was, however, quite grateful for his intuition.

And his intuition, it seemed, came in the form of a silent order relayed through inter-helmet comms to vacate the ship upon landing and to “ kriffing leave the Commander be for Maker’s sake, and be quiet,” and then firm hands deliberately, but not unkindly, pulling her hands away from the throb in her head and burn of her headsails to press two little tablets of what she could only assume to be painkillers into one palm and a water flask into the other, and leaving her with a cordial pat on the shoulder and some carefully, quietly spoken words.

“Kix is ready when you are, kid.”

His footsteps echoed through the pounding of her skull as he walked away, and she was left to a barren, abandoned — and quiet — ship.

She forced the pills down; didn’t bother with the water — too much effort.

Ahsoka groaned as her head throbbed anew.

And kriff, Ahsoka hated most everyone right now -- (just maybe not him).

But that was a big maybe; it was Fives, after all.

#star wars the clone wars #sicktember #Ahsoka Tano #fives #ahsoka and fives #hurt ahsoka #hurt/comfort

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brokenbeskar · 3 years

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Interception

Chapter Four of Memories Reforged (Din Djarin x Reader)

Word Count: 7.8k

Summary: Karga had warned that the two of you would have to work together to catch this bounty, but who knew working together would be so difficult?

Warnings: some canon typical violence, but nothing else!

A/N: This chapter was a STRUGGLE to write, but I have been so excited for it! I hope my hard work payed off and you all enjoy it!

Sixty thousand credits. Sixty thousand credits. You have to keep repeating it to yourself as you scan through the passing crowd on one of the lower levels of Galactic City. Taking bounties on Coruscant was never easy, and quite honestly it was beyond exhausting. Thousands of city blocks stacked on top of eachother and spanning the entire length of the planet made it that much easier for bounties to blend in and hide. You and the mandalorian had decided to split up to cover more ground, but even between the two of you it could take weeks to finally find your quarry, and that was time you didn’t have.

So here you were, on a vantage point scanning the streets below you on the west end, looking for any sign of your bounty. Nothing...nothing...nope...still nothing. A lot of the passersby were shady, as to be expected, but not who you're looking for. The lower you got in Galactic City, the more crime ridden and poverty stricken it became, a prime place for spice runners and black market trades. Which is exactly why you were looking here.

The bounty you’re after, Kargra warned that the two of you would have to work together to catch her, and you know why. Her name was Yanu Nuld. This particular bounty was a renowned thief. She was known for pulling off incredibly risky heists but somehow managing to never get caught. She was incredibly cunning and deceitful. Known for convincing others to help her only to leave them abandoned and easily caught with nothing in return. All of the intel gathered on her was information happily given up from those scorned by her mendacious ways. Above all though, she was incredibly smart, a master evader. The price on her head was only as high as it was because of how many failed attempts there have been made to capture her.

Yanu was clearly a thrill seeker. Hearing how high stakes her last few heists were, you wonder if she’s getting bored. It was no wonder she was here on Coruscant, there were plenty of valuables to go after, and with the thriving black market beneath your feet, she could easily make more than a few credits in one evening alone. That can’t be why she's here though, no-- she has to be after something bigger. She’s not here for some measly credits and you know it. That would be too easy for her, she needs something more exciting, more risky, more fun. What though? You didn’t intend to find out, just grab her and go as fast as possible. Sixty thousand credits were on the line here, and maker, you needed them. She was just a way to get you one step closer to your new ship.

As you’re scanning the crowd you notice a familiar, irritating gleam of metal. You huff angrily and activate the commlink in your helmet. The two of you had synced them up before you split up to communicate, but clearly there wasn’t enough of that going on.

“What are you doing here?” You bark out through the comm, and you see him immediately look up to your vantage point as if you had shouted it over the crowd.

“Looking for the bounty.” He deadpans and it infuriates you, you roll your eyes under your helmet.

“Stand up at the cantina not work out for you, shiny?” A mocking tone was oozing from your voice before you suddenly changed your demeanor and snapped out at him, “We agreed I would take the west end, and you would take east.”

“I finished sweeping the east end, she's not there.”

“Well I don’t need you to double check my work.” you spit out bitterly at him. How he managed to constantly get on your nerves was a skill of its own. You try to push your irritation aside to focus on the bounty you still had zero leads on. “I’m assuming since you’re here you didn’t get anything good from the jeweler?”

There's a long pause on his end before he replies, “I didn’t speak to the jeweler.” He says it slowly, drawing it out. He sounds almost as irritated as you.

“What do you mean, you didn’t speak to them?” You speak out through your clenched jaw. Your irritation is much more obvious than his, but you can’t help it.

“You never asked me to.” it’s true, you didn’t, but you thought it should have been obvious when you told him you thought they might have some information.

“Dank farrik! Fine!” You spit through the comm and jump down onto the dirty street below you, heading off in the direction of the jeweler. “Just keep doing whatever you’re doing. Let me know if you get anything.” You switch off the comm before he can say anything else.

You’re grumbling angrily under your breath as you trudge through the dirty streets. You and the mandalorian had been constantly getting into each other's way, you don’t work well together at all. It’s not like you don’t know how to work with others. Kriff, you got into this profession with a partner, working with someone else should be more natural to you than it would be alone. Something about this mandalorian however, was making this job far more difficult than it already was.

Since you landed he’s been getting on your nerves. The both of you couldn't agree on anything, you are uncoordinated together, pushing each other away like opposing magnets. At the same time however, you kept getting in each other's way as if you were being drawn together-- like magnets. You would go to question someone, only to find he was already there with the same idea. You would go to search a new area, only to see his damned shiny armor somewhere close by. The both of you even physically collided with each other once rounding the same corner. You were seriously only one more run-in away from locking him back in his ship and finishing this job yourself.

You pull out your tracking fob and hold it out in front of you to see if you can get anything, but the beeping is still just as steady as it has always been. She must be screwing with you on purpose, running in circles around the same block. At least you know she's still in the area. You keep walking, sweeping the fob in front of you to see if you pick up anything new, but you feel someone watching you. You feel it on the back of your neck, like electricity running through the air. You look to your right where you feel it, and see someone dart into the darkness.

Interesting...

Pocketing your fob you decide to investigate.

You step down a couple steps into the dark alley and change the setting on your helmet’s display to look for footprints. Bingo, bright red and clear as day. You follow them with your visor, whoever it was, they were running when you caught sight of them. You can tell based on the spacing of their prints and just how far they went considering you just saw them a minute ago. Walking along with them, you keep your eyes peeled, scanning your surroundings with your visor, looking for anything out of place. You’re just hoping this isn’t a trap.

You follow them down the dark and damp alleyway, until the footprints your tracking come to a halt. It’s like whoever you were tracking simply disappeared. You look up and around the buildings next to you, whoever it was had clearly taken higher ground. You spot them on the heat signature, crouched on a ledge.

“Do I have business with you?” You call up to them, letting them know you can definitely see them.

“Should have expected a mandalorian to find me that easily.” They jump down from their ledge and saunter over a few steps closer to you, but make a point to keep their distance. You can’t exactly get a good look at them, their hooded robes concealing most of their features.

You can’t help but scoff, “You say that as if that wasn’t the most obvious hiding spot. Too predictable. Now what’s your business with me.”

“I have...information.” They seem to hesitate with their offer, but it causes you to tilt your helmet up in interest, so they continue, they’re voice dropping in volume, barely above a whisper, “I know the bounty you’re after.” oh now this was interesting. Definitely not what you were expecting, and you have a pretty good feeling it could be a trap, but maybe that's exactly what you needed.

“I’m interested,” You admit, “What can you offer me?”

“Not so fast, I need something in return--in exchange. I need you to guarantee my safety.” They seem rushed, on edge.

“Your safety? From what?” You tilt your helmet at them quizzically.

“From her. And--and I want to walk away with my record clean. I don’t want anyone to know I’m involved.” They were definitely panicked, there's an urgency in their voice, a sort of desperation.

“I can’t do anything about your record, but I have no bounty on your head so you're free to leave this planet, I won't stop you. Though I’m curious, why do you need protection from my bounty?” You relax your stance slightly, shifting your weight to one leg, but keep your shoulders square.

“Listen, Yanu...she’s dangerous. I thought I knew what I was doing getting caught up with her, but when I found out there was a mandalorian holding her puck--,” They cut themselves off and shake their head slightly, “look, doesn’t matter, this ended up being more than what I signed up for. She’s acting careless, like she wants to get caught--and I for one, don’t want to end up frozen in carbonite next to her....or worse…” They trail off at the thought of what their fate could be at the hands of a mandalorian, despite you not even really being one. There's no bounty on their head, at least not one that belongs to you, so for all you care you would shoot them without hesitation if they got in your way. And you get the feeling they know it.

“How’d you know I was after her?” You rest your hands on your belt as you continue to question them. So far their story makes sense, but you’re checking for holes. Any little hint that something doesn't add up.

“We saw you. Two days ago, maybe three hundred levels up. She knew immediately you were looking for her. ‘only a matter of time,’ she said.” The stranger in front of you shakes their head to themselves before continuing, “I didn’t believe her until I saw you interrogating some shopkeep and I saw your puck light up.” They swallow harshly, hard enough you can hear it, “She told me not to worry about it, and I didn’t...until she changed the plan. Look, what she’s planning is insane, and I want out. I tried talking her out of it, but she won’t budge. I feel like she’s left me no other choice. If she finds out I came to you, she’ll--she’ll kill me.” Their voice cracks at the end and you can tell they’re being sincere.

They’ve so far only mentioned you though, they must not know about your mandalorian hunting partner. You want to ask, but know better of it. You don’t want to risk giving up any information that you could use to your advantage instead.

“So why did you come to me then?” You tilt your helmet curiously with your question. Truly it made no sense. “Why didn’t you just hitch a ride off this planet as soon as you got the chance? No reason for you to be helping me.” “Well I -- she…it’s--” They struggle immensely trying to explain, and it immediately puts you on high alert. This was it, that hole in their story you were looking for. The confirmation you needed that this was a set up. A trap.

“Spit it out then.” You punch out the words through your modulator more aggressively than you intend. You hope it’s taken as a warning, a warning that you know exactly what they’re up to. And with the way they snap their gaze to you, you’re sure they get the message.

“Look, it's not what you think,” They wave a hand dismissively.

“What is it then?”

“It’s complicated…”

“Oh I bet it is. Now tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you here and now, you’re wasting my time.” You move a hand to the blaster in the holster on your thigh.

“Wait hold on! You aren’t listening, I told you it’s not like that--”

“Well you better start explaining, and quickly, because I’m losing my patience.”

“I…I--I love her, okay?” They blurt it out in a panic and it takes you by surprise. There was nothing in the galaxy that could have prepared you for that one. Of all the things they could have possibly said, that was definitely not what you were expecting. They hang their head defeatedly, “I love her...but--but she doesn’t--not me. She doesn’t even care about me, I’m nothing more than bantha fodder to her.” They scoff and shake their head, “She was willing to put my life at risk just so she could have a good time…”

“So you came to me as a sort of...revenge?” You tilt your helmet inquisitively. You’re trying so hard not to let the amusement drip from your voice. This was clearly very serious to them, but this all feels so childish to you. This whole situation was borderline hilarious.

“Do you want the information or not?” They cross their arms in front of their chest. You beckon them to continue with a slight wave of your hand, and settle both of yours back onto your belt. They give you a determined nod before they start spilling everything.

“She's going to intercept a trade, some kind of rare crystal--I don’t really know what they are, but I know they’re probably worth more than double the beskar on your shoulders.” “Clearly that's an exaggeration.” You scoff. Beskar, mandalorian iron, was one of the most legendary metals in the galaxy. To imply these “crystals” were worth double? Hearsay. “It’s not. Like I told you, I don’t know a lot, but I guess they were stolen after the fall of the Jedi Temple. I don’t even know where she got the information about the trade, they’re keeping the whole thing incredibly confidential.” The stranger keeps their own voice down, as quiet as they can while they explain this to you. You don’t know much about jedi, honestly you don’t know anything. Whatever these crystals were, they weren’t important to you, but you realize why your bounty has an interest in them, if what your hearing is true.

You take a step closer to the stranger in front of you, “Tell me everything you know about the trade.” And they do, they spill everything they know. It’s not a lot, but it’s everything you need.

“Some kind of black market trade to a private client--I don’t know anything about the guy, but that doesn't matter. They’re doing the exchange on the upper levels tomorrow night. Some kind of hotel or something-- it’s big, real fancy. I’ll give you the coordinates. The crystals are in a case. Yanu is planning on intercepting before the case trades hands. I don’t know exactly how she’s planning to pull it off, but you’ll see her. She's...hard to miss.” The stranger trails off before giving you the coordinates, which you punch into your vanbrance so you can find the location later.

“Thank you.” You nod to them, “You better get going, get off this planet and find somewhere to hang low for awhile.”

“I plan on it.” They toss back at you and begin to head off in their own direction, before pausing and looking over their shoulder, “Be careful, Yanu is dangerous. Even for a mandalorian.” And with that, they continue on their way without looking back.

You wait for them to leave, watch them disappear behind a building, and then wait a few seconds more before you activate the comm on your helmet.

“Hey, shiny. You there?” You call out through the static of the comm.

“You find something?” His voice rings back to you through the static.

“Yeah. Got some information, bounty’s going to intercept a trade. Some kind of rare crystal or something.” Maker, just repeating this stuff out loud sounds so ridiculous. Maybe you did get conned.

“Rare crystals? You got that from the jeweler?” He sounds dubious, but intrigued. How were you even going to begin to explain the situation to this tin can.

“It’s a long story. Rendezvous back at the ship, I’ll fill you in.”

“Copy.” You hear his end of the comm click off and you begin your trek back to the ship.

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

You’re perched up high in the immaculate hotel lobby, somewhere high on one of the various balconies, out of view from the bustling travelers beneath you. To call this a hotel lobby felt...disingenuous. Truly it was something else. Yeah it was the main lobby and lounge for a hotel, but it was unbelievably fancy. Marble, decorated flooring, chandeliers, huge windows, decor unmatched by anything on the lower levels. Large and impressive staircases surrounding both sides of the main desk area, It even sported a small cocktail bar in the lounge area. Staying here alone was a symbol of status, and it showed.

The patrons below were just as decorated as the impressive area around them. Flashy jewelry and flowing fabrics. It always felt strange, seeing the stark disconnect between classes especially since the fall of the empire, and even more so especially on Coruscant. The glittering and extravagant spectacle of it all, it felt so fake to you. You knew the harsh realities of the galaxy, that no amount of glistening gems or extravagance could cover up.

“You sure this isn’t a trap?” The mandalorian’s voice crackles over your helmet’s comm.

“No, but it’s the best chance we got.” You admit. It could very well be a trap, a set up, but that was a risk you were willing to take. Even if this wasn’t a trap, you know she probably knows you're here.

You couldn’t see your mandalorian hunting partner from where you were, he's perched up somewhere away from you, watching the lounge area through his pulse rifle scope. Where though? You have no idea. you both agreed it would be best if he stayed out of sight, since as far as you knew, your bounty was only aware of you, and only you. If you have even the slightest chance of catching her off guard, you definitely want to use that to your advantage.

You notice down below a well dressed Pantoran gentleman leaning against a wall. Nothing outwardly paints him as suspicious, but with the way he’s scanning the crowd, and seems to be lingering for no reason catches your attention. Not to mention the fact that you somehow didn’t even notice him walk in. You continue to watch him. He adjusts his clothes, crosses his arms, shifts his weight from one leg to the other, nothing odd or alarming--until you see him fiddle with something on his wrist and hold it up to his face.

You click a switch on the side of your helmet to zoom in, focusing on him. Oh yeah, he was definitely speaking into a comm unit. You glance down a little lower, and notice the hint of a holster under his jacket, only revealed when the edge of his jacket rides up when he speaks into his wrist. Now he definitely looks suspicious.

“Hey, you see that Pantoran over there by the window?” You ask over the comm, hoping the mandalorian notices the same thing you do.

“Yeah. He’s got a friend at the bar.” you look over, and sure enough, another well dressed man is sitting at the bar, speaking into his wrist. Sitting at the bar, but no drink. A pretty big red flag for you. He was much bigger than the one leaning against a wall across the lobby, built, and clearly strong.

“Extra security, you think?” You ask.

“Probably something like that.” You can hear him shift slightly over the comm, as he adjusts his position.

“No case though. Might be the buyer.” You know the mandalorian you're working with is probably thinking the same thing. At this point you're just trying to make conversation. Not that the silence bothered you at all. It was just...habit? It’s been a long time since you worked with anyone else, but your old habits still get kicked up every now and again. When you and your late husband would go on hunts together, there wasn’t a second of silence between the two of you. It definitely made the job a lot more enjoyable, when the conversations weren’t just strategy and business, but they were filled with playful banter and jokes too. You can't help the snort you let out when you remember the dumbest joke he once told you.

“What’s so funny?” The mandalorian’s gruff voice asks through the static.

“It’s--,” You shake your head lightly and let out another breathy chuckle, “Here, how do you unlock doors on Kashyyyk?”

“Is that really what your laughing at right---”

“A woo-kiee. Get it?” You cut him off, and immediately laugh at how ridiculous it is. Hearing his sigh over the comm only makes it that much better. You remember your response being about the same when you heard it for the first time.

“Hey, pay attention. I got eyes on the case.” he cuts in through your chuckling sternly, and it snaps you back to reality.

You peer down below you, and there, coming through the entrance. Another well dressed man is striding through, a shining silver case at his side. The man at the bar stands, and the one leaning against the wall, begins to make his stride to meet the one with the case. Bingo. That's the trade. You’re searching all over for your bounty, but you don’t see her anywhere. Did she abandon her heist? Did she decide it wasn’t worth it with you after her? Her partner, the one you met in the alley yesterday, told you she would be hard to miss, so why is it you’re not seeing her? The closer together the two men get to exchanging the case the faster your thoughts are racing.

Then suddenly they all come to a halt when a deafening blaster shot zips through the crowd from seemingly nowhere, immediately there are panicked screams and the man holding the case drops to the ground in an instant.

Suddenly, it’s chaos.

Patrons of the hotel lobby are scrambling all over, every which way, screams echoing through the shimmering entryway as disorder reigns beneath you. Did...did the mandalorian just shoot him?

“What the kriff are you doing?!” You shout over the comm, while you quickly scramble to jump over the banister of the balcony you’re on. You aren’t sure why your first instinct is to go for the case, but it is. You’re rushing down to the ground level, trying not to get caught up in the swarm of panicked people surrounding you.

“Wasn’t me.” You hear the shuffle over the comm as he starts to make his move. Well if it wasn’t him then that must mean--she was here.

You keep pushing your way through the crowd the best you can, picking up the pace at the realization that your bounty is close-- when another blast rings through the air. You hear a thud, and see the man who was at the bar earlier on the floor, face down. Between people, you barely catch sight of the silver case lying on the floor next to him. You get shoved harshly from someone on your left, it knocks you off balance for just a second, and when you get your footing back, you finally see her.

It's quick, she darts in to grab the case, picking it up off the floor without a break in her step. And then she's sprinting. You immediately start to sprint after her, aggressively shoving anyone out of your way as you chase her. Luckily she's easy to spot, her partner was right, she's hard to miss. Her bright pink skin, fiery red hair, and even brighter jumpsuit stood out easily in the crowd.

“She’s on the move!” You struggle to get the words out as you fight through the sea of people all swarming to escape the turmoil. There's a break in the crowd, and you use it as an opportunity to close as much space between you and her as possible. She glances back at you over her shoulder and gives you a smirk, before she whips out her blaster and fires twice at you.

Sparks erupt as it hits you once in the chest, and again in the shoulder, the brutal force of it causes you to lose your footing and stumble. The beskar protects you, but the impact is still hard and painful. You quickly try to shake it off and continue on your pursuit, the adrenaline from the chase making the pain dull quicker than it would otherwise, but then another shot, in the same shoulder, combined with someone colliding into you at the same time, and you fall to the ground with a rough grunt through your helmet. You can’t see anything but strangers’ feet passing by you, kriff you need to get it together, and quickly. You cannot let her escape. The shock from the blast still rings through your whole arm, your fingers are tingly and numb, pins and needles stabbing into you while you try to pick yourself off the ground as quickly as you can. You try to ignore it but--maker, the sharpness radiating from it was serious.

You hear another blast just as you get to your feet, immediately followed by the loud crash of glass shattering. You look up ahead of you just in time to watch your bounty jump through the now shattered window, as glass continues to fall around her and all over the lobby. Light catches every tiny shard causing it to glitter as if it were part of the expensive decor. You rush your way over to the destroyed window and peer down, to watch as she takes off in a speeder, case in hand.

“Dank farrik!,” you shout out through clenched teeth, and angrily pound your fist into the edge of the window. You drop down from the open window onto the balcony beneath you with an aggressive THUNK. “She got away, she's heading towards the port on a speeder.”

“I’m on it.” Is all he says back to you. You’re about to ask for an explanation, but you don’t end up needing to, because you see him soar into that direction. The lights from the city reflect off his armour as he bolts through the air with his rising phoenix. Well, that definitely wasn’t fair.

You’re desperately trying to come up with a plan, there's no way you can catch up to her in time on foot--

But then, you have the most stupid, most crazy, most riduclous idea you think you have ever come up with.

You look over the railing of the balcony and take a deep breath. Fuck, you were really going to do this weren’t you?

Yep.

You hold your breath when you jump off, your heart jumping to your throat, as you fall through the air.

You roughly catch onto the side of a speeder passing underneath you, and it dips dramatically with your weight. The person driving makes a loud noise in distress and you fear your going to pull the whole thing right out of the air. Your grip is slipping from your left hand as you struggle to keep hold, your feet dangling in the air below you. Speeders are zipping past you, beeping loudly as they pass your disruption. You’re terrified you're going to fall.

This was it. This was by far the dumbest thing you could have possibly done.

“Sixty thousand credits...sixty thousand credits...sixty thousand kriffing! credits!” You’re repeating the amount over and over to yourself through gritted teeth as you attempt to haul yourself up over the side of the speeder. You get one arm hooked firmly over the side of the passenger door, and you're struggling to pull your legs up, when the driver shouts at you in some foreign language you don't understand. They swerve viciously to the right and the sudden shift in force causes you to slip, smacking the bottom of your helmet against the side of the door.

“Cut that out!” You shout angrily at them and you attempt to pull yourself up again, ignoring them as they continue to shout at you panicked and angry. They jerk the speeder again, even harsher this time, and you get whipped back against the side of it, causing you to lose grip in your left hand and let go of the side of it. Now you’re barely hanging on with one hand, struggling to keep your grip while you dangle in the air as the driver speeds up and continues to veer dramatically to shake you off. Other neighboring speeders beep loudly and swerve dangerously close to your flailing limbs, the rush of air from them passing by only making holding on that much more difficult. If you don’t fall off this thing, you’re definitely getting hit by a different one.

One more rough jolt from the diver and your gloved hand can’t hold on any longer. Wind rushes from your lungs as you start to fall, but you quickly hit the whipcord thrower on your vambrace, and a long length of fibercord shoots out above you, just barely grappling onto the bottom of the speeder you just fell from. The driver yells loudly as the whole speeder tips sharply with the sudden yank of your cord. The sudden halt from the cord pulling taut, yanks you aggressively, and combined with the weight of your beskar helmet, sends a sharp pain through your neck and makes you dizzy.

You shake your head, and try to straighten up, gripping the fibercord with both hands, only to be met head on with blinding headlights from an oncoming speeder. Your breath catches in your throat as you brace for the oncoming impact, the blaring beep ringing through your helmet--but the speeder manages to swerve away from you just in the nick of time, causing your fibercord to sway, swinging you along with it as your grip on for dear life.

You clench your jaw tight as you haul yourself up, climbing the fibercord attached to your wrist, slowly reeling yourself closer and closer to the speeder above you. Some bounty hunter you were. The mandalorian probably had no trouble flying off after your bounty with his jetpack, and here you were swinging wildly from some poor soul’s speeder like an absolute fool.

You continue to haul your way up until you get to the end of your fibercord, and grab back onto the side of the speeder, wasting no time to haul yourself up and over the side of it before there's any further mishaps. The diver continues to yell at you loudly in their forien language, fear lining every inch of it. You grunt as you finally make it into the passenger’s seat, and they start shouting at you louder, growing more and more desperate to shoo you off.

“Let me drive.” You gruff out, ignoring what you assume to be their pleas. Only, they don't move, just continue to shout at you, and honestly you’re getting irritated. You’ve wasted enough time dealing with this, you need to catch up to the mandalorian and your bounty--quickly.

You pull out your blaster and point it at them. The driver shuts their mouth immediately at the sight of the blaster and you can see them gulp harshly. “Move...Let. me. drive.” You enunciate every word, dropping your voice to a threatening level. They make a small noise of distress before nodding once. Good, they understand basic. Or at the very least, they understand the blaster. You grab onto the steering controls with one hand and you awkwardly and unceremoniously trade places with the driver.

“Hold on tight.” you shout over to your unwilling passenger. The second you get a firm hold of the controls, you immediately accelerate, speeding up as fast as the small civilian speeder would go. You can hear the driver next to you muttering what you assume to be prayers under their breath, while they clutch to their seat with all of their strength. They gasp and cry out every time you make a risky maneuver. You're pretty sure you break every flying law Coruscant has, as you zip through lanes of traffic, cutting through with no regard to anyone else flying around you. The aggravated beeps of other drivers fall on deaf ears. You can’t be bothered, you need to catch up.

You see the mandalorian first, following close behind the bounty, dodging the occasional blaster fire she shoots out blindly at him. She's heading right for the dock, she must have a ship lined up and ready to go. Maybe if you’re quick enough you can cut her off from the front. The mandalorian was already right behind her, it was the perfect plan. There's no way she could escape if you pull this off. You quickly veer the speeder to the side and make your way to the opposite side of the dock, picking up as much speed as you can.

The driver in your passenger seat screams as you come barreling down towards the platform of the dock without slowing down. You pull up tight on the controls and level out the best you can, scraping the bottom of the speeder as you slide along the platform. Sparks fly around you, before you come to a sharp halt. You immediately jump out over the side, and start sprinting in the direction of your bounty without a word to the driver.

You can’t see your bounty yet, or the mandalorian for that matter, there's too much clutter along the platform. Crates, supply lifts, workers, and ships are scattered all over, but you know what direction she was heading, so you don’t stop running. Picking up as much speed as you possibly can, blaster in hand, you’re ready. You will not let anything stand in your way.

There was no way she was going to escape.

You hear blaster fire to your left, and see worker droids fleeing the area. You round a corner around a large stack of supply crates when you finally catch sight of her in a wide open landing area. Her neon jumpsuit makes her easy to spot from the rest of the clutter. She doesn’t seem to notice you as she continues sprinting towards what you assume to be her ship, case still in hand, firing behind her at what you can only expect to be your mandalorian hunting partner.

This was it, this was your chance. Your blood is rushing in your ears, you’re locked onto her, the only thing you’re focused on as you continue to barrel towards her. She was close enough, you could catch her by surprise and tackle her to the ground, and the mandalorian could catch up to support. No mistakes--no hesitation--you have to go for it--

But as soon as you take the leap--

PANG

Your vision goes black, a deafening ring goes echoing through your helmet that shifts into a horrible, loud, and awful white noise.

Then, a pain. An absolutely excruciating, sharp, pounding pain, surrounding your entire head. The pressure feels unbearable, the ache searing behind your eyes. Your wincing at the pain only causing it to grow.

You groan gruffly as things slowly come back to you one at a time. You flex your fingers and find them pressed against some kind of metal beneath you--you were facedown on the ground. How did you end up on the ground? You go to lift yourself up, but your vision is blurry and fading in and out. You manage to sit up slightly, and it takes you a minute to realize he's shouting at you.

“Get up! She’s getting away, we gotta get back to the ship.” He grabs you by your arm and roughly helps you to your feet. But? You’re so confused, what just happened? Your head is still pounding, and you feel like you could fall over any second, but you try your best to keep steady.

“Wh-...what happened?” You barely manage to get the words out as the both of you start to run towards your ship. There’s no way it was the quarry...was it? She wasn’t even looking at you, she didn’t even see you. Right?

“You ran into my line of fire, now keep up or we’ll lose her!” he shouts over his shoulder to you, over the noise of the bustling dock. Wait...ran into his line of fire? The realization hits you like a ton of duracrete.

“You kriffing shot me?!” The anger building in your chest sobers you up almost instantly. This idiot actually shot you! You would have had the bounty, she was right there. You practically had her in your grasp, but this absolute, bantha brained--bucket headed---fool, let her get away because he SHOT YOU in the back of the head.

“You jumped in my line of fire.” He snaps back angrily at you. He sounds just as furious as you are. Not sure why--he's not the one that got shot in the back of the head.

“You idiot! You’re lucky I'm wearing beskar, you could have killed me!” You’re shouting only increasing in both volume and fury as the two of you make it to the ship. The mandalorian hits a control on his vambrace to lower the ramp as you approach.

“No, I think you’re lucky you’re wearing beskar.” He challenges, as he quickly makes his way up the ramp and through the hull. Oh you’re gonna kill him. Snap his neck and grab the bounty yourself.

“Are you really that dim?!” You stomp through the hull right behind him, shouting up the ladder as he climbs to get to the cockpit, “Do you not look where you’re shooting? I can’t believe my bounty is getting away, because you shot me! Like a dumbass!” You grip the rungs of the ladder with such force and you stomp your way up, pure resentment filling every single movement as you make it up to the cockpit, “You kriffing moof milker!”

He’s ignoring you now. Slamming down buttons and initiating take off as quickly as he can in hopes of catching up to the bounty as you continue to sling insults at him. You angrily sit in the copilot’s seat and buckle in as the ship begins to ascend.

“I nearly had her! You tin-headed moron!” Despite the quietness inside the ship compared to the dock outside, you’re still shouting at him just as loud. Your irritation for this man is at an all time high, and that's saying something considering how often he seems to bring you to the edge of murder on the daily. All of the times he had gotten in your way this entire hunt, all of the times you felt like he was slowing you down, all of the times you felt like you were better off doing things yourself, and now this? Ohhh you hate him. You cannot wait to capture this bounty, collect your reward, and be on your way. You relish the day you get to turn away and never see this shiny mandalorian ever again.

The ship jerks roughly as the mandalorian rushes the ship through the air, twisting and turning wildly to avoid colliding with the heavy air traffic of Coruscant. Struggling to catch up with your bounty’s ship as it barrels towards the atmosphere. Every rough jolt of the ship only feeds into your seething rage.

“Kriff! Did a wampa teach you to fly? Get it together, dumbass!” He continues to ignore you as he flies, like he can’t even hear you, and maker, it pisses you off. The two of you are gaining on the bounty’s ship, quickly closing the distance between her ship and yours. She’s barely managing to dodge around other ships making their way through air traffic, before it looks like she's going to directly collide with one. She doesn’t slow down and she accelerates towards it, until she fires. Blasting right through the ship and flying through the smoke and debris.

The mandalorian tries his best to swerve out of the way of oncoming debris, jerking roughly to one side, which sends you slamming into the side console despite your seatbelt, but a large chunk still collides with the side of the ship. It’s like deja-vu when the ship gets knocked over in air, the rough shaking and awful clang of metal on metal, alarms blaring deafeningly, reminding you of your wreck nearly a week ago.

“IDIOT!” You shriek over blaring alarms as the mandalorian struggles to get the ship to straighten back out in the air. “Are you trying to kill us?! First you shoot me, and now you’re trying to get us stranded on Coruscant! Do you know how much repairs cost on this maker forsaken planet?!” The ship is rattling violently as he attempts to break through the atmosphere after the quarry, and you’re not sure you’re going to make it. “How did I end up stuck working a job with such a blurg-brained-no-good discount droid?!” You have to shout even louder to even be slightly audible over the blaring alarms, and brutal clunking and rattling of the ship, as she struggles and groans to break the atmosphere.

You are almost positive the whole thing is going to come apart before you can make it into open space, but much to your surprise, the ship manages to stay together and make it through the atmosphere--just in time to watch your bounty jump into hyperspace. The stretch and blink of her ship disappearing is the final blow to your already shattered mood.

“Farrik!” You shout and slam your fist into your armrest. You turn to face the mandalorian next to you, with every intention of flinging more insults his way, when you see him furiously flicking controls on the pain panel. There’s no way--he's not actually planning on trying to make the jump is he? This ship is on the verge of falling apart, you won’t make it. This whole ship will be ripped to shreds with you still in it.

“What are you doing?! We won’t make it! You’re gonna kill us!” Your shouts fall on deaf ears, with the way he’s ignoring you it’s like you haven't said anything at all, like you aren’t even there. You watch in horror as he tightly takes hold of the controls and pulls back, forcing the ship to make the jump. You hold your breath, and the ship jolts and rattles violently, as stars start to smear past the cockpit viewport. Ear-splitting alarms still echoing throughout the ship, as you somehow make your way into hyperspace--

That is until you’re being ripped right back out. The whole ship jerks forward with such force that both you and the mandalorian end up colliding with the control panel with an accompanying grunt. You hear a bunch of things shift in the ship's hull and you pray to the maker the kid is okay in there. You come to a sudden halt and everything in the ship powers down, until you are left floating, sitting in the cockpit in complete darkness, minus a few red emergency lights. There's a slow whirr of all the ship's machinery powering down, until there's nothing. Complete silence fills the cockpit.

“You…,” You start to break the silence, starting off quietly, barely above a murmur, until you gradually raise your volume back to an aggravated yell, “You absolute MORON! Bantha fodder! Moof-milking asshole!”

He says nothing, continues to ignore you as if you don’t even exist as he slowly gets up from the pilots seat and goes to open a panel in the back of the cockpit.

You murmur to yourself again, pressing one of your hands to the front of your visor in pure exasperation,“Di’kut…,” You shake your head, before turning to shout at him again, “Di’kutla!” The mandalorian flinches slightly, so subtly you think your eyes might be playing tricks on you in the dark. Oh, but that fuels you, all it took was that slight movement, and you know that must have struck him differently.

You’re not fluent in Mando’a by any means, but you know what you learned from your late husband. And insults were his favorite. They were the first thing you learned, and the thing you’re most familiar with. And now that you know those might actually affect the idiot you're working with? You start throwing out every insult you know, “Utreekov shabiir!” Empty headed screw up, “Gar mirsh solus!” you’re a dumbass, “Di’kut!” Idiot. You say each one with such a passion, because maker knows you mean it.

After messing with the control panel, the lights come back on, and you hear the low hum of machinery powering back up. He doesn’t acknowledge you as he walks back over to his seat and starts flicking switches to power up the ships thrusters.

“We’re going to have to stop on the next closest planet for repairs.” He finally speaks up, but it's your turn to ignore him. You’re furious, this was the worst hunting experience you have ever had, and it was all his fault. Your bounty was long gone by now, probably halfway across the galaxy. All that time on Coruscant? Wasted. He doesn’t say anything when he gets up again and leaves you alone in the cockpit, probably to go check on the kid.

You sit there alone angrily staring out as the ship slowly crawls its way along the stars. Seething in your own frustration. At this point, you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it to the next closest planet without killing him first. You hate him, you absolutely hate that shiny, tin-brained, fool of a mandalorian. *** Previous - MASTER - Next

#the mandalorian #din djarin #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin x reader #din x reader #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #din djarin x you #mando x reader #mando x you #reader insert #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian fanfic #fanfic

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the-obiwan-for-me · 3 years

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Yeah, so, I was going to say it "kriff it" and post the first chapter of the sequel to "She Said the Word," "More Than Blood," tonight. About a week before I thought I would, but I was ready to get this damn party started!

Sadly, my very tired, arthritic hand dropped my laptop on my tile floor, and, well, looks like a new laptop is in the works and I'm not screwing around trying to post a brand new work on AO3 from my phone! So, no first chapter tonight!

But, I'm bummed and need some serotonin, so I'm going to share a bit from the chapter!

Quick orientation: this story takes place 8 years after the conclusion of "She Said the Word."

Asks are open if you have questions or want to chat about what might happen! I'm super pumped for this story (and completely terrified, since I don't have the backbone of the Clone Wars to build upon).

Lily hit the duracrete with a clatter and a loud groan. “Kriffing hells.” She lay still for a long moment, willing the air that had been knocked from her lungs in the impact back to where it belonged. “Jare’la,” she whispered to herself in Mando’a, climbing to her feet and looking around for the kid.

She’d fallen because she’d been distracted, trying to keep tabs on the bolting, panicking kid, and now she’d actually lost sight of him. “Di’kut,” she swore at herself, taking off at a jog, reaching out through the Force, searching for a spark of primal panic. She found it, and chased it around a dark corner, only to see the kid scrambling down an access ladder.

“Come on, kid!” she shouted down, wincing at the cold tone her helmet’s voice modulator gave her. “I’m here to help!”

“E chu ta ovv, Mando!” The Rodian boy shouted up at her.

“Rude,” she muttered, while she considered her next move. She could hustle down the ladder, too, and the kid would maintain his lead and she would continue to chase him until he either slipped away in the night on this stink hole of a planet, or run right square into the people she was trying to protect him from.

She could jump, again, as it was only three or four stories, and actually pay attention this time, stopping herself from hitting the pavement quite so hard.

She wished she could use her jetpack- that always made everything easier- but the stinking humidity of Nal Hutta had fucked up the compressors and she’d yet to find time to recalibrate them.

She jumped.

Calling the Force to her, she willed the molecules of the air around her to condense and cushion her. The air ceased to rush past her, and she touched down lightly at the base of the ladder, just as the kid was turning from it and coiling to sprint away.

If it was possible, his shimmering black eyes went even wider and he froze.

“Uba’laz jeedai!”

Lily held her hands up, trying to placate the terrified boy. She thought she’d been told he spoke Basic, but all he’d spoken so far was frantic, rough Huttese. Lucky for Lily, she’d been taught frantic, rough Huttese by her brother.

“Nopa prawda! Dobrah pateesa.”

His eyes traveled up and down the length of her, truly studying her for the first time. “Come on, kid,” she pleaded.

In an instant, he made up his mind. With frightening speed, he ran headlong into her, tackling her at the waist, and they both went tumbling to the ground, a tangle of limbs. He landed a few good hits into her ribs from atop her, but, unfortunately for him, Lily was exceptionally trained in hand to hand, and this kid was just a wild mess of aimless fists and elbows.

In two, swift decisive moves, Lily had flipped their positions and pinned the kid to the ground, his arms trapped to his sides. “Be still. Shulu stidd.” She fished out a tiny holoprojector as the kid fussed and wiggled under her, hissing a string of some of the filthiest Huttese she’d ever heard. “You’re making your mothers awfully proud, kid,” she growled as she activated the projector. Two Rodians flickered to life, and the kid suddenly fell still and his face softened, his terror washing away.

He listened quietly as his mothers implored him to come with the Mandalorian. That they weren’t angry, just frightened for him. Lily felt his intention change and shift, so she scooted away from him, sitting on the ground, pulling him up to a seated position, sat beside him, placing the projector in his hands, and watched him quietly. He played the message twice more before turning his large, black eyes to her.

“You’re really here to help me?” he asked in Basic.

She nodded. “I really am.”

“I’m in a lot of trouble,” he whispered.

“I gathered.”

Stay tuned! I will be posting the whole chapter soon!

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catlordewrites · 4 years

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Between Rivers: Chapter Six

A Mandalorian can't show their face to anyone - with the exception of immediate family. Although they haven't known each other long, there's definitely something growing between them. But is it enough? When an ex-spy must look beneath the helmet to save Din Djarin's life, there's only one option that allows him to continue following his Creed. Marriage.

This story can also be found on Fanfiction.net and Ao3.

First Chapter - Previous Chapter - This Chapter - Next Chapter

Chapter Six

Dafin III was a lot like any other planet with a government that had been destabilized by the fall of the Old Republic. Crowded, dirty, and festering with disease and crime. Drab grey buildings spiked across the skyline, pumping the air with fumes and smog. The Underworld had flourished under the Empire’s indifference, and now that it had fallen and been replaced by the still-weak New Republic, those that had come to power could rule it without restraint. The leaders of crime gangs became warlords, and at the top of that chain was Deedi.

In the Dafin system, at least. His reach didn't go far beyond that. He was no Hutt.

Under Nenana’s guidance, Din piloted the Razor Crest through the high-rises and to the shipyards near the center of the city. He’d been there several times before and would’ve preferred a spot a little farther out, but she seemed to have somewhere specific in mind.

While Din absolutely believed that Nenana had a plan and didn’t doubt that she could take care of herself, he didn’t like the idea of taking her into the heart of Deedi’s domain and leaving her there.

Especially without knowing what her plan was.

Especially without knowing her Plan B or who’d she’d fall back on if things went south.

And especially not… not now.

In truth, he felt ridiculous. He wasn’t completely stupid. He knew he had a crush, and knew that - at the end of his thirties - he was too old for one.

And yet…

He wasn’t sure that he minded.

This - whatever this was - was new to him. He’d been with people before, of course, but that had been purely sexual, quick one-offs to blow off steam. He’d never wanted… well, he wasn’t sure what he wanted, but…

But he would like the chance to find out.

Nenana didn’t seem to share in his confusion. But she probably had more important things on her mind. As soon as the Crest had settled, she was unstrapping herself from the jump seat and leading the way back down into the hold.

Din followed.

When he reached her, she was adjusting her robes, shuffling around hidden items and tightening the belt that held the billowing fabric snug to her waist.

Nenana glanced up and tossed him another bag of credits, which he caught one-handed. “The other half.”

He nodded and tucked it away in his belt.

“I assume you know how to get there?” She asked, pulling strands of platinum blonde hair out of the intricate braided bun and intentionally mussing it up.

“Yes. I’ve done a bounty for him before.”

“Oh?” She grinned. “Who was it?”

“Just some bail jumper,” he said dismissively. “They weren’t worth much.”

“You probably got shorted,” she pointed out. “Deedi’s not known for paying well.”

Din shrugged. “It was a Guild job. I didn’t put much thought into it.”

“Well, Guild rates are better than most.” She brushed a few of the now-frazzled locks away from her face. “You got binders?”

“Yes.” He took the pair from his belt. When she held out her hands to be cuffed, he hesitated. “You sure you’re ready?”

She sniffed. “I told you. Always.”

“Yeah.” He slipped them carefully over her wrists but didn’t lock them. “You need anything else?”

Nenana thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.

Din scrambled for something else to say. The moment they walked down that ramp, she would be Noa Enti, and he, her captor. Even though he would make a terrible spy, he understood how important it was that they both stay in character. If they slipped up and word got back to Deedi, they would both be screwed.

But he didn’t know her exit strategy. He didn’t know her way off world. If he were to seek her out, it would be as an uninvited guest to her safe haven in the mountains - with no guarantee that he’d be welcome. The moment they walked down the ramp, he wouldn’t be able to speak with her as Nenana, and might never get the chance to again.

Nenana sensed his hesitation. She raised her eyebrows. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah…” He almost let it go, almost told himself to get over it and not make a damn fool of himself. “Nenana…”

She gave him a blank look and, in Noa’s Coruscanti accent, said, “Who?”

Right.

He got the distinct impression that she was just making the point that her true identity needed to be kept hidden - or even that she was just messing with him - but it still made him flounder for another moment.

Kriff, he was so far out of his depth.

Thank the Maker for the helmet hiding his face.

“I mean…” Din cursed himself for being such a coward, and then again for spending so much of his adult life going out of his way to avoid friendships, because maybe if he hadn’t, then he’d know what the kriff he was supposed to say. “If I… wanted... to see y… her again… would… how…”

The sentence floundered in his mind. He was getting frustrated. Finally he settled on, “Is… that an option?”

There - he’d said it.

Concealed by his helmet, he squeezed his eyes closed and braced for rejection as a hundred other smoother ways of asking ‘can I see you again?’ Raced through his mind.

He… he literally could’ve just said that: Can I see you again?

After this is over, can I see you again?

Kriffing hell.

“I think… she would be amenable.”

Din’s eyes snapped open to see her blinking up at him. Her expression wasn’t easy to read, but it seemed genuine. She looked thoughtful, maybe a little surprised, but nothing on her face suggested that what he’d said was outrageous or unpleasant.

“Really?” He couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice, which only gave him something else to be embarrassed about.

Her Movetian accent made a reappearance. “Yes. Really.”

For a moment, he was elated, then he had another, horrible thought. Their situation wasn’t without risks, and they were both fully aware that Din had the ability to screw her over and tell Deedi that she had some kind of plan. Not that he knew what the plan was, but still...

Was she just telling him what he wanted to hear?

“You don’t… you don’t have to,” Din said hurriedly. “I wouldn’t… our deal still stands, either way. It’s fine if—”

“Mando.” Her voice was gentle but stern, tinged with amusement.

He stopped, head tipping sheepishly to the side.

Slowly, carefully, she reached out with her technically-bound hands. They found one of his, hooking his fingers in hers and tugging gently.

Enraptured, Din watched as she brought it up to her face. Her gaze penetrated the visor - locking onto his and never once wavering.

His fingers twitched reflexively when the tips of his gloves brushed past her cheekbone.

The glove on that particular hand had rolled up a little, exposing an inch or so of the skin of his wrist. His breath stuttered in his chest when she brought it to her lips.

Her mouth was hot… hot, and impossibly soft. His skin burned where it touched hers. Din swore he could feel her pulse through her lips, but it was quick and frantic, so it may have been his own.

The kiss lingered. Din’s blood roared in his ears. When she spoke again, he felt the shape of her words pressed into his bare wrist; felt her soft puffs of breath tickle his skin.

“I mean what I say, Mandalorian.”

When she released his hand, it flopped lifelessly back to his side. Din felt strangely dizzy, like all the blood that was usually in his brain was now collecting in his wrist, which was still tingling where she’d touched him.

He desperately wanted her to do it again.

Nenana smiled at him, and this time it was warm and gentle, lacking the wolf-like aggression and hunger that had defined the others he’d seen. It was kind, and maybe even a little shy.

But it quickly faded. She returned her attention to the cuffs, readjusting them so it was harder to tell that they weren’t locked.

“One more thing,” she started, back to business.

“What?” Din doubted that there was anything she couldn’t make him do in that moment.

“Noa Enti will struggle,” she informed him in her Movetian accent. Nenana lifted her gaze from the cuffs to fix him with a stern glare. “Hold back, and I’ll be offended.”

Din didn’t like the sound of that.

~0~0~0~ . . ~0~0~0~

As it turned out, he didn’t like the practice of it either.

Logically, he saw the necessity of roughing her up a little on the way to Deedi’s facility. It would raise suspicions if she walked in without looking like she’d put up a fight. And he understood what she’d said about being offended - if the roles had been reversed, he’d have felt the same way. He didn’t doubt that she could handle it, he just… didn’t want to.

Nenana seemed to understand this, and made it as easy for him as possible. As soon as she’d stepped foot off the Razor Crest, she had been a completely different person. Nenana Orze was gone, and Noa Enti had taken her place so absolutely that it was almost easy to pretend that the other had never existed.

Almost, at least.

Noa kicked, spit, and fought. She begged, she cursed, and she threatened. At one point, when he’d been temporarily distracted by a particularly aggressive street vendor, she’d balled up her bound firsts and driven them into his ribs. Hard.

The breath was knocked out of him. It hurt.

Then she ran.

It was easier then. The instincts he’d built up from decades of bounty hunting had kicked in, and he’d had no qualms about cornering her in an alleyway and slamming her into the wall.

When she came away with a bloody lip, Din froze. Horrified. For a moment, he was about to stutter an apology and try and clean her up, but then she lashed out at him again, enough to cause him more pain, and he remembered that she was literally paying him to do this.

Redin Deedi’s facility was a tall, skyscraper-esque building. From what Din already knew, Deedi’s personal chambers were hidden away somewhere near the top, with chambers for balls, parties, and formal dinners with other Underworld crime lords as well as government officials from surrounding systems tucked away in the middle levels.

Oh, to be a disgustingly wealthy criminal.

Deedi’s guards had let them in without question. Bounty hunters came in and out all the time. They checked who he had, and the name Noa Enti got them an immediate audience with Deedi himself.

Din wondered if there was more to the story of Noa Enti and Redin Deedi. Maybe he would get the chance to ask her about it later.

He hoped he would.

It wasn’t until the exchange had been made and he was back out in the crowded streets of Dafin III that he wondered if she’d actually meant what she’d said about being open to seeing him again.

Namely because they hadn’t figured out a when and where. Did she expect him to wait for her at the Crest? Or would it be too dangerous for her to leave the planet the same way she’d arrived? Was he welcome to visit her on Movet?

She’d already proven that she could find him whenever she wanted, but something about that made him wonder if she actually would.

He knew she could lie - hell, she could lie better than anyone he’d ever met. So it wasn’t exactly hard to imagine that she had told him what he wanted to hear - to ensure his compliance, or maybe even to protect his feelings.

Din knew he didn’t have room to complain about it. The bounty for Noa Enti had been worthwhile. 50,000 credits plus the 15,000 Nenana had given him - he was 65,000 credits better off, and had barely broken a sweat to earn them.

He knew that he could just leave. If she’d been serious, she knew how to find him. If she hadn’t, well… there wasn’t anything to be done.

But still, he lingered. He wandered the streets for a bit, visiting the vendors selling all kinds of illegal substances and weapons, taking the time to go ahead and restock his supplies, which had been dwindling for a while now.

All the while, Deedi’s fortress loomed over everything, feeling very much like the malicious little brother of the elder god mountains protecting Nenana’s haven.

If nothing else, he hoped to learn if she’d gotten out safely.

The ground rumbled beneath his feet. Din whipped around from where he’d been haggling for some extra medical supplies just in time to see the second and third explosions envelop two sections of Deedi’s skyscraper in flames.

The first had happened near the top of the building - Deedi’s private meeting rooms, at a guess. The other two were lower, carving out huge chunks of steel and rock - crippling the stronghold.

The people of the city were out in the streets, pressing together in throngs to watch the spectacle. Glass and twisted lumps of molten steel were raining down, but the structures that sprawled around the base also belonged to Deedi, so no one much cared.

The smoggy sky was already dark with smoke and ash. The drone of city life was drowned by the wailing of alarms and the thrum of droid-piloted fire suppression vessels already swarming the building, combating the roaring flames with streams of water and foam.

Din shoved credits at the vendor, who was no longer interested in the transaction and shoved the supplies into the russack sack he had thrown across his shoulders before pushing his way through the crowd, making for the source of the commotion without a second thought.

~0~0~0~ .

#din djarin #din djarin x oc #din djarin x reader #the mandalorian #the mandalorian x oc #the mandalorian x reader #mandalorian x oc #mandalorian x reader #mandalorian #fanfiction #fanfic #fic

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letitrainathousandflames-archive · 4 years

Text

Exile Au Minific

If you wanna read the first Exile AU fic, click here

Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Relationships: ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-21-0408 | Echo & CT - 9512 | Dogma

Tags: Fix-It AU where Fives, Dogma and Echo are living in exile in a distant planet, self-harm mention, torture mention, medical mention, hurt/comfort

The first night having Echo back with him, Fives feels as happy as he thought he would never feel again. But the happiness is tinged with confusion. Fear, even. Fives feels like he’s walking through unknown territory without a map or a star compass; wadding through mud and only hopinh he will be met with high ground at some point.

He pats Echo’s shoulder after dinner as he picks up his brother’s now empty plate and feels an uneven nub under his blacks. He pushes away the thought that Echo might have even more bolts and metal screwed into his bones and melded with skin and muscle, and he does the dishes in uncharacteristic silence before Dogma gets up and walks up to the sink, elbowing him to the side.

“Go catch up with your batcher, sir.” the younger clone says sheepishly “I take it from here.”

Fives looks down and purses his lips at the sight of Dogma’s arm as he pulls back his sleeves, showing the bacta patches underneath. That’s right, he had listened in to Dogma and Kix’s talk about Dogma... habit.

Fives looks from Dogma to Echo, who is now absently tapping his prosthetic fingers on the table. One of his brothers was hurting himself, and the other had been tortured almost to death by the seppies.

Fives draws a deep breath, closes his eyes for a moment before reopening them. This... This was familiar. This was known territory again. He had to be a good vod and protect his brothers, and that was what he excelled at.

“Thanks, Dogma.” he says softly, and Dogma looks at him with wide eyes, clearly finding the polite words in place of the usual grunt very strange

“You’re... welcome, sir.”

Fives rolls his eyes.

“Lose the ‘sir’ already.”

Fives sees Echo standing up and rushes over to him, stopping halfway from grabbing his arm.

“You- Can you walk, brother?”

Echo is still not quite balanced on his prosthetic legs. If anything, the legs and arm that Kix and General Skywalker had fixed him up with seemed to be top of the line, wired to capture the electric pulses from his brain and send every command to walk, move or grab to the prosthesis.

Still, one can’t get used to heavier, non-biological limbs overnight, especially given the level of damage and exhaustion Echo’s body had been put through. The fact that he was standing on his two feet right now was already impressive in itself.

“Just need some rest.” Echo said, and his heavy eyes and small voice made it clear “Kix said I need to sleep as much as my body wants me to, and that I shouldn’t fight off tiredness.” he yawned “Can you show me the barracks?”

Fives chuckled softly, showing Echo the way down the small corridor.

“We call it ‘bedroom’ now, vod.”

“Ooh, fancy, I feel like a civy.”

Fives opened the door and showed the small bedroom. Eventually he could maybe squeeze a third bed there, but for now...

“You can have my bed.” Fives says with an easy smile; he knows how kriffing nice Echo has to be all the time, and how he will refuse if he even imagines that he’ll be inconveniencing Fives “Just let me close the curtains or you’ll wake up with the sun right on your face-”

“No.” Echo cuts him off “You have to stay.”

“Vod, I’ll be fine on the couch, you don’t have to...”

“You have to stay.” Echo repeats, his flesh hand grabbing at Five’s wrist. His grip feels weak, not at all like the proud ARC trooper he had been before “Together, I mean. I can’t...”

He looks away, making a few attempts to speak, opening and closing his mouth. Fives notices him blushing and just allows him the time to gather himself and explain what he wants. And if it’s within Fives’ reach, he will do it. Anything for the brother he thought he had lost forever.

“I can’t... sleep alone.” Echo says, eyes low at the floor “Kix had to be with me the entire time in the medbay because I can’t... I just.” he squeezes his eyes shut, exhaling sharply “Kriff, I’m so sorry...”

Fives carefully wraps his arms over his brother, placing his chin over Echo’s shoulder. He feels thin like a shiny, the youngest of them, despite his still large build acquired during their ARC training. He can feel Echo trying to hold back a sob and it makes Fives’ heart ache.

“Hey. Don’t apologize for anything. Of course we can sleep together. It’ll be just like when we were cadets and I would sneak you cookies Hevy and I would steal from the kitchens. Remember how you would complain that it was against the rules that until we shoved a cookie in your mouth and you were suddenly not so worried about the rules?“

Fives hears Echo choking out a small laugh, and he holds him close still. Yeah... Today he could squeeze himself in the small single bed with Echo. Maybe tomorrow he could try to make him some cookies. One step at a time, and he would be able to protect both Echo and Dogma. Fives would never give up on his brothers.

#my fics

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aboyandhisstarship · 3 years

Note

i want a foxiyo Pendragon fanfic

ok...but it’s not really my best work, let me know what you think:

Pantora:

Riyo was sitting in her family home, in front of her was a human she had never met before, he was down on one knee saying “Riyo, it’s so nice to meet you I’m Press Tilton, and I have something very important to tell you.”

In his hand was a ring.

years later:

Journal number 15, Coruscant:

SPACE! Now that I have your attention Mark and Courtney, this one is a bit weird; ok in fairness they are all weird. You see this territory, is a not a single planet in an instance in time but a galaxy…like a full on alien life galaxy it is honestly sick.

One rub as there often is, is that this galaxy is in the middle of a civil war, ya I know that screams ol Saint Dane, But so far no signs of him. Of course that does not mean he is not around. This is Saint Dane we are talking about the guy can be anyone.

But let’s get into it. I climbed out of the flume and I was in a concrete style room. So this place is at least slightly advanced.

I glanced to the floor and saw the clothes of this territory. Yea, I was not a fan, in my time travelling Halla I have run into some questionable fashion choices. But this, this was rough.

First was a puffy shirt, a bright pink puffy shirt. Kind of like pirates wear, Bell bottom looking pants with weird metal boots. And a Petty coat looking jacket, as I was getting dressed (leaving on my Second Earth boxers, I have to draw the line somewhere) I was thinking that maybe Saint Dane left these clothes here. I mean come on, I looked like a rejected Pirate in a Disney movie from the seventies, there is no way people actually dress like this.

Underneath the small pile of clothes was a black item, it looked kind of like a Nurf gun, but this bad boy did not fire foam darts, nope…it shoot lasers! Again Pretty cool. But of course my bubble was burst pretty quick after all a weapon meant only one thing, Quigs…god damn it.

I gently pushed open the exit from the flume peaking my head out gun at the ready to shoot any yellow eyed freak I saw, but the room outside of the flume was pretty quiet, it looked some kind of spare parts storage room.

Scattered all around where scraps of metal and wire in what looked kind of like giant plastic boxes. I stepped out of the room closing the door to the flume, it looked like it was built into the wall, the Star was visible, craved into the wall as always.

I kept the blaster close as I crept out of the machine room and there I spotted them, robots! Like something out of Sci fi! I was starting to worry that maybe Coruscant was a territory of all Robots. Honestly that sounded kind of cool but then again, I was not fond of the idea of Saint Dane logic bombing an entire city.

As I crept along trying to figure out how to get out of the machine shop, a robot turned to me…and it’s eyes they were yellow.

Quigs…yea Gulp.

The machine let out a loud chirping and his buddy’s came calling, close to 20 or 30 of them carrying tools of some kind eyes glowing and they were coming for me.

I aimed the gun and pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Now I have not actually fired that many guns in my time travelling the universe, most territory’s don’t have them. I looked to see if I could find a safety like switch, as *ZAPPPPPPPPP* some kind of electric blade sailed past my shoulder, I rolled onto the ground and took off running picking a direction.

For once I actually chose right, the robots were hot on my heels but I saw an opening, where something that looked vaguely car shaped was waiting.

Ignoring the nagging reminder that I left Second Earth before I ever learned to drive I dove for the car thing, A robot jumped on after me but I managed to kick it off. Before I crawled into the driver’s seat saying “oh god oh god, ok pedals?”

I scanned the ground, no pedals; I didn’t see a key like cars on Second Earth.

Then on the steering wheel, ok it was not a wheel, at least not in the way you are thinking of, and more like a yoke, like on planes. Anyway there were two buttons on the wheel I hit them and the Car thing took off hard super hard.

“Woah woah slow down! Uhh breaks!?”

I scanned the controls for the brakes as I pulled up ending up in traffic, as I was bobbing and weaving saying “Please breaks, auto pilot, something anything.”

Now then I heard sirens, great the police…this will be fun to explain.

The police demanded “pull over!”

I called back to the police were on hover bikes along side of me “believe me I would love to, but I have no idea how to drive this thing!”

The cops fired a dart thing at my car and took control, think god.

We gently landed on some kind of platform, Aliens walked by clear as day. And they were dressed more cohertly then I was, as I was looking around before the cop said “sir, we need to see some ID.”

Uh oh, I turned to the cops, they were white armor with red stripes and they were armed, blasters at the ready, I smiled sheepishly “would you believe me if it told you I lost it?”

Another cop spoke “sir, put your hands up please.” It was a different guy from the one that talked before, and yet sounded the same, maybe they were robots.

They aimed at me saying “sir, hands up!”

I slowly raised my hands above my head, as they reached into my coat and pulled out the gun that was left at the flume…I forgot I had that.

I was surrounded as they said “hands behind your head!”

I did and was swiftly handcuffed, great start.

One of them asked “are you with the sepies!?”

I had no idea what he was talking about, well it was coin flip time. “uhhh yes…?”

The cops tensed up, welp wrong answer the officer said “on your feet I think you need to see the commander.”

I was shoved into their car thing as they went a lot smoother then my driving, which in fairness was not hard. I looked around at the active and vibrate city of Coruscant and I noticed the lack of green, I mean New York had Central park, in fact most Big cities I could think of on Second Earth had some kind of Green plants, but here nothing…it was literally all city.

We spent about 5 minutes travelling through the city before we arrived at a building, it was rather bland in design, and made of the same slate material as the rest of the city, I was led inside and shoved into a small room, but not before being searched again. I figured they would take my ring, but they examined and scanned it before handing it back to me and leaving me to stew.

After a few minutes I started to look around, after all I needed to bust out of here, either high tail it back to the flume and come up with a new plan or hopefully dodge the heat.

Well the room was escape proof, or at least seemed that way, so I was stuck there in my pink shirt feeling like a fool.

A few minutes later another cop entered wearing the same armor as the others. I was still not sure if this guy was a robot, he said flatly “my men tell me you are a separatist.”

A Separatist, I thought they said, ohh I guess I should have seen that one coming as I scratched my head “yea that’s me…big Separatist.”

I mean I had literally no other option but to stick to the story at that point, and just hope these guys would not shoot me.

That’s one the guy walked over to the camera in the corner and turned it off, uh oh I had seen enough detective movies to not like where this was going. Then he maundered his armor before pulling out something on a piece of string it was a heavy sliver ring, with a large slate stone in the middle, a traveler ring!

I exhaled “oh thank god, I thought I had really screwed the pooch on that one.”

The guy took off his helmet and revealed a man, he was dark skinned, the closest thing I could think of in Second Earth terms would be the natives of Hawaii.

The guy said simply “my name is Commander Fox sir; I am the acolyte for this territory.”

I nodded “Bobby Pendragon, so what is Saint Dane doing here?”

Fox looked down, the guy looked tired. Honestly I was a little worried as he said “Kriff I have no idea, I mean if he is looking to cause Chaos, then he need not bother.”

He reached over unlocking my handcuffs as I asked “that bad huh?”

Fox nodded “worse, thousands dying a day, millions more displaced.”

I bit my lip, yea this had Saint Dane written all over it, I asked “can you get me out of ya know jail?”

Fox scratched his head “yea I will say…you’re an undercover spy for us?”

I looked at him “will anyone buy that?”

Fox answered “probably.”

Probably probably! I’m looking at whatever the punishment for treason is here and he is hitting me with the probably!? I stood up saying “I sure hope it does, I’m not in the mood to get the lethal injection.”

Fox looked at me before saying “yes I suppose, so you have done this kind of thing before?”

I followed him toward the door “the getting arrested after arriving thing? because honestly, this is a first.”

Fox said “no the, fighting Saint Dane saving the day thing.”

I sighed “honestly…I have lost count I have done it so many times, I mean I win some, he wins some…but every day is a new one.”

Fox pushed open the door “yea that makes sense.”

9 hours later, that’s right guys…it took 9 hours to get out, but when we did I was taken toward a truly impressive building., Fox told me “this is the galactic senate, the seat of government for the republic.”

Again, cool…but my gut was telling me something was off, I mean this territory was at war. The question was why and what role did Saint Dane play.

As we walked through the lavish halls, I saw some oddly dressed folks, Most glared at Fox like he had run over there dogs. And nodded at me like I was one of them. I tried to blend into the background best I could, but it was hard.

After a few minutes we arrived outside of a room. Fox knocked and a second later a voice said “come in.”

The door opened to show a quiet office, inside was a woman with blue skin, she looked to be maybe 20 years old, and her hair was purple she had strange gold streaks along her cheeks. She seemed flustered rushing to meet me.

The girl said “Bobby Pendragon? Press told me all about you, Riyo Chuchi traveler from Coruscant …but you knew that.” She babbled

I raised my hands “pleasure to meet you; you have a nice place here?” Honestly my experice in this territory had not been super positive so far.

Riyo looked me up and down before asking Fox teasingly “this is what you left for him?”

Fox blushed “look…my fashion sense is not exactly.”

I jumped in to cover for him “it’s not the worst thing I ever had to wear on a territory.”

Riyo looked at me asking “oh and what is?”

I answered easily “Eelong, Humans are not considered to be intelligent beings, so they are…well long story short I had to wear rags…yea that place was not fun, almost gotten eaten by a raptor…oh and the Quigs were…”

I looked around the room seeing there eyes start to glaze over, I scratched my head before saying “so you know what Saint Dane has planned here?”

Riyo looked down “I have no clue, he could be anyone…there is a lot of corruption in the galaxy…but there is one woman who can perhaps help us find out who is playing all sides.”

I plucked down on her couch asking “any paper around here, I got to start my journal?” Fox hugged Riyo real deep before leaving…oh looks there is something there, nice.

That’s when I was given the freaking sweet holo recorder I made this journal on Mark and Cortney, I think this one is even better then Veelox? Your thoughts…well as I am writing this, tomorrow Riyo and I am visiting two important types…I am pretending to be from the distant planet of…Bronx, let’s hope they don’t space google it.

The fellows I’m meeting is a Senator like Riyo, Padme something and her secret husband a General Anakin Skywalker, who belongs to group of solider monks…sounds pretty cool. Oh and Riyo tells me they can read minds…great

Miss you guys stay safe

End of Journal 15:

#Foxiyo #Pendragon #first time writing foxiyo...not that there is much of them sorry

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emptypringlescanister · 4 years

Text

Artifacts of the Past (Part One)

· Pairing: The Mandalorian x Reader

· Genre: Misc.

· Words: 1998

· Summary: Our reader sits quietly in a cafe when the unexpected happens.

· Prompt: You are reading a book quietly at a café when someone passes you a note

· Author Note: So I was searching for writing inspiration while waiting on requests, and stumbled upon this prompt. The Mandalorain wasn’t the first to come to mind, but after reflecting on it a bit, I decided to go with it. This is part one, so hopefully it will be received well and I’ll continue the series. Love you all, enjoy!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

One should never doubt the qualities of things of the past. Even on small, lesser known planets, the past had a way of showing up unexpectedly. When you arrived on the backwater planet that you didn’t even know the name of, you plan was to just lay low for as long as you could. Hopefully until the mess you had gotten yourself into had blown over, however unlikely that may be.

You stayed on your ship for the first few days of your arrival until your already small food supply demanded that you go and get something more substantial. Anonymity wasn’t something you could afford to lack so you set out, an inconspicuous cloak wrapped around you. Hood pulled up, you started towards the small town you had seen below when landing. The planet was green, greener that you were used to, but relatively sparse on wildlife. There were a few bugs that you had noticed flying about but nothing bigger. At least so far.

The trek to town was longer than you anticipated, so it was a relief when you could spot the tops of buildings through a clearing in the trees. Walking was beginning to hurt, so you slipped inside the first bar that you saw. It wasn’t a bar though, but a small shop selling various drinks. The shop was lit by lanterns containing luminescent bugs that crawled along the insides of the jars. The walls were covered in shelves with an assortment of books and DataPads. There was a fair amount of dust on some of them, but otherwise they looked cared for.

“Welcome traveler!” A cheery voice rang out, startling you from your curious inspection. “Can I get you something to drink?” A shorter woman had emerged from a back room and stood behind the counter, tying an apron around her waist. You turned and glanced at her, not seeing any recognition in her gaze towards you. A slight sigh of relief exited your mouth as you walked over to the counter and set a few coins on the counter. “Do you have bark tea?” You asked, voice cracking slightly from disuse. “Of course,” The woman chirped, taking your payment. “It’ll be ready in a few minutes,” And with that, she flounced back into the back room.

Another glance around the room revealed an assortment of mismatched tables and chairs, some plain and others cushioned. The tables contained only a small container of napkins and another lantern with the curious looking bugs. Before sitting, you walked over to one of the bookshelves. Running a finger down one of the spines of the books gave you a heart aching feeling of familiarity. Gently sliding out one of the books, you thumbed it open, gazing at the slightly faded words on the page. “You’re welcome to read any of those!” The owners voice rang out from behind you, causing you to startle and almost drop the book. She smiled at you and set the steaming tea on a table close to you. “The one you’re holding is one of the older books in here. A fantasy book if I remember correctly,” She walked up beside you and gently took it from you. “This was my daughter’s.” She explained, looking down fondly at the book, along with another expression of loss that you knew all too well. “I’m sorry,” was all you could offer, shifting uncomfortably beside her. That seemed to snap her out of whatever memory had entranced her. Handing the book back to you with a small smile, she motioned to the tea she had set down. “Drink up before it gets cold.”

After she had left the room again, you sat down on the cushioned chair – a relief after sitting in a hard flight chair for weeks on end- and took a sip of the tea. Hesitation took over your fingers, but interest preceded hesitance and you opened the book and began reading.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

You weren’t sure how much time had passed when you finished the book, but your tea had long since grown cold and the daylight outside had turned into night. The bugs in the lantern glowed brighter, you noticed. Other people had occupied spaces in the building and were also engrossed in their reading. Some had books as well and others had DataPads, the glow of the artificial screen cutting harshly into the soft light from the lanterns.

You stretched in your seat, some joints popping. A small grunt left you as you relaxed back into your seat and glanced around again. Your eyes fixed on the owner conversing quietly with a younger child at the counter. Their hunched over postures looked anxious and you sat up in your seat, causing their eyes to flick over to you. The woman whispered something to the child and ushered her towards you; you stood, the chair screeching slightly as it was pushed back. The child ran up to you, worry creasing her face. Almost running into you, she frantically grabbed your hand and pushed a crumpled note into it.

Opening it quickly due to her whimpered urgings, a cold sweat seemed to break out on your body as you stared down at the crude drawing of a Mandalorian helmet.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The world around you faded away as the drawing filled your vision. You had expected people to come after you, but to send a Mandalorian? One of the most feared and cunning hunters out there? You were definitely screwed. Panicky tugging of your sleeve brought you back to the world and you stared down at the girl. She tugged harder, pulling you towards the back of the building in the direction of the owner and the back room. You were pulled into the back room where you saw the owner stuffing the last of some rations into a bag. “You must go, now!” ushered the Owner, pushing the bag into your hands.

“Why are you helping me?” you asked. “You don’t even know me or what- “

“That doesn’t matter dear. You have a lost soul, but you have done no evil.”

You barely had time to utter a “Thank you,” when the small girl had you by the sleeve again and pulled you out the back exit into the dark of the night. The only light to guide you was the light filtering through the alleyways from the main street. As you both reached the end of the path, the girl stopped in the shadows, refusing to go any further. You staggered a bit due to her abrupt stop, but her grip was still like iron on your sleeve. You bent down onto a knee and looked into her eyes, searching for any hint of why she might be helping you. All you saw was compassion and a slight hint of fear. An object was pushed roughly into your chest and she turned and sprinted back the way you had come. Looking down to the object in your hands, confusion took you. The book that you had been reading before was settled in a soft cloth wrapping with a small note tucked into the pages of the book. Resolving to read it later, you tucked the book into your pack and sped off in the direction of your ship, not sparing a glance back at the strange town.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Your breath came out in short gasping pants as you finally saw your ship in the near distance. Just as you came up on it, blaster fire erupted behind you, narrowly missing your shoulder and instead hitting your ship. A shriek left your mouth as you sharply changed directions and scrambled back into the tree line. Another shot narrowly missed and you ducked behind a tree for a short second to catch your breath. The forest was silent, watching the flashing blaster lights and your insane scrambling. You covered your mouth to silence your breaths and listened to hear for footsteps or anything that might give away the position of your pursuer. Nothing. Poking your head out and looking around, you noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Trees, bushes, rocks, helmet, a bug, wait… a helmet? “Kriff!” You exclaimed as you suddenly were staring down the muzzle end of a blaster.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Clad in a pair of stun cuffs, you were being roughly manhandles towards his ship which was, ironically, parked a short distance next to yours. How you hadn’t seen it was a mystery to you. But then again, there were more pressing matters than parking. Leading you up the ramp into the cargo bay of his ship, the Mandalorian roughly deposits you into a lone seat. “Stay.” A modified voice speaks, and you can’t help a small shiver of apprehension that shoots through you. You had escaped from enough bounty hunters to know what a carbonite freezer looked like, and the one that he had deposited you next to was not your definition of a good time. Having closed the ramp, the Mandalorian climbs a ladder and ascends into what you assume was the cockpit of the ship. A few moments later, you hear and feel the ship roar to life and begin its travel back into space. Small lights clicked on as you left the planets atmosphere, allowing you to see a small distance around the ship. Eerie shadows were cast, and a feeling of unease fills you.

Looking down at your iron clad wrists, you start to wriggle your hands out of the cuffs. Succeeding a few moments later, you reach for your bag which had been tossed into a corner haphazardly. Bringing it closer to you, you rummage through it and bring out your book. You had already assumed you were in for a long flight seeing as you were a long way from your home system, even with the option of hyperspace travel. You were going to have to bide your time until you arrived because becoming one with a carbonite freezer due to acting up was not high on your to-do list.

A few pages into the book, you are startled by a hand being pressed against your leg. Looking down, you see a green... child? In long brown robes with ears which were entirely too big for him. His eyes were what drew you in most, large and chocolate brown, they held nothing but innocence and curiosity. “Uh, hello?” You said simply, not knowing what else to say. The child seemed content with your choice of words though and gurgled happily as he attempted to climb into your lap. Setting your book aside, you picked him up and deposited him on your lap. He took immediate interest in your hair and clothing, weaving his fingers into both and tugging. You laugh softly and disentangle his small fingers. He whines but relents. Spotting your book, he babbles softly and attempts to reach towards it. “So, you like books, hm? How about I read to you then?” You ask, picking up the book and flipping back to the first page. The child seems excited by this development and settles into your lap, setting his tiny hands on yours and assisting you in turning the pages.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The child’s delighted giggles fill the cargo bay a bit too loudly due to your silly voices of the characters in the story. You frantically shush him, but the damage had been done. Thudding could be heard from the ladder and the Mandalorian enters the bay with you. He looks toward you and the still giggling child holding the book. You think his attention flickers between the ecstatic child on your lap, the book, and uncuffed wrists. The child finally notices him and exclaims happily, releasing the book back to you and making grabby hands at the Mandalorian. Mando swiftly picks him up and deposits him into a cradle you hadn’t noticed before and turns back toward you, silently demanding an explanation. You have none, and all you can offer is,

“I have small wrists?”

End Part One

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #baby yoda #din djarrin x reader #pedro pascal #star wars

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ryder-s-block · 5 years

Text

Jaig Eyes (Ch 5)

Chapter 5/?

Always Avaliable on Fanfic

Chapter Five: The Rescue

“Kida,” Senator Amidala spoke gently through Rex’s communicator. “Everything is fine here. I really don’t think-”

“No, she’s right,” Skywalker cut her off, his voice joining hers. “If Aurra Sing is targeting people that will get your personal protection away from you, she’s coming for you next.” I glanced at the captain, my lips pressing together nervously. “I’ll keep an eye on her here,” the jedi spoke to us again. “Rex, you and Kida do a sweep of the area. There must be somewhere she’s hiding.”

“Yes sir,” the captain responded immediately, tapping his wrist communicator to silence it. He looked sideways at me as I turned the speeder gently, the Senate building coming into view. “So where do you think she is?”

I didn’t respond, teasing my lip with my teeth as I scanned the skyline of the never-ending city. There were a thousand places someone could hide. A million nooks and crannies to crawl. Even more tunnels and broken panels to escape through. “I don’t get it,” I mused out loud, still ignoring Rex’s question. “Why get me away from the senator just to wait until I’m back again?”

“She knows we’re coming, too,” he added with a grunt. “She wants you to. Otherwise she would’ve just killed your friend.”

He wasn’t wrong. She was there somewhere...but she was waiting for me. To make me see my failure? Or was I a target too? I said nothing, struggling to stop my racing mind long enough to reach out with my feelings instead. I pushed past the calm and curious serenity of the captain’s mind and searched the force. I tried to find the signature I had come to recognize as Aurra over our jobs spent together. Cold. Calculated. Composed. But seething below the surface. Angry. Greedy. Manipulative.

“What should I be looking for?” Rex finally spoke, breaking me from my focus. I gave him a glance, shaking my head.

“I’m not even sure. There’s a thousand places she could be hiding.”

“Then what are we hoping to achieve? We should land and form a search pattern. Get teams out.”

I smiled gently, turning the speeder slightly to keep up the perimeter sweep. “I’m sure your general has that covered. We were told to check the perimeter, right?”

He looked forward again, his facial expression hidden from my peering eyes. Still, I could feel his anxiety, despite trying to hide it.

“I didn’t know clones got nervous,” I spoke with a light tone, trying to ease both our minds.

“Why do you say that?” he asked in return, his tension still high.

I chuckled. “I know your training regiment, remember? The Kaminoans worked to eradicate disobedience, fear… individuality.” I was prodding him, and he knew it.

“Yes, we were trained for that,” he answered vaguely. I could tell he was trying to tame his nerves.

I cast him a side smile, but he didn’t see me. “Yet…” I fished.

“What makes you think I’m nervous?” He was getting defensive, so I looked away, focusing on steering the speeder and searching for Aurra.

“I just don’t think any man is free of fear,” I said quietly.

He didn’t respond, but I could feel his mixture of emotions. He wasn’t sure how to react. There was gratitude, anxiety, a sense of duty, and an attachment to the senator. I was sure he inherited that from his general.

We circled for a while longer, my thoughts reluctantly receding from the captain and searching for Aurra again. My gaze turned to the Senate building again, searching for the wide window I knew would belong to the Senator of Naboo. My eyes lifted suddenly, my world slowing as I became hyper-aware of my breathing and heartbeat. The sound of a blaster shot echoed across the open air, my mind sensing the heat of the bolt.

I immediately pulled up on the joysticks, the captain falling forward violently as the speeder jerked upwards. He caught himself with his hands on the dashboard, cursing under his breath. He didn’t have a moment to say something as the bolt flew by us and struck a neon sign. It erupted in sparks, the flashing screen glitching out.

“Kriff!” he swore, both our heads whirling to watch another bolt flying towards us. I dragged on the joysticks, but couldn’t move fast enough. The bolt struck the underbelly of my speeder, the machine immediately lurching to the side. “What’d she hit?” the captain yelled, gripping the side as we lurched wildly.

“The rear thruster has taken severe damage, miss,” Apex responded immediately.

I grit my teeth, struggling to keep us airborne as the speeder began to spin. “Fix! Now!” The dashboard lit up as Apex worked to reroute power and stabilize the speeder again. In a moment, I regained more control, but we still dragged heavily to the side, the back left repulsor struggling to take on the load.

“I’ve done what I can,” Apex spoke. “But the engine will give out soon if you continue to fly.”

“Right,” I said through a clenched jaw, veering the speeder sideways as we turned the corner around the Senate building.

“We need to land,” Rex pushed, his head turned to look back where the shot had come from. “She could fire again.”

“She won’t,” I growled. “At least, not at us.” Rex immediately drew electrobinoculars, peering through them.

“Kriff,” he swore. “It’s Aurra.” He lifted his wrist communicator as I glanced back in the direction he was looking. “General, you need to vacate the Senator’s office. Now!”

I connected his thought, glancing back to where I could see the Naboo office windows, wide and inviting.

“A blaster shot can’t get through these,” I heard Skywalker’s padawan voice through the communicator.

“Sir, please,” the captain shot back. “She’s got a rocket-”

I glanced back again, my eyes catching the bright flash of a rocket leaving the launcher. “Too late!” I cried, veering the speeder sideways. “Hold on, Rex,” I commanded as he lurched, his electrobinoculars flying out of the cockpit. He gripped the side of the speeder, his mind racing. I knew he understood what we were doing. I let go, letting the force guide me as the speeder drifted into the path of the rocket, its underbelly blocking the Senate building. I released the joysticks, grabbing Rex’s wrist and dragging him forward and out of the speeder. We leapt, falling through open air for a moment, before the rocket collided with my speeder.

It exploded violently, its shockwave launching the clone and I forward. Debris flew past us as I felt the searing heat of the flames, the debris flying through Senator Amidala’s window. It shattered the glass, both Rex and I falling through as the flames followed us. I rolled as well as I could in my landing, tumbling to the wall.

I screwed my eyes shut against the pain and flaming debris, slowly lifting my head. “That bitch,” I cursed lightly as I pushed myself to my knees, my body complaining. “Broke into my club,” I grunted. “Stabbed my friend. Tricked me. Tried to sabotage my job. Tried to kill me. Blew up my speeder.” I found my feet, leaning heavily on the scorched wall. I stumbled to Rex, glancing up to see that the room was empty. The far door opened, revealing the senator behind guards and two ready jedi.

The captain grunted on the ground, causing me to kneel beside him. “Kriff,” he swore under his breath. I glanced down, seeing debris wedged under the break in his armor, stabbing into the flesh between his shoulder and chest. My fingers grazed around it, seeing it at a dangerous angle towards his heart.

“Take it easy, Captain,” I commanded as he tried to sit up. “You’re hurt.”

“The senator,” he fought weakly.

“Is safe,” Skywalker cut in as he entered the room, giving me a glare.

Rex nodded at him, before struggling to get in a breath. I removed his helmet for him, his golden eyes staring into mine. I nearly gasped from the intensity he projected through the force. A ferociousness I rarely felt alongside the serenity of his mind. “Aurra,” he said simply, clearly in pain.

I pressed my lips into a line before standing slowly, my mouth curving into a grim smile. I drew my two pistols on my side, the mechanism reacting to my touch easily. They opened and expanded, attaching together to make a rifle. “Don’t worry,” I said cockily as I attached a scope from my belt. “I’m killing her.”

“What?” I heard the senator cry from behind her guards. “She needs to stand trial!” I ignored her and walked to the shattered window, lifting my scope to my eye.

The force rippled and I sidestepped as she took another shot with her sniper. The bolt blasted past me and struck the ground. I took my own shot, but she moved, her figure receding from the balcony and entering the building. I let off another shot and watched it shatter through a window she passed, but failed to down her.

“Well, you get what you want, Senator,” I called behind me. “I didn’t kill her, but now you know what building she’s in.” I cast my glance to the jedi. “Better get your men moving.”

Skywalker immediately consulted his wrist comm, gesturing to his padawan. “Come on, Ahsoka.” The two left the room, medics entering to attend to Rex. I recognized the armor of one, walking over as I deconstructed my rifle and holstered the pieces.

“Kix,” I heard Rex say gently, grunting in pain as the medic examined him. “I’m fine.”

“That’s very heroic of you, Captain,” I teased gently. “But even I couldn’t play off a piece of metal sticking out of my chest.”

The medic -Kix- administered pain relievers to his commanding officer, gesturing to some soldiers to bring in a stretcher. He glanced at me. “I’m moving him to medbay.”

I almost responded earnestly, but my mind stopped me. I put on a gentle smirk and crossed my arms. “I’m not his keeper, soldier. You’re the medic. Do what’s right.”

I felt the confusion ripple off of Kix, but ignored it as he returned to his job and helped lift the captain to the stretcher. He was led from the room, my attention struggling to return to the senator.

“We should get you somewhere safe,” I voiced as I exited her wrecked office and approached.

“I agree,” she responded, glancing over my frame. “And I think it should be the medbay.” My eyebrows lifted, but she continued. “You’re covered in cuts and burns. You can’t protect me if you die from infection.”

“I really don’t think-”

“That’s an order from your employer,” she cut me off. I gaped, but conceded, allowing her to speak. “You can protect me by watching me as you get looked at by a medic. Got it?”

I eyed her for a few moments before finally smiling. “Yes ma’am,” I allowed, giving her a gentle bow of my head. She lifted her decorated arm, gesturing to follow the path Kix had taken with his new patient. I sighed, obliging and leading the way towards the medbay.

The entire building was on high alert, my senses jumping with the anxiety that flowed through everyone. Soldiers were swarming the area, each clad in painted armor. Their eyes glanced my way as I passed, prodding me to wonder if the clones gossiped more than they let on. They were vod...family. I’m sure word had gotten around about the bounty hunter who was trained by Jango. Maybe they were trying to catch sight of my Jaig eyes.

The medbay was empty aside from the captain and Kix. Rex looked pretty out of it as Kix worked on him, removing the shrapnel from his shoulder. Senator Amidala’s gentle hand guided me to sit on one of the beds, waiting patiently for the medic. As my pulse finally slowed and my adrenaline sapped me of my energy, I became aware of the smell. Fuel. Smoke. Metal. Burning hair. My mouth tasted metallic with the blood that slipped from my lip. My exposed skin stung with cuts- none too bad. Even the skin that was covered smarted with a burn on the back of my shoulder, the protective material melting to stick against the damaged skin.

A medical droid approached me and I let my mind drift as it began its work, slowly peeling away my protective layers. I guided my thoughts away from the horrible burning of the melted fabric detaching from my wounds, dwelling on the clones, surprisingly.

When Jango rescued me from the slavers, he took me to Kamino. The rain was pounding against the ship’s windows, the dark waters darting past as the bounty hunter navigated towards his base. My tiny frame, bruised and malnourished, cowered behind his seat in the cockpit, peering past his shoulder. I hadn’t seen rain like that in my life, feeling the winds pull at the powerful ship. In the distance, lights drew closer, revealing floating platforms that created a city above the raging waters.

I gripped the wall nervously as Jango turned his ship to land, the cockpit rotating with the ship’s movements. He barely looked at me as he stood and deftly exited the cockpit, the ramp descending onto the soaked platform. The bounty hunter looked back at me, his blue helmet under his arm. His black eyebrow lifted, his scarred face crinkling.

“Are you coming, ad’ika? Or are you staying on the ship tonight?” I didn’t move, watching him in fear. “It gets cold here at night.”

I swallowed thickly, slowly moving out from the cockpit and stepping down the ramp. I stopped at the bottom, my hand swiping out to feel the rain drench my skin. The man, now covered in water, gave me an amused smirk. He rolled his eyes before removing his cloak from around his shoulders, the raindrops making small dinging noises off his armor. I jumped as he neared, but his presence was calming...nothing like the Mandalorians I’d spent six months with. He shushed me gently before wrapping the cloak around my shoulders. His hands were firm, but gentle, guiding me out into the rain. I looked up at it, the water pouring over my hood and dripping into my face.

It was strangely freeing. For all I knew, I was walking into slavery again...but this single moment was as free as I’d been in years.

Jango nudged my shoulder gently, leading me across the platform, my feet splashing happily before the doors opened. I was struck with a blaring brightness, the walls and floor all white and clean. The bounty hunter led me with a hand on my shoulder as I struggled to see in the light change. I quickly lost my bearings, the hallways all identical and twisting, not to mention my eyes refusing to focus.

I kept my gaze down, my muscles tensing when I heard a voice. “Jango Fett.” The voice was soft and even, nearly automated. I was aware of a tense presence...something so calm and collected it was sure to be hiding something. My eyes lifted to see a lithe creature with stark white skin that looked as smooth as glass. She had a long neck covered with purple cloth, her rounded face bright against her massive black eyes and split nose.

“Taun We,” Jango responded immediately, slowing beside me. I felt some irritation ripple off of him, but pushed it away. He was Mandalorian. I knew how they felt about force sensitives.

The female--Taun We--cast her massive black eyes down at me. “What is this?”

Jango’s hand gripped my shoulder gently, holding down my flinch at his touch. “I saved her from slavery today. She’ll be staying with me for now.”

Some frustration rippled off of Taun We, but her expression didn’t change. “We have already permitted one child,” she started. “Another-”

“You haven’t given me this one. You’re losing nothing.” Jango’s voice was polite, but masked tension.

“Another mouth is another mouth.”

Jango’s hand squeezed my shoulder gently as his mind turned. “Boba needs a friend. One that doesn’t outgrow him in the matter of months.” His tone was final and the female creature recognized it.

“Very well,” she said. “How long will she be staying?”

The bounty hunter gently nudged me forward, walking around Taun We. “For as long as she needs,” he called back, leaving her behind. I glanced up at him, my eyes curious as they traced over his scarred face. He looked tired.

As we walked, we entered corridors with glass walls, looking down at hordes of men...men that looked exactly like Jango. My heart leapt in my throat as I stopped, pulling from my rescuer to peer through the windows. One looked up from where he ate in the massive mess hall, a scowl on his face, but his deep brown eyes reflected Jango perfectly.

“The Kaminoans are cloners,” Jango explained gently, coming up behind me to look down. The clone saw his source product, giving him a respectful nod before returning to his meal. “They chose me because of my skills.”

I don’t think he expected me to respond. I hadn’t spoken since he took me from Death Watch. “Who would need so many bounty hunters?”

He chuckled. “They’re not bounty hunters. They’re soldiers.” He could sense my confusion. “They’re going to be the army for the Grand Republic. Ordered by a jetii, of all people.”

My nose crinkled. “I thought Mandalorians hated the jedi.”

“We do. But money is money. And this job offered me something I couldn’t receive otherwise.”

I opened my mouth to ask, but was interrupted.

“Daddy?” The tiny voice made my head turn, Jango’s presence immediately blooming with joy...and love. A little boy, his legs stubby and body round with baby fat, stood at the end of the hall. His brown hair flopped over his forehead as his mouth opened in a happy squeal. “Daddy!” He raced down the hall on his awkward legs, making it only halfway before Jango met him and swept him up in a hug.

They coddled for a moment as the boy giggled before Jango turned back to me. I looked over the child before glancing back to the mess hall. There were younger boys there too, some looking strikingly like the boy before me.

“They gave you him?” I asked, not looking at the bounty hunter.

He turned to me, the child sitting in his arms easily. “This is my son, Boba.”

I swallowed. “A clone?”

Jango frowned slightly, but Boba didn’t seem to be paying any attention, squirming in his arms. The bounty hunter set him down, the child hurrying over to stand in front of me. “Yes. But with no growth accelerants, training, or obedience alterations. He’s a normal boy.”

“Obedience alterations?” I asked, looking down at the boy as he flexed his fingers at me, trying to get me to lean down.

“As I’m sure you can tell, I’m an independent man who questions authority. They can’t have that in an army.”

My heart clenched. They were basically slaves...these clones. Being created and bought to fight a war for someone more powerful than them. But then again, were all soldiers like that? Finally, I kneeled down, becoming more eye-level with the little boy.

“Hi Boba,” I offered. He wrung his pudgy fingers before breaking out in a smile. It was pure, his eyes crinkling. Surprisingly, I smiled back, letting him play with my hand curiously. He turned my arm, seeing the brand.

“What’s that?”

I pulled my hand away. “Just a scar,” I offered, seeing Jango step forward as if to stop his son. I looked between the two, feeling the genuine love. Maybe Jango was like the old Mandalorians I’d heard about. Where they valued a sanctity of marriage...respected a woman. I looked back to Boba, seeing his curious gaze. “My name’s Kida. It’s nice to meet you.”

I didn’t have to look up to feel Jango’s smile.

#fanfiction #star wars the clone wars #jaig eyes #rex x oc #captain rex

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thelostgalaxyinspace · 5 years

Note

I hope you'll be inspired to write with this prompt for rebelcaptain: “We have to be quiet.” it could have a couple of different interpretations, could be smutty, angsty, funny

Hi there! I got two requests for this, so I did one light and one heavy. You can find them both here (https://archiveofourown.org/works/18393644/chapters/43560161) ! I really hope you enjoy! ******************************************************************************************

“We are so kriffing screwed.” Jyn growled and pressed her back against the tree. Rain darkened her vision and she held back a cough. Cassian shook his head, not taking his eyes off where the ship was surrounded by stormtroopers.

“Stop it,” he hissed. “We are not. We’re going to be fine We’re all going to be fine.” His voice was strained and Jyn could tell he was also at a loss for what the next step should be.

“We’re all going to be fine?” She scoffed. “Tell that to the pilot on the ship!” Her sneer was palpable and Cassian whipped around to face her.

“Listen to me.” His eyes were dark and she narrowed her own eyes. “We need to be quiet. Do you understand? There is nothing we can do for the pilot. He knew what he signed up for. Be thankful it wasn’t Bodhi.” The rain had gotten heavier and Jyn couldn’t hold back a cough this time. It was cold and they were both soaked through their fatigues. Jyn decided now wasn;t the time to poke holes in his logic. If she did, she was worried she was worried guilt would overtake her. She didn’t know the pilots’ name, age, or who they even were and now they were gone. She’d barely given them a glance when she and Cassian had gotten the mission, which was fairly routine but had gone south when they’d been overrun with stormtroopers. “Jyn,” Cassian said, pulling her attention back. “We are not screwed. We need to hide until the stormtroopers clear out. We’re in neutral territory. They won’t stay here looking for us long. Then we can get a signal out.” Cassian’s voice was grounding. She looked up at him and nodded.

“Right. There was a freighter ship a while back. Maybe ten klicks? If you can fly it, I can get it going. Saw taught me how.”

Cassian nodded. “Do you have the data chip?” He asked. She nodded. If she didn’t, all this would have been for nothing. “Ok,” Cassian said and then exhaled. “Good. There was an alcove a while back. If we can make it back there, we can wait out the invasion.” Jyn nodded.

The rain was still heavy and it didn’t look like it was going to lighten up anytime soon and they needed to get out of there before the troopers turned back from the invasion of the rebel ship. Casian looked back at her and Jyn nodded. The two started at a run around the building, blasters in hand and rain beating down on them.

The alcove was narrow and Cassian stepped aside to let Jyn in first, blaster at the ready so she could turn her back to the entrance and get in. She pressed herself to the wall and took a few steps in. Cassian followed her.

It was dark and they walked a few steps until the area widened and Cassian sat down, breathing heavily. He took off his jacket and wrung out his gloves, expecting Jyn to do the same, but she didn’t move from her spot in front of him. She didn’t sit and Cassian could barely make out the shaking of her shoulders in the dark of the cave.

Jyn couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t been able to think clearly on a battlefield. Maybe she had been eleven? Thirteen at the most, but right now, her head was spinning and her chest was tight. She closed her eyes trying to rid herself of the sensation, but the dark was creeping in on her. Kriff it all to hell, she hated the dark.

When Saw had gotten her from La’hmu they had boarded his small ship. He had walked her to a small cabin that had a bed. He’d offered her a change of clothing, something to eat, and to sit with her for a bit. She refused all of them with a small shake of her head, no words. She hadn’t been able to talk because she was so scared. After that day, Saw told her quiet wasn’t good enough. Quiet was what got people killed. Quiet was for politicians and spies, not soldiers and firebrands like herself. Saw had always liked her fire. Her passion. Her loud mouth and her unchangeable opinions and so she had made an effort to never let her fire burn out after that day, but now, she felt like the rain on this kriffing planet had squelched everything and extinguished all the fire she had.

“Jyn?” Cassian took a step towards her. She was definitely shaking and he swore to himself. He took a step closer to her and he could hear her breaths start to pick up in short gasps and desperate inhales. “Jyn, we have to be quiet.” He lay a hand on her shoulder and gently turned her to face him. Her gaze was glassy and she refused to meet his eyes. “Calm your breathing. You need to calm down,” he whispered. “I’m here this time. You’re not alone. You’re not on La’hmu. You’re not with Saw. You’re not on Scarif.” He racked his brain for whatever he could think of to soothe her. She blinked and took a long breath, visabally slower and grabbed his hand. He let her rest her head on his shoulder and guided her to the ground. He reached into the pocket of his pants to pass her a glow rod, not letting go of her shoulder. He snapped it on and passed it to her, which she greedily grabbed and held it up to look at him. “We’ll be out of here soon, we just need to wait a little longer.” She exhaled, slower this time.

“Cassian, I’m-” She started but he cut her off. He wasn’t going to let her apologize for this. He wasn’t going to let her rationalize needing him now after everything she had been through, He wasn’t going to let her build up her wall again. Instead, he shook his head.

“Are you with me?” His voice was level and calm and she nodded.

“Yes.” The shake was gone. “Yes, of course,” she said. “All the way.”

#rebelcaptain #send me prompts #prompt

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flaming-dumpster · 6 years

Text

Prompt: Hux can't swim

Ship: Kylux

Words: 714

Now on AO3

As a boy on Arkanis, Hux was fascinated with water: from the way the ocean moved and the comforting trickling of a stream to the soft pitter-patter of rain and the way it felt on his skin. Young Armitage had been enamored.

Until he had nearly drowned.

There had been a small rippling river down the hill from the family estate and oh, how little Hux had just want to learn how to swim. The waters had never been particularly fast or harsh in that area, but Hux had always been a wee thing and Mother Nature was not the forgiving kind, sweeping the boy up as soon as he had waded waist deep.

At first he did his best not to panic, focusing his energy on keeping his head above water, but as the waters steadily grew more rough, his resolve began to fade. His saving grace had been when the river banked sharply to the left, and Hux had washed up on the pebbles of the shoreline. It took almost an hour for young Hux to stop shaking enough to stand and make the trek back home.

Fortunately for the now much older Hux, large bodies of water were uncommon in space. Unfortunately, that meant Hux had never had the opportunity to face his fears properly—which brought him to his current predicament.

The Finalizer was docked planetside, while he and the Supreme Leader had taken a shuttle down to meet with the leadership of the rural-yet-prosperous planet nation of Dechanteris. The planet contained important resources, and today marked the beginning of the negotiations for the rights to begin mining for them for the First Order. Hux had no issue with being part of the these negotiations; in fact, he didn’t entirely trust Ren not to screw it up somehow. He did, however, have an issue with the notion that they were to meet the high council on a relatively small island in the middle of a very large lake.

He had just been informed that the only way to reach it was by way of boat.

“And you are positive there is no way to land a small craft on the island?” he asked.

“Positive, General,” Ren replied, side-eyeing him. Ren had been the one in contact with the council, making arrangements for when the negotiations would take place. “The parliament buildings take up nearly the entire landmass. There is no room to land any sort of craft.”

“How is that at all practical?” Hux said, mostly to himself.

“Get in the boat, General.”

Hux could hear the annoyance is Ren’s voice. He swore under his breath and stepped closer to the boat, standing next to Ren now. Hux nearly jumped when he felt a hand touch the small of his back.

“You’re trembling,” Ren said, much softer this time.

“I am not,” Hux snapped. Feeling suddenly determined, he stomped away from Ren and boarded the small boat. His blood ran cold as the boat swayed. “Oh, kriff,” he muttered, plopping himself down into one of the benches in a painfully undignified fashion.

“General.”

Hux’s eyes snapped open, unaware that he had closed them. Ren had boarded the boat after him, and was now standing in front of Hux, looking down at him.

“What do you want?” Hux asked.

“You’re afraid.”

“I am not.”

“I can sense it.” Ren sat next to him on the bench.

“Well, you’ve sensed wrong.”

The droid-operated boat lurched forward. Hux slapped his hands down on the bench on either side of himself, white-knuckled as he gripped the smooth wood.

“I could teach you,” said Ren.

Hux glance at him. “Teach me what?”

“How to swim.”

When the bench under Hux’s hand moved, he realized it was not the bench he had latched on to, but Ren’s hand. He was grateful for the cool breeze coming off the water as his cheeks grew warm.

“I learned when I was a boy,” he said. “It’s easy once you know the basics.”

Ren pulled Hux’s gloved hand off the bench, covering it with both of his own, and gave it a distracting squeeze. Hux found himself nodding before he could stop himself.

“All right.” He looked down at their hands, feeling slightly dazed. “I did want to learn once.”

_________________

Authors Note

I don't even remember where this idea came from to be honest, it just kinda happened. I rewrote the ending about 100 times before I was satisfied with it so I really hope ya'll like this one!

Another big thank you to @gefionne for beta reading this, and pretty much re-teaching me english grammar that I haven't used since highschool, I appreciate it so much! 💜💜

As per suggestion from @latefixbloom I have gotten myself an AO3 account. At the time on my posting this, there is nothing on it, but you can find me on there as Flaming_dumpster (same as here).

If anyone has fic prompts or requests that they would like to try on me, it is more than welcome!

Happy weekend to you all!

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swfanficbyjz · 6 years

Text

SW AU - Ahsoka stays in the Order - Ch. 8

<- Chapter 1

<- Chapter 7

“Ahsoka.” She brought her hands up to rub her eyes, blinking at the one ray of light peeking through the crack in the desks. She rolled her shoulders to stretch and realized he was still holding her.

“Anakin?” she murmured, turning to try and look over her shoulder.

“Do you smell that?” he asked. She tipped her head back and sniffed the air. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of the now decomposing akk dog above them.

“I smell death,” she replied.

“Well yeah, besides that.”

She sniffed again, trying to push aside the rot that was burning her nostrils. “Smoke.”

“I thought so,” he said, and pulled back his arm so he could sit up. “Ouch.” He bonked his head on the desk. She giggled before she could stop herself. “Forgot about that.” He rubbed the spot he’d made contact. She started to sit up too, trying to listen intently, but his muttering was making it difficult.

"Shh!" she said, and he froze and looked up at her.

"What do you hear?"

"At the moment, just you talking," she smirked.

"Very funny."

She closed her eyes and reached out with the force, sinking into instinct as she listened to the world around them. She screwed up her face. "I hear screams," she whispered sadly. "But it is echoing, almost like a memory. It's coming from that direction." She pointed to one side. "I doubt we'll find anything good there." She looked at him, surprised to find him watching her carefully. "What?"

He shook his head and looked down at the floor. "Well if that's all you hear, then it must be safe enough to move." Back to the business at hand, he started to push the desks apart so the dead akk dog didn't fall in on them, but that there'd be enough room to get out. He slipped out the hole he'd made and stood up, looking around. It was her turn to watch him. Suddenly it felt as though something between them had changed, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. For spending the night on the floor in a ruined building, with enemies out there in close proximity and two dead creatures nearby... she'd slept surprisingly well. She had no idea how long she'd slept, but she actually felt refreshed. She couldn't remember the last time she could say that. Was it because of the way he'd held her, or had she just been so exhausted her body had simply shut down for the night? Maybe it was a combination of the two?

He left the building, but she could still see him through the doorway. He pulled his portable monoculars out of a pouch on his belt and brought them up to his eyes. She watched him as he slowly turned, scanning the horizon. She couldn't shake the weird feeling that had settled on her chest. Had he just held her to comfort her or was there something else there? He disappeared around the outside and she could only assume he was sweeping the perimeter.

She understood his caution, they were out in the middle of nowhere it seemed like. The moment they decided to make a run for it, they'd have no cover or shelter for miles. Which would make them easy targets if the Seps were still in the area. She sighed and crawled out from under the desks, looking around. She felt sorry for the two akk dogs that had just been hungry and hoping for their next meal. Of course, she hadn't wanted to be it. But it was clear they'd been mistreated and barely surviving as it was. Maybe it had been a mercy to put them down.

After the Separatist occupation here, could the same be said for these people? Anakin came back in and looked at her somberly. "You're not going to like this," he whispered. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steeling herself for what he was about to say. She had a hunch she already knew. "There was a settlement about five clicks to the east. It's gone now. Burned down to smoldering ruins. I can only assume there are no survivors."

"So all the people that had fled the city in order to survive were wiped out?" She let out a sob before she could stop herself and he moved forward to pull her into a hug. She clung to his robes. "They were looking for somebody weren't they?" This felt like her fault. She'd come here needing to see it for herself. She'd hoped to help the people in some way. But now they were all dead. Slaughtered like the animals.

"It looks that way," he said quietly.

She dropped to her knees. "It's my fault. It's my fault. I shouldn't have come here. They were better off without me!" she cried into her hands.

"Ahsoka," he said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back to her feet. "We don't know that they were here looking for you or me. We didn't lead them here. Nobody but the council and the Chancellor knew we were here. You can't blame yourself for this."

"But..."

"Listen to me," he said firmly. "I know you're scared. I know you're questioning everything. But right now, we have to focus on survival. You need to get your head back in the game. Whatever the future holds won't matter at all if we don't get through right now. And even if you no longer agree with the Jedi teachings, they are what's going to keep us alive." He brought a gloved hand to her cheek and touched it softly. "Are you with me?" She swallowed hard and nodded. "Good. Let's go."

He took her hand and led her out of the building. She brushed away the tears and squinted around at the nothingness before them in all directions.

"Now which way do you suppose it is to the capital?" he asked.

"That way," she pointed to their right.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, walk or run?"

"If the Seps are still here, the less time in the open the better. Run," she replied. He nodded, and they sprinted in the direction she'd pointed. At some point he let go of her hand since they could run faster in the force when they found their own stride. She stayed as close to him as possible, he was as much a blur as the passing landscape. It wasn't always smart to run like this. In battle zones it made you difficult to track, but the clones couldn't keep up and you often needed to conserve your energy for fighting. Here though, it was more important to be fast and hard to catch. Since she couldn't remember how far she'd run the night before, it surprised her at how long it took before the capital city came back into view.

She was slowing down though. Her muscles ached, her stomach growled. She was parched. Too little nourishment left her even more vulnerable than normal. Add to that, that she didn't have her lightsabers or even a blaster and she felt practically useless. Yes, she had the force, so she wasn't completely weaponless, but there was only so much knocking people back and shielding you could do before getting overwhelmed. And considering how depleted she already was... and surely he was too... they weren't going to last long if they had to fight.

She stumbled a few minutes later and landed hard on the ground. Anakin was back by her side trying to help her to her feet, but her ankle crumpled beneath her. Oh great. On top of all of that, she had to hurt herself. Sharp pain radiated up her leg and into her hip. She looked back to see what she'd stumbled over. Oh no... "Anakin! You have to go. Leave me or you'll never make it."

"I'm not leaving you," he said stubbornly.

"They'll be coming any minute now. Go, please," she begged. "I won't let you take the fall for this."

"We escape together, or we get captured together. We're not splitting up." His arms were around her before she could protest and she was lifted into the air. She could feel his exhaustion the moment he touched her. She could feel his pain and his fear and his determination. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "What was that for?" He looked at her in surprise.

"Um... a thank you I guess." She looked away feeling stupid. What the kriff was she doing? Just because he'd held her for the night didn't mean there was anything between them. She'd felt his determination to save her and it had seemed like an appropriate response after everything that had been happening. She didn't know what the future held, but he was here right now, and she supposed... she should stop belittling the importance of that. Did it really matter the reason if the person was there just the same? She didn't think it was possible to be any more confused than she already was. But apparently...

He looked at her for a moment longer and then seemed to shake himself. He carried her while running as fast as he could towards the city. She closed her eyes to listen. Even in the air, she could feel the vibration through him. They were coming. Why hadn't she been watching where she was going? How stupid that she'd made such a newbie mistake; tripping over a perimeter sensor. This was exactly what she'd been worried about. Her insecurities and doubts getting in the way of missions.

She hugged him tighter, trying to fight the rising panic. There were buildings within view, now if only they could make it there. She looked up at the unmistakable sound of vulture droids. "Anakin!”

"I hear them!" In a burst of speed, probably pure adrenaline, he raced the final mile to the outskirts of the city. They rolled through a doorway, seconds before blaster fire lit up where they'd been standing. The vulture droids couldn't fit inside the building, but it wouldn't stop them from trying to destroy it or the other smaller droids from following instead. She looked up as he took her face in his hands. "Whatever happens, we're in this together." She nodded at him.

Together. Such a simple word. Something that the Jedi didn't seem to understand. Any others probably would have left her out there like she'd told him too. Would together still hold if she wasn't his padawan? Would he still feel that way if their death was assured? Trust was a commodity she'd been struggling with from as early as she could remember. From the moment that false Jedi had tried to kidnap her as a child it had taken years for her to ever trust again. She'd trusted people in small things, but never completely. Anakin and Rex... they were the only two. And now that she thought about it, maybe that was what terrified her about the future the most. If she were to walk away, would she ever learn to trust someone again?

Chapter 9 ->

#star wars #ahsoka tano #anakin skywalker #snips #skyguy #star wars au #ahsoka stays in the order #christophsis #akk dogs #Separatists #droids #captain rex #jedi #the jedi order #trust #otp #brotp #anakin #ahsoka

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