Chapter Text
“I wouldn’t move if I were you.”
The voice cuts clean through the noise of the bar.
The voice is distorted, the helmet warping it into something else.
He’s always hated those voice-changers.
Wifies sighs, then stills.
Parrot does too—completely, instantly—almost like a switch has been flipped.
Two lawmen stand behind them, blasters raised.
Jumper is suddenly very busy polishing a glass.
Wifies turns towards the guards. “...Great.”
Parrot shifts slightly beside him. “We can talk about this.”
“No,” one of the guards say. “You can come with us, if you want to live.”
Wifies glances sideways. “Do you want to try your way again?” he mutters.
“No,” Parrot says flatly.
The guard steps forward.
They reach—and time begins to slow.
Wifies twists, driving his elbow back hard enough to make him grunt. Parrot moves at the same time, knocking the second guard’s aim off just as the shot goes wide, blasting into the wall behind them.
“Run!” Parrot shouts.
They bolt out into the corridor, boots slamming against polished floors as alarms begin to wail behind them.
Blaster fire follows.
“Go left—” Wifies starts.
“I know,” Parrot snaps, already turning.
They skid around a corner—
—and Parrot stops dead.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What is it—?”
Wifies follows his gaze.
It’s rack of gear, confiscated most likely. It sits half-open against the wall, leaning sadly like it doesn’t want to be there.
That’s fair. Wifies wouldn’t want to be claimed by the Law either.
They’re painted with big warning labels, PROPERTY OF THE LAW is stamped across all of it. Wifies doesn’t know what’s so special until Parrot starts digging through.
Wifies can glimpse a spray painted jetpack, a mere speck of colour drowning in a sea of blasters. “I’m taking that,” Parrot declares, yanking it free and shrugging it on with one practiced motion. His hands move fast, precise—like muscle memory takes over.
Isn’t that fascinating.
“A Mandalorian with a jetpack is a weapon,” Parrot informs him, almost like a chant.
…Okay? “Good to know,” Wifies says, glancing back as barked orders creep closer.
Then—
Blaster fire sparks against the wall.
Parrot glances back at him. Something calculating glints in his eyes.
Wifies decides he does not like that look.
Before he can say anything, he’s being grabbed.
Wifies’ brain short-circuits.
“What the fuck are you—”
And then he’s off the ground.
One arm hooked around his waist, the other pressing him flush against Parrot’s chest.
He feels the heat rise to his cheeks.
Mandalorians don’t carry just anyone. They especially don’t carry off-worlders. And they definitely don’t hold anyone like this—
“Hold on,” Parrot snaps.
“I am—”
“Don’t touch the pack.”
“I know that—”
“Do you?”
Wifies clamps his mouth shut.
His grip tightens instinctively as they shoot upward, the ground vanishing beneath them in a blur of light and motion and it’s all too fast and too bright and—
“Warning would’ve been nice—” he starts.
“I told you to hold on!” Parrot shoots back.
Blaster fire streaks past them.
Too close.
Parrot twists mid-air, dodging—barely controlled, but controlled enough.
“Are you actually good at this?!” Wifies demands.
“No,” Parrot says. “Just…stop talking!”
A shot comes from below.
Wifies knows that Parrot can’t possibly turn in time.
It’s like time slows down, the world around him blurring into faint noise, the only thing he hears is the steady hum he’s known since childhood.
He can feel the blast shooting through the air, heading straight towards them.
He breathes out, “What the hell do I have to lose.”
He unclicks a weapon from his belt, and a blade ignites between them.
It’s green. A light he promised never to turn on again after witnessing the death of his Master.
Is Parrot worth it to break the promise?
The blast hits—
Yes he is.
—and ricochets away in a flash of light.
The world rushes into focus again, and Parrot goes very, very still.
“…What did you just do?”
Wifies doesn’t answer.
He just shuts the blade off like it never happened.
“Keep your eyes on the road.”
“On what?!”
A speeder beeps at them, rushing in front before anyone can stop.
This time, Parrot dodges it, twists and fires, getting one lawman to fall to his blaster.
It’s like something just shifted.
They see their ship in the distance, they’re going to crash into it if they keep going at this speed.
“Slow down–” Wifies warns.
“No.” Parrot snaps, and his grip momentarily loosens and Wifies is hanging onto his shoulder with one hand.
He unclips the saber from his belt again, igniting it and taking his job to defend. Yeah this makes is easier to deflect the Lawmen’s blasts, but still, why would you give someone a heart attack like that—
“Wemmbu!” Parrot calls into his communicator. “Open the docking bay!”
“Why?” A familiar voice whines.
“Don’t ask me why, we’re like 2 seconds away from dying!” He shouts as Wifies swipes away another blast.
“Okay, jeez man. Egg–!”
They can see the door open, and they don’t speak again until they hit the landing.
Wifies slams back-first into the ground, the air knocked clean from his lungs. Parrot detangles himself, laying his head on Wifies’ chest a bit too long before letting go.
Parrot does nothing to help him up, even while he’s struggling to catch his breath.
“Welcome home guys,” Wemmbu says, shutting the bay door, then rushing off. Probably to his station.
Parrot turns to him.
Really looks at him now.
He’s not annoyed, or smug. He’s not grinning at Wifies like he thought Parrot would, considering how they just, you know, saved themselves from nearly dying.
He’s frowning.
“Parrot?” Wifies asks, slowly getting to his feet.
“You’re a Jedi.”
Wifies exhales. “Please don’t start—”
“No!” Parrot snaps, stepping closer, “You don’t get to say that! I put my life in your hands Wifies!”
Wifies feels the humming getting louder in his ears. “And I saved it.”
“You lied to me!”
“I just didn’t tell you.”
Parrot’s expression shifts—just slightly—softer.
But it’s almost like it’s worse. Wifies feels the anger radiating off of him begin to subdue, boiling down to something that matches the hurt in his eyes.
“And why didn’t you?” Parrot whispers.
“Well it’s pretty obvious why!” Wifies shouts, gesturing between the two of them.
They both jump as a panel rips off the metal wall when Wifies waves his hand.
He closes his eyes and exhales slowly through his nose. Breathe.
When he opens his eyes again, Parrot seems like a different person. Flat, cold.
“Right,” Parrot spits, and Wifies knows this isn’t what was supposed to happen, and Wifies has messed up. Parrot doesn’t look at him when he stalks away.
“Wait—no, Parrot, I’m sorry,” but Parrot doesn’t look back. And Wifies doesn’t chase him.
His heart sinks a bit, as he remembers how Parrot had mumbled into his neck only a couple of nights before.
‘Don’t go’.
Wifies wants to say that. He wants to tell Parrot how this doesn’t change anything, and he doesn’t want to be who he is. Wifies didn’t, no, doesn’t care about what Parrot is.
Wifies thinks about what could’ve happened instead if he didn’t take out his sword.