Work Text:
Bo and Din had been working together for a few months now. It was… actually going well. It was far from perfect, but they were learning to trust each other. Trust never came easy to Bo. However, she really did think that Din was a good person, even if he was still struggling with his views that the Watch had taught him.
Really Bo didn’t have a right to judge. It wasn’t like she hadn’t struggled with overcoming what Death Watch had taught her. She had probably been able to move on it faster than him because Bo had been younger and teens were able to grow easier than adults, and also because she doubted the Watch had someone mistreating Din.
Bo had been mistreated in Death Watch to say the least. Mostly by Pre Vizsla, but not only by him.
Also Satine and Korkie had still been out there when Bo had been in Death Watch. She hadn’t had much hope that they would still care for her but there had been some. Late at night, she would think about them and hope that they would forgive her. That one day they could all be a family again. Also Bo had her Nite Owls who had said they would be loyal to her and not to Pre Vizsla, Darth Maul, Gar Saxon, or anyone else.
Din had no one but the Watch. At least not until he found Grogu. At least Grogu didn’t seem as pro Watch and wanted to see Din’s face. Maybe this would help Din learn that he didn’t have to be in their cult anymore.
She hoped so, especially since this Darksaber… issue wasn’t solved yet. Bo couldn’t let her people be ruled by another person in a group like Death Watch. And the Watch was like Death Watch in many ways. They originally had been part of it after all.
Tonight, they actually didn’t have to do anything for Mandalore. Originally, they had planned to just relax on Bo’s ship. Bo was even going to repaint some of her armor and had started. However, she had only started on painting her hand pieces when Din came in. Life Day was nearing and Din mentioned that Grogu might want to see the holiday lights.
“You can come with us if you want,” Din said. He was holding Grogu who was looking at Bo. The kid really did seem happy to be back with Din.
Bo thought this was good too. Being raised a Jedi sounded like a lonely life. However, Mandalorians cared about family and connections.
“Don’t you and Grogu want to go by yourself?” Bo asked, but part of her was tempted to go. When she had been a little girl Satine would take Bo and Korkie to look at Life Day lights. Bo had always loved them. Korkie had been more interested in the winter treats. Bo had liked those too but not as much.
“Grogu wants you to go with us,” Din said.
Bo actually smiled and went over to the two of them. She ruffled the tiny bit of hair that Grogu had. “Do you really want me to go with you and your dad?”
Grogu grinned and babbled and then nodded.
“I wouldn’t mind you coming either,” Din said.
Bo put her hands behind her back and clutched them together. “Really now?”
She did want to believe that she and Din were friends now. Real friends, even if their alliance wasn’t perfect and there were still things they needed to figure out. She did like him. She liked to think that she was now a good judge of character.
Yet, she hadn’t always been.
“Yes,” Din said.
Bo smiled. “I suppose I could go.”
It would be nice after all. She hadn’t seen Life Day lights in so long.
***
Apparently, there was going to be a Life Day light show even. It had been even longer since she had seen something like that. Really the only light shows she had seen in a long time had been explosions.
And that obviously wasn’t the same thing.
Din, Bo, and Grogu had ended up being the only ones sitting on the top of the vehicle. Since it was a week day, there hadn’t been many people here today and most were in other cars. Downstairs a droid was driving. Grogu liked to run down and get snacks which was at a booth also run by a droid.
“I thought you hated droids,” Bo said as she stretched her legs out.
“I used to,” Din said.
“I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things too,” Bo said as she adjusted her gloves. She didn’t have on all her armor since she was going to paint it and she had her poncho on over some, but she still kept her fingerless gloves on. Except when she was sleeping, she almost always wore them.
She couldn’t stand not to.
Grogu came back up with some snacks and drinks that he had float behind him. He sat in between them. For a quick moment, Bo imagined that to someone who just saw the three of them, they might think they were a family. The thought was funny and crazy.
Right?
Bo obviously didn’t mention anything about it and soon the vehicle started to move. The lights were amazing. It was clear that some of these people had planned this all year. Some of the houses also even had music playing. Grogu laughed and danced to some of it. He then reached out for Din.
Bo laughed. “I think that he wants you to dance with him.”
“I don’t know how to dance,” Din said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“It’s not like Grogu is going to judge you for not being a good dancer,” Bo said. “I don’t think he’s going to be hosting a dancing holonet show anytime soon.”
And if on command, Grogu started to dance even more. It looked more like flailing and he wasn’t on beat with the music, but he was laughing. Clearly happy.
“Seriously, you should dance with him,” Bo said. “He’ll like it.” She reached out and touched his shoulder without thinking. She liked his shoulders not that she would ever tell him that. They were broad and handsome. And for a moment, she wondered what they would look like without his beskar'gam. Then she wondered what he’d look like without… but she pushed that away. She shouldn’t be thinking these things about a member of the Children of the Watch.
Din stared at her.
“I promise I won’t laugh at you,” Bo said.
Din nodded and he did go over to Grogu. Seeing the two of them dance… it was so sweet. Grogu looked so happy and Din was such a good father. Maybe not perfect but he cared about Grogu so much and was always trying to improve.
She couldn’t help but smile. Especially when Grogu would giggle and coo. Even Din would laugh. He was clearly enjoying this. His son was the most important person to him in the Galaxy.
After about five minutes, they stopped and Din and Grogu came back to sit next to her.
“See I didn’t laugh at you,” Bo said. He wasn’t that bad at dancing. She had seen a lot worse.
“Thank you,” Din said. “It must have been hard for you.”
“I’ve done harder things,” Bo said. “Though it was up there.”
“Was it as difficult as fighting the Empire?” Din asked as Grogu decided that he wanted to watch the lights a little away from them and that he wanted to play with his ball at the same time.
“Maybe,” Bo said. “They’re pretty close together. It’s hard to compare them.”
She was about to say something else but then she spilled the drink that she had. It wasn’t a big deal. Really, she only got her hand wet. She normally would have just kept the gloves on, but it was cold and it was dark. Din wouldn’t notice anything.
But apparently it wasn’t dark enough.
He actually took her hand and was looking at it. She knew that she should yank away from him. She could snap at him and cut him down with words, but yet she didn’t.
“What happened to your hand?” he asked. His voice was soft, not critical or judging.
“It’s a scar,” Bo said, still not pulling away. “I’m sure you have plenty of them too.”
She was sure he did, but it wouldn’t be this. This scar was different than most. She hated looking at her hand for that reason. Her other scars she was fine with. They told a story and showed what she had overcome.
This… everything about it…
“It looks almost like letters,” Din said.
Bo sighed and pulled her hand away and rubbed it with her other. She didn’t move away from him though. When he had grabbed her hand, she had moved closer to him without realizing it until now.
Din sighed. “Bo..,”
“They are letters,” Bo said and she shook her head and looked down.
*Years Ago*
Bo was thirteen and had only been in Death Watch for about three months, but she was constantly on guard. She had wanted to go back home as soon as she found out what Governor Vizsla was really wanting her to do, but he refused.
So here she was.
Sometimes things were good. Or okay. Bo loved fighting and combat. That was one of the reasons she suspected Satine didn’t always like her. She wasn’t the perfect New Mandalorian.
But that didn’t mean she had wanted to join Death Watch. Not really, especially now that she knew what it was like. She had wanted to stay with Governor Vizsla because he was like a dad to her. But he had tricked her.
And yet she still liked being around him. She liked making him proud and showing that she wasn’t like her sister. And sometimes she did believe in the Death Watch cause. Governor Vizsla was always saying that eventually she would be his greatest supporter. At least he said that when he was in a good mood.
It was when he was in a bad mood with her when things were horrible.
And Bo knew it was that kind of day as soon as the Saxon brothers showed up. She had just been sparring with Rook Kast, who was about sixteen or seventeen, when they appeared. The two of them grabbed Bo.
“Let me go!” Bo yelled, trying to pull away from them.
Rook Kast just stared with wide eyes. Not surprising. Bo hadn’t expected her to help.
“Vizsla wants to speak to you,” Gar said, snarling at her. He really didn’t like her despite that she barely knew him. It was probably because of Satine. People always hated her just because of who she was related to.
It wasn’t her fault that she was her sister. Why couldn’t they see that?
Her stomach twisted because if they were coming to get her it wouldn’t be good. If Governor Vizsla was in a good mood, he would have found her himself. He would still train her. He said he would make her the best Death Watch warrior.
And she loved learning.
But obviously he wasn’t happy if he sent them.
“Rook and I are busy,” Bo said, even though she knew that it wouldn’t make a difference. The Saxon brothers wouldn’t care and neither would Governor Vizsla.
“We’re sparring,” Rook muttered, but the Saxons didn’t even look at her. Really, Bo was surprised she said anything.
“He said he needs to speak to you now,” Tiber said, glaring at Bo.
Gar nodded.
“Fine…” Bo said. “You don’t have to grab me. I’ll walk with you.”
But they both didn’t let go of her and led her to Governor Vizsla’s mansion. He was sitting in a chair next to a caf table that had a strange contraption on it. The brothers finally let her go.
Vizsla stood up and looked at her. His eyes were filled with anger. She could always tell now when they were. He didn’t try to hide when he was furious anymore. He used to never be angry around her when she had still been living with Satine.
Probably because he was hiding it.
“What’s wrong?” Bo said, clutching her hands together. She wanted to take a step back, but she had to try and be brave. She might have been raised a New Mandalorian, but she was still Mandalorian.
“Your dar'manda bitch of a sister is causing trouble again,” he said and he came over and touched Bo’s face almost gently.
But Bo knew this was very bad for her. Whenever Satine did something that Vizsla didn’t approve of… it didn’t go well for her. Sometimes he would punish her for Satine’s sins.
“I’m not Satine,” Bo said, trying to sound strong. “I hate what she’s doing.”
He stared at her and then laughed and grabbed her. “I’ve been thinking about what I would do to you to teach her a lesson.”
“She doesn’t even know!” Bo exclaimed. She didn’t know what Satine thought happened to her, but she didn’t know she was here. She wished that she would believe that Satine would have done something if she did, but now she didn’t.
Satine didn’t care about her anymore. Bo was stuck with Vizsla and Death Watch.
He didn’t listen. “I’m going to mark you. Make sure you, your sister, and your whole clan knows who is in charge.” He grinned at her and it made her blood run cold. “You love the Darksaber so much. It’s going to be with that. You should be honored.”
Honored?! She was going to be sick. This couldn’t happen. This wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m not—” Bo tried to yell, but it didn’t matter.
He and the Saxon brothers dragged her over to a chair. She tried to fight them at first, but it didn’t make a difference. If anything it made it worse, since they hurt her while trying to restrain her.
“Are you sure you want to mark her hand?” Gar asked, smirking. “You could mark her on her face and then everyone could see.”
Tiber laughed.
Vizsla smirked. “I like her face the way it is. My idea is better.”
“There are other places you could mark her,” Gar Saxon said, and then he said something disgusting. “Imagine what her future boyfriends would say with your initials there.”
Bo wanted to scream. She didn’t want that. No man had even seen her naked before and she didn’t want to be marked there. Or anywhere.
She was so afraid.
“No, I don’t think so. Besides she isn’t going to have future boyfriends,” Vizsla said, but he was still going to mark her hand. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want this at all!
It wasn’t fair!
“I’m not Satine!” Bo yelled again. She shouldn’t be punished for what Satine had done. Bo hadn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t agree with her politics.
Why couldn’t Satine stop making Vizsla mad? Why couldn’t she not be a traitor to their ways?
“Please…” Bo said, looking at Vizsla. “Please don’t do this to me. I’m not Satine.”
But it didn’t make a difference.
It never did.
A few hours after he was almost nice to her like he sometimes was after he punished her for what Satine did. But when she asked about using bac-spray or something that would get rid or fade the mark slightly, he refused. The mark. His initials. PV. Looking at it made her sick.
It hurt too, but mostly it was shame. She didn’t want this on her body.
“Please,” Bo said, whimpering. She never whimpered around him or anyone. “Please let me do…something.”
She didn’t want it there. She didn’t want anyone’s initials on her. It made her feel dirty. It made her feel like her own body didn’t belong to her. She couldn’t even stand to look at her hand.
“No, it’s staying,” he said, touching her face. “Maybe this will help you know who is really in charge and who you need to stay loyal to.”
Bo pretended to be strong after that, but later when she was alone, she fell to her knees and into sobs. Why did this have to happen?
Why?
-Mandalorian Timeline-
She told Din a little bit about what happened. How it was the former leader of Death Watch and why he did it. She didn’t go entirely into the shame that she had felt. How she couldn’t even look at her hand for a long time and when she did she would get sick.
She still hated it now. She wasn’t in Death Watch anymore and haven’t been in decades, but it was still there. The scar hadn’t even faded as much as she had hoped it would probably because Vizsla would insist on it being aggravated when it was healing. Bo hadn’t done anything to help it either because when she was thirteen, she wanted to pretend it wasn’t there.
“That’s… Bo-Katan, that’s horrible,” Din said as he reached out and touched her arm.
“I wasn’t even a real member of Death Watch then,” Bo said as her voice broke. What was wrong with her? She was never like this. It was weakness, but speaking about it. Bo never spoke about this. She never had to. But it still sometimes felt like the scar was burning her. It filled her with shame. “I was barely thirteen. I was a child.”
“Bo… that’s… I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something. I wish that hadn’t happened to you,” he said and she could tell that he meant every word of it.
She shoved her hand with the mark in her pocket and looked down.
“Yeah, well, that’s how it was in Death Watch when Satine angered Pr—Vizsla.”
The light show stopped soon after that and the three of them went back to the ship. Grogu kept looking at her and eventually Din let her hold Grogu. It felt nice to hold him, but she had a feeling that he was up to something.
But he didn’t do anything.
At least not until they were on the ship.
Bo had gone into the main room and was working on her data pad when Grogu came in. His eyes were lit up and she knew that he was up to something. She could always tell, but she also didn’t think it was something bad.
Then again, he could think it was good and that didn’t mean it actually was.
“What are you doing here, kid? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?” Bo asked, but she ruffled his hair when he climbed up next to her.
Grogu reached for her hand and she let him take it. It was sweet holding his hand. He was such a cute kid.
A cute kid who was technically older than her.
But then he pulled the fingerless glove off and placed it down. She was about to put it back on but then he touched the scar and she felt warmth. Warmth that she hadn’t felt quite like this before. Force healing. It had to be that. She knew Grogu could do that, even though she had never seen it.
“It’s not going to work, Grogu. It’s been too long since I got it,” Bo said, but she didn’t move away from him.
And the warmth continued. He finally moved his hand away from hers. She couldn’t believe it. She really couldn’t. The scar was gone. Completely. It was as if it had never been there. This… Even though she knew Grogu could Force Heal, she had never considered he could get rid of that. She thought she would have Pre’s initials on her hand for the rest of her life.
But they were gone.
Gone as if they had never been there.
Grogu let out a cooing noise, clearly knowing he had done well.
“I… I… You…” She wanted to say thank you. She was so grateful. Never would she have to think about… that man when she saw her hand anymore. When she had seen his initials, she didn’t just think of when he had basically branded her. She also thought of all the other things that he had done.
She needed to thank Grogu.
But she was at a loss for words.
She brought him in her arms and hugged him. She whimpered yet again. So grateful. So grateful. It was gone.
No longer would she have to see her enemy’s initials on her skin.
She didn’t even try to stop the tears from falling from her eyes. She could never express how strong her gratitude was.
There weren’t enough words in the Galaxy.
***
Bo decided that she would get some air after that. She just couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t. She wasn’t marked by Vizsla anymore. Well, not in the same way. She had still had plenty of scars that he had given her but she didn’t have the one with his initials.
She felt free.
The air was cold and she could see her breath. It was snowing softly on the beach that they had parked on, and her flight suit wasn’t warm enough for this, but she didn’t care. The cold made her feel alive.
She was out there for not quite ten minutes when she heard the ship door open. She knew instantly who it was and when she turned around and saw him in the dark she knew that she was right, even though it was hard to make him out exactly. It was so dark tonight. The clouds now covered the stars and the moons.
But she knew Din anywhere.
“Your son… he healed me,” Bo said as he came over to her.
“He did?” Din asked.
Bo nodded and tried to show him her hand, but it was dark. She could see him but not features. She took his hand and put hers in his. “My scar. It’s gone. It’s gone.” Her voice broke. He would never understand how much of a relief this was. That scar had given her so much shame.
“Bo, that’s wonderful. That’s great,” Din said. “I didn’t think he could heal injuries from that long ago.”
“I’m so…” And then she put her other hand over his. “Dance with me, Din Djarin.”
“There isn’t any music,” Din said after a pause, but despite that he pulled her closer to him and did what she said.
Bo hadn’t danced with anyone in decades. Combat in a way was like a dance, but not exactly the same. If things went well, people didn’t die when dancing. Even though she had thought Din wasn’t the best dancer when he was with Grogu, now she realized she had been wrong. He had just been silly with him.
He was such a good fighter. She should have known that he would be good at dancing. For a few minutes they did that in silence and then she hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her. It made her feel safe and right. She hadn’t felt that in a long time. The night was really perfect. The snow was falling and everything had been wonderful.
It felt like the two of them could take on the Galaxy together.
“I’m glad I told you what happened,” Bo said. “You’re… different than most people, and I mean that in a good way.” She then let out a nervous laugh. “Even if you were with the Watch.”
But right now, the part about him being in the Watch didn’t seem to matter now. He was holding her and it felt right. It was right. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
Then he surprised her by taking off his helmet. Maybe it was because it was dark and she couldn’t see his face well or maybe it was because she had already seen him without it.
Or maybe he finally was breaking away from their brainwashing. That was what she hoped.
She leaned close to him and kissed him. At first it was simple, but then he deepened it. And it was wonderful. Wonderful.
Maybe even perfect.
Maybe life could be wonderful after all.