Chapter Text
It wasn't meant to happen this way. It wasn't meant to happen at all.
Your lungs burned as you followed Din and Fennec up the ridge, close on their heels as the three of you weaved around boulders and fallen storm troopers towards where Grogu had been left at the top of the seeing stone.
Tears threatened to spill from your eyes as you pushed through the exhaustion weighing on your mind and body, but there was no time to cry. No time to wonder how the Empire had found you or what they'd do to the kid if they reached him before you did. All you could afford to think of now was making it to the top of the hill.
“Dank farrik,” you panted, throwing your head up just in time to see four black droids descending from above the temple and disappear from your line of sight. Panic hit you like a wall of duracrete. You tried to run faster as Din practically leapt over a stone in his path.
Not Grogu, came your desperate plea to whoever was listening as you finally came up over the top of the ridge and caught sight of the seeing stone. Please, not after everything.
Din and Fennec came to a halt in front of you just as the droids, unlike any you'd ever seen, blasted off with the kid.
"No!" you cried out, pushing past the Mandalorian even as he outstretched his arm to stop you. The child’s big ears flapped in the wind as they soared upwards and you spun to see Din holstering his blaster to raise the scope to his visor.
Your heart was racing. Beads of sweat rolled down the back of your neck as you waited for him to say something.
“They’ve got the kid! Don’t let them get away!” Fennec exclaimed into her commlink and you turned to see Boba’s ship pass just overhead.
You knew it was futile. Boba Fett wouldn’t be able to take down those droids without hurting Grogu, and Din basically said as much. All you could do was watch helplessly as Grogu disappeared into the clouds and a piece of your heart was ripped away.
The news of the Empire’s return barely registered in your mind.
He was gone. You had lost him.
The blaster you had been gripping like a lifeline all the way up the ridge slipped from your grasp and clattered distantly against stone as Din and Fennec grew quiet behind you.
The warm breeze blew through the patches of overgrown grass around the temple and you blinked slowly at the seeing stone. It felt like ages before anyone spoke.
"Mando, we should go," Fennec said, her voice surprisingly soft for a mercenary. You thought perhaps there was some pity in her words as she retreated back down the hill.
After only a moment's pause, you felt Din’s gaze on your back and braced yourself to hear the pain in his voice over the loss of his son.
He had asked you to stay with the kid, but you had gone to help the others. Why hadn’t you done what he had asked? You could’ve been there, done something.
You jumped as you felt the gentle touch of Din’s gloved hand on your elbow and looked over your shoulder to stare straight into the black visor. It wasn’t anger you saw in his posture or the inclination of his helmet towards you. It was grief.
There was no use hiding the tears that blurred your vision, but you still ducked your head away when his fingers curled around the fabric of your sleeve in silent gesture before he stooped down to pick up your blaster.
"Din," you tried, blinking up at him as he pushed the blaster into your open palm. The blaster he had gifted you back on Tatooine when you had first joined him.
“Let’s see what we can salvage from the Crest.” The modulator did little to mask the strain in his voice.
There was nothing you could do to comfort him right now, no bacta or bandage you could pull from the pouch at your waist to mend the wounds currently tearing through each of your hearts in the absence of the child. If you could’ve taken a guess at the expression he wore behind his helmet, you imagined he was opening his mouth as if trying to find the words.
But ultimately he held your gaze for a moment longer before turning to follow Fennec back down the hill.
You stared after him for a moment, dared one last glance at the sky, and made your way towards the smoldering ashes of the Razor Crest.