I'll Do The Same { Din Djarin x OC}

Chapter Twenty One: Blurred

"Momma?"

"Yes, my love?"

Seba ran a hand through Thell's hair as she cradled her, laying in the bed they shared in Darand's house. Thell was young then, eight or nine, but she remembered the conversation vividly.

"What happened to father?"

Even then, Thell could feel the tension run through her mother's body.

"He... We don't talk about him, Thell, remember?" She said, softly. "That was a long time ago."

Thell shifted, staring with big eyes at her mother. "But my friends have fathers... and I don't know anything about him."

"That is a thing of the past, and we must focus on the future, right, my star?"

Thell stuck her lip out. "Why don't you talk about him? I want to know about him!"

Seeing her start to get anxious, her mother gripped her arm with a calm strength. "We do not speak of such things, Thell. Now, go to sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow."

. . . .

Thell would have collapsed if Din hadn't had such a strong hold on her, but she felt herself wobbling anyway. Her mind was racing, trying to pull together her own memories and the truth she knew about her father. It couldn't be him.

"Thell?" Din's concerned voice was close to her ear.

Blinking frantically, Thell tugged on his arm. "Just... I need to sit down, Din, please."

One arm around her back, he gently lowered her onto the bed again inside the house, moving to replace his jetpack and weapons on the floor while Thell tugged at the ends of her hair.

"Wh... What is this, Din?" She asked shakily. "He can't be my father. He's dead. Bo told us herself."

"I don't know..." Din said, beginning to pace back and forth. "He was the only person in there, practically begging me not to kill him. I asked him who he was and I punched him before he could say anything else... And I brought him back. I knew I needed to."

"You know what Bo Katan said, she knew him!" Thell yelled, on the verge of tears. "She fought alongside him, and she knew exactly where his armor was. She knew exactly how he died... That man... he's lying. He has to be."

"Why would he have any reason to?" Din asked.

Thell's head shot up. "Do you believe him?"

Din shrugged, and she realized as he stood awkwardly just a few feet from her that she had been yelling. Not scaring him, obviously, but enough to make him draw back.

She sighed. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to get so fed up."

"Don't apologize," Din said with a soft edge to gravely voice. "I know it's not what you expected to come out of today."

Thell blinked. "Yeah... It's not. I just thought... I thought Grogu might still be there."

Din shook his head. "There wasn't anything left. It's like they had vanished."

"If this is some joke, it's cruel," Thell grumbled, holding her arms over her chest. "No one deserves this."

"Well, then... we'll figure it out." He stepped forward, bending on one leg in front of her to hold her knees. "We'll figure it out together, Thell. Together."

As she looked down at the visor, the one that hid the brown eyes she so desperately wanted to see and the stubble that lined his face, she could only think of the words she said earlier over the comlink.