•two journeys• din djarin

XVI

"Tsiraki, a beautiful beverage, fitting of someone with your elegance." I looked over at him, he had blue eyes, almost white, and pale skin. My eyes analyzed his face before falling to his jacket, his purple, velvet jacket.

"Velvet, that's quite rare these days, I imagine the only people able to afford it are ridiculously rich," I replied. He let out a dry chuckle before sitting his glass on the bar counter.

"Let me buy you a drink," he said. I opened my mouth to agree to his offer, but the familiar feeling in my stomach said otherwise.

"I don't drink," I replied. Yes, I do; I love to drink.

"But you just ordered a beverage?"

"It's not for me, it's for-"

"Me," Din said from behind me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and looked the man up and down. "Velvet. Isn't that -" he began.

"The rabbit's suit," I finished. The man's face soured, and he darted from his spot at the bar. Din reached out and grabbed the back of his jacket before he was just out of reach.

"I'm a member of the guild, I wouldn't try anything like that," he growled lowly in the man's ear.

"People know I'm here, if I go missing, they'll come for you," the man spat out.

"We don't want you dead, we don't even want you, we want your product," I replied. His eyebrows raised as he looked between the two of us.

"Most people that want my product are trying to hide the victims of their human trafficking. I can't imagine a couple like yourselves are trying to do that?"

"What we do with it is our business," Din replied in the same low voice.

"Well, the demand for my product is high, and my supply is low. But I would gladly give you a vial, on one condition," he began, "a private game of Pazaak with me and six of the highest scorers in the casino." I looked up at Din as he looked down at me. I was good at Pazaak, but not good enough to put the fate of Grogu on a card game.

"Deal," Din replied. "She'll be playing." I looked up at him, wide-eyed and brows furrowed.

"Wonderful!" the man said while clapping his hands together. Two men joined us and guided the two of us to a room; after a few minutes, we were joined by the man and the six other players. "Only she can come into the room, you'll have to wait outside." Din's jaw clenched at the man's words, but eventually, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving me with a kiss on the cheek and a simple "good luck".

I turned and looked over my opponents; only one other woman was at the table. The cards were dealt out and the game was called to begin. Within seconds of the game starting, I had the same feeling from the night on Yavin 4; I wasn't the person controlling my body. I watched from the inside as cars were laid, men were slowly picked out of the game as they lost, and it was left to me and the other woman. The cards in my hands were good, but the odds of her having a good hand were just as high. She laid down her four cards, a 5, 7, 2, and 3. I looked down at mine, 6, 8, 1, and 2; we were tied. I went to set down the cards but stopped when my number 1 card morphed into a 4 card. I watched as the cards were laid down, showing my hand of sum 20. The girl in front of me threw the cards off the table as she stormed away. Leaving me at the table by myself. The world around me came up to a normal speed as I felt myself enter back into my own body. Beside me, the man held out a vial of purple liquid.

"Your prize." I smiled and grabbed the vial out of his hand before standing from my chair. I walked through the room to the other side where the doors were. I pushed them open, looking around for Din who was nowhere in sight. I stood looking out into the sea of people before feeling a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and smiled while holding up the vial to show him. The only problem was that it wasn't Din, it wasn't anyone I had met before. The man was tall and had a scar across his face. He wore a dark cloak and at his hip, I could see I saber attached, just like the one the Jedi had. I opened my mouth to speak but was quickly shut up by a hood covering my head and arms wrapping around me, carrying me away. I tried my hardest to scream, but the sound wasn't coming out. My body was frozen still and the only sounds I could hear were the hushed whispers around me. Eventually, I was placed on a hard floor and the hood was removed. My eyes took time to adjust to the bright light, but once they did, I could make out some of the people around me. The man with the saber, two women, and behind them, Din. One of the women walked closer to me, grabbing my jaw and pulling my face up to look at her. It was at that very moment that I had realized the trouble we were in. Her red hair fell from behind her ears and she leaned down to me.

"I want my Darksaber," she whispered between clenched teeth.

"I don't want to fight Bo-Katan," I muttered.

"That's a shame," she said with a sarcastic smirk. She let go of my face and stood, shaking her head while she walked away from me. "Where is it?" she asked Din. He looked just as drained as I did, but he looked like he had the shit beat out of him as well. He looked up at her and there was silence for a moment. He looked over at me before reaching behind his back and pulling it out of his waistband. Why did he bring that with us? Bo-Katan ripped it from his hands and walked over to me, placing it in mine. I looked down at the object in my hands before standing up and igniting it. All was still for a moment until I heard the firing of a blaster. Pain seared through my leg as I fell to the ground. A look of shock crossed Bo-Katan's face as the saber dropped from my hand clattering beside me. Behind her, Din was holding a smoking blaster pointed in my direction. He walked towards me and picked up the saber, the light igniting once in his grip. My hands were covered in blood as I tried my hardest to stop the bleeding.

"I told you Bo-Katan, you come for her, you're coming for me too This is between you and me now." The man with the lightsaber picked me up and carried me out of the room into another one. I screamed out for Din, but he only looked towards me and nodded. He shot me to become to the rightful owner of the Darksaber, to protect me, and now he was in a room, armorless, about to fight a woman in full Beskar. 

There was a good chance the man I love could die tonight for me, and there is nothing I can do about it.