Under the Helmet ~ (The Mandalorian x Male OC)

Chapter 29: The Prison

Din couldn't remember anything from the past 24 hours. He knew he had gotten into some crash, but after that, he had no idea.
He had woken up some time later in an empty cell, with his helmet nowhere to be found. He felt naked without it. He now had on the bright orange of prison scrubs. The walls of his cell were solid black, with seemingly no seems or windows in the walls at all. Some time later, the door to his cell opened. A human guard in black cloths placed him into handcuffs and escorted him to a large mess hall, where his fellow prisoners were waiting in line for food. The guard released him and went back in the direction they came.
Din was confused. He didn't know how he had gotten here, and curse the Maker he missed his helmet.
The convict in front of him must have sensed his uneasiness, and turned to face him. She was a beautiful. Her auburn hair was tied into a messy bun, with two strands hanging down either side of her face. Her eyes were a freezing grey, almost the color of beskar.
"First day?", she asked, her voice smooth like honey.
Din had to pinch himself to muster up an answer. He was highly infatuated.
"I'm— yes. First day."
She chucked. "The names Lyra, and you are?"
The Mandalorian was unsure whether or not to use his real name. He would look stupid using his usual go to of 'Mando' but he didn't necessarily want to lie to her.
"I'm Din," he spat, cursing himself for using his real name. "Nice to meet you."
He extended a hand to shake hers. She obliged and they exchanged a firm handshake. Din noticed how soft her hands were.
"So what got you into the most exclusive prison on Dromund Kaas?", she wondered.
"I crashed a ship? I'm not too sure, honestly."
"Sounds about right. They like to lock just anyone up in here."
"I'm not planning on being here very long," Din muttered.
"Oh please," she joked, placing her hand on his arm. "That's what all the fresh meat like you say. Hell, even I said that when I first came here."
Her hand was warm on his exposed bicep. He still wasn't used to the feeling of skin on skin, even after all his time with Daedalus.
Daedalus. He had nearly forgotten about him. He wondered how his ex was handling his imprisonments He was probably on his way back to the New Republic, ecstatic that they would never see each other again.
"You good?", she asked, looking deep into his eyes.
Din hadn't noticed he had faded out. "Yeah, yeah. Just thinking about the past."
"Where are you from?"
"All over the place, I moved around a lot as a kid."
"Me too. My parents were bounty hunters."
The Mandalorian's interest peaked. "Oh really?"
"Yeah," she shrugged, "Not very good ones, but good enough to teach me their ways. I made the mistake of tracking a bounty here and getting caught."
"I'm in a similar predicament myself," Din mused.
"You're a bounty hunter?"
"Yeah, actually."
"Well, shame we both ended up here, we probably coulda' made a pretty good team on the outside," she joked, pointing with her thumb over shoulder.
"Maybe we could break out and test that theory?"
A smile crept across her face. "I'd like that."
Din wasn't sure what had come over him. He was hardly even a day out of his last relationship, and here he was entertaining this girl he had just met. Maybe this was what he needed. It was clear Daedalus wasn't going to budge in his feelings towards Din at this point in time, so why should he wait around for him to change his mind? Maybe a new relationship was what he needed.
The pair grabbed their food and made their way to one of the cafeteria tables.
"So how are we breaking out of here?", Lyra queried, plopping her tray down onto the table. "We'll have to come up with a plan within the next day. The prison is split into different wards and each day we're put into a new faction, an all new group of people. We'll be lucky if we see each other tomorrow."
"Then we plan today and break out next time we're in the same ward," Din declared.
Lyra took a moment to chew. "Bold of you to assume we'll ever see each again. Half of these people I've never even seen before. Nobody knows how many wards there are."
This was certainly a negative development.
"Then we break out today. When the guards come back to escort us to our cells, we fight them off and make our way out."
Lyra laughed. "Oh, Din. So naive. For starters, this prison is literally located in the middle of a mountain. Secondly, these guards are...different. They wear those weird ass robes and they're surprisingly tough. My first week in here I tried fighting one off and I could hardly defend myself. They threw me in solitary confinement for three months after that."
Din had a plan. "Maybe that's what we do, then."
Lyra was confused. "I'm sorry?"
"We fight our guards off when they escort us back to our cells, then when they take us to the solitary confinement wing, we meet up and fight them off together."
His new partner thought his plan over. "It could work, but it could also get us three months or more of alone time."
"It'll work, trust me," Din begged.
Lyra shrugged. "I shouldn't, but I do."
The two finished eating and stayed towards the back of the mess hall as the guards made their way in the escort the prisoners to their cells. Once the hall was almost cleared, Din and Lyra made their way to the front of the room, so they would both be escorted at the same time. Sure enough, a guard came for both of them almost simultaneously. As they were led from the cafeteria, they looked over at each other. A brief look of trust and...something else. Hope.
Hope they would see each other again.