TWELVE

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CHAPTER TWELVE. 

THE HONOR 


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The Mandalorian gave a long, quaking breath as he shook the shoulders of the girl laying at his feet. Her eyes, usually brighter than any star in the sky, were closed and a faint purple. Blood poured from a wound on her head, and her hands, which had been shaking violently as she gripped at her chest, lay limp to the side. The Mandalorian carefully lifted her head up to the side of his helmet.

His panicked eyes gazed frantically at her face, which still held a sense of awe at the sight of the snow falling against the panes of glass in the cockpit. He held her head close to his ear, hands cradling her softly, and waited anxiously to hear something... to hear anything. For a moment, Tess wasn't breathing. The Mandalorian slowly began to shake as he heard nothing, not the wisp of a breath on his helmet, not a cry or whimper from her cold and parted lips. He heard nothing.

"No, no!" the Mandalorian cried, shaking Tess' shoulders again. Despite the freezing weather, sweat lined his brow as he looked at the girl. A small strand of umber hair, tangled and no longer curled, slick with sweat and frost, fell into her eyes. He carefully pushed it away. Her lips grew blue almost instantly, and the Mandalorian grimaced. He looked up, and saw the blanket he'd thrown at her earlier laying a little ways away. The Mandalorian grasped it and opened the cloth up, gently placing it over Tess' body.

"Tess." he said. "Come one, Tess." He didn't know what to do. His hands shook and he struggled to keep himself steady, nausea roiling inside his stomach as he tucked the blanket around her, trying to get her to warm up. A dizzying breath left him as he leaned Tess upwards, coming to sit up. Her eyes fluttered. The Mandalorian sighed in relief.

"Tess!" he yelled. "Tess, come one!" As if on cue, the girl jolted, shaking violently as she sputtered and leaned forward more. The Mandalorian followed her movements, rubbing her back, trying to get some friction into her body. Ice made a home in her hair, and when Tess opened her morning sky eyes, they widened in pain, her hand flying up to her chest. The Mandalorian let out a grateful gasp and moved to kneel in front of her. Tess winced in pain, then shuddered, the biting cold seeming to eat away at her bones.

She groped at her chest, a searing pain rising up through her body. Usually made of ivory, of glowing marrow and lightning, Tess' bones seemed to collapse inwards. Her ribcage careened against the barriers of her chest, and blackened, blistered nothing filled the void in her lungs.

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