We Belong to the Stars (Cara x Din)

Part 9

You guys this is the chapter, get ready for feels...

Din watches, stupefied, as Cara leaves. I really wish she'd stop doing that, he says to himself.

You like it, don't you? that annoying part of his conscience argues.

That's not the point, Din insists. And you know it. I have to get away from here. He glances down to see the Child gazing up at him. The Child reaches one hand out in Cara's direction.

"It's gonna break your little heart," Din repeats what Cara said to him on Sorgan. "And mine too."

After hiring some townsfolk to do repairs on the Razor Crest, Din decides to go back down into the Mandalorian covert. He might as well, since he expects to never see it again.

As he walks through the dark tunnels, holding the kid in one hand, he hears an echoing sound and stops, drawing his blaster. It's the sound of someone crying. He follows the noise until he spots a shadow on the wall; Cara Dune's shadow. Din peers around the corner to see her sitting on a crate, with a closed book beside her. Instead of reading, she's holding her head in her hands and sobbing.

Din squints and sees one word on the book cover; Mandalorians.

And he starts to realize it.

He hasn't been "using her" all this time, because she knew exactly what she was doing. That was why she went to the library. She truly has feelings for him. Din feels as though this should make him happy, but he only feels guilt from making her suffer.

A part of him wants to go sit beside her, hold her, comfort her- but he knows the conversation will only end in, "We have to forget".

So he turns his back on her and leaves the covert.

He can't push the thought away. If this is how I'm going to feel all the time while Cara and I are apart- which will be forever- how will I focus on protecting the kid?

Maybe...just maybe...he can say yes to her dinner offer. Only to make one last memory and let her know exactly how he feels, so that when they part ways, it'll be reluctant but at least they'll have had closure.

He waits in the diner for her to emerge from the covert. Then he walks right up to her and stammers out a, "YesI'llhavedinnerwithyoutonight".

All this time, and you still get nervous, says the voice in his head.

"Shut up," he whispers.

"What?" says Cara.

"Not you!" Din says quickly.

Cara raises an eyebrow, then shrugs. "Alright. See you tonight."

He meets her just before sunset.

There's nothing fancy about it, nothing that would indicate this was different from two friends getting together for a meal, but Din tries not to let it ruin anything.

He notices that Cara looks even more beautiful tonight, though her eyes are still red from crying. They sit down together at a table in the corner of the diner. Neither says a word, and the silence is so uncomfortable that Din is starting to wish he never yielded.

"So, where do you plan to go next?" asks Cara.

"I was thinking maybe Yavin 4," Din replies.

"That sounds nice," Cara murmurs. She keeps looking like she wants to say something else, but doesn't have the nerve.

"Cara...I think we have to talk," says Din quietly.

She looks relieved that one of them finally said something. "Yeah. I need to talk. You just need to listen and keep your mouth shut. Got it?"

"Okay..."

Cara takes a deep breath. "I like you. A lot. And I thought nothing could ever come out of it, but I came up with an idea. Because if I know two fundamental truths about you, it's these; you and your kid are a combo package. I accept that. I love the little guy.

"The second thing is that your creed is a part of you. Just like I would never ask you to give up the kid, I would never ask you to turn your back on your creed. So I've been trying to learn as much as I can about your culture. That's what that book I got was about."

"You kissed me," says Din, forgetting that he was supposed to keep his mouth shut.

Cara stares at the table, biting her lip. "Just a little bit."

"I don't understand why you would do that when you knew what it meant to me," says Din, trying not to make it sound harsh, but failing. "You knew I feel the same way."

"No, I didn't!" argues Cara. "You didn't make it clear. Not in the slightest. So I was doing everything I could to get you to stay here with me."

"Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Really? Because that's one of the things Carasynthia Dune is known for; confessing her little crush," she fires back. Her voice is trembling. "Do you know how hard it is to see you every day, knowing that soon I'm gonna lose you forever?"

Din sighs. "That's how I feel about you."

Cara swallows. "When I was about to leave, after I thought you'd died, I expected you to be happy to see me."

"I was."

"But you didn't show it!"

"Because that's one of the things Din Djarin is known for; confessing to the girl he loves."

A painful silence follows.

"You love me?" Cara murmurs.

Din stares at the table. "Just a little bit."

Cara stands up suddenly. "I need to show you something." She reaches out for his hand. Din hesitates. Tonight was to make her feel better, and maybe make one last memory. He takes her hand.

She leads him out of the diner, out of the town entirely.

"Where are we going?" Din asks.

Cara doesn't answer, but she stops when they reach the top of the highest ridge. "Look." She points at the sunset.

The sky above them is dark blue, dotted with stars, the sky in front of them is bright pink with Nevarro's crimson sun, and a strip of purple in between.

Cara sits down on the ridge, motioning for Din to do the same.

"I don't have a home," she says shakily. "My parents died when I was little and I was adopted into the military to become a shock trooper. I don't belong anywhere. I never did, until you came along."

Din doesn't know what to say, so he just intertwines his fingers with hers.

"I know we keep saying we have to be apart, but that's not true. You are my home. You are where I belong. And if that means travelling the galaxy, running for our lives, having a new adventure every day- so be it. Maybe we do belong to the stars." She looks down at their hands together, out at the stars, then sideways at him.

Din doesn't know what to say; words have never been his strong suit.

So he does the only thing he can think of.

He gently pulls her closer and rests his forehead against hers, hoping it'll tell Cara all she needs to know.

It does.