tritanopia | The Mandalorian

thirty-five

"This is bad," Cara stated, deciding to continue with her trend of pointing out the blatantly obvious. Nobody actually listened to her -- Mando was too busy trying to contact Kuill, and Karga and Fae were both fixated on staring out into the street at what awaited them all.

Those outside did not move a singular muscle between them all -- each and every one of them awaiting orders from somebody that the four people inside the cantina clearly could not see. Even when a black star descended from the sky like an omen of suffering, and bringing with it a bone rattling noise, not one of the troopers flinched even a millimetre.

The most surprising feat, however, was the fact that they continued this even as a man, who, even to those who did not know him, presented himself as nothing but life threatening, emerged from the ship and marched himself to the front of the army with the confidence of someone who seemed to believe them self to be invincible. Which, in all fairness, at the point in time he was probably the closest thing to that as physically possible.

The air was ink because of how difficult it was to breathe. Frankly, it was a miracle that Fae somehow managed to keep her composure as well as she did. It goes without saying that she had recognised that small black craft the second that they had all collectively spotted it in the sky -- in fact she had actually recognised it before even that, purely based on the unforgettable noise that it made. The way the sound waves snaked into her cartilage brought back a disgustingly familiar nostalgia that offered up memories that Fae did not even know she possessed. And, of course, she recognised the man who flew the ship like she would recognise the back of her hand. Even her body had a physical recoil from the mere sight -- her muscles and tendons screaming in anguish at her brain to allow her to run away and never look back.

Because the man stood out in the street was not actually a man at all .

He was a monster.

A monster surrounded by tens, if not a hundred, of his minions.

And one of the strangest things about this scene was the fact that Mando wasn't even looking at it. No...he was watching Fae, instead. Putting what limited knowledge he had on the girl to try and gauge whether she knew the man or not. Not that the answer would really matter in the grand scheme of things -- because if she did know him, and Mando discovered he was responsible for Fae's childhood, then in Mando's mind he would be morally obligated to disconnect the Imp's head from his shoulders. However, at the end of the day, Mando had the undeniable feeling that he was going to have to attempt such a thing anyway if he planned on getting the group out alive. But it was a null point, because Fae's face was as blank as a slate; which was truly no big surprise, seeing as that was usually the girl's default expression. And thus is provided Mando with absolutely nothing.

"You have two things I want," The man suddenly spoke, his voice firm and commanding and it travelled easily through the air to ensure that it reached every single person's ears, "You may think you have some idea of what you are in possession of, but you do not."

Everyone inside the cantina exchanged looks -- even Fae managed to tear her retinas away from her living nightmare in order to watch Mando as he frantically contacted Kuill once again.

"They mean more to me than you will ever know," The Imp continued -- his words catching Fae in a moment of indecision between rolling her eyes or passing out. The thing that pushed the girl to very edge of the cliff was when Mando evidently lost contact with the Kuill, and therefore with the Child, and Fae's tortured mind could not help but assume the worst for both of them. Kuill was dead, and the kid had been captured. She did not know how she knew, but to her it was indisputable.

"Is there another way out?" Cara asked, coming to terms with the fact that there was no way in hell they they all could simply battle through the army laid in front of them as an exit strategy.