Across the Universe | D. Djarin

Mandalore

"Always." Din replied as he pressed the button to open the glass canopy. The smile slowly fell off of my face as Din pulled himself up and climbed out onto the surface of Mandalore. Once he stood on the ground I pressed the button to close it over again, using it to protect me from any further exposure.

Once the cockpit had pressurized I reached my hands up and unclipped the gas mask. I placed the mask on Din's seat as Grogu crawled out from under the seat and climbed up onto my lap. He cooed worriedly as we watched Din walk away from the ship.

"He's gonna be okay, Ad'ika. Don't worry." I said gently as I held him closer to my chest.

Din disappeared behind the large rock where R5 had gone and Grogu cooed worriedly again. His ears were dropped and his eyes reflected the worry and sadness he was feeling.

I decided to try and distract him by telling him about my life before all this. "Hey, Y'know. I was like you when I was your age. Well, when I was younger. Technically I'm not even your age yet because you're 50, but that's beside the point." I laughed softly as I rambled, but I seemed to be catching Grogu's attention.

"When my parents were...taken away by the empire. I was found by a strange man, and he was a bounty hunter too. That's where I learned how to be one, he taught me everything I know. I don't really know where he is now, or if he's even alive anymore. But he was a good man. A tough one, but a good one." I explained to Grogu. He looked up at me with his ears perked up in interest.

I smiled softly down at him and rested my head back against the seat. Grogu turned away from me and started staring out the window again, waiting for Din to come back. I tried my hardest not to worry as the minutes ticked on.

After a while, din reappeared with R5 trailing after him. I sighed in relief at the sight of him. Grogu's ears went up and he held his hand up towards the glass.

"Not yet, kid. Not until I check the toxicity." Din explained to Grogu, who was eagerly wanting to be let out.

Din then turned to R5 who looked fine. "You got an analysis on the atmosphere yet?"

R5 beeped and projected a light blue hologram into the air in front of him. I couldn't see the chart from where I was sitting, so I waited for Din to give me the answer.

"The charts were wrong. The atmosphere is breathable. Bo-Katan was right." Din said, I raised my brows slightly and smiled, that's a good thing.

"So, can we come out now?" I asked Din

"Yeah, you can come out." Din replied.

I looked down at Grogu with a small smile. "You wanna go get your pram buddy?" I prompted. Grogu cooed and crawled off of my lap so he could climb back into his pod.

I reached my hand forward and pressed the button on the controls that opened up the hatch. I tried not to tense up as I took in a breath of air, hoping that it wouldn't kill me on the spot. Luckily, nothing bad happened and I pulled myself up out of my seat. I swung my legs over and hopped down onto the surface of Mandalore.

I walked over to Din and placed my hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

Din nodded to me. "Yeah. Just a little fight. Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Good. You better not be downplaying it though." I jokingly threatened.

Din laughed lightly. "I'm not. Come on, let's get going." He gestured with his head for us to start walking. I nodded and started walking alongside him. The ground was wet from the constant overhead storms.

We walked around the large spiked stone and my eyes fell upon the entrance to a large cave. I could only see a few feet inside of it due to how dark it was inside. Din brought out his gun as we stepped into the cave and I glanced at him briefly in concern, whatever he fought down here might not be gone.

I reached my hand down and unhooked one of my sabers. I pressed the button to ignite the blade, it quietly whirred to life with a bright blue glow that shone into the cave and reflected off of the cave walls. Din glanced at me but didn't say anything as we continued to walk deeper into the cave. The damp smell of the cave consumed my senses and the sound of water dripping echoed all around us.

We walked towards a ledge that led down to what looked like destroyed architecture. I turned my saber off and looked down, feeling my stomach twist at just how high it was. I hooked my saber back onto my belt and looked over at Din.

"That's the civic center. This is where Bo-Katan said to go." Din said. He then turned to me and wrapped his arm around my waist tightly. I gasped slightly as he pulled my flush against him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and we stepped forward off the edge. Din turned on his jetpack and slowly lowered us to the ground. Grogu floated alongside us in his pram.

We fell down for a moment before we gently landed on a slim platform that stretched across the deep cavern. I kept my arms wrapped tightly around Din's neck.

"The mines should be further down. I guess we're on our own from here." Din said to the both of us.

"It's nothing we can't handle." I said with a small smile, quoting what he had said earlier. Din chuckled gently before he stepped forward again. I stepped with him so I wouldn't be left behind on this small ledge and we started to fall downwards again.

It didn't take very long for us to finally get to the bottom level. The water splashed as Din and I landed on the ground. It was ankle deep and I felt very grateful that my boots were much higher than the water level.

I slowly let go of Din and looked around us. The entire area was pitch black, I could only see a small amount of light that was filtering in from far above us. I unhooked my saber again and ignited it. Lighting up the area around me in a bright blue light.

Din clicked on the torch that was attached to the side of his helmet and Grogu switched on the lights on his pram. Din pulled out his blaster as we walked further into the dark cave.

The ceiling was towering above us, the rock curved like a magnificent ceiling made of a terrifying dark rock. The water splashed as we waded through it.

"These waters should flow down to the mines and the living waters within." Din said. I nodded gently as my eyes darted around the place. The dark shadows were playing tricks on my eyes and putting me on edge, I tightened my grip on my saber to try and comfort myself. This place felt haunted.

We wandered into another section of the cave, it was less towering but still just as dark and Terrifying. Din's torch and my saber landed on a stone passageway that looked to be man made. The sight made me feel the slightest bit relieved, hopefully we were walking in the right direction.

"Look, That passage heads down." Din said

"Looks promising. I hope you're remembering the way out, too." I said quietly, Din didn't reply but I knew that he was rolling his eyes at my comment. He prided himself in his directional skills.

We started to walk through the passageway and any relief that I had felt before had completely disappeared. This section somehow felt even more creepy than the last two. Hopefully it was only me being paranoid and not a warning from the force. Din looked around and his headlight lit up a large pipe that went down from the ceiling to the floor. The ground seemed to be covered in different discarded and abandoned objects.

I kept in step with him as we studied the items on the ground. The fascination of the objects distracting me from the creepy atmosphere. Din's torch fell into a T-shaped hole in the ground. I switched off my saber and hooked it to my belt so the two light sources wouldn't mix together.

Din bent down beside me and brushed away some of the dust and dirt, revealing an old Mandalorian helmet. He pulled it out of the ground and revealed the entire helmet. He stood up and the sand fell from the inside of the helmet, flowing down like sand in an hourglass.

Just as Din was examining it, the floor seemed to shake and erupt. I gasped as something burst out from under our feet and wrapped around us, caging us so tightly that I felt like I couldn't breath. My head hit harshly against something hard and my vision turned black, the last thing on my mind was Grogu and if he was okay.