Across the Universe | D. Djarin

The cursed planet

I let out a shaky sigh and slowly started to try and maneuver myself out of the cage without hurting Din. I swung my right leg over his body and lowered it to the ground. Din didn't even make a noise of protest due to his rapidly weakening state. Once my foot was on solid ground, I maneuvered the rest of my body out of the cage. There was a lot of contorting and twisting involved but eventually I broke myself free.

I briefly glanced over at Bo-Katan to see her swing the dark saber down onto the neck of the suddenly large creature. The light of its eye died out and it stopped fighting. I sighed in relief and immediately spun on my heels to face Din.

I bent down and I could immediately tell by the way his helmet was tilted that he lost consciousness. My heart jolted painfully at the sight of him laying there. My eyes trailed down to his left arm that was pushed up against the cage, there was a long see through pipe that was leading from his arm to a small black machine. I felt my fear spike as I took notice of the blood that was flowing through the pipe.

I quickly reached up and pulled the needle out of his arm. I dropped it to the ground and stood back up again just as Bo-Katan rushed to my side.

"Held me get him out." I said with poorly concerned worry. Bo-Katan nodded and she clasped onto his shoulders, slowly pulling him out. I stepped around her and wrapped my arms around his waist. Slowly, the two of us lifted him out of the cage and lowered him to the ground. I couldn't help the way my hands shook as I held onto him, praying that I wouldn't have to let go.

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Fire crackled softly through the quiet air of the deep mandalorian cave. I could occasionally hear a quiet drip from somewhere nearby, water falling from stalactites in timely intervals. The smell of the smoke mixed in with the damp scent of the cave. I could feel the heat radiating off of the burning hot flames, but I couldn't drag my eyes away from him.

Din lay unconscious on the hard ground, his head was propped up on a mound of stone. I frowned softly and gently ran my fingers along the material of his shirt by his waist, he surely wouldn't be very comfortable like this.

It felt like an eternity had passed since he had lost consciousness, and every agonising minute that ticked by made my chest ache even more. All I wanted was for him to wake up so I could know that he was okay. I kept drifting my hand up to his neck to check for a pulse and watching his chest rise and fall with worry, praying for him to keep breathing. If something happened down here, we wouldn't be able to get help. It would be too late.

Suddenly, Din groaned loudly and raised his head. My heart jumped in my chest, he was awake. I moved my hand to rest on his shoulder as he looked around at us. I couldn't help the way my eyes started to sting with tears. I clenched my jaw and took in a deep breath, trying to contain my emotions.

"What happened?" Din groaned in confusion

"I saved your life." Bo-Katan stated, she then briefly glanced over at me and sighed softly. "Well, we saved your life."

Din groaned again and placed his arms on the ground behind him, he tried to push himself up again and in the process he glanced over at me. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly

"I'm okay. Are you okay? You could've died." I said in the same tone

"Yeah, I feel weak though." Din replied

"Of course you do. Who knows how much blood that thing took." I said, anger spiked in my tone as I spoke of the creature that had taken us.

Din then looked over to Bo-Katan, who was sitting in front of the fire with a cup of soup that she had been making. He pushed himself up a bit more and I placed my hand on his upper back to try and help him.

"How did you find us?" Din asked her

"Your kid. He's tougher than he looks. And he's quite the navigator." Bo-Katan said. I smiled softly at Grogu and looked over to Din as he started to push himself up with his arms again.

"Thank you for rescuing us." Din said as he fully sat up. I kept my hands on his back as he flexed his fists and groaned heavily, clearly feeling the lack of blood flow. I frowned softly at his pain.

"You were right. Mandalore is not cursed." Din said to Bo-Katan

"Was I? Look around. There's nothing left. A great society is now a memory." Bo-Katan stated. I glanced around the open cave that we were in, taking notice of the broken architecture, she wasn't wrong.

"I once ruled here for a brief time. Now, it's destroyed." Bo-Katan then stood up and walked over to us, she held out the cup of soup to Din. "Nothing to cling to but ashes."

Din reached up with both of his hands and took the cup from her. "What is this?" He asked in confusion.

"You've never eaten pog soup?" Bo-Katan asked him

Din shook his head gently. "No."

"Can you appreciate the irony?" Bo-Katan said in sarcastic amusement. Din pulled up the edge of his mask and took a long sip of the pog soup.

"Any Mandalorian worth their armor was raised on this since they were his size." Bo-Katan said as Din handed the cup of soup to Grogu.

Din suddenly placed his hands on the ground and maneuvered his body so he could try and stand up. I immediately sat up on my knees and held his shoulders tightly.

"Hey, what are you doing? You need to rest." I said as he slowly stood up. I sighed softly and wrapped his arm across my shoulder to try and hold him up, there was no point in arguing with him right now. He was unbelievably stubborn sometimes.

"She's right. I'll get you back to my ship soon enough." Bo-Katan added. I frowned as he groaned in pain once again, my heart twisted at the noise. 

"I'm not going with you." Din groaned slightly

"Like hell you aren't." I stated, was he seriously going to try and continue through this maze in his weakened state.

"Cyar'ika I have to." Din said as he tried to reach for Grogu. I quickly pushed his arms away and forced him to stand up straight. I then bent down myself and scooped him up.

"What are you talking about?" Bo-Katan asked as I walked over to Grogu's pram and placed him inside.

"I must continue to the mines of Mandalore so that I may be redeemed." Din stated as he started to collect his weapons that were laying on a rock. Luckily Bo-Katan had retrieved my sabers for me and they hung proudly on my belt.

"I honestly think that it's adorable that you actually believe these children's stories. But there is nothing magic about the waters." Bo-Katan stated. I'm not as skeptical as her about the living waters, considering the fact that I can wield the force.

"Without the creed, what are we? What do we stand for? Our people are scattered like stars in the galaxy." Din said as he hooked the dark saber onto his belt. I walked over to the rock where his weapons were and lifted up the silver beskar jetpack. I walked over to him with the jetpack in my arms.

"The creed is how we survived. You rescued me and I'll always be in your debt." Din said. I gently moved his brown cape to the side and clicked his jetpack into place.

"But I can't go with you until I fulfill my obligation." Din added. I gently arranged his cape so it rested on the side of his jetpack. "Thank you, Cyar'ika." Din said gently over his shoulder.

He lowered his hand and wrapped it around my own. I smiled softly as he attempted to squeeze my hand with the small amount of strength he had.

"I will take you." Bo-Katan stated suddenly.

"To the living waters?" Din asked

"Yes. You'd never find them on your own. Not in all this wreckage." Bo-Katan said casually

"Thank you." Din said gratefully

"Don't thank me until you see them." Bo-Katan stated as she started to walk away. I tightened my grip on Din's hand and started to follow after her, hopefully we won't have any more surprises or accidents as we descend deeper into the depths of Mandalore.