𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 ── ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏʀɪᴀɴ ✓

3.0

I looked over at Mando and saw how vulnerable he had become; he just completely froze. I bit my lower lip and stared at Qin.

"Fine, we'll take you back to Ran," I announced, placing my blaster back in my belt. "But first, let me do just one thing.."

Mando turned to look at me, confused, as Qin smirked, "And what's that, sweetheart?"

I paused for a moment after hearing that word. It had reminded me of Toro.. the playboy on Tatooine.

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and walked over to Qin, raising my hand up high. Within a blink of an eye, I slapped Qin on the cheek. He groaned in pain as I placed a hand on my hip, growling.

"You deserved that."

🔹️🔹️🔹️

We climbed back into the ship, but something felt off. I sensed a strong energy coming from the child's secret room. That's when I realized.. Zero was still on the ship.

My eyes widened, "Mando, the kid--"

Before I could finish my sentence, Mando had already shot Zero down with his blaster. Zero's silhouette fell onto the floor, revealing the child inside his secret room as he observed his tiny hands.

Mando walked over to the secret room as the child cooed up at him. I pinched the bridge of my nose, relieved to see that the child was safe. Mando turned around to face me, closing the room's hatch.

"One step ahead of you."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes in response. Qin sat down on a box across from us with a smirk on his face. He shrugged, "I'll stay here."

I gave him a stern look. "Don't even try to lay a finger on the kid, you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." Qin laughed as Mando and I went up into the ship's control room.

Mando took a seat at his piloting chair while I sat down on the passenger seat. He turned on all the engines, and we soon took off. Not long after, we travelled through hyperspace to get back to Ran's space station.

I sighed, crossing my legs as I watched Mando stare off into the stars. He seemed like he had a lot on his mind.. just like me.

I couldn't help but wonder: what could possibly be lingering inside of that bounty hunter's mind? His personality and background intrigued me from the very start. He was different from the other hunters.. and I liked that.

There was also that side of me that hated him; in ways that were slightly obvious. But whenever he'd look ar me through that helmet of his, all that hatred would just go away. This whole journey.. was already complicated to begin with.

Once we landed on Ran's space station, Mando stood up from his chair and grabbed the tracking beacon. He slowly made his way over to me and held out his hand. I hesitated for a moment before gently grabbing his hand.

He pulled me up from the passenger seat as we stared at one another.. still holding onto each other's hands. Unknowingly, we both began to lean into each other; it was like we were lost inside of our own world.

However, the moment was soon ended when Qin began shouting at the top of his lungs from beneath the control room.

"Hurry up already! We don't got all day..!"

Mando cleared his throat as I pulled away from his grasp. I ran a hand through my hair, my heart racing. Mando and I jumped down from the top level to get to the bottom of the ship.

Qin was waiting impatiently, tapping his foot against the floor. Mando rolled his head and walked over to the ship's hatch, opening it with a controller.

Once the hatch was fully open, we saw that Ran had been waiting for us at the bottom of the ship's slope. Qin took his time observing the station as he walked down the entrance. He smiled before running up to his old friend and pulling him into a friendly embrace, laughing.

After they'd pulled apart from the hug, Mando and I walked towards the two friends. Ran gave us a confused look as he searched for the rest of the gang.

".. Where are the others?"

"No questions asked," Mando replied with a dark tone to his voice. "That's the policy, right?"

Ran shrugged, "Yeah, that is the policy.."

"Look," I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "We did the job."

".. Yeah, you guys did." Ran responded as he took out a bag of money and tossed it at Mando.

Mando nodded in approval, catching the bag with one hand. "Just like the good old days."

"Yeah, just like the good old days." Ran gave us one last smile before watching us head back into the Razor Crest. I shook my head, shifting my gaze onto Mando as the ship's entrance closed off.

That's when I realized something.. he didn't have the tracking beacon in his hand anymore. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"What'd you do to the tracking beacon?"

"Let's just say.." Mando began as he walked over to the child's secret room. ".. they got what they deserved."

🔹️🔹️🔹️

Mando brought the child back up into the control room and placed him inside of his metal crib. I sat down on the passenger seat and relaxed a little while Mando piloted the ship.

Just then, I noticed three ships flying past us as they approached the space station. My eyes widened once I recognized what type of ships they were. They were none other than.. X-Wings, off to destroy Ran's station.

I smiled to myself, remembering the memories I had shared with Luke back before the Battle of Endor. The X-Wings reminded me of Luke; how he was an excellent pilot, fighter and.. friend. Luke and I had a close relationship that was unlike any other.. or so I'd thought.

Mando took the ship into hyperspace once again. He sighed, twisting the tiny ball from one of his controllers. He turned to look at the child and gave  it to him. The child cooed as he admired the tiny object in his hand.

Mando huffed, "I told you that was a bad idea."

"I think it was your idea to begin with." I chuckled, rolling my eyes. Mando shook his head.

".. But you still came along with me."

I smiled, "Didn't really have a choice, did I?"