𝐀𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐍 || The Mandalorian

𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

┏━━━━━━˙*¨༺ ༻¨*˙━━━━━━┓
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

┗━━━━━━˙*¨༺ ༻¨*˙━━━━━━┛

AERYN WAS THE FIRST ONE to wake up, blinded by the light coming from the sun.

She felt a cold, metal object pressed against her right cheek as she slowly opened her eyes. There was also something lying on the top of her head. Something that felt a little heavy.

Aeryn realized that she was sleeping on Mando's shoulder and Mando's head was on top of hers. They were still in their position as they sat last night, only much closer.

She gently placed her right hand on the side of Mando's helmet.

"Mando," Aeryn called for him. "Mando, wake up."

"Hmm.." Mando just groaned and refused to wake up.

Aeryn's lips formed a small smile at Mando's actions. She's never seen Mando act like this before.

"Mando, we've got some raiders to deal with." she gently tapped on Mando's helmet and hoped for the best.

Luckily, this woke the Mandalorian up and he realized what position he was in. He quickly sat properly, freein Aeryn from the comfortable yet heart-fluttering position.

"S-sorry about that." Mando apologized, meeting Aeryn's eyes.

"It's okay." Aeryn assured him and smiled. "So, what's our plan?"

˙*¨༺ ༻¨*˙

M

ANDO, CARA, AND AERYN gathered all the villagers who wanted to fight. They all stood patiently in front of the fighters as they waited for instructions.

"You got two problems here. You got the bandits, and you got the mech." Mando began. "We'll handle the AT-ST, but you gotta protect us when they come outta the woods. And I don't have to tell you how dangerous they are. Cara Dune here was a veteran. She was a drop soldier for the Rebellion, and she's gonna lay out a plan for you. So listen. Carefully." he instructed sternly and the villagers did as what they were told.

"Now, there's nothing on this planet that can damage the legs on this thing. So we're gonna build a trap. We're gonna need to dig real deep, right here, so that when it steps in, it drops." she explained, pointing to the edge of the outermost krill pond.

"The two of us will hit their camp, provoke them. That'll bring the fight out of the woods and down here to us." she added.

"I'm gonna need you to cut down trees and build barricades along these edges." it was Mando's turn to speak now. "I need it high enough so that they can't get over, and strong enough so that it can't break through." he paused and took a long look at the villagers.

"Okay. Who knows how to shoot?" he asked, waiting for a response.

Omera, who stood in front of him, slowly raised her hand. The only one to raise their hand.

"This will be fun." Aeryn whispered to herself as she observed the villagers in front of her.

˙*¨༺ ༻¨*˙

THE THREE FIGHTERS WERE separated to lead their own groups.

Cara taught the fighters, Mando taught shooters, while Aeryn led the villagers in building their barricades.

The villagers brought Aeryn a barricade made of log, tied with ropes for support. She assessed the craft and shook it, checking if it'll break.

Luckily, it didn't.

"Ow!" Aeryn hissed as blood started trickling down her left palm.

The builders were flooded with worry and quickly made their way to her.

It was a thin, long cut travelling across her left palm. It wasn't really a big deal for Aeryn but there was blood.

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Please don't die!"

They all circled around her with worried faces. Aeryn found their act flattering and gave them a genuine smile.

"Just a small cut." Aeryn told them as she tried to stop the bleeding. "I'll be fine, I promise." she added, smiling.

A female villager walked closer to her, a worried look visible on her face. "Please, let me attend to your wound. It will be safer in that way."

"Thank you for your kindness." Aeryn thanked her and stood beside the female villager. "Now, place this barricade there," she pointed to an open area. "And we're all good to go. Make sure to join the others in training, okay?"

"Okay!" the builders all answered and proceeded to move the barricade.

Aeryn, then, followed the female villager to get her hand treated.

˙*¨༺ ༻¨*˙

"YOU OKAY?" MANDO ASKED Aeryn as she entered the barn. He sat on his bed while holding the child safely in his arms.

It was almost sunset and hours had already passed by ever since the preparation ended.

Aeryn knew that tonight, they will be fighting against the raiders and the dreaded AT-ST.

"Yes, I am." she answered, making her way to Mando and the child. "And you?" Aeryn sat on the floor as she caressed the child in Mando's arms.

"I'm fine." he answered.

Mando couldn't help but notice the cloth covering Aeryn's left palm as she caressed the child. He was certain that it wasn't there when they last met this morning.

Mando looked at Aeryn.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked, worry slightly visible in his voice.

"Oh, this?" Aeryn lifted her left palm to her face. "I was just careless, that's why." she chuckled as she looked back at Mando's eyes.

There was a short silence between them as they both stared in each other's eyes.

Yes, Aeryn couldn't see his but she felt it. Very much.

Mando, on the other hand, felt the familiarity once again. It seemed impossible but to him, her eyes were awfully familiar.

It felt awfully familiar but then again, he just can't seem to figure out why.

"The sun is about to set and we'll be leaving soon. When we return, be safe." Mando told her as he broke the ongoing silence. He carefully handed the child to Aeryn and stood up.

"We will be." she replied and stood up as well.

Mando headed towards the exit of the barn but midway, he stopped. He turned around to look back at Aeryn with the child resting in her arms.

The violet-eyed girl gave him a small smile.

"Be safe, Mando." Aeryn told him and Mando nodded, continuing to walk away.

Normally, he didn't worry about his or other people's safety but somehow, deep inside him, he knew he had to be safe.

Aeryn and the child needs his protection. He knew he had to stay alive.

For them.

˙*¨༺ ༻¨*˙

hi there!

i'm doing a double update today because heck, the next chapter is my favorite. i'm just excited for you guys to read it!!😄 thank you for reading and stay safe!

-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐫