Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Toro coolly strolled up and took a peek behind the rocks Hebe had disappeared behind, his face dropping as he saw an empty space. "Princess?" He shouted out but was only met with a silence other than the loud blood pumping in his chest. "Shit!"
Hebe was sprinting, and not her normal sprint anyway, she had only heard up to Shand mentioning a child and she had made a run for it. Once she was silently over the ridge as Toro and Shand were distracted she ran like hell, hoping to meet Mando halfway and warn him while expertly avoiding their new enemy. Her legs were starting to burn but her adrenaline kept her at a fast pace until she saw a small figure appearing over a dune around fifty feet away. "Din!" Her voice broke and at hearing her desperate tone hopped off of the tamed Dewback and jogged towards her. "What's wrong? What happened-"
"He knows about Nevarro and the kid, we have to get back there now!"
"Wait, slow down," he ordered in an assertive tone while tugging her onto the Dewback. She exhaled before gathering her words together. "Shand gave away about a Mandalorian shooting up a Guild building in Nevarro and talked about two high-value targets to Toro. And now I'm guessing he's on his way to get the child..." She breathed as Din picked up the pace, she felt as though she was going to be sick from all the running she just endured, but also a boiling amount of rage. If he so much as touched a strand of hair on that kid's head she swore she would throttle him and turn him into a kebab.
Din stroked her back in an attempt to calm her down, it somewhat worked. He jumped up behind her and took the reins. When Peli's port came into view they both hopped off and felt the nighttime breeze, it would've been more calming under another situation but at this point, both their veins were pumping with ill intent. Drawing their blasters with a small click, Hebe led them into the main part of the building, nearing the Razor Crest. A droid dashed past them and into the building hurriedly behind dusty glass, they could see three of them cowering.
They approached a spot in the shadows of Din's ship. "Took you long enough," from the dark, a nervous-looking Peli emerged, much to both their discomfort he also held the frowning kid in one hand. "Looks like I'm calling the shots now. Huh, partners," Hebe ripped her mask off and let it drop to the floor her blaster locked onto his head, Din's the same beside her. "Drop your blasters and raise 'em." Hebe nodded hesitantly. It took everything in them to actually let their guns lay on the floor as he had the kid with him. "Cuff him," Peli rolled her eyes and grunted as he nudged her back with his blaster.
Hebe had already issued a plan and nudged Din with her foot reassuringly, attempting to get in his mind. 'Be still, let her cuff you. I've got a plan' her voice echoed in his mind, he flinched beside her but otherwise didn't move an inch. "You're a Guild traitor, Mando. And I'm willing to bet that these here," he pointed his gun to the baby and nodded to Hebe, "Are the targets you helped escape." Hebe glanced at Peli, who was cuffing Mando, and was able to keep under wraps another race of impulse as Toro waved the gun at the young one.
"Fennec was right. Bringing you in won't just make me a member of the Guild, it'll make me legendary," once they were both cuffed by Peli, they brought their hands in front of them. "Well, before you do that," Hebe kept her voice steady, everybody stared at her, Peli and Din preparing themselves for anything, Toro only pointing his gun to her. "Would you like to know one of the reasons I'm a bounty?" Din cocked his head curiously.
"I'm not interested in your anecdotes, princess," to which she smiled evilly. Toro's expression grew weary.
"It's more of a demonstration really," with one swift gesture Toro's blaster was in her hand, with a gasp he stumbled back, her hands adopted a 'U' shape that was aimed at him, his whole body was pinned to the ship and he dropped the child. Gasping for air and clawing at his throat, he looked at her with a disgusting fear in his eyes. She stalked forwards, leaving Peli to scramble forwards to look for the child. "No one. I mean...no one, threatens me or the people I care about and lives to tell about it. You can be an example, newbie." Not a moment of hesitation run through her as she shot him in the chest and let him drop to the floor, her heart rate coming to ease. "Where is it?" Peli and Mando searched for the child until they heard a familiar noise, the child peeked out from behind a nearby crate.
"There you are. Are you hiding from us? Huh?" Peli fell to her knees with a relieved smile, Hebe threw the gun away and took the keys from Din's hands but he ended up uncuffing her himself. Her hands and shoulders were shaking, she wiped a few drops of blood away from her nose. Peli picked up the child gingerly and both Hebe and Din let them have their moment, as much as she wanted to hug him to her chest she discovered she had the patience now that they were safe. "Look at you. It's alright, I know. That was really loud for your big ears wasn't it?" She continued to baby talk to him until he was smiling again. Mando inspected the body of Toro before looking over to Hebe, who seemed standoffish. Din took a bag of money from the dead boys pocket and handed it to her.
They both walked over to Peli, who was shushing the child. "Be careful with him," she handed the kid to Mando, who cradled him gently, Hebe held her hand over his elbow to stroke the child's forehead. "So, I take it you didn't get paid," Peli pinched her lips together and placed her hands on her hips. Hebe glanced up to Mando's helmet before pouring what was left of the credits in the bag into Peli's palm, catching the ones that fell, Peli's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"That cover us?"
"Yeah. Yes, this is going to cover you," she sputtered, making Hebe smile tiredly and the three returned up the ramp as Peli ordered the droids to drag out the body, making the girl chuckle. She struggled up the ladders to the cockpit and sat down as Din took off into hyperspace. Turning on autopilot before swivelling around and leaning forwards towards Hebe, handing her the giddy child. He mustered her for a second trying to find a way to talk to her when she caught him staring she rolled her eyes and placed the child into his pod. Din noticed that her bottom lip quivered slightly as the child escaped from her touch. "Hebe..." His voice trailed off and before she knew what she was doing, wrapped her arms around his neck and shakily breathed out, it took a few seconds to realise what was going on before he returned the embrace. It felt nice...
They didn't exactly know how to communicate their feelings or thoughts through words but the warmth of her chest gave off a sense of appreciation. Din didn't know he needed the physical contact he was starved of until now, he also wondered how a person like him could've met a person like her. He had earned her respect and protection, the same for her him, they held an equal feeling of emptiness that now each other could fill. Not to mention the small, green bug-eyed child that had wriggled his way into their hearts. He felt her bury her face into the clothed space on his neck. "I think that kids going to give me heart failure someday."
Both of them laughed dryly as they looked at the child who cooed at them and tilting his head. "Thank you, Din.." Her voice was small but audible.
"For what?"
"For existing," a grin grew under his helmet and shook his head, giving off a crackling chuckle. "I could say the same for you, you saved our asses." He noticed that her skin grew a little colder, shrugged her back into her seat before throwing a blanket at her face, she made a muffled oof sound and he wrapped it around her shoulders. "Get some sleep, Gedet'ye."
"Elek," he turned to her in surprise.
"You speak mando'a?"
"Nope. That's literally the only word I picked up as a child," she smiled shyly. The two exchanged a few drowsy conversations until Din led her down to sleep in his cot and he in the floor next to the cot, this time they didn't bother to close the compartment door. "Goodnight, Din."
