It didn't take much longer for Fae to crash and burn. Her previous high slowly but surely slipped away like sweat from her pours over the next hour or so. And once the adrenaline she had previously been feeling wore off, Fae could barely keep her eyes open, along with her head lulling forward so her chin collided with her clavicle over and over. Each time she jolted herself back awake, it whittled away on the Mandalorian's patience; and after what felt like the fiftieth time, he finally decided he needed to move her.
His bunk would have to do, until he could fashion something else more permanent-
Permanent?
Mando was shocked at his own thoughts. Since when did he even entertain the idea of someone, anyone, staying on the ship with him? Not even Fae; her previous statement back on Nevarro about never agreeing to such a thing was technically correct, even if she was drugged when she had said it. He had never asked, just sort of acted — a rare occurrence on his part. But then again, he wasn't even completely sure he wanted her there. Just because he didn't want her to die doesn't mean he wanted her around. He wasn't used to any life, apart from that of one of solitude.
Nonetheless, there she was sat in the co-pilot seat of his ship, so she was his responsibility at that exact point in time. So he sighed deeply to himself before heaving out of his chair, stepping towards the near unconscious form, and shaking her by the shoulder slightly.
"Fae," He said her name for the first time, and she wasn't even lucid enough to hear it — it fell on deaf ears. She didn't even move. So he shook her again, slightly harder, which was...more effective. The girl shot awake, one hand snapping upwards to grip his wrist and the other lifting up to her face to shield herself.
It took a second or two longer than it should have for Fae to register that it was a highly unnecessary move. She peaked open one of her eyes, having to move her hand slightly in order to actually see, but as soon she saw her own reflection in the visor of a familiar helmet she lowered all defences at once.
"Oh, hey," She breathed out casually, "Making sure I'm not dead?"
The helmet gave her a questioning look — well, that's what Fae assumed — along with several seconds of silence consisting of the pair of them just looking at each other.
"You need to sleep," His modulated voice stated.
Fae's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, "Yes, I'm aware. That's why I was sleeping until you woke me up." While she was talking, Mando gripped around both of her forearms and forced her to stand, ignoring the snarky comment. One she stood, something fell from the inside of her jacket and clattered against the floor, metal on metal, and due to the cylindrical shape of it, rolled a little distance away before stopping.
"Oh-!" Fae exclaimed while clambering to retrieve it before he could even think about moving. Honestly, she had forgotten it was even in her pocket to begin with, hence the reason it fell. She felt his eyes on the back of her head while she shoved the weapon back where it was originally stashed away; and when she turned around, her face rested in a way as if what had just happened...well, hadn't happened.
"What was that?"
Fae took a few seconds to answer, "Just...sentimental value?" Which was a lie, "I'm not going to use it to kill you, if that's what you're asking." She explained pointedly, and then after the words left her mouth, the Mandalorian knew that topic was done being discussed.
Mando noticed she did that a lot, ignored things. As if she was running from her problems, no matter how big or small they were. Ran from everything. Which, he supposed, was fitting considering the reason he actually met her. She ran. She had even literally ran from him, twice, and he had to admit that she was pretty decent at it. But the dangerous side effect of such a way of life, is that one day you'll get tired, and everything will catch up with you — her. Or perhaps she just compressed all her feelings — plastered over them with a thick layer of sarcasm and witty comebacks. Or, maybe both. His eyes squinted at her behind his visor and he almost reached his hand up to point at her, and what she did, but she opened her mouth before he could.
"Did," She stopped for a second with deep creases of thought taking over her face as she lifted her hand to gesture lightly at him a few times, "Did I call you tiny...at some point?"
His head tilted, "No."
"Huh...guess it wasn't to your face," Fae stated absentmindedly with a shrug, "Well, nothing is ever said to your face, is it?" She added, laughing lightly at her own remark. And with that, Fae was practically forced down the ladder and into the hull of the ship by the agitated Mandalorian. Once the pair was stood outside the bunk, Mando pressed the button on the wall to slide open the door.
Fae inspected it cautiously while asking with a small chuckle, "You're not gonna lock me in here...right?" Only half of her was joking. The longer she kept her eyes on the helmet, which was many inches above her, the more intimidated she felt. Especially when said helmet was completely silent for a couple of tense seconds.
Mando lifted his hand to point firmly at the bedding, "Just get in, and go to sleep," He ordered.
Perhaps to Fae, the thought of being locked inside a tiny space was one of her worst nightmares — a nightmare she had lived as a reality in the past — but something about the firm, modulated voice was even more threatening than that. Or, maybe it was just the fact she knew deep down he wouldn't lock her in. Whatever the reason was, Fae eventually clambered inside and lay down comfortably for what felt like the first time in years. After only a moment of having her eyes closed, she felt herself begin to fall asleep already; only barely awake to hear Mando move to go and close the hatch door.
She shot up again, leaning one elbow underneath her for support and reached her hand out — although to do what, she didn't know. "C-can you keep it open, please?" She asked. Fae hated the way her voice sounded when it shook, and it shook then; she cursed herself internally for how weak she sounded. So feeble. A disappointment.
He didn't move at first, like he was deciding whether to listen to her or not. But eventually he did, and he worldessly moved away from the cot and climbed back up the cockpit, turning the lights off as he went, leaving Fae alone in the pitch black dark — apart from the one dim bulb above her head, which she eventually flicked off too.
Fae ensured that the saber was safely tucked inside her jacket, before finally resting her head back onto the, frankly crappy, pillow, and drifted off to sleep. The first nightmare free sleep she had experienced in kriff knows how long.
Not that it was a particularly good dream, though, as she didn't dream of anything at all. But in the end, that is always better than waking up screaming. That said, Fae's awakening was not all that pleasant anyway.
"Where are you going?"
The main thing that had disturbed her rest was the rather conspicuous metallic groan of the hull ramp being opened, and then it was the sunlight which came after it. So, when the two combined and practically forced Fae to wake up and get out of the bunk, it was then she saw Mando preparing himself to leave, and had asked her question.
Although he didn't jump when her voice appeared out of nowhere, he definitely wasn't expecting it, and turned to look at her probably a little too fast before regaining himself.
"To look for lodging, food, that sort of thing," He replied whilst he walked towards the door. Fae stood from her previous position of perching on the end of the cot, and took a couple of hasty steps forwards.
"Can't I come with you?" It wasn't like she was asking for permission, more like she was genuinely confused as to why she wouldn't be able to.
Mando didn't turn around as he said, "I assumed you would, didn't figure I'd be able to stop you anyway."
She decided to take that as a compliment as she took the few steps left in his direction so she was stood next to him at the top of the ramp.
During the few hours that Fae had been left alone down in the hull, she didn't sleep the entire time. At one point in the several hours journey, a particularly harsh jolt had woken her up, and instead of getting annoyed, she decided to be somewhat productive. Although it was practically impossible for her to see down there with only one light, Fae had managed to find a slightly loose panel in the side of the cot, and stashed away her lightsaber behind it; she didn't need, or more so want, to carry it around with her. Conveniently, it was the very bottom panel behind the pillow, so she doubted Mando would ever notice. At least, that was what she hoped. Kriff knows if he even knew what a lightsaber was, but she wasn't willing to take the chance.
"Where's the kid?" She asked, one hand readjusting the bandages on the other wrist.
"Up in the-"
Both of their heads turned downwards to look between them when they heard the familiar coos of the Child interrupt him.
Mando just sighed, extremely deeply, like he regretted ever being born, before muttering, "Oh, what the hell? Come on," and walking off. The Child happily trailed after him, leaving Fae stood in the same place with confusion covering her features.
"How the fuck did he get down the ladder?" She asked as she finally began walking behind them, "I find it hard getting down the ladder."
"Because you're weak," Mando replied without turning around. Fae flinched at the words, but reasoned with herself that he was probably just trying his best at joking. Although, she figured it needed work.
She recomposed herself and scoffed, "Well, by that logic you're weaker than me," She stated matter-of-factly, "Y'know, considering I beat you back in that f...orest."
The last syllable of Fae's sentence practically died in her mouth as she breathed it. Her own words forcing her to come to the realisation of where she was — what she was walking through.
A forest.
And that time, she wasn't running for her life; or being smacked in the head by a rock.
The great red trunks and the canopy of blue above her head, a completely different shade to the sky mind you, had Fae practically awestruck. She found herself wanting to reach down and feel the soil beneath her fingers, the texture of the bark and the smell of the leaves.
"Are you ever going to let me forget that?" Mando had asked in return to her comment, but when no reply came, along with no footfalls, he was quick to turn on his heel; a tiny part of him believing they had found her, them, already. But when he did, he didn't see Fae being held at gunpoint, she was just standing there. Her neck was craned up as high as she could possibly look, stood at the base of a tree, and one hand placed onto it. The girl's face held a look of pure wonder which Mando didn't think he had ever seen in anyone before. Her eyes were as though they had captured the universe itself, locked it away behind her pupils to keep it all to themselves; the touch of both life and death and everything in between at the tips of her fingers, and the answer to any question there ever had been or would ever be, perched on the edge of her tongue. A true mystery. "What are you doing?"
"I've just," Her words cut off as she stepped away from the tree to instead face him, "This is the second time I've ever seen trees."
And with that, Fae continued on their walk, passing him and the Child on her way, and that time leaving Mando stood perplexed. It was like everything that came out of her mouth just confused him more. Who was she and why was she...the way that she was? He tried not to think about it, his mind often going too far and conjuring up the worst case scenarios which he'd rather not imagine. Sadly, little did he know, they weren't too far from the truth.
Fae suddenly turned around, only to say, "Oh, and no, I'm never letting your forget it." with a sarcastic smile, before turning back around; this time with the other two following shortly behind.
It didn't take too long for the trio to find some sort of civilisation, and were quick to locate the nearest cantina. The distinct smell of searing meat was what lead them to it, Fae's stomach grumbling at her the entire time. Mando easily spotted a table at the back, and wordlessly made his way over to it. Due to that, he missed the small interaction of the Child getting his tiny self petrified by somebody's, frankly unnecessarily aggressive, pet. However, Fae did, and briskly scooped him up and out of harms way. She had half a mind to boot to ugly thing across the room, but managed to restrain herself simply by imagining the disapproval she'd receive from a certain bucket head.
Fae placed the Child in the seat opposite her; while Mando sat between them both, his chair oddly placed in a very particular way, as if he was watching something. Fae was going to ask what, slightly concerned at how tense he was as he sat.
"Welcome travellers," A waitress said as she approached their table, "Can I interest you in anything?"
"Yeah, literally anything-"
"Bone broth," Mando interrupted her, "for both of them."
"Oh, well, you're in luck. I just took down a grinjer, so there's plenty," The lady remarked.
Fae frowned as she said, "Am I supposed to know what one of those is?" However, it was mostly to herself and was therefore ignored by the woman as she continued. Although, once again, Mando silently added her words to the mental list of things which confused him when it came to her.
"Can I interest you in a porringer of broth as well?" She offered the Mandalorian.
"Just the two," He replied, although even Fae, who hardly knew him at all, could tell he was distracted by something.
"Very well," The waitress said before turning to leave and prepare their order.
"That one over their," Mando spoke firmly before she could leave completely, "When did she arrive?"
Fae looked over to where he had gestured to with a nod of his head, to see a, in her opinion, extremely badass looking woman, sat alone in the corner. She also figured that was what/who he had been watching the entire time they had been there.
"I've seen her here for the last week or so," The waitress replied.
"What's her business here?"
"Business? Oh, well, there's not much business in Sorgan, so I can't say," She chuckled, and as she did, Mando placed several coins onto the table rather directly, "She doesn't strike me as a log runner. Well, thank you, sir. I will get those broths for you as soon as possible, and I will throw in a flagon of of spotchka just for good measure. I will be right back with that." And with that, she finally left.
"Okay, first of all, I call dibs on the spotchka," Fae said as she looked at Mando, who was still looking at the woman in the corner, "Secondly, if those are your best bribery skills, I really need to teach you a thing or two."
Mando scoffed, eventually releasing his previous stare to instead face the teenager to his left, "Yeah, right, because you've bribed people."
Far shrugged, "You don't know me."
She was expecting some sort of deadpan comeback, but instead, Mando was quickly standing from his seat with his gaze once again fixed on the same area as before. "Keep an eye on the kid," He told her, one hand landing on her shoulder for half a second to squeeze it, before it was gone — and so was he. The girl turned to look at the Child, who was already looking at her with his big brown eyes.
"Why do I feel like this is going to be a common thing?" She asked him, despite the fact she knew he wouldn't reply. Well, he did babble a few nonsensical words at her, which was good enough to Fae.
It wasn't long until their order arrived, the Child being worryingly quick to snatch up his bowl of broth. While Fae was turned away to thank the kind waitress, she didn't notice the Child waddling off — soup in hand. But when she turned back to see a completely empty chair, she was even faster than the kid taking his soup to stand from her own chair to go after him. However, before she did, she grasped the flagon of spotchka and downed it one swift movement. She did call dibs on it, after all.
In the end, her panic was probably misplaced. As she located the Child, and, conveniently, Mando, almost as soon as she walked out of the cantina. He was on his back, with his blaster aimed at the woman, who was on her front with her blaster aimed at him. Frankly, Fae was prepared to just stand and watch how it played out, but at the obnoxious sound of the Child slurping his beloved broth, the pair of them turned to see her stood there, with the kid at her feet.
Mando sighed, for what must have been the thousandth time that day, before relaxing and asking, "You want some soup?"
{ once again this is unedited, i just wanted to update now and i'll fix mistakes later. professional, i know.
also, would you rather have updates every two/three days of chapters with about 1500-2000 words, or have updates every four+ days with chapters with about 3000+ words? or something else? idk, let me know.
anyway it is once again past 1am so...half of this chapter may make absolutely no sense. but...whatever.
also also, fyi, this is not going to be a story where mando and fae immediately get along as if they didn't imagine murdering each other for a solid ten chapters. like, there's gonna be angst, that's all i'm saying. call it a slow burner if you want to. but like, i hope you enjoy angst and yelling matches because oh boy will there be some.
anyway, hope you enjoyed! remember to vote and comment, thank you for reading! <3 }