The short moment of exhilaration, of what felt like pure bliss to Asora was cut short, she met Mando's gaze as she came to, "Go to the child. Now" she instructed, while she hadn't felt anything particularly worrisome in the force it was better to be safe than sorry.
The Mandalorian was on the exact same page, he nodded at her as she began walking towards the group, "Be safe." She whispered to him softly as the two passed, almost yearning to go with him, but she knew it was better to stay with the group in case anymore issues arose.
"We'll head to the speeder and meet you in town." Cara agreed, the group backing up and beginning to make their way back out as the Mandalorian left them to partake on his own mission.
"Come on, let's go!" Greef yelled as the Mythrol, MR and Asora hastily made their way back into a somewhat planned group formation.
"When did you say this place was gonna blow again?" The Mythrol inquired breathily as he made his way out. His legs were carrying him faster than expected, he was clearly shaken by their last interactions with the stormtroopers.
"Sooner than you'd like." Asora responded as the group made their way through the hallways, adrenaline powering their footsteps as they moved. Asora stayed at the back of the group, her eyes and ears on high alert.
After a few moments of running another small squad of stormtroopers rushed in, with blaster shots flying back and forth between groups quicker than expected, Asora raised both of her hands and threw the four troopers back against the far wall, knocking them out upon impact, she felt hot handed, like a bright flame.
She almost felt like she was pulsating with the force, as if she was a beacon of energy, she could expel on anyone at any moment, she didn't use the force as violently as expected though. There was some well-mannered ease in her being, it was refreshing after the past few hours of guilt and bickering.
As the group continued on, she followed in the back, letting Cara's aggressive blaster maneuvers take care of the troopers in the front as she waited for another attack from behind, she liked this. She liked the rush of a mission, the thrill of teamwork. It's something she hadn't known she'd missed; she was no longer filled with rage, anger and resentment, she was concentrated and calm.
The four of them made their way outside onto the platform with the elevator they had previously made their way up from, the group quickly ran to hide behind a small barricade as a group of troopers exited the elevator, Asora stood blocking and redirecting their shots back at them with her saber as she began yelling directions at Cara and her droid.
"Cara, MR get to the Trexler, we'll cover you."
MR beeped excitedly in response as it swivelled and turned, wheeling itself over towards the ship as Cara nodded in response, sprinting as quickly as she could manage into the hull of the machine.
While the two began booting up the ship Asora, Greef and the Mythrol continued to fire and redirect shots back at the troopers, taking the group out with relative ease. Just as the group got down to the last of the troopers Cara and MR backed the Trexler up and opened the side door to the three with Cara calling out, "what are you guys waiting for, an invitation? Let's move!"
"Go! Go, go, go!" Asora and Greef called out as they backed up into the vehicle, both shooting and sending back bullets as fluently as possibly while the Mythrol rushed into the Trexler.
Once the group quickly settled into the vehicle Asora disengaged her lightsabers and turned towards the control rig with the Mythrol, Greef and Cara, Cara launched the troop transport over the ledge, and into the empty lava ravine.
As the transport vessel flew down the side of the ravine the group screamed in unison, MR beeping worriefly as it lifted off the floor of the vehicle a few inches into the air, fortunately for the group they had the Mythrol's speeder to cushion their land, flattening it to a pulp.
"Wait. Was that my speeder..." the Mythrol called out in surprise, however his question was silenced by the boost of speed, pushing both the Mythol, Asora and Greef onto the ground as MR slid back into the hull and bumped into the wall.
Panicked yells and beeps filled the vessel, they died down slowly as everyone began adjusting to the newfound momentum and speed of the vehicle. Once everyone stabilized themselves and got back into position at the controls Asora looked back behind them to find three troopers on speeder bikes tailing them.
"Man the guns!"
"Copy that." Greef responded as he got out of the front seat and made his way into the back of the ship to the blaster control station.
As Greef left Asora began thinking of a way to maneuver onto the roof of the transport vessel without falling off, after a few moments of looking around the ship for possible exit routes she pushed to the side and shimmied herself out of the left window in the front of the ship and pulled herself on top of the deathly fast speeder.
She crouched on the roof as she waited for the two troopers on speeder bikes to sandwich the ship, then she moved her hand to quickly flick the trooper to her left off of the speeder and into the rubble behind them, she then jumped from the vessel onto the bike and slowed the speed down to come behind the trooper on the right of the ship.
As she sped up behind him, she realized he was trying to climb onto the transport, she hastily shot at him, the speeder bike blasters quickly destroying the now vacant bike in front of her. she groaned at the sight of the flying debris as she sped up, once she passed the debris and reached a reliable speed she stood up from the bike and shimmied back into the transport and called back to Greef.
"He's on top!"
There was no vocal reaction from Greef, but it was clear he heard her call from the blast above them, signaling to the group that the final trooper had been dealt with.
A momentary wave of relief waved over the passengers in the transport, however that wave was quickly washed out when the chilling whirr of TIE fighters rung through the air.
Asora made her way back towards Greef and situated herself beside the control chair he was in to offer he support. Once the TIE fighters came into view, she closed her eyes and reached out her hand, pulling one of them closer, holding it in place so the blaster calibration could lock onto it, ensuring Greef could get a good shot at it.
Her helped proved to be useful when Greef shot down the fighter, however something they didn't expect from the blast was the backlash of debris that flew towards them, effectively taking out the blasters and knocking the two onto their backs.
The two groaned in response and pushed themselves back up as quickly as possible, the two of them rushing to the cockpit, hopeful that the city would be in close proximity, and that this fight would soon be over.
"We're almost there!" the Mythrol called out as the group stared at the land in front of them with hardened faces as they sped through it.
The presence of more TIE fighters was made clear by the continuous blaster shots directed at the vehicle, after a few missed shots the TIE fighters flew infront of the ship and moved to circle around, but to the groups surprise one of the three ships was shot down.
Asora's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she watched the TIE fighter dissipate in the sky, however her confusion washed away as the Razor Crest flew into view.
Her lips broke out into a wide grin at the sight, she'd never been so happy to see that hunk of junk in her life, she joined the group in their cheers of excitement as they made their way back to the city as the TIE fighters flew out of view to participate in a more challenging battle.
Once the transport reached the city everyone hastily poured out of the vessel and looked up into the sky, wishing and waiting for the Mandalorian to take out the other ships.
Asora felt a pit grow in her stomach as she looked up at the cloudy blue sky, her binoculars in her hands raised to her eyes, scanning over what felt like every piece of the sky for a fragment of them, just to make sure they made it out safe.
After a few moments of searching the Crest flew out, exiting the clouds victorious. Asora let out an excited yell as they came into view, lowering her binoculars to celebrate with the rest of the group.
Soon after the Crest landed by the transport and was welcomed with open arms, everyone pumped up with adrenaline, after a few expressions of thanks and gratitude the group parted ways with the promise of drinks another time, after the Mandalorians visit to Corvus.
As everyone began parting ways Asora made her way into the hull with Mandalorian and the child, "I can't believe you made the little one sick from all that." She mused as she looked over towards the big-eyed green child, his lips and clothing-stained blue from his afternoon snack.
"I know." He agreed, his voice laced with amusement, while cleaning up the child wasn't exactly enjoyable it was funny, at least it would teach the little foundling not to indulge himself too much in life's delicacies.
The Mandalorian placed the child down to play with Asora's droid as the two moved deeper into the hull, sitting down on top of a few pieces of cargo to have a conversation he had been dreading since they had landed on Nevarro.
A pit grew in his stomach as silence filled the tension between the two of them, both of their joyful demeanours from the past hours adventures dying down into an almost somber tone.
The two sat avoiding eye contact for a few moments, Mando's eyes trained on the walls of the ship behind Asora and Asora's eyes drifting around from Grogu and MR to various miscellaneous objects strewn about in the hull.
"Mando-"
"You're leaving." He interrupted his voice blunt, monotonous, nothing like she remembered it, nothing like she knew him as.
"I- Yes. I'm leaving." She agreed, her stomach dropping as she spoke, though she knew what she was doing was right, she didn't know if it felt right in that moment. To leave them, after everything they had been through.
"Were you going to tell me? Us?"
"Of course, I was." Her voice came out strained and empathetic, her eyebrows pinching together in confusion, did he think she was just going to leave them in the middle of the night? Did he think that she wanted to tell him this way?
"Why didn't you?"
"Mando, I- I very dearly wanted to. There was never an opportune time, I meant not to upset you."
"What did you mean then?" he inquired, his voice almost bitter, how could she not tell him? how could she just leave them? Was it that easy to her?
"You cannot be angry with me over this. You know my objective, what I have been working towards." Her demeanour slowly changed, it wasnt as soft and empathetic as before, not it was stern and calm. She didn't like the idea of upsetting him like this, it made her ache, it made her want to stay but she knew she couldn't. It's for the best.
"I'm not angry." His voice came out harsh, a little harsher than he wanted, he could see it on her face in her eyes that he was hurting her, that they were hurting each other.
Another moment of silence filled the space between the two, the giggles and coos coming from Grogu behind them as they spoke, a sweet sound for a very bitter moment.
"Stay." His voice came out shaky, almost a whisper as he looked over towards her with pleading eyes, she had to stay. They could complete their quests together, couldn't they?
"You don't understand, Mando I cant." She pleaded softly, her strong demeanor breaking as she leaned closer towards him.
"What am I supposed to understand?"
"You're objective is Ahsoka Tano, mine is Skywalker. I cannot just give up my mission for yours." Her voice was stronger, laced with emotion as she spoke, he shook his head silently for a moment.
"I am not asking you too."
"But you are Mando, you know you are."
He stood up from his seat and turned his back to her, reflecting to himself for a moment. He wasn't asking that much from her, was he?
"We can do both." He bargained as he turned towards her with hopeful eyes.
"You know we cannot, this is my way and you have yours.... I have never questioned yours, why must you question mine?" Though her voice was pleading and almost emotionless she was filled with regret, she needed to meditate. To think things through, this wasn't the Jedi way to feel so emotional over something so trivial. To care so deeply for someone like this, she wouldn't let it get in her way of completing her last mission her master gave her, she couldn't.
"You have had no reason to question my creed, I have reason to question yours."
"Oh you do, do you?" she inquired, her voice filled with sarcasm as she stood, her stature strong, her eyebrows pinched together and her face hardened into an expectant expression.
"From what I have seen, yeah." He smugly responded, as he brought his hands up and gave a small gesture to around them.
"If you think my leaving is reason enough to question my way, you know nothing. You hide behind a helmet, at least I can see things as they are, Mandalorian."
Her voice cut through him like a knife, but the pain of the hit was only momentary, lasting seconds before his emotions shifted to anger. She had no right, to question something, to poke at his way, to belittle it.
"I see clearer than ever, I know how to feel, I have emotions and I care for others. The helm of Mandalore does not hide my truths, my character." He barked back, stepping forward to challenge her. If they were going to go down fighting, might as well fight hard.
"Your truths? Your character? You are a bounty hunter, whatever truths you have are tainted with the pain of others." She challenged as she stepped closer, the tension between the two thicker than ever.
"You know nothing about what I have done."
"Do I need to? Is this ship not evidence enough? You are raising a youngling with carbonite trophies, relics of who you truly are."
Silence filled the room as he looked around the ship momentarily, brewing for a moment as he looked back at her, her once soft eyes hardened with emotion, her usual happy demeanour replaced with a stern façade. This was not who she was.
He stepped closer and the two holding an almost unbreakable amount of eye contact, his eyes flickering from hers for a moment as he spoke.
"So, this is your opinion of me."
The silence after his words was deafening as the two stared each other down quietly as they took in the other expressions. Mando looked down at her, his helmet tilted slightly as he analyzed her face, her expression, her words as she looked at him, her jaw clenched, her head tilted up as she took in his expressionless helmet, his beskar staring down at her emotionlessly as she thought.
Her demeanour broke first, she sighed loudly and brought her hand up to rub her face, to almost refresh herself, to reboot her emotions. As she broke eye contact Mando stared at the wall behind her head, completely zoning out. He felt almost numb, it was eating him alive, could she really think so little of him?
"Mando..." her voice was soft, her eyes softening as his gaze moved to hers, as he looked down, he realized what she was saying, she didn't want to leave like this. If she did, she would have already left, there was guilt, she felt something.
The two slowly leaned closer, their eyes flickering over each other, yearning for each other.
"I know." He agreed, his voice almost as soft as hers, his demeanour breaking with hers.
"I will see you two again, I will find you again." She promised as she reached over and touched his arm lightly in reassurance her eyes hopeful and lips lathered with a bittersweet smile.
"I know, cyar'ika." Her smile faltered slightly at the sound of the nickname, an affectionate term she'd miss. Her eyes drifted from his helmet to her hands for a moment before she looked up and nodded, her feet taking a cautious step back from him slowly.
He watched her gather her things slowly, an uncomfortable silence filling the hull, once she said her sweet goodbyes to Grogu she turned to him again, the four of them at the end of the landing gate.
His eyes glossed over as he looked over towards her, the two were only a foot away but it felt like miles, she offered him a small smile, as she adjusted her backpack, and looked down towards MR at her side then back to him as they began to leave, her eyes soft, almost yearning for him as much as he did her.
"Goodbye, Mando."
"Goodbye, Cyar'ika."
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𝐡𝐞𝐲! 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫.. 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐡𝐡! 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝.. 𝐢 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 !
𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭!! 𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭!!
𝐩.𝐬 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝
𝐩.𝐬.𝐬 𝐢 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭!