Kasia was unnervingly aware of the pounding of her heart in her ears as she made her way back to the Razor Crest, jogging through the streets as fast as she could manage what with the crowd.
As she ran, Kasia prayed that Din had lingered, that he hadn't taken off immediately after she had all but deserted him. Self-deprecatingly, she couldn't help but think that perhaps she deserved it after having entertained the idea of abandoning him and the child, after having almost went through with it.
Still, if she arrived back at the bay the Crest had been located only to find it empty... what a shitshow that would be. She supposed she'd have to take a page out of his book, have to hunt him and the kid down. But then again, if even Din was able to do it, it couldn't be that hard... probably.
Luckily, it didn't appear that Kasia needed to find out as she rounded the corner and beheld the Razor Crest still present in the hanger before her. Heaving a sigh of relief, she quickly made her way over to the ship, a smile springing to her lips as she peered at the hunk of metal. Her pace quickened slightly as she noticed that Din had already finished refueling, hinting that he was almost ready to take off.
Without a second thought, Kasia marched right up to the ship and began to bang loudly on the metal hull.
As she waited for the hull door to hiss open, the thoughts and emotions and questions that she had pushed aside in her haste to get back to the Crest before Din and the child were gone forever began to pour in. Despite the new resolve that she felt regarding her decision, Kasia still couldn't help but wonder if she was making the right choice, if she would ever come to regret it. Something told her that she wouldn't.
But the largest question which rose to the forefront of Kasia's mind was in regards to Yrel's suggestion—his assertion that Kasia should speak her mind should... acknowledge her feelings. And that everything would be okay if she did so.
Kasia had never been the best person at speaking about her feelings. Sure, she had had a few flings over the years, but nothing that had ever lasted more than a month or two at most—nothing that was ever serious. And Kasia knew that if she and Din started something... it would be serious. Hell, they practically had an adopted kid together already.
But Kasia also knew that if there was ever a person who she would want to start something serious with, it would be Din—it would be the kind, dryly sarcastic, and utterly badass Mandalorian bounty hunter who she had grown so close to these past few months.
The man that she had grown to love these past few months, whether she was ready to admit it to herself or not.
"Kas?" Din's surprised voice floated to Kasia from behind where she stood, still pounding on the Crest's hull. "What's going on? What are you doing here?"
Turning, Kasia blushed slightly, feeling uncharacteristically shy as she gave Din a small wave. "Oh, hey, uh, surprise. I'm back," she said awkwardly, a sheepish smile on her lips.
"I can see that," he replied dubiously, playful sarcasm slipping in his words in a futile attempt to conceal some of the relief in his voice obvious even with the modulator. He paused a moment before asking, "You forget something?"
"No," Kasia shook her head at the question, her eyes dropping. She chewed on her lip for a moment before adding, "I'm... I decided not to join Yrel after all."
At her statement, Kasia felt surprise and delight and hope surge from the Mandalorian. Emboldened by the last emotion, she flitted her eyes towards the still closed hull doors in front of her, silently communicating with Din in the way they had always been able to, whether it be through Din's thoughts or Kasia's meaningful looks and gestures.
At the glance, Din didn't hesitate to press a button on his wrist pad, Kasia jumping backward as the doors slowly slid open. Smiling sweetly, if not slightly sheepishly, at the Mandalorian, Kasia slowly made her way into the ship. Immediately, her shoulders relaxed as the familiar metallic smell wafted towards her, followed close behind by the very distinctive scent of freeze-dried meals. She supposed that was one aspect of her time with Din and the kid that she would be happy to forsake.
Din joined her a moment later, the doors to the ship sliding closed behind him. Slowly, Kasia forced herself to turn and face him, chewing on her lip once again. She glanced up at the ladder in silent question a moment later.
"The child is upstairs in his little bunk. I was just closing out my tab for the fuel and thought it would be better to leave him here," Din answered her unspoken question.
Kasia nodded before sighing. "We should really figure out a more responsible thing to do with the kid when we leave the ship to do shit. Little bugger doesn't necessarily have the best track record with staying put or avoiding danger."
It didn't escape either of them, her use of the word "we" in the sentence. Underneath his Beskar, Din's heart once again to speed up at the thought that she wasn't actually going to leave him, that she intended to stay. "So... you're really not leaving?" his question came after a moment, simultaneously uncertain and hopeful.
Kasia remained silent for a long moment before her eyes rose to peer up at his helmet. She studied the fine craftsmanship of the Beskar, wondering for the umpteenth time what the man underneath looked like.
When she spoke, her words were quiet and emotion-filled, utterly honest and possessing a sense of vulnerability Kasia typically avoided betraying.
"I just found that... I couldn't. I didn't want to leave the kid behind and..."
She trailed off, her heart racing as the emotions she had kept bottled up over the last few months, the feelings she had struggled to explain away and hide, threatened to burst from her chest.
But in that moment, Kasia Torelo realized that those emotions she had ignored—she no longer wished to hide them.
Yrel was right; she needed to speak her thoughts, to get the cloistered, restrained feelings off of her chest. It was not the Eulentian way to keep everything bottled up, to have so many secrets from the ones you love.
And so, once again Kasia put her fate in the hands of luck, taking the dive off of the cliff and into the water below without the security afforded to her by uncertainty and hidden truths.
"And... I didn't wa—I couldn't leave you."
Kasia spoke the last word with an air of reverence, of love and adoration. The word alone was a confession, a testament to all the pent up love and emotion which had grown and grown and grown in her chest. She had become so used to its weight in the last months, but as soon as she spoke the word, Kasia suddenly felt free in a way she never had, free from a burdening secret she had not realized had been weighing her down. Free.
Under his helmet, Din's breath caught as he stared down at her. He had never done... this before, never tried to talk about his feelings. With Xi'an and all his other past relations, it had always just been physical—it had never been real.
"Kas, I..." his soft words trailed off as he found himself unable to speak, to coherently articulate what he wanted to say, to put into words how he felt.
But then again, words had never been how the two really communicated.
As the for once unrepressed emotion poured from the Mandalorian in front of her in waves, as Din's unspoken feelings and words crashed down upon her, Kasia smiled up at him, tears rising unconsciously in her eyes at the unconstrained emotion which mirrored her own as though she were looking upon a reflection in his Beskar.
Boldly, Kasia reached a hand up to touch the wide of his beautiful, breathtaking helmet, Din almost leaning into the touch as she did so. "I know," she murmured as she stroked a finger down the gorgeous metal which had entranced her from the very moment she had lain eyes on it. "I know."
Wordlessly, he tilted his head so that the crown of his helmet came to rest against her forehead lightly. At the movement, Kasia's eyes shuttered closed, her body relaxing as she leaned into the man in front of her.
The two remained like that for a long moment, before Kasia asked under her breath, her eyes still closed, "So, are you ever going to tell me what the hell cyar'ika means or am I just going to have to sift through your stupid brain to figure it out myself, metalhead?"
Din merely chuckled.
*.*.*
"Where are we headed to next?" Kasia asked over a bowl of soup, her eyes flitting up to where Din sat at the helm of the ship.
After the two had finished their moment in the cabin earlier, they had made their way into the cockpit together, Kasia pausing only to hug the grab the child as well as food because she was famished. Honestly, as they had stood in the cabin with their foreheads resting against each other, Kasia had wanted nothing more than to rip off his helmet and finally kiss the bastard.
Unfortunately, he still had that whole thing with his creed and his face so they'd probably have to get... creative to do so. A shame, but Kasia also knew how much being a Mandalorian and adhering to their creed meant to him—she wouldn't do something that would make him forsake that.
At her question, Din paused for a moment before muttering, "Uh, about that. There's something you should see first."
She furrowed her eyebrows in question at the nondescript answer, waiting for him to elaborate. Instead of expanding on his vague response, however, Din merely flipped a switch on the ship's control center, causing a hologram to pop up.
"My friend, if you are receiving this transmission, that means you are alive."
Kasia gaped at the holo of Greef Karga as it played in front of her—the holo of a man who she had thought to be very much dead. She cut a glance to her Mandalorian who sat next to her, cringing as he watched the hologram. Whatever the message said, he had already seen it—and based on the sheepishness flowing from him, had purposefully hidden it from her.
"You might be surprised to hear this, but I am alive too," Karga continued, the words causing Kasia to scoff slightly because no shit you're alive, asshole.
"I guess we can call it even. A lot has happened since we last saw each other. The man who hired you is still here, and his ranks of ex-Imperial guards have grown. They have imposed despotic rule over my city, which has impeded the livelihood of the Guild. We consider him an enemy, but we cannot get close enough to take him out. If you would consider one last commission, I will very much make it worth your while. You have been successful so far in staving off their hunters, but they will not stop until they have their prize."
At the truth in the words, Kasia couldn't help but bit her lip as she glanced down at the kid also eating soup in her lap. No matter how many hunters they killed or averted, more always kept coming—and she knew that most of them wouldn't be after her.
"So, here is my proposition: return to Nevarro. Bring the child as bait. I will arrange an exchange and provide loyal Guild members as protection. Once we get near the client, you will kill him, and we both get what we want. If you succeed, you keep the child and I will have you and your friend's (if she is still with you) names cleared with the Guild, for men and women of honor should not be forced to live in exile. I await your arrival with optimism."
Kasia continued to stare at the place where the holo had been even after it flickered out, her mind whirling as she thought through all he had said.
At her side, Din peered over at her nervously. "I know you're mad," he trailed off as Kasia shifted to look at him, her features hardening into a withering glare. In her lap, the child seemed to mimic her, staring with round eyes up at Din.
"Oh really? What ever gave you that impression?" she asked him querulously, her eyes narrowed. She gave a bitter laugh. "I know you like to be secretive and shi- and stuff Din, but you should damn well have told me about that. I care about the kid just as much as you do and I deserved to know—especially when I was making a decision about maybe leaving," she chewed him out, angered that he would have kept this a secret.
Din remained quiet as she continued to rant at him, eventually moving to cover the child's ears as she found herself unable to refrain from cursing any longer. If he didn't feel so damn bad about hiding the truth from her, Din might have laughed at the picture.
As it was, he merely allowed himself one small smile beneath his helmet as he watched Kasia talk. He just hoped she was too focused on her own amusement that she didn't notice the slight humor emanating from him, nor the thought that she was extremely hot when she got upset—it would certainly not earn him any points in his favor given the current situation.
Still, Din's voice was soft and apologetic even despite the modulator as, after Kasia had chewed him out for a good five minutes straight, he murmured, "I know... I'm sorry cyar'ika. You have to know that I wanted to tell you. As soon as I saw it, my first thought was to get you to watch it together. But as I watched it and came to realize what it was about, I knew that if you saw it you would stay. No matter what, no matter how much you wanted to see your people, you would stay. Because that's who you are."
Kasia stared at him, eyes widening slightly as he continued; this was perhaps the most she had ever seen him speak at once. Well, at least out loud. She remained silent as he continued.
"And I mean, of course I wanted you to stay. But I also know how much reuniting with your kind means to you, and I wanted it to be your choice entirely. Your choice to go or stay based upon what you wanted, and not because you felt you had to stay."
As he finished, Kasia continued to stare at him for a long moment, before glancing away and sighing. She was touched that he cared enough about her feelings and what she wanted to hide this from her, but at the same time she was extremely angry that he would hide it from her.
Ugh, emotions are fucking confusing.
"I understand but... you should have told me anyway," she finally sighed, running a finger down one of the child's ears as he cooed comfortingly in her lap. "I gave you a pass on Sorgan, once already. Luckily for you I can't murder you in front of the kid, so you get a pass today too. Just... don't pull that type of bullshit ever again—for real this time," she raised her other hand to point her index finger at him. "You got that mister? We're in this together."
Yes ma'am, he answered her immediately, a wave of relief accompanying the answer.
She smirked at the silent words, hundreds of dirty jokes rising to the forefront of her brain within mere moments. Still, there was unfortunately a child present in the room, and knowing Din, he would not approve of the lewd remarks.
For that reason only, she restrained herself to a mere insinuating look and a quick wink. But from the annoyed chuckle he gave, and the fact that Kasia could practically hear his eyes rolling, she knew he more or less got what she was hinting at.
"I don't trust that bastard one bit," Kasia remarked suddenly, nodding to where Greef Karga's hologram had been displayed. "I mean, I've dealt with pissed off people after... long nights at the casino, but they don't even measure up to the amount of duplicity I can sense in his voice. He's definitely up to something."
"I agree," Din nodded in agreement—though at this point he'd probably agree with her if she said that the sky was blue because they all lived inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant just to avoid getting yelled at again.
Kasia bit her lip. "Still... he has a point. We can't live on the run like this forever. He'll almost certainly try to double-cross us at some point or other, but... it might be worth the risk. To get rid of whoever is after the kid. When we get there, I can confirm for certain whether it is a trap—and more importantly, if there's any chance of us succeeding despite Karga's betrayal. If it's not, well," Kasia shrugged, "We can just get the hell out of there."
As she finished Din gave another nod, consenting to the admittedly shaky plan as he thought for a moment. Then he remarked, "Well then, I think that we could use some backup."
*.*.*
If you got the GoT/Oberyn Martell reference in this chapter I love you forever... also fyi one more chapter of fluff (and like it's hardcore the fluffiest thing I've ever written lol) before we get back to the show storyline.
Unrelated side-note but we got so much Pedro content this week and his hair at the BAFTA's was so fluffy and his glasses were so soft and I just can't
Also thanks to all you guys who r still reading/commenting/voting! Love u all <3