CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.
THE DEFIANT
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DIN DJARIN HAD never been so alone.
Not when he was a child, small hands gliding over sheeted metal and a helmet set permanently over his crown of chestnut hair. Not when he was grown, making his way tirelessly through the galaxy, picking up job after job, the thrill of the catch never quite enough to quench the thirst inside him. Not when he gave away the small child he'd picked up on Nevarro to the Client.
Those were all fleeting, involuntary passes of time that would eventually fade into the background. The noise would die and a dull thrum of everyday monotony would take its place.
No, this was different. This was deafening. This was pure silence. This loneliness was alive, teeth as sharp as the eyes of the monster they hung from. This loneliness swallowed him whole and refused to spit him back out.
Din Djarin had never been so lost.
His knees were soiled with ash and blood and the remnants of his old life. Two figures stood watching him, taking in the slump of his shoulders, the tightness in which he squeezed the ripped fabric of Tess' coat.
He'd given it to her on the ice planet, back when she still wanted nothing to do with him. Selfish and unflinching and entirely fascinating. She'd smiled that day, the first genuine smile he had seen spread across her face. Just like the surface of that planet, the day Din gave Tess Oprin his jacket was the day the ice finally started to crack. Over time, more fractures, more breaks in the walls built up around them. Little by little, snide remark after snide remark, they had melted away.
Both were not the same as they were the day they met on Tatooine. Then, Din had never broken a promise. Then, she was smart enough to stay away from him. Then, then, then...
He was drowning in the possibilities of what he could have done. Everything to keep himself from realising what had been done.
The impossible choice he had made. The look in her eyes as the damned Mercenary got to her first. Grogu snatched up into the droid's hands before Din could reach him. Lost, lost, lost.
"Mandalorian." Boba Fett's gruff and chiselled voice cut through his thoughts, and dug a hole straight through him. The remains of what was once the Razor Crest smouldered around him. The Imperial ship was long gone, there was nothing anyone could do about that. All that was left were the two objects in his hands.
"Let me go." He hissed under his breath, quiet enough that not even his modulator could make out the words. They were for him and him alone. Din forced himself up, fingers stained with ash as he picked up the Beskar spear from under the rubble, dusting it off with care. He turned to face Boba and Fennec. "I guess our deal is complete." Boba had shown him the chain code embedded in Cobb Vanth's former armour, revealing that his father, Jango Fett, was a foundling, and therefore, the armour was his.
"Not quite." Boba Fett said.
"How so?" Din asked, cursed with a hoarse throat and a heavy heart. Fennec bowed her head.
"We agreed in exchange for the return of my armour, we would ensure the safety of the children." Boba answered.
"They're gone." At that moment, he sounded a little like Tess when they first met. Unfeeling, pessimistic. Entirely without hope.
"Until they are returned to you safely, we are in your debt." Boba spoke. The other woman nodded, her face giving nothing away, but Din could sense something was bothering her. Was it the situation? Was it something Tess had said or done when he'd sent her with the former bounty hunter?
Din paused for a moment, lost in memories, before saying quietly. "Thank you."
I'm coming for you, he thought, turning away. I'm coming for you, Grogu.
I'm coming to save you, Tess.
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She would not be afraid.
Tess Oprin felt nothing. She was numb, her body wouldn't move, her mind stuck in place, as if she were thrown out into space, gravity pulled out from under her, floating forevermore into the abyss.
Her leg was a stump at the base of her knee. Mangled, beaten from all she'd been through the past few weeks. Her prosthetic lay in a heap of wires and bolts on the other end of the cell, and she fixed her gaze on it. Sweat licked her brow, cheeks dirty, ash still hot under her fingertips. Her amputated leg was hidden under her torn pants, but she didn't have the energy to tie a knot at the end of her knee, letting the fabric stay crumpled. Her hands were in cuffs that rubbed her skin raw, but nothing else kept her chained to the dark room.
She didn't care to move. She would stay unmoving until something forced her to work her limbs again.
Tess Oprin felt nothing. She didn't dare. The fear, guilt, and pain threatened to consume her whole. The battle was over, the fight she had never dared enter had won. Now she had to pay the price. Now she lost it all, truly, ending up in the exact same place she started: numb, alone, an instrument to the Empire. Tess sniffed, an indignant sound, as if she were back in Mos Pelgo, turning her nose up at the townsfolk that jeered behind her back.
Her calloused fingers twined together, thumb pressing into palm, massaging the tendons. She stared straight ahead, blinking only when she remembered she needed to, until water pooled at the edge of her vision and red lined her eyelids. They were watching her, somewhere on this large ship, the Empire peered at the security camera in the top corner of her room and watched the girl deteriorate in front of their eyes.
But again, Tess didn't care.
A funny thing about letting yourself go, you start to remember things you had long since pushed away, burned, thrown into oblivion. Memories Tess didn't know she possessed greeted her, hazy blue, as if it weren't her mind giving her this little bit of solace, but the Force coursing all around her. The only good thing that ever came from such power.
It was a day after leaving Bo-Katan and her Mandalorians on Trask, the shoddily repaired Razor Crest fumbling its way through space. With every thump and crash Tess cringed back in her seat. One leg drawn up on the chair with the other dangling to the floor, curled against the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The child sat in her lap, its puckered mouth open as he slept soundly against her gloved hands.
The Mandalorian leant back in his chair, and Tess cocked her head to the side when he turned to face her. Mando looked at the child in her arms, and the contentment on her face. Ever since leaving Trask, Tess had been relaxed. Tired, her face lined with worry and exhaustion, but relaxed nonetheless. Even if she hadn't been sleeping well, and was sporting mysterious bruising along her scalp and neck.
"Hungry?" Mando broke the easy silence, and Tess raised an eyebrow. In answer, her stomach grumbled angrily.
"Yeah." she said. The Mandalorian stood, the ship going to autopilot, and walked over to her. Without a word, he reached down and carefully plucked the child from her arms, so gentle that the creature didn't even move. She shrugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders and carefully got up. Her leg creaked and groaned, the metal hissing as she planted all her weight on it.
As she climbed down the steps, Tess was painfully aware of Din's eyes on her back. They were both so observant, a mirror of each other, that when Mando was hurting Tess could sense it, and when Tess felt the same, he also knew. She hated it, but didn't know why.
When she reached the bottom, Mando handed her a steaming bowl of broth. Before accepting it, Tess pulled her gloves off carefully and tucked them into her jacket pocket. She bit the inside of her cheek, discomfort sprouting across her gut at the action, but said nothing and took the object into her bare hands. The child nestled into Mando's chest. The man leant back, his own bowl by his leg. Tess dug into her food, gulping down sips before she had even finished the last.
There was a comfortable silence, a quiet filled with understanding, relaxed as it had never been before.
When Mando shifted Tess made sure to keep her eyes downcast, and the hiss of his helmet coming up over his mouth was confirmation. They ate in silence for a while longer, and when Tess finished, she rested her head against the door to her cot.
"When we get to Corvus," Tess hesitated before looking up, seeing Din's helmet placed back on his head. "You could stay in the ship, if you want to." Her brows furrowed.
"Why?"
"From what I know, Ahsoka Tano is a Jedi, who has the same... abilities, as you and the child." Mando paused as Tess shivered at the mention of her powers. "You don't have to see her if..."
"If it makes me uncomfortable?" Tess suggested, her voice flat. Mando gulped and nodded. Tess fiddled with the spoon in her bowl, eyes planted on her lap. "I think – I think I need to meet her." She could sense the Mandalorians question, and knew he had a dozen inquiries he wanted to share out loud. But, to her relief (or her despair, she wasn't quite sure) he kept quiet.
Tess felt the urge to fill that silence. "It's not that I'm afraid of it." even when she spoke she knew she was lying. "I mean, if the baby can use it," as if in answer, the child perked up from his spot and glanced up at Mando with large, innocent eyes. "I can. But..."
She paused, unease already finding a home in her bones, coursing through her veins, attacking her rotten cells. "I can't." the omission burned on her tongue.
Now he did speak. "Why?"
"Because I was better without it." she snapped. "I was better when I didn't know I could move things in my sleep." The Mandalorian shifted in his seat, and Tess had the overwhelming urge to look at him. "Better off when all I had was my machines. I didn't–I don't need anything else."
"Were you, Tess?" There was a lurch in her throat. "Better off?"
Such a simple question, such a complicated answer.
"Yes." She choked out.
The Mandalorian huffed a sigh. The child climbed out of his lap, and waddled over to Tess. Mirroring his movements from weeks before on Tatooine, the little green creature placed a three fingered hand on the cool metal of Tess' leg. She bit back a hiss, instead reaching out a bare hand and stroking one of his large ears.
Mando watched the simple exchange, but his mind was stuck on her words.
"Tess," they both knew he should speak, that matters such as this should be spoken when both parties were willing. But to hell with tradition, to hell with code. In this instance, Tess Oprin needed to listen, no matter how much she wanted to run away.
"Were you really better off back on Tatooine?"
She didn't move. Her hand stopped on the Child's head, calloused, grease-stained, completely bare. Her eyes burned a hole in the floor to the Razor Crest. Mando had noticed that this had become a regular occurrence for the girl. For time to stop whenever she was questioned.
They sat for ages. As the Razor Crest steered them toward Corvus and the Jedi and the answer to Tess' blight, not for the first or the last time she was given a choice.
A while later, the silence yawning wide and devouring, Tess got ready for bed, the Mandalorian kneeling by his cot on the floor, though both of them knew sleep wouldn't come. She placed the exhausted child into his little hammock above the bed and turned around. Mando's back was turned to her, their unfinished conversation hung heavy in the air.
Later, Tess would wish to go back, to say something more. Wished she hadn't been so cowardly, so cold. She wished that she had been honest earlier, before it was too late, and he was gone for good.
As Mando laid his head against the pillow and Tess reached to close the door to her cot, she spoke out into the silence, answering his question as simply and as tortured as she could.
"I don't know."
But now, Tess did. Now, she was severely aware of her answer. The truth was so acute it punctured her lungs. Leaving Mos Pelgo had changed her. Trusting the Mandalorian and Grogu had broken down the walls inside her. She was not better off on Tatooine, she never had been.
The hiss of the door to her cell stopped Tess' rampant thoughts.
Her neck muscles tightened as she twisted to see who had come for her. At the sight of Moff Gideon, cape drifting down to brush against the metal floor, cold eyes glinting with amusement, her body deflated. Whatever last shred of fight she had left withered out as the Moff stepped closer. How long had it been since they'd caught her? An hour? 2 hours? A day? Time felt fuzzy when you had been lying in the same spot since you'd arrived.
Two stormtroopers and a young female officer waited stoically behind the Moff. He crept closer, and Tess averted her eyes. She stared straight ahead, but could not see more than 3 feet in front of her. Her body was torn in two.
That was what the Empire did. Tore until there was nothing left but a skeleton, a shell.
Moff Gideon knelt down beside Tess, hands resting on his knees. The girl's head lolled to the side, and the man visibly stiffened. Her power was not lost on him, and Gideon was prepared for the worst. But the eyes that looked back at him were not of storms and raw strength. They were as blank as a grey wall, numb and lost.
Moff Gideon smiled.
"Come with me, Tess." he said, voice light. She shook her head, dried blood crusting her lips. Gideon stood and moved away, allowing stormtroopers to drag her up, holding Tess from under the arms. She groaned, her one good leg shaking from the weight. The harsh lights of the detention block blurred in her vision as they were led out of the cell and into the hall.
Tess could barely register what was going on around her. The shock from the release of her leg to the pain of losing Din, her emotions were an uncontrollable flood taking her away. Tess had only ever endured sandstorms, not tsunamis.
They approached another cell door, shut tight. Tess perked up, her brows furling. She looked up at the Moff, but his gaze was fixed ahead as he pressed a button on the side and the wall slid open with a hiss. The moment it did, the shrill yelp of two men caused both the Moff and Tess to pause. The troopers holding her looked at each other, and Tess willed enough energy to curve her neck, peering into the cell. What she saw brought new vitality into her bones.
A stormtrooper was flung across the floor of the cell, screaming as he went. The other tripped over his counterpart's body, landing straight on his back with a crunch. The orchestrator of this attack, sitting with his legs hidden beneath brown robes, ears perked up as he knocked these troopers senseless, was Grogu.
Tess breathed out his name, a sense of relief and fear painting her lips red. Moff Gideon stepped lightly into the room right as Grogu curled his three fingered fists, and the two stormtroopers gagged. Tess' eyes widened, limbs cracking together as one of her captors released her arm, raising his weapon.
"Set to stun." He said.
"No!" she choked out, reaching for his weapon. Moff Gideon raised an arm, catching her wrist so tight she bit down on her lip.
"Wait." He told the trooper, eyeing Tess with contempt. She glared at him, teeth grinding against each other. He let go of her, and she hissed as she was left on her own to keep balance. Grogu continued to suffocate the two stormtroopers. Tess wished he would stop. Her mind went back to the time they spent with Ahsoka, the way the woman had looked at Tess when she unleashed the Force. Her anger made her vulnerable. Just like it was doing to Grogu.
"Stop." she whispered, watching Grogu as his wide eyes narrowed. She couldn't see the Moff's face with his back turned, but Tess didn't need to look at him to know he was smiling. Something burned at the bottom of her gut. "Grogu, stop."
He didn't. Grogu's little hands shook as he pushed his arms away from each other, and the stormtroopers hit the walls so hard they immediately fell unconscious. Tess closed her eyes. Grogu breathed hard, breath hitching as the weight of the Force drained all his energy. The stormtrooper shoved Tess forward, so hard she lost her already withering balance. Silently, she crumpled to the floor, hands pushing her up.
Moff Gideon knelt in front of Grogu, blocking him from sight. "You've gotten very good with that. But it makes you oh-so sleepy." The drive to wrench him away from Grogu was powerful. She would do anything to keep him away from the small child. He didn't deserve this. They both didn't deserve this.
"Stop." Her voice was stronger this time, more forceful. "Let him go."
Gideon ignored her, instead reaching for something at his belt. "Have you ever seen one of these? From years past?" Black light poured from the hilt of the sword Moff held in his hands. Tess frowned, the thrum of the laser sword –or, that was what she thought it was– pulsing through the room. It was like Ahsoka's sabres back on Corvus, the same power radiating from its electrocuted edge, only different. Corrupted, somehow. Tess watched the blade with acute fascination. Grogu, his eyes opening and closing with oncoming exhaustion, reached out to the sword.
Moff Gideon laughed, clicking his tongue and standing upright, keeping the blade out of the Child's reach. "You're not ready to play with such things," he said. "Liable to put an eye out with one of these. Looks like you could use a nice...long...sleep." Before Tess could stop him, the Moff nodded to one of the stormtroopers, and the soldier raised his blaster, stunning Grogu.
Tess bit down on her tongue, throat clenched. "What do you hope to accomplish?" she asked shakily. Moff Gideon did not look at her. "He's just a kid." And so am I. She left that part unsaid, eyes boring into the back of Gideon's skull. "We won't' do what you ask. No matter how hard you try." The Moff stiffened, no doubt hearing the resolute determination in her voice. Tess Oprin was many things, but weak was not one of them.
Gideon spoke again, but not to her. "Put it in shackles." Then he turned, finally, and looked down at Tess. His gaze was unreadable, Tess couldn't tell if her words had shaken him, or made him even more unyielding. She held his stare, the hairs on her arm standing on end.
At last, Gideon all but whispered. "Her too."
The world went dark.
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Din was wearing someone else's mask.
The trooper's helmet was stuffy and small, the sides of it squeezing his skull like a fruit in the fist of a hand. Every few seconds, he closed his eyes, trying to imagine back when he was safe under his beskar armour, when he was still loyal to the Mandalorian code, not breaking it again and again and again. Only that time, he didn't have them. He didn't wake up each morning to the sounds of Grogu's mewling hunger, or the scoff of Tess' annoyed grumbles.
The air in the helmet swelled, and Din could feel his lungs spilling out across his chest, expanding with the weight of what he was about to do, what he had already done. After gaining Boba Fett's trust, tolerably allowing him and Fennec Shand to help rescue the children, they had flown back to Nevarro, where the newly appointed Marshal Dune awaited.
What came next was the hard part. Every fibre in Din's body had screamed at him not to, but the weight of losing Tess and Grogu was enough to push away his insecurities. Din had asked Cara to hand over custody of one of his past bounties, Migs Mayfeld, a mercenary he'd locked away on a job gone bad. Din didn't enjoy being in the company of Mayfeld, a man without loyalty, and he talked too much. But again, Din had no other choice.
Whenever he took a moment to think to himself, all the Mandalorian could see was the blonde mercenary standing over Tess' hunched frame, triumph blazing across his scarred features. All he could hear were Grogu's frightened cries, and if he thought hard enough, he could see the determined statue of Moff Gideon locking the two away.
Din Djarin had no choice but to tolerate Mayfeld, explaining the situation to him through gritted teeth, and forcefully asking for his assistance. When Mayfeld had heard Tess' name along with the child, his tone was playful.
"What? You picked up another kid, Mando?" Din had turned away. "Well, she better be worth it." Cara had watched him carefully, gaging what his reaction would be as they flew to the jungle planet of Morak in hopes to find the kid's location at an old Imperial Remnant base.
"She is." Cara said scathingly when Din hadn't replied. In truth, his tongue had lodged in his throat, cutting his voice from his vocal chords. Words didn't seem enough to describe what those two kids meant to him, it had taken more sweat and tears than he'd realised to finally come to the conclusion: they were worth everything.
Now, dressed in a stormtrooper's old gear, Din sat beside Mayfeld as they steered their cargo through the gates of the Imperial base. Mayfeld was sweating, his chest rising and falling with adrenaline. However, Din could barely focus on the perilous journey it had taken to get them here. He didn't spend any time on the raiders now dead along the trail they'd taken, raiders he had killed. Nor did he spend a second thinking about how the Empire had just saved their lives, blasting away the remainder of the raiders while Din watched, his wounded shoulder and thigh screaming in pain.
Din closed his eyes as Mayfeld stopped the cargo in the loading zone of the Imperial base, and tried to block the cheers of victory that awaited them outside the vehicle. The people that were cheering for them were the same people that took Tess and Grogu. Din and Mayfeld were heroes in the eyes of the Imperial guard that waited for them. A lump rose in his throat, it became hard to breathe.
He steadied himself, swallowing hard.
Mayfeld wasn't fazed by the reactions, a smug look passing across his face as he glanced at Din. The Mandalorian was slower to react, his body racing to catch up with his pulsing thoughts. The future of the ones he cared about stood waiting outside. Grogu's puckered lips and tender hands passed through his mind, a warmth flowing from his three-fingered hands against the leather of Din's gloves. Then came Tess, a colder, much more stark picture; her worn, callused fingers flitting over a scrap of metal she was sure she could fix, the determination weaved through her brows, her eyes, and her thin line of a mouth.
Din stood abruptly, and Mayfeld raised a brow. The Mandalorian paid him no mind, all of his thoughts focused on the mission ahead of him. If he failed, there was no telling what the Empire would do to the kids. There was no telling how much more he would lose, and how it would be all his fault.
At once, Din didn't care what he would have to do once he stepped out of the cargo vehicle, or the sharpshooter he definitely couldn't trust sitting next to him, or all of the rules he had broken to get here. Din didn't care about anything except getting Tess and Grogu back to him.
The Mandalorian barely paused to see if Mayfeld was following him, he simply walked over to the hatch, set his square shoulders, and opened the door.
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Tess woke up to the tender brush of flesh against her cheek.
She flinched back, body howling in protest, and scrambled away until her body was pressed so far into the cell wall the metal made indents into her skin. Her cheekbone burned from the touch, as if hot sand was rolling across her face. So used to the cold and solitary endeavour of loneliness, Tess' neck turned red and itchy from the contact.
It took over a minute before her eyes peeled open, heavy from sleep, and the blurred surroundings came into focus. It was then Tess became aware of the other person in the room with her.
It was the first time Tess had been so close to the mercenary with both her vision and mind entirely clear. His face was sculpted by the hardest edges of a knife, scars made from that exact weapon woven across his cheeks, his nose, and his forehead. In the space of a breath, Tess felt the urge to look away from him. This man who'd travelled across the stars just to get to her, who'd hurt her, hurt Din, hurt even himself to get his bounty. Though her stomach dropped at the thought of him finally reaching his goal, she couldn't deny his ceaseless determination.
Tess kept her mouth shut tightly, content to bask in the burning silence if it meant she wouldn't have to talk with him. She closed her eyes, hoping that if she waited long enough, he would leave.
It was impossible to count how many minutes had passed, but the heady presence of him still sat across from her. His fascinated gaze still rested on her face.
At last, she sensed movement in front of her, so sudden and swift she flinched, awaiting impact, eyes snapping open. But the Mercenary had simply readjusted his spot on the cell floor, one hand reaching behind his leather-clad back. Tess narrowed her eyes, a movement so common her muscles ached from over-use. Her expression faded into a flurry of surprise and contempt when the Mercenary gently placed her metal leg in between them, no longer mottled and broken, but repaired –albeit shoddily– until it was almost back to its original state.
"What did you do?" Tess blurted the words before she could stop herself. The Mercenary's hands twitched against his legs at the sound of her voice. The last time they'd spoken, he'd looked just as weary. It wasn't a surprise to Tess anymore, almost everyone was jarred when they first heard her speak. The Mandalorian had done the same, even with Tess' heart fresh from breaking, exhilaration from barely surviving the Krayt Dragon softening her tone, he'd stiffened at the sound of her stormy words. But Din –and Grogu– were one of the few exceptions, because even though she never changed the way she talked, they had changed the way they saw her.
A flare of warmth settled into her gut.
"Though I shouldn't be one to talk," the Mercenary said. "It's cruel to take a part of someone just for the hell of it." he leaned forward, and grinned coldly. "But knowing what that thing can do firsthand, it took a lot of convincing to give it back to you." As he spoke, the Mercenary gestured down to the leg Tess had so violently mangled when he'd caught her on Corvus, and she recalled his limp when she and Grogu were taken.
Tess swallowed down the pride bubbling up her throat.
"I got to say, kid," the man continued. "You've been one of the harder bounties to catch, and that's saying something."
Tess shot back. "Well, you caught me." Instead of frowning at the sarcasm in her tone, the Mercenary let out a barking laugh. The noise sent a spasm down Tess' spine, and her eyes widened at the peculiar familiarity of that sound. She knew that laugh, somehow, but from where?
"Like I said before, it ain't personal." The Mercenary stood with a grunt, picking up her repaired leg and inching closer. Tess drew back.
"I don't believe you." She replied, keeping her hands in her lap as he knelt and dropped the leg in front of her. "Who are you?" Her face was numb, without a hint of whatever lay beneath.
The Mercenary drew back. "Well, I'm what you think I am." Tess snorted.
"So, all this for a couple credits?" She remarked. "Working for the Empire?" the venom was sharp on her tongue at the last word. "Don't you know what the Empire is?"
He turned away from her, arms limp at his sides. She peered down at her leg, reaching to caress the rusted cogs and screws, painfully familiar just at the touch. If he had paid her this small morsel of kindness, there had to be at least some humanity beneath those moth-bitten clothes. She recalled the day he'd caught her on Corvus, and his hesitation to shoot her. Just as they had then, his fingers shook at his sides.
"Everyone knows what the Empire is." she said at last.
His voice was rough as he responded. "And what if I choose not to care?"
"Then you kidnapped a little girl and handed her over to hungry dogs like she was nothing but a piece of meat." He winced. "Do you know what they're going to do to me? To the baby?" Her lips curled upward. "But you don't care at all, do you?"
The implications of what she'd stated hung heavy in the air. Tess could see she'd had an impact, somehow, from the way his shoulders scrunched up close to his head. Watching him from behind, that same prickle of awareness edged across her mind.
Tess' face creased, all sharpness fading as she whispered. "I know you." It wasn't a question anymore, of whether Tess had met this man before he was trying to kill her. She knew this man, she had to, all senses were screaming that he was known to her.
The Mercenary turned his head until half his face was visible to her, and said. "You know my brother, then." Tess sucked in a sharp breath.
"What?" she croaked, but the knowledge had already landed inside her, as solid as the prosthetic now cold against her thighs. The Mercenary turned fully, and he ran a hand across the largest of his scars, sliced across his right eyebrow down to his collarbone.
"You know, he gave me this." he said, and this time it was the girl's turn to flinch. "My brother. All because I chose to side with the Mining Collective over an early grave." Tess went completely still.
"No." she said, so rough it was barely audible. "It's impossible."
"You knew him, didn't you?" he waved a hand lazily towards her. "I could smell the Tatooinian on you from the first time we met." Tess was shaking her head now, the revelation hot and sticky on her lungs. The Mercenary nodded eagerly, gaining back the upper hand.
Tess Oprin was thrown off-kilter, and it only grew worse as the man knelt before her once more, grinning, and extended a hand. "Cyr Vanth, pleasure to meet you."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE.
IT'S HERE. I FINALLY UPDATED. This chapter has been a long time coming, and I just want to say a quick apology to those that have been waiting so patiently for MONTHS for me to finally update, I love and appreciate you all so so much ( mwah mwah you're the best). There are only around 2-3 more chapters left in this fic, and then this journey finally comes to an end, I'm crying.
ANYWAYS, this chapter has some of my favourite writing I've done in a while, and so many great moments that have been a long time coming. SO, what did you guys think of that twist at the end? When I first introduced the Mercenary into the story, I didn't really know what to do with him, and then this idea came into my head and I just knew I had to make him Cobb's long lost evil brother!!
Don't forget to vote and comment (if you want). Until next chapter, where we learn a little more about Cyr, Tess gets more in touch with the Force, and Din makes the ultimate sacrifice *gasp*.
LOVE YOU ALL.