I waited until we were a few blocks away from the casino before I shoved him two-handed into a dim alley.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" I yelled angrily.
"Hey!" He barked, his modulator cracking, "I just saved your ass."
"No," I chided, "You just caused a huge scene that I, luckily, knew how to fix."
Din threw up his hands, pacing away from me. "Really? I thought you were the one with the blaster to their back."
I exhaled sharply through my nose, trying to calm myself. "Yes, and I just defused a situation between you and an Imperial war lord."
In a matter of a few seconds, he was on top of me, staring me down once again. "He let us get away and you know it." He let out a huge sigh, seeming to reign in his temper. "At least we're safe now."
"Safe?" My anger was glowing white hot now. "Din, they recognized who you were. They were going to turn you in!"
He shook his head, muttering a few choice words while still keeping his anger in check.
I rub my temples, the dark realization of what just happened settling in. I laughed in despair. "And they know I won't hand you over."
"I don't know," He said flatly, fidgeting with his vambrace, "You had me convinced."
I remember his muscles tensing when I said I was going to take him in. "You don't understand." I shook my head. "He knew I was a Mandalorian."
Din snapped his head to me. "How?"
I shook my head again. "I don't know. But I can't stay here anymore." I lifted my to look at him. "It looks like you're getting what you want."
He folded his arms across his chest, leaning back against the stone building next to me. Tossing me a sideways glance, he said, "I'm sorry, Jeyna. This isn't how I planned it working out."
"Well," I shrugged, walking towards the opening of the alley, "Let's get going then."
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I stared at the pre-historic Razor Crest in disbelief as I followed Din into the hangar. "You fly that thing?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes," He said matter-of-factly, like I was an idiot for even asking, "And it has a very good habit of saving my life, so don't disrespect it."
I pursed my lips, walking into the cargo bay of the Crest. Deciding to not piss him off any farther, I looked around for whoever he had gone rogue for, but I didn't see anyone.
"Hey, Din?" I asked, getting nervous that whoever was supposed to have been here had either been captured or had run off.
I heard him hum from inside the cockpit, letting me know he was listening. I yelled up the ladder, "Is the asset still here?"
I barely heard him groan as he appeared at the top of the ladder, climbing down two rungs at a time. Walking right past me, he pressed a button on a nearby control panel, and the small compartment door next to him opened.
My eyebrows creased. "The asset... is a child?"
"Yep," He said again, holding out his finger for the little green... thing... to grab ahold of. Initially, I thought it looked kind of hideous, but is large dark eyes and humongous ears made it look innocent and, quite frankly, adorable.
I stepped forward, gently brushing my finger over its small, wrinkly forehead. It cooed softly, reaching its other tiny hand up to grasp my finger. A small smile spread across my face as it continued to make cute little noises.
"I can see why you went back to rescue it," I said, glancing back at the Mandalorian. "Can I hold it?"
Din shrugged. "Sure."
Excitement flared in my chest as I picked the cute little creature up, cradling it in my arms. It cooed loudly again, grabbing the gold necklace around my neck.
"I'm going to get ready for takeoff," I heard Din say and he climbed the ladder again. "Don't lose him."
I shot him a glare, but he was already halfway into the cockpit. I spoke in my baby voice to the child, "Aren't you the cutest little-"
"Are you the pilot of this ship?"
My head snapped up to look at the hangar boy that stood in the open mouth of the cargo bay. "Uh," I said, "No, I'm not. Can I help you?"
"Get off my ship."
I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know that Din already had a blaster pointed at him. The fear in the kid's eyes alone told me he didn't want anything to do with the Mandalorian, but he was being forced to follow orders.
He swallowed harshly, showing us two sets of handcuffs. "By the authority of Canto Bight law enforcement," He said, his voice shaking terribly, "You are hereby under arrest for-"
"Cut the bullshit, alright?" Din's footsteps echoed throughout the cargo bay, stopping right behind me, his blaster outstretched over my shoulder. "If you step off this ship right now and let us leave, I won't shoot you."
The boy blinked at us. "Please," He begged, holding his hands in front of him like it would stop Din from shooting him, "I'm just trying to do my job."
"Yeah, well," I rolled my eyes, "Your job is interfering with ours." I wrapped my arms around the child a little bit tighter, keeping him close. "So back up."
"I can't do that-"
"Look kid, I don't want to shoot you." Din pointedly shoved his blaster in the hanger boy's direction. "But I will if I have too."
That seemed to break him.
He took a step back, then another, and another, until he was off the ramp of the opened cargo bay. Din huffed a laugh behind me. "Good decision."
All of a sudden, Din rushed back to the ladder and launched himself into the cockpit as the hanger kid ran out of sight. "Get up here and strap in!" He yelled at me as I heard him flipping a bunch of switches.
I slammed my hand into the panel that closed the cargo bay as the engine roared to life. Then I climbed the ladder to the cockpit as fast as I could with the child still in my arms. Despite the stressful situation, the kid laughed and cooed like he was having the time of his life.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," I quipped at him as I strapped myself into the co-pilot seat. The kid just laughed some more, grabbing at my necklace again.
Din kept pushing buttons and pulling levers until the Crest began to liftoff. Takeoff was shaky, especially since reinforcements had begun shooting blaster bolts at us. The handheld blasters really weren't going to do much damage to the ship, but it was still annoying as hell as the Crest flew higher and higher.
Only once we were out of the atmosphere did Din seem to relax a little. He began to press more buttons, entering coordinates into the ship's navigational system.
"Where to?" I asked as I started bouncing the kid on my knee.
Din inhaled slowly. "I'm not sure. I need to figure out where we can go to stay off the grid for a little while." He spun around in his chair, watching the kid bounce up and down on my knee. He laughed softly. "I think he likes you."
The child stuck its fingers in its mouth, turning its head to look at me with its large, dark eyes. "Well I sure hope so," I said, flicking the kid's tiny nose, "Because I have a feeling I'm going to be sticking around for a while."
There was silence in the cockpit for a few moments before Din got up from his chair. He held out his hands, and I transferred the kid from my arms to his. "Come on," He said, tucking the child into the crook of his elbow, "I've got something to show you."
Pleasantly surprised, I made quick work of the buckles that kept me strapped into the seat. I climbed back down the ladder after Din, who was placing the kid back in the compartment where I first saw him.
He closed the compartment door, turning to face me. I felt his keen eyes on me as he reached past my head and opened another door. "Look," He said, nodding to the opened compartment.
I turned to look and gasped when I stared at my reflection in a very familiar black helmet. "Where?..." My words failed me as I reached out to brush my fingers against the cool beskar, just to prove to myself that I wasn't dreaming and that this was very real. My heart sped up when it finally sank in that I was actually touching my armor that was taken from me seven years ago.
"Where did you get this?" I breathed.
Din didn't respond quickly. "You don't want to know," He muttered.
I shuddered. I had no idea how he got his hands on my armor, but I got the feeling it came into his possession at a great cost. "I've held onto it for a long time," He admitted quietly, "Just in case I ever saw you again."
My chest tightened at the thought of my old friend holding onto a piece of me. "Din," I said, shaking my thoughts from my mind, "I can't put this back on. If the others find out-"
"They won't. And if anyone tries to hurt you," He spoke with a fire in his voice that I never remembered him having, "They're going to have to get through me first."
My heart squeezed. I haven't seen Din in years and he was already committing his fierce loyalty to me. Not that I wouldn't jump in front of a blaster for him without a second thought, but... I was disgraced. My armor was ripped from my body by my own mother. Siding with me would only make him undesirable in our kind's eyes. And I had a feeling we were going to need their help sometime in the near future if we were going to survive.
"Besides," He said, leaning against the wall by my head, "I'm not very... desirable with the Guild, which would only bring trouble to the other Mandalorians. I highly doubt that you wearing your armor again is going to be what causes a civil war."
Well, he did have a point. I shook my head again with a laugh, looking him in the visor. "You know," I said, "Of all people, I never expected you to be the one to tell me to break the rules."
He cocked his head to the side. "Why do you say that?"
I shrugged, walking away to sit on a cushioned bench. "Your faction interprets the Creed very strictly, following every rule with a stick up their ass about it. No offense," I added after he recoiled slightly. "I just figured you'd think less of me if I ever wore my helmet again."
Din seemed to consider my words. He stepped forward and sat beside me, his leg close enough to mine that we were almost touching. "I guess you have a point," He said carefully, "But you were my friend. You showed me more of The Way than anyone else did." He brushed my bare leg with his gloved finger. "I would be very glad to see you become one of us again."
Butterflies began to flutter in my stomach. "We might have a problem, though," I said, picking at the folds of my dress.
Din seemed to figure it out once he glanced at my fidgeting fingers. "We'll buy you more clothes once we land," He nodded, standing up from his place on the bench.
I snapped my head up. "Land where?"
He turned to me before launching himself up the ladder once more. "Sorgan."
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Word count: 1998
Yay! Chapter Two! What do you guys think? I hope Jeyna is a character you all will enjoy, because I absolutely adore her. But anyway, my plan is to mostly follow the timeline of the show, but since Din and Jeyna's future together is... complicated... I'll have some added plot fillers so the story is full and complete. Thanks again! If you like my story, make sure to comment and vote as well as recommend it to some friends!
Ch 2 published: December 29th, 2020