xxix

We've been in here for a few good minutes. They'll be swarming in or trying to get us out of here soon enough, no doubt. We have to think of something soon.

Cara beats me to the question. "Is there another way out?"

Greef shakes his head. "No, that's it." He gestures to the door, but obviously that's not an option. We'll be met head-on with troopers, there's no chance of a successful escape from that direction.

"What about the sewers?" Din suggests.

"Sewers?"

He nods. "The Mandalorians have a covert down in the sewers. If we can get down there, they can help us escape."

He sounds so sure of it, but there's something wrong with that to me. Last time we needed aid, they helped us. Why haven't they now? It just seems strange to me that they'd leave one of their own at the mercy of what's left of the Empire.

Using his helmet, he checks for access points. While he's doing so, Cara glances outside nervously. "What the hell are they waiting for?"

A bit behind the lines of troopers, I see a small group carrying a huge gun. "That," I say, gesturing to it. It's just as I'd expected- they're going to attempt to kill us, or draw us out at the very least. And it'll probably work. I don't expect to stay inside much longer with a cannon firing at us.

Cara sighs. "They're setting up an E-Web."

"It's over," Greef says.

I hear a faint beep from Din's visor. "I found the sewer vent," he tells us quickly.

"Just in time," I huff, a bit relieved.

"Let's get the hell outta here," Cara suggests, and we all rush to follow Din as he leads us to it.

We shove aside furniture to reveal a solid metal grate. Cara and Din attempt to pull it off, but it proves too stuck for them. I can hear them powering up the cannon outside. As Cara tires, I take over trying to pry the vent out of the wall.

"It's assembled!" Greef shouts, watching from the window. "How long until that thing's cleared?"

"Blow it," Cara offers.

Din shakes his head. "I'm out of charges."

"Get out of the way!" Cara grabs her machine gun, which now looks tiny compared to the E-Web outside, and attempts to shoot through the metal. It heats up the metal, but does nothing more. The vent isn't even dented after Cara delivers a solid kick.

I sigh. "Alright, my turn."

Cara looks at me, confused, but we have no time for questions. I kneel next to the vent, placing a hand on the wall to steel myself and creating a large knife. "I don't know how long this will take, so buy me as much as you can," I say to the others.

As I'd expected, cutting through the grates is a slow process, like digging a grave with a toothpick. But it works better than our other attempts so far, so I keep pushing.

Gideon has heard the gunfire from outside, and takes the silence as an opportunity to speak to us. "Your astute panic suggests that you understand your situation. I would prefer to avoid any further violence, and encourage a moment of consideration." I grit my teeth at his words. That man has never cared about avoiding violence.

He continues, "Members of my escort have completed assembly of an E-Web heavy repeating blaster. If you are unfamiliar with this weapon, I am sure that Republican Shock Trooper Carasynthia Dune of Alderaan will advise you that she has witnessed many of her ranks vaporized mid-descent facing the predecessor of this particular model." We all look to Cara. Her mouth is open, brows furrowed, but she ponders in silence and neither confirms nor denies Gideon's words.

"As well as former Guild bounty hunter Nova Darkthorn of Yavin-4, who witnessed the destruction of a village with the prototype of this very weapon." My hand stalls on my knife, and I look out of the window in utter shock.

"How..." I murmur, unable to form a full sentence.

Din tilts his head. "Nova?"

My mouth opens and closes a few times before I'm able to think of the words I want. "I didn't even know... how does he know my name?"

My words would've had more force behind them, more anger, if I was able to feel anything more than complete surprise. Gideon knows more about me than I do about myself. I had no idea what planet I'm from, either. It's extremely unsettling.

Before Din can move to comfort me, Moff Gideon is speaking again. "Or perhaps the decommissioned Mandalorian hunter, Din Djarin, has heard the songs of the Siege of Mandalore, when gunships outfitted with similar ordinance laid waste to fields of Mandalorian recruits in The Night of a Thousand Tears." Din steps forward in disbelief. My hand ceasing its cutting once again as I hear Din's name from that demon's mouth.

How. Does. He. Know?

I sigh. This isn't the time. I've got to keep cutting; they're relying on me to get us out of here.

"I advise disgraced Magistrate Greef Karga to search the wisdom of his years and urge you to lay down your arms and come outside. The structure you are trapped in will be razed in short order, and your storied lives will come to an unceremonious end."

I hear Greef shout through the window, "What do you propose?"

"Reasonable negotiation." As soon as the words drip from the snake's lips, I can hear the lie. He doesn't want to talk; he wants blood. He'll vaporize anything that moves.

Greef knows this. With a scoff, he says, "What assurance do you offer?"

"If you're asking if you can trust me," the old man says, and I detect the smirk on his face, "you cannot. Just as you betrayed our business arrangement, I would gladly break any promise and watch you die at my hand. The assurance I give is this: I will act in my own self-interest, which at this time includes your cooperation and benefit. I will give you until nightfall, and then I will have the E-Web cannon open fire."

"I say we hear him out." Greef.

Cara argues, "The minute we open that door, we're dead."

"She's right," I say from my spot at the vent, grunting with effort. "You know him just as much as I do, Greef. You know he won't hesitate to kill us. He wants blood. He just admitted that we can't trust him, and you want to walk right up to him? What are you expecting, nice conversation and a cup of tea?! The only thing you'll get out of talking to that man is your head on a platter."

"We're dead either way, Nova. Whether we stay in here or not, he's going to kill us, isn't he? It's worth a try."

"It's not! What's worth a try is fighting our way out, if we can't open this vent first." I huff, leaning back on my heels. "But I don't know that this thing is coming off. Even with my knife, it's going to take too long. I'm sorry."

"That's alright." Din's words are soft, and it's the first thing he's said since Gideon revealed his name.

Apparently, Greef is doing that thing where he keeps talking and arguing. "At least out there, we've got a shot."

"That's easy for you to say," Cara snaps back. "I'm a Rebel Shock Trooper. They'll upload me to a Mind Flayer."

"Those aren't real! That was just wartime propaganda!"

"Well, I don't care to find out! I'm shooting my way out of here."

Greef sees that it's no use arguing, and turns to us. "What about you guys?"

Din looks to me. "I'd doubted when you said it was him. But you're right. That's Moff Gideon."

Cara, who apparently hadn't heard me earlier, argues immediately, "No. Moff Gideon was executed for war crimes."

"It's him. He knew my name."

"So?" She asks, incredulous. "What does that prove?"

"I haven't heard that name spoken since I was a child," he says, glancing at me. But they don't know that he told me his name, so I don't mind it if that stays between us.

"On Mandalore?" Greef inquires.

"I was not born on Mandalore."

Karga looks over his shoulder, bewildered. "But you're a Mandalorian."

I shake my head. "Mandalorian isn't a race."

"It's a Creed," Din agrees. "I was a Foundling. They raised me in the Fighting Corps. I was treated as one of their own. When I came of age, I was sworn to the Creed. The only record of my family name was in the registers of Mandalore. Moff Gideon was an ISB Officer during the purge. That's how I know it's him."

"That's how he knows who we all are," Cara adds.

I shake my head. "It explains how he knows you. It doesn't explain how he knows me. As far as I know, I'm not in any records anywhere in the galaxy."

I mull it over as they continue talking. Din reasons that the child must've gotten away because Gideon still needs us alive. We were all worried when Kuiil didn't respond, but this is confirmation that maybe he's alright. Cara suggests he hail them again, so he does.

When we get nothing she says that they might've jammed the link, but then the com crackles to life, and an unexpected voice comes through.

"Kuiil has been terminated," IG-11's voice informs us, in a way that raises the hairs on my neck. Terminated? I exchange a glance with my company.

"What did you do?!" Din demands. I approach him, placing a hand on his arm in an effort to calm him.

"I am fulfilling my base function," its monotone voice answers. My eyes narrow. Wasn't its base function to kill the child?

"Which is?" the Mandalorian growls.

"To nurse and protect."

In the distance, repetitive blaster fire reaches my ears. I lean forward into the com. "IG! You can't bring the kid back here!"

"You need my help, do you not?"

I shake my head, even though it can't see it. "You're not endangering the kid. Go back."

"We're not leaving you to die!" It takes me a moment to realize that's Emil. I'm ecstatic to know he's alive, but he won't be much longer if he comes back here.

Before I can argue more, Din's hand lands on my shoulder. "They're not going to turn around, Nova. It's useless arguing."

I sigh. He's right; Emil's as stubborn as I am, and a droid like IG won't go against its base protocol very easily.

"Be careful," I plead instead.

As soon as the words leave my lips, we see explosions going off in a side road. My heart drops, until two speeders hurl through the dust, my friends guiding them. In sync, they leap off and send their speeders into the crowd of now-distracted troopers, all of which have turned their attention from us.

Din grabs my arm, leading me to the door, and shouts for Cara to cover us. I see her take a knee on the counter, but nothing more as the door opens.

Din forces a waiting troopers arm down, shooting him instead and kicking another down. That's the last I see of him, allowing my abilities to flow freely and my mind to slip into battle mode, focus on the enemy taking over all other thoughts.

My knives are thrown from my hands almost as quick as a blaster is fired, each one landing exactly where I want it. A trooper manages to sneak up on me as I'm focused on flinging three knives simultaneously, something I've never done before. He holds me in a chokehold, but only for a second as I immediately flip him over my head and allow a knife to sink into him once he's on the ground in front of me.

The fight seems to be going quite well for us initially. I look around for a second, panting, and realize I've taken out at least twenty of them. Maybe there's a chance we will get out of this.

I realize Greef had followed us out, and Cara is still shooting from the window. We're not going down so easily.

I get myself back into the fight soon enough, only having to throw a few punches and kicks as I mostly use my knives. What can I say, they're effective.

I hear whirring and whining, and realize they're taking down IG, the child still strapped to its chest. I begin throwing my knives, but there's too many of them shooting at him. It falls to a knee, and I rush over to it. If I can't save it, I've got to save the child.

I duck under blaster fire, barely feeling when one grazes my shoulder. But before I make it over there, I hear the sound of the E-Web. My head snaps over to it, fear striking my chest like lightning, until I see that it's Din using it. I grin, rushing over to IG and helping it up. My hand strokes the child's face for a split-second and he smiles, glad to see me again.

I turn back to the shootout in time to see the door to the building we left Cara in completely explode. My knife finds its way into the lead trooper there, and with help from the others, we take out most of the group. I trust Cara to take care of the ones that have made their way inside.

As I scan the area again, I see Moff Gideon with a blaster raised. I follow his gaze to see Din with the E-Web, which is connected to a box full of fuel. A box that Emil stands directly behind, not seeing it. My gaze finds Gideon again. He's going to shoot the box. They're both going to get caught in the explosion.

No.

A guttural scream pierces the air, and it takes me a moment to realize its mine. I hurl a knife at Gideon, but it only lands in his leg. I was distracted. My mind was clouded. It's too late.

I watch it all unfold in slow motion. The bolt sinks into the box. It explodes in a fiery fury, tossing everything within a 3-yard radius back harshly. My feet are already moving before they hit the ground.

Cara sprints out, grabbing Din's limp body and dragging him inside to cover. I hurriedly pick up Emil's still form, following after her. Greef and IG both cover us, close on our heels once we're inside. IG closes the blast door, which is undamaged, and the enemy's fire ceases.

"Stay with me, buddy," Cara grunts, lowering Din onto the floor, his back against an overturned piece of furniture. I lay Emil next to him. "We're gonna get you out of here."

I block out all other noise as IG starts cutting through the metal of the grate in a way we could not. "Emil?" I ask desperately, my hand moving to his cheek. I feel for a pulse and find a faint one. His head is bleeding profusely, and I'm not sure how much longer that heartbeat is going to last. He's clearly dying, and I don't have any medical supplies that'll help him. "Oh, Maker," I breathe, squeezing my eyes shut.

I hear Cara and Din talking softly, and I barely catch what they're saying.

"Leave me," Din says weakly. My eyes snap open, and I see Cara's hand slick with blood. My stomach drops at the sight. She goes for his helmet, but he grabs her wrists tightly, denying her request.

I call Greef over. He has more experience, and I can't do anything to help Emil right now, but maybe he can. Besides, Emil's not the one begging to be left behind. I get up, going to kneel on Din's other side. He doesn't look much better than Emil, but at least he's conscious. As I crouch beside him, he finds my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine.

"You make sure the child is safe," he gasps, sounding more pained than I've ever heard him. He rips off a string around his neck, handing it to Cara. "When you get to the Mandalorian covert, you show them that. You tell them it's from Din... Djarin." He struggles to get the words out. "You tell them the foundling was in my protection, and they'll help you."

Cara shakes her head furiously. "We can make it," she insists.

I nod in agreement, trying not to let my eyes fill with tears. It hurts to see him like this. "We're not just going to leave you here. Din, I can't leave you."

Cara tries to pull him up, but he doesn't cooperate. Instead, his grip tightens on my hand. "I'm not gonna make it, and you know it."

I start to shake my head, but am interrupted by a blast of fire that erupts from the door, blowing our final defense off of its hinges. Cara shields Din's body with her own, and I duck over Emil as much as I can. Wooden pieces of furniture catch the flames, and heat licks my face. The building is going to burn down with us in it if we don't get out of here soon.

"You protect the child. I can hold them back long enough for you to escape."

"No!" I shout, grabbing our hands with my free hand. "No, you can't, and I will not leave you, Din."

He turns to Cara, pleading with her. "Take her. And let me have a warrior's death."

"I'm not leaving you either," she denies.

He simply shakes his head. "This is the Way."

And then he pulls me closer to him and whispers the three words I've wanted to say to him for weeks, the ones I've been too nervous to speak, the ones I'd thought would be spoken under much calmer circumstances. He says it like it's the first and last time the words will ever leave his lips. "I love you, Nova."

A gasp escapes my mouth as soon as the words fall upon my ears. I don't hesitate to say it back, a watery smile on my face even though I know this is the last time he expects to say it. "I love you too, Din. And you are not going to die on me, you hear?"

He merely lets out a pained chuckle. "You are so incredibly stubborn." I offer a small grin.

Another burst of flame floods into the door, and I know whoever's behind that flamethrower will be coming for us soon. I squeeze Din's hand once more before releasing it and getting to my feet. Just as I do, a trooper with red stripes on his armor enters, wearing a more elaborate helmet and carrying a large flamethrower at his hip.

He raises his weapon, and I raise my hands in response. I'm not sure how I'm gonna pull this off, but I have to try.

I watch, unflinching, as a stream of fire comes straight for us. I concentrate on that fire, putting all of my focus into stopping it. And just as its about to reach us, with its heat licking eagerly at my face, a wall of pure light rushes forward to meet it. It stops, flowering out as if it were hitting a real wall.

I've never conjured anything this big, and I can already feel my strength waning. I won't be able to hold this for long. IG is nearly done getting the grate off, and my company seems to sense my struggle. They inch closer to the grate, waiting for their opportunity.

I grunt with the effort of holding the flames back, but the trooper won't let up. Slowly, I force the wall I've conjured towards him, feeling my mind weaken with every push. Something brushes my ankle, halting my concentration for a split second, and I nearly drop our defense. It's the child. He stares up at me, concern evident in his big eyes. I shake my head, trying to communicate that he can't stay with me; he needs to go. Thankfully, he seems to get it and backs away. I turn my full attention back to the fire, only to see that it got closer with my attention split. I feel sweat falling into my eyes as I struggle to force it back once more.

Panting now, I drop to a knee and grit my teeth. I'm on the verge of screaming with the pain it causes, but I can't let go.

The wall inches toward him, but it's not going to be enough. I pour all of my energy into this, letting loose a strained yell as I heave one final time. Something in my brain snaps entirely and I call out, grasping my head and falling to all fours.

I managed to stall his flamethrower for a moment with that last push, but if they haven't left yet, it was all for nothing. I don't have the strength to look behind me, and I find myself hardly wanting to. I don't want to be met with my own failure if they're still here.

The trooper raises his weapon once more. I slump to the side, accepting death. Saving my friends, that's not a horrible way to go, is it? I close my eyes, as I feel the air around me heat up.

And then I feel... nothing. I open my eyes, wondering if it's finally over. I see the child instead, standing in front of me as if guarding me and holding back another wave of flames. My jaw drops of its own accord.

The flame parts for him, and then begins to move backward. It overwhelms its own source, causing the gun to explode and forcing the trooper back out of the door. Though the rest of the building is on fire, we're saved.

The child falls back, cooing and seeming quite proud of himself. I stare at him, astonished. I've seen him use his abilities before, but... never like that.

I hear IG kicking the metal, and Greef's shout of, "It's open! Let's go!"

Against my body's wishes, I manage to pull myself back up. Pain shoots everywhere, and it's the worst in my head, but I grit my teeth and force myself to move. I manage to stand and stumble over to Din, who's still refusing to go. Greef already has Emil slung over his shoulder. If we're going to leave, we need to go now.

"Go," Din pleads. "Go."

Cara finally stands, but I don't move from Din's side. He looks to me, and I merely shake my head. There's nothing he can do that'll convince me to leave him here.

IG comes over, shoving the unconscious baby into her arms. "Escape and protect this child. I will stay with the Mandalorian."

She gathers her gun, prepared to leave, but stops at looks up at IG. "Promise me you'll bring him."

"You have my word," the droid agrees, and both her and Greef slip into the vent.

Another part of the building crashes down. The whole roof is going to collapse on top of us very soon. Din looks straight at IG. "Do it."

"Do what?" it asks, almost sounding confused.

"Just get it over with. I'd rather you kill me than some Imp." I look to him, incredulous.

"I told you," the droid denies. "I am no longer a hunter. I am a nurse droid."

He grunts. "IGs are all hunters."

"Not this one. I was reprogrammed. I need to remove your helmet if I am to save you." Its hand drifts to Din's helmet, only to receive a blaster pistol to the face.

"Try it, and I'll kill you."

The droid whirs as it processes this, almost like it doesn't know what to say.

I squeeze Din's hand. "Maybe you should let him. Din, you're dying."

"It is forbidden. No living thing has seen me without my helmet since I sw-swore the Creed," he struggles.

I open my mouth to protest when IG speaks. "I am not a living thing."

It begins to lift Din's helmet, and I quickly shut my eyes and look away. But to my surprise, Din tightens his grip on my hand. "It's fine," he manages to say. "If IG's gonna see my face... you might as well."

My lips part upon hearing this. He's going to let me?

I open my eyes and help IG take the helmet off. I nearly close my eyes again out of habit, but I force myself not to. And then I see his face for the first time. It's covered in blood, and his hair is matted with blood and sweat, but this is the man I love. He looks like he's in so much pain, but he manages a smile and I return it.

I refrain from hugging him because I don't know what's broken underneath his armor, but as soon as IG finishes spraying him with bacta, I press a light kiss to his lips.

"You have suffered damage to your central processing unit," IG tells him.

Din furrows his brows. "You mean my brain?"

"That was a joke. It is meant to put you at ease."

Din lets out a pained chuckle, and I snort, shaking my head.

{word count: 4,624}

a/n: the fact that i still haven't finished the epilogue- yall i didn't know this was so hard??