Hello! It is my best friend Shannon's birthday so I am uploading this for her and everyone else to read. I suppose it could be described as a bit of an AU but at the end you'll find out whether it actually is or not. It's certainly some fun! It's a bit of an homage to The Mandalorian Star Wars series and focuses on a voyage of characters inspired by Justin and Jorgie (as well as Mando and Grogu of course). This came about because I had been watching the series and Shannon and I always thought regular universe Justin would love Star Wars - or a Pokémon Version of it. Also, we thought the dynamic of Mando and Baby Yoda was like Justin and Jorgie so this happened! I hope you all enjoy but especially you, Shannon :)
Disclaimer: I own the story and the characters but like I said, it's heavily inspired by The Mandalorian!
Opening the top hatch of his spaceship, he leaned in just so and placed the child down into seat before proceeding to make the effort to climb in himself. The orange wisped baby girl appeared to have no complaints at being seated from the way that her little legs waggled in the holes that had been specifically cut so she could do that to her hearts content while staying put.
However, the child let out a gurgling noise and her already naturally wide eyes became all the more like saucers when momentarily, the masked man who had placed her down went out of sight for just a second. In reality, he was only leaning himself back so he could get the proper leverage into climbing down the very narrow shoot leading to the quite spacious star ship.
Following a brief pause, her little legs began to waggle yet again when her travelling companion came back into sight, crawling head first down into his seat and using his hands to navigate the way. If she could have properly seen his face, she would imagine that he had a bit of a furrow on his brow and maybe even a dimple causing a crevice on his cheek in concentration.
But alas, the child did not know what the young man looked like behind his helmet. So for this reason, she was none the wiser. She was happy to have his full presence back again though and after his effort filled yet graceful crawling had taken place, she was even gladder to have him in his own seat in front of hers. Their journey could continue.
The man covered in armor shot his hands out to various controls of his spaceship almost as soon as he was seated. Like the child behind him, he was looking forward to the continuing of the journey. When he had a mission to complete, he was always focused. Nothing could stop him from getting from A to B. Nothing could alter his mind-set when he knew where he was headed.
That being said, since the mission he had taken on of delivering that little orange wispy haired child, he learnt to be a tad more relaxed with losing himself on the way. It didn't matter where he headed as along as he started from A. He could go all the way to Z if need be! As long as he ended up where he needed to be. And that funny little creature behind him was safe.
Tapping on the controls in front of him with gloved fingers, he mapped out his course and then gave his star ship engine time to fire up. In the meantime, he had a moment to breathe to himself. He knew where he was headed. He was headed to a planet filled with greenery – the little girl's home planet – after having to go back to a dreadfully sandy one when they lost something important of hers along the way.
The armor covered man shuddered at the memory. He just didn't do well on sand covered planets. The grit didn't agree with him and it scratched at the beloved and prestigious metal that enveloped his being so.
After he grimaced and before the engine of his star ship fully burst into its whole capacity that seemed to burn brighter than the sun of one of the most peculiar planets in the galaxy, he had a second to run his hand over his own helmet. The child gurgled. She let out noises to herself while the man in front of her felt a growing twinge in his neck.
But still, the helmet wasn't removed. It never would be. Not as long as he followed the tradition that he had sworn his allegiance to. Not as long as he lived. Not even as long as he died.
Ignoring the sensation building at the nape of his neck and travelling down to his shoulder that was actually narrow hidden beneath the bulk of his armour, his hands reached out to chunkier controls and levers in front of him, gripping them. One lever fell down beneath his touch. Suddenly, his engine roared and ignited for good. They would have lift off. He was taking the child home.
It's funny how such a concentrative task and tumultuous one and sensation could fill the young man with peace but that was the truth. All he needed was the freedom of his trusty space ship, the buttons in which only he controlled and the ability to go anywhere. The world was his oyster when he was surrounded by the walls that were almost as metallic and sturdy as he. No, the galaxy was his oyster.
He must've had a curving up of the lip as the star ship began to leave the sand dune planet behind and hurtle through space, the little girl in her chair thought. But what did she know? He often told her that she was clueless. Yet she could feel the light-heartedness brewing behind him the more time that they spent together, and the more times that he said these words.
She shrugged to herself and had a moment to look out at the window, trying to count the passing stars but of course finding it impossible from the speed in which they were travelling. They became far more than a blur. They nearly became very white specters against the deep navy hue of space around them. It was hypnotic. She almost began to feel very sleepy. Almost.
The child didn't dwell on the stars sending her into trance like they were a mobile above her cot back home for too much longer. Her attention went back to the man in front of her even if the last thing that was on his mind was her! And not long after she thought about him, she thought about the part of him which she longed for.
It was not his attention, no, nor was it his time. In truth, he granted her that a lot even if he let out sighs from behind his helmet and his concealed fingers went to his hip a great many times. What the little creature wanted was far simpler than that. And parallel to how it was for that same man in control of the space ship, once she set her mind after something, there was no stopping her.
Her little legs in her seat starting to sway along with the movements of the space vessel, a rather mischievous – even wicked – grin proceeded to take over her usually innocent face. Unbeknownst to the armored man, those legs of hers started to hook themselves out of the leg holes of her seats despite him designing it to keep her put.
The young man of course had no idea. He knew his route, he knew his journey and he was taking it. He didn't have many thoughts at all as he shot across the universe, his mind filled with absolute nothingness. He was one with the moment. He was one with the journey.
Perhaps he was also trying to empty his mind so as not to focus on the aching sensation due to all the weight that he carried on his shoulders, the child suspected. Whatever it was, she was glad that he was so focused on everything and nothing. It meant that in her little brown colored homemade onesie she could creep right next to him without him noticing.
Then, her very small and starfish yet concentrative hand could reach out to him too and get exactly what she wanted without him suspecting a thing. Or could she?
The title of his job as well as the way he liked to clear his mind for fun made the armored man have very fast reflexes you see. Before you could say any word of your choice, he suddenly snapped into action and switched the ship onto autopilot. Then, with a sigh, a protective and hidden hand snatched over what the child was trying to have a way with.
Though she couldn't see in through the eye mask part of his helmet to see what kind of expressions she was dealing with, she tilted her own head back in response and widened those green saucers of hers.
The young man jerked his body just once so her little claws stopped reaching for him for good. His voice then followed, speaking to her for the first time since before lift-off.
"Hands to yourself." Rasps could be hard from behind his helmet. People were often surprised by the laid back and almost juvenile tone of voice that could be heard coming from his stoic exterior. But the child was used to him after so many months of travelling by his side. She wasn't scared either. She was stubborn. Her hand tried to reach back out another time. "Maybe you'll get one of your own one day."
Stubborn himself, he twitched his shoulder yet another time so the little girl's persistent starfish hand was forced to stop its antics. His single, left hand continually pressed across his own body, pointing towards his shoulder and just cupping over his breast. It was like he was trying to conceal the item in which the child longed to hold, though he usually wore it on the front of his armor like a badge of honor.
And I know what you're thinking; no, it wasn't a prestigious pin that had been placed on his chest by an armorer of his clan so that was why he was doubtful whether the little girl would be awarded one of her own. It was something that he wore somehow with even more pride than any pieces of his suit that he had collected over the years.
His hand finally fell away from his own body, one finger at a time as he continually felt the wide eyed, unmoving stare of the child. When a winged creature clinging to the chest piece of his armor was revealed, one of its wings then felt the gentle touch of a covered finger. In that moment, the child's wide orbs were certain that a wistful smile was hidden behind the face she didn't know.
"I promised that I would return it to her one day." His breathy yet clear as day voice could be heard once more. A pause. A pause as he pondered to himself before proceeding. "And return it to her I shall. When it is back in her hold, it will be because I bestowed it upon her again. No one else."
Even the child's obstinate self could sense the finality in his voice. And she even stopped trying to reach out for the blue winged badge on his armor for good. Flopping back against a little ledge close to the controls of his star ship – a little too close – her eyes stopped occupying themselves with the sight of him too.
He really could not be convinced when he had set his mind to something. And when he set his heart on something there was even less budge room.
Her gaze flickered to him once more but just for a fleeting, single second. She was glad he had at least someone to return home to, even if he called no one particular planet that. She was glad that he had something other than the intricate maps built into his star ship to be his compass. But still, she shook her head as to why he wouldn't take his helmet off with even her too!
It is correct that that rather unusual pair had been travelling together across many kinds of galaxies for a great deal of pages of the calendar at that point and her parents had seen the way in which they shared a peculiar bond so he was often given extra work in ferrying her around on her home planet. Away from her home planet too, as his latest mission with her had required.
Nevertheless, they didn't know each other wholeheartedly inside out. It caused a dull ache in the center of his skull for the young man to think of too many lengths in which he had figured her out, or maybe even noticed parts of himself within her. And as for her with him, how could anyone fully reach someone who didn't look right into her eyes with own eyes?
They still had more to learn and this was proven from the way that the armored man misread the shake of the head when it caused her neck to twist as well. He gave her a brush of his silver clad hand, almost batting her. It was as though he had finally noticed she was out of her seat.
"What did I tell you before lift-off?" he asked her. Her eyes were back on him, green as they always were and unfaltering too. He didn't bother to repeat the words that he had indeed uttered to the same degree, the star ship still on auto pilot. "For someone with ears that are a prized feature on some planets, you sure don't listen."
A grumpy tone erupted from behind the helmet. His shoulder and neck could've started to ache all the more in a manner that couldn't be ignored. Or it really could have bugged him that she was yet again trying to reach out to one of the few possessions (apart from her) that he did take across the galaxies. It couldn't be known for sure.
Whatever the reason, the child grew unusually quiet upon hearing this. The young man should have been glad. Yet following his unnecessary words and tone, his own shoulders twitched behind his armor.
He didn't utter an apology or a retraction of his statement of any kind when she continued purposefully not filling her vision with his silhouette, kidding himself that he could see those ears of hers drooping. But not only did his hands reach out to hold around her belly and bring her to him; he took part of his armor off and clutched at her with bare digits.
The child looked down at her middle that was not only decorated with the brown faded material of her homemade onesie but was also decorated but the unusually naked hold of the man.
"I suppose I can let you sit here." His voice sounded and it went through the little girl's ears as smoothly as they were travelling through the stars, though there was an oncoming hint of stubbornness. She stopped hearing his voice for just a second. "If anything happens to me, maybe you should know a little bit how to fly this thing."
Listening to his words, the orange wisped child expected to feel her bottom be placed on the smooth and cool gray surface that was right close to a lot of important buttons controlling the star ship. Surprising her but not causing her eyes to widen further for once, she remained not only in the hold of the young man but started to be seated on the outstretched leg just before his knee as he stayed put in his own seat too.
"You'll probably pick it up faster than even me." He added. There was once a time when even his modest self would have thought it was impossible for someone to fathom their way around the ins and outs of flying quicker than he. But that was of course before came the child. Since then, his eyes had been so opened in more ways than one. In truth, she had done more than even just open his eyes.
The orange wisped girl started to see the young man through widened eyes once again. Although his touch since she was safely seated on his knee moved to absentmindedly pat the bow decorating her head that was a murkier green than her orbs, she still got the impression that it was not guilt prompting these actions.
And for one of the first times, she hoped, she didn't just suspect that she could feel the tiniest of smiles coming from behind his helmet.
He didn't offer an apology to the way that he had spoken to her before. But the way that his fingers lingered on her and also moved in separate ways to playfully pinch an ear of hers and attempt to tickle some of the eyelashes attached to the one wide eye of hers made it a possibility that that he regretted his decision.
Surely he did. Why did he come out with those sorts of words? He didn't often think of them, not really. How could he? Some of the features that she possessed were some that he had been known for carrying with him when he was a child of the same age as her. And when he removed his helmet for just for him to see and he gazed upon his reflection in a mirror or a lake or even the eye glass of his own mask, though his ears had fit more in with the size of his head as he grew older, he still possessed those inquisitive, wide orbs.
In spite of the things he had seen and in spite of the things he had been through in life – coming from a family that did questionable things and the questionable empire in which they followed came to an end – they were as wide and curious and even innocent as ever before. But they were, naturally, hidden for most to see. Yet they were there for some to suspect.
What was he thinking of then as autopilot carried him and the child and the star ship through space and time? Perhaps a great many things. Whatever it was, some of those thoughts came to a halt when the child couldn't halt her actions and her hand tried to reach out for him again despite the fact she had promised herself she wouldn't agitate him in that way again at least until they landed on her home planet.
The young man suspected that she was trying to get at his butterfly badge once more. He was incorrect. He saw the true nature and intention of her touch when he looked into her eyes and could read everything. A frown was certainly clouding over his face behind his armor. And yet, words came that completely contradicted what he tried to deny.
"Of course I miss being a child of your age. Who wouldn't?" he confessed. His words came via a tone that was as level headed as it could be. The child could sense his knee subtly squirming underneath her. His voice continued rigidly even if some of his limbs did not possess the same quality. "I wouldn't trade places and have hands too small to be in charge of all this, though."
The little girl saw him from a tilted angle when he tried to joke after the truth came from him that was almost as naked as his fingers that had started to press buttons for something to do even though auto pilot was still controlling the ship.
Some days he was transparent to her. Yet on others, she felt like he was utterly unreadable to her and she was getting further and further away from the core of who he was.
There was a glimmer of his true nature in that moment. Maybe he letting small truths slide before concealing them with jokes was his true nature. But perhaps there were other natures to him as well. He wasn't just one whole picture. He was lots of different ones combining to make a big bigger.
That was hardly surprising, was it? He had to leave his old life and his identity behind when an era was left behind and he had to provide for a family that was unemployable after the service to an empire they had all been sucked into a part of.
Was he thinking of this when the child continued seeing him with a slant in her tiny neck? Or was he thinking of other, more innocent things?
The days belonging to him of being a child of her age and somewhat older, frolicking through the grass and picking flowers on the way, getting feet and ankles swamped by water before crashing down amongst corn fields, wondering what the next day would bring.
Running through those same fields with siblings sprinting close by, some of them older and some of them younger. All of a sudden, a shadow creeping up on you and that shadow not only having a silhouette and a whole face but hands too – hands that gripped around a belly belonging to you and lifting you up into the air. You thinking that were the highest you would ever be from the ground – the highest you would ever be from the planet.
The child let out a sigh in the same way that the armored man would often let out a sigh. She looked right at him as he tried to occupy himself with pushing unnecessary and sleeping buttons, trying to empty his mind but to no avail. She could in that moment read his thoughts as much as she could read his body language and his expressions that were invisible to her.
Those hands which she knew all too well. And not simply because she could empathize. Her gaze became all too knowing and all too lingering. As the young man finally gave up his effort of pretending to be busy with altering the path in which they would take back to her own planet, the glint from his helmet met the glint from her eyes.
He spoke of the thoughts she was having practically immediately and shut them down.
"No. No. It is not that simple." He began. That's all he wished to say on the matter. That's all he wished to say in its entirety. But nonetheless, after a couple of seconds of silence and soaring through the galaxies with the hairs on the back of his neck lightly standing up, words longed to follow and so they did. "It's not that simple for either of us."
Instead of looking more so at him as the child was spoken to, she looked down at her little legs that appeared almost sack-like in their brown attire. The word that he meant was 'easy' not 'simple'. She supposed that the word that he had uttered still applied though. And maybe he was right. Maybe it wasn't simple either.
Before she could think the things that she was going to go on to think anyway, her vision filled with possibilities rather than the realities of the spaceship and the company surrounding her, even more words were added.
"How would you do it?" followed the man covered head to toe in armor except with the exception of bare finger tips tracing along the pin on his chest.
A rhetorical question this was. One that was even bordering on humorous. How could a child that was barely even two years old and had the innocence of someone much younger do anything at all? He was probably smirking behind his helmet to conceal other things.
Nevertheless, the child went on to think of the possibilities because she intended to do so before she even was prompted.
No, it wasn't exactly going to be straight forward. But she understood the way in which the young man's father worked because she had spent so much time with him. Her own father was a patient and an accepting man so she was almost certain that these sorts of qualities had been around within Justin's own experience of his own father.
There was nothing better than feeling his own fingers gripping around her waist and lifting her high into the sky. It had actually been torture when she had been taken from him and her mother and sent halfway across the universe.
Thank goodness for it being the young man's mission to get her back where she needed to be. It had started off just a mission to him. Though she couldn't be sure how it ended up being viewed in his mind, it was everything to her.
It had been torture when she had been taken away from her loved ones. And it had been bliss to experience being tucked up in bed by them once again and feeling a goodnight kiss on the cheek each and every night that they had been reunited once more.
"Nevermind." The armor wearing man hurriedly added again to his words although she had managed to have a great many thoughts in the meantime. She was broken away from her thoughts there and then.
He decided that he didn't need her input. And he most certainly didn't want her input! Who knows what could have happened when she got her claws on the opportunity to take things into her own hand – let alone the realities she could creature when she focused her powerful little mind.
A surly expression suddenly took over the child's face when she looked back at him and it was a mirror image of what could be concealed underneath his helmet at times. It is uncertain whether it was the fact that he didn't wish to have her input after all or it was being ripped away from the comforting thoughts of the place that she truly considered home.
Whatever the reality, her tongue almost poked in between her lips as she had a screwed up demeanor. Even so, it was completely invisible to the young man who had decided to finally take his star ship off auto pilot and do some commanding for himself. He didn't even notice what kind of expression the child near to him was having, let alone be able to recognize even more parts of him within her.
Tapping back on the controls that were awake after their comatose state, the armor wearing young man didn't know why he had taken it off manual at all. Granted, he had some moments with his little passenger. But he simply loved absolutely being in charge, that was even more obvious now he was back to doing it. It wasn't easy at times. But the end product was always worth it. At least he could sleep at night knowing he had done his part.
It was time for the child to do her part. Like was often the case in their little dynamic, it was time for her to do her part in causing chaos!
Deciding she wanted nothing to do with the young helmet wearing man after he had had a change of heart towards her so abruptly, she started to clamber away from his knee and towards the smooth gray service that she had been perched on earlier on in the journey.
He didn't think anything at all when his leg felt lighter. He already felt far more this way when his gaze was focused towards sending his star ship shooting faster through the constellations and seeing how speedily he could actually make his beloved vessel go without entirely losing control.
He did, however, think everything of it when a couple of seconds after the child altered herself into a crawling position and a button sunk down into the control panel beneath her knee. His mind wasn't quite as empty as an unmissable red warning flashed on his screen that was usually where a diagram showing his route and his space ship and his destination were depicted.
In its place, the words 'emergency landing' streaked across the screen in neon capital letters. And no sooner could the young man's eyes widen behind his helmet let alone his body actually react to what was going on and stop it, a technical voice echoing from the speakers of his ship barked at him.
Emergency landing activated. Emergency landing activated. Emergency landing activated. Emergency landing activated.
It repeated over and over again in a screeching tone and it seemed as though it was going to keep on doing that until it was stopped. The young man didn't often lose his cool or his composure or his concentration. But frustration was starting to bubble up beneath his skin and a long way under all of the heaviness that he wore. This was hindering his abilities more than the distracting voice was.
Thankfully, though, the machine did change its words after it repeated them a dozen or more times and the child started to cover her ears like she hadn't been the cause of it.
Emergency landing activated. Emergency landing activated. Emergency landing activated. Emergency landing activated. Would you like to stop the emergency landing?
The child's ears were covered by her own hands so she couldn't advise the young man how to rectify the consequences of her own actions. He heard them loud and clear though and promptly burst into action, giving the computer an answer because he couldn't bear to hear the automated voice any longer.
"Of course I would!" he for once bellowed over the sound echoing through the star ship chamber that they were in as well as many of the other compartments of the vessel. He couldn't see the course in which they were taking for a couple of seconds as his eyes were squeezed tight shut.
Man, that sound was more annoying than his passenger when she needed an urgent break for food!
The noise would go on to stop soon enough, granted. But he should have chosen his words more wisely. The computer chose to say different words upon mistaking what the young man's own words actually meant.
Emergency landing continuing to initiate. Emergency landing continuing to initiate. Emergency landing continuing to initiate. This action cannot be stopped.
For the moment that they were actually in, the sigh in which escaped from the young man behind his helmet was rather comical. A cloud of condensation hit the mouth part of his disguise. There was no going back at that point, it seemed. They would just have to brace for landing.
Showing that he had learnt to go with the flow a little more since the company of the child in spite of the chaos she often bought with her, he accepted fate as the star ship spun through the universe towards the nearest planet, twirling them upside down and down and around through all of the stars on the way.
He was oddly composed, staying fixedly to his seat thanks to the technology he had built in and his arms folding over his armored chest. The only reason in which he unfolded his arms after a couple of seconds was because he felt the helmet starting to slide down and reveal his equally well-structured jaw line.
In the middle of holding onto a lever upside down because she did not possess the same technology to keep her the same position, the child rolled her eyes. Even in the middle of catastrophe, he didn't give up the possibility of losing his mystery! Her eyes rolled in her head and it caused her to grow dizzy as with her starfish hands she clutched with all of her might.
She tried her hardest not to let go as they hurtled through the atmosphere of the very green planet, still swirling in all directions and going upside down many, many times. It would take all of her concentration to keep her last meal, inside her, she thought. But she would have to. She had already been the cause for the premature landing. And though it was the young man's favorite food they had both tucked into, she didn't imagine that he would like it in reverse and splattered all over him.
Minutes after the initial emergency warning had flashed; they at last touched on the ground of the planet at a relatively good and easy to digest speed. The child swallowed when the space ship was no longer moving and the engine had naturally cut out and they had landed the right away up.
Good, she thought to herself. After that most recent swallow, she was adamant that she wouldn't lose her dinner which she insisted was soup while he was certain it was a breakfast food. At least he couldn't be mad at her for that.
But of course, he could be mad at her for the other thing. And a couple of moments of peace that they had at least arrived on the planet alive, his armored body turned to snap at her in the same second that she clambered into her actual seat in which she had been trying to get to when she caused the mishap.
It was his turn to bark.
"Didn't I tell you stay in your seat?!" he raged. So much for the cool and collected and calm armor wearing man he was supposed to be. He obviously didn't like unnecessary landings or so she thought. He managed to change his tone and focus on the fact that no damage had actually come to her when she still offered him a look that told him her moving towards the seat had been the problem. "At least it was the intended planet we landed on even if the landing wasn't the comfiest of rides."
His tone of voice still had a somewhat dry edge to it. But it was more telling that he had altered his words, just like their method of arrival had been altered.
At the best of times, he didn't like to dilly and he didn't like to dally. It seemed as though when he had coins to collect, this was no different. Seconds after clipping his gloves back onto his hands and concealing them once more, he prepared to lift himself out of his seat. He hid well the way in which his legs were jellyfish after hurtling through space for so long.
However, he didn't disguise the fact he wanted to prove one more point to the inconvenience that the child had caused.
"We're still a couple of miles from your actual home so we will have to walk." He informed her. One of his legs gave way as he hovered over her but she did not laugh. He mistook her sullenness for remorse over what she had done but because he didn't hear an apology, he simply rolled his eyes. His eyes swiveled from behind his helmet and he removed himself from the star ship quite gracefully then in spite of his space legs.
For a rare occasion, her green saucer eyes didn't wander around and search for him almost as soon as he went out of sight and was on the exterior of the spaceship. The little girl's onesie appeared to hang off her shoulder. Just a few more moments left. Just a few more moments left. Moments that would come and go. She didn't know if she would be lucky enough to go on another mission by his side.
Though it didn't feel as natural as usual, a small glimpse of light in her eyes did come when he lowered his torso down into the hatch all over and of course his helmet covered face came with it.
"Come on." He encouraged. Apparently he still wished to return her safety regardless of all the trouble that she had caused. His hands were covered in metal once more but they were still reaching out to her. "I suppose I'm required to carry you?"
A sigh followed that was mocking but she couldn't be too sure. Nevertheless, some moments of clarity followed afterwards. And within this she felt that she could fathom the features and the clear image of his face behind his helmet. Her imagination was getting stronger now that she was on her home planet, she believed.
Stubbornness tugged at her heart while her onesie remained slinking off her shoulder slightly. But then her body reacted before her mind could even catch on. Out of habit and conveying her core nature, her hands reached back out in return to him.
The child was lifted out of the space ship and against cool armor and then seconds after this, they were walking together. It was usual for her to like the way in which his metal clinked ever so gently as he took his strides and felt a secret comfort in the chill of his exterior. But when you are trying to remember each and every moment before it becomes just a memory, it can feel quite overwhelming.
So, she tried to focus on looking upward towards his face. And figuring whether the silhouette she had kidded herself to have seen was a figment of her imagination or it was reality.
A couple of minutes later, however, she grew distracted all over again. She knew that the young man disliked the atmosphere of her home planet because it was far too green and it was far too loosely populated and it was far too muggy. He had clearly voiced this opinion to her on their first visit to it together.
She understood this was still the case from the way that the pace of his walking started to slow down only a couple of moments into walking the miles together. And because she could see the interior of his helmet fogging up far more so than when he had just simply had an exhalation of breath, without thinking, her small hands tried to ease the helmet away from his face for him.
He didn't need to think either from the way that his actions came next. The young man grabbed hold of her hands with just one of his but not meanly.
"That's not the way." He reminded her. Her halted breath as her fingers remained underneath his spoke everything that she needed to say. The continually helmet wearing man added. "I'm fine. We'll be there soon enough."
The orange wisp haired girl couldn't help but feel that his pace slowed down even more after he uttered these words and inside she felt a weight lift. Her gaze fell down towards the ground and where his polished metallic boots were pressing down blades of grass into the soil that was the ground below.
She was soon to see her mother and her father too and this she was glad of. But it was a tricky thing when you could lose something else in order to gain another thing. Though saying that, motherly love was something that she had missed.
While she had been travelling through the galaxies and lost away from home, at least under the watchful eye of the armour wearing man she could kid that she was still with her father because of the indescribable similar presence that they possessed.
However, the momentary lack of a mother had left a hole in her heart. And no amount of snuggling towards and armoured chest could fix that.
The blades of grass underneath his feet stopped garnering her attention and she looked towards where she could just see the underneath of his chin poking out from where his high neck didn't quite cover all the way and his helmet was at a bit of an angle. She couldn't barricade thoughts from flooding her mind.
He had to miss a mother of his own, hadn't he? He had to be… however old he was. She couldn't exactly figure that out. But he must've had a mother at some point, hadn't he? Didn't everybody? Did he miss her?
She missed her own when she was away from hers. Terribly. How could someone carry that sort of absence with them? Her absence was sure to be the greatest presence. Maybe that was why he had fought so hard to get her back home. No matter the battles on planets that he had to undertake and the weapons he had to take hold of and use against people and the people he had to team up with, that was the true reason he had no excuse not to succeed at that mission.
It wasn't money. It wasn't coins. It wasn't new armor. It wasn't badges of honor. It wasn't glory. It was healing wounds within him. It was reuniting her with what he couldn't be reunited with.
That time when he looked down at her and saw her staring through the eyeglass part of his helmet, he didn't look away nor did he deny everything that she was pondering. He answered the stare of her eyes with words of his own.
She looked into where she knew his eyes to be and thought of the respect that had blossomed between her mother and him.
"I know I can't get her to lie for me for much longer." He agreed. Heaviness laced his voice that was equal to everything that he carried around with him every day, his armor and beyond. His steps trudged on. She felt them getting closer and closer to home as she was pressed against his cool exterior. "It's just… I'm not sure I'm ready for this new hello as little as I am prepared for a goodbye."
The child's eyes dropped down, denying the instinct that was like a magnet and longing her to focus her line of vision right where the windows of his soul to be. Like she suspected, he followed up these words with more of them. Though they weren't exactly to conceal them and to act like he hadn't let them slide, an out of place chuckle accompanied them.
"I'm not sure I'm ready to be a brother again." He chuckled and she knew she could fathom the equal smile that curved both sides of his lips upwards. That was funny. He wasn't ready for things. Coming clad in his armored suit and a steel staff for really serious threats and after all of his training, she couldn't imagine him not ready for something.
But clearly, she was wrong. She would have to be okay with being wrong. And she had to use that similar emotion – or perhaps weakness – within him as strength to be able to tackle the future head on. Even if it meant a future without him in it a whole lot less.
The rest of the walk came and went quickly in a way that she was not ready for and before she could adjust to it, the armored man was still holding her as he lingered on the outside of her family's front door. They had wandered through the very quiet and rural village that was there home. They passed by the stream containing frogs that she liked to chase. They passed by the flowers and the corn fields that he tried not to stare too much on.
She tried not to feel too much when there was no hesitation in him knocking at the door and prompting the beginning of their goodbye. She tried not to feel too much dismay. She tried to feel too much surprise. She tried not to feel too much hurt.
Then after she tried to suppress these emotions within herself, she couldn't stop feeling the flood of emotions when the door swung open and all of those that she held dear and closest to her young beating heart were there to greet her. She didn't bother to wonder whether some of those emotions were actually the armored man's as he took a step back after handing her over.
Needless to say, her father took a step forward after the other man in the door took one backwards, not hesitating to take the child back to his own beating heart.
"My sweet little miracle. You are home safe to us once more." he doted without a moment of hesitation. Arms wrapped tightly around her, he inhaled and he exhaled, wanting to bring her ever more closely to her as well having the inclination of relief that her presence was not a dream. "We're all here and so happy to see you."
The child's mother had allowed the man she shared her with to have the initial moment with her and that swelled her heart to see. But she had missed her as much as she had in return for the months that they parted from each other.
With another child in her hold – the little girl's baby brother – she clasped an arm around her daughter and pressed a cheek against hers. She wanted to be one in the simplest and most motherly of ways but in a way that was lasting.
Her voice lulled and soothed more than just the child.
"We wished not only for your safe but happy return and it has been granted." She agreed, her cheek lingering against her child's but just for a second more. The man whom put stars in her eyes as much as their child had seen on her voyage encouraged the two siblings' cheeks to touch together as a greeting. During this time, the pale cheeked woman found it natural to smile at the young man who had facilitated that wish. "And we have you to thank. We trust she was no trouble?"
A slight glint in her eye, the man covered in armor knew he was not seeing things. But it was not seen nor shared by the child's father. Too enamored by his little voyager angel he was. Too busy basking in the glory that the two newest children of his were back together at last.
He was holding both of his offspring with his newest lady in love when the man standing on the other side of the door finally broke his silence. His helmet remained fixed even though his head inside appeared to duck down. His toes twitched invisibly inside his steel capped boots.
"Entirely troublesome. But I could do with a challenge now and again. I'm glad to see you as the kid there visibly is." He answered, not bothering to bend the truth at all. And after hearing this, the mother didn't know whether she wanted her reaction to be a fond grin or a close mouthed smile at his politeness. She settled for something in the middle while he added. "Jinn, glad to see you as well."
While the woman with orange hair glowing in the sunlight of the planet she was raising her children on had an expression that didn't change, the man behind the armor's expression did alter. A silent swallow tugged at his throat. How lucky was the child to have a little brother so close in age. He was once so fortunate to share the same thing. He shared things in common with her. He shared things in common with that little boy also, though he had spent a great deal less time in his company.
The father of the two jiggled that baby boy on his hip that was half the age of his sister. He had been overjoyed and overwhelmed with love at his little girl's safe return. He was planning on stepping out of the door to offer a handshake to the young man. Of course he was. He had travelled across the universe and returned his universe to him.
However, in spite of his natural instinct and longing to remain all the more silent than usual and ever before, the young man got there first. His toes finally stopped wriggling in their boots long enough to actually move. And actually prepare to leave.
"Well, your little family deserves to be together right now. We can settle up later." He told them all. And with that, he knew he was to prepare to take another step back and offer them a salute so that he knew that his words were what he meant. It was true that they owed him a hefty sum but he could afford to settle up later.
Sensing her little boy beginning to utter the starting sounds of a grizzle, the mother took him from her new man in love once more and ushered him inside, no doubt to fix him a batch of his own favorite food. The older man had hair as vibrant as the younger man had always recalled in spite of what he too had been through and his age. He looked over his shoulder as some of his family left his side.
Then he looked forward at some of the family that he didn't realize to be the one that had left. It was luckily that he did. He caught him before he disappeared from sight, heading back to his star ship for some quiet time.
"If you insist then that's very noble of you, Jin." He started. Jin in his metal armor couldn't turn around quick enough. He still couldn't get used to the man who used to hold him in the same way in which he was holding the child calling him by a name that he had established after he had left him. "Let the little one say goodbye to you at least. Even if it isn't the last time that she will see you."
And before Jin could prepare for it or his hold could remain lose in surprise and he could drop the man's little treasure down onto the floor, the child was offered back into his hold. She didn't hesitate to clamber there and hold on tight.
Nevertheless, while her star fish hand tried to grip at as much metal as she could, the helmet wearing man looked on ahead rather than the little creature he had travelled across the universe with.
His natural stoicism had faded away. Surprise was at the forefront of his mind and it sounded through his vocal chords.
"It… It isn't?" his reply came. Regardless of the fact that he couldn't hide his disbelief, it still came across a tad matter of fact too. He didn't dare look down at the child as she clung onto him. She wasn't holding onto him like some sort of hook and loop fastener padded creature to make up for the remorse of the near crash that she had caused.
A fond smile came from her father that could not be hidden in the same way that the similarly framed young man could conceal his.
Running a hand through his locks that were still the same shade as one of the lavender fields of their home planet, he nodded. He took a step forward and Jin could still feel the squeeze of his shoulder through his armor.
"Of course. It is our honor to employee someone of your creed and to have our miracle in your care." He informed him and his eyes took in the way that Jin's eyes finally dropped down to the little creature hugging onto him. He uttered words for them both to hear though they were quickly unable to hear a thing. "Thank you, Jin."
The child's father might as well have faded away to being invisible even though he was standing right there. Jin finally put more effort into holding the child and instead of clasping her closer to his hip as before; he lifted her up and held her in front of his helmet. Although they actually didn't utter the words of a goodbye when they had been given the opportunity to, they most definitely did it in their own way.
Jin didn't want to say the words of a goodbye because he didn't want it to be that, though he had been practically promised that he would see her again. And the child didn't want to say the words because she still couldn't say any words, let alone those ones!
Nevertheless, a goodbye happened between them. A moment happened between them.
As soon as she was lifted closer to his helmet, the child's small hands lifted up and cupped on either side of the metal enveloping his features. She was close enough to see right inside it. She hadn't even tried. For once it hadn't been an attempt to be sneaky and see something that he tried to conceal.
In truth, as her hands reached up and she could feel her palm pressing against the metal of the armor that he swore to always wear, her eyes were squeezed shut. As she saw, she saw with her heart. She knew he had a kind face because of the way that he treated her. She knew that he had a youthful face because of the mischief that he actually did get into as much as she did. She knew that he had a face to remember. He had a face that she would always remember. Especially after she saw his bare face for real.
In the meantime, her hands moved and cupped and traced along every hollow of his jaw and the soft dip of his dimple and as her arms stretched around to hug the back of his helmet, she could imagine burying them in his long silky locks as well.
Her father spoke words as he watched that could have broken them away from each other. But it did not part them just yet.
"Thank you, Justin." He said these exact words. And then they changed. Something did start to break. Something did start to break indeed. "Justin? Justin? Hey, Justin. Can you stop that for a second?"
What was going on? Why was he calling him that and why was he telling him to stop? Had he gone too far with the goodbye? Granted there was a promise of more moments to come but he couldn't exactly be sure in the world that they lived in. Had it been too much? What was the problem?
Everything came crashing down. The moment. The scenery surrounded him disappeared into thin air without a trace. He was bought back to reality. Horribly, he was bought back to reality. But thankfully for him, the reality in which he was bought back to was not horrible. His game time with his sister had just been prompted to come to an end.
I smirked as I joined Justin and Jorgie's father in the living room and could see the veil of make believe being pulled away from him like a curtain ripping off its rod and sending the pole skewing sideways.
James looked down at his twenty one year old son who was holding his two year old sister in front of his face and although he found it an adorable and amusing sight to behold, he leaned down and flicked his finger against the cool metal that he was wearing on his head.
"I've been looking for that everywhere. Do you think I can have it now? You can have it back after dinner." He told him. Then he drew backwards, standing up to his full height and managing not to share a look with me who was biting on the inside of my cheeks.
Justin sighed a very loud sigh. He had to put his little sister down on the floor in order to do as his father asked and for once, she didn't complain about this at all. Somehow, she suddenly saw things how we were seeing them and from behind her thumb between her lips, she let out a hearty giggle.
Her bottom flopped down on the floor luckily before her eldest brother's exhale could knock her over.
"Fine." Justin responded, taking the saucepan off his head and handing it over to their father. Just like he had got into their game wholeheartedly, he had a bit of an expression on his face like a little kid who was being made to clear up their games before dinner. His arms folded over his narrow chest that was actually covered in tin foil and a butterfly badge. "But you told me to keep her occupied."
James and I finally shared that look. I stopped focusing so hard on biting the inside of my cheeks and allowed my true expression to formulate, the corners of my eyes creasing and my mouth widening. He looked away before I did and holding the saucepan which had been a sci-fi character's helmet in his son's games, with the other arm he picked up Jorgie who had pulled her hand out from in between her lips to reach both out to her father.
"And you did a brilliant job." He responded to his son promptly. Even Justin couldn't stop a fraction of a smirk quirking up his mouth and causing his dimple to appear for all to see rather than hiding behind the saucepan. James continued, the orange haired young girl still on his hip and clinging to him then just as much as she had previously been doing to her brother. "Why don't you come and help us cook dinner? You can have fun with that too."
Justin didn't take a moment to consider this. In fact Justin didn't even consider this at all! All of his energy was instead taken up but scooting his bottom along the carpet and towards a plain but sizeable cardboard box that had been a very big part of their game.
Before anyone could really suspect what was to come next, I already had it figured out. Apparently James didn't realize just how closely the apple fell from the tree when it came to his son.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be there in a minute." Came an offering with a haphazard wave of his hand. Then, going onto his knees as he prepared to mount into the cardboard box, Justin mocked pulling an invisible helmet over his face with a clicking noise of his tongue. He had to make do with imagination even more since his props had been taken away. "I've got one more solo mission to take on first!"
Then, with that, Justin lowered himself into the cardboard box which no doubt did he imagine to be the same space ship in which he had whizzed through the universe with the two year old child by his side. He pretended to climb in down the shoot and once he was seated, mocked pressing the buttons to begin lift off once more.
All James could do was resist pressing a palm to his forehead and then wave a haphazard hand of his own while Jorgie on his hip held the saucepan. Yes, he had asked him to keep his little sister occupied for just a little bit. That had not only turned into hours of her being occupied but him continuously having things to do!
And it didn't stop there, oh no. Years later, he got me to write up this tale as part of all the collective stories that I like to remember. I had a bit of a twinkle in my eye at the request at first. But as time went by and I understood why when he wanted to have a bit of fun from his youth to pass onto his own children and beyond. I supposed he wanted to highlight the importance of fun and games with your siblings, no matter how old they got or you were to begin with!
I was glad that Justin got to achieve his dreams. Whatever they were. He may not have actually become a voyager of space in real life but like his character that he would use to occupy his sister when they were younger, he too headed to where he wanted to be. And needed to be.
He kept his enthusiasm and imagination all the while. That was something that made his world go round. Whatever world he was participating in!
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) So yeah, in the end it was just regular universe Justin mucking around and entertaining Jorgie while their father cracks on! You can tell that he has thought a lot about the world and his characters though. The idea was that the Morgan family were on the "bad side" like the empire in Star Wars and when that era ended, they had to go into hiding and Justin went off to provide money to his family. But he ended up actually cutting ties with them. In the mean time, James fell in love with someone else and had two more children. Little Jorgie's AU character would certainly be an asset to all over the galaxies because of her heritage and hinted powers. Hence Justin having to retrieve her when she goes missing and accompanying her on many other missions. Justin's character didn't didn't realise it was going to be his father and his new partner when he first took on the mission but found out when he returned Jorgie to them. He ended up confessing to Lynne who he actually was. You can see the small detail here of Justin's butterfly pin and having someone to go home to and that is a nod to a Katie character! Also, he named himself Jin to parallel his nickname for his little brother as well as the 'J' and 'In' from Justin! And the Mandalorian's real name, Din Djarin. I really loved putting in details of what actually happens in the regular timeline, as well as things inspired by The Mandalorian. All around, I had fun with this chapter. It was different for me :) Thanks again and I will be back on the 28th with The Diary of Baby Rey so see you then!
Amy signing out :P