AN: Surprise! This one was already half done so I decided to finish it quick. I'll be going on a trip for a week, so I won't be able to post for a while.

AN 2: I made Boba one of the Alphas. He deserves some awesome brothers.

"Buir!"

Din had only one thought in mind as a tiny figure zipped into the room on little legs, shouting for their parent.

'My ori'vod is a kih'vod now.' He had to hold back a laugh that might have bordered on hysterical if he hadn't swallowed it down with a vengeance. The child, who was certainly Boba, ran into Jango's arms and snuggled into his father's embrace.

The bright smile and brown curls were almost too much for Din. He was absolutely adorable… which just made the extensive scarring he'd seen on his ori'vod's body all the more jarring. It was a testament to the strength and conviction that this small child would one day grow to have.

"Bob'ika, I thought you were with your ori'vode?" Din's eyebrow rose slightly before he frowned in confusion. During all the times Boba had spoken about his past he had never mentioned the fact that he had elder siblings. "Why are you here? You know I'm bust working." The man chided the boy in his arms gently.

"A Kaminii came and took them away." Boba said hoestly. "22 told me to find you, and I did!" He looked so proud of himself that it almost made Din want to coo aloud. But this Boba was not his Boba. He couldn't just start treating the boy as if they knew each other.

"…is this your ad?" He asked once the immediate shock had worn off.

Jango turned to look at him when he spoke and although his expression didn't change the man's eyes were soft. "Say hello and introduce yourself, Bob'ika." As he spoke the man ran his hand through his son's curls and Din felt a flicker of warmth in his chest at the gesture.

It was obvious just how much Boba's buir loved him. It made his knowledge of the future all the heavier.

"Hi! I'm Boba Fett, and this is my buir! He's the best!" Jango kissed the top of his head as Boba's smile brightened.

That hysterical laugh tried to force its way out of his throat again but he shoved it down with prejudice.

Now was not the time to fall apart.

Instead he focused on the child in front of him. "Hello, Boba, I'm… Adatoya. And I agree, your buir is pretty great." He couldn't keep the warmth out of his voice, even if he wanted to. This small version of Boba was just so vibrant and full of life. Unlike his future self this innocent child had never suffered loss.

'And he never will.' Din vowed to himself. 'Not if I can help it.'

"What's that?" His now kih'vod asked, pointing at the table.

Din's eyes fell on the Dha'kad'au and he wanted to groan. "It's a laser sword." He answered honestly.

"Really!? Can I see!?" There was a bright look of curiosity in the boy's eyes as he tried to wriggle out of his buir's hold. A pleading look entered the kid's eyes as he gazed up at Din, bottom lip pushed forward to make himself look extra pitiful in his begging.

Dank ferrik. There was no way in hell he was able to say no to that face.

"Sure."

Jango's head snapped over to him, a complicated expression on his face. Din knew, vaguely, that Jango had a problem with the Jetiise so he was probably wary of one of their weapons. But it was a piece of history for their culture and Boba had a right to see it.

Grabbing the hilt he backed up into the open space of the room, making sure he was far enough away that any accidents would only harm himself. Pressing the switch he felt the familiar hum of the blade in his hands.

Early on he'd taken the weapon to Luke, so he could learn how to wield it properly, and had been surprised to find that it was considered very weird for a laser sword. First of all, it was a primarily two handed weapon. Most lightsaber forms seemed to be designed for one handed weapons. The second was that it was designed to mimic a beskad.

Once he'd realized that it was just a very oddly weighted beskad Din had been quick to pick up the forms Luke shared with him.

The crackle of the blade as he swung it had an oddly calming effect on his nerves. It was as if the blade itself was happy to be in his hands. Luke had told him once that the crystal inside the blade was alive, kind of, and it was happy to be with him. Which was why he found it so easy to wield. Apparently if someone was unworthy they had a real fight on their hands just trying to keep hold of the damned thing.

Din shifted his focus from the blade to Boba and smiled at the excited and awed look on his face.

Then he looked at Jango.

Shit. Din had seen that look before. On verde who had been on Manda'yaim during the Empire's invasion.

Boba seemed to notice something as he turned to look up at his buir, brows drawn together in a concerned frown. "Buir? Are you okay?"

It took him a moment but Boba's voice seemed to snap him out of whatever memories or sensation he had been stuck in.

Thank the Ka'ra for that.

"I'm okay, ad'ika." He said quietly, though there was clear strain around the edges of his eyes and stiffness in his shoulders.

Shutting off the Dha'kad'au he clipped it back to his belt. Jango's eyes were on him and he could see the dark shadow of doubt and shame that came over the man.

That was something he'd have to rectify, and quickly.

"Kal. Will you take Bob'ika home? I'll finish up here then see where the Kaminii took my ade." Jango turned to the verd.

The verd hesitated a moment before stepping closer and holding out his arms for the boy. "Come on squirt, we can have some spiced hot chocolate and you can tell me what you learned from your ori'vode today."

Din's heart clenched tightly in his chest. He didn't want to let Boba out of his sight.

Boba pouted and it was like an angry tooka. Din tried to hold back a chuckle but still ended up snorting in amusement.

Jango sighed. "None of that, Bob'ika. Be good for your ba'vodu." He said firmly.

Boba crossed his arms and it did not help his appearance as a tiny angry kitten. "Okaaay." He scoffed.

It was far and away from what he would sound like as a man and the disparity almost made Din crack. As it was he was glad for his buy'ce since no one could see just how wide his amused grin was.

As Skirata left with Boba, Din quickly sobered. From where he was standing he could see the glistening sweat on the back of Jango's neck. He felt a twinge of guilt and regret.

There was only one way for a proper mando'ad to apologize for causing such hurt to another.

Din went down on one knee, one hand over his heart. Looking up at Jango, who had turned at the sound of his armor hitting the floor, Din took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"What the fuck for?" Jango said in a confused rush, brows furrowed in a way that reminded him of Boba whenever Din did something his ori'vod thought was foolish.

"I hurt you." He stated simply, guilt gnawing at his insides. "In front of your ad…"

"You didn't-" Jango tried to say.

"I did." Din said firmly. "I saw how you were shaking. I-" A lump formed in the back of his throat and he forced himself to clear it. His gaze fell to the floor, not quite able to look at Boba's buir as he spoke. "I-I know." He admitted. "Whenever I see droids…" Even now, even after IG-11, there were still some droids that just caused him to overflow with anger, hatred, and fear. B1 Battle Droids, B2 series Super Battle Droids…

He shook his head to clear it and looked back up at Jango. "I'm sorry."

The man swallowed hard, his eyes burning with emotion. Din didn't look away, even though he knew the man could not actually see his eyes.

"I accept your apology." The words were rough, loud in the silence, but sincere. Jango truly forgave him.

Din nodded, finally relaxing as he stood.

As the two of them stood there, staring at one another, he felt the silence creeping in like a fog. His face began to burn in embarrassment as he realized he had no idea what to say. He wasn't the best conversationalist on a good day and now…

"Would you like to stay here until we can find out what the fuck happened to send you here?" Jango blurted, breaking the tension in the room Din hadn't even realized was there. "Since you killed Priest we're going to need someone to look after the ade he was training."

The idea of training children, training clones, had him balking slightly. Not that he was against the clones themselves, but the fact of the matter was that the Clone Wars were coming.

Could Din train these children for an upcoming war with the knowledge of what would happen to them in the future? "…what would happen to the ade if I say no?" He couldn't help but to ask.

A dark look crossed Jango's face and his jaw clenched. "The Kaminiise will kill them if they fall behind." He growled.

Din's eyes went wide before they narrowed to angry slits.

How dare they!

"And you would let it happen?" He asked, feeling the cold calculating mindset that settled over him like the calm before the storm.

"There's only seventy-five Mando'ade here, with twenty-five aruetiise who are also training the ade. Seventy-five of us against an entire city's worth of scientists who could kill every ad here with the press of a button!" Jango spat angrily, body tense as if he wanted to rip something apart. "…we're working on it." He said quietly, forcing himself to calm. "But the ade come first. Once they're trained enough we'll be able to overpower the aruetiise." Jango looked up at him once more. "Are you in?"

Din took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he thought over the proposal.

If he hadn't been sent to Kamino, if he hadn't killed the demagolka, then the children wouldn't be in this predicament. It was a situation of his own making. Which meant he had a duty to the children he had saved.

"I'm in. I won't let them get away with hurting ade." He would rather die than stand by and let children be hurt… like he'd almost done with Grogu. "Just tell me what to do."

Jango's grin was a feral thing that sent a jolt of excitement through Din.

This was a man who was once known as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy until his son took up the mantle. A former Mand'alor, and son of a Mand'alor, if he'd read between the lines correctly when speaking with both Boba and Bo-Katan.

"Alright then. Why don't you come with me and I'll have a place set up for you. I need to inform the Kaminiise that you're replacing Priest and come up with a bullshit excuse why you killed that cowardly bastard."

"You needed a reason?" Din asked as he he stepped closer.

Jango snorted humorlessly. "The Kaminiise needed a reason. They don't consider the echoes to be ade. Just property." Jango hissed between his teeth.

It took Din a moment to understand what Jango meant by 'echoes' but considering there wasn't a word for clone in mando'a it made sense.

"…this is going to be difficult." He admitted to Jango quietly.

The man glanced at him as he opened the door and lead him out into the hall. "Yeah, it's been… rough."

Din fell silent as they walked, listening to Jango as he pointed out different sections of the city as they passed each corridor. He seemed to notice how overwhelming it all was as he chuckled and gave Din a reassuring smile. "I'll get you a map. Manda knows we all needed it when we first arrived."

As they turned the corner Din stiffened at the sight of a tall, pale, sentient. They wore strange white and pale blue garments with a simple chain around their head, the tail hanging down like some kind of decoration.

"Jango, we have been looking for you." They said in Basic. "There has been an incident-" Before they could continue Jango held up a hand to stall them.

"If you're referring to what happened with Priest then I already know. It was sanctioned, by me." He lied easily.

"I see." Their unnerving eyes turned toward Din and he felt a shiver down his back. "And who is this?"

"Adatoya, a new hire. Priest's numbers were terrible. He was wasting good product for petty reasons and slacking off. I found someone more skilled to take over his group." Jango's expression barely wavered as he spoke but Din could see the tightening around his eyes and how his back stiffened with subdued anger.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Adatoya. Will you be needing any specific accommodations for your species? A particular atmosphere perhaps?" Din blinked in surprise. It was a surprisingly polite question.

"I'm… human, so a regular atmosphere is fine. But my… religion forbids me from showing my face If someone comes in and sees me… I am within my full rights to terminate them." It wasn't even a threat, just the truth. While he had eventually felt safe taking his helmet off around Boba and Grogu, who he had claimed as Aliit, he still refused to take it off anywhere else. He still followed the Creed. "And no droids. I'll shoot them on sight."

Next to him Jango wasn't even trying to hide his glee as the sentient blinked slowly at the two of them.

"We will do our best to accommodate you. Is there anything else? Any dietary restrictions?"

Din shook his head. He could eat practically anything as long as it was edible for humans and near-humans.

"See if you can set them up near me. I have a feeling we'll be working closely for the near future as they-" Jango started to say.

"He." Din corrected quietly. Jango glanced at him in surprise but accepted it without question.

"I have a feeling we'll be working closely with one another until he gets the hang of things around here."

The sentient nodded their head cordially. "I shall send someone immediately."

"Lari Ko." Jango said before the sentient could turn to leave. "Where are the Alphas currently? Boba said they had been taken somewhere and my son was sent, alone, to come find me." There was tension in his voice now.

They, Lari Ko he supposed, stopped and stared down at Jango quietly for a moment. "I have heard nothing about this. Is young Boba alright?" There almost seemed to be a hint of concern in their voice.

"Boba's fine. A little upset, but perfectly healthy. I'm more concerned that someone took the Alphas without consulting me. I'm in charge of their training, I'm supposed to be notified if I have to modify their program around any new tests." He growled.

"Allow me to look into it." Pulling out a small datapad they stood silently, slender fingers moving gracefully over the screen. "Oh, it seems that Nala Se ordered a couple of blood tests and skin samples. They will be released soon." This did not please Jango, whose eyes darkened with rage.

"When will they be finished?"

"In approximately half an hour. There are no additional tests that have been ordered as of yet." Jango relaxed slightly.

"Thank you." With a polite incline of the head the sentient finally turned and almost seemed to glide away.

Whatever they were they were very graceful, in an almost unsettling kind of way. Din felt cold dread just looking at them.

"That's a Kaminii." Jango said, as if answering his internal question. "Cold bastards. They have a strict biological hierarchy, anything outside the norm or the approved form gets destroyed… including their own ade."

Din felt sick at the very idea.

"So…" Jango said, looking him up and down for a moment. "He?" He said in Basic.

Ah. "Male, masculine, he, him, his." He stated simply.

"Thanks for telling me. It'll make things less complicated when I talk to the aruetiise." Jango clapped him on the shoulder and motioned that they should continue on.

The tour continued, although now it wasn't as frantic since Jango had learned of the whereabouts of his ade. Which, now that he thought about it, made Din curious.

"How many ade do you have?" He asked when Jango had gone silent for longer than a minute.

The man grinned. "One hundred and one, so far." There was pride in his voice as he spoke. "The Alphas are Boba's brothers, he was born the same time they were. Although he ages like a normal ad while his brothers age at a little more than twice the rate." There was a pained look on the man's face for a moment before he continued. "A lot of them still don't have names yet. The Kaminiise give them numbers, like fucking droids." He snarled. "But I've been encouraging them to find their own names. Give them something they can choose for themselves."

Din smiled, though he knew Jango couldn't see it.

"What about the ade I rescued?"

Jango was quiet for a moment, brows furrowed. "That was… the Commander Class. They won't be in your care but you'll be taking over their hand to hand classes from now on." They came upon a door and Jango stopped. "Good timing." He muttered with a small grin as he reached for the panel beside the door. "These are the ade who will be in your care."

Din's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't been expecting to meet the children this soon.

"Foxtrot Company! Fall in!" The man called over the din as he strode into the room. There was a scramble as identical children in blue tunics hurried to stand in neat rows of four. They stood tall and proud, eyes forward, like little soldiers.

If they had been wearing helmets Din would have sworn he saw himself and Paz in those neat lines, waiting on the training Alor to begin their lesson.

"I don't know if you've heard the news yet, but Sergeant Priest is dead." Jango said with little fanfare. Stepping out of the way he motioned for Din to come forward.

Din wanted to sigh aloud. He didn't particularly like being in the spotlight. But he had already agreed to this, if not as soon.

The moment he entered the room he could feel the stares of the children, both curious and wary.

"This is Adatoya, from today onward he will be your new training sergeant. You will obey him as you obeyed your last sergeant; is that understood cadets?" Jango planted his feet as his gaze swept over the children. Yet there was something troubled about his expression.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" The response was so perfectly synchronized that Din could have sworn it was said in one, albeit very loud, voice.

"Good. You will have a study day today and tomorrow. Dismissed!"

As the children slowly began wandering back to what they were doing before Jango entered Din could see them giving him wary glances whenever they thought he wasn't looking. They tried to look unaffected by the news but there was a tension in the room now.

"They're not going to trust you right away." Jango said quietly beside him, his own expression concerned. "Not after Priest."

Din grunted in agreement before looking down at Jango. This close and without being distracted he was surprised to find that Jango was even shorter than Boba would eventually be. Was that because of a better diet or because of something the Kaminoans had done?

Better not to ask.

"After what you just pulled you better be helping me plan this new training regiment." Din finally said after a moment of silence.

Jango barked out a surprised laugh and clapped a hand against his pauldron. "Why do you think I asked for your room to be near min?" He asked with a grin. "This way we can get together with Kal and Cort to help get everything settled."

There was a small ping and Jango looked down at his bracer. "Huh. We could start now, if you want. Or you can settle into your new room." He said holding up his arm so Din could read the message.

"I wouldn't mind seeing my new room, but I'm not tired." He said honestly. Din looked up when he heard a shout and smiled as an impromptu sparring match started between two of the children. Others started to join in, cheering them on. "That demagolka earlier wasn't even a workout."

Jango made a choking sound but when Din turned to look back at him the man just waved him off. "It's nothing. Come on, let's leave the ade to play by themselves."

As they left Din turned and stared at the door behind them. In two days time he would be the guardian of all those children. From this moment onward they were his to look after and train.

His fist clenched at his side and he swore to the Ka'ra that he would do all he could to ensure every one of them was prepared. Din was no great hero, he knew next to nothing about how the Clone Wars started, and he was only one man. There was no way he could stop the coming tide.

But if even one of those children survived because of his training then it would be worth it. At the very least Din swore he would save Boba's father from his fate. Boba deserved to grow up with a parent that loved him.

Jango called for him and he turned away from the door.

'One step at a time, Djarin. One step at a time.'