a/n – Omg, poor Din and Ter'a. They both feel so bad. Neither meant to hurt the other! This is Gideons fault -grrr-, but how will they repair their relationship?

This chapter is likely to be pretty long as I'm going to try and hit 3 plot points.

I'm also going to wrap this story up because I have new ideas brewing and got kind of writer's block on the ending for this one. So I'm going to wrap it as quickly as I can make a decent ending.

Chapter 21 – Despair and Loss

Din sat back in the captain's chair for a moment. His world seemed to crash down, and he was trying to figure out how to prop it back up until he could repair it… he wasn't sure if he could, but he was going to die trying if he had to.

Abruptly, he stood up, decision made to fix everything that Gideon had broken. He put Grogu in his pod and set out determined to find the people who could help him.

Knowing time was short before Gideon arrived, Din walked toward the settlement and saw Greef and Cara coming out to meet him. He looked around as they approached , but saw no trace of Ter'a. Trying hard not to let himself become overcome with despair, Din focused hard on his mission.

"Mando!"

Greef's jovial voice carried out across the lava flats to Din and Grogu squealed with excitement as he saw the old man and Ter'a.

As they got close enough, Cara said, "strange arrival…"

Din nodded. "Did you see a woman leaving the ship?" he asked as they stopped in front of each other.

"Sure," said Greef, "we saw the Crest the moment it entered atmo. Was she a bounty?"

"Saw her jump off the ramp before the ship even touched the ground," Cara said. She was quicker on the draw than Greef and seemed to sense Din's discontent. "Everything okay?"

Sighing, Din said, "Not really… and I'm afraid I brought problems to your doorstep."

"Let's take a walk," Cara said, directing Din into the settlement, and they walked off.

"So, tell us what's going on," said Greef, patting Din comfortingly on the shoulder.

"Well, first, Gideon's coming. He'll probably be here within a few hours."

"You led him back here?" Cara stopped and punched Din hard on the arm. "We just got this dump back on its feet you idiot!"

Feeling the despair growing, Din said, "Please Cara." He felt bad enough as it was.

The soldier's expression turned concerned, and she asked tentatively, "Is this about that woman?"

Greef however, was thinking more practically and said, "You two talk, I'm going to go prepare the town for battle and evacuate those who can't fight." With that, he gave Din a final fatherly pat and ran off to get the work started.

After he was gone, Din turned back to Ter'a and said, "Yeah… she and I are… were…," he rubbed his neck, unsure what to say.

Cara, like Din wasn't typically adept at expressing her emotions so she understood. Putting her hand on his shoulder she said, "don't worry, Din. She'll come around…"

Din shook his head. "I don't know what happened."

"Tell me," Cara said, and she turned to walk with Din.

As best he could, Din explained everything to her. If he wasn't concentrating so much on not falling into total despair, he might have felt embarrassed about his issues.

"So," Cara said, brow furrowed about ten minutes later, "Ter'a is a Force sensitive… a Grey Jedi. I've heard of those… they're powerful Jedi who can use the Dark side and the Light side."

Din interrupted her, "How do you know this?"

"Stories I've heard, reading I've done," she said with a wry smile.

Din nodded. He made a mental note to read more.

"Sounds to me like she lost her temper and went full Dark side," Cara said uncertainly. But Din knew she was right, he just had a feeling.

"Makes sense," he whispered, "I thought I saw her eyes flash red for a split second…"

"Oh," Cara said looking up, "but you said that when she finished yelling in your face, her eyes cleared?"

"Yeah…I can't really describe it. But then she just left for the hold and then she disappeared."

"Well," said Cara turning to face him. Din was surprised to see that she was smiling. "I'm willing to bet you that she's here watching… not too far away. And I really don't think she meant to hurt you. At least, the woman you know wasn't trying to. Just the Dark side."

"I hope so," Din looked bashfully at his hands, "Cara… I love her. She's… she's seen my face. She knows me… she… she's my world," his voice cracked slightly, and he looked away embarrassed.

Cara stopped abruptly and spun to face him, a look of anger on her face. "What!? You mean she-"

"No," Din stopped her. "It's not like that. I showed her. I asked her to look. I met these other Mandalorian's… they showed me things… I don't know," he shrugged hopelessly. The despair was closing in.

"And how do you feel?"

"When I put the helmet back on?"

She nodded.

He shook his head, "I felt… the same. It was like I hadn't even done it. I mean, I felt different, but… not in a bad way…"

"She must be special," Cara smiled.

"She is…" he looked off into the distance. "I'd do anything to fix this Cara... anything."

"Don't worry man, we'll get this done. Greef and I are here to help. Gideon will pay for all the damage he's done to everyone."

Din nodded. He opened his mouth to thank his friend when they both looked up as the sounds of TIE fighters and trooper drop ships entered Nevarro's airspace.

Din and Cara turned and ran. "We gotta hide Grogu," he yelled.

"Who?" she yelled back.

"The kid!"

"Ah!"

They ran into the town and prepared for the inevitable battle.

Din felt better after talking with Cara. He wouldn't call her optimistic… she was far more of a realist. And the fact that she seemed to think things between him and Ter'a could be fixed, staved of the despair that threatened to drown him.

Ter'a jumped off the Crest before it even touched the ground. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her to a place she could hide until Din was gone.

Crouching behind some boulders and climbing up the cliff to the elevated flats above. She moved away enough from the edge so that she could walk along without being seen. After a few minutes, she looked around her and collapsed hopelessly to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably for the first time since Maz finally convinced her about the truth of the Jedi's fate.

This was the first time that she let the Dark side consume her so completely in her whole life. It wasn't even that she 'let it' so much as it mercilessly took her over by force. It was terrifying to lose control like that. She thought back on their fight, to the time when she lost control and it was like she blacked out. She remembered it all, but she couldn't say how it happened. The best she could figure, she lost her temper to the point where she lost herself completely.

The point was… she said things that she couldn't take back. She didn't deserve him. He lost his temper with her too, but he didn't say anything that made her feel the hurt that she felt coming from him. The hurt she felt from him radiated in stomach churning waves. It was so strong that it nauseated her and she felt that it was her hurt. Perhaps it was. She didn't know.

She felt mortified at the awful things she said to Din. She didn't mean any of it. She loved him more than she thought was possible and she wanted to fix everything. She wanted him to hold her again. To kiss her. She felt nothing but despair and depression. She wasn't sure how long she sat there crying and feeling hopeless but suddenly she heard the whine of TIE fighters and the hum of troop drop ships.

She looked up and saw what she already heard. Once again, the Darkness surged, but this time she felt in control. She felt rage flood again. She rubbed the tears from her eyes, stood up, and stalked towards the town with all despair forgotten.

She was ready to kill Moff Gideon.

Din and Cara skidded to a stop outside the safe house and Din waited while Cara loaded up on weapons and ammo. A few moments later, Greef arrived.

"Everyone is in the bunker," he said. "They should be safe until this is over. The fighters have dispersed to find sniper perches and fight on the ground."

"When the fighting starts, keep an eye out for that woman, Greef," Cara said, passing the old man a rifle. "Not sure what she'll try to do, but it'll certainly benefit us."

Greef looked at Din knowingly and said, "After all this over, you two will be able to patch all this up."

Din, still morose replied, "I hope so." He sat at the window bench and turned to look out the transparisteel-less window and watched as a moving line on the horizon slowly morphed into a platoon of white armored stormtroopers with the black-clad Gideon in the center.

When they were close enough to count, Din turned and looked at Grogu, who looked back at him expectantly. He got up and picked up the child and smiled to himself as Grogu closed his hand around Din's finger. Din leaned close and said "we'll finish this, and then we'll find her… okay?"

Grogu merely looked up at him with the same trusting look he always had. After a moment, Din set him back in his pod and closed the top, securing the child from the impending battle.

Back in his spot by the window, Din looked from the Imp platoon to the surrounding areas. He knew that once Ter'a calmed down she'd come to fight. There was no way she'd just run and leave him and kid and get herself off world. Even if she didn't love him anymore, she was a good person, and she still loved the kid. Din looked to Cara and Greef and the other fighters that lined the walls and rooftops. They all looked expectant, and Din was grateful. Cara, Greef, and the others were willing to fight on his behalf once again.

A voice sounded.

"Din Djarin."

Din frowned at the sound of Gideon's voice.

"I know you have come here to fight. I've told you that such loss is unnecessary. Give me the woman and I'll leave you and the child. You'll never see me again. I know that bond you share with him. Just bring her out to me and my men and I will depart."

Following Din's lead, everyone remained silent. After a few moments, Gideon spoke again.

"Very well, Din. If you are unwilling to give me the child or the woman, let us discuss your terms of surrender."

Din had no intention of surrendering. He leaned up and called out, "You'll have to kill me!"

Gideon's fake look of disappointment amused Din, since he knew that Gideon had intended to fight all along. Even if he had given Gideon Grogu or Ter'a, Gideon would fight to kill them all.

Without warning, Din began firing into the platoon of Stormtroopers and the battle began. The Imps scattered and began taking fire from the fighters hidden around the town. Cara Dune stood and fired her cannon and Greef Carga fired missiles at the scattering troopers. The battle had begun.

From the ridge, Ter'a saw and heard the whole thing. She had approached the town with her lightsaber hilt in hand, ready to leap onto Gideon, but she heard him call out to Din and true to form, Din returned nothing but silence and gunfire to the Moff. Ter'a was still determined to kill Gideon and make things right with Din, if he would hear it. Once the gunfire began, she began to look for ways to contribute to the cause.

She leapt from stone to stone to stone, descending onto the battle scene. Once the Stormtroopers detected her, she'd have to ignite her saber and she'd start drawing fire. Good.

When Ter'a was about 50 meters up, the first troopers noticed her and began to fire up at her. She ignited her saber and channeled the Force, using it to assist her to leap further and further down.

When she hit the ground she heard Gideon cry out, "Do not kill the Jedi! Wound her, incapacitate her, but do not kill her!"

She ran into battle.

Din's concentration broke as he heard Gideon yell at the Troopers not to kill "the Jedi" and he knew Ter'a had joined the battle. For a time, he looked for her when he had a break in the fighting, but for a long time, he didn't see her.

As he turned the corner coming out of the safe house onto the main street after killing three Troopers, he finally saw her. Her lightsaber was moving so quickly, deflecting blast fire that she appeared to be surrounded in a sharp blue aura. Behind him, Cara said, "Holy shit."

Panic struck Din and he saw a TIE fighter coming in hot from the plains in the distance, lasers firing in Ter'a's direction, but she used the Force to leap up, higher than he thought possible, up and over the fighter in a perfectly timed parabolic jump. Landing smoothly, she crouched low as the TIE came in for another pass. Once again leaping perfectly, she landed on the top and stabbed her saber into the hatch.

Din tore his eyes from her to draw fire from the Troopers she'd been battling and as the last fell, the TIE crashed and exploded as Ter'a landed back on the ground like a scythe cat.

In the ensuing pause, Din looked to his left to see Gideon come out from behind the ruined wreckage of a land speeder and leveled his blaster at Ter'a, who, as Din looked to his right, saw her jump and dodge, but she was stuck out in the open, with no close cover. Neither Ter'a nor Gideon had seen him in his hiding place, so while the battle resumed he snuck from his corner to the left, closer to Gideon to help Ter'a.

As Din approached, a Flame Trooper saw him and began to shoot his flames at Din. Din narrowly escaped the fire and was able to shoot the Trooper, but he'd been made. Gideon turned his blaster on Din. Several bolts ricocheted of Din's beskar but one hit it's mark on his side. The bolt didn't go into his gut, but it wasn't a glancing blow either.

Gasping in pain, Din dropped his pistol as he fell and grabbed his side. When he hit the ground, he rolled onto his back and waiting for the death blow. He wasn't in any cover and after a moment, Gideon approached, kicking Din's pistol away. Din turned his head, trying to get his breathing under control because it hurt too bad to breathe hard, as saw Gideon smiling at him with the Darksaber in hand.

Din watched as Gideon approached. He was in too much pain to move, every movement felt like fire. Gideon stood over him said gleefully, "I told you to surrender to me. Now you'll die for no reason."

Din shook his head slightly. "We both know you had no intention of leaving me alone regardless of whether or not I gave you what you wanted."

"Now, that's not fair. You didn't think I'd keep my word?"

Gideon gestured to Din's other side and a trooper came up in Din's field of view.

Looking back at Din he said, "You're right by the way." Speaking to the trooper without looking up, Gideon said, "Remove his helmet. I want to humiliate him before I kill him."

As Din, powerless to stop what was coming, prepared for the worst, the sound of lightsaber came into his ears and Ter'a leap over him and as he looked to his right, he saw Ter'a and Gideon lock blades. The trooper standing over him stepped around him and ran to follow the fight.

Din watched, wincing in pain. After a moment Cara came from behind him, picked up his pistol and thrust it into his hand as she pulled him to his feet.

"Come on big guy," she said, grunting under his weight as he struggled to stand. He craned his head to try and see Ter'a fighting Gideon but Cara led him away back to the safehouse.

"I want to see her," he said feebly.

"You need medical attention, she'll be fine."

"Please…" Din whispered.

"She'll be fine," Cara started to repeat, but a yell behind caused the pair to turn abruptly, causing stars to erupt in Din's eyes from the pain. When the stars had cleared, what Din saw scared him.

Ter'a had been hit from multiple directions with stun rays by the troopers that had encircled her and Gideon. It seemed that the combined effects of multiple of rays were too much for her and she fell heavily to her knees and her saber fell from her loose grip and shut off as it clattered to the dust. After a moment, she fell forward with a blank look and landed on the ground and was still. The troopers swarmed her and began to haul her away as Gideon stooped to pick up her saber.

"No!" Din yelled, but it caused him tremendous, mind searing pain and he doubled over. Cara, swearing heavily turned and hauled him into the safehouse.

Gideon yelled towards them, "Thank you Din! I know that you'll probably die from those wounds, so I'll just say that we'll be off now that I have the girl! She'll advance my research tenfold! Enjoy the child!"

Din collapsed and knew no more.