Adrenaline overcame maddening throbbing from the Mandalorian's wound. Dread for the safety of his son surpassed the agony that physical hurt could inflict. Din took a step forward. The pain resurged for a moment, only to be repressed by anger and self-hatred that he'd put Grogu in harm's way.

Din's limp returned as he trudged forward. He grasped the rusted handrail running the length of the corridor, pulling himself closer to the gaping cell door. Pressure in his chest competed with space for his breath. His vision blurred and darkened and his breathing became more labored as he advanced down the hallway.

Halfway there, his grip on the rusty rail slackened. His knees buckled. Everything went black.

Harsh, abrasive friction in the center of Din's chest alarmed him.

"Din, can you hear me?" A firm but gentle voice inquired too loudly. A warm, womanly hand slipped into his.

"If you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

Din remembered: Akili. He followed the command. The squeeze was embarrassingly weak. Hard, cold tile floor pressed against his back. Why was Akili holding his hand? Why couldn't he move? Had the escapee beaten him in a brawl and harmed Grogu?

Akili's wrist comm beeped as she entered a command. Metal clanked as another cell unlocked.

"Hani, I need your help." Akili yelled.

Hurried footsteps drew near. Din struggled to force his eyes open. Through blurred vision and his black visor, he saw the outline of two female figures bending over him.

"A Mandalorian!" An unfamiliar female voice exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Akili hushed her helper. "He fainted. Get the hover chair. Help me get him back to bed."

The hover chair hummed as it drew near. Two sets of female hands grasped Din beneath his arms and hefted him into the chair.

"So the rumors are true?" Hani observed.

"Yes." Akili confessed in a hushed tone. "But keep it quiet. I don't want things getting out of hand."

Akili again clipped the breathing tube to the bottom of Din's helmet. The steady stream of vital oxygen revived him.

"I understand. Our secret." Hani replied. She yawned. "That drowser tab you gave me is starting to work. I'm going to bed." She left, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway. Seconds later, metal crashed again in the hallway, the same sound that had startled Din from sleep earlier. It had only been a cell door closing as Akili administered medications.

"I told you to rest." Akili scolded Din. "You know you can't stand on that leg right now. Does anything hurt?"

"M'fine." The Mandalorian mumbled. A flush of embarrassment warmed his cheeks as he secretly chided himself for his miscalculation.

"You know, I should restrain you like you were when you first woke up." Akili brandished the leather cuffs that she'd since removed from Din's bed.

"I was trying to help." Din justified. "I needed to make sure Grogu was alright."

"Grogu?"

"That's his name. My foundling." A tone of sadness carried from beneath the Mandalorian's helmet.

Akili cast the restraints aside. "I can tell you're worried about him." She said. "I'll take you to him one more time if you'll rest afterwards."

Relief sagged through the Mandalorian's muscular shoulders. "I'd appreciate it."


Din watched Akili again bend over Grogu's crib, examining him.

"Grogu." She said "can you wake up for me?" She slipped her finger into the baby's green claw. She massaged his hand, trying to encourage a meaningful response. "Your dad's here." She told the baby. "I'll take you to him."

Akili crossed the room from Grogu's crib to Din's hover chair. She laid the comatose child in his arms. "Maybe he'll wake up for you."

"Hey buddy." Din began, trying to hide the heartbreak in his voice. "Can you wake up for me?" Din held the foundling's claw in the palm of his hand. "Can you let me know you're okay?"

Grogu lay unmoving in Din's arms.

Akili's hands went to her hips. Her forehead wrinkled as she furrowed her brow in thought.

"What's wrong?" Din asked.

"He should be showing some signs of consciousness." Akili mused aloud. "His species is rare. Maybe I'm missing something."

"I need my armor." Din demanded.

"You can't leave!" Akili pleaded "You're on oxygen, in a hover chair, and your foundling is very sick."

"Bring me my armor." Din insisted. "I have an idea."

Baffled, the medic left and returned with the beskar plates and Din's tattered flight suit.

"Beneath the bandolier, there's a pocket. Inside it is a ball. Give it to me." Din directed.

Akili retrieved the ball and handed it to Din. She watched with interest as the Mandalorian held out the ball in the palm of his hand.

"Grogu." Din said. "I have your ball. You can take it." Din looked from his foundling to the only remnant of the Razor Crest that still existed.

Din and Akili both watched the ball. It didn't move.

"Come on buddy, you can have it."

Still nothing.

"Just move it a little." Din's voice wavered with sorrow.

"What exactly is going on here?" Akili asked.

"He has powers." Din explained.

"The Force?"

"Yes."

"Doesn't seem like he can use it right now." Akili observed. "We should let him rest."

As Akili reached for Grogu, the baby's fingers twitched.

"He moved!" Din exclaimed. "It's working!"

"Try to get him to do it again." Akili urged.

"Grogu, if you can hear me, let me know." Din held out the ball again. He watched the ball and watched his baby for any signs of consciousness. Minutes ticked by. "Grogu, please," Din pleaded. "Move anything, make a sound, let me know you're okay." Desperation was evident in his plea.

Akili sighed. "Sometimes after a brain injury, movements can be just reflexes. It might mean something, it might not. I'll take him for a scan later to find out more. Right now you both need rest."


As Akili flicked off the lights in Din's room, Din sat back up with a pained grunt.

"There's no way I can sleep. Grogu…" Din's voice trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to speak the fears that tormented him.

"This is hard. I know." Akili acknowledged, "You want to be there with him, but right now you both need rest. You want to protect him, but you need to get better so you can do that." Akili went to a cabinet of medications and returned to the Mandalorian with a syringe in hand. "This is a drowser shot. It'll make you go to sleep so you can get a good night's rest."

"I don't want any drugs." Din insisted.

"You tried to get up before I even left the room. It's this or the restraints."

Din recalled that when he had tried to fight earlier he had fainted. He realized that he had to be strong for Grogu and that he wouldn't be able to do that this injured and on no sleep. He relented some of the distrust that he held against Akili— so far she had proven herself genuine. Din sighed. "Fine, I'll take it."

"Good choice." Akili injected the sedative into Din's IV.


Akili's footsteps faded down the hallway as she left. An unnerving, giddy stupor swept over Din as the medicine took hold. Din blinked away drowsiness, trying to defy the sedative. Still an involuntarily, careless dizziness ushered him towards sleep. Din balled his hands into fists in a fit of terrified resistance, trying to free himself from the drug's effect, only to find his muscles weak and slow.

The drug pulled him under, but not all the way. He could still feel the crisp bed linens beneath him and hear the faraway clanking of cell doors echo down the maze of the hospital's hallways, but he could not move. He could not open his eyes. He could not speak.

Unintelligible voices— threatening voices—broke the asylum's nighttime quiet. They grew louder. Din tried to determine who it was and what they were saying but he could make no sense of it. He strained to be free of the drug that held him helpless, but though frustration and fear mounted, he could not fight back.

The voices went quiet, yielding to the foreboding nocturnal silence of Bedlam Institute. Distorted visions began to play before Din's eyes. He saw his family— his parents— sitting around the table of a holiday feast. He saw the day the droids came in. He saw the cellar doors rattle as his parents fell.

The vision changed to Mandalore's moon of Concordia, to the settlement where he swore the Mandalorian creed. Horror struck as flickering holoprojectors warned of the Imperial purge of Mandalore. Din could nearly feel the Armorer grab him by the shoulder and guide him onto a ship to flee.

Din's early days working for the Bounty Hunters' Guild flashed before him. The vision showed him Arvala-7. The Niktos. IG-11. Grogu.

Din's life flashed before his eyes. Was he dying? The haunting question renewed his resolve. He tried to thrash free of the spectral weight that had him pinned, but the visions went on and the voices returned.


Akili flinched at the violent slam of a cell door against its latches as she made her night rounds. The menacing silhouette of a patient loomed in the moonlight behind the bars of his cell.

"Where is he?" The disturbed Lasat growled as Akili passed.

"Go to bed, Dovon." Akili said, keeping her voice monotone, dismissing her fear that the high security wing had found out about Din.

"Where's the Mandalorian?" The disgraced hunter again asked, the bars of his cell creaking as he leaned heavily on them.

"Who said anything about a Mandalorian?" Akili scoffed. She hoped the anxiety in her laugh at the end had gone unnoticed.

"Rumors been swirling all day that you brought in a Mando last night. I know when he got here. I know what beskar sounds like."

Akili's mouth ran dry. "That's a silly idea. Go back to sleep."

"I used to hunt Mandos." Dovon drawled. "Empire even had me as a mercenary to round up stragglers after the Purge." He went on. "Been talkin' to my buddies. It'd be nice to get outta here and get our hands on that beskar while we're at it."

Electricity arced from the zaprod Akili wielded. "Back to bed, Dovon! Now!"

The Lasat receded into his cell as Akili turned to leave. "So the rumors are true." He muttered.


Akili ran her finger along Grogu's long, soft ear. "We've got to figure out why you aren't waking up." She laid the baby on the table of the scanning machine and hurried to the control room.

Akili studied the scanner's screens in consternation. Nothing appeared to be wrong with Grogu's brain.

She returned to the child and held him again. "Maybe you just need more time."

Akili paused after she placed Grogu back in the crib. Maybe it'll help if he's with Din. Akili took the crib to Din's room and parked it beside Din's bed. She checked on Grogu, then Din. Akili smiled, relieved. The Mandalorian and the child both seemed to be sleeping peacefully.