AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I am rewriting the last few chapters. Sorry to confuse or annoy anyone. Explicit stuff will be kept to a minimum.
Zo woke to the sound of Mando's heavy boots on the floor outside the bunk. She sat up and watched him as he tucked away blasters and double-checked supplies. "Are you at least going to tell him goodbye this time?" She asked as he slung his gear pack over his shoulders.
"No. He wouldn't understand anyway." Mando replied.
"He understands more than you think." She said, running her thumb over the sleeping baby's forehead.
Sensing his stubborn resolve, she decided not to waste her breath trying to persuade him to stay. "May the Force be with you, Mando." She said quietly. The cold knot of trepidation lodged in her throat slowly slithered into her stomach.
"And you as well, Zo Mara."
"It always is." She crossed her arms over her chest and shivered. "You'll be back in two days?"
He shrugged as the ramp lowered, "Give or take."
"Give or take," Zo nodded, rubbing her hand along the dull throb at the base of her skull. "Take the com, please?"
"No. I can't be distracted." He replied, not looking at her. "Keep your weapons close and the child closer. Watch out for garu-bears."
"I thought you said there were no garu-bears in this part of the forest," Zo said, hugging herself against the chill in the early morning air.
"Garu-bears tend to do what they want. The laser cannons will scare them off if they get too close." They shared a final farewell and Zo watched until he disappeared into the trees.
The kid woke up grumpy. Once again unhappy that his shiny guardian was nowhere to be found. His mood lightened, however, when Zo led them outside and let him play in the mud banks of the creek while she prepared his breakfast. After he ate, they explored the forested clearing Mando left them in. The throbbing in her head eased up as they moved away from the ship and into the cool, lush forest.
She sensed nothing sentient among the ancient pines—only the warm swirling Force presence of animals and insects living their simple, peaceful lives. The animals here were more curious than frightened of the interlopers. Lizards and birds followed them at a safe distance. A family of Vrill-rabbits hopped into their path, their long purple whiskers trembling with interest at the odd pair. Cricket looked up at her and cooed, his ears twitched, and the rabbits mimicked the movement.
Zo knelt slowly, trying not to frighten the rabbits. She didn't have Jacen's gift to connect with them and hoped they could sense her peaceful intentions. "Can you connect with them, young one?" Zo whispered as the vrill-rabbits slowly came forward, their four floppy ears bouncing with each small hop. They sniffed Cricket's robes and Zo's outstretched hand. She felt a pang of guilt for eating the sweet, curious little animals. Mando probably didn't even have to hunt them; she imagined them hopping right into his unforgiving hands.
One of the smaller rabbits hopped right up to Cricket's face. Its long whiskers tickled the baby's nose, and he let out a huge sneeze. The rabbits reared up on their back feet and jumped up into the tree branches twenty feet overhead. They chittered and hissed angrily before scampering away through the thick branches. The baby's bottom lip quivered, and his eyes filled with tears.
"No need to cry, Padawan," Zo said, swinging him onto her hip. "They aren't gone. They just aren't sure if they can trust us…." The baby looked up at her and cooed again. "Yeah, reminds me of Mando too." She responded as they moved further into the forest.
They chose a quiet, cool glen to rest. They sat for a few minutes, listening to the birds sing, and the trees creak in the warm breeze. "Do you feel how the Force connects all the trees? They speak to each other through the root system all over the planet." Zo had him close his eyes and focus on the energy that bonded the trees. "Can you speak to them? Can you use the Force to call up a sapling?" She asked, placing her hand on the moist soil. Cricket followed her example. The baby dug his claws into the dirt, and she held her breath, hoping to see something green sprout between his fingers. Instead, he pulled a fat, wriggling nightcrawler out of the earth and brought it to his face. "No, no, no…." She sighed, prying the worm out of his hand. "Come on, let's head back. I'll get you some real food." She muttered, scooping him back into her arms.
They turned to leave the glen and head back to the ship when they sensed a presence, ancient and curious. Cricket wrapped his hand in her tunic, and she wrapped her hand around the butt of a blaster. "It's alright. It's friendly...I think." Zo whispered. The forest went quiet as if the trees themselves held their breath. Twigs cracked, leaves crunched, and a form slowly appeared in the darkness between the trees.
A giant elk strode towards them. The animal's green-brown pelt perfectly camouflaged it among the foliage. A blue feathered Morai owl nested in the elk's steepled moss-covered antlers. The dimming sun reflected off the elk's fur as it stepped gracefully forward on six long legs. He dug his front hooves into the soft earth and snorted. The Morai ruffled its feathers and walked along the antlers, never taking its wise, crystalline eyes off the pair. "Whooo?" the owl questioned with an avian tilt of its head.
Zo released the blaster and touched her chest. "We are Jedi. I am Zo, and this is Cricket." The baby waved one clawed hand. "We mean you and your home no harm."
The owl hopped to another antler, its head tilting and rotating on its neck as it moved. The elk blinked, and Zo heard its voice in her mind, sharp and loud like a snap of thunder, "Who?"
An image of a silver warrior flashed in her mind. "The man in the armor? He's our friend," Zo continued. "He is good. Please give him safe passage."
The Morai's head spun 180-degrees on its neck so that it looked out over the elk's back. The Elk dipped its head and snorted once more before the pair turned and retreated into the forest. "Do you think that's a yes?" Zo asked the baby.
"Agoo." The baby answered.
Zo booped Cricket's nose. "Yeah. I'll take that as a yes, too. Let's just hope Mando doesn't try to eat one of them for dinner."
After a supper of leftover roasted rabbit and foraged vegetable stew Zo and Cricket watched the sunset while they waited for the lightning bugs to wake up.
The baby fell asleep in her arms, worn out after hours chasing the luminescent bugs. He radiated warmth, comfort, and love, and she soaked it in. They stayed by the fire for a long time, Zo holding him close as she stared at the crackling flames, her mind reaching out as far as she could, trying to sense Mando. The pain in her head traveled to a knot of dread in her stomach as the hours passed. She decided the fear of what could happen made her imagination run wild. Opening herself up to caring about others was frightening and mentally exhausting. As long as the child was near, she would do everything in her power to keep him safe and give him love.
The Mandalorian was on his own, just as he wanted.
That night she dreamt of darkness.
Mando's dark form moved as silent as a shadow between the trees. The forest was pitch black except for the occasional glint of dim moonlight that broke through the thick canopy of trees and reflected off his platinum beskar. Din didn't mind the darkness. The night vision tech in his helmet was more than sufficient to track his prey.
The trail had taken him most of the day to find. But now, through a combination of his natural tracking abilities and the high-res night vision feed from his helmet, he quickly followed a trail of heavy footprints and broken branches. If the large splashes of blood and staggered footfalls were accurate, Jox was injured and slowing down.
He had perhaps another quarter mile before he overtook his quarry. He would have preferred the addition of his thermal scanners to confirm this. But Falleen were repto-mammalian, and Jox wouldn't leave any reliable heat signatures in the temperate forest. Din swallowed down his cautious optimism along with the feeling of excitement that came with the completion of another job. He wanted to get Jox into carbonite as quickly as possible. In all honesty, he'd rather shoot the sick son of a bantha, but Ranzar had given his stipulations.
A branch cracked, an owl hooted in the darkness, and something small and afraid scurried through the leaves overhead. Din paused, holding his breath, and adjusted his audio input as high as it would go. Something was moving towards him loud and fast, lumbering through the gloom without the heed of stealth.
A giant shadow burst through the trees snorting and shrieking. Din dove out of the way of a Loceras elk, its eyes wide and shining with terror. It reared up, kicking its front legs as another, larger form barreled out of the darkness in pursuit. A garu-bear, twelve feet tall and three times as wide as Din, crashed through the forest. It swung its massive claws through a tree unlucky enough to be rooted in its path. The bear's thick claws sliced through the ancient tree like it was a sapling bending in the wind. The elk shrieked again, swinging its antlers as the garu-bear bore down on it.
Trees trembled and fell as the two giant animals fought, one for survival, the other for dinner. Din found himself in the middle of stomping hooves and deadly Beskar-shredding talons. He dove forward, narrowly avoiding both and somersaulted down a muddy embankment as the beasts clashed. He slid down, down, down into a dark valley, tumbling and ricocheting off trees like a beskar pinball.
"Fuck…" He groaned, sliding to a stop on his back. Mud obscured his visor, and he wiped it clean with the edge of his cape before mustering the energy to roll to his knees. A cursory glance at his surroundings confirmed he had utterly lost Jox's trail. "Fuck." He muttered louder as anger prickled up his back.
The sounds of battle in the glen above him reached a crescendo. The elk gave one last, long heart-wrenching scream before a palpable silence settled through the forest. Din's attempt at stealth disappeared as he pushed through the thick underbrush, anger and frustration growing with each step. Slowly the sounds of life returned; creatures scurried along the ground, insects buzzed, and nocturnal birds sang their moonlit songs. He trudged on, ignoring the pleasant ambiance, and searched for signs of his elusive target.
A bent sapling finally caught his attention. The thin, willowy stem cracked and partially flattened by someone's careless boots. Din knelt, examining the small puddle of blood at the base of the broken young tree. His HUD confirmed the chain code matched his mark.
Something moved in the giant fern to his right. The blaster was in his hand, the bright blue stun laser hitting his target before the ferns' feathery leaves stopped rustling. Din stood slowly, wary as ever for an attack, as he went to investigate.
He brushed the fern aside and hissed a string of surly curses at a fat, stunned opossum that stared up at him with glassy eyes. " Son of a-" He sensed movement a second too late as a form grew out of the gloom. Something whistled through the darkness-
"Din!" Zo woke with a gasp. The heavy scent of pine and blood stung her throat. She realized she called out Mando's name and slapped a hand over her mouth, hoping he hadn't heard her. She wasn't in the mood to start the day with another fight.
It took her a few moments to blink away the confusion and come back to herself. The Bounty Hunter hadn't heard her; he wasn't even on the ship. He was out there in the forest, somewhere in the darkness. She sat up slowly, scooting her butt to the edge of the bunk, avoiding the baby sleeping in his sling. She sighed, rubbing her hand across the nape of her neck, and realized the pain was gone. "That's a good sign, right?" She asked the sleeping baby. He snorted and smiled in his sleep, probably dreaming about his next meal. "I'm taking that as a good sign." She decided.
After brewing a hot cup of instant energy, she lowered the ship's ramp. The air outside had turned muggy and humid overnight. It hung like a thick blanket over the Crest. Zo sat on the metal ramp, sipped her bitter caf, and watched the motion detectors slowly rotate as they tracked a moth fluttering too close to the perimeter. She flicked a finger, sending a tiny push through the Force that sent the moth on a new flight path away from the laser sentries.
As the sun rose, the heat of the day rose with it. Once Cricket woke, it became quickly apparent neither of them were in the mood for more exploring in the sticky heat. They lounged in the shade of the trees and the ship's dark interior. Zo eventually let the baby run around the campsite in nothing but his cloth diaper, his thick robes too oppressive in the heat. She decided he looked much more comfortable than she did, sweating in her long-sleeved tunic and jeans. After she kicked off her boots and removed the offending articles of clothing, they spent the afternoon splashing each other in the clear, babbling creek. The hours ticked on, and she tried not to think about Mando's continued absence or the growing sense of an approaching darkness.
"How about you and I practice for a bit?" Zo asked, finally taking the pruney womp rat out of the water. He stuck his little purple tongue through his stubby teeth and spat at her. "You sit quietly and meditate with me for a while…." He blew another unhappy raspberry, and she wiped a bit of spit off her cheek, "Twenty minutes...and I'll give you a chocolate fudge cake." The child looked at her pensively, his ears twitched, and he narrowed his large, almond eyes considering her offer. He slowly blinked once in acquiescence. Zo smiled and kissed his forehead as they clambered out of the water.
She sat them on a large flat rock near the bank of the stream and settled back on her knees, resting her palms flat on the top of her thighs. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind. "Show me your favorite memories, and I'll show you some of mine." She told the youngling before closing her eyes.
The clearing dropped away, the sounds of birds and buzzing insects disappeared as she opened her mind. The Force swirled around the child like a cyclone, his strength and abilities only dampened by his young age and lack of instruction. Images and memories slowly drifted through their link: younglings in a dark auditorium staring up at a projection of stars, a training circle, a floating combat remote firing brightly lit stun lasers, the Razor Crest, flying with Mando, crying, screams….hide Grogu!
The memory echoed so loudly through the Force it felt as if the Jedi Master was screaming his name directly into her mind. Zo broke the trance with a strangled cry, "Grogu? Your name is Grogu?" The baby cooed softly, and she buried her face in her hands and started to sob as his emotions overwhelmed her. Sadness seemed to cloak all of his memories, all except for those he had created with Mando. Those memories were bright and happy, and she wanted Mando to understand how much he meant to the child. And to her.
The child stood and shuffled slowly towards her. He gently touched her face, and she looked at him, wiping away tears. "Grogu, how did you survive so long on your own?" He climbed into her lap and rested his head on her chest. Zo traced her fingers along the ridges of his ears, "Mando's gonna be so happy to know your name." Grogu looked up at her and cooed a question. Zo tucked strands of damp hair behind her ear, "He'll be back soon. Let's get dried off, and I'll make lunch." The baby giggled and clapped his hands as she stood and walked them back towards the ship. She was running him through a list of possible lunch options when the motion detectors spun on their axles, the buzz of priming laser cannons filled the air, and Zo turned towards the tree line. She sensed a presence. Clouded and fuzzy at the edges, angry, irritated, injured…
The laser cannons fired, making them both jump. Zo wrapped her arms around the baby as the guns cycled up again, twisting back and forth as they searched for their target. Then they stopped and powered down, each falling inert and silent on their pivoting base. She let out a long breath, feeling a bit foolish at her fear. "You forget about the motion detectors, Mando?" She called towards the smoking tree line. The great big bounty hunter probably felt even more foolish. She waited for him to appear, willed him to come stalking out of the smoke like an irritable loth cat and yell at her for something, anything...
'Keep your weapons close and the kid closer.' Simple instructions. Simple instructions bore from years of experience. Her hand drifted to her hip in search of a weapon. Her lightsaber was lying fifty feet away on top of her discarded clothes. She reached out again and sensed nothing familiar, no prickly, annoyed aura of a man forever exhausted. Grogu's ears twitched, and he hissed.
"It's ok. Everything is going to be ok." She promised, pressing her lips to his forehead as she slowly knelt and set him on the ramp. "We're going to play hide and seek. You hide in the ship and don't come out unless me or Mando call out your name. Understand?" A low, warbling cry bubbled out of the baby as a large figure stumbled out of the trees and into the camp.
Zo had never met a member of the Falleen race in person, so she had no frame of reference to gauge this man's size. But he was significantly larger than the Mandalorian, which made him impressively massive. The afternoon sun made his greenish skin glow; his face and head were hairless save for one long braid sprouting from his crown. A long ugly gash in his thigh oozed half congealed yellow blood.
"Hide, Grogu." She urged.
She didn't watch as the frightened child ran into the ship. She didn't need to. She sensed him following her directions, as he disappeared into the ship, making himself small and silent.
"Stop!" Zo yelled across the expanse as the man stalked closer. She put every ounce of command into her voice that she could muster. He sneered, showing her a mouthful of teeth filed to razor points, and walked closer. "I said stop!" She yelled, this time holding her free hand up, palm out. Jox froze, howling in anger. The muscles of his neck and meaty forearms stood out in thick cords as he fought against her. She halted a dozen steps from him and noticed the vambrace shoved onto his left arm. The shiny platinum Beskar dulled with dried, rust colored blood.
"Where is the Mandalorian?" She didn't recognize her voice. Dangerously low and so much calmer than she felt. The tide of fear pulling at her quickly turned into a riptide of cold anger threatening to pull her under.
"Witch! You fucking witch let me go!" He growled.
"Where is he!" The voice erupted from her, echoing through the trees. Her lightsaber flew into her lowered hand, part of her unaware she had called it. "Tell me what you did!" She screamed.
He smiled, cruel and slick, "I fucking killed him."
Everything dropped away: the ground beneath her feet, the sunlit sky, the thick, humid air she tried to suck into her lungs. It was as if she were stuck in a vacuum. She heard nothing but the rush of blood in her ears. Why did it hurt so much? Mando was an asshole. Rough, mean, unyielding in his stubbornness. But he was also good; straight down to his core, he was good. Grogu sensed it immediately, and so did she. He risked so much to keep the child safe, to keep her safe…and now he was gone.
Jox's lips turned up in a fang-filled sneer. Her control wavered, and he stepped forward. "I'm taking that ship." She felt his eyes roam over her exposed skin, stopping at the thin dark strips of damp fabric clinging to her breasts and between her legs. "I can see why the Mandalorian kept you around. Don't fight, and I'll kill you quick."
Zo smiled, her fingers curling around the hilt of her lightsaber. "Where's the fun in that?"
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-taptaptap.
He tried to ignore the noise. Stars above, he tried. He liked the warm, empty, and most importantly, quiet space where he floated. No Foundling screaming for a dry diaper or crashing boxes signaling the end of one of Zo's lessons. Just the quiet. Din sighed contentedly, slipping back into the sweet embrace of silence.
Tap-tap-tap!
The sound was growing more incessant. Loud enough to echo sharply in his ears. Something warm, wet, and rough swiped across his lower jaw. His eyes sprang open, his vision partially obscured by the odd tilt of his helmet. A large owl-like creature crouched over him and pecked at his glass visor. He shot up in confusion, making the bird jump off his chest with an irritated squawk. "The hell?" Din grumbled, shoving his helmet back over his chin and gingerly running his hands along the base of his neck. The flesh there was tender and sticky with blood. His head pounded with each heartbeat and his limbs were stiff and sore from spending the night sprawled on the forest floor.
Two creatures came into view as the visor realigned itself. A moss-covered Loceras elk and a blue-green Morai owl peered down at him. The elk tilted its giant head down. Its thick green tongue slithered out of its mouth and across Din's visor. The animal's breath smelled of decaying leaves, sickly sweet and musty. "I'm up- I'm up," he pushed the elk away from his face. The animal snorted as it backed away. It took him several long seconds to gather the rest of his senses as he struggled back to his feet. "Fuck!" He swore angrily. How exactly had he fallen? How did he end up in this clearing with these strange animals? A bent sapling and a large feathery fern caught his attention…the missed shot, the shadowy figure moving behind him- "Fuck." He groaned, letting his helmeted head fall forward with a tired sigh. The partially scabbed wound on his neck ached, and he felt the warm trickle of fresh blood. How much time had he lost lying unconscious? How far away was Jox now? Why didn't he just take the kriffing com like Zo asked?
"Zo," The owl hooted.
Din stopped his angry stomping and turned to face the creatures staring at him. "What did you say?"
"Zo…Zo-Zo-Zo." The bird hopped along the elk's antlers, ruffling its feathers and growing more agitated as Mando stood still, slightly dazed and staring dumbly at the creatures. The elk dug its hooves into the dirt and snorted angrily, swinging its massive antlers, urging the Mandalorian to move.
"How much do you know about the Falleen?"
"Not much."
A plasma vibrostaff materialized in Jox's hands from the folds of his clothes. He was highly skilled in combat with the weapon. The plasma blades on either end hissed through the air as he swung the staff. He moved faster than she thought someone of his size could. His bulk blocked the sun casting her in shadow as they circled each other. Each time she blocked one of his strikes, painful reverberations rattled the bones in her arms, nearly knocking her off her feet.
Zo's arms were sore. The muscles tingled and throbbed with growing exhaustion. Sparring with petrified trees and shadows was all well and good for her forms but nothing replaced opponents who hit back. Maybe she could convince Mando to start sparring with her, there was plenty of space in the hold if she adjusted the height of her laser blade…
Mando was dead, there would be no sparring, she reminded herself. With that thought another surge of rage shot through her, she swung her lightsaber connecting once again with Jox's hissing plasma weapon. He barely seemed winded, his muscles gleamed in the sun with a fine sheen of sweat and each swing of his weapon was just as hard as when they started. Zo mustered a bit of energy and control and used a Force push to gain barely a foot of distance away from the Falleen man. He was too big to move, like one of those damned boulders—
'Size matters not, Padawan. A Jedi's strength flows through the Force. Open yourself to it but be mindful of anger, aggression, hate; they are quick to ally you in battle but will lead you to the dark side.' Master Vatari's voice rang in her ears. Right now, she hated the calm voice of her long-dead master almost as much as she hated the man in front of her. She embraced the hate like an old lover, the cold insulating her from the pain of losing her only friend.
She tried to anticipate his moves, but his mind was a brick wall, her Force senses bouncing off uselessly in what she could only guess was natural immunity. He lumbered forward like a charging bull, swinging his staff in a wide arch, and she cartwheeled out of the way, flipping and twisting behind him. She pirouetted midair and kicked him in the small of his back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Jox pushed himself to his knees, cursing loudly in a language full of short, hard consonants. Zo dashed forward, aiming a killing strike with her saber to the back of his head when he suddenly spun towards her, his staff twisting end over end as he moved. The hard, vibrating rod caught her in the jaw. She flew backward, hitting the ground with a sharp cry as her lightsaber tumbled out of her fingers. She spat up a mouthful of coppery blood and ran her tongue over her teeth. It didn't feel like any were missing, thank the stars. She rolled to her belly, trying to get her knees under her. "You put up a much better fight than he did," Jox growled as he landed on her back, pressing her into the dirt. He tangled one hand in her hair, pulling her head back towards his chest. "He died begging as he bled out. It was... disappointing. I want to hear you scream." He hissed, sinking his sharp fangs into the curve of her neck.
Zo gave him the scream he wanted as pain burned its way into her chest then through her entire body. She slammed her elbow back, cracking it against his nose. Jox stumbled back, hands pressed to his face as blood the color of fresh egg-yolk spilled between his fingers. He cursed in that same harsh, hissing language as Zo clawed her way out from under him.
"What did you...what did you do to me?" She screamed, clamping a hand over the bite mark. The skin stung and burned. Her blood rushed in her ears, a deafening drumbeat that kept pace with her racing heart as liquid agony coursed through her veins.
Jox licked his lips free of her blood. His forked tongue tasted the air between them as Zo swayed on her feet. "I told you not to fight me," he reminded her with another flick of his tongue.
He ran at her then, enormous body barreling forward with unbelievable speed. She moved too slow, her limbs heavy and uncoordinated as her nerve endings caught on fire. He grabbed her around the middle and slammed her back into the ground. She was able to wrestle away from him, kicking and punching herself free then shuffled across the dirt like a crab, searching for her lightsaber.
Fingers clamped around her ankle and dragged her back. Jox's angry hands flipped her over and he dug his sharp nails into her thighs as he pulled her roughly across the ground. Zo snarled and kicked her foot at his swollen face. He blocked her foot with one large forearm and smacked her. Her head slammed to the side, and she tasted copper again. He hissed, his forked tongue darted between his teeth, and lapped up the sweat beading in the valley of her chest.
The scream caught in her throat; she choked on pain and anger as his fangs sank into the top of her breast. He laughed low in his belly as he yanked her closer. An army of biting fire ants slowly marched along her every nerve. "You're a tough one," he simpered in her ear. "But you'll die like all the rest."
Jox rolled off her with a farewell knee to her abdomen and walked towards the ship. She meant nothing to him; he didn't care to watch her take her final breaths.
Her fate was sealed.
She was going to die. She was just as sure now as she had been when the Mandalorian cracked her skull. She preferred to have just died then instead of on her back in this strange forest pumped full of poison. She had failed again, giving in to fear and anger. Now the child would pay for her weakness.
"No!" She screamed, summoning the last reserves of her energy. She pulled with everything she had; the trees surrounding their little camp creaked as they leaned forward on their roots, the Razor Crest wobbled on it's landing gears and her lightsaber once again found its way home. She staggered to her feet, head swimming, pain shooting through her body with every heartbeat. Jox turned back towards her, his long braid whipping over his shoulder.
For the briefest second, his eyes widened in amusement, then shock as she sprang forward, flying or as close to flying as Jedi ever got, across the clearing towards him. The look of shock changed to confusion, then dread, each emotion passing through his eyes in a heartbeat as Zo sailed towards him, her purple blade hissing through the air. She landed behind him skidding through the dirt until she came to an unsteady stop. She heard the hollow thud of his body as it hit the ground. His head rolled toward her, the look of shock still frozen on his face. Then her legs gave out, and she landed on her knees with a pained moan.
She sobbed and clutched where Jox had kicked her in the belly as she slowly pushed herself up, dragging in a ragged breath as she moved. She needed to focus so she could make the pain stop. She dug her hands into the soft, cool soil, concentrating on the Force energy that permeated the forest.
She had to move. Had to get back to the ship. It was so close, less than fifty paces.
She could feel the sharp edges of the venom as it tore through her, setting her nerves on fire and making her delirious with a rapidly growing fever.
Part of her Jedi teachings was using the Force to filter toxins out of her body. But up until now, it was all theory; theory that demanded attention, focus, and time. She quickly realized she didn't have enough time to sort through all those long ago learned concepts, and the poison would overwhelm her. The best she hoped for was slowing its progression.
She focused on the agony coursing through her body, feeling as though the venom was a living thing tearing her insides to Force coursed through her, gathering all the barbs of pain and death and pulled them together. She felt the poison flow back through her system like irritable piranha fish swimming upstream. The pain abated a bit as viscous black poison welled up and dripped out of the wounds Jox left her with. She resigned herself to the thought she would probably still die. But not right now. If it was the last thing she ever did, she would drag herself into the cockpit and send a distress call to Greif Karga. But she had to get up.
"Get up, Zo. Gods be damned, get up." She cursed at herself, not hearing the heavy footfalls crashing into the clearing until the figure was right on top of her. A hand latched onto her shoulder, and she lashed out with her lightsaber. The purple blade ricocheted off something hard and silver as she stood on unsteady legs.
"Stop! Zo, it's me. Dank farrik!" Mando shouted as she prepared for another strike.
"What?" She blinked several times through a heavy fog of confusion. "Mando. You're not dead..." She mumbled as her knees wobbled. "You're hurt." Reaching for the wound she sensed on his neck, the tiny ember of pain all but clouded by his suffocating worry.
"What the fuck happened? Are you alright? Is the kid alright? Zo, where's the kid?" His voice grew louder and more desperate with each question.
"He got through the perimeter," She nodded her head towards Jox. "He...he bit me-" Her nose wrinkled with disgust as she pushed her sweaty hair aside to show Mando the jagged puncture marks in her neck. "It hurts, it hurts so fucking bad- I can't get it all."
Mando hissed out a curse, running his gloved fingers through the oily black oozing from the wounds. "Where's the kid?"
Zo swayed, blinking sweat out of her eyes. "Mando? You're alive-" Another spasm racked through her body, and her knees buckled. "Oh, that kriffing hurts…".
"God damn it," He muttered. "The kid! Zoey, where the fuck is the kid!"
"Grogu?"
"Who the krif is Grogu? What did you do with the kid?" He grabbed her wrists, pulling her towards him.
Her thoughts skipped around her pounding head. Mando was distracting her. His deep, rough voice. The tilt of his helmet and the rough bite of his fingers on her wrists. Her grip on the poison slacked; she felt it simmer back into her blood. "The kid's name is Grogu. He's on the ship; he's ok, he's safe…"
"The ship. He's safe-" He said it more to reassure himself than anything.
"Of course he's safe, I'm a terrible Jedi not a fucking amateur-"
At least poison hasn't corroded her lovely attitude, Din thought. "Can you walk?" He asked.
She shook her head, "I–I don't know… don't let him watch me die."
"Quit being dramatic, jetii'ika." He said trying to bite back the worry and guilt threatening to tear him apart. "Are you really going to make me carry your ass back to the ship? I'm injured, remember?"
Zo gave a tired snort, "Then just let me die here, asshole."
He bent down, scooping one arm under her knees and the other around her back. "If I knew you were just going to die on me, cyar'ika, I would've rather had my credits."
She grimaced, holding her belly, "I was thinking the same thing."
"You were thinking about my credits?" He asked as he stood up, holding her close.
"About letting you kill me, would'a been better than this."
"Letting me kill you? I seem to remember it was a bit of a fight…."
Zo rested her head against his chest plate as he stepped over Jox's body and walked towards the ship. "I let you win…you cheated anyway with your rocket pack and stupid armor."
"You cheated by using magic and a laser sword."
"Lightsaber-" Zo coughed, black venom splattering her bottom lip.
Mando carried her into the ship and set her on the floor next to his bunk, "Where's the kid?" He asked, pushing locks of sweaty hair out of her eyes. She looked like hell, sallow-skinned with dark rings around her eyes. Dark purple streaks spiderwebbed away from the fang marks in her neck and chest.
"Grogu, Padawan, come out it's safe," she called out.
A grate blew away from the wall with a squeal of twisted metal. Two large pointy green ears slowly emerged from the tiny crawlspace. The child's big brown eyes were wide with apprehension as he shuffled out of his hiding spot, worried he had broken Mando's no-hiding-in-the-ship rule.
"Dank farrik, kid, are you ok? " He knelt, hands outstretched as Grogu ran forward, chirping in distress when he noticed Zo. Din scooped the baby into his arms, gently checking him for injuries. Grogu babbled and cooed with excitement pointing his little claws towards her. "Can you help her?" Mando asked.
"No!" Zo coughed, holding a hand out to ward them off. "No. He doesn't know how to control his power; it could kill him."
"The poison could kill you."
"I'll take my chances, bounty hunter," Zo told him. Grogu's bottom lip trembled as he reached for her. "No, young one. You listen to Mando, be good. I'll be fine."
Mando turned towards the ladder to the cockpit murmuring comforting words to the child as they climbed up. Zo blew out a long exhausted breath and relaxed down on the cool floor. "You need to stay here. Do you understand? Stay." Din said, pointing a stern finger at the child. Grogu nodded once as he shoved a macaroon into his mouth. "Stay," Din repeated before sliding down the ladder and locking him in the cockpit with enough snacks and entertainment to last a full rotation.
Behind his helmet, he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths dreading what he might find when he returned to Zo's side. What would he tell the kid if she didn't make it? That he failed to protect them, he hadn't even bothered to warn her about Fallen venom, too fucking sure of himself as usual… he shook his head, clearing those thoughts away.
She looked small and fragile, drenched in sweat and curled on the floor in a tight ball, shivering with pain and fever. Her chest rose and fell with each shallow breath, her heart rate was fast and thready, but she was alive. He had seen Jox's venom in action only a few times, and the victims were usually writhing and screaming for mercy as they died. He had been the one to grant them such mercy once they fulfilled their use. "Zo," he murmured, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Her eyebrows knitted together as she struggled to find her way back to consciousness. Her eyes fluttered for several long seconds before she was able to force them open. Her usually bright eyes were dull, and she struggled to focus on anything but the venom in her blood. "Mando?" she slurred, "You're not dead."
"Not yet." He replied. She gasped as sharp needles of pain flared to life in her chest as he helped her sit up.
Zo shook her head weakly, "I can't- I can't get it all, I think I'm gonna die…."
"You are not going to die, jetii'ika," Mando said sternly as if those words alone would keep her alive. "Try to stay awake a bit longer; I'll get your wounds dressed." Zo nodded, bracing her hands against the floor to keep herself upright. She forced herself to keep her eyes open and her mind connected to the task at hand.
Mando returned with an armload of supplies and dumped them on the floor beside her. "You need a bacta infusion, but I haven't got any of that, so we're just going to make do-" He said, tilting her head away from the injury on her neck. He shook a small can then sprayed something on her neck that made the skin tingle. "Does it hurt?"
Zo grimaced and nodded, "Yes."
"People I've seen Jox poison… They never kept their shit together as long you have; the pain drove 'em insane."
"My Master taught us that pain is a part of life…." She doubled over in another coughing fit, more black and red droplets smearing across her palms like a nightmarish abstract painting. "You must control the pain, or it will control you...I don't think this is the type of pain she was talking about, though." She let out an exhausted, humorless laugh.
Mando gently applied a nano bandage to the wound, "She sounds tough, your Master." Zo nodded as Mando moved his attention to the wound on her breast. "I have to," He coughed nervously, pushing her bandeau down.
Her pale lips turned up at the corners in a smirk he was growing familiar with. The inside of Din's helmet grew warmer as his gloved fingers brushed against her swollen skin. He made it a personal point of honor to look at nothing but the wound. "Vatari was tough and wise and kind… And just as blind to the power of the Dark Side as all the Masters who came before her." She said quietly.
She was exhausted; the energy expended to try and rid her body of Jox's deadly venom had depleted her. With her stamina failing, the pain returned with a vengeance. Zo placed a trembling hand on the angled cheek of Mando's visor. He went rigid at her touch, his fingers freezing against her skin. "I'm glad you're not dead...he told me...I should've known better. I care very much about you."
"Don't," Mando said looking at her. Her eyes met his, despite the layers of glass and steel.
She drew in a deep, wet breath. "I can't change the way we met or what I did to you-" Her whole body shook with another series of painful spasms as she rambled.
"Fuck, Zo don't…."
"Promise me-" She held her lightsaber out to him, "Give the Jedi my saber; kyber crystals are nearly impossible to find anymore, fucking Empire and their planet destroyers...They can reforge it for Grogu."
"Keep your laser sword, cyar'ika. You're going to need it."
Her eyes burned as venom tainted tears slipped out. "Please, Din…" She moved her hand to the armor above his heart, "Promise me."
Din's hands shook not out of anger but fear, real fear that this might be the last time he heard his real name fall from her lips. "Ni ceta, Zo Mara, I'm sorry I should have protected you." He took the lightsaber from her hand and blew out a slow, deep breath. "I'll keep it safe for you, cyare. You can do whatever you want with it when you're well," He said, pressing his helmet against her, forehead to forehead. Zo's eyes drifted shut, and she sighed at the touch of cool metal against her fevered skin. "Zo, do you understand? You aren't allowed to kriffing die."