The blue flash of the Marshal's landspeeder siren illuminated the tears that still clung to Lysa's trembling cheeks, with every rotation that it made.
Standing at the bottom of the small porch once again, Lysa could only stare out at the darkness of the flat desert landscape that surrounded them.
Fear now consumed her.
The idea that Crix was still out there somewhere - a terrifying concept.
Two of the peacekeepers had already gone out on their speeders to try and track Crix down. But despite his injuries, the lava flats were vast and covered in large rocks and peaks - plenty of places for a person to hide in the dark and stillness of the night.
All she wanted now was for this to be over, but it felt far from it.
Din had been furious of course, stood there now arguing with the Marshal, telling him where they needed to search first, and what they needed to do next.
Lysa chanced a glance over at him.
She was more grateful to him than words could ever say.
Everything he had done for her. Being there when she had needed him, feeling his strong arms wrapped around her. Finally feeling safe for the first time in years.
And she couldn't now ignore what he had so purposefully uttered.
Those tender words, with so much meaning behind them.
Lysa gave a swallow, gazing at him. At the man who had freed her from a lifetime of hurt and pain.
Lysa knew how she felt about him now.
But feeling a sudden tug at her skirt, Lysa looked down quickly, to see Grogu at her feet staring up at her with large dark eyes.
Swiping the tears from her cheeks, Lysa gave a small smile, bending down and picking up the small child, cuddling him into her arms.
"I haven't thanked you yet," she said looking down at him and giving a small sniff. "I don't know what you did-"
Lysa shook her head, lifting her hand and stroking Grogu's cheek gently.
"-but thank you…for saving my life."
At her words Grogu cooed up at her sweetly, as Lysa held him close to her.
Lysa had met a Jedi with powers like Grogu once before…on Coruscant…a long time ago.
But in that moment that Crix had fired the blaster, Lysa was certain that that had been the end. And to blink her eyes open and see the blaster stream hovering in mid-air like that…
…she had never seen anything like it in her life.
She looked up now to see Din and the Marshal droid IG-11 approaching.
"The Marshal has agreed to call on more peacekeepers from the City to help with the search," Din said promptly, coming to stand close to Lysa.
"We'll find him, Miss," came the monotone voice of the IG-11 droid, swivelling on the spot before marching off to speak to some of the other peacekeepers who were patrolling the immediate area, guns clasped in their arms.
Lysa turned to Din.
"What if they don't find him?" she asked in a worried voice. Pressing herself close to him, her green eyes searching his beskar-covered face. "What if he comes back?"
"They'll find him," said Din with a nod, but Lysa's eyes were already worriedly scanning the dark horizon, as she chewed hard on her lip.
"Hey look at me," said Din suddenly, lifting a gentle hand to her chin and coaxing her gaze back to him. "They'll find him."
Lysa stared up at Din for a few seconds before giving a nod, as he let his hand fall.
She hoped he was right.
"The device has been disarmed," came the voice of one of the peacekeepers behind them, speaking directly to IG-11 as a second man came out carrying a crate with the detonator now sitting inside. "We've also done a sweep of the building. All clear."
Lysa turned to look as the Marshal addressed Din.
"Your home is safe," he said in a monotone voice. "I will set a patrol across the lava flats tonight to keep lookout."
Din nodded. "I also have an R5 droid I can use to monitor the perimeter," he said in a low voice. "I'll get an alert if anything tries to pass through."
"That would be useful," replied the Marshal before dipping his metal knees and lowering his head in what Lysa could only presume was a sort of nod, before making his way toward the Peacekeepers' large landspeeder.
Lysa gave a swallow, watching him as he went, not quite knowing what to do.
Crix was still out there. And now he had a vendetta against all three of them. A vendetta much more deadly than he had had just a few hours before.
So lost in worry, Lysa didn't even notice Din turn to her.
"You should stay here," he said in a gentle voice through his modulator, causing Lysa to look his way. "It's not safe for you to go back to your home tonight."
Lysa, who hadn't even thought about the risks of going back to her apartment, let out a shaky breath, before nodding.
In her arms Grogu let out a yawn, drawing the pair's attention, as he snuggled into Lysa's breast.
She cradled him tenderly, allowing the sweet moment to distract her from the feeling of worry that seemed to flood her every pore.
"I think he needs his bed," she commented in a quiet voice, allowing Din to reach under Grogu's arms and pull him carefully from her grasp.
He held his son with the care that Lysa expected of him now.
With Din, there was no malice.
Only a gentle kind of patience and calm which seemed to emanate from him.
Behind them the Marshal's landspeeder pulled away, leaving just a plume of black dust which puffed up into their for a moment, before falling back down in the darkness of the night.
Without the flashing lights any more, the area around Din's cabin seemed suddenly incredibly eerie and dark, and Lysa couldn't help but flinch as she heard the sound behind her. Which turned out to only be the wind, rustling the leaves on a nearby tree, almost invisible now in the dark.
"Come inside," said Din in a firm voice, as Lysa turned back to him, giving a silent nod and gathering up her skirts in her hand, heading up the porch steps and into the warmth of Din's cabin.
As soon as she entered, ahead of Din, her eyes scanned the floor where Crix had laid bleeding. Only to see that it was now clean of his blood, the peacekeepers and their pit droids having done their job well.
But for a long moment, Lysa couldn't help but stare at the spot, a fear washing over her.
She knew full well what Crix was capable of…and to have him out there…on the loose…it frightened her more than anything else in this galaxy.
She only hoped the Marshal and his team would do their jobs well and find him before dawn came.
She felt Din come to stand beside her, his tall form a welcome comfort.
"I have some bone broth in the conservator," he said in a kind voice. "You should eat."
But Lysa shook her head.
"I-I'm not hungry," she said, giving a small frown, before looking Din's way quickly. "But thank you."
Din said nothing in return, just carefully manoeuvring past her and heading through a door to his left - Grogu's bedroom.
Lysa lingered just outside the doorway, watching as Din gently placed Grogu down onto his small bed, dropping a small blanket over his middle.
But her eyes flitted swiftly away, darting over the living space she was standing in.
She felt safe here, with Din. More than she had ever done in all the time she lived with Crix.
All the pain he had caused her through the years, still there in the tiny scars and bruises that, even now, littered her skin.
But the sensation of Din's strong arms around her had stirred feelings in her that Lysa had not been privy to for years. A feeling of warmth. Of love. A feeling that there was someone here who cared about her. Willing to sacrifice everything to protect her.
She lifted a hand and ran it down one side of her exhausted face, pressing her eyes tightly shut.
She was more tired than she had realised. The adrenaline and the shock of it all, the only thing keeping her so wired these past few hours.
Now she knew she needed rest. More than anything else.
She turned suddenly, feeling a presence behind her, to find Din emerging from Grogu's room, the door behind him sliding shut.
Lysa peered up at him in the quiet of the night.
She could hear her own breath now in the stillness of everything, as he lingered near to her, tall and close.
There was so much now that Lysa wanted to say to him. To thank him for all that he had done.
But she could only swallow hard, tilting her head, as her eyes searched for his, behind his helmet.
Right now she wished that his armour wasn't there…just so that she could look into the face of the man who had freed her.
The man that caused her chest to constrict and her heart to pound just that little bit faster when he was near.
It was Din that spoke first, his voice low and husky in the lateness of the night.
"You can take my sleeper."
Lysa parted her lips gently, blinking a couple of times at Din, before speaking.
"W-Will you-" she began, but Din cut across her.
"I'm going to stay up and keep a lookout," he said stoically, giving a nod.
Lysa nodded quickly in return, her face flushing slightly.
For a moment she had hoped that he would stay with her. Not wanting to be apart from him now. Feeling so safe in his presence, it felt like it would break her to be apart from him again.
But she cursed herself for being so transparent, given everything going on.
What must Din think of her?
She held back and let Din open the door to the next room, beside Grogu's. A room that Lysa had never been inside before.
Inside was a room exact in size to Grogu's next door. But in here sat a larger bed, that almost filled the entire space, pressed up against the wall on one side, beneath a window. Leaving only a tight walkway around the left hand side.
Almost immediately Din moved to the sleeper, rearranging and smoothing down the rumpled sheets so that they lay neat and flat. She could almost sense his face flushing as he turned to her.
"If you need any more blankets-" he said quickly.
But Lysa offered him an attempt at a smile, the best she could manage given all that had happened tonight.
"I'll be fine," she said in a gentle tone. "Thank you…for letting me stay…and for…"
Her eyes searched his beskar-covered face almost desperately now. There was so much she needed to say to him. But for some reason she just could not find the words.
"...for everything."
In the quiet of the space, Din seemed to still for a long moment, lingering there in his room just a foot or two from her.
And Lysa felt her heart begin to pound hard and fast, so many emotions coursing through her at this very moment. Not quite knowing if Din truly knew the impact of all that he had done for her.
He had saved her.
When she believed her life was far beyond saving.
A man she would never have met had it not been for a dust storm in the desert. A single decision to take a different route to avoid it, changing the course of her life forever.
Had it not been for that dust storm, Lysa would have never come upon the road that led to Din's cabin. She would never have met Din or Grogu.
And she would never have felt that pull on her heart that she had felt every second of every day since the first time she'd met the Mandalorian.
What he had said to her tonight…surely those couldn't have been the words of a man who felt nothing for her in return…
But despite Lysa having made her decision…despite her having stood up to Crix…his words still slid through her mind like a venomous snake…constricting around every single good thought or feeling she had…making her doubt herself.
Causing her to question whether she would ever be good enough for someone like Din.
And despite their close proximity now and Lysa's desperation to be close to him, she found herself lowering her gaze, letting it slip swiftly away from his.
And obviously taking that as his cue to leave, Din grazed past her, only stopping again when he reached the door behind her.
"Get some sleep," he said in a gentle voice, through his modulator. "I'll be just outside if you need me."
And with that he was gone, the door sliding shut behind Lysa, leaving her alone, with only the starlight outside the shuttered window for company.
She let out an unsteady breath, dropping slowly down onto the edge of the bed, closing her eyes, as one final lone tear slid down her cheek.
No matter where Crix was now, Lysa was safe.
Finally safe.
Din cursed himself as the door to his Sleeper slid shut behind him with a hiss.
His heart was hammering a drumbeat inside his ribs and his breath felt non-existent in his lungs.
Why after everything that had just happened, after he had been so close to losing her, could he not manage to say what he wanted to say?
He let out a long huff of frustration, clenching his jaw beneath his beskar.
Out there, after everything, Din hadn't been able to help himself. Professing how he felt to her, in his own stupid way.
But in amongst the chaos of everything, he doubted it was even something that Lysa had picked up on? His confession of just how much she meant to him, had been as enigmatic as everything spoken by the Mandalorians in his Creed. And Din hated that he had not been more blunt. Instead telling her exactly how he felt about her. Telling her that he -
Din gave a hard swallow.
He doubted now that she even felt the same. Din's beautiful goddess of the sunlight. Of warmth. Of hope.
The embodiment of everything he had never known he'd so desperately wanted, until he'd met her.
These days he barely went a second without thinking about her. And even while he slept, his dreams seemed to be filled with visions of Lysa.
She meant more to him than he could ever manage to put into words.
And after all that she has been through tonight, Din so wished that he had just swallowed his pride, and his fears, and just held her until morning. Not wanting to let go.
But he knew now that she likely needed space now. A chance to ruminate on all that had happened to her tonight.
It was a shock to think that just half a day ago, Din had seen Lysa in the marketplace whilst with Karga, still certain of the fact that she would never leave Crix.
And yet, Din had seen her tonight, firing a blaster into Crix's shoulder. And knew that, had she been more skilled with a weapon, Crix would be alive no longer.
More than anything, Din hoped that she was ok, throwing one last look over his shoulder at the closed door to his Sleeper room…
…letting out a hard sigh as he did so.
Thanks to J-James, Lockheart96 and HipCheckChick for reviewing the last chapter.
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