Hi folks!
Well, this story broke my previous record for the longest story I've ever written, with a word count that will be nearly triple my previous longest story. It's also broken my personal record for the longest chapters I've ever written (multiple times). This chapter is now the current record-holder. Which is definitely one of the main reasons it took me so long to update. I've been working hard on it, writing, re-writing, editing, and editing again, and now it's finally ready. Whew!
Just a reminder that there is still an epilogue coming after this, as well as the teaser for "When We Came to Be". The epilogue is nearly done but I didn't want to wait for that to be complete before posting this chapter.
Enjoy!
-Moki
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Din Djarin was back.
Cara knew it and Din knew it, which meant it was time to say goodbye.
Now that he was fully healed, Din was ready to return to the Fighting Corps. He wasn't an apprentice in need of additional training. He'd only needed his body and mind back to where they had been before his capture.
It was time for the Mandalorians to take back their home planet and though Cara would happily help with that battle, she didn't feel it was her place. They were more than capable of doing it on their own and it was never her war to fight. She was returning to her assignment with Special Forces as her R&R had pretty much run out anyway.
The two warriors were walking slowly through the cruiser, reluctant to rush to Cara's small ship. Now that Din was fully armored again, he was able to go anywhere on the vessel and escorted Cara to the landing bay. Grogu had held out his arms to be carried by Din, rather than walking in the IG-12 when they said their goodbyes.
When they got to her ship, Din stopped and turned to his old friend.
"I can't thank you enough for everything you did for me."
Cara smiled up into the familiar T-visor. She had memorized the face under it and pictured Din giving her one of his small smiles in return.
"You know I'll always be there whenever you need me," she told him.
"And I will always be there for you," Din assured her.
"Yeah. Alright, I hate goodbyes so I'm just going to head out."
Din chuckled.
"Kid?" Cara looked at the boy as he blinked back at her.
"You did a great job looking after your dad. You keep that up. Someone has to watch out for him when I'm not around, okay?"
Grogu nodded at Cara, then reached for her with a sad coo.
Cara picked up the little one and gave him a final hug before handing him back to Din. She held out her right arm and Din grasped her forearm as she grasped his firmly.
"Until our paths cross, hopefully not as long this time."
"Agreed."
Cara started walking to her ship but paused before she got to the ramp, turning back to him.
"It might be nice for all of us to get together sometime, not for some awful reason. You, Bo, Med, me. Maybe just hang out without someone almost dying or being on the edge of an impending war. You know, like normal people."
Din chuffed. "That would be nice."
"Good. Once you guys get your planet back, let me know."
"Will do," Din said with a nod, and she boarded her ship.
Din raised one hand in goodbye as she flew out of the bay, Grogu waved a tiny hand from his place in Din's arms. Cara raised her hand in return from the cockpit.
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The next day, Din joined in on a meeting with the advisors. Bo had invited him, saying that he would be not only welcome but needed, as he may have key information about the base.
"I think Axe might have more information than I would," Din had argued, not believing he'd have anything to offer a room full of seasoned advisors.
"Not entirely. You were there for months."
"Locked up in a cell most of that time."
"I'm sure you learned more about how they operate than you think you did."
Din had agreed then, realizing she might be right. In the beginning of his capture, he'd made sure to keep track of things and may be able to use some of that information now.
When Din walked into the meeting room, he heard all the murmuring stop as every head swiveled to look at him. Din was somewhat used to being the center of attention, it came with the armor, especially after he'd gotten the pure beskar. But he wasn't as used to it coming from his own people. He concentrated on not letting his steps falter as he walked next to Bo.
Everyone, in both clans, had been involved in getting Din freed from Gideon's capture one way or another. A sudden rush of excitement and anticipation flowed through the Mandalorians when they saw the man some had never thought to see alive again. They needed every able-bodied fighter they could get, and many felt that Din counted as at least two.
The clans knew Din had survived months of being a prisoner and rumors had swirled around the ship, indeed the entire fleet, that he had been badly tortured. The rumors began when Din had returned to the cruiser not wearing his helmet, his face covered by a hood. When Din wasn't seen for weeks afterwards, many assumed it meant he had nearly died at the hands of the Moff.
After getting wind of the rumors, Bo and the Armorer decided to let people think what they wanted. After all, they weren't wrong, and it was further proof of Din's strength. It also helped the argument that they needed Din with them when they returned to Mandalore to take out the base. The move turned out to be a smart one. Bo and the Armorer observed that Din began to be seen as a hero to both clans. Many thought that if Din could make it back to them, despite the Moff's attempt to take one of their own, then surely they could get back their home.
Now that he was not only with them, but fully armored and standing among their ranks, the clans felt ready to take back Mandalore.
"Alright, let's get this meeting started," Bo began. She hadn't missed the way everyone looked at Din. He may have been uncomfortable with the attention, but she wasn't. He had worked tirelessly to get back to where he could fight again and, in her eyes, had rightfully earned their respect.
Din stood to one side of the room, holding onto Grogu. The table only sat a dozen and there were at least double that, so quite a few people stood along the walls.
"Din, please take a seat," Bo said, indicating the one next to her.
Din wanted to protest but decided against it. Even if he didn't feel he deserved such an honor, he wasn't going to be rude by refusing.
"As you all can see," Bo began, and every head turned to her. "Din Djarin has fully recovered, and we are ready to return to our home world. In our last meeting we were discussing whether it would be worthwhile to destroy large parts of the base, rather than try and fight the troopers individually to gain control of our planet."
A woman, who was part of the Nite Owls, spoke up. "I think that's a good plan. The base was built in an area of the city that's unimportant to our overall survival. We could destroy it and still have the vital pieces of our home that were left after the war."
"This is true," the Armorer agreed. "Even in such an attack, the Great Forge would be spared."
"It's a good idea," said a man Din recognized from his own clan. "But how?"
"What if all the ships fired at once?" Someone spoke up from the side of the room.
Bo shook her head.
"Even if all our weapons together were enough - which they aren't, as some ships are transport vehicles and not armed - it would be impossible. You can't get all the ships close enough to each other and within range to fire on a single target like that. At least not with the weapons our armed ships do have."
"What about bomber ships?" Another Nite Owl asked.
"That is a possibility, but we don't have them, and I don't know how we'd get use of any. We don't have anything to trade for weapons of that magnitude."
As the debate wore on, Din found his mind wandering. All the discussion of destruction and bombings reminded him of the negative thoughts he'd had when the Darkness had been unrelenting. When he'd wondered if everything was destroyed around him, and he was buried in the rubble. At the time, he had gone through multiple scenarios of what could have occurred, including one that involved his people dying because their ships had been shot down. He'd pictured all of them perishing in fiery deaths while he'd been left to suffer until hunger and thirst took him in the dark.
The memories didn't bother Din as they had previously. He was past the panic and the fear that had been present at the time. All he was left with were the thoughts themselves, and it occurred to him that something about those thoughts might be useful now.
When there was a lull in the conversation around the table, Din spoke up.
"What about the cruiser?"
Everyone turned to the Mandalorian who had not yet said a word in the meeting.
"What about it?" Axe replied curiously. "It's a big ship, but it doesn't have the firepower to take out that base. Their fighters would obliterate us before we were able to shoot half of it apart. I've been through almost that entire place and it's massive."
"Not the weapons," Din shook his head. "The cruiser itself."
No one replied, still unsure what he meant. Din turned to their leader.
"Bo, will you need this ship once we have reclaimed Mandalore?"
She frowned in thought. "No, I suppose not. Everything I've done for years was to get our planet back. Once we do that, I don't care about this thing any longer."
"Good. Then let the ship take the base out."
"Wait." She was starting to understand his plan. "You mean…"
"Crash it into the base and blow it sky-high," Din said. "It doesn't have enough weapons, but it doesn't need them. It has enough fuel and bulk to be turned into a massive bomb. Just barrel it straight into the middle of the place."
"That could work," she smiled at him, and she knew Din was smiling back.
"We just need someone to pilot it," Din said. He thought about volunteering himself, but he wanted to be on the ground to take out Gideon.
"I'll do it," Axe said. "I captained this cruiser for months; I have the most experience piloting it. I can set in a course and ride it out, then use my jetpack to escape before it is destroyed."
"Good idea. Thank you, Axe," Bo said.
The Nite Owl nodded at her.
"But I think we should send a group to the ground as well," Bo continued. "We need to ensure that the Moff is dead. We can't afford to leave him alive again.
She turned her gaze to Din, who dipped his head at her. She nodded back, knowing that he would agree with that part of the plan.
Once they worked out the details, the Armorer stood up.
"Din Djarin, I once said that I believed fate had a hand in your capture as well as your return to us. I wondered if there was a reason one of our people went through what you did on that base."
Din's chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath, unable to stop the visions that came at her words. Even without the fear, they were still hard to look at.
"I believe I now know why you were returned. You have given us the plan we need to take back our home. You have also proved that you are fully healed and have passed your medical exam. Therefore, I would like to formally ask you to rejoin the Fighting Corps."
"It would be my honor," Din said, bowing his head with his fist on his heart.
"During your trial, I noticed you employed Grogu and the IG-12 to hold back a combatant, which was a clever bit of teamwork with your foundling."
Bo smiled at the memory.
The Armorer dropped her gaze to the child sitting on the table in front of Din, encircled by his father's arms.
"Grogu, I have a feeling you are going to be more helpful in this fight than any of us realize."
She looked up at Din again.
"Din Djarin, will you allow your foundling to join us in the ranks as we fight for our homeworld?"
Din felt a moment's trepidation at the thought of putting the kid in danger, but if the leader of his clan wanted Grogu there, he wouldn't stop it.
"Wherever I go, he goes," Din told her with a nod.
"This is The Way," the Armorer replied.
After the meeting, Din walked up to Axe in the corridor as the rest of the group split to go their separate ways.
"Axe, may I have a word?"
"Of course. It's good to have you in our ranks again, my friend. Especially if it means you come up with ideas like that one."
Din shrugged. "I'm sure someone would have thought of using the cruiser if I hadn't."
"Perhaps."
"I never got the chance to thank you for doing all that you did to get me out of that place."
"You really don't have to thank me. I'm sure you'd do the same for me or any one of us," Axe assured him.
"I would. But still, thanks."
Axe nodded.
"You better make sure your jetpack is fully functional and you have all your weapons on you. You're going to need to blast your way out when this ship nears the ground," Din warned.
"Don't I know it," Axe said with a chuckle as they walked together down the corridor.
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The plan was put into place without delay and in no time the fleet was headed to Mandalore. Din joined Bo and the rest of the group that had volunteered to head in on foot, locate the Moff and ensure he met his end when the base was destroyed. Med had wanted to join the force on the ground but Bo, Din and even the Armorer had adamantly refused.
"Med, I'm sorry but we can't risk you," Bo said. "You're the only medic we have and we're going to need you to tend to the wounded. I'm having you transferred to another ship that has a small medbay so you can treat people there."
Med wanted to protest but he knew she was right. It would be reckless to send their only medic into battle. As much as he disliked it, he needed to stay behind. While everyone prepared for the fight, Med walked Din and Grogu to their transport before he got ready to board his own.
"Djar, you take care of yourself and my nephew."
"I will. I'll see you when it's over."
"You're damn right you will. See you on the other side, old man."
"See you on the other side… baby brother."
Din held out his arm for Med to grasp but the medic pulled him into a hug instead, thumping him on the shoulder when he stepped back. Med looked down at the child in Din's arms.
"You look out for your dad, okay Grogu?"
The boy nodded.
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When they hit Mandalore's stormy atmosphere, the ground troops deployed and headed into the caves. The beskar troopers were more prepared than they had been before and the battle to get inside the base was intense.
Din thought ruefully that Gideon making his troops use Din as a training tool had taught them a few things. It angered him to think his imprisonment could possibly get some of his people hurt, but there was nothing to do about it but keep fighting.
As the war on the ground waged on, Din found himself split up from the rest of his people. He speculated that the Moff must have ordered his troops to capture him again at all costs, and they were doing their best to make that happen. Din was surrounded by multiple guards, fighting valiantly but losing ground. Each time he fought another group, he lost weapons as he employed them or had them taken during hand-to-hand combat.
Before he knew it, he was weaponless and pinned down by the last trooper in the group that had gone after him. The man used his grappling line and once again Din found his oxygen being taken away.
These guys may only have one move, but it is effective.
Din was trying not to panic as he struggled to breathe. The reality of possibly being captured again hit him hard. He didn't know what would happen if Gideon got his hands on him another time. One thing was certain, Din doubted he'd have any chance of escaping another capture. The Moff would never let it happen a second time.
Din fought hard but his airway was getting smaller as the line tightened around his neck. He was on the verge of blacking out when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"No, no, no, no."
Through foggy eyes, Din saw a metal claw reach out and strangle the guard who had him. The other claw broke the man's hand and crushed his blaster.
The grappling line loosened and Din sucked in a full breath. The next moment he was being sprayed with bacta and looked up to see Grogu using the nozzle in the IG-12 suit. He wasn't even sure who told the kid it was there. Maybe Greef?
The spray wouldn't work with all the armor on Din's body and the helmet, but the kid didn't know that, and Din appreciated the attempt.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Din assured Grogu, his voice raspy and hoarse from the grappling line.
"Will you cut me loose?"
Grogu hit a button on his suit to answer before deploying a blade that Din himself had shown the kid how to use.
"Yes."
"Thank you for your help," Din said gratefully.
Grogu blinked at him and cooed. The child was very happy to see his father alive. He had seen Din flanked by troopers and had snuck away from Bo's group to rescue him. He wasn't going to let Din be taken away from him again.
Of all the ways Din had expected to get out of that situation, having Grogu save him wasn't one of them. Maybe Cara was right, maybe he wasn't giving the kid enough credit. Grogu had proven time and time again that he was listening to everything Din taught him, observing, and applying what he learned.
Bo had called Grogu his apprentice on the land ship when the child broke up the brawl between Paz and Axe. Maybe that was how Din needed to see him now. Especially as they were about to embark on their most perilous journey yet. Which was saying something considering how many times he and Grogu had faced danger together.
In order to keep his foundling alive, Din would need to start treating him like an apprentice. Which meant that Grogu would have to be more involved in the next part of Din's plan. But Din felt a tinge of worry at the realization. How could he ask the kid to do this? Maybe he should never have brought the child. The idea of being caught, made a prisoner, even tortured again didn't frighten Din nearly as much as thinking of Gideon getting his hands on Grogu.
But they needed this to be over. Gideon needed to die, or he'd keep coming after them. They needed their planet back. Mandalorians had been on the run too long. He and the kid had been on the run too long. He needed to stop worrying about Grogu and get on with the job at hand and hope that the Armorer was right to tell him to bring the kid along.
With that determination made, Din decided that the first thing he had to do was tell the child the truth about what was going to happen next.
"Grogu, I'm going to need you to be brave for me, okay?" Din said, looking straight into the child's eyes. He felt like the boy looked back into his, seeing through the helmet and the T-visor.
Grogu cooed again, worry in his tiny voice as his little brow furrowed at his dad.
"We can't keep running. If we don't take out Moff Gideon, this will never end."
Grogu gave an affirmative coo.
"You with me?" Din asked his foundling….no, his apprentice.
Grogu nodded solemnly and Din's heart filled with pride for the child.
Din grabbed a jetpack from one of the fallen troopers as his own had been damaged in the fight. It was a valuable piece of equipment, used not only for flight but in combat as well. Din didn't want to go any further without one.
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Where are they?!
Bo noticed with terror that suddenly Din and Grogu were missing from her group. She couldn't believe it; they were simply there one instant and gone the next. The battle was fierce, and she had to keep fighting to ensure her other people were safe. She could only hope that father and son were okay, to think of any other possibility made her gut clench in a way that would stop her from continuing the battle. After all Din had been through, Bo couldn't imagine that it would end like this, with him and his child captured by Gideon.
Before she let her mind go too far with imagining gruesome possibilities, her comm crackled. The voice over the line made her nearly stumble with relief.
"Bo-Katan, come in."
Din.
She noted that the Mandalorian used her full name, something he hadn't done in a while. It instantly put more weight on what he was about to say.
She kept her voice steady, not revealing any of the fear she'd felt after he and Grogu had disappeared.
"Received. Where are you?"
"We're safe. I escaped. I've got the kid."
Bo felt another wave of relief at the news that Grogu was with Din and safe. Din sounded calm, confident, like the Mandalorian warrior she'd always known. He had this; she had no reason to worry. He was letting her know she could concentrate on her job, and he would handle what he needed to do.
"I'm going after Moff Gideon. Do you have a location?"
"No. We are under attack. I have to get the troops to safety."
Bo wished with everything she had that she could go with Din. But maybe this was a battle he needed to have, or at least start, on his own. The Moff had done unspeakable things to Din. Now it was Din's turn to find him and make him pay. She was only sorry she wouldn't be there to see it.
"Understood," Din said.
They were talking in code, each intent on their own assignments. This wasn't the time for the easy conversations they'd had on the cruiser, or the banter during and after Din's recovery. They both had jobs to do. Din was going after the Moff and Bo was leading her people inside to get as many of Gideon's troopers into the center of the base as possible. When Axe crashed the cruiser, they wanted to leave no survivors. They were setting a trap.
"Stay safe," Bo said, her voice softening a tad. Din felt his lips turn up slightly at the sound of her sincerity.
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Unaware that the Moff was watching his progress and planning to take care of the Mandalorian himself, Din moved further into the base.
Din kept a close eye on the kid, instructing him to stay back and duck behind corners whenever troops or droids walked past. Grogu was getting the idea and followed his instructions without hesitation.
As they continued, they passed areas Din had seen when he had been marched to and from his cell during his imprisonment. But he still didn't know where the Moff was. He couldn't just wander around forever; the base was too large, and they were on a time crunch with the impending fall of the cruiser. He needed a location for Gideon.
Then Din got an idea, remembering that there was someone nearby who could help him. Glad that he'd thought to have R5 deployed with the ground troops and hidden outside one of the entrances to the base, he called for the droid.
"R5. Come in, R5."
He heard the droid reply and breathed a sigh that this plan might actually work.
"I need you, buddy."
Din told R5 what he wanted and listened to the little guy's hesitant beeps. Din apologized for not speaking binary, but he still needed his help.
A few minutes later R5 came through and Din praised the droid when he delivered the schematics that gave Gideon's possible location.
Din showed Grogu the information and where they were headed, again treating the child like an apprentice. He had no choice but to keep doing it. The more he told Grogu, the safer the kid would be.
They were deep into the base when they rounded a corner and Din saw their way blocked by multiple force fields, each section guarded with at least two troopers that he could see. They were standing on a narrow catwalk, with nothing but empty space below.
He turned to Grogu, pushing him back so he wouldn't be spotted.
Din knew what he had to do and decided to warn the kid about what was going to happen. Din didn't want Grogu to come after him, no matter what he saw. He figured the best way to do that was to give him a heads-up.
"The command center is down there," Din told his apprentice. "I don't have any weapons so this might get…messy."
Grogu took the information in stride. Satisfied that the kid was prepared, Din called for R5 and asked his help to deactivate the shields.
Giving a final nod to Grogu, Din ordered R5 to deactivate the first shield. The guards looked up in surprise when it dropped, and Din used that to his advantage to go in swinging. He punched the first one and kicked the second before they knew what happened. Din got a knife off one of the guards, slicing it easily into the space between the man's beskar armor.
Blaster fire suddenly hit Din in his back armor, and he spun the guard he was fighting, using the man's shield to block the next blast. That dropped the one he'd been wrestling with, and the stolen knife took care of the one doing the firing. The only downside being that Din had to throw said knife, which took away the weapon when the guard fell over the edge. Din cursed to himself but didn't pause. He grabbed another knife from the downed trooper and ordered R5 to drop the next forcefield.
The next two guards had stun batons and shields. It was almost as if Gideon had them grouped by weapons, starting with easy ones, and working up to tougher ones.
Well, Din was used to that. It was beginning to feel like just another day of training.
The Mandalorian ran into the middle of them, slicing with the knife and hitting both troopers. One struck him with the stun baton, which tossed Din running backwards into the other one, who then stunned him in the back. Din used the momentum, running towards the other trooper and knocking him down with a powerful kick. He turned back to the one who stunned him, getting the trooper to the ground with a punch and holding out his arm to knock him in the chest.
When the man was down, Din grabbed the stun baton, upgrading his weaponry. He fought the second trooper who still had his own weapon, but Din took care of him with ease. As he dropped that trooper, he felt the other one getting up behind him. Din sent him flying over the edge of the catwalk with a forceful back kick, picking up a fallen shield as he stood up.
The troopers on the other side of the next shield had watched all the fighting, waiting for him with what looked like a touch of trepidation. They'd seen what he'd done with no weapons, already taking down several of their brethren. Din got up and faced them confidently, now armed with a stun pole and a shield.
In other words, the Mandalorian was ready for anything.
Din wasn't nervous, he was in his element. While the stakes were too high and his foundling too close to say that he was having fun, he was in a zone. His adrenaline was pumping, and he felt it giving his body what it needed, more oxygen and blood flow to his limbs.
It felt good to fight again. Really fight. This wasn't training or drilling. These were real enemies, bent on killing him. They were untrained compared to the people he sparred with, but it was still a fight.
Din asked R5 to drop the next shield and he smirked to himself when he noticed that the troopers didn't come after him. They waited to see what he was going to do, and he flew into them without hesitation. They had slightly more weaponry than the last two, and one used a blaster on him while he fought the other. Din used the large shield he'd confiscated, knocking the first trooper down with it, then stepped into the other's space to stun him in the leg. He followed up by bashing the man in the head with the edge of the shield, then with the stun pole. The trooper fell in a heap.
The first one got back up but luckily Din had gotten the blaster off the other. He and the trooper were locked in a close quarters battle, alternately firing their blasters, and blocking the blasts with their shields. Din needed to get to the next section of the walkway and open up his fighting area. Even if it gave him two more combatants, it was still better than the challenge he faced now.
"R5, next shield!" Din called into his comm.
Din kept firing, but the shield didn't drop. He tried again.
"R5, next shield!"
Still nothing. Smoke filled the small space from the blaster fire. Out of his peripheral, Din noticed the guards on the other side of the next shield watching the battle warily.
Din kept firing and ducking.
I hope they didn't find him and hurt the little guy.
Hoping that the droid could still hear him, Din tried again, unable to help the desperate note in his voice.
"R5, next shield!"
Finally, Din dropped the trooper just in time for the shield to fall. Using the smoke as cover, he ran and slid toward the two new combatants, much as he had done to Axe and Med during the match that had given him back his armor.
Din knocked the closer guard off his feet, sparks shooting up as his armor scraped across the metal deck. Seeing that the guard had dropped his blaster, Din picked it up without pausing his slide.
Din got up and ran around the trooper who was still on his feet, momentum carrying him into the wall. Again, the Mandalorian used the extra force to his benefit, spinning around to fire. The trooper got one shot off that deflected off Din's beskar before Din dropped him permanently with a shot of his own. He fired twice more and took out the other trooper before the man was able to get fully to his feet.
Din stood panting for a few seconds, his shoulders going up and down with each heavy breath. Sweat dripped off his face under the helmet from the intensity of the battle.
"R5, good job, buddy," Din praised the droid. Without the little guy's help, he never would have made it through, and he appreciated it.
Din took the other blaster off the fallen trooper, inspecting his new weapons. They had much longer barrels than his old blaster had, and he liked the way they fired.
He heard tentative footsteps and looked up to see Grogu coming around the corner. The kid had correctly summarized that the coast was clear, and Din tipped his head, indicating he should follow. They had to keep moving and his foundling… no, his apprentice had to keep up. There was no time to pause.
Din led the way as they continued into the base, holding the confiscated blasters at the ready. They walked into a room filled with glass tanks and Din's gut roiled when he saw what was floating inside.
Gideon's clones.
"Wait here," he told Grogu as he walked to the end of the room.
Over his shoulder, Din noticed Grogu stepping closer to one of the tanks, looking at it nervously.
"That's not Gideon," he reassured the kid. "Those are his clones."
Din knew Gideon was sick and egotistical, but he hadn't thought that the Moff would go so far as to clone himself. It made Din better understand the man's insatiable need for Grogu's blood, though. He was obviously hoping to give his clones powers with the Force.
Not today, you bastard.
Din started flipping switches to shut down the tanks and destroy the clones before they were fully formed.
He heard Grogu squeak in fright, which told Din that one of the things must have moved. They were more mature than he thought, and Din went through the shutdown process faster. Once he heard the tanks powering down, he turned back to Grogu.
"Let's go!" He told the kid. He knew Grogu was scared but they had to keep moving to stay alive and get to the Moff.
Din looked back to make sure Grogu made it out before the tanks exploded, then kept running with the kid close behind.
Once they got well past the clone room, Din slowed to a walk so he could observe their surroundings better. Both blasters drawn, he led them through the passageways. They entered a large circular room with lights around the edge, clearly the communications center they'd seen on the schematics from R5.
The door hissed and clanked closed behind them, and Din ran back to the controls. He was trying to open it when a familiar voice rang out. Din gestured silently to Grogu to duck behind a wall as he ducked behind another one himself.
Right on cue, the Moff began his typical bloviating and Din rolled his eyes under his helmet.
"My clones were finally going to be perfect. The best parts of me but improved by adding the one thing I never had. The Force."
Din raised his guns, itching to blast that pompous ass as he kept up his speech. But he needed the man closer if he was going to get through Gideon's new beskar armor.
"I was isolating the potential to wield the Force, and incorporating it into an unstoppable army. And you smothered them before they could draw their first breath."
Din didn't think the Moff could sound angrier than he had when Din stared him down after he took off his helmet, before he took away Din's eyes.
I guess killing his clones made him angrier.
Gideon didn't seem surprised to see Din alive and no longer blinded. If Din had to guess, it was probably another reason the Moff would hate him right then. He not only had Grogu, but the child had helped him heal from the heinous injuries Gideon had given him.
Deciding that the time was right, Din bolted out from behind his hiding spot, firing with both blasters. Gideon used his armor to deflect the blasts, then fired a rocket from one of his vambraces.
Din wasn't expecting the weapon, but his training kicked in and he ducked fast. He heard Grogu yelp in surprise, but a fast look assured him the kid was okay. Gideon put on his helmet, then Din heard the familiar whir of the suit's mechanics.
When he'd been strapped to that table, Din had wanted to battle the Moff, to see if he could beat the other man even with the extra additions to his armor. Now the Mandalorian had his chance.
Din bolted toward Gideon, firing both blasters relentlessly. When he got close, Din activated his stolen jetpack, blasting toward Gideon with deadly speed. The Mandalorian barreled straight into the Moff's chest. It was a move that would have easily dropped and seriously injured a man without armor. But even as Din grunted with the effort, Gideon stayed on his feet, skidding along the floor.
Gideon used Din's impetus against him, turning and tossing him into a nearby storage cube with deadly force. The Moff kicked Din's blasters aside as he walked toward the downed Mandalorian. Din barely got to his feet before Gideon was pounding into him. Din felt each punch from the modified suit to his core, despite his own beskar.
The Moff was fast, Din had to give him that. The man managed to get a reinforced hand around his throat, but Din easily pushed his arms off. So, the Moff tossed him again, apparently done with trying to fight hand-to-hand with a warrior of Din's standard. The Moff came at him and swung his fist high, prepared to hit Din as hard as he could, but Din rolled out of the way in time to hear the punch crack the floor where he'd just been.
Din stood up, ready to go after the Moff again when he heard a new sound. He didn't identify it immediately; it was a crackling not unlike the stun batons the guards on the catwalk had.
Din turned to the noise, finding three Praetorian Guards stalking toward him. The Mandalorian got into a battle stance, willing his heart to stop its frantic uptick in beats and his lungs to stop their quick panicked breaths. He'd heard about these guards and knew what they were capable of, even prior to the Moff telling him that some of them (undoubtedly these same three) had killed Paz Vizsla.
This new development was serious, but Din was ready to fight. He wasn't going to let the Moff get him or Grogu this time. The guards surrounded him, and Din used every evasive maneuver he had ever learned to keep all three of them at bay as he looked for weaknesses and ways to take them out.
But they were well-trained, and they outnumbered him. Before he knew it, Din was on the ground being hit hard by one of the electric blades they carried.
Memories of the debriefing room toiled in Din's mind unbidden, the electricity from the weapon echoing the times he'd been strapped to the table screaming. He tried to get up, but the guard pushed him down. Din felt his body shaking uncontrollably from the bolts shattering through his nervous system.
Through the haze of pain, Din heard a new sound, one that made his heart drop. An angry coo, the likes of which he'd never heard uttered by Grogu before.
The guards turned away from Din, walking toward the unusual sight of the small child controlling a former bounty droid.
Din's body shook residually even as the guards turned away. He was ashamed of the sense of relief he felt, knowing that the only reason the pain had receded was that they were now going after his foundling…no, his apprentice.
Grogu turned and ran in fear from the advancing guards. The Mandalorian tried to get up, still trembling from the effects of the electricity. Unable to move, he could only watch in helpless horror as the terrifying scene unfolded in front of him. The kid was trying to fight the guards off using the arms of the IG-12, but it didn't work, and Grogu was pushed farther away.
When he saw the guards force the child into the communications room and out of his sight as the doors closed behind them, The Mandalorian tapped into a store of strength he didn't know he still had.
"NO!" Din cried in anguish as he rose on legs that shook, heading toward where the kid had gone.
The mental pain he felt at that moment was stronger than any torture he experienced during his time in that awful debriefing room. Everything in Din's heart, in his entire being cried out with that one word. No physical agony could compare to the idea that Grogu might be taken away from him. And not taken away because he had chosen to train with a Jedi, or even because they had somehow found his parents. But taken away forever.
Din ran toward where the kid and the guards had gone, his only thought to get Grogu back. He had completely forgotten about the Moff's presence until the man fired another rocket from his vambrace, throwing Din to the floor stunned. He struggled back to his feet, not even bothering to look back, his focus on the sealed doors in front of him.
Before he'd gotten more than a few strides, Din heard the sound of a grappling line being deployed. He didn't slow down, hoping that he might somehow avoid it, but he was tossed violently to the floor yet again. The Moff yanked mercilessly, dragging the Mandalorian by his throat across the deck.
As the line tightened on his neck, Din felt his lungs straining to pull in a full breath. But in that moment, he still didn't care if he died, he was determined not to let anything happen to Grogu.
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Grogu backed away from the large scary men. He hadn't put much thought into what he would do if they came after him, he'd just known he couldn't let them hurt his father. The guards quickly took out the suit, but Grogu kept out of their way, leaping across the communications array near the ceiling.
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On the ground with the Moff approaching, Din pulled out his vibroblade and cut the grappling line from around his neck. He barely managed to take in a shaky breath before the Moff kicked him hard, using the mechanics in his suit to send Din spinning to the ground. Gideon immediately used his flamethrower on Din's back as the Mandalorian rolled away.
Din groaned as the flames burned hot, reminding him of the heat of the poker when Gideon had burned him again and again in the debriefing room. Pushing aside the pain, Din went after the other man with his blade, but the Moff beat him back with several massive punches. The last one threw Din down, his helmet ringing around his ears from the impact.
From the ground, Din managed to kick one of the Moff's feet out from under him. Jumping back up, Din threw a punch, but Gideon caught it in one hand. It was then that Din realized Gideon had also put mechanics into the gloves of his suit. The Mandalorian felt the bones of his hands being squeezed nearly to the point of breaking and gritted his teeth to keep from grunting in pain.
Gideon held Din's hand tight, using the crushing of his fingers as a distraction so that he could deliver a knee to the Mandalorian's face. The helmet blocked the brunt of it, but Din still felt the force and he was caught off guard when the Moff's other reinforced hand grabbed him by the neck.
The Moff lifted Din nearly off his feet and once again, Din felt his windpipe being squeezed and precious oxygen being taken away. He stretched his legs, standing on the toes of his boots to try and take some of the pressure off his bruised throat. Gideon held him up a few seconds, then punched hard enough to send the Mandalorian skidding across the floor.
Din kept fighting, but in his mind all he could think of was Grogu. Time was ticking by with the kid alone in that room with the guards. He knew Grogu was smart, and he certainly had talent, so Din was confident he could hold his own for a little while. But it was only a matter of time before the guards found the child's weaknesses and used them.
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Bo was flying and fighting, using any weapon at her disposal to take out all the troopers she could. She switched from her blasters, to the Darksaber and back again.
She had just taken out two more troopers when she saw something that made her heart drop. Down below on another landing pad she could see Gideon advancing on a fallen figure.
Din.
Grogu and the mech suit were nowhere in sight, which meant the child had to be in trouble.
Wielding the sword, Bo flew in on the attack. Using the power from her jetpack and the element of surprise, the Mandalorian leader threw the Moff to the ground.
There was no time to say anything more than was absolutely necessary. Gideon was going to get up any second and Grogu was obviously in trouble.
Bo turned to Din and assured him.
"I've got this, go save your kid."
Din didn't bother with a reply. He knew as well as she did that time was of the essence. His thoughts were still only on Grogu when he stumbled to his feet, snagging his two blasters as he went, running toward the closed door where the guards had chased Grogu.
Bo turned her attention to the Moff, ready to finish the battle she had started with the man years ago. No matter what, he was not getting away from her this time. Even if she died in the attempt.
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Grogu kept away from the guards as long as he could, but just as Din had predicted, they eventually got the better of him. One managed to slice apart the communications array he had been skipping across, sending him to the ground, crying in fright.
Grogu landed hard and a piece of the broken equipment fell on him, stunning the child. The three guards advanced on the tiny being, weapons raised. Grogu whimpered in fear as they came closer, wishing his father were there.
Din came flying through the door, blasters blazing. He shot all three guards in quick succession, knocking them to the ground. Their armor deflected the bulk of his shots, but at least he had distracted them from the kid.
Grogu looked up in relief to see his father battling the scary men in red.
The guards had more new weapons. One used a stun whip, wrapping it around one of Din's arms before he could deflect it. He shook in pain and shock but quickly recovered, blasting the guard in the leg. He fought off another guard one-handed, using his vambrace on one arm to deflect multiple blows while his other arm was still wrapped by the whip.
Din had no hands left when the third guard came for him. He was being driven to his knees when the attacking guard went flying, crashing into the wall.
Grogu!
Using the distraction the kid had given him, Din wrenched himself back to his feet and delivered a hard kick to the guard on his left. He turned his attention to the one wielding the whip, ignoring the stinging pain to yank on the cord and pull the guard off his feet. He tossed the man aside, finally ridding himself of the painful device.
The guard Grogu had thrown came at him, but Din ducked his blows and elbowed him in the face, dropping him again.
Din was getting tired, there was no doubt about it. Whether it was from the residual effects of being a prisoner and his previously weakened state, he couldn't be sure. Though at that point he'd been fighting long enough that he probably would've been just as tired even without that previous experience.
But that experience had done one thing for the weakening Mandalorian, it lit a fire under him. Din was sick and tired of Gideon and his people getting the upper hand. Anger flared and he used that to keep pushing past the fatigue of battling multiple groups of opponents, as well as the pain of all the weapons that had pummeled or shocked him since he'd arrived at the base.
The whip-wielding guard went after Grogu while Din fought off two others. Din felt a moment of apprehension until he saw the guard thrown to the ground.
Good job, kid!
Din kept fighting, hitting anything on the guards he could get a fist or elbow into, slicing his blade through any vulnerable area he could find.
One guard got through his defenses, delivering a massive blow to the head, and this time it was Din who went flying. He slid along the floor, ending up next to Grogu. The guard went to attack again with his spear and Din put up an arm instinctively, ready to use his vambrace to block the blow and protect himself and the child.
But Grogu beat him to it. Raising a tiny arm, the kid held the weapon back long enough for Din to deliver a savage kick that sent the man staggering.
One of the other guards attacked before Din could catch his breath, but he got up into a kneeling position, ducking away from the blow. Using his vibroblade, Din stabbed the guard that was already staggering. He'd found a vulnerable spot between the man's armor, sending him to the floor to not rise again.
Reaching for his blaster, Din hit one of the other guards in his chest armor with multiple blasts and the man dropped. He was only stunned though, and Din knew he'd have to deal with him again.
At least there are only two now.
The other guard came at Din with a stun blade, knocking the blaster out of his hand. But Din deflected the next blow with his vambrace and vibroblade, striking the blade away from the guard.
Din noted with a satisfied grin that the stun blade slid away from the guard before he could pick it up. He and Grogu were working like a well-oiled machine and the kid had just given him the opening he needed. Going back for the weak spot he'd found, Din drove his blade between the guard's helmet and chest armor.
Before the guard hit the floor, Din had already turned to take on the last one still standing, who was attacking from behind. Din ducked the attack, kneeling down to blast the man in the foot to bring him to the floor, then followed it up with a blast in the same spot he'd stabbed the last man – between the chest plate and the bottom edge of the helmet. The final guard fell for good.
When all the guards were dead, Din looked back to make sure Grogu was okay. The kid jumped over the fallen debris and Din was relieved to see him unharmed.
"You did good, kid," Din told him with pride, breathing heavily.
Grogu dipped his head with a coo that very nearly sounded like "thank you," making the Mandalorian smile under his helmet.
Together, he and Grogu had done the impossible. They had bested three Praetorian Guards. The Armorer had said Grogu might be an important part of the battle, and the kid had proven the matriarch right. Without Grogu's help, Din would be dead. Without Din's help, Grogu would be dead. They had only been able to do it together, as a team.
It was time to get back into the rest of the fight. Din had no doubt about Bo's skills as a warrior, but the Moff was at an advantage with his special armor. Now that the kid was safe, Din needed to make sure she was, too.
And if he got to help kill the Moff, well, that would just be a nice bonus.
Din rounded the corner and assessed the situation. The Moff had removed Bo's helmet, no surprise there. She was also without the Darksaber and even at that distance, Din saw signs of pain in her face.
Gideon was bloviating as usual. Again, no surprise there. But luckily it kept the Moff from noticing as Din advanced on him.
"Mandalorians are weak once they lose their trinkets," the Moff was saying, obviously enjoying himself just as he had when he had Din strapped to the table and was watching over some form of torture.
Bo looked up as she started to get to her feet. She spotted Din over Gideon's shoulder and smiled.
"Mandalorians are stronger together," she told the Moff.
Din took that as his cue and began firing with both blasters. His shots knocked the Moff aside, giving Bo a chance to get to her feet and pull her own blaster.
They were running out of time. According to the schedule they had set up, Axe would be coming in hot with the cruiser any second.
Sure enough, just as the firefight got going, the nose of the ship came crashing through the opening in the rock walls above them. It sent fiery debris flying, knocking them all to the ground.
Din was the first to recover and started blasting again before he'd even fully risen to his feet. Gideon recovered not long after, firing heavily at the Mandalorian until he was being forced back with each bolt, grunting at the painful hits to his beskar armor. Din was hit again and again until he was driven to a kneeling position. Before he was knocked completely to the floor, Bo came skidding over on her knees. She raised her shield to deflect the blasts, giving Din a chance to fight back.
The cruiser continued to decimate the base, sending larger and larger chunks of debris raining down on them. But the fight went on, each of the combatants locked in a battle they knew had to end in death.
The ground shook again, tossing them all to the deck. Din saw Grogu tumble down, but he had to keep fighting. They couldn't let the Moff live or all of them would be in danger, including the child. Bo ran interference for Din, allowing him to get to his feet as she deflected more blasts with her shield.
Suddenly the Moff was tossed aside, and Din looked over to see Grogu with his hand in the air. The little one had joined in the battle, making them a team of three against Gideon.
Gideon reached for his saber, but Grogu tossed it over the edge of the bucking landing pad with a flick of his tiny hand. Sparks rained down and flaming rubble fell all around them.
They were running out of time.
Gideon turned to raise one of his vambraces to fire on Grogu, but grunted in pain instead when Din blasted his arm. Din ran toward Grogu and slid on his knees to land in front of the child, firing at the Moff the whole time.
The Moff kept shooting and Bo also slid over, holding up her shield to deflect the blasts from all of them.
Above them, the cruiser made its way fully into the base. The noise was deafening as metal screeched against rock and explosions shook the cavern.
Almost as if they had planned it, Gideon was closest to the edge of the platform when the cruiser roared by. Seeing it was too late to escape his fate, the Moff raised his arms and screamed in fury as the fireball engulfed him. Then the wall of flames headed toward the three huddled on the floor.
Din was certain this was it and could only hope that it would be a fast death for all of them. At least they had saved Mandalore from the Imps. But he was sorry that he had agreed to let Grogu come with them. If he had refused, the child would be safe instead of joining him in death now. It was the last thing he had ever wanted for the kid.
A massive explosion blew through the base, sending flames high into the sky. The Mandalorians who had escaped watched it from above in their jetpacks. All wondered if Lady Kryze, Din Djarin and the child had escaped, but many feared they hadn't. How could they?
Bo and Din had their heads down, waiting for the flames to engulf them, but the fire never came. Slowly, they raised their heads and looked in abject shock to see the fireball going around them. They were encased in a bubble of protection, the flames and heat rolling off harmlessly.
Din knew it was Grogu, he didn't need to look down to confirm it. He was too busy staring in wonder at the flames. The last time Grogu had done this, Din had been severely injured and moments away from death after the Moff's first attack on him. Now Grogu was doing it again and Din needed to see it with his own eyes, to look upon the power that the small child below him could wield.
Bo didn't know what was happening and it wasn't until she looked down at Grogu that she understood why they weren't all being ravaged by flames. She'd seen Grogu heal Din but somehow that still hadn't prepared her for the immense force the boy was demonstrating now.
Below them, Grogu's eyes were closed in concentration, holding their bubble of safety intact with his little hands.
Over the child's head, Din and Bo looked at each other. No words were needed. They knew what the other was thinking. While they'd each seen examples of what Grogu could do, this was a miracle of a level neither of them knew was possible.
They looked down at the boy below them, then back up at each other as the flames finally started dying down. Grogu sat heavily on the ground, exhausted from the effort to hold back such a mighty blast.
Din left the boy where he was, knowing he just needed rest. He and Bo got to their feet to watch the base crumble around them. They protected the child who had protected them, waiting for the flames to die away.
They had made it.
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When it was all over, the weary combatants returned to their people. Everyone was excited but drained, it had been a long battle.
Din saw Med briefly, long enough for each of them to be reassured the other was okay. Med took a look at Grogu and confirmed the boy was simply sleeping after the massive amount of power he had used. Med tried to get Din to go with him to be checked out, but he had refused, knowing there were others who needed treatment more than he did. All Din needed was rest.
The small group of Mandalorians who had never left the planet showed them to a place where they could make camp. As Din rested in his small shelter that night with Grogu sleeping safely at his side, certain moments of the battle played over and over in his mind.
Grogu showing up to rescue him from the trooper who'd been strangling him.
Grogu crying out in anger and coming after him when the Praetorian Guards attacked.
Seeing Grogu chased away by the guards, feeling like he might never see him again.
"I've got this. Go save your kid."
Bo's words still hung in his mind.
"..your kid."
Bo, the Armorer, Cara, even Mayfeld, had given Din the title of father, had called Grogu his child. He'd heard it in various forms, "your kid", "his kid", "your father."
Ahsoka had said, "you're like a father to him."
When she'd made them a clan, the Armorer had said, "you are as its father."
When the Moff had taken Grogu, Cara had told Mayfeld, "They took his kid."
Din knew full well that others referred to him as Grogu's father, but he'd never given that title to himself. Grogu was his ward, his foundling, his responsibility. When others called Grogu his child, he typically didn't correct them. The title of "father" or "dad" was one that he let others bestow upon him as they may, in order to help protect Grogu. When it was just a stranger or someone in a cantina serving them food, they hardly needed to know their family history. In fact, for the purposes of getting a meal or supplies, it helped if he was seen as the child's parent.
Sometimes Din purposely projected a strong parental energy toward Grogu, letting people know that the little one was under the watchful (and vengeful) eye of a fearsome warrior. After all, who would dare harm the child of a Mandalorian? Not many.
But there were also those times when Din was around particularly vile cohorts. When the people he worked with or did business with looked for weaknesses and preyed on any frailty they could use to their advantage. Find out a man has a child, and you suddenly had a weapon to wield over him. Din had seen it time and time again before finding himself caring for an orphaned baby.
Din hadn't been above using that tactic himself as a hunter. Not that he'd ever hurt a child, but a quarry didn't know that, and it had helped him rein in a few difficult ones. Whether it was a child, a spouse, a sibling, or anyone else with a strong bond, these could be used to influence another. Din was fully aware of it as a hunter, and as prey.
It was only at those times, running among those crowds, that Din would deny his connection to Grogu. The fact that they were such different species, and that Grogu didn't yet speak helped to conceal the familial relationship. Din could blatantly lie and tell potential enemies that Grogu was a "pet" or that he kept "it" around for luck.
Those phrases had stuck in Din's throat. He despised saying such things about a being as thoughtful, intelligent, and gifted as Grogu. But Din would always do, or say, whatever necessary to protect the child.
But still Din hadn't given himself the title of father. Not because he didn't care for Grogu. He cared for him very much, but he was also afraid to care too much. What had love of family ever gotten him, but pain? Pain from losing his parents, then his teacher, who'd been like a second father to him. There had also been the pain of thinking he had lost Med, the man who had become like his brother, in the battle on Nevarro,
Grogu had already left Din once and the pain from that separation had been nearly unbearable. Din could never go through what he went through on the bridge of that cruiser again, when he'd had to hand over the most important person in his life to someone else. If he allowed himself to claim Grogu and the child chose again to leave him... Din couldn't finish the thought. He had barely survived the first time. He didn't think he would survive again. How much loss could one person take in a lifetime? Din didn't want to find out.
And who was to say Grogu wouldn't do it again? The child was maturing slowly compared to humans, but he was still maturing. Din could have him for years, plenty of time to grow even more bonded to him, only to have Grogu choose to go back to the Jedi. So, it was easier to assume Grogu would leave him again someday, and keep his heart closed off tightly.
There was also the doubt Din had about himself as a father. He knew he had the ability to love but was that enough? Did he also have what it took to be a good parent? Especially to a child who was so much more special than he was? How could he presume to teach Grogu anything when he didn't understand what the kid could do? Din was just a man, Grogu's species was something evolved far beyond that.
Then again, Bo had told Din he was important, that everything he'd done had led them to where they were now. The Armorer had also said there was a reason he'd been captured. She had predicted that he and Grogu needed to be together when they went into the base. If he hadn't been with Grogu, they'd all be dead or under the power of the Imps. Gideon would have won and who knew what would have happened to Grogu then.
Were they right? Was he special enough to raise Grogu through this phase of his childhood? He may not see the child become an adult, but he could still have an impact on him. He wasn't a special species and didn't wield any supernatural powers, but maybe Din could accept that he might deserve Grogu because of his actions. He'd risked his life to rescue a child and keep him away from the Imps. He'd broken his Creed to keep Grogu safe, which some might see as a weakness, but Din saw as a strength. Another may have kept the helmet on but lost the child. How would that have been more honorable?
Maybe Grogu did need him. The whole reason Din had Grogu was that the Jedi had not been able to protect him. Yet he, one man, had kept the child safe, even taken him back after being kidnapped by a Moff. Sure, Din had gotten some help but maybe that was also part of what made him worthy of the child, that he was part of a larger clan. Being with Din didn't just offer Grogu the protection of a formidable parent, it also offered him the protection of an entire tribe.
And if Din thought Grogu was intelligent and special, then why was he denying what the child wanted? Grogu could tame huge beasts, he could beat back evil enemies, if he saw anything worrying or unworthy in Din as a parent, why would he come back to him? If Grogu reacted badly to someone upon a first meeting, Din took note and trusted his instincts. Why then didn't he trust the child's instincts about Din himself?
How could Din ignore that the child was drawn to him? Grogu sought out the Mandalorian and was always looking around to make sure he was there. He calmed in Din's presence. Even now, the child slept next to him, happy and peaceful when he felt Din's warmth and could hear his heart beating. Grogu always felt safe with Din, seemingly from the first moment they met.
Din also felt he had taught Grogu some things the Jedi hadn't. The child had learned from Din what it meant to be an honorable warrior. To fight and use anger and force, if necessary, but also when to be kind and courteous. Din wasn't just any Mandalorian, under the armor was a man who in many ways was similar to the child. Perhaps it was that part that had woven Grogu's heart to Din's, well before Din had ever realized it.
They had fought as a team against the Praetorian Guards. Would Grogu have been able to do that without watching Din? Sure, he still needed training, but it was obvious he'd seen a lot. Grogu had seen a Mandalorian fight and had learned from it. When he followed Din into that base, he had done so not just as a child, but as a partner.
Din's own words echoed back to him in his mind.
"Wherever I go, he goes."
Grogu had spent years being traded from one rotten group of thieves to another, each one determined to sell him to the highest bidder. Then he had been subjected to poking and prodding by the Moff's doctors before Din had rescued him. He'd also spent two years training with a Jedi before finally being asked what he wanted and choosing to return to Din.
Wasn't all that long enough for a child to be without family? Wouldn't it be better for Grogu to have a parent, even if their lives were always in danger? Wouldn't it be better for Din to have the child in his life for as long as he could, even if it meant being alone if Grogu changed his mind again someday?
Din realized then that he'd felt alone since he was a child. In the back of his mind, he'd always been that little boy hiding in a dark bunker. Despite having a clan, and a friend who had become almost like a brother, Din had still felt alone, abandoned, orphaned.
Din had felt alone when he'd been in the darkness of that cell, beaten and wounded from the Moff's torture. He hadn't found out until later, but Grogu had been with him, at least in spirit. Din could deny it all he wanted but Grogu was connected to him, and he was connected to Grogu.
The truth was he'd never been alone in that darkness, and he never would be again as long as he had Grogu.
Din's thoughts spun round and round in his mind. If the boy hadn't been sleeping next to him, Din would have started pacing, suddenly furious with himself.
What the kriffing hell am I waiting for?
If the kid leaves me, so be it. He already proved that he would come back. He left a Jedi for me. He got himself away from Bo and the other Mandalorians and rescued me in the Moff's base. Alone. He faced three Praetorian Guards to try and protect me.
We already fight well together, and he's barely trained. Imagine the team we'll be once he has more training.
Everyone calls him my son, except me. Am I that big of a coward that I won't accept him because I'm afraid it will hurt ME if he leaves? I'm denying him the title of my son because of my own feelings? I'm denying him the love and safety of having a parent, a family, because I don't think I can handle it?
Din Djarin you are an utter fool.
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A few days later, the Armorer kept her word and had a private ceremony to bathe Din in the Living Waters. He re-took his oath in front of her and Grogu, becoming redeemed after the removal of his helmet by Gideon.
Din had something very important on his mind and nearly asked the Armorer for her help once he'd re-taken his oath, but decided to wait until he could do it in front of all his people. Grogu deserved that.
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The following day, the Mandalorians gathered on the steps leading to the Living Waters.
It was time for Ragnar to complete his Creed ceremony. The boy already had his ceremony interrupted once by a hungry dinosaur turtle, then was kidnapped by a massive raptor, and tragically lost his father. He deserved this moment only to himself. It was right that he should have the first ceremony of any kind since they had reclaimed Mandalore.
Once Ragnar had taken his oath, Din knew it was time.
He took a deep breath and walked down the steps. Grogu was tucked into his left arm, in the place that gave them both comfort. Din projected calm as he walked past the group of Mandalorians, but his heart was racing against his chest. He swore he could feel it pounding against the beskar cuirass.
Bo wasn't fooled, she could tell Din was nervous, even in the armor. She had a feeling she knew why, but she gave no hints when she bowed her head as he walked past. Her knowing smile was safely hidden under her helmet.
Din walked down the steps in front of the Armorer, placing Grogu on the step above where the waters lapped gently. He stepped down until he was standing in the Waters, then turned to face the Armorer, ready to make his case.
"Grogu is my apprentice. He is no longer a foundling."
The little one didn't know what his father had planned and why he was placed on the steps. When Grogu heard Din speak those words, he looked up in surprise.
Din looked down at the child proudly, smiling wide under his helmet.
"Add him to the Song."
The Armorer had been facing away from them and turned at Din's last words.
"He is too young to speak, so he is too young to take the Creed," she said with certainty, but there was a touch of something else in her voice. It might have been regret; Din wasn't sure.
"He must remain a foundling," she concluded, turning away from them again.
Din watched as Grogu's face fell, cooing sadly. The little one looked up at the Armorer and it seemed to Din like he was trying to speak, but was still unable to form any of the words he wanted.
Din could see Grogu's struggle, and it made his own heart fall, but he had been prepared for this.
It's now or never, Din Djarin. Quit being so afraid and do it already.
"If his parent gave permission, couldn't he then become a Mandalorian apprentice?" Din kept the nerves out of his voice by an act of will that only compared to the day he had risen to his feet, blinded, starved and in agony, to walk himself out of that base to escape imprisonment by the Moff.
Din saw Grogu's face turn to him, hope in his eyes. Din's heart raced harder at the look.
The Armorer studied the bowl in her hands as she spoke.
"Yes, but his parents are far from here, if they are even alive."
Din looked down at Grogu as the child's face fell again.
Just hang with me, kid. This is all part of what needs to happen, I promise.
Din took a deep breath, steeling himself for what may very well be the most important words he was ever going to speak in his life. He looked down at Grogu, then up at the Armorer again.
"Then I will adopt him as my own."
On the steps, Bo felt tears stinging her eyes. She had known in her heart that this was coming, but it didn't stop the emotion she felt as the moment played out in front of her.
Grogu looked up at his father with a surprised squeak. If anyone had asked the young one right then, he would've said that he didn't think this day would ever come. And he'd been okay with that. They didn't need any titles other than those they'd already been given to be a family. The Armorer had said Din was like his father. Din took care of him and protected him. Din loved him. These things Grogu never doubted. He didn't really care that Din had never referred to himself as Grogu's father. He was his father and that's all that mattered to the child.
But now, Grogu was hearing the words he never thought he'd hear. His father was claiming him as his own.
The Armorer turned to Din slowly, her voice full of more emotion than Din had ever heard before. It wasn't much and anyone not from her tribe might not have heard it at all, but Din did.
"This… is… the Way," she said, nodding in approval, giving the impression that she'd been waiting for this all along, which, Din admitted, she probably had. She was always at least a few steps ahead of him.
"This is the Way," Din replied, raising his head proudly. He had just claimed his son and suddenly nothing felt more right in the universe than that.
Grogu looked back and forth between Din and the Armorer, still hardly believing his large ears.
The Armorer turned to the gathered Mandalorians, raising her voice as she made the pronouncement.
"Let it be written in Song that Din Djarin is accepting this foundling as his son."
The Mandalorians didn't move or make a sound, but Din could feel their approval.
Bo's tears ran freely under her helmet. It was hard to believe that a few months ago she hadn't been certain that Din would be alive to see his son again, and now she was honored to witness him adopt the boy formally.
Grogu looked up at the Armorer with a small coo as she gazed down upon him.
"You are now Din Grogu, Mandalorian apprentice."
The watching Mandalorians spoke as one.
"This is the Way!"
Grogu bowed to the Armorer, accepting his new title. His little heart was filled with joy. He had a family again. A true family, not just in spirit, but in actual name.
Din looked down at the child… no, his son. The Mandalorian was smiling under his helmet, his heart full of pride at the way his boy had accepted his new title. The Armorer was one of the few people who knew that Din was his family name, and he wasn't surprised when she'd named his son "Din Grogu."
Din was still staring at Grogu in wonder when the Armorer spoke again, tearing his attention away.
"You must leave Mandalore," she said. "And take your apprentice on his journeys, just as your teacher did for you."
Din hadn't really thought about what would come next. But of course, they couldn't stay. He needed to work again, to go back to some semblance of his normal life.
Except now he had a son to take with him. Din Djarin was no longer without a family, he was a father. Not just in spirit, but in name.
"This is the Way," Din replied.
Grogu looked down into the Waters and Din watched him curiously. The boy seemed to see something down there, but Din wasn't sure what. Din had been in those waters and had seen nothing but blackness. He gathered Grogu in his arms and walked through the crowd of Mandalorians. He turned to look at Bo as he passed, knowing that she felt his joy despite the beskar on his head, just as he felt her congratulations despite the helmet on her head.
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By the next day, Din had come up with a plan and was already on his way. He knew he was missing the re-lighting of the Great Forge, but he wanted to get moving. He'd had months of his life stolen by the Imps and didn't want to wait any longer. He'd helped his people get back to their planet, now it was time for him to become a teacher and start training Grogu in earnest.
As he flew them to their destination, Grogu sleeping contentedly in his lap, Din allowed himself to think the words he'd wanted to for the last two years, ever since he had stumbled across a quarry that had managed to wiggle its way into his heart.
The Mandalorian looked down at the boy snoozing against his chest. He had finally found what his heart needed.
My son.
I'm a father.
There were no other qualifiers now. He wasn't acting "as its father" as the Armorer had said when giving him his quest all that time ago.
He's mine.
Din smiled down at Grogu's peaceful face.
He's mine and I'm his.
Din thought of his own parents.
Father, Mother, you would be so proud of your grandson. He is a blessing to the name of Din and I will do my best to be the kind of parent you both were to me. He is special, so much more special than I will ever be. He is going to make a mark on this world. His Song will be the thing of legends, I know it.
Father was a title Din never thought he would have in his life. He found it funny now that other titles, ones that others might think would be harder, had never been a problem for him. Mandalorian. Bounty Hunter. Provider for his clan.
But those monikers had been easy to take on. Hard physically? Sure. Challenging to be both hunter and prey? Of course. But he had been able to do them with zero emotional attachment. No heartbreak there.
Being a father, taking on that title meant he'd had to open his heart. That had been harder than any battle, harder than surviving the most painful injury, harder than tracking down the toughest quarry.
The biggest challenge in Din Djarin's life had come from opening his heart to the smallest person in it.
END
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For any interested in some behind-the-scenes from this chapter, the line from Din about having found what his heart needed came again from Pedro. It's part of a longer quote when he was being interviewed about Season 3 and what was coming up for Din. One of the things Pedro said about Din was: "..what his heart needs is Grogu."
I thought that was beautiful and just had to use it in this story.
The epilogue/teaser chapter is coming very soon!
Thanks as always for all the follows, favorites, and reviews!
-Moki