A Life Without Meaning

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕚𝕖𝕘𝕖 (𝕀𝕍)

Ellia busied herself with working on some of the repairs in the hull later on in their flight. The excitement of the day had finally dulled down into a low hum. Things inside were still a bit tense, with few words spoken, but Ellia tried not to let it eat away at her. Not that it was really working.

Keep your head up. She heard Cara's voice echo around in her skull. Sighing heavily, she slammed the panel that she had been working on shut.

Turning around, she was startled to find the large form of the Mandalorian already standing behind her. She hadn't even heard him come down the ladder.

"Shit" she cursed, wincing. "Don't do that." she scolded.

Walking past him, she crossed the hull to the open tool box that she had been pulling from.

"We need to talk." Din's voice sounded sternly.

Ellia raised an eyebrow as she laid the driver down into its holder, shutting the lid of the box.

"The mighty Mandalorian wants to talk." she said mockingly, clicking the tabs into the locked position. "Stars am I lucky."

She suddenly felt a hand wrap around her upper arm. Specifically, an ungloved hand. Glancing over her shoulder in surprise, she found herself staring right back into the t-visor of the helmet.

"Don't do that." he asked of her. "Please."

Ellia set her jaw, having a hard time just standing there in front of him. Her silence was an open invitation for Din to continue, one that he took note of a few seconds later, not releasing the grip he had of her arm.

"What I said the other day-" he started. "It was wrong. And I didn't mean it at all. You know that."

Ellia bit the inside of her cheek,

"Do I?" she asked lowly.

Her words made Din fall still. She could very literally feel the way his entire body froze underneath his armor.

Din knew that he was traveling across terrain that he wasn't entirely confident operating just quite yet. He knew that he was bound to get it wrong. But this? Had he really failed that hard?

In his state, Ellia easily managed to slip her arm out of his grasp, grabbing a hold of the toolbox and walking it across the hull to put it back into storage.

"Din..." she finally breathed out, "I know I overstepped my boundaries, I shouldn't have pushed you. You have every right to be angry with me-" she suddenly paused, shaking her head at what she was about to say, her hand still resting on the lid of the toolbox. "Listen, if it makes things easier for you, I'll get off at the next spaceport. I'm sure I can find some mechanic work somewhere, it'll be fine." she unloaded in resignation.

Her words suddenly jolted Din back to reality.

"No..."

Ellia winced, placing the toolbox on its shelf. She had turned to make a move for the ladder that would take her up into the cockpit, but Din stepped out into her path at the speed of light. He grabbed a hold of both of her shoulders with a gentle amount of force.

"Ellia, no. Listen to me." he begged, his words tumbling over themselves.

She found it very hard to look up at him. Focusing all of her energy instead on trying to keep her emotions in check so she didn't do something embarrassing like cry in front of him.

He took a breath, and she could hear the soft noise come clearly through the modulator. But he was also so close, that it was almost as if she could feel the oxygen as he filled up his lungs in an attempt to rifle through his thoughts. Her focus shifted ever so slightly when she felt ungloved fingers dig into her shoulders a bit more.