Lost And Found - The Mandalorian

1.02 - Mercy

***

Din Djarin had been a bounty hunter for many years, and he had seen and experienced a great deal in that time. There was not much in the galaxy that could surprise him anymore. An adolescent girl thwacking his helmet with the butt of a rifle was one of the few exceptions to that, apparently.

Din firmly grabbed the girl by the wrist with one hand, disarming her of the rifle - unloaded, he realized upon taking it from her, which explained her method of attack - and threw it to the ground with a clank. The girl glared at him, her brown eyes narrowed, her brow furrowed with rage. From in its pram beside the Mandalorian and the teenager, the Child giggled, seemingly amused by all of this.

"What the-" Din muttered to himself as he studied his struggling attacker. She was as young as he had thought, probably around fifteen years old. She violently twisted, trying flutily to break free of his grasp.

"Let go of me! Let go of me you stupid son of a Hutt-"

"That's enough," He said commandingly, his voice a cross between a warning, a threat, and a scolding.

The girl leveled him with a glare that would have been weighty and piercing, if it weren't coming from someone nearly a whole foot shorter than him, who's most dangerous weapon had been an unloaded rifle that she had quite literally used as a makeshift battering ram. Din felt more annoyed than terrified, looking at her. He was tired of people getting in the way of his acquisition of this pricey bounty, and he was still wrapping his head around the fact that he had been attacked by an actual child. What was she thinking, running at him like a maniac? Had he not seen how young she was, he would have shot and killed her without a second thought.

"You're not taking him," She said, and her youthful voice dripped with scorn and conviction.

"I don't know who you are," Din said, "But I don't take orders from you, and I'm leaving here with my bounty. Now stand aside, kid, before you get yourself hurt."

The girl was undaunted, and she stood her ground even as her shoulders trembled. She was afraid, Din concluded, but trying desperately not to show it. Her voice was surprisingly controlled when she said, "your bounty is a child, and my friend. I won't let you take him, and I won't let you hurt him. If I die because of that, so be it."

Luz truly didn't want to die. She had survived so much to get here, to gain the knowledge and independence she needed to make a life for herself in a galaxy that kept kicking her down. But Squish was her only friend, and more than that, he was a child, young and innocent and trusting those around him - trusting her - to keep him safe. She couldn't - no, she wouldn't - let him down the way her parents had let her down time and time again. No one deserved to go through what she did, and she would not be complicit in letting them. See, Luz Valerian was stubborn and resilient and would do anything to survive, but she also cared. She cared because her parents didn't care, and she had vowed never to be like them. She cared because no one had cared about her, when she was small and helpless and desperately needed them to, desperately wished they would. 

Luz didn't want to die, but if her death was what it took to break the cycle of neglect and pain and loneliness that she had been subject to her entire life, she could accept that.

The Mandalorian tilted his head, studying her for a moment. Luz kept her head held high. Then she heard the armored man sigh heavily and his grip on her arm loosened.