Crawl Home to Her | Mandalorian x OC

chapter thirteen

As Peli said, once both the suns were above the horizon, the three of them (plus Peli's three DUM droids) piled into a courier cruiser and were soaring across the dune sea to Mos Espa. Excitement and fear pumped through her veins as they got closer and closer to the city. Kit had only ever left it once and that was for Mos Espa for a doctor's visit a few weeks after her accident. To return to it had mixed feelings stirring up in her belly.

As if he sensed her discomfort, Grogu placed his small hand on her thigh. Waves of comfort and joy washed over her. The sound of Din's laughter, echoing around in her mind as warmth rushed through her. Kit was overwhelmed with unfamiliar sounds and feelings, emotions that were not her own. But nevertheless, her soul felt warmed.

"Thank you, buddy." She smiled as she placed a hand on top of his head, pulling him in closer to her body.

"We're coming up on Mos Espa!" Peli shouted over the wind.

Then she heard it. Blaster shots.

Quickly, Kit threw the blanket that was behind her over Grogu, covering him from any debris that might hit him as the driver droid sped through the roads as the city was attacked.

"Woah!" The engineer exclaimed as they turned over in the streets of Mos Espa. "Kriff, it's like a war zone here!"

"What's going on?"

"I don't know! But hey! There's Mando!" Peli called out as the carrier came to a stop. "Mando, we found you! We got a surprise for you!" Kit could barely hear his modulated voice over the growing sounds of blasters that were definitely getting closer. "What? Can't hear you!" Peli shouted in response, but quieted as the gunshots got louder. Whatever it was, it sounded big. "Turn around!"

Kit and Peli screamed in unison as the carrier whipped around, speeding away from the blaster noises. A moment later there was a grunt coming from behind them, Din must've jumped on the cart.

"Can this thing go any faster?" He asked between shots.

"Go faster, you bucket of bolts!" After Peli cried out, a thunk was heard against the driver droid, immediately speeding up. Once they got a bit of a ways away, she shouted back up to Din. "Hey Mando, look who it is. Kit, show him!"

Tentatively, Kit pulled back the blanket, Grogu cooing at the sight of his father.

"What?" Despite all the danger that surrounded them all, Din's voice softened at the sight of the child. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

Grogu squirmed in her arms, loosening her grip until he was able to jump out. Kit let out a shriek, scared for him, but she could hear Din above her, gently comforting the child. Not the best spot for a reunion, but Kit's heart warmed as she overheard Din talk to the child. He called out to Kit, placing the Grogu back in her arms.

"Keep his head down. Stay hidden until the fight's over, both of you-" Din paused for a moment before speaking again. "Hey, that's the shirt. You got the shirt."

Unfortunately whatever they were running from was catching up to them, ruining the moment. Kit shrieked as she covered the child again, holding him close. She wasn't able to hear what Peli scolded as she shifted beside Kit, moving to join Din to shoot at it.

"What is he doing here?"

"The Force works in mysterious ways," Peli said in between shots.

At the mention of the Force, Grogu giggled, raising up one of his hands. Kit frowned as she heard the driver droid start to malfunction, but before she could open her mouth to tell Peli, they were thrown into the air.

Kit tightened her grip on the child as he squealed. She tensed her body in preparation for  a rough landing when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her in close against hard armor.

Din.

In mid air, he turned the three of them around, using himself as a pillow to soften Kit's fall. Not much of a difference as beskar was barely any softer than the ground. She flinched at the sound of Din shooting his blaster right by her ear. He kept shooting as she rolled off him, scrambling to her feet as she tried to hide the child from the blaster fire.

"Move! This way!" Din said, grabbing her by the arm and leading her towards a building. He kept shooting at the droid, only for it to suddenly stop shooting. Din ceased his own fire, and that's when Kit heard it. Off in the distance, a loud roar. Pushing her in towards the building, Din placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't move. I'll handle this."

In her arms, Grogu leaned forward, watching Din as he went off to fight the droid with whoever was seemingly in control of the large beast that came to help. Kit couldn't help but tense at every blaster shot and every roar, unsure if whatever was happening was good or bad. Grogu cooed in her arms, raising his hand again. He let out a strained noise. And then suddenly a loud pop came from the droid and Kit was thrown back a step as the child yelped as something hit him.

"Stars, are you okay?" She questioned, but Grogu giggled in response. "I'll take that as a good thing, then."

Whatever he had done, seemingly helped as the droid sounded as if it was struggling to maintain itself. Peli shoved Kit forward towards Din, who wrapped an arm around her. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on when a roar bled through an explosion. Quickly, she felt Din push her behind him, shielding her from the debris.

"Stay close to me," Din ordered as he took the child from Kit's arms, leading her and Peli through the city, shooting at whatever and whoever wasn't on their side. He must've missed one as he blasted his way through the street because one second Kit was fine, the next there was a sharp pain coming from her side, something hot and sticky was soaking through her shirt.. "Hey!" She heard Din growl as she fell to the ground. Hands were pressed to her side. "Kit, stay with me."

"D-Din," Kit groaned, reaching over her hand to grab at him, trying to ground herself.

"I'm here, cyar'ika. I'm here. Peli!"

"Din," she repeated again as another hand pressed against her side. Was this how she was going to die? On the street in the middle of a firefight. It wouldn't have been the first time she thought of it, but never did she think it would happen again.

Kit felt cold, which looking back on she thought was ironic, as she felt the sun blaring down on her only moments ago. A whole life on a desert planet and not once did she ever think she would ever experience true cold. Was this what it was like to freeze?

She could hear voices above her still, but they kept sounding farther and farther away. Until all the sounds of chaos that surrounded Kit faded away.