Ner Kar'ta

Chapter 3 - Aliit

Author's Note: Enjoy the ending! Thank you all so much for reading, voting, and/or commenting on this story! :D

Also, there is... talk about child death in this chapter. It doesn't actually happen, but it's discussed as something that could have. 

PS. There is Mando'a in here, and I put all the translations at the end. Let me know if I missed anything! ^-^

~ Amina Gila

His vision is blurry, unclear, and he can't really make sense of what exactly he's seeing. From the equipment, it almost looks like a medical facility of some sort, or maybe even a lab. Din has no idea; he rarely ever goes to med centers, far preferring to tend to his own injuries. Going to a med center could mean having to take off his beskar'gam or weapons or buy'ce and he'll never do that. Well, he did it for Grogu, for his kid, but that's different.

The scene in front of him, Din realizes, is not one he's part of him. He's aware, somehow, that he's dreaming – or having a nightmare, perhaps, because there's a sense of cold foreboding in the air – which is extremely unusual. There are two figures there, far too blurry for him to make out any details, but that's not important, not really, not when there's something wrong.

He hears a cry, faint but still there, and he knows, instinctively, that it's Grogu. That knowledge is enough to send him into a panic, and he struggles to bring himself back to consciousness, to wakefulness, but he's unable to wrestle free from the grips of – of whatever it is that he's seeing. He has to find the kid. His child is in trouble, but there's nothing he can do. The scene in front of him blurs again, becoming mostly indistinct for a moment, before clearing up, and this time, he hears a blood-curdling scream of pain followed by crying. Even if he could move to do something, he knows he would be frozen to the spot. Grogu. What are they doing to his ad?!

Even if this isn't real, Din will never be able to unhear it, will never be able to erase the knowledge that he could have failed his foundling, that he could still fail him, that Grogu might yet face this pain and torture if he can't get to him in time. The scene clears entirely, and it's as if his heart stops, panic choking him. No. Nayc. This can't be happening to him.

Dank ferrik! They are – were – experimenting on his child! He can see, somewhat, the machines and devices which are around the... operating table? There's blood everywhere on it, streaked out and even pooling somewhat in places. Grogu is – he's – he's . Nayc. That's – that's not – not . His ad. They – they kyrayc his adiik. They're . All of them. Who does that to a child?!

Din wants nothing more than to find Grogu, to take him to safety, but he's frozen, unable to move or breathe or anything. He watches in a numb horror as the medical droids begin dissecting his adiik, slicing out organs without so much as pausing and putting them in containers for storage and later study. He thinks he's going to be sick. If he could throw up, he would. When it gets to the point where he simply can't take it anymore, everything begins blurring again. One thing he knows for sure is that he'll have nightmares about this for a long, long time. This is his worst nightmare: failing Grogu, letting him die while he is helpless to do anything.

The fear and horror and adrenaline which surge through his body are enough to drag him back to consciousness with a jolt. He's breathing heavily, and when he tries to instinctively sit up, he's jerked back down by something binding his wrists. Din opens his eyes, looking up at a brightly lit, duracrete ceiling. It looks... familiar in a terrifying way, and he can't help but think about what he saw in his... nightmare. Although, now that he's awake, in a place which has far too much of a resemblance to the place in his nightmares, he isn't so sure. Something inside of him is whispering with urgency, telling him that it wasn't a nightmare, that it was something more. That it was a – a vision.