Across the Universe | D. Djarin

A vacation

The waves lapped softly at the sandy beach in front of me. The noise was calming to my soul as I tapped into the force, feeling it flow all around me. The wind blew lightly against my face, it was cool but not unwelcome due to the warm climate of the planet we were on. I moved my leg slightly and felt the sand that was stuck to the fabric of my pants.

The peaceful moment I was experiencing was interrupted by the sound of Din's voice. "Hey, no." The child whining in annoyance followed his stern voice.

I opened my eyes and looked to the right to see Din standing a few feet away from me with Grogu in his arms. Din looked up from the child and sighed heavily, his shoulders rising and falling heavily in his frustration. "Look what you did." He scolded Grogu.

"It's okay. Come, sit." I said with a small smile as I lightly patted the sand next to me.

Din nodded gently and walked over with Grogu in his arms. Din lowered himself down beside me on the sand and crossed his legs under him. He placed Grogu on the sand and allowed him to walk over to me. He held his little arms up towards me and cooed softly. I smiled down at him and gently picked him up and placed him on my lap, wrapping my arms around him and facing him towards the water.

"Little womp rat." Din shook his head fondly. I let out a small chuckle at his indignation.

The child moved his ears as he watched the waves lap at the shore, he reached out a hand in curiosity. I smiled gently and plucked him off of my lap, placing him on the sand so he could go and explore.

Grogu shuffled through the sand towards the sea. The tide pulled the water in and Grogu sat down on the wet sand.

"Grogu, please don't get your clothes wet." I said in slight amusement, I didn't want to have to wash the salt water off of his only outfit.

"Do you think he's ever seen it before?" Din asked me

"Seen what?" I questioned him as I watched the tide rush back in towards Grogu.

"The ocean." Din explained with a gentle tone

"I don't know, it's possible." I said. The tide was just about to hit Grogu's feet but he stood up and jumped up, using the force to jump back towards us.

Din chucked at the child's actions and I smiled fondly. When Din had said that we were going on a vacation, I hadn't expected it to be this much of a vacation. But I definitely wasn't complaining, it was nice to have a moment of rest amongst the chaos of our lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My sabers crackled and I grunted quietly as the darksaber clashed with my blades. The darksaber was heavy against my own weapons as Din heavily thrashed the weapon. I pushed back against him and he stumbled back, the weight of the darksaber causing him to stumble backwards and drag the blade across the sand.

"You're resisting. You have to embrace the power." I said as I readjusted my stance.

"I don't know how." Din sighed as he tried to drag the blade up off of the ground. I sighed gently and disengaged my sabers, trying to fight over and over again clearly wasn't working.

"Okay, we should take a break." I said. Din nodded and disengaged the darksaber. I hooked my sabers back on my belt and took a few steps until we stood close to one another.

"This isn't a physical problem, we both know you're very strong. We should think about what could be holding you back mentally." I said gently as I placed my hand on his arm.

Din nodded gently and sighed, I could tell he was holding back and keeping something from me. But I was hoping that he would eventually trust me with whatever it was that was burdening him. I bit my lip as he looked down at his feet and shifted, just as I was about to say something Grogu cooed and interrupted me.