Across the Universe | D. Djarin

The apostate

The pale morning light that broke through the curtain's hit my eyes as I awoke from a deep sleep. I groggily looked around before I closed my eyes again. Sleep still swam in my mind and all I wanted to do was to fall back under again. I kept my eyes closed for another few minutes before I took notice of the weight that was laying across my side. I slowly opened my eyes again and saw an arm thrown across my body.

Carefully, I rolled over to face Din, trying my best not to wake him up. I looked up at him and saw that he was still asleep, his eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly parted. I smiled softly and gently raised my hand up to his face. I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing him without his helmet on. I gently traced his features and moved up to his hair, gently brushing a dark brown curl out of his face.

My ministrations seemed to stir him from his sleep. His eyebrows scrunched together and he cracked open his eyes. His lips twitched up Into a smile as his eyes met mine and he came back to consciousness.

"Morning." He said softly, his voice was deeper than usual.

"Morning." I said with a small smile. I ran my fingers through his hair and he sighed softly, relaxing against my touch.

"Let's just stay here forever." I said to him softly, Din sighed and took a hold of my wrist, bringing my hand down to the side of his face. He turned his head and softly placed a kiss on the palm of my hand.

"I wish we could. But I don't think we have enough credits." Din said softly. He let go of my wrist and I returned my hand to his hair.

"No, that's true. So, what is the plan for today?" I asked him softly as I ran my hand through his hair in a soothing manner.

"I need to talk with the armorer. I have the new location of their covert." Din said softly.

"Okay. When do we leave?" I asked him with a small smile. As much as I wished we could stay here forever, I knew that we had to continue on with our lives eventually.

"As soon as we're ready." Din replied. I nodded softly and snuggled closer to his body. I closed my eyes again but it was only for a second as a quiet coo caught my attention.

I groaned quietly and pushed myself to sit up in bed. I looked over to the side and saw Grogu standing at the side of the bed looking up at me. I smiled gently and reached down to pick him up, placing him on the bed in between Din and I.

"Ready to go on an adventure, Ad'ika?" I asked him gently. Grogu cooed up at us and lay down in the bed, closing his eyes and going to sleep again. I couldn't help but laugh quietly. I locked eyes with Din and he started to laugh as well. It seems that Grogu's answer to adventure is to go back to sleep.

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The sandy cliffs of the planet below us whizzed past as Din flew the N-1 with great speed. I glanced out the window and looked down at the vast mountains, it seemed relatively deserted, a perfect place for a Mandalorian cover to hide out.

Din sighed in concern as a beeping came from the radar on the control panel. I looked over to the screen and saw a large blip surrounded by several smaller blips.

"What is it?" I asked him, examining the screen.

"They're being attacked." Din said as he pushed the ship to go faster. My body was shoved backwards slightly from the speed of the ship. I looked back out the window as we started to approach the location of the mandalorian covert.

A large, alligator-like creature suddenly came into view. The ship was moving so fast that I hardly managed to get a good look at it. Regardless of our fast speed, Din managed to shoot at the large creature. We quickly flew past and then sharply turned around. Din brought the sip down so we were just above the water and began to fly us head first towards the creature.