the curious happenstance of pedro pascal and din djarin [The Mandalorian]

Fear

The first emotion was pure, unbridled panic.

He'd been in his ship, dammit, with the kid (his kid), they'd just left Nevaro, they'd just won, they'd escaped...

And then there was a bright light, and then darkness, and then... and then people, lots and lots of people, he was surrounded.

His first and immediate instinct was to reach for his blaster, but none of these people were paying him any mind. So he relaxed.

But then he came to his senses, and he realised: the kid was gone. Poof. Disappeared. Like in a cloud of smoke in a magic act, except this time there was a blinding flash of light.

With a hand on his holster, ready to draw his blaster at any given moment, he searched. His first priority was finding the kid. Then he could worry about figuring out how he got here in the first place.

But as it turned out, finding this kid in such a large room filled to the brim with people was like trying to find a fucking needle in a haystack. God, he could have been trampled, or taken, or, just-

In his panic, he failed to notice the banners. Instead he found himself on the floor, and another person stood over him apologising profusely.

"I wasn't looking where I was going!" the girl cried, "I'm sorry!"

Oh, sure, I can stand on my own two feet when I've been fatally shot, but bumping into someone is my downfall.

"It's fine," he grumbled, waving away the girl's hand.

"That's a really great cosplay," she said when Din was on his own feet again. He didn't know what a 'cosplay' was, nor how he came to obtain one, but he didn't care enough to ask.

"I'm looking for something. Little, green, big ears?"

The girl, for some ungodly reason, laughed. "You'll find lots of those here!" Then, without another word, she walked away.

Lots of those? His stomach dropped. Like the kid's species? He shook his head, no, not so soon. Not so soon. I won't give him up to them. Not yet.

He stood amongst the crowd, staring at the blank spot where the girl once was.

It was only then that he noticed the banners.

There, written in bold golden lettering, 'The Mandalorian'.

His vision tilted.

They'd found him.

Now he was frantic. Now he was scared. So so scared. Fuck, he should have checked that Gideon was dead, the fucking bastard, and now his carelessness had gotten him found and kidnapped and dumped on some random ass alien planet. They probably had his ship, they probably killed the child, just to save them the fucking effort later down the road-

He didn't register he'd fallen to the floor until he heard a distant voice asking if he was alright. He didn't respond, he didn't get up off the floor.

He wondered if it would have been better, and safer, if he had died and Cara had run with the kid. Would things have turned out otherwise if he never let IG11 take off his helmet? If he'd been abandoned in the imperial bar, slipping in and out of consciousness until he fell asleep for the last time?

He should never have put his guard down.

"...we should call an ambulance, he's not getting up..."

"...do you reckon he's unconscious?"

"...heart attack?"

He'd garnered a crowd, now. A large gathering of people stared down at him. If only they knew his failings.

...

Just as someone leaned down, however, to take off his helmet, he snatched their wrist. They yelped in surprise. "He's awake! He's okay!"

He'd be fucking damned if he went down without a fight. He couldn't save the kid. But he could be damn well sure he'd avenge him.