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*:･ﾟ✧
The lonesome clatter of a metal box tolls throughout the entire space of the barn.
"Gaia!"
Mando scurries to the woman's side faster than a blaster bolt, splaying a nervous hand upon her shoulder. He calls out to her once more. His eyes are frantically searching her pale face, the hum of his voice filled with vain hope of his travel companion waking up. She doesn't respond, and in his attempt to get help he hastily unclasps her sniper rifle and sword, noting the sweat smeared on her blanch skin and the ragged breaths drawn from chapped her lips. Mando's heart beats rapidly against his ribcage as he rolls Gaia onto her back. He slips an arm underneath her neck and legs, mindfully carrying her, and just now perceiving how limb she truly is.
Mando shoots a firm look in The Child's direction. "Stay here and don't move!"
The Child gurgles, though whether or not he actually understands Mando is still in doubt. Regardless, the bounty hunter darts across the barn's threshold, painfully aware of the shallow breaths scratching their way out of Gaia's throat. His heartbeat is slamming mercilessly against his eardrums like a sickening ballad as he does so, and for once he's genuinely afraid, ambushed by a howling fright he hasn't heard nor felt in a long time.
How did he not see this coming? All of the signs were there yet he had merely thought Gaia was simply tired and therefore lost on appetite when she declined her chance for soup yesterday. He figured she had been too hard on herself in some way and not gained enough sleep or something, and that was it.
Mando can't help but curse himself. His gaze sweeps across the village, noticing a few of the inhabitants providing him looks fraught with worriment. "I need a medic! Anybody!"
"What's going on?"
Mando catches sight of Cara nearing him. "I-I don't know," he stutters, words slipping. "I found Gaia collapsed in the barn. She wasn't like this when I left her. Cara, help me! . . ."
"It's going to be okay," she soothes before twisting around with a serious glare to her face. "Can we get a damn medic or WHAT?!"
A random villager perks up by the exclaim. "Yes, yes! Thero — I'll go get him right away!"
Mando draws a trembling breath in, allowing it to swirl his lungs like a fish. Nothing but a moment or two passes before a man with a trimmed beard, tan complexion, and bright blue eyes quickly greets them. He's sporting clothes similar to that of the krill farmers;a shirt and pants in muted yet vivid colors. "What's the issue? I was told it was urgent."
