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*:･ﾟ✧
They're not here.
Mando's stomach recoils to defying heights, and his breathing stumbles as if his airway made the startling decision to close up. His grip on the reins secured to the dewback becomes more tense than ever before, his heart beating faster and stronger as the blood in his ears surges higher and higher than he ever thought possible, — but possible it is, just as it was possible for something terrible to happen in his absence, as it did. He watches with intense eyes as the dewback treks closer. The suns are high and above in the cloudless sky as if promising a splendid day, yet the day ahead of him couldn't have been farther from such an empty promise.
Mando reels the dewback in. His legs are pressed against the creature's sides, his overwhelming fright prompting him to dismount and look around while he runs to the sprawled body laid by a few rocks.
Mando knows for a fact that it's not Gaia. The outfit and the tied hair doesn't match her appearance in the slightest, but it absolutely does so of a certain high-valued assassin.
Fennec is dead.
Gaia is gone.
And Toro never fulfilled their bargain.
Mando must have searched the whole area for an hour or so, shouting Gaia's name until his voice may as well have turned raw, before having to accept the harsh truth. The truth being that Toro may have dealt his obscure hand and killed Fennec in cold blood, as well as taking Gaia hostage for his own sinister reasons. The possibility of another incident having occurred is very much there but also unlikely since the tracks spin an unforeseen tale in the shifting sand. A tale of two people, one standing superior and dragging the body of the other to a specific point right before it disappears, as if the perpetrator had hauled them onto a speeder bike and driven off.
Toro.
The name lingers on Mando's tongue like poison, his mind curling with the thought.
He can feel a hint of nausea in the back of his throat. Perhaps it's because his hands are shaking so badly and his stomach churns uncomfortably with the situation, or maybe it's because Toro — of all people — plucked away the person who has somehow become so important to him in the span of such a short time, soothingly crowding his isolation that he's been so adamant on letting thrive.
Gaia may have become significant to Mando, too significant in many people's opinion — an opinion speaking of foolishness at how easily she could've tricked him and done as Toro, or still can; terminate him while his guard is lowered and hijack his ship and take The Child for her own gain. Mando may not have known Gaia for years and years on end as some people have with their companion, and he's truly sad to say so, but still he chooses to trust her and sincerely believe her to be a good person, regardless of the danger in letting her take a small step closer for each day and each riveted beat of his frail heart.
