Walls Come Tumbling Down. Part 3
Pairing: Din Djarin x female reader.
Summary: Things between you and Din had reached boiling point on your last mission, you're injured, and Din makes a moving confession, is it too late?
Word Count: 4.9k
Content Warning: reader is injured, typical mandalorian violence, unhinged reader tbh lol.
The dark armor was all you could see accompanied by those glowing red eyes of imperial dark troopers, impenetrable to your blaster and your allies' efforts to save Grogu from being taken from you by the plotting of Moff Gideon. Your eyebrows furrow in concentration, squinting as you aimed your weapon towards the sky, desperate not to give up. Din slapped the blaster out of your hands, and it landed to the ground with a thud, “stop. You’ll hit him!” Din remarks coldly. The dust stirring and settling in a fine line uncomfortably in your nostrils. Your allies watched on as grogu was transported away; unknowing of what were to become of him, anxiety clawed at your skin, the sun beaming down bore an unwelcome sting to your exposed skin. You wished you could save grogu, you wished you could scream at Din, alas your eyes sets its rage fueled target on a giant rock, the orange stone illuminating gold from the sun rays, the harshness of the rocks surface met your knuckles and boot covered feet as you attacked the rock violently, the fight you had left in you being absorbed by the giant stone, unaffected by your efforts. Blood trickled through your fingers from your bloodied knuckles, the repetition of force behind them made you wince, you were holding on by a thread, barely. Din’s hands grip your arm to face him, and your composure is lost; sadness and guilt bubbling to the surface to swallow you whole like it was an insatiable hunger needing to be fed. “Let go of me!” You spit venomously. Din complies and you fall to the ground, the crooked edge of the stone and your half-dried blood slid down your armor clad back. You rub your knuckles in an attempt to sooth them, the emotional pain fueling to the agony that stung your knuckles. Emptiness filled you, a void opening in your chest as if grogu was the only thing keeping you whole. Now he was gone, it was your fault.
A beskar helmet is all you see when you’re shaken awake, body in the grip of Din himself in his attempt to wake you from your night terror, plaguing your mind as you attempt to rest every evening. “Get dressed, we’ve got a long day ahead of us.” Din leaves you to wallow in your pity party alone, distancing himself in the weeks grogu was taken from you. You rubbed your knuckles, phantom pain leaving a deep ache behind as you caress the scars on your hands, not ready to face another day of living a nightmare that was currently your reality.
Your boots stomped heavily behind Boba’s, your feet nearly nudging the back of his own boots as you boarded an Imperial ship, intel you’d resourced led you and your allies to believe Dr Pershing would be on and that he would tell you directly where grogu was. The two men were outnumbered as Boba, yourself, Din and Fennec board the small ship, blasters pointed at the ready, aimed to fire. The action causes the men to raise their hands in submission, the Dr included. The man in the far back standing behind the Dr wraps an arm around the Drs throat, the other holding his blaster to his head, using him as a human shield, a negotiation. “Before you make a mistake, this is Dr Pershing.” The man cocked his head to the side, looking past Boba to get a look at you, recognition in his eyes.
"We've met, is the kid alive?" Din questions, trying to get his attention. "Yes. He’s on the cruiser." Pershing blurts out, in a desperate attempt to save himself, a plea for help. A loud gasp leaves the Dr’s mouth as the man turns the safety off with a click, furious at the Dr’s admission. You aim your gun and the man closest to you pleas, "I’m not with him. We can work something out." The fear left his eyes and were replaced with a lifeless dullness as his crew mate shot him in the back of the head, the desperate act of a man running out of choices, unwilling to surrender. “Drop the weapon or I’ll happily blow whatever remnants of a brain you have left, onto the windscreen.” You snap. The man’s confident façade momentarily cracked, his face dropping at the firmness and confidence you radiated.
"No. NO you listen to me," his voice wavered, his demeanour falling as you stood off with him, "this is a top-tier target of the new republic. This is a clone engineer. If they find out he’s dead because of you, you’re gonna wish the empire hadn’t spared your life." A humourless chuckle leaves your lips, something that Din can’t recognise as he turns to you, the darkness blossoming through your body and settling in the finger that hovered over the trigger of your blaster. "You think this is funny?" The man questions, a look of disbelief in his eyes. “The galaxy cheered as the rebels were destroyed, your parents included.” "I’ll give you one last chance to put the weapon down." Your voice is authoritative and sends a wave of doubt through the man’s body as you challenge him. He doesn’t back down. "Destroying your parents and the rest of the rebel scum was a small price to pay to rid the galaxy of terrorism." Not wanting to hear another word, your finger squeezed the trigger of your blaster, the rage inside you dissipating once his body fell to the floor of the ship lifelessly, the Dr screamed in terror as the blast skimmed past his head, narrowly avoiding him. An unrecognisable emotion plasters on your face, one that Din doesn’t like, he watched you as you walked away, boarding your ship he knew there’s nothing you wouldn’t do to rescue grogu, and it scared him of what you could become. "Smart talk got you nowhere in the end, Imperial scum." You mutter as you board your ship, the tainted smell of blood and smoke from your blaster firing, exiting your sense of smell.
You’d caught Din starring, you couldn’t count how many times, turning his head away hesitantly when you caught him. Neither of you willing to speak first, the stubbornness between you was pushing a giant wedge between the gap that was already there. There was nothing officially spoken or established between the two of you, Din taking off his gloves once didn’t grant you any title, you figured it came down to loneliness, the human need for physical touch, his rejection of you now stung you regardless. The distance Din placed between you had only reiterated your decision to leave his company once grogu was rescued and you knew he was safe.
As the ship landed, a giant dust cloud swirled around you, the dust coating your armour and hair in a thin layer, invading your nostrils threatening you to sneeze. The accompanied smell of smoke from a nearby power plant only made the itch in your nose more irritable and harder to ignore. The loud sound of ships whirring as they fly through the air was enough to distract you as you walk towards the small town into a bar behind Din and Boba. Judgemental and weary eyes watching you from every table, all conversation ceasing as you walk towards a table that sat; two women, wearing similar armour to the two men in front of you, helmets sat on the table in front of them. As you approach, the dark haired girl stands, the women with the red hair remains seated, unbothered.
"I need your help," Din states simply, demanding their compliance.
"Not all Mandalorian’s are bounty hunters." The woman with the short red hair quipped with a smirk, declining Dins proposition. "Some of us serve a higher purpose." You snort silently out of your mouth, not going unnoticed by the two women at the table. "They took the child." Din pleas with them. Her face softens for a mere second, of curiosity she questions, "Who?" "Moff Giddeon." She scoffs and shakes her head, "You’ll never find him." Boba turns to Din, "We don’t need these two, come on. Lets get outta here."
Your eyes remained focused on the two women, observing them for any threat they may produce, they turn to face Boba and state, "You are not a Mandalorian." You scoff at the hypocrisy and mutter, "Oh please." The dark haired woman on the left gasps, "so your pet speaks." "Pet?" You scowl and try to barge through Boba and Din in front of you, Boba holding one arm out to stop you from murdering her in the middle of town, your fuse as short as it’s ever been since grogu’s kidnapping. Din couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on Boba's arm restraining your body, the touch setting something alight inside of him and settling in his chest with an uncomfortable ache. It was no secret that you and Boba had become good friends over the weeks, Din had developed insecurities that stemmed from your newfound friendship. Boba’s nickname for you stuck to the walls of Din’s brain like a disease, reminding him of his failure when it came to you. Nimerah he would call you, several meanings of strength, power and beauty.
She raised her eyebrows, "I didn’t know sidekicks were allowed to talk." Boba chuckles, "I wouldn’t provoke her, shes more capable than she looks." The woman sneered in disbelief, watching your face, your eyes unwavering in a stare for dominance, "shes as harmless as a dog." Din turns to you and you’re seething, he can almost feel the heat radiating off your body, "Woof." You spit unamused. Din has to bite his lip under his helmet to stop himself from laughing in this tense situation, not needing to escalate this further.
"See, harmless pet." She confirms, you barge past the two armoured men, leaving your blaster to rest on your hip, deciding you would find more satisfaction in watching the life leave her eyes with your hands wrapped around her throat. The woman flinched at you lurching forward, regaining her composure to meet you eye to eye. "Come now, Nimerah. Accompany Fennec back at the ship and make sure the prisoner is detained securely." You stare at the women a second longer before you spit at her feet, wiping your mouth with your wrist, nodding to Boba as you turn to exit the building completely ignoring Din as he watched you exit.
Din could feel something clench around his heart, the safety within the confines of his armour preventing no such ache as he watched the interaction between Boba and you. Silently wishing he had never pushed you away, wished he hadn’t pushed you into Boba’s arms, this is what was happening, wasn’t it? You make it to the ship within minutes and Fennec senses your frustration before she sees you, the Dr still in shackles, sitting compliantly, you know Boba didn’t send you here to check the security of your prisoner, he wouldn’t doubt his second hand, he was looking out for you. "What happened with you?" Fennec questions sincerely. "These women down at the bar, calling me Boba’s pet." You confess bitterly, the thought that outsiders believed you were with Boba and not Din, maybe Boba would have a place for you beside Fennec when Grogu was rescued. "They’re handling it." You add and met with Fennec raising one eyebrow at you.
"Cheer up, kid. If anything you’d be my pet." She states jokingly trying to lighten the mood, succeeding in her efforts as a smile cracked on your lips, you and Fennec had become close and it was becoming obvious she knew how to cheer you up.
Multiple sets of footsteps board the ship, causing you and Fennec to arm yourselves with your blasters, ready to fight whoever had entered the ship. Bulky shadows casting through the ship as you’re met with Din and Boba, behind the two women from the bar followed them hesitantly.
"You have got to be kidding me." You hiss, arm not wavering in pointing your loaded weapon at the women. "They’re here to help us." Din argues, expecting you to lower your weapon. “Lower your weapon, Nimerah.” Your chest heaves in frustration but obey Boba’s command, Fennec eyes you as she lowers her own weapon. "Say a goddamn word to me and I’ll put one right between your eyes." You turn on the safety of your blaster and mimic a blast being fired with your hand pointing at them, mouthing 'pew.’ Dins stare never leaving your own, wondering why you were so quick to act when Boba commanded, you situated yourself beside the prisoner, clipping your blaster back onto your belt.
The red haired woman who had introduced herself as Bo Katan, took a seat in front of you, supplying a projection of Moff Gideon’s cruiser lighting up the dark room of the ship in a blue hue. "This is Moff Gideon’s Imperial light cruiser. In the old days, it would carry a crew of several hundred. Now it operates with a tiny fraction of that." The doctor interrupts. "Your assessment is misleading.” "Oh great, an objective opinion." You scoff. The Dr turns to you from beside you, eyes meeting yours behind his tinted glasses, "this isn’t subterfuge. I assure you."
Bo Katan puts her hand up to silence further commentary from you, causing your lip to curl in distaste. "Let him speak." Eyes all turned to him, "theres a garrison of dark troopers on board. They’re the ones who abducted the child." Your mind immediately wandered to when Grogu was taken, the half a dozen metallic dark grey suits of the dark troopers, the red eyes glowing in the daylight sent a shiver down your spine, fighting them off was useless as they took the child without any disturbance. Din takes a few steps forward so he’s standing next to where you’re seated. His boot hitting yours lightly bought you back to reality, his head slightly cocked to the side watching you. You crinkle your nose and sniffle to yourself. "I’m fine." The lie escapes your lips quietly, unnoticed by others and although he notices, he doesn’t argue. "How many troopers do they have armed in those suits?" Din steps froward to get a better look at the ships projection, questioning the Dr. "These are third-generation design. They are no longer suits. The human inside was the final weakness to be solved. They’re droids."
Din turns to you and you scoff, sinking further into the brown seat with your hands in your head, feeling defeated. "Wheres the child being held?" Din looks at the projection intently, the image whirrs and a new image is shown. "This is the bridge, he’s being held here under armed guard." "Very well. well split into two parties." Bo Katan states, accepting his explanation. "I go alone." Din states firmly. "Fine." Bo Katan agrees, looking back towards the image, you stare forward watching Din, the blue lights reflecting off his beskar, illuminating it. He was going alone, this is a suicide mission. You knew he would lay his life down for Grogu, that it was worth the sacrifice. It didn’t stop the dull ache that stung your heart as you thought of the probability he made it out alive with the dark troopers standing against him. "Koska, Fennec, y/n and myself disembark with maximum initiative. Once we’ve neutralised the launch bay, we make our way through these tandem decks, in a penetration manoeuvre." "And me?" Din questions and Bo Katan continues, "We'll be misdirection. Once we draw a crowd, you slip through the shadows, get the kid." Din turns to you, a seed of doubt being planted in his mind that you would be able to focus, at least long enough to not get killed. You ponder if you could trust that Bo Katan had Din’s best chances of success in her interest.
"This mission is gonna be a real skank in the scud pie." You mumble, eying Din. "We'll meet at the bridge." He nods his head, looking at you. I’ll meet you there.
How right you were about this mission being a skank in the scud pie.
Infiltrating the cruiser was easy enough, yourself and the women took down the storm troopers that surrounded your crash landed ship with ease, they were terrible a shot and were taken down with a single blast to the head easily avoiding any real conflict. The hardest part of it all was leaving Din to himself in the ship and stirred an array of emotions within you, causing a silent battle with yourself to stay focused. "Its a little too clear, keep your eyes open." Bo Katan states, you settle your red-hot weapon in front of you, walking behind Bo Katan and Koska, the beskar clanging against the floor of the hallway with a loud echo, so much for subtlety. Storm troopers filled the entrance of your pathway and began firing, you and Fennec stand your ground and begin firing, Bo Katan and Koska rolling out of the way and diving off the elevated pathway. The troopers dropped lifelessly to the floor as you and Fennec clear the hallway with ease.
"Freeze. Drop your weapons." You and Fennec stopped in your tracks, turning to each other as you saw in your peripheral vision how many storm troopers were behind you. They outnumbered you easily, and they ideally had the upper hand in terms of position, but you weren’t deterred. “Sector four, hold your position." One troop from the front line reports. You turn to face them, preparing to sacrifice your life fighting, it felt like a dramatic thought when Bo Katan and Koska flew up with their jetpacks, spitting bright flames and firing at the troopers, sparks flying off their armour, doing nothing to protect them as they collapse in defeat, dead. The two land behind you and you smirk, not bad.
Pushing forward you begin to run, turning the corner immediately to your right. Your mind cant help but wonder to think of Din, if he was okay-alive. He infiltrated your brain and the thought of him being outnumbered and- he could take care of himself, you knew he could. He was more than capable, you’d be honoured to die for him in battle, he was a great warrior. You came to a storage room, the large black plastic crates stacked on top of another, the stale smell of dust and musk filling your nostrils and creating an itch you desperately wished you could scratch.
"Cover me." Fennec states to Bo Katan and they nod, you go around the left side of the crates, troopers step out from their hiding positions and began shooting at you, you start firing your blaster at them and take down two within seconds of the ambush. Diving to attempt to roll for cover behind a nearby crate was a decision you’d come to regret as the blaster shot hit you, your right shoulder searing in pain, your skin wet with blood around your shattered shoulder armour plate, you grit your teeth and shoot the trooper as he rounds the corner, your body half lying-half sitting with your free hand holding your shoulder. "Damnit." You mutter and stand up, meeting up with the others who had taken out the other troopers in the room, clearing the area.
The agonising pain in your shoulder became harder to ignore as you’re surrounded once again, troopers seemingly never ending. Your blaster jams and you grunt loudly trying to get it unstuck, "my guns jammed," you grunt, "Ill cover you." Fennec confirms as she covers you. A pained grunt leaves your lips frustration playing a part in your irrational decision to use your gun to knock the troopers to the ground while Fennec shoots them. Your shoulder burns at the sudden jerking movement of your arms only provoked the wound to bleed more, the blood soaking through your clothes down your ribs. Your armour glistened with blood under the white lights in the hallways.
"Thanks." You praise Fennec breathlessly, turning away from her, shielding your wound and running into the elevator. "You’ve been hit." Bo Katan points at you, the blood is running down your bare forearms, you quickly wipe it away with your hand and your face contorts in pain. "It’s just a surface wound." You lie, "y/n," Fennec starts but you raise your hand to silence her. "We knew the risks coming into this." You affirm harshly, "I’m not stopping until I’m dead or the damn child is safe." You grunt, chest heaving from the array of words you managed to speak out loud, the adrenaline fuelling your body and determination to find Grogu. "Okay. if you say you’re fine, then you’re fine." Fennec says, agreeing, knowing it would do no good to argue.
You continue to fumble with your jammed gun, wincing at the pinching ache of your shoulder, "dank farrik." You spit through gritted teeth, gaining attention of your allies. "Son of a mudscuffer." You grunt, your hands wrestling with the blaster. "Are you sure you don’t need any help?" Bo Katan offers, you grunt in frustration and slam the blaster on the floor of the elevator with both hands and the blaster finally powers up. You sigh in relief, "I think that did it." Weapon pointed towards the opening elevator door, you ignore the warning of the troopers to stop and surrender, shooting them down without remorse or second thought. The seething pain only fuelled you, controlling your actions as you attempt to push behind the physical and mental ache this mission has caused you over the weeks.
Rushing forward, your legs carry you faster than the others as you’re desperate to breach the bridge, blasting the troopers that occupied the room, their grunts of defeat were deafening as they fall to the ground, their armour clanking against the hard steel floor. Koska disarms the weapons system as the last of the crew were shot. "Wheres Gideon?" Bo Katan questions, the question hanging in the air, no one could give her an answer.
Searching the room frantically, you’re pulling the chairs from the desks, squatting down and racing around too quick for your legs to compute, your legs almost giving out on you. "Wheres grogu?" You panic, for the first time on this mission, your allies could see your composure crumbling, your inhibitions to keep this facade up-kept flew away with the adrenaline as you realised he wasn’t here. "No. No. No." You scream, your chest rising with conviction and body slumped on a chair, dropping your gun which met the floor with a clank. Gripping the wound on your shoulder you wince at the ache that spread from your shoulder to your arm and back.
"It was all for nothing." You sigh defeatedly, the child nowhere in sight and no sign of Din to show that he had made it through alive. Fennec walked up to you, placing a hand on your un - injured shoulder and pats it softly, bringing you a silent comfort. "They’ll meet us here, let me wrap this up while were waiting."
You nod, a silent thank you as she detaches the remains of your useless shoulder piece of armour thats mostly shattered, ripping a segment of her own long sleeve shirt to wrap around your shoulder in an attempt to stop the bleeding, all it did was soak up what was saturating your burning skin and provide a slight illusion of weightlessness, relieving some of the ache in your back.
A whoosh is heard from the door as it opens to the bridge and moments later and Din enters, Grogu in hand and Moff Gideon in cuffs, grovelling as Din pushes his further into the room. Din looks at your body as you stagger to stand, a piece of your armour missing and an injury on your shoulder weeping through the rag that kept blood from spilling onto the floor beneath your feet. "You two made it," you murmur in relief at the safety of them both. "What happened?" Bo Katan questions Din as he walks in wielding a black sword, a white glow surrounding it as it hummed. The sight of seeing Din wield such a weapon had your heart beating in your throat, Fennec sent you a look and the heat flushed as the redness of blush crawled up your neck. If anyone would as, you would blame the blood loss.
"He brought him in alive, thats what happened." You state, Bo Katan’s eyes widening at the sight. "And now the New Republic's gonna have to double the payment." You say firmly as you walk up to Din and grogu, smiling as he cooed at you, making grabby hands at you, without hesitation you pick him up, holding him to your chest. Hearing grogu whimper, you pull back and he points to your shoulder which Din is starring at, "I know buddy, I’ll be fine." Din knew you were lying with the way your voice wavered, your body’s weakening state concerned him immensely.
"Thats not what shes talking about." Moff butts in, everyone turns to him in confusion, he turns to Bo Katan with a smirk, "why don’t you kill him now and take it?" He teases. You push Moff to the ground and stand pathetically half-slumped in front of Din, creating a space between them, a caution warning, as long as you were standing she would have to go through you. Bo Katan eyed the sword, seemingly considering if it were worth the effort to start this battle. "Its yours now." Moff laughs from the floor. "What is?" Din questions from behind you, stepping to your side protectively. "The Darksaber. It belongs to you." You look at the weapon in Dins hand, glowing fiercely before Din retracts the blade.
He steps forward in front of Bo Katan and offers the weapon. "Now it belongs to her." The woman refused to take the weapon, "She cant take it, it must be won in battle." Moff chuckles from beside them, instigating Bo Katan to start a battle with Din. Anxiety creeps upward in your chest as you watch on hopelessly, holding the child in your arms.
"In order for her to wield the Darksaber again, she would need to defeat you in combat." Moff looking between the two, Din offers the Darksaber again, "I yield. It’s yours." "Oh, no." Moff chuckles, a stupid grin on his face, "It doesn’t work that way," he states, standing to his feet.
You snap, your body’s strength withering, frustration of the threats towards Din had dark thoughts consume your mind. “Enough of this. You thrive off people’s misery Gideon, I’ve had enough.” You place the child on a nearby chair, turning him away from the scene you’re causing. You kick Gideon’s knees, and he falls to the floor, reaching for your blaster you point it at him, “wait, wait, wait,” he puts his cuffed hands up in surrender, the others watching you with wide eyes. “We’re letting him go. Put the blaster away.” Din pleas with you, his voice sweeter than nectar as he speaks to you. “He doesn’t deserve to live.” You conclude, the conviction in your voice worried Din, you’d become ruthless in your efforts to rescue Grogu, he didn’t recognize you and guilt swirled around him as he wondered if he had a part to play. “We can walk away from this. We can leave.” Please come with us. With me.
Your heart races, thundering like a thousand horses, weakness causing your arm to drop as the weight of the gun, and Din’s words suddenly became too much.
“We’ll handle him, take the child and go.” Bo Katan advises, “you’re an admirable warrior Nimerah, the name suits you well.” You give a curt nod her way and begin to make your way to the hangar Fennec contacts Boba and he’s prepared you for boarding within a parsec. Fennec struggles to hold you upright as your body begins to slump, the blood loss making you drowsy, your eyes dropping and the color falling from your face. Boba assist you to lie down in his cot where you fall down onto it, your eyes blur as tears fills your waterline, limbs shaking as you go into shock, a coldness nipping at your limbs as your body burns up simultaneously. “Come on Nimerah, gonna fix you up, just stay awake.” Boba becomes a puddled blur of colors as your eyes flutter, your body begging for them to close for some rest, exhaustion overcomes you and you can only think of one thing, “need Din, please.” Din hears your weak voice and the way you whimper his name has him sat by your side without hesitation. “I’ll get the medi pack.” Boba hurries. Din removes his gloves to expose his cold hands, the coolness on your forehead provided some relief as he checked your temperature. “You’re burning up.” Your body begins to shiver and your lips chatter in disagreement, “help me Din, I don’t want to die.” You sob, tears falling freely down your red cheeks made Dins heart swell. “Keep your eyes open cyar'ika.” You mumble incoherently and it sends panic coursing through him as your eyes begin to close, he shakes you gently and finds the pulse point on your neck, feeling the weakened thrumming of your heartbeat his cool fingers sending goosebumps down your neck. His other hand strokes your hair, tucking a stray piece behind your ear. “You have to make it. Yooba solus ner aliit.” You are my family.