I'll Do The Same { Din Djarin x OC}

Chapter Sixteen: Tenacity

Thell could spot three of them just beyond the border of the trees.

Gleaming, white armor stuck out like moonlight in the blaring lights of the starship overhead, the heavy firearms draped in their arms as they patrolled the Razor Crest. No points of safe entry, no weak points from where she could see. They were looking for her, or the child, or Din, and she knew it.

Thell had never seen stormtroopers in person, but she knew what they looked like. However, they were much more frightening up close.

Grogu whined against her cloak, and Thell's heart raced at the reminder of the treasure that she was escaping with. Din had entrusted his safety wholly to her, his own son. The one that he loved with all his heart but never admitted to. Thell would die if it meant getting Grogu somewhere safe.

"Shh," she whispered, sinking to her knees behind the ferns and placing him on the ground. Big dark eyes stared back at her in the dark. The only light was from the moon and the fading lights of the starship hovering over them. In the safety of the woods, the canopy of trees provided a barrier against the light, trapping them in an almost peaceful darkness.

She rubbed his head with one shaking hand. "It's okay, bud. I'm going to get you out of here."

She heard the way he whined, how his eyes traveled to the far end of the woods where Thell had sprinted from. She was sweating now, her legs trembling after running as fast as she could to the ship. That was until she found three stormtroopers circling it.

She had thought about Din while running, thinking how stupid she had been for telling him that she loved him in the midst of a wild panic. She didn't regret it, but she wished she had said it at a different time, not after their first kiss and yet another near-death experience. He didn't love her, he couldn't. They were just completing a mission together. After this was all over, it would be different.

She just wished she knew where he was now, if he was safe, or even alive in the first place.

But she had shoved the terror deep down and focused every intent back on the kid. He was her first priority, he had been since the beginning, and she had to get him off this planet.

Thell peeked over the ferns again, fingers resting against the blaster on her hip. She knew how to shoot; she knew she was a better shot than most. Maybe because of her father, maybe because of Din.

If anything, it meant she had a chance.

Swiveling back to Grogu, Thell picked him up and set him just a few paces from her.

"You stay right here," she whispered sternly, pointing a finger at him. "Don't move. Okay?"

But Thell could only smack her forehead when he looked at her with wide eyes and tilted his head, like he had heard nothing she said.

"Fine." Thell rolled her eyes, scooping him back up so he could sit in the hood of her cloak. She felt him cling to the bottom of her hair, fidgeting in the hood as she shuffled back towards the trees.

Thell let her eyes travel over the soldiers, knowing if she hit them directly, she would have enough time to move if she needed to and not get cornered.

"Stay down, okay?" Thell whispered to Grogu. "We're gonna get out of here... with your dad."

That part was still in the works, but she knew she could get to him somehow. She had to.

The blaster trembled in her hands as she raised it to the first trooper, about a hundred feet from where she stood, looking in the opposite direction. She switched the safety off, holding it with two hands to stabilize herself.