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

Chapter Thirty: Infiltration

author's note: my friends!! i hope i didn't keep you waiting too long! college is back in the swing of things for me, but i work on this in any free time that i have! we are nearly there!!

sadly, i would think there would be less than five chapters left after this one. but no worries, i may have a sequel in mind that i will touch on more after the story is finished. ;)

. . . . . . .

Hitting the roof of the train was like landing on solid concrete. The jump from the platform wasn't a long drop, but Din grabbed Thell's waist anyway, helping stop some of the momentum that shook her legs. Her ankles nearly crumbled underneath her as they hit the solid steel of the train, but Din was right beside her, keeping her from hitting the train. The train was moving slow, but gingerly gaining speed as Din pressed a hand into her back, raindrops ricocheting off his armor. Thell tugged the hood of her raincoat forward, rain spitting like ice on her face and exposed neck.

"Down," she heard Din say through the commlink.

Above the pounding rain, and the loud whirr of the train system, Thell could still hear the blaster fire in the courtyard. A quick glance to the right and she could spot the small forms of Cara and Greef plowing through stormtroopers, the red blaster shots illuminating the darkness of the courtyard. They disappeared as the train turned a mild corner, and Thell nearly fell on her stomach. Instead, she slowly lowered herself down, her knees digging into the wet steel of the train as Din crouched beside her. The Beskar looked beautiful as always, and even more so because Thell knew exactly who was hiding underneath it. For the second time that day, her mind wandered back to the room where they had slept the night previous, to seeing Din's face, his brown eyes for the first time. It still overwhelmed her soul that someone like him had ever considered someone like her worth dying for, worth changing his Creed for. He had been a stranger six, almost seven, months ago, a stranger who she wondered would kill her on sight if she tried anything. Now, after risking their lives for each other and for the kid, he was her best friend, her closest companion... A man whose soul reflected her own loneliness and need to belong.

Trees whipped past them on both sides, almost blurring with the dark landscape. It was colder like this, and the chill bit at Thell's skin, making her lips tremble. The train was only getting faster, gaining more and more ground as it plowed through the woods. Din was messing with something on his belt, reaching down to a grate in the roof of the train to attach a thermal detonator to the door. Without needing to verbally tell her, Thell shrunk back just as he armed the weapon, the red light flashing just before Din shielded Thell with half of his body. She flinched as the weapon exploded, creating a rumble in the train under her feet. Din moved fast, chucking the remnants of the twisted grate off the panel and into the woods. He extended an arm, beckoning her forward just as he took a quick look into the train below them and descended swiftly into its belly. Thell peered down cautiously, looking for Din in the darkness of the train. She saw the glint of the Beskar against the back of his hand as he raised his arm, and gripping it tightly, Thell followed him inside.

The inside of the train was a stark change to the outside, surprisingly warmer and quiet despite the rain leaking in from the hole in the roof. Only a few white lights lit the inside, revealing several large crates strapped to the walls of the hull. The interior was entirely metal, mostly intricate infrastructure that reflected just how well to do the Empire still was.

Thell could sense Din beside her, seeing the shining of the Beskar steel reflected in the dim lighting. Outside, she could hear the rumble of distant thunder, the way it echoed and reverted back to shake the train under their feet.

"You okay?"

Thell's eyes flickered back and forth across the inside of the car, knowing she wouldn't find Grogu here but already expecting to see him. They were so close, they just needed to go a little farther, and they would all be together again.