Promises and Deals | The Mandalorian

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The first thing she does when they get back to the ship is check on the Child: he sleeps peacefully in his small hammock with soft snores escaping his little lips. The second thing she does is rip out her buns, letting all of her hair cascade down her body.

The third thing she does is go to the cockpit to yell at Mando. She is furious—beyond furious. He shouldn't have followed her in the first place, and now he took her target.

She finds him already setting a course for this Gor Koresh. Waiting until they are in space, she does not know if he realizes she stands in the doorway until he asks, "What the hell was that?"

"You're asking me?" Alora exclaims. "Me? I had a plan, Mando. I had a perfect plan for the perfect, stupid target. Why'd you have to come?"

"You seriously thought I'd let you go alone?" He stands from his seat and only then does she see his clenched hands. "On Taris?"

"Bullshit," she snaps. "After all this time, you still think it's about what you let me do. You don't let me do shit! I do what I want and what is best for the Child. You just sit here, brooding about safety and your Creed. Guess what, buddy—I have my own Creed to work out. Not everything happens just because you want it to."

He scoffs and shakes his head. "You know, sometimes, I miss when you couldn't talk back."

"I'm sure you do, Mr. Control Freak." She crosses her arms, distinctly aware of the cool air hitting her exposed skin. "Get over it. We all do what we have to do."

"Oh, so you needed to do that? Really? I can think of a dozen different ways tonight could have gone instead of flirting and then almost slitting the guy's throat."

She angrily holds up a finger as her voice shakes. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Mando. You are not my superior. I could easily kill you. Maybe I should've killed you on Arvala-7, then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Yeah, well, why didn't you?"

"Because the kid wanted you alive!" She lets out a bitter laugh. "He saw the good in you." Her gaze slips to his now relaxed hands before Alora runs a hand over her face. "I could've handled it without you."

"I'm glad I came."

"Why?"

"Because you had the same look in your eye when you almost killed Xi'an."

Alora purses her lips. "I should've killed her, just like I should've killed him. They're too dangerous to—"

"There it is again." Mando takes a step forward. "That look."

"Who cares?" She snaps back as her eyes dart over his helmet. "This is how I was trained, Mando. Hate me for it for all I care."

"I don't..." He shakes his head. "I trust you, Alora, ok? I do. More than you know. But maybe the kid isn't the only one who needs a little guidance."

"Tried that. Didn't work. I don't need any Jedi to come and try to fix me—they made me this way. They don't get the chance to undo it."

Mando hesitates—she can sense it. "What do you mean?"

Her heart beats rapidly against her chest. "Every time I meet a Jedi, someone dies." She hates that her voice cracks or the pain that aches in her back as memories cloud her vision. "I meet Vader, and my planet explodes. I met Luke, and my teacher disappeared. I met hundreds of Jedi, and they all died." She refuses to let the tears fall. "If you want to find other Mandalorians, fine. I will not find more Jedi and watch you die too. The easiest thing for me to do is go back to wandering the planets like before. Like nothing. Because that is exactly what I am."

"You shouldn't say that—"

"Why?" She spreads her arms out and lets them fall against the dress. "It's the truth. If I was worth anything, I would've died with my friends on Coruscant when the Jedi were decimated. I should've died then but I didn't. Instead, I was forgotten." Looking at his helmet, she can almost see the blue saber that haunts her dreams reflected in the steel. "When I was found, someone trained me only to tell me that I'd never be a Jedi. Never. So he threw me away too."

Shutting her mouth tightly, a sense of dread fills Alora's stomach as the stars fly past the windows. She didn't mean to say that—to tell him any of that. The passing moments of silence beat like a drum as she stares at that emotionless bucket of steel in front of her.

"I'm not going to leave you," Mando says, his voice rougher than what she remembers a few moments ago. "Not you or the kid. No one gets left behind no matter what."

"Everyone leaves eventually," Alora finds herself saying, though her mind is moving too slow to process the words. "You know what it's like to be alone, but losing what you already have is so much worse. I'm not ready to lose..." The word gets caught in her throat. "I'm not ready to lose either of you."

"I'm not ready either." Somehow, Mando manages to take a step closer to her. "Is that what the tattoo means? Loss?"

She follows his gaze to her chest. With him, it feels natural, like he genuinely wants to know; Arrik's gaze felt like daggers bursting into her skin.

"It's the seal of the royal guard," she replies quietly, tracing a finger over the edge of her tattoo. "A special division for only the Alderaanian royal family's personal guards. I have this as did the man who took me in. Calling him Father would be a stretch." Alora lifts her gaze back up to see Mando's helmet still tilted to look at the tattoo. "I suppose it could mean loss. After all, we failed. Alderaan is gone now."

"The princess is still alive, isn't she?"

"As far as I know but everyone else is gone. I was supposed to be the one to go if it came down to it. Instead, the planet I called my home paid the price." As her head begins to clear, she takes a large step back and inhales sharply. "I'm supposed to be mad at you—I am mad at you."

"I can tell." She can imagine a smirk under that bucket. "Furious with me, huh? Well, we can call it even because I'm mad too."

She pouts, crossing her arms. "I didn't do anything wrong."

With a scoff, he gets back into the pilot's seat. "You should wash up," he says over his shoulder. She can't help but agree. "Maybe burn the dress. We won't land for a while."

Despite the anger still roaring through her veins and the cool press of her tattoo, Alora can't help the blush that covers her cheeks as she walks out of the cockpit. She secretly hopes Mando feels it too.

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I don't know about you but this gets me. The slow burn is just PERFECT I FREAKING LOVE SLOW BURNS MAN

Hope you enjoyed!

-L