𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 ── ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴᴅᴀʟᴏʀɪᴀɴ ✓

0.4

FOUR.
the child

🔹️🔹️🔹️

"Mando..!" I rushed over to his body. I started to grow nervous. I placed two fingers on his neck, trying to feel for a heartbeat. To my relief, his heart was beating just fine, but he must've been hurting real bad. I sighed, "Thank goodness.."

As I looked around at our surroundings, I noticed a metal round object floating a couple feet away from Mando. I stood up, walking over to, what looked like, a crib. I raised an eyebrow as I took a peak inside of it.

It revealed a small creature, staring right back at me. My eyes narrowed down on the creature, observing its intricate features.

"It looks exactly like--"

Just then, I heard a groan emerge from behind me. I turned around, grabbing my blaster and aiming it towards the sound's direction. I lowered my blaster and realized.. it was just Mando.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, placing my blaster back inside my emissary belt. "What happened?"

He ignored me as he stood up and walked past me, wincing a little during the process. He looked inside the crib and sighed in relief. Mando looked back at me, "When did you get here?"

"Just now." I replied. I suddenly changed the subject and pointed my index finger at the little creature. "So, this was your mission? It's just a child..!"

"Look, I don't have time for this." He barked, walking away from me. With a simple swipe of his arm, the metal crib began following him.

I sighed, chasing after him as I kept thinking about that strange creature and who it had reminded me of. A couple of minutes later, I had stopped myself next to the crib and right outside of a ship.. Mando's ship. The ship seemed to be torn apart and broken -- I could tell why Mando had seemed distressed.

Not long after, I heard a loud grunt of frustration come from inside the ship; the engines turned on, but they seemed to have malfunctioned. I looked inside of the metal crib and noticed that the creature had gone. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking around for the tiny child.

That's when I heard a coo come from the front entrance of the ship. I walked up to the entrance, picking up the small child and cradling it in my arms. I took a peak inside the ship, trying to see what or who it was cooing at. It was Mando.

Mando sighed as he slumped down in one of the ship's seats. He turned to look at me. I stared into his helmet as the creature glanced at Mando, then at me. I pursed my lips as my eyes glanced around  at his broken ship.

"Come on," I said, breaking the silence. "I'll take you back to the camp."

He paused before talking, "I.."

"You can tell me what happened on the way there."

🔹️🔹️🔹️

"And.. that's what happened." Mando said, walking alongside my blurrg. I nodded, listening to his story.

"So, you.. saved the little guy." I replied, looking at the little creature inside the crib. He cleared his throat.

"They wanted him alive."

"I know.." I shrugged. "It just seems.. a little uncharacteristic of you."

"What do you mean? He's just a child." He glanced at me, crossing his arms. "If you were in my position, you would've done the same."