You froze, your body going cold. It was definitely there. It wasn't something you had made up. You slowly picked up the bag, half tempted to look behind you, and then sprinted towards your door, throwing your bag up onto your shoulder and reaching for the door handle as the footsteps appeared behind you and a hand lashed out, grabbing you by your waist and tackling you to the floor.

You let out a shout as you hit the ground hard. Thankfully your bag kept your head from knocking against the hard floor as the figure climbed on top of you, his or her legs on either side of yours. You shouted and thrashed, pulling up your fists to pound down on them for a single yet futile attempt at escaping. They were wearing armor; your fists were useless against it.

Your door was suddenly opening and Din was running in, your name pouring out of his mouth as he angrily launched himself at the figure that was holding you down. He pulled the gun out of his holster and grabbed the wrists of your attacker with one hand. He pressed the blaster up against his helmet until, aggravated, he ripped the helmet off of him.

And you slowly sat up as you saw that familiar face.

You launched yourself forward, grabbing Din's wrist and shoving the blaster away from the underside of your brother's jaw. "Din, no! Don't hurt him!"

Confused and afraid of hurting you, Din stopped, dropping his weapon and falling back onto the floor. He raised his hands in surrender and you turned towards your attacker and he couldn't understand why you stopped him until you threw yourself on top of the body and sobbed and smiled.

"Darius," you gasped out, "I can't believe it's you. I can't believe you're still alive!"

"I've been fighting to get here to you," he said, his arms around you. "I told you that I'd come back for you."

"Well yes, but I thought you'd been killed," you said. You pulled back. "And look at you! You're so grown up now. I can't believe it's been four years."

"I know." He sat up and smiled, tossing the helmet away from him.

Din glanced between the two. "Are you going to tell me who this is supposed to be?"

"This is Darius," you said. "My little brother."

"And who is this?" your brother retorted, giving Din a dirty look. "Thanks for knocking me over and holding a blaster to my face!"

"You were attacking her!" Din said, jabbing a finger in your brother's direction.

Your brother stood up on his feet and Din followed, the blaster back in his hand. "Well, I was trying to stop her from running away and getting help from one of those bucket-heads out there!"

"This is my Mandalorian," you said, stepping between the two, your hands up and facing each of them. "He was hired to protect me. He's my friend."

"Alright," your brother said, adjusting the armor that was too big for him. "That's good to know I guess."

You couldn't help but smile. "I can't believe you're here. I can't believe you're alive." You shook your head in amazement and stumbled forward, throwing your arms around him and yanking him close. He laughed and hugged you back, swaying slightly as you squeezed him tightly.

He grabbed your shoulders so you'd look at him. "I came to rescue you! We have to leave now."

"Leave?" you asked, eyebrows furrowed. "Well, we were --- we were trying to leave, too. That's why I packed a bag and everything. Where do you want to run away to?"

"I know a place," he assured you. "A place where I've been safe for a long time and you can be, too."

You looked at Din, who shrugged. "I've got my own places to be."

You frowned and looked back at your brother. "Do you have a ship?"

"A hunk of junk, that's what I have," he said, shaking his head. "I doubt it'll get us far."

"That's fine," you said. "Din has a ship. We can leave together." You looked back at your Mandalorian for confirmation. "Can't we?"

"Sure," he said. "I'll take you both there. It'll be a few hours trek through the mountainside."

"Then let's not waste any time," you said.

You put your bag back on your back and took a final glance around your room, where your days were spent in solitude, in sadness, in longing. And now you were going to get a taste of that freedom you so desperately craved. The thought almost made you want to cry, but your body was buzzing with so much excitement that you couldn't.

Your brother put the helmet back on his head and adjusted the plates of armor on his body. He counted the array of small knives he had kept tucked in his belt; he had twelve in total. Din's hand found yours for a brief moment.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," you said, turning to look at him. "I've been ready for a long time."

Din, Darius, and you all fled together. You thought it would be difficult to leave the palace without being seen, but the corridors seemed to be empty. Din took the lead, blaster up and ready, with you and Darius trailing behind. You felt like you should have a weapon too, but you didn't really know how to use one, so it was probably equally as useful for you to be empty-handed right now.

Outside, in the cool afternoon, you felt extraordinary. You felt free already. The sun was on your face and you were moving closer and closer to those gates. They were so tall and frightening looking, because who in the universe knew what laid behind them for you, but you were so eager to find out. Darius knew the code to get out. You'd just have to cross the gardens to get to them.

"I'll take the lead for now, then the Mandalorian will take it again and show us the way to his ship," he said to you, jogging forward.

"Fine," Din said, breathing steadily as you hurried forward.

"This way!" Darius waved you forward, taking you for a turn into the tall bushes. That ended up being a mistake as he slammed to a stop in front of two stormtroopers.

"Hey!" one of them yelled. "They've got the princess. Stop them!"

"Uh oh," you blurted, your hand grabbing Din's fast.

The three of you spun around and ran back the other way, planning to loop around the entire garden and find a different path to the gates. There had to be one. There had to be millions of different paths.

"Alert the others," the other stormtrooper said, and they were firing at you. "Tell them the Mandalorian is escaping with the princess!"

"What do we do?!" you yelled out.

"Just follow me!" Darius shouted. He waved you and Din forward, and they were suddenly firing from the rooftop and balconies of the palace, and you were ducking with every sound of the blaster, and you were so terrified with your heartbeat in your ears and your lungs struggling for breath and then finally you were there, right at the gates.

Darius typed in the code easily, his fingers swift and quick. You and Din were somewhat behind. He let go of your hand to turn and fire at the stormtroopers above you. You were a few steps ahead. Darius yanked the gate open. He ran through it, turning around to wave you through. You ran by him and the gate closed, and you stopped with your hands on your knees for a brief moment before turning to look at Din, a 'we made it!' on your lips.

But then you saw Darius' hands on the bars holding the gate closed until it clicked locked. Din's body slammed against the gate and he grabbed it and yanked. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry, Mandalorian, but they're after you. And chances are if they have you, they won't think to get us."

"What? No!" you exclaimed. You pushed Darius aside and grabbed the bars. You yanked hard on them. "Darius, open this now!"

"Come on, his ship is out there. We can find it."

"Are you crazy?!" you screamed at him. "Let him out now!"

The footsteps were heavier now, closer. Din's hands on the bars moved to grab yours. He took your wrist and squeezed it. "Just go, Princess. If you look straight on from this point, walk west and you'll find my ship."

You shook your head. "No."

"___, come on, we gotta go!" Darius said. "They're coming."

"Go," Din said. "If they get you, they'll kill you."

"If they get you, they'll kill you," you said, tears in your eyes. "And I promised myself I wouldn't let you go."

"___," Din said, pained, and it echoed off of your brother's desperate shout of your name.

You turned and looked at Darius, furious betrayal in your eyes as you did so. "Get out of here, Darius!"

He paused, but as the stormtroopers came into view, he turned and sprinted through the trees. He vanished in seconds. You looked back at Din and locked your hands with his. The stormtroopers were on all sides of you now. Dozens of them.

"I'm so sorry," you said, shaking your head slowly. Tears spilled over. "I didn't think something like this would happen to us."

And your Mandalorian opened his mouth to say something, and you heard the beginning of his sentence, but it was cut off by the agonized cry of pain as he was stunned with a bolt of electricity. He collapsed against the gate and slumped on the ground. You cried out his name and then they shot you with the same thing, making you fall over on your back. Once again, your backpack protected your head, and the last thing you thought about was how pretty the trees looked from this close up before your eyes rolled into the back of your head and everything faded.