The Mandalorian hadn't felt powerless many times before. There were times, like seconds before the Child saved him for the first time and when Moff Gideon had him and his friends surrounded. There were times he felt as if he was running out of chances; times when the odds weren't looking in his favor. Bleeding out of the back of his head and incapable of removing his helmet to get help was one of those times. Losing his parents and hiding away was one of those times.

But each time he was in a situation of hopelessness, something always went right. Until right now.

With his cheek pressed against the cool ground of the cell he had just been thrown in, he knew that he was hopeless. More hopeless than he had ever been. Somewhere in another room you were with Vinor Thriff. His helmet was gone. His Creed was broken. And his body was hurt so badly that he wondered if he was dying. They had beat him with so much strength --- strength that he did not have to fight back. And now he was alone, accepting that this was his fate. Accepting the incoming end of his mortality. Knowing that his last moments would be this, alone and ashamed, weak and broken.

He was able to come to accept all of those things. But what he couldn't accept was the same fate for you, the woman who had done no wrong. The person he was hired to protect. He knew that he loved you. He wasn't sure when that thought had become true, but he realized it when Vinor Thriff spoke of the ultimatum over dinner. He probably loved you before that. He must have, because it was just impossible for him to convince himself that he would or would not remove his helmet for the sake of saving your life. He had known deep inside that he would, he just couldn't admit it to himself.

He heard someone let out a scream. He couldn't guarantee that it was you, but it was enough for him to move his head. His chin pressed against the floor, the taste of blood in his teeth. His palms were slick against the stone. Placing pressure on his hands was agony, but he did it anyway, trying to lift himself onto his knees. The right side of his body was shaking from exhaustion. He closed his eyes tightly.

His body tensed when the cell door opened. He opened his eyes and stared at the blurry reflection of his face in the puddle of water and blood.

"Get up, Mandalorian," the altered voice of a stormtrooper said. Din's hands shook with anger. Mandalorian. The very title was stripped of him, and now it was spoken into the air. "Did you hear me? I said get up---"

The stormtrooper neared him and Din's hand shot out, grabbing hold of his neck and squeezing tightly. His grip was weaker than usual, but still strong enough to steal the breath of the Imp. His knees struggled to straighten as he got up on his feet, staring at the visor of the helmet in front of him.

"Wait," choked the stormtrooper, clawing at his arm. "You've gotta listen to me."

"Why do I have to do that?" he whispered, his vision red with anger. Red with blood.

"It's Darius," the stormtrooper gasped. He tore the helmet off of his head shakily. Din's eyes widened and he dropped him, letting the man crumble to the ground and heave loudly. "Your face. I didn't know they..."

"How did you get the armor?" Din asked.

"I killed a few of them," he said. He kept his eyes on the ground even as he stood up. "So far none of the other ones know I'm here. We've gotta move fast to get to her before they find out."

"Then let's go," Din said, his voice harsh and urgent. He walked to the open cell door and peered out, checking both sides twice. "It's clear. Let's move."

"Hey," Darius said. Din looked up at the man that wouldn't look at him. He was staring at a gun that was in his hands. "Take this."

Din did.

"I'm sorry," Darius whispered. "I'm sorry for what I did. I had no idea that she felt anything for you. Mandalorian... I thought they were cold bounty hunters. Loyal to the Empire. I didn't know."

"I have no loyalty to anyone," Din said, and he turned to look for passing stormtroopers or guards again. "Except for her. Let's go."

Your eyes opened to a locked door and an empty room. You slowly pulled yourself up off the stones, your side sitting in a pool of what you hoped was water. Your body was soaked to the bone and you were freezing. The tiny sliver of sunlight you and Din had been sitting beside was gone.

Din. With a sweeping glance over the room, you remembered that he was taken away. You got up onto your feet and went to the cell door. Putting your hands on the cold surface of the door, you peered out of the tiny window at the top. You could see a couple guards conversing in the corner, drinking from flasks, but you couldn't see Din.

You smacked your palm against the door and backed up. Every part of you longed to escape this place and go straight for Din. Not for the way out, not for the sun. For Din. But you were powerless in your cell. All you had was the crystal in your pocket --- and Din's helmet in the corner.

You knelt and picked it up slowly, feeling the coolness of it in your hands. You turned it over and wiped the visor of it. He had given this up for you. When you pulled the helmet off of his head, everything changed. Now you knew what it was like to be loved unconditionally, to know that someone was really willing to give it all to save you. It was a bittersweet feeling to know the meaning of what Din gave up for you.

A bit of noise in the corridor made you glance up. You held the helmet in your hands as you slowly stood up to your feet and turned towards the door. You heard shouts of pain, loud curses, and finally the sound of metal against metal; and the screeching sound of metal being destroyed as the door of your cell was blasted away.

Your eyes widened. Darius stepped into the room first, his eyes on you, his body clad in stormtrooper armor. You only registered him for a moment before you saw Din, his face busted up but full of relief, as he hurried past your brother and stopped in the center of the room.

"Din." You rushed to him, your free arm going around his shoulders to pull him against you. He wrapped his arms around your waist and held you close.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"He hit me when they took you away, but I'm okay," you said. You couldn't help but smile, placing your hand on the side of his face as you pulled back. "I'm so glad you're alright."

He nodded, a slight smile on his lips as he glanced over your face. His hands brushed your cheekbones before they cradled your face. "We have to move quickly if we want a shot at getting out of here."

"Okay." You moved the helmet between his chest and yours. "Here."

"I can't," he said, shaking his head and swallowing hard. "It came off in front of other living things. I can't put it back on."

"I haven't looked at your face," Darius blurted, and it was true. His eyes didn't go above Din's chest if he spoke to him, but any other time, he was looking at the floor, his head slightly turned away. "And I won't. You have my word."

"It's still off in front of people," Din said. "It's not possible."

"I know I cannot take back what I've seen," you whispered, "but if the others that saw you died, would you be able to put it back on? You said you cannot be seen by other living things. What if they're not living by the end of this?"

"Those are a lot of people to kill," he said.

"You're a Mandalorian," you said. "I think you're used to situations like this by now."

"Not exactly like this," he said. A noise in the corridor made him turn and stiffen, the weapon heavy in his hands. The sound passed and nothing happened. He looked back at you, then at the helmet, and he said, "All of the guards are dead except for those on the upper level."

"Then we'll have to find Vinor Thriff," you said. "Once he's dead, then they're all erased and no one will remember your face. We can go. You can get back to your kid and I..."

"You're coming with me, aren't you?" His hand closed around yours.

"If you still want me." You nodded. "I'll follow you anywhere."

"I couldn't imagine not wanting you," he said, and he kissed you one more time before he slipped the helmet back on. You smiled when you heard the altered voice as he said, "Follow me."

You and Darius fell slightly behind Din as you left the cell and silently snuck through the corridors of the prison. Your cell was only a few feet away from the stairs that would lead to the upper level of the prison, where Vinor Thriff was hiding away, no doubt.

Mando had a weapon that you did not recognize on him, but looking at your brother, you realized that it was one of his guns that he'd given him. As you neared the steps, your brother paused to hand you all of his knives that he kept tucked into his belt. He undid the belt and put it around your waist, clicking it in before you could protest.

"Come on," Din whispered. "We've got to keep moving."

You nodded at your little brother and made your way up the stairs, right at your Mandalorian's heels. The corridor was illuminated with flickering orange flames of the torches on the walls. The floor was slick with water; it had recently been cleaned of the blood. The stench of copper was still stuck in the air.

A cluster of guards waited on the exit of the staircase. Din shot them before they could react to your appearance. An alarm wailed; you must've triggered a motion sensor of some kind.

"Come on, let's get moving!" Din said, picking up the speed. He turned a corner fast and ran right into a group of eight stormtroopers, who automatically started to fire. You yelped and he dove in front of you, the blasts hitting his beskar but causing no physical damage to him. He braced his arms in front of his face and lurched forward, using the end of his gun to knock a couple of them on their backs and fire a few shots in their direction.

You pulled two knives from your belt as one stormtrooper locked eyes with you. Your hands shook. All of your life, physical combat was never something taught to you. It was never a thing you thought to truly learn. And now, as you were thrown in the midst of a life or death situation, you had no choice but to try. You swung your arms, the ends of the blades scraping across the armor of the stormtrooper that tried to grab your wrist. He was unsuccessful in his attempt and so you shoved him against the wall with the left side of your body, kicking your left foot out to knock his feet out from under him. The move was clumsy; he fell slightly on top of you and you hurriedly brought the knife in your right hand down and out, catching him in the soft part of his armor between his chestplate and the spot under his armpit. He shouted in pain and grabbed your shoulder, pulling you back to punch you in the face. A blaster shot stopped him, and you looked up to see Din with the weapon pointed right at him. Your brother dropped the corpse of a stormtrooper that he had just killed with his bare hands.

"Not bad for my first one, right?" you asked, breathless.

"I've seen worse," he admitted.

"Thanks." You kicked the body off of you and stepped over it. "Do you know which way you're going?"

"No," he said, jogging to keep up with you as you made your way to the left. "But I figured I'd lead anyway, since I'm the one with beskar."

"Always the hero," you said. "Go to the right of the east wing of the prison and that's where you'll probably find him."

"I wonder if he'll remember me," Darius said.

"Of course I remember you."

At the sound of his voice, the three of you turned around quickly. He stepped out of a cell with a blaster in hand.

"How could I forget the face of the coward that betrayed the Empire?"

"The Empire fell," he said, "and it fell for good reason. I wasn't going to live my life for them anymore."

"The Empire is what protected you. Ever since you turned your back on them, you've been running, hiding. Scraping to get by. If that isn't proof that you need the Empire, I don't know what is." Vinor Thriff raised his arms and laughed. "And now you're back, and you're trying to take my prisoners with you?"

Din took a single step towards you until his body blocked most of yours. You placed your hand on his right arm. He held the gun up and pointed at Vinor. "The prince of the kingdom released us himself. As far as I'm concerned, that's fair game."

"The prince who freed you is a wanted criminal!" Vinor exclaimed. "And there are people even higher than the king that I answer to."

"Like Moff Gideon?" Din asked.

Vinor smiled. "Precisely. You know, he will be interested to know that you're here, and that the child of yours is unprotected."

"Who said he was unprotected?"

"And when he gets you, he will get the information you have about the child," he continued, "and he will use the princess to get it out of you. Do you think this stops here? She will never be safe. The child will never be safe. It will always be you running, desperately protecting the two things you were never meant to have."

"It's a risk I'm going to have to take," Din said.

"You surprise me, Mandalorian," Vinor said, nodding. "You really surprise me."

His eyes shifted to something behind your head, but it was too late for you to wonder what it was, because suddenly there was a loud sound and a lot of pain, and your body was arching upward as your jaw slacked open and a choked cry came out. You felt the burning of your flesh, the shifting of your body, and you glanced over to see the wound on your shoulder.

You knew the wound wasn't fatal, but the pain of it was so unreal. And as you fell against Din and he turned, his arm wrapping around you quickly. You grabbed at your arm, the knives clattering to the ground. Din looked up at the person responsible, and your heart sank at the words he said.

"I missed," your father said. "I was aiming for her head."

"Pathetic," Vinor said, and he raised his hand and your father's blaster went flying into his palm. He spun it around and pointed it at you. Shocked at the discovery of his force-sensitivity and the extreme pain of your shoulder, you didn't move to cower. "I'll finish her."

"No you will not," Din said quickly, and he pushed down on the trigger.

At the same time, you snatched the blaster away from him, cries of pain coming out of you as you watched the blaster shot hit his shoulder, a reflection of your own wound. You pushed rapidly on the trigger, watching the shocked eyes of Vinor widen and gloss over as you slowly approached him, shooting him again and again and again until he was slumped over on the ground, convulsing on the floor, the suit on his body unrecognizable anymore.

But you kept shooting, ignoring the flaming pain of your shoulder. Din's hands were on you then and he was pulling you back, gently telling you to stop. You finally did, the gun falling out of your hands and clattering to the floor with a gutted cry. Din picked it up and turned towards you.

"Daughter! I had no idea you had such ability to kill a man," your father laughed, his hands on his knees. He looked insane, and you believed wholeheartedly that he was as you slowly turned your head to look at him. "You've surprised even me today."

And you trembled with the realization that you had just killed a man. Din had fired the first shot, but you'd taken the kill from him. Vinor Thriff was a threat to your entire being for years, and you had killed him.

Your father raised his hands over his head. "I know you want to kill me, Mandalorian. I just beg you to reconsider. As you can see, none of my guards have come to stop you from escaping. I sent them away so that you would see that I'm of no harm to you now."

"You tried to kill her," Din said.

"I'm no harm to you," he specified. "To my children, on the other hand, I will deal with them personally."

"You tried to kill her," Din repeated.

Your father sighed. "I see. And you love her, don't you, Mandalorian?" When Din didn't respond, your father shook his head. "What a shame. I was willing to give you access to leave. You have a child of your own, don't you, Mandalorian? Moff Gideon knows him. He knows you. He's coming. Don't you think he would be interested to see you here?"

"I think he'll be interested to know that you let me go for the sole intent of keeping the Princess here with you."

Your father's eyes flashed with fear. Fear of doing something wrong, of letting down the Empire. "He wanted you dead. He didn't want you as a prisoner. He said, so long as the asset is unprotected, he will win. And so I am offering you a way out! A way you can avoid dying the way my children will tonight. Leave now, Mandalorian, and go protect the asset if you dare. Your death will come another day. Theirs comes tonight."

Din raised the blaster at your father's head. He stepped back, alarmed. "You hired me to protect the Princess from any harm. That doesn't exclude you, your majesty."

Before you could blink, the shot was fired and your father was on the ground. Din lowered the blaster and kept his face straight. You looked at your brother, who stood in shock, glancing at both of the bodies.

"Come on. We don't have much time," Din said, and he started walking on without you.