CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. 

THE CONFESSION

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

THE WORLD WAS quiet in the hull of the Razor Crest.

"Tess." the girl did not look up. Her eyes were trained on the metal plated floor, watching each curve and crevice with enough intensity that the Mandalorian thought she might burn a hole through it. He was across from her, an unfinished bowl of broth in his hands. They'd been eating happily for a while, but then Tess had frozen, and hadn't snapped out of her daze since.

"Tess." the girl gripped her bowl so tightly it might have bent, the steel reluctantly giving in to her fury. Tess Oprin could always do the impossible, like bend metal or fix a machine in less than an hour. She had that effect, the ability to startle others into submission. The Mandalorian knew this well, probably more than anyone else. He understood she would not talk if she didn't want to, and there was barely anything he could do to change that.

"Tess." for the third time, the Mandalorian called out her name. It was soft on his lips, a stark contrast to the name on other's. The people of Mos Pelgo had thrown around her name as if it were a hot knife, able to burn and cut them at the same time. Even the Marshal, who cared for Tess like no other, had said her name with caution, with an edge, as if one wrong tone and she would explode.

He was right, of course, but it did nothing to quench the conflict in the girl's heart.

The Mandalorian was different. He didn't talk to her like she was a grenade, nor even a storm about to swallow the world whole. He talked to her as if she were human, spoke like she was nothing more than a fifteen-year-old child. He didn't think she was a monster, a violent beast who turned a cold shoulder to everyone she ever met.

No, the Mandalorian did not think she was heartless. He thought she was simply a girl with tragedy running through her veins.

Her sudden and unexpected voice had the same feather touch as his own. "Have you ever taken off your helmet?" The question pulled the Mandalorian into zero gravity, his insides tightening, combusting in on themselves. Tess finally looked up, her eyes were glistening with unshed curiosity.

"What?" Tess almost flinched at the hoarseness in the Mandalorian's tone. Her hands were shaking, he saw, the broth inside her bowl quivering from the force of her grip. Her hair had fallen over her eyes. Her features were stark, sharp and unforgiving, just like her heart. Yet even that had grown soft over the weeks.

She knew it. The Mandalorian knew it. It was this very softness that made the question blurt out of Tess' mouth.

She'd been wondering about it for ages. The question was on the tip of her tongue since she'd first seen the Mandalorian, covered head to toe in glistening beskar, heat radiating off the metal. She'd thought the mask incredibly impractical, but said nothing aloud. Because who was she to judge? Tess knew what it was like to wear masks, to pull a facade over her face so no one would know what she truly was.

She knew how to make people believe she was something different, something strange and terrifying.

The Mandalorian knew how to make people wonder what he was. He was good at bringing eyes to him, in causing suspicion and intrigue to burst inside other's hearts. But he was also trustworthy. Mando was not someone to break his word, that was clear with or without the helmet.

"No." his voice was cutting, like running your fingers along the edge of a shard of glass.

Tess was used to this as well.

"I didn't mean..." she said, trying to find the right words. When she looked up, he was watching her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Why did she ask? Tess silently cursed herself, condemning her mind to a rancor pit on Tatooine. Thoughts of the years she spent sitting alone in her mechanic shop, hands busy with machines and tools, keeping her mind from falling apart swam through her head. The fog that seemed to cloud herself had lifted, somehow, just by going with him. Tess didn't need a machine to keep her mind from the past now. She didn't need to forget the past at all.

"Why did you ask?" the Mandalorian's voice again cut through the silence. Even the child, half asleep in his spot on the floor, perked up. The modulated tone of the Mandalorian was near threatening, and Tess glanced up, visibly flinching. Under his helmet, the Mandalorian immediately regretted his tone. He hadn't meant to seem dangerous, nor mad, but her question, her abruptness, caught him so off guard that all manners were swept from his mind.

"I don't know." she replied before he could cover his mistake. The air grew tight. Tess' throat was hoarse and rough as sand over stone. "I don't know why I asked. I guess I just..." she paused, unsure of whether to continue on. They'd been in space for several hours, leaving Trask behind and travelling through Hyperspace to Corvus. The trip was longer than expected, and so far Tess had done nothing but take a nap and eat food. The Mandalorian had placed a blanket over her shoulders halfway through her slumber, and when she'd woken up, she'd muttered a quick thank you. Now here she was, sitting with that same blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders, on the ground across from the warrior, fiddling with her spoon.

She bit the inside of her cheek.

"Just what?" the Mandalorian asked. There was silence, then. "What did you want to tell me, Tess?" He was talking about her comment on Nevarro, when he'd destroyed the TIE fighters and come back down to her. Tess stiffened. It seemed he hadn't forgotten. Tess wished he had.

"I..." she started. The Mandalorian raised an eyebrow; she'd never been this rattled before. It concerned him. Tess took a deep breath, steadying herself and putting her bowl down to her side. The Mandalorian sat up straighter, doing the same. The child cooed and looked between the two. Mando turned his gaze to her hands, buried in the folds of her coat. He realized he'd never seen her without the fingerless leather gloves strapped across her knickles. He could see clearly that the grease stains had not disappeared, and she still rubbed the muscles between thumb and forefinger.

It seemed some habits never died.

"When I was ten years old." Tess' voice was so soft the Mandalorian wondered if he'd even heard her right. When he looked back up to her face, her mouth was agape, her eyes wide, as if she couldn't quite believe she'd spoken either.

Tess gulped and spoke again. "When I was ten years old, I was living in Mos Eisley with my parents." the Mandalorian sat so straight his back ached after a couple seconds. "It was a day after the second Death Star was destroyed, and the Empire was trying to control the town." her voice turned bitter. "My parents had always been fighters. They went in to stop the Empire." Tess' eyes glistened, but her frown grew darker. "They didn't come back."

It looked as if the girl who had once been Tess Oprin was destroyed, ripped apart by her own bare hands. She seemed to have shrunk, back hunched and features twisted. She didn't look at him, her eyes trained on nothing, glistening with a thousand memories. Her jaw was clenched.

The Mandalorian listened. He listened so intently that the world seemed to fall away, and it was only her and him, floating through uninterrupted space.

"Moff Gideon was there." she continued. "He was in the square where my parents died. He..." she shook her head, and he could see tears welling up in her eyes. "I did something when I saw them. I don't know what... It was as if I forgot I was human, and I just... screamed." She scoffed, a small, saddened smile blooming on her lips. "I think that was the first time I used this power." she held up her hands, her shaking, quivering, tiny hands.

She was not done, the words poured out of her, unable to stop, a thousand hidden winces, a million layers of masks all stripped away.

A singular moment, and everything Tess Oprin had ever pushed away finally pushed back.

"He tried to take me." she said. "I remember him telling the guards as I got away. Next thing I knew I had no one and I was on the run from a man with an entire army at his disposal." she still wouldn't look at him. "I hopped on a caravan to Mos Pelgo, out to the middle of nowhere, and I vowed to forget." The tears were close to spilling now, living sins on her cheeks, and she'd never hated emotions so much in that moment. "I wanted to forget everything, Mando. Forget my parents, forget how they died, forget Moff Gideon. All of it."

"So you became heartless." the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Tess' head snapped up, her eyes boring into the Mandalorian's visor so fiercely he almost closed his own. They blazed as bright as suns, as if the hot magma of the Nevarro canyons were burned into her irises. It was the crystalline tear slipping down her cheek that broke the tension. The salty liquid was harsh as it reached Tess' lips, but she did not wipe it away.

Her eyes never left the Mandalorian as she answered. "Yeah." another tear, another rip in the Mandalorian's soul. "Heartless." She turned her head to her lap, tracing her fingers with her other hand.

"Tess..." he started, but soon the words died on his lips.

"That was where I lost my leg." she said, voice breaking. "Two blaster bolts right into my calf." her head shook, shoulders heaving as it became harder and harder to contain the sobs. "I cut it off three days later." He thought there would have been remorse in her voice, shame in cutting a part of her away. But there was no guilt in Tess. Not a single drop.

She was glad of the decision. At first, she hadn't been, seeing the metal leg attached to her knee as a curse. It took her three years to stop blaming herself every day she woke up, three years to realize cutting her leg away was better than keeping it as a token of everything she'd lost. She'd learnt to live with the pain, with the spasms. The leg of steel and bolts and screws had become a part of her, simply another piece of Tess Oprin.

It no longer defined her, no longer dictated what she did with her life, as it had for so long.

"The town never accepted me." she finished. "They thought I was a monster for not following their way of life." a pause. "It was only until recently I realized there is more than one Way."

The Mandalorian sucked in a breath.

"I'm glad I went with you, Mando." Tess said, her voice achingly fragile. "I'm... happy I went with you."

There was silence. The Mandalorian was dumbstruck, his face slack and jaw unhinged. He wasn't sure if he should speak or let the quiet continue. All that could be heard was Tess' muffled sniff, and soon they stopped, the girl trying very hard to wipe away the tears. Her sleeves were stained dark, and when she looked down at her hands, they were still quivering, still throbbing from the blood pushing through her veins.

How many years had she spent wishing the blood would stop moving? How many years had she wanted her veins to blacken and rot, for her heart to do the same, and she would take her last breath of life?

Not anymore.

"Tess." Tess jumped, the Mandalorian's voice much closer now, and when she looked up, she saw he'd come to kneel in front of her, metal plated knees on the rough floor, hands in his lap. She sat up straighter, eyebrows furrowing. His shoulders were sagged, and it was almost as if she could see through the armor, see through the bulky weight that was placed upon him.

He didn't look so much like a Mandalorian in that moment, rather a simple man. A man who'd been alone for so long, he'd forgotten what having someone to care for felt like. A man willing to do anything to stay whole, to stay a part of the Code. His Way had only ever been by himself, but then, as he knelt to come eye level with a girl who knew no Way except sorrow, the Mandalorian faltered.

"My name..." he started, not quite sure what he was doing, his voice cracked, like pottery crashing to the floor. "It's..."

Tess' eyes widened. "You don't have to tell me—"

"Din." the Mandalorian breathed out, his chest heaving as the words left his lips. "Din... Djarin." Tess froze. The whole cabin froze. The child, not understanding what was going on, even dropped his cracker, looking between the two. Tess' heart beat unsteadily inside her chest, but not as much as the Mandalorian's ricocheted through his body. He could hear nothing above the roaring in his ears, and the way Tess looked at him seemed to pull the layers of armor off him.

She'd always been able to know who people truly were just by looking at them, but this was different. Now she really did know who the Mandalorian was. Din Djarin, Din Djarin, Din Djarin. The name haunted him, a reminder of his past, of all he had done, yet it was his. His name, a buried memory brought into the light.

Why did I tell her? Din thought, why, why, why?

"Mando." Tess said. "Din." she corrected then, shaking her head softly. "Can I call you that?" she sounded so unsure, so hesitant. Tess was usually so sure of herself, not waiting for anyone else to catch up before she took off again. That was how they had lived, that was how they'd met.

"Yes." Din replied. "I— I think so?" he turned away, getting back up, limbs creaking. Tess still hadn't moved. "If you want."

"It's a nice name." was all she said in reply. Mando couldn't look at her, afraid to have the same spout of comfort make him do another foolish thing. But what could be worse than telling her his name? His wretched, bloodied name that had gone with him through war and helped him make decisions that cost innocent lives.

Tess doesn't care, a voice in his head called out, she doesn't care whether you killed, whether you fought for no one but yourself. He halted, feet planted on the grated floor, and he turned back around. Tess wasn't watching him. She'd turned to lay against the wall, back to him. He knew she was trying to sleep, and that she wouldn't speak again.

He was fine with that.

They seemed to live in silence and unspoken promises.

In the darkness, with Tess drifting off to sleep and the Mandalorian standing by his cot, the world spun around hesitantly, shifting carefully through the Universe, rusted and creaking. They still had so far to go, the Galaxy thought, so far until there could be peace.

"Goodnight, Tess." The Mandalorian whispered, his voice tentative.

For a moment, she didn't reply, and the Mandalorian wondered if the girl had already fallen asleep. But then, out of the quiet, her timid voice called out. "Goodnight, Din."

The mechanic fell asleep rolling the new discovery over her tongue again and again, seeing how the words fit the man who'd cared for her.

The Mandalorian fell asleep with a heavy burden lifting off his shoulders.

Both slept the best they had in weeks that night.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Corvus was a planet of tall barren trees and putrid sage green air.

They landed steadily in the middle of the trees, Tess perched behind the Mandalorian's chair, her eyes trained on the world ahead. They'd woken up to the sounds of the hyperdrive pushing them to the end of their journey, and when they'd gotten up to the cockpit, Corvus had come into view, brilliant and dazzling, like an emerald hidden in the sand.

Tess had never seen such an abundance of trees in one place, and never with so much colour. Din thought it best not to point out that these trees weren't even all that alive, and kept his mouth shut while Tess marveled at the view as they sped closer. She moved forward, weaving her way to stand next to him, hands planted on the dash. The stars swam through her pupils, and under his helmet, Din smiled.

They hadn't talked about the conversation the previous night, and neither really wanted to. It was something that sat heavy on both their hearts, and now that they'd arrived at Corvus, it was likely something they'd never talk about again.

A certain sadness wormed its way through the air as they entered the planet's atmosphere. As they landed, Tess pulling back to bring the child into her arms, she took a moment to peer at the green thing's wide eyes and pointy ears. It smiled up at her, wrapping a tiny finger around her thumb. It always pulled at her hand when it needed comfort, and Tess smirked quietly, turning away as Din flicked off the engines and got out of his seat.

As Tess, the child, and Mando climbed down the steps to the belly of the ship, the girl's frown grew on her tempered face.

This was it. If Bo-Katan had been right, then the Jedi Ahsoka Tano would be on this planet, and the child as well as Tess would be with their own kind. The thought brought a wave of nausea to Tess' stomach. She didn't want to think of what meeting another person who had the same power would mean. She already hated having the ability, the feeling of her hands breaking open, flesh splitting and soul crackling with divine energy. It was more than Tess could ever handle, and she was starting to wonder if meeting someone that could do the same was such a good idea.

(How was she to know it wasn't the others of her kind at all that scared her, but leaving the beskar clad warrior behind?)

The ramp opened, and Tess almost covered her mouth as a foul aroma assaulted her senses. The world outside was even bleaker than she'd thought. The sun was cast down by thick clouds that stuck together like solid clumps of tar. The trees were barren, not a single leaf on them, and out in the distance, wading through murky swamps and marshes, strange two legged creatures with wide bodies and open mouths chomped down on the branches, snapping the wood in half like it was nothing.

The air was hot, the kind of heat that clung to your clothing and seeped through your skin. It made the back of Tess' neck itch, and she regretted wearing the Mandalorian's coat as they stepped out onto the flat, grass-covered land. The child squirmed in her arms, and Tess smiled down at it.

"This is Corvus?" She asked, peering back around. Din glanced at her, eyebrow raising.

"Did you expect something different?" he asked, tone half teasing. Tess glared at him and shrugged. The child held onto her thumb.

"I don't know." she replied. "I guess I thought a Jedi would live in more... regal places?"

"Well, you are technically a Jedi," the Mandalorian pointed out. "But you lived on Tatooine." Tess shifted from foot to foot.

"What's wrong with Tatooine?" she challenged.

"Nothing!" Din fixed his mistake, but there was no hiding the laughter in his voice. Tess was almost tempted to walk away, but then decided that that would be too dramatic, and she would be acting like the other immature children on her home planet. They were always getting on Tess' nerves. The older girls would always gush over the boys of the town, and even sometimes the Marshal, constantly trying to speak to Tess, wondering what he was like.

Tess had always said she didn't know, the Marshal was just a man, but the girls were relentless, and eventually Tess gave in and told them what they wanted. To her amusement, the girls were disappointed, and walked away with very little to help them.

It was enough for some, however, as the next day the Marshal came barreling into her shop demanding to know why there were three bottles of spotchka in his house. Tess had merely shrugged and said that the town must know he liked the drink. Jo had laughed when she'd heard what happened, but the Marshal was not impressed, and the next day Tess found the bottles laying out in the middle of an alley.

In short, Tess was not going to act like those petty girls, so she forced herself to stay put as the Mandalorian strutted forward, his helmet turning as the man surveyed the landscape.

The child cooed loudly, enough for both Tess and Din to look at him. The touch of cool metal on Tess' flesh alerted her before she saw the little ball in the child's hands. She peered at it confusedly, then realized it was a part of the ship, from one of the levers in the cockpit. Her brows knitted together, but her face softened.

"What did I say about that?" Din asked, half annoyed and half amused. He stalked forward to come in front of Tess, reaching to pry the toy out of the child's hands. Tess smirked. "This needs to stay in the ship."

"It doesn't." Tess pointed out, but Din gave her such a sharp look that she closed her mouth. He put the small little ball in one of the pockets in his armor, and then whirled back around.

"There really is not much to see out here." He relented, agreeing with Tess' previous statement. This gave the young girl a wave of satisfaction, and her tense shoulders relaxed. She hoisted the child into her arms, stroking one of his long ears, and looked to the Mandalorian.

"Have you ever had dealings with a Jedi before?" she asked, stepping closer until she was beside Din. He peered down at her.

"No." he replied. "Besides you."

"I'm not a Jedi." Tess answered quickly, her voice concrete and unbreakable. The Mandalorian faltered. She looked away, brows knitting together, her face numb and sharp. The softness was gone, and Din cursed himself.

"Sorry." he said under his breath, and tried to switch the topic of conversation. "Let's head into town, see if we can pick up a lead." Tess nodded and went forward, the Mandalorian needing to practically run in order to catch up with her.

They weaved through the trees together, walking side by side along the muddied path. The child was shifted from Tess' arms to the Mandalorian's hip bag, a weight she wasn't overly happy to let go of.

As they passed each trunk, Tess ran her fingers along the bark, peering up with a mixture of awe and slight discomfort.

"Are they supposed to have leaves?" she asked halfway through their tread. "I saw on a hologram that trees were supposed to have leaves."

"Yes," the Mandalorian replied. "They are. These ones, for some reason, don't."

"Are they dead?" she asked.

"I don't think so." the Mandalorian replied, and his answer did nothing to quench the spout of curiosity blossoming on her lips. She kept quiet however, and basked in the silence, save for the occasional breaking of a branch or croak of some unknown creature. After a while the stench grew familiar, and Tess could breathe normally again by the time they got to the wide stone wall enclosing the town they'd flown over earlier.

Tess shifted closer to the Mandalorian's side, eyes peering up to the figures standing guard atop the wall. Some had peculiar head wrappings covering their entire faces, reminding Tess of the Tusken Raiders back on Tatooine. Another man walked up, wearing old armor Tess couldn't quite make out from so far below. She knew he was watching her though, and the Mandalorian.

"Come on." Din said, and Tess turned back to him. She gritted her teeth, leg creaking, and followed him closer. They walked up to the closed gate and looked up. Tess could see the man clearly now. He had pale skin and barely any hair, with a permanent scowl and a slight droop to one side of his mouth.

"State your business." he had an accent sort of like the Marshal's, but it was foggy and reminded Tess of quicksand running through a canyon, slow and clunky.

"Been tracking for a few days." Din called out. "Looking for a layover." Tess held her breath, her eyes not leaving the stone wall.

"Nice armor." the man said, his head tilting to the side, and Tess took a step closer to the Mandalorian's side. She remembered the day they left for Tatooine, when the assailants attacked them for Mando's armor. Tess' hands itched to go up to her throat, where the knife had been held against the soft flesh under her chin.

She swallowed thickly.

"You hunters then?" the man asked.

"Just him." Tess called out, and the guards hands went to their blasters, alarms going off inside their heads from the young girl's tone. Mando held up a hand. Tess glared upward, but was silent after that. The man quirked an eyebrow.

"Guild?" he asked.

"Last I checked." Din replied coldly, arm dropping. The man continued to look at them, until the guard next to him leaned forward, speaking in a hushed tone. Tess scowled.

"I don't like this." she whispered to Mando, looking up at him.

He glanced towards her. "I know. But we don't have a choice."

"Do you remember what happened the last time you said that?" Tess quipped, and he was surprised to see a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. He turned to her more, a hand going to his hip.

"Yes." he replied, but it was not filled with the same level of contentment. Tess' smile disappeared. His tone was swimming with regret, the kind she'd heard in the Marshal's tone when she'd left him and Jo. Guilt and shame, they all passed through the single word, single syllable, and Tess looked down to her feet.

Din remembered exactly what had happened the last time he'd said they had no choice: Tess had almost died. And it was his fault.

"Mando—" Tess started, turning back, but the man atop the wall interrupted.

"Open the gate!" he called out, and Tess didn't have another chance to speak before the Mandalorian hurried forward, striding through the opening doors into town.

Tess sighed, yet had no choice but to follow. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

GUYS IT HAPPENED. OMG.  TESS REVEALED HER PAST AND MANDO TOLD HER HIS NAME. I'M FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW.

ok ok, I need to calm down. This chapter was seriously so fun to write, mostly because I absolutely ADORE the conversation between Tess and Din, it's so emotional and heartbreaking and ugh, I just love it. I hope you guys liked it as well. As you can probably tell, Tess will still say Mando sometimes, just because she's not used to saying Din, and hell still be referred to as the Mandalorian sometimes, but now we know his name! 

ANYWAYS, what did you guys think of this chapter? I would love to hear your thoughts! As always, don't be afraid to comment, vote, and follow me! 

until next time (where tess and and din meet a very special someone and learn a couple things along the way)

Love, Mal