8 | THE SECRET

The next few days, the village focused on purely training to defeat the AT-ST Imperial Walker that would likely destroy their village. Everyone was gathered the next morning to learn from Mando and Cara how to fight, and among them was Celeste. It was certainly awkward between Celeste and Mando, but his helmet did help hide Mando's blushing face. "You got the bandits and you got the mech. We'll handle the ATST but you gotta protect us when they come out the woods. And I don't have to tell you how dangerous they are. Cara Dune here was a veteran. She was a drop soldier for the rebellion, and she's gonna lay out a plan for you so listen carefully." Mando explained to everyone.

"There's nothing on this planet that can damage the legs of that thing, so we're going to build a trap. We're going to need to dig real deep, so it drops when it steps in. The two of us will hit their camp. Provoke them. That'll bring the fight out of the woods and down here to us." Cara told, then everyone got to work. They built traps and barricades and began training to shoot blasters and fight with spears.

Celeste wanted to be prepared, and Mando wanted her to be able to defend herself even after the fight against the raiders was over, so, Mando began to train her more than the others— one on one. They spent hours shooting and fighting hand to hand combat. Fortunately, she was a quick learner and was managing to keep up with Mando. Mando reached out to swing at her and followed the steps he had taught her earlier and grabbed his arm. She stopped his blow and twisted his arm to put him in a vulnerable state and shove him to the ground. "I let you do that." Mando grunted as he dusted off his armor.

"Yeah right," she scoffed, "maybe I am getting faster than you." She chuckled, then reached out a hand to help him up off of the ground.

"Now you've got to learn how to disarm someone." Mando began to walk a short distance from her, his back turned to her.

"Oh, I know how to do that." Celeste informed him as she walked up behind him. She pressed her chest to his back and wrapped her arms around him, pretending like she was trying to entice him. Mando got distracted with her hands on his chest, and she used it to his advantage to steal the blaster that was tucked away on his belt. She pointed it at his head and he flinched. "See? You must not know what I used to do for a living." Celeste recalled her hustling days.

"That's not what I meant." Mando pushed her arm, so that she wouldn't point the blaster at him anymore, and turned around to face her.

"It worked didn't it?" Celeste cocked her head.

"But it won't work on everyone." Mando shook his head at her.

"The sun's setting. Tomorrow's the big day. You should get some rest." Celeste changed the subject and began to walk away.

* * *

The next night came quicker than expected and Celeste waited by the barricades with the other villagers. Mando and Cara came sprinting from the forest with the ATST right at their heels. The two hid behind the barricades with the others. "This is it, once that things steps in the pond it's down!" Cara shouted once she and Mando slid into a safe place.

Celeste handed Mando his amban rifle and held out her own little blaster. The walker came bursting through the forest, but was smarter than it appeared. It stopped, only a few feet behind the trap it was supposed to fall in, when it noticed the two he was after had disappeared behind some man made barricades. It looked around and took one step forward, still eyeing the barricades. Then it began shooting at the barricades. Cara shouted for everyone to remain where they were, then quickly came up with a plan.

Before she could make another action, the Raiders came racing in after the walker. "Open fire!" Cara instructed and all hell began to break loose. The villagers shot at the incoming raiders and the walker remained where he was, not trapped in the pit.

"Give me the pulse rifle." Cara told Mando, who obliged without hesitation in handing over his pricey weapon.

Cara grabbed it and hurried off closer to the ATST to lure it in closer to the trap. Celeste pointed her blaster at a few raiders charging in and she managed to take a few out. Cara shot the ATST with the rifle a few times and made it take a few more steps closer to the trap. One raider came around and managed to snatch Celeste from behind while Mando was distracted, covering Cara. Celeste jabbed the Klatooinian with the back of her elbow. It dragged her farther away from the crowds she screamed but her cry for help was drowned out by the shooting blasters and the shouts of the others. At that moment she knew she had to fend for herself. No one was coming for her and she had to use what she learned from Mando to save herself.

She grabbed the Klatooinian's arm and twisted it off of her. She ducked as he swung his arms to recapture her. He began to swing his baton at her and hit the side of her abdomen, she felt her skin pierce open at that very moment, but she kept fighting. He came at her with another swing, but she dodged it this time and used that moment to swipe her leg across his feet, making him fall flat on his face. She grabbed her blaster she had dropped only a few inches away from her and instantly shot him in the head as he began to lift himself from the ground again.

Celeste looked down at her bloody torso and nearly gagged at the sight. She took shelter behind a building and pressed her hand to her wound. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She then felt an energy pulsing through her hand, but she thought it was just her wound throbbing. A force consumed her and it focused itself on the area of the wound. She was in too much pain to think anything of it. Until, suddenly, the stinging pain stopped. She opened her eyes and looked down herself. The blood was still there, sopping through her clothes. She lifted up her shirt and saw the wound gone. She gasped. She didn't know how that could be. It was impossible. She had just seen the wound, she had even felt it. "What the—" she whispered to herself. She decided not to make mention of it to anyone, knowing that whoever she decided to tell would think she was insane.

She stood up and hurried back over to the barricades, but, she noticed the fighting had died down. Fire had erupted all around the village due to the blasters, but the raiders were gone and the ATST was trapped in the hole and destroyed by Cara. It all happened so fast that Celeste didn't even get to see it since she had gotten caught up in her own fiasco. The villagers cheered in joy at the win.

Mando spotted her from across the field and hurried over to her. He was panting from the physical exhaustion and the adrenaline running through his body due to the fight. He noticed her bloodied shirt and looked up to see Celeste's pale and discombobulated face. He became frantic because he thought she was hurt. He grabbed her shirt and lifted it enough to check out the source of the blood. But... he couldn't find it. "Is this your blood?" He asked her.

Celeste thought quickly. She couldn't tell him it was, or else she'd have to explained that magic she had just performed. But, if she told him that it was another person's blood, he'd know she was lying or would think she was some brutal murderer. So, she just stood there in shock. "Are you hurt?" He rephrased his question.

"No." Celeste replied, cooly. She turned around and slowly began to walk back to her quarters, in an uncomfortable manner as her wet shirt stuck to her body. After that night, Mando didn't dare ask where the blood came from anymore. He had honestly forgot about it all, and didn't worry as long as she was safe and sound.

* * *

Weeks passed and life on the farm was extremely peaceful. The three lived like a family together and weren't worried about much in the secluded village. Celeste watched the child play with the other village children with Mando by her side. "He's happy here." Mando mentioned to Celeste.

Celeste nodded and smiled warmly at the sight of the kid running around. "Yeah, me too. We could stay here forever, you know? He could be a child for a while. Wouldn't it be nice? To grow old without any more worries?"

Mando felt his throat tighten up as he refrained from letting a tear slip past his eyes. "It would." He croaked out. "I need to tell you something."

"Hm?" Celeste raised a curious brow at him.

Mando grabbed her hand in his, worried she'd be angry and worried that she'd never want to see him again. They hadn't continued their romantics since that one night, they hadn't even spoke about it after it happened. It was their little secret. To the village, they were just friends and coexisting fugitives. It wasn't that they didn't want to be romantic with one another, it was just that they hadn't had the guts to commit to each other, then have to be torn apart. "I am leaving." Mando felt an invisible heavy weight press down on his chest.

"Where are we going?" Celeste asked, calmly. She hadn't heard him correctly.

"No, Celeste." Mando squeezed her hand tighter so she'd pay attention to him. "I'm leaving you and the kid here. You two are happy, and I've done my job. This way, you two have a chance at life without being held captive."

Celeste snatched her hand away from him. She gritted her teeth. "Just like that? You'd leave us just like that? You lied to me, then. You said you could bear to leave the kid without knowing that he'd be safe. Do you really think there won't be any more bounty hunters coming after him? Did you just bring us here to make yourself feel better about yourself? Just to abandon us—abandon the kid!" She folded her arms across her chest.

"No—" he tried to explain, but she had already blocked him out.

"After everything we've been through," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "after I gave myself to you!" She whisper-yelled the last part. "I should've known you were a selfish prick after that night. How could I be so naiive? Who gives herself away to a man that she has never seen the face of?" She palmed her forehead and jumped to her feet to walk away.

Mando grabbed her arm, speechless and hurt at her words. "Please, Celeste, listen to me. It's not like that. I just want you two to be safe. With me around—"

Celeste ripped her arm away from him with a disgusted scowl crossing her face. "If you wanted us to be safe, you'd stay here with us. You don't bring any danger to us, we attract the danger ourselves." Celeste informed him, then stomped away from the scene. Mando regretted his actions. She was right, he couldn't leave them. But, he fretted that him—a Mandalorian—being around only made the village more susceptible to curious visitors.

He watched as Celeste sat in the grass far away from any other people. She wanted to be alone, to sulk in her own thoughts. She picked at the grass, ripped it from the planet and threw it, angrily, like a child throwing a tantrum. Seconds later, a loud shot sounded throughout the village. Mando went on high alert. He bolted over to the source and saw Cara holding out her blaster, that was still smoking from its recent use, and a dead body laying before her. It was a bounty hunter with a tracking fob beeping wildly. He was stalking through the forest around the farm, looking for someone. "The fob is for Celeste." Cara notified Mando.

* * *

Soon after the incident, Mando, Celeste and the kid packed up to leave the farm. It was heartbreaking to leave the place they almost called home. Celeste was going to miss the greenery, but she knew if one bounty hunter came after her there— in the middle of nowhere— more would come, just as they did before.