Once you reached the village, you lost sight of Mando in the crowd. The villagers were celebrating the return of their loved ones and you wished you could join the festivities, but you needed to find him.

You slowly navigated your way through the crowd, acknowledging those that thanked you along the way. As you lifted your gaze in an attempt to look over the sea of people, you spotted the gleam of Mando's helmet against the torchlight. He was heading towards his ship off in the distance. You quickened your pace in order to catch up with him.

"Mando!" You called out, but he had already ascended the ramp and disappeared inside. You hurried after him, despite how painful walking on your injured foot had become. Then again, the rush of adrenaline and worry had since numbed you to the pain.

You found him sitting down against the wall, fumbling with what looked to be a medkit in his hands. His breathing sounded heavy and labored, which only made you worry even more. The child was nearby, a worried expression on his little face.

"I told you, I'm.." Mando hissed softly when a certain move he made caused him pain. He was obviously struggling, having barely any coordination. His fingers fumbled clumsily with the clasp that kept the medkit shut. "I'm.. fine..." He slurred.

"Bullshit." You muttered as you knelt down and snatched the medkit from him. "Your stubbornness is going to get you killed, now stay still." Despite how calm you were acting, fear still gripped your pounding heart in its iron fist. You pressed a wad of gauze against the wound, wincing when he groaned in pain. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I have to do this so you won't bleed out." You muttered through clenched teeth, beads of sweat forming on your forehead. Blood had already soaked through the gauze. You could feel the warmth of it on your hands. You cursed, tossing the ruined gauze aside and quickly grabbing another wad.

Mando tried to say something, but he choked on his words before they came out. He reached for you with a trembling hand and grabbed your arm.

"Stay with me, Mando." Your voice quavered with fear, your breaths quick and fast. You tried to put as much pressure as you could on the wound, praying it would be enough to stop the bleeding. Tears instinctively sprang up in your eyes, threatening to spill down your cheeks. "You can't die on me. Not like this. I haven't gotten to know you yet..."

You heard a soft coo and glanced to your right. The child had wandered over and was trying to reach for Mando's wound. You were too afraid to remove one hand from applying pressure, so you nudged him away with your elbow. He whined and tried again.

"Kid, stop... I'm trying-" You paused when you felt Mando squeeze your arm. When you looked at him, you could feel his hidden gaze on you. He was trying to tell you something. You frowned and blinked away your tears. "No! I'm not letting you die! You're gonna be fine. You'll recover and go back to taking care of him. You have to!"

While you begged Mando to stay, the child shuffled over to his side and gingerly pressed his tiny hand where the gauze wasn't covering the wound. He closed his eyes, standing completely still.

You finally noticed what he was doing, but could only stare in awe. "W-What are you doing?" You sputtered in disbelief. Was this what Mando had meant when he said the child had magic powers? It seemed too good to be true.

A few moments passed before the child pulled his hand away and fell over. You were torn between worrying about the child and worrying about Mando. Eventually, you gathered the courage to remove the gauze to see what had happened, if anything. As you let out a slow breath, you carefully peeled back the gauze. What you saw was shocking.

The wound was gone. There was no trace of it, no sign that it had even been there, except for the blood and the torn fabric of Mando's undersuit. How?

Mando groaned softly and lifted his head, grabbing your attention. He looked at the child for a moment before looking at you. "Is he alright?" He asked wearily.

You blinked, then snapped out of your shocked trance. After you wiped the blood off on your pants, you carefully scooped the child off the floor and cradled him in your arms. "Yeah, I.. I think so." You mumbled, stroking his forehead with your thumb. "He's sleeping."

Mando let out a small sigh of relief. He laid his head back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. The two of you didn't speak for the rest of the night, just relishing the fact that he was even alive.

***

You were slow to wake the following morning. There was a dull throb in your head, the remnants of a headache. Your eyelids stuck together when you tried to open them.

As you sat up, you noted that your body felt sluggish. All the aches and pains from last night had resurfaced, including the pain embedded deep within your foot. You groaned softly and rubbed at your eyes with your knuckles.

The child laid beside you. He was sleeping like... well, a baby! You smiled and gently stroked his fuzzy head. Poor little guy must've been exhausted, especially after what he did last night.

That got you thinking. Where was Mando anyways?

You pushed yourself to your feet, quickly fixed your hair, and set off to find him.

The interior of the ship wasn't all that big, so it wasn't long until you found him. He was sitting on a crate near the entrance ramp, his back towards you. You tried to see what he was doing, but you were promptly distracted when you realized he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Gawking at his back muscles and gnarly scars probably wasn't the best idea. But hey, he wasn't looking, so...

'Course he still had that helmet of his stuck on his head, which made you wonder if he ever took it off. Just imagining how nasty it must be under there was enough to deter you from thinking too much further. Then again, you sort of liked the mystery of not knowing his true face.

It was at this point that you noticed you were getting sidetracked.

Narrowing your eyes, you could see that there was something in his lap. He seemed to be messing around with it. But... why was he shirtless?

"Ow! Dank farrik..." You heard him mutter under his breath as he shook his hand a bit. Hearing him curse like that almost made you laugh, but you managed to hold it in.

Then everything suddenly made sense.

He was repairing his undersuit!

"Did you just stab yourself with a needle?"

Oops. That wasn't supposed to happen.

Mando whirled around almost immediately, as if he'd been expecting a threat. When he saw it was you, he huffed in slight annoyance. "How long have you been standing there?"

Great, now you were staring at his toned chest. Which, of course, was covered in scars. His skin was also mottled with bruises of all shapes and sizes, most of which looked rather painful. Did his armor do that? Or did those bounty hunters just beat the tar out of him last night? No, that couldn't be right. Most of those bruises looked old, maybe a few days or so.

How did you know that? Well, personal experience of course. Bruises were in no short supply while you during the time you spent trapped in your master's compound.

"Y/N. I asked you a question."

You quickly snapped out of whatever trance you were in, your cheeks flushing in embarrassment. Look at something... anything! Just not his chest! "I.. uh... I promise I wasn't there for long! I just wanted to see what you were up to, that's all.."

He grunted like he didn't believe you. Although you were telling the truth, it still made you feel guilty. He went back to his undersuit, trying to pick up where he had left off.

You pursed your lip nervously. Had you offended him? Was he uncomfortable? It was impossible to tell since you couldn't see his facial expression.

"Do you... need any help?" You flinched a bit when he looked up at you again, his gaze burning into your forehead. "I'm sorry. I'll go if you want me to-" You slowly turned to leave

"No." He said, probably sharper than he meant to. A sigh of defeat escaped him. "You know how to fix it?"

A small smile crept across your face as you turned back around. "Well, yeah! I picked up a bit of sewing during my time in the compound. Had to. My master never gave us new clothes, so we had to keep fixing what we already had."

He tilted his head in what you assumed to be curiosity. He said nothing as you sat down and began demonstrating what to do.