Chapter Text

Prologue

45ABY

Din Djarin ducked under a low hanging stalactite and turned back to raise the torch higher to light the way for Merrin. The air in the dark cave was thick and stale and reeked of death. The despair, sorrow and echo’s of the genocide of Dathomir flickered in the corners of Din Djarin’s eyes.

They have been travelling deeper and deeper into the dark cave system for the last few hours. “How much farther do we have to go?” He asked the Dathomirian Nightsister.

Merrin huffed as she came to a stop next to him. “We should not be far now from the ritual chamber.” She answered as she took a deep breath. “How far behind us do you think they are?” She questioned as she moved past him to head deeper into the darkness.

“Boba should have managed to buy us at least half a day.” Din swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment to hold back the tears. Boba had bought them the time to flee Tatooine by sacrificing himself. “Nu kyr’adyc, shi taab’echaaj’la, Not dead merely marching far away” Merrin whispered. Din nodded. “He and Fen is probably shouting at us to get our asses moving from the Ka’ra”

Taking the torch from Din Merrin gave a few more steps and turned to the left and lighted something on the floor. The fire raced in a large circle around the floor and when it reached her again the flames turned an emerald green. Rubbing her back as she straightened, “I am getting too old for this.”

Din snorted. “You and me both, I never once in my life thought I would be running guerrilla warfare in my seventies.” He lowered the pack he was carrying to the floor and knelt down beside it.

“I want to say no one saw this coming but we both know that that would be a lie,” The Dathomirian witch sighed.

Din merely huffed. “The senate had been warned repeatedly, but they were just as corrupt as the Old Republic and so many Imperial loyalists had bought positions of power that they were so compromised it took barely any effort to squash the fledgling rebellion” He sighed and opened the pack. “What do you need to do this?” he enquired as he looked at the assortment of crystals, metal ingots and stone blades in the bag.

“Frankly I have no idea,” Merrin laughed slightly hysterically, “This has never been done.” She knelt next to Din and started to pull the kyber crystals out of the bag. Getting back up she started to walk in a clockwise direction placing a crystal every few steps. “Do the same going anti clock wise.” She stated.

“So you have no idea if this is going to work at all.” Din stated as he rose to follow her instructions. “Din, I am going to attempt to rip your soul out of your body and then tear a hole in space and time and stuff your older soul with all your memories back into your younger self. I am making this up as we go and I am basing a lot of this on bits and pieces of both Sith and Dathomirian lore I had scavenged from all over the galaxy.” She stopped and turned to him as he placed the last crystal and stepped up next to her.

“Hi, hi. Take a deep breath.” The grey haired warrior stated as he took hold of her hands. “I know this is a long shot. I know there is a very good chance that it will fail, but we have reached the point where all we can do is try and hope for the best.”

Merrin nodded. Taking the darksaber from Din’s belt she handed it to him. “I am going to use the point where you first came in contact with the darksaber as the anchor point for the backward push. That should give you enough time to shore up Mandalore, warn Leia about Snoke and find Rey and make sure that she does not fall.” Din nodded “And you?” he asked.

Merrin reached out and touched Din’s cheek. “You have to go alone, Mando. This is a one person ride.” Holding her hand to his cheek, “What must I do for you when I reach the past?”

“Protect Cal. That is all I ask.” She said sorrow and hope staining her voice. Din laughed wetly. “I will make sure that bantha-headed di’kut stays alive and I will remind him how lucky he is to have a riduur like you.”

Stepping away Merrin pointed at the center of the circle. “Stand there please. And Din, once we start we cannot stop. No matter what happens do not move.” Din nodded and took his place. Taking a deep breath he lit the darksaber and held it in front of him. “See you on the other side.” He said as a goodbye. Merrin nodded and took a deep breath and using the stone blade she picked up earlier slit both her wrists. As the first drops of blood touched the ground she started to chant.

Din had no idea what she was saying, her voice had taken on a haunting otherworldly quality echoing through the cavern. The green fire suddenly flared and arched up forming a dome of dark green flames over him. He started as he felt something tug at his very soul. The tugging became stronger and stronger.

He started to hear other female voices, chanting in unison with Merrin and in the flickering of the flames he felt that he saw women dressed in red robes. Before he could decide if he was really seeing them or if he was imagining it he heard the running of boots. He tried to shout but realised he couldn’t. He couldn’t talk, he couldn’t move, he was frozen, but at the same time he could also feel his body start to fade into nothingness.

He couldn’t even gasp as he saw a troop of storm troopers rushing into the cavern followed by Rey and Kylo Ren. Both dressed in black robes with their red lightsabers already lit. “My my little witch, whatever are you trying to accomplish here?” Kylo purred as he stalked around the dome of fire towards Merrin.

“Where is the Mandalorion?” Rey demanded as she strutted around the other side of the dome. The two of them cornering Merrin in the middle. Din realised that they could not see him and Merrin was so far into the spell that she was unaware of them. He felt cold as he realised he could do nothing to interfere or even warn her of what was coming. He could only watch in horror as Rey lifted her lightsaber and beheaded Merrin in one fell swoop. His last thought before his world exploded into darkness was that they had failed.

****

He was floating in pale golden light and every now and then a little sparkle would burst into view in a flash of colour before fading to the soft golden glow again. He tried to remember where he was or even how he got there. Was he dead? “Mmm not quite dead but not alive either” a soft voice echoed through the light.

He tried to turn his head only to start spinning and then he was falling, falling, falling through the stars. He had no idea how long he fell before he slowed and came to land on his feet.

He turned and tried to see where he was. All around him the galaxy was spread out like some sort of holo map. At his feet dark water filled with bioluminescence lapped in soft waves. “Where am I?” He startled at the sound of his voice. He sounded young, far younger than his 72 years of age. Holding his hands up to his face he noticed that they appeared those of a young man. Gone were the gnarled knuckles and wrinkled skin.

“You are everywhere and nowhere. The beginning and the end.” The same voice from earlier replied. He spun around trying to find the person that spoke.

“Show yourself!” He shouted. “So demanding,” the voice sighed. The bioluminescence seemed to pull together and flowed into a humanoid form. “Is this better?” the glowing being enquired. “Where am I?” He demanded again. The form dimmed in a sigh, “As stated before, you are everywhere and nowhere.” Waving a hand slowly at the surroundings. “This is the beginning and the end. Here we are outside of time and space.”

“How did I get here? What am I doing here?” He demanded again. The being tilted its head. “Do you not remember?” He stopped and considered, “Merrin” he murmured softly “The spell! We were interrupted before she could complete the spell.”

The being nodded. “Yes and because she was interrupted before the spell was completed your soul was ripped from your body and cast into the space between spaces. That is where I found you.”

He breathed deeply. “Why? Why have you bought me here” He swung an arm to indicate their surroundings. “What do you want from me?” The being dimmed before growing brighter again. Like the ebb and flow of an ocean tide.

“Tell me Din Djarin,” Din Djarin that was his name. How could he have forgotten his own name? “What would you give to save your aliit?”

“Everything” Din breathed. “I would give anything.” The entity hummed. “Well then, let’s see what your everything is.” It waved a hand and he was falling into darkness again.

This time when he came to he was laying in a bed, covered in soft warm blankets. He slowly opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He was in a room in what appeared to be a wooden cottage.

A small green being with long ears and auburn hair was seated in a chair across the room next to a fireplace that had a teapot happily bubbling away on the fire. She was of the same species as Grogu, Din wrecked his brain trying to figure out why she appeared so familiar. “Master Yaddle?” He asked hesitantly. “Mmm finally awake are you?” She asked as she used a poker to stoke the fire.

“I am pretty sure you are dead.” He stated, as he sat upright in bed. Looking down at himself he noticed he was wearing a soft tunic and sleep pants in undyed cloth.

“So I am.” The little green master nodded as she poured a cup of tea. “Shig?” She asked, holding up the cup. Feeling completely bewildered. Din nodded, “Gedet’ye. Ah yes please.” With a chuckle Yaddle lifted and pushed the cup across the room. Din looked at the floating cup before carefully taking hold of it. “Vor’e” he thanked her. “No debt.” Yaddle replied as she settled back in the chair with her own cup.

Taking a swallow of the shig, Din closed his eyes. It tasted just like the shig the Armourer would make when he was still a child. Still keeping his eyes closed and breathing in the fragrant steam, “So am I also dead?” Din enquired. “Mmmm, different your circumstances are.” Yaddle replied. Din opened his eyes and turned his head to look around the room. “How are my circumstances different?”

“Question you were asked. Answer you gave. Now teach you I will.” She answered as she put her cup down on the table next to her chair. “Teach me what exactly?”

“Why, how to use the Force of course.” She cackled.

Din stared at her. He closed his eyes slowly and counted till ten before opening them again. “Master Yaddle, I am not force sensitive.”

“Dead I am.” She shrugged. “Here you are. Here all is possible.” Getting up from the chair she jumped down. Waving at the door, “Come come, training we start now.” Standing up from the bed, Din Djarin wondered what he had gotten himself into this time.

****

Time had no meaning here in this place between places, this time that was both beginning and end. Din had no idea how long he had been training before he woke one moment again in that place where the sky was the galaxy and the floor was a dark ocean full of floating lights.

He waited, listening to the song of the force that he could now clearly hear for a moment before turning to the glowing being waiting for him. He bowed his head in greeting. He was beginning to suspect who this entity truly was.

“Tell me Din Djarin, what would you give to save your aliit?” the question came. “All that I am and all that I have.” He replied. The being turned and waved a hand, out of the darkness two lights appeared when they grew closer he could make out a person in each light. “Boba, Fennec!” He shouted as they joined him. “Tell me Din Djarin, Will you give up your vode?” A sob tore through his chest.

“Will they live and be free?” He begged. “If I say yes?” the being asked. “If they live and are free and safe then I will give them up.” the being nodded, and with a wave of its hand he fell into darkness again.

There was a knee pressing very uncomfortably into his back. And someone was drooling on his leg. He struggled to get up and to rid the last vestiges of sleep from his mind. When he finally managed to open his eyes he gasped. Snuggled up in the small bed with him was Boba and Fennec. It was Fennec’s knee pressing into his back and Boba was using his thigh as a pillow. Shaking both of them awake he failed to see Yaddle in the chair she normally waited in the mornings.

Fennec came awake with a shout which woke Boba who came upright ready to fight, toppling the three of them off the bed onto the floor. All three froze as they became aware of Yaddle’s cackling, “Good, good, awake you are. Now training we can continue.” She stated as she jumped down from her chair and headed out the door.

Boba managed to untangle himself from the knot of limbs that was Fennec and Din, “Djarin as glad as I am to see you and Fen, you better have an excellent explanation for all this,” he waved at the room, “because I am pretty sure that Fennec has been dead for the better part of 5 years. And I distinctly remember blowing myself up with my ship to buy you and Merrin time to escape Tatooine.”

Rolling off the still prone assassin, Din sat upright. Rubbing a hand over his too young face he sighed. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Fennec pushed herself into a sitting position and pulled on Boba’s trousers to get him to sit down next to her. Boba sighed and settled cross leg next to Fennec and immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He pushed his face into her long dark hair. “I have missed you so much.” he whispered.

Taking his other hand in hers Fennec just smiled, before turning back to Din. “So Mando, what have the two of you been up to without little old me?”

Leaning back against the bed, Din tipped his head up and spoke to the rafters. “After you were killed in the ambush on Coruscant, Boba and I managed to extract Merrin and the force-sensitive children the First Order was holding prisoner. Cal Ketis stayed behind as a diversion while the three of us managed to evacuate with the ade. He managed to lead them on a five month chase across the Outer Rim while we hid the children on different worlds with several trustworthy groups.” He took a deep breath. “He was cornered on Typhon and was killed by Rey.”

“After that we spent five years leading the dying rebellion in a guerilla war against the First Order, but it was a losing battle.” Boba took over explaining, “By the end most of the non-human races had been exterminated and there were no free worlds left.”

“Merrin.” Din choke on her name. “Merrin came up with a plan to use the Force vergence on Dathomir and the spirits of the murdered Night Sisters to send our memories back in time to before the rise of the First Order, but we…” He trailed off.

“We were betrayed.” Boba stated bluntly. Fennec turned to look at Boba. “Who?” she demanded. Din huffed and answered before Boba could. “Korkie Kryze.” Snapping round to look at Din, she gaped. “Bo-Katan’s nephew?”

“The one and only.” Din acknowledged. “We got trapped on Tatooine. That is where this dinii,” he pointed at Boba, “pulled a jare move and got himself and Kylo Ren’s flag ship blown up.” Rubbing a hand over his eyes tiredly he slumped down. “It bought me and Merrin enough time to escape and head to Dathomir. When we got there we started the ritual but they found us before it could be completed. I watched Rey behead Merrin and the next thing I know I am in this strange place being asked what I would give to save my aliit.”

Sitting back up he looked at the two beings he considered his brother and sister. “I have no idea what is happening. But after I said that I would give everything I have to save my family, I ended up here. I have been learning how to use the Force.”

Tilting her head Fennec frowned, “Since when are you Force sensitive?” she asked. “Well apparently ever since I am sort of dead.” Din shrugged.

Sticking her head back through the door drawing their attention Yaddle called “Come, come. Enough catching up. Training now!” Turning back to look at Din, Boba raised an eyebrow, “Does she mean us as well.”

“Yes yes all of you, behind in training you are. Much catching up to do!” The little green Jedi master shouted as she disappeared out the door again.

Getting to his feet Din held out his hands to help Fen and Boba off the floor. “I have to say Vod the hair looks good on you.” he stated as he pulled them up “Thanks, wait, what. Since when do I have my hair back?”

****

Din was getting really tired of all of a sudden waking up in this strange galaxy holo and ocean filled space. “Tell me Din Djarin, what would you sacrifice to save your aliit?” The glowing form of the personification of the Force asked once more.

“Everything that is mine to give.” Din stated as he looked at the being. “Would you give up being Mandalorian?” Din swallowed and closed his eyes. His chest was tight at the thought. “If it means that Mandalore and the Mando’ade are spared their slaughter, then yes I will give up being Mandalorian.” The entity tilted its head and nodded and Din fell back into darkness.

“Ke’sush! Verd!” a loud shout woke the three sleeping tangled together on the too small bed. “Dank Ferrik.” Din groused as the three of them ended back on the ground in a tangle. Getting free of his companions he stood up to see a Mandalorian with an open T-visor helmet. He recognised the warrior immediately. In the years after reclaiming Mandalore before the rise of the First Order several sculptures of the only Mandalorian Jedi had been recovered. Slapping his fist to his heart, Din bowed his head. “Mand’alor Vizla.” He breathed respectfully. The name drew Boba and Fennec’s attention. Boba breathed deeply and Fen stilled.

The ancient warrior nodded and turned “Come Verd. I will teach you how to fight using a kad’au while in proper armour.” The three friends shared a look before rushing to follow the legendary Mand’alor.

“I’m dead!” Fennec stated from where she laid on her back on the floor of the training salle where they had been practising lightsaber forms. “You don’t say.” Boba snarked back from where he was standing bent over, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. “No. no. You don’t understand.” The prone assassin said as she lazily waved a hand. “I am DEAD. So why in the Siths hells am I bruised and aching?”

Pushing himself to stand upright Boba walked over to her. “Let me know when you figured it out, because I have the same question.” He sighed as he collapsed into a seated potion next to her. Turning to look at where Din and Vizla were still going he shook his head. “Also try to figure out how Mando over there is still going.”

“Probably shear hard headedness.” The lazy reply came. Rolling onto her stomach she rested her chin on her folded arms. “How long do you think we have been here?” She asked as they continued watching the warriors fight.

“Weeks, months, years” Boba shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t think time has any real meaning here.” Fennec hummed. “I think we are getting close.” she stated. Tugging lightly on her braid Boba asked “Close to what?”

Pushing herself into a seated position, “To Din leaving for whatever the Force has planned. He is trained in both lightsaber combat and in using the Force. You heard what Master Yaddle said earlier that if Din was a Jedi he would be very close to reaching master rank.” Boba nodded. “Yes that is true, but I don’t think he, we are being trained to fight the First Order and Ren and Rey.” Turning to look at where Yaddle was looking at the two combatants still going strong, Fennec inclined her head. “You are correct but what else?”

“I don’t know, but tell me this, if the plan is to go back to where he first fought Gideon and won the Darksaber. Why would we need to know pre-clone war politics?” He jutted his chin in Din’s direction. “I get why they teaching him how to fight with a lightsaber against a Jedi or a Sith, but the rest just don’t make any sense.” Flicking her braid over her shoulder Fennec snorted, “Well it’s not like we can do anything but wait and see right?”

****

“Tell me Din Djarin, what will you give to save your aliit?” Din swore under his breath as he came aware in the endless night landscape to the same question that has been asked so many times before. “My answer won’t change, you know. I will give anything and everything that is mine to give.” The being of light stood there observing him. “Will you give up your son?”

Closing his eyes at the pain that question wrought he choked on the tears that threatened to spill. “If it means that he is alive and safe, and happy then yes I would give up Grogu.” He turned away from the entity and rubbed at his stinging eyes. “If I told you that the price for his life and happiness is all his memories of you. Will it still be a price you would be willing to pay?”

It was tearing his heart out of his chest. He could not think that anything could be so painful as the idea that his son would not remember him. “As long as he is happy, safe and loved, I would give up everything I have. Everything I am.” He agreed.

All of a sudden he was no-longer alone, Boba and Fennec stood at his side. “What if I ask that you give up yourself? Give up your name and all the memories that makes you you?” Din closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “As long as it means that all of my aliit is safe and well. I would give all that I am, all that I have as payment.”

For a long moment the being stood unmoving. “Very well Din Djarin. I accept.”

The next moment the semi solid dark space water he is standing on turns to real water and he is falling into darkness.