Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There are many things about Grogu that Din still hasn't been able to figure out. Close to the top of the list is the ability of someone so small, with such tiny feet and stubby legs, to move as fast as he does.

One moment, Grogu's resting near their campfire, so still that Din assumes he's taking a nap. The next, he's halfway across the clearing, chasing after a lizard with silver scales shiny enough to rival Din's beskar. As Din gets up to go after his son, Grogu disappears from sight, into the woods surrounding them.

The bushes and trees are particularly dense where Grogu has gone, slowing Din down as he makes his way through them. He gets out of the thicket just in time to see Grogu crawl into a crevice between large boulders that rest against a low cliff.

"No, Grogu, wait!" Din shouts after him, but it's no good. He's already gone.

Din sighs and crouches to the ground to get a better look at the obstacle. The space Grogu has managed to squeeze into is so narrow, there is no way Din can fit through it.

"Grogu? You in there?" he shouts into the crevice, and shines his light into it, trying to see what's inside.

His blood runs cold when he realizes that it's not just a space between rocks. The boulders sit in front of the opening of a tunnel, which slants steeply downwards, and disappears beyond the reach of the beam of light, deep into the bowels of the planet. Din doesn't see a trace of Grogu in the part that is lit. He must have already wandered deeper into the cave system.

Din sits and waits for several minutes, but there's no sign of Grogu coming back.

So far, Din hasn't seen anything bigger than the lizard Grogu was chasing in these woods, but there could be any number of dangerous creatures living in a cave like this. Even if there aren't, the underground environment itself can be hazardous. It's no place for a child, not even one as capable as Grogu.

Din has to find a way to go after his son.

He leans against one of the boulders, hopeful that it might be less heavy than it looks. It's not; it doesn't budge at all. They seem to be wedged in tight, so that the only realistic way to move them would be blowing them up, and that's too risky. It could easily end up bringing down the entire passage, trapping Grogu underground.

He stands up to study the surroundings. The boulders form a part of a rocky outcrop, a natural wall of dark gray stone around twice as tall as Din, which stretches out in both directions until it's hidden from sight by vegetation. Hopeful that there could be other ways to enter the cave system, he starts to follow this cliff towards his left.

Walking on, occasionally hacking away at bushes with his vibroblade, he finds some stretches of the cliff that aren't hidden behind boulders, but there are no more cave openings, just solid, impenetrable rock. Just as he's starting to consider turning around and returning to his starting point, the rush of fast-running water catches his ears.

On a hunch, he decides to check the watercourse before heading back. It's not far: a few dozen paces along a gentle downwards slope bring him to an intriguing sight that's not quite what he imagined. The sound made him think he might find a waterfall, or at least a large cascade. Instead, there's more dark rock sticking out of the hillside, and in the middle of it, the yawning black mouth of a tunnel. That's where the water is flowing from. It's only a small stream, but the sound is amplified by the rocky hollow. It runs downhill in a shallow channel, disappearing into the woods.

The mouth of the cave that the stream emerges from is easily large enough for Din to walk in. It also seems to be going in a promising direction: up and towards the right, which is exactly where the entrance in the cliffside is located. Din has already come a fair distance from Grogu's crevice, but he hasn't found any other way to enter the underground network. He might as well take a quick look and see where this one takes him.

Since the stream fills the entire floor of the passage, there's no way to avoid getting his boots wet. Din clips his light to the side of his helmet, switches it on, and steps into the water.

The flow of the stream feels stronger than he expected, considering that the water is not much more than ankle-deep. He can imagine that worse weather conditions might make it impossible to move in here at all. Luckily, although this hilly northern region isn't warm, the suns have been bright, with only a few wispy clouds in the sky. No signs of rain.

He advances into the darkness.

The rock surrounding him is so dark, almost black, that it seems to absorb his light, creating a foreboding mood. It doesn't help that the roar of the stream is so loud, he doesn't think he would hear Grogu's voice over it even if the child were standing right next to him.

It's an environment that seems deeply hostile; a place where no sentient being should tread.

The atmosphere may be threatening, but at least the passage is just the right size for him to walk in comfortably. Any narrower, and his pauldrons would catch the walls, any lower and his helmet would scrape the ceiling. Still, moving ahead and upstream is not easy. The ice-cold water reaches above his knees in some places, and the passage floor is full of rocks and potholes, difficult to spot under the stream that's often foaming white.

Every now and then, he comes across small cascades with deep pools beneath them, requiring him to scramble across and up with his hands on the walls for support. At one point, he even runs into a waterfall high enough that he decides to use his whipcord to climb it. Never mind getting his boots wet; he's getting soaked all over from the chilly spray.

If he ever finds Grogu in here, doing all this backwards will not be easy.

How far has he come already? The darkness and the slow progress wreak havoc with his internal clock, but the time on his helmet display reveals that it's been half an hour. In any case, he hasn't seen any side passages, so his only options are to keep going or to turn around.

He imagines Grogu following that small dry passage and ending up in this one. He'd be in so much trouble in this stream, with the water reaching up to his waist even in the shallower parts. He could easily get carried away by the current. It's a horrible thought.

Din decides to keep going.

Another ten minutes bring him to the first thing resembling a fork in the passage that he's seen. It doesn't actually offer him any choices for his next direction: on the left, the stream flows out from a crack in the wall, so small that even Grogu would struggle to fit through. On the right, the larger passage continues at a higher level, where it thankfully seems to have a dry floor. As far as Din can tell, it still seems to continue roughly in the correct direction to intersect with Grogu's tunnel.

He clambers up to the dry tunnel. Where the stream passage had various twists and turns, this one seems straight as an arrow, like a huge fissure in the rock. The beam of his light reveals that it's getting narrower ahead of him, shrinking to a far less comfortable size. On the other hand, it looks like it will be otherwise more straightforward to move in, without the stream and the hazards hidden under its surface.

It doesn't take long until the passage grows so slim that Din can only advance in it sideways. It's a stroke of luck that he's not wearing his jetpack; it would've had to come off here. Even without it, the walls are starting to get disturbingly close, scraping the armor plates over his chest and back. While there's still enough space, he stops to take off the bandolier, and shifts everything on his belt to the sides, to make his profile as streamlined as he can. He even detaches the light from his helmet to hold it in his hand instead.

He pushes on, until he gets to a section that's so tight, he's in constant contact with the rock, back and front. Even if he's not claustrophobic, it's a seriously unnerving place to be in. He doesn't think he's ever been in a space as narrow as this; he can't even turn his head. Ahead, he can see that the passage is opening up soon. He only needs to make it a few steps further and he'll be in the clear.

As stressed as he feels, he tries to relax and breathe out, making his chest that little bit slimmer. Maybe it'll be enough. He inches onwards, beskar grinding against rock. He makes one half-step of progress, then another, holding his breath—but that's as far as he can get.

It's too tight. He can't move any further. Worse than that, he realizes he's gotten himself properly jammed in this narrow crack. Reversing won't be any easier than going on.

He knows he needs to stay calm, but that doesn't help when there's not even enough room to breathe properly, the combination of rock and beskar squeezing his ribcage like a vice. He's starting to feel lightheaded, but that's probably the impending panic, not the lack of air. Not yet.

He can't move, but he also can't stay here.

It's a shorter distance to reach the wide space in front of him than it would be to reverse through the tight section he's already negotiated. Besides, Grogu might be just ahead of him.

He has to get out of here, and he has to get to his son.

Gritting his teeth, he plants his free hand against the wall and pushes with that and his feet as hard as he can, trying to get through with brute force. No matter how hard the rock surrounding him is, it's not as tough as beskar. It'll give before his armor does.

What he doesn't appreciate is, there's a third element involved in this encounter that's less tough than either rock or beskar.

As he struggles to move, two things happen simultaneously: he finally slides ahead, out of the horribly tight spot, and feels something give inside his chest, accompanied by a sudden, sharp flare of pain.

He stumbles into the wider space, groaning aloud. The light slips from his grip and clatters away, pointing uselessly across the floor. Without the walls to keep him upright, he ends up on his knees, then sitting down. Reflexively, he brings a hand to his breastplate. Just as he would've expected, the beskar is as solid as ever under the layer of mud and stone dust. The same can't be said for his ribs: he's sure must've cracked at least one. The ache under the metal is fierce, intensifying with each breath, and seems to radiate across the entire right half of his rib cage.

To make a better guess at the damage, he'd have to take off the armor, which he's not planning on doing right now. It can't be that bad, though. Trying to ignore the pain and think in a detached manner, he doesn't believe he could've caused a life-threatening injury this way. Even if there was enough pressure to break bone, it doesn't seem likely that those bones could've ended up displaced in a way that would put internal organs at risk.

Attempting to convince himself of this, he takes a deeper breath—and winces. It might not be deadly, but dank farrik, it really hurts.

If only he had stopped earlier and taken off the breastplate, he'd probably be perfectly fine. Now, he imagines going back through that tight tunnel will be torture, no matter how he does it. But hindsight doesn't help. He's come this far. He should keep going.

He tries to call out, "Grogu? Grogu!"

There's no reply, just silence, as deep as he's ever heard, now that he's left the stream so far behind that its noise is gone. At least there are no sinister sounds to be heard, either, no growls or footsteps of things creeping in the dark.

Moving as cautiously as he can, he reaches out to pick up the light and reattach it to his helmet. Then, he stands up, slowly, bracing himself for the pain. It's still worse than he expects; his vision goes spotty, and for a moment, all he can do is stand there, leaning on the wall, taking shallow breaths.

He thinks back to past experiences with broken ribs. Somehow, this feels different, but it's not easy to compare faded memories to the vivid present.

It's just pain, he tells himself. He can deal with that.

He starts walking along the passage again. Thankfully, it's an easy section of the cave, wide enough that two people could walk abreast, the floor almost level. The ceiling is getting higher, too, soon so far above him that he can't see it at all without turning his head. It would be an impressive place if he weren't feeling too lousy to appreciate it.

Another five minutes pass, then ten, the tunnel continuing without change. Din is starting to worry that it's taking him too far to cross the passage Grogu used to enter the network. He stops and shouts his son's name into the silent darkness again.

Unexpectedly, he gets a reply.

The familiar childish voice responds to him, coming from somewhere to his right and above him.

Din hasn't been paying enough attention to what's above him. That could've been dangerous, letting his guard down like that. He's lucky that it didn't get him in trouble, and even luckier that he chose this exact moment to call out.

He points his light up and sees that there's a ledge there, just high enough to be out of reach. Grogu's face pokes out over it as he tries to catch a glimpse of Din.

"Grogu! I'm right here. Watch out for the edge," Din tells him. It may not be a dizzying height, but it's still high enough that falling the distance could have dire consequences.

Din is trying to decide on the safest way to get Grogu down when the child takes matters into his own little hands and just leaps towards Din. It's quite the show of trust. It's a good thing that it's really not that far, and Din can easily catch him. On the less positive side, the impact sends a jolt through his battered ribs. He cries out in pain, and only just manages to keep his balance, hugging Grogu close.

Grogu makes a worried coo, tilts his head and places a hand over Din's breastplate, eyes narrowing like he's about to call for his healing powers.

"No, no, don't do that," Din says quickly, and shifts the child in his arms to place him further away on his uninjured side.

He'd like nothing more than for Grogu to take away the pain, but any major use of those powers tends to put the child to sleep. This is not a good environment for a nap. Besides, Din is still convinced that this isn't a serious injury, just a seriously uncomfortable one.

"I promise I'm fine," Din adds, hoping it sounds more convincing than he feels. It probably doesn't, considering how breathless and hoarse he is.

Grogu definitely doesn't look convinced, still frowning, his ears flat against his head, but he keeps his hands down. Aside from his disgruntled mood, he seems to be all right, although his clothing and hands are covered in mud, and some is even smeared on his face. Maybe his way into the cave was easier—at least for someone his size. Din can't begin to imagine how he navigated it this far without light, but then again, the Force gives him senses beyond what ordinary beings have.

Unfortunately, Din knows that he won't be able to get out the way Grogu came in, not even if he strips off all his beskar. He also hasn't seen any side passages that might offer alternative routes. Their best option is the underground stream that Din followed, as torturous as that may turn out to be.

Grogu held safely in his arms, he turns around to face the tunnel leading back towards the surface. "Ready to get out of this hole, kid? Let's go."