Author's notes: So I had this story up before but someone threatened to report it because I forgot didn't allow "reader" fics lol so I just made the reader into a character called Kiera - I should have the whole story up within the month just gotta change every single "you" to "her"

Kiera had been hired to hunt down a Mandalorian.

When her Commander personally called to pull her out of the field and into Headquarters, she knew it must be for a covert mission.

Typically, when she was given a new assignment, she would receive a short message on her comlink, which would send her on her way. But a face to face meeting, especially in her line of business, was almost unheard of.

So, without wasting a second, Kiera packed up her encampment and slipped stealthily into the cargo-bay of the nearest ship bound closest to Headquarters.

The ride itself was bumpy, and as her head slammed against the box she was hidden behind for the umpteenth time, she silently promised herself to never leave her ship at Headquarters ever again.

A couple of hours later, she stumbled unsteadily out of the ship, not even trying to stay hidden from the crew whose ship she had stowed away on.

As Kiera yawned, almost tripping down the ramp, she heard a shout behind her as one of the crew members caught sight of her. Turning, she threw him a wink and a salute before she took off into the crowd in front of her, vanishing among the vast volume of people.

With her signature red cape sweeping behind her, the citizens in the street immediately steered from her path, trying to keep out of her way and away from her famous temper.

Everybody who was anybody knew who she was and that she was not to be trifled with.

Kiera's Commander and her troop had made somewhat of a name for themselves on this planet. They served the highest buyers and did whatever needed to be done. Murder. Stealing. Assassinations. Bribing. Threatening. Bodyguarding. Sometimes even peacekeeping. It wasn't always the best job, but it was a stable one, and it gave Kiera more than enough money to survive comfortably.

Kiera had only been working with her Commander for a few years but had quickly risen in the ranks when she earned her trust after saving her life. It wasn't rare for a client to try and murder the lower ranks, but trying to murder the Commander was a different story. However, instead of succeeding, he found himself 10 feet underground. Thanks to her.

When Kiera reached headquarters, she entered without knocking, slamming open the door to the Command Center.

Commander Trax leveled her with a glare when one of the rookies, startled from the door, spilled their drink all over her paperwork.

"Scram."

The young rookie went red in the face and took off out the door before Kiera could even say a word.

"You could be nicer to them."

Trax scoffed motioning for her to take a seat, "That's how they'll get killed."

"I haven't."

She squinted her eyes at Kiera, "I'm not nice to you."

"Mhm, sure we both know you basically adopted me." Kiera snorted as she settled herself in the chair across from her Commander, swinging her legs up to rest on the table.

Trax pushed a folder toward her but Kiera didn't take it yet, instead deciding to relax for a moment leaning back against the chair with her eyes closed.

"I have a mission for you."

A pause.

"What kind?" Kiera responded.

"Search and recovery."

She eyes opened slightly, squinting at Trax, "Thing?"

"Person."

Kiera rolled her eyes, "Boring. I want something more exciting."

"He's a Mandalorian."

She froze, her face blank as she searched Trax's face for a lie, "You're shitting me."

Trax motioned to the folder in front of her, and Kiera quickly slid her feet off the table before pulling the folder to her, flipping through the pages.

Kiera's jaw dropped open, "This man is a legend, why do we need to find him?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

Kiera's mind was racing and she whispered to herself, "But who would want a Mandalorian?"

"The mission brief is in there. You find him, and you bring what is in his possession. It is called the asset, another life form."

Kiera hummed thoughtfully to herself as she continued flipping through the file, before she stood, "Sounds easy enough to me."

As she made her way past Trax, she grabbed her arm and pulled her in close, whispering in her ear, "Be careful. We are messing with some really powerful people. If you don't succeed, don't come back."

Kiera's eyes flashed for a minute believing she was being threatened, but she quickly realized that Trax wasn't saying this to scare her. She was trying to protect her.

If she failed, she would be killed.

Kiera nodded solemnly, gripping the file tighter, before stalking out the door.

Her heart was pounding hard as she boarded her ship.

Kiera had grown up with bounty hunters. Knew how to talk like one and work like one. A Mandalorian was different though. She knew that it would be hard to find someone who knew how to stay hidden.

But she had a young and trusting face, and she could easily play the victim to find whoever she needed. Even him. All she needed was to make a fool of someone who had seen him.

After arriving on his last known location, and scouring the area for information about a man sporting a helmet and misplaced armor, Kiera was able to scrounge up enough information to begin her search. It took her a few days but she was finally able to locate him. Some low-level dealer had easily been bribed with a few chips.

And that is how she found herself camped out on the roof of his motel room. The hours passed and it grew colder, but she didn't move. When it began to rain she groaned, silently cursing this stupid bounty hunter for not being back yet.

As it passed midnight, she began to nod off, but suddenly awoke when she finally heard footsteps and door slam below.

Sliding down the side of the building, Kiera slipped into the room, her hand moving to her stun gun. But before she could even wrap her finger around it, she felt a blaster push into her back.

"Why are you here?"

Kiera held up her hands, "Looking for a man in a helmet, have you seen him?"

The man behind her didn't say a word, and she took that as an invitation to turn around.

Throwing him a wide smile, she looked him up and down, her eyes lingering on his body, focusing on the weakest links in his armor and where it would hurt the most to hit him. With a wink, she turned on her heel and walked over to one of the beds, falling down to rest against the headboard, her legs stretched out.

"Hope you don't mind, I am so tired. It's been a long day looking for you."

"Why?" His voice was gruff. Kiera could tell by his stance that he was tired, and the weariness in his voice confirmed it.

She shrugged, "I have my orders. You have yours. Where's your little buddy I've heard so much about."

His fingers twitched and her eyes flicked down as she watched them hesitate around the trigger of his blaster.

"Get out."

Kiera tsked, leaning forward to fluff up the pillow behind her, "No can do buddy. Like I said I have orders. If I don't bring you in, then I die."

"Not my problem." He holstered his weapon and moved to stand against the wall.

She sighed, pushing herself to her feet. She shot forward, standing in front of him in seconds. Startled, the man reached for his blaster. But when he went to to aim it at her, his arm froze and he looked down at it confused, as he seemed to fight with it.

A sound echoed from the corner of the room and Kiera looked around in confusion, catching sight of something behind the Mandalorian in front of her. Squinting, she stepped around the man, who made a move to try to stop her but growled when he couldn't move more than an inch.

A floating orb sat in the corner, and as Kiera grew closer she saw a creature inside. Reaching out toward his green hand, his eyes made contact with her as he made a cooing sound.

The man behind Kiera grunted and she spun to face him.

"This is it? The asset? It's a child!" She whispered horrified.

"I know."

Kiera ran a hand over her face, waving wildly at the baby, "I can't give a child to those people."

"What people?"

"I don't know!" Her voice was becoming louder, "But my Commander said they would kill me. They would most definitely have no qualms killing a child. You need to get out of here."

"What about you?"

Kiera's stomach dropped but waved it off with a gentle laugh, and an unsure smile, "I'll be fine."

"I-"

He hesitated.

She stood there. Watching this man who seemed to be at war with himself. A few seconds later, he finally sighed.

"…could use a crewmember."

She answered before she could stop herself, "Yes."

The man nodded and sat on a bed. When Kiera didn't move, he motioned from her to the other bed across the room.

Cautiously, she walked past the man and settled down on the bed, fully dressed. With one last look at the helmeted man, who may or may not be sleeping, she closed her eyes.

But she didn't sleep. Her hand remained wrapped around her blaster all night. And she's sure he did too.

Goddamn bleeding heart. Goddamn Mandalorian.

That goddamn man.

He barely spoke. Didn't respond to any of her questions. Didn't even stay in the same room as her for longer than a few minutes.

Kiera as slowly losing her mind.

She would help around the ship. Fix things. Be back-up when he went into cities. Or babysit. But she needed connection. Real human connection. Just someone to talk to.

All she had was the child.

And while his cooing was cute. It wasn't the type of conversation she craved.

It had been two weeks since Kiera joined the Mandalorian and the little green child, who was apparently 50 years old. That was the only thing she had been able to get out to the helmeted man. And she had tried everything to get closer to him. Or even just learn his name.

She thought she had a chance one night when the man in question came home with a deep cut. Kiera had rushed over to help him, but he had yelled at her to stay away.

She ignored him for three days after that.

Not that he noticed.

However, when this trend of getting injured continued to be a frequent occurrence, she finally stood her ground.

After listening to him grunt in pain for the tenth time, Kiera stalked into his room and stood in front of him. When he said nothing, she growled and pushed him down, "Let. Me. Do. My. Job." She said through gritted teeth.

He did.

He trusted her more after that. Let her wrap up his wounds. Said 'good morning' to her. Even stayed in the room with her now, instead of hightailing it every time he saw her.

And then, when she saved his life, he was indebted to her.

He had been mad at first because he had told her to remain put he went to grab things from the market. But she hadn't. She had shouldered her bag, pulling on one of his dark capes from his closet, before taking off after him.

When she had finally caught up with him, she saw him about to be overrun. Without thinking, she opened fire dropping all three of the men within seconds.

Swinging around blaster raised, the man offered her a nod of thanks. More communication than she had had in weeks.

(And he even let her keep his cape.)

A week later and Kiera couldn't deal with the silence anymore. If she had to listen to the green child coo for one more second, she thought her head was going to explode. So she sat down across from the Mandalorian and held out her hand.

"I'm Kiera. I worked under Commander Trax before being basically kidnapped by you. I was to retrieve you for…. I'm not even sure who but I'm guessing it's the people that hired you to find the green baby over there."

The man looked out her outstretched hand.

He sighed (his favorite pastime) and she waited a moment, hoping he would respond.

And when he did, her heart skipped a beat.

His gloved hand engulfed hers.

"Kiera. I know of you. Commander Trax is good people. My family has worked with her in the past. You're a bounty hunter?"

"More or less."

"Family?"

"No."

"Killed?"

"Yep."

"That must be lonely."

Kiera froze, swallowing hard, "Well, I'm used to it. Especially after spending two weeks with a helmeted man who doesn't talk."

He was quiet for a few minutes before moving closer to her.

After a second, he began to speak, softly and slowly about how his family had died when he was younger. How the Mandalorians had taken him in as a foundling and made him who he was today. How he had a family and friends. But had lost too many good people when the Empire fell. After losing his own partner, he swore never to get close to anybody again. He dedicated his time and earnings to sponsor new foundlings.

As he continued speaking, Kiera began to relax in his presence. Everything he spoke of was different than her life but it felt almost the same. They had both experienced their fair share of loss and pain. The way they both distanced themselves from others to avoid making connections they would ultimately lose in the fight. Or the way that they followed orders because it had been drilled in their heads at such a young age.

A few days later, she finally got up the nerve to ask him where they were headed.

"Need to know." Was his response, but she could hear the smile on his face.

Kiera was finally starting to be able to read this man. This man who seemingly showed no emotion. But he did. If she looked and listened close enough.

She smiled, "Could we at least spar or something to pass the time? I need to be prepared if something happens."

"Nothing will happen." But his voice wavered. He cleared his throat to play it off, but she caught it.

"Something always happens."

His head turned to hers and though she couldn't see his eyes she knew he understood.

Kiera ducked as a fist came flying at her head, a smile growing on her face as she knew exactly what her opponent's next move would be.

Or so she thought.

Her arm darted out, ready to slam into his stomach, but before she could make contact, her legs were swept out from beneath her, and she crashed to the ground.

Kiera slammed her fists into the ground as the man above her chuckled.

"I told you. You won't succeed"

She tried to push herself up, but her arm screamed in pain and she crashed back to the ground with a yelp. Taking a deep breath, she blinked away the sparks of light dancing across her vision, letting out an exaggerated groan as a foot lightly kicked her side.

A hand came into view.

Taking it, he hauled her up onto her feet.

"Enough." He warned.

Flashes of light were still sparkling across her vision and her body felt as if she had fallen 10 stories, but out of habit, her leg slid back as she lifted her fists.

"Again." Kiera pleaded.

The man hesitated before his arms rose once more.

She rushed forward but realized too late that he was going to take her down again. He swept her legs out again, but this time she took him down with her. She squealed as she realized they were going crash to the ground, the heavily armed man on top of her. But at the last second, the man twisted, taking the brunt of the fall as she fell on top of him.

"Ow."

The man beneath her snorted.

Kiera pushed herself up on his chest so she could see his masked face. She smiled at him widely. And then froze, as she watched his hand come up slowly before brushing a piece of hair out of her face. His gloved thumb brushed across her cheek and she leaned into his hand.

"I-" But before she could finish, a cooing sound startled the both of them.

Their heads shot to the side, catching sight of the little green child standing not five feet away.

Stumbling to their feet, both the warrior and woman refused to look at each other.

Kiera cleared her throat before rushing over to the little green guy before picking him up, "What are you doing over here!" She exclaimed, before placing him back into his orb.

"This isn't over." The Mandalorian said as he passed by her, a hint of a joke in his voice.

Kiera sighed in relief, teasingly flipping him off, before quickly rushing out of the room her face bright red.

Things had been going too well for too long. Kiera still wasn't sure where they were going but that didn't matter as long as they were all still alive.

Kiera and the Mandalorian talked more nowadays. Shared things with each other. Talked about stupid things. The only thing she hadn't found out yet was his name. And it had become somewhat of a joke to the man, who refused to tell her.

He was still a man of few words, but he seemed to care deeply. Especially for the little green child he had saved. And herself as well it seemed.

After that one day after sparring, they had both been cautious about touches. Neither of them were sure what that moment had meant.

But when his hand brushed against her back a few days later and she didn't jump out of her skin, the light touches began. A shoulder touch. Brushing of hands. Once he had even brushed an eyelash off her cheek.

Everything was going well.

But good things didn't last forever.

When the Mandalorian landed on a new planet, he had stated that they were going to be there for a while. So Kiera figured she might as well go to town to find some supplies.

A woman in the market had helped her pick out some clothing and personal items. Afterward, she had thanked her profusely and tipped her generously.

As she rounded the corner, whistling to herself, she ran headfirst into a man in black. Offering her apologies, she tried to sidestep him only to be grabbed and shoved back into the wall. She began to fight back but just as she attacked, something hit her hard over the head and she blacked out.

When Kiera woke, smoke was billowing from a fire in front of her.

She wasn't in the city anymore. The desert sand blew around her, no civilization to be seen for miles.

She tried to move, but her arms were tied behind her back. As she tried to shuffle herself into a seated position, a foot came out of nowhere slamming into her side, causing pain to splinter through her.

Another foot came down, slamming her head into the ground, a rock tearing into her forehead.

"Who are you?" Kiera croaked out.

The men above her didn't answer except for another delivering kick. And then another. Her lungs were burning from the flames and she were certain they had broken a rib.

Someone spoke, their voice muffled. Kiera strained to hear what they were saying, but all she could hear was the pounding in her head.

"—the bounty hunter."

"What?" Her ears were still ringing.

"Give us the bounty hunter or you die."

"If I die, you won't find him." She challenged.

"Then we'll kill her."

Kiera's brows furrowed, until she looked around, catching sight of the woman from the market kneeling across the fire.

"No, I don't know where he is," Her heart was pounding out of her chest, "I promise, just let her go, I don't even know her."

"Too late." The man above her smiled, his golden teeth glittering from the blaze of the fire.

Kiera pushed herself to her feet and managed to get one of the men on the ground, but she just wasn't fast enough. Her legs were kicked out beneath her and she was pinned to the ground, forced to watch in horror as one the other men aimed his blaster at the woman.

Kiera screamed. And he pulled the trigger.

She couldn't pull her gaze from that woman. Someone she had spoken a few words to. Dead because of her.

The man from across the fire came around and began speaking to her. But when she didn't look up he grabbed her chin forcing her eyes to meet his. As he began to repeat what he said, she spit in his face, barely flinching when he punched her across the face.

And this time as she laid silently on the ground, they left her there as tears burned in her throat.

Kiera wasn't sure how long she remained there, the fire still burning hot across her face.

But she welcomed the pain and prayed for the darkness to come.