#codywan | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lieutenant-teach · 1 day

Text

Cody and Din stop on Tatooine. Din meets someone unexpected from Cody’s past, which leads to a sweet reunion. Part 3\3 (part 1), (part 2).

‘Blast ‘em!’

Cody woke up with a barely concealed cry on his lips. Din was snoring quietly in the co-pilot seat, luckily not disturbed, wrapped into a patchwork blanket gifted by a kind old Rodian lady during their latest stop on Jakku. ‘Good, - Cody thought, shifting to warm up sleepy right arm, - our nightmares take turns’.

Not for the first time he would wake up like that. Sometimes there would be him murdering innocent citizens, sometimes blank eyes of his surviving brothers serving the Empire with him, and sometimes his former General. There were different dreams, where Cody could see again him smiling, meditating, reflecting blaster bolts of the Separatist opponents, lifting laughing troopers in the air on the Negotiator, talking to Cody both about war or mundane issues and in general trusting him.

What did Cody do to repay all of it? All this kindness, friendship, love they all got?

‘It wasn’t my choice, - at such moments Cody was telling himself over and over again. – The chip in my brain took away my conscience, I wasn’t able to do anything against it’. But this mantra didn’t help at all. It didn’t change the fact. Yes, the Empire was the culprit behind all of it, but Cody’s hands were red with the General’s blood. And he would never wash it off. Least he could do was not to allow anyone else take his mind away.

He was an idiot back on Utapau letting himself believe that everything would be over soon. Believing that in some hours they would be free of war, blood and destruction. Letting himself hope, openly flirting with his General – something he usually tried to tone down, being professional, even though General Kenobi was quite open to reciprocating their bantering with twinkling in his eyes. At that day he didn’t even try to hide his feeling. And he would remember forever how the General’s eyes were full of promise.

Now he thought that even if everything would have turned out well, it was barely possible for them to start anything. Not because of a wide-accepted civilian misconception of ‘attachments are not allowed within the Jedi Order’ – after all, not everyone were being idiots like Skywalker – but he realized the Senate never entertained even a mere idea of giving personhood to the clone troopers. They’d be sent back to Kamino, or used in other spheres as free workers – but with no Jedi by their side to encourage them, to actually see them as people. The Senate wouldn’t’ve allowed that. After all, there wasn’t any big difference between the Jedi and the clone troopers situations – both made to do something without being asked if they actually wanted to, with absolute disregard to their feelings, opinions, morals.

But Cody would’ve preferred this to killing his General. His friend. His love.

---

Being a smuggler wasn’t that bad. They needed money while looking for a rebel cell, and, as much as the business went against Cody’s morals – well, it could’ve been worse. He chose small cargoes for small people, always checking for illegality, for example, he had to turn down several spice offers. He didn’t work for long distances for stealth measures. So far, they got enough credits to go by.

Din insisted he was big enough and armed enough to go with Cody to the rendezvous point. He watched excitedly as weighing pros and cons were changing on his guardian’s face, though Din didn’t see any problem – they’d been to wretched places before. After almost a year of such meandering across the Galaxy Din thought he wouldn’t be surprised or scared by anything. Except the Empire. He still couldn’t help tensing in fear seeing humanoids in white clothes, and he found it hard to imagine what he would do if met a real stormtrooper. He also knew that Cody used to be an Imp, but he had had a chip in his head that made him do it, and before the Empire he was a good guy, a hero. Even if Cody himself never said anything like the latter, Din decided so – from his tales and stories he shared with him about his past. He told him about adventures, his brothers, the Jedi he was in love with. Din saw that sometimes these memories made Cody very-very sad, but Cody would say ‘Somebody has to pass the truth about those times’. At night, when not dreaming about his home and parents, he dreamed about himself barging into the Imperial Palace, with the Darksaber and a blaster, in shining armour, and defeating evil guys who inflicted so much pain on those he loved – both back on Aq Vetina and now on Cody.

Alas, Cody decided it was too dangerous for Din to go – ‘too much villainy around there’. Sometimes adults were really weird, Din sulked, sitting in the pilot’s cabin and picking at a toy Cody bought him some time after their meeting. It looked like an oversize deformed frog with huge ears – Cody said it reminded him of ‘General Yoda’. Din considered himself old enough not to need toys, but he couldn’t take his eyes off it, and Cody’s gesture he appreciated nonetheless, and holding the toy relieved some stress.

Suddenly he heard some sounds – growling? He peeked out of the window, and saw a man not far away from their ship trying to fight off several womprats. The beasts were snarling, circling their pray, snapping salivating jaws and biting the hem of his robe. Without a second thought Din ran to the trap taking out his blaster. One shot in the air was enough for animals to hunch and run away whining, leaving the man with tears in his already tattered robe.

– Are you all right? – Din came closer. The man smiled warmly seizing examining his losses:

– I am, thanks to you, young man. Are you alone here? – his voice bled with concern, as if he wasn’t being attacked by huge aggressive carnivores some moments before. – It is quite dangerous.

– No, I’m with… my father, - Din didn’t put away his blaster, though somehow he knew the man wouldn’t harm him. – He’s busy, but he’ll come soon, - added he hastily.

– Shall I offer you my company until he arrives? Of course, I see you’re very capable yourself, - he nodded at the weapon Din was clutching in his fingers, - but my conscience doesn’t allow me to leave a child unprotected here, - at that Din couldn’t keep from snorting, and the man smiled tiredly again, hugging himself into his robe as if freezing. – Sorry for imposing myself, - he looked lost. – Ben, Ben Kenobi.

Din immediately perked up at a familiar name. Kenobi? Wasn’t he Cody’s Jedi general back in the war? Was this man a relative of his? Now, when Din actually payed attention, he did look a lot like Cody’s descriptions of his beloved.

– Din, - he tucked the blaster into his belt, returned to the ship and sat on the ramp, wordlessly inviting Ben do the same. – I heard about a General Kenobi. Are you related?

Ben tensed, then slowly came to the ramp and sat near Din. Then he sighed:

– Kind of, yes. Don’t know much about him, though. Where did you hear about him? Didn’t he turn out to be a traitor? – Ben’s eyes were kind, but to Din’s mind, his voice sounded like he was gnawing stones. As if every word gave him physical pain. If he was trying to hide his distress, he failed grossly at it.

– Well, I just heard he was kinda cool back then, - Din started drawing indecipherable scrabbles in the sand with the toe of his boot. – My father served, - he looked at Ben through eyelashes. – He said Kenobi was killed by his troopers.

Ben swallowed hard and blinked, staring in the distance. That all was too weird. Din started suspecting, and the suspicion grew into conviction with every moment observing the man.

– Then I guess he wasn’t that ‘cool’, as you say, - Ben answered in some time with a watery chuckle. – Sorry for my spoiling your mood, young Din.

– Well, there’re not so many reasons to be happy now, - Din grumbled. – And I don’t think the Jedi were so bad. I mean, my father always says nice things about them, - Din felt like a genius intelligence agent fishing for information to confirm his clues about unsuspecting Ben.

– It’s risky to say anything nice about the Jedi, - Ben said, looking cautiously at Din. Was he suspecting Din would call the stormtroopers any moment? At this thought Din winced. And then noticed a familiar figure approaching them.

– Wait, I want to introduce you to my father, - Din’s heart jumped excitedly as he leaped on his feet and ran off to Cody who already had his hand on his hip – where he hid his blaster. In another hand he was clutching a bundle.

– Din, who’s this? – he caught Din just at the moment when in his hurry he tripped over his feet and almost collided into the man. Din grinned:

– I bet you’ll like him, - his heart was pounding with excitement when he grabbed Cody’s hand from his blaster and dragged him to the ship.

Ben stood up with his hands tucked into his sleeves, looking as he was going to flee at any moment. But he inclined his head politely at seeing an adult:

– I apologize for thrusting myself into your lives, but I just could not leave a child lone in the desert to the dangers.

‘They didn’t recognize each other? Aren’t Ben… not him?’ – Din’s heart fell with bitter disappointment. He felt guilty for rising Cody’s hopes… though he didn’t even say anything particular about his new acquaintance…

– General? – the immense disbelief in Cody’s voice made Din step aside and raise his head – Cody pulled up the hood looking as if he didn’t trust his own eyes. Din look at Ben and, to his joy, the man was rigid, almost slack-jawed, wide-eyed.

– Cody? – Ben croaked at last, not taking his eyes off Din’s ‘father’. Then he made a hesitant step forward, and Din barely blinked when Cody dropped his bundle, practically ran to Ben, and they both wrapped their arms around each other, Ben… no, Obi-Wan sobbing quietly into Cody’s shoulder.

Din kept silent, not interfering, thinking that at least some justice was done. A little bit of fixing the Galaxy and a little bit more of happiness.

---

The brush dipped into the can. Cody was watching as golden-orange paint was drying in heat of the Tatooine suns.

– I bet you’ll like him, - Din was uncharacteristically chirpy and animated, tugging him to the ship and particularly to a man who stood up at seeing them. Cody had no idea who he was – up to the moment they came closer, he saw a familiar face and heard a familiar Coruscanti accent. His first thought was ‘I’m delusional’. It was all too impossible. Not in this karking rotten Galaxy. He felt numb taking off his hood.

– General? – It was too good to be true.

– Cody?

He didn’t remember himself running, only being afraid to fully believe. He came around holding his former General in his arms, feeling his living warmth pressing into him, hearing incoherent teary mumbling into his shoulder, with mist in his own eyes and a lump in his throat.

– I’m so glad to see you again, - the General moved a little to meet Cody’s eyes, their faces mere inches away. He looked as if the weight of the whole Galaxy was on his shoulders and grief was his constant friend. Cody would never blame him for feeling so – he shared it. But there was joy, and that warmed Cody’s heart enough for hope starting to bloom tentatively. Maybe, they weren’t lost after all.

Cody raised the brush and applied a little bit more paint on the middle stripe again to colour gray lines showing through brightness.

– I’m so sorry, - Cody’s knees grazed against the floor, the guilt crushing him down. – We all had chips in our brains… we couldn’t fight them… - the excuse was so flimsy-thin Cody even felt awkward. No reasoning would change what’d been done by all of his brothers and himself. He felt his throat squeezing, he stubbornly kept his eyes on the small patch of dirt – looked like long-spilled tea – on the floor.

– I’m so sorry we couldn’t help you, - why was the General apologizing? It wasn’t him who betrayed the troopers’ trust and killed them all. Cody saw the Jedi falling on his knees next to him, then a gentle touch on his face. He raised his head obediently, meeting the eyes filled with undeserved kindness. – I forgave you long before you came here, before I knew you didn’t do this on purpose, - he whispered, cupping Cody’s face. – I couldn’t understand what we did to wrong you, but you are here now.

– I started questioning… - Cody shut his eyes, feeling heat and wetness gathering there again, - I tried to save Boil… Got mine taken out here… - he felt like he was falling apart there, kneeling on the floor of the small cabin in the desert, in front of the man he deemed killed by his men on his order. And then he found himself in a warm embrace, his former General rubbing small circles between his shoulder blades.

– You overcame the conditioning. You are so strong. I am proud of you, - Cody sensed a sad smile in his voice and dared to hug him in return, being rewarded with a small sigh which seemed as a good sign. – I’m really happy you’re here. By the way, do not call me ‘General’ – we’re friends. I’m not your General anymore anyway. Just ‘Obi-Wan’ will do. Or ‘Ben’.

– All right, Obi-Wan, - Cody murmured into so cozy shoulder, tasting the name aloud for the first time. It sounded as it belonged on his tongue.

Cody raised his head letting warm morning breeze caress his face. It was early enough not to be boiling, but the premonition of heat was already in the air.

– I don’t feel like a Jedi anymore, - Cody would never believe such words if it wasn’t Obi-Wan himself saying them, looking absolutely devastated. – I failed everyone. The Order, the Republic, my apprentice…

– Your apprentice did it to himself, - Cody didn’t manage to conceal his acerbic voice. – He’s too happy now oppressing the worlds.

He caught the dumbfounded expression on Obi-Wan’s face. ‘Force, he didn’t know’, - Cody regretted being harsh and took his hand:

– Anakin is alive. He’s Darth Vader now.

Cody blew on the paint – in one place it refused to dry, remaining sticky.

– You’ll be fine on Alderaan, Din, - crouching Cody laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. – Living with two desert hermits is not a life for a kid. Senator Organa personally found a family who are happy to adopt you.

– I know it must be done, - Din nodded solemnly, and Cody marveled at his attitude – too adult for a child. It hurt to let go, but he believed Din would find his way. Din threw his arms around Cody’s neck, and Cody hugged him back. – I’ll see you again. I promise.

Cody took a sponge and cleaned up some speck of dust on the white surface, careful not to smudge the paint.

– So your former apprentice tried to burn you alive, - Cody gently cleaned the nasty scorch on Obi-Wan’s shoulder from the sticking remains of cloth. – I’m sorry. But after him murdering kids I’m not surprised at all, just glad you got away.

– I’ll be fine, darling, - something in his voice changed, but Cody couldn’t exactly put his finger on it. – I saw Qui-Gon.

– You mean, your Master? Isn’t he…

– The Force ghost, - a heavy sign. – As much as it hurts to know, Anakin did it to himself, he admitted as much. You were right all along, though for wrong reasons, - Obi-Wan gave a weak chuckle. – You just never liked him very much.

– You’ve always been a better General than him, - Cody briefly pressed his lips to Obi-Wan’s cheek making him smile.

Cody raised his head – Obi-Wan was returning with a bucket of water. Putting it in the house, he settled himself next to Cody, pressing their shoulders and staring into the wavy-line dunes on horizon line, catching moments before going to work. Cody touched the paint and was satisfied with the result – golden shining colour was a tangible reminder of his brothers, of everything good he’d had and still was having.

Somewhere the Darksaber was still waiting. Waiting for the rise of Mand’Alor the Sunbringer.

A year or two after these events Din is stolen from his family, and Cody’s asked to help find him. Din is adopted by a New Mandalorian refugees family on Alderaan, so he’s kidnapped for some political leverage – his adoptive family are relatives of Clan Kryze. Cody, Rex and Wolffe are sent to retrieve Din, eventually they find him, in the process they become entangled with Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls. Cody is given the title of Mand’Alor, so he decides to rise MandoClone rebellion making both factions work together. Mandalore is freed, de-chipped clones are settling there, too. Here I want to specify that they’re not Mandos, they have their own culture which is more of a combination of their own ideas traditions, Jedi ideas and something else from different worlds they liked. Cody is named as Kote the Sunbringer, though he doesn’t like it very much.

Din’s adoptive parents give him up as they see it too dangerous to keep him, so Cody adopts him as his own. Din perceives Cody as his own example and ideal to live by, often arguing ‘that’s what a Mandalorian should be like’.

Tatooine becomes a focus of Imperial attention as Vader doesn’t give up the idea of finding Obi-Wan again. So Obi-Wan takes Owen, Beru and Luke and moves to Mandalore. Din becomes quite protective of little Luke, later they become friends, even later – boyfriends. They all work with the Rebellion, Obi-Wan training Luke and trying to commemorate all the knowledge he has about the Order, Cody becomes one of main Rebellion leaders (though no one knows who he is in real life).

In 0BBY Din works alongside Luke and his gang. They defeat the Empire (I’d be as gracious as keeping Vader alive). Luke rises the Order again, with the knowledge he gets from Obi-Wan and Anakin (possibly Ahsoka and the other survivors). Leia leads the New Republic. Din takes up the mantle of the Mand’Alor, so Cody can spend more time with his beloved. And yes, aging code was in the chips, so when they’re destroyed or malfunctioning, aging stops, so the clones lives long happy lives, too.

#star wars #din djarin #commander cody #fanfiction #my fic #fanfic #cody and din #mand'alor cody #fix it #codywan #dinluke #self indulgent #if you want to write a whole story #inform me

23 notes · View notes