Chapter Text

‘To Heal, One Must Hurt’

Hints of inspiration taken from the biblical tale of the good samaritan and Blackkat’s 'trade your heart for bones to know'

Check out the concept art I made when coming up with this idea!

Chapter 1; The Good Samaritan

From the little contact Jon has had with other Jedi, it was clear that Jon’s connection with the Force is rather different.

Where most Temple-Dwellers seemed to be disattached from the Force– unable to hear its call most of the time– Jon was constantly yanked around by the Will of the Force. 

Though, he knew better to mention it to other Jedi. He did once, when he was visiting Madame Nu to give her some new modules he picked up on a distant planet the Order had little knowledge about, he had immediately regretted it. 

The Jedi he had been conversing with while waiting for the head of the Archives had laughed in his face– apparently following the Will of the Force had become somewhat of a joke in the Temple. Something a Temple-Dweller said when they wanted to explain a poor decision away. 

While Jon had been completely serious when he mentioned the pull of the Force taking him to places he was needed, the Temple-Dweller thought he was joking and had laughed in his face.

It had left a sour taste and if Jon had to be honest, he had foregone travelling to Coruscant since. In fact, he had not been in the Temple for years now. Though, he also acknowledged that he needed to make a visit soon because his robes were not as they once had been.

Jon’s travels took him away from civilization often and his patches to fix the holes in the deteriorating fabric of his outer robe were running out quickly. Still, he had grown rather attached to this robe– it had been with him for a long time now. Though at some point Jon had to face the fact that it had long since outlived its best days. 

But the Force was not calling him to Coruscant just yet– so a new set of robes would have to wait.

In fact, the Force was actively drawing him through the snowy surface of a planet Jon didn’t quite know the name of. It whispered encouragement for him to fasten his pace and so he did.

Jon had been in the middle of an investigation. Corrupt bounty hunters from the Guild had been using their licence to kill innocent beings and that was something Jon simply couldn’t allow. It had taken a while to get that investigation going but it had been going well.

However, when the Force calls, you drop whatever you are working on and go where the Force pulls you. 

Running through the snow-covered trees and across slippery trunks, Jon let the Force guide his direction.

The Force was egging him on, telling him to hurry. To run faster because if he didn’t, something would go terribly wrong. Something would shift in the Galaxy and it would have major concequenses

He didn’t have to go much further to see the reason he was called here. 

Flashes of blaster fire lit up the area and sounds of a fight reached Jon’s ears. 

The battle was up a slope, one that Jon easily scaled and leaped straight into the fray, trusting the Force to inform him whom he was fighting and who he was helping.

In the end, he didn’t need the Force to see why he was here. It was less of a battle and more of an execution.

A single armoured being, completely surrounded by other armoured beings. They were on their knees, injured and clearly about to be killed before Jon shot up behind him and leaped at the–

Is that an ion cannon?

The sound of the cannon booting up told Jon that, yes, this was in fact a kriffing ion cannon. It moved, shifting direction from the lone being to Jon who was batting incoming blaster bolts back to the sender.

Jon was lucky he was fast, dodging an ion cannon was not easy.

A lot of the beings shooting turned tail upon seeing Jon’s green lightsaber, those that decided to stand and fight met their end by that same green blade.

When the dust– well, snow– settled, Jon peered at the beings he had taken down and realised there had been a good reason his saber just bounced off their armour half of the time– these had been Mandalorians.

Jon’s eyes wandered from the broken ion cannon and travelled to where those that fled had run off to for a moment.

He wanted to follow but the Force yanked him from the idea and aimed his attention back to the slope where the injured being had been kneeling. They were no longer there.

Well, not within sight at least. Jon realised that, like the Mandalorians, this being was hard to sense too– they probably wore armour of that same metal as these Mandalorians. Storing his lightsaber back in its proper place, Jon started moving back to the slope and peered over it just to flinch back half a second before a blaster bolt shot past. 

Jon could hear their heavy breathing– they were really hurting and were in dire need of some healing. Though, Jon didn’t doubt that the Mando would try to shoot him again if he tried to approach. 

But the Force insisted.

The Mando needed help.

Sighing, Jon took a few steps back, took a runup and flipped over the Mando, Force-Pulling the blaster from their hand. He landed on the somewhat steep slope and lost some balance, falling forwards and barely catching himself before he fell on top of the Mando.

Pushing himself back up, Jon made quick work of whatever other weapons the Mando had in reach and set them down to the side. 

For a moment, he just hovered over the Mando who seemed to be frozen, observing Jon from behind their visors.

Jon moved down and started to access injuries to the best of his ability. The armour was really in the way but for the moment, Jon wanted the Mando stable enough so he could move to a less open area– the Force was warning that the danger had not quite passed and Jon knew better than to ignore a warning like that.

So despite his hesitation to move any being in a state as bad as the Mando’s, Jon picked them up and vanished into the forest, careful to cover their tracks as he did so.

—----------------

It was absolutely freezing. 

Now that the sun was gone, there was no natural source of heat. Jon had lit a fire but it wasn’t helping too much. The Mando he dragged off the battlefield had been out cold, allowing Jon to treat the worst of their injuries without them trying to murder him. 

Taking the armour off proved to be a challenge. Mandalorians were notorious for their armour and warrior spirit and Jon was pretty sure it was blasphemous for anyone but the Mando themselves to even touch the carefully crafted metals. But alas, the injuries were mostly between the armour pieces and Jon needed to see what he was doing, even if that meant stripping the Mando from their armour.

Jon started with the helmet, which had an odd mechanism that made it tough to open but eventually he figured it out. The mechanism opened with a satisfying sound, allowing Jon to gently remove it from the being’s head.

A humanoid male appeared, tan skin, black hair and a neatly kept stubble with hints of grey throughout to otherwise raven colour. He was muscular, had a strong jaw and a slightly crooked nose that seemed to have suffered through one too many poorly healed fractures.

Jon was careful as he moved the Mando’s head in his hands, shifting their skull to assess potential damage. Luckily for the Mando, the helmet had taken the brunt of the impact and there didn’t seem to be any injuries there.

From there, Jon moved down, systematically removing armour in order to check for more injuries.

Injuries at the shoulder that were not severe but definitely needed some healing, a broken arm, several broken ribs. 

Their knee was what truly worried Jon.

It had been slashed with a vibro dagger from the looks of it and it was not pretty. Like someone had been able to get up close just behind the Mando on their right and managed to sever some important nerves and muscles.

The Mando had been alone and facing a large group of enemies when Jon found them, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this injury was made to keep the Mando from fleeing into the trees. There was no way their enemy could chase them through the dense trees, even if they had an ion cannon.

Jon was no medical expert, but he was well aware that if the other injuries didn’t kill him, then this injury would see to it that the Mando bled out before any aid could arrive. Luckily for the Mando, Jon did have some medical knowledge and had some skill on Force-aided healing.

When Jon’s hands moved to the knee, the Mando flinched. It didn’t deter Jon from starting the healing process. If he stopped the worst of the bleeding, he could focus on the burns and broken bones. It would give the Mando a better chance of survival.

From experience, Jon knew healing like this wasn’t pleasant and did hurt immensely. Force-aided healing sped the healing process up, it didn’t grant a soothing feeling. The pain was hard to describe but it was a burning sensation that wouldn’t leave while the healing occurred. It also demanded a lot of energy both from the healer as well as the injured.

Jon knew he couldn’t fix this complex of an injury. Not in one healing session at least. He could stop the bleeding and fix some of the overall damage but the remaining healing had to be done by an experienced healer.

The Mando shifted, stiffening as Jon grabbed onto the injured area a bit tighter. For a moment, they stayed tense, then the Mando sat up, eyes wide and dangerous as Jon’s hands remained and kept a tight hold.

Sitting up, the Mando was a lot taller than Jon estimated and their broad form towered over Jon’s crouched form. 

Jon ignored them and their uncomfortable squirming as he started focussing on healing the severe injury. 

As Jon bended the Force around the injury, the Mando let out a pained yell loud enough to wake half the forest from their slumber and fell back. Wincing at the pained groans, Jon continued the process and wished he had a way to relieve Mando’s pain but knew he carried nothing that he deemed useless for his travels. 

He would look for some numbing herbs later to make a paste to ease the burning but considering the Planet’s climate there was little chance Jon could find something for the Mando.

Eventually, the pained noises ceased as the Mando fell unconscious again, leaving Jon to continue to process in silence. 

When his energy was running out, Jon knew he had to stop. 

The bleeding had ceased but the injury remained deep and Jon had no doubts that if the Mando did not receive Force-aided healing, he would probably lose his leg below his knee. The slash had cut through important muscles and veins– not to mention bone of his knee. Without the Force, the bleeding wouldn’t have stopped unless cauterised, meaning they would likely remove the lower leg completely.

Sitting back, Jon let out a few deep breaths. It was like sprinting around a planet several times– to use the Force correctly, ones’ endurance had to be sufficient and Force-aided healing usually took a lot of energy and concentration.

Now that Jon was certain the Mando would not bleed out on him, he started creating a bit of a more comfortable sleeping place. They needed to get warmer because with the way the wind was shifting and the dangerous looking clouds, a snow storm might just be about to erupt. 

The cave was dry and would be good for a small fire to warm the interior. 

Getting up, Jon moved out into the cold and started gathering some natural supplies. Herbs that are good for a paste that would help treat the burns the Mando suffered, wood that seemed dry enough for a fire, clean water and a few other things Jon might be needing later. 

Upon return, Jon was quick to light a fire and made sure the Mando was warming up. Then he started preparing past and heated up water from the small river just outside of the cave. Food sounded good, as did a nice herbal tea.

When Jon was ready to sit down for the night, he sat next to the Mando’s head. His hand appeared from the oversized sleeve of his Jedi robe and rested the tips of his fingers lightly against the Mando’s pulse. It was weak, but it was there and had a healthy rhythm. 

Settling in, Jon took a sip from his tea and prepared to remain awake for the rest of the night.

—--------------

Dawn came a few hours later. Jon’s cup had sadly been devoid of tea for a while now and the fire he had lit and kept alive during the coldest hours of night had begun to diminish.

The cool, fresh air of a new day creeped into the shallow cave and the light of a new day broke through the storm that had been raging outside. 

Jon had kept an eye on the Mando’s vitals throughout the duration of night and had been pleased to find that they were stable. It was a good sign.

Getting up, Jon moved to the fire and fed it the last of the logs and twigs he had gathered and ensured it wouldn’t go out. Then Jon moved out of the cave and into the snowy forest. The trees had protected them from the majority of the snow but traversing the forest was slightly harder than it had been before.

Getting fresh water, Jon found some ingredients he could use for a light broth and washed them in the cold river before putting them in a pot and filling it up with water.

When he returned to the cave, the Mando’s eyes were open, peering at Jon’s looming figure. While the Mando was taller and broader than Jon was, they were both aware that in their current circumstances, the Mando was at Jon’s mercy.

Hazel eyes peered at Jon with suspicion but due to weariness and their injuries, the Mando couldn’t do much more than glare at Jon. 

Keeping his hood over his head, Jon moved into the cave and brushed the snow off his robes before it could completely melt– he would hate to have his robes soaked. He started preparing a broth, aware that the Mando was watching every move he made like a hawk. 

Jon moved to prepare the broth and some herbal tea and let the two pots heat up while he started gathering the supplies for the paste that would help heal the blaster bolt burns.

The Mando remained stoically quiet. Jon wondered if they thought Jon would be bothered by it when in actuality, Jon preferred it over speaking.

The paste was done before either the tea or the broth, meaning Jon would need to see to the Mando’s injuries again. 

Like expected, a wave of discomfort with a lot of anger and a hint of fear hit Jon’s walls when he stood and headed to the Mando’s side of the fire.

He moved to assess the injuries, getting close to the Mandalorian who seemed to have found enough strength to catch Jon’s wrist before it could grab onto the blanket and remove it.

“Who are you?” He demanded. Voice low and growly– it sounded like it hurt to speak. “Where are we?”

Jon’s voice was quiet, raw from lack of use when he replied, “Same planet.” He tried to clear his throat a little but it didn’t help much. “I need to see your injury, Mandalorian.”

Suspicion filled those hazel coloured eyes again.

A moment passed and Jon was pried his wrist free from the surprisingly sturdy grip, “If I wanted you dead, I would not have gone through the trouble of saving you from an ion cannon.” 

That seemed to confuse the Mando– as if they hadn’t thought about it like that up until Jon brought it up.

It did gain Jon the unspoken permission to continue what he was doing. Jon had reset the broken bones earlier and was glad for it now because if he had to do that with the Mando conscious he didn’t know how to deal with it.

Other beings were always complicated. Jon didn’t spend a lot of time around others all that often. Unless he was on a mission where he needed to, he spent most of his days going where the Force called him to. Looking at the injuries, Jon applied the paste to the burns and checked on the severity of the bruises and the injured leg before bandaging some of the injuries and draping the blanket back over the Mando.

“...Why?” The Mando croaked.

“Your part in the Galaxy is not quite done.” Jon replied honestly. 

The Force wrapped around this Mando– Jon was not gifted to see shatterpoints, but he was pretty sure the man carried quite a few with him.

Turning to the fire, Jon tended to the fire as well as the broth and the tea he was brewing and looked at the Mando from the corner of his eyes.

The Mando was unapologetically staring at Jon. A bunch of complex feelings surrounded him and a large amount of disbelief hung around them. This is exactly why Jon refused to speak about what he did. 

Others never seemed to believe him and it was honestly a bit upsetting at times. Often, they would ask for more information, an explanation– but Jon was not the talking type. He didn’t always know how to express what he did or what he felt and usually just answered in a way others expected him to. It was rather difficult to explain something that came so naturally to him and unlike other Jedi, Jon lacked the skill to make others understand him.

Silence was good. It was less complicated and didn’t require energy. 

Jon had been raised with mostly silence and was used to communicating through the Force. The Dark Woman didn’t like explaining either.

When the broth was done, Jon poured it in one of the two cups he carried with him and headed back to the Mando. “Can you sit?”

“ Elek , I think so.” 

With a bit of Jon’s help, they got the Mando seated and leaning against the back of the cave. Jon’s blanket wrapped around their broad shoulders as they accepted the bowl.

“Eat slow.” Jon warned.

Jon got his own broth and took a bite. It wasn’t particularly good. Jon was never the best cook but it was nutritious and edible and that was the only requirement in Jon’s book. He did what he could with what he had.

At least his tea did taste good. This blend of herbs worked well together. 

The Mando didn’t seem to agree. He ate the food but when he took a sip from the tea he scrunched his nose up. Jon was a little amused by it because despite what some of his acquaintances claimed, he did have a sense of taste and he knew the food was worse than the tea. Turning his head away to hide a small smile the Mando couldn’t even see in the first place because of his hood, Jon let a small snort slip.

“Something funny, Jetii ?”

Jon shook his head and continued to drink his tea.

The Mando grumbled, then slumped. “I need to call my Aliit .”

“You’re comlink broke.” Jon replied, “I don’t carry one. Once you are healed a bit more, I will take you to your home.”

“I can’t wait that long.” The Mando tried to get up but his knee wouldn’t bend and frankly, he was too tired to do so on his own. The Mando fell back and groaned in pain.

“You won’t make it far. There are still those allied with the ones that tried to kill you and you are in no state to fight… or even walk for that matter. It will take a few days before I can get you out of here.” Jon offered, “Try to get some rest. The more you rest, the faster you heal.”

“My ad needs me! They’re here, on this planet!” The Mando looked distraught. 

“You’re lucky to be alive and not out of the danger zone yet. Stop moving before you reopen your injury.” Jon warned. “Sleep to gather your strength, Mandalorian.”

The Mando knew it too. The small outburst seemed to have drained all of their energy as they laid back down with some difficulty. 

“Jaster.” They muttered.

Jon frowned, “...Sorry?”

“Jaster Mereel. I am Jaster Mereel.”

Oh.

“Jon Antilles.” Jon replied.

—----------

Some Temple-dwelling Jedi: Yeah so you travel right? Get a lot of missions from the Council then?

Jon: I go where the Force leads me.

Temple-dweller: *Laughs in Jon’s face* (≧ヮ≦)

Jon: *Having been completely serious and kind of offended at being laughed at* I am never visiting Coruscant again. (·•᷄∩•᷅)

Jon: *Rushing to wherever the Force needed him* 三三ᕕ( ⌓̈ )ᕗ

Some Mando about to be killed: Is that a kriffing Jetii? (˶°ㅁ°)!!

Jon: This injury is very troubling and needs healing. 

Jon: *Proceeds to use a Force aided healing technique that he uses regularly but hurts more than any other because his Master was a bitch and never taught him a form of healing that didn’t hurt.*

Jon: *As the Mando yells out in pain* Sorry, friend, I have little healing skills.