Non-canon. I don't own Star Wars Rebels; Disney does. In this story, Ezra meets the Ghost crew when he is 11, not 14.
...
Ezra hated today. He really did. Why? It was Empire Day. Empire Day always reminded him that he had spent yet another year on the streets without anyone to celebrate his birthday with.
Ezra slowly opened his eyes as he woke up to the sunrise from his tower. The rays entered and illuminated his small room from the glass windows.
"Happy birthday to me," Ezra mumbled to himself, rather dismayed. "That makes four years without seeing my parents," Ezra again reminded himself as he began to get up from his makeshift bed of wood on the floor. Tears began falling from his eyes.
He reached for the small, sharpened twig by his bedside, and used it to carve another small tally mark upon the wall his makeshift bed was next to. The wall was completely covered in tally marks, marking every single day he had been alone for the past four years.
"I hate today," Ezra again mumbled to himself. He stood up to get his breakfast (which were the last two chips that remained in the chip bag he had been eating from for a month). As soon as he straightened up, however, his head spun and he plumped right back down on his bed.
"Kriff," Ezra said. "On my eleventh birthday, I wake up with a darn cold. Must be the change of seasons," Ezra reasoned. It was slowly merging into the chilly autumn weather instead of the warm summer weather.
He got up more slowly as he reached for the chip bag. He ate the last two chips, before he went into a coughing fit.
"Also must've been the stress and anxiety adding up for the past week," Ezra thought. He had been so nervous for the past week or so, knowing that his birthday was coming soon. Every year Ezra always got nervous as he anticipated his birthday.
"Aw man, I have to go pickpocket someone for some money if I'm going to want to have dinner tonight." Ezra again mumbled, dismayed. He wasn't feeling too well to have to go pickpocketing today.
He usually skipped lunch for lack of food, and his breakfast and dinners usually consisted of something extremely small and cheap. An average meal that was supposed to be eaten in one sitting would last Ezra at least two weeks.
Ezra got up once more from his makeshift bed, and as another dizzy spell wavered him, along with an added feeling of nausea, he shook it off and made his way out of his tower.
...
Ezra sat on the roof of one of the many buildings in Lothal's Central City. He had already been there for the past half-hour, quietly observing the citizens. He usually did this before pickpocketing, trying to figure out who would be the best to take a few credits from.
However, Ezra knew that the people he stole from also needed their money. So, every time Ezra would pickpocket someone, he would take the smallest amount of money possible.
Ezra was just about to leave to another area, when something caught his eye.
Two stormtroopers began beating a vendor because he was selling small handmade wooden sculptures without a permit. The stormtroopers took the poor man's money, turned over his small table with the masterpieces, and were stepping on the wooden carvings, breaking them.
The poor old man was crying out, "Please! Please, don't do this! I have a wife and a daughter to feed, and this is the only way I can make some money!"
Ezra then felt something strange but warm in the back of his mind, almost as if someone or something was approaching. Ezra simply brushed it away. He didn't have time to worry about something that wasn't important.
Ezra looked at the poor man with sympathy. Ezra then realized, if he helped the man, he could bother imperials and maybe make one or two credits! Perfect!
Ezra was just about to slowly climb down from the roof, when he got that strange, warm feeling in the back of his mind again. This time, though, he knew exactly where it was coming from.
Ezra crossed to the other side of the roof, and when he looked down, he saw a tall man with long brown hair tied back into a low ponytail. He was wearing green clothes, and had armor that made him look like some sort of bounty hunter. He also had a blaster strapped to his right leg.
The strange feeling was coming from this man.
Ezra suddenly 'felt' that the man was going to turn around and look at him, but just before he did so, Ezra ducked back so the man could not see him.
Ezra then peeked out again, only to see the man signaling someone. As Ezra looked towards where the man was signaling, he saw a woman with colorful Mandalorian armor. Ezra could not tell her age, however, because she was wearing a helmet. The woman then signaled off to another direction, this time on the other side of where the troopers were harassing the poor man.
Ezra crossed to the other side of the roof, and saw a tall, large, strong purple humanoid signal back. Ezra recognized this humanoid to be a Lasat.
Ezra then realized that these three people were going to help the man. Ezra felt proud, but also dismayed, because he still needed a few credits.
Suddenly another dizzy wave hit Ezra, this time strong enough to make him fall on his back. He kept his eyes closed for a few moments, trying to shake off the sudden dizziness and nausea. "Man," Ezra thought, "This cold must be worse than I thought. It might be worse than just a cold."
Ezra, however, knew that he still needed to eat, so he got up and shook off his dizziness.
Ezra suddenly felt the need to sneeze, but he knew that if he sneezed he would give up his position. Ezra tried to stifle his sneeze, only to get a feeling in his throat that he needed to cough. Knowing that Ezra couldn't hold it in, he leapt off the roof, onto another roof, and did so until he was about ten roofs away from the scene he used to be at. There, the worst yet wave of dizziness hit him, and he collapsed onto the ground. He let his sneeze come out at the same time as his cough, and was shocked and surprised when he saw what came from his throat. Blood.
"Kriff!" Ezra said to himself, "It's worse than I thought."
Ezra then heard blasters being fired. He knew that he needed to make it back to the scene if he was going to help and make a few credits out of it.
Ezra stood up from the position he was lying in, and leapt back over the ten or so houses, only to see the three strange Specters closing in on the two troopers, exchanging shots. The poor man had moved behind a building to protect himself from the crossfire. However, Ezra had been on the streets long enough to know something wasn't right. When troopers were messing with citizens, there would usually be three, not two.
Ezra looked around, and immediately spotted the third. The trooper was sneaking up behind the Mandalorian girl, aiming his blaster at her. She was too focused shooting at the other two troopers to notice him. Ezra then jumped down from the roof he was on and landed right on the trooper. Ezra punched the trooper until he went unconscious. Ezra got up and stumbled because he was dizzy, and didn't even notice that the girl was looking at him.
"Hey kid, you okay? You look like you're dizzy. Thanks for the save though," said the mysterious girl through her helmet.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Ezra replied. He then climbed back up to the roof he was on, leaving the Mandalorian staring after him.
Suddenly, the shots ceased, and Ezra went to observe the scene.
The troopers had been shot, and the three Specters were helping the man gather his small belongings. The Lasat reached into a small sack one of the troopers had tied onto his waist, and pulled out a few credits.
"Hey, these are yours right?" The Lasat said in a gruffy tone to the poor man, who was also gathering a few of his belongings.
"Yes, thank you so much," the man replied. "Thank you for helping me. I do not even know you and you guys just saved my life. Not only mine, but also my wife's and daughter's," the man said. "I cannot thank you enough. How can I ever repay you?"
"Don't worry about it," said the man in green. "We help those in need that the Empire likes to bother. It's kind of what we do."
Ezra felt slightly overjoyed at realizing he had just helped people who liked to stick it to the Empire, just like his parents had used to. A single tear slipped from his eyes, as he remembered again today was his birthday and the thought of his parents made him sad.
"Wow, thank you so much again," the man replied.
"No problem," said the Lasat, handing the man back his credits.
Ezra then snapped back into reality, brushing away the thought of his parents. He realized that he still needed to get some money.
Just as the Lasat was dropping the credits into the man's hand, Ezra jumped off the roof and snatched three credits before the man got them.
"Hey!" Both the man and Lasat exclaimed at the same time.
Ezra felt bad about taking it, but he had to.
"I'm so sorry, but I kind of want to survive," Ezra said. And with that, he sprinted away.
"After him!" The man in green said.
...
Ezra had sprinted for about half a mile, before he reached one of his favorite snack bars. Ezra felt extremely dizzy after running so much that he placed a hand on the wall to steady himself.
"Hey kid, you okay?" The woman at the cash register asked. "You look like you just ran a mile," she said.
"I-I'm fine," Ezra replied, his voice a little shaky from breathing and coughing a lot while running.
Ezra immediately went to find what would be his meal for the next two weeks. He decided on a loaf of bread and the cheapest bottle of water he usually got.
"Next time you're sick, Ezra, cut yourself some slack and go dumpster diving at Old Jho's instead of pickpocketing," Ezra thought to himself as he made his way to the cash register to pay. "You know Old Jho doesn't mind," he thought as another dizzy wave of nausea overcame him.
"That will be $2.97," the woman at the register said.
Ezra handed her the credits and said, "Keep the change."
The woman looked at the poor, skinny child standing before her, and out of the kindness of her heart, reached behind the counter and put a chocolate bar into the bag of food without the kid noticing.
"Thank you, and have a great day!" The woman said as she watched Ezra leave the door.
...
Ezra was making his way back to his tower, smiling to himself after realizing the woman had given him an extra bar of chocolate. The woman had always been there when Ezra would buy a few things, so she kind of knew his situation and would help him every now and then. Last time he was there, she had given him a small pack of almonds.
As Ezra walked, his mind dwelled on his parents. It was his eleventh birthday after all, and the thought of another whole year without them burdened his heart. Tears began falling from his eyes, when he suddenly felt the strange, warm feeling at the back of his mind again.
Ezra could almost sense the man in green as he came up behind him. Before the man could grab him though, Ezra burst into a sprint.
The man, not expecting this sudden speed increase from the boy he was trying to catch, gave Ezra a small bit of a head start in the chase.
The man in green began closing the gap between the two, but not because Ezra was slow. Ezra knew he could easily outrun this man, but black spots were clouding his vision and his head began to spin from his sudden bolt.
"Kid, stop! I don't want to hurt you! I just want to know why you took those credits!" The man in green yelled.
Ezra, however, did not feel like explaining his situation to this stranger. Ezra tried to increase his speed, only to see more black spots filling his vision. He knew he needed to get somewhere safe; if not, he would pass out. Ezra turned into an alley way. He was too distracted by his dizziness that he didn't notice a small dent in the ground. He stumbled in the dip, and his leg landed in an awkward position.
"Aghghghhh!" Ezra screamed. The pain was intense, but Ezra knew he needed to get away from the man in green. Ezra got up, only to stumble back down with a whimper. He dropped his bag of food and took off, ignoring the terrible pain in his leg.
As he limped away, the man in green caught up to him, barely.
"Kid! Are you okay? I only want to talk to you!" The man said.
"No!" Ezra shouted back, tears now falling from his eyes because of the pain. With a last effort, Ezra climbed up a wall in the alley using the pipes attached to the wall.
"This day has gone absolutely terrible," Ezra thought to himself in between sobs as he made it onto the roof.
Finally, the pain, grief, nausea, and dizziness became too much for him. The black spots filled his vision completely, and Ezra felt himself collapse onto the cold roof.
The last think he remembered was the man in green rushing up to him shouting, "Kid! KID! Are you okay? Please answer me!"
Ezra then gave one final sob before everything went black.
...
Author's note: Hope you guys liked it! Second chapter should be up soon! I love reading FanFictions and now decided to write one :) This is my first fanfic and I can't wait to start writing more! Please don't give up on my story if I don't update too much... I get really busy with school stuff. Anyway, the next chapter should be good! Enjoy!