Author note: I do not own Star Wars Rebels. I'm just a guy who loves Star Wars and loves to write stories. Enjoy!
The Dark Art
"Hey Sabine, I'm going to grab something to eat, do you want something?" Ezra asked his Mandalorian partner as they walked up the ramp and into the Ghost. The teenage warrior simply shrugged and kept walking down the corridor until she reached her room. She quickly entered, locking the door behind her and collapsed on the bed inside. She waited until she heard the footsteps of the young rebel jedi thumping away down the hall before she removed her helmet. She knew Ezra was worried about her, but for now all she wanted was to be alone.
Sabine sat up on the edge of her bed and stared into the dark visor of the helmet in her hands. The helmet, like her armor, was filthy with dirt and blood from their mission. It was supposed to have been a routine mission. A simple plant the bomb on some weapon caches and get out. None of the rebels had known that a school on Lothal was conducting a field trip to the armory. None of the Imperials had noticed the three kids sneak away from their classmates when it was time to leave. No one noticed the three children hiding and giggling as the transports drove their classmates back to the school.
Sabine, Kannan, Ezra and Zeb had slipped silently into the armory. Ezra went about tapping into the Imperial com channels so they could have a heads up if anyone was spotted. Kannan and Zeb found good positions to provide covering fire if Sabine was spotted. In her usual fashion, Sabine slipped in unnoticed and began placing her toys.
Sabine had set the explosives on a timer because recently the Imperials had started wising up and putting signal jammers around some of their more valued assets. It wasn't until Sabine had placed her last explosive and slipped a safe distance away from the weapon crates that her helmet picked up movement by the explosives.
"Stupid Imperials better not be messing with my bombs." The Mandalorian groaned as she turned toward the where her sensors had picked up the movement.
For a moment, the girl's heart stopped as she saw two boys and a girl crouched down behind one of the crates set to explode.
"Kannan there's kids here!" She yelled into the comlink she shared with the other members of her team.
Sabine sprinted towards the kids yelling for them to run. Several Imperial storm troopers nearby opened fire on the Mandalorian. Ezra, Kannan and Zeb tried to lay down cover fire as Sabine sprinted between the firefight towards the bombs.
"Just a few more seconds….don't go off for a few seconds."
As she drew closer, one of the trooper's shots caught her in the shoulder and sent her sprawling across the ground. The clattering of her armor against the hard ground caused the children to turn and look at her from where they were cowering behind the crates.
Sabine had time to look up and for a moment and she locked eyes with the young girl. The girl gasped in fear at the sight of the fully armored Mandalorian before her. Too far away and knowing that time was out Sabine extended her hand towards the girl hoping that somehow she could drag her across the large distance between them. Before the Mandalorian could tell her to run the bomb exploded, vaporizing the three children in front of her and showering Sabine with debris.
Kannan and Ezra managed to fight their way to where she laid crumpled in the debris. They grabbed her while Zeb continued firing at the storm troopers to keep them pinned down. The team made their escape all but carrying Sabine away from the battle.
Back in her room, tears began to flow down Sabine's face as she sat on her bed reliving the nightmare over and over again. She stared at her helmet, "I'm the monster who did it." She muttered and flung the helmet across the room not even bothering to watch it clank off the wall and skid across the floor into a corner.
Suddenly the bright colors on all the walls felt out of place. They seemed to mock the young warrior asking her how such a monster could create something as beautiful as the art adorning the room.
Sabine grabbed her paint gun and went to work. She couldn't bring the kids back to life, but she could at least destroy this mockery of a room by repainting it.
Over an hour had passed before there was a small quiet knock at the door. Despite Ezra and Kannan's concerns and Zeb's awkward remorse over the mission, it was Herra who stood outside of Sabine's door. After hearing what had happened, the Twiliek pilot had quickly piloted their ship away from the system. After a few quick hyperspace jumps to cover their tracks Herra had told the rest of the crew to get some rest stating that she would check on Sabine.
When there was no answer, Herra punched in an override code and the door unlocked. The Twiliek pilot stepped inside and let out a small gasp. The room was almost completely black except for the far wall. On the far wall was the painting of three headstones atop a small hill. A large storm cloud brewed overhead with lightning bolts dancing angrily across the sky. There was a lone figure standing before the gravestones head in her hands.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry please don't hate me." A voice sobbed in the corner of the room. Herra broke away from the picture to find Sabine huddled in a corner crying into her knees that she had pulled tightly up against her.
Herra didn't know what to say. There was nothing really to say, so she closed the door and locked it and walked over and sat down next to the grief stricken girl. The ship's captain wrapped her arms around Sabine and held her tightly as the young warrior sobbed into the Twiliek's chest.
After several moments, Herra realized that Sabine was still wearing all of her armor except for her helmet.
"Here Sabine, let's get this armor off and get you cleaned up."
Sabine didn't respond until Herra undid the first snap on the chest piece of armor. As the armor loosened, Sabine let out a hiss of pain as the armor pulled away from where the blaster bolt had hit her in the shoulder.
"What's wrong Sabine? Where does it hurt?" Herra asked frantically removing the rest of the armor.
Sabine, sitting in the black body suit she had worn under her armor and pointed towards her shoulder. "The armor took the hit, I just have a hell of a bruise I'm sure."
Herra made a note to rip the rest of her crew a new one for not mentioning that their bomb expert had been shot. Biting back on her frustration, Herra pulled the body suit down revealing the top of Sabine's shoulder. There was a nasty bruise forming. It would be several days before the girl would be able to move around without a lot of discomfort; but it wasn't the physical wounds that worried the pilot.
"Sabine; you know it's not your fault right?"
The wounded girl looked at Herra with grief stricken brown eyes.
"It's all my fault Herra. It was my bomb that exploded and killed those kids. It wasn't an accident Herra, the bomb went off exactly when I set it to. I killed three kids Herra. I'm…I'm a murderer….I'm a monster."
Herra grabbed a blanket off of Sabine's bed and wrapped it around the traumatized warrior. Herra wrapped her arms around Sabine and held her tightly.
"We are at war love. We didn't know the kids would be there. If we had we wouldn't have run our mission today. Those weapons we blew up were going to be used to kill hundreds, you saved lives today Sabine."
"It sure doesn't feel like it." Sabine sobbed as she let her head rest against Herra's shoulder. Sabine closed her eyes as the exhaustion set in. After several moments, Herra could feel the steady breathing of the human girl's sleeping form gently rising and falling next to her.
Herra carefully moved the exhausted girl to her bed and slowly walked to the door. "I know your art with explosives feels dark right now, but you are a good person with a gift that will help thousands."
The pilot shut the door and slowly walked towards the cockpit.