AN: Hey all it's sheepishshipper with a one-shot for a new fandom, Star Wars Rebels! Being the child that I am, I absolutely love this show and the characters, so I wanted to try my hand at it. I've got another longer on in the works, and yet another for a different fandom that I need to through and edit. Anyway, please enjoy, and constructive criticism always accepted!
EDIT: Someone let me know that Ezra's lightsaber was canonically blue and at first I wasn't going to bother but it bugged me so I decided to fix it. Also the new episode came out and confirmed it so meh. I didn't change anything else, just added line breaks were I forgot to.
Ezra jumps back, breathing heavily, a grin on his face as he holds the wooden stick in both hands carefully, adapting the defensive stance he'd been taught. Kanan does the same, also grinning crookedly with rapid breath, and slides his right foot forward, raising his right hand and pulling his left arm back, which held a wooden stick of his own. Kanan had picked them up when they'd visited a forest planet a while back for training purposes, and despite the fact that the rest of the crew, excluding Hera (who simply found it endearing), thought it was hilarious to see the two of them going at it with tree branches, it had helped Ezra improve exponentially. And although Kanan refused to admit it, he'd improved quite a bit himself, falling back into the rhythm of swinging a blade around as his old training began to resurface. The two of them are kicking up dust on the surface of Lothal outside of the Ghost.
"You've definitely been practicing. Maybe I'll let you start doing more with the real thing." Kanan's tone is half-teasing as he pants for breath, and he's surprised when the grin slowly leaves Ezra's face, and the padawan slowly lowers the wooden branch, staring at it. Kanan lowers his as well, giving the youngling a questioning look. "What's up, kid?" Ezra glances up at him, before examining the branch in his hands again, a hesitant look in his eyes. Kanan crosses his arms, and Ezra suppresses a chuckle at how ridiculous it looks with the wooden branch in one of his hands sticking downward awkwardly. He looks up again, seemingly deciding to ask despite his hesitance.
"Hey Kanan… and I'm really not trying to be impatient or rush into things… but when will I get one of my own?" His tone is unusually quiet, serious, and wary almost, and Kanan knows the boy is only curious, that he isn't in a hurry, he just wants to know. Ezra expects the typical answer, "Having a laser blade doesn't make you a Jedi," and then a change of subject, but it's to upmost his surprise when Kanan just sighs and walks over to the ramp of the Ghost, dropping the wooden stick next to himself before sitting. Ezra follows suit, settling beside his teacher and waiting for him to speak.
"To be honest, a typical padawan would have probably already received their lightsaber a while ago." Kanan says at last, tone displeased.
"Oh." Ezra drops head onto his knees, staring out into the field as a sense of hurt and incompetence fills him, and Kanan sighs again.
"It's not like that, Ezra. I would've taken you to make yours long before now if I could've." Ezra looks at him, confused.
"If you could of?" He prods, and Kanan makes an irritated noise, before releasing the feeling of frustration in a final sigh as he looks at his padawan.
"Normally, by now you would have already attended The Gathering, a Jedi tradition in which younglings gather their lightsaber crystal on a planet called Ilum." Kanan lets out a chuckle. "Actually, considering the temperature of your home planet Lothal, I doubt you would have enjoyed that frozen rock. That planet pretty much begins and ends with the word ice." His tone becomes serious again. "Ilum is the only place I know of where you could find lightsaber crystals, and it's under heavy security by the empire. The rest of the materials would probably be difficult to find, but at least possible with some scavenging, but the crystal-" He stops suddenly, and Ezra gives him a curious look.
"What?" Kanan is silent for a moment, thinking hard, before there's a slight glimmer of excitement in his eyes as he turns to his padawan with a grin.
"Ilum isn't the only place. You ever heard of Dantooine?" Ezra shakes his head, and Kanan's grin widens slightly. "Well, it's a planet here in the outer rim, and although it was a while back when I heard this, when the Clone Wars were still going, I'm pretty sure there's a place called the "Crystal Cave" where lightsaber crystals grow naturally like on Ilum. That planet doesn't have nearly the amount of imperial presence Ilum has." Ezra's eyes widen as Kanan speaks.
"You mean...?" He trails off, not wanting to get ahead of himself, but Kanan just claps a hand onto his shoulder.
"Ezra, I think it's time you got your own lightsaber."
"Are we there yet?" It's probably the fifth time Hera's heard it in the last ten minutes, but she simply smiles in response.
"Unfortunately, the answer remains the same as the last four times honey." Hera voice is calmly amused, no hint of irritation, and Ezra groans, collapsing back in the co-pilot chair.
"Can't this burner fly any faster?" Ezra asks, tone impatient, and Hera just grins in response.
"Hey, don't dis the ship just because you're impatient." Ezra sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, you're right, sorry."
"Don't apologize to me." She says pointedly, still smiling, and Ezra rolls his eyes.
"Sorry, Ghost." He pats the consul for emphasis, and Hera laughs.
"Thank you." They smile at each other for a moment, before Ezra says,
"But seriously, how much longer? We've been flying forever."
"We've been flying thirty minutes." She corrects, but starts flipping switches and tapping at the consul. "And we're about to arrive. Why don't you go get Kanan?" Ezra's eyes light up, and he shoots up from his seat.
"Alright!"
"Oh, and Ezra?" He stops, glancing back. "Try not overwhelm him with your enthusiasm." Ezra lets out a small, self-conscious laugh, while his hand goes to the back of his neck once more.
"Okay." His tone is calmer, albeit forced.
Kanan is meditating when he senses his padawan heading towards his room, the excitement and impatience oozing off his signature, and the corner of his lip quirks up in a smile as the boy tries to repress it without much success. The knock comes on his door a few seconds later.
"Come in." Ezra pokes his head in, and Kanan opens his eyes.
"Hera said we're about to arrive." His padawan's tone is carful and measured, and Kanan suppresses a laugh as he stands, grinning at his student.
"Did Hera say something about being "too enthusiastic" too?" Ezra ducks his head a little and Kanan laughs. "Don't worry kid, I was pretty excited to get mine too." He says, a wave of nostalgia washing over him at the memory, and Ezra's gaze lights up with fresh excitement.
Kanan thinks the kid is forcing himself not to bounce as they head to the cockpit, and he huffs a laugh out of his nose as the two of them join Zeb, Sabine, and Hera. The planet lays before them in space, and Hera carefully guides the Ghost down to the surface, setting down in an open field.
Hera had mentioned something about meeting a contact- she had them everywhere-, and she needed the Phantom to get there because it was halfway across the planet, and flying in on the Ghost was too inconspicuous, which left Kanan and Ezra with the land speeders.
"So, where're we headed?" Kanan simply grins at his padawan in response.
"No clue." Ezra gives him an incredulous look.
"So what're we supposed to do, wander around planet side looking holes filled with crystals?"
"I have a better idea." Kanan folds his arms, and Ezra feels a familiar sinking feeling. "Lightsaber crystals resonate with the force, so we should be able to sense them." Ezra's eyes light up.
"That's not so bad, so we just have to "sense them" or whatever?" It didn't seem like that difficult of a task, but when Kanan's grin widens, he knows he missed out on some essential part.
"No, you have to sense them. I'll be sitting this one out."
"What?! But it could take-"
"Ezra." Kanan interrupts him, tone serious. "This is your trial, not mine. You have to be the one to find it." Ezra stares at him for a moment, doubtful, before sighing in defeat.
"I guess." He says in reply, and Kanan grins at him.
"Alright then, you'd better get to work." He leans against one of the speeders, and watches as his padawan grudgingly gets on his knees, resting his hands on thighs. Kanan almost speaks, falling into the usual habit of guiding Ezra through meditation, but he stops. 'This is Ezra's trial,' Kanan reminds himself, keeping his mouth shut. 'He needs to do it himself.'
Ezra expects Kanan to start speaking, but when only silence ensues, the message clicks pretty quickly, and he inhales slowly, exhaling even more so, concentrating on the force around him. He realizes quickly that while Kanan was keeping his vow of silence, he was still there for support, a comforting presence in the corner of his mind, although Ezra would never admit to being grateful for it. A thought comes to mind, and he opens his eyes before the meditation had the chance to start.
"What am I looking for?" Kanan simply smiles.
"Trust me, you'll know it when you find it." Ezra frowns, the answer not narrowing down the field whatsoever, but closed his eyes. He had the feeling Kanan wouldn't tell him anymore than that anyway. The force flows around him, and he breathes out slowly again as he follows the current, expanding his focus in search of something. Excitement from earlier had vanished, a distraction, and a steely calm replaced it as he wandered, reaching out further in search.
It's like a beacon, that same feeling that had led him to the holocron and lightsaber on the ship, guiding him to it, telling him where to go. It leads him further, until a picture, no, a place, forms in his mind, and his eyes open slowly. He tips his gaze up to his master, a grin curling on his lips as Kanan raises an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
"Found it."
They'd been traveling for a while, and Kanan still had not a clue where they were supposed to be headed. Whatever Ezra had sensed he couldn't pick up on at all, which meant he was left completely in the dark, destination wise. Still, he had the utmost faith in his student, and was positive Ezra had found what he was looking for.
After a while, they came up to face a low cliff. The force hummed around them, and Kanan knew Ezra had found the caves.
"Good job, kid."` Ezra simply grins in response.
"Let's go."
The entrance is hidden well, tucked low in a corner, hidden by the long grasses of the plains and underbrush, two large rocks standing like sentries the only markers. As they get closer, Kanan places a hand on Ezra's shoulder, stopping him in his path. The younger boy looks up, curious, and Kanan has his gaze on the cave entrance.
"Ezra." Kanan's tone is serious, and Ezra's excitement is tampered down. "We need to be cautious. Our safety isn't guaranteed here like it was on Ilum," he pauses at the thought, "to a certain extent anyway. We have no idea what could be in those caves, especially with how different the force signature is here." Ezra gives him a confused look.
"Different? From what?" Another pause as the older Jedi tries to collect his thoughts.
"Ilum. The caves on Ilum are…" Kanan tried to find the right words. "It's like, the way the force feels there is different. You can tell it's a place of the Jedi, a place of the Light Side of the force. And while the trails there could be dangerous, somehow you knew you wouldn't get hurt. But here…" He trails off again, in search of words.
"It's different?" Ezra half-jokes, and Kanan rolls his eyes, before a thought comes to Ezra's mind. "It's not a place of the Dark Side is it?" The Inquisitor- in particular, the red blade of his- comes to mind, and apprehension tinged with fear replaces curiosity and enthusiasm. Kanan shakes his head quickly.
"That's not it. It's more like this place is… neutral." Satisfied with the word, Kanan gives a small nod.
"Neutral?"
"Yeah. Neither the Dark nor the Light has sway over this place. It's simply strong in the force, not in a particular side. And because of that, there could be dangerous things down there." Ezra nods, before grinning.
"Well, then I guess we'll just have to be careful." Kanan rolls his eyes again with a sigh, but he's grinning too.
"Got that right, kid." Kanan goes first, hand hovering over his blaster, with Ezra following close behind. The cave is long, wide but shallow, the ceiling nearly touching Kanan's head when he stands up straight. There are no crystals near the entrance, and it winds away into darkness. After a moment of consideration, blue sparks, and the laser blade ignites with a hum, illuminating the hall with dim light. They walk in silence as the force grows stronger, and Kanan moves the lightsaber slowly, throwing light into the corners. Eventually, there's another dim light down the hall, and Kanan deactivates the saber in a rush, putting out a hand behind him towards Ezra to tell him to stop. They move quietly through the dark, and emerge in a larger cave, clumps of crystal glowing softly throughout the, spewing color into the otherwise dark space.
Ezra is awestruck at the sight, he'd never seen anything like it before.
"Whoa…"
Kanan is rather amazed too. The caves on Ilum had been composed of mostly ice, crystals rare and far between, and the caves had been dark. But here, there were crystals everywhere, emitting a dim glow in clumps, negating the need for any light source. Kanan looks around, wonder taking its hold on him too. He shakes himself from his reverie, realizing that his guard has been dropped, and raises it once more, placing a hand on Ezra's shoulder to break his trance.
"Com'on, we should get going." He says, pulling his hand back as he steps to move forward, and Ezra asks,
"How am I supposed to know where to start?" Kanan pauses, glancing back.
"Well, how'd you find this place?"
"Right, "sense it", but it's difficult with the strength of this place interfering." Kanan had already figured that out, the feeling of going in blind getting under his skin when he realized how hard it would be to sense something moving down there, and he grins at his padawan.
"Well I guess you'd better focus then." The comment earns him a glare, but Ezra closes his eyes. He stays like that for quite a while, and the older Jedi starts to get antsy; the longer they were in the caves, the more he had the feeling that something was wrong. And a Jedi knew better than to doubt his instincts.
Ezra can feel the slight anxiety coming from his master, and he pushes it away with a flippant thought of 'If he won't help me, then he's stuck here,' as he reaches out through the viscous force, the strength of it making it difficult to search for one particular thing. As he searches, he almost misses the faint tug, and backtracks instantly, hoping it wasn't just imagination. As he moves forward, the tugging is stronger, and his eyes snap open. Kanan has his head turned, eyebrows furrowed in a particular direction, and he almost jumps when Ezra speaks.
"This way!" The boy takes off, and Kanan calls out,
"Ezra, wait!" With a groan of frustration, he follows his student, throwing a glance back in the direction he'd been staring.
Ezra is positive, he knows he's found it. Excitement thrills through his veins, and he can almost picture it, the child that he is. So, he isn't paying any attention to his surroundings, simply following the path that his mind has tracked for him, twisting around corners and almost running into walls, and it's no surprise he almost misses Kanan's call, and completely misses the reason for it.
"EZRA, GET DOWN!" Instinct drops him to the floor just a mere half second before something sharp pierces the air where he had previously been. He follows the weapon back to a creature on four legs twice Kanan's height, with fifth leg that was longer and used like something more akin to an arm, the end of which tapered off into a sharp, bony point. In the dim light of the caves it looked a mucky yellow, and hissed at him as it pulled its arm back, unveiling rows of jagged teeth. The "arm" moves again, stabbing downward, and Ezra rolls out of the way, jumping to his feet. Kanan shot at it a few times, more to grab its attention than to do anything else, and charges forward with his lightsaber in hand. The creature flinches back at the blue blade, but doesn't retreat, instead hissing once more, and Kanan moved to stand in front of Ezra.
"Back up, slowly." They step back in slow, fluid movements, crawling towards the cavern Ezra had been leading them too, and the creature stays put, crouching low and hissing at random intervals.
"Uh, Kanan?"
"What?" His tone is quiet, gaze focused on the beast that he couldn't manage to connect with through the force, instead trying not to break whatever trance the laser blade had put it in.
"What now?" Kanan glances back, only to find a far drop to the ground below, that opened up into another cavern of glowing crystals and spindling caves.
"We jump." He says, like it's the easiest thing in the world, and Ezra gives him an incredulous look.
"Uh, yeah, that drops gotta be more than a hundred meters, are you kidding me?" Kanan grins, swaying the lightsaber ever so slowly, and watching as the creature moved with it.
"Nope." He holds the saber in one hand, grabbing Ezra's shoulder with the other, and pulling him forward, transferring the saber into the younger boy's hands.
"Wha-?"
"Whatever you do; Don't. Move." His voice is stern, serious, and Ezra stiffens.
"What are you going to do?" Ezra doesn't turn his head, wary of even tipping the lightsaber a millimeter.
"You'll see." The grin is in his voice, and Kanan turns to the cliff face, inhaling deeply before jumping.
Ezra glances back, only to find no one there. His eyes widen with shock, and he turns around, lowering the blade. He remembers to late why he had it in the first place. The beast roars loudly, the sound echoing down the cavern, and Kanan's call comes as the creature charges.
"Ezra, jump!"
"No way!" He yells back, panic edging in as the creature nears and he raises the blade. "I don't know how!" The response is short, brief, and the creatures upon him, Ezra using instinct and the small amount of training with the blade he had to defend himself, ducking a swipe from the arm, and swing the blade recklessly in return, which is easily dodged by his target.
"Just trust me!" The words ring around him, and Ezra swallows, before deactivating the saber and pulling at the force around him, sending a blast that has the creature reeling back.
"Alright!" And then he jumps, holding his breath as adrenaline tries to force a scream from his lungs.
Kanan puts his hands up, concentrating, and grabs the force around his padawan, slowing his decent to a stop a few inches from the floor before letting him go again, and Ezra drops with a huff as Kanan aims his blaster at the top of the cliff. The creature stares for a moment, and Kanan doesn't know how, he can't see the movement, but it feels as though the creature dips its head, job finished, before slipping into the shadows. He holsters his blaster, kneeling next to Ezra.
"You okay?" The kid's breath is rapid, but he says,
"Well that was exhilarating." Kanan grins.
"I figured it wasn't the best time or place for a lesson in softening your fall."
"Thank the force for that." He mutters in response, and they both stand. Ezra snaps his head to the left, a familiar feeling twisting through the force. He walks over, kneeling down once more, and when Kanan turns his head to speak once more, he's surprised to find his padawan kneeling down, looking at something in his palm. Kanan walks over, before grinning and clapping a hand on his shoulder.
"Good job, kid. Now let's get out of here, before more of those things show up."
The ride back is relatively quiet, calm as darkness settles over the sky, and by the time they stow the speeders on the ship, Hera, Sabine, and Zeb have already returned with the Phantom. Hera is in the cockpit, prepping for take-off, and Zeb and Sabine are in their respective rooms when Kanan and Ezra board, the ramp pulling up behind them.
"So… what about the rest?" Ezra says once they're on board, and Kanan grins, ruffling his hair much to the younger boy's chagrin, before giving a small flip of his hand as he headed towards the cockpit.
"One step at a time, Ezra." He gives the retreating figure of Kanan a sour look at the words, before sighing and heading towards his room.
Its months before all of the pieces could be rounded up, some scavenged from old blasters, others at ancient temples that were scattered through the galaxy, abandoned and destroyed, but eventually, every needed piece is brought together. The final pieces –the plating on the saber itself- were found at home in old tech from the Ghost, things that had long been replaced.
When it's put together, an odd thought comes to mind as the brilliant crystal blue blade sparks to life with a buzz; Ezra thinks it's a lot like the lot of them, makeshift but powerful, and ready to fight back against a corrupt regime.
AN: The creature is a "Kinrath" btw if you wanted to see a picture you could Google it.