-Blameless-
Peace is a lie, There is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken, the Force shall free me.
On and on, the time passes by, reciting, meditating, embracing the dark side. Closer and closer he gets to his destination, but not close enough-!
"Ezra! It's time for Jedi training!" He sighs. "Closer than last time I guess..." It's almost like it took all the young boy's strength to pick himself up from his meditative stance.
He sluggishly walks through the corridor as the faces of all the crew members stare at him with guilt, worry, longing, pity. He's seen it all too much. "I don't deserve your pity! Look at what I did! I ruined your crew! You should've just left me on the streets where I belong…"
He drags his hand across the wall...gray...black...all the dull colors. Hmph. Seems to fit the tone of his soul…
He finally reaches his Master. He's been dreading this moment since the day he first meditated on the dark side. "Alright give it up already, you know you can't hide the fact that you're sulking and drowning in your own guilt. Why won't you just let us help you?"
His Master really tried to get through to the young boy, but for someone who's as stubborn as him it's quite the task. "I don't deserve your help...all I did was cause trouble, pain, heartache, loss. Who would want someone like me? All I do is ruin people's lives! That's why my parents left me, that's why Ahsoka died. She couldn't even stand the fact that I was so stupid to trust Maul…"
There it was again. The fingers twitching, the shifting eyes, looking for all areas of escape. He wasn't used to this. "People don't care. They never do, I've given them no reason to. So why does he care?! I wish he'd just drop the act! No one can ever be so caring without needing something in return!"
"Hey hey hey, stop. Look at me. Don't run. You don't need to anymore. Look around you, what do you see?" He stopped. "What are you getting at? Is this another one of your Jedi riddles? All I see is the Ghost, the crew and the wildlife."
His master smiled, "Exactly, everything is in it's place, right where it belongs. And it doesn't plan on leaving any time soon, so why should you? Ezra we all love you no matter what, nothing can change that you got it?" His Master took the young boy's chin and turned it to face him. "Stop avoiding it Ezra. It happened, it was a mistake, we're human. I don't expect you to be perfect and neither should you. What I do expect is that every mistake you make, you learn from it. You grow stronger and stronger and that's how you can be the best human I could possibly imagine, okay Ezra?" Silence. "Ezra? Hey, are you okay?"
He sniffles, but quickly wipes his face with his sleeve. "Why do you care?" His voice cracks and he winces. He broke his facade, after all these years. Who would've known it would've been him.
"No one ever cares unless it's for their own benefit, it's human nature! Why are you different, why do you care about me?!" He didn't even try to hide the tears that were streaming down his face. Instead he stood there, strong and tall. He stared right at his Master's white cloths with an unmoving stance, waiting for his reply.
"I care because you're like a son to me Ezra." His Master sensed sadness, no, emotional turmoil in his Padawan. Why? "Ezra, are you crying?" When he didn't get a response, he assumed the answer. "Come here Ezra." He opened his arms to embrace the young boy, and once he felt the warmth he continued, "I will always care for you. I took you under my wing for a reason Ezra. I would never give up on you no matter what. Got it? Nothing is going to take you away from me, not even yourself, so don't even think about trying. You're stuck with me until we end this war, and we're both going to see the end of it."
The young boy just nodded, wetting the older man's shirt even more as he stared up at the sun, wondering what would come next in their adventures. After all, he's got a new Father to spend it with.