So, not a One-shot. After this chapter, there's going to be one more, explaining how a certain Jedi master ended up on Ach-to. Sorry for the mushiness at the tail end of the chapter.
Ezra swore he could see the light. In particular, the sunlight shining in his eyes as Sabine sat on top of him and whistled a happy tune. Both his arms were crossed behind his head and handcuffed. Which store had been insane enough to give this force of nature handcuffs, Ezra never wanted to know. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the multicoloured havoc the paint bombs had inflicted upon his home. Ezra groaned inside. That was going to take years to clean, wasn't it? Sabine glanced to where Ezra was staring. Or more accurately, where he attempted to turn his head.
"Oh, don't worry. You won't need to clean that up." Sabine grinned evilly at Ezra's surprised face. "That's because you're going to be going home to Lothal to live with Hera and Me. In handcuffs and unconscious, if necessary." Sabine cracked her knuckles as a blue shadow crossed the doorway.
"Quite the predicament, is it not?" Thrawn allowed himself a small smirk as he entered the wreckage of what was once Ezra's home. Ezra composed himself for a few seconds to choose his next words very carefully. Yes, those words would work.
"Thrawn, you kriffing sell-out!"
"To be fair, she did have a blaster aimed at my chest."
"You could have gone down with the ship!"
"The ship you kindly turned into a Purrgil souvenir?" Thrawn smirked again, knowing he'd won the arguement. Ezra glared at him, but he still couldn't move.
Sabine lazily got up, stretched her arms and twisted a bit, then pulled an exhausted Ezra up. "All right, as much as I'd love to hear you bicker, we have a Planet to be revisiting. And a Twi'lek to be facing." Sabine grinned evilly again.
"But what about Thrawn?"
Sabine gave Ezra the first non-evil or angry look she had ever made that day. "Are you kidding? Thrawn's staying nice and exiled here. I don't need him breaking you out of your glass cage in your Tower. Now-" and here, Sabine had returned to her cheerful murderer attitude "enough stalling. Ahsoka's warmed the Gauntlet up and we'll need to compose your epitaph when Hera finds out what you've been doing all this time." Ezra shivered. For all the abuse Sabine had put him through, it would be nothing compared to Hera. That Twi'lek had both a Mother's heart and a Mother's temper.
It was the fifth day since they had left Ach-to and they were closing in on Lothal. Normally, it would have only taken 2 days, but Sabine had insisted on stopping over on every colonized planet for "supplies". Ezra suspected that she was actually calling Hera ahead of time to tell her to salvage all the Imperial torture devices. Either way, Ezra had not been allowed to leave ship with Ahsoka guarding, so the only way he'd find out was to somehow defeat Ahsoka without a lightsaber. (His was still with Sabine. She had not returned it yet.)
"So, how's Hera...?" The three of them were now waiting in the living quarters, having another silently awkward dinner. None of them had even tried to start a conversation up until today.
Sabine paused for a moment, then a shadow fell over her face. "She's dying, Ezra. She wanted to see you one last time." Ezra froze.
Ahsoka looked confused for a moment, before elbowing Sabine in the ribs. "Ezra, close your mouth. She's not dying. She DOES, however, have a new boy in her life." Ahsoka quickly winked at Sabine, too quick for Ezra to notice.
"Oh, yeah. He's quite a looker, isn't he?" Sabine had quickly caught on to the joke, and was now rushing to think up misleading compliments for Hera's son.
"Those gorgeous green locks."
"Those expressive eyes."
"That roguish smile."
Both of the girls did a convincing swoon. Ezra was wide eyed now, and his mouth had fallen open again. His ration bar was now hovering close to his mouth, before he dropped it back on the table. "Bu- Bu- Has she forgotten Kanan so quickly?"
"Oh, probably not. She did say that he reminded her of Kanan." Ahsoka smiled infuriatingly. Sabine had to bite back giggles, and quickly excused herself to run to the bathroom. Ezra groaned to himself. So much had changed in the few years of his "retirement". Hera now had another boyfriend, Ahsoka was now wearing a whte cloak everywhere, heck, he wouldn't be surprised if Kallus and Zeb were living together. At least he could see them all again for a few moments. Before they killed him, anyways.
When the smoke cleared and the ramp lowered, the first thing Ezra noticed was Hera standing as close as she possibly could to the landing pad. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and she was holding a white hankerchief in her hand. The next thing he noticed was another blur rushing towards him. Bracing himself, Ezra suddenly found himself in an extremely tight bear hug. Preparing himself for a suplex, he waited. And waited. And waited. Realization slowly dawning upon him, Ezra put his arms back around Hera. For a long time, neither of them spoke. Eventually, Hera released herself, then looked Ezra straight in the eye, while grasping his shoulders.
"I don't care what you've done, or where you've been, or what Sabine keeps telling me. All that matters is that you're here now." Hera hugged him again. She was openly sobbing now, realizing the wondrous truth. Ezra hugged back tightly. He missed her. He missed them all, no matter how hardly some of them hit back.
"Ahem?" Ahsoka coughed quietly. She and Sabine had been quietly standing on the top of the ramp now, unable to disembark. Not that they seemed to mind, as both of them got slightly teary eyed. Hera quickly composed herself, then stood to the side to let the duo exit the ship. She was still sobbing quietly. Ezra was beginning to feel like Bantha dung for leaving so suddenly.
"I... I'm sorry. Let's go to the Ghost, shall we? I'll prepare us all some Caf." Hera, ever the motherly figure, quickly wiped away the last of her tears and started towards the Ghost. Sabine walked up to Ezra and put her hand on his shoulder while Ahsoka ran up to Hera. A peaceful silence filled the air as the two stood next to each to each other.
"I'm glad you're home, too. But-"Sabine pulled Ezra to face her "if you ever dump the rest of us here like that again, I'll make sure more than hearts will be breaking. Got it, Loth-rat?" Ezra nodded solemnly. "Good. Let's go home." Sabine smiled softly, then pulled Ezra towards the Ghost.
It was reaching sunset on Lothal, but the Ghost still echoed with laughs as Ezra caught up to what the rest of the crew had been doing while he was on the Island of Ach-to. Nearly all their supply of Caf had run out, but none of them seemed to mind. Ezra was home. Suddenly, Ezra realized he forgot to ask Hera a very important question.
"Hera, Ahsoka and Sabine said you had a... special boy come into your life? When can I meet him?" Ezra raised his eyebrow teasingly, expecting Hera to flush as she did with Kanan. Instead, Hera slammed her palm to her head.
"Oh, how could I forget? Jacen, Honey! There's someone here you have to meet!" Ezra briefly wondered how close Hera and her Boyfriend were when a wide-eyed child ran up to the room. Ezra stared in shock for a few moments before Sabine and Ahsoka cracked up into raucous laughter. Ignoring the reactions, Hera walked over to Jacen and knelt down.
"See that man over there? The one with the blue hair? He's Ezra." The boy's eyes went larger than Ezra's, then he quickly waddled behind his mother. Hera chuckled, then pulled him over.
"Jacen, this is Ezra, Apprentice to the force. Ezra, this is my son, Jacen. Shake hands, Jacen." Jacen shakily wriggled a shocked Ezra's hand. Sabine and Ahsoka were still laughing, though less loudly than before.
"Ha, Hah. Sorry, Ezra. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up." Sabine had managed to compose herself and wave at Jacen, who was still awestruck at Ezra. Soon enough, they returned to talking about the changes after Thrawn's retirement and the fall of the Empire. Ezra was especially interested at the stories of Luke, Jedi Knight. But eventually, the night turned dark and the crew had to sleep. Hera had ushered Jacen to bed and gave Ezra the bottom bunk. (Zeb had actually gone to live with Kallus. Ezra was not surprised.) She was just leaving the room when she paused in the middle of the doorway to say one last thing.
"Oh, and Ezra? Tommorow you're on Carbon scoring duties for the next few weeks." Hera grinned wickedly. "Just because I didn't attack you doesn't mean I won't get my revenge." Ezra sighed in defeat, smiled grimly, then went to bed.
He was home.
