Thanks for all the reviews so far! Yes I know I made Ezra a little more...icy than her counterpart but there is a reason for this madness. Now, this chapter is partly why I defiantly rated it teen and up. I was weary about posting it but I needed to to understand Ezra a bit more. I know I need to get on my other stories (I have been working on LLE and about...2/3 done the chapter), but since this was almost done I decided to finish it and give it to you as a present. Now I need to get on with my uni statistics *shudders. So without further adieu, here's chapter 3.
Ezra couldn't help but let out a small squeak when she got thrown in her cell. Baring her teeth, she scrambled around and was crouched on the balls of her feet facing the door. The two troopers walked out and locked her in before she reached the door and banged on it. "Karablast!" She swore as she smacked the door again in frustration. "Think Ezra, how did you get out last time?" She didn't have long to think when the door opened again. She grabbed her knife (not trusting her blaster pistol in case the bolt bounces around), and had it in her hand, tightening her grip on it when she looked up. When she saw who was standing at the top her back was immediately against the wall. Agent Kallus with two bucketheads. The one who made her life a living hell the last time she got caught. He had a small look of surprise on his face when he saw who was in the cell.
"Miss Ezra Bridger. I was wondering if I'd ever see you again."
"The honour's all mine." She replied sarcastically. "I didn't do anything wrong this time so let me out." He gave her a once over.
"Possibly. But your associates on the other hand stole the Empire's property." Ezra held her tongue for a retort that would get her into trouble. Kallus had a thoughtful look on his face and looked at the knife that jumped into her hand. "That jumpsuit of yours gave me trouble last time and I know you're hiding a blaster pistol in there. Hold her." Ezra immediately started struggling when the two bucketheads grabbed her arms. She would kick them but doubted that would go over well. She tried twisting her arms but the storm troopers held a tight grip and hoisted her arms up, making her grunt in pain. She looked up and reared back when Kallus was almost nose to nose with her. "You want to do this the easy way or the hard way this time?" She spat in his face. Without his expression changing, he grabbed her jumpsuit and tore it open, revealing a tight black shirt underneath. He systematically took off her suit without anymore damage to it, which was amazing in itself with how much Ezra was struggling.
He grinned when he saw her murderous expression which in his mind made her more desirable. He traced the side of her face with a tenderness that had her looking at Kallus in disgust. He pulled in close and Ezra could feel his heated breath on her ear. "Now why would you be travelling with these rebel scum?" Ezra raised an eyebrow.
"Circumstances really and I doubt they'll come for me. I'm just a Lothrat, remember?" Kallus does remember and also remembers telling her that. "Then you have nothing to worry about." He heard her scoff but ignored it as he looked at her. Last time he really saw her was when she was ten and has done a lot of growing up since then. Her hair was braided around the crown of her head giving her an almost regal look with her bright blue eyes staring at him with anger. He felt his lust levels spike as he looked her over. Ezra felt like she was being examined and really didn't like how Kallus' eyes were roaming over her. He had a look in his eyes when he stared into her bright blue ones that left a cold feeling going down her spine. Grabbing her face roughly, he kissed her with Ezra struggling to get him off before biting his tongue. He reared back from her and had a savage look on his face, but didn't say anything as he turned to leave. He stopped when he got to the top of the cell and gave her an unreadable expression before gesturing to the two troopers to unhand her and they grabbed everything that was lying in the cell, including her bag.
She dropped to the ground while looking up and glaring at him. He had his blaster trained on her until he left. The only thing that kept Ezra from being plunged into total darkness was the small wall lights lighting up the cell. She rubbed her shoulders from the abuse they got and couldn't help but shiver from the feeling of Kallus touching her and curled up. Her jumpsuit was like her armour that kept her safe. She was almost never without it unless she was doing something for Vizago that is. She looked at the cube in disgust since it was the only thing she managed to save. Tossing it to the floor she closed her eyes and rested her head on her knees. She stayed like that until she heard the clicking and saw the blue hue of light under her eyelids.
"This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi." Ezra's head shot up, remember the name from the stories her father told her. "I regret to inform you that both our jedi order and the republic, have fallen. With the dark shadow of the empire rising to take its place. This message is a warning and a reminder to all surviving jedi; trust in the force."
"No no no no no! I'm going crazy!" Ezra clutched her head in despair at all of this. She breathed slowly while trying to think of a way out of this. Without her suit that had some extra tools, she has nothing to work with. Only...her head shot up and was berating herself for forgetting the trick she was taught, one that gave poor young children a chance to beg off food from the sympathetic. It might work here. Taking a deep breath, she started yelling. "Hey, bucketheads! You better let me out of here! My uncle-" on and on she went while her claims got more ridiculous, trying to get them to open the cell door before going to part two. "-my uncle the Emperor," she started coughing uncontrollably. Or, that's what it sounded like. Hearing the door open, she sped past the two guards and flipped off a cocky smile.
"Thanks guys!" And promptly locked the door behind her. Following her feelings to find her stuff, she found them tucked away in a corner in the armoury. "Really?" She said dryly. Looking around, she grabbed a helmet and grinned when she noticed that the transmitter was still on.
"-Kessel spice mine." 'So that's where the wookies are going.' Ezra thought. She took it off after hearing what she needed to and quickly tugged her jumpsuit and hat back on, relieved to have the familiar weight back on. Putting the helmet back on, she was zipping her suit back on when she heard about the security breach. "They came back." She breathed. No one has ever done that for her before and was a new feeling for her. Looking around, she grinned under the helmet and hopped up onto the crates and into the air vent. Crawling through them always did give her a rush of excitement.
Adrenaline filling her veins, she crawled through the vents, knowing that her voice was still scratched from all the yelling she did. Pitching it as low as she can get it, she got a couple of the squads diverted, but not as many as she hoped. She kept crawling before one of the panels gave out on her. Giving a shout of surprise, she froze when Kallus and some troopers were in front of her, blocking her exit. She took off the helmet threw it at him, stunning him long enough for her to scramble up and run while she grabbed her small blaster from her sleeve. Green plasma mixed with red as she ran with her mind was going a mile a minute while thinking how to get past them as more reinforcements were on their way. She didn't have enough room for her favourite somersault trick but maybe...she quickly ran towards them while dodging their shots and flipped over their heads like a corkscrew. Her landing was a little off but it served her purpose while scrambling up and running.
Kanan and Sabine came across a small firefight as the other stormtrooper fell to Ezra's blaster.
"Move!" She snapped while taking another shot at Kallus who dodged it. The three ran until they met up with Zeb who left with them to the Ghost.
"Spectre one to Ghost. We're leaving!" Kanan said through the comm while dodging fire from the trooper's blasters. When Ezra climbed onto the ramp, she stopped and trained her blaster on Kallus until she got jerked back.
"You get on first!" Ezra didn't give any retort as she climbed aboard the vessel.
"Ghost, raise the ramp!" Ezra trained her blaster on Kallus and fired, only to have missed by grazing the side of his head.
Kallus gave the dark haired teenager an angry look as the ramp was raised.
Ezra quickly left to the cockpit to see Hera, the only one that she knew that would actually be glad to see her. Hera slumped in exhaustion on her seat as they were finally safe in hyperspace when Ezra opened the door and had an uncertain look on her face.
"Welcome aboard, again." Ezra went further in and sat down on the chair while wincing in pain. She didn't notice before but she was pretty sure that she'll have a wicked bruise on her by morning.
"Thank you." She said quietly. "I didn't think you'd come back for me."
"We'll get you home. I'm sure your parents must be worried." Ezra's eyes grew cold. "I don't have any parents." She said. She's already cried over them enough. "Besides, you have somewhere else to go." The doors opened behind her with Kanan, Sabine and Chopper coming in, all ignoring her. "I know where they're really taking the wookies. Have you ever heard of the Kessel spice mines?" Ezra said slowly, trying to get the pronunciation right. Everyone looked at each other. Sabine turned around.
"Slaves sent there last a few months, maybe a year."
"And for wookies raised in the forest, it's a death sentence." Ezra couldn't help it.
"I guess we better get going."
"We?" Sabine said as everyone stared at her like she has three heads. Ezra shrugged. "Come this far." It was always one of her rules on the streets. Always finish a job, no matter how dangerous. It always guaranteed future jobs.
"Setting course for Kessel." Hera said cheerfully. Kanan gave her a look like she was being tested.
Ezra filed that away. There was also no way that he wouldn't of noticed the missing cube...a test?! She narrowed her eyes slightly at him for that.
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Ezra felt like she only had the job because Hera refused to let Chopper off the Ghost. Picking locks and climbing through vents were her specialties but it doesn't mean that she wants to do it all the time! Hearing the stormtroopers getting blasted down made Ezra grin inside until she felt a push. "Try not to get dead. Don't want to carry your body out." Ezra glared at Zeb for that and focused ahead. She clenched and unclenched her hand several times trying to calm her nerves.
When the ramp opened everyone jumped out and ran for the crates for cover. She looked at Kanan who nodded to her. She took off running as everyone else distracted the bucketheads. She would blast them but her blaster gave out green plasma so it would be a dead giveaway as she was trying to sneak past them. Getting to the wookies, Ezra didn't realize just how big they were. One of the wookies advanced towards her.
"Hey! I'm here to help." Grabbing her droid arm that doubled as her lock picker, Ezra quickly undid several binders before those wookies went off the help Kanan and the others. She undid more before blaster fire had her flying through the air. Dazed for a few seconds, she watched as Agent Kallus (Ezra had to give him credits for being persistent), come down with more troops. One of the wookies howled which had Ezra looking and saw a child wookie being chased by a stormtrooper. She and Zeb helped the parent that was shot by the trooper.
"He'll be ok." Ezra helped Zeb get the wookie to behind the crates and saw a child wookie being chased by a stormtrooper. "Not again. Not while I'm still breathing," she hissed and took off after the child, ignoring Zeb and Kanan's shouts to stop.
She chased the wookie child and the trooper to a landing platform. She caught up to them and decided to get his attention on her. "Hey! Buckethead!" She crouched and right when she was blasted at, she did a twenty foot somersault through the air and landed on the other side before grabbing her blaster and shooting the trooper. She turned and smiled at the wookie child who was looking up at her with fear in his eyes.
"Don't be afraid." She said in a softer voice. She gently held up his paws before unlocking the binders. She immediately dragged the wookie to the ground when she felt her voiceless voice screaming at her to drop. Blaster fire went right over her head and had her blaster trained on Kallus.
"I would never have thought that Ezra Bridger, Lothal's infamous Lothrat would be a Force sensitive and working with rebels."
"I have no ideas where you get your delusions from Kallus. I work along, remember?"
"Yes, I do. After all, your friends left you do die last time I saw you. But now you have a master jedi for your training." Ezra snorted.
"Right." She had her blaster trained on Kallus with the wookie behind her when engine sounds came from the side and Kanan was wielding a lightsaber. Kallus immediately started firing on Kanan, leaving Ezra with the wookie. She was about to take a shot when the child tugged on her sleeve. Looking down, she heard the shout and watched as Kallus went over the edge.
"Jump kid!" Taking a leap of faith, Ezra jumped over the railing and onto the ship along with the wookie. Kanan looked over at the dead stormtrooper and said nothing as he went back inside. Going inside, she looked over the cargo bay where the other wookies were with the child one howling in happiness that the parent responded to.
Ezra flinched when Kanan put a hand on her shoulder and left to go to the cargo bay. She turned away slightly, with the memories the reunion was bringing up and her own bitter past. Going down, the wookie child latched onto her.
"His name is Kitwar." Sabine supplied. Ezra nodded and looked at the other wookies. "We'll be getting a transport ship for them in a couple hours." Hera said. Ezra nodded absentmindedly while focusing on Kitwar. Taking the approach she took with Amara, she started walking away with Kitmar, telling the same stories Amara loved.
Hera looked at the two with a small smile while Kanan had a small frown on his face. "What's wrong love?" Kanan looked at her. "Nothing. Just need to think for a while." Hera nodded and went back to the wookies, leaving Kanan deep in his thoughts.
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"Ezra, bring Kitwar back, transport's here." Ezra looked up then at Kitwar.
"I guess this is where we part then." She said in a fake, cheery voice. Kitwar had on a sad face before Ezra guided him down towards the docking bay. The parent wookie said something that Sabine translated.
"He says if we ever need help, the wookies will come." Ezra was just looking at Kitwar with a genuine smile. A small one, but one nevertheless. "Try to stay out of trouble Kitwar." Ezra said fondly. The wookie child grew on her a bit in the few hours she knew him. He had an innocence Ezra hasn't seen in a long time.
"Looks who's talkin'." Ezra brushed the comment off.
"So, I guess we go drop me off then." Ezra doesn't know when it happened or how, but she was reluctant to leave the crew. They reminded her of the family she lost long ago and she wanted that feeling back. Zeb locked the door. "Yeah, finally right?" He said with a nervous chuckle. Ezra turned so no one could see her expression.
"Right." She said in a hard voice. Back to living on the streets, doing Vizago favours and getting some in return while paying off his debt (she hasn't called any of her precious few favours in yet, but has a feeling she will be very soon). She leaned against the ladder with a troubled expression and nearly fell on Kanan when the wookie ship detached. Grabbing the two lightsaber parts, she quietly apologized for falling into him. When he left, she reassembled it with a small grin.
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When they landed on Lothal, Ezra went into the cargo bay and saw Sabine fixing Chopper and Zeb getting a crate top back on. Chopper waved his mechanical arm and gave a sad beep. She went up to Zeb.
"So I guess I'll see you around?" Ezra asked. She wasn't sure if she wanted to or not. Zeb laughed and punched her lightly in the shoulder.
"Not if we don't see you first."
"Don't worry, you won't." She said harshly, missing Zeb's confused expression. Climbing down the ramp, she saw Hera and Kanan standing in the grass.
"I believe you have something that belongs to me?" The cube. It her like a rock. He was testing her. She tossed him the cube while saying in passing, "you need better hiding spots jedi." She walked off while his lightsaber was still in her bag. "Good luck saving the galaxy." She threw behind her and ran off.
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She climbed into her tower while staring at the lightsaber with a sigh. Mentally making a list of things to do (biggest one is to find Vizago and go on her knees and beg for forgiveness), she felt him, rather than see him. "What's the Force?" She asked. "It's what holds the galaxy together. It binds us, penetrates us. And it's strong in you Ezra. Otherwise you would never have been able to open the holocron." That sneaky son of a bantha. She turned around with hard eyes.
"What do you want then?" She asked coldly.
"To offer you a choice." Now she was listening. "You can keep the lightsaber you stole and let it become just another dusty souvenir, or you can give it back and come with us, come with me and I'll train you in the ways of the Force and learn what it truly means to be a jedi." Ezra mulled this over.
"I thought the Empire wiped out all the jedi?" You know the answer. A small voice in her head said. "Not all of us." She looked down and when she looked back up, he was gone. Sitting down, she thought about her choices. Stay here and stay Vizago's part time dancer while running the occasional errand to him to pay off her debt, or leave and be train, and possibly, possibly, get the feeling of family back again. She remembered what her father would tell her, about the jedi and how they were peacekeepers and warriors. She didn't notice it then, but he had a secretive gleam in his eyes whenever he would mention the jedi. Ezra never thought on it but now...now was her chance to find out more. More about herself and her past. Making up her mind, she grabbed her essentials and raced out of the tower and made her way back to the Ghost.
How's that?