Hey guys!
Sorry for the wait, but I hope you guys enjoy!
If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask :)
-0-
Ezra had been alone for more than half of his life. And he was starting to think that that was how he was meant to be...isolated.
He had more than one hiding spot on Lothal. Places only he knew. Places the Ghost crew or John or anybody would never look.
He had found this particular hiding spot when he was about eight. He hadn't met John yet, or the Ghost crew of course. Mira and Ephraim Bridger had been gone for over a year. Young Ezra had been running around in a grain field on Lothal, chasing lothcats and bumble bees when he stopped to rest at one of the huge boulders. As he caught his breath, he looked around. The sky was a clear blue, the sun was shining, a cool breeze kept him refreshed. Besides the soft mewing and prancing of the field cats, all was still on the planet. Ezra walked the perimeter of the rock. Usually lothcats would burrow until the large stones to keep cool during summer, and who knows? Maybe one or two was burrowed there. Chasing the wildcats was young Ezra Bridger's few past times. He never hurt them, only used them as playmates. Ezra was surprised to find a fairly large hole at the base of the rock. With his small, meaty, child hands, he dug until he could fit in the hole...and suddenly tumbled into a empty cave. He squealed in excitement and fear as he pulled a flash light from his back pack. Shining it around, Ezra saw that the large rock was in fact hollow.
A grin that seemed bigger than his face grew, as he explored his new fort.
Present day Ezra wiggled his way into the hole.
He wasn't as small as he had been when he was eight, but he was still much smaller than the average boy his age. With some squirming, he was able to squeeze back into his childhood fortress. He pulled out his lightsaber and ignited it, lighting the small cave. The chalk drawing he had made were still perfectly preserved, along with a old sketchbook, crayons, and a musty blanket. Ezra plopped down in his old 'usual' spot.
Maybe it'd be better if he stayed in the cave.
-0-
John was definitely worried now.
He had searched every tunnel, cave, ledge, and crevice in the sewers. Plus he searched Ezra's childhood home from top to bottom, not that there was much to look around in. He asked every street vendor, civilian, and well...person(besides Imperials) if they had seen a boy of Ezra's description.
None had.
Hideouts, forts, caves, vents, all of the place Ezra had been in or would be were empty. It was as if the teen had simply disappeared. But John knew better than that. Ezra was not a creature of habit.
Some days he would get up at 4 am, eat nothing, and just want to stare at the clouds.
Others, he woke at 2 in the afternoon, spend the rest in bed reading books.
The best days were when he woke up at 7, and they ran into the fields of Lothal, playing silly games, laughing loudly, and just...being happy.
Alas, while they had spent the majority of ages nine through thirteen together, the majority of the past year had been apart. And Ezra had a whole new world around him. He was a freaking Jedi now! He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. A space Robinhood, like the ones in their childhood story books.
John sat down. He didn't know where to look. If Ezra didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found.
"I'm sorry Ezra. I failed you." John whispered, his throat feeling tight. The suffocating feeling right before you were about to sob your heart out.
And so he did.
Tear seemed to simply pour from his soul, his heart weeping.
"Why..." John slurred, collapsed to lay down. He was on the famous ledge where they had named their 'meeting' place for the past month. "Why can't he understand...that I love him?"
He held his hands to his face. A horrible thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"What if he never loved me?"
His heart sank a level, seeming to dissolve in his stomach. As much as he wanted to deny the thought...he had to think it over.
A ten year old John Nova pushed a cargo filled crate.
Usually the young boy loved helping out with his father's business. It made him feel like a man. Like his dad and his older brothers.
But today he was upset. His three older brothers, including one of his older siblings who was transgender from female to male, all got to listen to their father negotiate a deal over the work com. And he didn't. Instead, he was 'in charge' of making sure he and his younger brother got the crates full of supplies loaded into a ship.
With a sudden outburst, he shoved the crate he had been pushing into the ship.
His younger brother, Sean, who was seven at the time, started to yell. "Papi's gonna be mad!"
"Shut it! You're too young to understand!" He hissed, plopping down angrily.
"Am not! Just cause you're bigger doesn't mean you're better!" Sean snapped, stamping his little foot.
John hissed back, "Tell that to Papi! It's not fair. Why am I here?! I should be with him!"
Sean started pushing the last crate into the storage compartment. "I'm not allowed to fill a shipment by myself yet. Plus Papi barely let Eddi go, and he's twelve!"
"But i'm ten! I'm basically an adult." John huffed.
"Pssh yeah right." Sean shut the door. "You're acting like a baby."
"I am not!" John yelled, feeling tears well up in his eyes.
"Are too!" Sean squealed, taking off running towards their home.
"You're so annoying!" John screamed at his brother's running form.
The boy stood up, kicking dirt with his boot. "It's still not fair..."
Clunk!
John's head snapped towards the ship.
...Nothing. It must've been nothing...right?
Clack-clack!
Something was definitely going on in the cargo ship now. Maybe a rat? A lothcat?
John gulped and clicked the open button, exposing the ship's compartment to the suns.
He was definitely not expecting what he saw.
A boy, maybe a little younger and a lot smaller than him, with matching blue hair and eyes, stood in the center of the storage room. He had a very full backpack on and looked genuinely surprised to see him.
"AHHHHHH!" John shrieked.
"AHHHHHH!" The strange boy screamed back.
The thief suddenly ran forward, trying to make an escape.
'Now's my chance! I can prove how manly I am!' John thought. If he caught the burglar, his dad would see that he was old enough! Right?!
And so he tackled the boy.
They both let out a big 'umph' and tumbled onto the dirt. The boy's face suddenly contorted in pain, and he began to cry, cradling his wrist towards his chest.
John groaned and stood up, stars fading from his eyes. He blinked away tears as he looked at his scraped elbows. No...men don't cry.
The boy still lay on the ground, sobbing in agony. His backpack had slipped off and spilled its content of...ration bars. Ration bars were pretty nasty, but they gave people the nutrition they needed from a full meal, they just didn't cost as much. But there was a bunch of stuff worth more in the ship...why take food?
John didn't know what to do. The kid was obviously hurt, more than scrapes and more than a bandaid was needed. Had he broken his wrist? Sprang it? Sprung it? John shook his head in confusion.
"Hey...A-Are you okay?" He asked nervously.
The boy didn't answer. He just lay there crying.
"I-Is your arm...?" John stuttered.
"M-Mom..." The hurt boy suddenly cried out.
John took a step back. "What?"
"I want my Mom!" He howled, curling into a tighter ball.
"Uh-, Okay. Um, where is your Mom?"
The boy sobbed, shoulders shaking awfully. "She's gone!"
"How about I take you to my Mom? Okay? She can help your wrist." John suggested.
He seemed to consider it for a second, for his sobs seemed to even more.
"She won't hurt you...we-...we aren't Imperials." John said with a wince. What if this kid was an Imperial? No wait, why would an Imperial steal? Weren't they all rich and fat?
The boy's crying stopped.
John felt his stomach grow into a pit as he realized the boy was now unconscious.
"Mom is going to be so mad..." He hissed, running a hand through his dark brown hair. With a large sigh, he heaved the boy up, down the alley, and up the stairs to his families complex.
By now he was coated in sweat, perspiration drenching his shirt. The boy he was dragging wasn't heavy, in fact his siblings who were younger weighed more than him. It was the blazing hot Lothal sun.
"Mo-o-o-om?!" John yelled out into the living space, wincing as he dropped the boy on the floor.
There was a pregnant pause before a rough woman's voice called out, "Wha-a-a-at?!"
"Uh...Can you come here?!"
"...Why?!"
"Please?! Mom...?"
Another pause.
Suddenly loud steps rang throughout the home, and a tall woman came out. She was roughly six foot, with dark coal hair and emerald eyes.
"What do you wa-" She began, stopping when she saw the unconscious boy at her ten year old's feet.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Johnathan Randall Nova! What. Did. You. Do!?"
The woman pulled the unresponsive child onto their couch, examining him for wounds.
"Ma it was an accident!" John whined.
"Is he one of your friends?" Mrs. Nova asked, finding the hurt arm.
John frantically shook his head. "No! He was trying to steal some of our cargo so I tackled him and he fell funny!"
She sighed. "Well, poor thing's gotta broken arm. Go grab me some bandages and our med-kit."
John's eyes widened in emotion. "But Mom! He's a thief! He's bad!"
"Jonathan! Go!" She yelled. "And bring your sister out too!"
The ten year old grumbled in protest, but marched off down the hall, grabbing the medkit. He charged into his older sister's room.
Rolling his eyes he snarled, "Mari? Mom wants you."
John's older sister, a girl of eleven and almost identical to her mother, looked up from the magazine she was reading.
"Why?" She asked.
"Just come on." John huffed, leading her into their living room.
On arrival, the boy had now been wrapped in various blankets, and a cool cloth was covering his forehead and injured appendage.
"Mari," Their mother spoke, "Go make lunch for this boy."
Mari nodded unsurely but went off to their kitchen. John watched with horror as his mother snapped the arm bone back to place, the unconscious squirming in agony.
His mother gently wrapped the swollen limb in bandages. She placed a cooler cloth to replace the old on his brow as she stood.
"John, you cover him with a blanket and stay with him until he wakes up." She lectured, stalking off to find her husband.
"B-But Mom! He's a criminal!" John whined, throwing a blanket over the body.
"Stay with him or you're grounded!" A stern voice yelled from the house.
John groaned and plopped down. So not fair.
-0-
Hoped you guys enjoyed that and please review! I read them all :)
-Shelby