Long time no update... oops. I got reinspired by the Rebels premiere and now wanna write more! I will post this chapter to A03, too.

I don't own any of the dialogue from TESB. Or Star Wars/SWR at all.

Enjoy!

"I think," Ezra choked out. "I think I need to get some air." The man coughed hoarsely and cleared his throat. He only wiped at his eyes after turning from Rey, trying to hide the sight. He stepped outside where Luke was still catching up with Artoo.

He laid a brief hand on his arm, and when Luke stood up in concerned, waved him off. He gestured in Rey's direction, and Luke looked over with heavy eyes. Ezra disappeared from sight with a wave of his cloak.

Rey was horrified at the start of Ezra's story. She couldn't imagine having her new family - Finn, Poe, BB-8, hell, even General Organa - being ripped from her like his Ghost Crew was from him. She shuddered at the thought, and rubbed her arms to warm
herselfup. Ezra's description of the destruction of Alderaan chilled her to the bone; of course, she'd heard stories from her days on Jakku, but this was different. She wondered briefly if that's what she felt from Starkiller Base, too.

Someone wrapping a blanket around her shoulders jerked her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see Master Luke moving to sit in the chair next to Ezra's. She murmured her thanks and pulled it tighter over her shoulders.

"Still not used to the cold yet?" Luke said, a gentle smile on his face. She shook her head, and a faraway look shone in his eyes. "I was the same way, when I first got off of Tatooine. And then on Hoth." He made a disgusted noise and went silent, lostin
his memories.

"Do you know?" Rey said suddenly.

Luke looked at her. "About Ezra's past? Yes. I think having you here is starting to remind him of his own Padawan days." Rey felt a flash of guilt run through her.

Rey glanced out the cave entrance - no Ezra in sight. "How is Ezra still so... so..."

"Outgoing? Energetic?" Luke suggested. "Happy?" He said a little bit softer. Rey bit her lip and nodded. "He wasn't always like that. In fact, when I first met him, 'happy' would have probably been the last word I would've chosen to describe him."

"Really? How did you meet? What was he like then?" Rey asked, her curiosity radiating off of her in waves that Luke could practically taste.

"Well, for one, we were a lot younger than we are now..."

TIME: 3 years after the destruction of Alderaan

LOCATION: The Resistance base on Hoth

When Ezra had gotten the call from Leia to come to Hoth at his earliest convenience, he severely misunderestimated the cold. And not only that, but he'd gotten lost in the ice tunnels at least four times just trying to find command.

Ugh. He wished Sabine was here; she was always so much better at directions than he was.

He frowned. A brief wave of sorrow washed over him, and he cursed himself mentally for thinking about them.

It had been three years. Enough was enough.

Up ahead, the sound of a couple arguing was echoing down the hallway, and Ezra pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He rounded the corner with an eyebrow raised. He could use the entertainment.

The girl barked a laughed. "You're imagining things," she said. Ezra snorted; of course it was Leia arguing. Who else could it be?

"Am I?" The man retorted. Ezra leaned against the wall, content with watching until she noticed him. "Then why are you following me? Afraid I was going to leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?"

The girl sneered. "I'd just as soon kiss a Wookie." The corners of the man's lips twitched upwards.

"I can arrange that. You could use a good kiss!"

Ezra couldn't help it; he just had to say something.

"Funny, that's what she comes to me for." The man whirled around. Ezra waggled his eyebrows. "If you know what I mean." The man's eyes grew wide.

Leia peeked out around his arm, and her face lit up with a grin. "Ezra!" She rushed towards him, forgetting all about the argument.

The man threw his hands up in the air and stomped off, muttering under his breath.

"It's good to see you," Leia said. Her eyes roved over his face; his hair had gotten a lot longer, and he had it pulled back into a ponytail - she didn't want to guess who he was trying to emulate - and he had grown a few inches taller. There were darkcircles
under his eyes, and the old sparkle in them had disappeared. There was a crease in between his eyebrows from all the time he spent frowning; even looking at her now, not smiling, but not scowling either, they were still there. He looked worn,tired,
/and angry at the world.

He inclined his head towards her and then jerked it in the direction Han had left in. "Who's that nerf-herder?"

"Nerf-herder... That's a new one." Leia rolled her eyes. "This guy who thinks that I'm in love with him, just because I personally don't think he should leave Hoth."

Ezra raised an eyebrow.

Leia shrugged. "What? He's a natural leader and a good pilot!" Her eyes were dreamy, and she sighed in spite of herself.

Ezra snorted. "I'm sure he is."

Leia snapped out of it and crossed her arms, adopting her trademark scowl. "You know what? You're just as bad as he is."

Ezra shrugged. "That may be true, but you love me anyways."

Her eyes grew softer. "I missed you, Ezra. I haven't seen you since after-" she cut off abruptly.

The almost happy look on Ezra's face shattered and was replaced by a dark glower. "Don't," he warned.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Drop it, Leia." Ezra warned. His eyes flashed dangerously, and she could practically cut the tension in the air with a knife. "Now, why exactly did you waste my time by bringing me to this wasteland of a planet?"

Leia blinked and her mouth fell slightly open. A look of hurt flashed across her eyes before she clamped her mouth shut and looked up at him with a cool expression. "There's somebody here I wanted you to meet," she said. She swiveled around on her heeland
/began stalking off down the hall. Ezra followed her, the Force radiating around him darkly.

"Ezra, do you really need to be so mean to the princess?"Ezra looked over to the side of the hallway. Kanan was standing there, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. He looked tired and disappointed, and blood was caked over his face and
/averted his eyes and passed him, and the image had faded when he glanced back around.

Ever since The Disaster, these... hallucinations of the Ghost crew would pop up and follow him around at random. All of them had appeared at one point or another, even a green, young twi'lek girl who he'd never seen before. Sabine would look accusing,Hera
/sad, Zeb angry, and Kanan... Kanan always just looked tired and disappointed, which was the worst.

He showed up the most.

Ezra knew that they weren't real - the blood had to be fake; after all, Alderaan had exploded: there was absolutely nothing left of them but rocks.

Besides, Kanan never said anything about there being Force Ghosts.

He hadn't noticed that Leia had come to an abrupt stop in command and almost ran into her. She turned around and glared and resumed barking orders for someone to bring her Luke, and stat.

A young lieutenant rushed out the door beside Ezra and gave him a frantic look. Ezra did not pity the poor man who got in Princess Leia Organa's way. That imperial on Lothal who'd "lost" her ships under his watch had gotten so demoted that some of theStormtroopers
thought he was a myth.

Leia had walked over to the table in the center of the room with a hologram of all of the sensors depicted. She drummed her fingers impatiently on the counter for a few moments. Ezra settled back in a corner, content to sit back and avoid the curiousstares
from the group of rebels by Leia.

The same officer who had rushed away came barreling back in. "Princess, Commander Skywalker never checked in. Nobody has heard from him in almost an hour." Leia was beginning to look less and less impatient and more and more concerned.

She pulled a communicator out of her jacket pocket and punched a button. Nobody responded. She tried again. Same response. She huffed angrily and whirled around.

"You," she pointed to the same man who ran the first errand for her. "Find protocol droid C3PO and tell him to alert Commander Solo that Commander Skywalker is missing, and ask if he's seen him. And tell him to turn his kriffing communicator on!" Sheslammed
hers down on the counter, and the officer shot up from his post and bolted. The other rebels in the room grew quiet and stared at her for a moment, then resumed working.

Ezra shrugged. Must be a common occurrence.

"She's a fiery one, ain't she?" Ezra didn't even bother to look up. He knew it would just be Zeb glaring down at him. "It looks like she's doing all she can to help herfriends. Why didn't you?" Ezra shut his eyes and slowly breathed out, countinghis
breaths in a calming meditation exercise.

The sound of a buzzing communicator echoed, and he heard Leia snap something into it about needing to talk to Han. It was a deck officer, calling from the Taun-Taun stables.

"Princess, Commander Solo just went out to look for Commander Skywalker. He hadn't heard from her either."

"He WHAT?!" He heard Leia exclaim. Ezra opened his eyes and did his best to look around Not-Zeb. This was new. "It's almost dusk; he's going to freeze!"

The deck officer shuffled his feet. "That's what I said, ma'am, but Commander Solo seems to have a, er, mind of his own."

Leia frowned in concentration. "I'm coming down there." The deck officer opened his mouth to say something, and she hung up on him.

She moved to walk briskly out of command but paused in the doorway. She looked over at Ezra and raised an eyebrow. "Coming?" She moved out, and Ezra slipped around Zeb to hurry to catch up.

"Is this what the Rebellion is like now?" Ezra said, somewhat sneeringly. He had caught up to her and was walking quickly by her side.

Leia narrowed her eyes and stuck her nose up in the air. Her tone was scathing. "Only on days when the likes of you are here, Padawan Bridger."

Ezra skidded to a stop in the middle of the hallway. A Rodian muttered something under his breath as he swerved to avoid running into him. Leia didn't stop to wait on him and disappeared around a corner.

"It's Master, actually," he called out. She didn't respond. He stood watching her go.

The next morning, Ezra found Leia again. She was in the Med Bay, watching an unconscious blonde boy float in a bacta tank. She didn't turn when he slipped in, but somehow he knew she realized it was him.

Even unconscious, the boy's force presence was absolutely blinding, even more so than his and Kanan's used to be combined. He had felt it from the other side of the base and had staked it out. He resisted the urge to cover his eyes and turned to Leia.

Ezra knew Leia was force sensitive, at least a little, from the strong mental shields she seemingly had built up unknowingly. He wondered if she could see the boy's light too.

"Who is he?" Ezra asked.

"Commander Luke Skywalker. He's the one who helped to break me out of the Death Star when my mission went bad all those years ago." Ezra turned back towards Luke. "He's also the one who destroyed the Death Star."

Ezra's head whipped back around. "What?! You're telling me that this... this kid is the one who blew up the Death Star?" Leia nodded, and Ezra turned back around to study Luke's face.

His face was pretty beaten up and bruised from whatever had happened to him outside the base, and his bright blonde hair floated wispily around his face like a halo. He seemed to be a little on the short side and sort of scrawny.

Ezra looked at Leia in disbelief. "There's no way," he said.

"Believe it or not," she said, turning away to look back up at Luke. "It's none of my concern."

Ezra could practically taste the sass. He opened his mouth to retort when Luke started and began to thrash about in panic. He jerked his head up and his eyes flew open. He met Ezra's gaze, blue eyes meeting blue eyes, and a connection sparked. Curious,Ezra
tilted his head to the side slightly. But when Luke's eyes slowly began to droop and the robot aids began to pull him out of the tank, he quietly slipped out.

Alone in the quarters Leia had given him for the time being, Ezra sat with his head in his hands.

He hadn't felt a spark of a connection like that since... since he first met Kanan. And certainly he'd never met anyone with a force presence as strong as this kid's.

Kanan. Their bond wasn't gone... It was just empty. An open wound, festering in his mind. It was a constant reminder of who he had loved and who he had lost.

This kid... This Luke Skywalker... Who was he?

A few hours later, Leia swung by Ezra's quarters with the intention of picking him up to go see Luke. The walk there was quiet and brisk; Leia was obviously still annoyed and slightly... hurt? about their squabble from yesterday. Ezra sniffed and stuckhis
nose in the air. She started it; she was just as much to blame as he was.

He kind of missed their banter.

She led him into the med wing and down the hall of several pristine recovery centers. The door was open to one of them, and as Ezra approached he could hear voices talking.

"Thanks to you," one said, a light voice he'd never heard before.

"That's two you owe me, Junior." The other said. Ezra narrowed his eyes; that sounded like the nerf-herder from yesterday.

Leia walked into the room, and Ezra followed, remaining in the door. That stuffy old protocol C3PO and his astromech counterpart were standing there, and so were two humans, the beat up looking blonde from the bacta tank and Leia's not-so-secret crush.
AWookie loomed behind him. The scoundrel gave her a huge, devilish grin that turned into a scowl when his gaze landed on Ezra.

"You again," he muttered.

"Leia!" The blonde exclaimed, not even seeming to notice the other boy lurking in the doorway. He beamed at her, happiness streaming through the Force.

Ezra wrinkled up his nose. Gross.

"Well your Worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a little longer." The brunette said. Ezra just knew Leia was rolling her eyes, even though he couldn't see it.

Leia hmphed and adopted a haughty tone. "I had nothing to do with it. General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."

The blonde - Luke - shook his head fondly, watching them bicker. Leia's boyfriend smirked. "That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight." Ezra mimed retching from behind Leia where she couldn't see,and
the scowl returned. Other than that, he seemed perfectly content to ignore Ezra as long as Leia was too.

Leia put her hands on her hips. "I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brains." The Wookie barked a laugh and his friend made a face.

"Laugh it up, fuzzball. But you didn't see us alone in the south passage." Luke raised an eyebrow and whipped his head around towards Leia. Her back stiffened ever so slightly. "She expressed her true feelings for me." The man boasted.

"Oh, I saw you two. If that's what you think expressing feelings is you must be even more self-centered than I thought." Ezra said. Luke's surprised gaze sparked to him. The man flushed, and Leia ignored the comment, clenching her fists.

"Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, nerf herder!" Leia spat.

"Hey, that's my line!" Ezra protested.

"Who's scruffy looking?" The man said, an irritated expression on his face. Luke's eyes were flickering back and forth between the two, mouth hanging wide open. The man turned to him. "I must have hit pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up likethat,
huh, kid?"

"Or you completely missed it," Ezra muttered. Luke's gaze flicked back to him curiously.

"Why, I guess you don't know everything about women yet?" Ezra was just wondering what she meant by that when Leia lunged towards Luke and kissed him. The Force sparked in surprise.

"Wha-?"

She pulled back, glared at the brunette, and turned to walk out. "Ezra, Han. Han, Ezra." She growled. She stomped out.

"What, don't I get a kiss, too?" Ezra called after her. The only response he got was the slamming of the door at the end of the hallway.

Ezra turned back around and surveyed the scene. Luke was leaning back with his hands behind his head, obviously smug. The nerf-herder - Han - was steaming, and his Wookie friend was howling in laughter behind him. C3PO was tutting in disapproval. Han'seyes
slid past to meet Ezra's.

Han narrowed his eyes slightly. "Pleasure," Ezra said, tone dropping with sarcasm.

Suddenly, an alarm gave a shrill cry, and the whole room jumped in surprise. An announcer came on after in a dull, monotone voice. "Headquarters personnel, report to command center." It repeated itself several times.

Han groans, and he and Chewie rush out of the room, the droids following.

"Take it easy, kid," Han said. He looked Ezra up and down as he passed, stuck his nose in the air, and sniffed.

"Oh, no," C3PO said. "Please excuse us, Master Luke," he hurried out. "And to you, Master Bridger."

As the droids hobbled down the hallway, Ezra could hear the protocol droid say "doesn't he look familiar?" to his astromech companion. He couldn't hear the other's response.

Ezra turned back into the room. The blonde kid was carefully scrutinizing him. He beamed and stick out a hand. "Luke Skywalker," he said.

"Ezra Bridger." Ezra took the hand offered to him and sat down on the vacant doctor's chair.

"Don't you have to go with the others?" Luke said. His cheeks got red. "Not that I want you to leave or anything, just that-"

Ezra held up a hand. "I'm simply visiting. I'm not stationed here."

Luke's shoulders relaxed. "Oh, okay. Thank gods. Leia is always on my case about not thinking before I speak." Ezra slightly inclined his head forward, and an awkward silence ensued.

Luke narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure we've never met before? You seem really familiar."

Ezra hesitated, not really wanting to tell the kid that he was watching him in the Bacta tank yesterday. "Nope," he lied. "We've never met."

"Well, have you ever visited Tatooine?" Luke said. "I used to live there, you know."

Ezra snorted. "Definitely not. I'm from Lothal."

Luke scrunched up his nose. "It must be your voice." He paused a moment, and then his eyes lit up. "I know! You were the kid in that rebel Transmission a few years back!" Satisfaction glowed in the Force.

Ezra inwardly cringed. The Transmission. That had been a looong time ago. Back when things were right.

"You're right, that was me," Ezra admitted. He pinched the bridge of his nose. This kid's emotions were giving him a real kriffing headache. Someone needed to teach him some mental shielding, and stat.

Ezra wondered if this was how Kanan felt when he first found him, and immediately silenced that thought.

Luke grinned. "You know, I heard that out all the way on Tatooine! It's one of the reasons I wanted to get off planet and help so badly. You know, that kind of reminds me, have you-"

He couldn't take it anymore, Ezra interrupted him. "Do you know how to shield?"

Luke blinked and closed his mouth; he didn't look at all offended, just confused. "Shield?"

"Your emotions. Through the Force."

Luke's eyes grew wide. "You know the Force? Are you a Jedi?"

Ezra sighed as a new wave of Luke's excited curiosity hit him. "Yes, I'm a Jedi. And I'm pretty sure that me and every other Force-sensitive on this PLANET can feel how far you're projecting."

"Projecting?" Luke said. He shook his head quickly, dismissing the word for more important facts. "Do you know Ben? Or Yoda? Ben told me to go to him on Dagobah. Were they your Masters too?"

Ezra's eyes darkened. "I've met Yoda before. But I don't know any Jedi named 'Ben.' Neither of them trained me."

Luke's mouth was wide. "There must be more Jedi out there then! Who's your Master?"

Ezra turned away, the familiar pain back and as gnawing and sharp as ever. "His name was Kanan. Kanan Jarrus."

Luke promptly picked up on Ezra's resentment and anger and grief through the Force, and unlike every other Force sensitive Ezra had come across, didn't shy away. Luke awkwardly patted him on the arm. Ezra looked down at where Luke was touching him and
/looked at him incredulously. Luke's cheeks reddened, and he withdrew his hand.

"I think we need to start over," Luke said, smiling sheepishly. "No more sad topics." Ezra raised an eyebrow, but deciding to humor him, leaned back to play along.

Luke stuck out a hand and beamed, lighting up the room with his smile. "My name's Luke. Nice to meet you.

"Hi, Luke, I'm Ezra." Ezra stuck out a stiff hand of his own, and Luke shook it, making a face.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Luke asked, giggling.

Ezra blinked. He felt something strange and unknown bubble up in his chest.

And for the first time since Alderaan, Ezra Bridger genuinely laughed.

Rey stifled another yawn. She couldn't help it; it had been a long trip, and that climb up the mountain had been a little more taxing than she thought it would be.

Luke abruptly stopped telling the story and craned his neck to see how dark it was outside. "I'm sorry, you must be tired."

"But what about the story?" Rey protested.

Luke gave her a small half smile. "I don't think much is going to change by tomorrow morning," he said. "Come on, I can show you were you can sleep."

Luke led her down and deeper into the mountain, twisting down stone hallways. Rey knew she was definitely going to get lost trying to find her way out tomorrow. Both were silent on their walk, lost in their own thoughts.

He led her to a small room in a narrow hallway of what used to be student quarters in the old Temple.

"If you need anything, Ezra and I are right down the hall." Luke said, gesturing to a room a little ways down with a light still on. He stayed in the doorway and hesitated.

Rey walked to the bed and sat down, bouncing a bit. She looked up at Luke expectantly.

"How's Leia?" He asked.

Rey blinked. "She's grieving. She misses Han." Luke swallowed and looked down the hallway. "And she misses you."

Luke took a deep breath. "Do I need to go back?"

Rey bit the inside of her lip. "I don't know how else we're going to stop him," she said honestly. Luke sighed. She didn't need to clarify who he was.

"That's what I was afraid of." Luke said. He turned and walked down the hall down into the bedroom with the light on.

As Rey got ready for bed, she could hear quiet voices talk for a few minutes, discussing something she couldn't quite make out. Then, the light in the bedroom turned off, and the voices were quiet.

Rey fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Poor Ezra :(( He's been through so much. Also, someone please talk to me about the new Rebels episodes! Fr I can't decide who Maul was talking about at the end of the latest episode, Palpatine or Obi-Wan.

R&R.