Thank you guys so much for your kind reviews! It makes me smile knowing you guys like the story so far and the OCs I've made. I also really like reading people's theories on where the Academy is... we'll see in time!

Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.

Ezra wasn't quite sure how he had managed to sleep at all. He hadn't had any nightmares fortunately, but he remembered being awake for the longest time and didn't remember falling asleep. It almost felt like he blinked really, and then he felt someone nudging him. He didn't exactly get to pick the bunk he was on, but he was on the bottom of the stack of beds. Two people were above him, and that alone gave an anxiety over whether they would collapse on top of him.

Whoever was shaking him to wake him up didn't have to put in that much effort. Ezra opened his eyes as he heard a male voice say, "Hey, newbie. Wake up."

He turned his head to the side to see someone already fully dressed in their uniform as they continued, "I'm only waking you up today, but from now on you're on your own. Us students don't care if you show up to class or not, but the adults certainly do."

Ezra sat up groggily as he rubbed his eyes and spoke through a yawn, "And what happens if I don't go to class?" The kid in the uniform ducked down so Ezra could see his head. Up until that point, Ezra hadn't noticed the boy was a Twi'lek. The kid came a little closer and traced a part of his face before going back into the light still tracing it. That revealed a dark scar across his face, which was hard to notice immediately since his skin was blue, "Their theory: obedience comes best from pain."

At those words, Ezra got up out of the bunk and moved to put his shirt on. Normally Ezra's clothes were light enough where sleep felt comfortable, since his clothes were made for movement and stealth. However the uniform for this Academy was heavier, and took in less air. So Ezra had slept in the pants and a tank top, which was apparently common attire for the dorm anyway. After Ezra put on the shirt he held his hand out towards the Twi'lek and spoke, "My name's Dev Morgan..."

The Twi'lek looked down at Ezra's hand, then locked a cold stare with Ezra, "Manners don't gain you friends here, Dev."

"I wasn't try-"

"No, you were trying to gain a friend. Friendship doesn't get you anywhere here. Your skills and talent do." The Twi'lek turned to leave the dorm room, which at that point was empty besides the two of them. Ezra put on the robe and followed the Twi'lek out, "So why'd you wake me up then if friendship doesn't get you anywhere?"

The boy stopped his path and let out a quiet chuckle and then stated, "Alado Tan."

Ezra stared confused for a moment before he realized he had just introduced himself, Ezra walked a little more forward so he was walking next to Alado and the two continued walking as he continued, "And actually, Dev, there's a difference between gaining friends and gaining respect. Besides, no one else was going to show you where you're supposed to go today. But charitable Alado Tan decided to put some time aside to help Dev Morgan get himself situated."

"There's something else isn't there?"

Alado stopped his walking and looked around the corridor, which was empty, then he pushed Ezra to the side and whispered, "Rumors spread like wildfire in here, and word has it someone from class-four heard you were training with a Jedi, making you a formerly trained padawan. Is that true?"

Ezra was a bit confused by the approach and took it cautiously, "Why does it matter?"

"Padawans are a rare find these days."

Ezra flinched at the familiar sounding phrase as Alado continued, "If you are a padawan who's had training, we'll find out soon. Anyone who's a padawan that is well trained and broken successfully is promoted to class-three without much hesitation."

The raven-haired teen tried his best to hide back his fear, "Wait, what do you mean broken?"

"Well, padawans are trained by Jedi: those who follow the light. Anyone who is not open to the dark-side has to go through the breaking process."

"But what if they don't break?"

"Everyone breaks, Dev. The time it takes and what it takes to break is different for everyone, but everyone breaks."

"But what if they don't break successfully like you said?"

"What do you think?" Adalo spoke as he motioned for Ezra to keep following him. After a few seconds waiting for Ezra's reply, he couldn't wait any longer, "They die."

Ezra's first class was taught by a class-six student with little to no patience for anything disruptive. It was a classroom structure with tables and chairs, one of the few that were apparently set up in this way. It was a history class, and Ezra quickly understood the structure of it. They learned a new lesson everyday, so if someone new were to arrive, like Ezra, they could jump right in without needing any previous material.

They spoke of times and rulers that Ezra had never even heard of, and he wasn't interested in hearing about them either. They explained how history was destroyed and re-written by the heroes with truths hidden behind biased standpoints. It didn't matter either way; Ezra was still not interested in the class.

When the class was over, he would it immediately odd how the structure was. They had taught history before breakfast was served, which confused Ezra beyond repair. Wouldn't someone focus more after eating food than before?

Ezra found himself walking to find an empty table, and found himself being pushed away immediately and being told where to go. Upon stopping at one table, he was given an immediately hostile response from a Gungan who spoke, "Wesa no want no unbroken Jedi here. Yousa go sit with other unbroken ones."

The teen was confused what he meant by unbroken ones, until he had walked up to what he hoped would be a comforting familiar face: Adalo. However, even he pushed Ezra away, "Look Dev, when the breaking process is done get back to me and maybe we'll have a spot. But for now go sit at those tables." The Twi'lek stretched his hand out towards a section of the cafeteria where everyone seemed to be quiet and secluded.

When Ezra walked over to one of the tables and asked to join, they didn't reply as much as they made an open seat for him. He thanked them and took his seat and began eating. The environment was unkind and the force felt wrong here. There was so much conflict and so much tension that it made Ezra want to run off and sit at Adalo's table regardless of what he protested with.

After a few moments of silence a voice broke through it with some sort of blessing, "Good luck."

Ezra looked up to find the source of the voice. It was a darker skinned female, who seemed to be maybe Sabine's age. The others at the table were looking at him and he just seemed to glance around confused before a chuckle from a Mirialan male next to him came and spoke, "He's really fresh off the boat, he doesn't even know yet."

"Wait, what are you wishing me good luck with?"

"The breaking process obviously." The darker-skinned girl replied with and motioned around, "Some of us have been here for weeks, some of us months, the luckiest of us years. We're all still holding on one way or another, waiting to see who breaks next. We hope yours is long and painless."

Ezra showed a visible shudder at that hope before a very pale skinned male human right next to him replied, "She meant quick and painless, long is never painless. Trust me, you don't want to be like Ydan, the Nautolan over there."

Ezra looked the direction the man had motioned towards and saw the Nautolan, who had bandages wrapping each of their head tentacles. They looked like they had been through a long war with all of the scratches and marks on their face. It almost looked beyond hope for him too; his eyes were filled with a sorrow unmatched by anyone Ezra could see. Ezra turned back towards the rest of the table and questioned, "How long has he been here?"

"Five years."

"And he hasn't broken?"

"Yeah, but not due to lack of trying."

There were six people at the table Ezra sat at, including himself. Each of them had some sort of lifelessness to them. A Rodian at the table couldn't stop holding his head and shaking, not really touching his food. The raven-haired teen was aware of how out of place he seemed at this table, and he was afraid of the day he wouldn't stand out.

After a bit of silence at the table, the Mirialan finally broke the ice, "Well, since you're with us for a while might as well introduce ourselves. My name's Sondwa Deerz. I've been here for three weeks but now I'm not the newbie... sorry you had to be the newbie."

The pale-human next to him nodded slightly and introduced himself, "Jacob Faagon. I've been here almost a year. Lived on Corusant before that. It's a fun place for corrupt politicians."

The rodian looked up and said his name so quickly Ezra didn't catch it at first, "Doomi."

Directly across from Sondwa was a female Twi'lek with red skin, who did a motion to her lips and pointed to her neck that had bandages, wrapped all around it.

"Oh yeah, that's Kimmel, she lost her voice during one of the breaking processes. Something about acid." Ezra's eyes widened but then Jacob punched Ezra's arm and replied, "I'm joking, they wouldn't make her swallow acid… they cut her throat instead." Which didn't comfort Ezra any more in any form.

The raven-haired teen shook to try and reach an emotional equilibrium before replying, "My name's Dev Morgan."

"And you're a padawan?" the Mirialan questioned almost immediately after. Ezra was thrown off for a moment because they didn't say former before saying padawan. He didn't verbalize a reply, he just nodded indicating it was the truth.

"That's upsetting."

Ezra looked over across the table at the dark-skinned female who just chimed in, "You're stuck here training to join the dark side when you obviously are a glimmer of hope in these times. Man, the more and more this stuff happens the more and more I hate the Empire."

"Oh hush you." Jacob chimed in, pointing the fork he ate with at the girl, "You came here with such a love for the Empire I though you'd have been broken the first day. What was that star cadet nonsense you were always spewing?"

The dark-skinned girl glared at him and answered, "So I had a change of heart, that's not what they usually expect around here."

Ezra took a couple of bites out of his food before he pointed to the girl, "You know, I didn't quite catch your name."

"Because I didn't say it yet." She brought her hand up to her chest and introduced herself, "My name is Dhara Leonis."