**Hey guys! I sent the wrong story! Here's the actual edited final draft! Sorry!** ~Ocean
Chapter 7: In The End
"You doing alright Kid?" Zeb said gruffly over his comlink.
They had got separated during the current mission when Ezra shut the door of the hall to keep Stormtroopers from getting to Zeb and the supply crate he was towing. The youth was currently in the air ducts trying to get back to where he was supposed to be. His mind was becoming clouded; he wanted to give up. He had failed again.
He felt a small, gentle push from his master's force signature reassuring him that everything was fine. Kanan had felt his student's mind slipping. These days he was frequently having to do this but he was willing to.
"Yeah Spectre 4, I'm fine. Almost to you." He responded. Shortly after, he reached the vent opening and jumped down landing softly next to Zeb and his master, who had shown up.
"Do you have the disc Spectre 6?" The leader asked casually. Ezra took a holo disc from his pocket and flipped it up so Kanan could see, grinning.
"Right here Spectre 1." He pocketed it again waiting for his next orders.
"Great, let's get out of here." The alarms were going off and as they moved down the halls they were having to take out Imperial troops. Kanan had actually missed this; missions were no fun if there wasn't risk involved. Getting to take out troopers was an added bonus.
"Spectre 2, we're ready for that pick up a little earlier than intended." The Jedi stated as he took out an imperial by deflecting a blaster shot back at him.
"Maybe if you don't alert the whole base love you wouldn't need such a quick pick up and you would be able to meet me at the rendezvous point. I'll be there as soon as I can shake these TIEs" Ezra heard her voice.
He dropped his head slightly blaming himself for causing the whole base to sound the alarm. Kanan sensed this and as they reached the outside of the base, he stopped so they could catch their breath and wait. He fried the door controls so the troops would have to move around the long way to get to them.
"It's not your fault Ezra." He knew the youth didn't believe him. They would talk later, for now they had more pressing matters.
Sabine dropped down from above.
"I have the detonations planted. Just say the word and this place will light up. I see you guys ran into trouble." The Mando exclaimed with childlike excitement.
"No, not trouble. Just some unexpected guests. Nothing we can't handle." Kanan said defensively. He knew that Ezra was sensitive to things that were said still. He wasn't up for their normal sarcastic banter back and forth; he was taking it too personally.
Ezra looked up as Hera swooped down landing gracefully opening the ramp. The rebels started to run for it. Hera came down the ramp providing back up as the Stormtroopers started flooding in from the side. Kanan noticed that Ezra was lagging as he continued to try and fend off the bucket heads.
Hera had gone back in to take off, the ramp started to shut as she lifted into the air.
"Come on kid!" Ezra turned to look at him, nodding and running towards them, jumping on to the ramp, sliding in before it shut. This was his first mission back, he wanted to show everyone he could do things right and he had failed again.
As he stood up, Ezra felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. It was slightly comforting, but foreboding at the same time.
"Let's talk." Kanan kept his voice low as he left the cargo hold.
Ezra just nodded mutely following his master up and onto the top of the ship leaving Zeb and Sabine behind wondering what happened. Ezra walked towards the cockpit windows watching the clouds as they passed through them. He crossed his arms to guard himself from the wind and his feelings. At least they weren't battling anymore, Hera was too high up to be spotted by TIEs, so she continued to just cruise.
Ezra sensed Kanan walk up behind him but didn't turn around.
"You did really good Ezra." Kanan smiled, he had been working hard to make sure his student was praised often. He saw his student look down. The smile left him and was replaced with a frown.
"I messed up…I got separated and that cost us time…We could have been out sooner..." He grabbed his elbow with the opposite hand.
"We could have, but we weren't." The Jedi stepped next to him looking in the same direction. He sighed. He felt like this was the hundredth time explaining this to Ezra, but he would do it a thousand more times if that's what it took for the youth to understand.
"We don't expect perfection Ezra. I don't expect perfection. My master always told me that perfection can destroy you. When you make mistakes, you are learning. If you don't make them, then I have nothing left to teach you." He spoke calmly continuing to stare ahead.
"But I still have so much to learn from you master. I hardly know anything." Ezra looked over to him in disbelief.
"And I'm learning alongside you Ezra. I learn many skills from you and because of you, I strive to do my best so that I can in turn teach what I know to you." Kanan tried his best to sound like his master. He knew that he was nowhere close; he could never really master speaking like a Jedi Master. Their words still confused him most of the time.
"I guess I just don't want to disappoint you…" The youth looked down again ashamed. Kanan turned to him.
"Then just be yourself Ezra. I'm proud of you for who you are. I don't want some perfectionist student. You bring so much life to this crew. Without you here, life would get rather dull. You just have to remember that everyone messes up. Zeb lets his anger get to him and acts before he thinks, Hera miscalculates mission stats, Sabine let's her heritage best her sometimes, and I make bad decisions on missions and I tend to act harshly when I'm frustrated. If we didn't make mistakes, we wouldn't be who we are." Ezra relaxed a little, Kanan gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"Yeah, I guess everything would be boring…But how do I know if I make a bad mistake? I still don't want to…" Kanan felt that he had almost broken through the barrier of Ezra's mind, he interrupted his student calmly.
"I will tell you if you have made a mistake that should not have been made. That's my job as your master, to teach and show you the right way. It's your job though, to learn from your mistakes and do what you can to fix them. As far as I can tell, you already do that." Ezra nodded staying silent for a while.
Kanan sighed thinking he didn't get his message across once again. It had been too jumbled and he rambled too much. It was hard addressing this situation. Jedi never acted like this, suicide was prohibited. He wasn't going to shut Ezra out because of it though. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he lost the kid.
"Thanks Kanan…" He looked over to his student. Ezra still didn't feel like his normal self, but Kanan's words comforted him somehow.
"It's going to take time for things to go back to normal isn't it?" He asked quietly.
"It will, and things will never be exactly the same. What happened has reshaped your destiny. Just know that we're a family Ezra." Kanan moved and put his arm around Ezra's shoulders in a comforting hug.
"And we'll be there for you no matter what." Hera walked up behind them to the other side of the youth and mimicked Kanan's gesture. Hera rested her head against Ezra's in a motherly way to reassure him that she would never leave him.
"Yeah kid, can't get rid of us that quickly." Came the Lesat's gruff voice behind them.
"We'll always be a family." Sabine chimed in. Chopper whirled his own sentimental words at the youth.
Ezra relaxed into the embraces of his surrogate parents as he watched the sky change colors as night began to fall. He knew that in the end, everything was going to be fine as long as he had his family.
"So did you ever tell Kanan what happened?" The words slipped out before Ezra could stop himself. He felt Kanan tense a little.
"What happened? Hera, what's he talking about?" Kanan gave Hera a questioning look. Ezra realized that his answer was 'no'.
"Well, hate to leave this sentimental gathering but I uh, promised chopper another oil bath. See ya." Ezra bolted heading for the hatch hopping down and disappearing.
"Yeah, I have to finish some repairs." Sabine didn't want to be around when Kanan was addressed about the damage. Her wrist still hurt, but Kanan had already apologized. He didn't know about the door though.
She followed suit along with the other two leaving Kanan and Hera on top alone. When it came to Hera's ship, everyone knew the consequences of damaging it. The wrath of a Twi-lek was not to be handled lightly.
The older male chuckled along with Hera.
"Just kidding. I know what happened. I'm still sorry about that." Him and the Twi-lek had already spoken about the situation involving a costly door repair.
"I know, but I'm going to keep reminding you until you finish paying off that door Kanan Jarrus." Hera smirked turning and heading for the hatch as well.
"I know I know." He continued to talk and apologize as Hera flashed him another smile disappearing down the hatch.
The Jedi smiled and shook his head following her back into the ship. Shortly after, he heard a loud crash followed by shouting and yelling before the normal train of pissed off spectres running down the hall passed him.
Maybe things would never be the same, but it would be close enough. The Jedi smiled and made for the cockpit to prepare for their next mission.
