Once the crew had used up all the paint they had, they had to begin cleaning up Sabine's room of the spilled mess everywhere. It was more along the lines of they needed to clean themselves up then the room since Chopper thought it would be funny to spin with the remain paint around the room, splattering the whole crew with various paint colors.
While this caused Ezra to burst a gut laughing, Zeb began beating the droid as it attempted to wheel away. Eventually though after some more beatings to the droids chrome, they did wash up what had been paint splattered.
While Sabine and Ezra were washing their faces Ezra asked, "Can I ask you guys a question?" he asked
"Sure you can kid," Zeb said as he came into the room from cleaning himself up.
"What are you guys?" he asked curiously, "Like do you guys go around and save random people like me all the time, or…?"
"Sorry kid that's confidential," Zeb said jokingly only to get elbowed in the ribs by Sabine in a comical matter.
Sabine continued the explanation, "When we aren't saving little boy," Sabine said as she patted Ezra's head, "we spend the rest of our time stealing from the Empire and messing with them anyway we can while helping those affected by the Empire."
Ezra still looked a bit confused at her response, "So then what are you guys? If you steal that would make you criminals, but you guys seem too nice to be criminals."
"Were not really anything to be honest; I guess the best way to describe is we're a kind of a family, trying to put up the good fight against the Empire."
Sabine and Zeb though noticed Ezra looking a little downcast again. Sabine soon realized that the mention of 'family' may have caused him to remember the family that were taken from him. But before they could ask, Chopper came into the room beeping, "Kanan and Hera are coming up on the Horizon."
With that distraction, Ezra immediately perked back up, "Come on, come on! They're back, come on, hurry up!" Ezra said to Zeb and Sabine as he tried to drag the two by their hands. The whole time the Mandalorian and Lasat couldn't help but smile at the boy's innocent excitement of having Hera and Kanan come back.
As Kanan and Hera slowed down the speeder to walk it up the ramp Hera brought it up, "How are you going to do this?"
"We'll need to talk to Sabine and Zeb about it first, then we'll explain the situation gently to Ezra." Kanan explained.
"I just hope-," Hera began, only to be interrupted by a tiny human hugging their legs,
"Kanan, Hera, your back!" Ezra shouted as he gladly hugged them.
"Hey kid, did you miss us?" Kanan asked, jokingly, which Ezra picked up and replied,
"Eh, only a little bit." Causing both male humans to chuckle.
Hera bend down to Ezra's level to notice the difference in his attire, "wow, Sabine did a good job with the dyeing, I hardly recognized you." Hera smiled at Sabine, who blushed a little at Hera's praise.
Ezra smiled at the response, "Did you guys find anything?" Ezra asked.
"We found 'something'," Kanan replied as he got out the stuffed lothcat from his baster holster.
"Dev!" Ezra excitedly shouted as he snatched it from Kanan and began hugging Dev. Ezra then continued to hug Kanan's leg again, "Thank you".
"Hey, I told you I'd get him for you," Kanan said as he got down to Ezra's eye level, "Did you think I wouldn't"
Ezra though shook his head, earning a pat on the head from Kanan.
Hera then got an idea, "You know Dev looks just like a lothcat Kanan and I saw outside the Ghost." Hera said to Ezra.
"Really?" Ezra sked excitedly.
"How about this, why don't you and Chopper go find it and take a holo-image to show the others." Hera told Ezra, hoping the distraction would keep him out of the Ghost long enough to talk to the other about the situation.
"Okay, come on Chopper." Ezra said as he raced down the ramp followed by Chopper.
"Stay within view of the Ghost please." Hera hollered to them.
Just then Ezra hurried back on the ship and approached Hera again and asked, "Sabine said you know Fulcrum, is that true?"
Hera looked at Sabine and Zeb for a second quizzingly before telling Ezra, "Yes we do, why you ask?"
Just then Ezra reached into the heart shaped pouch on Dev and got out a datacard and gave it to Hera before telling them, "I think mom and dad would be okay if I gave you this."
Hera looked at the missing datacard from the house, as Hera was going to ask how Ezra knew about the datacard, Chopper beeped for Ezra to hurry up,
"Chopper wait for me." Ezra called out as he chased after the droid.
As Ezra and Chopper ran off Kanan expressed his shock, "Wow, I thought Ezra would be scared of Chopper forever."
"Well I guess splatting us with pain opens kids up to anyone, or anything," Zeb said, stilling picking some dried paint from his ear.
"So what happened, did Jho tell you where to find Tseboo?" Sabine asked anxiously.
This caused Kanan and Hera to look at each other upsettingly.
"What?" Sabine and Zeb asked them at the same time alarmed.
"We need to talk about that." Kanan replied as he headed to the common room followed by the others.
While Sabine scanned over the datacard Ezra had given the crew, Hera and Kanan told Sabine and Zeb about what Jho told them about "The Voices of Hope", the house, and the confrontation with the Rhodanian.
"So Tseboo just left Ezra to defend himself?" Sabine asked, disgusted by Tseboo's actions.
"Yeah," Hera replied quietly, still distraught about what Ezra had been through.
"That's it!" Zeb said as he grabbed his bo-rifle, "Where does this Rhodanian live, I would like to shove this rifle up his,-,"
"Zeb! That won't help." Kanan told the angry Lasat.
"Why not?" Zeb asked a little annoyed at not being able to smack the guy who left a little boy on the streets.
"Because we still don't know his address." Kanan replied, "Otherwise I would be leading the way." This caused the two men to smile a bit at each other as they agreed that the Rhodanian needed a smacking.
Sabine then was able to show the schematics from the datacard, "Whoa," was all she could say.
"What is it really that big?" Kanan asked.
"Yeah," Sabine said smiling at what she was looking at. "Imperial docking here, weapon and ship developments coming here to be constructed. This is like the mother load of imperial information."
"I already left a message for Fulcrum to drop if off. Fulcrum's men should be able to know what to do with sabotaging the plans." Hera explained
"All these plans and schematics, and the Bridger's left it in their son's toy." Sabine replied.
"You should have seen the house, it was completely overturned, and the imperials probably thought they wouldn't leave a datacard in the hands of a child. Let alone a child's toy."
"Are they really, 'gone'?" Sabine asked concerned.
Kanan answered this question gently, "All we really do know is that they were arrested and no one knows where they could be being held at. So, it's more along the lines that they are 'missing in imperial custody'."
Zeb just punched the wall, "Karabast! Can't anything go right for this kid?"
Hera seemed to smile at Zeb's concern for Ezra, "Seems you really care about him, and it's only been a day."
As Zeb blushed a bit, Sabine spoke up for both of them, "We have to admit, spending the day with him was fun, He's smart enough to know what we're talking about and fun enough to make us laugh. Overall, he's a pretty cool kid."
Zeb nodded at Sabine's statement in agreement, resulting in Hera to smile and reply,
"Good, because it looks like he will be staying here for a while."
"How long is a while? Zeb asked curiously.
Kanan took over telling the news, "Ezra will be joining our crew, as in we're taking him in." Kanan let that sink in for a bit before they continued the conversation.
Ezra saw the lothcats that Hera had mentioned, but with it getting dark, Ezra couldn't tell which one looked like Dev. Ezra looked at Dev over and back at the pack of wild cats before asking Chopper, "Can you shine a light on them please?
The droid turned a light on them, only for the lothcats to scatter and Chopper to chase after them chirping, "After those hairy beast!"
Ezra just laughed and smiled at the situation. For a moment he forgot about chasing the lothcats, lost in thought of the Crew.
Almost a day ago, he was beginning to lose hope that he was ever going to get out of the base. But then Kanan and the rest of the crew came and saved him, fed him, and spend time with him. Now they were helping him find Tseboo. At first he just thought they would ditch him somewhere, or that Chopper was going to hurt him. But then he sensed it, that vibe his mom and Kanan talked about; it helped him know that the crew were really trying to help him. Kanan's vibe though Ezra easily related to though, he couldn't explain it, but it was almost like the two were 'meant' to meet. It sounded weird but Ezra was happy he met Kanan and the others, for the first time in a year, things were finally starting to look up.
Chopper then came back from his chasing adventure with a Lothcat in one of his robot arms. Ezra looked at the cat and then at Dev, "hmm, this one doesn't have a heart shaped mark on his chest," Ezra replied, Chopper then put the cat down before going back to find the cat's only to be stopped by Ezra,
"Whoa, it's okay, I think the others want us back now, maybe we should call them and see if their done with their grown up meeting." Ezra told the droid. Hera hadn't fooled him, Ezra knew from his parents that when you send a kid to do something it meant, 'no kid's allowed meeting'.
Chopper was turning on the comlink installed in him when they heard Kanan talking on the other end.
"Everyone is too scared to keep him," Kanan said on the other end of the comlink, not knowing that Chopper and Ezra were listening. Ezra was about to say hi when Kanan continued saying,
"Tseboo went out of his way to avoid taking Ezra in, fearing that having him around will lead to trouble. That is exactly what everyone has been doing with him, avoiding him like the plague. Guys no one-,"
Chopper finally was able to turn it off before Kanan could say anything else, but the damage was done.
Ezra's heart shattered, "Tseboo doesn't want me?" was all he could mutter at the moment. It all began to make sense now, why he couldn't find him sooner, or why he didn't hear about a Tseboo trying to find him on the streets.
Ezra began shaking, with tear's beginning to stream down his face, 'No one wants him', that's what Kanan was saying. That's what they had to be talking about; how they were going to get rid of him.
"Fine with me!" Ezra cried out as he ran as far away as he could. He could hear Chopper trying to chase after him but Ezra was too fast. Something you developed on streets.
"The streets are the only place I belong now," Ezra sadly thought to himself as tears and snot were streaming down his face as he ran to the only place he could go to now.
"I really thought they were different. Why can't I realize that I can't trust anyone? No matter how nice they seem, in the end no one wants me, Kanan said it himself."
"No, No, No way!" Zeb hollered at Kanan and Hera about the idea of Ezra staying with them. "You mates have to be joking right?"
"We're serious Zeb, we have to," Hera replied a little disappointed that Zeb was not on board with the plan, "I thought you liked Ezra?"
"Of course we all like him, but have you guys thought this idea through?" Zeb asked.
"We have," Kanan answered, "That's why he has to stay with us."
Zeb went on, "If you guys really had thought this through then you would realize how dangerous it is for him to be with us. On a daily bases we steal from imperials, get shot at by the Empire, and get into crazy missions that are dangerous even for us!"
"Zeb's right," Sabine chimed in, "Guys, we are rebels. Thieving, killing troopers, and 'blowing everything related to them up' up rebels. We're not baby sitters." Sabine finished, looking unhappy at her response, clearly showing that she did not want to part with Ezra, but fearing they had to.
Hera pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed the two were arguing with her about something that cannot be argued with. "Guys we need to all be on board with this, and I'm not changing my mind about it.
Zeb had to bring it up, "There has to be another place to bring him."
"Like where?' Hera asked.
"Tarkintown?" Sabine added.
"Sabine? The homeless town? Really?" Hera asked
"I know the location isn't ideal, but lots of former farmer there take in orphaned kids. It wouldn't be hard to find someone to take in Ezra." Sabine pointed out, "And we always go there to drop off food, so we could visit him whenever we want."
Sabine waved his hand towards Sabine, "See, why can't we do that?" Zeb asked.
"Because he's force-sensitive," Kanan stated before he continued, "If we drop Ezra off at Tarkintown and the Inquisitor senses him there, he will burn the town to the ground just to get to Ezra."
Sabine and Zeb were silenced by this statement, as it blew a hole in any plan to put Ezra somewhere safer than the Ghost.
"One thing I learned about being force sensitive in a Empire ruled Galaxy is that you have to keep moving," Kanan pointed out, "and sense we are always on the move anyhow, it makes sense for him to join us."
Zeb still pointed out the obvious, "It's still dangerous for him to stay with us."
"It is," Hera admitted, "But it's more dangerous for him to be anywhere else."
Sabine asked as a last resort question, "There really isn't no one else? Relative, other friends of the Bridger's?"
Kanan shook his head as he continued his explanation, "Ezra would have mentioned if there was anyone else, and he said last night that everyone his parents knew ignored him. The sad fact is this; everyone is too scared to keep him. Tseboo went out of his way to avoid taking Ezra in, fearing that having him around will lead to trouble. That is exactly what everyone has been doing with him, avoiding him like the plague. Guys no one but us are willing to and capable of take care of this kid. He needs us."
Again the room went silent when Sabine asked, "How would this work with missions, he can't go with us on them?"
Zeb just look at the Mandalorian shocked and feeling betrayed by Sabine changing sides on the debate, "Sabine?"
"Well I'm on the ship most of the time, so he'll stay on board on me and in worst case scenario we keep Chopper on board to look after him." Hera explained.
Zeb again tried to argue but went unheard by the others planning.
"Are we going to like train him to be a rebel?" Sabine asked excitedly. But Zeb argued that idea.
"Why would we train him to be a rebel, he's just a kid."
Sabine looked at the Lasat, arms crossed with an angry face, "So what if he's just a kid?"
Zeb then realized his mistake with what he said, "Sabine, you and Ezra are totally different."
"No were not," Sabine argued, "I was on my own to for a while after I ran away from the academy. I was twelve when I joined you guys, and as I remember, you were my advocate for letting me join the crew and taking part in the rebellion." This remark finally shut Zeb up when it came to arguing about Ezra staying with them. Sabine continued with her argument, "Besides it'd not like were taking in some dumb kid; Ezra was able to tell how long he was held captive by just the moon, and is able to figure things out pretty quickly for someone his age."
Zeb finally let out a huff in submission, "He's going to have to stay in my room, isn't he?"
Hera responded with a smile and reasoning, "Well you are the only one with the extra bunk."
Zeb rolled his eyes, "Fine, but let's make it clear, if the kid gets hurt while he is with us, it's not my fault."
Hera just smiled, "We're all on board so I'm fine with it," she said as she hugged Zeb for finally making the choice unanimous.
"Um I think we still need to ask someone else." Kanan pointed out.
Hera began to point out, "I pretty sure Chopper will-,"
"I think Kanan means we should ask Ezra if he is okay with staying with us. The kid should feel like he has a choice." Sabine responded.
"Oh, okay. Yeah we should probably do that." Hera responded. Hera was about to grab her comlink to radio Ezra and Chopper to come back when Chopper rolled in frantically spinning his chrome.
"Chopper what is it? Where's Ezra?" Kanan asked the droid only to be repeatedly rammed into the shin by Chopper, who was chirping frantically.
Hera then translated freaked out, "Wait, why did Kanan make Ezra run off did?"
Kanan's heart stop, "What did I-,"
Chopper then replayed the part that Ezra heard. When the replaying ended, everyone was glaring at Kanan, disappointed and angry.
"You guys were here, that part was taken out of context!" Kanan argued, panicked that Ezra had run off.
Hera was freaking out that little Ezra ran off, "Still he heard about Tseboo in the worst way! Now he probably thinks we lied or something! We have to go find him!"
Kanan asked, "Where would he possibly go though?"
At those words, Sabine ran to her room, followed by the others. Sabine then went through all the drawings that Ezra drew earlier and found the one she was looking for.
"Here," Sabine said as she pointed to the drawing of Ezra with his parents and the tower. "Ezra said he and his parents used to go there. It's familiar to him, I bet he's going there."
"It kind of looks like an old communication tower." Kanan pointed out.
"The one right outside the city!" Hera realized. "We passed on our way back here. It's only a klick away from here."
"Then let's go." Kanan said, then he noticed another piece of Ezra's art on the floor, "Why are Hera and I holding hands?" Kanan asked Sabine, only to get smacked in the back of the head by Hera.
"Really?" Hera asked annoyed.
"Right, sorry." Kanan apologized as the crew headed to the speeders.
"Chopper, stay here, just in case Ezra comes back on his own for some reason." Hera ordered as she grabbed driver's seat on the Speeder.
The Droid beeped in agreement, and with that the crew headed out to find their little friend.
Everything hurt; his legs from running so much, his head from all the confusing, his chest from breathing too heavily and his heart from being crushed by the betrayal. But Ezra kept running further from the Ghost and closer to his tower. Suddenly Ezra tripped and fell to the ground, falling on his sprained wrist and scrapping his knee.
"Ow!" Ezra cried again, holding his already wrapped up wrist. Trying to forget Hera's gentle hands wrapping it up for him. "She didn't care, none of them did, they were just pretending." Ezra thought to himself bitterly. Ezra then noticed his bleeding knee through his ripped up cloth of his suit.
Out of anger, Ezra ripped of the rest of the lower pants. Once his lower right leg was ripped up and showed his boot, he just hugged his knees to his chest and began crying again.
He knew he had to get to his tower before it got cold, but what was left for him there. Nothing. No one to talk to or be with; except for Dev, but he didn't offer any words. There was no warmth or comfort. Only cold and loneliness awaited Ezra, this only made him cry harder.
Ezra then sensed something dark approaching. At first Ezra didn't care, his vibe was wrong about the crew, why should he trust it again. Bu then he heard a speeder coming towards him. He turned around and saw at least four coming his way.
Ezra could barely make out the Imperial sign on the head speeders bike before he began to bolt towards his tower. He tried to run as fast as he could, he could actually see his tower, but he wasn't fast enough. The Imperial scooped him up around his chest as the speeders continued to speed up.
Ezra screamed at being taken by an imperial, "Let me go!"
"I don't think so Jabba," said the cold voice Ezra recognized as the one who brought him to the Inquisitor all those months ago; Kallus had captured him again. Ezra wasn't going to have that happen. Just as Kallus turned to one of the troopers to give them an order, Ezra bit him as hard as he could in the arm until he could taste blood.
"Ahh!" Kallus shouted as he dropped Ezra back on to the ground from the fast moving speeder. Ezra only had a few seconds to compose himself before he began running for his life again, back to the tower.
"Stupid brat!" Kallus yelled as he stopped his speeder followed by the other troopers. One of them was about to fire when Kallus held his hand up, "No, wait!" Kallus said as he grabbed his own gun, "I'm taking the shot." Kallus replied coldly.
Kallus didn't care about the Inquisitors orders at this point. He was too tired from his search for the damn kid to give a crap. He aimed his gun at the kid, having a clear shot of the kid. Then a shot was fired.
A/N: I would like to address something something important; The argument scene of keeping Ezra is the reason why I wrote this story in the first place. I love all the young Ezra AU stories, but My only complaint about them is they never really have that discussion of keeping Ezra. I feel like if Ezra was younger they all would have a serious talk about keeping a kid, he's not a droid, a kid is a lot of work to raise. So I am overall glad with How I wrote that scene into this story.
I hope no one is too mad about Ezra's misinterpretation of Kanan's words. But lets face it, seeing Ezra hurt is what everyone wants for some odd twisted reason.
So lets see how long I will leave you all hanging from this cliffhanger before I add the last chapter of this suspenseful and fluffy tale. Also thank you all for your reviews, they all are great and encourage me.
