"Latching to the airlock," Hera calls through the COM as the Ghost locks the escape pod to the airlock. Ezra feels the small escape pod shake as the air decompresses and the door opens. Ezra is met with an empty hallway.
"So much for a warm welcome..." He mumbles, walking towards the Ghost's common room. As he enters, he's met with an angry Sabine lecturing to an apologetic Zeb.
"You know I can't fix droids! And what was I supposed to do? Hand hold the rust bucket?" Sabine rolls her eyes, scoffing.
"Hera had told you to get to the Phantom!" She shoots back.
"I was asleep!" Yelling, the two hadn't noticed Ezra come in.
"You know if you do this..." Ezra speaks up, connecting two different wires and replacing a panel, Chopper turns on, scaring Sabine. He begins to speak droid quickly, sticking out his droid arm. Ezra laughs. "Hey, hey. It's okay Chopper. You're on the Ghost bud. You're good." As Chopper begins to chill out, both Hera and Kanan come into the common room.
"Where'd you learn to do that? Thought you were a TIE pilot in the Empire?" Hera asks. Ezra knows that she means well, feeling the immense curiosity coming off her, but below that, it almost felt like a jab. Ezra thought he had gained her trust. Seems his little escape made the trust take two steps back.
"Hera! You don't just ask someone that!" Sabine hisses, giving Hera a look. Ezra turns and looks at her, smiling.
"It's fine, Sabine. She's just curious." Sabine stares at him and scoffs, but doesn't say anything else. He turns back to Hera but stares at Chopper, the droid also 'talking' to her about asking someone that. They may take offense. "Yes, I was a pilot, but after I escaped the Empire, traveling planet to planet, I came across a moon where I learned from someone there that taught me how to fix droids and I worked with them until the Empire came to grow some crop used in their nutritional supplements. They came because they thought it was expendable." He spits the word out like it was poison, face angry. "As their nutrition grew, it took nutrients out of the soil. It began to become useless. The farmers couldn't grow anything. And, no surprise, the Empire did not provide any kind fertilizer to help us...them. Nothing to help them." Ezra growls. Kanan steps forward, trying to calm the boy down.
"Ezra, it's alright. Just, take a deep breath." Kanan takes a deep breath and Ezra follows, his not so smooth and even like his. Taking a shaky breath and letting it out, clenching and unclenching his fists, he sits down, rubbing his head.
"I'm sorry. It's just..." Ezra sighs. "Anyways, I found out where the wookiees are actually being held. If we change our course now, we can get to them in time." As the crew sits there in silence, Chopper pipes up with a,
"Where?"
"The spice mines of Kessel." And Zeb says what everybody is thinking.
"Karabast."
"Go, go, go!" Kanan yells, steadying himself with the help of the Ghosts' walls as it moves side to side, shaking as it's shot with blasters. As Ezra, Zeb, and Sabine jump out of the Ghost, Kanan not too far behind, the four crouch down behind a wall of crates. TIEs go after the Ghost, so Hera has to turn away from the battle, not giving the rebels cover. Kanan quickly grabs his COM.
"Hera?"
"I couldn't maintain position." Kanan clenches his jaw.
"Give yourself some maneuvering room. We still need to get to the wookiees." Kanan looks back above the crates and ducks before his head is shot off.
"I am not leaving you behind!" Hera yells. Ezra looks towards the sky as a boom comes from above them.
"No, you're not. We're running a 22- Pickup." Sabine groans and Zeb's ears flatten.
"Alright. I'll be back. Signal me when you're ready." Kanan puts his COM away and looks towards a group of cargo container's, seeing if any of them could hold a number of wookiees and the rebels. Ezra begins to think of a plan, knowing Kanan won't in time.
"Hey, Zeb," Ezra says, looking over at the lasat, smiling.
"What?" He asks, annoyed.
"Be careful. Don't wanna carry your body out, yeah?" Zeb scoffs, but Ezra sees, and feels, a quick flash of fear come from the older man. Ezra peaks between crates, the small gap abling him to see how the stormtroopers had put themselves between the rebels and the wookiees. He grumbles and looks at the crew, trying their best to keep their arms and blasters up.
"What are we going to do?" Sabine yells over the blaster fire. Ezra looks at Kanan and realizes that none of the rebels have a new plan, even though Kanan is the king of new plans. He scolds the man and stands up.
"I'll cover you guys. Sabine, get the cuffs off the wookiees." He pulls a lock-picker from his pocket and tosses it to Sabine. "Kanan, cover me. Zeb, make sure none of the younger wookiees runoff."
"What are you going to do?" Zeb yells but starts to move towards the wookiees anyways along with Sabine. When he doesn't reply, Kanan asks.
"Ezra?" He looks at the three.
"What I have to." Kanan immediately knows and tries to stop him, but Zeb and Sabine look at each other questioningly. Standing up, Ezra walks around the crates and puts himself between the rebels and the stormtroopers, more coming from the facility, along with Agent Kallus. He holsters his blaster and dodges blaster fire, a quick blast of heat every two seconds on his face, and walks towards the troopers.
Kallus holds up a hand, confused and interested in what he is going to do. Reaching behind his back at his waist, he pulls his lightsaber out, igniting it. Everybody holds their breath and the air stills. Kallus looks surprised, but it is quickly gone, and the troopers look at each other in confusion.
"Focus your fire on... on the traitor," Kallus yells. Immediately, Ezra blocks shot after shot and hopes the rebels finish quick enough to let him stop. It had been a long enough time of defense practice for him, but he wasn't going to let them do what they were to the wookiees.
Out of his peripheral vision, he sees Sabine and Zeb dealing with the wookiees, but doesn't see any blaster fire from Kanan. Just about to turn around, and most likely get shot, he sees a blue hue come next to him and smirks as a surprised look, and also one of fear crosses Kallus' face.
"Thought I told you to cover me!" Ezra yells, but he smiles.
"I am!" Kanan yells back. As the troopers fire at both of them, not even looking at the wookiees, Sabine signals them that they're ready by throwing the smoke bomb between Kanan, Ezra, and the troopers. Ezra and Kanan immediately turn off their lightsabers and run towards Sabine, Zeb, and the wookiees. As they reach the group, Zeb helping the wookiees in, Ezra feels panic coming off Zeb.
"Zeb, what happened?"
"One of the kids got away!" He hells, helping the last of the wookiees into the cargo container. Ezra stares at him in disbelief.
"Zeb-"
"He got scared! One of the troopers spotted him and he started running!" He looked at Ezra, panic visible in his eyes. Ezra sighs in anger.
"I'll find him. Sabine, track my COM's signature." Sabine nods and climbs into the container, following Zeb, as Kanan follows the two inside, shutting it.
"Hera," He speaks into his COM. "It's time. They need the pickup."
"What about you?"
"I have a Wookiee to pick up. Sabine's tracking my COM's signal."
"Alright. Coming in for pickup."
With protection from the smoke bomb still helping the rebels, Ezra is able to sneak past them and find the lost Wookiee, cornered by a stormtrooper.
"Hey!" Ezra yells, making sure both the trooper and the Wookiee hears him. The trooper turns around and trains his blaster on him, but Ezra can tell that he was shaking. "Walk away! Or I'll make sure you know what it's like to work down there!" He nods his head to the bottom of the mines, the fall nearly hundreds of feet. The trooper raises his blaster to Ezra, making sure the shot will go through him. Ezra sighs. "Fine." Ezra sticks his hand out before the trooper can fire and lifts them off the ground, throwing them behind Ezra, knocking him unconscious long enough for Ezra and the young Wookiee to get out.
"Going somewhere, traitor?" Ezra tenses as he hears Kallus' voice. "I lost you once. It won't happen again." Ezra puts on a stoic face before turning around.
"You say that, but you will."
"Two men playing with lightsabers. You don't find a pair like that much these days. And it seems as if you have made friends with those rebels."
"I don't know where you get your delusions, Kallus. But I work alone." The hairs on the back of Ezra's neck stand up as the Ghost flies up to his left, startling both Kallus and him.
"Not this time! Kid, jump!" Ezra quickly grabs the Wookiee, pushing Kallus away, and jumps onto the hull of the Ghost. Kanan quickly grabs him, pulling him into the Ghost from the emergency hatch on top. Closing it, he COM's Hera to tell her she can leave the atmosphere.
"Come on, Kitwar," Ezra whispers to the young Wookiee, setting him down. "Let's go join the group, yeah? Let's go see Wullffawarro." The Wookiee growls in agreement, smiling. The three go towards the airlock where the Wookiees had stayed until Kanan and Ezra got back with Wullffawarro's son, Kitwar.
When they reach the group, Kitwar immediately spots his father and growls, gaining his attention. He waves his arms and runs over to the ladder, sliding down it, and runs over to his father.
Ezra smiles as Wullffawarro embraces his son, but a memory of his father hugging him before he was shot plays through his head. Kanan puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, seeing and feeling the shift in Ezra's attitude. Ezra smiles over at him and nods, saying he was fine.
He walks away, Kanan's hand falls off his shoulder, and Ezra walks towards the nose turret. As he walks into the room, the blue space speeding past them as they go through hyperspace to get the Wookiees to an area they could go home.
Ezra sits on the chair and lays his head back, sighing.
"I thought you'd be excited to go home," Ezra scoffs, turning his head towards Sabine, the young Mandalorian sneaking into the small space.
"The wookiees gone?" Ezra questions. Sabine nods.
"Just left. Kitwar was asking for you. Wanted to tell you 'thank you'." Sabine leans against the chair, crossing her arms as she looks out at open space.
"For what?" Ezra asks, generally curious. His confused face looks at her astonished face.
"For saving him?"
"We all did."
"You did."
"I just got him home."
"You saved him!"
"I can't save anyone! Not even myself! How could have I saved Kitwar?" Ezra says before he can stop himself. Sabine looks at him, both surprised and scared.
"You can't mean that," She says, shaking her head.
"Sabine, my time at the Empire wasn't a good one." He doesn't even look at her face, afraid that she'll see him for who he truly was-is. Who he truly is. "I hurt people. I killed people." Ezra was afraid he'd start crying, so he just stayed quiet.
"Do you regret it?" She asks, voice quiet. Ezra nods. "Then you didn't just kill them, Ezra. You were given orders to do so. You were just following orders. Just being a good little soldier." She spits, the words seeming as if they were venom on her tongue.
"I still have blood on my hands, Sabine. I can't change that. You can't change that. No matter how hard you, or I, try."
"You're right. We can't change the past. But we can try to change the future." She looks over at him, smiling. Ezra doesn't look at her. "Ezra," She says, finally gaining his attention. The boy looks at her with empty eyes and an emotionless face. "We're leaving for Lothal soon. You have time to think."
"About what?"
"Whether or not you want to change your future." Walking out of the small space, leaving Ezra to his thoughts, neither of the two had noticed Hera above them, listening to the two as they talk. She sighs, walking of the cockpit to find Kanan.
Knocking on Kanan's door, it opens. She watches as Kanan continues to meditate.
"What's wrong with Ezra? Since he left us with the wookiees, I haven't been able to sense him at all. He's cut himself off."
"He's doubting himself. Kanan, you have to go talk to him. Before it's too late." She pleads, still standing at the door's entrance.
"He doesn't want to talk to me." Hera watches as his shoulders slump a little. Living with him for so long, she knows exactly how he's feeling.
"Kanan, you're the only one who will be able to get through to him."
"How?" He asks, finally opening his eyes to meet hers.
"You both saw someone you loved die. You both had to do things to survive. You're both...you." Kanan sighs, shaking his head. "You need to talk to him. I'm about to enter hyperspace. You have until we reach Lothal." As she leaves, Kanan sighs, knowing he has to at least try. Rising from his spot, legs a little numb, he makes his way towards the nose turret.
"Ezra?" He asks, making his presence known.
"Not now, Kanan. Please." Ezra says, voice almost... defeated.
"Ezra...look. I know what it's like. Believe me."
"How?" He asks, voice choking. "How could you know what it's like to be torn from what you called a home? To watch as people you cared about and people you don't even know killed in front of you or by your own hand? How could you know what it's like to be all alone having a bounty on your head?" Kanan walks closer to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder, closing his eyes.
"Because I was you." Ezra gasps as images flash through his head. A child, no younger than him, watches as a woman is blasted to death, telling the boy to run. He watches as the boy steal a ship, going through hyperspace as the Holocron in his hand plays a message too late and is attacked by stormtroopers in the space outside of a planet, the word Courasaunt in his subconscious. He watches as the boy rejects a Kalleran named Janus, who had offered him a crew and a home. Kanan lifts his hand off Ezra's shoulder and takes a deep breath. "Just because we did not experience them in the same way, it does not mean we did not experience them. We mean well, Ezra when we say we want you to be a part of our crew. Our family." Ezra turns and steps off the seat, looking at Kanan.
"I have no family." Walking out of the room, Ezra goes to the room he shared with Kanan. Holding back tears, he starts to gather the things he brought and leaves behind the things he was given.
Landing on Lothal, Hera sighs, turning towards Kanan.
"Did you talk to him?" The man nods solemnly. "Kanan, you have to try!"
"Try? I've already tried Hera!"
"Well try harder!" She yells, making Kanan looked at her in shock.
"Fine." He relents.
Ezra slides down the ladder of the Ghost into the cargo bay. He smiles at Chopper, the poor droid getting fixed by Sabine, the damage from the attack still not quite fixed. The droid waves at him with his arm and Ezra nods, but then turns away, not even glancing at Sabine, the girl frowning. Going up to Zeb, he says like he has to say some sort of goodbye.
"See you around?" Ezra says, crossing his arms. Zeb laughs.
"Not if we see you first." He punches Ezra's arm, earning a small grunt from the boy.
"Unlikely," He says, turning towards the open cargo bay door, wanting to rub the spot Zeb had punched him. His hands twitch, but years of learning the hard way made them stay where they were. Zeb looks at him, saddened by the coldness of the boy. Sabine and Zeb's head turn towards Kanan as he slides down the ladder. Before Ezra got too far, Kanan called out to him.
"You're just going to leave?" The two stand just outside of the Ghost. Just far enough that neither Sabine nor Zeb could hear the two. "Thought you'd at least stay a little longer." Ezra scoffs.
"I told you. I work alone." He turns to leave, but Kanan stops him.
"I know that's what you want to think, kid, but you and I know that you're running." Ezra flinches, clenching his jaw. "You're just running now like you did when your parents-" Kanan swallows the next words due to the fact there was a lightsaber at his throat.
"Pick your next works very carefully, Jarrus," Ezra says, voice low and menacing. Kanan stares at him with a blank face. He knows he's walking on thin ice, but he needs Ezra at his most vulnerable to get the idea of people supporting him through his (very) thick skull. There may have been a better way to do this, but they didn't exactly have the time.
"You think that being alone will protect you."
"It will. It has. Alone is what I have. It protects me."
"Friends and family protect each other, Ezra." Ezra takes away the lightsaber from Kanan's throat, guessing he won't go that far.
"Last time I check, we are neither friends nor family." Kanan scoffs.
"Last time I checked, we were."
"What Lothal grass have you been eating? I work alone. Always have, always will."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't care." Ezra turns to leave, but ducks as a lightsaber is swung at his head. Turning to look at Kanan, he sees the man smirking in ready position. Ezra growls. "Karabast! What the blast Jarrus!"
"Fight. If I win, you stay. If I lose, you can leave." Ezra laughs, standing up.
"I don't make deals with people when I know I'll win." Kanan smiles.
I've got him.
"So sure?" Ezra scoffs.
"You know what, I've got nothing better to do. And I'm a little rusty." Rolling his head around, he places the small backpack he was carrying near a rock. He grabs his lightsaber and ignites it. "Let's do this." As Ezra stands in ready position, Kanan stands up, lifting the saber to his face. Ezra does the same and the two return to their original positions. The two circle each other, wanting to see who would make the first move. Kanan smirks as Ezra jumps at him. Blocking his attack, which was much stronger than Kanan anticipated, he shoves Ezra to the side. He quickly rolls and gets back on his feet.
Now it was Kanan's turn.
Running towards Ezra, Kanan switches his saber to his left while both of his hands are on his lightsaber and when he is just about to strike diagonally from the right, he grabs his blaster and fires at the boy. Ezra easily blocks the shots and jumps to the side, avoiding the swing Kanan prepared. He pulls the blaster from his hand and throws it... somewhere...
Ezra smirks.
"That all you got?" Kanan laughs mockingly.
"I'm just warming up." Kanan runs at him, faking one swing for another and ends up with the higher ground, pushing his saber against Ezra's. Struggling to keep from Kanan from pushing on him, Ezra turns off his lightsaber and rolls to the side, narrowly dodging Kanan's lightsaber. Quickly getting back up, he tries to kick Kanan low, but he jumps. He tries to kick his middle, but he dodges that too. So, Ezra kicks high, but fakes it, going middle so instead of Kanan pulling his torso back, he pulls his head back, leaving his middle exposed. Landing the kick, Ezra smirks as Kanan's saber is deactivated and he falls with one knee on the ground.
"I've won."
"Not quite!" Ezra's eyes widen as he quickly does a 180 and blocks two shots coming from Sabine. He looks back at Kanan, the man smiling as he rises. "This is cheating! You said just you!"
"In fights, nothing is really considered cheating, Ezra." Ezra groans.
"Fine." Ezra lifts his hand up and Sabine drops her blasters, clawing at her throat. "You wanna play dirty? I'll play dirty." Kanan's eyes widen, realizing what he had just done. Yelling, he goes for the boy, but Ezra stops him, using the Force to also put him in a Force chokehold. He throws the two towards the Ghost and releases the hold. "You cannot fight dirty when you do not know what dirty is." Ezra walks towards his bag and picks it up. Slinging it over his shoulder, with his tower in his sights, he walks away. Before he gets too far, he looks back at the Ghost crew, seeing that Hera had joined a very worried Zeb, making sure Kanan and Sabine were okay.
"Good luck saving the universe." And with that, he waved to the four and continued his walk to the tower.
When Ezra arrives at the tower, already up the rising platform, he knows something is wrong. Hand reaching towards his side, he pulls his lightsaber from where it was hanging and hovers his finger over the ignition button. Closing his eyes, he senses for any lifeforms, but can't find any. Inching towards the door, he opens it but stays to the side in case any blaster fire was to meet him. When none comes, he pokes his head around the corner. Making sure nobody is in the tower, he creeps into the small, darkened space. Walking into the room, he looks around, still on edge. Spinning around, he ignites his saber and the tip almost meets the skin of someone's throat.
"Blast, Kanan!" Ezra yells, panting, lowering his lightsaber.
"Sorry, I spook you?" He asks, trying to hold his laughter back. Ezra groans and walks towards the makeshift bed. Finally able to control his breathing, he looks up at Kanan, glaring.
"I thought you left."
"I thought you had common sense."
"That doesn't make sense." Making a face, Ezra pulls the chair from his desk with the Force and puts it in front of his bed, gesturing for Kanan to sit. He shakes his head.
"I'm good, thank you." Ezra shrugs. "Ezra, please. Being alone isn't going to help-"
"Kanan, I've told you. I can't endanger you and the others just because I'm 'lonely'." Ezra rolls his eyes, making air quotes. "And you know what? I'm not. And you know what, I have better things to do. So, what do you want?" Ezra says, glaring at the man.
"Fine. One last time, I'm offering you a choice. You can stay here, cooped up in your tower, or go home to your cats. Or, you can join us. Join me. You can learn what it means to be a Jedi who helps people or you can forever see yourself as the Sith who has killed people."
"There are no more Jedi. The Empire has wiped them all out." Kanan shakes his head, looking at the boy sadly.
"Not all of us." And with that, Kanan turns around and walks out the door.
"So, what did he say?" Hera asks as Kanan walks into the cockpit. Kanan looks at her and sits down in his chair.
"No." Hera's face falls.
"I thought you'd be able to get through to him." She replies sadly. She starts to ready the Ghost for take off so Kanan and she could go see Vizago for their next little 'pick-up'. "I guess I was wrong." Kanan shakes his head.
"No, you weren't wrong. I do think I got through to him, but he just doesn't want to go there yet. He's afraid." Kanan looks at the tower sadly.
"Of what?"
"Himself."
As Ezra steps outside of his tower and watches the ship take off, he sighs.
I'm doing the right thing. I know I am. I'm protecting them.
YoUR'E ProTeCtiNg YouRSelF
Ezra yells, clutching his head. Dropping to his knees, the voice yells in his head.
ITs aLl YoU EvER DO
"No!" He yells. He needs to stop the voice, but he doesn't know how. Unable to rise, he stays in the position as he cries. Although the voice left, he can hear it whispering to him.
Suddenly, a wave of relaxation washes over him and the voice all together fades. In his exhausted and weak state, Ezra doesn't have the energy to sense who it was, but it gives him a push of energy and the boy rises, walking back into the tower, and lays on the makeshift bed. The presence coaxes him to sleep and Ezra goes willingly.
And back at the Ghost, just before they land near Vizago's camp, Kanan smiles as Ezra drifts off to sleep.