Pre-story A/N: So sorry for the long delay, life and writer's block got in the way. Hope this was worth the wait! Others following as soon as I finish editing. Oh, see the author's note below for an apology surprise!

Breaking Ranks: A Kindred Spirit

". . . and halt!"

Commandant Aresko glanced in the direction of Grint's gravelly voice and his already thin lips thinned further as he took in the group standing in front of him.

"Squad LRC 077 for your inspection, sir!"

Biting back a sneer, Aresko stopped his pacing and stared down his nose at the squad.

"Cadets," he began, making sure his words came out sharp and clear. "You entered this facility as children, and in a few short weeks you will leave as soldiers."

'Child soldiers,' Aresko added silently.

"By the time you complete your training, you will be prepared to serve you Emperor. Today, we will test your strength and resolve. Are you ready to become stormtrooper?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" The cadets chorused.

"At ease," Aresko ordered dismissively. Children were so easily manipulated and eager to please.

Dev lifted the helmet off his head and stared at his reflection in the visor.

'How much longer?'

After six weeks it was getting harder and harder not give in. Though to which side he wasn't sure. 'Dev' had a safe place to sleep, didn't need to worry about food, and had a life all planned out. And friends! 'Ezra'. . . 'Ezra' had a bunch of "what ifs" and "maybes."

"Dev. . .Dev. . .Hey, Dev!"

A hand landed on his shoulders and Dev jumped.

"Dev Morgan you in there?"

"Oh, yeah," Dev chuckled, nervously. "Dev Morgan's in here all right. Th-that's me."

Dev stared at the helmet, fingers idly tracing the red markings. It would be easy, so easy, to become 'Dev' completely.

"Wow. You must really be feeling the pressure," Jai laughed, but with a note of genuine concern.

"Sorry, Jai. Who's under pressure?" Dev asked, elbowing his friend in the side. "Not the guy who's won every assessment."

"Yeah." Jai shoved back. "But today I taste victory."

"You said that yesterday," Dev reminded him. "And went hungry."

Jai rolled his eyes and gave Dev a push. Dev elbowed him in the ribs, stumbling a bit when the floor moved.

"Cadets," Aresko called, voice getting fainter as the floor continued to lower. "You are descending into the Well and must climb out with all deliberate speed. The quickest will be given the honor of serving as aides in Imperial headquarters."

'Finally!' Ezra's hands tightened on the helmet. 'I win and this whole thing ends. . .One way or another.'

Out of the corner of his eye Ezra could see Leonis tensing as well and frowned. The dark skinned boy took everything seriously, as if it was another step forward, but to what?

"I'm taking that prize," Jai announced with a smirk.

"Not today, Kell," Oleg muttered darkly, shoving the red hard enough to make him stumble.

"Back off, Oleg," Dev warned, pushing the boy away from Jai.

"You too, Morgan," Oleg hissed. "You're both going down."

"Actually, we're going up," Dev corrected snidely.

Oleg snarled and launched himself at Dev, who side stepped and kicked Oleg's feet out from under him.

"The assessment begins in 4," Grint's rough voice echoed down to them. "3, 2–"

"How exactly are we going up?" Jai asked, sliding his helmet back on.

Dev shrugged as he copied him. There was a series of muffled beeps and the grid pattern of the Well came alive, platforms popping out of the walls and floor.

"There's your answer, Jai." Dev patted his friend on the shoulder before sprinting off, jumping onto a platform, and leapfrogging his way up.

"See you at the top!" Dev hollered down, using the beams on the bottom of a platform to swing to a new landing.

"Yes, you will," Jai yelled, scrambling after him. "From below!"

Dev laughed as he rode his way across the Well, leaping from platform to platform.

"Failure is not acceptable." Dev flicked his eyes to where Aresko and Grint were watching. "This Empire has no use for weakness."

'Then why are you here?' Ezra sneered from the back of his head. With a quick shake, Dev pushed back that part of him and focused on the task at hand.

A cry from below caught his attention and Dev glanced down to see someone get shocked off a platform. A soft whisper sounded in the back of his mind and Dev jumped, half a second before the platform he was on crackled and sparked. No sooner had he landed did the whisper sound again and Dev jumped, electricity chasing him as he leaped from place to place. Four platforms later the shocks subsided and Dev paused to catch his breath.

"Morgan, how do you do it?" Jai shouted up to him, dangling from the underside of the platform. "It's like you know the platforms are coming before they're there!"

"What can I say?" Dev shrugged, following the pull up the wall. Gravity tugged at him but the panels of the wall slid out and Dev climbed them like a ladder. "It's a gift."

'Called the Force,' Ezra added silently, reveling in the feeling. Sure, Kanan had said not to use it, but that didn't mean he could listen to it.

Dev pulled Jai up next to him. A quick jump to avoid Oleg and the two clambered out of the Well.

"First again," Dev smirked.

"Yeah, well," Jai tugged off his helmet. "I'll get you tomorrow."

"You said that yesterday too," Dev reminded with a smirk.

"Quite a finish, cadets," Aresko's reedy voice complimented. "It seems this trial was too easy. Morgan, Kell, you both set course recorders with Leonis matching the previous. You three are today's winners, but rest assured, your next trial will be a great challenge. Follow!"

Dev glanced at Jai, who grinned at him and fell into step behind Aresko.

Zare Leonis kept his eye on Morgan as he trailed behind Kell. There was something odd about the blue eyed boy. Morgan was good, too good, and he seemed to know things he shouldn't. There were times it almost seemed Morgan could read his mind, something Zare found distinctly unsettling. At first Zare had been worried Morgan would figure him out and then turn him in, but Morgan hadn't and Zare had begun to suspect that was because Morgan was hiding something too.

A droid rolled by, top turning to take in the cadets – No, to take in Morgan, and chirped lowly.

That settled it; ridiculously good at all their challenges, top of their 'class,' and now consulting with droids? Something was up with Morgan, but what? Was he a plant? A spy? Or something else?

Zare's lips thinned. He needed to know what happened to his sister; if Morgan was going to be a threat to that plan, Zare needed to know. He needed a way to force Morgan's hand.

Zare jerked to attention in time to accept the stack of datapads Aresko thrust at him and noticed his route paralleled Morgan's. Zare nodded to himself, this would be a perfect opportunity to spy on Morgan.

Zare kept one eye on Morgan's route as he ran his own. For a while Morgan did nothing unusual, simply handed out datapads and ran the occasional errand, then he disappeared into an office. An I.S.B. agent's office that Morgan had no business being in.

Zare smiled grimly behind his helmet and quickly delivered the last few datapads before making his way to confront Morgan. Zare had only just reached the door when it slid open. Zare's eyes narrowed as Morgan jerked in surprise, worry flashing across his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" Zare demanded, he never was one to beat around the bush.

Morgan's surprise changed swiftly to stubborn suspicion and the two boys tried to stare each other down. Zare tensed at the sound of footsteps and pushed Morgan farther into the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

"Last chance, Morgan," Zare warned, removing his helmet. "What are you doing?"

"That's what I should be asking you," Ezra, and he was all Ezra right now as thieving and lying were things best left to street rats, retorted.

Leonis leveled him a look.

'Karabast!' Ezra cursed as the other boy's eyes dropped to his helmet and the decoder nestled inside. 'Knew I should have hidden that somewhere else.'

"So it's something like this," Leonis muttered.

"It's not what you think," Ezra said quickly, dodging out of reach as Leonis made to grab the decoder.

"I think," Leonis said slowly. "That device has a built in sensor, which would trigger that."

Ezra followed Leonis's finger to a small device hidden above the door and winced.

'I really have gotten sloppy,' Ezra frowned, he'd need to brush up on his skills and soon.

"You try walking with that thing," Leonis continued, unaware of Ezra's internal mutterings, "and this whole facility goes on lockdown."

Ezra grimaced and replaced the decoder. If he was alone he'd just escape through the ceiling, but Ezra didn't know what Leonis was up to and couldn't risk getting caught.

"Why are you helping me?" Ezra asked, pinning Leonis in place with a hard look.

"You really want to discuss this here and now?"

"Mmm, not so much," Ezra responded flippantly, lips quirking at Leonis's dry tone and followed the other boy out of Kallus's office.

Slipping on his helmet Ezra became Dev again and finished his rounds, only taking a small break to help an old droid realign its treading.

"It's a bit complicated, but it should hold out until tomorrow," Dev told the droid, which grumbled unhappily as it left.

The droid just knew those other organisms it worked with weren't going to be happy.

The sounds of snores and gentle breathing were oddly nerve wracking as Ezra caught Leonis's eye and nodded. Leonis leapt from his bunk and headed for the door. Ezra rolled his eyes.

'Amateurs,' he scoffed and cleared his throat.

Leonis glanced back at him and Ezra shook his head, gesturing for him to follow.

"This isn't exactly a safe place to talk," Leonis whispered as he followed Ezra into the bathroom.

"We're not talking here," Ezra whispered back, climbing onto one of the low walls dividing the showers and gently lifting the vent aside. "But cadets making a midnight run to the bathroom are less suspicious and more easily explainable than being caught wandering the halls. Now come on!"

Ezra scrambled into the ventilation and after a moment's hesitation, Leonis followed.

"Ugh," Leonis gagged. "This is disgusting!"

"Sh!" Ezra hissed. "People will hear you and stop banging you feet, you'll get us caught! Roll your weight forward onto your arms, and point your toes up so they don't scrape."

Scowling Leonis did as he was told and was surprised how much quieter things became.

"Better," Leonis heard the other boy mutter. "But still too loud."

Leonis scowled but before he could comment he was forced to a stop.

"Do what I do," Ezra whispered, opening up another hatch. Ezra wiggled forward over the opening until his feet were dangling out before lowering himself down and dropping silently onto a crate.

Leonis copied him, though with far less grace, and idly wondered if this was how the other boy had gotten so good at running through the obstacle course.

"The storage room?" Leonis asked quietly, taking in the supplies lining the walls and shelves.

"It's locked from curfew 'til morning," Ezra explained. "And if anybody tries to get in, it'll take them a few minutes to unlock it. Enough time for us to escape."

"Who are you?" Leonis asked, eyeing Ezra suspiciously. "And what do you need that decoder for?"

"My. . .friends need it to stop an Imperial shipment." Ezra answered, ignoring the first question and asking his own. "How'd you know about the sensors?"

"My sister, Dhara. She was the star cadet in this place," Leonis explained. "She knew the entire Imperial complex backwards and forwards."

There was a note of pride in Leonis's voice as spoke, but Ezra could sense the pain and longing behind the words.

"What happened to her?"

"Well, they told us she ran off, but I don't believe it." Leonis grimaced, anger flashing in his eyes as he paced their small corner.

"They took my parents," Ezra said quietly. "They didn't bother with lies."

A silent understanding past between the two boys.

"So," Leonis leaned against a crate next to Ezra. "You're alone then?"

"Not anymore," Ezra corrected with a rueful smile.

"Ah," Leonis grunted. "Those 'friends' you mentioned?"

Ezra nodded.

"You ever. . ." Leonis trailed off uncomfortably and Ezra shook his head. "I'm sorry."

Ezra shrugged and looked away.

"So," Leonis coughed, breaking the grim silence between them. "What were you doing breaking into Kallus's office? That's a great way to get shot."

"Long story, but I need that decoder." Ezra met Leonis's eye. "And I could use a partner that knows his way around."

"What's in it for me?"

"Do you really need a reason to mess with the Empire?"

"No," Leonis smirked. "I don't."

The two boys traded grins as they shook hands.

"Good. Now," Ezra began, rubbing his hands together conspiratorially. "We have to finish in the top three tomorrow if we're gonna get back inside Imperial H.Q."

"Then let's do it," Leonis said firmly. Finally it felt like he was doing something, getting a step closer to finding out what happened to his sister. "I'm Zare. Zare Leonis, and you're Dev, right?"

"Yeah," Ezra said slowly.

"Trust is a tricky thing," a voice in the back of his head that sounded uncomfortably like a mix of Kanan and that person whispered. "You have to give as much as you take."

"For now."

"For now?" Zare repeated.

"Dev Morgan is an Imperial. My friends and I," Ezra licked his lips and nervously ran a hand through his hair, "aren't."

"So who are you?" Zare asked, crossing his arms. Ezra shook his head.

"I'll tell you after we get the decoder. Don't want any slip ups."

"Fair enough," Zare conceded with a slow nod.

Ezra felt a small weight lift from his shoulders and smiled as he led the way back to their barrack.

Author's Notes:

Ok, got a little angsty there, but in all honesty I felt Zare's character had so much unused potential! That and Zare and Ezra seem to have a lot in common and I wanted to explore that a bit. I also thought it was kind of pointless for Ezra to keep pretending to be 'Dev' but then go and tell Zare he was getting Jedi training which is a much bigger secret than his real name.

Anyway onto my surprise!

I'm going to do 2 'mini-stories'. 1 to celebrate what I hope will soon be 100 reviews, and the other to apologize for making everyone wait so long. The poll will have a total of 4 (possibly 5) choices, two of which I'm hoping to get from you guys. If you have a suggestion/idea pm me or leave it as a review and I'll select either the most popular or interesting one and add it to the poll which will be going up on Monday and staying up for a week.