Last Chapter on Phantoms of the Past: Ezra used the Sith holocron and went on the hunt for Maul on his own. Using her bounty hunting skills, help from Ketsu, and her knowledge of Ezra, Sabine quickly found him and finally told him how she felt about him.
Chapter 20: Telling the Truth
Sabine waited impatiently in the cockpit of the ship running diagnostics to try and pass the time. They were currently investigating their fifth lead on another backwater planet. Ezra was scouting out a rumored spice mine only a few kilometers away while Sabine waited to pick him up if things got out of hand. So far everything was quiet on the mountainous planet. The only thing she heard was the occasional rock falling off of the cliffside that she was vertically parked on and hitting the front of the ship.
The proximity alarm beeped prompting Sabine to quickly look at the instrument to see six incoming starfighters, she quickly read off their ID codes recognizing them as Imperial.
"Damnit." She cursed as the ships began to head straight towards her. With the ship powered down and the amount of fog there was, it was unlikely they knew she was there but that didn't make the situation any better. They were there for a reason. The only other thing that Sabine knew of in the area was the spice mines and more importantly Ezra.
She activated her comms and pinged Ezra wondering what trouble he possibly could have stirred up.
"Sabine!" Ezra yelled into the comms, she heard blaster fire and explosions in the background as well as what sounded like a low rumble.
"Any idea why you have six TIE fighters coming straight at you?" Sabine asked as two TIE bombers accompanied by four fighters flew overhead. "Scratch that, two TIE bombers and four fighters?" She added sardonically as she hit a few switches powering up the ship and prepared for takeoff.
"Yeah-" She heard the sound of Ezra's lightsaber cutting through something as he tried to speak. "-Was wondering when they were gonna show up."
"Well I'm sure there is a very good reason for you not giving me a warning!" Sabine quipped impatiently as she gunned the engines and the ship sped straight off of the mountain side and into the sky.
"There is! Later though, mountains coming down." Ezra responded as the rumbling grew louders in his comms.
"Wait the what?" Sabine asked incredulously as she lowered the altitude and weaved between the mountain peaks towards Ezra's location.
"Yep! Going to need a pickup fast!" Ezra replied far too casually. Sabine growled and cursed at the situation but took it as it was without getting mad at Ezra. Whatever he did, she was confident she probably would have done the same thing and as much as she wanted him to be safe, life or death situations were a daily reality for them and there was no avoiding that.
Sabine checked Ezra's tracker and adjusted her altitude again, lowering to match his height as she narrowly dodged a falling boulder that was nearly the size of the ship.
What the hell did he do? Sabine thought to herself noticing she was still over a kilometer away and she could visibly see the mountains shaking. Her radar alerted her to the proximity of the Imperial ships just as she turned into a narrow valley revealing the spice mine that was built halfway up a massive mountain. Sabine's eyes widened as she realized how absolutely absurd the sight was. Unlike an ordinary spice miner, whoever was running this one was strip mining the entire mountain from the middle, nearly half of the middle section was almost entirely barren having been cut into and mined. All that was left was machinery and small support structures although those were hardly intact anymore. She could see blaster fire and explosions accompanying the massive landslide on the man-made mesa as she closed. The TIE bombers sped above and ahead of her, launching their ion torpedoes into the already crumbling mountainside. The TIE fighters picked her up on the radar and immediately broke off to try and get behind her.
"How am I supposed to land in that?!" Sabine yelled over the comms as massive chunks of mountain rained down on Ezra's location.
"You're not!" Ezra yelled back over the comms. "Fly along the edge of the landing, I'll jump!"
Sabine didn't even bother asking what he planned on doing after that, considering that she now had four TIE fighters on her tail. She knew he hadn't planned that far ahead but it was the only solution she saw as well. She sent the ship into a nose dive narrowly avoiding a strafing run from one of the TIE's then spun into a barrel roll to dodge two homing missiles from another.
As she came closer to the landing she could finally see Ezra sprinting ahead of her, he moved as fast as he could along the ledge away from her. She clenched her jaw as she carefully inched the ship closer and closer to the ledge. The ship lurched in protest as a TIE fighter got a hit on the rear deflectors. She cursed again and checked the shields. Luckily they were still holding at well over seventy percent.
As she neared Ezra she yelled into the comms. "Jump!" Without looking, he jumped as far as he could off of the ledge and disappeared from the viewport above her just as she felt another hit from a TIE fighter.
"Ez?!" Sabine asked for confirmation he was alright.
"I'm on, go!" He yelled. She sighed in relief and accelerated and angled the ship up to regain some altitude as two more shots from the TIE fighters flew by ahead of her.
"Let me know once you're inside so I can try and lose them." Sabine ordered. She heard Ezra say something back but couldn't make it out through all the wind on his side.
"Hurry up!" Sabine yelled as she lightly yawed the ship to try and dodge an oncoming fighter. She wasn't able to get out of it's line of fire in time and the shields dropped down to only twenty percent.
She frantically rerouted the auxiliary power and life support to shields boosting them back up to forty percent just as she heard a heavy metal clang and then Ezra over the comms. "I'm in."
"Good, now get on the gun." Sabine replied as she immediately took evasive maneuvers diving into a barrel roll. She heard something fall in the back of the ship.
"Ow!" Ezra yelled. "I'm not strapped in yet!" Sabine ignored the protest and continued as she was avoiding the blaster fire and diving further and further to the ground until she could make out the colors of the birds fleeing their nests in the trees below them. She took the ship lower, so low that she could feel the bottom of the hull hitting the tips of the trees. It was a dangerous tactic but it would keep the TIE's from attacking from below and would keep the ship off of their radar.
Sabine cursed as the ship hit a slightly taller tree and swung off course. She readjusted and lowered the ship back down again regardless of how dangerous the tactic was. She wasn't half as good of a pilot as Hera which meant she needed all of the help she could get.
Two large black dots caught Sabine's attention at the end of the valley, flying adjacent to them and aiming directly at the large cliff.
"Ezra, tell me you're on the guns!" She said as she recognized those distant black dots as the two TIE bombers. They were going to bring the mountain range down on top of them forcing them to either get crushed or pull up and engage in a dogfight.
"I'm on 'em!" Ezra replied.
"Two TIE bombers at bearing 045, take them down!" Sabine ordered.
"Copy!" Ezra answered. She saw the red blur of twin cannon fire erupt from overhead and soar towards the two TIE bombers. Ezra led too far though and the shots missed their targets. Ezra fired three more times, each shot becoming more and more accurate until one of the blaster bolts hit the wing of the first bomber. The bomber soared out of control rapidly spinning like a top and veering off into it's counterpart that tried to take countermeasures too late.
"Nice shot!" Sabine complimented Ezra as two of the TIE fighters came around into the bottom of the ravine in front of them. They immediately opened fire. Sabine pulled the ship up and rolled off to the side just narrowly missing the ground as she fired the forward cannons hitting one of the TIE fighters dead center. The starfighter erupted into fire and crashed down into the ground while the other sped by.
She heard Ezra's guns firing as the ship passed by then heard another explosion.
"Got it! I'm getting pretty good at this!" Ezra yelled.
"Yeah yeah, don't get cocky." Sabine replied sarcastically smirking at his elation. "Just keep those two others TIE's off of our back. I'm going to get us out of here before reinforcements arrive."
She pushed the ship to it's limit giving it as much speed as possible and dove back as low to the ground as possible as they broke out of the ravine into a large open plain. She deftly worked the power controls and rerouted power from the forward shields into the engines. She hoped that it would give the ship it needed to outrun the TIE's. An unlikely outcome but she recalled some of the technicians back on Atollon clocking the ship as faster than the Ghost so it was at least possible.
"C'mon girl." Sabine said patting the console as she began making calculations for a hyperspace jump. It didn't need to be far, just enough to get them to the edge of the system at most.
"They're gaining on us!" Ezra warned her, the sound of the quad-laser turret firing in the background.
"Almost got it!" Sabine replied as the calculations finished. She immediately grabbed the handle for the hyperdrive and pushed it forward. The ship slowed for a brief second as space distorted around them and the familiar blue light formed in front of them. Within an instant the ship then lurched forward into hyperspace.
Sabine collapsed back into her chair and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The beautiful sight of hyperspace held her attention for a few minutes while she calmed down. As her heart rate slowed she realized how tired she was. Sleep had become scarce in the past few days for multiple reasons. With a big stretch, Sabine let out a yawn and began to try and think of where they would go next considering that this most recent lead was a bust. She heard footsteps and the cockpit door opened. Ezra sat down in the co-pilot seat next to her and looked at her with a worried look.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Just tired." Sabine mumbled as she began to check the instruments to make sure nothing was wrong with the ship. "So what the hell happened down there?" She asked.
Ezra let out his own sigh and ran his hand through his hair as a look of frustration overtook his face. Sabine felt for him truly, but wasn't sure what she could do to help other than being there for him. Relationships were something that she had never even considered, now she was spending every waking and sleeping moment with Ezra. To say it was a difficult transition was an understatement. She didn't know what to do or what to even talk about and she certainly didn't know how to talk about her feelings. The only comfort she had was knowing that she wasn't alone and that Ezra was having just as much trouble as her.
"Dead end. Turns out the Empire was investigating the mine as well. They had an undercover agent there who made me when I tried to blend in." He shrugged. "Guess I don't look like a spice miner." He smiled.
"Too many teeth for a spice miner." Sabine said with a smile.
"Knew I should have pulled some out before I went in." Ezra jested. "Once he started asking me questions, he recognized who I was. That's when I figured out he was an Imperial agent because he didn't even mention the bounty and he called for backup. So I had to make a quick escape, some miners figured out what was going on so they started going after me and well you know the rest."
"So it wasn't Maul's mine?" Sabine asked.
"Nope." Ezra said. "Wasn't the right type of spice and even if it was his, it isn't anymore."
"Damn." Sabine cursed under her breath. They had no more leads, they had called in every favor they could and still had found nothing solid on Maul. He and his entire operation seemed to not even exist.
They hadn't tried everything yet though, Sabine realized. She perked up at her new idea and immediately checked the navigation computer to see if they could make it to the new destination with the current fuel they had.
"What's up?" Ezra asked curiously.
"We still have our half of the spice." Sabine said distractedly while trying to calculate the most fuel efficient jump, they were dangerously low on fuel and credits but after this they would hopefully have a lead and some money.
"And?" Ezra asked.
"Well you said you were planning on selling it." Sabine said. "There's a guild of information brokers on New Cov. It's also a prominent hub for the black market because it's on the Corellian Run." Sabine said with a wide smile as the calculations came back. They would just be able to make the jump. She turned and looked to Ezra to explain.
"We can sell the spice, then use some of the money to hire an actual information broker. If anybody will know anything on Maul or be able to point us in the right direction, it'll be them."
"Can we make it to New Cov on the fuel we have?" Ezra asked.
Sabine tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Ezra nodded his head in realization. "You've already plotted the course." He said as his eyes softened and a smile grew across his lips. The way he looked at her with such admiration made her blush. She nodded emphatically and activated the hyperdrive pushing the ship right back into hyperspace.
"It'll be a few hours before we're there." Sabine said. "We should get some sleep." She turned to Ezra with a sigh knowing exactly where his mind had went after that recommendation. "Some actual sleep." She added.
"Hey, I agree." Ezra said raising his hands up in surrender. "I'm exhausted." He stood up and winced in pain, his hand shooting up to the back of his head.
"What's wrong?" Sabine asked.
"It's nothing." Ezra shrugged it off pulling his hand away. "Just a bruise I think." she spotted a small trickle of blood on his fingers that had just left the wound and rolled her eyes.
"Men." She sighed as she grabbed Ezra by the shoulder and began to lead him towards the lounge where they had a Med-kit.
"What?" Ezra asked as they entered the crew lounge and she led him towards the table.
"Always trying to act tough." She said as she placed both hands on his shoulders and forced him to sit down on the bench. She went to the cabinet that the Med-kit was in and brought it back to the table where she opened it to inspect the contents.
"Lean forward." She said pushing Ezra forward so she could lean in and look at the back of his head. She took off her gloves then ran her hand across the back of his head to find the swelling. He hissed in pain as her fingers found the swollen wound.
"Not so tough now, huh?" Sabine teased with a smile. She parted his hair to reveal the large bump on the back of his head, the skin was already beginning to turn purple and there was a split where a small amount of blood dripped out. She gently prodded the back of his head with her fingers. She couldn't feel any fractures in the skull which was promising.
"Am I gonna live?" Ezra asked playfully through gritted teeth.
"I don't know." Sabine said as she grabbed some disinfectant and bacta gel from the medkit. "This might be the injury that does you in, Bridger." She applied the disinfectant over the cut then the bacta gel. "How did you get this anyways?" She asked.
"When you decided to put the ship into a barrel roll before I was strapped into the gunners seat." Ezra said.
"Oh…" Sabine said pulling back. "Sorry." She added as she put down the medical supplies.
"Alright let me see your eyes." Sabine said pulling Ezra's head back as she leaned down and held her head in front of his. She placed her hand on his cheek and gently pulled the skin down to force his eyes to open wider as she looked at his pupils to see if they were dilated.
"I didn't hit my eyes." Ezra said.
"I'm checking to see if you have a concussion, di'kut." Sabine said.
"...I knew that." Ezra said after a short pause as he met her eyes.
"You look fine." Sabine said as she leaned on the table facing Ezra. She gently ran her hand across his cheekbone and down to his jaw enjoying the warm feel of his skin against hers. It wasn't much but she hoped he understood that was her way of telling him how she felt about him, how glad she was that he was okay after what just happened to them. Ezra looked back at her silently and smiled. Her lips parted as she tried to say something or anything, to actually tell him how glad she was that he was okay but couldn't find the words.
"The yellow in your eyes is mostly gone now too." Sabine said to try and interrupt the silence as she admired the now fully returned pure blue of his eyes.
My favorite color. She said only to herself knowing how ridiculous it would sound if she said it out loud.
"Yeah I definitely don't miss that part." Ezra said as he hung his head as if in shame.
"You miss other parts?" Sabine asked with a raised eyebrow. Ezra nodded ever so slightly.
"I still know everything I learned from it," He said. "But I can't help but wonder what else I could have learned, how much more powerful I could have become."
"I understand." Sabine said quietly as Ezra looked up at her with wide eyes.
"You do?" He asked.
"Of course." Sabine shrugged. "But you're doing the right thing by not using it. It would have destroyed you."
And I would have lost you.
"Ahsoka would be proud of you for turning away from it. You're doing the right thing and you don't need it." Sabine said instead. It was just as much the truth as what she was thinking but as strange as it was, it was easier for her to talk about a dead friend than her feelings.
Ezra visibly winced at hearing his late friend's name. The pain he felt was still incredibly evident even though he tried to hide it and his eyes drifted into the distance. Sabine gently squeezed his shoulder calling him back to her. His eyes lit up slightly as she gave him a light smile. Wanting to do anything to distract him from the pain she leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
She lingered for just a brief moment enjoying the contact then leaned away. His eyes immediately lightened up after the kiss. It was a distraction and Sabine knew it, but it worked.
"Come on." She said holding her hand out to Ezra as she stood up. He smiled and took her hand letting her help him up. "Let's get some rest."
Sabine walked side by side with Ezra through the densely packed city population of New Cov. The entire planet was covered in dense jungles that were completely uninhabitable. As a result, the major cities were built within massive domes with transparent ceilings that allowed for the sunlight to come through. It reminded Sabine of the city domes in Mandalore only far less militaristic and the people weren't restricted to living in the domes for the same reason.
On Mandalore, it was because her people had destroyed the environment. On New Cov, it was because they didn't want to destroy their environment. The differences in the people couldn't be any more different and it made Sabine feel like an alien even though she saw countless other mercenaries, bounty hunters, and likely smugglers moving amongst the crowd with them.
Despite the high buildings and narrow streets, the city was astonishingly beautiful. There was wildlife among the tall narrow trees that sprawled up the sides of the buildings and vibrant vertical gardens covering the walls. Wherever there wasn't a garden was artwork that all seemed to be done by different artists. She even saw a young girl on her knees painting a small mural of flowers at the base of one of the building walls. Nobody tried to stop her or even express disappointment at her actions, they just seemed to accept it or even welcome it.
The girl looked up from her work at Sabine who nodded in response knowing the girl wouldn't be able to see her smile with her helmet on.
The crowd got thicker as they made their way through the streets and towards their destination. It made Sabine anxious having so many people so close to her, she wouldn't even be able to lift her arms up above her head if she tried. It made her feel claustrophobic. The thing that made her the most anxious though wasn't how close people were to her, it was who they were. They were all normal people, living their lives, going about their days without a worry about the Empire, about Maul, about her and Ezra two of the most dangerous people in the galaxy walking amongst them.
She wondered what it was like to have that kind of normality, to be so carefree of such terrible things.
After a few more minutes, the crowd thinned as they made their way into a large plaza with a park that had sprawling gardens and trees as well as a pool in the center. Families and children played in the water splashing each other and playing games. Sabine couldn't help but smile at the beauty of how happy the people were. It brought back memories of her own childhood when things were simpler.
"Wish we could go for a swim." Sabine said playfully nudging Ezra. She couldn't see Ezra's face behind his mask but she could see the hesitation in his body before he spoke.
"Yeah…" He said. "...I can't swim."
"You what?" Sabine asked incredulously. "How have you never learned to swim?"
Ezra shrugged sheepishly. "Never got the chance to learn, not really something we do on Lothal."
How did I not know that about him? Sabine asked herself shamefully as she looked back at the park. A particular family stood out to her. A mother and father sitting at the edge of the water while a young girl and boy probably brother and sister played together. The husband and wife held each others hands and exchanged words she was too far to hear but she didn't need to hear to know that they were happy.
Happy with their normal lives. Sabine looked back to Ezra who distantly waited for Sabine to lead the way. She loved him and he loved her, she knew that. But there was still so much they didn't know about each other.
Maybe normal is what we need.
"What's on your mind?" Ezra asked. Sabine considered not saying anything as she realized how foolish it would sound if she said it out loud.
Typical Mandalorian. Sabine thought to herself shaking her head. She would rather face down the that Terentatek from Kashyyyk again than be open about her feelings. She took a deep breath and calmed her nerves.
"It's just…" She waved her hands towards the people at the park. "Have you ever thought about living a normal life together? I want that with you. I've known you for almost three years, we've been through everything together. But I still don't feel like I know you all that well. We go into life and death situations together, just hours ago you blindly jumped to land on a moving ship because you trusted me but I didn't even know you don't know how to swim."
"Well what else do you want to know about me?" Ezra asked.
"Everything…" Sabine said. "But I just want to try something normal. What do normal people even do?" She began to speak quickly as she got more nervous, she couldn't see Ezra's face which meant she couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"Sabine…" Ezra began to say after a moment. "I want to have a normal life more than anything. To actually get to know you and do normal things with you. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of that. But you know we can't do that. Not until we take care of Maul and the Empire."
"Now come on." Ezra said. "We don't want to draw too much attention out in the open. Somebody might notice us." He said as he held his hand out to Sabine. It was a small gesture that showed he cared and he was at least listening to her. Sabine sighed in frustration at his stubbornness and resolved to bring it up again some other time. She took his hand and enjoyed the simple touch as they walked along the plaza and towards their destination while she began to wonder how nice such a simple life would be.
After a few hours of finding the right buyer and negotiations, Sabine and Ezra had successfully managed to offload the spice and even get paid for it. Ezra was surprised with how quickly the process worked but didn't mind. The market broker had already confirmed the spice, picked it up, and paid them handsomely. Every second saved was more time they could spend looking for Maul. Not that they could do that until they knew where to look.
Sabine handed Ezra a list as they walked out of the underground black market and back onto the street level.
"Parts we need for the ship, the shields are a bit spent after that last spat." Sabine said.
"You call that a spat?" Ezra asked. "We almost died."
"Eh," Sabine shrugged. "I had it under control." she responded playfully. "I'll bring the credits back to the ship and then head to the information broker. You get everything on the list and we'll meet back up in an hour."
"Alright." Ezra responded. "Be careful."
"Always. Oh, and think of a name for the ship." Sabine said as she began to walk her separate way from Ezra. "I'm tired of just calling it the ship." She said tilting her head slightly indicating there was a playful smile under her helmet.
Ezra smiled as well and watched her walk away before looking back down at the list to see just how much work he had cut out for him. As he began to make his way towards the legal market of the city, he began to think both of his earlier discussion with Sabine and of a name for the ship.
Break
Ezra pushed a large crate along on the repulsorlift. After nearly an hour he had managed to complete Sabine's comprehensive list of supplies and parts that were needed. As he walked out of the market his comm was pinged by Sabine.
"Hey," Ezra said as he answered the comms. "I'm just leaving the market now. I'll be back at the ship in fifteen minutes."
"About that…" Sabine's voice was laced with irritation as she paused.
"What's wrong?" Ezra asked with concern.
"Somebody left a little gift for us on the ship." Sabine sighed. "Seismic charge set to detonate as soon as we power up the engines. Looks like it has an anti-tampering failsafe as well."
Ezra cursed under his breath and took a quick glance around to see if he was being followed. Somebody must have recognized them and set a trap.
"What about the credits?" Ezra asked.
"Gone. They wouldn't leave this trap unless they wanted to draw attention to themselves though. I'm guessing they're after the bounty on our heads too."
Ezra felt a tingling sensation along his spine that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Something wasn't right aside from the attempted sabotage.
Somebody was watching him.
"I'm being followed." Ezra said quietly as he began to move further into the crowd and back toward the ship.
"Yeah I've got some people outside the hangar as well." Sabine responded.
"What do they look like?" Ezra said as he reached out and tried to find whoever was following him in the massive crowd of people. Sabine groaned in distaste before responding.
"Black Sun mercs." Sabine said as if that meant the end of the galaxy as they knew it. "Ezra I know who is following you. Her name is Xi, she's a Mandalorian and incredibly dangerous. You need to get out of there."
"Well, can you disable the bomb?" Ezra asked impatiently as he continued looking forward so as to not draw attention to himself.
"With an hour of uninterrupted time or the deactivation code, but we don't have that much time and I doubt they'll just give the code to us."
Ezra shook his head and continued to look forward, walking amongst others as if nothing was wrong.
We have to get the code. This Xi person probably has it. Ezra realized as a plan began to formulate in his mind.
"I've got an idea…" Ezra finally said into the comms. "...but you're not going to like it."
"I never like any of your plans." Sabine replied sardonically. Ezra rolled his eyes in response.
"Can you ditch your tail?" Ezra asked.
"Give me five minutes." Sabine answered almost immediately. Ezra walked to the edge of the crowded street and leaned against the crate, checking the time occasionally and making it look like he was waiting for somebody. As the minutes passed, he carefully scanned his surroundings until he found his target. A black Mandalorian helmet thirty yards down the street on the other side. It's owner leaned against the wall with two others next to her who she seemed to be talking to and doing a very good job of looking like she wasn't watching Ezra.
"Alright, lost them." Sabine said after a few minutes. "I fail to see how this solves anything though."
"This is the part you're not going to like." Ezra said as he watched the two mercs and Xi check their comms, likely their comrades reporting they had lost Sabine. Ezra left the crate where it was and started to slowly walk in the direction of his followers. "We need that code, and we need Xi off our tails for good."
"What are you saying?" Sabine asked.
"I'm saying…" Ezra answered as he bent down and dropped a tracker on the inside of his boot and then another on the inside of his belt. "That I have two trackers on me, they'll likely only find one. You track me wherever they take me and we end this."
"No!" Sabine immediately began to protest. "Ez, she could kill you!"
"She won't." Ezra responded. "Not when she knows I'm the only way to get to you as well."
"That doesn't make it any better!" Sabine pled, her voice cracking as she tried to convince Ezra of the folly of his plan. "She'll torture you and I may not be able to get there in time." Ezra knew she was right but he didn't listen and he didn't care, he continued walking down the street until he was only a few feet away from them and then broke into a sprint. He heard them quickly give chase after him, he slid on his heel and turned into an alleyway and ran as fast as he could.
"I'll be fine. It'll be just like what we did on Kashyyyk." Ezra said as he ran and turned another corner and then pressed himself up against the wall and waited as the footsteps of his pursuers grew louder. "I trust you, Sabine." He said more quietly and softly. "I know you'll get me out in time, just trust me to do this."
He heard Sabine sigh in frustration before replying. "I trust you too." She said just as softly. He smiled at the sentiment and appreciated her willingness to give him some comfort before he idiotically threw himself into danger.
He put his comm-link in his pocket just as the first merc rounded the corner with gun raised. Ezra reached out with his cybernetic arm and grabbed the barrel of the blaster pistol with his palm covering the end. The man squeezed the trigger and the blaster fired point blank at Ezra's palm.
Ezra screamed in pain as the blaster bolt burned through his glove and into the metal hand, the synthesized pain was quick to fade giving him enough clarity to rip the gun from the man's hand then smash it back into his face. The grip of the pistol hit the man's nose with a sickening crack, blood showered out of his face as he staggered back into the opposing wall. The second merc and Xi came around the corner at the same time with guns raised.
Quickly grabbing the stolen blaster pistol with his other hand, Ezra charged the other merc. He batted the mercs blaster to the side as he barrelled into the man with all of his weight. As the merc's back hit the wall, Ezra pressed the blaster pistol against the man's chest and squeezed the trigger twice. He watched as the man's eyes went wide in pain then blank with shock at his sudden change of fortune.
Ezra felt another danger coming but didn't do anything about it. It was part of his plan to get captured after all. He felt a blunt object hit the back of his head, the sheer force made him step back as his vision went blurry and he lost his balance. He didn't even need to feign a loss, he quickly teeter tottered as the world spun around him and fell to the ground. His vision went black and soon, so did the dizziness.
Ezra woke up to a stinging pain on his face. He cursed and groaned as he opened his eyes to see the armored Mandalorian in front of him with a few other mercs watching. One of them was the man whose nose Ezra had broken.
He quickly blinked his eyes to try and adjust to the dark setting of the room they were in. His head felt like it had been split open and his ears started to ring again. If he didn't have a concussion earlier, he was sure that he had one now.
"Where am I?" Ezra asked groggily.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" The man with the broken nose said with a scowl.
He does not look happy. Ezra thought to himself as the human's face contorted into an ugly grimace with caked blood still on his nose. Slowly, Ezra took in his surroundings and his situation. The first thing he noticed was that he couldn't feel his arm, he looked down to see the cybernetic arm had been removed and was sitting across the room on a table with what appeared to be a series of surgical and mechanical tools. His arm and legs were both strapped to the chair and there was also a thick metal wire tied around his torso. He wasn't sure what it was but it looked to have a purpose other than keeping him strapped to the chair.
"Where's Wren?" The Mandalorian asked. Her voice was as cold as ice and sent a shiver down Ezra's spine.
"Who?" Ezra asked as he began to remember his plan. Xi sighed and looked to the man with the broken nose and nodded. The man grinned menacingly as he pulled up a small remote.
"What's that?" Ezra asked sarcastically, he needed to stall as much as he could but he also truthfully had no idea what the device was, though he could guess it was nothing good.
"You'll see." The man smiled as he pressed the button.
Ezra's entire body instantly lit up in pain as electricity shot from the wire around his chest. He screamed in pain and shut his eyes as his body convulsed and instinctively tried to escape the pain. The more he struggled the more it hurt though. After what felt like an hour but was probably only seconds, the assault of electricity stopped and the wire stopped whirring with power. Ezra panted as his body went limp from exhaustion and agony. His vision blurred again and his throat burned just as much as every tendon, muscle, and bone in his body.
"Don't play games with me, Bridger." Xi said. Her boots came into view as she stepped toward Ezra. He felt her hand grab the hair on the back of his neck and yank it back so he looked at her. She leaned down so her helmeted face was almost directly in front of his, so close that he could see her cold narrow eyes through the visor. He saw nothing but hate and even enjoyment in her eyes.
She brought her hand up to hit Ezra again and when he didn't flinch she pulled it back even further before backhanding him and knocking his head to the side. Ezra hissed in pain again as a copper taste filled his mouth and the warm sensation of blood trickled across his tongue and cheek. He spit the blood out onto the floor before pulling his head back up to face Xi again.
"We know you're working with Wren. Give her up and we'll kill you before we turn you over to the Empire." Xi said. "If you give us the location of Syndulla, Orrelios, and Jarrus too, I'll even make it a quick death."
"You must not know much about me if you think I'll flip on any of them." Ezra said. "Or anybody for that matter."
"I know you're an upjumped street urchin who joined that pathetic rebellion because you were too weak to succeed under the Empire." Xi jabbed at him.
Ezra raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Not half wrong actually. What else do you know about me, oh wise oracle?" He jested and faked a smile through bloody teeth. He clenched his jaw as he saw the man raise the remote again. Xi held her hand up to the man indicating that he wait. Ezra inwardly sighed, thankful that he wouldn't have to go through that again just yet.
"I know your weakness is Wren and I know that you will give her up." Xi said as she turned around and went back to the table. She carefully eyed the tools while Ezra readied himself for whatever was coming next.
"Half wrong on that one." Ezra said as Xi picked up a disturbingly large syringe full of a clear liquid. "You're not very good at this."
"Keep trying to stall, Bridger." Xi said as she turned around and walked toward him with the syringe. "We'll see how quickly you give up Wren and everybody else after some of this."
Ezra leaned back into his chair as Xi came forward and pressed the needle against his neck. He clenched his jaw as he felt the familiar prickling pain of the needle breaking skin and then the fluid being injected. Within seconds he felt the pain in his body fade as well as all of the tension. He became slightly dizzy and his head swayed as his jaw loosened and he felt a strange sudden urge to say everything on his mind.
Truth serum. Ezra recognized the effects as Ahsoka had taught him to do. She had spent weeks drilling him on the effects of different drugs used for torture and interrogation. Luckily, she had also taught him how to fight back against the effects.
As clear as he could remember Sabine's smile, he heard Ahsoka's voice replaying in his head. The calm clear voice sounding like a melody in his head that calmed his soul, that made him feel like she had all of the answers.
You'll want to tell the truth. It will psychologically hurt you try and lie and it will get harder the more you do it. So don't lie. Just don't tell them the truth they're asking for. Ezra took a deep breath and let it out as he recited Ahsoka's words in his mind. He wished she was still there with him. She would have had a much better idea than to get captured and tortured.
"Where's Wren?" Xi asked, her voice sounded strange and echoed in Ezra's head. One of the other side effects Ahsoka had explained to him was that everything would feel strange and possibly even seem funny.
Ezra chuckled at both the strange sensation running through his body and the irony of the question. A question to which he truly didn't know the answer anyways.
"No clue." He said. Telling the truth felt good and made him smirk blissfully while Xi seemed to grimace in annoyance. "Didn't ask. She didn't tell."
"Where's the rest of your crew?" Xi asked, her voice growing impatient.
Damnit. I know that one. Ezra quickly began to think of other aspects of his crew.
"Which one?" Ezra asked painfully to try and buy himself some time.
"Syndulla." Xi demanded.
"Hera." Ezra smiled at the thought of the Ghost's captain. He pictured her in his mind, the look in her eyes when she took him out on top of the Ghost and showed him the stars. He recalled that memory fondly, he truly felt at peace and not alone every time he remembered it.
"She has green eyes." Ezra said smiling again as his brain relaxed and the strange pain faded. He keeled over in pain as Xi punched him in the gut.
"Where is she?!" Xi demanded as Ezra coughed and tried to keep himself from puking. Xi grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked his head back up.
The pain grew more significant in Ezra's head. The name Atollon was right on the tip of his tongue. He clenched his jaw and held back and replayed Xi's question in his head.
He grinned mischievously as he realized how easy it was to answer the question.
"You're right here." He said laughing. "Why would you ask about yourself in the third person?"
Xi looked back to the man with the remote and nodded. He grinned and pressed the button on the remote again making Ezra scream and convulse in pain as blue electric light shot from the wire and into his body.
He struggled so hard to break free that he knocked the chair over and fell onto his side, his cheek pressed against the cool permacrete floor as the shocking finally stopped again. Xi grabbed him under the arms and yanked him back up so the chair was upright again then punched him in the face again.
"I really hate that!" Ezra yelled at the man who shocked him.
"Tell us where Wren is and I'll stop." The man said with a shrug before smiling even wider. "Maybe."
For the first time since waking up, Ezra felt something in the force. A familiar feeling that was impossible for him not to recognize.
"Sabine." Ezra barely whispered upon recognizing how close she was. He only needed to hold out for a few more minutes.
"Where is Sabine Wren?" Xi asked.
Ezra groaned as the pain began to grow in his head again and shook his head. After a brief moment he successfully fought off the urge to tell the truth then looked straight up at Xi and smiled.
"My name is Ezra Bridger." He said defiantly.
"My parents are Mira and Ephraim Bridger. I am from Capital City on Lothal. I'm eighteen years old. I don't know how to swim." He began listing things off quicker and quicker to fight the urge to tell the truth they wanted to hear. He kept going even as Xi nodded to the merc again who happily pressed the button again and again.
Sabine cursed out loud as another wild animal scurried between her feet and into the thick foliage. How Xi and the mercs managed to get Ezra through the thick foliage of the jungle was beyond her considering she was having trouble getting through it by herself.
"Damnit, Ezra." She cursed at him in frustration and thought of all of the things she was going to lecture him on once they got out of this. "Stupid plan." She said again. In reality, she knew it would be difficult to be mad at him once all was said and done, she would just be thankful that he was alive. If he was even still alive.
He's still alive. He has to be. Sabine said to herself to reassure herself then focused more on how angry she was at him. It was easier to be mad than to worry about whether or not he was even alive. She could handle being upset with Ezra, but if he died, she knew exactly how hard it would be for her to handle. Especially considering now that she had to keep her promise to Ahsoka.
She had to keep Ezra safe in the war to come. Whatever war that meant.
It had been nearly an hour since she lost contact with Ezra, though thankfully one of his trackers was still active and she was close. Only a few hundred meters to be precise.
The jungle became slightly less dense as she neared Ezra's location. The sound of running water could be heard in the same direction and grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening.
Sabine pushed her way through another thicket of undergrowth revealing the closest thing to a clearing she had seen since entering the jungle. She stood at the edge of a wide river with a massive ugly structure built across it right where the river turned into a waterfall that appeared to go a few hundred yards down before stopping.
Sabine ducked down behind a tree as she saw somebody walk out onto the roof and look around. Sabine pulled down the rangefinder on her helmet to get a closer look at the structure. It looked to be abandoned, an old hydroelectric dam. The person on top of the structure was looking in the opposite direction, a Bothan from what she could tell. There was also a small shuttle parked on the roof next to him.
Well that would explain how they got out here so fast. Now I just need to figure out a way in.
She double checked Ezra's tracker and confirmed he was inside the building. A haunting scream echoed through the building interrupting her planning. Her eyes narrowed in anger and her heart rate picked up as she recognized just who was screaming.
Damnit Ezra! She cursed again as she began to think of all the ways she wanted to kill Xi for whatever it was she was doing to him. Deciding there wasn't any time for caution, Sabine immediately ran from behind her cover and towards the structure. She sprinted at full speed towards the nearest wall ignoring the closest door knowing it was likely booby trapped or guarded on the inside. She activated her jetpack while still moving. Her feet lifted on the ground and she carefully guided herself up and onto the roof. The Merc turned around just as her boots landed on the floor.
The Bothan frantically raised his blaster rifle but was too slow. Sabine held her momentum from the landing and charged. She jumped towards him extending her leg, her boot planted firmly on his chest and knocked him back over the railing. He screamed and flailed as he fell down to the metal floor below, his screaming silenced by the impact.
Not bothering to check if he was dead or alive, Sabine turned around and went to the only door on the roof. Naturally, it was locked. Though she wasn't in the mood for trying to hack through the interface. Instead she activated the plasma cutter she had installed on her vambraces. She held her hand up towards the mechanism and activated the cutters. The bright burning blue plasma shot out instantly melting away the old weak metal of the door and cut through the lock within a few short seconds.
Sabine pulled the door open and stepped inside just as another haunting scream echoed upwards through the stairs. Her feet carried her down the stairs as quickly as possible, she didn't worry about making noise, all she could hear and think of was how much pain Ezra was in.
She unholstered her pistol and grabbed a flashbang grenade from her belt as she came down into a dark hallway just as the screaming stopped.
Where are you, Ezra? She frantically looked up and down the hallway with no indication of which way to go until she heard somebody rapidly speaking, almost yelling in fact.
Sabine instantly turned in the direction it came from and began to creep down the hallway towards the door. As she came closer she recognized the voice, it was strained and hoarse but there was no mistaking Ezra's voice.
Sabine thanked whatever higher powers there were that he was still alright. She backed up against the wall next to the door and sighed in frustration at seeing the door was locked. She knelt down next to the interface with a computer spike and plugged it into the control interface. The plasma cutter would have been faster, but she needed the element of surprise considering she didn't know who else was in there with Ezra.
"Tell me where Wren is! Now!" Xi yelled, Sabine could her the bounty hunter's voice cracking with anger and impatience. "We know you're working with her, tell us where she is!"
"There's so much you don't know about me." Ezra laughed.
What could he possibly be laughing at? Sabine wondered as she furrowed her brow and tried to focus on getting the door open.
"You think you have everything you need to know about me all from the bounty the Empire put out." Ezra said as his voice lowered and grew angrier.
"Why don't you enlighten us then?" Another person in the room said.
"I'm more than just some street rat rebel from Lothal." Ezra said as his voice grew even deeper and louder and began to shake with rage. Sabine finished unlocking the door just as Ezra began to yell. "And Sabine Wren is right here."
Sabine opened the door and rolled the flashbang into the room then ducked into cover. Her visor and helmet shielded her from the effects of the bright deafening detonation that exploded from the room. As soon as the light faded Sabine turned into the room and raised her pistol at the first person she saw, Xi.
Ezra clenched his eyes shut and coughed as his body screamed at him. His throat was on fire and it felt like he had drank battery acid. He opened his eyes to look back up at his captors as he began to shake, not from pain or exhaustion but from rage.
He only needed to hold on for a few more moments, he could feel how close Sabine was now. Which meant he could finally let loose some of his pent up anger from being tortured.
He looked across the room back at his arm and noticed his weapons next to it. His blaster pistol and more notably, his lightsaber. They hadn't mentioned it, they likely didn't even know what it was. Seeing as they hadn't drugged him to suppress his abilities either.
They have no idea what I really am. Ezra began to smile as his mind started to imagine the looks on their faces when they realized their mistake.
"You think you have everything you need to know about me all from the bounty the Empire put out." He growled as he looked from Xi to the merc with the broken nose.
You're first. Ezra felt the angry fire in his chest grow. He started to take deep breaths, ignoring how much his lungs protested.
"Why don't you enlighten us then?" The merc asked antagonistically only fueling Ezra's impatience and anger.
Ezra extended the fingers on his hand making it look like he was just stretching them or trying to break free. He reached out in the force and focused on his lightsaber on the table.
The lightsaber quickly complied to his will, slowly spinning on the table as he readied himself.
"I'm more than just some street rat rebel from Lothal." Ezra said as he buried his mind deeper into the force. He felt the warning in the force just in time, the urge to tell the truth was too much to fight off while also focusing on his lightsaber, thankfully it didn't matter anymore so he finally told Xi what she wanted to know so badly. "And Sabine Wren is right here."
The door to the room slid open and a grenade rolled in. Ezra closed his eyes right before it detonated. The bright light shined through his eyelids and the astoundingly loud detonation deafened him leaving only a ringing in his ears.
Now! Ezra called the lightsaber to his hand and within only a short moment, felt the familiar shape in his palm. He opened his eyes as the bright light faded to see Sabine firing her pistol at Xi as she charged in. Ezra quickly spun the lightsaber in his hand and activated it. The green light instantly cut through the binding on his wrist, it burned the skin making him wince in pain but it was nothing compared to everything else he had been through.
Xi charged towards Sabine and knocked her pistol aside then threw her against the wall. The two engaged in a brutally efficient hand to hand combat while Ezra desperately tried to hurry up but was too dizzy to work any faster.
The Merc stumbled against the corner and pulled out his pistol as Ezra cut the wire across his chest then the two on his ankles. He stood up and immediately fell to his knees.
He heard a pistol being unholstered and looked up just in time to see the merc raising his pistol in Ezra's direction. Relying on the force, Ezra swung his lightsaber in front of him just in time to block the blaster bolt.
"Hey!" Sabine yelled as it landed only a few inches away from her head.
"Sorry!" Ezra yelled as he rolled out of the way of the Merc shooting at him again. At the end of his roll Ezra stood back up to his feet swaying slightly as he tried to keep his balance. He extended his hand out to the merc pulling the blaster pistol with the force. The man's eyes widened in shock and fear as Ezra walked towards him.
"Want to know something else about me?" Ezra asked through gritted teeth. His body seemed to act of its own accord as the anger started to take control of him. He wanted revenge and he was going to have it.
Without thinking or even focusing on the force he pulled the panicked merc straight towards him and held his lightsaber out pointed at the man. The man gasped in shock and pain as the lightsaber penetrated his chest and Ezra looked him coldly in the eyes.
"I can kill you with my mind." Ezra said truthfully as he deactivated the lightsaber and let the man fall to the ground to die. It was only then that the anger began to fade and Ezra actually regained control of himself.
He looked down at the man in horror as the life began to fade from the mercs eyes. Ezra's mouth opened in shock not believing he had just killed somebody so brutally and enjoyed it.
This isn't who I am. Ezra said to himself in horror.
"Ezra!" Sabine yelled, pulling him out of his strange stupor. "A little help?" Ezra looked back to Sabine and Xi to see them still fighting both grappling with each other and trying to get the upper hand. Sabine brought a knee into Xi's stomach then pushed the bounty hunter away as she pulled out her knife and attacked again. Ezra activated his lightsaber and stepped forward as Xi dodged one of Sabine's blows then raised a hand at him, he recognized the vambraces she wore as similar to Sabine's.
That's not good. Was the only thought he managed to have before he saw the shockwave shoot from the vambrace and straight towards him. It hit Ezra in the chest like a ton of bricks and sent him flying back into the decrepit wall. The broken down wall instantly gave way to the force combined with his weight.
Everything happened so quickly, Ezra was flung out of the room and into sunlight as the noise of water grew louder and louder. He flailed helplessly to try and grab onto something to stop himself. Soon, Xi and Sabine both fell out of sight.
He turned his head to see what was below him just in time to see that he had a few hundred more meters to fall before he would hit the water at the bottom of the waterfall.
Sabine tried to push Xi's arm to the side as she fired the pulse at Ezra but was too late. It hit him full on and sent him careening through the wall and out of sight. Without thinking or even saying a word, Sabine bolted for the hole in the wall and jumped through it head first.
She held her arms tightly to her sides and tilted her body so her head was angled straight down. The waterfall was so close to her as she barrelled toward Ezra that she could feel the water droplets hitting her armor. It was only a matter of a few moments before he would hit the water which would kill even him at this high of a fall.
Her rangefinder began reading how close they were getting to the water.
One hundred meters.
With the simple press of a button she activated her jetpack to help her gain on him. As she neared him she extended her hand out towards him.
Fifty meters.
Sabine yelled to Ezra over the roaring of the waterfall and the wind. He turned just in time to see her and reached out. His fingers clasping onto hers. As soon as she felt their grip secured, she pulled up by thirty degrees. The extra weight pulled them down as the rangefinder dropped from thirty to ten and then finally to zero as the two crashed down into the water head first.
The sound around her muffled into nothingness as water flooded her helmet and Ezra's hand slipped from hers. She frantically looked for him but couldn't see anything through the murky water.
He can't swim! Sabine remembered in a panic as she tried to pull herself up through the water under the mighty current that kept pushing her down the river. Her lungs screamed in protest as she held her breath for a few more moments then tried breaking through again as the current weakened. Finally the current gave way and Sabine pushed through, the water flowed out of her helmet allowing her to take a deep breath and cough out the water she had accidentally swallowed.
"Ezra!" She yelled as her heart began to beat faster and faster. He was nowhere to be seen.
"No no no I'm not losing you to some kriffing water!" She yelled, her voice cracking in distress as the current carried her further away from the waterfall and through the dense jungle. After a few brief moments, her heart felt like it stopped and then was given a jumpstart as she saw a hand flailing in the water a little bit further downriver and closer to the edge.
Sabine pushed herself toward him kicking her legs and moving her arms as fast as she could letting her adrenaline fuel her. She briefly saw Ezra's face as he desperately tried to tread water with only one arm, after a blink of an eye he was underwater again though.
"Dammit!" Sabine cursed as she reached where he was and dove underwater reaching out with her hand. In a strange and unexpected stroke of luck, her hand found his. She kicked as hard as she could pulling him back up to the surface.
As soon as both of their heads broke through the water, Ezra began violently coughing as she wrapped her arm around his limp torso and slowly pulled them towards the edge of the river.
She felt the strength of her kicks fade as the adrenaline wore off, her heart still beating so hard in her chest that it hurt. After a few minutes of struggling against the current and with the waterfall no longer even in sight, Sabine finally brought them ashore. She stood up in the shallow water practically dragging Ezra through it as he still coughed up water.
Once out of the water completely, Sabine let go of Ezra's hand letting him collapse onto the mud on his back while he finally took deep water-free breaths. Sabine collapsed next to him not even caring about how much cleaning her armor would need. She took off her helmet and looked up at the clear sky above them as her heart finally began to calm down.
"You're so badass." Ezra wheezed.
"What?" Sabine laughed unsure of where that had come from.
"Truth serum." Ezra explained.
"Ah…" Sabine responded. "That explains a lot." She said before taking another deep breath.
Ezra winced in pain and coughed again while Sabine propped herself up on her elbow to face him.
"You alright?" She asked.
"Yeah…" Ezra smirked, his pained facial expression turning into amusement as he raised his hand at her then looked to where his left arm was supposed to be. "...I'm all right."
"I hate you." Sabine sighed as she swatted him on the chest. Ezra coughed again wincing in pain at the hit all the while still smiling at his bad joke.
"You love me." He responded playfully. The way he could be so seemingly carefree and happy after that was astounding to Sabine. It was refreshing as well, and only helped her realize again just how much she actually did love the trouble maker, regardless of how many bad decisions he made.
Sabine sighed and smiled to herself as she let him wrap his arm around her back and laid her head on his shoulder. "No, I jump off of waterfalls risking death for random strangers all the time."
The two remained silent for a moment, Sabine enjoyed the sound of the birds and the flowing water accompanied by Ezra's heartbeat, something that had become a firm and comforting reminder that he was still alive. That she wasn't alone in the universe again.
"This is nice." Sabine whispered.
"Sort of normal, right?" Ezra asked. "I mean if you ignore the whole part where I was tortured and thrown to my death."
"Yeah." Sabine chuckled. "I guess so."
"I do want a normal life, you know. To do normal things with you." Ezra said after taking another deep breath. Sabine propped herself up on her elbow again so she could see his face.
"You do?" She asked.
"I can't exactly lie right now." Ezra shrugged with a smile. He let out a deep sigh as he looked directly into Sabine's eyes. They were so sincere, so caring, and loving. It made her feel like she was the only person in the galaxy when he looked at her like that.
"I'm just scared." Ezra said. "I'm scared that if we had anything normal, it would give me something else to lose." Tears welled up in his eyes as he shook his head and looked away.
"And after losing Ahsoka, I'm not sure how much more I can handle before I just lose who I am completely."
"Hey." Sabine brought her hand up to Ezra's cheek making him look back at her. She opened her mouth to tell him how she felt but couldn't find the words again. Her inability to talk about her feelings made her wish she was on the same drugs as Ezra.
Come on, Sabine. Grow up. Sabine chastised herself. She could be open with Ezra, she could be herself. It was part of why she loved him so much.
"We'll be alright." Sabine finally said. "You're not going to lose me, and neither of us are giving up on each other, ever. I know I can always count on you no matter what, and you can always count on me no matter what. So trust me, no matter what happens to us, we will make it through it." She brushed her soaking wet hair behind her ear as she leaned down and kissed Ezra on the lips, despite the strange taste of river water it was still just as calming and loving as every other time she had kissed him. She lingered for only a brief moment before pulling away and looking deeply into his eyes again. "And I won't let you lose who you are, Bridger." Ezra's pained eyes softened again as the tears started to dissipate and his lips curled upwards into a light smile.
"Now as much as I want to just stay here. We have somebody to go kill." Sabine said as she reluctantly pushed herself up onto her feet.
She held her hand out and helped Ezra up as she looked towards the dense jungle that was so thick that even the sunlight couldn't penetrate it,
leaving it in almost complete darkness.
Without warning, Ezra activated his lightsaber and stepped in front of Sabine. Four shots were fired from the dark jungle in rapid fire. Ezra easily blocked each one then reached his hand out and clenched it into a fist. The firing stopped and as Ezra pulled his fist over his shoulder a figure came flying out of the dark jungle with her hands clenched around her throat. Sabine unholstered her pistol and held it at her side.
Ezra threw Xi down into the mud, as soon as the bounty hunter turned around onto her back she raised her hand to Ezra. Sabine quickly fired from the hip hitting the vambrace and breaking it. Xi cursed in pain as Sabine stepped forward and planted her foot on Xi's chest.
"Well…" Xi said hissing in anger. "...Finish it." Sabine put as much weight as she could on Xi as she knelt down in front of the bounty hunter.
"I should make you suffer for what you did to me all those years ago." Sabine said before looking back up to Ezra. "And he should make you suffer for you just did to him."
Sabine took off her helmet and dropped it next to her then took off Xi's. She pressed the barrel of her pistol under Xi's chin. "But I'll make it quick instead." Sabine said as Xi stared up at her with eyes as cold as ice. "Consider this a professional courtesy." Sabine added mimicking Xi's overconfidence in their last conversation as she squeezed the trigger. The blaster was muffled by the close contact of the shot and Xi was instantly dead.
Sabine sighed and closed her eyes for a brief moment. As much as she hated Xi with every fiber of her body, killing like that still wasn't easy for her. She felt Ezra's hand on her shoulder and looked up to him.
"It had to be done." Ezra said calmly and knowingly. "She never would have stopped hunting us."
"Yeah…" Sabine sighed as she reached down and grabbed Xi's other vambrace. Once it was free of it's old owner, Sabine activated the device's interface and searched for what they needed. After a few moments she found the killswitch for the bombs on their ship and deactivated them.
She dropped the vambrace in the mud then turned back to Ezra and let him wrap his arm over her shoulder. She put her arm under his and helped guide him into the forest.
"By the way…" Sabine said as Ezra limped next to her. "You and I remember Kashyyyk very differently."
"Ez…" Ezra groaned in protest to being pulled away from his sleep. "Ez wake up." Sabine's voice sounded so nice in his ear that he actually wasn't sure if it was a part of his dream or not.
"Wake up, sharal." He felt something hit him in the chest.
Definitely not the dream. Ezra groaned again and opened his eyes to see Sabine sitting next to the bed and looking at him with wide expectant eyes.
"What's up." Ezra asked yawning.
"Aside from you sleeping for twenty hours?" Sabine asked raising an eyebrow.
"No way." Ezra said in disbelief as he slowly sat up and ran his hand through his hair.
"Yeah." Sabine said showing him the clock. "The information broker got back to us." She said with a smile. "We've got a solid lead."
"Good." Ezra said as he warily stood up to make sure his legs were functioning properly after being off of them for so long. He grabbed a shirt and pulled it over his head. "Let's get going then."
"Whoa, slow down." Sabine said placing a hand on his chest as she looked up at him. There was an excited look in her eyes, as if she knew something he didn't. "There's something else we need to do first?"
"Like what?" Ezra asked apprehensively. Sabine only smiled and grabbed his hand and walked him out of their room and towards the crew lounge.
The door to the crew lounge opened, the table was covered with what looked like painting supplies. Sabine turned around to face him with a wide nervous smile on her face.
"Something normal."
1
Ezra smiled as he realized just where Sabine was going with this.
"Just a fair warning. I'm a really bad student." Ezra said.
"I'm a bad teacher so I wouldn't worry too much." Sabine said as she walked towards the table and sat down at the bench. Ezra went and sat across from her while she cleared the area in front of her and looked down at the metal table and furrowed her brow.
Ezra couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was when she was doing something like concentrating on a blank table as she tried to figure out what to paint.
Over the next few hours, they slowly worked on the table all the while talking and asking questions about each other. With each added brushstroke and each answered question, Ezra found himself happier and happier with his company and with where they were. Their lives were far from perfect, they both knew they could die any moment. But they didn't talk about that. They didn't talk or even think about the Empire or Maul. It was the strangest experience Ezra had ever had, it felt like it was the first time he had truly experienced life since losing his parents.
Not a care to be had, only the comfort that being with Sabine brought to him.
For just a few hours, they had a normal life.
And for those hours, the future with Sabine that Ezra always dreamed of didn't seem ridiculous or impossible to reach. Because he was experiencing it right then and there.
I realized I'm often using Mandalorian words and swear words without defining them because Ezra understands most languages now so it's hard to actually write the meaning into the dialogue. As a result I will now be trying to consistently put in a small little definitions section at the end of chapters where these words are used.
Dictionary:
Kriff(ing): Vulgar expletive. Basically the Star Wars universe equivalent of "frick" which we all know if an equivalent of something else.
Sharal: Mandalorian word for lazy
Authors note: I'm really sorry for not updating in two weeks. I've just been crazy busy lately. I will make it up to all of you at some point with a multiple chapter update. I'm not sure when yet but I will make it happen. Thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoyed because this chapter was difficult to write.