Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday Dear Ner Vod! Happy Birthday to You! That's right it is Ner Vod is one year old and still active updated. It's a miracle. So, here is a birthday gift, a new special. This holds a possible future, similar to the first special. You know the drill by now, but STAR WARS REBELS IS OWNED BY THE MOUSE! I apologize for errors delays and long winded author's notes.
WARNING: Midnight Luna, read at your own risk. I take no responsibility for your mental health should you read this. Midnight Luna's inner fangirl, please, try and keep her sane.
Mira is lucky. She knows she is. She really is. Very few of her classmates get to see their families daily. But… She can't help but wonder… Especially after the weekly call home day, when all her friends talk on and on about their parents and their homeplanets, and she has nothing to say. She can't say anything…
Her home is the temple.
And even before she came to the temple… She has been at the temple since the beginning. She even remembers running supplies back and forth when they were fixing up the temple two years ago after the destruction of the second Death Star. And before that… She was never with her parents…. She's never had a homeplanet…. She traveled with her uncle and his padawan… And before that… all she remembers is a dark hole of misery.
She glances down at her left hand. Without her protective glove, the metal joints glint back at her in the light cast by her rose and heart nightlight. She doesn't grieve the loose. It's been like that since before she can remember. But it happened in that dark place, she is sure of it. It's the place she returns to in her nightmares, and the place that the green lady causes her pain in that hand.
So, where did her parents fit in? If she has parents…
The questions about that have been swarming in her head for a month and she is worrying her uncle. But… She can't ask him… What if it hurts his feelings? But she is already worrying him… And Grandma And Uncle Kanan and Aunt Hera… And Depa… And Aunt Dhara… And Aunt Talia… And Uncle Orin… And Master Skywalker… And Mrs. Tano-Bonteri And General Organa and Solo… Mr. Froggy even visited in his Force ghost form…
And… And… She has a test tomorrow in her worst subject, diplomacy, and she's not getting a lick of sleep until she at least gets some answers. She kicks off the covers and jumps off the bed. Hopefully her uncle isn't asleep. It's past 2200!
She quietly sneaks the door open. The light of the Holonet lights the room, block off slightly by the back of the couch. "I can't believe you actually watch this Bantha poodoo." Ezra chuckles lightly. What's poodoo?
"Hey, they try and make it historically accurate." Dhara chuckles back. She's still here? Mira raises an eyebrow. Dinner had been hours ago.
"Do or do not, there is no try." Ezra says, in a gravelly voice, clearly trying to imitate Mr. Froggy.
"Yeah, yeah, Yoda." Mira see Dhara's arm come over the couch and down, as she playfully smack him with a pillow.
"Seriously, they don't even get that "we" are the same person." Mira can practically hear him rolling his eyes. Who is we?
"You got me there. I am betting we get a dramatic Death scene of Ezra 'Bridger' to explain his mysterious disappearance." Dhara quips.
"Yeah, mysterious." Ezra is laughing again.
"Talia and I thought about making a drinking game out of it. A shot for every inaccuracy." Dhara says.
"Sounds like an excellent way to get alcohol poisoni-" Ezra stops midsentence. Slowly, he gets up looking over the couch. Dhara leans up and follows his line of sight. "Mira, what are you doing up?" Ezra asks, gently. "Did you have a nightmare?" Mira shakes her head. "Do you want some hot chocolate?" Mira shakes his head and looks down at her feet. Ezra and Dhara share a startled look. Worry flashes through Ezra's eyes. He pushes it down focusing on Mira. "Mira, is something wrong?" Mira doesn't look up. "Mira, come here," He shakes his head.
Mira slowly walks around the couch. Ezra smirks, grabbing her and spinning them around. Mira and Ezra burst into laughter. Ezra collapses down on to the couch. Dhara seizes the moments and launches into a tickle fest until they are all breathless.
Mira curls up in her uncle's side while Dhara strokes her back, comfortingly. Mira remembers her question. "Uncle Ezra…"
"Yeah, Little One?" Ezra smiles fondly at her.
"Do every kid has parents?" She looks up at him.
Ezra's eyebrows shoot up then, his face adopts a sad resigned face. "Yes, Little One." He knew this day would come eventually, just not this soon.
"Then, why don't mine call me like all the other kids? Or stay with us like Depa and Kanan and Hera?" Mira looks up sadly. "Do they not want to talk to me?"
"No!" Ezra says, rushing it out. "Your parents love you more than anything."
"Then why aren't they here?" Mira asks.
"Mira, if they could they would be." Ezra says.
"Are they traveling the galaxy?" Mira asks, hopeful. Ezra looks away, not answering. Mira looks down "Will I get to see their Force Ghost?"
"Mira… Force ghost are very rare. Very few people can achieve them…" Dhara leans over hugging them both.
"So, I will never know them?" Mira starts to tear up. A loud crash comes from the holonet. A blonde actress appears on screen with a red lightsaber that looked faker than imperial propaganda appears with a sinister smirk. Ezra glares at the screen. He could put up with a lot of the inaccuracies but this one came the closest to causing him to loose his Jedi cool. Dhara, sensing this, picks up Mira. "Scary…" That inquisitor was terrifying.
"How about I tell you about how I met your mother?" Dhara asks, smiling fondly. Mira nods. "Well, when I was young. My brother, Zare, and I were raised in a pro-Imperial family. And I found myself training at the Imperial Academy. I was a star pupil. No one could beat. I was the strongest, the fastest, and the smartest. And that brought trouble. I was taken from there and force to train in the Dark Side. Now, I had realized how awful the Empire was and fought back. That cost me my memories. Still, I fought. And when I was just about to break, a friendly hand opened my cell. That hand belonged to your mother. Without a word and without expecting anything in return, she snuck me to the hanger bay and put me on a ship. I escaped my fate as an inquisitor because of her. She was so kind, even at her worst. Her thoughts never were on herself." Dhara smiles, leaving off the part where Sonya had refused to leave with Dhara as she felt she was too broken.
"Your mother was a real hero." Ezra smiles, ruffling Mira's head. "She'd never turn her back on someone who needed help. She stood tall even in the roughest of winds. And she loved you more than anything in this galaxy."
Dhara sighs, looking back at the screen. Every word that he said is true. However, the galaxy doesn't want to see it like that. They want black and white and clean. But that's just not reality.
The inquisitor is taunting her onscreen self about being a traitor and not knowing where her true loyalty lies.
It really isn't that simple.
"Really?" Mira asks, hesitantly.
"Yes, you were her world." Ezra smiles. Then after a moment, he admits, "I wouldn't have found you with out her…"
"What about my daddy?" Mira looks up at him.
"I don't know much about him. I never really met him." Ezra admits. "Though, he loved you and your mommy very much and stayed with her through thick and thin. You actually got his hair." Ezra ruffles her hair. "And his last name."
"Hey!" Mira laughs, grabbing his arms.
"You know, Grandma probably has a few pictures of her." Ezra says. "Maybe you can go to her apartment after classes tomorrow. Speaking of which… Bed time."
"No hot chocolate?" Mira yawns.
"How about I make you a big girl size hot chocolate in the morning?" Ezra chuckles, knowing she wouldn't be able to stay awake long enough for him to make hot chocolate the right way. She is so much like her mother. Sonya would never get up in the morning without hot chocolate, either. He should know, he's had to wake up both.
Mira yawns. "Promise?" Mira remembers the dark place. She should ask about that, but she is afraid. Not of the dark place, well, not fully. She's afraid that the answers will make her even more afraid. What if the Green Lady is real? What is that place?
Let it remain a place of nightmare. She isn't even a padawan, yet. She can be blind for little while longer
"Promise." Ezra kisses her forehead.
Mira glances over to Dhara. "You asked her yet?" Mira "tries" to whisper. Ezra immediately flushes, getting up immediately and carries her to bed. Mira climbs into her bed. Ezra tucks her in.
"What was that about, Mira? It was suppose to be a surprise," Ezra asks.
"You're trying to surprise a Jedi?" Mira smirks. Ezra looks down at his niece. How she got his father's and her mother's snark is beyond him. "Beside, now, you can't back out." It is far easier to see how she got her grandmother's wit.
"I am not going to back down." Ezra says, shakes his head. "I'm just waiting for the right time."
"Why? You guys pretty much already are! It just needs to make it off.. officey?" Mira says.
"Official, and you've been eavesdropping on Uncle Kanan and Aunt Hera, haven't you?" Ezra says, unamused.
"No." Mira giggles. Ezra gives her a look. "Uncle Kanan and Uncle Zeb. And I thought she already was, when you told me what you were going to do. Remember?"
"Good night, Little One." Ezra kisses her forehead and turn on the light music of her favorite singer. Ezra shakes his head with a smile. Quietly, he returns to the living room, shutting the door behind him.
"So, what are you going to ask me?" Dhara chuckles.
"Uh… Umm… Why don't we go for a walk?" Ezra asks. Dhara starts, at the first sign that some thing is up. She can count on one… Actually, no, there has never been an instance of Ezra leaving Mira alone at night. "I can call Kanan and he can keep an ear out for Mira."
Dhara looks at him, confused. "You sure?" Even with Kanan and Hera right next store, it is unusual for Ezra to just… "What are you planning?"
"Nothing, just let me call him." Ezra smiles. One call featuring a teasing Kanan and him hanging up before Hera starts, the two head out into the halls of the temple.
They talk and laugh and just be themselves, hands locked together. The large open windows are paint with the crisp clean night sky. Eventually, they make it to the open halls surrounding the courtyard. Dhara leans against the low wall separating the courtyard and halls. Ezra leans next to her and puts his arm around her shoulder. "Zare's thinking that maybe we should try to bridge the gap with our parents…"
"What do you think?" Ezra asks. Her parents are a sore spot for both Zare and Dhara. They had been so enraptured with the Empire… It really had driven a wedge between parent and child that is slow to heal.
"Honestly, I know it is awful to me to say this. Especially, with all the families I've seen torn apart. But I have so few memories of them that I honestly don't care." Dhara admits, and knows that Ezra already knows this, but patient enough to listen to her feelings about it, again. And again. And again. "Sage and Zara have been more of parents to me then them, to the point that when we do get married, Zara will be seated in the bride's family area and Sage will be walking me down the aisle. Or Zare, haven't given much thought yet. But, hey, it's a ways off." After all they aren't even engaged, yet.
"Oh, so you're claiming my aunt?" Ezra chuckles, pulling something out of his sleeve.
"Well, she was my master-" Dhara gives a yelp as something is shoved down her the back of her robe. She shakes out her robe, revealing a pinecone. "Oh, it is so on."
"You'll have to catch me first!" Ezra hops over the wall, followed by Dhara. She chase after him through the courtyard, to and through the trees. They weave in and out, until both can barely breath through laughter. Ezra sneaks around a tree and snakes his arms around his girlfriend's waste from behind. He leans over, falling in a way that insures both of them are fine. They land in the flowers planted between the threes and open courtyard, laughing. Dhara slowly stops laughing as she curls closer to Ezra's chest and stares up at the stars.
Ezra looks down at her as a strange emotion emits off her. Dhara answers his unsaid question, "I just got this feeling… Not a Force feeling, but just disbelief. The Empire is gone. The Jedi are rebuilding. Sure, there is the First Order, but the Republic is back. It feels like a dream. That I could wake up at any moment and have this long dream be over."
"I know the feeling. Believe me, I think everyone who served in the Rebellion gets it." Ezra smiles at her. "But it is over. At least, our part of it and most of the galaxies part in it is as well. And we can move on. Move forward. And, well, that thing about choosing between Zare and Sage… It may need to happen sooner rather than latter."
Dhara looks at him. Ezra pulls out a small pouch from his robes and pulls out a ring. A ring that Dhara recognizes as having been Miranda's wedding band. Dhara beams at him and nods, holding out her hand. He slips the ring onto her finger without a word.
Dhara leans up and kisses him. All the worries of the world could wait. This was their moment. This and every other moment and nothing is going to take it from them. And what ever tried, they would face together.
Thank You Time! Thank you Nurofen for following and Favoriting. Thank you Oaka for favoriting. Thank you FrostSpecter and ShadowBella987 for following. Thank you Paint the Fangirling UniWolf, Midnight Luna, Jedi Jelsa777, and Skypeoplephoenix732 for reviewing.
Midnight, you okay? It's Bob. You okay? Inner Fangirl, please help her? I hope I didn't cause Inner Fangirl to have a mental break down too…
Paint, they couldn't see anything… That's why they fell apart…
Kanan's blindness… What can I say? It is a beautiful case of mature storytelling that is rarely seen in any media. As a viewer, I feel Kanan's pain. As a storyteller, I recognize the pure potency and am legitimately happy to have not seen that coming.
Question Time: What do you think Yoda meant when he to Luke he was the "Last of the Jedi"?
As this is the one-year anniversary, I'd like to thank every single one of you who has helped me get 13,483 views and 139 reviews. It is truly amazing and I feel truly blessed to be apart of this community. Thank you.
I'd also like to give a very special thanks to Paint the Fangirling UniWolf who has been with me since the very beginning and has reviewed every single chapter with out failure. Thank you so much.
I'd also like to thank Midnight Luna who has been there almost as long. Thank you so much.
Both of you have always left amazing comments and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
And thank you everyone for your patience last quarter. It was utterly insane. But now we are facing a new year, and the story is continuing forward.