A/N This takes place in Season 1, before Empire Day.

X

YEARS LATER…

Ezra woke up to snoring. Loud, and by loud, EXTREMELY loud, snoring coming from the bottom bunk. He lazily got himself up, his eyes catching the sight of his now worn-out gloves at the bottom of the sleeves of the silver pajamas he wore that was once his mother's. (Yes, he was that thin)

He's been wearing those things for 8 years now. He wasn't surprised that the tips had worn out already, making it look fingerless, but thankfully, despite it being worn-out, the cloth of the tips was still stitched up and stable. Another thing that he was thankful for was that the cloth was able to hold in the ice he was involuntarily releasing whenever he was scared or anxious or feeling any negative emotion.

'No nightmares last night, at least.' he sighed in relief before heading to the ladder.

As he climbed down his bunk, he couldn't resist a peek at his roommate.

Garazeb Orrelios, the Lasat and one of the only non-human member of their small family-like crew. The big guy was like a big furry Loth-cat, except he was purple, down-right stinky, could stand in two feet and was extremely muscular from torso to legs. It was something even Ezra had to admit when he first met him.

The previous night, Zeb wasn't in the mood to sleep with his usual clothes, thus it was how Ezra found him asleep with a blanket around him, his muscular exposed to hug himself and to show that he wasn't wearing ANYTHING on.

That morning, the blanket was halfway off of Zeb's body. It was covering the lower part of him, revealing his semi-furry, muscular chest as he laid down on his back with his arms by his side and one of them hanging over the edge of the bed.

'Cute.' Ezra couldn't help but gain a liking for his roommate. Sure, the Lasat was UNBEARABLE at times, but ever since that Wild Meilooran Chase that their captain had sent them on, he got to know more about Zeb, and the more he knew, the more his attraction for him grew.

He had soon landed on the floor, creating a little thud. He froze for a while as Zeb's sensitive ears flinched at the noise, but the Lasat didn't wake. Instead, he rolled over, so his back faced the blunette.

Ezra snorted, a deep blush beaming across him as he rolled his eyes. He made an effort to tip-toe to his bag to grab his old orange jumpsuit then he headed to the door. As soon as he was out, he sprinted to the Refresher.

The door slid closed, and Ezra locked it for security then he sighed in relief before turning to place his folded jumpsuit on a rack. He removed his pajamas and placed them in the laundry basket then he turned on the shower, letting the spray of hot water hit his entire body. He took a deep breath as he let the water wash his fears and worries away.

"Calm yourself… control yourself…" he reminded himself as he bundled his hair up and behind his head to wash the back of his neck.

He then let go and looked down at his wet gloves. He gave a sigh.

'I really need to remove these old things, so they can dry up.' he thought.

He attempted to remove the first glove, slowly and gently peeling it off his hand to place on the rack. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the frosted tips of his fingers.

'Shoot.'

He quickly removed the other glove and placed it on the rack. He took a shaky breath, dragging his now-bare hands down his wet hair as he submerged himself back in the water.

"They're just gloves, Ezra…" he muttered to himself, his lips quivering with his words as he carefully turned off the water and reached out for the soap and shampoo on the sink. "You can't always wear them, especially when you need to freshen up…"

To be fair, he hasn't cleaned up completely in years. It was only washing his hair and body with water, excluding his hands. He never used soap or shampoo in ages.

In just a few minutes, his whole body was covered in suds. He turned on the water and let the bubbles wash off every dirt that his body had in years. He sighed in relief, a smile crawling up his face before stretching.

"That feels so nice…" he placed a hand on the shower head to try to control the flow.

At his touch, however, the shower head turned into ice, stopping the water from flowing. Ezra's eyes widened in panic before quickly turning off the shower to not make a water outburst from the sudden ice clog. The shower knob froze immediately after he turned it, leveling up his panic. His breathing was becoming unstable as he took a step back towards the other wall. The moment he placed his hand on the metal, however, frost came out from his fingers and crawled up halfway across the Refresher.

"Oh, Kriff—!" He hurriedly went out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry himself and take his mind off his fright.

'Control it!' He hissed in as he finished and hung the towel on the rack. 'Don't feel… Don't feel… Don't feel… Don't— Kriff!'

He jumped back, letting go as his towel froze in front of him. He groaned, pulling on his hair as tears began to prick his eyes.

'Weapon… danger…' the painful words began to fill his head, causing his limbs to tremble as he fell on one knee, still clutching his hair. 'Ice… snow… monster… dangerous… death…'

"STOOOP!" He screamed, his voice echoing through the walls as he pressed his hands on his ears.

His efforts were in vain as an echoey voice ran through his ears from inside his memories.

'Yes…' the man… the stranger… the Grand Inquisitor… 'Give in to your fear, boy…'

The words had come from his past, the day his parents were taken, and mostly likely killed. HE was there. HE was trying to break him.

'Feel it coursing through your body…' His words were soothing… and mesmerizing… yet threatening… 'Embrace it…'

It was the same Inquisitor whom they met at the prison to rescue an old Jedi Master, Master Luminara. The one who tried to capture them and tried to keep them from escaping.

'The Jedi are dead…' his words were still as clear as when he had spoken them to him. 'But there's always another side… the Dark Side…'

Ezra KNEW that HE had recognized him from way back. Remembered him in his house… hiding like a coward… with his powers freezing his room quicker than a—

"Kriff!" Ezra's eyes were wide and panicky the moment he realized that he froze almost THE WHOLE Refresher.

He took back his hands from his hair to see them trembling with the rest of his body. He let out a shaky breath, a mist of cold breath appearing from his mouth as he slowly stood up and hugged himself, rubbing his upper arms to warm himself up, even if he knew he couldn't.

As he planned to indulge in silence, however, there was a knock at the door, followed by a familiar voice.

"Ezra?"

'Kriff—' the blunette was frozen in place as he internally panicked at the voice of the Jedi Knight of the team. 'Kanan—'

"Ezra, you there?" Kanan Jarrus, their crew's leader and father-like figure, and Ezra's Jedi Master, knocked on the door once more, his eyebrows furrowed with worry for the boy. "Ezra?"

'He isn't going to leave me alone anytime soon, is he?' Ezra let out a low growl before forcing himself to speak. "Yeah, Kanan! I'm in here!"

"You okay? I heard you screaming from across the hall…"

'Argh, me and my stupid, careless mouth…' Ezra snarled under his breath, shaking his head. "I'm fine, Kanan! Really! I just… uh… got some in my eyes… repeatedly…"

From outside, Kanan could hear the lie of his Padawan. His mind reeled, trying to wonder the reason why the blunette would lie to him.

Wasn't he trustworthy enough to know?

But, knowing Ezra well, Kanan knew that he couldn't push the issue further. The kid wasn't an open book, after all. He was closed, shut, and full of secrets. Each secret would slowly reveal in time, right?

"Alright then," Kanan sighed, pulling away from the door as he let the fib slide. "You better hurry up and shower, though. Zeb's up, and he's devouring all those space waffles down faster than Hera can make them,"

Ezra chuckled. Man did he love that Lasat and his mishaps…

"Yeah, yeah, I got it,"

With that, Kanan left to head to the dining room.

Ezra sighed in relief, ruffling his now dry hair before turning to put on his clothes, especially his gloves. He grabbed his comb and turned to the mirror only to jump back at his frosted reflection.

"I really need to get my emotions under control…" he growled lowly as he wiped the mirror's surface then he went on to groom himself.

After combing his hair and brushing his teeth, he took out a chisel from one of his pockets then he started to remove the ice to prevent suspicion…