A/N: Quick word of warning, I don't often write angst because I don't personally think I'm that good at it. I personally think I'm much better when it comes to bonding and fluff. With that said there will be some angst in this chapter because Ezra is a teenager going through an identity crisis. Please spare me the wrath of the comments and reviews, I try! I decided to post a few chapters leading up to May the fourth and this is the culmination of those chapters. Updates will be on Sunday's after this. Let me know how you like it in the reviews! Hope you all enjoy!

"For family."

Day 1, 4 BBY

I was sitting in my room under the soft yellow light from the overheads thinking about how much my life had changed in the last five months. Today was a special day. Not only was it Empire Day, but it was also the five-month anniversary of Emily and I joining the crew. The five-moth anniversary since I've been lying to the whole crews face.

A lot had happened since then. We had saved some wookies, Zeb and I became best friends, we're being hunted by some psychotic inquisitor, I infiltrated an Imperial academy, and Emily Sabine and Hera got a lot closer. Kanan tried to teach me some Jedi stuff, but I absolutely refused. I much preferred my holocrons, especially when he tried to say some random Jedi Master would make for a good teacher. She was dead. Emily knew I was still keeping secrets from the crew, but what she didn't know was that I had new secrets I was keeping from her.

And it all started the first day I touched the Sith holocron.

It was a few weeks after I had joined the crew, and Emily had gotten injured on one of our missions. And it was all my fault. I wasn't good enough to protect her. I wasn't strong enough to keep my family safe. Emily kept saying I shouldn't think like that, but I couldn't help it. My sister had gotten hurt because I couldn't protect her.

So, I went searching for answers. I definitely was not about to go to Kanan for that, so instead I started out with my Jedi holocron. But all it said was to be patient and focus on building up with smaller steps. It felt like it was holding back my potential. I tried the grey holocron, but like normal it didn't tell me anything.

Then I heard a whisper. And it came from that little red triangle of power. And when I touched it, it felt exhilarating. Like I was made for it. I had previously read that my ancestor Revan was at one point a Dark Lord of the Sith, so it didn't surprise me that I had that same appetite for power. And once I tapped into that power so naturally rooted in me, I got addicted. My first taste of the dark side came when I first opened the holocron, and it was pure bliss. It turned out that the holocron happened to be Revan's holocron. And when I opened it, it was able to tell from my force signature that I was his lineage.

It promised so much, and for a few weeks all I wanted to do was learn from it. The first thing it taught me was the ancient Sith code. I knew it was wrong, but it just felt so right. And the spirit of Revan kept enticing me with more power. It taught me everything the Jedi Holocron refused to. It taught me to use my passion, my emotion, my fear, anger, and hate. It taught me to turn all of that into strength.

'Peace is a lie, there is only passion.'

'Through passion, I gain strength.'

'Through strength, I gain power.'

'Through power, I gain victory.'

'Through victory, my chains are broken.'

'The Force, shall free me.'

I had memorized the mantra, and although I did not truly submit to the dark side, when I did use it, it was incredible. Kanan had talked to me a few times about my darker tendencies, but I mostly brushed him off. I was using this power to protect my family, and my new friends. Even if I was ashamed of it.

I sighed as I looked down at myself. I had even changed in appearance. I had grown a few inches and I was now as tall as Sabine, but still shorter than Emily. I had cut my hair down to where it wasn't a buzz, but it was definitely not as long as it was. My muscles were developing even better now that I had both Sabine and Emily to train with, along with proper meals. But the most striking change was my armor. No longer was it an unpainted silver. I had Sabine help me paint it black with gold accents. Nobody, but Emily and Sabine actually understood the reasoning, as it was mandalorian in nature. The black was for justice, and the gold was for vengeance. It was fitting really. I brought justice to the empire and took vengeance for my parents.

It was technically against the Jedi code to go it for revenge, but I figured if I was bringing justice at the same time, what's so bad about splurging in revenge a bit?

The other secret I was keeping from the crew was something Emily already knew. There was a reason none of the crew ever saw me outside of my undersuit. And I was staring at that reason right now. My entire left arm from the shoulder to the hand was mechanical. Just another thing the Empire had taken from me. The night our parents were taken there was a dark sider there, and to make sure I never forgot who had the real power, he left me with a warning. That came at the cost of my arm. It was cut off by the blade at the shoulder and it took us months to get enough credits to get the actual arm. Since then, I had only improved it.

It was a pet project of mine. It started with armor plating which I managed to fit a cortosis weave into. Never again would I lose this arm to a lightsaber. I even managed to blend the extra cortosis weave I had into the armor I wear. Now if a lightsaber strikes my armor or arm, not only will it be repelled, but it will be shut off and rendered useless for a few minutes. After that I had added a few practical modifications. A hidden blade that was specially designed to come through a slit in the glove of my body suit. An electric conductor that allowed electricity to flow into the arm. It pretty much served as an incredibly high power taser. Other than that, most of the improvements I made were to the electronics on the inside. High power motors and servos, smoother bearings, lightweight struts, and a lot of other custom mods. The servos and motors gave the arm incredible strength, while the other pieces allowed it to move faster, smoother, and more precise. Overall, it was a deadly weapon.

The crew was running a mission today for the Empire Day celebrations, but I wasn't interested. Mostly due to the fact that Kanan had been getting on my nerves about running some sort of blood test recently. He said he wanted to check my Midichlorian count. The only problem is to do that I would have to take part of my undersuit off. And then they would see the scars. Not just the arm, but the other scars as well. And that was not going to happen.

The only way I would let them do that is if Emily was the one taking the blood and we did in my room with the door locked. In fact, I should just tell that to Kanan right now.

I stood up from the little table underneath my bed and put on my undersuit, armor, vambraces, and helmet. Dropped the pistols in their holsters, double checked my whistling birds and vambraces, and finally put the lightsabers in their hidden compartments. Unfortunately, none of the resident Mandalorians currently had jetpacks, but we planned to fix that issue sooner rather than later.

Suffice it to say though, Sabine was a tad bit jealous at the walking armory that is me. My sister had more weapons than Sabine, but neither of them had whistling birds or lightsabers. Sabine for some reason didn't even have vambraces. We wanted to fix that eventually, but it would have to wait until we could return to Mandalorian controlled space.

With all my gear and weapons on I headed out to talk to Kanan, and maybe, just maybe, I would relent on learning some things from him. The Jedi holocron I have, had been getting stale recently with force powers, and I know that I couldn't learn from the Sith holocron forever. Yes, it had taken me quite far, but I don't want to lose myself. I would lose this new family in the process.

I passed through the majority of the ship without running into anybody, and as soon as I descended the ramp onto the Lothal plains, I saw the majority of the crew. Kanan was meditating nearby with Hera relaxing near him. About twenty yards away Sabine, Emily, and Zeb were going over some hand-to-hand combat drills. It was still morning, and we weren't set to leave for the mission for another eight to ten hours at least.

Knowing this I figure I could talk to Kanan in a few hours and get some good lightsaber practice in. Niman was by no means an easy form to learn, but I had gotten proficient in it. The only problem is proficient wasn't good enough for Niman. It took mastery of Niman to be a good duelist using form VI. I had also been learning Makashi for when I use a single lightsaber, and a reverse grip form V for when I am performing Jar'kai. Makashi was a lot like Niman, in that being proficient in it was not good enough, and it required a mastery of the form to bring out its true potential. Form V, however, was a much more forgiving form and was the one I used on missions until I had more practice with the other two. This meant I pretty much solely relied on Jar'kai during missions, but in a few rare circumstances I have used others to surprise the enemy.

Getting to my practice area, I call both my lightsabers to me, and connect them together. I start slowly moving through the traditional Niman kata before speeding up slightly. I kept this up for thirty minutes until my lightsaber was just a blur moving through the kata. At this point it was muscle memory, but I wanted to get it even faster. As I got even faster, I started to submerge myself in the force. Before long, I was moving at an incredible speed through the form's movements, and I could feel the world around me. I could feel Kanan and Hera relaxing. I could feel Sabine, Emily, and Zeb training. I could feel the wildlife in the tall grass. And all of a sudden, I could feel the multiple warnings in the force as I redirected blaster bolts right back to where they came from.

Once they were done, I let up on the submerging and looked over to where the blaster bolts came from to see a very shocked Zeb, Sabine, and Emily. All of which had a few angry red marks from what I assume was the stinger bolts they sent after me.

I shake my head and walk over to them, "Emily, you should know better than to do something like that."

Emily chuckles, "Well, you were moving so fast we wanted to see if any of us could get past your defense. Which we couldn't."

Sighing I look up at her, "I don't mess around anymore Emily. Not since you got hurt. I've got to get stronger, more powerful, so I can protect you guys."

Sabine looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. She's actually been warming up to me over the last few months. She doesn't brush me off anymore, and after getting to know me a little better she even hangs out with me on her own will.

"Ezra, I know I was a little hard on you when you first joined, but I'm worried about you. You've seemed pretty distant lately."

It was true. I had been avoiding the crew a little more than usual. Mostly because I still had trust issues and the fear of abandonment, but that was mostly directed towards Hera and Kanan. Zeb and Sabine had quickly become trusted friends, but I was not so easy to warm up to Hera and Kanan.

I nod as I answer her, "I know, I've just been doing some thinking lately."

Emily quickly furrows her brows as Zeb laughs and jokes about it, "You thinking? Try not to burn down the Ghost with it."

I laugh but Emily sees straight through it, "What's wrong, Ez?"

I can't keep lying to my sister or friends, I have to come clean with some of this.

"Well, do you maybe ever think we're going about this the wrong way?"

That question got everybody's attention, but Zeb was the first to voice it.

"What do ya mean going about this the wrong way?"

I take my helmet off and run a gloved hand through my short hair, "It's just, I've been-ugh. Emily, you remember what dad left me on my fourteenth birthday?"

Emily nods and I continue, "Well, I've been using those holocrons, all of them now. And the Jedi and grey holocrons seem to be holding me back, while the Sith holocron is only making me more powerful. The last time I actually used the Jedi holocron for something useful was months ago."

They all look visibly distressed by this, but Emily speaks up, "I thought you said the Sith one could only be used with the Dark side. And that by using the dark side you could lose yourself in the process. Ez, what's going on? Let us help you with your struggles."

I nod my head, "Ya, you have to use the dark side to open the Sith holocron. But the only problem is, the dark side feels so right. It feels so powerful. It feels like I was meant to be with it."

Emily shakes her head, "That sounds like a shortcut to me. And I know you don't do shortcuts. Maybe we should talk to Kanan about this, he is a Jedi."

I immediately cut her off, "No, we are not talking to Kanan about any of that. That is family business, and it will stay family business."

Emily sighs, "I wasn't talking about that you nut; I don't even understand that stuff. I was talking about what you're hiding under this. Why you painted your armor gold. The real reason you painted your armor black and gold."

She said all that while holding onto my left arm and pointing at my armor, and I knew exactly what she wanted me to open up about. Not being a descendant of some of the most powerful people in galactic history, but about letting go of some of the past.

I nod, "Fine we can talk about some of that later. But only what I feel comfortable with."

Emily smiles, "That is absolutely fine with me." She points to Zeb and Sabine beside her and Kanan and Hera a way off, "These people are good people Ezra. I know it's harder for you to let them in, but we've been here for five months. Give Kanan and Hera a chance like you did Zeb and Sabine."

Both Zeb and Sabine nod at that and give me comforting smiles. Sabine's maybe had a bit of affection, but I didn't want to look to far into it.

Once again, I nod, "Fine, can you grab Kanan and Hera? I would prefer to do this sooner rather than later if I have to do it."

Emily's smile gets bigger, "Absolutely! Oh, and happy birthday, Ez."

She gives me a quick hug before running off towards Hera and Kanan. I glare at her back for a little while at revealing that little secret, but what's done is done.

Sabine grabs Zeb's arm, "We'll be in the common room waiting for you guys. Apparently, it's also your birthday, so happy birthday."

I hang my head and let out an exasperated sigh. I was hoping to forget about the fact that today was my birthday.

But just how much do I come clean about? I know I at least need to let them in a little bit. I've been cordial with Hera and Kanan, but that's as far as I've taken it. I consider Zeb and Sabine friends, but letting people in has burned me in the past. On the other hand, Emily trusts them and has given them her stamp of approval. That's gotta count for something, right?

I know it counts for something; I just don't want to let anybody in. Fine, starting today I will start to let people in.

I head off to the common room where I see Emily taking Hera and Kanan. Hanging my helmet on my belt and putting away my lightsabers I climb up into the cockpit and then move to the common room.

On entry I see Hera and Kanan in a quiet conversation about the mission later and Zeb and Sabine looking at Zeb's Bo-Rifle. Emily is waiting for me and pulls me aside, "Hey, I know this is tough for you, but trust me, it will help. Letting some of the past go will only make you stronger. It's what mom and dad would have wanted you to do. I'm right here for you, and they will not shame you for your scars."

I smile at that little pep talk, "Thank you Emily. I really don't know what I would have done if I didn't have you."

She also smiles, "Well, you don't need to worry about that because you do have me. Now go make some friends, and dare I say family."

I shake my head, "I'm not ready for that. Friends is where I'm willing to start. Family can come later. Em, you don't understand, if I let somebody in to close and lose them like mom and dad, I'm going to break. And if I break, I'll be consumed by the dark side."

Emily nods and gives me a little side hug, "Just remember, Aliit ori'shya tal'din."

I look at her, "I know, I'm trying."

She nods and moves off to join the others. I follow a few seconds after, and once I get there everybody looks at me.

Taking a seat by the dejarik table I try to figure out how to start off, "So, Emily has made a pretty good point to me. I don't let people in very easy. The thing is, I've been living with you guys for five months now, and if I don't let you in soon, I probably won't ever let you in. Starting off, Kanan, Hera, I would like to get to know you guys better outside of this. I was able to connect with Zeb and Sabine a bit, but you guys just reminded me of my parents so much. I kept getting this feeling that if I let you in, it would only end up with me in more pain."

I look around to see them smiling sadly at me before I continue, "Emily reminded me that the only reason I thought like that is because of the Empire. The Empire took everything from Emily and I, but they weren't satisfied with that."

I try to force the next part out, but it gets harder and harder. Knowing I'm not going to be able to say the words right now, I start undoing the armor on my left arm. My hands are shaking as I try to take off the pauldron. The only person other than Emily to see the prosthetic in the past was disgusted.

Seeing me struggle Emily and Sabine both move over to help me get the armor off of my arm. When the last piece finally clangs to the ground Sabine moves back to her seat, but Emily stays with me giving me silent support.

I start to pull off the body suit's glove as I continue, "The night our parents were taken, there was a dark sider there. Tall, black suit, skull mask, terrifying breathing. He could have killed me knowing I was force sensitive, but he didn't." I pull the skintight glove off to reveal the gold and silver metal hand, "Instead, he left me with a warning. A warning not to fight against the Empire, for they were the ones with power." Everybody stares at the hand as I start to remove the sleeve, "Only it wasn't just my hand." I pull the removable sleeve off my arm and they see the entirety of my arm is prosthetic. "He took the whole thing. For a normal person this wouldn't be the biggest setback, but for Em and I, it took us months to scrounge around the credits to get a cheap mechno arm. Trust me, it was not this nice at the start. For the last eight years I've been modifying it ever so slowly until I finally finished it recently. It and my armor have cortosis weave molded into it, and it also has a few extra toys."

I activate the eight-inch-long hidden blade as well as the taser. Purple electricity starts crackling up and down the arm, "With these fun things and the cortosis weave, nobody will be taking this arm from me ever again. After the procedure to put it on, I swore vengeance against the person that did this and took my family away from me. That's actually why my armor is now painted black and gold. We didn't have those paints back home, but when I saw Sabine had the right shades, I was honor bound to put the colors on my armor. The black represents justice, while the gold represents vengeance."

They all take a minute to process this before Hera comes over and gives me a hug, "No child should be put through that. We're here for you Ezra. When you joined, you didn't just join a crew. You joined a family."

I chuckle and smile at that as she pulls away, "That's exactly what my sister reminded me of. Aliit ori'shya tal'din. Family is more than blood. To mandalorians family is everything, but family is not defined by the blood one shares. It's defined by the bonds one makes. You guys have been really patient with me, and I would love nothing more than to try and develop those types of bonds with you all."

Everybody smiles and nods before I continue, "Also, Kanan. I'm hitting a bit of a wall with my Jedi Holocron in my teachings, so if you would be willing to teach me, I would be honored to learn under you."

Kanan cracks the biggest smile I've ever seen, "I would love nothing more than to teach you, padawan. Though I do still want to do that bloodwork test with you. Also, we need to have a talk about how much of the dark side you're using."

I grimace, of course he would have sensed something off, "Of course, we can do it right now."

Kanan, Hera, Sabine, Emily, and I all head over to the medbay on the ship. I figured there really isn't need for secrecy about bloodwork, and they were interested in it. Zeb of course went to go to sleep, and chopper didn't care about such organic things.

Kanan had me sit on a small operating table while moving over to a chest, "My master left this for me in case I ever came across a force sensitive. Do you know what a Midichlorian is Ezra?"

I nod, "Ya, the holocrons and text I have talked about them a good bit, but they didn't give me specific numbers."

Kanan pulls out some blood sample devices along with a small machine, "To sum it up for Emily, Sabine, and Hera, Midichlorians are organic beings that live inside of everybody's cells. They establish your connection to the force, and everybody has them. Some people, like Ezra and I, have more Midichlorians per cell. This makes our connection to the force stronger, and we are able to use the force." He stopped his explanation to make sure he got just the right spot on my arm. "Perfect. Ezra, you said you didn't know specific numbers, so I'll give them to you. A normal person has about 2,500 Midichlorians per cell. Some have more and some have less. The threshold for being accepted into the Jedi order was 7,000 Midichlorians per cell. There were a couple exceptions for people that were right on the threshold of course. Now the average Jedi had anywhere between 7,000 and 10,000 Midichlorians per cell. The more Midichlorians you had the stronger your connection to the force, thus the greater your potential was. For the longest time the blood testers only went to 20,000 because the strongest Jedi we had ever seen was the Prodigal Knight Revan with about 19,500 Midichlorians per cell. The day Anakin Skywalker showed up the Jedi had to rework the blood testers. At the time he broke the scale. He was over 20,000. Eventually by the time of the clone wars, they had reworked the blood testers to double the efficiency so they could technically read up to 40,000 Midichlorians per cell. Now at that point you would pretty much be living force. When they retested Anakin before the clone wars, he tested at 27,700 Midichlorians per cell. This was about 10,000 more than the strongest Jedi alive at the time, Master Yoda. Other big names included Obi-Wan Kenobi at 13,400, Plo Koon at 11,100, and Mace Windu at 12,000. The average Jedi didn't really have the potential to reach the rank of master, a few did, but for the most part masters had above 10,000 Midichlorians per cell. Even then they had to train for a while before they got the most out of their potential."

The blood tester going off cut off Kanan's lecture. As he moved over to check it, I thought about what he had said. My ancestor was one of the strongest Jedi in history? I wonder-

"WHAT?!"

Everybody looks over to Kanan where he has a datapad with the results.

I don't sense any negativity coming from him, "Is something wrong?"

He shakes his head and runs the calculations again, and then a third time.

"No, the machines calibrated and I just triple checked the results."

He handed Hera the datapad, "And remember everything about the numbers I just said."

Hera racks her brain a bit then her eyes widen, and she gasps.

Sabine and Emily look over her shoulder and they both do the same thing.

"Alright, what's going on guys?"

Hera hands me the datapad and I skip through the lines until I find the one, I want.

Midichlorians per Cell: 27,500

My eyes widen and I release a wave of shock so strong in the force Kanan actually recoils from it.

"WHAT?!"

*Coruscant, Darth Sidious's Throne Room, Darth Sidious POV*

Shock.

My eyes widen at the amount of power just released into the force.

Has my apprentice been shocked by something? He's the only one with that kind of strength.

I quickly probe out to Vader and find confusion and delight. Hmmmm. Probing out further I can still feel the shock emanating from the force.

And it's coming from the outer rim. Vader is on Onderon in the middle rim, so this must be somebody different.

My lips pull into a cruel smile. It seems I have found a new apprentice. One not hindered by the life support suit Vader has.

Whoever this is has almost equal strength in the force as Vader.

Lightning starts cackling around me with the amount of delight I am feeling. The next step is finding the exact location of this force sensitive. They must not be too old otherwise I would have known about them before the clone wars. Putting them at twenty at the oldest, and most likely a young teenager. Probably born a couple years after my Empire was formed.

Well, whoever it is, will be the next lord of the Sith, as long as I get to them before Vader does.

*Onderon Orbit, The Executor, Darth Vader POV*

Shock.

My eyes widen underneath my helmet. The amount of power just released into the force was staggering. More powerful than my master even with his mountain sized kyber crystal.

My master would have been able to feel that.

My lips pull into a cruel smile. It seems I have found an apprentice. One that can help me defeat my master.

Whoever this is has strength almost equal to my own.

Items in my meditation chamber start to levitate with the amount of delight I am feeling. The next step is finding the location of this potential apprentice. Nobody in the order was this strong so they must be young. Fifteen at the most, but most likely a few years younger than that.

It doesn't matter, as whoever it is, will be the next lord of the Sith. As long as I get to them before my master.