Chapter One: Ezra joins the crew.
Ezra paused at the door to Ezra's Tower, a thought popping into his head, "What's the Force?" he asked, somehow knowing that Kanan, he believed he heard him called, was standing behind him in the doorway.
"The Force is everywhere, it surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together, and it's strong with you Ezra," Kanan announced, keeping a close eye on the boy, who at first looked like he was going to turn around to face him, but then ducked his head down, "Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to open the Holocron."
The kid turned around, straight-backed, and asked with a hard edge to his voice, "So what do you want?" he demanded.
Kanan sighed inwardly, Hera was right, it was all just a facade, Ezra was hurting, he was just like the rest of them, he just hid it, he put his hand on his hip and continued, "To offer you a choice," he admitted, "You can keep the lightsaber you stole, let it become another dusty souvenir, or you can give it back and come with us, come with me, and be trained in the ways of the Force. You can learn what it truly means to be a Jedi."
"I thought the Empire wiped out all the Jedi," Ezra said, his voice softer now, almost curious even.
Kanan smiled, "Not all of us."
Ezra looked down at the lightsaber, could he really be a Jedi? Could they really want him? Could this guy really be offering him a home? Even with him being, well him? He lifted his head up, planning to double-check to make sure that he understood the offer correctly, but he was gone.
He looked at the empty doorway, "He doesn't really care about you Ezra," he scolded himself, "He just wants someone he can train to be a Jedi, as soon as he realizes that I can't be a Jedi, I'll be back on the streets again, so might as well just stay here, by myself, alone…" he trailed off as he stood back up, pressing his hand against his chest, even through his jumpsuit he could feel the heavy scars that marked where his heart was.
He gasped as a feeling hit him hard, the same feeling that had overcome him on the Ghost when Hera had realized that the others had walked into a trap. That feeling led him through the maze of hallways, straight to the others. It was tugging at him now, wanting him to go out the door, down the stairs, and across the field to where the Ghost was parked.
Maybe this time would be different, maybe this time he really will find a place to call home. Maybe they wouldn't call him a cripple, or weak, or useless. Maybe they wouldn't care that he wasn't normal. Then again, what would happen if they did care?
Ezra took a deep breath, clearing his mind, he needed to think, sure joining the Ghost crew would be risky, but so was living on the streets. If he took the offer he could gain a new home, a new family, he could become a Jedi, he could belong somewhere like he hadn't since his parents were taken away, but if he was wrong, he could lose all that a second time. His home, his family, a place where he belonged, yet he had done that before, he could do that again if he had to.
Maybe he should just think of this as a new job, someone had just offered him a job, he didn't need to get attached to the others, he just needs to do his job, and when they decide that he can't do the job, he wouldn't be leaving anyone behind, he had done that many times. Why was this so much more difficult?
"In some ways a family," Sabine's voice filtered through his mind.
Ezra took a deep breath, for the second time that day, he was about to do something he couldn't believe he was doing, he was going to join the Ghost crew.
…
Ezra stared up at the Ghost, was he really doing this? He thought, as he peered into the cargo hold, where Zeb was carefully rearranging some crates. He thought about sneaking past him, up the ladder, and into the cabin area. He probably would have succeeded too, if a loud series of beeps hadn't erupted from his gauntlet at that precise moment alerting the lasat of his presence.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, glaring at the boy as if he could be blamed for everything wrong in the galaxy.
"I, uhh," Ezra started, glancing at the readout on the screen of his gauntlet, twenty percent, an hour and thirty minutes remaining. Charge soon, "I'm looking for Kanan," he finished lamely, revealing the lightsaber in his hand.
Zeb looked at the boy in shock, "Boy, are you in trouble," he then nodded towards the ladder, "He's in his cabin."
Ezra nodded climbing up the ladder to the cockpit.
As he moved into the cockpit, he heard a low beeping noise, followed by the creak of a chair turning around. His eyes met Hera's for a second, who nodded at him understandingly, before turning to the droid next to him, whose prod was raised, ready to zap the intruder, "No Chopper, you can't zap Ezra, he's family now."
Chopper lowed the prod and grumbled something before rolling off.
Ezra looked surprised as he glanced at Hera, who simply smiled at him, "Don't worry about Chopper, he'll warm up to you, eventually," then she pointed in the directions of the cabins, "Kanan's in his room."
"Thanks," Ezra muttered, rubbing his arms out of nerves as he opened the sliding door that separated the living quarters from the cockpit. This was it, he was going to do this, he was honestly surprised that Zeb hadn't tried to stop him yet. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to be calm; an increased heartbeat due to nerves was going to drain his battery faster.
He slowly opened the door to the cabin that he had broken into earlier. Kanan was kneeling on his bed with his eyes closed, only he must have sensed him lurking there because he opened his eyes and teal eyes met blue.
Ezra awkwardly handed him the stolen weapon, casting his eyes down in shame as it was taken from him, only to look up again as a hand was placed on his shoulder, "Welcome to the team Spectre Six," he said, "Let's go tell the others."
With that Ezra was herded out of the room and to the common room where Sabine was sitting on the bench, "Look who decided to join our cause," Kanan announced, pushing Ezra gently into the center of the room.
…
"I don't see why you have to share my cabin with me," Zeb grumbled as he allowed Ezra into the room, "Just whatever you do, don't wake me up, ever," he said, leering down at the younger boy, "Understand."
"Don't worry," Ezra stated, scampering up to the top bunk, before swinging his backpack off and next to him as he looked around, "I won't."
Ezra looked around the cabin, it was a simple enough room; a bunk bed against the far wall and a couple of shelves built into the side walls. He quickly inspected the wall around his new bed, running his hands against the wall until he felt an indent, so there was a power outlet up there, just like he thought. He slowly opened his bag, pulling out a long thick cord of some kind. He glanced around the room, making sure that Zeb really had left before plugging the cord in. He was about to remove the top of his jumpsuit when he felt someone enter the room.
"Ezra," a voice called out, female, Sabine's he believes, "Dinner is ready, come on." He turned around just in time to see Sabine wave for him to follow her to the kitchenette.
Ezra glanced at his readout on his gauntlet, fifteen percent, about an hour left before the battery died, if he ate quickly he could hurry back and charge before the others finished.
Sabine stuck her head back into the room, "Hey Kid you coming?"
"I'm not that much younger than you are!" Ezra protested.
"I'm older than I look, Ezra," Sabine insisted, "Trust me."
"Yeah right," Ezra snorted, sliding off the bed to meet Sabine, "I bet you aren't any older than seventeen," He looked at Sabine hard, "No wait, sixteen, you're only sixteen."
Sabine pressed her lips together, as she left the room "And you're what, thirteen?"
"Fourteen," Ezra said, "I'll be fifteen next month though."
"I turned sixteen about four months ago, a little before I joined the team," Sabine confessed as she led Ezra to the kitchen, where the others were already sitting.
"What took you so long, Kid," Zeb grumbled, glaring at Ezra for making him wait for dinner.
"Do you want some blue milk?" Hera asked Ezra, holding up the carton while shooting Zeb a warning look.
"Sure," Ezra said, staring at the food-laden table, when was the last time he had so much to eat at once? He certainly couldn't remember.
Things quieted down for a while as everyone dished up and started to eat. Ezra couldn't help but stare at the plate before him, heaped with a large serving of Roba Pie, he couldn't remember the last time he had a hot meal. This whole thing almost seemed like a dream. He slowly took a bite, savoring it.
"So Ezra," Hera asked, glancing at the young boy, "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself."
Ezra nearly choked, "What do you want to know?"
"Anything you want to talk about," Kanan offered.
Ezra frowned, "There isn't much to tell, I grew up on the street, that's all." He didn't want to talk about himself to a bunch of strangers, so he decided to ask a question of his own, "So Sabine, how did you meet the others? You said that you only joined the crew a few months ago."
Kanan and Hera exchanged a look, Ezra was avoiding their questions, but that made sense, he had been alone for who knows how long, maybe he would open up more if they opened up more.
Sabine seemed to realize that as well for she actually answered, "I was a bounty hunter, I got hurt and if Hera and Kanan hadn't found me when they did, I probably would have died."
The quiet once again fell over the room until, beep beep beep. Everyone turned to Ezra as he lifted his wrist up again and checked the readout, ten percent, half-hour remaining, entering Power Saving mode.
"Are you alright Ezra?" Hera asked, noting that Ezra suddenly went pale as he looked at his gauntlet.
"Yeah," Ezra said, almost distant, "I'm fine," he stood up, "I have to go," he insisted, hurrying out the door. He stumbled a little and leaned against the door frame, almost as if he was out of breath before continuing down the hall to his new room, where he leaned against the door to catch his breath again.
"That was close," Ezra announced, climbing back onto his bed.