We are back and we are sorry it has been this long without an update. The good news is that we managed to write some new chapters so we can stay ahead, so we hope the wait was worth it.

Ezra followed Rex as he took him to the shooting range, though the boy was a bit tired. However, Ezra was excited to train with Rex, so he suppressed his tiredness. Besides, Kallus and the Inquisitor's had told him it was a sign of weakness to be tired and smacked the child if he had displayed signs of exhaustion. Sometimes that spot on his head still seemed sore. Ezra hoped that Rex and Zeb would be more lenient in their teaching like Kanan was. Ezra sensed Rex emotions and even though they were mingled with irritation and frustration they were generally happy and eager, which made Ezra relax.

"Hey Ezra, good to see you" Zeb said and he smiled to him.

"Hey Zeb" Ezra greeted back cheerfully.

"I was thinking we could start to learn some basic safety procedures before we start shooting. I know it will be a little boring, but is important if we want to avoid unnecessary accidents" Zeb said.

Ezra nodded, that was what Kallus had taught him too when they had went over different blaster's.

With that, Zeb started going over different safety features on the blaster, plus making note of what not to do with blasters (apparently Zeb heard of one soldier who used his to scratch his back and it didn't end well. They guy had been demanded bed rest for a month). Ezra made sure to listen even though he already knew most of what the Lasat was explaining.

"Any questions Ezra?" Zeb asked.

Ezra shook his head.

"Now, try holding it, but careful when taking it out," Zeb said and handed him the blaster.

As soon as Ezra got it he secured the weapon and put it in the holster like he was instructed to do when he had been with the Empire. Now that he had demonstrated he could do that he took it out of the holster and prepared for the permission to shoot. Ezra looked up only to find Rex and Zeb looking at him.

"Pretty good for for a beginner" Rex praised in pleasant surprise

Ezra was now very confused, what was he a beginner at?

"What do you mean?" he asked for clarity.

As Rex began to look down, Ezra flinched out of old habit from when he asked about something without permission with the Empire, but relaxed when he wasn't hit upside the head.

"Easy kid it's okay. It is just that Rex and I are surprised; most people lose their grip when they just hold the blaster for the first time," Zeb said.

"It's not my first time holding a blaster." Ezra stated as he realized why the men seemed so shocked with his abilities.

Rex and Zeb looked at each other.

"You have done this before?" Rex asked.

Ezra nodded his head as he explained, "Kallus was in charge of the 'military part' of my training, so he spent quite a bit of time training in different shooting weapons. I didn't want to learn at first until he threatened to use me for targeting if I would not start following his orders."

Both Rex and Zeb got quite angry at this; which Ezra could easily tell by their fist clenching. The two quickly calmed down and got back to business.

"Well in that case can you show us how you shoot by aiming for those target points over there" Rex asked and pointed towards a practice target.

Ezra relaxed a little, it was nice to do something that was familiar and at least knew he was capable of doing, even if it brought back unpleasant memories. Ezra nodded and stepped up so he could be aligned with the target, placed his feet in the right position and aimed. Ezra fired at the other target on the high ground before he secured the blaster. Ezra turned to see the men stunned, and the child couldn't help but to grin at their amazed reaction.

"Ezra, those were both bullseye," Rex praised before he question, "How did you get so precise?"Ezra nodded.

"Kallus would get mad if i didn't hit the targets perfectly, so he would not let me sleep before I had hit the targets perfectly. Every day when the Inquisitor's was done with their training Kallus would take me out and train me until I could barely keep my eyes open. It was why I was too tired to keep awake when they held their monthly meeting a few times," Ezra mentioned.

Both Rex and Zeb could not hold back their anger and both of mumbled come colorful words about Kallus and Inquisitor; words that should not of been said in front of Ezra. The boy looked down at the awkward situation.

"Sorry kid, it isn't you, just what you went through" Zeb clarified.

Ezra nodded but did not look happy.

"I know" Ezra mumbled.

"Well then let us test you with different weapons" Rex said.

The training continued and Rex and Zeb quickly found Ezra was a master shooter with most blaster types. Ezra didn't a miss a single target. Even though he struggled carry the bigger weapons, he still found a way to shoot them. Zeb even handed Ezra a throwing knife which the boy also handled with ease, all this put Zeb's nerves on edge. What had those bastards been thinking? They had trained a child to be a killer, what kind of sick people would do such a horrid deed. Ezra was a child, yet they had tried to destroy that part of him to make him a soldier instead, it was chilling and terrifying to think about.

"Well done kid" Rex said after another successful round.

"Thanks" Ezra replied, happy with the praise.

Rex then thought of something, "Ezra it just occurred to me; if you had access to blasters and such why didn't you use them to escape?" Rex speculated.

Ezra looked downwards and started to shake in terror as he began to pale at the memories of before the crew.

Zeb had known Ezra long enough to know that it meant something bad had happened to the boy. Six months with them and Ezra would still surprise them with new stories of how he was tormented at the hands of the Empire. Had those bastards even stopped and considered he was just a child? Apparently not by the looks of things. It made Zeb want to hit something, but calmed his anger to help the young specter.

"It's okay kid" Zeb said and patted the boy on the back, he knew the boy would talk when he was ready.

It took a couple of minutes before Ezra calmed down enough to tell them.

"They always made sure I wouldn't think about trying to escape, so every time I was allowed near blasters or lightsabers, we trained in a secure with a locked door and troopers standing guard outside. Since they didn't want me to try and make a run with a weapon they put an electric collar on me to use if I tried to make a run for it," Ezra stuttered, shuttering at the memory of that cold contraption around his neck.

"They used it on you, didn't they?" Zeb asked gently, horiffed that such a device was used on someone so small.

Ezra had tears in his eyes as he nodded.

"Twice; once as a demonstration to show me how it felt if i tried to escape; it felt like my body was burning. The second time was when I tried to escape, when the guards switched shift. I almost made it but the Seventh Sister caught up to me and she… she enjoyed doing it" Ezra whispered as he wiped the tears away with his sleeve.

Zeb felt anger boil in him and Rex looked really pissed; that was when Ezra asked .

"Zeb?" Ezra whispered while holding himself in distress.

"Yes Ezra" Zeb said and was not sure how much worse it could get.

"You're not gonna make me witness executions to prepare me for the day I have to do it myself, right?" Ezra asked in quiet panic at the idea .

"No kid, why would you even think that?" Zeb said confused while Rex walked around a bit uneasy.

"Because they took me along to some executions, some of them was shortly after they had a meeting about a rebel base. The rebels were offered a chance to tell about the rebellion and when they would not they were lined up and … and …." Ezra couldn't finish the horrid sentence as he sat on the ground so he could hold himself easier, "Kallus said I would be doing that when I had progressed a bit further in the training" Ezra said while shaking even worse.

Zeb felt sorry and angry for the small child. Zeb took a deep breath and sat down next to the child to lift him up into his lap to let the kid snuggle into him while crying. It was not really his thing, but the kid had grown on him since their first hug in the medical wing. It was safe to say we had grown quite fond of the kid, and wanted to do whatever he could to protect the child.

"It's okay Ezra, we will never do that to you" Zeb said.

Ezra continued to cry and Zeb patted him so neither of them had realized that Rex had left. It took some time before Ezra calmed down.

"Kid I promise, we don't do executions and we don't force you to do anything you don't want to do.

"I figured you had some exposure to weapons with...them. I just wanted to training you in this area so you could learn to protect yourself, and how to use it without hurting yourself," Zeb explained.

Ezra just nodded and snuggled further into his hold.

"I don't want to be an executioner but every time I told them that, they got mad at me. They said I had a glorious future ahead of me if I just did as they said and then they beat me for speaking out of turn," Ezra mumbled.

"I am sorry you had to go through that especially so young but I also now you are a strong little one you can overcome this" Zeb said and ruffled his hair.

Ezra smiled weakly and leaned into Zeb which was rather proud of his ability to calm Ezra down. Zeb had never believed he would be interested in caring for a small human boy but now that he had started to look after Ezra he had really started to grow fond of the kid and the task. Even to the point where every time the child smiled he felt a warm glow inside him, something he had not felt since before the fall of Lassan.

"Okay what do you say we check out the last three blasters we have? We could make it a competition between you and me at hitting the target most precise" Zeb suggested, hoping to get a smile out of the boy.

Ezra smiled weakly, making Zeb happy, and got up only to find the shooting rang empty besides them.

"Where did Rex go?" Zeb questioned as he looked around.

Ezra shrugged his shoulder.

"I don't know but he was rather angry when he left, there was something that bugged him when I talked about executions" Ezra said.

Zeb smiled to the boy, but the strange force mumbo jumbo had always put him a bit on edge. The fact that Kanan and Ezra could sense people's emotions had made him nervous. It seemed too much like magic in his eyes not to mention it made it harder to hold on to secrets. Even so he took his Bo rifle and prepared to shoot with Ezra. Zeb was happy that Ezra was not scared of training with him anymore.

SWR

After hearing what Ezra had gone through, Rex had to step away. The talk of torture and execution brought up painful memories himself. The clone trooper didn't even want to imagine the trauma that was inflicted mentally on the child.

Rex was quite fond of the kid. Like everyone else the child met, Rex found the boy to be tough as nails, but the sweetest thing (when it wasn't hidden under a thick layer of fear). It broke Rex heart thinking that the Inquisitor had tried to destroy such a energetic and curious child. Ezra must have been a lively child before all this but now he was easy to scare because the Inquisitor's had partly succeeded at making the boy a soldier … just like himself. Rex loved telling Ezra all about his heroics in the clone wars. Ezra also was fond of watching Rex spare (as long as Kanan didn't know).

Rex knew the kid wasn't stupid, and quickly realized how the two men did not get along. It wasn't Rex fault though; Kanan was just being a stubborn nerf herder. Kanan needed to let go of what happened.

Rex than sulked, if only he could take his own advice. If only the kid could forget the past. But like Rex said, the past was hard to forget; especially one with such turmoil

flashback

Rex saw them, his brothers in arms on the ground. All with blaster holes in them, blood seeping from their bodies as they laid lifeless. it made rex want to throw up, his stomach turning at what was done to his men. It was personal cause Rex couldn't help but think of 'if the roles were reverse'. They had attacked not only their own soldiers, but their brothers. The enemy was supposed to be clear, but now Rex couldn't figure out who to trust. Rex knew that Jesse and Fives meant well, but now they had to pay the price of loosing their own men. Rex was frustrated by the false information that cost them so many lives. They couldn't lose two more. Rex tried to reason with Krell that the two soldiers were just trying to help them. Krell though would not hear of it, and it made Rex's blood boil in frustration.

When Krell ordered the execution of them, Rex was horrified. Rex knew of clones who had betrayed them before, but that was when they were driven by greed. Jesse and Fives only meant to help the cause; did they need to be punished for trying to something they thought was right.

As Rex saw them stand, ready to be executed, Rex knew this was wrong, he couldn't. It was like he was shooting himself. Was his duty to the war more important than his loyalty his own kind. When Rex held the gun up them...he just couldn't. Rex and the other's missed.

When Rex found out the truth about Krell, he was sickened how his men were wasted away for no just cause; and if Rex had aimed the trigger right….

END OF FLASHBACK

"NO!" Rex shouted inside his head, shutting his eyes as he called the horror he recalled.

Rex didn't even see where he was going when he bumped into someone.

"Sorry about that," Rex apologized as he regained his composure. As Rex looked up, his annoyance level went up.

Kanan gave Rex the death stare as he too stood up,

"Watch where you're going!"

Rex rolled his eyes, "What part of 'sorry' don't you understand?"

Kanan then changed subjects, "What are you doing here anyways? Weren't you just complaining about not having enough time to train Ezra."

Rex then forgot to be frustrated as the man recalled why he was so lost in thought.

"We were training, but something came up and i needed to step away. Zeb is training him now. Kid is actually a sharp shooter, a natural."

Kanan moved uneasily at hearing that, he had feared it might have been part of the boys privies training but that did not mean he liked it.

Kanan saw the look on Rex face, and had to know, "So what brought a 'tough clone' down in the rut?"

Rex, knowing Kanan should know told him; all about what Ezra told Zeb and him about what he witness and went through under the Empire. Rex didn't even see how Kanan hands clenched in anger, he was too lost in his anger.

"Those…" Kanan began to seath in anger

"Bastards!" The two men exclaimed in angered unison. The two men were shocked by it. It seems they had finally found anything in common; their protectiveness for Ezra.

Rex couldn't help but to chuckle while Kanan just stood there shocked; they didn't even realize two beings laughing behind them. It took several moments to turn to see that Zeb and Ezra were laughing at the situation.

Hera isn't gonna like that you swore in front of Ezra...again." Zeb chuckled as he regained his composure.

"What are you two doing here?" Rex asked.

"Ezra and I decided to have a shooting contest. Kid wiped the floors with me. So we came to check on you guys" Zeb told.

Ezra smiled weakly but pain was in his eye before he eyed them.

"It's nice that you two were getting along for a bit." Ezra mentioned.

This caused both men to look away awkwardly before Kanan changed topic.

"Come on, we have meeting to get to." With that, the boy's headed into the conference room to discuss some rebel tactics. Though Kanan couldn't help but to appreciate that Rex was just as protective of Ezra as he was.

A/N So a little more insight into Ezra, Rex and Zeb and some Ezra-Zeb bonding. We hope you like it and much more is to come so stay tuned.