Chapter 2
POINT OF VIEW: EZRA BRIDGER
She looked up at me, her golden eyes holding filled with sorrow and fear.
I didn't know where I was. Everything was bright and sterile. There was oddly no smell.
"You're not the bad guy Ezra! Please don't do this!" she begged, tears welling up in her eyes.
My fingers trembled as they rested over the blaster trigger.
"EZRA! NO!" I hear a woman's voice say.
I felt my chest muscles tighten, as I breathed in and out heavily. My grip on the gun loosened; I afraid my own hands would betray me. Some subconscious part of me hoped they would.
A single tear rolled down Sabine's cheek, as she silently pleaded with me to stop, while she struggled against the ropes that held her hands behind her back.
"I have to," I whispered, almost unable to let the words escape my throat.
Any hesitation in my body fled, and that cold, sterile feeling penetrated my body.
Before I understood this void feeling that was buzzing in my skull, I pulled the trigger, and the gun went off with a bang.
"NO!" I screamed my lungs filling rapidly with the dusty air of Tatooine; a harsh reminder of where we still were stranded. I bolted upright, the horror of my own actions turning my blood cold.
I was panting heavily, and I had broken out in a cold sweat.
I brought my knees to my chest, listening to the loud pounding in my ears, growing louder and louder.
A strange taste suddenly filled my mouth and knowing what was coming next, I fled from the tent.
After the escapade my food bars made, I sat out in the middle of the desert, my arms hugging my knees. Dust blew past me, the winds low but warm. The suns had barely started peaking over the horizon, making the sky a hazy orange, blending into a soft violet.
My hands were trembling, the images of my nightmare replaying themselves again and again in my head. The tension in my shoulders as I held the blaster. The cold metal touching my bare fingers. The void filled me as I looked in the eyes.
I killed her. I pulled the trigger.
No.
It was a dream.
Maybe it was a vision.
I nervously ran a hand through my hair, the second possibility becoming much scarier than the first.
It just seemed so real. Yet, surreal at the same time. So vivid.
The woman's voice. It sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe Hera? Would she have come to rescue us?
Would she fail?
Why did I shoot Sabine? Why would I hurt her?
"Ezra?" a voice called to me. Hearing my name snapped me out of my trance with a jump. I looked over to our makeshift tent that stood pathetically against the dunes, and there was Sabine, emerging with sleep in her voice, and worry in her voices.
I turned back around, facing the nothingness in front of me.
"...are you, okay?" Sabine asked timidly.
I didn't dare answer. I didn't want to relive the nightmare while explaining it to her. How do you even explain the kind of dream I had to someone else?
She plopped down in front of me and grabbed the sides of my face roughly. "You don't think I can hear you from the tent? You're sick! You look like it, you sound like it..." she trailed over, examining my sickly frame with concern. Her eyes darted over my body, most likely looking for an infection or wound, or any cause of my illness.
I didn't meet her gaze as she did this. I didn't have the heart to explain to her that I wasn't injured, or infected, but dreaming. Instead, I looked down at my hands, fearful of the possibility that they would hold a weapon to Sabine's head.
I stuttered random syllables. I didn't want to tell her.
"Ezra! Please, you're scaring me! If I need to get the medkit, just tell me where-" she begged, grabbing my shoulders.
"Sabine," I whispered, cutting her off. "I wouldn't ever hurt you, I just hope you know that. I wouldn't, I don't-" I trailed off.
I wouldn't.
I couldn't.
I could never.
Her eyes widened with disbelief. "What the hell Ezra? Are you having a fucking heat stroke or something?"
The outside of my vision was becoming fuzzy and gray, and I could hear my heartbeat getting louder and louder. "I don't think I'm safe, Sabine." My shaking hand reach towards my belt, where my blaster sat on its holster. "Just please-"
"NO!" she shouted, jerking the gun away from me, but I pulled right back.
It must have happened too fast. The next thing I knew, Sabine had me pinned on my back, and the gun we had been fighting over was long gone.
"WHAT THE FUCK EZRA? What is wrong with you?" Sabine screamed, her eyes starting to tear up. "For someone who just insisted they weren't going to hurt me, it's a little fucking suspicious that you're reaching for your blaster!" Sabine snapped accusingly.
"I-I don't want to hurt you," I stuttered, allowing myself to cry. "I just wanted you to keep it with you instead! I don't trust myself with it, okay?"
She let go of my wrists, now sore from her tight grip. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she whispered.
"I-," I swallowed hard, "I shot you."
"You shot me?" she asked in disbelief. "The gun isn't anywhere near us Ezra. You didn't shoot me." She laughed. How could she be laughing? "For a second there I almost thought you were."
"Sabine, I-I love you more than anyone else in the world and the last thing I want to do is hurt you," I whispered, gently pushing her off of me. I took a breath, the clouds in my head beginning to clear. I needed to get a grip on myself. "I'm sorry, I haven't explained myself properly-"
"Save your confessions for another time," she snarled, standing up abruptly. "Do you really think that now is an appropriate time to be making advances on me? After last night?" Sabine interrogated.
I felt myself boil under my skin. I stood up as well, and I now had the advantage in this fight; I surpassed her in height. "Don't flatter yourself. Heaven forbid I care about my teammate and her safety," I retorted.
She scoffed at my comeback. "I'm sorry - is my life in any real danger?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
How was I going to explain the actual direness of the situation? By now she probably thought I was crazy, a victim of the sweltering heat of Tatooine. I sighed, my shoulders sinking. Everything felt so heavy.
"Can we sit?"
"...okay," she muttered, hesitating to follow me back to the tent. We both needed to get out of the heat.
Once we were comfortable, I began explaining my dream. I recalled every detail I could, and the same cold filled my body as I told her I pulled the trigger.
She was quiet, her eyes not meeting mine. I knew that her furrowed brows and tight lips meant she was thinking; she was trying to figure me out.
"...so that's it then," she said, breaking the silence. "It was a dream, and that's all there is to it. Why would we be worried about anything?"
"Because," I began, "Jedis dreams can sometimes be tied to real events in the future. For all we know, this could be a vision."
"And until we know that for sure, we don't worry about it. Don't worry," she joked, "if you try and kill me, I'll just kick your ass."
I tried to laugh with her, but it just came out pained. "I'll try and remember that."
The second night on Tatooine was colder than the first. The wind had picked up, and the air was growing ever more frigid.
We slept pressed together as tight as we could. The clothes we had worn on this mission weren't nearly warm enough for the dressing temperatures in the middle of a desert night. However, they were perfect for the two suns that beat down on us in the day.
Sabine's breath was hot against my neck, her hair tickling my nose. The young boy that hitchhiked years ago was probably fantasizing about a moment like this.
The current version of myself couldn't wish harder I was anywhere else but here.
I had told her I loved her. For the first time.
And it was disregarded the minute it came out of my mouth.
I wasn't expecting her to reciprocate in any serious way. I had already made my mistake once, and I wasn't planning on embarrassing myself further.
But I love her. I love Hera, I love Kanan, hell, I even love Zeb. Chopper is up for debate, but even then I couldn't imagine life on the ghost without the rust bucket.
These people were the closest thing I had to a family, and I often chastised myself for not being thankful enough. I never told my parents how deeply I cared for them, how inspiring they were to me. I didn't have enough time, I didn't know I was going to run out of it.
In all fairness, I wasn't expecting to face this reality at the ripe age of seven.
But I had time with these people. I had more time with this family.
I love her, beyond what appears as a harmless crush on the surface. She's everything I wish I could be. Sabine might be rough around the edges, but at the end of the day, she's soft and kind, and compassionate.
I was okay knowing that she wouldn't want me in the same way I wanted her.
But at the very least, I wished she held me to the same esteem she did for Kanan and Hera. She and Zeb have such a tight dynamic sometimes, and it's easy to feel outside of the circle. I wanted to be good enough.
I felt her shift in my arms. She was trembling from the cold wind that leaked into the tent. So was I.
Even that would be good enough.
"I think I may have just discovered why Tatooine is so hot," I called out to Sabine.
She just kept walking.
I smiled. "Because it has two Suns," I laughed, looking up at both of the bright spheres in the sky.
I heard her sigh in aggravation.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You're no fun," I pouted while readjusting my backpack so it rested more comfortably on my shoulders.
It didn't help much. We had been walking for hours and my body felt like it was already dead. Dead, just dragging around an Ezra inside of it.
"Do you have any idea where we're going?" I asked, looking back up to the bright Suns. "Because," I continued, " I think if we keeping walking in this random direction, we'll find, more desert!" I made sure I spat those last words.
She didn't respond. She only quickened her pace.
"Can you please slow down?" I begged, out of breath from walking up the side of the dune. Sweat clung to my brow and rolled down my cheeks.
Fuck me. I can literally probe with the force to find people nearby. I voiced my idea to the girl several paces ahead of me, and she finally spoke to me. "That's funny! That's really funny actually!" she scoffed. "That implies it's actually going to work. Don't give me false hope kid, not funny."
I've been demoted to kid once again.
Ignoring her doubt, I stopped dead in my tracks, and closed my eyes, opening my mind. I probed out with the force, and I felt something. It was faint but had energy. But it was distinct.
People.
I opened my eyes and turned towards the direction it was coming from.
"Sabine!" I called out. "I found people! Come on!"
"Save it, I'm not indulging in your hallucinations," she snapped, turning to face me. She was gesturing towards the way she was walking. "We had a plan, going this way makes the most sense! The possibility of comms towers on this quadrant-"
"There's no people that way!" I sighed. "I felt something! Can you please have a little faith in me? Can we try this way for a bit?" I pleaded.
Sabine glared at me in frustration and consideration.
"Please, the energy I felt isn't far. If I'm wrong, we can keep going your way."
Her eyes narrowed. "Fine," she said quickly, bolting past me in the direction I had suggested.
We continued for about an hour when I felt I quick warning from the force. The energy I had latched onto as our guiding signal turned sour. My body felt like it was rotting from the inside out.
Shit. Whoever the source of this was, they do not have good intentions.
"Sabine," I muttered, "We need to stop."
"Why?"
"We just have to stop! Something's wrong!"
Then I heard a low rumble. The sound of an engine running.
Fuck.
"Run!" I shouted, and we both bolted in the opposite direction.
I peered over my shoulder, and my eyes went wide when I saw a group of people, all on speeder bikes, chasing us.
How quickly they were closing the gap between us wasn't promising.
I suddenly felt something hard hit me in the back of the head, and my vision went fuzzy. I tumbled into the sand, my ears ringing.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, my hands grabbing my head. I was miraculously still conscious, but I almost wish the blow had knocked me out. The sharp pain that stung the well made on the back of my head was almost unbearable.
"Get your hands off of me!" I heard Sabine shout. The intensity of my pain dissipated and was replaced with worry for her. After a few attempts to open my eyes, I managed to make out a tousle that was happening against the dunes and saw her struggling against a group of...bounty hunters? Traders? Most of them were species I didn't recognize.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" I shouted springing upward and lunging at the alien that held Sabine's wrists behind her back. I didn't make it, because another creature grabbed my arms tightly. I could feel my bones succumbing to the pressure.
"Or wha'? Wha' are you gonna do bout it?" He laughed while holding my wrists behind my back.
"Aje!" one of the creatures called. "Are these lot who I think they are?"
A boy older than me stepped forward, his scruffy black hair above his eyes. He had his speeder helmet in his hands. "It's funny! They look a bit like the rebels that caused trouble at an imperial distribution post a few days ago," he observed, putting his speeder helmet back on. I think he was the only human in this entire group. "I think the boss will be pleased to know we found such a lucky bunch. Let's head in."
I continued to struggle against my captor when I felt the same object hit me in the back of the head.
I was now on my stomach, my face pressed against the hot sand. Hovering above me was the butt of a blaster.
This blow was harder, so I felt myself slipping, and slipping further into darkness until everything became nothing.
I woke up to nothing but gray. There was a ringing in my ears, but it was slowly fading away.
The blurriness began to disappear and I could make out my surroundings, but they were unfamiliar.
I sat up, rubbing the sore spot on the back of my head. I was in a boxy room, the walls, ceiling, and floor were all gray, plastered cement.
It was distinct. This was a prison cell.
However, it wasn't an imperial cell. Our captors had not turned us in to the empire. This truth was either promising or demising.
I saw Sabine across the room, sitting in one of the corners, staring down at her hands.
Hell no. We did not come this far to be prisoners.
I bolted up towards the door and banged my fist against it. I jiggled the handle, but it was locked.
"I demand to speak to someone!" I shouted.
I heard ominous footsteps outside the door. I farted away from the door, not expecting a response so quickly.
The steel door flew open, revealing the same creature that had hit me with the gun. I felt my blood boil beneath my skin as he gave me a sinister grin.
"You wanna talk to the boss? You get to talk to the boss," he sneered, grabbing my shoulder and shoving me out the door.
As I was lead towards my unknown destination, I noticed that the entire hallway we were walking down was lined with jail cells similar to mine and Sabine's. Through the small windows on each door, I could see each cell held two to three people or aliens. They were mostly female, I noted.
I was thrown into the center of a dark room, filled with the people who had ambushed Sabine and me.
Leaning against the wall to my left, was who the creatures called "Aje." He was staring at me in amusement, so I glared daggers back at him.
The room was barely lit, and there were no windows.
I felt a shiver run up my spine. No. My hand flew to my belt at the realization that my lightsaber was probably taken from me. Sure enough, it was gone.
"So," I heard a low, raspy voice said. He sounded amused, whoever he was.
Someone fell to their knees next to me; it was Sabine. I hadn't meant to drag her into this.
The room was darker where he was standing, so I couldn't see the source of the menacing voice.
"You said you wanted to speak with me?" the anonymous person inquired, beginning to walk towards where Sabine and I sat on the cold cement floor.
"Yeah," I snarled, "I did. What the fuck do you think you're doing? You can't just-"
"I can, actually," he interrupted, "I just did."
He stepped into the light of the room, and my eyes went wide. It was like no species I had ever seen before.
He was tall and broad, his entire body covered in scales, a long, slithery tail dragging behind him. It was a nasty combination of human and reptilian, but more grotesque than what I had ever seen before. He was dressed surprisingly simple, his clothing that of the modest merchant.
I began to fume when I saw my lightsaber clipped to his belt. He looked down at it, then he unclipped it, eyeing me in amusement. He had caught me staring at my confiscated weapons.
"Quite a marvelous thing. I've never met a Jedi before." He placed it back on his belt. "Let alone owned one."
The word penetrated my body. I furrowed my brow. "Owned?"
He walked closer to us, his hands behind his back. He nodded to Aje, who began to move towards us also.
"I said owned, boy. I own you now. Both of you." He squinted at us. "It's surprisingly easy to pick a few low life's out of the desert when you have a good enough team. And I was thrilled!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm. "I was thrilled to discover that we picked up imperial bounty."
He grabbed my scalp and yanked my head upwards so I met his gaze.
"What is your name boy?" he said calmly.
I didn't answer, I only struggled against his grip. I stared into his venomous gaze, unwilling to tell him anything.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Well if that's how it's going to be-" he trailed off, shrugging his broad shoulders. He nodded to Aje.
I saw Aje take a knife off of his belt, and he immediately pressed it against Sabine's throat. She gasped as the cold metal hovered on her skin.
I pushed myself against the strong grip of the reptile in fury.
"I have no problem killing the both of you," he sighed. "The empire will take you dead or alive. Hell, I'll leave you alive long enough to see her head come clean off her body. Your choice."
The imagery of his threat pushed me over the edge. "Ezra! Ezra Bridger! My name is Ezra Bridger! Just get your hands off of her! Please!" I pleaded, struggling even more against his grip.
"What's her name?" Aje asked, pressing the knife harder against Sabine's neck.
"Sabine Wren! Now LET HER GO!" I begged.
The strange lizard creature released me, throwing me down against the floor. I let out a sigh of relief when Aje released Sabine.
I huffed. "Now explain to me what makes you think you own us!" I demanded. "Who the hell are you people?"
He laughed. His amusement fueled the fire inside me.
"My name," he sneered, "is Mortimer. I'm running a very simple business here. Hiring workers on a planet with such a slow market is damning these days. Runs you dry," he explains, taking a seat at his cluttered workspace. "I provide my clients with the opportunity to invest credits in a worker once, then never again."
Sabine's eyes widened. "So you're a slave trader?" she muttered.
He looked over to Sabine and smirked at her. "Observant little thing. My work is flexible. servitude, slavery, concubines, whatever the client demands, I provide it."
The lizard gazes hungrily at Sabine. "A Mandalorian," he sighs, almost like he's reliving a fond memory.
He strode over to her. "Clan Wren. Daughter of General Wren."
Her eyes remained at the floor, panic in her breath.
Suddenly his hand flew across her face, leaving a red mark on her left cheek.
"Don't fucking touch her!" I shouted, lunging at Mortimer. But before I reached him I felt I large set of hands grab me by the wrists, holding me back.
Mortimer only laughed. Then looked back at Sabine, enjoying the pain written on her face. "It's a shame you weren't your father. That will have to temporarily satisfy me."
He looked over at Aje. "Send them back to their cell," he ordered. Aje nodded and two other creatures came over to escort us back to our cell.
We were thrown against the ground, and the door slammed behind us.
"SHABUIR!" Sabine shouted to them, her voice hoarse.
The door locked with a damning click.
The cell was silent for the rest of the night.
