Once Kanan and Hera entered the abandoned Bridger home they were greeted by the cold that haunted the dark home and crawled up their spines, and the mess the imperials left behind. What was once a home for a small family was now haunted by one night of imperial raiding. Everything that could be was overturned was. Where broken items had not littered the home was covered by dust that had highly accumulated over a years' time.
"Maybe we should name this place 'The Ghost'," Hera remarked to Kanan as she began to look around the now eerie living room that only showed some signs of a loving home.
It was then that Hera saw a holodisk slightly sticking out of the holoprojector. Once she turned it on and inserted the disk, it took everything to hold back her emotions; it was a picture of a young Ezra innocently smiling as a tall man with the boy's hair and a women with his eyes were hugging him.
"They look like a happy family," Hera responded gloomily before putting the disk in her pocket before turning to find Kanan no longer in the room. Hera then turned to the kitchen for some clue of the Bridger's.
In the upstairs of the home Kanan went upstairs to find the families bedrooms, like the rest of the house, a complete and utter mess thanks to the Empire. Kanan though found the room he was looking for. Even everything in Ezra's room was either overturned or taken out of their respective location.
Kanan's instinct took hold and he flipped the mattress back onto the discarded bed, to find the handmade stuffed lothcat on the floor. The orange toy named Dev had a small sewn smile on his face and had a tiny heart shaped stitched pouch where a heart normally go. Kanan brushed the dust off of Dev, smiling at how happy Ezra will be when he got his toy back; at that very least Kanan could do that for the boy.
"Kanan?" Hera called from down stairs.
"I'm up here." Kanan called back, still looking at the toy that seemed to be the last part of Ezra's innocent childhood.
Soon Hera came up stairs, with an empty backpack she found amongst the households remains, and a card in her hand.
"I'm guessing that must be Dev?" Hera asked, her voice that cracked a bit from holding back a tear.
"Hera, are you okay?" Kanan asked a little worried, only for her to hand the man the card she had found. The card had a picture of a candle on it with the inside showing the heartfelt message that tugged on Hera's heart string's
Ezra,
Empire day may cause pain for others, but on this day our greatest joy of our lives came to us. You are our reason to keep hope alive for a better future for you and for the Galaxy, Happy Birthday Ezzy, Love Mom and Dad.
"Ah, shit," was all Kanan could mutter, recalling what Ezra had said about when his parents were taken. "Hasn't this kid been through enough!?" With that Kanan punch the wall, leaving an indent in the structure.
Hera though whipped her tears for Ezra away to maintain her cool head and began going through his closet.
"I was right, these should definitely fit him," Hera said smiling at the array of orange the boy had. "Hey look at this vest. This bird on the back kind of looks like Sabine's star bird." Hera pointed out as she held up the brown vest she found.
Hera though noticed Kanan was looking at her like 'she' was the unrealistic one.
"Kanan do not even give me that look." Hera protested.
"Hera, you don't understand-"Kanan began before Hera went on with her argument.
"No, you don't understand!" Hera began to argue loudly, "Look at this place. In a matter of one day, the one day Ezra should be celebrating his parents were taken from his home!"
"Hera just-"and again Kanan went unheard by Hera's howling, resulting in him going down stairs followed by the frustrated Twliek.
"He's been on the streets for almost a year looking for a Rhodanian who may have been the reason all these horrible things happened to him in the first place. And to top it off he was captured and went through who knows what horrific matters with the imperials and the Imperials. Kanan he needs us! Ezra needs to know he has somewhere safe to be."
"Hera we just can't!" Kanan was finally able to voice.
"Why? Kanan don't even pretend you don't care about the boy; you admitted you guys bonded so why in forces name can you not stomach the idea of him staying with us?
"BECAUSE I CAN'T TRAIN HIM HERA, OKAY!" Kanan finally bellowed out what he has been fearing with the kid since the Inquisitor brought it up.
As Hera's angered face began to soften, Kanan took a seat on the living room table in despair before admitting to Hera his concern
"Hera, I'm not good enough, I only made it to padwan. I'm no knight. Ezra deserves to be trained by someone who is more qualified to train him."
Hera took a seat next to her love and place her comforting hand on his shoulder before she told him, "Kanan, knight or not you still are a Jedi. A Jedi who survived on his own and faced a lot of obstacles to do so, just like Ezra has. You know the Jedi way and you know what must be done in order to train Ezra to use the force and control it. You can use your experience to train him."
Kanan though still showed some skepticism, "But what if I do train him and I fail?" Kanan asked Hera.
Hera thought of her response before she told him the words he once told her, "You once told me the force works in mysterious ways. It seems to me the force lead you, lead us, to Ezra for a reason. You've always trusted the force, why question it now?" Hera asked rhetorically.
Kanan smiled at Hera's words and confidence, "Thank Hera. But still, what if Ezra doesn't want to be trained?" Kanan questioned.
"Is that why you gave him the holocron, to see if he could learn from what you said to open it?" Hera correctly guessed.
"Yeah, I-," Kanan was looking down in his lap when he noticed a gap between the table and the floor, "Hera get up." Kanan told her.
Hera pouted, "Kanan we were making prog-,"
Kanan though picked her up by the shoulders and put her to the side so he could push the table to the side, revealing a hole in the floor,
"Woah," Hera mumbled at the new discovery.
With that the human and twliek climbed down the ladder to the hidden room of the house. Once down there they found the location of all the "Voices of Hope" broadcast. Everything needed for a broadcast was found here, they even found a frequency scrambler.
"This stuff looks pretty high tech," Hera pointed out as she rummaged through the datacard for clues, "looks like one of the datacards is missing, "Hera pointed out as a gap was found between the cards."
"This has to be what the imperials were looking for." Kanan pointed out as he looked at some of the equipment.
"What do you mean?" Hera asked a little perplexed as she looked through a cargo box.
"You saw how everything up in the main part of the house was in shambles, a simple arrest wouldn't warrant for that much destruction. They had to be looking for something, something like a broadcasting room or data with imperial information." Kanan explained.
"Or evidence they were working for someone bigger." Hera pointed out as she saw the side of the cargo hold.
What?" Kanan asked.
Hera then pointed to the side of the cargo box with a familiar logo on it.
"Fulcrum." Kanan muttered.
"They were working for Fulcrum. Do you think the imperials knew?" Kanan asked.
"I don't know, but I'll contact Fulcrum once back on the Ghost and ask for information on what they knew about Fulcrums work." Hera said.
Kanan though wasn't listening, he could sense a presence watching them. Kanan began to quickly climb the ladder, ignoring Hera calling out his name to hear the sound of footsteps running towards the door.
Kanan saw the figure of the silhouette and used the force to take hold of him before throw him with the force back into the house.
Once Hera had hurried up the stairs back to ask Kanan what in forces name had just happened, the saw the now bruised up Rhodanian get up from his little attack,
"Please, Tseboo means no harm." was all the Rhodanian could mutter to the two.
Kanan and Hera were both speechless at the appearance of the man they had been trying to find all day. It appeared that Tseboo was no longer missing anymore.
Once Sabine showed Ezra how to draw a star bird and other symbols, the two began drawing multiple images. While Ezra couldn't draw with his right hand due to his wrist, he turned out to be a pretty gifted left handed artist.
Sabine had left Ezra for a few minutes to see how Zeb was doing. Zeb had just woken up from his nap when Sabine came in. Once told what Sabine and Ezra were doing, he decided to see some of the kid's artwork.
Once back in Sabine's room, Zeb noticed a bile of artwork on the floor, with one catching his eye. It was drawing of what was clearly Ezra holding hands with a man and women in the plains of Lothal with a tower in the background.
"Are these your parents?" Zeb asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Yup," Ezra said happily as he pointed to the picture that Zeb was holding, "That's my mom, and my dad, and that's me in the middle."
Sabine also noticing the image asked another question, "What's with that tower in the background?"
"Oh that's my mom and dad's old hideout." Ezra stated simply before he explained, "They used to do broadcast there when I was really small, but they moved it to our house so imperials wouldn't see where they were going."
"Well you drew them lovely Ezra," Sabine complimented to the little boy. Then she noticed another picture with Ezra, but instead of his parents, Ezra was piggy-back on a green Rhodanian's shoulders.
"I'm guessing that this guy is Tseboo?" Sabine asked.
Ezra looked up from what he was working on and smiled, "Yup, he is my 'honorary uncle' my mom says. When he comes over he always let me ride on his shoulders." Ezra told the Lasat and Mandalorian happily at the memory.
Just then at thought came to the boy, "Do you guys think Tseboo will let you guys visit us once we find him?"
Zeb took hold of answering this question, "He probably will, and if we can't come there, you're always welcomed here," Zeb told Ezra, which was rewarded with a happy smile at the response
Sabine then looked down and noticed what Ezra was working on at the moment.
"Is that all of us?" Sabine asked, only for Ezra to try cover it up.
"Don't look, it's not ready." Ezra told Sabine, only to be picked up by Zeb from under the boy's armpit to see the drawing Ezra was trying to hide. It was a picture of all the crew, pretty well drawn, but what Sabine noticed first what was in the drawing of Kanan's hand.
"What's that blue sword doing in Kanan's hand?" Sabine asked trying to play dumb in fear she may say too much to the kid.
"That's his lightsaber he was using when he was fighting the Inquisitor. That's what Jedi fight with right, lightsabers? Kanan is a Jedi, right?" Ezra asked.
Sabine and Zeb look at each other a little confused before Zeb put Ezra down and looked at him in a serious tone, 'Promise you won't tell anyone what we tell you?"
Ezra smiled and indicated with a zip and lock signal that he wouldn't say anything.
Zeb and Sabine just chuckled at the remark before Sabine said it, "Yeah, Kanan is a Jedi."
Ezra gasped in excitement, "I knew it! But I thought the Empire killed them all?"
"Kanan is too stubborn to kill." Zeb remarked.
"That's good, either wise you guys might not have saved me." Ezra said casually as continued with his drawing of the crew.
Sabine wanted to get off the rescue topic and went back to the drawing of the crew, and noticed another thing Ezra drew in, "You drew all of us great kid, but why are Kanan and Hera holding hands?"
Ezra just smiled and giggled at the question like the answer was obvious, "Because that is what married people do, they hold hands."
Sabine and Zeb just starred at each other before they burst out laughing at what they kid said.
Ezra looked at them a little confused, "What? What?!"
Sabine was the first to regain her composure, "Kanan and Hera aren't married." Sabine exposed to the boy.
Ezra then looked like he was thinking about the matter, then looked back at his picture before asking, "You sure about that?"
Sabine answered with another little giggle, "Yeah kid I'm sure. But between us, they might as well be."
This last remark caused everyone in the room to begin laughing, and for Chopper to come in to see what was going on.
At first Zeb and Sabine thought Ezra might take a step back in trusting them with the droid in the room, but then Ezra surprised them and asked, "Chopper, want to draw with us?"
And with that the members on the Ghost and Ezra began drawing a little bit, waiting for 'the married couple' to come back home.
"Who else knows we're here?" Kanan asked Tseboo as the Rhodanian took a seat on the Bridger's old couch.
"No one," Tseboo responded, "The Imperials are so focused on 'other matters', they did not even notice that Tseboo snuck away from imperial office. Tseboo had to make sure that they could not find what Bridger's were arrested for hiding."
"Hiding what?" Hera asked curiously.
"Tseboo should not tell strangers of what happened here in Bridger's home." Tseboo replied.
Hera was not taking of that though, "Yeah these strangers," Hera pointed to Kanan and herself, "saved Ezra Bridger from the Imperial base he was being held at. So I'm pretty sure you can trust us with what happened here.
Tseboo was silent before he asked, "Prove it. What is the name of Ezra's favorite toy?"
Kanan though was getting testy with the man. But took the toy out from the holster he was holding him in when he responded, "Dev. Now start talking." Kanan was showing no sign of sympathy towards the obviously sacred Tseboo.
Tseboo though explained to the two, "Ephraim, found something… big when he was sneaking in the Imperial office after hours."
"Wait, what do you mean by 'big'?" Hera asked.
Tseboo got up and began pacing around before he continued his explanation, "Ephraim found the Empires future plans for Lothal; construction plans, and land for mining plans, everything the Empire wants to keep secret from Lothal citizens are in a datacard Bridger's uploaded.
"Ephraim wanted to broadcast the intel to the citizens. I tried to reason with Bridger's that once they broadcast this information, The Empire would stop at nothing to find out the 'Voices of Hope' identity. I told them I could not fight a battle I knew could not be one."
"So you turned them in!" Kanan yelled, "You were supposed to-,"
"No, no, Tseboo could never do that." Tseboo pleaded with Kanan.
"Then how did the Empire find out about the Bridger's?" Hera asked, now becoming just as annoyed as Kanan was.
"Because they started tracking us!" Tseboo cried out. He took a few deep breaths before he continued. "The new identifications cards they gave to employees a year ago, they have trackers on them. When the Imperials noticed the file on the plans missing they went to all the homes, even mine. Before I could even tell Bridger's of what was happening, they were all arrested. Nothing Tseboo could have done would change that."
"They weren't all arrested," Hera argued, "Ezra has been searching for you for a long time, hoping you would look-,"
"Tseboo knows of young Bridger's attempt to find me. But Tseboo cannot. When Tseboo walked away from the 'Voices of Hope', he walked away from any association with the Bridger's"
The room was silent before Hera put two and two together, "You haven't been missing, you have been hiding from Ezra, avoiding him."
Tseboo cowardly tried to defend himself, "If Ezra seen with Tseboo, Tseboo would get in trouble with Imperials for harboring child of Rebels, nothing else Tseboo could do."
"Nothing else," Hera argued as she pushed Tseboo, "You could have kept him hidden," Hera began to continue to push him until he hit the wall, each argument getting louder, "You could have found someone else. Anything would have been better, then leaving him on the streets like some ANIMAL!"
"Tseboo knows what he did was unfair to Bridger's son. But in Universe run by Empire, one must look after oneself, and Ezra needs know that in this corrupt world life is not fair!"
Hera was about to lose it, but just then Kanan took hold of Tseboo through the force and held him in a chock hold in the air. As Tseboo struggled and Hera looked on with worry on her face, Kanan approached the Rhodanian who was gasping for air.
"Because of you, Ezra went through unspeakable cruelties, one no one deserves to go through, especially one as young as he. You are nothing but a spineless coward. The only reason you're leaving here today alive is because the other option is not my way." Kanan stated coldly to the bug-eyed Tseboo.
With that Kanan released the Rhodanian from his force hold, causing Tseboo to scurry away into the dark alley as fast as he could.
Hera put her hand on his shoulder, "Hey, you okay. That was, pretty intense."
Kanan just brushed off the situation that just happened and let out a little chuckle, "Well, you know I don't like anyone messing with a member of our crew."
Hera warmly smiled at Kanan before hugging him.
"We still got to run it by Zeb, Sabine, and Chopper; and I'm still not sure about training Ezra, but like you said, the kids our responsibility now."
The two continued their embrace before heading back to the ship. Both now fully knew what horrific ordeal Ezra had been through in just a years' time, so much injustice for one as young as he. But they also knew that Ezra still needed someone to look out for him and comfort him, and it looked like that obligation and pleasure rested in the hands of the crew.
A/N: So far this is my longest chapter. I hope all enjoyed this chapter. I do plan on wring some more SWR fic's, some more generic with the canon of the series, a few AU. But I do want to finish this story up before I start any of those. So anyways please review and let me know what you think of this tale. I'm super please my first fic is going of so well with everyone. if it's a critic please let me know. again thanks for reading.
