Evening was setting on Lothal, and young master and padawan were heading back to their ship after a long day of training.

Ezra trotted after Kanan tiredly, "Why does using the force have to be so exhausting? I only lifted like five boulders," the boy questioned to his elder.

Kanan rolled his eyes in amusement at the youngling's naïve nature. "Soon you'll be able to use the force with ease. It's just like lifting weights, you don't just go and lift fifty pounds, you work your way up; building your strength.

Ezra though was not amused, "But I want to help you guys take down the Empire now." He whined like only a seven-year-old could.

Kanan chuckled as the two finally made it to the ramp, and was about to reason with Ezra when Chopper came wheeling in with a net blaster that the droid and child had salvaged in an old junk yard.

"Oh, right," Ezra exclaimed excitedly as he forgot his tired troubles, "thanks for training Kanan but Chopper and I need to test this on a newt," and with that Ezra quickly hugged Kanan and followed Chopper out to the field to test their new gizmo.

Kanan couldn't help but to laugh. While Ezra was getting stronger in the force, he still failed to learn the importance of maintaining focus. Not that Kanan was complaining now, he was a bit too tired for reasoning.

Kanan made his way to the common room to see the rest of his crew circled around the holo-news that was displayed on the table.

Hera looked up at Kanan as he entered and smiled, "I'm guessing Chopper got to Ezra."

Kanan smiled as he sat next to her and looped his arm around her shoulders, "I know Chopper is technically older, but I feels like the droid is more a child then Ezra is."

Hera smiled at the comment, "Both have been waiting all day to test that thing. Did you know they spend this whole week tinkering with it? Where did they even find it anyways?"

Zeb and Sabine answered simultaneously, "Junkyard."

Kanan then changed subjects, "So what lies are the Empire instilling into us today?" he questioned sarcastically, because the news was always the same.

Sabine answered in a mellow tone "Oh the usual, Empire good, rebels bad, just the us-,"

Just then the holo-news showing an image of some Stormtroopers was disconnected, followed by a display of an elder man they knew as the Senator.

"Good evening, This Senator Trayvis, informing you all of what needs to be heard."

The rebels leaned in, knowing that Trayvis wouldn't be risking exposure if it was not important.

The man's gamboled words spoke out, "I speak out against the Empire because it is our rights as beings to have a voice of our own, and I am not the only one who has this view."

That was when all the crew's hearts skipped a beat as they saw the holoimage of a couple they had all seen at least once when they caught Ezra looking at them on his own holo-projector.

"Mira and Ephraim Bridger were arrested for speaking out their minds about the Empire, an unjust arrest, and is now being held in a North Stergron system prison waiting for a trial to be set in Corosaunt, and I will assure they get a fair trial so help-,"

The news had gone back to the Imperil broadcast. Sabine had been the one to turn off the projector, showing the crew's shocked expressions that laid on their faces at the news they just heard.

"Their alive?" Sabine questioned in shock.

"It looks like it," Kanan acknowledged as he leaned back in his seat before he explained, "We did say they were missing in imperial custody, but it looks like they aren't missing anymore."

The crew was silent for a bit, all amazed that they now knew where Ezra's parents were

Hera finally spoke up, "What's the plan here?" she asked as she turned to Kanan.

Kanan seemed to think about it for a moment before Kanan asked the manadlorian, "Sabine, can you bring up a display of where they are being held at?

Soon a holo display of the large imperial base was displayed.

"The base is edged into the side of a mountain, Security will obviously be tight, almost impenetrable.

"Like that has stopped us before," Zeb commented with a little pride.

Kanan stood up and took charge, "Okay, with the broadcast out, we go tonight. We can't risk the possibility of them being moved after today. Everyone get their supplies ready." Kanan began to head to the cockpit when he heard Sabine.

"Kanan, what does this mean? For Ezra and all." Sabine questioned with worry.

Kanan just shrugged his shoulders and answered, "We get his parent's back, simple.

Kanan then left to head to the cockpit.

"That's not what I meant." Sabine admitted solemnly. Hera patted her Mandalorians shoulders, smiling gently as the Twi'lek followed Kanan.

Sabine sighed as she got up to get ready, only for Zeb to halt her for a moment.

"We're not losing him. We're helping him get his family back." Zeb reassured Sabine, and while Sabine smiled at Zeb, though a part of her was in despair as she thought they were his family. Even Zeb couldn't convince himself that things wouldn't change.

Meanwhile, Hera followed Kanan into the cockpit. Kanan was going over the holo-image of the base as Hera got into her seat to get the coordinates set.

As Hera, did so, she turned to Kanan for a moment and noticed his trouble mind obvious in his face.

"Kanan?" Hera asked worried.

"What if they hate us?" Kanan voiced suddenly.

Hera was now confused, "What?"

Kanan got up and began to pace around, "I mean, they don't even know us. They're probably going to have a million questions about how we got Ezra, how we're taking care of him. What if they don't like us? What if they find me training Ezra-,"?

"Kanan," Hera voiced over Kanan's concern as she took his hands and patted them.

"We will tell them everything we know, and we will assure them that we have taken good care of Ezra. So, let's focus on saving them."

Kanan smiled gently at Hera's words, but then frowned as he noticed Hera's grip on him had tightened as her eyes stared at him almost as if she was pleading.

"Please just assure me this; that this doesn't mean we're saying good-bye to Ezra."

Kanan smiled at her as he tightened hi grip too, "Of course not."

Hera smiled at Kanan's words and got to her seat to continue preparations, unaware of the concern that crossed Kanan's mind; that he had not thought of the possibility of saying good bye to his padawan until Hera brought it up. But if the boy's parents were adamant to take him away…

Kanan shook his mind of that concern. Even if it meant having to say good-bye, even if it would kill him to not see him again, at least Ezra would be happy.


Once the Ghost landed on Stygeon, Chopper was left in charge of guarding the ship with a sleeping Ezra in his bunk. The crew decided not to get the boy's hopes up in case they failed, and had told him nothing of their plan.

Taking the Phantom, Hera dropped the remaining crew members off at the entrance while they took out the guards with ease. As Hera waited on the side of the mountain for an emergency pick up, she saw the distress beacon lighting up. Hera soon paled when she saw the distress beacon was coming from her ship.

As quickly as she could, she sped the Phantom back to where she landed the Ghost earlier. Landing the Phantom, Hera ran inside to the cockpit to find a berserk Chopper wheeling around in a panic.

"Chopper, what's the emergency? What's-,"

Hera then saw in the passenger seat of the ghost was Ezra; shaking like a leaf, hands covering his mouth as if he was going to throw up, tear streaming down from his terrified eyes.

"Ezra!" Hera shrieked as she got eye level with the boy who seemed to be hyperventilating. "Breath Hun, just breath." Hera eased the boy. "Hun, why-,"
"He's near." The child muttered in a barely audible tone.

"Who?" Hera questioned with concern.

"HIM!" Ezra shouted in fear, "He's here, I can sense him! Why are we here! Where are the others? I couldn't find Kanan and…" Ezra yet again began shaking, not for his own sack, but his fear for the others.

Hera was horrified to realize she understood who 'him' was. Hera fiddled to find her comlink

"Specter One, come in!" Hera hollered into the comlink. Only to find only a static sound on the other end; the signal was being jammed.

Her hurried into her pilot seat to get the Ghost ready for take off.

"Buckle up Ezra," She ordered to the still shaking boy. It pained her to see Ezra in such distress, but had to keep her eyes on the task as they flew up into the air. Still, she took the time to place one hand on her boy's shoulder,

"Listen to me," Hera ordered as the teary-eyed boy looked up at her, "Everything is going to be okay and we're going to get them right now."

Ezra smiled weakly at her, while Hera continued to fly the ship to the base; hopeful she wasn't making a false promise as they sped to the others before they entered the trap.


Once Kanan, Zeb, and Sabine snuck their way into the base, Sabine hacked into the computer to find the prison cells below, far away from any exit.

"Goanna make our breakout a lot tougher" Sabine voiced her annoyance through her helmet.

"Hasn't stopped us before," Kanan pointed out optimistically as the they made their way to the lower levels via turbo lift.

Finally, on the lowest level, Kanan scoped the area and found no imperials. While he found that already odd, he continued down the corridor, ordering Zeb and Sabine to maintain their spots by the turbo lift.

As Kanan made his way down numerous halls to where the cell Sabine told him Mira and Ephraim were in, Kanan prepared himself for what to expect when he met them. Finally, he made it to the cell. Kanan though became skeptical as he noticed no Stormtroopers on the floor at all. Something was off. With one hand on his blaster, he made his way to the door; and just as he was about to open it, the force began to shriek inside him, like it was warning him to run.

Kanan looked around for any oncoming threats, but soon realized the threat was coming from the room he was about to enter, where he could recognize a familiar presense. Shock increased as did his adrenaline when the door opened to not reveal his padawan's long lost parents', but the Pau'an who still haunted Ezra's nightmare.

The Inquisitor walked out of the room and towards Kanan, who now had taken out his lightsaber and ignited it. The Inquisitor smiled at him wickedly.

"Looking for someone else perhaps," The dark side user taunted.

Kanan remained silent and focused, even as the Inquisitor activated his own lightsaber and lunged at Kanan.

As the sabers met in battle and each man attacked the other, Kanan caught a glimpse of the cell, showing it to be empty, like the hopes of this being a successful mission.

The Inquisitor sensed Kanan's sorrow and grinned viciously

"Yes, I knew you rebels wouldn't pass the chance to rescue fellow rebel scums. Especially considering 'whom' they were." The Inquisitor revealed to Kanan with a menacing smile, "However I was hoping you'd be foolish enough to bring my apprentice along."

Kanan's strike's at the Inquisitor increased at the Pau'an's mention of Ezra.

"He is not your apprentice! I won't let you get a hold of him again!" Kanan vowed as he tried to strike the Inquisitor down, only for each blow to be blocked. Kanan did manage to force the man as far away from him, sending the Inquisitor to his knees. Kanan used this time to get one of Sabine's 'surprises out as he threw it in the direction of the Inquisitor; just as the imperial was began to regain his composure, the smoke bomb ignited, giving Kanan the chance to flee. Despite the desire to finish the battle, Kanan knew the others and him needed to get away before reinforcements arrived. As Kanan made his way down the halls, he found Sabine and Zeb already running down the hall away from the turbo lift.

"What happened?" Kanan asked as they ran down the hall.

"On coming troopers on the lift," Sabine answered before she asked, "Where are they?"

Kanan shook his head, "Not here. Where are we heading?" Kanan asked, focused on their escape.

"Landing platform, just down the hall."

"Any contact with Hera?" Kanan questioned.

"Negative, they comm's are jammed. That's how we figured it was a trap." Zeb pointed out.

As they ran down the hall, Kanan could sense the Inquisitor behind them. Just as they saw the bay, they saw the bay door begin to shut. Kanan in desperation force pushed the other two specters ahead of him to get past the door, as he slides underneath it just as it was closing.

"You know we hate when you do that!" Zeb yelled as Sabine and him regained their composure.

"You're welcome." Kanan replied as he focused on shooting the oncoming troopers on the platform. Before the shooting battle could begin, the gust of wind blew some of the troopers off the side of the mountain. The rebels were relieved to find it caused by the Ghost coming in. As the remaining troopers began to shoot at the Ghost unsuccessfully, they didn't see the other rebels shoot at them as they made their way to the opened cargo bay. As Zeb and Sabine hopped onto the ramp, Kanan sensed the Inquisitor right behind him! Kanan used his saber to block what would have been the fatal blow. Kanan could see by the light of the sabers that the Inquisitor was both determined, and furious; a scary combination."

The Pau'an roared, "If I can't bring the boy to my master then I will have to suffice with your head!"

As Kanan was about to reply he heard a young voice come from the ramp above him.

"YOU LEAVE KANAN ALONE!" Ezra screeched as he forced pushed the Inquisitor as far away from Kanan as possible and into the side of the base hard.

Kanan, having no time to enjoy the view of the fallen inquisitor jumped onto the ramp, to find a tired Ezra on his knees. Quickly Kanan scooped Ezra under his arm, ran up the ramp and it the button to close it.

"Go Hera!" Sabine hollered into the bay's intercom. With that the ram closed and ship shifted as they sped away from the base and into space.

Once the Specters caught their breath, Kanan turned to Ezra.

"What the heck were you thinking, you-," Kanan began to lecture before Ezra screamed.

"WHAT WAS I THINKING!?" Ezra screeched as his voice revealed he had been crying.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!? WHY WOULD YOU GO ON A MISSION THAT INVOLVED FIGHTING…" Ezra couldn't bare to say that monsters name as be lowered his head in a futile attempt to hide his tears.

Kanan looked upon his padawan with sorrow, glancing at the other two as they looked away with guilt and despair. Kanan got down to Ezra's level and wrapped his arms around the boy, letting the boy sob into his shoulder for support.

He heard the boy mutter, "I don't want him to hurt you guys too." Ezra then wiped his face before looking at Kanan with sad puppy dog eyes before asking, "What was so important anyways?"

Kanan sighed in defeat. Despite not wanting to tell Ezra of the mission, he knew Ezra deserved to know the truth of their failure.


Once Hera got out of hyperspace and set the Ghost onto autopilot, the rest of crew explained to Ezra what they had saw on the holo-news; of how they were trying to rescue his parents, and that the whole thing was a trap.

"…but they weren't there. It was a trap to lure us in, and we took the bait." Kanan finished explaining to Ezra whom was completely silent through the explanation. The boy didn't look at any of them for the longest time till finally he looked up at them and asked timidly,

"So, it's my fault you guys-," Ezra began to ask until Hera cut him off.

"No no no Hun. This mission was no one's fault. We wanted to do this mission for you, so you could finally find your parents." Hera clarified quickly.

Ezra began to look away again, with guilt on his face.

"What?" Hera questioned worryingly.

Ezra hesitated to ask, "If I tell you guys something, promise you won't think I'm bad for thinking it."

Zeb chuckled a bit, "Kid, we could never think that."

Ezra still didn't look at them as he answered, "You might…It's just that… I don't think I'll see them again?" Ezra admitted.

Ezra saw the worry on the other's faces before he explained sadly, "It's not that I don't want to see them again, I miss them every day. But… After being on the streets for a while, I kind of realized that there is a good chance they might not come back, and I don't mean like 'break out' come back. I miss them, but if they're, you know, I think I'd be ready to hear that news."

Ezra saw the other's look at each other with complexed expressions.

"It is bad I think that, isn't it?" Ezra questioned.

Sabine took the reins on this one as she sat down next to Ezra and wrapped a protective arm around him, "It's not bad kid, it's sad." Sabine revealed before she explained, "What you're mind set is going through is acceptance."

Ezra was confused, "Acceptance?"

Sabine nodded sadly as she continued, "It's the final stages of grieving kid. When you miss someone, you go through these stages where you begin to grieve them. Acceptance is normally the finale stage; it means that while you miss them, you're okay with them being gone."

Sabine saw Ezra was think over what she said, "Does that make sense?" she questioned.

Ezra smiled weakly and nodded, "Yeah, it does."

Kanan could still sense Ezra was still a little upset, "I'm sorry kid."

"Why are you sorry?" Ezra asked a little shocked.

Kanan then told him, "We really wanted to find your parents so you could have a family again. To make you happy."

Ezra then did something the others were not expecting; he laughed. Ezra seemed to almost be bursting a gut before he caught his breath and told them, "Wow that's a dumb thing to say."

"Ezra?" Hera questioned, a little shocked and hurt by what he said.

"Not like stupid dumb," Ezra tried to clarify as he continued to chuckled a bit. "But I am happy. Like yeah I miss my parents, but I have you guys, and you're my family too."

Hera smiled fondly at Ezra's words, as did Sabine and Zeb as he referred to them as 'his family'.

Ezra then smiled as he turned to Kanan, "Besides, you're the one who told me 'the force works in mysterious way'; maybe me meeting you guys was what the force wanted." Ezra smiled

Kanan couldn't help but smile with pride at his padawan. Kanan wrapped an arm around Ezra and hugged him.

"When did you get so smart?" Kanan asked.

Ezra smiled as he looked up at Kanan, "I've learned from the best." Ezra then hugged him back. The rest of the crew, despite being hard core rebels, also surrounded themselves around the young padawan; hugging one another. After a long moment Sabine finally admitted to Ezra what she was worried about the entire mission, "I'm glad you're still going to be with us kid." As Sabine held onto Ezra tighter.

Ezra then decided to change the subject, "So was this mission a success or…"

Kanan sitting up contemplated before replying, "We all escaped and are all alive, so I suppose We can call it a success."

Ezra then perked up and smiled, "Then we should celebrate surviving!" Ezra exclaimed as he got up and went to the fridge.

"Ezra what are we going to celebrate at three in the morning" At least that's what it would be if we were on Lothal." Hera pointed out as she questioned.

Ezra smiled as he went to the freezer and got the box. "Waffles!" Ezra beamed.

Zeb and Sabine chuckled,

"I like the kid's plan," Zeb replied as he snatched the box from Ezra, "But I'm toasting them. Last time you burned them." Zeb joked.

Ezra remarked, "They we're not burned, they were overly crispy."

Sabine the pointed out, "They were black."

Ezra argued back, "They were dark brown."

Kanan then remembered something else, "You know what else we should be celebrating?"

"What" Ezra asked.

Kanan smirked and replied, "That your training is paying off. While you shouldn't have been so close to the fight young padawan," Kanan pointed out as he ruffled Ezra's hair, "That was quite an impressive force push kid."

Ezra then giggled a bit, "I bet he is really miffed right now."

"Wait, when did this happen?" Hera inquired.

Ezra then told her about saving Kanan by force pushing the Inquisitor. While Hera was furious about Ezra putting himself in danger, even she couldn't help but be proud of Ezra facing his former demon.

Ezra then asked, "So does this mean I can go on missions with you guys now?" Ezra asked hopefully. Only to be shot down by a Unison answer from the whole Crew

"No!" they all answered, even Chopper beeped a 'no' too.

Before Ezra could argue, the waffles popped up and immediately distracted him as he grabbed a plate with the force. Only to be stopped by Kanan who grabbed the plate in midair.

Kanan then lectured, only for Ezra to say with Kanan in unison,

"No using the force unless absolutely necessary."

The two force sensitives then smiled at each other as they burst out laughing, just for the others to laugh as well. Not just because of the scenario, but because they all were relieved they all still had each other; because they were a perfectly insane family, and they wouldn't have it any other way. Despite the oncoming threats, as long as they had each other, they knew things were going to be okay.


A/N: I finally finished it. Something I learned as a writer; I prefer writing fluff to angst. Will there be more angst, of course. But I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Also I hope people realize that this is kind of the season 1 of the series, so they don't know about Trayvis yet. It took me a while to write it. Thank this Nor'easter for giving me the time to edit this. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, and please let me know how you liked it.