Thine Eyes Doth See:

And then the Duchess happened, and Ezra realized that Sabine wasn't perfect.

She was human. She made mistakes. She hurt. Actually, she was damn near broken after losing so many of her Clan. But she fought on, because that's who she was. Sabine wasn't a quitter.

It only made him love her more.

Sabine was genuinely happy as she talked with her father. It had been so LONG. And after the initial awkward moment, it was like they'd never been parted; teasing about art like old times.

Ezra, of course, had to get his own word in, but she didn't mind, not with how her father responded. And he was right. Mother really did love to destroy her enemies in the most creative ways. Too bad I was one of them.

But they'd moved past that. After a few months of proving herself a worthy clan member again, Mother was actually starting to trust her once more. It was a good feeling, even if the Wren Stronghold didn't exactly feel as much like home as it should.

More than anything, Sabine had enjoyed spending time with her little brother again. Little. Ha. That certainly doesn't apply anymore. Tristan had grown a LOT while she was gone. She didn't remember her grandfather very well, but she did remember he'd been a massive man. Tristan was definitely taking after him, and at only seventeen, Tristan was nowhere near done growing and filling out. She could tell how proud Mother was of him. He was a dutiful son. He hadn't betrayed their people. He was a strong warrior.

He was pretty much perfect.

But Sabine couldn't resent Tristan. She never would. He should have been the eldest. He would have made a much better leader for their clan than she ever would. Sabine didn't know what she was going to do when her mother was ready to step down. For the time being, she was simply pretending that her mother would remain the Countess forever and not thinking about the day when she was supposed to take over the job.

Tomorrow, Sabine would think that Fate, or the Force, or whatever, must have been laughing at her the last time she'd told Mother that dealing with Clan business matters was not her problem and she wasn't ready yet to learn about them.

Her mother had insisted anyway.

She was ever the pragmatic one. And efficient. And ruthless. And right. In that instance, anyway.

And she proved it once again as Sabine listened to her voice via Fenn's commlink, after he'd told the Countess that they'd rescued her husband.

"Then we have two victories today. Saxon's forces are in retreat." Sabine couldn't help but smile slightly at the sound of her mother's WESTARs in full voice as she pictured her chasing stormtroopers across the desolate landscape.

Tristan's voice came over the comm next a few seconds later. "Hold on. They're not all running. Looks like we've got an incoming Imperial transport."

"Reinforcements to cover their retreat?" Sabine asked, getting closer to Fenn so Tristan could hear her. That was highly unusual. What has Saxon got hiding up his vambrace this time?

"They deployed a single scout walker. With no other support. It's moving into attack position," Tristan said, the confusion in his voice just as apparent as what Sabine was feeling.

Her mother scoffed. "Laughable. Destroy it."

And that was when Sabine heard it over the comm; the sound that haunted her nightmares and kept her up for hours afterwards with tears leaving frozen trails on her face.

The high pitched whine was the sound of her greatest mistake.

Oh, no. No. No. NO. NO!

"That sound. It can't be," Sabine said through a suddenly constricted throat. Heart hammering in panic, Sabine called, "Tristan, get out of there NOW!"

Come on. Come on. Please. Don't do this to me. How did Saxon get the Duchess?

When no one answered after a couple of seconds, she called again. "Mother? Tristan?"

Why don't they answer? Surely they had enough time to fly away? But what if they're not wearing jetpacks? Oh stars.

Sabine felt faint and nauseous. She barely swallowed back the bile that flooded her throat.

Ezra watched Sabine with growing concern. She'd paled to the colour of old snow and her emotions were screaming in the Force of pain and self-blame. What's going on?

A glow filled the sky in the distance, catching his attention. It was coming from the direction where the bulk of their forces were dealing with the majority of the Saxon and Imperial troops. Oh Force. That can't be good. "What is that?"

Sabine was literally shaking as she turned around and caught sight of what Ezra had seen. She'd seen that glow firsthand. She knew exactly what it meant. And how I wish I didn't. Crying out an anguished, "Nooooo!" she jammed her helmet on and took off for the distant battlefield which she already knew was probably now a graveyard.

Ezra followed after Sabine as fast as he could, thanking the Force that the jetpack had been returned to him before this had happened. He left behind him a frazzle of concerned emotions, but none more so than that of Sabine's father. Kriff, I have a bad feeling about this. Really bad.

Sabine flew with a whirling mind that eventually just went blank out of self preservation, her only focus; reaching the blast site. She landed a couple minutes later, seeing nothing but a couple of flaming transports and ashes on the ground with blackened pieces of beskar armour in heaps here and there.

This was exactly what she'd been afraid she'd see.

But it was even worse than what she'd imagined.

She tossed off her helmet and knelt by the nearest pile of blackened and flaking armour, her emotions in a state of devastated shock. "No, no," she cried as self loathing filled her. I'm the worst daughter of Mandalore of all time. I wish the Empire had killed me all those years ago when I caught them testing the Duchess on real people.

Ezra landed near Sabine, looking around the battlefield as a sense of extreme sorrow filled the Force around him. This is awful.

The scene was depressing as hell, but not as much as the sight of a small Mando girl kneeling in the crusted red dirt, shoulders slumped, and cheerfully coloured cream and purple head bowed. She was like a blotch of much needed colour in a world of devastation. Except he was sure she wouldn't appreciate the comparison at the moment.

As Ezra tentatively stepped towards her, he sent a little nudge towards Kanan, who was arriving on an air bike with Lord Wren, just wanting some reassurance that SOMETHING was still all right with his world. Kanan sent a sad little nudge back, both of them realizing that something truly awful had happened. "What happened here?" Ezra said aloud to anyone who cared to answer. He didn't think it would be Sabine, though.

It turned out no one had an answer, or if they did, they didn't voice it, for the question was left hanging in the strangely electrified air. Ezra's skin was nearly jumping with it.

He took another step towards Sabine, not sure what to do. He'd never seen her like this before. Not even when they were training with the Darksabre and he'd thought that was the most depressed he'd ever see her get. The pain she'd radiated then had nothing on the pain she was broadcasting now. Nothing.

Bo-Katan stepped up beside him. She too was feeling a lot of shock and pain that he couldn't miss unless he slammed his shields closed entirely. "Where are the survivors of this battle? The wounded? The victors?" she asked, just as confused as Ezra.

"I see only the defeated," came the resigned sounding voice of Alrich from behind him.

I guess the victors booted it out of here already.

Sabine gave a strangled sob that shot straight to his heart. Kriff. If no one else is going to comfort her, then I am. Or at least I'll try.

Ezra stepped forward and his boot sent up a cloud of ash, drawing his eyes downward. He paused and frowned at the crispy metal before he understood what he was looking at. "Mandalorian armour? What could do this?"

"A weapon did this," Alrich said in that same resigned and defeated tone, walking up beside him, his previously proud bearing long gone. "A weapon created by my daughter."

She would never. She loves her people too much to ever invent something that could harm them. Her father must be wrong.

But as Ezra looked at him, at the sad slump to his shoulders, and then over the metre or so left between him and Sabine and saw the way she trembled in misery, he knew that Lord Wren told the truth; Sabine had invented a weapon that turned Mandos into crispy toast. No wonder she was in such pain. It would be like me killing my own family with my lightsabre in my sleep or something. Everything she said on Atollon a few months ago finally made sense. Now he knew why she never talked about how she'd come to be outcast from her home.

Frag, no wonder she's beyond devastated.

"There were rumours the Empire was working on a weapon to neutralize Mandalorian armour. That it had even been tested on our people. I didn't believe it." Bo-Katan's voice now said that she did. And the undercurrent of anger she was starting to feel was not a good thing. Not if it was going to be directed at Sabine.

Sabine finally spoke, her voice broken and torn. "Not the Empire. Me. This is all my fault."

Frag. I can't leave her like this. She's self-destructing from the inside out. Her signature felt nearly black with pain and self-loathing.

Ezra moved to kneel beside her, putting his helmet on the ground and touching her trembling back tentatively. Then he did his best to help her feel better, pulling as much of her sorrow from her as he could and into himself, then giving it to the Force. "Sabine, you can't blame yourself for this. Nothing involving the Empire could ever be your fault."

She turned to look at him with broken, tear filled eyes. "Everything my father said was true, Ezra. This is my work. I created the weapon that did this. And because of me, the Empire is going to turn my world into a graveyard. Because of me, Mandalorians are going to die. My mother and brother are dead, Ezra." She paused for a moment as she gulped on a sob and then croaked out, "Because of me." She gasped out another sob filled shudder of air before adding, "I'm vile."

Oh, my poor warrior goddess. No you're not. And I'll always love you, no matter what.

He was very tempted to say it out loud, but fear of being rejected kept his mouth closed. But he couldn't leave her like this, so he offered physical comfort instead.

Hoping he wasn't overstepping their friendship, he did what Kanan had done for him when he found out for sure that his parents were gone; he opened his arms and pulled her against his chest and held her while she cried her heart out. Ezra brushed a hand over her flower coloured hair over and over and murmured nonsense soothing words as sobs wracked her small frame. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm sorry you lost your mom and brother. I wish I could bring them back for you.

Ezra looked up as the others came to stand around them.

Kanan was sending as much comfort as he could to both of them through the Force, but he doubted Sabine was feeling it. Ezra was grateful for his efforts though.

Sabine's father had his own tears streaming down his face as he realized that he'd just lost his wife and son, who he hadn't seen in months as he was held captive by the Saxon traitors. Kanan put a hand on his shoulder in comfort, subtly helping him with his emotions the same way Ezra was with Sabine. Alrich gave him a look of gratitude just for being there, despite the fact that they were essentially strangers.

Fenn had his helmet on, so Ezra couldn't see his face, but he could feel sympathy in his emotions. He's come a long way from when he hated Sabine and I.

And Bo-Katan? She was building up into something that didn't bode well for Sabine. Weren't there a few of her clan helping out with this mission as well? Karabast, they're probably dead too. The Mandalorian woman was taking this loss personally as she realized the deadly implications for her people. Ezra was going to have to watch her. Kanan understood too, as his masked head turned towards her and a frown turned down his mouth, making deep grooves in his cheeks.

Chopper suddenly started beeping rapidly about picking up approaching comm signals and multiple biometric readings.

"Chopper's picked up something," Kanan explained for the benefit of anyone who didn't understand the astromech's antiquated form of binary.

"Survivors?" Bo-Katan asked hopefully, overriding her current anger for the moment.

"No. The Empire's coming back to finish the job," Fenn said as he looked to the sky, his voice filled with anger.

Sabine fell into Ezra's arms gratefully, needing to be held right now more than she ever had in her entire life. The pain of her past and its consequences was almost more than she could bear. But with Ezra holding her close, and his hands rubbing her soothingly, and his voice whispering that it was going to be okay, maybe not right now, but eventually, Sabine felt like she might just have enough fight left in her to keep going.

Stars, I didn't know how much I need him in my life until now. Who else would hold me without judging? Who else would tell me that it's not my fault? Okay, maybe Hera and Kanan would too, but there isn't anyone else's arms I'd rather be in.

You could stop crying any time now; his jacket is getting drenched.

You're going to be all blotchy.

I doubt Ezra would care. You're finally in his arms where he's hinted for years that he wants you.

And we're not being shot at at the same time. What a concept.

She sniffed, trying to get some of the excess fluids to clear away from her nasal passages so she could breath properly again.

By the Mando, he feels nice. And he smells good. Really good. Who knew essence of human male sweat and dirt could be so attractive? Maybe it's just Ezra. I'm all right with that.

Her tears were finally starting to dry up as she distracted herself with much nicer thoughts than what had made her start weeping like a leaky watering pot in the first place when Chopper started beeping. She was wiping her face on a dry spot on Ezra's jacket when Fenn said the Empire was coming back.

I guess I spoke too soon about the not getting shot at thing. Figures.

"Sabine," Ezra said gently. "I know this sucks but..."

She cut him off as she looked up at him and determination filled her, replacing the empty space in her chest. "I know. And they're going to pay." She touched his cheek for one brief second, suddenly so thankful that he was back in her life. Then she stood, drawing the Darksabre from the back of her belt and glaring at the approaching figures flying in on Mandalorian jetpacks but wearing Imperial marked armour. The ancient black lightsabre gave a satisfying snap hiss as she ignited it, reflecting her mood perfectly. Ezra's lightsabre made a gentler hum as he turned his on as well, but its song was a perfect accompaniment to her own weapon as they readied for battle. (Just like their real life partnership.)

Her eyes narrowed in disgust at the approaching enemy, the red Imperial emblems on their white uniforms an instant trigger for her as memories of Gar Saxon invading the Krownest stronghold flashed through her mind.

More traitors!

Sabine growled in rage and flew up towards the nearest one, taking the man out with a body check in the sky and forcing him to the ground. She sliced the blaster he pointed at her in half and then cut off his head, all her sympathy for the life of another being completely gone at the moment, letting her rage at herself translate to others more loathsome than her. At least I left the Empire when I realized what a hypocritical, backstabbing, controlling entity it was. These traitors to the Mandalorian way of life deserve whatever they get.

Death is too good for them. But they'll die anyway.

Her breath stuttered as a realization too hold.

Death is too good for me, too. I have to make things right again. I deserve to live with what I've done.

With one Super Commando taken care of, and resolution in her heart, Sabine looked for another target. Spotting one creeping up on Ezra as he protected her father, Sabine drew a blaster in less than an instant with her free hand and shot him in the small space between his shoulder armour and his helmet, not taking the chance that his armour would stop the shot.

And then she moved on, her sole focus the annihilation of every single traitor to her people, wishing it would also make her feel better about her own betrayal of them. In the little corner of her mind that she'd shoved her emotions to so she could focus, that still whimpered in pain, she knew it wouldn't.

Ezra was trying to get Alrich out of the kill zone, the man having nothing in the way of armour or weapons to defend himself. He was determined that Sabine was not going to lose her last parent. Not on my watch.

They'd almost made it to the speeder bike when three TIEs joined the fray and one of them shot the bike, exploding it right in his face.

Fraaaagggggg!

Flying!

Crashing!

Ow. Ugh. That one hurt. Landing on a jetpack is not recommended. Why am I wearing this thing again?

Ezra dragged himself up off the ground and looked for Alrich. He was just sitting up only a metre away and looking a little dazed, but otherwise unhurt. Ezra was really really happy he'd taken the time to put his helmet back on before going on the defensive, because he'd be in bad shape right now without it. As is, he felt a few places on his body that throbbed from being struck by shrapnel but at least he didn't appear to be bleeding anywhere. This would have been a good time to be covered in armour.

Pushing aside the pain to the back of his mind, he helped Alrich to his feet, who also looked okay, if a little less well groomed. "Are you okay?"

The older man nodded slowly. "You?"

"Better than the bike," he replied, forcing his tone into something resembling joking. With that came a little warning in the Force and Ezra stuck his green lightsabre out, blocking the shot that would have taken Alrich out and deflecting it right back to the shooter. The Imperial Mando fell with a scream and a burnt hole in his chest armour. Ugh. I'm clearly not on my game. That is not the arm I aimed for. Sorry, man. We'll just pretend I did that on purpose, shall we? Mando father to impress, after all. Turning his helmeted head to the older man, he calmly said, "Right. I guess we're not going to get you out of here so let's try for some cover by that transport over there."

Alrich nodded, wide eyed. He was more impressed with Sabine's young Jedi the longer he knew him.

"Stay right behind me," Ezra instructed as he started moving, taking in the situation as he went.

Ezra scanned the battlefield, searching for Kanan, relieved to see him having what looked like a blast with a couple of flyers as he jumped up on them and took out their jetpacks and then landed lightly on the ground again as they fell like rocks and didn't get up again. Force, he's good at jumping. I really need to work on that some more.

Sabine was still on the warpath, the bright white and purple of her hair easy to spot. He wished she had put her helmet on first, but there was no time now to get it for her. It didn't look like he'd get her to stop long enough to do it herself, either. Stubborn, focused, warrior girl. Stars, she's hot when she's in warrior mode.

Ezra winced as the Darksabre removed another man's head from his shoulders.

But, geez, she could cool it with the brutal kills. I thought she was past her old need to kill everything in sight. I guess she's in revenge mode right now. Best to just let her work through it if I want to keep my own head attached.

Fenn and Bo-Katan were fighting on the ground in hand to hand combats with their own opponents, and Chopper had picked up a fallen blaster and was taking pot shots at anything that moved in white armour while cackling madly. Gotta love that droid.

"Lady Kryze!" Ezra yelled across the way, hoping to get her attention. They could really use a pick up right now. Where's Hera when you need her? Ezra doubted they'd last long enough to send Chopper back to camp to get his Gauntlet. It was too far away. Chopper probably didn't have enough fuel left to make it anyway. And the Imps where bound to send more TIEs sooner or later. They were lucky there were only three of them so far.

"Lady Kryze!"

She still didn't hear him. She was a little occupied at the moment anyway, kicking the shit out of a man nearly twice her weight. Impressive. Must have gone to the same School of Ass Kicking that Sabine went to.

They were winning the ground battle easily, but the TIEs were a concern as they circled overhead and blasted at them from above. And there's no kriffing cover left out here. The TIEs had already blown up the remaining transports to bits every time Ezra and Alrich came near one. Ezra concentrated on tracking their shots and continued to protect Alrich, eyes everywhere and his Force senses wide open in search of danger. He literally spun circles around the man, deflecting laser blasts left and right, ignoring the heavy weight of the jetpack on his shoulders. Is it just me or are they aiming for Lord Wren on purpose? Even the flyers had been particularly interested in taking him out before their numbers were wheedled down and now they had better things to focus on.

Like not getting beheaded by a raging Mando girl in colourful armour.

Bo was taking her rage out on the Mandalorian traitors wearing Imperial markings and exalting in it. Her actions were automatic as she went after each with the fury that coursed through her like molten lava. Her mind was screaming an endless stream of obscenities at them and at the girl who'd invented such an abominable weapon. A weapon who'd just taken away three of her clan; one of whom had been very close to her.

Somewhere in the background of her mind, she noticed the others fighting with her. The older Jedi seemed quite impressive with his Force leaping abilities and very efficient in disarming and knocking out opponents. The younger Jedi appeared to be protecting Alrich in a satisfactory fashion. The girl who'd caused all of this was fighting like a demon possessed and actually gave Bo pause in her half thought out plan of challenging her to a duel. Lord Rau of the Protectors was fighting just as fiercely as she was and seemed impressive enough in his skill. Even the outdated astromech was shooting at the enemy with apparent glee. She'd never seen such a bloodthirsty droid and found herself liking him more with every minute.

Over the noise in her mind, Bo was fairly certain she heard her name being called and couldn't figure out why for a precious minute. But then she observed the TIEs taking potshots at her cousin and it finally registered that they needed help of the aerial variety.

After taking out her latest opponent with a vicious slash of her knife across the neck, Bo triggered the comm unit in her helmet. "Kar. Kar are you there?"

"I'm here. What do you need?" her ever faithful second-in-command responded.

"We need a pickup, and fast. We've got TIEs trying to pick off Alrich like he's the galaxy's most wanted," she huffed as she ran after a traitor trying to flee the scene.

"I'm on my way. ETA three minutes."

"Thanks, Kar."

"No worries. What's going on over there, anyway?"

Bo grit her teeth to hold back the painful emotions that wanted to flood her and distract her from her vengeance. "Nothing good. I'll explain in detail later, but the short version is that we've lost everyone who was on the diverting team."

Kar sounded like she felt when he said, "Everyone?"

"Everyone." Her heart was like a lump of coal in her chest at having to confirm it.

"The Wrens? Korkie? Justin? Sunny?"

"Yes." It was all she could say.

"By the Manda," he breathed out on a pained gasp.

"Yes."

"Thirty seconds. They will pay."

Bo smiled brutally at the venom in Kar's voice and at the Mandalorian Imp she'd just shot to death.

By the time most of the flying Mandos wearing Imperial white were either dead or moaning on the ground, a Gauntlet ship in Kryze colours came screaming through the sky, guns blazing, taking out a TIE, before landing close to Bo-Katan and lowering the ramp. Ezra couldn't have been happier to see it. Lady Kryze must have found some time to call for help without any prompting from me. Thank frag.

"Come on!" Fenn yelled at everyone on their side.

Everyone did.

Except Sabine. Of course.

She seemed rather determined to take out every last one of the enemy.

Ezra was about to go get her, but Kanan beat him to it, Force jumping to her in an instant and grabbing her arm and talking some sense into her. Ezra watched in relief from the top of the ramp as Sabine gave up fighting and ran towards them instead, scooping up her helmet on the way by. Well, you know she's not too out of it if she remembered her precious helmet. Thank the stars. Hopefully she calms down now.

As Kanan and Sabine ran up the ramp, it started to close and the ship took off again.

Alrich immediately gathered Sabine into his arms as soon as she was within the ship. Ezra's chest hurt for them as they remembered their shared grief again. "I'm so sorry, Father," he heard her say softly.

Alrich kissed the top of her head and hugged her tighter. "This wasn't your fault," he replied.

"But..."

"It wasn't," Alrich insisted, and Sabine kind of sagged a little in his arms as she understood that her father didn't blame her, hiding her face deeper in his shoulder.

That's good, she needed that.

Kanan stood beside Ezra, his hand on his shoulder. They didn't need words between them. They could feel the other's emotions more than well enough. Just being together was plenty.

Ezra wished that had been the end of it, but it wasn't. They were still being pursued by the last two TIEs. Everyone could feel it as shots rocked the shields.

And then the shields gave up and a shot hit something important. Ezra heard it as the sound of the engines changed to something not so healthy. Sabine ran off to fix the ship as one of Lady Kryze's clan mates called over the ship comm that they were losing power and the weapons were down.

Ezra moved to follow her, eager to help anyway he could, but an unexpected hand held him back by his jetpack, making him jerk backwards. He watched Sabine go with his heart in his eyes, thankful his helmet was hiding them at the moment, before turning his focus to the older Mandalorian woman. "What?"

Bo-Katan pulled him with her as she hit a button and the cargo bay door opened in the floor. "Come on, kid," she said to him with a jerk of her helmeted head.

"Where are you going?" Ezra asked with hidden wide eyes.

"A Mandalorian with a jetpack IS a weapon," she stated, and then dove out the opening and into the sky.

"I'm not a Mandalorian!" he called after her indignantly, even though there was no way she could hear him anymore, her figure already just a speck in the sky.

Kanan laughed behind him. "Just go. Do what you can. Call it an exercise in learning new cultures on the fly."

Ezra turned his head and glared at his Master as Kanan cracked up with chuckles at his own joke, inspiring a smile from the morose Lord Wren. "Very funny."

Kanan sent him an encouraging nudge through their bond, too busy snorting with laughter to respond out loud.

Ezra grunted and toed up to the edge and looked out at the clouds whipping past. "I don't want to be a Mandalorian," he grumbled to himself. Mandos are nuts. Even my precious Sabine. But I know better than to tell her that I thought that. Good thing I love her form of crazy. Shaking his head at his own insanity, Ezra jumped out of the ship as well.

At least he was finally getting the hang of flying in a jetpack. Sort of.

Ezra flew towards the second TIE, since Bo-Katan was in pursuit of the first. As the first TIE swept past him, the turbulence knocked him off balance and he ended up floundering through the clouds like an ungainly newborn nerf.

The Kryze Countess flew past next, shaking her helmeted head at him as he wobbled through the sky.

Ezra groaned. Way to make an impression, Bridger.

Then he compounded it by completely misjudging how fast the second TIE and he would meet.

Splat!

That was not how I planned this, I swear.

Ezra hit his intended target right on the window, and felt rather like a bug. It brought back to mind the time he'd fallen off the top of the Ghost about four years ago and slid down the window while waving at Sabine (who was sketching in the nose gun chair) like an absolute idiot. Ah. Those were the days. Not.

The pilot of the TIE was certainly surprised at his unexpected passenger. Ezra had the absurd urge to wave at him as well, but he got over it and scrambled up and over the top of the TIE, intending to pull the hatch open and pull the pilot out with the Force.

Of course, that plan went out the window too when the wind pushed him right off the TIE and he was left behind, once again flipping heels over ears in the sky. Thank the Force Sabine isn't watching this, because I still feel like an absolute moron in this jetpack.

Ezra got himself facing the right away again and took off after the TIE at the same time that he saw the one Bo-Katan had targeted blow up. Going for plan B, Ezra activated the rocket launcher thing built into his jet pack and sent it at his target, using the Force just a little to make sure it actually hit the target. (It would be terrible if he hit Bo-Katan's ship instead.) I would never live that down. Never.

Smiling inside his helmet as the TIE blew, grateful he'd accomplished something useful for once, Ezra caught up to a waiting warrior Countess and they chased after her ship and flew back in. (Its failing power was actually a good thing, or they'd never have been able to catch up.)

Bo-Katan closed the cargo door and Ezra pulled his helmet off, blood thrumming through his veins and tingling from head to toe from the adrenaline rush. "Well, that was interesting."

She took her helmet off too and kind of smiled at him, her lips twitching more with humour than anything. "Not bad, for a rookie."

Ezra took that as high praise and grinned.

Sabine appeared in the cargo area, smiling widely at Ezra, and grabbed his hand as she led him into the main part of the ship through a few hallways that had pretty much the same layout as his own Gauntlet. "Look at you, taking out a TIE with a jetpack. I told you you'd get used to flying that," she teased as they walked, ignoring the red haired woman who trailed behind, chortling quietly at Sabine's words.

Ezra felt his heart pound a little as her fingers laced through his. He covered up his joy with a casual shrug. "Well, I'm not completely hopeless." Only most of the time. And most especially when you're around to see me mess up.

Sabine squeezed his fingers and bumped his shoulder with hers gently. "No, Ez'ika. You're not." She watched colour flush his cheeks darker and his eyes fell on her and stayed there. He nearly walked into a bulkhead without even noticing. Man, he's cute. Why did I deliberately ignore that for so long? She drew them to a stop before he injured himself.

Ezra's breath caught at the endearment, and he gulped. She called me Ez'ika! Oh. My. Force. That's big. That's really big! That's practically engaged big! Is the hallway spinning? Oh, right, breathing is recommended.

Breathe, Bridger!

His open mouth finally gasped in a lungful of necessary oxygen and the shimmery silver walls settled back to stillness.

Her beautiful eyes were warm but serious now as she looked up at him, an emotion shining through that Ezra was afraid to name. He went to raise his free hand to touch her cheek reverently but the helmet tucked under his elbow made itself known, so he settled on just smiling softly, letting his eyes say what his heart was feeling. "Thank you, cyar'ika." (He'd learned the Mando'a endearments on the holonet long ago, within a week of meeting her, and he'd never forgotten them. How could he? When Sabine was there every day, reminding him how much he wished they were more than friends?)

Sabine's eyes widened when he returned her endearment with an appropriate one. When did he learn that? Can he get any sweeter? I definitely made the right decision to pursue this. She all but purred her approval as she moved closer to him, tipping her chin up further to keep her eyes on his beautiful sapphire blue ones as her chestplate touched the zipper of his jacket. Give me more love names and I'll give you everything.

Ezra was flabbergasted but ecstatic by her proximity. Close. Close. Close. Breathe. Control. Don't get too excited or she's bound to notice it with how close she is. Oh, stars. She's even more beautiful this close. There's about a hundred different shades of gold and brown in her eyes. Should I kiss her? She looks like she wants me to kiss her. I think I might be dreaming again. But it feels real. Her fingers are squeezing mine and I can feel every breath she takes via her chest. That's touching mine. Oh Force.

Somewhere in the last hour, everything had changed. Sabine had come to some sort of decision in her mind and she was making it very clear with her actions and words that she was ready to move beyond friendship. Ezra couldn't have been much happier. (Sabine's family still being alive would have made it perfect.)

Now, if only he could stop panicking and act like having a girl pressed up against him wasn't the most exciting thing to happen to him, like, ever.

"Sooooo," a voice drawled, making Ezra nearly jump out of his skin and Sabine take a step back. No, don't leave me! every cell in his body whimpered.

Ezra shushed them, gawking at the Mandalorian artist, who was leaning against the open doorway into the common room, arms crossed over his chest, and amber eyes twinkling at them. How did I forget that we weren't alone?

"I take it the two of you are going to make this official sooner or later?" Sabine's father continued in his dry drawl.

As Ezra and Sabine flushed in embarrassment at being caught making eyes at each other, Bo-Katan snorted from the other direction and Kanan appeared behind Alrich's shoulder, grinning at Ezra.

Ezra seriously considered plopping his helmet back on his head so he could blush like a ripe tomato in private.