Title Means: Hold Me Tight, Hold Me Tight Or Don't

To the Guest who told me that the war ended in 5 ABY: Yes, you are correct. However, Coruscant was captured in 6 ABY, while the Imperial Remnant controlled it. Basically, the Empire broke apart in 5 ABY but there was still a war going on, so instead of a war against the collective Empire it was just a whole bunch of wars against little bits of the Empire.

I woke up at exactly seven o'clock. I didn't move at all for a couple minutes, partly because the air was cold and partly because Ezra's arm made a really comfortable pillow. I sighed in content.

Eventually, I got out of the sleeping bag and found my armor, as well as the primitive kitchen that Ezra had somehow established. He had some ration packs left, and I was happy about that. He also had some fish. I guessed that he had a fishing pole somewhere. Apparently, I was wrong. He later told me that he just used the Force to get the fish out of the water.

I took one of the fish, skinned it, then set it on the pan to sizzle for a while as I scouted out the rations for some sort of nerf-bacon. Unconsciously, I began to sing quietly. It was a habit that I had picked up from living alone for so long, mostly because I found the quiet of early morning really, really boring.

Ezra stirred a little bit before getting up. He looked peaceful in his sleep. I didn't want to wake him just for the sake of making him lose his expression. It was rather cute. But, as I watched, he opened his eyes, I abruptly stopped singing.

"If you're gonna stop singing when I wake up, I'll just go back to sleep," Ezra said, smiling lightly. I chuckled. Seven years, and Ezra hadn't lost his sense of humor. Impressive.

"Alright, fine," I responded, continuing to cook. "Softly 'round went Annalie, stepping circles in the sun…"

Ezra dragged himself out of the sleeping bag and looked at the food on the skillet imploringly. I waved a finger at him. "It's not done yet," I told him in a singsong voice. He frowned, which I found quite funny. Then, I picked up the pan and cut the fish meat into little blocks. After that, I added little strips of nerf-bacon to the side of each. Ezra took his plate readily from my hand and began to dig in, using a fork as a knife and spoon. He also didn't lose his manners, apparently.

"This is really good," Ezra said in between bites.

"I learned it from my mom. Needed to cook on my own," I explained. "Anyways, we need to get out of this cave. I've got a grappling hook that we can use. We can get out through the entrance that I came in through." I rubbed the back of my head. "How did I get knocked out?"

"Yeah…. That was me," Ezra said sheepishly. "Didn't realize it was you. I thought you were a bounty hunter or something."

I glared hard at Ezra. Shouldn't he have known that it was me? He shrugged, as if he heard my thoughts. Maybe he did. The Force could do a lot of weird things, and maybe reading minds was one of them. I didn't know.

I finished my meal and set the plate to the side, then went to where my armor was resting in a pile and slowly clipped it back on. Ezra grabbed his lightsaber. He was lucky. He only had to grab his lightsaber and he could go into a fight. I had to get my armor on, load my blasters, and calibrate everything. Made quick responses to stuff early in the morning rather annoying.

Ezra stood up and walked out of the cave, motioning for me to follow him. I pulled on my helmet and followed.

The door out of the cave was still open, but there were a couple of large rocks blocking it. I looked at Ezra. "Couldn't you just use the Force to get these rocks out of the way?"

"Ysalamir," Ezra responded, pointing to a small lizard sitting atop one boulder. My mouth formed an o. Ysalamir were Force-proof animals, basically. They had a little bubble around them that prevented any Force-Users from using the Force.

"Hang on," I said, drawing my pistol and aiming at the lizard. Ezra pushed my hand down.

"We can just go around," he said. I facepalmed. "Hey, it's your nature to look for a violent solution, Sabine."

"Shut up," I responded, laughing. He was right, though. My usual solution to homesickness or loneliness up in the tower was usually to find some scrap it and blow it to kingdom come. It was fun.

We held hands as we walked out of the cave. I looked up at the top of the cave, which was entirely smooth and had some paint on it. I smiled as I saw that it was a painting of the Ghost crew. Not exactly well done, but it was kinda cute and sentimental.

Even in total isolation, Ezra kept himself connected to us.

I realized that getting out might be a bit hard when I realized that I had cut my grappling hook when I had swung in.

"Uh, do you have a spare?" Ezra asked awkwardly. I shook my head sadly. I had prepared for locked, reinforced and lightsaber-proof doors, as well as stormtroopers, Inquisitors, kark even rancor attacks. I had tools for breaching, fighting, rappelling and hacking.

But not a cut grappling hook.

"Well…" Ezra said sadly. "I guess there's nothing we can do…"

I nodded.

"Except for free-climb," Ezra added. I looked at him for a second with a quizzical expression before grinning crazily.

"And that's why I love you," I told him. He smiled.

"I know," Ezra responded, before jumping out of the cut door and grabbing a pole. "Well? Come on!"

I laughed and grabbed a handhold on the outside of the door. "Race ya," I said, before beginning my climb. I heard Ezra laugh as I ascended, reaching for handholds and footholds. I briefly thought about using my jetpack, but I left it as my "Ezra is beating me" contingency plan.

I might have to put it in use, I thought. Ezra was catching up quicker than I had anticipated. I accelerated, trying to keep myself in front of Ezra. He was fast. I suppose he had to be a good climber, because I doubted that that cave painting on the roof was just one trip. Maybe he was using the Force to bolster his ability.

Actually, now that I had thought about it, I realized that was highly likely. I looked back for a second, then redoubled my pace as I saw Ezra swarm up the wall like a energy-spider from Kessel. Impressive, if a bit scary.

I looked forward at the doorway, barely twenty meters away. Ezra grabbed at my foot, then across my back and got in front of me. I was about to activate my jetpack when he reached the door, swinging himself onto the threshold triumphantly. I grabbed a pole under it.

It came loose.

I swung with it, smashing into the wall and breaking my jetpack. Of course it would break my jetpack. I could wrap it in bubble wrap with Force Stasis cast on it inside of a padded cell made of the fluffiest pillows, and it would still shatter at the slightest touch. Ezra stretched out his hand. The pole began to come loose of it's mounting, and I leapt off of it, grabbing Ezra's hand tight as I could.

"Don't…. Let… go…" Ezra demanded, looking down at me. I wasn't going to do that of my own volition, but gravity wanted me to die. I looked down for a moment and instantly regretted it. My head swam. Unconsciously, I put another hand on Ezra's, who strained to pull me up.

I put one hand on the precipice and hauled myself over the edge. Ezra fell backwards, and I flattened myself to the ground, shaking with fear. My stomach heaved several times, and I was sick with terror and possibly salmonella. Ezra looked at me for a second before he hugged me, whispering, "You're okay, Sabine. You're okay."

I recovered slowly, Ezra keeping me close the entire time. Eventually, I calmed down. "I'm okay. I'm okay," I repeated.

I broke away from Ezra for a second, before I cupped my hands to his beautiful face and kissed him. He returned it with vigor, and we stayed like that for about thirty seconds until neither one of us could keep it and we had to break apart just to breathe.

We both turned to the wide hallway, walking down it confidently. Neither one of us knew what lay ahead, but I didn't care and neither did Ezra.

It took me a second to realize that we were walking on the roof.

I guess this section had flipped over when it crashed. The entire place looked like it had been pretty kriffed up by the sudden contact with the ground. Even if it had hit water, it wouldn't have made a difference: the surface tension of the water would have destroyed the ship just as well as solid stone. Eventually, I found a familiar hallway. I guided Ezra to the first door I had cut, which thankfully exited out into sunlight. I looked up the cliff, which buzzed with climbers and SaR teams. They climbed up and down the cliff with various grapples.

"Well, looks like we're free-climbing again," I groaned. Ezra laughed and pointed to the elevator.

"They're climbing the cliff for kicks," Ezra said. Silently, I thanked Manda for the elevator. If I had to climb the cliff again, I was going to be rather… shall we say, irritated? Apprehensive? Frightened?

The elevator ride was a nice break from the apprehension that had gripped me for the last few minutes. No uncertain foot and handholds, just smooth durasteel railings to hold onto. It glided upwards beautifully and soundly. No erratic motion.

Ahsoka was waiting at the top of the lift, tapping her foot. She looked irritated. I didn't care in the slightest.

Hera was behind her, also looking rather angry. Ah, kark.