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Ezra and Kanan returned from their training. They left their speeders on the places, from they borrowed them and they went in different ways. Ezra went towards the diamond-shaped ship, because he wanted to spend time with Sabine finally. In that time Sabine left Ghost and went towards the base to meet Bridger.
The Young Jedi, walking along the corridor near the bend, met by accident his friend from the crew of the Ghost Zeb, and Lasat was accompanied by Kallus, a former agent of the Empire. They walked from the opposite side of the corridor and didn't meet that day, so Ezra decided to say hello.
- Hello Zeb, hello Kallus - Ezra said, rising his hand in a gesture of greeting.
- Hey Kid - Zeb replied.
- Hello Jabba - Kallus said jokingly.
Ezra was amused by this greeting from the ex-agent of the Empire.
- Where are you going? - Ezra asked them.
- To eat something in the canteen and, after a short break, we go to train. I haven't fought with a Bo-Rifle for a long time - Kallus said.
- And where are you going? - Zeb asked Ezra.
- Me? To Sabine - he replied with a smile.
Zeb hearing these words straightened, put his hands on his hips and tilted his head.
- To Sabine, huh? - Zeb said with a slight, derisive smile, raising his eyebrows - Just don't be naughty - he added mockingly.
Ezra blushed ashamed of the whole situation. Seeing the young Jedi's face, Kallus and Zeb laughed, mocking Ezra, then they walked past him toward the canteen.
Upset Ezra turned to them, crossing his arms.
- Very funny... - Ezra mumbled irritated.
Sabine came around the corner, noticing Ezra, she slowed. The Young Jedi didn't see her, because he stood sideways to her. It was a stressful moment for her, but she didn't intend to retreat.
"Well, Hera, it's time to apply your advices" Sabine thought, taking a deep breath and then moving toward Ezra.
- Hi Ezra - She said kindly, tapping him on the shoulder.
- Oh, hello Sabine - he replied, surprised, turning to face her. He involuntarily smiled to see her..
- I've been waiting for you on the ship for a long time... - she said, pretending to be disappointed.
- Eh... I am so sorry I didn't tell you anything - he said, rubbing the back of his head - I had a training with Kanan. I tried to convince him to give me free time today, but... - Ezra explained his absence, being embarrassed.
- It's fine, nothing has happened - Sabine interrupted him in a calm tone.
She crossed her arms.
- You know, I thought you'd keep me company... - she said, approaching him slowly looking into his eyes, she was half a step away from him - I hope.. you make this up to me - she nudged him gently, then relaxed her hands and smiled at him, narrowing her eyes slightly, what created a flirtatious context.
Ezra felt embarrassed with this situation, which Sabine noticed. In his opinion Sabine looked cute. He had never seen such behavior in her, he could sense the emotions in her, but he was unable to draw any context out of them. He even thought for a moment that maybe she was seducing him, but he didn't want to believe it. He thought it seems only to him, because he'd want it to be so. He never had experience in these matters, which involuntarily showed the Ghost crew with his attempts to flirt with Sabine when he joined them. The rejection of his courtship by her made Ezra more shy in matters of love.
- W-well... How about a snack in the canteen? - Ezra suggested, trying to somehow overcome his embarrassment.
- ... Fine - she answered contentedly.
At that moment, Sabine noticed that Hera was standing a few yards behind Ezra. The Twi'lek raised her hand in a gesture of attention, and after a moment pointed her thumb behind him as a signal that she must necessarily talk to her. Sabine guessed she wouldn't have asked for it at that moment for no apparent reason.
- You know what, Hera wants to talk. Come to the canteen, I'll join you in a moment, okay? - Sabine said.
- Sure, no problem - the young Jedi replied honestly.
- Good. We'll meet on the spot - she answered with a smile, then winked at him with her right eye. A moment later she passed him in the direction of Hera.
The young Jedi, slightly smiling, stared for a few seconds on Sabine walking along the corridor, then walked away towards the canteen, wondering if what he thought was reality or just exists in his head.
Ezra entered the room in which the Rebellion members were able to eat a meal. The food wasn't of the highest quality, but it was good enough that no one complained. Bridger noticed Kallus and Zeb talking to each other, but this time he didn't even want to take their attention.
He sat at the table not far from the entrance. Sitting on the bench and leaning against the table, he waited for Sabine impatiently. He loved to spend time with her, but on that day his duties took precedence. He was happy that he could finally have some free time...
Hello Ezra - said a familiar, male voice from behind his back.
Ezra was very surprised when he looked back. The person who caught his attention was a veteran of the Clone Wars. He fought many battles, which he told Bridger a lot about, the most interesting was about the Battle of Geonosis. It was Captain Rex. He stood with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face.
- Oh, hello Rex. Something happened? - Ezra asked uncertainly, then turned away, sitting back to the table.
- Yes... Looks like you forgot about something - he said in a serious tone.
Ezra, after a moment of reflection, understood what the clone had in mind. Just as he had to train with Kanan, he also had to train on the shooting range under the supervision of Rex. It was like that every day, in which he had a lot of free time... Unfortunately for him, this day was perfectly to that.
- Rex, please... Can we let it go today? I just got back from training with Kanan, I'd like to rest - Ezra said, trying to beg Rex for the free time.
- Ezra, on the front during the Clone Wars, nobody had a break... Well, no one who wasn't injured. You know well that training makes perfect.
- But this time I seriously have an important case.
- Forgive me, but if it isn't a mission for the Rebellion, I will not accept it. And I know it isn't, because I'd know about it. So no discussion - Rex said firmly.
At that time Sabine entered the canteen, after looking around she quickly noticed Ezra talking to a former soldier of the Republic. She came up to them hearing the last sentence of the clone, suggesting that something might prevent her spending time with the Young Jedi again.
- Hello Rex, what are you talking about? - Sabine said, approaching the two rebels.
- Hello, Sabine. We were just talking about performing the duties - Rex replied.
- So what about? A mission? - Asked Sabine.
- I still have shooting training today - said Ezra, slightly disappointed, anticipating the clone.
- Oh, right - Sabine said with a slight disappointment, but a moment later she came up with the idea of how to use Ezra's training to a small degree to stay with him a little more.
- Rex, could I go with you? I'd practice shooting myself - Sabine suggested.
- Hmm... It's alright. Come in five minutes for the shooting range, I still have a lot of work, so do not be late - said the clone, then left.
- Seriously? In five minutes we'll not even be able to eat - Ezra complained.
- We can't eat so much before training. Come on - Sabine said, nodding her side.
Ezra got up from the bench and together with Sabine they went to a place where they could take some food. After a moment, they had in their hands trays, on which was greenish mush, they moved towards the free table. Ezra sat at the table and Sabine usually sat down opposite him, surprised him slightly when she sat down next to him. He liked her presence, so it was better for him than she sat on the other side of the table.
They began to eat. They didn't give themselves large portions, because they shouldn't eat much before training, in addition, Rex hate when somebody was late, so it was a bit of time. The appearance of the paste suggested that it may be inedible, but despite appearances, the taste was considered by the majority to be good, besides it had many nutritional values.
Ezra noticed something on the table that looked like a salt cellar, but there was a spice in it that improved the taste of food. The young Jedi immediately took the thing and seasoned his portion with a few shakes, but after a short while he realized that out of politeness he should ask Sabine first if she wanted to flavor her food.
- Do you want spices? - Ezra asked, trying to correct his mistake.
- Of course - Sabine replied willingly.
Ezra gave her the spice, holding it with three fingers. However, Sabine unexpectedly put her hand on his. The young Jedi was slightly disconcerted because it was an unnatural move that even he noticed. It doesn't change the fact that he even blushed slightly. Sabine slowly pulled off the spice dish from his hand. She seasoned her portion of food, then set the dish down.
Sabine listened carefully to Hera's advice. Instinctively she noticed that Ezra didn't protest against this touch, on the contrary, he liked it. This moment gave Sabine only the greater conviction that her relationship with Ezra could come true.
A moment later, Ezra wanted to break the silence somehow.
- So... What were you just talking about with Hera? - Ezra asked after swallowing a bite.
- Nothing interesting. Hera only told me that maybe today I'll receive a call for some supply mission, but there is no guarantee - Sabine replied before the last bite.
Ezra also finished eating, so they both quickly stood up to put the trays back into place and went to the shooting range. However, before they left the canteen, Bridger heard Zeb call to him in a loud voice "Hey Ezra! Remember what I told you earlier" and then ended his speech with malicious laughter. Lasat embarrassed and irritated Ezra, but Sabine also heard this and out of curiosity asked, "What was he talking about?". Bridger, slightly disconcerted, answered abashed "Eee, nothing important, it's just stupid jokes" and then they left the room.
Ezra Bridger stood in the shooting position training with a blaster. The young Jedi used his heavy blaster DL-44. Sabine Wren were firing on the right side next to Ezra using her blasters WESTAR-35. Rex was right behind the youngest member of the Ghost crew and supervised him.
Ezra had big concentration problems. As soon as Rex gave him some notes, Ezra turned his head, pretending to focus on the words of the Clone Wars veteran. In fact, he only used it to look at Sabine.
That day she behaved differently to him than usual. His feelings for her were born a few weeks ago, but he never noticed that she liked him more than a friend. Today she behaved in a way that suggested to him that his dream of a relationship with her might not only be his unreal dream. He had the strong impression that Sabine was seducing to him, but he wasn't sure if this was what she really meant, because he still remembered the times when she was rejecting his advances. It was something he still feared to experience again.
The most annoying moment for him was therefore when Sabine and Hera flew on a supply mission with damaged Phantom (which was the fault of him and Zeb). When those two flied to saved them from the attack of those strange creatures, Ezra was pinned to the ground by one of them. Sabine saved Ezra with one accurate shot with her blaster from the trouble he got into through his reckless decision. Ezra was grateful for that, so being on board the Ghost, he decided to thank her, of course, again weaving his courtship into this. Sabine, however, answered him sternly and categorically „Don't read too much into it kid". These words hurt him so much that even Zeb, who was generally mocking him in these matters, put the hand on his shoulder in a gesture of compassion.
There are, however, some of his hunches opposite to his fears. His today's meeting with Sabine after the Jedi training was completely different than ever. At one point, with the Force, he sensed in her the spectrum of emotions that matched his impressions. However, he couldn't say that he was sure, because previous experience taught him that sometimes the desire to see what he wants to see changes very much. In addition, there was this moment in the canteen when she grabbed his hand. It was a very unnatural move, but according to him it could only be an accident. Perhaps she didn't focus on it and did it unintentionally.
He was full of hope and worries at the same time. However, the day is not over yet...
About 10 meters from Ezra there were five targets to be shot down. At Rex's command, Bridger was supposed to shoot down all of them with as few shots as possible, this time it was all about accuracy. When the "Fire!" command was given, Ezra gave the first shot. The shot was accurate, however, the next target was scored with the second shot. For next targets, the Young Jedi had to give more and more shots. When the fifth target was scored after seven shots, Rex facepalmed. Ezra achieved better results even when he still had his first lightsaber.
The clone stood next to Ezra on the right, keeping a distance of one and a half.
- Ezra, have you now used the B1 droid's targeting system? Because today I cannot say it different... - Rex said, nastily.
Ezra grimaced at this because he knew how B1 droids were shooting. He knew from experience that they were hopeless in that. During the mission of getting proton bombs from the separatist wreck, they had to shoot at him and Kanan so that their shots would fly to the target.
- Kid, it's better for you to focus, because one day you can pay the highest price for it. Once I was at the battle on the planet Umbara, everything around there wanted to kill you! A moment of inattention and you got a shot in the head, or you could be devoured by some monster, even plants could kill you. That was [...] - Rex went on.
The Veteran of the Clone Wars has long talked about these events and the consequences of not focusing. Ezra tried to listen to him somehow, but every now and then he was looking at Sabine behind him, who was firing with the blasters. Bridger flew away more and more, until after a few moments he had completely forgotten that Rex was talking to him at all. The clone drove his stories so much that most of the time he didn't pay attention to whether Ezra listened to him.
Sabine also looked at Ezra once in a while. She decided to look at him again, reloading her blasters as a pretext. When she looked at him, their eyes met, which surprised her slightly. Nevertheless, they kept eye contact for a few seconds, unable to break away from each other. Sabine smiled gently and turned her head, and Ezra reflexively drew his eyes away from her, unable to refrain from smiling.
- Did you understand Ezra? - Rex asked firmly.
These words made Ezra move, startled, as if torn from a deep trance.
- Yes, of course - replied Bridger quickly, nodding.
Rex, despite being drawn into a story about the past, was too experienced instructor not to notice at some point that Ezra didn't listen to him at all, so he even started talking about Joopa for a moment to see if he even paid attention to him.
It was as he suspected, Ezra only nodded slightly, but his mind was completely absent.
- Then in that case, tell me what I was telling you about - Rex said.
- Ehm, well, ... - Ezra mumbled, lost in the situation, he tried to remind himself something from Rex's words quickly - You said something about the war, some flowers... Oh, and about focusing - Bridger replied, not really sure if Rex was talking about it.
- Boy, you are proof that you cannot focus on a few things at once - replied the clone lightly ironically.
Sabine heard it, which made her laugh a little. Ezra was a bit dismayed by the clone's attention, he didn't realize that it was so visible after him, although the fact is he didn't really care about it before.
Rex decided that Young Jedi needed a lesson of humility and he came up with an interesting idea.
- Well Ezra, if you're so bored of my arguments, let's get back to practice - Rex said to Bridger, then turned to Sabine - Sabine! Can you come here?! - he asked her in a loud voice trying to break through the sounds of shots from her blaster.
She heard the clone's call, so she reloaded WESTARs and approached her friends.
- Sabine, can you help me with one thing? - Rex asked Sabine.
- Of course - she answered eagerly.
- Great. Wait a moment, I'll set targets - Rex said.
The Clone-Veteran left the two teenagers, so Sabine took advantage of the moment of being alone with Ezra.
- Rex was annoyed. What were you focusing on so much? - She asked him with a smirk on her face.
- Um, you know... I've always admired your shooting skills - Ezra said, thinking not only of her "skills".
- *giggle* You flatter me - she replied smiling.
At that moment Rex returned to them.
- I have a challenge for you two. I set twelve targets. You will open fire to them by my sign. That person who has fewer goals will have to clear all E-11 blasters in the armory - Rex said firmly.
- You're kidding, right? Why should I pay for the loss? - asked Sabine with pretensions.
- You agreed to help. Besides, if you had no consequences due to failure, you would not try to win - said Rex logically.
- But Rex, there are a lot of these blaster. It'll take a few hours to clear them up, that's until night... - Bridger complained.
- So win, then you will not have to worry about it - the clone replied coldly - One more note. Sabine, you use only one blaster to make it fair - he added.
"He makes me hope to win, even though I know I'll lose it anyway... If Sabine hadn't had a blaster in her hands for 10 years, then I'd have a chance against her" Ezra thought gravely.
- Take positions - Rex said firmly.
The teenagers lined up next to each other preparing their blasters. Ezra was ready, but Sabine wasn't about to let him win.
"Ready"
"Aim"
"Fire!"
They immediately opened fire, but shooting ended in a several seconds.
- Sabine: 8 points, Ezra: 4 points - Rex summarized the results - Well, Ezra, I hope that the blasters will shine - he added satirically.
- Of course, Sir... - Ezra mumbled.
- All right, we'll finish training earlier today, I still have a lot of work to do. If you were looking for me, I'm going to the headquarters. Just don't try to get out, tomorrow I'll check if you have done the task - said Rex and then moved away from them towards the exit.
Bridger was already very annoyed because now he wouldn't have enough free time to finally be able to spend time with Sabine without any duties on his mind.
- Sabine... Will you agree to help me with this cleaning? Please... - Ezra said in a pleading tone.
She came up with an idea.
- Hmm... OK, but under one condition - she said.
- What one? - Ezra asked curiously.
- You'll beat me in the lightsaber combat - Sabine replied.
- Lightsaber? I'm better at it - he said.
- *snort* We'll see, Bridger - she said boldly, smiling slightly.
- All right, I accept the challenge - he replied confidently with a smirk - I'll go and convince Rex to let me clean those stupid blasters after the next training, he'll agree.
- Now the question is, where will we fight? - Sabine asked.
- *moment of reflection* Well, I know the perfect place for this. Let's meet in five minutes near speeders maintenance. I'll bring training sabers too, I'm sure Kanan didn't threw them away.
- Okay, I'll wait there - she answered with a smile, then left the room.
Ezra left the shooting range and ran towards the headquarters, hoping he'd meet Rex. He didn't travel a long distance, because he caught up him quickly enough. Rex was strict about the duties, but sometimes he could get along with it, this time Bridger was determined to convince him.
- Rex, wait! - Ezra called in a loud voice, hearing the clone stop.
- Yes? - Rex asked.
- Listen... Can I do this another time? I really want to have free time now. I promise that, after the next training, all E-11 blasters will be polished as best as possible - Ezra said as he tried to persuade him to respond to his request.
The clone crossed his arms and thought about it for a moment. On the one hand, it wasn't the first time he asked for it. On the other hand, Ezra always met the conditions when he agreed to such a thing, besides it looked like Bridger really wanted to have free time. Rex decided to give up.
- Eh... Okay, I agree - Rex replied.
- Thank you! Thank you so much - Ezra said happily.
The young Jedi immediately ran towards the Ghost, thinking that Kanan was probably near the ship. He was right, Kanan meditated near VCX-100. He sensed the presence of his apprentice and that he was fast approaching him.
- Kanan, I have a question. Where are the training sabers that we used to train with Sabine? - Ezra asked, panting.
- I'll ask you out of curiosity, why do you need those sticks?- Jarrus replied.
- I need to show Sabine who is better at lightsaber fighting - Ezra said jokingly.
- *giggle* They are in my room, you can take them - Kanan replied.
- Okay, thank you - Ezra replied, then walked toward the Ghost ramp.
Bridger walked quickly to the part of the ship where the crew cabins were and opened the door from his master's quarters. He looked around the room and noticed the two wooden swords in the corner that Kanan and Zeb had done before training with Sabine.
When Ezra was taking them, he immediately remembered those days.
For Sabine it was very difficult to learn how to fight with the Darksaber. She had to face her demons of the past. Ezra admired her that she had enough courage to do it. He, as a faithful friend, supported her as much as he could. Ezra knew that only patience and understanding could help Sabine. He didn't fail her. It wasn't easy, because Sabine had a very big ego and didn't respect Ezra's skills, but eventually the two Jedi managed to train her enough to beat Gar Saxon in a duel. Ezra wanted to help Sabine then, but Ursa Wren stopped him.
Although in his heart he believed that she'd win, he felt helpless. He didn't understand then that he really helped her all the time in during that duel... Sabine held in her hands his lightsaber, the weapon of the Jedi who is his life. You can say that Ezra couldn't help her even more.
After Sabine disarmed Saxon, Ezra and Kanan were afraid she'd kill the defenseless enemy. Bridger was afraid that the Mandalorian tradition and the provocation of the traitor of his people would push her into it. Fortunately Sabine didn't do it, she kept her own rules. She was herself and didn't let others tell her what to do and who she should be.
It was one of the many things that Ezra truly loved her for...
A/N: That's it! I hope you liked my work :D
I am so sorry for any mistake I could make in that chapter.
As I said before, that plot is inspired by "The Argument" written by RagnarDanneskjold
Have a nice day :)
