Hello! What's up Star Wars fans, I'm proud to present you with my next chapter! It takes place either a few minutes or a few hours after the ending moments of The Holocrons of Fate. I hope you all like it! I'm really excited.
"Does this hurt?" Hera asked, pressing on the back of Sabine's head.
"Ow, yes," she snapped shoving her hand away. Hera ignored the remark and started rubbing the sore area with a hot compress. Sabine crossed her arms, clenching her teeth in pain.
"He really hit you hard, didn't he? I think maybe that you should just stay in bed and keep some cold -Ezra, leave that ice pack on- and warm compresses. Some bath salts will probably help too."
"I don't want to leave it on, it's cold!"
"Leave it."
Ezra huffed and put the ice back back on, an irritated scowl written on his face. The Mandalorian couldn't help but laugh a little at his reaction.
"Hey! You were just complaining too!" the young Jedi protested. Sabine ignored him. She winced at the sudden pain that came when Hera touched her arm. The older woman looked at her sympathetically and then continued her task.
Hera touched an extremely sensitive spot, making Sabine yelp. "You're hurting me!" she shouted, harshly shoving her away. Then, immediately regretting her decision, "Sorry, uh, Mom. Are you okay?"
She smiled at the address and then shook her head disgracefully. "I'm fine. Don't you think you're throwing a bit of a tantrum, though?"
Ezra snorted immaturely. "Don't question pain, Captian."
"No one was talking to you," Sabine muttered.
"Oh, yeah?" The teen threw his ice pack to the ground and stood up, receiving a shocked and furious look from Hera. "Well why don't you just-" He stopped abruptly, took a deep breath and then, with the anger still glinting in his eyes, said more calmly, "I think I reserve the rights to speak in a group setting."
Hmm, he's getting a little better, she realized with shock. Guess having Kanan back is doing more good that I thought.
Then, deciding to fix her attitude as well, "Sorry. Go ahead Ezra."
"Really? Oh, well I was just- just gonna say that- we should take pain medication because it does really hurt. And hurting kinda makes you hurt other people… Some kind of defense, I guess."
"Hmm, I'm impressed. You two worked that out on your own," Hera smiled. The next part seemed more to herself as she muttered, "I haven't seen you do that in months."
Sabine looked at the floor guiltily as Hera finished up her procedure. Then she moved to Ezra, tending to his wounds while he squirmed under her touch. The Twi'lek kept switching off until she had done all she could to help heal them. Then she sat back and smiled as though admiring her work.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better," Ezra said, clearly lying.
"Okay, then I'm going to go get you both something to eat. Stay here, and leave the compresses where I put them please," she said with an exasperated sigh. Hera left the room, leaving Ezra and Sabine by themselves. After a long pause, Sabine decided to break the silence.
"So… Where all are you hurt?"
"Pretty much everywhere. You?"
"Same," she laughed quietly.
Ezra looked at her worriedly. "What exactly did he do?"
"Uh, threw me… Into Hera. And he choked me too."
"How?"
"I don't really know," she admitted, speaking quietly. "With the Force I think… I didn't realize you could use it to hurt people like that."
"Yeah, I think it can be used for just about anything."
She watched him curiously. "Can you do that?"
"Choke people?"
She nodded.
"Probably. I've never exactly tried."
Sabine thought about what he said. She had seen him doing some pretty dark things recently so it was somewhat hard to believe that he hadn't tried even once. However, he was doing better so maybe…
"Hey Ezra?"
"Yeah?"
"What did you… What did you see?"
He turned to face her, eyes wide. "W-What do you mean?"
"You know, the Holopawn."
"Holocron," he corrected with an amused smile.
Sabine felt her cheeks heat up and she looked away, scowling. "That's what I said."
"They're called Holocrons… I saw a lot. Some of it I wanted to see, some of it I didn't."
"Like what? You said mostly places."
"Yeah. There were a few places that were really amazing. I saw a rainbow over a lake with waterfalls a-and jungles. The birds were singing and the grass was green. It was just so beautiful and prefect…" His face fell as he stared at the ground. "And then there were bad places. War zones, with dead bodies, missing limbs, blood, and smoke… fire. I saw poverty too."
"We were pretty poor at a time. We still are, even though it's been easier since joining the fleet."
"No, Sabine, I mean really poor," he mumbled. "There was no water, just desert, no food but dry sticks to try and forage. And weeds. Even mud. The people were starving. Literally."
The Mando removed her compress, setting it gingerly in her lap and folding her hands. "I'm sorry Ezra. I wish I could take it away… Or even share them. But I just… I don't know how."
The teen sighed heavily. "You can't."
There was silence. Deep silence as they both thought long and hard. The aches Sabine had been feeling weren't even there anymore. The injuries from being slammed violently onto the ground, from fighting Maul as first he tried to capture her, the headache from the blinding light the Holopom -No, cron- had let off. It all seemed like nothing as she pondered on the situations they were facing.
"Maybe we could play a game later?" Sabine suggested after a long time.
"Maybe. We could try to take our mind off it." Then, he chuckled a bit. "Of course, that's assuming we'll get along the whole time without picking a fight."
"Well perhaps if you didn't cheat."
"I don't cheat," he protested, feigning anger before they both burst into fits of laughter that made her already aching sides hurt even more.
Hera entered the room, a bowl in each hand, and smiled at their enthusiasm.
"Hey, Hera," Ezra said, trying to stop laughing. "What's up?"
"Here you go, I brought you some soup," she said affectionately, ruffling his hair after setting it on the table. "Go ahead and- Sabine, leave the- Ugh…" The Twi'lek came over and put the heat pack back on her head, slightly more rough than usual. "Would you just- Oh, leave them on!" She planted her hands on her hips, glaring at them as though waiting for an objection. Sabine was trying so hard not to start giggling. Eventually she failed and broke down, holding her stomach and leaning against Ezra as she tried to stay up. He was doing much the same. Hera stared at them a moment, completely dumbfounded, and then face palmed into her gloved hand, shaking her head side to side.
"He won't be doing much about that later tonight," Sabine choked out, completely out of breath as she giggled hysterically.
Ezra, being the only one who got the inside joke, laughed even harder and managed to get out, "Yeah, if the sofa doesn't burn down by the time he gets there anyway!"
Hera watched in confusion, her mouth hanging open slightly.
"Oh, oh, Ezra wait!"
"What?" he asked, sitting up. They both quieted down for a moment.
"Hera's face right now looks like Jason when the ladle snapped over the fireplace!"
She was barely able to finish the sentence when they started cracking up again.
Hera threw her arms up in exasperation. "Unbelievable." Then, she left the room without another word, the confusion never leaving her features. Kanan, who was just entering as she left, was gently pushed back by his female counterpart.
"I wouldn't go in there," she warned. After listening for a minute, the older man shrugged and walked away with Hera at his heels.
Okay, so I got a little silly... *shrugs sheepishly* But I loved it so much I can't even describe! I really hope you all loved it too. See you next time!
