Set in S3E2 Holocrons of Fate.


The journey out of the Krykna caves was uneventful, marked only by the shuffling of footsteps, the gentle touch of the Force telling Kanan which turns to take and Ezra's guiding hand on the small of his back. Neither of them spoke, but Kanan found that it was not the same awful, pregnant silence he'd gotten used over the last few months.

Something had shifted between them, deep in the tunnels after Ezra had hugged him; things that had been broken- those deep, unseen wounds they'd both received on Malachor had all finally been given space to start mending and healing. Even Ezra's presence in the Force appeared more open than it had been even hours before.

Hera had been right the whole time; all they'd needed to do was talk.

Kanan wasn't fool enough to think that everything was suddenly fine again, with Ezra or himself. There were still too many words that needed to be said, too many complicated feelings to be aired out on both sides.

Just because Kanan could 'see' again in a sense, enough to shoot his blaster, wield his lightsaber and be of proper use to the rebellion with the Force's guidance, didn't mean that he was magically okay; he was still blind, and he would almost certainly be blind for the rest of his life. Likewise, it would take more than a single hug for Ezra to overcome his guilt and the dark influence of the Sith holocron. They had many long, deep and difficult conversations ahead of them, and Kanan found himself looking forward to them.

But that would all come later on, after the rest of their crew was safe from Maul and the business with the holocrons was sorted out. That was, of course, depending on if they were lucky enough to come out it alive. Kanan didn't trust Maul as far as he could throw him- and he'd thrown him pretty kriffing far off that pyramid.

The air was becoming less musty and fresher-smelling by the second, and the waves of the Force were advising Kanan that the mouth of the cave was near. He wondered briefly if the Bendu had bothered sticking around for them.

"You know that I'm proud of you right, Ezra?" Kanan said softly, listening to the familiar sound of the kid's footsteps shuffle across the hard and rock-strewn tunnel floor beside him. "Not just for staying calm back there with the spiders, but in general. I've always been proud of you, and I always will be. That's one thing you never have to doubt."

Ezra didn't reply, but his hand pressed tighter into Kanan's back, and he knew his words had affected the kid deeply. Not a lot of things could make Ezra Bridger speechless.

With an echoing, freeing laugh, Kanan reached out and trussed playfully at Ezra's head, something he hadn't done in quite a while. The hair between his fingers felt a bit longer than the last time he'd touched it all those months ago, but not by much.

"Oh, you've kept your hair short?" he asked in surprise.

Ezra chuckled and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniff.

"Yeah, this style's way easier to manage," he said, clearing his throat in what he probably thought was a discrete manner, but it didn't fool Kanan at all. "Just gotta get Sabine to shave it again every once in a while, but, yeah, it's just pretty cool and I really like how it looks."

Kanan felt a pang in his chest at the mention of Sabine, but otherwise smiled tenderly and squeezed at the kid's shoulder before letting go completely. "Well, I really like it too. And I don't have to see it to know that it suits you, Ezra."

The kid sighed and was silent again, just as Kanan felt a fresh wind lick at his bare face.

"We're… gonna save them, Kanan," Ezra said, quietly and resolutely. "We'll do it together."

Kanan nodded.

They walked out of the cave, side-by-side.


Okay, now I'm done.

That conversation/hug in 'The Holocrons of Fate' (representing the bond between Kanan and Ezra finally being mended) was always where I meant for this story to head towards, but it was after reading a comment I got on AO3 that I was like 'Aw shit I shouldn't leave it completely unresolved, I should make that explicit'. And so here we are.

Gotta be honest, I mostly did this story as separate chapters because I wanted to check out how multiple chapters worked on AO3. I've got a couple of multi-chap fics in the works right now so you'll definitely be seeing more than just one-shots from me in the future. Just don't ever expect this sort of scheduling again, though. I only managed a chapter every few days because it was mostly written before I started posting, but believe you me my dudes I am not organised in the slightest.

Anyway, thanks for reading ya'll! Thanks to everyone for liking and reviewing. I appreciate the support, and special thanks to JH24 for your nice review!