Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of updates, school has gotten busier due to exams coming up, not to mention myself preparing for my birthday, which is this Sunday. I'll try my best to keep updates coming. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 6: Breaking the Ice

Ezra's P.O.V

Sabine tried starting the ship up, only for the reactors to power up slightly before completely powering down. She tried again, but got nothing, grunting in anger. "What is it?" I asked. She turned her head towards the screen displaying the ship's status.

"Seems like when you went flying, the impact also hit the ship's main reactor. Unfortunately, we are stuck here." she answered.

"We could try fixing it." I suggested. Sabine got up and I followed. We went outside the cockpit to the reactor room, beginning to fix the main reactor.

Two hours later

Two hours of hard work repairing the reactor, and we were done. We wiped the sweat off our foreheads at the same time. This alliance between us is thriving more and more. "Thanks, Jedi." Sabine said, both of us heading back to the cockpit. She sat in the pilot's seat, I sat next to her.

"No problem, Sabine." I replied, breathing a tiny bit heavily. We were silent for a moment.

"Ezra, I dunno about you, but I could use a bit of a break before we get off Balmorra."

"I could say the same thing. I mean it doesn't take much energy to pilot the thing, but still, I get it." I replied, Sabine rolling her eyes. We were silent again, sitting here just the two of us. None of us said a word, until Sabine spoke up again.

"Question." I looked up at her, meeting her gaze. "What's it like to be a Jedi?" She was asking me a question, trying to converse with me. To me, it seemed like she was starting to trust me, and both of us getting to know each other would be a great way for us to build up our trust.

"They're the only family I know." I answered. Sabine cocked an eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean by you're only family?"

"As in, I barely knew my biological family." Sabine opened her mouth, about to say something until I continued. "You see, most of us are taken in by them at a really young age. I was four when Kanan found me, and he took me into the order and I got trained by him. He was the only father figure I knew."

"Why would they take you from real family?"

"To train us in the ways of the Force, at least that's what we've all been told."

"I can relate."

"How?"

"I was only 15 when the Empire recruited me and my brother as mercs. But unlike you with not knowing your family, I knew my family, my clan. My clan was in a feud with another clan, and since the enemy clan had the Empire's backing at the time, the only way for me to help them out was to become a merc with my brother and work for the Empire, and our clan would be fine. Or so we were told. We returned home one day to our homestead, only to discover bodies and Mandalorian helmets." A tear escaped her eye, and then another. "They killed my father! My mother! My uncle! My cousins! Everyone!" Her crying intensified, until she buried her face in her hands. I've never seen real emotion expressed in a Mandalorian, and I couldn't believe that I felt sorry for her, but I was. I put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at me.

"I'm sorry for your losses." Sabine's crying turned to sobs.

"Thank you." she said.

"What happened afterwards?"

"My brother and I were on our own. Our only line of work, the Empire. We've been working for them for 3 years. And honestly, I wanted to stop working for them after a while, but I couldn't because my brother and I needed the credits." She sighed. "I didn't want part of this conflict to begin with." That sentence spoke to me.

"I didn't want to be in this conflict either, but the Republic needed us." Sabine got a hold of herself from earlier, sitting all the way back in her chair.

"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't want to go out there, and worry about every day being my last stand against the darkness. But as a Jedi, the galaxy comes first, and it's hard. Why didn't you want to be involved?"

"I just wanted to live the life of an artist. I like painting, but I guess the lesson learned from all of this is that sometimes your passion stands in the way of the greater good, and look what happened to that 'greater good.'"

Sabine and I seemed to share a lot of similar things. From this conversation we had, it turned out that even your enemy may just be a person on the wrong side of the war, who didn't want part in anything. Our trust is getting bigger and bigger already. She continued.

"I've liked art since I was a child. But then when the Empire employed me, they stripped me of my art supplies because I used to mark my clan insignia on places that my brother and I hit on our missions. The Empire didn't like that, and they took them away, and having if I hadn't proven myself, the probably would have taken my armor."

"Just saying this right now, you're probably the most vibrant Mando out there."

"But that's also the thing with me. I've become somewhat of an outcast in Mandalorian society because of my colorful persona. My clan looked down upon me from time to time, my brother did, my childhood friend did as well, and that's just because of the fact that I'm just... different from all of them. It's not like there are many Mandalorian artists in the entire galaxy, in fact there's barely any at all."

"Why look down upon you for your own differences? Differences is what makes people more interesting and more distinguishable."

"I don't know. It's just a cultural thing I guess." Sabine sighed. "Ezra." I made eye contact with her. "Thanks, for understanding me." Those four words spoke to me, and I felt a smile curving on my lips. I smiled for the first time at my enemy. She smiled back, and then there was some kind of warmth that just hit me in my chest.

I didn't know how to describe it. It just... happened, and the warmth increased, and my smile became bigger. Her smile became bigger as well. "Sabine, you're welcome." She reached out her hand as her smile became slightly more bigger, and I reached out mine. When our hands grabbed the other in our palms, this was the day where two enemies officially trusted each other. But, my instinct told me that it could be false, and that I had to see for myself if this was true.

"Nobody understood me honestly. You're just one of the very few people that do, and it speaks to me."

"We seem to have a lot in common, and that also says something." We were silent again for a moment, until I popped the question. "Sabine, do you trust me?" She seemed shocked at the question from what the Force was telling me, but then she answered.

"Ezra, I do."

"Thank you, for trusting me." She smiled and then yawned.

"I dunno about you, but I am tired."

"As am I." I recline my seat all the way, laying down. Sabine also did the same thing. "You got rid of the tracker, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." Sabine answered.

"So we get off tomorrow?"

"That's the plan." I adjusted myself and turned on my side, closing my eyes. "Goodnight, Ezra."

"Goodnight, Sabine."

At that moment, me and my new friend were off, the warmth in my chest still burning bright. Who knew what was to come from our little alliance?

A lot more than both our factions ever thought possible, that's for sure.