Chapter 8: An Old Friend

Ezra's P.O.V

Three beeps were the only things that sounded off. It took me a while to open my eyes. I was looking at the ceiling, before turning my head and scanning the environment. It looked like I was in some kind of med bay, with medical droids operating in here along with a few human doctors. Looks like I was on the Republic ship that the admiral told me to go to. I coughed, which caught the attention of one of the doctors. "Breathe, breathe. You're alive." he said.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You're on the Republic battleship 'Galactica.' You crashed into our hangar, we recovered you. You were very lucky, son. You were almost as good as dead." the doctor informed me.

"Did I suffer any injuries?" I asked.

"You suffered a head injury, and until that's resolved we wrapped bandages at the top of your head. Other than that, nothing major." he answered.

"Where is she?" I asked the doctor.

"Who?"

"Sabine, the Mando." He simply pointed to a hospital bed on my right. I turned my head and saw her figure. She was on her back, and it looked like she also got injured as well. "How is she, doc?"

"She's been knocked out pretty badly. Although we're not certain, she may be induced into a coma. The chances of that may be low, but it might happen."

"Will she be okay?" The doctor looked at me suspiciously a bit when I said that, but nevertheless answered.

"We have our eyes on her. You should probably get some rest. We also have some meds for you next to you. Take those once in the morning and once in the evening. They should help out with your injury."

"Thanks, doc."

Without another word, the doctor left, and then I took the meds like he said. But then a feeling kicked in. These may have been the kinds of meds that made you feel tired once you take them. I was out cold before anything else could happen.

The next day

Sabine's P.O.V

I woke up to the feeling of something soft behind my head, groaning as I opened my eyes, feeling my head ache from something. I sat up in the bed, examining where I was. It didn't take me long to realize that I was in the med bay on that Republic ship that Ezra told me to fly to. I rubbed my head as I continued looking around. It was dark in the room, but I could definitely see a figure next to me in the darkness, moving up down as he took breathes in and out. My instincts told me that it was Ezra.

I put him in danger with what happened earlier, and now we both ended up here. Because of me and him. "I'm sorry." I muttered as I looked at him. Out of nowhere, a light was switched on and for a second I thought we had company until it just turned out to be a human doctor, with somebody following him.

The guy following was a male human. He had a light skintone, dark brown hair in a relatively short cut and eyes of the same color. He was muscular and he wore a Republic trooper uniform with gray and white plating, and a gray pauldron on his right shoulder. I was suspicious of this guy.

The doctor told him something as he gestured towards the hospital beds and then the trooper nodded, proceeding towards us. He looked at me a bit suspiciously before he made his way over to Ezra. He still was laying there, not responding when it looked like the trooper was talking to him. I turned on my side and observed. "He's out you know." I told the trooper. He turned around to face me.

"I can see that, Mando." he responded, turning back to Ezra. By the looks of things, I think they knew each other. Was this trooper willing to trust me though if Ezra talked him into trusting me.

"Do you know each other?" I asked the trooper.

"He's my friend. I suppose you know him also." he replied. Guess I was right about them going back. Still, who was this guy?

"I do." The guy chuckled.

"Funny, because it's not often that you see a Jedi friends with a Mandalorian. How did you two become friends without one of you killing the other?"

"Well, it wasn't easy exactly, trooper." I heard movement on Ezra's bed and he woke up. He faced the trooper.

"Ezra!" the trooper said excitingly. The two of them hugged. "I thought you were dead."

"Guess I'm not. It's nice to see you too, Alex." They broke the hug and then Ezra looked at me. "Look who's finally up. I guess they didn't induce you into a coma." I rolled my eyes at that.

"Ha ha, very funny. It's good to see you still breathing, Ezra."

"Okay, this is seriously weird how you two 'enemies' are actually friends here and now." the trooper, whose name I guess was Alex, said in shock.

"What are you doing in the med bay though?" Ezra asked him.

"When I heard reports of a crashed ship in the hangar, I didn't think much of whoever it was that was on board. But then when I found out that it was you, I was surprised to say the least. I'm so happy that you're alive, old friend." Alex answered.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"It's been gosh knows how long. The last time we saw each other was practically during the battle of Alderaan, wasn't it?"

"Guys, I wouldn't mind hearing your 'war stories,' but how do you know we could trust him, Ezra?"

"I should ask you the same question, Mando." Alex responded. "You're just lucky that the Republic don't have their suspicions yet about you allying yourself with a Jedi."

"And you're just lucky that I don't feel like myself because otherwise I'd kick your sorry behind." I retorted.

"Okay, guys, this is getting us nowhere." Ezra intervened, trying to stop this argument from becoming a match of fisticuffs.

"Ezra's right. Sorry about that." Alex apologized.

"It's alright. I'm Sabine by the way." I introduced myself.

"Alex, as you might have heard." He came up to shake my hand and at first I was hesitant on shaking the hand of my friend's friend, but then I shook it.

"So, how do you two know each other?" I asked.

"When the war began, I was a Jedi commander. Alex was just a recruit when we met, but then he quickly climbed the ranks and became a captain. My master and I were assigned to lead the squad Alex was in, and then as time went by, we started becoming friends." Ezra explained.

"And we're also from the same planet." Alex added.

"What planet are you guys from?" I asked.

"Lothal." both answered simultaneously.

"So, this the first time you're meeting each other again, right?" I asked. Both of them nodded.

"The last time we saw each other was when the Sith Empire sacked Alderaan." Alex explained. "I was in Havoc Squad with Jace Malcom. This came exactly one day after I got promoted to captain. Ezra was there with me, along with Satele Shan, another Jedi, and his master Kanan." After hearing what he had to say so far, I knew that I was in for one heck of a look into both their past. "The Empire almost had entire control of the planet, and we had to do something fast. Our only option was to counter attack them. We placed charges around the forest, and then when the time came, we showed the Empire what we were made of. Me, Ezra, Kanan, and everyone else made sure that we teared those imperial dogs to shreds. Everything was going well with the counter offensive, until my encounter with the Sith Lord leading them. Ezra and Kanan engaged him. Kanan got kicked and almost got killed, and I had to go help my friend out. Next thing I knew, the Sith and I were face to face, and he put the saber into my stomach when I tried fighting him. Of course the Jedi took care of him, but Ezra wasn't willing to leave me. I told him to let me go, but he helped me anyway. We tried to get through the enemy line of defense as Ezra was trying to get me through, only for me to get shot in chest by a trooper, and then next thing I knew I was dead so to speak."

"Sounds like you two have been through a lot." I responded after hearing Alex's story. "I'm sorry about you guys."

It seemed like Ezra and I have lost a lot of people in this conflict. Through this story alone, I began understanding Ezra felt after the supposed death of Alex, something that we have in common due to our common losses of friends and family. I never thought that I could understand my new Jedi friend more and more just from hearing his own friend talk about going through that experience.

"Thanks." Alex said.

"What happened to you, Ezra, after all of this?" I asked.

"I felt like I was alone after I lost my best friend. In fact, I almost turned to the dark side at one point because of anger and grief. But, thanks to Kanan, I moved on and accepted Alex's death. But now that you're here again, what happened to you?" Ezra asked.

"When they found out I survived, I kept my rank and got moved to another division. I sat out for a couple of months, but then when I was eligible for combat, I didn't hesitate to get back out there." Alex answered. "I still kept on thinking that you were dead, that you died with me and the others who fought with us."

"Same here. I'm glad to see you again, old friend." The boys brought it in. It was good to see them reunited, a feeling that, however, plagued me as it reminded me of family, the family and friends I lost just because of this war alone. The door slid open with a doctor entering.

"Captain, you are needed." the doctor informed him.

"It was nice seeing you, Ezra." Alex said. The two smiled before they hugged one another one last time, before he left him. He turned to me on his way out. "Sabine, thank you for looking out for him." I smiled in return.

"You're welcome, Alex."

"Bye now." Alex responded before he exited the med bay. I lay on my back and looked up at the ceiling afterwords.

"Your friend's something." I said.

"Alex is quite the friend, Sabine." Ezra responded. We faced each other from our beds. "Do you think he trusts you?"

"Do you?"

"Maybe from what he just said on the way out. How ya feeling?"

"Weird. Probably because I got up after being knocked out for a while. Why do you have a bandage on your head?"

"The doc told me I had an injury. That reminds me." Ezra reached over to his side and was about to take some meds.

"Need some water?" I asked.

"That would be lovely." Ezra replied. I gave him a slight eye roll before getting up. My legs were tired as heck as I tried to get up, but finally after I took my first three steps, I walked over to the sink no problem. I guess that's what happens to you when you're knocked out. I found a cup next to the sink. I turned it on and poured some water, shut it off, and then walked over to Ezra. I handed him the cup. "Thanks, Sabine."

"Anytime." I said. He sipped the meds and then lay back.

"At least I didn't fall asleep this time when I took these." I chuckled.

"Did you?" I asked with a bit of a sly smile.

"Yes. But I guess I was tired since god knows how long we were out for." he responded.

"I'm surprised we even lived through the crash."

"Sabine, you gotta admit, in a short span of the time we've known each other for, we have definitely accomplished a lot."

"We did. I guess it's kinda cool to see the results that you get when you take two enemy factions and have one of them save each other from death." He chuckled a bit, and so did I. We were actually laughing for the first time! Our friendship keeps getting more interesting.

"I'm surprised that I had the guts to save you and that you had the guts to just let me help you."

"Thanks once again for that, Ezra." We smiled at each other again, and then a feeling of warmth just hit me.

I dunno why, but there was just something about Ezra that just made me... suddenly want him. His eyes are so bright and they're so great to look at, and so are his features. My mind was practically telling me, "No! Don't do it! This Jedi is nothing more but your own enemy! Ugh, why did you spare him?!" I'm still not sure why I spared him. Ugh, I just want him suddenly!

What the heck am I doing to myself after befriending a Jedi?