The Academy

Ezra Bridger stared at his reflection. Dev Morgan stared back. Ezra ran a hand through his recently cut and much shorter hair. Dev grimaced as he fingered the ends of his blue-black hair. Ezra ran his hands down his front, smoothing out the wrinkles and marveling at the fact that the clothes he was wearing were actually his size. Dev's eye twitched as he took in the pristine white and grey uniform. Ezra shifted uncomfortably, pausing at the sound of creaking leather and wiggled his toes inside shoes that had yet to mold to his feet and weren't too small, falling apart, and so thin he didn't know why he even bothered wearing them. Dev looked down at his feet with a bemused and uncertain smile. Ezra took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Dev opened his eyes and closed the locker door. Ezra Bridger stayed in the mirror. Dev Morgan joined the line of other prospective recruits to begin the three week long process designed to ensure only the best 8 out of the 14 hopefuls were kept.

Dev eyed the man in charge of their 'assessment.' Taskmaster Grint was huge and looked perfectly capable of breaking everyone around him in half and then eating them. Dev idly wondered if that was how the man had gotten so. . . big. Then Grint spoke and it was actually quite unnerving how coherent and intelligent the man sounded as he didn't look capable of doing more than grunting. Dev didn't have time to do much more the gape at the large man before their assessment began.

Four laps around the Academy followed by a made race through an obstacle course Dev was sure was a reject from the Imperial's stock room of torture equipment. Panting heavily and cursing every way he knew, Dev forced himself to stay upright as he waited for the other boys to finish.

"Impressive time, Morgan."

"Thank you, sir," Dev gasped out, somehow managing to find the energy for a sloppy salute and resisting the urge to tell the man exactly how it was he was able to do so well. Dev didn't think Grint would appreciate being told he'd learned and honed those skills on the streets.

"Finally. . .done!" A red haired boy gasped, collapsing face first onto the ground. "I don't. . .know. . .how. .you do it, . .Morgan."

"Well, Kell, it's easy really," Dev replied, a smirk tugging at his lips. "If you're as awesome as I am."

Kell grunted something unintelligible and Dev snickered.

"Come on, Kell, get up," Dev ordered, nudging his fellow cadet with his foot. "Don't want to be late for your first helping of slop, do you?"

Kell groaned and flopped a hand in Dev's direction. Laughing, Dev grabbed it and hauled him up.

"I'll get you tomorrow," the redhead promised.

"Right," Dev snorted, pushing the other boy into his place in line. "You just keep telling yourself that."

Dev lowered the blaster rifle and removed the empty clip.

"Ah, kriff, Morgan! You have to be good at this too?"

Dev glanced at Kell, the red head who seemed to have made it his mission to beat Dev at something, and then at the target. The shots were all over the place and he'd missed completely several times, but he was still the best shot so far.

"Well, Kell," Dev smirked when Kell scowled at the rhyming words. "Like I said before, I'm just awesome."

Kell rolled his eyes. "Ya know, some day you're gonna come across something you're not instantly good at and that'll be the day I finally beat you."

"Maybe, but today's not that day," Dev called as he walked away, ignoring the splutters behind him.

Dev hung the blaster back up in the racks and glanced at the one eyed man who was supposed to be teaching them. Though, if simply shoving blasters into kid's hands and telling them to shoot at targets was how stormtroopers were taught, it wasn't all that surprising their aims were terrible.

"Worthless, terrible, dreadful, I've met carrier droids with more brains than you pathetic. . ."

Dev tuned out his 'teacher's' rant. While it had been intimidating the first few days, by now he was used to it and all the man's speech meant was that the hours of mental torture were almost over. Privately, Dev was relieved that he didn't seem to be doing any worse than the other boys. Sure his reading speed was slower, but he comprehended what was said faster and his memory was excellent.

Dev drummed his fingers on his desk waiting for the man to finish trying to make them feel dumber than rocks and his eyes roved over the left over notes on the holoprojector. While Dev didn't care about learning the ins and outs of the Empire's hierarchy, he did enjoy the lessons on data encryption and was trying his best to learn how to speak Binary.

There was a barely audible sigh to his right and Dev looked over to see Kell looking just as enthralled by their teacher's words as he was. Catching Kell's eye, Dev pulled a face and mimed being shot in the head. Kell smirked and mouthed back that he'd shoot if Dev did. Dev snickered and flicked a spare bolt across their shared desk. Thus began a highly intense and competitive game.

"Hey, Morgan!"

Dev twitched.

"Don't call me that!" He should be used to it by now, but every time Kell shouted 'Morgan!' it irritated him.

"What?" Kell looked at him, puzzled.

"Call me 'Dev.'" It was funny and a bit frightening how much he wanted to say a different name.

"Only of you call me 'Jai.'"

"Deal. Now what did you want?"

"I have a theory–"

"Another one?" Dev groaned. "Jai, give it up, 'cause trust me, you do not want to know what it they make the food out of."

"You might not care, but I do," Jai shot back. "Anyway, have you noticed how there are no bugs, and I mean not even a spider, around here? My theory is. . ."

While Jai rambled on about his new theory of what exactly it was they were being fed, Dev smiled. It might not be the name he wanted to be called, but there was something nice about it. It was almost like having a friend.

Jai flopped face first onto his bunk with a muffled groan.

"Ah, is coming in second place wearing you out?" Dev asked mockingly as he opened his locker.

"Shut up," Jai muttered, blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes so he could glare at Dev. "I'll get you tomorrow."

"Suuure ya will," Dev drawled, pulling out a clean uniform. "Well, I'm off to the showers."

"Again?" Jai's question came out muffled as he'd reburied his face in his pillow.

"Force forbid I take a shower a day," Dev muttered before turning to face his friend and giving an exaggerated sniff in Jai's direction. "Wouldn't hurt you to hit the showers either, now that they're actually giving us time for them."

Jai chucked a discarded boot at him and Dev laughed as he ducked into the locker room.

"I'm keeping boot!" Dev shouted as he shut the door, cutting off whatever it was Jai had shouted back to him.

Dev Morgan sighed as he stepped under the water and closed his eyes.

Ezra Bridger opened his. Ezra had been shadowing 'Dev' since day one, lurking in the back of his mind, cataloging each and everything Dev saw and heard, but this was the first time he was able to come out. Pushing back part of his personality was a useful trick Ezra had picked up years ago and had been perfected with the meditation Kanan had taught him. Though, Ezra didn't think that was what Kanan had wanted him to get out of the lessons, it was a useful skill especially for mission like this as it allowed him to be mostly himself but with less risk of letting something slip.

It wasn't fool proof as Ezra couldn't keep up the façade for long, it was after all unnatural and unhealthy to suppress a part of yourself, but that was what moments like this were for. In the showers people tended to be left alone so he could think freely, which was a relief since it was the first time since his arrival that Ezra had time to do so. Ezra couldn't help a snort as he thought about the past few weeks.

It had been three weeks of physical and mental punishment that had left Dev, and the other boys too by the sound of it, with an aching body and a brain that felt like it was made of mush. Three weeks of getting up before the sun to run laps around the Academy only to come back and race through a grueling obstacle course before being hosed off, sometimes literally, and made to eat. . . Well, Dev wasn't really sure he wanted to know what he was eating, but it was edible and he'd had worse so what did it matter?

After breakfast came testing: basic math, history of the Empire, mechanics, and hours of being made to feel dumber than a rock. Then another plate of . . . stuff was thrust at them. Lunch was followed by a march to a mock shooting range where Grint and a one eyed man with a grand total of 4 and half fingers took great pleasure in detailing exactly how much damage a blaster could cause.

The first day on the range had included pictures and three cadets had thrown up, including the one standing next to Dev who just rolled his eyes; he'd seen it all and more back when he'd been Ezra the street rat. The two Imperials had just laughed and handed them blaster rifles, telling them to try and hit the targets. Only Dev and four other boys managed to hit the body shaped targets by the end of the first day.

Once they were done blowing up the shooting range, the cadets were marched back into the 'class room' and given actually lessons on what duties they were expected to perform. Lessons ended with a stampeded to the dining hall for the day's final helping of questionable substance, followed by more laps around the Academy and another run through the obstacle course, and the day was over.

By the end of the third day everybody had learned to sleep in their uniforms as they were expected to be dressed, outside, and information within a minute of wake up call. Whether or not the uniforms they fell asleep in were clean was different matter, though if someone smelled to badly the officers took great delight in pointing it out a handing out punishments.

The end of the first week saw two boys dropping out and a third kicked out after he'd broken his leg on the obstacle course.

Second week ended with two more boys gone and Dev having found a good natured rival in a boy named Jai Kell.

Before the final week of their assessment was over Jai and Dev's rivalry had morphed into a competitive friendship around the same time. The sixth boy left leaving the required eight to officially become cadets and that was when the colored helmets were handed out; red, blue, green, and gold.

Ezra frowned at the shower wall as he thought about the red markings decorating his previously white helmet. While all cadets were given helmets as part of their uniforms, none of them had been given any identifying colors until after the assessment. Turned out all the testing had been for more than just narrowing down the numbers, but also to see who had an aptitude for what. The markings also served to show the top four, a badge of honor in a way.

The red markings on Ezra's or rather Dev's helmet meant he had all the traits of land commander or TIE fighter pilot. When he'd received the newly marked helmet and had been told what it meant, it taken everything he had not to outright laugh at the irony. Of course he'd be good at fighting on the ground, though he doubted the leadership aspects, he'd been doing it most of his life. As for being a TIE pilot? Well, he'd have to tell Hera, maybe then she'd consider teaching him some of her moves.

The blue markings Jai had gotten slated him for diplomacy and support which Ezra had to admit fit his friend perfectly. Jai was great at lightening the mood and helping everyone relax after a day of physical and mental abuse, and when it came to hand to hand combat training Jai excelled at taking advantage of opportunities created by others rather than making his own.

The gold markings signified a talent for logistics and tactics, and there were whispers that those that received them were recruited into Imperial Security Bureau. Ezra had been worried when he'd heard that, he knew Kallus had an office in the building but it was on the upper levels well away from where the cadets lived and trained and he hadn't been expecting I.S.B. agent to come inspect new recruits. Kallus hadn't showed up, at least not yet, but Ezra was still nervous and made sure never to take his helmet off unless he absolutely had to.

He also kept an eye on the Zare Leonis, the boy who'd received the gold markings. Even if he hadn't gotten the gold markings Ezra would have kept an eye on Leonis. He'd seen the look in the dark skinned boy's eye and recognized it. It was the look of someone who had learned not to trust, learned to be suspicious, but of what or who or why Ezra couldn't tell. Though of all the people he associated with at the Academy, Leonis looked the most likely to figure out that 'Dev' wasn't real.

And if Leonis didn't Oleg would just out of spite. From day one when Dev had placed first in almost every challenge with Jai bouncing between second and third, Mott Oleg had done everything he could to discredit them and one up them and anyone else who beat him. Dev let a little more of his Ezra side out when dealing with the brat and took, maybe too much, pleasure in one upping him. Given Oleg's personality it wasn't really a shock when he was given the green markings which signified his chances of working as an officer on a star destroyer. Having been 'introduced' to a couple during his stay as Kallus's prisoner, Ezra could easily say Oleg would fit in just fine with the other stuck up selohssa.

Ezra sighed and left the showers, clean and fully clothed. Jai was already fast asleep, still face down on his pillow.

"One of these day," Ezra muttered as he poked Jai in the side until he rolled over, "I'm gonna leave you like that and let you suffocate."

Jai snorted in his sleep and Ezra rolled his eyes before climbing onto the bunk above his friend.

"Three weeks, four days down," Ezra mumbled into his pillow. "Force only knows how many more."

Author's Notes:

I'm not exactly sure how long Ezra was at the Academy, from what Kanan said at least a couple weeks, but I'm thinking more like 2 months which is what my mental timeline is working on incase any one else is curious or confused. Also if anyone knows why exactly the helmets are color coded let me know, what I wrote is just a guess that made sense to me.

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