Mandalore was officially one step closer to freedom.

Tiber Saxon was dead, the Duchess was destroyed, and the Imperial garrison was in shambles. Sabine had returned honor to both herself and Clan Wren, and the entire planet owed her a debt that could almost never be repayed.

The time for celebrating, however, was cut short for all the wrong reasons.

Sabine and her warriors landed back at the base camp and the young woman immediately began searching for Ezra. She had not seen him during their escape from Saxon's Star Destroyer and was worried. Fenn Rau met her outside the infirmary tent, a solemn look spread across his visage.

"Where's Ezra?"

The Protector merely gestured into the tent, stepping aside so Sabine could barge in. She saw Kanan standing over one of the city's, Chopper silent by the Jedi's side.

There he was.

Ezra lay on the bed, unconscious. One of Clan Rook's doctors was wrapping up his examination and left the tent.

"Kanan, what happened?", Sabine asked, worry evident in her voice. The blind Jedi sighed.

"The beam from the Duchess. It hit his helmet and he couldn't get it off in time."

Sabine's pupils dilated. She had been the one who set the beam to target Imperial armor. She had been the one to invent the damned thing in the first place.

Now here was Ezra, her best friend, lying half-dead before her.

And it was her fault.

"What... what did the doctor say?", she choked, trying not to cry.

"It's hard to tell what kind of damage he suffered. Any brain trauma can't be noted until he wakes up."

Kanan didn't say it, but Sabine knew there was another caveat to that sentence.

If he wakes up.

The Mandalorian knelt down beside the bed and grasped her best friend's limp hand, hoping and praying to every deity she knew for him to wake up and be okay.

The next day, Ezra did wake up.

And as the doctor had guessed, the extent of his injuries was immediately evident.

"Srrbine? Whrr rrm err?"

Slurred speech. Every word he uttered made Sabine feel all the more guilty.

"Ezra... I'm so sorry."

"Whrrt hrrpenned?"

"You got hit by the weapon... it was my fault. I didn't have time to tell you about my plan. I... I'm sorry."

She broke down crying and buried her face in Ezra's chest. The young man may have been injured, but he had enough grasp on his brain to comfort the girl he... loved. Sabine's tears soaked his shirt as she released all of her pent-up emotions. Guilt, anger, fear... all of it manifested into one single outpouring. Ezra could do nothing except hold her close.

Another day passed and Kanan had to return to the Rebel base on Yavin. He decided that it would be best for Sabine and Ezra to stay with her family so they could be closer to Clan Rook's doctors, which, according to Fenn Rau, were the "finest physicians in the galaxy."

When they got to Krownest, the first thing Sabine did was make space in her old room for Ezra to stay. Once she was done, she went to get him from the ship and saw that he was barely able to stand up from his seat.

"Here. Let me help you."

The young woman gently maneuvered herself so that Ezra's arm was braced across her shoulders, keeping him upright as they walked across the compound's snowy front yard. Ezra kept his mouth shut, fearing that his broken voice would only make Sabine feel more guilty, but he just kept wanting to say how beautiful her home was, despite its colorless nature. They got inside and Sabine helped Ezra sit down on her old bed.

"Just lay down and get some rest", she said before grabbing a datapad and handing it to her friend, "Anything you need to say, just type it out and show me. And here, I've modified this comlink so you can ring if you need me and I'm not around. Just press this button and I'll come running."

Ezra quickly flashed his fingers across the datapad and showed the screen to her.

"Thank you, Sabine", it read.

The Mandalorian smiled and kissed his forehead. "You're welcome, Ez."

Over the next several months, Ezra's stay on Krownest gave the doctors ample time to examine him and determine the full extent of what the Duchess had done to his brain. The slurred speech and impaired leg function were obvious, but the young Jedi began to suffer small bouts of memory loss. They were sporadic in appearance, so it was impossible to pin it down as short-term or permanent. However, the young man did seem to always remember Sabine. He never forgot who she was or what she had done for him, and that one positive in a sea of negatives made her feel that little bit better about the whole situation.

One night, another terrifying symptom of Ezra's injuries came into the picture.

Sabine woke up from her small cot on the floor to the sound of Ezra groaning loudly. She turned on the lights to see him sitting on his knees in bed, eyes rolled back in his head.

"Oh no... Ezra, wake up!!"

The Jedi then collapsed on the bed in a seizure, his body convulsing rapidly as his brain tried to kill him.

Sabine leapt into action, jumping onto the bed and putting her finger in Ezra's mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue. She cried for her family to help and offered a prayer to the Force for Ezra's safety. When he finally stopped shaking, she fell down beside him and started bawling her eyes out.

"I'm sorry, Ezra... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

The doctors arrived and made sure Ezra was in stable condition.

"He was in pretty severe shock. If you hadn't intervened, he might've suffocated."

Sabine couldn't muster a response. Her throat was ragged and her eyes were blurred by tears. Ezra had almost died tonight.

It's your fault.

You built that weapon.

You set it to target Imperial armor.

You ruined Ezra's life.

You don't deserve to be his friend.

The young woman curled into fetal position and cried herself back to sleep.

The next morning, Ezra woke up and looked over to see Sabine sliding into her body glove. He had to pry his gaze away from her curves before she turned around.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her nose was red.

"You okay?", she asked groggily.

Ezra nodded. He could sense his friend's internal strife and didn't want her to suffer anymore. He opened his arms to her and she was hugging him in half a second. The young Jedi wrapped his arms around Sabine and nuzzled her tightly. Her Force signature was radiating with sorrow and guilt.

A year passed, and the news of the Battle of Yavin and liberation of Lothal came as more or less bittersweet. On the one hand, Sabine was glad that the Empire had their asses handed to them. On the other, she couldn't think about anything besides Ezra.

His condition had worsened. The day the doctors said he would never get better, her heart dropped. It had gotten so bad that Ezra never left his and Sabine's room anymore. She brought him his meals and helped him in the refresher every day.

One night, after Ezra had another horrible seizure, the Mandalorian decided she had to do something personal. She brought Ezra his dinner the following day and almost cried as she watched him struggle to put the food in his mouth. When he finished, she reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Ezra."

He looked at her blankly, as if he barely knew she was there.

"I don't know if you can hear me... but I have to say this. You've been my best friend for these last few years. You've done so much for me, helping me get over my insecurities, freeing my people, and much much more. You opened my eyes to something I never thought I'd ever feel for anyone again."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"I love you, Ezra Bridger. I'm sorry I waited so long to realize it."

And then, by some miracle, he spoke crystal clear.

"I love you, too, Sabine."

Her eyes welled up with tears and she hugged him tightly. Little did she know, the first words she'd heard Ezra say in a year would also be the last she'd ever hear from him.

When she woke up the next morning, Ezra's arm draped around her, Sabine kissed him on the cheek and said "Good morning."

No response.

Sabine worriedly checked his pulse.

Nothing.

"Ezra, this isn't funny. Wake up."

Nothing.

"I'm not kidding, Ezra!! Wake up!!"

Nothing.

No heartbeat, no breathing... nothing at all.

He had died in his sleep.

Sabine burst into tears. She finally had the courage to say she loved him and their relationship didn't even last one night.

She cried all day.

She cried on the way to Lothal.

She cried at Ezra's funeral.

She cried for weeks.

Sabine had decided to stay on Lothal so she would be as close to Ezra as possible. Every day, the Mandalorian stopped by his grave and left him a gift.

One day, it would be a basket of fresh jogans.

Another day, it would be one of her paintings.

No matter what the gift was, Sabine put her heart and soul into them all, hoping that Ezra was feeling it, wherever he was.

The decades passed and the galaxy saw the rise of a new evil, potentially worse than the Empire. The First Order quickly made a name for itself running rampant throughout the Outer Rim Territories.

One day, they arrived on Lothal.

Sabine had just left Ezra's grave when she saw the Resurgent-class Star Destroyers enter the planet's atmosphere.

"Karabast."

In spite of her advanced age, she started running towards the city, ready to rally the Lothal Defense Force to protect their planet. A single TIE/Fo fighter flew across the plains, guns blazing with green laser blasts. Sabine didn't make it a quarter of a mile before the fighter caught up with her.

Everything went dark, then white, then Sabine opened her eyes to find herself on a different world.

It wasn't Lothal... or Mandalore... or any world she'd ever seen, for that matter.

It was... peaceful.

"Where am I?"

Suddenly, a voice Sabine never thought she'd hear again rang out.

"We're part of the Living Force, Sabine."

She turned around and almost screamed.

There he was, looking just how he did before he died.

Her arms were around him in an instant.

"I missed you", he whispered.

"I missed you more", she replied.

They held their embrace for what felt like an hour before she pulled away.

"Ezra... I'm sorry."

"Why, Sabine?"

"It's partly my fault you died in the first place."

"Not this again. Sabine, what happened was out of your hands. Plus, it doesn't matter now."

"Hmm... I guess you're right."

She hugged him again, wanting to hold him close for all eternity.

After all, what was stopping her?