A/N: I am not dead! I know… shocking. Anyway, my absence for the last three weeks ( I meant to get this out Sunday I did not as my Wifi chose that one particular day to quit working, and basically I just had to wait until today. ) is rather inexcusable.

However, I'm back! Somewhat short chapters, I blame my constant procrastination and other factors but anyway here we are.

Disclaimer: I do not ( contrary to popular belief, and my own wishes ) own star wars.

Chapter Seven

Hard Truth

Twenty days after leaving Sabine

Ezra quieted his mind and let the force into the deeper reaches of his consciousness, the planet of Alton held a deep connection with the force and Ezra let himself sink into that. His mind whirled with his current plate of problems he was struggling with.

He had yet to tell Faith that he, and actually the whole alliance, knew of the Protectors. He had yet to tell anyone that Faith was a part of those Protectors either. It didn't seem right to share that considering if kind of felt like she had really only meant that for him to hear.

He heard the crunch of rocks and allowed his eyes to open feeling the force aurora behind him. It didn't take an experienced force wielder to know when someone close to you approaches.

"Kanan." Ezra said simply, letting his eyes shut again.

"Ezra." Kanan responded, standing next to his padawan.

"Do you need something Master?" Ezra asked, opening his eyes and standing.

Kanan didn't say anything for a moment just glanced up and down at his Padawan, behind him The Ghost had parked, Hera was directing what looked like Faith in Chopper in cleaning off Carbon scoring Zeb being not too useful standing next to Hera.

"There has been a new development… I thought you should hear." Kanan said carefully, Ezra couldn't see his eyes but he could tell he wasn't making eye contact with Ezra.

"What is it?" Ezra pressed, concern, slipping into his voice.

"More Star destroyers have been sent to the planet, presumably from the seventh fleet, the Empire is tightening its grip on Mandalore." Kanan looked down at the ground, his tone somber.

Ezra didn't say anything for a time, he glanced backwards briefly squeezing his eyes shut.

"Do you think…?" Ezra didn't need to finish his thoughts. Kanan put a hand on Ezra's shoulder in comfort.

"Sabine and her family are fine, it's just going to get a little harder than it might have been." Kanan reassured him.

Ezra nodded his thanks for the encouraging words, Kanan formed a smile and removed his hands.

"Now come on, Hera's not going to wait forever…" Kana teased.

Ezra rolled his eyes, restraining a chuckle, and marched back with Kanan coming into Hera's voice range. "What the hell do you think I meant by cleaning the Carbon Scoring?" She complained, raising an eyebrow at Zeb.

"I don't know! I thought Faith and Chopper are doing a fine job!" Zeb protests, shrinking away from the angry captain.

"I don't care. I told Faith, Chopper, AND you to clean it. Everyone has to do their part" She said pointing a finger at the Lassat.

"Ezra didn't have to do anything!" Zeb said, trying to change the subject upon his entrance.

"Ezra did his chores earlier this morning hence the reason I allowed him to go Meditate, you on the other hand have no excuse!" Hera said, throwing her hands in the air.

"Alright, Alright, fine I'll help Faith clean the damn carbon." Zeb mumbled walking off towards the side of the ship, grumbling the entire time.

Ezra couldn't hold off his chuckle and the slightest of snorts escaped his lips. Upon his indication of arrival Hera narrowed her eyes dangerously at him. Causing him to shrink under her glare.

"Since you finished all your chores, and it looks like you finished meditation, you can help Zeb and Faith finish theirs." Hera demanded pointing towards where Zeb had just left from.

Ezra mentally grumbled berating himself forever leaving his meditation spot where it was quiet and chore free. However he wasn't going to be the one who upset Hera, NO one wanted to be the person that made her angry.

Ezra rounded the side of The Ghost watching with an amused snort as Zeb unsuccessfully tried to lift himself on top of the ship. Flailing his legs as he grappled with the smooth surface of the hull.

Ezra stopped placing his hands on his hips as he restrained a laugh.

Zeb shot him a glare as he hopped down dusting the dust off himself. "You can help you know…" He grumbled.

"Yeah, but this is more fun." Ezra said with that kiddish grin.

Zeb growled lowly but threw himself up, getting further than the last time and managing to scramble up on top of the ship standing proudly. Ezra smirked and used the force to jump straight up onto the ship.

Zeb frowned at him and Ezra only responded with a shrug. Faith snickered from her place by the central gun and Zeb stalked to the far side of the ship, reaching into the bucket that was by the Mandlorian and grabbing a scrub to clean the ship.

"Race you to finish the back thrusters?" Faith questioned tossing the Padawan a scrub.

"Oh you're on." Ezra said stifling a laugh as he quickly ran to get a head start.

—-

With the kids up laughing on the top of her ship, Hera almost forgot about the Jedi next to her as he wrapped a hand around her waist tugging him closer to him.

Of course this reminder wasn't exactly necessary but she wasn't one to complain.

For a moment she let herself drift out of the role of rebellion leader, and let herself stay in the moment where she and Kanan lived on Ryloth, or maybe some other planet but she knew they'd travel often enough to only have the one place to properly stay.

Watching the sun as it slowly dropped below the horizon, no threat of an Imperial Star destroyer about to drop out of hyperspace and subjugate her world and her family to their infinite terrors.

She closed her eyes as a breeze blew through her lekuu and was pulled just a little tighter around Kanan, her Jedi, her friend, her confidant, the one who understood her, the one who was there when she needed him most… The one she loved.

Hera opened her eyes as reality slowly crept its way back into her mind and she pulled away from him, the little bit of resistance he showed at first disappeared and he glanced down at her. She couldn't see him through the mask on his face but she knew he was looking at her whether he could actually see her or not was irrelevant.

"You know we can't do this right here right now." Hera said the seriousness in her tone meant to dissuade him from any further action.

"Does that mean you want to, but not at this moment?" He asked with an evident smirk on his face.

Ever since Malachor he had been getting more and more bold and to be honest Hera hadn't yet chosen what it was she thought that the better Kanan was. Although at the moment she simply wished that she could tell him how she really felt.

"Kanan…" She said dangerously, giving him a look he knew all too well.

A look that meant their moment was over and it was time to get back to the present, Kanan relented without further prompting and removed his hands, sighing. Her gaze softened briefly and she almost lept back into his embrace.

"Alright." He said plainly his tone even.

Hera nodded her thankfulness and she walked towards Rebel Command, Kanan following her footsteps. Their trip was silent, her thoughts swirled as they received various nods and greetings.

When she entered command only Rex was present staring off into the distance, the various other officers were at their stations and all was quiet so it seemed.

"Did we manage to get the word to Sabine about the Star destroyer movements?" Hera asked, raising a brow.

Rex nodded suddenly, breaking his stare as if he'd never really been distracted at all, "We never received a response but we can safely assume that Sabine received them yes."

Hera nodded once again, crossing her arms in slight annoyance, would it really kill Sabine to at least maybe send a response back. There was the possibility that their transmissions were being jammed or she was busy but at least some acknowledgment that she wasn't dead would've been nice.

Kanan tensed from beside her and he placed a comforting hand onto her shoulder it was a brief touch but Hera received the hidden meaning: "She'll be ok shes a strong girl."

It wasn't that she didn't trust Sabine; it's just that she wished she had something to go off by.

"Alright well be sure to alert me of further transmissions." Hera said, turning to leave the command center.

Rex stopped her with a quick hand motion. "Well we got an urgent communication from Senator Organa you should probably take a look…"

What could he possibly want? Hera didn't say anything, just stepped forward nodding to Rex to give him the go ahead to play the transmission.

"That was fun!" Ezra exclaimed sarcastically, collapsing against a rock as Faith followed suit across from him. Zeb had long since given up and headed to the bunks for a much needed nap. Leaving the two teens to find their own spot to rest.

"Tell you what, if you think it's so fun then why don't you do it, permanently." Faith said not sparing him a glance up.

"That would be rude of me, to take away the fun task of cleaning, I would be manipulating you, and as we all know manipulation is a darksider thing." Ezra said his telltale grin detectable through his voice alone.

"Oh really?" Faith challenged, raising her head to half glare at the Jedi Padawan.

"Really." Ezra shot back, a toothy grin plastered on his face.

They held each other's eyes for a moment longer, before they both cracked a smile, and soon exploded into contagious laughter. Ezra leaned back, blissfully as his laughter subsided. Sitting here enjoying a relatively easy day he was almost able to forget they were in the middle of a war for their lives.

Almost.

Sitting here laughing with his friend he couldn't help but think about Sabine. It had been nearly three weeks since they left her on Knowrest but he had to admit it had been a harder three weeks to get by. Although Faith helped keep him company.

However she didn't replace Sabine; she was similar and if anything only served to remind him of his best friend that he may have hoped would be more than his best friend one day. He was ripped from his thoughts by Faith's voice.

"She's fine, y'know. I don't know her, but she's a Mandolorian, and if she is as fierce as the stories say then she's more than capable of holding her own." She said carefully.

Ezra raised his head to look at her, seeing genuine concern in her expression. His own gaze softened and he found sudden interest in the ground. Ezra knew that there were stories about Sabine and he found comfort in the fact that while they painted pictures of her being a traitor they at least didn't fail to mention her ferocity.

"You were thinking about her right?" Faith asked carefully.

"I might've been…" Ezra said, giving it away.

Her gaze became even more sympathetic if that was possible. "If you ever want to talk, just know that I'm here for you."

Ezra was a bit shocked at her sudden willingness to help him and he was a little shocked. He'd always known Sabine would talk to him if he needed it but she never said it out loud. Even Kanan and Hera or Zeb, they all were three for him he didn't doubt that. But those were his family. He'd known this girl for two weeks! This was different.

Clearly his shock was written all over his expression. "Maybe that was a bit too soon…" Faith said gloomily, her head drooping.

Ezra, not meaning to offend, quickly corrected her. "No, no, no it's just, I'm a little shocked is all, I haven't known you that long, and I didn't think you would be that willing to help me so soon."

Faith gave him a brief smile, his words although jumbled had made sense to her. "I might not have known you that long but I know you would do the same for me so I'm repaying the favor." Faith responded.

Ezra nodded carefully, his gut twisting as he recalled that he still hadn't told her about his connection to The Protectors. Maybe it was best to just get that over with now…

"Well I suppose there is something I should tell you then…" Ezra said carefully. Trying to piece together what exactly he was going to tell her.

"Anything." Faith said with a smile still blissfully unaware of the life shattering information he was about to drop on her head.

"You said you were a part of The Protectors, correct?" Ezra asked sheepishly.

Faith raised her brow leaning back against the rock giving a slow nod of her head. "That's right…"

Ezra released a breath before he continued speaking, "I know about the protectors… We were the rebel cell that you had dealings with previous to the Empire's attack."

Faith stared at him quietly, her puzzling expression revealing nothing, as she let him continue.

"When we got back and found the whole place razed to the ground we didn't know what to do. It turned out we were too late to help… Rau went crazy left me and Sabine on the planet we had to fight Gar Saxon until-"

Faith's eyes suddenly widened, she didn't let him finish. "It was you… You guys are the outsiders who took Fenn Rau…" She said something Ezra didn't recognize flashing across her face.

Ezra's head dropped at the accusatory tone and he slowly nodded, "I'm sorry Faith, we didn't intend for the Empire to take your home from you…"

She didn't speak for a long time and simply gave him a searching expression, "Is he alive?" She said dejectedly not answering any of his previous questions.

Ezra didn't need to ask who she was talking about… "He is… he's on Mandalore with Sabine and the other Mandolorians fighting for their freedom last time I checked…" Ezra trailed off as Faith nodded slowly her cheerful expression falling.

There was a long moment of silence between the two before Faith quietly picked herself up from the ground, walking back towards The Ghost. Ezra stood to stop her but her words made him halt.

"Thank you for telling me…" She said evenly continuing her walk, her tone and body language the only hint he needed.

Ezra felt a swirling unknown amount of emotions in his chest, as he watched her form disappear.

He carefully set himself down on the ground, placing his hands on his knees and closing his eyes, he didn't know what todo, so that meant sinking into the Force for his quiet and peace of mind.

Despite Faith's reaction he felt better, the guilt had been lifted from his chest and now he felt lighter. The wind blew through his hair and he decided to give her time, she would open up eventually. He only had to let her assume she wanted to open up to him.

She will, it's not like it was the rebellion who razed her home.

A/N: Erm scene? This chapter doesn't feel particularly right and I can't figure out why to be honest with you… Probably gonna do some timeskips seems like a good solution to my particular problem.

I KNOW I took a long time, this had all been previously addressed. I also know this is like my shortest chapter, I have no excuses.

Next Sunday I really want to get back on track so hopefully we'll see each other then but as mentioned my update schedule is never concrete nor will it ever be!

Stay Safe!
See you all next week!

( I'm aware in the top authors note I refer to it as though its Monday I thought it was, turns out I didn't post it last night at 10 o'clock I closed the website without posting it and here we are. )