Family by Heart - REWRITE(a Star Wars Rebels story)

The Honorable Ones (pt.1)

Zeb cheered as he collected the pile in the center of the table - the three cards lying on the table showing an Idiot's Array. Athena and Ezra groaned as they threw down their cards, sitting on the opposite side of the kitchen table. Snacks replaced credits for this game.

"I swear you gotta be cheating at this!" Ezra complained. "There's no way you can win three times in a row."

"He doesn't have any sleeves, so he doesn't have that advantage for cheating," Athena shrugged. "I straight up suck at this game since it's new to me, so what's your excuse?"

"Rude." Ezra rolled his eyes.

"I guess you could call us an array of idiot's," Athena nudged his shoulder as she chuckled.

"You are so annoying," Ezra sighed.

"Oh, how the tables have turned," Zeb joked. "But hey, as long as we're all friends at the end of the day."

"You're only saying that because you won," Ezra said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Athena paused, slightly squinting her eyes as she looked into nothing. There was a buzz in the back of her head. Something was telling her something. She didn't know why, but the word 'friends' stuck out to her when Zeb said it. Something in the Force was trying to tell her something.

"Hey, kid, you're zoning out. You okay?" Zeb asked.

She shook her head, blinking herself out of the daze. She looked to her lasat friend and offered a small smile, "Yeah. I'm good."

About an hour later, Athena sat in the cargo bay of the Ghost. A glowing lump of rock glowed a bright yellow and orange as it floated between her hands. Her slicked back hair was the same color, tied into a ponytail similar to her brother's . The chunk of material between her hands was none other than some of the left-over lava she had practiced with on Bakunyuu. This particular clump wasn't a good viscosity to make armor, but it was beginning to work as a great heater.

Something nagged at her to make this glowing rock of warmth. Something was egging her on to give it to Zeb. It was illogical and had little to no reasoning behind it, but she did it anyway.

When her creation was complete, she held the warm rock in her hands to examine it. It did not have a burning touch, but rather everlasting warmth. Warmth that seeped through the skin and into the bone in a blissful manner. Warmth that would keep any being alive in the bitter cold. Most of it was a glowing orange and yellow, but some of it was ashy grey. It reminded Athena of a mythical dragon's egg.

A set of feet descended the yellow ladder not too far from the girl. She looked up to see a boy with orange clothes and blue hair.

Ezra waved as he approached her, "Hey, whatcha doing?"

Athena held up the warm rock as she stood up. "Oh, just making a silly rock."

Ezra took the warm rock in hand, looking at it with intrigue. "Wow, is this old lava?"

She nodded, "Yeah, some leftover stuff from my lava armor."

"Cool," Ezra smiled and handed the rock back to Athena. "I wish I could do stuff like that. You're so cool."

Athena slightly blushed and rolled her eyes, "Ah, shut it. It's nothing."

"If it's nothing, why are you blushing?" Ezra teased.

"You are so weird," Athena said.

"Says you," Ezra jabbed.

Athena rolled her eyes again, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She met Ezra's blue eyes and paused. She hadn't put much thought to it, but Ezra really was becoming a best friend to her. Even though she could tell he harbored some feelings of infatuation towards her, he stuffed them as far down as he could for the good of their friendship. He listened to her, laughed with her, played games with her, and accepted her into the family so well. They bonded. She'd never had this kind of bond with another teenager.