And so the years passed. Hera died on a mission. Kanan was affected the most. Ezra took over as leader when Kanan asked him to. He also did the flying. He had help from Anakin and Ahsoka. One day, Ezra was sitting in the cockpit at the controls. Anakin walked in and said: "Hey Ezra, can I talk to you?" Ezra turned around and said: "Sure. Take a seat." Anakin walked over and sat down in the co-pilot's seat and said: "Ezra, I'm worried about Kanan." Ezra turned around and said: "So am I. I'm just better at hiding it. I've been working on something for him in my spare time when we're not on a mission. I finished it yesterday. He can't keep going on like this. Hera wouldn't want him to live like this. I've kept my distance and gave him space out of respect. Well, I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to go in there. If he snaps at me, I can handle it. But I can't let him go on like this. He handed the role of leader over to me. You and Ahsoka have been a big help to me when I first took over as leader. And I greatly appreciate it. I feel more confident about being the leader now. I used to get angry easily. If someone snapped at me, I got angry. Now I don't. I'm able to control my temper. It takes a lot to make me angry. Do me a favor and stay here and watch out for Imperial forces. If you see any Imperial forces, let me know." Anakin said: "Will do. Good luck." Ezra grabbed the project that he had been working on and stood and walked out of the cockpit and walked down the hall to his and Kanan's room and walked in and closed the door behind him. He saw Kanan sitting on the floor against the wall at the far end of the room. Ezra said: "You can't keep going on like this. Hera wouldn't want you to give up the fight. And that's exactly what you're doing. I kept my distance to give you space. Look, I know that Hera's death affected you the most out of all of us and I miss her too every day. But you can't keep going on like this. Anakin is worried about you and so am I. I love you, Dad. And it practically breaks my heart seeing you give up like this. Think about what I said." Then he turned around and left the room and sighed. He walked down to the Common Room and walked in and sat down and broke down and cried. A few minutes later Ahsoka climbed down the ladder into the Common Room and said: "I thought I might find you here. Anakin told me." She walked over and sat down on the couch beside him and pulled him close to her and held him close to her. He cried into her tunic and said: "It practically breaks my heart to see him give up like this." Ahsoka said: "I know. I know it does." Ezra said: "It's like the Dad I knew isn't there anymore. It's like he was never there. I just wish he would pull his act together and come back." Little did he know, Kanan was listening outside the door. He'd made sure to cloak his Force signature so Ezra and Ahsoka didn't know that he was outside the door. And hearing the hurt in Ezra's voice fairly broke his heart and he walked away and sighed. Once he got back to their room, he dropped the cloak and sat down on the bed and thought about it. And
looking back on it, Ezra had been trying to be strong for all of them even though he was hurting. And he'd shut his own son out and practically abandoned him. He said out loud: "Oh Ezra, I am so sorry. I had no idea. All this time I've been thinking only about myself and not how you were feeling. I shut you out and practically abandoned you. Well, that's going to stop." He stood and walked out and walked to the Common Room and climbed down the ladder outside the room and turned around. It appeared that Ahsoka had left. The only person in there was Ezra. Kanan sighed and waved the door open using the Force and walked in and closed the door behind him. He just stood there and didn't move to walk over. Ezra sensed Kanan was standing there and looked up and sure enough, Kanan was standing there by the door. Ezra dried his eyes and looked at him. Kanan looked at him sadly and swallowed hard and shifted and said quietly: "Ezra, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. All this time I've been thinking only about myself and not how you were feeling. I shut you out and practically abandoned you. And I'm so, so sorry for that. I hope you can forgive me for that." He looked away. Ezra sighed and stood and said: "Dad, I've been trying to be strong for all of us even though I was hurting. And I just want my Dad back. The one I knew before Hera died. It just hurts so much to see you give up. I'm only 22 years old and I have all this responsibility with the rebellion. Sure, I had help from Anakin and Ahsoka. But I would have appreciated it if you had been there. And I do forgive you. (Whispers) I just want my Dad back." He looked away. Kanan looked at him and saw just how bad Ezra was hurting. He moved to walk over and placed his hand on Ezra's shoulder and turned him to face him and pulled him into his arms and held him close to him. Ezra broke down and cried into his chest. Kanan said: "You won't do this alone. Not anymore. I haven't been there for you like I should have. But I'm here for you now." Ezra said: "I'd like that. I had Anakin stay in the cockpit while I went to talk to you and keep an eye out for Imperial forces. I told him to let me know if he saw any Imperial forces." It was then that Kanan noticed the object laying on the table. Kanan said: "is that a lightsaber like the one that you used to have?" Ezra said: "Yeah. It's for you. I've been working on it when we're not on missions. I tend to use my new lightsaber though. I did a similar design to my old lightsaber. My blaster doubles as my lightsaber. It's actually pretty clever. I mean, who would think of a lightsaber in a blaster? It surprises the Empire a lot." Kanan said: "I think we should head back to the cockpit." Ezra looked up at him and said: "you're coming with me?" Kanan nodded. Ezra pulled away and grabbed the hybrid lightsaber and handed it to Kanan and said: "In case your current lightsaber gets broken somehow. You can adjust the height of the blade." Kanan clipped the hybrid lightsaber to his utility belt and said: "Let's go. Together." Ezra said: "Together." Then they walked to the cockpit and walked in. Anakin turned around and said: "perfect timing. I was just about to call you. We got TIE fighters incoming." Ezra slid into the Pilot's seat and said: "Well then, let's give them hell Skywalker style." Anakin smirked and said: "Oh this is going to be fun." Ezra said: "What is it you like to call this?" Anakin said: "Aggressive negotiations." Ezra started flipping switches and said: "Anakin, get down into the bottom gun turret." Anakin stood and ran out of the cockpit. Ezra said: "Dad, you're with me." Kanan slid into the Co-pilot's seat and looked at Ezra and said: "ready." Ezra said: "those guys messed with the wrong crew." Somehow, Sabine and Ahsoka managed to get into battle stations despite not knowing what was going on. Ezra pushed a lever forward and lifted off and said: "Dad, let'em have it." Kanan said: "with pleasure." He started shooting at the TIE fighters. He hit them rather accurately. Ezra said: "Bull's eye. Nice." Kanan said: "I had a bit of help from the Force." Ezra said: "I'm thinking we should get the Kriff out of here." Kanan said: "I'd agree with you." Ezra flew out of the planet and said: "I know where to go. The planet Endor. I have some pint sized friends there. The natives. They look like little teddy bears. They act fierce at first but then they just cuddle with you." Kanan said: "I hope they'll help us." Ezra said: "They will. They're friends of mine. I helped them some time ago. So they owe me a favor. Well, I'm cashing in on that favor." He set course for Endor and made the jump to hyperspace and said: "There. We might as well sit back." Father and Son sat back in their seats. Ezra said: "The Ewoks are cute but they're furry little ninjas at first. The first time I met them was rather amusing to say the least." Kanan said: "Oh?" Ezra told him the story. When he was done, Kanan started laughing at that. Once he stopped laughing, he said: "You're right. That was pretty amusing." Ezra smiled and said: "I'm glad to have my Dad back." Kanan said: "You're still the leader though. Anakin was right when he recommended that you take over as leader. From what I've heard, you're a far better leader than I ever was. I'm proud of you. I love you." Just then Anakin, Ahsoka, and Sabine walked in. Ezra said: "Hi guys." Anakin said: "We totally just gave the Empire hell." Ezra said: "Oh yeah, you totally should have seen Dad. He was Force shooting the TIE fighters. He was brilliant. We gave the Empire a run for their money." Kanan said: "To be fair, they can't shoot accurate even if their lives depended on it. I just used that to my advantage. But Ezra here was actually the really brilliant one. He pulled a maneuver that I would never have thought to use." Ezra said: "It's the corkscrew maneuver. Anakin taught me that one. I was just acting on instinct." Kanan said: "You're definitely a better pilot than Hera. She always ended up crash landing." Anakin said: "Kriff, he's even better than me. And that's saying something. He's a natural." Ezra looked over at Kanan and said: "Anakin has been teaching me some tricks in case we get in a situation where the Empire is hot on our tail and we need to shake them. I'm glad he did because I was able to confuse them which made it easier for Dad to shoot them." Just then Ahsoka held her head and fell to the floor. Anakin said: "Ahsoka!" Ezra spun around in his seat and jumped to his feet and knelt down in front of Ahsoka and looked at Sabine and Anakin and said: "Out of the cockpit! Now!" The two Jedi Knights walked out of the cockpit and walked off. Meanwhile, in the cockpit. Kanan said: "What was that about?" Ezra said: "I'm 100% certain that those two would just bombard me with questions about what I'm about to do, which will ultimately distract me. So I had to shoo them out of the cockpit. Now, you, you can stay. Cause you already know what I'm about to do." Kanan said: "Yep." Ezra placed his hands on either side of her head and closed his eyes and went into her mind and could literally feel Sidious in her head trying to turn her to the Dark Side. He growled and said: "Get The Hell Out Of Ahsoka's Head And leave her The Hell Alone!" He pushed the Dark Side out using the Light Side. He felt when the Dark Side left her head. Then he pulled out of her head and said: "Kriffing Sith Lord." He stood and walked over and sat down and turned around. Kanan stood and walked over and knelt down beside Ahsoka and helped her to her feet and stood and guided her out of the cockpit. He helped her over to Anakin. Ahsoka was leaning fully on him. Kanan easily supported Ahsoka. Ahsoka was pretty much dead weight. But somehow Kanan was effortlessly supporting her.
