Star Wars rebels Abducted

Chapter 35: A Family That Can't be Messed with

"Oh no."

"What's wrong, Ezra?"

"I just remembered. I don't have my gear."

"Your- ooooh..."

"Yeah. My sling-shot, my tools... lucky I still got this, though." And Ezra pulled the Jedi rebreather out of his pocket. He had long since kept the piece of metal safely away from Chip and the Inquisitor, even when he hadn't been in control of his body.

Kanan blinked, surprised to see the little device again. "You kept that?"

"Of course! This was instrumental in not just one, but two escape attempts. I wouldn't trade this thing in for a million credits. Well, maybe a million, but for anything lower I'd keep this thing. It saved my skin twice, you know."

"Yeah, you already told us those stories." Sabine chuckled in the corner. The Mandalorian had been tickled pink when she heard that her one-time paint session with Ezra had been what had enabled the teen to escape from his cell, Zeb and Hera likewise pleased when he'd told them about how their lessons had helped him.

The crew was lounging about in the main room of the Ghost, having no mission to go on at the moment. It had been two standard months since Ezra's rescue, and by this time his broken bones had healed nicely. There had been a big tearful moment when he moved back into his cabin, a certain Lasat hiding his relief at having his bunk-mate back with moans at how much he'd miss his privacy.

The crew had yet had to go back to Axle for a mission, the sum of credits they had amassed had been so vast. Instead, they had devoted their free time to catching up with one another, offering one another their stories and reactions, simply glad to be able to do so once again. Except for right now, though, Ezra hadn't realized the absence of his most prized possessions.

"Well, next time we find ourselves in the market, we can get you some new gear and stuff."

"Can't wait. This kinda stuff just isn't my style," Ezra said, poking at the Imperial cadet's suit he was wearing. Due to the... pathetic state of his jump-suit, he hadn't really had much choice in clothing. The sooner they could replace his outfit and gear, the better.

"Gotta agree with you there, kiddo. Still, lucky you haven't grown an inch, huh? Otherwise you'd be fresh outa stuff to wear."

"Is it bad that I honestly can't tell is you're poking fun at me or not, Zeb?"

"How can you not tell? I'm always pokin' fun at you."

Ezra shook his head, his smile crooked. Hera cocked her head. "He is right, though. Until we get your regular stuff fixed, I don't see you having to many options." Ezra shrugged his shoulders.

"Ezra..." The teen looked over to Kanan, mildly surprised to see the Jedi chewing his cheek.

"What's wrong, Kanan? I know this isn't the best of outfits, but it's really not that ba-"

"Not you outfit, dummy. I..." the older man looked at Hera, a question in his eyes. Something passed between the two of them, and when the Twi'lek nodded slightly, Kanan turned his focus back to Ezra. "If you want to, um," He scratched his head, but looked Ezra straight in the eyes.

"I think you'd be ready to build your own lightsaber."

Ezra's breath caught in his throat. Was Kanan offering... he could build a... a lightsaber?!

"The reason I was holding back for so long before was that I... I was afraid you'd get too attached to power. But if anything, what you've gone through showed me that that's not who you are more than ready for a lightsaber." Ezra's mouth was moving, but the words weren't coming out. Kanan must have misunderstood, because he quickly broke eye-contact and looked away awkwardly.

"Of course, if you don't want to, if you want to keep to your sling that's okay, it was just a suggestion, and you don-" Kanan was cut off as Ezra just about leaped out of his seat, wrapping Kanan in a quick hug. This meant too much to Ezra for him not to.

Kanan didn't care that Ezra had turned. He had accepted it. He though Ezra was ready to go to the next step of being a Jedi. For Ezra, that meant the world. No, the galaxy.

"So, where do we start?" Kanan smiled, and Ezra knew that the Jedi had felt his un-conveyed feelings.

"Well, there's a nice temple somewhere that'd be a good place to start..."

But Kanan's words hardly penetrated Ezra's numb haze of excitement. He really ought to pay attention, but the sheer amount of feelings that swirled around in his head was just too much. Everything was okay. The seemingly never-ending nightmare had been ripped to shreds by the ones who cared for him, and any sign that it had ever occurred was rapidly fading away.

A beep came out of Hera's communicator, and the group looked towards her questioningly. She grinned.

"Fulcrum's got a new mission for us." Ezra looked at Kanan, a grin slowly forming.

"What say you for being as much as a thorn in the Empire's side as possible, Master?" Zeb and Sabine both started wearing identical expressions of mischievous mayhem, which Ezra could feel creeping up on his own face. Everything was falling back into place.

"Let's go show those bucket-heads they can't mess with our family."

And... that's the end. Anti-climactic, I know, but how could I end it with anything else? Everyone's back together, they're happy, life continues on. *Sigh*. I'm gonna miss writing this, though.