Star Wars Rebels - Odyssey

Chapter 8: Licking Wounds

It had taken Sabine a few days to reach a stage where she could stand un-assisted even after the serum was given to her.  While Ezra and Zeb had been having adventures on Coruscant, Hera had sent Rex the co-ordinates to the Empire's secret weapon in the hope that he could decrypt them.  Now Sabine was almost fully recovered and Rex still hadn't got back to them, leaving them flying dead in the far reaches of space with no aim.  Pretty much the crew's dream come true, a kind of temporary early retirement.  Hera had spent the time either tending to Sabine when she needed help or relaxing in her room and watching old romance holotapes, much to the amusement of Zeb and Ezra who constantly mocked her.  Kanan had spent a lot of time meditating in his room, thinking over the mistakes of the past.  He'd felt personally responsible for what had happened to Sabine and looked to the force to find a way to stop it from ever happening again...whilst also occasionally enjoying watching the holotapes with Hera.  Chopper was under strict orders from Hera not to annoy anyone and to leave them be which he found incredibly difficult, hence the incident where he hid Ezra's prized helmet and refused to tell him where it was.  Zeb had taken to spending time sorting out the Ghost and helping out with odd-jobs, while Ezra had used the majority of his time helping Sabine to recover from the toxin and together they'd enjoyed painting, mocking Hera and Kanan and practicing their shooting by firing stun shots at Zeb...continuously.  In short, everything was well once more on the Ghost, but there was a deep seeded feeling of tension as everyone knew that this idyllic time wouldn't last.

Sabine's POV:
Sabine sat on her bunk, flicking through one of her old journals of memories.  Coincidentally, she'd stolen this particular journal a day before the crew had met Ezra and so it told of all their early adventures from saving wookies from Kessel to facing Vader for the first time and her talking about dyeing her hair again.  It was all in picture form of course and Sabine was shocked at how her perception of Ezra had changed over time, when they'd first met she'd drawn him as an annoying child who was just getting in the way and by the time they were fighting Vader she was drawing him as one of her best friends who could cheer her up no matter what. At that moment Ezra strolled into the room causing her to chuck the journal beneath her bunk hurriedly. "What was that?" he asked curiously whilst leaning in the doorway. "That? Oh nothing, just an old sketchbook, nothing important" she replied whilst thinking back to a particularly cute picture of Ezra she'd drawn in the entry for the Empire Day adventure. "You know you're adorable when you're trying to hide something. Anyway, it probably won't be too much longer till Rex gets back to us with our next task, wanna do anything?" Ezra asked, wanting to spend all of his time with her. "Well... I was gonna paint something. Why don't you join me, for old times sake?" Sabine offered whilst standing with one hand on her hip and the other holding a paint spray. How could he refuse?

They spent hours on the painting together, after 30 minutes of discussion they'd finally decided to spruce up Hera's room and unleash their artistic creativity. They worked for ages, Sabine taking the lead whilst Ezra looked on occasionally giving advice. He watched her paint with admiration, the smile widening on her face as she mixed different colours effectively.  He had always loved that smile.  As he was about to drift off into a Sabine inspired daydream, she stepped backwards declaring that her work was finished.  Suddenly, Hera walked into the room and stopped dead upon seeing the painting.  A huge and realistic looking mural of Kanan now covered her wall with a grinning Sabine stood next to it.  "Ah Hera, um...surprise! Do...do you like it?" she asked whilst looking nervously at Ezra.  Hera stood silently for a moment, taking in the enormous amount of detail in the painting before turning to Sabine and Ezra.  "I..I love it, it looks amazing.  But what'll Kanan think when he sees it?" she replied making the pair of teens breathe a sigh of relief.  "Oh, so Kanan's in here often is he?" Sabine teased provoking a serious yet playful glare from Hera.  As they exited the room, Ezra looked back once more and grinned at the painting childishly.

Another ten minutes passed and Sabine and Ezra once again found themselves in a position of relaxation and boredom as their vacation continued.  "So, um...I heard about your mission to Coruscant.  You risked a lot to get that serum and I haven't actually had a chance to thank you properly yet" Sabine remarked, rubbing her arm nervously.  "Well, I..." Ezra replied, swiftly stopped by Sabine planting a kiss on his lips.  He slowly moved into her, placing his hands on her hip.  Their hearts beat out of their chests as the whole universe melted into that single moment.  What was in reality just a few seconds became years as the pair finally realised just how much they meant to one another.  At last they separated and looked into each other's eyes for a while, staring right into one another's souls.  "Well...that was...brilliant.  What does this mean?" Ezra stuttered as he pulled himself out of a dream.  "It means that I'm finally ready to accept...us" Sabine answered, pulling him into a tight hug.  Ezra was astounded, two years he'd known Sabine and since the very beginning he's wanted this.  It was finally happening!

The pair sat in Sabine's cabin for hours chatting and hugging and kissing and just making one another's lives complete.  After a while, as they were sat on the floor drawing portraits of one another in Sabine's sketchbooks, a knock on the door got their attention.  "We've got a communication from Rex.  Apparently it came a day or two ago but solar flares and whatnot meant we only just received it.  Everyone gather in the lobby" Hera ordered, banging on the doors of everyone's rooms.  Once everyone had arrived, she turned on the holo-table to reveal a hologram of Rex with his arms folded.  "Ghost crew this is Rex.  I've worked for a while trying to decode this message of yours, it seems Sabine was correct with her guess about the co-ordinates leading into the Unknown Regions but I can't decrypt enough of them to work out a precise location.  So here's the plan, I worked for years helping my general decrypt Separatist communications during the Clone Wars but I've never seen anything like this, there's only one man who I think will have the skills needed for this and he lives on Dantooine.  I'll send you his last known co-ordinates and you'll have to track him down and then use his knowledge to find the Empire's weapon and destroy it.  Just a note, he shouldn't need much persuading as he hates the Empire about as much as we do but he can be quite cocky and sarcastic so just...bear with him.  Good luck, Rex out" the message played before disappearing.  The crew stood silent for a minute, realising that this was a snap out of a dream and back into reality.  "So...Dantooine?" Ezra asked, making Hera slowly nod in agreement.  "Dantooine".