Family by Heart (A Star Wars Rebels fanfic)

Chapter 13

It was night time on the Ghost and most of the crew was asleep, except Ezra. Rae was in Sabine's room and Athena was in her cabin on the main ship, but Ezra, he was on the couch. He was not comfortable, at all.

He kept tossing and turning all night, he tried to sleep in Kanan's room, but he was thrown out because he snored too loud. He didn't even want to ask Hera.

Finally Ezra just sat up and wandered the ship's halls. It had taken him about a week or two to get used to the twists and turns of the ship when he was 14, now he was almost 16 in a few weeks and an expert at all the twists and turns. He honestly didn't know how Athena could now navigate the ship so well after the short amount of time that she's been with them. It was kinda cool that he know knew a part of Kanan's biologic family, but it also made him a little sad that he never had a sibling. Then that thought made him feel even worse about Athena's childhood. At least he knew his parents for the first 7 years of his life, she never knew anything about her family. She said how she grew up with so many foster brothers and sisters, but she was sure to put 'foster' in front of the title every time, they weren't really her siblings.

Ezra wandered into the kitchen and sat at the table and stared at the ice formation on the wall. He began to doze off until he heard the door open, he looked over to see Athena with her hair down and she was wearing a black tank top with black leggings. Her hair and eyes were now finally back to their normal colors, her eyes a dark green and her hair was back to golden blonde.

Ezra sat right up.

Athena smirked at him, "Couldn't sleep?"

"No. You?"

"I didn't feel tired," Athena said as she sat next to Ezra at the table.

"I never seen your hair down, looks nice," Ezra said.

"Thanks."

"I really am regretting taking that bet," Ezra moaned, leaning on the table. "So, why aren't you tired?" Ezra yawned.

"Happens when I have nightmares," Athena answered.

"You had a nightmare?" Ezra asked as he picked his head up from the table.

"Yeah."

"What about?" Ezra asked.

"Um...well, you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?"

"It's personal."

"I'm a person, you can talk to me," Ezra smiled.

Athena smiled back. This smile quickly faded as she began to explain, "Well, when it was my ninth birthday and...well...I watched a person I cared deeply about die in a horrible way."

"Your birthday?" Ezra asked.

"Well, yeah. Just-just never mind."

"I know what it's like to lose someone and be reminded of it every time a day that's supposed to be happy. Trust me."

"It's fine, wasn't really my birthday anyways so no harm, no foul."

"You wanna talk about it?" Ezra asked.

"No. I'd rather not," Athena answered.

"So...your brother ever tell you that he loves you?" Ezra asked.

"He has in more ways than one," Athena answered "Same with you all."

"Huh?"

"The real way to say that you love a person is to put them before your own personal needs, not by just saying it," Athena told "Words are as much as the air around you, actions are as much as the heart."