Book 3 of 3: Our Last Stand (Book 3 of "Family of Rebels")

Chapter 12: Three

Ezra's POV

I stumbled back in shock? Kanan is really Caleb Dume? What is up with the Jedi changing their names?!

"But..... why, Kana-- I mean, Caleb?" I asked.

Caleb answered, "I did it because I wanted to protect anyone who knew me from being killed because they knew a Jedi. I wanted everyone to be--"

"Who knows?" I interrupted.

Caleb looked at me weirdly. "What do you mean?"

I was hurt and angry at him. He couldn't even trust me, his own padawan, to know his real name.

"Who else knows your real name?"

Caleb hesitated, then calmly said, "Only Hera."

I started tearing up. Sabine didn't know. Zeb didn't know.

Wait...

I turned to Sarah. "Did you know?"

Sarah put her head down slightly. She whispered, "Yes."

I wanted to scream. I turned to Kanan.... sorry, Caleb. "Why in the galaxy would you think I wouldn't understand?! Were you worried I would turn? That I would never trust you again?!"

"Ezra," Caleb said, putting his hand on my shoulder, "please, calm--"

I ripped out of his touch and ran out, tears streaming down my face. I ran as far out as I could until my legs collapsed under me. I cried as quietly as I could until I ran out of tears to cry.

He's been lying to me for almost three years. Three years!! And he trusted Sarah, a stranger, before me, his padawan. I'm not jealous; I'm just mad.

I looked up and saw the capital city in the distance. Ships flying all around it, it's clay structures turning red in the setting suns.

I became light-headed, probably because of all of the running, and lay down.

Now was as good of a time as any to go to sleep.

I woke up and sat up. My head hurt so much that I laid back down on the weedy ground. The sky was an unusual shade of red. It reminded me of the color of.....

Fire.

I smelled something odd. I smelled again.....

Smoke.

I sat straight up and saw the city closer than before I fell asleep.

It was all on fire. Debris fell from the sky and made the suns look red-orange. I heard faint screams in the distance. People dying, children crying.

I looked around. How could I help? What could I do.

I heard rumbling behind me. I turned around just in time to duck out of the way of two TIE Fighters flying low to the ground.

It seemed peculiar to me that they would be flying side by side in perfect precision. I looked closer and saw that there was a banner attached to the sides.

It said:

"Empire Day"

Today was Empire Day.

Today, on my birthday, Lothal would burn.

I shot up screaming. "AHHHHH!!!! What happened?!?!"

Nothing. Just silence throughout the planet. I curled up into a ball and just stayed there until I heard someone come up behind me. I looked up to see Sarah looking down at me. I looked back down at my knees, praying they would give me more comfort from this deceiving galaxy. Sarah sat down next to me and didn't say a word. We just stayed still, not speaking, not moving, just being there. Just waiting for the other to come out of their shell.

"I'm so sorry, Ezra." Sarah spoke. I just sat there, afraid that if I opened my mouth, my tears would come back. So, she continued, "I wanted to tell you everyday. So did Caleb. But, we didn't know when a good time was to tell you."

"Why keep it a secret from the Ghost?" I asked with my head still buried in my knees.

"I don't know why he did it, either." Sarah replied. "Maybe he didn't trust them in the beginning, so he didn't tell any of them, and when he felt comfortable with them, it may have taken so long that he was afraid they wouldn't trust him if he told them."

Well, that is pretty much the only thing that made sense. I finally lifted my head to look at Sarah. She was about the same height as I was now. It was kind of funny how we were born on the same day, and yet two years apart. Separated at young ages.

Now look at us. We were together. We were fighting against the very thing that took us apart. We have not fallen; we've stood strong and fought.

And I'm crying because of one lie.

One silly lie about one silly name.

I started laughing. Sarah took off her mask and gave me a really weird look. "Are you okay, Ezra?" she asked.

I continued to laugh as I said, "Yeah, it's just stupid how I completely broke down because of some name."

She smiled and started laughing with me. It was nice to laugh again. It's seemed like ages since we had a good laugh.

But, that vision of the capital kept coming back to me. "What day is it?" I asked Sarah.

She stopped laughing and told me, "Two days until Empire Day."

I became worried. Was my vision true? Was the city going to be destroyed in two days? Was I really not able to stop it?

But, now was not the time to worry.

Now was a time to heal....

Two in one day!!!!! Sweet!!!

I hope to catch up to the show, but no promises.

~MarvelRebel27