After ✔️

The Master Switch

"Do you feel that?" the darkness whispered. "The distant light."

Jacen found it, in the midst of the darkness, a single pulsing beam. He grabbed onto it desperately, holding on as if he were to let go he would die. A comforting voice, one he had never heard before but one that sounded so familiar nonetheless, spoke quietly to him.

"Hey, kid, it'll be okay. Just keep holding on. Whatever you do, don't let go."

Jacen promised the voice in the light he wouldn't let go and the darkness laughed at his futile conviction.

*

I m p e r i a l  P r i s o n  2 2 3

Vyi found it.

The Master Switch, in all its glory, did not look like much. It was unguarded and left out in the open in one of the prison control rooms, as it was used for lockdown and wouldn't be of much use to anybody trying to stage a prison break. Anybody besides Sabine, that is, and her crazy and admittedly brilliant plan.

Now came the tricky part: rewiring it. But Vyi knew Imperial tech inside and out. He hadn't spent his whole life studying it for nothing. He crept over to it quietly, even though nobody was around, and didn't waste any time getting to work.

Ten minutes. That's what he had promised Sabine. Let's do it in nine, he challenged himself. They didn't have a minute to spare. Already, Tristan and Ketsu's covers could be blown, or a guard might have found Sabine or Jai or Ahsoka, or worse, they could all be dead by now. A lot could happen in ten minutes.

It felt nine minutes to long as his hands worked and reworked wires and codes. But then suddenly it was done, or he was sure it was done. Only one way to find out. If he pulled the switch now, it would either lock down every cell and Sabine's mission would fail or it would release every door and their plan would be on the way.

Vyi checked and double checked his work before closing his eyes and hoping for the best before yanking down on the master switch. After a few silent minutes, an alarm sounded. The breakout alarm. It had worked.

"Run fast," Sabine had said. He didn't have any time to revel in the success. He turned and fled from the control room, breaking for the terminal. Run fast. Run fast.

*

Sabine was running when the doors slid open.

She had reached the third level of the prison with no problems besides one or two guards she had taken out and a good many locks she easily bypassed. Now she was making for Ezra's cell. 

Every door in the cell slid open smoothly, synchronized. She didn't have time to look as whatever frightening prisoners Kalar was keeping here got to their feet, dazed.

"Make for the lift and get downstairs!" she shouted as she ran. "We're getting out of here!" she didn't stop to see whether they followed her orders or not.

And then suddenly, she was there. Ezra's cell was in front of her. Her heart pounding, she slowed down as she stepped into it.

This. This is what she had been waiting for for so long. The cell was dark, shadows dancing across the walls from the flashing alarm that had begun moments before. She tried to keep her breathing even as she took another step in.

"Ezra?" she croaked.

In the darkness of the cell, a head lifted. That familiar, cocky smile spread across his face.

"Took you long enough," Ezra Bridger grinned.

Sabine let out a sob she couldn't keep in, covering her mouth. He was here, in front of her, horribly scarred but here all the same. There were many scars across his face, his prisoner clothes were tattered and bloodied. His hair had grown out, long and shaggy almost like when she had first met him, hanging over his face but not covering those bright blue eyes. 

"You cut your hair," he noted.

"And you grew yours out," her voice cracked.

"Didn't have much of a choice," he shrugged. "The warden didn't do haircuts."

"You dumb loth-rat," she choked on her words and crouched by him, pulling him into a hug. Shaky arms held her in return, red and marked up, skinny and pale from years in the prison. 

"So, are you going to get me out of here, or what?" Ezra said after a moment. "Prison kinda sucks."

She laughed despite herself, despite the horrible situation, and pulled back. "Sounds good to me. Let's go."

She helped him to his feet, his legs unsteady. He leaned on her as they limped out of the cell and into the mostly empty hallway, the last few prisoners fleeing to the lift.

"Wait," Ezra croaked as they started for the lift as well. "Someone else is here. Another Jedi. I felt him, surrounded by darkness."

"Do you know where he is?" Sabine frowned. Another Jedi? Could it be the second Force sensitive she had read about being kept here besides Ezra?

"No," Ezra whispered, sounding so defeated and unlike himself that Sabine felt a pang in her heart.

"We're not leaving anybody behind," she promised him.

"We?" Ezra raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you should see the crew I assembled," she shook her head. "They all can't wait to see you."

A/N: its ya boi Ezra, safe and sound ;) (but is he really though???)