The Artist and the Jedi - Sabezra Oneshots

A Smuggler's Life

Set after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi:

Summary – In an alternate and more dystopian version of the story where Ezra never disappears in the finale, Sabine and Ezra become a couple during the Galactic Civil War. Now, as the war draws to a close, the old family is separated, with the Artist and the Jedi drifting into the lives of solitary smugglers, struggling to survive in the Outer Rim and only having each other for company...

Ezra walked down the dark street with a purpose, determination fuelling his every step. He was late, he'd catch hell for that. Late as usual. In the past few years, he'd certainly gathered the looks of a smuggler, rather than a Jedi. Now, as he moved through this dingy environment, a ragged cloak covered his head. And he had swapped out his orange outfit for a brown jacket long ago, it was much easier to fit in that way. The smuggler sniffed the air and winced, he'd stolen this cloak from the ground in a hurry to blend in, but now he was beginning to suspect that it had previously belonged to a Rodian. Night shone above, the moons dimly lighting the sky. There were no stars, the clouds made sure of that, even the light of the moons had a hard time penetrating through. This planet, the name of which Ezra could not recall, reminded him of Lothal before its liberation from the Empire. It was tight, crammed together as the citizens were squeezed into submission. The imperials were gone from here now, but the gangs that had formed in these difficult years remained, demanding tribute from the people that they claimed to protect. If he could, Ezra would save everyone here, but it was useless, the New Republic had not yet reached these sectors of the Outer Rim. Any fight against the gangs here would be short and futile. No, instead he had to simply go along with it to survive, despite how much he hated everything around him. The Jedi's mind wandered as he walked, back to his last great battle, to the Liberation of Lothal.

During the battle with Thrawn, Ezra managed to escape the Chimaera, the admiral's star destroyer, in the nick of time aboard an imperial gunship. He watched as that Chiss nerf herder was sent flying through hyperspace thanks to the help of the purgills, and admitted that a vengeful smile filled his face as he looked on. Following the liberation, the Rebel Alliance grew and gathered its forces, making a number of successful attacks against the crumbling Empire. First they retrieved plans for a super weapon from the data-banks of Scariff, before leading an assault on the space station known as the Death Star and blowing it to hell. Ezra, however, had not been present for these events. After spending some time with the wolf known as Dume, he learnt that his was not a path of war, not anymore. The people that he cared for were free, but the cost was great, with the destruction of the imperial dome, hundreds if not thousands of men had died. Stormtroopers, yes, but that was still a lot of deaths on Ezra's conscience. He stepped away from the alliance after that day, remaining on Lothal alongside his Mandalorian friend, Sabine Wren. The war went on, and the pair travelled to areas of the Outer Rim hit worst by both the Empire, and the many crime syndicates of the galaxy. They intended to help people, but unwittingly became part of the chaos themselves, forced to turn to smuggling just to survive. Today was no different, Ezra's rendezvous was once again born of a need to survive. Even with the Empire gone, corruption reigned supreme, and the once hopeful Jedi somewhat doubted that anything could change that now.

Ezra moved to the side of the street, walking through the door of a shady looking nightclub and scanning the room for his contact. With a smile, he recognised her at once, and the troubles on his heart immediately dissipated. The Jedi practically bounded across the room, stopping at a table in the corner, where a figure in Mandalorian armour sat patiently. The figure stood up, and removed her helmet, revealing her familiar tan face.
"Ezra! I was starting to think that something had happened" Sabine whispered, pulling him into a hug and pecking him briefly on the lips.
"You thought right...make a note not to trust those guys in the future. They tried to make off with the weapons and the money" Ezra answered, embracing his companion in return before they both sat down.
"What did you do?" the Mandalorian asked, sliding a mug of Corellian whiskey across the table. Ezra accepted the drink with a gracious smile, taking a sip of it before continuing his story.
"They double crossed me, I was an idiot, I handed the weapons over before they'd showed me the credits. All of a sudden, they pulled out their blasters on me and tried to capture me, apparently I have a high bounty over my ahead. Let's just say, they realised they'd gotten more than they'd bargained for when I drew my lightsaber" he said, chuckling a little. Sabine was still concerned though, that was the third time this month that they'd been tricked, they were running out of trusted contacts in the Outer Rim.
"I'm glad that you're alright...what happened with the weapons?" she asked curiously, this had been a big score, a weapon cache stolen from the remnants of imperial forces.
"I managed to retrieve the credits that we were promised from one of their bodies, and I took a few weapons from the crate, they're in my backpack. But I couldn't walk the crate in the middle of the street, it'd look suspicious as hell, I was lucky I managed to get it to the meeting point in one piece" Ezra explained, pointing briefly to a dark brown pack slung over his shoulder. The Mandalorian smiled again, proud of her boyfriend's skill, and patted him on the shoulder from across the table.
"Nice work...we've gotta be as efficient as that with every job if we're going to earn enough credits to survive out here" she congratulated, but Ezra's face turned grim. Clearly something was on his mind.
"I wish we'd never left Hera" he admitted in a sad tone, and Sabine nodded understandingly. Leaving the alliance after Lothal was a tough decision, one of the toughest that either of them had ever had to make. The fact was, both of them were affected more than they'd like to mention about the explosion of the dome, and they weren't sure if they could participate in a war on a galactic scale, they were plucky rebels, not soldiers. Hera and Rex had stayed with the rebellion of course, as had Chopper, but neither Ezra nor Sabine knew what had become of Zeb.
"Mhm...I know what you mean, if we'd stayed, we'd never have ended up in the state that we are now. But we weren't soldiers Ez" Sabine reasoned.
"No, we weren't, but are we really smugglers? Some of the things we've had to do...in the name of survival. I'm a Jedi...or I was, now I don't know anymore" Ezra answered glumly. Sabine reached across the table, taking his hands into her own and looking at him seriously.
"You will always be a Jedi, Ezra. You will always be a force for good, we're in a rough patch right now, but we'll find our way out, we always do" she said in a reassuring tone, and slowly an amused grin appeared on his face.
"A 'force' for good huh?" he said with a smile, causing her to roll her eyes. He hadn't changed a bit.
"Come on, we should get going" the Mandalorian stated, and the pair stood up, heading towards the nightclub's exit. As always, it was time to go hunting for a new job, hopefully one that wouldn't result in them being double crossed this time.