Partners in Crime | STAR WARS Rebels

10 | decaying memorabilia

We were welcomed by a curtain of dust and gritty sunlight.  I looked around at all the trooper helmets Ezra had collected over the years.  There were a lot; he had almost every kind too.

"Sorry, it's kind of dirty," Ezra mumbled scratching the back of his head.

"Ezra," I sighed.  "You haven't been here in over a year.  No one would expect it to be clean."

"Yeah."

I walked towards the corner of the room and sat on a crate.  "Do you ever miss being here?" I asked.  I noticed all the walls were bare and I wanted to paint them.

"Sometimes, but I mostly miss what it was like, when my parents were around."

I thought back to the picture of Ezra and his parents.  He wasn't alone in his heartache.  All of us had come from tragic backgrounds, and the Empire had stained each of our families.  We were the survivors, the leftovers, and we stood strong together. 

While my family wasn't gone, they resented me as their daughter.  I attempted to forget them and think of our crew as my family.  Hera and Kanan were our parents, Zeb was the protective older brother, Chopper was our pet, and Ezra, well...

Try to put Ezra Bridger in a box and he will find a way out of it somehow. 

"Do you ever miss your family?" Ezra turned to me, suddenly.  I couldn't tell if he was just making   conversation or if he didn't want to talk about his. 

"Yes," I sighed, wrapping my arms around my knees and hugging them to my chest.  "But they never miss me."

"I'm sure that's not true," Ezra replied.  He looked up at the window where the sun was coming in.  A loth cat was perched on the rim.  I smiled at the creature.  The loth cat meowed and ran away.  Ezra laughed.  "Guess you're not a cat lady."

"It's not me, that cat is just scared of happy people," I said, jokingly.  Cats were never my favorite, I preferred droids because I understood them better.

"You're not happy," Ezra sighed, coming closer to me.  My brow shot up in surprise.  Since when did he know anything?  "I can tell, these past few weeks, you're distracted and worried." He sat on a crate nearby.

I was slightly touched that he had noticed, but I didn't want to talk about it.

"It's nothing," I muttered.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?"

It was amazing how Ezra could read me like a book. I don't know why I kept worrying about Castriel. I wanted to sever any connection I had to him, I wanted to shove the truth away instead of facing it. Sometimes I was worried about how Kallus could control him, and if he hurt him. But there was a deeper fear that lurked underneath it. What if I had to face him again and I was forced to hurt him? Not just injure him but possibly worse...

"It's foolish, I know," I admitted. Ezra looked hurt in a way. This is what I was worried about even more. Castriel and I had a history, but our true feelings were never spoken. Ezra and I had become close this past year, and I didn't want to push that away.

I couldn't deny that I had feelings for both of them. I just wish it was easier.

"Can you tell me the truth?" Ezra pouted. "What am I to you? Am I just your annoying little brother? Your partner? Or something more..?"

Ezra was hardly little anymore. I often forgot that I was a year older than him. His question had me trapped, and I was still trying to make sense of it all myself. I decided to turn it around and get him to answer.

"Something more?" I got up and walked closer to him. "Like what?" I could play dumb when I wanted to.

Ezra swallowed and stood up from where he was sitting. "You know what," he said, eyeing me carefully.

"I'm not sure I do," I said and shook my head a little, pretending to be confused.

"You know, we understand each other. Like Kanan and Hera." The words were difficult for him to say, like he was embarrassed.

I felt my heart racing being this close to him, and this close to the truth. He reached out and took my hand. I smiled as he folded his fingers into mine. Looking up into his deep blue eyes, I saw a world beyond this never-ending war. A life where there could be peace and we could be together... forever.

"Like this?" I whispered, leaning closer to him. I placed my other hand over his chest and felt his heart beating wildly.

"Yes," Ezra sighed, quietly. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gently pulled me in toward him.   My heart skipped a beat and I sucked in a breath before--

"Spectre 6? Spectre 5? We just landed outside," Kanan's voice rang clear and distressed over Ezra's comm link.  We both took a step back and Ezra answered the comm.

"Yep, yep, we'll be out in a minute." He attempted to sound casual but his voice sounded suspicious and he was blushing madly.  I snickered.

"C'mon, where are the portions?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.  We had better get out quickly before the rest of the crew began to get ideas about us.

"They should be in..." Ezra scanned the room.  His eyes landed on a duffel bag in the corner.  I winced.  No matter how many portions were in there, they wouldn't feed us for very long.  Especially since Zeb liked to eat a lot.  

Ezra walked over and grabbed the bag.  A cloud of dust erupted when he picked it up.  I was starting to lose my appetite completely.

---

When we boarded the Ghost, I was happy to find that we got a new mission.  There was another shipment of fuel leaving Lothal in a couple days.  If we stole it, our crew could use some, and some could be sold to Vizago for credits.  We could use the credits to get more food and supplies. Things were starting to look up.

My role was to distract the guards.  I sat in the common room trying to think up the best diversion.  I wanted to do something new, something refreshing and rebellious that the Empire would really remember. Explosive fireworks? Spray paint that burns when connected with metal?  

But like Ezra had said, I was distracted.  This time I was thinking about Ezra, not Castriel.  I sighed, thinking of the two of us together in Ezra's house.  What would have happened if Kanan hadn't interrupted us?

I was pretty sure that both of us knew what would have happened, and that's what terrified me most.