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EZRA BRIDGER NEVER REALLY NEEDED FRIENDS.
He had his imaginary ones so why would he need real ones? His imaginary ones were only imaginary because others couldn't see him and they were some of his best and very first friends.
Ezra couldn't remember a time that he couldn't see Leia and Luke. They were always there, right behind him and next to him since birth. Anywhere he went, they went.
It was only when Ezra was three when he realized no one around him could see the twins. His mom would look at him strangely and would look mostly worried.
His dad never wanted to hear about Leia's grades or Luke's newest invention. His dad just wanted him to shut up and never talk to them - or about them - if they were ever outside around stormtroopers or other Imperial guards.
And the whispers his parents had after he was asleep, he could still hear them talking - his mother's worried and frantic voice - "His powers are growing - the 'friends' he sees, Ephraim - is he talking about the twins -", his dad's strong and determined voice - "Mira, we made a promise to the hermit, keep them away from each other and nothing wrong will happen. We intended to keep that promise and we will."
Ezra was always confused by that, but he never spent much time worrying about it - he was only five years old after all.
Luke and Leia introduced themselves properly when they were able to actually speak to each other - at four years old. They used to just call each other Blueberry, Princess, and Genius. Kind of. Not really but the words they did use wouldn't make sense to anyone else.
Leia told them that she lived on a beautiful forest planet called Alderaan. Her mother was a Queen and her father a King and Senator. Or used to be. Leia hated the Empire for that - mostly because her parents hated them too. She was given some of the highest upmost studies and was knowledgeable on pretty much everything.
She was snarky at first, rolling her eyes a lot, and making kind of mean comments to the other two. She was still aloof for the time Ezra knew her but she slowly got nicer and more tolerable to their innocence and ignorance. In fact, she started helping them out as much as possible.
Luke was a farm boy from a desert planet from nowhere. He didn't have much of an education because he was too busy helping out his aunt and uncle with their moisture farm.
Luke was always complaining about the work and how he never got to have any fun at any point in his life. When the three of them got older, Luke was busy working. Which looked weird from Ezra's and Leia's standpoint. They might be in a room, just sitting and talking only to see Luke running about and disappearing and reappearing in his view.
And Ezra? Ezra was from Lothal. He got decent studies but his parents pulled him out of the Academy young and no one missed him. He stayed at home a lot, helping out his parents where he could and generally keeping a low profile.
He was seven when his parents were taken.
And that's when everything just went down hill from there.
His parents woke him up frantically, pulling him and Zeebo downstairs into a compartment. Zeebo pushed him down farther and hid him deeper. Ezra tried to see only to see Imperials taking his parents and Zeebo who didn't do much in terms of struggling.
And in that one moment, Ezra knew he had to grow up.
He ran away from home, stealing and thieving in the streets before finding a place to hide and live. He didn't know where the Empire took his parents and he did whatever he could to survive. And the twins - when he was crying and whispering for his parents - the twins's voices started to fade. They kept asking where he was and what was happening and why he was crying. But their voices just got quieter and quieter.
He was thirteen when he opened his eyes and realized that Luke and Leia had faded completely. Because obviously if he was busy surviving, he didn't have any time to speak or play with imaginary friends.
