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Chapter Text

Important A/N!:  

This is a very A.U. story that features a Vader that didn’t quite happen the way you know. I am now writing that story too, so if you’re curious about how Anakin fell about a year sooner, didn’t burn to a limbless crisp, and managed to father the twins with a Padmè who didn’t love him but wanted an oblivious Obi-Wan instead, then check it out. :P  (It’s gonna be dark, though, just to warn you.)

A Glimmer of Light

Book 2 of The Light series

Prologue:

D1/12 BBY, Vader’s flagship, patrolling the Outer Rim…

Darth Vader, the most feared person in the galaxy, was afraid.

He’d been secretly afraid for years. Afraid of his Master who held his life in his twisted and infinitely powerful hands. Afraid of failure and the consequences thereof. And afraid that he’d be enslaved to the vile person who had tricked him into falling to the Dark for the rest of his miserable and lonely life.

And thus, as he’d been doing for years, while staring out into the peaceful obsidian expanse of space from the bridge of his Star Destroyer, he was secretly casting through the Force for a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of light in the Dark existence in which he was entrapped.

And then, it found him.

“Sir, we’re picking up a transmission of interest from the nearby planet of Lothal.”

He jolted as the Force pinged slightly on his senses, the way it did when something interesting was about to happen. Spinning on his heavily booted heel, Vader pinned the comm officer in his hard gaze via the red lenses of his mask. “Play it,” his modified voice said in a deep rumble.

The man flipped a couple of switches and then the transmission was playing over the comm for everyone on the bridge to hear.

"Are you going to let the Empire ruin your livelihoods? Turn your children into ruthless soldiers? Is this really what you want? We must not let the Empire turn us into cowards. We have to stand up for what we believe in!" cried a female voice. "The people of Lothal have the right to live their lives in peace. Don't let them subjugate you or steal your hope! It’s time to stop letting them destroy our home and do something! Stand up and fight against the Imperial sleemos before it’s too late!"

As his officers shifted and muttered in affront, Vader’s eyes closed as he was given a few flashes of visions centered around a dark blue haired boy.

"Mommy! NOOOO!"

"Ezra!"

"Your parents are dead, Apprentice. Use the pain to make you stronger."

"I hate you!"

"Good. Use that as well."

"Come, my young Apprentice. Show me how you have been practicing while I was gone,"

"Yes, Master."

"Ahhhh!"

"You lost focus, Apprentice. You must learn to concentrate or you will get a matching scar on the other side."

"I apologize, Master. It won't happen again."

Vader opened his eyes and something that might be called a smile, if you gave it the benefit of the doubt, crossed his scarred face. At last, I’ve finally found the one who will help me defeat me Master.

While the well trained bridge crew - consisting mostly of older clones - patiently waited for his instructions, he turned again and looked out into space in the direction of the planet in question, already feeling drawn to it. My Apprentice is on Lothal. And I’ve been given the perfect excuse for tearing him from his family.

Not that I need one, really, but this just seems so fitting.

Smirking under his mask, Vader looked down into one of the pits. “Set a course for Lothal. It seems I have some more insurgents to deal with.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Vader turned back to the window and braced his feet for the jump into hyperspace.

Empire Day, Capital City, Lothal…

The Imperial transport skidded to a stop in front of the Bridger house and stormtroopers already based on the planet marched out, forming two rows for the terrifying man in black. Darth Vader stalked up to the locked front door and opened it with a flick of his fingers. The trooper closest to the door just barely managed to stifle his gasp. (The last guy who'd gawked at the towering caped man had found himself quite dead.) Vader smirked to himself as he felt the terror from the troopers behind him. Good. They should be afraid.

He strode into the house and glanced around at what at first appeared to be an empty living room. Not a sound came from the house, but he wasn't fooled. He could feel their presence below his feet. Holding his hand out, the covering for the hidden cellar rose and settled softly off to the side. Now the voices from below could be heard. And they were definitely speaking about the illegal anti-Empire broadcasts that had been traced to this location, talking about this evening’s planned broadcast from the sound of things.

Vader nodded towards the ladder in the floor and the first four troopers jogged over and slid down, bringing cries of fear and dismay from below.

"Move. Up the ladder," the captain of the squad said sternly. One by one the rebels appeared on the main level to be met by Darth Vader and many blasters pointed at them.

Vader sneered at the first man up the ladder. "Governor Azadi. How disappointing. It seems we will have to find a new Governor for this planet." Ryder stared back at him with an obstinate tilt to his chin and said nothing as he was handcuffed and led out the door. He had to grudgingly admire the big man’s spirit even if he couldn’t condone it.

The next person was a cowering yellow Rodian. Vader hardly even bothered to look at him as he was led away.

The third person up the ladder was Ephraim Bridger. Vader looked the other man over assessingly and dismissed him as insignificant, just another rebel too cowardly to do anything but speak against those who didn't match his idea of a perfect world. Ever since the blatant hypocrisy of the Senate during the Clone Wars, he’d despised politicians - or anyone who resembled one - with a passion, and that included his Master, the worst politician of them all. He now only respected those who fought with more than words. Unfortunately for him, his Master was much more than a politician.

"How dare you break into my home?!" Ephraim said as he was forced into cuffs.

"How dare you think you could speak against my Emperor and get away with it?" Vader replied coldly.

"We dare because it's what is right!" Mira Bridger said as she climbed the ladder. "Your Emperor has ruined our planet! You steal people's farms! You cut down all the trees! The sky hasn't been smoke free for over a year! How can we not speak out against him!?" She struggled as two troopers forced her into handcuffs as well.

Somewhere deep inside him, Vader agreed with her, but he couldn't afford to think it. Instead he grabbed her throat with the Force. And when her husband tried to protest, he choked him as well. "You are both rebel scum." He dropped his hold on them and they fell to their knees, gasping. That should shut them up.

"Mommy!" At the same time, the stormtrooper captain appeared from the hole, carrying a furiously squirming young boy who looked about seven years old. Vader felt a little thrill of awe to see the boy from his vision in real life because he represented a possible future in which he wasn’t enslaved to his hated Master.

Vader nodded at the troopers holding the elder Bridgers. "Take them away."

The troopers dragged the still gasping couple out of the house, but Mira somehow fought her way out of her captor's grip and ran back towards her son. The boy reached for her, kicking and clawing, but the captain held on to him out of sheer determination.

Vader grabbed the purple eyed woman with the Force again and lifted her off the ground. "Behave, boy, or your mother will die right now in front of you."

The boy stared at his mother with wide blue eyes as she struggled in Vader's Force grip, once again gasping for air. "Mommy! NOOOO!" As he screamed, every single thing in the house not weighed down started to float and the house shook in its foundation. A little voice inside of Vader laughed gleefully. I’ve definitely found my Apprentice.

Somehow, Ephraim Bridger came running back in, yelling, "Ezra!"

What the kark? I should have brought my own troopers. These ones are useless!

Vader decided he'd had enough of this gong show. With a swipe of his arm, he sent Ephraim flying back through the doorway, knocking him out. He tossed the wife after him. She cried once then fell silent.

Vader turned his attention to the sobbing dark blue haired boy. He waved a hand in front of his little face and growled, "Sleep." The boy instantly went silent and limp in the captain's arms and all of the furniture fell back to the floor with a crash. Vader moved the step that separated them and took the boy from the captain, tossing the minimal weight over his shoulder. They were the last people in the house.

Vader gazed at the white helmet through his own black one and pushed his will at the stormtrooper. "You will erase all Imperial records of the boy's existence and make the parents disappear to the furthest, most impenetrable, and most remote prison we have."

"I will erase all records of the boy's existence and make the parents disappear," he droned back.

Vader nodded to himself and carried his new Apprentice out of the house to do some disappearing of his own.

2 years later, Empire Day, Jhothal, Lothal…

Kanan Jarrus hungrily watched his Twi’lek pilot captain eat with delicate and clever hands as unobtrusively as possible as he sat across from her at their table in Old Jho's.

She was just so beautiful, all soft emerald eyes and light green skin on a lithe and curvy body that enticed him beyond measure – and every other male with eyes - but never acted like she was aware of it.

Kanan was hopelessly in love with her, but she seemed pretty determined to keep their relationship purely professional. But after half a year of travelling the galaxy with her, he thought he just might be winning her over; she'd actually agreed to take a day off from running missions and gone out with him for a nice dinner.

All right, it’s still a noisy, crowded bar, he admitted to himself, but whatever. It’s a start.

We’re eating.

Together.

Out.

I’m calling this a date whether she likes it or not.

But... maybe not out loud. I don't feel that lucky.

Yet.

Hera Syndulla glanced at her crewmate once again, and fought off the blush that wanted to take over her face.

He was just so handsome, with those soul searching teal eyes, intriguing auburn hair that she really wanted to pet and run her fingers through, and broad shoulders over a lean and capable body. The way he kept looking at her when he thought she wasn't paying attention was really messing with her self control. His gorgeous, long lashed eyes seemed to worship her every move and all she wanted to do was pounce on him and kiss him senseless.

Hera forced herself to concentrate on the delicious nerf steak in front of her. I can’t afford to fall for him. There’s too much at stake and it would be horribly irresponsible.

She glanced at him again as she chewed a small bite, unable to help herself. But he’s just so... available.

And strong.

And funny.

And handsome.

Or did I say that already? Whatever. He is.

Oh, and let’s not forget the best thing about him; he’s a Jedi.

She sighed softly, sneaking yet another glance and catching his hooded gaze on her once again.  

Ever since they’d saved her planet during the Clone Wars, she'd had a soft spot for the Jedi, thinking them the coolest people in the galaxy. And then the evil Empire had wiped them out, devastating her and her father, who also thought highly of them.

Or so everyone thought. But there was one sitting right across from her.

Well, okay, he doesn't think of himself as a Jedi anymore, but that doesn’t change my opinion of him. He still meditates like a Jedi. He still uses the Force like a Jedi when the situation calls for it. And he still has that aura of calm control, just like a Jedi from before. To me, that makes him a Jedi whether he calls himself such or not.

And oh, stars, do I ever want him.

But I can’t have him.

Right?

Her self debate was interrupted as the atmosphere in the cantina changed and the radio that had been playing in the background became everyone's focus.

"Turn it up, Jho!" someone yelled.

The large room went silent as everyone listened to the broadcast.

"Are you going to let the Empire ruin your livelihoods? Turn your children into ruthless soldiers? Is this really what you want? We must not let the Empire turn us into cowards. We have to stand up for what we believe in! The people of Lothal have the right to live their lives in peace. Don't let them subjugate you or steal your hope! It’s time to stop letting them destroy our home and do something! Stand up and fight against the Imperial sleemos before it’s too late!"

What a great speech, Hera thought. She sounds like Father.

I wonder if I could recruit her.

The room cheered as the speech ended and the radio D.J. spoke. "We play this in remembrance of our first rebel leaders, Governor Azadi and Mira and Ephraim Bridger. It was a sad day when they were caught by the Empire, but the Rebellion lives on in our hearts, even if we can't do anything to change what is happening to our world. Remember, people of Lothal. Don't let their efforts be completely wasted. And now, I'm off before the Empire finds me as well." The D.J. chuckled and music played again.

The noise in the bar returned to normal as people talked about what they'd heard. Kanan and Hera looked at each other with raised brows. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked the Human male who had become her best friend in a relatively short time.

A slow smile spread across his face. "If you're thinking that we should try and find these Bridgers and the old Governor, then yes. I'm thinking what you're thinking."

She grinned at him, liking him more every day that she knew him in their shared battle against the Empire. He really would make a fine mate… She pushed the traitorous thought away and focused on business again. "I'll contact Fulcrum. See if someone can slice into the Imperial records and find out where they're being held. We can always use more rebels on our side."

Kanan nodded. "And we'll get to break into another prison. I know that's your favourite mission to run," he teased.

"Hey!" she protested, blushing a bit more than she’d like. "It's not my fault Fulcrum and I had to break you out of prison last month. The intel was bad."

Kanan just smirked and ate another bite of his excellent steak, the nerfherder.

She kicked him under the table and he grinned wider, white teeth flashing enticingly.

Hera rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her plate out of sheer self-preservation.

Force save me from good looking Jedi gunslingers.

Or maybe I should just jump on him and get it over with before I combust with suppressed desire.

Hera glanced at him and caught the heat in his eyes. Butterflies fluttered in her core. His foot touched hers. She inhaled, steak forgotten.

He dropped his fork and leaned towards her, daringly tracing a finger over one of the markings on her lek. She shivered in her chair. His husky whisper of, “Did I ever tell you that I can hear your louder thoughts?” had her dropping her own fork.

Five minutes later, they were back on the Ghost and locked in her cabin, lips permanently attached to each other as hands tore off clothes.

When she called Fulcrum the next day, she introduced him to her secret contact as her mate, prepared to deal with whatever consequences doing so would cost her.

Imagine her surprise when Kanan and Fulcrum recognized each other.

Chapter Text

Time To Prove Yourself:

D1/3 BBY, Bast Castle, Vjun

For his yearly birthday present to himself, Apprentice soaked in the image on the holo emitter before moving to the next one and then the next. Every single image was of him with his parents, from just a baby all the way to the last, taken the day before the end of his life as a normal boy. Apprentice stared at that one the longest, eyes burning from tears he’d long ago learnt not to shed.

He missed his parents more with every day he was trapped in this living hell.

Nine kriffing long years he'd been locked in this castle, except for when his Master would take him on a trip somewhere that usually involved some sort of lesson in how to be even more evil. Nine years of torture and training and cold. Always the neverending cold. He shivered even now. Apprentice couldn't remember ever being warm while existing here, hoping this would finally be the day his Master would kill him and get it over with.

Unfortunately, his rage-filled and usually bitter-with-life Master never quite went that far.

Apprentice sighed and turned off the holo emitter, the envy-filled pain of seeing how unabashedly happy the people in the images were more than he wanted to deal with.

He snorted to himself. Master would say, ‘Use the pain, Apprentice, It will make you stronger. Blah, blah, blah.’ But I really kriffing don’t want to anymore.

Never did.

I just want it all to be over, no matter how that has to happen.

And if death by Master isn’t an option, I guess that only leaves me with being what he wants me to be:

A murderous, unfeeling bastard who doesn’t give a flying frag what other people think of him and even more importantly, doesn’t pine over the past like a pathetic youngling.

Just like him.

He ejected the disk that Uncle Tseebo had given him for his birthday just an hour before the stormtroopers had appeared in the cellar, and looked at it through blurry eyes as it rested on the palm of his hand. I should just destroy it. 

He closed his fist until the edge of the disk dug into his skin, welcoming the physical pain as the bitter pragmatist in him fought with what remained of his heart.

Do it. Crush it.

No, don’t! It’s all you have left!

Just get it over with. Then you’ll never have to hurt when you see it again.

Please… his heart whimpered. Please just hang on a little longer. Maybe something will change and you can finally escape.

Bowing his head in defeat, Apprentice sucked in a shuddering breath and relaxed his grip on the disc. All right. One more year. But if I’m still trapped in this hell on my next birthday, then my present to myself is the destruction of this kriffing reminder of what I’ll never be again.

He hid it back inside his boot just like he’d done before being snatched up by a stormtrooper. Which brought back the memory of screaming for his mom. And his father calling his name with so much anguish in his tone, Apprentice would always remember that he’d once been loved.

That he’d once had a family.

That he’d once been Ezra.

Ezra… A real name. What a pathetic thing, now.

Apprentice scoffed. He hadn't thought of himself as Ezra for more years than he could remember.

Or not…

Another shiver passed over him as the memory of the last time he used that name flashed through his mind.

Ezra screamed as his unwanted Master threw him across the room with the Force, hitting the wall hard, but the wave of anger from his Master hitting him harder.

"This is the last time I'll tell you this, boy," the black armoured man said as he stalked towards the child on the floor. "You are my Apprentice and you will learn to use the Force whether you like it or not."

"But I don't want to be!" Ezra cried. "You're evil and cold and you had my parents killed!"

The one who called himself Darth Vader reached down with the Force and lifted Ezra so his face was right up to that cold, cold mask. "I don't care, Apprentice. Get over your pathetic self before I start breaking you one bone at a time."

Ezra glared defiantly into the black holes of the mask. "Never, Master," he spat. "And my name's Ezra Bridger. Not Apprentice."

Ezra screamed again as the bone in his left arm was snapped in half. "Your name IS Apprentice," Vader said coldly. "I never want to hear that other name again. And if you're smart, Apprentice, you won't think it either."

"No!" Ezra screamed through the pain. The bone in his right leg was next. And then he was dropped on the floor, sending the broken bone through the skin. Ezra sobbed and barely stopped himself from fainting or throwing up, he wasn't sure which was the stronger urge. He knew from experience that either sign of weakness would just be rewarded with more pain, so the boy endured it somehow.

“Are you ready to give up yet, Apprentice?” Vader growled.

Is my name really worth this?

He’d taken too long to answer. The evil man broke his other arm with a casual snap of his fingers.

Ezra screamed again, tears and snot streaming down his face.

No, it’s not. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not.

Apprentice hung his head in defeat and gasped out, "Alright, Master. I will do as you ask. I will be Apprentice."

"Good," His Master said. Then he turned and left the room, leaving Apprentice to make his own way to the med room two floors above to get patched up by indifferent droids. It took a long, long time to get there.

That was the last time Apprentice had the willpower to defy his Master.

As he pushed the memory away before his stomach roiled any harder in sympathy with old pains, Apprentice felt the approach of his Master.

Shit!

He swiftly moved into a meditation pose on the mat beside his narrow bunk bed and quickly cleared his mind of all emotions; hate, self-loathing, longing… everything, and then worked on building up the subtle shield he kept between himself and the training bond his Master had all but forced into his mind years ago. With hard-earned practice, he hadn't given away any emotions for his Master to use against him for at least the last two years.

Much of his shield was based on imagining the calm emptiness of space; lifeless and cold. That was how he saw himself when he was with his Master. It was the only way he could hide everything he really felt. And it had worked.

With that done, he concentrated on the Dark side in him and made sure it completely hid the glimmer of Light that still surrounded his heart.

His act as a Darksider was getting easier and easier to pull off, which used to scare him, but now it was more about survival than caring how he ended up.

He wasn’t even sad about it anymore.

Darth Vader strode into his Apprentice's room without announcing himself, a thrill of something that might be called anticipation jarring his usually dormant emotions into life. He was practically eager to tell the boy about the surprise he had for him.

His Apprentice was finally ready for a real test of his skills, and Vader had found the perfect challenge.

Vader took in the sight of his Apprentice sitting on the floor in a meditation pose with his head bowed and his Force signature fairly crackling with controlled Dark energy. The Sith Lord smiled to himself, proud of a job well done.

It had taken a lot of work, repetition, and more torture than he would have liked to break him, but he’d finally turned the boy into a Dark side warrior. The teenager was strong; mentally, physically, and in the Force. He'd be very hard to beat. He’s certainly better trained than Master’s annoying Inquisitors.

"Apprentice."

The boy glanced up with apparent surprise that Vader didn’t really believe and rose from his cross-legged pose to a respectful kneel, head bowed once again. "What is your biding, my Master?" he asked the floor with the cool voice of one who knows he should be submissive but can’t quite give up that last ounce of control of their own life.

Much like how he treated his own Master.

And that was why Vader had let him keep his last few little hints of defiance. If his Apprentice was to be an effective assassin who could eventually help him overthrow the Emperor, he would need a mind of his own.

Vader crossed his arms over his black armoured chest and looked down at the top of the midnight blue buzz cut. "The time has come for you to prove yourself worthy of a real name."

Apprentice's head popped back up and his eyes widened marginally, but that was the only sign he gave at being granted the equivalent of a graduation ceremony for a Sith. Vader felt almost proud of him. “It has?”

"Yes. I have a task for you, Apprentice. Succeed, and you will be granted a Darth name. One of your own choosing even."

Apprentice raised an eyebrow only slightly at the dubious privilege being bestowed upon him and restrained the urge to snort. Yay. A Darth name. Exactly what I wanted.

Not.

On the other hand, it has to be better than Apprentice.

"What is this task, Master?"

"There is a band of rebels based on the planet Lothal who are causing grief to the Empire." The temperature in the room dropped as his Master radiated displeasure.

It wasn’t the cold that made Apprentice’s breath catch, but the mention of his home planet's name. It doesn’t matter. Don’t feel anything Master can use against me. But the location can’t be a coincidence.

He’s testing me.

Vader continued, thankfully unaware of the brief inner turmoil in the teenager thanks to his mental shield. "I want you to find them and eliminate them. I have sent Inquisitors to do the job and they failed. I went myself once, but they got away and I was called back by the Emperor to take care of something else before I could pursue them further. I now give this task to you, Apprentice."

I feel like I should be flattered at the trust he’s putting in me, but it’s probably a trap more than anything.

Apprentice nodded once. "Yes, Master. It will be done. I will not fail you like the others," he said confidently while keeping his mind as blank as he could manage.

"Good," Vader said, black mask nodding slightly. "Pack what you need and meet me in the hangar when you are ready." The Sith Lord turned on his heel and left the room, cape billowing behind him.

Apprentice quickly threw a few things in a bag, all while thinking furiously. This could be my chance to escape!

But is it even worth trying? Master will undoubtedly be able to find me again and the consequences of disobedience will be brutal.

And I already tried once and failed miserably

But I was younger then and nowhere near as well trained. I can shield from him now, too. Surely that’s enough of a difference?

But what if it isn’t?

What if he finds me?

Is the subsequent torture worth the risk?

Maybe I should just do as Master wants and deal with the rebels and then come back here like a good slave. At least then I won’t end up hurting again.

Now in his small refresher room, gathering up personal hygiene items, Apprentice looked at himself in the mirror. Or maybe I can just play this by ear and if something miraculous shows up to convince me that running is a better idea than staying, I’ll take it.

Blue eyes rimmed in a yellow starburst stared back at him, a perfect indicator of his indecision. Lately, the yellow had taken over completely more often than not, but when Vader wasn’t around for a while or the Light side in him struggled with what he was, the blue reappeared a bit.

For the last year, if his Master saw blue in his irises, then he would be punished with pain until his eyes changed back to yellow.

Shit. I can’t go down there like this!

Growling under his breath, Apprentice clenched his fists and closed his eyes. Then he concentrated on the Dark energy that surrounded the castle and called more of it to himself.

It came willingly, caressing over his skin in a way that made him shiver with pleasure before it sank into his very soul, filling him with power.

Apprentice breathed in deeply and then opened his eyes. Pure yellow gold stared back at him, his pupils blown wider than normal from the stimulation.

Better.

Ezra wasn’t looking forward to the day when he’d be expected to sport red starbursts around the yellow as well, because that meant that he would have lost all hope and given in entirely to the Dark. It meant that he would have become a cold-blooded killer with not a speck of remorse left in his soul. And that was something he knew his parents would weep buckets over if they were alive to see. 

So it’s probably a good thing they aren’t.

Before leaving his quarters, he glanced at his utilitarian room and hoped it would be the last time he ever saw it, but he wasn't counting on it.

Apprentice made his way down through the castle, passing the occasional stormtrooper on the way. With the rare exception, droids and faceless troopers were the only people he'd seen other than his Master for nine years. I’m almost looking forward to this task just for the reward of seeing other living beings… Even if they might not be living very long.

As part of his training, Master had forced him to kill; stormtroopers who displeased him, usually. Apprentice had hated it, but had learned to do it without feeling, pretending that the person being murdered for no good reason was just another practice droid. It had increased the cold inside him every time he did, but he hadn’t had a choice. Fortunately, that hadn't happened very often so far, but with this first solo mission, he saw the beginning of a long string of such missions.

He had been trained as an assassin and his Master wasn’t going to waste his years of work now.

Apprentice arrived at the hangar, where his Master was waiting for him… Along with a new addition to the space that had Apprentice all but drooling.

Vader nodded at the practically sparkling TIE Advanced sitting beside his more used and abused one. (But still very lovingly cared for. His Master WAS a pilot at heart more than anything, after all.) "I had this made especially for you, Apprentice. Succeed in your task and you'll get to keep it."

Holy kriff, what a bribe. That fighter might be worth going all Dark for.

Apprentice actually let himself show some feeling, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Master. You remembered how much I enjoyed flying yours."

Vader huffed a dark laugh. "Yes, I did. It was rather hard to miss during your flying lessons.” Then his tone turned serious again and the cold eyes of his mask focused on him. “I hope you don't disappoint me, Apprentice. It would be a crying shame to have to blow it up to teach you a lesson."

Apprentice shook his head almost frantically. Frag no! Not the pretty fighter that I already have a name for! "Please don't, Master! I'll do what you ask. You can count on me."

"Good," Vader grunted. "I expected nothing less. Now go. And keep me informed as to your progress. As usual, if I don't answer the comm, it's because I can't. I'll get back to you. Oh, and I put a datapad with what information we have on the rebels in the TIE for you."

Apprentice nodded once. "Yes, Master. Thank you, Master." With an easy bound, he jumped into the present that he doubted his Master knew coincided with his sixteenth birthday. He let a grin cross his face as he flipped switches and felt the powerful engines hum around him.

Freedom. I call you Freedom.

Because with you I can be free.

Well, sort of. But I’ll take it.

With one last look at his Master through the transparisteel bubble, who had his feet planted and his hands at parade rest behind his back as he stared back at him, Apprentice guided the specialized fighter up into the air. “See you later, Master.”

“Good hunting, Apprentice,” Vader’s cool voice replied in his mind.

“Thanks,” he thought back dryly.

Apprentice activated the shields before he flew the TIE out of the hangar and into the never-ending acid rain of Vjun. He was practically ecstatic to leave his Master and that dreadful castle behind. It was a good thing he'd learnt to shield his emotions from Vader like his life depended on it, because, in reality, it actually did. His Master would be very displeased if he knew that Apprentice was still capable of feeling happiness. (It was a rare occurrence, but every once in a blue moon, something happened that warranted the emotion. Like now.)

He reached open space in what felt like only a few moments and set the nav computer to take him to Lothal.

As the fighter jumped into hyperspace, Apprentice slumped in his seat as the reality of the situation finally struck him.

I’m going home.

While the starfighter made the long flight from Vjun to Lothal, Apprentice dozed, meditated, and read the datapad.

His eyebrows rose in appreciation as he read. The list of what the rebels had accomplished in the last two years alone was almost unbelievable. He could understand why the Empire wanted them taken care of once and for all.

So far, they had done the following:

Stolen or destroyed countless shipments of Imperial supplies and munitions.

Destroyed fleets worth of TIEs both on the ground, in the air and in space.

Killed, seriously injured, or drove insane hundreds of stormtroopers.

Destroyed dozens of Walkers and transports.

Freed a shipment of Wookiee slaves.

Broken into and out of many prisons.

Infiltrated Imperial Headquarters and stolen an important decoder card, which led to the destruction of yet another top secret shipment.

Ruined an Empire Day parade by blowing up an advanced TIE prototype.

Rescued an unnamed Rodian with a data implant that held an unknown amount of Imperial secrets.

Exposed an Imperial spy to the rest of the rebel cells.

Tapped into an Imperial comm tower and sent a message of hope across the galaxy, forcing the Imperials to destroy their own tower, and inspiring more rebel cells to pop up on dozens of new worlds.

And last but certainly not least, they defeated three Inquisitors, the Grand Inquisitor, and blew up Grand Moff Tarkin's Star Destroyer.

Apprentice was seriously impressed. This group of rebels might actually give me a challenge to test my skills on.

Apprentice read on, now going into details about what was known about the rebels themselves.

They appeared to live in a converted VCX-100 Corellian Freighter with a detachable shuttle / fighter. The freighter had enough guns on it to fend off a fleet of TIEs and a pilot with impressive skills. The pilot of the ship was believed to be a light green female Twi'lek.

Unusual, from what I’ve heard about Twi’leks.

There were also four humans, two of whom, a male and a female, remained masked whenever in public. The other male human that had been spotted had brown hair and a goatee. At least one of these three was believed to be a Force user, but nothing had been proven. Unfortunately, the Inquisitors they had killed weren't available to question as to who had managed that.

The last human was a Mandalorian female whom no one had seen the face of. She had extremely colourful armour and had only been spotted with her helmet on. The troopers had nicknamed her The Artist as she had a tendency to paint her signature graffiti all over Imperial things whenever the opportunity presented itself. She was also believed to be the explosives expert in the crew.

She sounds like fun. I’m looking forward to meeting and dealing with this one.

The next member of the group was the real shocker. It was a male Lasat. He was believed to be one of, if not the only, survivor of the extermination of the Lasat population on their world of Lasan. Many troopers feared the large purple striped being because he seemed to enjoy smashing their helmets into their faces.

Apprentice actually laughed at that. If I was a Lasat, I’d probably do the same. Force knows I wanted to smash Master’s mask in often enough when I was little.

Funnily enough, now that I’ve learned how to avoid punishments, I don’t hate him as much anymore.

Still hate him, but, not as much.

Weird.

The last member of the crew was an ancient C1 astromech droid. The orange and white droid was considered a menace and had no qualms about picking up blasters and shooting at troopers, just like its crewmates. It was also frequently sent undercover with an Imperial paint job, but somehow had never been caught yet.

Apprentice wondered why no one had managed that. How hard is it to spot an out-of-date astromech, black paint job or not? Are the Imps that incompetent?

Apparently.

Apprentice's attention was drawn from the datapad by the chime of the nav computer just before it automatically pulled the TIE out of hyperspace.

Home!

He stared at his planet eagerly for a moment then his brows furrowed as he took in the clouds of smoke that seemed to surround it. He didn't remember Lothal looking like that. He had a vague memory of seeing the planet from space when he was little. It used to be a beautiful mix of blue and green with some fluffy clouds here and there. Is this really Lothal? Did the Empire do this to my home?

Fragging bastards!

Apprentice let his anger at the Empire flow through him and fill him with Dark energy until he realized there was nothing he could do about it right now. Resigned, he sent some of the excess back into the Force to help calm himself back down.

But they’re going to pay for it one day.

Pay for hurting my homeworld.

Pay for the death of my parents.

Pay for letting a little boy be turned into the slave of a monster.

Too bad I have to play the part of a loyal Imperial. I don't want to, but that's just how it is.

For now.

The Star Destroyer in orbit hailed him, reminding Apprentice that he was here for a reason. There was a brief conversation where clearance codes were given and Darth Vader's name was dropped, making Apprentice's task easier as the Imperials sent him straight down to Imperial Headquarters to meet with the person in charge of rebel activity.

Apprentice set his TIE down on a small landing pad near the top of the massive dome. He jumped out of his fighter, landing lightly, ignoring the lackey who was pushing a ladder his way.

A door opened and a blond Human man in a grey uniform and armour walked out. He was tall, strong looking, and carried himself with years of ingrained authority. And he had a ridiculously shaped set of mutton chops. Apprentice almost laughed but held it in, instead presenting a cold front. He waited for the other man to come to him, putting himself in the position of power.

Alexsandr Kallus couldn't believe what Lord Vader had sent to help deal with the rebels. He took in the black clothes (high quality armorweave from the looks of it), the confident stance, the closely cropped black hair, the old scar across his left cheekbone, what should have been freaky yellow gold eyes that just seemed like a child's costume effect instead, a lean musculature on a body that was nearly a head shorter than himself, and the lightsabre hilt proudly displayed on his belt, and almost laughed.

He’s just a kriffing teenager! Sixteen or seventeen at the most! Four experienced Inquisitors have been defeated by these rebels. Even Darth Vader himself couldn’t keep them in his sights. How is this boy going to do any better?

He stopped in front of the kid who had been called Vader’s Asset over the comms and only years of experience of dealing with idiots allowed him to keep a straight face. "I am ISB Agent Kallus. I understand you are here to assist me in capturing the rebels that plague this planet?"

The boy looked at him with an expressionless face that suddenly sent a chill down his spine. "Yes. I am. But I've been ordered to eliminate them, not capture them."

Good luck with that, kid. Alex raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, not one to question orders from superior officers.

Even if they are incredibly stupid orders.

The boy’s stare somehow got colder, reminding Alex of Vader, who could do the same thing even through a mask. "Do you have any guess as to their current whereabouts to help me in my search?"

Alex couldn't hold back his incredulity any more. "I might, but what's the point? You don't have a hope, kid."

Apprentice was insulted. And he didn't like being insulted, thanks to too many years of verbal abuse from his Master. He grabbed the insolent man with the Force and lifted him in the air, choking him as he did so. He narrowed his now glowing yellow eyes at the buffoon and growled out, "I am more than capable of handling myself, Agent Kallus."

Agent Kallus gasped for air and swung his legs uselessly. "I apologize," he wheezed as his eyes bugged out slightly.

Sensing that the man was sincere, Apprentice snarled out, "Apology accepted," and let the Imperial sleemo fall to the ground. He looked down at the gasping man at his feet. "Now let's try this again. Do you know where the rebels are right now?"

The Imperial Agent nodded quickly and scrambled back onto his feet, brushing himself off and determinedly regaining his composure, refusing to look shaken or subservient. Apprentice felt a modicum of respect for the man spark to life. "As a matter of fact, I do. One of my informants just spotted one of them in the town of Jhothal not ten minutes ago. If you hurry, you might catch them."

Apprentice inclined his head slightly. "Thank you." He turned on his heel and leapt back up into his TIE in one move, leaving a gawking Agent Kallus in his wake. He cheekily waved goodbye to the man just before he took off.

Alex watched the expensive starfighter fly away and shook his head in disbelief at what had just occurred.  

Kriffing hell. The boy is just like Lord Vader. Just as powerful and just as quick to anger. He’s a bit more forgiving, at least, or I’d probably be as dead as the string of morons Vader left in his wake.

I’ll never underestimate the boy again, whatever his real name is.

I’m not calling him Asset.

Chapter Text

That Can't Be Good:

Meanwhile in Jhothal…

Sabine wandered around the small village market more or less aimlessly, killing as much time as she could get away with because she was reluctant to return to the Ghost. She'd volunteered to pick up the missing ingredients for the dinner Kanan wanted to make when she couldn't take the ridiculous amount of affection floating around the ship anymore. Between Kanan and Hera's heated looks and Ephraim and Mira's frustratingly perfect marriage, she felt like she was living in happy happy hell.

Not that I want them to be unhappy, but kriff, couldn't they at least tone it down a little? she thought grumpily as she casually flipped through a rack of discounted t-shirts. (And ended up buying an extra large black one to sleep in that had colourful fireworks on the front and the saying, ‘If your night doesn’t look like this, you aren’t doing it right.’)

Ever since they'd rescued Kanan from the Grand Inquisitor's clutches, he and Hera had been virtually inseparable. They'd always been close, like romantically living in the same room close, but now she was betting they were going to make it official any day now. All this love stuff was making Sabine feel very lonely. I don't know how Zeb doesn’t go stark raving mad, being practically the last of his kind and all. I suppose he could find a mate from another species, but I’ve never noticed him looking.

I don’t know why I’m feeling so left out lately. It's not like I actually want to get all attached to another person; worrying about them, depending on them, NEEDING them. It all seems so... constricting. But after watching Kanera and Miraim for the last couple of years, maybe my opinion on falling in love has been wheedled down from 'never in a million years' to 'maybe it wouldn't be so bad'.

But even so, I’m not gonna go start looking for Mr. Right. If he shows up in my life all on his own, perhaps I’ll give the whole romance thing a try. I can always toss him out the airlock (probably figuratively, but you never know) if I feel like I’m being smothered.

Sabine sniggered to herself and then finally aimed for the food stall section of the market, not able to delay any longer before Kanan would need his supplies. And they'll start to worry if I don’t get back soon.

And if I stop to paint my phoenix on a wall or two on the way back, well... surely that’s expected by now?

Apprentice did a quick sweep around the outskirts of the downtrodden looking village, still fuming over the wretched state of the dead looking grasslands that he remembered being green and filled with life.

Kriffing Empire is going to pay for that one day, he thought as the Dark side crackled through his blood, feeding on his anger and looping it back.

Oh, but what is this? He’d spotted the distinct diamond shaped vessel known to belong to the rebel group, finding it parked cheekily right where anyone with working eyes could see it on the hill above the village. My prey just sitting out in the open and presenting the easiest fragging target ever?

Are the Imperials here that kriffing incompetent?

Apprentice shook his head and had to admire the Rebels’ gumption. He seriously thought about shooting the ship to bits while it was sitting there, vulnerable, but that just seemed way too easy.

And no fun at all.

Apprentice had no desire to go back home anytime soon, so he thought dragging this out as long as possible while still making himself look good was definitely the path to follow.

Best not to be just as stupid as the Imps, though.

Grabbing a tracker from the compartment of tech he'd found while exploring every nook and cranny of his awesome TIE Advanced starfighter, Apprentice popped the hatch and tossed the tracker out, guiding it with the Force to make sure it landed in a non obvious location on top of the freighter.

He also ran a bio scan and came up one life sign short. Apprentice smiled in anticipation of the hunt to come in spite of the despised but necessary end result. Apprentice was looking forward to the challenge just for something new to do. His life had been an almost consistent monotony of training, schooling, and sheer boredom for almost longer than he could remember; the brief flashes of a happier life with his parents getting harder and harder to recall.

Now... Now I have the dubious pleasure of an adventure combined with a duty that I am bound to fulfill. Now I’m going hunting. One of the rebels has left themselves vulnerable. One of the rebels is all alone in town. One of the rebels is about to find themselves removed from the game.

One of the rebels is about to die.

10 min previously, in the Ghost…

Kanan wandered casually into the secluded nose gun area of the Ghost and closed the door behind him. He'd just spent the last hour meditating and now wanted to spend some quality time with the girl of his dreams. Technically, he should be starting supper, since it was his turn to cook, but Sabine wasn't back yet with the supplies he'd asked for, so he figured what better way to wait for her than to hang out with Hera and have a view of Jhothal at the same time so he could watch for the return of the girl in question.

Hera was working at the computer station, making lists of something or other. (She liked making lists and keeping everyone organized and on budget. Kanan was happy to let her.) The sunlight shining through the transparisteel bubble made Hera's soft green skin look almost luminescent, causing Kanan to pause and just drink in the sight of her.

Never, he swore. Never will I ever get tired of looking at her. My Hera is the most beautiful woman in the galaxy and there’s nothing anyone can ever do or say to make me think otherwise. She shines from the inside out with an innate beauty of the soul that is unmatched by any other that I’ve seen.

To say that Kanan Jarrus was hopelessly smitten with his mate would be a colossal understatement.

Hearing the door open behind her, Hera glanced over her shoulder at Kanan, then turned her chair towards him. Her mouth quirked in amusement as she found him just standing and looking at her like a puppy who'd just been shown a new toy. The open adoration in his features always made her feel special but a little ridiculous at the same time. She understood the urge to just gaze at your love like they were a gift from the stars, but she tried to keep her gawking restrained to times when he was asleep and couldn't tease her about sighing over him like a fangirl.

Kanan, on the other hand, seemed to have no qualms about gazing at her like she'd hung the moon and stars in the sky just for him. She had no idea what was so special about her that made him look at her like that; there were plenty of other Twi'leks who were more beautiful and didn't dress themselves in unattractive pilot's overalls. He'd tried to explain it once, saying something about Force signatures and how beautiful hers was, but Hera just couldn't picture it. Instead, she just accepted that Kanan loved her for more than her outward appearance and thrilled at it. It boded well for a VERY long term relationship, to say the least.

"Did you need something, love?" Hera asked casually, trying to hide the fact that his very presence made her want to jump on him and have her way with him. Especially when he looks at me like that.

Kanan mentally shook himself out of the figuratively drooling state he'd gotten stuck in and smiled at Hera. "No. I'm just waiting for Sabine to get back and I thought I'd spend the time with you. If you don't mind the company, that is."

His heart stuttered at the beautiful smile she bestowed upon him. "Of course I don't mind your company, love. You must know by now that I enjoy all the time we spend together." She crooked a finger at him, encouraging him to come closer. His feet moved before he even told them to. "In fact, I was just thinking that you and I are due for another day off away from the others."

Kanan's eyes lit up and so did his heart as he bent down over his Twi’lek goddess, caging her with his hands on either side of her head. His smile was teasing as he rumbled, "You mean like a date? Cause I have this really good idea about you, me, a blanket, a picnic basket, an open field surrounded by mountains, and no one else for kilometres. What do you think?"

Hera's hands came up to rest on his chest, kneading the muscles gently, and her eyes sparkled emerald green fire as her smile turned approving. And sexy as hell. "I like the sound of that, Kanan Jarrus. I'm holding you to that one as soon as we have some spare time."

"Done," Kanan whispered, moving so his mouth was only a fraction away from hers. "One picnic date to be delivered as soon as possible."

“Mmmmmmmm.” Her eyes closed as he moved that last fraction and brushed over her plush lips lovingly again and again. Her hands trailed upwards until they locked behind his neck and she pulled him down just a little harder and took control of the kiss, opening her mouth and swiping his lips with her tongue teasingly.

Kanan's mouth quirked in a there and gone smile and then their kiss turned fiery in an instant, tongues duelling passionately between gasping breaths.

He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her as he spun and took her chair, settling her over him without losing the contact of their mouths.

Hera made that happy little moan into his questing mouth that never failed to make him ache with need, and slid further onto his lap so she could rub herself against his hardness, driving him absolutely insane on purpose, he was sure.

"Hera," Kanan groaned, her name sounding like a prayer on his lips. "My beautiful Hera." He moved his kisses in scattered brushes up to her cheekbones, over her eyelids, then across to a lek for a moment and then down her long, elegant neck.

Hera laced her fingers amongst the long strands of his hair, pulling out the tie that kept the silky locks restrained, as captivated by the feel of it now as she’d been the first time she’d touched it years ago. She panted against his cheek as he made love to her skin, sending little flutters of electricity through her. "Kanan," she whined quietly.

In response, her mate trailed open mouthed kisses down her neck as she moaned softly and gripped his hair tighter. She wriggled in his lap again, driving herself just as mad as she knew she was making him.

Stars, I could make out with him forever, but…

Hera's teeth found the lobe of his ear and latched on lightly, making his breath catch. "Aren't you supposed to be making dinner right now?" she breathed teasingly into it.

Kanan's eyelids fluttered as he stifled the groan at the sensual onslaught she was delivering him. His mouth moved to her lek in retaliation and started licking and kissing the ultrasensitive skin, tracing the patterns on it. "Sabine's not back yet," he murmured against her headtail. "I still have more time." More time to love you and…

He froze suddenly as a hint of cold and warning from the Force struck him. He spun the chair around with a foot and peered out the clear bubble. Seeing nothing, he turned his focus outwards with the Force, searching for the danger in his mind.

Feeling the sudden tension radiating through him, Hera tensed as well before swiftly turning around in his lap to look outside too. "What is it?"

"Something's here. Or someone." Kanan shivered as the hint of cold crept up his spine.

Then he saw it. A TIE Advanced flew overhead and landed in the center of Jhothal, disappearing from sight amongst the buildings, even with their parking spot on a hill above the town.

"That can't be good." Hera said quietly as she dug out her comm, already way ahead of him to call Sabine and warn her about whatever was in that fighter.

"It's not." Kanan surged from the chair after grabbing Hera around the waist and parking her on her feet. "Send the others and be ready to pick us up," he called as he ran from the room, then jumped the railing of the balcony and landed in the cargo hold in a momentary crouch, ran down the ramp, down the hill, and into the town.

While Hera waited for Sabine to pick up the comm, she watched Kanan with worry in her eyes. She knew for a fact that he wasn't carrying his blaster, since her legs had just been around his thighs, and his long hair was streaming behind him as he ran slightly faster than a human should be able to. He kept it tied back for a reason and she'd gone and undone it. What terrible timing.

At least the pieces of his lightsabre were on his belt.

"I'm on my way back, Hera, I promise," Sabine's voice said, startling the distracted Twi’lek. "I just bought the nerf steak."

"It's not that," Hera said hurriedly as she made her way out of the room and up the ladder one handed. "The kind of TIE the Inquisitors use just landed in the center of the town somewhere and Kanan has a very bad feeling about it. You need to get back here, now. But do it stealthily." She added as she jogged down the hallway to the common room. "Kanan's on his way to you, so don't shoot him if he shows up in front of you."

"Got it. If we're not back in ten minutes... Well, send in the reinforcements."

"I'm sending them anyway," Hera paused, hand touching the wall as worry staggered her for a moment. (She might not be as Force sensitive as a Jedi, but she had developed a fine sense of impending doom.) "Be careful."

"Aren't I always?" Sabine said, completely deadpan, knowing full well that she was the most reckless out of all of their crew.

"I wish," Hera said on a resigned mom sigh as she smacked the button to open the common room door.

The teenager laughed once then disconnected the call.

Five minutes earlier…

Zeb, Ephraim, and Mira were watching a favourite old holomovie about a man who thought he was worthless until he was shown by a Force Ghost what the world would be like if he'd never been born.

The Lasat was sprawled along the bench behind the dejarik table, head resting on his paw. The married Humans were snuggled up in the huge green bean bag chair in the corner. They'd just reached the part when the man's business goes bankrupt when Mira suddenly gasped.

Zeb glanced over at her just in time to see the blood drain from her face and to see Ephraim look at her with concern before he must have sensed whatever it was, because his electric blue eyes went wide for a moment before he paled as well.

Whoa. Something’s up.

Zeb paused the movie, sitting up. "What is it?"

"Cold," Mira said softly, raising from the chair and pulling Ephraim up to.

"Inquisitor, maybe." Ephraim elaborated. "Doesn't feel quite right though.”

A warrior to his core, Zeb was on his feet in an instant and reaching for his bo-rifle where it leaned against the couch. A fierce growl erupted in his throat. “Whatever it is, they’re going to wish they left Lothal alone, just like all the others.”

"But there's something different about this one," the Human/Angel hybrid Force Healer added. Her eyes were closed as she concentrated on the presence she felt nearby while her husband added another layer to the shields he kept around his and Mira's Force signatures. "It feels so familiar despite the cold. Almost like..." her voice faded and she shook her head. "No. I must be imagining it."

"What, sweetheart?" Ephraim asked, brushing a strand of her naturally opalescent lilac coloured hair behind an ear. She could feel his curiosity through their bond. "What did you think you felt?"

Mira's purple eyes met her husband's and she grabbed hold of his hand for strength, almost afraid to say it because that would for sure jinx it. But she did anyway, because he deserved to know. "Ezra, Raimy. I thought I felt our son." The words felt torn from her throat, and were barely audible, even to her.

Ephraim's gaze softened and he squeezed her hand in a gentle sympathy that she appreciated. "I'm sorry, Mira,” he whispered. “Our son is gone."

Mira's turned her gaze to the floor as she fought back the stinging tears threatening to escape. "I know. I know. But I still dream about him, Raimy. I like to think he's still out there, somewhere."

"I hate to break up this painful moment," Zeb said dryly, but with a hint of sympathy in his voice, "But if there's an Inquisitor out there, then we have a problem. Sabine’s not back yet."

Just then the door to the common room opened and they all turned to see Hera looking at them. Her vibrant green skin was slightly paler than normal and her eyes were wide, but Mira could see that the younger woman was keeping herself together out of stubborn determination. Which is why she’s our leader.

"Kanan just went to get Sabine,” Hera informed them. “He says something bad just landed in town. Go help him. Call me if you need me."

The first part wasn’t exactly news, but there was no point saying that. Mira and the guys just nodded and ran past the Twi’lek, with the woman only pausing for a second to touch Hera’s shoulder in comfort and reassurance that everything would be okay.

Hera watched Ephraim dash into his cabin and emerge with cloaks and masks for himself and his wife and then she followed him to the bridge, arriving just in time to see his head disappear through the hole in the floor that gave access to the cargo hold. Moving to the front of the cockpit, her hands pressed against the transparisteel as she waited only seconds for three figures to emerge and run down the hill. Zeb's massive purple striped figure easily kept up with the two smaller, cloaked and masked figures.

"Come back to me," Hera whispered, referring to all five of her family members, but her heart might have added an extra, ‘please’ for Kanan alone. Then she put on her game face and sat in the pilot's chair, flicking switches and warming up the Ghost. "Chopper," she called to the astromech droid who was plugged into his charging station in the back corner.

"Yes?" he beeped.

"Go wait by the Phantom's cannon controls. This might get messy fast."

"Yes, mom," he beeped agreeably (for once), then rolled out of the cockpit.

Meanwhile in town…

Apprentice landed his TIE in a parking area near the market. He popped the hatch and then leapt over to the nearest roof and over a couple more until he had a bird's eye view of the market place. It wasn't exactly bustling, but there was enough beings shopping to indicate the market was successful enough. He also noticed that the town had almost zero Imperial presence. He spotted two measly stormtroopers in the entire market and they appeared to be shopping too. It made him wonder if they were awol, because as far as he knew, stormtroopers did not SHOP.

A little piece of Apprentice cheered the troopers on, and he had no inclination to report them.

No wonder the rebels feel safe enough to hang out here and park in the open.

He scanned the other shoppers quickly, dismissing all of them as non targets. His first thought that the rebel might be shopping looked like a no go. But then a tingle of awareness made him look harder and he caught a glimpse of bright colour slipping into an alleyway on the far side of the market. He smiled in satisfaction. If that’s not one of my targets, then the Force is a liar.

From a crouch, he leapt to the next roof across the road, over the oblivious shoppers, and landed agilely as if the distance had been nothing more than a regular step. Three more bounds and he was three roofs over and looking down at a female Mandalorian covered in rainbow painted beskar armour from top to bottom, attached to a form fitting bodysuit that was undoubtedly spaceworthy. She was jogging down the alleyway, carrying a shopping bag, and just tucking a comm unit away into her belt.

Gotcha, Mando Girl. And if you just called for help, it will never get here in time. Apprentice smirked to himself at how easy this was.

He drew his lightsabre and ignited the red blade, before leaping off the building in a showy flip and landing right in front of her.

Sabine gasped as a... boy? with a red lightsabre and dressed all in black appeared in front of her.

She'd heard the sword as it turned on, the snap hiss an unmistakable sound that she was more than familiar with, and had already tensed in anticipation of a fight. But she was not expecting the enemy to be a teenage boy. A good looking one at that.

His black hair was cropped close to his skull and he had pleasing features despite the long scar across his cheekbone. Then again, Sabine had a thing for battle scars, so... you could say she thought it was an asset. He was taller than her by about a head and his broad shoulders stretched the material of his black shirt that also did nothing to hide the toned shape of his chest and arms.

But his best feature might be his eyes with their thick black lashes. They were an unusual colour, starting as a vibrant royal blue by the iris and transitioning to a golden yellow that she thought might be an indicator of the Dark side. But this is the first time a Darkie’s eyes have ever looked pretty, that’s for kriffing sure.

Sabine tilted her head in appreciation before she mentally slapped herself for mooning over the enemy.

"This is your lucky day," the boy said, his strange eyes twinkling. "Keep me entertained for the next two minutes and I promise I'll make your death quick and painless." Then he had the audacity to turn off his lightsabre, hook it on his belt, and hold his hands out to the sides in an 'I'm unarmed' gesture.

Sabine thought he was beyond stupid, but she didn't bother to tell him that. She dropped her bag of purchases and drew her WESTARs, aiming dead centre at his chest. "How bout I end you now, Darksider sleemo, and send you back to the hell you were spawned from." Cause that’s what I’m supposed to say, right?

The boy laughed coldly as his eyes turned fully yellow, answering the earlier question of his affiliation. "I don't think my mother would appreciate the slur, but you're welcome to try. Please."

Sabine raised an eyebrow under her helmet at the hint of pleading that had crept into his voice with the last word. Does he actually want to die? I must be imagining things. No Darkie ever WANTS to die. But still… Far be it for me to deny him if that’s the case.

Her fingers tensed on the triggers of her blasters as she grinned viciously at him from within the hidden depths of her helmet. “Haven’t you heard, Darkie? There is no try.”

And then she pulled the triggers.

Apprentice almost laughed at the well known Jedi saying that his Master had said a thousand times to him when he was training him. Do or do not. There is no try. How true. ‘Hold this boulder up, Apprentice, or it will fall on your head when I let it go.’ ‘Make that jump, Apprentice, or you will burn in the lava below.’

Temporarily distracted by his own thoughts, the girl actually got off four shots before he held up a hand and flicked them off to the side with a casual twitch of the Force. Then he froze her fingers on the triggers so she couldn’t shoot at him again. He could feel her shock as she was unable to move her hands, making him smirk at her rather cheekily. With another gesture of his hands, he pulled her blasters from her grip and tossed them off in different directions into the alleyway. That got a disgusted, "Hey!" from her that only made his smile grow.

Not much of a challenge, but toying with her is still fun.

The boy grinned at her, showing glistening white teeth. "Sorry, but you don't get to shoot at me."

Narrowing her eyes in rage at the mistreatment of her beloved blasters, Sabine swung a kick at the boy's chest, pushing him back a step. She pivoted to kick him again in a roundhouse, but he caught her foot in midair before she could make contact, infuriating her further.

"You don't get to kick me either," he taunted her, pushing her back with her foot and nearly making her fall.

Sabine growled as she caught her balance. Oh, it’s on, Darkie.

The Mando girl came at Apprentice in a flurry of punches and kicks that he actually had to work to block. She had some serious training and he was actually impressed. Unfortunately for her, he'd been trained by the best martial arts and combat teachers Master could find (his favourite being an aging but still fully capable of kicking ass clone called Cody who led the 501st) as well as being taught the dirtier street fighting his Master excelled at. And Apprentice had the Force on his side just to add a little icing to the lopsided cake.

Apprentice grabbed an arm that was trying to punch him and then the other, forcing her hands behind her back. Then he walked into her, forcing her to backup until she smacked into a nearby wall. Crowding into her space, all but leaning on her, he planted his feet between hers so she couldn't kick him anymore either. She let out a snarl of frustration that sounded quite funny, especially through her helmet.

"What are you going to do now, little Mando?" Apprentice taunted, smirking into her helmet. This close, he could see the vague outline of her eyes through the dark visor. Switching his grip on her hands so that he held both in one, he summoned his lightsabre to his free hand and held the red blade across her throat. He was still close enough that he could feel the cold heat of the laser too. "I wish you would impress me some more."

The girl snarled and snapped her head forward, ignoring the lightsabre, so that the top her helmet smacked into his chin with a bang that stung and made his ears ring. They both got singed a little. He was impressed with her determination, if nothing else.

Apprentice laughed as he shook off the discomfort. "You'll have to do better than that, little Mando. My Master taught me to ignore pain long ago."

Sabine froze as her brain tried to come up with another way out of this mess that didn't include removing her head from her body by the lightsabre that was currently searing her bodysuit. At the moment, she was drawing a blank. And she was also fighting with herself over the absurd inclination to just push back against him and press up against his wonderfully hard body a little more.

It was completely illogical but there was a saying on Mandalore that you’ll know your cyar’ika when you can’t make yourself seriously fight them. If he’s my cyar’ika, then I’m screwed.

But, oh stars, he’s got so much going for him.

He fights well. Very, very well. He’s cuter than cute. He seems to have a rather absurd sense of humour, which is strangely appealing . Despite being decidedly stronger than me, he hasn't done anything more than block my attacks. He could have hurt me at anytime. Badly, if he wanted to, but he hasn't. And… his eyes are all blue now, and oh, so kriffing beautiful. I don’t know what he is exactly, but he’s like no Darksider I’ve ever met. Not by a long shot.

And that isn't my wayward hormones talking either.

Sabine was more than a little confused.

Two minutes previously...

Kanan was running through the streets, aiming for Sabine's distinctive Force signature and the spot of cold in the Force when he realized there was a much faster way to do this. Feeling like an idiot who’s spent too long hiding what he was, he ran into an alleyway, then jumped up onto the roofs and was able to pick up speed exponentially now that no one could see him.

Far off in the distance, he thought he saw a figure in black jump down off a roof. Since that was where the cold signature was coming from, Kanan felt safe to assume the figure was the Inquisitor and that he'd found Sabine.

Heart in his throat, Kanan bounded over the roofs.

He came to a skidding stop at the edge of a roof and looked down at Sabine held captured in the Inquisitor's grip, pinned against a wall with a red lightsabre to her throat.

He leapt down to the ground and ignited his blue lightsabre, catching the teenage boy's attention. Bloody hell. Are they getting that desperate that they’re throwing half-grown children at us now? "Why don't you pick on someone who can actually fight you back?" Kanan called.

Apprentice had sensed him coming, of course; the man radiated Light side energy like a beacon.

Turning his head, he and the girl looked at the Jedi. From her, he felt hope bloom. On his part, Apprentice was curious to see how his training would stack up against another Force user who wasn’t his Master.

He smirked at the auburn haired man who seriously needed to do something about his long, wind-blown locks that had a permanent looking kink in them in the same place all around his head, from what he assumed was made by a hair tie. I wonder if I interrupted something. Hehehe.  "Gladly,” he told his challenger. “But first..." I have to deal with the target I’m already holding.

Wanting to see the face of the person he was about to kill, since he refused to take the coward's way out by leaving her helmet on, he let go of the Mando's hands and plucked her helmet off in one swift move, tossing it to the side as well. Technically, he still had her pinned to the wall with his lightsabre, so he wasn’t too worried about her trying anything before he could behead her.

The first thing that hit him was the citrus and paint scent of her hair. The second was the beautiful dark blue and teal colour of it. The third was the incredible amber fire of her big eyes as she glared up at him, her hands rising to his chest to push him away, but she never actually completed the move, leaving them on him and making his heart thump at the touch. The forth was the exquisite lines of the girl's exotic face.

Oh. My. Fragging. Stars.

He'd never seen a more beautiful girl in his life. Not that he'd seen that many in real life, but he did have access to the holonet, and no holo star could ever compare to her. She was perfect; beautiful, feisty, and ideally shaped to fit into the planes of his body, as their current position was demonstrating.

I can’t kill her. There’s no way I can kill her. I will fight to the death anyone who would dare try extinguish such beauty from the galaxy. Even my Master.

She was meant to be mine. I just know it.

Apprentice's plans for her changed in an instant that he didn't even bother to think through, already damning the consequences. He waved a hand in front of her face and said, "Sleep," while pushing his will into her naturally shielded mind with determination.

It took a couple moments as she fought back, but she finally did what he ordered.

Catching her with the Force as she slumped, Apprentice lowered her limp form to the ground carefully and then strode forward to meet the tousle-haired man with the goatee and angry teal eyes. He raised his lightsabre and countered the man's Form III opening stance with his own Form VII. "You were saying?"

A/N: Space cupcakes to anyone who guesses the movie that I'm referencing in this chapter!

Chapter Text

He's Our Son:

D2/3 BBY, Jhothal

Kanan could only watch in trepidation as the Darksider held a single bladed red lightsabre to Sabine's throat. He decided the boy couldn't possibly be a real Inquisitor because that was most definitely not a standard issue circular, double sided blade. And he'd never seen one so young either. He wished he could do something, anything, to remove her from the boy's hold, but even one slightly wrong movement and she would be dead.

All he could do was call out a challenge.

Fortunately, the boy accepted. Kanan hoped that he would just let her go. But that's not what he did at all.

Kanan tensed as the teenager moved, but all he did was take Sabine's helmet off. He blinked at the strange behaviour, but decided it was better than killing her.

And then, as the boy looked at Sabine with what could only be called an expression of awe, Kanan swore he saw the boy's eyes turn entirely blue and his Force signature warmed considerably. What the kriff?

The Darksider, who might not be as Dark as Kanan thought, made Sabine sleep and then gently lowered her to the ground, eyes never leaving her face until he looked up at Kanan.

As he rose from his crouch and walked towards Kanan, the yellow bled back into his eyes and completely took them over. Kanan shivered as a wave of cold hit him and he braced himself against the onslaught of Dark energy the boy was now channelling.

They studied each other for a moment, assessing stances and strength in the Force.

Then the boy lunged at him and Kanan had to call on every ounce of training he'd ever had just to hold him off.

Apprentice played with his opponent; lunging and jumping and parrying and clashing their lightsabres together again and again, enjoying the sound of the laser beams hissing against each other.

The man was decently trained, but he had nothing on Master in terms of skill and brutality. Nevertheless, Apprentice allowed the man to do his best to defeat him. He had no wish to end this too quickly, since playing with the prey was so much more fun.

The Dark side liked when Apprentice channelled its energy. The Dark side was whispering for him to make the man suffer. Slash him a little. Make him hurt. Make him beg. Make him plead for his life like a beaten mooka.

But Apprentice had learned long ago how to ignore it but still use it as HE saw fit. Master had beaten him to a whimpering pulp any time he tried to channel Light side energy to do what Master wanted so he'd learned to compromise in his own way. Perhaps, if he'd been raised by Master from the very beginning, he would be just as cruel and merciless as Master. But Apprentice had spent the first seven years of his life with his parents. And they had been GOOD people. People who taught him the difference between right and wrong. People who LOVED him.

No matter what Master did to him, no matter what the Dark side whispered to him, no matter what assignments he was forced to do, Apprentice would always remember where he came from. The memory of his parents would always stand between him and the worst of the Dark.

But just because he wouldn't torture the Jedi in front of him before he killed him, it didn't mean he couldn't have fun taunting him. "Is that the best you've got, old man? I've practiced with DROIDS who had more skill than you." This was accompanied by a Force push that sent the man flying backwards a dozen metres or so. "I had hoped someone as old you as would have at least made me sweat a little." Apprentice stood with one hand on his hip and wiped his brow with the back of the other and then inspected his glove. "Yep, dry as a bone. So disappointing." Apprentice sighed dramatically and twirled his lightsabre absently while he waited for the man to recover from where he'd smacked into a dumpster.

Kanan oooffed as the air was pushed from his lungs by the impact with something hard and smelly. Fighting past the temporary light-headedness, he pushed his loose hair out of his eyes and strode back to where the insolent brat waited for him.

Who was this kid?

At the moment, his eyes were half blue again and he was smirking at Kanan like he was enjoying a good game. And was it just his imagination, or did he look like someone Kanan had met at some point? He just couldn't figure out who right now. "I'm not that old, you whelp. I'm just hitting my third decade."

Apprentice rolled his eyes as he casually parried the man's attack. "Ohhhh. You're right. You're not OLD old. Just a little old. I'll have to keep that in mind when your bones start creaking and take it easy on you."

Kanan near growled as the kid flipped over his head, easily blocking the slash Kanan directed at him as he landed. He had to remind himself to keep his calm and stay focused or he'd never win against the sort of Dark side brat who was quickly becoming one of Kanan's least favourite people; right under Palpatine, Vader, Pryce, and Kallus. And at this rate, the kid was going to surpass Kallus on the list.

Apprentice danced around Kanan, his lightsabre a blur as he twirled it around his hand again and the yellow took over his eyes completely once more. "Oh, wait. I'm already doing that." The whispers of the Dark side rose again, telling Apprentice to kill him, kill him.

Apprentice brushed them back again, but he knew it was time to end the game. "Time's up, old man," he said in a deadly whisper. His features settled into serious as he went on the offensive, driving the man down the alleyway with vicious slashes of his lightsabre.

Kanan finally understood that he was seriously outclassed. With the boy now moving like the wind and the Dark side surrounding him like a stormcloud, it was all Kanan could do to stay on his feet and keep his sabre between himself and the red blur of the boy's.

Where were the others when he needed them? Seriously. They could show up any second now.

Like an answer to a prayer, Ephraim and Mira dropped down on either side of him and raised their blue lightsabres against the boy as well.

Apprentice paused and studied the masked and hooded figures; one tall like the first man and the other decidedly shorter and most likely a female judging by the size of her boots that he could see under the hem of her encompassing cape. And what was even more interesting was how all three of them had no signifagant Force signature; even the man who most certainly did a second ago. Someone was incredibly good at shielding, and he now understood how they'd escaped his Master and defeated so many Inquisitors. That was a very useful trick to have. He smiled grimly and pulled the Dark side a little closer, demanding more power, and wreathed himself in its shadows, making himself much harder to see. They weren't the only ones who could use tricks. "Finally," he snarled. "A real challenge."

Before he all but disappeared from their sight, Mira and Ephraim were both studying the boy intently. And once again, Mira felt that hint of familiarity, until it melted away into the cold mask of the Dark side. Her hand trembled as she held back a gasp. Her son. Her precious son. What had that monster done to him?

Ephraim was standing frozen almost in shock, because for one very brief second, he'd seen a reflection of himself from when he was a teenager, but with yellow eyes and a scar. Could this really be his son?

A niggle of danger had Apprentice dodging to the side just in time to avoid being shot from the lasat standing on a roof.

"Stop!" Mira cried.

"No, Zeb!" Ephraim yelled at the same time.

"What?!" Zeb yelled back in surprise.

"Get Sabine!" Kanan ordered. "Take her back to the Ghost."

Zeb looked way down the alleyway and saw Sabine's colourful prone form lying on the ground. "Got it." He bolted across a couple roof tops and then dropped down to the ground and ran as fast as he could for her.

Apprentice froze for half a second when he realized that someone was going to take his prize away. "No!" he screamed.

Abandoning his fight with the Jedi, since he could track them down later, he ran after the lasat, using Force speed to run like a bolt of lightning.

Before the purple lasat could touch the girl, Apprentice flung out a hand and sent the lasat flying through the air until he smacked into a wall, leaving a dent in the durasteel, and then he crumpled to the ground.

Kanan, Ephraim, and Mira chased after the boy, but they weren't fast enough to stop him from scooping Sabine off the ground, tossing her over his shoulder, and then leaping up onto the nearest roof before bolting back towards his ship.

They pursued him in time to see him drop down into his TIE and slam the hatch shut.

At this point, they probably could have stopped him by jumping on his TIE and slashing through the wings, but they all hesitated just long enough for the TIE to take off.

Shaking their heads at their own failure, they jogged back to check on Zeb.

"Out of curiosity," Mira said to Kanan. "Why did you hesitate?"

Kanan glanced at her and grimaced in apology. "Would you believe me if I said I had a good feeling about how things turned out? I saw his eyes go fully blue when he looked at her earlier. She might be the only thing that can bring him back to Light side. I just hope he doesn't hurt her before that happens." He jumped to the next roof and raised a brow at his team members. "Why did you hesitate? And why did you tell Zeb not to shoot at him?"

Mira and Ephraim stopped and looked at each other through their masks, confirming mentally what each of them had concluded.

"He's our son," Ephraim eventually said to Kanan.

"Ezra?!" Kanan said in disbelief. "Your Ezra? The one Vader stole from you?"

"The one and only," Ephraim said sadly.

Kanan thought back to what he'd seen of the boy and how he looked familiar and how his signature was all over the place. "That... explains a lot." He face transformed into a smile. "Now all we have to do is get him and Sabine back."

Apprentice leapt into his TIE from further than he should have, but he was feeling rather desperate and pursued. Fortunately, he made the jump and managed not to hit his precious burden on the edges of the hatch on the way in.

He laid her on the floor behind the seat carefully but quickly and then started hitting buttons to get the TIE going before he even bothered to sit down.

As he took off, he noticed the three Jedi standing at the edge of a roof and staring at his ship. He wondered why they didn't try to take his fighter down while they had the chance, but shrugged it off as their essential goodness or incompetence or something. The man's face that he could see definitely looked conflicted in the brief glimpse he'd had of it.

Jedi were strange.

After making a quick jump in hyperspace to nowhere in particular, Apprentice brought the TIE to a dead stop and just let it drift in space. Then he basically fell out of is his chair and onto his knees beside his new treasure.

She was so beautiful.

He'd never seen such perfection in his entire life. Scooting a little closer to her head, he moved into a cross legged position and gathered her up so her body was lying across his legs and her shoulders were supported by his arm. Apprentice sighed in contentment as he felt the first glimmer of warmth spread through him in nine years. For that alone, he never wanted to let her go.

With some awkward fumbling, he managed to pull off his black gloves without losing his hold on her. He needed to see if she felt as soft as she looked. Hand almost trembling, he tentatively touched her bright blue hair.

It WAS soft. Silky soft. Apprentice sighed again as a dopey grin spread across his face. He'd never felt anything so soft. At least not that he could remember anyway. Feeling bolder, he gently touched her cheek with the back of his fingers and let them trail downwards. Oh, wow. Her skin was even softer than her hair.

Sabine moaned as she woke up to the feel of a gentle caress on her cheek. That felt awfully nice. Then her eyes popped open as she realized there was no way in any galaxy anyone should be touching her. It's not like she had a boyfriend, and her crew knew better than to come near her when she was asleep. (She tended to wake with a blaster pointed at whatever idiot had woken her with a touch out of habit.)

As her fingers automatically reached for a blaster that she quickly discovered wasn't in its holster, she stared at the gorgeous black haired boy with the now entirely sapphire blue eyes who was holding her in his arms. Their eyes locked and he smiled at her tentatively, fingers still caressing her cheek. Sabine almost smiled back, but she finally registered that this wasn't right and WHY was she inside a fraging TIE?!

Their last encounter flashed through her mind and she swung a punch as hard as she could at his nose. And at her angle, it most definitely wasn't a straight on hit.

Sabine smirked as it flung his head backwards and to the side. He let her go to hold his broken nose as it started bleeding profusely. "That's for touching me," she growled. Then she rolled off him and to her knees and punched him in the stomach while he was occupied with his nose. His breath let out in a whoosh and he doubled over his middle, gasping. "And that's for stealing me, you kriffing bastard!"

Then, just for good measure, she slammed her fist into his face again, knocking him back upright and then one last time right into his crotch, which was very much exposed in his cross legged position.

He doubled over again, wheezing and bleeding from his nose and a split lip.

Feeling satisfied with her revenge, Sabine sprang to her feet, ready to kill him if he so much as made one move towards her. She narrowed her eyes at him, fists held up and her weight balanced on the balls of her feet. He may have got the best of her before, but she'd die before she let him do that again. "If you ever touch me again without my permission," she snarled at him, "You'll be looking for your favourite appendage in space."

Pushing the pain away and swiping at the blood on his face absently with a sleeve, Apprentice glanced at his right hand, since that was his dominant hand, not getting it at first that Sabine was talking about something else entirely. Then he did, and he started laughing. "Oh Force, I'd like to see you try," he managed to get out through chuckles.

Sabine growled, not amused. She swiped a kick at his head, which he handily ducked now that he was on guard for it.

Apprentice rose to his feet in one smooth motion and froze her with the Force, tapping into the Dark again. Her eyes spat amber fire at him and she was radiating outrage, which just made him think her more beautiful. She was magnificent in her fury.

He found her utterly captivating.

"Let me go!" Sabine spat. "Only a sack of slime not even a hutt would touch would treat a girl like this."

Apprentice tilted his head to the side and stared at the girl who had completely taken him by surprise and fell head over heels in love. "If you promise not to attack me again, I will."

"Never!"

"Then I shall simply have to hold you like this until you change your mind," Apprentice said matter of factly. "I do not wish to fight with you."

Sabine rolled her eyes, straining her muscles to move, but it felt like she was encased in duracrete from the neck down. "Then you shouldn't have stolen me in the first place, nerfherder."

Apprentice smiled. He absolutely adored her feisty side already. With his free hand, he touched his nose and sent some Force Healing to his face, a self preservation trick he'd learned long ago, and ignored what pain remained. Apprentice wiped the worst of the blood off with his sleeve before it dried. "It's been a long time since someone got the best of me like that. I guess I deserved it," he admitted.

Sabine raised a brow at the boy who couldn't be any older than her and snorted. "You think?" Wishing she could cross her arms to demonstrate her ire, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why'd you steal me anyway? Ransom? Bait?"

Apprentice shook his head and he blushed as he glanced at the floor. "You were too beautiful to kill," he mumbled.

Sabine's brows rose as she took in what he said, a little thrill going through her at being thought of as beautiful, even if it was by a Darksider who'd stolen her and was currently holding her captive in a Force grip. Wait. Was he even a Darksider? His eyes were currently lightly ringed in yellow again, but before they had been all blue. And the evil vibe she usually got from the Inquisitors was missing. "I take it you were supposed to kill me then?" He nodded, not meeting her eyes. "Why?"

Apprentice finally looked up and gazed at her apologetically. "My Master wants you dead. I was ordered to do so. You and your crew."

"And who's your Master?" Sabine was very curious. This boy made no sense whatsoever. For one thing, he didn't give her the creeps like the other Inquisitors had. And aside from touching her while she was sleeping, he hadn't tried anything else funny, which he could have. She was technically helpless against his power. She knew she really was no match for him if he wanted to kill her or... worse. But he was just standing there, having something resembling a normal conversation and he did say he didn't want to fight with her.

In fact, if she was reading this right, he was actually infatuated with her. That was kind of... sweet. Was it wrong that the idea of having a Darksider infatuated with her felt nice? Most definitely. And yet... He was strong, gorgeous, self confident, and had magically shown up in her life just when she was feeling especially lonely.

Was it fate? The will of the Force?

Sabine didn't know, but somewhere inside her, she'd already made the decision to not fight with him anymore unless he changed his current attitude.

Apprentice sighed. He didn't know if he should be telling her this but he so desperately wanted her to understand that his will wasn't his own. And now that he'd defied his Master's orders, he was probably dead anyway. There was no way he could ever make himself harm this girl. "Darth Vader."

"Who's that?"

Apprentice was surprised she didn't know. "You've met him. Super tall, has a mask and cape and dresses all in black. Has a red lightsabre. Feels like you just stepped on an ice planet if you get anywhere near him."

Sabine gasped as a memory from about a month ago came to mind to match the description.

D323/4 BBY, Capital City, Lothal

As they made their way onto the landing pad in the Imperial Complex, Sabine still couldn't believe that the Imperial sleemos blew up Minister Tua. That was just one more reason in a long long list of them for her to despise the Empire.

They'd almost made it the shuttle they intended to steal when Hera spotted some shield generators that the Rebellion was desperately looking for. Everyone stopped and grabbed one. Only a few metres from the ramp of the shuttle, Kanan, Ephraim and Mira all came to a dead stop and looked back towards the door they'd just come through.

"Do you feel it?" Mira whispered.

"The cold?" Ephraim whispered back. She nodded. "Yah, I feel it."

"It's him," Mira whispered in dread.

At this point, everyone had stopped to look back. The air was stolen from Sabine's lungs as the figure in black was silhouetted in the light of the doorway. It felt like an endless moment of imminent disaster. Then the glow of a red lightsabre appeared in the figure's hand, jolting Sabine out of her shock.

She dug in her pack and came up with a couple of explosives and handed one to Zeb. She nodded at the Walkers parked between them and the man that radiated all kinds of evil. "Aim for the legs," she told him. They both flung their bombs and she watched in satisfaction as her inventions clung to the metal legs and exploded a moment later, Walkers falling in the path of the black clothed man.

"Get on the shuttle!" she yelled to the rest of her crew that hadn't already moved their butts in that direction. Sabine was the last one up the ramp, and as it was closing, and the shuttle left the ground, she saw the debris from the Walkers rising of their own accord and the evil man threw them out of his way with the Force. "Holy kriff," she whispered. "What was that!?"

She wasn't the only one who'd seen. Kanan slumped into one of the seats lining the walls. "That was a Sith Lord. I haven't felt a presence like that since the Clone Wars."

Mira and Ephraim looked at each other in defeat. "We've met him before. The day we were arrested. How do we beat someone like that?" Ephraim asked.

Kanan sighed and looked downright depressed. "We don't. We're lucky just to have escaped. If it wasn't for Sabine's quick thinking, we'd all be fighting for our lives right now. And losing."

Wow, was that ever a morbid thought. Sabine was glad she'd had a couple of miracles left.

"That's your Master?! But he's a Sith Lord!" Sabine looked at the boy in shock.

Apprentice rolled his eyes. "You think I don't know that? I've lived in his hell hole of a castle for the last nine years while he forced me to be evil like him."

Sabine looked at the boy assessingly. "I don't think it worked very well. You don't feel evil like the other Inquisitors or your Master. You don't give me the creeps."

Apprentice barked a laugh. "I'll take that as a compliment. It's not like I wanted to be evil. I was stolen by him when I was little and he had my parents killed."

Sabine's heart broke a little for him and felt herself relaxing even more as she realized the boy really wasn't going to hurt her. "That's so sad." She sighed and hoped she wasn't making a mistake as she said, "You can let me go now. I promise I won't attack you unless you try to hurt me first."

Apprentice beamed at her as she was released from the Force hold and his eyes turned all the way to electric blue again. Now wasn't that interesting? It seemed his eye colour coincided with his use of the Force.

"I have no intention of hurting you," he said, stepping a little closer. "I just want to get to know you, and maybe, one day, once you've decided that I'm not so bad, you'll even let me touch you again."

Sabine blushed at the husky quality his voice had taken, but forced herself to meet his eyes steadily even as they stood only a handsbreadth apart and she felt herself yearning to lean into him. Her voice was somewhere between teasing and serious when she said, "Don't get your hopes up, Darksider. I don't associate with kidnapping sleemos."

Chapter Text

What Hit Me?:

D2/3 BBY, Lothal

Kanan, Mira, and Ephraim dropped back down into the alley beside the still slumped over and unconscious Zeb.

Mira knelt beside the large lasat, gentle hands seeking the hurt. She paused when she found the rising bump on the back of his soft furred head and closed her eyes as she channelled healing Force energy into him.

Kanan and Ephraim watched with crossed arms and frowns of worry for their friend.

"You have to admit one thing about my son," Ephraim said quietly. "There is no question he's incredibly strong with the Force. I don't think I've ever seen Zeb unconscious before. And with what we do, that's saying something."

Kanan snorted softly. "Your son is also much too good at channelling the Dark side and is far better trained than any of the Inquisitors we've faced. I swear he was toying with me until suddenly he wasn't and I genuinely knew I was going to lose."

Ephraim sighed forlornly. "I hope you're right about his eyes and Sabine."

"So do I"

Zeb groaned and stirred as Mira removed her hands from the back of his head, her shoulders slumping slightly in relief.

Zeb's large, lime green eyes opened a crack and he peered at Mira and then up at the guys. "What hit me?" he grumbled out as he shifted around in the process of heaving himself back onto his feet. "Cause if I didn't know better, I'd say it was a passing Star Destroyer."

Kanan grabbed a furry purple striped arm and helped his friend up onto his feet and held on while Zeb got his balance back. "The ship that hit you is named Ezra Bridger and he has Sabine. We're hoping that's a good thing."

Zeb gawked at Kanan for a minute and then looked to Mira and Ephraim for confirmation.

They nodded their masked heads solemnly. "It's true," Mira said. "I wasn't imagining things when I thought I felt him earlier."

"Karabast," Zeb huffed out.

"Precisely," Ephraim agreed.

At that moment, all of their comms chimed and then Hera's worried sounding voice spoke in surround sound. "What's going on? Somebody talk to me."

Kanan grimaced at himself for forgetting about Hera. He pushed the button on his wrist comm to answer her. "Everything's under control for the moment, sort of, but you could save us some time by flying to our location for a pick up. And start tracking Sabine. We need to go retrieve her and her new admirer."

"What?!" Everyone flinched at the screech. "You lost Sabine?! And what admirer?"

"I'll explain everything in a minute," Kanan soothed. "Just come get us."

"Already in the air," Hera muttered. "You should see me any second now, but I can't get between the buildings."

"We'll come up to you," Kanan reassured.

Meanwhile, Zeb had been looking around for his bo-rifle, which he spotted a few metres away. He also spotted a very familiar WESTAR. He went and picked them up before turning back to the group and showing what he'd found. "Hey, guys. I found Sabine's blaster. What you wanna bet the other's around here somewhere?"

"Nothing," Ephraim said with a shake of his head. "I think I'd lose."

Mira poked him in the side. "Don't just stand there. Look for it."

"Right."

With some frantic searching, they found the other blaster under a wheeled dumpster just as the Ghost arrived to hover overhead. They also picked up Sabine's helmet, which was lying right in the middle of the alleyway. They would have had to be blind to miss it, as colourful as it was.

Carrying Sabine's precious possessions, the Jedi Force jumped up to the lowered ramp while Zeb quickly climbed the side of a building and leapt into the Ghost from the edge of a roof.

Hera shot towards the atmosphere the instant the ramp closed behind them. "All right people," she called, not even waiting for all of them to climb the ladder. "Somebody start explaining what I missed. In detail."

Kanan plunked himself down into the co-pilot chair as Hera handed him his hair tie. He snorted at it, put Sabine's helmet on the floor beside him, and started running his fingers through his hair to tidy it before he tied it back again. He also spoke as he did all this, because Hera's tone had clearly said, 'NOW'. He wasn't about to make her angry at him if he could help it. "I ran into the town and I found Sabine about to be beheaded..."

Apprentice's TIE, Space

Apprentice flushed in embarrassed mortification and gazed at the floor like it was fascinating. "I already explained why I took you," he mumbled.

Sabine poked him in the shoulder lightly, making him look up at her in surprise. "I was teasing you, di'kut. Mostly"

Apprentice blinked at her. "You were? Sorry, I'm not familiar with teasing. My Master does not say things he doesn't one hundred percent mean, and the troopers stationed at the Castle From Hell aren't allowed to talk to me."

Sabine now gazed at him with sympathy. "Well, get used to it. My family does a lot of teasing."

"Hmmmm," Apprentice said, not sure how he felt about that. Did she just imply that he was going to be taken in by her family? Or at least taken to meet her family? Instead, he addressed something he was familiar with. "Also, I do not appreciate being called an idiot. Insults tend to make me mad, and you don't want to get me mad."

Sabine rolled her eyes at him as she turned and appropriated the chair, sprawling over it sideways. "It was meant as a term of affectionate teasing as well. You need to figure out when you're being insulted for real or not." She looked up at him as he moved around to lean against a different part of the pod so he had a better view of her new position. "I didn't think you'd know Mando'a, though."

Apprentice shrugged as he crossed his arms and ankles, looking like a tall drink of sexy water on a hot day as the position emphasized the muscles in his arms, shoulders and chest under the tight black shirt. "I have a lot of time on my hands. Master encouraged me to learn as many languages as I could stand. Aside from Basic, I know Binary, Huttese, Mando'a, and Ryl, but some of the language is missing because I don't have lekku. I know a few basic sayings in about twenty other languages as well."

Sabine raised a brow. "Impressive. Not quite as many as I know, but impressive nonetheless."

Apprentice smiled crookedly. "Thanks."

Sabine swung her chair from side to side a couple times with a foot, thinking for a moment as she calmed her fluttering heart from what his smile did to her insides. "So what are you going to do now? You just defied the orders of the most evil man in the galaxy."

"Second most," Apprentice corrected. When she raised a brow in question, he elaborated. "My Master has his own Master."

"Got it," Sabine said. "Sooo? What were you planning to do with me? Just run and hope?"

Apprentice flushed red in embarrassment again and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ummm, yah. I didn't really think that through."

Sabine snorted. "That's the understatement of the year."

"Sorry about that," Apprentice said as he met her eyes sincerely. "I just wanted to save you. That's all. My Master will send more people to kill you, or even return himself, until someone actually succeeds. I couldn't let that happen."

Sabine kind of melted. That was actually kind of sweet, for a sort of evil boy. Just not very well thought out. And those eyes. Geez. When they were all blue like that... It was like being hit straight in the heart by the electricity in their fathomless depths. "Do you have anywhere to go?" she managed to say without giving away how affected she was by him.

Apprentice shrugged and crossed his arms again. "Nope. I suppose I was just going to fly to some random planet, blow up the TIE, which would really hurt by the way, I just got it, and try to be a normal person again. With you at my side, of course."

Sabine rolled her eyes at him yet again. "THAT was mighty presumptuous of you. What makes you think I'd even want to stay with you?"

Apprentice flushed red again. "I don't know. I AM an idiot, I suppose. I haven't had any interaction with other people for so long I think I've forgotten how to be civilized. And, well, I've kind of been trained to take what I want. I'm sorry."

Sabine felt sorry for him all over again. Mostly. He'd still taken her against her will, after all. She sighed. She couldn't believe she was saying this, but... "Why don't you join our crew?"

Apprentice looked at her in shock. "What?" Despite the earlier hint, he couldn't believe she'd offer something like that.

Sabine nodded. "Sure. Why not? We've done fairly well for ourselves so far against people like you. With you on our side, we'd be practically unbeatable."

Apprentice wasn't sure if he should be flattered or insulted. He decided to just let that one slide. "I guess I could try it. I could always leave if it doesn't work out," he said as calmly as he could. But on the inside, he was actually jumping up and down with excitement. He was going to stay with the galaxy's most beautiful girl! Maybe one day she'd even forgive him for absconding with her and love him back.

Sabine smiled at him, making his heart pound at how that made her face glow with her inner beauty. That was the first smile he'd seen on her and it was glorious. "Good. I'll just comm my crew and they can meet us out here and I'll blow up your TIE for you. I happen to love making things go boom. With any luck, your Master will assume you blew up with it."

Apprentice gawked at the girl. She'd already come up with a plan? And she loved blowing things up? His already captivated heart just died and found heaven. Not only was she beautiful, she was a warrior, and she was smart, AND she blew stuff up. She really was perfect. And judging by her armour and hair, she liked colour. Colour was good. Colour was great. Apprentice was dying to wear colour again. He hadn't worn anything but black for as long as he could remember. "Okay." That's all he could say.

Sabine smiled at him again. He looked kind of shell shocked and that made him look even cuter and less evil. She had a feeling that with some real life experience and proper manners, he'd actually be very sweet. Oh, and they needed to figure out how to scare the Dark side out of him; she wasn't a fan of the yellow eyes now that she knew how pretty his blue ones were. "Great. I'll just comm my friends." Sabine went to push the button on her wrist comm but found it kind of smashed. "Ummm. When did that happen?"

Apprentice flushed again. "I think I did that when we were fighting earlier. Sometimes I don't know my own strength. It's probably a good thing you were wearing that, or you might have a broken arm right now."

Sabine just sighed and swung around in the pilot's chair, sitting properly as she faced the consul. "I'll have to use the comm on this. It'll be traceable, but if my crew is searching for me like I think they are, they should get here before the Empire does. We'll have to risk it." She started fiddling with the comm, punching in the comm frequency for the Ghost. "You know..." she said to the boy. "I don't even know your name."

"Well, I don't know yours either," Apprentice retorted. "But I'd sure like to."

Sabine looked over her shoulder with a crooked smile at his eager tone. "Sabine. My name's Sabine."

Apprentice beamed like he'd just been handed the galaxy as a present. "Apprentice," he replied.

"What?!" she exclaimed, turning around to face him and forgetting about the comm for the moment.

He shrugged, looking apologetic. "My name is Apprentice."

"You have got to be kidding me," she said with wide amber eyes, making them look a fraction too big for her delicate face. "I am not calling you that. What's your real name? The one you were born with." Sabine paused as a thought occurred to her. "Or don't you remember?" she finished with in a gentle tone as she realized that might be the case.

Apprentice looked shocked, and then dismayed, and then thoughtful. "I do remember. It's just been so long that I don't think of myself as that person anymore." He heaved a sigh. "My name was Ezra, Ezra Bridger. If that's what you want to call me, I'm fine with that."

Sabine's eyes went impossibly even wider than before. "Oh. My. Kriffing. Stars. I know who you are!"

It's not like she could mistake him for anyone else. His colouring was a dead match for Ephraim's now that she studied his short hair very carefully and saw it shine blue under the interior light. She mentally smacked herself for not making the connection sooner. Same colouring. Force abilities. Right age. Now who was the di'kut?

And just last week, she'd been regaled with the tale of how Mira and Ephraim had been broken out of prison.

D8/10 BBY, Stygeon Prime

Kanan, Ahsoka, and Chopper crept through the prison known as the Spire. So far everything had gone according to plan. They'd made a stealth landing on a tiny platform near the middle of the prison. Chopper had gotten the doors open for them and found the prisoners they were looking for. Any stormtroopers they encountered where swiftly dealt with and had their memories erased. The first cell they opened belonged to Ryder Azadi, the former Governor of Lothal. He was very surprised to be rescued, but extremely grateful nonetheless. The tall, greying haired man followed them without complaint as they went further down the hall and opened the door for Ephraim Bridger.

Kanan looked in on the dark haired man. "Come on. We're busting you out of here."

Ephraim took in the stranger, the togruta female who seemed vaguely familiar, and Ryder as he stood. "Thank you. My wife?"

Ahsoka smiled reassuringly. "She's next. Don't worry."

Ephraim sighed in relief as he left the cell he'd been locked in for two years. "What about my son?"

Kanan and Ahsoka looked at each other in shock as they jogged down the hallway to Mira's cell. "You have a son?" Ahsoka asked. Her heart broke for him when he nodded. "I'm sorry. There is no record of you having a son. I don't know where he is."

Ephraim slumped as they stopped in front of another cell and Chopper opened it.

Mira looked up from where she lay on her bunk. Her eyes were immediately drawn to her husband. She sprang off the bunk and ran towards him, throwing herself in his arms. "Ephraim!" She hugged him tightly for a minute and then looked at everyone around her. She did a double take when she saw Ahsoka. "Do I know you?"

Ahsoka shrugged slightly. "I doubt it, but my name is Ahsoka Tano. Does that help?"

Mira nodded. "I remember you from the holos of the war. You were Skywalker's Padawan. Ephraim and I left the Order when it was drawn into the war, but we couldn't help but watch."

"Whoa. You're Jedi too?" Kanan asked in surprise."

Ephraim and Mira nodded in sync. "We changed our names and stopped using the Force except to shield our signatures, but yes, we used to be Jedi," Ephraim said.

"How about we catch up later?" Ahsoka said in a practical tone. "We're supposed to be breaking you out right now, not having a reunion."

"Good idea," Ryder said nervously as he had been nearly twitching with impatience as the others talked, looking up and down the hallway constantly, waiting for trouble to appear.

"Right," Ephraim agreed.

"What about Ezra?" Mira said, touching Ahsoka's arm as she turned to lead the way out.

Ephraim shook his head mournfully, a tear slowly winding its way down his gaunt and scruffy bearded face as he draw Mira back into his side for a one armed hug. "He's not here. He's been wiped from the records."

Mira gasped. "The man in black. The ice-cold one. He must have taken our Ezra, the Sith bastard."

Ephraim nodded. "I think so too. I'm sorry, Mira. We'll probably never see our son again." His voice cracked on the sorrow.

Kanan's chest hurt for them, but now wasn't the time for grieving. "Come on, we've got to go. Our ride's waiting and I'm sure more troopers are bound to show up sooner or later."

Ephraim and Mira nodded and everyone took off down the hallway.

Present

Apprentice gawked at Sabine for what felt like a frozen moment in time before he remembered how to speak. "What do you mean you know who I am? How could you?"

While Ezra was gaping like a fish, Sabine's mind was processing at lightspeed. By the time he asked the question she knew he would, she already had a plan ready to go. She smiled at Ezra like a satisfied tooka. "I'll explain for real later, I promise. But first, I think you'll like the surprise better. Just let me comm my friends and get them en route, okay?"

Apprentice nodded, dying of curiosity, but was more than self disciplined enough to ignore said curiosity.

As Sabine turned back to the comm on the consul with a definite twinkle of mischief in her eyes, Apprentice took the time to study the masterful artwork on her armour and soak in the varying shades of blue to teal that made up her hair. She was just so vibrant and full of life, the complete opposite of everything he'd been surrounded by for the last nine years.

His eyes moved on to the profile of her face, exquisite in its flawless beauty. Apprentice didn't think he'd ever find another girl in the entire galaxy that made him feel so overwhelmed and like he needed to worship the ground she walked on. And he loved it. He missed having emotions. He missed human interaction. He felt like he didn't need to keep himself guarded and distant with her. Astonishing really, considering he'd known her for roughly half an hour. (More if you counted the time when she was asleep.) There was just something about her that made him feel like he'd found the parts of his soul that his Master had beaten out of him long ago.

Sabine commed the Ghost, still doing mental happy dances over who she'd ended up with. "Spectre 7 to Ghost."

"This is Ghost," Hera replied, sounding very relieved. "Are you all right? This isn't your usual comm frequency."

"I'm fine," Sabine said. "My wrist comm just got a little smashed."

"That would explain why your tracking signal is flickering in and out. I'm tracking it, but it's slow going."

Sabine smiled, not surprised at all that her family was on their way to rescue her. "I'll save you some trouble and send you my coordinates for a pick up. But make it quick. This isn't a secure channel."

Hera glanced at the coordinates that appeared on the comm computer on the consul and entered them into the nav computer as she spoke. "I'm on my way. We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"That's great," Sabine said. "I have something for us to blow up and a surprise for Spectres 4 and 5."

With that cryptic comment, the comm went silent and everyone on the bridge of the Ghost looked at each other and laughed. "He's not exactly going to be a surprise," Zeb said through his chuckles.

"Poor Sabine," Hera said with shake of her head. "She sounded so excited about it, too."

Chapter Text

A/N: The next two chapters are dedicated to David H. I hope you like them. :D

A Master’s Displeasure:

D2/3 BBY, Apprentice's TIE, Space

Apprentice actually let a smile settle on his face as he listened to the Mandalorian girl talk to her friend.

Sabine’s voice was beautiful; the melodic tone filling him with a sense of peace he hadn't felt since he was little. Her body was perfection in its lean but curvy strength. And her spirit was fierce and a perfect complement to his own warrior's heart. Apprentice never could stand to be in the company of a weak willed female. The few times he'd been let out of Master's dreary castle, their cowering at the sight of Master and himself had been an instant turn off for him. Sabine was the first female who'd ever treated him like an equal warrior; someone to fight and banter with, to treat with the respect earned. When most would have been helpless in his arms, she'd broken his nose. She was the perfect blend of kick butt and smart with a dash of feminine thrown in. Apprentice loved her more with every moment he spent in her company.

His new feelings were his undoing, causing him to lower his defences and make him forget what the consequences could be regarding his hasty actions.

Darth Vader followed his Apprentice, of course. He would have been stupid not to.

He had learnt a long time ago to never trust anyone. Especially those he was close to. He'd been betrayed more times than he cared to remember, and wasn't even remotely surprised when his Apprentice did the same.

As Vader had sat in his TIE, far enough in space from the planet that his Apprentice couldn't sense him, Vader had monitored the boy through the Force and the hidden cameras he'd had installed on the boy's TIE. Vader had been proud of him when Apprentice dealt handily with the irreverent ISB agent that Vader didn’t like. Agent Kallus, by all accounts, was the epitome of a perfect Imperial, but Darth Vader just couldn’t take the man seriously. Maybe it was the pretentious mutton chops? Or maybe it was the whisper in the Force that said the man wasn’t where he should be, which Vader found disconcerting, because it was too much like how he felt about too much of his life.

Either way, Vader didn’t like him.

Vader had then monitored Apprentice’s progress as he located the rebel ship known as the Ghost and placed a tracker on it. (The beacon of which was now blinking on his consul as he closed the distance between himself and the players in question to deal with this mess himself.) The boy then went into the little town in pursuit of a solitary rebel, which made sense, Vader supposed, if you liked picking off your opponents one a time.

Vader may have been that way once, when he was a boy and wanted to prove to the galaxy just how awesome he could be, but now he was more of a ‘just get it over with’ type of villain. If it was him, he would have just blown up the Ghost while it was sitting helpless on the ground. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with knowing exactly what their faces looked like as they died. He had enough nightmares about the people he’d murdered to last him a hundred lifetimes. He certainly didn’t need more. As is, the frightened faces of the younglings and padawans that he’d executed at the behest of his new Master so many years ago were still engraved behind his eyes and their screams of betrayal and pain still rang in his ears every day, fuelling his rage at his Master and himself.

When Apprentice left his TIE, Vader had closed his eyes and followed the boy’s progress as he located his prey.

And that was where everything had started to go wrong.

Apprentice’s emotions had started off well enough; mostly in the amused range. But then something had flashed through Apprentice’s emotions that had alarmed Vader greatly; attraction. Vader had grimaced in distaste as he felt the Light side sneak back into a corner of Apprentice's heart. And then had come the calm determination of battle as he fought a new opponent when another joined the scene. This one had definitely been a Force user, most likely a Jedi, confirming Vader’s suspicions that the rebel crew had a Jedi with them.

Soon, three more Force signatures joined the scene. One of them was definitely not human and the other two gave off ‘normal’ vibes that Vader now found oddly suspicious. And was he just imagining things or had they felt familiar?

He didn’t get much time to dwell on that, because Apprentice had flashed to alarm and suddenly he was running back to his TIE with the first opponent in his arms.

Then Vader got to watch and listen to the entire bonding fiasco occurring in the other TIE; his eyebrows rising higher and higher with every minute that passed.

Apprentice had held her in his arms like she was precious and let her beat him up in retaliation for his bold actions. And then the boy turned into a veritable puddle of sappy emotions and let even more Light side sneak back into himself. Vader was so disappointed it almost hurt. It had taken him years to beat and train the Light side out of that boy. Now, all it took was one tiny female and wham; the boy was flooding himself with the Light side. Grrrrrr.

And then there were his memories of a similarly feisty female that had affected him just as much as the little Mandalorian did his Apprentice. He'd had to push back the images of Padme before they took over. She'd had just as much spirit as the girl that Apprentice was falling for, making Vader groan in despair, as he compared the two females. A tiny corner of Vader's mind approved of Apprentice's choice in women, but the rest of him couldn't allow this travesty to continue.
If Vader was going to salvage anything from this, the Mandalorian girl had to die, and fast, before Apprentice got any more attached to her. He could use the pain of her death to bring Apprentice back to the Dark side and put him back on the path that led to the eventual triumph over his own Master.

Vader thought of the Emperor with a sneer. That lying snake had cost him everything, but Vader had been caught in a web of his own making. And now, years later, he was still spinning webs that would hopefully play out the way he needed them to.

When Vader heard the girl say she knew who his Apprentice was, he almost panicked. Almost. Instead, he'd swiftly pushed his TIE into hyperspace, following the coordinates on the tracker in Apprentice's TIE and then he closed his eyes and put all of his focus into taking control of Apprentice's body. Apprentice was so distracted ogling the female, he didn't even notice at first that Vader was taking over. But then the boy started fighting back. Vader managed to get the boy to palm his lightsabre and point it at the girl, but that was as far he got.

They had a battle of wills for what felt like an eternity. Vader was impressed with Apprentice's ability to fight back and resist him. He really had taught him well.

Too bad Apprentice was going to lose in the end. He would regret disobeying his Master.

Sabine finished her conversation with Hera and closed the comm channel, a smirk of satisfaction on her face. She couldn't wait for this to play out. The Bridgers were going to be reunited with their lost son. If that wasn't the best thing to ever happen to their crew then she'd eat her helmet.

Her happy mood was ruined when she heard the familiar sound of a lightsabre igniting, immediately putting her back on the defensive. "Seriously, Ezra?" she said as she turned around in her chair. "Don't you have the patience to wait ten..." Her voice cut off as she saw the red lightsabre held only millimetres from her throat, making her instinctively flinch back.

But what really caught her attention was the strain she could see on Ezra's face. His arm visibly shook and his face was scrunched up in a grimace as he appeared to be fighting with himself. "What are you doing?" she asked, not moving even a fraction.

His tortured blue eyes met hers and she could see the apology in them. "It's. Not. Me," he said through gritted teeth.

Making an instant decision, Sabine flung herself backwards off the other side of the chair and scrambled to her feet. Ezra had taken one step towards her new location but that was all. He was still more or less winning his fight with whoever was controlling him, and Sabine was impressed with his willpower. It had to be his Master who wanted her dead. Which also meant that his Master was nearby and probably listening to them.

She had the fleeting thought of hunting for trackers or bugs, but pushed it aside, since they could be hidden anywhere. She had other priorities right now, anyway. Like staying alive. And getting rid of the lightsabre. "Hey, Ezra," she said softly as she stayed out of reach of the red blade. "How attached are you to that thing?"

Apprentice's eyes widened fractionally as he understood what she was asking. How attached was he to this lightsabre? Honestly? Not very. It was one of his Master's. One he'd taken from a Jedi he'd killed and then he'd tortured the Kyber crystal inside until it had bled red. All Apprentice ever heard from the crystal inside was a mournful whine that gave him a headache if he didn't block the sound. Master had told him that eventually he would have to find his own Jedi to kill and steal the lightsabre from. Apprentice was grateful he'd never gotten to that point.

His feet made another step in Sabine's direction against his will, putting the blade back in striking distance. Apprentice poured even more willpower into not letting himself move another millimetre. Whatever Sabine had in mind, she was going to have to do it on her own. He had nothing left to help her with other than to try not to kill her accidentally. He did his best to let her know with his eyes that she could do whatever she felt was necessary.

Sabine took a moment to pre-plan ever single move in her mind. This was going to be dangerous, and frankly, her plan was nuts, but it was all she had. If she'd just had her WESTARs, she could have stunned Ezra and put him to sleep, taking care of their little problem in two seconds flat. Unfortunately, she had nothing that even resembled a blaster, and she didn't see one in the TIE or on Ezra either. Just in case though... "You don't happen to have a blaster, do you?" she asked. She watched him carefully and saw his head shake minutely. Sabine sighed. Alrighty then. Insane plan it is. "No matter what I do, don't change your position."

Ezra blinked in acknowledgement. It was the best he could do as his muscles shook and fought with the effort to ignore the driving willpower of his Master.

“Give up, Apprentice,” Vader’s voice whispered menacingly in Apprentice’s mind. “You know I’ll never let her live.”

“Never,” he snarled back mentally. “I’ll never let you hurt her.”

“Then you both shall die,” Vader growled back.

The next five seconds went by in slow motion.

Sabine crouched and swept her leg out, knocking Ezra off his feet and crashing him to the floor, since his muscles were too locked in position to cushion his fall. As she rose, she surged towards him, under the lightsabre that was now pointing at the ceiling, and she wrapped her hand around the hilt and tugged it from his suddenly lax fingers. Good for him, she thought. She'd been worried about that part.

Sabine continued moving, everything one smooth motion, empty hand reaching for the button that popped the hatch to the TIE. She was suddenly glad they were in a one person fighter; everything was close to hand. A ridiculous sounding alarm blared as the hatch popped open and the vacuum of space started pulling them towards the opening. Sabine had already turned off the lightsabre, thankful she lived with three Jedi who had actually let her look at their lightsabres more than once, allowing her to be familiar with the general workings of them, and she threw it out the hatch. Her foot had hooked around the bottom of the pilot's chair, stopping her from floating away from her position, and she smacked the hatch button again to close it. As it sealed, Ezra's stiff body smacked back down to the floor. He'd been at least halfway to the hatch by them time she'd gotten it closed.

With the alarm silenced, and the pressure in the cockpit returning to normal, Sabine focused her attention back on Ezra. Her eyes widened in alarm as he surged to his feet before coming to a sudden halt again with his hands only a fraction away from her neck. Yeesh. His Master was not giving up was he?

Sabine scooted around to behind Ezra and pushed him forward until he fell face first over the seat of the chair. "Sorry, Ezra. Just keep fighting. You're doing great," she said encouragingly. "Help will be here in eight more minutes," she said as she unbuckled her gun belt from her hips and whipped the holsters off of it. She reached down and grabbed one of his wrists and brought it behind his back, again feeling not a whole lot of resistance from the arm, but the rest of his body felt like vibrating durasteel under her hand. She took half a moment to admire his mouth-watering physique as she pulled his other wrist up and wrapped her belt around his wrists. His broad shoulders tapered down to a slim waist and hips, the straining muscles in his back clearly apparent to her hands as she buckled the belt together.

As a final precaution for her safety, Sabine straddled Ezra's back, hands wrapped around his throat gently, ready to choke him into unconsciousness if he so much as twitched wrong. She knew exactly where to squeeze to cut off the flow of blood to his brain, making it a fairly quick process if she had to. "Soooo," she said conversationally. "This is fun."

Vader gave up the battle of wills with his Apprentice when he realized there was no way out of the position the girl had put Apprentice in with Apprentice perfectly content to stay as he was. If the boy put a little effort into it, he could get out of the girl’s hold in a second flat, but Apprentice was practically humming with happiness to have the girl sitting on his back.

Vader slumped in his chair and hung his head for a moment, wondering if he could really blame the boy. There was once a time when he would have given pretty much anything to have Padme sitting on him in any fashion.

But what was really getting him was the shock that he'd been bested by a boy and an unarmed Mando girl. If she was a Force sensitive, that girl could probably take over the galaxy if she wanted. Padme had been the same; smart and quick on her feet in unexpected and dangerous situations.

Now he had to decide if he really was going to kill his Apprentice for his disobedience.

While his TIE hurtled through space, Vader did some serious thinking. If he killed his Apprentice, he’d have to start all over again with a new one, which would take years. The very thought of leaving his revenge against the Emperor for that much longer sat like lead in his stomach. There was also the small issue of how much he actually liked his Apprentice. He’d never let on, but the boy had become the closest thing to family that Vader had. It would hurt to have to kill him. A lot.

Some Darksider, huh? Thank the Force he’d become good enough at shielding his thoughts from his Master or the Emperor would use the boy he didn't know about against him the same way he’d used his attachments to Padme, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan against him.

Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Vader growled at no one.

Standing, he paced the two steps available to him in the space behind the chair. Finally, he came to a satisfactory solution.

Instead of killing Apprentice’s girl, which he could do from here if he really wanted to, he would make her join them, by mental Force if necessary. A girl with her combat and spying skills could be a very useful thing to have on their side with his clandestine plans against the Emperor. Then Apprentice would have no reason to rebel against him anymore. It was a win win situation for all, as far as Vader was concerned. The girl got to live, the boy got the girl, and Vader kept his Apprentice.

Now all Vader had to do was get to them before the girl's allies did. His plan was to disable their TIE and bring the two teenagers into his TIE, whether they liked it or not. A few seconds in space wouldn't kill them while he moved their bodies from one TIE to the other. And the freezing cold would leave them helpless and serve them right for being so insolent.

Smiling at coming to a satisfactory decision, Vader settled back into his chair and turned his eyes back to the monitor, curiosity driving him to spy on the kids some more.

Sabine felt Ezra's body relax under hers and tightened her finger's reflexively, thinking he'd lost the battle against his Master. But then she felt him shake his head and she loosened her fingers again but left them on his neck. "What? Did you win? Is he gone?"

Apprentice nodded. "Yes, he's given up for now. I'm getting the impression that he's actually very impressed with your ingenuity. And so am I."

Sabine smiled. "Thank you. But I'm not letting you up or untying you until we are far far away from your Master. I'm assuming he's still close?"

Apprentice nodded again. "Yes. He is. I can feel him. And getting closer by the second. We should jump to somewhere and leave him behind before he gets here."

"And what good would that do?" Sabine asked. "He must have a tracker on your TIE and probably cameras too. How else would he know that you disobeyed orders and know where you are?"

Apprentice slumped a little, feeling stupid for not having thought of that for himself. "You're right. So what's the plan then, my beautiful genius?"

Sabine snorted and gave his neck a squeeze just because. "First of all, I'm not yours, so give up on that one already. And secondly, thank you for the compliment." With a grin, she leaned down and whispered in his ear, making him shiver slightly. "If anything, Ezra Bridger, you're mine," she said jokingly. "I've caught you and you're now in my clutches. And guess what? Us Mandos don't let go of the things we've claimed."

Apprentice felt a thrill go through him and he officially felt hot now; a glorious heat that charged through his entire body. He wished she wasn't just playing and saying this for fun. But he could sense her emotions, and those weren't real claiming ones. One day though, if Sabine wanted to claim him, he was more than fine with that. He swallowed a groan and instead played it cool. "Really," he said, putting a solid dose of disbelief in his tone. "I didn't think you'd want to make our relationship official this quickly. From what I've heard, Mandalorians pick one partner and stay with them for life. We've only known each other for... Actually, I don't know anymore. I lost track of time fighting my Master. But it's not long anyway."

Sabine shook her head, grinning, not even noticing that her fingers were practically caressing his throat now instead of squeezing. (But Apprentice did. And oh, how he liked it.) "You flatter yourself, Bridger, if you think I'd actually fall for a Darksider. You're lucky I'm not choking the life out of you right now."

"Ha," Apprentice said. "You like me and you know it," he teased back. He couldn't see her face, but her amusement was clear in the Force for him to feel. He basked in it like a tooka soaking up the sun, before getting serious again. "So what is the plan, anyway? My Master isn't just going to let me go. You're putting yourself and your crew in danger right now."

Sabine shrugged, a motion Apprentice felt through the muscles of his back and in the movement of her hands. "That's nothing new. We're in danger every other day. Making your Empire miserable isn't easy."

"It's not my Empire," Apprentice grumped. "I never asked to be an Imperial. And as of right now, I'm officially declaring myself to be a Rebel."

Sabine felt a little jolt go through her at his words. He really meant them. She was so glad she could hardly express it. Somehow, in the ridiculously short amount of time they'd been together in this TIE, Sabine had come to care for him and what he did with his life. Maybe it was just because she counted his parents as family, but she didn't think so. It was him. He wasn't anything like she expected a Darksider to act like. And the fact that he was clearly smitten with her didn't hurt either.

She knew for a fact that he was close to two years younger than her, having spent some time on the holonet trying to find him for his parents, but he really didn't act or look like it. His miserable life with his Master had matured him way beyond his chronological age of sixteen. Unless he did something truly horrible soon, Sabine was afraid she actually would fall for the gorgeous boy with the scar on his cheek and the electric blue eyes that seemed to see into the depths of her soul. Not that she could see said eyes right now, but they were stuck in her mind, and they melted her insides every time she met them.

She gave herself a mental shake and got back to business. Hera would be here in a minute and she needed to know the change of plan.

Sabine took a risk and let go of Ezra with one hand and reached for the button on the comm. "Spectre 7 to Ghost."

"This is Ghost," Hera said back.

"We have a small problem and need a 22 Pickup. As fast as you can manage it. We've got company coming of the unwelcome variety and this might get ugly."

"Understood," Hera replied. "ETA thirty seconds." The comm went silent.

Ezra tensed beneath her and Sabine suddenly found herself on the floor.

"Thirty seconds too late," he explained in apology as he sent a surge of Force strength to his arms and broke the belt holding his hands together.

Sabine gawked at him before standing back up. Apparently she'd only been allowed to think she'd caught him. She couldn't help but admire him as he sat in the chair properly and kicked their TIE back into action just as another TIE Advanced appeared in front of them out of hyperspace. The two TIEs were firing at each other and dodging blasts as fast as they could manage, which was awe inspiringly fast, as far as Sabine could tell. She'd done some training in TIEs during her time at the Imperial Academy, and she'd never seen a space duel so dogged and intense.

It seemed that Force users were insanely good at flying, which she never knew, because Hera did almost all of the flying on the Ghost.

Or maybe it was just these two?

Sabine shrugged mentally and hung on to the chair tighter as she attempted to not swoon at how hot Ezra looked with a fierce frown of concentration on his face.

Hera pulled the Ghost out of hyperspace at the designated coordinates and blinked at the two nearly identical TIEs clearly trying to kill each other. One of them must contain Sabine. But which one? "Ephraim, nose gun. Mira, top gun. Zeb. cargo hold. Now!" They ran off. "Kanan, which one do we shoot at and which one do we catch?" she said a little desperately.

Kanan closed his eyes from the seat beside her and did his best to concentrate on the TIEs that were zipping around in front of them. One TIE felt a million times colder than the other one in the Force. That was good enough for him. "Shoot the TIE at point six," he called over the comm. Red blasts immediately shot out of the Ghost towards the offending TIE Advanced but it seemed to dodge their blasts effortlessly like the pilot knew they were coming.

Kanan pointed Hera towards the good TIE and she booted it in that direction.

The closer they got to the fighting TIEs, the colder the three Jedi on the ship felt. Mira shuddered but kept shooting at the TIE. "I think it's the Sith Lord again," she called over the comm.

"Of course it is," Ephraim replied in a near growl dripping in sarcasm. He put even more effort into trying to blow the TIE into tiny bits. That Sith sleemo had it coming.

"Chopper, get ready to jump us out of here," Hera said.

"Where?" Chopper beeped.

"Anywhere!" Kanan and Hera both said at the same time.

"Zeb," Hera called. "Get ready with the magnetic lock. I'm flying over our target in five, four, three, two... one."

"Got it!" crowed Zeb from the cargo hold.

Vader turned his focus on the Rebel freighter that had just locked onto his prey. His shots rained down on the Ghost, but were deflected by the shields. He dodged a barrage of return fire and circled around for another pass, then swore as the freighter disappeared into hyperspace. His eyes narrowed in anger but he forced himself to be calm and sent his ship to follow the tracking signals coming from both ships.

“You can run, but you can’t hide,” he said in a theatrical tone as his blood sang from the thrill of the hunt. This might be annoying, but he had to admit it was a little bit fun too.

It had been too long since he’d gone up against an opponent that kept him on his toes like this. This Ghost crew were definitely worthy adversaries.

Chapter Text

A Happy Reunion:

D2/3 BBY, Space

Apprentice relaxed in his chair and let go of the controls of the TIE as hyperspace appeared around them. He turned towards Sabine, who was still hanging on to his chair from the space battle so she didn't get thrown around, and grinned at her. "Now THAT was fun."

Sabine returned his grin. "Yep, it was. Nice flying there, Bridger."

Apprentice sucked in a deep breath, and, for the first time in years, started to the think that maybe, just maybe, he was safe to think of himself as Ezra Bridger again. Sabine sure seemed to think of him that way. His soul felt a little happier as his name settled back in his being where it belonged. Master would probably have a fit and he didn’t care.

"You know it's not over yet, right? Master is still following us," he said solemnly.

Sabine closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "Of course he is," she said with resignation. "Nothing is ever that easy for us. I'll let Hera know. I'm sure she'll come up with a plan to get us out of this TIE so we can ditch it. While we're waiting for that to happen, you got any bright ideas to keep us occupied?" Ezra's eyes lit up and twinkled at her devilishly and she just knew what he was thinking. "Not that, you nerfherder. I don't make out with guys I just met." She punched him in the shoulder to emphasize her point. "Think of something else."

Ezra sighed comically, but wasn't really disappointed. It had been a long shot anyway. Honestly, he was just happy to be in her presence. She radiated the Light side and warmth. He hadn't felt so warm and comfortable with another person since before losing his parents. He stood from the chair and opened a compartment in the pod and pulled out his bag, and from that a worn deck of cards, while she talked to the Hera person briefly. He'd spent countless hours playing solitaire during his stay in Vader's castle. It would be nice to play cards with a partner for once.

When she was done on the comm he showed her the deck. "You play cards?"

Sabine smirked. "You know how to play sabacc?"

Ezra shook his head. "No. But you can teach me."

Sabine lowered herself to a cross-legged position on the floor and patted the space in front of her. "Come on, Ezra. I'll give you fair warning though. You'll probably regret this."

Ezra raised a brow and copied her position, handing her the cards. "I'll take my chances."

Sabine smiled at him, then tilted her head as she took in his appearance again. She sighed. She just couldn't leave him looking like that. "You have any water in here? And a cloth or something?"

Ezra summoned his bag over without moving and pulled out a water bottle and a t-shirt, wondering what she wanted them for.

Sabine looked at the t-shirt in her hands and shrugged; it would wash. She poured a bit of the water on a corner of the shirt and reached towards Ezra.

He flinched back for a second before he realized her intentions and let her clean the dried blood off of his face. He'd completely forgotten that he might still be bloody. He felt himself warm up a little more as she cared for him. No one had taken care of him but med droids for so many years. Ezra closed his eyes and just relished the feeling.

Sabine dried Ezra's face with a dry side of the t-shirt. She may have let the tips of her fingers brush his cheek gently as she finished, but she'd never admit it. “You’re starting to swell a little, but it looks like it’ll heal straight.”

Ezra opened his eyes and shrugged as he made the dirty t-shirt disappear back into his bag. “It’s not the first time it’s been broken. I’ve learnt how to start the healing process with the Force, so it should be fine in a day or two. Thank you, Sabine," he said with utter sincerity, meaning more than just the clean up.

Sabine raised a brow. “For breaking your nose?”

Ezra chuckled. “Ha ha. I could have done without that. No. I meant for everything else. For not panicking when I wasn’t in control of myself. For not having a complete meltdown on me for stealing you. For being nice to me. For caring enough to clean me up. Do you need more? Cause I can probably come up with more.”

Sabine blushed a little as she giggled and shook her head. “No, that’s enough. You're welcome, Ezra. Despite the unfortunate way in which we met, I’m glad it happened."

Before Ezra could respond in kind, she turned her attention back to the cards and shuffled them expertly. "Now, let's teach you sabacc, shall we? I can't wait to thrash you in this at least."

Her eyes gleamed with amber fire at him and Ezra laughed, feeling more carefree than he could remember being in a very very long time. "Whatever pleases you, My Lady."

Sabine raised a brow, but let it slide. Maybe she was getting soft, but the sound of him calling her My Lady felt oh so right. She wondered what he'd think when he found out that she actually was a Lady. Sort of.

Ahsoka Tano and her corvette, The Reckless, just happened to be with the Phoenix fleet, in a meeting with Commander Sato, when her personal comm link chimed. This was fortunate, because she generally divided her time equally between all of the Rebel factions, and Sato's fleet was closest to the section of the Outer Rim that she suddenly found herself needed in.

Ahsoka excused herself from Sato's holographic presence and made her way to her office before answering the comm. There were very few people who had this frequency, and it was meant to be for emergencies only. "Yes?" she said. "What is it?"

Kanan's voice answered her back. "Sorry to bother you, Ahsoka. But we have a situation. We have a Sith Lord on our tail and Sabine is trapped with a Darksider of questionable integrity who just happens to be the missing Ezra Bridger in a TIE Advanced that we've locked to the bottom of the Ghost. And, well, we thought you just might be interested in helping us out. You have the most experience dealing with the Sith Lords, and are easily the best fighter amongst us."

Ahsoka's eyes widened in dismay as she heard Kanan's explanation. He was definitely justified in the use of the emergency comm. "Where are you right now?"

She heard Kanan address Chopper. "Hey, Chopper! Where did you send us?"

Chopper's response of, "Towards the fleet," made everyone on the Ghost groan.

Hera's, "C1-10P!" came through loud and clear, putting a hint of a smile on Ahsoka's face. "Why would you lead the Sith right towards the fleet?"

His beeped back reply of, "Because that's where help is?" just got more groans.

Ahsoka took control of the conversation again. "No. It's okay. That just puts us closer together. Where are you exactly right now?" Hera rattled off some coordinates and Ahsoka did some quick calculations. "Change your course for Fort Anaxes. If I leave now, we should both arrive at the same time." After receiving an affirmative from Hera, Ahsoka ended the call with, "I'll see you shortly."

Ahsoka ran down to the hangar, telling the Captain of her plans over the comm on the way. He was to stay with Phoenix Fleet until she returned and to apologize to Sato for her abrupt departure. She jumped into her personal A-Wing and was off the Reckless and in hyperspace a minute later.

Hera took the Ghost to the very edge of the asteroid field in hyperspace, not pulling out until the last possible moment, and then she did the fastest flying and evading of her life as she dodged asteroids, trying to gain some time over the evil Sith following them. She had the advantage of knowing this route fairly well, because Fort Anaxes was one of her regular meeting places with Ahsoka, but the asteroids didn’t exactly stay still, so the route was never exactly the same.

The destroyed planet was a perfect meeting point for clandestine operations. Although, ever since they discovered the fyrnocks living in the depths of the base, they'd been very careful to time their meetings when the sun was up on the landing pad. Today, they were just going to have to work with whatever light they had, and she had three Jedi with her to keep the animals at bay, unlike the time she and Sabine had been caught alone with the slavering 'nasties that live in the dark', like Sabine liked to call them.

Hera dropped the TIE on the landing pad in a relatively gentle fashion and set the Ghost beside it as her crew was already making their way down the ladder and into the cargo hold. They were loaded for war with lightsabres and blasters and a bo-rifle, just in case Ezra wasn’t in the mood to be nice. They’d need all of it for when the Sith Lord caught up to them anyway.

Hera swiftly followed, grabbing Sabine's helmet with her WESTARs resting in it from the floor on her way by. A thought had her pausing with only her head still at deck level as she climbed down the ladder. “Chopper, keep the ship running and the shields up, just in case.”

“Will do,” he beeped cheerily and plugged into his outlet.

Hera smiled at her droid swiftly and then continued down the ladder.

Ezra spent two of the best hours of his life playing cards with Sabine and learning more about her as they talked about their favourite foods, movies, colours, hobbies, and so on and so forth. None of their chatter went into anything serious or too revealing about painful bits of their pasts, but Ezra had a feeling that they could get there if they had the chance.

He really hoped he got that chance. Sabine was officially the most fascinating being he'd ever met and he just knew he'd be the luckiest person in the galaxy if he was granted the privilege of spending the rest of his life in her company.

She hadn't been kidding when she said she was going to crush him at sabacc, but he didn't care. What he enjoyed the most was just the time spent with her; watching her smile when she won a hand, (which was almost all of them), watching her frown in concentration as she made a decision, listening to her laugh when he pretended to pout about losing yet another game.

He could happily spend every one of his waking hours just listening to her voice and soaking in the warmth that radiated from her Force signature like a kitten in a sunny spot. With his Master's freezing presence only a couple minutes behind them, Ezra needed all the warmth that he could get. He never wanted to feel like an emotionless block of ice again, now that he had finally felt what it was like to be warm after so many years.

When they felt the ship drop out of hyperspace and came face to face with an asteroid, they quickly packed up their things, including Sabine's broken belt and her gun holsters, into his bag and watched as their ride zoomed through an asteroid field.

"Where are we?" Ezra asked.

Sabine kind of grimaced. "We're flying through what's left of the planet Anaxes, on the way to an old Republic Base."

"And this is bad?" Ezra asked, sensing her distaste for the location.

"It's not good," she snorted. "There are creatures that live there that like to eat you if you give them half a chance."

Ezra smiled in relief at the simple problem. "Don't worry. I can take care of them for you. I'm good with animals."

Sabine looked at him with a raised brow. "I'm surprised. I didn't think Darksiders would want to bond with an animal."

Ezra shrugged. "My Master thinks it's beneath us, but it's one of the few things I was instantly good at. He let me develop the skill to help strengthen the rest of my Force abilities."

"Got it." Sabine looked at Ezra out of the corner of her eye as she watched the asteroids zip past. "When we land, you'll meet the rest of my family, so please don't kill them," she said, only half joking.

Ezra rolled his eyes. "After all we've been through in the last few hours, you'd think you'd have a little more faith in me," he said with the same amount of serious and half joking.

Sabine punched him in the arm. "Just don't do anything to make me dislike you again, and we'll be fine." Then she gave him a half smile that would do a tooka proud. "And you still have your surprise waiting for you. I know you'll like it."

Ezra smiled back at her, not even really caring what the surprise was at this point; he felt like she was all the present he ever needed.

As soon as their TIE was released from the ship above it and it hit the ground with a thud, Ezra had the hatch open and jumped up onto the roof of the TIE, bag in hand. He could feel his Master closing the distance between them faster than he cared to think about. He was worried for Sabine and her friends, terrified that he wouldn’t be able to protect them from his Master’s wrath.

Ezra took a deep breath and found his center of calm, letting the Force and determination fill him. A sense that everything would work out all right in the end snuck into his mind, allowing him to breathe easier.

Feeling better, he turned around to help Sabine out of the TIE but found she'd already jumped up beside him. He flashed her a smile before he jumped off the TIE and watched her do the same effortlessly. She might not have the Force, but the girl was certainly athletic. Stars, that was hot.

The ramp of the freighter beside them opened and out poured a small herd of people. Ezra glanced over each of them, recognizing most from their earlier encounter in the alleyway or from their descriptions on the datapad of info about them. But there were two who caught his eye and made him do a double take, since they weren’t masked and cloaked this time.

Ezra froze as he stared at the couple who lined up with the rest in front of him. It couldn't be them. Could it? He stared into the woman's purple eyes, so familiar, then turned his attention the man with the midnight blue hair and beard and vibrant royal blue eyes, and then looked back at the woman, positive he was losing his mind. “Sabine?” he whispered, eyes superglued to the couple.

She touched his back gently. “Surprise.” Ezra shot her a wide eyed look and she smiled sweetly at him. “I told you you’d like it.”

Mira stopped beside her husband, surprised and pleased to see Sabine looking unharmed and apparently friendly with her son. Mira studied the teenage boy, her heart in her throat and tears stinging her eyes. She fished around for Ephraim’s hand and squeezed hard when she found it. He squeezed back just as hard.

Ezra’s signature in the Force was still a little chilly and blurred, like he didn't really know who he was, but underneath that, he was still undoubtedly her son. She took in his closely cropped black hair, the scar on his cheek, the copper skin and general shape of his face that looked so much like Ephraim’s, and she gulped back more happy tears. And to make it all even just that much better, his eyes were now all blue, like they should be. If Sabine had done that for him, then Mira was going to love the girl forever. Kanan had been right when he felt like Sabine was exactly what Ezra needed.

And then he whispered, "Mom?" in a broken voice that shattered her heart.

Sabine nudged Ezra's side when she heard his hoarse whisper, making him glance at her again. She smiled encouragingly when he didn't seem to be moving. The Bridgers looked frozen too, if a little teary eyed. "Go. It's them. I promise."

Ezra walked forward tentatively and stopped right in front of his parents and said it again. "Mom? Dad? It's me. Ezra."

Mira choked on a sob and flung her arms around her son. She'd been so sure she'd never see him again and here he was, almost all grown up and suddenly back in her arms where he belonged. Not even two seconds later, she felt Ephraim's arms envelop them both and tears fall on her hair as he cried, "Ezra," over and over.

Sabine felt her eyes get misty at the heartbreaking sight in front of her and turned her attention to the rest of her family so she could get herself get back under control. Hera, Kanan, and Zeb all looked smug and happy as they took in the scene, which she wasn’t expecting. What happened to the shell shocked reaction they should have had?

She spotted her helmet and blasters in Hera's hands and rejoiced to have them back. Sabine moved up to Hera's side and gently pulled them from her unresisting fingers as Hera's focus was still on the Bridgers, happy tears swimming in her eyes now, too.

“Why do I get the feeling that you guys aren’t surprised at all?” Sabine asked as she turned back and watched the Bridgers babble over each other in barely coherent words while Mira ran her hands all over Ezra’s hair and face and shoulders in clear wonder.

Kanan grinned at her from the other side of Hera, arm wrapped around her shoulders. “Mira recognized his signature. The saying that a mother will always know her child is quite accurate.”

Sabine leaned a little bit into Hera’s side as she hugged her blaster filled helmet to her chest, the statement sending a niggle of pain through her at how her own mother had betrayed her. Hera glanced at her and smiled softly, wrapping an arm around Sabine’s shoulders and hugging her into her side comfortingly.

Sabine glanced up at the taller woman and smiled back. Even though Hera wasn’t that much older than her, she’d slipped into the role of Sabine’s surrogate mother easily when they’d found her injured and abandoned a few years ago. Sabine now loved Hera and Kanan more than her real parents, and most of the time, she didn’t even feel too guilty about it.

Sabine sighed a little, leaning her head on Hera’s shoulder as Kanan reached further and squeezed her shoulder for a moment. “I’m just happy for them. It couldn't happen to nicer people."

Zeb joined the conversation from where he stood on the far side of Kanan. "There’s just the one tiny issue of him being a Sith."

Sabine shook her head and pulled away from Hera, not one to cuddle for long. "Not really. He may have been forced to use the Dark side, but I think with our help, he's going to be just as Light as the rest of you with a little retraining. Ezra hasn't hurt me at all, and he's actually kind of sweet."

Zeb snorted. "I doubt that. You’re not the one who got thrown into a wall. I'm reserving judgement for now."

Sabine rolled her eyes at the lasat. “Don’t be such a baby. You look all right to me. I’m sure whatever Ezra did to you was probably justified.”

Zeb blinked at her like she’d lost her mind, and Kanan even raised a brow at her. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right, Sabine? I never thought I’d see the day that you actually spoke well of a boy. And this one’s an Imperial Darksider.”

“Ex Imperial Darksider,” Sabine shot back defensively, blushing furiously. “Ezra’s on our side now.”

Zeb snorted loudly. “I’m calling it. Our kitten is officially gone on the Sith boy. He must have done something to her mind.”

“He didn’t!” Sabine protested.

“He put you to sleep,” Kanan pointed out unhelpfully.

Sabine waved her free hand. “Semantics. He’s been good since then, I swear. The one we really need to worry about is his Master. Now that one is BAD.”

As if her words had summoned him to prove her point, a TIE Advanced came screeching up to the landing pad, firing laser shots at the Ghost like a hail of vindictive green rain.

Chapter Text

A/N: The next 2 chapters are dedicated to Daniel K. H. Thank you! :D

And A Painful One:

D2/3 BBY, Fort Anaxes

“He told me you were dead.” Ezra all but sobbed as his mom held him tight to her shoulder and his dad held him tighter, bearded cheek pressed to the top of his head.

“Oh, baby, I’m sorry,” Mira whispered in an anguished tone. “We’ve missed you so. But even though we couldn’t find you, I knew you were still alive. I KNEW it.”

Ezra pulled back from his parents a little and studied their tear stained faces as Mira ran her hands over him, unable to lose contact just yet. “You look the same as I remember.”

Ephraim summoned a shaky smile and rubbed his hand over Ezra’s short hair that used to be gloriously shaggy and wild. “You don’t. You’ve grown up so much. You’re almost as tall as me already.”

Ezra shrugged bashfully. “Isn’t that what kids are supposed to do? Grow?”

Mira laughed softly. “Yes, sweetie. You’re supposed to grow. It’s just hard to see that we’ve missed so much of it.”

Ezra’s expression hardened and a hint of yellow returned to the outer rim of his eyes. “And we all know who to blame for that, don’t we?”

Mira and Ephraim flinched at his bitter tone. Ephraim grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. “Easy, son. Let the Force have it. You can’t let hate consume you.”

Ezra blinked and breathed deeply as his eyes returned fully to blue. He tilted his head slightly as clues started to click in his mind. “Wait a minute.” He studied them intently, from their curious faces, to the clothes they wore, to the weapons they had strapped to them. He didn't remember his parents being fighters, but people change. And then he finally registered what he’d been too preoccupied to sense. His eyes widened as he saw the lightsabres hooked to their belts and he heard the faint, joyful singing from the Kyber crystals inside that shamed the whimpering he’d heard from his Master’s lightsabres. "You're Jedi?" he asked incredulously. "I don't remember you being Jedi."

Ephraim shrugged and smiled apologetically. "We gave up that life up when we had you, for your safety. It wasn't safe to be a Jedi then, and it still isn't, not really."

Ezra was surprised that they would do that. "But how come you don't feel like a Force User? And my Master didn't sense anything either when he met you last month."

Ephraim and Mira grinned, then let their Force signatures revert back to their normal feeling for a few moments. "We hide what we are in the Force," Mira explained as Ezra gaped at them. "Ephraim is a very strong signature manipulator and I do all right. It has saved our lives countless times. I'm sure we can teach you to do the same. It becomes second nature after a while."

Ezra was about to respond to that when he felt his Master's rage bearing down on them. "We'll have to talk about this later. Master is here and he's not happy." Ezra turned to where Darth Vader's TIE was approaching from, his shoulders stiffening and his hate for his Master returning. Master had lied to him. Master had said his parents were dead. Master would pay for that. Ezra closed his eyes and gathered the Dark Force around him, summoning the lightsabres off his parents' belts, hearing them gasp in dismay, but ignoring it as he turned his now yellow eyes on the TIE now flying overhead and shooting at the Ghost. The ship appeared to have its shields up, though, because the shots never struck the hull.

“Chopper!!!” Ezra heard the twi’lek yell into a comm unit as he bolted past her, lighting the sabres as he ran. One large bound later, he was on top of the Ghost just as it was lifting off the ground. And then another, longer, leap and he was on top of his Master’s TIE as it finished its circle back to make another pass at the freighter.

"Oh, kriff," Sabine breathed in awe as she saw Ezra go from sweet boy reuniting with his parents to determined warrior, yellow eyes practically glowing with hate as he leapt onto the TIE and dug the lightsabres into the hull, ruining it as he carved a larger hatch into the top. She bit her lip as a wave of heat swept through her and settled in her core. By the moons, was she ever turned on right now.

Darth Vader narrowed his eyes as Apprentice leapt onto his TIE, and then he snarled as two blue lightsabres appeared in the ceiling of the pod.

He landed with a screech of durasteel on old duracrete and summoned his helmet from the floor just in time to plop it on his head as the top of his pod went flying off.

Vader jumped up onto the top of the pod and stopped the blue lightsabres from taking off his head with a quickly ignited red lightsabre. "Apprentice," Vader growled. "What the kriff do you think you're doing?"

Ezra pushed his Master off the TIE with a blast of the Force and leapt after him as Master landed on his feet lightly. "You lied to me, Master," he said, attacking with both lightsabres, exchanging a flurry of strikes with his Master. "You said my parents were dead."

Sabine watched them dance across the duracrete, two deadly figures in black, but one was so much bigger than the other and his menacing factor was off the charts with that cape billowing around his feet and that soulless black bucket on his head.

Reminded of buckets, she realized she was squeezing her own in a near death grip as her heart hammered in her throat in fear for Ezra. Getting a grip on her emotions, she grabbed her blasters out of it and plunked the helmet on her head, where it belonged. Then she levelled her blasters at the duelling figures and waited for an opportunity to shoot that didn’t endanger Ezra any further than he already was.

Looking from side to side, she saw the rest of her family had already had the same thought. There was now six blasters and a bo-rifle pointed at the Sith Lord, and Kanan had his lightsabre lit in his dominant hand.

Vader parried the blows from his Apprentice, forcing the boy onto the defensive, wondering how things had gone so wrong so quickly. He took half a second to glance at the vaguely familiar looking couple who were watching the duel with concerned looks on their faces and blasters in their hands. It was just his luck they would be part of the Rebel cell he sent his Apprentice after. Whoever had let them escape prison without informing him was going to regret it. No matter how long ago that was.

Before Vader could come up with a suitable scathing response to Apprentice’s accusation, he was distracted by a new presence in the Force that felt familiar and full of vindication just before an A-Wing swooped in and flew right at him, forcing him and Apprentice to leap backwards and apart from each other or get creamed by the fighter.

The moment the Sith was no longer close to Ezra, the entire Ghost crew started firing their blasters at the Sith Lord, Kanan with his lightsabre ignited and ready to deflect any shots that came back their way.

Ezra noticed what they were doing and somersaulted over his Master's head and landed between them and the Sith Lord, using the lightsabres in his hands to deflect shots as well, for every single blaster shot sent at Master was returned their way with unerring accuracy. Ezra sent as many blaster bolts as he could right back to Master, standing side by side with the ponytailed Jedi and the rest of the family lined up behind them, counting on their lightsabres to protect them.

The nose gun of the Ghost even got in the game as Chopper joined the action, blasting away at the Sith Lord, forcing him to leap around to avoid the laser cannons.

All of this gave Ahsoka time to land her fighter and leap out of it, white lightsabres drawn. She advanced on the Sith Lord, eyes intent on the tall man in black that she'd heard so much about but had never met. The man radiated cold and rage and fear like she'd never felt before. She hid her shiver as she said in a taunting voice, "You might as well give up now. We have you outnumbered."

Vader half turned to the new adversary, keeping most of his attention on the blasters still firing at him. It wouldn't do to get hit by a lucky shot while his attention was divided. He almost stopped breathing as he took in the tall, beautiful, togrutan female stalking him with a look of calm determination in her stunning blue eyes. The same eyes that Vader would remember until the end of his days, for they haunted his nightmares.

It was her! The first one to betray him.

Somehow, she was still alive, and he'd never known it. Vader had a new focus for his hate now, almost all of his attention now on his former padawan. "Ahsoka!" he hissed under his breath as he leapt at her, barely noticing the blaster bolt that hit the back of his left shoulder as he turned his back on the group now behind him.

The Ghost family stopped firing, afraid of hitting Ahsoka by accident as they watched her and the Sith Lord battle back and forth across the old duracrete of the landing pad. Ezra didn't know who the female was, but he recognized her fighting style instantly. It was the same one he'd been taught, especially when using two blades. Master had always preferred using just one lightsabre, but he was just as deadly with two, and he'd taught Ezra both ways of fighting and defending against both a single sabre or two. The only difference between what Ezra had been taught and what the togrutan did was that she held her lightsabres in a reverse grip, that he could now see had some advantages but also seemed much more complicated to master. Ezra could almost anticipate every move they were going to make, the motions of the Forms drilled into him for countless hours every day for years. If Master wasn't home to teach him, then one of the training droids would take over the job.

Ezra was deciding whether or not to join the fight when Master tossed the female back with a Force push that smacked her into the side of her yellow painted A-Wing, where she crumpled to the ground and didn't move. Ezra immediately jumped back into Master's focus, lightsabres held at the ready in front and behind him. He raised a brow when the ponytailed man also moved forward, his lightsabre held in the ready stance of Form 3.

Vader laughed, the sinister sound sending chills through everyone. "You really think you can defeat me, Apprentice? I taught you everything you know, but I didn't teach you everything I know. You don't stand a chance."

Ezra gritted his teeth and glared at Master. "I'll do my best anyway, Master," he sneered. "And my name is Ezra. Ezra Bridger. And you're never going to take that away from me again." And with that, he leapt at Master, and the duel started all over.

But this time, there was a Jedi beside him taking some of Master's attention, leaving more openings for Ezra to press his attack.

Ahsoka dragged herself off the ground, gritting her teeth at the pain in her back from where she'd struck the edge of the fighter's wing. She gathered the Force into herself, sending some of it to where she hurt, feeling the instant relief, and using the rest to give her the determination to rejoin the fight. Ahsoka ran back to the battle, leaping into the air and swiping at the Sith Lord's helmet as she passed over his head. She landed and spun back. It was now five lightsabres against one. The Sith Lord was going down.

Everything changed when Ahsoka saw the face that had previously been hidden under the ruined helmet that was now lying on the ground. Just as she was about to strike and he faced her to block her with hate blazing in his eyes, she froze and let her lightsabres turn off as she stared in shock. They fell from her numb fingers with a barely heard clatter. His eyes were yellow with red starbursts framing the blazing yellow centres, and he looked older of course, but he hadn't changed that much. The chiselled shape of his face was the same, the scar running past his right eye still apparent and now joined by a burn scar on his cheek. The dark gold waves that framed his face had a streak of grey at the temples. And despite all that, he was still the handsomest male she’d ever seen.

It was him! Her Master.

The biggest regret in her life was leaving him. But she'd felt like she had to. She'd been desperately in love with him, but he'd only had eyes for Padme, and Ahsoka could never come between them if that’s who he wanted. She'd never even thought to try. So when the Council had refused to believe her innocence about the bombing until Anakin had found the real culprit, she'd left the Jedi Order, and her Master, feeling like it was the best thing for everyone. Anakin still had Obi-Wan and Padme, and she was no longer tortured by being in his presence all the time and knowing she'd never get to love him like she wanted to.

And then Order 66 had happened. Most of the Jedi were wiped out, including Anakin as far as she knew. Padme had perished as well, but Obi-Wan had refused to say what from, and everything had just been so messed up for the longest time.

And now here he was, still alive and breathing, fighting with two others just like the old days, making it look easy, ignoring her like she meant nothing to him, and Ahsoka's heart broke all over again as she realized Anakin was the Sith Lord that the whole galaxy was afraid of. The Sith Lord who was the Emperor's right hand. The Sith Lord who had killed countless Jedi and younglings and turned many others to the Dark Side.

Ahsoka fell to her knees on the hard duracrete and tears fell from her eyes as she cried his name. "Anakin! What have you become?"

The battle came to a dead halt as everyone heard the name.

The Ghost family looked at the Sith Lord in shock. This was the legendary Jedi, Anakin Skywalker?

“Holy kriffing nerfherders,” Sabine exclaimed.

“Crude, but accurate,” Hera said softly from beside her. She picked up her comm again and told Chopper to stand down for now.

He didn’t sound happy about it, but he landed the Ghost back on the duracrete with a grumbled beep.

Kanan’s head swivelled from where Ahsoka knelt on the ground to Vader and back again as he winced in sympathy, knowing exactly what this meant. He’d once asked her why she’d left the Order. Her mumbled response of, “Because I loved my Master,” had made perfect sense to him; Anakin Skywalker was the hero of the Clone Wars. The holonet had loved him and he’d had a million fangirls chasing him whenever he went out in public. He still thought the Council never should have paired two teenagers together as Master and Apprentice. What an idiotic thing to do. Where they trying to make Anakin fail? If Kanan had done the forbidden and fallen in love with his Master, he could see himself doing the same thing to escape the awkwardness of the situation. Fortunately for him, his Master had been old enough to see as a mother figure and she had treated him like her son. Force, he missed Master Depa.

Ezra looked back at the female on the ground, wondering what his Master meant to her and why she called him Anakin. As far as he knew, Master's name was Darth Vader.

Vader looked at Ahsoka with a sneer. "I am what you made me, Padawan."

The observers of the drama unfolding before them drew in a collected breath of increased shock.

I am what you made me, Padawan. I am what you made me, Padawan. I am what you made me, Padawan.

The words rang through Ahsoka's mind over and over like a ship's alarm signalling total and complete failure of all systems and that death was imminent. She stared up into Anakin's accusing, now nearly completely red eyes, feeling like her whole world had just shattered as waves of hate, loathing, and cold hit her in the Force. "How did I turn you into this?!" she cried up at him.

Vader narrowed his eyes and practically growled at his ex padawan. He started forward towards her, but was met by blue lightsabres in his path. Completely fed up, Vader had had enough of people getting in his way and shooting at him. With a massive surge of the Force, he held out both his hands and sent his Apprentice and the Jedi flying through the air in two different directions.

As Apprentice was still flying towards the rest of the Rebel crew, he pushed them all as well, sending the whole lot of them flying and skidding backward towards the dark entrance of the base.

Then he turned his attention on the annoying ship that was shooting at him yet again despite being ordered not to. Jumping a laser blast, he pushed with the Force and the ship was thrust away and pointing in a different direction, hanging lopsided off the edge of the landing pad.

With the annoyances now dealt with for the moment, Vader turned his attention back to Ahsoka. He advanced on her, eyes narrowed, red lightsabre held menacingly. "You LEFT me, Ahsoka," the words thrown at her like a blow.

"But..." she started to say.

Vader cut her off with an emphatic slash of his lightsabre. He wasn't finished. "You LEFT me," he growled again. "You left me alone with a Jedi Council who did everything they could to make sure I never advanced as a Jedi. You left me in the clutches of the most evil man in the Galaxy," he spat out. "When I needed you the most, you weren't there. And then everyone else betrayed me as well. Padme, Obi-Wan, the Council, Palpatine. Everyone I trusted. And it all started with you." Vader placed his lightsabre a fraction of millimetre from her neck. Before he killed her, he needed to know just one thing. "Why?"

Ahsoka bowed her head, tears streaming down her face. She'd had no idea. And now she was resigned to her death at her Master's hands. Ahsoka felt like she deserved it. The most powerful Jedi in the galaxy had turned to the Dark side because of her. And look what he'd become. There was no way she could ever make it up to him or the galaxy as a whole. But he deserved the truth, so she said it, however reluctantly. "Because I loved you, Skyguy," she whispered.

Hearing a gasp from him, she looked up, watery eyes meeting his. "I left because I loved you," she repeated, louder this time. "But it wasn't allowed, and you already loved Padme. I didn't feel like I could stay any longer." Ahsoka bowed her head again. "I will always love you, Anakin," she whispered again to herself as more tears ran down her face, leaving cold trails.

He knew now. She had no fight in her to even try and stand and defend herself if he really did want her dead. Just before she closed her eyes in defeat, waiting for the inevitable, she saw the blade of his lightsabre start to tremble.

Vader looked down at the bent head of Ahsoka and felt something inside him come back to life. He'd been cold and dead for so long it actually hurt as a corner of his heart and soul gave a small leap of excitement and hope at her words. Ahsoka loved him? And not just as a Master, but as a person?

The Dark side of him got in on the inner struggle. 'But she left you, despite this so called love,' it whispered. 'If she really had loved you, she should have stayed.' Vader's hand trembled as he struggled with what to do now. He'd been so sure that he would kill her if he ever saw her again. He'd imagined it for years, the satisfaction of finally getting closure.

But now, everything was suddenly different. He never imagined she had left him for mostly unselfish reasons. He’d had no idea that she'd known about his unrequited love for Padme. He'd always known they had a special bond as Master and Padawan, and back then, he'd loved her as the little sister he never had. For months before she left, he'd sensed she'd been hiding something from him, and then that awful tragedy with the false accusation of multiple murders had happened, and she'd become even more closed off. And when she walked away from him for the last time, on the steps of the Jedi Temple, she'd closed down their bond permanently. It had felt like a slap in the face by a durasteel gauntlet. He'd clutched her Silka beads that she'd made him keep and had almost thrown them away in a fit of rage, but something had made him keep them at the last millisecond. Vader still had them, telling himself they were a reminder of her betrayal.

As the seconds seemed to stretch forever while thoughts whirled through him, another part of Vader couldn't help but admire the grown up version of his former Apprentice.

She'd matured into something truly breathtaking. When she looked up at him again, crystal blue eyes shining with tears and hope as the strike of his lightsabre never came, Vader drank in her new appearance. The shape of her face had changed from the rounded youthful one he remembered, maturing into perfection. Her montrals and lekku were considerably longer and very impressive. For some inexplicable reason, he felt the urge to stroke them, just to see her shiver at the touch of his hand.

Vader barely noticed as he absently turned off his lightsabre, no longer in a killing rage. His eyes ran up and down her body quickly as she stood slowly, still unsure of his reaction. He liked her new outfit. The more subdued colours suited her and covered a whole lot more of her brilliant orange skin than her original teenage outfits had. Despite the coverage, the curvy shape of her taller body was still clear to see, and for the first time since before he'd accidentally killed Padme, Vader felt a gentle heat swirl through him as he took real notice of a female again. Vader's eyes met Ahsoka's again, and got stuck there as he delved into their depths. A tiny breath of air escaped him as their old bond snapped back into place, further filling him with warmth. Vader had forgotten what it felt like to be warm. That hurt too, but it was a welcome pain, as he felt even more pieces of himself awaken back to life as the love she still had for him filled him through their bond.

Vader reached out with his free hand, touching her cheek in gentle wonder. And when she leaned into his touch, his heart stuttered. "You... love... me?" he finally managed to choke out.

Ahsoka nodded, eyes searching Anakin's as she tried to find her Master in the red and yellow depths. "I do. The Anakin that I know must still be in there somewhere. I could never love a Sith Lord, but I will always love my Skyguy. It's up to you what you want to do with that."

Now it was Vader's turn to bow his head in defeat and his hand dropped to his side. "I am evil, Ahsoka. I've done things. Terrible things. I could never be your Skyguy again. I am beyond hope."

Ahsoka cupped his jaw in her hands, his silky dark gold hair brushing the back of her fingers, marvelling that she was actually touching him like this, and made his eyes meet hers again. "Anakin, there is always hope. If you let me, I will help you find the Light side again. I know it's buried in there somewhere. You could be great again, in the way you were meant to be. You're the Chosen One. The one who was supposed to be the balance like the Father," her voice implored. "You can still make everything right again. We can defeat the Emperor together. And it wouldn't be just us. There are more Jedi right here who can help us. We CAN win this war of Light versus Dark with you on our side. Please, Anakin, bring the light back to yourself and the galaxy. You've lived in the dark long enough. I believe in you, Anakin. I always have and I always will." As she spoke, Ahsoka kept her eyes firmly fixed on his, willing him to feel her words through their bond. She even felt the Force fill her and surround her, as though to help encourage her to keep speaking, and she sent some of it on to him.

Vader couldn't decide if he was more amazed by Ahsoka's words, or her fingers stroking his face, or the Light side of the Force that she was sharing with him through their bond. He had a hard time believing that she could forgive him that easily for everything he'd done, but the gentle touch of her hands was telling him that she was. "But... I'm not worthy. I don't know if I can go back to who I was. I know I don't ever want to be a Jedi again. That code was stupid and I broke it all over the place anyway."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and snorted. "Oh, you don't have to remind me. I was there." Her voice turned serious again as she moved her fingers to run them through his hair, loving the softness. "I don't consider myself to be a Jedi either. At least not of the old code. There can be a balance in you, between the Light and the Dark, if you let it. I can live with that."

"You really believe that, don't you?" Vader asked, finally starting to believe it himself. She nodded slowly and he raised his hand again and gave in to his earlier urge to stroke the back of his fingers down the length of a lek. The corner of his mouth curled up in a satisfied smirk to see that he was right when he thought that would make her shiver in delight. "Ahsoka," he whispered in amazement as another wave of warmth filled him from the Force itself and the persona that was Vader melted away with a silent scream into the Force.

As the waves of the Force swirled around them, Anakin blinked and between one moment and the next, the red outlines in his eyes were gone, leaving his eyes a warmer shade of golden yellow, their depths actually looking hopeful instead of cold and lifeless like they first had. Ahsoka smiled radiantly up at him, fingers gently stroking his cheekbones. "There's my Skyguy. I knew you were still in there." She hoped, that with time and love, she could get his eyes all the way back to blue, but for now, gold would do. The colour went well with his hair, anyway.

Anakin smiled in return, his facial muscles almost not remembering how to make such a happy expression. "I missed you, Snips." He oomphed softly as he was suddenly engulfed in a tight hug by her strong arms. He looked down at the top of her head in amazement as it rested on his shoulder and then slowly wound his arms around her back in return, the soft weight of her rear lek resting on his forearms.

For the first time in more than sixteen years, Anakin was held by someone who loved him and another piece of his soul fluttered back to life. He pressed his cheek to the side of her montral and breathed in her wonderful scent, eyes closing in stunned bliss.

On the other side of the galaxy, Darth Sidious staggered as he felt a massive shift in the Force. His eyes narrowed in furious anger while lightning crackled around his clenched fists, and he faced unerringly in the direction of his Apprentice despite the vast distance between them. Darth Vader was no more and Anakin Skywalker had returned. Whoever it was that had had helped him do that was going to be the first to feel his wrath. Sidious would see to it personally.

Chapter Text

In the Aftermath of Rage:

D2/3 BBY, Fort Anaxes

Ezra was shocked that the togruta female was Master's padawan. And if that was the case, then Master used to be a JEDI.

He could barely wrap his mind around the concept. And then Master got that deadly look in his eyes that Ezra knew all too well. He and the ponytailed Jedi tried to stop Master from advancing on the female, but were sent flying through the air in one of the strongest Force pushes Master had ever bestowed upon him for their trouble.

Fortunately, Ezra had had this happen to him many times over the years and he had long ago learned how to deal with it and turn it to his advantage if possible. As he soared through the air, his mind worked at lightspeed, calculating where he was headed for and if he needed to do anything about his trajectory. In this case, he knew he was headed straight for Sabine, his parents, the green twi'lek, and the lasat.

Not wanting to crash into them, he gathered the Force and used it to flip through the air so he was facing the other way and could now see them. He was just about to use the Force again and slow himself down so he landed in front of them and not on top when he saw them all get thrown backwards by yet another massive Force wave from his Master. He even felt some of it as it lifted him back up into the air slightly. Ezra controlled his landing to the ground and held the few fingers he had that weren't necessary to hold the lightsabre out and grabbed Sabine with the Force before she could hit the wall of the base she was heading straight towards. The others were all going to land just inside the opening. His other hand reached out and he did his best to slow their descent so they hit the ground as softly as possible.

Sabine sucked in a breath when she saw Ezra get thrown through the air and then she lost the same breath when the Force Wave hit her, her eyes widening in shock, but her fingers tightened on her guns in automatic reflex. Her incredulous eyes saw Ezra flip and land lightly on his feet. And then she gasped in air again when she came to a sudden stop in mid flight and was floated gently to the ground. Holy karkin kriff, he was strong in the Force. She'd never seen anyone else control a Force push quite like that before. When Kanan and the Bridgers trained, they certainly didn’t put that much effort into their Force pushes and the consequences thereof.

She turned her head to check on the rest of her family and was shocked to see a wall right behind her.

Ezra had stopped her from hitting it.

Wow.

She took a step around the rock wall and saw the others getting to their feet, a little winded but okay. Ezra came running up to them and Sabine turned her attention back to him. He'd never looked more gorgeous to her, eyes darkening back to blue and wide with worry, glowing lightsabres still held at the ready.

"Is everyone okay?" Ezra asked, scanning the group quickly as they stood in the shadows of the base, before turning his eyes to Sabine's helmeted form, wishing she wasn't wearing it so he could see her face. He got a lot of nods and wheezing yeahs in answer. He also felt a wave of menace come from the dark shadows of the base. The others felt it too, Force sensitive or not, whirling around and looking into the shadows with worry radiating off of them.

"I think it's time to back up," Sabine said, vocalizing the thoughts of everyone around her.

Everyone but Ezra, that is.

He stayed in the shadows out of curiosity, while the others retreated to the other side of the line of sunlight. Ezra wanted to see what lived here and could put that note of fear in Sabine's voice. This was the first time he'd ever heard her afraid. Fighting him hadn't scared her. Being trapped with him in a TIE when he had almost no control of his actions hadn't scared her. Not even opening the hatch in space and tossing out his lightsabre had scared her. These animals must be something truly frightening.

A pair of glowing eyes appeared, and then another and another, along with a subtle growl that he felt more than heard. Ezra closed his eyes and focused on the signatures of the beasts around him. There were at least thirty of them, all pacing the dark eagerly. He could feel their hunger, their need to kill the intruder. Ezra wove his will into theirs and changed their thoughts to simple curiosity in the intruder. The menace left the air and the creatures walked forward into the lighter shadows were he could see them. Ezra turned off the lightsabres, sensing they didn't like the light from them.

One, not the leader, which he could feel still waiting deep in the darkest depths of the cave, but the second in the pecking order, even came all the way up to him before sitting on his haunches at his feet. This beast was as tall as Ezra and had some fearsome fangs and claws, but with Ezra sending it welcoming thoughts of friendship, it didn't feel the need to use his defences against the human. The creature sniffed at Ezra curiously and Ezra smiled and held out his hand, smirking as he heard Sabine gasp in dismay behind him. The beast put his head under Ezra's hand and rumbled in contentment. "Good beastie," Ezra whispered to it.

Ezra thought about sending the pack of clawed beasts at his Master, and even went so far as to glance that way, past the rebel crew to where Master and the togruta appeared to be having some sort of stare down, they were so focused on each other. But then he remembered that the beasts seemed averse to the light. Not to mention his Master would cut them to bits in less than a minute. The beasties didn’t deserve that kind of end.

He gestured back towards the darker shadows. "Go. We mean you no harm." The creature sent him one more look then turned and walked away, all of the others also fading into the dark. Ezra smiled to himself. He liked communicating with animals. It always left him with a feeling of connection to something other than the cold he was so used to. And the Force felt happy with him, which was never a bad thing.

And speaking of approval, his parents were sending him waves of it right now, which made Ezra smile wider and his feet feel lighter.

Ezra turned back to the group and walked out of the shadows. His parents and the twi’lek were smiling at him and looking a little awestruck. The purple striped lasat was gawking. And Sabine? She was still wearing her helmet, but he could sense enough of her feelings anyway. She was impressed, and he liked that feeling. "What?" he asked with a smirking raised brow. "None of you have ever tried to make friends with them before?" Every single one of them shook their heads slowly, making Ezra grin at his achievement.

And then he remembered what they were all doing here in the first place. He turned his attention back to what Master was doing, kicking himself for getting distracted. Now it was his turn to wear a shocked face. His gaping mouth must have clued the others in that something was happening, for they all turned around and stared at the same unbelievable sight he was seeing.

Master was hugging the togruta.

And she was hugging him back.

“Karabast,” the lasat exclaimed. “Ahsoka’s lost it!”

“It does appear that way,” the twi’lek replied.

“It is shocking to see Ahsoka hugging a Sith Lord,” Ezra’s mom said. “But if you could see what I do, they are deeply connected in the Force. His signature is changing even as we speak. It’s beautiful,” she finished in a soft whisper just before the twi’lek called out a name and ran across the duracrete.

“Should we go...?” the lasat started to ask, poised to run after her, but Ezra’s mom shook her head.

“No, Kanan’s okay. Let’s give them a little space for a couple minutes. Force knows, there’s hardly any to be found on the Ghost.”

The lasat harummmphed, but settled back onto his heels and crossed his arms, keeping an eye on the two couples further out on the landing pad.

Focusing on what his mom had said a half a minute ago, Ezra closed his eyes and focused more with his Force senses, studying his Master in the Force and found that his mom was right. Master’s Force signature had changed significantly. Master was degrees warmer now and he barely felt like the person Ezra knew. His signature swirled happily and blended with that of the female's where they met in the Force. Ezra didn’t want to believe his senses but the Force didn't lie. They were bonded! Ezra knew that was possible, but he'd never felt such a thing. Master and he had a bond of sorts, but it was forced and more from Master's need to control him and self preservation on his part than anything else. What Master and the one called Ahsoka had was a bond of love and family that almost hurt to look at, as it drove home just how much Master had treated him as just another soldier to train.

Ezra looked at his parents again and studied them closely. Even with the bland Force signatures they projected, he could vaguely see them blending together where their shoulders touched. His parents were bonded too. That made him smile. He was happy that his parents were happy. It just made everything seem that much more right with his new world.

Ezra glanced at the back of Sabine, wondering if it was possible to form a bond with a non Force sensitive. Maybe she felt something, because she half turned around and pulled her helmet off, her eyes meeting his. They looked at each other for a minute, not speaking, but silent messages going between them regardless. Sabine's mouth curled up into a hint of a smile and Ezra returned the look, as their eyes promised they would talk later, when things calmed down again.

Ezra walked up into the space between Sabine and his parents, sending her one last smile and grazing the edge of his hand over her arm. He froze for half a second as a spark of electricity shot through him at the same time he heard her gasp almost silently. His eyes shot to hers again and they stared at each other wide eyed for a moment before they both looked away and blushed.

Pulling himself together, Ezra turned his attention to his parents. “Sorry I had to abscond with these,” he said with an apologetic shrug as he handed them back their lightsabres. “I’m getting the distinct feeling I won’t need them against Master anymore.”

They took them and hung them on their belts. Ephraim put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “That’s all right. We’ll have to work on where you get your Force energy from, though. Our Kyber crystals don’t like the Dark side. Can you hear them? They’re disgruntled, for lack of a better word.”

Ezra tilted his head to the side slightly and listened. His dad was right, the pleasant hum from before had been replaced by something discordant. At least it wasn’t the whimper of his red lightsabre. "I can. But I don't know how to call the Light side."

"We'll teach you," his dad said, radiating joy and approval at the fact that Ezra was willing to learn.

"Thanks."

“What happened to your lightsabre?” his mom asked, raising a lavender brow in curiosity. “I know you had one a few hours ago.”

Ezra opened his mouth to answer, but Sabine beat him to it. “I tossed it into space,” she said, sounding quite proud of herself.

His parents’ heads swivelled in unison, along with the lasat’s and they all gaped at Sabine.

His mom got herself together first and she giggled. “Of course you did.” She raised that same brow at Sabine. “I take it you’re also responsible for the state of Ezra’s nose?” she said as she touched it and sent a little more healing Force into it.

Sabine just grinned.

Ezra flushed in embarrassment as his parents laughed and the lasat boomed out guffaws. His dad squeezed his shoulder and shook his head at him. “I don’t know if falling for a Mandalorian is the wisest course of action for a normal person, but something tells me that Sabine is exactly what you need in your life right now.”

“How did you...?” Ezra sputtered, but then he remembered his parents were every bit as Force sensitive as he was and could probably feel how attracted he was to Sabine. “Oh,” he said as he slumped slightly. That was disconcerting. It was also a good reminder that he should probably put more concentration into his shields if he didn’t want them privy to every lustful thought he had.

They beamed at him and pulled him back into a family hug that Ezra basked in. His eyes closed and he inhaled the warm scents of his parents that brought back vague memories of his childhood. It was good to have his parents back and he owed it all to Sabine and the Force. If he hadn't randomly decided to pull off her helmet before doing as ordered and killing her, none of this would have happened.

Ezra had never been happier in his life.

Meanwhile, Sabine couldn’t make up her mind between giggling over Ezra’s flustered state and being embarrassed because his parents knew that liked each other.

Having Force users in the family definitely came with a few drawbacks. At least she was used to them knowing things about her, because it sure looked like she was in the process of getting even closer to a Force user than she ever thought she would.

“I hate to interrupt your family togetherness time,” Sabine said dryly as she put her helmet back on her head. “But I think we should go join the others. Hera and Kanan are done making out and he’s up, and the Confused Couple are joining them. I don’t trust Tall, Dark, and Deadly any further than I could throw him with a broken arm.”

Ezra snorted, amused at her descriptions, and they all jogged over to join the new group forming on the far side of the landing pad.

Hera forgot her astonishment at Ahsoka's current position in the arms of the (ex?) evil man in black as she spotted Kanan lying on the ground far beyond the embracing pair, practically under Ahsoka's A-Wing. "Kanan!" she cried and ran past the couple, startling them out of their embrace, and sank onto her knees beside Kanan.

Hera rolled him over onto his back and pulled his head and shoulders into her lap, a fierce frown on her face at his unconscious state. She bent over him in concern, a sensitive lek coming to rest on his chest, taking comfort in the steady beat of his heart under his dark green shirt.

She was just about to call for Mira when he groaned and cracked an eye open. She sighed in relief and smiled at him as his beautiful teal eyes opened the rest of the way and looked up at her with confused recognition.

“Hera,” Kanan said, returning her smile and reached a shaky hand up to cup her cheek.

Hera leaned into his touch as she closed the distance between them and kissed him gently.

Kanan groaned lowly in approval and cupped the back of her head, stopping her from pulling away as he deepened the kiss.

Despite her worry for him, Hera couldn’t help getting lost in his passion. Her lek wrapped around his neck and she clutched his shirt tight with her hands for a minute or two as their mouths spoke wordless demonstrations of love and desire.

Eventually, she came to her senses enough to pull back and gasp in air.

Kanan also finally registered that he was lying on the duracrete and that the atmosphere around them wasn’t exactly settled. "What happened?" he asked, eyes darting around them, trying to pull the pieces of his current situation together into something that made sense. Seeing his lightsabre lying on the ground a few metres away just confirmed that something wasn’t right.

He summoned it to his hand, frowning, and his muscles tensing in readiness.

Hera smiled down at her love, fingers gently stroking the confusion off his brow and then slipping into his soft hair, looking for a bump. She soon found a small but growing one on the back of his head, making him wince slightly. She quickly left it alone, now that she knew he'd be alright and the bump wasn't too serious. Mira could heal it later when she got the chance. Her fingers moved back to stroking his face. "Aside from everyone flying through the air, courtesy of the Sith Lord, it seems that Ahsoka and the Sith know each other. She was his padawan or something."

Kanan abruptly sat up, ignoring the wave of dizziness that came with the movement, as the previous events came back to him. His eyes widened in shock as he realized who Darth Vader really was. "Oh Force, Hera. The Sith Lord is the Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker."

Hera raised a brow and helped him to his feet as he seemed to be determined to stand, keeping an arm around his waist. "Yes. I got that part when Ahsoka called him Anakin," she said rather dryly. "I'm pretty sure there's not another Anakin in the whole galaxy. The name seems to be reserved for him alone."

Kanan sent her a sidelong glance that said he appreciated her attempt at humour but he was rather busy right now studying the sight of Ahsoka and what used to be Darth Vader walking side by side, almost but not quite holding hands as their fingers brushed together with every synchronized step on their way to Kanan.

His eyes widened even more as he sensed the changes in the Sith Lord. For one thing, he didn't feel like a Sith anymore. Aside from still being a bit chilly, his signature felt familiar, which made sense, having passed the older man in the Temple on more than one occasion when they both lived there. They’d even formally met, once, when Master Billaba introduced her new Padawan to everyone she came across with barely disguised pride.

There was also the changes in his emotions. Five minute ago (or however long it had been), Anakin Skywalker seethed with malicious rage. Now Anakin was actually radiating hope, and dare he even think it... love? What HAD he missed while he was knocked out?

As Ahsoka and Anakin stopped in front of Kanan, Anakin sent him an apologetic look that Kanan wasn't quite sure he believed. Chopper rolled up as well, and was ranting about Force using meatbags pushing his ship around and causing a system overload.

Hera hushed Chopper with a hand on his dome and looked up at the man in black in trepidation, worried he’d chop her droid in half for his insolence.

Anakin / Darth Vader (whoever he was) raised a brow at the droid and smirked. “I like him. He reminds me of Artoo.”

Chopper started beeping indignantly again, cursing at Anakin, unhappy at being compared to his silver and blue rival.

Hera and Ahsoka laughed as the rest of the crew jogged up and completed the rough circle of assorted beings.

Anakin looked at Ahsoka for explanation.

“Artoo and Chopper don’t like each other very much.”

“I see,” Anakin said before his eyes opened comically wide. “Wait. Artoo is still around?” He looked around the landing pad quickly, as if the astromech might appear. “Where is he?”

Ahsoka soothed him with a hand on his arm. “Not here, obviously. He and Threepio work for Senator Organa right now. But sometimes, they work for me and do undercover work. That’s how the two droids met.”

Anakin sighed a little, but smiled nonetheless, his happy expression raising more than a few brows; Ezra’s in particular, since he’d never seen his Master smile. Ever.

“That’s good to hear,” Anakin said.

The group fell into an uneasy silence as they all looked at each other with a ‘now what?’ expression. What do you do when the one who was your enemy not even fifteen minutes ago was suddenly your ally?

"Sooo," Hera said, breaking the silence, mostly addressing Ahsoka, since this crazy Jedi stuff was her specialty. "Now what?"

Sabine smirked, pointed a blaster that was still in her hand because her holsters were missing at the moment, changed the setting with a thumb, and shot the second most evil man in the galaxy point blank in the back. She heard the sound of shocked gasps as the infamous Anakin Skywalker fell to the ground like a sack of rocks. Sabine ignored the gaspers as she admired her handiwork and nudged her toe into the side of the crumpled form of Ezra's 'Master' just to make sure he was actually out for the count.

She wouldn’t mind shooting him again if she could get away with it.

"Sabine!" Ahsoka cried as she fell to her knees beside Anakin's limp body.

Sabine met Ahsoka's accusing glare and smirked under her helmet, laughter in her tone as she said, "What? The sleemo deserved it. He tried to kill me." Sabine looked at the WESTAR in her hand fondly and then back at Ahsoka. "You know I only stunned him. He'll come around in minute."

Ezra gawked at Sabine, thinking she just got a hundred times more desirable, if that was even possible. He'd wanted to shoot his Master for years but had never been given the opportunity. The fact that Sabine had just made an opportunity for herself was awe inspiring.

If he hadn't been in love with her already, he would have fallen like a ton of duracrete then and there.

Chapter Text

A/N: Sorry there's a bit of repetition in this chapter, but I thought it important to show what was going on in Anakin's head since a few of you expressed concern about how easily Anakin was shot in the last chapter.

Too Much to Bear:

D2/3 BBY, Fort Anaxes

Anakin Skywalker was overwhelmed.

He hugged Ahsoka tighter than he probably should have and was overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed by the Light side of the Force that was bubbling along his nerve endings and rubbing sensually along his Dark side in a long forgotten delicate ballet of balance.

Overwhelmed by the knowledge that his Snips had loved him all those years ago.

Overwhelmed by the knowledge that despite everything he'd done and everything he was, she loved him still.

Overwhelmed by how the fighting simply stopped because the people with him on this forsaken asteroid that used to be a bustling base in his long suppressed past trusted their senses, Ahsoka, and his Apprentice.

But most of all, he was overwhelmed by the spine crushing guilt.

With the restoration of his connection to the Light also came his connection to the emotions he'd turned off which enabled him to murder, slaughter, torture, and enslave on a whim or by the command of his Master. Not to mention the countless people he'd used as an outlet for the rage that had burned within him, not caring if they were consenting or not. It was so easy to dive into their minds and make them submit and want it. So easy to make them bend over and take it as his masked form thrust away at them in a fruitless search for a glimmer of pleasure in a barren existence.

Dominating the weak and annoying had brought him a false sense of superiority that now made his stomach churn in the most sickening fashion, making him nearly positive he was going to hurl any second.

He refused to do so.

He also refused to sink to the old, cracked duracrete and bawl like an infant.

He was gulping back his own bile as he blindly followed Ahsoka when she moved out of their embrace. (He wished he could have just held her forever and pretended that nothing else existed. Not his past. And certainly not the other people who were bound to want his head on a platter.)

Images were flashing behind his eyes of every person he'd wronged over the last sixteen years, nearly causing him to stumble. There were so many; from clones, to civilians, to fellow Jedi, to dancing girls, to his Apprentices, to the younglings he'd murdered in cold blood... Obi-Wan… Padme.

Out of sheer desperation, he focused on Ahsoka and only her, pushing the guilt and remorse and images to the back of his mind to be dealt with later. He didn't know where they were going, but turning his focus on his former padawan reminded him that there was an iota of hope.

She was hope. She embodied it. Radiated it. Shared it with him selflessly as she touched the side of her hand to his in a subtle reminder that she was here for him and smiled at him encouragingly. Ahsoka's sky blue eyes were so beautiful. So warm. So… her. The same eyes that had stood by him for years during that wretched war, no matter what he did in the name of the Republic. The same eyes that he could now see the love shining through that she had hidden before because she'd only wanted what she thought was best for him.

In that moment, Anakin fell head over heels in love with his Snips.

And he vowed to himself that he would do whatever it took to be worthy of her.

Even if it meant facing and owning up to his demons.

He gulped again, but this time in trepidation instead of nausea. It was only a slight improvement.

Anakin was preoccupied enough that he wasn't aware of their destination until they got there and Ahsoka came to a stop. He automatically stopped beside her and finally focused on the world around him.

Standing in front of him, with their arms around each other was the pretty green twi'lek pilot and the Jedi he'd unleashed his rage upon not so very long ago, sending him flying. The ponytailed Jedi looked somewhat pale and not entirely steady on his feet despite keeping a hand on his lightsabre. There was a look in his unusual teal eyes that said he would defend his mate (and they were clearly mated, with how their signatures overlapped and blended) until his last breath if necessary.

Anakin winced mentally and gave the twenty something looking man a sincere look of apology. He fully deserved the look of disbelief that was returned to him. Earning that one's trust was not going to be easy. Nor the twi'lek's, if her warning glare was anything to go by.

If Ahsoka wasn't standing by his side, Anakin was fairly positive the battle would be back on already.

But she was, and these people obviously trusted her.

Anakin was just starting to think that the Jedi's eyes were familiar to him (and not because he'd fought him briefly on Lothal), which made him wonder where he could have met him before in the distant past, when the sound of a rolling droid drew his attention.

He turned his head and watched an ancient astromech with a flat topped orange and yellow dome roll up to them with manipulators waving wildly. His focus appeared to be trained on Anakin. His angry beeps of an equally ancient form of binary confirmed it.

"You fragging, Force using, slimeball of a meatbag pushed my ship so hard it caused a fragging system overload! It's going to take hours to straighten everything out! The fragging computers are having fits and they're terrible to reason with on a good day!" The droid would have poked him in the leg on his way past if Anakin hadn't neatly sidestepped the agitated astromech. It continued on, rolling up to the green twi'lek. "Shoot him, Mom. He deserves it. Or maybe we can toss him out an airlock. That would be fitting."

Ahsoka was all but giggling at his side and Anakin felt his mouth twitch in amusement as well. It had been a long time since he'd encountered a droid that snarky and self assured and it made him miss Artoo as he was reminded of his loyal friend.

The twi'lek softly hushed her droid and put a hand on his dome, which calmed the droid almost instantly. She gave Anakin a wary look, obviously worried that he would retaliate for her droid's bad behaviour.

Anakin was quick to reassure her. "I like him. He reminds me of Artoo." The last was said mostly to Ahsoka because she would know who he was talking about.

"I'm nothing like that Maker cursed, frumped up, fancy painted, full of himself, fragging newer model astromech," the old C1 unit beeped out indignantly, waving his manipulators at Anakin once again.

Anakin's admiration of the twi'lek's droid morphed into spiraling rage with every insult. The Dark swirled in him as he glared at the rusty old droid. His fingers twitched at the urge to crush the orange astromech for his insolence; no one slanders Artoo. The droid had been loyal to him through some of the hardest years of his life. Even as Darth Vader, Anakin had remembered and longed for his friend, even going so far as to try and replace him once or twice when he couldn't find Artoo after he'd turned, but no other droid had ever compared so he'd gone without a personal astromech. They just didn't have the same snarky, somewhat psychopathic personality.

In that first second of silence, Anakin honestly would have obliterated the stupid droid, but just as he was concentrating the Force on the rolling excuse for a droid, Ahsoka's laughter lit the air beside him.

Anakin froze.

Fragitty frag frag. He'd almost used the Dark. Almost reverted right back to what he was not even fifteen minutes ago.

Poodoo on a stick. He was so ashamed he barely registered that the rest of the intelligent beings on this Force forsaken rock had joined their group.

Anakin looked at Ahsoka helplessly, eyes begging her to forgive his lapse.

But she had missed it. And she misunderstood what he was silently asking, for she gave him a wide smile, sky blue eyes twinkling, and said, "Artoo and Chopper don't like each other very much."

All he could do was go with it and breathe a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't caught his little relapse into his sociopathic Vader persona. "I see."

And then he replayed her words and his eyes widened in disbelief because he'd been so sure his friend had been scrapped. (Master had said so on top of Vader's unsuccessful search for his faithful astromech.) She'd said 'don't like', not 'didn't like'. As in present tense. "Wait. Artoo is still around?" Anakin's eyes darted over the area, skimming over people and ships, seeking out a familiar silver and blue, round topped, rolling droid. "Where is he?" he asked almost desperately when he didn't see him, just knowing that having one more familiar piece of his old self would help stabilize him further into the Light and balance.

Ahsoka touched his arm, shaking her head slightly, an apology in her eyes and trickling down their reignited bond. "Not here, obviously. He and Threepio work for Senator Organa right now. But sometimes, they work for me and do undercover work. That's how the two droids met."

His breath caught when she said that Threepio was still functioning as well, and then he sighed a little in disappointment that they weren't in the here and now. But then he gave the new love of his life a gloriously happy smile because she'd given him good news that he never expected hear, and he said so.

And then silence reigned as awkwardness set in.

Anakin looked around the circle of people and found himself mentally wincing harder and harder with each one.

First, Ahsoka: She had been his bonded padawan and he'd been so wrapped up in his own self imposed drama over Padme and Obi-Wan and where their loyalties lay that he'd not noticed that Ahsoka had fallen in love with him. Not noticed that she was unhappy and uncomfortable enough with the situation that walking away from him and the Order had seemed like her only recourse available. How stupid and oblivious had he been?

Then, the twi'lek: Looking at her, he was reminded of how he'd once fought for the freedom of her planet, only to turn and around and oppress it not long after. How he'd callously ignored his own past as a slave and taken advantage of what had to be hundreds of people who'd looked like her, not caring a jot that he had all but become the slaver that he'd hated in his youth. He didn't own slaves, but he'd definitely used them whenever they were offered by others trying to gain his favour, which happened frequently.

Next, the brown goateed Jedi with the teal eyes: Anakin finally remembered where he'd seen eyes like those before; in one Caleb Dume, Padawan to Master Billaba. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure that this Jedi was Dume, but the age was right. He remembered the boy as being warm and enthusiastic and Master Billaba as a lovely, caring woman that he'd always been amazed to think that she'd been the Padawan of grumpy, uncaring Mace Windu. And she'd died by his Master's orders. Orders that Anakin had carried out as well, slaughtering as many Jedi as he could find, from toddler to decrepit ancients.

Anakin started to shake, ever so subtly, as those images he'd pushed aside flooded him again.

Helplessly, his eyes fell on the next person in the circle; the lasat.

Flashes of memory assaulted him; screams of women and children and roars from the males as Anakin and the 501st as well as companies of Imperial soldiers swept over the remains of Lasan that hadn't been completely obliterated by the orbital bombardment of the planet. By his Master's orders, they'd slaughtered every last one of the Lasat people. And now, Anakin shook a little harder as he realized he didn't even know why.

Next in the crude circle of eye darting, brow raising, suspiciously glaring people was the couple from whom he'd stolen a son. Their only son. They were Jedi, apparently, based on the lightsabres hanging off their belts. (How they'd hidden that from him or his agents all this time was a remarkable achievement and quite puzzling.) The fair and purple eyed woman was alternating her gaze between her son and Ahsoka; her looks clearly saying that she was looking to Ahsoka to take control of the situation, but she couldn't keep from checking in relieved amazement to make sure her son was still standing less than a metre from her. The man was tall, copper skinned, dark blue haired and bearded. with piercing royal blue eyes that glared poisoned daggers at Anakin.

His Apprentice had the exact same colouring and eyes.

There was no question that was Apprentice's father. No question at all.

And Anakin felt like a steaming pile of poodoo for taking Apprentice away from them. For torturing their son into becoming a Dark side user; torture and training that had taken years to take effect.

His only consolation was that they were together again in a way he never got to be with his own mother. That Apprentice had somehow found his Light side again enough that his eyes were once again the same piercing blue as his father's instead of the sickly yellow that they had been turning.

Anakin couldn't bear to meet the father's eyes any longer, so he turned his own to his Apprentice.

He found the boy staring at him with a puzzled look on his face that flickered over to anger every couple of seconds before falling back into confusion. For once the boy wasn't shielding himself with a mental image of empty space and Anakin could see his thoughts tumbling around in his mind in a chaotic fashion.

What the kriff is going on?

Was Ahsoka really Master's padawan?

Force, I hate him. But… I don't.

Am I supposed to just forgive him now?

Sabine. He tried to make me kill Sabine.

Unforgiveable.

But… he's my Master. And Ahsoka… loves him?

What the kriff am I supposed to do?

He stole me from my parents!

He lied to me about them being dead!

But they're not dead, so that was just part of his conditioning.

Maybe he's not so bad if he didn't kill them?

But the things he's done. The things he's made me do…

"You're despicable and you made me hate myself."

Anakin wanted to sink into the ground and disappear as Apprentice thought that last at him specifically, their eyes meeting.

"I'm sorry. So sorry," he thought back over the forced and fragile bond he had with the boy.

Apprentice looked away, not wanting to hear it, and his shields slammed back into place between them.

Anakin nearly slumped in defeat before he remembered that he really shouldn't show weakness in front of these people.

Except for Ahsoka, they all hated him. Distrust oozed from them. Fingers twitched near weapons, ready to shoot him again at a moment's notice.

He didn't blame them.

He despised himself more than they ever could.

Anakin looked at the girl last out of the corner of his eye, since she was standing beside and a little behind him. With her helmet on, he had no idea what she was looking at, but of all of them, he could feel that she was the most ready to jump him. Her thumbs were caressing the blasters she held in her hands loosely, but he wasn't fooled; those weapons were all but aimed at him already.

And she was justified, seeing as he really had tried to use Apprentice to kill her only hours ago.

And she was a Mandalorian. They were touchy to start with and took things such as revenge as a matter of honour. Boba Fett's vendetta against Windu came to mind as a fitting example. The bounty hunter still had a hate on for anything even remotely Jedi.

Anakin had half a mind to let Sabine put him out of his misery.

Getting his emotions back was turning into a gut churning form of torture. And it had only been a fraction of an hour. He couldn't imagine how much worse it would get as the hours continued to tick past.

"Sooooo. Now what?"

The silence had finally been broken by the twi'lek, and he swung his eyes back to her for a moment before landing his broken and conflicted gaze on Ahsoka. She met his eyes and understanding dawned in them as she registered how much mental anguish he was in.

He was overwhelmed again. And he hated it. Hated feeling weak. Hated not knowing how to make the torment end.

He mentally pleaded with Ahsoka to make the pain stop. Make the images of tortured souls stop. Make the guilt stop.

And then the Force gave him the barest of warnings, which he happily ignored, and everything did stop.

Anakin welcomed the blackness that came with being stunned.

Above Geonosis

While perusing a holotable full of architectural schematics that made his head hurt, Grand Moff Tarkin received a call from his Emperor. Tarkin nodded respectfully in greeting as the hologram of an old and disfigured man appeared. "What can I do for you, my Lord?"

"Darth Vader is no longer to be given access to any of our ships or facilities. He has proven himself to be a traitor and is to be executed on sight if spotted. Make sure all of his access codes are deleted and inform the rest of the Imperial Military of the new orders," the Emperor said, barely disguised hatred in his smooth tone.

Tarkin raised a brow in surprise but wisely refrained from commenting. "It will be done, my Lord," he said and ended the transmission.

Mindful of the curious, hard working technicians around him on the bridge of the partially constructed Death Star he was inspecting with Director Krennic, Tarkin kept his elation to himself. But internally, he was jumping for joy. The man who scared him spitless had just become an enemy of the Empire. Now he only had to deal with the lesser ones known as the Inquisitors, and they were nowhere near as terrifying, even with their freaky yellow and red eyes and crazy powers.

Tarkin remembered when the Jedi used to rule the galaxy. He'd never been comfortable with their powers either, but had been more than happy to let them use them in his defense.

But these Inquisitors and Darth Vader? They had no qualms in killing anyone who made them angry. Tarkin had lost a lot of good officers over the years to the Darksiders. He didn't wholly agree with the need for them, especially now that the Jedi were virtually extinct, but he wasn't about to argue with the Emperor over the matter; he did like his job and position of power, after all. And his new toy was coming along so nicely.

Now if only that blue bastard would stop diverting his funds to other projects, maybe he'd finally see the day when his super weapon was completed.

Anakin regained consciousness quickly, feeling somewhat better now that his brain had been rebooted. But he hid his return to lucidity for two reasons. First, his head was cradled in Ahsoka's lap and he was perfectly content to leave it there. Anakin had denied himself all but the crudest forms of human contact for so long that he just couldn't bring himself to give up this simple little comfort. She smelled wonderful even with the hint of dirt and sweat that had developed during their fight. And her soft thigh made a wonderful pillow, better than most of the so called pillows he'd had over the course of his life, some of which were nothing more than a bit of rolled up cloth to prop his head on.

The second reason he didn't let the others know he'd awoken was that the conversation, no, that wasn't a strong enough word; the argument above him was fascinating. So he listened, and got a sense of just what he was dealing with.

The first person he heard talking was Apprentice's - No again. His name was Ezra. He would have to remember that. If Anakin was going to make a proper turn for the better, he should at least give the boy the courtesy of using his real name - Ezra's feisty Mando girl, Sabine. The same girl he was ninety-nine percent sure was the one who'd stunned him. (He was actually a little shocked she hadn't killed him outright.) Of course Anakin's first instinct was to Force Choke the girl in retaliation, but he pushed that down. Not letting the Dark side rule his actions was going to take some getting used to. But he could do it. For Ahsoka. Because she believed in him.

"I still think we should leave him here on this rock with the nasty creatures. They deserve each other," Sabine said.

"I have to agree with her," Ezra piped up next. "You don't understand what he's capable of. We should make a run for it while he's still out of it."

Ahsoka wrapped an arm around his chest possessively. "No! I'm not leaving him behind. I abandoned him once. I'm never doing it again."

Anakin felt a little thrill go through him at her words and an ever bigger thrill at her touch. Her arm clutched him tightly, like he mattered. Ahsoka was the only person left alive in the galaxy that he would even consider changing his life for, and she just made it easier. It didn't matter that not even half an hour ago, he wanted her dead. Everything was different now. HE was different.

"She's right," the twi'lek female said. "We can't leave him here. If Ahsoka says he's changed, then I believe her. Everyone deserves a second chance. Even him. And he's injured. The least we can do is slap a bacta bandage on it."

Anakin was surprised at the news that he was injured. But at the words, a throb of pain pulsed from his back just to remind him that he had indeed been hit by a proper blaster bolt at some point. He gave a mental shrug and pushed the pain away to the back of his mind. Pain was nothing. He lived in pain almost every day of his life; usually mental, but physical was nothing new either, and just reminded him that he was in fact still alive in a world turned icy cold and without hope.

"Hera," the maybe Dume said in exasperation. "You don't understand what you two are asking. Just look at Ephraim and Mira. They're still fuming and contemplating murder. This is the man who stole their son and had them imprisoned. They shouldn't have to deal with his presence during their reunion with Ezra."

"I could just end him now and put everyone out of their misery," a deep voice growled with a good dose of anticipation.

Anakin felt Ahsoka tense beneath him, ready to defend him, and her arm tightened around his chest even more. "That is not going to happen, Zeb," she growled back almost as menacingly. "So put that thought out of your mind right now before I do something we'll both regret."

Anakin almost smirked as he felt the lasat's presence back away a couple of steps. He decided now might be a good time to 'wake up' before one of Ahsoka's friends got hurt. Changing his mind from before, and thinking that weak and helpless was the best image to portray right now; he moaned and groaned a little before slowly blinking his eyes open. Within moments, there were three blue lightsabres pointed in his general direction from the Jedi as well as the Mando's blasters, the twi'lek's blaster, and the lasat's bo-rifle.

It would be so easy to just throw them all back again, even from his lying down position, but Anakin once again refrained. If he was going to win the trust of these people, he needed to start somewhere, even if they didn't know it.

Ahsoka leaned over him, a concerned look in her big sky blue eyes that he'd missed having in his life, even if he'd buried that longing under the easier hate and accusatory memories. "Are you okay, Master?" she asked, falling into old habits.

Anakin gave another exaggerated moan and nodded, before sitting up reluctantly. "I'm fine, Snips, but you don't need to call me Master anymore. Those days are long gone."

Ahsoka gave a sad little smile and smoothly rose to her feet. "You're right, Anakin. Those days are gone, but never forgotten."

Anakin copied her move and pushed to his feet as slowly as he was able, ignoring the various weapons still trained on him, giving her a sad smile in return in complete understanding. With an internal sigh, he turned his attention to the menagerie who were all looking at him with obvious glares of distrust, even more noticeable now than before. He stood tall and proud and met each of their gazes in turn. "You can put your weapons away," he said. "I won't hurt you. You have my word."

"The word of a Sith Lord monster means nothing to me," Sabine spat from within her helmet, but he could imagine her striking amber eyes blazing fire at him. (His Apprentice really had picked a suitable girl to fall for.) "I will never trust you."

Anakin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes as everyone but Ahsoka nodded in agreement and the weapons stayed trained on him. This was going to take a lot of work. "I am no longer a Sith Lord," he stated, clearly and slowly. "I don't know what I am now, but it isn't that. My name is Anakin Skywalker and I am the Chosen One. It's time I take my rightful place in this galaxy and do what I should have done sixteen years ago and end the tyranny of Darth Sidious."

"Why didn't you?" Ezra asked curiously. After some more reflection while his Master was looking vulnerable for the first time in memory, he'd come to some conclusions. He wasn't going to just up and forgive his Master for everything he'd done to him, but like Hera said, everyone deserved a second chance. He was willing to give Master the opportunity to prove himself, because, despite the years of torture, his Master had never been able to completely kill Ezra's innate goodness. Bury it, yes. But kill? No.

This time Anakin did roll his eyes. But it was at himself. And he let his shoulders slump a little, feeling incredibly tired and done with life. "That is a long story, but perhaps one all of you deserve to hear, if you're willing to listen."

One by one, as he met their eyes, they all nodded and put away their weapons, if a hair reluctantly.

Anakin finished his circle of gazes with Ahsoka's, knowing she was the commander of this group and allowing her to make the next move. She inclined her head in a small nod to him and gave him a quick encouraging smile before turning her attention to the pretty, light green twi'lek.

"Hera, are you all right if we move this into your ship? And perhaps back up into space once Chopper gets the Ghost operational again?" She nodded towards the old base entrance. "There's no point tempting the fyrnocks if the sun goes behind an asteroid."

Hera glanced up at a large asteroid that was hovering ever closer to the path of the sun and nodded. "No argument from me." She glanced at her crew. "Everyone in the Ghost for now. We'll shelve the talking until we're safe. We'll all fix whatever Skywalker did to my ship." She flung an annoyed glance at said Skywalker, just to emphasize her point, since the Ghost was tilted sideways off the edge of the landing pad.

As Anakin and Ahsoka followed the rest back to the light freighter, she touched him gently on the arm. He looked at her, her eyes nearly the same height as his own even in his lifted boots. (They'd be level once he took his boots off.) He raised a curious brow.

"Are you okay, really?"

Her words in his mind only mildly surprised him. Their bond was nearly as strong as it had ever been already, and she herself had strengthened even more in the Force. He smiled bravely for her and thought back, "With you by my side, I might be, one day."

She gave him a better smile than he had managed and laced her fingers with his. "Then consider me your new shadow."

He squeezed her hand gently in appreciation, wondering if she felt electricity arcing up her arm from the contact like he did, even with gloves on, and found a real smile to gift her with.

As they approached the slanted ramp of the cockeyed ship, Anakin focused on his Apprentice again, wondering if he'd ever be able to fix their relationship to something resembling a true Master and Padawan or if he'd lost the boy forever.

Ezra was walking between his parents just in front of him and Anakin could feel how happy his apprentice was to be reunited with them despite the shields that blocked him out.

The regret of separating them dug like a knife in his heart.

He had done so many awful things, murdered so many, he could never make up for it all. But at least he could do his best to right some of the wrongs. That was all he had to cling to.

And maybe one beautiful togruta who hadn't left his side yet.

But she couldn't possibly know how evil he'd actually been.

She'd despise him just like the others when he was done confessing, he was sure of it.

So he soaked in her attention now, because it might be the last he ever received of it.