Chapter Text
"JUST WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT EZRA BRIDGER??" screamed Sabine Wren with a look equal parts fury, terror, shock, and joy on her face.
They stooped, catching their breath with the rest of the Ghost crew, minus Chopper, in the rear cargo bay as the ship left the atmosphere and escaped into the dark starry sky.
"I told you I was going back for the data chip!" Ezra shouted back, with an incredulous look on his face. This was not the first time Sabine and he had raised their voices at each other, but it was one of very few. And this time was different. He didn't quite know how yet, but as he slowly stood up, reclipping his lightsaber to his belt, he gave her a long look, their eyes briefly locking on each other. Tears were streaming from her face and he cheeks were red. Whether from exertion, the smoke from the explosions, or from her obvious emotional state, she looked like she had been in the middle of crying. Ezra's Jedi powers had increased tremendously since he had asked Kanan what the Force was that fateful day in his old tower, his last day he could call that home. But the emotions pouring out of Sabine washed over his Force-heightened senses, causing him to shut them out for now. He was not yet his master's equal, and he could not fully control his growing abilities, even now. Too many emotions from too many places, many his own, clouded his mind and made his head spin.
"Yes, you said that" Sabine snapped back, this time her voice a sharp biting tone, diminished in volume, but no less angry. "And I told you there wasn't time!"
"Well, it worked didn't it?" Ezra defended, an air of his former braggadocio in his voice and a slight smirk on his face, two things he had mostly, but not quite entirely, grown out of over the past several years.
It had been another daring mission, and another close call escape. They had been tasked with obtaining Imperial shuttle clearance codes from a spaceport on Corellia; codes the Rebellion had said they desperately needed. Ezra and Kanan had infiltrated the command post while Hera and Chopper flew the Ghost and manned the lower turret, with Zeb and Sabine handling covering fire and demolitions, two things both knew better than any other in the small team. But the plan, as many plans go, did not survive first contact with the enemy. The garrison had been alerted to their presence, and Sabine's backup demo charges had been needed to be set off early to stop a pair of AT-ST walkers that were punishing the Ghost's shields as it hovered near their extraction point. Ezra, in a foolish but entirely characteristic move, had dashed back inside to grab the data chip containing the codes, outrunning the detonating charges and blaster fire, barely leaping to the waiting ramp as it had already begun moving away from the battle.
Hera, Kanan, and Zeb stood off to the side of the bay, watching the exchange. Kanan was not entirely pleased with his young apprentice's actions, but discipline and focus were not the only traits Ezra had picked up from his gun-slinging Master's tutelage. Ezra had become sharper, quicker, stronger, and wiser from his lessons, but his brash edge of daring (some may say recklessness) had also rubbed off on Ezra more than Kanan was comfortable with. Hera on the other hand watched with her own slight smirk hiding just under the surface. She of course was not pleased either, but Ezra's actions had reminded her of Kanan. Thinking back to the day they met on Gorse those many years ago, and a time when Kanan himself was more quick to run through fire and death to pull off the impossible. And as a General in the Rebellion she had to admit...he did get those codes.
Zeb for his part, always one to appreciate a good fight, had intended to slap Ezra on the back and tell him what a good show it was, but even he could see this was not the time for joking around. And all three of them could remember other times when both Ezra and Sabine had done things equally foolish and dangerous, but without the shouting match at the end. Something had changed.
"Yes. It worked. You got the damn codes." Sabine said slowly, glaring at Ezra across the bay. "But did it occur to you that YOU COULD HAVE DIED!?!" she continued, raising her voice once again at the end.
"Did you even think about what the rest of us would do without you? Did you think about what I would do without you?" she continued, voice shaking, her own emotions getting the best of her. "Did you even stop once to think about what losing you would mean to me...?" she finished with a soft voice, her anger now burning out, leaving only her shock and fear at Ezra's near death.
"Kanan dear, let's see if these codes were worth the trouble" Hera remarked cooly, making her way towards the hatch leading to the rest of the ship. "You too Zeb". Giving the pair one last sidelong look, Hera, her Jedi lover, and their Lasat comrade slipped through the hatch and left the cargo bay, shutting the door behind them.
"So...you heard it too?" Kanan asked Hera with a look of weary concern on his face. He may have lost his ability to see, but not many things slipped by Kanan Jarrus without notice.
"Yes....she said 'me', not 'us'" Hera replied with a knowing look on her face.
"Yeah..." Kanan responded with a sigh. He knew exactly where this was going. And the three made their way to the cockpit, each thinking about what this most recent development between their two teenage teammates might mean.