Chapter Text
Depa Billaba glances over her shoulder at Ezra, offering a fond smile to the boy. He smiles toothily back.
“Are we there yet?”
She chuckles. “No, not quite yet.” Depa returns her glance to the windshield, glad that they’d found the boy before reaching planetside. Sure, he isn’t supposed to be here with her and Jocasta on this mission. But she’d rather they know he’s here than not know.
That way, she can be prepared for any panic attacks.
Jocasta finally enters the cockpit, clearing her throat. “Master Yoda confirmed that we are to prioritize recovering the meditation exercises and Temple lectures over history. The historical records are secondary compared to the deeper nature of the Force.”
“In his own words, I’m guessing?” Depa chuckles again as Jocasta nods.
“Were you expecting anything less?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Can I help?” Ezra interrupts. “I’m really really really good at reading!”
“I’ve heard you read, you are good, but we need you to do something special.” Ezra nods excitedly at the other woman’s words and Depa returns most of her focus to preparing to drop out of hyperspace. “How much of the Temple do you remember, Ezra?”
“There were a lot of rooms. And they were quiet. Uh...there were the fountains in that one room, and there were the gardens….”
“Good.” The librarian nods. “There were also many meditation chambers. We need you to meditate in one and focus on what the younglings your age did a thousand years ago. Can you do that for me?”
Ezra sighs. “I guess.”
She smiles. “Good. Thank you, Ezra. This will be a huge help.”
“Mhm,” he murmurs before beginning to hum quietly to himself, pulling a small wooden puzzle box from his pocket and starting to mess with it.
They just need to make it through this trip without being seen by any of the anti-Jedi senators, and without Ezra breaking down again. No big deal.
It is a very big deal, as it turns out.
“Senator Organa, we need clearance codes. The Chancellor’s people—“
“Don’t worry about the codes. I can take care of it,” Organa says, and the ship’s internal comm clicks off. Depa sighs, pushing a strand of loose hair back haphazardly. Clovis’s people still remain too close for comfort, their speeders hovering on either side of the Noble even as the light freighter speeds through Coruscant’s air traffic. She inhales deeply, focusing on the Force and the fact that she knows everything will be okay. Because what will they do if it’s not?
Within five minutes, Clovis’s people disperse, and Depa could swear even the Noble breathes a sigh of relief. She guides the ship down to one of the lesser-known hangars of the Temple and touches down, shutting off the engines moments later.
“Are we there now?” Ezra asks, looking up from his puzzle box. Depa laughs.
“Yes, we’ve arrived.”
She rises from her seat and Jocasta from hers, Ezra already up and bouncing on the balls of his toes. “C'mon c'mon c’monnn!”
“Wait for us,” Depa reminds him gently. The boy does, though he rolls his eyes.
They exit the ship and Depa pauses, staring blankly around at the hangar in front of them. Unbidden, the memories from their last day here rise up, threatening to overflow.
“Organa said there’s a vote in the Senate right now about another Cleansing. We need to leave, now,” Mace says, words firm. She can sense the barely held together man underneath them easily.
“But where—“
“Anywhere. Anywhere they won’t find us until we’re ready to be found.”
She pushes the memories down and continues onward.
She and Jocasta leave Ezra in one of the meditation chambers with a dusty cushion, promising to be back soon. She would stay with the boy herself, but Jocasta needs help if they want to get in and out as quickly as possible.
But when, halfway through sorting records, they feel a strong surge of fear in the Force, she and Jocasta shoot glances at each other.
They’re running off to Ezra within seconds.
Ezra remembers the Temple a lot more than he lets on.
However, there’s also a fair amount he doesn’t remember—he doesn’t remember Jai’s face except for when Master Skywalker’s lightsaber came lunging toward him until his eyes rolled back and he collapsed, he doesn’t remember Sors’s voice except for his screams when Master Skywalker missed and severed his arm instead of his head. But he does remember their broken bodies on the floor of the High Council Chamber, and he does remember muffling his sobs as he curled up in the vents afterward, and he does remember Mace limping next to him as they searched for other stragglers.
And he does remember lying in front of the Senate, telling them all that he didn’t see anything happen.
So when Master Nu and Master Billaba leave him in the meditation chamber, he gets up and goes to the door and leaves.
He still remembers the way to the High Council Room, and he’s tall enough now that he can reach up and key the doors open himself. The room is spotless, the blood from three years long since cleaned. But Ezra still sees the bodies and the blood pouring onto the floor, hears their screams and sobs as Master Skywalker moves methodically through the room, feels the crying of the Force as its children die—
A hand rests carefully on his shoulder.
“Why are you here?”
He jumps, breath coming in short, quick gasps as he cranes his head to look at the unfamiliar figure behind him. He’s human, and looks several years older than Ezra. A teenager, if he had to guess. He’s dressed in dark, tattered robes that seem to be an odd mockery of the Jedi’s.
“I...I was remembering,” he says quietly.
The older boy only stares at him for a long moment before shrugging. “Why here, though?”
“I’m not su—“
A memory hits him, hard and fast, and he’s not in the Council Chamber anymore but instead crawling out of a vent, trying to keep himself numb because everyone’s dead everyone’s dead except for you why didn’t he kill you why didn’t he—
“Hey!”
He starts again, trembling as he glances up at the teen again. He’s now in front of Ezra, on his knees and staring intently at the boy.
“You okay?”
“Ye– yeah. I just, this...this room….”
“I know,” the older boy says quietly. “I saw. On accident, you, ah, you showed me.”
“Oh.”
“It’s okay.” They’re both silent for a minute before Ezra comes up with an idea.
“Oh! Did you want to meditate with me?” He barely keeps himself from saying you look like you need it because he has a feeling Master Kenobi would find that rude. Thankfully, however, the other boy nods.
“Yeah.”
The other boy walks across the room and kneels. Ezra faces him and kneels as well, focusing on clearing his mind out. Before he can, however, the door bursts open.
“Get away from the boy,” he hears Depa say slowly.