Work Text:
“Karabast”
Great, she thought, now she was swearing like Zeb. Sabine was done with this. This stupid search. This stupid mission. This stupid boy. She and Ahsoka had been searching for months and every trail ended up like this one. Nowhere. Sabine let out a frustrated yell as she chucked her helmet out into the sand. If he was counting on her, why did he have to make it so dang hard to find him?
She was about to make her way back to the ship when something made her stop in her tracks. It was like there was a little pull on her heart, no, her soul. She scooped up her helmet and started walking in the opposite direction towards the one source of water on the entire kriffing planet. She had already had enough of this but, just maybe, there was a clue.
Sabine crouched down by the small water pond; it was one of the few places where tall grasses grew. This planet actually reminded her of a bit like Lothal. Sure, it was even more desert and while there weren’t as many mountains, the plains were covered with sand dunes. The core of the planet, however, had the same feeling. It was a good feeling. Like home. And it was true, Lothal had become her home the past few years. She’d gotten to know the people, the land, the heart of the planet that was entrusted to her.
All of a sudden she heard something move in the grasses. Sabine quickly grabbed her blasters at the sound. She turned to where the noise came from and stopped. Two big eyes started up at her. She must be dehydrated and delirious because it looked like a loth-cat. It reminded her of the one back on Lothal. The white one that . . .
“Ezra.”
Sabine stood up quickly and moved over to the creature. The loth-cat started scurrying away towards the sand dunes.
“Hey!” she called, “Wait up!”
Full-on sprinting to catch up to the little creature, Sabine noticed something beyond the sand dunes that she hadn’t noticed before. On the horizon behind the numerous piles of sand, it looked like there was something else. She blinked, clearing her eyes before squinting to make out the display before her. What she assumed were just more sand dunes, she realized were actually houses. It’s a village, she thought.
Moving faster than she ever thought was possible, Sabine ran across the desert plains to where the tiny speckles of dunes lay. They slowly started to become bigger in her path of vision. It was a village. A quaint one, easily hidden among the piles of sand. She caught her breath and started looking around for the loth-cat creature. She looked around, trying to scan for something. Someone. The same feeling from earlier brought her eyes over to a house on the left.
She stopped.
His hair.
It was long again.
Pulled back into a small bun at the crown of his head, the raven hair was longer than she remembered. His hair reminded her of . . . . Kanan’s. Her heart ached after the realization. She didn’t expect him to choose that style, but it looked good. Really good. It suited the man who stood in the place of the boy she never really got a chance to say goodbye to.
But there he was. Real. Alive. Bent over with his back facing towards her, he seemed to be tending to a garden of some sort. As much of a garden as one could have in this desert planet anyways. She saw his body turn at the sound of her boots softly crunching on the gravel road below her feet.
The doubt of ever seeing those vibrant blue eyes again washed away as they connected with her own. She wasn’t force-sensitive; but she swore at that moment, she could feel the bond of two people so closely tied to one another from years of fighting side-by-side reconnect. It shocked her to the core of herself, the power of emotion that swept through her body. She froze, not knowing how he would react; not knowing how she would react. She watched him slowly stand up. A look of disbelief crossed over his face. He slowly started to walk towards her; his long brown cloak trailing behind in the wind.
He stopped just short of a foot away. He reached out his hand to gently cup her cheek outside of her helmet. Gently grabbing the sides of it, he lifted it off her head.
“Sabine?” He asked.
Instead of verbally replying, Sabine reached up a kissed him. It was as if all of time was passing and yet still standing still. Crossing the galaxy for months was worth this one precious moment.
After the initial shock of seeing Ezra again, and the initial shock of that kiss, Sabine shoved Ezra back. He looked up at her incredibly shocked and dumbfounded.
“Ezra Bridger! Do you know how long it took us to find you? We’ve been crossing the galaxy for months. So much has happened. Like, oh, Lothal was liberated, we won the war against the empire, Kallus and Zeb are a thing, and Hera has a kid now!” She was practically shouting in his face at this point. So much for keeping your cool, Sabine thought.
Ezra rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, a habit that had a stark resemblance to another Jedi. As he processed the words Sabine yelled at him, he looked up at her incredulously.
“Wait. Did you say Hera has a kid?” The look on Ezra’s face was priceless.
“Yeah. His name is Jacen. Spectre Seven,” She replied. This time choosing to use a much softer tone.
“Did Hera . . . meet someone else?” Ezra asked. Sabine started shaking her head.
“No. He’s Kanan’s. She found out right after, you know,” Sabine gestured at him.
Ezra just laughed, repeated the gesture, and replied, “No, I don’t think I know what this means.”
Sabine just shoved him again. She really missed him.
“Sabine. You did it. You freed my people.” Sabine shook her head in reply.
“It was because of you, Ezra. Your sacrifice. The people started to rise up right after you left. We kept waiting for another attack, but it never came. Lothal is free, Ezra. We won.”
She was shocked when he immediately pulled her in again and kissed her. His hand moved up her back and came around to gently hold the bottom of her chin. She reached up to bring her fingers through his long hair, pulling it out of the bun, and bringing his head back down to kiss her again. His hands ran down her arms and around her waist and pulled her close.
Staring up into the brilliant blue eyes, the eyes she had known for years, she whispered,
“I love you.”
Ezra just smiled down at her and replied,
“Sure took you long enough to admit that one.”
Sabine laughed and held him closer. Now this, she thought, this is home.