In the middle of my sleep, I hear Ezra's soft voice. He's only grunting slightly, but not saying anything.
And then...
"Mom...? Dad...!"
The next thing I hear is a loud thud and a yelp of pain.
"Ezra?!"
I sit up with a start and look over the edge of my bed, where Ezra now lies on the ground. I climb down and help him sit up. He rubs his head.
"Did you hit your head?"
"No, I... Laurel, I had a vision!"
I gasp. "A-A vision?"
"My parents... I saw them!"
He runs out the door, and I chase after him.
"Ezra!"
He reaches the common room, where Kanan and Hera are sitting on the table, despite it being night time.
"Kanan!"
I catch up to Ezra and put my hands gently on his shoulders.
"Kanan my parents! I saw my parents!"
"What?"
"I had a vision!"
Hera and Kanan gasp slightly.
"Ezra, remember..." Kanan tries to calm him down. "Visions inspired by the Force are not always literal."
"I know, but I-I saw them!" He insists. "They were in some sort of imperial prison, they were alive, and I saw this Loth cat too, Kanan, it felt so real!"
Kanan looks over at Hera, who nods at him.
"I think it's time to show him."
"Show me what?"
Hera and Kanan stand up and gesture for us to follow them. Hera leads us to one of the control rooms of the Ghost.
"Ezra, remember when Tseebo said he knew what happened to your parents?"
"Yeah," he says, "I just didn't want to hear it..."
"Well..." Hera projects the hologram of a planetary map. "They were taken to an imperial prison."
"One of how many?" Ezra says. "Where would we even start?"
"I don't know..." Hera says. "We checked with every smuggler, every pirate we knew, even Senator Organa helped us with information he had, but we couldn't find them. I'm sorry..."
Ezra looks at the planetary map, and then over at Hera.
"Thank you," he says.
Hera smiles, a sad smile. Ezra walks out holding my hand, and we go back to my bedroom.
"Ezra..." I say after closing the door.
"I know I saw them, Laurel."
"I know you did," I sit next to him. "We're going to find them, even if it means stealing the Phantom and traveling the galaxy on our own."
His blue eyes show a spark of hope. "Do you really mean that?"
I kiss his forehead. "Of course I do, Blueberry."
I pull him down to lie down on the bed and hug him lovingly running my fingers stroking his hair. Ezra soon falls asleep in my arms. Whatever we have to do, I'll do it with him. For him.
The morning after, I wake up and Ezra's already gone. If I didn't know him better, I'd say...
I make my way to the top turret of the Ghost, and there he is, witnessing the picture of his parents that I retrieved from his old home.
"Mom, Dad," he says, "I will find you."
He brushes his finger over the picture, and I feel my heart breaking slightly.
"Ezra?"
He turns around and smiles softly when he sees me.
"Kanan wants to see you," I hold out my hand.
He puts the picture away and takes my hand. "Alright then. Good morning, by the way."
"Mornin'."
"How'd you sleep?"
"Normally," I say. "How are you feeling?"
"Determined," he says.
I take him down to the common room where Hera and Kanan once again wait for us, with a hologram being projected on the table.
"What's that?" Ezra asks.
"A list of imperial prisoners," Kanan replies. "The empire has deleted their names and images for security."
"There was a mass break out from one of the prisons last night," Hera adds.
"My parents were definitely there!" Ezra says.
"We're not sure about that," Kanan says.
"I know they were, that's why I had that vision!"
Kanan sighs. "Anyway, I know a Jedi trick that might help us out. It might not work, though. For us to use it, you need to accept the truth in the hands of the Froce, and that could be either something good or something bad. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I understand."
Ezra agrees to doing it anyway. He turns around and focuses on the list, which starts moving faster and faster by the second. Then, I can feel he's having another vision, like I did on Lothal when he saw senator Trayvis.
"Stop!"
Hera stops the list on a prisoner, no name, no image, and she reads the description.
"Prisoner X-10, arrested on Lothal for treason?" Hera says.
"Ezra," I say. "You might actually be onto something."
"Well then we have to go now."
"Ezra," Kanan says, "they could be anywhere by now."
"No, Kanan, he's on Lothal! That's why I keep seeing the white Loth cat!"
Ezra runs off to the bedrooms. He walks into mine and starts looking all over.
"Where's my helmet?"
"In your old room, maybe?"
He rushes over to find it. I grab my own helmet and then walk over after him.
"Blueberry, you'll trash the place at this rate," I say. "Let me help you."
I look in the drawers, but can't find the helmet.
"Ezra," Hera says. "I want you to find your parents, but we need a plan. We need to know how to get through the blockade on Lothal."
"That won't be a problem," Sabine observes. "I've been hearing imperial chatter. The blockade left Lothal this morning."
"Where to?"
"Doesn't matter," Ezra says. "It's a sign that I have to be there. Where's my stupid helmet?!"
I find the helmet and sneak up behind Ezra to put it on his head, later to wrap my arms around him.
"Calm down, Blueberry," I say. "We need to think straight now more than ever."
"Lau, I-"
"I know," I say and take his helmet off his head. "But you have to trust me on this one."
He sighs. "I always trust you."
Kanan puts his hand on Ezra's shoulder. "Now, don't think you're going alone."
"We support you," Hera says. "We're family."
"Speaking of family," Sabine says, "where are the delinquents?"
Zeb and Chopper are out looking for supplies, but upon realizing we have to go to Lothal, they call them back on to the ship. Those of us who are here all go to the cockpit of the Ghost.
But poor Ezra grows more anxious every minute.
"Back to Lothal?" Zeb says via com. "That doesn't sound like a good idea."
"Just get back here fast!"
Ezra sits down on his seat next to me with his arms crossed.
"Not too fast, Zeb," Hera says. "We don't want to alarm any imperials."
"Don't worry," Zeb says. "We haven't seen any bucketheads out here. It's kind of strange, really."
"Not strange," Sabine says. "It's strategy."
"Is it bad for us?" I ask her.
"I hope not..." she replies. "Because every time the empire does this, it's because they're preparing for a major strike."
And just then, we see imperial Star Destroyers flying here above Garel.
"Well, Ezra," Hera says, "if you want to go back to Lothal, now would be a good time."
"Alright," Ezra says. "Lau?"
"Yeah, I'm going with you."
"Good."
Hera and the rest rush out of the Ghost to see how bad it is. Ezra and I follow too, and it really doesn't look good. There are at least for Imperial Star destroyers, each at different heights. One of them is really low already, no doubt it's already deploying troops.
"Zeb!" Hera calls him. "Get Chopper and get back here as fast as you can. Hurry!"
We get no reply from Zeb.
"They're jamming the signals?" I ask.
"Guess so," Sabine says. "Let me see what I can do about that."
"Thanks Sabine," Hera tells her. "You three should better get going."
"Not until we get Zeb and Chopper back here," Ezra replies.
"Just have us ready to fly," Kanan tells Hera.
The three of us run into the city, and there are already many troopers performing an ambush. We're forced to take cover many times for the sake of clearing our way, but more and more keep coming.
"Zeb!" I yell when I spot him.
He's doing the same thing as we are, no doubt.
Ezra and I take down as many troopers as we can, but then someone else is here to threaten us. Agent Kallus to make things way better, and I know so because I barely dodge his shot. Great.
Ezra and I both turn around only to see him walking cockily towards us with teo troopers escorting him.
Now, we've got Kallus and his troopers on one side and even more bucketheads on the other, closing us in. Kanan and Zeb take the bucketheads while Ezra and I try to keep Kallus at bay, but we're not really successful at it.
"We don't have all day!" Ezra finally says. "We need to get back to Lothal!"
He stands up and runs towards Kallus, and pulls out his lightsaber.
"Ezra, no!"
He deflects two blasts to both of the stormtroopers and I see how they drop limply at Kallus's side. Agent Kallus keeps shooting at Ezra, but the latter deflects the shots away from him. He even does a flip mid air do doge, and then he pushes Kallus away.
Okay, that was pretty freaking badass.
Finally the troopers on our backs stop coming, and I look over at Ezra who is standing with a triumphant little smirk.
"Not bad," Zeb compliments.
"Well," Kanan replies, "I taught him."
I wink at Ezra with a smile. He smiles back, but then something else comes our way.
"Well!" It's the Seventh Sister, along with the Fifth Brother. "Hello there!"
Ezra's smile turns into a frown and he faces the two Inquisitors. "You are not going to get in my way!"
The Seventh Sister laughs. "Oh, my brave young boy! Come and prove it!"
Ezra pulls out his lightsaber again and runs toward the two Inquisitors.
"Ezra, no!" I won't let him take that risk all by himself. "Ezra!"
While we run, the doorway suddenly closes on us, thanks to Kanan shooting the controls.
Ezra bangs on the door and pants, angrily.
"Blueberry?"
"Ezra," Kanan says, "I know how important it is for you to get back to Lothal."
"No, Kanan, you don't know what it's like!"
"You're right," he replies. "I never knew my parents."
Ezra's eyes soften. "Kanan, I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," replies our master. "It's too late for me, but maybe not for you. Now let's go."
Ezra and I run after Kanan and Zeb, and Chopper joins us after stepping out of his little hiding spot. Now it's time for us to head back to the Phantom so we can leave.
There are still a lot of stormtroopers on the way there, but it's nothing we can't handle. True, we do have to sprint, but we manage to make it back to the Ghost in time. Zeb goes immediately to the top turret of the Ghost.
Ezra's on the way to help too, but I stop him.
"We need to get to the Phantom," I tell him.
"Alright," he replies and we walk there together. Kanan gets it ready while Hera takes off on the Ghost (and us with it), along with other rebel ships.
However, the Empire clearly notices this. They're sending a squadron of TIE fighters to prevent any of us from escaping their blockade. Kanan detaches the Phantom from the Ghost, and in that time I can see how a croup of TIE fighters destroys one of our ships.
"Spectre 1!" It's Hera. "You've got your opening, now take it!"
Ezra steps up. "We won't leave until the fleet is safe!"
"I appreciate the gesture, but that's an order! And Ezra, I hope you find what you're looking for."
Ezra sighs. He's clearly worried about the fleet, but he knows what he has to do as well. Kanan changes course from the battle and flies the Phantom away into space, and sets coordinates for Lothal.
During the ride, Ezra and I sit quietly. His eyes say it all... he's sad. I take his hand and rub the back of it gently with my thumb.
"Laurel?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," he says.
I smile softly and pull him into a gentle loving kiss.
"I will always, always there for you, Ezra Bridger."
He smiles. "So will I."
The Phantom finally gets of hyperspace, and we see the familiar planet in front of us.
"It's nice to see no star destroyers over Lothal for a change," I say as I walk behind Kanan.
"Gotta admit," Kanan replies.
Ezra walks over here too. "Kanan?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," he says. "For everything you've done. You're always there for me when I need you the most."
"You're welcome, kid," he replies. "I know what it's like not to have someone close to me. Regardless of how this turns out, we're here for you."
Kanan flies us into Lothal back into the familiar capital city. He lands the Phantom someplace it won't be easily seen, although finally we don't see all the troopers we'd see before.
"Where to, Blueberry?"
"Home."
As I walk around the streets of Lothal with them, I feel slightly nostalgic. This was, after all, where I met Ezra. I look back on how confident and cocky he was, and now, how much he's grown. How much we've been through...
...and how sad his eyes are upon returning to the house. I breaks my heart.
"They burned the place to the ground," he says.
"Maybe the Empire wanted to send us a message."
"But my vision sent me back to Lothal," he says. "If my parents aren't here, then where are they? What happened to them?"
"Slow down," Kanan calms him down. "The Force is trying to tell you something."
Ezra sighs and closes his eyes. He tries to connect with the Force to see what it is it's trying to tell him.
And then, a little white Loth cat jumps up from the house. Instantly, I can tell it's the Loth cat Ezra saw in his vision.
He walks over to it and cuddles. "Nice little Loth cat."
I try hard not to squeal at how cute they both are.
(A/N: I love Loth cats! They're my spirit animal!)
"Who do you belong to?" Ezra asks the Loth cat.
The little white Loth cat suddenly jumps away and starts jogging towards the city.
"After him!"
We chase the Loth cat down the streets, but it's not an easy task. Ezra and I decide to split up to cover the cat from front and back.
But when we meet again, the Loth cat is on a speeder bike, so we both have to think quick.
Kanan catches up to us when the speeder starts to move with the cat on it. "What now?"
"I can track it," Ezra replies.
"You gotta be really good with the Force to track a moving Loth cat around Lothal."
"Not the Force," I say. "I just planted a tracker on the speeder bike."
"Oh," Kanan says. "Well, that's just as good."
I chuckle. "Come on, let's get back to the Phantom and fly out to wherever it is these guys are."
Ezra practically runs back to the Phantom, and us along with him. Kanan takes off and I hand him the tracker's coordinates. They're leading us far away from the city, but it's definitely the place.
In the middle of the grassy plane, there's a small complex with many rocks. That's where the tracker stopped, so I tell Kanan to land there.
He sets the Phantom down where it will be safe and the three of us get out.
In the middle of us walking, we suddenly hear a shot, which hits one of the rocks right in front of where I am. The three of us rush into cover, while this mystery man continues to shoot.
"Wait!" Ezra says. "Stop!"
But the man doesn't stop.
"Are you X-10?"
"That is not my name!" He replies and continues to shoot.
Ezra steps out slightly. "No, I-I know!"
"Who are you?"
"My name is Ezra! Ezra Bridger! I don't know you, but I think you know my parents, Ephraim and Mira Bridger!"
He stops shooting, and he takes off his hat. "My name is Ryder Azadi. And yes, I do know your parents."
Ezra widens his eyes in surprise, but then his gaze softens and he shows a glimpse of hope.
Azadi comes down from the hill he's standing on. He's an old man with white hair and deep blue eyes. "Come inside."
"Thank you," I say.
He leads us into his small hut. They sky outside is getting dark now, so he lights up the place as well as a bonfire outside. Azadi sits on one side, I sit next to Ezra on the other on top of a crate and hold his hand.
"I was trying to find you, Ezra," says Azadi, "but I guess you found me first."
"I know you," Ezra says, "don't I?"
"You remember? You were pretty small back then. I was the governor of Lothal, and I supported your parents in their transmissions against the empire. It was one of the reasons why I was accused of treason."
"I do remember," Ezra replies. "So you know what happened to my parents?"
Azadi's gaze shifts into that of melancholy. "Yes, I do."
Ezra lowers his head. "They're dead, aren't they?"
"I'm sorry son," replies Azadi. "They are."
I look at Ezra, and squeeze his hand slightly.
"Please tell me what happened," Ezra says.
"Even imprisoned, your parents would stand up for those who could not. Especially after hearing your message, the one your rebellion transmitted. It somehow made its way to the darkest of Imperial prisons. It was after that, that your parents began to rally forces and encourage everyone to rise up. They inspired the prisoners to escape. Rebels and sympathyzers are free because of them."
"But they didn't make it..."
"No," he replies. "I'm sorry."
"How?" Ezra says. "H-how did they know it was me?"
"On the transmission, your voice, your words telling Lothal to stand up. They knew right away."
I have never seen this sadness in Ezra. His breathing has gotten heavier, he's trying to process everything. The tears start forming in his eyes and his voice is weaker.
"They used to say when I was little," he says in pants as he wipes his eyes dry, "if we don't stand up, who will?"
Ezra pants a bit more until he starts to sob. He leans on Kanan for support and we hug him tightly in a vain attempt to comfort his immense sadness. Even Chopper, a droid, tries to comfort him.
Ezra... this is what I never wanted to see in him. Sorrow, disillusion. The sound of his voice weakly sneaking in the middle of every sob... I hug him tighter and press him closer to me.
This sadness... I feel it as my own.
He starts to lean up and again he wipes his eyes.
"Can I... Can I get a moment?"
"Yeah," I reply to him softly.
He looks over at Azadi. "Thank you."
And then, he exits the hut. I look at him go stand at the top of a hill, where he watches the twin moons of Lothal before him.
I sigh and let out a couple of tears myself. I suddenly think about asking Azadi about my own mother... but now's not the time for that. I have to stay strong now, for Ezra.
I remain inside the hut with Kanan, Azadi and Chopper in silence. Kanan suddenly puts his hand on my shoulder.
"I think now would be a good time to go see him."
I nod and step out of the hut. Ezra's still standing on the hill looking closely at the moons.
I take some of the sparks from the bonfire and keep them lit with the Force. I make them fly gently around Ezra, to give him warmth and light.
He looks back at me, and manages to give me a sad smile. I hug him gently and rest my chin on his shoulder.
"Ezra?"
"Yeah?"
"You are never going to be alone," I say.
He doesn't respond.
"I mean it," I continue. "Your parents will live on inside you. And neither I, nor Kanan, nor any of us will abandon you."
"That sounds about right," Kanan walks over to us.
"Kanan," Ezra says. "I saw my parents, they were standing here with me."
"It's like Lau just said. When dying, your parents did not vanish. They merged with the Force, and now they'll remain alive inside you."
Ezra smiles gratefully at Kanan, and the three of us stand watching the two moons. Then, Kanan leaves Ezra and I alone again.
I take him into a hug.
"Thanks, Laurel."
I stroke his hair gently. "You're welcome, Blueberry."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
I pull him to the ground and sit down. Ezra lies down next to me, and rests his head on my thigh. I stroke his hair until he's sound asleep, and I look at the twin moons rising above us, determined to stay forever there for him if that's what I have to do.