A Shadow Of Hope

Chapter 44

Silence fell in the common room. The Ghost crew stared at Fawn like she'd lost her mind. Ezra looked like he was going to collapse at any second. He was shaking slightly, gazing at the ground, wide eyed.

"Y-You're joking. You have to be j-joking" he said.

"No, I'm not Ezra. I'm serious. You're my brother" Fawn told him.

"How? How is that even possible?" Kanan inquired.

"Did you guys know this?" Sabine asked the dragons who looked away but nodded.

"I told them not to breathe a word. This was something personal and I needed to say it" Fawn said.

"So you're saying Mira and Ephraim Bridger are your parents?" Hera asked.

Fawn nodded.

"But...this can't be true. My parents never mentioned I had a sister, I never heard a word about you" Ezra said.

"Yeah. That was something I discussed with mum and dad. I told them for their safety as well as yours and my own, it was best if I was never spoken of. I was a powerful Jedi and wanted by many people including bounty hunters. If people found out I had a brother, they might think you were like me. Valuable. So, you were never told you had a sister" Fawn said.

Ezra seemed to be struggling to accept what he was hearing.

"Was mum and dad ever going to tell me about you?" He asked.

"Yeah they were but the Empire started and the Jedi were destroyed. On the last transmission I ever got from our parents, they told me to hide. Don't try to find them but I didn't listen."

"That seems to run in your family" Zeb said looking at Ezra.

"There's still something I don't understand" Hera said.
"And what's that?" Fawn inquired.

"You said you lived on Naboo but Ezra was raised on Lothal."

"My parents told me for Ezra's safety, they had to move somewhere else. Some people found out where I used to live so my parents thought it was best to move somewhere safer. For everyone's sake" Fawn explained.

"Uh, Fawn? Do you know your parents are...?" Sabine began but Fawn cut her off.

"I know they're dead Sabine. One of my allies told me while they were on a mission to break out some Togruta slaves. Apparently that was the prison that had the massive escape. They were told by some of the prisoners that Mira and Ephraim had been killed."

The Gray Jedi looked at Ezra who was staring the ground.

"Ezra?"

The boy looked up.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

The boy didn't reply, he just looked at Fawn.

"You do believe all this don't you?" Fawn asked.

Ezra looked back at the ground.

"I don't know what to believe. It's a bit much to take in actually."

Whiplash nuzzled Ezra's arm with a gurgly purr.

"I need some time to myself. I'm going to bed" Ezra stood up and walked from the common room.

He stopped at the doorway and looked over at Whiplash.

"Well? You coming?"

The dragon leapt off the couch and followed his rider down the corrider to the cabins. The crew watched them go and Fawn exhaled.

"It'll take him a while to completely accept this. You know that don't you?" Moonshine asked Fawn​. 

"Yeah, I knew that. It took me a while to understand my brother was alive. The first time I saw him, I noticed his eyes were quite alike to mine" Fawn replied.

"I noticed that as well" Kanan said. 

"Zeb, you might want to sleep in the Phantom tonight. Ezra probably wants to be by himself to think" Hera told Zeb.

The Lasat nodded in agreement.

Ezra sat on his bunk, gazing at the hologram of himself with his parents when he was young. Whiplash sat by his side quietly, not knowing what to say or do.

"Whiplash" Ezra said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"You knew that I was Fawn's brother didn't you?"

The question was filled with emotion. Whiplash could hear every bit of feeling in that sentence. The disbelief, the anger, the sadness, the fear. The reptile looked at Ezra, the boy didn't seem like himself. Whiplash was so used to seeing Ezra as spiritful, troublesome kid. Now he looked like a child lost in his own thoughts.

"Ezra, I did know. And I wanted to tell you, believe me I did" the dragon told his rider.

"But you didn't" Ezra said.

"I'm sorry."

Silence fell between them as Ezra continued to look at the picture.

"It's all true isn't it?"

Whiplash nodded. 

"Everything" he confirmed.

Ezra exhaled and turned off the hologram.

"It's a bit much. I had no idea I had a sister."

Whiplash rumbled in his throat in response.

"I should probably get to sleep" Ezra ran a hand through his hair and put the disc on the shelf beside his bunk.

With a sigh, the teen lay down and put an arm over Whiplash.

"This day was more interesting than I thought it'd be" he muttered.

"Ditto" Whiplash yawned curling into a ball.