Star Wars Moments

We'll bring you home

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS REBELS SEASON 4 EPISODE 9!!
Also, art belongs to Meldy-Arts the goddess of creating Star Wars Rebels fanart.

It was a humid night on Lothal, warm and peaceful but the remorse was heavy in the air. The Ghost Crew sat around a crackling fire, hands clasped together and gazing into the flames. They hadn't said a word since the failed attack on Lothal. Since Kanan told them Hera had been captured by the Empire. Everyone had taken it hard. The thought of Hera stuck with Thrawn and Governer Pryce stabbed at their hearts. Who knows what they'd do to their beloved Twe'lik. Hera was part of their family, to imagine her getting tortured in any fashion was painful. Ryder and Mart had gone to bed but the others couldn't sleep if they tried. They did their best not to think of where Hera might be right now, but images flashed into their minds. A cold cell, a torture chamber, Thrawn's office, the TIE defender factory. Hera could be anywhere in the galaxy. All alone without anyone else. Kanan shivered. Not with cold, but because he knew the feeling of seclusion. He didn't see anyone but the Imperials when he was captured. He almost forgot what his family looked like. Kanan had never been claustrophobic, but he always felt boxed in and trapped. Like a caged animal with no way out.
A sniff caught Kanan's attention and he felt his stomach jolt at what he saw. Silent tears were rolling down Ezra's face, his shoulders were trembling as his hands gripped his crossed arms. He was curled into a ball on the log he was on, chin resting on his knees.
"Ezra?" Kanan asked, noticing how much his voice shook as he said the boy's name.

The other members of the crew looked over at the boy when they heard Kanan say Ezra's name. Their eyes widened in surprised then softened in concern. The teen didn't look at Kanan but his grip on his arms tightened.

"I've already lost my first mother" Ezra said in a choked whisper.

"I didn't want to lose my second one."

Kanan felt his heart stop in shock at Ezra's words. Ezra saw Hera as a mother? Did that mean he saw Kanan as a father?

"I've already lost Lothal, Ahsoka, my parents. I didn't want to lose anything or anyone else close to me. The Empire crushes everything I hold dear. When will it stop?"

Ezra looked at Kanan with such a pained expression it broke the man's heart.

"W-When will the pain stop?"

Kanan didn't know how to answer the question. There was no answer because he didn't know one that could be said.
How long will the pain last?
When will it end?
When will we be free?
Those were the three questions Ezra was asking. Pleading for Kanan to reply with the answers he wanted. But Kanan knew he couldn't answer them the way Ezra wanted. Would he ever be able to?
Standing, Kanan went over to his trembling Padawan and sat beside him. He pulled the teen into his arms carefully, gently pushing Ezra's head into his shoulder and caressed the boy's back. Ezra gripped Kanan's shirt, fresh tears rolling down his face as he pressed his face into his Master's chest.

"I don't know" Kanan admitted softly.

"I don't know when the pain will end, or if it ever will. All we can do is bear through it."

"But I don't want to bear though it" Ezra said tearfully.

"I want it to end."

"Who said you had to bear through​ it alone?" Sabine, who had gone over to the two Jedi, placed a gentle hand on Ezra's shoulder as she said this.

"We're all right here with you kid" Zeb said sitting beside Kanan.

Chopper warbled gently and placed one of his metal hands on Ezra's knee. Zeb and Sabine put their own arms around Ezra and Kanan, in a large loving embrace. Ezra kept his head into Kanan's chest, but knew his family was there. Around him in a warm hug. They would always be there to catch him when he fell. Even Hera. She wasn't there physically, but Ezra could feel her presence. Her fingers gently caressing his cheek as he cried. A motherly act she would do many times if he cried. Ezra like the action, he always had.

'Hera' he thought.

'I won't leave you to the Empire. We'll bring you home, I promise.'