Ezra found the years somehow skimming by. She wanted to punch Drayt Kallus in the face all the time, while she sometimes wanted to either shake Agent Kallus' kid self and scream at him that he shouldn't be like this or just hug him tightly.

At nineteen, the Clone Wars ended and Kallus was attending the newly renamed and reworked Royal Imperial Academy of Coruscant as Emperor Palpatine declared the Republic now a Galactic Empire and himself an emperor. He would have graduated by then, but he enrolled into the Royal Academy's military program and would be in it for an additional two years before he would graduate the academy.

The military training program was harsh and grueling, but Kallus persevered and Ezra was surprised but pleased that he at least managed to make a friend out of another man by the name of Jovan. Jovan became a bit of an informal mentor, and the two of them completed their course of study together. Ezra felt strange about feeling a bit proud of Kallus for graduating (and graduating top of his class at that!). She was getting too attached to him...

Needless to say, by the time Kallus was twenty-one and graduated from the military training program, he'd been a shoe-in and obvious candidate for the Imperial Security Bureau, who'd recruited him straight after graduation.

"Coriolan Kallus, you are hereby assigned the security code ISB-021 and will be referred to as such, or by Agent Kallus. Welcome, ISB-021. Do your duties with pride and loyalty."

Ezra sneered at the officer and glared at Kallus' back.

"Don't listen to stiff over there, Coriolan," she'd taken up saying his name. "You're much better off being who you were."

But she'd been saying that for 'years' now, and it wasn't going to change Kallus anytime soon. Besides, this was just a memory. Something she kept forgetting as she got heated up and angry over things.

The sweet child Kallus had been had long faded away and there wasn't a remnant left of that kid. Instead, Kallus had hardened into the familiar cold, strict, and impassive man she knew –minus the times he was with and hung around Jovan. But now he was out of the academy and in the quarters of the ISB, and that could only mean more and more time as this harsh man and the continuing chipping away of anything left of Coriolan.

Because Coriolan Kallus was becoming less of a person, and Agent Kallus was taking his place.

Ezra witnessed Kallus being thrust into the harsh life of an ISB Agent. Anything less seemed to equate to being a traitor or being on the road to one, so each agent had something of an obsessive show of loyalty ingrained in them quickly.

There are days where she would walk beside him in the building, and he'd stopped beside maybe an interrogation room or the time he'd stumbled onto the Re-Education division's location, and he would just stop and stare. He never had a visible look on his face (she admitted she was glad that he didn't, especially after witnessing with him the things he saw the Re-Education ISB Agents were up to), but when he went to his quarters, he would stand in front of the mirror and look hard at himself.

He wasn't as comfortable with things as it seemed, but he knew better (and she was damn glad he did) than to show any sort of weakness or troubled thoughts on his face, especially in front of any of the others.

The ISB Bureau was the last place you ever wanted to reveal anything remotely close to disturbed thoughts about them and the Empire.

There were too many dark methods the agents ended up using, methods that Kallus was taught to learn and made to practice. Soon enough, he became coldly used to it, or else knew what the consequences were if he were to rebel in any sort of way, even if just vocally protesting how things were done. She watched the physical training Kallus went through, so much more vigorous and strenuous than even what the military training program put him through. She could see how it made him so efficient and dangerous in the future, her present.

Kallus was so dangerous in hand to hand and so proficient in fighting, that there was hardly anyone who could provide him a challenge. Ezra saw how he'd trained in riot control and heavy combat, and wondered how in the galaxy did she or any of the others ever managed to fight him (but did they ever really fight him? Confront him, hell yeah –but besides Zeb, who lost more often than not, they'd never really went toe to toe with Kallus).

It was disturbing when she watched the agents of the ISB sit and watch Imperial propaganda repeatedly; when they're eating in the cafeteria, any time their holoTVs were on, or when they have a specific training block for it. Ezra also knew that Kallus would repeat his father's lectures to himself sometimes, never forgetting what his father had drilled into his head all these years.

It was just continuously pounded into Kallus' head, and she suddenly understood (and maybe it's not so sudden) that it was not just easier being a mindless drone for the Empire, but you were practically brainwashed into it when you're surrounded by all sides with Imperial poodoo.

"Fuck the Man!" she shouted at him, face red. "The Man is keeping you down! Stick it to the Man, Kallus!"

Okay, so she was most probably wasting her breath, but what else was she going to do but to scream profanity at him?

She was incredibly frustrated at this point.

~*~*~

Ezra was a smart kid. Always had been. Kallus had noted it from the moment he'd met her back on The Lawbringer, and from the first time he'd started watching over her as she was a child.

She used every single smarts she had as she survived the streets on her own, making sure to keep herself safe and sheltered as much as she could. It was dangerous in the streets, he could see that now more than ever. She'd barely escaped from the run-ins she'd had with the local Lothal gangs, and it was hard enough to find shelter for a night, much less food to keep herself from starving. None of the Imperials were any help, and Kallus saw and understood that she thought (and it seemed sadly true) that it was better to stay away from any Imperials.

They were much likely to rough her up as much as the local gang members would beat her.

"There," Kallus muttered. "That place will keep you warm tonight."

He was glad that Ezra managed to think like he did, and spotted the abandoned building that she broke into and snuck into to sleep in. It wasn't the best place to stay forever, since Stormtroopers tended to parole often in the area, but it was good enough a place to stay for the night and keep away from the elements and most of the ruffians prowling in the night.

Little Ezra tried her best to lie down on the hard ground, closing her eyes as she sniffled.

"Momma, Papa," she sniffled a little louder, curling in on herself.

"It'll get better," Kallus told her, knowing that wouldn't be soon. "There will be a man who will show you a better path in life and show you that you don't have to be alone."

She would just have an unfortunate long wait.

When the sunlight streamed in and awoke her in the morning, Kallus walked with her as she left the building to go find some food to fill her small stomach. It was already grumbling loudly and she still wasn't used to eating so little...not since she'd lived a life with her parents who had always taken care of her and never let her go starving.

"This is the time where you start to learn people don't help each other out, isn't it?" Kallus asked mutedly, starting to realize (and remember) how her attitude and words to him at their first meeting came to be.

No one was willing, or wanted, to help each other out, much less a little girl like Ezra.

He said nothing, not even to start to lecture when Ezra managed to sneak to the edge of the market and subtly steal a few meiloorun fruits from a vendor. She snuck off quickly with her loot and was going to start to bite into one when she was interrupted.

"Hey, brat! What are you milling around for?"

Kallus grimaced as he witnessed Ezra be caught by a sneering gang member, who watched her for a moment before chuckling darkly.

"Why don't you hand those over?" the gang member held out a hand.

Ezra clutched the fruit to her chest, baring her teeth at the man angrily in warning.

"So that's how it's going to be, huh?!" the man growled and threw himself forward, intent on teaching Ezra a lesson.

Kallus' hand snapped out, trying to grab him and throw him back, only for his hand to pass through. Instead, it ended up staying in the air for a few moments as he resignedly watched Ezra get beaten up by the man, though she refused to let go of the fruit. By the time the man was done, she was black and blue, and curled into a fetal position on the floor...and yet still holding onto the fruit that she had wrapped her arms protectively and possessively over.

"Feh! Whatever, you little shit. It's just a few meilooruns. Choke on them, you bitch."

The man angrily walked away, and Ezra weakly laughed in victory to herself.

She cried to herself as she lifted one of the fruit to her lips and started to eat it, feeling so very hungry right then.

"You earned that," Kallus said fiercely. "You earned that fruit, so you enjoy it. Don't you ever back the damn hell down."

He'd cheer her on, because life was dealing her a crappy hand and she was going to do her best to lookout for number one, which is all Kallus cared about at that moment as he watched over her.

Even when he wanted to shoot and kill people like that gang member, and save her all the trouble.

That was why, when night came, he had been really hoping that she would go back to the building she'd found the night before. But as she came near, it was obvious that it wouldn't be possible because there was a quadruplet watch of Stormtroopers right next to it, and there was no way Ezra would be getting into that building without getting seen and caught.

She had to look around instead, hoping her luck would be good again and get her a place for the night. But again, the two of them realized she was on her own and no one would be extending any kindness.

"Hello, little one. You look in need of help."

"Speak of the kriffing devil," Kallus peered closely at who had spoken; an average height male with brown eyes and hair, and looked pretty young –maybe late teens, early twenties?

"I'm..." Ezra bit her lip. "I'm hungry and cold," she confessed reluctantly.

"You want food and shelter for the night, sweetie?" he asked kindly.

Kallus felt relieved, and Ezra was nodding enthusiastically. The man smiled widely and opened the door behind him, stepping aside to let her in. Ezra was eager to enter and Kallus was right behind her, only for them both to not expect it to slam close.

Kallus cursed and should have expected something was up, but he'd been so keen for her to be safe and find a place that he hadn't looked too deeply into things like he should've.

"Oh dear, didn't your parents teach you not to trust strangers?" the man grinned wickedly, grabbing her by the hair and dragging her off to another room. She was tossed into it, landing next to another person.

The door closed and as Ezra and Kallus looked around, it wasn't hard to see that this was some sort of place holding people against their will. Kallus, more knowingly, understood that it had all been a ruse to get Ezra sold into slavery, and she had to get out now.

"Where are those infamous escapee skills?" Kallus asked quietly, trying to get her to just do something. He was feeling an urgency in this situation that told him that if she didn't do something soon, she would be too late.

He watched as she looked around (knowing she was the only one untied because she was thought to be harmless and just a kid), and though she spotted nothing to use as a weapon, she spotted a vent.

Kallus knew she was damn good at using and traversing those.

Without wasting any time, Ezra had managed to loosen the rusty bolts with her nails and tiny fingers, and had removed the vent before crawling into it and using her small size to move through the ventilator shafts and find her way out of there.

She escaped the building and ran the hell away from there, not daring to look back.

"Kriffing hell, you get into too many situations," Kallus muttered.

He should know; he'd been involved and the instigator of many of those.

~*~*~

"This isn't fair," Sabine grumbled, glaring at Kallus' figure. "And can't we just separate them at least?"

Kanan gave her a warning look. "We don't know too much of what's going on, Sabine. We just have to play it by ear and be careful of what we do with them."

"I don't know...Sabine might be right," Hera spoke up, frowning about the situation.

"Eh, well, he's knocked out," Zeb scratched his arm uncomfortably. "What could he do?"

Sabine made a disgruntled noise, tense and angrily hitting Kallus' arm. "This man is dangerous and shouldn't even be on our ship!"

"Sabine!" Hera gasped out, and they looked to her before following her gaze and becoming surprised and worried themselves.

A bruise began to show up and darken on Ezra's arm.

"Ah, hey...isn't that the same arm that you hit Kallus?" Zeb put things together.

Kanan cursed. "I think...I think if one is hurt, so will the other. Somehow the bond they forged with each other makes it so that if one or the other is harmed, then the other will also."

"Which means if we want Ezra to stay alive and healthy, we have to make sure Kallus is too," Hera concluded solemnly.

Kanan gazed at the two bodies worriedly. He had no idea what was going on or what to do, and he was worried that if he didn't find out soon, things might become too complicated for them to be able to fix it or turn it back to the way it was.