Hello again rebels! I've started yet another long OneShot, and tho I haven't finished it yet, I wanted to post what I had. This will probably have about three parts, so buckle up, grab your space bud, and read on!

"No, no, Ezra, you need to hold your lightsaber like this, not like that. Perfecting your angle is key to every battle." Kanan, seeing through the force, walks the few feet distance over to Ezra, and he slightly turns the saber in the teens hands. Ezra huffs, frustrated that his blind master was still somehow better at deflecting blaster shots than he was.

Kanan felt his padawns dissension but said nothing about it. Now was not the time. He would wait until later, and see if he could get an honest answer. Kanan had learned over the years that Ezra had a way of avoiding answering questions until he was fully ready to answer them. And if the answer was what Kanan thought it would be...now was definitely not the time.

Zeb, Sabine and Chopper stood a good distance away, blasters pointed at Ezra, waiting for Kanan for step back and give the signal. A slight breeze was in the air, blowing the dusty Lothal earth in artistic little swirls. Not too far away sat a Loth cat, sunning itself with the last hour of the suns rays, unafraid of the humans nearby.

Kanan stepped back and lit his saber, the signal the others were waiting for. Immediately the sound of blasters firing filled the air, bolts set to stun racing toward the two Jedi. Both begin deflecting them as best they could towards the two cups roughly 30' away. Ezra aimed for the blue one, Kanan the green.

60 seconds of shooting later, Kanan whistles, and the shooting ceases. Sabine spins her blasters and slips them into their holsters, while Zeb proudly leans his gun on his shoulder, smirking.

"Kid, weren't you supposed to Hit the cup? Looks like you didn't get the memo, bahaha!!" Ezra saw with rising resentment that the Lasat wasn't wrong. The blue cup had only one or two scratches, whereas the green cup was now black and smoking. Ezra turns and looks at his master with jealous admiration.

"Kanan you must've hit at least two out of every three shots! How do you do it?" He asked, his question coming out more hopeless than he wanted. Kanan hooks his lightsaber on his belt as the two walk towards the cup.

He picks up his cup and it disintegrates in his hand as he speaks. "Practice. I practice, every day Ezra. And do you know what else I do? I focus. I focus on the force, on my blade, and on the blaster bolts. That's it. If you would do the same, you might someday succeed."

Ezra furrowed his brow. "Practice? Focus? Kanan, I do both of those, all the time! And I've been doing them, for a long time. How much more do I need?" Folding his arms defensively, he expected Kanan to just sigh and walk away.

Instead, Kanan stiffens his shoulders and turns to face him fully. "No, you have not been practicing, and you are certainly not focused." Ezra tried to butt in. "But-" "No. Don't 'but' me, Ezra. We both know that by 'practicing,' you mean you might ignite your saber and swing it around when you're cleaning it, and by 'focused,' you mean you're focused, not on being here, but on disappearing into the rocks when you're done washing the Phantom, or shopping at the market, or pranking a bucket head." Kanan pokes Ezras chest at each accusation. He then puts his hand on the boys shoulder.

"You need to be with us, Ezra. Practicing. Focusing." Kanan looks ready to say more, but he stops abruptly and pulls his hand back. Turning around, he walks away, disappearing into the Ghost. Zeb looks from Ezra to Kanan, then follows the Jedi Knight. Chopper goes beeping after him.

Only Sabine is left, standing in between Ezra and the Ghost. She turns towards the Ghost and hesitates, then looks back at Ezra. His face was an open book of raw emotion, and she knew she saw much more than he wished to reveal. Against her own will, her feet start walking towards him.

Ezra concealed his emotions behind a bland mask as Sabine approaches. He turned slightly so that he didn't have to face her fully in the face. He put his defenses up again, for no other reason than the fact that he knew Kanan was right. And it bothered him.

"Look, if you're just gonna yell at me-" Sabine stopped him by touching his shoulder. She sighed when he tensed up, and she let go. The two of them turned to face the setting sun. Sabine knew this was the month of Empire Day, and that was probably the reason Ezra was distancing himself. But with her own memories in mind, she had to say what was on her chest.

"Ezra, I'm sorry you have to go through all this. I know it's hard sometimes. But at least now you have a new family, one that loves you and is willing to give it all for you." She hesitated, knowing what she had to say was harsh, but that it needed to be said. She continued looking into the sun as she spoke softy.

"Please, don't throw all that away over petty things."

Sabine could've been on the Ghost and she still would've felt how tight Ezra got. He clenched his fist and his eyes blazed with fire.

"'Petty things'? 'Petty things?' He jerked around and looked her in the eye. "Sabine, I lost both of my parents to the Empire. They were probably brutally tortured, before being executed when they attempted to escape. Now, I have a 'new family,' as you so wonderfully put it. And now, more than ever, the Empire has their beady black eyes on us, wishing us all the same or worse fate." He sighed deeply, dragging his hand through his short hair. "I don't," he pausing, huffing, stamping his foot on the ground. He looked down, then out over the plains. His breathed out ragged breaths as he confessed his feelings.

"I don't want that to happen to you guys."

The sun made one final attempt at staying above the horizon, before it accepted its fate, and brought its last rays down into its slumber. Ezra wrapped his arms around his midsection, ashamed of how he felt, but stuck in it nonetheless. He turned to go back to the Ghost when Sabine's voice stopped him.

"So that's it. You've withdrawn yourself because you're afraid." She took two steps and turned Ezra around. Her fierce looking face surprised him. He rolled his eyes.

He replied in a high, nonchalant tone. "No, that's not what I'm doing," Sabine silenced him with the daggers in her eyes. "Yes, that is what you're doing. You think that by running, by shirking your duties and pretending things aren't what they are, you can save us, and everything will be fine. Well guess what Ezra, that's not how life works. If you love someone, you don't play around, and you don't goof off. You take every waking moment to Practice, and Focus," she overly stressed these words, hoping they would get though his thick skull. "You Focus, on making sure that when the Empire does find them, you're ready, and you can help them." She withdrew a step, emotion clogging her throat.

"Or else you will be forced to stand by, and watch, and re-live every moment you wasted that could've been a moment you spent getting ready to help defend a life."

Ezra stood there, unable to respond. He felt that what she said meant a lot to her, but in this moment he realized he had no idea why. And he suddenly felt the need to know. He opened his mouth to ask her a question, when Zeb's voice breaks the tension.

"Ezra, Sabine! Hera's called you. We've got a mission!"

Ezra snapped his mouth shut. Both he and Sabine looked at each other, then ran across the plain to the Ghost.

They clattered aboard and entered the common room as Chopper transmits an image of a man. Hera shushes Zebs usually grumbling as the man begins to speak. Kanan stood tall nearby, listening, while Hera, Ezra and Sabine take a seat on the couch. Zeb frowns and stands by the door.

"Thank you for answering my transmission, Captain Syndulla. We have received intel that the Empire has acquired a new weapon." The man glances at Sabine. "They are to be given to a group on Mandalorians loyal to the Empire."

Sabine leans forward and rests her face on her clenched hands. "Traitors," she mutters angrily.

The man continues. "Unfortunately, we don't know much about this weapon. All we know is that it is a weapon worn on the wrist." Kanan glances in Sabine's direction. Her face is set in a frown.

"Sabine, any thoughts?" She sighs. "Unfortunately Kanan, Mandalorians have worn, and still do wear a wide array of different weapons on their wrists. And, with the Empire involved, it could be anything." Kanan nods his agreement. But Ezra furrows his brow. Something about Sabine's tone seemed off. He watched her closely and had a feeling she knew more than she was letting on. But just then their informant continued talking.

"She is right. But what we do know is enough. Whatever the Empire has made, we need to destroy. We cannot let these Mandalorians get their hands on it." Hera stood.

"We agree, Hastuz. Thank you for your intel." The man nods, then types something on an off-screen computer. "Sending coordinates now," he says. Hera holds her hand out in thanks, and Chopper ends the transmission. Hera turns and looks at each member of her family.

"Ok everyone, gear up and get ready. We're taking off in 10." The crew nods and everyone walks off to separate places to prepare for the task ahead. As they are moving about, Ezra bumps into Sabine as he is looking for his bag. One look at her face and he immediately grabs her shoulders and pulls her into her room, door swishing shut behind them. Sabine tensely sits on her bed as Ezra kneels to remove a pebble in his boot. As he's fishing around he asks a question.

"Ok, out with it, Sabine. You can't hide it from me. What's going on?" She sighs and rubs her arms, looking down and to her left. His concern grew as Ezra realized she looked afraid. But why?

Sabine took a deep breath and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Without meeting Ezra's gaze, she replied.

"Back when I was, working for the Empire; there were rumors." She tried to make him see. "You have to understand Ezra, the Empire invents new weapons all the time. It's the fine tuning and mass-production that takes a while. And anything that the Empire takes a while to do, eventually leaks out, which is how we usually find out." She sighed again and looked troubled.

Ezra stood and went to her, sitting on the edge of her bed. He gently touched her knee.

"You mentioned a rumor, Sabine. What do you think it is?" She bit her lip and again looked away while she spoke. "Right before I left the Empire, they made me help them test one more weapon." Then, she tersely turned and finally looked at him.

"It was a weapon worn on the wrist."

Bam! Stopping there at ~2000 words 🤪 I'll try to post the next part within a week! (Update: yup that didn't happen, sorry! Still working on it!)

Did you like it so far? Let me know how you feel in the comments! 💕

Ttyl rebels! 💪

~Me