AN: Again, I'm really sorry I haven't been consistently updating. I've been really busy with school, but I've still passed up on plenty of opportunities to write. So, I'm sorry. These past chapters have been laying the groundwork for the story I've had in mind for ages, about Sabine searching for Ezra five years after the events of Rebels, and I actually do have a plan for that (there's foreshadowing in this chapter), but these past chapters have also dragged out a little, and I don't want to bore you all. So there's going to be one more chapter of this foundational stuff, and then I'll start telling the story I've been planning. Thank you all for reading this, it means the world to me, and here's Chapter 6.

Ezra desperately wanted the Emperor to be lying; that would make it so much easier to resist the temptation that coaxed him deeper into the hall and quieted his fears and suspicions. The Emperor needed him alive for something, and he had a hunch he knew what it was, but he didn't have much choice other than to cooperate for now. Sabine, Zeb, and the others were at Thrawn's mercy and needed time, and 'heroics' on his part would only get them killed. For now, he could only be patient and do as the Emperor asked, and hope that Sabine and the others had retaken the shield generator.

"Ezra, I made your favorite!" Mira called.

"The gateway will not be open forever. Go now, before it's too late," the Emperor spoke soothingly.

His heart tightened at the sound of his mother's voice, and it took far too much of Ezra's willpower to stop walking. It would be so easy to just go and join them... he'd missed them so much, for so long.

No! Don't believe any of it, it's another trick! Just like Malachor, just like Dathomir, just like Tatooine! You've been fooled before, and someone else paid the price every time!

But not this time. Not again.

"No," Ezra bit back, infusing all the anger he could into the glare he sent the old man. "This is a lie! They died, I felt it!"

"Ezra!" Ephraim Bridger, his father, called, emerging from somewhere beyond the door's threshold to stand beside Mira. "Where is that boy?"

"You know it is possible to change fate. There are infinite paths and infinite possibilities," the Emperor continued, "but you must open the door."

"Son? Are you coming?"

Memories from a past life rushed from oblivion, as Ezra stared at the life he once had. He remembered simply eating meals at the table, looking at the stars with his mother, playing with loth-cats with his father. But the memories were also faded; dulled to random images and the ghosts of emotions, and it was his fault. Nostalgia would've gotten him killed on the streets; in fact it almost had. It'd taken a long time for seven-year old Ezra Bridger to push down that foolish hope; the impulse to sit by his boarded-up house and wait for his parents to scoop him up and save him. But he'd forced himself to forget for so long that he didn't remember things like what his favorite food had once been. It hurt to remember just as much as it hurt to have forgotten.

"So few have a choice to live the life they want. Why deny yourself?" The Emperor said.

"Mom, Dad?" Ezra said tentatively, as if speaking too loudly would make them disappear.

Mira set down the plate she held. "Ezra?"

They are real.

The binders around Ezra's wrists suddenly released, falling quietly to the ground. He looked to the Emperor in surprise, following his outstretched hand to a small, rectangular indent set in the wall.

"There; the control for the gateway. Activate it, and you can be with your family again." The Emperor explained.

Ezra's gaze returned to the golden threshold leading to his childhood home. Mira and Ephraim had also turned their attention to the doorway, and looked to each other in confusion.

"What about my friends?" he asked.

"If you open the gateway, you will save your parents. They shall live."

But my friends? What will happen to them? If I change the past... I'll never meet the Ghost crew, or join the rebellion, or learn to be a Jedi. I'll never meet Kanan, or Sabine...

But they shall live...

His mother and father looked back at the door, and Ezra met their gaze. They both looked so longing- no. Not exactly longing, more sad. Pleading. Approaching the door, Mira put a hand on Ephraim's shoulder. They were right there; all he had to do was open the door. Kanan wouldn't be blinded, Ahsoka wouldn't have to go to Malachor, Master Kenobi would live in peace on Tatooine.

"Let go of everything you fear to lose." Yoda. Ezra could hear his voice, remembering his words at the Jedi Temple.

The control glowed a dull gold as Ezra's hand drew closer. He could feel its connection to the Force, the knowledge of power and the power of knowledge. Indeed, it was the World Between Worlds.

"I'm asking you to let go." Ahsoka.

"Go on," the Emperor said. "You deserve this."

"Let Go." Kanan.

Time seemed to stop, locking Ezra in place with his parents before him and fate in his hands. As the lesson said, he had to let go. Kanan had taught him that since the beginning; to forgive Tseebo, to reject the power and temptations of the dark side, to release his guilt from Malachor. To be willing to let go of the power, his attachments, and his very being. It was painful, especially with the two people he'd longed for all his life standing a few steps away, but part of him knew he would never truly lose them as long as he was Ezra Bridger. He had their legacy and their love, and his new family. He knew who he was, and nothing could change that.

"Mom? Dad?" Ezra called. Across time and space, his parents looked back with sadness in their eyes. "You'll always be a part of me..."

They smiled.

"But I have to let you go." A tear slid down Ezra's cheek as he closed his eyes...

"No!" cried the Emperor.

...and thrust his arms outwards, unleashing all of his might through the Force into the walls. Cracks spread along the walls, bleeding golden light. The deep rumbling of falling stone roared all around the Jedi as the doorway began to collapse. Mira and Ephraim faded away as the door closed, but their final words could still be heard over the thunderous cracking of stone.

"We love you Ezra."

Frantically, Ezra turned and ran down the hall. Bits of stone fell all around him, glancing off his jacket and somehow not tripping him. A mix of mortal terror, determination, and sheer freedom pushed him to run faster than he ever had in his life. Seeing his parents smile and hearing them say those four words had rekindled his dwindling spark of hope and chased away the doubts and whispers that had been plaguing him, and all that remained was the Force. Invigorated, Ezra only pushed himself to go faster.

The Emperor's hologram stood in his way, it's translucent blue face twisting from an expression of surprise to one of pure hatred. The cold feeling Ezra had felt grew a thousandfold, as the projection began to flicker between the 'Emperor' and the Emperor. The hunched, growling creature from the World Between Worlds. And honestly, Ezra wasn't even surprised.

Cracks broke through the walls of the entrance, as the Jedi ran right through the hologram. Just as the doorway collapsed in on itself, he leapt clear of the crumbling stone. The soil of the earthen mound dampened his fall (or rather, his headlong collision), overwhelming him with the smell of Lothal. But now wasn't the time to be distracted, there was still a planet to save. Tiredly, Ezra got up to a crouch and looked back at the doorway in search of any signs of activity. The doorway had been reduced to a massive pile of rubble in the middle of the room; there was no trace of the Emperor.

He's gotta be furious that I destroyed the door; he'll be back, Ezra thought. If there's one thing I know about the Sith, it's that they're stubbornly persistent.

Not a moment later, the Emperor's hologram emerged from the debris as it flickered between the two images, before settling on the true form; the Sith. Ezra could feel the anger radiating off him like a sandstorm, even through the projection. His body straining with fatigue, he got to his feet and glared back at the hooded Sith.

"You're wrong; I have a family. I don't need anything from you," he declared.

The Emperor regarded him with thinly veiled disdain from beneath his cowl, before replying, "Unfortunate."

The door sliding open behind Ezra almost gave him a heart attack. Three strange figures emerged from the door, with a squadron of Death troopers close behind. The three wore red armor over their whole bodies, and wielded metal staffs.

"Destroy him!" the Emperor ordered.

Quickly, Ezra ran at the troopers, dodging blaster bolts as the Force warned him. The Death troopers started to fan out, hoping to surround him, while the Red Guards twirled their staffs... for some reason. Ezra thrust his hands out, knocking all but one of the three Red Guards off their feet. They raised their staff at him, and suddenly Ezra was suspended eight feet off the ground. Burning tendrils of yellow energy expanded from the tip of the Red Guard's staff and enwreathed him in energy. The tendrils sent prickles of numb pain through his body; like frostbite, except also like burning alive. The two other guards got to their feet and turned their staffs upon him, while the Death troopers encircled him. His entire body felt numb; he tried to resist, but it felt as though he were fighting a mountain pressing against him on all sides.

The upside-down remains of the doorway came into view, giving the Jedi an idea. With all his strength, he reached his hand towards the broken heap of stones. The Red Guards must have noticed, as pain flared throughout his body. Desperately, he channeled the Force into the stones and pulled them towards him and the Imperials. The pain became excruciating, and suddenly Ezra was falling, and the last thing he saw before blacking out was a sea of tumbling stones.

Sabine knew what the creature was going to do before it happened. Ezra's lightsaber was already blocking low to intercept it's electrostaff as it swung at her legs. With a spin, the creature struck towards her temple, and she blocked that too. Growling in frustration, the creature threw a volley of quick strikes, but each was deflected. Swiftly, Sabine counterattacked with a series of slashes, driving the creature back. Across the gap, the rebels had finally managed to take one of the terminals, but both they and the Imperials were taking losses. They were running out of time too; frankly, Sabine was impressed that Ezra had managed to keep Thrawn occupied for so long.

The creature attacked, going for her head, then her hands, then her head again. Deftly, Sabine countered and parried with Ezra's lightsaber, sporadically throwing in a quick jab or side kick. But with every attack and counterattack, the more her muscles felt like they were liquefying, and the clearer it became that the creature had no plans of going down without a fight, and she didn't have enough time nor energy for that. Deactivating Ezra's lightsaber, she put more effort into avoidance and less into attacking, as if she were tiring. Which wasn't entirely false; every cell in her body felt fatigued from all the fighting and getting electrocuted, but she wasn't nearly beaten yet. The creature seemed to take the bait, and pressed its attack with ferocity. But when another strike feinted at her legs arced towards her ribs, she was ready. With one hand she grabbed the electrostaff just past where the shaft met the electrified tip, while she used the other to punch the creature squarely in it's jaw; stunning it long enough for her to wrench the staff from it's grasp.

Casting the electrostaff off the walkway, Sabine reactivated the lightsaber and leveled it's blade at the creature. Anger shone in the reflection of it's glassy white eyes.

"Are you going to kill me?" The creature asked in its deep, rumbling voice.

Her immediate thought was yes. While she hadn't killed Gar Saxon in their duel on Krownest, this was different. The creature was unarmed, defeated, and running out of allies; but if she let it live, it'd more than likely try to kill them. And also, the memory of it repeatedly electrocuting her was very fresh.

"Can't exactly let you live, can I?" Sabine replied impassively.

"The Grand Admiral was right."

"And how so?"

"Your sense of honor and morality override strategically sound reasoning. You're incapable of doing what has to be done."

With sudden speed, the creature lunged low, batting away the hand that held Ezra's lightsaber. Panic caused Sabine to stumble back, but instinct made her brace herself in a strong stance and raise the opposite arm at the creature. The concussive blast shook her whole upper body, but sent the creature careening off the edge of the walkway. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Mandalorian lowered her arm and returned Ezra's lightsaber to her belt.

"Ketsu, Rex," she spoke into her helmet comm, "what's your status?"

"The generators are coming online now," Rex responded.

Beneath the walkways, arcs of red energy zigzagged through the ring of energy pylons. The low hum of electronics crescendoed, as the shield generator came to life.

"The shield is holding, but you all cut it awfully close down there," Ryder chimed in.

"Is the city safe?" Sabine asked.

"About as safe as a suborbital bombardment target can get, yeah."

We did it.

The Mandalorian took a moment to catch her breath, allowing herself a moment of rest knowing that Lothal was safe for the time being. She'd been putting off her emotions for the sake of focusing on the mission, and they still weren't done yet, but right then Sabine just let herself think as she followed the walkway to join the others. Firstly, she was exhausted; so exhausted. It felt as if inertia alone was keeping her on her feet. In wake of the creatures little death device, her whole body still felt both overstimulated and absolutely drained. And despite her warrior heritage and exceptional combat training, the fighting she'd done throughout the day had certainly taken its toll. Was she beaten? Hell no. But she was tired, and she already missed her blaster pistols.

She was also hopeful. They'd made the impossible possible, as always, and Lothal was safe for now. Once Thrawn was out of the way, Hera would pick them up in the Ghost, and then Sabine would get to do what she enjoyed most: blow things up. There was still fighting to do, but despite her fatigue, she felt ready for it.

It was a challenge to maintain that hope as she approached the rebels.

Melch and Hondo's bodies still lay on the bridge as Sabine walked by. Even though she'd been... less than acquaintances with the two, it was saddening to lose them. Rex knelt over the body of Gregor, his expression hidden from view. Every glance, every broken expression worn by her comrades, seemed to add another block of duracrete to Sabine's boots, until she finally stumbled to a stop upon seeing Ketsu's limp form propped against a console.

Not Ketsu too...

"She's alive," Wolffe said quietly, "just wounded." Unlike Rex, his grief and pain was very, very clearly displayed on his face.

"O-oh, good," Sabine stuttered. Her falling out with Ketsu was one of several regrets the Mandalorian had, and it was something they'd both done their best to repair since reuniting on Garel. Though she'd acted as cool as always, she'd been overjoyed when her old friend had left Black Sun to join (or unofficially affiliate with) the Rebellion. Losing her would've been... well, Sabine already knew how it would have been because, in the split second before Wolffe had spoke, she'd felt heartbroken.

Once more, she wondered how Ezra was doing. He probably hadn't died yet, or else Thrawn would've bombarded the city long ago, but alive rarely meant unharmed when it came to the Empire. And if casualty rates down here, along with past encounters with the Grand Admiral were any indication of Thrawn's ruthlessness...

Ezra will be okay. And if he needs help, we'll rescue him.

"Okay, you all need to come back to the Command Center right now!" Ryder said urgently. Chopper could be heard panicking n the background.

"What's going on up there!?" Sabine asked.

"I... don't know. The Imperial's have stopped their bombardment, but we're picking up distress signals from the blockade. Just get up here ASAP!" Ryder replied.

Distress signals?

"Got it. Let's move out," Wolffe replied, taking Ketsu gently in his arms. Rex got up and started down the walkway towards the exit.

Glancing between him and Gregor's body, Sabine started, "Should we take Gr-"

"There's no time. The dro- the Imperials are headed our way; we'll only be slowed down." Rex's voice was tactical and cold, devoid of infliction or emotion.

Sabine grimaced. The clone wasn't wrong, but that didn't make it much easier to accept that they were leaving the others behind. Traditionally, Mandalorians honored those who had fallen in battle with a burial at the absolute least; but then again, the Empire did not share Mandalore's concepts of honor. With Ezra's lightsaber held at the ready, she followed the two clones back to the Command Center.