128Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars: Rebels. Obviously.
Story: The beginning, the becoming, and the present of Agent Kallus; the child, the street rat, and the girl that is Ezra Bridger. When Ezra accidentally forms a Force bond with the agent, their lives are suddenly dependent on each other, but as they view each other's memories, it's not that hard to become attached. Bastila Shan and Darth Revan's accident is recreated, and the crew have no choice but to bring along Kallus until they find a fix.
Set after "Shroud of Darkness" (2.16).
Spoilers: Yes.
Warnings: Violence, language, sexual situations, etc.
Pairings: Agent Kallus/fem!Ezra, Wrenga Jixton/fem!Luke
Killing Strangers (Leave Me Alone)
Chapter Sixteen: Blood and Thunder
Ezra stared at the metal ring around her finger, trying to resist taking it off or playing with it. It was plain and simple, but it felt heavy with the weight of its significance.
Even if it was for convenience and not real, she was married to Kallus.
A hand covered hers, a thumb brushing across the metal ring on her finger. He squeezed her hand.
"I'm sorry it's just a metal band," Kallus murmured.
She shook her head lightly. "It's fine. I appreciate the sentiment and the effort. You didn't have to —no one in these parts really look at hands or care about that kind of thing."
"I do," Kallus admitted. "And I thought you'd like something to signify our 'marriage.'"
"We're not even really married, Cor," she said dryly but fondly.
"My mother never received a ring from my father," Kallus suddenly confessed and she stilled, turning to face him. She hadn't expected him to talk about his past, nor to admit something like that to her. "In Coruscant, it is a big thing for married couples to have a matching set of rings. My father thought it was supercilious and never looked for rings, much less bought a set."
'He didn't care. I do.'
She heard what he wanted to say without openly saying it.
"You're not him," she murmured and realized he still held her hand. She didn't move it away.
"I would hope not," he muttered. "He drove her away. My mother —in the end, being married and living with him was too much and she vanished from our lives a few days after I was born. I never knew her."
Ezra had never known what had happened to Kallus' mother. His memories had never revealed anything; his father always went into a rage at a mere mention of her and she was barely mentioned and hadn't been seen in Kallus' past. This was the first she'd heard anything about her.
"Alara Kallus had nothing to do with me except for two things," Kallus' voice directed her to present him. His eyes looked distant as he stared off. "She gave me my name and I apparently inherited her eyes."
She glanced at his bronze irises at that, remembering how she'd always —even when he was an Imperial elitist chasing after her and her family —admired them and thought how beautiful they were…
"She named you Coriolan?" she asked quietly.
To her surprise, he shook his head. "My full name is Alexsandr Coriolan Kallus. I can't get rid of the name my father bestowed me with, but I refused her name when I accepted she abandoned me."
She frowned, though she looked at him in heartbreak. She didn't know what to say, so she just flipped her hand over and held onto his properly. He gave her a slight smile.
"I had no middle name. I was born and lived without one for a few years. I was learning history when I came upon the name Coriolanus. He was who I wanted to be, who I dreamed I'd become. So I took on his name, asked my father if I could make it official the same day, and I was surprised he allowed it. It was what I went by up until I lost myself to my father's name."
"It's not your father's name," she said firmly. "It's yours. Your father inhabited it in his time, and now it's yours to wield."
He looked surprised, but she meant it. She had never known anyone else by it until she'd seen his memories and 'met' his father. And still, the only Kallus she would acknowledge anyway, would still be just him.
"My parents didn't have rings either," Ezra found herself telling him. He looked at her curiously, but waited patiently for her to continue. "But it's only because in Lothal, we have a different custom. Instead of rings, couples design matching tattoos. After the wedding ceremony, they have a private ritual with the ritual artist and have their tattoos drawn on their arms."
She held up their connected arms and traced both of their touching ring fingers. "While usually the tattoos are unique and custom designed by each couple, they usually start with a line starting in the middle of the left finger and run down to the base of the finger, where it's drawn around it, like a ring. After that though, it's up to the couple and traditionally made to connect lines of one partner's arm to the other partner's lines."
Kallus looked intrigued. "That sounds very involved. Sounds fitting for a union."
He stared deep into her eyes and she barely refrained from biting down on her lip.
Their Force bond hummed pleasantly and it made Ezra shiver.
His lips twitched in amusement then. "I'm still confused how we got into this situation, having to pretend we're married. And I still don't understand why Jabba the Hutt would give two druks about not enslaving married couples or those with family?"
"I asked Luke about it," Ezra was hesitant. Part of her thought it was amusing in relation to Jabba the Hutt and the reasoning for this avoidance in enslaving certain people, but hearing the story too…"Apparently someone who'd left Tattooine came back looking for his mother…Found out she'd been taken and enslaved by Tusken Raiders and found her just as she was dying. He…he ended up slaughtering the entire camp in revenge," she faltered. "Story gets mixed up whether she's his mother or his wife, but either way, these days the Tuskens are terrified of him still and think he's a vengeful desert demon, and perform ritual sacrifices to ward him off. Jabba doesn't want a similar occurrence, so he and his are cautious of taking just any person…"
Kallus' brows furrowed, looking thoughtful.
"What a sorrowfully nostalgic tale," Obi-Wan interrupted quietly, entering the living area. Luke and Jix came after him, sitting across from Ezra and Kallus.
"Sorry," Luke was bashful. "I didn't think telling about it would upset you," she said apologetically.
Ezra smiled at the other girl, shaking her head. "Nah, it's sad just as it is chilling. Hard to know how to feel about it because of his motives…it's hard not to sympathize and understand him, but then just slaughtering all those people…"
"Anakin always did have trouble keeping his emotions controlled. Seeing his mother in that camp and having her die in his arms…" Obi-Wan trailed off, lost in the past.
Ezra's eyes widened and she could feel Kallus freeze beside her.
"You mean Anakin —your old Padawan, t-the Hero With No Fear actually —that story is about him?" she asked in shock.
Obi-Wan slowly turned to her, giving her a grim look. "He was young and impulsive, and his mother had always been the love of his life up until he met Padmé. It is a very hard to understand or think about story, though as Jedi, we must always remember that all life must be preserved. I think you of all people could understand that point," he ended with a direct look at her and then between her and Kallus. Kallus looked confused and Ezra forgot that though he knew that she'd saved him, she hadn't exactly told him why.
She shifted towards him. "Um, remember when I saved you after that explosion? I was remembering that a Jedi was supposed to preserve all life, like Kanan told me. There was…a voice in my head before that…a female one telling me that 'all life was precious', and well, despite who you were, I kind of was fond of you too, you know," she teased weakly. "I never exactly wanted you dead. None of us did, not even Zeb."
"I'm glad and I thank you again," he said, looking thoughtful.
Luke blinked and raised her hand, as if she was in class. "Sorry! I'm a bit lost?"
Ezra turned red but was nervous. What exactly was she going to tell Luke?
"We were in a battle," Kallus said simply. "There was a huge explosion and I was dying. Ezra saved me." He didn't elaborate, so Ezra kept quiet too.
"Oh…okay," Luke was hesitant. "And who's Anakin and Padmé?"
Ezra was taken aback, but forgot that these days, the past was practically null and void. She'd only learned because of Kanan after all.
"I don't know about Padmé, but um, Anakin Skywalker was this huge war hero from the Clone Wars. He was a Jedi Knight who became known as the Hero With No Fear," Ezra said.
Kallus nodded. "He was a noted battlefield commander that earned that moniker, with the official rank of a General in the Grand Army of the Republic. Well, back when the Empire had been a republic. I believe 'Padmé' is referring to the late Senator Padmé Amidala, former Queen of Naboo. I had no idea they knew each other or were involved though."
"Did you say Skywalker?" Luke suddenly looked excited. "My name's Skywalker! It would be really cool if we were related…"
Obi-Wan looked uneasy and Ezra noticed, wondering if she should say something. But a small mental nudge to her side with the Force made her look at Kallus, who gave a small shake of his head and she kept her mouth shut. Still, she made a note to herself. Something seemed strange about all this.
"Anyway, before I forget, my uncle told me to go look for some droids to buy and I was wondering if you guys needed anything? Jix is coming with me to help, so we should be fine on our own. Unless you two wanted to come along?"
Ezra's lips quickly curved into a smirk and she looked at Jix slyly. "No, no. We're fine," her smirk turned into a huge Cheshire grin. "You two just enjoy yourselves. Take your time. I insist."
Jix gave her a flat look, while she looked like she was on the verge of maniacally cackling she was sure. Luke looked bemused.
"O…kay? Um, I guess I'll see you guys in a bit! Come on, Jix," Luke said, dragging the older man out cheerily.
Ezra finally let out the cackle she'd been holding in. Then she turned to look at the other two left behind and saw Obi-Wan giving her a strange look while Kallus looked weirded out.
"Oh, come on, you two!" Ezra rolled her eyes, sighing in exasperation. "Jix has this massive crush on her and they'll be alone for who knows how long! Let me have my kicks however I can, on this dust ball of a planet. And if that means playing matchmaker and teasing the frag out of those two, then let me happily indulge in my madness."
"I'm going to take a nap," Obi-Wan said. "I'm really too old for all this."
Ezra giggled while Kallus looked at her admonishingly.
Luke had lived on Tattoine all her life. Suffice to say…life on the planet was hot, full of too much sand, and boring. Nothing ever really happened and she'd been a simple farm girl living with her aunt and uncle.
And then Ezra and the two men with her came along, and Luke was finally getting to meet and say hi to the crazy old hermit she was always told to stay away from.
Life had quit being boring.
Ezra was so lively. She was really fun to hang around and Luke finally had a girlfriend to hang with —she'd never even had a friend before. But now there was Ezra and she was amazing, and the two of them usually had fun over mechanics or shopped around for parts or whatever (even if they usually never bought anything).
Stumbling on her and Coriolan had really been a lucky twist of fate for Luke, and she was happy it had happened and she'd met all these wonderful people. Jix especially —
She felt her cheeks warm up and she shyly glanced at the older man by her side, who looked thoroughly distracted.
Luke really liked him.
She'd never liked someone the way she did him, she was sure (even if she was young), and she was more than sure that she liked Jix the way Ezra liked Coriolan —even if the two were oddly oblivious about their feelings, despite how even more oddly on that since they were really close.
Although, the trio were an odd motley crew in the first place, so it was strange how those three knew each other at all, much less someone as young as Ezra being around the two and liking Coriolan in any case.
Luke hadn't exactly asked or delved too much into their pasts or their backgrounds, but she felt like it wasn't something she really needed to know until they told her. Maybe it was naive of her, but she really liked those three and found herself becoming really close to them in such a short amount of time. It was also like…something pulled her to them and reassured her of all three of them.
Was that weird? Probably.
"You look full of thoughts," she heard Jix say and she turned to see him grinning at her. He winked and she couldn't help her blush. "What're you thinking about?"
"You," she blurted out, making him stop in his tracks. She hurriedly continued. "And Ezra and Coriolan. Just thinking how much I like you three and how things aren't so boring. I mean, I even got to meet Old Ben! My aunt and uncle always said to leave him alone, but I've always been curious about him."
Jix ruffled her hair. "Good to know we strange folks are worth putting up with," he teased. "Say, that place looks like they're selling droids. Want to take a look?"
Luke looked to where he was pointing out and she made an agreeing noise, letting him lead the way. When they got closer, she immediately spotted two interesting droids. One was a rusty, golden humanoid one and the other next to it was a short, dulled white and blue one that looked like an astromech unit.
"Oh! They look interesting," Luke pointed them out. She was amused to see the obvious distaste on Jix's face when he saw what she was looking at.
"You sure about them?" he asked skeptically. "They look like a couple of rust buckets."
"I beg your pardon!" the golden droid exclaimed.
Luke watched as the droid began lecturing the bewildered Jix, giggling silently. What a weird droid.
She heard a series of beeps before a hard tap on her shin made her look down to see the astromech trying to communicate with her.
"Hey there," she smiled down at it. "You gonna argue your case on being the best droids?"
The astromech made a long series of loud beeps and Luke thought that it was definitely doing its best to assure her of that. Delighted and on board with these two, she nudged Jix.
"Oh yeah, I think they're fantastic. Let's buy them and bring 'em back with us!"
Jix groaned and gave another annoyed look towards the golden droid still going on. Personally, Luke thought it was brilliant that that droid was spectacularly able to go on like this and get under Jix's skin.
Plus, Jix was cute getting all riled up like this.
When Luke returned to them with the droids and Jix, Ezra and Kallus had been in the middle of meditation. Kallus was getting better at dealing with the Force, so she'd thought that maybe they could work on their Force bond and not only make it stronger and more 'solid', but also see how they can utilize it to their benefit.
So far, they were more than pleased that they could (beyond feeling each other's emotions, which they could do consistently now and not just randomly or when it was really strong and heightened) now sort of speak to each other through their Force bond. It took a lot of concentration and effort, so it wasn't exactly something they could do on the move or instantaneously.
But it could be done.
'I know those droids,' Ezra immediately thought in shock, but Kallus was able to hear her.
'You sure?'
'Definitely. I've met them before.'
"You bought them?" Ezra made sure, while Jix scowled at the droids. She wondered about that in amusement, but focused herself on the droids.
"Yeah, they were being sold with other droids at a stall at the edge of the market," Luke told her and Ezra frowned.
"Last I remember, they belonged to Senator Bail Organa," she informed them, remembering the man and remembering Princess Leia (who had informed her that Bail Organa was her father and Ezra had also learned at the same time that he'd been a senator). "I wonder what they're doing here of all places?"
Then the astromech she remembered as R2D2 wheeled quickly over to her and began to rapidly beep, and Ezra listened closely and straightened up after.
"R2 said that Princess Leia sent him and C3PO, but they'd been captured by Tuskens," she said worriedly, wondering what was going on. Kallus looked troubled.
"The Alderaanian Princess?" Kallus looked to Ezra, who nodded in confirmation.
"Oh! A princess," Luke's eyes lit up. "I wonder what she has to say. Do you know, R2?" she asked the droid.
R2 answered and all of them looked to Ezra again, waiting a translation.
"He said he has a message for a 'Ben Kenobi,'" Ezra said in shock.
"For Old Ben?" Luke asked, shocked as well.
"We should take the droids to Kenobi," Kallus said, narrowing his eyes at said droids.
"Yeah," Ezra agreed, feeling troubled herself now.
"Is there a problem?" Obi-Wan walked into the room, yawning slightly, though looking rested from his nap.
"We were just about to get you," Jix said. "These droids said they have a message for you."
R2 beeped at them rapidly before he showed a holographic image of the Princess, who looked distressed.
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
Kallus knew already by the look on Ezra's face, that she wasn't going to sit this out or not do anything. He didn't know how those two had met or how close they were, but he did know that Ezra wouldn't sit idly by while the Princess was seemingly in trouble.
"We'll keep the droids here in case we need anything further to ask them," Kallus took charge, inwardly sighing to himself. He looked to the blonde teenager, who looked disappointed. "Tell your uncle you bought the droids, but they turned out to be defective and that we'll be going with you later or tomorrow to get them either 'fixed' or exchanged. Jix, take Luke home safely."
Jix mock saluted him. "Aye, aye, Captain! Be back in a bit. Come on, Luke. Let's get you home."
After they'd left, he turned to Obi-Wan. "What're you going to do?"
"Go save Princess Leia of course," he replied calmly. "I certainly cannot leave her to whatever fate had befallen her."
"I'm coming with you," Ezra said determinedly.
Kallus let out an outward sigh. "I figured," he glanced at her. "I'm not letting you go by yourself, you know."
Ezra grinned widely. "I figured," she parroted him. "Plus, you're my Padawan. I'm still teaching you and you have to follow me around."
He mentally rolled his eyes, knowing she'd catch that reaction through their bond. "Of course, Master Ezra. We should pack and get ready to leave."
"Mmm, yeah," Ezra said, lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking about and almost asked her through their bond, when she glanced at him. "We should find different transport. The Phantom might be recognizable and it won't be enough to fit you, myself, Master Obi-Wan, and Jix, along with the droids."
"We can scout out transport options at the Cantina," Obi-Wan mused. "For now, let us pack up and get ready. As soon as Jix comes back, it might be best to set off quickly. I shall leave behind some money for Luke to buy another set of droids."
Kallus could feel Ezra's disappointment. She'd really bonded with the other girl and had become fast friends —close friends. The idea of leaving her behind and maybe never seeing her again, upset her greatly.
He looked at Obi-Wan, who nodded to him and left the two there before going to his room. Kallus laid a hand on Ezra's shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll see her again," he told her quietly and she gave him a small smile. It gave him flashbacks to her past, remembering all her lonely and miserable moments. He squeezed her shoulder. "You're not alone anymore."
She reached up and grabbed his hand, squeezing it thankfully. His eyes were drawn to the simple, metal band around her finger.
For better or worse, she was his wife, even if it wasn't the absolute truth.
With the vows he'd made to her in her memories and on waking up, it might as well be.
Luke didn't want to hurry. She was, in fact, content to just walk slowly with Jix to her home. Something felt very final about all of this and inwardly she worried that if she blinked…all of them would be gone before she could refocus her sight on them.
Her heart hurt at that because she felt like she'd gained a family she hadn't known she'd needed.
Don't get her wrong —she loved Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru…But there was always this sense of distance and they always seemed to be wary with her at times, especially as she grew up.
She loved them, but she always wondered if they loved her just as much.
She felt a nudge to her shoulder and turned her head to look at Jix. He gave her a curious but concerned look.
"You okay? You looked lost in thought about something serious."
"I guess I —" she cut herself off, seeing black smoke in the distance, in the direction of where her home was supposed to be.
Breath hitching, she started to run towards that direction, unmindful of anything else right then. Jix caught up to her easily, but she was glad that he didn't stop her.
Even when she saw her home and farm burnt to the ground, in ruins after what seemed like a result of an attack on the area. He still didn't stop her as she ran to the remains of her house and looked around, spotting the downed and blackened bodies of her aunt and uncle. She hoped that they didn't seem to have been in pain or had suffered any…
Biting back a sob, she sank to her knees and buried her face into her hands.
Maybe this was punishment and karma for her thoughts earlier.
She felt more than saw Jix sit next to her and pull her into his arms, too busy crying into her hands.
"Let's get back to the others and let them know what happened," Jix murmured.
She nodded while still crying, letting him pull her up and then start leading her back and away from the remains of her old life.
Started 3/26/19 — Completed 5/2/19
A/n: Yo? Long time no see, guys XD I don't know if anyone is still reading, but I doubt it...I don't know, hahaha! Still…if you are reading, I would appreciate a review :D
Quick Points:
1. Kallus' Name: So now that he has an official name, I have to go through my stories and change it (cries). So much extra work for me…At least here I was able to be lazy and come up with some sort of reason, lolololol...
