An Over Due Farewell

Ezra looked up at Kanan, blue eyes frighteningly wide and vulnerable.

"Look." Kanan gently turned the boy's head in the direction of the figure.

Zeb glanced in the direction and his inhaled sharply.

"What's wrong?" Sabine, who was standing in front of them and had her back facing the rock spire and the newest arrival, frowned. "You have a problem with my work?"

She glanced behind her and stumbled back with a yelp. "What the–!"

Hera opened her eyes to see what the commotion was about and gasped.

The ghostly, blue-tinted figure glanced at them. Eyes the same color as Ezra's inspected them one by one. First Hera, then Sabine, followed by Kanan, and finally coming to a stop at Zeb and Ezra.

She took a step toward them and Zeb instinctively jerking back, dragging Ezra with him and knocking Kanan over. She paused, a flash of surprise crossing her face, then smiled gently, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

"Zeb," Kanan said softly, placing a reassuring hand on Zeb's shoulder. "It's ok. She's not going to hurt us."

The girl stepped forward again coming to a stop a few feet in front of them.

Ezra struggled to stand up, but Zeb wasn't about to let him go. He was a little freaked out, forgivable since the dead were not supposed to come back. Especially not as semi-translucent, blue edged, ghost. . . things. Even with Kanan's mumbled assurance that it was alright, he was still reluctant to let Ezra get closer to the. . . ghost – spirit – thing.

The girl's eyes flicked from Ezra to him and the corner of her mouth twitched upward as if she knew what he was thinking and found it amusing. Blue eyes, the exact same shade and shape as Ezra's, stared at him, widening slightly in a pleading way.

Despite everything that he'd learned and the emotional wreck the day had become, the look made Zeb want to groan. It was the same one Ezra would use when he really, really wanted something, and Zeb, though he would rather kiss Kallus than admit it, was a sucker for that look.

Exhaling slowly, Zeb released his hold on the boy and Ezra scrambled forward. He had to kneel to be at eye level with the girl but neither seemed to mind.

"I–," his voice faltered. What was there left to say? He'd said everything he'd ever wanted or needed to at the temple. Saying it again or adding to it, felt. . . wrong.

She smiled at him, in that slightly amused and exasperated way of hers.

"It's time to let go and go home, Ezra." The words were felt more than heard. "You don't need me anymore."

"But I still want you," Ezra whispered. "I still want you to stay."

She smiled, her whole face lighting up with joy.

"You were the only one that ever did." She hugged him, the action like her words was felt more internally than externally. "Don't worry. I'll be right here."

She placed a hand over his heart and the ache in his chest eased. It felt like she'd given him back the part that had been ripped from him all those years ago.

"Besides, don't you remember what I told you? You can find me in the Force." She winked at him and tilted her head in Kanan's direction. "Ponytail will help."

Ezra gave a choked laugh and looked at Kanan, eyes pleading. It wasn't necessary, Kanan had already agreed before she'd even suggested it, but the man nodded anyway and placed a comforting hand on Ezra's shoulder. When Ezra looked back she was gone, but her voice lingered.

"Good bye, Mi Cielo."

Zeb ended up piggy backing Ezra back to the Ghost, and for once nobody made any sort of comment. Zeb paused at the top of the hill, giving Ezra a chance to have one last look back at the grave.

"Good bye," he whispered.

As Zeb started forward again Ezra's eyes drifted shut.

A vision, he recognized that much, but it was what he was getting a vision of that confused him.

In front of him was, him. A much younger him, but still him.

"Mi Cielo, my world."

Oh, so she was sending him a memory through her eyes.

"When you hope, I believe. When you love, I feel it. When you fly, I soar. Fly high, Little Angel, so my world can live on." She looked down at the boy lying next to her.

He was asleep, which was the only reason she was being so open about her feelings. She was too afraid to admit them, to even think them, when someone else might hear. Her life had made sure she never could, but in the silence and safety of the night, for just this once, she would say what she was too afraid to.

She picked up his hand and pressed her lips to his palm, a gesture she only remembered getting once, but meant the world to her. His fingers curled instinctively and she placed his hand by his heart.

"Until forever ends, I love you."