He waited until he was sure Zeb had left the room and wouldn't return for at least half a hour before he sat up in his bunk, quick fingers working on the panel he had loosened a month earlier when he was given his bunk in the cabin.

Inside it was a few dried pouches of food, some bandages, stimuli's and a few bacta patches which he had personally bought not wanting to steal from from the crew. The dried pouches didn't count, Hera had told him he could have some so he squirreled away a few. But last was the old toolkit he had hidden there.

Ezra carefully pulled out the box and settled it beside him before reaching down and rolling up his right pant leg, sighing deeply as he did. He was going to tell the crew, honestly, but at the moment he felt safer with his secrets then anything else and this secret...

Life on the street had taught him that this particular one was to be shielded and kept from view if he wanted to survive.

He reached for the synthflesh covering and pulled, exposing the circuits hiding underneath it and the durasteel that composed his leg. The actual leg was honestly rather durable but the inside circuits... not as much. Even some of the synthflesh had started to fade and Ezra had been forced to get a shin guard to protect his leg, making sure his circuits didn't get exposed and take more damage through the synthflesh covering.

He took a few deep breaths then started working on it with his tools. Carefully he started rooting around, used to maintaining it on his own. It had been expensive but when you lose a leg, you kind of need to go the extra mile. Lately though he had started feeling it lag in reaction, making him slow down and that was not ideal in any circumstance as Ezra quite liked surviving.

He gave the leg a glum glare.

When he had been four, he had stepped on a Imperial landmine, thinking back he wondered if that was why his parents had reacted as as they did, started their broadcasts. He stared at his cybernetic leg again then took a deep breath, focusing again.

No, he didn't need to think about that, not right now.

He needed to fix his leg, work the circuits and gears and make sure it was functioning to the best of its ability.

After all, the team needed him to be able to run and do his part of the work.

'Perhaps I'll tell them today...'

()()()()()

"So we're...rescuing this Jedi master then." He offered, not looking at the others while he made himself a shake full of proteins and vitamins to eat, feeling his energy lagging. It had been what felt like a long day, he was exhausted and sore and he knew it was his stupid stump doing it. He hadn't had time to get one of his stimuli's yet and would have to count on the shake.

"You could sound a bit happier you know, she'd be able to help us all." Sabine pointed out, frowning a bit at the younger teen.

Ezra almost squished the diced up fruit he had been about to add to the blender but gave a short nod before putting it in and turning it on. "Yeah, sooner we get her, the sooner you can all ditch me..." He muttered to himself, confidant the blender would cover his words as he wiped his hands on a napkin.

Large Lasat ears twitched however and he looked at Ezra's back, realizing what was going on in the teens head but not sure if he should speak up as Ezra finally turned of the blender and filled his glass with the usual mass of fruits, powder and vegetables he made when they had fresh supplies.

They didn't envy him it, it seemed to help Ezra gain a bit of weight in the last two months they'd picked him up honestly from the extremely scrawny kid they had pulled of the streets all those weeks ago.

Ezra moved to stand against a counter, drinking slowly, avoiding everyone's eyes as he slowly drank down, feeling some of his energy return with the food settling into him. He was to queasy to eat anything solid anyhow. He'd be leaving in a few days once they had Luminara and all he could feel was a microwave of resentment at the thought as he silently drank.

He didn't think rescuing her was a bad idea. He just hated the implication that once she was here, she'd take him on as a student. And the Ghost was already cramped, he didn't think she'd be staying there...and if he was her student, he'd have to go with her. Ezra inwardly sighed, if he had to go with her...

He wasn't sure if he wanted to stay then honestly.

But could he really return to the communication hub after this?

After seeing the galaxy and the stars. Until that day he ended up on the Ghost, he thought he was planetbound and now...

He clenched his jaw. He could figure out something perhaps, eventually. When push came to shove, he always managed to survive on his own. Perhaps manage to help a few people if he could now that he knew how.

He wrapped his arms loosely around himself as Kanan and Hera came in, starting to go through the plans with everyone. Ezra just quietly listened for the most part, his stomach squirming in discomfort the closer they got and the more the plan developed, if he had been listening to the Force, he would have known something felt wrong, just wrong, about the whole setup.

But he didn't listen.

And Kanan was to excited to rescue the Master Jedi.

To excited to be able to dump Ezra on someone else.

He gritted his teeth together, reminded himself that he could survive this, survive being abandoned again. 'Business as usual.' He stepped away and let his shoulders sink a bit, taking a sharper breath then he intended to before moving of to his bunk to get his slingshot and get some time alone. Perhaps give his leg a quick check to make sure it would function if they were honestly doing this.

"Kanan, you errg...might want to talk to him before we do this." Zeb offered quietly to the Jedi.

"Hmm? To Ezra? He seems okay, once he has a proper master who can teach him everything things will go swimmingly." Kanan waved it of as he examined the layout of the prison some more.

Zeb opened his mouth then shook his head, noting it was pretty clear that Kanan was not listening properly to him. 'That kid is gonna run away. He doesn't trust this woman.' He thought, shaking his head again before moving to sit in his chair and prepare for the mission.

()()()()()

'Focus on the mission Ezra. Focus, or we might get caught and end up here or worse if not.' Ezra kept telling himself, following the others closely like a shadow. But the further into the prison they went, the more things felt wrong.

He put it of on the idea of having to lose his new found friends once they meet up with this woman and saved her. This master Jedi. He couldn't quite hide a bitter grimace which made Sabine look at him before he moved after Kanan, paying attention to what the older man was doing and ignoring Sabine still looking at him.

They split up, Kanan luring the stormtroopers go another place to 'guard' the Jedi.

"Wow, can you teach me that?"

Master Luminara can teach you, better then I ever could." Kanan murmured, moving to the cell with Ezra following behind. He felt the resentment grow in his bones, trying to stagger it, to stop it, but boy was it hard and he felt it grow even more as he saw the woman sitting there in her orange prison sui-wait...

"Is that her?"

"Yes but something feels...wrong. Master Luminara?"

It came out then. Master Luminara was dead, long dead, her corpse mummified and the Inquisitor who had lured them there, using her bones to get the last o the Jedi's.

The Pau'an scared Ezra. He willingly admitted that as he tried to figure out what to do, putting Sabine's little miracle on the door while half listening to Kanan and the Inquisitor. Everything just felt like a blur, fighting, running, avoiding being caught and learning to trust more in the Force even with his fear running ramparts through his chest.

When he saw Hera and the creatures he felt his heart soar in relief, they were going to get away...he heard the hum of a lightsaber closing in quickly and gave a shocked cry as it sliced through his right leg, sending Ezra sprawling to the ground, sensing more then seeing the Pau'an come up behind him. Ezra put on a angry glare, he knew the other expected him to scream and perhaps roll in pain but with a prosthetic...

He grabbed his now useless foot and threw it with Force enhanced strength at the surprised looking Pau'an. "Oi sithspit! Have some head trauma won't you!" He snapped before jerking around and up on his remaining leg. He may not be able to run or walk but he could jump. He gave a desperate jump and grabbed onto the ramp of the Ghost, trying to pull himself up before Zeb was there and pulling him the rest of the way, panting heavily as he sat on the hanger bay floor, half of his prosthetic and shin guard missing as he just tried to get oxygen down into his lungs.

And then he yelped as Kanan grabbed him, kneeling down in front of him and reaching for his right leg, or what was left. "Easy!"

"Ezra we need t...to..." Kanan stared down at the limb he was now holding, a bandage in his free hand.

"...Its just circuits Kanan. Its not going to hurt or bleed." Ezra carefully pulled it away from the hand, ignoring the eyes burning in the back of his neck as he reached to pull the remains of his pant leg up and pull of the rest of the leg, no longer needing the now destroyed leg as there was no way he could repair it. Instead he was left with the pink stump that cut of just under the knee, the scars long since faded in the years since his injury.

He grimaced a bit then shifted and looked at Kanan, avoiding his eyes by looking at his nose. "Could you help me up? I don't...I haven't had crutches since I got my leg but...well its kind of hard to walk when I don't have either that or my leg." He muttered, tensing when Kanan placed both hands on his shoulders.

"Ezra, what, when...why didn't you tell us you..."

The teen felt a flash of anger and acted on it while jerking out of Kanan's grip. "When should I have? First few weeks I was here? Or when you saw the news about Master Luminara?" Ezra couldn't quite keep the bitter edge out of his voice. "Its not exactly something you volunteer on the streets so excuse me for playing this by the ear."

He shifted further away and looked towards Zeb instead. "Hey could you help me up Zeb? Kanan seems busy interrogating me but I'd like to get of the floor." But the Lasat was also staring at his stump, ears giving quick, jerky twitches.

"Oh come on its just a stump, you must have seen one before. Its just a stump."

"What? Stump?" Hera came from the front, staring down at where Ezra was sitting with Kanan in front of him, the lad missing a leg. "Ezra!" She hurried down the ladder and over, ending up staring at the cut of foot Ezra had removed and then at the stump.

"Look, its been like this for years. I just need to..." Ezra ran his hands through his hair in frustrations, grunting. "...I just need to get a new one...somehow." He frowned hard, shoulders slumping.

"Its alright Ezra. We'll figure this out." Hera soothed gently, reaching out and gently touching his shoulder, ignoring the way the teen tensed at the initial touch.

"...Why? Its not like I'm sticking around, you're just gonna dump me aren't you." He finally offered, arms going tight around himself.

"I...what makes you think that?" Hera hands tightened on him before reaching in and cupping Ezra's chin to make him look at her, her big green eyes staring at him in wide eyed confusion. "We're not going to dump you Ezra!"

"But Kanan was more then willing to dump me on another Jedi the moment he heard of her. She wouldn't have stayed on the Ghost, its already cramped." He shot back at them and vaguely heard Zeb facepalm behind him.

'I tried to tell him. I tried to tell Kanan.' The Lasat's ears twitched in annoyance.

"I...I wasn't going to dump you on her! She could have taught you a lot better then I ever could." Kanan defended himself. "I just wanted you to have the best teacher."

"And what if that's not what I wanted! I want you and I want this crew and this ship!" Ezra responded in kind before looking away, sighing. "I just..." His shoulders slumped. "...I want to go to my bunk but I can't because I don't have a leg to walk on and I'd rather not crawl and I'd just like to sleep some. Please?" He gritted out finally.

Zeb grunted and moved to Ezra's side. "Okay kid, lets get you to your bunk. I think you need your time out." He agreed, giving Kanan a quick look when the Jedi was about to interrupt, shaking his head quickly.

He could smell Ezra was on the verge of bolting, would have bolted if he had his leg. "Some time for yourself." He offered Ezra his arm and helped the padawan up carefully, helping the other hobble away from the rest.

"...Thanks Zeb..." He whispered. "I was starting to..."

"Feel stuck? Trapped? Yeah...I could tell." The older male offered. 'Like a caged animal, ready to gnaw his leg off and flee with what's left...'

"Yeah...that. I just..."

"Hey. I'm not going to pressure you." Zeb grumbled. "I know how its like to have things you don't want to talk about or share."

"...Thanks...again. Just...help me up into the bunk and I can get down on my own." Ezra sighed.

"Yeah, alright kid." Zeb rumbled and the two continued slowly to their cabin.

()()()()()()

"...He thought I was going to dump him." Kanan stared down into the caf Hera had made for him, his shoulders tense and his expression pinched. "That he wasn't going to be on the Ghost."

The Twi'lek sighed and held onto her own cup. "I know. But from his standing that's exactly what was going to happen. And he wasn't exactly wrong in his line of thought dear." She held up one hand when Kanan's head shot up to stare at her. "Hear me out. He's right, the ship is not that big and would feel cramped with another person on here. And she might not even have wanted to stay on the Ghost if she had been alive." She said gently.

"She might have left for another ship or for a planet to hide on, and if she took on Ezra as a student, she would have had to take him with her. Ezra is...only now starting to trust us recently. He still hides a lot of worry and fear. And secrets." She gestured to the ruined lump of a leg that Ezra had abandoned.

"Technically speaking, he didn't tell us, it just...came out." Kanan sighed but nodded. "Alright, I see your point. But I didn't mean to dump him on anyone, I just..."

"Wanted him to have the best education. I know. I understand but you also have to understand where Ezra comes from, his point of view. His life, you might understand it better then I do." She implored. "The only difference is that Ezra was younger then you and he never had a chance until now to try and become a Jedi. Thanks to you."

Kanan set his cup down then buried his face in his hands, rubbing his face slowly. "I...need to talk this over with him, don't I?" He sighed.

"Oh, big time. And we need to scrounge up the funds for Ezra to get a leg. And we need to get him a pair of crutches until we can get him a leg." Hera rubbed her neck as her lekkus twitched in thought. She was already thinking about how this would affect their already declining credit stash. "Do you think he has phantom pain?" She looked at him.

Kanan lifted his head from his hands. "Um...well perhaps. He doesn't seem to let it affect him though."

"He doesn't want to show weakness." Zeb grunted as he came in, moving to get some caf too. "Its common in animals to not show weakness in the pack because then you get left behind."

"Ezra's not a animal." Hera countered.

"No but he is a street rat, a orphan and a survivor." Zeb countered. "You show any weakness there and the bigger wampa eats you." He shrugged then took a sip, ears twitching as Chopper rolled by to his charging station. "So he's not thinking like you, me or even Sabine. I kind of get it because hey, I got my instincts. Your leg gets trapped and you're pressured and hunted? You gnaw your damn leg of and hit the predator with it to get away. Simple as that."

"...You're rather...defendy of him right now."

The Lasat leveled Kanan with a long look. "I tried to tell you before this that you needed to talk to him. It was quite obvious he wasn't happy about the idea of you giving him over to the other Jedi. I mean his whole kriffing body language was screaming discomfort. He would have run of the moment he could. I get that, I get being uncomfortable and angry. I also get the idea of being abandoned sucks. His family is gone, no one took him in leaving me to think that his parents friends were either cowards or unable to and he was living in that comhub you picked him up from. Now you were going to leave him in some unknown persons care." He waved his big hand and took a new sip of caf.

"...Thanks, I was already feeling like bantha dung." Kanan flopped his head against the table.

"Eh, you're welcome."

Author note: *fiddles with stuff* I'm working on something. Oh wait, this is what I'm working on. Hopefully it will go well haha