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This story will float between the Rebels, Clone Wars, and Star Wars pages, depending on which is most applicable to the latest chapter updated.

Star Wars Apparitions

Transported:

D15/1 BBY, Lothal

The mountain above them shook, sending small rocks raining over them. The hard floor of the cave beneath their feet trembled. The lothwolves growled, radiating displeasure. The Force around Kanan rippled with the echoes of the bombs exploding above ground.

I guess Pryce isn't playing nice anymore.

Kanan's sarcastic side snorted. When has that bitch ever played nice?

True.

Ignoring the fact that he was talking to himself, Kanan let the Force guide his balance as he flowed with the movements of the ground. He frowned as most of his companions were jostled, their signatures turning murky from fear.

"The Empire's bombing the mountains!" Ryder cried out, his human shaped Force signature falling against a wall for support as the floor shook harder than before.

I think we already figured that out, Ryder. The somewhat jaded Jedi politely refrained from saying that out loud, however.

The only other person down in the cave with Kanan who wasn't near to panicking was his Padawan. Ezra was concentrating on the lothwolf with the brightest signature. He could feel the strength of the connection Ezra had with the wolf and was once again impressed by how far the boy had progressed in his level of maturity in the Force. The angsty teen who couldn't even settle down enough to connect to a simple lothcat was long gone. Now Ezra was essentially at the level of a Master when it came to Animal Bonding and it was easily his strongest Force ability. Kanan was no slouch when it came to bonding with animals, but it wasn't his main gift.

Before he'd been blinded by Maul, Kanan had believed his strongest ability was his Force Jump, but now... Now he knew better. He'd needed to lose his sight to discover that his real gift was his ability to use Force Sight. He'd learned a lot more about himself, his family, and those around him than he'd ever thought to know once he opened himself up to the Force and actually paid attention to what was going on around him. But even though he was grateful to the Force for blessing him as it had, there would always be a part of him that wanted to see again for real.

That was the part of him that whimpered at the loss of seeing his precious Hera. The part that knew it was missing seeing the kids grow up into adults. The part that cringed every time Sabine made a new painting and everyone else showered her with praise and he had to stand back and stay silent because even the strongest Force Sight wasn't intricate enough to convey the colour and depth she put into her paintings. He could generally get a sense of the image in her paintings if it was of an actual object like the Ghost, the same way he could pick up Aurebesh markings, but if it was an abstract, he got nothing and it had been painful to admit.

Now, he watched as Sabine hovered behind Ezra as close as she dared get to the lothwolf that towered over them. Her emotions were reaching for Ezra in search of comfort even if her body wasn't quite willing to go that far. In the underground cave that Kanan assumed was dark, he doubted that anyone else saw Ezra reach back and brush a hand over her forearm for a second, but Kanan most certainly caught the movement. He also noticed how her signature instantly calmed with his reassurance. Those two were about as bonded as they could get without actually merging their signatures in the most intimate way possible. (And Kanan had a feeling that wasn't too far off now that someone had finally admitted they had feelings for the other and got the ball rolling.) He and Hera had a bet going to see how long it would take for the kids to admit to the rest of them that they weren't just best friends anymore.

Even as Ezra was soothing his not so secret girlfriend, he was also having a conversation with the lead wolf. "We've got to get out of here," he told it out loud, probably for the benefit of the others, since Kanan could sense that Ezra and the wolf were now having a much more elaborate and silent conversation.

As the mountain above them growled like deadly thunder once again, the wolf turned and held its tail up for Ezra to grab. Ezra did, after a moment's hesitation. "Everyone join hands," he called.

Sabine's hand practically flew into Ezra's, undoubtedly with a bone crunching grip. "Ezra!" she called on a rising note as the cave rumbled and then cracked loudly as fractures shot along the rock walls.

"The cave is going to collapse!" Zeb all but yelled as he lunged forward and grabbed onto Sabine's free hand.

Kanan pulled Ryder away from a wall just as a large section of the ceiling of the cave above him collapsed right he'd been standing. The man was in such shock that he barely noticed as Kanan pushed him towards Zeb and the lasat grabbed Ryder's hand. "There's no way out of here," Ryder mumbled despairingly even as the little train of trapped Rebels started moving as the lothwolf pulled them along.

Kanan quickly grabbed Ryder's free hand and immediately got his fingers squashed. He did his best to send Ryder a wave of calm even as he said, "That we know of. Have faith in Ezra and the wolves."

Ryder snorted under his breath, but his signature calmed a little and the grip on Kanan's hand eased to bearable.

After a few hesitantly placed steps from those in front of him, Kanan sucked in a breath as a small glint of brilliant light appeared in the Force. That glint swiftly grew to the point that he had to focus elsewhere or be in danger of ending up mentally blind from the swirling maelstrom of light. He thought he saw one of the two darker wolves disappear within it and Kanan realized it must be a portal of some kind. Whoa.

A Force portal.

He'd never heard of such a thing, but somehow, he wasn't surprised; amazed, but not surprised. Ezra's lothwolves were more than a little too strong in the Force to be normal beasts and their convenient timing for showing up on a planet that Kanan had been wandering around on for years without a hint of their presence could not be a coincidence.

Within moments of the portal opening, Kanan felt a wave of SOMETHING sweep over the others and all of their signatures went into almost a sleep state, but they were still walking. Ryder's grip loosened even more on his hand, but kept hold lightly. Kanan couldn't help but worry about why the wolves hadn't put him in a trance too. What do they want with me? And how do they know my old name? They had seemed particularly determined to make sure he was going on this journey with them. Why? And why do I have a bad feeling about this?

Kanan found out soon enough.

The line of wolves and people walked through the portal, which was once a solid rock wall. One of the wolves stepped through last and the portal closed behind it. Kanan focused behind him and couldn't 'see' the swirling light anymore; just a very large and intimidating signature of a wolf that growled softly at him to keep moving.

"I get it,'" he thought to the wolf experimentally. "You don't have to be rude about it.'"

The wolf huffed out a canine laugh. "Of course I do. I'm a big, bad wolf." The foreign thought was definitely not Kanan's.

Well, that answers the question of how intelligent the beasties are. No wonder Ezra was talking to them like they were smart enough to answer; because they can. Kriffing amazing.

Kanan couldn't see what they were walking on now, but it didn't feel like rock or dirt or even duracrete. The ground beneath them didn't feel like anything he'd ever felt before but he imagined it would be similar to the sensation of walking on water, if that were even possible.

The space around Kanan felt vast and limitless; empty but full at the same time in the most confusing fashion. There were random streaks of light energy crisscrossing and swooping all around him, and after a moment, he figured out they were walking on one of the streaks of light. There were also circles of still energy to the sides of the streaks of light. Kanan concluded those might be more portals.

To say he was feeling pretty much flabbergasted and mind blown would be an understatement.

His sarcastic side snorted at him again. Get a grip, Jarrus. You're supposed to be a composed Jedi Knight who is fazed by nothing now. Prove it.

Ha.

He wished Ezra was awake so he could describe what he saw, but Kanan could feel how quiet his padawan's mind was. There was no way he was actually registering any of this.

Suddenly, Kanan felt very large teeth grab the back of his shirt near the collar. Great. Now I'm going to be puppy chow. The last wolf had been practically breathing down his neck, but he hadn't felt any real menace from it, leaving him very surprised by the sudden attack.

The wolf picked Kanan up, making him lose the loose grip he had on Ryder's hand, and he threw the Jedi over the edge of the streak of light they were walking on. Ahhhhhh! He swallowed the scream in his head as he fell through empty space, determinedly regaining his ability to think clearly out of training alone. Kanan fell a few more metres before he spotted another streak of light and just managed to catch the edge of it with one hand. He hung for a moment, suspended by his fingertips and caught his breath before he pulled himself up onto the pathway and flopped down onto his back. Force, that has to be in the top ten most frightening things I think I've ever had happen to me.

As he calmed his racing heart, Kanan sought out the signatures of the others, but they were gone.

He had been thrown into this pit of endlessness and left behind.

On purpose.

Frag.

Despair overwhelmed him for a minute or two as morbid thoughts flooded him.

I'll never see Hera again. Never see our child I just found out we're having. Never see Ezra again. Or Sabine. Or Zeb. I'll never feel the sun on my face again. Or feel the wind or the grass. Never feel Hera's soft weight in my arms. Never eat space waffles again with yogan syrup.

I'm going to die here.

Alone.

I don't want to die.

Kanan gave himself a mental slap.

There was no need for dramatics just yet. The wolves must have had a reason for this. He just had to figure it out.

He got down on his knees in the pose that instantly gave him a sense of comfort and familiarity and cleared his mind. It was time for some serious meditation.

The Force would help him. It always did, when he let it.

Ezra didn't know he'd been asleep until he woke up in the dark with the white lothcat standing on his chest and licking his face with its rough tongue. "Hi." Chuckling, he scratched it behind the ear, making it purr in pleasure, as he sat up and looked around.

He was lying on a rocky section in the mountains which were tipped with snow, the white easy to see against the star speckled sky and the large forms of Zeb and Ryder were sprawled out on the ground nearby.

Wait.

Snow?

Stars?

Where the kriff am I?

Ezra could have sworn he was just in a warm section of Lothal before they went into the caves. And it had been midmorning at the latest. His eyes widened as he realized there should be more people here, wherever HERE was.

Sabine! Where's Sabine?! And Kanan!

Closing his eyes, he reached for his Force bonds, then sighed in relief as he sensed Sabine very near and in no distress. Thank the Force. He didn't sense Kanan nearby yet, but put off worrying about him for another minute. Ezra sprang to his feet, which dislodged the lothcat, who give him a very disgusted look. "Sorry." The tooka scrunched his nose at him and meandered off, tail twitching in the air, indignation radiating from his little body. Ezra ignored the tooka's displeasure in favour of searching for his girlfriend.

He relaxed as he saw a portion of her body on the other side of a boulder only a few metres away. Her colourful armour was muted in the dark, but still stood out against the deep colours of the rocks. Bounding over to her in two big steps, Ezra knelt beside her and pulled her upper body into his lap and across one arm, then tugged off her helmet. Stars, she's beautiful. Moonlight is definitely her friend. Still can't believe she's mine now.

She looked so peaceful in her sleep it was almost a shame to wake her, but he did anyway because something wasn't right. Aside from the time and location change, the Force didn't feel right, if that made sense. It felt kind of like it was calling out for help, its cries increasing in intensity as he focused on it for half a moment. Very strange indeed.

The young Jedi stroked the back of a finger over her soft cheek, wondering if there was time to pull his gloves off and indulge in the sensual pleasure that was her, but deciding against it, especially with Zeb or Ryder likely to wake up any second. She hmmmmed faintly, the hint of a smile curving her lips upward. He did allow himself to indulge in something that he hadn't yet had the opportunity to try, since their changed relationship was only half a month in the making; Ezra curled downwards and pressed his mouth to hers ever so gently, kissing her awake, his eyes closing in contentment. Sabine... So sweet. So soft.

She hmmmed in pleasure as she woke, her lips pressing back against his and her arm snaking around his neck and pulling him down just a little closer. Ezra decided he liked kissing her awake very much indeed and hoped to do so a thousand more times in the future. That would be easier if they didn't have to keep their relationship a secret, but Sabine was afraid her family would hunt him down and eviscerate him in his sleep or something like that if they found out. He'd decided to indulge her for now, but Ezra wanted the whole shebang; marriage, kids, and all. There was no way they were going to keep this secret for long. Besides, he had the feeling that Kanan already knew; it was practically impossible to keep secrets from his Master now.

"Ezra..." Sabine moaned softly into mouth giving her such pleasure. She didn't know where she was or what was happening, but her body registered his strong arms around her and the sweetest of kisses that made her heart melt. By the Mando, I want more.

So she took it.

Their sweet kiss went from loving to passionate in an instant when her tongue demanded entry and Ezra conveniently forgot the possibility of getting caught. Whatever my Lady wishes. He opened his mouth and let her clever tongue dominate his. Ezra almost instantly became lost in the still new sensations of such overwhelming desire for a minute or so, but that sense of urgency from the Force eventually made itself known again and stopped him from getting too carried away. He reluctantly pulled back.

Sabine automatically tried to follow until her eyes opened and she smiled at him with a flash of teeth in the dark for half an instant before she registered that it was nighttime and cold enough to see their panting breaths in the moonlight. Shab, where are we? Why is it dark? She immediately scrambled off Ezra's lap and jumped to her feet. She looked around in a state of battle readiness, her hands on her blasters and tension thrumming though her. A brief sense of relief flittered through her as she spotted Zeb and Ryder lying nearby, but they were still missing one very important person. Where's Kanan?

And there's my warrior goddess. Always ready for battle.

If the situation wasn't so weird and worrisome, Ezra would have laughed.

He'd seen this reaction from her before countless times, such as when they were on long stakeout missions and she'd been startled awake by something when it was his turn to keep watch. (Usually him accidentally making some sort of noise.) His warrior girl was always ready for anything and you didn't want to get on her bad side by waking her up unless there was a good reason. She was also very good at putting a bruise on his arm if she thought for even an instant he'd done it on purpose. (He might have, once or twice when he was bored out of his mind.) Either way, he now knew he could kiss her awake and very much like the consequences. Sweet. Definitely going to have make an effort at waking up first in the future. Visions of her naked form wrapped in his arms in her bunk came to mind, making him smile to himself briefly.

Ezra rose to his feet as well, at about half the speed, and stood beside her. He put a hand on the small of her back, still thrilling that he now had the privilege to do such things, and siphoned off a bit of her adrenaline high through their bond and gave it to the Force. Sabine turned her head and looked up at him as her muscles relaxed a tiny fraction under his hand but her hands stayed on her blasters. "Where the kriff are we?"

"I don't know," Ezra replied with a shrug, looking apologetic that he couldn't answer her question.

"And where's Kanan?" she said, shrugging off his hand and walking back to her helmet and plunking it back on her head, indicating she wasn't comfortable with the situation and was still prepared for war.

Zeb groaned at the moment as he flopped over onto his back before popping up to his feet with wide eyes. "Ermm, Ezra, what did your freaky wolves do to us?"

Ryder's eyes popped open at that moment and he sat up, looking around wildly with comically wide eyes that shone in the dark. "Where the kriff are we?" he demanded.

Ezra chuckled quietly to himself. "That does appear to be the question of the hour, doesn't it?" Since Zeb had the best night vision, the best hearing, and a better than average sense of smell, he asked the lasat, "You don't sense Kanan anywhere nearby, do you?"

Zeb focused for a moment, peering around them, sniffing, and his ears pricked. Finding nothing, he shook his head slowly, ears flattening in worry. "Kanan!" he called out loud enough to wake the dead, turning around in a circle as if that would make their fearless leader appear.

"Where's Kanan?" Sabine said again worriedly, looking at Ezra expectantly.

Good question. Let's try this again.

Ezra closed his eyes and reached for his bond with Kanan. And stretched even further. It took every ounce of concentration he had to find the tiny flicker that was Kanan within him. It was so faint, so far away, but still there. This was even worse than when he was on the other side of the galaxy when they ran separate missions. But Ezra knew Kanan had been on Lothal with them not even... Actually, he didn't know when that was anymore. Everything was so confusing.

He opened his eyes to see everyone peering at him with hopeful looks. "Did you find him?" Zeb asked. On a normal day, this request would be well within his capabilities. But today was not normal.

Ezra shook his head in remorse. "I don't know where he is. He's alive, but very very far away. Like, other side of the galaxy far away. Or further."

"Kriff," and, "Karabast," came from Sabine and Zeb at the same time. Ezra nodded in agreement.

"How did this even happen?" Ryder asked.

"I don't know that either. The wolves did something, I guess." Ezra said with another shrug.

Speaking of animals, he noticed that the white lothcat had made itself scarce once again. He also noticed the white outline of the alpha lothwolf standing on an outcropping of rock about half a kilometre away. Ezra got the impression he was only seeing him now because he wanted him to.

A rush of anger swirled through him that he had to fight to push away. Control. Calm. Don't let the anger rule you. Breathe.

Without a word to the others, Ezra took off running towards the wolf, bounding across the distance in a handful of Force assisted leaps.

"Ezra! Where...?" Sabine called after him before her voice faded away as she also spotted his target. Ezra didn't bother to answer her, apparently assuming they would follow him at their own shook her head at his typical impulsive behavior and set off to follow at a more human like speed, Zeb keeping up with her easily and Ryder not doing too bad for an older man.

When Ezra was close enough, he skidded to a stop and glared at the wolf, still fighting with his anger but controlling it, barely. Ezra glared at the wolf. "What did you do to Kanan?!" he demanded.

The lothwolf didn't bother to answer, either out loud or in his mind. He just stared at Ezra with those glowing gold eyes for a moment before he turned his head and looked off in the distance. Frustrated, Ezra followed his gaze and stopped breathing as he finally understood why the Force was crying.

The Empire had found the Jedi Temple and they were tearing it apart, floodlights illuminating their camp and what was left of the mountain Temple. There were blocks of stone lined up in rows as they systematically shaved the Temple down one layer at a time. The inner doors had sealed themselves off, but it wouldn't be long before they managed to dig right past them with the massive machines he could see parked under the lights. "No." Ezra breathed out, eyes stinging from sudden tears. "Force, no." He blinked the tears back and looked at the wolf again. "Where is Kanan?" he asked again, in a quieter, much more resigned tone.

The wolf huffed a wolfy sigh and looked at the Temple again. "In the mountain, but not."

What? Ezra was confused.

"What do you mean? I don't feel him nearby. Are you sure?"

The wolf glared at Ezra like he was asking a stupid question.

Ezra supposed he was. If anyone knew where Kanan was, it would be the wolf that had dropped him off somewhere else. "Sorry," he apologized softly.

The wolf actually rolled its eyes at him and opened its mouth in something resembling a smirk. "Human has much to learn about Force."

No kidding.

Sabine and the others came running up at this point, finally catching up. They skidded to a stop as well as they saw the Imperial encampment off in the distance. "What the karabast?!" Zeb exclaimed.

"This can't be good," Sabine said as she used her helmet to zoom in on the activity in the distance. "Is that the Temple?" she asked quietly, coming to stand beside Ezra. He appreciated the silent support. He wasn't suprised that she'd figured out where they were, she was more than smart enough to figure out the puzzle pieces of what she was looking at even though she'd never seen the Jedi Temple before.

"Yeah. What's left of it," Ezra said morosely. "And according to Wolfy here, Kanan's in there. Sort of."

"How did he...?" She started to say, and then wisely stopped herself with a shake of the head, having long ago stopped questioning their weird Force powers. "That doesn't matter. It's obvious what we were brought here for; we have to stop them and find Kanan."

Ezra smiled at his girl thankfully, so grateful she was the no nonsense type whose mission in life seemed to be figuring out how to get things done in the fastest, most efficient way possibly. (And if it involved blowing up whatever was in her way, all the better.) "That's exactly what I was thinking."

'Wolfy' (who had chuffed in amusement when Ezra called him that) picked up what he thought was just another large rock in his sharp teeth and carried it over to Ezra, dropping it within a fraction of his toes, then looked from it to Ezra and back again meaningfully. "LISTEN," he very clearly rumbled out in his deep voice.

"Holy poodoo," Ryder breathed, the only one left who wasn't somewhat inured to the strange and unbelievable that happened around Kanan and Ezra on a regular basis. "It talks!"

Ezra smirked. "I did say so this morning when I explained how Sabine and I ended up back at camp. It's not my fault no one but Kanan believed me."

"I think I might have to start," Ryder muttered.

Ryder and the others, who had all scrambled back when the wolf approached, all crept forward again and stared down at the rock as Sabine shone a light on it. But it wasn't a rock, it was actually a piece of a stone tablet or something with many patterns and symbols on it.

"What is this?" Ezra asked the lothwolf before looking up, but he was gone. Just like that. Without a sound or even a whisper of air. Freaky.

"Where'd he go?" Zeb essentially whined, looking rather scared for a massive male being.

"Don't know," Ezra shrugged slightly. "But I don't sense him anymore, so he's probably gone for now. On the other hand..." he added, unable to resist the temptation of messing with Zeb a little. "...he might be circling around so he can pounce on you from behind."

Zeb whirled, his bo-rifle appearing in his hands in an instant as he peered into the dark around them, ears flat to his head and a hint of growl rumbling from him.

Ezra held back the chuckles for as long as he could, but they emerged eventually anyway, which made Sabine laugh too. Ryder didn't seem as inclined towards humour and just shook his head at him like he was a naughty child. That just made Ezra grin at the much older man cheekily.

Zeb whirled back around and snarled at Ezra as he realized he'd been pranked. "I oughta shoot you just because."

The boy held his arms out in an 'I'm unarmed' motion. "Be my guest. But you get to tell Kanan and Hera why I'm out of commission."

Zeb grumbled to himself as he slid his rifle to his back again, giving Ezra a dirty look that translated to, 'I'll get you later, you brat'.

Ezra smirked and gave him his own, 'Bring it, furball' look. They'd perfected these looks years ago and no longer needed the words that used to go with them, and they still worked great. It was nice having an older brother / uncle type person to bug.

Sabine just dropped her natural shields and deliberately thought loud enough for Ezra to pick up, "You'd think they'd have gotten past their childish theatrics by now. It's obvious that males never fully grow up. At least Ezra's got that cute Jedi warrior thing going for him." He shot her a grin in the semi-dark, just because. "Cheeky nerfherder." Ezra chuffed with amusement, his love for her filling him to the brink again.

Apparently ready for a change of subject, and oblivious to the silent byplay going on beside him, Zeb nudged the tablet with a furry foot. "So what's this?"

All of the males looked at their resident genius; the one and only Sabine Wren. (Hopefully soon to be Wren-Bridger, if Ezra had any say in it.)

She huffed, and Ezra was almost certain she was rolling her eyes at them under her helmet. (She was.)

With a sigh, Sabine pulled her helmet off as she knelt in front of the tablet, running a hand through the dark silk of her hair absently to straighten it in an automatic gesture. She placed her helmet down beside her and then traced the symbols that swirled over the tablet and three differently configured hands. Well, these are different. Exciting, for sure, but perplexing. "I wish Wolfy'd told you what these symbols mean before taking off," she said with an air of exasperation. "I've never seen anything like them before. But, maybe, if I can get close to the Temple and see more to compare them to, I can figure out what they mean."

"Then that's what we'll do," Ezra said eagerly. "We have to get in there anyway to get Kanan."

"Do you really think going down there is a good idea?" Ryder said, attempting to be the voice of reason. "Even though it's night, I see enough people wandering around that there's no way you're going to be able to just sneak in."

"I wasn't planning on sneaking," Ezra said smugly as he watched a couple of specs that quickly grew into scout troopers do a perimeter sweep of the area on their bikes. Walking up to the edge of the cliff they were standing on, he kept an eye on their progress as he continued to talk. "I was thinking of walking right in like we belong."

And with that, Ezra dove off the edge, arms spread and a grin on his face as the wind whipped past.