Today marked the day that another month had passed since Ezra was injured during their fight against the Inquisitor and his brainless bucketheads. It also marks the day that he had begun his new 'job' in the Capital City fight ring. Three times a week, the boy would wait for his crew to turn in for the night before sneaking out and making his way into the city; he would meet with Vizago, a loyal patron to the event, who would take him to the new hidden location. He would prepare for the first match of the night, wrapping up his hands and stepping into the ring to face his first competitor. They would be surrounded by well over a hundred of people, all betting, drinking and excited. It was safe to say that many were surprised how well the kid held his own, winning the first four fights, even if there was a struggle as the night went on. There was no denying it; Ezra was one hell of a fighter! His past most certainly contributed heavily to that. But never the less, he was just a young teenager against grown men, all heavy with either muscles or fat. But as it came to the final round, Ezra pretended to put up a fight before giving up, allowing his opponent to take him down with a painful blow. Once he managed to stumble out of the ring and away from the crowd, Vizago's 'friend' would give him some pain meds and a bag that held his earned credits. His last event had been his twelfth and had certainly been his most brutal. Ezra had managed to avoid any major blows to the head, particularly to his face, but his fourth opponent of the night had socked him right in the mouth and busted his lip. During his trip to his parents, he had used the temporary safety to clean up and treat the cut before it could get infected. Of course, his lip had been the first thing his crew saw when he emerged into the mess hall later that day; it had thankfully been one of their 'lazy' days so they didn't question why he slept in so late. But there were definitely questions about his cut lip. Having already thought ahead, Ezra lied through his teeth as he spun them a story of slipping on the ladder to his bunk; he had landed quite ungracefully on the metal floor, but not before hitting his mouth on the edge of Zeb's bunk which caused the busted lip. And considering how much of a heavy sleeper the Lasat was, the story was believed. Hera had wanted to check the boy for further injuries, but he had simply reassured them that he was fine. Considering his old blaster wound should have fully healed after two months, none of them had deemed it a necessity and let it go with a simple "just try to be more careful next time".

Having used the brief weekend to silently recover from the last 'event', Ezra felt better thanks to the meds and heat packs he kept stored away in his bag; he had asked Vizago to grab him some before his third event, handing over a few credits to cover the cost so that his crew wouldn't wonder why their own supply was suddenly going down quicker than a waterfall. But now that he had earned and saved six thousand credits, Ezra decided it was high time to collect them from his folk's place and add them to the ship's fund. The Ghost crew had managed to find a few missions while remaining on Lothal, but they had been small and the pay left much to be desired. Don't get me wrong, they weren't on the brink of needing to put the Ghost out of commission, but they were slowly approaching that to be a faint worrying thought. Before they could reach that point, they had discussed a serious of cut backs and put them in place. Each crew member had each put their own personal savings into the ships fund, not sparing a single credit, but even with that added, it wouldn't last them very long. Putting his plan into action, Ezra had asked his Master if he could head out into Capital City to run a few errands while they all enjoyed some lunch; Kanan didn't see a problem with it, the pair having already spent the morning training. "What are you planning on doing?" Sabine had asked out of curiosity after taking a sip of her juice "I wanna head over to my parents old place, go through a few things there" Ezra had explained, not telling a complete lie as he did plan to do that as well. It was a surprise, however, as the boy rarely spoke of his parents. And considering how much he didn't enjoy going to that house on Empire day all those months ago, they certainly weren't expecting that as his answer. "Do you want some company?" Hera offered kindly, earning a warn smile from the boy as he shook his head, insisting on this being something he needed to do alone. 

With their permission, Ezra grabbed his bag and left for the city; he reached his old home soon enough and walked in with a sigh; he wandered through the house, going from room to room as he stopped and searched. He and his parents didn't have much, but there were a few items he thought might get him some credits from the pawn shop on the other side of the city. And as he finally made his way down into the hidden basement, his eyes landed on the broadcasting equipment; they were old and dusty, but they seemed to still work. Ezra got to work on cleaning all he could before carrying them up the ladder with quite a lot of difficulty. Did he have a dumb moment of remembering 'hey Ezra, why don't you use the force? You know, that thing that allows you to move things with your mind?'. Well, we won't discuss that. With all the equipment now in a small wagon he found at the back of the house, Ezra left for the market where he offered to sell the items to the best buyer; he haggled the price for awhile, not stupid enough to get ripped off, before shaking hands with a seemingly friendly Xexto. He must have been having a good day. That or he thought he could sell the items for a better price. Whichever it was, the kid didn't care. Now with the additional two thousand credits, Ezra returned to his parents place; he checked the time and realised only two hours has passed since his departure from the Ghost. Feeling that wasn't enough time, the boy dropped his bag onto the sofa and returned to his parents room; he stood in the doorway for awhile, simply looking into the room with pain and fondness. He had spent so many nights in there, wrapped up in a blanket between his parents after a nightmare made him scurry to them. And no matter how tired they were, his mother and father always smiled at their son and opened their arms to him. How he wished they could do that now. 

Taking a deep breath, the teenager stepped into the room and sat down on the door, pulling out a box from beneath the bed that he had spotted earlier when ransacking the house of its valuables. It looked old and dusty, very much like most that was stored in the house. But Ezra had a faint memory of this very box. Removing the lid, the boy couldn't stop the breath that caught in the back of his throat; the small box was filled with photos, all containing either himself, his parents, Tseebo and other people that the boy couldn't quite remember but assumed were either distant relatives and friends. He recognised a an elderly couple in one of the photos to be his mother's parents, his own grandparents, who had passed on before the boy's fifth birthday. They were sat down on a bench, a three year old Ezra sat in between them. In another photo, there was an elderly woman holding a toddler version of the boy whom he remembered to be his grandmother from his father's side of the family; her husband had died when Ephraim was only young due to health issues, thus there weren't many of him. The next photo showed a six year old Ezra sitting atop of Tseebo's shoulders with his arms out, the both of them smiling widely and laughing with one another. The kid recalled the game captured on the paper; they were playing spaceships and he was flying through hyperspace, the Rodian holding onto him tightly as he ran around in circles. And then in another photo, a little blue haired baby was sleeping peacefully in his mother's arms, his father stood behind them with his arms wrapped around the pair while smiling with pride. Staring down at the image, Ezra reached up and wiped away his tears that fell down his face before they could drip onto the paper in his lap; he hugged the photo to his chest, curling up into a ball as he rested his head against the bed before him as he cried.

Remaining there for what felt like too long, Ezra wiped his face once more as he took a deep breath; he knew he wasn't ready to look through all of the memories in the box and closed it once more. Forcing himself back up to his feet, Ezra picked up the box and returned to the living room where he checked the time. 'Five hours should be long enough' he thought to himself as he placed the box into his bag, careful not to damage any of the other ideas he had found and wished to keep during his first search of the house. Making his way down into the basement, the boy collected his earnings from their hiding place and added them to his bag before, after taking a final glance around the room, leaving for good. Ezra couldn't keep returning to this place. The pain it brought was worse than any beating he could get from the fight ring; it always reminded of what he lost and could never get back. Just as those photos had. With the key in hand, the boy placed to give it to Hera; they could use the house as an emergency hide out, to be used as a last resort. If someone in the rebellion needed it, they could make some copies of the key and were free to use it as needed. But as for him, he would avoid it at all costs. This thought ran through the boys mind as he walked out of Capital City, careful to avoid any patrolling stormtroopers, before he wandered along the plains of Lothal. It didn't take long before the sight of the Ghost came into view; he quickly noticed his Master, watching as he deflected every blast sent to him by Zeb and Sabine with his lightsaber. A smile crept up on the teenager's face, always willing to admire the Jedi's skill. Even after living with Kanan and training with him, Ezra found himself as amazed and impressed as the day Kanan revealed his true heritage when saving them all from Kallus and his platoon of bucketheads on their mission to save the captured Wookies.

"Hey kid" Zeb called out, being the first to notice the kid approach. The training paused as the other two crew members turned and sent their own greetings to the boy; Ezra returned them with a smile, though it was noticeably small. "Are you okay, Ezra?" Kanan asked, concern laced within his voice. It didn't ease, however, when the teenager nodded "you know you can talk to me if you're not" the man stated as he placed a comforting hand on his Padawan's shoulder, lowering his voice as he did not want to draw attention and make him feel uncomfortable. "I know, Kanan, I'm just...not ready yet" Ezra reasoned, his thought falling back onto the box in his bag "but I'll come to you when I am, I promise" he reassured truthfully. Satisfied with such an answer, Kanan smiled; he was beaming on the inside, pleased that the kid was finally trusting him to be there when needed. "Where's Hera?" Ezra questioned, noticing that the woman wasn't outside with them; Sabine motioned towards the ship, mentioning how she was inside trying to find a mission for them. Thanking her for the information, the youngest made his way up the ramp and into the cargo bay; he walked through the ship, keeping an eye out for its captain before entering the cockpit. Once there, he found the one he was searching for. Hera was sat in her seat, Chopper beside her while she spoke to someone over the Ghost's radio. The woman glanced over her shoulder, sending her friend a kind smile before turning back to the panel before her "understood, thanks for trying anyway, Fulcrum" and with that, the transmission came to an end. "Sorry for interrupting" Ezra began, but his captain shook her head, insisting that the call was coming to close anyway "anyway, how was your day? Get everything done that you wanted to?" Hera asked, earning a nod. The teenager asked if Hera had a few minutes to talk, to which she nodded and motioned towards the seat beside her "I always have time for you, sweetie" she reassured.

With a deep breath, Ezra sat down after shrugging his bag off from his shoulders, placing it down between his feet "so what's up?" Hera smiled, patiently waiting for the boy to speak. Ezra rubbed the back of his neck as he explained how he had been worried about their current finance situation; Hera's eyes turned sad as the last thing she had wanted was for any of her crew to be worried about such a thing, let alone the child before him. Because Ezra was a child, regardless of everything. He was mature for his age and had been forced to go through things not even an adult should experience. "So I was thinking...my parents had all that equipment from their secret broadcasts, as well as a few other things that I found lying around the house" Ezra explained how he had searched through his old home and collected anything and everything he thought might hold some financial value. This peaked the woman's interest, though there was also a raising worry "Ezra?" she waited for him to continue. But instead of using his words, Ezra reached down and into his backpack, pulling out a bag and handing it over to the woman. Hera cautiously took the offered item, surprised by its weight as she rested it on her lap; she opened it up carefully, unsure what she was going to find inside. It was safe to say more credit than she had ever seen in one sitting was not on the list. "Wha..how did you...what?!" Hera couldn't find the words she needed, no matter how hard she tried, but Ezra didn't need them "I took everything I found to the market and found someone who was willing to buy it all" he explained nervously "took awhile of negotiating a price, but we came to an agreement on eight thousand". If Hera's eyes could have widened any further, they certainly would have at hearing such a high figure. "Eight thousand! You're telling me there are eight thousand credits in this bag?!" she repeated, earning a nod "but...but Ezra, those items were your parents. Are you sure you're okay with just selling them?" she asked, worried this might have a worse effect on the boy before her. Sitting back in his seat, the teenager shrugged "I mean, I did keep some things that I found so it's not like I have nothing" he reasoned, adding how the other stuff would have just been sitting in an unoccupied house collecting dust till someone else simply broke in and stole it "besides, I think my parents would have wanted me to do it if it meant helping you guys out...you are kind of like my new family now" he awkwardly shrugged, not used to admitted or even talking about such things.

Silence over took the small room as Hera stared at the boy before her with amazement and love. Placing the bag in her lap on the floor beside her, the woman knelt on the floor before her friend and wrapped her arms around him. Ezra was taken aback by the action, allowing himself to be gently moved until he was behind held in a tight embrace; he was still for a moment, processing the action before he clicked in his brain. He was being hugged. This was a hug. Ever so slowly, Ezra moved his arms until they too were wrapped around the captain of th ship, holding on as he closed his eyes and savoured the warmth and care that came from her. Running her fingers through the blue locks, Hera smiled as tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill. They remained this way for a few minutes, neither needing to move or speak; they simply needed to be. Moving her head, Hera pressed a kiss to the teenager's forehead; she pulled back enough to cup his face in her gentle hands, stroking her thumbs across his cheeks. "Thank you, Ezra" she whispered, placing another kiss to his temple. Unable to contain his smile, Ezra's face practically beamed at the woman before him; this made all of those late nights, all of those beating and all of those healing bruises worth it. "You said you kept some things of your parents" Hera recalled as she returned to her seat, ignoring the bag of credits for now as her attention remained on the kid before her; Ezra nodded, listing a few of the items to be jewellery, some clothes and the box of photos. "When you feel ready, I'd love to see them" the woman requested. Taking a moment to think on it, Ezra slowly nodded once more "I'm not sure when I will be, but when I am, sure" he agreed with a smile. Motioning down to the bag beside her, however, Ezra suggested she add them to the ship's fund for safe keeping "when you tell the others, can you please ask them not to make it a big deal?" he asked; Hera promised to say as such, but couldn't guarantee that the rest of their crew wouldn't want to say their own thanks to him at some point or other.

With their heart to heart coming to a reluctant end, Ezra rose from his seat "I'm a little tired, today's been a bit...much" he admitted, earning an understanding nod "of course, sweetie, go get some sleep" Hera smiled, waving over to the door "I'll wake you up in a bit when dinner is ready". With such an agreement in place, the kid left the cockpit after throwing his bag over his shoulder; Hera watched him go, only averting his gaze once the door blocked her view. And it was only in that moment that she allowed her tears to break through her defences; she covered her mouth, doing her best to silence her cries while a smile never left her face. Chopper, having remained silent and out of the way of the pair during their moment, rolled forward and used his metal arm to pat his captain's leg as comforting as possible. "Our spark of hope...he'll always be our spark of hope, Chop" Hera continued to cry with gratitude, relief and happiness.