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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Saga - OT Eyes Like His (Zeb | Songfic | 3BBY, set during Legends of the Lasat)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Ewok Poet, Feb 22, 2018.

  1. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Title: Eyes Like His
    Author: Ewok Poet
    Canonicity: Canon
    Genre: Songfic
    Characters: Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios
    Timeframe: 3BBY - During the Rebels episode Legends of the Lasat (S2 E14)
    Rating: G
    Length: Short

    Summary: After the chance meeting with fellow Lasat refugees, Chava the Wise and Gron, Zeb regains hope and becomes a believer again.

    A/N: Laura Pausini's theme song for the Brazilian telenovela Esperança is perfect for Zeb. Have a look - you will agree. I recommend the telenovela - and I would never ever recommend a telenovela otherwise!

    This is an impromptu gift for my fellow Zeb fans, @Findswoman and @Raissa Baiard. You were keeping me up on my feet throughout the worst time of my life and motivating me to leave lame, half-assed comments on your stuff, chat on Messenger when I was unable to do anything and...I love you immensely. :zeb:@};-

    I never wrote a songfic before. Be gentle, plZ. [face_pig] The English translation of the original lyrics in Italian is in the spoilers and the repeated verses therefore do not require translation.





    ]

    Lui che qui arrivò, che ritornerà
    E porterà un sogno, porterà realtà
    Cuore di un'oumo immenso
    Che non sa se troverà
    Quel coraggio, quell'avventura


    He is the one who came here, who will come back
    And bring a dream, bring the reality.
    With the heart of an immense man,
    Who doesn't know if he will find
    That courage, that adventure.

    He had long stopped believing in anything.

    Memories of a life different from the one he lived now, his bare feet walking on the warm sole of his homeworld, they hurt more than any blaster wound or a stun ever would have and he deliberately chose to bury it in the past. Forever.

    And then the two of them came along, the Imperial prisoners, one of whom remembered him for his bravery and his position as the Captain of the High Honour Guard. Those were the things that he never shared with his new family, the four pairs of the caring, loving eyes.

    For only the eyes like his, with the same flame that never burnt down, regardless of what he had claimed, could understand what his people had gone through. For only the hearts of those like him could hear the music of the people thought to be long, long gone.

    Still, he chose not to believe the mysterious mystic and his former brother-in-arms. Life was a battlefield, the songs of hope had stopped, forever, once the beloved Lasan was turned into wasteland, at the hands of the ruthless Galactic Empire.

    Or so he thought. He did not want to feel the immense pain of the T-7 ion disruptor rifle in his heart. The weapon straight from Bogan. The unethical weapon that defeated the millennia of honour.

    Why did Hera and the others decide to take this hyperspace leap of faith? Why?

    Lui che qui arrivò, e che resterà
    Lui, lungo il cammino, forse incontrerà
    Occhi che come i suoi
    Chiedono di felicità,
    Ricercando la vita


    He is that one who came here and who will stay.
    Maybe on his long way he will meet
    Eyes like his,
    Asking for happiness,
    Searching for life, again.

    The Fool, simple and selfish, he would lead the Warrior, bold and bloodthirsty, to hunt the hope of tomorrow, the Child, to destroy him! We will find our new home only if the Child saves the Warrior and the Fool.

    The fool.

    The child.

    The warrior.

    He reluctantly pointed his beloved, beat-up bo-rifle to the map. Some stars, in his opinion, were best left uncharted, for they could only bring further pain. Some roads were like clogged bloodstreams.

    Once the yellow and sunfruit hues of the imploded star cluster far beyond what he thought had been the edge of the known world showed up before his new family and two of his people, he found himself more scared and less of a believer than he was willing to admit. Was he the child and not the warrior?

    The edge.

    The edge they could fall over, if they are not careful. Or, either way, according to him.

    Vita, vite e speranza,
    E sogno, sogno, sogni e speranza,
    Pace, pace, pace e speranza


    Life, lives and hope
    And a dream, a dream, dreams and hope.
    Peace, peace, peace and hope.

    And then, he was there. He who might have been the warrior, he who might have been the fool. They had to hold on to the dear life, trapped between the mysterious maze and the hands, the coldness, the anger of their enemies.

    Were the seemingly endless mists of yellow and sunfruit going to be their tomb?

    Should they die fighting or escape?

    Occhi che, come i suoi,
    Chiedono di felicità,
    Ricercando la vita

    The bo-rifle.

    Use your bo-rifle.

    Lead the way.

    Lead the way to Lira San.

    For, you're the child.

    You're the warrior.

    You might have as well been the fool.

    He closed his eyes, green like the hope, green like the world that will eventually bring a handful of decades of peace to the Galaxy, the world nothing like his own. There was nothing to lose, just two possible ways to die.

    He directed his bo-rifle at the instrument board of the Ghost.

    Beat-up rifle.

    Beat-up ship.

    Vita, vite e speranza,
    E sogno, sogno, sogni e speranza,
    Pace, pace, pace e speranza


    And then, he found himself leading the way. They were surrounded by the bright, warm hues, as opposed to those of the cold, cold space behind them. Was the hyperdrive going to hold on? Was it going to overload?

    His eyes closed, he was able to truly see at last.

    He had faith.

    Again.

    Leaning over the instrument board that seemed possessed by mysterious spikes of static electricity, he found himself believing. He found himself believing in those ancient legends of the Lasat once again. He found himself recalling the love he thought was long lost. The family from before the one he had now, beyond those who did not smell like the ones he knew.

    And there she was, Lira San. She that was their homeworld all along, but they were yet to find out.

    The legends were not nonsensical.

    They were real.

    The Prophecy of the Three was real.

    And it had been him all along.

    No one other than him.

    Pace,
    Vita, sogni e speranza,
    Pace, pace

    Take these two beings to the surface. Enjoy what you will see there. And then go back to continue the fight, the fight to avenge your people. To not allow anything even similar to the siege of Lasan to happen to anybody else in the Galaxy.

    He was not sure if he was going to be back someday, or die in fight, die for both what he believed in and what he found himself believing in, again.

    Moreover, he did not want his new friends to see the whole new world, the whole old world just yet.

    He wanted to take them there.

    Someday.

    That's what he hoped for.

    Lui che qui arrivò, che tornerà!
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2018
  2. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Simply utterly gorgeous!

    A resurgence of hope and home-finding after not, feeling adritf. A blending of my heart-family with the one I belong to in memory, and now, in the present/future. These are all gifts Zeb has been given.

    And now we as readers get this lyrical journey. =D= =D=

    Gave me happy chills there at the end. When I Wooked Lira San, I was completely fascinated by the whole how they "vanished" from the galactic scene and I wanted, so wanted, Zeb to find his home [face_dancing] and Shulma [face_laugh] [face_love]
    Thanks ever so for sharing this. [:D] ^:)^
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2018
  3. NobodyIX

    NobodyIX Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 19, 2018
    That was beautifully written and the song was perfect. I'm not familiar with the character (I've got some reading to do!) But that was so poetic, and touching..
    His pain and grief are so tangible, and towards the end how he finds reconciliation with the Legend and finds belief despite all he has been through. Well done!=D=
     
  4. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
    Beautifully done! I confess I am really not up to date with Rebels but I know enough to know if Zeb’s tragic past and that of his people. I like how you show his uncertainty and then his resolve at the end.
     
  5. Mistress_Renata

    Mistress_Renata Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 9, 2000
    I am going to have to re-watch this. I didn't personally think it was one of the more memorable episodes, and yet this is so beautiful, and gives a rough, rather comic character real sensitivity.
    The description is lovely, and almost ties into the whole "Joseph Campbell" thing, looking at archetypes as he ponders which role he fills.
    I love this, that he is going to keep this enclosed in his heart, to himself, just for a little while.

    Good one, @Ewok Poet! Not your usual path, but wow! When you take a risk, you really bring it! =D=
     
  6. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    What a wonderful tribute to this episode and this character! <3 “Legends of the Lasat” is still my favorite Rebels episode to date—it’s got it all, from sensitive development of an alien character, to really cool alien culture and mythology tidbits, and the return of hope for an entire subjugated species. And it’s largely due to this episode that Zeb has become my favorite character on Rebels. :zeb:

    The song you chose really fits Zeb and his situation in this episode: he is most definitely “he who arrived, he who will remain, he who will return” (and yes, I know I’m taking the lines slightly out of order :p ) You do a great job of tracing his very mixed emotional trajectory through the episode. Seeing his two compatriots again—the “mysterious mystic” Chava and “his former brother-in-arms” Gron—is very understandably not all roses, and it brings back that flood of memories of his people’s terrible fate and of all the ways he was unable to help them. From there we go to his uncertainty around the three figues of the Child, the Warrior, of the Fool—which is he, really?—to his uncertainty during the mapping ritual (what if revealing the new world only brings further pain?), and then to his suspense as the Ghost begins to navigate the “yellow and sunfruit mists” of the star cluster. And all of it is suffused with his lingering grief.

    You do an absolutely amazing job extrapolating what is going through Zeb’s mind in that incredible sequence. He feels himself beginning to take on all three roles from the prophecy at once: Warrior, Child, and Fool. The doubt is replaced with belief, the bitter memories of loss and destruction with happier ones—and what a sweet nod to the fanon background devised by @Raissa Baiard and myself in “the love he thought was long lost” and “the family from before the one he had now”! @};- (And two members of that new family, of course—Kanan and Ezra—are supporting him bodily at that moment.)

    And what a wonderful EP touch is this: “His eyes closed, he was able to truly see at last.” It got me thinking that we don’t usually see Zeb’s eyes closed much over the course of Rebels; he’s a very alert, in-the-moment, man-of-action type of character. But yes, in this moment of revelation, he is definitely learning to see in a different way than before. As he says himself, in response to that lovely view out of the Ghost’s front window, “I’ve never seen better!"

    Finally, your ending to this story gave me a new way of looking at the episode’s final scene. As we discussed, it was kind of a bummer that we didn’t actually get to see any of Lira San or its inhabitants. But understanding that scene as a beautiful secret that Zeb is keeping to himself for now, and that he’ll reveal to his crewmates when the time is right, helps make it much more compelling.

    Thanks again for this wonderful character study and fantastic gift! =D=
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2019
  7. Raissa Baiard

    Raissa Baiard FFoF Artist Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 1999
    I sincerely apologize for taking so long to respond to this [face_blush]. Thank you for this lovely story; i’m so glad that you have been enjoying catching up on Rebels and finding it inspiring. Zeb certainly has hidden depths to his character that make him especially interesting to write about. This episode is one that really shows off those depths of character and you’ve written a fantastic tribute both to the episode and our favorite Lasat himself [face_love] :zeb: And, wow, how perfect are the lyrics of this song for Zeb? I can see how they inspired you to do this song fic!

    You really capture Zeb’s heart here; the memories of Lasan hurt so much that he keeps them buried and doesn’t even share them with his new family. So much that he tells himself that he doesn’t believe when deep in his heart, he needs to believe. He’s never truly given up hope. The presence of Chava and Gron spark those thoughts again, but it’s the support of his family aboard the Ghost that helps him take that final step in accepting; Hera’s “hyperspace leap of faith” and Ezra and Kanan’s unquestioning literal and figurative support are what give him the strength.

    And how beautiful is the moment when his own leap of faith pays off he discovers that the legends are real and he’s been destined to play a part in them all along. He is the child, but as Chava tells him, we all fill all of those roles throughout our lives. He’s been the fool, he will be the warrior. Like @Findswoman i like the idea that Zeb “treasures all these things in his heart” for now, that they’re too precious to share at the moment, but he will return when the time is right to share them.
    Thanks to the series finale, we know that he does, and that trip, too, is about restoring faith and hope, this time to Kallus, who’s guilt and shame is healed when the Lasat of Lira San “welcome him as one of them.’

    =D= =D= =D= Bravissimo, for this Zeb-tastic and emotional tribute to our favorite big purple lug!