Saga - PT Saga - OT To Infinity and Beyond: Tales of the Infinite Ezras | Fanfic Olympics decathlon

Wonderfully sweet AU look at Ezra's life had his parents been with him. Well done! In each entry, you keep Ezra so true to his character from Rebels, that even though circumstances are different in some, he is still so recognizable in his courage and bravery and loyalty.

 

Thanks! Whatever universe he’s in, Ezra stands up for those in need, especially since here he’s always had his parents’ love and guidance.

Thank you! I’ve wanted to do more with this AU for a while, and the Rockwell prompt fit so well with this “regular kid” version of Ezra. Like the kids in the painting both Ezra and the cadets have a choice as to how they treat these “new kids in the neighborhood”. While the cadets buy into the Imperial line about non-Human inferiority, Ezra sees their shared humanity (which is not the right word here, but you know what I mean) as, I think, it’s implied the kids in the painting will. He can imagine how he would feel if he and Aliza were in their place. The Gotals are first and foremost other kids who are being bullied, and Ezra is willing to step in on their behalf, even if no one else will. He may not understand his gift yet, but he puts his incipient Force powers to good use with a little persuasion .

Thank you so much! I think that’s the best compliment I could get on this project Keeping Ezra himself whatever his circumstances is both the fun and the challenge of the Infinite Ezras, so it warms my heart to know that it succeeds for you!

 

Spectre Four: 400 Word Cross Country
Characters: Ezra (age 9), Kanan, Hera
Timeframe: 10 BBY
Canonicity: AU

Notes: In this AU, Kanan and Hera come to Lothal much earlier than in canon, before any of the others have joined the crew.

Thanks to @Findswoman for beta-reading
————

It wasn’t the fact that the boy picked Hera’s pocket that bothered Kanan. It was how close he came to getting away with it.

He’d noticed the boy following them in Capital City’s marketplace, close but not too close, always looking away when Kanan glanced at him. But he hadn’t seen the boy move until he looked down to find him lifting Hera’s credit pouch from her coverall pocket.

The boy ran, and Kanan was hard-pressed to keep up with him. Kids might be fast, but he couldn’t understand how this one could nearly outrun a Jedi. He was panting and irritated when he finally cornered the boy in an alley. “All right, you’ve had your fun; give it back.”

The boy snarled like a cornered Loth-cat. “No way! Get away from me!”

“Look.” Kanan tried to sound reasonable despite his annoyance. “Just give me the credits” He put a bit of Force-command into it; he’d already wasted enough time on this kid.

Not only did the boy not hand over the credit pouch, he used Kanan’s momentary surprise to flee.

And smacked into Hera.

“I have a better idea,” she told him. “You need the credits for food, right?” He nodded grudgingly. “Come with me; I’ll give you a better meal than you could buy with this.”

***

Kanan watched the kid devour the contents of the Ghost’s conservator. With her usual patience, aided by liberal helpings of food, Hera soon learned the boy’s story: his name was Ezra Bridger, and he’d been living alone since the Empire arrested his parents.

“So what do you think of the Ghost?” she asked him.

Kanan pulled her aside before she could continue. “You can’t seriously—“

“You’re just going to throw him back out on the streets?”

He sighed. No, of course he wasn’t; if his suspicions about the boy were correct, the streets were the last place he should be.

Ezra flung down his fork, splattering topatoes across the table. “I don’t need charity! I can take care of myself!”

“It’s not charity,” Hera explained. “You’d be part of the crew and expected to help out.”

“Think of it as—an apprenticeship,” Kanan added. Because it might become that. Maybe.

The boy considered this, as well as the large plate of roast shaak and topatoes in front of him. “I... guess I could.”

Hera smiled, holding out a hand to him.”Then welcome aboard, Spectre Four.”

 

Wonderful. Definitely the way each would react in that situation. Hera's initiative and Kanan's early frustration and Ezra's defiance giving way to pragmatism.

 

If we didn't already know that Kanan and Hera were Space Dad and Space Mom, this story would not allow us to remain in ignorance of that.

 

Love Hera's compassion for Ezra; so ready to take him in quickly which is brilliantly balanced against Kanan's seeming reluctance.

 

Escape

Great action, Raissa. I love Ezra's first person pov. From dodging the initial shots and crawling through the air shaft to juking a arrogant Thrwan at the last minute, this was a fun adventure. I really get a kick out of your knowledge of the universe and its tech. OR, in other words, SW jargon. It makes the stories more fun. The ending was a shocking twist as well. Was he home? WEre his parents alive?

The Last best Day

I am thankful that Ezra has this memory to hang on to. So much fun. Even dad smiling more and mom letting her hair down. picking fruit and eating pie. The best day ever. If tragedy were to strike, I would want a day like this to remember.

Here Kitty, Kitty.

Excellent wordplay! I had fun with this. Nobody wins arguing with a testy loth-cat!

4x 100 relay

Excellent set, Raissa. I think Affection was favorite. Hera giving him the pajamas and know that the color would remind him of dad and give him the comfort to sleep was brilliant.

More to come...

 

Thank you! “Pragmatism”—I like that Food is a powerful motivation for a hungry boy, both to come with Hera in the first place and to sign on to the crew The prospect of getting more food on a regular basis is enough to overcome Ezra’s street-kid wariness.

Definitely! I actually had another little scene in mind that I couldn’t fit into the 400 words where Hera tells Kanan, “This isn’t the way I expected to become a mother...”

Thank you! Hera’s always the mother avian. Kanan isn’t quite as on board with the idea of taking in a stray, but he can’t bring himself to turn Ezra away, either, especially when he suspects he’s Force Sensitive. He’ll come around, though—probably faster than he did when Ezra was a moody teen who’d been on his own for 7 years!

Thanks, @brodiew ! Action isn’t generally my favorite thing to write, but I have to say it was fun to have Ezra blow through all Thrawn’s best laid plans (Take that, you smug Chiss ) It’s good to know that my research librarian-turned-fanfic-writer need to get all the details right pays off for you As to whether Ezra is home—well, it’s not exactly home. He’s in an alternate Lothal where his parents are indeed alive—and where he has a younger sister!

Oh yes, so often the best days ever are the ones full of simple pleasures with the ones we love.

Yep. The cat will always win, and the sooner the Humans learn that, the better!

Thanks! I think pajamas are sort of a quintessential mom present. They’re practical, but they’re also cozy and comforting. Ezra’s been on his own so long, with no one to care how he sleeps or what he wears, that Hera’s simple act of caring touches him deeply.

Thank you for all your great comments; they were much appreciated!

 

As always, many thanks to @Findswoman for beta-reading

Things You Said…That Made Me Cry: 200 Word Freestyle

Characters: Ezra, Mara (Blayne) Bridger
Time Frame: 6 ABY
Canonicity: AU, in the Marza-verse continuity
Genre: Mush
Notes: This is part of my “Things You Said” series of dialogue only ficlets, featuring my original alternate Ezra in the Marzra-verse.

“Are you sure?”

“Well, until I do the med scan, no. But I’ve been nauseous for three weeks, so it’s either that or some weird Loth-flu.”

“I guess then you should…”

“I think I can handle this part by myself.”

“Sure… right… I’ll just wait outside.”
“So? What’s it say?”

“Patience, Master Jedi. It’s still scanning… Oh!”

“What?!”

“It’s positive! Ezra? … Are you okay?”

“Yeah…. Yeah...I’m fine. I’m happy… this is what we wanted… It’s everything I ever wanted, but...I don’t know anything about being a father… I hardly even remember my own dad. What if I screw everything up? I don’t want to do that to him. Her…”

“Ezra, you’re going to be a great dad, because you’re a good man who loves his family. And you always say that that’s the most important thing.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Besides, Dad and Kanan didn’t have a clue, and I think they managed to do pretty well at it.”

“Kanan isn’t my dad.”

“I was talking about Jacen and Ayelet, but he and Hera didn’t do so bad with you, either.”

“Thanks, Ace. I love you, always. And you, too, whoever you are.I’ll always do my best for you.”

——-

Brothers: One Sentence Shotput
Characters: Ezra, Jacen Syndulla
Timeframe: 5 ABY
Canonicity: Canon

The green-haired boy regarded Ezra seriously for a moment before saying, “If my dad was like a dad to you, then that kind of makes us brothers, doesn’t it?”

 

Awe, Ezra's gonna be a daddy. Cute conversation between them and I loved that Mara made reference to Kanan and Hera as being "parents" to Ezra.

Loved this!

 

for the Freestyle and a big awww! for the Shot Put.

 

As someone once told me, "Perfect sentence is perfect."

 

New Kids in the Neighborhood: Nicely done, Raissa! I really enjoyed this piece. From Ezra's knowledge of the neighborhood to his ruminations on the ever presence of stormtroopers to his confrontation with two small minded Imperial cadets, this was well written. I like how he was infuriated by the by the cadets' xenophobic taunts, but chose to use his wits instead of his fists.

Spectre 4: This was fun! I got a real Alladin vibe, just given what Ezra looks like and - Loth-rat - Steet Rat! I like the Ezra was giving Kanan a run for his money when Momma Hera showed us that the best way to a kid's enlistment is through his stomach.

Things You Said That Made Me Cry: Mara's pregnant! Ezra's doubting himself. Mara is reassuring. And Ezra knows it will be ok.

Brothers - I love this, Raissa. Totally true and it's nice to know that Jacen wants that brotherly relationship.

 

Thank you! Family is such an important theme for Ezra. I love the idea of him having his own family, and I think Kanan and Hera have taught him a lot about what it means to be a parent. Excellent role models And on the canon side, I'm sure Ezra would be overjoyed to add a new "brother" to his Space!Family.

Thank you so much, I'm glad you've been enjoying them; I have definitely enjoyed spending the time with my favorite Loth-rat There's quite a subgenre of fanart where Kanan and Hera meet Ezra as a young boy, and I got thinking about the aspects you mention here about training and how Ezra being the first to join the crew rather than the last would change things. I'm willing to bet that Zeb would have been a lot more tolerant of a small, and comparatively better behaved Ezra! Kanan may have a few doubts, but Hera's got this figured out, offering Ezra a chance to be part of the crew and a chance to contribute, which is just what he needs.

I've really enjoyed the all dialogue vignettes; they're the perfect format for telling a story in short form. Ezra's feelings are much like my own when I found out I was going to be a mother "I'm going to be a parent....AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING!!!!1!" Only his feelings, of course, are intensified by the fact that he was on his own for most of his formative years. But Kanan has been an exemplary father figure and is still there to offer his fatherly counsel.

Aww, well thanks! How could Ezra not be moved by this? I'm sure he is as glad to have a new little brother as Jacen is to have an older brother who can tell him more about their dad.

Thank you I know these two would have a great brotherly relationship (Please, Dave Filoni--make this happen!)

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the inspiring Rockwell painting. this version. I've wanted to do something with Regular Kid Ezra for awhile and the prompt seemed like a perfect fit. The Servant of the Empire kids' books touch on issues of the Empire's xenophobia and prejudice, and I think that Ezra would have stood up against it, especially since he still has his parents' influence and support here. He's a little less impetuous than his canon version (just a little!) and realizes that while it would be really satisfying to take down the cadets, it won't help the Gotals.

Ezra is Space!Aladdin (there's a video on Youtube of Taylor Gray reading the lyrics of "One Jump Ahead" to a video a couple young fans made of clips of Ezra set to the song. It works really well ) And, yep, Hera knows exactly what's important to this young Loth-rat; he's not the first to sign on to a cause for the promise of three squares a day!

Ezra will make a great dad, because as Mara says, he loves his family more than anything and that's the most important thing of all.

Thank you! I really think they would have that sort of bond; Ezra would be a great mentor and friend to little Jacen, and how could he help but love Kanan and Hera's son?




.

 

Thanks to @Findswoman for beta-reading

Infinity: Fantastic Fencing
Canonicity: AU
Characters: Ezra
Genre: Drama, Introspection

Ezra had travelled through hyperspace many times since that first time he’d stowed away on the Ghost, but it had never been like this.

The flashing luminescent patterns on the purrgils’ tentacles became the blue streaks of starlines as they jumped to hyperspace, pulling the Chimaera with them. The shuddering shift and momentary disorientation that always accompanied the jump were a hundred times stronger, a seismic shock and a queasiness that left Ezra reeling as he stared out at the swirling vortex of hyperspace.

Seen from the Ghost’s cockpit or gunner’s turrets, the whirling blue-white of hyperspace seemed sterile and cold, but here on the Chimaera’s command deck, it was charged, alive. It seeped through the shattered viewport settling around Ezra like a mist, and he felt the immensity of that place that was nowhere and everywhere.

He’d had some small foretaste of this when he’d ridden the white Loth-wolf across Lothal and heard the echoes of his past, but here the past, present and future existed at once. And not just one version of them, but every possible time, refracted and reflected like a kaleidoscope, spinning in infinity, and Ezra could see how every tiny moment and each little choice led to another and sent worlds spiraling wildly away. Ezra saw the Galaxy laid out in front of him.

He saw Lothal—

Its golden prairies gleaming while the spires of Capital City shone like a beacon….

The grasslands polluted and ragged, with TIE fighters circling the city like hungry vultures.

He saw his friends.

Hera in the Ghost’s cockpit, smiling as a small boy with green hair cheered and Chopper protested….Zeb, surrounded by other Lasat, bathed in golden sunlight…. Sabine, painting a mural of all of them, eyes bright with tears as she stepped back to view her work...

He saw…

Himself.

Standing next to Kanan, holding his green blade high….

Dressed in black, bearing the crimson blade of an Inquisitor, fighting a Jedi who wore green armor…

Sleeping curled against a Loth-wolf’s flank, wearing clothes that were little more than rags…

With his feet propped up in the co-pilot’s seat of a ship, laughing at something that Hondo in the captain’s seat had just said…

Sitting at the table in his house in Lothal, telling a story to his parents and a girl who bore a striking resemblance to his mother…

Climbing out of an escape pod that was half submerged in a pond full of startled quadducks…

Running across the rooftops of a strange city with a girl whose red hair streamed behind her like a banner…

Looking out across Lothal’s grasslands, hand-in-hand with Sabine…

Holding an infant with a full head of dark, blue-black curls…

The possibilities were dizzying, some whose time had already passed and some that still might be. And just when Ezra wondered how much more he could take, time snapped back to its usual proportions, all the possibilities and moments and choices folding in on themselves, resolving to a single point—him—with an infinity of potential inside.
-----

Notes: Ezra’s visions are as follows:

• Canon Ezra
• Inquisitor Ezra, the result of growing up in Imperial custody in Imperial Youth
  Spoiler

  That green-armored Jedi is, of course, Kanan.
• Feral wolf-child Ezra in Wolf Brother
• Pirate Ezra, as a result of taking Hondo’s offer in “A Pirate’s Life”
• Ezra, his parents and sister Aliza from “Sometimes I Just Know”
• Ezra/Dev Morgan from All Our Yesterdays
• Ezra and Mara in Star Crossed
• Ezra and Sabine in this set of drabbles
• Ezra holding his child, (who may be Caleb Bridger)
  

 

Beautiful descriptions of hyperspace and the myriad possibilities:

The possibilities were dizzying, some whose time had already passed and some that still might be. And just when Ezra wondered how much more he could take, time snapped back to its usual proportions, all the possibilities and moments and choices folding in on themselves, resolving to a single point—him—with an infinity of potential inside.

Gorgeously written!!

Loved the introspection and kaleidoscope of contrasting realities.

 

As @Findswoman said, I love it! This sentence stood out even before I read on. Reading on gave me goosebumps. What a wonderful tone and style you used on this one, Raissa. There is wonder and awe and starkness and a view of the infinite possibilities seen through the prism of hyperspace star lines. Brilliant work!

 

Intresting idea, have been thinking about alternative bision of my as well as canon characters before so its great to see someone else's take on it as well.