Fic: Stumbling in the Dark (Star Wars, Ezra/Luke)

[rivulet027]

Title: Stumbling in the Dark
Fandom: Star Wars
Characters/Pairings: Ezra/Luke
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Star Wars. It's not my toy box and I'm merely playing.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Luke realizes that his dreams about Ezra aren't just dreams.
A/N: Written for ambiguously for chocolateboxcomm.


Stumbling in the Dark:

I need help.

The words come to Luke out of the dark of a dream where he’s walking through Echo Base. He knows he’s dreaming. Hoth was never this warm or this empty.

Help. I need help.

Luke roams the halls, trying to find where the cry for help is coming from.

I don’t want to be used like Master Unduli.

Luke reaches out mentally, desperately, needing to find the person that’s crying out to him. He’s in front of a door. It opens. He’s in an Imperial detention cell. There’s a guy, about his age, sitting on the bed cross legged and eyes closed.

He wants to ask who Master Unduli is. Is there another Jedi? Could there really be another Jedi?

The guy opens his eyes. They’re startlingly blue. “You’re a dream. I’m not going to get saved. There’s probably not anyone left to save me. I’ve tried escaping, but…”

“This is a dream,” Luke corrects.

The guy huffs. His eyes look sad and disappointed.

"I'm tired," he confesses.

"I'm Luke," Luke says as he crosses the room and sits down next to him. He takes one of his hands and squeezes. He can almost feel the fingers interlacing with his, almost feel the palm pressing against his. Almost.

"Ezra. I'm Ezra." He sounds weary, exhausted. He almost sounds defeated. Luke raises their joined hands and presses a kiss to the back of Ezra's hand. He doesn’t know what to say. How does one offer an aberration in a dream hope? Ezra sighs, then asks, "This is a dream?"

"Yeah. Yes," Luke answers.

Ezra sighs, resting his head against the wall behind him. Luke squeezes his hand. Ezra glances at him. “Guess I should try to enjoy this then.”

Then Ezra kisses him and Luke can almost feel it. Almost. He lets Ezra push him back against what counts for a berth in these room. And then they have sex.

Luke wakes up not sure what to make of the odd dream. It didn't feel the same as a force vision or when a former Jedi Master reaches out to teach him something. He's still not sure if those Jedi Masters are teaching him from beyond the grave or if it's some form of time travel.

Then the dream happens again two nights later. Then again three nights after that. It starts slightly different each time, but everytime ends with both of them concluding that they're dreaming and having sex. It's almost satisfying, but ultimately frustrating, and Luke feels as if he's missing something important.

Ezra’s bruises change each time Luke strips him bare. They never seem to talk about anything important. They do realize they're the same age, we're even born on the same day, but for a dream that doesn't seem that odd. Luke always forgets to ask who Master Unduli is. He considers reaching out to her, but the dreams are just dreams, aren't they?

And then the dreams stop and Luke can’t shake the feeling that he’s missed something very important.

So he tries looking up Master Unduli. He's not entirely sure of spelling, but he does get several results. Unduli is a semi-common name among Mirialans and there were several in the Rebellion. Luke sighs at the pages of results, some of which is blacked out due to him not having clearance. He’s trying to decide if attempting to wade through this information is the correct path forward or if he should try something else when Artoo and Chopper attempt to bump their way past his room.

“Are you two trying not to let the other use the hallway again?” Luke asks as he steps into the hallway. Artoo slows to answer him and Chopper shoots past. Artoo swears at Chopper and almost starts after him, but circles around to Luke. Maybe he doesn’t want to know what they’re up to? So he squats down to rub Artoo’s dome and asks, “Have you ever heard of a Master Unduli?”

Artoo swears again and demands to know where he heard that name.

“In a dream,” Luke answers.

Artoo screeches and Luke isn’t able to keep up with the tirade that follows. All he can make out is that it’s part protective. Chopper comes screaming back down the hallway demanding to know what Luke did. Then the two confer and decide that Rex or Hera will answer his question because he’s absolutely not allowed onto a ship until his question is answered and he’s not allowed to even think about a rescue mission until he’s got all the facts. They bracket him, refusing to leave his side until they’ve located Hera or Rex. Rex is busy training pathfinders and Hera just got out of a meeting so they pick up lunch in the mess and head back to her ship.

“Rex or Wolffe would be better to tell you who Master Unduli was,” Hera tells him. “I wouldn’t ask Ahsoka, there’s a complicated history there, but I can tell you how the Empire used her body to lure remaining Jedi into a rescue mission.”

Luke manages, somehow, to set his sandwich down, and sit back.

“We already have plans to recover her body and give her a pyre,” Hera reassures. “We just haven’t had a chance to execute it yet.”

“The person I had a dream about said they didn’t want to end up like Master Unduli and I thought it was just a dream,” Luke tries to explain.

“I’ve found with Jedi that if it won’t leave you alone, it’s usually not just a dream,” Hera tells him in a kind tone.

Luke nods, then sighs, “He only gave me a first name.”

“He?” Hera prompts.

“Ezra, but I’m not sure how…” Luke trails off. Hera is utterly still, wanting to hope, but certain she’ll be disappointed.

“Him?” Chopper asks. Luke turns and Chopper is displaying an image of Ezra, his hair is shorter in the image.

“He’s real?” Luke manages.

“When did you start having these dreams?” Hera asks.

“About a month ago,” Luke answers, hoping against hope that his face isn’t bright red. “I haven’t had one in a week though. I knew I was missing something, but I really thought they were just dreams.”

“Do you think he knows where he is? Do you think he could tell you?”

“I’m always on Hoth when the dream starts, but then he’s in an Imperial brig, the kind they have on ships,” Luke tells her. “I can see if I can reach out to him.”

“I’ll get a team together,” Hera tells him.

Luke goes to his room then runs through his nighttime routine, attempting to get himself in the mindset he’s usually in when he goes to bed even though it’s only the start of the afternoon. He settles on his bed and closes his eyes attempting to reach out to Ezra. Immediately he gets pushed back.

Dreams don’t change anything. Go away.

Luke’s eyes fly open. Ezra’s very real and he can sense him. He can find him. He stumbles to his desk, pulling up a star chart, then has Artoo calculate how far the base is from where they are and where they’ll end up being. The ship they need to reach will be passing by Hoth by the time a rescue team can reach it.

Between Hera and Leia a rescue team gets parred down quickly. Luke’s glad the two of them are prioritizing the needs of the mission as he’s a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people volunteering themselves.

“You met another Jedi, that was our age, and you didn’t tell me?” Luke prods Leia.

She rolls her eyes. He raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms.

“He sacrificed himself to save Lothal. We weren’t sure if he was still alive or where to start for a rescue party. Just get on the ship.”

It’s weird not being in the pilot’s seat on a rescue mission, but they’re anticipating a prison ship and they need him boarding with the pathfinders. Except what they find isn’t a prison ship, but a museum. It’s one of Palpatine’s collections. Apparently there are a few that have been transferred to ships that are going to be carefully maintained until his eventual return.

“That’s ominous,” Leia comments.

“We already know he was trying to make force sensitive clones,” Kallus says.

“There are force sensitive clones,” Zeb counters.

“The doing so on purpose was the difficult part,” Rex says.

“Force sensitive clones?” Luke asks. What force sensitive clones? Why didn’t he know about this?

Rex glances at him. Luke attempts to give him a pleading look. Rex laughs and then stops laughing when they enter a room that is several being in carbonite. He’ll ask Rex for clarification later, what they’re doing now takes precedence.

“We’re going to have to find out who everyone is and then figure out if it’s safer to defrost them here or on a med frigate,” Leia decides.

Artoo beeps, from where he’s plugged into their computer systems that they’re only one sentient living being on the ship.

“What do you mean sentient?” Hera pushes, then sighs. “Is part of his zoo collection on this ship? Is he keeping my son like…”

Luke steps in front of her. “Let me get him.”

Hera starts to protest, but then she takes a breath and her face softens. “Ease him into it.”

When they get to the cell Luke pushes aside his unease and anticipation. He’s here to help return Ezra to his family, not hit on him. He hesitates when the door shuts behind him. Ezra is sitting on his berth, hugging his knees. He doesn’t look up. There’s a walking area and a barrier to turn off.

“It’s Luke,” Luke tries. “We’re rescuing you.”

That gets him an unbelieving snort.

Luke shuts down the barrier. Ezra tenses. Then he looks up. He frowns. “You’re a dream.”

“I’m not,” Luke tells him as he approaches slowly. “I’ve got most of your family and a medic waiting in the hallway.”

“See that’s what I’d want a dream to tell me,” Ezra sighs.

Luke sits down next to him then reaches over slowly and takes his hand. “We’re both real and you really are being rescued.”

“I’m a contingency plan,” Ezra tells him as he intertwines their fingers. “If the Emperor's current apprentice doesn’t work out then he’s going to come make me his apprentice. He gets upset when I tell him where he can take that idea. ”

“He wasn’t happy when I rejected him either,” Luke tells him.

Ezra frowns at him. Then leans in and kisses him. Luke kisses back, slowly and carefully. Ezra startles back, doesn’t let go of his hand, but startles and stares at him with wide eyes. “You’re real.”

His hand comes up to cup Luke’s cheek. His thumb brushes over Luke’s mouth. His eyes are wide. Luke nudges at him mentally and he feels foggy.

“They keep me drugged up, they don’t want me accessing the Force until I’m meant to,” Ezra informs him.

“Do you think you can stand?” Luke asks.

“This is really real? Those dreams were real?”

“Yes.”

Ezra gives him a mischievous grin. “So I can absolutely claim that you owe me a real kiss when I’m not so drugged up?”

Luke laughs. “If you still want one.”

“I’m going to want more than one,” Ezra promises. “But let’s get out of here first.”