#not really sabezra but I don't know where else to put this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

illuminatedquill · 4 months

Text

Ahsoka Tano & Ursa Wren

The Promise

Story Summary: One night before the Purge of Mandalore, Ursa Wren makes a desperate plea to Ahsoka Tano.

“Lady Tano,” called Huyang. “There is a call coming through for you. It is labeled urgent by the sender.”

Ahsoka Tano opened her eyes, coming up from a deep meditation. Ill tidings could be felt through the Force and her dreams of late had been filled with fire and death.

She rose slowly from the training floor within her T-6 shuttle; the lights were dimmed inside at her command, the only sound being the quiet hum of the engines as they traveled through hyperspace. Grabbing a night robe from the nearby worktable and slipping it on, she walked into the cockpit, giving a nod to Huyang.

He switched the comm channel open. A hazy blue light began to emanate from the instrument panel before sharpening into the image of a familiar figure.

It was Ursa Wren, the mother of her padawan, Sabine Wren. The Countess of Clan Wren stood tall and proud, garbed in her beskar armor, but her face was noticeably more lined and wearier than Ahsoka had ever seen it.

"Hello, Ahsoka," she said. Even exhausted, the Mandalorian's eyes burned with a tenacity that the Jedi found intimidating, despite her years of experience as a warrior.

Ahsoka, hiding her surprise, adopted a neutral tone. She wasn't particularly close to Sabine's mother; Sabine had warned against it, considering the subject of her Jedi training was a touchy subject with Ursa.

"Hello, Ursa," she replied. "I take it you have news?"

Ursa nodded. "The Clans are preparing for war."

Ahsoka grimaced. It was to be expected but she had thought the Empire would not be so bold as to move against Mandalore this late in the war.

But Moff Gideon was no ordinary servant of the Empire. There were no lines he would not cross to please his master.

"No word from Bo?" asked Ahsoka. She knew that Bo Katan, leader of Mandalore, had gone to meet with Moff Gideon as a last-ditch effort to stay his hand.

The Mandalorian shook her head. "None. I cannot tell you if she is being held hostage or worse."

She paused. "I think this attack, Ahsoka," she finally said after a long moment, "will be the worst Mandalore has seen in generations. I think this will be the end."

Ahsoka sucked in a breath. "What do you mean, Ursa?"

Ursa smiled bitterly. "I think this is the death of us all."

"Mandalore," Ahsoka argued, "has survived worse. It survived Maul."

"We had a Republic and a plucky young Jedi who helped us out of that particular situation," Ursa remarked wryly. "We have none of those now."

"Sabine and I can be there within a day," Ahsoka said. "I'm nearby - "

"No." Ursa's statement struck Ahsoka with its finality, stopping her from finishing her reply.

She blinked in shock. "No? You don't want us to help?"

Ursa took a deep breath and closed her eyes before replying. "Correct. I want you to keep Sabine far away from Mandalore."

Ahsoka leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. She stared at the hologram for a moment, thinking. Ursa was an experienced warrior, just as she was; she had seen action during the Clone Wars and had fought alongside her and Bo Katan in re-taking Mandalore from Maul. Ahsoka knew better than to doubt her judgment.

If Ursa thought this was the end of Mandalore, then it was.

"That will be a difficult task," Ahsoka pointed out. "You know how stubborn Sabine is. She will want to help."

Ursa snorted. "I trust you can handle her. You've been keeping her in line so far."

"Barely," Huyang said from beside her. Ahsoka turned in her chair to glare at the droid. He shrugged.

"What if I leave Sabine behind and come to you by myself? Surely - "

"No!" Ursa shouted. "I want you beside Sabine when this goes down. Without you there to stop her, she'll find a way to Mandalore and she will die. I will not see her die here!"

"Ursa," Ahsoka said firmly, "Sabine is your daughter. Her place is by your side. With her family. With her clan!"

Ursa's smile was sad. "Not anymore. Our paths diverged a long time ago. She has a new family now."

Ahsoka shook her head. "She would disagree. The Ghost crew is not a replacement for you, Alrich, and Tristan."

Ursa stared at Ahsoka. "Listen to me closely, Jedi. I am not asking you to do this. I am telling you. You are to keep my daughter safe and away from this madness."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. "I don't take orders from you, Mandalorian."

"This," seethed Ursa, "is the natural order of things. Sabine will realize that someday."

"Sabine will - ", Ahsoka started to argue but was cut off.

"Oh, she will rage," Ursa interjected. "She will be furious, I know. She will grieve. But, most importantly to me, she will be alive. This is how it should be. When I lost my own parents to a civil war between clans, I felt the same way; I raged at the cruelty of the universe, at its unfairness. And do you know how it answered me?"

"How?" Ahsoka asked quietly.

Tears in her eyes, Ursa said, "It told me that it was better that I should lose them, rather that they lose me. It told me that it had seen grief a thousand times over, since the first star bloomed to life in the darkness of space; that it had seen countless children lose their parents to senseless tragedy. I was no different. And that is how it should be. That is how it always should be; that children bury their parents and mourn for them and not the other way around."

Ahsoka just sat there, listening to her words.

"I will not," said Ursa, her voice quavering, "bury my daughter. I won't. I refuse to lead her to a certain death. As her mother, who raised her to never run away from a fight, it kills me to deny her. I would love to have her fight by my side one last time. But, also as a mother, I cannot allow it."

"What about Tristan?" Ahsoka countered. "Is he not your child also?"

Ursa grimaced. "He's already here. I cannot dissuade him from his choice, no matter how hard I try. He refuses to leave."

She looked away for a moment. "I raised him too well. He is a Mandalorian, through and through."

Ahsoka looked at Ursa, seeing the tears stream down the woman's face. "She won't take your decision well," said Ahsoka.

Ursa shrugged. "I'm used to it. Sabine hating me is nothing new."

"No," Ahsoka said, suddenly feeling tired. "Sabine never hated you. You've never seen her hate."

Ursa raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I haven't?"

Ahsoka smiled. "She's not capable of it. There's too much good in her."

Ursa smiled back. "I wonder where she gets that from."

Ahsoka snorted. "From you, Ursa. And Alrich."

"You don't know us that well," Ursa pointed out.

"I know Sabine," Ahsoka replied. "And I see the best of you within her."

Ursa was silent in the moment after Ahsoka's comment. "You'll do it, then?" she asked, her voice rough. "You'll keep her away?"

Ahsoka sighed. "Yes. I will. I promise. I'll leave your involvement out of it, as well."

Ursa cocked her head at Ahsoka. "You don't have to do that. She'll be furious with you."

Ahsoka shrugged. "I can handle it. I'm no stranger to anger."

Ursa nodded. "I can see that," she acknowledged. "And . . . thank you."

"You're welcome," replied Ahsoka. "And this isn't a good-bye. Nothing is certain. You can still survive this."

"I will try," Ursa promised. "Unlike you Jedi, that is all we can do." She paused again, hesitant.

"Something else?" Ahsoka offered.

"You'll stay by her side? Continue her training?" asked Ursa.

"Of course," said Ahsoka.

Relief eased into Ursa' rigid stance. "Good. She has a promise to keep, after all. Between you and the Bridger boy, once you find him, I think she'll be alright."

Ahsoka quirked an eyebrow. "You like Ezra, don't you?"

Ursa frowned. "Don't be ridiculous. Sabine likes him. I tolerate him, on her behalf."

"You approve of their . . . relationship?" asked Ahsoka carefully. She wondered how much Ursa had intuited about Sabine's feelings for her lost friend.

Ursa shrugged. "A Jedi and a Mandalorian are a unique pairing. Never heard of one before. The songs that will be sung for them are sure to be legendary."

She glanced at Ahsoka with a knowing look. "Bridger cares deeply for my Sabine. He has already sacrificed much to protect her and the people he cares for. And he is an excellent warrior, courtesy of his Jedi training. I can ask for nothing more in a life partner for my daughter."

"Yes," Ahsoka murmured. "I'm sure." She does know.

Privately, Ahsoka found it amusing that many people around Sabine seemed to know about her and Ezra before she did.

Ursa turned to the side, listening to someone speak from off-screen. She nodded and turned to face Ahsoka once more, her expression grim.

"Time to go?" asked Ahsoka.

"It is," Ursa responded somberly. "If the worst comes to pass, please tell Sabine that . . . I'm sorry. I don't regret the decisions I made to protect her, but I regret the cost that came with them. I was grateful that she came back and the time we spent together since then. And that I'm proud of her and all she has accomplished. And, also, that I . . . "

Ursa stopped there, uncertain of what to say next. Ahsoka said, "She knows, Ursa. Everything you've said, everything you're going to say - Sabine knows already."

The Mandalorian nodded. "This is hard," she observed.

"What is?" asked Ahsoka.

"Letting go," replied Ursa. "I don't know how you Jedi do it."

"It's never easy," said Ahsoka quietly. "Some never really master it."

"I see," said Ursa. "I wonder if I would have made a good Jedi, then."

"If you survive this," Ahsoka joked, "come see me for training."

Ursa grinned at her. "I don't know if you could handle both myself and Sabine as apprentices, Master Jedi."

And she ended the call on that note. Ahsoka stared at the space where Ursa's hologram had been for a few seconds and then bowed her head, feeling the weight of what was to come already pressing down on her.

Huyang, turning to look at her, asked, "Should I wake Lady Wren?"

Ahsoka turned in her chair to face towards the door that led to her padawan's room on the shuttle. Inside, Sabine was sleeping soundly.

Ahsoka thought for a moment. "No," she decided. "Let her have one more good night's sleep."

Tomorrow, Ahsoka thought, she might wake to a nightmare.

#sabine wren #ahsoka tano #ezra bridger #ursa wren #star wars rebels #ahsoka #ahsoka show #star wars #sabezra #sabezra fanfiction #not really sabezra but I don't know where else to put this

48 notes · View notes

grxceful-ly · 19 days

Note

Hello there! I hope you're doing good!

19, 21 and 29 for the Fanfic Writers Ask Game!

hii thank you so much for sending me an ask!! i hope you're doing really well yourself. you picked some good ones and this got kinda long, i'm sorry 🙇🏻‍♀️

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs.

i'm going to take this opportunity to say that something in me does not allow me to fulfill all the multichapter, long fics of my dreams so i mostly share oneshots. i wish i could be like "this is from my [insert title here] au from chapter 14!!" or something. but alas. anyway, this is from my wip sequel to the sabezra secret relationship i wrote a while back. it's almost done, i'm excited to share the full thing soon!

Maybe the Ezra Bridger who wasn’t in a relationship with Sabine wouldn’t have said that. Maybe he would’ve been a little giddy—like, wow! Sabine is actually touching me! And isn’t completely averse to it! Maybe he should have said something like that. Or just. . .smiled? Or hugged her back? Sabine still wasn’t letting go. His heart ached a little. He let his arms come around her loosely, his gaze stuck to the floor. “So. . .” he started. But nothing else came out.

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

yes and no. i don't think i've ever had to delete an entire scene--usually i will spend a lot of time writing a scene or two and i hate it a little more than usual so i end up losing motivation for the entire project. this happens often. i don't like it.

however, sometimes i'll write a line i really like but in my heart i know it won't work for the overall goal of the paragraph or scene, so i have to delete it :( i mourn for like three minutes and then move on lol.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

goodness, the amount of star wars time travel fix-it fics i've written in my mind. that's kind of where they stay. but occasionally i jot down a scene that has a chokehold on me until it goes away. i was going to share an anakin one, but for some reason i can't find my doc with that in it :') so you get this scene from my vostress wip where asajj goes back in time. this is kind of a cheat bc i don't know if it'll NEVER be posted, but as of now too little of it is written to share much more than these snippets. also there's very little interest in a fic like this versus my usual stuff lol.

Her eyes softened. “It is more important to reject that power and preserve those things. Understand me, Vos. Truly. There is no power that can take away the pain you feel. No power that is worth it for a fleeting sense of victory.” She realized she'd put a hand to his chest, naturally drawn closer as she tried not to plead with him. This was it. If he should ever listen to her, let it be now.

and for a bonus, here's an 'asajj takes omega to meet quinlan' snippet that was just for fun and will never again see the light of day lol!

“Your jedi?” Omega asked, eyes lighting up, glancing from one of them to the other. Vos flashed a lopsided smile at Ventress. “I love when she calls me that,” he said in that smooth, unserious but oh-so-truthful voice of his. Ventress's eyes slid to him, then went up to the sky in feigned annoyance as her hand fell to her side and she swiveled to walk away. “Come on.” Unfortunately, Vos and Omega were making quick friends. He was the type to do so; always had been, and it seemed she, too, was eager to befriend anyone she set her sights on. A horrifying pair.

#thank you again for the ask!#my writing #ugh i wish i had the mental capacity to write everything i wanted #some of y'all have like superpowers or something creating these entire intricate aus AND writing them #sabezra #vostress #star wars #star wars fanfiction #writing ask #dark disciple #star wars rebels #the bad batch #sorry if this post is actually Unreadable lol it's a mess

8 notes · View notes

illuminatedquill · 6 months

Text

Sabine Wren (A Quick Study)

The Seven Second Slip

So, let's talk about the Sabine and Ezra reunion scene in Ahsoka for a quick second.

I've talked in other posts before about how Sabine's innermost thoughts and feelings in this show are deliberately with held from the audience. Our favorite Mandalorian Jedi is not the easiest person to read, often to the detriment of herself and the people around her.

Sabine serves up so many different emotions throughout the show: anger at herself and at Ahsoka; excitement at unlocking the sphere to reveal Ezra's location in the other galaxy; fear at the potential loss of her only path to Ezra when Ahsoka contemplates destroying the map to prevent Thrawn from returning; despair when handing over the map to Baylon; determination in her battles against Shin, despite the difference in their skills; joy when reunited with Ezra again for the first time in a decade.

And, as usual, her trademark Sabine snark. Always reliable.

But all those emotions are a part of this mask she's kept up for a long time. Like I said before, the audience is never explicitly told or shown how Sabine is feeling/thinking throughout all this or why her drive to find Ezra is so all consuming that she betrays all he fought for to save him.

All those emotions I mentioned before stem from the same root feeling. And all the major characters around her - Ahsoka, Hera, Huyang, Baylon, Shin, and even Grand Admiral Thrawn himself - can only comment on what they see from Sabine in the moment they encounter her because the real feeling is buried deep.

Buried so deep that not even Sabine probably knows or understands what she's feeling.

But there's a brief moment - seven seconds, to be exact - when that mask slips.

And we see what's really buried at the heart of Sabine Wren.

"I knew I could count on you."

Sabine whips around, instantly recognizing the voice.

Stunned disbelief. Slowly dawning comprehension.

A slow, half-smile. The realization settling in. Sabine lets out a surprised breath, part laugh, part sigh of relief.

And then there's this. She takes a deep breath, exhales, and . . . looks at Ezra. It's like all the weight has lifted from her shoulders and Sabine can breathe freely again for the first time in ten years.

Sabine looks at Ezra and she finally feels at home.

Natasha is such a fantastic actress. She really does embody this role like no one else could.

It's such a soft look from Sabine. I adore it so much because, for once in the entire show, we see Sabine be completely open with her innermost feelings - even if she isn't aware of it.

Guys, gals, and non-binary Sabezra pals; that's the look of someone who is in love. It's the look you see in someone's eyes when they find their Person.

We don't get this look from Sabine towards anyone else in the series; even with Ahsoka and Huyang she's still guarded and snarky.

But not here. Not with Ezra.

There is so much love in her gaze; so much devotion and longing and adoration for this person.

The mask slips in these seven seconds. And we finally see past the walls she's put up to see the true beating heart of Sabine Wren; what's been driving her all this time.

Not anger. Not bitterness or resentment.

It's love. Always has been. Sabine loves so fiercely - and that is, unfortunately, why she also guards her heart exactly the same way.

She's been burned before. But the remarkable thing about Sabine is that she gets up and keeps trying. Doesn't always succeed, but she keeps trying.

(It's incredibly humorous to me that Ezra, meanwhile, is on the other side of this, grinning like a loon. Completely oblivious to Sabine's Look of Love.)

And, just like that, the moment is broken. The mask re-adjusts; Sabine and Ezra pick up their old habits and resume where they left off.

But, maybe, the walls aren't as high up like they were before. Not nearly as high.

#sabezra #sabine wren #ezra bridger #ezrabine #star wars #star wars rebels #ahsoka #ahsoka show #natasha liu bordizzo #eman esfandi #it's a love story

56 notes · View notes