And he was you and you were him

Ezra was barely holding himself together, both his hands raised up towards the creatures and sweating profusely, trembling. Clearly, he was feverish from his wound [] and the young Jedi fell to his knees panting and gasping. [] Thrawn stared at him briefly, narrowing his glowing red eyes as he considered his options. After a few heartbeats, he finally approached the young man and pulled him up from his good shoulder. []

"NO! n-no...!" he mumbled in alarm and tried in vain to step away from Thrawn.

"Bridger, we are heading to the remaining escape pods. Will I have to leave you here to die?" It was not a threat, it was an honest question and Ezra was awake enough to comprehend this.

"Ok..." he calmed down and started to drift back into unconsciousness. Thrawn hurried to the nearest working escape pod practically dragging Bridger along.

"Kanan... I'm sorry..."

Thrawn seated Ezra and hastily strapped him the best he could, then went to the controls of the escape pod. [] Even if they detached now, their chances of survival were minimal. He looked back at Bridger and couldn't help to find all of this predicament impressive. He half smirked at the irony of it all and pressed the emergency release button.

"May the Force be with us."

[]

Fire engulfed everything.

He was a child, it was raining. He was scared and alone.

Red eyes over him. He tried to escape. He was held down. He screamed for help.

Stars. He was surrounded by stars. Dume was there. But it wasn't Dume.

"Kanan."

He could not see him, but he was brilliance. He could not touch him, but he was embracing him.

He smiled as a wave of relief and peace rolled over him.

He opened his eyes.

["LKT" by @soulnova_alizrak]

~

Continuing my journey across possible futures post-Rebels, I adored this very on-point suggestion regarding the inevitable overlap between Kanan and Thrawn in Ezra's soul. Although the Jedi will take years to fully trust the Chiss, Thrawn's natural mentor abilities, selflessness, and kindness, will inexorably lead him to feel the strong parallel between the two men, ultimately accepting the latter in his complexity and good intentions.

A very Ezra thing.

[Photo: magnificent pin by @ghostcrewpins]