A/N: I'm still in a Christmas mood. ;)
"Shh, don't wake him!"
"He's going to kill you, Ezra."
Ezra and Sabine hovered over a sleeping Zeb. The room was dimly lit by the faint light of the sun glowing through the small windows. Zeb didn't flinch when Ezra poked his cheek; he just continued snoring.
"Classic Zeb," Ezra chuckled. He sat on top of the Lasat and raised an eyebrow at Sabine when he still didn't move. Sabine shrugged.
"Do you think he's dead?" Ezra grinned.
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Ezra."
"It worries me that you're not at all fazed by the fact that Zeb may be dead."
"And it worries me that you say those things with a stupid grin on your face," Sabine said, pushing him off of Zeb. She nudged Zeb gently. "Wakey, wakey," she whispered in his ear.
"I'm about to give Zeb and 'achey, achey' if he doesn't wake up soon," Ezra said, rolling his eyes.
Sabine chose to ignore him and shook Zeb gently. She believed that going the more gentle route would wake up the Lasat without any trouble. But, of course, Ezra had a slightly different idea.
He jumped on to Zeb's back with all the force he could manage. Zeb's eyes sprung open and, out of reflex, he grabbed his bo-rifle that was placed next to his bed. He swiftly swung his weapon sideways and shocked Ezra who jumped up in fright and knocked his head on the top of the bunk-bed. Zeb flung all pillows and blankets aside and jumped to his feet, rifle aimed at Sabine.
"Zeb!" Sabine said, her hands flinging up to protect her face. Zeb, when realising who had woken him, groaned and sat back down on the bed.
"Nice reflexes, buddy," Ezra grinned, standing up and rubbing his head. "Just try not to shock me next time, okay?"
Steam rushed out of Zeb's ears as his grip tightened on his weapon. "Why you little--"
"Gotta run!" Ezra said with a playful salute as he ran out of the room.
This was an average holiday morning on the Ghost. New Year's, Easter, Halloween, you name it: Ezra always played some sort of prank on Zeb. Christmas was no different.
Zeb chased Ezra down the narrow hallways of the Ghost, waking up the entire ship with their noise.
"C'mon, Zeb! Where's your Christmas spirit?" Ezra said, climbing up ladders and jumping on ledges to get away from the rifle in Zeb's hands.
"What's going on here?" said a sleepy Hera, walking into the room, yawns betraying the intimidating look she was trying to portray. The two screeched to a halt, Zeb poised to strike and Ezra with his hands up in defense.
"Zeb doesn't have any Christmas spirit!" Ezra exclaimed dramatically.
"I'm pretty sure this little rat was trying to assassinate me," Zeb said, rolling his eyes and lowering his weapon.
"Was not!"
"Were too!" Sabine grinned, walking into the room. "Nah, I'm just kidding."
Ezra narrowed his eyes at Sabine and mouthed 'traitor'. She gave him a smile and a shrug.
"Hey Hera, what's going..." Kanan stopped short as he entered the room. "You know what, I don't even want to know," he said, shaking his head and wrapping an arm around Hera. "I don't feel like shouting today. It is Christmas, after all."
"Ba-wap!"
They all turned their heads to look at Chopper who was covered in a string of Chritmas lights. They all laughed as the droid spun around, loving the attention.
"Nice look, Chop!" Sabine laughed. "Loving the dazzle!"
While the kids were busy praising Chopper's new design choice, Kanan looked at Hera and said, "Would you like to do the honours?". Hera smiled and nodded sleepily.
"Okay, guys," she said, standing up a little straighter. "As you all know, Lothal doesn't get a lot of snow. I don't know about you, but Kanan and I haven't had a white Christmas in quite a long time, so we plan to take you guys to a ski park on a planet not far from Lothal!"
Enthusiastic cheers and excited beeps from the crew made Hera's smile grow wider. "We'll be leaving in about half an hour, so make sure you're all comfortable."
The kids and Zeb rushed off to their rooms. Chopper buzzed at Hera and she granted him permission to shut down for a while (because no droid likes to be woken up to clatter and noise at five in the morning on Christmas).
"Well done for thinking of this idea, Hera," Kanan smiled, squeezing her gently in his arms.
"Thank you, dear," she smiled and walked off to prepare the Ghost for take off.
• • •
The Ghost made its arrival on soft, white snow. Ezra looked out of the window and marveled at the way the sun reflected off of the ground like glass. The crew walked down the ramp of the ship and took in their surroundings.
The air was crisp and cold and the comforting smell of pine needles swirled through the wind. It was quite a sunny day despite the icy wind. There were only a few clouds in the sky, but the warmth of the sun was not strong enough to melt even the delicate ice crystals hanging from the dark branches of trees.
"This is incredible!" Ezra exclaimed, crouching down to touch the frost-covered ground. "It's beautiful."
"It looks like you've never seen snow before," Sabine laughed.
"Well, I haven't," Ezra shrugged. "I hadn't even gone into space before I met you guys."
"Well then," Hera smiled, putting an arm on his shoulder. "Let's make today a good one."
Everyone happily agreed. Kanan went off to pay the entrance fee to the ski park while Hera dug some old gloves and scarves out of the storage compartment.
Ezra pulled on the sweater he had been given - a green one with red patterns across the front. It was three sizes too big for him, making him look even smaller than he already was. The sight earned a laugh from Zeb and Sabine. Ezra rolled his eyes, eventually giving in and laughing too.
"Ready?" Hera asked as Kanan came back.
"All set," he confirmed.
The kids didn't need to hear anymore than that. They sped off down the path into the park. The sprint turned into a race (as it always did with these confident teens), and, to everyone's surprise, Chopper was crowned winner.
"Chopper, you cheat!" Sabine said. "You're not allowed to use your rocket boosters to win the race!"
"Ba-wop, wop," Chopper buzzed mockingly.
"No, of course I'm not 'jealous'," Sabine rolled her eyes, a grin adding a glow to her cheeks.
Hera, Kanan and Zeb appeared around corner of a tree. "Okay, so who wants to build a snowman?" Kanan suggested.
Chopper beeped and rolled off to find a place to build his snowdroid. Meanwhile, the team worked together to build their own balls of snow.
Zeb had just lifted up the torso to stack onto the snowman's legs when Ezra interrupted. "Here, I'll do it," he told him, trying to look as manly as a fifteen-year-old could.
"Be my guest," Zeb snickered, placing the big ball of snow in the boy's arms.
Ezra may have underestimated the heaviness of it, because he found himself toppling backwards, his boots having a hard time gripping onto the snow underneath. He put a foot out behind him to steady himself, but that only worked for a second or two. He toppled about, accidentally spinning on a few patches of ice. He ended up wandering away from their spot before realising where he was and attempting to walk back. When he had finally gotten it onto the rest of the snowman, Kanan said, "Maybe next time you could use the Force to lift it," with a grin.
"Look at you, always trying to sneak in a lesson whenever you get the chance," Ezra chuckled.
"Hey, it might look better than walking around like a headless chicken."
"Wap, wop!" Chopper buzzed, rolling up to them.
"You finished your snowman?" Hera asked.
"Ba-wop."
"Pardon, your snowdroid," Hera winked.
Chopper beeped happily, pleased that he had finished before them.
"Well, let's see it!" Hera smiled, encouraging the rest of the crew to come and see Chopper's work of art.
And yes, it definitely was a work of art. Chopper had used all the tools he had attached to him to carve ... well, himself.
"Cheeky little rust bucket," Zeb said. "It looks exactly like you."
The rest of the afternoon was spent building snow sculptures, having snowball fights and even ice skating (it was Ezra's first time and he fell a lot). Now the crew sat on a fallen log, looking out into a snow-covered forest.
"I wonder if you can spray-paint snow..." Sabine thought aloud.
"Well, it would certainly be better than ice skating," Ezra said rubbing his hip. "I don't know how you guys don't get broken bones from that."
"Well, we don't exactly fall every five seconds," Sabine chuckled.
"I think I'm going to have a scar for the rest of my life after that."
"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you did, to be honest."
"You're not helping."
"Never said I was trying to."
"It is just me, or is it suddenly getting really dark?" Zeb asked.
"Yeah, the sun sets early in these parts," Hera explained. "We should probably head back soon, anyway. It's getting cold."
"If you're cold, you could've just said so," Kanan grinned and put an arm around her to keep her warm.
"You're such a dork, Kanan," she laughed but didn't shake him away.
"Ugh, get a room already," Zeb groaned, earning a glare from the two of them. "Just kidding!" he said, his hands shooting up in defense.
"C'mon, let's head back to the ship," Hera said, standing up and swinging her backpack over her shoulder.
"Aww, can't we go ice skating again?" Sabine asked.
"Sometimes I think you like seeing me in pain," Ezra said while Sabine laughed.
"Merry Christmas, everyone," Kanan said.
"This has seriously been the best Christmas I've ever had," Ezra said. "After spending Christmas on the streets for 8 years, I forgot how nice it was to celebrate with a family."
"We'll always be there for you, Ezra," Hera said, pulling him in for a hug. "Always."
• • •
Hey, hey, hey! It's 2016 and my mind is still stuck on Christmas!
I feel like it went way too fast. I need my Christmas back.
Anyway, I hope you guys had a brilliant New Year!
When I wrote the part where Ezra called Sabine a traitor, all I could think about was TR8-R from The Force Awakens. XD
Also, if you guys have Tumblr, I've got a Star Wars blog called space-family.tumblr.com. I post/reblog lots of Star Wars Rebels stuff, trust me. ;) You're welcome to check it out if you're interested! :)
Okay, bye!
May the Force be with you, my young Padawans. ;)