Set during season three (Before 'Trials of the Darksaber)
Summary – While taking a break from their usual rebellious activities, Ezra and Sabine engage in a tense prank war. As the pranks begin to become more and more intense, who will come out on top?
In Sabine's earliest days of being a spectre, back before Ezra had joined the Ghost family, the Mandalorian had found herself constantly uncomfortable. Being a former imperial cadet, nobody on the crew seemed to fully trust her, and Zeb in particular tried to avoid her if he could. She had never been the most social of people, but it still bothered her. Seeing this close family of rebels gather in the ship's galley, she would watch from the corridor and feel like an outcast. One day, she decided that it would change. She would make herself less closed off to try and become a proper member of this new family. It was a difficult task, trying to think of a way to accomplish this, but eventually she had a realisation. Pranks. The perfect light-hearted way to earn trust, and have a little fun on the way. In a single night; she managed to precisely shave Zeb's facial fur to give him drawn out whiskers, create a mural in temporary paint of Kanan and Hera kissing in the galley for everybody to see and paint a loth-cat on Chopper's underside right where he couldn't see to wash it off. The crew were shocked at first, having hardly spoken to Sabine outside of missions, but in seconds they began laughing out loud at the way she'd pranked their peers. That day, she sat and ate with the rest of the crew in the galley for the first of many times. Of course, she also spent the night washing off the mural of Kanan and Hera, but that's not the point.
Being the mischievous street-rat that he was in those days, when Ezra first joined the crew he had a similar idea. He committed a series of similar pranks on every member of the family, but he specifically missed out Sabine. The Mandalorian didn't know if it was because he was scared of her, or because he fancied her, but none of his mischievous activities seemed to involve her. Initially she was relieved, feeling as if he was just a nagging kid. But after a while, she found herself getting disappointed, like she was being left out again. And once again, she used pranks of her own to get back in on the action, though this time she focused only on Ezra. One night, shortly after Empire Day that year, she snuck into the padawan's cabin and stole one of his orange jumpsuits. The kid had several such jumpsuits, he wouldn't miss one, besides Sabine had an important purpose here. The next morning, Ezra awoke to find a bright pink jumpsuit hanging up next to his bed with the words "Signed – Sabine" emblazoned across it. Naturally, after that day Ezra no longer left her out of his mischief, and thus began the great prank war which still went on to this day.
Ezra crouched inside the air-vent, wincing a little as his back ached under the tight pressure of the narrow vent. He had grown quite a lot since his days of clambering through these vents as a street rat, but today he had no choice. He had to climb through these vents, this mission was too important to fail. The padawan stared down through a grate beneath him, trying to stay as silent as he could, even holding his breath so as not to make a sound. Below him was Sabine's cabin, within which the Mandalorian was currently sat on her bed drawing in a small sketchpad. Ezra was aware of how creepy he seemed, spying on his Mandalorian friend, but in truth his only motive was revenge. Just the other week he had been stood in the shower, enjoying a long soak to wash out the sands of Atollon, when suddenly the water turned ice cold. The only thing he heard as his muscles shivered in the freezing water was Sabine laughing loudly from outside. Now her day of reckoning would come, Ezra just had to wait. He sat there for several minutes, until finally Sabine placed her sketchpad nonchalantly on her bed and walked out of the cabin, sealing it behind her. With a mischievous grin, Ezra carefully lifted the grate up and placed it in the vent, silently dropping down into his friend's cabin. He glanced around with a smile, rubbing his hands together as he prepared his revenge. This prank would be simple, but would annoy Sabine no end. He planned to steal her sketchpad and hide it somewhere she would never find it. Sabine only ever used one pad at a time, she liked to use every inch of paper up before moving onto the next one. There were still some empty sheets in her current pad, so stealing it would drive her crazy for sure because she'd never start a new one. Ezra reached for the pad on her bed and took it into his hands, smiling villainously.
"Almost too easy" he whispered to himself in a satisfied manner, preparing to climb back up into the vent. But, as he stood there in the centre of Sabine's colourful cabin, he found himself overcome with curiosity. The Mandalorian showed no sign of coming back yet, so Ezra decided to sit down for a moment and open the sketchpad, curious of what she had been drawing recently. With a fond smile, he flicked through expert drawings of the Ghost crew, with all of the family stood in pride of place. But then he turned to a new page and found himself gasp in shock. This page showed a crude drawing of him seemingly being stunned with the caption "almost". At that moment, a small stun turret on the wall linked to a motion sensor suddenly activated, firing several shots at the unsuspecting Ezra. He quickly fell down onto Sabine's bed, paralysed by the electricity coursing through his veins. The last thing he saw before falling unconscious was Sabine grinning down at him.
Ezra's eyes flickered open slowly, his vision blurred and his senses dulled. He twitched his muscles slowly, and found that he was still unable to move, this time trapped by ropes rather than stun rounds. As his vision began to clear, he examined his situation more clearly and found himself tied to Sabine's bed, unable to leave, with the page from her sketchpad stuck to the ceiling above him. Suddenly, a cocky voice called out to him.
"Tut tut, looks like somebody tried to have himself a revenge prank. How did that work out for you pal?" Sabine said in a gloating voice. Ezra turned from side to side with panic, suddenly noticing his Mandalorian friend stood at his side, looking down on him with a grin on her face.
"H-how did you?" Ezra stuttered, still in a state of shock over how his master plan had failed.
"Oh Ezra...never tangle with an artist, we creative types are pretty determined. You should know that by now" the artist responded with glee.
"I know you're pretty annoying..." the padawan muttered to himself just a little too loudly. Sabine stared down at him, a joking glare on her face.
"Now...how could we punish a failed prankster? Put a live paint grenade in his bed? Paint his lightsaber hilt pink? So many options, so little time" she said aloud, contemplating the numerous possibilities now that she had Ezra firmly under control.
"Maybe you could kiss him on the lips while you've got him trapped...he'd never expect that" Ezra replied sarcastically, constantly shuffling to try to break free.
"Maybe I could..." Sabine answered quietly, slowly moving down towards him. Ezra widened his eyes in surprise, amazed that his comment had actually worked. His heart started to beat out of his chest as her lips moved closer to his, and suddenly, she moved away again.
"Falls for it every time" she commented with a grin. Ezra pouted, frustrated at himself.
"Damn it...you're evil" he replied, causing her to smile sweetly down at him.
"On the bright side, I think I've decided how to get you back for that comment earlier. How would you fancy a bright pink lightsaber?" she questioned rhetorically.
"About as much as I'd fancy a date with an inquisitor" he answered, the bitter sarcasm clear in his voice.
"Great, I'll go fetch it now. I tell you what, I'll paint it in front of you..." Sabine said with a grin, suddenly leaving the room. Ezra shuffled quickly, he knew he wouldn't have long. He desperately tried to break free from his restraints, but they were too tight. Sabine had certainly been planning for this, but one thing she couldn't plan for was his advantages as a Jedi. Closing his eyes in concentration, Ezra reached across the room and retrieved one of Sabine's combat knives with the force. He gripped the handle and hurriedly began slicing away at the rope, glancing nervously towards the door. He could hear her footsteps getting closer and closer as he finally broke free. And then, the moment Sabine re-entered the room with his lightsaber, he managed to retrieve one of her westar blasters from a nearby desktop. Before the Mandalorian could react, he fired a trio of stun rounds her way, sighing in relief as he fell to the ground unconscious. Now it was his turn for revenge.
Sabine woke up in the very same situation that Ezra had just a few minutes earlier, tied to her own bed as the padawan grinned down at her. In a futile fashion, she tried to shuffle free of the ropes, glaring up at him as he continued to silently take in his victory.
"A word to the wise, my dear Sabine. Never tangle with a Jedi...we force sensitives are very determined. You should know that by now" he said, mimicking her words to him. She frowned up at him, annoyed at herself for letting him escape. She should have known better than to under-estimate her.
"When I get out of here..." she began, but she was quickly interrupted.
"You won't get out of here...not until my grand prank is finished. Now, tell me, how should we punish a failed prankster?" Ezra interjected, enjoying every moment of his victory. Sabine shook her head slightly, if he wanted to mimic their previous conversation then she'd play along. Her next statement would no doubt make the padawan awkwardly shy anyway, allowing her to escape.
"Well...I hear that a kiss on the lips is the punishment for failed pranksters these days...though I suppose neither of us would know anything about that" she said, goading him with a confident grin. She knew that victory was close, Ezra would stutter awkwardly and she would once again win. Or at least, that's what she thought would happen. Instead, a rather different scenario played out. Initially, Ezra smiled back at her, and the two shared cocky grins, calling one another's bluffs. And then suddenly, out of the blue, he leant down and crashed his lips against hers with no hesitation whatsoever. Sabine was in a state of shock, her cheeks going beetroot red in embarrassment and her heart beating out of her chest. But gradually, she began to return the kiss, and when she managed to get one hand free, instead of using it to gain the upper hand she cupped Ezra's cheek, pulling him closer. Neither of them knew when to stop, or what the other one was thinking, and so when they finally did separate, they both awkwardly stayed there in silence. Ezra stood, unsure what to do with himself, and Sabine sat on her bed motionless, having broken free of the ropes during the kiss.
"Well...uh, I think I proved who the best prankster here is. Ahem...I'll leave you to your...things" Ezra stuttered, moving slowly towards the door. He wasn't entirely sure what he felt, she seemed to have enjoyed the kiss but then Mandalorians were tricky. As he began to leave the room, Sabine called after him.
"Ezra! Well played, you've upped the stakes now. I'll have to find something that outdoes a kiss to get back at you with next time..." she said in what could also be described as a flirty manner. With the press of a button, she then sealed the door, leaving Ezra to stand in the corridor alone. Did Sabine seriously just flirt with him? Like actual proper flirting? And he thought the force was the greatest miracle in the galaxy, clearly there were far more mysterious events. Prank wars would certainly be more interesting from now on...