#don't mind me taking a step away from the fake engagement au for today

[kanerallels]

Homeward Bound

(for Kanera Week, based on the prompt "reunion/making up for lost time")

Read on AO3 here!

@kaneraweek

Word Count: 1,828

Tags/Warning: rated G

Summary: Five years after the battle of Yavin, the Empire is defeated above Jakku. It's an important day for all of the galaxy-- but for Kanan Jarrus and Jacen Syndulla, it's especially meaningful.

Kanan was busy making dinner when the call came. He heard the beep of the holocom going off, and didn’t turn from slicing the kajaka roots in front of him. “Kasmir, can you get that?” he called.

The Kalleran, who’d moved to Ryloth with him to take care of Jacen, headed across the room. “Don’t let the steaks burn while I’m gone, or Cham will never let it go,” he warned Kanan. “Your father-in-law is notoriously picky about how well done his steaks are.”

Letting out a snort, Kanan said, “And yet you consist in making them well done. I wonder why that is?”

Kasmir ignored him, which was unsurprising. Kanan was definitely grateful for Kasmir hanging around. However, he had a habit of clashing with Hera’s father. The only thing the two of them could agree on was Jacen, and the fact the kid deserves the best.

As he continued chopping up the kajaka roots, he heard Kasmir whistling as he checked the com. Then he stopped abruptly, and Kanan felt his heart skip a beat.

The only people who called them on that holocom, other than Sabine from time to time, was the New Republic. Which meant there was some kind of news from Hera.

Setting down the knife, he moved towards the door. “Kasmir. What is it?”

“It’s… good news,” Kasmir said, his voice stunned. “Jakku’s been taken. The Imperial fleet has surrendered.”

Feeling shock cut through him, Kanan took a deep breath. “Does that-- you’re saying--”

“She’s coming home,” Kasmir said, the grin in his voice obvious. “The captain’s coming home.”

Kanan could feel a smile spreading across his face. Force. She’s coming back. Finally, she’s coming home. Turning, he managed to keep his voice steady as he called, “Jacen! Come here for a minute!”

The sound of thumping feet caught his ear, and Jacen raced into the room. “Yeah, Dad? What’s up?”

Cham was a few steps behind his grandson, and Kanan felt his curious gaze resting on him. “Is there something wrong?” he asked, his voice wary-- clearly he’d heard the holocom go off as well, and connected the dots.

“No,” Kanan said. “The Empire surrendered.” He could sense the shock radiating from Cham as he turned to Jacen. “Jacen, your mom’s coming home.”

Jacen let out a whoop and launched himself at Kanan. “REALLY?? Really really? Mom’s coming home? For how long?”

“For good, kiddo,” Kanan said, hugging his son tightly. “The fight’s over. She’s not going anywhere once she gets home.”

“YES!!!” Jacen said, wriggling free from Kanan’s grasp to start jumping around the kitchen. “When? When are we going to see her?”

“ETA, three days,” Kasmir said, and Jacen let out another shout of delight.

“Time to start planning the welcome home dinner,” Cham said, his voice satisfied. “Only the best to welcome home our Hera.”

Chuckling, Kanan said, “I guess we’d better start making some calls. The others are going to want to be here for this.”

As Jacen jumped around the kitchen and Cham started planning the dinner out loud and Kasmir made fun of him, Kanan could smell the steaks burning in the other room. But he didn’t care. Hera was coming home.

The next few days slipped by with surprising speed as the four of them made calls and prepared for the welcome home dinner. A message from Hera confirmed her arrival time, which only heightened the excitement.

The guests started arriving the day of-- Kallus and Zeb, of course. Sabine, along with Rex and Ahsoka, bringing stories from the Outer Rim, and even Numa and Gobi, Cham’s seconds in command. The house was filled with people, talking and laughing and helping with dinner. Zeb, Ahsoka, Kasmir and Rex had commandeered the kitchen, with Cham supervising, Numa and Gobi were entertaining Jacen by telling him stories, and Sabine and Kallus were discussing tactics. Everyone was there-- except Kanan and Jacen.

Leaning back on the heels of his hands, Kanan tilted his head up to the sky, enjoying the cool night air as he asked, “Do you see anything yet?”

“Nope,” Jacen reported. He’d managed to convince Kanan that they could wait for Hera up on the roof-- which, admittedly, hadn’t taken much. The only person more excited than Jacen was Kanan, although he didn’t show it as much as his son did.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, savoring the thought of Hera, finally home to stay. It had been a long two years, with visits every now and then, but mostly so much time apart. Kanan missed her, aching to hold her in his arms again. Force, it would be so good to have her back.

Next to him, Jacen let out an impatient sigh. “How long is this gonna take?”

“Hang in there, kid,” Kanan said with a grin. “She’ll be here soon. Your mom isn’t late often.”

“How are you so patient?” Jacen grumbled.

Feeling a soft smile crossing his face, Kanan replied, “I’ve spent a lifetime waiting for your mom. I can wait a little longer.”

“Well, I haven’t spent that long, and I don’t want to.”

“Someday, you’ll find someone you’d wait that long for,” Kanan replied absently, running his fingers through his beard. “And you may find you don’t mind as much.”

“Ew,” Jacen muttered, and Kanan laughed.

“You might not want to hear it, but you’ll understand when you get older.”

“I don’t think I want to understand-- THERE!” Jacen jumped to his feet, and Kanan lunged forward, grabbing him by the back of the shirt to prevent him from plummeting off the edge. Disregarding his near-death experience, Jacen said, “It’s Mom! It’s the Ghost!”

Even as he said the words, Kanan could hear the familiar rumble of the Ghost’s engines as it cruised overhead, setting down a little ways away.

“Take it easy, we don’t want you to fall off the roof before you see your mom again,” Kanan said, feeling a similar buzz of excitement going through him even as he spoke. Hera was right there. She was right there, and she was finally home. “Come on-- do you want to take the direct way down?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, hang on.” Grabbing Jacen, he swung the boy up and over one of his shoulders. Jacen let out a shrieking laugh as Kanan called on the Force and jumped from the rooftop, landing lightly next to the door just as Kasmir stepped out. He gave a strangled yelp, clutching his chest.

“Holy-- don’t scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” Kanan said with a grin, depositing Jacen on the ground. His son immediately took off towards where the Ghost was-- Kanan could hear the ramp lowering even from where he stood. The next thing he heard was Jacen shouting for his mom, his voice filled with pure joy. And then he heard her. Hera’s voice. No matter how long he lived, Kanan knew that hearing her voice would always be one of the greatest experiences of his life.

As he started towards them, he heard Hera hugging and kissing Jacen. “Oh, look at you, you’ve gotten so big--”

“Mom, guess what? Sabine says there are planets on the Outer Rim that have swoop bike races, and the bikes have these crazy engines on them,” Jacen said, all but bouncing in place. “And she said they take entrances as young as fifteen, so when I get that old, I wanna go there and beat the record--”

“We’ll talk when you’re older, dear,” Hera said, humor in her voice.

“--and guess what, Uncle Zeb and Uncle Kal are here, and Rex is making dinner, and he said he’d teach me how to use his blasters, and Dad said that Rex is one of the only people he’d want to teach me that, but I have to wait until I’m older but can we please do it now--”

“Hey, what have I told you about that divide and conquer stuff?” Kanan called as he came up to them. “I already gave my answer to that one.”

Jacen let out a disappointed groan, but Kanan felt Hera’s gaze on him and he had only one thing on his mind right now. Closing the distance between them, he pulled Hera into a warm hug. “Welcome home, General Hera,” he whispered.

He felt her let out a soft chuckle. “No general now. I resigned my commission. I’m officially a civilian like everyone else, and very happy about it.”

“Maybe. But you’ll always be my captain,” Kanan said. Leaning back, he let his hands slide down to rest on her hips. “So, what are your plans now that you’re home?”

Placing the palms of her hands against his chest, Hera murmured, “I’ve got a few ideas.” The mischief in her voice brought a grin to Kanan’s face, and he leaned down, catching her lips against his in a kiss. Her hands slipped up and twined around his neck, and Hera pulled herself closer to him, kissing him back with such intensity Kanan almost lost his balance.

The next sound he properly heard was the disapproving beeps of an astromech droid. Hera laughed against his lips, and Kanan shook his head. “I’m still somehow glad you survived, Chop,” he told the droid. “Thanks for taking care of her for me.”

Chopper grumbled something, and Hera smacked him in the arm as she stepped back. “I took care of myself, thanks for noticing, love.”

“Oh, I’m aware,” Kanan said, tugging her forward into his arms again. “But you know those flyboys in the New Republic. One of them might have tried to steal your heart, and then where would we be?”

Hera came willingly into his embrace as she replied, “How can they steal it when you’re taking such good care of it?”

Kanan grinned at that. “Oh, that’s a good one.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I’ll have to remember that.” He was about to kiss her again when a shout came from the house.

“Hey, lovebirds! If you’d like to take a minute for the rest of us, dinner’s about ready,” Kasmir yelled. “And the others would like to see Captain H as well.”

Kanan released a long sigh, and Hera chuckled softly. “Later, dear,” she said.

“Later,” Kanan agreed. Unable to resist, he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss against the side of her jaw, and murmured, “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Me, too,” she said, her voice a tad breathless, and Kanan grinned.

“Can we have dinner instead of kissing now?” Jacen asked.

Letting out a laugh, Hera said, “Of course, Jacen.” Stepping away from Kanan, she led the way to the house, catching hold of Kanan’s hand as she went. Kanan willingly went after her, letting himself be pulled back into the chaos in the house. Their reunion could continue later. Because now, they had a lifetime for it. Neither of them were going anywhere, and that-- that was more than enough for Kanan.

[ka-writes]

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Notes: I felt evil..

Also cross country sucks, now I feel sick.

But I gift longish chapter!

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Incase you missed:

Chapter 1:

Chapter 4:

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Inspired by:

Humans are Space Velociraptors

By:FreshRoses_InMyGarden_NeedTheRain

Some kids come from storks, others come from crashed spaceships

By: mmmajora

Home Again, Home Again

By: teeth_eater

All works can be found on Ao3

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Warning: trauma flash backs, cussing, mentions of character death, fear.

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Chapter 5: Rocky Road

——————

Techno certainly didn’t expect Tubbo’s sudden outburst. Still Techno sort of expected bitterness towards the human.

The droneling marched off presumably to go to the garden. He shoved Wilbur out of the way and continued speaking gibberish.

“What’s with Tubbo?” The phantom asked, casting worried glances towards the door.

“He just threatened the human.” Techno said as if it wasn’t the most stupid move on Tubbo’s part. Wilbur’s eyes grew wide and he attempted to run to the holding cell, only to be stopped by Techno’s hand on his shoulder. The phantom sighed before turning towards the guard.

Silently the pair made their way to the common room. Flicking on the illusion projector, and turning the channel with the ISF news. Techno opened a novel not paying any mind to the news reporter who was going over the case that Techno had just escaped.

There weren't any further advances on the story other than what they knew. The ship had crashed on Omar, a nature preserve, which led the ISF to find eight human bodies and twelve recognized crew members. Though there were fourteen to begin with, not that the news knew that of course. The ship was also deemed as a poacher ship and not much else was discovered.

After the story was covered a different news reporter came on screen. He was shifting his papers nervously and glanced down every so often. This caused Techno to close his novel and pay attention to the illusion.

“Just one day ago, one of the Dream Team crew members quit.” The news reporter took a shaky breath before continuing, “Today the crew has reported that the ex-crew member had taken one of the humans they were using for testing.” A picture of Tommy appeared on screen, “This is what the human looks like. We advise citizens to be on the lookout for this man,” a picture of Wilbur popped onto the screen, “and the human. If you see either one in public do not engage and immediately report it to one of your stationed guards.” The man finished and Wilbur immediately flicked off the TV.

Him and Techno shared a glance of pure shock. Wilbur shed a couple blue tears and immediately started panicking. The guard wrapped his brother until a tight hug and fought off the voices chants of “NOT SAFE”. Silence drew the pair into an unsteady atmosphere.

——————

“Honestly that kid is a burden. I don’t know why you think we can take care of him.” A lady said, fury wasn’t hidden behind a fake smile at this point. The man standing next to her nodded silently.

“Ma’am, I don't understand what you’re saying.” Another lady responded, patience running thin.

Tommy held back the tears that were threatening to fall. His lip was already bleeding and his fingers felt raw. His bruises were itching uncomfortably under his tight shirt. He was starting to overheat, yet kept his jacket wrapped around him protectively.

“What I am saying is, we don’t want him, and I doubt anyone else will.” The lady started, “That kid is a nuisance. He makes our children look problematic, when in reality he is the problem child. I don’t understand how his parents put up with him for so long.” The lady finished.

“Only my mother put up with me,” Tommy thought, “my father couldn’t spare me a glance without yelling at me..”

He sat in the waiting room for what felt like hours before making the decision. The one that caused him to live on the streets.

He took his bag and sprinted out of the facility. He just kept running, nowhere to go and no money to use.

….

Suddenly it was a different night. He was sitting on a park bench looking at the stars. He was somewhere in Colorado, not sure how he made it here, but here he was. He breathed in the fresher air and pushed himself up.

He turned left then right then another left. At this point he was on one of those nature paths that seemed to be everywhere.

He sat in a field. Wasn’t it night?

A light and a huge gust of wind was the only response he got.

Then footsteps. A distant scream. Then cold sharp pain accompanied by a void of darkness.

He woke up in a cage..

He shot up in bed.. His head throbbed, but there was no point in sleeping it off.

So he got up. He hobbled over to the bookshelf and looked at the weird games and toys. His eyes fell on what he presumed to be a stack of cards and a pen of sorts.

It took an hour to label all the cards, but when he finally did he played a game of solitaire. Then another and another. By the time he finished the sixth one he was bored.

He went back to inspecting the bookshelf. The middle shelf had jigsaw puzzles.. didn’t Clem like puzzles?

He picked out what he presumed to be a flower field. There were a bunch of blue sunflowers.. wasn’t that her favorite flower?

Tommy sat on the floor creating a puzzle his sister would’ve absolutely adored. Silent tears slipped down his cheeks every once and a while. Only to be hastily wiped away.

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His eyes felt like they were glued shut. They attempted to sit up only to find creaks in their back and neck.

After a minute he sat up. His mind was still foggy from sleep, but he made his way to the security office, ready to work through his sleep deprived state.

Before they even left the room Phil told them to go back to rest. Ranboo obliged, and closed his door.

Having no work left he decided to write down as much information as he could about both Earth and Tommy.

Surprisingly they were able to recall a lot of information from the night before. That usually didn’t happen..

Once they wrote an entire dictionary on both topics, they tried the door again.

Phil, once again stepped in front of them, “Mate, I really think you should rest.”

“I know, but I am hungry. Can I at least have lunch?” Ranboo felt like a child once again, but knew it always worked with the captain.

After Phil rolled his eyes, Ranboo practically skipped to the kitchen. He grabbed some of the leftovers from last night and popped it into the insta-heater. Making two plates of food.

After the food was ready he looked down either hallway. Phil was preoccupied with Wilbur in the common room. Deciding it was the best time to sneak to his friend, he made his way to the holding cell. Only to be stopped by none other than Techno himself.

“Oh! H-hi Techno..” Ranboo said awkwardly.

“What are you doing?”

“I-I was just getting Tubbo some lunch!” Ranboo cringed at their own lie. Only to be met with a raised eyebrow.

“Ok I was gonna visit Tommy.” Ranboo caved. That was the right answer as Techno nodded and let Ranboo pass.

“You’re only giving him lunch right?” Techno inquired.

“Er- that and talk a bit.. I mean that was my original plan.”

“Then I will stay with you.” Techno left no room for debate.

Ranboo nodded and approached the cell, setting the plate on the automatic tray. Techno stood in a small hallway allowing his presence only to be known to Ranboo.

Tommy was sitting on the floor putting together a landscape puzzle.

With what they saw, their curiosity intrigued them.

“Can I go in?” He asked first to Techno who shifted off of the wall.

“Only if I am in there.” Ranboo nodded and turned to Tommy who was busy with the puzzle.

Ranboo knocked on the window once. Tommy’s head shot up before the human stood up and approached the window.

“Hello!” Ranboo chirped, “I can see you’re working on a puzzle! I would love to help if you want? Me and my friend won’t go in if you don’t want me in there. But just so you know I brought lunch!”

Tommy stared at the enderian before answering. He was clearly debating the options.

“Only if Techno doesn’t talk.” Was the only response either got.

With that they grabbed the food and let the door open. Techno entered first, immediately going to the back chair and pulling out a novel. Ranboo handed Tommy a plate and sat next to the strange human.

It didn’t take them long for them to start rambling. Both about everything and nothing.

Surprisingly Ranboo lost all fear that should’ve been gripping them, and felt comfortable sitting with one of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy.

——————

“So people are looking for you?” The captain asked, impatiently tapping his foot against the metal floor.

“To put it simply, yea..” Wilbur said pretty much losing all confidence within the span of an hour.

The caption responded with a sympathetic look and wrapped his son in another tight hug. Wilbur didn’t pull away this time. He melted into comfort.

After a minute the elder pulled away, “How about you watch one of those documentaries you like. I will make some iced fluff and join you in a bit.” The phantom nodded and trugged himself over to the common room sofa. Turning on the illusion and flicking to one of the only things the ISF was allowing people to view from Earth, Netflix.

He skimmed the documentary section and came upon one that was about the Ocean. Three minutes later he was completely into it.

Phil returned with two bowls of iced fluff. Wilbur dug into the sweet treat. Phil sat next Will and wrapped a wing around him, to which Will leaned into the embrace.

——————

“So what’s your favorite treat?” Ranboo asked, after he got another piece Tommy wasn’t able to get.

Tommy scoffed, mumbling about how he was just about to try that spot before answering the question, “I love Rocky Road Ice Cream. My mom made it without nuts so it is far superior to anything anyone would get from a store.” Tommy was satisfied with his answer and tried another piece.

“Hmm.. What is ice cream?”

“It’s a sweet frozen cream of sorts.”

“Oh so like iced fluff?”

“No idea, I would have to try it first..”

Both continued the conversation mumbling about other different foods and what not, before falling into a comfortable silence.

Tubbo was absolutely furious at the scene. He sprinted off to the garden where he slammed the door and melted to the floor.

When was the last time anyone had a conversation that was about everything and nothing with him?

He hated the fact he was jealous over a fucking human.

Tomorrow was the day he would prove the human wasn’t all he seemed to be. That the human was nothing more than a monster.

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Chapter 5-End

Words: 1826

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Notes: I still have a few filler chapters, but am getting there!!

Go take care of yourself, love ya!! <3

Reminder likes are appreciated but reblogs are even better! (Suggestion make a side blog where you just spam creators works... just saying, I have one..)

Also my layout for chapters has changed a bit. I have the last chapter at the top and the next one at the bottom.. and no I am not doing the inspired by on Ao3, simply cause it’s easier for people to see it in the first few, I am keeping it here tho, cause I know people aren’t really gonna see my first chapter right away. I will be keeping the link to the first chapter at the top as well just not the middle ones.

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Tubbo has evolved in to

J E L L Y B E E

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Chapter 6: