#kanan's role in this could be summed up as: i found a freezing orphan and decided to take him home

[rebelquilts512]

Little Match Boy

So this is a little Star Wars Rebels thing I came up with a little over the week ago and finally finished it.

It’s based on The Little Match Girl Disney animated short (I’m sorry I don’t have a link) and the preceding story by Hans Christian Anderson.

It takes place in the same time period as the short (so it’s Human AU), but not necessarily the same location as the short.

Don’t worry, this has a much happier ending than the short it’s based off of!

Oh, and this has a different writing style than the other stuff I’ve written. I tried to replicate the style the short is presented in, so there’s no dialogue, but a lot of paragraphs and descriptions. Ezra is the only character addressed by name.

There wasn't much orphans could do to survive the winter; they either went to the workhouse, were taken in by kind people or ones who were eager for cheap help, or they were stuck selling matches on the streets, where their life was placed in the hands of the generosity of the passersby.

Ezra, at seven years old, was in that last category. He had a tray of matches that was supported by a rope hung around his neck.

***

Ezra was standing on a bridge watching people skate on the frozen ice.

Then a horse bumped him and his matches spilled out over the snow. He quickly gathered them up and put them back in his tray.

It was so cold. He was only wearing rags and his feet only had strips of cloth wrapped around them.

He went back into the streets and tried to get someone to buy a match, but nobody was paying attention to him.

Ezra saw someone pull out a pipe and he rushed to give him a match to light it, but he already had one.

Ezra decided to climb up on a barrel by the light pole to get people’s attention.

Suddenly, he was distracted by a family coming out of the toy shop. There was a girl holding a doll, a boy carrying some boxes, a woman holding wrapped packages, and a man with another boy atop his shoulders.

They made Ezra miss his parents even more. They all climbed into a fancy sleigh pulled by a big brown horse and drove off.

In his moment of distraction, a man walked up to him. He picked Ezra up and set him down on the ground. He looked like an officer of the law. Ezra offered him a match, but he walked away.

It was getting late. Someone was already lighting the gas lamps.

It was getting colder and people were starting to head home. Ezra knew he wouldn't be able to sell any more today.

Ezra found an alley to spend the night in.

It was still so cold. Ezra tried his best to keep warm.

He saw the matches in his tray. He thought about lighting one, just to get warm, but he knew it would be a waste.

He shivered again as the wind picked up.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and he lit a match.

It was so warm.

Suddenly, the pile of junk across from him turned into a toasting furnace.

Ezra warmed himself by fire.

Then it was gone, just as the match burnt out.

Ezra shivered again.

He lit another match.

This time, a table full of wonderful food appeared.

Ezra grabbed a turkey leg, but it turned into a burnt match as everything disappeared.

All that food reminded him that he was starving.

A small drift of snow fell on Ezra’s head. He brushed the snow off his head and saw that the snow got all over his remaining matches. He dusted them off.

Then he decided to light another one.

A golden sleigh pulled by three black horses came riding in and Ezra was whisked into the seat. A big furry blanket covered him and off they went.

They rode all the way to a big house.

Ezra walked up to the door and rubbed one of the fog-covered front windows to see what was inside. Then he knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal his parents.

Ezra was so happy he rushed to hug them, but then they were gone, leaving Ezra with another burnt match.

Ezra was about to grab his last three matches when he sensed a presence. Someone had come into the alley. Ezra looked up and saw a man standing in front of him.

He was tall and was wearing a coat and boots like all the other grown-ups he’d seen today. The man bent down until his eyes were level with Ezra’s. He looked concerned, but Ezra knew better than to trust strangers.

The man reached out to touch his hand.

Ezra pulled his hand out of reach and held it to his chest.

The man saw this and took his hand back.

Ezra looked into the man’s eyes. They were a teal color Ezra had never seen before, and... they seemed kind.

Something told Ezra he could trust this man.

The man extended his hand again and Ezra took it.

He tried to stand up, but his legs were to weak from hunger and cold to stand.

The man saw this and picked him up.

The man was strong. Ezra could tell.

The man grabbed Ezra’s match tray and slung it over his shoulder.

The man then wrapped Ezra inside his coat and carried him out of the alley.

Ezra was warmer than he’d been in a while inside the man’s coat. He tried to poke his head out, but the only thing he could see was part of the man’s neck and shoulder, and it was still freezing out, so he stayed inside.

The man carried him down the street.

Ezra’s muscles relaxed from being so warm and he closed his eyes.

He didn’t open them until he heard a door open. The man had taken him home.

Ezra maneuvered so he could see what was in front of him.

A woman had come to greet them at the door. She was pretty, had bright green eyes, two long braids, and was wearing a orange, green, and brown dress.

She moved to kiss the man, but paused when she noticed Ezra peeking out.

She gave the man a questioning look that seemed to ask: ‘What have you gotten yourself into now?’  Ezra guessed this was the man’s wife.

The man just smiled sheepishly and entered the house. He took off his hat and hung it on a peg by the door. This revealed that he had long brown hair that was tied back.

The woman was still giving him a look, so the man took off his coat in such a way that he never put Ezra down. He did so by going one sleeve at a time, with the other arm always supporting Ezra.

Once the man hung his coat on a hook and put Ezra’s match tray down, the woman took a good look at Ezra. Her face turned sympathetic and she brushed some of his bangs out of his face.

She looked at the man again. They had a silent conversation over Ezra’s head.

Then the woman stepped aside and the man carried him further into the house.

They came into a room that was probably the main living area. There was a dark haired girl a few years older than Ezra sitting in a small chair with paper and a pencil, a fat orange cat curled up by the fire, and a larger older man was snoring in one of the big chairs who Ezra guessed was probably an uncle.

When the girl noticed them come in, she got up and ran over to the man with a big smile on her face.

She slowed to a stop when she noticed he was carrying Ezra. She tilted her head curiously at him.

The man smiled down at her and extended one arm in her direction.

After a moment, the girl’s smile returned and she hugged the man’s leg. Then she looked up at Ezra and waved at him.

Ezra figured this was the man’s daughter.

The man patted her head.

When she let go of his leg, she didn’t go back to her chair. She stayed and continued to look up at Ezra.

Then the man carried him over to one of the other big chairs, that was near the fire, and the woman wrapped him in a thick blanket. The trip wrapped in the man’s coat had warmed him considerably, but they probably wanted to make sure he stayed warm.

The girl climbed up in the chair with him, bringing her pencil and paper with her, while the man and woman went into what Ezra supposed was the kitchen.

Ezra sat in the chair for a while; the girl let him watch her draw so he wouldn’t get bored.

Then the man and woman returned and the girl got up. The man came up to him and picked him up again.

Ezra was reasonably sure he could walk now, but decided not to protest.

The woman went up to the sleeping uncle and shook his shoulder.

It took a minute for him to wake up, but when he did his eyes went to Ezra. He looked back and forth between the man and the woman as if to ask a question.

The woman just smiled and shook her head while the man grinned sheepishly.

The uncle just shrugged and followed the girl out of the room. The woman came next and Ezra and the man brought up the rear.

The first thing Ezra saw when he entered the room was the table covered with food set for five people.

The girl and the uncle took places at the table while the woman got food out for the cat.

The man set him down in the seat beside the girl -they were both across from the uncle- before taking his place at the head of the table, which happened to be right by Ezra.

The woman returned from feeding the cat and sat down at her place at the other end of the table.

Ezra’s plate was filled with as much food as everybody else’s, possibly even a bit more than theirs.

It wasn’t until about halfway through the meal that Ezra realized that he finally found a home.