1 | Star Wars Rebels: Fallen Hope: My Only Jedi

Part 2

Aboard the Ghost, hyperspace, 1628, 3273 LY

     ''I heard Ezra did well,'' Kanan remarked as he walked uncertainly into the medbay, steps away from the door if he wasn't wanted. Hera turned to regard him with a smile, then stood up. To him, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He would have no one else as his partner. 

     Hera's lekku swung slightly as she faced Kanan. Her expression convicting, she remarked coolly, ''Indeed. He did as well as anyone with only an energy slingshot and a little Jedi training.''

     The adult male rubbed his neck with guilt, glancing at his Padawan who was blissfully sleeping. After a momentary glance, he turned his gaze back to Hera, who had folded her arms. ''He's not ready,'' Kanan argued.

     ''Is it just him,'' Hera inquired, ''or is it both him and you?''

     Kanan sighed regretfully. ''It's more me than him,'' he eventually admitted. ''I don't think I can go back to a Temple. I'm not ready. I need more time.''

     The female Twi'lek grabbed Kanan's hands. ''Love, I think you're running out of time. You need to do this.''

     ''Not yet,'' Kanan whispered, letting Hera pull him into an embrace. ''Not yet.'' 

     It was dark. Nothing to be seen except the desolate area of darkness. Ezra had been stunned before. Twice. Once by a furious merchant who wanted their stuff back, and then once by his own energy slingshot. That was his own fault, though. He found out which side was which quickly. 

     All Ezra's blue eyes could see was darkness. Who knew what was above, below? Up, down, left, right? Who could possibly know? The darkness had patches here and there of blackness darker than its surroundings. ''If I go to the place of shadows burn,'' Ezra recited in a murmur, ''there will be no return.''

     Perhaps this was the place of shadows burn. Perhaps there was no return, surely there was no return! That couldn't have been a stun bolt; it was far too powerful. The electricity, the convulsion, the refusal of your muscles to obey your will, that was a stun bolt. The same thing had happened, but it was far stronger than usual. If it indeed was a stun bolt, it was strong enough to drop a Wookie. 

     What had happened to him, though? Did the crew leave him? Did Kanan leave him? Ezra quickly banished the thought of Kanan leaving him. He would never do that. He was a Jedi. Right?

     Shaking his head, the rest of his poem materialized in his thoughts, the one he wrote when he was seven for his parents:

It beckons to me with a light slain,

Oh, if I go there, what will I gain?

It calls to me with a hateful grin,

Oh, if I go there, what will I win?

It asks for me with a destructive song,

Oh, if I go there, will I last long?

It shines to me like the brightest star,

Oh, if I go there, will I go far?

It cries out to me with Masters past,

Oh, if I go there, surely I can't last!

If I go to the place of shadows burn

There will be no return.