Not How Your Stories End

Chapter 5

Kanan awoke in the middle of the night to a disturbance in the Force; his mind consumed by a single thought:

Ezra.

His breath caught in his throat as he scrambled out of his bunk and grappled towards the door and into the hallway. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but Ezra's force signature was suddenly and greatly distorted, radiating fear and confusion and pain. Greater than anything, pain. Something was very wrong.

Kanan slammed his fist against the release panel, stumbling into the messy cabin and towards his trembling padawan, totally ignoring the sleeping Lasat beneath as he practically screamed for the ailing teen.

"Ezra?! Ezra, can you hear me?!" he reached for his shoulder, shaking him gently but firmly enough to make his presence known. The teen groaned very softly, but showed no other signs of waking despite Kanan's persistent begging.

Kanan frantically tried to sense if there was some dark presence he was somehow missing - something to explain his Padawan's sudden shift in emotions - but there was no one else on the ship besides a sleeping Lasat, an angry droid, and a weary captain.

Not knowing what else to do, Kanan ran off in search of Hera.

                                                                                                ---

Hera hadn't fallen asleep exactly. Falling asleep would have implied that her mind was resting for an extended period of time, and that type of peace was definitely not coming after such an eventful few weeks. Dozing would probably be a more accurate description of what she had been doing; short periods of zoning out until reality and the gravity of their situation - not only aboard The Ghost, but as members of the larger Rebellion - crashed back down upon her shoulders and stayed there, clinging to her like a frightened child and refusing to let go.

The idea made her chuckle to herself, as she quipped bitterly that she now had two children clinging to her, and she was just as ill-equipped to care for the one as she was the other. This was her reality, and it wasn't easing up anytime soon, so, sighing deeply, she rolled over on her side and resigned to another sleepless night.

And then she heard Kanan scream Ezra's name.

Her heart immediately clenched within her chest, eyes widening and breath hitching in fear. She bolted upright, mind racing with questions whose answers she feared. By the time Kanan burst into her room, panting and rapidly attempting to explain himself, she was already on her feet and nearly out the door.

"What happened?" she asked curtly, without looking back or slowing in the slightest. After all, Hera was never one to get distracted easily when on a mission.

Kanan gaped slightly, trying to explain the unexplainable. "I don't know. He's conscious but he's not responding. Whatever it is Hera..." he paused, struggling for a somewhat delicate description, "he's - he's in a lot of pain, and not just physically. It's almost like... he's not himself. Like he's not all here. And wherever the rest of him is - it... it isn't pleasant".

Hera's heart tightened, but she kept on her brave face as she practically slammed the door release button and strode over to the shaking teenager. Totally ignoring the grumbling Lasat whose inquiries about the situation were currently falling on deaf ears, she took a deep breath and placed a gentle hand on the sleeping teen's shoulder.

"Ezra?" she whispered, forcing herself to stay calm, not only for herself, but for her now-growing audience. "Ezra, can you wake up for me?"

"Mmmmm...." Ezra groaned, displaying his acknowledgement, but absolutely no cooperation.