A/N: Wow. Two chapters in one weekend! Hope this one lives up to expectations. Remember, these characters are not mine, and I don't get paid for this...BUT I worked really hard and reviews are my payment! If you are enjoying this, please pay up, gentle reader. ;) If you have left a review, I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you! Every review is like Christmas!
4
Sabine had gotten up early, as usual, and without waking anyone, she dressed in her armor and strapped on her blaster to walk the perimeter of the base. Guards were assigned to guard duty, but she knew that they were not her, and while they would do their job, they would not do their job to the specifications of a Mandalorian.
As she walked through the quiet base, hearing the soft beeping of droids or displays, she couldn't help but think of the crisis her family was going through. Kanan had been blinded by Maul on Malachor. It was hard to believe that the strongest of them had been fallible after all. It had become habit to think that they lived a charmed existence. Dodging the inquisitors, storm troopers, agents and everything else the Empire could throw at them had made them feel invincible.
This whole thing was sobering. Upon seeing Kanan and Ezra return, she and Hera had realized that they were lucky just to have their comrades alive. Hera had never looked so frightened. Zeb hardly knew what to say. Ezra had just met Sabine's questioning eyes with the most sorrowful expression she'd ever seen on anyone. When Ahsoka hadn't returned, they'd all been devastated anew.
Her teeth clenched in rage and, unconsciously, her hand went to her blaster. She wanted to put one right between this Maul's eyes. It was frustrating to her, not to be able to get him. Hera had told her that Kanan wasn't sure if he'd killed Maul or not. Well, she just hoped Maul wasn't dead...maybe he would show up here and she could blow him to bits. Or tie him down and use him for target practice. It was a better end than he deserved.
She looked over as she exited the main entrance to the cave and found the guard on duty with her sharp gaze. He was staring straight ahead with such intensity that she looked in the same direction, expecting to see someone there, but there was no one. Just the empty desert and a lone dokma looking at her.
"Slow night, huh?" She asked the guard.
"I see no one." He replied in a monotone.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I see no one. I will not raise the alarm." He repeated in his sing-song voice.
"Oh kriff." Sabine knew the sound of a Jedi mind-trick when she heard it. She shook the guard, who blinked a few times and then looked at her. "What happened?!" She yelled at him.
He looked at her blankly and she growled and let go, disgusted. Who had done this? Why? There was nothing on Atollon...no where to go to…unless… "Damn!" She ran toward the Ghost. It was there, but the smaller Phantom was gone. She turned back to find Hera. That was gonna be one pissed-off Twi'lek, she thought.
She skidded a little as she rounded the hallway, then realized Ezra's room was closer than Hera's. It would only take a minute to check and she had a hunch, so she knocked. No answer. "Ezra Bridger! Open this door now!" Still silence. She entered the master code that unlocked all the doors in the complex, the one that Ezra had taught her, and peeked inside.
One small light was on over the bed. The room was empty. Ezra's backpack was gone, the loaner blaster she'd given him was gone and it was as if he'd left for good.
"That kriffin' kid." She muttered, making her way to Hera and Kanan's quarters.
She knocked, gently at first, then more loudly. "Yes?" Hera called out.
"We've got a situation, Hera."
She waited outside, but it was not long before Hera pulled open the door and allowed her in. Kanan was sitting on the bed, wearing only combat pants. His hair tumbled forward in his face, instead of being pulled back as normal. It was obvious that the two of them hadn't been awake long.
Apparently Hera had been changing the dressing on Kanan's eyes, because the bandages were off and for the first time, Sabine was able to see some of the damage done. The skin around his eyes and eyelids was burned, as well as his eyes themselves, which used to be a beautiful blue-green. Now she saw that the damage had turned his eyes completely white. She could barely tell where his irises had been. Sabine looked at Hera, with sudden tears in her eyes, but at Hera's serious shake of her head, the Mandalorian swallowed hard and went on in as even a voice as she could manage. Meanwhile, Hera worked at applying bacta to the wounds.
"Um...Hera, I don't know how to say this..." She began, watching Hera's gentle hands tending Kanan's injuries. They were the same hands that had stitched all of them up more than once.
"Just say it." Hera said, her voice calm. Kanan winced as she touched him with the bacta pad again. "Sorry, love." She murmured. She began to apply the bacta directly to his burned eyes and he blinked the excess away. "Sabine?" Hera prompted, without turning her head.
"Oh—uh...I think Ezra has run off. I mean, I'm pretty sure he has."
Kanan's eyes and face turned toward her as she spoke. At her words, he got to his feet. "Sabine. Explain." His cloudy eyes looked in her direction, his face twisted with worry.
"Um...the...the Phantom is gone. His room is cleared out. Even the blaster I gave him is gone."
"What?" Hera asked, incredulous. When Kanan turned around and began feeling his way toward the chest where their gear was stowed, she grabbed his arm. "Wait. Let me finish." Hera pushed down on his shoulder gently and he sat down. From the medkit open on the bed, Hera took a roll of bandages and began to cover Kanan's eyes once more, after using a hand to tilt his chin up.
"He used the old Jedi mind-trick on the guard so he didn't raise an alarm." Sabine added.
"I'm going to kill him. No. I'm going to get him back, then I'm going to kill him." Kanan growled, clearly growing more worried and angry by the minute. He reached out and the lightsaber, left on the nearby chest of drawers flew through the air and into his hand. He clipped it on his belt, then, he stood back up and again felt his way over to the drawers. He pulled on a shirt as Hera watched him with worry in her eyes.
"Kanan." She said simply.
"I'm going. There's no way I'm not going—so don't ask me not to." He felt his way back over to a crate near the bed and began to strap on his armor. He fumbled with the straps three times before Hera made her way over to help him.
"Okay." She said softly. "I hear you." As she finished the armor, Kanan held out a hand and his blaster whipped into his hand from the gear in the crate. He holstered it with one smooth motion. "Sabine. Please get Zeb and tell him to suit up. Meet us in the commons area in five minutes."
"You got it, Hera." Sabine hurried out the door.
When she was gone, Kanan turned his face towards her. "Hera." Kanan only had to say one word and Hera knew. She knew that he was worried, each moment that passed was only increasing his anxiety. They both knew that Ezra had been struggling, fighting the dark side. That while Ezra's heart was good, he was still young. He was still only a padawan. He was still hurting. And now he was alone. They both knew that this wasn't good.
"Can you feel him through your bond?" She asked.
"Just a little. Enough to know he's alive." Kanan said. "But I can't tell if...if he's fallen." He sat down heavily on the bed behind him. Just the idea of Ezra falling to the dark side…he let his head drop, and his warm brown hair fell forward into his face. His next words were low. "I should have known what he had planned. But this thing with the Force had me distracted." He had told Hera what had happened and how the Force felt chaotic now and hard to control. "Damn." He clenched his fists and suddenly a tremor ran through the room, shaking almost everything and startling Hera. It was as if there had been a tiny earthquake in the room. After the Force surged, it withdrew as fast as it had come. He raised his head, and realized what had happened. "Sorry." He muttered.
"You can't beat yourself up over it, Kanan. You've had a rough couple of days." She placed a hand on his shoulder. With gentle hands she began to smooth back his hair and tie it the way he usually wore it.
"Yeah." He said simply, unconvinced.
"We're going to get him back, love." She said. "See, what the dark side doesn't know is that he's ours. We've got dibs on this kid and he's coming with us no matter what." She pulled on her gloves and then took Kanan's hand. "Come on."
