Chapter 9

rise of the old masters part 2

Kanan's pov

"Remember what this day means, to you, to Ezra. You can't just say that this is a trap and have everyone believe you, some things have to play out" Joe said appearing beside me just like I hoped he would, but he was not there for what happened after we escaped the inquisitor the first time.

"You weren't there! you didn't see what today did to Ezra!" I yelled at him, quickly ending the talk and letting me back into the real world again.

I looked at them still talking about what they could do, only Ezra saw some thing had happened. I gave him a quick smile and then made it look like I was listening to the conversation, but I wasn't, the only thing I could think of right now was what Ezra was like the days after this attack the first time around. When we did this the first time he had been so cocky, so determined to show me that he could be a jedi. It could have ended so much worse that day, but for weeks afterword Ezra had stayed in my room, nightmares of dead jedi and the inquisitor plaguing him. Some times the dead jedi was me, some times I was the inquisitor.

This time we were going in with some one in on the secret, and Ezra was further along in his training than he was the first time. How would that play into this mission? our bond was stronger and I could help him better this time to deal with any nightmares that might happen after this. Then I knew what I had to do and even though I was not going to like it, it was needed to get where Ezra and I needed to be.

"The dark side can be a great teacher though, look at what it did for you" Joe said in my ear, obviously not leaving me be, even though I had yelled at him.

I thought on that. It was this mission that made the jedi lessons for both myself and Ezra step up because I realized at the time that we were very under practice where we should be and it was my fight with this inquisitor that started all that, even time I battled him I was a little stronger, at little better and so was Ezra, but that did not mean we had to do it this time and I knew if I did not say some thing about the trap I would not have the choice later on with other missions like this. Did not mean I did not listen to Joe though, I just thought that they all should have the choice on whether we did this mission if they had all the facts.

"Hold it for a moment. For all we know it could be a trap" I told them, only for Ezra to ask "how do you know, is it a jedi thing?" to which I answered "not really, call it a gut instinct".

"Okay if we do this mission, we go in silently" Hera said look at me, to which I nodded. Going in silently would put all on high alert.

"This person, Luminara, you knew her?" Ezra asked pulling my attention to the boy at my side.

"I met her once. She was a great jedi master. Brave, compassionate, disciplined. In fact, she'd make an excellent teacher for you" I said not even thinking about what I had just said, because it was what I said last time.

Then suddenly I felt a flash of hurt run through the bond from Ezra. I tried to reach out to him, both in the physical world and the mental one, only to have him run off. I needed to fix this, our bond was very strong, but he was blocking me, something I guess he did pick up on the streets because he would not have wanted the people around him to see how much they would hae hurt him and what did I just do...I hurt him...stupid Kanan, stupid, stupid stupid.

I found him a few hours later once the block on the bond had dropped to a point I could trace it and of all the scenes I could have thought of this was not the one I would have thought I would have found him in at least not yet. He and Chopper were talking and even though I could tell Ezra could not understand every thing the droid said it was enough that he was there with him at that moment.

"You hear him? he's going to pawn me off on some stranger" Ezra said.

I was about to go in and talk to Ezra about what I said, only to have Hera comm me about setting the course to find the jedi master and as much as I did not want to go and help her. I needed to and some times that had to come first.

The ride in the Phantom was strained to say the least. There was no room to talk to Ezra, to tell him how kriffing stupid I was, but with Zeb checking his bo - riffle, Sabine putting on her helmet and Ezra curled in the corner staring forward trying not to see me at all. I could tell there was no emotion from the boy at all now, except a need to be wanted and I that made me feel lower than a Hutt slug.

"Going in quiet. Hang on" Hera said from the cockpit.

Sabine had rigged a jammer so that the Phantom would stay concealed from the spire prison's scanners. Chopper much to the droid's anger at being left behind if the beeping the tin can was putting out, but we just could not have him with us right now. The flat winged creatures, the Tibidees were bad enough for us, Chopper could just take his anger out on them, not that I thought for a moment that the droid would hit one, but he might just chase them around in the Ghost for a while.

"Thirty seconds. Good luck" Hera said as she opened the door.

"Luck? we're going to need a miracle" Zeb said and was surprised when Sabine handed two thermal detonators to him and one to Ezra saying " here's three".

I could see how the detonator fascinated him, but he needed to be careful with it, so I said " try to stay focused".

Ezra looked at me for the first time since we started this mission with a glare "thought there was no try".

I knew Ezra was trying to get on my nerves after what happened with Luminara, but this day was important for him, it was the day he would learn of the dark side's true power. Not that I was really sure that he should learn about the dark side at all more than I had told him about it, and to learn about it in this way, but I was better prepared for what was coming and so was Ezra. Hera took the Phantom in a nose dive that took us close to the spire, then opened the hatch, avoiding the spire's searchlight.

Time to start this fool hardy plan that we should have never had started in the first place, because in my first life it was about my fears, now I knew there was nothing to those fears, this mission is pointless. The only reason we are doing this is because the others saw the report about luminara being alive when I knew she was not. I took the lead and leapt out of the Phantom and fell towards the prison's sentry platform, quickly knocking out the sentries that were there.

Ezra's pov

I knew it was stupid and I didn't need the buzzing voices of the jedi master or whoever that other voice was in my ears to tell me that I shouldn't do this, but if I wanted to get Kanan's belief in me back I had to do this, I had to show the jedi that I could be what he wanted me to be and that I didn't need to rely on others to help me out. I wasn't weak, I'm not a child, I'm fourteen nearly fifteen, not that they knew that of course, but I would show them all what I could do.

"Kid, wait! what're you doing?" Zeb's voice called out, but soon were lost in the wind as I jumped out of the Phantom.

Then suddenly I was caught. Kanan had caught me in his arms almost like he knew I was going to do this. More jedi abilities I guessed, but a few minutes later Zeb and Sabine landed next to us. I could feel Zeb's anger and Sabine's amusement at what I just did, Kanan just let me go and shut off any emotion I could have got from him at that moment, I knew in my heart that it wouldn't stay that way, but right now it just hurt.

"What just happened? you were supposed to exit with Zeb?" Kanan asked even though I had a feeling he knew the answer better than I did.

"Door's locked. Kid get to work" Sabine interrupts me from answering him.

"Got it" I said and took my astromech arm from my back back and started to pick the lock.

"Ezra" Kanan whispered.

"Quiet, I'm focusing" I said trying to make a joke of this situation.

Click. The door opened and we made our way inside. Kanan strode past me with out a second glance, he seemed to be on edge, something was wrong, the jedi knew it, but he didn't want to share how or why he knew it, maybe one day he would let us know what was going on with him and with why he didn't want to let on about something that obviously was worrying him.

"Luminara's here I sense her presence. Detention block CC01. Isolation cell 0169" Kanan said then continued "Zeb, Sabine, you're coming along with the kid and me in the lift".

"Weren't we supposed to hold our escape route here?" Zeb asked as the human pressed the lift button he answered " the turbolift is now our escape route. Let's go".

"His plans get worse all the time" said Sabine.

"Hey I am standing right here" Kanan said, to which Zeb and Sabine both replied "we know" which made me chuckle and Kanan raise an eyebrow at me and give a light smile he knew it was only their way of relaxing before the mission really started.

As the lift doors opened Kanan and I made our way out, and Kanan turned to the others and said "maintain comm silence and whatever you do, hold this lift".

Suddenly two storm troopers emerged from around the corner, only to be pulled off their feet by Kanan and knocked out. I could tell that if they were still alive after that they were going to have one kriffing bad headache.

"Wow, You're not messing around tonight" I said, watching Kanan continued to move down the corridor.

"There is more at stake than you realize" Kanan said after a minute, I guess Kanan really did want to ditch me.

Quickly Kanan pulled me back after we saw a pair of storm troopers guarding the isolation cell. Kanan made a motion with his hand and said "shouldn't you be guarding the jedi's cell? it's on the next level".

"It's on the next level" one trooper repeated robotically.

"You had better get moving" Kana suggested.

"We had better get moving" said the second trooper in the same robotic voice and took off down the corridor with the other trooper following.

"When do I get to learn that?" I asked as we opened the cell and stopped inside.

Instead of replying Kanan quickly ignited his light saber, which highlighted the prisoner within. The mirialan looked how Kanan had described her, but even I could tell something was very wrong with her.

"Stay on guard Ezra, that's not Luminara in her physical form, she has being dead for along time" Kanan said then swept his light saber around to show me the sarcophagus that held Luminara's body inside.

"I don't understand, the report said she was alive" I said, shivering a little at the creepy body inside the coffin.

"It doesn't seem complicated" said a sinister voice.

The bald headed man waved his hand and the door shut tight behind him. He pulled a disk off his back and ignited one end of it into a red light saber.

"I am am the Inquisitor. Welcome to your death Jedi" he said.

"How did you know?"Kanan asked, still keeping himself between me and the ghoulish man.

"Wasn't too hard. We have had reports of rebels in this sector for a while now and by the actions that were taken at least one of them had to have jedi level training" the Inquisitor said as he advanced towards us.

"So that was the reason for this set up! It's a trap!" Kanan said blocking any attempt the inquisitor made to get at me.

"Yes, I'm afraid master Luminara died with the republic, and her bones continue to serve the empire, luring the last jedi to their ends. Now we know which one of you is the jedi and it looks like you are training another... must put a stop to that, not that we had hints about the boy" he said, looking at my braid before lunging with his saber.

Kanan parried each of the inquisitor's swings, which lead him to say "interesting, it seems you trained in part with jedi master Depa Billaba".

"How do you... who are you?" Kanan said, his eyes widened as he realized that something had given him away and maybe doomed us both.

"The temple records are quite complete. In close quarters fighting, Billaba's emphasis was always on form three, which you favor to a ridiculous degree" the inquisitor said as sparks flew off their blades.

I could see this was becoming deadly especially for the jedi in training who didn't even have a light saber of his own yet, I would be in big trouble if Kanan ever fell. The inquisitor pressed forward, kicking Kanan away and into the rear wall. The flashing lights from the light sabers seemed to aluminate Luminara's dead body making the skull seem to stare out at the force users in the cell.

"Clearly you were a poor student" The inquisitor said.

I decided I would help anyway I could, I might not be able to match either force user in battle, but I was very sneaky, so making sure they didn't see what I was going to do I made my way around and planted a bomb on the cell door. I fired a stun ball at the evil man, making him wheel away from Kanan and deflect the stun ball. I backed up and fired again, this time the inquisitor didn't block, he allowed the stun ball to hit him, the energy crackled over his chest armor plate and faded.

"Is that really all you've got, my boy? looks like the student is as poor a jedi as his master" the evil man said.

"Not that poor a student" I said getting closer to Kanan.

"And why do you say that?" he asked.

"Well I've got that" I said, then dropped to the ground as the detonator's timer beeped and it blew.

The explosion tore open the cell's door and slammed the inquisitor into the side wall, making him see stars. I got up and found that Kanan was already back on his feet.

"Nice going kid" Kanan said, looking over at the dazed inquisitor.

"Thanks" I replied feeling better than I had in hours.

We raced down the corridor until we heard the footsteps of the inquisitor appear behind us. So we stopped to face him, Kanan reached out with his hand trying to thrust the inquisitor back into the wall, but the inquisitor blocked the attack and sent his own attack back at the two of us.

"Boy you have some natural talent, but your training is almost worse than no training at all" he taunted.

This made Kanan charge at the inquisitor, their sabers clashed, over and over in every direction, but it was clear that the inquisitor was better swordsman, with a force push he threw Kanan down the corridor. I could feel how dazed Kanan was, I was facing the inquisitor alone and that for me was a nightmare. A nightmare that I was sure that I was going to die from if Kanan didn't come to my aid soon.

"Boy, the jedi are dead, but there is another path open to you. The dark side" said the inquisitor.

"Never heard of it" I answered, even though I had. Kanan had told me all about it in our lessons, but this man didn't need to know that and I fired more stun balls at the inquisitor's head.

The inquisitor just brought up his blade, deflecting the balls then with a sweep of his hand he slammed me into the wall closer to Kanan than I was before, which made me fall to my knees, I couldn't move. Kanan, who had finally recovered from his own attack from the inquisitor then distracted the man, so that he could drive the duel away from me. I could see that the inquisitor wasn't troubled by this, if anything he was chuckling.

"Do you really believe you can save the boy? for his sake, surrender" he said, to which Kanan said back "I'm not making any deals with you".

"Then we'll let him make one" the inquisitor said and from the other end of his ringed hilt he ignited a second red blade that spun around like a top.

As I wobbled to my feet I saw the inquisitor flick the double blade behind his back, extend his arm and force throw Kanan down the hall, far from me. Then he strode towards me, his blade spinning by his side, "your master cannot save you, boy. He is unfocused and undisciplined" he said while continuing to walk.

"Hey kid, don't listen to him, listen to me" the voice chimed in, to which I said in a whisper " why should I?".

"Because you know that Kanan is a good man and you don't need some voice in your head to tell you that" The voice said.

"But he was..." I started to say before the voice replied " have you ever thought that he only wanted the best for you? that he was scared that something could happen to you?"

"Well no" I answered.

"Well think about it" the voice said then faded away.

One day I would find you who that voice is, but for now... "then we're perfect for each other" I answered, then was surprised as the inquisitor flew upwards, smashing into the ceiling.

"Ezra, run!" Kanan yelled.

I didn't need to be told twice. I took off, not caring too much if the inquisitor fell, I just needed to get to Kanan and get away from here. Just like Kanan said this was a trap from the start and we fell for it. We sprinted down the corridor until we ran into Sabine and Zeb coming around a corner.

"Guys, this way!" Sabine called out and as we met them she asked "Luminara?".

"Long gone. So you figured out it was a trap. Our new exit?" Kanan said.

"Landing platform"Sabine answered.

As we dashed towards a set of blast doors, an alarm rang out and the security doors started to close. The first door was a breeze until I looked over my shoulder and saw that the inquisitor was following us, gaining ground fast and I wasn't the only one to see him.

"Karabast!" Zeb cursed "Who's that?" as he held the next door open as the rest of us jumped through.

Zeb then let it shut right before the inquisitor could make it. We hear a growl on the other side and then suddenly a red light saber appeared through the door, cutting into the metal, he would be through soon, we had to get out of here and fast, suddenly Kanan called my name.

"Ezra we have to open this door together" he said.

"What about Sabine or my astromech arm? wouldn't they do it too?" I asked.

"No, not in time. Now focus, picture the locking mechanism in your mind" Kanan said as he closed his eyes.

I stood beside him in the same position, same hand raised, my eyes closed too. At first I saw nothing then following Kanan's signature down I found it, the lock's pathways and Kanan was there giving me the strength and prodding me along, just like the encouraging teacher he was. The door opened and quickly we opened our eyes to see troopers standing there weapons raised, just about to open fire.

Well that was until Zeb said "one last miracle" and threw his detonator and the troopers went boom!

"Hera dear we could really use that pick up right now" Kanan said into his comlink.

"On my way and I'm bring the fleet" Hera commed back.

"We have a fleet?" Zeb asked.

Within seconds the Phantom swooped down with a flock of Tibidees. Their numbers making it impossible for the spire's cannons to target the Phantom and with that chaos we were able to make it to the ship and escape, almost unseen, only the inquisitor's double bladed light saber whirled through the air at us, only to be deflected by Kanan.

"Does yours do that?" Zeb asked.

Kanan didn't answer, and as the hatch closed, I saw the inquisitor's yellow eyes burn with hate. I just had to hope that we would never meet that man again, well at least not until I was better trained and had a light saber of my own any way, otherwise he just might kill me.

Some time later we had landed on the plains of Lothal, but felt like nothing new. We hadn't done what we had set out to do. I could feel the anger boil off Kanan in waves. I just couldn't take it anymore, I need out if only for a little while and being out of the Ghost surrounded by the soft grass, soothed me, giving me the peace I needed, it was as if I was meant to live out here.

I felt Kanan before seeing and hearing him, so I said "look, I know you wanted to dump me on Luminara. Just because she's gone, it doesn't mean you're stuck with me".

Kanan sat with me "I never wanted to dump you on her. You're important to me... that trap was designed well. It's something I should have taught you more about them".

"Kanan, don't be so down on yourself, I know that you're the best teacher for me" I said.

"Ezra, you're right. I am not going to try and teach you anymore. If all I do is try, that means I don't truly believe I can succeed. So from now on, I will teach you, and how did you get so wise?" Kanan said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I learn from the best" I said.

"Let's see if you do" Kanan said and handed me his light saber, the blue blade hummed to life and then Kanan started to pitch rocks at me to deflect.

Unseen by either jedi a woman in jedi robes appeared and watched the two. She smiled as she saw the jedi game that they were playing because it was one that she had liked to play with her padawan back when she was alive, suddenly another person stood by her side and said "a father and his son, all is as it should be" and she could agree more.

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