Chapter 10: Trapped

Two forms lay still in the Medical bay. The forms of a Jedi master and his padawan.

Ezra was merely sleeping. Ahsoka was able to force heal most of his injuries, now he just needed to rest to fully recover. She had done what she could to help both Jedi's recover. The bones in the youth's arm and wrist were still broken, but not to the extent they were prior to the rescue. The most recent fall had only given him a bad sprain, that would heal with time. The youth hadn't woken up yet, but the Togruta told everyone to just let him sleep until he woke up on his own.

The other form in the bay had several attachments connected to him. He was still deathly pale and had given no sign of arousal. When Ahsoka had healed him, she was unable to replace his blood loss. She gave warning that the Jedi could still possibly die; Kanan had lost far more blood than any human could, without it being fatal.

The female had finished, been taken back to her ship and returned to her duties in space, leaving the Ghost crew to watch over their fallen comrades.

Hera had hesitated leaving the bay after Ahsoka left, but she finally piloted the ship and landed someplace safe for the time being. She had been given orders to do no assignments given to her by the fleet until she had at least one more crew member.

The pilot had landed on a heavily forested area that hid the Ghost from view. There was a city a few klicks away that could be walked to for supplies. The Twi-lek sighed and sat back in her chair as she powered down her ship. She rubbed her eyes with her hands to find some kind of relief from this nightmare. It was one thing when they had almost lost Ezra, the kid meant the world to her just like everyone else on the ship. But her and Kanan had been allies, partners and friends for so long. If something happened to him, she had no clue what she would do.

"How are you holding up?" Sabine asked quietly, walking into the cockpit with a cup of coffee for Hera.

"I'm holding. Thank you." The older female took the cup and took a sip.

"How are they?" Sabine didn't have to ask who 'they' were. She knew.

"No change. I just finished changing Kanan's bandages. Ahsoka did a good job to start the mending process. I didn't know Jedi could speed up healing." The Mandalorian watched their Captain, she knew Hera was taking this hard. She gave credit to the pilot, she was able to hide it well.

Hera nodded slightly.

"They can, but Kanan said that it's very difficult to master and if not done right, can hurt more than heal. What about Ezra?" Hera kept her voice as normal as possible, doing her best to hide her motherly concern.

"The kid is still sleeping. It looks like he took a pretty hard knock to the head. Took five stitches to close it. Pretty soon, he's going to have a nice size collection of scars." She chuckled softly at her joke. It hurt a little to say it out loud because Ezra was just a kid, but she knew the younger teen would find them cool and show them off while he flirted with the older teen.

"You should get some sleep Hera. Zeb is going to watch them tonight and will let us know if they wake up. You've been up since they went into the shaft almost 50 hours ago. Won't do any good to have three people out of commission." Sabine got up stretching.

"I agree. Sabine?" She watched as the girl looked over to her.

"That was really good maneuvering with the TIEs. You and chopper had half taken out before we boarded." She smiled as she watched the 16-year-old beam at the praise. Hera was good at recognizing talent, even when the situation was stressful. Her crew relied on feedback to excel.

The two girls headed to their cabins to rest a bit before one would take a shift with the two Jedi's, the other was going to get supplies.

Zeb was sitting between the two. He looked to make sure no one else was around before he turned to Ezra.

"You should wake up now Kid. I'm tired of dealing with all these women worrying over you. It's just disgusting." He stopped to see if his gruff words had made any difference.

"Plus, I don't like seeing my little buddy like this. I kinda like when you and I get into fights. On Lesan, that's how we males showed affection." The Lesat rarely showed affection like this. But Ezra was his younger brother in arms. It was his job to take care of him. He couldn't do it when Ezra wouldn't wake up.

Zeb fell into silence again as the shift went on with no change.

"Kanan?" Ezra's voice sounded distant, even to himself. He was surrounded by dark silence. He felt alone and he was slightly scared. He couldn't tell where he was. The last thing he remembered was falling and looking up at his Master.

"Kanan? Where are you?" The youth couldn't feel his master. His voice waivered with a slight bit of fear. The darkness was thick and he felt like he was being crushed. Ezra tried to move, tried to get up but couldn't.

"There you are youngling. I've been looking for you." The voice did not belong to his master. It was familiar, full of malice. The voice was coming from the dark master from his vision. Ezra was starting to panic. Had he been captured? Where was Kanan?

"Kanan!" Ezra shouted out, trying to get some response; he couldn't move, the voice was close but felt like it was everywhere.

"Shh. It's okay young one. Your master is no longer a problem, he left you. He thought you were nothing but a burden. I don't. I can feel your strength. Just come with me and I will unlock your true potential." The voice was so full of hatred and darkness. Ezra felt so cold and wanted to get away from it all. He felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness.

"Join the Dark Side Ezra. You will do great things." The voice touched him. It shocked his whole system. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Where was Kanan?

"HERA! Get down here! Something is wrong with the kid!" Zeb screamed through the intercom. He didn't know what to do. Ezra was flopping around on the bed having a seizure and the Lesat was powerless to stop it. He was scared to touch the kid; fearful he may harm him further.

Hera ran into the room and saw Ezra. She quickly put one of the rails up instructing Zeb to do the same on the other side so the padawan would not fall. She had seen a few seizures in her life and did what she could. They had no medication on the ship that would calm it. She watched her youngest member seize violently unable to breathe, unable to have any control of his body.

"What's going on? Ezra? What's happening to him?" Sabine had heard the desperate tone of Zeb's voice on the com and came in. Her eyes widened at the boy before her. She felt fear rise up threatening to bubble over.

"He's having a seizure. Go get a cool wet cloth." Hera barked not caring how she sounded. Her attention was fully on the helpless child before her. She knew if it didn't calm down soon, they would lose the boy.

Ezra was fixing to give up hope. Letting his body slip further and further away. Kanan was gone. He had abandoned him. Ezra was alone in the darkness. The dark voice continued to taunt him, whispering to him, suggesting to him. He started to give up. That's when there was a flash of blue light and everything went still.

Ezra's body finally went still. The Twi-lek let out the breath she had been holding. Hera grabbed the cloth from Sabine and started to take care of him. Zeb was petrified in place. He didn't know what had just happened to his little buddy. He blamed himself for not watching him. Luckily Hera saw his look.

"It's not your fault Zeb. It's probably from the concussion. I'll take the next shift in case it happens again." Hera was good at remaining calm, but her hands were trembling slightly now. It was her job to model how she needed the crew to be and to reassure them.

"Is he going to be okay Hera?" Sabine was still in the doorway where she had stood after fetching the cloth.

"I don't know." Was all the pilot said as she continued to take care of Ezra. The kid had bitten his tongue at some point, and as a result his mouth was full of blood. Hera kept him on his side for the time being.

"Ezra?" The voice of his master was weak and almost silent. The young Jedi had heard it though. He tried to focus on it but couldn't. He felt weak all over. He tried to speak, but produced no sound.

"Ezra, are you okay?" The voice was getting closer; as it did, it filled the teenager with warmth and light. He tried to speak again.

"Master…" Ezra sounded like a small, terrified child. He was right now.

"Calm down kid…you're safe now. I'm right here." Kanan's voice was soothing and soft.

"But the voice. There was so much darkness. I was so cold. What if it comes back? He wants me to join him, to be his new apprentice. Kanan, I'm scared." Had Ezra been conscious, he would have beat himself up for how weak he sounded. Kanan just sent calming waves to his student. They weren't as strong as normal, but it was enough for the boy to begin relaxing.

"Just trust me. I will keep you safe. I won't let anything happen to you here." Kanan didn't want to admit that he had been fixing to "go into the light". He was too tired and in so much pain. Just before he took the final step, he heard and felt the fear coming from Ezra. It stopped him, reminded him why he was still alive to begin with. His purpose in life was to protect this kid. If he died, who would? Ezra had somehow brought him back from death, had rejuvenated him.

"I trust you. But...What happened, where are we?" Ezra still couldn't see through the darkness, but he felt Kanan close by.

"I think we're on the 'Ghost' now. Somehow you have a connection with the dark user. He can speak with you through your mind." Kanan didn't know how, and knew they would have to stop it; if not, Ezra would be in danger, and would be a threat to everyone in the rebel alliance. If the apprentice had caused so much pain for Kanan, what would a stronger force do with Ezra?

"Are you okay?" The youth's mind turned back to a vision of his master on the brink of death.

"Because of you Kid, I will be fine. I just need to rest. Both of us do. We're trapped in our minds as protection while our bodies heal. I didn't know you had been this injured." The Jedi felt bad that he neglected to see how bad his student was.

"I didn't think I was…Kanan, are you going to leave me again?" Ezra somehow knew the answer was yes, but he asked anyway.

"Yes, but this time. If you call me, I will come back quickly. You can practice meditating here if you'd like. It will help pass the time. Normally, our minds are a safe place Jedi can go to sort everything. I'm not going to lie. Yours is a war zone with that dark voice lurking somewhere. But I promise I will be close-by. We will deal with this together okay?" Ezra calmed down. He trusted Kanan with his life, even if he was trapped in his own mind. He knew they would be okay.

"Okay. Thanks Kanan, for coming." Ezra felt warm and at ease as he started to drift into further sub consciousness.

"Anytime Kid." Even after he felt Kanan's presence leave, there was still a part of him there. Ezra held onto it to keep his mind from being fully in the dark.

** Hey guys, for this fic, the definition of force heal is using the force to speed up recovery time on an injured party; it's not a complete heal. This is how I feel it would really work Also, Sequel or are you guys getting tired of this plot line? Someone has already complained about the amount of torture I'm inflicting (which I love, what can I say, I'm a sadist, lol. Maybe if the shows actually had more hurt in them, I wouldn't be this way XD)** ~Ocean