"Cad Bane," Hera spoke and her voice sounded deceptively strong from where Kanan was standing, close enough to touch her if he wanted but far enough that it wasn't involuntary.
Cad Bane was a bounty hunter infamous throughout the whole galaxy, it seemed. He was clever and daring and strong, one of the few the Jedi have ever concerned themselves over. That had been how Kanan knew he was dangerous; Bane worried the others, older and wiser than Kanan, and they always seemed to have treated Cad Bane's presence in everything with the uttermost care.
The smile Cad Bane flashed Hera with made something very uncomfortable settle in the pit of Kanan's gut.
"Ah yes," he agreed with a dip of his hat, "and I know of you- Hera Syndulla- but I must admit that your friend is unknown to me."
Cold nearly expressionless eyes settled on Kanan as Hera stiffened beside him. Evidently she hadn't expected for someone known for being so evil to know her as well. Kanan's spent enough time with her to know that there really wasn't a reason for him to have known her. She wasn't like him and though he wouldn't venture so far and claim she was good she was far from evil.
"His name is Kanan. Kanan Jarrus," she supplied unsure, her nervousness evident in her voice and she turned her head to lock eyes with Kanan's teal ones before settling back on Cad Bane.
Kanan could practically hear her thoughts swirling inside her head. After all, they didn't seem much different than his own.
Don't turn your back. Don't show any weakness. Don't show anything he could ever exploit. Not to Cad Bane. Not to Cad Bane.
The only difference between the two of them was that Kanan was a Jedi and though he was still wearing the clothes Hera had picked out for him he still carried around his lightsaber. The one thing that had always seemed to make him feel safe before was the very thing that endangered his carefully crafted identity they made for himself.
Kanan Jarrus, bounty hunter.
Or something along those lines.
"I see," Cad Bane nodded and his posture seemed almost too calm. Too deliberate.
He was waiting for something or he needed something from them. Given that neither of them had anything he could possibly want, Kanan figured it was probably safe to stick with his earlier assumption. Cad Bane was definitely waiting for something.
The question remaining was what?
The blaster he had used to shoot the bartender was still in his hand, and he spun it lazily. His eyes never left either one of them as expert hands manhandled the weapon.
"Word of advice," Cad Bane offered like he would two age-old friends, "I wouldn't go prancing around asking questions about the Phantom Dealer. No one knows anything, anyways, or they do but just not what you want to know."
Kanan couldn't figure out why Cad Bane was spending the time talking to them in such a casual manner, especially considering the reputation that followed him around. He had never seemed to be the one for much talking.
"Thanks," Hera replied finding their escape as she set her hand against Kanan's wrist in a sign to follow her, "We'll keep that in mind."
Another smirk and the blaster stopped.
"I'm sure you would," he agreed before pointing the blaster in their direction and added with a slight shrug, "If either one of you were going to leave this planet alive."
Kanan froze, Hera too beside him.
This had been the danger Kanan had detected earlier, the one he had misplaced as the bartender's anger. Even before he had spoken to them, Cad Bane had narrowed them out. He had targeted them when neither he nor Hera had been aware of his presence.
Not. Good.
Hera's green eyes hardened in something that resembled anger as she dared, "If you wanted us dead we would be already. It's not your style to reveal yourself first."
That's what Kanan had originally thought too.
Now he wasn't so sure.
Cad Bane just shrugged once more, long brown jacket dangling to his boots. Every part of him screamed in his confidence, and Kanan couldn't shake the feeling that every little thing they did he had already prepared for. He had planned ahead for a thousand outcomes and had already created a solution for it.
Devilishly crafty and dangerously smart, Kanan realized as he continued staring at the bounty hunter before them, and he would've made one heck of a Jedi.
Too bad he wasn't a Jedi.
Or even, it seemed, on their side.
"I must be getting soft in my old age," Cad Bane offered, "but I reassure my aim has not and a place so enclosed such as this… well, it's child's play."
His reassurance in himself only seemed to irk Hera more.
Her frown deepened as she continued to glare at their most current threat. Kanan realized she must've concluded that Cad Bane was at least telling the truth about his aim. If they tried to run then they'd be dead before they ever made it to the door.
"So what is this then?" Hera demanded and Kanan figured she must be stalling for something; then he realized that if he had come to that conclusion then Cad Bane already had also.
So what was he waiting on?
"This, I believe, is a stand-off though I must admit I'm doing most of the standing," Cad Bane supplied and something cold crept down Kanan's spine.
They've been talking too long. Cad Bane had never been one renowned for his conversations, which could only mean…
"You're stalling," Kanan realized with a slight gasp as he turned his attention back to the bounty hunter knowing he was right before he had spoken.
Cad Bane didn't seem fazed by the words. He didn't even appear to have heard them.
"Perhaps," Cad Bane agreed with another flash of brilliant white teeth, "or maybe I just want to see your faces when I shoot you both down."
Kanan heard it then. A buzzing sensation inside his eardrums that had him reacting quicker than humanly possible.
Cad Bane fired- one shot- as Kanan moved to stand between it and Hera. At the same time he unclipped the lightsaber from his belt, igniting it and deflecting the shot. It hit somewhere against the ceiling, causing cries of shock as every eye locked onto them.
From his spot he could see Cad Bane's smile widened, and he swallowed, knowing he'd just screwed up. Big time.
Cad Bane had only fired once.
He hadn't been aiming to kill.
In fact, Kanan would go so far as to claim that he had been wanting Kanan to block and there was only one thing in the universe powerful enough to block a blaster's shot. One thing that only a select few wield, the same select few who find themselves unwelcomed in places such as these.
And he had just outed himself as one.
Well… crap.
[ STARWARS ]
Every time Ezra shut his eyes he saw his prison: the lava, the smoke, the hopelessness- and somewhere amongst all that it started to rapidly develop into something more. Something so much worst.
He saw Anakin but he looked different. His eyes appeared to be bleeding as they glared in the direction of his wife and master. Two of the only people that, as far as Ezra knew, he cared about far greater than himself. That wasn't what unnerved Ezra, though, Anakin's wife did.
She was young, like the other two males standing around her, and dressed in simple clothes. She must have just come from her home, and Ezra couldn't imagine why she'd willing do that. Or, rather, he could but it lead him down a darker path he'd much rather avoid.
Her husband had already been there.
She had come to plead for his return.
Pregnant, no less, and Ezra wasn't sure if that realization comforted or alarmed him. They already had kids, twins, so that meant this had to have happened sometime in the past before even Ezra was born or it never happened at all and his captors were messing with him again.
It felt real, though, realer than anything they've tried before.
And, of course, she could've always gotten pregnant again after the birth of her first two children. That still seemed wrong, though, considering they all looked so young.
Ezra shut his eyes, shaking his head in denial.
He didn't want this. He didn't want to see these sorts of things as he mentally scrambled for any sort of hold on whoever was causing this. He couldn't find anything, though, because he was alone. His captors weren't doing this; he was.
"No," Ezra gasped reaching up to clutch at the sides of his head, falling to his knees as he tried shaking the images from his skull.
When he opened his eyes everything was still the same. Anakin still looked evil; his wife still looked distraught about something, and Obi Wan still looked like the world he had once loved was turning everything against him.
Ezra didn't want them to look like that.
He wanted them to be happy, content with each other.
"Stop," he gasped- gagged- yet the vision continued anyways.
"I love you," Anakin's wife cried at the same time, drowning out Ezra's own thoughts as he was overcome with the vision.
Anakin took a step forward, posture angry and voice hateful as he exclaimed, "Liar!" and the hurt look his wife gave him seemed wrong.
Anakin must have not noticed though because he was no longer looking at her. He was looking- glaring- at Obi Wan standing in her ship.
"No," she protested and sounded so vulnerable it twisted something within Ezra's inner self. She sounded so desperate- too desperate- as the three of them came to the conclusion that she had fallen in love with the wrong man.
The Anakin Skywalker she knew was dead.
In his place stood a monster.
"You're with him!" he accused even as she shook her head in denial, not giving her a chance to defend herself as he rose his hand and continued angrily, "You brought him here to kill me!"
"No," she denied once more before she no longer could.
Anakin was choking her, strangling her.
Killing her.
"Let her go Anakin," Obi Wan demanded even as Ezra rushed forward like he was able to do something as he cried, "NO!"
This couldn't be right. It was wrong. All of it.
Anakin wasn't a monster.
Anakin was happy, with a family and friends and so much good in him. More good than the one that currently stood in front of him now, choking his wife.
Anakin did release her, and Ezra watched as her still form crumpled to the ground. He reached for her, needing to know, and was relieved to find her still alive even as Anakin turned his rage onto his old master. His friend.
"No," Ezra choked once more as he shook his head and fought the tears threatening to spill from his eyes, "Please, no."
"You turned her against me."
"You have done that yourself."
"No," Ezra protested pressing his hands against his ears and doubling over as he cried, "Stop. Please, make it stop."
Still they continued to speak, argue, and with every word it became clearer that Anakin had traveled down a very dark path. One Ezra wasn't sure anyone could pull him back from.
"If you're not with me," Anakin decided and his voice was cold and decisive, "then you're my enemy."
Obi Wan paused, the pain at the realization of those words evident and Ezra felt his very self fracturing at the vision. It was too much, the smoke making his face burn. When Obi Wan spoke next his voice was nearly remorseful as he realized the man he once loved was gone.
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes."
"STOP!" Ezra cried once more, eyes squeezed as tight as he could and his voice broke at the end.
And it did.
[ STARWARS ]
Cad Bane didn't react physically. His blaster didn't move nor did he suddenly grin in self-reassurance because there had been need for such actions. His blaster hadn't moved from its spot directed towards the both of them, and he had already known who Kanan was even before he had asked Hera. It had all been a part of his game.
So Cad Bane didn't react physically.
Everyone else in the bar did.
The sight of the lightsaber seemed to have momentarily numbed all of them, freezing him for the briefest moment and staying there. Then the moment ended and chaos quickly followed.
There were screams, cries of protest, and some were angry but most were frightened. As a general rule, this planet had always been safe from the Jedi- from the Republic. Now they were unsure what to do so they just reacted.
Hera reached out amongst the thronging bodies- some in attack while others in escape- and she jerked him back. He allowed it, putting away his lightsaber so to avoid attention. That didn't matter anymore because everyone already knew his face. They knew his name and his face and what he was.
"Move!" Hera shouted, shocking him out of his dumb state and he nodded as he quickened his pace.
They were trying to find the door, the exit, but so were most of everyone else. Bodies crowded around them, pressing and pushing as they tried to escape the Jedi's fury. Others cried out when he got close enough for them to recognize him, rearing back as if to strike him but those were easy to lose in the crowd.
Behind them there was a loud hissing sound followed by the resound of a blaster going off. It echoed amongst the walls around them, and Kanan felt it buzz past even as he jerked Hera to a sudden stand-still. Hera turned to glare, to lecture on the dangers of being trampled, but her face suddenly froze as green eyes widened in fear.
Kana risked a glance behind them.
Several feet away, hovering over the sea of heads was Cad Bane. Kanan couldn't make out his expression with his hat but he could practically feel the eyes on them both and he knew as long as he remained in the crowd he put everyone else in danger.
"Go to the ship!" Kanan commanded Hera, making his decision even as he pulled away to head back.
"What? No!" Hera protested, eyes wide but face determined as she latched back on to him, "I'm not leaving you!"
"I can't condemn all these people to die," Kanan responded like it was obvious and it was- to him; Hera looked dumbfounded by the confession.
Why wouldn't she? It's not like she's made it a habit of hers to help those in need. She was a bounty hunter, and there's very few they care about over themselves.
"Why not? They'd do that to you!" she accused.
Before he could answer Cad Bane fired once more and Kanan barely had a chance to dodge. He watched, almost in slow motion, as the empty spot him and Hera stood filled and the blast struck.
"No!" Kanan cried, launching forward but it was already too late.
The body that should've been him disappeared amongst the trampling feet, and Kanan knew he couldn't allow that to happen again. He had to do something.
"Kanan!" Hera tried again, grabbing at his arms and trying to jerk him after her, "Don't be stupid! These people owe you nothing!"
Kanan freed himself, pushed her away as gently as he could as he replied calmly, "I can't just condemn them to what's supposed to be my fate either."
She tried to protest, opened her mouth and no doubt had the words on the tip of her tongue, but then she was swept away by the panicked crowd. Kanan felt a surprising bout of relief at that, knowing she'll be safe as long as she could avoid being crushed.
He knew he wasn't just like he knew that this was something he had to do.
He spun around so he could see Cad Bane and reached behind himself to pull out his lightsaber even as he leapt at the bounty hunter. Cad Bane raised the blaster, shot and then Kanan struck him as they both went down caught in the planet's gravity as it forced them back tumbling back down.
Cad Bane caught Kanan's wrist, clawed at him for freedom but Kanan refused to back down. Even as Cad Bane managed to flip them mid-air as dark red eyes bored onto him.
Kanan struck ground first, back bouncing as all the air left him. Cad Bane hit next, rolling much more gracefully then Kanan had. He was on his feet in an instant, holding up his blaster as a sickening smile crept across his face.
Kanan didn't think- had stopped thinking since he had made his decision- and he rose both his arms in front of him and shoved. Cad Bane went flying backwards and the hissing sound returned as the bounty hunter managed to even himself out upon landing.
That didn't matter, though, because Kanan had recovered.
He rolled onto his side, pushing up so he was on his feet. His lightsaber was ignited in front of him and most of the patrons had filtered out by the bar, crowded around the large doors in hopes of an escape. Kanan hoped it as well, mentally praying even as he turned to face his current threat.
May the force be with you.
Cad Bane didn't care so much about the fleeing patrons. He seemed to only have eyes on Kanan, which was fine with Kanan. The less danger he placed everyone else in the better.
Cad Bane leveled the blaster back at him, taking careful aim even as Kanan launched himself towards the bounty hunter. He managed to get off three shots- all easily reflected- and then Kanan pounced as he rose his lightsaber of his head and swung downwards.
He struck nothing, though he hadn't expected anything less.
"Give up Jedi," Cad Bane commanded several feet away, and Kanan risked a glance to the doors.
Everyone had left, leaving only the two of them. Something akin to relief nearly blinded Kanan but he forced himself to remain focused.
He turned back to Cad Bane as he shrugged and responded, "Alright."
His answer seemed to at least cause pause in the bounty hunter as he clearly hadn't expected an act of surrender. Kanan wasn't surrendering, though because his padawan was still missing and he'd never give up until he found him. He just didn't expect for that to be something Cad Bane could comprehend.
So he swung his lightsaber, forcing the bounty hunter back into retreat just as the ground beneath their feet vibrated. Both of them stopped, turning dumb expressions towards the door. Cad Bane, of course, seemed to have interpreted the meaning quicker than Kanan had.
"I'm afraid this is where we must part ways," Cad Bane responded reaching behind himself and the last thing Kanan remembered seeing before the smoke was his wicked smile and parting words, "Until next time."
Then the room was nearly flooded with thick grey smoke that made his eyes burn and lungs ache. He coughed, trying to dispel the foul stuff as he struggled for the way out. He couldn't make anything out, though, and felt disoriented and sick even as he heard the familiar sound of the Honor Guard.
That was it then. They found him and arrest him and Ezra really would be lost forever.
Someone caught his wrist, pulling him in what felt like a random direction but later Kanan will realize that it hadn't been. He thought it was Hera, silently cursing the woman at trapping herself with him, but then they reached a corridor clear from the smoke and he could see his savoir.
It was that same woman from the bar, with large knowing eyes.
Whatever Kanan was about to say died on his lips as he felt his words choke him in the back of his throat. She appeared apprehensive and almost sad, eyes wide as she took in his whole appearance. She didn't seem startled though, even knowing what he was.
"Quickly. In here," she commanded opening a door to a small enclosed space- closet, maybe- before she shoved him inside.
Kanan stumbled, adrenaline fading and making his legs weak and wobbly beneath him. His eyes stung and he felt moments from succumbing to the darkness though he couldn't place why. Weak mind, he supposed.
From outside he could hear loud clanging noises as he imagined most of the smoke have cleared. He didn't have to wonder as to why they were there. He already knew and had yet again managed to endanger any who still lingered on this planet.
He wondered if Hera had abandoned him. He wouldn't blame her if she had, knowing that was the smartest course of action yet she had come back for him before. That was what made her pause. She had turned around and came back for him.
"I know they're in here! Tear this place apart if you have to! Find them!" the angry sound of one of the generals shouted and Kanan leaned against the wall, listening to the scuffling as he wondered why he had been placed in here.
The desperate sound of their search grew louder the closer they neared his hiding spot. Some part of him hoped that wherever he had been placed was hidden so they wouldn't think of look there but he knew that wasn't the case even before the door swung open.
He'll never understand why he had been placed there and he was even less sure rather or not she knew. If she had he couldn't ever say how and if she didn't then he didn't know why she even bothered. She could've very well left him in the open for as big a gamble as she played.
She must have then, he decided in that dark room by himself, known at least a little more than he had though he won't ever be able to figure out what.
The noise of the search grew ever closer until Kanan was hardly ever breathing in fear of being overheard. It hurt his lungs, a stitch growing in his side as he forced himself to relax and concentrate as he mentally willed for the voices to disappear.
He could hear them, call out their findings of their search like an incessant echo that resounded all around him and with every word it was like another pebble being dropped in the pit of his stomach.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
The door Kanan was holed behind swung open, emitting a brilliant white light that nearly blinded him. He hissed between his teeth, raising an arm to block out the violation even as a large body appeared, blocking most of it with their stature.
Kanan recognized the face as he knew his own was.
It was a strange feeling, to say the least, staring back at one's one demise and recognizing what looked back. Zeb must've felt the same way for he stalled the briefest moment, mouth hanging open as he just stared at Kanan.
The echoes had disappeared as well, having searched everywhere else and found nothing because there wasn't anything to find those places. Kanan was here, staring up at Zeb expectantly.
Neither spoke for the longest moment and surely someone on the outside started to grow suspicious as they snapped Zeb's name. Zeb blinked, slowly once, before he evidently made up his mind and schooled his expressions once more.
Kanan closed his eyes, settling his head against the wall and awaited his fate.
"Clear!"
Kanan's eyes snapped opened and they connected with Zeb's for the briefest moment. Zeb said nothing and his expression didn't change, but Kanan felt something. He recalled how back at the temple Zeb had seemed so determined in getting Ezra back, something Kanan had always sort of appreciated.
Then the door slammed closed, locking Kanan back in the darkness once more.
Kanan blinked, unsure what to make of that. He refused to move, remaining stock still until he was certain they had all given up and left. Only then did he crawl outside, arm hugging the stich in his side. All the running and hiding was enough to give him an ulcer, he decided as he cautiously made his way back outside.
The sun- like the light back in that room- blinded him as he went from one extreme to the other.
He stumbled, free hand shooting up to protect his face as he hissed his displeasure. He wasn't entirely sure where he had left to go, knowing everyone smart had long since left upon the Honor Guard's arrival. That also meant he was stuck, and Ezra was still lost, and his despair nearly overwhelmed him.
"Kanan?"
He blinked at his name, then at recognition of the voice as he spun to spot Hera rushing over towards him. She looked paler since the last time they had seen each other, green eyes wide as she reached out to catch him even before he realized he was tilting.
It seemed like the entire world was crumbling around him, slowing and speeding back up before slowing once more.
Hera grabbed his elbows, hefting him upwards and keeping him steady somehow. Grounded in ways he never thought she'd be able to give him. Only two other people have ever accomplished that and one was dead while the other lost.
"Hera?" he asked, voice confused and slow as he blinked up at her uncomprehendingly, "I thought you left."
"I told you before," she responded in a patient sort of tone as she burdened most of his weight on her, "I couldn't just walk away from such a potential load. What happened?"
She sounded worried but that couldn't be right. Kanan blamed that on the sudden ringing in his ears, roaring as something fuzzy tried to overcome him.
"Cad Bane happened," he responded like it was obvious.
"I know that but afterwards," Hera chided as they both hurried to where she had hidden her ship as she clarified, "With the Honor Guard."
"They discovered my hiding place," Kanan supplied bluntly and it took more effort than it should've to keep his footing underneath him.
"And they let you walk?" Hera asked incredulously, "Kanan, are you sure you're alright?"
"No. I am almost certain I am not," Kanan supplied dully before he added almost offhandedly, "Zeb was the one who found me. He lied, told them I wasn't there. They had no reason to disbelieve him."
He realized that she probably wouldn't know who Zeb was. That was fine, as long as she knew that they could at least trust him. Or, at least, Kanan was sure they could.
"But why would he do that?" Hera inquired and her voice was still one of disbelief and Kanan could see her ship now and he was just so tired.
He tripped. Stumbled.
Hera tried to catch him but he was heavier than she had originally intended, and he hit the ground. It didn't hurt as much as he had suspected and the stitch in his side should've subsided by now but it hadn't. If anything, it only seemed to have gotten worst.
Hera knelt down beside him, face concerned as she bent over his still form. Her eyes weren't looking at him, though, they were focused on his side.
"What is it?" he grunted twisting so he could take a look.
The red on his fingers almost didn't seem real. It looked fake, at least, painted on by his fading mind as the darkness started to eat away at his vision.
"Kanan?" Hera asked but she didn't sound like she was right beside him. It was too far off, like at the end of the tunnel calling out to him.
He opened his mouth- perhaps to answer but nothing came out. Nothing could when the darkness swarm in his vision and swallowed him whole.
[ STARWARS ]
Ezra was floating and it felt like in a tub of nothingness but that couldn't make sense. At one point he would've been certain that that couldn't have made sense. Now he wasn't so sure since it was practically everywhere around him, warping around his small body like a trap.
It gave him plenty of free time to think, and he knew what his visions meant now. He understood what they were trying to tell him, warning him against.
He had been wrong before on his earlier assumption.
There are no monsters.
There's only man.
Next time:
"What are you doing Kanan?"
"Ezra?"
...
"Sure. If you actually think this is going to accomplish anything, it's not. I'm not going to give you cowards the satisfaction. I won't turn my back as quickly as you on the Order no matter how many Kanan's you show me, and that's a promise."
...
"Why do you think those people wanted Ezra so badly?"
...
"To start a war."
