Hey guys!
Thank you for all of your support, you guys rule!
And I really do have to address this, i'm sorry if you don't want to read this. But I send much love to those affected by the Orlando tragedy, and the awful attack against Christina Grimmie. Such lovely people lost too soon. If you need to talk, rant, cry, or anything, feel free to message me. I don't usually post about awful events like these, but I feel like I had to. I was in West Hollywood when a man heading towards me and my friends location was arrested with weapons. His intentions I don't know, but I am thankful none of my personal loved ones were physically harmed. Death does surround us, it's awful. I know. But let peace be with those souls lost, may they be at rest.
All of my beautiful readers - do me a favor? Smile. Be happy. Life is good, life is great. Look at the simple things in this world and find joy. Whether it's your soulmates annoyingly cute snoring, beautiful flowers, petting your pet, a funny video or movie...whatever it is...Smile.
I love all of you guys and I want you all to be happy :)
Sorry for the long paragraph. Sadly, this chapter is not so happy for the Ghost crew. Don't worry, this is not even close to being done!
So, please review and enjoy!
-0-
"Hey 'Bine?"
"Whaaat?"
"Do you mind washing Ezra's clothes for him?"
Sabine immediately groaned in displeasure. Of course Kanan would ask her. Nobody wanted to wash a teenage boys laundry. Especially not Ezra Bridger's. Ezra wore the same orange jumpsuit basically every single day. He sweated in it, crawled through dusty coated vents, rolled in the mud, and pretty much everything else in it.
"Oh come on, why me?!" Sabine whined, flopping down dramatically on the med bay bed next to the one a sleeping Ezra occupied.
Kanan chuckled at the woman's antics. "It's not that bad."
"Then why don't you do it?" Sabine said almost mockingly, sticking her tongue out.
Kanan snorted with laughter. "You couldn't pay me a thousand credits to clean that kid's uniform."
The ghost crew had strict rules. Do your own laundry. Clean your own messes. The ship was just more efficient that way. And Ezra...well, laundry wasn't his favorite chore to do. Washing his clothes was the only thing he was lazy at, and it annoyed his crew mates more than ever. The last time Ezra had bothered to even dust off his jumper...well...it wasn't recent.
"Fine, i'll wash his clothes...but you both owe me!" Sabine raged, stomping to Ezra's bunk. Because Zeb was asleep on the top bunk, Sabine quietly grabbed their laundry basket, throwing in the scattered clothing articles from around the room.
When she reached the sink she sighed. Why were boys so messy?!
She started first with a few of Ezra's t-shirts and tank tops. He never wore them by themselves, but always under his jumper. How the kid didn't boil in the sun was beyond Sabine. But nevertheless, she dunked the clothes into the sink, throwing in the rest of Ezra's laundry. After they had been scrubbed, she hung them up on the outside of the ghosts wing to air-dry.
Finally came the task she least looked forward to. The damn orange flight suit.
With a groan, she gingerly picked up the suit. She flattened it on the table and began patting it down, looking for stuff hidden in the pockets before she washed it. Two credits, bolts, wires, a screwdriver, string, and a bunch of other random odds and ends later, she finally decided she had found everything. Sabine picked up the suit and shook it, knocking some of the dust off. Too her surprise, a rattling sound met her ears along with the layer of detriment on the floor. Shaking it again, she confirmed her suspicions...something else was hidden in Ezra's suit. But she had searched every pocket!
Where else would...?
Sabine suddenly felt like an idiot.
"Of course he has secret pockets. He's Ezra." She muttered, patting the inside lining, looking for lumps. At last she found a small bulge in the chest of the suit, where his backpack strap would cover.
"Clever kid." Sabine smirked, gently opening the zippered pocket. She reached in, expecting something like candy or money or even another handful of screws.
A orange capsule with a white top.
Sabine stared at it, trying to come to terms with the pill bottle in her palm. What was it for? The label...it had been scratched off, like someone didn't want anyone seeing what the contents specifically were for. With a soft 'pop', she took off the lid. It was a half filled with an array of pills. None of the tablets were the blue capsules Hera bought for pain, or the orange sleeping pills Zeb sometimes took. Hell, they weren't even the pink circular ones she kept under her bed for cramps.
She had never seen any of these pills before. Some were engraved with random numbers and letters, some had a simple '℞' symbol. Various pills were just blank. A few even had a star or a handprint.
What...Why did he have these. She shut the lid and shoved the container into her pocket.
With a monotone face, she scrubbed his suit clean then put it in the sun to dry.
Sabine needed to have a little chat.
-0-
Ezra woke up in a cold sweat. His fever was breaking, and nothing seemed to be helping him. If anything, he seemed to be going downwards...again.
"Shh kid, it's alright. You're fine." Kanan's voice called, trying to soothe the boy. Kanan gently dabbed a cold wash clothe to Ezra's face, wiping away the perspiration.
Ezra's head lulled to the side. "Kanan..."
"Come'on kid, help me out. I know you're tired and feel awful, but please...just relax." Kanan almost begged, teal eyes filled with sadness.
But Ezra couldn't. It had been two days since he had been brutally attacked. Mauled by a beast.
Two days since he had last stood.
Two days since he last felt normal.
Two days since his last fix.
He hadn't been wearing his jumpsuit at the time of his attack, so he knew that most of his stash was safe in his pocket. The other part on board the Ghost was in the bathroom, and then again in his room. He had removed a small tile from the bathroom, finding a hollow haven. There he stored just enough pills to get him through a few days. His larger stash was in his bunk, in something no one would expect. A stuffed animal. A loth cat plush his mother had sewn for him when he was first born. The seams were ripped from use and age, making the perfect hiding spot for a small capsule filled with pills. The stuffing even silenced the rattling of the bottle, so he could easily access the contents without much sound.
He hated needing those pills. He hadn't always craved them.
But that was a long time ago.
"I don't feel good." Ezra moaned, eyes widening.
Kanan grabbed the bucket by the side of the bed, helping Ezra to lean over it. The poor boy heaved, his stomach emptying its contents. Kanan gently patted his back, whispering comforting words. When Ezra was finished, he lay back down, looking worse.
"I'm so sorry kid. I don't...I don't know what to do." Kanan confessed, wiping bile from his padawan's lip.
Ezra closed his eyes. "Kanan?"
"Yeah kid?"
"Can you do me a favor?"
Kanan's eyes lit up. "S-Sure."
"Well, can you get something from my bunk?"
"Anything you need."
-0-
"Ezra's getting better."
Hera looked over her shoulder. She was currently cleaning the window of bow.
"That's good." Hera replied, turning back to her scrubbing.
Kanan sat in the chair next to her. "Yeah, he hasn't thrown up all morning."
Hera raised her brow. "What'd you give him?"
"Nothing more than what he was getting already. Maybe just being comfortable was what he needed."
"More pillows?" Hera laughed, scrubbing at a spot of dirt.
"No, just his stuffed cat." Kanan sighed.
"Stuffed cat?"
"Yeah, just a plush. Pretty beat up, it's probably from his parents."
"Hm." Hera sighed. She knew the real reason behind Ezra's sick like symptoms. Two days without anything? The boy must have been going mad. But it took longer than two days to clean someone completely. So if Ezra was 'feeling better', he had gotten some of his pills. But from where?
"Hey love, can you finish up these windows?" Hera asked, standing up.
Kanan shrugged and took the sponge from the captain. "Sure, why?"
"Oh, I just want to go see how Ezra is for myself. Plus he needs some dinner." Hera answered, heading towards the galley.
Hera needed to have a little talk with her youngest crew member.
-0-
Sabine was torn.
Kanan or Hera?
Who should she tell about the mysterious bottle in Ezra's jumper?
Kanan would just confront Ezra immediately, and while that was effective in some scenarios...It maybe wasn't the best tactic. Hera, on the other hand, was soft and caring, yet truthful.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her body crashing into something...well, someone.
"Sorry 'Bine." Hera smiled, nodding as she continued on her way.
Sabine blinked in surprise. Hera was heading towards the med bay. Towards Ezra.
"Wait Hera!" Sabine called out, hating how her voice sounded small.
Hera turned, "Hm?"
Sabine pulled the bottle from her pocket. "I-..." Her face fell, amber eyes widening with tears. The woman's mouth slightly agape in loss for words.
Hera froze at the sight of the orange vile. "Sabine...Those aren't yours, are they?"
Sabine shook her head, stepping forward. Hera took the bottle, opening the lid to look at the contents. She nodded upon looking, as if she expected what she saw.
"I found them in his suit. They were in a secret pocket." Sabine whispered, looking at her boots.
Hera slipped the container in her own pocket.
"Thank you for telling me love. There's some soup in the galley if you're hungry. Try to eat something and rest, alright?" Hera said softly, as if speaking to a young child.
Sabine just nodded, blankly turning to walk away.
"And 'Bine?"
Sabine looked over her shoulder.
"Do me a favor and say nothing to Kanan?"
The Mandalore nodded, wrapping her thin arms around herself. Enveloped in her own hug, she slowly walked to her room to process.
-0-
When Hera entered the med bay, her face softened at the sight of Ezra. The boy was sleeping, stuffed animal clutched in his hands.
After checking his stitches and vitals, she found the boy was doing fairly well. He would need to spend a week or so in the med bay before he could return to his bunk, and a month or two of rest before doing much else.
So the question Hera had in mind: If Ezra was not in critical withdraw, then where did he get his fix from?
The twi'lek looked all over the room. Under the bed, the mattress, she emptied his water, in his pockets...everything. She knew he had a stash in the floor panelling of the ship, and now a supply in his jumpsuit. Ezra obviously hadn't gotten up and walked to his supply in the main bathroom. And he hadn't worn or even come into contact with his suit since before the attack. So either someone was bringing him drugs or he had another stash somewhere. But Hera highly doubted the first option. Sabine looked fairly distraught at the thought of Ezra having a stash of unidentifiable pills hidden in his suit. Kanan was against all drugs, so he would never even think about doing such a thing, especially for his young padawan. Zeb... Honestly? Hera didn't know. The lasat did have a patchy relationship with addictive substances, mainly liquor. But he had been sober for years. The last time he even had so much as a drop of alcohol was new years. Plus Zeb was pretty sensitive to drug abuse. He hated the mention of it, and would never promote it to others. Especially Ezra. Chopper? He could be a mean little bot sometimes. He never did favors for people unless they did something for him first...but he was awful at keeping secrets, or moving around unnoticed. Hera was sure she would've seen her droid snooping around the ship, unbolting parts of the bathroom floor(a room Chop had no business in), taking out the right pills in the right amount, re-bolting the floor, then taking them to Ezra.
There was no way someone had willingly brought him his pills.
A Jedi mind trick?
The thought was quickly dismissed. Ezra was scarily strong with the Force, but he didn't know that trick yet. Plus that Jedi method usually left the victim in a zombie-like state for hours. She would've noticed one of ship mates acting so strange.
So Ezra definitely had a stash on him somewhere. But he had just recently got it within the past few hours. Why would he have left himself go so long without a hit if he had the antidote with him the entire time?
Her emerald eyes scanned the room. What had just been brought into the boy's room within the past day?
His food...But it hadn't been spiked. No possible way that could've happened without a hitch.
Ezra softly sighed in his sleep, his stuffed animal slipping from his grip and falling from his chest to his side. Hera stared at the cat plush. It was no bigger than a book, and in pretty horrid conditions.
Tape seemed to be the only thing holding the stuffing in at the stomach part of the cat.
"No way..." Hera muttered in realization. She picked off the tape and reached inside the body, finding her prize in the center of the plush's belly. An orange capsule.
...
The bottle rattled, the contents full.
Her heart pounded, the beats dull.
Ezra was smart, she had to give him that.
Hiding drugs inside a toy cat.
Were any of his emotions true?
Or were they all made of prescriptions too...
The audacity of it all
Hera felt small
Could anyone help this child?
Or had his sanity become too wild...?
-0-
A bit of poetry at the end there! Tell me what you guys think! I love reading all of your comments.
Remember guys - be happy :)
-Shelby