WARNING: Mention of blood.


"Inquisitors…" Athena took a step back, hands in front of her - not really sure how, or if, she should use her powers. These were the exact people Kanan and Ahsoka didn't want her to be seen by.

"Ah, she looks just like her brother," the woman cooed. "Ya got the same handsome face."

They took metal circles from their body, two red blades ignited from them.

"Lord Vader will be pleased to know we captured the child," the man said.

"Indeed," Seventh Sister grinned. "She'll make a fine addition to the Empire."

Athena stomped her bare foot on the ground and out came two streams of molten magma. They followed the command of her hands and swirled around her.

She didn't know how to fight people with her elements. She could just now barely say she had control over them now.

All she could do is wave her lava like a warning flag. Bluff.

Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother were wide-eyed to see this power. They watched the girl slowly turn into the fiery form of the Goddess Inferna - mirroring the mural mere meters away from her.

Her hair of fire waved in the air like the tail of a predator, warning her enemy not to step closer. Her eyes glowed like the bright lava around her.

"Take one step closer and you're dead," she growled the warning, despite wanting to run far away. She wanted Ahsoka. She wanted Kanan.

She had never even attempted to fight someone with a lightsaber. Jalo - she just caught him by surprise and froze him in a block of ice.

These two had a battalion of Stormtroopers behind them, plus a man in grey armor and a funny-looking grey helmet. Athena recognized the bo-rifle on his back.

"Agent Kallus, tell your men to hold fire for now," Seventh Sister ordered. "I want to see exactly what this girl can do."

The man with a stolen bo-rifle on his back was near trembling as he laid eyes on the girl on fire. Molten fire swirled around her. Never had he seen a Jedi do this before.

He held up his hand and ordered his men to stand by.

They were in a stalemate at the moment. The girl with fierce heat circling around her stood there with a look of anger but was traced with fear.

She knew how to nearly kill an average human in hand-to-hand combat. She knew how to fight with a staff versus a staff. She knew how to handle swirling her elements around herself.

She didn't know how to defend against a lightsaber blade. She didn't know how to dodge blaster bolts. She didn't know how to send her elements to attack. Not yet.

"Come now," Seventh Sister enticed. "Show me what you can do, Syla Dume? Or do you go by Jarrus? Just like your brother?"

They knew exactly who she was. They knew she was a Dume and Jarrus. They knew she was training to be a Jedi. But, they had no idea what she could or couldn't do.

"Go Goddess Inferna!"

Athena's breath hitched in her throat as she heard that cheer from afar. She carefully shifted her eyes up to see a boy, no older than ten, cheering from his second-story window.

Two Stormtrooper's shared a glance.

"I'll get him."

To Athena's horror, the man in armor aimed his gun at the child and shot. Thankfully he missed and grazed the window's ledge and the boy ducked in fear.

Rage filled her to the brim. He shot at a child. A CHILD.

She took the stream of lava and it engulfed his rifle and the entirety of his left arm. He let out a scream of agony as the white armor melted along with his flesh. He dropped to the ground screaming.

"DON'T YOU HURT THEM!" she screamed.

So she was capable of attacking.

Kallus stood there, frozen in horror.

Fifth Brother took advantage of the moment. Her lava was still retracting from the attack - leaving no ring of molten fire to protect her.

She just barely got out of the way, leaping to the side. She lost concentration over her lava and it dropped to the ground, splattering into a grey goop amongst the armored men. Several of them let out a scream of pain as some of the splash came into contact with their shins and feet - burning through their armor.

As she leaped away, the winds of the storm around them helped her further herself. Her hair went from a fiery inferno to a bright gold - her eyes silver as she momentarily flew with the wind.

"She's got more than fire!" Seventh Sister shouted.

Her hair quickly went back to a fiery red as she knew lava was the best element she could turn into a weapon at the moment. She reached her hand out and brought the ring of fire back around herself.

She had no idea how to contact the others. She was alone, fighting for her life.

Then, she saw the absence of her Phoenix from the volcano. Her fiery eyes turn back to the Inquisitors.

Best to keep them talking instead of attacking.

"I guess you guys weren't a fan of my work."

"A disgusting display of rebellion." Fifth Brother said.

"A disgusting face upon your head," Athena retaliated.

He was about to charge again when the Seventh Sister placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wait."

"What?" Fifth Brother snapped.

"If she wanted to attack she would have by no-"

Athena took only a small portion of her lava away from her ring of fire to throw at the two Inquisitors. She wasn't accurate nor fast with this stuff yet. Throwing lava accurately felt like trying to accurately throw a handful of honey. It was sticky and not very flowey.

The two Inquisitors jumped back, but not without a single speck landing on Seventh Sister's foot. She screamed out in pain and held it up in agony, a stream of smoke now on the top of her boot.

"She's not accurate with her throws yet," Fifth Brother observed. "That could have been a kill shot if she were accurate."

"Maybe I just don't want to kill you. Yet." Athena knew she needed to bluff as she thought of a plan.

Thirty Stormtroopers and one ISB agent to her left. Two Inquisitors in front of her. Back against a wall. No backup. No lightsaber. Barely any experience with this type of fight.

But, they weren't sure how to go about fighting her either. The Stormtroopers and that man in a weird helmet stood by in fear and confusion. The Inquisitors desperately tried to come up with a plan. Their lightsabers could only do so much against this kid's lava.

Seventh Sister thought, "We can't block that lava...we need some sort of-"

Athena brought the ball of lava she had splattered at them up and threw it at the tall grey man with pale eyes.

He yelled in agony as a splash of lava grazed his right arm before returning to the belt of lava surrounding the girl. He huffed and puffed in anger and glared at the girl as he held his arm in withering pain; the lava seeped through his skin and sunk to the bone.

"You are helpless against my lava!" she let her eyes glow a little brighter and her hair blow in the wind a little more heroically. The rain made it hard to keep the lava hot and flowey, but she needed to keep up the act. Act like Goddess Inferna. "Stand down!"

"Wait so is this kid really this 'Goddess Inferna'?" a Stormtrooper questioned another beside him. "Shouldn't we call for backup?"

"Kid!"

Athena's eyes nervously turned to see Zeb come charging onto the scene - his bo-rifle out and activated as he swung it at the troopers around him.

She saw a red beam of energy shoot from one of their blasters. Once again, everything slowed down. Her hair went back to blonde and her eyes now a bright teal as the lava around her dropped to the ground. She held out her hand in the direction of that red beam and Zeb.

Mere centimeters before the bolt could have impacted the lasat, it took a sharp turn right - hitting the next trooper.

She didn't stop there. No, that was her friend. He tried to kill her friend. His arm covered in white armor soon twisted and turned in inhumane ways as he screamed out in agony. Zeb's eyes widened as he witnessed the sight.

Seventh Sister took no time to hesitate. She swung at the girl with her spinning red blades.

The Inquisitor didn't know what hit her - literally. The next thing she knew, she was thrown at a high-velocity perpendicular to the direction she had lunged in. Her helmet cracked on impact as she hit the wall.

Athena smirked as she took out two birds with one stone. That Stormtrooper with the now mangled arm sure made good ammo to throw at the Inquisitor.

Her smirk of victory was short-lived. Another set of red blades soon flew at her - Fifth Brother yelling as he swung at her.

She brought up a quick stream of lava to stop him in his tracks. She knew how to fight hand-to-hand, so that's what she decided to switch to for the moment. Lava to shield, hands and feet to attack.

Her foot shot through the circle of his lightsaber hilt as she brought the lava down. He stumbled back as the air in his lungs was forced out by the blunt force of her hit.

Zeb wasn't even able to see what was going down over there at that point, seeing that he had the Stormtroopers to deal with.

Athena didn't know the blades could spin. As Fifth Brother fell back onto the ground, her eyes went wide as the blades spun around her foot. The metal barely missed her flesh as it spun around her ankle.

If she left it drop, that would be bad, she figured.

Having little to no thought behind it, fear kicked in and ice sprouted from her ankle. She glued herself to the spinning blades with her bare foot still sticking in the air.

Terrible course of action.

She brought the spinning blades attached to her left foot to the ground and picked her right foot up to avoid getting it cut off. Now she had a hula hoop skipper from Hell attached to her left foot. The ice slowly began to chip away as the hilt's sharp edge spun so fast around her ankle. The rain was pouring so hard and it was so dark and cold.

The girl was panicked now. She had little to no plan.

Seventh Sister soon got up and lunged at the girl with her sabers.

Athena had less than a second to think.

Her hair quickly jumped to the hue of bright gold, almost white, as she went flying up into the air. The storm around her once again embracing her in its winds.

She couldn't come down. There was too much on the ground. She needed to get up-

Bad idea once again.

The world was upside down and the blood rushed to Athena's head as the red blades around her foot were now above her. The spinning did not help with the situation - only making her fly upwards even more and made it impossible for her at the moment to go back down without making a mistake with those blades and getting a limb cut off.

She screamed as she flew higher into the air. Her ice no longer protected her flesh from the spinning metal. The top of her foot pressed against the middle bar as her ankle kept getting severely nicked by each rotation of the outer circle. The only thing keeping her up was the top of her foot now being frozen to that cylinder in the center of the saber.

She looked over to see her lasat friend now fighting against the man in the grey helmet and stolen bo-rifle. Knowing Zeb was severely outnumbered, she used what little clarity she had to grab ahold of Kallus with the Force.

The man with mutton chops screamed as he was lifted into the air. Athena saw Fifth Brother start to get up and decided to take out two birds with one movement once again.

Kallus' body slammed against Fifth Brother and the two males were sent flying into a wall.

Zeb looked up to the girl with wide eyes. "Kid! How'd you do that!"

He could see the agony and pain across her face. She was exhausted from the fight. She was in pain. She was losing clarity.

He could barely get the yell out as he saw another blur of red fly through the air at the girl.

"Athena!" he screamed.

Athena couldn't protect herself in time. Suspended in the air upside down, she was helpless against Seventh Sister's lightsabers being thrown right at her.

It was a pair of violet blades that saved her.

Athena could barely breathe as she saw her friend in front of her. Hanging onto Chopper's side with one hand, Rae held one of her purple blades in the other. Red clashed with purple and the spinning blades were sent away.

"Let's retreat!" she shouted to Zeb.

Zeb took one more swing at another bucket head before nodding and running southward - back to the ship.

Rae looked to Athena with worried eyes. There was no way she could simultaneously hold onto Chopper and carry Athena. They couldn't return to the ground either - there were too many enemies.

"Grab my hand, I'll pull you. Just keep your winds up to keep you in the air!" the girl put her violet blade away on her belt.

Athena could barely see now. Everything was a blur. The rain. Her friend. Her astromech crewmate. The troopers below.

She barely could keep these winds up as she took her friend's purple gloved hand - the only color sticking out to her was purple now.

"Fly us out of here, Chop!" Rae barked.

The droid beeped and angled his thrusters away from the Imperials and towards home. Red blaster bolts flew past them. Rae flinched every time. They had no defense. One hand held Chopper and the other guided the semi-conscious Athena away from the city.

Just as they were about to enter the woods, Rae's eyes went wide as she saw Zeb running from the troopers on the ground. He could barely dodge all their shots.

Rae's heart stopped for a moment as she felt a burst of energy radiate next to her. She turned to see Athena's eyes go fiery orange as she glared at the Stormtroopers below shooting at Zeb.

Just behind Zeb's heel erupted a meter-wide river of lava from the cracked ground. The girl took her free hand and brought the lava up into the air - freezing it quickly to create a wall of protection for her friend. The black wall of obsidian was at least ten meters tall and eighty meters long. The Stormtroopers thankfully didn't know how to react and stayed back.


Athena didn't even remember anything about the sprint back to the Ghost's camp. Somehow, barely conscious, Athena found herself in Zeb's arms as he ran with Rae and Chopper by their sides through the woods.

She couldn't see past the rain, other than the fact the blades no longer spun around her left foot. But, the grey circle was still stuck on it.

She didn't become very aware of the pain until they made it back to camp. Zeb sat her on the ramp of the Ghost and Rae began to touch the grey circle around her foot.

She screamed bloody murder as her foot burned in agony.

Rae was near in tears now as she looked at the damage around her friend's foot. There was so much blood. The spinning portion of the saber hilt was so lodged into her ankle, Rae was amazed it hadn't been cut off.

The others were around the girl as she let out a scream so loud it made their ears nearly bleed. Ahsoka was the one holding her down - crossing her arms over the girl's chest to keep her back laying on her lap. Ahsoka had to use all the strength she had to hold her Padawan down from writhing in pain as Rae took the metal out the back of her ankle.

"I'm going to get the ship off this planet. Who knows if the Empire was able to follow you guys," Hera couldn't watch any more. She turned and hurried up the ladder. "Get her further into the ship and patch that up! We need to leave!"

Athena screamed in agony as the roars of the planet's clouds met her voice. Lighting cracked onto the ground around the ship with every howl of pain.

Ahsoka held on tight to her Padawan as Kanan carefully took his sister's legs into his arms. The two carefully carried her deeper into the cargo bay and they closed the ramp.

"Ahsoka and I can take care of her. All of you man your stations. We don't know if the Empire is close enough to see us," Kanan ordered.

"What about bandages?" Rae questioned.

"Just go! Best to not get this whole ship shot down at the moment. Come back once we're in the clear," Ahsoka ordered.

The others quickly left.

Ahsoka and Kanan shared a fearful stare.

"Do you think she can heal this?" Kanan questioned. "She's cut to the bone."

Athena couldn't do anything but scream and wither in pain. Tears welled in her eyes. She felt like a helpless baby as Ahsoka held her down. She could feel every heartbeat in her mangled foot now. She couldn't feel her toes anymore.

Ahsoka took deep breaths as she held her Padawan tightly, "She should. Come on, Athena, you got this."

"I-I-" Athena was nearly sobbing in pain. Blood was getting everywhere. Her foot was numb but her ankle was anything but.

"Deep breaths," Ahsoka softly spoke. "Remember what Daughter taught you. Use the Force."

Athena could barely get a grip on herself. She saw Kanan's worried eyes meet her own. He put a reassuring hand on her arm. "Athena, come on. You got this. You can heal bullet wounds, you can heal this."

The girl clenched her jaw so hard she thought her teeth would break as she did her best to suppress her pain and focus on the Force. She sniffled and writhed as her pain wouldn't stop throbbing. She could feel the cold blood pool beneath her feet.

"It hurts…" she could barely hold in the tears. "It hurts, Master…"

Ahsoka felt no fight left in the girl. She was just lying there now, in pain. The togruta took her hands and placed them on the sides of her Padawan's face and looked down at the girl. Athena's head rested on Ahsoka's lap as tears were on the verge of overflowing from her teal eyes.

"Close your eyes and take a deep breath. I will do my best to help in your healing," she instructed in a soothing voice. "Repeat after me: I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me."

The girl did as instructed and closed her eyes, mumbling the phrase repeated over and over by her Master.

"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me…"

She let the gold dots flowing through her rush to the injury around her ankle. She made it go numb at first as she rebuilt the flesh. She couldn't help but wither in disgust as she felt even the bone had some damage on it.

Ahsoka's energy was like the little extra jump of energy she needed to close up the wound - though she had yet to even start on everything inside.

Kanan let out a sigh of relief as he saw the gushing blood come to a halt. He held onto his little sister's hands and closed his eyes, doing his best to send calming sensations through the Force to the girl.

Athena shot up and began to retch. Thankfully the Force was strong with Ahsoka and the togruta had already brought the bucket beside her to her Padawan's face.

Ahsoka rubbed the back of the girl's shoulder in a show of comfort and caring.

Athena was done after a couple of seconds and was out of breath when she brought her head up from the bucket.

"So, you fought the Inquisitors?" Kanan asked.

"I'm sorry, I should've run-"

"It's okay. Just about all of us have gotten over our heads with these Inquisitors," Kanan assured.

"I could've gotten killed or captured," Athena sighed in defeat.

Ahsoka gave a soft smile and patted her Padawan's shoulder, "It's okay. No one was captured or killed. That's all that matters."

"How...I didn't realize I was this weak," Athena slumped her shoulders, heavily breathing as she tried to keep the tears in. "I can fight a volcano and win, but not two measly Inquisitors?"

"Those were two completely different types of fights," Kanan said. "You are just now gaining control of your elements. You never really went up against someone with an actual lightsaber."

Athena shook her head. "If I can't fight just those two Inquisitors, how can I fight…" Athena spoke quieter. "Abeloth?"

"We don't know when that will happen, but that's what the Ones have been training you for," Ahsoka spoke quietly. "The whole Ones thing and the Empire are two completely different kinds of fights. Remember, you've only been a Jedi Padawan for about a month now. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Leave me here," Athena shook her head in disgust and anger. "I wanna be alone."

Kanan and Ahsoka blinked in surprise and looked at each other - it wasn't often Athena was this brash and snappy with them.

"Please!" she pleaded, anger in her voice. "I want to be alone!"

Ahsoka sighed and stood. She lightly pet the top of Athena's head before turning to the ladder - her and Kanan soon ascending. They could tell Athena was shaken up and needed time to collect her thoughts. No use in aggravating her.

Athena dragged herself across the cargo bay to further herself from the ladder and the ramp. She sat on the yellow and black dashed line that made a rectangle in the bay now, resting her back against the wall. She curled her right, uninjured, leg up to her chest and buried her face with her arms and knee.

She could barely wipe away the tears welling up in her eyes.

She was such a disappointment.

She was supposed to save the universe, but she couldn't even save herself from those Inquisitors. She was supposedly so strong, yet so weak. It had been a while since she had been in a fight where her life was so imminently in danger. Where she was the weakling.

She was so excited to take on the Empire just this morning.

Now, after that, she doubted she was even strong enough to call herself a rebel.

She barked in anger as she heard a set of feet descend the ladder about a half-hour later. "Go away!"

Ezra cocked his head in confusion as he looked over to the girl in disarray and despair. She seemed so upset. Holding back tears, even though her left ankle no longer spilled blood. It was swollen and several shades of purple, but at least it didn't have any more blood coming out.

"You good? I heard that was a nasty fight you had with the Inquisitors."

"Shut it!" she snapped, picking up her head. "I lost anyway. Just shut it."

"You lived, how is that losing?" Ezra walked over to the girl. "And, you did it mostly by yourself. I don't think I would ever be able to take them on solo and live. Especially without a lightsaber!"

"Oh please," Athena scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You're just trying to make me feel better."

"No, really," Ezra leaned his back against the wall and slid down to sit next to the girl. "You seriously took them on without any lightsaber blaster? That's so awesome!"

"I lost, so shut up!" she snapped, turning to the ground. "I would've been killed if it weren't for Rae saving me at the last second! I lost! And I almost lost my foot, too!"

Ezra sat there for a moment, wondering how to make it more obvious to Athena that what she did was actually an accomplishment. He and Kanan together could just barely hold off those two Inquisitors - Ahsoka even having to save them once on Garel from those two.

"Hey, did I ever tell you how I got this scar?" Ezra pointed to the left side of his face.

Athena looked up to see the two lines under Ezra's left eyes. "What about it?" she grumbled.

"It was when me and Kanan were fighting an Inquisitor," he said. "Kanan and I just barely were able to take him on, two against one. I got this when he threw his spinning saber at me."

Athena rolled her eyes, "Wow. What a great story."

"Kanan and I were together facing just one Inquisitor, though," Ezra said. "That was two against one and I still almost got killed. You were facing two alone and you lived. Zeb said you even injured them both. Plus some Stormtroopers!"

"I melted one Stormtrooper's arm with lava and mangled another one's arm before throwing him at one of the Inquisitors," Athena sighed. "I got a little hit on both of them with my lava too - but not that good of a hit."

"That's amazing!" Ezra's eyes were bright with amazement. It made Athena chuckle. He was like a little kid. "You just fought them with your elements? No lightsaber?"

Athena rolled her eyes. Her smile disappeared when she looked past Ezra on her right. Fifth Brother's saber still sitting in a small puddle of her blood.

"Hey, you took Fifth Brother's saber too," Ezra shrugged. "Maybe Ahsoka will let you make that one your own."

"I don't deserve a lightsaber," she huffed. "I failed miserably today."

"You did better than I could," Ezra chuckled, looking back to the girl. "You got a good hit on both Inquisitors and managed to escape in one piece."

"Mostly," she sighed, looking down to her numb left foot. The skin was healed, but the bone, tendons, and everything else inside wasn't.

"And you can heal!" Ezra pointed out. "You are literally like the most amazing Jedi I've ever met."

Athena smiled and scoffed, "Please. You're just saying that."

"You fought a volcano and won, Athena," Ezra said. "You got kidnapped by Second Brother and escaped, then you faced two Inquisitors at the same time on your own, got some hits on them, and escaped! All while dealing with a battalion of Stormtroopers!"

"Zeb mostly took care of the Stormtroopers for me," Athena admitted. "He, Rae, and Chopper saved my life today."

"It's what we do," Ezra shrugged. "Now, Hera's got us meeting with the parts of the fleet that have recovered from Second Brother's attack a while ago. Soon, we'll be on missions again and saving each other's lives as we fight the Empire."

Athena sighed and leaned her head against the metal wall. "I don't think I'm cut out for this. I don't think I can just 'escape' and call that winning."

"The Empire's main goal is to kill us," Ezra said. "If they don't manage to kill us, then we win. Right?"

Athena chuckled again. "Okay, I guess that's a fair point. We just gotta fight to live another day?"

"And we gotta live to fight another day, too," Ezra said. "This is what it's all about."

"Fight to live and live to fight, alright," Athena sighed. "Guess I'll try that."

"Do or do not, there is no try," Ezra reminded.

"You be quiet, Blueberry," Athena playfully shoved the boy. "So annoying."

"So, did you heal your ankle back to normal?" Ezra asked, pointing to the girl's scared ankle. It looked absolutely abhorrent with it being swollen and purple, but it did not bleed.

She shook her head. "I basically made a scar as a scab to stop the bleeding. I need to work on the nerves, the ligaments, the bone, and everything else inside that got torn up. I'm lucky I didn't lose it."

"Well, that's good," Ezra said. "See? The Inquisitors didn't even injure you in the long run. They got nothing on you."

"Maybe."

Another set of footsteps descended the ladder and the two Padawans looked over to see Kanan enter the cargo bay.

"How are you holding up, Athena?" Kanan asked.

"Okay for now."

Kanan's eyes shifted to the ground beside him and the ladder to see Fifth Brother's lightsaber lying there in a puddle of blood. He sighed and looked back to Athena.

"You lost a lot of blood. Do you want something to eat?" Kanan asked.

Athena looked down to where Kanan had glanced to. She sighed and quickly turned away from the red stain. "I'm fine."

"Ezra, go get some wipes to clean up this," Kanan looked to his Padawan.

Ezra was about to sit up when Athena put her right hand on his shoulder. With her left hand, she stretched it out towards the puddle of blood as her hair went dark red.

Kanan and Ezra's stomachs churned as they watched the red liquid slowly lift into the air in droplets, eventually to merge into one stream. Even the dried red and black stains on the spinning lightsaber lifted up into the air. Athena's fingers commanding the liquid's every movement.

Athena brought it over in front of her, circling the orb of red in front of herself. Ezra covered his mouth in horror and disgust as she continued to control the pool of blood with the movement with her fingers.

Kanan was near frozen in horror. He had to catch himself from falling over as he watched his little sister control the blood. It was straight out of a horror novel.

"You...blood?" Kanan could barely muster the words. "You can control blood?"

"It's a liquid just like any other," Athena's brownish-red eyes studied the orb of red floating between her hands now. "I had a theory I could do this. Now I know I can."

"I'm gonna be sick," Ezra's hand still covered his mouth in horror.

"Its blood. It's in all of our bodies," Athena shrugged.

"Put it away, I'm gonna get sick too," Kanan said.

Athena realized she didn't know exactly what she would do with the blood. Her wide and concerned eyes looked around the cargo bay. "Crap, what do I do with it?"

"Just-" Kanan had to look away, the blood being controlled like that made him even more queasy. "-find something! Force, that's creepy!"

Athena saw the bucket and the blood followed her motion. She put the blood in the bucket and looked to the boy beside her - several shades paler than he was before.

Ezra couldn't take the hand away from his mouth, even after the blood was out of sight. His stomach was in knots.

"I saw that in an old children's cartoon back on Earth," Athena's hair faded back to blonde as she looked at Kanan, who was also pale. "Bloodbending."

"Please don't do that again," Kanan let out a shaky sigh and looked back to Athena. "I almost passed out."

"So, what are we going to do with that saber?" Athena asked.

"You could ask Ahsoka if you can possibly make that your own lightsaber," Kanan suggested. "Maybe she thinks you're ready for building one, maybe not. It's her call."

Ezra took his hand away from his mouth and shook his head. He spoke in a squeaky voice. "I think I need to go lie down."

The boy Padawan stood and headed up the ladder, his face still drained of color. Kanan looked to his sister once Ezra left.

"You wanna go ask Ahsoka now?" Kanan asked.

Athena gestured to her scared ankle, several shades of purple and swollen like a balloon. "My ankle is still messed up. All I could do for the moment is patch up the outer skin. Everything else inside is still a mess. I won't be able to walk until I fix all this."

Kanan nodded, "Alright, do you want me to leave you here then?"

"I can crawl," Athena suggested.

Kanan sighed as he watched Athena carefully turn to her side so she could get onto her elbows. She began to army crawl through the cargo bay, her left leg completely useless. She paused as she approached the ladder.

"Didn't think this through, huh?" Kanan joked, looking down at his sister.

Athena sighed. "Alright, I'll admit it. This was not thought out well."

"You want me to carry you?"

"No, I'm an independent woman," Athena argued before reaching up and grabbing onto the final ring of the ladder. She nearly broke her spine when she tried.

Kanan bent down and picked up the girl. He held her in a bear hug from behind now so her foot wouldn't have to touch the ground.

"I have an idea!" Athena's eyes were excited as she looked back to Kanan. She reached out to the ladder, straining as it was just out of reach. "I'll just climb it without using my feet."

"This is a horrible idea," Kanan said. "If you fall-"

"I can heal," Athena argued. She strained to reach the ladder again, trapped by Kanan's lifting hug. "Now let me go up the ladder!"

Kanan rolled his eyes and took a step forward. The girl grabbed onto the rings of the yellow ladder and held herself up as Kanan let go.

"Okay, just like P.E. class," Athena let out a sigh as her upper body strength was forced to hold herself up. She brought her hands back around the bars so her palms would face her as she lifted herself up each ring.

Kanan crossed his arms and watched with mostly annoyance and a dash of amusement across his face as he watched the stubborn girl climb up the ladder as her legs dangled mid-air.