I'm a back! And I bring sadness! Lots and lots of sadness! So enjoy!

Without the medicine to keep the symptoms at bay, Ezra's pain escalated. His hallucinations were getting worse and when Hera and Kanan tried getting the slop that the Empire called food into Ezra's system, it wound up in the small toilet in the corner. It appeared that Longheart's way of torture was making Kanan and Hera watch their youngest member and almost son die. No one came for an interrogation, which was odd because Kanan remembered he was questioned within minutes of his own capture almost a year before. The Jedi shuddered at the memory.

After a few hours of captivity, it became apparent that Ezra only had a matter of hours before he entered stage three of the disease without the medicine.

Sure enough, Ezra was fighting to maintain consciousness. Kanan couldn't use the Force outside of the cell due to the blasted barrier Longheart had put up, but he could tell Ezra was slipping into a coma from which he would never wake up from. Hera, who had Ezra leaning against her for warmth, quickly handed him to Kanan, who held on to the child for dear life. Hera sat at Ezra's other side and held Ezra's hand.

"Kanan... Hera..." Ezra choked.

"Ezra..." Kanan breathed, his eyes burning. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Ezra looked up at Kanan weakly. "Don't...be..." he whispered. "You did your...best... You have...to get out of here...and save those villagers..."

"I'm not giving up on you," Kanan replied. "Just stay awake. Please...stay awake..."

"Kanan...I don't have much...of a choice here... Kanan... Hera... Thank you...for...everything..." Hera choked back a sob as she continued to stroke Ezra's hair. "Please...give the others...my best?"

Kanan nodded, rapidly blinking back tears. "I will. I promise kid." Ezra stared up at his father figure and mother figure, letting out one last weak smile before his eyes slipped shut and he let sleep claim him forever.

Hera let out a quiet sob. "We're going to lose him in less than three days. It doesn't seem real... We were so close Kanan..."

Kanan didn't answer. It didn't take the Force to tell that the Jedi was on the verge of tears himself. He stared at his now comatose padawan. "No..." he whispered, his voice quivering. "We're getting out of here. We're going to find that cure and save him. We're going to save him."

The two adults didn't move. They had changed position so that they were against the wall in a corner, Ezra between them.

Ezra was still shivering and he appeared to be hurting even more. The only comfort for Kanan was that Ezra was sleeping through it. Human memory, as cruel as it tends to be, shows small mercies when it comes to unconsciousness.

Kanan had to remind himself that Ezra was never going to wake up unless they came up with a plan.

"I suppose that when they bring the food, we could bust their heads in and run for it." Hera whispered.

"No..." Kanan replied. "Too obvious."

"I'm running out of options here, Kanan," Hera replied. "And Longheart won't bring us anything to help. She made it pretty clear that she wanted us to watch Ezra..." Her voice trailed off.

For once, the situation looked bleak.

It took Chopper an hour to navigate the trees. In his defense, there were no hyperspace lanes in the forest and any maps were lost with the ship. When he emerged, he was hit with a wall of smoke. Something was burning...

No... Something had burned... Chopper looked down and turned on his light in an attempt to see through the smoke. If droids could gasp, Chopper would have revealed his position. All of the Moonblossoms were gone. Gone.

Every. Last. One.

Ezra needed the flowers to live and they were gone. Ezra was going to die!

Chopper banged his dome with his arm. He was not about to get distracted. It was a crazy plan, but if it worked, Ezra, Hera, and Kanan would be free, they would somehow save Ezra and they would all owe the droid a favor. Wouldn't that be nice?

Chopper turned his rockets back on and let it rip. With a shrill battle cry, he slammed past the smoke and came across the base, landing safely on the ground and ducking past the troops that walked by.

"Hey!"

Chopper turned to find a Stormtrooper pointing a blaster ready to blow his dome off. A burst of electricity from the astromech ended that standoff right then and their. With a mechanical laugh, Chopper continued down to the cell block.

Kanan and Hera were quickly losing hope. As they tried to keep their youngest member warm and feeling secure despite being in a coma, they kept thinking of ways to escape.

After a few hours, the smell of smoke drifted into the cell.

It was too late. The flowers were gone.

"No..." Kanan muttered. "No... No. No!"

Hera sat there, eyes wide in disbelief. Chopper was missing, Ezra was dying, and they could do nothing.

They sat there in shock for a while. After everything they went through...

Hera's thoughts were broken by the sound of a warbling droid.

Hera looked up, and her once hopeless face brightened.

"Chopper, you stupid rust bucket!"

Yay! Chopper has arrived! Boo! Stage three has come!

I think I may have accidentally confused some of you so before you go in the comments and let loose, Ezra is younger, so the disease progresses faster in his body. He was on medication to ward off the symptoms, but without it, he went into his coma earlier. Hopefully that clear things up.

Hope you enjoyed, and if you did, you know what to do.

Until Next Time!