-_- Sorry 'bout that wait... 'specially with the cliffie... apparently life likes to time itself to the exact points I write the most drama in my fics. Such is the way the world turns, however...
BUT HEY, ONLY 17 MORE DAYS TILL EPISODE SEVEN, AM I RIGHT?!
*Ahem*
I mean... oh who am I kidding. WOO STAR WARS!
Disclaimer: If not especially obvious in the above writing, I'm not... exactly... 100%... professional. Probably not even 50%... and it's only the pro's that make money.
The tower was exploding. Ezra was falling.
Sabine was screaming.
She'd lost the capability to form coherent words the second Morden had appeared, and now she was just shouting and screaming and shooting-
Zeb had lost his stabilizing grip on her, enraged as he was by the Imperial officer, and Sabine had grabbed her blasters from underneath the stormtrooper armor, fingers incapable of doing anything more than tightening into fists around the blasters' grips as she blasted away at Morden, firing in rage and pain and terror-
Kanan had dove onto the open ramp, planting himself on the very edge even in the chaos that was the air around them, his hands outstretched and tensed, his body visibly shaking-
Morden was forced to duck back into the hallway as both Sabine and Zeb fired their weapons in a near constant stream, pouring their fears into every single shot even as the tower fell away from the Ghost.
No no no no no nonononono- The tower groaned and gained speed as it fell further and further away, and both Spectres ceased their firing as the hole containing Morden and the Imperials fell away. Sabine fell on the floor, unable to support herself any longer as Zeb rushed forwards to peer over the edge of the ship, his rifle thrown behind him in his haste.
Please- please Ezra you can't do this don't you DARE do this- Kanan grunted, half a sound of pressure and half a warning to Zeb, who tensed next to him. Please Ezra please, Zeb crouched down and leaned forwards, extending his hand over the ramp and grabbing onto-
Sabine tried to push herself back up on her feet, but only managed to get half-way before her mid-riff gave out on her and forced her to her knees. Zeb's other hand reached out, grasping-
Don't do this to me...
"I got 'im!" Zeb cried, and Kanan slumped down. Zeb lurched forwards for a moment, but began pulling himself upwards the same time Kanan reached down to grab onto and support-
Please don't.
The Jedi and Lasat hoisted a limp Ezra up onto the ramp, immediately dragging the three of them further into the ship and closer to Sabine-
"Hera go!" Kanan shouted, and the ramp raised behind him, the Ghost jerking into movement. Sabine scooted herself over to them, eyes trained on Ezra's un-opening ones. Kanan hovered for a moment, then patted Ezra's cheeks, softly at first and then with more vigor as he failed to get a response. Sabine's stomach lurched as he bent down and angled his ear to Ezra's chest, eyes wide and showing the beginnings of panic.
Zeb and Sabine both tense at the movement, but then Kanan breathed out in shaky relief, and Sabine's heart started beating again.
"Med-pack," he muttered, quickly moving away from Ezra and running towards the ladder out. "Try and get him conscious!" He shouted out, just before leaping up the ladder and disappearing.
"Eeh," Zeb murmured, uncertain, giant hands hesitating above his bunk-mate. Sabine moved forward again, pressing up to Ezra and laying the hand she'd taken the stormtrooper armor off of on his neck, needing that weak confirmation that he was-
Alive.
She could feel the strained, hitched breathing, though, and knew the next few seconds would be crucial. "Zeb- Zeb help me lift him up, help me-" Sabine's voice was shaking; her hands too, as Zeb propped Ezra up in a semi-sitting position. She could see the burn mark on his back.
Not from the fire below- Kanan must have latched onto him before that disaster could have happened -but from that one blaster bolt commander Morden had finally managed to land on him. It'd seared through the backpack to the back of his vest, dead-center of his back, and Sabine could see patches of charred flesh underneath. "Bacta," she murmured, running her eyes over it and knowing she couldn't do much else without Kanan's med-pack-
"Sabine- he stopped-" Her eyes shot up, fixating on the pained look Ezra was wearing and the way his eyes were scrunching and the way he wasn't breathing-
"Down, down down!" She ordered, hastily reaching over and feeling his neck for a pulse once again, and finding it weakened than before. Panic blossomed in her stomach-
No no no you can't do this-
"Press on his chest!" Zeb complied immediately, going into the basic stage of the resuscitation anyone even remotely involved in some sort of military branch knew. His purple hands compressed downwards rapidly and repetitively, Ezra's torso half-heartedly bucking with each compression. She counted the seconds-
Come on come on come on-
Sabine bent over low, hands shaking in pain and terror as she pressed her mouth onto Ezra's and blew in a breath of air. Nothing-
"No, no no no- you can't do this Ezra, you can't-" Sabine drew back, staring at Ezra's lax face with wide eyes before going back down, breathing more forcefully and clamping his nose shut.
There!
"Zeb go!" The Lasat began compressions again, following up the tiny breath of air Ezra had taken with several more hard pressured thrusts to the chest, eyes widened the same as hers at the painful hope and the even more painful fear-
"Come on Ezra, come on you can't do this-"
Sabine shot down for another mouth-to-mouth, ignoring the burning feeling in her stomach and focusing on giving Ezra air-
"No..." Kanan had come back, and Sabine shocked herself when she saw tears dripping onto Ezra's face.
Hers.
"Ezra please-"
He burst out coughing, shooting upwards with such speed he nearly collided into Sabine- but she didn't care because
he
was
alive.
There was a great deal of movement as Zeb cried out in victory, Kanan darted over to crouch next to them, and Sabine sunk down even further on the floor as Ezra doubled over coughing.
"You're alive!" Zeb cheered, moving to thump his hand on Ezra's back but thinking better of it. Ezra took a great rasping breath, mirrored by Sabine's own, before he groaned,
"Oww."
"Stay up kid, and I'll see what I can do- Hera'll be down in a minute after she lands, and she's a lot better at this than I am." The humor was strained, but still there, leading Zeb and Ezra to develop ghost smiles. Sabine swayed, even sitting down, as the adrenaline wore off and the pain kicked in full-force. She'd torn the skin most definitely- the muscles located in that region were protesting as well, contracting painfully and making the notion of curling into a tight ball and not moving for a while very pleasant. Ezra twisted sideways, giving Kanan more access to his back and facing Sabine.
She must have still looked teary-eyed, because he was trying to smile tightly at her as Kanan slipped the straps of the back-pack off his shoulders to get him a better view of the damage done.
"Hey," he said softly, eyes tightening softly as Kanan applied disinfectant on his back. Sabine shook her head slowly, biting her lip and trying to get the words to come out.
"Don't, ever scare me like that again," she whispered, cursing even as her eyes got more watery. "Just don't."
Ezra winced, Kanan apologized softly, and Zeb sniffed. "Hey, it's-" he broke down coughing again, and three pairs of eyes sharpened their focus on him, "-it's okay now, right? It all-" Sabine could see the effort he put into trying not to wheeze as he paused once more, "-worked out in the end; we're okay." Sabine's eye twitched.
"And what if you weren't? What would I do then? Ezra you-" Don't break down, don't break down, "Just- promise me you won't-" Don't break down, "Don't- just don't- ever -scare me like that again." Don't break- "I need you."
The last part was spoken softly, to the point where Zeb's ears twitched and Kanan kept going without any interruption. Only Ezra seemed to have a reaction- blinking while simultaneously frowning, he brought his eyebrows together-
And then lurched forwards the same time Kanan leaned back, the both of them wincing and grimacing. Kanan hissed while Ezra groaned, the both of them narrowing their eyes. "Well," Kanan started, but was interrupted by the sound of hurried feet clattering down the ladder. He brightened as Hera clambered down into the cargo-bay, leku all but flying from the speed at which she descended.
"Sabine, Ezra, welcome back and it's good to see you- now tell me how badly injured you are and let me see it." Kanan scooted to the side as Hera took his place, narrowing her eyes at Ezra's back and swiftly getting to work.
"'Tell me how badly injured you are and let me see it'?" Ezra echoed, raising an eyebrow slowly to cover up a wince, making Hera hum grimly.
"Precaution. Usually I'm hoping the answer's 'not badly injured at all Hera, we all got away without injury,' but I have to be extra watchful whenever you guys leave the ship." Zeb's mouth quirked into a smirk, and Kanan sighed.
"Well, at least you guys managed to get our attention and get back," he said, making both Sabine and Ezra smile tiredly.
"Yeah- we were planning on actually just flying over Jhothal until you two managed to get onto a building somewhere," Zeb joked, elbowing Ezra lightly.
"There-" Hera drew back, crinkling her nose, "that's about all I'm comfortable doing with what we have on-board. Until then no doing anything. At all. For a couple weeks at least- that includes missions and training and cleaning and-"
"Got it." Ezra interrupted, small smile mirroring Kanan's behind him. Sabine imitated the both of them- and then found herself staring at the tip of Ezra's outstretched finger. "Now her."
Three pairs of eyes instantly fixated on her, and Sabine found herself smiling half-heartedly at them. "You too!?" Zeb exclaimed, quickly looking over her with a scrutinous eye and shaking his head.
Kanan sighed lightly, rubbing one eye and supporting his weight on the floor with the other. He smiled tiredly even as Hera moved over closer, shrugging her shoulders with resignation. "These are the reckless ones, dear- more so than you on some occasions."
Kanan looked rather affronted for a second.
"Well, it wasn't really our fault," Sabine defended her and Ezra, remembering that the majority of their injuries had come from circumstances out of their control, "but sometimes those bucket-heads just get lucky." And then went down in a ball of flame.
"And give you injuries worse than mine," Ezra stated, prodding Hera into action as she helped Sabine start to take the stormtrooper armor off.
"It wasn't-" Sabine objected, only to be shushed by both Hera and Ezra.
"It was too," Ezra quietly stated, reminding Sabine that he had had to cauterize her gaping wound and pull her out of the wreckage. She only remembered flashes of moments in what must have been the most dangerous moments of her entire life- and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Hera hissed as the both of them got the bulky stormtrooper chest-piece off, revealing her much more colorful armor underneath... and also much more blood-soaked. Yeah, her wound had opened up again- but judging from the fact that Hera wasn't going into immediate alarm mode and whisking her off to someplace secluded to treat Sabine within an inch of her life, it wasn't that bad.
Still hurt.
"Is it too much to ask that an op goes right for once?" Zeb groaned, plunking himself squarely on the ground next to Kanan and twitching his nose at what Sabine was sure to be the scent of her blood.
Ezra chuckled lightly, coughed twice afterwards, but then responded: "We were trying- it's just we were over-compensating. See, we're so used to having a big bumbling Lasat to attract blaster fire; without one we had to drastically change tactics, but it was so unfamiliar-"
"Shut it," Zeb growled, ears flicking in annoyance, but he was unable to hide the twitch of his lip indicating a suppressed smile.
Hera gently tugged on Sabine's elbow, and the two rose off the hangar floor, Twi'lek placing a supporting hand on her mid-back and gently escorting her out the room. "I'm going to need to see that," she explained softly, leaving the two other Spectres behind her to look after Ezra. Sabine nodded, relieved she could finally rest and stop the pain- Sabine blinked as they entered the hall to their cabins, realization hitting.
They were home.
They'd made it- they'd made it through the explosions and the pain and the fighting and the fear and had finally, finally made it back to the Ghost... Sabine breathed a laugh, drawing a raised eyebrow from Hera. She shook her head in response to the captain's questioning hum.
"It's good to be back."