"Ezra, get up, you need to get up." The voice was right in his ear, far too loud.
Ezra tried to tell Caleb to shut up, but it was strangely hard, he couldn't seem to open his eyes.
"Please, come on. You have to get up."
Ezra managed to make a small sound, opening his eyes slightly, and wishing he hadn't, with awareness came pain. It felt like his leg was on fire and he automatically tried to jerk away from the pain, his throat closing on a scream.
"Shh, that's it, look at me, you can do it, Ezra."
He finally met his eyes, breath coming in shallow pants, disoriented. Caleb looked frantic, his form nearly flickering as he crouched over Ezra sprawled form. He kept reaching out as if this time he'd manage to shake his shoulder, never making contact.
"You need to get up, you made too much noise, there will be people coming to investigate any minute now."
It was coming back to him slowly, things had been slow and it was trash day. There wasn't much dignity in digging through people's trash, but he'd left dignity behind a long time ago when there was a chance of finding something valuable, especially in the nicer parts of the city. This was one he'd been through plenty of times before, when the family's kids were younger they'd sometimes dropped actual valuables into the trash and he could go home, get cleaned up, and come back the next day with a tale of finding the bit of jewelry on the ground beside the trash and the family would usually reward him with more than he'd get for pawning it. He'd been looking through when he spotted a figure skulking along the edge of house. Normally he would have ignored it, while there was no honor among thieves he wasn't going to stick his neck out for strangers. Something about it though sent alarms all through the back of his mind and before he could stop to think he'd yelled, confronting them. They raised a weapon of some kind and he'd hit them square in the face with his slingshot, but they'd gotten off a blast.
Served him right for trying to help. He could hear voices now, besides Caleb. That was good, they'd find the other before the stun wore off, but it meant he didn't have much time.
"Can you stand? Please say you can stand."
"My leg…" He bit back a whimper, but slowly started pulling himself up. He could barely stay up, every step was agony.
"Good, you're doing great, just keep following me." Caleb stayed right in front of him, step by halting step. Ezra was glad for it, he couldn't think to remember where he'd left his speeder. It felt like forever before he was half collapsing across it.
He didn't remember most of the ride back to his tower, which was probably for the best. He just wanted to collapse into a little ball and hope the pain stopped.
"You need to get the first aid kit." Caleb watched him wobble, reaching out helplessly.
"Just… just let me rest, just a minute." He slumped against the wall, trembling and feeling like he might throw up.
"There's painkillers in the med kit." Caleb coaxed him, knowing if he went down he might not get back up.
"You have no idea what I'd give right now to have you be able to get it for me." Ezra leaned against the wall, using it as a prop as he slowly walked, mostly dragging his leg at this point. He hadn't touched the kit in years. At times he'd thought about selling it, it wasn't like he could eat bandages and most of the scrapes and bumps he got he could ignore and they healed up on their own.
He made it to the kit, grabbing it up, and then he finally gave in, slumping to the floor. The leg of his pants was already burned and he just ripped it to get the fabric out of the way.
"Try not to look too close." Caleb cautioned him
Ezra swallowed, the warning coming too late. It was wet, though the energy had mostly cauterized the wound, so it was just oozing sluggishly. He'd never had such a close look at a blaster wound, and not on his own shin. He felt faint for a moment, everything graying out. His vision came back with Caleb frantically waving a hand in his face.
"Don't pass out don't pass out don't pass out."
"I'm not." He tried to sound a lot more confident than he felt, grabbing at the kit again. "Which…"
"This one." Caleb pointed to one of the bottles. Ezra pulled it out with a shaky hand. It took a couple tries but he got it aimed at the wound, spraying it. Almost instantly it felt like he'd dunked his leg in ice water, cold enough to make him gasp, but the cold was followed by a wave of numbness. He just sat there, trembling and marveling in how good not hurting felt.
"Bandage it up to keep it clean." Caleb didn't look so stricken anymore, motioning towards the bandaging pads. Ezra was a little more coordinated as he opened it up, sealing it down over the wound.
"Can I go to sleep now?" He still felt lightheaded, nearly giddy, barely able to focus on Caleb's face.
"You're just one room away from your bedroom." Caleb gave him a hesitant smile.
"That's like… a thousand parsecs. No." Ezra grumbled, slowly packing up the med kit, but he held it to his chest, managing to get back upright. His leg felt wooden and he couldn't feel his foot, but it was so much better than the pain. He finally collapsed into the bed, dropping the kit beside his bed where he could reach it.
"Knew you could do it." Caleb stayed close, sitting weightlessly on the bed, reaching like he was going to brush Ezra's hair back. It was a ghost of a touch, just the impression of warmth.
Ezra made a soft agreeing sound, eyes closing. It was several long moments, before exhaustion overwhelmed him, that he thought to open his eyes and thank him. But Caleb was already gone.
Ezra blinked stupidly up at the sky, taking a minute to remember where he was.
"Ezra!"He felt a hand at his upper back, lifting him a little as his helmet was tugged off.
"Hey." He managed an embarrassed grin. "No vision that time, I really did get stunned, didn't I?"
"Yeah. Not bad though." Kanan smiled back, relieved. "I don't think anyone could have blocked those last few shots.
They couldn't count on the troopers standing back and letting the Inquisitor fight without interference, so Sabine and Zeb were providing crossfire, making them block the blasts in the middle of the spar. It was chaos.
"I will next time." Ezra sat up, rubbing briefly at his shin where the scar sometimes twinged before hauling himself to his feet, reaching for his helmet. He slid it on, looking around. For just a moment he thought he'd seen… but Caleb hadn't been around since he hooked up with the Ghost crew. He tried not to worry, what could hurt someone who was nearly a ghost himself? He kept thinking of asking someone, Kanan didn't seem like he'd think he was crazy, but something kept holding him back. Maybe if Caleb ever showed back up he could ask. For now he shoved the helmet back on, turning on his lightsaber and getting back in position.
The blades hit with a crackle of energy and there was no time to dwell on the past.