Chapter 20: Trails
The next morning Kanan woke up and went to check on Ezra. He hoped that he was feeling better. He noticed that his charge was still asleep. With a small smile he placed a hand gently on Ezra's neck. The swelling on his glands had gone down. He moved his hand to his forehead, his fever seemed to be just slightly above normal now.
Ezra woke up, feeling someone touch his face. "Kanan?"
"Hey kid," Kanan said, "Feeling better?"
"Much." Ezra answered, he sniffed a little. "My stomach and head don't hurt anymore."
"That's good." Kanan smiled. "What about your arm?"
"It still hurts a bit, but not much." Ezra said. He sat up and Kanan lifted the sleeve a bit to take a look at the rash. It was still there, but not quite as red.
"I'm glad you're doing better Ezra." Kanan said. "Janus will be here at eleven to watch you."
"Okay," Ezra said.
"Hey, you trust me right?" Kanan asked.
Ezra took a moment, but nodded.
"Then trust me on this, it will be fine." Kanan reassured.
"Alright." Ezra agreed.
"You hungry?" Kanan asked.
"Yes please." Ezra confirmed.
Kanan smiled and went to make some breakfast.
While Kanan was gone Ezra reached over to the side table where a book sat, he opened it and started to read it.
"Here you go," Kanan said, handing Ezra a plate of waffles.
"Thanks," Ezra replied, setting his book aside.
"Now you won't cause Janus trouble will you?" Kanan asked.
"I'll try to behave myself." Ezra responded after he swallowed the bite of food that was in his mouth. He was about to take another bite of his breakfast before he paused, "What if he's like everyone else?
"What do you mean?" Kanan asked.
"What if he hates me because of what I did?" Ezra asked.
Kanan could see the general worry and fear in his eyes. He set his food aside. "Ezra, not everyone hates you."
"You, Fulcrum, Hera and maybe that Okadiah guy seem to be the only ones who don't hold my past against me." Ezra pointed out.
"You haven't met all that many people Ezra." Kanan reassured. "It'll be fine, I promise."
Ezra sighed, "If you say so," and took another bite.
All too soon eleven o'clock came and so did a knock on the door.
Kanan opened the door to reveal Janus.
"Thank you so much," Kanan said, he was dressed in a nice outfit for his court hearing.
Janus shrugged, and Kanan stepped aside for him to enter.
Ezra was sitting on the couch reading, the bed having been put away after insisting that he was well enough to not have to lie in bed.
"He's feeling much better, but still probably needs someone to watch him." Kanan explained. "He really enjoys that book so he probably won't bother you for anything for quite some time. In fact he's been ignoring me for the past hour in favor of reading the book."
"Alright." Janus said.
"If he does want to watch a movie, this is a list of movies he can't watch." Kanan said handing over the list.
Janus looked at the list before looking at Kanan confused, "Aren't most of these children films?"
"They may trigger a panic attack." Kanan explained softly. "Eight years ago his parents were killed in front of him."
"Poor kid." Janus muttered.
"Anyways, I really must be going." Kanan said. "Ezra I'm going now."
Ezra looked up from his book. "Bye,"
Kanan left the apartment, leaving Ezra alone with Janus.
Ezra let out a deep sigh and continued to read. Janus took a seat next to him cautiously, to see if the boy would protest, when he didn't he pulled out his phone and started to look at something on his phone.
"What!" Ezra asked about an hour later.
"What?" Janus asked.
"How is the answer to life, the universe and everything 42?" Ezra asked.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Janus asked.
"This book, these people made the universes smartest machine to answer any question. It spent over seven million years thinking about an answer to life and it gave the answer '42'!" Ezra explained.
"It's a book kid." Janus rolled his eyes. He checked the time. "Do you want lunch?"
"Sure," Ezra said.
"What do you want?" Janus asked.
"I'm not too picky." Ezra said.
Janus sighed and went to the kitchen, he would almost prefer a needy kid, not a teenager who probably wouldn't have even asked for lunch if he didn't suggest it.
"Everyone please rise for the honorable Judge Vitt." someone from the front of the court said. Everyone, including Kanan did.
Judge Vitt was a woman who seemed to be in her late thirties.
"Officer Kanan Jarrus, you are charged with the death of three men, how do you plea?" Judge Vitt asked.
Kanan sighed, he knew what he had to do. "Guilty."
Judge Vitt grew an surprised look, "So you admit you killed them?"
"Yes your honor." Kanan said.
"Please step forward into the stand." Judge Vitt said.
Kanan did as she asked.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?" asked the man who spoke earlier.
"Yes." Kanan said.
"You may be seated."
"Officer Jarrus, please explain the events that led up to the shooting." Judge Vitt requested.
"Well, I was on patrol when I heard someone call for help." Kanan explained. "When I arrived on scene I saw the three Imperial Mob members beating up a fourteen year old boy. Then one of them pulled out a gun to shoot the child. I shot the Imperial before he got the chance. The other two turned on me and pulled guns of their own to shoot me, so I shot them before they did."
"The child?" Judge Vitt asked.
"A, at that moment, homeless child known as Ezra Bridger. He is okay; he is currently under my care." Kanan responded.
"Where is he now?" Judge Vitt asked.
"At my apartment. He got sick due to some vaccination shots. My neighbor is watching him." Kanan explained.
"So you claim to have killed the first Imperial in defense of a child, then the other two in self defense." Judge Vitt summed up.
"Yes," Kanan confirmed.
"Do we have the identities of the Imperial victims?" Judge Vitt asked.
"Your honor," a man said. "They were, Aeris Kelrian, Moros Loms, and Jem Doneeta. All Caucasian males between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. Kelrian and Doneeta were on patrol from jail for serial armed robberies. Their patrol parameters were broken by processing a fire arm. Loms on the other hand is an escaped convict wanted for the murder of five innocents."
Kanan's eyes widened, he didn't know who he was killing when he was saving Ezra.
"Member's of the jury, do you think you have enough to come to a decision?" Judge Vitt asked.
The speaker of the jury gave a confirmation and they left.
"Officer Jarrus you may return to your seat." Judge Vitt said.
"Thank you, your honor." Kanan said, he returned to his seat. He wondered what Ezra and Janus were up too.
The jury was back in the room in just a few minutes, and Kanan didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
"Men and woman of the jury, have you reached a decision?" Judge Vitt asked.
"We have your honor." the speaker of the jury said.
Kanan sucked in his breath, here it comes.
"We the people of the jury decide that Officer Jarrus is…"
Ezra rubbed his sore and rash ridden arm.
"If that rash is bugging you I know an old family trick that helps." Janus offered.
"What is it?" Ezra asked.
"Fish oil, I don't exactly know how it works but it does." Janus said.
"It won't work for me." Ezra said.
"What makes you say that?" Janus asked.
"Cause I'll be dead. I'm allergic to seafood." Ezra explained.
"Oh, okay," Janus said. "Yeah, Jarrus probably won't be too happy to come home and find you dead cause I tried to give you something."
"You think?" Ezra asked sarcastically.
Kanan walked down the street towards the flower shop, hopefully they could have a flower steak to put next to Ezra's parents' graves.
"Hello, may I help you?" the cashier asked.
"Yes, I'm looking for, well you know those things you stick into the ground next to graves, you know with flowers." Kanan said.
"Yeah, we have some of those." the cashier smiled sadly, thinking the flowers were for someone he knew personally. "They're in the back right corner."
"Thank you." Kanan replied and headed towards where the cashier dictated.
There was surprisingly a lot to choose from, from shape to color.
Kanan examined them all. One caught Kanan's eyes in particular. It was in the shape of a heart, and had three different shades of blue. The blue that was the most prominent was the exact shade of blue that Ezra's eyes were.
Kanan grabbed it, he knew the flowers were fake so he knew this thing would last until who ever managed the grave yard took it down. He brought it to the front and paid for it.
"If you don't mind my asking, who is it for?" the now rather nosy cashier asked.
"My foster son's parents, it's the anniversary." Kanan answered grabbing the bag the flower heart was in.
"Oh, have a nice night anyways." the cashier said.
"Thank you, you too." Kanan said, before leaving and heading back home, he had been gone for nearly three hours now.
Ezra had just finished the next chapter in his book when the door opened. He looked over to see Kanan, he held a bag in his hand.
"Kanan!" Ezra smiled.
"Hey kid," Kanan said.
"Thanks for the help Janus." Kanan said and handed the man thirty bucks.
"Nice doing business with you." Janus said before leaving.
"Well?" Ezra asked.
"Well what?" Kanan asked, even though he knew perfectly well what Ezra wanted to know.
"What's the verdict?" Ezra asked.
"They found me innocent due to the fact I was protecting you and myself." Kanan started.
Ezra smiled.
"I go back to work on Monday." Kanan continued. "And I get to keep custody over you."
Ezra smiled wider and ran over to hug Kanan.
Kanan was slightly surprised at first but returned the hug.
"What's in the bag?" Ezra asked.
"You'll see." Kanan said. "You up for heading out?"
"Yeah," Ezra smiled. He pulled on his shoes and hoodie, and followed Kanan out the door.
Yep, there we go. I know it is a little shorter than normal, but I had to work yesterday to make up hours so I only had today to work on it.
Explanation, especially if any of my readers are not American. In America right now we are having a lot of issues with cops killing people and not getting in trouble for it (and most of the time the victim is African-American. For that reason, I felt the need to explain how the Imperials were Caucasian and criminals.
This story will only have one more chapter, but don't worry, there will be a sequel. I will explain things better after the next and last chapter.
Also I will not make promises on updates on the next story, because I only have one more week until orientation week, then classes start.