Fire Across the Galaxy
part 9
Author's note: So sorry for the long wait for this part. Homework, school play, and honestly I had no idea what would happen in this chapter. So, yeah this how I imagined this part of the season finale would go and, even though it's kinda short compared to the last chapter, I hope you guys like what I put in it. Also, how do you guys like the quote I put in it? Thought it kinda went along with the part. Enjoy!
Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them- George Eliot
Death. It came in all forms, all ways. Death would always be there, just like the Force. The Force, Death, they were entwined, you couldn't separate one from the other. Everything ends with Death. Death was the sneakiest thief, the quietest assassin, the greatest bounty hunter. And still, people tried over and over to stop Death. Yet, they were taken by Death as many before them.
The Jedi knew one couldn't stop Death, Kanan Jarrus knew one couldn't stop Death, but, as his broken padawan laid limp in the crook of his arm, looking so small and innocent in Death, Kanan wants nothing more then to scream at Death, to plead on his hands and knees to Death, to even exchange his own soul with Death, one soul for another, before his padawan's soul left his broken body to become one with the force.
Kanan presses his forehead to his padawan's, eye closed just like Ezra's, grief swimming up inside him, threatening to drown him in it's murky waters. Images flash across his mind: Ezra as a toddler, laughing as he was chased by someone who could have only be his father, his mother watching from a corner; Ezra, maybe six or seven, peering down into a room, golden orbs of light sparkling in his zaffre eyes as he listens to the sound of his parents speaking out against the Empire; Ezra, slightly older, standing in the rain, his clothes torn and battered, in front of him standing a rain smeared tower. Countless more images flash through Kanan's mind, staying for only a second . Ezra meeting the Ghost crew. Ezra seeing Sabine's face for the first time. Ezra igniting Kanan's lightsaber for the first time. Ezra,laughing, in a TIE fighter with Zeb. Ezra and Zeb staring up in embarrassment at a painting of them Sabine had done on their wall. So many memories, so many moments, so many times his padawan had emotion swelling inside him, may it be embarrassment, love, or happiness.
The images slur into each other, hardly disappearing when another appears. They fly faster and faster across Kanan's mind, until they slow down until only one memory plays as if in slow motion. Kanan could almost feel the sensation of cutting through the air, Kanan could almost feel how Ezra must have felt, knowing he was falling to his death as the memory plays through his mind. Eyes wide and fulled to the brim with fear, raven-black hair flying past his face, limbs drifting into the air, mouth open, though with no words spilling out of it. A sickening crash as Ezra slams against a metal platform hundreds of feet below from where he had fallen and then darkness overcomes the vision.
Kanan slowly, numbness sweeping through his veins, lifts his forehead away from Ezra's. His padawan's signature in the force was almost gone, the last of the light that had swirled through Ezra had almost disappeared completely, never to be seen again. Tears start to pool in jade green eyes as grief consumes the Jedi. It just wasn't fair, none of this seemed right. Ezra simply couldn't be only a inch from death. He just couldn't. The galaxy couldn't be cruel enough to do this to Ezra, to Kanan, to Hera, to Sabine, to Zeb, to all those that had heard his message and had hope spark within them, to his dead parents, even to Chopper. They all need Ezra. Without Ezra, without Kanan's padawan, without Zeb's cabin mate, without Sabine's friend, without Hera's almost child, without Chopper's prank subject, without his parent's son, without the voice of hope in this time of darkness, everything would collapse. Ezra didn't need to be full-grown to have this effect on everyone. Ezra didn't need to be a Jedi Knight to be able to protect those he cared about. Ezra didn't even need to be powerful to be able to help people. Ezra just had to be Ezra. And that is all that matters.
"Ezra , where are you?" Hera's question echoes across the room. Kanan barely notices it, so lost in his own sea of complete and utter misery. Hera voice is only a dim throb in the back of his mind, shuttered away by pure grief and denial.
"Ezra, do you copy?"
"Ezra, are you there?"
"Ezra!"
C.C
"Why isn't Ezra answering?" Hera asks, though her question was directed at none. She raises the comm again to her mouth, once again calling his name, "Ezra!" Static was her reply. The trio of rebels halt at a corner. "What is Ezra doing?" Zeb almost shouts, annoyance cursing through his words. "I don't know!" Sabine snaps in annoyance, peering around the corner for any stormtroopers. "Agh.. try calling him again, Hera," Sabine asks. Hera didn't need Sabine to ask her again as she already lifts the comm to her mouth, "Ezra, answer!" And then came the most surprising response Hera would ever get. Kanan's defeated voice across the comm, "Hera..call in back-up."