Hello! And Happy Halloween! I hope you like this chapter, it's a bit longer than usual.

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Chapter 2 - Concern

Ezra knew he did not have much time left, but he took comfort in the fact that everyone else was safe. He bit his lip as he unstuck his body from the leather seat, now covered in blood. He lightly touched his back with one of his hands, hissing at the pain. Looking at his fingers, they were soaked in the metallic liquid.

He took a deep breath, his mind flashing back to the fight.

The strong hold around his neck.

Air, air, he needed to breathe, but he could not get air. There were voices, but his mind was somewhere else. All he could think about was air.

He risked a glance at the man who held him, and saw the blaster in his hand, pointing directly at….

Fueled by panic, he gathered all his strength, and kicked. Darkness swallowed him, and he used his momentum to throw the man off balance. He was released from his grip, shakily standing on the pavement. He heard the bounty hunter curse, before firing his gun.

The first one missed him by a longshot, but he had to dodge the second one. The third he reflexively ducked under, before rushing at the man in anger.

He grabbed onto his arms and pushed them to the side, making sure the gun was not trained on him. However, he underestimated the man's strength. With a shove, Ezra lost his grip, and as he fell, his back scraped the jagged metal shelf.

Then, there was pain like nothing he had felt before. It was as if his back was on fire, and every movement that he made only added to the burning sensation.

He heard Hera's voice, and answered. The blue light came closer to him, and he was on his feet, his façade back in place. He could live with a little pain; they had more important things to worry about.

It had taken all of his willpower to hold back his scream when Kanan had touched his back. Apparently he had done okay, because the next thing he knew he was hotwiring a landspeeder and speeding into the distance.

His bloodied hand gripped the steering handles as it jerked. He grunted, trying to keep it from hurtling into a rock. The blaring sirens, despite their loudness, were overpowered with the sound of a rapidly approaching TIE fighter. Ezra took a deep breath, knowing that it could all go horribly wrong with even the slightest hesitation, and let go of the handles.

He quickly stood, knowing that the straight forward motion of the landspeeder would not stay straight for long.

He stole a quick glance at Zeb and Kanan, mustered his strength, and reached out to the force.

He heard the TIE fighter shoot, and he felt the heat of the explosion as he jumped. The blast propelled him forward, carrying him into the Ghost. He flailed his arms a bit in the air, the feeling of weightlessness sending his stomach rolling. The hard ground smacked into his stomach, knocking the air out of him. As if he did not have enough trouble breathing for one day.

"Go!" someone shouted, and the ramp was closing as the ship's speed increased. Ezra's stomach flipped with the changes in altitude. He stayed on the floor, attempting to keep himself steady as the ship swerved from side to side, but his shaking hands could not grasp onto anything. He slid with the ship, unable to stop his body, which he now felt ram into something soft.

"What the -" a gruff voice said, before he slid away again. This time, his side slammed into the metal wall and he could not help but let out a small gasp of pain. He rolled over, still trying to catch his breath, and still trying to get his bearings straight.

But apparently his gasp had been louder than he thought, for the next thing he knew two hands were grabbing onto his shoulders. He heard someone shout something, but his ears were still ringing from the blast. And when he tried to read the lips of whoever was over him, everything was too blurry to make sense of.

A stab of fear penetrated through him. Where was he? Who was trying to grab him? Instincts kicked in as he tried to get away from the hands. However, this just made them tighten, and it made Ezra more afraid. He squirmed, his body twisting and turned as he tried to evade whoever had him.

But then another set of hands joined the first. They were stronger and tougher, and they pushed his back into the cold metal floor.

Ezra screamed. He knew somewhere in his mind that it was only the floor, but it did not feel like it. Instead, it felt as if the hands were pushing him deeper and deeper into the blazing inferno. The hands left his body, but the pain did not.

He stopped moving, his body exhausted and his mind confused. The pain from his back was still there, but he did not have the strength to fight against it anymore.

But when the hands returned on his body, he flinched; but he did not resist. He knew when there was no way out for him. He opened his eyes, hoping to get a look at who was holding him down. Two pairs of eyes bore down at him, but their facial features were still blurred.

He turned to the smaller, sea foam green eyes. They were radiating with concern, and Ezra wondered how he knew that. The other pair of eyes was comforting, but it was not the same. There was something that he trusted in the green eyes. Voices called out to him, but the words never reached his ears. He felt his lips moving, trying to get his captors to let him go.

But the next thing he knew, the darkness pounced.

Kanan held onto the ladder for his life as Hera maneuvered the ship to avoid the TIE's. They had managed to get back to their home, but now their safety was in Hera's hands. And Kanan knew that she was capable. But this flight was not her smoothest. Kanan smirked a bit, making a note to tease her about it later.

With one last large swerve, Kanan felt the ship enter space. But he also heard a sound that sent a chill down his spine.

He whipped around to the source of the small cry to find Ezra, lying on his back, his eyes closed.

Karabast.

Kanan rushed over to him, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Ezra?" Kanan asked, but if Ezra had heard him, he made no move to answer. "Zeb, what happened?" he asked the Lasat, who was now kneeling beside him.

"I don't know; the kid just slid into me! I thought he was just bein' lazy," Zeb admitted.

"Tell Hera we're going to need medical supplies," Kanan shouted, but before Zeb could even reach for his com link, Ezra began to fight. He arched his back and flailed his limbs all over. "Zeb, help me hold him down!"

Zeb put one hand on the kid's stomach and one on his legs. And Ezra let out a pain filled scream. It was like nothing Kanan had ever heard from the teen. It was as if he could hear years of pain and desperation behind it, and it shot shivers through his mind. Kanan and Zeb immediately let go, and the scream continued on for a few more dreadful seconds before Ezra stopped.

Kanan reached forward again, placing his hands on Ezra's shoulders.

"Ezra?" he asked. He saw his reflection in Ezra's blue glassy eyes, but there was no recognition of who he was.

"Please…" Ezra whispered. Kanan and Zeb froze in their spots. "Please… please, no." Ezra whispered again. He looked Kanan in the eyes, and he could see the pain and scars that Ezra always tried to hide. He was raw and exposed like this, and it was frightening to hear such an upbeat teen sound so defeated. "Please, let me go. Let me go."

Ezra's eyes rolled to the back of his head, the white in his eyes disappearing behind his eyelid. Kanan swallowed.

A small beep broke the stunned silence in the room. Kanan, shaken out of his trance, pulled out his com link.

"Kanan, is everything alright? I heard a scream," Hera said. Kanan blinked a few times, still shocked at what had just occurred, before answering.

"No, everything is not alright. Ezra's hurt. Get to the med bay, stat." Kanan put the com away, confident that Hera would not need any clarification.

"Zeb." The Lasat took hold of Ezra's legs while Kanan grabbed him from under his arms. Ezra's head rested on Kanan's stomach, his shoulders arched over his head.

He and Zeb carried him through the hallway, making their way to the med bay.

Kanan knew that this was his fault. If he had just been watching Ezra at the marketplace, then the bounty hunter would not have gotten the jump on him, and Ezra would not have gotten thrown from an exploding landspeeder and been hurt. He remembered the image clearly.

They just needed a few supplies, nothing major, so they had taken the risk and gone to the market. It was only supposed to be Kanan, but when it was clear that he had no clue what the gear looked like nor its name, Hera opted to tag along.

But that meant leaving the three 'kids' home alone, something that spelled disaster. As if to prove their point, a loud crash echoed through the halls, followed by shouting. Hera and Kanan sighed, deciding that it was best to take Ezra with them. That, and the fact that he had pleaded to go with them until Kanan folded.

Kanan knew that danger seemed to follow the kid wherever he was, so it was better if he was there with him when the danger caught up.

But one second, he was right by his side. And the next, the kid had vanished. He turned to Hera, who was purchasing the gear they needed, and asked her where the kid had gone. When she did not know the answer, they began frantically scanning the crowds.

Kanan was the first to spot him, locking onto Ezra's force signature. They ran to the warehouse, creeping around the tall shelves. They saw their youngest member, who was in the clutches of the man who had been following them.

Letting his emotions get the better of him, Kanan pulled his gun and sprinted away from their hiding spot, determined to save his dying padawan.

Ezra moaned as they laid him on the bed. Kanan slipped the vest off of his shoulders before flipping him so he was lying on his stomach.

The Ghost's shakes and jolts stopped as it accelerated into hyperspace.

"Zeb, I need a med kit," Kanan said, turning his attention up to the Lasat. He nodded. The worry was evident on his face as he turned to dig it out of the cabinet. Kanan turned back to Ezra, shaking his head as he looked at his blood soaked clothes.

"Karabast, kid. What happened?" His stretched his hand out, planning on rubbing circles on the kid's back, before stopping. He held his hand closer, examining the strange stain on his glove. He then examined his grey pants, remembering back to the warehouse.

He thought it was just the factory floor that was sticky. He had no idea that it was Ezra's blood.

The door whooshed open.

"Kanan?" Kanan turned to see the fear in Hera's bright green eyes. Her hand covered her mouth, and before he could get a word in edgewise, Hera rushed past him and to the bed. She kneeled down beside him, eyes wide at the sight of blood.

"Hera, I…I think he got hurt when the bounty hunter shot the lights off. I'm not sure what happened," Kanan said, trying to explain the situation to Hera.

"He was a bounty hunter?" she asked, eyes darting to Kanan. "What did a bounty hunter want with us, with Ezra?" Kanan shook his head.

"You're guess is as good as mine."

The door opened, revealing a helmetless and worried Sabine.

"What happened?" she asked. Hera took the med kit from Zeb and began shifting through it to find the supplies she needed.

"We ran into a bounty hunter," Kanan simply stated.

"What!" Sabine exclaimed.

"Sabine, we'll explain all of it later. Right now I need to get Ezra patched up." Hera looked back at them, and without saying anything, they nodded, and reluctantly left the room. "We need to take his shirt off."

Kanan nodded, taking the medical scissors and cutting the thin shirt. Ezra shifted as he peeled the cloth off of his now red back, leaving his upper body exposed to the cold air. He would not be pleased that they had ruined his shirt, but he needed a new one anyway. Hera went to work immediately, cleaning the dry blood until the gash was visible. It was long and ran diagonal across his upper back, turning bright red as fresh blood seeped out.

"Well, the good news is it's not a blaster wound," Hera stated, gathering bandages from the med kit. "It's deep, but not deep enough for stitches." Kanan nodded.

"The shelf…"

"What?" Hera asked.

"If he wasn't shot, then he must have scrapped his back against the shelf. He was on the ground when we got to him, remember?" Hera nodded.

"You're probably right about that, but I still don't understand who that bounty hunter was." She sighed as she motioned for Kanan to sit Ezra up. He turned the boy over, careful not to upset the wound even more, and leaned the teenager into his chest. Hera began wrapping the bandages around his torso, wincing when Ezra would moan or shift. Kanan held him close, running fingers through his messy dark hair, trying to soothe him.

Hera finished, securing the bandages, and Kanan lied Ezra back on his bunk.

They stood, watching their youngest member.

"I guess we'll have to wait until he wakes up to find out the truth," Hera said, turning to face Kanan. He kept his gaze on his padawan, biting his lip. "Kanan?" He looked at Hera. "There was nothing you could do to prevent this." He sighed.

"I know, I just… I just can't help but feel responsible for him." Hera flashed a small smile.

"Well, someone has too." She stood, and Kanan followed. "I mean, he's never mentioned what exactly happened in his past. But I can only imagine." Hera sighed. "Do you think he'll ever see his parents again?"

"Honestly… I'm not sure if it's even a good idea. Attachments are forbidden, and he's already developed attachments for us. That's why when the Inquisitor threatened our lives he turned to the dark side."

Hera and Kanan walked out of the room and the door slid shut behind them.

"Do you think that his parents would lead him to use the dark side again?"

"I would like to hope not, but… it's a possibility," Kanan admitted.

"But Kanan, we have to tell him soon, don't we?" Hera inquired.

"Yeah, we do. I'm just not sure how he'll react to the news." Kanan and Hera made their way into the cockpit and sat in their seats.

"Kanan, it's been over eight years now. Do you think when he finds out they're alive he'll leave us and try to rescue them?"

"Yeah, I do," Kanan admitted. "And besides, we're not even sure if they are alive. It's just a rumor that's been going around."

"But you're forgetting about Tseebo. He told me that they were alive."

"Yeah, but that was a while ago. And now, out of nowhere, people are saying that the Bridger broadcasters have been spotted all across the galaxy." Kanan shook his head. "I don't buy it. Something doesn't feel right about it." Hera nodded, placing a gloved hand on his armored shoulder.

"I trust your instincts. If you don't think it's a good idea to tell him, then we won't." Kanan nodded, thankful for everything that Hera did. "But Kanan – we do have to tell him sometime."

"Yeah, I know…" Kanan admitted. Ezra deserved to know, but Kanan knew he was afraid of the truth. The truth that they were alive or the truth that they were dead, Kanan did not know which.

And that was the part that worried him the most.

Ezra had assumed that his parents had died long ago, but was he afraid that it was true, or that it was not? And if so, why would he be afraid that his parents were alive?

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R & R

~ Kavella ~