**OKAY! Disclaimer :)

I DO NOT endorse underage relationships! This is strictly fictional and as fiction upon doing research, a human being in the star wars world is claimed as an adult from the age of 13-21 depending on where they are located in the universe. For the purpose of this fic I will claim them at the age of 15 if they are from Lothal. Once again. This is FICTIONAL. If this was based on real life or real life timeframe I WOULD not even consider writing this fic. If you don't like, read "Don't Drink The Water". No relationships there! Thank you and enjoy!** ~Ocean

Chapter 3: Just A Dream

While the ship refueled, Hera and the others formed a plan of action to find the two lost Spectres. She currently had a large map of the ocean projected on screen covering the majority of the small room they had convened in.

"With currents and our projected area of entrance, we're looking at a 500-mile range of where they could be and it's getting larger by the hour." Sabine stated the information she had gathered. The Mandalorian was concerned about her friends. The planet's ocean was not a safe area, there were too many changing factors that could easily kill a human, even a Jedi.

Sabine knew of his swimming skills, or rather the lack of them. She had witnessed them first hand on Lothal about a month ago.

"So, why don't you and I go grab a bite to eat? We still have plenty of time before we have to be back at the ship, and you rarely ever open up. It would be the perfect time." The younger teenager asked as they walked. Hera had sent them on a supply run and slight recon mission to gather some local intel.

The two were currently walking along the giant city pond that spanned the Western region of the city. Ezra used to walk it all the time with his parents, sometimes throwing credits in and making a wish.

"How about not?" Sabine stated flatly as she continued walking. Ezra was looking down at the water and saw a really cool flower that he wanted to show her. The lily was really rare to see on Lothal and was endangered.

"Hey Sabine!" The male teenager grabbed the Mando's arm to stop her so he could show her knowing she liked pretty things. Her reflexes took over as she pushed Ezra away from her and into the pond.

She heard the splash. She kept walking assuming that he would just stand up and catch up with his pride damaged like always. The splashing didn't stop though.

Sabine turned back to see Ezra struggling to stay above the surface of the water. Ponds weren't supposed to be deep. She quickly dashed back and jumped over the small barrier jumping in the water. Grabbing him by the collar and dragging him to a shallow area.

"Why didn't you tell me you couldn't swim? I wouldn't have pushed you." She said breathing hard having to take her helmet off to release a buildup of water. She was scared knowing that Ezra could have died, but she wrote it off as frustration. She wouldn't let herself admit that she had feelings for him, that would ruin the game of chase they continually played.

"Why should I tell you? You shouldn't have pushed me! I was trying to show you this!" The youth said bitterly standing up coughing up more water. His hands were trembling but he reached down and grabbed the water flower throwing it at her getting out of the water and starting to walk back.

Sabine looked at the beautiful flower that had practically been trampled. It was a beautiful orange and purple, her favorite colors.

"Ezra I…" She started only to be interrupted by a transmission from Kanan telling them to hurry up and get back to the ship.

Kanan had felt the fear of his student and was concerned. He had a knack for getting into trouble. Kanan had noticed that he was able to sense a lot more in their bond that he didn't understand or find normal.

"Alright Spectre 1. We'll be back soon." Ezra sounded unharmed if not a little upset? Kanan smirked wondering what he had done to piss off Sabine this time. This thought causing him to forget the feelings he had felt just a few moments earlier.

"That's if they survived. They must've fallen at least 20,000 feet if not more. No organic could survive that." Zeb said sadly breaking the Mando from her thoughts.

"They survived…I know they did. Kanan wouldn't let anything happen to Ezra and surely he could have manipulated the force somehow to aid them." The Twi-lek urged, to silence any doubts.

"By the time we can get back out there the range will have expanded another 1000 square miles. The currents on this planet are extremely fast and the tides violently shift with the Moon and Suns' rotations." The Mando continued.

"Some vacation area. They make this place seem like a paradise, when in actuality it's a warzone waiting to happen with the elements." The Lesat said; he held no amusement for the situation.

"There are high swells and high levels of bacteria counts in the water." Sabine added, but she knew that Hera had this information.

"That and the temperature drops below freezing at night. It's already freezing and the last sun hasn't set yet." Zeb chimed in.

"How long will it take us to scan the search area allotting for the currents?" Hera said, continuing to look at the map.

Sabine started to type in a lot of information talking to herself quietly before she came up with her answer.

"With how fast the currents are, calculating direction changes, our trajectories, speed and refueling times….100 hours approximately as long as we follow the paths I lay out exactly and so long as we don't back track." The girls voice sounded less hopeful than what Hera wanted.

She understood why. She doubted that even Kanan could stay floating above the surface for that amount of time without fatigue or hypothermia setting in.

"What about feral creatures? And have we checked to make sure that somehow Imperials haven't found them?" Having them imprisoned gave a little light to the situation, rescue missions seemed to be their growing specialty.

"No, no recent intakes." Sabine confirmed before all of them sighed at once.

"Alright then we set out at dawn after the ship is refueled and stick to the paths, And the plan. If we haven't found them in 100 hours…we have to call the search off." Hera stood and walked out. Her last words made the sick feeling come back full force. She blamed herself for not being a good enough pilot. They should have been able to lose or take the TIEs out faster than that. She walked to her cabin and shut the door.

Kanan shifted and turned over on his bed. They were back on the ship. He heard the door opened and looked over. Standing in the doorway was his student. The older Jedi, sensing the need for comfort from his student, moved over as Ezra climbed weakly into bed with him. He pulled the covers over him, feeling the youth shivering violently against him.

As Ezra warmed up, the shivering died; Kanan could feel the attraction he had towards Ezra growing stronger and sensed the same feeling coming from the boy next to him. He brushed his student's hair to the side before planting a kiss softly on his lips, gently shifting them so Ezra was underneath him. His hand trailed down the teenager's sides resting on his abdomen.

Kanan woke with a start, sitting straight up, breathing hard and looking around before seeing that Ezra was still breathing, but a little ragged, and still sleeping. He got up and added more wood to the dying fire to build it back up.

"I don't understand. Why?" He thought throwing a branch on. Why was he having that kind of dream? It was as worse as his normal nightmares…wasn't it? He had felt so warm though.

With the clothing dry, he gently dressed himself before going back into the shelter starting to dress his charge. He noticed that, aside from his sickly breathing patterns, Ezra was running a fever. Kanan gently tried to wake up the sleeping male.

Deep blue eyes fluttered opened weakly looking up at Kanan. They were glazed and unfocused.

"hugnn…." Was all his got out as he started to cough violently before ridding the contents of his stomach and partially his lungs of the water that had forced its way in. Kanan had just finished getting Ezra's pants on and had managed to get him outside of the shelter before he did, rubbing his back to help soothe him as his body continued to retaliate violently. After his body was finished purging itself, he slumped heavily against Kanan, shivering again. Kanan noticed his breathing was still off.

Kanan struggled slightly to get the top half of Ezra's clothing on to help get him warmer. He was exhausted still and Ezra wasn't being much help. The youth was dead weight and not cognitive. The Jedi hadn't slept much that night, concerned about his prodigy and he needed to make sure the fire stayed lit.

His mind was also plagued with thoughts that he was still trying to sort through. The main one causing a disturbance being the fact that he responded inappropriately to sleeping so close to his student. Kanan had planned on making sure to keep his distance since then until the feelings were sorted and purged.

That had been the plan anyway, but Ezra didn't know of the plan when he curled up against his master craving the warmth that Kanan was putting off. He shifted a little and ended up sprawled along and between Kanan's legs with his head and arms resting on his upper thigh. The Jedi hesitated before gently stroking Ezra's hair to try and comfort him. He could feel the pain and sickness that the teenager was undergoing and the condition of his leg wasn't improving but getting worse.

"I'm sorry Ezra…" Was all he said, he didn't know what else to say about the situation.

In response, Ezra shifted his head to try and find more warmth. He coughed, a little more water coming up, barely missing his mentor. Kanan was concerned that his body wasn't digesting the water that he had swallowed yesterday; something wasn't functioning internally and he wondered if it was a side effect of the bacteria.

"Ezra needs water…He needs to stay hydrated. There's no water here that he can drink. Maybe there's something he can eat that will help though…" Kanan was in survival mode, but not for him, for teen in his lap. Kanan was physically fine, still a little tired but fine.

He shifted the youth and got him settled on the bed again before he stood. Ezra whimpered looking up at him with glassy eyes; he didn't want to move and thought that Kanan was going to tell him to get up and do something. He also didn't like that Kanan had moved away from him. He wanted Kanan to be closer.

"Shh..." Kanan knelt next to him on one knee, brushing his bangs back gently stroking his cheek noticing Ezra gave a miniscule smile. He realized what he was doing and shifted his hand, checking his fever. It was high.

"I'm going to go look around a little while. Stay here and try and sleep. I'll be close by if you need me." Ezra nodded and shut his eyes almost immediately asleep again. Kanan stood and looked around before picking a direction and taking it.

Kanan kept his guard up as he explored, he stopped upon finding a fruit tree, with produced fruit high up that he actually recognized as edible. He couldn't remember the name though. It resembled a real-world green coconut.

Using the force, he easily scaled the tree and took three fruits before jumping and landing gracefully in the sand. He made his way back to camp quickly, but not before scanning the skies for any signs of Hera.

When he arrived, Ezra was in the midst of a nightmare. He had felt the disturbance a few moments before arriving. He gently woke up the sleep padawan propping him up. Ezra curled up against him trembling all over, staying silent.

"It's okay, everything is alright." He gently crooned getting Ezra settled against him. Kanan noticed that his student settled down fast before just remaining against his master.

Ezra couldn't figure out why Kanan was being this nice and this gentle towards him. It felt nice, especially earlier when Kanan was stroking his face. He felt protected and loved when his master showed him affection. Growing up on the streets, Ezra had some not so pleasant run ins, some of which had caused him to be used to advances from both males and females.

Something had always drawn him to Kanan but he wrote it off when he started to get lectures about attachments. Right now, Kanan was allowing this behavior so he would take advantage of it. Over the last month or so Ezra had felt a strong connection and a stronger desire to be with him. It scared the youth and he found himself avoiding being alone with his master because of it.

His nightmare was actually caused from last night. Ezra was having a pleasant dream that he had crawled into bed with Kanan who started to gently place kisses on his face before shifting them leaning over his body. The nightmare started when Kanan shoved him away calling him disgusting and abandoned him saying he never wanted to see him again.

Ezra heard a lightsaber and then a slight cracking noise before he felt Kanan repositioning him to be sitting up a little more with his head against Kanan's shoulder. Something extremely sweet was brought to his lips. Ezra instinctively looked away not sure what it was, the smell making him ill.

"Come on kid…. you need some kind of fluid and this will give you some strength. It's good for you." Kanan tried a few more times before giving up when Ezra almost gagged after he had managed to get some into his mouth. Ezra didn't want anything in his stomach, the water that had been involuntarily swallowed had been enough.

"Maybe later then…" He drank a little of the fruit's interior liquid himself before putting it off to the side and getting Ezra settled again. His fever had gotten worse in just the little time he had gone, where was Hera?

Kanan hesitated before staying next to the Padawan feeling that he was calm and relaxed against his master. He didn't want to cause any stress.

Hera had completed 14 hours of trajectories and there had been no sign of her boys. With the gravitation being a little more than normal, the ship was running out of fuel much faster than anticipated. Soon she was returning for more after marking her location on the map.