It had not been in the plans to get separated from the others. It had certainly not been in the plans to get actually captured by two thugs from one of the local gangs on Lothal and it had certainly not been in the plans for them to actually sell him of to two bounty hunters after breaking Ezra's leg with a metal pipe.
Ezra eyed his slingshot and communicator from where it was tucked on one of the bounty hunters belts, trying to ignore the eye watering pain springing from the oddly crooked leg. A Mandalorian if Ezra was right but that wasn't really important. He was more worried about that communicator crackling to life only for the bounty hunters to use it to capture his friends. He'd never forgive himself if the others got hurt because Ezra managed to get himself captured though he was pretty certain he had turned it of just in case before he'd gotten in a fight with the thugs.
The other, a male Siniteen was eyeing Ezra in a way that made him uncomfortable as he sat there quietly with his arms harshly restrained behind his back, the two not finding it necessary to tie the young padawan's legs because of the obvious break in one of them. "Clive, you sure he's safe to transport like this? The poster said he was Force sensitive and I've seen people like that do some fucked up stuff even injured." The guy speculated.
"If he causes any trouble, we know what to do." The newly named Clive said distractedly, typing away at his datapad. "You worried, use it on him Bryn." The Siniteen grunted and continued watching Ezra.
'I could throw them around, if I smacked them against the wall or each other they would be out long enough I wager. If I could get closer to the speeder I could use it to get away...try to find Kanan through the Force.' Ezra shifted, hissing at that caused his leg to jerk and send spikes of pain through his whole body. He wondered if Kanan could feel him, he could certainly feel the bond they had though faintly, where ever Kanan was on Lothal it was pretty far from him.
"Beside, look at him. He can barely move without causing himself more pain." The Mandelorian snorted, not thinking much of Ezra's chances of escape clearly.
The Siniteen wasn't convinced clearly but nodded unhappily. "Yeah well, I'd feel better if we just knocked him out." He grumbled and the Mandelorian groaned before reaching into his belt and throwing something at the other. "Here then, go ahead."
The other grinned, finally getting his way about...well whatever his friend had given him before advancing towards Ezra.
The teenager tensed and pushed his back against the wall, giving him the darkest glare he could but that didn't stop him as the Siniteen roughly grabbed Ezra's arm and pulled him a bit up, sending waves of pain through Ezra. In the hazy view he only had a few seconds to realize that one, the Siniteen had a syringe in his free hand and two, was holding his arm up to jab him him with it.
And then it was sunken deeply into his arm, the blue liquid entering Ezra's veins.
With a satisfied grunt, the man let him go, Ezra dropping sharply on his rear before he returned to his friend, peering at the datapad with him and leaving the human alone, staring at where the syringe had gone and then been removed, leaving only a vague ache behind.
What in the blast had they given him?
There was plenty of drugs on the markets, Ezra knew that but he hadn't recognized the color as any particular drug that he had ever tested. Or seen for that matter and Ezra had seen most of the stuff that passed through Lothal.
Was it even meant for human consump-
He felt cold, Ezra could feel cold suddenly, creeping slowly through his veins as if it was trying to steal all the heat in his body. Sensations were suddenly getting fainter, smaller. Everything was getting hazier around him and the fluctuations of the Force around him...
Ezra gave gasp of horror and fear as it started to get slippery and close up, the tentative bond he had been building with Kanan slowly closing inside him too.
"What did you give me!?" He shouted, his own voice sounding to far away, to flat, as if he was shouting from inside a hole with a lid on.
"Pipe down Loth-rat or I will quiet you." The Mandelorian grumbled. "Its a Force suppressor, supplied by the Inquisitor himself." He smirked at Ezra's horrified face. "Don't worry, we'll be handing you of to him soon enough. He's going to pay us a lot more for you then we gave those idiots." He laughed and focused back on the datapad, ensuring that his message to the Imperial Star Destroyer had gone through.
"No no no no no no no no." Ezra struggled, no longer concerned about the pain in his leg, no longer thinking about any pain. Just the slowly suffocating feeling of losing contact with the Force was his concern, the way he could suddenly feel a brief flash of horror on Kanan's side of the bond and then it was gone.
As if it had never existed, as if Kanan had never existed.
Ezra screamed in denial.
()()()()()()()()()()
In the middle of a gun fight with the bucketheads Kanan stopped, freezing in shock and horror as he suddenly felt the bond he had been building with Ezra waver and start to close up, Ezra feeling terrified on his end. He'd been feeling the pain for a while but had been unable to go look for him thanks to the stormtroopers that had intercepted them.
But this was something entirely else. The bond just gone, wiped out as if...as if...
"Specter one?!" Hera's yell shook Kanan out of his shock and he jumped back, hooking his lightsaber back on his belt before he waved his arms in front of him as if was parting curtains, sending the troopers into the walls and each other with a loud metallic clang.
Zeb almost dropped his bo-rifle in surprise. "What th-"
"Ezra's gone." Kanan panted, looking around, trying to sense his padawan, trying to reach out with the Force. "The bond, I can't feel him." Hera seemed to catch on quicker then the other two and covered her mouth. "But..."
"He was in pain, we were here, to many stormtroopers. And then the bond started to close up...I...its silent. Its closed. I can't FEEL him Hera!" Kanan had no idea what to do. Any other time he would have used to bond to guide him to his padawan but right now that was impossible.
"What...what does that mean?" Sabine asked hesitantly.
"It means Ezra is either not on Lothal anymore...or he's dead."
One of the stormtroopers groaned and they took of running before they could be engaged in battle again.
"We have to check right?" Sabine continued while following. "We owe Ezra that much, to at least look for him? He could be passed out?"
Kanan didn't know. His own padawan teachings had been so short before the Jedi order was slaughtered by those they had once fought beside. The bond he had formed with his own master had been to short to get to know how they were suppose to be and feel, only the pain he experienced when it severed was clear.
"We'll ask around Kanan, Ezra's kind of hard to not spot. Someones bound to have seen him and we have some allies here that would at least tell us if they've seen him." Zeb continued from Sabine.
"We'll look." Hera promised. "Right now we need to get to the ghost and lay low but we will contact everyone we know...Kanan we'll find him." She reached out and squeezed the Jedi's upper arm as they continued running.
Kanan glanced at her and nodded shakily.
()()()()()
He was so cold and he was in a crate. That much Ezra knew. And said crate was moving around, jarring him back and forth, most likely causing more bruises then Ezra wanted and causing more damage to his broken leg.
But he was to far gone. His mind was to far away, desperately trying to reach out to something that was no longer there, something that had always been there if only subtlety at first. Just a gentle influence all through his life until it was trained and hardness into what Ezra learned to be the Force.
The Force that connected all living through the galaxy to each other, that pulsed and weaved through every being who breathed and existed. The Force that tied him and Kanan together.
A Force Ezra could no longer access and it was leaving him with a unnatural chill to his bones.
The crate suddenly gave a heavy jerk, causing Ezra's head to hit what must be the top of it harshly, sure to leave behind a nice egg of a bruise and swell. It jerked Ezra out of his state enough to try and focus.
He wondered where he was, he wondered how much time had passed since he had been taken and put in the crate. He couldn't be sure but he could feel that his throat was raw and sore and his mouth was dry as Tatooine's deserts.
So at least a few hours.
Ezra hissed in surprise as the lid was suddenly of, light streaming into the box, squinting against the lights above him.
"One Force sensitive brat, as promised."
"Excellent, the Inquisitor will be pleased."
Ezra froze, recognizing that voice quite clearly before the owner leaned in and grabbed his chin, the blond man smirking at him. "Welcome on board the Star Destroyer Loth-rat." Agent Kallus practically purred before noting his leg as he straightened up. "The Inquisitor is not going to be pleased about the condition of his leg, he wanted him relatively unharmed for now."
"Not our fault. Could have done it of course but worst we did was give him a few scrapes in the box and the Force suppressor that we were given to keep the brat still."
"Hmm, fine. Officer Utru, take care of their payment. You two, take the boy to a holding cell. Take CARE, he's escaped before though with a Force suppressor he should be easier to control with his arms restrained. Keep him in the cell or there will be hell to pay with the Inquisitor."
Ezra was roughly jerked out of the crate by a stormtrooper, unable to contain a yell of pain as he set him on his feet. His broken leg buckled under him and he almost feel if it had not been for the harsh grip the trooper had on him.
He was thrown over a shoulder after a moment and Ezra wasn't sure if the burning in his cheeks came from embarrassment and pain of being thrown over a bucketheads shoulder or from being unable to walk at all.
"Or perhaps he'll be even less trouble then I thought." He heard Kallus snort in dark amusement as the troopers started walking, heading to the holding cells.
()()()()()()
"What do you mean you saw two bounty hunters with him?" Kanan stared at the Rodian.
"What Noodol say. Bridger passed out with bounty hunters. Pale. They threw him in a crate and left." The dark green Rodian confirmed again for them. "Seen them before. Noodol know they work with Imperials. Bridger not look good. To pale." He glanced around worriedly, not wanting anyone to see him talking to the Rebels. He wanted to help but he didn't want to get in trouble.
"Thank you Noodol, do you know where they went?" Hera asked, recognizing that the other was close to running.
"Noodol see them take Bridger towards the port. Noodol sorry, Noodol not strong." He shook his head and quickly left before hesitating. "Noodol hope you find Bridger though." He hurried of.
"At least its something Kanan." Hera turned to the Jedi. "He was pale but not dead?" She tried smiling.
"Then why can't I feel him?" Kanan scrubbed his face with his hands.
"I don't know Kanan." The Twi'lek offered gently, her lekku's twitching the only thing giving away her anxiety.
"We could hack the port cameras, check up on what's there." Sabine offered, biting her lips. "And get the shipping manifest to see where they were going."
"Its as good a plan as anything right now to find Ezra." Zeb grumbled, glaring darkly at nothing while his ears twitched agitatedly.
'Ezra...where are you?'
Author note: Just a little note up about my last story, I know some of you found the kidney thing...well off. I had a few private pms on it actually. Black market organ trade is a thing of our world, some pay a LOT of money for them. You can't tell me its not the same in Star Wars and the organ market might actually be a lot bigger and more difficult then it is here in our little world. I mean its a big galaxy. Anyhow, um, enjoy the next segment? Sorry to leave on a cliffhanger heh