They had gotten Ezra to the main ships rather quickly, the ragtag team of cruisers, smaller ships and outdated models drifting along rather merrily as they arrived. The kid has spent a day in a bacta tank, no more required to speed the healing thanks to Kanan's rapid response though the droid had confirmed that whatever had happened to him would have ended Ezra had it not been removed.
It didn't exactly make Kanan feel any better as he stood in front of the tank and watched Ezra float, the dark hair drifting around his head as the mask supplied him with air, all his scars on display for anyone who walked in. Ezra would have hated it if he was awake.
The droid and doctor monitoring him informed Kanan that Ezra would be fine, that no one needed to stand watch.
He had given them the long yard stare and then gone back to watching his padawan, arms crossed over his chest, wearing a spar set of clothes since the other was...
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He didn't need to think about what his other clothes were covered in. It would be gone once they've gone through a washing cycle and the red evidence would be gone.
"Kanan?" He glanced at Hera and nodded to her. "He needs to stay in there for a day. Just...in case." The pilot hummed and nodded at that before glancing at him. "You need to eat now. And sleep. Ezra is safe in there, in this ship and he would want you to take care of yourself." She said seriously. "He'll be awake tomorrow."
Kanan hesitated before nodding and following her.
Only...Ezra wasn't awake the next day.
Or the day after that.
Or the next several days.
Kanan had started haunting the medbay, sitting by Ezra's bed, watching the still lightly pale skinned teen, wishing he was still a golden tan. 'Once he wakes up...' He sighed and leaned forward, gently brushing his fingers over a lax hand, glancing up when Sabine came in. "Its not your turn yet." He blinked, puzzled before grumbling when he saw a tray in her hands. "I...forgot dinner." He sighed resignedly.
"Yup. Hera sent me up." She smiled and gave the tray to Kanan, letting him start eating as she looked to Ezra, petting the others hair gently. "His bruises look better at least, the black eye has healed nicely from where he got his temple bashed in." She noted. "Any changes though?"
"None. The doctor is theorizing that he's shut himself in because of...that thing I removed from him." Kanan gritted his teeth and took a deep breath through his nose before continuing to eat. "Which might be true, that thing wrecked havoc on Ezra's Force."
"Zeb mentioned that." She murmured quietly then glanced at Kanan. "Could you...wake him through the Force? I mean...encourage him to wake up?"
"...Every time I try, I meet a wall of fear and darkness." Teal eyes glanced at the steadily breathing teen. "He's in there though. I know he is. He just needs to wake up on his own terms unless I manage to get in there somehow."
He gave the empty tray back to her and settled a bit, reaching for Ezra's hand and holding it gently, stroking the top of it with his thumb.
"Hmm, I'll...come tomorrow so you can go to the Ghost, you don't want Hera to drag you to it again." Sabine smiled and patted Kanan on the shoulder, giving it a little squeeze before moving on out.
The Jedi snorted before sighing and settling again, watching Ezra. '...Come on kiddo...wake up for us...' He barely noticed it as he settled his head down on the bed and fell asleep, head less then a inch from those lax fingers.
()()()()()()()()()()
'Ezra?'
The child curled in tighter on himself, whimpering quietly as he hid his face in his legs. He was scared. He didn't know why but he was scared. Everything felt wrong. He pulled himself further into his hiding place and the dark.
'Ezra, please, its me.'
That voice sounded familiar but he couldn't move, hiding under the table in the dark of a house that no longer existed. Why didn't the house exist anymore? Why was it so very dark?
'Ezra I' here, I won't let the dark take you.'
People always said that and then they disappeared into the dark themselves. Always leaving him alone in his own darkness.
'No Ezra, I won't. We won't...but you need to come out Ezra.'
Ezra heard a noise and lifted his head from his knees slowly, light flowing in slowly as he did, staring at the man kneeling in front of the table, his dark hand held out to Ezra with a gentle, familiar smile.
'Come out Ezra, I'm not leaving without you.'
Tender teal eyes stared at him, waiting, patient.
Ezra slowly lifted a small hand towards the bigger one, hesitating before placing it into it. 'Kanan?'
'Yeah kiddo...we're going back now.' Kanan smiled and drew him out into the light.
()()()()()()()
Blue eyes opened to stare at the white ceiling above him, absently noting the sterile smell and medication in the air, taking in how heavy his body felt and how it was reclined against the back in a half sitting position, as if he had fallen asleep in a chair.
As sensation returned to the teen he felt terribly sore around the stomach and heavy in the head, gauze wrapped around both areas he was feeling and a Iv drip connected to his left hand. Vaguely he remembered the Star Destroyer, the doctor and the Imperial but something told him he was safe and didn't need to rush to action.
His fingers twitched and he looked down in surprise, feeling soft hair against his fingertips. Blue eyes stared at the head resting on Ezra's bedside on the owner of the head's own arms, dark hair brushing against his fingers as the teen moved them again.
Kanan. It was Kanan.
They had come for him.
Ezra smiled slowly, fingers creeping to stroke the mans hair, noting how it was down and out of its usual ponytail. And a bit greasy. The Jedi looked exhausted and had a blanket covering his shoulders, dark rings were obvious around his eyes but else he looked fine and Ezra could honestly say that in that moment he'd never seen anything that made him as happy as Kanan's sleep slacked face.
Slowly he stroked the others hair, burying his fingers into it, as his mind tried to pierce together everything but drawing up blanks after he had been thrown into the cell on the Star Destroyer with Commander Sato.
He glanced about, taking in the area. The window told him they were on a spaceship as he could see out at the stars but he wasn't sure which, only that it wasn't the Ghost as it didn't have this big a medbay.
Perhaps one of the ships that senator Bail Organa had given them?
It was safe at least. That was the important thing.
A twitch and groan made him look back down to Kanan, watching the other wake slowly and blink. "...Hey?" He rasped, grinning wryly as Kanan sat up sharply, the blanket falling of his shoulders, staring at him as Ezra settled his hands back in his lap. "...Missed me?" He added, meeping when the older man wrapped his arms around him, holding.
"Yes." Kanan whispered hoarsely in return, holding tightly, feeling the living breathing being that was Ezra awake. "You wouldn't wake up. You've been here a week and you wouldn't wake up." He gingerly touched Ezra's hair, illogically terrified that he'd send the boy back by just touching him.
Then he pulled back before Ezra could lift his own hands, cupping the boys face as he examined it. "You wouldn't wake up Ezra, we...I..." He swallowed. "...I need to get the doctor, they'll want to know you're awake."
Ezra lifted his hand and wrapped it around the others wrist, shaking his head. "D-Don't go." He rasped hurriedly and sighed in relief when Kanan stayed put.
"...The doctor can wait a few more moments." Kanan agreed to Ezra's unspoken request of more time. The teen relaxed and then leaned into the hand when the other returned it to Ezra's cheek. He stroked his thumb carefully underneath the others eye, watching him. "...I don't know how much you remember."
"After being thrown into the cell with the Commander...very little." Ezra leaned into the touch.
"Do you remember what the Empire did?" Kanan questioned, watching Ezra's face grow queasy as he touched his stomach. "...Its not in me anymore, is it?"
"No. I...I had to cut you open Ezra. I had to...take it out of you." He said quietly.
"So its gone? Its..."
"The Rebellions scientists have it. Its a nasty piece of tech. It was...using your insides to build itself." Kanan murmured. "They want to study it so they know what it is and how to combat it if the...doctor left any notes." Kanan grimaced at having to even call the man that. That man hadn't deserved the title and if he had survived the ship's core exploding, he'd hunt him down and...he took a deep breath and focused on Ezra. "So they have the parasite."
He didn't like the idea of that thing even existing still and from the look on Ezra's face, he agreed. But they both understood the need to be able to understand and fight it if worst came to worst.
"How do you feel? Are you thirsty or hungry?" Kanan realized he hadn't posed that question yet.
"Thirsty yes, hungry...no. I feel sore but not in pain." The teen sighed.
The Jedi nodded in understanding, using the hand that was not cupping Ezra's cheek to reach for the water mug and pour water into a cup. He gave it over to Ezra and watched the teen hold it with trembling hands, taking minor sips.
"...You cut it out of me?" Ezra looked at him, his voice a bit stronger thanks to having water.
"...In the cargo bay of the Ghost. I...you were so feverish, and you were turning yellow." The older man swallowed. "Jaundiced. Commander Sato said you'd run out of energy a hour before we got there and barely responded by then. And you were fading, I could feel you fading away. The Force was fading. I..." Kanan took a deep breath.
"...Thank you." Ezra whispered. "Its...good to know you always have my back, even...even in that kind of situation." He managed to quirk a small smile, Kanan feeling the muscles of the cheek pull as he did.
It made him smile in return, stroking Ezra's cheek. "I always have your back Ezra, nothing stops me from getting my padawan back." He said quietly, resting his forehead against Ezra's gauze covered one.
Ezra closed his eyes, settling into the quiet of their breathing, assured by the quietly fluctuating feeling of the Force around them. "...I think I saw you." He whispered. "Before I woke...I... was alone in the dark and..."
Kanan hummed at that. "I told you...I'm not leaving you." He said quietly. "The Empire can't take you away from me, I won't let them." Ezra smiled at that keeping his eyes shut for the moment.
Though he opened them when he heard the doors hiss open, pulling his head away from Kanan to look towards it. He grinned when he saw Sabine and Hera, the latter with a tray full of food.
"Ezra..." She gasped, stepping in quickly, Sabine following quickly with Zeb and Chopper following quickly after. "You're awake!" Zeb grinned at him.
"Sure am. Missed me you smelly Lasat?" Ezra felt Kana's hand fall of his face and rest on his knee instead.
"As if." Zeb laughed while Hera gave the tray to the Jedi, a firm order of 'eat' issued before she went back to cooing at Ezra, her hand resting on his other thigh. Sabine moved to Kana's side and brushed his shoulder, beaming at him as Zeb took the spot beside Hera, his hand lingering on Ezra¨s other shoulder.
Chopper beeped at the foot of the bed and a thin mechanical hand patted at his calf.
He laughed quietly, feeling his family around him. This was home.
Author note: And now the recovery heh