Author's Notes: Man this chapter was a bitch to write, but I hope you guys like it! Also my next update might take a bit since I have midterms coming up, but have no fear the next chapter is already outlined! Anyways hope you like the chapter! May for the force be with you!
Ezra looked around at the people, but it was the way that they looked at him the truly unsettled him. He had received many looks in his life, looks of pity, looks of anger, and more recently looks of people who wanted him dead, but the way these people looked at him. They looked at him like he was prize, an object for them to lay their eyes upon.
His eyes traced over the crowd when suddenly he felt a pull, a feeling that he knew from anywhere. He almost couldn't sense it, everything in this room was so consumed by greed. He franticly searched the crowd with his eyes until his eyes landed on the sorce.
Ezra let out a breath of air he hadn't even realized he was holding when he saw Kanan and Hera there. They had come for him! Except when he saw their faces, he saw total astonishment, like they were surprised to see him. However Ezra's thoughts were broken when he heard Amare's voice.
"Our betrothed will be seated here on the stage. Feel free to come and meet him."
He led Ezra towards an ornate chair, but as Ezra was about to sit down Amare leaned in and whispered in his ear.
"Do anything that is not what I would want and I promise that you will regret it. Trust me when I say that there are many ways to hurt you without leaving a mark." Amare said. He let the comment linger before moving back. He had the audacity to pat Ezra on the head. Asshole.
Ezra saw Kanan coming towards him, Hera at his side. He was so concentrated on them that he didn't even notice one of the nobles coming towards him until he was right in front of him.
"Uh, hello." Ezra said and glanced at Amare and saw him glaring at him, "My lord." Ezra quickly tacked on.
"Ah so polite. I am-" The man was introducing himself and Ezra was quick to stop paying attention, allowing the man to keep talking and Ezra would occasionally nod his head. He looked back towards the crowd. It appeared that Kanan and Hera were having trouble getting through the crowd, but soon they were there.
"Ah I see you have other admirers, I hope to see you again." The man said as he excused himself.
"Ezra-" Kanan said.
"Hello, my lord." Ezra was quick to cut Kanan off. He hoped Amare would just interpret it as him being nervous. Kanan looked confused before Ezra looked at Amare and back at Kanan, hoping to silently tell Kanan that Amare was listening. Kanan and Hera stole glances at Amare before looking back Ezra, they gave slight nods to show him that they understood.
"So," Kanan paused, trying to think of how to ask Ezra questions without Amare figuring out what was happening, "what do you think of the castle?"
Ezra thought for a minute, trying to think of something that would give Kanan information.
"I'm normally in my room, where Amare put me it reminds me a lot of home. Wish it had more windows though." Ezra answered. Kanan was going to ask more questions when Amare approached them.
"I'm sorry, but it appears that someone else wants to meet him as well. If you want to talk with him more perhaps you could come later?" Amare asked, however Kanan did note that he eyed him warily.
"Yes…" Kanan said, trying to hide his anger. How dare this man take his padawan. The Kanan and Hera walked away, thinking about what Ezra had said.
"He said it was like his home," Hera said, crossing her arms, "any ideas what that means?"
Kana thought for a minute.
"Well his parents home was restricted, is that he meant?" Kanan asked. Hera thought for a minute before the idea struck her.
"He lived in a communication tower." She said.
"A tower." Kanan thought back to when they entered. He remembered in the back corned of the castle seeing a tower.
"He also said that he wished there were more windows. From what I remember that tower didn't have any windows higher up." Hera added.
"So he's being kept at the top of the tower." Kanan clarified.
"I think that's what he was telling us." She said.
"Let's call in Zeb and Sabine. We should break Ezra out after the ball when there are less people." Kanan said. Hera nodded before excusing herself from the party to go outside. Kanan drew his attention back to the stage where Ezra was.
A woman was now talking to Ezra. Kanan didn't need the force to tell that his padawan was clearly uncomfortable. After Ezra would say anything he would cast a fearful glance in Amare's direction, and it made Kanan clench his fists.
He had never seen Ezra behave this way. Checking his behavior so much, so uncomfortable, everything about the situation screamed that it was wrong. Kanan had also noticed that right before Ezra had sat down Amare had said something to him; whatever it had been it had obviously distressed his padawan.
Kanan used the force to give Ezra a small nudge, just to let him know that he was still there, however what Kanan was not expecting was for Ezra to jump and give a yelp. Everyone's attention briefly went to Ezra after his outburst, and saw as Ezra covered his mouth with his hand. Right after though everyone began turning back to their conversations, Kanan did notice though that while some found it amusing, Amare cast a cold glare at Ezra.
Well that did not go as expected. Kanan had hoped that the gesture would calm Ezra's nerve, not accidently startle him, Kanan guessed he was more on edge than he thought. Kanan's attention was back to Ezra when he noticed him seeming to apologize to the woman, and Kanan moved closer to see if he could hear. The woman had her hand over her nose, and Kanan noticed drips of blood escaping her fingers, but the woman simply smiled at the boy in front of her and seemed to be trying to tell him it was okay. In Ezra's startled state he must have thrown hand up and struck the woman on accident.
Kanan kept trying to weave through the crowd when he noticed Amare approach them. He appeared to excuse himself and Ezra as he grabbed Ezra's wrist and began leading him from the room. The woman seemed a bit stunned at the moment but started walking away, presumably to a restroom to get cleaned up.
Kanan attempted to follow but noticed that there were guards at the door where Amare and Ezra had just left through. It would be extremely difficult to get through this way, he would have to find another way through. He saw Hera reentering the room and looking around for him. He started going towards her.
"Zeb and Sabine should be here in a few hours." Hera said once they convened. Kanan nodded in understanding, but looked back at where Ezra had taken. Hera looked back at the stage, noticing that Ezra was no longer there.
"What happened?" Hera asked.
"There was a bit of an accident and the King took Ezra somewhere else." Kanan said, his eyes not leaving the doors where they had left.
"Kanan, we are going to get him back, we should be happy that we found him." Hera affirmed, grabbing his shoulder. Kanan held her hand, looking back at Hera.
"We should get to the rendezvous point." Hera said. The two of them left the ball to go wait for Zeb and Sabine's arrival.
Don't worry Ezra, Kanan thought, we're coming.
Ezra could feel his rapid heartbeat as Amare weaved him through the castle. He looked around him, two guards on each side. Maybe he could take them? He wasn't restrained at this point so that was a clear advantage he had now. Kanan was out there. If he could get away from Amare and back to them maybe he could finally get out of this nightmare.
Ezra yanked his hand back, as he freed himself he twisted himself and force pushed one of the guards away. In that opening Ezra took off in a dead sprint, but he didn't get too far before he heard Amare's voice.
"Run wherever you want, but you forget about my gift." He said.
Ezra slowed down to a stop, he looked at the doors in front of him, and his hand touched the necklace. From what he knew Amare was the only one who knew how to get the necklace off, if he left now while wearing this thing it didn't matter. Even worse he could lead him to the rebellion, and Ezra wasn't sure on Amare's affiliation.
Before Ezra had a chance to think of what he wanted to do next, two of the guards seized each of arms. Ezra struggled against them but the brought him back to where Amare was, which in all honesty wasn't that far.
"Why are you so insistent on being a problem?" Amare said, now that he wasn't in front of the crowds of people Amare looked absolutely furious, "First you embarrass me in front of Kloric's nobles and now another attempted escape? Guards take him back to the tower."
"It was an accident!" Ezra yelled, but he was completely ignored.
They began taking Ezra back to his prison, but Ezra noticed Amare pulling a comm from his pocket. He didn't catch what Amare said, but a part of him feared for the worse. He did take note that the guards around him listened in on their comm. Whatever Amare was saying, he didn't want Ezra to hear.
As they wound around the castle it became apparent to Ezra that he wasn't returning to his room. Instead they led him into another room, however this one just had a large metal box in it. The box was probably tall enough to where someone could stand in it, and it was maybe six feet long. The guards held him in the room for a few minutes before Amare showed up.
"Put him inside." He said. Ezra resisted being put inside, but they unceremoniously threw him and closed the door. It was pitch black inside, but that wasn't what unsettled him. He couldn't hear anything. He could only hear his breathing and even the sound of his heartbeat that sounded like a drum.
He wasn't sure how long he simply sat there before suddenly he felt an electric shock, he screamed out in pain, his own voice sounding so loud in box as it reverberated against the walls. The shock stopped after a few moments and Ezra sat up, panting. He waited a few more seconds, but nothing happened. It was about a minute later that another shock came through. It became increasingly difficult to determine how long it was between shocks, and then he realized that it was randomized.
Ezra was forced for sit around, not knowing when the next shock would come. He couldn't see, his body started to feel numb, he could only feel pain. He couldn't hear anything other than himself, and it seemed that he couldn't even sense what was outside with the force.
He gave out a small whimper as he was forced to wait for the next shock, flinching when he would expect it to come. He wasn't sure what was worse, the shocks themselves, or having no way to tell when they came.
When the electric shock finally came he screamed out, his body twitching uncontrollably. His muscles ached from the forced contractions, and once this round of shocks was done he laid there and tried to collect himself only to be shocked immediately afterward. He couldn't help the few tears that slipped through as he his voice grew hoarse from screaming.
Once the electricity stopped he crawled towards the door.
"No more, please." He begged. He could barely keep himself off the ground, and the response he received was another shock.
"Let me out! Please!" He screamed. He wasn't even sure if they could hear him outside.
He couldn't tell how long he had been in there, it could have been minutes or hours. He had no way to tell.
At one point when he was shocked he bit his tongue, and could then taste the metallic taste of blood. He slumped against the floor, now when the shocks came he was to weak to do anything. His body would twitch, he couldn't even whimper. His voice had given out long ago.
A long amount of time passed before the door finally opened. Ezra had to actually close his eyes, the light was too painful. He was too weak to even flinch when he felt someone pick him up. Everything was a blur, before he knew it he was on the bed in his room. As soon as his head was on the pillows, Ezra loss consciences.
It took a few minutes for Ezra's eyes to fully adjust to the light once he was awake, and he was irked when the first thing he saw was Amare sitting next to him on his bed.
"I hope that this will teach you obedience. I don't enjoy punishing you anymore than you do." He said, with a fake exasperated sigh.
Even in Ezra's dazed state, he could feel the fire in his every fiber of being. He hated Amare. Ezra wanted him to hurt the same way he did, Ezra wanted to make him understand what it was like to afraid. To feel like you weren't in control.
Ezra glanced around the room to see that none of the guards were in it. Even though he felt weak, Ezra extended his hand towards Amare, Amare must have noticed the look on his face.
"And what are you doing now, really Ezra you should just-"
"Shut up." Ezra snarled, he slowly began clenching his hand. Amare made a gagging sound, his hands gripping his throat. His eyes looked at Ezra, large with fear as he tried to gasp for air. Good, he should feel afraid.
"I'm tired of being your prisoner." Ezra hissed. He felt a cold feeling wash over him, and suddenly it seemed to dawn on him what he was doing. He stopped and looked at his hand releasing Amare in the process, Amare coughed and gasped as his throat was released.
"I-I don't know what came over me." Ezra said, mostly to himself. Amare rubbed his throat then stared daggers ay Ezra.
"You're going to regret that." He said.
"If anyone's going to regret something, it's going to be you." Both Ezra and Amare turned towards the door to look at the newcomer that had entered the room.
There stood Kanan, the rest of the crew behind him.