Always in Motion

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Voices in the Shadows

Waiting was the worst.

Because, really, there nothing that she could do except wait, staring across her at the doors leading into the medbay, hoping that they would open and she could find out what was happening on the other side, but at the same time knowing that it was good that it was taking so long because if it hadn't, then that meant there wasn't much that the doctor could do.

But even as she thought that, Cassie wanted to take that particular thought and throw it violently against the wall.

Patience had never been her strong suit; she had often charged headfirst into situations without thinking about the consequences, a trait that had both exasperated and amused her former master.

Right now, though, she would have gladly taken any patience that she had if it meant that she could stand waiting until those medbay doors opened. Every second that passed by felt as though an eternity had gone by and Cassie wouldn't have been at all surprised if she found grey streaks in her hair.

Standing up, she resumed pacing across the floor, as she had been doing on and off again for the past couple of hours, ever since she had barged into the doctor's office in the dead of night, with an unconscious boy in her arms.

Not that the Twi'lek doctor she had found had protested any; instead, she had taken one look at Ezra before ordering Cassie to take him into the medbay.

After placing him on the med-bed, Cassie had wanted to stay to help—try and do something, anything—but the doctor just shook her head in refusal. "You'll only be in the way," she said in an Imperial accent, originating from somewhere in the Core. "If you want to help your friend, then let us do our work."

And with that, the medical droid that accompanied her all but shoved Cassie out of the room, leaving her with nothing to do but wait endlessly, afraid of what news she might bring.

After Ezra had collapsed in that field, she had carried him at least five clicks until she found a small settlement; the first person that she found had directed her to the local doctor and thankfully, she had asked no questions. But that hadn't stopped Cassie from worrying about any and all Imperial patrols that might be coming through at any given moment. She hadn't been to Lothal in years; she couldn't remember what Imperial presence was like here and if they might patrol a settlement this far from the cities on a regular basis. It was entirely possible that news of an escapee from an Imperial Star Destroy hadn't reached here, but she had been sure that someone would have reported the shuttle being destroyed.

Much as she would like them to be, Imperials weren't entirely stupid; they could put two and two together.

Stopping dead in her tracks as the medbay doors slid open, it took everything that Cassie had not to go running straight at the Twi'lek as she stepped out of the medbay, looking utterly exhausted but she gave Cassie a reassuring smile.

"It's all right," she said, "everything went fine; the boy's going to be just fine."

Cassie sagged in relief, her legs suddenly feeling like jelly as she staggered into the nearest chair, sure that she wouldn't have been able to remain standing for very much longer.

"Thank you," she whispered, gratitude rolling off of her in waves. "Can I see him?"

"You're welcome to sit in with him if you like, but he's currently in a bacta tank; he won't know that you're there," the Twi'lek told her, but that didn't matter to Cassie. Poor kid had already been through enough; she wasn't going to let him stay in there alone.

Besides, with what she had sensed from the kid and what she suspected about him, she had every amount of certainty that he would sense her there.

"Thanks," she said, stumbling to her feet and beginning to make her way into the medbay when the Twi'lek stopped her.

"You'd best keep your guard up while you're here," she said warningly. Cassie paused halfway through the door, looking back at her. "I've seen a lot of things in my time as a doctor and some things that I wished that I hadn't." She met the blonde's gaze evenly. "I know where he got those injuries; I've seen it before. And I have no problem with keeping quiet, but that doesn't mean that they won't be asking questions if they notice anything."

Cassie nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." She paused. "Um . . . I have some credits . . . it's not much, but—"

"Don't worry about it," the Twi'lek said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "Your brother has suffered enough; you don't need to pay any more."

She blinked. "Oh, he's not—"

"Yes, he is, because that's what I'm going to tell anyone who asks; that your brother had a speeder accident and you didn't have the credits, so you brought him out here to the outskirts, where we don't ask as many questions and don't charge as much as they do in the Imperial centers," the Twi'lek said dryly. "You'd best stick to that story, child. Now, go and sit with the boy."

Though she wanted to argue, to try and give her what few credits she had left, Cassie reluctantly pocketed them, suspecting that she wouldn't accept anything that she tried to give her, so she thanked her again before going into the medbay.

As she had been told, Ezra was floating in the bacta tank, his eyes fluttered closed and the breath mask over his nose and mouth so that he would be able to breath while the bacta did its work to heal what injuries the doctor hadn't been able to. He was still unconscious but as she stretched out, touching his mind through the Force, she felt his consciousness react, recognizing her but he didn't wake.

"Don't worry, kid," she said softly as she settled down into a chair next to the tank, not about to leave him alone, "you're gonna be okay. Everything's going to be okay; just rest."

Somehow, it was all gonna be okay.

Ezra was floating.

Or at least, that's what it felt like; he could feel himself drifting through an endless sea as he faded in and out. Often times, he could hear female voices but they were garbled and he couldn't make sense of them. But he could feel a presence nearby that was vaguely familiar; he wanted to grab it but weariness ran through him.

"Don't worry, kid; you're going to be okay."

He listened to the voice; hers seemed to come and go. Sometimes, he could hear it with perfect clarity while other times, it was just as garbled and distorted as the other woman's. Much as he tried to listen, he couldn't grasp the surface.

"Everything is going to be okay; just rest."

That sounded like a great idea; Ezra allowed himself to be swallowed up by the blackness and fall into a dreamless slumber.

When consciousness drew near next, he was vaguely aware of being moved and the same voices whispering around him again. He fought to hear them but only managed about half of what they were saying.

". . . sure he shouldn't stay in the tank longer?" This woman's voice was young, more a girl than a woman. "He's still . . ."

". . . better this way . . . done about . . . bacta treatment can . . . so much . . ." The second voice was accented and older; he felt slight fear run through him at the accent but didn't understand why.

What had happened? Why was he lying here and why did everything feel like it was far away? Ezra felt as though he were at the bottom of a lake and everything else was right above him, at the surface.

"When . . . wake up?"

". . . up to him. Better to . . . rest . . . needs it . . ."

Ezra felt his entire body seize up as he felt contact on his right arm, but it was soft and gentle, almost reassuring, and almost as soon as it came, the anxiety faded away to nothingness as he grasped at the hand.

"Guess . . . right . . ." The girl sounded almost apologetic, ". . . through enough already. Take . . . much time . . . need . . . be right here, Ezra."

She knew his name, he thought dimly. How did she know his name?

But he didn't have time to wonder about that for long; he sank back down into the pool and faded away again.

Ezra woke but did not stir; actually, he wasn't entirely sure that he was even awake. He felt more like he was dreaming because for the first time since he had been on the Destroyer, there was no pain.

More than there was no pain; his side hurt a lot less than it had before and his head stopped feeling as though it were spinning.

Debating whether or not the bucketheads had actually bothered to patch him up just so they could torture him again, Ezra chanced opening his eyes, immediately wincing as the lights struck them. How long had he been out? he wondered as he forced them open again and slowly, they adjusted, revealing a homey cream colored room.

Not stark white like the Imperial medical bay, he realized almost at once; no, this couldn't be the Star Destroyer's medbay. Where was he?

Suddenly, he realized that he wasn't as alone as he first thought and turned his head to look at the slight figure next to him. She was curled up in a chair, a blanket wrapped around her as her blonde hair fell into her face; she was asleep.

Ezra stared at her, memories suddenly sweeping over him.

So . . . that hadn't been a dream after all.

Cassie had rescued him from the depths of an Imperial Starship—but more than that, she had stayed by his side the entire time. From the looks of things, she had even been sleeping here—wherever here was, anyway.

He remembered them landing on Lothal and blowing up the shuttle, but that was about as far as he could remember. What happened after that and how they had gotten here, he couldn't recall.

Where were they? Were they still on Lothal? Were they on Cassie's ship, like she said that they were going? No . . . she had said something about Naboo, hadn't she? Ezra couldn't put it together; it was all jumped together in his head.

Hearing the medbay door swish open, Ezra slammed his eyes shut, almost afraid of what was coming in, and he heard soft footsteps approach the bed.

Not daring to move a muscle, he listened closely for anything that might give away what the person was doing, but heard nothing.

With infinite cautiousness, he chanced a quick glance, only to see a blue Twi'lek with her back to him near the machines, inspecting them closely and he slammed his eyes shut again when she turned back to look at him. He kept his breathing as even as he could, listening closely as the Twi'lek began moving again, not daring to open his eyes again; he couldn't hear what she was doing, but he distinctively heard Cassie as she mumbled, "Whatzgoinon?"

Whatever the Twi'lek said, he wasn't sure, but his heart quickened at the Imperial accent that it carried and tried to contain the fear that ran through him until he heard the medbay doors swish open again and knew that she was gone.

"Ezra?"

His eyes fluttered open again and he turned his head slightly to look over at Cassie, who was regarding him with concerned ice-blue eyes.

"Hey . . ." she whispered, relief flooding through her features at seeing him awake. "It's good to see you awake."

"C—Cassie?" he croaked, surprised at just how much effort it took just to say her name. His mouth felt weird, like he hadn't had anything to eat or drink in at least a couple of days, and hadn't said anything in just as long, but maybe that was normal from waking up in a medbay. It wasn't like he had been in one in—well, in a long time.

She looked relieved that he remembered her name; like he was liable to forget who had gotten him out of that hellhole. Ezra still didn't think that she didn't have an ulterior motive but whatever it was, she had got him out of there and for that, he was grateful.

"Glad that your memory's intact," she said softly, disentangling herself from the blanket so she could move over to sit down on the bed. He tensed at the closeness but thankfully, she kept her distance. "You've had a fever from some of the infections; you've been in and out of consciousness for almost a week."

That woke him up a little. "A week?" he echoed, flinching at the pain it took to talk. Was it going to be like this forever?

Almost as though she knew what he was thinking, Cassie stood up and moved over to pick up a cup of water and returned, lifting it to his lips.

Though he eyes her suspiciously, Ezra drank the water greedily, not stopping until the cup was empty and even then, he still felt parched, so she fetched him another cup, helping him to sip the second one. He drank about five cups before he finally felt like he had enough.

"Where are we?" he finally asked. His voice still sounded hoarse but at least he didn't feel like it took everything he had just to ask a simple word.

"Still on Lothal," she told him. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember landing on Lothal and blowing up the shuttle," Ezra told her. "What happened after that?"

"Not much; we were walking through the fields, trying to find a village when you collapsed. I carried you the rest of the way here," she explained. "Luckily, I found a village fairly close and the doctor here didn't ask many questions."

Embarrassment ran through him at the thought of passing out and Cassie having to carry him all the way here, but before he could try and apologize, she asked, "Are you in any pain? How's your head?"

"It's okay."

Cassie gave him a searching look, not believing him, but as she opened her mouth to counter his denial, the beep of a communicator came from somewhere and she looked down at her side briefly, almost in debate, but then she sighed, reaching for it and brought the device up to her mouth.

"This is Rogue One."

AN: Oh, yeah, I just went there. LOL.

Guys, I am so sorry about the long update. I'm not sure what was going on with this website, but it wouldn't let me upload my chapter onto the doc manager. Not sure what the problem was, but I finally got it to work. Did anybody else have that problem? Just curious. Anyway, it's fixed now, I guess, and Chapter Four is waiting to be posted, as soon as I get enough reviews. Hope you enjoyed and please tell me what you think in that review!

Lady Dawson