Without you

Chapter 22

Hello!!! I am not dead yet (at least not physically). I am back here with another update and everything hurts. But enough about me! I am here with an important message. One of my oldest friends and the one that inspired me to start writing,  Matt_stuff_sk finally has a wattpad account. She was mostly active in Ao3 but now she has transferred both her stories (one of it is a star wars rebels one-shots story that made me cry at least twice) here on wattpad. So let's all show her so love. Also don't give her any personal information because she may or may not be a serial killer, I am not sure yet. Enjoy the chapter!

The heavy breathing and the chocked coughs were the only thing that could be heard in the dark room. There was darkness , darkness and pain. Ezra didn't know exactly where the pain was coming from. Everything seemed to hurt. His muscles felt like tight ropes that were tied around him, getting tighter and tighter.

When the door opened he whimpered. He hadn't seen light for several days. For several days the door opening only brought him pain. He shut his eyes closed resigning himself to his fate. The fever and the torturous pain emitting from each of his injuries made it impossible for him to concentrate on anything else.  Not the fact that it wasn't just one silhouette visible through the blinding light. Not the voices echoing in the room, calling his name. In his mind the Slave Master would come in and...

Arms were all around him. He jerked out of the daze he was in.

"Whaa..." he tried but his throat was so sore from the hours of screaming that his voice sounded strange and destroyed. Barely audible.

The other voices sounded far away, the touches were everywhere. One on his wrist, one on his hair. Other were pressing down on open wounds that were already hurting too much and now he felt like he would pass out from the pain.

"Shhtop" he rasped out. He couldn't do this. It was too much. Too fast. His thoughts started mixing with one another and his heard was throbbing and aching and it felt like it would explode. A hand cupped his face. Strong, calloused but so kind. He felt as it wiped a stray tear rolling down his right cheek.

A warm feeling was 'injected' on his mind. It felt like a drop of calmness that slowly spread throughout his body. Ezra gaped for air. He ached back but slowly lowered himself. His heartbeat started slowing down. A warm blanket was wrapped around his body, his mind, every fiber of his being.

The other hands kept searching him, pressing down on wounds but they felt muffled somehow. Like they didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the steady hand on his cheek that kept rubbing circles with its thumb as if saying : It's okay, I'm here, you'll be okay.

Ezra smiled. For some reason he wasn't afraid. He knew he should be. He knew it was probably the slave master and other slaves that were treating his wounds just so he wouldn't bleed to death. Just so he could torture him more later. But at that moment it felt peaceful. It felt right. It felt like home.

Strong arms picked him up and started carrying him away. He felt like he was floating. The warmth and calmness made him more and more sleepy. Before he let him self be taken away from the world of dreams and rest he cracked an eye open. Blurry colors and figures everywhere around him.

He closed his eyes again. He had no idea what was happening but he decided he would deal with this after a long nap. And with that thought he felt himself disappear.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Check his pulse!"

"Chopper out of the way!"

"Use his shirt to slow the bleeding!"

"Too much blood!"

"Let's get him out of here!"

"Come on, come on!"

"Stay with us kid!"

"Ezra!"

"It's okay, it's okay kiddo, we're here. I'm here. I'm taking you home"

Kanan tried to reduse the jostling as he ran through the sand hills of Tatooine. His ankles were aching from all the try to keep running even when his feet sank in the sand. He must have been going pretty fast because the others were far behind. The Ghost was visible from the distance. He pressured himself to go even faster. The limb boy on his arms was drifting away. His presence in the force kept getting weaker and weaker.

He almost regretted putting the boy to sleep but his injuries were so bad and he seemed in so much pain. His fear had felt like vibroblades stabbed into his mind. He knew that treating the wounds would be painful and they didn't have time or painkillers. He knew he could die either way. So if it reached that point he didn't want it to be painful. He wanted him to at least go peacefully. But he'd be damned if he'd let him go like that.

He ran up the ramp, his footsteps echoed heavy inside the empty ship. He rushed to the med-bay almost tripping when he ran through the door. He laid Ezra on the bed and grabbed the med-kit from the compartment under the bed. He quickly got the bacta patches and applied them to each of bleeding wounds. The same with the bone knitters applied to each of the bones that seemed to be at an odd angle.

He attached a breathing mask. The rasped breathing suggested that his lugs were collapsing. The moment the mask was installed the boy seemed to breathe more easily. Kanan sat down next to him. He let his eyes wander in Ezra's chest, watching it rise and fall as if he were an infant and Kanan was afraid that if he looked away he would stop breathing.

Both his sides seemed black, as blue and purple bruises covered his chest. Honestly every part of Ezra's body seemed red and purple. Kanan used a pair of scissors to cut out his bloody clothes and get them off without having to move him. He took a pair of comfortable pajamas.

He dressed him up and placed a blanket over him. This was okay, he thought, it would be enough. He would hold on until they made it to the fleet. He heard more footsteps echo through the ship.  He turned to look as everyone ran into the med-bay just so they could freeze on their places when they laid eyes to the unconscious boy. Maybe they were afraid to wake him up, maybe they were afraid that at the smallest noise he would die.

Kanan looked at Hera pleadingly. They had to take off, they had to leave, they had to take Ezra to the fleet. Hera nodded. She turned to Luke and Ofelia.

"We have to leave" she said " You have to decide whether-"

"I'll stay" Ofelia said determined. "But Luke you have to go. You aunt and uncle will be waiting for you"

"I am not leaving him-"

"Luke please!"  Ofelia said and laid a hand on his shoulder. It was the desperation on the girl's voice that made Luke nod. He walked out of the room and Ofelia led him out of the ship. Hera nodded to the girl and ran to the cockpit. Everyone followed leaving Kanan with Ezra. Praying that they would make it on time.

Okay, on Ezra's Depression I mentioned the bone knitters and people were really confused. It's a devise from the star wars comics that put broken bones back together. Vibroblades is what daggers are called in the star wars universe and bacta patches are like bacta band-aids. There, all explained. And yes I did spent my entire Quarantine researching everything in the star wars universe and I can literally name 73 different medicine and drugs. Yeah. This is what my steady fall to madness looks like. May the force be with you. Because it sure as hell is not with me lately.