For You Alone

Shackles of the Past

"Why would you hide this from me?" Hera glared, first at Sabine, then at the sleeping Ezra. "Rebel Command is coming to Echo Base in one week. If Ezra's not up to the task of helping Rex, I need to know."

Sabine sighed. "He is. I never doubted that. But you need to know what's going on with him."

Hera shook her head. "He's struggling with what happened to Kanan. I've heard the nightmares."

Sabine knelt by Ezra, as if checking on him. "It's more than that." She whispered softly. "He keeps waking up thinking that Kanan's been captured by Vader."

Hera's brow furrowed. "How long has this been happening?"

"A week." Sabine took one of Ezra's hands and held it in her own. "First time, he made it all the way to the generators before collapsing. And they're getting worse."

"Worse?" Hera knelt by Ezra too. "What do you mean?"

Sabine looked down for a second before tightening her grip on his hands. "Last one was tonight. Just before I got you. I tried to stop Ezra, but he attacked me."

Hera's eyebrows rose, lek twitching in alarm. "He attacked you?"

Sabine nodded. "Yeah. He kept on shouting for me to get away from his family. I think he thought I was Vader."

"He attacked you?"

Sabine pulled out Kanan's lightsaber. "I protected myself. And I had Zeb for backup. Ezra's lessons came in handy."

Hera stood. "Maybe we should push Rebel Command coming back until-"

Sabine stood as well. "No. Ezra would see that as a sign that we don't trust him. We need to carry on as normal."

Hera folded her arms. "Sabine, he attacked you."

Sabine scoffed. "Not really. See, I've fought Ezra enough to know that if he actually tried, I'd be torn apart in seconds. He proved that our first fight on Yavin. This time, he was sloppy. I had numerous openings."

"So?"

Now Sabine folded her arms. "So, I think some part of Ezra knows that it's all a dream, and is fighting back."

"That or he's unravelling."

Sabine glared. "He's not unravelling."

"Are you sure?" Hera shifted. "You can't think clearly because of the way you feel about him. It's clouding your judgment."

Sabine's glare grew. "What do you mean, 'the way I feel about him?'"

Hera held her hands up. "Nothing. But we can't ignore that possibility."

Sabine narrowed her eyes. "I'll let you know if he has any more incidents. Then you can decide."

Hera nodded and walked out, and Sabine collapsed as soon as the door closed. Was she right? Was Ezra unraveling? Force knew he had enough reason to. Sabine knew enough about Master-Padawan bonds to know that there would be a constant ache from where his bond to Kanan was. Constant pain.

But Kanan had been gone for over a year and a half. Why now? What was going on?

. . . . . . . . . .

The Admiral smoothly walked onto the deck of his ship. "Inquisitor, if I may, why are we so far away from the Fleet?"

The Third Brother raised his head. "Our prey is here, Admiral."

"Prey?" The Jedi. "Shall I alert Lord Vader?"

Silence, then a shake of the head. "No. Lord Vader will only insist on personally killing the Last Jedi. And I intend to claim that honour myself."