Invaders of Darkness

Chapter 12 - Recovery

Author's Note: I'm too lazy to write a ton of recovery stuff so I'm just going to skip time and right important scenes here and to show how Ezra's recovering and stuff. Hopefully it's not too cringy and whatever. Probably is, yes I know.

~ Tirana Sorki

Kanan jolts awake with a start, the darkness of his cabin greeting him. He's not entirely sure what woke him, but something feels off. Coming from his newly forming bond with Ezra.

Then he hears it again – what definitely must be what woke him the first time – a faintly muffled scream coming from the next room. He's already in motion before Ezra even falls silent again, reaching for his lightsaber and darting out into the hall, heart pounding.

The rest of the Ghost crew left on their first mission in a couple weeks since the battle of Endor, taking the Phantom with them. Ezra didn't seem the happiest about it but calmed down after hearing that Kanan would be staying here with him.

Not bothering to take the time to knock, Kanan goes up to the door. It slides open in front of him, to reveal Ezra still lying on his bed. He's tossing and turning on the top bunk, but other than that, everything looks normal. Kanan draws in a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart as he glances around the room again, to double check and make sure everything else is actually okay.

Of course, his first thought had been that someone was in there attacking the boy or something of equally alarming magnitude. He was panicking too much himself to actually take the time and feel with the Force to see if there was any real or danger or any living presences nearby beyond himself and Ezra. Still, he can't deny being a little shaken up from what just happened. Someone coming here after Ezra is far too likely to happen at some point.

"Ezra?" Kanan calls, slowly approaching the bed. Ezra rolls over onto his side, a sudden cry escaping him again as he thrashes against some invisible force. Kanan can only imagine – most like doesn't want to imagine – what he's seeing in his mind right now.

He quietly approaches the edge of the bed, pulling himself up the ladder to the side of the second bunk. "Ezra?" he calls again, hesitantly reaching out and shaking his arm. He's not sure how he'll react to this – especially given that he's sleeping, but even so, they haven't actually had any physical contact since they fought.

Ezra jerks awake suddenly, eyes wild as he jolts upright, looking ready to attack any threat in his vicinity. The sudden move nearly jars Kanan right off the ladder, but he hastily finds his grip on the rung. "It was just a nightmare," he says quietly, trying to remember how Hera used to handle it back when he still had nightmares himself – generally about the clones chasing him endlessly, sometimes shooting him down... or his master, over and over again. "You're safe here. Whatever you saw... wasn't real."

"Kanan?" Ezra croaks after a moment, his breathing slowly starting to slow a little as his hands twist in his blanket.

He needs to give him something else to focus on. "You're here on the Ghost. The others are gone on a mission," he continues.

Ezra nods slowly, drawing in a shaky breath.

Something clenches inside of Kanan at the sight of the boy, and the terror still pouring off him in the Force. It's the first time he's had a nightmare this bad or at least this loud, but somehow, Kanan doubts it's the first time he's had one since coming here.

"Are you okay?" he asks after a moment.

Ezra nods slowly. "Yeah."

He's not exactly convinced. "Do you mind if I stay here?" Kanan queries.