Star Wars Rebels: When Hope Is Lost

Chapter 37: Master and Padawan

"You want to live? Get to bay 48! This ship is going down!" Kanan shouted at the Imperial crew. They looked at one other and quickly scattered, racing by him, clutching papers to their chests, running as though their lives depended on it. Which it did.

The only person that remained, in the midst of all of the sirens screaming and red lights swaying, was Ezra.

He had yellow eyes.

Kanan wished desperately that he still had Ezra's lightsaber. Darth Vader had confiscated it while he was unconscious, he assumed. When he had woken up, it was gone, no longer hanging from his belt. But maybe if he could show it to Ezra, remind him of his past, it might have helped him now.

But he didn't have it.

Ezra had it in his own hand.

The lightsaber blade glowed a brilliant red, instead of a bright blue.

Kanan had known the truth the second he had laid eyes upon Ezra on the bridge.

Ezra was on the dark side. So close, yet Kanan could still not sense his Padawan or feel his pain very much. At the moment, he couldn't feel anything from the boy. Ezra–and the Force inhibitor–were successfully blocking him out fully.

The two faced each other. Kanan sensed Ahsoka behind him, silent.

"Ezra," Kanan called over the alarms. The boy he had called a son grinned ferociously.

"I'm not Ezra anymore, Kanan. My name is Darth Malice. But it doesn't matter to you, because you're dead. And so is Ahsoka." He laughed hollowly, emptily. "Dreams are quick to forgive, as always. Because this must be a dream. So I'm sorry, dream Kanan."

He lunged at Kanan, who twisted out of the way just in time. "Ezra! I'm not dead!"

"That's original. I haven't heard that hundreds of times already," Ezra said sarcastically and swung again. Kanan dodged the blade once more.

"Ezra! Stop this now! I don't want to fight you!" Kanan blocked one of Ezra's strikes with his own lightsaber.

"Sorry Kanan, but if I kill you, maybe the dream will end!"

Back and forth the two traded blows. Ezra had always been powerful, Kanan knew, but now he fought with a skill that Kanan could never achieve.

He heard a cry behind him and craned his neck to get a look while continuing to duel. Ahsoka was lying against a nearby wall, unconscious, and Ezra's father was standing behind him, holding his own red lightsaber.

The Force warned him just in time. Kanan Force-leaped over Ezra as his father swung at him, landing behind the teen.

He would not give up without a fight.

He faced the two dark Force-users, prepared to fight but hoping to not have to. Hoping that Ezra would remember his teachings, remember the crew, remember the light side.

"Ezra, let go of your hate. I'm not dead! The dark side is clouding your mind," Kanan gestured to the room around him. "Look at what's happening! If you stay here, you'll die!"

"IT'S A DREAM!" Ezra roared, sounding all too much like his father. "IT'S ANOTHER NIGHTMARE! THEY HAPPEN EVERY NIGHT! YOU AREN'T REAL! YOU. ARE. DEAD!!!! I'M TIRED OF RELIVING THIS!" He threw his lightsaber at Kanan. "JUST GO AWAY!"

Emboldened by the power of the light side in him, newly recognized, Kanan caught the spinning blade and held it defensively beside his own saber. Ezra's anger was driving him insane. He wasn't thinking clearly. "Ezra, please! Listen to me–"