Ezra Lost

Chapter 58

58

KANAN WASTED no time thinking.

His heart was hammering furiously as he sprang forward. Ezra has to be on that ship. He has to be!

Finally. Finally, this is all-

Kanan yelped in alarm as his feet gave way beneath him. Suddenly, he was slipping rapidly down the slope on his back.

With every inch he slid, he slid faster and faster - until he shot straight into the freighter with a loud BANG.

After a moment, Kanan stirred and groaned. He lifted his head, blinking, and crawled forward. "So much for stealth," he mumbled.

He clambered stiffly to his feet, wincing, and quickly glanced around. There were no stormtroopers coming running. He stared at the freighter apprehensively, backing away.

No one came out.

Kanan frowned. That didn't make him any less tense. Strange, he thought, but he needed to make sure that his suit hadn't been damaged at all. He checked himself over. Thankfully, there were no rips that he could see. The strap that fastened his pistol to his belt was a little stretched -- harmless. And his com--

--was gone.

Kanan gasped and looked around frantically. He spotted it almost instantly, sitting on the miniature snowbank his uncontrollable slide had pushed up by the bottom of the freighter.

It was shattered to irreparable pieces.

He groaned. "Noo..." Kanan dragged his hand across the front of his visor. That wasn't good. But it was definitely still much better than a rip in his suit, or if he had lost his--

Kanan froze.

My lightsaber!

He had been holding it when he'd slipped. It must have gone flying from his grasp. Kanan let out a frustrated growl and closed his eyes, searching for it through the Force.

It was close, but its radiation was a little muffled.

Kanan opened his eyes again with a triumphant smile and turned around. He strolled towards a little lump of snow near the foot of the hill and bent down to pull his lightsaber out from inside.

He paused, stiffening.

Suddenly, he felt very, very...watched.

Kanan retrieved his lightsaber and straightened. Casually, he gave himself a light dusting off with one hand, trying to make it seem as though he hadn't noticed. Really, though, he had shut his eyes again, trying to locate the individual with the Force.

Kanan frowned deeply and focused harder. It felt like something was repelling his search.

Suspicious...

He stopped and slowly, warily approached the hill. That would have been a good place for someone to hide. If someone walked (or, in Kanan's case, slid screaming) down the hill, anyone hiding on either side of it would have been able to shoot that someone down without ever being seen.

Thud.

Kanan went rigid.

That sound had come from behind.

He whirled around.

There was a stranger crouching down a few feet away, between Kanan and the freighter. Kanan realized that they must have been on top of the freighter all along.

The stranger was wearing a protective suit like Kanan's, only much more modern, armored, and pitch black in color. As they straightened, Kanan was abruptly all too aware of the old-looking lightsaber hilt they gripped in their right hand.

Then they lifted their head.

Through their mostly transparent visor, Kanan could see the stranger's eyes.

Emotionless. Colder than the air around them.

And most of all, blue.

They were the bluest Kanan had ever seen.

And there was only one person he had ever met with eyes like those.

The galaxy grew pitifully small around Kanan as his blood filled with ice. His heart stopped, and his eyes widened and stung as tears sprang into them. His shock, his terror, his absolute despair -they could not be expressed.

"Ezra," he whispered hollowly. "No..."

What was left of Ezra Bridger stepped forward and activated the lightsaber. It was bright red and covered the ice below his feet in a bloody glow.

Then he let out a soft snarl.

"Prepare to die."