Chasing Your Shadow (a sequel to Ezra Lost)

Chapter 3

3

HE DIDN'T know what to do.

The Force wasn't there to guide him.

If it had been...

If Ezra had never rejected it... then it could have led him after Kanan.

But he had.

And now Kanan was gone.

It had taken months to repair what the Empire had destroyed in taking Ezra away. And some of it was still broken, perhaps never to be fixed.

But in a mere instant, it had been shattered to pieces again, and Ezra didn't know how to fit them back together... or even explain what had happened to his crew.

Explain. The idea of explaining tore Ezra apart even further. He imagined the faces of his friends and couldn't bear what he saw.

So he continued to sit alone on the building's edge, sobbing silently into his arms.

Gone. Kanan was gone. It just kept running through his head, over and over, bringing a fresh wave of pain upon him each time. It felt like he had only just gotten Kanan back, and now... Ezra had lost him all over again.

He was unaware of how many minutes had gone by when he finally raised his head, wiped his eyes and realized: crying wasn't going to solve anything.

He needed to think. Consider his options.

He needed to stop saying to himself that everything was over.

He could leave on his own, right now, and go after the bounty hunter.

Ezra dismissed that idea at once. If he had known where Shadow had gone, then he might have decided differently. But as it was, the answer was no. He needed the help of his crew, his family, to track him down.

And after what he had seen Shadow do all those years ago, he figured it really wasn't a good idea for him - or most people - to take that guy on anyway.

I need to suck it up and tell Hera what happened to Kanan... no matter how much it hurts.

Ezra heaved a sigh and slowly stood. Looking out one final time over the last place he had seen his beloved master, Ezra turned, then headed home.

***

Hera knew something was wrong the second Ezra Bridger stepped into the cockpit. The expression on the boy's suntanned face was the immediate warning. Devastated.

It was the same look Kanan had had when he had realized that Ezra wouldn't be returning from his op, over five months ago.

Hera leapt out of her chair and stared at him. "Ezra," she said urgently. "What's the matter? What happened?"

Ezra shakily inhaled and lowered his eyes.

"Hera," he whispered. "Please.. sit back down."

***

Shadow the bounty hunter swiftly leapt and sprinted over Lothal's rooftops, the Jedi gathered in his arms. How the Empire would be pleased. How my pockets will be jangling with credits. Shadow knew that, in the Clone Wars, Jedi had been worth ten thousand credits a head to the Separatists - who were now the richer-than-rich Empire. The knowledge that he was finally about to get a slice of some of that richness made him feel all tingly and exhilarated inside.

Happiness and excitement were new emotions.

Shadow decided that he didn't like them. Once he was rich, he figured he'd probably be able to have them removed.