Chasing Your Shadow (a sequel to Ezra Lost)

Chapter 4

This chapter will include the true identity of Fulcrum. Ezra Lost took place after Fire Across the Galaxy, despite the fact that Hera and the text both continued to refer to Fulcrum with their code name. I did that because the information was still pretty new then and I didn't want to spoil it to anyone. This note is an extra warning, just in case.

4

THE FIRST thing Hera did after she managed to pull herself together was contact Fulcrum - or, as the rebels had learned quite some time before Ezra's initial disappearance, Ahsoka Tano. Ezra quickly used his large, orange collar to wipe his face as a hologram of the Jedi Togruta emerged from the Ghost's control board.

The small-scale, flickering rendition of Ahsoka gazed at them with a slight tilt of her head. "Yes, Hera? What is it?" Her eyes darted over to Ezra and the white markings that served as eyebrows for her species met. "Is this another call about Ezra?"

Ezra cast his sapphire eyes downwards. Ahsoka had been able to visit them only once since their first meeting, soon after the crew had gotten him back. She had tried so hard in that one short visit to help him, but he had been too afraid, scarred, and mentally injured to undergo her treatment for very long - exposure to and meditation in the light side of the Force.

Hera shook her head, then looked back at Ahsoka desperately. The Togruta at once saw the tears on her face and her concern instantly doubled.

"Hera, tell me what's wrong," Ahsoka said urgently.

Hera tried. She tried, but she couldn't get her voice to work. Her throat was painfully constricted and she was unable to speak through it. Instead, she bowed her head and began to twitch her lekku.

Ahsoka stared, but she lacked Ezra's befuddled expression. The worry on her face slowly turned to horror, then grief. Once Hera's lekku stilled, the Togruta pressed her crimson fingers against her forehead.

A silence fell over them like a heavy bantha fur blanket.

Then Ahsoka opened her dark blue eyes and faintly spoke.
"Not again.."

"I-It's different this time, Ahsoka," Hera said shakily, her voice finally beginning to work again. "W-we don't know who - who took him. He could be anywhere in the galaxy by now." She averted her gaze, biting back tears. She couldn't do this again. She couldn't!

"Sounds familiar," Ahsoka murmured. "And a familiar case requires a familiar course of action. The first thing you should do is ask Tseebo if there are any new or renewed Imperial files on Kanan. At the same time, you should dispatch Zeb and Ezra back to the location where he was taken and have them search for-"

"Actually.."

Ahsoka immediately looked hard at Ezra as he interrupted her - but she was by no means angry or annoyed. "Yes, Ezra? What do you know?"

Hera raised her head, startled, and turned her chair around to stare at him. He hadn't told her something right away? It hadn't even crossed her mind that Ezra might have seen who took Kanan, as obvious as it seemed. She had been too distraught to think strategically, as she normally did.

"I know.. who took Kanan," Ezra admitted, staring at the floor. "His name is Shadow."

"Shadow?" Ahsoka and Hera asked him at the exact same time, their voices rising with urgency.

"As far as I know, he's a bounty hunter," Ezra told them, looking up. He spoke softly, almost hesitantly, as though revisiting memories he'd never wanted to see again. "He wears black armor and a helmet that looks kind of the same design as Sabine's. There's a voice changer or something in that helmet that makes him sound almost like a droid." Or the Seventh Sister, Ezra thought with a slight shudder.

"Tell us everything else you know," Ahsoka ordered. "The more we know about this individual, the easier and faster it will be to track him down."

Ezra pressed his lips together. "I.. the memories are.. foggy, Ahsoka," he confessed. "But.. I recognize him. I know that I've only seen him once before... on Lothal. He was.. doing something.."

"Don't strain yourself, Ezra," Hera warned, leaning forward. "It's not worth your getting hurt."

"It is," Ezra muttered, his thick eyebrows scrunched together. "H-He was.. taking people." His eyes were squeezed tightly shut. "I-Into a ship - they don't want to go-" Ezra suddenly gasped and opened his eyes, stumbling backwards.

Hera bolted out of her chair and grabbed onto him, holding him steady with alarm on her face. "Ezra!"

Ahsoka was silent, watching him. She'd known all along that he would be able to remember. Ezra could recover fully. He just needed to truly want to. He needed to banish his fear.

"I-I remember, Hera," Ezra stammered, shaking. He looked up at her, his eyes wide. "He was taking the homeless from Lothal... to be forced into slavery."