Chasing Your Shadow (a sequel to Ezra Lost)

Chapter 15

On fanfiction, this is when we capped 100 reviews, and our 100th reviewer was StarlightMoonMidnight! I asked her if she had any ideas for CYS's very first, celebratory bonus chapter, and - here it is! ;D It takes place just after the end of Ezra Lost. The entire crew is exhausted from their search, and now that they finally have Ezra back, they can sleep.

Well... most of them can.

15

Bonus Chapter: No Longer the Same

KANAN'S ROOM had been dark since he had gone to bed five hours before, but his mind had never stopped churning.

After a desperate search that had seemed to last forever, the crew of the Ghost finally had Ezra Bridger back. The boy, Kanan's Padawan, had vanished mere days before. His master had sent him on his first solo mission. And after he left, he never came back the same.

Kanan's angular eyebrows were scrunched together as he sat on the floor and just thought. He had already rethought everything several times over. Now he was scrutinizing everything - all the little details that had fallen away in all the chaos. What, exactly, had the Inquisitor done to Ezra to change him so drastically in so little time? Just the fact that it was possible to do something like that to him so quickly...

For the umpteenth time, Kanan's mind flashed back to Fort Anaxes. It was like a broken holo. No matter what, his train of thought always circled back around to that horrible day. The day when he had witnessed firsthand the seed of darkness in Ezra's heart - and Ezra's terrifying potential.

The Inquisitor, too, had witnessed it. Not only that, he had caused it - he had goaded Ezra on to unleash his rage and fear to fight back. And while Ezra had saved his and Kanan's lives because of the massive creature he had summoned through the Dark Side, Kanan had wondered over and over since then about how things could have gone differently. Maybe he could have somehow gotten the Inquisitor to face him alone, far, far away from Ezra. If only he were a better master - or a true Jedi - he might have been able to defeat the Inquisitor instead of the other way around. Then he could have just grabbed Ezra and left. Ezra would never have been forced to awaken something dark inside of him.

Kanan's eyes squeezed more tightly closed. If I were a better master, none of this would have happened at all. I should never have sent him out on that op. I hated doing that in the first place. Why couldn't I have just listened to myself?! Or known right away what had happen, then I might have been able to get him back sooner, and then-

A thunderous knock on Kanan's door ripped him out of his miserable brooding. Kanan's eyes flew open and he leapt to his feet with a shriek.

"Kanan?" came a gruff voice outside the door. "There's a girl in there with you? Sorry, I'll-"

Kanan rolled his eyes and strode forward, opening the door with a press of a button. Zeb Orrelios filled the hallway outside.

"You look awful," noted Zeb.

"You don't look much better," Kanan retorted, his voice sharp with lack of sleep. "I take it you haven't been able to sleep either?"

Zeb's ears twitched and then flattened as he glared down at his friend. "Yeah. That's why I came to get you."

Kanan stared up at him dully. "If you're having nightmares, it's probably because you drank too much bantha milk." He yawned and leaned against the doorway limply. "I don't know what they put in that stuff to keep it fresh as long as it does, but I wish Lothal would just get some banthas here... I mean.. it's colder... banthas have so much fur..."