Darth Minar

Chapter 21

Kanan awoke in his bedroom, unaware of when he had fallen asleep and that he had been taken into his room. Last thing he remembered, he was meditating in the hospital room. Hoping, wishing, praying for vision; even for a second.

His head hurt; maybe more painfully than ever before. Possibly from dehydration, he couldn't remember the last time he'd drank anything. Rubbing his head, he went to stand up but hit his head on his bunk. Feeling around, he recognizing his room in The Ghost. Someone had moved him, and allowed him to sleep for what felt like days. He reached for his visor, which he sensed on a small table near his bed. Grasping it for a mere second, he shoved it into the back corner of a drawer. If Ezra was to ever get better willingly, he had to show that he wasn't hurting, he wasn't mad. He had to own his blindness, which was exactly what he was planning on doing from now on.

Reaching for his side, he pulled out a comm link that each crew member for The Ghost had. Sighing, he hailed someone weakly.

"Hera?" He croaked. He wasn't sure where anyone was, and didn't feel like wandering. All that met him was silence for a solid ten seconds.

"Kanan?" Hera answered, her voice static from the comm. "Kanan, it's not good. You need to come to the medical sector, room 2. I'll send Sabine to fetch you, meet her outside the ship."

And with that, more radio silence. Kanan quickly took a few sips from a water bottle sitting nearby before closing his room and walking to meet Sabine.

By the time Kanan made his way outside the ship, walking slowly, Sabine was already there and tapping her foot. She seemed to relax when she saw Kanan walking towards her, but she was still apprehensive.

"Sabine, what's going on?" Kanan asked, but was met only by a sigh.

"Maybe I should leave Hera to the explaining." She stated simply, leading Kanan to an area of the base he never had to visit before; the infirmary. It altogether seemed like an unpleasant location, a couple medical staff rushing around. Kanan only sensed three. He supposed they weren't usually needed, this was a small base. Their auras altogether, as Kanan sensed, were unpleasant, nervous, fearful, and pitying. The situation must be worse than he supposed. He needed to be there for Hera, now. Above anything else.

Ezra was simply drowning in a sea of darkness, following a river of night, being carried away by the tide of depression. He wasn't fully conscious, but was mentally there. Honestly, he wasn't sure where he was. All he knew was darkness of despair, so overwhelming he couldn't float. A lake so large he couldn't swim to the side. Caught in a flow so strong there was no way to fight it. He had simply given up hope. He had lost Minar along the way, he was sure. But in his attempt to lose him he had gotten himself lost in the process. He would never see Kanan again, he would never see Hera or Sabine or Zeb. Or even that bucket of bolts, Chopper. He didn't have to face his mistakes; Ahsoka's death, Kanan's loss of vision, anything. He was trapped, yet free. He was lost, yet found. He was sad, yet unmistakably happy. He had no words, and as far as he was concerned, he no longer even had a mouth. He had a blank mind, yet it was full of confusion and panic.

Kanan had entered the infirmary room and sensed nothing. Minar's cold darkness was absent, but so was Ezra's burning warmth. It was frankly startling, more startling than the cold. He knew Ezra was there, and alive, but he couldn't sense him.

"Hera." He said, and he felt her jump send a tremor through the force. She got to her feet and he walked to meet her, embracing her as she buried her head in his arms and tears flowed from her. After standing in that position for nearly five minutes, she broke off and took a second to compose herself.