There's not really any good explanation of where this came from except I wanted some hurt and comfort and brotherly fluff between Ezra and Zeb. Unfortunately, I'm incapable of writing fluff without a touch of angst. In this case, there's quite a bit. Hope you can find yourself to enjoy this nevertheless and like always remember to review and tell me what you think.

1:

Now:

Zeb was cold.

Rolling over, he reached out for the covers he undoubtedly kicked off sometime in the middle of the night. It wouldn't be the first time, and even though his nights consist of less nightmares then back in the beginning they weren't completely unheard of.

Only this time his fingers brushed against grass and dirt and no covers.

Confused, he blinked groggy eyes open immediately coming to two conclusions. 1) He couldn't remember the past couple of hours and 2) he was no longer on the GHOST. He wasn't entirely sure which unnerved him most.

Sitting up, he reached for the com link that was always strapped to his side only for him to brush against nothing. That in itself was enough to clue him in that something- he wasn't sure what- was wrong. Drastically so.

"Hello?" he called, keeping the panic from his voice as he stood up on weak and shaking legs feeling his energy slip from his body slowly, "Anybody out there?"

Once, when they were just resting on a mostly abandoned planet, him and Chopper drug a sleeping Ezra out in the woods and left him there as a means of a prank. Naturally, it was hilarious up until the boy woke and flipped out. It had been so bad, Kanan thought they were under attack.

Needless to say, Hera had yelled at them for several consecutive minutes as Ezra withdrew in whatever shell he had. He was angry- Zeb didn't need the force to tell him as much- and embarrassed and not even Sabine was enough to get him to stop moping.

It was also the last memory Zeb held.

"I swear kid," Zeb called as he spun in a slow circle for any signs of life, "if this is revenge then I'm going to kill you."

Empty threat and not just because he was terrified of what Hera and Kanan would do to him if he did hurt Ezra past anything other than playful. He hated to admit it, but the kid has grown to mean something to him.

Ezra didn't respond either way.

"Karabast," Zeb cursed as he racked his brain for any sort of clue of what happened and how he ended up in the middle of the woods by himself.

No, not by himself. He could vaguely make out a lump sprawled out on the ground several feet away.

"Hello?" he called moving towards the figure, "You alright over there mate?"

Nothing.

Not even a twitch.

"Hey!" he called louder, "Hey, it's considered rude to just ignore me as I'm talking to you! Are you even listening?"

As he neared he was able to make out that the figure was young and short with a dark mess of tangled hair. They were also dressed in the ugliest orange jumpsuit Zeb's ever seen before.

"Ezra?" Zeb asked expecting some sort of answer, "Ezra, whatever this is give it up. I've busted you so you can just stop pretending like you-"

His voice stuck in the back of his throat when he finally got close enough to get a good look at the kid. He was pale, which was odd, and so very still. That was Zeb's first sign that something terrible was wrong- for as long as he's known him, he knows Ezra was incapable of being still. Even when asleep.

Yet here he was, lying on his back still as a corpse which was a terrible comparison Zeb immediately regretted. One arm was bent at the elbow, twisted so his fingers were curled up near his cheek while his other arm remained stiff at his side.

"Kid?" Zeb asked, voice softer than before as he quickly took stock in the crazed fray of hair sticking out in every sort of direction as the boy remained still and silent and so very pale all of a sudden.

"Kid?" he repeated louder, as if increasing his tone would somehow force an answer from the unmoving form in front of him.

Has Ezra's lips always been that blue?

"Ezra?" and that time it came out as a growl as Zeb bent over to shake the boy's shoulders, to shock him out of whatever daze he had been forced into.

Ezra's head lolled sickening to his side, bending in an awkward angle that couldn't be comfortable for anyone. Zeb's hands tightened against the youth's bony shoulders.

"Ezra, snap out of it!" he commanded, voice twanged in panic and it was the first time he was consciously aware of the fact that the kid didn't appear to be breathing.

With more care than he's ever shown the youth before, he laid him back against the ground before hunching over him. He placed the side of his head against the boy's chest, checking for a heartbeat or something only to come up empty.

"No," Zeb denied as his fingers already scrambled in search for a pulse or something. Anything to prove that Ezra was fine because that's what he had to be. Fine.

Nothing.

Not even a flutter.

"Kid?" Zeb finally growled, reaching out to shake the kid again but deep down he knew that wouldn't work. Nothing would now, he was too late.

Ezra Bridger was dead.

Then:

The prank had supposed to be funny except it really wasn't- not that either Zeb or Chopper would be able to know that. Maybe that was what was really bothering Ezra- they couldn't know so it wasn't their fault. It was his for always being so secretive.

"You've been moping around for days," Kanan suddenly said in his doorway, teal eyes narrowed as he gazed in on his Padawan laying in his bed.

Ezra rolled over so he wouldn't have to face his master- the one person capable of seeing straight through him- as he grumbled, "Go away."

Kanan frowned, his disappointed at the answer striking him through the force. Ezra withheld a flinch wondering if the man knew even slightly what was going on through Ezra's skull. Probably.

"Can't. We have a new mission and need all hands on deck," Kanan supplied as he continued to stare at him from the doorway.

Ezra grumbled under his breath but knew better than to fight Kanan over a mission. After all, trivial child fears such as waking up in a world alone again could wait until after. Or never as Ezra was so fond of forcing it to become.

Except it all came back to surface the second he woke up alone in the woods with no signs of the ship or crew anywhere. Now it seemed like everyone was aware of it but no one was willing to place it into words, especially considering how distraught it made their youngest member.

Only two days later, his solemn attitude and snappish responses had gotten real old and he was coming off more as a brat than anything else.

"What's the mission?" Ezra asked as he forced himself upright, leaping gracefully from his bed and landing on his feet easily enough.

Kanan raised an unimpressed eyebrow as he filled in, "It's just a supply run, only we lost track of our source. We need to be paired off into teams and spread out, cover more ground."

"Alright. Who am I with?" Ezra asked as he stepped past his master out in the hall only to come up short when realization filtered in and he shook his head as he denied, "No. No way."

"Yes," Kanan sighed sounding 20 years older than he probably was as Zeb's vivid green eyes narrowed into slits.

"I don't like it any more than you-"

"Doubt it," Ezra scoffed, interrupting the warrior as he rolled his eyes and crossed both his arms over his chest in an almost defensive gesture.

"But," Zeb continued in a throaty growl, "It's for the crew."

"Right. The crew," Ezra agreed with a tip of the head, "How silly of me for not wanting to be paired with the one person who thought it would be funny to leave me out in the middle of the woods by myself."

"Get over yourself," Zeb replied, voice low and threatening as he stepped forward in an almost hostile manner.

"Both of you stop it," Kanan demanded from behind, voice tight and thin from stress and Ezra allowed his shoulders to slump as he realized just how much he had been wearing the older male out.

"Only if he does," Zeb grumbled like a child but Ezra just nodded, feeling childish and silly at allowing his own emotions overwhelm everyone else.

He wasn't alone on the streets anymore. He had people who cared for him, people he cared for, and he was stupidly allowing his personal issues cloud over his judgement again.

"Good. You two are taking the south side," Kanan informed already moving past them down the hall; Ezra listened to him go as he kept his head bowed and gaze focused on the tiled floor beneath his feet.

"You heard him," Zeb growled bumping against Ezra on his way past, signaling that he was angry with him despite the fact that it had been Zeb who orchestrated the whole prank.

That seemed a little odd but Ezra didn't voice that out loud. Instead he followed behind the warrior, internally knowing Zeb wasn't angry at the fact that Ezra was still upset over the prank. The second Ezra woke up alone and freaked it was like drawing a concerned moth to a flame.

So his problem wasn't that Ezra was upset but because he was still upset and it was starting to wear on the rest of the crew, which was unforgivable.

"Zeb," Ezra finally spoke after a long pause of silence between the two of them, the ship long since disappeared from view behind them, "I think-"

"Shh," Zeb interrupted, spinning on his heel and motioning for Ezra to shut up.

Ezra puckered his face, raising an incredulous eyebrow before he realized that something was actually wrong and Zeb wasn't just being a jerk.

They weren't alone anymore, at least.

Ezra frowned as he forced himself to remain still, out of sight as several heavily armed pirates looted something from the middle of the clearing. Beside him, Zeb was rigid with tension as he glared at the almost seemingly drunk pirates surrounded by something that at one point undoubtedly belonged to the empire.

"Is that what we're looking for?" Ezra asked turning to stare up at Zeb's large frame.

Zeb nodded, slow and tense, as he growled, "Kanan isn't going to like this."

Which was true. Kanan wasn't the biggest fan of people stealing their things, especially when they needed the credits for food and supplies. Especially when they needed the credits for food and supplies.

"Then we'll just steal it back," Ezra offered like it was the simplest solution in the world, which he knew it really wasn't. He's been around the crew long enough to know that it never was.

"I don't think so," Zeb whispered as he gripped Ezra's arm tightly, probably in a way that was slightly unnecessary but Ezra didn't call him out on it. Not when they were still so close to potentially dangerous thieves and murderers.

"Come on," Zeb panted jerking Ezra to follow after him only for the sharp end of a spear to be directed towards his throat when they turned around.

Ezra swallowed, shrinking in close to Zeb's large form as he felt something chilly slither down his spine. In front of him, Zeb tensed and probably glared at the idiot pirate threatening him.

"I'm going to give you three seconds to get that thing away from me," Zeb warned, fingers clenching in tight fists as he practiced whatever self-control he had.

It wasn't much but, then again, it never took much.

Unfortunately for them, it seemed the same with the pirate before them.

He just chuckled, it coming off as a scratchy sound before he lowered the spear enough to jab Zeb on the side. It wasn't hard enough to bring blood but it was enough to hurt and Ezra barely had time to realize what was about to happen before Zeb was leaping forward angrily.

The pirate had just enough time to cry out in shock, swinging the spear widely as Zeb grabbed his head and smashed it against a tree. The pirate crumbled to the ground, unconscious.

"Zeb," Ezra warned as the other pirates were no longer relaxing obliviously.

"I got it," Zeb growled back straightening his posture and taking in their surroundings, "We can't risk drawing them back to the GHOST."

Translation: they were going to have to fight.

Ezra ground his teeth in frustration, unclipping his lightsaber from his belt and firing several well aimed shots at their attackers. It was enough to send those down but two more just seemed to fill in their places and from the corner of his eye he could tell Zeb wasn't faring much better.

"Zeb!" Ezra snapped again before something sharp and electric jolted through the force, leaving Ezra with the overwhelming sensation of cold.

He fired several more rounds before spinning to catch sight of the warrior, surprised to see him fending off several pirates at once. They obviously considered him the bigger of the two threats and Ezra figured in some ways they were right.

That also left his back vulnerable, a pirate creeping up on him wielding an electrified prod.

"Zeb, behind you!" Ezra shouted already launching himself forward.

The next several moments seemed to happen in slow motion, permeantly burning themselves behind his eyelids.

Zeb blinked in confusion, green eyes focusing on him before his warrior instincts must have kicked in and he realized the threat behind him. He turned, too slowly to be able to react, and then Ezra was there shoving him to the ground.

That was all Ezra had time to do.

The next moment the end of the prod was pressing into his side, sending increased amounts of pain all throughout his body for the slightest of seconds before he was flying backwards. He thinks Zeb might've said something but then he hit the ground, all the air leaving his lungs at once.

He blinked, eyes fluttering closed.

He knew the exact moment his heart stopped.

Now:

Zeb remembered now, what had happened.

Ezra had forced himself in between him and the prod set too high for the boy's small frail form. It also didn't help that the weapons were never designed to be used on humans, and he remembered the way the boy flew back far away before they were on him.

One of them jabbed the prod in his stomach and he managed an angry curse before he too slipped in unconsciousness. The only difference between him and Ezra was that he woke up. Ezra didn't.

"You stupid, stupid kid," Zeb cursed but there wasn't any real heat in the words as he continued staring sadly down at the boy's expressionless features.

He knew he should feel something but found that he couldn't. He knew he should be angry- furious- at the pirates who did this. He knew he should be scared whenever he had to tell Kanan. He knew he should be sad because despite their disagreements he did care for the boy.

He didn't feel any of this, though.

He just felt numb.

It took him a second before he realized that he was slipping in denial, his brain refusing to accept that Ezra was really gone. Refusing to acknowledge that come tomorrow there would be no bratty half-pint to annoy the crap out of him or argue with or anything because he was gone. Just like that.

"No," Zeb growled and there was something tight and harsh in his voice that time, "You can't die. I won't let you."

He shook the kid's chest like that would somehow help. It didn't but he refused to give up, refused to just accept the death of someone else close to him and he rushed to his feet for a sign of anything to help him out.

Finding nothing, he turned back around to where Ezra was lying.

Or, rather, where Ezra should've been lying.

There was nothing by the time he gave up, spinning around to accept the facts and allow the grief to finally overflow and fill him. Now instead there was only anger because he knew Ezra wasn't capable of just standing and walking away, which meant someone had snatched his body while he wasn't looking.

Who Zeb didn't know. Why he didn't think he wanted to know. He just knew that whoever it was would be very sorry whenever he caught up with them.

His fingers curled into tight fists at his side as he forced his entire body to relax. It didn't help much, his body too tense with the knowledge that even after finding the body snatcher he'd have to walk back to the ship alone.

How was he going to be able to tell Kanan that his padawan was dead?

"Focus," he growled lowly to himself as he took careful stock in his surroundings, "They couldn't have gone very hard carrying dead weight."

Bad choice of words, he decided immediately but he noticed signs of a trail so he discarded the thoughts as he focused on hunting down the body snatcher. Blindly and without much thought, he headed down the trail of occasionally broken twigs and crushed grass.

He didn't have to look for very long.

He followed the trail for a little under three minutes before he came up on chanting. Ducking behind a tree he was able to make out a cloaked figure kneeling in a clearing at the bottom of the slope. Their back was to Zeb so he couldn't make out anything beyond their bony figure. Several feet away, laid peacefully across the grass was Ezra.

His head was turned so Zeb couldn't see it, which was fine with him. From where he was currently stationed he could convince himself that Ezra was fine. Sleeping or unconscious maybe but nowhere near that cold figure forever burned in the back of Zeb's memories.

The figure made a clicking noise and a sharp pang of anger rushed through Zeb at once. He didn't know what was going on only that the odds that the stranger was using Ezra's body for some sort of ritual were high and that made him see red.

He cried out, surging down the slope faster than he's ever moved before in his life. He didn't have his weapon on him, which was fine because he'd much rather feel the pain he was about to inflict on the mysterious robed figure.

The figure stopped chanting then, spinning to face Zeb head-on. Zeb didn't even hesitate before he sent his fist smashing against the stranger's green face.

They went flying, hitting the grass and bouncing like they weighed close than nothing. Zeb didn't stop to ponder that, though, as he descended on them once again.

Behind him, Ezra coughed.

Zeb froze at the noise, burning green eyes focused on the robed figure who hadn't made another noise since they stopped chanting. It was like everything in the forest grew deathly still as he refused to spin around and face the fact that he failed again.

It was still a little early for him to start going crazy.

Ezra coughed again, this time it coming out more strangled than before and Zeb didn't hesitate to spin around that time.

Ezra was on his side, dark strands of hair covering his face, as his back shuddered. He coughed again, the noise coming out a little less painful than before and just the sight of the kid moving again had Zeb at his side. Worried hands reached out, to touch the boy in some form of comfort- for both him and the kid.

"Hang on kid," he muttered softly, "You're going to be alright."

He spun around to face the cloaked figure, to demand that he help the kid somehow, but was faced with nothing. The figure was gone, and they were alone. He frowned as he turned back to Ezra who now looked half-conscious and weak.

It didn't matter because he was alive.

"Don't worry kid," Zeb reassured in the softest voice he's ever used on the kid before as he hefted him up, a little disturbed by how the kid seemed to weigh close to nothing, "You're going to be alright."

Now, his brain added while at the same time reminded him that it wasn't going to be that easy. Ezra had died and there was no way that wasn't going to cause even the slightest form of repercussions. Knowing them, it was going to be much more than a little.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine," Zeb repeated but this time wasn't sure for whom.

Ezra just tossed his head to the side, body seizing up at once like he was experiencing an especially bad nightmare before he went limp again as he muttered almost too soft for Zeb to hear, "Caleb Dume."

The name meant nothing to Zeb, and he wasn't sure he's ever heard Ezra mention it before. That didn't really mean anything, though, not when he considered how secretive the kid still was.

"Don't worry," he repeated instead following his trail back to where they came from, "You're going to be just fine."

Predictably enough, they were the last ones to make it back to the ship. The sun nestled somewhere behind the tree line and Ezra hadn't stirred in his arms since the clearing, which had been enough to send jolts of icy waves of panic rushing through his veins.

He hadn't spontaneously stopped breathing, though, he just looked exhausted. Zeb supposed that made sense but couldn't say he was expert of what happened when someone died and came back to life because of shady figures in the woods.

Hera met them the second the GHOST came within view.

"What happened?" she demanded, voice hard as green eyes shifted to Ezra still tightly clutched in Zeb's grasp.

"Pirates," Zeb explained breathlessly as they ran back to the ship, "We were ambushed. Where's the others?"

"Out looking for you," Hera explained and though it came out hardened she didn't really sound angry so much as worried.

"Right. Sorry," Zeb apologized as they entered the ship, following Hera as she headed straight to the med ward.

"Don't be," Hera reassured, "I'm just glad both of you are alive."

A chill crawled down Zeb's spine and he was sure it showed on his face, which was why he was thankful she had stopped paying so much attention to him. They entered what served as their med bay and Zeb gently laid Ezra on one of the beds.

"Go contact Kanan and tell him that you and Ezra are back," Hera demanded as soon as he relinquished his grip on the boy.

Zeb stepped back, nodding though he was reluctant to leave Ezra again- the image of him cold and still and dead lingering. He shoved it all back, though, as he turned to obey.

His conversation with Kanan was rather short, and he decided it would be best to leave out the part where Ezra had died and come back to life when the man had asked what had happened. Instead he told him that Ezra had been hurt and that they needed to come back immediately.

Kanan didn't reply much more with words, reassuring him that they were on their way, but Zeb could hear the fear in the man's voice. The panic at being told Ezra was injured and it was like a vacuum came and sucked all the oxygen from his lungs.

He couldn't even imagine having to tell the man that Ezra was dead.

Pushing those thoughts away, he went back to the med ward with Hera and Ezra. Ezra was still unconscious, face a mask of peace. Hera was beside him and she didn't look overly concerned, which Zeb took as a good sign.

"How is he?" he asked anyways because he needed to be sure.

"Fine," Hera reassured, "Exhausted. What happened out there?"

"Oh, uh…" Zeb muttered reaching back so he could scratch his neck as he shrugged and lied, "You know, standard stuff. We were surrounded and they managed to stun the kid before I had the chance to fight them off."

Hera raised an eyebrow, signaling that she didn't believe him but she didn't press. It was one of his favorite things about her, she never forced him to tell her anything and she probably could've gone without ever knowing what happened to his people. She did know, though, because he told her.

This, however, this he was never going to tell her.

Instead he slumped his shoulders as he took one of the seats next to Ezra's bedside, watching as the youth's chest rose up and down in a steady rhythm all the while reminding himself that it was fine. Ezra was fine- alive, at least. He didn't care about anything else.

Ezra's entire body suddenly jerked, head tossing to the side as he whimpered in discomfort. Hera was up immediately, checking to make sure he wasn't going into cardiac arrest and suddenly flat line on them. Zeb didn't think he could handle it all a second time around.

Ezra's back arched as his head continued jerking back and forth all the while he muttered, "Caleb Dume" over and over again. Hera frowned at the name, sharing a look with Zeb who just shrugged.

"That's all he's said. I don't know what it means," Zeb explained and Hera must have acknowledged his response because she gripped the sides of Ezra's head and bent over real close to him.

"Ezra, honey, it's me Hera. Can you open your eyes for me?" she asked, fingers massaging the sides of his temples as she seemed to silently plead for the kid to respond somehow.

Miraculously enough, he did.

Eyelids fluttered open, revealing startling shades of blue as he murmured, "Hera?"

Hear grinned, a relieved laugh escaping her throat in a strangled gasp, as she nodded and reassured, "Yeah. It's me. You'll be fine."

"What happened?" he whispered, eyes darting around the room and landed on Zeb. Zeb wasn't sure what he saw then, something almost foreign mixed with all the similarity.

Ezra blinked, and it was gone.

"You were attacked," Hera filled in pressing a gentle hand against his shoulder, "What do you remember?"

Ezra furrowed his eyebrows together as he seemed to consider it, Zeb almost afraid that he would miraculously remember and tell the woman what Zeb couldn't, but then a look of despair crossed his features as something close to panic settled in his eyes.

"I-I can't remember," he cried with a jerk and Zeb wasn't sure which would've been worst: this or if he had been able to remember.

Hera just shushed him, guiding him back down to the bed as she whispered words too soft to hear. Zeb just watched, heart pounding as he tried piecing together how this could've happened on a supply run.

The doors slid open, emitting Kanan and Sabine who looked equal parts worried. Ezra didn't mind them a second glance as he seemed to finally have calmed down enough that exhaustion reclaimed its hold on him and his body went lax. Hera, hands still pressed against his shoulders, looked up and her entire frame seemed to melt in relief.

"How is he?" Kanan demanded instantly, going over next to Hera.

"He's fine," Hera filled in and Zeb wondered if it was because he knew exactly what happened that made him question her verdict, "Exhausted and confused but otherwise unharmed."

That was because he had died before any real punches were thrown. He was dead before he ever got the chance to be beaten.

"What happened?" Kanan asked next, eyes shifting over to where Zeb was still standing.

"Oh… uh. We were attacked. Ambushed. Kid got knocked unconscious," Zeb explained as he tried recalling how much he had told Hera earlier.

The words seemed to pacify Kanan at least and Hera didn't suddenly call him out for a change in story so he figured they must've bought it. He hoped they did because there's no way he could tell them exactly what had really happened. He didn't even want to know.

The sight of Ezra, so still and pale and lifeless, was going to haunt his dreams for a long time now and never before has he been so thankful that they were supposed to share a room.

"He'll spend the night in here," Kanan decided then, "and we're getting off this planet."

"Agreed," Hera nodded in approval already rising from her spot; she threw one last glance at them before exiting the room.

Silence settled on them as Kanan sat next to his padawan, hands not touching him but Zeb suspected he was giving him a different sort of comfort. One only the two are capable of sharing.

"Well if you excuse me," Zeb suddenly spoke up, the silence too much for him to handle at the moment, "I'm going to bed. It's been a long day."

No one stopped him as he left the room.

He didn't get much sleep that night.

Then:

Zeb still remembered the night his entire clan was destroyed.

He had been young- perhaps too young to have been involved- and convinced like the rest of them that they were invincible. A feared people whom could- and had- handled their own for centuries.

He wasn't old enough to be considered a warrior, though he had been in the honor guard. It was perhaps the only reason he hadn't died that night the ships came, barring false graces and promises of peace but as soon as they turned the Empire away. The second they refused to sell themselves out and become their puppets on a string, it all went wrong.

Zeb still remembers the last words spoken.

"We'd rather die than sell ourselves to you."

And the Empire had taken it so literally, wiping them all out save for a few, and he remembered hiding and swearing never again. He wasn't losing anyone ever again.

Now:

Ezra was cold.

Rolling over he shivered while his hand blindly groped for any sort of cover. When he came up empty he allowed bleary eyes to flutter open and he squinted as he realized that instead of curled up on his bed he was in the medical bay.

He squinted in confusion, shifting so he could make out Kanan's sleeping figure at the foot of his bed and despite the pounding headache he couldn't help but smile fondly.

At first- after he joined the crew- he thought it was weird having people suddenly care for him. Unnatural, almost, of how he no longer had to worry about food or shelter or security because he was no longer alone. Adjusting to that had been the hardest but in time had managed to figure it out.

Even still, Kanan doesn't just nap by his bedside unless something very bad had happened. Something he couldn't remember, which was unnerving in of itself.

"Kanan?" he asked in a rough whisper as he shifted again, tapping the man's shoulder with his leg.

Kanan grumbled under his breath before he must have remembered something Ezra didn't know because he was suddenly wide awake. Hard eyes did a quick check around the room, as if searching for some sort of threat, before they landed on Ezra and softened considerably.

"Hey kid," he greeted with nothing but affection as he massaged the back of his neck, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Ezra supplied before asking the only thing currently on his mind, "What happened?"

Kanan stopped, allowing his arm to drop to his side as he replied, "I was kind of hoping for you to fill me in on that. Zeb mention something about you two being attacked."

"Zeb?" Ezra parroted, the name sticking out to him.

Kanan nodded before he squinted and asked, "You don't have any recollection of this, do you?"

Ezra thought for a moment before a cold chill crept down his spine as he realized he had no idea what had happened to him as he shook his head and replied in a distressed tone, "No."

"Whoa. Calm down," Kanan urged almost instantly, subduing his fears as he rushed over to ground him. Ezra allowed it, welcomed it even, and was slightly disturbed by how tired he felt once he allowed himself to relax.

He forced himself to stay awake though, as he blinked back at Kanan with a look only a child gives to an adult they trust. It was odd, trusting someone else so immensely to care for him- protect him- and he was just thankful that person turned out to be someone like Kanan.

"You alright?" Kanan asked after a long pause, drawing away only so he could inspect him closely and it was the warmth mixed with concern that sent warm butterflies fluttering throughout Ezra's entire being.

"I'm fine," he reassured though something about the words made him wonder if that was a lie. He felt fine, at least. Exhausted like he couldn't believe but otherwise uninjured.

Kanan seemed to relax under the reassurance, so Ezra decided to chalk it up as a win. Perhaps later when he managed to get Zeb alone he'll ask. If he could stay conscious longer than five minutes, that is, the pull of sleep already drawing on the very corners of his consciousness.

"It's okay," Kanan's voice reassured somewhere from a great distance away as strong hands guided him back to his mattress, "Sleep."

Ezra obeyed, relenting himself to the darkness that seemed to swirl somewhere on the edge of his brain. Seconds before it swallowed him whole, though, he heard the softest whisper somewhere at the edge of his consciousness. Two words. A name, really.

Caleb Dume.

Expect the second chapter sometime next week.