Hey, I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, I have swim practice every day and meets on Tuesday. Yep, yay for me. Anyways, having a bit of writers block on this thing, so we'll see how the next couple chapters go.

Diclaimer: Don't own it.

Ezra perked up from his lunch when he saw someone putting a missing person paper on a building.

It was a teenager with long brown hair that had light blue tips, which was up in a ponytail. She stepped back and started walking down the street again.

Ezra smirked and ran up to her.

"Ya looking for someone, miss?" Ezra politely asked, knowing that he could get a couple of credits for helping her look, and a whole lot for finding the person.

"Yeah, my younger sister. She has shoulder length brown hair, and is probably around your age. If you by chance see her, try to find me, please," the girl told Ezra, showing him the paper.

Ezra's eyes widened when he saw the the reward was 15,000 credits. That is enough to make him rich!

"What's your name?" Ezra asked.

"Nira, yours?"

"Name's Ezra. I can help you look and place flyers, but I would want a bit of a, well, payment."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she said, annoyed, and handed Ezra a couple credits.

Smiling sweetly when handed a stack of papers, he walked along the street with Nira for a couple of hours, placing flyers on building and poles across the street from hers.

By then, Ezra thinks at least one flyer has been put on every main street in Capital City.

"Alright, I'm done for today, do you know a place I could stay for tonight? A hotel, or something like that?" she asked.

"Well, there are the extremely expensive imperial hotels. Often around two fifty credits a night, I hear," Nira paling when he said that, "and then there are also the cheaper hotels, but they are gang run, and for a pretty lady such as yourself, I think that may be a slight problem."

Now very pale, Nira asked, "Is there any chance I could stay with you? I'll pay you nicely. But do know that if you try ANYTHING, anything at all, I have professional hand to hand combat training, and you will have a very hard time getting out of bed tomorrow."

Ezra raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.

"Alright, but just know that my place isn't very traditional, and there is only one bed, so you will have to sleep on a chair."

"Fine by me, as long as I don't have to pay too much, and there's no way I taking a chance of having to sleep with someone against my will," she said firmly. "I don't want to sleep with someone else, period."

Ezra smirked. "Your loss."

She looked him over, then said, "Well, to be honest, its not like I am losing much."

Scowling, Ezra sighed. "Fine, lets just get to my place."

"Really? An old communications tower?"

"Yes," Ezra told the girl, his nose flaring slightly. "Now, are you going to come up there with me, or just stand there staring at it?" Ezra said, eyeing an approaching thunderstorm.

"Yeah, yeah, coming," Nira grumbled, following the boy.

As he was walking to the stairs, Nira cleared her throat, and held up her bags, gesturing towards the elevator.

Even though his instincts told him not to, Ezra sighed and followed her, fairly certain that she would go up it with or without him.

As soon as they walked into the elevator, and the door began to close, Ezra winced as he was hit with a headache. His hands began to shake when the door shut. Yikes.

The elevator began to go up the tower smoothly, and Ezra almost wondered what why he was feeling so anxious. Almost.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and the elevator stopped.

"Dammit," Ezra cursed, while Nira got a look on her face that said, oh no, what the heck did I get myself into?

"It's only a power outage. The tower gets them occasionally," Ezra explained as he turned on a flashlight.

"Ok, how long do they usually last?"

Rubbing the back of his neck and wincing, Ezra replied, "Well, some last a few minutes, but others, ummmm, a couple, uhh, days..."

"DAYS! I DON'T HAVE A COUPLE DAYS! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

Ezra winced at the volume of her voice.

"What are we supposed to do? I mean, you have to have been in this position before, right? WHAT DO WE DO?" she asked, pretty scared.

"Last time this happened, I waited it out. It was only a few hours," he said, trying to calm her.

Then she gave him a small smirk, but no humor reached her eyes.

"You do realize that I'm not going to pay you for a night in an elevator?"

Ezra's bit his lip. "Now I do."

Rolling her eyes, Nira shook her head. She then inhaled sharply, looking straight up.

"What is it?" Ezra asked, glancing up too.

"The hatch! We can climb out of it," she said with a smile across her face, disappeared slightly as she turned to him.

"Which one of us is going up first?"

"Well me, of course, I could get up on your shoulders easily, then get into the hatch. Then you can, uh, oh..." Ezra trailed off, realizing he couldn't pull her up.

"Now that you realized our dilemma, which one of us is going first?"

Taping his chin, Ezra thought about it.

"What if only I went up, then-"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. No way," she cut him off. "I am not being left alone in an elevator for who knows how long, when you could just dump me and leave me to die. Nope, we are staying together."

Ezra groaned, racking his mind for something they could do.

"Well, since I can't hold you on my shoulders for long, what about I go up on your shoulders, open the hatch, then you go on mine and pull my up after?" Ezra suggested.

"Yeah, I guess that works. What do we do once we get up there?" Nira asked.

"Uhh, wing it?"

Groaning, Nira sighed. "Whatever. We have nothing else to do."

Bending down, she let Ezra go up on her shoulders.

"Jump up there without me, and I will find a way to end you."

Ezra laughed nervously as he unlatched the hatch, swinging it wide open, before jumping down.

"Good Ezra, now you get a treat," Nira said with a smirk.

"I'm not a tooka," Ezra grumbled. Looking up at her, he asked, "what's the treat?"

"Lifting me up."

"Of course it is," he said, his face falling.

He bent down and Nira climbed onto his back with a laugh, wobbling a bit as Ezra grunted his way into a standing position. Pulling herself up, she waited for Ezra to stick the flashlight in his mouth, then grabbed his outstretched arms and hauled him up.

When they were both above the elevator, Ezra pointed the flashlight around for an exit.

"Ok, so I think we should try to climb the cables up to one of the elevator door, then open it and get out," Nira suggested.

"How are we supposed to open the door?"

At that, Nira groaned.

"I say we climb the cables like you said, then find a vent to get in through," Ezra told her.

Nira nods, then they both begin to climb up. The cables wobble a bit, but still held.

After about twenty feet, Ezra looses his footing, and lets out a shout.

"What's wrong!" Nira yells, trying to glance down.

"I'm hanging twenty feet up by one hand, that's whats wrong!" Ezra yelled, trying to get a grasp with his other hand on the waving cables.

"BOOM!"

Nira shrieked and gripped the cables tighter as the tower shook from the insanly loud boom that was probably thunder. Maybe? It was so loud.

"Ezra? Ezra!? EZRA!"

The boy could only groan as he curled tighter at the bottom of the elevator, vision quickly fading as he tried, without luck, to stay awake.

His head hurt. ALOT. And his back. And everything else.

Ezra tried to open his eyes, and groaned. His met with light brown, clearly worried, ones. As his eyes focused, he realized he was in his tower, on his bed, with a wet towel on his head. Oh, and also there was girl right in front on him.

"How did I get up here?" Ezra asked, ignoring his pain and trying to sit up.

"Whoa there, buddy. Don't try to get up," Nira said, pushing him back down.

"Ok, ok," Ezra sighed. "Wasn't I at the bottom of the elevator shaft?"

"Yeah, you were, so you better give me a bit of thanks for dragging your sorry butt up here."

Ezra raised his eyebrows, then winced because that hurt his head.

"How did you get me up here exactly?"

"When I realized you fell, I climbed my way back down to you, and tried to wake you, but when you wouldn't wake up, I realized I would have to carry you up. Since I think it would be easiest to carry you once I was sure where I was going, I climbed up to the vents, and after a bit of trail and error, found my way here. I grabbed your backpack and some blankets, and used those to make a makeshift sling."

"Wow, you cared enough to not leave me," Ezra said, with a look of total shock on his face.

"You remind me a bit of my sister. Also you are extremely light, you need to eat more," she told him, making him laugh.

"Have you ever tried a nutri-bar or nutri-paste? When your diet consists manly of that and the few friuts you can get your hands on, you don't eat much," he said, smiling sadly.

"Seriously? It can't be that bad," she said, following Ezra's smirk and pointed finger. Nira grabbed one of the bars, opened it, and took a bite.

Wincing, she tried to say, "Yep, delicious," but ended up coughing and struggling to swallow the bite she did take. After finally swallowing it, she said, "I think I see what you mean."

"Mmhhhmmm."

"Fine, you were right. Now, I think I should check you for a concussion," she said, walking over.

"No, no, you don't have to, I'm totally fine," Ezra said quickly not wanting to burden her anymore.

"If by totally fine you mean laying in a bed after falling twenty feet, then yeah, you are the exact definition of it."

Ezra sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win that argument. He let Nira check his eyes, then sighed when she winced.

"Yep, you have a concussion. You should get some rest, it's the middle of the night," she told him, and Ezra looked out the window.

"Wait, first tell me how long I was out," he said.

"I'm not sure exactly, but maybe around three hours," Nira told him, and Ezra paled slightly, but didn't show it too much.

"Wait, but aren't you supposed to stay awake when you have a concussion?" Ezra asked, trying to put his slight medical knowledge to use.

"Ezra, that is a myth. And stop stalling, it's not like I'm going to rob you while you're asleep."

"Fine," Ezra sighed, closing his eyes. As annoying as she was, the banter was kinda fun.

Ezra yawned, and opened his eyes. Quietly, he looked around, until he saw Nira fast asleep on a chair. Seeing that it was morning, Ezra started to drag his sore body out of bed for breakfast.

Grabbing some nutri-paste, and a piece of fruit to wash out the taste, Ezra ate at his small table, waiting for Nira to wake up. After an hour or so of sitting there, Ezra heard a groan, and saw Nira open her eyes and stretch.

She looked at the bed, then realizing he wasn't in it, began to slightly panic, until she saw him waving at her from the table.

"Darn, you little turd, you had me worried for a sec," she said, shaking her head and walking over.

"So, you want to try to choke down a nutri-bar, or are you going to leave and go out for breakfast?"

Looking like she was going to puke, Nira said, "Sorry buddy, no way I'm going to try to eat that. I'll drive to the city, get something there, then leave to go search for my sis in the next system."

"Wait, how are you getting off world?" Ezra asked, knowing that it was really expensive to travel that way.

"Well, me and my dad are going to meet up at this one landing platform, since that is where our shuttle is."

"Alright, but can I go with you to the city, then say bye there?" Ezra asked, sad that the only person that has been caring for him has to leave so soon.

Smiling, Nira said, "Okay."

They had started to ride away from the tower in the speeder bikes. They were so close to the city when it happened.

Ezra heard Nira shriek, and he turned to see that someone had jumped on her speeder. He must have been waiting in the tall grass for somone to come by. He took out a knife, and whispered something in Nira's ear. She straightened out her speeder, and kept driving.

"Nira!" Ezra yelled, trying to keep up with her.

"So, if it isn't that tower hermit," the man laughed, moving the knife closer to Nira's throat. He had long, brown hair, and lots of bruises around his jawline.

"Leave her alone," Ezra said, trying to meet Nira's eyes.

"Well, how about we make a deal. I get your tower, and your speeders, and this pretty little lady gets to live. How does that sound?"

'Yes, yes, I'll do it, I'll do it," Ezra said quickly.

The gaunt man whispered again in Nira's ear, then she slowed them to a stop.

"Now, neither of you are to try anything, because while I may be alone, I also may not be," he said, his smile slightly crazy.

Ezra narrowed his eyes. Something told him that he was all alone, and Ezra knew to listen to it.

Ezra looked at Nira, and gave a quick nod, telling her that she could try something. Nira bit her lip and looked down, then back at him. In a flash, the knife was gone from her throat and clattering on the ground, and they were both rolling on the ground away from the speeder.

The man's was gaping, was Ezra was shocked too. As he began walking slowly back into the grass, Nita turned to go back to her bike. Big mistake. The man put his hand in his jacket, and something shiny was thrown her way.

"NIRA!" The boy screamed when she dropped to her knees. The man laughed, sprinting to the speeder and riding off. Ezra barely noticed.

He ran over to her, checking out the wound. It looked to be a fairly small blade, but there was still a knife lodged in her back.

"Ouch."

Ezra's eyes shot to her face. "You think?"

"Don't worry, we can probably make it to help." Ezra glanced at the blood slowly pooling under her. Great. Just great. He looked to his speeder.

"What you're gonna do is take my speeder, ride to the city, and I'm gonna walk there to get another one, just kinda hoping you make it." His eyes were probably more full of fear than hers. He should probably try to stabilize the knife. That's what you do, right? He was not qualified for this at all. At least Nira seemed relatively calm.

"Okay, um, see you around kid. And thank you." She sent him a small smile. "I'll be fine."

With that, she sped off, kicking up dust in her wake. Ezra blinked away the tears in his eyes. There's no way she'd make it.

Hey y'all, so if there are a lot of typos, while I try to catch them all, it is because I am using my smartphone to type this. Yes, not the best idea, but since I have little time each day in front of my computer, and I take my phone literally everywhere I go, I might as well just use my phone. And to be honest, I'm not very fast when using a computer keyboard.

So before you bother me with all your typo flames because you can't find anything else to flame me for (sarcasm, amirite?), just remember that I used my damn phone to type this.

Please leave a comment or suggestion, I read each and every one of them!

Until next time,

~Skygal ;D (sorry, I had to go by that at least once)