Chapter Text
Ezra
"You ready, kiddo?" Kanan asked from the cockpit.
"Born ready!" Ezra answered as he did repairs from behind him. They hadn't actually been able to finish repairs before the mission because of how small their window was.
They only had an hour to get this done. The empire was taking medical supplies to one of their bases, but the people they were taking it from desperately needed it.
They had only just stopped at the transport hangar and were beginning to move the supplies onto the transport ship. Ezra and Kanan were preparing to board the ship from its blind spot.
"Alright. Get in position," Kanan ordered.
Ezra put on his helmet and went out onto the roof to unscrew the panel that led to the air vents. Kanan soon joined him as Hera prepared to take over driving the ship.
"Remember, we've only got a few minutes until they notice us on the side of their ship," Kanan reminded.
"Uh-huh. Got it," Ezra said, still focusing on unscrewing the panel. "Okay, I got it. Let's hop in!"
Crawling through the vents was no easy task, but watching Kanan try to do it made it well worth it.
"Kid," Kanan said from behind him. "I don't know why you do this, but it can not possibly be for fun."
"Nah," he answered. "It's to get away from Zeb. Although, watching you is definitely fun."
Kanan rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. Ezra smirked, knowing he regretted following any of his plans.
Several minutes later, after Ezra had accidentally kicked Kanan in the face several times, they arrived at the pick-up location. Dropping down silently, Ezra hid behind some crates as Kanan continued on to cause a distraction.
As Ezra waited in hiding, he felt a disturbance in the force. Something was wrong. It wasn't even close to what he felt around Darth Vader, but he would have to be careful.
Meanwhile, he was getting a strong suggestion of caution from Kanan's end of the force bond. So he had felt it too. Ezra just tried his best to focus on the mission.
Less than 10 minutes later, the (very few) guards around the cargo followed a false alarm that Kanan set up. The moment the coast was clear, Ezra moved in to get the cargo. Not seconds later, his master dropped down from the ceiling to help him.
"Y'know, those vents are a lot easier to navigate without your shoes in my face," he said in a hushed tone.
Ezra chose not to answer that, partly because they were on a stealth mission, but mostly because he didn't want to.
Kanan climbed back into the vent as Ezra passed him the crates (which barely fit) up to him. Just as Ezra pushed the last crate in, he heard a lightsaber ignite behind him.
Karabast.
He whipped around to see the two inquisitors standing directly behind him.
"Kanan?" He called through the force bond, unsure if Kanan had heard it from the vents. Even if he had, he was barricaded in by the crates.
"I heard it, I'm coming!" he answered. "Just do your best to hold them off until I get there."
Ezra barely had time to register this before he had to parry an attack, pushing him back towards the wall. Even as he parried an attack from the seventh sister, the fifth brother came at him from behind.
Ezra very quickly decided that he didn't like fighting quite so fast. It seemed like every time he parried, there was another attack coming at him. He never even got the chance to attack because he was so busy defending himself.
As he was being pushed closer to the ground, he started sending distress signals to Kanan through the force bond. He knew the vents were confusing, but if Kanan didn't hurry, he was going to have a dead or seriously injured padawan.
At one point, he slipped up, causing the seventh sister to slash him across the stomach. He let out a yelp of pain, jumping back. Kriff that hurt.
Unfortunately, the pain distracted him just enough that he dropped his guard, allowing the fifth brother to grab him with the force and start choking him. He expected them to just break his neck or perhaps capture him, but instead, he was thrown clear across the room. He slammed chest first into a metal beam.
That was the part that really hurt. He felt bones snap as his ribs and diaphragm hit the beam at full speed. The moment his ribs broke, he knew he was in trouble. From what he could feel, there was no way that they didn't pierce his lungs.
As hard as he tried to right himself as he fell from the ceiling, he was so disoriented from his breath being knocked out that he didn't even see the ground coming at him. His head hit it, and everything went black.
Kanan
Kanan muttered a stream of curses as he crawled through the vents, searching for a path into the main hangar. These air vents were so frustrating and confusing, and he needed to get to his padawan.
Just as he found what he thought to be an exit, he felt a sudden wave of fear and pain, causing him to jolt up so fast his head hit the ceiling. It was Ezra. He was hurt. Scared, too.
Kanan practically flung himself out of the vent as he felt a much stronger pain signal from Ezra. Looking up, he saw his padawan unconscious on the floor with the seventh sister poised to impale him with her saber.
Kanan pushed himself forward as fast as the galaxy could possibly allow. His feet pounded into the floor as he ignited his lightsaber, blocking her attack in the nick of time.
After he had stunned the inquisitor, he turned back to his padawan.
"Ezra!" Kanan shouted to his kid, who was now moving slightly.
"Hmm..." was Ezra's only reply, coming out as a high-pitched whimper.
Kanan did his very best to block every attack coming his way, trying to protect Ezra, but the two of them were so fast!
"K-Kanan?!" Ezra shouted from the floor.
"It's me, Ez," he shouted back. "C'mon, you gotta get up!"
And up he got. He ended up stumbling to the ground the first time, and when he did finally get up, he was swaying on his feet, missing his attacks, and misjudging depth. He clearly had a concussion, but there was really no choice but to fight through it right now.
After several minutes of the fight going nowhere, Kanan heard Ezra cry out again. In a moment of minor panic, he force slammed the seventh sister into the wall, whipped around, and slashed Ezra's attacker. By accident, Kanan slashed the man clean in half.
When the man's body fell to the ground in two pieces, Kanan and Ezra just stared at each other for a moment. Suddenly, Ezra's eyes went wide.
"Kanan, behind you!"
Kanan heard it before he felt it. A lightsaber burn, straight across his back. This one went deep. Not deep enough that it severed his spine, but deep enough to do some real damage.
Kanan let out an agonized scream and fell to his knee. Defensively, Ezra jumped up to protect his master, attacking the inquisitor.
When the pain had faded some, Kanan looked up at his apprentice with pride. He really had grown so much. Here he was, fighting an inquisitor and holding his own! No- winning! He was actually pushing her back! He was attacking so fast that Kanan could hardly see it.
With a final push, he slammed her into a wall, knocking her out completely while she bled from the head.
Ezra rushed to Kanan, steadying him by the shoulder.
"Kanan! Are you- are you okay?" Ezra asked, and Kanan couldn't help but chuckle at his concern.
"I'll be fine, Ezra," Kanan answered. He noticed with horror that Ezra was injured worse than he thought. He had a lightsaber wound across his stomach, and while it had been cauterized, it was now bleeding steadily.
"Ezra... you're hurt too," he said simply. Ezra nodded in response.
"I'll be f-fine. It's- it's not as bad as it looks. Besides, you should- you should s-see your back."
Kanan got up, but he didn't miss the way Ezra's hands shook, or the way he stuttered from the head injury.
Quickly, Ezra climbed into the vent while Kanan went back through his alternate route so he could pull the crates from the other side.
"Specter 1 to Specter 2, we are ready for pickup," Kanan said as they got to the drop-off point. He paused and then added; "We're gonna need medical, too."
"Specter 2, copy that. You guys okay?" Hera asked with concern.
"We should be fine. Nothing too serious," Kanan said, and immediately heard Ezra snort with laughter from behind him. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ezra's poorly hidden concern.
By the time they were back on the ship and heading off into hyperspace, the adrenaline was starting to wear off, and Kanan's back was starting to hurt much more.
"Kanan... that burn on your back looks pretty bad," Hera said. "I'm gonna start with you. Ezra... just keep pressure on that for a bit. Is that okay?"
"M-hm," Ezra answered, somewhat sleepily. Probably from the concussion.
The entire time Hera was fixing up Kanan's back, he couldn't get the feeling out of his head that something bad was about to happen.
When he expressed this to Hera, she paused.
"I'm sure it's nothing. Just keep an eye on it."
"I am," Kanan answered. "I just... something's wrong. Problem is, I don't know what."
Hera didn't answer, but seeming to get the message, she worked faster after that.
Ezra
Something was wrong. The problem was that he didn't know what. He felt... cold. And shaky. Tired, too. And it didn't help that he was incredibly nauseous, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. He knew his lungs were hurt, but this felt like more than that. Yeah, it was safe to say that something wasn't right.
He had resorted to having Zeb talk to him to keep him awake while he sat on the floor of their room, holding pressure to his bleeding stomach. He was still desperately trying to convince himself that everything was just his head injury as his breathing picked up without him trying.
Zeb was going on about whatever psychotic activities Chopper had been up to earlier in the week, when he picked up on the state Ezra was in.
"Ezra? Ezra. Ezra!" Zeb shouted, getting his attention finally.
"Mm?" He finally answered, snapping himself back to reality.
"Kid, you're really not lookin' good," he said.
"Gee, thanks," Ezra answered.
"Ezra, you know what I'm trying to say. We need to get Hera."
"'M fine," Ezra said quickly. "Kanan's worse."
"I'm not so sure..." he said. Ezra ignored him.
Just minutes later, he felt 100 percent worse. His stomach and chest hurt badly now, and if he wasn't in so much pain, he would be gasping for air.
He knew immediately when he needed to throw up and grabbed the trash bin. He quickly started retching into it, so violently that it came out of his nose. To his horror, it was bright red. He was throwing up blood. He was so shocked that he choked on it and began coughing. Even his coughs were bloody.
"That's it, we're going to Hera," Zeb said, pulling him up by the arm.
The moment he was upright, he blacked out. The next thing he knew was that he was on his knees, Zeb holding him upright.
"Karabast, kid!" Zeb exclaimed. "How bad were you hurt?!"
Ezra could only manage a weak moan in response. His entire torso felt like it was being compressed. It got much worse when Zeb picked him up, causing him to cough blood everywhere.
It was then that Ezra began to pass out again. His vision became spotted, his ears started ringing, and his body went limp. He began hyperventilating shallowly, trying his very hardest to stay awake, but he was fighting a losing battle.
"Kid, stay awake," Zeb ordered.
A small whimper was all he could let out. His strength was leaving him alarmingly quickly, and he could no longer lift his head. Even when he felt a wave of fear from Kanan's end of the force bond, he couldn't move at all.
That was when Kanan himself burst into the room. Ezra didn't even see it, but he did notice his presence. He soon felt Kanan's hand in his hair, but if anyone was speaking, he couldn't hear a word.
He knew he must look like quite a sight; covered in his own blood, nearly unconscious in Zeb's arms.
Suddenly, he couldn't feel anything at all. His senses were gone, and he was floating in a void. It was... quiet. He wanted to stay there forever. If it weren't for that strange voice, he would have. And that voice... he knew who that was... right?
"...ra? Ezra, are you awake?"
It was Hera. When did Hera get here? And where was he? He could no longer feel Zeb pressed against him, so he must have moved.
As his vision cleared, he was able to see her, giving him a sense of safety. However, she was poking at him, and it was really starting to hurt. When she got to his upper stomach, his eyes snapped open, and he started coughing up blood again. He felt it drip into his ears, and he started crying.
"Ezra, focus on me," Kanan said, loud and clear. "You're gonna be fine, but you need to calm down."
Ezra did his very best, but his vision was going dark again. The last thing he heard before going completely unconscious was Kanan calling his name.
Kanan
He couldn't just sit there for much longer. Something seriously wasn't right. Hera had sped up, but it wasn't helping at all.
"Why don't you try to focus on where it's coming from?" Hera suggested.
Kanan couldn't help but sigh. "I've been doing that. It's not working."
Kanan sighed again and continued trying to focus. This time, it was different. It was like the more he focused, the more the force guided him. He knew now that the problem was somewhere on the ship. It was coming from... Ezra? He put all his focus on the force bond between them. Shit... something was seriously wrong with Ezra.
Without any warning to Hera, he rushed out of the room. He needed to get to Ezra as fast as possible. He could already feel Ezra slipping away. What could've even happened? He was fine thirty minutes ago!
When he burst into the room, he was met with a horrifying sight that he would never forget; Ezra, damn near unconscious, covered in blood, swallowed in Zeb's arms.
"Zeb, what happened?!" Kanan demanded, putting a hand on Ezra's head to see if he was still conscious. He was, but only barely.
"I dunno!" Zeb exclaimed. "He was actin weird, an' I was gonna go get Hera, but then he just starts throwing up blood! And now he ain't movin'!"
"C'mon, Zeb," Kanan said, sprinting out of the room. "Hera!"
Hera was already following him. She took Ezra from Zeb and placed him on the table, putting a hand on his cheek to see if he was awake. It was then that Kanan realized that he wasn't. He was completely unconscious.
"Ezra? Ezra, are you awake?" She asked, causing him to stir slightly.
He opened his eyes, but he wasn't focused at all. He quickly shut them again as Hera started an IV.
Kanan felt completely helpless as he watched Hera try to keep his kid alive. Deciding to do the one thing he could, he put his hand on Ezra's shoulder, focusing on his force signature. His stomach dropped. He was fading, very fast. They were losing him.
When Hera pressed on his stomach, his eyes snapped open again, and he began coughing up blood again. Crying, too. He coughed out so much that it dripped down into his hair.
"Ezra, focus on me," he said, trying to keep Ezra awake. "You're gonna be fine, but you need to calm down."
Kanan's efforts turned out to be futile as Ezra passed out almost immediately.
"Ezra!" Kanan shouted. "Hera, he's out."
"I know," Hera responded. "This is definitely internal bleeding, and a lot of it, too."
"Damnit, Ezra," Kanan cursed under his breath. He felt like he was saying that a lot nowadays. He kept his hands on Ezra's shoulder, trying to feed him as much energy as possible.
"Kriff, this kid bleeds fast," Hera said, inserting a chest tube. "Kanan, he's already in shock."
Kanan felt completely shocked himself, but he still followed the protocol. As he gathered the correct drugs, he had to let go of Ezra, causing his force signature to tremble. Hera noticed it, too, but in the physical signs.
"Kanan! He's crashing!" Hera shouted.
Kanan rushed back to his side, cursing under his breath. He began administering drugs faster than he had ever thought was possible. Ezra made no reaction, even as Hera prepared to shock him.
"C'mon, Ezra..." Hera muttered. "Everybody back!"
She shocked him, trying to get his heart back to normal, but after his body had jolted and relaxed, nothing had changed. She shocked him again and again, and after the third try, he flatlined completely.
Sabine rushed out of the room, quietly crying, and Zeb soon followed her. Kanan had honestly forgotten they were there.
Hera positioned herself to begin CPR, but Kanan put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. He could still feel Ezra's presence. Of course, Hera fought him, nearly punching Kanan in the face.
"Hera, stop!" He shouted.
"What?! Kanan, what're you saying?" She demanded.
"I'm saying he's not completely gone yet. Just let me try something."
Hera stepped back hesitantly, making a space for Kanan. Kanan placed his right hand on the dying boy's chest, focusing all of his energy on him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in an empty void. He couldn't see Ezra, but he could feel him.
"Ezra?" Kanan called out. "It's me, Kanan. Can you hear me?"
For a moment, nothing changed. Kanan remained alone. After a moment, Ezra materialized in front of him, seemingly unconscious, just floating there.
Kanan pulled Ezra towards him, supporting his head, and studied his face. He just... looked like Ezra. He had no blood on his face, and his skin had returned to its normal color. It was almost like he was just sleeping.
"Ezra, are you there?" Kanan asked again.
"...Kanan?" came Ezra's disembodied voice.
Rather than coming from the unconscious body in front of him, Ezra's voice was coming from all around.
"It's me, Ezra. Where are you?" He asked.
"I... I don't know," he replied. "But something feels... wrong."
"Listen to me, Ezra. You need to wake up."
"I- I'm trying. I'm just... so tired."
"No, no, you listen to me," Kanan ordered almost frantically. "You're gonna be fine, and you're not too tired. You just have to push through and come back. I'll lend you my energy, but you have to fight this."
"I'll try..." Ezra said hesitantly.
"Do or do not. There is no try," Kanan said firmly.
"You're right. I'll - I'll do it."
"That's what I like to hear," Kanan said, giving Ezra as much energy as he possibly could without hurting himself.
As he held his unconscious padawan, he could physically feel his presence. He began trying as hard as he could to draw him out, and he could tell that Ezra was trying his damn hardest, too.
Just as Kanan felt that he was succeeding, he was snapped back to reality on the Ghost. He was still just standing there, and Ezra was still flatlining.
He was about to succumb to despair, but he suddenly heard a rhythmic beeping. It had worked. Ezra was alive.
Kanan collapsed to his knees in complete exhaustion and relief, but Hera was there to catch him and guide him to a chair. He tried to watch Ezra to make sure he wasn't getting worse, but he had no energy left. His vision faded out, and before long, he passed out completely.
It wasn't until what was probably hours later that he woke back up again. Opening his eyes, all he saw was the ceiling. He sat up slowly to see Hera, rocking back and forth in her chair just slightly. He knew Hera. He knew that she probably hadn't stopped moving since she had first laid eyes on Ezra.
"Hera?" He called, mostly to let her know that he was awake.
She looked back, somewhat startled. "You're awake."
"I'm awake," Kanan answered. "How long have I been out for?"
"All afternoon. It's 21:00 now."
Kanan just nodded and moved past Hera to see Ezra. To his relief, Ezra was still alive and stable aside from his oxygen being too low. He noticed with mild amusement that Hera had washed the blood out of his hair. She really hadn't stopped moving.
"How is he? Really."
Hera sighed, and Kanan didn't miss the shakiness.
"He's... it's bad. He lost a lot of blood, and while I gave him what we have, it's just not enough. We've set course to the nearest medical center that'll help us, but... Kanan, I don't know that he's gonna last the night."
Kanan felt a tear slip down against his will. He made a promise right then that he would do whatever it took to save his kid.
"Where're the other two?" Kanan asked, trying to change the topic.
Rather than answering, Hera just gestured to the corner. They were both asleep in their chairs, Sabine leaning on Zeb. Kanan chuckled despite the situation. They really were like a family.
Focusing back on Ezra, Kanan took his hand, just trying to find his presence in the force. It wasn't strong, but it was steady.
"I think he's gonna be okay," Kanan said, trying to calm Hera.
"I don't know..." she answered, clearly not convinced. "Kanan... he's already in the early stages of organ failure, and there's nothing I can do about it here. I just don't know what I'm gonna do if he doesn't..."
"Hera," Kanan said sharply. "You can't think like that. Don't think about the odds. Think about Ezra. When has that kid ever given up?"
Hera chuckled softly, taking Kanan and Ezra's hands.
After that, nothing happened for hours. Hera and Kanan remained beside Ezra, occasionally talking softly, but mostly, they just watched Ezra, monitoring his vitals. His oxygen had only dropped despite the chest tube draining the excess blood out of his lungs. They had put an oxygen mask on him, but it hardly made a dent.
It wasn't until sometime between 00:00 and 01:00 that there was any change at all, and it wasn't good at all.
As he watched Ezra, Kanan began hearing his breathing pick up and become shallow.
"Hera?" Kanan asked. He knew enough about breath sounds to know what was going on.
"Damnit," Hera muttered after waking up abruptly. She wasted no time in listening to his lungs. "No no no no no. Please, Ezra. Please don't do this."
"Hera, what is it?" Kanan asked, trying to keep his own panic at bay.
"Kriff, Ezra, no," Hera continued rambling.
"Hera! What's going on?!"
"I'm sorry, Kanan, I- I'm sorry," Hera said, trying to regain composure. "His lungs are still bleeding. I-I can't drain it fast enough, and I can't stop the bleeding, he's-"
And then, she broke down. In all his years beside Hera, it was rare that he ever saw her cry. That was how he knew it was bad. Very bad.
He took her by the shoulders, trying to steady her.
"Hera, c'mon, we've gotta help Ezra," he said, pulling her focus back in. "Explain what's going on so I can help him."
Taking a breath, she seemed to calm down. "His ribs are still penetrating his lungs, but there's no way I can stop the bleeding from outside. I can drain the blood from his lungs, but not faster than he's bleeding."
"And that's why he can't breathe," Kanan concluded.
"Exactly."
Immediately after she said this, Ezra stopped breathing completely. Kanan ran to his padawan, quickly confirming this.
"Oh force, don't do this to us, Ezra," he begged as Ezra's heart rate began to fall.
Probably due to the alarm on the machines, Sabine and Zeb were beside their brother in an instant.
"What's going on?!" Sabine shouted.
"He quit breathing," Kanan answered bluntly. "Damnit, Ezra. Hera, we need to intubate him."
"Way ahead of you, love," Hera said, handing him the supplies.
She pushed the laryngoscope down his throat, yet he made no reaction. That was... not a good sign.
Kanan had no time to worry about this, seeing as Ezra still wasn't breathing. He quickly pushed the tube down his throat, causing his chest to spasm slightly. Still not enough to comfort Kanan, but it was a start.
Kanan felt waves of pain and fear from Ezra, and in some twisted way, it comforted him. If he was in pain, he could still feel, and he could still make it.
As much as he appreciated feeling something from Ezra, it hurt Kanan to hurt one of his own. He'd intubated people before, but it was a whole different experience when it was his kid.
At least now he was breathing. When connected to the ventilator, he finally stabilized, giving Kanan peace.
He collapsed into the chair beside Ezra, stress taking over. He stroked Ezra's hair, pushing it out of his face.
Kanan hated to admit it, but he was scared. He was terrified that his kid wasn't going to make it. His force signature was already so close to death that it wasn't hard to imagine it just disappearing completely.
"He gonna be okay?" Sabine asked.
"I don't know, Sabine. We just need to keep him alive until we get to the med center," Hera answered gently.
No one spoke for a while after that, but they were all thinking the same thing. They would go through hell and back if it meant saving him.
"You three should probably get some sleep," Kanan suggested.
"Kanan... you need rest, too," Hera said. Kanan just shook his head.
"I'm the only one who can feel his force signature, and I need to know if he starts fading out again."
No one could really argue with that. Sabine and Zeb returned to their seats, but Hera stayed.
"Hera, you should rest," Kanan said. She shook her head adamantly.
"He still needs me."
"What for?" Kanan asked, confused seeing as Ezra was now stable.
Hera paused, biting her lip.
"What's your blood type?"
Now, Kanan paused. He knew exactly what she was thinking, but he wasn't too sure about it. They had no way to process the blood, making this very risky.
"... Are you sure?" Kanan asked.
Hera nodded, tears in her eyes. "He's not gonna make it to the med center without it."
Kanan was going to protest, but just looking at Ezra, he knew she was right. He was on the verge of death as it was, and with his lungs still actively bleeding, it wouldn't be long now. Not if he didn't get more blood.
"I'm O negative."
And without a further word, it was confirmed. Kanan was giving Ezra blood.
"You guys know how dangerous this is, right?" Sabine questioned when Hera began the transfer.
"It's his only chance," Hera replied. "We still have sixteen hours until we get to the nearest rebel allied med station, and he's not going to last that long without blood."
That shut Sabine up quickly. Her and Zeb had returned to Ezra's side after claiming they couldn't sleep. Kanan really couldn't blame them, seeing as he refused to even try.
"We're risking infection to save his life," Kanan added.
Kanan stroked Ezra's hair, feeling his feverish skin. It was something he had developed due to the organ failure, and his temperature was only climbing.
Now that Kanan had had time to process it all, the guilt and regret seeped in. He wished with every fiber of his being that he had just been a few minutes faster. Force, he didn't even know what happened! All he knew was that Ezra was hurt, and he hadn't been there.
And Ezra... he just looked so small. The machines had accumulated so quickly, and wrapped in his blanket, Kanan could hardly see him. Between the tube and the tape, all Kanan could see of his face were his tightly shut eyes.
But if he'd just been faster...
"I can hear you blaming yourself, Kanan," Hera said.
"Rightfully so," Kanan bit back. "It is my fault. I was supposed to be keeping him safe."
"And you did," Hera interjected. "If I recall correctly, that burn on your back came from doing just that."
"I know, I just- I could've done more. Maybe if I was faster..."
"Kanan, stop," Sabine ordered fiercely. "You can't drown yourself in the what ifs. You did the best you could, and you need to keep doing it."
At Sabine's speech, Kanan finally broke down. He, the one the kid's looked to for stability, was finally breaking down. With one hand on his face and the other on Ezra's, he allowed the sobs to rack his body.
"Oh, force. Ezra, I'm so sorry," Kanan sobbed.
He felt the entire team's hands on his back (careful of his burn) aside from Ezra. Even Chopper bumped into his legs.
It was then that Kanan realized that the entire team was in various stages of tears. Hera was nearly as broken as he was, Sabine was sobbing quietly, and Zeb had tears pouring down his face.
Kanan moved his hand to squeeze Ezra's and was shocked when he squeezed back. So he really was in there somewhere.
"You guys," Kanan sniffled. "I think Ezra can hear us."
Sabine perked up. "How can you tell?"
"Well, I'm not sure, but I think he's feeling concerned," Kanan said. Ezra was so much easier to read when he was unconscious, and his barriers were down. "Also... he just squeezed my hand."
"Wait, what?! Sabine shouted, surprised.
"That's amazing!" Hera exclaimed.
Kanan couldn't help but chuckle through his tears. "That's our kid."
Hera moved up to Ezra's face. "We're here, Ezra. Just... hold on. Please."
Ezra was still hanging on 15 hours later. Kanan had hardly left his side at all, periodically sharing his strength. It was exhausting, but it kept Ezra alive.
His oxygen levels were only dropping, even with the intubation because his lungs were still bleeding faster than they could be drained, giving the oxygen nowhere to go.
His fever had only risen since it had started and was now reaching dangerous levels. It was strange to see his cheeks flushed, but his lips blue.
Kanan tried to remind himself of the positives; Ezra wasn't dead. It wasn't much, but he'd survived longer than Hera thought he would.
He took the wet rag off of Ezra's forehead since it was no longer cold, and decided to take his temp again. When he scanned his forehead, he was shocked at the results.
105.2.
"Hera!" He called the moment he saw it.
"What is it?" She asked.
Without a word, he showed her Ezra's temperature.
"Damnit, Ezra," she muttered. That was becoming an increasingly common saying aboard the Ghost. "He must have an infection from the transfusion."
"How do we help him?" Kanan asked, prepared to do anything.
"Aside from keeping the fever down... we can't."
Kanan's heart sank. He felt so helpless. There had to be some way he could help, right?
"He's just gonna have to hold out 'till we get there. I've already contacted them about our situation, so he'll be treated immediately."
"We just need to get him there," Kanan finished for her. Just one hour.
Hera gave him the fever reducers and went back to pilot her ship.
As it turned out, getting him through that hour was harder than expected. His force signature began fading almost immediately after his fever spiked, and while Kanan did everything he possibly could, Ezra was starting to let go.
"C'mon, Ezra. Work with me here," Kanan said as he searched for any sign of consciousness.
Almost as a response, Ezra started shaking.
"Ezra?" Sabine called out from beside him.
Ezra groaned and began convulsing. He was having a seizure.
"Hera! Get back here!" Kanan shouted across the ship. Almost as if she had teleported, Hera was at his side in an instant.
"Karabast," she cursed. "Kanan, get him on his side. I'm gonna put this thing full speed."
Kanan knew what she meant. She was cutting power from absolutely everything that could be considered unnecessary and putting everything into speed.
The moment Ezra was on his side, he began throwing up blood again. Zeb did his best to clean it off of his face as Kanan administered yet another med.
"Hera! How long?!" Kanan shouted from across the ship.
"Fifteen minutes!" Hera shouted back.
Kanan started removing IVs and unhooking machines in preparation. When he unhooked the ventilator, he entrusted Sabine in keeping him breathing with the bag.
As Ezra's seizure began to slow, the monitors he was still attached to began practically screaming. Kanan knew what was happening, but he wasn't going to let it. They could not afford for him to go into shock again.
"Come on, Ezra. You can't do this now!" He said through gritted teeth.
He wrapped up the teen in his blanket and cradled him in his arms as they prepared to come out of hyperspace. He looked just tiny swallowed up in that blanket. Breakable almost. Logically, Kanan knew that he wasn't, that he was a strong kid, but logic was helping none.
"Coming in for a landing!" Hera shouted from the front of the ship.
The moment the Ghost touched the ground, Hera was beside them. Hera had always had this strange ability to show up beside whoever was in danger at a speed that Kanan never thought was possible.
When the door opened, they were immediately swarmed with medics, all trying to help Ezra at once. Kanan felt overwhelmed and instinctively tried to hold on to the kid. He was only stopped by a familiar hand on his shoulder.
He looked straight up into the sorrowful eyes of Hera Syndulla. Without a single word, she convinced him to let the medics take care of their kid. Never breaking eye contact with her, he relaxed his arms, and Ezra was gone.
He watched as Ezra was rushed away from him on a stretcher, the fear taking hold.
Hera guided him out of the ship, snapping him out of his daze, and he and the crew rushed after Ezra. They followed him all the way into the surgical wing of the medical center until they were stopped by a droid.
"I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid you can not follow Mr. Bridger beyond this point," it stated simply.
"What d'you mean 'we can't-"
"Kanan."
Just that one word held enough pain for Kanan to stop in his tracks.
"Hera?"
"Come on, Kanan. You know these people. They'd never do anything to hurt him. Let's just find somewhere to wait."
Logically, he knew she was right. This time, logic won, and he followed her to an empty waiting room.
When they were settled, no one said a word for hours. All there was left to do was pray, and all of them did.