This begins after Kanan and Ezra have left the cell holding Jedi Master Luminara Andulli's body. Enjoy!

Kanan and the Inquisitor both seemed to move at impossible speed, and Ezra had trouble keeping up.

Kanan feigned left, trying to spear the Inquisitor, but his enemy dodged and spun, so he was now closest to Ezra. He still wore that self-assured smirk, and Ezra wanted to wipe it right off his face.

He backed up a step, and pulled his slingshot back. He tried to aim, but the Inquisitor was too fast. Ezra couldn't get a shot without risking hitting Kanan. He eased it back into place without releasing.

Kanan parries, strikes, dodges. He was good. Better than Ezra had ever seen him, but not good enough. The Inquisitor was even better.

"Do you really think you can save the boy?" the Inquisitor asked Kanan. "For his sake, surrender."

"I'm not making deals with you!"

"Hmm. Then we'll let him make one, shall we?"

Before Kanan could move forward again, the Inquisitor shot his hand out, sending Kanan flying backwards down the hall.

Kanan's head banged the against floor, and he almost dropped his saber. He pushed against the floor, righting himself. But it was too late. His eyes widened as Ezra felt himself being yanked by an unseen force. A moment later, he was being held on the arm by the Inquisitor, and he could feel the heat of the crimson blade at his neck.

He gasped, and Kanan yelled out. "No!"

The Inquisitor laughed. A slow, sinister sound, and pressed the blade closer.

Just then, Ezra heard footfalls behind him, and moved his head as far as he dared to glance back. Zeb and Sabine were standing, frozen, behind him, both staring with shock and fear.

The Inquisitor sensed them at the exact moment, and his grin widened. "Ready to die?"

"Ezra, no!" Sabine shouted as he started to wriggle against his captor's grip. His efforts, he knew, were futile, and the blade moved closer to his neck. The pain of the heat so close was almost unbearable.

The Inquisitor shifted, so Kanan, now standing, was on one side and Sabine and Zeb on the other, thankfully bringing the blade a bit further away. But not much.

Ezra locked eyes with Kanan, who seemed frozen, his lightsaber dead in his hand.

And Ezra felt it coming, felt the Inquisitor draw the blade from his neck to behind him, knew this was the end.
Through a dry throat, Ezra croaked out a short sentence. "I'm sorry. I failed you, Master. "

Kanan moved then. A step back, as if in unbelief. His face looked shocked, dazed. "What?"

Ezra didn't have a chance to answer, as the Inquisitor's red blade entered his back, and he knew nothing more.

~//~

"I'm sorry. I failed you, Master."

Kanan involuntarily took a step back, unbelieving. Ezra thought he had failed him? That this was somehow his fault?

He opened his mouth to assure the boy that he was wrong, and maybe to delay the Inquisitor, but all that came out was one word. "What?"

Ezra looked blank, and Kanan didn't understand. Then his apprentice's eyes shut, and a red blade came out of his stomach.

Ezra's head sank down on his chest, and the Inquisitor dropped him, turning towards Zeb and Sabine. "Who's next?"

"No! You won't touch them! I won't let you!" The words poured out of his mouth in a strangled cry as he stared at Ezra's lifeless body.

The Dark Side user lifted his eyebrow. "Won't you?"

He reached out towards Zeb and Sabine, but Kanan wouldn't let someone else die. With a yell, he ignited his saber, running forward with it pointed out in front of him. All his anger fuelled him against the evil darksider this time, filling him with power, so much power that he felt unstoppable, and it felt so good--no!

He remembered the saying. 'Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate to suffering'.

As he fought again, he pushed his hate away, envisioned the anger seeping out of him, of every pore if his body, until he fought without it. He fought stronger now, with resilience, and Sabine and Zeb were both firing away at the Inquisitor at the same time.

The smirk was gone, replaced by fury and cold calculation as they drove him back. He stumbled on Ezra's foot, and Kanan saw his move. He used the Force, shoving the man into a wall, much the same as what the Inquisitor had done a few moments past. Then he turned and ran.

Zeb looked at him as if he were crazy. "What about Ezra?" he yelled.

Kanan clenched his teeth. His padawan lay dead, and he couldn't even get his body to bury. "Leave him! We have to go!"

Zeb hesitated another second, but followed. Kanan knew they had no choice. They all did.

They got to the main landing deck, fought their way out, and were picked up by Hera, but Kanan didn't remember anything. It was all a blur.

When he was finally roused, it was by Hera, as she shook him by the shoulders, repeatedly saying his name. "Kanan!"

He shook his head to clear it, tried to push his pain away, and glanced around. Zeb and Sabine were both looking at him, concerned, and Hera looked completely frenzied. "Where is Ezra???"

Kanan looked deep into her eyes, knowing how the news would hurt her.
"I failed him."

~//~

Ezra woke to the whirr of a droid, and a steady beeping sound. He forced his heavy eyes open, then groaned at the pain in his head and shut them again.
What had happened? Where was he?

"You're in the medical facility, on the Imperial Star Destroyer, The Revenge."

That voice was familiar, and it sent off warning bells inside his head. Wait. Imperial Star Destroyer? Medical facility?

He forced his eyes open again, and tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in his stomach made him fall back down with a cry. He blinked slowly, willing his surroundings to come into focus.

He looked at the dark shape standing by his side, waiting for it to become clear.

It was the Inquisitor from the prison.

He gasped, and tried to move, but the pain in his middle caused him to freeze and groan again. He glanced down.

Something had happened, and he wanted to know what, but the Inquisitor was the only one who could tell him. He decided to take the risk of asking him.

"What happened?"

The Inquisitor smiled that smile that could only be called sinister, revealing all of his sharpened teeth. "After I impaled you, I decided it would be beneficial to keep you alive so that we could find out about other Rebel groups."

Ezra was confused. "What 'other Rebel groups'?

The Inquisitor ignored the question. "Ah, you hide your fear well, boy. Ezra, was it?"

Ezra scowled, and the dark figure continued. "That was what that girl, the Mandalorian, called you, wasn't it?

"Well, it hardly matters now." He reached out his hand, in front of Ezra's face, and started to probe his mind. "Tell me about the others, the Rebels."