Bonus Chapter: The Lost Padawan

I OPENED my eyes slowly and groggily.

 I noticed almost right away that my surroundings were pitch dark and my head felt sort of stuffy. I also realized a few moments later that I was cold, especially around my forehead; ankles; wrists; possibly at least two different places on my abdomen, and the entire downward-facing half of my body, as if I was laying on the floor.

I subconsciously tried to raise my hands to rub my eyes, but they wouldn't budge. My eyebrows met and I attempted to raise my head to look at them, but I couldn't get my head to move, either. I woke up completely as a jolt of panic rushed through me. "Zeb?" I shouted, struggling ineffectively. Something was definitely holding me down fast. "This isn't funny!"

I expected to hear Zeb cackling at me from somewhere in the darkness. He would provide some sort of measly apology or something for this stupid prank and probably turn on the lights in our cabin before letting me go. To be honest, I was a bit intrigued to see what he'd done to me this time - and what I would have to do to get him back. We had fun with each other.

But nothing happened. All I could hear was the loudest silence I had ever been in.

"Zeb?!" I yelled, my blood turning to ice. I squirmed again in a futile attempt to get loose, but whatever held me held me tight. I started to panic again. "ZEB!"

But I knew that Zeb would not be coming to help me, and almost certainly had not done this. Something was very, very wrong. I could feel it.

I struggled to calm down, taking deep breaths and going still. "Use the Force, Ezra," I muttered to myself, meaning to alleviate the stifling silence - but instead, my voice echoed, making me feel even more frightened and alone.

Use the Force.

I couldn't sense Kanan anywhere nearby. Beyond the Force, even though I couldn't see a thing, I had a bad feeling that this was not my cabin in the Ghost.

This was not home.

Think. Where else could I possibly be? How did I get here... wherever here is?

I thought hard, trying to recount how I might have gotten myself into this place. All of my recent memories seemed disturbingly fuzzy, but the more I tried to remember, the clearer they became.

Kanan's idea. The solo op - the docking bay... something happened to me there.

I just couldn't recall what, but I knew it was bad. I tried to really dwell on it in the hopes that those memories would clear up, too, but before I could, I heard the sound of an automatic door hissing open. A long, slanted rectangular beam of icy artificial light sliced into the blackness, falling uncomfortably across my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, startled and annoyed.

"Well, well. The lost Padawan awakens at last."

The light parted, broken by a silhouette. That chilling male voice sounded familiar, and not in a good way - but I couldn't quite place it. My brain just did not seem to want to work. I tried to crane my neck and see who was standing in what must have been a doorway on the far end of the dark room, but again, something cold and hard that was stretched across my forehead prevented me.

"To be frank, I did not believe the guards when they called me, saying that you were yelling in here." An echoey noise I assumed was boots clicking reached my ears. Whomever was there was leisurely strolling closer. "I expected your sedative to hold out for a while longer."

So that was why my head felt weird and my memory was foggy. Also, this guy was probably not my friend if he had sedated me. Sedation was pretty much the reddest flag you could get. "Where am I?" I demanded. "Who are you?"

The footsteps paused. The silence returned, but only briefly as the man resumed speaking and walking slowly nearer. "I feel wounded that you do not recognize me," he said dryly, his voice echoing loudly even though he spoke quietly. It was obvious to me that he didn't really care - needless to say. "Oh. But then again, you can't see me, can you?"

I scowled. "You just totally danced around both of my questions!"

A gelid chuckle rang through the air. "Ah, yes. I can sense your anger and fear. Hold onto them; they are all you have left - and all you will need."

"What - what do you-" I stammered, then stared upwards. I gasped, my eyes stretching wide with horror.

The footsteps had again ceased and the unidentified dancer of questions now stood beside me, leering down.

"This... this isn't possible," I whispered. "You're-you're-"

The nightmare coolly cut me off, sounding almost amused when he spoke again - and yet even colder than before. "Perhaps I shall be able to teach you what your master could not," he mused softly. I could just barely spot him reaching slightly to the left out of the corner of my eye, but I could scarcely process it through my shock and terror. "Lesson one: nothing is impossible."

And with that, I screamed as electricity coursed through my body and everything went white.