Ezra kept walking. He didn't know where he was going and he didn't care. Not anymore. He was too tired to care. He didn't care that his stomach was killing him, or that the sun was setting, or that Kanan was constantly trying to reach him through their bond. He had proceeded to block him before but his shields were too weak after his adventure in the abandoned station and his exhaustion was that much that even if he tried to block him he would fail.

So he just kept walking. His legs were hurting and he could barely keep himself from falling. He wanted to sit down and rest for a little. Bit if he waited Kanan would find him. He would find him anyway, he knew, but as long as he could delay it...

He stopped. Something changed. He heard something. A humming? A warning! He ran in an alley just in time before at least a dozen of storm troopers passed by.

He waited patiently for them to walk away as they spoke.

"Hey, you're still up for blaster training later right?"

"Sure, man. I might even actually shoot something today"

Ezra tried to contain his laughter as they walked away. Zeb owed him five credits. He sighed at the thought of his roommate. Would he even care that he was gone? Would any of the crew do? Or will they just be happy they have on mouth less to feed? After all Ezra had thought Kanan actually wanted him around too. And look where that got him! What if it was the same with the others? What if they just loved him when he was useful to them and wanted to be rid of him when he weren't?

Ezra leaned against the wall closing his eyes. Resting here for a second would not be the end of the world. Deep down he knew he couldn't ran forever. If the crew wanted to kick him out then so be it. Why not get it over with? The thought made Ezra's heart ache and new tears to form in his eyes.

He was so scared of what will happen when Kanan finds him. And he will find him. He knew. With their bond open and unprotected like that, Kanan must already be on his way there. Ezra didn't bother to ran anymore or even move. He was way too tired and exhausted. He was just going to wait until Kanan got there and then-

He was grabbed from behind and a hand that flew on his mouth muffled the surprised yelp he let out. He was held by two strong arms as two more people appeared in front of him. They were way too slim, their clothes were torn and their faces were so white and their eyes so dark that they almost looked like skulls. The smell of spice and death sticks infected the air. That wasn't good.

Ezra struggled against the man's hold as the two other men came closer to him.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here" one man said.

"Are you lost kiddo?" the other mocked.

"I bet Dodger will pay us handsomely for him. Some of his part any way"

Ezra shuddered at the thought. Body part traders. That was definitely not good. Ezra tried to yell but nothing came out. The hand was covering both his nose and mouth effectively silencing him.

"Let's make this quick" one of them said pulling a syringe out of his pocket. "Before his parents come to look for him or something"

"Oh come on! If his parents gave a damn about him they wouldn't let him hang around this streets, especially while the sun is setting"

Ezra fought more to get out of the man's grasp as the other one approached him.

"Still we need to be careful"

The man that was holding him removed his hand from his mouth to his hair and pulled his head to the side. Before Ezra could scream the syringe was injected to his neck. He groaned as the man readjusted his grip on Ezra. Ezra could feel all sense he had of his body leave him. He was floating and his world around him was slow and the voices of the men sounded miles away, but they were right there.

They approached him again, this time they were both holding a knife. The man that was holding him, still with one hand on Ezra's mouth grabbed both his arms pulling the back, exposing Ezra's front.

"Let's do this quick"

"Shouldn't we wait for him to pass out first?"

"There's no time. Also, he doesn't mind, do you kiddo?"

The knife was brought under his chin forcing him to look at the men his eyes unfocused. He tried to speak, to plead for mercy, his mouth moved but no words came out.

"See? He's okay with it"

The voices of the man were kind of muted after that. They seemed to have a small disagreement as Ezra felt like he was slipping further and further away. Finally one of the two men walked up to him. He placed his knife on Ezra's stomach and applied some pressure. Ezra didn't know how much it was before he felt blood tickle his skin. The blood was increasing and his vision was getting more and more blurry. If the man had cut him open, he couldn't feel.

He on the brink of passing out when he fell on the ground, the hands holding him now gone. He heard voices, screaming but he didn't understand what was happening. Through his half closed eyelids he saw the man with the knife fall in the ground, most of his teeth broken. The man that was probably holding him and the one who drugged him were now levitating and then thrown extremely hard to somewhere Ezra couldn't see.

The last thing he saw was a blur leaning over him, pressing their hands on his stomach and yelling something at him. Then his eyes closed.

------------TIME SKIP---------

Ezra groaned as he slowly came to his senses. He gasped as pain coming from his stomach made his body ache. He tried to open his eyes but he found it to be almost impossible.

When he did open them a little he immediately closed them again because it was too bright. He just stood there trying not to move too much as to not cause more pain in his stomach. What was going on? Why did he hurt so much?

Ezra tried hard to remember what had happened today and then...it all came back to him. The body parts traders. Ezra gasped, jerking up and clenching his stomach in pain. His vision blurred but he could still make out the shapes around him. He felt something brushing against his hand. He tried to touch it. An IV. Ezra quickly ripped it off causing severe bleeding from his wrist. He tried to get off the bed but his legs failed him and he dropped on the ground.

A droid walked in. A medical droid.

"The patient should be resting. The IV has to be connected at all times" It said as it picked Ezra up and laid him on the bed.

Ezra fighted to get off the bed again but the droid kept him there firmly with one hand as it reconnected the IV to his wrist.

"No! No! I don't want it! Please leave me alone!"

A couple more droids came in, one started scanning Ezra and the other injected something on his IV. Ezra thrusted around and cried out as the whole fight caused almost unbearable pain to his stomach.

Suddenly he couldn't move. Whatever was injected on his IV seemed to be effective. Ezra couldn't do anything but cry as he felt the overwhelming urge to fall asleep once again.

He closed his eyes but he couldn't fall alpeep. He didn't know where he was or what this people did to him or what they were going to do now. The adrenaline and fear kept him conscious enough to not actually pass out. For a while he just stayed on the line between asleep and awake.

He felt something warm covering him and a hand going through his hair. Ezra whimpered. This wasn't good. Why couldn't they just kill him and take what they needed? Tears ran down his face as sobbed. Suddenly he felt a warmth, a feeling of safety wrapping around him. Not physically, the warm feeling wrapped around his spirit calming the violent storm on his mind. He felt his muscles relax and his breathing even. There was only one thing that could calm him down this effectively. Kanan.

He opened his eyes and sure enough Kanan was standing beside his bed. He looked so relieved, like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack kid" he said as he dragged a chair and sat beside him. He took Ezra's hand on his. His expression seemed almost painful "There was so much blood and you wouldn't respond, I thought you'd-" Kanan squeezed Ezra's hand. He needed to reassure himself somehow that the boy was still here, that he would be okay.

"Why did you ran off like that?"

Ezra turned his gaze at his hands that laid limp on the blanket. He forced himself to take a deep breath.

"I-I" he sighed as his voice broke. He was on the verge of tears again.

"I-I th-though" Just spit it out already! He thought. Why was it so difficult?!

He cringed when pain shot through his stomach.

"Hey it's okay. You don't have to tell me now" Kanan sighed. "It's late, maybe I should just leave you alone, let you get some rest-"

"NO!" Ezra said getting up and yelping as pain made his vision go blurry again.

"Hey, hey, take it easy! Okay, I won't leave. Lay back down, okay?" Kanan placed his hands on his shoulders and guided him back on his pillow. Then he drew the blanket back up until it reached Ezra's chin.

"I thought you wanted to get rid of me" Kana froze. The boy's voice was so quiet and if it weren't for the fact that the room was soundproof and it were only the two of them in, he wouldn't even have heard it.

"What?" Kanan whispered. He tried to think back to see if any of his actions lately had given Ezra this impression. But he couldn't remember anything that would have made Ezra think, even for a second that he wanted him gone.

"Why would you think something like that?" Kanan asked grabbing Ezra's hand.

Ezra couldn't take it anymore. He was too tired to hold it in and with the warmth of Kanan's presence wrapped around his, the exhaustion of the last days crashing down on him and the pain coming from all over his body, he just couldn't take it anymore. He let the tears drop as he forced the rest of the words out.

"I-I kept messing up during training and you wanted Ahsoka to take over. I-I though, I thought you didn't want me around anymore because I'm useless a-and broken and undisciplined and-and-and-" Ezra chocked on his own sob. He felt Kanan squeeze his hand before cupping his cheek, and firmly but yet so gently made Ezra look at him.

"Don't ever speak of yourself like this again. I'm gonna need you to promise me that"

"B-But-"

"No, no buts. You are a good kid. Why can't you just see it? Promise me you will never talk like that about yourself self ever again"

Ezra didn't answer he just stared at Kanan for a moment. If Kanan did want to be rid of him, why was he so concerned about what he thought of himself?

Kanan sighed and moved his hand from his cheek to his hand.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way. Its been so long since you've joined us. I didn't think you would still have doubts. I should have explained my intentions to you. I just wanted Ahsoka to help because she is more experienced than I am. I just wanted to make you feel better but all I did was worry you out of your mind. I-Im sorry Ezra"

Kanan ran circles on Ezra's hand. He messed up. Big time. He just brought Ahsoka along and asked her to take over on training his padawan, and he didn't even though what it might seem like to Ezra.

"So you-you want to keep me?"

Kanan let out a bitter laugh. This, this was Ezra's biggest fear, that he would say no.

"Of course I do! Force, have you any idea how worried I was when you ran off like that! And when I found you, you were-"

Kanan squeezed his hand again. He thanked the force he found the kid when he did. If he were even a second late, who knows?

"I'm sorry I worried you" Ezra mumbled. Kanan looked back at him. He placed his free hand on his shoulder.

"No, don't blame yourself for this. It wasn't your fault. It was mine, I'm sorry I made you feel like you were not good enough. I know there's no excuse for the hell I put you through today but-"

Kanan was cut off when Ezra suddenly sat up and hugged him, almost making him loose his balance. He took a moment to snap out of the shock and wrapped his arms around the kid's trembling form.

He smiled as he sensed the kid relax and lean into his hold. Both physically and mentally. Slowly he climbed into the bed and laid both of them down. Ezra curled closer to him and Kanan smiled bigger closing his eyes, relishing the moment.

"Thank you" he heard Ezra mumble "for keeping me" the boy said as his eyelids closed, sleep taking him away. Kanan chuckled squeezing the boy to him for a second.

"I'll always keep you"

I was supposed to post this two days ago. Guess how that went? Yeah, not good. So this is the end of the 'Keep me' seri- It's not really a series, is it? Anyway, thank you Harrichristy123456 for the recommendation. Looking forward to working with you again soon. But first, there a chapter in Ezra's Depression that I need to start...and finish. May the force be with all of you. Bye!