"Good news Kanan", Katooni said as she walked throughthe door. "Both the Shadows and Ahsoka are on their way. We'll be holding a meeting as soon as...."
She stopped. Before her was Kanan, who was out of bed, in a fighting stance, his lightsaber at the ready. In front of him was a small ball that shot little lasers out at it's opponents. It couldn't kill anyone; just gave you a little tingle when hit. Kanan was trying to hit the lasers that shot out, but was failing misribly.
Katooni sighed and walked over to Kanan. "Kanan, you can't stress yourself out like this". She turned off the ball and set it down. "If you want to help Ezra you have to stop retraining yourself. It won't do you any good".
Kanan turned to her direction and switched off his lightsaber. "I can't just not do anything; Ezra needs me. Who knows what the empire is doing to him right now. They could be beating him to a pulp or-"
"Kanan!", Katooni snapped. "Ezra will be fine. The Shadows will find out where he is really soon. And Fulcrum is coming as soon as she can so we can come up with a plan to get him out and back to you".
She paused. "Get some rest. I'll let you know when their here".
Kanan sighed and felt for the bed. He knew by now that there was no use trying to pick a fight with Katooni. When her foot was down, her foot was down. She was like Hera in a way.
Hera.
How was she doing? Was she getting better? Kanan suddenly felt immense guilt sweep over him. I've been so busy think just about Ezra, I've forgotten the rest of my family.
Kanan got up and felt his way out the door and into the next room. It was a bit of a struggle, but he managed to find Hera's room. He opened the door.
"Hera?", he called out quietly.
"Kanan?", a tired, yet strong willed voice responded.
"Hera!"
Kanan sensed her presence and quickly felt his way over to her. He felt her hand clasp his. "Kanan", her relieved voice said. Her other hand went up to his face. "They said you were alive, but I wanted to see you for myself".
Kanan swallowed back the lump in his throat. "I'm so sorry I haven't come to see you. I've been so wrapped up in-"
"Ezra? Yes, I figured".
"You did?"
"Of course. I can't get him out of my head anymore than you can". She paused, staring up at his face. "We will find him, Kanan. We just need to trust these people to take care of us and handle the situation".
Kanan nodded. "I know. I just.....I can't sit around and let Ezra go like that. He's my padawan. No, he's more than that; he's my son".
"I know", Hera responded, fighting back her tears. "He's my son too. And we're going to get him back".
"All of us", a voice said, coming from the door. Kanan recognized it as Zeb. "Together".
We'll get him back; ghost family style", Sabine chimed in. Chopper let out a few enthusiastic beeps in agreement.
Kanan and Hera chuckled. "None of us have to face the empire alone. We started this crew; this family together. We start together, we keep fighting together".
For the first time since Ezra went missing, Kanan smiled. They were right; he didn't have to face the empire alone. None of them had to fight the darkness by themselves; and even if they wanted to none of them could.
Just like Ezra and his dream; he couldn't face his darkness without help. Now we need each other to fight the darkness of the empire.
"Alright everyone", Petro said, peeking his head in. "The Shadows have made it into imperial territory and are gathering intel as we speak".
Relief swept over the group. "And even bigger news", Petro continued "Fulcrum has just entered the planet's atmosphere and will be in shortly".
Kanan suddenly felt something better than relief, something that made his heart and mind lighter and more at ease.
Hope.