Chapter Text
“I’ve got a weird feeling about this,” Ester commented, looking around the abandoned town.
“Shh…” Ezra says holding up a finger to his lips. The two quiet, hardly breathing, listening for the slightest movement. Ester sees movement in the corner of her eye and whips her head in that direction.
“What was that,” She whisper-shouted.
“What was what?” Ezra whispered back as they slowly circled each other, back to back.
Ester nearly jumped from the sound of a harsh thump a few meters away from them. They both turn to the sound and see that the shutters of one of the old buildings had fallen off.
“I really don’t like this place,” Ester stated as the two moved back to back, only illuminated by a single, flickering street lamp.
“Neither do I,” Ezra replied. “Remind me why we're on this mission.”
“No clue,” Ester responded, preoccupied with looking in all directions. All she can remember is Hera telling them that they were going to some moon, and no other details were given. The only people that had come to explore the abandoned village were the two of them and Kanan and Mimin, off somewhere else.
They hear a metal clanging from an alleyway.
“You stay here, I’m going to investigate,” Ezra declares, disappearing into the darkness.
“No, wait! We should… stick together.” Ester’s voice trailed off as she finished, not willing to speak up and disturb the silence. She sighed which soon turned to a frightened hitch as the wind rattled and whose.
“Ezra?” Ester tentatively called out into the night. No reply came.
“Ezra?” Ester called again, breath picking up speed as she feared the worst.
The light then flickered off and all Ester could hear was her blood pounding in her own ears while she waited for her eyes to adjust to the sliver of moonlight.
She then heard the buzz of a lightsaber igniting and saw the street be eliminated by a red glow. Turning around slowly she saw a large, pale, male inquisitor standing at the end of the street, his eyes glowing a fierce yellow. Tentatively, Ester grabbed her own lightsabers and ignited them, the blue-white mixing with the red light on the street.
“I-” Ester started but then had to clear her throat. “I’ve faced one of you before, I’m not afraid,” Ester called, hands shaking.
The Inquisitor laughed, a deep feral thing, “The twelfth brother? That puny thing? He’s been disgraced, not that he was a challenge to begin with.”
Ester then hears a female scream a few blocks away. “Mimin,” Ester breathed, immediately recognizing the source.
The Inquisitor smiled, “As soon as I’m finished killing you, I will kill your friend.” The Inquisitor then started approaching and Ester hardened her stance, determination set in.
The duel started, fierce.
Ester soon realized that she was no match for the Inquisitor, whether it was the Inquisitor’s own process or her lack of experience in fighting another force user tiring to kill her. Soon, Ester realized that if she didn’t leave now, she was going to be killed and unable to help Mimin. Pulling off a risky maneuver, Ester scored a hit on the Inquisitor's leg; not chopping it off, but enough to do damage. Not taking time to see if he was following, she dashed off, quickly jumping to the roof, and hopping from unstable roof to unstable roof.
Eventually, she saw the clash of Ezra and Kanan’s lightsabers against the twin red blades of a female Inquisitor. The next thing she saw was Mimin’s prone body a couple of meters behind the two fighting Jedi. Deciding that the Master-Padawan pair had it covered, Ester scampered to check on Mimin. Sliding on her knees, Ester crouched Next to Mimin and checked for a pulse. Finding a weak one, Ester turned her attention to evaluate the rest of Mimin’s state. She had a nasty-looking lightsaber wound on her side. Luckily it wasn’t deep, so Mimin would likely survive, but Ester had an inkling that if Mimin didn’t get medical attention soon, the damage would be irreparable. Ester's breathing quickened as she worried for her friend’s life.
Just then she heard the whirring of the Phantom approaching.
“Just in time, Chopper,” she heard Kanan call as she did her best to lift Mimin. Soon she was relieved by Kanan who grabbed the teenage girl and jumped onto the ramp. Ezra and Ester soon followed.
The flight back to rebel HQ was a tense one.
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“-We have put her in a medically-induced coma to help her body heal,” the medical droid explained to Hera, Ester, and Kanan, all crammed into the hallway outside the medical room.
“Is she going to be ok?” Ester asked, wringing her hands.
“She is expected to make a full recovery, but it will take time.”
The whole group deflated, the tension in their shoulders easing away.
“This is all my fault,” Ester announced quietly.
Hera turned to Ester, surprised, with concern written all over her face. “What? Of course not! Why would you think that?”
“If I wasn’t her friend she never would have been on that mission and she wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” Ester responded, just shy of mumbling.
Hera put her hand on Ester’s shoulder, turning it so Ester was facing her. “Ester, that’s not your fault, you cannot blame yourself for what happened to her,” Hera responded softly.
Ester nodded outwardly but internally disagreed.