Work Text:
Month One
Ezra woke up sore…he rolled his shoulders back experimentally but found that he couldn’t...heavy cuffs kept his shoulders and arms locked in place. He adjusted himself into a sitting position. He registered the smell of smoke...looking down at his clothes to see they were burnt and singed.
‘Kanan yelling, flames burning his skin...an unfamiliar voice yelling that he was still alive’
Ezra recoiled at the memory. that explosion was enough to take out a whole city block. He shouldn’t be alive much less in an imperial cell. He tried to reach out with the force...but found he couldn’t. Kriffing force restrainters of course.
Ezra reached for the lock pick that he kept in his boot...but that was gone too. This was going to be harder than he thought. Whoever was running the show probably knew what they were doing if they searched him for lock picks which again was...great.
He shifted in his chains again but pain shot through his wrists. Ezra gritted his teeth to keep from crying out in pain. He was sure that an imperial was watching the security cams and Ezra was not going to give him the satisfaction of hearing him even whimper.
The door opened with a snap hiss as Pryce stepped in smirk crossing her face. Ezra summoned his best glare...hopefully it didn’t look fake. He was tired and injured. The imps just treated his injuries enough so he wouldn’t die of them but they were still extremely painful.
“Ezra Bridger. Surprising a teenage boy has caused the Empire this much trouble” the woman said grabbing his chin cruelly nails digging into it. Ezra moved his face to the side away from her grip.Staying silent for now.
“Hm...you have your parent’s spirit...I met them...once…” she said musingly. Ezra bit his lip hard at the mention of his parents. He couldn’t let this woman see that this struck a nerve. The woman pressed a button to her left letting go of his chin mercifully.
Electricity went through him. Ezra twisted trying to get away from the pain of the shocks.He gritted his teeth trying to contain the cry of pain that was threatening to escape his throat.
“The Empire wasn’t able to break their spirits...but perhaps we can break their son’s” Pryce said. Ezra just lifted his head glaring at Pryce with the most defiant look he could manage.
“Give it your best shot” he said.
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Ezra still hadn’t lost hope that the crew would come and rescue him..he knew he was kind of being stupid. If they hadn’t come in all the time he was here they probably weren’t coming at all but...Ezra had to hold onto the hope they were.
It was the only thing that made the pain bearable. The imps were doing the same old thing today.Was it a new day? Ezra wasn’t sure...it was hard to keep track of time now. He guessed being trapped in a cell had some effect on that,
It was the same routine….he had gotten used to it...a imperial officer would walk in. Order the technicians to shock him. Ezra tried to beg them to stop but they paid no heed. They didn’t care. Ezra was just another victim to the mindless imperial drones that probably did this on a daily basis.
“Activate bone fragmentors” the imperial officer...that Ezra had nicknamed “dumb”...his buddies dumber and dumbest were worse..he heard his left arm snap and break. He was so used to pain..he didn’t even whimper.
MONTH 2
Ezra’s wrists were aching...well more than usual ...Pryce had tightened them last time she was here claiming they were too loose and were now digging heavily into his skin. Not the worse thing that he has gone through.
Most of the time it was just the silence they left him in solitary confinement for days on end...worse of it was he was chained to the wall the whole time. He barely acknowledged the artificial light leaking into the cell or the stormtroopers dragging him down the long hallways...he knew what was gonna happen next...Taking him to the lab.
Force sensitives were a rare breed and apparently every imperial scientist wanted to get their hands on him.
The first time Ezra kicked and screamed now...he just didn’t want to give them a reaction..He let the imperial scientists test their drugs. Most were harmless anyway. What surprised him though was when the imps left the room.
That’s when it started to get cold. Ezra curled in on himself thankfully not chained hugging his knees to his chest as he shivered...he wanted to go home...he wanted to go home that was the only thing that went through his mind until he passed out.
Part of him wished that he never woke up but he did.
Month 3
Days blended together….he tried to keep track of the days by marks on the wall but those became scribbles too. Ezra still had bits and pieces of his will and he wouldn’t let Pryce or the Empire win this easy.
He was chained to the table again and just the usual shocks while Pryce laughed and mocked him.
Ezra summoned the strength to glare up at her. “Sheesh no wonder you had to work here...no one else could probably stand your voice” he chocked out.
For that she took his voice..
Month 4
Ezra’s mouth was still sewed shut...they redid them ever so often to make sure they wouldn’t get infected apparently they still wanted him alive. Vader visited once to see if he was worthy of training for once Ezra was glad he was too injured.
He wouldn’t be sent to Mustafar...but they wouldn’t just let him go either. They didn’t even bother to execute him ...fearing it would cause a mass rebellion on Lothal. Nothing special as the days went on just the shocks and the cuts with a vibroknife...He stopped hoping that the crew would ever rescue him.
Month 5
The prisoner had forgotten his name...he was pretty sure it started with a ‘e’...but he couldn’t really be sure. The torturers took his name once they had nothing else to take. The interrogators didn’t come anymore.
The prisoner did scribble on the walls with his nails...trying to keep himself sane trying to remember what his family even looked like.
Month 6
Kanan had thought his padawan was dead..that he was killed in an explosion that the imps had caused. It wasn’t until they captured an imp who exchanged immunity for the information. Kanan hadn’t expected that he would sense the truth in the man’s words. They went to the prison as soon as possible.
The Jedi sunk his saber into the control panel as the metal door slid open. He saw a small figure in the corner of the cell. The cell was full of scratches which made Kanan freeze up. It started out normal enough just as tallies then turned into mad scribbles.
He walked closer to the small figure...even under all the abuse he knew that it was Ezra...his face was full of bruises and his clothes were torn to shreds the worse that Kanan could really see was his lips which were sewed shut...Kanan felt bile rising in his throat as he walked over carefully kneeling down. His padawan flinched away slightly but stayed where he was.
“Ezra?” he said softly...bright blue eyes met his in one motion before thick tears started to go down his face..what Kanan didn’t expect was the boy to launch into his arms sobbing into Kanan’s sweater.
“I’m so sorry Ezra” he said. His own tears spilling over...as he mumbled these words to the boy in his arms over and over.