My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 31

Pride isn't clear-cut.

The risks of this war have never been as clear as in this moment. Anakin just sacrificed himself to keep us safe, and from what I can still feel, he isn't doing well.

An explosion rumbles on the other side of the door, and with it, a wave of weakness hits me.

"Don't move the ship," Ahsoka orders. She tries to open the door by repeatedly pushing a button, but only a small crevice opens up. She peeks her head through. "He's still in there!"

I ignite my lightsaber and cut through the door, dragging Anakin out of the fire. I don't care to notice the soot covering my face now, all I care is that he stays alive no matter what.

"You two, we have to leave now," Aayla tells Ahsoka and I.

Ahsoka helps me carry him onto the ship and Captain Rex closes the door, scealing the airlock. That means we've made it.

"Contact the fleet, General Secura," I order. "We'll take care of him."

She leaves for the cockpit, nodding at my request.

I'm more worried about Ahsoka being right here. She knows I care for Anakin, but I fear she might find out to what extent that care went. And no one can find out about that.

"Come on, stay with us," I whisper with frustration.

I raised my hand to stroke his hair, but quickly reminded myself that his padawan was right next to me. She'd probably forget about it quickly, but I wouldn't want to take any unnecessary risks. All I'm focused on is making sure Anakin gets out of this alive.

We eventually brought him to the medical center and got him hooked up to a life support machine with a medical droid assisting us.

***

I stayed by in the medical wing for a while. I don't know how long. It took so much of my energy to stop myself from getting emotional, just seeing Anakin so close to death. I couldn't cry. And that was the worst part.

Aayla enters the room quickly. "I need you with Commander Bly up on the bridge right now." She turns to us.

"I should stay," Ahsoka refutes. "Commander Bly doesn't need my help. Anakin does."

"You can help Anakin by getting this ship to safety. We need both of you."

Commander Bly walks in. "General Secura, we have a problem," he announces.

"What is it, Commander?"

He clenches his fist stressfully and walks by us. "In the haste of our escape, the  navicomputer's coordinates were inputted incorrectly." Bly turns on a diagram of our trajectory. "And, well, we're headed for a star."

The four of us rush out and Ahsoka stays by the door for a minute, hesitating. "Come on, Ahsoka. We have to go," I say. I know how she feels, not wanting to leave Anakin behind like that, and it's tearing me apart, too.

She reluctantly follows me and we run past Rex in the cockpit. I sat in the copilot seat next to Commander Bly and attempted to get the ship back on track.

"It's no use." He slams his hand against the control panel. "The navigation computer's completely fried."

"Shut down all power circuits to reset the coordinates," General Secura orders.

"Wait a minute, that'll cut off Anakin's life support," I protest.

"I don't like it any more than you do, but it's a risk we're going to have to take."