Star Wars One-Shots

The Mushroom Strikes Back

Author's Note: I still don't like how I started the one shot but hopefully the later half makes up for it. Anyway, prepare to read plotless Anakin and Cody friendship fluff. Honestly, why are they so underrated? 

This is a gift for sonikkuruzu on ao3! If you enjoy fics that center on Anakin and Cody, you might also like 'Roots' which similarly focuses on them, and which also we just posted. :)

~ Tirana Sorki

Only weeks after the Clone Wars broke out, Obi-Wan is called away from the fronts, leaving Cody and Anakin, who has yet to be given a battalion of his own, in charge of the 212th. Everything is going fine, until it doesn't, leaving both Anakin and Cody injured. They have to take care of each other, and learn more about each other's past and struggles in the process.

The inevitable fighting every mission as a Jedi brings didn't prepare Anakin for leading people into battle. He's done that before on small-scale, but never massive, never with the lives of so many people relying on him. This isn't what he trained for, but it's what the clones trained for, and he can only try to learn from them.

But at least flying is something he knows he can do as his fighter hurtles through space, in between the vulture droids that he's shooting down. The space battles are always the easy part. He lets the Force guide his movements as he flies, covering for the clones as best he can.

But the droids are swarming around a group of them, overwhelming them through sheer numbers. Anakin spins his fighter around, shooting at the droids attacking those clones, but there's so many.

His fighter spins in circles through space as he avoids their shots, taking down dozens faster than the clones were – not that it's fair to compare when he has the Force and they don't – when a sudden shot strikes his wing. His fighter jolts violently, nearly throwing him face-first onto the controls before it starts spiraling.

It's pulled into the gravitational field of the nearby planet the 212th is already fighting on almost instantly, right alongside another crashing clone fighter.

Anakin keeps all his focus on bringing the fighter down without crashing. But it's coming in too fast, and the controls aren't responding fast enough. It hits the ground full-force, throwing him forwards again, head slamming into the controls.

His vision is swimming, and he tries to push himself up anyway, because staying in a crashed ship could be deadly, but even opening his eyes right now hurts. He needs to give it a moment to fade, and –

A rush of fresh air suddenly hits him, and Anakin blinks, trying to bring the world into focus around him again.

"Sir?" a clone's voice asks.

He hasn't known them long enough to tell who it is when they all sound similar, but when he listens closely enough, he can see the little differences.

Right.

He... crashed, and he needs to get out. Trying to blink away the dizziness – he must have blacked out for a moment – Anakin sits up, looking up at the clone peering down at him.

It's one of the clone pilots, but he doesn't recognize the armor markings yet.

"Are you alright?" the clone queries, almost awkwardly.

"I will be," Anakin assures, clamoring out of his fighter, even as the world spins around him dizzyingly for a moment. At least it's starting to fade a little.

Nearby, he can see the other crashed fighter, though that one is burning, flames licking dangerously close to the engine. The crash must've been a lot worse, even if he's in better shape thanks to his armor. "Are you okay?" Anakin asks, eyeing him.