The Tragic Jedi | Anakin Skywalker

𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝟗𝟎

❈✱❉✤❈✱❉

Anakin's throat bobbed as he swallowed, and then he simply closed his eyes as if he couldn't stand to look at Astrid. Shame oozed from him through the Force. She opened her mouth to speak, but then he gave a great shudder, and Astrid realized his face was growing more wane by the second.

She quickly reached up and grabbed bandages from the upper compartment cabinets in the ship before redirecting her focus on his wound. She shifted his cloak to the side before she carefully peeled his shirt upwards to expose his wound. Astrid couldn't help her grimace at the sight of the angry-looking injury. She reached for the bottle of disinfectant and doused the bandage with it before placing it on top of his wound.

He hissed in pain at the touch of the disinfectant, and Astrid winced apologetically. "Sorry," she murmured as she dabbed at his wound to clean it. He only gave a small grunt. 

When she was finished disinfecting the wound, she covered it up with several more clean bandages. She leaned back a little to regard her work when she was done, searching for any mistakes. Astrid decided that what she had done would do for now. She had managed to stop the bleeding, which was the most important part at the moment. When they got back to the rebel base, the medics could look at his wound more closely. 

Her eyes flitted back to his face, and she found that he was already looking at her with sorrowful eyes full of guilt and self-hate. Astrid opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She discovered that she didn't know what to say. 

"I'm sorry," he finally whispered, voice full of pain, both physically and emotionally. "I don't deserve you, and I surely don't deserve a second chance at anything. Not after what I've done." 

Astrid didn't quite know what to say to that since he had done some pretty atrocious things, but she did say in a voice matching his same volume, "All that matters is that you're back and that you're not going to die from your wound here." She offered him a shaky smile.

He didn't return her smile, though. Instead, he murmured, "I deserve to die from my wound." 

He was wracked with another shiver, and Astrid rose to her feet to grab a blanket from one of the storage cabinets in the ship. His eyes fluttered closed as she draped the blanket over him, and she stood there for a moment, studying him. The sound of his raspy breathing filled the room, worrying her. Surely, he was okay now. She'd patched up his wound, but what if there was something she had missed, like internal damage? 

She gave him one last cursory look before she strode back to the cockpit and slumped into the pilot's seat. They had about an hour before they reached the planet neighboring Yavin IV. 

Astrid pursed her lips as she surveyed her options. Her original plan had been to not go directly to the rebel base in case she was being tracked and in case Anakin was not... Anakin. But with his injury, she feared he was more horribly injured than she'd originally thought. And not only did she need him to live, but the rebels needed him to live. He had all sorts of valuable insider information. 

Her hand hovered over the navicomputer for a moment before she swiftly changed course. She would take them directly to the rebel base. 

The next hour passed excruciatingly slow. Several times, Astrid checked on Anakin, who had fallen asleep, but she knew his condition was worsening. His face was wane and slick with cold sweat, and he was constantly wracked with shivers. Not to mention his breathing was still raspy yet much shallower. Every breath cost him effort. 

When she checked his bandages, she discovered the blood had soaked right through it. Mumbling a curse, she swiftly replaced the bandage and held pressure to the wound. Anakin stirred, but thankfully remained asleep. Astrid had the feeling that if he had been awake, her applying pressure to his injury would've been much, much more painful.