second round because your tag @thewildballyntynesgrow made me start to write one of my slow horses fic ideas!
This is a what if Frank did slit Rivers femoral artery (or at least something important enough in Rivers leg to really bleed) during their lovely chat in the pub at the end of the season. This snippet is after River bleeding out has caught the other peoples attention and Frank had already left the scene of the crime.
So he thought about Louisa and how he hoped she wouldn't come, even though he had called her and wanted her to be here. Because he didn't want to die alone, but he also didn't want her to see him die. She shouldn't have to bear that too, having to see him bleed out, even though his death wasn't going hurt her like Min's death did. Still, it would probably made her sad and he didn't want to cause her more grief.
A hand was tapping his face, bringing him out of his spiraling thoughts. Right the people that were currently trying to keep him from bleeding out.
They were asking him questions like what his name was, if he was hurt anywhere else, who that man was that was with him. Questions that he wasn't answering because his leg hurt and he was cold and he was busy thinking about how he was going to die alone surrounded by strangers.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 3/31
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Darth Maul, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Additional Tags: Whumptober 2021, Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Torture, Palpatine Adopts Anakin, Child Abuse, How Anakin Got His Scar
Summary:
and so is blood.
Short story collection for Whumptober 2021. Focused mostly on Anakin. Ranging from the pre-prequel time to the prequels and the clone wars time.
[alt. 6 head injury- How Anakin got his scar. (He slipped in the shower)]
Anakin was dead on his feet. The first weeks of the war were gruesome and exhausting in ways Anakin never experienced. Sure, he was tired before, he had felt the burning of two suns while working for nine years of his life, but the constant death, battle after battle, drained him in a form that was not only breaking his body but also his mind.
Obi-Wan was still at the council meeting, which Anakin was excluded from because of his padawan status. The council didn’t trust him to the information of their newest assignment, rather letting Obi-Wan be the messenger in the end. Hadn't he proven himself enough?
Standing in their dark quarter the frustration ebbed away, leaving only the emptiness around. The exhaustion pulling him away from anger and towards his bed.
“The force feels-“ Ahsoka paused for a moment her eyebrow furrowed “different Master Kenobi,” she said to him as they approached the next room. After months of searching for his former Padawan, they had ended up in an assumed separatist stronghold on a moon of a planet without even a name on maps. They have breached the building far too easily for his taste and he can’t stop feeling disappointed, because he doubts that the separatist would hold Anakin in an unprotected facility like this one. Even so, the force felt strange and if they wouldn’t find him here, maybe they could find information.
“I feel it too Ahsoka,” he looked to Commander Cody on his right side and added, “We should be careful whatever is in the next room could very well be a trap.” The force didn’t felt like there was danger on the other side of the door, but something wasn’t quite right between the lack of droids or any living Separatist and the strange feeling that accompanied them as soon as they landed on the moon.
His Commander gave him a short nod and the rest of the men, half 212th and 501st, because Anakin's men were as eager to find him as he was and have been practically merged with the 212th, took cover on the left and right side of the door. Both Ahsoka and he enlightened their lightsabers, waiting for Rex to open the door. He couldn’t help but notice that Ahsoka was quieter compared to a few months ago when Anakin was still with them. He doubted her more reserved manner came from being technically his Padawan now even though they haven’t talked about it. He didn’t want to take on Ahsoka as his Padawan if there was still the chance of his own Padawan being out there and he knew that Ahsoka wouldn’t tolerate a new master as long as they haven’t found Anakin. As long as there is still a chance that he was alive.
He couldn’t be dead he reminded himself. He would know. He would have felt that. He knew how a severed bond felt like. The bond that he shared with Anakin was still there, even if he couldn’t feel anything from the other side. He shook his head. Now was not the moment for speculating.
The room in front of them was dark and quiet and gave the men the signal to follow after them. When they stepped in, he could make out a quiet humming noise that filled the room. Careful they moved further into the room, but nothing was moving. No droids or sentient beings attacked them. But he tightened his grip on his lightsaber, the strange feeling in the force was even stronger here. There were multiple metal tables in the middle of the room and the only major sources of light were from some from green stripes on the floor. The light from the lightsabers barely illuminated the walls of the rooms where he could make out some sort of blinking displays.
“I need some light on the left,” Ahsoka said, she was already standing closer to the wall and apparently a tank that was built inside of it, that he now could make out in the green shine of her lightsaber. As soon as the lights of the clone helmets hit the tank, she made a startled sound and then
“Anakin!”
Obi-Wan's heart began to beat faster in his chest as he rushed to Ahsoka and-
There was Anakin submerged in some form of liquid with various tubes connected to him.
“Kix-“he started but the medic of the 501st was already next to him. Ahsoka tapped on the panel next to the glass and the liquid - bacta maybe? – level decreased, the multiple tubes in Anakins body holding him up. Oh, what have they done to you Anakin? After a few torturous slow seconds, the glass moved aside. Obi-wan and Kix caught Anakin as the tubes automatically disconnected from the ports in Anakin’s skin and he fell forward. They gently laid him on the ground and Obi-wan kneeled on the left side of Anakin gripping his hand. Ahsoka fell on her knees next to him at Anakin’s head.
“Kix what is wrong with him?” she asked.
“He is probably sedated,” Kix said while putting a breathing mask over Anakin’s mouth.
Even though his former Padawan was laying before him he still couldn’t feel anything through their force bond. He could barely make out the presence of the man lying in front of him in the force, the presence was muted and distorted. He was probably drugged with force suppressants; he didn’t saw force cuffs or anything similar. His eyes wandered back to Anakin’s face and he pushed a still wet strand of hair from his forehead. He got a strange feeling the longer he looked at his face. But the relief of having his former Padawan with him again was stronger, that he didn’t dwell on it.
“Sir I really think you should see that.” A concerned voice broke him from his thoughts and he tore his eyes from Anakin giving the lax hand a quick squeeze. There was no squeeze back. A few clone troopers had ventured to the tanks that are in the rest of the room and he noticed that they have found a way to power the lights on. The walls had more tanks built inside of them.
He could make out more floating bodies in the tanks behind the men and-
They weren’t just more people in the tanks. They were all the same person and every single of them had the same face that they were searching for, for months. All of them looked like Anakin Skywalker.
He looked back on Anakin in front of him and then he realized why he had a strange feeling when he looked at him. Instead of the scar that went over his eye and eyebrow was smooth unblemished skin and instead of holding the right hand of Anakin, that really shouldn’t be there because Dooku had cut that one off on Geonosis, he was holding an arm made out of flesh in place of the mechno-arm that should be there instead.
The man laying in front of him wasn’t Anakin. Not his Anakin.
“Kriff what is that,” Ahsoka said and moved to Rex who was standing in front of another tank with somebody looking like Anakin floating inside.
“I don’t think they are alive.” Coric’s somber voice came from one of the tanks next to where they are kneeling. The medic looked up from the panel he was studying and said “There is no brain activity they are just bodies. Technically they're dead.”
Obi-Wan had to swallow as he looked around the room where there were at least a hundred tanks with Anakin’s body floating in them.
“But why?” Ahsoka said and looked at him with wide eyes. He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know if he wants to know the answer to that. Looking at the middle of the room which clearly resembled a laboratory. A growing sense of dread settled in.
“And where is Anakin.” She added. He looked back at the hand he still held in his own letting it go. It fell lifeless to the ground. How deeply he wished to know the answer to that.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 4/31
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Darth Maul, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano
Additional Tags: Whumptober 2021, Hurt Anakin Skywalker, Torture, Palpatine Adopts Anakin, Child Abuse, How Anakin Got His Scar
Summary:
and so is blood.
Short story collection for Whumptober 2021. Focused mostly on Anakin. Ranging from the pre-prequel time to the prequels and the clone wars time.
[no.4: “Do you trust me?”, taken hostage- Anakin and Ahsoka have been taken hostage.]
“Ahsoka, do you trust me?” The dark red blood was a stark contrast to the piercing blue of his eyes that bore into Ahsoka's eyes from across the room. Their captors chained them to the opposite sides of the room, before leaving.
“What? Mas-“
“Ahsoka, do you trust me?” he asked again. She missed him calling her Snips she realized. It wasn’t like he never called her her real name, but right now she could use their light banter.
“Of course, I trust you, Master! What-”
“No Ahsoka I want you to listen to me. They are coming back in any moments and I need you to understand-“ his voice broke a little. Now Ahsoka got scared she has never seen her Master speaking like this. With wide eyes and haste. Scared.
“They are coming and when they take me you don’t protest. You don’t try and divert their attention on you.”
“But-“ she began to protest.
“No please Ahsoka” his words were begging now. The cold from the cell now seeping into her bones. He couldn’t- couldn’t just expect her to sit here, could he?
CW: medical experimentation, dead bodies kinda, talking about war and death
[Masterlist]
Part 1
(read here on ao3)
Obi-Wan wasn’t surprised by the empty bed that greeted him in the med bay. But that didn’t lessen his concern as he looked at the discarded IV lines and other medical equipment laying around the bed.
“General Kenobi.” A voice came from behind and he turned towards Kix, who in the meantime had discovered the empty bed and didn’t looked all too pleased about it, his lips pressed together forming a tight line.
“I don’t believe Anakin is supposed to be elsewhere?” He asked already knowing the answer to his question.
“No sir, I will contact the men. Tell them to keep an eye out for General Skywalker,” Kix said with a sigh. “You will bring him back when you find him?”
“Of course.”
As Obi-Wan left the med bay he could hear Kix mutter under his breath.
Where would have Anakin gone, Obi-Wan pondered before settling on the hanger. Anakin’s stress relief had always been to tinker on some droids or mechanical projects, to dismay to Obi-Wan feet who had more than one time stepped on one of Anakin’s projects during his apprenticeship. That or lightsaber practice, but he hoped that Anakin wasn’t pushing himself to do such strenuous activities, while he was still healing. Of course, Anakin had picked the first opportunity he wasn’t sitting by his former Palawan’s side to sneak out of the med bay.
Walking down the corridor towards the hanger he suddenly paused. Turning towards the door he felt the force calling to him. He was about to open the door as he looked at the number on the sign and took a step back. That is where they brought a couple of the bodies, they had found in the laboratory. He shivered, the force signature in the room was so similar to Anakin’s. He had already resumed his path to the hangers as he paused again. Now really focusing on the force signatures in the room he could make out one that was distinctively different from the rest, more alive.
As he stepped into the room, he saw Anakin sitting beside a bed that contained one of the bodies. It was a strange sight, seeing his former Padawan sitting by his own bedside. The bodies lying in the beds weren’t Anakin, he reminded himself. They weren’t even sentient. Anakin didn’t acknowledge him beside a glance.
“I see I can call off the search for you.” He said and walked closer towards the bed. Stopping at the end of the bed. “Anakin?” he added more softly when he got no answer.
Anakin still didn’t lookup. Obi-Wan took the last few steps toward him.
“I know you want out of the med bay, but-"
“I am” Anakin rasped, his voice still rough from the time he spent intubated “technically still in med bay.”
Obi-Wan sighed “You know what I mean Anakin. You shouldn’t be out of bed yet”
“One could argue that I am,” Anakin answered and pointed towards the bed in front of him.
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin then at the body in the bed and back at Anakin.
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
Anakin looked at least a little bit sheepish after that. He was probably still on meds Obi-wan thought.
“Come on let’s go back to Kix,” Obi-Wan said and holds out his hand towards Anakin. Anakin took his hand and slowly stood up. He was swaying slightly on the spot before Obi-Wan slung Anakin’s arm over his shoulder and grabbed his waist.
It was comforting to feel the warmth radiating from Anakin’s body as they began to walk out of the room. He had carried too many bodies looking like Anakin in the past few weeks, that were cold to his touch. He doesn’t want to think about all the other bodies that share Anakin’s face, lying in a cold storage room because they couldn’t fit all of them in the med bay. He doesn’t want to think how similar it had felt to carrying Qui-Gon’s dead body. Only that this time he had carried his Padawan’s lifeless body, instead of his Master’s and that more than once.
“You tell me when you need to stop okay?” he said softly to Anakin as he felt him becoming increasingly heavier in his grip.
“Mhm- “Anakin murmured in response. “It’s weird you know. Seeing yourself lying in a bed,” he added.
Obi-Wan had to agree. It was a strange sight seeing your former Padawan sitting next to a lifeless version of himself.
“Must be strange for the men.” Anakin continued. “Seeing your own face in the dead or wounded you know.”
Obi-Wan paused. That was an aspect he hadn’t really considered before.
“Probably.” He said. He could ask Cody later, but the question seemed a little bit too personal.
“You know at least I have no problems getting organs or blood transfusions now Master.” His former Padawan said.
“I hope you won’t need those Anakin anytime soon,” Obi-Wan said, not mentioning that they already used the blood from Anakin’s clones to keep him alive after they had found him. He tightened his grip on Anakin.
“We are at war Obi-Wan,” Anakin replied and his voice sounded serious.
“Yes, we are.” He said, but that won't mean he wouldn’t do anything to protect him from further harm, now that he got him back.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Summary:
Mace notices Anakin's strange behavior during lightsaber practice.
Later he realizes that a child who grew up on a desert planet probably never learned how to swim.
Mace Windu takes a little known short cut from the lake level to the archives. After an early morning meditation next to the lake, he wants to take a quick trip to the archives to find some books from Harido Kavila . It is too long ago that he enjoyed the work of the Rodian. He and Alxa Kress had an intense debate over the meaning of a certain scene in the play, a week ago during a friendly visit for tea . Determined to prove his old friend false he decided to spend his time before the council meeting today rereading the scene in question .
The trip takes him to a corridor from which he can oversee one of the swimming pools of the temple. To his surprise he can hear voices coming from below. The pools are rarely used especially so early in the morning, most Jedi prefer the more natural lake for swimming . The pool is mostly used for lightsaber training for the younglings.
While he walks he looks over the railing and sees the young Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker in the water . The young knight is already treading water in the middle of the pool while Skywalker is staying close to the edge both hands gripping onto the side of the pool .
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Mace looks at the students, everyone diligently moving through the parts of the kata. Since the knighting of his own padawan Deepa, he has assumed a more prominent role in lightsaber training for older initiates.
A suggestion by his own master Yoda. The old master himself is greatly involved in training the younglings and has done so for centuries “Passing on what we have learned we must”. The words are ringing in his head while he lets his eyes wander on the stance and movement of the young force users.
He stops at Anakin Skywalker. He sees how Skywalker shifts his weight from one foot to the other and performs the next sequence of strokes and a backward flip that ends with a block with his eyes closed. He is fully immersed in the force. While he is a padawan to the young Knight Kenobi, the council has agreed that he should train with other initiates of the same age to catch up. And then enroll in the advanced courses for Padawans.
The boy has been in the temple for some time and has shown extraordinary improvement for somebody only training for a year. He is already on the same skill level as the other Initiates, sometimes even surpassing them. And while his own concerns over the boy remain, even he must admit that Skywalker has a natural talent, rarely seen in the temple.
At least in terms of his physical education. in terms of meditation, he heard the boy struggled. Maybe another sign of the uncertain future that lies ahead of Anakin Skywalker.
Before he can dwell any longer on the subject of Anakin Skywalker, he looks at the doors as they open. Jedi Knight Kit Fisto enters the room and makes his way to the end of the room where Mace stands. Mace feels how the concentration in many of the students falters and notices how some try to glance subtle at the nautolan.
“Resume the kata.” He says into the room while shifting his focus to the newcomer, with a raised eyebrow.
“Master Windu, please excuse my intrusion” The knight exclaims with a big smile that does not particularly speak of remorse for the interruption. But Kit Fisto is a cheerful individual, so the grin is not surprising.
“Of course, how can I help you Knight Fisto?” he responds.
“Since I have to departure today for my mission to Dac that will probably take a few months, we have to reschedule the underwater training for this class.” He had forgotten about that one, Mace muses and strokes his chin. He remembers now looking over the report and assigning the nautolan and his Padawan to that mission.
“That will be no problem, I will look for a new date in the swimming halls and will inform you when you come back.” Fighting underwater is not his strong suit and he found that Fisto is not only unsurprisingly an excellent Swordsman underwater, but also a skilled teacher.
“Underwater? Doesn’t a lightsaber short circuit in the water?” comes a question from the left and both Master and Knight look over to Anakin Skywalker, who is holding his still ignited training saber seemingly forgotten in his right hand.
Before Mace could say anything about concentration and the importance of lightsaber safety the voice of the man next to him speaks up
„Excellent question young Skywalker” -Mace is not surprised that Fisto knows the name of the boy, Skywalker was quite the source of conversation, when he came to the temple, whispers of prophecies and the Chosen one, something Mace himself still doubts - “To use a lightsaber underwater you have to modify it. But the training lightsabers already have a waterproof casing, so you won’t have to worry about that.” He explains.
Mace is fairly sure Skywalker could modify a lightsaber to be waterproof if he would be allowed near a real one. He had already met at least a dozen of his so-called improved droids to his own annoyance. He is clearly gifted in mechanics.
“But how can we fight underwater, if we can’t breathe underwater Master?” Initiate Yara Nu a young girl right next to Skywalker asks with a frown on her face. Most of the students have stopped by now and are more interested in the conservation than in their kata.
