#ream drabbles

[heresthefanfiction]

Lights. Bright, white lights are the first thing she saw.

Then the room came into focus. Grace didn't recognize it. But she could tell it's in the temple on Coruscant, from the lights on the ceiling.

That, and the Jedi healer standing next to her bed.

They smiled softly, "Good morning Padawan Ream. How are you feeling?"

And then it hit her. Ventress, her squad, she must have passed out-

"I- What happened?"

"I believe your troopers snuck back in and got you out." The healer helped her sit, and poured her a glass of water. "Master Tii has been waiting for you to wake. I will send her in."

Grace just nodded, still too confused, and tired, to protest or ask questions.

The healer left, and not a moment later, her master steps in. It's the least calm, the least collected, Grace has ever seen her.

"Master? What happened?"

"Your Commander told me what happened." Master Tii sat on the bed beside Grace, and took her hand. "You insisted upon dueling Ventress, to hold her off so your men could escape. You were injured, but Commander Fin sent your medic and Captain Van back to fetch you."

"Patch." Grace responds. "The medic's name is Patch. And, how badly was I injured Master?"

She's starting to remember more now. The excruciating pain, her moment of anger.

"It is easier to show you."

Her master stands, and careful flips back the covers.

Grace's breath catches in her throat.

"You will be able to walk just fine, and the healers expect you to be able to return to the battlefield in a month or so."

Grace's hands began to shake, and she stamps down on her rising anger. That, is what the healers are worried about, well, probably what the council is worried about. Of course.

From halfway between her hip and her knee, to the tip of her toes, her left leg is metal. Mechanical.

That, is what Ventress did.

[heresthefanfiction]

She knows she can't win. She's well aware of that. But her squad, her men, her troops--

If she doesn't hold Ventress off, they'll die. Grace takes a deep breath, and lights her saber, it's double blades casting a green hue over the small hangar.

"Commander, fall back."

"Not a chance."

She glances over her shoulder for a brief second, "That's an order. I'll hold her off."

Grace doesn't get a chance to make sure her men listened, because Ventress runs around the corner, and locks blades with her, and it's all she can do to hold her off.

She blocks strike after strike, backing up. What was the council thinking, assigning her to this squad? She's 15, a padawan, and they're sending her into the field with a commando squad. They put her in charge. How could her master just blindly go along with the council's orders?

It doesn't matter now. Ventress will likely kill her, and if Grace can't hold her off long enough, the same thing will happen to her squad.

So she blocks strike after strike, arms burning and hands shaking. Until Ventress slices her saber in half, and the halves clatter to the ground.

"Well, little Jedi, not so smart now, are we?"

"I could ask you the same question." Grace stands her ground, tries to buy her squad a few more-

Pain explodes up her leg, and she crumples to the ground. Ventress is laughing, Grace can see her lips moving, forming words, but her ears are ringing, blackness is tugging at the corners of her vision, she can feel tears slipping down her face.

She's dying, she thinks. Ventress has killed her. There is one, final clear second before the darkness claims her, where she is angry. Angry that the council assigned her to this squad, angry at their b*llshit reasons, angry at her squad for their dislike of her, the cold shoulders they've been giving her, when she wasn't at that first battle, she didn't send their brothers to die. Angry, because she is a child, and she shouldn't have to die this way.

The darkness claims her, and she doesn't resist.

[heresthefanfiction]

Her master doesn't stay long. She heads back to Kamino, on the second day, once it's 100% clear that Grace will be okay. Physically at least.

The second night, she wakes up in a cold sweat, her leg that isn't even there burning in pain.

The third night, she dreams of red lightsabers, and wakes in a cold sweat again.

The third morning, she's sitting in bed, wishing she could just get up and walk, or that there was a window in her room. Something to do so she doesn't have to think about red lightsabers and knowing she can't win.

Someone clears their throat in the doorway.

Grace looks up, and finds Commander Fin standing there, helmet tucked under his arm.

"Good morning sir."

Has he ever said that to her? That might be the most genuine interaction they've ever had.

She swallows, "Good morning commander." He doesn't move from the doorway, so she adds, "You don't have to just stand there," and forces a smile.

He just steps into the room.

"We were wondering how you were doing."

We being the squad, she assumes. Grace doesn't mention that it's been three days since she woke up, they could've checked in anytime before now. Then again, maybe it says something that he came here in person, instead of just comming a healer.

"I'm doing okay."

Fin smiles a little, and she knows it's genuine. "Good. We need the whole squad in one piece."

That's genuine too, and it floors her.

She begins to fiddle with the edge of her sheet. "Thank you."

Someone speaks from outside the door. "We allowed to come in yet?"

"Yeah, yeah," Fin sighs, "you can come in."

And the rest of her squad files through the door. And a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth, and she stops thinking about red lightsabers and knowing she can't win.

Because this feels like a victory, however small. It feels like a victory, as Fin, Van, Click, Patch, Tech and Spark gather around her, and ask her how she's doing.

It feels like a victory as Tech looks over her new, mechanical leg, and proclaims that it'll hold up well, even on missions.

As Patch double checks the work the healers have done, and the report he gives her feels more comforting than anything has since she woke.

She's never felt this at home, and something tells her they haven't either.

Yes, Grace thinks, this is victory.