Febuwhump Day 26: Forced To Choose

Febuwhump Day 26: Forced to Choose

Fandom: Star Wars

Timeline: The Bad Batch

    The Bad Batch had finally been caught. All that needed to happen was for them to be executed for their crimes. Crosshair walked from the command deck where the orders were given. The empire would give the clones a little less than a day to reveal any secrets that could potentially save their lives.

    As the family's time ran out, Crosshair debated going to see them. It would be the last time he could after all. If not for anything he decided to go for closer. Why the man wanted closer he wasn't really sure but he needed it.

    Only a few minutes were left for the batch to spill some secrets when Crosshair arrived at the cell. The electric shield prevented the family from escaping. Hunter sat on the floor holding a crying Omega. Tech sat on the hanging bench bouncing his leg. His elbow rested on the other knee as he tried to think of a way out. Wrecker sat near Hunter and Omega making sure both were okay and Echo sat over with Tech trying to help him with a plan. All but Omega looked up at Crosshair as he cleared his throat. "Hello."

    "What do you want Crosshair?" Tech asked.

    Crosshair took in the sight. It saddened his to see them this way but is what traitors deserve, right? "Just came to see if you had any information" he hissed.

    "No we don't. We aren't working for any rebel groups Crosshair. We don't have anything." Hunter held Omega tighter.

    The sniper looked down at the little girl. She was terrified. Looking at the others he could see just how scared they were. Most couldn't tell but he could, he knew the looks on their faces. Though he had only seen it a few times during the war it struck some form of fear into his heart.

    "Even if we had information they'd kill us anyway so there's no point." Tech informed the soldier. That was true; no matter what they were screwed.

    "If that's all I'll be leaving." Crosshair started walking away. Behind him he heard Hunter trying to comfort Omega. As the man approached the end of the hall he stopped. Soldiers entered the other side of the hall to execute his batch mates.

    Now he had to make a choice. Does he go back, destroy everything he worked for in the Empire. After all Crosshair thought he agreed with the ideals of the system. He'd already killed so many people for them. Sure the Republic had him snipe a few people but not nearly as many as the Empire.  But could he let his family die? He grew up with three of them and had become rather fond of the other two. The five soldiers had protected each other no matter the cost to themselves. They had fought side by side for so long. Omega had barely gotten to live yet. He would have drowned if it wasn't for her. He would be dead if it wasn't for any of them. Forced to choose between his head or heart; between stability or love, he chose love.

    "Alright it's time" one of the stormtroopers spoke. Hunter grabbed Omega as tight as he could to protect her or at least to comfort her. The others stood ready to at least try to escape their fates. Tech stood on his own while Wrecker and Echo stood close together. Both were fans of physical touch so being so close was comforting. None of them really expected to survive but they couldn't just sit there and wait.

    Crosshair sighed and turned around. Running down the hall he grabbed his blaster and shot. The stormtroopers fell to the ground. The batch looked at each other surprised. The killer skidded to a stop in front of the cell. Echo had gone over to inform Hunter and Omega they were safe. The girl had been buried in Hunter's chest and he only had his eyes on her. The gun shots had scared the two thinking time had run out for them.

    Omega and Hunter stood slowly. The man looked around then looked at Crosshair. "Alright. We need to find our weapons. I assume you know where they are?" He smiled softly.

    Crosshair nodded and the family, now whole again, ran to find the weaponry. From the weaponry they went for a ship. The Marauder had been left on the planet they had come from. Once off world Crosshair looked around at his family fondly. Seeing them all back on the same side made him smile. Still the deserter wasn't sure if he'd made the right choice.

    Back on the Marauder the group greeted Gonky and Wrecker gave Lula a big hug. Finally everyone was able to relax a little. Sitting down, Crosshair watched them interact with each other. Now he knew he'd made the right choice. No one really knew what was next but whatever it was, Crosshair was just happy to be home.

A Month of Whump Day 4: Fantasy

Fandom: Star Wars

Summary: What happens when Anakin discovers force healing? Well he tries to use it of course.

Warning: Major character death

  As soon as Anakin learned it was possible to heal people with the force he started trying to learn how. He dove head first into any research he could find. No one could really talk to him, it consumed his brain. The man practically lived in the library until the republic gave him his next mission.

    Anakin entered the docking bay with three larger books. Some papers stuck out of books. "Are you still working on that mystery project?" Ahsoka asked.

    "Yep." He sighed.

    "Why won't you tell me what it is?"

    "I'll tell you adventaly, right Rex?"

    "Oh, um sure." The clone turned around.

    "Do you even know what you just agreed to?" Ahsoka walked over beside him.

    "Nope."

    "I said that I'll tell you two about my mystery project at some point. Now come on, we need to board the ship."

From there they boarder the Resolute. After some time they would arrive to their destination. The battle that was ahead of them was bloody and unforgiving. Soldier after soldier fell. At this point Anakin knew that he could'nt help them all. He could just try his best to keep them as safe as possible.

Beside him stood his padawan. The two deflected blaster fire, keeping track of the number of droids they destroyed to compare later. This time the bullet just barely slipped past the green blade and hit Ahsoka in the chest. The girl fell to the ground.

    Anakin slightly looked to his side and fell to the ground to make sure she was alive. Checking for a pulse he discovered that she had one but it was weak. Without much thought he moved his hand and lightly touched the life threatening wound. The padawan never moved. The Jedi's mind felt empty as he breathed in calmly. The wound started to heal. Not much time passed before Ahsoka no longer felt the pain for her now nonexistent bullet wound.

    Ahsoka stood. "What just happened?" She mumbled. The girl felt fine. Anakin however did not. He felt weak; weak and tired. His mind was foggy. Trying to really think was a battle of its own. Standing slowly he was barely being able to keep his feet under him. It felt as if his head was spinning and his breathing speed up. The field in front of him was blurry. Swaying he lifted his lightsaber.

    The Jedi tried to fight through the fog. If he couldn't fight what else could he do? If for some reason he had to leave the 501st to take a leave, what would happen if they were stuck with another Krell? The man had no injuries so what was causing all of this?

    It finally hit him. Healing Ahsoka had exhausted him. The power it took to heal her was just enough to cause the reaction. Now he just needed to stand long enough to win this battle, to make sure his soldiers were safe.

    "Anakin?" Ahsoka questioned. The man didn't hear her. Not even five minutes went by before he collapsed.

    Ahsoka wasn't really sure what was going on. One moment he was fine and standing next to her and the next she was on the ground. After her older brother stood she knew he wasn't okay. Ahsoka kneeled down quickly and searched for a cause.

    Standing she became even more confused. Anakin had no injuries. Physically he appeared to be fine. "Medic!" She yelled. Quickly the man was taken away to be taken care of.

    Kix couldn't figure out what was wrong with his general. His condition wasn't changing much. He sent him off to the battalion aid station.

    Later Anakin would wake up with Ahsoka and Rex at his bedside waiting. After a moment he spoke, "hey."

    "Hey Skyguy." Snips responded softly.

    "Anakin, what happened?" Rex asked, concerned.

"You know that thing I was looking into? It's called force healing. I didn't want to tell you just in case." Anakin looked over at Ahsoka, "I'm glad it worked."

"Wait, what? Skyguy what caused you to collapse?"

"I think it was the energy needed to actually make it work."

"I didn't know Jedi could do that." Rex looked astonished. Everyday the force amazed him more and more.

"I'm here." Fives entered the room. Once he saw his general awake he sighed with relief.

With further research the four would learn that force healing worked by pouring one's own life force into the wounded to heal them. This would come at the experience of the healer. Every time Anakin would do this he would need time to rest afterwards if the injury was bad enough. Ahsoka wanted to learn now. She'd tell Obi-wan but neither could figure it out. It was an incredibly rare talent that Anakin had been both cursed and blessed with.

Anakin would often overexert himself. Channeling the power helped to save many lives and it tore Anakin's apart. The Jedi was tired all the time. He missed his once energetic life. Leading his battalion was harder than it used to be. His friends worried about him.

The man would have to learn who he could and couldn't help; when it was time to let someone go and when to save them. If Anakin never learned he would end up dead. He knew it was a possibility but simply ignored it. So now, when he lie dead in the cold mub as Cody rose from the ground they all understood he never learned, never would have learned, that sometimes it was time to let go. That eventually he would trade his life for someone else's. It was only a matter of time.

Febuwhump Day 24: Bloody Clothes

Fandom: Star Wars

Timeline: The Clone Wars

      Pain doesn't always register. Sometimes the adrenaline of trying to stay alive and keep your men alive; all while trying to win the battle in front of you, drowns out body signals. The warm blood mixed with sweat and become unnoticeable to Obi-wan. The gash in his side didn't bother him other then an uncomfortable feeling he couldn't pay attention to. It has come from a flying piece of debris. Stuff like that could move so quickly no one even knew.

    As the battle came to a close Obi-wan started to get dizzy. The uncomfortable feeling grew from when it appeared a few minutes ago. When the 212th overtook the Separatist base they knew soon they could rest. It only took a few minutes to overrun the remainder of the droids and the few sentient beings that occupied the base.

    Obi-wan searched for triage. He wanted to help prepare the men before they were taken somewhere for better help. Quickly the bloody fabric around the wound was noticed. "Sir!" The clone rushed up to their injured general.

    "Yes?" Kenobi felt lightheaded. He blamed it on dehydration.

    "You're hurt."

    "Huh? Where?" Obi-wan looked down at himself. The bright red liquid surprised him. The cloth clung to his skin. Blood allowed the man to find other injuries easier.

    Now the pain hit. The feeling brought Obi-wan to his knees. His breathing sped up and he pulled his brown robe off his shoulders and balled it up, careful to not get anymore dirt in the wound.

    The clone called for a medic and kneeled down to their general to help keep him from bleeding out. A medic would arrive and the Jedi was taken to triage.

    Once at triage the cloak was removed from the injury and thrown off to the side. Not long after Obi-wan would be moved.

    Cody had made his way to triage. He intended to help where he could as well. Seeing the blood-covered cloak struck fear into the man's heart. Cody loved Obi-wan; not that he'd ever tell him. He'd have to look later. For now he had a responsibility to help his men.

    When everything calmed Cody finally got the chance to find his general. He was fine. Visibly he relaxed and walked over to talk to him. "How are you feeling?"

    "Fine" he answered. "How are you?"

    "I'm alright. I saw your cape and got concerned. I thought I'd come check up on you."

    "That's awfully sweet of you." The two would talk about any known casualties, the next step to take, and anything else they needed to say.

    "Looks like I'll be needing a new set of robes." The general joked.

    "Looks like it."

Febuwhump Day 28: "You're Safe Now."

Fandom: Star Wars

Timeline: Post Order 66 (Character is Caleb Doom/Kanan Jarrus)

  Caleb ran. Gray and Styles followed. Depa's body lay on the ground behind him. Other members of his beloved battalion followed the two officers. The Bad Batch tried to help, except for Crosshair. Hunter yelled that they would take care of the child. "Taking down a padawan shouldn't be too hard!"

    The child ran for the trees. Not long after he would come to a cliff. Hunter talked to him, trying to reassure him that everything would be alright. Caleb took a step back and fell.

    Kanan woke up. His breathing sped up and tears dropped out of his eyes. Hera touched his shoulder and the man jumped. "Kanan? What's going on?" She asked. He leaned into her shaking.  "It's okay. You're safe now." She rubbed her hand gently over her lover's head and held him.

    Hera knew what this was about. Nightmares always got worse nearing the anniversary of the Jedi purge. Kanan had already explained what the nightmare had been about, assuming it was the same one he kept having. The man's reaction was always the same.

    "You're safe Kanan." After a moment his tears dried and breathing became less panicked. He pulled away from Hera briefly before resting his forehead against hers.

    "I know." He responded. "I know."

Febuwhump Day 17: Silent Tears

Fandom: Star Wars

Timeline: The Clone Wars

Warning: Character death

   Obi-wan had done all he could. When General Grievous showed his face he knew his day was about to get worse; everyone's day was about to get worse.

    Grievous showed no mercy. He grabbed a nearby clone and turned around. As the Jedi pulled his lightsaber from the ground the clone whispered a quiet help. Kenobi met the separatists eyes and in a split of a second the clones skull was crushed in. Blood splatter against the Jedi. Anger festered in Obi-wan's heart. Blinding guilt led his next movements as the clone fell to the ground. He would later learn that the soldier's name was Robin and that in Cody's words a shiny. His first battle became his last.

    The blood stained. Once back on The Negotiator the Jedi scrubbed at his face and hands. It wouldn't come off. When the battle had ended Obi-wan had taken Robin's body to the burial ground for the battle. Staring at his hands, now colored slightly lighter then the crimson blood that had covered them, he rubbed the rag harder and harder until his hand hurt. He found it ironic as in his eyes Robin's blood was on his hands. It was his fault.

    Obi-wan gave up on his hands and desperately tried to clean his face. The splatter pattern made him shake. His skin became irritated as the rag dug into it. At the realization the evidence of his failure would have to fade the man through the cloth to the ground.

    Memories like this never came at convenient times. It simply didn't matter to your brain where you were. Silent tears ran down Kenobi's cheeks as the council meeting went on. No one noticed until they looked to him for his input.

    The man's eyes were rested on the ground; his legs were folded in the chair with him. The only movement other than the tears was his hands harshly yet barely being rubbed together.

    The room was silent. "Master Kenobi?" Depa Balaba spoke. No answer.

    "Master Kenobi are you alright?" A different Jedi master asked.

    This time Obi-wan heard them. He looked up. "Oh yes. Why?" His voice was shaky.

    "Crying you are."

    "I am?" He raised an arm and brushed a finger under his eye. "Oh it appears I am." The Jedi attempted to chuckle to ease the tension. He cleared the tears from his face and tried to calm himself.

    Plo Koon stood and walked over to Obi-wan. "What's going on?" He whispered.

    "I'm alright really. Thank you Plo." He sighed and nodded, signaling Plo to go back to his seat. "My apologies. What are we talking about?"

    The room was covered with concerned faces. Slowly Mace Windu gave Obi-wan a brief explanation of what the group had been talking about. After adding his opinion the general asked if he could step out for a moment. The grand master nodded and he excused himself.

    When he walked back in no one could tell anything happened. Most came to the conclusion that the problem had something to do with the blood stains that painted his face and hands.

    Silent and not silent tears became more and more common in the safety of the counsel room. As the weight of war crushed the masters they cracked more and more during meetings. Sometimes simple words triggered the memories and sometimes no one knew what happened. Most were friends and tried to help each other. Meetings were inconvenient for metal breakdowns but a safe place was a safe place. No one judged as they knew the horrors of war well. The Jedi were born to be peace keepers; born to be companionate. Now the lead soldiers into battle. Their hearts were breaking and their tears showed the irreversible damage that had been done.

A Month of Whump Day 3: Spy/Military

Fandom: Star Wars The Clone Wars

Summary: Obi-wan is placed on a mission to infiltrate the separatist as Dooku's apprentice.

    Tricking Dooku wasn't something Obi-wan ever expected to do. If his younger self ever learned that Dooku had turned he would be heartbroken. More so for Qui-gon then himself but it would still hurt. The man had been a good positive figure in his life. Now he stood in front of him, fake sobbing, asking if he would let him stay with him. The Jedi told him the council had turned on him. When asked why he said it was too painful to talk about.

    Gaining his grandfather's trust wasn't hard. The connection the two had from their past made the whole operation possible. Falling to the dark side wasn't hard so Obi-wan had to be careful. Fighting the temptation was harder.

    Fighting alongside the sith was painful. Using pent up emotions he fought trying not to hurt anyone. Just because it was an important mission didn't mean his compassion slipped away. Luckily he had been able to avoid any Jedi. No one recognized his dark side appearance.

    "You aren't killing them. The clones should mean nothing to you. You can't win without death, apprentice."

    "I know. It's just hard."

    "What are you going to do when you see your old men? Or worse your padawan?"

    "I'll deal with them."

    "Alright." With that Dooku walked away.

    Obi-wan sighed. Truly he wasn't sure what to do if he found any of them. The man would be viewed as a traitor to anyone other than Mace Windu and Master Yoda. In case if Obi-wan did run into them the reaction the other person had was crushal. It had to be true to how the person would feel or else Dooku may be able to see right through it. The mission was to important to risk it.

    About two months into the mission his fears came true. Entering the battle field Obi-wan was faced with the familiar blue of 501st armor. Using his red saber he reflected the blaster fire, avoiding any of the men. Dooku noticed and looked over at his apprentice. The Jedi could feel the pressure rising, but still he refused to kill them. He'd simply explain that killing was difficult but he'd get used to it on people he hadn't been around first.

    Then Obi-wan saw Anakin. Dooku smiled as the plan had worked. When Anakin saw him betrayal hit him like a brick. "Obi-wan?"

    Now face to face Anakin tried to make sense of the scene in front of him. How could Obi-wan do this? His brother was one of the calmest and kindest people he knew? What happened? "What happened?"

     "Doesn't matter." Obi-wan lifted 'his' lightsaber and swung it at Anakin hastily. For once Anakin fought calmer than the other. Blocking the Jedi master's strikes wasn't hard but somewhere in Anakin's heart couldn't let him truly fight him. Something didn't seem right.

    Rex appeared behind his general. "General Kenobi?" He spoke.

    "Hello Rex" Obi-wan tried to speak menacingly. He failed and sounded more tired than anything. Hearing his voice helped to solidify that something wasn't right.

    After a while Dooku stepped in. "Enough. Obi-wan, kill them."

    "Of course." Kenobi stepped back. Other 501st members gathered behind Anakin and suddenly the two siths were overwhelmed. It was time to go. In this scenario surviving meant killing. Would this make it difficult to reconcile with Anakin? Yes. Did it have to be done? Yes.

    Dooku held no sympathy for the soldiers as he cut them down. Obi-wan however did. He knew some of their names but yet he killed them anyway.

    Back in his room Obi-wan let the emotion from the mission hit him. He collapsed on his bed and breathed. Anger crept into his heart; at Windu and Yoda for putting him on this cursed mission, at Dooku, and at himself. The one good thing about this mission was he could feel how he needed to. There was no one to hide from.

    A blue hologram lit up the dark room. "We heard you ran into the 501st today, how are you doing?" Asked Mace.

    "I'll be fine." Obi-wan answered.

    "New information, do you have?" Yoda questioned. Obi-wan filled them in on new Separatist plans.

    As time went by he would meet other friends. Finding the 212th was the hardest. Obi-wan didn't need to see the look of baryal to know how Cody felt; how they all felt. The spy knew these men much better than the 501st. It did more than sting standing on the other side of the battle field from them.

    When the fight got worse he started to sabotage parts of the army he was supposed to lead. Of course he had been doing that for all of the four months he'd been there. But this time was different. The casualties on the 'other' side were high and Obi-wan still owed it to them to help. Their Jedi general had been killed earlier.

    When Dooku got to close to his men he could hide anymore. The need to protect, the need to help, took over and the mission was done. As the sith stabbed at a member of the 212th Obi-wan stooped him with the force. When Dooku turned around he understood he'd been played.

    The soldiers were confused. Their old general saved one of their men. But why did he care?

    Obi-wan moved from his place to face Dooku. Without a word the Jedi lifted his lightsaber and attacked him. The clones accepted the help and continued their attack at the command of Cody. The Republic won the battle in the end. However Obi-wan was nowhere to be seen.

    When Cody took what happened to the Jedi council Yoda and Mace would explain what the situation. Surprise became relief as most realized he had never betrayed them.

    The cell Obi-wan now occupied was cold and empty. He felt pain in every part of his body. When Dooku entered the room he knew the pain wasn't over. The torment continued however it didn't even start to reflect the pain the man had from 'betraying' his loved ones. He just hoped they would forgive him at some point.

     It would take almost another month for Obi-wan to be rescued. Anakin and Ahsoka bust open the door to find the man curled up on the floor shivering. As soon as they entered the room the cold hit them. The temperature had been yet another tactic to get information from the Jedi's sealed lips.

    Obi-wan sat up and softly smiled, "hello you too."

    "Hey master." Anakin helped his brother off of the floor and out of the room. Escaping proved to be difficult but I could be done. Rushing through the halls the Jedi cut down droids when needed. Ahsoka had found Obi-wan's blue lightsaber before they had found him.

    It calmed Obi-wan to be fighting with his lightsaber again. The feeling of his hands wrapped around the hilt felt right. Of course the best part was fighting with Ahsoka and Anakin again.

    Back on the ship Kenobi could finally breathe. The heavy burden of being a spy slipped off of his shoulders and he felt mentally better than he expected to. His body however was in a large amount of pain. Ahsoka and Anakin did what they could for that.

    Back with the council everyone acted sort of off with Obi-wan. He completely understood why. As soon as everyone was in the room he told them to take their time to trust him again. Though it had been a mission in their minds he betrayed them.

    The 212th was more accepting as they had seen that Obi-wan was still very much an ally. The man had risked his mission and his life for them. It wasn't easy to get over what he had done but everyone came to the same understanding. It wasn't what he wanted.

    Obi-wan was glad to be home. He had missed his family and friends. He missed fighting alongside his battalion, missed fighting for the Republic, though he had been the whole time. Finally after five and a half months he was safe.