Work Text:
Explosions had always bothered Anakin. Though, that does tend to happen when one grows up with a bomb implanted in their neck. So, explosions had always been an issue for him, but it had never really come up. Then the Clone Wars started.
The first time he was caught too close to an explosion on the battlefield wasn’t too bad. He was close enough to feel the ringing in his ears, to feel the dirt tremble and quake beneath his feet, but far enough away to avoid any permanent injury. It made him freeze, if only for a moment, trapped in his memories. Suddenly he wasn’t on a battlefield surrounded by clone soldiers, he was back on his home planet, he was curled in his bed, listening out for distant explosions marking the deaths of slaves just like him, the deaths of his people.
Anakin wasn’t sure how long he stood there, trapped in his own mind, but then there was a nearby shout and he was back in it, lunging forward with his lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts back at the enemy. He didn’t think back to that moment again until later on when he was back on the Resolute, sitting in his quarters. He considered talking to Obi-Wan about this issue, but found himself embarrassed of his own perceived weakness, so the incident was kept to himself.
As the war waged on, Anakin found himself in range of many more active charges. He still froze up when faced with a particularly close explosion, but he managed nonetheless, becoming one of the most accomplished generals in the GAR. Soon he was even presented with his own padawan. He had many reservations against taking a fourteen year old into an active war zone, but he couldn’t exactly take that up with the council, so he just decided he would have to keep her as safe as possible. Which leads him to his current predicament.
They had been stationed on Ryloth for what felt like forever, fighting back against separatist forces practically non-stop. Everyone was beginning to feel the fatigue of constant battle, and unfortunately, Anakin was no exception. Anakin and Ahsoka stood side by side on the front lines, deflecting blaster bolts away from their men to the best of their ability.
“Getting tired, Snips?” Anakin teases, using snark to cover up his genuine concern.
“In your dreams, Master,” Ahsoka shoots back, sounding slightly winded but otherwise alright. Anakin focuses back on the fight before him, deflecting bolts away from himself with practiced ease. A few moments pass before he hears a strange whistling noise over the thrum of battle.
“You hear that?” Anakin asks, pausing to listen more closely, attempting to identify the noise.
“Hear what?” His padawan responds, continuing to deflect blasts. Anakin listens for a moment longer as the whistling grows louder. His eyes grow wide as he is suddenly struck with the realization of what he is hearing.
“Ahsoka, run!” He suddenly shouts, desperate and panicked.
“What? What are you-” she doesn’t have the chance to finish responding before Anakin is using everything he has to force push her, getting her as far away from the impact point as he can. Ahsoka watches as her master's form grows smaller in the distance, then he is engulfed by a large, bright flash of light.
“Master!” she shouts before the force of the blow knocks her off her feet.
Anakin feels nothing but agony as his vision is engulfed in white. His feet leave the ground and he is thrown a considerable distance. He hits the ground hard and is suddenly eight years old again, laying in the sand as Watto stands over his bruised form, waving his detonator around threateningly as he shouts. His ears ring harshly and the world spins when he attempts to open his eyes, causing him to groan, shutting them again. His head throbs in time with his heartbeat. He tries propping himself up, but finds his right arm unresponsive. Trying again with his other arm results in shooting pain down his back and legs, making him shout and fall back to the ground once more. His breathing speeds up as he tries to remember what exactly happened. Taking quick stock of his body, he finds that not only can he not feel his right arm, he is also having trouble getting his legs to cooperate. He can feel the grit of sand in his eyes. Did Watto detonate his chip? It would explain his lack of feeling in his limbs if his spine had been severed, it would also explain the shooting pain. What had he done, again? Where was his mom?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahsoka was thrown quite a distance, and she hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her. In the distance, she watched as the charge hit mere feet from where her master stood. She screamed.
“Rex, we need Kix with a med evac ASAP!” She shouts into her comm, breaking into a sprint towards the crater that now occupies the place her master had just been standing.
“What happened, are you alright?” Rex’s deep voice crackles over her comm.
As she runs, she spots Anakin’s crumpled body in the distance. She speeds up, sliding to a stop beside his prone form.
“I’m okay, but Anakin’s not! He just got hit by a charge!” She says, panicked, eyes scanning over Anakin's form for obvious injury. He lays on his right side, blood dripping from his hairline. He has an obvious break to his left leg, and is breathing heavily. She leans forward, placing a hand on his face.
“Anakin?” she asks, slightly panicked.
“Mom?” he responds, briefly cracking his eyes open. “Choy happened? Konchee am mee?”
“What?” Ahsoka blanches. Did he just call me mom? “Master, I don’t know that language…” Anakin attempts to sit up again in a panic, but winces, crying out and falling back to the ground.
“Pa Watto?” He sounds terrified. “Mah oetonator… lo bolla off.” Ahsoka watches, not knowing what to do as Anakin’s breath continues to quicken.
“H-hey, hey it’s okay master, Rex and Kix will be here soon, they’ll know how to help,” she says, slightly panicked that he isn't making any sense. She places a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You’re gonna be okay, Anakin.”
“Mom, doe chip… mee’m koona tah nee choo aren’t mee?” He sounds so broken and resigned to his fate, but Ahsoka has no clue what he’s saying. She just continues to squeeze his shoulder reassuringly.
“Commander!” She hears a distant shout, quickly turning to face the direction it came from. She sees Rex running there way, followed closely by Kix with his medical bag.
“Oh, thank force,” Ahsoka sighs in relief. “He’s pretty messed up,” she says as they make it within earshot, “and he’s not making any sense.” She jumps as Anakin groans again.
“S-sorree… mee’m sorree…niuta nobata more,” He grounds out. Kix takes a knee beside him, looking him over.
“You’ve really done a number on yourself this time, General.” He says with a wince. He waves Rex over and together they go to roll Anakin onto his back. As they begin, Anakin screams in agony.
“Niuta! Niuta, nobata more, niuta!” He shouts. Ahsoka’s heart clenches hearing her master in such pain. The only one that doesn’t seem effected by his cries is Kix, too focused on his next move in getting Anakin treated. Rex places a hand on Anakin’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.
“It’s okay, nobata more, it sa okey-okey. Jee-jee will nopa doopee u kickee more.” Rex says in a calm voice. Anakin cracks his eyes open once more in response, looking for the source of the voice, but a combination of the bright light and the sand in his eyes keeps his vision limited. He nods, continuing to take ragged breaths but managing to calm himself some. Beside him, Ahsoka balks.
“You can understand him?” she questions.
“Mostly,” Rex replies. “I don’t know too much Huttese.” Before Ahsoka can ask more questions, Kix interupts.
“Left leg is broken, and his prosthetic looks busted as well. Likely concussion, maybe a spinal injury judging by the scream we got when we moved him…” He looks down to his comm. “I’m gonna have to call for a stretcher to get him back to base camp, we can evac him from there.” Rex nods once and leans down to the general, speaking as soft as he can while making sure he is heard over the battle.
“Jee-jee’re koona tah get u nenoleeya of unko, General.” Anakin nods jerkily, wincing when it sends a shooting pain through his temple.
“Konchee sa mom? Sa mom safa?” Anakin ask, still sounding slightly panicked.
“Uta-sha mom sa safa. It sa okey-okey.” Anakin nods, settling back down and shutting his burning eyes. After a moment of silence, Ahsoka quietly interjects, not wanting to disturb her master now that he’s somewhat calmed down.
“Okay, what’s going on? What’s he talking about? Why did he think I was his mom?” Ahsoka asks Rex. She’s trying to hide it, but concern is written all over her face. Rex hesitates to elaborate, unsure if he should spill his general’s business, but eventually Ahsoka’s sad eyes win him over.
“I think when he hit his head, his memory got all screwy… I’ve just been reasuring him that everyone is safe and that we’ll take care of him.” Rex asserts. “I don’t know where he thinks he is, or anything about his mother though…” Ahsoka nods, turning back to his master to hold his flesh hand.
“There they are,” Kix says under his breath, waving over a couple shinies carrying a back board their way. “Okay, General, this will probably hurt. Could you warn him, Rex?” He asks as he and the shinies get in possition to roll him onto the board. Rex nods, leaning down to Anakin once more.
“Beet widd hurt, staee stidd, mee’m sorree.” He says gently. Anakin gives a small nod of acknowledgment, silently steeling himself. On Kix’s count, the three medics plus Rex roll Anakin onto his side in order to slide the board beneath him, causing him to let out a cut off scream. He groans again as they settle him down on the board.
“Okay, let’s get him moving. I don’t like that he’s still not fully with us.” Kix says, and on the count of three, they are lifting him and carting him off to base camp, Ahsoka trailing close behind. They reach base camp in record time, and Ahsoka hangs back with Rex as Kix begins working on her master before their shuttle arrives.
“So, have you informed General Kenobi yet?” Rex asks, a slight teasing lilt to his voice. Ahsoka freezes. She forgot that this was a joint seige with the 212th.
“Kriff…” she spits under her breath, ignoring Rex’s laughs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anakin wakes up three days later, the distinct feeling of bacta coating his skin. He opens his eyes briefly but regrets it immediately. Why are the lights in the infirmary always so bright? He makes a move to sit up, groaning with the effort, but is quickly pushed back down by a hand on his chest.
“Stay down, dear one,” says a familiar voice. Anakin cracks his eyes open, meeting the gaze of his former master.
“Obi-Wan?” He says, voice gravelly from disuse.
“Glad to have you back with us,” Obi-Wan sighs. “You gave your padawan quite the scare.” Anakin’s eyes widened at this.
“Ahsoka, is she okay? Where is she?” He sputters. Obi-Wan puts a finger to his lips and points to Anakin’s other side. He quickly turns despite his throbbing head and is greeted by the sight of his sleeping padawan, curled up in an uncomfortable hospital chair. He immediately heaves a sigh of relief.
“She’s alright, just some minor bruising,” Obi-Wan assures. “Your quick thinking saved her. I can’t say the same for you though.” He levels Anakin with a disapproving glare. Anakin sighs.
“So what’s the damage then?” He asks, sounding exhausted.
“Well,” Obi-Wan begins, “your soak in the bacta tank has healed your broken leg and helped speed up the healing of your concussion, but you may still experience some twinges here and there. You also managed to break your back in two places. Quite an impressive feat, I must say.” He drones sarcastically. Anakin winces hearing the extent of his injuries. They sit in uncomfortable silence for a while. “Your captain tells me you were quite out of it after the impact.” Obi-Wan says gently. “That you would only speak Huttese until they got you in the tank.” Anakin’s eyes widened slightly, able to deduce what had happened. He must have had another flashback, a bad one this time.
“Oh?” He feigns nonchalance.
“Yes, he said you kept asking about your mother and some kind of detonator?” Obi-Wan inquires. Anakin stays quiet at this. “Anakin, what happened?” Obi-Wan asks gently. Anakin is quiet for a while, unsure of what to say.
“I don’t do well with explosions.” He eventually lands on. Obi-Wan’s brow furrows.
“What do you mean you don’t do well with explosions?” He presses.
“They remind me of home,” Anakin quickly states, wanting this conversation done with. “And sometimes they make me forget where I am, that’s all.” He chances a look up at his former master and sees nothing but concern written across his face.
“…Anakin, you know I’m always here for you, don’t you?” Obi-Wan reaches a hand out and takes Anakin’s, pressing his lips against his knuckles. “I know your time on Tatooine was… difficult to say the least,” he says quietly, “but I need you to know you can always come to me with these sorts of things. I will always be here for you, dear one.” Anakin has to fight the urge to tear up at his master’s heartfelt words.
“Thank you, Obi-Wan.” Anakin says sincerely. “I… I’ll tell you one day, okay? Just… just not today.”
“I can accept that.” Obi-Wan nods. They lapse into a more comfortable silence, broken only by Ahsoka’s soft snores. Obi-Wan continues to hold Anakin’s hand, swiping his thumb across his knuckles until he falls into a restful sleep.