Give Me Love

chapter thirty three

The nightcrawlers were decent enough to help you get Anakin and Obi-Wan onto the stretchers, and then led you back out to the edge of their village to their docking bay. They didn't have many ships, but that didn't make you feel bad for taking one of them.

"This one should be big enough for you," the head nightcrawler said, ushering the stretchers inside. You urged Ahsoka in after them, telling her you'd be with her in a moment. She desperately needed some bacta-- they all did-- but you doubt there was any in the medbox you demanded they give you.

"Lightsabers," you held your hand out for them. The crawler motioned another one over, and they reached into a sack around its spindly waist to retrieve Obi-Wan's saber, then Anakin's and then Ahsoka's two hilts. It dropped them into your arms, and you fell forward with the weight.

A lot heavier than you expected.

"You promise we will be left alone by your people?" the crawler asked Padmé, and she nodded.

"We will forgive you for your mistakes and stay off of your moon," she said. "But if we hear word that you've captured any more Jedi..."

"We will not."

"Good. We'll be off then."

You followed Padmé onto the ship now, flanked by Artoo. You both scraped the chalky white moondust off your shoes as you watched the door slide closed, cutting the Nightcrawlers from view. As soon as you were alone, Padmé deflated like a balloon.

"I'm sorry you had to do that," you told her sincerely. "If I had anything to give them, I would have."

She looked up and shook her head, trying to smile a little bit but failing. It barely reached her eyes. "It was worth it to get out of there alive. If I have to choose between the necklace or your lives, I will always choose you guys."

You hated how grateful you were for her suddenly. How, for some reason, you couldn't feel an ounce of the hatred you used to feel before. Padmé had deduced you to a shell of yourself for weeks, and her actions resulted in Sabé's death; but today she made up for it a little bit.

You were all alive and free because of her.

You nodded, the corner of your lip twitching up the slightest bit. It felt odd, trying to smile at her now after everything she'd done, but that look in her eyes-- the one of fierce protectiveness and loyalty-- you'd missed it. This was the Padmé you knew and loved.

"Come on, I think you should take a look at everyone now," she said, tilting her head to the door. You pressed the button to open it, the door hissing as you took in the sad sight before you.

Somehow, all three Jedi were out for the count, and you and Padmé were completely fine. In the future, you would laugh about this. But first, you had to make sure they would live long enough to see a future.

You dumped the lightsabers off on a small counter built into the wall, and then opened the medbox to scan what you had to work with. There was quite a bit in there, but just like you'd guessed-- no bacta.

Tossing some ice packs and painkillers to Padmé, you instructed her to take care of Ahsoka while you got to work on Anakin. He was definitely the worst off out of all of them.

He was lying on his back now, face up on the stretcher that the crawlers had set on the floor. You knelt by his side, wincing at the pain in your bruised knees, and steadying yourself for a moment with a hand on the floor. Then you got to work.

The most obvious place to start was his head. It was coated in dried blood, all originating from the gash on his face that had reopened, and little smaller cuts on his forehead and jaw. You were a little glad he was still knocked out because you knew the stinging of your cleaning agent would hurt him if he was awake, but it needed to be done to clear his face of blood. After inspecting the gash to see if it had gotten any worse, you began  applying little butterfly bandages in certain places to make sure the skin stayed together and heals.