𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘

𝟎𝟎𝟕. 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐚

007. AFTERMATH OF UMBARA

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SKID'S EYES FLASHED OPEN AS SEVERAL EMPTY SYRINGES CLANGED AGAINST THE CONCRETE GROUND OF THE INFIRMARY. "I'm awake!"

Burst looked over at him with sympathy and an apologetic glance. "Sorry, Skid. Didn't mean to wake you. The kid and I just wanted to see if Bits was up yet."

Skid rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "I wasn't sleeping. I'm on duty and it would be against regulation to do so."

"You look awful," Arimiya bluntly noted as she looked up at him, "You should really sleep."

Skid scoffed with amusement. "When was the last time that you slept well?"

Her eyes drifted to the ground and her feet shuffled against one another.

"How long has your shift been?"

Skid turned to face Ace who leaned against the doorframe. The captain stood and approached before he crossed his arms and waited expectantly for an answer. Skid hesitated to answer.

"It's been three days since we last saw you," Burst noted, "And you're right where we left you."

"I still have a patient that needs to be tended to—"

"You need sleep," Arimiya corrected, "Bits would agree with me."

Skid chuckled under his breath. "I'm not quite sure that he would."

From the moment that he'd met the younger clone, Bits had clung to his side as if attached at the hip. He'd found it annoying at first, but he'd come to miss his presence whenever they were separated. Now that there was a chance that he might not wake up... He was a realist, but in this moment, he really wished that he possessed Burst's optimism to look beyond the worst-case scenario.

He knew that only days prior he'd scolded Ace about trying to keep the 107th alive, but it only felt real to Skid now that the last remaining member of what once was the Twilight Squadron possibly rest on his death bed. Out of respect for the captain, they'd merged into the Shadow Squadron; however, despite his brain that sought out the logical, a small emotional part of himself would always belong to Twilight.

He didn't realize that he'd closed his eyes until he was nudged awake. He blinked quickly to clear his bleary vision. Arimiya looked at the ground sheepishly and then checked her shoulder before whispering just so that he could hear, "I was told to let you sleep, but I thought you'd want to be there when he woke up."

Skid quickly stood and walked to the back of the room where Bits had been placed. He shot an appreciative glance over his shoulder toward the small girl before approaching the bedside. Despite the high amount of medication running through his veins, Bits still groaned in pain as he woke up.