A Star Among Planets (Star Wars Rebels Fanfiction)

Chapter 77: Steady Paws

    Halftail awoke and the nauseous feeling returned once more. He was about to vomit, but he felt someone press a cold cloth against his face. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Birchfoot. "You alright," he asked with concern glittering in his eyes.

    Halftail tried to get up, but Birchfoot just pushed him back down. "You're too injured to move right now. Besides, you must have one heck of a headache."

    At the mention of a headache, Halftail's head began to throb. He stared up at Birchfoot and his eyes seemed to waver. "What happened?"

    "There was a problem, but we fixed it. You just need to rest and stay calm right now, okay? You've been out for a little while," answered Birchfoot with still gentle eyes, despite their argument before.

    Halftail rolled over and his back arched in pain. "Where are we?"

    "Above the rebels' ship," replied Birchfoot as he tried to pull Halftail over to face him. "We escaped. Don't worry about anything. You just need to rest."

    Something stirred inside Halftail and he couldn't rest. He rose to his paws, beginning to dry heave since there was nothing left inside of his stomach. Birchfoot rushed to his side. Halftail pushed him away weakly. "There's danger. I have to go!"

    Birchfoot's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you kidding me? Look at you?"

    Halftail really didn't want to look at himself since he was sure that would just make him feel worse. Instead, he bunched his shoulders and leaped forward, grimacing at the pain in his head. He decided that he would just walk instead and he made it to the control room on the rebel's ship.

    "Halftail," breathed Adlerleaf as she darted to Halftail's side. "Are you alright? You look awful."

    Halftail wrinkled his nose in distain. "Thanks. I don't feel much better either," he confessed before he stalked forward and swallowed the strange feeling that made his stomach want to lurch.

    He stopped beside Kanan and cleared his throat. Kanan looked down and the shock showed instantly. "Halftail! Why in the world are you out of the room?"

    Halftail tried to turn his muzzle up in pride, but weakness overwhelmed him. He lowered his head and tried not to topple over. "I felt something and I couldn't just let you go into something without me," he answered, swallowing thickly.
   
    Kanan kneeled down so that Halftail didn't have to look up. "Halftail, you took a pretty nasty hit. I don't think that you should be up walking around like this. What did Birchfoot say?"

    That was a question that Halftail desperately didn't want to answer. He curled his tail around his paws and grumbled as he looked up at Kanan, automatically wishing that he hadn't. "He doesn't think that I should be doing this, but I can't just stand on the sidelines and wait. I feel like I always do."

    Kanan sighed as he stroked Halftail's spine gently. His hand was cool and Halftail couldn't help, but fall almost into it. "I don't like this but I don't think that I can change your mind, and forcing you there isn't going to work either. Just stay close to me and we shouldn't have that much trouble."

    "Thank you, Kanan," purred Halftail as he felt the pain in his head ebb a bit. "I promise that I won't get underpaw."

    Just as he said that the ship began to rock and Halftail fell sideways, hitting his head once more on the floor. He grunted, thrusting his paw over his head and groaning. Kanan lowered down beside him and helped him stand. "You alright?"

    Secretly, no, but Halftail was a great liar. "I'm fine," he rasped as he looked at the windows, but all he saw was the blur of a swift ship. That made his head spin and he sat back on his haunches, trying to fight the urge he had to vomit. "What in Starbound's name?"