A Star Among Planets (Star Wars Rebels Fanfiction)

Chapter 100: Alone

    Halftail shivered as he lowered down with his teeth chattering madly. He sniffed madly as he felt his nose begin to run. It was raw from him pawing at it. He felt a sneeze waiting deep in his sinuses, but he was trying to stave it off for as long as possible. If he sneezed it would just make his nose tickle more.

    There was a sharp sneeze beside him, followed by a few hacking coughs. He turned his head slowly and saw his grandson sitting beside him. Blizzardstorm's white pelt was matted with sweat and discharge was coming from his eyes. He was so small and weaker than the rest of his littermates and the cold was effecting him more than the other kits.

    "Bless you," breathed Halftail as warm air came from his mouth as he tried to warm Blizzardstorm to the best of his ability.

    Blizzardstorm looked up in embarrassment as he shuddered. "S-Sorry," he stammered.

    "No need to apologize. We're all freezing our pelts off," agreed Halftail as he lowered down and puffed out his fur against Blizzardstorm's pelt to warm him.

    Blizzardstorm let out a few more coughs before he settled beside Halftail. The two of them were in a cannon, but it wasn't like Halftail was in any condition to shoot. Halftail could barely see straight and he felt on the edge of another fit. He didn't need Blizzardstorm to see that.

    "Stop complaining, Leafshine," hissed Snowfall through the comm. "The heat will come on soon!"

    There was a soft purr that had to belong to Swifttail. He melted whenever he spoke to his kits, even when they were on his nerves. "You don't need to shout all of you problems through the comm. I'm sure that Halftail and Kanan don't care about how cold you are."

    "Oh, we care," joked Kanan in an almost chattering voice. "I'm freezing my fingers off here! Don't worry, kits, we're all freezing here."

    "I can agree with you there," muttered Zeb as Molis let out a bark of agreement.

    Halftail leaned forward and touched the comm, letting out a sniff despite himself. "All this talking is just wasting the heat that we have left." He coughed and drew his paw away from the comm. "We should conserve strength and energy inside ourselves."

    "Halftail, I don't like the sound of your voice," growled the stern voice of Birchfoot from inside his room where he kept all of his herbs and medical supplies. Most of them couldn't get this cold, especially Halftail's medicine. Birchfoot was beside himself in worry. "You're getting sick, aren't you?"

    Halftail couldn't help but narrow his eyes and tense his voice. "I'm fine, Birchfoot. Let's focus on the task at hand."

    "What is the task at hand," asked Ezra shortly. "I can't see anything and the scanners aren't functioning. We're just floating here!"

    Halftail sighed as he curled his half tail around Blizzardstorm's body to try and warm him up. Blizzardstorm coughed softly as he buried his head into Halftail's side. "Great StarBound it's cold! I think that my claws are going to fall off before we see or hear anything."

    It was silent for a little while and Halftail had almost fallen asleep when he suddenly heard Keen's whimpering. "Wait! I hear something," he whispered as he drew away from the comm.

    "Yeah, I hear it too," agreed Ezra.

    "Yeah, well, Keen's a wolf and Ezra is just Ezra. It's not surprising that they hear something that we don't," pointed out Sabine as she chattered her teeth.

    "What does it sound like," asked Kanan.

    "Good question. I'm not sure," answered Keen as he let out a sigh. "It's really hard to explain, but I know that I hear it. I'm not crazy!"