The Edge of the Universe

VI

6 months later

Anakin's POV

It was all so confusing, we had lost so many clones and then at some point re-enforcements came and I didn't even realise. My comm had stopped working away I hit my head on the glass of my fighter so I had no idea what was going on, it'd had been about 3 months since I broke my comm but through a very weak force connection Plo Koon managed to tell me what's been going on but I haven't been able to reach Plo Koon in about 2 months which meant something bad had happened to him or he was just so concentrated on the fight.

All the fighters on our side looked the same so I didn't know how many of the 501st was left or if any of them were left. I tried not to think about that and went into a controlled dive, I flew low over the droids and shot down the front line before pulling back up into a spiral and shooting a black fighter.

There weren't many black fighters left in the sky but bombers often came so we had to be prepared for that. It was the middle of the night and I relied on the force to guide me through the battle because I couldn't really see at night and the black fighters blended in with the night sky and so did the bombers. My ships wing had been hit many times and I knew it would go down soon, hopefully this battle would have ended by then. 

Fires lit up the ground in between the clones and the droids so at least the people on the ground could see. Anxiety washed over me and I sensed a black fighter behind me, he hit the engine and I felt a spark from behind me. I hit the breaks and the black fighter rammed into me, we crashed towards the ground and I braced myself for impact. 

Metal on metal and I crunching sound, dirt sprayed up onto the fighters and my head hit the dashboard. Everything sounded distant and mumbled, the fighters came to a stop and I groaned and blinked a few times. The only clear sound I could hear was my own breathing, a warm sticky substance was flowing down the side of my face and I felt it onto the back of my head as well. The force was telling me to get out of the fighter immediately so I kicked the hatch off my fighter and stumbled out of it, droids immediately began firing and I only just blocked the first blade. All noise and sounds came back to me in a rush and I stumbled a little as the pain caught up to me but continued to block the bullets. I saw the exposed fuel tanks of my fighter and the black fighter and I moved forward easily slicing one of the droids in half, I grabbed the gun and fought my way to a safe distance. I aimed the gun and shot the fuel tanks 3 times before it exploded, I was thrown back to the end of the droids line and all of the air was knocked out of me. I laid there for a few moments gasping for air and fighting the urge to throw up, I rolled onto my side even though my whole body was protesting. I looked at the explosion I had caused and saw that I had wiped out a lot of droids in it, I grabbed onto a nearby tree and pulled myself to my feet. I gasped in pain and gripped onto the branch tighter as my vision blurred for a moment, the space in the middle of the two sides was completely destroyed and the once green grass was brown or black. I stumbled towards my left where the clone army was and I noticed that the 212th was here in there white and yellow armour, they were down the other end of the field though. I walked around the back and eventually went into a jog down to the 501st which was next to the 212th. I stood next to Rex and easily deflected a few bolts back towards the droids.

"General! We thought you were dead!" Rex exclaimed.

"Not yet," I replied deflecting more bolts.

I continued to do this but the force warned me again and when I looked up I saw a bomber directly above the 212th.

"Get down!" I yelled.

I force pulled half of the 212th and all fo the 501st away as the bomb fell, I dropped to the ground like everyone else as the wind from the bomb blew past us. I covered my head with my arms and I could hear more bombs being dropped further down where Plo Koon was and I knew more were coming where we were. I uncovered my head and that when I noticed a shooting pain that was coming through the force bond, my first thought was about Ahsoka but then I remembered I broke our force bond off. In my dazed and weak state I reached out through the force and found Obi-wan's force signature was the one that was radiating pain. I looked up and scanned the battlefield for Obi-wan, I saw the Jedi Master lying on the ground near the middle of the battlefield and it would be suicide going out there and trying to get him back but there was a chance that I'd make it back with Obi-wan. 

The bomber had exploded in the air thanks to a fighter and I immediately got up and Rex called my name but I ignored him and sprinted out into the middle of the battlefield jumped over bodies and pieces of metal and around some fire. I blocked the shots with my lightsaber and then threw myself down onto my stomach when I reached Obi-wan.

"Anakin? What are you doing?" Obi-wan asked.

I jumped not expecting him to be conscious.

"I wasn't expecting you to be awake to see this," I muttered.

"I can't walk back, something has happened to my legs and I can't feel them," Obi-wan stated. 

Through our force bond, I could sense Obi-wan's disapproval at me coming out here to save him, I knew I couldn't deflect bullets with my lightsaber and carry Obi-wan back to safety and Obi-wan knew this as well.

"You've landed yourself in a large mess," Obi-wan grumbled.

"I know, I know," I snapped racking my brain for an idea.

I looked back and I saw the clones were back on their feet and firing at the droids again and I knew they couldn't help us with this, I got myself into this mess so I had to get myself out of it. Usually, Obi-wan was the one to get me out of it but obviously he couldn't.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes trying to block out all sounds around me.

"You better do something quickly," Obi-wan said.

"I'm trying to concentrate," I snapped.

I drew on the force around me and centred myself blocking out all sound, it all sounded muffled and far away which was as good as I was going to get. I took a deep breath and waved my hand slowly drawing on the force, I closed my fist and all the energy left me as the force flowed forward. I opened my eyes and saw red laser bullets stopped in mid-air in the same spot, they tried firing more but they were all stopped as well. I concentrated on keeping it there with my mind and I grabbed Obi-wan's arm and picked him up and carried him back to the clone lines, as soon as I reached them two clones from the 212th took Obi-wan and carried him away. I flung an arm out at all the bullets that I had stopped went back towards the droids and most of the ones in the front lines were hit. Everything drained out of me at once and I stumbled, Rex grabbed me before I could fall and placed my arm around his shoulder and supported me. 

Rex helped me walk all the way back to the camp and towards the medical place, I tried to protest but since I was finding it hard to walk on my own I had no choice but to go there. It turns out it was just a waiting place, a ship would come and take us to the Naboo castle. Rex helped me lie down on a stretcher, black spots clouded my vision but I blinked them away.

"Thanks, Rex," I mumbled.

"It was very impressive but you definitely overexerted yourself General," Rex said.

"Can you handle the 501st? I can always get-"

"We'll be fine General, you just focus on getting better," 

I smiled at him and he clapped my shoulder before looking up to see that the ship had landed and they were loading people on board.

"May the force be with you," I told Rex.

"You look like you need it more General," Rex joked.

I grinned and Rex nodded before leaving to go back onto the front lines. More black spots clouded my vision and I tried to blink them away but this time they completely filled my vision leaving everything dark...