Just a Little Longer

by Ahsokas_Goggles

Summary:

Anakin gets poisoned and his master and his padawan have to race against the clock to get him back to Coruscant before it’s too late.

Chapter 1: One

“Clear out!” Rex shouted, firing back at last line of droids. “We’ve got ‘em all now move, move, move!” 

Anakin blocked another bolt with his saber, sending it directly into a droid’s head. He watched as Ahsoka deflected a bolt into the last droid’s chest. “Nice shot, Snips!” he yelled over the endless noise of battle.  Ahsoka looked back at him, grinning. Her “thank you” was lost over the noise but he could see her lips form the words. “Alright!” he shouted, turning his attention back to his Captain. “Let’s go!” 

Just as he turned, he felt the smallest prick on his right shoulder. He barely even registered it and disregarded the stimulus as quickly as it had appeared. 

---

Ahsoka gasped with delight as the ship’s cold air hit her skin. She hooked her lightsaber to her belt, falling into a chair. “All force, I’m sweating my montrals off.” 

Anakin snorted with laughter, wrinkling his nose. “Ew, I don’t wanna hear about your weird Togruta sweat.” She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly and he laughed again. 

Then he collapsed against the wall.

“Master!” she cried in alarm, shooting up from her chair and rushing over to him. Rex was already by his side, trying to steady him. 

“I’m fine,” Anakin said, putting out his hand to stop her from helping him up. He righted himself back into a standing position, swayed a bit, and then steadied. He gave a small smile. “See? All good. Just lost my balance there for a sec.” 

“Are you sure, General?” Rex asked, voicing Ahsoka’s thoughts. “I can call Kix ove-“ 

“Not necessary,” Anakin intervened quickly. He placed a hand on the clone’s shoulder. “Seriously Rex, I’m fine.” 

“Alright sir,” Rex said and he headed off down the ship’s corridor. 

Anakin walked over to his data pad resting on the table. “Where are we headed?” he asked cheerily. 

“The base on Ryloth. Obi-Wan thought it would be easier to meet up there instead of going back to Coruscant for our next joint operation.” 

“Cool,” Anakin said. He ran a hand through his hair. Ahsoka noticed a sheen of sweat on his brow. He should’ve cooled off by now. 

But then again, it was Anakin, and she was probably just overthinking. That trait of her grandmaster’s had rubbed off on her recently. 

---

As Anakin continued to type up his report on his datapad, he noticed that his hands were shaking. 

Like shaking so bad he had to re-type several words. 

He frowned, setting the datapad down. His hands were still trembling. Maybe he was dehydrated. Though, growing up on a scorching hot wasteland of a planet, he found he was able to last longer without water than most. Still, maybe it had been longer than he thought since he last drank some water. 

He got to his feet and immediately staggered to the side, the whole world tilting. He flung his hands around to find purchase and ended up using the closest wall to keep himself up right. He swallowed a wave of sudden nausea. 

Okay, maybe he was really dehydrated. No cause for concern. He just needed one or four glasses of water. That’s all. 

He heard a rustling on the other side of the room and he turned towards the noise. Shadow’s swam in and out of his vision. 

“Ani,” someone whispered. He turned around, keeping a hand on the wall. He peered down the corridor of the ship. There was no one there. 

“Ani,” someone hissed again. He was starting to feel queasy. 

“Hello?” he called. Stars, he needed that glass of water. His throat felt like hot sand. 

“Oh Anakin,” the voice said. “How could you do this?” It sounded distorted, like it was being spoken through water. 

“Do what?” he replied. “Who are you?” 

“Turn around,” the voice whispered in his ear, so close he could feel its breath against his skin. 

Then he doubled over and wretched. 

---

The unmistakable sound of someone throwing up echoed down the hall and Ahsoka immediately rushed towards her master’s cell in the ship. 

She opened the door, hand already on her lightsaber hilt out of instinct, when she was met with the image of her Jedi master slumped against the wall with a pile of bile at his feet. 

“Anakin!” she yelped, rushing towards him.“What happened? Are you sick?” 

“M’fine,” he mumbled. His eyes were glassy and his skin was gray and shiny with sweat. “Just need some water.” 

She took her brother’s arm, gently guiding him to a chair. She placed a hand to his forehead. His skin was practically on fire. “Force, Skyguy,” she muttered. “You’re burning up.” 

“Fine,” he said again, not looking up from the floor. He seemed to be only half aware of the things around him. “Dehydrated.” 

Ahsoka pressed her comm. “Yes, Commander?” Kix’s voice cut through. 

“Kix, can you bring your equipment to General Skywalker’s cell. He’s burning up and he was just sick all over the floor.” 

“Right away, Commander.”

She waited a few minutes, still keeping a hand on Anakin’s arm, until Kix entered the room.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, kneeling down next to her. 

“I heard him throwing up and came to see what was wrong. He was hunched over a pile of sick over there. And he’s burning up.” Kix nodded as she spoke. He slipped off his gloves and placed the back of his hand to Anakin’s forehead, who barely even seemed to register that it was there. 

He hummed in thought, digging in his bag and taking out a small flashlight, switching it on and shining it in Anakin’s eyes. The older Jedi blinked slowly, but otherwise showed no reaction. He seemed to grow paler by the minute.

“Well that’s not good,” Kix said slowly, putting the flash light back away.” 

“Why? What is it?” 

“His pupils aren’t responding. Did he suffer any head injuries?” 

“Not that I’m aware of.” 

He frowned, turning back to Anakin. The clone took out another device and took his temperature. His frown deepened. “103,” he read slowly. Ahsoka’s gut twisted. He placed two fingers against Anakin’s wrist. “His heart’s going a mile a minute.”

“Do you think he caught something?” 

“Oh he caught something. Though I doubt it’s a virus. My guess would be that this is the work of some sort of poison.” 

Ahsoka frowned in confusion. “But how would that have happened?” she asked. “It’s not like we sat down for a snack in the middle of battle.” 

“There are other ways to poison someone,” he replied. “How far from Ryloth are we?” 

“About another half hour.” 

“We might want to re route back to Coruscant. General Skywalker’s condition may be dire.” 

Chapter 2: Two

Obi-Wan tried not to show his nerves as the ship exited Ryloth’s atmosphere. Ahsoka had contacted him a little over half an hour ago, telling him of Anakin’s condition. Leave it to his former padawan to find danger at every turn. He was practically a magnet for it. 

He’ll be fine, he told himself. He’s always fine and you end up working yourself up over nothing. 

But Ahsoka sounded nervous. More nervous than normal. As someone who was used to Skywalker and his knack for chaos, she shouldn’t be that worried and less it was urgent, right? 

“Jump to light speed,” Obi-Wan said, already prepping. He had chosen to fly to meet the 501st. He wanted to make sure they were going as quickly as possible in case something was really wrong. Which obviously it wasn’t. Obviously. 

“Are you sure sir? It’ll only be a twenty minute flight.” 

“I’m sure.” 

“Alright sir, prepping for light speed.” 

---

Anakin was going to freeze to death. The shadows were going to kill him with their icy claws and he was going to die. He was sure of it.

Something wet and cold was placed against his forehead and he jerked away, letting out a low whine. He was freezing. Why couldn’t this person just leave him alone? 

“I know Skyguy, but we gotta bring your fever down.” 

Skyguy…oh it was Snips. Snippy. Why was she making him cold? He was so so cold. His stomach hurt too. And his throat, and his head. 

Someone touched him again, icy fingertips. He flinched. His eyelids were peeled back and a bright light was shone in his eyes. He didn’t register that even his eyeballs were cold until the light went away. He shivered. 

“Pupils are still unresponsive,” a voice said. That sounded like one of the clones.

“Obi-Wan will be here soon,” Ahsoka replied. 

Obi-Wan? Anakin thought dumbly. His old master didn’t need to be brought into this. He’d just give him that stupid look of disapproval that made Anakin want to crawl under a very large rock and never resurface. He was fine, really. If someone would just bring him another cloak or a blanket or anything to warm him up, he would be fine. 

Icy claws raked against his lungs and he curled his body inwards as he coughed painfully. 

He tasted metal in his mouth. 

---

Ahsoka couldn’t put into words the relief she felt when the 212th’s ship docked next to theirs. And that relief was multiplied by a thousand when Obi-Wan ran into the room, her, Rex, and Kix all turning their heads. 

They had been able to move Anakin to the bed, his head propped up with pillows and a cold, wet rag over his forehead. 

“How is he?” Obi-Wan asked breathlessly, coming to kneel down next to the bed with the rest of them. 

As the minutes had ticked on, Anakin had rapidly grown worse and worse. He was barely coherent, was boiling hot to the touch, and seemed to hear or see things that Ahsoka couldn’t and would start muttering nonsense, not even bothering to open his eyes. He had vomited twice since Ahsoka first heard him sick, and he had developed a horrible cough that sometimes resulted in clumps of blood spewing from his lips. 

“Fine,” Ahsoka said quickly just as Kix was about to speak. He shot her a look and Obi-Wan frowned. She sighed, going silent to let Kix know he could go ahead. 

“His condition’s worsened at an alarmingly fast rate,” Kix informed Obi-Wan. “He’d feverish and he’s coughed up a small bit of blood to say the least. Nothing we do seems to bring his temperature down.” 

Obi-Wan nodded along to his words, his lips pressed in a thin line. He reached out towards Anakin with a softness the clones had never seen before and Ahsoka only once or twice. A kind of tenderness that a mother bear would have towards her cubs. 

He brushed Anakin’s curls, damp from sweat, off his face. Anakin muttered something, his face twisting. “Shhhh,” Obi-Wan whispered. “You’re okay.” 

“Mas’er?” Anakin slurred, opening his bleary eyes just slightly. Obi-Wan stroked the side of his face soothingly, humming softly. 

“Yes, I’m right here, little one.” 

“M’cold.” 

“I know. We’ll be on Coruscant soon and we’ll get you help.”

Anakin just groaned, his breath coming out in a staccato rhythm.

“It’s gonna be okay.” 

---

It’s not gonna be okay, Obi-Wan thought for the seventeenth time. He’s not going to be okay. 

They were only ten minutes out from Coruscant, but that was ten minutes too long.

Anakin let out a low whine and Obi-Wan looked down to where the younger Jedi’s head was resting in his lap. He started twisting around weakly, muttering under his breath. All Obi-Wan could do was murmur words of comfort and hope that the fever dream would pass. He was helpless to stop Anakin from getting sicker and  it was making him crazy. 

Kix had concluded that it was indeed a poison at fault for Anakin’s condition, though he could not figure out what kind, how it was administered, or how to combat its effects. 

Anakin started coughing, his body seizing as his lungs constricted. Panic spiked through him and he sat him up. Anakin hunched forward and blood dribbled from his lips. Finally, the coughing stopped and he leaned back again, gasping for breath. Obi-Wan rubbed his back soothingly. 

Just a little longer, he pleaded. Just hang on a little longer. 

 

Chapter 3: Three

She refused to leave his side. He wouldn’t wake up for another ten hours. He had already been out for thirty eight. She didn’t care. 

She looked over at her master’s still form, trying to ignore the twist in her gut. They got the poison out, he was breathing evenly, and his temperature was a steady ninety-nine degrees. He was fine.

But for a good chunk of time there, she was almost certain he wouldn’t be. 
It was nearing the middle of the night, and Ahsoka felt her self nodding off. She pinched herself, trying to stay awake, but soon sleep took her. 

---

Obi-Wan walked in to Anakin’s healing room to see Ahsoka slumped in her chair, fast asleep. He smiled softly to himself and then headed back to his quarters to go get some pillows and blankets. 

---

Ahsoka woke up with a blanket draped over and a pillow propped up behind her head in the chair. She smiled and sent a wave of gratitude towards Obi-Wan through the force. 

She heard rustling from the bed and she snapped her head up. 

Anakin’s eyes fluttered open and he groaned. She stood up from the chair so fast she knocked it backwards. “Master?” 

Anakin turned his head slowly to look at her. A delicate smile spread across his face. 

“Hey Snips.”