Chapter Text
Adam’s blurred vision slowly came into focus. The world around him looked cracked, shattered. Like it could crumble away if one just tapped it a little too hard. He narrowed his eyes to see that not only were his glasses cracked, but so was the visor on his helmet.
The cockpit was in complete disarray. Shattered glass littered the floor and the metal was caving in on him. The windshield was completely gone, with nothing but pointed shards remaining on the edges. The rest of the windshield was littered across the control panel, finding crevices for the shards to wedge themselves into. A few of the shards had lodged themselves into the uniform he was wearing. But Adam couldn’t feel the prickle of glass against his skin, nor could he feel the sharp metal of the cockpit crushed against his left leg.
No, Adam was simply waiting for the gravity of what had happened to hit him. He was in a daze as he took in his surroundings. His ship sat in the middle of the desert, the dust already settled in a thick layer on the front of it. It was eerily quiet, the silence only parted by Adam’s soft breaths. He was calm. But not the sort of calm you feel when you’re sitting at home reading a book. It was a sort of adrenaline-induced state of mind, like a thick, foggy haze clouding his thoughts. But he started to cut through the haze when he finally realized what had happened.
His ship had been shot down.
He took a breath and assessed the situation. The fight was clearly over by now. How long it had been over, he wasn’t sure. Judging by the silence and stillness of everything, it must have been at least half an hour. His ship was completely destroyed. But as far as he could tell, he was okay.
But then he looked down at his leg.
Sharp, warped metal embedded itself deep into his skin. His pants were singed on his lower leg, revealing burnt skin beneath it. The metal of the ship had cracked and warped under the force of the lasers fired, and had buried itself into his flesh on impact, just below his left knee.
Adam stared in shock, his breaths quickening as panic set in. He needed to get his leg out, but would he even be able to? He took a breath, squeezing his hands into fists to keep them from trembling.
Slowly, he tried to move his leg. But the second he did, searing pain spread through his entire leg and he screamed in agony. He heaved heavy breaths and winced, knowing he had to try again.
“Wait. Someone’s alive!”
Adam paused at the sound of a voice. Someone was here. Was she here to help him? Or was it a Galra soldier coming to finish him off?
Adam was too desperate to care.
“Help!” he screamed. “Please, help!”
“We’re coming!” the voice replied.
Sounds of someone running drew closer, followed by the sounds of someone climbing on his ship, up to the cockpit.
A young woman leaned over the side of the shattered windshield. She was wearing a Garrison student uniform. Adam might have felt relieved at that if there weren’t more pressing matters to be worried about.
The woman made a move to pull him out of his seat, but Adam shouted, “Wait!”
The woman paused, confused but focused.
“My leg,” Adam breathed.
She looked down to study his leg, and muttered a curse under her breath. She looked back up at Adam and locked eyes with him, her gaze stern yet sympathetic. “I’m going to have to amputate it.”
Adam’s breath quickened, and his vision grew fuzzy at the edges. But he knew this needed to be done, and he ordered himself to stay calm. “Okay,” he whispered with shaky breath.
The woman took off the orange Garrison jacket she wore, revealing a white tank top underneath. She tied it tightly around his upper leg, as close to the knee as possible. She turned away from Adam, directing her gaze towards the outside of the ship. “Ida,” she barked, “I need your knife.”
A pause. “Are you sure you don’t want me to do this?” replied another voice, stern yet gentle.
“I can handle this,” the first woman stated decisively.
A moment later, she turned back to Adam with a gleaming object in her hand. Adam squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the seat beneath him, gritting his teeth as he braced for what was coming.
Searing, burning, unbearable pain ripped through his leg and he let out a scream that tore his throat raw. The pain shot throughout his whole body, stinging and burning every inch of him as the knife ripped through his flesh. He felt dizzy, unable to grasp onto reality. Soon his reality was nothing but darkness and silence, as he slipped into unconsciousness.