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“Anakin.”
Anakin’s eyes slowly drifted open, hearing a familiar voice call to him.
“Anakin?”
Anakin blinked, attempting to clear the blur in his vision. As the image in front of him focused, he recognised the silhouette of what looked like his former master, kneeling beside him.
“Obi-Wan?” Anakin asked, hazily.
“Yes Anakin, it’s me.”
“Obi-Wan...” Anakin managed a small smile at his former master, briefly closed his eyes, before he felt a cool hand press against his forehead.
“Anakin, are you feeling alright?” Obi-Wan lifted his hand from Anakin’s forehead. “You just fainted.”
To this, Anakin tried to sit up, letting out a small groan, before Obi-Wan stopped him.
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan pushed Anakin’s shoulders down, preventing him from sitting up any further. “Just stay down, for now.”
Anakin let his former master guide his shoulders back down, to lay on the floor. “Master, i...” Anakin started, but his vision started to blur again, his head started pounding, and—
“You’re okay, you’re okay.” Obi-Wan repeated, as Anakin folded over to his side, lurched forward and began to heave.
–––
“I...i’m sorry.” Anakin said faintly, his cheeks flushed from embarrassment, after heaving up his entire stomach contents onto the briefing room floor.
“It’s okay, Anakin,” Obi-Wan replied, gently rubbing Anakin’s back, holding him upright. “There’s nothing to be sorry about...these things happen.”
“But—”
“Anakin, it’s fine.”
“But i—”
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said sternly. “It doesn’t matter, the only thing i care about is wether you’re okay.”
Anakin leaned his head back to rest on the side of the briefing table. His stomach ached. His head was still pounding. But, at least, he was able to focus his vision on the image of his former master’s face, softly smiling down at him.
“Do you think you can stand up?” Obi-Wan asked, breaking the brief moment of silence that fell between them.
Anakin blinked for a few seconds, before replying. “’think i could try.”
“Good,” Obi-Wan said, placing a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, i’ll help you.”
Anakin nodded, acknowledging Obi-Wan’s words, he moved himself into a seated position. Obi-Wan took hold of Anakin’s arms, guided him up to stand.
“There,” Obi-Wan said, holding Anakin steady. “Do you feel okay?”
Anakin stood still, focusing on a spot on the floor, waiting for the room to stop spinning. So dizzy.
“’m okay.” Anakin replied, after a few moments, once the dizziness had mostly subsided.
“Good, i’m glad...now, let’s see if we can get you back to your quarters.”
–––
“Woah there, i’ve got you.” Obi-Wan said, catching Anakin’s arms, just before he landed on the floor. “I’ve got you.”
Anakin felt himself sink into Obi-Wan’s arms, as his former master pulled him upright. They had only just made it outside the briefing room doors, and Anakin was already feeling way, way too dizzy to even stand, much less to walk all the way to his quarters.
“M’ster...” Anakin said, his voice shaky.
“Yes, Anakin?”
“I...i can’t...i need to sit down.” Anakin felt Obi-Wan’s arms shift beneath him, closing his eyes, suddenly he was sitting on the floor.
Anakin looked up at his former master, and gave him a weak smile. Even though he was sitting back down, the dizziness still wasn’t going away. In fact, it was starting to get worse. The room was starting to sway, his vision was swimming, the pounding in his head was getting stronger, and he felt hot—very hot. Anakin must have closed his eyes for a moment, because when he looked up, Obi-Wan was reaching for his forehead.
“Anakin, you’re burning up.” Obi-Wan said, feeling the heat emanating from Anakin’s skin, taking his hand away from his forehead.
“Mm...”
“We need to get your temperature down,” Obi-Wan placed a hand gently on Anakin’s shoulder. “And the only way we can do that, is if we get you back to your quarters.”
Anakin tried to reply, but he couldn’t quite manage to get the words out of his mouth. The pounding in his head was becoming stronger by the second, his fever was building up, and his vision was so distorted that he couldn’t even see Obi-Wan anymore—everything was a blur.
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said, lightly shaking Anakin’s shoulders.
“Mm...”
“Anakin, i know you don’t feel good, but we need to get you back to your quarters,” Obi-Wan brushed a few strands of sweat-soaked hair, away from Anakin’s forehead. “I can help you better there.”
Anakin gave Obi-Wan a faint nod, only for his head to dip forward, sending him slumping towards the floor in front of him. Hands were suddenly holding onto his shoulders, pushing him upright. Everything felt hot, hand on his forehead again, head pounding. He opened his eyes, only to see nothing but a dull blur. Hands back on his shoulders—
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan shook Anakin’s shoulders. “Hey, can you hear me?”
Anakin tried to respond, but the only thing that came out was a small mumble.
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “Do you want me to carry you?”
Anakin managed to give a small nod, and suddenly he felt arms wrap around his body, picking him up, holding him, then the gentle bounce as Obi-Wan took each step, carrying him in the comfort of his steady arms.
–––
As Obi-Wan walked down the hallway towards Anakin’s quarters, carrying his former padawan in his arms, he could feel the dry heat pulsing through Anakin’s skin—which was concerning. Oh Anakin, why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling well?
Obi-Wan shifted his arms slightly, which resulted in Anakin’s head lolling to the side, Obi-Wan shifted them again, guided Anakin’s head to rest against his shoulder. Anakin stirred slightly, let out an unintelligible mumble, then buried his head into Obi-Wan’s chest.
“I’m sorry, my friend.” Obi-Wan whispered into Anakin’s hair.
Obi-Wan continued to trek down the hallways of the Resolute, passing the occasional clone trooper, as he journeyed towards Anakin’s quarters. Have Anakin’s quarters always been so far away from the bridge? Obi-Wan thought to himself, feeling as if he had been walking for hours. In reality, he had only been walking for about three minutes, but with his former apprentice feeling increasingly hotter by the minute, Obi-Wan felt like he had been walking for a lifetime.
“We’re almost there,” Obi-Wan whispered, though wether to reassure Anakin or himself, he wasn’t sure. “Just down the hallway.”
When Obi-Wan finally made it to the door of Anakin’s quarters, he felt a wave of relief flow through him. Though, this relief was short-lived as Anakin stirred in his arms, craned his neck and looked up at Obi-Wan with bright blue, glazed eyes.
“M’ster...”
“Yes, Anakin?”
“’wan...”
“Anakin?” Obi-Wan watched Anakin’s eyes flutter open and closed—he looked miserable.
“feel sick...” Anakin said with a whine.
“I know,” Obi-Wan said. “Let’s just get you inside your quarters, okay.”
Obi-Wan felt Anakin’s head nod against his chest. He pushed the button to open the door. The door opened and Obi-Wan walked inside.
–––
Inside Anakin’s quarters were dark. Obi-Wan left the light off, carried Anakin across the room, layed his former padawan down onto his bed. After pulling off Anakin’s boots, setting them on the floor at the end of the bed, Obi-Wan arranged some pillows against the headboard, positioned Anakin to rest comfortably against them. He placed his hand against Anakin’s forehead again—he felt terribly hot, as Obi-Wan already new. Obi-Wan felt Anakin sink into his touch.
“’wan...”
“Yes, Anakin?”
“I...i think—i’m gonna be si—” In an instant, Anakin moved over to the side of his bed, folded over and began to retch.
“You’re okay,” Obi-Wan repeated, rubbing circles on Anakin’s back as he heaved up the last of what was in his stomach. “You’re okay.”
Obi-Wan thought that Anakin had already gotten everything out of his system back in the briefing room, but apparently not. His heart ached with empathy as he watched his former apprentice continue to retch onto the floor.
When Anakin had finally finished, Obi-Wan sat at the edge of the bed beside his former padawan, holding his arm around Anakin’s back, keeping him steady, as they both sat there in silence for a few moments.
“Do you think you’re going to be sick again?” Obi-Wan asked, breaking the silence.
“No,” Anakin shook his head slightly, then pushed himself closer to Obi-Wan. “I don’t think i have anything left.”
“Okay,” Obi-Wan tensed the slightest bit as Anakin pushed closer to him, but quickly relaxed. “Do you want to lie down now?”
“Yeah.”
Obi-Wan helped Anakin move back to the center of his bed, gently layed him down against the pillows he had earlier propped up. He placed his arm on Anakin’s shoulder. Right—his fever. Even in the dim light, Obi-Wan noticed the beads of sweat forming on Anakin’s forehead. Using his sleeve, Obi-Wan quickly wiped the sweat from Anakin’s forehead, brushed a few strands of sweat-soaked hair away from his face, then stood up from the bed.
“Where’re you going?”
“We need to get your fever down,” Obi-Wan noticed that Anakin’s bright blue eyes widened as he stood up. He could sense that his former padawan didn’t want him to leave. “Don’t worry, i’m only going to be a minute.”
“Okay.” Anakin replied hesitantly.
Obi-Wan gave Anakin a gentle smile, turned away, padded over to the refresher at the other side of the room. In the refresher, Obi-Wan fumbled through the drawers under the sink to look for a towel. Once he found a towel, he turned on the tap, rinsed the towel through with cool water, turned off the tap, wrung the towel out, then walked out of the refresher.
Obi-Wan returned to Anakin’s side, sat on the edge of the bed, placed the damp towel against Anakin’s forehead. He felt Anakin relax slightly as he pressed the towel against his sweaty skin.
“Does that feel any better?” Obi-Wan asked. Anakin nodded his head, but the movement made the towel slide off the side of his face. Obi-Wan placed the towel back onto Anakin’s forehead. Anakin started to shiver.
Obi-Wan realised that he was sitting on top of Anakin’s blanket. He sat up quickly, picked up the blanket, pulled it up to Anakin’s chest. He hoped this would stop Anakin from shivering.
Obi-Wan noticed a foul smell coming from the floor at side of the bed—right, he still needed to mop up the pile of vomit on the floor. Obi-Wan padded back into the refresher. He found a mop and a bucket, then proceeded to clean up the vomit from the floor beside Anakin’s bed. Once he finished up cleaning the floor, Obi-Wan slid back onto the side of the bed, making sure to not jostle Anakin. Obi-Wan looked down at his former apprentice—his skin was flushed with fever, his eyes were fluttering open and closed—he looked wholly miserable.
“How do you feel?” Obi-Wan asked after a few moments.
“Mmm...head hurts...feel dizzy...tired.” Anakin mumbled.
“I see,” Obi-Wan said. Anakin shifted slightly and Obi-Wan soon felt Anakin’s hand fumbling for his own. He held Anakin’s hand. “Do you want to go to sleep now?”
“Mm...” Anakin faintly nodded his head. Obi-Wan felt Anakin pull at his arm, looked up to see him patting the space on the mattress beside him. Obi-Wan realised that his former padawan wanted him to sit next to him.
“Anakin—”
“’wan...please.” Anakin looked up at him with a pleading smile.
Obi-Wan attempted to resist Anakin’s plea, but his defence came crumbling down within seconds—how could he say no to that smile?
Obi-Wan let out a long sigh. “Alright...i give in.”
Anakin smiled as Obi-Wan crawled across the mattress, moving to sit beside him. As soon as Obi-Wan settled into his new spot beside his former padawan, he felt Anakin lean against him, drop his head on his shoulder, let his weight sink into him.
“Do you want me to give you a sleep suggestion?” Obi-Wan asked, setting his arm around Anakin’s shoulders.
At first, Anakin didn’t reply, but then Anakin pushed himself closer to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan heard him mumble something a few moments later.
“no...i just need you.”
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