Scars of a Hero
The patient's ward of the boot camp was frantic as Padmé Naberrie made her way through the aisle in the middle of hospital beds and nurses urgently treating each soldier who laid on them. She herself was a young nurse who was appointed after she signed up in her college. As a politician in the making, she thought it would give her more credit if she volunteered as a nurse in a time of war. She noticed a newly arrived patient on a bed who was not attended to, so she sat by the side of his bed. She grabbed the bowl of water sitting on the bedside table and began to clean up his wounds. As she cleaned up his wounds, he started to groan and blinked his eyes open.
"Are you an angel?" he asked her groggily. His squinted blue eyes looked at her.
She blushed and giggled at his question. "Sir, I can guarantee you that you're very much alive." She answered him as she continued to clean him up. "You're at the middle of a warzone, not heaven. I'm a nurse, and I'm most certainly not an angel."
"Really? Cause you look like one." He said. It earned him another blush and giggle from her.
She silently continued to clean him up. As she bent down to him, she felt the flesh of her back sting but she tried as much as possible not to show it. She was cleaning up his left arm when she noticed him staring sadly at his right arm – or at least where his right arm use to be. She read the word "Skywalker" on his nametag. The joint of his shoulder and his right arm was covered with a bloody red cloth bandage. His right was covered with a gauze and strips of medical tape. It was evident enough that the war was hard and tough on him. It tore her heart to see him sadly look at the space that could have been occupied by his arm. She knew the war took so much away from everyone, and for him it was his arm. She bit her lip as he reached out to grab his hand. She gave it a soft squeeze.
"You were a brave man out there, commander Skywalker." She said quietly as she looked at him. Her words seem to have gotten his attention. "You've given so much hope and safety to so many people. You've made us all one step closer to freedom. You're a hero. You should be proud of yourself." She smiled at him and he returned it back. In a time of war where light seems non-existent in the darkness, it was nice to give and to have such sincerity and comfort every now and then.
She brushed away the shaggy blonde hair away from his face when she finished cleaning him and he groaned in pain caused by his wounds.
"I'll go see if they have any painkillers for your wounds and I'll make sure they're given to you right away." She said as she rose from his bedside and headed for the medical storage to alert them of the needs of her patient.
When the war ended a few weeks later, Padmé returned to her studies. The school year came to an end when Padmé and her friends were leaving their all girls college for summer break. They were making their way to Sabé's convertible when she noticed a soldier leaning back against a black Tipo PM. He looked oddly familiar to her.
"Excuse me, ladies," he called out to the girls and they stopped on their tracks. "but I'm looking for someone named Padmé Naberrie."
Her friends immediately looked at her in shock before she made her way towards him. She pulled her brown curls to the back of her shoulders as she approached him. He smirked at her before she noticed his nametag read "Skywalker" on it.
"Commander Skywalker!" She greeted him happily. "You're well. What are you doing here?"
"Well, I came to see you but you seem like you have other plans to attend to…" he answered as he indicated her friends in the convertible.
"Padmé, come on! We're gonna end up arriving at the beach by sundown!" Dormé yelled at her from her seat on the trunk.
She let out a shy, nervous chuckle as she fumbled with the sides of her pastel yellow dress. "I'm kind of going to the beach with my friends. We're celebrating the start of the summer."
He nodded at her before an idea came into his mind. "Tell you what, why not I come to the beach too? I could drive you there, since your friend's convertible looks awfully crowded. I'll just follow them from behind. It's alright with me. Besides, I came along way just to see you. A little trip to the beach won't do any harm." He offered her.
She blinked owlishly at him and blushed. Her friends, who had been listening to his offer from the convertible, were all jaw dropped.
"Sure." She accepted his offer as she nodded at him in shock.
He opened the passenger seat door of his automobile for her. "Right this way, milady." He said before helping her get seated in his car.
He sat back on the driver's seat and he followed her friends to the nearby beach.
On the beach, Padmé's friends yelled and laughed about as they ran on the waves in their polka dot high-waisted bikinis. Parked on a hilltop lot, Padmé walked towards Commander Skywalker, who she learned his name was Anakin on the way, as he leaned back on his car staring out into the view of the beach.
"Are you sure you don't want to step down on the beach?" She asked as she approached him before leaning back right beside him in her loose white shirt on top of her light blue and white polka dot swimsuit.
He had a sour look on his face. "Not really." He answered. "I'm not a beach person. I don't like sand."
"Oh." She responded.
"Why aren't you on the beach with your friends?"
"Well you're up here standing, aren't you? And you did say you came a long way to see me. It would be rude of me if I just left you off here instead."
They stood in silence for a little while before Anakin asked her something rather odd.
"Why are you wearing a towel over your bathing suit unlike the rest of your friends?"
She gave him a puzzled look. "It's nothing really." She answered casually.
He observed her as she answered him and the way she turned away from him and wrapped her arms around herself did not go unnoticed. Through the thin cloth of her white shirt, the true answer was visible.
"I asked about you, you know." He said out of the blue. "They told me who you were, where you came from, where you study… all that kind of information." At this point, he already had her full attention. "They even told me about what happened to you. I know about how you were caught by the rebels when you verbally protested against them. They punished you by slicing your back before you were rescued. You were in pain when you tended to me. Now your wounds have scarred."
She gulped at his words. Before she could hide away any further, he placed a hand – his right metal prosthetic hand - on her shoulder. She was forced to look at him. "You were brave enough to try to get them to listen to you when you protested against their war. You were great. Even if your efforts failed, you gave people hope in the fight of freedom. You're a hero, Padmé. You should be proud."
She blushed at his words, clearly taken aback by it. Those were the words she used when she tried to comfort him. He took them to heart. The war left many scars – for Anakin it was his arm and for her it was her back. It left many reminders of their failures, but it also left new symbols of strength and courage. The war may have been over, but the comfort and sincerity that was sought out for was still there – it was always there.
Lost in her deep thoughts, she felt his hand light touch the back of her hand. It was cold, but it made her heart feel warm. He suddenly stood up from the side of his car.
"Tell you what," he said. "you go have fun with your friends on the beach and I'll actually walk on the sand with you. Does that sound alright to you?"
She smiled up at him. "It does."
Author's Notes:
Ok, the idea just suddenly came up and I just had to write it! I literally sacrificed sleep for college energy to write this. It's definitely not my best work, it's really simple in fact, but I couldn't go to sleep without writing this down and publishing it somewhere. Despite its shortness and directness, I hope you all enjoyed this little one-take from me! I hope to be writing again soon!