WHOO! HELLO EVERYONE! WELCOME TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE ANAKIN AND CADENA SERIES...I think? I don't know what to call the series yet...BUT STILL! *throws glittery stuff in the air and begins dancing* YAY! I CANNOT WAIT TO BEGIN! Thanks so much for the support you guys, I mean, I wouldn't be doing this story if it wasn't for all of the awesome reviews, follows, and faves. :') Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you tha-
Cadena: I'm gonna do it again...-_- *slaps me*
Me: OW!
Cadena: STOP YOUR RAMBLING AND GET ON WITH IT!
Me: Oh. *blinks* Right. ON WITH DA CHAPTER, PEOPLES!
Chapter 1.
Anakin—
I heard muffled voices coming from above me and blinked my eyes open sluggishly.
"Master? Are you awake?" Cadena's voice hits me first and I let out a low moan. "He's awake." Cadena says quietly and I closed my eyes for a minute and reopened them, trying to get the blurriness in my vision to focus.
"Where am I?" I mumbled as I sat up. Instantly, I felt pain shoot up my spine and collapsed back on the ground.
"We crashed, Anakin. Again." I heard Obi-wan say listlessly and I winced. "Is anyone hurt badly?" I asked, trying to hold back another moan.
Cadena smirked and she says, "I don't know if it's bad luck or something, but right now, the only one really badly hurt is you."
I blinked and mumbled, "That makes sense." Ahsoka came into my field of vision and held up a chunk of metal. "I'm trying to salvage what's left of the ship." She tells me and I nodded slowly.
"So…Cadena, do you mind telling me what's wrong with me, or would I rather not want to know?" I asked, giving a small chuckle. Cadena didn't smile. She bit her lip and turned to Obi-wan. He gave her a weak nod and then she sighed.
We were stranded on some sort of foreign planet, and we all knew it. Our mission was to break into a Separatist base and uncover some secrets, but that plan failed miserably when a bunch of warships shot us out of the sky. At first, Ahsoka wasn't even supposed to participate in the mission, but she had put up such a fight that the Council reluctantly allowed it.
"You have a couple of broken ribs, your ankle was sprained, but we created a splint of a sort…" Cadena gestured downwards and when I looked, sure enough, there was a piece of driftwood tied up with twine stuck to my leg.
"What else?" I asked, dreading for the worst. Cadena shrugged. "You had a minor concussion, as usual, but you woke up today, so…yeah." She says.
I nodded and leaned my head back. "Obi-wan has a couple of bruises and scratches and a broken arm, but…he'll be fine." Cadena says hesitantly. I looked over at my former master and he gave me a strained smile. ""I'll be alright, Anakin, just look after yourself for now." He says, grunting slightly as he shifted his position.
"Ahsoka had a pretty bad cut down her leg, but we patched it up." Cadena adds. "What about you?" I asked, frowning.
Cadena shrugged. "I'm fine. I got something stuck in my neck a couple hours earlier, some sort of bug, I think, but eh, it's good." She says. I looked over to Obi-wan. "Did you see the bug?" I asked him. He nodded uneasily. "It didn't look very familiar, to tell you the truth, but we'll just hope for the better that it wouldn't be dangerous."
I looked uncomfortably over at Cadena and she rolled her eyes. "Come on, it wasn't that bad!" She protested and Ahsoka walked back towards us, holding a couple of packs. "I checked inside of them." Ahsoka says, tossing us each a pack. "There's a minor med kit in each one of them, some protein bars, blankets, and a blaster, just in case." She says.
"What, no communication system?" Cadena mutters and Ahsoka sighed. "I wish." She grumbled, but slung the pack over her shoulders.
"Master, we'll help you walk." Cadena says gently and she grasped my forearm and tried to tug me up. I winced and gasped as my broken rib began digging towards my skin but leaned against a tree until I was ready to begin moving.
"We can stop whenever it really hurts." Cadena says, watching me carefully. I laughed weakly. "Cadena, you know me! 'Here with No Fear', remember?" I said and Cadena frowned. "Don't be so cocky, Master." She says snappishly and everyone else began laughing.
"Poodoo." I mumbled under my breath. "Oh, try to keep a clean mouth, will you, Anakin?" Obi-wan asks sharply and I rolled my eyes at him but stopped as pain flared again.
"Master!" Cadena calls out and catches me as I begin to crumple to my knees. "I'm fine." I said tiredly. "There's a cave nearby." Ahsoka says. "It's only a little way from here. Do you think you can walk that far, Anakin?"
I grunted and nodded. "Yeah, that won't be a problem…" I mumbled and began to fall again. "Master!" Cadena yells again and she held my shoulders, keeping me steady. "Blast it, this stupid ankle." I glowered at my leg.
"Master, we don't have to go to the cave if you really can't walk." Cadena says worriedly. I shook my head. "No, we should get going. It's already growing dark and I don't think we should be around when night comes." I said.
Cadena pursed her lips together and I could tell that she hates this solution, but she nodded. Ahsoka grabbed my other arm and Obi-wan walked ahead of us.
"We're almost there, Master." Cadena whispers and I nodded, a thin layer of sweat settling down on my face. As soon as we walked inside the cave, Cadena and Ahsoka sat me down next to the wall. I moaned softly and closed my eyes.
"I'll take the first watch." I heard Cadena volunteer. "Be careful." Ahsoka warns and I felt Cadena nodding.
I opened my eyes and watched as Cadena sat down at the mouth of the cave, her legs dangling.
"Good night, Cadena." I whispered. Cadena turned back to look at me and she gives me a half-hearted smile. "Good night, Master." She says and I drifted off into sleep.
•◊•
I awoke suddenly and looked over at the mouth of the cave, surprised to still see Cadena keeping watch. "Cadena?" I whispered and my Padawan turned around to look at me. I struggled to sit up and Cadena walked over to me.
"What's wrong, Master?" She asks, sitting down next to me. "Have you been watching this entire time?" I asked. Cadena shrugged. "I was just trying to protect us." She says lightly.
I narrowed my eyes at her and felt worry and concern coming off of her so strongly that it took everything in me to not wince.
"Cadena, I'll watch from here." I said gently. Cadena looked up at me, and I could see the bags of tiredness under her eyes. "Master, with all due respect, you're hurt. It wouldn't be…safe." She says. I sighed. "Don't worry, Cadena, I'll wake Obi-wan or Ahsoka or you up when something bad happens." I replied.
Cadena glared at me. "Anakin…" She says warningly and I patted her head. "Don't worry, little one." I said calmly. "I'll be fine." Cadena sighed but she leaned her head on my shoulder. "I hate it when you call me 'little one'." She mumbled.
"Yeah, well, that's why I call you that." I said, smiling.
Cadena looked up at me and smirked. "Good night." She murmured and soon enough, she was sleeping fitfully.
I watched the night skies and a shiver went up my spine as I heard wild creatures scream and call out. "What is this place?" I whispered out loud.
I watched as plants swayed in the breeze and rain began to fall from the clouds. I sighed and turned my gaze around the cave.
Obi-wan was resting with his head leaning on the wall, his legs stretched out neatly in front of him. Ahsoka was sleeping on the ground, her hands being used as a pillow. I looked back down at Cadena, whose chest was rising and falling steadily.
I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment, thinking about how long Cadena has been my Padawan.
It's only been five months now, but she had already proved herself countless times of being a heroic, clever and quick warrior. True, she was a bit reckless and can be a little too bold, but her heart was in the right place.
I reopened my eyes and gazed out the cave a bit more, sinking in how this place looked. Too bad we've never seen it before. It actually seemed decent if it wasn't for the fact that we crash landed here.
"Anakin, I'll watch now." Obi-wan's voice startled me and I flinched.
I turned to look at him. He gave me a slight nod towards Cadena who was still sleeping next to me. "You both need it." I nodded and rested my head against the wall.
"What do you think is this place?" I asked Obi-wan quietly. My former master frowned. "I have no idea, Anakin, but let's just hope that it won't be the place where we fall."
I felt panic grow in my chest and then I whispered, "Do you think…it'll be like Mortis?"
Obi-wan looked towards me sharply and shook his head. "No, Anakin, I don't think this is Mortis…this planet is very much alive." He says and turns his attention back on the outside.
I nodded, and looked down at Cadena and Ahsoka. Both of them looked safe and comfortable, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that this would be the easiest feeling for all of us in a long time.
•◊•
My head slid off the cave wall and I awoke.
I shut my eyes tight and then opened them as the bright sun hit from under my eyelids. "Too…bright." I mumbled and I heard Cadena snort at my reaction.
"Come on, Master, it's not that bad once you get used to it." She says lightly. "I don't think I can appreciate that right now, Padawan." I say, squeezing my eyes shut again.
When my eyes reopened, Ahsoka, Obi-wan and Cadena were all standing in front of me, packs already over their shoulders. "Come on, Master." Cadena chides and I glared at her.
"You know, I think I liked it better when you were worrying over me." I muttered but managed to stand up. The pain began to start again and I grit my teeth. 'Fight through it.' I think angrily to myself and I finally got took a step.
"Take it nice and easy, Master." Cadena says soothingly, all of the bite in her voice gone. I closed my eyes briefly and nodded. We slowly climbed down and onto the grass again.
"Where should we go?" Ahsoka asks, shading her eyes to look around. Obi-wan shrugged. "Let's just see if there are any natives here that are willing to give us a ship of a sort." He says.
"Great, we all know how lucky we are when it comes to that." I said sarcastically and Obi-wan gave me a quick glare. "Your optimism is truly inspirational, Master." Cadena says with the same amount of sarcasm dripping in her voice.
I managed to smirk at her. "I try, Cadena." I said and we ventured on a bit more through the fields.
"It could have been worse. We might not have been able to breathe." Ahsoka says reassuringly as we stepped over a small stream. "That's the spirit, Ahsoka." Obi-wan says calmly and we entered a forest that was thick with trees and bushes.
The shade was welcoming here and I was glad to have the sun out of my eyes. A warm breeze cut through the air and I closed my eyes, savoring it, or at least, for the moment.
I sighed as we trudged on, trying to ignore the growing pain in my chest. "Maybe we should take a break." Cadena suggests and I mentally yelled for joy.
Acting as nonchalant as possible, I set the pack down and slumped against a tree's trunk.
Ahsoka wiped the sweat off her forehead and says, "It's so warm here…" Obi-wan nodded. "We'll just have to make the best with it." He says. I didn't answer but instead I closed my eyes, the heat making me feel drowsy and slow.
I heard a noise of cotton rustling and cracked open an eye. My eyes popped open when I saw Cadena taking off her tunic.
"What the…CADENA!" I yelled and my Padawan shrugged. "Relax, Master, I still have an undershirt underneath." She says easily and sure enough, a white tank top was covering her upper body. She tucked her tunic neatly in her pack and sighs, leaning against a tree. "That feels better." She says cheerfully.
I rolled my eyes at her. Even in a foreign planet, she always seems to find a way to look comfortable.
A/N: Yes, yes, I know. I went there.
Anakin: Cadena, you are grounded.
Cadena: Why? It's HOT there!
Anakin: There might be some BOYS reading this.
Cadena: So? I don't mind.
Anakin: Yes, well, Cadena, some boys may have...weird thoughts.
Cadena: You're only saying that after you met Jim. -_-
Anakin: Well...*thinking to himself* I hope Jim dies in while serving the Republic...
Cadena: Master? You're having that creepy smile again...*backs away*
Me: RIGHT! Anakin, do the review notice!
Anakin: What?!
Me: You heard me...-_-
Anakin: Fine. Please review, give feedback, no hate comments...
Me: Thank you.
Anakin: *face palms* I'm beginning to wonder why I even bother putting up a fight when you always win...
Me: It's 'cause it's in your nature. :)
Anakin: I hate nature. I've got a blasted ROBOTIC ARM for crying out loud. -_-
Me: *rolls eyes* Whatever, Skyguy. Shoo. Now.
Anakin: *sticks out tongue* Bye everyone...