Chapter Six:

Blood of the Body

Two years and nine months after Rebirth of the Light. . .


Oh Force, oh Force! Obi-wan held to his friend as the speeder flew through the bright sunlight. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, as if nothing of any importance was happening. As if everything was perfectly alright. Like there wasn't a war, like Anakin wasn't dying here in his arms.

The light within Skywalker grew dimmer as seconds passed by.

Sabé in the front seat fumbled with something, then threw it back to Obi-wan, barely taking time to see if he caught it or not before turning back to keep the speeder on course. "Here! Put this on him!"

An oxygen mask. "Where did you get this?" he called over the roar of their flight even as he struggled to untangle the hose.

"Med kit back at the house! It's an Imperial system, so it must be Anakin's! Must have brought it with him off his ship when you moved in!"

Of course, Obi-wan realized. His friend was all too aware of his physical condition and must have taken precautions. But if that was the case, how was it Anakin's suit had been so easily damaged? Surely they would have known if the remotes had presented some kind of threat. Wouldn't they have?

Knowing he didn't have time to ponder any of this, Obi-wan reached for Anakin's helmet, intent on getting the oxygen mask on his friend and help him breathe.

If for one moment he wondered what he might find under the mask, he didn't let it stop him. Kenobi's deft fingers found the locks on the helmet and tossed it into the floorboard of the speeder. There wasn't any sound of air escaping, no change as he pulled away the mask. Whatever oxygen system that had kept Anakin breathing had completely shut down. Without thinking, Obi-wan covered their friend's nose and mouth with the face plate and slammed on the system.

Air was forced into Skywalker's lungs, then out again.

Obi-wan also took deep breathes, feeling for the moment, they had just that much longer to get Anakin to help. Thank the Force Sabé had a practical head on her shoulders.

It was then, with the air being forced in and out of Skywalker that Obi-wan calmed down enough to get a good look at his friend. What he saw at first horrified him, but melted away into pity and deep-seeded anger.

Anakin's once hansom face had been carved away. His skin was pasty white from lack of sun, and there were bags under his eyes that made him look decades older than his real age. He was missing part of one of his ears, his eyebrows, hair, everything, was gone. But it was the scars that touched Obi-wan the most. They weren't fresh, but it was clear they weren't that old either. Rigid and red, they crawled as if alive across his scalp and accumulated in mass just above his spine in the back. Beneath his left eye, one scar had come close to blinding him. Underneath the face plate, the once fine-chiseled mouth that had smiled in mischief had been twisted into distortion.

Glad his back was to the front so Padme could not see, though he she would have to sometime, Obi-wan pulled the ruined face of his friend closer in his arms and held him close, hand clinging to the oxygen system.

This, he thought to himself in loathing, this is what happened this day. This is what I did to him. No wonder he hated me. No wonder the Darkness came so easily to him. When he awoke and looked in the mirror, it must have been like waking from the horror of the lava to a living nightmare.

He must have been horrified, thinking Padme would ever again look at his face.

There were hot tears on his cheeks, and Kenobi brushed them angrily. How could he have allowed this to happen to his friend? His apprentice? The fall to Darkness, this mutilation? Had he been so blind to what was happening? So willing to simply stand back and say there was little he could do to stop it.

"Hold on, Ani. Hold on for just a little while longer."

When this gained no response, even through the Force, he sighed and gave up. For now. Turning his eyes away from the ruined face before him, Obi-wan considered the damage that had been done to the suit, taking a closer look now that he was calm. It still puzzled him as to how so much damage could have been caused by just a little blast.

It's true that while Kenobi had no where near the mechanical skills as Skywalker, he knew enough that when he pried open the control panel on the front of the suit, it didn't take long to assess what had happened. It wasn't so much that a shot from the remotes had destroyed any of the controls. Rather, the little electronic laser had hit the unit and sent an electronic burst throughout the system, a short circuit. It hadn't really fried any of the controls, but things had simply shut down in response.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Obi-wan sat back. The suit could still operate. They just needed someone who could get it back online, so that Anakin could breathe on his own.

There was still the concern though, that they had not gotten to Anakin in time. Obi-wan's worries returned almost as quickly as they had subsided. Even if they could get the suit back up and running. . . would Anakin be alive to use it? He was barely even breathing now. His lungs had completely shut down.

What if his heart stopped?

What if he was. . .

No, Obi-wan instructed himself. Don't even think that! Surely he had gotten the mask on his friend in time. Surely there was enough oxygen getting to the brain! How could the Force allow it to be otherwise?

He didn't want to think about it.

"Show a little of that Skywalker stubbornness," he instructed his unconscious friend. "Hang on till we get there. You'll be alright. You will."

The silence that replied did nothing to relieve his doubts.

"I called ahead!" Sabé shouted. "Home One has a medical team ready for us I the hanger. They've sent one of their specialists, a Shira Brie. They're ready for us!" She took a second to glance around, but if she was surprised by the white, mutilated face lying in Obi-wan's lap, her face didn't show it. "How's he doing?"

Worried eyes met hers, and Sabé took that as her answer to drive faster.

Glancing briefly at Padme, she saw the woman still had her arms wrapped tight around her son, staring straight ahead. Little Leia had snuggled up against her mother, but Padme seemed completely unaware of either of her children. She was in shock, and Sabé worried for her as much as she worried about Anakin.

Luke, who had kept an eye on his mother ever since climbing into the speeder, one of her hands wrapped in both of his, turned his ice blue eyes on the rebel agent. Little Skywalker surprised her for the second time that day when he smiled, even as small as it was.

It's going to be okay, she told herself, hitting the gas. Somehow, it's going to be okay. . .

The caves that had become Home One appeared in the distance, nothing more than black smudges in the shadows of the hills. But even seeing that was a great relief.

Sabé didn't bother to slow their pace as the hanger doors, set into the cave openings, slide aside with a great metal creaking and groaning. The speeder flew between metal door and rock wall with very little room to spare. No one in the speeder even blinked, and neither of the twins cried out. They were far more afraid for their father.

As the light spilled into the hanger, the first floor of Home One, and the only level above the surface, you could see the rock floor had been replaced to look like the interior of a ship. With eyes adjusting, Obi-wan glanced quickly around, impressed with what the rebels had accomplished. For all he knew, if not for the sunlight pouring in behind them, he might have thought they had flown out of space into a starship.

Out of the darkness, figures came running toward them, human and alien alike. Most wore the uniforms of medics; among them were a handful of rebel representatives. Sabé called a tense greeting and jumped out of the speeder to assist.

"Over here, quickly!" a young humanoid woman waved the others forward, then jumped into the back with Obi-wan and, without braking stride, took Anakin's pulse and checked his eyes. Her multicolored hair fell over her shoulders and across the chest of the redeemed Jedi.

"Stretcher!" One of the medics announced, positioning himself and another against a side of the speeder. Another, this one a Bith, climbed onto the back and grabbed the unconscious Jedi's legs. "Ready to lift?"

"He's fading fast." The woman barked, helping Obi-wan and the Bith lift. "We've got to get him down to the med center immediately. I want an IV plugged in asap, get a regulator on as soon as you get down there." She grabbed the oxygen system from Obi-wan and was out of the speeder before he could blink, her hair leaving a trail of fire behind her. "Get a move on, go, go!"

Working in perfect unison, the medics took off at a run for a lift that would take them to the lower levels. Obi-wan started after Sabé and the others when he thought about Padme. But she was no longer in the speeder.

Looking around, he found her already following the medics, children in tow. Obi-wan ran to catch up, calling her name.

"Padme! Padme, wait!" he grabbed her arm, unintentionally yanking her back so that she gave a cry. But she didn't look scared or angry, only cold and determined.

"Let go of me, Obi-wan."

"You can't go with them, Padme."

"That is my husband, Obi-wan! Don't you dare tell me – "

"Listen to me, Padme." He got a firm grip on her shoulders so she couldn't get away, had to face him. "Listen to me. There's nothing you can do to help Anakin right now. They're going to do everything they can. The best thing you can do right now is look after the twins. Look at them, Padme. They're terrified."

Padme blinked, as if for the first time remembering she had children. Glancing down, she found Luke and Leia hiding within her skirts. Leia had her eyes squeezed shut, no doubt trying to imagine herself some place else. Luke was looking to the lift where his father and the medics had disappeared. He hadn't uttered a word since his exclamation in the kitchen earlier that day.

Taking a shuddering breath, she knelt and wrapped her arms around her children. Both twins accepted the comfort and Leia burst into tears.

"Mama! Mama, what's wrong?! What happened to Daddy?!"

"Obi-wan?"

Kenobi turned to find a familiar face, drawn and worried, looking from him to Padme and the children. Jan Solik, flight helmet in hand, gave Obi-wan a look that told him she needed answers, and now. "Is it Anakin?"

"Look, Jan, I – "

"Go on, Obi-wan." Padme said quietly, wiping away her daughter's tears. "Jan can help me with the children. You go with Sabé. If anything. . . promise you'll let me know?"

Kenobi nodded tersely, gave Jan an apologetic look, and took off in the direction the medics had gone.


"I want information on his medical condition pronto. Everything you can find out. How extensive are his old injuries, what kind of surgery has he undergone. What types of medication did they have him on. Everything you can get, even if you have to get someone to hack into the Emperor's own records. I want it and I want it now."

"Right away, doctor." The intern jumped at Shira's orders.

Red and orange hair pinned up into a tight knot now at the nape of her neck, Shira Brie pulled on her medic uniform as she ran for the med bay's operation room.

At forty six standard galactic years, the Firrerreo woman was considered one of the best medics on the rebel's side of the war. Even before the Empire had taken over, she had been well-known for her abilities, having been schooled at some of the best universities. Her inborn talents only added to her capabilities.

Being a Firrerreo humanoid, a species able to heal itself with unusual speed, Brie had also once been a candidate for Jedi training. However, her connection to the living Force had been weaker than those of her peers and she had not been chosen by a Master as an apprentice. Like other would-be-Jedi that didn't get the chance, Shira was sent to train with the Republican Corps, where she discovered her strength in medic and the healing of others. Her mainly dormant Jedi powers had saved her from the Purge at the rise of the Empire, simply by never being strong enough for Vader and the Emperor's minions to sense. She had continued her medical calling in peace, switching to the Rebellion once it was established.

How ironic, she thought now, examining the ruined face before her. Now, after all of this, here was Darth Vader laying before her, waiting for her healing touch.

Anakin Skywalker, she reminded herself, sympathy rising within her.

She was not a cold being, and after being told of Skywalker's passionate speech to the Council and his oath to destroy the Sith Emperor, Shira, like many other rebels, had sided with the former Dark Lord. He was, she had come to understand, no longer the monster he had once been under Palpatine's control. His story had spread like a wild fire through the rebel ranks.

And if even only the smallest part of it was true, Shira felt he had deserved the second chance the Council members had been willing to give him.

Well, now she was going to try to give him another chance.

"What's his status?"

"Regulators operational. He's alive, but only just." Her comrade and companion medic, a Gotal by the name of Gharritar, watched the monitors closely. "But there's no way to tell if further damage has been done to his lungs. And if we can't get the suit's system up and running. . . "

"We'll have to open his chest up and replace it." Shira nodded, worried. They would have to wait for the information she had sent the lackey to gather. She didn't dare open Skywalker up and try to replace the system already helping him breathe without some idea of his original operation. From what she understood, the wounds had been extensive, require many months of surgery and recovery.

Ghar turned and his red-tinted eyes, stared at her. "His friend outside is very worried."

Gotals are tall, weather-beaten skinned creatures with massive cones atop their skulls. These cones help them detect other creatures up to ten meters away, makes up for their poor sight (their eyes are for night seeing), pick up magnetic fields, help them sense other's emotions and have many other functions. In their time together, Shira had come to depend on Ghar to sense a patient's ills and how best to heal them.

Nodding, she turned and opened the door to find Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi wringing his hands, waiting.

"General."

"Is he alright?" Obi-wan looked over Brie's shoulder into the room, but a white curtain separated Skywalker's bed from the rest of the room. "Please, doctor. Tell me he's going to be alright."

Shira sighed and pulled the door shut behind her, stepping out into the hall. "We're going to do everything we can, General Kenobi. We have no way of knowing to what extent his lungs have been damaged, what are old wounds and what might be new. But we do have his breathing now. Until I receive more information, there's very little we can do."

"Oh, Force." The man's face fell and Shira felt her sympathy extend to the Jedi. From what she understood, Kenobi and Skywalker were close, and she could well understand his fear.

"Listen. We're going to keep him on the regulator for now, keep him breathing. His life signs are good, so for the moment, he's fine. I'm going to go over his files, do some research, find out what we can do for him. What I want you do to, General, is find yourself a place to stay here on Home One. Get yourself and the Lady Skywalker as comfortable as you can. And I'll contact you in the morning, tell you what I've learned."

Kenobi's eyes went again to the door, as if he could stare straight through and into the room where his friend lay unconscious.

"What if he comes to, in the middle of the night?"

"I'm going to have an orderly on watch. If Jedi Skywalker awake, I can have them call you. You'll be the first to know. But, chances are, he's not going to just yet. His systems took quite a hit today."

Nodding, Kenobi sighed and tried to smile. "Thank you, Doctor. . . ?"

"Brie. Shira Brie." She held out her hand and the Jedi Master took it gratefully. "I promise you, I'm going to do everything I can for Anakin Skywalker. Tell his wife, she's welcome to come see him whenever she wants. Best not to bring the children, though."

"No," Obi-wan agreed, thinking back to that moment Luke had come into the kitchen, eyes shining. "Best not to."


Somewhere, Anakin drifted in darkness.

It wasn't cold here, like it had been in the Darkness he had known only a few years ago. It was quiet and peaceful here, and he couldn't quite seem to remember who he was or how he had gotten here.

There were no nightmares, nothing but the darkness in which he floated, unaware.

Then a presence touched his, unfamiliar but not unwelcome. It had a healing quality to it and Anakin liked that. He wasn't afraid. And when it would grow fainter or closer, he was never worried. Because he knew it would always come back.

In the soft darkness of dreams, Anakin waited.


Caslia