Obi-Wan woke slowly, and cried out as the pain from his side engulfed his senses.
"Master!"
Obi-Wan vaguely saw the distressed, concerned, and relieved face of his once-apprentice and managed a faint smile.
"Are you okay, Anakin?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. But you aren't! Why'd you-?"
Obi-Wan shook his head slightly. "Do you have the medicine?"
"Yes..."
"I'm awake enough to drink."
Anakin helped Obi-Wan sit up and brought him the drought. Obi-Wan drank it slowly, unable to breathe too deeply. When he had finished it he lay back down and promptly fell asleep.
Anakin gently brushed a strand of hair away from Obi-Wan's face, and his lips peeled back in a snarl. He shouldn't have let Obi-Wan get hurt! He was a failure as a friend, as an apprentice, as...maybe something more. If only he had been more careful, this wouldn't have happened! He clenched his fists, and tried to calm the rising anger. On the edges of his awareness, he sensed some creatures approach, having smelled the sickness, blood, and fear. Anakin's face broke into a faint smile, his eyes cold. It would be good to have something to work his anger out on. He stood in front of the hollow where he had hidden both himself and Obi-Wan and ignited his lightsabre.
"Come out. Let's play."
Obi-Wan was worse the next day. Anakin searched Obi-Wan's body for any other wounds and found nothing. In his fear he threw away the medicine, convinced it was poison meant to kill Obi-Wan. It was only later when he discovered the insect bites that ringed the wound that he regretted throwing the medicine away. It might have helped in powder form to kill whatever disease lived in the bites. He felt like a little child, and the fact that Obi-Wan didn't blame him for his impulsive actions made the guilt even worse. As he watched Obi-Wan and carried him onward in their journey, Obi-Wan became delirious. Anakin made him drink rainwater and wrapped him in as many cloths as he could to keep him from getting a chill, but his condition worsened.
I won't loose him! Anakin thought vehemently.
As Obi-Wan's fever climbed, Anakin found himself increasingly powerless. He snarled through tears and frustration, doing his best, but finding that the almighty 'Chosen One' wouldn't be able to save the person he cared about the most. He stood watch over his dying Master, despairing, and in despair, growing weary, and in that weariness he found solace in sleep.
Anakin woke with a start, panting, his dreams still echoing in his mind. He listened closely, feeling that there was something wrong. All he heard was the usual sounds he had come to associate with the forest.
"Only the usual...NO!"
He turned quickly and crawled over to Obi-Wan. While he was breathing, it was shallow and barely audible. His lips were cracked and bleeding, his face pale, his skin clammy.
"No...NO! No, you can't die, Master! I won't allow it!" He yelled, desperate.
His dreams flitted through his mind, and he stilled, considering them.
"I've been walking for 4 light/dark cycles and he's only grown worse. There is nothing to lose in trying this..."
Anakin reached out and tore off Obi-Wan's upper body clothing, and hissed at the smell that came from the wound when he unwound the bandage. This was bad. He gently, tenderly, picked up Obi-Wan and walked down to the River. He took a step in and immediately jumped out. It was cold. He regarded it with extreme trepidation, but when he looked down at his pale, slowly dying mentor, his resolve steeled. He entered the river, his body quickly becoming numb. Obi-Wan shuddered as his body came into contact with the water and was wide awake the moment his wound touched it.
"Anakin, what are you...?"
"It's alright, Obi-Wan. I know what I'm doing." I think.
Obi-Wan was struggling to breathe the pain of the water on his wound blocking out most other sensations.
"I hope you do."
Anakin managed a wry smile, and closed his eyes, remembering his dream. He swallowed hard after a moment and tore a shred of cloth from his sleeve, and murmured, "This might hurt."
"What?"
Anakin pressed the cloth against Obi-Wan's wound and Obi-Wan screamed in pain and tried to curl away from the pressure. Anakin held him there, and watched as green/yellow puss flowed out of the wound, mixing with blood and the River. It seemed to take forever until the blood stopped and the river ran clear again. Anakin exited the water slowly, chilled but elated. He wrapped Obi-Wan back in his clothes and laid him down gently in the hollow he had found that would protect them from rain and predators.
"So, Master, you are healed now. My dreams, for once, have proved to be useful rather than troubling..."
Anakin leaned down and gently kissed the unconscious man, and sat back, tired, but glad that his friend, mentor, and hopefully something more, was going to live.