The Mushroom Strikes Back
Author's Note: I still don't like how I started the one shot but hopefully the later half makes up for it. Anyway, prepare to read plotless Anakin and Cody friendship fluff. Honestly, why are they so underrated?
This is a gift for sonikkuruzu on ao3! If you enjoy fics that center on Anakin and Cody, you might also like 'Roots' which similarly focuses on them, and which also we just posted. :)
~ Tirana Sorki
The inevitable fighting every mission as a Jedi brings didn't prepare Anakin for leading people into battle. He's done that before on small-scale, but never massive, never with the lives of so many people relying on him. This isn't what he trained for, but it's what the clones trained for, and he can only try to learn from them.
But at least flying is something he knows he can do as his fighter hurtles through space, in between the vulture droids that he's shooting down. The space battles are always the easy part. He lets the Force guide his movements as he flies, covering for the clones as best he can.
But the droids are swarming around a group of them, overwhelming them through sheer numbers. Anakin spins his fighter around, shooting at the droids attacking those clones, but there's so many.
His fighter spins in circles through space as he avoids their shots, taking down dozens faster than the clones were – not that it's fair to compare when he has the Force and they don't – when a sudden shot strikes his wing. His fighter jolts violently, nearly throwing him face-first onto the controls before it starts spiraling.
It's pulled into the gravitational field of the nearby planet the 212th is already fighting on almost instantly, right alongside another crashing clone fighter.
Anakin keeps all his focus on bringing the fighter down without crashing. But it's coming in too fast, and the controls aren't responding fast enough. It hits the ground full-force, throwing him forwards again, head slamming into the controls.
His vision is swimming, and he tries to push himself up anyway, because staying in a crashed ship could be deadly, but even opening his eyes right now hurts. He needs to give it a moment to fade, and –
A rush of fresh air suddenly hits him, and Anakin blinks, trying to bring the world into focus around him again.
"Sir?" a clone's voice asks.
He hasn't known them long enough to tell who it is when they all sound similar, but when he listens closely enough, he can see the little differences.
Right.
He... crashed, and he needs to get out. Trying to blink away the dizziness – he must have blacked out for a moment – Anakin sits up, looking up at the clone peering down at him.
It's one of the clone pilots, but he doesn't recognize the armor markings yet.
"Are you alright?" the clone queries, almost awkwardly.
"I will be," Anakin assures, clamoring out of his fighter, even as the world spins around him dizzyingly for a moment. At least it's starting to fade a little.
Nearby, he can see the other crashed fighter, though that one is burning, flames licking dangerously close to the engine. The crash must've been a lot worse, even if he's in better shape thanks to his armor. "Are you okay?" Anakin asks, eyeing him.
He seems momentarily taken aback. "Yes, sir."
The clones are always very formal, as though it's been drilled into their heads since they were little that they have to treat their superiors with utmost respect. The concept is far too familiar, especially considering that they were bought by the Republic. Somehow, the fact that they're clones seems to have made everyone forget that they're also people, and Anakin can't begin to fathom why. This is probably why cloning was supposed to be banned by the Senate in the first place, but now that they need it, it... suddenly doesn't matter anymore?
"What's your name?" Anakin inquires, resting a hand on his fighter lightly for a moment. The dizziness is fading, but he still has a pounding headache.
"Oddball, sir," he replies, and he can feel the clone staring at him, through the helmet, though he's not quite sure why.
He'd tell him to just call him 'Anakin', but he doubts Oddball or any of the clones – except maybe Cody would be comfortable with that.
"If you're not hurt, we should find cover and call for a pickup," Anakin decides, finally. There's a battle on the ground, but he doesn't know where they landed. It could be right in the middle of the Separatist forces.
Towering trees loom around them on all sides, which makes it hard to see far, but he can hear the far-off sound of blaster shots. Maybe, this could also be an ideal time to attack the droids from behind. But first, they need to know where they are.
It would help if his head would stop hurting.
And why is Oddball still staring at him?
"What?" Anakin asks, finally.
"Your eyes," Oddball blurts.
What? "What... about them?" Anakin asks, slowly, confused.
"They're blue," he offers, sounding like he's feeling a little foolish now, "I've never seen blue eyes before."
...oh.
Well, that explains a few things, and considering that for all that they look like they're twenty, they're in reality only ten, so it makes sense he's so infatuated at the notion it's possible.
And he could probably think of something to say better, that wouldn't make Oddball more uncomfortable, if he could actually think. Which he can't, because he doubts this headache will be fading for a while.
But he's saved from having to answer at all when a blaster shot suddenly rings out very closeby. They scramble for cover behind a nearby tree, and Anakin reaches out with the Force, to see what he can sense.
People are approaching, which means clones. Maybe, they landed in the right area, after all.
**w**
"Are you sure you're in a condition to be fighting, sir?" Cody asks, coming to a stop next to Anakin.
Why the clones are so worried about him, when their brothers are dying all around them, he doesn't know. Yes, they were trained to expect this, but it's... He can't even imagine that.
This is one of the first battles he's ever fought in, since the war broke out only a few weeks ago. Obi-Wan was assigned charge of the 212th, primarily because of his newly appointed Council seat. Anakin hasn't gotten a separate division yet, even though he's already a Knight, so he's working with Obi-Wan's right now.
His former master was called back to Coruscant from some other urgent duties, though, which means he's the one in charge right now. And it's... terrifying, even if Cody is doing just as much of the leading.
He's hardly had the chance to sleep at all, except an occasional hour or two at a time, since Obi-Wan left. Aside from fighting, he also has to help Cody with directing all the troop movements, so there hasn't been any time to sleep, no matter how exhausted he might be. He can see that same exhaustion just as keenly on Cody himself.
"Yes." Even if his head is still hurting, and occasional burning pain pulses through his arm. He's still adjusting to having a mechanical limb. He thought it would stop hurting after he got a replacement, and it has, though his body is still struggling to adjust to the changes. It's... definitely unpleasant.
"Watch out for the mushrooms," Cody warns, "They have toxins, and you don't have a helmet."
He's usually resistant to things like that; both from being a Jedi and half-Force. It makes him slightly different from normal humans in ways he doesn't really understand. So, whatever these mushrooms are, he's not really worried about it. "I will keep an eye out," Anakin assures him, and they start forwards into the trees again.
**w**
The mission goes well until it doesn't. They're pushing the droids back quickly, until they stumble into a group of the mushrooms. The plants are enormous – several feet tall – which makes them harder to avoid when they're trying to fight here.
Anakin knows it's about to happen a second before it does: several stray blaster shots hit the mushrooms. A faint cloud of brownish spores floods the air literally right in front of him, and he's trying to deflect several blaster shots away to protect the clones behind him, so he doesn't have time to duck away from them in time.
And he promptly inhales a lung-full of them instead.
It makes his nose and throat itch terribly, and he turns sharply away from the mushrooms, coughing.
But it doesn't seem to help much, and now, he can't stop coughing.
Ugh. Cody warned him about this, and he should've been paying a little more attention.
"We need to keep moving," Anakin coughs, the moment Cody appears at his side, before he can ask if he's alright. Even if he's touched the clones are so worried about it.
"Sir," Cody objects, reproachfully, "The side effects can be serious. Perhaps you should –"
"I'm not leaving you here alone," he replies, fiercely. He'll be fine, anyway. They don't have time to worry about it mid-battle.
They don't have any longer to debate it, because the droids are swarming on them again, and Anakin jumps back into the fight, attacking the droids. Though, it's a lot harder when his lungs are still burning, and he keeps coughing in between deflecting shots. And it's becoming annoying because it's making him sloppy.
The coughing starts to fade a few moments later, but he just... doesn't feel so good anymore. Like, at all.
They finish cutting through the droids in the area not long later, and Anakin pauses next to a tree, resting a hand against it as he starts coughing again. He really wants to sleep, but there's no time for that. "Are all the droids gone?"
"I'm having the boys do a perimeter sweep now," Cody replies, approaching and taking his helmet off.
"You sure it's safe for you to do that right now?" Anakin asks. They're a distance away from the mushrooms now, but he doesn't know how much of that is still contaminating the air.
"Air's clear out here," he answers, watching him with concern when he suppresses a cough again. Though, Anakin's beginning to get afraid that Cody was right in warning him about these things. Not that there's anything he could have done about it anyway.
"I am... usually immune to toxins," Anakin tells him.
"Because you're a Jedi?" Cody asks, curiously. All the clones have a certain fascination with the Jedi; unsurprising, when this is their first time interacting with any.
"I'm... not fully human." He doesn't want to get into the details of how he's different. It's not something he likes thinking about, because he never wanted what the 'Chosen One' title always came with.
"Oh," the Commander supplies, but steps closer uncertainly when Anakin coughs again. "You should get some rest."
"You should, too," he replies, pointedly. He sits down at least, though, hoping the momentary wave of dizziness he's feeling is going to pass. That could be from his head injury as much as the toxin, though.
Cody sits down next to him, and Anakin wasn't really intending to fall asleep, but he wakes up at the sharp inkling of danger in the Force. He's curled up right alongside Cody, who's also dozing. They must've rolled closer to each other, because he wasn't practically resting his head on the clone's shoulder when he fell asleep, and nor was Cody's arm part-way on top of him.
"Cody!" Anakin calls, jumping to his feet. Much too quickly, because his head spins, and he nearly starts coughing again. And he feels cold, even though the area is pretty warm. He definitely is sick now.
Cody's on his feet even faster, drawing his blaster as the first blaster shot from the droids rings through the trees.
Anakin loses track of him in the fray of the battle, operating purely on automatic as he cuts through them, ignoring just how close he is to dropping dead right now. His left hand feels like it's shaking a little more than it ought to be as he tries to fight.
At least that's one benefit to his right one being mechanical, even if it's hurting.
This is very, very annoying, but he's used to working in difficult circumstances, so Anakin pushes on the same way he always does.
He's cutting through the last of the droids in this group when a stray shot catches Cody in the shoulder. The clone stumbles back with a strangled sound, blaster falling from his hand. Anakin Force-throws the droids right in front of him into one of the trees, hard enough to damage them, leaving them for the clones to finish off before he hurries to the Commander's side.
"Cody!" Anakin calls urgently, panicking. He still remembers with clarity what happened to his mother only weeks ago, how he held her cold body in his arms and felt the life drain out of her. He was supposed to save her, to give her something better, like she always did him, but he failed.
He promised not to fail again, but he can't stop wondering, fearing, expecting to see someone else close to him fall, and Anakin was here in Obi-Wan's place to take care of these men. He was supposed to look after them, and Cody is his second. He can't die.
"I'm fine," he assures, pushing himself up. That's familiar, too, and yeah, if he's treated, he'll be fine. Doesn't mean Anakin likes that thought much, though.
"You need to get this treated," Anakin objects, taking the clone's good arm and guiding him to somewhere a little more covered, so he can sit down.
Cody does, even if a little reluctantly, and Anakin can't say how grateful he is the moment he's sitting down. He doesn't want to move at all right now.
"You're the one who doesn't look good," Cody replies, bluntly.
"You were right about those toxins," he admits, sheepishly, "But I couldn't have stayed behind."
"I'll go to the medics if you do, too," the Commander decides.
Which is absolutely blackmail, but it's probably advisable anyway. "Deal," he agrees.
**w**
With him and Cody both out of action, Anakin settles for calling Obi-Wan while they're together, waiting for a medic to attend to them. There's a lot who were injured, and neither of them are in immediate danger, after all, unlike so many others.
Obi-Wan is... very unimpressed with the report, not that Anakin expected otherwise. "You're telling me you walked right through the potentially toxic area of that forest knowing you could be hurt?"
"I did not have time to do anything else –" Anakin starts to object. Obi-Wan's been a little different since his Knighting. He gives him space a little bit more, but sometimes... Not so much.
"You cannot lead an army while being this reckless," Obi-Wan replies, sharply.
"Sorry, Master," he offers, uselessly, the way he always used to make him calm down. He's not wrong, really, but it never fails to make him feel worthless. The uncomfortableness Cody is radiating into the Force isn't really helping matters.
"Rest until you're given clearance by the medic to do anything else," Obi-Wan orders, finally. "I'm sure Cody can handle directing the troops until then, and you can give them directions from here."
"Yes, Master," he supplies, quietly. It only reminds him again how inadequate he feels in everything he's doing. He doesn't even know how to lead an army. Trying to lead in this state would probably make it worse, anyway.
He can't help learning forward, lightly resting his head on the palm of his right hand. It feels hot. His fever must be pretty bad.
Cody is looking at him now, but he doesn't know what to say.
"You've done well with leading," Cody speaks up finally, and Anakin's head snaps up in slight surprise. "You told me in the beginning that you didn't know how, but you are doing it fine."
He'd talked to him about that personally, right after Obi-Wan left, because he had no idea what he was doing, and he couldn't make a mistake when there were so many lives on the line. It still felt like he wasn't doing enough, but to hear Cody saying otherwise...
"I... am?"
"Yes. And I am grateful that you chose to stay with us and fight," Cody assures, even if he seems to be feeling a little uncomfortable, "But I must say I agree that you need to... take care of yourself better. You have hardly slept once since he left."
"And you have?" Anakin asks, dryly. Cody might not be the one with a raging fever right now, but he still doesn't look good at all.
"You are our... commanding officer," he begins, almost hesitantly.
"That's why I have to take care of you, regardless of what danger it puts me in," he replies, bluntly. It seems so obvious, and he doesn't understand why Cody's acting like that's not true.
"You are not the same as us, sir. We were made for this, to fight for the Republic. We are ready to sacrifice what we have to," Cody answers, as though he's not calmly explaining that their lives don't matter.
He genuinely believes that people who aren't clones are somehow superior to them, that they're more important, simply because of where they were born. And that... it's way too familiar.
Cody is a slave – all the clones are – and it's been so ingrained into their minds that they don't even see why it's wrong. If any of them do question it, Anakin doubts they would ever mention it, because it would be against protocol. And it's sickening.
"Cody, the Kaminoans may have made you for this, but that doesn't mean you're not a person, too. All of you are – you aren't expendable," Anakin begins. He doesn't know how to even convince him of anything else, but he can't let this go. It's to familiar, and it's wrong.
"It's what we were made to be, sir," Cody replies. He doesn't really understand.
"That doesn't mean it's right," Anakin responds, "You deserve the chance to... choose. And maybe the Republic isn't giving you that choice right now, but your lives still matter. I'm not going to let any of you be harmed if I can prevent it."
"... Thank you, sir," he says finally, clearly overwhelmed.
"So, if there's anything I can do to help you, even if I have to stay here right now..."
"I don't recommend disobeying the General's direct orders," Cody points out.
Well... "I'm still jointly in charge," Anakin reminds, "And I will rest." He stops himself from saying 'when there's time', so he doesn't get another long lecture from the Commander, about how his health is more important than the clones'.
It's then that the medic finally arrives, giving Anakin strict orders to rest and do nothing else right now, before he turns his attention to treating Cody's wound.
"We're running low on bacta," the medic comments, grimly, "But I can give you some pain killer to get through it. Just remember not to overstrain your arm."
Cody makes a noise of acknowledgement as the medic fusses over him, bandaging up his wound.
"While you have the chance, you should rest," Anakin comments quietly, once the medic moves away again. They're in a tent, sleeping on the ground right now, and he scoots just a little closer to Cody.
Something about the Commander's Force presence feels dulled over and hazy now, probably from the medication.
"... 'M tired," he mutters, staring up at the ceiling, "But I hafta check our positions and inventory..."
...Okayyyy, clearly he has a little too much pain medication in his system right now.
"It can wait a few hours," Anakin advises, trying to suppress his amusement at the total swing in formality, even if it's really not funny, given that it's only happening because he's injured in the first place.
"Don't say you can do it," Cody says, blinking at him a few times, his gaze becoming sharper for a moment. "You look awful. Like your face's burning."
He smothers a laugh. "Yes, don't worry. I'll stay here." It rather feels like his face is burning, too. Actually, it feels like he's burning everywhere. His fever must be bad. And he really wants to sleep.
"It's not funny," Cody objects, frowning, "You're my vod."
Anakin didn't quite mean to make a strangled sound at the word, but all his thoughts freeze to an abrupt halt. He knows a little bit of Mando'a from the clones, and he knows what that word means.
Brother.
Cody just said that he's his brother.
He's never had anyone claim him as family before. He always wanted to be more to Obi-Wan – he made it perfectly clear to him that he'll always see him as a father – but Obi-Wan's never returned that. Not that Anakin really expects otherwise, because he's a Jedi, and he wouldn't infringe on the Code like that, but that didn't stop Anakin from desperately wanting.
He has never had a brother or sibling before, and he's always wished he did.
But Cody is doing it without any prompting, even if they hardly know each other.
He can relate to them better than probably any other Jedi, though. They both know what slavery is like, and that connects them in a way nothing else could, even if Cody doesn't realize it yet.
"Yeah," Anakin whispers, staring back at him, "You're my vod, too."
Cody smiles at him – something Anakin's pretty sure he'd never do in his right mind, until they actually know each other better – something oddly warm in his dark eyes.
He falls asleep for a little while, but wakes up to a sharp, cutting pain in his right arm. Sometimes, it just burns, much the way it did when he lost it, and he shifts slightly, reaching up to press his left hand over the area where the metal meets the what's left of his arm, willing the pain to fade.
He's... had worse before, but it's too severe to sleep right now, despite how worn out he is. Maybe it's also worse because he's sick right now.
"What happened to your arm?" Cody asks, and Anakin blinks, twists sideways to look at him.
His Force presence doesn't feel quite as muddled as earlier, but the pain medication is definitely still affecting him. That's probably the only reason he asked so bluntly, anyway.
"I fought Dooku on Geonosis. I... lost it when I was fighting him there," he explains. He'll never be able to forget that moment, or the pain of the lightning that took him down right before.
He... should have been more careful, and it feels like sometimes whoever sees his arm is ceaselessly remembering how much he failed there. He can feel the stares, wherever he goes in the Temple, like they see him as something lesser. (To be fair, they always have.) Jedi don't commonly lose a part of themselves.
Anakin never felt like he belonged with them, and the more times goes on, the more it feels like it. He doesn't know the clones well, but he feels like he fits in with them far more than he ever has at the Temple. Like there's a chance they could actually understand each other, even if they were raised entirely differently.
"You were still a... Jedi cadet then," Cody says, blinking.
Anakin can't help laughing at the unexpectedness of the term. "We call it padawan."
"Still. Close to being a shiny."
A shiny? Right. He's... heard some of the clones sent out calling the newest recruits joining them that. "Yes...?" he ventures, uncertainly.
"Always wanted to see a Jedi," the commander goes on, "Never thought they would be so... cool."
He has no idea how to respond to that, to the clones practically worshiping him because of his abilities.
But at the end of the day, they're only ten or younger. Barely older than when Anakin first came to the Temple. Even if they're physically older, they really are children, and... of course, they would find it enthralling. He finds the fascination they have for anything Jedi a little adorable, if he's being honest.
They feel like his age so he doesn't exactly see them as children, but at the same time, he... kind of does.
"I had much more time to train than any of you," Anakin points out.
"Then should've avoided those... mushrooms," Cody says, blinking up at the top of the tent, gaze momentarily distant.
"I won't risk that again," he assures. Not if he has a choice, anyway. Being this sick is very annoying.
"You better. Or you'll be in very big trouble," he chides, in a tone of great importance.
He really hopes that the pain medication wears off soon, because he rather thinks Cody will find the informal way he's talking rather embarrassing. Anakin just finds it amusing, but he's long learned that he doesn't really have the same level of self-consciousness that most people have. He lost most of that on Tatooine before it could even be formed. He's used to meaning nothing.
"What was it like on Kamino?" Anakin asks, mostly because he's wondering. It wasn't anything like how he grew up, and it's a water planet. Anakin grew up in a place where there was practically no water, and they had to go to insane lengths to preserve what little they had. He can't imagine living surrounded by it.
"Not much to say," Cody replies. "We trained. We learned. What about you?"
"Well..." He doesn't actually know how to answer that. He hasn't thought about before in so long. "A lot happened after I became a Jedi."
"You remember before?" Cody inquires, curiosity burning in his eyes. "Thought you always were."
"No," he answers, shaking his head. "Most... Jedi are found when they're three or younger. I was nine. I'm... from Tatooine."
Cody is about nine now, nine or ten, without his double aging. It's not fair to him or any of his brothers, but it's what and who they are.
"You... knew people there?" Cody asks, curious. Anakin can't blame him for it either. It must be... weird to talk to a Jedi on this personal of a level, but he doesn't hesitate.
"Yeah. I... grew up with my mother. She took care of me." A drowning wave of grief crashes over him as he remembers her. Anakin was supposed to get back on time to save her, to come back to free her, but the Jedi hadn't allowed him to. He couldn't understand it, no matter how many times Obi-Wan told him, because she was his mother.
"What's it like to have a mother?" It's an innocent enough question, entirely unaware of what happened, and Anakin inhales sharply at the memory of the candlelit tent.
"She was kind," he manages, ignoring how shaky his voice is. "She would do anything to protect me, and I wanted – would have done the same for her, until I didn't."
Anakin inhales again, blinking against the tears burning his eyes and threatening to fall.
"But when... you became a Jedi?" Cody inquiries. "Did she...?"
"I left her," he answers, voice raw. "When I became a Jedi. I left her behind. I thought she would be fine. I came back, the day before the war started. I'd been having dreams, visions, of her being hurt. Of her dying. But I came back too late."
It's not something he would've told most people, but it's different with Cody – he feels safe with him, feels somehow at home, even though he shouldn't. Cody is... a friend.
"We have a saying," Cody replies finally, after a few minutes have lapsed. "That... those who pass on aren't truly gone. That they're still with us."
It figures that the clones would have something like that – it's the only way to deal with the constant loss of their brothers. "On Tatooine," Anakin says instead, because he has to explain this to someone. Padme understands, and so does Palpatine, but not – not really. Obi-Wan doesn't, and Anakin can't help his desperation to explain it to someone who he thinks will understand. He's still tired, and they should rest, but he also needs to get this said, no matter how sick he feels. "There was a... legend. About a sun-dragon. That it lives in the center of a sun, that it's strong enough to protect everyone it loves. That... was supposed to be me. I should've – but I failed it. I failed her."
Cody scoots over to him, reaching to touch his shoulder. "You're not not just a legend to us," he says, "You're a Jedi and our commander, but... you're still our..."
"What's it like to have a brother?" Anakin asks, leaning into the warmth of his touch, because he's fairly certain that's what Cody is trying to say.
"I'm responsible for them," he answers after a pause, "But I know they would do anything for me, too. We rely on each other."
Anakin wishes he'd grown up with someone he could say that about, but maybe it's still not too late to change that. "Maybe we are," he says thoughtfully. "Brothers, I mean."
"We are," Cody agrees, "Or we... will be."
They've already grown close in the time they've been together, and Anakin has no doubt that will grow even deeper, even if he doesn't stay working with Cody forever, because he'll probably get his own battalion eventually.
Leaning closer, Anakin wraps his arms around the clone, being mindful of Cody's still injured right arm.
Cody seems momentarily surprised but he returns it with one arm.
It's almost surprising how safe he feels here. Even if his mother is gone, it feels like – for the first time – that Anakin might still have a family. Even if it's one barely held together, forever at the risk of breaking, it's... something, and he couldn't be more grateful to have it.
And yes, it's a little terrifying, because he has no idea what it means to have a sibling, but it's worth trying. For Cody, and for all the clones he has yet to meet.
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