Chapter 33: What are those?!

By the time I got back to the downed ship, the reinforcements had already arrived, Dr. Nuvo Vindi was in tasercuffs and Ahsoka and Padme were being moved out on stretchers.

I landed the ship by the landing craft, and stumbled out, clutching my side with one hand, the other clasped around a reeksa root.

"I ...I got it." I rasped, limping over to the nearest medic, all eyes on me.

I grabbed his hand and stuffed the root in, before looking him in the eyes.

"The reeksa root," I explained, "is the only cure to the blue shadow virus. This should be enough for first aid. Sorry, I... couldn't get any more. There was some ...hehehe...trouble."

I pressed a button on my glove and the doors to my van swung open, revealing the corpse of Grevious.

"How did this...." Anakin asked, shocked.

"The reeksa root grows suspiciously close to a droid factory on Iego. And Grevious, well, you know how he hasn't been spotted on the field in a while? Guess where he was..." I coughed for effect, wincing from the sting in my chest, "Guess where he was hiding?"

I let out a wry chuckle.

"You need medical attention." Obi Wan said, helping me stand straight, his arm around my shoulder.

"No shit, sherlock!" I laughed, "He got me good. I took some painkillers but, damn this..hehehehhe.....just feels funny."

"Come. Let's get you some help. We'll deal with Grevious." Obi Wan nudged me forward.

"Thanks. But don't you dare take credit for it. It's ..it...it took me a lot of work getting ....fighting .....you know what. I'm not letting anyone take credit for this. Or the lightsaber. This is...my prize! I took it fair and square from him." I said, before the doctors strapped me to the stretcher and began to remove the armor from over me.

"Of course." Anakin assured, "We won't steal your glory."

"Or the lightsaber." I added, sternly, "I've always wanted a lightsaber."

"That is....why don't we talk about that once you're well?" Obi Wan skirted around the topic.

"Obi Wan...I respect you, I really do .... but trust me, if you steal my lightsaber, I will ....how does Ahsoka put it?

Yes.... Gut you like a Rokarian dirtfish!" I wagged an accusing finger at him causing Anakin to snort in amusement, earning him a stern stare from Obi Wan.

"Let's talk about it later." Obi Wan deflected the topic again, before turning to the van.

"Wait. Just one more thing...." I said, and pressed another button on my glove, the bed on my van lifted, turning into a ramp, as Grevious's body slipped out of the van.

The moment the body was out, the bed pulled back in, the doors shut tight and the van's forcefield generator buzzed to life, stopping anyone from getting their hands on anything within, like my portal gun, for example.

"Grevious...fought well. He deserves a proper burial. And given that we are in a swamp, I figured it would be appropriate ...and easy." I said.

"Alright." Obi Wan nodded, pushing away a hole in the mud with his force, before dragging the body into it.

With another swipe, the mud poured back onto the hole covering up Grevious's body.

"Now go." He said, and the medics dragged me away for treatment.

I was loaded into the ambulance and taken away, across the lush grasslands toward the capital of Naboo, where I was promptly forced to purge the painkillers, before the doctors sedated me for the surgery.

Bu the time I awoke, I found myself in a bed by the window, my wound well on it's way to recovery.

A light breeze wafted in from the window, bringing with it the delicious earthy smell that so often appeared after rain, plunging me into nostalgia, of my childhood when I used to play in the rain, float little paper boats down the spontaneous runoff that formed on the shitty roads outside my house.

That was a quality I had lost as I grew up. That wonder and excitement for life.

But now, in the multiverse, it was returning to me, slowly, like a trickling stream, despite the rollercoaster of emotion that had been my journey up till this point.

It was joy I cherished so dearly, it almost brought me to tears out of sheer gratitude, for whatever entity brought me into this place, gave me a chance at a better life.

I wiped the tears pooling in my eyes, and got up to get something to eat when the door opened, and in walked Ahsoka, with a bowl of odd, exotic fruit.

Seeing me, her eyes lit up like firecrackers.

She let the bowl drop, and jumped at me, pulling me into a hug.

"You idiot! I was so worried!" She sniffled, "Why did you have to go and fight Grevious? Why didn't you run away?"

I rubbed her back consolingly, and thought of what to say, when an idea popped into my head.

"Well, I have been running away from my problems for as long as I remember. And for good reason. Growing up in the outer rim, you don't get the luxury of chance. I didn't want to put in the effort only to see it wasted. It had happened to me so many times that I had developed a ...habit of sorts. If I thought something was difficult, I just ran away. No point in risking life and limb over something that wasn't worth it." I said, looking her in the eyes, "But yesterday, when I faced Grevious, I just ...I couldn't back off. Lives depended on me. Your life depended on me. And for the first time in my life, I had something worth fighting for."

Even as the words left my mouth, I had to resist the urge to puke, at the cringe inducing, sickeningly sweet and corny line I had just blurted out with a straight face.

Oh the things I do for power!

"Besides," I added, with a cheeky grin, "I had a promise to keep. A certain someone asked me to come back to them!"

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I mimicked her, as a blush creeped up her cheeks, and she looked away.

Her hug though, became just a bit tighter.

It was almost cute.

If she had more value to me than a glorified hall pass, I might have even squished her mondrals.

You know what fuck it, I'm gonna squish them. It's their fault for looking so tempting!

I reached out and gently curled my palm around her head, and-

"What are you doing?" She asked, waking me from my thoughts.

I pulled my hands back in alarm.

"W-what? Nothing."

She raised an eyebrow, not buying my bullshit.

"It's not my fault, okay. They just look very soft and squishy." I sputtered.

"My mondrals?" She asked, confused.

"...yeah." I replied.

"You want to touch them?" She smile mischievously.

"Can I?" I asked.

"Okay. Fine. But just this once." She agreed.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist causing her to giggle.

I raised my hand, and grasped at the head tail firmly, and gave it a squeeze.

Though what I found wasn't what I expected.

"Ihihihjhi... That tickles!" Ahsoka cried.

"They are...harder than I thought." I said.

"Of course they are! They are cartilage. They help me sense vibrations, like an ear." Ahsoka explained.

"Wait...those are ears?!" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. What did you think they were?" She asked.

"I don't know, maybe a store for fat and water, to extend the time you can go without, or maybe a secondary brain or something."

"You were going to squeeze my brain?"

"Now if you put it like that, anything is going to sound bad!" I exclaimed eliciting a chuckle from her.

"You two look like you're having fun!" Anakin said from the doorway, startling the both of us.

Ahsoka even jumped onto the bed in fright, like a cat.

"Did I interrupt something?" He asked, with a teasing smile.

"No. Not at all!" I said, while Ahsoka shook her head, climbing down from the bed, swiping at the sheets to uncrease them.

"Really?" Anakin teased.

"Yeah." I insisted, Ahsoka looking down, red to her lekku.

"So what brings you here?" I asked, looking past him for further visitors.

"Oh that." He extended me a holo scroll, "It's your reward for bringing Grevious to justice. His bounty will be transferred into your account once you give us the numbers. And you're getting a medal. It'll be a whole ceremony." He explained, "But before that, if you're up for it, the chancellor would like to meet you, personally. He has something to discuss."

Bingo!

There we go. Finally I get my in, to the senate house.

Of course my answer was....

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