What doesnāt mix well? A stubborn girl and the darkness of night
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If one had been able to foresee the mess that would occur in just mere minutes it would be absurd to say that the night has started out peacefully in any way.
For once the ghost was silent, its members were in their own respective beds enjoying what little rest theyād manage to get before the imperials started up problems again and even chopper was peacefully shut down to charge.
The only one up on the dim ship running on autopilot was Sabine, in her sleeping clothing as she groggily made her way through the ship til she reached the canteen.
āHungryā¦ Iām so hungryā¦ Hera wouldnāt mind if I just grabbed a quick ration bar anywaysā¦ā
Sabine muttered as she climbed onto the counter, intent on reaching one of the ration bars set in a higher up cabinet.
She stretched until her hands could feel the bar, feel the loud crinkly wrapped around it, and as she was about to grab it she could also feel her socks slip from the counter, her knee slammed on the counter and as she dropped onto the ground the same knee slammed first onto the floor.
Immediately white hot rushes of pain surged through Sabineās entire body, she gasped and grabbed her knee which was now bleeding from the torn open skin all over the floor.
She could smell the blood, metallic almost like a rusty nail, see the torn skin that looked raw and burgundy as blood pooled from the wound and the grime from the counter became more imbedded into the raw wound.
As she stared frozen at her presumably broken knee she felt bile rise up her throat, gagging and covering her mouth but it didnāt take too long before she hand to bend over by the waist to vomit from the pain, hearing the undignified sound of vomit spill past her throat, burning it, and out of her lips while she could do nothing to stop it. It didnāt take long for the acidic, putrid scene filled her house, souring her nose and mouth as the rancid smell wafted up.
Now she stared at the blood and vomit combined on the kitchen floor that was freshly cleaned just a few minutes ago, the sight of burgundy and scarlet combining with a vicious, curdled bilious yellow made her crying intensify, she tried to keep silent as she wiped the acidic like taste from her lips while urging herself not to scream.
āIām not weak, it doesnāt hurtā¦ Iām not hurt, Iām just fineā¦ Iām a mandalorian, a bit of vomit and blood has nothing on me-ā
Not that it worked anyways, seconds later she interrupted herself, screaming from the pain before biting down on her hand to stop herself, what would they think of her laying on the cold floor crying in a mix of her own blood and vomit because she couldnāt keep her balance on a simple counter?
The putrid mix of metallic and acidic notes in the air did nothing to help her stomach, in fact it only made things worse. She didnāt make an attempt to stand, she knew she would fall and just look even more pathetic so she maneuvered herself to crawl and looked out into the vast black, empty hallways which now looked more horrifying than it had when she just snuck through them.
Since she couldnāt run and she sure as well wasnāt going back out into the dark hallways she dragged her shaking body under the table, ignoring the scalding pain radiating through her body like lightning as she held herself tight, nails gripping into her arms, thatād surely leave marks. Sheād decided that she would deal with the mess and the injury in the morning when the ghosts systems would automatically turn on the lights.
She breathed and breathed, whispering to herself to keep calm.
āItās okay, youāre okayā¦ Youāre Sabine Wren, a stupid knee is nothingā¦ā
She kept whispering to herself until she heard footsteps, then saw the hallways lights turn on which made her involuntarily cower further under the table. Who could that be? Who did she wake up with her foolish whimpering this time? If she was back home on Krownest right now her mother would scold her for her weakness, hell she could hear her mothers voice ringing through her head like a piercing headache already.
From what little view she had she could see dark blue tattered slippers, undoubtably belonging to Ezra and chirping beeps that was also in undoubtably Chopper not far behind him.
āWhose thereās? I heard screaming? Did somebody get hurt?ā
She heard Ezra call out and she cowered further, biting her hand harder to stay silent. She could hear him cringe as he looked down at the mix of blood and vomit and she could hear him come closer as she realized that her own blood made a deep mahogany trail on the floor leading towards her hiding spot, the trail was dry and smeared but unmistakable to even the naked eye.
As soon as he leaned down with a flash light she winced and pulled up a hand to cover her face from the light, she could hear him gasp as he stared at her knee, undoubtably fractured or broken in some way from the crooked, swelling appearance of it and bleeding like a fountain from the torn skin.
āSabine! Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?ā
He called out, now his breath faster as he panicked about the girl who had essentially become a sister to him. He reached out his arm and she hesitantly took it, with him slowly pulling her from under the table.
āIām okay, I just fellā¦ donāt tell Hera or Kanan, just get me to the med bay, okay?ā
Sabine tried to negotiate with Ezra who wasnāt exactly listening to her as he turned the flash light around over and over again, trying to grasp how bad her knee was.
Soon enough more footsteps came, the two teens looked up from their spot on the cold floor, imagining how bad the scene looked; the mixed blood on the floor, the sight of her crooked tumid knee, the panic on Ezraās face, and the fear on hers. He slowly walked over and sat beside them, staring at the knee. Instead of joking like he usually would he joined Ezra in analyzing the situation, silent eye contact between the two told Sabine that they were thinking of calling Hera or Kanan or both of them to come and take a look at this.
Finally two adjoining footsteps ran down the hall way, Kanan and Hera, the appointed parents of the group. It seemed as though they just has a sixth sense for when one of their kids caused trouble or was in trouble and this was definitely one of those times.
āOh Sabineā¦ā
Hera whispered before turning to go get the med kit, Kanan started looking around at the morbid scene in front of him.
āHow did this happen!?ā
Ezra fretted frantically as he was trying to hold her steady enough so she wouldnāt rattle her knee any further than she did that night.
āI-I just wanted food, I was trying to get a ration bar but I slipped.ā
Sabine managed to gasp out as Hera came back and immediately got busy with scanning her knee, setting her knee, and wrapping her knee presumably until they could find a rebel transport to give more proper attention. It hurt, sending pain spreading rapidly through her body as if she had been struck my lightning or stabbed by a lightsaber, it was agonizing and the smell of acid and rusty nails didnāt help, gosh they had to clean that soon, she couldnāt stand it.
āIf you wanted food you couldāve just woken us up, kidā¦ that wouldāve been much better than breaking your kneeā
Zeb muttered, glancing at the higher up ration bars as if they were public enemy number #1, no doubt he was going to move them after they got her settled and probably lock up the cabinet permanently.
āI didnāt want to disturb you, I mean itās been weeks since any of us have gotten good sleep and today was the day where we had that again, I couldnāt just wake you up for foodā¦ I was sure I couldāve gotten it alone, it was just my socksā¦ā
Sabine muttered, covering her face with clenched, sweaty shaking palms. It was true, theyād spent so long evading and messing with the empire that they didnāt get much time to rest for themselves, tonight was the first night in a whole month that they would be able to get peaceful shut eye, in her mind there was no good reason to interrupt that because she wanted food that she couldāve easily reached herself if not for her slippery socks.
Kanan rubbed his temple as he grabbed a mop and began mopping up the reside of crusted crimson and ejecta with the much needed help of Chopper, āIf you need anything, it doesnāt matter what or when you need it, weāre here and weāre family so you come and ask. Next time you want food in the middle of the night you come and wake one of us up, alright?ā
He waited until Sabine nodded in response to get back to mopping the floor, meanwhile Ezra moved his hand up and pulled with the force to grab the ration bar from the top and nudged it into Sabineās palm which was wrenched closed from the blinding pain of Hera taking care of her knee.
āBefore you eat that let me give you some Tylenolā¦ Chopper! Go contact rebel command, tell them we need a medical freighter for a fractured knee!ā
Hera rubbed her thigh as she murmured, shifting her attention to pouring out the remaining liquid Tylenol they had them their last restock and then bellowed out to the droid.
It took a while for her to slowly eat the dense, chalky bar and for Kanan to finish scrubbing the rancid mix from the floor. Afterwards Zeb carefully placed a hand in her back and then slid a hand under her knees, lifting her up to carry her for some much needed rest which would be all she was getting for the foreseeable future.
Tonight was a long night, tiring and morbid in all rights of the words while the next few weeks would undoubtedly be longer than she may have wanted but right now that didnāt matter. She was surrounded her family being cared for, even if Zeb smelled less than pleasant, that was all that couldāve mattered tonight. Not the food, not her knee, not the mess on the floor or the dark vast halls, just that her family, the family she chose, was here supporting her when she truly needed it most.
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If this isnt all too good then thats because this was just for a challenge between me and my friends and this is the first fanfiction ive written since 2024. Thanks for reading š
