Title: Flooding
Author: patientalien
Challenge: SWMININANO
Prompt: Culpable/Culpability
Word Count: 439
Characters: Anakin, Rex, Obi-Wan
Rating: PG-13
Summary: War sometimes causes collateral damage - but that doesn't mean Anakin's okay with it
Author's Notes: This may be triggering

The dam had broken. Two days of constant barrages from both Separatist and Republic fire had finally worn it down, but it was the General's order to attack the 'droids on the embankment with the heavy cannons that tipped the balance and sent a wall of water to drown the town below.

Anakin Skywalker watched as the water level rose, covering houses, schools, and people. Oh, the people. They had screamed, and he could feel them in the Force - terrified, despairing. The battle on the ridges above them had been bad enough, had caused enough damage, but this - this was unthinkable.

"Rex!" he shouted above the roar of the water and the pounding in his own head. "Get me a larty! NOW!" He had to make this better. He'd destroyed lives, almost single-handedly, he had to make it right. He almost gagged, but instead stood tall, tried to present the image of someone in control, someone who had the power to fix this.

He nearly shoved the pilot of the larty out of the way in his rush to get to the controls. "Be ready to pull up survivors," he snapped at Rex, who simply nodded. Anakin couldn't see the captain's expression, and he was grateful for that - and at the same time wished he had a helmet to hide his own distress.

Buzzing low over the flooded town, Anakin spotted the first group on the roof of a church, waving a blanket over their heads. He angled the larty beside them and Rex helped the family board. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to take responsibility. Wanted to tell them he was sorry their home was lost, their treasured belongings, their livlihoods. But he didn't. He remained silent and scanned the rooftops for anyone else who may have made it. It was all he could do, now.

Two hours passed, he rescued five more families, twenty more individuals, brought them to higher ground, helped set up temporary shelters, organized aid stations. He called the Council, asked for a relief team, railed at himself. By the time Obi-Wan arrived with the 212th, he'd been up for well over three days, unable to sleep, unwilling to rest. Obi-Wan put a hand on his shoulder, implored him to sit, to regroup. He pushed the hand away.

He was ordered to leave before the flood waters subsided. The last thing he saw as his transport brought him back to the Resolute was a little girl clutching a soaked, dirty doll, and he closed his eyes. "You can't fix everything," Obi-Wan said, softly.

Anakin clenched his fists and ignored him.