“I’m Not Technically On Leave.” Rex Says, Shifting Uncontrollably On His Feet, “Im Just Waiting

Chapter 4 Summary:

Still recovering from the Blue Shadow Virus, Rex attempts to convince Kix that he's practically fine. Unfortunately, his body didn't get the memo.

Chapter 4: Rex

“You know, everyone else is still taking it easy, sleeping the day away. You could stand to actually relax for half a rotation, sir.” Kix said as he approached the Captain’s medbed. Only three days after being infected with the Blue Shadow Virus, Rex was already trying his patience with how often he ignored basic common sense. “I thought I said you were on bedrest for the next week.”

The Captain flinched, attempting to subtly slide his datapad under a nearby pillow. He opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a cough and a squeak, at least until he lowered his voice into a whisper. “I, uh, was just checking mission reports. Didn’t want to be unprepared for my weekly briefing with the General.”

As a virtually extinct plague, very little information existed on recovery from the Blue Shadow Virus, but Rex had quickly learned that laryngitis was part of the package. The first day hadn’t been too bad, and he’d been able to power through a quick debrief, between attempts to cough up a lung. He’d slept through most of the second day, but during his brief lucid moments, he’d been asking for updates on the other troopers, and had been attempting to discuss troop movements with the bridge before Kix confiscated his comm. 

Now on day three, his voice was paying the price. At best, he sounded like a 6th year cadet, and at the worst, he sounded like a dying frog. Jesse was never going to let him live it down, after coming in for an update and nearly falling over laughing when he heard the Captain’s voice.

“Uh huh, and when exactly is this weekly briefing?” Kix asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Tomorrow.” He croaked, sniffling and attempting to look at least a little put-together, but he still looked pale and sickly; if Kix didn’t know better, he’d be worried Rex was on the verge of falling off his medbed in a dead faint. 

Kix huffed, “Do the words, “A week of bedrest,” mean nothing to you, sir?”

“Yes, but I figured that four days was enough, given that I’d be released the following day anyways.”

A vein in Kix’s forehead started to pulse. “Not five days, one week. Not that “business week” nonsense the Senate’s always trying to pull.”

“Oh, four days, then.” Rex raised his chin defiantly, resolutely ignoring how his voice cracked like a cadet when he responded. 

“7 days!” 

“I’m hearing two days.” Rex countered, muffling a cough before going back to reading his datapad, like the matter was decided, despite the fact that he was still running a low-grade fever and had nearly thrown up from the force of his coughing not two hours ago.

Kix shook his head emphatically, emotion suddenly filling his voice. “No. Not in my medbay. You could’ve died, sir! I-If anyone deserves a break, it’s you, so stop running yourself into the ground and rest! Please.” 

Rex’s eyes widened. The last time Kix had truly raised his voice at him was back on Saleucami, after learning he got into a firefight after being benched for taking a blaster wound to the chest. 

“Kix– I-I…” His voice broke. He tried to respond, but his next inhale became a painful cough, and then he couldn’t stop. Chest spasming, his damaged lungs struggled to compensate for the sudden lack of oxygen, and his vision started to darken at the edges.

As a competent medic, Kix quickly took action, helping him into a sitting position for better airflow. He rubbed his back, glancing worriedly at his vitals. “Easy sir, take a slow breath.” 

“T-Trying,” He bit out, wheezing as his coughing finally subsided. If he’d had the breath to do so, he would’ve grumbled when Kix broke out the dreaded oxygen mask, but as it was, his shoulders slumped in relief when he could finally breathe again. He sat there for a moment, leaning heavily on Kix, trying to keep his heavy eyelids from closing.

“You alright now, Rex?” Kix asked softly, one hand still rubbing his back in slow circles.

Rex nodded, head lolling slightly. He whispered again, not wanting to further aggravate his throat. “-’m good… thanks, Kix.”

Kix sighed, fond exasperation bleeding through as he commented, “You know, whispering is actually worse than talking, for laryngitis. If you want to stop sounding like a cadet, you should really take a break.”

Rex opened his mouth to respond before thinking better of it, nodding reluctantly. Kix smirked, getting up from where he’d sat on Rex’s medbed, taking the Captain’s datapad with him. 

“Good. Now, lay down. You are going to rest, and you are going to like it!” He ordered, only a little amused when Rex grumbled something that sounded an awful lot like, “Sir, yes sir.”

I had a sudden urge to write out the moment Nova learns that Rex gets Ahsoka as a Padawan and I guess it spawned this, whoops ^^

Words: about 1k

Warnings: none

No pairings or anything, just brothers being brothers and Kio being cute. Continues a bit under the cut.

———

It’s almost the night cycle on the Serenity when Nova gets an incoming comm from Rex. He’s been diligently cleaning his helmet with a brush, trying to get dirt out of all the small edges while Kio has been softly snoring away on his lap as his wristcomm starts blinking at him.

Which is, for lack of a better word, unusual.

He and Rex usually message before a call, to prevent unplanned interruptions of the others work. They almost never comm each other spontaneously. Nova tries to remember what campaign his brother is currently on, and whether he should be worried that Rex is in some sort of trouble -quickly pushing the thought or worse away. Frowning, he lifts his wristcomm, ready to accept the call when he sees its actually a request for in-helmet.

Careful not to disturb the sleeping Padawan on his lap he shimmies his helmet on, turning off the external speakers. When he accepts the call he is greeted by not only audio, but Rex’s helmet cam as well. Rex seems to briskly walking through the hangar of his General's flagship, brothers milling about around him.

“Rex? You alright?“ Nova asks, worry rising in his throat. He can hear Rex’s rough breathing over the connection and recognizes the first signs of a possible panic attack.

"Do you still have that manual that you and your boys set up?" Rex asks instead, his voice sounding tight.

"Manual? What's going on-"

"They gave him a Padawan, Nova.” Rex brings out, and he sounds like he doesn’t quite believe his own words, “They gave Skywalker a kriffin' Padawan."

Nova feels only slightly guilty about the slow grin spreading on his face as he tries to remember wat Rex had previously said about the matter. He distinctly remembers his brother’s relief when he found out that he would be assigned a Jedi Knight without a young tag along to worry about.

"I thought you said your General didn't want one?" Nova replies, carefully trying to keep his amusement from his voice since Rex is clearly not finding this as funny as he does.

"I did. He did.” Rex says through clenched teeth. His bucket is still moving and slowly a group of some troopers standing next to a tall figure and a clearly shorter figure further ahead come into view.

“I don't think he had a choice in the matter.” Rex continues, “They dropped her off in the middle of a warzone too. What the kriff am I supposed to do with her? She's running into fights half naked." His voice rises in pitch with his last words and Nova barely manages to surpress a snort as he glances down at Kio’s bare arms dangling of the bench they’re seated on. At least his kid wears some leather chest armor.

"So you want advice from me?” he questions instead. Sure, he and Kio get along well, but the situation with General Cos is less than ideal and he doesn’t feel like he is in any position to tell others what to do with a child.

"You've had your kid tagging along from the start, you got experience.” Rex grounds out, “What do I kriffin' do? Skywalker alone is already making me go prematurely grey. Now there's two of them."

The gaggle of people is now completely coming into view of Rex’s helmet cam and Nova can make out his brother’s General easily with his tall stature and floppy hair. He seems to be arguing with a much shorter figure, his arms gesturing wildly. There are some troopers surrounding them, apparently awkwardly waiting for orders to be dismissed. When one of them steps aside to avoid an arm swung at his face Nova gets a good view of the new Padawan.

This time he can’t keep in his laughter. There, arguing with a Jedi General twice her height, is a tiny Togruta girl firmly standing her ground. Judging by the height of her montrals she’s a little older than Kio and like Rex said she’s wearing only some scraps of fabric. She seems to match the General in energy, waving her arms around to get some point or another across.

"That's them?" Nova chokes out, trying to keep himself from shaking too much to not wake up Kio.

"Yeah they've been at it since we got back. Are you laughing at me?" Rex asks him incredulously and Nova has to give himself a second to breathe before he can answer.

"No.” Nova gasps in mock insult, before snorting again, “Yes. Better prepare yourself, she certainly looks like she has spirit."

Rex just grumbles something unintelligible in his ear before muttering, "She's going to be the death of me, I can feel it. "

"So dramatic." Nova mocks dryly and starts laughing again, not able to keep his shoulders from shaking this time. He feels Kio stir and push himself up, a grumpy look on his face from being woken up.

"Who're you talking to?" The kid grumbles and Nova squeezes his shoulder to let him know he needs a second.

"Sorry, vod. I gotta go." He tells Rex, “I’m sure you’ll figure it all out soon enough.”

On the corner of the helmet cam he can see that Rex’s new Padawan has shifted her attention from her Master to Rex and is giving him a questioning look, though Rex himself doesn’t seem to have noticed it yet.

"Just send me that manual, alright?" Rex repeats, a note of urgency in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah.” Nova assures him, “Oh, and Rex. Togruta have better hearing than we do."

The cam shifts a bit to the side until suddenly the Padawan is in full view and the audible gasp tells him that Rex now realizes that she may have heard more than he wanted to.

"Ahh, kriff me."

The Unknown

What if instead of Tiplee and Tiplar accompanying Anakin in "The Unknown" episode, Obi-Wan did? And what if instead of Fives and Tup, it's Cody and Rex?

Whumptober #28

Part 18 of Whumptober 2022

angstpril day 4: he’s not heavy, he’s my brother

oh dear, oh dear. have some Umbara (derogatory)

(tw: major character death)

“Sir!” Waxer skids to a stop, out of breath. “I’ve found the platoon leader. He’s still alive.” The forest shivers around them, imaginary enemies blinking red eyes in the distance. 

Cody hates it here. “Who is it?”

Waxer swallows and his face pales. “It’s—” he clutches the helmet in his hand tighter, duraplast creaking in his grip. “It’s Rex.”

Keep reading

Okay, so my one-shot might not be a one-shot anymore

-----------------------

The first time Obi-Wan Kenobi sees CT-7567, he's balanced on Commander Wolffe's hip like he belongs there, the cadet pointing to a holographic map and giving intel about certain sections of Tipoca City. It was still alarming to hear the voice of a soldier come from the body of a child, and this one was screaming loss hurt anger into the Force that made his heart ache. Wolffe is relaying such intel to his troopers down on Kamino, and it takes a moment to register the Jedi had joined them with his ever-present shadow behind him.

"General, Cody." He nods, and the cadet looks up in curiosity. Kenobi could feel Cody suddenly radiate an innate need to protect this child, and knows things are about to become interesting. "The kih'vod has been helping us with some of the last strongholds."

"Very well, please continue...?"

"CT-7567." The cadet responds, and Kenobi wonders what name he'll be given one day. Cody, who usually stuck to his Jedi's side like glue, instead moved to stand beside Wolffe, who hands the cadet over without a moment's hesitation. In turn, Cody adjusts so 7567 is on his hip now, and the cadet is eyeing his golden armor with a dozen awed questions. The older clone just gives him a soft look, and 7567 turns to keep explaining the weaknesses that could be accessed, as gathering up Lama Su and his remaining doctors was critical for a complete takeover. He apparently had been good at sneaking around with his batchmates, and true to fashion, Lama Su is dismayed to find his secure bunker was quite the opposite. The cheers of thousands of clones rise up when he's secured, and Kamino was theirs, theirs to do with what they wanted, what they should have been able to.

Make it a home, rather than a place to suffer and be stifled.

7567 has no more tears to shed, watching through footage as Lama Su and the others were placed in cells for interrogation. He rests his head on Cody's shoulder, and the commander just murmurs something in Mando'a before adjusting his hold. Kenobi excuses himself so he can return to the city, leaving Wolffe and Cody with the young clone, and for a moment they stare at each other.

"Gree and Ponds are already on their way, I told them to meet us in your quarters," Cody speaks first, and Wolffe grumbles. "It's either that, or fight your wolf pack for the kid, like I don't feel them staring at me."

"Wolf pack?" 7567 asks, and Wolffe puffs out his chest, and some of the clones working on the bridge let out a few whoops.

"It's what we all call ourselves here." Wolffe grinned, and 7567 giggled a bit at how proud they all were. Cody just rolled his eyes, but the smirk on his face betrayed his amusement. There's a beep on Wolffe's comm, and he groans after reading the message.

"Kriffing Neyo heard about it, and he's coming with Monnk. Just how many commanders did you let in on this?" Cody had the decency to look sheepish, and the datapad in his hand becomes a shield.

"Well, I told Fox first..."

"No you didn't." It was no wonder some of the harder-to-reach CC's were poking their heads in. "You do know Neyo is an adenn chakaar when it comes to kih'vod's right? Fox needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut."

"Right, you tell that to the man in the worst position." Cody scoffed, and it was not long before the two devolved into a bitching fest, with 7567 watching with wide eyes.

He was learning so many curse words.

"Is THIS the one I've heard so much chatter about!?" Commander Bly had the subtly of a raging bantha, and there was some laughter from various clones as he practically force jumps his way across the bridge. "Let me see let me see!" 7567 doesn't get a chance to say anything when he's scooped up from Cody's hold, gripping onto armored arms as he's spun around with an excited gasp. His voice has the twinge of some accent 7567 has never heard before, and he finds he enjoys it almost immediately. "He's a blonde!"

"Careful, you'll fling him through a wall if you're not careful," Wolffe grumbled, but chuckles when the cadet grins at the new CC.

"I'm keeping him, it's official," Bly stated quite proudly, before grunting when someone slaps his helmet from behind.

"You don't get to decide this early." 7567 noted the CC who had smacked the now spluttering commander holding him was decked out in green, and recognized that he serves under a Jedi he had seen about a year prior on a rare stop on Kamino.

"Fox would rip you a new one if you did that before he got to see the kih'vod for himself." The one in green berates Bly, and the accented clone grumbles before setting the cadet down for the first time in hours.

"Is the Fox you keep mentioning the Coruscant Guard commander?" He feels a little awkward asking, but the various CC's nod in answer, and 7567 grins. "I've heard he's really cool."

"Fox? Cool? In what universe?" Bly cackles, removing his helmet to grin at the cadet, and his fellow leaders do the same. Despite each of them sharing the same face, 7567 can already pick out differences in each of their faces, and it reminds him of his batchmates.

No, he's not going to cry in front of all of them, not right now.

"He serves the Chancellor, and according to some...data we found, he gets to see all the Senators all the time!" 7567 is beaming as he rambles off what he knows, and every CC is suddenly transported to the times they were younger and a little more carefree before the war sunk its claws into them. 7567 doesn't see the way they look at each other, and what Wolffe saw in him was made solid for all of them.

"Sorry I'm late, someone wasn't in their barracks like the comm said."

Not a single soul on The Triumphant had ever seen so many commanders in one place before, and work was abandoned to watch one of the rarer clones grace their presence. Not many of them got to see one of the men hand-trained by Jango Fett himself, so comms are beeping all across the ship as those on the bridge recorded what they could, as well as sending said news out to the nearby other cruisers.

"Sorry Ponds, Bly here decided to ignore that, and here we are." Gree greeted, the two knocking their forearms against each other before Ponds looks down at the small clone, whose wide eyes are looking up at the recon expert.

"Blonde?" Ponds knelt down so the two were eye to eye, removing his helmet and setting it on the floor by his knee. "Lama Su hates blondes."

7567 didn't realize just how wide his eyes could go.

"I forgot you were blonde, the shiny dome makes one forget," Cody smirks, and there are more than a few snickers, including one from 7567. The commander just shrugs, and seems to just analyze the younger clone in front of him for a moment, before giving a small smile.

"You're going to have the most annoying adoptive ori'vod this side of the known universe." It's a statement more than an observation, and Ponds was never wrong. "I have spoken."

"Sir, Commander Fox sent word he'll arrive within a rotation, and to quote, "not let the others steal the kih'vod, or he'll have all caff allotments pulled'." A communications clone reported to the group, and he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Not fair!" Bly complained, and the various commanders start bickering and laughing at each other all at once. 7567 is picked up by Ponds when he stands to join the fray, and for the first time since he had left that horrible room, it's like his batchmates are the ones bickering and laughing with him.

He doesn't realize he's fallen asleep, face buried into Ponds' chest plating like it's the most comfortable pillow in the world.

"I think he'll fit in just fine." Gree hummed, standing beside his friend as they watch the others bicker.

"He'll have to, we're not letting him go."

The defective one

He heard them. Speaking about one of his many little brothers. They were discussing about the usefulness to keep him alive despite his default.

- It’s not like the other ones. Kill it.

- Except for the hair, it’s fine.

- We will have to sell it twice cheaper. It’s a waste of money.

- It doesn’t fit the specifications. Kill it. 

CC-2224 stopped listening to this atrocious conversation and made a decision. He has to save this little boy, crying out loud in the general indifference. The “long-necks” were like that, ignoring the pain and the emotions of their creatures. In their gigantic black eyes, clones were just nothing more than a source of money provided that the army they were creating was perfect. And all the excuses were good to suppress the young ones who were not exactly the way they wanted: too little, too skinny, too pale, too slow… What about this one?

CC-2224 didn’t care. He just wanted to save this one from their claws. Taking advantage of one of the Kaminoans stepping away from the table, he ran to it and caught the tiny arm. Not paying attention of the orders falling from their mouth, he took the young boy in his arms. He was heavier than he thought but he didn’t drop him and ran backward, escaping their long fingers. Then he hid behind some machinery, ordering his brother to keep quiet. Luckily, the tiny boy was so fascinated by his big brother that he remained silent all the time they stayed hidden. Even when he started to pat his face with a surprisingly high strenght. 

- What’s up with the little frog? asked CT-3636 when he finally arrived into their secret place. 

Him and his brothers hid there when they didn’t want to study, like this day.

- They wanted to kill him. 

CT-3636 rolled his eyes over the sky. He heard this sentence too many times before. 

- And for what? Just some blond hair, he sighed while sitting down to release the little one. 

Actually, CC-2224 was quite amazed by the color of his brother hair. They were so light that they seem to be translucent here and there. The contrast with his dark skin was impressive. 

- Hello, there, said CT-5052, crouching to be closed enough to the new comer. 

The baby looked at him with the same fascinated gaze as he has for him times ago. CC-2224 supposed he has never seen clones before - not grown-ups like them, actually. CT-5052 nicelly booped his tiny nose with his finger to reassure him, but CT-3636 pushed him away and raised his fist in front of his little face. 

- He’s too young for this, underligned CC-2224. He won’t understand. 

- That’s what you say, snapped CT-3636. Come on, bro! Show me who’s the man here!  

The big amber eyes widened as much as the snarly smile of CT-3636 stretched on his round face. 

***

I don’t know again if it’s accurate or not and I don’t care. I just wanted to draw a tiny Rex with a big brother Cody. And I don’t want to hear about “dyed hair” or something. For me, Rex is a natural blond baby mutant (what? We’ve got clones with blue eyes, it’s necesseraly a mutation. Why not hair color mutation?). Remember, I love contrast so blond hair with dark skin is just perfect for me. :D

Bly looks older on this drawing but he’s not (it’s just that I can’t draw him well). ^^; 

Even if it’s not obvious with the last drawings I’ve made, I’m more a sketcher than a colored finished pieces drawer (and I’m more a writer than a drawer anyway). But, clones seem to motivate me enough to push me to make some effort. Enjoy. For now.  

(Sorry for the mistakes again, French speaker is in da place! /o/)

Based off a little line in time travel fic where Elphie introduces Glinda to pecan pie! (and bc @c-rose2081 said Oz could possibly have invented epinephrine🤷🏻‍♀️)

///

“Do you like it?” Elphaba asks, watching carefully to make sure Galinda is actually eating. She figured appealing to the girl’s sweet tooth would do the trick- Galinda nods happily and digs in for another bite. 

“It’s great!” she mumbles around a mouthful. Galinda blushes at her own excitement, and Elphaba can’t stop the fond grin from spreading across her face. Cute.

Galinda only eats about half her actual slice, but she keeps pulling the pecans out from the center to nibble on, so Elphaba will take it as a win. Nuts are relatively healthy, right? Even coated in sugar? 

“I’ve never tasted anything like this before,” Galinda says, licking her lips happily. She coughs lightly and clears her throat. “It’s tingly.”

Elphaba’s brow scrunches in confusion. “Tingly?” She’s eaten pecan pie for years and never once would she describe it as ‘tingly.’

Galinda coughs again, turning her head away to tuck her mouth in her elbow. She nods, waving her fork in the air as if trying to find the right words. “Yeah. It’s sorta…fizzy.”

What? 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Elphaba says, laughing lightly. Leave it to Galinda to totally stump her like that. The blonde had a habit of thinking so far outside the box that Elphaba could barely keep up with the logic. 

Galinda rolls her eyes, clearing her throat again and setting her fork down. She slides the plate toward Elphaba. “You try and describe it then. Tingly is the best I’ve got.”

Elphaba dutifully picks up the fork and takes a bite. She’s had pecan pie several times before, of course, but maybe the cooks at Shiz made it differently or added a special ingredient. Some spices like cinnamon or such could…almost be described as ‘tingly’ if you weren’t used to them. 

Galinda has to turn her head away to cough again, this time nearly doubling over from the effort. Elphaba frowns at her as she chews and swallows quickly. The pie tastes totally normal, but Galinda is starting to worry her. 

“Wrong pipe?” Elphaba asks cautiously. Galinda opens her mouth to say something but gets caught in another round of coughs that turns her face red with effort. She groans lightly, rubbing at her throat. 

“Sorry,” she croaks. “Yeah, probably just went down wrong.” She nods toward the pie on the plate in an effort to distract from the way she’s got tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. 

“What did it taste like to you?”

Elphaba shrugs, not really interested in the pie anymore. Galinda’s face is growing paler by the second and there’s sweat starting to bead on her temple. She clears her throat again and her next few breaths are slightly wheezy. 

“It just tasted like nuts to me,” Elphaba says dismissively. “Are you okay?”

Galinda freezes, staring at her with wide eyes. “Nuts?” she asks. 

“Um, yeah, the pecans. Seriously, Galinda, are you alright?”

Galinda takes in a few shaky gasps, hands starting to tremble as she rubs her throat again. She blinks several times in quick succession as her gaze falls to the pie. “Oh,” she whispers, swallowing hard. 

“I think I’m allergic to nuts.”

Astronomy

"My memories, they get fuzzy here and there, I don't remember a lot most the time, except Fives, I can't forget him, and sometimes, I really wish I could-"

TW for Echo being absolutely awful to Rex and blaming him for Fives' death in the worst way possible.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Echo knew he wasn't the easiest to live with. Sure, he wasn't as much an ass as Tech was in the morning or as annoying as Crosshair, whose insecurities leaked out like a broken facet, but he still wasn't easy. He didn't take a whole hour to do his hair like Hunter and regularly dropped knives, and he also didn't look right through his brothers, able to place exactly what was wrong like Wrecker. He wasn't as bad as he could be, but he wasn't better.

He used to be better. He used to be perfect. But he'd fallen so far, half the time, Echo didn't know who he was anymore. His name didn't really feel like his anymore. But what would his name be? Echo looked down at his arm, studying scars he didn't remember getting, they danced up his arm until his clothing covered the rest. Ever since Rex rescued him, he was trying to place himself in this universe again. He was supposed to be dead. He wasn't supposed to get a second chance. But he wasn't, and he does.

Echo let out a sigh as he commed Rex, some part of him always sparked back to life when he spoke to his former Captain. But Rex didn't answer, so the last living part of Echo stayed dead. He'd just go inside.

"-No, if I ever do something as shitty as that, just leave me, let me suffer in my own stupidity, it'd do me good." Crosshair chuckled as he took a drink, "Your turn." He said before looked over to Echo and gestured towards a glass, "Join us?"

"Please, join us," Tech took a drink, "Alright, if I turned evil, shoot me on the spot and take my bed, don't let Wrecker or Hunter have it. They stink."

"-What are you two even doing?" Echo asked as he sat down. He gladly took a glass and poured himself a drink.

"I don't know if you'd call this putting together our wills, but that's basically what we're doing, except only in the case we turn evil, not if we die." Crosshair filled him in, "-and we're drinking, so it works."

"Seriously though, if I turned evil, or something more stupid than usual, I know you'd just let me think you'd never come-"

"-But we would," Tech laughed, "Not right away of course, but we'd never actually leave your sorry ass." They laughed some more, "You'd be dead within the week." Their banter continued but Echo stopped listening.

Crosshair's words echoed in his head, "-You'd just let me think you'd never come-" Echo looked at his brothers, laughing away at such a ridiculous thought: losing one another. Echo envied the fact they never had to live with the pain of a forever goodbye. He envied the fact they could joke about it and that's all it was: a joke.

"I'm gonna go move Hunter's knives slightly out of place-"

"This is why you're the smart one, good man, Echo." Crosshair nodded, refilling his brother's glass once more before he left.

"I'm the sma-"

"No-"

Their banter was fazed out yet again as Echo headed in the direction of Hunter's knife collection. He shifted a few of them but moved them back, he couldn't go through with it. Even if it was meant to be a joke, Echo found it cruel. He didn't know why, so he just stared at them, Crosshair's words still echoing in his head. "You'd just let me think you'd never come-"

Echo knew they were joking, he'd made those same jokes with Fives, Jesse, and Kix countless times. He'd laugh and drink with his brothers just as Crosshair and Tech did. But they were brothers and Echo was just invading. Echo went outside, reminding himself that there was nothing for him back with the 501st, without Fives, that there was no home with the 501st. Not anymore. Echo missed his family, but he was with his family.

Fives was dead, and when he died, Echo imagined everything bright and wonderful died with him. Every sunrise and blooming flower ceased to exist now that Fives was dead. Echo, though not bright nor wonderful, died too. He didn't exist without his brother.

Echo wondered how Fives carried on without him, who got him out of trouble, who consoled him after a battle, who loved him when Echo left. Did Fives know I was alive? Did he know I wasn't dead? Could he feel it? Did he know? Echo wanted to ask Rex questions about his brother but everytime he did, he'd watch the Captain start to down. He'd full with such sorrow, such... Guilt.

His comlink blinked and Echo answered it, Rex. "Echo, hey! Sorry, I just got back to Coruscant-"

"How did he die?" Echo inturrupted Rex, who froze instantly.

"W-What?"

"Fives. How did he die, what happened, what actually happened?" Echo practically hissed but desperation made him a monster. He was more machine now anyways, so what was the difference between monsters and men, men and machines?

Rex's stomach twisted in a knot, he felt his heart break all over again, "-I" Rex looked up at the scowl on Echo's face. Rex couldn't do it. He couldn't tell him. He opened his mouth and nothing came out. He gave Echo a plea, refraining from crying.

"-It's because of you, right? He's dead because of you?"

"Echo-"

"Tell me!" Echo screamed, "Tell me that you got him killed! Tell me that it's your fault he died!" Echo wanted to tackle Rex to the ground, it was his fault, it was written all over his face, Rex knew what happened, he was there when it happened, and he didn't do anything to save him, "Tell me how you got my brother, my best friend, killed, Rex, tell me how you killed my brother."

"I didn't, I didn't-" Rex mumbled as his eyes teared up and his voice was a desperate whisper, "Echo, please." Rex looked at Echo, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Echo, I didn't save him."

Echo saw a tear run down Rex's cheek and it only filled him with anger that quickly came then simmered away because some part of Echo knew it wasn't Rex's fault, but all the same, "He was my brother and he came to you for help," Echo sobbed, breaking his shell of anger on the spot, "He came to you for help and you got him killed-" shaking his head, Echo wished he hadn't said anything at all, that he hadn't picked at this wound, if only he'd just let it bleed. "He needed you and all you did to help was have a bullet shot in his heart-"

Rex was light years away from Echo, crying at the blue imagine of him, teary eyed and angry and all because he couldn't talk and he couldn't hang out. He'd been rendered powerless in shock, so all he could do was cry and accept all of Echo's yelling. Everything Echo accused him of, Rex believed. He'd gotten his brother killed and that was on him. He needed him, and instead, Rex got him shot. "I can't do this Echo," Rex looked up, "Everything you said, I can't defend against, I know, I know I failed you and Fives-"

"Don't say his name!" Echo cried, "You don't get to say his name, if you had been better he'd still be alive!" Echo knew he wasn't who he should be, he knew he was being awful and he knew better. But he didn't care. He didn't care. God dammit, he didn't care. So through teary, bloodstained eyes, he took aim, "You don't deserve to be here, Rex, Fives does, he would have never done that shit to you, he would've done something." Echo cried, absolutely furious.

All Rex could do was stand there, head hanging low as he tried to gather the will to hang up and end it. But he deserved it. He deserved each punch Echo threw, he deserved to hate himself all over again. "He would've done something-" Fives would've fought to hell and back, Fives deserved to be alive, and if Rex could trade places, he would, if only to see Echo smile. But that's not how this works. Echo wasn't even yelling anymore, he was only crying. Through his crys, he choked out all the anger at its target "-It's your fault, it's all your fault, you didn't do anything, you didn't do anything and he died because of it,

Because of you-

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Rex, Pint-Sized Battlemaster

(Ben and Luke, Ahsoka, Rex, and Leia, Chrono)

Intensely on my mind right now: Rex’s weird role as just That Mando Kid Wandering The Temple in the Uncle Ben and Little Luke verse

He walks in on padawan strategy classes, looking all of ten or twelve years old, and just sits in the back. He waits. He audits. When someone complains about how they don’t need battlefield strategy classes, that they’re Jedi and there hasn’t been a war in so long, when the teacher is just exhaustedly explaining for the fifth time that Jedi are regularly called in to warzones, to negotiate ceasefires or extract Senate representatives, when the teacher tries to impress upon their students that reading a battlefield is important even if you don’t expect to lead a battle…

Rex just sets a dejarik board in front of the padawan, who’s twice his size and can tell that Rex is about as force-sensitive as a barely-more-than-null brick, and says, “If you can beat me, you can claim that you’re good enough at reading a battlefield to skip this class. If you can’t, you’re sticking around. Understand?”

The teacher didn’t agree to this ahead of time, but has seen Rex pull this on other people, including experienced knights and masters, and just. Gestures for them to go ahead. Fuck it! The weird Mando kid is capable of outmaneuvering highly-ranked masters, Force or no! Clearly he knows his shit!

Rex, seasoned battle commander that he is, with literal decades of training and experience, wins easily. The padawan is very upset. Rex doesn’t care, because in his mind, the padawan’s behavior was going to get brothers from Kamino killed fifteen years down the line.

And he just keeps on doing that, to the point where all the masters who run those kinds of classes on war and strategy and tactics just reach out to Ben like “Hey… is this kid legit or just hyperfocused on the subject or–” “He grew up in a military cult.” “…” “For reasons I cannot disclose, yes, he’s legitimately more experienced in this field than most field-ready Jedi masters. Just be glad the military cult in question wasn’t Kyr’tsad, honestly.”

Chapter 5 of The Inevitable War AU is up!