The Cuyaniverse Collection

Cejanr 51-60

Chapter 51

Rex slept sitting up, not wanting to make Echo move, and besides that he didn't have a bed roll. He woke up to Echo tossing and turning and shivering in his sleep, the thin blankets getting tangled around him. Rex shifted and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. Echo gave a small gasp and his eyes snapped open.

"Hey." Rex whispered gently as Echo struggled to sit up. The ARC panted slightly.

"W-Where... Rex-" He flinched again. Rex grasped him firmly by the shoulders, moving to sit in front of him.

"Easy. Easy. I'm right here. You're safe." Rex reassured.

"I can't... I'm not..." Echo let out a shuddering breath, glancing at the still forms of the others around them. Rex seemed to understand.

"Ok. Let's go." He said softly. Rex shuffled softly a little before wrapping around Echo and helping him stand. They slipped out into the cool night air, sitting on the ground by the ship. Rex wrapped the blankets a little tighter around his brother subconsciously.

Echo made a small choked noise in the back of his throat, his fingers on his one human hand brushing over the metal that covered most of his body. "Thank you, sir." Echo whispered. "For comming back for me. For not..." He gave a small sigh and leaned against his big brother.

"I just wish I had gone back at the citadel. Instead of waiting all this time." Rex closed his eyes, remembering that fateful mission. Hearing Fives's scream at the explosion. Recovering Echo's helmet.

"I don't blame you." Echo rasped. There was a silence for a moment before he spoke again, is voice small and tremulous. "Rex, what happened to Fives?"

"He's alive." Rex filled in. Echo relaxed instantly. "Well, technically he's dead. Found out something he wasn't supposed to. Couldn't remember what it was. He took a hit to the stomach and was in a bad way for a while. Took him to Ahsoka's apartment, and left him there for a while. Currently, last I heard, he was with her roommate as a bounty hunter."

"Ahsoka's apartment? I thought she lived in the temple while on Corascant." Echo's pale form seemed to glow a little in the dim light.

"She... She left the jedi. Over the same thing that got me reconditioned. Although, she did chew out the entire high council before she left in typical Ahsoka style." Rex chuckled and Echo managed a weak smile.

"How did she handle it? Your reconditioning, that is."

Rex shifted, looking at the dirt beneath them. "Not well. When I finally made my way back to Corascant, she was practically half dead. She then slapped me and threw me out, but it was alright in the end."

"How did you make it up to her?"

"Dropped a half dead Fives on her doorstep."

Echo gave a grating laugh, wheezing slightly. "Man, do you know how to make a girl feel special."

"Hey!" Rex protested in mock indignation, "It worked!" They laughed a little. "Ok, my turn to ask a question. How were you there, on Illum?"

Echo got quiet. "I... I don't know. I just remember being slightly more conscious than normal, in that living coffin they kept me in. I tried to get some real sleep, and I thought I had succeeded at first when I found myself in those caves. I wandered around for a while until I found you curled on the floor muttering about 'Failure' and 'Caedus' or something like that. You said something about being alone and I stepped in. That exit was something I passed earlier in wandering, but I couldn't get out. I took you back to it and you started to panic again. I told you you'd see me again, and then it was like you couldn't see me anymore."