Ahsoka and Rex - I want to go far away and never come back

Chapter 25

The ground was scarily close when Anakin finally decided to start to slow his fall. Rex hovered above the ground for a second before falling the last meter, managing to actually land with his feet first for once.

"I let you jump on your own this time," Anakin walked past him jokingly saying before he had recovered fully. He chuckled as answer and followed as soon as he could. Then all the fun was gone.

There seemed to only be fire on the higher floors of the building, and as they walked around they found an old door that had long been breached open. A trooper met up with them and reported that Wolffe was searching the building's lower floors whilst waiting for reinforcements to come and put out the fire. They followed down rusty stairs and were caught up by Plo Koon that had arrived in another ship. The trooper showed the way into a room and they spotted a unit of clones surrounding the motionless body of Ahsoka.

A hole in the ceiling went through several floors and provided light.

Rex hurried up to Ahsoka and looked her over. Wolffe said that they had found her there after hearing a loud sound and stunned her. Rex listened to the story whilst pulling her into his lap. She seemed fine except for a bad scrape mark on her shoulder. Her lightsaber was nowhere to be found and he ordered a search for it. It must be somewhere around here, he decided.

Anakin was busy investigating the premises. Boxes in the room were marked as containing nano-droids, and Wolffe opened one and showed the explosives inside.

Everyone in the room seemed to be in disbelief. Plo Koon was holding his chin the same way General Kenobi would, and Anakin was gritting his teeth and left the room to report that she was found. He nodded on the way out for Rex to come with him so he picked Ahsoka up and carried her.

-

The ship tilted side to side with the wind outside its doors. A mechanic sound filled the space inside. They were bringing Ahsoka back to the temple for a trial with the council. Rex didn't believe it, he couldn't. Ahsoka never could have hurt any clones or Jedi. She must have been investigating on her own and found the explosives. No other explanation made any sense. Why she had started the fire was still not answered, but he figured there was some reason behind that too. He held his hand on her shoulder where she sat, heavy binders around her wrists that tied her hands behind her back. Without his and Wolffe's support on her other side she would have fallen. She was still unconscious, although he suspected that it would have started to fade by now. Maybe she was just tired and asleep.

His helmet was by habit tucked under his arm and his posture was that of a soldier where he stood by her side in the back of the ship. With them was the general -Skywalker- and General Plo Koon. In the former's belt hung Ahsoka's both lightsabers. The second one had been retrieved from another level of the storage building after the fire was extinguished.

He felt a movement under his hand and his gaze went from the empty air ahead of him to her. It wasn't like him to lose himself into thoughts but today he had a lot to contemplate. He immediately dropped to his knees and put his helmet aside to watch Ahsoka's face. She was beautiful even in her unconscious state, but he prefered her when she was up and moving. Unconsciousness reminded him too much of the lifeless faces he would see on the dead. He had wiped the ash and mud from her face to the best of his ability, but her clothes were still dirty and in bad condition.

Wolffe let go of her other shoulder and Rex nodded his thanks to him for offering them whatever privacy they could get. He left and went to stand further to the front closer to the two Jedi.

-

Ahsoka felt his force presence before anything else.

"Hmm... Rex?" She mumbled, her montrals soon starting to pick up on her surroundings. Her eyes shot open and she slowly looked around. "Rex." She blinked a couple of times to get the fog out of her eyes and became a bit more alert even though her mind was still trying to catch up. When she did, Rex's golden eyes met her and she repeated his name again.