Take Care Of Her

1.3K 34 14
                                    

For Ahsokafan45, I finally got around to your request. Thanks for the patience!

Here's Rex comforting Ahsoka, this'll be first few months of her apprenticeship.

Enjoy :)

She was tucked behind a crate when Rex found her. If she didn't look young before, she sure looked young now, cowering behind a crate with a hand over her mouth to avoid making noise that would alert anyone of her presence. Kamino didn't train them for comforting their teenage Jedi! He'd only ever comforted shinys after hard battles, not battle-hardened teenage girls.

Biting the bullet, he made himself know. "Little'un?"

Ahsoka whipped her head around to see her visitor, violently wiping here eyes to rid them of tears. "Rex," She started. "I'm, I'm sorry, I can go-"

"Not a chance, come on, talk to me," Rex insisted, sitting down next to her even as she tried to stand up.

"No, it's not-"

"Ahsoka." He used her name, figuring if there was ever a time to break the chain of command it was now. "You don't have to pretend you're okay." He laid a hand on her shoulder to keep her down, a gentle suggestion before he had to actually restrain her. Gulping back another bout of tears, she sat back down and hugged her knees. After a few moments of silence she spoke.

"Blank taught me how to aim a blaster," She said quietly. "And I visited Trevor in the medbay a couple weeks ago, we talked about mechanics."

Rex didn't see a superior. A commander, or a Jedi. Just a grieving teenager. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder as a few tears continued down her cheeks; this time she didn't stop them, letting them run down her face as she leaned against Rex. "I remember when they came to the 501st," He stated. "Fit in quickly, some of the most loyal soldiers I've seen in a while."

Ahsoka sniffed slightly. "Did you know them well?"

"Not particularly," Rex replied with the shake of his head. "But I know they were well liked. Would have made great ARCs."

A little more comfortable silence passed before Ahsoka felt the need to speak again. "What'll you think will happen to them?"

Rex looked somewhat scared upon her, praying he didn't have to explain death to this kid. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the Jedi believe when people die they become ones with the force, like they never truly die. They live with us and through us forever. What do clones believe?" Rex breathed out a small sigh as he spoke.

"Well, we have a saying. 'Not gone, merely marching far away.' I suppose you could say we believe in an afterlife." Ahsoka looked at him in wonder.

"What's that in Mando'a?" Rex seemed puzzled. "It's just a comforting language. It's like hearing Master Ti speak Togruta, I like hearing clones speak Mando'a." Rex smiled fondly down at the girl leaning on his shoulder.

"Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la.

Silence. "Don't you have a mantra you say to honor the dead?"

Rex nodded. "I am alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal. Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc. Ni partayli, gar darasuum. Followed by the names of the deceased." Watching her curious eyes that darted towards a noise towards the other end of the hanger, then back to his chest plate when it settled, he questioned what was on her mind.

"Can you teach me to say it?"

Slowly they went through it, one syllable at a time, Ahsoka eventually able to say it with only a few stumbles. She pulled out a data pad she had listed all the deceased on, at least forty men's names to be repeated. Starting with Blank and Trevor, ending with clones that never even got names. She felt sick to her stomach repeating their numbers.

With the last tear shed and the last name repeated, Ahsoka returned to her place against Rex's chest. Usually he'd comfort the shinys by running a hand through their hair, but considering the Commander didn't have hair and he knew nothing about Togruta biology, he wasn't going to randomly touch an organ he knew nothing about. He had no idea if that's be considered offensive and decided he needed to research Togrutas next time he had access to that sort of information.

Instead he resigned to rubbing circles on her shoulder even though the arm wrapped around her was tingling, eventually feeling her shuddered breaths turn to gentle purrs and her figure slump down. Rex chuckled at the distinctly Tooka-looking girl before scooping her up, grunting, and making his way to the General's quarters. She might be asleep but he had a feeling she would want comfort when she awoke. Anakin was the perfect candidate, he was awake most nights anyway, and he was the much better option considering the clone barracks were almost always awake and noisy.

He knocked with his foot, the metal-against-plastoid echoing. The General answered the door with a confused look, until he saw Ahsoka, quickly turning to concerned. "Is she-"

"Wiped out from the battle. I think she's okay, but she spent the last ten minutes behind a crate in the hanger bay," He interrupted. "I just figured she wouldn't want to wake up alone." Anakin sighed softly, taking Ahsoka from his arms to set her on the sofa, or potentially his own bed.

"Thank you," He said softly. Rex nodded, only leaving after he set Ahsoka down on the couch, whispering something in her ear when she stirred. In a few moments she was back to a deep sleep and Anakin was back at the door.

The last thing he said was, "Take care of her, sir."

Suddenly thinking I'm wanna make a part two, but I really don't need another part two of anything to write... Author problems haha

I START WORK ON TUESDAY AND IT'S BOTH MAKING ME WANT TO DANCE AND STRESSING ME OUT LIKE CRAZY

So ya, that's my mini rant of the day. I'm anxious beyond all belief and being around other people twice a week when I'm NEVER around people... That's gonna be a real switch.

Social anxiety, yay

ANyways,

Have a good night/day/whatever and I'll see you when I see you :)

                                                                                                            -AB

Ahsoka One ShotsWhere stories live. Discover now