Anakin stood, hood pulled up over his head, with hot air washing over his face as he looked out over the volcanic planet of Mustafar. So much had changed, he had changed and it was, he thought, for the better.
He was now down a path he had proceeded down at full speed, never looking over his shoulder to see what was behind, trying to keep his mind on the prize ahead. Many had been trampled beneath his feet as he had forged this path.
There were few he cared to remember, but two came to mind. To think, with all the power he now had and all the things he knew that he would do, he thought of Rex and Ahsoka. Not just of them, but about what had happened to them and how it had changed who he was on the inside, even if it didn't show on the outside. Their deaths, the last breaths they had both gasped, had made him into something different. He was someone who would not let death be the end. He was someone who would fight until the bitter end to have what he thought was rightfully his.
Ahsoka's death had come first- it had dealt a catastrophic blow to the men of Torrent Company.
Rex had been with her, waiting for Evac to arrive, but it hadn't gotten to them in time. Ahsoka had bled to death waiting and Rex had carried her small form back to the bridge of the cruiser and stood, helmet off, looking at Anakin through angry and blood shot eyes, blaming him for something that wasn't truly his fault and that hurt him terribly inside. Didn't Rex realize this was hard for him too? The days following her death were a mere haze.
Anakin had not spoken to Rex or any of the other men. He spent his days alone in his quarters quietly letting the hate and anger grow inside of him . No one there had to tell him that he shouldn't be so attached and no one there to watch as he fell apart.
It was how they all fell apart. The ship was awash with anger and hate and all he could do was be bathed in it as he walked the corridors.
After Ahsoka was gone, Rex barely spoke except in the military voice which all the clones used when they wanted to keep someone at arm's length.
Anakin figured Rex no longer had the will to befriend those whom would be cut down quickly and easily. Anakin felt the same. He no longer spent time with the men and never ate with them as he had always done before. Anakin merely cut himself off from all the things that would slow him down as he dove deeper into the pain and suffering he felt he deserved.
Rex and had become careless with his life and was willing to fight any clanker that walked within four feet of him.
Anakin, on the other hand, was doing everything he could to make sure those around him were not hurt.
They both were teetering on the edge of losing themselves.
If he had only been there when Ahsoka had been hurt, maybe -just maybe - she would have lived. It was what his mind told him, anyway.
Rex's death was by Anakin's own hand. Rex had been wounded during a fire fight and was lying in a small alcove of rock. His arm was blown to pieces and he was missing a leg.
Anakin looked at Rex's face, his helmet tossed to the side. It was painful. His friend lay there crying out for help and Anakin knew that help would not come soon enough. It was a moral dilemma for them both.
"Take care of me General Skywalker," Rex whispered in his gruff voice to Anakin as he bent over the body of his friend. "Don't let this happen to me. Don't make me suffer like I made Ahsoka. End this for me now."
Anakin had shaken his head and backed away from Rex. What was he asking of his general? This was not something Anakin could do for him. There must be a clone nearby who could end it all and Anakin would not have to live with the memory of Rex's death by his own hand. He glanced around, but Rex was the only clone still living in the alcove. The rest had been blown to pieces by a shrapnel bomb. Anakin would have to be the one to do it. He felt the bile rising into his throat as he made the realization.
"I can't do this Rex," Anakin said kneeling beside him and trying to explain. "Help will be here soon." He punched the comlink button on his wrist gauntlet, but there was nothing but static. Nothing at all. Anakin and Rex were completely alone and cut off from everyone.
The war was going on without them. This war didn't have time for lives to be saved or make decisions. This war wanted everyone to fall into its gapping maw so that it could eat them alive. It had taken Ahsoka, and now it was going to take Rex. Anakin was already too far into the mouth to fight his way back out.
"Your Lightsaber," Rex said pointing at Anakin. Anakin held the hilt in both hands palms up to show it to Rex. "Turn it on." Anakin did what Rex asked, but at that point, he had no idea what would happen.
Rex held his gauntleted good hand over Anakin's and flipped the sapphire blade over to point down. With a jab straight down, he drove it through his chest and into the rock below.
Anakin gasped loudly.
They had both shared the duty of ending his life so that no one had more blame than the other. Anakin had as much blood on his hands as everyone else. He didn't remember being saved from that campaign. It was then that he was called back to Coruscant with Obi-wan to save the chancellor.
It was then that his fate had been sealed.
Luckily, Anakin had died. Anakin had been killed when Vader had pulled the lightsaber from his belt and ended Mace Windu's chances of taking the emperor away from him. It was good Anakin was gone, because he would never be able to stand the thing Vader had become.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
