Heyo, human beings from outer space.
Appearently I woke up and chose violence, because this one gets dark. Like, I scared myself while writing this. Maybe that's just cause I'm sleep deprived but I feel the need to do a TW for major death and vomit and some graphic stuff since it's intense.
Requested by mushycloud (FREAKING TAGS HALP), long overdue, and the second fic in a row where I angst dump on Rex
Read on if you dare.
There was absolutely nothing in the entire galaxy that made Rex feel so helpless as watching a commando droid with a spear coated in poison cut down his commander.
He saw it in slow motion— Commander Tano leaping in front of Rex and the small gaggle of clones to take the deadly blow. The spearhead sliced through her chest and she crumbled.
The clones sprung forward as one, savagely ripping apart that karking droid like Jawas. Kix was in the ranks and he lunged straight for the commander as the others gave the droid as torturous of a death the droid could get.
Rex was getting good at reading Kix and measuring the injury based on his reaction. And right now, it was bad. But Rex didn't need Kix to tell that. Blood soaked through the dusty ground, the puddle growing far too quickly as if her blood were thin— which was probably the poison but Rex was no expert.
Kix was the expert, and he was also screaming.
So not good.
He was screaming at Tano as he worked lightning-fast that "we're kriffing expendable, Commander! You hear me kid?! Born to die!! But you, you're—" his voice broke off and Kix reduced to shaking his head as he worked.
Tano finished for him after a moment, so quietly Rex could only read her lips. "I'm just another Jedi in the war— expendable too."
Kix froze so briefly it might've been an adrenaline twitch, but Rex detected it. And that's when Rex's heart turned to an icy lump that slid into his stomach because he knew what that meant. He was getting good at reading Kix.
Rex was already clicking at his com when Kix shouted for someone to call the general— now.
The next time he turned around Kix was screaming again, louder and angrier, as he cracked her ribs with chest compressions.
And when Rex turned around the other way because he thought he was going to throw up from the smell of blood and sound of cracking bones, the general jumpscared him with the howl of a dying Wookiee.
"AHSOKA!"
"General, don't—"
Skywalker plowed past Rex, sending him stumbling, and Rex caught his arm just in time to save him from making things worse.
"She's dead!" Skywalker screamed. "She's kriffing dead, Rex!"
Rex wanted to yak again but he forced the feeling down. "I know!!" he yanked Skywalker back. "I know, sir. Kix needs space."
"I can't just let her die!!"
"Kix won't, sir."
Skywalker tried to lunge for his padawan again. There was something wild in his eyes— dark like nothing else. "What happened to her?"
A lump clogged Rex's throat.
"What happened to my kriffing padawan, Rex?!"
Rex gestured to the pile of scraps of the used-to-be commando droid. "Poison staff," Rex forced out. "She— she jumped in front of us when it had us cornered, sir."
Skywalker drew his saber so suddenly and viciously Rex's soul left his body. He stumbled, almost fearing Skywalker would use it on him. But the general whirled and beat the metal until it was nothing but singed into the dirt, the smoky scent filling the air and sweat beading on his brow.
A junior medic scuttled over with a syringe and stabbed it into Skywalker's arm and Rex had to jump forward to catch him, secretly relieved. Rex couldn't blame the general for the borderline-hysteria but it didn't mean he trusted himself to handle it at the moment. No, now he was too mentally worn.
Kix was back to simply screaming at the kid about her being stupid without doing chest compressions, but she looked too gray. Rex didn't want to watch, so he let himself slide down the nearest tree trunk and told himself he was guarding Skywalker.
A crackling told Rex that Kix went back to doing chest compressions. Rex stared down Skywalker as if the general would disappear the moment he glanced away, but he was conked out and going nowhere. Rex hated himself for wishing he could also be sedated. If he asked he was sure someone would do it for him— kriff, Fives would gladly take the chance to stun him, and if all else failed he could just slam his head into the tree trunk. But nobody needed that right now.
A horrendous, ear-splitting wail jerked Rex out of his stupor. It sounded unlike anything a human could make, but it had come from one. Kix, no less.
The medic sat back, ripped off his bucket, and dug his fingers into the sides of his skull. Tears poured down his face.
Kix was crying.
It was over.
This time Rex did vomit, tearing off his helmet to spew bile on the ground next to him. The horrible thoughts sank in. She's dead. Commander Tano is dead. She died protecting us, and we're kriffing expendable. He didn't want to look over, the images already flashing through his mind. Her bright eyes dulled and absent, blood pooled around her and staining her lips.
But he forced himself to look anyway. Yes, there was blood around her and her eyes were open, but it was different. She looked so... young. So tiny. Her eyes weren't as sickeningly absent, either. They looked almost dreamy, like she was staring into a whole new world— and Rex begged the Force that it was a better place than this wretched galaxy.
What an awful place to die.
Rex looked around in disdain but it faded. It was actually... lovely. Trees with leaves that danced and braided bark. Tall grasses speckled with every color of flower imaginable.
And they buried her there, beneath a weeping willow, and covered her grave with an ombre of flowers. With every flower came a few words from each man, reminding the galaxy that it never deserved Ahsoka Tano and nobody had any right to take her away. Then each man straightened into a long, proper salute.
They had to go eventually, but Rex wrote down the coordinates of her resting place and had them tattooed onto him. The other men followed suit.
The Jedi hardly batted an eye, but the clones never forgot.
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Word Count: 1,029
Published: 27 Apr. 2024
Can you tell I rewrote the ending about a bagillion times alternating between her living and dying?
On a much lighter note, I made a petition to put Dex on another cover so if you're a keeper of the lost cities fan go sign it if you love him, it's on my Tumblr :)
Requests be as closed as my love life.
Hasta luego, peoples!