Shortly after the mission to the Citadel, Rex, Fives, and Jesse stumble across an artifact that permanently changes Rex. With his newfound abilities, he must navigate the war as it draws to a close...
There was a stone in his boot. Rex glared down at his feet as if that would make the stone leave, but it was still irritatingly there. It was small, of course, just barely big enough for him to feel it, but it was right on the arch of his foot, where it was most tender. Chalking up a blister before it even formed, he sighed, readjusting his hold on his blaster pistols. Jesse looked over at him. “Chin up, Captain, just because we haven’t found anything yet doesn’t mean there’s nothing to find.” “I think we’re supposed to want there to be nothing to find,” Fives grumbled, kicking a clump of grass as the walked through the narrow canyon that led out toward the grasslands from the small abandoned settlement the rest of the 501st had set up camp in. “Looking for a Seppie base, remember?” “I remember,” Jesse said, nudging Fives with his elbow, “Just like I remember you leaping at the chance to go exploring.”
“That was before I knew that ‘exploring’ just meant wandering down a straight path,” Fives shot back.
Ordinarily, Rex would have scolded Fives for his tone, but as it was, it had been less than a month since he’d lost his ori’vod, Echo, so he cut him some slack. Gesturing with his pistol, he ushered the other two troopers down the canyon, scanning the walls as he did.
It was only because of that that he noticed the small crack in the wall, just large enough for someone to squeeze through. “Fives, Jesse,” he called, drawing their attention before carefully making his way through the crack.
As the other two followed, he took the opportunity to look around the tunnel the crack had led into. It didn’t look naturally created, the walls rough and uneven in a way that made him think it had been carved out by the local fauna, but the ceilings were tall, stretching above his head and making him feel small. Some sort of bioluminescent fungus grew on the walls, giving the place a dim lighting. Squaring his shoulders, he flicked on his headlamp anyway, not wanting to stumble over anything in the low light.
Fives and Jesse managed to get into the tunnel behind him, and Rex gestured for them to start making their way through the cave. Rex led the way, the others’ headlamps bouncing off the walls as they looked around.
The tunnel meandered for some distance. Right as Rex was about to call a halt so he could finally get the stupid rock out of his boot, they rounded a corner and Rex sucked in a breath. In the middle of the small cavern they found themselves in was what looked like an altar of some sort, lit by sunlight filtering through an overgrown hole in the ceiling.
Floating above the table was something Rex had only seen once before. Jesse seemed to recognize it as well, as he straightened. “Is that a Jedi holocron, sir?”
“It looks like.” Rex glanced around the chamber, noting some smashed pottery in the corners and faded flecks of paint on the walls. “This looks Jedi enough, must have been a meditation spot or something.”
“Should we comm the general, sir?” Fives asked, looking worried. He hadn’t been with the 501st during the original Jedi holocron incident, but he’d heard stories, and Rex thought he was right to be afraid. Force only knew what the Seppies could have done with this if they’d learned it was here.
Rex nodded. “Might as well try. I’ve no clue if the signal will get out, but with the hole in the ceiling, it’s worth a shot.”
Fives nodded and stepped forward, activating his comm. “This is ARC trooper Fives, calling forward camp. Do you read me?” Static over the line, and Fives cursed before trying again.
This time, someone answered. “Fives, we read you,” General Skywalker’s voice sounded tinny and was layered with static, but it was there. “What’s the situation?”
“We’ve, uh, discovered a Jedi artifact in a cave, sir.”
Skywalker sounded surprised. “A what? Nevermind, how do you know it’s Jedi?”
“Well, it’s floating in midair, sir, and I’m not detecting any magnetic field holding it up,” Fives said, a hint of sass in his voice, and Rex, removing his helmet, shot him a look.
It didn’t sound like Skywalker minded. “Okay, okay. Does it look dangerous?”
“No, sir. It’s just floating there.”
Jesse made to touch it, and Rex grabbed his arm, holding him back. “Not till the general says to,” he said in an undertone, and Jesse nodded.
“Bring it back to base,” Skywalker was saying, “But be careful. There’s no telling how long it’s been there, and what defenses it could have. I don’t want you boys getting buried if the cave collapses.”
“Copy that, sir. Fives out.” Fives cut the connection and turned to Rex. “Well, sir, I think it’d be best we got out of here.”
Rex nodded, then reached out. What happened next happened in a blur. His fingertips brushed the holocron, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up, right before pain like he’d never known ripped through him. He was vaguely aware that he screamed, but he wasn’t aware enough to stop himself. Lightning was ripping his cells apart, searing his DNA, and stitching the cells back together.
He heard more than saw the holocron drop and the boys run forward. The next thing he knew, Jesse’s familiar helmet was in his face, and his frantic voice was calling for Rex to respond, but before Rex could open his mouth, a fog rapidly crawled into his vision, thickening before finally everything went black.
rex and constantly bashing his head on poles :)
Ah yes, a classic. Thank you for this, it was really fun to write!
Bang!
“Ow!” A chorus of laughter rises up from the brothers around him as Rex rubs the top of his head. He gets up much more carefully this time, ducking under the low overhang before being swept into Cody’s side.
“You good there? Hit your head pretty hard. You should probably get it checked out.”
“S’fine.” Cody levels him the look™, the one that says ‘I know you’re lying’, but Rex just looks away. “Really, it’s all good.”
“Mhm. Do I get to say I told you so when you go to the infirmary for a concussion?”
“Won’t happen, but sure.”
***
“Looks like a mild concussion, he’ll have to skip the next few training sessions.” Rex nods, and the medic leaves. He can practically feel the smugness radiating off of Cody now.
“I told you so.”
“Shut.”
“Hey, you said I could say that!”
“Mmmmmm.”
“You did.” Cody sits down on the bed next to him and pulls him into a hug. “I gotta look out for my little brother, you know?”
“I know.”
“Good. Now rest, I don’t want to see you even inch out of that bed until the medics clear you.”
“Sir yes sir,” Rex says, mocking a salute as Cody walks away, earning a fond eye-roll.
*****
“Hey Rex!”
“Wha-” Rex doesn’t even get a chance to see what Cody had tried to point out. Instead, he smacks his head against the top of the opening to the cave, sending himself roughly to his back. He has a lovely view of the cave ceiling, and he can just barely make out the sky at the edge. He groans as he sits up, Cody bounding over and nearly knocking him back down.
“Rex are you okay oh my god oh my god oh my god.”
“I’m fine. Just… had a disagreement with the roof.” He knows Cody is hiding a laugh at that, his lips are pressed thin but he can’t hide the smirk. “Aw come on, that was funny.”
“Okay a little. But seriously, that looked pretty bad. Can you stand up at all?”
“Yeah yeah, look.” Rex tries to stand up and immediately regrets it. His head starts pounding and he leans over. Cody catches him and sits him down against the cave wall, right at the entrance.
“Okay no, you stay here. I’ll bring you some food and water and get the medkit.”
“Yep, that sounds great,” he says, his voice tight with the pain. He closes his eyes and waits as Cody runs around to get the various supplies he needs. It’s not long before he hears a cantine and medkit clattering to the ground, and he opens his eyes again.
“Just lemme check, alright?” He nods. Cody gently pushes back his hair, pressing lightly where Rex hit his head. “Mmm, I’ll just put a little bit of disinfectant cream on it for now, it should heal quickly on its own.” There’s the sting of the cream, and Rex scrunches his face a little, but a hand on his cheek reminds him to relax.
“Done?”
“Done. Here, drink.” Rex takes the offered cantine and has a few sips before putting it down. Cody sits down next to him, and Rex lays his head on his shoulder.
“Any better?”
“A bit. Thank you.”
“Of course. Anything for you.”
*****
Rex knows he should probably turn on night vision to be on the safe side. He shouldn’t rely on the glow of his general and commander’s lightsabers; they’re not bright enough to be reliable. However, they are bright enough to be blinding if he looks at them with night vision, which is hard to avoid here.
Bang!
Well, now he knows. He shakes his head a little, ducking under the pipe and hoping he can retain some sense of dignity before turning around to address his men.
“Night vision on.” He can feel Cody’s smirk even though he’s not there, and hear him fussing over him. He feels lucky Cody hasn’t seen this. Now he just has to make sure he doesn’t find out.
So this one day Rex comes back to Coruscant and he just doesn’t seem to be acting right. No one can quite put their finger on it…but something is just…off.
The next day Cody returns, and it’s the same thing. Something is just…off.
When asked if something’s wrong they both just kind of shrug it off. ‘I’m fine.’
They don’t talk as much. Their habits have changed just a little. No one can figure out what’s happened and it’s driving everyone crazy.
Then Ahsoka goes to talk to Rex and stops mid-sentence.
“…”
“Problem, Commander?”
And she rubs her hand across his head and the blonde comes out and it’s BLACK and ‘Rex’ starts cracking up and ‘Cody’ is almost crying because he’s laughing so hard and everyone realizes they switched armor and Wolffe almost shoots them both because THat wAS SO unNECESSARY.
Hey, look’s who got a tumblr. Me! I hope you enjoy these little drabbles. I worked hard on these.
Word Count: 300
Characters: Rex, Anakin Skywalker
Enjoy!!
Rex hated having Jango as his template. One word. Curls. He hated them. That’s why he always buzzed his head as short as he could get it. He hated his curls.
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For the clone hc thing uhhhh because of the blue shadow virus, Rex's immune system had been compromised leading to him getting sick easier then other clones, but he hates to admit it when it happens so he tries to power through the sickness. It falls to torrent (mostly Kix) to bully him into resting when this happens XD
Summary: Rex’s immune system has never been the same since the Blue Shadow virus. Cue Torrent company holding an intervention.
Pairing: None
Tags: sick rex, caring brothers, torrent company being the best vod, rex is very loved, but also stubborn when he gets sick
Word Count: 922
A/N: This was fun to write! Mando’a translations at the end. Headcanon submitted as part of this post.
|| Masterlist || Tag list ||
Rex gave a disgruntled sniffle as he walked down the halls of the Resolute, shivering lightly even under his full armour. In one hand he held a datapad and a stack of flimsi reports, in the other, a handful of tissues.
Ever since he contracted the Blue Shadow virus the previous year, Rex found he fell sick more often than most of his brothers, and that it hit him harder when he did. But, he was a soldier. He was the Captain of the 501st Legion and he had work to do. He wasn’t about to let a little sickness get in his way. They were at war, for Force sake!
Unfortunately, his vod’ikas had other plans.
----
Jesse was first to spot their ori’vod looking, well, for lack of a better word, osik. If it hadn’t been for the puffy eyes and coughing, the stumbling would have given him away. He tapped a few buttons on his wrist comm, tapping through to Five’s private comm link.
“Fives, we’ve got a protocol 57, spread the word.”
“Damn it, again?”
Fives responded almost immediately with a chuckle, and Jesse could hear shuffling on the other end, then a few beeps and Echo joined them. Before long, the rest of Torrent company was on the comm.
Fives chuckled as he and Echo made a quiet escape from the training room,
“Right, let's have a clean sweep this time, eh vod?”
Dogma laughed,
“Don’t worry, we got this. 34th times a charm, right?”
Tup elbowed him, and Fives continued.
“Echo and I are on point, we’ll run interference at the armoury and push him up to the bridge. Hardcase, you find him and get him to us.”
Jesse rolled his eyes as the rest of his brothers recited their jobs. “I’ll get word down to Kix. Good luck di’kuts.”
Jesse rolled his eyes as the rest of his brothers recited their jobs. “I’ll get word down to Kix. Good luck di’kuts.”
----
Rex was idly rubbing his temples as he headed for the mess hall, too engrossed in his datapad to notice Hardcase approaching him at first. Engrossed may be the wrong word, when really he was just trying to make the words stop moving.
“Captain…” Hardcase jogged to catch up with him. “Sir, are you alright?”
Rex snapped out of it, turning to face the trooper. He cleared his throat, balling his tissues in his palm.
“Hardcase, I’m fine, why do you ask?”
“You're headed for the mess and lunch finished an hour ago.” He nodded to the empty mess hall, beginning to guide him away and down the brightly lit hallway. “Are you sure you’re alright? Echo was looking for you to oversee an inventory in the armoury but I can help him if you’d like. I think Kix is still down in medical if-”
“That won’t be necessary. Thank you, Hardcase.”
The man just shrugged and clasped his hands behind his back. “I have the next training session, I’ll walk with you to the armoury, Sir.”
Rex loved all his vod, really, he did. But he did not have the energy for Hardcase right now. Still, he powered through, nodding his head.
Hardcase did. not. stop. talking. and gesturing energetically the entire time. He saluted the Captain as he stopped outside the armour, where Fives and Echo were conveniently just leaving, standing to attention.
He gave them a wink and left them in the company of their now exhausted Captain.
Rex waved his hand to put the arc troopers at ease, nodding inside the inventory and coughing.
“You needed me to do an inventory?”
Echo shook his head, “It’s alright Sir, Fives assisted me.”
“Are you alright, Captain? We can handle the bridge report this evening, why don’t you turn in early? You must be exhausted-” Fives tried, maybe they’d get lucky.
“I’m quite alright, boys.” Rex said suspiciously. “Why do you all keep asking if I’m alr-”
Rex cut himself off with a rather large sneeze, followed by a coughing fit. Fives grinned, giving Echo a look behind his ori’vod’s back.
“I think Tup was looking for your Sir, you might want to catch him on your way to the bridge, it seemed important.”
Rex suppressed his complaints and rubbed his temple, nodding. “Thanks vod.”
He set off again, and Echo was straight on his comm.
“Dogma, he’s all yours.”
----
On his way to find Tup on the bridge, Rex caught Dogma sprinting at the other side of the hallways, a stack of flimsi in his hand. Rex wasn’t in the mood for this, groaning and rubbing his temples.
“Dogma, what did I say about run-”
“Sorry Sir, I wa- wooooah-”
Dogma skidded to a halt in an attempt to salute his Captain and ‘tripped’, landing on the cold durasteel floor and clutching his ankle.
Rex kneeled beside him, shaking his head with a sigh. “Dank farrik, not again. Come on, let’s get you to Kix.”
Dogma let Rex help him up and limped all the way to the medical bay where Jesse was standing with Kix, grinning.
Kix just rolled his eyes and shooed Dogma away, who promptly stood on his perfectly uninjured feet and joined Jesse at the door.
“What the-”
Kix pointed to the nearest cot. “On the cot, Sir, you look like bantha shit.”
Rex opened his mouth to protest, and was hit with a fit of coughing. Scowling, he resigned himself to his fate and climbed up onto the cot. He shot a look at Jesse and Dogma, standing smugly in the doorway wearing matching smirks.
“Di’kuts.”
Jesse and Dogma just grinned as Hardcase, Fives, Echo and Tup’s heads appeared one by one, sticking around the doorframe.
“We love you too, ori’vod.”
---
Vod’ikas - little brothers
Ori’vod - big brother
Osik - shit
Di’kuts - idiots
Vod - brother
Dank farrick - fuck
Hello :) Missing my siblings so I wrote this :)
It’s sorta a continuation of this, which is a modern AU where Alpha is the oldest. @plainshobbit all of this is your fault <3
*
Alpha had agreed to babysit for the morning so mom and dad could catch up on sleep. He didn’t have work, his only class was in the afternoon, and for once he was caught up on homework. So while their parents slept in and the other boys left for school, Alpha got Cody his breakfast and Rex a bottle.
There was one couch in the living room where you could sit and see inside the kitchen, so Alpha settled there with Rex and the bottle and kept half an eye on where Cody sat in dad’s chair with the armrests, smearing scrambled eggs across the kitchen table. Hopefully he got some inside his mouth. Alpha would have to remember to get him a snack later.
Cody had good balance and Alpha had specifically put him in the only chair he couldn’t fall out of, so eventually he turned his attention from the kitchen to trying to get Rex to fall asleep with the power of warm milk. It was slow going. Rex was a weirdly alert baby.
Alpha had been five when Fordo was born. He hadn’t been able to help at the time but he’d helped a lot in the ensuing years. He didn’t remember much from when Fordo was a baby, but he remembered everything from when Cody was a newborn, and Cody had been sleepy and serious and calm.
Rex cried. A lot. If he wasn’t being held he was crying. Anyone who said babies didn’t have personalities didn’t spend much time around them.
But Rex had also been up all night, and apparently warm milk was just as effective on fussy babies as happy ones, and eventually Rex fell asleep, his little scrunched up face going lax and milk dribbling out of his mouth. Alpha wiped it up and set the mostly empty bottle on the floor and adjusted Rex to be upright against his shoulder. He didn’t want to burp him while he was asleep, but if he did burp or something Alpha wanted to be prepared.
Finally he breathed a long sigh and closed his eyes and let his head thunk against the back of the couch. He hadn’t been up all night, but he hadn’t gotten as much sleep as he should have, knowing he was going to be dealing with a toddler and a newborn in the morning.
This was going to be a long day.
After a few minutes he actually started to drift off so he didn’t notice the terrifying pitter patter of little feet until it was almost too late, jerking his head up just as something squishy slammed into his legs and catching Cody’s slimy hand right before it landed on his jeans.
“No. You can’t touch, you have egg on you,” he said, very stern.
Cody gave him a look that said as soon as Alpha let go of that hand he would also have egg on him.
“Don’t test me, brat,” he muttered under his breath.
Maintaining eye contact, Alpha released his grip and gently nudged Cody in the stomach with a socked foot. Cody scowled and took a few steps back.
Leaning as far over as he could without dropping Rex, Alpha fumbled around in the diaper bag next to the couch and found a packet of wipes. Cody whined and wriggled as Alpha cleaned his face and hands, but suffered the indignity. Alpha would have to remember to clean the kitchen before their parents woke up.
When he was clean Cody again threw himself against Alpha’s legs, waving one fist in the air in Rex’s general direction.
“Wha’ ith?”
“What is it?” Alpha translated. “It’s baby Rex.”
“Baby Reth?”
“Baby Rex.” Alpha shifted the baby, regarding Cody with a raised eyebrow. “You want to hold him?”
“Ho’l da baby?”
“Hold the baby, that’s right. Come sit.”
Cody pulled himself up onto the couch, grunting with exertion and heaving a sigh as he flopped next to Alpha.
He’d held Rex once already, in the hospital when they’d all gone to visit mom, propped up next to her in the bed and with dad’s arms supporting his own. But that had been a whole four days ago and he likely didn’t remember.
Alpha hesitated, and then carefully set Rex on the cushion on his other side and reached over to pull Cody into his lap. Cody kicked his legs, giggling as he settled.
“Hold still. You have to hold still.”
“Ho’d still?”
“That’s right. Hold still. Now, put your arms like this.”
Alpha tugged at Cody’s arms until they were curved with enough room to cradle a baby.
“Dis?”
“This. Right. Good.”
Alpha leaned over, making sure he didn’t dislodge Cody, and picked up Rex. Ever so carefully he maneuvered the baby into Cody’s hold, keeping his own arms wrapped around both of them so as to keep the whole squirmy mess of small child contained.
Cody made a little sound of excited wonder when Rex settled in his arms, miraculously still asleep. Alpha smiled, resting his chin on top of Cody’s head. They were both so very small.
“Sleepin!”
“Yes, the baby’s sleeping.”
Cody pulled a hand free– Alpha adjusted his own hold to compensate– and patted Rex forcefully on the head.
Alpha sucked in a breath. “Gentle, Cody. You have to be gentle. See, like this.”
He maneuvered until he could free his own hand, and then took Cody’s and smoothed down Rex’s curls. “Gentle.”
“Gent’o.”
“That’s right. Good job.”
With Alpha’s help Cody sat still and stroked Rex’s hair for almost a full minute, before he got bored and wiggled to be released. Alpha lifted Rex up so Cody could squirm down out of his lap.
Cody took off towards the stairs, thundering up with all the strength in his little legs. The older boys had started locking their doors as soon as Cody learned to walk, so he should be fine on his own up there for a bit.
Alpha settled back against the couch once again, Rex a warm weight against his chest. His hair was very soft, and he had a lot of it– dark wispy curls on his head and dark soft fuzz on the back of his neck and shoulders. The blue blanket he’d been sort of swaddled in had come untucked with all the movement, though somehow Rex had remained asleep. Maybe the harder it was to get a baby to sleep the harder it was to wake them up.
Alpha re-wrapped the blanket as best he could, pressed a kiss to the top of Rex’s head, and then grabbed his phone with the intention of doing some mindless scrolling while he waited for the sound of something breaking to echo down the stairs.
Seguir leyendo
Prompt: sleepy Captain Rex
That’s all. Short and sweet. Maybe a little Fives thrown in for fun. 😁
I have made vod fluff 🤷🏽♀️ Sorry if you wanted X Reader stuffs anon 😬
these were just some feels that came up... (I blame @lifeofclonewars for encouraging my clone cuddle pile headcanons)
Complete mental and physical exhaustion. There wasn't much else to it. After a long... rotation? (give or take a couple hours) of sorting through mission reports, requisitions... oh hells, when's the last time he ate something? Doesn't matter. He's got about an hour until Kix was heading to the barracks to... actually Rex didn't know if the medic even slept anymore... but he would be coming to the barracks. And maybe two hours before Echo and Fives stumble in from whatever place they're drinking at tonight. He removes most of his armour, placing it on the rack near the entrance to the small barracks room. His feet dragging along the floor as he tries to remember which bunk is his. That doesn't matter either, apparently, as he suddenly trips over something on the floor.
Kix entered the barracks, ready to spend the next couple hours going over patient reports, planning out treatments, and reviewing procedures. Placing his boots and helmet on the rack, he notices the sound of heavy breathing from... the middle of the room? He flicks on the light on his vambrace to see Rex flopped across some matresses that were on the floor for whatever reason. His mind tiredly jumping to how he, Rex, Jesse, and Hardcase used to sleep out in the field. (It always felt safer, leaning against a vod.) He rolls Rex off his stomach, only mildly surprised the when Captain doesn't wake at all. Sitting him up to where he could lean against Rex's back, Kix sat in the position they'd taken up countless times on missions. Fully expecting to sit awake, skimming his data pad until someone comes to help him move the dead-to-the-world captain.
Fives stumbles into the barracks, followed quickly by Echo who is (loudly) shushing him, telling him not to wake anyone. They both stop at the same time as they become aware of light snoring and a dim light in the middle of the room.
"You didn't put the mattresses back?" Fives hissed at his twin.
"I'm not the one who wanted to see how far he could jump off the bunks." Echo shoved Fives' shoulder.
Fives squints in the low light of Kix' data pad. Seeing the Captain and the medic sleeping against each other's backs, heads rolled back on the other's shoulder. He smacks Echo's chest with the back of his hand. "I told you we weren't the only squad to sleep like that."
"Di'kut, I'm not the one who disagreed with that." Echo slurred slightly, as he went to the right side of their sleeping vode. Leaning low so his head wasn't in Rex's face. Fives just shrugs, taking up the left side, making sure his hair wasn't going to brush against Kix if he shifts too much.
Prompt: “Don’t look”
Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence/slave torture
Read on AO3
While the tally marks on Rex’s armor are for his kills, the ones he now marks on the side of his boot are for the days that have passed since he and General Kenobi were taken to Kadavo. Crossing the other four marks with a shaky diagonal line to signify the end of the fifth day isn’t as satisfying as another enemy out of the way. He sighs as he sets down the little piece of graphite, letting his head hit the back of the bunk heavily like he’s too exhausted to hold it up himself.
Kadavo is a new type of hell. He thought cadet training was hard work but this… this is torture. The older troopers like to whisper about their “slavery to the Republic”, but those cushy Captains and Commanders haven’t been here. The clones might as well be house pets of the Republic compared to the horrors he’s seen at the Zygerrian market.
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Still recovering from the Blue Shadow Virus, Rex attempts to convince Kix that he's practically fine. Unfortunately, his body didn't get the memo.
“You know, everyone else is still taking it easy, sleeping the day away. You could stand to actually relax for half a rotation, sir.” Kix said as he approached the Captain’s medbed. Only three days after being infected with the Blue Shadow Virus, Rex was already trying his patience with how often he ignored basic common sense. “I thought I said you were on bedrest for the next week.”
The Captain flinched, attempting to subtly slide his datapad under a nearby pillow. He opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a cough and a squeak, at least until he lowered his voice into a whisper. “I, uh, was just checking mission reports. Didn’t want to be unprepared for my weekly briefing with the General.”
As a virtually extinct plague, very little information existed on recovery from the Blue Shadow Virus, but Rex had quickly learned that laryngitis was part of the package. The first day hadn’t been too bad, and he’d been able to power through a quick debrief, between attempts to cough up a lung. He’d slept through most of the second day, but during his brief lucid moments, he’d been asking for updates on the other troopers, and had been attempting to discuss troop movements with the bridge before Kix confiscated his comm.
Now on day three, his voice was paying the price. At best, he sounded like a 6th year cadet, and at the worst, he sounded like a dying frog. Jesse was never going to let him live it down, after coming in for an update and nearly falling over laughing when he heard the Captain’s voice.
“Uh huh, and when exactly is this weekly briefing?” Kix asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Tomorrow.” He croaked, sniffling and attempting to look at least a little put-together, but he still looked pale and sickly; if Kix didn’t know better, he’d be worried Rex was on the verge of falling off his medbed in a dead faint.
Kix huffed, “Do the words, “A week of bedrest,” mean nothing to you, sir?”
“Yes, but I figured that four days was enough, given that I’d be released the following day anyways.”
A vein in Kix’s forehead started to pulse. “Not five days, one week. Not that “business week” nonsense the Senate’s always trying to pull.”
“Oh, four days, then.” Rex raised his chin defiantly, resolutely ignoring how his voice cracked like a cadet when he responded.
“7 days!”
“I’m hearing two days.” Rex countered, muffling a cough before going back to reading his datapad, like the matter was decided, despite the fact that he was still running a low-grade fever and had nearly thrown up from the force of his coughing not two hours ago.
Kix shook his head emphatically, emotion suddenly filling his voice. “No. Not in my medbay. You could’ve died, sir! I-If anyone deserves a break, it’s you, so stop running yourself into the ground and rest! Please.”
Rex’s eyes widened. The last time Kix had truly raised his voice at him was back on Saleucami, after learning he got into a firefight after being benched for taking a blaster wound to the chest.
“Kix– I-I…” His voice broke. He tried to respond, but his next inhale became a painful cough, and then he couldn’t stop. Chest spasming, his damaged lungs struggled to compensate for the sudden lack of oxygen, and his vision started to darken at the edges.
As a competent medic, Kix quickly took action, helping him into a sitting position for better airflow. He rubbed his back, glancing worriedly at his vitals. “Easy sir, take a slow breath.”
“T-Trying,” He bit out, wheezing as his coughing finally subsided. If he’d had the breath to do so, he would’ve grumbled when Kix broke out the dreaded oxygen mask, but as it was, his shoulders slumped in relief when he could finally breathe again. He sat there for a moment, leaning heavily on Kix, trying to keep his heavy eyelids from closing.
“You alright now, Rex?” Kix asked softly, one hand still rubbing his back in slow circles.
Rex nodded, head lolling slightly. He whispered again, not wanting to further aggravate his throat. “-’m good… thanks, Kix.”
Kix sighed, fond exasperation bleeding through as he commented, “You know, whispering is actually worse than talking, for laryngitis. If you want to stop sounding like a cadet, you should really take a break.”
Rex opened his mouth to respond before thinking better of it, nodding reluctantly. Kix smirked, getting up from where he’d sat on Rex’s medbed, taking the Captain’s datapad with him.
“Good. Now, lay down. You are going to rest, and you are going to like it!” He ordered, only a little amused when Rex grumbled something that sounded an awful lot like, “Sir, yes sir.”
“ c'mere. let me give you a hug. “ with Kix and Rex maybe, please?
Thanks for asking, anon! The ending references my fic Golden Heart because I can’t resist an opportunity to reference it :)
——————
Kix stood outside Rex’s quarters, staring at the door as though it had done something to offend him. He was hesitant to knock on the door, and he’d never been hesitant before, but…
But, after Umbara, Kix was hesitant to approach anyone, especially Rex.
Umbara took a toll on everyone. Kix could see it in the way everyone held themselves. Their energies were slightly subdued. Tup seemed lost with Dogma gone, and Fives had taken to the young trooper pretty quickly. Fives liked to help people in order to distract himself from his own problems and, well, there were worse coping mechanisms out there. Kix would have to talk to him at some point to make sure he was actually addressing his own issues.
Jesse had taken things hard, too. Losing Hardcase was rough on both Jesse and Kix because he was their batchmate. They were working through their grief together, and it would be a long process, but at least they weren’t alone.
Shaking himself out of his musings, Kix thought back to the matter at hand. He was standing outside of Rex’s door, fist hovering just a few inches away from knocking. He knew that Rex was also struggling with his own guilt for everything that happened in Umbara. Kix thought he could help.
Kix remembered with great clarity the moment that he snapped at Rex and accused him of acting like General Krell when Rex ordered him to leave the injured behind.
The guilt of that interaction was hanging like an albatross around Kix’s neck. Looking back on it, he realized that Rex had been put in an impossible situation where he had to mediate between his men, his brothers, and a leader whose entire goal was to get them killed. Rex was right, too— Kix had to survive and carry on because if he wasn’t alright, then there would‘ve been no one else to take care of other injured brothers.
Kix knew he had to apologize for his outburst, both for his own ease of mind and for Rex’s. Still, he hesitated, and was about to turn on his heel and come back another time when the door to Rex’s quarters slid open, and the captain himself stood in the doorway. He jumped a bit upon seeing Kix there, obviously not having been aware of his presence just beyond his walls.
“Sir,” Kix said, slowly lowering his fist from where it was poised to knock on the door, “may I have a word with you?”
Rex furrowed his brows together but nodded and gestured to have Kix enter his quarters.
The room was in disarray. Rex’s armor was skewed about the room in a disorderly fashion, which was uncharacteristic for his usual organized room. There were datapads strewn about the floor as well, all incomplete paperwork that had to be filled out in the aftermath of a battle.
Kix didn’t comment on any of this, and instead stood in the corner of the room, looking at his feet and fiddling with the sleeve of his body glove.
There was silence between the pair for a few moments. Rex sat himself on his unmade bed and regarded Kix with a blank expression, not that Kix noticed his gaze, as focused on the ground as he was.
Finally, Kix took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry.” He was startled, then, upon realizing that Rex had said the same thing in sync with him.
“Sir? What do you have to apologize for?” Kix asked.
“The… the campaign as a whole. I let you all down, and you had to bear the brunt of so many unfair situations. I never should ordered you to leave those men behind. That’s not what we’re trained to do, and I asked you to do it anyway. So, I’m sorry.” Rex explained, now looking at the ground instead of at Kix.
Kix scoffed, “Sir, Rex, I don’t blame you for that. I’m sorry for comparing you to General Krell in that moment. You are nothing like him, and I just said that because I was tired and frustrated. I know you were put in a ridiculously tough scenario and… it’s been weighing on you as much as it’s been weighing on me, maybe even more.”
Rex just sniffed and nodded slowly. He glanced at Kix and let a slight smile grace his face, “C’mere. Let me give you a hug.” He said, holding out his arm as an invitation.
Kix sighed dramatically and sat down on the bed next to Rex, leaning into and returning his older brother’s embrace.
“You’re never going to let me forget that I gave you a hug when I was still in medic training, are you?” Kix said with a sigh.
Rex laughed, “Oh, definitely not. But, hey, I think this hug is helping, so maybe the research you did back then wasn’t all for nothing.”
“Damn straight.” Kix said with a huff. Rex let out a laugh at that, and Kix allowed himself a chuckle, too.
Umbara left wounds on them all, but… they would heal with time (and maybe a few hugs, too).
idk what to title this. it's basically about rex's life mostly pre-christophosis. ive been staring at wookiepedia for the past ten minutes and i've just now decided i'm going to use a mix of canon and legends content so if you thing something is factually wrong (and a lot will be) then your right, but im not spending two hours delving through old comics.
doing research it states as though arc troopers were made only after seeing battle, but idc, so rex and cody were made before they ever left kamino.
this is for @taylorswiftscar, i really hope this lives up to your expectations. if you (somehow) like it, i could do a part 2???
also, btw, most clone trooper numbers here are ones i made up. i googled each to make sure they wont real troopers but if they are, sorry.
warnings: death, mentions of war, war, fighting, battles, fight training.
CT-7567 reached a hand up to touch his short, soft blonde hair yet again, staring into the mirror with a shattered expression.
Why does my hair have to be different? He thought glumly, slowly running his fingers through the short hairs with glossy eyes. CT-7567 used his other hand to gently play with the ends of his cadet uniform - a blue tunic over a red long-sleeved top and red pants held close to his torso with a black belt.
Around him, the other cadets busied themselves with pulling on their own clothes, the room filled with quiet chatter and the sound of their black boots hitting the floor.
"You alright there, 7567?" A voice called and the blonde clone turned to his brother - who of course shared the same tan skin and hazel brown eyes but had his own cropped brown hair. CT-4826 gave him a soft smile before grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him along the hallway. "Let's go, 7567! I want to be first!"
-
"Did you hear?!" CT-7567 turned to see the other clone cadet - unique only for his shaggy dark hair - as he scurried across the silver floor to their bunks.
"What?!" CT-4826 called from the bunk above CT-7567, leaning down to hear better.
"I heard that CT-3383 went out in the rain and fell into the waters!" CT-4526 exclaimed quietly and CT-7567 shrank back in his bed, closer to the wall and further from the tales. "I heard he got eaten by the sea serpent!"
CT-7567 shuddered at the thought of the huge, mysterious creature supposedly lurking in Kamino's dark waters. CT-7567 wasn't afraid of much, but the tales he heard about the serpent made him shiver.
"Oh shut up, 4526," CT-4826 complained, rolling his eyes. "The sea serpents aren't real."
"Yes they are!" CT-4526 replied with a frown, a flicker of hurt playing at his features. "Stop lying, 4826! The Kaminoans said their real!"
"The only sea serpent here is you!" Another cadet giggled from across the room, darting over to the bunk and tackling CT-4526 to the ground. "You should be called Serpent!" The two cadets rolled around on the floor for a bit as CT-7567 turned to face the wall, pulling the sheets over his head and cowering.
-
CT-7567 watched as CT-3383 walked back into the barracks days later, smiling sheepishly as he held his left arm - which was tightly bandaged from his elbow to thumb.
"3383!" CT-7567 cheered as the cadet waddled in, racing over and hugging the brunette's right side tightly - although carefully not touching his left. "You're okay!"
"Why wouldn't I be?" He asked with a tilt of his head and CT-4826 scoffed.
"4526 over hear thought a sea serpent got you" CT-4826 explained, turning to face the cadet with a disappointed look.
CT-4526's bottom lip turned up in a pout as he clambered into his bunk to hide. "Not my fault," he grumbled. "One of the squad-cadets said he did."
The three other cadets exchanged worried glances before the blonde scrambled over to his brother. "It's alright, 4526." He told him, draping an arm over his shoulders. "I believe there really is a sea serpent, but at least 3383's here, ay?"
"Yeah."
-
"Watch your step, 4526!" CT-7567 cried out, slouching down behind the metal barrier to hide from the droids. He glanced at his armor, which was now scratched up from diving and rolling around the citadel training center.
"Go, 7567!" CT-3383 called out, CT-7786 peering out over his shoulder. "Make the run!"
CT-7567 nodded, sucking in a breath before rolling out to the side, racing along the metal floor to the tower. His shaking hand grasped the grappling hook attached to his belt and tossed it up, latching onto the wall.
Clambering up and up and up until finally he was over.
The blonde clone grabbed the staff and held it in the air, cheering as the droids deactivated.
-
"CT-7567 at your service, sir!" The blonde clone saluted, shoulders shaking slightly as he stared at the ARC Trooper in front of him.
"CC-2224 at your service, sir!" The clone next to CT-7567 announced. He was one of the 'classic'-looking clones - the ones with the tan skin, hazel eyes and short black hair. CT-7567 had never met him before this moment.
"At ease, troopers" the ARC Trooper told them, and both their stances relaxed ever so slightly. "I've been informed you both performed valiantly in your training and therefore are being prematurely promoted to ARC Troopers." CT-7567's face broke into a grin that he tried to hide. "My name is Alpha-17 and I'll be taking you for the next part of your training."
"CT-2224" the brunette clone introduced himself again and so CT-7567 did the same, frowning when Alpha-17 shook his head in dissapointment.
"What are your names, boys? Not your numbers," Alpha-17 asked and CT-7567 bit his lip.
"My name is my number" he told the ARC Trooper hesitantly, and CC-2224 nodded in agreement.
"Well, we'll just have to get you names."
-
"2224!" CT-7567 cried out with a grin, lunging towards the clone and wrapping his arms around him. "That shot was amazing!"
"Your tactic was too, 7567!" The brunette exclaimed, punching his brother's arm softly.
"You two make a great team," Alpha-17 told them with a proud grin. "Maybe to greater a team."
-
"7567! 2224! Come here!" Alpha called from the other end of the barracks, and the two younger clones scurried to meet him. "I've decided on names for both of you, if you like them."
CT-7567 nodded eagerly, jumping from foot to foot in excitement. CC-2224 was in a similar state, bouncing up and down. Individually was something clones weren't usually recognized for, and having an individual name was startling.
"2224," Alpha began, looking him directly in the eyes. "I dub you... Cody."
CC-2224, no, Cody beamed with joy, happiness radiating off of him in huge, endless waves. "I love it, thank you Alpha!"
The older clone gave him a gentle smile before turning to the patiently waiting blonde. "And 7567! I dub you, Rex."
-
"You ready to go, Rex?" Alpha asked, gently placing a hand on the Arc Trooper's back. Rex nodded, breathing in deeply and letting his adrenaline take over.
"Yes, sir!" He told him confidently, rolling his shoulders back as he switched the hand gripping the handle of the gunship. It wobbled in the air slightly before making a backwards motion. They were landing.
"Good luck, kid" his brother told him gently. "K'oyacyi!" Alpha patted his back one last time as the gunships doors opened and the clones around them filed out.
"K'oyacyi!" Rex called back, grasping his dual pistols - something he'd been allowed only recently but instantly loved - and rushing out into the sandy terrain of Geonosis.
hope y'all liked that! (to anyone actually reading this)
K'oyacyi means 'hang in there' or 'come back alive' or 'stay alive' in Mando'a.
btw i haven't read over that so thats why there may be several mistakes...
Have a great day!