Sickness
Captain Rex had never felt the way he was feeling now as his booted feet chased after the one person that he thought he would always be able to trust. Ahsoka. What had happened to the small child which had joined the 501st so many years ago?
He was sick to his stomach just thinking about having to continue her pursuit.
Rex knew that she had not turned into the traitor that everyone was calling her. It wasn't in her nature. It wasn't in the very fiber of her soul. Rex had seen the true her many times and many times he had wondered how such a gentle spirit continued to live in a war hardened body.
It wasn't easy to understand.
There she had always been, this small and fragile looking girl who could chop your head off if she wanted to. She was never afraid to fight and never afraid to put herself in harms way for another.
That was something which had always come easily to her.
She was not this person who would kill another jedi and blow up the place that she had called home for so many years. It wasn't in her.
Or maybe, Rex was just telling himself these things to keep his heart from being broken.
She had been, after all, the one bright and shining spot in the middle of the decay ridden landscape of war. Sometimes he wondered how he would make it just one more day, but Ahsoka was always there to bring cheer to his heart. It was easy for her to be so optimistic in the middle of the hate which called the war home.
She was not disturbed by the killing, but the death always brought tears to her eyes. When men were needlessly cut down in front of her, Ahsoka always gave more of herself. She sometimes pushed herself to the point where she was worn thin and exhausted.
Worn thin was what they were all feeling at the moment as the searched for a jedi. It was hard enough to understand them, but to try to hunt them on a planet which was as populated as Coruscant was almost impossible. If a jedi didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be found. He knew Ahsoka didn't want to be found.
The few glimpses they had caught of her were merely for the men's benefit, Rex knew. She wanted to make sure that the men, whom she had cared for all this time, were not punished for being unable to find her. As long as she showed herself a couple of times along the way, they would still seem to be on her trail. Rex just wished some of the clones would not take this so seriously.
They knew Ahsoka too. He couldn't understand why they were chasing her so blindly. She was one of them or as close as a jedi could be. The men here, surrounding him as they continued to run, had to remember all she had done for them while they were in the chaos of battle.
She was not like other jedi.
Rex couldn't let her be like other jedi because his heart just wouldn't let him think of her as a cold and calculating killer who weighed the risks and thought of nothing but the force.
Would the dedication she felt to the force have driven her to kill another jedi?
Rex knew it wouldn't have, but somewhere, in the pit of his stomach, he felt the pangs of doubt begin to take root. Pushing the feelings aside, Rex continued to struggle with all that was happening around him. He was a fighter, but he was not a killer who would hunt another just to take her to those who would punish and execute her.
Yes, he had done things he had been required to do before, but this time, with Ahsoka, he was going to have to draw the line. It was not worth risking whatever soul he still possessed just to apprehend her. He would lay his life down for the one person who had put her life on the line for his so many times.
"Good bye, Ahsoka," Rex whispered to the air. He hit the commlink on his armor and reported a sighting far from where they had been searching. He would buy her just a little more time.
