This fic is co-written by myself and BadWolfGirl01 (on AO3). I write Rex's scenes, she writes Ahsoka's, and everyone else just kind of depends - POVs are broken up with elipses, time skips with line breaks. (You can find more of our Rexsoka work on AO3!)
The title of this fanfic is from "Mordred's Lullaby." There will actually probably be two more fanfictions in this series.
This fic will contain no explicit content; however, there will be some sexually predatory behavior (on the Son's part), injury, mind control, Order 66, emotional manipulation, etcetera. I'll update these content warnings if needed.
Chapter 1
The shuttle is almost too small for four people.
Ahsoka sighs, staring out the transparisteel window, bracing her elbow on the durasteel ledge over the scanner and leaning her head into her hand. With Anakin on the comms and Master Obi-Wan flying the shuttle, there's very little for her to do until they reach the rendezvous point.
At least she has a job, unlike the fourth member of their small strike team.
Captain Rex sits on the second fold-out seat, behind Master Obi-Wan, his bucket on the floor between his boots, one hand idly dismantling and rebuilding one blaster, the other tapping a rhythm onto the wall of the ship. He doesn't even have a scanner to occupy him, and he's also seemed… oddly reticent about this whole thing, like he isn't really sure he wants to be here. Ahsoka doesn't blame him. This is definitely a Jedi thing, and he's got to feel out of place here. She glances sidelong at him (tries not to be too obvious about it), studies his profile for a minute, fierce golden eyes (though right now he looks more… bored than anything else, there's still an intensity to him, like a storm trapped inside human skin) and short blond hair (that she really shouldn't be so curious about the feel of) and-
And Rex turns his head, locks eyes with her, raises one eyebrow, a sardonic little smirk hovering on the corner of his mouth, and she flushes dark sienna and looks away, quickly. (This is… the fourth? or fifth? time he's caught her staring this trip. But it's not like anyone could blame her, they aren't usually in this close-proximity to each other, she just… he's just… it's… well.)
The scanner beeps, startling her (and she's pretty sure she hears Rex snort, but she's not listening specifically for him, nope), and Ahsoka glances down at it. Has to take a second to remember what she's supposed to be looking for. Right, the rendezvous. "Uh," and she clears her throat, tries to force away the heat in her cheeks, "we're at the rendezvous point, but I'm not picking up anything on the scanners."
"General Skywalker, do you read me?" Commander Cody's voice crackles over the comms, static-laced for all that the small blue-glowing holo of him is perfectly clear.
"Reading you loud and clear, Cody. We're at the rendezvous, but there's no sign of the Negotiator," Anakin says, and she doesn't need to see his face to know he's frowning. Anakin doesn't like mysteries. He likes to know all the answers. All the time. It's actually really irritating.
"We're at the rendezvous, sir," Cody says, shakes his head a little. "Where are you?"
The scanner blips, and Ahsoka frowns (what the kriff is that sound supposed to mean?), smacks the machine with one hand. It's saying there's a planet-sized mass in front of them, which is patently untrue, because she just kriffing looked up there- and then the entire ship, life supports included, goes dark. Dead. They're dead in space.
And then everything kicks back on again, though the scanner is still saying there's a planet in front of them, the stupid thing-
"General," Rex says, slowly, "what the kriff?"
All three Jedi, Ahsoka included, look up through the main viewscreen, at-
"Well, kriff," she breathes, "the karking thing was right after all."
It's a planet.
The weirdest one she's ever seen before, for sure, diamond-shaped and so dark it's barely indistinguishable from the space surrounding it; there's what looks to be a crack around its equator, a faint white light emitting from within the planet. Almost as soon as Ahsoka notices this, the planet starts to spin, the northern half spinning opposite from the southern half, the crack growing larger, the light brighter, until it stabs her eyes and she has to lift her hand to shield them - the comms crackle and go dead, the signal lost, and Anakin swears in Huttese.
"Everyone, strap yourselves in," Obi-Wan says, somehow sounding calmly sarcastic even in the face of possibly life-threatening danger (she doesn't get how he manages it, it's like some Jedi Master superpower). "It looks like we're going for a ride."
The shuttle is pulled in towards the crack (almost like there's a tractor beam), and Ahsoka fumbles with the retractable harness attached to the shuttle's ceiling - except it's stuck, and she swears under her breath and gets to her feet, reaches for the harness and tugs on it.
"Snips, sit down," Anakin snaps out, "we have no idea what's going to happen," but she ignores him. Because it's not like she intends to just stay standing, but she needs to get the damn harness down.
She gives it another hard yank, swears at it with a Mando'a insult she'd overheard Fives using the other day (and from the other side of the shuttle, Rex chokes), which… unfortunately doesn't change the harness's apparently unhappy attitude about life. "Kriff!"
"Here, Commander," Rex says, and she looks away from the very grumpy emergency harness to see him starting to undo his straps. "Use this one-"
The shuttle bucks, suddenly, the white light reaching out and grabbing it like some massive, clawed hand, flinging Ahsoka across the cockpit.
She's unconscious before she ever hits anything.
...
Nothing hurts. Rex thinks something should probably hurt. But other than being a bit askew in his seat and there being a weight across his upper legs, he thinks he's fine, so he shifts and opens his eyes, just as General Kenobi says, "We seem to have been knocked unconscious."
A very helpful statement, General - What the everloving kriff?
He snorts, because the weight on his legs is Commander Tano, also just waking up. He takes her shoulder, helps her up off his lap, and stands. "Commander, when I said you could use my harness, that was not what I had in mind."
She gives him a peeved look and hurries forward to lean against the back of General Skywalker's seat - who is also only just waking up. The ship seems in good shape from what he can see, which would mean they didn't crash, but here they are all unconscious. Rex doesn't feel good about this.
"Who piloted our landing?" General Kenobi asks, tapping the screens of a few of their scanners. "Because it certainly wasn't me."
"Wasn't me," Skywalker says, frowning.
Rex knows for sure it wasn't him or Commander Tano, which she explains to the Generals. Which means they landed safe in their shuttle with no pilot.
If Rex had to guess, he'd say it was a tractor beam, which doesn't exactly bode well. Kenobi has the scanners working, gives the results a skeptical look. "I'm picking up indications that the planet has some form of sentience - and the Force is very strong here."
"I don't even know where we are," Skywalker says. Which is kriffing great. "The scanners don't even seem to know if we're in the known galaxy."
Even kriffing better. Rex finds his bucket tilted against a wall of the ship, jams it back on his head.
"I suppose we should go have a look around," Kenobi says, checking a few more of the scanners. "I can't pick up the distress signal again."
"Sounds like fun." Skywalker never hesitates once he decides on a course of action, and today is no exception - this is not the ideal situation to be rushing into things, but Rex sighs and follows Skywalker to the bay door of the shuttle, quickly appraising his Commander to make sure she's alright. She seems fine.
When they step outside, for a moment the sunlight is so bright that Rex can't make anything out, beyond vague shapes and blue sky and green life everywhere. He blinks, squints, and focuses; it looks like a pretty average planet: couple aerial islands, mountains, trees. He rests his hands on his DCs, because something feels off to him, still, somehow not right. He doesn't plan on letting his guard down, however normal this place looks.
...
Ahsoka has had many headaches in her life (the worst, and most persistent, of them being Anakin Skywalker). The headache she can feel building as she steps down the ramp and out onto the grass threatens to turn into a migraine. Which is just fabulous.
She looks out over the canyons, towards the mountains, curious, appraising; a light flashes from somewhere and she frowns, squints at it. "Did you see that?"
"I didn't see anything," Master Obi-Wan says, lowering his macrobinoculars and frowning, running one hand contemplatively over his beard. There's a sense of confusion echoing from him, mixed with fascination, and she can almost see the wheels turning in his brain. Anakin may not like mysteries, but Master Obi-Wan loves them.
There's a tangled knot of emotions emanating from Rex, and Ahsoka frowns at him, asks, "Are you alright, Rex?"
"Fine, sir," he says, but he sounds almost distracted, even through his helmet, and she frowns more, wishing she could see his face. Because he doesn't feel fine.
She opens her mouth to press further, but before she can say anything, Anakin goes, "What? Did you hear that?"
"Hear what, Master?"
He just shakes his head, frowning and looking around, and then-
"Are you the One?"
The words seem to echo, around and around and around in Ahsoka's head, and she turns to see a-woman, of sorts, glowing with an inner radiance, and the Force shines like a supernova around her, awingly powerful and intense and warm, and it's all Ahsoka can do to keep herself from kneeling on instinct. "Who are you?" she breathes, staring. The light-and Light-is so bright it's hard to pick out individual details, at first, though it dims enough to discern hair the color of the trees, eyes like spring grass, ivory skin and a pale golden dress. All intent and focused entirely on Anakin.
"I am Daughter. Are you the One?"
...
When the glowing woman appears out of nowhere, Rex takes a few fast steps back and draws his blaster pistols, a little disgruntled at the fact that none of the Jedi seem inclined to follow suit and go for their sabers. The woman pays him absolutely no mind, and neither do the Generals, for that matter.
It is hard, harder than it should be, to hold his blasters steady. He's getting a headache, building at the back of his head, behind his eyes (he must have hit his head in their landing, kriff), and he feels a bit like he wants to crawl out of his skin, like he's too hot and too tense.
"I am Daughter. Are you the One? the woman says, and Commander Tano and General Kenobi are awed. Skywalker, he thinks, is a little more bewildered than they are. Mostly because the woman - the Daughter? - is addressing him. Rex shakes his head. How does he know that?
"'The one' what?" his General says, frowning.
A good question. Rex has a few he could ask. Like what the kriff. He tentatively lowers his blasters, doesn't holster them again though.
Gods, his head hurts. He feels off-balance, a little shaky - strange. Adrenaline, probably. Maybe he did hit his head - and harder than he thought.
The Daughter suddenly twists, and looks away from them, and Rex tenses. "I will take you to him. There is not much time. Follow me. You must have a place to shelter before it is dark."
"All due respect, General," Rex says to Skywalker, quietly, "but I don't think that's the best idea."
Kenobi smirks, shrugs - the Daughter has already begun to walk away. She looks like she's floating, her hair moving in a breeze that Rex does not feel. "We should be fine as long as we stay together."
Rex has often found that to be easier said than done - and he winces, his headache stabbing worse for a moment. He wishes Kix were here with pain meds; Rex has bandages in his utility belt and some other supplies in his pack, but nothing for a headache.
Of course, his Generals just start after the glowing lady despite the terrible risk it is. (Except something tells him this woman is fairly safe and he doesn't know why he thinks that.) Because that's apparently the best course of action they have, to follow someone that calls themselves "Daughter" on a strange planet after receiving a two-thousand-year-old Jedi distress call to meet "him." Who the kriff even is him? Also, just because she says they need shelter before it's dark doesn't mean they have to take her word for it. He doesn't wanna do this.
But it isn't up to him. Still, he's not holstering his weapons yet. (Although it's a little hard to hang onto them, he feels too jittery and restless, keeps shifting his grip on them.)
...
They walk for what seems like ages, though Ahsoka's wrist-chrono (synced to the Resolute's shiptime) shows it's only about two hours, along a winding cliffside path, the Daughter an ethereal figure at their head, before anyone asks any more questions.
Predictably, the first person to finally speak up about the weirdness of this planet is Master Obi-Wan. "Have you noticed how the seasons seem to be changing with the time of day?" he asks, sounds utterly fascinated.
"Yeah, Master," Anakin says, flatly. "We've noticed."
Normally, Ahsoka would laugh at the affronted look on Obi-Wan's face, but her headache has indeed blossomed into a full-blown migraine, and every step sends agony shooting through her skull, nausea swirling in the pit of her stomach and vertigo in her bones, making it hard just to stay upright. She keeps instinctively reaching for the Force to dull the pain, but the Force just roars over her whenever she tries, and that makes the headache worse.
Kriff this kriffing planet.
"So who exactly are you taking us to see?" Obi-Wan ventures, as they cross some invisible line (and pain sparks across her skin for a moment, like a cloud of electricity) and the foliage turns copper-red-gold-brown.
The Daughter doesn't stop walking when she says, "The Father, of course."
And despite the stabbing pain in her head, Ahsoka manages to roll her eyes and mutter out through gritted teeth, "Oh, of course."
"And who exactly are you?" Obi-Wan tries, which gets them an even better answer:
"We are the Ones who guard the Power. We are the Beginning, the Middle, and the End."
"I'm glad we cleared that up," Anakin huffs.
Something rumbles.
There's a crash of sound, Anakin launches forward and tackles the Daughter, and Ahsoka's instincts stop her dead just before a tumble of rocks and dirt comes thundering down onto the path. A rock hits her side hard enough to bruise, and she staggers (and her head is screaming this is too much) and then her foot catches on a tuft of grass and she pitches sideways off the ledge with a muffled yelp, her fingers just barely managing to catch a sharp piece of protruding rock. The edges of it cut into her hand, and the strain makes her shoulder ache, and she swings back and smacks into the rocky cliff hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs, but she's not falling.
But Force, her head hurts.
...
The avalanche sends Rex stumbling, almost slipping partway back down the path, except he braces himself against the rocky mountain face - and isn't close enough to catch Commander Tano as she tumbles off the ledge. For just a split second, panic and adrenaline surge heady enough to let him stride forward fast and easy without support, ignoring his headache and the way it feels like there's electricity shivering over his skin. He can't get to her at all fast enough, but she catches herself, scrabbles at the stone and tries to haul herself up.
She can't, and that's not good. Not normal. Rex has noticed she's in pain (although he still isn't sure how he knows, because she's been moving normally, but he does), but she should be able to get herself back on the path. Before he can worry about it much, though, and go get her, Kenobi takes hold of her forearm and pulls her easily back up. General Skywalker is nowhere in sight. Rex sighs and makes himself straighten his shoulders and walk over toward them - and Ahsoka presses one hand to her head, above her eyes, and carefully sets her other hand against the rock, leans into it.
Not good, not good. Rex speeds up a little (which is a mistake, hurts) and comes up behind Kenobi.
"Sorry, I'm- It's just my head," Ahsoka says, sounding a little strained.
Kenobi frowns, puts his hand on Ahsoka's shoulder and meets her eyes. Rex doesn't know Kenobi well, per se, but he is familiar with that expression nonetheless. He thinks Kenobi has the situation under control. He doesn't mean to let it, but his mind wanders a little, and he has to put effort into pulling his focus back. It's just, he keeps thinking something is wrong, something's… He doesn't know. Something is telling him wrong, wrong, wrong, this is all wrong. And he hurts.
"All I said was we should stay together," Kenobi says wryly. "Why did I think that would be simple?" He taps his wristcomm, says "Anakin, do you read me?"
"Yeah, Master, I hear you."
Kenobi is relieved, nods and gives Commander Tano a smile. "I don't think we can reach you, Anakin," and he eyes the tumbled pile of rock appraisingly.
Maybe with effort they could get past it, but it's effort that Rex really doesn't think he can manage. Maybe if he has to.
"We could use the Force," Commander Tano says, smiling a little, like she thinks someone should have thought of that already. She turns, holds out a hand toward the rockslide, and Rex sees her cringe and feels a spark of pain jitter over his skin (gods he needs to sit down, figure out what the kriff is wrong with him before they try to deal with any more of this shit). "Okay, maybe not. That hurt." She sounds like she's trying to be cheerful, but Rex knows her too well not to be concerned.
"You three should go back to the ship." Skywalker's voice comes back over the comm, and it's kind of a relief to hear his voice. "I'm gonna follow her."
What a kriffing great idea. Rex sighs, but really they don't have a lot of options. He doesn't like this, it doesn't feel good. He doesn't feel good, he needs sleep and meds and water, so maybe going back to the ship is for the best.
By the time they make it back to where they'd left the ship, the storm clouds have sealed off the sky and there's rain starting to pour down-within minutes, Ahsoka's soaked to the skin and shivering, her arms wrapped tightly around herself in an attempt to conserve what little body heat she can. Her head is still pounding, like someone's shoving a vibroblade repeatedly into her skull, right between her eyes, and she clenches her jaw and hugs herself tighter and stares at her feet. Right now, she doesn't trust herself not to trip and fall.
She doesn't think Rex is doing well, either, but she's not sure why, what it is that's got her head hurting so much, and there's foreboding strange and heavy in her gut.
She has a bad feeling about this.
She shivers again, harder, and Obi-Wan steps up next to her, wraps an arm around her shoulders and tucks her against his side, against his sopping tunic. Which, even though it's wet, is at least mildly warmer than nothing, and she sighs gratefully, leans into a him a bit. She's just… a little dizzy, that's all. And her head hurts. A lot. Almost enough that she's considering suggesting they just… sit down and not do much of anything.
"Are you alright, Ahsoka?" Obi-Wan asks, concerned.
"Yeah," she manages, shivers again. "'S just my head."
"Hmm," he says, noncommittal, and she frowns a little.
And then they round a corner, back to the courtyard their ship had landed in, except-the ship is gone. "The ship is gone," she says, blinking. "But it was here."
"It isn't anymore," Obi-Wan says, a bit sharp, a bit concerned, and she huffs, because duh.
"Look," she says, pushes herself away from Obi-Wan's side just enough to point to the crumpling plants. "Everything's dying."
"Did you lose something?"
The voice is velvet and steel and shadow, silken and laughing, and Ahsoka whirls (and then staggers, stumbling into Obi-Wan's side again as the world spins). There's a tall figure, a man of sorts, all Darkness and smoke and shadow and whispering laughter on the wind, pale-skinned with bloodred smeared down his cheeks, wearing an ebony parody of Jedi armor, with eyes like glowing coals. "You didn't do as you were asked," he murmurs, oh-so-soft and dangerous.
Ahsoka shivers again, but it's not from cold as much this time as it is from fear. (Because she's in no condition to handle this, not right now, not with her head throbbing and her hands shaking so hard she's not sure she can hold her 'sabers steady.) Rex steps up behind her, at her shoulder, and that helps; his presence has always been a comfort.
"And what was that?" Obi-Wan asks, archly, but his arm tightens around Ahsoka's shoulders.
"My sister said to wait."
"Did she now?" Obi-Wan is tense. "We were unfortunately separated." There's a pause, in which the Darkness in front of them just frowns, and then the Jedi Master speaks again. "We'd like our ship back, if you don't mind."
"Not yet," the… person… snarls, eyes flaring. And then he breathes, settles. "Is it true that he is the Chosen One?"
Dizzy and aching and exhausted she may be, but Ahsoka still jerks away from Obi-Wan's side, snaps out both 'sabers and shifts into the opening stance, holds the tip of her green 'saber aimed directly at the man's throat. Obi-Wan has his own 'saber out, too, glowing vivid blue in her vision, and his voice is low and threatening when he asks, "What do you know of such things?"
The Dark storm inside a man's skin stretches tall, says, snarling, "What is about to happen shall occur- whether you like it or not," and he casually, carelessly passes one hand through the air in front of him.
And Ahsoka watches in sick horror as her 'saber blades just - slide back into the casings, just-shutting off, like it's nothing. How? It doesn't make sense, that should be impossible!
"You're Sith!" Obi-Wan snaps, points one finger accusingly at the thing.
The storm shrugs, casual and elegant. "I am," he agrees, and then smiles, just a touch, feline and liquid. "And I am not. The storms here are quite lethal," and the smirk widens, eyes flashing with amusement. "You best find somewhere to hide."
...
Rex has no idea what's going on - and that isn't just because he can't focus, because it feels like he's thinking too much but there's not anything that makes sense - the black-as-night creature that feels like when his vode die asks if "he's the Chosen One," presumably Skywalker, whatever that means, and suddenly everything is tense. Rex draws his blasters just after the Jedi ignite their sabers.
He wishes that that seemed to concern the thing at all. But then, he's sick and Commander Tano doesn't seem good either - they must not exactly look threatening. And then the thing laughs, says, "What is about to happen shall occur - whether you like it or not," and gods, gods, gods, their sabers flick off and Rex's blasters jerk out of his hands. His Commander takes a fumbling step back, hits his shoulder (he's not even sure she realized he'd stepped up next to her, and that really doesn't say the best about her state of mind right now), and he shifts back too, considers going for his blasters except he thinks if he tries he might not be able to straighten up again. Plus he doubts it would do any good.
When General Kenobi says the thing is a Sith, Rex wants to say, "no kidding." But it's probably not the best time for that.
Commander Tano doesn't look steady at all, and if he were any more sure of his own balance, he'd offer her an arm - but he doubts he'd be any help.
"I am," says the Sith, light, "And I am not," and Rex wants to swear. The kriff does that mean? "The storms here are quite lethal - you'd best find somewhere to hide." Then he leaps into the air, kriffing changes from a… whatever he was into a kriffing bat-thing, and flies away.
"So helpful," Rex grumbles, bending to retrieve his blasters (kriff, kriff, his head, his whole self - he feels like he did when he got infected with the virus on Naboo, hot and sick and trapped in his head, like it's hard to think and pressure in his temples and too much of… of everything), standing again with a little more difficulty.
"I think we'd better take his advice," Kenobi says, voice tinged with alarm, and Rex sees why - the rain is building into driving needles, thunder rolling all around them, and then he sees flickers of lightning over all the mountaintops. The next moment, the clearing lights up with silver-blue electricity and Rex tastes ozone as lightning strikes too close and the actual ground seems to change, the dead trees starting to glow.
He does not like this place.
Commander Tano, reasonably, tries to break into a run, except after a few steps she staggers, hands going to her head, and leans over. That same pain sparks across his skin again, sharp. What is wrong with her? What's wrong with him?
He and Kenobi hurry up to her, and Rex probably shouldn't, but he puts one arm under Ahsoka's shoulder, to give her some support, and Kenobi does the same on the other side of her, and the General nods ahead of them. "I think I see a cave there that we can shelter in."
Better kriffing be good enough.
Rex just keeps up with Kenobi, lets the General worry about where they're going and how fast (too fast), and he doesn't know how it happens exactly but then they're walking into a cave and the rain stops blurring his HUD.
It's dark, but seems dry and quiet, and there are softly-glowing blue crystals everywhere, bright enough that they can see their way to get further back in the cave, find a wide, clearer space with almost-steps of stone going up on all sides. There's a… whispering around them, like small voices - probably an effect of the wind, right? Right.
Rex needs to start a fire, probably, and they need to talk about what to do next with no ship and no General Skywalker and the threat of whatever the kriff that Sith thing was.
He needs to do those things. They're important. But it's hard to think.
He and Kenobi help Ahsoka sit down on one of the raised stone steps, and gods he wants to sit down too, but she's visibly shivering and Kenobi doesn't look much warmer so. He needs to make a fire. Should do that now. Kriff.
He goes a little ways away from them, letting Kenobi worry about checking Ahsoka for the sickness or injury she must be dealing with, and crouches down to dig in his utility belt for his supplies.
Why does it feel like his head is splitting and he can't collect his thoughts?
He thinks once they're sure Ahsoka is going to be alright, he'd better tell General Kenobi he's not functioning very well. No use getting himself killed because he can't kriffing think.
It's mostly muscle memory that lets him get the fire started, years of doing this, because his brain has more or less decided it doesn't want to do anything anymore except hurt. And worry about the Commander, who he can kriffing feel isn't… isn't good.
He thinks he's going to collapse. Also not good. He wants to take his helmet off so he can breathe but he's sure he looks almost as bad as Commander Tano and he'd much rather have Kenobi worrying about her just now. Priorities, get the Jedi in good shape first, then they can bother with him.
He eases himself carefully down on the floor, puts his supplies away, keeps an eye on Ahsoka and General Kenobi in case either of them needs him.
...
By the time Ahsoka manages to get inside the cave, her legs feel like lead, and once Rex and Obi-Wan get her to somewhere she can sit, she doesn't have the energy to do anything more than let her legs buckle, collapse (somewhat controlled, at least) onto the rocky floor. She presses her forehead into her knees, wraps her arms around her legs, takes deep breath and tries to swallow the pain and dizziness she doesn't understand. This shouldn't be happening, she hasn't even done anything.
"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan says, "what's wrong?"
Just the sound of his voice sends a stab of pain through her skull, and she grits her teeth, tries not to whimper. (Fails, she's pretty sure.) "My head," she chokes out, muffled, barely more than a whisper. "It hurts."
She's not the only one in pain. Somebody else is, she can feel it, hot and burning, and she frowns, tries to isolate the feeling even though that hurts.
"Rex?" she mumbles. "What's wrong with you?" Because it's definitely him, his Force-signature is all off and she doesn't understand why.
Obi-Wan suddenly swears, viciously and loudly, and she hisses in pain, curls her hands around her montrals in an attempt to deafen herself a little. Obligingly, he lowers his voice. "Ahsoka, do you have shields up?"
"No," she whispers, "can't focus. Migraine."
He swears again, much quieter, says, "Rex?"
"Yeah, sir," Rex says, equally soft and strained, "not feeling so good. Got a migraine, maybe a fever. But-I'll be fine if I need to be."
That's not good. Ahsoka isn't quite sure why it's not good, except that she thinks that if two of the three of them are-sick or something, in hostile territory, it's dangerous.
Obi-Wan's frustration and worry radiates out into the Force, intense and vibrant, and with a faint whimper Ahsoka instinctively pulls back, and-
And oh, just pulling back a little bit helps the strain, some, helps the feeling of too much too much too much, and she shivers and curls in on herself a little more because she doesn't understand. "W-what's wrong, Master?" she breathes, startles a little when Obi-Wan scoops her up into his arms and bodily carries her closer to the fire. Where the fire came from she doesn't know, but it's blessed warmth on her and she murmurs, "Thanks."
"Here, sir," Rex says, and she tilts her head enough to look at him with one half-closed eye (and that's a kriffing mistake, the world spins and she barely manages to swallow the rising nausea and the firelight stabs into her head and kriff kriff kriff), catches a glimpse of him, his helmet still on, tugging a survival blanket out of his pack.
She closes her eyes again, huffs out a soft breath when Obi-Wan gently wraps the blanket around her, the warmth enough to finally let her muscles unclench. "Let me help Ahsoka strengthen her own shields first," Obi-Wan says, "and then I'll actually put some of my own shields around your mind, if you're alright with that, Rex."
She thinks Rex says something, but her head hurts too much for her to pay attention, and also Obi-Wan is in her head too easily, her shields should be stronger than that. Should be. Aren't. He's rebuilding them, slowly, carefully, and the stronger they get the more the pressure relaxes, allowing her to breathe. "You must be careful to only skim the surface of the Force while we're here, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan tells her, finally, withdrawing from her mind, and she nods a tiny bit.
Her head still hurts, but at least it's a little more manageable now. And she thinks it'll fade, some, if she manages to get some sleep tonight. Which is good. This hurts. She's not gonna be able to do anything if this doesn't stop.
...
Rex shifts, trying to get more comfortable, and notes that Ahsoka already looks a fair bit calmer, not so pained. His own head still feels scattered, all wrong , and General Kenobi knows he's sick now anyway, so he reaches up and tugs his helmet off. Gods , it's a relief - doesn't change much, really, except it's a little extra heat and pressure gone and he can breathe. He rubs his eyes, finds that while he feels less claustrophobic, there is still too much in his head, he doesn't even know what there's too much of except he knows that Commander Tano's head hurts, she is scared and tired, General Kenobi feels lost and out of his depth and confused, and there's something outside that's cold, cold, and so dark , and he shouldn't be able to know any of that, it's all wrong .
It almost doesn't hurt anymore, he's just dizzy. Which Kix would tell him is a bad sign, probably. Haar'chak.
General Kenobi switches his focus from Commander Tano to Rex, says, "I assume you know how to shield?"
"Some, sir," Rex says, not sure how that applies to their situation.
"Is it alright if I put up some shielding in your thoughts? It would not be invasive."
Rex hesitates (and it's hard to connect what the kriff any of that means, but he thinks he should know, it's just- it escapes him), then says, "Yeah, sir, but I- I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand how shielding will help."
Kenobi smiles at him, a little, although Rex knows that he is worried. "This planet is practically made of the Force, Captain. It's a bit intense even for Jedi, and you, as I'm sure you've noticed, are not a Jedi."
Rex still doesn't kriffing understand . "Sir?"
"What you're feeling, Captain, is the Force, and a lot of it. You're not meant to be able to, and I don't think it will be good for you if we can't get you shielded."
Oh. Oh, gods . Haar'chak . That's not good, he can't- Feeling the Force? That isn't allowed, that's for Jedi, and part of him remembers the longnecks telling the younger batches (after they discovered one of their earlier units showing signs of Force-sensitivity) that the Force was not for clones, that they had a duty to report it if one of their brothers had that ability. That the Jedi did not want them to be sensitives. And Rex thinks most of that was just the Kaminoans, but- This is not good. "Oh. Fine, then, sir."
He blames the pain and the lack of focus for how anxious he suddenly feels.
On Kamino, they taught them how to shield themselves against mind tricks and persuasion and things like that, so Rex knows what it feels like when someone's in his head.
It's not so bad with General Kenobi, mostly because the Jedi Master's staying on the edges of his thoughts, and Rex isn't thinking much anyway. There's a feeling like someone's helping him put on his armor, and slowly all the... everything eases a little, and he can focus again. He doesn't mean to let out a sigh of relief, doesn't mean to slump at all either, but gods it's just. It's still not good but it's better.
Which means he can worry about rations. He reaches for his pack before Kenobi is even out of his head, pulls out a couple packets of emergency rations. He'd better cook them himself - Commander Tano is terrible at it. Which shouldn't even be possible, emergency rations are not hard to make, but she's managed to kriff it up before.
It was hilarious, even Hardcase couldn't stomach them.
He thinks Kenobi is amused (and oh kriff, he could hear that, damn it), then Rex doesn't feel anyone else in his mind anymore and that's a relief. He nods at the General (ow), gives him a small smile. "Thanks, sir. That helps."
...
"Are those rations?" Ahsoka asks, softly, lifting her head from her knees again, just a little.
"Yep," Rex says, and shoots her a look. "And you don't get to make them."
She sighs, mumbles, "It wasn't that bad." Really. It wasn't. She didn't mess them up that badly. "They were still edible."
"Commander," Rex says, dryly, "rations are barely edible at the best of times."
Not the kriffing point.
She sighs, again, hunches her shoulders a little more and tightens the blanket around her, shivers a bit. There's a chill deep in her bones, and she's not sure if it's from the rain or from the Dark thing, but even the warmth of the fire and the blanket doesn't help enough.
But Obi-Wan is cold too, she thinks, looking at the Jedi Master-his clothes are soaked through and he's crouched near the fire, holding his hands out to the flames, so. So it wouldn't be fair of her to hog the blanket. "H-here, Master," she offers, forcing her chilled fingers to unclench around the blanket's edge, letting the blanket fall from her shoulders and tugging it into one hand to offer to Obi-Wan. Never mind the fact that a fresh chill runs down her back and across her skin as soon as the blanket is gone-it wouldn't be fair, or right.
Rex gives her a very disapproving look, says, warningly, "Commander…"
She ignores him. "You need it," she continues.
Obi-Wan stands, walks around the fire, and kneels beside her. "Not as much as you do, Ahsoka," he says, gently, and he reaches out, takes the blanket, wraps it back around her back and shoulders. "Keep that around you."
"Are you s-sure?"
"You're shivering," he says, a bit wryly. "So yes, Padawan, I am sure." A pause, and then: "After we eat, we should sleep."
Sleep sounds nice. But they need to keep watch. "I'll t-take first watch," she tries, and both Rex and Obi-Wan shake their heads, firmly.
"I'll keep watch," Rex says, finishes with the rations and hands one to Obi-Wan, one to her, keeps one for himself. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep, anyway."
"We don't know when the next opportunity for rest will be, Captain," Obi-Wan says. "We all should sleep."
"Then I'll take first watch, and you can try and Force me under when it's your turn." Rex opens his ration pack and starts to eat, as though the sentence he's just uttered is completely normal. It's not. Rex doesn't normally have that much trouble sleeping, she doesn't think. It shouldn't be that difficult.
But Ahsoka is tired, and her head hurts, and so she nibbles on her rations, only a little, because her head hurts too much for her to be hungry. She doesn't quite know why she's so exhausted when she hasn't done much of anything-probably the Force, she thinks, it's so strong and she's been struggling to channel all of it at once.
"You need to eat, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan says, and she half-shrugs.
"I'm not really hungry," she admits, sets the ration pack down next to her with a sigh. "I think I just want to sleep, if that's alright." Rex looks at her, almost resigned, shakes his head a bit, and she sighs. Reluctantly picks the ration pack back up and forces herself to just eat, even though she's not hungry.
She has a feeling sleeping isn't going to be very fun tonight.
...
Rex has no trouble staying awake, as he'd expected - he still feels not quite right in his skin, can't shake what's left of his headache - but it turns out that staying focused is hard. Which he can't kriffing afford, especially not here on this shitty ball of dirt. He doesn't trust anything here, which should make it easy to be vigilant.
But he doesn't feel right, so he's fiddling with the casing of one of his blasters, mostly for no reason other than to keep his hands busy. At least Commander Tano is asleep - he'd half expected her to struggle to sleep too, but fortunately that hadn't been the case.
He's trying not to waste too much energy being worried about General Skywalker - they'll make plans tomorrow, when the storm's over and he doesn't feel like he's been hit by a tank.
He pulls one knee up to his chest and tries to stop fidgeting so much, and then he hears movement and turns, fast, but it's just his Commander. Except she looks scared, and she's moving around in her sleep.
Rex is not a stranger to nightmares, by any means - he remembers the first time he began to realize that his vode all had them, had the same one , even - but he's less sure what he should do. Waking her up would panic her, and she needs to sleep , but he doesn't particularly want to just sit here and let her have a nightmare, either.
Before he can decide, she wakes up with a small gasp, and pushes herself up, staring at the fire. Rex eases himself carefully to his feet (that still doesn't feel good) and walks over to sit down again, next to her. "Hey, Commander. Everything okay?" It's easier to focus on this than on keeping watch for nothing at all, for shadows in the dark and a Sith.
...
Ahsoka sucks in a desperate, shaky breath, shoving herself up to a sitting position and staring at the fire burning brightly in the middle of the cave-but there's no sign of the, the, future her? There is a wildness to you, child. Seeds of the Dark Side, planted by your Master. She shivers, instinctively pulls the blanket closer around her. Are you happy, child?
"Hey, Commander. Everything okay?"
Ahsoka jumps, jerks her head around (ow kriff that hurt, bad idea) to see Rex lowering himself down to sit next to her, looking concerned. How did she not notice him move? "I-hey, Rex," she fumbles, drops her eyes to her knees and swallows, hard. "Yeah-I'm… fine." That's such a lie. But Rex doesn't need to know that. Especially not after how she'd… basically collapsed, earlier.
"All due respect, sir, but I don't think that's quite true," he says, and she flushes a bit, can't look up. "Care to tell me what's going on?"
"It's-just a nightmare, Rexter, don't worry about it," and she looks up at him again, offers him a wan smile. "Just a dream." That's all it was. Just a dream. "I hope," she whispers, nearly inaudibly, because if it's not, if this isn't a dream but a vision, then Anakin might be in terrible danger.
"Hey, nothing's happening here anyway," he says, with a small shrug. "And I'm kinda having trouble staying awake, so might as well talk. Passes the time, at least."
He smiles, just a little bit, and she sighs, rubs her eyes and nods. Seeds of the Dark Side, planted by your Master. "I… I don't know, it was… weird. I saw… myself. I think. I don't know," and she shakes her head. Are you happy, child? Your Master, has he treated you well? "Kept talking about Master Anakin, about… me needing to leave him. Or I'd Fall. Go Dark. She-I-said that… there's a wildness to me," and she shivers again. "Seeds of the Dark Side, planted by your Master."
...
Rex glances over at his Commander, who's staring at the fire again, the flickering light shining copper-colored on her cheekbones, turning her blue eyes crystalline. "Nightmares are hard," he says, commiseratingly, looking down at his knees. "Sorry about it, Commander."
"I don't think it was a nightmare, Rex."
Well. That makes things wonderful . She doesn't sound like she thinks that makes it urgent , just sounds anxious, and quiet. He frowns, leans a little forward. "Then what was it?" This is why he doesn't really like Jedi stuff, it makes little sense to him. And, as it turns out, hurts . The Force doesn't normally hurt his Jedi like this when they use it, does it?
"I think…" His Commander glances over at Kenobi's sleeping form. "A vision, or something- I think Anakin's in danger."
Rex goes to push himself to his feet, because if General Skywalker is in danger, they need to get General Kenobi up and make a plan to go find him, and now. "I'll get the General up, we can go find him."
But Commander Tano says, "No, wait. He needs to sleep too, and we can't go out in the storm. The… That Sith, or whatever he was, said the storms are lethal."
Which is a fair point, and Rex wouldn't believe the creature except they'd been out there for only a few minutes and he thinks he'd rather not be again and he can still faintly feel there's danger out there. So he subsides, sits back down and rubs a hand over his hair. "So you saw that, and you think it was… kind of real, sir?"
(He knows how that feels, almost, because the nightmares he has… those he sometimes thinks are almost true, and when he wakes up he feels sick. He doesn't know why they feel that way.)
...
"Yeah," Ahsoka says, swallows. Twists her fingers together and tries not to lean closer to Rex, because he-he probably wouldn't want that, and she shouldn't, even though she really just… there's something comforting about his closeness. (She thinks she's shifted closer to him anyway.) "I don't know what to call it, Rex, it just… it felt… real, yeah. I, she said, I have to leave him. But he's not… I'm not…" and she gives up, shakes her head. She can't put it into words. It doesn't make much sense.
She sighs, tiredly, swallows and curls in on herself a little, cold again-a chill that's deeper than just the dampness still clinging to her clothes. It's fear and anxiety and a hollow foreboding in her stomach, something that tells her leave now, get away, leave and never come back, don't let them touch you, don't let them near. She doesn't even know who they are (except she thinks she does, a storm and a sun in human skins), but there's something… no. She won't think about it like this.
"We'll figure it out, Commander," Rex says, and something in her twists at the title.
"I wish you weren't so kriffing formal all the time," bursts out before she can stop herself, and she winces, bites her lower lip and looks back at the fire, because kriff.She did not mean to say that. At all.
...
Rex blinks, taken aback, and tries to find something to say, because what does she expect from him really? But he doesn't want her to be upset at him, and it's hardly that he can only be formal, it's just- but before he can say anything, she's pushing on again. "I do have a name , you know," she says, and Rex winces, because that's fair - it's just, he hasn't thought it mattered as much to Jedi and normal sentients as it does to his vode . "I mean, what if I only ever called you Captain? It's just nice to be reminded sometimes that I'm… I'm more than somebody who just orders people to their deaths."
Rex partly wants to laugh and say don't I know it, partly he wants to say that they have to be formal, because that is what they are: Captain and Commander, so why pretend to be anything else?
But both those responses are bitter ones and hardly fair and don't even make sense , partly, so he rubs his forehead and sighs. "I don't know, sir- I mean," haar'chak , "I'm sorry. I don't… You're a ranking officer, it would be ridiculous for me to assume I could just, use your name." He shrugs, says wryly, "Formality comes with the chain of command, sir, it wasn't exactly my idea."
He doesn't think he's said the right thing, because Ahsoka looks away, shaking her head. "Rex, just…" She shrugs. "I'm sorry I mentioned it, forget about it."
Damnit. Kriff his stupid mouth, but. But he's on shaky ground as it is, with feeling the Force , and everything is off and he doesn't know what to do. "I'm sorry," he says, awkwardly, and barely avoids fidgeting.
...
"It's fine," Ahsoka says, quickly, doesn't look at Rex. Can't. She shouldn't have said that. He doesn't want to use her name, it's not… that's something people who are… friends, or-something she shouldn't even think about, because it's not possible-that's something those people do. Not… not Jedi Commanders and their men. She doesn't know why it's so hard to just remember that. "Don't worry about it, Rex."
"I'm just-" and he stops, hesitates, and that's enough for her to look over at him, though she's careful not to meet his eyes. "I don't know if I can, I'm not-it's against regs, I'm already breaking-I don't know how to do that."
She blinks. Because Rex is… almost stammering, which never happens. Ever. And also because that makes a lot of sense, and is also confusing, because okay, regs, sure, whatever, but… "It's just a name," she says, slow and uncertain, "why would it be-against regs? For me to ask you to use my name?"
"It's never just a name," Rex says, something low and intense in his voice.
And she sighs. "You're right," she admits, feels quiet and small. "It's the only thing the Jedi didn't give me." Hells, her Master hadn't even chosen her, like most normal Masters did-the Council had decided she'd be a good fit for Knight Skywalker, and thus go to Christophsis, Initiate Tano, even though she'd barely even met Anakin Skywalker before. Even though everyone knew he didn't want a padawan, had barely been Knighted, was already heralded as one of the best, most brilliant Jedi in the order, despite being only nineteen years old. Only five years older than her. (And what if he didn't like her, what if she couldn't be good enough for him, fourteen years old and only not sent to the Corps because they need Initiates to run messages back and forth, no Master wanted her and they thought that she'd be a good match for Anakin kriffing Skywalker?)
...
"I understand," Rex says. He does. He got his name from his vode - everything else is from the longnecks and his trainers. "It's hard, sir-" he didn't mean to call her that again and he winces, sighs. "Never mind. I can try - I do understand." And he wants to use her name, because they have been fighting together for years now and he trusts her - kriff, they're friends, it's just… he isn't sure. He doesn't quite trust himself.
"I'd, I'd like that," she says, twisting her fingers in the emergency blanket. "But you don't have to do that. If you don't want to."
"I know," Rex says. That's the nice thing, she didn't order him. He rubs his head again, and hears the thunder crack dimly outside. "Anyway, I'm sorry about your dream- thing. The General's gonna be fine." He usually is. When he's not, they deal with it. Right now they can't do anything, so no use worrying. "You should…" He hesitates. "You should go back to sleep, Ahsoka, sir."
...
Sleep is probably a good idea. Ahsoka's tired, really, and her head still hurts, and she wants her Master. But when Rex says her name, she can't help a smile, can't stop the rush of warmth that surges through her, dispels the chill more thoroughly than the fire and the blanket ever could. Her name sounds like a song, when Rex says it, like a melody, like something beautiful and wild and fierce. The name lingers on his lips like he wishes he could hold it there, like he likes the way it feels on his tongue.
He may never use her name ever again, but that's okay, she thinks, suddenly. She'll have the memory of this moment, and that will be enough, will be more than enough. So she smiles at him and says, "Yeah, probably, Rex," and tries to keep from laughing.
She does need to sleep, but she doesn't want to lay down again. Because if she lays down, Rex will leave, go back to his position, and he'll be too far away. And shewants him here, next to her. She feels safe, warm with him here. So she curls up a little, over her knees, cuddles more into the blanket, brings her knees up to her chin. Doesn't mean to shift closer to Rex, close enough she can almost touch him, but it happens and she's not gonna complain, that's for sure.
She thinks Rex might say something, but she's tired, and so she ignores him and breathes softly out and lets her head fall onto his shoulder, her eyes drifting closed, as she nestles against his side, just a little. Just enough for him to be a solid, warm reassurance against her.
...
She's sitting so close, chin propped on her knees and eyes blurry with sleep - it must be a mistake, how close she's gotten, must be her being about to fall asleep. Rex sits up straight and stares at the fire, and Ahsoka is still wobbling at the edge of sleep like she doesn't want to fall into it, so he says, "Sir, just sleep. I've got you."
Ahsoka sighs, closes her eyes, and suddenly she's laying her head on his shoulder , shifting in closer, letting out another sigh, more contented and soft. And she's right there, the weight of her head on his upper arm, her shoulder against his side, and it must be a mistake, because she's cold and tired and she certainly can't have meant to do this.
He decides he'd better lay her down, so she's sleeping properly, but when he shifts and tries to move her, she twines her arms around his torso and hangs on tight. And she is really very young, like he is, and she's cold and her Master is gone, so it makes sense she wouldn't want him, a source of body heat, to move.
Little gods, he's going to be stuck with the memory of this, her arms wrapped around him and her face pressed into his shoulder, for a long time. The thing is, too - she fits. It feels nice, and safe.
But it's not going to happen again, so might as well not think about it.
When Kenobi wakes up and comes to relieve him from his watch, Rex very studiously avoids the topic of his Commander clinging to him like a limpet for as long as possible, relays what she said about her dream and Anakin. Then he pauses, awkwardly, and pulls at one of Ahsoka's arms.
"Um, sir, I don't know why she's doing this and I don't know how to get her off of me," he says, sheepishly.
"Just lay down, Captain," Kenobi says, shrugging with a wry look, like he knows this is all very unusual. "She needs to stay warm and we can't wake her up. Maybe she'll let go when you move, I don't know. Don't worry about it, Rex."
He sighs, says, "Yes, sir," and eases himself carefully down onto his back, the only way he can lay without crushing her arms. She doesn't let go, just adjusts herself to her new sleeping position and holds on tighter.
Gods damn it. Kriff.
Rex closes his eyes and tries to ignore everything, and General Kenobi puts a hand on his shoulder and says, so heavy, "Sleep, Rex."
Rex does.