A loud crunch echoed out with every step he took. His hands gripped his blaster so tightly that he could no longer feel them and he was sure that the blaster had become a part of himself. All he wanted was to retreat, to run faster, to get away, but it felt that every step he took he picked up more weight. His feet were so heavy that he would surely fail. The features of the forest he was trapped in were changing around him every second. At first it had been light green and full of ferns, but the sun was setting quickly, and with it all hope was leaving. The ferns turned to dust. The leaves floated away. The birds died where they sang and he had to take care to avoid their bodies. The moss that covered everything turned to blood, pooling down around the monster trees. With horror he came to realize they were not trees, but people. His brothers. They stood all around him, they formed the evil forest.

Thick roots suck up out of the ground. They twisted every which way, in and out of the dark earth. Ominous voices called out to Rex. The deep tones mixed with his footsteps to make a terrifying symphony. It was unnerving and he could feel himself begin to unravel. The tip of his boot caught on a root and he crashed onto the ground. As he struggled to get up, he turned back to look at his leg. His throat seized up when he realized that the roots were an eerie white color. His gaze shifted to his right hand. Slowly he lifted it up to see little white fragments were stuck to his glove. His mind knew what it was, but his heart could not bear it. All of his brothers who had died, whom he had loved, were a part of the forest. He was too petrified to even scream or call out for help. The more he tried to scramble to get away, the more the bones engulfed him and trapped him there on the ground. His blaster had been knocked away when he fell, so he could not even end this.

Off in the distance he could hear a sharp beeping noise. At first it was soft, but with each beep it got closer and closer. He could feel a warmth on his body that didn't make sense. Rex sat straight up and his eyes flew open. When he did, he hit his head against Anakin's head.

"That's gonna leave a mark." Though Anakin spoke in a normal voice, Rex could barely hear him. He rubbed his forehead where it had hit Ani.

"Uhm, are you okay?' He tilted his head and examined Rex closely.

"Oh, yeah, fine, fine." Rex dismissed Ani's concerns with a wave of his hand.

"Sure you are. You know, if we are going to do this, you need to be truthful with me."

"About that..." Rex sighed and swung his legs over the end of the bed to sit up. "This probably isn't the best idea. I mean, it can't go anywhere. I have a duty to fulfill for the galaxy. I'm fighting for others to have a family, not for myself to have one." It was embarrassing for Rex to say this out loud.

"What?!" He demanded.

"Well, It's just that last night we were both delusional from the battle and I had taken some pain tabs... It won't happen again sir, I promise."

"C'mon, Rex, you don't have to give up pain tabs." He smirked. "And besides, why should we be denied happiness just because we are fighting? Why don't we include-"

The communicator started beeping again.

"I already covered for both of us, but they probably still want you to report back."

"Of course. I'll need to stop and pick up a clean uniform." He mused. He dressed quickly. The sooner his life went back to normal, the better.

Anakin smacked his palm to his head with a loud whack. "You're being dramatic. It's not good for you to bottle up your feelings-"

There was a sharp noise as Rex snapped to attention. His arm still stung a bit, but this would probably show Anakin he meant business.

"Permission to report back to my men, sir!" He shouted.

Anakin jumped up and threw his arms around in a desperate and agitated sort of way.

"Don't do this. Permission not granted. Do I really have to say it?" Rex didn't move. "At ease!"

This was too much for Rex. He had broken all his codes of honor, betrayed his brothers. "Permission to report back, sir!" He shouted again.

An exasperated growl came from Anakin. "Fine! Do whatever you want, Rex." He crossed his arms as he turned away from the trooper.

Rex maintained his military professionalism as he turned to exit the room. It was possible if he acted casual, he just might stay with the General. That was a risk he could not afford to take. There was too much at stake in this war. Countless innocents were depending on them to win, to defend their homes. He was working under the Chosen One, after all. Their missions were some of the most important missions that the Council gave out. Even if the feelings were real, he could not risk it. And with all of the crazy emotions he was feeling anyway, it seemed like a bad idea. Or at least that is what he told himself.

Before reporting back, he cleaned himself up and went to get some chow. He needed to clear his head before talking to anyone. There was so much riding on him, what with the nightmares and now this thing with the General. It was unlikely that any of his brothers could help him with the latter problem, so he decided to focus on the former. It would be kind of difficult to get answers without telling them it was him that was having problems, but he could at least find out if this was within the normal range of combat stress. Clones were engineered to be immune to it, but they were individuals.

He scanned the tables in the hall. His men must have eaten already.

"Rex!" Cody called to him from an empty table in the corner of the room. Perhaps he had dealt with something like this before.

"Hey, Cody. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing good. Quite a battle, huh? Heard you got hurt."

"I did, but I'll be fine."

They ate in silence for a few minutes while Rex ran conversation options over in his head. Eventually he ran his hand over his bleached hair and cleared his throat.

"Hey, I was thinking you might be able to help me with something." Rex spoke low and scanned the room to be sure no one was listening.

"Sure, what is it?" Cody leaned closer to him to catch what he was saying.

"I've got a clone who is having some medical problems, but he came to me for information rather than going to medical first. I promised I would help him."

Cody raised his eyebrows. "Okay. What sort of problems?"

"Well, I thought it was impossible for us to feel combat related stress, but he seem to be suffering from it. I wasn't sure if his symptoms were part of that or just a normal side effect of war." He tried to keep his face neutral, but it was difficult.

"Hm. I've never heard a report of it happening, and I've never noticed anything myself. Did he give you any more details?"

"Not many. Just that he is having nightmares and that his emotions feel off." Rex shrugged and looked away.

"It would probably be worth a trip to Kamino. We all have bad dreams sometimes, but that sounds out of the ordinary to me. I don't know...he may just be defective." Cody's sympathetic eyes did nothing to ease the pain in Rex's heart when he heard the word "defective".

"Thanks for your help, Cody." Rex stood up to dump his tray.

"Uh, no problem. But aren't you going to finish that?" He lifted his fork to point in the direction of Rex's tray.

Rex pretended not to hear him and proceeded to dump his tray. He fast walked as casually as possible back to his bay. The report he needed to write up would take a while, hopefully long enough to forget about all of this. The barracks were familiar to him, full of his brothers talking or cleaning weapons. As he went to sit down to start the report, his com beeped.

"Blast it!" It was probably the General. Whatever it was he had to say, Rex didn't want to hear it.

"Hey, is that our orders?" Fives asked from behind him.

This was the only time he had ever been annoyed at his men. Now he would have to answer the General. Fives was right, it was probably orders, but he was in no mood to see that face again. Too many things had been mixed together and he had no answers for himself or anyone else. The fact that he broke his commitment to them gave him a nagging feeling in his stomach.

"Yes, General Skywalker?"

"We are going to stay in orbit for a few days to provide support and to help with some relief supplies. Good chance for your men to rest up or do some training."

"Yes, sir." Rex retorted and then turned his comm off.

"Uh, everything alright?" Fives took a wary step forward.

"It's fine, Fives. I've just got a lot to do." Rex turned around to look at his men who were all staring at him. He focused on each one for a few seconds. Had none of them ever dealt with nightmares? How many of them had ever kissed someone? The only clone he had ever heard of doing what he had done deserted to do it. It was impossible to think that they could hold it together so well, that all of the people around him could hide their feelings so easily. Sure, he swallowed them most of the time, but lately it spilled out at the worst moments. It didn't used to be like this. He started out like every other man here. Or perhaps not. Maybe Cody was right. Maybe he was just defective. A mistake of a clone. More deserving of a number than a name.

These seconds of silent staring were awkward for the clones. Though their faces were the same, their expressions and reactions to Rex's odd behavior was not. Rex was never at a loss for words, but now they had all seemed to fall away from his lips. How could he explain this to them? With his thoughts in shambles, lies would be hard to find. After a few excruciating minutes of looking from one face to another, he gave up and sat back down. They all exchanged looks and whispers, but no one else approached him. He feigned working until they settled back into whatever they were up to before he came in.

His thoughts had finally started to come together. The only way to know if he was defective and if he had a chance with the General was to go to Kamino. Since they would be stuck here for a while doing support work, no one would really miss him. There were lots of things that needed doing away from this ship. General Skywalker would be too busy with Jedi business to notice his absence, either. It was settled. He would come up with a good story and leave in the morning.

Now that Rex had a plan of action, he could finally focus on writing up the report. The security of having a good course of action to follow comforted him. All of this would sort itself out in the next few days.