Chapter 50 - Fellow Padawans, Part 5
(Summary: Hera sighed, gesturing towards the weathered old man and a blonde teenager who looked to be Ezra's age. "Guys, these are Obi-wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. And they need somewhere to hide for a while.")
Takes place the day after Part 4
"Ahsoka."
"Rex."
"You got old."
"Had to happen sometime." Then, overwhelmed by the reappearance of her old friend, Ahsoka couldn't help but grab him in a tight hug while their audience grinned. As soon as the pair separated, the Togrutan Jedi thanked the Ghost crew for going through with their mission, and from the look in her eye she knew exactly how difficult the whole thing was for Kanan. She then went around to each of the other clones, giving brief hugs to Kix, Cody, and Wolffe, and exchanging handshakes with Soot and Gregor, gaining introductions at the same time.
"Now just comes the issue of figuring out where to put you all," Ahsoka joked.
Zeb, Ezra and Luke all groaned. "Please tell me we don't need to re-shuffle everything again!" The Lasat pleaded.
In the end, it was decided that Gregor and Wolffe would remain aboard the Phoenix, while Rex took up his place at Ahsoka's side once more, and only Cody, Kix and Soot would move into the Ghost. For the next couple days, renovations were done to turn one of the secondary storage rooms into a basic barracks where the clones could sleep. They all claimed to have no problem with the cramped quarters, but also admitted that they'd likely only sleep in the small space, not stay there in their free time.
Obi-wan was glad to have his good friend back again, while Luke was similarly eager to have someone else who'd known his father in close company. The rest of the crew were all of positive minds about the additions... with the marked exception of Kanan.
First chance she had, Hera dragged the man aside in order to talk to him.
"They've spent more than fifteen years getting over their guilt and grief, Kanan," she murmured, wrapping the man in a hug once he made the issue clear. "It's not right to push them away now for something they were forced into against their will in the first place."
"I, I know, but-" He shuddered. "I still get the nightmares, now and then. And Soot's one of the ones shooting at her, at us."
"Talk to him, love. I'm sure Soot has similar nightmares."
That night, the twi'lek cheated by getting Obi-wan to lock the door before Kanan could enter their cabin, and then had the other clones send Soot out of their room as well. The pair encountered one another in the main room, and though they held onto the awkward silence for a good long while, Soot eventually spoke.
"How long did it take you to get your feet under you again after- after it happened?" The clone asked quietly.
"A while. A Kalleran smuggler eventually took me in, taught me how to survive and fight with a blaster - even escape from Grey and Styles when they kept chasing me."
Soot winced at that, and Kanan asked a question of his own. "When did the effects from the biochips wear off?"
"Depended on the brother. Some started seeing things again clearly after only a few weeks - the ones with friends or family-level connections outside the army. Most of them left once they'd realized what we had done. Others, like me, needed to take a few knocks to the head, literal as well as not." He rubbed at his face with a sigh. "Sometime after Grey and Styles died, I was with a company that was rounding up refugees on what had been a Separatist world. We'd gotten a tip-off that there were Jedi-sympathizers hiding among them. The new captain ordered us to shoot them all, even the kids. I started running that night and didn't look back."
Cringing at the turbulent emotions Soot was giving off, Kanan got to his feet and approached. The other man tensed, but relaxed as soon as the Jedi placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're here now," he said. "A no one in the Rebellion would ever give an order like that."
"Good to know." Soot tried to grin at him, but fell dismally short.
"And, I'm sorry, for thinking ill of all of you for all this time."
"A lot of us deserved it, Caleb."
"Still, it wasn't fair of me."
Soot nudged him, wearing a smaller, genuine smile. "Guess that means we both need to better from here on out, then."
"Guess so."
When Hera got up the next morning and headed to the kitchen for her breakfast, she grinned upon finding both Kanan and Soot slumped against one another at the table, sound asleep.
"Everybody heals, love," she whispered, pressing a quick kiss to the Jedi's forehead. "Everyone, eventually."
Others who got up to retrieve their morning food also remained quiet to leave the pair be, at least until Ezra and Luke arrived. The darker haired boy sent his companion a devious grin, earning a sigh but also a nod.
Soot and Kanan were awoken when a pitcher of ice cold water was dumped over them. Two teenage padawans then had to flee for their lives, off the Ghost and onto the Phoenix in order to hide behind Ahsoka and Rex.
