Happy May 4th everyone! (Well at least it is here in Australia right now! I'm currently up at 12:54am finishing up some work, but considering that I'm doing this instead, you can guess how that's going). Have you seen the Bad Batch yet? I haven't found the time but I'm looking forward to it this weekend (even though I'll still have a lab report due by then!)

Speaking of, I'm not sure what discrepancies it'll bring up with the story, hopefully not too much, but either way this story will likely only follow The Clone Wars and Rebels. I know Rex is in the Bad Batch somewhere. If he shows up before I write the relevant chapters, I'll try to follow that too. Since we've gone back into the Clone Wars though, it'll most likely only show up as back story that happened the first time in his life.

This chapter is Rex's take on things. I'll most likely switch between him and Ahsoka.

Enjoy!

TWO - Old Friends, Not Forgotten

Rex couldn't say how he knew. In fact, he knew very little of what was going on, how this was even possible. But the moment she stepped out of the shuttle, looking exactly like he remembered during the Clone Wars, her lekku significantly shorter than when he'd last seen her, but her blue eyes holding a weight that had come with a lifetime of fighting a losing battle, he just did.

Call it sharp instincts if you will. But the truth was, two decades was a lot of time to know a person, to become so attuned to them that you knew them better than you knew yourself. He'd recognise his Ahsoka anywhere.

He didn't say anything right away, though force knows he wanted to. As she followed Skywalker and Kenobi out of the ship and through the hangar bay, he noticed that aside from the subtle differences he saw in Ahsoka, nothing seemed out of place, playing out the same way he remembered all those years ago. She must not have told them, and so neither would he.

During the debrief, he forced himself to act as hesitant and disbelieving as he had been when he had first heard of the Jedi on Mortis. He didn't need to reach too far for it, the second time was just as confusing as the first, but he supposed that throughout the years, Rex had become slightly more aware of what the force was capable of.

But most importantly, he forced himself to keep his eyes forward on the monitor, and not on Ahsoka, who's frequent glances were slowly burning into his skull. She was dead, or at least that was what he was told. Slain by the dar'jetti to allow the others to escape. Kriffing Ahsoka and her kriffing hero complex and her big heart (he told her it was going to be the death of her). No, he would wait until they were alone before he allowed himself to meet her eyes.

Because even though his eyes were safely hidden under his bucket, he might be asked to speak. And his throat was already thick with emotions as it was.

He didn't have to wait for long though, because the Jedi were tired and retired to their quarters after only a brief recount. Ahsoka darted out at the Admiral's dismissal and rushed out the corridor and the generals chuckled, mistaking her rush for childish impatience.

Rex knew better.

He followed her after a half-hearted salute and "sirs." His steps though, were much more deliberate as he walked through the corridors, catching her rear lek flying away every corner he rounded.

When he arrived outside her door, he stood outside for a while. His nerves were no match for his incessant need to see her, but they were there nonetheless, existent in the tremors of his fingers as he raised his hand to knock, and just enough to make him hesitate.

For a moment, there was a silence, and he was afraid she wouldn't answer, but then she did.

"Come in," and the door hissed open to reveal Ahsoka standing up from the slightly crumpled blankets on her bunk, her eyes scanning his form. He reached up to the airlock on his helmet, disengaging it before he slipped it off his head. He needed to see her with his own eyes.

"Commander," he said in his military voice. Testing the waters. After all, what if he was mistaken?

But he wasn't. He knew when Ahsoka met his eyes, when he saw her crack for a split second, and then attempt a brave face. It would have worked if he didn't know her so well. After everything they had lost together, he was more than familiar with her look of grieving. And whatever it was, it was more than sixteen year old Ahsoka would have had to grieve.

"Captain."

And then there were so many things to be said at once, all at the tip of his tongue. I missed you. Don't you ever do that again. But the only words that escaped him were his witty attempts to lighten the mood.

They sent her into tears and into his arms nevertheless.

They stayed up for hours after that, cooped up in her bunk, his head resting between the curve of her montrals as she curled up into his chest. He told her about the Ghost's return from Malachor, what Ezra had told him about her fate, about how he cried himself to sleep after choking out remembrances for his closest friend, and how he was woken up in the clone barracks by the raucous of brothers he knew to be dead.

She told him about Anakin, and of what she learnt he had become. Of what he tried to do, what she could not and what it might have cost her if Ezra hadn't pulled her out of the moment and into another. She chuckled tearily about how she woke up, grabbed her lightsaber and tried to gut him.

"Good," Rex grunted, earning himself a slap on the chest. After what his general had nearly taken away from him, he would have deserved it. He had never been as forgiving as Ahsoka was.

They expressed their relief, that despite everything that had happened (will happen?) they were together, and how they had learnt time and time again that as long as they were together, everything somehow turned out alright.

They speculated about their purpose here. After all, it wasn't everyday you were thrown back in time. Rex was sceptical about the whole thing, but Ahsoka thought it was obvious. He believed her, she did have more experience with the force side of things after all.

"My master Rex," Ahsoka breathed. "The vode, the Jedi, everyone. We could… we could save them all."

Rex nodded, tightening his arms around her. He would help her. Of course he would, regardless of whether or not he understood. Because here they were, two people that had come from a world where they had nothing left to lose but each other, and all of a sudden, with everything to gain. A second chance to save those they could not. And if it meant giving up what they had come to know, the rebellion, the Ghost crew, Wolffe and Gregor, it would be worth it.

Rex and Ahsoka's comms went off once throughout the night. It was the generals letting them know they were heading for Coruscant to talk to the council about the mess on Mortis. They and the men could take it easy for the night and the next day. He thinks they deserve it.

The remainder of the night was spent planning. They were military after all, and the captain in Rex knew that going into a mission unprepared was unwise if his general was anything to go by. They needed to take things slow, and one at a time. Stay under the radar. They were here to save lives, but more could be lost than last time if they were too hasty. No revealing battle outcomes before they happened, only nudging it in the right direction in that moment. This was war after all, an intricate game of Dejarik with the Chancellor on both sides of the board. And the last thing they needed was for the kriffing dar'jetti to feel as if his hands were twisted behind his back.

Ahsoka would deal with the general. She was closer to him after all, and she was one of the only people he actually listened to (when he wasn't being a stubborn di'kut anyway). Rex was reluctant to even let her near him.

"It's not him Rex," Ahsoka told him quietly at his tenseness. "But it could be if we don't get this right. We can't avoid this." He knew she was right. Besides, there was only a certain amount of time a padawan could ignore their master before questions were asked. That didn't mean he had to like it, but he trusted her.

He would work on the chips. The smoothness on the side of his temple told him that as long as that piece of junk was in his head, his mind belonged to the Chancellor. Not a smart move if they were attempting treason. He'd get it out of himself the next time he had access to a med droid, and gather as much evidence as he could. Fives would need his help when the time came for him to discover them.

The same thought that plagued them both before every dangerous mission hung heavily in the air. Maybe everything would go right. Maybe the future they liked to talk about, the one after the war, was well within their grasp if they played things right. But maybe it wasn't and they would lose the very last thing either of them had. One thing was for sure though, Rex didn't know a single thing about how the force worked. But he knew her. His best friend, his jetti, his aliit. And against death, the force had brought them back to each other. To right here in this moment.

It would take more than a war, or a kriffing Empire to stop them.

Another one done! I had this pre-written when I published chapter 1, so don't expect the chapters to be pumped out as fast as this time. I suppose it won't be too bad though. I stopped the chapter in a place where the story could be taken as a two-shot if I take a while to get back. No terrible cliffhangers here! I also doubt I'll have a cleverly borrowed title for each chapter, it'll be nice while it lasts though.

Feedback would be amazing.

Mando'a Translations:

- Dar'jetti - Sith

- Vode - Brothers

- Di'kut - Idiot

- Jetti - Jedi

- Aliit - Family

Excuse Rex's Huttese (French). He's a soldier after all! I do love their friendship though. It's what really sold The Clone Wars for me.

See you guys for chapter 3!