They had finished burying the dead.

The exhaustion was worth the distraction. His pounding headache had finally gone away. The bacta patch over the incision where his chip was taken out took care of that sore spot. But the back of his head had felt like it was hit with a boulder and radiated. He had even found a way to sync the rhythm of his digging around the pain.

The memory was worse than the headache. On the bridge, his mind was screaming in two different directions tearing the core of Rex's signature loyalty into fractured halves. He could have killed her. He almost killed Ahsoka. It made him sick to his stomach to think about it. She made sure to land the blow to knock him out for a bit. She could have killed him, but she didn't. She risked everything to even go as far as to save him. Rex would miss this headache. It was the perfect excuse to not try to make sense of everything that had just happened. He'd had a lot of wounds and pain over the years that he shrugged off and fought through. This one he had embraced. He put the shovel away and looked over to see Ahsoka standing there. His once aching head and lost brothers were only a fraction of what she was dealing with, and it was heartbreaking to know there wasn't anything he could do to relieve her burden except be there with her.

Rex knew that Ahsoka could feel his grief. She could feel everyone's pain right now. Knowing what someone else was feeling was an ability he never had. Until today. How could he not know how deep her pain was? You didn't need to be a Jedi to know that Ahsoka was engulfed in despair. She wasn't even angry. Still, her fierce glow had vanished.

From the day he met her three years ago, Ahsoka had always exuded extreme confidence. For many, her chronic optimism was her cruelest weapon. It took some getting used to for Rex. But over time he was proud of how jealous the other clone captains were of his good fortune to have the padawan commander who could spar with Grievous and have both her and her Captain live to tell about it. When the crack of her lightsaber saved his life that first time, Rex never doubted "the kid" again. She was his Commander, and he was proud to serve under her. Despite everything that had just happened on The Tribunal, in this moment Rex was able to still feel proud to be with her.

In the bitter wind that whipped Ahsoka's cloak, Rex couldn't help but notice that her stature had a maturity now that matched her fierceness. Her time away from the Jedi had defied any suspicion that she would be weak, lost, or worse off. She had made the heartbreaking decision and it was the right one. She stood there against the cruel wind and dared to honor her men while balancing the pain of what Order 66 had wrought all over the galaxy. She certainly was no longer the strange novelty, the prodigious padawan that only Skywalker could handle or who could handle the General. Asking Ahsoka about him now would be a mistake. Who could have the answers anyway?

They both had not only lost everyone they cared about, but they also lost the purpose that had formed those relationships. The mission. The war. It was all lost now.

The cold on this moon stung in your bones. The smell from the crash burned like hot twisted metal being violently shoved into your nostrils each time you longed for relief and air. The little light that did shine on this rock was fading. They needed to get off this moon before they froze to death or asphyxiated

Ahsoka walked back towards their Y-wing. "We can't stay here much longer, Rex" she said as she kicked the dirty slush off her boots on the climb ladder before she attempted her step. He watched her take her step to climb to the upper cockpit.

"I know, did you catch a system name or anything from the droid?", he asked as he stepped to climb into his hatch

Rex hadn't allowed himself to focus on anything else in the crash pile other than finding the bodies of his lost men, his brothers. Ahsoka had been trying to salvage what little they could and what could be carried. Ahsoka removed her cloak before climbing into her hatch. "Poor R7. He's going to need a lot of repairs and we can't do that here. The last coordinates I saw after we fell out of hyperspace and got to the command hangar, showed we were within something called the Jola system - but I'm not familiar with it at all," she said as she flipped on her controls.

Rex lost his breath for a moment. "Did…did you say Jola?"

"Yes, you've heard of it?," she asked as she spoke into the comm.

Rex couldn't believe it. He hesitated for a moment as the memory haunted him. It was odd now to be haunted by the series of protocol violations he had not only committed but successfully kept secret and avoided any detection. The general had given him the orders and in doing so trusted Rex with his secret. Splendor. Jola.

Of all the places in this damned galaxy…

Rex accepted the risk. He was hoping Ahsoka's response would be a confirmation of what she already knew about her former Master.

"I'm familiar with Jola…well…sort of." He got a strange knot in his stomach that shot down to his knees. He would have to explain everything to her when they got there. This would be awkward. Why did he feel so awkward about it? He prayed Ahsoka couldn't sense his shame from it all and that he felt guilty hiding the truth.

"Rex, we both just need rest and some shelter for a little while."

"I know where we can go. It's remote. Really remote," he was trying to be brief. It wasn't helping.

"You know me, Rex. I don't mind if it's roughing it. I just want us to be safe from anyone or anything until we can figure out what happened and what to do next."

He laughed a little. Looked back at her as he spoke into the ship's communications. I wouldn't say we'd be roughing it, Ahsoka". He couldn't help but laugh. Rarely was Rex ever embarrassed or unsure. It was new for him to discover he laughs when he is. The incredible coincidence was so uncomfortable it was cruelly hysterical. But for Ahsoka, he assumed she may not have the same reaction.

It's a funny thing being around a Jedi all the time. It keeps you painfully honest. You get used to the fact that they always know when you are hiding something. Information. Judgement. Feelings. Even when you don't realize it yourself. They sense it. At some point, you will have to deal with the truth. Face it, speak it, accept it. Rex had somehow managed to keep the General's secret from his brothers and more importantly other Jedi for most of the war. Obi Wan certainly knew, but to what extent, he dared not venture to ask. Ever.

And yet here he was, here they were, at the end of everything. How was he going to explain this to Ahsoka? He needed the trip there to think. Or maybe not think about it. They would definitely be safe and away from any sentient being. What he knew of where he was going made that knot in his stomach show up again. Thoughts about things Rex rarely thought about. Even though he was a man. A clone. But still…a man.

"Rex? What aren't you telling me?" Ahsoka asked.

There it was. Time to deal with the truth. It was someone else's truth. He made one attempt to speak. His mouth hanging open making that "uh" sound. Hesitancy. Rex hated being hesitant. He never had time for that. One more try. Well…

"Rex…? Where are we going exactly?" Now she was pressing. Ahsoka's persistence was her greatest asset and the biggest pain in the ass for anyone trying to combat it.

Aw hell with it. "Ahsoka, do you trust me?"

Without missing a beat.

"Of course, I do, Rex. You are the only person right now in this whole galaxy that I trust."

Rex relaxed a little. He knew that she did. Though her statement was reassuring, it was simultaneously devastating to realize that latter part of what she said. They only had each other right now.

"Okay. Here it is. We're heading to a remote moon in the Ancient Jola Star system that is uninhabited but habitable. The lodge there is more than an accommodating shelter where we can sleep, eat, repair what we need, a secure comm system, I think, and well…quite a gorgeous waterfall if you don't mind looking at that all day and night. There are no humanoids or even civilization of any kind on this moon, Ahsoka," he continued because now he had to.

"It's why, um...the Skywalkers, the general and Padme...uh...chose it for, um...their time together."

And with that, Ahsoka had no response except "Oh, okay." Maybe she was facing the truth that she always knew. And maybe she needed the whole trip there to sit in the quiet of it. Rex could understand that. He was better at patience than her. But he was dying inside to know what she was thinking.

The fortune of fate was twisted and strange. They had barely escaped death and crashed landed on a desolate uninhabitable moon that was just a short trip from the Skywalkers' secret honeymoon lodge in the forgotten paradise of a Jola moon the Skywalkers called "Splendor".

"We'll have to switch so you can take the lead. You're the only one that can handle the landing. I'm good, but not that good" Rex confessed as he got out of his hatch and climbed down. "Coordinates are in the navicom, kid. You okay with this?" She was silent when she nodded her head as she climbed down her step ladder. She looked like she was in pain though. The load of darkness that clouded her usual demeanor clearly just got heavier.

Now Rex felt bad that he was there feeling awkward about the two of them going to someone else's romantic hideaway, while Ahsoka was processing the pain and darkness of every Jedi death that was probably happening all over the galaxy. Thinking of Anakin & Padme now was not what either of them needed. Thankfully, a random wonder made him think of R2. Where was R2? Which made him wonder about his General's fate. He could think about that on the trip there. Or not. This trip proved to be historic for Rex personally. He had never been afraid of a flight takeoff. It was strangely exciting to have no idea what to do with himself or what to expect.

This was going to be some trip.