So this one ran away from me and I don't know what happened to it. I was trying to strike a mix between actually liking rules and also following them out of fear. Did it work? Who knows? I have no idea what happened.


"Echo. Echo. Echo. Oh, Eeechoo!"

Echo glanced up from his datapad. "What, Fives?"

"Whatcha doin'?" His batchmate drawled as he draped himself on an empty bunk near where Echo sat.

"Reading the regs."

"You've got to be kidding me." Fives was incredulous. "We're in the 501st, the legendary Men in Blue, and all you wanna do is read the reg manuals?"

"What else is there to do?" Echo asked.

"You could do what I'm gonna do."

"Which is?"

"I challenged Captain Rex to a sparring match."

"Why did you do that?"

"Do you have any idea how cool it would be to beat an officer? An officer who's also an ARC, no less."

Echo thought back to the Rishi moon, where the captain had destroyed a commando droid with his bare hands. "Good luck with that."

"You should come and watch."

"Maybe."

Fives fell silent for a moment, his face flowing with the fantasy of beating the man who'd earned jaig eyes. Then his brow furrowed.

"Why is your armor still on?"

"Regs say they aren't supposed to come off except during sleep rotations."

"Seriously? Literally no one in the 501st cares about that."

Echo shrugged good-humoredly. Fives wasn't wrong; he didn't think a single member of the Men in Blue had even looked at a reg since they came under the command of Captain 'always thinking on his feet' Rex. "Just because they don't do it doesn't mean I shouldn't. Would you do everything they did?"

"Depends on the vod. I know I'd do everything Captain Rex does." Five's eyes shone with a rampant case of hero worship. Echo had to admit his own feelings weren't far off.

"So are you gonna come?"

"Well…"

Fives turned his tooka-eyes on him.

Echo groaned. "Fine."


Echo was fairly certain all of Torrent plus most of the 501st had shown up for the spar. Why everyone wanted to see it was beyond him, until he overheard someone mention how the captain hadn't sparred publicly in a while.

He edged his way over to the medic, the only 501st clone besides the captain that he'd really spoken to. "Hey… Kix, right?"

"That's me," Kix replied. "And you're Echo. The kid who challenged Rex―Fives― is your batchmate, right?"

"Yeah, he's di'kutla."

Kix nodded. "The guys are making bets on him."

"On whether he'll win?"

"On how Rex'll do it. Most people are favoring a chokehold, but a decent amount says he'll use a body slam. Jesse bet 'fresher duty for a month that Fives will get chucked 'cross the room. I'm the pool moderator, so I can't bet."

Echo frowned. "Isn't betting against regs?"

"Only if the commander enforces it," Kix shrugged, "and Rex hasn't said no yet."

"But he's not a commander, right?"

"Who knows? No one's quite sure if he's just the de facto commander, or if he's ignoring the promotion, or if the General just forgot to tell him about the promotion."

Echo hurriedly smothered a snort, the medic's comment about the General making him uncomfortable. The Kaminoans had been very clear about the respect a Jedi was to be treated with, even in their absence.

"Oooh, it's about to start."

Surrounded by a sea of vode, Fives and Rex took their places on the mat. The younger man bounced on the balls of his feet, a grin lighting up his face, while the captain simply crouched into a ready-stance.

Jesse walked up. "This is a standard sparring match. The rules are simple: don't seriously injure your opponent (or Kix will kill you), no armor (which you've both already done), and don't destroy anything (or any bystanders)."

"Thank you for the commentary, Jesse," Rex remarked drily.

"Just making sure the shiny knows what's going on."

"Not a shiny," Fives growled.

Jesse smirked. "Three, two, one, start!"

Hooting and hollering instantly sounded from the watching men and Echo abruptly found himself a sedentary speck of white plastoid in a sea of rioting black.

Practically vibrating with all his energy, Fives feinted low, then lunged high with a punch Echo knew from bitter experience to be quite effective. Rex didn't go for the feint. He waited for the punch he clearly expected, then caught the wrist with one hand. A twist too fast to properly see later and Fives's arm was behind his back, Rex's around his throat. Despite the younger man's struggles, the captain lowered him to the ground.

"Tap out, Fives," Rex said gently.

The other continued to struggle fiercely.

"Tap out, Fives." The pressure increased slightly.

Fives did no such thing and Echo could clearly imagine the stubborn look in his eye.

"Fives!" Rex's voice was all captain as his arm continued to tighten its grip. "Tap. Out."

A slight moment later, Fives tapped out. The room erupted in cheers and jeers, winners and losers of bets reacting as Rex pulled Fives to his feet. Placing his hands on the other's shoulders, the officer said something, but all the noise prevented Echo from hearing it. Whatever it was caused his batchmate to duck his head and nod slowly.

Shoving his way past a group mocking a despondent Jesse, Echo made his way to the mat.

"Sir." He snapped to attention. "I request permission to take Fives back to the barracks."

The captain's face did an odd thing, forming an expression that might've been amused, might've been sad, might've been both, before smoothing out. "Permission granted, Echo."

As Echo dragged him along a fairly empty corridor, away from the other men's good-natured raillery, Fives sighed. "Did you have to embarrass me like that?"

"I think you did that well enough on your own," Echo retorted. "How did I embarrass you?"

"The dragging me away certainly didn't help, but I was mainly thinking of the way you spoke to Rex. You don't have to be all stiff and formal with him.

"Yes, I do. He's our CO and he specifically told us to call him captain or sir."

"Yeah, but that was before."

"Before what?"

Fives looked away. "Before Hevy."

Echo didn't say anything. His vod had a point. At first, Rex had seemed very much an officer. An awesome, inspiring officer, but still an officer. But after Hevy's sacrifice, he'd seemed different. Gentler, more personal. Less like a CO and more like an ori'vod.

That still didn't make Echo comfortable enough to call him Rex.

"Hey, what did the captain say to you after the spar?" he asked, shifting the subject.

"Nothing important," Fives avoided, before sighing. "He told me that sometimes it's more important to conserve your strength for a later time than to win an immediate battle. And…"

"And what?"

"He also said there are better outlets for my frieg than getting myself beat up."

Echo frowned. "But you've only done the one spar, right?"

Fives didn't reply.

"Right?"

"That was my twelfth," his batchmate admitted.

"Twelve?! You've fought twelve spars? Why?!"

"I just… keep expecting to hear one of Cutup's absolutely terrible jokes, or see Hevy getting into a fight with someone, or have Droidbait trip over the same thing three times in two minutes. And then I don't and I just… don't know what to do."

Echo thought about how he'd subconsciously looked for Hevy to help with Fives, only to realize he wasn't there.

"Yeah."


Droidbait, all alone, killed by the commando droids, his screams covered.

Cultup, mere minutes from the commander and captain's arrival, snatched by a monster, his screams all too loud.

Hevy, choosing his fate, torn apart by an explosion, whether or not he screamed unknown.

And Fives–

Echo woke up with a gasp, his heart racing painfully. He dragged his hand across his face, trying to calm down. His fingers touched something wet.

Above him, Fives snorted in his sleep. It was a familiar, comforting noise, and Echo wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with him, to hold and be held by batchmate, forget about the nightmares. But regulations clearly stated only one clone per bed.

Tossing, his face still wet, he tried to get comfortable. But his eyes remained open, his heart and brain too active for sleep.

The barracks door opened quietly, a shadow appearing in the faint light stream. Whoever it was walked slowly into the room. As the person got closer, he recognized the silhouette as a vod.

Light caught on the person's hair, causing it to almost glow. Echo froze. It was the captain, walking amongst the bunks, stopping every now and then. Gradually, he got closer and closer, finally making it to Echo and Fives's bunk.

He looked up at Fives first, who proceeded to snore very loudly. Rex made a noise that might've been a quiet laugh, before he bent down to look at Echo, who snapped his eyes shut. Rex hmmed.

Echo, his eyelids squeezed tightly together, felt a hand ghost over his cheeks, pausing very briefly on the tear-tracks.

:Echo, I know you're awake, vod'ika."

He jolted up to find Rex gazing at him with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine, sir," he whispered.

Rex started up at him for a moment more, before jerking his head in a silent order to follow him. Echo reluctantly got out of his bunk and trod after his commanding officer.

They ended up in front of the door of an officer's room. Rex entered the code and echo realized, horrified, that he was going into the captain's room.

Once inside, Rex pointed to the bed. "Sit."

Reluctantly, Echo obeyed. Rex took a seat in a desk chair, a pistol and cleaning cloth on the desk.

"Before you say anything," Rex started without preamble. "You are not fine. You haven't been sleeping well since you joined the 501st."

"I promise it won't affect team efficiency, sir," Echo defended, inwardly terrified. If the captain thought he was a liability, thought he was defective… "It's well within acceptable parameters."

"Excuse me?"

"It'll wear off; it's not a defect. No need to involve the Kaminoans–"

"WHAT?!" Rex stood up so fast it gave Echo whiplash. "I would never turn you–or anyone–over to those demagolka kaminiise."

"Sir?"

"You've not defective." Rex spat the last word, his fingers trying to pull at his buzzed hair, for some reason. "None of us are."

Not knowing what to say, Echo stayed silent. Talking was never his strong point, and emotional situations just made it worse.

"If you're having trouble sleeping, verd'ika," Rex said, ignoring his own outburst, "why don't you just sleep with Fives for a while? I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Regulations state only one soldier per bed, sir," echo answered, relieved. Regs were a safe topic.

Rex looked at him for a moment. "You and Fives are very similar, you know."

The subject-change through him. "Sir?"

"You both cope with grief by trying to distract yourselves." Echo started but Rex continued. "Fives with his sparring matches and you with regs. I can't imagine your batchmate always being this eager for a pounding, and while I know you liked reading regs before, I don't think you were this obsessed with following them."

This was back into dangerous conversation area, and what's more, was something he'd been specifically avoiding thinking about. "Sir, I've always thought regulations were important."

"Hmm. Because of the kaminiise?"

Echo started. That was verging into forbidden, decommissioning-worthy territory. To imply that he would only obey because of the Kaminoans was practically calling him defective.

He'd always been rule-obsessed, even on Kamino―especially on Kamino. The regs had been a source of fascination to him, and obeying them was a way to stay safe, prevent anyone from seeing Fives roll his eyes or Droidbait hesitate before hurting someone in a spar. Graduation had allowed him to see the possibility of regs not being necessary Then came Rishi Moon. Now it was just Fives and him, with no one else to watch out for them. Strict obedience was once again necessary for survival.

"Verd'ika," Rex spoke quietly, his jaw working thoughtfully. "I can't pretend to know everything about you, or what's best for you. But I do want to help you."

Echo frowned. Commanding officers didn't help you. They just told you what to do and waited for you to cross the lines, then pounced.

"You're smart," Rex continued, seemingly unconscious of the effect he was having on the younger clone. "That Tibanna gas idea was very clever. I've also noticed how well you strategize, even while being infrantr, and you remember every plan exactly. You're very analytical, and now I think the reg-reading and rules go somewhat with that. So I won't expect you to change that about yourself."

Growing more and more confused, Echo looked―almost stared― at his CO. Where was he going with this?

"But I don't want you to obey me―or the regs," he added hastily, "simply out of fear of being decommissioned.

The captain ran his hand along his hair, the gesture almost self-conscious in appearance.

"Sir," Echo hazarded. "What exactly do you want from me?"

"Nothing really," the other sighed. "I just―you and Fives― You're scared and I want to help you to be."

Echo didn't know what to say, far beyond his normal reticence. The captain seemed genuinely upset, not at him but for him.

"I know you have good reason to be scared," Rex continued, "but no more. The kaminiise don't get any of my men, not if I can help it."

Sincerity rang in every word he said, infused with more power than Echo had ever heard in a brother's voice. He nodded, dumbfounded.

"It's getting late, vod'ika. Why don't you sleep here for the night? I'll be here if you need someone."

Here? In an officer's room? "But sir…"

"Don't feel like you have to," Rex said quickly. "But if you want to, you won't get in trouble. I promise."

Well, he was tired. He lay down, feeling strange. Rex stretched out in the chair, his position looking rather uncomfortable as he closed his eyes.

"Don't worry, vod'ika. I'm here."


"Reading regs?" Fives asked. "Still?!"

"You should try it," Echo suggested innocently. "This one is about how much talking a trooper may do per day. You've already passed the maximum."

"That's a rule?!"

"No."

"I hate you." Fives thought for a moment. "Hey, you aren't wearing your armor."

Echo smiled slightly. "Yeah."


vod - brother

di'kutla - idiotic

vode - brothers

ori'vod - older brother

vod'ika - little brother

demagolka - monster, butcher

kaminiise - Kaminoans

verd'ika - little soldier