Author's Note: This chapter takes place immediately following season 7, episode 4: "Unfinished Business." Spoilers ahead!

Rex remained on the landing bay long after the shuttle melded into the deep orange skyline. He knew this moment would come eventually. He understood from the beginning that finding Echo might also mean losing him all over again. But now that the time had come…

Rex closed his eyes, shutting out the thousand distractions nagging for his attention. His duties could wait for now. He allowed himself a moment to reflect—just one moment to reorganize his thoughts, to get a firm grasp on his emotions.

In an instant, his mind called up memories of every brother he had known and lost in the course of this war. He tried not to hold on to any one of them. But he could not shut out the memories forever, and it was in the quiet moments that the guilt pricked at him the most. So many faces—all like his, yet different in their own sort of way. Shinies that never made it through their first mission. Soldiers he had practically brought up from scratch, and watched as they grew into better leaders than he could ever hope to be.

Fives.

But this time was different. He let Echo leave. He had held out hope that things would be just like old times: fighting shoulder-to-shoulder alongside his brother as they used to. But things could never go back. Time could not reverse, scars could not be erased, and Echo no longer belonged here. He had found a new home with the Bad Batch. Although Rex was happy to at least see him off safely, the pain was fresh and all too real.

He drew in a slow, deep breath and opened his eyes to the bustling shipyard. He hated the silence. It only reminded him of better times that could never be brought back. When they were all still ignorant enough to believe that war was just one big glorious game. When he did not constantly wonder if he'd ever see his recruits through to the end of a battle.

"You let him go."

General Skywalker stepped to his side, arms crossed over his chest as he followed Rex's gaze over the landing platform. Rex detected the slightest hint of a question in his tone.

"Yes, sir. I did."

"Why?"

Rex cast the general an inquiring glance. A look of pure wonder played across the Jedi's face.

"Because Echo is his own man."

"You didn't even try to convince him to stay. And after everything you went through to bring him home…" Anakin shook his head, his words drowned out by the roar of a docking gunship. When all quieted again, Rex went on.

"These are my soldiers, sir. But before that, they are my brothers. I can't keep them on a leash forever. I can't always make decisions for them." Rex trained his eyes on the helmet in his hand. He ran his fingers along the tally marks etched onto the surface, remembering what—who—they represented. "Sir, if this war has taught me anything, it's that there are some things out of my control—anyone's control. Sometimes you have to let go."

Anakin offered a half-hearted smile. "Yeah, I've tried that."

"That's all anyone can do."

"You make it sound so easy."

Rex remembered the eerie, twisted feeling of nostalgia that had seeped into him when Echo gave one final salute. "It isn't."

"Yes. I know." Anakin's gaze fell, the usual youthful and confident look replaced with one of dejection.

A long silence passed between them. The two stared out over the landing bay, watching as troops hurried from ship to ship and boarded transports across the base. The hazy sky melted into copper, then pink as the sun rose further over Anaxes. Rex did not need to ask what was passing through the general's mind—who they were both thinking of now.

"I'm sure she's fine, sir."

Rex wasn't sure what possessed him to speak so suddenly, against his better judgment. He had avoided mentioning Ahsoka whenever possible, knowing how it upset the general. But he had come this far; he might as well continue.

"The commander is very resourceful. Remember her capture on Felucia? She led others to survive, not to mention herself. She will be fine, sir. I know it."

Rex expected the Jedi to throw him a tempered glare, warning him to drop the subject. But he didn't. He only nodded and let his arms fall to his side.

"I don't doubt that. It's just…not having her beside me." He gave a faint chuckle. "I almost forgot what it's like to be a one-man show."

A smile flashed across Rex's lips for a brief moment, before he wiped it away and resumed his stoic expression. One-man show. The term was amusing, to say the least. Anakin Skywalker never had any problem being the front-runner on reckless missions. Bending the rules was his speciality. Sneaking past enemy lines, jumping from cliffs. Or hurtling his captain from them…

"It's too late now. She's gone. If only I had done more—"

"No, sir." Rex locked eyes with his general, instinctively reverting back to the curt tone of a captain. Anakin's eyebrows raised a fraction. Rex had never addressed a superior like this. But he knew regret all too well—the endless circle of guilt and thoughts that ultimately led nowhere. And he wasn't going to let anyone else fall into that same trap, if it was in his power.

"General, you don't give yourself enough credit. You stood by her when no one else would. Ahso—" he quickly corrected himself. "Commander Tano made her decision. You respect her enough to let her go."

Anakin shook his head and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Sometimes it feels like she never left. I sense her still. I can't just let go, when every time I turn around, something reminds me of her. Reminds me that she's gone."

Rex didn't completely understand what it meant to sense someone—not in the Jedi way, at least. But he did understand loss, and the permanent gap it left in the heart.

"I can only hope I'll see her again someday. To make things right."

Rex noticed a glimmer of hope in the general's voice. Whatever it was, it dissipated in a moment like a flame against the wind. It was vain to latch onto an idea like that for too long.

Anakin gave a deep sigh, clapping a hand on the captain's shoulder.

"Better get some rest while you've got the chance. I'm sure Obi-Wan will have another job for us soon enough."

Don't have to tell me twice, Rex thought. He hadn't gotten a good spell of sleep during their last mission, and the fatigue was beginning to catch up with him.

Anakin turned and led the way across the crowded landing bay, Rex following close at his heels. Then they parted, Anakin toward the war room and Rex to the soldiers' barracks.

"General," Rex called over his shoulder. "I know you didn't have to take on this mission in the first place. Without you, Echo would still be wasting away in that lab. So, thank you. For trusting me."

Anakin's lips parted in a genuine smile.

"That's what family's for, Rex."