It all happened so fast.
Next to Rex, stood his general, blade ignited and deflecting blaster fire as it rained down on them from the other side. Ahead, he could see the droid army advancing forward, their large tanks shooting shot after shot at them. But General Skywalker still stood next to him, and the commander was at his other side. Rex looked away for a second, watching their blue and green sabers, and he couldn't help but think about that one mission.
Umbara.
Where their own jedi betrayed them.
But not Commander Tano, not General Skywalker. They stood by Rex, and he made eye contact with his general.
"Everything alright, Rex?" He asked, frowning slightly.
"Just fine, sir!" Rex replied. And it was. Throughout the war, Rex had learned that he had to think for himself. He had learned that some jedi treated and respected the clones better than others.
General Skywalker and Commander Tano were some of those jedi. General Skywalker even knew the names of all his men. He could tell them apart without even having to look at them. Rex knew it had something to do with the force, but he hadn't heard of any other general being able to do that.
Then the shot came.
Rex was still looking at his general when a streak of light shot past him and hit his general in the chest. He watched, as his blade fell to the ground before turning off. As his knees crumpled and his facial expression changed from shock to pain and then to nothing as he fell unconscious. As he took a large gasp of air before hitting the ground. It was like as if time slowed down.
"Master!" He heard the commander yell, dropping down onto her knees. Rex followed suit and dropped down as well, the ground crunching beneath his feet.
"General! General Skywalker!" Rex exclaimed, snapping back into reality. Over them, he could hear the explosions, the screams, but what mattered was getting the general back to the ship. Rex quickly began to feel for a pulse, and through his gloves he could feel one, but it was weak and erratic.
"Medic! We need a medic!" Rex called out. Several troops came rushing over, each wearing different blue and white designs on their armor.
"Master!" Commander Tano. "Anakin!" But there was no response, and as she lifted his torso up, his head lolled to the side.
"What happened?' Kix asked as he got down on the ground next to them.
"The general's been shot." Rex replied. They watched as Kix removed his robes and looked at the wound closely
"We need a medical evac, now!" He said. He brought his wrist up to his mouth and began to give the nearest gunship squadron their coordinates, but something about this didn't seem right to rex.
He couldn't help but think about how it looked like the shot came from their side of the battlefield, not the separatists. He shook his head.
He couldn't think like that right now. Their general needed them to stay calm. He needed to stay calm and be there for the commander. He could tell she was trying, but she was only a kid, and if something happened…
No, nothing would happen.
"The general's gonna be just fine, kid." Rex said as he laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, her eyes wide, and it was times like this when he wished he were a jedi because he was sure that he was picking up on something that he wasn't. She nodded anyway.
"Right." She responded. They watched as Kix completely removed his tunics, and began to disinfect the wound, before placing a bacta patch on it.
"It's the best I can do for now." He said as he checked the general's pulse again. "I can try to give him some painkillers, but that's about all I can do until we get back to the ship."
"Give him the painkillers." The commander said.
"Yes, sir." Kix said as he prepared a syringe. Even though they were crouched behind several large rocks, blaster fire still shot past them, some shots too close for comfort. Rex watched as the commander deflected them with her sabers, and then crouched back down, never looking away from the general for too long.
It was times like this when he remembered how young she was. But his thoughts couldn't dwell on that either, not when the gunships were pulling up behind them and he had to help Kix carry General Skywalker back to the ship.
Ahead, he could see General Kenobi and Cody waiting for them, and while he had seen General Kenobi look worried before, he hadn't seen him look like this. He rushed out of the gunship and took General Skywalker from their arms.
Once they were inside the gunship, Rex expected to be questioned, and maybe even reprimanded by Cody for not being careful. Instead they rode in complete silence back to the Resolute.