The littlest General IV
Leia
Leia was six. She was six standard years old and she knew how different she was from the other younglings.
Leia didn't have anyone to call mom or dad like the other kids. She had the Troopers; Rex, Kix, and Jesse. They weren't related to her. Oh no, but they were family in the same way Soka was as well.
They were a family because they had claimed Leia as such. They had been there in replacement of the missing parents. And they didn't have to be.
That wasn't the only thing either. Others had creche and batch mates. Younglings that were of the same squad or close together in age from different squads. They grew up together. They played together.
Leia had none.
Sometimes that bothered her. The young girl would wonder if she was supposed to have a batchmate. Someone who was younger by only minutes. A person who she called vod. A brother who would fight and harass and be harassed by. A boy who she dreamed of at times. He would often times have sandy hair and blue eyes and be kind and gentle and soft spoken. He would be the water to her brash impulsive fire. Maybe he had a grin that would make a sunrise dim in comparison. Maybe he liked tinkering with droids.
But he wasn't there.
The same way that her mother wasn't there. A mother who looked like her and had a gentle sweet voice and kind hands. A mother who would share a grin with her and it was so full of mischief, leia wanted in on the joke. A slight woman who wasn't tall, the same way Leia would never be tall and who looked just like Leia.
The same way that her father was missing from her side. A tall powerful man who was broad of shoulder and an easy laugh. Who would spin her around the room with that sandy haired boy and that kind gentle woman. Who tinkered with droids and taught her how to fly. The man who garnered such respect from Uncle Rex and such sorrow from Aunt Soka. A man who knew what he stood for and protected those he loved. The man, Leia called father, was the General of the 501st and she knew so little of him.
Lewis's oddities didn't end with her being alone. No, normal younglings often times lived on one planet. Sometimes two or three. Leia? She's been traveling nearly her whole life. First with Aunt Soka and then with the Clones. She has no home planet. She is not Leia Skywalker of Alderaan or Chandila or Hosnian Prime. She in fact has a better name, in her six year old mind that is. She is Leia Skywalker of the 501st.
She is Leia of the Clones. And itty bitty Leia she is, is proud of that fact. Soka taught her to be proud of what made her different. To be strong. But it is first Rex then Jesse and Kix who really teach her those things.
On nights that Leia felt loneliness done to her bones, Kix would find her with a cup of atakai and wrap her in a blanket. The clone is solid and warm and all Leia feels is safety when he gathers her close. His voice is a constant rumble as he tells her stories of The Wars. He'd tell her stories of Anakin Skywalker and his billions of brothers. Leia cannot keep her eyes open when he tells her stories and she always misses the end. But that's okay. Kix always has more stories to tell her.
Uncle Kix was good at that; mending wounds. When Leia is angry at the whole stupid fragging universe and the other crechelings over having a squad, Kix would fix it. He was always the one to find her when she felt sad and lonely and forgotten. Moments where she desperately needed that sandy haired boy beside her and wanted a batchmate like Kix and Jesse and Rex had each other.
When she is full of anger and rash and stubborn, Jesse is the one to search her out. Jesse is the one who ruffles her hair, laughing as her temper flares and her hands clench. Leia hates it when the other younglings push her around for being different and small. But Jesse is the one who teaches her how to live with it. He is the one who wakes her up before anyone else and teaches her how to fight. And Leia loves it. She loves the movement and the fierce good ache that is her lungs and heart heaving in her chest afterwards. She loves the burn in her muscles and the sweat coating her skin. Uncle Jesse is the best at teaching a small tiny girl who's shorter than all her peers how to let things go. When Leia comes grumbling home upset about bullies who always seem to catch her, Jesse helps her become faster. To trust her instincts and to learn how to weave in and out of obstacles and to dodge. When she can't run anymore, he teaches her how to lock her legs and throw her weight into her hips just right so that the person chasing will have one hell of a black eye.
Jesse is the one who hunts her down when Leia is still ready to fight, muscles and words ready to be wielded. But Jesse is the one who teaches her. How to harness her fire, her muscles, her tongue. And Leia loves it when it's just the two of them in the morning.
Rex is the one who she met after Soka left. Uncle Rex doesn't often times tell her stories of his brothers like Kix or how to easily throw a punch like Jesse. He's more frail then them, Leia realizes. More broken and lost then her other uncles and aunt. Soka always had Leia to take care of since she was a baby and Jesse and Kix always had each other. Rex had none. Til he found Leia and Ahsoka in the rubble. Rex was a soldier, he hid things behind armor and guns and a helmet. He is the one who makes sure that the four of them are out of trouble and fed. Rex is their rudder in this scary galaxy. He is the pilot of their small family and he takes it seriously.
Leia, too, thinks that's okay. Because they need someone to make sure they had a plan and a destination. Someone who makes sure that there's rations and blankets to go around. But she doesn't like it when his eyes fill with an unknown sadness when he looks at her sometimes. Like when she finds enough wires and parts to make dolls with instead of cloth and rope. His voice cracks when she accidentally yanks a meliroon fruit out of his hands using that feeling Soka calls the Force. Or that small hitched stumble when he loses her in front of a beat up junk yard, admiring a speeder bike. Uncle Rex was unusually quiet after that escapade. More so than usual. Leia excitedly tells her three uncles exactly how she could have fixed it and what sort of paint she was going to use and Jesse and Kix laugh and laugh. Rex is silent in the background and Leia doesn't know what to do with it.
But it is Rex who wraps her small hands around a blaster grip and steadies her as she learns to shoot. It is Rex kneeling in the dirt behind her as a grin blossoms over her face when she finally listens to that feeling and manages to just knock the old droid's faceplate. He is the one who is wrapped up in a giant tarlaqq hug as she loudly asks if he saw her hit it.