Fives was tapping his fingers along his arm in an annoyed pace. The ARC was going to snap if he had to continue listening to the Coruscant Guard Commander's voice. Rex was standing next to the ARC trying to level out the brunette's clear agitation with his own calm. Wolffe had been the one to invite Fox, and Cody and Rex didn't object either. The group of officers normally met at 79s to just catch up. Fives only came because Rex had dragged him there.

"So Rex, you mind explaining the rumors that have been flying around," Fox grinned setting down his shot glass.

"Yeah as soon as I hit planet side that's all I was hearing about," Bly agreed sitting up in his seat with excitement.

Fives averted his gaze at that. He liked being if the center if attention, but not like this. The ARC huffed quietly and stared into the crowed watching the others. He felt Rex's hand on the back of his neck when a low growl escaped him quietly. After Umbara Rex had begun to place his hand ok the back of his neck when ever he got antsy.

He ignored the conversation as his eyes caught something in the crowd. Echo? Fives tensed when he saw the handprinted armor. No it couldn't be. Echo was dead. There it was again. A wisp. As if Echo wasn't really there.

"You okay? You tensed up?"

Fives turned his head to Rex startled by how close the voice had been. Apparently the other officers had dropped the subject of their relationship and moved on to something else. Fives glanced back into the crowd not seeing Echo.

"Yeah. Thought I saw something. It was nothing," Fives mumbled half heartedly the lie rolling off his tongue tightly.

Rex clenched his jaw lightly and was going to call Fives out on the blatant lie when the ARC tapped him on the arm. Later, the signal was plain and clear. Fives would tell Rex what he saw, but not here with the other officers here. Not here with Fox here. Rex nodded stiffly and turned back to the conversation in front of him.

/—/—/

"He seemed off," Cody hummed over his glass glancing over at Rex who was staring at the fresher door.

Fives was in the fresher getting cleaned up leaving Rex, Cody, and Wolffe in the 501st officer's quarters. They had gotten back from 79s earlier than expected, because Bly couldn't hold his liquor. During their walk back Rex and Cody filled Wolffe in on the details he had missed since they had last seen him.

Rex nodded in agreement his mind turning. Fives looked spooked. Like he had seen a ghost or something. It didn't sit well in his stomach.

"Yeah. By the way you didn't go into full detail at the table. Is the rumor really true or are the boys just exaggerating," Wolffe nodded before turning to Rex trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh kriff off Wolffe. You know damn well the rumors are exaggerated," Cody laughed at that causing Rex to snicker lightly.

"Not as exaggerated as you think Codes," Rex hummed not looking at the two, but he swore he could feel the shock rolling off Cody.

"Damn and I thought it would have taken longer for Fives to say something," Cody huffed once he got over his initial shock.

"You owe me thirty creds Cody," Wolffe grinned his sharp canines gleaming.

"You two made a bet? Really," Rex turned to them not impressed nor surprised at the information.

"Hey it's free money," Wolffe shrugged a smirk on his face.

Rex opened his mouth to make a smart remark when a small laugh cut him off. Turning his head back to the fresher door the captain met the gaze of the ARC trooper.

"I'm not surprised the 104th commander joined the fray," Fives snickered lightly the amusement barely reaching his eyes.

Rex smiled lightly worry grabbing at his gut. That was another thing. Ever since Umbara the ARC's smile and laugh never reached his eyes. He wouldn't talk about it. Rex knew it was torture. He knew that Fives took the pain for the battalion. What he didn't know was how far Krell took it.

"Piss off ARC," Wolffe growled lightly a ghost of a smile on his lips.

/—/—/

When Rex woke up that night Fives wasn't in bed. The bed was still warm beside him so the ARC hadn't been gone long. Rex's sleep idled mind took a while to wake up, but once it did he came to a realization. Why was Fives out of bed at all? The blonde sat up in the bed and turned his head to the fresher. Sure enough the light was on and water was running.

Rex shuffled out of bed and into the fresher trying to see what was wrong freezing in the doorway. What Rex found scared the absolute hell out of him. Blood everywhere. The fresher was torn to pieces and lightsaber burns were running across the walls. Fives was in the corner of the room wheezing for air and covered in his own blood. The captain tried to move over to the ARC when the sound of a lightsaber igniting forced him to whip around. Krell.

"You couldn't save him," the fake jedi sneered at Rex before slashing at the captain.

It was then that he really snapped awake. It had been a nightmare, and by the way Fives was looking at him it hadn't been a calm one. Fives cocked his head slightly concern in his eyes. Rex sat up quickly and immediately started checking Fives for the wounds he had seen. Fives was talking. Saying something he couldn't hear. All Rex could hear was the thundering of his own heart and the words Krell had said to him.

"You couldn't save him."

"You couldn't save him."

The words repeated over and over until Fives grabbed Rex's hands bringing him back to the present. Rex's golden eyes lifted up to Fives' own bronze ones.

"I'm right here okay. I'm safe. You saved me. Okay? I'm right here," Fives said bumping his forehead against Rex's.

Had he said that out loud? Rex blinked a fee times before he rested his head in the crook of the ARC's neck. Yeah he saved Fives in this world. In the last one…in the last one he let Fox shoot him.

/—/—/

So I said the next few chapters would focus on character development and I wasn't lying.

I have Echo in the fray now. For those of you who haven't seen the Bad Batch Arc that will be important later on so I recommend you go watch it.

I've been focusing so much in Fives lately. I'm gonna start focusing on Rex a little more so sorry to any Fives lovers.

By the way for anyone who doesn't like clonecest I clearly stated in the summary that this was going to be a Rex x Fives story so I don't know why you're even reading this.

Love you guys. Glogirl out!