"Okay, no. You said that was the last one."

"Please?"

"I hit you last time!"

Soph shrugged. "And I got back up. Just thirty more seconds."

"Soph."

"I'm bored."

Echo rolled his eyes. Shaking his head, he silently raised his gun - set on stun - at her again. The same second he shot it, she spun around and stopped the shot with her lightsaber. He ducked to avoid the deflected shot. "Okay, that one nearly hit me, too. Can I take that blindfold off you yet?"

She made a face.

"Just because you can't see me doesn't mean that I can't see you pout. Really, Soph? Pouting?"

Soph couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Thank you," he said, moving forward. He reached up behind Soph's head and untied the blindfold for her. He offered her a smile, which she returned happily. He dropped the blindfold in her hand and backed up when he suddenly realized he'd moved into her personal space. "You really don't need that practice. I already told you."

"Yes, I do."

"It's not your fault."

"I don't want to hear this again," she complained. "Go away."

Echo rolled his eyes. "No."

"You're annoying."

"Good," he replied. "You're too hard on yourself."

"If I'm not hard on myself, I'll get you killed," she told him seriously. "The mistake I made is not one I'm going to repeat. I'm not going to let you… die."

Echo sighed. He leaned back against the table behind them and she did the same. "Soph, I'm good. I'm right here, I'm fine."

"I know," she shook her head. "I mean all of you."

"No, you don't."

"I'm not just trying to protect you," she said, offended. "Domino is my responsibility. My friends, my…"

"Yes, that's true," he agreed. "But you know this isn't about all of us. You know as well as I do that it was misfortune that caused Cutup to be the one nearly eaten. You're scared for me right now."

Soph quieted. He was right and it bothered her. How had she let herself grow to care more for him than the rest of Domino? She couldn't have favorites. She supposed there wasn't much she could do about it anymore. "I guess I can sort of see where Rex is coming from. I'm scared for you. I think I'd do a lot of things to protect you."

Echo laughed shortly. "I get it. You know I feel the same. But I mean it. You don't need this practice. You can't be everywhere doing everything all at once. You tried that and it got you shot on Naboo. You have to trust us to do our jobs. We're responsible for ourselves. If something happens to any of us, it is not your fault."

"If you were in my position, you'd feel the same."

"I'm sure I would," he agreed. "But you'd be there to tell me exactly what I'm telling you. Forgive yourself, give yourself a break. We've got each other and we've got you. We'll be okay for a bit if you just… breathe."

"Breathe," she repeated as if the word was foreign to her. "Echo…"

"I know," he said, because he did. He knew the complex mix of negative emotions that were brought up when considering true rest in the middle of a war. More than that, he knew her. As long as he'd known her, she had issues sleeping because she felt she should do something more important - saving people.

They'd always been close before Tambor had gotten him in his first life. He remembered after being rescued, seeing her for the first time. The devastation in her eyes. The suppressive blanket of guilt that settled over her. The apology. The way her eyes promised that she'd never forgive herself for not looking for him. For not protecting him. For not saving him. He'd met her eyes and known in that moment that she'd never stopped thinking about him. He'd seen within her the complex mix of emotions she felt and knew that one of the strongest emotions of all was a heavy relief.

Before, however, it had been different. Their entire lives were different then versus before, of course, but their dynamic was different. They hadn't gone through Tambor together. They were friends, best friends, but the bond that they shared hadn't been there in their last lives.

"I know," he said again. "But you have to. You have to take the time."

"You don't, either," she pointed out.

"And maybe we should," he sighed. "Maybe we can together. But this isn't the answer, Soph. You know it isn't."

"I feel… useless," she admitted quietly. He frowned. She was clearly deeply uncomfortable admitting it, and he took the vulnerability in her eyes very seriously. "My job is to protect you guys while we fight this damned war. Truly, Echo, I couldn't handle it if any of you died."

He touched her arm gently. "I won't lie and say that it could never happen, but I will say that we're the luckiest men in the GAR. You care more to protect us than any other general. We're only safe and alive because of you. That means you're doing your job well. Doing all this… it's overkill, Soph, and you're just going to run yourself ragged by punishing yourself like this."

Soph closed her eyes tightly. "I'm scared, Echo."

The words were soft, a whispered fear that she'd never shared with anyone. It was a heavy admission that she'd never spoken aloud, because there was nothing to do about it. Even so, as she said it, he saw a tear fall. He squeezed her arm gently and took a breath.

"I am, too."

She made a concentrated effort to control her breathing. She didn't want to cry. She was supposed to be the strong one, able to do whatever they needed, not break down. She couldn't break down. She took one deep, shaky breath and opened her eyes again. "Sorry. I'm good."

Echo shook his head. "Give yourself five minutes to be scared. Let yourself feel it."

"Echo…"

"I'm scared, too," he said again gently. "And I know from experience that pushing that down is a dangerous thing. Break now or break in the middle of a battle."

She breathed out hard, his words burrowing deep within her. She wasn't sure when it began, but very quickly, she found her breathing picking up and her chest tightening. She didn't even notice the very hesitant hug Echo pulled her into, though she did return it. She could feel his shoulders shaking very, very lightly.

They stood there for Force knows how long, holding each other together as they broke apart. It was necessary and healing, and more than anything, Soph was glad they did it together.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Deliveries continued as soon as they dropped Boba off and met with Padme, who was more than willing to help Boba. She took up his case, and her first move was to get him in with a counselor.

Once they left Coruscant, they headed directly toward sector five, where they had eight planets, stations, and ships to deliver to. Thankfully, they were all nearby one another, so it only took four rotations to hit them all.

Things continued on like that for some time. Most often, the deliveries were uneventful. Sometimes, they were not.

That day, Soph and Domino were on Jalindi dropping two transmitters off to Captain Dredge. The man had taken them very gratefully and immediately moved to use them. They were on the Twilight getting ready to leave when Soph's comms went off. She answered the call immediately. "Sizre."

"Master," Ahsoka said, her voice shaking like mad. "Can you- can you come back?"

"'Soka, what's wrong?" she asked, her brow furrowed.

"It's Nax," she said, unable to stop the crying. "He- he's really hurt, Master. It's bad, and I…"

"We'll be there soon," Soph promised. "I think we're nearby, anyway. Just hang on, 'Soka."

"Thank you," Ahsoka said, sniffling. The comms beeped as the call ended. When Soph turned toward the ladder to the cockpit, they saw a dark look in her eyes. One of her men was hurt. She wasn't going to let that go.

The trip should've taken a full rotation, but Soph cut through some territories that were in Separatist controlled space, and it took off two thirds of the trip. When they met up with the Resolute, Soph landed somewhat roughly in a rush and ran out of the Twilight with Domino on her heels.

When they got to the med bay, Soph slammed the doors open and ran inside. Ahsoka was sitting at Nax's side, holding his hand. Soph came to a stop at her side while Domino moved to Nax's left, as well as standing at the end of the bed. Soph's voice was soft when she spoke. "What happened?"

"We were on Naraka looking for General Kyn. Nax was scouting ahead with Coric. Apparently, he saw the sniper and jumped in front of Coric. It hit his lung and he's too unstable for the bacta tank. It- it's looking bad."

"Worrying about me again, Commander?" Nax questioned weakly. He'd been asleep, but their soft words had woken him. Soph's brow furrowed as his eyes moved to her. "Hey, General."

"Hey, Nax," she offered a small smile. "Bet Coric chewed you out pretty good for this."

"The entire time he was patching me up out there," he agreed. He paused. "Don't let him feel guilty for this."

"I'm sure you'll get plenty of chances to yell at him for it when you're up and about again," Soph told him seriously.

Nax smiled weakly. His vitals were up and down, and no one said anything as Kix came to silently work, giving Nax a couple of shots. "Alright, he's unstable. I need you guys to let him be for a bit."

Soph nodded silently. Ahsoka moved closer and squeezed his hand. "Get better, Nax. I'll be here every day until you do."

Nax just smiled back at her and squeezed her hand back. Slowly, reluctantly, Ahsoka released his hand and stepped away, sniffling as she left the med bay.

Soph patted Nax's hand. "We'll be here waiting."

"Hey, General?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I will be a tattoo artist."

Soph took in a slow breath. She felt it coming. She could sense it much better since her experience with it, and she felt it creeping up.

It was time.

"Okay," she said, her voice shaking. "Then I'll be your first customer, got it?"

"You got it, boss."

Soph felt tears welling up. She nodded at him, still smiling, and walked out, leaving Domino alone with their brother.

"Master, I don't know how to keep doing this," Ahsoka said softly. She had tears streaming down her face and was wiping at them fruitlessly. "I don't want to lose him or anyone else. How can you care for all of them when we lose them, too?"

"We have to," she said softly. "We have to care for them. If we don't, it's too easy to become detached, and that's when a commanding officer gets their men killed. We have to care, and we have to feel it when we lose them for whatever reason. Everything we do is to protect the Republic, yes, but more than that… we protect them."

"But I didn't," she whispered.

"Because you can't protect them all. We just have to try, and when we can't, we have to accept it and forgive ourselves," Soph said. Her own voice still shook, and she'd given up on resisting the tears.

The door opened behind them, and she spun to find Echo walking out. His eyes met Soph's and she took in a sharp, shaky breath.

He was gone.

Echo reached out to touch her arm gently, but he said nothing. Ahsoka's eyes widened, and Soph pulled her into a hug while Echo's hand stayed on her arm. Ahsoka shook violently as she cried, sniffling and letting tears fall.

The rest of Domino filed out. It was Fives that spoke steadily. "We're going to go tell Epsilon. We'll see you guys later."

"Okay," Soph said softly. "We'll take Ahsoka back to her quarters."

Fives' eyes met Echo's firmly. "Take care of her."

Echo nodded shortly. Of course, he would.

Ahsoka cried the entire way to her quarters. She was exhausted and sad, and Soph ordered her to get some sleep - apparently, she'd been in the med bay for two rotations with Nax and hadn't slept at all. After leaving her there, Soph stood in the hall with Echo, frowning. "I don't know… what to do."

Echo grimaced. "It might be best to find Rex."

Soph frowned. "The last thing I need right now is another fight."

He shook his head. "One of your men just… he won't yell at you."

She grimaced. "We're in the middle of a serious fight. I don't think I could accept comfort from him when he's… just not listening and being awful to you."

"Soph, I don't care if he's awful to me."

"I do," she stared at him. "Can we just… go back to the Twilight?"

Echo sighed. "Whatever you say, boss."

Relieved, Soph guided him back to the ship. When they got there, she sat cross-legged on the floor. Echo hesitated for a mere moment before joining her. He sat to her left and copied her position. "Can I ask a question?"

"Hm?" she closed her eyes and once again began taking apart her lightsaber with the Force. It calmed her, and Force knew she needed to calm down.

"How'd you know?" he wondered. "I saw it- you knew he was about to die."

Soph sighed. She kept working as she spoke, her eyes closed, missing the way Echo stared in wonder at her use of the Force. Even then, it still amazed him. "Really experienced Force users can feel the Cosmic Force approaching. Apparently, because of the whole… dying thing, I also have that ability. I felt it coming and so did he."

"How did he?" he questioned. He was staring at her still, watching the way her brow furrowed as she carefully removed the Kyber crystal from the lightsaber. For a moment, she held all of the pieces in the air as she took some slow, deep breaths. After a few moments, she began putting it back together again.

"Babies and people near death have a somewhat higher midichlorian count, which means they can potentially feel the Living and Cosmic Forces. He felt the Cosmic Force and he knew."

Echo nodded quietly. Soph peeked an eye open and frowned.

"How are you doing?"

His eyes dropped to his restless hands. "It's never easy losing brothers, but… despite the way he believed- knew he was going to die, he was the first to give everyone else hope of surviving this damn war."

"And losing him feels like losing hope," she understood as she finished putting the lightsaber back together. She tucked it into its holder on her belt and shifted to lean against the wall behind them to look at him better. "I get it."

"How?" he asked, genuinely curious. Soph sighed.

"You."

Echo blinked. "Me?"

"When we thought we lost you, I… didn't handle it well. Neither did Fives or Rex, honestly. Rex knows how to push it down and move on, but Fives and I…"

"You both love hard," he understood. He hadn't known that about her in her first life, but he certainly did in the second one.

"We explored the new type of grief that your 'death' brought up together, and rather unhealthily at that."

"Unhealthily?"

"Fives was angry," she explained. "At Tambor, at the Separatists, at Rex, at me, at Anakin… at anyone he could think of to blame."

"He was mad at you?"

She nodded. "I think it made it worse when I validated that anger. As if he couldn't be angry with me if I admitted fault."

"Fives has a temper, but an apology goes a long way with him," Echo shook his head.

"As for me, I was depressed. It felt like you took all the hope with you," she explained.

Echo frowned. "I didn't know you cared about me that much back then."

Soph let out a humorless laugh. "This life and the last, you've been a physical embodiment of hope. I can't explain why, there's just… something about you."

Echo frowned at himself. "Oh."

"Your 'death'... honestly, Echo, it taught me to tell people how much they mean to me. Ever since then, every time I lose someone, I tell my men how much I value and care for them."

"Oh," he said again. He'd never known or expected his "death" to have impacted her much, much less change the way she grieved.

"In that line of thinking, I hope you know how much you mean to me," she said hesitantly.

He didn't. He knew he didn't. Part of him wanted to know, but most of him knew he shouldn't ask. He thought it would open a can of worms that they both knew shouldn't be opened.

Whatever was going on between the two of them, their friendship and the depth of it, it all came from a very unhealthy bonding experience. Echo knew that was a part of why Rex was upset with him. The last thing he wanted was to make things worse by asking her to articulate to him exactly how much she cared and why.

"I wouldn't be here without you," he told her honestly. It was true in more ways than one. If she hadn't been there, he'd be dead ten times over. Aside from that, he knew that without her, he would've left the GAR long ago, if it had been allowed at the time.

Soph's comms beeped. Sighing, she answered the call. "Sizre."

"Soph, can I borrow your men for a stealth mission on Tapar? I don't want to bother Epsilon or Ahsoka yet," Anakin requested.

"Is Rex going?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You can have everyone but Echo."

"What? Why?"

"If Rex is there, Echo won't be," she told him firmly. "Rex is holding a dangerous grudge and I won't put Echo at risk by sending him along."

Anakin sighed. "Soph."

"No," she glared down at her comms. "If he has a problem with it, he can bring it up with me, but you're not getting Echo."

"Fine, but when Rex calls you to chew you out, don't say I didn't tell you so," he told her, sounding annoyed. The comms clicked off and she tipped her head back in frustration until it hit the wall behind her and closed her eyes.

"Well, that's another fight right there."

"I'm sure it'd be fine if I go," Echo tried. She opened her eyes and narrowed them at him.

"Rex's judgment is clouded because of this thing with you and I. He's a professional and incredible at his job, but I won't risk anything. You're coming with me to continue deliveries if you don't mind."

He sighed. "Okay. I just- I really don't want to be the reason you two keep fighting."

Soph sighed as well. "Look, do you want me to be entirely honest with you?"

He wasn't sure he did. "Yeah."

"Rex has been different since I got back. My death scared him so badly that he's been extremely over protective. It's kind of suffocating. He was mad at Anakin for killing me and now he's even angrier at you for what happened, and I cannot put up with it anymore. I love him quite a bit, but things are different, and it's hard to grasp. For now, time to think is what I really need, as well as you safe, which means not joining them."

Echo winced. He did understand where she was coming from. "Did he think you were invincible before?"

"Yes," she said truthfully. "Maybe not completely invincible, but I always got back up. The day just came that I couldn't do that anymore, and I'm not sure he could handle that."

"A lot of clones are led to believe that Jedi are magical beings that are untouchable," he said slowly. "Because you're our generals, we were allowed to believe as much, probably for loyalty reasons. It's reasonable to think that the captain believed those lies and just… doesn't know how to handle the truth."

"And that leaves me at… not knowing what the hell to do," Soph muttered. "We definitely need to have a serious conversation."

Echo grimaced. He didn't want to be in the middle of that, but it felt a bit like he already was. He figured he might as well put his two cents in. "You just got married."

"I know," she said softly. "And it's what I absolutely dreamt of during my last life. This time… I couldn't see the problem, so it didn't impact any permanent decisions we could make. I love him so much, and that will never change, but if he doesn't figure out how to handle all of this, I don't know what to do. He's compromised as is just by this fight alone."

"You have time to think," he reminded her. "Try not to think of one extreme or the other. I'm sure there's a reasonable solution in between the two."

"I hope so."

OoOoOoOoOoOo