Epilogue 10

Chopper's HEA

Rex woke. He groaned and reached up to cover his face with a palm, to rub the sleep away, to get the taste of stale bantha out of his mouth. He hadn't felt this bad since...

Rex's mind was suddenly awake; aware. He hadn't felt this bad since Skywalker-turned-Vader had invaded his mind, commanding his very soul in storming the Jedi Temple, shattering the very core of everything Rex thought he was. Rex's breath went shallow as he tentatively search his memory, prodding at the half-hid areas, memories wrapping in shadowed haze. Had Vader hijacked him again; overshadowing his will with Vader's wants?

He remembered Commander Appo coming into the mess. 'Zeer is dead', Appo had shown no remorse for the death of a good sergeant, much less sympathy as Rex's lips had twisted and he nodded, acknowledging Appo's words. Immediately afterward, Chopper challenging him with Order 37. He remembered the prisoner - a young Togruta so much like padawan Ahsoka the first time he'd seen her on Christophsis - that he dropped the bottle.

Bottle?

Bottle. Rex groaned again as he remembered a great many bottles. Some he had dropped but most he'd emptied and thrown against the wall because it had felt good to let the rage out from where he'd bottled it up. Then he had laughed at his own bad pun, slamming back a few more swigs before his laughter could turn to tears and his anger to maudlin memory. He had needed his anger.

His hand didn't reach his face and, with a growling groan, Rex jerked his hand. Binder sting shot up his arm. He hissed and started to sit, but nausea convinced him to remain prone. The binders around his wrists were unnecessary.

The next groan originated low in his twisting belly, a threatening sound that Rex clenched his jaw against.

"I don't think you have anything in your stomach left to puke, but there's a catch-pan next to you." It was Chopper's voice; but with a difference - a lightness Rex had rarely heard from the taciturn sergeant and found impossible to identify in his current state.

Without opening his eyes, Rex turned his head and felt the metal with his cheek. His stomach turned inside out and there was enough restriction as Rex tried to curl into a ball that he knew there were binders on his ankles as well. Rex suffered through a bout of gagging, his gut twisting in pain, but Chopper had been right and only a bit of saliva ended up in the pan.

A damp cloth wiped his face and lips, and Rex took several deep breaths to gain some sort of mental equilibrium. After Appo, the Togrutan girl in the cell and shattering bottles, Rex didn't remember much beyond Chopper saying 'time to go'.

Expecting to squint at the harsh brightness of a prison medical unit, Rex cracked open his eyes slowly. It was a comfortably dim room and Rex opened his eyes slightly wider.

Chopper was sitting next to the bed, one leg hitched up on its edge, a damp cloth in his hand and his face solemn. The corners of his lips twitched slightly, as if he knew the punch line of some joke. He was wearing his body glove as if they were off-duty in the barracks. He hadn't shaved, not his head where dark stubble poked up though his scalp though his face was clean-shaven.

His expression was... lighter, as if anticipating something better than what had passed; as if he'd already passed through the coldest, muddiest reaches of the training ground and could look forward to an easy trip for the rest of the hike. As if they'd already taken out the clankers heavy artillary. Rex tuned his head. They didn't fight clankers anymore. For a moment he was glad it wasn't Coric; Coric would be talking his head off with medical reprimands. Then he remembered it would never again be Coric. Or Zeer. Or any of so many men he'd fought beside.

Chopper simply waited. Rex knew he'd wait a lifetime if he had to.

Rex took a slow, deep breath. He would have thought he'd regret being alive and he decided to pursue that thought a little later. He frowned. Something was different with the air. He sniffed. It was cool, crisp and fresh with the sharp, pungent scent of trees. It wasn't the air of Coruscant. There was frost in it.

"Where are we, Chopper?"

Chopper frowned. He leaned back and with quiet deliberation slowly folded the cloth then set it aside on a small table, watching his own movements, staring at the cloth for a moment before turning his face back to Rex's. "Before I tell you that, Captain, I need to ask a question."

"I'm a captive audience," Rex quiped softly as he nodded slowly, looking at the binders connecting his wrists and ankles with the bunk. No, it wasn't a bunk, but a bed; large and canopied with wooden pillars as thick as his leg at each corner. He looked around the room noticing the richness of the furnishings; large floral tapestries, an intricately carved wooden bench against one stone wall. He raised an eyebrow in question at the richness but received no explanation.

"How do you feel about deserting?"

"Better than if I hadn't, I suspect." Rex shifted his weight against the warmth and cushioning of the bed. It promised to be more comfortable than the bunks of the barracks.

Chopper's lips quirked up a tiny bit in humor. "Do you remember why?"

"Truthfully, Chopper, I don't remember deserting."

Chopper blushed slightly. "Uh, you didn't really. You were passed out in your rack when I found you. But you'd let the prisoner go." Chopper chuckled. "You were drunk as a Weequay pirate and you escorted her off base." Chopper leaned forward. "Technically, I would say you've been kidnapped."

"Ah," Rex nodded then stopped. It made his head hurt even more. "I didn't think I could forget deserting - no matter how much I drank. Some things, nothing can erase." Rex's face was sorrowful, matched by Chopper's expression and nod of agreement but neither man would speak of their nightmares.

Rex paused, taking another deep, cleansing breath then continued. "Kidnapped; that explains the lack of memory about deserting. About the last day as well. Or two?" He silently watched Chopper's face for a moment and knew he'd guessed wrong but nothing more. He gestured to the shackles with a nod and a shake of his wrist. "Isn't this a bit much?"

Chopper shook his head as he sucked in his cheeks. "Appo continually underestimates you. I think Vader underestimates you as well. I won't."

Rex gave a sick grin. "Nice that someone still has faith in me." His voice was flat. He'd lost faith in himself at Order 66; when his body had done things his mind screamed against. When his troopers expected him to lead and all he could do was watch in horror as his body was a puppet to Vader's will. "You said it was time to go, Chopper. I've been ready to die for a long time."

Chopper winced. "I didn't realize you'd take my words that way. I only meant it was time to leave the army."

Rex took a moment to digest this. "Then you have deserted?"

"Yes sir." Chopper's expression was twisted and sad. "I won't hold you here if you want to go back, but if so I won't let you know where we are."

"Go back? Go back to what, Chopper?" Rex leaned back, pushing his body into as comfortable a position as he could manage with the binders. "Chasing Jedi I don't want to find? Actually enforcing Order 37? Lord Vader? Commander Appo? Court-martial and reconditioning - at best - for permitting a prisoner to escape?" His lips twisted bitterly. "There's nothing there. At least here…" he stopped, sighed deeply and closed his eyes. He wouldn't mind dying here amid the sharp scent of plants in a comfortable bed with her in his mind. Shortly, his breathing was soft and even as he slept.

When Rex woke a second time, there was only one binder holding him to the bed. Near his free hand was a platter of a variety of small delicacies beside several bottles of water. He knew the delicacies were meant to tempt him but he wasn't hungry; he hadn't been hungry in a long time. He took the water single-handed and drank deeply then another bottle and a third. "Chopper," he called out and heard movement in the hallway beyond the door; the sound of someone's soft footsteps moving away.

It was a messenger and sounded small, like a youngling. Chopper could move silently, but he couldn't really move softly.

Moments later Chopper strode into the room, this time in loose gym pants and sweating in spite of the cool temperature, unmindful of the scars that draped his broad shoulders and wrapped around his torso. His feet and hands were circled with strips of cloth he was unwinding from his hands as he sat next to the bed. There was a pleased look of satisfaction on his face.

"Why this?" Rex lowered his eyes to the binder. "I thought we'd come to some sort of understanding."

Chopper shrugged and set the cloth wraps on the side table as he rubbed one hand over his knuckles. "You didn't really give me a final answer, though I thought you started to say that 'here' didn't seem as bad as back on Coruscant.

Rex nodded. "My final answer, then. Here, where ever 'here' happens to be, is so much better than Coruscant. Being just Rex is so much better than being Captain of Vader's Fist. Being your brother," he glanced at Chopper for that acceptance and found it, "is so very much better than being Appo's second."

Chopper released the final binder and reached out his hand for Rex to clasp. "Welcome to Pantora, Rex. This is your room while you're here." He gestured to a door, "refresher's there and you need a shower badly. Not just to feel better, either." He reached to Rex's chin, running his thumb against the stubble. "Just a suggestion, but you since you have a good start you might want to grow a beard." Then he pointed to a chest under a barred window. "Clothing," he paused, noting Rex's attention drawn to the iron bars on the window. "They're traditional; it's a clan house with history. As you walk around, you'll find them on all the outer windows."

Rex nodded softly, wondering why he'd thought himself a prisoner; wondering why he thought being a prisoner was only right and proper.

"When you finish cleaning yourself up, just stick your head out the door. There will be a youngling to bring you downstairs."

Rex sat on the edge of the bed for a while, too weak to make his way to the fresher. He suspected Chopper knew but hadn't offered any assistance. As Captain Rex of the 501st, he'd been holding himself together for the men who followed him. He'd been dying by increments, simply waiting until some battle or simple starvation took the life from him and he could join her. With Zeer's death, with Chopper's desertion... Rex sighed as he stood and made his way to the bench by leaning against the stone wall. After a rest on the bench, he made his way to the shower and sat on the tiled floor as he cleaned his body. After cleaning himself, he returned to the bed by the same tedious method.

He woke the next morning still clad in the pants he had managed to pull to his hips with a blanket over him and another plate of delicacies on the small table. He reached out, grabbed one no larger than his thumb and popped it into his mouth. It was rich in flavor and warm; so smooth it begged to be swallowed. Rex took another, wondering why he'd thought to starve himself to death. She would have been ashamed of him.

By the time Rex had finished dressing, the small plate was empty.

"Why did you and Fives take her out?" Rex could barely see the expression of Chopper's face in the moonlit darkness as they sat together in the guard nook high on the roof of the clan house. They had told him it was traditional to set a guard, though the inter-clan wars had ceased a generation past and, once he had regained some endurance, he climbed there often. It was a good place to simply be and let memories flow over him. Sometimes, like tonight, Chopper joined him though Chopper was usually quiet, content to follow Rex's lead in either silence or conversation.

There was a long pause but that wasn't unusual with Chopper. He rubbed his lips with the side of his thumb then came the soft answer shattering Rex's complacency in a single word. "Didn't."

"What?" Rex froze in shock. "You were questioned." He snorted. "You and Fives were interrogated under medical supervision. I had to watch. I had to provide background so they knew how to twist the knife."

Chopper shook his head and shrugged a shoulder. "We didn't," he repeated quietly, "she put memories in our minds. Fives covered us with attitude and I took her to the port and put her on a ship. I knew what had happened as soon as I inspected my armor. I had something that I'd planted in the thickest part of my armor. The absence of that meant she had escaped and once I knew that, the memories started to come back. They're fuzzy, full of black holes, and I don't trust anything I remember from that night except that she escaped." He grinned slightly. "I just made sure not to inspect my armor until after my interrogation."

Rex leaned back, his eyes closed. "She's alive?" His voice was pure wonderment.

"Yes. At least, immediately after Order 66. I didn't think it wise to be in contact with her or... anyone involved in that situation since that day."

Rex laughed, not caring how Chopper and Fives had done it. His laughter moved to tears. "I'll find her, Chopper."

Chopper nodded, running his fingers through the grizzled hair of his scalp. "I know you will. I can give you a starting place and name."

Rex paused, unmoving, then turned his face to Choppers and asked. "Will you come?" He dropped his own head, so like Chopper's habit. "You've had my back for a long time it will feel bare without you."

Chopper shook his head, smiling. "My lady Riyo wouldn't be happy for me to arrive and depart in nearly the same breath." Again he paused, glancing down then back to Rex with the beginnings of a smile curling his lips. "I wouldn't be too happy about it either." His eyes sparkled. "She's given me an entire clan of family and she's planning a child." Chopper ducked his face in old habit but when he raised it there was a sharp grin on his scarred features. "My child, in case you hadn't figured that out."

Rex laughed and Chopper laughed with him then continued. "She said too much time has passed and she will not let it happen again. This is a good place, a good home for me. I'm the captain of the clan guards. Not as many men as the 501st but good men nonetheless." His voice went somber. "As a senator, Riyo has so much opportunity. As much as I am afraid for her, I won't try to convince her to stop." His voice faded and he touched the clear side of his face. "I can't even go with her to Coruscant; I'd be immediately recognized as clone. As a deserter."

Both men were silent for a few moments then Chopper turned again to Rex. "Maybe you can convince the commander to cover your back."

Rex felt a small twinge of worry as he wondered if she'd want him back after everything he'd done. He worried about that each night as he lay in the big, comfortable bed. One of Senator Chuchi's clan women, Nayla, offered to share the bed with him but Rex declined. She took no offense and spent much of the day with him; simply talking, explaining the clan ways, asking questions, conversing with him, walking with him and coaxing him toward health and the future. Rex nodded; between Senator Riyo, Chopper and Nayla, they had prepared him for hope.

Rex chuffed under Chopper's dictatorial demands that he not leave until he was ready but Chopper wouldn't give him the information until Chopper thought he was ready. Rex relaxed realizing Chopper still had his back.

Rex received the information on the first day he beat Chopper on the training mat.

Rex had always been the best fighter in Torrent Company; at least until shortly before Order 66 when there had been so much confusion in his mind about the contradictory directions the battle was taking; when he'd had less time to spar with his men and brothers, when he'd spent countless hours trying to understand the strategy of General Skywalker's ever-changing plans.

After the death – the presumed death – of the commander, he hadn't cared enough to continue living, but the crisp air of Pantora, the fresh foods and the companionship of Chopper and his clan were good for Rex's health. So, after almost a year of recovery, he defeated Chopper and jumped up from the mat laughing and crowing in victory, his arms raised in the air. Around them in the inner courtyard, the Pantorans voiced their approval... perhaps not of Rex winning against their new captain of the guards, but of an excellent fight.

Chopper, seated on edge of the mat, had laughed with him. When Rex sat down next to Chopper, two other guards taking the center of the mat, Chopper had placed his hand on his former captain's shoulder.

"Naboo," he said. "Ashwaeen and Knaps Athualla of Clan Athualla Freight and Shipping."

Rex nodded. "Thank you, Chopper." He leaned back on his elbows beside his brother; beside the man who had needed only a chance to redeem himself long ago; beside the man who'd had his back almost as long. "Any messages?"

Chopper nodded. "Tell Ahsoka she was my first friend; without her I wouldn't have thought myself worth friends. Tell them I've found my own happiness."

So, Chopper has his 'happily ever after'.

You all do know that this started simply as Chopper's story - the growth of the clone from fearful, tormented shiny to steadfast, respected trooper. It's gone a lot further. Some wicked part of me wants to say 'The End' right here.

I think there's only one more chapter remaining... or maybe two.