Fifty-one glanced down the darkened corridor with apprehension. It was well past the time he should be in bed, but a noise outside his bunk room had captured his attention. He was, if anything, an inquisitive little 2 year-old clone.

Lightning flashed through one of Tipoca City's large transparasteel windows, causing Fifty-one to jump up in fear. The lighting; it reminded him of the training exercise they had done earlier in the day, the screams of his wounded brothers, and the metal monsters, there were so many monsters.

Their evil mechanical voices, still echoing in his head, slowly drifted out of his mind as Fifty-one snuck down the corridor, the floor of which reflected the pattern of raindrops from the windows.

Tipoca City was definitely a scary place at night.

Another flash of lighting caused Fifty-one to jump again, but less so than the first time.

Looking over his shoulder, the young clone stopped, trying to decide whether continuing down the corridor was a good idea.

'I should have my brothers with me,' he thought worriedly…

'Cluunk!'

Fifty-one froze in place, it was the noise, again, echoing down the abandoned hallway.

Swallowing hard, Fifty-one put on a brave face and continued forward. If he could survive the training sim's, he could easily survive a mystery noise.

Twenty meters later, Fifty-one came across an automatic door to his left.

'I bet this is where the noise is coming from…' he thought triumphantly.

Holding his breath, Fifty-one reach out a tiny hand up to the doors key pad.

Stretching every muscle, and standing on his toes, Fifty-one was just barely able to press the open button.

All of a sudden the door flew open, revealing a black gaping cave.

Eyes wide in fear, Fifty-one lost his balance and fell into the room, crying out as he did so.

At the same time, a flurry of little black objects swarmed out of the darkness, weird whirling sounds emanating from their sleek black bodies.

Fifty-one screamed as the little monsters zoomed around him and out into the corridor…. Squeaking.

'Squeaking monsters?'

Before he could contemplate or understand what had just happened, the automatic door closed suddenly, trapping Fifty-one in the complete darkness of the unknown room.

Panic immediately gripped Fifty-one, his heart beat quickened, as did his breathing.

'No… no, no, no! Oh no, please no!' he thought desperately as he pushed blindly against the door. But to his dismay it didn't budge.

"Heeeeeeeeeelpppppp!" he cried out, hitting his tiny fists against the door with all his might.

It still didn't budge.

"Please! Help!" he finally squeaked after a few more minutes of door pounding, feeling small, helpless and terrified.

'Are there more of those black monsters in here?'

As if by cue, the sound of another squeak from farther back in the room froze Fifty-one in place.

But after a while, he went back to door banging, deciding getting out of the room was his only hope.

"Oh no… What if no one finds me? What if I… what if I die in here?' he thought panting from hitting the door, 'no, no, no… I don't want to die!'

Suddenly, the door opened again; a flash of lightning from the windows in the hallway outside perfectly illuminated the most intimidating shadowy figure Fifty-one had ever seen.

But, as soon as the flash disappeared, the shadowy monster turned into another clone cadet.

"Fifty-one! What are you doing in here?" the cadet asked incredulously. Fifty-one recognized the cadet as being from his squad, his name was Tens.

Not waiting another second in the evil room, Fifty-one raced out into the corridor and embraced his brother, buying his face in the safety of Tens chest.

One of his brothers had found him, he was safe.

Tens, surprised by the sudden and unexpected embrace, patted his brother's back. It was obvious Fifty-one was terrified of something.

"It's okay Fifty-one…." though Tens wasn't sure exactly what his brother was so scared of, "it's okay… what, what's wrong?"

Fifty-one, after a few more seconds of embracing his brother, moved out of Tens arms, but kept ahold of his brother's hand.

He then pointed back at the room, "There are monsters! In there, they trapped me in there! Like the metal ones from the tests!"

A shiver went down Fifty-one's spine just thinking about it.

Frowning, Tens approached the doorway, peering inside. He would physically hurt whatever monster had scared his brother.

Reaching up, Tens hit a switch next to the door and suddenly the lights came on inside the room.

Smiling, Tens pointed inside, "Look, see Fifty-one? They aren't monsters. This is the cleaning-droid storage room for this level."

Fifty-one, still looking scared, peered around his brother into the room. Indeed, inside were row after row of the shiny black cleaning droids, all in sleep mode.

As if to prove Tens point, a couple of the mouse droids activated and quickly raced out into the hallway, giving rather rude squeaks to the two clone cadets partially blocking their exit.

"Oh…" Fifty-one said, suddenly embarrassed by his behavior.

Laughing a little, Tens threw an arm around his brother's shoulder, "Come on ner vod, let's get back to bed. Sarge won't be happy if he finds us out here."

Fifty one nodded, but he had a sudden question.

"Tens, how did you find me?"

Tens smiled, "I saw you leaving our bunk room. I had to follow, I wanted to know what you were doing. Then I heard something hitting the door, and I opened it. I had a feeling it was you."

"Thanks," Fifty-one smiled a little, happy he had a brother watching his back.

Together they quickly made it back to the bunk room and back into their sleeping pods.

"Thanks again Tens," Fifty-one said quietly across to his brother in his own bunk.

Ten nodded, "Next time stop trying to figure out what that sound is. I investigate it already, it's the waves hitting the platform di'kut. Now go to bed."

Smiling, Fifty-one and Tens did just that.

#

The next morning they were all woken up suddenly by shouting.

"All units! To attention!"

Scrambling out of their wall pods, Fifty-one, Tens and the rest of the squad quickly lined up in perfect military form below.

Their training Sergeant, an older man and bounty hunter, walked swiftly in front of them.

Looking each and every one of them in the eye as he passed, he frowned. Their Sergeant did not look happy.

"Can anyone of you tell me, why I am so upset?"

Everyone gulped in unison, and Fifty-one and Tens fidgeted nervously at attention. They both knew they could get in trouble for their little expedition the night before. They had gone against protocol, and that meant a severe punishment.

The Sergeant waited patiently as the cadets gave him furtive glances. He could tell they were on edge, they thought they'd done something wrong.

Finally, one of the cadets raised his hand, "Sir, did we not perform to your expectations, sir?"

That was something they all feared, letting down their training Sergeant.

Their Sergeant shook his head, "No CT-28-2772 it is not because you have failed to perform to my expectations."

After a brief pause, in which their Sergeant looked at each one of them again, he continued.

"It is, in fact, I am upset because you have all over-performed in your latest test, far surpassing my expectations of your squad's abilities. I underestimated you all, and for that, I am sorry."

He then smiled, "As a reward for your outstanding performance, I have something for you. It is particularly fitting because on the planet where I come from, today is a day no child or cadet alike, should be without reward."

And with that, their Sergeant dug deep into his pockets before pulling out two fistfuls of shinily wrapped golden objects.

Holding out his hand, he nodded to the cadets, "You can each take two. No more."

Beyond surprised their Sergeant was actually giving them something, and that they were being rewarded instead of punished, Fifty-one and his brothers quickly rushed forward and each grabbed two of the objects.

After some squabbling, they all quickly fell back in line, looking down at the gleaming objects in their hands, not really sure what the reward was, or what they were supposed to do with it.

"Uhh, sir?" Tens raised his hand, still mesmerized by the sparkly golden object, "What… what is it?" Tens ducked a little, afraid he might get reprimanded for not knowing what the objects were. He could identify hundreds of weapons, hundreds of explosives, and know most of the important alien species in the galaxy, but there was nothing in Ten's memory that could tell him what the two objects were that he held in his hand.

At Tens statement, their Sergeant frowned and shook his head, mumbling some string of expletives under his breath, before ending the tirade with 'Kaminoans'.

"Cadet, they're treats. You eat them."

Tens face brightened a little, before he promptly plopped the treat into his mouth.

But, the treat wasn't what he was expecting. With a quick look of disgust, Tens promptly spat the treat back out, looking down at it with a severe scowl.

Shaking his head, their Sergeant chuckled a little, "CT-20-1010, you have to take the wrapper off first."

A few of the other cadets snickered, as embarrassment filled Tens cheeks.

Fifty-one, looking down at his own treats, quickly undid the wrapper on one, holding it up to his eye for a closer inspection.

It looked like an over-glorified ration cube to Fifty-one, but trusting his Sergeant, he plopped it in his mouth.

To Fifty-one, it was as if a flash-bang of sweetness had erupted on his tongue. His eyes went wide with surprise and he actually let out a sound of contended pleasure from the amazing sensation he felt.

The other cadets, seeing Fifty-one's reaction, quickly scrambled to undo the wrappers on their treats before they ate them as well.

That day was the day Fifty-one found out what his most favorite food in the whole galaxy was. A day he would never forget for the rest of his life.

###

Right'eye smiled beneath his helmet, kicking a can out of his way as he walked down the avenue with his brothers.

The memories that had suddenly upwelled in Right'eye's mind, were some of the oldest he had.

It was amazing to think how far he and his brothers had come since then. How he and Tens would become bitter enemies for half their time on Kamino, then become the closest of brothers a few years before shipping out. But Right'eye realized something, even before they knew each other well, Tens had always had his back. It just took Tens almost dying for Right'eye to realize just how much he cared about his brother.

But Tens had lived, and in no small part because just as Tens had his back, Right'eye had Tens back as well. That's what brothers did, they watched after each other.

Glancing to his right, Right'eye smiled, Tens was there, as usual, always protecting his right side. The loyalty they had for each other was infinite.

"Hey ner vod," Right'eye spoke up over the private comm. They had some time before they reached the Washington Mall. Might as well make use of it.

Tens turned to look at him. Right'eye could tell as his brother moved that his arm was stiff from the blaster injury earlier. That was vital information for Right'eye, if they were attacked again, he would have to keep a close eyes on his brother, and help him out if the injury became too much.

"Yeah, what up?" Tens voice even hinted at the strain from the injury.

"You remember when we were 2-year old cadets and we…."

###

A/N: It felt good writing this chapter. Kinda felt bad for not updating recently, so I threw this together for you guys. Hope you enjoyed it.

Oh, and almost forgot… Happy Halloween!

(And belated Halloween for those of you on the other side of the world…)

-Sly