Part 1 - Unreal
Plot: Rex and Hunter get wings - something only Jedi or Force-users have - through entirely unrelated incidents, along with the rise of other paranormal abilities. Life's hurdles distract them from finding the cause, but it ultimately points to something hidden and sinister in the clones very creation.
Author's Note: Yeah, I could've written this out into a massive, multi-chapter plot, but... didn't really wanna? XD So behold, a 5+1 thingy featuring how Rex + feathers = bad news for Sidious, and the one time it's very bad news. =D xD Or, the 5 times Rex nearly blows Sidious's plans, and the one time he good and truly does.
~ Rivana Rita
PS. This is for the square "Proposals" on the 501st Bingo. And it's also for Day 9 of Haunted Clone Week. ^-^
~ Amina Gila
The first thing Rex realizes is that he doesn't remember how he got here.
Basically, he doesn't realize anything at all.
And that is not normal.
All he does know is that the air is fresh, the sky is bright, and something deep inside himself feels too peaceful to be real, and it makes his armor and blasters feel glaringly out of place. This feels like a place without war, without him – somewhere that clones don't belong.
"Rex?!" The first voice is Anakin. His General.
"Rex!" The kid. Their kid.
"Hey." He blinks a few times, looking up at the blurry form of his General hovering over him. "You okay?"
Rex groans faintly, hand lifting instinctively towards his head, only to smack into his helmet instead. He must be really out of it to forget he was wearing it. Something is wrong. He feels wrong. "I don't know, sir. Where am I?"
"I have no idea." His General looks as confused as Rex himself is. Maybe it's not so odd that he doesn't know what's happening, after all.
Ahsoka appears at Anakin's side, standing, wings mostly unfolded behind her. Her feathers start blue in the center but fade to white as they branch out. When he first saw her, he found her wings as intriguing as the rest of her – she's a Togruta, and Rex had never seen her species before. Her wings are small, not grown out and graceful in the way his General's are. She can't fly as well, but they serve her for short distances.
"What's going on?" He pushes himself upright, and Anakin shifts back to give him room.
"Remember the coordinates we were supposed to rendezvous at?" Anakin queries, and Rex nods warily. "We're there."
"We never landed," Rex objects, looking around, confused. It looks too... peaceful. There are giant rocks floating mid-air, covered with grass like they're part of the ground, except there's nothing supporting them. It's unnatural, and unnerving.
"Yeah," Ahsoka agrees warily, "We have no idea. You don't even have a ship here."
"What?" Rex asks, half squeaks, and turns around to check.
The only ship in sight was the Twilight that his General had taken. Nothing's here now. Rex was just on the Star Destroyer, and now he's here. It's like a memory lapse, just minus the injury, and Rex already feels all kinds of wrong about this.
His General suddenly freezes, jolting upright. His light gold wings shift, the rustling sounding louder than the breeze blowing through the trees. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Ahsoka asks, jumping up.
Rex stands, too. "I didn't hear anything," he replies.
"Are you the One?" a strange, feminine voice asks, echoing somehow. Strange – they're not in a closed area, and Anakin and Ahsoka's voices weren't doing that. A strange, glowing figure of gold and green comes into view, though Rex could swear she wasn't there a moment ago.
"The one what?" Anakin replies, as mind-boggled as Ahsoka.
"I will take you to him," she responds, as though that actually answered something.
"Who's him?" Rex inquires warily. She looks too peaceful, and that makes him edgier than anything else.
"The Father, of course," she answers smoothly, walking away. Ahsoka's eye-markings are practically disappearing under her head-band, but she trots after dutifully. Anakin does the same, after a wary exchange with Rex.
"Who are you?" Rex asks as the strange woman heads for the towering mountains. She's exuding a strange level of calm, and he doesn't like it. It's too... real.
"I am the Daughter. We are the ones that guard the power. We are the beginning, the middle, and the end."
The walk takes... a long time, and the unnerved feeling Rex has is growing faster as they cross the endless terrain towards a massive tower.
It's too calm and peaceful here, not to mention too quiet. Ahsoka is grumbling under her breath about it the entire way, and their General looks as on edge as Rex himself feels.
Anakin gasps suddenly, freezing and rocking back on his feet with a "look out!"
Ahsoka jumps off the edge of the narrow walkway they're on, spreading her wings, and Anakin whirls around to catch Rex as a massive rockslide comes crashing towards them. It's a bit awkward, but they've had things like this happen before, and they crash onto the narrow pathway again, panting a little.
"Thank you," Rex says automatically. He's used to Anakin protecting him, but it's still not a concept he's used to. As a captain, he's higher ranking than his brothers, and... technically, more important (though that's not something he ever wants to think about, and he feels sick at the mere thought, no matter what they all grew up learning), but Anakin is his General, and he's a natborn, and he doesn't have to help.
He just chooses to, and that means so much.
To Rex, it means everything.
The Daughter is beside them again when Rex looks up. "That was my brother's work," she relates, concern now pinching her expression.
Brother? Some brother he must be. Rex immediately finds himself thinking of Slick.
"I fear if you continue to remain here, he will use you against your friends." She's addressing Rex, though the comment doesn't make sense.
"How is Rex any different than any of us?" Anakin objects, "Aside from not being a Jedi?"
"And lacking feathers?" Ahsoka pipes up, appearing at Rex's other side. She's ready to fight fang to nail to feathers for him if she has to, and he appreciates that more than he could ever say, though she's still his kid, and it's his job to protect her.
"He's a clone," the Daughter answers, green eyes narrowed and assessing.
Ahsoka looks like a tooka-kitten about to pounce, and Rex hopes this won't turn out as another one of those times he has to haul her off someone, flailing and flapping, because he's gotten more feather-face-fulls than he cares to count. (They're soft and he likes touching them, but it seems very inappropriate to tell his Commander that.)
Rex feels something in himself tense and coil with a oh great, she's one of those – because he's seen so many people like that who look down on him, simply for being who he is.
His General is the same – Rex can see the way he straightens a shred, how rigid he is and how still his wings are. Anakin is level-headed though, for as impulsive and chaotic as he may be. He's a Jedi Knight, and he can – usually – handle these best. "And you find a problem with that?" Anakin asks, voice level, though it's obvious he's angry.
"He is a creature of the Dark Side," she answers simply.
"Why'd you say that?" Ahsoka hisses. Oh, she's nearly feral right now alright.
"I speak the truth," she answers, looking from Rex to Anakin again, "I cannot interfere with the affairs of the galaxy. My father forbids it."
She makes to leave, but Anakin flies in front of her, hands raised. "Wait," he requests, "He's my –" He pauses, floundering for the right word. Vod, Rex's mind whispers, but he forces that thought away as fast as it strikes, because Anakin is his General, and he shouldn't feel that way towards him. They're not equals. They're not – Anakin is a Jedi. He's far above what Rex is, for as close as they are. "Friend," he settles on finally, "If something's wrong, if he's in danger..."
Rex doesn't even understand what the Dark Side is in full, but it's bad. "If my brothers are in danger, I need to know," he agrees.
"The most I can offer is to heal you," she responds, eyes locking with Rex.
"Heal?" he queries. He doesn't have a good feeling about this.
"We're not aware anything's wrong," Anakin interjects. Unless the planet did something to him?
"Be warned," the Daughter adds, "It will draw attention."
Attention is what it means to be captain. "You mean, make me not a threat to them?" Rex guesses cautiously. He doesn't even understand what that means, but the thought of – of that is more something to worry about than whatever the specifics of what she's offering. He can't fathom what could be a threat to Anakin, if he's being honest – there's almost nothing his General isn't capable of, but Ahsoka? She's a kid. And if there's even a chance he could hurt her, unintentionally, unwillingly, or not... he knows what Anakin would choose.
She nods.
"Alright," he agrees, awkwardly – he doesn't know or trust her, but he somehow knows she's being genuine. She's not dangerous. She's not trying to hurt them, even if they can't trust her judgment.
The Daughter steps forwards, and Rex watches warily as she touches his shoulder, a strange spike of energy rushing through him.
It's not something he understands, but something inside him feels... energized, awakened, and it burns. Or, the burning starts up a moment later. It's sharp and hot and burning, and Rex crashes awkwardly to his knees, panting.
"What did you do to him?" he hears Ahsoka yelling far away.
Anakin is calling his name, and he feels the burning presence and warmth, the pressure of a hand on his pauldron, and with it, something... more.
There's a heat in his mind, and Rex has sensed Anakin using the Force before, but this is different. It's like a raging fire lighting up in his mind, burning with heat and warmth and intensity and...
He wants that. Anakin has always meant a lot to him, but this is different. It's a sort of blind, overwhelming devotion, something of a desperate need to serve him, and a loyalty that overtakes everything else.
He'd do anything his General told him to, and he would anyway, but this is something... more. Rex doesn't know what it is, what caused it, or what it'll mean for the future, but it's... here.
The energy is still burning through him, changing him entirely, inside and out. It hurts, especially his back, and he was shot through the chest one time, but this is something else entirely.
He hurt everywhere then, but this – stars, it burns.
He hears distant talking, and his General is touching him, both physically and with the Force, his presence warm and present, something to focus on, and Rex instinctively leans into it.
It dulls bit by bit, but his back is still throbbing. Something about it feels... different. Something about him feels different, and it's unnerving.
"What did you do to his armor?" Ahsoka shrieks.
Something feels a shred different, but he can't see anything off. Something on the parts he can't see, but he still – he doesn't have the mental space to think about it.
Anakin is here though, and he'll protect them. They're safe.
"I altered it to fit his true form."
"What?" he asks, unable to form a clear enough anything to question it beyond that.
"I don't know what she did," Anakin replies, his blue eyes every bit as intense as they always are, "But there's something... different about your Force-presence now. You're brighter. Lighter, and more... distinctive somehow. Something's changing."
"Yeah," he rasps, shuddering, "I feel it." He doesn't know exactly what it is, but it's some... strange instinct, like he missing a limb somewhere, like –
Wings.
Like the same wings his General and Commander and all Force-sensitives have.
That's impossible. Clones aren't Force-sensitive.
Flying would be so, so convenient – he wouldn't have to worry about getting thrown off anything by either of them anymore – but... that is not normal. He's not supposed to be able to do that. (That would make him different, and Rex was nearly decommissioned for having blond hair when he was little, and he tries so hard not to stand out. He's good at hiding in plain sight, and that's all he's comfortable doing, all he's ever tried to do, and he really doesn't know how to – be so different.)
"You always have been," Anakin's voice says in his mind, and Rex nearly jumps on hearing it – it's so jarringly out of place, "Different. That's what makes you special. That's what makes us family."
He can't do anything except send a mental thank you at him – he can do that now? That's another thing Jedi do.
"It doesn't matter what they say or do. I'm not letting anyone hurt you, okay? It doesn't matter if it's for the greater good. It doesn't matter if it's for the Republic. You are still my brother, and you always will be."
"Yeah," Rex says again, this time aloud. Anakin steadies him, and he shifts to a properly seated position.
Ahsoka plops down beside him, steaming. "I can't believe I just had a conversation with an idiot who claims clones are supposed to have wings," she growls.
Rex doesn't have the energy to respond to that. Doesn't even know what he'd say.
Anakin loops an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.
He doesn't know what to think about any of this, honestly. He still doesn't understand how he got here, much less how any of this is happening. But nothing in his life has made sense after meeting Anakin and Ahsoka, has it?
"It looks gross," Ahsoka adds fiercely, "I saw it. I will never unsee it. How long'll it take?"
"I've never heard of anything like this happening," Anakin confesses, and Rex hears feathers rustling again. That's normal, though. "We can ask her when we see her again."
"Where'd she go?" Rex asks – it's the first time he realizes she's not here anymore. The strange serenity he felt in the Daughter's presence is gone.
"She said she'd ask the Father's help," Anakin explains, "That he could help."
He has no idea what that means.
"Just relax," Anakin interrupts, before he can start wondering what to do now – he couldn't walk if he tried, and if there's someone around trying to kill them, staying in the open is the worst idea. "Once they're... here, we can teach you to fly."
Thunder rumbles in the background, accompanying the beginning of a downpour. They're up against the mountainside, shielding them from the worst of it, though it's dark outside now.
"Sounds deadly," Rex deadpans, the only thing he can manage.
Anakin's grin is almost terrifying. "Of course."
**w**
They do teach him to fly. His wings are white, strangely, the same color most human Jedi's are.
Rex can't use the Force, so the presence of his wings is something that confuses everyone.
The Jedi shrug it off.
The boys talk about it non-stop.
His wings aren't the only changes, though they're definitely the primary one – his... nails turned black, and that's wholly disturbing in and of itself. And in the very rare occasions Rex gets genuinely angry, his eyes turn black.
It turns out that flight helps a lot on most missions.
Certainly not all, though, Rex thinks a bit morbidly as he stands outside the Chancellor's office. His General and Commander are off tracking some bounty hunters they suspect will come after the Chancellor when he goes to Naboo to attend the Festival of Light. Anakin put Rex in charge of Palpatine's security, since he was away – Anakin had been personally assigned that task right after they assumed there was a threat.
Rex does not want to be here.
He doesn't even know why – this is the Chancellor, and he's close with Anakin, and protecting him is literally the most important thing they've had to do, but Rex just... does not want to be here.
Something's wrong with him.
He's never been able to place what it is, exactly. It's never made sense, but that's another thing that kicked in sometime after Mortis.
It's the lighting and angle as the doors open and the Chancellor steps out that makes him first see it.
It's not him; it's his shadow.
It's shaped wrong, like a Jedi's. Rex's eyes jump to him, just to double-check, but he doesn't see anything abnormal. Palpatine looks exactly the way he always has, and Rex double checks to make sure it wasn't just a trick of the lighting.
It wasn't.
It's real.
Like there's supposed to be wings there, but they're invisible. Rex can't see them on him, like they're hidden somehow, just not fully. That can't be right though, because someone else would've said something.
It's in passing, too, that he sees the time before following the Chancellor out, and Rex stops short when he sees it.
He saw what he thought was right before the Chancellor came out – was watching it.
It's been... fifteen minutes?
He's zoned out before, but only when he's either high on something – that only happens in the medbay – or when he's severely overly tired. Neither are true now.
Everything about this situation is completely unnerving, and Rex needs to talk to his General about it. Anakin would know what to do, if anything.
**w**
He doesn't talk to Anakin. He doesn't know why, but whenever he's about to, something else comes up, and it just fades to the back of his mind. Maybe it wasn't that important. Maybe – something.
But right now, as he and Anakin sit together in Rex's quarters, when all he can think of is Fives' hardly comprehensible ramble about how the Chancellor is involved with some conspiracy, he remembers it again.
Acutely.
Something's wrong, and he needs to explain it to Anakin. He can help.
He always helps.
Anakin always knows what to do.
"I... didn't feel him die," Anakin says, leaning back against the wall. They're seated beside each other, and the gaping void in his heart is so much deeper than it was on Mortis where this all began.
Echo.
Ahsoka.
Fives.
The only people he has left now are Anakin and Cody.
Echo's gone.
Ahsoka left.
Fives – Fives was shot through the chest, just like Rex himself was, and he doesn't know if it was fatal. Logic says it was, but Fives was still breathing when the Coruscant Guard took him. Rex can usually feel it when his brothers die – he feels them pass on and away, and it always hurts, but he didn't feel that for Fives.
But if he's still alive, what happened to him?
Where is he? What are they doing to him? Is – will they ever see him again? Will they hurt him? Kill him? Fives wasn't in his right mind, but he thought the Chancellor was up to something, and Rex – Rex knows there's something wrong with him.
"Is... something wrong?" Anakin asks, expression worried. Rex can feel him sometimes, in the same way his General says he senses the emotions of others. He usually only does for his General, though.
Yes. Something is wrong with Palpatine, and Anakin needs to know that. He doesn't know why he can't say that, though. Maybe, he doesn't think it matters or – that doesn't make sense, though. "Sometimes," Rex goes for instead, when nothing else comes out, "It's... hard to be the ones that survive."
Anakin slides an arm around him, and Rex isn't overly prone for physical contact, but he's gotten used to it. He leans into it when the soft warmth of his General's wing presses against his.
Maybe he should be somewhat... reluctant to be like this with him, but they raised a child together, fought and led a war together. That has to mean something.
He really, really needs to tell Anakin about Palpatine.
Doesn't know why he isn't – can't – but he'll find some way to.
He has to.
**w**
The one thing about flying that Rex learned above all else was that the best way out of tight places is by flying. And that's what they'll do now, too. It was Ahsoka's suggestion, and they've done it before, though Rex is admittedly wary of just walking out there, either way.
They've sparred with Ahsoka in this very hangar so many times.
Walking in here, knowing that every single one of his brothers aboard will just shoot at them... isn't easy.
He should've guessed about Sidious long ago. He should have seen Order 66 coming before he shot at and nearly killed Ahsoka.
Before he nearly killed their kid.
But what's done is done, and all they can do now is walk right out into the hangar together.
He levels his blaster at her back, such a familiar act, just being here and... being.
"Let's hope all that training pays off," Rex murmurs, a little darkly. He's inclined to be worried – they fought their way through the entire cruiser, only to get trapped in the hangar. All the ships are shut down, off limits, and the cruiser is crashing.
He's not going to think about what that means for his men after they get off.
He should have figured out what was happening, and he can't even explain why he didn't say anything to Anakin about Palpatine a long time ago. He just... didn't? He could have stopped all of this, but he just didn't do it, and Rex has no idea what'll happen now.
(Ahsoka unleashed Maul on his men, and she was doing it to protect herself, but many of them were injured, and Rex has no idea how many were killed. It wasn't their kid's doing, but it – she could've – she got them killed, and this is the first time he's been genuinely hurt by that, but she's alright, and his brothers were born to die anyway, so it doesn't matter. Ahsoka was made for more.)
Ahsoka's sigh is tired. "Let's hope so," she agrees, and they step through the doors. They can't come out there ready for battle, no matter how true it is. Most everyone is here, and they'll be shot on sight.
He hears Jesse talking into his comm distantly before the front rows of his brothers take positions, blasters raised.
They would never forgive themselves if they hurt him or Ahsoka. Rex can't forgive himself for nearly hurting Ahsoka. He couldn't stop it, and he knows that, but that only helps so much.
Rex already knows they won't be able to listen – Ahsoka tried it with him, and it made him even angrier – but he tries, anyway. He owes it to them, as their captain – er, commander, and their brother.
He throws Ahsoka's lightsabers to her before Jesse starts shooting, and the droids get into position, moving the lifts to get most of the 501st members out.
And from there, they fly.
Rex stuns a dozen or so before they make it out, and between that and Ahsoka covering, they make it out of his brothers' reach before too long.
The ship is crashing, and they have to break away from it.
The only issue now is getting off-planet, but the entire 501st is about to crash onto this planet. If they're lucky, they can steal a ship before too long, without too much struggle.
They're high up enough that it's hard to breathe, but Ahsoka drops herself into free fall, pulling her wings back and dropping, and Rex follows her example.
Anakin and Ahsoka used to do things like this. They'd crash-land beside each other, laughing. Rex doesn't find it nearly as thrilling as they do, but now, there's none of that.
It's a cool planet, but it's not as bad as it could be. It's not snowy, at least.
They crash land atop a ragged mountain, looking skyward.
The cruiser is crashing. Hopefully, there's something salvageable they can use to get off-world.
"Here," Ahsoka says, and Rex turns, blinking in confusion when he sees her shoving his lightsabers at him. "Take them."
"Why?" he asks, confused – they're hers, and he knows nothing about lightsabers.
Then he catches the empty look in her blue eyes, and he remembers seeing it before, and he knows what's coming.
"I'm tired of fighting," Ahsoka replies, shaking her head. "When we get off this planet... there's nothing I can do alone. Nothing's changed."
Mandalore didn't change anything. Ahsoka still made her choice, to stop fighting, and Rex respects her decision, though it makes absolutely no sense to him, and he doesn't want her to go. He doesn't want to be alone. There's nothing for him except fighting the Empire, fighting injustice, the way the clones always have.
And he's going to fight for his brothers.
"Are you sure?" Rex asks, and he doesn't mean to pressure her, but he doesn't want her to go. He's going to have absolutely nothing, no one, and Rex can't think about what that will entail right now. He's always had something, and maybe this'll be a fight he chose, but it's something he'll have to build from scratch.
Ahsoka turns towards him, and she looks tired. More exhausted than he's ever seen her. "I made a choice, Rex," she replies, "I came back to free Mandalore because it was the right thing to do, and I was the only one who could help, but this isn't where I want to be."
His throat tightens.
This is Ahsoka, and she's leaving again.
He'll be alone.
She'll be – be. Out there somewhere, and he'll have no idea what's happening to her, but she has to come first. If she doesn't want to fight, to deal with the tension and risk of it, he won't ask that of her.
(How could anyone even make that choice? Fighting is the only life Rex has ever had.)
"You'll just be out there," he replies.
"But I'm a Jedi. The Empire will be looking for me. You don't need that kind of attention."
He concedes the point, but it doesn't – Ahsoka was his Commander, though those days are past. The time of the Republic is past, and he's alone. Ahsoka has always been most important to him, as he and the General's kid, aside from their duty, and he's... worried. She survived fine before Order 66, yes, but this is different.
Sidious isn't going to just let her go.
Ahsoka made her choice again, and she didn't... she's going.
He's going to miss her.
Miss is an understatement, when Rex just lost every single person he used to know.
(Echo's still out there, and did he get the Order? Is he alright?)
(Is Cody? Did he kill his General?)
(Is Appo, back on Coruscant, with Anakin?)
"I know you're not going to use them," Ahsoka continues, "But you're one of us, Rex. You'll have better use for them than I would."
He wishes he could feel something other than empty. "Okay," he agrees, reluctantly, but he takes them either way. "It'll be... different without you."
Hard, impossible, empty, and he doesn't even know where to get started. He needs to help his brothers, because that's what Fives fought for and it's what his General would've wanted – he always did – but he never thought he'd be in on this completely and utterly alone.
"Yeah," Ahsoka agrees, stepping forward to lightly touch his shoulder. She's changed so much from who she used to be – she's grown, matured. He actually feels like he could look to her as a commander now, but he saw her when she was little, held and carried and cared for her, and Rex will never see her as anything other than the tiny little girl, barely at elbow-height.
She's not that much taller now.
"But you're my best friend," she continues. Vod'ika, Rex's mind supplies, but he won't say that aloud, because Ahsoka is his Commander, not his sister, and he might see her as something family-like, but he'll never expect her to call him that. Doesn't matter if he wants it. She's a Jedi, and she will never be his sister the same way his brothers are his brothers – that's just not how it is, and it's not fair for him to expect or want that of her. "I know you'll figure out what to do. But first, we have to get off this rock. We have to find Anakin. I have to let him know we're okay."
**w**
They don't find Anakin.
Senator Amidala is dead.
There's no traces of Anakin whatsoever, and Rex knows.
It's not something he wants to think about, but there's a darkness in his mind where the bond with Anakin was once. It used to be light, and now it's gone dark, like the galaxy itself.
Ahsoka leaves.
Rex keeps her lightsabers, though he never uses them.
He tries to gather up as many of his brothers as he can, to get them out of the Empire. As it turns out, it's just getting harder.
Fighting the Empire isn't easy. Rex knew it wouldn't be from the start, but it's what he believed in. It's almost terrifying to choose to fight, to get to make choices on his own without Anakin right beside him, without their kid here to watch over.
He would have done anything for her – did do everything for her – and he misses her, but Ahsoka is safe somewhere. She chose a different path, and Rex doesn't fault her for wanting to leave. She never wanted to fight. That's all Rex has ever done. Ahsoka was more, and she was always meant to be more. The war was hard on her – she wasn't ready for it, didn't want to be there. He's glad she, at least, can get a break.
For Rex, the war is just beginning, though.
He doesn't have much, but it's what he has. They make do.
What really worries him is the clone assassin the Empire sent after Senator Chuchi. His General was close with her back during the war, and Rex trusts her.
He calls in Clone Force 99 – who are now down a member, no thanks to the Empire, and while Rex didn't have any emotional connection with Crosshair whatsoever, he still feels his loss, because he knows what that's like – because he knows they can help. They're good at what they do, and they're daring. That's what he needs.
Hunter has wings, too.
(So does Omega, and hers are white, but that's not overly surprising. Everything about their sister is weird and makes no sense.)
It caught Rex off-guard when he saw him before sending them to find Gregor, but it feels so much realer in person.
Rex got his wings because of his bond with Anakin. They're white in the way Jedi's are, though his abilities are nothing remotely Jedi-like. Hunter is... different. His are black.
Only Sith have black wings.
He expects to feel some sort of warning of danger when he sees him in person – he saw it only briefly once prior – but all he senses instead is a strange familiarity. Home, something in his mind whispers. Family. Brother. Safe.
He hasn't felt anything like it since his General.
Anakin always made him feel like that, and Ahsoka did, too, though it was a little different with her. He hasn't felt the comfort of familiarity from the time Ahsoka left. (She's his kid, and he took care of her, but she left, and he doesn't fault her for it, though that makes the emptiness and hurt and loneliness no less, and he's just being selfish now, because Ahsoka is safe away from battle, and that's where she's happy. It's not fair of him to want her here, so why does he? He's a captain, for Force's sake; he does need his kid to hold his hand the whole way through, but he just does not want to be alone.)
"What?" Hunter asks, catching the looks Rex keeps throwing him, his wings pressing tighter to his back.
He's self-conscious, the same way Rex used to feel about them, only they were white and both the General and Commander had wings, too. It was hard to get used to, but the boys would joke about how it marked him as their leader, too. About how it made him special. He would've thought that, for as different as the Bad Batch have always been, Hunter would take it the same way. Apparently... not? He doesn't press for details, doesn't ask – he just leaves it, because it's not something Hunter would probably want to explain, either.
For Hunter, being who he is, it's probably something... else, either about how he got them, or something involving them. Either the story behind how he got them was entirely unpleasant, someone... hurt him for them, or both.
With their luck, it's probably both.
"Do you feel it?" Rex queries.
Hunter's gaze is close to wary. "Feel what?"
"The pull. The familiarity."
"Yeah."
"What are you talking about?" Echo asks, stepping forwards.
Rex turns to him. "We don't know exactly what happened to me," he replies, "But I got some abilities that... Jedi do. Looks like Hunter has it, too." Though he doesn't know how. Hunter couldn't have bonded to a Sith. There are no Sith left, except Sidious, who's out of the question, and maybe Maul. "That side of me recognizes him as the same."
"But you're not the same," Echo argues.
"Yeah, none of this makes sense," Rex agrees, "Never has." And that's when a sudden thought occurs to him. He has no idea if he's the only clone who could see it or not, but... he thinks it's worth trying to find out. He's wondered if it had to do with the unnaturalness of how he got his wings, or the fact that he's a clone, but there's no real way to know. With both Hunter and Omega here, maybe they'll get an answer – that's assuming Rex's connection to Anakin didn't give him something no one else has. "While we're on the topic," Rex adds, "Have you looked at Palpatine closely?"
"Not recently," Hunter answers slowly. "Why?"
"It's not relevant to the rest of this," Rex replies, nodding to the assassin's now-dead body, "But I've been wondering about it for a while." He doesn't want to explain it, because if they know what to look for, it'll be significantly easier to see. Whatever it is Palpatine did to hide his wings is still there, though less well done, because Rex can actually see them now. They're black, like Hunter's, though they somehow look far deadlier.
The others gather around while Rex pulls up a hologram of him, ignoring the way every cell in his body tenses and coils, screaming of wrongwrongwrong. He's dealt with that before, though the Darkness calls to something in him, too.
"I am not seeing anything unusual," Tech interjects.
"He's creepy," Omega supplies, with a full-body shudder, wings rustling. The move reminds Rex so sharply of Ahsoka that it hurts. She used to be like that. Wrecker instinctively pulls her closer to his side. Anakin would do that all the time to her, too.
"He has them, too," Hunter realizes, and he sounds freaked out. Rex was, too, when he first saw them – he still vividly remembers how scared he was. Something had felt wrong and dangerous, and he itched to get as far away as possible. In this moment, Hunter looks so young. It never struck Rex quite as visibly as it does now. Hunter's nine. Rex was still undergoing his training at that age – he was finishing the last of it up, and he went to Geonosis around then. Hunter's already been in active duty for over a year by now. It's been a long time.
"I don't see anything?" Omega asks, looking up at Hunter.
It's not the color, then. It's something else. Maybe how they got them?
"I figured it out right when Order 66 came through," Rex explains. The term Sith will only have meaning to Echo, so he opts for a far more detailed explanation. "Palpatine was working with Dooku from before the war even started. The war was all for making his Empire."
"He's a Sith?" Echo asks.
"What's a Sith?" Omega pipes up.
"They're like the Jedi," Echo answers, "But they're evil." It's a little too simplistic, but there's really no better way to explain it.
"I saw them before," Rex continues, "Before the war ended. I tried to tell the General, but... it didn't work." Anakin is a difficult subject for him, and not usually relevant, though Rex knows he's still out there. He knows, more than he wants to think about, what happened to him. If he's not with the Empire, he's their captive, and that's not something Rex wants to think about. (He is being hurt, though. Rex can feel it every now and then, whenever he reaches for him, and the overwhelming, smothering darkness pushes him away too fast to prod.)
Nothing the Bad Batch can do about that, though. They're not here to talk about Sidious, or the – whatever it is that's going on with their wings. Maybe he can ask Echo about Hunter sometime, because he and Hunter aren't really close enough for Rex to ask him something so personal.
He'll worry about it later. When it's actually relevant.
**w**
Time isn't something anyone has anymore.
It's been so long since Rex sensed Anakin, but now, for the very first time, he feels him again.
Not the light gentleness, but a dark, raging fire. It doesn't matter whether he's a Sith or with the Empire – all that matters is that he's alive, and Rex knows what he has to do.
Maybe it'll risk everything and everyone, but Anakin is out there, and he needs him, and that's more important than anything else ever has been. Rex doesn't know exactly what it is that drives him, but he knows this is something he has to do, just like when Echo left his new squad and home and the kid he's raising to help his other brothers – like Fives tried to do, and no doubt driven through having lost one of his own little brothers to the Empire.
Rex feels the same.
He wants to hurt them for what they did to him, to all of his brothers, for how they took Jesse and nearly every single member of his Legion.
He used to be a commander once, to have a purpose, and now, that's all gone. Well, he never much liked being commander, but the point stands. And when he hears a distant echoing in his mind, calling of a voice he remembers so well, he can't ignore it.
Rex tells Echo that he's going somewhere, without details, and he... heads to Tython. It's the only place Rex knows of, and he understands nearly nothing about his abilities, but this is where he needs to go.
He knows what he's about to do, and exactly how risky it is, because likely, many Force-sensitives that don't need to feel his call will hear it, but he needs to get Anakin back. He needs to make sure he's alright, and Rex has waited for so long, and he can't keep waiting.
Their bond is... different, and Rex doesn't really know how to reach back when he's so far, without the iciness overwhelming him, but if Anakin is looking for him... the best he can do is return it.
Is answer.
He flies to the top of the Seeing Stone and sits. The Force is strong here, meant to channel up and outwards.
Maybe what he's doing is reckless – okay, yes, it is – but it's also in a desperate bid to get back the one person he's been missing, someone who needs him as badly as Rex needs him. The one thing Anakin taught him was never to turn his back on anyone who needed help, and he's not about to start now.
The Empire could show up, and this could go wrong in a million ways, but that somehow seems easier than waiting any longer.
It's not remotely strategic. It's probably suicidal. But after being so alone for so long, without the person who made him who he is, he doesn't even care.
Energy builds up around him, black and white shimmering power, streaking skywards as Rex reaches out.
He doesn't understand the bond he has with Anakin, but it's something about Rex's... Force-part, and it binds them together intrinsically. They're a part of each other, and it's been eight months since he's heard word of his General. Eight months since Order 66.
He feels it, when Anakin feels him, and the wait is long, but he's waited such a long time that he doesn't even care.
Rex knows the shuttle it is when it finally touches down nearby, and he flies down to greet him.
Even if Anakin is part of the Empire, Rex still trusts him.
Rex understands what grooming means, and if Maul was right about what he said, what happened wasn't any more Anakin's fault then Rex nearly killing Ahsoka was his own. Maybe he didn't have a mind-controlling something in his head, but whatever Sidious said or did to Anakin had the same effect.
He just needs someone, like Rex did.
He wouldn't have risked this if he hadn't felt Anakin reaching for him, first, and he hasn't all this time, though their bond feels active in a way it was absent previously. He doesn't know what happened to his General, but it's... bad.
The ramp lowers with a hiss, and his... General walks down the ramp.
He's in armor, black armor, his once gold wings are black. They don't have the same somewhat-dead look Sidious's do though – they're as large and feathery as they used to be.
Just dark.
Like he feels.
"Sir?" Rex asks, warily, more frozen from his appearance and respirator than the fact that he's in all black armor and a Sith.
"You look old," Anakin says, staring. At least Rex thinks he's staring.
"It has been a while."
His respirator cycles out. "Has it?" His voice is deep, too deep, though at least his vocoder didn't totally destroy his slight accent.
"Almost a year." It's not abnormal for Anakin to lose track of time, but this seems almost extreme.
"I may have lost track of time." Typical. "I have no recollection of the past six months." Also – actually, very, very not normal.
An are you okay sounds extremely rude. So is a what happened to you, even if Rex wants to ask both equally. "That's not too abnormal," he goes for instead.
"I have been unconscious for about six months," he grumbles. "S – my master was attempting to regrow my wings and –" He cuts himself off there, offering no further explanation. Not how it happened, not what happened, but Rex can't imagine what in the galaxy could have happened to him, to hurt him so badly.
To most people, he might look somewhat intimidating, but Rex knows him, and he doesn't.
"I felt you calling me," Rex replies. "I wasn't sure where to start looking."
"That is unsurprising." Anakin turns slightly, scanning the surroundings as if to make sure they're alone, which they are. "I awoke a few days ago, and... attempted to find you. Sidious explained the clones were... being retired."
"We were born to fight, and that's what we'll do," Rex tells him evenly. He doesn't want to outright say that he's fighting the Empire, because Anakin is presumably loyal to it, and he doesn't want to hurt him.
Maybe that's just a little bit why he's trying to get his brothers to safety instead of actively fighting the Empire itself.
"And there's far more happening to the clones than we know," Rex replies, "The Empire destroyed Kamino. We don't know what happened to all of our brothers inside, only that they were transferred off-world."
Anakin stares. Rex wishes he could see his face – his mask gives away very little emotion. "I would say they wouldn't do that," he supplies finally, "But I actually believe they would." The silence is tight and awkward, but Anakin breaks it again almost immediately. "How are you?" he asks, "Where have you been? Jesse said –"
"You talked to him?" Rex asks, something in his heart flipping a little. Jesse had been with them almost from the start, and he can't explain how it makes him feel to know he's still alive. Or at least that he was, and he made it back. Rex and Ahsoka had stolen a small ship and gotten out undetected, and he didn't know if the others made it off, or how many made it off with the limited ships they had.
"Briefly," Anakin admits grudgingly, "Some months ago. I was not in the state of mind to ask for details."
Rex doesn't really understand how he was injured or... what happened, but he's hesitant to ask. "It's been... it's been."
"Are those Ahsoka's lightsabers?" Anakin asks, and Rex instinctively looks to the lightsabers he's wearing on his belt as if they were his.
He hasn't actually used them more than a couple times when he needed to cut through something really fast. Doesn't know how to. "Yes. She gave them to me before she left. She's safe."
"What are you doing now?" Evidently, that Rex left doesn't even bother him. He's not letting that chance slide.
"Helping my brothers." It's incriminating, but he doesn't care. This is Anakin. He has always helped him, and he always will. That's who he is. He's loyal.
"They deserve that," he agrees.
That's not really what any of this is about though, is it? They can catch up later. Right now, what counts is... Rex doesn't know what happened, only that Sidious was trying to get Anakin to join him. He was grooming him, and that's not something he's comfortable thinking about, but it's still important. "Where have you been?" Rex queries finally.
Anakin's helmet turns away. "I do not wish to speak of it."
That doesn't bode well, but Rex already... knows. Not details, but they don't really matter. His changed wing-color and the darkness over their bond answers everything. "Maul told Ahsoka about Sidious," Rex says, opting for just saying it. Anakin prefers bluntness, anyway. "I had known for... a long time that there was something wrong with him. Whatever it was he had you do, it doesn't change who you are."
"You don't know the Dark Side," Anakin argues numbly.
"I don't need to," Rex tells him. Whatever Sidious tried making Anakin couldn't be worse than what the clones were made to do. It hasn't changed who they can be. If Rex can be better, more than what he was made for, all of them can be, and Anakin is one of them, even if not by blood.
Even if that's something no one's ever voiced.
"Do you truly believe that?" Anakin asks quietly, about as quiet as he can manage.
Rex tried to kill their kid when his chip activated. Can't get worse than that. "Yes. And... we could use your help."
"You would trust me for that?" He sounds so dubious.
Rex has no idea what happened to him.
"When the order came through, I nearly executed our kid," Rex tells him bluntly, "Before she got my chip out. I've been fighting for our brothers ever since. I knew that's what you would want, and I want to give you the same choice."
They've never been able to choose something to fight for. That he's able to do it now is... important. Special.
His mind is stuck on a repeat of their bond insisting he find a way to make Anakin better somehow, and he wants to, anyway. He deserves better, most of all.
Anakin stares at him, stepping forwards and scooping him into a hug.
Rex hugs him back awkwardly.
Anakin's wings still feel warm. He feels warm, and he doesn't know why he expected otherwise.
"Will you come?" Rex asks, head squashed against Anakin's shoulder.
"I will leave my ship here," Anakin replies smugly, "Sidious can track it for the next fifty rotations before coming to find me in person."
His sense of humor hasn't changed at all.
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