Dogma didn't know how he felt about being at the Jedi Temple. He was fascinated about the place. If the place was abandoned and he had no work or other obligations, he would love to explore and look around. He was fascinated by the Jedi and their beliefs, and he wanted to learn more. A part of him wanted to accept the Jedi's offer of a tour. He wanted to ask a million different questions about whether the Jedi Temple was a sacred place, or just their home. Was it sacrilegious and disrespectful for someone who wasn't worthy to even set foot here? Could somebody who wasn't in tune with the Force still live like a Jedi, or was that seen as a mockery of their way of life?
He kept all his questions to himself, partially because he didn't want to accidentally insult the Jedi, and partially because he was already in enough trouble as it was and he didn't want to make things worse.
He hadn't meant to fall asleep in the Jedi Temple, but the place had a peaceful aura about it, and Jesse's protective energy was surprisingly comforting. Dogma woke up feeling better rested than he could ever remember feeling, and he didn't know if it was because the temple was giving off a weird energy, or if he'd gotten way more sleep than he normally did.
But his good sleep didn't mean that he woke up in good spirits. He felt fine for just a few seconds before he remembered where he was and why he was here. As soon as he registered that he stiffened and wished he could go back to sleep, but he knew that wasn't an option. The Jedi could probably sense that he was awake, even if they were too polite to say anything.
But they were his Generals. He wasn't supposed to be lazing around in front of them. Especially not when he'd been sent here for a reason, even if he didn't entirely understand what that reason was. So he mentally groaned and started to sit up, only to be grabbed and pulled back down again.
"Easy, ad'ika." Fox' voice said, and he couldn't help but relax at the sound of his Commander's voice. He was anxious about the Jedi, but it was hard to feel nervous when he was being held by Fox.
"Buir." Dogma muttered. His head still felt a little muddled. It took him too long to realize what was wrong with Fox being there. "You have work. Please don't tell me you're not working to babysit me again."
Fox let out a low chuckle. "Don't worry. I've got a few days off."
Dogma immediately felt more awake. He shifted and turned towards Fox. He moved too quickly and Fox hissed in pain. Dogma froze, horrified.
"You're hurt." Dogma said. He knew he wasn't responsible for accidentally hurting Fox, because they'd barely brushed against each other. It wasn't unusual for the guard to be able to hide injuries until they were nudged in just the wrong way, but they tried to not hide it from each other. It was concerning to know that Fox had an injury that Dogma didn't know about. How often did this happen?
"I-it's not too bad." Fox said. Dogma gave him an unimpressed look and Fox sighed. Maybe Dogma could have believed him if it wasn't for the stutter.
"Can I see?" Dogma asked.
"...Sure, kid." Fox said tiredly. He scooted away from Dogma to give him a better look. Fox had a brown robe draped over his shoulders and it was covering his chest. He slipped it off and Dogma saw some clear scars that looked like streaks of lightning. Something about them didn't seem like normal scars. They were harsh and somehow gave off a terrible energy.
Clones had all kinds of scars, and they were all pretty good at looking at a scar and being able to tell if it was a traumatic injury or not. Sometimes terrible scars came from terrible situations, but sometimes the worst experiences left the smallest of scars, and sometimes really bad scars had a genuinely funny story behind them.
Fox' lightning scars didn't look too bad compared to other injuries Dogma had seen, but they seemed to have a darkness about them. Dogma didn't know how, but he could just tell that the situation was actually a lot worse than it looked.
"Lightning." Dogma muttered. He wasn't a medic, far from it, but he was fairly decent at the basics. He knew what the cause of these particular scars were. Dogma reached a hand out, looking to Fox for permission. The Commander nodded and Dogma put his hand against Fox' chest in a feather-light touch. Fox gasped and his stomach seemed to spasm. His legs jolted and his fingers twitched as his nerves were irritated. Dogma quickly pulled his hand away.
"Can you stand like this?" Dogma asked. Fox grimaced.
"Not really." Fox admitted. "And thinking is…hard. Which is why I'm taking a few days off." Dogma knew how bad it felt to feel the need to work and being unable to do so. He wished there was something he could do to get Fox back on his feet.
He had an idea. One he was a little nervous to speak. But they were in the Jedi Temple, and they had a unique opportunity here that they might never be able to take advantage of again. It was a risky opportunity, and it was probably a mistake, but maybe the Jedi were as compassionate as the Republic's propaganda made them out to be.
"Maybe…Maybe the Jedi can heal you." Dogma suggested quietly. "Some of them can do some amazing healing with the Force."
Fox grimaced. "They already tried that." He said. "They said the nature of the injury makes it hard to heal right now." His tone was tense as he repeated something that he didn't understand but had been told.
"What does that mean?" Dogma asked. Fox rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Who knows?" Fox asked. "The Jedi speak in mysteries. Master Yoda's just the only one who leans into that."
Dogma's mouth twitched. "I don't think his speaking patterns are on purpose. It's just how he talks." He didn't know whether he was amused, defensive, or scared of even implying disrespect.
Fox gave him a very small smile. "I know." He said before his smile dimmed. He looked so tired. He needed to heal from whatever had happened to him, and Dogma knew that it was hard to recover when you weren't in a safe place.
"You should go back to the barracks." Dogma suggested. "Jesse can stay with me." He didn't really know if he trusted Jesse yet, but he wanted to. Dogma couldn't leave the temple because General Skywalker wanted him to remain for now. He didn't feel comfortable here, but there were very few places where he actually felt safe. He wasn't going to make Fox suffer just because he didn't know how to relax around the Jedi.
Fox shook his head. "I'm not leaving you to face the Generals on your own. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The Jedi want me here too."
Dogma felt slightly dizzy as the blood rushed from his head. He was familiar with the feeling of adrenaline, and this felt like the opposite. It was a little frightening. "Why do they want you?" The Jedi weren't supposed to get involved in Guard business, and when they did work together it was with a lot of tension. What could the Jedi want from Fox now? They couldn't heal him, so Dogma didn't think they were working with the intention of helping him.
Fox pulled back on the brown robe, pulling it back on and covering his scars again. Dogma somehow got more and less tense when he took another look at the robe. It looked like the kind of thing that the Jedi wore. It seemed like one of the Jedi had loaned Fox his robe to provide him just the smallest amount of privacy.
It was a considerate gesture, but it wouldn't be necessary if they would just let him go home and get his own shirt. Fox had a means of covering himself now, but only in a way that made the scars easily accessible should the Jedi want a closer look.
"They want to question me." Fox said. "This injury, they think it came from a dark Jedi."
"A Sith." Dogma remembered the term from some reading he'd done.
Fox nodded. "There have been theories that a Sith is near Coruscant, and that they have more power and influence than the Jedi can imagine. And then I show up with the marks of a Sith."
"They're worried there's been a breach in security." Dogma realized. No wonder Fox looked so uncomfortable. Dogma would be panicking if he thought he had been compromised. But there was something else. Fox wouldn't look so confused if that was all. "Why didn't you tell the Jedi who did it? They'll know who the Sith is, and you can go." Fox wouldn't be seen as a liability, he'd be seen as a hero.
Fox' mouth thinned and it was hard to tell if he was frustrated or anxious. "I did. They didn't believe me."
Now Dogma was feeling frustrated and anxious himself. "Why would you lie about something like this?" They'd been created to serve the Jedi and obey orders. Why did so many people feel the need to test their loyalty?
"They don't think I'm lying." Fox said. "They think my memories are false." Fox didn't sound convinced.
"What do you think happened?" Dogma asked.
Fox sighed. Dogma wondered how many times he had answered that exact question. "The Chancellor was disciplining me for my mistakes. This is not the first time it's happened. It's not the last time it will happen. I've never reported it before because he's the Chancellor. Who am I supposed to report him to?" Fox' eyes widened as he suddenly seemed to remember that he wasn't speaking to the Jedi.
Fox tried to tone things down when talking to the guard because he didn't want them to worry about him. But he had to be completely honest with the Jedi. If they had directly asked him for a report, especially now when his thoughts were a little dull, he wouldn't be able to twist things to make it not seem so bad.
"You were punished?" Dogma gave Fox a pained look. "Was it my fault?" The Chancellor hadn't been happy that his meeting had been interrupted. Dogma had been too worried about the 501st to consider the consequences of his actions. If he'd stopped to think about it for a second he never would have been able to go to General Skywalker for help.
"No, ad'ika, no." Fox pulled him close again, and Dogma didn't dare to move away. He didn't want to risk causing more pain to Fox. "The Chancellor…he has high expectations, and he can get tense when his demands aren't met. I was given a job, and I let him down."
"But it was because of me." Dogma protested. Fox pulled him into a Keldabe Kiss.
"I'm the Commander. If there's a perceived failing in the guard, it's my responsibility." Fox said. His tone made it clear that while the Chancellor had been unimpressed with Dogma's actions, Fox wasn't disappointed. "I'll take any punishment if it means none of you have to."
Dogma felt a little ill at the thought of Fox getting hurt because of him, but he knew he couldn't talk him out of it. By nature all clones had just a bit of a martyr complex. It was part of their programming. They were supposed to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. He couldn't take Fox' pain away, and he couldn't convince him to not do something like this again. All Dogma could do was nuzzle closer to Fox.
"Why didn't the Jedi believe you?" Dogma asked.
Fox scoffed. "They called my disciplining 'torture', and they don't think the Chancellor is capable of such a thing. They think it's more likely that in the few hours since the meeting got interrupted I stumbled upon the Sith, they tortured me, modified not just my memory, but also the Chancellor's, and then sent me back to the Chancellor's office where Thorn and Stone found me."
The way that Fox said it, it didn't sound very plausible. Especially since Fox had casually said that this kind of thing had happened before. For this to happen once without anybody noticing was odd, but technically possible. It got more and more unbelievable the more times it happened. Surely somebody would have noticed a Sith so close to the Chancellor.
But…but it wasn't Dogma's place to question the Jedi. They knew more about the Sith than he did. They knew what they were talking about, except…except their theory didn't make any sense. But Dogma couldn't question them. They were the Jedi. They were his Generals. He was just a replaceable clone. A soldier who followed orders.
'A slave' General Skywalker's voice echoed in his head, but Dogma pushed it back. He wasn't a slave. The General was just seeing something that wasn't there…but why would he see something that would give Dogma a reason to question the Jedi? Were they testing his loyalty? Seeing just how devoted to the Republic he was? Did they just want to know if he would still willingly serve them even if he thought he was being forced?
Dogma's head hurt. He wished he was back on the frontline. Those orders were much less confusing to follow.
"What are the Jedi going to do to you?" Dogma asked.
"I think they're trying to figure out how to look past the modified memories." Fox said.
"But what if the memories aren't modified?" Dogma asked. Fox' grip on him tightened.
"Jesse wondered the same thing." Fox' voice shook ever so slightly. "That's why they're debating it. Apparently just going into someone's mind shouldn't hurt unless they fight you on it. If they're trying to see a modified memory, they'll be met with some resistance, so it'll be uncomfortable and a little painful."
Dogma stiffened when he heard Fox' breathing grow a bit harsh. He sounded scared. "If no modifications have been made and they try to fix something that isn't broken, they could end up damaging my mind."
Dogma had a healthy caution and respect for the Jedi, but he'd never been truly scared of them until now. He knew their powers were capable of doing a lot of frightening things, but the Jedi themselves were peacekeepers. They didn't cause damage without a good reason. If looking into Fox' mind had even the chance of revealing who the Sith was, that should be a risk worth taking. Even if the Jedi were wrong and Fox ended up getting hurt in the process, well, that would just mean that his account was true and the Jedi would know that the Chancellor was responsible for the torture.
This was war, and sacrifices had to be made. If Dogma was in Fox' position he would volunteer to let his mind be read, no matter how much it might be hurt. But Dogma wasn't the one who would suffer. Fox would, and that wasn't okay. It wasn't okay at all.
"They're not looking into your mind." Dogma said fiercely, surprising himself with the determination that he said it. "I-I won't let them." And Dogma was elated and terrified to realize that he meant it. He shouldn't even consider questioning the Jedi, let alone fighting them on their decision, but if the alternative was to let Fox suffer he would take on the entirety of the Jedi Council. It was a fight he knew he would lose, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. Nobody was getting to his buir.
Fox hummed slightly. "We both know you wouldn't be able to stop them."
He was probably right, but that wouldn't stop Dogma from trying, and he knew he wasn't the only one. "The guard will fight for you."
Fox shook his head. "You shouldn't, but you're not the only ones. Jesse, Thorn, and Stone are in the Council room now, throwing themselves in a debate that they have no place in." Dogma had briefly wondered where Jesse had gone. It warmed his heart that his brother was fighting for his Commander.
He knew that Jesse had been spending some time with the guards. He seemed to be understanding them a little more. Dogma had been slow to trust him, because he didn't know why he would change so suddenly. But Jesse wasn't a liar . He didn't play deceitful games. He wore his heart on his sleeve. If he saw a problem, he said so, even if it meant speaking up against the Jedi. That was nothing new. Dogma just wasn't used to being someone that Jesse would think was worth fighting for.
He was just one soldier. Expandable. A single face in a crowd of millions. Dogma's life meant nothing. He knew that, and he'd accepted it, but he wasn't going to accept the same thing about Fox. His Commander wasn't a pawn in the fight between the Sith and the Jedi, free to be moved around and manipulated as they pleased. Fox was far more than that, and Dogma would die before he let the Jedi even consider that he wasn't.
"You fight for me." Dogma said. "For all of us. Let someone fight for you for once."
Fox huffed and nudged Dogma. "Look, why don't we just fight with each other? Side by side. Together."
Dogma smiled to himself. "Together." He liked the sound of that. He didn't want to think about who they were fighting. He knew if he let his thoughts go there then he would shut down and stop fighting altogether, and then Fox and his vode would have to pick up his slack. He couldn't do that to them. Not again.
On Kamino they had been taught to fight and not really question why. They knew who their enemies were. They knew who they followed. They didn't need more than that.
But now Dogma had more. He had a 'why'. He had people to defend. People to fight for. He had vode, and all he wanted to do was fight by their side. Even if he didn't know who they were fighting anymore, he was with his brothers. They would fight together.
They would probably lose because no clone could stand a chance against a Jedi, let alone the entire Council, but that didn't matter. They were soldiers. It was their purpose to fight for a seemingly hopeless cause. And maybe tomorrow Dogma's reasoning would catch up to his fondness for his Commander. Maybe his cowardice and awkwardness would rear its head again the second there was a confrontation.
But right now, sitting with Fox in the otherwise empty entry halls of the Jedi Temple, Dogma felt strong, safe, and protective. The guard, his family, were the most important thing in his life, and he wasn't going to let the Jedi hurt Fox just because they didn't trust him. He deserved better than that. Maybe they all did.