Chapter Text
Bright laughter rang through a small room. Sounds of a struggle grew in the near distance, a pair of clones grappling on a blue training mat. One blonde, both without their upper armor, which sat halfway out of frame.
The armor they did have on was dirty. Grime had smeared across the mat as they sparred, sweat adding to the mix. Now, one struggled in the others’ hold, an arm wrapped tight around their neck.
“You can tap out,” the blonde said, smirking.
The trooper grit his teeth. Sweat dripped down his forehead, highlighting a small tattoo and catching in his goatee. With a grunt, he jabbed an elbow backwards, catching the blonde in the side. The man huffed. He swung his leg, hooking the arm and pining it so the trooper couldn’t try that again.
“C’mon, Rex,” the unseen voice laughed, “He’s turning blue.”
Rex ignored him, squeezing harder. With a choked groan, the other man finally slapped at his arm, falling forwards to cough as Rex released him.
“Told you,” the voice taunted.
The trooper sent a glare straight forward, still wheezing. “You– w’nna try?” he coughed.
In the distance, Rex glanced back.
“What? No, this was your punishment!” the voice argued.
“You helped him,” Rex said, a grin spreading over his face.
“I– no! It was Fives’ idea, I didn’t–!”
“Oh, don’t even,” Rex chuckled, helping Fives to his feet.
The voice continued to protest, Fives just smirking as he strode forwards. “Gimme that,” he said, a hand obscuring the view for a second as everything spun around. A new face took up the frame, shaking his head with a dramatic eye roll. Even then, he was smiling.
“Fine,” Echo grumbled, walking away toward the mats. “Just don’t use up all my storage sp–”
The video cut out.
The datapad clacked softly as he set it on his desk, a shuddering sigh smothered in his hands. He remembered that day as vividly as the holovid itself. A scouting mission on some separatist dust ball, a stupid plan that got them separated. After all his worrying and scolding, all the sparring and apologies, he remembered the quiet night. Giving into the comfort of holding them close again. His stupid, chaotic, brilliant domino twins.
Now, there was just one. One he hadn’t seen or heard from in months.
He’d fucked up. It was undeniable, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand the silence. Using Cody as a bridge between them while he watched old holovids just to hear his brother’s voice. It was pathetic, it was desperate, and it ached.
He should just comm him.
No, no, he absolutely should not. Echo needed space. That was understandable. If that was all Rex could do for him right now then he was damn well going to do it. He could get this one thing right. He could be patient.
Shutting his eyes, Rex let his head fall onto the cold desk. Who was he kidding? He hated being patient. It was taking everything he had not to track the Bad Batch down and demand to speak to his brother. He was a Captain, after all. Who was gonna stop him?
But he couldn’t. And instead, he was stuck pretending to fill out paperwork in his private quarters and wishing to the force someone would just barge in and annoy him again.
The room almost seemed to taunt him with its silence. The small desk, nearly empty besides his datapad and a cold cup of caf. The single viewport staring out into nothing. The unkempt bunk where he lay awake at night with nothing and no one to distract him from his thoughts.
He’d never expected war to be so… isolating. He hadn’t expected silence, a private office, a professional separation forced between him and his men. His brothers.
He’d never been able to get away from them on Kamino, and even for that first year as a captain, he hadn’t been isolated. “Private quarters” had seemed more like a suggestion than a guarantee. Back when he had nothing but distractions to keep him from spiraling every night.
Now, he would’ve given anything to have his distractions back.
Rex squeezed his eyes shut tighter against his desk, trying to block out the empty room around him. Force, did he miss them.
The first time he truly felt it was after the Citadel. That aching, cloying loneliness. It dug into his bones, weighing on his chest until each breath stung. Every trooper lost, every brother that fell only served to add to the weight of that sensation.
There were days where it never left. Where each breath felt like its own battle, fighting against the emotion that threatened to spring to his throat at every reminder. Days where sorrow sat with him, begging to be let out and hurting all the same if he did.
Fox’s bolt might as well have struck him instead for all the grief it sent tearing through his chest.
And just when he thought he’d gotten one of them back…
“Don’t. Don’t give me whatever bullshit you told everyone else. He was the only thing I had left.”
“ ...ex? Hey, you listening?”
Rex startled, swiping a hand over his face as he glanced up.
Anakin stood in the doorway, frowning.
“General. Sorry, I… didn’t hear you come in.”
“...Are you doing alright?”
“I’m fine, sir,” he answered too quickly.
Anakin raised an eyebrow, looking at him like he did every time a trooper had utterly failed at lying. “It’s about Echo, isn’t it.”
Rex set his jaw, staring defiantly at his general’s knowing look. It worked for about a second before he gave up, sighing. “Yeah.”
For a long moment, Anakin said nothing. Once, Rex might’ve expected concern or some sort of backwards, poorly thought out advice. He’d stopped expecting it after the commander left. Just another friend he’d lost.
“Did you need something?” Rex asked, mentally pulling himself together again.
Anakin leaned against the doorway, shaking his head. “Nah. Just wanted to check in on you. I was walking by and I… Well. Your feelings are kinda loud.”
“Ah. …Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I get it, believe me. I wouldn’t have said anything but I’m gonna try to actually meditate for once, so. Y’know.”
Rex didn’t know. “Right.”
Anakin stood awkwardly. He glanced around, eventually tapping his metal hand against the doorway, turning to leave.
“Can you–” Rex cut in, hesitating. “Can you sense him? In the force, I mean?”
When Anakin turned back, he blinked, confusion flickering over his face before the hint of a smile formed. “You mean Echo? Yeah. Yeah, I probably can. I mean, he was with the 501st for a long time. And after the… the first thing, I’m not too keen on losing track of him again.”
Rex chuckled, rubbing a hand against his neck. “Yeah, me neither.” He glanced sideways at his datapad, the video file still open on it.
“Do you… want me to check on him?”
He blinked. “Could you? I mean, aren’t you busy?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I was gonna check on– uh. Well, I was gonna check on some people anyway, so I could probably find him while I’m at it. If you want.”
The slip-up wasn’t lost on Rex, and he hid a grin even as the offer tamed some of the anxiety still in his chest. “Yes. Please. I’d– I’d like that, sir.”
“No problem,” Anakin said, stepping away before glancing back once more. “Oh! One last thing, I think Jesse was looking for you.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Something about a problem he’s having with command? I’m not sure. It sounded urgent. Anyway, he was in the rec room last I saw him.”
Before Rex could even ask what that meant, the man was already halfway down the hall, the office door sliding shut behind him.
Problem with command didn’t sound good. That sounded like the sort of thing that would get a trooper in trouble and he did not need that kind of paperwork right now. What kind of problem could he not just handle himself?
Turning off his datapad, Rex heaved himself out of his seat, leaving his cold caf behind to look for his lieutenant.
Anakin, as it turned out, had been right. The door to the rec room slid open, revealing a very haggard looking Kix, glancing up from where he sat at a table with the man in question.
“--was not! It’s called skill. You just can’t recognize it cause you don’t have any.”
“Rex,” Kix groaned, giving him a tired look, “Any chance of getting a transfer?”
Jesse glanced backwards, noticing his presence as he pulled his cards close to himself so Rex couldn’t see.
“Afraid not. I don’t think I could handle this one without you,” he joked, kicking Jesse’s chair a bit.
“Aw come on, I’m not the worst you’ve had. Hey, pull up a seat,” Jesse said, waving toward an empty chair. “I wanted to talk about something.”
Rex had to consciously ignore the way his chest ached at the first statement, dropping into the offered seat. He cut to the point. “What’s this about a problem with command?”
“Yeah, yeah that. See, I have this captain,” he said, dealing Rex into the game with a sly look.
Rex groaned. “Jess-”
“He’s just so stubborn, y’know? Won’t come out of his office, won’t take a break, hell I don’t even think he’s slept recently. Have you slept recently?” He gave Rex a pointed look, moving on before he could respond. “And see, my medic here says that just isn’t healthy.”
“Sure ain’t,” Kix confirmed, shifting his cards around.
“ So, we figured we’d just force him to take a break for his own good!”
“Jesse, I don’t have time for this–”
“You look like shit and your eyes are red, so either you’re smoking something I don’t know about, or you’ve been watching old holovids again.”
Rex grimaced. “I have work.”
“No, what you have is a losing hand,” Jesse exclaimed, laying his cards down. “Take that!”
Kix groaned, slapping his hand down. Sure enough, glancing at the few cards in front of him, Rex confirmed that Jesse had just won. The little bastard.
“Well,” he huffed, pushing his chair back, “That was a great game and I appreciate the gesture, but I really–”
“Woah woah woah,” Jesse argued, shoving him back into his seat. “We’re playing at least five rounds. We haven’t even started betting yet!”
“Jesse, I can’t–”
“How about this,” Kix cut in, passing his cards to Jesse so he could shuffle them, “Best out of three rounds. If you win, you can hole back up in your office and we won’t bother you for a while. But if we win, you’ve gotta play all five rounds.”
“And we’re betting,” Jesse added.
“Yeah, and we’re betting.”
Rex looked between the two, Jesse nonchalantly shuffling the deck while Kix fixed him with that serious medic stare. He couldn't even remember the last time they’d played cards together. Kix was almost always stuck in the medbay these days, and with Jesse now an ARC trooper, none of them usually had the time.
Rex glanced to his right. Two empty chairs stared back.
A knot formed in his throat, the tightness from before threatening to return. It was exhausting.
Maybe a distraction would do him some good.
Three straight losses and a lot of Jesse-gloating later, Rex had resigned to his fate. If he was being honest, yes, he’d needed this. The atmosphere took a weight of his shoulders, playful banter blocking out the worries swirling through his mind. It was familiar, if a little bittersweet.
Halfway through their next round, Rex’s comm pinged, and he set down his cards to grab it.
Jesse put his arm down in front. “Do me a favor, Cap. Don’t pick up.”
Rex huffed, leveling him with a look. “I can’t just ignore it.”
“Right now? Yeah you can,” Kix argued. “You’re on a break.”
“Look, could you just tell me who it is? If it’s one of the Generals–”
Jesse glanced at the number, exasperated. “It’s not. Just a trooper’s personal comm, it can wait.”
Rex’s heart stuttered for a second, and he tried not to get his hopes up. “Is it–”
“Not Echo,” Jesse muttered. He shuffled his cards, quiet.
Kix cleared his throat. “Well. If I’m not mistaken, this” —he laid down his hand— “means I win.”
“Ach, come on!” Jesse groaned.
“Damn. And I had such a good hand, too.”
“Pretty good,” Kix agreed, looking over Rex’s cards as he dragged the betting pile towards himself. “Just not good enough.”
Rex rolled his eyes, Jesse grumbling as he re-dealt the cards.
Ping!
Before Rex could open his mouth, Jesse was glancing at the comm again. “Same number,” he said, dismissing it.
Rex’s brow furrowed. “If it’s the same one, I should probably check–”
“Rex,” Kix groaned. “Lighten up. If they really need something, they can comm someone else. I’d be getting calls too if it was actually an emergency; you are on a very important assignment from your medic to chill out.”
He didn’t like to admit it, but… Kix was right. There were other people someone could comm. He relented, smirking as he looked at his hand. “Fine,” he said mock-stubbornly, making a show of laying out his cards.
Kix’s eyes went wide. “What?! How?”
“Oh, come on!” Jesse threw his cards down, nowhere close to a winning hand. “We just started!”
“Hey, you were the dealer,” he argued, pulling the small betting pile towards himself.
Jesse glared. “Kriffer,” he muttered. “You know how hard it is to find those blue ration bars around here?!”
Ping!
Rex glanced over again, Jesse’s face dropping in the corner of his eye.
He sighed. Fine.
“I dunno, it seems pretty easy for me,” Rex said with a shrug.
Jesse grumbled, pouting. Laughing, Kix earned a heated glare that didn’t deter him in the slightest, only stopping when his brother slapped him upside the head. “Hey!” He aimed a slap back, Jesse ducking out of his seat to avoid him.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Kix said, smirking. Jesse back stepped, grinning in challenge before Kix launched at him. The tackle brought them both to the ground. Kix tried to pin the other on his back, but Jesse was faster, flipping him over to get him in a headlock. Kix wriggled, slapping at his arms. A hand smacked Jesse in the face, and he grunted.
Rex watched on, sneaking a few of Jesse’s ration bars towards himself. “Pin his arms,” he advised as a distraction.
Kix threw him a look of betrayal as a leg wrapped over his free arm, pinning it to the side. He clocked the ration bars, rolling his eyes. With his limited range of motion, he jerked his head towards his seat, and Rex slid one of Jesse’s bars into Kix’s pile.
“Jess!” Kix complained, keeping his brother’s attention and wheezing even as he laughed.
“Serves you right, ya little womp rat!”
Rex’s comm ping ed again, the sound entirely lost in the scuffle. “Hey, why’re you going after him? I’m the one that beat you,” he reminded.
Jesse glanced up, the thought visibly working its way through his mind before he locked eyes with Rex, grinning deviously. “Oh right.”
He dropped Kix, his brother wheezing as he crawled away. Jesse lunged.
“Shit!” Rex ducked behind the table, laughing. “You’re just gonna turn on me like that?!”
“You asked for it!” Jesse managed to grab his wrist, yanking him onto the floor. He scrabbled, trying to pin his arms, but Rex got a leg between them and shoved. Jesse landed with a huff, allowing Rex an opening to grab his shoulders–
Footsteps thundered down the hall, Kix glancing at the door as the other two paused. “What–”
“Aw, leave it,” Jesse argued. “It’s probably just some shinies–”
The door wooshed open before he could finish, boots squealing as they came to a stop. “ REX!”
“General?! What–?”
Anakin didn’t wait, frantic eyes landing on the comlink on the table and throwing his hands out. It flew through the air, smacking into Rex’s chest with a clack!
“No time, answer that!” Anakin called, already backing down the hallway. “Kix! You’re with me!”
Kix stood, grabbing his helmet as he rushed after the general.
Fumbling, Rex pressed the comm, the sudden noise making him wince.
“--peat, we need emergency docking permission, please respond. Captain, do you–”
“Slow down, trooper, I read you–!”
“Thank force,” the man breathed, a faint voice rambling in the background. “Sir, it’s Hunter–”
Rex’s gut dropped.
“--We’re about four klicks out, I don’t know how well I can land this thing. I’m headed for the starboard hangar bay, we need a clear landing pad and a medical team on sta–”
A loud noise caused Hunter to break off, who he assumed to be Crosshair snapping suddenly at someone. A third gruff voice shouted over him before the comm whined with feedback. Rex glanced at Jesse. He got a concerned look back.
They could only hear four of them.
“Sergeant,” he cut in, worry gripping at his chest, “Where’s Echo?”
The line crackled. “...Sir.”
No.
Please, force, no.
“I asked you a question, sergeant, where is he?!”
“He… He’s down. We need permission to land, he needs med–”
Rex didn’t wait for him to finish. He cut Hunter off, confirming where he could land before shutting the comm off, grabbing his helmet. He froze in the doorway, turning to Jesse. “Could… Can you–”
“I can take over, just go!”
He nodded, and then he ran.
He raced down the hallway. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat hammering along with his footsteps as he tore down the hall. He shoved his way through the small crowd, ignoring the shouts and questions sent his way as he raced towards the rapidly descending ship.
He shielded his eyes. Wind billowed past him as the ramp began to lower. Before the ship had fully settled, he gunned towards it, sprinting up the steps.
Someone slammed into him before he made it inside.
“Woah, Captain!” Hunter grabbed him, stopping him from tumbling backwards.
“Where is he? I need to–”
Hunter cut him off, looking over his shoulder. “Shit. Inside, quick,” he said, pulling Rex into the ship before more footsteps thundered up the stairs, a team of medics rushing past.
“In here!” a prim voice called from the bunkroom, the medics bringing a hovergurney inside. Rex couldn’t see in, there were too many people. He heard Kix gasp and jolted forwards.
“Hold it, Cap,” Hunter muttered, gripping his shoulder. “Give them space.”
He clenched his fists, fidgeting anxiously. “What happened?” he asked, never taking his eyes off the bustling figures in the room in front of them.
“Another mission. He wasn’t supposed to come with us, but Tech got ambushed and I couldn’t stop him, he just– He doesn’t listen to me.”
The four medics crowded around a bunk to the left, Tech’s voice audible over the chaos, giving information. He could see Kix nodding as he worked. Wrecker, in the opposite bunk, craned forwards to see around them.
“Of course he doesn’t,” Rex mumbled. “Stubborn bastard.”
“I shouldn’t have taken the chance,” Hunter said lowly, almost talking to himself. “I should’ve just made him stay in a medbay in the first place, he wasn’t ready for this. ”
Rex’s jaw clenched, biting back a growing tension that threatened to distract him.
A loud shout sounded from the room in front of them, sending a jolt through Rex’s heart before he recognized that it wasn’t Echo.
“Trooper, you have to let go, we’re trying to help him–”
“No!” the voice growled, a struggle breaking out. Rex could just see Tech rushing over, pulling someone away as the medic took his place. It was Crosshair, pressing back against Tech’s grip, eyes wild. His hands dripped with blood.
Rex’s stomach dropped. “Echo–”
“Outta the way,” Kix ordered, the hovergurney flying past and surrounded by medics on all sides.
Rex didn’t wait. He sprinted down the stairs after it, other footsteps thundering behind him. He heard Tech yelling something at the sniper, Hunter telling Wrecker to slow down, but he wasn’t focused on them.
He couldn’t see his brother. He saw the medics speaking to one another as they ran, pushing the gurney. He saw worried looks, Kix’s expression a mask of professionalism. He saw troopers in the halls stepping quickly out of the way as they flew by, surprise in their eyes as they recognized him, but he didn’t care and he couldn’t see his brother.
The hovergurney crashed through the doors to the medbay, rushing through the waiting room and into the long hallway beyond with Rex right behind it–
“Hold on, Rex, hold on–” Kix said, arms spread out to block his way. The rest of the batch squealed to a stop behind him. “I can’t let you follow him,” he said, giving them all a stern look, “You’ll only make things more difficult and he’s in no condition for anyone to be distracted while we’re working on him.”
“Kix, I have to see him–”
“Back off, reg,” Crosshair hissed, jolting forwards with clenched fists. Tech yanked him back, Kix glaring at them but otherwise unfazed.
“No,” he said, speaking over Crosshair’s snarling as Tech held him. “This isn’t about any of you. This is about saving him, and I can’t do that if you all are losing your damn minds while I’m trying to focus! Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t have time for this,” he said briskly, giving Rex a final glare before he turned and rushed down the hall.
“Crosshair, stop it,” Tech hissed, Rex glancing over as he wrestled the man into one of the waiting room chairs. Crosshair struggled, a dark smear of blood across his armor, his hands clenched. Like he didn’t want to get blood on anything else. He panted heavily, eyes locking onto Wrecker as he made his way over, lowering himself into the chair beside him.
The team looked like hell. Wrecker’s armor was scratched and he was moving slowly. Probably had a concussion. Crosshair didn’t seem injured, but that didn’t mean much when he had his eyes squeezed shut, holding himself perfectly still like he didn’t know what to do with himself. He’d given up on racing after his brother. Beside him, Tech’s hand still rested on his arm, the man zoning out into the distance in a rare moment of stillness.
Rex couldn’t stay here.
“Captain, wait.”
Hunter’s hand was on his shoulder again. He grit his teeth, reigning himself in before he turned to face the sergeant. “What.”
“You– Rex, you heard him. You’ll only make things worse. I know you’re worried and if there’s anything I can do, I’ll help, but you have to–”
Rex jerked his shoulder out of the man’s grip, leaning suddenly towards him.
“You’ve done enough.”
Pain flashed over Hunter’s face. Just for a moment before his expression shifted back into that stony look, emotion swept away. Three pairs of eyes flashed over, shock written across their faces.
Rex ignored it all, and ran.
He’d seen where the hovergurney had turned in, he’d seen the room over Kix’s shoulder and he tracked the doors before it as he flew by, counting. Just a little farther. Two.. one more, and– there .
He skidded to a stop, one hand against the door.
And he froze.
He could see his brother through the door’s viewport. Three medics stood around him, working quickly as Kix directed them. Tools whirred, machines beeping, small lights flashing on and off. The bright overhead lighting glinted off the operating table, off Echo’s prosthetics, off the blood spilling out of his side.
There was too much. Red had smeared all across his chest, dark bruising on his shoulder, a breathing mask over his face. His expression was blank. Calm. Perfectly oblivious to the panic around him.
Bile rose into Rex’s throat. He could smell smoke, blaster fire and burnt plastoid permeating his senses, digging into his mind while the lights glared down at him. He turned his back against the wall, clutching at his chest like he’d find a hole in the armor, like he’d find some way to breathe as he slid down, gasping.
Echo was dying. Echo was hurt and he was dying all Rex could think of was that it couldn’t end like this. Not when he hadn’t seen him in months.
Not when the last words they’d said to each other still burned a hole in his gut.