Chapter 9

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Ahsoka wakes up with her head in Rex's lap.

For the first few groggy blinks, nothing seems out of the ordinary. She's woken up with her head resting on plastoid before, usually with the same killer headache she has right now. Coric says elevation helps the swelling of montrals and lekku, and Ahsoka's always been inclined to trust the Sergeant when it comes to medical stuff- he is the chief medic in the 501st, after all.

The sun's above her again, hot against her skin instead of comfortably warm. There's that dreaded birdsong in the air again, but this time is sounds muffled- like she's listening to the creatures singing from underwater, or someone captured the feathered beasts in a bag.

Darkness suddenly shades her, and Ahsoka squints at the towering figure as they crouch over her face. The eyes are gold, and when the head turns to speak to someone else, she sees the phrase 'a good droid is a dead one' shaved into the side of their head.

Kix.

She feels her mouth move to say his name, but she doesn't hear her own voice. Her throat's raw, the same sensation she had after being brought off a ventilator after a treacherous campaign that put nearly the entire 501st into the medbay.

The clone frowns, his lips moving. Ahsoka blinks at him- baffled that she can't seem to hear. Her montrals can be a bit sensitive after head injuries, but she's never been deaf before.

Feeling on edge with one of her most valued senses gone, Ahsoka reaches for her belt, fingers stretching to wrap around the cool hilt of her lightsabers, only to grasp at air.

"Where's my lightsabers?" She asks, raising her volume to hear herself. Her own voice still sounds far away.

Kix's lips don't move, but he takes her shoulders, and with the help of someone else's hands- Rex's, judging by the familiarity- on her back, she's mobilised to sit upright.

She's leant against a tree of some sort, the bark scratching her back and little hairs tickling the backs of her arms as she tries to steady herself, "I can't find my lightsabers."

"Commander." She looks up at Rex, his expression set in deep concern as he leans towards her, favouring her right side. "Do you remember what happened?"

Ahsoka tries to even her breathing as she surveys the new environment. The grit of sand beneath her and glimmer of the sun off water tells her that she's on a beach, but where in the galaxy this beach is, she has no idea.

All she knows is that this isn't the ice planet they woke up on before.

"Anoobas." She says, one hand raising to her head in an attempt to soothe the pain, only for Kix to grab her wrist midway. "I told you to run- I got hit." Her hand goes limp as Kix lowers it to her lap, "I don't remember anything after that."

She looks at Rex for an explanation, but a frown is all he can offer, "Then your memory is as good as ours, sir."

"What do you mean?"

"All we remember is waking up here." Rex gestures around them. Ahsoka sluggishly scans the beach, counting the heads of the 501st and coming up two short, "I've sent Fives and Echo scouting; they left not long ago."

"What?" She spins her head back to him, ignoring the flash of pain that follows, "I thought we agreed to not send anyone off?"

Rex gives her an exasperated look, "I was left with little choice, kid. The ARCs are capable enough."

"They're capable on planets we're familiar with, or at least have some Intel about, not on planets where-"

"This isn't a planet, Ahsoka." Rex says in a tone he would use on a shiny.

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