We'll Get Though This Together (A Rexsoka Fanfic)

Here and Now

Warning: Kind of gruesome descriptions. If you want to skip it, look for the three pound signs (###) for the beginning of the descriptions and the end of them. Thanks.

It was a few days later and now the 212th and 501st were in a few cruisers, heading to the first rendezvous point to take down a large droid factory on Geonosis.

Now on the surface, gunships came flying in with troops and more troops. Everybody had finally gotten settled and they got fully prepared for the mission. Anakin and Obi-Wan were commanding a few clones around and Cody and Wooley were working with the grenades which were in crates. They had to divide the grenades into back packs, it would take a while, but more clones were starting to come over and help them out.

Ahsoka was walking with Rex along the perimeter of the small camp that was being set up. Rex had a small 2-D holomap projecting from his wrist while they were going through the plans of all the escape routes, doors, passages, and striking points.

"So," Ahsoka said. "I heard you told Anakin that—,"

"Okay, yeah, no," Rex stopped her.

She laughed. "It's fine, I swear. You're not gonna get in trouble from me."

Rex flushed slightly, "I still can't believe I did that."

"I can't believe you told me about it."

"Well, we made a promise not to keep secrets from each other..."

Ahsoka sighed. "Oh. I see where this is going. You're wondering what I was doing, huh?"

Rex fiddled with the map, turning it to get a better angle. "...maybe."

"Hmm, some things are best kept secret. I'll tell you soon, all right?"

"All right. It better b—"

Their conversation was cut short by a small explosion that echoed through the air. Rex looked at Ahsoka, confused. Then, a cry of agony and pain felt like it tore straight through him, but it died down rather quickly. Rex had heard that type of scream before on the battlefield, and he knew whoever it was from was in excruciating pain. He didn't even think, his just body reacted, exactly like how he was drilled over and over to do. He bolted towards where the scream had come from, and it was mad house now. Clones bumping into each other, shoving each other to get passed and to see what happened. Rex had gotten pushed and shoved so many times it drove him mad. He couldn't take it much longer so he cupped his hands around his mouth. "CLEAR THE FIELD!" He thundered.

All the clones quickly scattered so he could get through. He still ended up shoving a few out of his way though, but he soon saw the familiar white armor with yellow-orange accents. He felt an instant pinch in his heart, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. There was a circle of clones and he could hear shouts for a medic. Rex got down on his knees next to Cody who was on his side in a tight fetal position clutching an arm. Cody's jaw was clenched tight and he bared his teeth as he let out a hiss of pain.

"Shab, ner vod. What happened?"

Wooley, Boil, Trapper, Crys, and few others that were close looked absolutely guilt stricken. Cody groaned in pain again and his eyes shut even tighter. But then he started to relax and his eyes started to roll to the back of his head.

"Woah, no, no, no, no. Cody, stay wake, okay? Come on, brother. Hey—you'll be all right... Cody?"

###

Cody was teetering on the brim on consciousness and unconsciousness. He fell off that edge and plummeted into the darkness. His body went limp just as medics arrived with a hover-gurney. They loaded Cody onto it and Rex felt like he was going to vomit when he saw the full extent of his brother's injuries. Cody's right hand was pretty much completely destroyed and the skin up to his elbow was charred. His other hand wasn't to the point of it being beyond recognition, but it was pretty close. The melted body suit and armor certainly didn't help anything, and the smell of scorched skin was absolutely nauseating.

###

Rex put a hand up to his mouth and took a few steps back. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned and saw it was Anakin. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were there too, but Rex immediately followed the medics so that he would be spared the pity. That was the last thing he needed, unfortunately for him, Anakin had grabbed him by the bicep. Rex tried to get out of the grip, but it was the robotic hand holding on, so he gave up. He slowly turned his head to look at Anakin.

"You won't be able to see him." Anakin said.

"But I—"

"Ah-ah. The medic will need the area to themselves to stabilize Cody. There's nothing you can do at the moment, except maybe call a gunship if it hasn't been done already."

"No, sir. You don't underst—"

"We need you here with us, Rex. We need your help to pull this off. Cody will be fine, the medics will care for him, okay? Right now, you have to be here. I know that if it was Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, or you in that position, I'd be fighting my way in too, but sometimes we need to put those feelings behind. If you go with him, thousands of lives could be taken when Cody is guaranteed to be fine."

Rex didn't want to admit it, but Anakin was right. He had to—no—he needed to put his emotions away and lock them up. Cody's going to fine. Cody's going to fine. He repeated to himself. As much as he didn't want to, he decided to stay. He looked down and nodded. "Okay." Was all he had said before he unclipped his helmet from his belt and rammed it on, telling those around he was not in a talking mood.

Obi-Wan looked to Boil. "What happened?" He asked.

Boil brushed some soot off his forearm, "We were separating the grenades like we were ordered, sir. But the commander must've grabbed a faulty one because, not only was the explosion small, but it randomly activated. We were focused on what we were doing, so we don't know if he accidentally made it go off or what.... do you think he'll be okay?"

Obi-Wan stroked his beard. "I should think so."

"His right hand can't be saved though." Anakin said. "That I'm positive about. His other hand could be the same way, we won't know for a bit."

The reverberating sound of a gunship's engine grew louder and louder until they all felt it in their chest. The larty touched down and clones went back to their business as medics came, leading the hover-gurney with Cody on it, though, he was hardly visible from the medics purposely blocking the view. The doors from the larty opened and there was a med-droid inside with a few other clones. The medics lead the gurney onboard and let the droid handle the rest.

Ahsoka was still in shock. She wondered how Cody would react to having a missing hand, maybe both hands. It wouldn't be easy, she knew that. She also wanted to go see Rex, but he needed space at the moment to fully take in everything that happened. After all, it was pretty shocking.

Not only was Obi-Wan's fretting appearing through the Force like a sore thumb, but Rex was like a black ink blot on a white sheet of flimsi; very visible.  Those around her were also a jumble of fear, concern, and distress. She forced herself to make light of the situation and told herself that if the faulty grenade was left in that crate, the other bombs would've exploded and Cody would've been killed, along with the brothers around him. Some things had to be sacrificed to save lives, and in this case, that sacrifice was Cody's hands.