By My Side

Chapter 18 - Searching

Author's Note: I know Sidious might seem kind of stupid in here, but let's be honest. He's the one who thought Luke would join him after Sidious murdered all his friends in front of him. Plus, there's a lot more to his plans than he's revealing right now. Also, there may be some quadruple crossing going on... *evil laughter* 

~Rivana Rita

Rex hasn't known the Commander for long, and he wouldn't go so far as to say what they've formed is a friendship, but she's his superior, and the General trusts her. That's what matters most.

Currently, they're sitting together in Rex's quarters, watching a recording that General Skywalker had... apparently made for them. General Kenobi had found it first and shown the padawan. She opted to take Rex's to him directly. "It doesn't guarantee anything," she had said. "But it made me feel better. It seems important, and I don't understand it. Maybe you'll have a better idea?" He appreciates the sentiment. While Ahsoka doesn't see herself as above the boys, she's still apart from them. She isn't one of them. Jedi and clones were raised differently, and it limits their understanding of one another.

General Skywalker was never like that. He always... understood.

There is nothing Rex wouldn't do, no lengths he wouldn't go to, if it meant bringing his General back.

There has always been something about the General that draws attention to him. Rex has never understood it. He never much needed to. It was simply another thing that made Anakin Skywalker Anakin Skywalker. Rex knows better than to question these things.

And here he is, even if only in a holorecording, still somehow radiating the same power and importance he always does. He looks tired and worn, which Rex has seen so many times, and the worry that twists inside him never stops.

Something was cut out in the middle – something Rex highly suspects was to General Kenobi, probably something private. Ahsoka is right about it being confusing. The 'I don't know who I can trust anymore' hurts in some inexplicable way.

There's a shift there, and something in his General's expression morphs from vulnerable to adoring – that's the way he looked at Ahsoka. At his padawan. Rex almost feels as though he's intruding on something private, but the 'while I mostly remember you from before – a life you'll never remember' is what really throws him. Ahsoka is right. Something isn't adding up here.

And then he thinks of his nightmares, of seeing the General falling from the edge of a cliff and a strange, swirling vortex that always follows, and he wonders.

It sounds outrageous, but there's hardly been anything since the Clone Wars started that isn't. One of his most trusted men betrayed him, and that was outrageous if anything was.

"Like before," Anakin says, another reference to a life they never lived, and then Rex knows.

And it makes so much sense. Since Christophsis, something changed. The General seemed... more skilled. Faster. Swifter. His strategies have always been brilliant, but Rex saw the difference.

"And Rex – you have always stood by me when I needed someone, and I thank you for that. I wish there was a way I could repay you. You're a friend and I – thank you. For everything. From start to finish – it was you who had faith in me when no one else did."

It means a lot to hear. It's... inappropriate for them to outright call one another friends because of their positions, but it's ultimately what they are. If they can truly be called that. They don't discuss their deepest emotional struggles, but ultimately, they share a bond deeper than words can describe. They fight with each other, covering for each other and saving each other. There is no trust deeper than that. His brothers' lives are in their General's hands, and Rex has seen time and again how much he values that.