Rexsoka: Bewildered Slow Burn

Safe Haven: Part 2

~Author's Note~

Summary: Rex weathers a brutal storm in search of Ahsoka (Part 2/3)

Mando'a Translations:

Gedet'ye nayc = please, no
Haar'chak = damn it
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Kriff! Gedet'ye nayc, gedet'ye nayc...

Rex pleaded to the Force that Ahsoka was alright, wherever she was. It was nearing 0300 now, and he had no idea how long she had been missing. Dread coiled knots in his stomach as bursts of forked lightning torched the sky. If it hadn't been for the ferocity of the storm, he never would have woken up and noticed Ahsoka's absence in the first place.

Rain seeped through Rex's fatigues and puddled in the soles of his boots as wind lashed through the umbrella of leaves overhead. Switching his rangefinder to night vision, he scanned the forest for any trace of life. The sensors flickered as it detected a life form further down the trail. He had a sickening intuition that it was Ahsoka. Heart hammering, Rex broke into a run and clambered down the mud-caked slope.

In his mad dash to Ahsoka's side, Rex nearly tumbled headlong over a hulking mass lying prostrate in the road. A closer look told him it was a Trandoshan. Rex stepped over the body, consumed solely by the need to help his commander.

Scathing gashes striped Ahsoka's exposed back where the cloak hung in shreds. Rex gathered her into his arms. She drew a shuddering breath and shifted, her face twisted in pain. Wasting no time, Rex pulled Ahsoka up and across his shoulders as he had done for so many of his brothers throughout the war.

They couldn't go back to the hovel. If any other bounty hunters were combing through the countryside right now, their shack would be an immediate target. Their best bet would be to lay low and ride the storm out. Shouldering Ahsoka's weight, Rex veered off the trail to find higher ground along the ridge upstream.

Minutes seemed to bleed into hours as Rex pressed on, until finally he stumbled upon a cleft in the rock wall. Setting Ahsoka down, Rex cleared underbrush from the mouth of the crevice and settled her into the makeshift shelter. Then he scrunched in beside her, careful not to bash his head on the low ceiling.

Ahsoka rolled over onto her side and hugged her rib cage. Her eyes opened a fragment and she studied Rex through the minimal moonlight.

"I've got to stop the bleeding," Rex said, unfastening her drenched cloak.

Ahsoka's eyes fluttered closed again, on the verge of slipping back into unconsciousness. Rex had to strain to hear her feeble protest.

"I'm ok."

"Yeah, that was convincing."

Rex peeled off the tattered fabric, stunned by the jagged lacerations from her shoulder blade down to the small of her back. He had witnessed similar injuries—and far worse—throughout the Clone Wars. But seeing such a grisly wound on Ahsoka made his insides twist with nausea.

Rex pulled her close, shielding her from the rain at his back. Wrapping his arm around her, he enveloped Ahsoka with the dry underside of his cloak and pressed the folds to her bloody wound. She stiffened, her nails digging into the thick fabric of his collar as she stifled an agonized groan.

"I know, I'm sorry," Rex swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry."

For several painstaking moments, all Rex could hear was Ahsoka's sharp, ragged breaths as she trembled against his plastoid chest plate.

"I don't understand how we were found out," he said, hoping to keep her awake and alert. "We've covered all our tracks."

Ahsoka tilted her head up to look him in the visor.