The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Sixty

The sun had barely started rising when Commander Rex woke up in a cold sweat. Though he did his best to steady his breathing as his wide eyes glanced around the room, he could still feel his heart thundering against his ribcage. It was just a dream, he tried to convince himself. But the sound of cannibalistic screams still rang in his ears; he could still taste the coppery flavor of blood in the air.

Despite it being early, the clone noticed he was the only person left in bed and was thankful; he'd sweat so much that he'd left wet marks on his pillow and on areas of the bed-sheets where his bare skin had been exposed. His leather armor stuck to him like glue, leaving him with no other option than to take a shower to wash the remnants of the nightmare away.

"Hey, good morning."

He nearly leaped off the mattress from surprise at the sound of her voice, despite how calming and gentle it actually was. Rex's eyes flitted over to the doorway where Molindi's form stood, her shoulder pressed against the door-frame and her arms hanging at her sides. She was back in most of her own leather armor, though she'd left off the chest piece to expose her shirt beneath; he remembered her physical trauma from the day before and felt a wave of sympathy for her remaining pain.

"Oh uh, yeah, good morning," He stuttered through the sentence in an attempt to regain his composure. Although it wasn't hard for the woman to notice just how on edge he looked. Her expression changed from one of kindness to a slight scowl of concern.

"You okay?" She questioned and started walking towards the bed.

"No no- I mean, yes. I am," He spluttered once more and quickly got to his feet. But the man must've been sleeping harder than he'd originally thought; the minute he tried to stand, he collapsed to his hands and knees onto the hard ground as stars danced around the corners of his vision.

"Woah, easy there," Lindi quickly made her way across the room and knelt down in front of him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder. "You sure you're alright? You look kinda sick, maybe you should lay back down-"

Her hand was on his shoulder- he couldn't explain it, but something in him had shifted. Rex had been aware of the subtle touches since they'd met, the elbow-nudges and occasional brush of fingertips. But now instead experiencing of the usual giddiness that came with such contact, it was drowned out by a blaring alarm going off in his mind. It was as if her fingers were glowing metal brands, each one sending a terrifying image from his dream only hours prior of her drenched in blood, fear running rampant through her eyes. He jerked his body away from hers, involuntarily but it still left a somewhat hurt glimmer in her eyes.

"I'm fine," He tried to assure her, clearing his throat, forcing a smile and doing his best to act nonchalant. Lindi's only response was a nod in understanding, though the concern in her expression had shifted into a stoic feature.

"Right," She responded, avoiding eye-contact and rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Sorry, just making sure," The woman spoke, then began to walk back towards the door. "Axel and the General went out to grab us some breakfast. They should be back in a few minutes." Without even a glance over her shoulder or waiting for his response, she left the bedroom as Rex watched her walk away.

Even as she was speaking, the clone could already feel the regret turning into a ball inside his stomach.

It wasn't her fault that he'd had that dream, at least he didn't think it was her fault. Though he hadn't known her too long, he knew for a fact that she wasn't a malicious type. There was no way she'd somehow forced that dream onto him, it just wasn't in her nature. According to record, this was also only her second mission since recovering mentally from that traumatic experience; there was no possibility that Molindi was ready to touch that memory, let alone share it so vividly with someone like him.