Cyare (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

15

"You know bed rest means you usually stay in your own bed, right?" Fives asked. He was sitting in the hard durasteel chairs across from Rex and Ahsoka's beds.

Ahsoka was curled up in a ball in his lap, locked away in a drugged dreamland. Even though Rex was worse off, his clone healing left him better off than she was at the moment.

"I'm still in my own bed. They don't care as long as she's sleeping." Rex rubbed her shoulder. Poor Ahsoka. The loss of echolocation was making life a living nightmare for her. She couldn't walk straight to use the refresher, and her depth perception was messed up from it too.

"I heard about her head." Fives grimaced. "Is it permanent?"

Rex shook his head. "The blood filling her montrals will drain away with time. Any word on Hardeen or the bombers?"

Fives sighed heavily. He and Cody had been Rex's eyes and ears for the last couple days. Anakin occasionally stopped in too to check on Ahsoka.

"The bomb was republic design alright. It's a triple B. Beacon, bug, and bomb. Nonlethal, of corse." Fives rubbed at his eyes. "If I never have to see another report for you it'll be too soon. I'm going cross-eyed from all this."

"Nuh-uh. I'm crosh eyed 'ere, no' you." Ahsoka slurred, rubbing at her eyes tiredly as she rolled over, burying her face in Rex's shoulder. He rubbed her back soothingly.

"How do you feel, Cyare?" He asked softly. It took her a few seconds to respond.

"Uh... M' shest hursh." She blinked her eyes hard and squinted at Fives.

"It's just Fives. Go back to sleep love." Rex pressed a kiss on her forehead. Fives made a gagging sound and made a motion of sticking his fingers down his throat. Ahsoka hummed and shut her eyes once more.

"Ug. Can you be all sweet when I'm gone? I'm gonna get diabetes from watching this." Fives curled his lip. "What's she on? Wonder if Jesse can get me any."

Rex rolled his eyes. Typical. "Sleep pills and pain killers. The concussive wave re-broke her ribs, and me landing on top of her probably didn't help any. She's healing, but is in more pain now than she probably was to begin with."

Fives winced in sympathy. "Ribs are the worst. They hurt when you so much as breath and take forever to heal."

The door to the room that Rex and Ahsoka shared burst open and Anakin skidded in. He was red-faced and panting, and it took him a couple seconds to regain the ability to speak. He must've run all the way from his rooms on the other side of the temple.

"Hardeen... he escaped two hours ago from the republic prison." He paused, gasping for air. "He had help from Cad Bane and Moralo Eval."

Fives jumped to his feet and Rex sat completely up, swinging his feet over the bed. The rapid movement made his head hurt again but he didn't care.

"What are we waiting for! If he's out there-" Anakin cut him off, pushing his back in the bed.

"No Rex. The council won't let me go after." He gritted his teeth.

"But sir, when have you cared about the council? If we go after him now, we might be able to stop him before he leaves Corascant!" Rex argued. Anakin sighed and pinched his brow.

"I agree, but I need you to stay here, Rex. I'll take Fives and Cavalry with me. You're in no condition to fight, and I need you to be the last line of defense for Ahsoka." Fives nodded, and ran out to get his Euk Vod. "This is the second time they've come after her. They're determined, and I need you to keep her safe. Understood?"

Rex blew out a long breath, and pulled his right arm out from under Ahsoka to salute him the best he could while he lay in bed. "Sir yes sir." Anakin's mouth twisted.

"For the last time, Rex, please call me Anakin."

"Sorry, habit." Rex apologized. "Before you go, why Cavalry?" Anakin paused at the door.

"Because she's small enough to get into places, like a ventilation system, she has clone training and makes a good team with Fives, and have you even met her? She's terrifying for a fourteen-year-old."

Rex snorted. "Ok. I get the idea."

Anakin pulled a rock out of his pocket and tossed it to Rex. "If you need something to do."

Rex groaned. "Not the rock again." Anakin laughed and ran out the door, running to catch the killer.

Rex turned the rock over and over in his hand, before setting it on the bed in front of him. Closing his eyes, he sank into meditation again. This was easy. He could meditate just fine. He could feel the rock just fine, and the force around and in it. But he couldn't get it to move.

Don't use your own power. That was what Ahsoka said. He looked a little closer at the flows of the force around the stone. He tugged at them experimentally. They all shivered and moved with his touch. It was like a strange mixture of a river and a tapestry. It moved along the threads like water, but it was all interconnected like a loose spiderweb.

Concentrating, he tightened the weave under the stone, like it was resting on a blanket of force. Tentatively, like a small child poking at an unknown food, he prodded the 'blanket.' It moved with his touch, and he felt the stone roll over dimly outside if his meditative trance.

He poked at it again, picking up the weave slightly. He felt the weight of the stone lift. He cracked open one eyelid cautiously. There the stone was. Floating a foot off the bed. Was this all it took? It felt so easy compared to how much he had struggled with it.

"Very good, young one. Yes. Very good." Rex jumped and dropped the strands of the force in shock. The stone fell back to the bed. He turned back to the door to see the onlooker.

"General-er.. grandmaster Yoda." Rex stuttered, and the small green life form smiled.

"General, you may call me. Strange, grandmaster sounds from your mouth." He walked to the chair that Fives had occupied, his staff tapping on the ground. If he was surprised to find Ahsoka curled up in Rex's lap, he didn't say.

"Sir, why are you here? I thought you had... jedi things to do." Rex said carefully. Yoda chuckled.

"Come to see your progress, I have. Quickly, you advance." He pointed to the stone with his staff. "Again, lift it."

Rex complied, picking the rock up. He didn't even need to close his eyes this time. It was like the threads were written already on the backs of his eyes. He held the rock in place.

"Good, good." Yoda smiled. "Now move it."

Rex frowned, and moved the weave under the stone. The stone fell through the edge and tumbled back to the bed. His scowl deepen, and Yoda chuckled.

"Progress, but still much to learn, you have." He got up tiredly from the chair.

"Please, tell padawan Tano hello I say, when she awakens." Rex blinked, and then the general was gone, the tapping of his staff echoing down the hall. Strange jedi.