Cyare (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

24

A/N - Wow. Ok. Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. Uh... yeah I have no excuse valid for this. Oops. Sorry. I'll try to update twice for the missed day. Also, looking at my story notes... these next few chapters got dark, like really, really dark. So, a warning for potential self harm/suicide/... etcetera? I think I need to coin a new phrase to describe this. Forget angst or hurt/comfort... this is like depression together. Nothing comforting about it. Good luck! RotD: A girl is twice as old as her brother and half as old as her father. In 50 years, her brother will be half as old as his father. How old is the daughter now?

Rex scrubbed at his eyes roughly then jammed his helmet on. He offered his hand to Fives, who was still crouched over their brother's body. Fives knocked it away roughly. He shot to his feet.

"Well? Are we going after the killer or back to the plan?" He demanded sharply. Rex let out a long sigh. He couldn't feel Ahsoka very well, like she was unconscious. Which she probably was if she had just left Jesse's body like that. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes behind the black T visor.

"That's a lightsaber wound. Unless Ahsoka killed him for whatever reason, I think that this may be one and the same. The bounty hunters were in league with Kenobi." He decided.

Fives gave a start, and nodded. "Ok. The wound is still fresh. Switch to infrared to track him?"

Rex nodded his agreement. He swapped over to infrared on his HUD, and took a look around. There was a scuffle of footsteps around the body, and a single set that approached the scuffle and left dragging something. Rex's stomach rolled over as he realized what that something was. Fives scouted ahead and came to a halt.

"He must've knocked commander Tano out and dragged her over here. Then the marks just... vanish." He said, frowning at the floor. Rex looked up at the near by walls of the alleyway.

"Up there!" He relayed, pointing up. There was a distinct set of hand prints on the ledge of a roof top. Fives looked up.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" He asked, frowning behind his helmet visor. Rex looked carefully at the alley walls, judging them. Something Ahsoka and him had done on trandosha came back to him.

"I've got a terrible idea." He said, backing up against the wall. Fives tilted his head.

"And that is...?"

"This." Rex ran straight at the wall, jumping at it and pushing off from both sides until he grabbed the spot where Kenobi disappeared with this left hand and struggled up, breathing hard. He had almost missed it.

He panted and looked over the edge at his brother beneath him. Fives scoffed and shook his head.

"You've been hanging out with those damn jedi way to much ori'vod." Rex just rolled his eyes.

"I'll help you up. Just get up here." Fives tried to get up the same way Rex did, but he actually missed the ledge. Only Rex's quick reflexes kept him from a broken leg. Rex grunted as he hauled the ARC trooper up onto the roof. There was more footprints leading away.

"Come on." Rex took off following the trail after a nanosecond's pause to catch his breath.

Ahsoka hurt. Every nerve ending in her body felt like it was on fire. She groaned and opened her eyes. Not that it helped, there was no light in the room whatsoever. She began to panic. She hated the dark ever since Kavado. She could feel the springs of a metal cage surrounding her. Not helping. Not helping at all.

"Afraid, Tano?" A familiar voice asked from somewhere outside her cage. Kenobi. She decided to play innocent. Fighting down the irrational panic, she called out to him.

"Master Obi-Wan?" She asked tentatively. There was a bark of a chuckle.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead, child. I am all that remains." He said, a dim light focusing on him. He sat on a metal chair about five feet away. She could now see her cage. Small, not even enough to stand up in. She could barely sit upright without her montrals touching the top. A dog like creature lay leisurely on top of her cage.

"A-and you are?" She asked, cursing her self for the briefest falter of her voice. She reached out to the force only to find that she couldn't. Just like on the trandoshan ship, she was powerless.

"I am Darth Caedus." He gave her a sickening smile. "Oh, don't bother trying to use the force. The isalamiri prevent any reach of the force within a five foot radius." Ahsoka's face pales enough that he could see it in the dim light. "Oh don't worry, Tano, it will be... removed soon enough. My master has given me permission to search your head for any information that could be valuable. I look forward to tearing your shields to shreds." Obi- no. Darth Caedus stood and walked over to crouch next to her cage.

He was so close that when he spoke she could smell his fetid breath. "Your little clone, 7567, and his ARC trooper pet are tracking me here. Quite resourceful. I shall break them like twigs if you attempt any thing." He gave a sickening smile, so like the ones master Kenobi had given her and so unlike them that it made her skin crawl. Then he was gone, and what ever light was left in the room left with him.

Ahsoka curled up in the cage and reached out for Rex, for her Master, for anyone that wasn't a sith lord. Nothing. Even the green field of the force that she normally saw while meditating was completely unreachable. For the first time in her life, Ahsoka was completely alone and powerless. At least this cage wasn't swinging over a bottomless pit. She twisted her engagement ring around her finger nervously.

She would never say it, but there in the dark, where nobody could see, she let the tears fall. One way or another, she just wanted it to end.