Cyare (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

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They were out of time. Rex felt a familiar tug in the pit of his gut and leapt aside in time to avoid a blaster shot. He swiveled his head, already looking for the danger as he drew his blasters. He just managed to turn to see the tank break through the perimeter fence and grind to a halt. 

"Time's up." He yelled at the frozen rebel soldiers in an effort to get them to move. More blaster fire rained down and he heard the hum of lightsabers moving. He swiveled his head and saw Ahsoka and Anakin with their sabers drawn and deflecting the rebels in small groups. Rex slid his cane through a loop in his belt and returned fire. His twin 17's could only do so much. 

"Rex, take the rebels and move back to form a defensive perimeter." Ahsoka ordered, her voice very audible over the blaster fire. 

"No." Came a new voice with a strong corascanti accent. Rex turned his attention back to the tank just fast enough to see Saw and Lux climb it and chuck droid poppers down both hatches. 

"What are you doing?!" Ahsoka almost lost focus to glance at them. Lux jumped free at the last second as the tank exploded. Soot and dirt marred his face. 

"What you taught us." Other rebels, finally managing to get their arms to bear, opened fire. 

Rex couldn't have been more proud. He fired shot after shot into the advancing droid lines while trying to watch a little out of the corner of his eye. Saw was good at melee, rushing in and popping the droid's heads off at close range. Jaiscon was throwing EMP bombs and actual explosives left and right. Steela was firing with her sniper, and Rex never saw her miss. 

A shot whizzed so close to his head that he felt the heat. Alright, attention on the lines not your men. He knew better than that! He returned fire the best he could, his hands still trembling too badly to shoot cleanly, but that didn't matter when the droids mobbed like this. The muscles in his fingers cramped suddenly and his wrists seized, sending shooting pain up his arm and almost making him drop the blasters. Huh. So that was what over extending himself felt like.

An animal bellowed, and he turned just in time to throw himself out of the way as one of the mounts almost trampled him. The droids weren't so lucky, lines of them getting crushed under foot and hoof. He turned to see Steela shooting the fencing, letting all the animals loose. She was an excellent shot. 

Rex still couldn't get his hands to obey, and that scared him when he couldn't open them anymore and they only knotted tighter with shooting agony. He was on his knees and breathing hard, just trying to get a grip on his blaster, his cane, anything. It hurt. It hurt a lot. The droids got closer and closer to the point of surrounding him. This was it. Anakin and Ahsoka were too far away to help, and Fives was off destroying rollies.  

Rex reached out to the force to try to gain some control of his hands. Lines of the force, in an intricate web around him, bent to his will like water. His hands relaxed and he grabbed his cane, ready to try to use it as a club to make a last stand. He shoved himself to his feet and flipped the cane around so he was holding it like one of the wood training sabers Ahsoka taught him to use. 

He gave a grim smile as he remembered the form one strikes. He lunged at the nearest droid and hit the weak neck joint with a solid hit and turned to cut the legs out of another droid. He shot it in the head easily with his open hand. 

He continued this little dance of swinging and fireing, but his hands were beginning to seize once more. His legs burned with exhaustion, and his arms felt like lead. It was only a matter of time. A droid tackled him from behind and it became a pile up. He couldn't see. Couldn't move. He gasped weakly for air that was becoming increasingly full of dust. He coughed and spat but couldn't get to clear air. He reached out to the force again, even though even that was becoming strenuous to do. 

He gathered every string of the force he could reach and without stopping to think of the consequences, cracked the lines of pure power like whips around him. 

Ahsoka felt Rex fall. She saw the pile of droids surrounding her husband to be and would have panicked if it weren't for her training and her duty to protect the rebels until they could protect themselves. She knew he was hurt, and that instead of being a responsible and injured trooper not cleared for combat, he was walking the fine line between brave and stupid. 

She cut through a clanker that got too close for comfort and tried to make her way over to him when the force gave a mighty tug. She felt the shock wave even from a foot away as the clankers blew out from Rex. She also saw him struggle to his feet, sway slightly, then crumple once more. Unconscious, she hoped. 

She gave a yell and cut through more of the stupid battle droids. No. She had to stay focused. The droids would mistake him for dead as long as he stayed still. She couldn't get to him. She must put her emotions aside. She must...

And then it was over. She cut through a last droid and turned only to find the battle field completely silent except for the coughs of the rebels and low moans from the wounded. Smoke and dust made the air chokingly thick and hard to see. 

Then it was shattered by a whoop of triumph from Saw. His yell broke the spell that had fallen over the rebels and suddenly everyone was moving at once. Calling out the names of family and friends, clapping each other on the back, running to check on the wounded. Ahsoka all but sprinted to Rex, who was lying face down in the dust. She rolled him on his back and cradled his head. 

He didn't move. He wasn't breathing. 

Ahsoka's heart stopped, her blood freezing in her veins. No no no no no. He couldn't be, not now. Please not now. She couldn't... She needed him. She tried to find what was wrong, when Fives slid next to her. He was deathly pale, and his hands were trembling slightly. He pulled out a scanner and flashed it over Rex's chest. 

"His airway is clogged from the dust. Help me sit him up." Fives ordered. His eyes were wild. Ahsoka helped Fives lift her fiance's upper body and slump him over so his head was bent over his knees. Fives slammed his fist in to Rex's back once. A second time. Finally, on the third time, Rex gave a little cough and wheeze. Fives pounded a fourth and final time, and Rex managed to draw a breath before coughing violently. Fives sat back and scrubbed at his brow in relief while Ahsoka hugged her captain tight.

He was alive. He was still there with her. 

"Thank you." Ahsoka said to Fives. The ARC gave a dull chuckle. 

"He would be dead if you hadn't thrown those droids off of him. Or, I assume that was you." Fives raised an eyebrow. Ahsoka nodded. Rex gave a low grunt and stirred slightly. Fives smirked and stood. "I'll let you take care of him from here." Ahsoka pulled Rex a little closer and patted his back as he coughed some more, though much gentler than Fives. 

His eyes fluttered open. "Oops." He whispered throatily. 

The panic and fear of losing him was draining away and the tears started, leaving tracks down her dusty cheeks. "Oops? That's all you have to say for yourself? Oops?" She berated him and helped him sit up a little more so his head was leaning on her shoulder. Rex nodded, coughing again as his body tried to rid itself of the dust he inhaled. 

"Yep. Oops." 

Ahsoka gave a broken laugh and kissed him on the forehead.