Unexpected

chapter sixteen: grief

Echo enters the bunks to find Fives already on his bed. A sigh leaves his lips as he leans against the frame of their bunk.

"You two are closer than I thought." Echo speaks, knowing his brother is still awake. "If there's anything I know about you, it's that you've got a big heart." Echo continues. "It must've torn you apart to break your promise."

"Yeah, well." Fives mumbles. "Things happen."

Echo shakes his head. "You forget that I know you like the back of my hand." He points. "I know you care more than you let on."

"I don't." Fives huffs.

"Keep telling yourself that." Echo sighs. He plops onto the lower bunk and steadies his breathing, quickly falling into a deep sleep.

Fives, on the other hand, cannot seem to get a wink of sleep. Instead he lays wide awake as he stares at the ceiling.

*

"Elara." Rex calls softly as he follows her.

Elara's slow pace comes to a halt as she reaches the hangar and Rex is soon at her side. "I was in the pastures when the droids showed up." She speaks as hot tears stream down her face. "It wasn't until after the explosion that I knew what was happening." Her eyes squeeze shut as she looks down.

Rex places a hand on her back to comfort her. He remembers the dark cloud of smoke rising from the explosion of the small villa. He remembers the cries of the girl in the field as it happened, the cries that allowed them to locate her through the darkness.

"If I had been there.." Elara chokes on her words. "I.. I could've.."

"You would've suffered the same fate as they did." Rex sighs.

Elara cries as Rex holds her in his arms. His heart breaks for the girl. From the small bits he does remember from his time on that farm, he considered Elara's parents to be kind people.

"They don't even know that I made it out." Elara sniffs as Rex rubs circles on her back.

Rex rests his chin on the top of her head. "They know." He assures her. They pull out of the hug and Rex wipes her stray tears away.

"I should get some rest." Elara speaks softly, avoiding Rex's gaze.

"Of course." Rex nods. "Goodnight El."

"Goodnight." She forces a small smile before turning on her heels.

Without looking back, she hops into the back of a speeder and asks the driver to bring her back to the Senate building. She doesn't pay much mind to the man operating the speeder, but once he makes a turn away from the Senate building Elara furrows her eyebrows.

"Excuse me." She speaks up, but the man in the grey officer uniform doesn't acknowledge her. "Hello?" She asks, still no response.

Elara's heart beats faster as she looks at the man. In one swift motion, she removes the grey hat to reveal a familiar 5 tattoo.

"Fives?" She asks, relieved that she's not being kidnapped but also confused as to how he got here, in a uniform that definitely isn't his.

Fives glances back at her and she slips into the passenger seat.

"The Senate building is the other way." She says, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know." He responds, continuing in his current direction.

Elara furrows her eyebrows. Before she can make a sassy comment, Fives pulls the speeder up and out of the flow of traffic. The speeder stalls and relaxes into a hover far above the city. Elara's eyes widen as she looks down at the rush of lights below them.

"I'm sorry." Fives's voice pulls Elara back into the speeder as she turns to look at him. "I'm sorry that I didn't do more to help you on Grange. I'm sorry that for once in my life I obeyed orders instead of doing what I knew was right." He apologizes.

Elara examines his face as he looks down. She notices his soft eyes and her heart aches in her chest. "Fives.." She speaks softly.

"Your parents were good people." He continues. "They didn't deserve the end that they got." A tear rolls down his cheek. "And you.. You're everything good about both of them."

Fives had only briefly known Elara's family. He'd stayed the first night Rex was there to help him settle in before going back to the war.

That night had almost completely distracted him from the war. The kindness and warmth that radiated around the strangers coddled both him and his brother during their time there. As they talked and shared stories, the contagious laughter of their sweet daughter caused heat to rush to his cheeks.

He'd never forgotten the look on her face when he left her behind. Nor did he forget the heartache and bitter hatred laced in her insult.

"I know this all probably means nothing to you, but I needed to apologize." He clenches his jaw as he fights his tears. "I needed you to know that I care."

"Fives." Elara repeats, placing a hand under his chin to look into his eyes.

Her heart races as she looks at him, into those same brown eyes that had caused her heart to flutter all that time ago. She had blamed him for the death of her parents, for the pain she'd endured, but if it wasn't for him she would've suffered the same fate as her parents. If he hadn't cared enough to tell Rex the truth, she would've been found by the droids and killed just as mercilessly.

"It's okay." Elara speaks, wiping his tears away. "Rex's life was on the line. There was no time to negotiate my safety." She realizes. "At the end of the day, you did keep your promise." She points, being that she did end up on Coruscant and under the protection of the Republic.

Fives relaxes into her touch as she brushes his hair away from his face. That grey hat didn't exactly help his styled hair keep its shape.

"I'm sorry for being so hard on you." Elara speaks softly. "If it wasn't for you, I would've been killed by clankers too."

Her bottom lip begins to quiver and Fives wraps his arms around her. The two of them stay like that for quite some time, enjoying the comfort of one another's presence.

Eventually, the speeder finds its way to the lower hangar of the Senate building. Elara steps onto the platform and sighs as she faces Fives.

"Want an escort to your quarters?" Fives offers.

Elara stifles a laugh. "I think I'll manage, officer." She teases him for the grey uniform he somehow acquired.

Fives just smiles, glad to hear even a soft, restrained laugh from her. "Then I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Perhaps." She smiles as she turns away.

Once she's inside the building, Fives starts the speeder up and heads back to the barracks. He quietly slips into his bunk before drifting to sleep with a small smile on his face.

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Author's Note:

How do we feel about Fives and Elara finally putting the past behind them?