Star Wars the Clone Wars: Legends Never Die

Chapter 7

When Ahsoka wakes up, she's cold.

Shivering, she tries to curl in on herself, only to knock her legs into a giant lump behind her. She turns slowly, one hand on her lightsaber, until the blonde hair confirms it's only Rexster behind her, and not a wampa.

Looking around, the clones are at ease. They're all sleeping still, and judging by their Force-signatures, none of them are plagued with the bad dreams that so often haunt their sleep. Even Fives seems to be resting peacefully.

Ahsoka stifles a yawn, nudging Rex with her elbow. He grunts, turning away from her. She wonders when he became such an old man that he has to sleep in every morning. On campaigns, he's always the first one up, and one time he pulled her out of her tent in her sleeping bag, running her through the wet grass to 'wake her up'.

Pushing herself to her feet to spare Rex a few extra minutes of bliss, Ahsoka walks to the mouth of the cave. Outside, it's white.

She stares at the snow falling gracefully onto the frosted ground, wondering how this planet could be warm and summery one day, and snowy the next.

The weird thing is... it doesn't feel very cold. Sure, there are goosebumps on her bare arms, but she isn't cold cold.

Bending down, Ahsoka runs a hand through the powdery snow, bringing a somewhat unexpected smile to her face. It never snows on Coruscant, and whenever she goes to ice planets with the 501st, she's more concerned with keeping her and her men alive to appreciate how pretty it is.

The snow is light, falling between the gaps in her fingers before disappearing into a sheet beneath her. There's no chill lingering on her hands like there is usually when one touches snow.

"This doesn't feel like the same planet, sir."

She jumps, whirling around to see Blinder staring at the snow from the mouth of the cave, the other men gathered behind him. Her eyes fall on Rex who looks awful with dark bags under his eyes and a sunken expression on his face.

This isn't the Rex she knows. The Captain of the 501st is never the first to give up hope, and even when things are looking their bleakest. Rex is the one with the enthusiasm, the good ideas, the motivation to get her, Anakin, and the men through whatever obstacle they're facing. Now, he looks hopeless.

That scares her slightly.

"I wouldn't be so sure, kid." Fives says, stepping forwards until he's standing in line with Ahsoka, "Look, over there!"

They follow his pointed hand to the cairn they were trying to reach the day before. It's surrounded by deep snow, only the top rocks are visible.

Ahsoka frowns, "How can it be sunny one day and covered in snow the next?"

"Perhaps it's a controlled climate." Ox proposes, looking to Ridge for some approval. When he joined the 501st, Ridge quickly took the shiny under his wing, and Ahsoka's grateful for that. She wouldn't have been able to adjust to life as a Commander if it weren't for Rex and Anakin. It's nice to see the veterans looking out for their vod'ika.

Ridge shakes his head, "You need advanced technology to control a planet's climate. This place doesn't even have locals."

"Not that we've seen." Sixteen inputs. Ahsoka shifts her gaze from the cairn to the shiny, giving him a small nod so he knows that she heard him.

"Wait a moment," Jesse speaks up, pushing to the front of the group, "Who was on watch when the snow started to fall?"

"It was-" Echo furrows his brow, "Was it the Commander and Sergeant Coric?"