Nothing • Tech

18.Sarad (Flower)

Malaina walked behind Tech, keeping her hood on as she entered the parlor.

"Took you long enough." Echo greets from his seat next to a blonde clone. Malaina furrowed her brows underneath her hood, the right side of her head beginning to hurt.

Hunter was leaning up against the counter, swirling a drink around in his hand. With his cup, he pointed to Malaina. "Rex, this is-" She removed her hood at that second.

Rex's lips part and he stares at her in shock and confusion. "Sarad?"

Flower.

Malaina placed a hand on the vibroblade that rested on her hip. "Wh-what?" She asked, brows knitting together. Rex. The blue armor. The nickname. It all echoed like memories appearing in the front of her mind.

Rex took a few steps forward, but froze when he saw she was backing up the closer he got. "It's been three years, Malaina. Where were you?" He asked, bewildered by the woman standing in the parlor.

Malaina looked to Hunter and Echo who remained at the bar. They looked just as confused as she did. "Who is this guy? What did you tell him about me?" She asked in an accusing tone.

Rex began to look hurt. "You don't remember me?" He asked, arms falling to his sides. "Malaina, I was your clone Captain."

Echo's eyes widened in realization. "Wait, Malaina's the Jedi Commander you older clones called Sarad?" He questioned.

Malaina stood in the doorway, debating whether or not to run up the stairs. "I'm not a Jedi, I-I'm an Inquisitor. You have the wrong person." Not even she believed that. Something in her knew who Rex was, but with her memory loss she couldn't pinpoint where in her life she'd met him.

Rex shook his head, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a flattened, preserved flower. He held it up for Malaina to see. A pretty blue color. She identified it as a starflower from Alderaan.

"For you, Captain."

She had handed a man in white and blue armor the starflower. He took it by the stem, holding the beautiful blue flower so gently that it looked funny for a soldier to be doing it. His other hand raised to remove his helmet, which had blue jaig eyes painted on. Once removed, she was met with the blonde clone. Captain Rex.

He raised the flower to his face, allowing himself to smell the fresh scent of the plant. Then he smiled at her, nodding his head. "Thank you, Commander."

Malaina blinked, raising a hand to rub the pounding spot on her head. "I gave you that?"

Rex nodded, carefully putting the flower away. "On our first mission together." He confirmed, his eyes scanning her from head to toe. He smiled. "You cut your hair. You used to have these two long, thick braids."

Tech held up a finger. "Those only recently made their departure. She cut her hair onboard the Marauder." He chimed.

"So what have you been up to? Why'd you not come back?" Rex asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

Malaina sucked in a breath, not really feeling like telling the clone Captain she supposedly fought alongside with for some time that she had been locked away inside of a facility, and for the last three years she had been tortured and forced to learn how to kill Jedi, something that she just found out she had once been.

Why did the Jedi not come looking for her?

"It's a really long story." Is what she settled on telling the Captain before she walked past him, sitting on the stool at the far end of the bar. Tech was seated next to her.