Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

3

"Who is Ahsoka Tano?" Rex asked into the darkness swirling around him. He knew, physically, he was in the hospital bed on Kamino that he was quickly getting sick of. He wasn't even sure how he sank into these black waters of memory. It just came naturally, like he had been doing it all of his life. Maybe he had. He wouldn't know.

The watered stirred around him, and a shard or memory floated over. He glanced at it and sighed. It was just his readings from earlier.

"Ha ha, very funny." He sighed, tossing it back into the muttering voices and flickering lights of the maelstrom. There was a ripple through the space around him, like the water was laughing at it's own joke. Rex just rolled his eyes. "Who is she to me?"

This time the water shifted, more and more memories coming up. Rex panicked for a second, wondering how many memories he had to remind himself of who she was to him. He held out his hand in the universal sign for stop and braced himself. The memories swirled around him, but no new ones came forward.

He pulled at one of the memories, bringing it up in front of him. He watched it attentively, trying to figure out what exactly would tell him the most. Di'atiryi would probably be back far too soon for his questions to be answered.

He pulled at a memory, looking at it. He watched as it played out.

He was sitting high up in the air, his feet dangling over an abyss. One hand tracing small lines on the bark of the branch that held him. The other rubbed a barely healed blaster wound on his leg. He didn't hear the soft tread if footsteps behind him, and he nearly fell off the branch when a hand touched his shoulder. He jerked, grabbing the unknown persons wrist and preparing to throw them out of the tree if it was an enemy. His golden eyes met soft blue as he released Ahsoka. She sat down next to him, leaning softly against him. Rex's face heated up slightly in the starlight.

She looked younger, softer than the most recent fractured memory of her. The faint scar running from her left eyemarking across her nose and ending at the right side of her jaw was gone, along with most of the scars that he had glimpsed across her back. She was still just as beautiful as he remembered, though.

"I promised her..." He looked up at the stars. (Her?) "I promised I would get the others out." (What others?)Ahsoka put a hand on his shoulder, tracing small circles on his shoulder.

"And I'll be here right by your side." She whispered (When is this? Before the wedding, After?). Rex gave her a smile. "You're a good soldier, Rex. Better than most, but you're also sentient. You make mistakes. You hurt, you bleed." Ahsoka reached up to gently cup his jaw, tilting his head down to look at him. "You care."

Rex sighed, sitting back and pulling away. He pressed his lips together and stared at the stary sky.. "But how can I care when everything I love is dying in a war we didn't have a say in." He whispered. Ahsoka smiled softly.

"I ask myself the same thing every day." She answered. Rex looked out at a beach, some thirty or so feet beneath them.

"Ahsoka, how do you do it? The no attachments thing." He asked. (Ok. Before. Way before.) Ahsoka sighed lowly and grimaced.

"I'll let you know when I find out myself." She snorted gently. "No matter how hard I try, I can't just... ignore my emotions. Control them, yes, but I can't ignore them." She whispered. Rex was silent for a long pause, debating within himself.

"I can't either." He rumbled. She turned to look at him and he made his choice, leaning forward impulsively and brushing his chapped lips against her own for the briefest of seconds before his mind caught up with him and he pulled away, standing and retreated a few steps.