Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

15

Fives was in hell. That much he was sure of. His gut burned, his legs ached, and his head pounded in tempo with his heart. His mouth was dry and his tongue felt swollen, scraping raw over the sandpaper roof of his mouth. His eyes were gritty as he tried to open his eyelids.

His vision was blurry as he tried to get his bearings. He felt disgusting, like he'd sweated through his blacks entirely. Probably more bodily fluids than sweat, now that he thought about it. A thin blanket was thrown over him and a bucket rested by his head. There was movement just out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't have the strength to turn his head. 

"Oh. You're awake." Came that horrible voice, rougher and grating than any other female voice he'd ever heard. He flinched a little as Ventress spoke. She came into his line of sight, and he shut his eyes in a hurry. She was responsible for so, so many vode deaths. But she was probably one of the only reasons he's alive as well. 

"Kriff you." He rasped, his voice as weak and frail sounding as he was. She could kill him in an instant, and he wouldn't be able to even try to resist. She hummed a little. 

"I'd say do it yourself, but you're already half dead." She laughed softly to herself. 

Cold hands, callused and a little clammy, touched his jaw. She tilted his head down, and for a second Fives panicked, thinking she was going to snap his neck. Instead, she just slid another pillow under his head and helped him swallow a few sips of lukewarm water.

 "Guess we'll have to remedy that." 

"Like I'd ever touch you with anything other than a blaster bolt." He tried for a growl, but it came out as a gasp as he coughed weakly. Ventress snorted. 

"Pathetic. You can't even hold a blaster. Try picking up a stylus first." She sighed. The coughing fit passed. He exhaled low in his throat and let his head sink back on the pillows. 

"As long as it's going through your eye socket, lady. Where's my Commander?" He asked. Ventress pressed her lips together. 

"You really don't like me very much, do you. Tano's in the next room over, sleeping off saving your life with that captain of hers." She jerked her thumb at the door a few paces away. She got up and walked away. With a great amount of effort, Fives managed to turn his head to follow her with his eyes. He watched silently as she pulled out a skillet and cracked some eggs over it, throwing away the bluish shells. As the eggs were cooking, the smell of them making him want to be sick, a small box thing under the counter dinged. Ventress grimaced, dumping the eggs on a plate and washing her hands. 

"Hoped the doctor would be awake for this, but she's still passed out, so you get me." She sighed, pulling a couple yards of newly cleaned bandages out of the wash. She approached him, and he instantly broke out in a cold sweat. Not his favorite person to change the bandages on the soft part of his belly. The harpy was too close to his vital organs for his comfort. 

She loosened the bandages and slowly unwrapped them, using the force to lift so his back wasn't touching the couch he was laying on. He shivered as cool air touched the exposed area of skin, his entire abdomen exposed to open air. His blacks stopped at the bottom of his ribcage and the lower half continued just under his hips. 

The wound in his gut was an ugly thing, a mass of burned and eaten away tissue and muscles that would probably never heal back to the way they were. The blaster shot was scabbing over, and parts of the scab tore off when she eased off the bloodstained bandages. He bit his lip so hard he tasted copper and gave a very unsoldierly whimper of pain. Finally, he was lowered back to the couch so she could put some bacta on it. He flinched away and whined a little when the cold salve touched his tender skin. Ventress sighed. 

"Relax, you big baby. If you want to actually recover, then you need the bacta. The captain smuggled it in from the fleshies' reserves." She chided. Fives cracked open one eyelid to stare at her.

"Fleshies? Is that what you guys call us?" He rasped. Ventress scowled as she spread the cold gel across his skin. 

"That's what the CIS calls you. Apparently, according to the council of idiots, I was republic all along." She glared at his stomach, slowing down as to not hurt him as she got closer to the actual blaster wound. Fives laughed a little, turning into a cough that made his stomach ache. 

"So that's why you were pardoned. Cavalry was pissed when she heard that." He mumbled, flinching again as she smeared the gel to a spot just under the wound. 

"Will you stop moving?" She snarled, and the fear came back. He remembered who was tending to him. A monster. A killer. 

"Sorry, ticklish." He forced himself to relax, laying his head back down on the pillows. She brushed over the spot again, and he groaned softly. "Ok. Now you're doing that on purpose." 

"Guess it's fun to see sentient reactions after living with dumb droids. What did you call them?" She asked, her voice patronizing. "Clankers?" 

If Fives had the strength, he would have kicked her. 

She picked him up again to rewrap the wound in fresh bandages and thew the old ones in that small box. She threw the blanket over him again, hesitated a second, and grabbed the plate of eggs. She disappeared into the room Ahsoka and, presumably, Rex too were in. She returned with another, fluffier blanket and draped it over him. 

He relaxed at the weight of it, but frowned. "What's this for?" He grated weakly. 

"You had a fever. Do humans not feel cold when their body temperature is elevated?" She asked. For the first time since he had been in her care, he heard no sarcasm in her voice. Only curiosity. 

"Yeah... normally." He muttered. "Er... thank you." She snorted.

"Don't thank me. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because you matter to Tano." She said wearily, returning to her perch on the counter. "And I'm in her debt." 

Fives sighed, long and low. "I really need to talk to her about her choice in friends." He mumbled, more to himself than Ventress. She heard and gave a sharp laugh. 

"I agree. You clones are rather suicidal." She chuckled a little more at her own joke. Fives grumbled some particularly nasty stuff in huttese as he carefully, slowly rolled just a little more onto his side and folding his legs up behind him with a sigh of relief. He was semi-comfortable. Or, as comfortable as you could be missing a quarter of your lower stomach. The fluffy blanket was soft, and he was facing the room around him. 

He hoped that Ahsoka would be awake next time.