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“‘Soka?”
The first thing she sees when she turns around is the disbelief and wary hope in Rex’s eyes, and it tears into her heart as surely as a blaster bolt.
“Cyare,” he breathes, his voice shaking just as badly as his hands as he reaches for her, “Are you- you’re really here?” The pure agony in his expression adds more weight to the guilt that’s crushing her, but she reaches back, taking his hands in hers and pulling him into a hug.
“It’s really me, Rex, I’m okay.” She pulls back to cup his cheeks in her hands, his own hands wrapped around her wrists.
He swallows hard, his eyes darting over her face. “They came back from Malachor without you.”
Ahsoka nods. She’d expected to die there too. She almost had, but she’d learned how to step Outside , thanks to Obi-Wan. When Vader had left her to die, he’d come to her and taught her everything she’d always thought was impossible. “I’m here now,” she says, with a shaky smile of her own, and Rex hugs her again, tighter than before.
“Don’t leave this time,” he whispers, “You get in too much trouble without me.”
She laughs and knots her fingers in the fabric of his shirt. “I’m not going anywhere, Rex, not this time.”