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Fives was sick of this planet. It was hot and muggy and made him wish he wasn’t wearing his armor. Even so, the Jedi didn’t look much more comfortable, and their clothes were all soaked with sweat. Hopefully, they’d locate Ventress soon and get out of this swampy forest. Not that it seemed like that was going to happen any time soon.
“Master,” Ahsoka said. “Are we sure she came this way?”
“Yes Snips.” General Skywalker batted at a branch as he passed. “We’re sure. She can’t be too far ahead.”
“We can’t let this opportunity pass,” General Kenobi said. “Cody, anything on scanners?”
Cody’s visor rose from the data pad he’d been examining. “Sorry sir. Still nothing.”
“I have to say, I sure hope we find her soon.” Skywalker sighed. “This planet’s the worst.”
“Kix was afraid they’d be diseases out here,” Rex said.
“And there are supposed to be big predators around,” Echo added.
“Then we’d better get a move on and find Ventress.” Kenobi sighed. “I can’t say I like it here any better than the rest of you.”
Fives sighed as they kept trudging through the swamp and switched the coms on his helmet so he could speak to Echo in private.
“What kind of predators anyway?”
“Not exactly sure. Probably some rancors…maybe a few feral nexu.” Echo sighed. “Hopefully we won’t run into any of them.”
“With how this mission’s been going? I doubt we’ll be that lucky.”
They continued on in silence for a while. Fives couldn’t help but feel a little out of place. He and Echo had just come back from ARC training, so they were the best candidates to join the officers on this mission. But he just still didn’t feel like he belonged.
It hadn’t been that long ago that he and Echo and the rest of their batch had been shinies on the Rishi moon. But their brothers were gone now and just the two of them were left. He’d been shocked when Rex had offered them a place in the famous 501st Legion. It still seemed a little unreal to him, even after all this time.
Fives had always idolized Rex, even back on Kamino. The CT who even had a mutation, yet beat the odds to become one of the most decorated and well respected officers in the GAR. He wished he could talk to the man more, but he was always too nervous. Rex was his commanding officer and a man he looked up to. It made it difficult to think of Rex as his brother.
“General! Over here!” Cody waved them over to where a red glowing object sat on the ground.
“That doesn’t look like it belongs,” Ahsoka said.
“No, it doesn’t.” General Skywalker crouched next to the object to examine it.
“Could Ventress have left it?” Rex crouched next to him.
“Maybe.” Skywalker stood up with a sigh. “May as well take it with Rex. Might be important.”
“Yes sir.” Rex reached for the object.
“Wait!” Kenobi cried.
But it was too late. The red light seemed to spill out from the object and wash over Rex. Fives raised his hand, temporarily blinded by the flash. He shook his head to clear it and immediately started looking around for the captain. In his mind, he’d always figured nothing could happen to the man. But deep down, he knew Rex was as human as any of them.
When he finally could see again, he was shocked at the sight before him. Rex had, apparently, vanished. Where he’d stood now lay a small cadet, only around five years old, with their accelerated aging. But then Fives mouth went dry. The cadet had a head of curly, blond hair.
“Anakin!” Kenobi put his head in his hand. “Those were Sith markings on that!”
“How was I supposed to know!” Skywalker glanced down at the cadet with worried eyes. “So…it did that…to Rex?”
Fives had really been hoping his suspicions had been wrong. Guess no such luck.
Rex’s head was spinning. He heard the murmur of voices from all around him, but couldn’t focus on what they were saying. What had happened? He’d been picking up the glowing thing for General Skywalker, and then…he wasn’t sure.
“Rex?” Skywalker’s voice said. “Rex? You awake?”
He blinked his eyes open to find Skywalker leaning over him with worried eyes.
“Good…that’s good.” Skywalker nodded. “Um…Rex…I’m really sorry. But…evidently that was some sort of Sith artifact and…well…it might have…”
Okay, now Rex was getting worried. What had happened to his helmet? And the rest of his armor? For some reason, he only felt cloth.
“General…” Rex froze when he heard his voice. It…didn’t sound right.
“Yeah…” Skywalker sighed. “The artifact…may have turned you into a kid.”
Rex could only stare at him for a moment, blinking. Then he groaned and closed his eyes. “That figures.”
After taking a moment, he got to his feet. His armor was gone and he was somehow wearing a cadet uniform. When he glanced around, he was shocked to find himself having to crane his neck to look at the Jedi and his brothers. Cody, Fives and Echo had removed their helmets and were staring at him. To his great annoyance, Cody looked like he was trying not to laugh. Echo looked confused and Fives looked a little bit terrified.
“Okay, we need a new plan.” Kenobi said. “Someone will have to take Rex back to camp.”
“That won’t be necessary sir.” Rex pulled himself up to his full tiny height. “I am fully capable of completing the mission.”
“Rex,” Cody said. “You’re a cadet! There’s no way we’re taking you on a mission to hunt down Ventress. There’s nothing you can do to help now anyway.”
Rex glared at his ori’vod, but didn’t really have a good answer to that.
Cody sighed and glanced at the others. “I’ll take Rex back. The rest of you can finish the mission.”
“No.” Kenobi shook his head. “I want you with us Cody. Fives and Echo can take Rex back.”
The Domino Twins straightened. “Yes sir.”
“Fine.” Rex crossed his arms.
“Um…Rex?” He glanced at Ahsoka and found she was a little bit taller than him. “You…like…still have all your memories, right?”
“Of course.” He nodded, hating the sound of his voice. “As far as I can tell, I’m still the same mentally, only different physically.”
“Still, we don’t know exactly what this is or what could happen.” Skywalker glanced at Echo and Fives. “You two are in charge until you get him back to base.”
“What?” Rex’s mouth snapped shut at the whiny, child-like tone that came from his mouth.
“Anakin’s right,” Kenobi said. “We don’t know how much this has affected you. For your safety, it would be better to have Echo and Fives in charge.”
“And you better make sure my vod’ika stays safe.” Cody shot the pair a stern glance.
“Don’t worry sir,” Echo said. “We’ll keep him safe.”
“You can count on it,” Fives added.
“Good.”
“Best get back as quick as possible,” Kenobi said. “We don’t know what else is out here.”
“Yes sir.” Fives glanced down at Rex and suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Um, come on Captain. We’d better get going.”
Rex sighed and started walking, annoyed when Echo and Fives took protective positions on either side of him.
They walked like that for some time without saying a word. Rex hated feeling this…this helpless. He was supposed to be the one looking after his men, not the other way around. Not that they couldn’t handle it. Fives and Echo were the best, that’s why he’d sent them for ARC training. He knew he had nothing to fear with them protecting him. But they shouldn’t have to be protecting him! He was supposed to be the one protecting them.
“Hold on.” Echo raised a hand and they all stopped. Rex didn’t see anything that could be a problem, but both Echo and Fives raised their blasters. It was only now Rex realized he didn’t even have a blaster anymore. His pistols seemed to have disappeared along with his armor.
Suddenly, one of the ARCs was yanking him back as a ball of fur streaked past where they’d been standing moments earlier. Rex’s heart pounded as he saw the cat-like form of a nexu. It screamed as it turned its red eyes toward them, baring its teeth.
“Rex! Stay behind us!” Echo and Fives quickly stepped in front of him, shooting at the creature. But it was quick and dodged the shots. It lunged and Echo was forced to block it with his blaster. The nexu bit down on the blaster, trying to get past it. Fives stepped forward and started shooting and the nexu ran a little ways off with another scream.
Without thinking, Rex ran to check on Echo.
“Wait!” Fives yelled.
The nexu took its chance. Rex couldn’t help but scream as the creature’s claws sunk into his shoulders. How could he be so stupid? He knew better! But his thoughts were soon becoming foggy as the world darkened around him.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He wasn’t even sure what had happened. Was he in some training accident?
“Rex, wake up.”
“Kote?” He mumbled.
“No Captain, it’s Fives. Cody went with the Jedi, remember?”
Captain? And who was Fives? The name didn’t sound familiar.
“Rex, we need to keep moving. It’s not safe out here.”
Finally, he managed to blink his eyes open to find two older brothers leaning over him with concerned faces. And seeing them finally triggered something. He was a captain. These were his men, Echo and Fives. And he’d made a terrible mistake. He wasn’t supposed to make mistakes. He couldn’t afford to make mistakes, or they’d decommission him. But…no, that wasn’t the case anymore. He wasn’t on Kamino. The Jedi didn’t care about his mutation. He was safe. And it was his job to keep his men safe. A job he was failing spectacularly at the moment.
“Rex?” Hesitatingly, Echo reached out to grab his shoulder. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” Rex started to get to his feet, but cried out when pain lanced across his shoulders. Both Echo and Fives quickly pushed him back down.
“You’re not fine!” Fives said. “You’re hurt. We need to get you back to Kix before that gets infected.”
“Okay, then let’s go.” Rex started to get up again, but the pain was even greater and, to his dismay, he felt tears in his eyes. He couldn’t cry. He couldn’t be weak.
The twins just stared at him for a moment in concern before glancing at each other. Rex took the opportunity to force his tears away. After a moment, Fives sighed and glanced back down at Rex.
“Captain…I think we’re going to have to carry you out of here.”
“No one is carrying me anywhere!”
“You can’t walk,” Echo reasoned. “And we can’t wait. We’ll move faster this way anyway.”
“You are not carrying me,” Rex said through gritted teeth. “That’s an order!”
“Sorry Captain.” Fives grinned sheepishly. “But Skywalker put us in charge.”
Rex clenched his fists. He wanted to keep arguing. He didn’t want his men to see him like this, especially not getting carried back to camp. But he also realized this would be safer for Fives and Echo as well. He could hardly keep up with the ARCs before, now it would be impossible. This was the only way, if he wanted to keep them safe.
“Fine.” He sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”
The twins put their helmets on and Fives hesitated just a moment longer before oh so gently lifting Rex into his arms. Rex couldn’t fight a small whimper of pain at the movement.
“Sorry,” Fives mumbled. “I’ll try not to jar it too much.”
Then Rex was being situated in Fives arms, curled up against the hard plastoid armor of his chest plate. Echo held his blaster ready as they left, ready for another attack. Rex had never felt so humiliated in his life.
But after they’d been walking for a while, Rex found, to his dismay, that he didn’t mind being carried so much. The rocking motion of Fives’ steps was comforting in a surprising way and it seemed to be lulling him to sleep. After they’d been walking about an hour, Fives handed him over to Echo. Rex didn’t say a word as they traded off, but quickly situated himself in Echo’s arms and sighed a little. It wasn’t long before he dozed off.
Echo’s eyes kept darting down to the child in his arms. It was still hard to believe that this was the fearless captain he respected so much. At some point, Rex had fallen asleep and had a peaceful expression on his face.
“How is he?” Fives asked.
“Asleep.” Echo sighed. “This is not how I expected this mission to go.”
“Tell me about it.” Fives’ helmet tilted toward Rex. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”
“I think so. Kix’ll fix him up.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
Echo hesitated a moment. “The Jedi should be able to fix him, right?”
“I…I hope so,” Fives said. “You need me to take him again for a bit?”
“No, I’ve got him.” Echo gently hoisted Rex up in his arms, careful not to jar his injury. “We’re almost back anyway.”
Fives was quiet for a moment. “What if the Jedi can’t fix him? What if he’s stuck like this?”
Echo nearly tripped. He hadn’t even considered the possibility. He’d figured the Jedi would fix Rex and everything would go back to normal.
“I…don’t know,” he whispered.
It soon started growing dark. But it wasn’t long before they saw the lights of their camp blinking through the trees. Echo felt a rush of relief as they pushed their way into the open and toward the tents they had set up. Their brothers were going about their normal business, taking the opportunity to relax while the others were gone on the mission.
It took a moment before Kix noticed them and rushed over. “What happened? Why do you have a kid with you?”
“Not a kid.” Fives took off his helmet and glanced at Rex. “It’s…Captain Rex.”
Kix’s eyes widened. “But…how?”
Fives shrugged. “Weird Jedi stuff.”
“He’s hurt,” Echo said quickly. “Can you help him?”
Kix seemed to shake himself out of his shock and reached for Rex. “Give him to me. I’ll take care of him.”
Echo found himself reluctant to part from the small boy in his arms. It didn’t help when Rex suddenly caught hold of his armor and cried out in fear, eyes snapping open.
“Ori’vod!”
“No sir,” Fives said. “Cody’s still not here. It’s us, remember? We made it back to camp.”
Rex blinked for a moment and Echo could clearly see the confusion in his eyes.
“Do you remember what happened?” Echo asked gently.
Rex kept blinking for a moment. “Training accident?”
Kix sucked in his breath and Echo’s heart skipped a beat.
“No…you’re not on Kamino.” Fives reached out and gently put his hand on Rex’s back. “We were on a mission, remember? You touched the Sith thing and turned into a cadet.”
Slowly, understanding came into Rex’s eyes, followed quickly by humiliation. He quickly let go of Echo’s armor and let Kix take him.
“Sorry.”
“Rex…” Echo took his helmet of and grabbed one of Rex’s hands. “Are you…having trouble remembering things?”
“No!” Rex said too quick. He seemed to realize his mistake and dropped his eyes. “I mean…maybe a little…sometimes.”
“We can talk about this later,” Kix hissed. “I need to take care of this wound. What happened?”
“Nexu attacked.” Echo dropped his eyes. They’d promised Cody they’d protect Rex. They failed.
Kix nodded. “Rex, I’m taking you to the medical tent. Is that all right?”
Rex just nodded, looking completely miserable.
Rex woke up and immediately knew something was wrong. His back and shoulders ached, but that wasn’t it. He was alone. He distinctly remembered crawling into Kote’s bunk with him last night. But now…he was alone.
“Kote?” he whispered. When there was no reply, he began to panic. Kote always protected him from the longnecks and trainers. Where was he?
“Kote!”
A figure ran into the…tent? Why was he in a tent? The man was a brother at least, with strange patterns shaved into his hair and tattooed words Rex couldn’t make out.
“Who…who are you?”
The man froze and his eyes widened. “You…don’t remember me?”
Rex blinked. He…something seemed familiar. He knew this brother, but he wasn’t sure why. His memory was foggy. There was pain. He’d been on…another planet? There was something glowing…a red object. He touched it and…become a cadet.
So…he wasn’t a cadet? No, he was a trooper. An officer? Someone had called him Captain. A brother…Fives…
He glanced up at the brother, whom he now recognized as a medic. “I’m sorry, but…I don’t remember you. Not exactly at least.”
Dismay flashed across the medic’s eyes. “Do you remember anything after Kamino?”
“Bits and pieces.” Rex nodded. “Is…Kote here?”
“He’s still on the mission with the Jedi.”
Right. Fives had told him that.
“What about Fives? And Echo?”
The medic tilted his head. “You remember them?”
Rex shrugged. “A little. They…they protected me.”
The medic nodded. “You want me to find them?”
“Yes please.”
Fives couldn’t focus on anything. He was just too worried about Rex. Part of him wondered if this was some sort of dream. Rex just seemed so helpless…so unlike the fearless captain who’d found them on the Rishi moon.
“Fives.” Echo sighed. “Stop pacing. Kix said he’ll be fine.”
“I know.” Fives sat next to his twin. “I’m just so worried about him.”
“Me too.”
“He’d better be better soon,” Hardcase said from across the tent. “I want to meet the mini captain!”
“That’s the last thing he needs!” Echo snapped. “He’s embarrassed enough as it is.”
“He shouldn’t be embarrassed,” Jesse said. “We’re all brothers after all.”
Fives snorted. “And you wouldn’t be embarrassed if you were suddenly tiny and having trouble remembering things?”
Jesse tilted his head for a moment before nodding. “Good point.”
At that moment, Kix walked into the tent and all four of them leapt to their feet.
“Is he okay?” Fives asked.
“Yeah…as well as can be expected.”
“Can we see him yet?” Hardcase asked.
“Not yet.” Kix hesitated for a moment. “He…couldn’t remember me.”
Fives swallowed. He’d been worried about that. It seemed like Rex had been having more and more trouble with his memories since this had first happened.
“What can he remember?” Echo asked.
“Cody, of course. Evidently, they were always close.” Kix smiled. “But he also remembered you two.”
Fives blinked. “Us?”
“I’m not sure if he remembers you as you, but he remembered you protected him. He wants to see you.”
Fives exchanged a glance with Echo, and then they both nodded. They followed Kix to the medical tent. It was still a little jarring to walk in and see the cadet with curly blond hair and know that he was actually Captain Rex.
Rex looked up when they came in. “I remember you now…Kix.”
Kix grinned. “That’s good. Do you remember anything else?”
“I know I was a trooper…a captain, and I somehow ended up like this.” His eyes quickly darted to Fives and Echo. “I remember you were there. You saved me from the nexu.”
“Yeah.” Fives grinned as he approached the bed. “We did sir.”
Rex ducked his head. “Please don’t call me that. Even if I am a captain…it feels weird.”
Fives was taken aback by that.
“Okay.” Echo recovered first and stepped closer to Rex. “What do you want us to call you then?”
“Rex.” He tilted his head. “Or vod’ika. That’s what Kote calls me.”
“Um…” Fives stepped closer. “You know you’re technically older than us right?”
Rex shrugged. “I don’t feel like it…not now. Maybe you can help me remember?”
“Sure!” Fives grinned. “Glad to help Cap—vod’ika.”
“If you’re feeling up to it a little later, some of the others were wanting to check on you as well,” Kix said.
Rex looked a little nervous, but nodded. “Okay…maybe.”
“No rush.” Kix smiled. “Just tell us if you don’t want to.”
Fives and Echo each pulled up a chair on either side of Rex’s bed. “So.” Fives smiled. “What did you want to know?”
“Um…” Rex hesitated. “I vaguely remember a planet…no, I think it was a moon. For some reason, you both remind me of it.”
“Yeah, that’s where you found us,” Echo said.
“Found you?”
“You and Commander Cody,” Fives explained. “We were being attacked and had to destroy the outpost so the Republic knew that Grievous was attacking Kamino.”
A confused look crossed Rex’s face for a moment. Then it slowly cleared. “I remember now. And…Hevy sacrificed himself.” He dropped his eyes. “I should have done more.”
“No.” Fives grabbed Rex’s tiny hands. “You did all you could. Hevy chose to sacrifice himself to save us.”
Rex sniffed and Fives was dismayed to see tears in his eyes. “I’m a failure.”
“What?” Echo reached for Rex’s shoulder. “No! You’re not a failure. You’re our captain. You look after us and protect us.”
“But I can’t right now.” Rex was obviously trying not to cry, but having a hard time. “They always said I was a failure. If it weren’t for Kote I’d have been decommissioned a long time ago.”
“That’s not true!” Fives snapped. “Why would they call you a failure?”
Rex flinched, his hand immediately going to his hair.
“Oh.” Echo nodded. “I understand.”
Fives blinked. That did make sense. It was rare for clones with mutations to make it. He’d always assumed Rex had just been lucky. Now, he was beginning to understand. Rex hadn’t had an easy life on Kamino. He’d had to fight to survive, and it sounded like Commander Cody had protected him. That would explain why they were so close.
Rex’s head hung even lower. “Maybe they were right. Maybe someone else would be able to do more.”
“Oh vod’ika.” Before Fives could even realize what he was doing, he’d slid into the bed with Rex and pulled the boy close. “I for one really like your hair.” He smiled and couldn’t help but play with Rex’s hair a little. “And you are the bravest man I know.”
Rex sniffed and looked up to meet his eyes. “Really?”
“Of course!” Echo slid in on Rex’s other side so he was sandwiched between them. “You can’t blame yourself for the brothers we’ve lost over the years. That’s war. And you can’t blame yourself for your current predicament.”
Rex frowned. “But I’m not thinking right. I almost got you both killed!”
“But we’re fine.” Fives smiled. “And we’re back to safety. Now we just have to wait for the Jedi to come back and fix you up. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”
After a moment, Rex smiled and closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Kote always used to tell me that…everything will be fine. I always believed him too.”
Fives felt like his heart was melting as he and his twin sandwiched their little captain between them and drifted off to sleep.
Rex felt completely safe and content when he woke up. He wasn’t alone, but it wasn’t Kote with him. It was Echo and Fives, his ARC troopers.
He blinked his eyes open in surprise. That was more than he normally remembered. And he didn’t feel quite so much like a little kid this time, but not quite his normal adult self either. He could remember his life as captain of the 501st, but it seemed hazy, almost like a dream.
For a moment, he began to panic as he realized his current position, cuddled between his two ARCs. But then, he realized his didn’t really care. It was nice and he felt safe, safer than he had in a while. It was just like when Cody would let him crawl into his bunk when they were cadets. He always knew his ori’vod would look after him, and now he knew his ori’vode would do the same.
It felt kind of weird, comparing the two young troopers to Cody. But at the moment, it just felt right. Rex felt like he shouldn’t be happy about how comfortable he was with all this, but he found he didn’t care. At the moment, all he could feel was contentment.
“Hey vod’ika.” He looked up to find Fives smiling at him. “Doing better?”
Rex nodded. “I remember everything now too.”
Fives looked a little uncomfortable and shifted a little away.
“Don’t.” Rex grabbed his arm. “I…remember, but I’m still just a kid. I like this…I feel safe.”
He felt a hand on his head and glanced over to find Echo smiling at him as well. “I’m glad vod’ika.”
Rex sighed. “The others are probably dying to get a look at me.”
“We don’t have to if you don’t want,” Fives said quickly.
Rex smiled, touched by Fives’ protectiveness. “I’m fine ori’vod. I want to make sure they know I’m okay.”
The other men swarmed around him when Rex emerged from the medical tent.
“Captain, you’re adorable!” Hardcase grinned.
“And…even smaller than I was expecting.” Jesse looked like he was trying not to laugh.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Rex crossed his arms. “Hopefully the Jedi will be able to fix me when they get back and everything will be back to normal.”
“Aww.” Hardcase pouted. “But I like the idea of a mascot.”
Rex rolled his eyes. “Even if I do get stuck like this, I’m not going to be a mascot.”
“You don’t have to worry about it.” Kix smiled. “Cody contacted us. Said they were on the way back and know how to fix your problem.”
Rex felt a rush of relief at those words. He figured the Jedi would know what to do, but he had been just a little worried all the same. To his even greater relief, his memories stayed intact for the next couple hours until Cody and the Jedi arrived back in camp, looking exhausted.
“I forgot just how tiny you were.” Cody grinned as he lifted Rex off the ground and pulled him into a hug. Rex groaned, but let his ori’vod have his moment. He knew Cody hadn’t been happy about leaving him.
“How’re you doing Rex?” General Skywalker asked as Cody set him back down.
Rex shrugged. “Fine, I guess. I’ve been having some memory issues…sometimes only remembering Kamino.”
Cody squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”
“That’s okay.” Rex grinned. “Echo and Fives helped me.”
“I assume you are anxious to return to your normal size?” Kenobi asked.
“You can do that?”
“Yeah.” Skywalker sighed. “Ventress let that part slip as she was escaping. Evidently, she left that hoping one of us would touch it.”
“Okay.” Rex nodded. “What do I have to do?”
“Can’t we wait a little?” Ahsoka frowned. “I like being taller than somebody.”
Rex rolled his eyes. “Yeah, so do I.”
“It’ll take a little time anyway,” Kenobi said. “We just have to use the Force on you a certain way, and you should return to normal.”
It didn’t really feel like they’d done anything, but Rex figured they knew what they were doing. He still hadn’t gotten big when he started to get tired and Kix suggested maybe it would happen as he slept. So he headed for a bunk to get some sleep. But he paused as he passed Echo and Fives.
“Stay with me?”
Both grinned and leapt to their feet. “Of course vod’ika.”
So he drifted off once more cuddled between his vode.
Fives woke up feeling like he was falling off of the bed. And he was lying against something hard. He quickly realized why when he opened his eyes to find that Rex had indeed changed at some point during the night and was wearing his armor again. He felt like he should be pulling away. But after everything they’d been through he just leaned against his ori’vod and smiled.
Echo was awake too, even though his eyes were closed, and was smiling happily.
“You okay Rex?” Fives asked.
“Yeah.” Rex smiled. “I’m good. You?”
“We’re fine.” Echo opened his eyes.
Rex nodded and pulled them both closer. “Thank you both…for everything.”
Fives smiled. “Anytime Rex.”