Chapter Text
Rex and Ahsoka found Anakin outside, staring at nothing.
“He was my brother,” Anakin offered before they could say anything. “Not—not by blood, but in every way that mattered.”
Rex sighed, leaning his elbows against the railing of the bridge they stood on. “Whoever he was before...I don’t think that’s the person he is now.”
“He doesn’t remember you, Skyguy,” Ahsoka added softly. Her braids, blue and white as always, were coming undone, and whisps of color floated on the wind.
Anakin looked away. “I have to save him. I have to. He’s the one who saved me, over and over and over again, and instead of returning the favor I had to watch as he—“
He cut himself off with a strangled noise in the back of his throat, gripping the railing so hard that it creaked under his metal hand. He looked down at the smooth metal. Obi-Wan had been there when he’d lost his arm, by his side when the medics had to saw through the dead tissue. Standing with him when he got his first prosthetic, crude and simple compared to the technology available now.
Obi-Wan had a metal arm now, too. Another thing they shared.
Rex set his hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “This guy...I don’t think he’s the kind you save. He’s the kind you stop.”
Anakin whirled on him, shrugging off his hand. “Obi-Wan was my brother,” he snapped, anger growing. “You don’t understand what that’s like, to have him ripped away and then be expected to—to fight him like it’s nothing?”
Rex’s expression shuttered, and Anakin immediately knew he’d made a mistake. “No—Rex, that’s not what I meant—“ he tried.
“Seems like that’s exactly what you meant,” Rex said quietly.
Ahsoka moved to Rex’s side, pressing her shoulder against his in silent solidarity, and giving Anakin a subtle kick in the shins. Anakin realized with a jolt that she was only a few inches shorter than he was.
“Rex,” he tried again. “I’m sorry. I just, I got angry.” He stopped, searching for the words. “I know you know what it’s like to have to fight a brother. And maybe I’m being selfish by trying to save Obi-Wan, but I have to try.”
Rex blew out a breath, ruffling the top of Ahsoka’s head. She let out a disgruntled noise. “I know.” He paused. “We should have had more time with them,” he said quietly. “And I regret that I didn’t—I never got to tell him what he meant to me. I never told him that I understood what he was going through.” Rex shrugged, but the motion was forceful. “Now it’s too late.”
“But what if it’s not?” Anakin pushed. “I wish we had more time with them, too, and maybe we can have that time. What if we can bring them back?”
Rex sighed again. “Believe me, if I have a chance to bring Slick back, I’ll take it,” he said. “But I also know that there may be a time that I have to make a choice between Slick and the greater good. I know what my choice would be.” He looked up at Anakin. “Do you?”
Anakin didn’t have an answer.