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Anakin Skywalker was in the middle of a briefing with his padawan Ahsoka, the masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon, and commanders Cody and Wolffe when the door to the meeting room swung open. The trooper did not wait for clearance before entering the private room. Anakin swallowed his comment when he saw that it was Fives who had just entered the room.
The arc-trooper rushed into the room before realizing he had interrupted a meeting. Fives then gave a quick salute to the holograms of the generals and commanders before speaking to Anakin.
"General, there's a problem in the training room," Fives said without a hint of amusement in his voice for once. Fives didn't act like himself, his demeanor was so out of character at the moment. In fact, the trooper looked breathless as if he had run to come here. He also looked worried, serious, and very angry. And his eyes were rimmed with red as if he had cried recently.
The blood in Anakin's veins froze since he knew who was in the training room right now. He had allowed Rex to skip the briefing and train shinies instead. His instinct, and the Force, told him that the problem had to do with Rex.
"What's going on, Fives?" Ahsoka asked instead of Anakin, she looked just as worried as him.
"The captain was scolding two shinies who were playing with a flash grenade when it exploded in his hands," Fives replied despairingly as if the scene was playing out in front of him again. And then he added, "He wasn't wearing his helmet."
Anakin felt the air leave his lungs. He knew firsthand that flash grenades were violent and dazzling even from a distance. So up close… and without a helmet… Even Fives looked like he had been hit by the grenade because his eyes were red and irritated. As if he had been rubbing his eyes a lot the last few minutes.
"Trooper, is the captain all right?" Cody asked, his concern visible despite the hologram. Wolffe looked just as worried and had moved closer to his general to see better.
Fives hesitated for a few seconds before saying, "I don't know… Jesse had just left to pick up Kix when I came here. Echo is still with him right now."
Anakin came out of his torpor at that moment. Rex was hurt and needed him. He moved closer to Fives and touched his shoulder, "Let's go, then."
"Anakin!" called his former master before the fiery Jedi could go too far. "Don't forget to let us know about Captain Rex's condition when you're done."
"Yes, master," the Jedi replied before quickly saying goodbye to the other two masters and following Fives out of the room.
The three, since Ahsoka had followed them, didn't run down the halls, but they didn't walk either. More like a really brisk walk. Anakin was too busy thinking about what had happened to Rex to worry about what his soldiers would think of seeing him practically running through the halls of the Resolute.
The once empty and tidy training hall was now crowded and chaotic. Burn marks were marking the walls and the gray floor of the room. And about fifteen people were crowded into the training room. Fives struggled to navigate between his other brothers to join Kix, Jesse, Hardcase, Echo, and another doctor.
"Anyone who isn't needed get out," Anakin ordered in his general's voice. Kix needed space to work properly. And Rex's pain was no attraction.
A dozen clones walked away as two shinies approached the general and commander with a guilty looks on their faces. So they were the culprits. Anakin had a hard time not listening to his anger and choking them on the spot as they spluttered apologies. Finding his inner peace when someone he loved was in danger was more than complicated. Fortunately, Hardcase arrived at this time. The trooper grabbed the two shinies and pushed them towards the exit. He nodded to Hardcase giving him permission to punish them or throw them out of the ship, it didn't matter as long as they were clear of the general's sight.
Ahsoka had already approached the injured man when Anakin returned his attention to the most important.
He took a step forward even though he didn't want to see the extent of the damage. He didn't want to know how bad it was. Whether he risked losing his captain or not. Anakin didn't want to continue the war without Rex by his side.
But the truth couldn't be worse than Anakin was imagining so he approached.
Rex lay motionless on the cold, metallic floor only his rising and falling chest showed that the captain was in fact still alive. At least he was alive. Echo's knees acted as a head rest while Kix knelt beside him. Fives and Ahsoka were not far away but preferred to stay away.
Anakin moved even closer and ended up kneeling next to his captain's semi-conscious form. Rex wasn't wearing his helmet like Fives had told them. There were traces of tears on the captain's cheeks, a sign that he had cried. But those traces shouldn't exist, Rex shouldn't cry, he shouldn't have to suffer. The captain's eyes were closed but his cheeks and eyelids were red, even more so than Fives' or Echo's. Anakin might not be a doctor, but he could clearly see the damage the flash grenade had done to Rex because his face was ashen white and his breathing was choppy.
Speaking of medics, Kix was currently checking Rex's right hand, the one that had held the flash grenade. The captain's hand was swollen, and there was blood, burns, and blisters. Rex's glove had protected him well since he still had all five fingers and Kix was able to get them to move. Rex's quick reflexes must have saved him once again.
Anakin hesitated to touch Rex since Echo was already holding his left hand. The captain had a tight grip on his subordinate's hand, a sign that he was still conscious and was in great pain.
"Rex," the general whispered, putting his hand on Rex's chest to show he was there for him. The soft touch sent Anakin into an impromptu vision.
In the vision, the Jedi saw what had happened a few minutes earlier but he was like a ghost in the room. He was there without really being there. He could see what was happening but could not intervene. So, Anakin saw Rex go to the shinies who were playing with the flash grenade, take it from them, and heard him scolding them. Then the grenade pin fell and Rex had the reflex to push the shinies behind him before dropping the grenade. But not far enough, not fast enough. The space was too small in any case and everyone in the room: the dozen shinies, Echo, Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, and Anakin, were dazzled for a few seconds.
Since he wasn't really there, the Jedi was the first to recover from the flash. And he saw his elite troops their hands in their eyes, saw Echo bend over Fives as they both moaned in pain. Jesse and Hardcase had also been affected and were swearing in Mando'a.
But everyone stopped complaining when they heard cries of pain echoing in the room. Echo was the first to move and staggered, disoriented and still dazzled, toward the source of the screams. The arc-trooper unknowingly walked past a petrified Anakin who watched in horror as his captain writhed in pain on the ground, his hands on his eyes, scratching his face in the process.
The cries of pain were coming from Rex.
Echo knelt uneasily next to Rex to help calm him down as Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase approached them shyly. Echo took the situation in hand as he focused on his captain, he took Rex's left hand in his to prevent him from hurting himself by scratching and put his other hand on Rex's forehead to soothe him.
Finally, once the captain had stopped shouting, the arc-trooper addressed his dumbfounded brothers: "Jesse hurry up and get Kix, Hardcase take care of the shinies, and Fives…"
"…I-I'll get the general," the second arc trooper muttered as he staggered toward the exit door, Jesse right behind him. The two men ran in different directions.
Since Hardcase was rounding up the shinies and taking care of them, Echo was left alone to take care of the captain. The arc-trooper was doing a good job of soothing Rex who was still moaning in pain though. Anakin wanted to kneel next to them, wanted to be there to protect them, wanted to be there to be the one comforting Rex. He should have been there.
Anakin was brought back to reality when a faint voice whispered, "G-general...". Rex's voice was hoarse, a sign that he was still in pain.
"I'm here," he replied softly. Anakin liked to think that those three little words were enough to soothe Rex, that his presence was enough to ease his pain ever so slightly. "Kix?"
The doctor turned to the general with cold eyes and methodical, "The Captain will live but he must be taken to the medbay so that I know more. His hand and his eyes… I would know more there. "
The jedi had already lifted Rex in his arms before Kix could mention to his men to put the captain on a stretcher. Anakin had one arm under the captain's knees and another behind his back and was dead glaring at his men to dare say anything. Kix just raised an eyebrow and muttered "that will do it too, I guess" before following his general to the medical bay.
No soldier dared to say anything when they saw their general carrying their captain through all the corridors of the Resolute.
Anakin was only allowed into the medbay just to put Rex on a medical bed before being forced out by a focused Kix. The Jedi then found himself waiting for a long time in front of the medical bay in the company of Jesse, Hardcase, Echo, Fives, and Ahsoka. None of them spoke which showed how worried they all were.
Time passed quickly even though they all felt like centuries passed as Kix was healing Rex. Anakin, like the others, waited anxiously as his brain kept showing him the worst possible scenarios. In one of them, Rex would die, which was silly since Kix had assured him that Rex would live. No, the real question would be how Rex would live after that.
The Jedi knew that the hands and the eyes were fundamental for a soldier. Especially for someone as dedicated as Rex. Will the Captain ever regain the use of his hand? But Anakin had seen Kix move Rex's fingers earlier so the nerves couldn't be that badly damaged. And Rex's eyes… was he blind now? Anakin hadn't seen him open his eyes once since the grenade had gone off. He didn't want to believe it but he knew it was a possibility. That such strong exposure to a flash grenade could blind someone. Anakin just hoped they had been quick enough and that Rex could completely recover.
Because even though Rex had practiced shooting blindfolded, Anakin had called him a show-off that day, he would be an easy target on a real battlefield. No, if Rex went blind, Anakin, as a general, could no longer send him to a battlefield. It would be too dangerous. But Rex could continue to assist him from the Resolute, right? Anakin could never come out of this war alive without Rex to back him up, it was unthinkable.
He was abruptly snapped out of his reverie when doctors, and Kix, emerged from the medical bay. They all sat up to hear what Kix had to say.
If Kix was baffled by the impatient attitude of his comrades he didn't show it, "The captain should regain the use of his hand quickly," the doctor obviously started with the good news.
"And for his eyes?" interrupted Fives.
Echo nudged him in the ribs.
"It's more complicated," Kix sighed, tiredly. It could be seen on his face that he had done everything possible to save Rex. "For now, I have cleaned the captain's eyes and placed him in a bacta tank for the late evening and overnight. It won't help him regain his sight, but the bacta will help reduce the burns on his face. I prescribed him an hour in a bacta tank every day for a week or even ten days. And he'll have to keep his eyes out of the light all week. The light will only hurt him more."
"Will he recover his sight?" Anakin finally asked. He was afraid to hear the answer as the lover but he had to ask it as the general.
"With an injury like this it all depends on the treatment and exposure to the flash grenade," Kix replied hesitantly, he didn't want to give the general false hope. "The captain should be totally blind for the next few days, that's for sure. But the bacta and the creams should help his eyesight come back gradually. In the best-case scenario, the captain should see blurry within a week or so until his sight returns completely. He will probably suffer from headaches all his life because of the light but he will be able to see. In the worst case, his sight will never come back."
"Is there anything else you can do?" Ahsoka asked, terrified and worried about her big brother.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
Anakin gave him permission.
"Rex may be a captain but he's still a clone. I will never have the means to do anything other than bacta sessions and give him creams. For a Jedi it would have been different, he would have been repatriated to Coruscant to receive the best care. But here, for a clone and with the means available on the Resolute? That's all I can do. I could always contact medics from other battalions for advice like operations but otherwise, my hands, I'm afraid, are tied."
Anakin struggled to calm his anger at Kix's harsh words. He was right though, the Republic will never allow a clone, even if he was a captain, to receive the same care as a senator or jedi. Anakin had been the one who had to comfort a trembling Rex after his captain learned that the senate had refused to give Wolffe more care after his lightsaber injury. That day, Rex had trembled with rage and fear at the thought of losing his older brother. And Anakin had realized how much the Senate didn't care about its soldiers.
"I can see him?" he asked instead of making a scene. It would be useless to get mad at Kix who was doing his best. Especially since it wasn't the medic's fault if Rex couldn't get the best care to heal.
"Yes, get in. In fact, enter all. You have also been exposed to the flash grenade and could be injured as well."
The soldiers and the general obeyed the doctor's order. Although Anakin and Ahsoka didn't have to sit on an iron table like the others.
Instead, Anakin carried a chair to the bacta tank and waited all night.
***
Anakin was still sitting in the same chair when Rex woke up.
He was no longer in the same exact position since Kix had taken Rex out of the bacta tank and put him in a bed. And then, the medic had forced all the other members of the 501st out of the medical bay once all their injuries had been treated. Now the medical room was so quiet that Anakin was aware of every movement. So the Jedi woke up the instant he heard the machine attached to Rex beeping frantically.
"No, no, none of that," he said softly, rising from his chair to join the Captain. Anakin gently pressed the captain's shoulders to force him back into bed. "You need to keep resting."
"G-General?" Rex asked uncertainly. His face had regained color even if it was still too white and the red traces of burns on his cheeks persisted. As promised, Kix had put bandages around Rex's eyes, which made his skin look even paler.
"The one and only," Anakin smirked, though Rex didn't see it. The captain again tried to get up to give a military salute, but the general stopped him by pushing him back against his pillow.
"General…," the injured man began before being cut off by Anakin asking him to call him by his first name since they were alone. "Anakin, could you turn on the light? I can't see anything."
The jedi hesitated for a few seconds not knowing what to say. He had spent the night thinking about it but had not yet found the answer.
"What is happening?" Rex asked angrily. The beeps from the machine increased. "Why can't I see anything?"
"There was an accident with shinies last night," Anakin began hesitantly. He sat down on the bed next to Rex and took his hand in his to let him know he was there. "You took the flash grenade they were playing with but it exploded…"
"They are fine?"
Anakin couldn't help but laugh. Of course, Rex would think of their health first, "Yes, they are not the ones sitting in a bed in medbay."
The jedi didn't add anything else to give Rex time to figure out the situation for himself. He was so focused on his captain's expressions that Anakin saw the exact moment when Rex realized what had happened to him.
"Is it permanent?" Rex finally asked with a bit of fear in his voice.
Anakin gently put his other hand on Rex's cheek and touched the bandage with his fingertips, "Kix doesn't know yet," he whispered. "Hopefully you'll be better in a few weeks, otherwise…"
"Otherwise, I couldn't serve you anymore," Rex whispered back, utterly defeated. "I really won't be of any use anymore."
Rex's mood continued to deteriorate as the clone lost himself in thought. With the force, Anakin could see the captain's aura turn gray, even black.
Then Anakin touched Rex's nose with his index to snap him out of his dark thoughts and said, "boop."
"What the heck?" Rex asked, slowly coming out of his thoughts.
"Stop thinking about things that may never happen."
"But, it could…"
"Boop," Anakin repeated, touching Rex's nose with his index again.
"I can't be a captain anymore without…"
"Boop."
" It is serious, Anakin! You'll have to choose someone..."
"Boop."
"Stop that!" Rex said trying to push Anakin's hand away from his face but missed. He was annoyed that the general was not taking this matter seriously. They had to talk about it but Anakin preferred to keep touching his nose while saying "boop" to stop him from talking.
"Only if you stop worrying," Anakin said as an offer to negotiate.
"But…" Rex started again to explain his fear about his hypothetical futur. Rex already imagined himself back to Kamino to be "taken care of".
"Ah, do you want me to do it again?" Anakin threatened with a smile on his face as his index was close to Rex's nose.
"With no disrespect, General, you're a stubborn idiot," Rex finally said.
Anakin chuckled with a smirk, "Thanks for the compliment being stubborn is one of my multiple qualities."
"You know we're going to talk about it eventually, right?"
Anakin kissed Rex effectively shutting him up.
They would eventually talk about it, but not today. Today, Rex was resting so his eyes could heal. And Anakin would do anything to keep him in bed all week, even tie him up if he had to.
Rex didn't complain anymore as long as Anakin continued to kiss him.