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It was a late night in the barracks, a few days after Umbara. None of the boys could sleep. Not even, or might I say especially, Rex. They all sat on the floor, not talking, just sitting in each other’s presence, taking comfort in those who were still alive. Currently, the barracks felt particularly empty, with just Rex, Fives, Jesse and Tup residing in them, everyone else either dead, or in the medbay; or in Dogma’s case, the brig. Poor Kix probably hadn’t gotten any sleep in about a week.
There was a knock at the door of the barracks, and Jesse got up to see who it was. The person in question was their Togruta commander, Ahsoka Tano. She was barefooted and wrapped in a blanket from her quarters. Jesse didn’t hold back his eyeroll when he saw her.
“What do you want?” Jesse asked, annoyance and anger in his tone.
“I- I just wanted to check and see how you guys were doing,” Ahsoka said, nervously.
“Well, we’re fine, and don’t need you right now. Even if we did, you probably wouldn’t care,” Jesse spat.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ahsoka asked, shocked.
“You weren’t there when we needed you the most. We needed you, Commander. You weren’t there! What makes you think we’re going to think you’ll ever be there for us again?” Jesse blew up, enraged.
“If you had kriffing been there, you would know that we aren’t fine. You would know why Hardcase hasn’t been in the mess lately. You would be in the medbay helping Kix,”Jesse continued his rant.
Ahsoka blinked, and unwrapped the blanket from around her, before silently turning around and lifting up the back of her sleep shirt. Her sienna skin was covered in bruises, cuts, and burns. Then she silently dropped the hem of her shirt, wrapped the blanket back around herself and turned back around.
Tears were streaming down her face by now, but she managed to maintain her composure to stiffly say, “Goodnight boys,” before walking away. Ugly, muffled sobs could be heard as she did so.
“What was that?” Jesse asked, turning around to face his brothers.
“Your guess is as good as mine, but her back… those wounds looked fresh, and untreated,” Tup said. “Captain? Do you know where they came from?” Rex shook his head, staring off into the distance as if he were thinking.
“Well, I don’t care if you guys would like to sit here and have a thinking party until you figure it out. I’m going to go get some answers,” Fives said before marching out of the room.
Fives made his way to Ahsoka’s door and didn’t hesitate before pounding his fist on it. Ahsoka emerged, and she looked way worse than she had only five minutes before.
“What is it? Do you need something? I can help out,” Ahsoka said, but her heart wasn’t in it.
“Yeah, you can help out by telling me where you got those bruises and cuts on your back,” Fives said, not missing a beat.
“Umbara. That’s where,” Ahsoka said fiercely, which was a huge change in her demeanor. She closed the door and locked it before Fives could say anything. Fives blinked. He turned and walked back to the barracks, rubbing the back of his neck.
When Fives entered the barracks, his brothers stared at him. They had never seen the ARC quite so somber, other than when Echo had died.
“Find out anything?” Rex asked.
“She was there,” Fives whispered.
“What did you say?” Jesse asked.
“She was there,” Fives repeated, louder.
“On Umbara?” Rex asked. Fives nodded. He looked each one of his brothers in the eyes.
Everyone stared at the floor, as if it had answers for them.
“What do we do now?” Jesse asked. He seemed worried.
“We should go help her out, and while we’re there, see if we can find out exactly what caused her wounds and why she hasn’t seen Kix yet,” Rex said. The boys nodded, and headed back to Ahsoka’s door. After arguing about who should be the one to knock, Rex finally just did it.
“Ahsoka… could you come out please?” Rex asked.
The door cracked open a mere three inches, but it was enough to show Ahsoka’s tear streaked face and the dark circles beneath her eyes. She hadn’t been sleeping either.
“What do you want??” Ahsoka asked, her voice barely above a whisper and cracking with each syllable.
“We want to make sure that you’re okay. Can you let us in, please,” Rex asked.
Silence. Then Ahsoka opened the door, and let them in.
When the boys came into her room, they were mortified to see her blood on the bed, and medical items strewn everywhere.
“You haven’t gone to see Kix,” Jesse said. It nearly sounded like a question, but it wasn’t.
“No. There are too many brothers for him and Coric alone right now. I didn’t want to take their attention away from them. So I tried, and failed, to treat myself,” Ahsoka said.
“Soka. We can’t have you getting your back infected. You should’ve told us,” Rex said.
“I wanted to let you guys mourn. I didn’t want to bother you. I didn’t want to bother anyone,” Ahsoka said. Her voice got smaller with each word. Tears started to stream down her face once more, and Rex pulled her into him, pressing his cheek into the valley between her montrals.
“It’s okay now. We’re here and we aren’t mad. But you need to tell us. Where did these wounds come from?” Fives asked.
“Krell. I tried to stop one of his orders, so he beat me. Then, as an additional warning, decided to touch me with the tip of his lightsaber, just lightly, not enough to cause permanent or even dangerous damage, but enough to hurt,” Ahsoka said.
“Well, he’s gone now, and he won’t and can’t hurt you anymore. But, will you let us help you?” Jesse asked. He was the advocate for the Kix and still felt bad about the earlier events.
“Okay,” Ahsoka gasped. Rex guided her back to the barracks, and the rest of the boys followed. Jesse grabbed an unopened med kit from the supply room.
“Sit down,” Rex told Ahsoka. She did.
“Can we have you take off your shirt?” Rex asked gently. Ahsoka responded by pulling off her shirt and clutching it to her chest. She shivered, considering she was only wearing a pair of shorts underneath. Jesse took notice and wrapped her legs in a blanket. Ahsoka offered a smile.
“Fives, can you hand me a bacta wipe?” Rex asked, putting his hand out. Fives dug through the medkit and passed Rex what he needed.
“This is going to sting,” Rex warned. Ahsoka nodded once.
Rex cleaned her cuts and Ahsoka clenched her jaw. Jesse rubbed his hand up and down her shin, trying to offer comfort. Tup just stood and watched silently and Fives crouched near the medkit, ready to hand Rex supplies.
After cleaning her cuts, Rex layered bacta patches over her back and shoulders, before helping Ahsoka put her shirt back on. By then, it was about one o’clock in the morning. Ahsoka slumped forward and the boys smiled softly.
“Tired little soldier?” Fives asked. Ahsoka nodded. Rex pulled her against his chest and laid back on the bunk. Ahsoka fell asleep in a vode pile that night, and she never hid her feelings from her brothers again.