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Trip had been called a lot of things over his life such as “defective”, “clumsy”, and “paranoid” but he was never called “cowardly”, “disloyal” or "ignorant". So when a warrant was out for fives’ arrest and he saw General Skywalker and Captain Rex sneaking away he knew something was going on.
Sneaking through the levels of coruscant without being spotted by the guard or his superior officers was tricky but he managed to track them into a hangar. He snuck in and managed to get a decent vantage point on the ceiling beams. The general and the captain were being held by Fives who was either drugged or was given ten lobotomies while he was on Kamino. He was rambling on and on about brain chips and conspiracies, the General and the Captain were clearly not buying it.
From his spot on the ceiling Trip noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned to see the red accented armour of the Coruscant guard. They had their blasters drawn and were clearly not in the mood to talk it out. Without even thinking Trip jumped down from the safety of the rafters, grabbed Fives’ wrist and started sprinting. He heard shots fired behind them but managed to exit through a back door. He knew this area rather well as it was close to 79s and he often stepped out of the bar to get some fresh air. The two clones were able to take some quick turns, duck into an alley and slide under a fence as they listened to the sound of the guards' footsteps getting quieter and quieter.
The pair stood up off of the grimy ground and looked at each other. Trip was just beginning to realise what just happened when Fives opened his mouth to speak
“T-Trip? What are you doing here?” Fives asked quizzically while looking down at him.
“Stopping you from getting a blaster bolt through the chest” Trip replied.
“I had the situation under control” Fives said with a hint of anger in his voice.
Trip squared his shoulders and attempted to look taller. He generally looked more timid than the other clones as he was shorter and had slimmer shoulders. He usually didn't mind except now when he was trying to appear strong and confident.
“You were all over the place, Rex and General Skywalker looked like they didn’t believe a word you said. If anything they thought you were going insane” Trip said in a firm voice
“But they need to know this, Trip. This is bigger than any one of us. It’s rooted in the highest levels of the government. The only person who would listen is General Skywalker but we just sprinted away from him as fast as we could” Fives was starting to seem more anxious as if there was something in the shadows of the alley waiting to pounce.
“I understand Fives, but you are going about this all wrong. You can’t just corner people and start rambling about these large plots rooted deep within our government and expect them to believe you” Trip was looking up at fives with a trace of pity in his eyes.
“I-I guess you’re right. I must be really out of it, huh?” Fives stood there for a second before a single tear rolled down his cheek.
He tried to wipe it away but before he could Trip had wrapped his arms around him and was crying as well. Fives cautiously returned the hug but soon sank into his brother’s embrace.
“We really missed you back at the 501st, I see you’ve gone through a lot these past few days” Trip said in an unsteady voice.
“Things were so much simpler before all of this” Fives was nearly sobbing now, finally collapsing under the weight of the world.
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored, they simply fester like an infected wound until they eventually kill their host.”
“...did you read that somewhere?” Fives’ sobs started to turn to laughs at his brother’s faked intellect.
“How dare you assume that I do not have the required intellect to conjure a deep and moving phrase about the dark bliss of ignorance
…
I read it on SmartPeopleQuotes.com”
“...Of course you did”
The brother’s tears quickly turned from sadness to laughter as they leaned on each other to keep balance in their hysterical laughing fit.
“Come on, let’s go find General Skywalker” Trip said as he wiped tears from his eyes
“Right behind you bro”
💫 – 💫 – 💫 – 💫 – 💫 – 💫 – 💫 – 💫 – 💫
Breaking into the jedi temple was surprisingly easy as most of the guards were off searching for Fives. The adrenaline from their encounter had worn off and Fives was exhausted and leaning on Trip for support, he had been awake for days so tripp couldn’t really blame him. Trip knocked on the General’s door and was surprised to see Captain Rex open the door.
“Oh, H-hello Trip, hello Fives, the General and I were… filling out some late night paperwork” the Captain said quickly.
That might have been believable if his face wasn’t tinted red and Trip couldn’t see the hickey peeking out from under his collar. Just then General Skywalker appeared in the door and invited them in.
“Trip! Fives! Welcome, would you like something to drink?” the General asked in a strangely bubbly tone. “We have tea and caf!”
“Um…I’ll have some tea, thank you sir.” Trip replied in a sheepish tone he had never really been around General Skywalker outside of work.
“...Caf” Fives said in a much more blunt and sleep deprived way.
Rex, Fives, and Trip all sat around a coffee table as Anakin rushed off to make the drinks.
“so…Why is General Skywalker in such a good mood?” Trip asked cautiously
“Oh, no reason” Rex’s voice raised nearly a whole octave in surprise
“Yeah, no reason” said Anakin as he walked into the room, placed two mugs on the table and gave Rex a near imperceptible peck on the cheek that Trip would have missed if he wasn’t watching.
Trip took small sips of his tea while Fives gulped down all his caf in one swig.
“Hopefully my tea is as good as Obi-Wan’s although I doubt it” Anakin said with a slight smirk
“So, what brings you boys up here?” Rex asks them
Trip turns towards Fives
“I think he could explain it best, sir”
Fives sighs and puts down his now empty mug. He turns towards Anakin and Rex and tells them everything. From Tup’s strange tumor to the discovery of the inhibitor chips to the drugging and murder attempts to the person who pulls all the strings, it's early dawn by the time he’s finished. Rex, Anakin and Trip all stare at him in disbelief.
“Are you sure it was the chancellor?” Anakin asks
“100% sure, sir, you can even check my memories with your jedi powers if you want” Fives looked entirely confident in his statement.
“No, it’s okay…I believe you” Anakin looks solemn but determined “I have some senator friends who could help us with this. Thank you for coming to us.”
Fives’ shoulders relaxed and Trip pulled him into a tight hug, Rex and Anakin joined in. When they eventually let go Fives had fallen asleep, the days without sleep finally catching up and he was leaning on Trip, their relationship had definitely gotten deeper throughout this whole experience.
“We’ll leave you two to catch up on sleep while we try to sort this out” Rex said
“As much as it hurts to learn that the chancellor is behind this, he must still be brought to justice. I promise, things will get better” Anakin declared.
“Maybe things will improve.” Trip thought as Rex placed a blanket on his shoulders.
He was warm and surrounded by his friends and brothers. General Skywalker was helping them take down Palpatine and who knows, maybe this could lead to that clone rights bill being passed so they could actually have a future after the war.
As Trip’s eyelids began to close he looked out to see the sun peeking over Coruscant’s horizon and his chest was filled with hope for a brighter future.