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“Hey, Fives?” Echo called for him, right before they left the shuttle, and then Fives looked up to his brother “Last dominoes standing.”
Fives smiled under the helmet, nodding at Echo. It became a tradition after that. Right before the deafening gunfire and the blinding explosions, right before the clankers and the incoming enemy ships, one of the two brothers would always say “Last Dominoes standing”. It started as a joke, it turned into a habit and soon after it became a superstition. They always had to say it right before getting into battle. The one time they forgot and Fives broke his arm settled it as law - they wouldn’t ever leave the ship and walk into the battlefield without at least muttering the sentence under their breath.
After they became ARC troopers, they mantained the tradition, and soon younger shinies started to pick it up and talking to each other too. Nobody knew that their original squad had been called the Domino Squad, or that others mocked them saying “watch the dominoes fall” - who would even imagine such a thing regarding the ARC Troopers famed for their bravery and resourcefulness?
Right before leaving the ship, Echo hadn’t had placed his helmet over his head yet, and before he did, he winked at Fives. “Last Dominoes standing.” Fives repeated the words and he believed they would stand. Fives believed they would leave. Even as he saw the blast devouring that shuttle whole, he still believed it, like a child unable to accept the truth.
Then Echo’s helmet - charred and letting out smoke - came rolling out of the blast’s range and Fives felt numb inside, unable to grasp the concept of losing Echo, unable to understand. It felt like someone else had been piloting his body as he ran away with Rex, as he got into the ship with Skywalker, as he sat next to Ahsoka. Even as he checked and double-checked, Echo wasn’t there with them. He had been left behind. He was dead. And Fives saluted his General and his Commander, and he nodded at Rex when he stated his condolences, but only when he sank down on Echo’s bed, reaching for his drawer and grabbing the medal of honor that had been given to him when he was promoted to ARC Trooper between his trembling fingers… That was when he realized.
I’m the last Domino standing.
Fives clenched his jaw, swallowing hard, bitter taste at the back of his throat. His entire body was shaking violently as he tried to supress his tears but it was to no avail, and he felt the wet trails tracing paths over his cheeks while his face twitched and hurt, so tight his muscles were pulled. He whined, and it wasn’t a sound he’d ever heard out of his lips, not him, not the brave, funny Fives, not the one to joke even in the face of death, even when bombs were raining and corpses were surrounding him. He gasped and he coughed and he sobbed, allowing himself to collapse for once, and it was like he would never be able to stop crying again. He squeezed Echo’s medal so tight between his fingers the metal cut into his hand, but it didn’t make him stop because the pain was the only thing keeping his mind from turning too foggy into the mess he had become. He sniffled and snot dripped out of his nose, mingling with the tears that rained into his lips, the salty taste of sorrow overtaking him. His shoulders bounced with every sob and his head hurt, feeling hot and too full, too heavy.
He wanted to stop thinking of him but it was as if his mind was bound to do the exact opposite, forcing each dear memory to resurface, each encouragement, each inside joke, each shared moment of glory and loss, of joy and tears. And even the times in which Echo was an absolute moron, an overthinking asshole, even those felt precious and priceless now, and Fives wanted them out of his head, because it hurt too kriffing much. His heart thudded hard against his ribcage as if it wanted to break out and Fives wanted it too, wanted to wrench out his aching, clenching heart and cast it away where it couldn’t hurt him anymore. He barely noticed the sun going down, casting a reddened square of light on the floor of the bedroom he and Echo used to share, until it disappeared at once on the horizon and the stars began to glitter against the black sky. Fives had been pressing his lips so hard he could barely feel them now, and his eyes stung and burned with the tears that wouldn’t stop.
I failed you, brother. I failed you.
It wasn’t until the other clone spoke that Fives realized someone had walked in the dorm he used to share with Echo.
“Uh… Sir? Are you alright?”
Fives wiped his face quickly, pocketing Echo’s medal and looking over his shoulder to see a young clone, probably just fresh out of his cadet training. The man used his long hair tied up on a bun, and he seemed to be feeling quite embarrassed for having walked in on Fives.
“Whadd’ya want?” Fives snarled, wiping his eyes now
The clone hesitated to then timidly take a step inside.
“I was sent here by Captain Rex, sir. I’m… I’m your new roommate, it seems.”
Kriffing hell, they barely allowed the clones to make a body count before forcing them to move on. Fives snarled again, snapping back at the clone:
“I don’t need a new roommate. I have one already, he’s my batch brother, he’s… He…” the anger abandoned Fives faster than it had gotten to him, leaving the same empty sadness in it’s place “He’s… dead… Echo… My brother’s dead…”
“…Oh.”
The other clone walked in, dropping his bag by the door and walking up to Fives, as the ARC trooper sniffled and muttered a curse, wiping his eyes again. When Fives rose his eyes to him, the shiny gave him a tentative smile.
“You’re ARC Trooper Fives.” He looked at Fives’ tattoo on his forehead “I’m sorry for your loss, sir.”
Fives didn’t answer, looking down to the deep cuts the medal had opened on his hand and that still bled. Kix might have to fix the larger one, Fives had thought bitterly, swallowing hard and trying to slow down his own breathing. The shiny spoke again.
“I… Actually met ARC Trooper Echo, sir. And you.” at that, Fives lifted his eyes up at him once more “I… don’t expect you to remember me, but you and ARC trooper Echo saved my life back in Kamino.”
Kamino? Fives had asked himself. And then…
“The cadets. You were one of the cadets.”
The shiny smiled, nodding a few times.
“You two inspired me so much. I spent all the remaining time of my training dreaming about being like you someday.”
And even though Fives had thought he would never be able to smile again, he did. It was an odd smile, with eyes full of pain and grieving, and it let out something bittersweet instead of actual joy.
“Hey, listen up now, shiny.” Fives said, his voice hoarse “If you ever want to get even close to Echo’s level, we got a lot of work to do.”
He never knew, but Tup made his tattoo after his first assignment with Fives on the shape of a tear to remind himself of when he first walked in his new dorm at the 501st and found out that even his greatest heroes could grieve and cry, that he and his brothers were worth of shedding tears for, and that showing pain could be a sign of bravery, not of weakness.
And maybe it was good that he never knew. Because as Tup drew his last breath, he did it as a free clone, without the chip that brought him nightmares every night buried in his brain, and he cried out of pain, and fear, and sadness, yes, but mostly out of joy. He was free.
-
When Fives saw Kix at the 79, he knew that could be the last time he would see him. Kix knew Fives for a long time. He knew of his tradition with Echo. So when Fives looked at his eyes and winked, saying “last Domino standing”, Kix nodded back at him and gave him a small smile. Fives kept whispering it to himself throughout the whole time in which he conducted his investigation. And when Rex and General Skywalker found him, he kept repeating the mantra in his head.
I’m the last domino standing.
They didn’t believe him. Nobody ever would.
I’m the last domino standing.
He heard footsteps incoming. Fox’s voice. Demanding him to stand down.
I’m the last domino standing.
Fives reached for Rex’s pistols–