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Rex, remember where we trained the Onderon rebels? Meet me there. Come alone, and keep this to yourself. -Ahsoka
Rex’s heart hadn’t stopped hammering. The soft blue of hyperspace washed over the entirety of the cockpit in what should’ve been a calming sight, but Rex’s mind was still back on Yavin, with that message.
The grind of carving out a space among the established Rebel Alliance for those who had just recently fled from Atollon had dominated not only his time since arriving, but also the bulk of his thoughts. It was a blessing at first to not have to dwell on the miseries of Atollon, but one casual message in Clone Wars era code sent to his datapad had turned his reality upside down.
Even now, en route to Onderon, sitting in the ship he’d borrowed from the Alliance under a hasty excuse that was more accepted because of Rex’s position rather than the validity of his improv, doubt still wrestled his mind. The day Ezra helped a blinded Kanan onto Atollon dirt without Ahsoka was a moment, a feeling, seared into Rex’s memory. That sense of loss had never gone away—it hadn’t even faded; it was like he had fallen into a pit from which he couldn’t crawl out.
So getting a message out of the blue from Ahsoka—the Ahsoka Ezra said was dead— had shocked him straight into a floundering sort of bewilderment. It had to be a trap of some kind. But Rex wasn’t an important enough leader within the Rebel Alliance for anyone, Imperial or otherwise, to draw into a trap… so it had to be real. Right? The code used in the message was perfect. Who else would’ve known it besides…
How was she alive?
That one question thrummed in his head for the entire journey to Onderon. It reverberated through all other thoughts, haunting the background as he planned what to do if it wasn’t really Ahsoka. And what he would do if it was.
Before Malachor—before Rex felt like a part of himself was permanently missing—he used to think back on his reunion with Ahsoka. Dwell on it during rare quiet moments. Think what might have happened if he’d done something differently. If he’d held her against himself longer. If he’d plucked up the courage to tell her how much she meant to him. If he’d kissed her. Now, imagining Ahsoka’s response to that last one wasn’t as soothing when the foreboding expectation it’s a trap lurked in the shadows of his imagined scene.
Rex checked his belt. A pair of blasters hung there, comforting only in the knowledge that he was still a good shot. The apprehension clouding his mind was eerily similar to barging into a warzone over a decade ago, buzzing nerves and all. Hopefully what was waiting for him was nothing like the war.
Onderon soon loomed in his viewport on the other side of hyperspace. The walk from the spaceport to the jungle was filled with Rex’s thin breathing, punctuated by the pounding in his chest. One blaster was in his hand the moment he left the city.
Memory led him to the training area. Now long since overgrown with weeds and vines, it certainly looked nothing like it once had. Aside from a couple shelters that had been left standing, the place looked indistinguishable from the surrounding jungle. A perfect place for an ambush. The waving of the overlapping shadows cast by trees kept Rex squinting, trying to discern shapes through them. Everything here felt as muted as his memories of the place, hazy by time-eaten distance.
“Rex?” a voice asked. It was so soft that Rex assumed he imagined it at first. Belatedly, he spun around to see movement in the murky shadows. A cloaked figure stepped out of what was once the animal pens, its hood dropping to reveal an orange face. Ahsoka.
Rex wanted to run to her, to lift her into his arms and hold her and make sure she was all right—but every precaution drilled into him as a soldier kept his feet rooted where they were, his blaster halfway raised. His brain tried to overrule himself—who else could this be if not Ahsoka herself?
She stopped her approach at the sight of his weapon.
“I take it Ezra’s report wasn’t favorable?” Ahsoka said, that characteristic teasing lilt to her voice. Rex’s hand shook as he holstered his blaster.
“How?” he breathed. “Malachor—Ezra said—”
“I didn’t go to Skywalker Academy for nothing,” she said with a shrug, like it was no big deal. “And I know this was a risk contacting you, but I needed you to know I was all right.” She stepped closer, eyes bright, smile growing. When she reached out an orange hand, all of Rex’s hesitancy evaporated and he took it, meeting her in the middle.
So many thoughts tripped through Rex’s head, competing for dominance, all outshone by the relief that this was really Ahsoka. His hand squeezed hers like he never wanted to let her go again.
“Come to Yavin with me—we’ve all consolidated there. The rebels will be thrilled to see you!” But not as thrilled as him. Rex hadn’t felt this light since… since the first time he reunited with Ahsoka. He had finally made it out of that pit. He was whole again.
“They can’t know,” Ahsoka said, her voice suddenly low, her eyes losing their cheeriness like an ember dying. That cooling brought Rex’s head plunging out of the clouds. “No one can know I survived.”
Rex wasn’t even sure he was breathing. He just knew his heart drummed in his chest.
“I evaded the Empire for a decade and a half, but it was hard sometimes,” she continued. “Now, they think I’m dead—that opens so many doors! I finally have a chance to operate without a bounty attached to me. So please, don’t tell anyone.”
“Then why even tell me?” Rex couldn’t parse through his own feelings; elatedness, confusion, hope, dread, they all crashed over him one after another like Kaminoan waves against tower supports. Rex wasn’t used to conflicting feelings buffeting him like this.
“It was important… to me… that you knew, Rex.” She swallowed. “We’ve both lost a lot of people over the years. I didn’t want you to think you’d lost me, too.”
They were standing so close now that Rex felt the electricity crackle between them. For all he knew, this could be the Force. No words came to mind—to reassure Ahsoka, or to thank her—so instead Rex pulled her into a hug. He’d already forgotten how cool her skin was normally, and now she wrapped her arms around him in return, holding him just as tightly. His disparate thoughts and feelings simmered in the wake of her touch.
And the moments stretched on.
All of Rex’s imagined scenarios reared up then, how he’d wished he could have a chance at their first reunion all over again so he could show her how he really felt… and now…
Rex pulled away from Ahsoka just far enough to kiss her. The moment that followed felt like time had stopped. It was just the two of them standing joined and Rex’s hammering heart. And the longer they stayed like that, the more Rex began to consider that he had overstepped.
But then Ahsoka wrapped her arms around Rex’s neck and full-body leaned into the kiss.
When they parted, they took a long moment to just savor the silence surrounding each other, hands interlocked.
“You know, I don’t even have to go back to the rebellion,” Rex volunteered.
An easy smile balanced out Ahsoka’s white markings. “If I wasn’t so used to working alone, I might just say yes.”
“You have no idea how relieved I am that you survived,” Rex said, “but it won’t make living without you any easier.” Neither made a move to break their hold, and Rex couldn’t think of anything more natural that they could be doing.
Ahsoka’s smile widened, perfectly displaying her fangs. “Maybe we’ll be incentivized to singlehandedly end the Empire just to find one another again.”
Rex smiled in return just thinking what a reunion that would be. He squeezed her hands. “I hope we don’t have to wait too long.”