arctrooper-ross:

AU where Rex deserts the night Fives is killed. Like, he
doesn’t even know how to make sense of it but he has the unyielding urge to leave. He has no bags, no
materials no money—nothing. He tells Anakin that he needs a breath of fresh air,
he’d been in that warehouse for hours, even after Fives’ body was taken away. So
he steps out, takes a deep breath and keeps walking. Every bone in his body is
telling him to go back, but he can’t. And again, Rex has nothing, not a credit
to his name but he doesn’t care. He just needs to leave. When he gets a few
feet away he can hear Anakin questioning the others (“How long has Rex been
out? I need him here”) and he almost turns
around. But he figures that Anakin would be able to tell something was off
about him. That Anakin would see the emotional strain in his eyes and further
speculate why Rex was hundreds of feet away from the warehouse. Then what would
Anakin do? Would he report him to the Kaminoans, would Rex be “terminated”
then? So turning back wasn’t an option, not now. So Rex runs. There is a fear
he’s never felt before yet an excitement. These past few days have been hell
for him. He’s lost Fives and he blames Anakin. Anakin went above and beyond to
save his Padawan, but could barely bat an eye at Fives. It was Anakin’s ignorance
that killed Fives, and Rex finally accepts that his general never cared about
he and his brothers as much as he did Ahsoka, Obi-Wan or Senator Amidala. The clones were his tools to fight in a war, and Rex refuses to take part in it anymore.
So he runs until the warehouse is out of sight. He runs until he gets to the
lower decks of Coruscant and works from there until he can leave the planet. He
has no plan after that, doesn’t even know where he’s going—but he’s happy and
at peace. He knows this is what Fives would want; it’s what Rex wants and he finally has control of
his life.