letitrainathousandflames:

Of course Fives’ body was sent to analysis in the Coruscant labs. Rex made sure that Kix would be assisting the autopsy so that he could keep an eye on whatever the Kaminoan doctor would do to him. After what happened, he couldn’t trust them anymore. He was still trying to understand where he could actually place his trust.

A message came from Kix, saying that the Kaminoan was done with his analysis, and that he would send Fives’ body to be destroyed; dissolved in acid, along with every scalpel and needle that had touched him, like he was contagious hospital waste. Rex wasn’t gonna have it. Maybe he wasn’t over his grieving yet. Maybe Fives’ words had gotten to him. All that mattered was that he was standing behind General Skywalker now, clearing his throat loudly.

“Sir.”

Skywalker turned to him, his voice a tad softer than usual; at least he seemed sympathetic to Rex’s loss.

“Hey Rex. Need anything?”

Rex stood with his squared shoulders, hands behind his back.

“As a matter of fact I do, sir. The kaminoan doctor told us he intends on destroying Fives’ body. I request his body to be handed to us so that we can give him the proper funeral rites.”

Skywalker frowned curiously.

“Funeral rites?”

“Yessir. Us clones… we follow the mandalorian traditions, as did the original. Such traditions say that a fallen brother’s body is to be burned in a pyre. We can’t do this often, as you can imagine; we often need to flee and leave their corpses behind. But Fives’ body is here in Coruscant. We have no assignments scheduled for now. I see no reason to deny the 501st to give Fives his honors.”

Skywalker seemed to be taken aback by Rex’s request. He scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes.

“I don’t know, Rex… if it was the Kaminoans’ order, perhaps whatever Fives had is still contagious, even if he’s…”

“Dead.” Rex completed sharply; it was a weird thing, how only now he could notice how uncomfortable Skywalker would get talking of a dead clone, and it wasn’t the first time. It never looked like sadness, though; it often seemed like… annoyance “I believe you’ll understand when I say that I am willing to take the risk. I can be the one to light his pyre, in a secluded room if you must. I’ll take three chemical baths afterwards. Whatever you need. But I want to honor my brother.”

He hadn’t noticed how his words would come out almost clipped in his tension until the last word. He looked at Skywalker, waiting for an answer. Skywalker looked back at him, crossing his arms.

“You of all people is the one I cannot afford to have contaminated, Rex.”

Rex tried as best as he could to see the sentiment as concern, but all he could see was selfishness. If Rex were to be sick and terminated, it would take long to train a new captain. It would destabilize the battalion. It would be troublesome for Skywalker to get used to the new situation. Like when they upgraded blasters and took a while to learn how to use their aims. He was Skywalker favorite weapon, and he wasn’t sure if he was anything besides that to the Jedi general.

“I understand that I am a valuable asset to your cause, sir” and when the word ‘slave’ echoed in the back of his head he silenced it “but I was there when he died. I had him in my arms. If I were to be sick, I would be doomed by then.”

Skywalker seemed to be growing impatient by now.

“Rex, I understand your grieving, but we have our duties to attend to. We both have to fill reports, make a selection for a ARC replacement, send the chosen trooper to kamino for his training, we can’t afford to wast time on this.”

He had heard it many times before, but the word replacement had never offended Rex so deeply. Like Fives was just a number as he always hated to be regarded. A broken cog in the machine, in need of being substituted. Rex clenched his fists behind his back but drew in a deep breath. He had to maintain protocol.

“Sir… allow me to worry about Fives’ replacement. All I want is to…”

“What’s the difference between the kaminoan’s decision and yours, anyway?” Skywalker cut him off abruptly, and his tone quickly changed for a kind one “either way, he’s gone, Rex. You need to move on.”

“What’s the difference?…” Rex had snarled before he could stop himself, and he clenched his jaw “Sir, that man fought by my side for years, he was vital to the battle of kamino, he saved my life more times than I could count, he saved us from certain death in umbara, he…”

Rex’s tone was growing louder at each word, and only his deepest sense of self-control was holding him back from actually screaming in Skywalker’s face:

“He’s saved your life quite a handful of times as well and all I’m asking is to give him proper honors…”

Rather than remaining calm, Skywalker seemed to be spurred by Rex’s distress, pointing a finger at Rex:

“I’m not saying he wasn’t a good man, Rex. I’m saying we can’t afford to give a funeral to every dead trooper. This is war. We’ll have time for grieving when it’s over.”

The worst of it all was that, in a way, Rex knew that skywalker was right. But this felt wrong, the whole deal left a bad taste in his mouth, like Rex had failed to save Fives when he was alive and was failing again even now that he was dead. Rex’s voice dropped, cold and sharp.

“You say we have no time for funerals, sir. But I remember when the Jedi went under heavy gunfire to retrieve General Di’s body in Ryloth.” Rex took a single step closer to Skywalker, and even though he was shorter than him, not force-sensitive and nothing but a clone, the fire in his eyes made the General place a foot back “I remember the Jedi bringing his body back to the temple so that he could have a proper funeral. And do you know what else I remember?”

Rex’s voice was barely above a whisper now, his brown eyes trained on Skywalker’s face.

“I remember commander Keeli’s body being left to rot in that ravine, despite being right next to the Jedi general he had defended to his last breath under overwhelming enemy fire. I remember that his armor was blackened by explosions and there was a number of blaster burns on his chest.” he scowled, knowing fully well that he was far too gone past the line of insubordination to go back “if Keeli had been one to carry lightsabers rather than blasters, he’d be in that ship too. You asked me before so now I’ll ask you back, sir: what is the difference?”

Skywalker stared at Rex for a long time, studying him. Rex did not step back or blink, scowl still twisting his features. The Jedi looked away from Rex, frowning to then nod.

“Tell the Kaminoan you have my authorization to retrieve Fives’ body.”

Rex’s shoulders dropped,sharp breath out of him as his eyes went wide.

“Thank you, sir.” he paused, trying not to think that he didn’t owe the jedi any thanks. Quite the opposite; Skywalker owed him profuse apologies “I apologize if I were insubordinate, sir. Still in shock, I believe. Won’t happen again.”

Skywalker didn’t say a word, turning his back on Rex and walking away. Rex sent Kix his message, and he rubbed his eyes tiredly in the empty meeting room.

“I did it, vod.” he muttered quietly “You can march away now.”