#someone pointed out Dogma might be at Mt Tantis

[enigmatist17]

Fox can't understand his kih'vod at first.

The call came in hours later than he was expecting, and for the millionth time, Fox is afraid. Reports of what had happened on Umbara, what Pong Krell had done, it had spread faster than anything else, every unit raging and mourning what had happened. Krell had been a name to fear, and despite clone after clone requesting the Jetti look and see why so many brothers were dying in massive numbers, they never did.

Rex's number has barely enough time to flash up on the screen before Fox accepts the call, and at first, all he can hear is haggard breathing. Rex is pictured sitting against something, gloved hands gripping his slightly grown-out blonde hair as he struggles to do more than hyperventilate.

"Vod? Speak to me." He needs to know he's alright, that Rex is at least safe, but cut out muttering and sobs are all he gets in return for some time.

"Don't let him die." Rex finally gets something out, and despite the shitty quality of the hologram, Fox can see he's crying. "I can't..."

"Who, let who die?" The Guard commander is distressed he can't be there for his kih'vod, but locks that down and out of sight. He needs to be calm, and like a lost sailor looking for a guiding star, Rex focuses.

"Dogma, he...they...I..." Rex pulls at his hair, and Fox growls to make him focus. "Decommissioning, I already heard it."

"Is he still there?" Rex nods, and Fox sets his comm down to lunge across his desk for his computer. "Designation, now."

"CT-6922." It's not his name, they never call it a name once a clone earns his actual name. Fox has never navigated the red tape that constantly strangled him with ease more than he'd ever done so in his entire life so far, and Rex collects himself as he watches Fox.

It takes him almost two hours, and Rex can tell something went right by the way Fox sits back in his chair.

------

Dogma expected to be decommissioned, he killed a kriffing Jetti despite him actually being a Sith. He was terrified to his core as he was escorted off the Resolute, the last view being his vod's all watching in despair, but he willed himself to stay strong. He felt only guilt for allowing Krell to get so far, and hopes that when he dies, he joins his brothers wherever they all go after death.

Coruscant was...not really what he expected.

The Guard had always been such a strange concept, the two awaiting him having gleaming red armor that commanded respect as he was escorted off his ship in cuffs and left by the non-clone officers that had retrieved him.

"Let's take those off." One of them steps forward with the key, the massiff at his feet regarding Dogma with a curious grumble as the cuffs are taken off, and the clone rubs his wrists in relief. "Welcome brother."

"Why am I here?" Dogma asked curiously, yet caution underlying as the other Guard member joins them.

"Welcome to your new posting. Name's Thorn, and that's Hound, with Grizzer at his heels." Thorn radiates safety in a way that nearly sends Dogma to his knees, said commander gripping Dogma's shoulder and keeping him upright. "Give yourself a moment and breathe."

"You've got the time." Hound pats his other shoulder, and Grizzer nuzzles against Dogma's leg with a whine. "You're alive."

"How?" Dogma is just confused, he killed a superior, he should be going to his death.

"Fox wasn't going to let anything happen." Dogma's eyes went wide, he'd never even seen the fabled head of the Guard before. "Come on, the others can't wait to meet you."

"Others?"

The Coruscant Guard wasn't like the 501st, but they accepted a new member to their core like he'd been there since day one as a shiny. They had kept introductions to a minimum, knowing that Umbara was still a raw wound he had yet to work through, and offered him a private room for the night. Dogma didn't really sleep, just meditated on the floor of his room until his comm beeped somewhere near three in the morning. Fives, Kix, Jesse, Rex, the four clearly know they shouldn't be contacting him, but Dogma pretends to ignore the flagrant breach of protocol that he couldn't care less about right now. Rex is the only one who isn't grateful to see Dogma was alive, the two sharing a knowing look as the others bombard him with questions, questions he doesn't have many answers to, yet they accept what he can tell them with sheer relief.

"I'm sorry." The words spill out when there is a lull in the conversation as if they had been lying in wait. "I should have listened.."

"You were doing what you thought was right." Jesse cut him off, shaking his head.

"What is loyalty if it's blind?" Dogma averted his gaze for a moment, and Fives moves closer in the holo.

"You did what we all wanted in the end, and I have respect for that." Dogma looked back, and Fives is giving him the first serious look Dogma had ever seen on the ARC trooper since losing Echo. "One day, we'll bring you back into the 501st, where you belong."

"He's right." Rex nodded, and Dogma feels a weight lift from his shoulders. "Just do as Fox tells you, he'll keep you safe while we sort out everything here."

"Yes sir."

Eventually, they have to end the call, but as Dogma actually lies down on the bed, he allows himself to just...let go.

This time, this time he would make things right.