#typing fingers went wheee and this came out

[ayo-cowbelly]

Always - Captain Rex x Reader (Maybe - Part 2)

Ahahahaha... back at it again *finger guns* I wanted to work on a series but this has been in my head and it won’t leave so... I went with it.

A little bit of AUing about where Rex went after the clone wars ended cause that’s just who i am. I made up the battle the reader is in during the beginning, cause *plot*. Okay this a/n is too long let’s just jump in.

Sorry this one is long, it kinda just flowed out of me. Hope you like it!

This is a part 2 to Maybe, so I recommend reading that first. Link can be found here.

taglist: @stevensfondue @likeshootingstarsinthenightsky cause they requested in the comments- probably wouldn’t have written this if they hadn’t requested so hope you two like it :)

Y/n: Your name.

masterlist

***

You kept a steady hand on the gunship handle as you and your men hurdled towards the surface of Ajan Kloss. The ship rocked as it dodged shots from Separatist cannons, some of them barely missing the sides. One shot was too close, and the explosion from it knocked one of your troops out of the LAAT/i- Rocket, was his name. He was a good friend of yours.

You shook the thoughts away, remembering to keep your mind in the present. No good would come out of getting distracted in battle; you had too much experience with that (a sore breakup being the cause) and you weren’t interested in it happening again.

“General!” You glanced up at Commander Blaze, your second. “The droids are too close! We won’t be able to make it to the landing site at this rate!”

“We’ll have to land farther back,” you went closer to the cockpit, using the Force to steady yourself. “Rush! We’re gonna have to touch down sooner than we thought. Land at coordinates,” you paused, remembering the holomap of the planet. “1137-4265!”

The pilot, Rush, nodded. “Got it, General! Hold on, this is gonna be a rough landing!”

You barely grabbed onto the handle before the LAAT/i tipped downwards, taking a steeper course to reach the (now closer) landing point. Your mind unconsciously went to another time, when you were in a situation much like this.

The gunship sped towards the ground of Geonosis, making this your second time in a battle here. You weren’t excited to be going back. But if the Separatists were building a factory here, something had to be done about it.

“General, you might want to hold on… I have a feeling this ship’s about to get unsteady.” You grinned at Rex, who was turned towards you, and you knew that under the helmet he was giving you a look for not grabbing the handles.

“Is that a challenge, Rex?” You always were one to make things… interesting, as you called it.

Others called it being unnecessarily reckless, but to each their own.

He shook his head, rocking a bit as the LAAT/i swerved. You narrowly avoided falling over in the cramped ship. “‘Course not, Sir. I just don’t feel like dealing with a missing general today.”

“Is that so? Well, I promise I won’t go missing. However, that doesn’t mean I’m going to be subdued today. After all, the fun is in the risk.” Still, though, you reached up and gripped the handle, just to be safe.

“Why did I have to get stuck with the adrenaline-junkie Jedi?” He muttered more to himself than you.

“Oh, come on. We make things entertaining,” you teased. “You love us.”

You felt something change in his Force signature when you said that, a feeling you couldn’t place. Not a bad one, but it was uneasy- secretive. But also… warm? You couldn’t see his face under the helmet, and you didn’t know what you’d find there if you could.  

Just then, the ship tilted sharply, and you practically went over the side, if not for an arm grabbing yours. Your hold on the handle had relaxed during your banter with Rex.

Speaking of him, he was gently but hurriedly pulling you back in the ship, grabbing the attention of your Co-General.

“Y/n! Be careful!” Anakin yelled over the blasts outside.

“Sorry!” You held the hand grip on the ceiling stronger than before. No matter how rash you seemed, you really didn’t want to fall out of the LAAT/i. You looked back at Rex, who was tilting his head as if to say ‘I told you so’.

“Yeah, yeah, you warned me. I’ll be careful.” You winked at your Captain, and you sensed that strange feeling flicker in his Force signature again.

***

Four days later, your fighter had been brought down to the surface of the jungle planet, along with more tanks, troops, and cannons. There had been reports of droids massing on Ajan Kloss, and they had been right. When you arrived, the numbers of enemies on the planet had been bigger than reported. Luckily, however, there weren’t many casualties in the battles that had taken place in the last few days.

You sat in your tent, mulling over your data pad. There were reports of many battles, including the recent one over Coruscant.

Apparently there was another siege going on- on Mandalore, of all places. At first, you had no idea why there would be a campaign there. It was a peaceful world in neutral space.

Until you remembered… Maul’s rise to power. And the death of Duchess Kryze. It was still jarring to think of it. Maul’s return was so sudden- Mandalore was just Mandalore, a reformed planet of peace. Until it wasn’t. The planet had become something much different following the death of its rightful ruler.

You wondered who was leading the siege. The company number, the 332nd, wasn’t one you recognized. Then again, these days, there were so many battalions, it was likely you just hadn’t noticed it before.

Then you saw…

332nd company

Commanding officer(s): Clone Commander CT-7567 “Rex”

Second-in-command: Advisor Ahsoka Tano

You didn’t bother reading the rest. Rex? And Ahsoka? You hadn’t seen her since her trial all those months ago. It still hurt to think of her, a young girl you thought of as your little sister (yes, you had grown apart following your leaving the 501st. But you had been together for so long, it was inevitable that the Togruta felt like family. And you still saw each other sometimes on Coruscant or on a joint mission, and you still cared about her as much as you did before).

The same could be said for someone else. Someone whose name you tried to forget. Someone who… who stabbed at your heart when their face entered your mind. Who made your stomach flutter, who made you cry, someone you loved deeply- no matter how much time passed.

You couldn’t… you couldn’t think of him right now. There was planning to do.

But Force, you hoped he was safe.

***

The Force was screaming. With pain, and betrayal, and hurt. So much hurt.

Bonds you had were snapping one by one, being severed quickly by something… strange. And painful. And every time a life force was extinguished, it was as if you were them; so many shots hitting you, phantom burns on your skin. And you didn’t know why; were they dying? How? Why?

whywhywhywhy-

You grabbed at your chest, stumbling. The Jedi… they were… no. Please, no.

What is going on? How could this be happening?

It hurts. Stop. Stop. Stop.

You fell on one knee, your face scrunching in pain. You wanted it to go away. You wanted it all to go away. This can’t be happening, please, let it stop, let it STOP, STOP-

stopstopstopstopstop

Your troops… they were acting strange. Their force signatures felt… off, you realized. As you shakily stood up, trying to regain your footing, you looked around at them all. Your thoughts raced.

The force is unbalanced, what is going on, why are they DYING-

You saw your commander out of the corner of your eye. Normally, Blaze was very diligent about the health of the troops, and that included you. Usually he’d be forcing you to the medic tent if he saw you like this. But now…

You watched in shock as he raised his blaster toward you. Turning around, you saw the other men do the same.

Wait, what? No, stop, why, this is wrong… wrongwrongwrong something is WRONG-

“B-Blaze,” your voice faltered. “What… what are you doing?”

“Quiet, traitor.”

And the clones opened fire.

***

“Anakin? What’s wrong?” You stared worriedly at the comm, the holographic form of your friend wavering a bit through the unsteady connection. You saw the dark circles under his eyes, they had grown in the time you’d been apart.

“Something’s happened. It’s not good. Really not good.”

Your brow furrowed. “Okay. What is it?” He didn’t answer at first, worrying you. “Ani?” You hadn’t used the nickname since you were children, when you were nothing more than Initiates, when there wasn’t a war.

“It’s Fives.”

Fives. You hadn’t seen him in a long time. But back in the 501st, he was one of your closest friends. You realized you hadn’t been comming him enough, something you’d have to work on. “What about him?”

“He’s… he’s dead, Y/n.”

“W-what? How? Why?”

Anakin sighed. “I don’t really know. It happened so fast. Something about chips, and a plot… he went insane. Tried to kill the Chancellor.”

It was like the wind was knocked out of you. The Fives you knew, your friend, wouldn’t… he wouldn’t. You ran your hand over your face as sadness filled you.

“How did-” you fiddled with your hands. “How did Rex take it?”

“Not good,” Anakin said softly. “He was there, when it happened. We both were. He held Fives as he died.”

“Oh, no…” Your lip quivered. How you wished you could’ve been there. For Rex.

For Fives.

“I’m sorry, Y/n. I know you and Fives were close.”

You nodded. “I should… I should go. Lots to do.” Anakin opened his mouth to say something, but you ended the call before he could.

In the solace of your quarters, you quietly let the tears fall.

***

You slumped over in your chair as you entered hyperspace. You vaguely remembered setting the navicomputer to Dantooine, but it felt like a dream.

Actually, the entire last hour felt like a dream.

You remembered your men, the ones you trusted with your life, raising their weapons at you. Calling you a traitor. And firing.

You remembered drawing your lightsaber and dodging, heading for your fighter.

You remembered sprinting. And cursing. Adrenaline taking over. And shots grazing your skin, three ringing true. You checked over your body, at the wounds. Those would have to be taken care of soon.

You remembered taking off, flying as fast as your ship could go. Docking with the hyperdrive ring that you stationed in the atmosphere. And then…

Well, now you watched as the bright blue stars whizzed by.

The Force was still in pain. It wasn’t screaming anymore, but wounded. Deeply wounded, like someone had slashed at it with a lightsaber. A chasm of pain was flowing through it, because of-

No. They couldn’t be-

Couldn’t be-

Dead.

No-

Why-

The clones-

The pain-

The betrayal-

What is happening?

What happened to them?

Why? Why? WHY?

whywhywhywhywhywhy-

And in your fighter, you screamed.

***

Dantooine was peaceful.

Peace… peace seemed unattainable, but it was something you were happy to chase after.

No matter how long it took, no matter how alone you were, you wanted to find peace.

***

About six months after you arrived on Dantooine, you searched the Force. It was the first time you could truly bear opening yourself up to it. Before, it had still been reeling with the deaths -murders- of your people, and the agony had been so heavy that you couldn’t open up to the Force for more than a few minutes, sometimes seconds, at a time.

This time, even though it still hurt, you probed the Force around you. Trying, hoping, to find someone you knew who was still alive. You wanted, needed, to find someone to reach out to. The solitude of being a fugitive was getting to you.

Yes, there were many clones to be found, but they…

They weren’t an option. Not anymore.

(Blaze, your remarkable commander, was in the hands of the Galactic Empire. He was one of your closest friends, once. Until-)

You wondered, in those harrowing months, what had happened to your beloved Captain. Was he still out there, was he part of the Empire, or dead-

Maybe it’d be better if he was… then I’d know he wasn’t one of their puppets-

Y/n, how could you think that?!

Why did it have to come to this?

As you delicately explored the force, shying away from the split bonds (they burned when you touched them), you wondered-

Maybe, if he was alive, what if your bond was still there?

You wanted to find out. After all, you realized, I never did want to live without him. I don’t think I can anymore.

That wasn’t the Jedi way.

But the Jedi-

They were gone.

***

“Rex, I- I love you.”

“I love you too, Y/n. We’re in this together. Always.”

***

The thread of your bond with him had frayed a bit, but it was still there. A bond that came from loving someone so deeply wouldn’t have gone away in a few months of separation.

Not when you still loved him so.

Even if he was-

If he was-

If he-

If he was one of them, an Imperial- well, you didn’t care. You had to see him again. If he came here with a squadron and terminated you, a traitorous Jedi… you weren’t sure if you cared.

If the last thing you saw was him, that would be enough. A dark thought, yes, but then again, all your thoughts had been a little dark lately.

You tugged on the thread. Gathering your strength, you sent a message. Come find me, love.

Dantooine. I’m here. Coordinates 2247-3656.

I love you. I always have. I always will.

Come find me.

***

A week went by.

Nothing.

So you tried again.

Dantooine. I’m still here. 2247-3656.

Come find me. Please.

I love you.

Again and again, for weeks.

Come find me, Rex.

I’m alive.

Dantooine. 2247-3656.

***

After two months of this went by, you decided to try one last time.

Dantooine. 2247-3656.

I’ll be here, love. Always.

***

Another month went by before it happened.

You lived on a small farm, and you were in the fields when the engines of a ship filled your ears.

Seeing as your farm was significantly far from others, you knew that whoever it was had to be here for you.

And suddenly, a presence you hadn’t felt in much too long was filling your senses.

He came.

You watched, frozen, as he approached. You hadn’t really seen each other since your separation, almost two years ago. You hadn’t had a real conversation since then, either. Holo or otherwise.

But that didn’t matter.

Snapping out of your daze, you ran to him with tears in your eyes. Crashing into his arms, you sobbed as he held you.

“I wasn’t sure if it was real, I thought I was going crazy- I’m so happy you’re alive,” He said softly.  

“I never stopped. Loving you, I mean. I- I never want- to let you go again,” You choked out.

You felt him hold you tighter. “Me too. I love you, Y/n. We’re in this together.”

Pulling back slightly, you traced his cheekbone as you whispered, “Always.”

There were dark times ahead. But with him by your side, you would get through it.

Always.

Fin.

[manjuhitorie]

16 Hitorie’s Hitori-Escape Tour, 11/14/2019 at LIQUIDROOM in Tokyo prefecture

SND “If you don’t pay attention, it’ll be over in a instant, y’hear me..."

SND "It's been a long time since we've last been here in Liquidroom..." Crowd "Woo!! Huh? huh?" SND "It's been a while~" Crowd “Wait!" SND "Do y'all gotta problem, do ya??” *They were there in Liquidroom just a few days ago for the bonus concerts. But SND seems to want to pretend those don’t exist ~~~

SND “Wheee~ Uei~" Crowd “Wheee~ Uei~”

~~~ SND pre-(W)HERE “Ahh we’ve already reached the 16th tour date. Today WAS the tour finale, but you guys had to go and order bucket loads of tickets so, we’re out here. 2 left now.

We’re Hitorie, a band who only do good songs but.. This is a good song among the good songs. A god song worthy of god. And I want everybody here to hear it. Whether you’re laughing, crying, however you feel is just fine. I leave it to you. So please listen to this."

~~~~ SND pre-Unknown Mother Goose

"You can do it if you try, huh Tokyo! For all your efforts, from wowaka… here's a package of love..!"

~~~~

SND pre-Talkie Dance

"What the fuck, you’re not dancing a damned bit are ya Liquidroom?! For y’all misbehaving, dance to Talk Dance please!!" Yu “1 2 3 4" ~~~

“Are you having fun?! Or are you feeling angry? Anything’s fine, alright…. Let’s just go wild..!”

~~~~

SND pre-Karanowaremono

We’ve been together for 7 years. I joined the band, we changed the name from Hitori-Atelier to Hitorie, and now we’re here 7 years later. The Beatles disbanded after 7 years. The band BOØWY, and Number Girl too disbanded after 7 years. 7 years ago, I was in Nagoya, wowaka was in Tokyo, and ygarshy called me directly to say 'I'm in this sorta band right now and we're looking for a guitarist, so you come and do it.' I replied ‘Okay, understood.’ and just like that I went up to Tokyo and into the studio. At the time I didn’t know Leader’s face, I only knew him from the Skype group chat, where he told me the type of songs he wanted to play and dumped the demo mp3 files in the chat, and when I listened to it electricity ran through my veins  sparks were flying, I thought about how it was so destined to cause a revolution, and that I was to be a member of that revolution… I was so so so excited. That excitement was already 7 years ago, and I’m, still excited to the bones right now. And my excitement, that electricity which ran through my veins that day, I’m going to share with everybody here right now."

~~~

Mid Polaris chorus belted out “Cause y’all are damn strong!!!!”

~~~

Crowd “One more time! One more time!” Encore MC time!

SND “Thank you everybody for the encore call~~!” Yumao *jumps out* "Yumao da yo~! Hey, it’s Yumao~!!" Crowd “So cute!” “It’s Yumao!“ So cute! SND “How much are you going to---” Crowd “YUMAO! SO CUTE!” SND “You’re wearing a nice sweatshirt aren’t cha." Yu “….Here wearing the nice sweatshirt, it’s Yumao!!✨ ” “WAHOOO!"

"..Turn around, turn around you shit c'mon, pull it up." …. *Yumao following instructions loyally* “Everybody, did you witness that? When the hood is taken off, the letters disappear from sight~” *SND acting like a magic show host*

“Our 16th show of the tour!” SND “The last time we played here Liquidroom was the show with Passpied, and then the one-man 5 years ago...” Yu “Yeah yeah.” Crowd “Awww...” SND “Shut up with the aww..! Listen to what I have to say or else! At least just for now." Yu “We’ve traveled all over.” SND “We have.” Yu “Yeah yeah” SND “Then today was supposed to be the end of it.” Yu “Yeah yeah.” SND “I don’t know how to feel about this!!" Yu “Yeah yeah" SND “After this we’ve gotta go down south again" Yu “Yeah ….Yeah” SND “It’s not as like Osaka’s done anything wrongs but. We’re not an Osaka band y’know. That’s where the problem lies.” Yu “Yeah yeah.”

Yu “Since today was supposed to be the finale, let’s look back on our tour” SND "Kyoto’s Takutaku venue!" Yu “Ah, so we’re doin’ this one show at a time? Okay!" SND “Taku t’was fuckin’ hot. Hell itself.” Yu “From then forward we learned, to prop fans on the stage.” “The reason my T-shirt is fluttering right now is because of Takutaku.” The reason we have cool heads, is because of Takutaku." SND "My first show with the role of singing the whole from start to finish....and it was in THAT. It was like playing inside of a sauna.” Yu “I also hadn’t played real shows much prior.. Though ygarshy is off doing, whatever he's doing but! SND and I were brooding ‘Were they always this painful, this sweat-inducing?!?” So later I asked yg and even he said *Yu imitating yg's monotone voice* ’…….It was painful.’"

Yu “Then we went to Okayama," SND “It was so coool!” Yu “That was what concerts are supposed to feel like! We were relieved.”

SND "Then we went to Morioka, to Sendai, to Kobe, to Hiroshima, to Sapporo…" Yumao “Woooo~sh, wooo~sh!” *Imitating their map path with his finger* "to Shizuoka…"

Yumao “In.. Sendai! Something funny happened…! May I interrupt with a bit of a newsflash?" Crowd “Wooo!" Yu "This guy (SND) was awesome during Talkie Dance today wasn't he? He pumped us up, he was like “Dance now!!!!” “Dance y'all!!!" *battle cries* Right, he was awesome! Throughout the tour we've been finding cool stuff to do and implementing it more and more. But during Sendai he did something unusual in this regard, I don't consciously hear what he says live because I’m always concentrating on my drums, but this irked me. So on the car ride home I listened to that day's concert recording and.. SND had only sorta questioned the crowd “Have you possibly.. not danced enough…? Maybe..?” wwww. The beat was hype but he was just acting dumbwitted like "I wonder..?" www..  I burst out laughing hysterically in the car!! Like HAAAHAAHA!” SND “'The fuck, he’s laughing all of a sudden and I’m the reason?!?' I said back then.."

SND "When we were in Nagoya, the stage was underground but, it vibrated like crazy...." Yu "We'll be back to shake that place up again!!!"

Then Niigata, Kagoshima...

Yu "We were in Kagoshima when the typhoon hit Japan, so we were laying low inside, plus an earthquake hit at the same time, which caused Kagoshima's volcano to go KABOOM on top of everything else. Earth was going crazy!!!! I asked the local people about it because it was crazy and they just said 'This is normal. Today's a little more than usual huh~ But don't worry~’.

Then Fukuoka, Ebisu, Takamatsu, Osaka,

Yumao "Then between Kagoshima and Fukuoka, we stayed at a vacation cottage out in Aso, and I got so drunk that I was farting around. I hung from the beams of the cottage and gave ygarsh a spook when he walked out of the bathroom.. He was roaring with laughter from that whole stunt! He didn’t stop laughing either, he laughed as he chased down SND with fireworks too, onward to when SND and I were watching TV together. yga was finicking around on his bass behind us, it was only natural to assume he wasn’t watching - yet he came out of nowhere to say "That was funny” ...When was he watching?" SND "He's an unreadable man."

Yumao "Then Shinoda became a rock musician also." SND "What? Me?" Yumao "Yeah yeah" SND "Wait, I was something else all this time? I was just talking about how we’ve been doing this for 7 years.. Was I mistaken?!" Yumao “Well, you’ve been polishing yourself up even more all these years… Shinoda is someone who never shows up to an appointment late, but he did just recently. And when he finally showed up, he was reeeeking of alcohol. At 12 in the afternoon nonetheless! So I asked him when he was drinking until, and he said “10 o’ clock AM. What a rock musician, right!!!" SND "Not a hangover or nothing, I was an old man hanging out drunk,  present tense.” Yu “Then in the back of the car, the other old man who doesn’t normally talk was there whispering 'This smell…. It’s whisky… It’s kaku.. Highball… And he was drinking beer too… This is Kinmugi…. Which means….. Torikizoku.' SND “Deducing even down to the fucking place I drank at!" Yu "His eyes weren’t laughing but his mouth was. He was having fun wasn’t he. But.. the bar doesn’t even stay open until 10 AM!!! The facts don’t match!" SND “This guys fun moments in life are something unique alright." Yu “Then an hour later we heard a ‘hehe..’ from him, thinking about it again and giggling!" "Ahhh~~"

SND “Well that’s everything... There’s a lot of stuff I want to say… but… *sniffling* To put a long story short.. Don’t underestimate us!"

SND “This was the supposed finale for our Liquid tour-…. Liquid tour!???" *laughing* "Our Hitori-Escape tour... So ygarshy please give us some closure, to seal the deal! Ready..……!" yga *>>BWOON<<*

~~~~

QUEUE THE PUMP UP TAUNTS *Odoru Mannequin~~~* SND “Oh yeah, I have one question for y’all gathered here in Liquidroom! !!! Is there anybody here among the crowd who feels they haven’t danced enough! Crowd “WOOO!" "Is there!!!! Anybody who here who hasn’t danced enough!?!?!?" Crowd “WOOOOOO!" SND “...On bass ygarshy!" *solo~~~* SND “‘Everybody… one two.. One two three four!'"

~~~~~

Final words

SND “‘On bass ygarshy! On drums Yumao. Guitar, vocals: Shinoda. Music and vocals by wowaka…. Let’s meet again."

〜〜〜〜

SND tweet "Tokyo concert complete, thank you so much. Tokyo daisuki. Until next time." yga tweet "The amazing one is he who brought Yumao and Shinoda and I together, wowaka."

Comments from Hitorie’s comrades

Shibata of Wasurerannee yo.

“Hitorie, Liquidroom

Before they played Polaris I was under the impression “Ahh after a tour Hitorie have really moved on”, but the moment Polaris hit, I realized “No way in hell they have, it’s not something that simple”. I got goosebumps, and tears came down.

Tonight was a showpiece of caliber to be celebrated in the times to come.”

Kobayashi Doom, manga author and idol SND’s “Sup, Hitorie were great eh."

Hiroki, bassist of Lego Big Morl “That was wonderful. Hitorie."

Satifour of ONIGAWARA

”Hitorie were the best! Shinoda’s guitar playing proves itself amazing still! I was shook!! Plus my outfit matched with Kinta (frontman of Lego) so I had Hiroki take a picture of us, heart”’

((Hiroki pitching in: The light slashing stuff is my well-crafted handiwork.)) Satifour's artist career finds its roots Nagoya, right alongside Shinoda, Shiohigari, and cinemastaff’s Mishima. They've reunited for the Shiho anime recently as well (link) - Where ONIGAWARA wrote the ending song, and a bonus version with Shinoda playing guitar released too! The crew is back together! (song link)

Takuto Akizuki, guitarist of Kankaku Pierrot

“Hitorie were too good. They’ve got so much going on yet, They've braced through everything that’s been thrown at them, Honed themselves. And continued on for us, Thank you so much.”

Mika Arata, Hitorie’s manager

“An amazing show. Only two remaining In the tour‼️”

A bouquet sent from Passpied was displayed in the lobby, beside one from the television channel Space Shower, and...

 Katoh of Luck’A Inc, who works to lovingly craft their merchandise "Hitorie, thanks "

Hitorie’s cameraman’s son was spotted the VIP seats, and Yumao’s artist mother again too!