Day 28 prompt + alternate prompt: "you have to let me go" + "I can't lose you too"

Warning: canon divergent; set in Post-Rebels/OT era, major character death

Time to kill Rex again-

It was a sunny day, just like every other day, ever since the fall of the Empire. There were still a few Imperial agents running around, but it wasn't Ahsoka's job to deal with it. She was, to say the least, retired. She had found Ezra, reunited with her friends, and here she was in the middle of nowhere, living with her last friend from the Clone Wars. Captain Rex of the dead five-oh-first and three-hundred-thirty second. And soon, he will be with them. The plate she was wiping clattered on the floor as she felt his force presence from the other room dim a bit too much for her liking. As she ran out of the kitchen, she found Rex on the floor, one hand holding the couch to help himself up, and one hand massaging his back, where the impact hit.

"You're supposed to stay there!"

She helped him up, maneuvering his legs so they hung off the sofa in a comfortable position. He didn't say anything, letting her help him, which was unusual, to say the least.

"'Soka...little'un...I think it's time," he coughed, finally telling her what he had been waiting to say for days. He knew he was Ahsoka's last comrade, the one who survived the longest, and he had tried his best to hold out so she wouldn't be lonely. But this time, he could feel death waiting at the edge of his mind, patiently waiting to collect him and let him march with his brothers in arms.

She froze. In her opinion, it was not his time. He was only forty-eight, but here he was in his ninety-six-year-old body. Unbidden tears sprang up to her eyes as she internally snarled. Curse the Kaminoans! Curse the war for taking his right to life! 

She ignored him, giving him a blanket and a glass of water, settling a pillow under his head. She turned to walk away, only for Rex to grab her wrist.

"Ahsoka."

She froze, and he set his hand down. She turned towards him, one tear falling onto the ground.

"One more night. Please?"

She held her breath as he slowly nodded and she made her way to the kitchen, bringing his and her lunch to the living room. They ate, both laughing and reminiscing in the happy memories they shared. That night, Ahsoka sobbed, her quiet cries heard from the bathroom, trying her best not to wake Rex. But he had walked there the best he could, and she curled up into his brotherly embrace for what could be the last time.

~

The next day...

"Ahsoka."

She knew that tone. Although it was low in a whisper, it was stern. It was when Rex was sure of his decision and there was no turning back, it was when he wouldn't refuse no as an answer, it was-

She stopped her negative train of thought. It was noon, another sunny and peaceful day, but not for her emotions, which was as chaotic as it could be. She whimpered, reality finally hitting her. She was going to help him die, and then...she would be alone. She would be all alone. Togrutas weren't supposed to be lonely; they were a sociable species, needing to live with other people to have good health, a good life overall. Although she had been by herself for about fifteen years, she had at least known that Rex was still alive. 

A hand gently her cheek and she leaned against it, eyes watering as they shut close. She pulled him into a hug, and he followed suit, where she slowly delved into his mind, pulling out his happiest memory to live his last moments.

It was the time the whole gang was at 79's. She almost broke the connection right then and there, but she stayed, for Rex. This was all for him. He deserved a peaceful death. 

Flashback

"Fives, you're not supposed to give her alcohol!"

"Relax captain, she takes her drink well! Just watch!"

Ahsoka was smiling, not even tipsy after her second drink.

"Guys, c'mon! I bet I can handle my drinks better than the lot of you!"

Rex's eyes were blown wide at her statement. The other clones however smiled wickedly, a smirk covering Fives' face. Kix wasn't too worried; he was already a bit tipsy from his fourth drink, his usual strictness sliding off for the night. They had come to the bar to celebrate their victory, the least number of casualties they got. 

"You're on."

"A toast first," Jesse interrupted, raising his shot glass in the air.

"To the sacrifices made for the good of the Republic."

"To Echo."

"To Hardcase."

"To Waxer."

The list went on and on, and it finally hit Ahsoka. 

"To everlasting brotherhood." They all drank their glasses, every head thrown back. She slammed her glass down, not enough to break it.

"Well boys, time to live free and die young!"

Glasses clinked as they all drank and laughed their way to a hungover the next day.

End flashback

She pulled out of the vision, seeing that his heart rate was already beating slower than normal. The hand moved from her back lekku to her shoulder and weakly pulled away as Ahsoka moved to stare into his eyes, willing him to understand how she felt about this, interrupting his happy memory. She found that she couldn't look at him, her gaze staying on the floor instead of his amber eyes. It was a selfish thought, to keep him from rest and quiet, she thought, as her thoughts jumbled into an incomprehensible mess.

"Ahso-"

She whipped towards him, her eyes crinkled as the salty tears finally started flowing down her cheeks and dropping onto her clothes, soaking through.

"Can't you see, Rex?! I can't lose you too! You're the only family I have left!" Ahsoka exclaimed, "We've lost so many brothers, Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, Echo, all because of the war and the Empire! We are the only ones left! If you're d-dead, everything's gonna ch-change, if y-you're dead, you'll be the last of the clones, if you're dead, there wouldn't be anybody else, if you're dead, I would be...all alone," she ended with a whisper, the fight for him to live draining out of her. Rex wiped a tear off her cheek but she didn't look up. He gently tipped her chin to make her look at him, and she met a look full of warmth, affection, and acceptance.

"You have to let me go, 'Soka. I'll always be with you, in here," he answered, pointing at her heart. Ahsoka's posture slouched as her shoulders dipped in resignation. This was for him, this was for him, and he deserved it, she repeated again. Her feelings have to be put to the side; she had done that so many times, she could do it once more. She finally let out a breath and continued her ministrations on him, slowly his life force till it was a dim light.

His eyes were closed and she slowly laid him down on her lap, combing through his white fuzzy hair in a soothing motion. She'll be here for him, she could get through this.

He opened his eyes a little, a smile forming on the tip of his lips, the light shining back into his eyes as calm happiness filled them.

"I love you, you do well to remember that," he muttered, patting her hand, "Goodbye...vod'ika."

Those warm eyes that always welcomed her for a punch, for a hug, for comfort, finally closed and never opened again.

~

She dug with her own bare hands, not sleeping nor eating as she slopped more dirt in. Her hands were raw and bruised, from digging for a day and tossing the dirt back in. She already set him inside, the casket buried deep. She dressed him in his armor, the only thing remaining with her was the vambrace. His helmet was settled in front of the stone that she carved, the faded but proud jaig eyes staring back at her.

Rex

32 BBY - 16 ABY

Here lies a captain, a friend, a brother

Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum. Su cuy'gar nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la 

(I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal. You're not gone, merely marching far away.)

She stared at the lettering, the wind blowing through her cloak, but she didn't shiver, looking emotionlessly, just like she did for the past days.

She dug graves before; for brothers on the battlefield, for the Venator crash, for so many people. But now, she was alone, no one to go to for solace. Rex was always there where she came back from a mission, side hugging her like they always did during her padawan days.

Her knees finally dropped on the ground, her head bowing in the dirt, her hands clenched around her head. She threw back as she screamed in fury, the wind carrying her roar through the trees. Her emotions were let loose, the breeze quickly turning into a violent wind that flew swiftly through the forest. The force wailed under her power, the habitat destructing at the hands of her anger as trees in the distance fell onto the ground, lightning striking them. Her tears pooled in the floor and soaked through and she curled up next to his helmet, hugging it to herself, surrounded by wings of fire, the trees set alight. The rain started pouring but she didn't move, and she closed her eyes, hugging Rex's helmet close to her chest, sleep overtaking her exhausted body.

Vision

Blinking eyes, waking up to see unfamiliar people as he looked at his hands. 

The Crimson Corsair, they called themselves, as they explained the past fifty years of his sleep.

Staring in the mirror to see a clone face, his own, not even aging a day, a feeling of regret taking place. Deciding to outgrow his hair to no longer see the face of a dead brother. Changing his armor to honor his past but represent a new future.

Accepting his decision to travel with the crew for his new life until he could find someone from his past, a remnant or memory.

Clicking through holopads and finding no familiar faces until he came across someone that reminded him of a feisty togruta that would stick her tongue out at him as he tried to check her wounds, who would smile at him after she finished, thanking him even with all the trouble she caused him, who would cuddle under his arm with the others and fall asleep to the beat of others' calm breaths. 

His face falling as below her picture, it read 'DECEASED' in big red letters.

End Vision

Ahsoka's eyes snapped open as she leapt up from her position, the helmet tightly held by her hands. She stared at it, the visor's reflection staring back at her. She knew who was in the vision. The fire was put out by the rain, the destruction still remaining. As she packed her things from the small hut she used to share, organizing it for the time she would come back, she took a look back into Rex's burial spot to find that the grave was gone, leaving her with his helmet and vambrace. There was no stone in sight, and she thought she heard familiar chuckling through a small breeze.

As she left what had been her home for a few years, a green and cream colored convor cawed above her, in pursuit after her. Rex might've died, but he and each brother had a place in her heart. And if that wasn't enough, the force answered her calling of grief with her long lost sibling.

She mourned already, there was no time for the tears. Rejoice in the memories your loved ones gave you. Don't fall into despair when there was always a light to follow.

The ghost of Rex watched with a smile, forever proud of his sister. Ahsoka grinned as she ran faster, her feet almost flying off the ground, as she started her next journey. 

Thank you to the readers who read all of my Febuwhump fics! I know that some of them weren't whumpy as you thought they would be, but this is just how I write! I hoped you enjoyed it! (or be sad through some of them :'D i'm not picky)

I promise the others will be out, but I'm still writing them-

By one of my mutuals on Discord, Reese :) (the sever is a whiplash of chaos and angst you can't blame anyone really)