"We can't just leave them! Our sister needs us!" Jordae urged desperately over the sound of the wind as Risk drove the speeder from the arena, Breaks held Nata, and Tyson made sure Cyndea didn't fall off the fast-moving vehicle. She could feel the man's hesitation and want to turn back around, but his resolve to stay headed for their predetermined destination was too strong for her to sway. He'd been given an order, and no matter how badly any of them wanted him to turn the speeder around, he wouldn't disobey what his leader had told him to do. No matter how much he'd hate himself if something were to happen to the woman they left behind.

"At least go back for her after dropping us off!" She begged, grabbing onto the side of his armor for support as the speeder took a hard turn and dipped sideways to avoid hitting one of the tall spires that lined the city rooftops. He remained silent; she could sense his consideration, how his strength in his decision began to waver. But as the wind zipped past them and they grew closer to the hangar, it became a fruitless task.

They were going to leave the planet without Aveline.

When they reached the ship Aveline had used to arrive back home, an overwhelming sense of fear washed over the triplets, but it wasn't their own. As the speeder got closer and closer to the ship, Jordae caught sight of a few familiar figures, some being those of Aveline's guard and the other being the individuals they'd seen at that morning's execution- the traitors of Twar. Though the triplets had no place to judge; they were traitors now too.

The speeder came to a stop at the boarding ramp of the Twaran vessel where the young men and elderly woman were quickly making their way into the ship, two of Aveline's guards remaining outside while the other duo must've been starting up the space vehicle's engine.

"We have to get you three and the others out of here," Risk began as he and the two other guards loaded Nata and Cyndea onto the ship as well. Though Jordae was hesitant, she knew the guard was doing the right thing when it came to the greater good. Aveline would've wanted the triplets safe too, so the girls boarded the ship, despite feeling their hearts shatter as the doors shut behind them and the vessel began to hover off the ground, then proceeded to enter the atmosphere.

With no one left in their lives to trust beside the people flying with them, the triplets gave in and prepared for the jump to light speed.

***

She couldn't explain it- the warm, bubbly sensation that seemed to take over herself whenever in the presence of Rex. Maybe he was the most fun to tease out of all the clones she'd met and his ability to tease right back was a rare trait she admired. Or it could've been the genuine friendship they'd started to form over the course of this mission, how the lead up to their conversations always sent nervous shivers through her body but completely dissipated the moment their words left their lips.

It was a feeling she hadn't encountered for a long time, not since...

Molindi shook the thought from her head, thankful for the darkness to hide her small movements, and continued with their walk. Now was not the time to bring up the past, but it was most definitely a topic she'd bring up to JC once they got back home. Talking things through with her robot companion almost always made her feel better. She made a mental note and stored it in the back of her mind for later.

As the duo kept their trek through the sewer towards the glowing light at the end of the tunnel, the woman noticed something strange- the luminescent light began to fracture, spreading out along the walls as stalactites became prominent from the ceiling above and jutted up from the sewer floor. The tips of each cone-shaped rock were coated in the blue light like jagged teeth dripping blood the color of the general's lightsaber.

"Hm, didn't expect this," She spoke out loud with a bit of confusion, though she was grateful for the light so she could avoid tripping over the small formations as tall as her knee. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she reached her hand up to one of the lower-hanging rocks and ran the tip of her index finger over its surface. It left a dark trail behind, had a moist, almost watery texture and was cold, oddly enough, as if it had been sitting in a freezer instead of underneath a desert. And it didn't smell like the rest of the sewer. If anything, it seemed to have a sweet sort of scent that masked the rest of the gross air surrounding it. "What do you think it is? Some sort of weird moss?"

"Let me get a better look," Rex reached for her wrist and gently wrapped his hand around it. He brought her hand closer to his face and eyed the strange substance and Molindi smirked at how close they were before immediately wiping the grin from her lips. It was probably best not to be very flirty anymore til she could straighten out her thoughts with JC's help, for both commanders' sake. "Could be. I've never seen anything like it."

"I wish my guys were with us," She chuckled to herself and wiped the goo off on her leather armor as the duo continued their trek.

"Why?"

"Tyson or Breaks would've dared each other to lick it."

Though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was giving her a strange look.

"What? I'm not saying they'd actually do it..." The woman paused a moment, legitimately considering it, then spoke once more. "Nah, they wouldn't. At least a part of me hopes they wouldn't until we knew it wasn't poisonous." She sensed his gaze once more and let out a smiling sigh. "Why do I feel like you're judging right now? You can't tell me that none of your buddies in the 501st have dared each other to lick something before."

Though he kept the sound muffled, he couldn't stop the subtle lift of his shoulders as he chuckled to himself.

"I can, with absolute confidence, say that you're one-hundred percent right."

"What? The judging part? Or the licking part?"

"The licking part," Rex admitted. "Champs likes to initiate it most of the time, just causing dumb jokes, doing stupid things for the hell of it, licking things included. Kind of gets on Echo's nerves to be honest." It was strange; Rex never thought he'd openly tell another commander about the dumb-ass things his men would do when they were bored or trying to lift their spirits. But since she understood the charming stupidity behind a group of brothers, it was relaxing in a way that they could share stories like that without the fear of being looked down upon. 

"It wouldn't be fun if there wasn't one person annoyed, that's what really makes the others happy."

"Yeah," He smiled. "Yeah, you're right."

It didn't take long before a comfortable silence fell between them and they kept their pace through the tunnels. The farther they walked in the direction their comrades had gone, the brighter their surroundings became. The glowing blue light didn't just color the pillars of stone growing from the ceiling and the ground, it coated the walls, making their dimly-lit path and each other easier to see.

Soon enough, another light could be seen up ahead, only this one was much different than the luminescent glow surround them- this was daylight. Molindi began to jog forward, her hopes suddenly being lifted at the promise of daybreak, and Rex followed suit. A moment later, they'd reached the exit of the sewer and shielded their eyes from the sudden brightness.

The scene before them made her jaw drop.

The two of them stood on the edge of a cliff with a zigzag-like walkway between seven and eight feet wide leading towards the base of the mountain's face. What used to be a desert, a place filled with sand and dust and water-less death, had turned into a lush jungle full of trees and plants. It took up the entire horizon like a blanket of green with no sign of sand to be found. A blood-red sunset filled the sky and small specks of stars could be seen where the light began to fade to a purplish-blue shade. The cawing of birds and hooting sounds of primates echoed in the distance, causing a trickle of concern to trail down Molindi's spine.

The last time she'd seen a jungle like this, her men were eaten alive right in front of her.

"Uhhh...Do you see this too?" Rex questioned. She just nodded, her lips pulled back in a thin line. He must've noticed her hesitation and gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey." It was a single word, just one small syllable. But the genuine kindness in his voice and the sincere look in his eyes when her gaze met his was enough to convey the message he wanted to send her: She'd be okay. If she could get through the terrors they'd witnessed before, this was going to be a walk in the park.

Molindi nodded her head gratefully and almost placed her own hand on top of his, when-

"Took you two long enough," General Skywalker's voice cut through the personal moment like a knife and Rex's arm dropped back to his side, both commanders taking a small, awkward step in opposite directions as Molindi looked off into the distance and Rex found a very nice rock on the ground to stare at. Both Anakin and Axel had made their way back up the mountainside to meet with the other duo and both had obviously witnessed something they weren't sure they should have. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

"Are we still on the same planet?" Molindi deflected his question with one of her own. "That's probably a stupid thing to ask, but where the hell are we? Twar is supposed to be a desert planet. I didn't see any of this when we entered the atmosphere upon arrival."

"We're just as confused as you," The General responded. "According to all the files, this jungle shouldn't even exist."

"So what should we do? If the others did what we told them to do, they're off-world by now with the CCD plans and those people that were going to be executed-"

"And the triplets," Axel made sure to add to Molindi's list. He folded his arms and leaned his shoulder against the flat face of rock next to the cave's entrance. "We have no way of getting off this planet for a while, at least til we can contact someone to pick us up. And even then, how do we know we're even still on Twar?" Others would've laughed at his idea, at the thought of them being teleported to a completely different planet. But with the crazy shit the other three had seen in their own time, they believed the thought wasn't out of the ordinary.

A moment of silence passed as they all tried to think before Rex cleared his throat.

"We can figure all of that out later," His voice was refreshingly certain and the three others turned to listen. "With the sun going down, I believe making camp would probably be our best bet. Starting a fire to ward off any wild animals would probably help too."

"Sounds good to me," Anakin agreed. "We'll make camp at the mouth of the cave for tonight, then come up with our next step in the morning. Rex and I will go get some firewood from the jungle below while you two make sure the area remains secure, maybe build a ring of rocks from the cave we can build the fire in. I'll wall up a portion of the tunnel when we get back so no one can catch us by surprise."

With one final nod of understanding, the four parted ways.