Tw: Sickness, death, violence, mentions of kidnapping and forced marriage?

You're going to hate me for what I'm about to do.

"I hate people who engineer diseases to use as weapons," Kara muttered under her breath as they explored the abandoned base under the surface of Naboo.

"That's an oddly specific thing to hate," Rex commented.

"I've met some weird people." Kara squinted, the darkness making it very difficult to see.

"You okay?" Rex worriedly asked. 

"Yeah, my eyes are just having trouble adjusting," Kara told him before tripping over nothing. She managed to catch herself and smiled sheepishly at him. 

Rex wordlessly flicked his helmet's light on, illuminating the corridor ahead. The others behind him followed suit, doing as their captain did.

"How are we going to find it?" Tup asked, drumming his fingers along the barrel of his blaster. "Do we just have a tracker for mysterious diseases in vials?"

"We'll search for it," Rex said, glancing backwards. "Old school."

"This won't take long at all," a clone next to Tup grumbled.

"I'm with him." Kara pointed at the clone who had spoken. "Why are we searching for it? Why don't we just lock down this base forever so the vial can't get out?"

"What if someone just unlocks it?" Rex pointed out. He turned a corner, spotting the containment room ahead where the vials were kept last time. "There. We're almost there."

They searched the room, trying to find the last vial of Blue Shadow Virus left in the galaxy. Kara quickly gave up and switched to trying to steal Rex's pistol without him noticing. After two unsuccessful attempts, he finally turned to scold her.

"Kara," Rex warned, finally growing frustrated with her, "stop it."

Kara stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun."

He sighed and turned away, continuing with what everyone else was doing. Kara's eyes lit up when his back was facing her and she snickered, grabbing his pistol now that his attention was elsewhere.

His hand caught her wrist, and the helmet dipped as he stared at her. "Kara."

"Yeah?" She tried to tug away, but his grip was stronger. 

"Stop." He squeezed her wrist in warning before stepping away.

Kara's face screwed up in a mocking imitation of him, and when he faced her again, it smoothed over into one of innocence.

"Hey!" 

They both whipped around to see who was shouting, seeing a vial roll to the ground coming from under a table.

"There it is!" Tup snatched it up. "We can get out of here now."

"That was quicker than I thought it would be." Kara followed the group as they began to exit the base, leaving the way they'd came.

When everyone suddenly stopped, she bumped into the person in front of her and let out an indignant noise.

She could barely see a figure ahead in the darkness, between the bodies of the people in front of her. They were blurry, and she couldn't make out their features.

"I believe that belongs to me," they called out, shifting weight between legs. "So toss it over and no one gets hurt."

"Leave, and we'll let you walk away!" Rex's hand went to the pistol Kara had attempted to swipe. "You filthy traitor." He glanced down at Kara who was still squinting at whoever it was. "It's Coda."

"I don't need the vial, I just need to destroy it." Coda shrugged. "Have it your way."

And quicker than anyone could react, he fired a shot.

The vial fell to the floor.

And shattered.

Tup collapsed, a smoking hole in his chest.

Everyone began firing at Coda, who ducked behind the corner and sprinted away. Someone put Tup's head in their lap and tried to shake him awake, but he remained still.

Rex cursed and kicked the shards of broken glass. "Someone alert General Skywalker. Tell him we failed."

Coda had locked the hatch, which was fortunate since the Blue Shadow Virus didn't escape into the planet's atmosphere. People were starting to feel the effects of it, and were starting to cough.

"So we need to assume everyone here has been infected," Kara said to Rex as they looked out on their small group. There were fifteen people there, including the two of them. "How long until help arrives?"

"An hour at least," Rex told her, mind starting to wander to possible outcomes of the disaster they had fallen into.

"So we just need to survive until then." Kara's hands settled on her hips. 

"Obviously, but that's not the problem. We need to figure out how to survive until then." Rex let out a short cough.

"First off, we should identify symptoms. We know coughing, fatigue, and general weakness. Can you think of anything else?" Kara's shoulders shook as she coughed.

"Blue veins." Rex's eyes traced the ones on her neck.

"So we'll just keep an eye on people who have blue veins. People who seem really pale also might be the sickest," Kara thought out loud, fidgeting with the end of her braid.

Rex slid down to the floor, putting his helmet down next to him. He sighed and patted the dusty ground beside him. "Sit. There's something we need to talk about."

Kara sunk down next to him and pulled her knees to her chest. "What is it?"

"So this is clearly a bad time to ask." Rex tipped his head back against the wall, lips thinning. "But I was wondering if you'd wanted to-"

Kara coughed, descending into a fit of hacks. She bent over, bringing her elbow up to her mouth. Once she had finished, she looked up at him weakly. "Yeah?"

"Nevermind," Rex mumbled, catching sight of the blood on her sleeve. "It can wait."

"Oh, come on!" Kara pleaded. "Tell me! What is it?"

Rex glanced away and blinked. "Do you think Coda feels guilty?"

Kara cocked her head, wrinkling her forehead. "I don't know. Maybe he feels bad about killing Tup, or maybe he doesn't. That's not something you should be worried about."

"I can't stop thinking about it," Rex quietly admitted. "My head is filled with thoughts of him. He betrayed his brothers. He betrayed us. He killed Tup!"

Kara placed a hand on his arm. "And that's his problem. You should focus your efforts on moving forward, and avenging Tup. Coda will pay for what he's done, whether at the hand of justice, or his own mind unravelling as he seeps in his shame."

"You really know how to look on the bright side," Rex sarcastically said. He turned his head to be able to look at her beautiful face. "But thanks for cheering me up. I do feel a bit better."

"You can return the favour on the next anniversary of the day I left my fiancé at the alter." Kara giggled. "I always get sad around then."

"You were engaged?" Rex's eyes widened. 

Kara ran her tongue over her teeth. "Let's go with that."

"What does that mean?" 

Kara stretched out her shoulders as she tried to think of a way to answer. "I might still be engaged."

"You what?" Rex's voice dropped as someone shuffled past.

"I ran away for a reason! He was always kissing me awake!" Kara defensively said. "When you're escaping someone's basement you don't really stick around long enough to give the ring back!"

"You still have the ring?" He buried his face in his hands. "Why do I even ask."

"No, I don't have it anymore!" Kara rolled her eyes. "I sold it."

"Who was this guy?" Rex nudged her with a teasing grin. "Someone I know?"

"Do you know the prince of Raspitine?" Kara raised an eyebrow. When he shook his head, she smiled smugly. "Then you don't know him."

"You were engaged to a prince?" Rex no longer felt threatened, just amused. He has onky heard about stories like this from Hardcase's holoshows.

"Forcefully engaged," Kara specified. "You flirt with a guy once to steal his diamond necklace and he thinks you're interested!"

"I don't even want to ask," Rex said, biting back a laugh. 

"What's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you?" Kara put her head on his shoulder with a yawn.

"I met someone once," Rex fondly said, staring down at her.

"Yeah?" Kara scooted closer. 

"Yeah. She was pretty and got under my skin." Rex gently stroked her hair. "And I adored her for it."

"She sounds great," Kara murmured against his neck.

"She had the best stories," Rex continued, putting an arm around her. She shifted closer and closed her eyes. "They were absolutely insane and could only happen to her."

Kara hummed, her breathing starting to slow as she got closer to sleep.

"She gave the best kisses," Rex said and put his head atop hers. "They made me swoon like in every silly romance book Echo would read, thinking we didn't know about them."

Kara snored softly, making him smile.

Then his gaze caught the blue  veins on her neck which had spread, and the pale complexion of her skin.

And his stomach plummeted.