Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rex had known it was a suicide mission from the moment he'd heard Captain Andor open his mouth. 

To be fair, he’d known he was headed straight for death a dozen times before and somehow he'd come out on the other side every time.

But this time had been different; he’d known, deep down in his bones that this was his last mission.

Bleeding out in the sand, his life slipping steadily away, he decided he was all right with that. He'd lived years and years past what he'd thought he would. Had expected to die, wanted to die, for so long.

Since the war had started, and he'd had to watch his brothers die while he'd been forced to keep moving, to always keep moving.

Since the war had ended—in blood, betrayal, and empty brothers.

He'd survived 20 years since then, 23 years longer than he'd ever really expected to survive. But here he was and death was finally coming.

He stared up at the sky, watched as a moon slipped into view where a moon shouldn't be.

Death by Death Star. He hoped he and the others would be the last of its victims. Hoped they'd managed to get the plans out. Hoped, beyond hope, that they'd somehow managed to save the rebellion. Hoped that they'd done enough to give the rebellion, to give the galaxy, the hope it needed to finally beat back the Empire.

There was a stormtrooper walking towards him, stumbling more like. Rex looked at the blaster laying several feet away from him, dropped when he'd taken the blast that had ended with him bleeding out on the sand. There was almost no way he could get to that blaster, not with the way he couldn't feel his legs. He glanced up where he could see the Death Star formidable in the sky. Well, blaster or no blaster, they'd both be dead within the next few minutes.

But the stormtrooper didn't pull his blaster either, just kept stumbling forward until he fell to his knees beside Rex, hand coming up to remove his helmet.

Rex felt his heart stutter, sharp and painful. He knew that face, just as well as he knew his own. "Cody."

Something complicated and painful crossed that too old face, older than Rex had ever thought he'd see it. "CT-75—" Cody stopped talking, face twisting in pain. "Rex."

For a split second Rex was grateful he'd chosen such a short name, the choked way Cody had forced it out, he wasn't sure Cody could have managed a second syllable. "Cody." He looked up at the Death Star. There was so much to say, 20 years of time to make up for. 20 years since Cody had refused to listen to Rex's warnings; 20 years since Rex had left his brother behind, slave to a chip in his head. They didn't have time for any of that. "Did we make it?"

Cody's face twisted again, pained as though he were fighting. He probably was, Rex acknowledged, that same tired guilt heavy in his heart. That damned chip still in Cody's head, even now after 20 years. "You made it. One transmission got out."

Rex winced, reaching out to grasp Cody's hand where it still held the blasted stormtrooper helmet and he pushed the blank, monstrous symbol away from them both. "We did it." In the sky he could see a green light that would kill them all.

Cody didn't answer, but he clutched at Rex's hand, and that was answer enough.

"Always knew we were gonna die together." Rex coughed, felt the blood bubble around his lips.

Cody just stared at him, and Rex could see the emptiness of the chip fighting to take over. No, they were going to die together, Cody and Rex. Not Rex and the Empire's tool.

"Cody." He coughed again. "Vod."

Cody's eyes cleared a little, but the words were still strained. "Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la."

Rex laughed a little, the sound coming out more like a death rattle than anything. "Yeah, that's right Cody. We're going to march away together." He tightened his grip. "I'm glad you're here, vod."

Cody stared down at him. "Not leaving."

Rex sighed, he could feel the air rushing towards them, sharp and violent.

Death was coming for them, but it didn't matter. They'd succeeded, they'd got the transmission out. The plans to the Emperor's Death Star.

The two of them had been fighting all their lives, right side or not, willingly or not, they’d been fighting. They'd done everything they could. It was the galaxy's turn to fight for itself.

They'd beat death a thousand times before, they could let death have this one.

-_-

He wasn't dead.

That was the first thing Rex knew, though he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

It was hardly the first time he'd woken up after being sure he'd fought his last battle. But this time, this time he'd been so sure. There had been no way off the planet, and Rex had been too injured to go for it even if there had been.

Beside him someone stirred, the hand holding his own shifting. It took his mind a moment to recognize who it must be. "Cody." He frowned, the name came out strange, his voice softer and higher than it should be.

Next to him, his vod stirred again. "Rex." Cody's voice sounded wrong too, but still right, still Cody.

He forced his eyes open, taking in the vibrant blue sky above him. There was no moon, no Death Star, just a sun starting to lower over the horizon, sending pinks and purples to slip into the blue of the sky. Long grass waved at him from the side of his vision. He turned his head the opposite direction, towards his brother.

The shock hit him enough to push past everything else, adrenaline shooting through him and forcing Rex to move. "What the kriff?" His voice was wrong still. Too soft, too high, too young.

Cody's eyes were wide open and the shocked and confused look in his eyes felt like a reflection of Rex's own feelings.

"Rex?" Cody's eyes seemed to take in all of Rex's face. "What happened to you?"

"Same thing that happened to you, pretty sure."

Cody's eyes widened in horror at the implication. "You look like a cadet." Cody frowned, and Rex could see his mind racing. Something sharp and painful caught in his throat, because there was no sign of Cody struggling against a chip, just Cody being Cody, trying to get to the bottom of this. "Think we're dead?" Cody sounded doubtful.

Rex paused, because that would make sense. He and Cody both looked like they were five or six again, that made as much sense as anything if they were dead.

Except, Rex knew they weren't dead. And he was pretty sure that Cody didn't think so either, despite being the one to have voiced the thought.

"Maybe the Death Star—" He started, but he wasn't sure how to end the sentence, because the Death Star destroyed, it didn't do, well, whatever this was.

"De-aged us and healed you?" Cody finished, voice skeptical. 

Rex blinked, because Rex wasn't dying right now, wasn’t bleeding out. He had been healed, hadn't he? "And somehow transported us to somewhere not Scarif." Rex added. He wasn't completely positive it was true, but the air felt drier, the sky the wrong color blue. Either way, it certainly wasn't the bloody sand where he and Cody had made their last stand. "Freed you from your chip."

Cody flinched back, dropping Rex's hand as something in his eyes shuttered. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position—putting space between the two of them.

It was true, and Rex knew it was true. He'd seen too many of his brothers caught in the chip, he'd seen Cody fighting it long enough to let them die together, and Cody right now was Cody. Not Cody with a chip.

"At least the Death Star had that kindness." Cody's voice was quiet, but there was something bitter about the words too. "That's more than you ever did."

It was Rex's turn to flinch back. "Cody—" he started, but Cody was pushing himself to his feet, moving away from Rex as he looked around. He looked like he could have just stepped off of Kamino, even his clothes looked like the stupid blue uniform they'd had to wear, rather than the stormtrooper armor he'd been wearing before the Death Star had struck. Not that the armor would have fit him, his brother was small. Rex looked down to see he was wearing the same uniform. Rex felt a stir of unease.

"Not Scarif." Cody agreed, voice completely neutral, and Rex realized with a pang that he couldn't tell which emotion, exactly, Cody was using it to hide. Pain maybe, hurt. Anger, probably. Unease. There had been a time when Rex would have known instantly, would have been able to read it in the most subtle of nuances. "I've been all over that blasted planet." Cody turned slowly, somehow managing not to look at Rex at all. "It doesn't look like any planet I'm familiar with."

Rex pushed himself to his feet too. He felt a little unsteady, his body was so small. Rex hadn't been this small for so long, and to be perfectly fair, he hadn't spent much time this size in the first place, it had always felt like he was in a constant state of growing back on Kamino, never comfortable in a body constantly being stretched into the perfect soldier. He didn't want to think about it and what any of this might mean and so he distracted himself by looking around; he needed to figure out where they were and what they’d need to do to protect themselves.

They were in the middle of a meadow of sorts. Tall grass stretching in every direction. To the east he could see the deceptive rise of a hill, hiding anything that might be lurking in that direction, to the south and west, he could see what looked like a small town.

He could tell Cody was also looking at the town, considering. "Not going to get any answers if we stay here." Rex said carefully.

Cody finally looked at him again, blinking slowly. "No, I suppose we won't." He started walking, and Rex hurried to catch up.

He wasn't sure what to say. He and Cody had always had an easy relationship. They hadn't struggled with each other the way Rex had with some of his brothers. The two of them had always just been, from the very first moment.

It had been so easy, those last few minutes before they'd died, or not died, as the case seemed to be. Because now they weren't dead, and everything they'd left aside in favor of dying together was suddenly heavy between them.

"I tried to warn you." Rex said, it felt like the wrong thing to say, but he didn't know what the right thing was. "You refused to listen."

Cody whirled to face him. "And my General died for my failure. I killed him." Cody's voice was sharp and bitter. "That was horrible enough. I was there for 20 years, Rex. How long did I have to be there before you were willing to forgive me for not listening? Before you were willing to free me? At the very least, it wouldn't have been that hard to snipe me. I'd have done it for you."

Rex stumbled to a stop. "Snipe you?" The words felt stained coming out of his mouth. Kill his brother? "Cody, I—"

Cody didn't bother to listen, already turning away and moving towards the town at the edge of the meadow again.

There hadn't been a way to get Cody out. Cody had been too protected, he had been right in the middle of the disaster that had been the fall of the Republic and the Jedi. He’d been the highest ranking clone in the army before that blasted Order, he’d been the right hand of Obi-Wan Kenobi—and the name filled Rex with a familiar grief—and Anakin Skywalker had always been possessive, even, maybe especially after he'd become Darth Vader.

Darth Vader had already lost Padme, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka. He had already lost Rex. What had been left of the 501st was all Vader had had left, and then there had been Cody the last tangled line to Obi-Wan.

Cody had been untouchable, at the beginning at least.

Maybe later, when anti-clone sentiment had grown, Rex could have gotten to Cody. But then Rex had been in hiding with Wolffe and Gregor, and Cody had just been another brother Rex had lost.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, because Cody had dismissed Rex’s warning, but Rex had abandoned him in turn, and Cody had suffered for both of their choices. He didn't know what he could have done, if he could have saved Cody. And even knowing what Cody had turned into, Rex wasn't sure he'd have had it in him to kill his brother, no matter what Cody seemed to think about the matter.

If Cody heard his apology, he didn't bother to respond, keeping his steady pace towards the town. Rex followed and the rest of the journey was filled with an uncomfortable sort of silence that Rex thought he should be used to, but somehow wasn't.

Their footsteps were quiet, the steps a familiar quick march, the pace best for short distances where speed was more important than stamina, and it wouldn't take them long to get to the town at this speed, though Rex wasn't sure what they planned to do when they got there.

Figure out where they were, how heavy the Imperial presence was, if there was a rebellion safe house anywhere near.

But he wasn't sure what they planned on doing after. They looked like children, he didn't think they could fake any older than a nat-born 15 year old, and even that Rex wasn't sure about. He'd always been a little unclear about nat-born ages.

He wasn't even sure if Cody was willing to plan something as a them.

The thought hurt. Rex didn't want to lose Cody, not now that they'd been reunited and they were both free.

Their pace slowed as they got closer to the town. The first street was empty, no people out on the street, but it was also getting late, and the houses here on the outskirt had that mixed look of comfortable and safe, the sort of homes that would house smaller, fairly-well-off families.

"Suggestions?" Cody asked, voice still perfectly neutral.

Rex considered the question for a moment. The town had a warm vibe, so different from most of the places Rex had been as of late. Not war torn, no one begging on the streets, quiet and peaceful. "It's late." Rex said carefully. "And we, well, we look like kids." He flinched at the words, because they'd never been kids, not really. "We can probably use that. At least get information, figure out where we are, how long it's been since Scarif, if not a place to stay for the night." He snorted. "Not like anyone's going to recognize us as clones." Any clones still alive were old and gray and had long since disappeared from the public's eyes.

Cody's brow furrowed, but he nodded slowly. "Okay."

They slid past the first house, slipping into the street. Rex glanced carefully at every house they passed, waiting until he found one that felt right. From the corner of his eye he saw a curtain twitch and he caught sight of a small face peering at them from a window. Beside him Cody's step faltered. Small eyes grew wide and the curtain fluttered shut. A few seconds later the opposite side of the curtain shifted and the same small face peered out. Rex tilted his head, smiling at the kid—absolutely adorable—and the kid's hand came up to cover his eyes, still obviously peering at them through the cracks in his fingers. "I'll take that as a good enough sign." Rex said quietly.

Cody paused, but then nodded. "Yeah, good a sign as any."

Rex took a quick look at his brother again, he was frowning, staring straight at the child who had moved and was now peering at them from the bottom of the yellow curtains.

Rex knocked carefully on the door, trying to make his body language look as diminutive as possible. They were just children, children who'd gotten lost.

Heavy footsteps heralded the arrival of someone on the other side of the door. "You said you'd be here an—" the man's voice cut off, and Rex blinked at the short, dark-haired, angry man carefully, keeping his eyes wide. "You're not the blasted Jedi."

Rex felt his whole body go cold, and he shook his head, not even having to fake the hint of fear. What sort of idiot talked about Jedi openly? The man scowled down at the two of them. "Shara!" The man called behind him. "It's a couple'a kids."

Softer footsteps heralded the arrival of a tall woman, "Ori." Her voice was gentle. "I think you're scaring them." The man scoffed and stormed off again. The woman smiled down at them. "Can I help you?"

Cody stepped forward, shoulders hunched in a way they never were, making him seem even smaller than their current bodies really were. "We're sorry. We didn't mean to bother you. We got separated from our parents and we can't find them. We've been looking all afternoon.” Rex immediately made his eyes go wide again, letting his lips tremble as though he were about to cry the way he’d observed had always been particularly effective for little kids looking for help.

The woman bought it immediately. "Oh, come in. We'll help you find your parents no trouble." She ushered them in and Rex boggled at the quick kindness and the absolute lack of hesitation in offering it. Shara was making careful noises. "Come in here to the kitchen. It looks like the two of you haven't had a good meal in far too long."

That was true for Rex's old body, but he was fairly sure this child body was on a carefully calculated diet meant to ensure maximum health. He didn't say that, just nodded and looked down at the ground as though shy.

"Why are the Jedi coming?"

Rex's eyes went wide without his permission this time as he stared at Cody. What was he doing?

Shara's smile went a little fixed. "They're taking care of a little problem for us." She ushered them into seats. "Just wait a moment and I'll find you something to eat, and then we'll see what we can do about finding your parents. I'm sure the city stewards will have heard something."

"Mama!" Rex turned quickly as a boy came dashing into the room, not the boy from earlier, this one was a little older, the boy skidded a little on the floor staring at them. "Those aren't Jedi."

Shara ran her fingers through the boy's hair. "No, Owen, we're still waiting for them."

Rex thought he might crawl out of his skin. How were they being so open about this? They didn't know Rex or Cody! They had no reason to trust that the two of them wouldn't turn them into the Empire the second they left here.

Rex was pulled from his thoughts by a hand on his knee, and he stared down at the child from the curtains, who'd apparently followed his brother into the room, and was now looking up at him with wide green eyes. Rex smiled down at him. "Hey there." His greeting was met with a bright smile, and small hands came up in an obvious request. Rex hesitated, but then picked up the small boy, settling him into his lap.

The small boy pushed at his hands, and then carefully used Rex's shirt to pull himself up until he was standing balanced on Rex's leg. Rex kept his hands hovering around the small body in case he slipped, but the boy only wavered a few times one hand clinging still to Rex's shirt, the other reaching carefully past him towards Cody.

Cody's eyes were wide, and he sent Rex a startled look before reaching out gently with one of his own hands to the tiny, outstretched hand. "Hey there." The toddler caught Cody's hand immediately, and made a happy little gurgling sound.

"You don't need to entertain him." Shara's voice was sharp as she moved towards them, her eyes on the toddler with a sharp displeasure that sent a thrill of warning down his back and made Rex want to pull the kid closer.

"It's no problem." Rex said quietly. "We have lots of younger brothers." Had, he thought. Had, because most of their brothers were long dead now.

Shara just shook her head. "Not like this little demon." Her voice was almost venomous. The kid slipped a little and fell with a soft umph onto Rex's lap, curling forward over Cody's hand. Rex rested a hand along his small back to stabilize him, even as he felt himself freeze at the bitter hatred in the woman's voice as she looked at the boy in his lap. A second later though she straightened, smile making its way back to her face. "Here." She slid plates in front of both of them, and Rex felt his mouth water at the smell of real food. His stomach growled loud enough to be heard and Shara laughed a little.

"Thank you, Ma'am."

She smiled. "It's not a problem at all." She reached out. "I'll take the little demon so you can eat."

Rex wanted to pull the toddler closer, but he couldn't think of a way to make it sound like he didn't trust the small child with his own mother.

There was a knock on the door and Shara paused, hands still outstretched. "That must be the Jedi." She abandoned her attempts to take the little boy, moving instead to the door.

"What's your name, little one?" Cody's voice was quiet and soft and Rex looked down at how the toddler was clutching Cody's one hand in both of his tiny hands, looking as though it was the toddler's favorite thing in all existence.

"I call him Wanna." The other boy, the one Shara had called Owen, said as he clambered onto one of the other chairs around the table, looking at the plates of food Shara had given them. "He always wanna do things with me." The boy giggled at his joke. "Except Mama says he can't, cause he's a demon."

"A demon?" Rex asked carefully, listening with half an ear to the boy, the rest of his concentration on the new voice in the hall, deep and authoritative.

"Uh huh." Owen said, picking up what looked like a tuber from Cody's plate and stuffing it into his mouth. "That's why we're giving him to the Jedi. Mama says we'd get in trouble if we drowned him in a lake." He giggled again, and Rex pulled the toddler closer to him as he met Cody's eyes. Cody looked about ready to commit murder, and Rex wasn't inclined to try and stop him.

Before he could ask Owen any more questions, about either the toddler or the Jedi and the way Owen talked about them so openly, Shara came back into the kitchen two human males following her.

Both were so obviously Jedi that Rex almost expected Vader himself to break down the door, red saber already lit. They weren't even trying to hide. The younger one looked only a little older than Rex and Cody currently looked, he even had a padawan braid for kriff's sake. Something was very wrong here.

Cody straightened slowly, body stiff and eyes shuttered, and Rex could see him categorizing every movement the Jedi made as they were ushered into the remaining chairs.

"I was told there were a few documents I needed to sign before you could take my darling baby." Shara asked as she picked Owen up off the chair as she settled down into it, settling the boy on her lap.

The older of the two Jedi nodded. "Yes." He pulled out a data pad. "There are a few files that just need some basic information on the boy, name, age, health concerns, the like." The man's voice was warm and friendly. "Then of course you need to sign custody of the boy over to the Republic in care of the Jedi Order."

Rex felt his entire brain stop. What?

Cody seemed just as frozen by the words. Jedi Order? Republic? Both had broken and fallen 20 years ago, and yet here this Jedi was, with absolutely no sign that he was currently concerned with being hunted down and killed, a Padawan in tow who looked entirely bored with the proceedings, and they were talking about a Jedi Order and a Republic.

Something was very, very wrong.

The two adults were still talking and the Padawan—because there was currently a Jedi Padawan in the room and Rex didn't know what to do about that—leaned forward to look at the toddler in Rex's lap, and then without even asking poked at him.

The toddler paused in his very careful observation of Cody's hand and looked up at the Padawan, tilting his head a little as he stared at the Padawan. The Padawan snorted a little, before leaning back in his chair again, pulling at his braid as he stared around the room, his lips curled up in obvious distaste.

The toddler on Rex's lap shuffled a little and started wriggling from Rex's grasp to get to the floor.

Rex had to restrain himself from stopping the little boy from escaping, from keeping the little boy safe and protected in his arms. Something was wrong here. There were Jedi, and Owen had said they'd considered drowning the little boy, and the Republic apparently existed, and Rex and Cody were stuck in their 5 year old bodies, and he had no idea what was going on.

But the toddler was insistent and Rex let him slide down. He let out of a breath of relief as the toddler only moved to Cody's chair and made the same pleading gesture to be picked up. Cody picked him up immediately, holding him carefully close to his chest as the toddler started to examine Cody's face with small hands, palms pressing against Cody's cheeks and nose as though they were the most fascinating thing the toddler had ever seen.

With a start Rex realized that Cody's scar was gone. It made sense, in the weird way that everything going on right now made sense—meaning not really at all. But Cody hadn't gotten that scar until the very beginning of the war, why would his five-year-old body have it?

Finally the toddler seemed satisfied because he plopped down on Cody's lap and reached out towards Rex with both hands. Rex didn't even hesitate to reach out his own hand and let the child grab it and begin his careful examination of his fingers.

"Here." Shara's voice cut through the silence that had spread through his room. "Now where do I sign?"

The older Jedi—and Rex's brain was still refusing to think about what it all meant—was scanning the dock. "I thought you and your husband were Ori-Van Dorola and Shar-Ara Saliba?"

"Yes, that's what I put."

"Yes." The Jedi shook his head. "I'm just curious, I was reading into Stewjonian customs during the trip here. Shouldn't that make your son Obi-Wan Doriba?"

"He's not a Doriba." Shara's voice went suddenly sharp. "Kenobi is for the nameless, and that's what he is."

It took less than half a second for Rex to put the words together and the quiet intake of breath from Cody meant that he'd done the same. Rex turned slowly to look at the toddler still busily playing with his hand, the boy poking at the skin between his thumb and blaster finger.

The Jedi and Shara were still talking, but Rex suddenly couldn't concentrate on their words staring at a young, force-sensitive child named Obi-Wan Kenobi in a time where the Jedi Order and the Republic still stood.

What. The. Kriff.

Cody seemed even more lost than Rex, he was staring down at the toddler on his lap with a look that Rex could only describe as petrified.

This wasn't real. Rex had been saved from Scarif and was currently hallucinating in a bacta tank, not that Rex had ever had a hallucinogenic reaction to the substance before, but maybe it was a bad batch of bacta. It was always a risk, with the way it was smuggled around these days.

That was the only reasonable explanation Rex had.

Obi-Wan Kenobi looked up from where he'd been playing with Rex's hand and stared at him, blue-green eyes that Rex hadn't seen in over two decades meeting his with an innocence that Rex had never seen in them before. Obi-Wan looked away from him and up at Cody, one of the toddler's hands—Obi-Wan Kenobi was a toddler. what. the. kriff.—leaving Rex's hand to reach up and touch Cody's face.

Cody looked like he was about to break apart. Fear and confusion and loss all playing across his face, and he was pale and shaking.

"Are you all right?" A hand on Rex's shoulder pulled Rex back into the present. Shara had left her chair and was now hovering over him with concern. The Jedi and his Padawan were staring at him and Cody, the Jedi's eyes full of concern. Rex wondered what they were projecting into the Force.

"Yes." Rex forced out, but his voice was trembling.

Shara ran a hand through his hair, an attempt of comfort that missed the mark by a wide margin because Rex didn't know her and didn't trust her, and she had wanted to drown the General, the baby General. And Rex was either hallucinating or he and Cody had, what, time-traveled? Time-travel wasn't real. Shara somehow didn't notice his discomfort. "I know you must be afraid, but don't worry, we'll find your parents."

Right, because that's what they'd said when they'd knocked on the door. They had lost their parents.

Except they were clones in a time where the clones hadn't even been born yet. Rex was moments away from breaking down, so he carefully shoved everything away, the same way he had done on the battlefield when he had needed to move forward or the battle would be lost. They'd figure it all out. "Thank you." He said.

Shara smiled at him, and quickly encouraged both him and Cody to eat the food she'd prepared for them, before she moved back to her chair to continue her discussion with the Jedi. Rex carefully ate a few bites, trying to make sense of everything that was happening.

He looked at Cody and Cody finally tore his eyes away from the toddler in his arms to meet his eyes. Oh no. Oh no. Rex knew that look. That was not a good look. That was Cody's about-to-engage-in-a-risky-maneuver-to-save-my-insane-General-from-his-own-stupidity look. Except Cody's General looked like he wasn't even a nat-born 2 year old yet.

They were not allowed to kidnap a baby.

Except Cody was holding the toddler close to his chest, and his grip had to be tighter than was comfortable for the child, but Obi-Wan was more concerned with clutching Rex's hand and cuddling into Cody's chest than in complaining.

And Obi-Wan’s older brother, Owen, had said they had wanted to drown him, Rex and Cody couldn't just leave him here. Except the Jedi were taking him, so they wouldn't be leaving Obi-Wan here either way.

But the Jedi were all going to be destroyed within four decades.

But that was four decades in which Rex and Cody would be able to fix things. How, Rex couldn't even begin to imagine, but they'd do it. They'd save their Generals, Cody's from dying, Rex's from Falling, and they'd save all of their brothers, and they'd, they'd, what would they do? Their brothers didn't exist yet. Rex's General didn't exist yet. And Cody's General was a child.

Rex thought he might be losing his mind.

A foot kicked him and Rex looked up to see the Padawan staring at him, his Master was talking to Shara. "What's wrong with you?" The words might have been ones of concern, but the tone the Padawan had used made them seem the farthest thing from that.

"Nothing."

The Padawan scoffed, quietly enough not to draw his Master's attention, but it was still clearly derisive. Rex felt the sudden need to grit his teeth.

Before he could respond Shara's husband, Ori, stormed into the room looking displeased. "Are you not gone yet?" He scowled at the Jedi, obviously unhappy to see them still present.

"We'll be on our way in just a few moments." The Jedi Master said calmly. "We actually just needed to get your signature on a few forms, and then we'll take Obi-Wan and be off."

A nudge against his foot brought Rex's attention to Cody, who glanced pointedly from Obi-Wan to Rex.

Rex looked pointedly at Obi-Wan and then to the Jedi.

Cody just raised an eyebrow.

No. No. Cody and Rex still didn't know what was going on. They needed to get away from everyone, step back, and have a conversation. They were not going to do something stupid before they'd even figured out what was going on.

Cody didn't look away, and the look on his face was challenging.

No. No. Rex still wasn't sure he wasn't hallucinating this due to a really bad batch of bacta, but if he wasn't and this was somehow real, they weren't going to kidnap a force-sensitive child from the Jedi.

Obi-Wan pulled at his hand holding it up in front of his face, his nose scrunched up adorably.

No.

Obi-Wan pulled his hand back to his tiny chest and snuggled into it as the toddler curled into Cody's chest, Cody's small, five-year-old arm keeping him nestled safe and close.

No.

He looked back up to meet Cody's eyes, and Cody had that look in his eyes that meant Cody thought he was winning the argument.

Except he wasn't.

He swallowed hard as the Jedi stood, his Padawan jumping to his feet quickly. "I promise you, we'll take good care of your son, Shara, Ori-Van."

The Jedi moved carefully around the table, hands reaching out to pick up Obi-Wan where Cody held him.

Cody looked like he was willing to try and fight the Jedi Master for the baby.

"Could you take us with you?" Rex's voice cut through the room. "The rule is if we get separated to go back to the ship. Except we're lost."

It had been a rule, of sorts, back when the war was on and during the very few opportunities they'd had leave. Everyone could do whatever they wanted, they just had to make it back to the ship before leave was up. And he and Cody were lost, in about every way it was possible to be lost.

Rex barely listened as Shara fussed, the Jedi Master was frowning down at them, but Cody was quick to join in, trying to reassure Shara that this was good.

"You're rather far from the spaceport." The Jedi noted quietly.

Rex shrugged, not bothering to try and hide his fear. "We were close to the ships, but then we fell asleep and when we woke up we were near here."

Shara let out a quiet gasp and Rex knew that she and the Jedi were now under the impression that he and Cody had been abandoned. Which, Rex thought a little bitterly, might not be wrong. Something had left them here.

It didn't take much to convince the Jedi to take Cody and Rex with him to the public spaceport. It was actually harder to convince Shara that it was a good idea, and Rex felt a little bitter that she was more concerned about two kids who hadn't even told her their names than she was about her own son.

But finally they got everything settled, and the Jedi Master reached for Obi-Wan again.

Cody pretended not to notice, carefully settling tiny Obi-Wan on his waist as he moved to the door.

The Jedi Master frowned after him. "Come Xanatos, it's time for us to go." He gave Shara a bow. "It was a pleasure, Madame Saliba."

Shara just smiled, at gently ushered them out the door, not even bothering to pretend to care enough about Obi-Wan to say goodbye, despite the fact that she was never going to see him again.

Not, Rex sighed, that he was sure Cody would have let it happen anyways. He looked at his brother, who was now standing by the outside door and was whispering quietly to the tiny General. Rex moved closer to his brother and could hear the quiet Mando'a, his brother’s voice a little hesitant and unsure, but fervent and sincere and Rex realized that they were truly and utterly karked.

Time to figure out how to steal a baby from a Jedi.

Chapter Text

“Blast him." CC-2224 gave the order and watched the traitor fall. 

Cody died on Utapau with the words 'Execute Order 66.' Drowned under the wave of orders forced on him by a chip in his head.

His General died, blasted from a cliff and drowned at the bottom of a Utapaun sink hole.

There was no body and CC-2224 knew what that meant, knew his duty. Cody knew his duty too, the General was dead, and he had to believe it. So he buried his faith in his General's abilities, did the rough calculations about how far his General would have fallen, how injured he would have been from the blast—the fall was high enough that water or not, the impact should have been deadly. CC-2224 agreed and with his General as safe, no, as dead, as Cody could make him, Cody disappeared beneath the chip.

His General was dead and Cody was too.

At least until the time he found a brother trying to escape.

CC-2224 knew his duty and so did Cody.

No one asked questions when the brother was reported dead due to insubordination, CC-2224 knew his duty and Cody knew his too. His brother was just as dead as his General, just as dead as Cody.

If CC-2224 once caught sight of a pale, tired figure, hidden under a robe on a sandy planet, well Cody turned his head away. His General was dead, and so was his brother, and the brother after that, and the child hidden in the rebel base. CC-2224 knew his duty and Cody did too. 

And if Cody was drowning under a chip, and orders, and an Empire, fighting for every moment of control he stole from the Kaminoan's and Empire's creation, then he reminded himself that his General was at the bottom of a Utapaun sink hole and they could drown together.

If he ever wondered why he wasn't dead, well CC-2224 knew his duty and Cody did too.

He was stationed on Scarif, at the end. One of the last clones in the army, he'd had his days as a Commander, his days as a trainer, but now CC-2224 was old and breaking down and Scarif needed someone who was good at paperwork. The rebels came, and if CC-2224 spotted the traitor CT-7567, it was Cody who kept his blaster holstered long enough to make sure that neither of them would die alone.

And then Cody had woken up, and CC-2224 was gone, and Cody didn't know what to do. He'd been nothing more than a drowning man whose few moments of life had been small, hard-fought choices made through duty to his brothers and to his General.

He woke up and Rex was right there, his body all of five years old, small and blonde, his mind still the brother that Cody had fought beside, the brother that Cody had fought with, the brother that Cody had fought against, the brother that Cody had fought himself for, in order to die at his side.

Cody didn't know what to do with that. Rex had warned him, yes; Rex had abandoned him, too. If there had been anyone in the galaxy that Cody would have trusted to save him when he couldn't save himself, Rex was at the top of the list. And if Rex couldn't save him, why hadn't Rex at least given him the mercy of death? Why had Rex left him to drown for 20 years?

And Cody wasn't CC-2224 anymore, but he had been, for so long, for longer than he'd ever been Cody.

And so he'd walked, because there was nothing to do but walk, and Cody couldn't bear to sit still and have Rex realize that Cody might not have the chip anymore, but Cody wasn't sure he remembered how to be Cody anymore either.

There were no brothers, or innocent children, or Generals to save, and Cody didn't know how to fight past the grief of still being alive.

But then suddenly there were Jedi, suddenly there was a Republic. 

Suddenly there was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Small, tiny, helpless, in need of protection, in need of saving. Because Obi-Wan Kenobi had drowned at the bottom of a Utapaun sink hole, and Cody had drowned with him.

Cody didn't much care for the Jedi, CC-2224 and the Empire had more than stripped Cody of that.

Cody didn't much care for the Republic either. The Empire had been worse, perhaps, but the Republic had never really been good. 

But Obi-Wan Kenobi, Cody cared for him. Cody had fought off CC-2224 long enough to save him, or at least buy him time, 20 years in his past and over 30 years in the future. He could do it again, now that CC-2224 wasn't here to drown him.

"Master Qui-Gon." The Padawan—Jedi, traitor, no—sighed, voice obviously annoyed. "We hardly have room for two more in the speeder."

Cody gave the exchange half an ear, keeping his focus primarily on the child in his arms, whispering quiet reassurances and promises, the Mando'a words falling from his lips in a way it hadn't since the war, comforting brothers and being comforted in turn. The words felt almost unfamiliar on his lips.

He hated it. Mando'a had been taught to him and his brothers right alongside Basic, but the language hadn't slipped past his lips in years and now the language that had once brought him and his brothers comfort felt almost foreign on his tongue. Just another thing that had been stolen from him by the chip and CC-2224 and the Empire.

But it was his language and it was his General and he would take them both back.

General Kenobi was so small, tiny and helpless; Cody thought he might never let the toddler out of his arms.

He didn't know how this had happened, time travel wasn't the sort of thing to make it into any of his training manuals, his brain was rather insistently demanding that time-travel just wasn't possible. A hallucination, an evaluation scenario, a fever dream, the afterlife, his mind was more than willing to provide any number of scenarios that were far more likely than time travel.

But he knew it was real.

He'd known, he thought, from the first moment he'd seen wide eyes staring at him from behind the window. Oh, he hadn't known it was his General, but there had been a feeling, something familiar but long distant. He'd known then, even if he hadn't known what it was he knew.

Maybe it was that mystical, nonsensical Force his General and the other Jedi had always talked about. That thing that General Kenobi had once said bound every living thing. Cody hadn't put much stock in it beyond the fact that his General trusted in it and he trusted in his General. He didn't need the Force to bind him, he was bound to his brothers through struggle, and sacrifice, and purpose, and he was bound to his General through something similar, for all that it was utterly different. He hadn't needed the Force.

The Jedi, his padawan had called him Master Qui-Gon, and the name had a vague hint of familiarity that Cody couldn't place, ushered him and Rex onto the speeder. The Padawan was right, the speeder was quite small, and he and Rex were forced to practically sit on each other. They certainly wouldn't have fit if they'd been their proper age and size.

His General made a small noise and Cody looked down to see the toddler's eyes focused on his home as the speeder started up. Small tears slipped from the boy's eyes, and Cody carefully wiped them away. "Shh, shh, udesii ik'aad, udesii. Ni ceta, ik'aad, ni gar cabuor ibic cuy'ca'nara."

Obi-Wan let out a little sob and Cody gently rubbed at the child's back, shifting the toddler so the child could bury his face in Cody's neck. Cody grimaced a little at the sensation of snot being rubbed into his skin, but he'd certainly had far worse, and he wasn't going to begrudge his tiny General his tears. 

Rex was watching him and Obi-Wan, a depth of understanding in his eyes.

The pain and confusion and longing was back, that mix of feelings that Cody wished he didn't have every time he looked at Rex. His brother who Cody had missed, who had abandoned him. Rex had warned him, Cody reminded himself, Cody only had himself to blame.

Somehow that logic didn't stop Cody from hurting.

Rex looked up from where Obi-Wan was now practically snuggling into Cody's shoulder, tears mostly forgotten, to meet Cody's eyes, there was something almost exasperated in the lines of his face, but there was also a mix of protective determination in his eyes. Cody felt immeasurably relieved.

Cody had been going to save his General, no matter what Rex thought about the matter. But it would certainly be easier without Rex trying to talk him out of it.

"We need to take the files to the city center." The Jedi informed them. "The file transfer for young Kenobi needs to be done in person. While we're there I can speak to the city stewards with you, it's quite possible that your parents are currently looking for you as well."

Cody nodded and saw Rex do the same. "Thank you."

"How long will the files take, Master Qui-Gon?" The padawan asked.

Master Qui-Gon, why was that name so familiar? The only Jedi Cody had ever dared address by their given name, even in his own head, was his own General. He'd never even dared with General Skywalker and given how often the 212th and 501st had worked together, the man had been around plenty during the war.

Perhaps his General had talked about the Jedi? Cody had sometimes managed to pry stories from his General, about his early years as a Knight and Master, fewer about his years as a padawan, and Cody had always gotten the feeling that those stories were heavily sanitized.

The Jedi Master chuckled. "Not long, my young padawan."

The padawan's face scrunched at that, obviously not particularly fond of being called young. Cody tried to remember the boy's name. He was almost certain that the Jedi Master had said it earlier, but Cody had been distracted.

Cody watched the two Jedi. The padawan didn't seem much of a threat, physically he looked as though he were only a bit older than Cody and Rex, and beneath his Jedi robes he looked on the skinny side. Of course, he was a Jedi Padawan and Cody would never underestimate one of those, no matter how young they looked; he'd seen Commander Tano on the battlefield, and even at the beginning she'd been dangerous.

Still, if they had the element of surprise, he thought that he and Rex could take the padawan, even without weapons. Cody made a mental note to fix that, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd been without a blaster and it made him feel twitchy.

The Jedi Master, on the other hand, was another matter all together. He was a behemoth of a man; tall with broad shoulders, and Cody suspected that he was very capable of using the lightsaber currently hanging from his belt. He reminded Cody oddly of General Skywalker.

The thought left Cody with a feeling of dissonance.

Master Qui-Gon, where did Cody know that name from? But it had been so long and those memories were fuzzy.

Cody shook his head, shaking the thought. It didn't matter right now, all that mattered was that the Jedi Master was physically a threat.

Cody had never planned on removing Obi-Wan by force, even in the best of circumstances, which these were most certainly not, it would have put Obi-Wan at undue risk, and there was no chance of Cody doing that.

Which left stealth, misdirection, and cunning.

They had left the small town now, and were speeding along a road. In the distance, maybe another five clicks away Cody could see what looked like a city. Hs scanned the outskirts he could see, but there was no sign of a spaceport on this side.

They'd have to try the west.

His eyes landed on the padawan again to find that the padawan was watching him from over the seat, brow furrowed in thought. Cody tilted his head. "Can I help you?"

The padawan raised himself up, leaning over the seat, the movement putting him in Cody's face. It was obviously meant as an intimidation tactic, but this padawan didn't even make the list when it came to the number of intimidating figures Cody had met. He'd stood before the Emperor himself, watched Vader choke the life out of an admiral who'd managed to lose a rebel.

Or rather CC-2224 had, but Cody still remembered.

Still, Cody reminded himself, that didn't mean the padawan couldn't be dangerous. He tightened his hold on Obi-Wan and shifted the toddler to the side and away from the Jedi, so that he was almost perfectly in between him and Rex, the little boy mewled a little bit at the movement. "You have very good shields for a child." The padawan informed him, head tilted and eyes narrowed.

The Jedi Master turned a little from where he was directing the speeder, eyes drifting over him and Rex before looking at his padawan. "Xanatos, that's hardly an appropriate thing to say." The rebuke, if it could even be called that, was accompanied by a smile. "Though that's an excellent observation, your senses are growing admirably."

The padawan, Xanatos, preened.

Beside him, Rex narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?" 

The Jedi Master hummed quietly, the noise almost indiscernible from the hum of the speeder beneath them. "The Force is a powerful ally, and it can tell a Jedi many things."

True. Cody knew. But it also gave the impression that the padawan just couldn't help but noticing the strength of Cody’s shields.

Yes, Cody had heard his General state that when someone thought loudly, whatever that meant, a well-trained Jedi couldn't help but hear it. But the padawan had commented on the strength of his shields, which could be as simple as the padawan briefly checking to see if he was a threat—or it meant that the padawan had tried to invade his mind and had found he couldn't. But the Jedi Master very clearly didn't want Cody to know that.

Still, Cody doubted that a random boy who looked Cody's physical age and status would know that. "Is that a good thing?" He asked instead. "Having shields?"

Xanatos glared at him, eyes somehow managing to narrow even further, Cody had the distinct impression that he'd done something to make the padawan dislike him. Probably didn't like the fact that he could pry into Cody's thoughts, high-minded Jedi, always thought they had the right to—

No. He stopped the thought. That was CC-2224, that was the Empire and its propaganda. That wasn't what Cody thought. He looked down at Obi-Wan again, still in his arms and curled into his side and seemingly drifting off to sleep; somehow the toddler had gotten ahold of Rex's hand and was drooling all over it. No, that wasn’t what Cody thought at all.

"Depends." Cody looked up from Obi-Wan to see that Xanatos' glare had disappeared to be replaced by a mean little smirk. "Some people might assume that means you have something to hide."

Rex snorted a little, obviously unimpressed.

The Jedi Master laughed. "Now Xanatos, I hardly think our young friends have anything to hide."

Cody blinked at the back of the Jedi's head, not sure if he thought the Jedi Master was being naive or if Cody was just cynical.

Maybe the Jedi trusted in the Force. Cody didn't much have trust in a Force that wouldn't warn its Jedi that he was about to be blasted from a wall.

But even before that, Cody had known that the Force left plenty of loopholes if you knew what you were doing. His General had taught him some of them to help him better cheat at Sabaac so that the two of them could play against General Windu and Ponds—he and his General had absolutely wiped the table with the other two.

So yes, Cody was currently in the middle of planning what he was pretty sure was technically an abduction. But it wasn't like Obi-Wan's parents would care, they'd wanted to drown Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan couldn't drown, not again, not again.

More than anything, Cody wanted to protect his General.

And so he would.

Even from the Jedi.

There was nothing nefarious or ill-intended in that.

The Jedi Master pulled their speeder to a stop in front of the city center and climbed out, his padawan following him. "If you could hand me young Kenobi." He held out his arms for the baby as though Cody would just hand him over. Cody narrowed his eyes at the Jedi.

"He's asleep." Cody pointed out, pulling the toddler closer to him. Obi-Wan sighed into his chest, nuzzling a little.

The Jedi narrowed his eyes a little, and Cody knew that he was probably pushing it. As far as this Master Qui-Gon was aware, there was no reason for Cody to care about some toddler he didn't know. No reason for him to be protective or possessive. In fact, it probably increased the odds of the Jedi realizing that Cody was up to something.

Though Cody doubted the Jedi would suspect Cody planned to kidnap Obi-Wan.

But then, maybe the Jedi should suspect that. Obi-Wan was Force sensitive.

Cody knew how far the scum of the galaxy would go to get their hands on a Force sensitive child. Hadn't Commander Tano once said that a slaver had tried to steal her before General Koon had shown up when she was a child? Obi-Wan had informed him, a little wryly, that what had happened to Ahsoka was not as irregular as one might hope—though most attempts were handled easily enough to not even need to go in the official files. Then there had been that absolute mess with Cad Bane and the holocron during the war. And that time with Ohnaka and the children.

What that all meant was that Cody should be a little less proprietary over his tiny General if he didn't want to raise suspicions.

It also meant that the Jedi Master absolutely should be suspicious. He shouldn't be okay with Cody's determination to keep a hold of the toddler.

The fact that the Jedi seemed completely fine with a strange, unknown boy holding what was supposed to be the newest Jedi was just further evidence that Cody needed to protect Obi-Wan. The Jedi was doing a lousy job of it.

Rex shifted behind him, saving Cody from having to say something in his own defense. "Sorry Master Jedi, Cody's always been like this." Rex's voice was appropriately apologetic. "A tiny scratch or even the slightest signs of a sniffle from a brother and Cody goes full mother hen." Cody was not a mother hen, that was a preposterous lie, no matter what Rex, his General, or the 212th might have said. "And nothing is more sacred than a sleeping brother."

"They need their sleep!" Cody defended himself reflexively, despite not having had brothers whose sleep needed his protection in decades. Lack of sleep could lead to slow reflexes and slow reflexes lead to dead brothers. Cody would do whatever necessary to make sure his brothers got as much sleep as they needed. Some things, apparently, CC-2224 hadn’t managed to erase.

The Jedi Master laughed. "I suppose a cranky child is the last thing we need." He agreed. But there was still the first hints of suspicion in the Jedi's eyes. "We'll let him sleep as long as we're able, but you both need to come along, we'll speak with someone to see if they might have news about your parents here as well."

Cody moved to climb out of the speeder, keeping his movements careful and smooth. He had to pause for a short moment as he and Rex tried to carefully slide Rex's hand out of Obi-Wan's surprisingly firm grip, and they eventually managed it without waking the toddler. Cody slipped out of the speeder, Obi-Wan still safely asleep.

Rex followed after him, movements much quicker than Cody's own had been. But then, Rex didn't have the risk of waking a baby.

In the split second before Cody followed after the Jedi, he flicked his eyes from Rex to the speeder, raising an eyebrow in question. Rex took about half a second to catch up to Cody behind the Jedi, and gave Cody a discrete nod.

Cody shifted the information to the back of his mind where he was busy going over different plans.

The problem was that Cody was fairly sure they were going to have to wing it. By the time they made it to the spaceport for Cody and Rex to 'look for their parents' it would be too late, the Jedi would demand Obi-Wan and then they'd be gone, back to Imperial Center. No. Coruscant. There was almost no way that Cody would ever get his General back then, and that could not happen.

If they got to the spaceport and tried to make a run for it then, there was too high a chance that the Jedi would be able to catch them.

No, they had to lose the Jedi here at the city center, and either take the speeder themselves—and Rex seemed to be certain he could hi-jack and fly it—or take an alternate mode of transportation and damage the speeder so that the Jedi would have to find new transportation themselves.

The Jedi held the door open for him and Cody stepped into the building, the gray walls and poorly lit hallways similar to those of other city buildings he'd visited. Functional, but not beautiful. City centers were for filing clerks and low-level city workers, not for politicians. Those buildings were almost always terribly ostentations.

He eyed the building quickly. It was mostly empty, but he could see what looked like a receptionist desk at the end of the hallway. Not a great deal that could be used as a distraction, but Cody would think of something.

The Jedi Master strode down the hallway, his padawan behind him leaving Cody and Rex to once again follow after.

Once they lost the Jedi and got out of here, Cody and Rex needed to get to the spaceport, not that Cody even knew where that was, and get off planet. That, of course, had its own list of risks and complications. Especially since Cody would be flying blind. The thought grated on him.

Flying blind was what got men killed.

This wasn't war, Cody reminded himself. He wasn't fighting separatists or rebels. 

It did nothing to calm his unease.

Once they were off planet the chances of the Jedi being able to find them went down significantly. They'd be safe, all three of them.

For the first time since Cody had recognized the child in his arms as Obi-Wan Kenobi and made his decision he felt a hint of doubt.

What if he couldn't keep them safe? He was stuck in the body of his five-year old self, thrown into a time where he had almost no information about the true state of the Galaxy, he and Rex wouldn't even be decanted for another 20 years. He had no credits, no supplies, no back up, and he was in no state to get any of it. The only people who would take labor from someone who looked this age were probably not the sort of people he could trust around Rex or Obi-Wan.

It would be hard enough, just him and Rex. They didn't have a choice though, whatever power that had left them here in this time and place hadn't given them one.

But could he really make that choice for Obi-Wan, force him into that position, into that life? 

What if, when Obi-Wan was older, he hated Cody for what he'd done? For stealing him from the Jedi.

Obi-Wan had loved the Jedi, had called them his family.

And Cody wanted to take that from him.

"Blast him." The words came out of CC-2224's throat and Cody felt like he was screaming, except his body was deathly silent as he did nothing more than watch his General fall.

CC-2224 arrived on Coruscant, head high and the remains of 212th behind him, their loyalty to the Empire solid and unshakeable, their eyes blank and empty as they lined up with thousands more of their brothers, all gathered outside a burning temple, the stench of decaying bodies filled the air as the Emperor declared the Jedi threat eliminated.

CC-2224 worked along with fellow soldiers to drag the bodies of the Jedi traitors and fallen soldiers out of the temple and threw them all into an incinerator. CC-2224 didn't ask how younglings could be traitors, just threw their small bodies in and watched them burn.

"Rex." His voice came out a little hoarse. "You need to take—" He didn't finish the sentence, but somehow Rex understood, grabbing at Obi-Wan and pulling him out of Cody's protesting arms—no, no, he couldn't lose his General, not again—as Cody bent over and threw up. He heaved for a moment, trying to bring himself back under control, but his body had taken on a life of his own and he fell to his knees, holding himself up with trembling hands and threw up again.

In front of him he heard someone let out a sound of disgust. "What's wrong with him?" The padawan, Cody noted absently. Apparently this particular padawan didn't care much for Jedi ideals about compassion. The Jedi Master murmured something too quiet for Cody to hear over the sound of Obi-Wan crying from his abrupt waking.

A large hand landed on his back and Cody threw himself backward, away from the hand. He didn't want some filthy traitor touching him. "Don't touch me." He meant for the words to come out as a snarl, but they came out less vehement and more desperate.

The Jedi was crouched beside where Cody had been kneeling and the man's eyes filled with something that looked might have been compassion, but that Cody couldn't see as anything other than pity. "Are you all right?"

Cody closed his eyes, turning away, trying not to throw up a third time. Soft steps moved closer to him and he didn't need to open his eyes to know it was Rex. Obi-Wan's cries getting closer were an obvious enough sign, though Cody would have recognized Rex's steps anywhere.

Rex's voice was soft when he spoke. "What do you need, vod?"

He needed to have Obi-Wan safe and back in his arms, he needed a blaster in his hands, he needed for him and Rex to be not here, away from the traitors and their—no, that last bit wasn't him. "I'm fine." The words came out hoarse, but at least he didn't sound desperate any more.

Rex snorted a little, and Cody focused on that sound, focused on the crying. He was going to protect them. He had to protect them both. "Sure you are. And I'm a Kaminoan."

Cody cracked an eye open, saw Rex trying to bounce Obi-Wan a little like mothers did in the holofilms. "Your neck's kind of short for that, don't you think?"

Rex smiled at him, but Cody could see concern in his eyes, and Cody had missed his brother so much. "Cody?"

"I am fine." He turned away from his brother, not needing to see his brother's reaction to the obvious lie and unable to watch Obi-Wan in tears, and looked back to the Jedi. "I'm sorry for the—" he waved his hand at the vomit on the ground, "and for my over-reaction to your offer of help."

"You're quite fine, young one." The Jedi reassured him. "My first padawan didn't like being touched either, I should have considered that."

That wasn't even close to the reason why Cody had reacted that way to the Jedi's touch, but if the Jedi was going to make Cody's excuses for him, then he wasn't going to stop him.

The sound of hurried footsteps caught Cody's attention and he watched as the receptionist he'd caught a glimpse of earlier hurry over from the end of the hall, the padawan behind him. The padawan's face was twisted in distaste as he looked at the mess Cody had made.

"Oh dear." The receptionist wrung his hands, looking genuinely concerned. "Are you quite all right?"

Cody pushed himself to his feet, his legs a little shaky beneath him, nodding. "Yes sir, I'm sorry for the mess."

The man shook his head almost vehemently. "No, no. Nothing for you to apologize for. It happens to the best of us. I've already sent a call out and someone will come clean it up, absolutely no problem." The man reached out towards him as though he was going to physically escort him, and then paused as though reconsidering, finally the man just made a weird aborted gesture with his hands, before beckoning them all along and away from the sick on the floor. "Come along, all of you. What can I do for you, Jedi Master?"

"We're just here to file the child's transfer papers marking him as a ward of the Jedi Order." The Jedi stood, straightening his shoulders, and again Cody couldn't help but think of Skywalker. The 501st General had always stood that way, both as Skywalker and as Vader. Shoulders back, head up, every inch of him radiating intimidation, though the latter had been more Vader than Skywalker.

"Of course, of course. I knew that. Long day I’m afraid. I was told you were coming, told to keep the center open as long as necessary, we normally close earlier, but needs must." That was right, it was late, wasn't it? Fewer chances of someone offering a well-timed distraction. “We have a few things you'll need to sign, of course." The receptionist waved them to the left where an open door showed a waiting room. "Wait right here and I'll bring that all out."

The padawan sighed as they all filed into the room. "More paperwork?"

The Master laughed. "Remember this, Xanatos, there will always be more paperwork."

Cody hadn't quite realized that there were so many files and so much paperwork required to relinquish a child into the Jedi Order. He wondered if that was true for the entire Republic, or if this planet was just extra particular.

The receptionist hurried back in, a stack of datapads in his arms. The Jedi sighed a little at the sight of it. "We also wondered if we could file a report and request with the city stewards." The Jedi said as he took the pile of datapads from the receptionist. He waved one of the datapads in the direction of where Cody and Rex were standing. "These two have lost their parents. Have there been any outlanders that have been making a fuss?" The Master Jedi gave the receptionist a significant look.

The receptionist frowned, eyes wide and voice slow. "Not that I'm aware, but I can reach out to the stewards to make sure." The man turned to look at Cody and Rex. "Can I get your parents' names?"

There was no good answer, Cody realized. The thought made him feel tired. Jedi had a bad habit of knowing when someone was lying. Cody and Rex had lied to Shara about their parents, but they hadn't had to repeat the lie, that had been Shara and Shara had believed it to be true. And the rule that Rex had shared about meeting at the ship may have been stretching a truth, but it hadn't been a lie. It was technically a rule, outdated as it may be. Or still non-existent, Cody supposed. There was no GAR, so there were no GAR rules. 

Jango Fett was their progenitor, but could that be considered the same thing as a Father? Plus Cody wasn't actually sure how much older than Obi-Wan, Jango was. Was the man older than Obi-Wan? Cody thought so, but he wasn't actually sure. Determing Nat-born ages had never been his strong suit, and he didn't actually know all that much about their progenitor. Still Cody was fairly certain that their progenitor was alive but that he wasn't old enough to be a bounty hunter yet, so there would be no reason for the Jedi to have heard of him.

"Jango." Cody supplied quickly, and hoped it didn't feel like a lie. They certainly would never have been decanted without Jango's existence. “And Taun.” Using Taun We's name was definitely pushing it, but she'd been one of the head Kaminoan scientists, and again, they wouldn't have existed without her. "Taun We."

That was as close to parents as Cody could get.

The Jedi didn't seem to be suspicious of Cody's answer, quickly skimming the file on the datapad before scrawling a signature, and Cody hoped it was enough.

The receptionist nodded. "Taun and Jango We, let me make a few comm calls." He gave them a bright little smile. "Don't you and your brother worry, I'm sure we'll have you reunited with your parents in no time at all."

Cody thanked him quietly as the receptionist left, repeating the names under his breath as he went as though afraid he'd forget them by the time he made it to his desk to put through the call.

Rex let out a frustrated little noise and Cody turned to look at him to find him bending down to put a wriggling Obi-Wan on the ground.

Obi-Wan wobbled a little bit, and Rex's hands stayed hovering around him until Obi-Wan batted them away, an indignant little look on his tiny face.

Once he'd established his balance, Obi-Wan immediately started wandering around the room, eyes wide and curious. Cody had to clench his fists to keep himself from grabbing the General when the boy toddled towards the Jedi Master, stopping in front of the man and staring up at the man.

The Jedi stopped going through the file on one of the datapads, and looked down at Obi-Wan.

In his chair the padawan froze, eyes on his Master and Obi-Wan. Cody felt himself tense further; he might not be able to feel it himself, but he was almost certain that there was something happening in the Force, felt by child, padawan, and Master alike.

"Why hello there, little one." Obi-Wan just blinked up at the Jedi, tilting his head. The Jedi Master tilted his head to match and smiled. "You're going to be quite the Jedi, won't you?" The absolute best of them all, Cody thought fiercely. "Your Master is going to be quite the lucky Jedi, to have you as his padawan."

The words felt like ice down his back and Cody fell back against the wall, suddenly empty.

"As lucky as you?" The padawan asked, sounding belligerent.

The Jedi Master, Master Qui-Gon, and now Cody knew why that name had felt so familiar, laughed. "No Master could be as lucky as me, Xanatos. But not everyone can be lucky enough to have you as their padawan."

Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the man who would someday be Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Master.

This was what Cody wanted to steal his General from. This was who he wanted to steal his General from.

Cody felt like he couldn't breathe.

Rex moved closer obviously concerned, but Cody couldn't tear his eyes away from where his General was standing in front of his future master.

The Jedi Master was still staring at Obi-Wan, smile slipping away and brow furrowing the same way his General's used to when he was 'listening' to the Force. The Jedi set the datapad to the side and reached out for Obi-Wan. The traitor was not allowed to touch—

No.That vehemence wasn't Cody.

Well, at least it was mostly not Cody.

Obi-Wan gurgled a little, batting the hand away from him, toddling away from the Jedi Master and towards Padawan Xanatos.

Xanatos sneered down at him, but Obi-Wan just giggled and then continued his examination of the rest of the room.

All four of them watched as Obi-Wan wandered around the room, seemingly intrigued with every little thing he found, from the table leg to the fake potted plant—which thankfully didn't have any real dirt in it. Eventually the Jedi Master shook his head and went back to the datapad files.

Cody felt some of his tension ease as Obi-Wan wandered back towards him and Rex. Cody shifted to one knee, and caught the toddler into his arms again, pulling him close to his chest. Obi-Wan wriggled trying to escape and Cody stood quickly, bouncing Obi-Wan a little, the same way Rex had attempted earlier.

Obi-Wan didn't seem soothed, exactly, but he stopped trying to escape from Cody's grip, and Cody felt like he could breathe again.

"Welcome back, ner verd'ika." He whispered.

"You said Taun and Jango We?" The receptionist's face was twisted in dejection as he re-entered the room. "The city stewards said they haven't heard anything, they sent a patrol to check out the spaceport. But unfortunately—"

The Jedi Master stood, handing the pile of datapads to the receptionist. "My work here is done. I'll explain to the boys."

The receptionist looked unreasonably relieved, hustling away with the datapads. The Jedi turned to look at them, his eyes once again filled with pity. "Boys, I'm sorry—"

"Helloooo. Anyone here?" A laughing voice echoed through the hallways and the Jedi stiffened, brows furrowing as he turned to the door with a frown.

"There's something wrong here." The Jedi murmured quietly. "Xanatos."

The padawan immediately jumped from his chair and to the door, slipping out into the hallway with his hand on his lightsaber.

"Sir?" Cody could hear the receptionist's voice in the hallway. "Sir? I'm afraid the offices are closed."

The new voice laughed again. "Why, hello there. Aren't you handsome?" Cody frowned at what sounded like stumbling.

The Jedi was right, something was off here.

"Sir? Are you drunk?"

"Not quite." The voice lost the hint of laughter. "What I am is desperate." There was a yelp from the receptionist. "Oh yes, and armed." In his arms, Obi-Wan whimpered, the sound small and frightened.

The Jedi Master straightened and moved to the door, following his padawan, leaving Cody and Rex alone in the room. "Stay here, both of you."

Cody frowned, listening intently to figure out what was going on. A yelp from the receptionist split the air accompanied by the sudden buzz of a lightsaber. "Let him go." The padawan's voice was authoritative.

"Back off little Jedi." The interloper's voice was full of menace. "Or my new friend here will get a blaster bolt to the head."

"Why don't we all calm down." The Jedi Master's voice was soft, composed. "There's no need for violence."

Rex grabbed his arm, voice quiet. "Cody, if we're going to get out of here, I can't imagine we're going to get any better opportunity." Cody froze, the choice in front of him suddenly sharp and real. Steal his General away from the Jedi, protect him. Take him from the people that Obi-Wan had considered family and risk Obi-wan forever hating them.

“Blast him.”

Rex's voice pulled at him, a little sharp. “Cody. We need to go."

There was the sound of a blaster going off in the hall.

Obi-Wan whimpered again, tiny hands covering his ears as he buried his face in Cody's chest.

Everything solidified for Cody. He had to protect his General. Had to protect Obi-Wan. "Windows." He agreed. "Get to the speeder."

Rex nodded. "What do you think our interloper wants?" Rex mused, as he pushed the window up and pulled himself through.

Cody whispered soothingly to Obi-Wan for a second before handing the toddler to Rex and climbing through the window himself. "Blame it on the General, but I have a bad feeling I know exactly what some idiot with a blaster thought was worth taking on two Jedi for."

Rex frowned, but nodded grimly. "Force-sensitive children." He gave Cody a wry smile as they slipped down the alley. "A little ironic, don't you think?"

"Different situation all together." Cody muttered, though Rex wasn't exactly wrong. "But we need to go, now. I doubt the distraction's going to last long."

Cody took Obi-Wan back from Rex as they reached the speeder. The street was mostly empty, and no one paid them any mind. Night had fallen for real now and there was a cool breeze. Cody tucked the toddler's body into his chest as Rex started the speeder up.

It all felt almost welcomingly familiar, though he was fairly sure he and Rex had never stolen a speeder together. But the act of relying only on each other, running a mission at the spur of every moment, dismally and depressingly unplanned, that they had done before.

"Spaceport?"

Cody nodded. "Outskirts are the most likely location, we came from the East, didn't see anything from that direction, passed along the Southeast."

Rex shrugged. "West it is."

They had been traveling for maybe five minutes when Obi-Wan started sobbing and Cody knew, without a doubt that the Jedi had realized they were missing. "Shh, ik'aad. Udesii. I'm right here. Everything's going to be okay." The bouncing thing really wasn't working and Cody wondered if he and Rex just didn't know how to do it right, or if it just really wasn't that comforting.

Why couldn't the Kaminoans have trained them on child handling? Cody wondered a little frantically as he tried to calm his crying General. But clones didn't tend to stay in the baby and toddler stage for very long, and the Kaminoans generally kept them separated from the rest of the vod until they were two and could put into pre-cadet training.

Rex was slowing the speeder, head cocked as though listening and then veered left into a side street. A few seconds later Cody could hear what had caught Rex's attention, spaceports, even at night, generated a specific sort of noise.

They left the speeder in a side street and made their way towards the spaceport. Obi-Wan was still letting out intermittent sobs and Cody's heart was clenching, doubt and fear fighting.

What if he was wrong?

“Blast him.” CC-2224 was born with those simple words, his first real sight that of the traitor falling, and then quickly forgotten in the grand scheme. The sight was burned into Cody’s mind for eternity. He would never forget.

CC-2224 stood behind the Inquisitor as they stared down at the two young children, held still by the red lightsaber at their neck. "Your efforts were commendable. So much skill for two so young. My Lord will be most gracious with his rewards for two force sensitives." The Inquisitor turned away. "Clone, prep them for transport."

Cody didn’t know how to save them, the Inquisitor practically breathing down his neck. CC-2224 prepped the prisoners for transport.

Cody paused, kneeling in the middle of the street and putting Obi-Wan on his feet. "Hey there, verd'ika." He wiped at the tears leaking down Obi-Wan's cheeks. Obi-Wan sniffled a little, looking up at him with wide green eyes. "This is kind of confusing, isn't it?" Obi-Wan blinked up at him, and then his head bobbed a little in what Cody though might be a nod. "A little scary, huh?" Obi-Wan bobbed his head again, still sniffling. Cody hoped that was a sign of actual understanding, was Obi-Wan old enough for that? Nat-borns!

Beside him Rex crouched down, a gentle look on his face, but he said nothing, letting Cody take the lead.

"But it's going to be okay." He gestured to Rex. "Rex and I, we're going to protect you. We're always going to protect you." He swallowed hard. "But we need you to not cry, okay? It's all going to be okay, but you can't cry."

There was no way Obi-Wan was old enough to understand, Cody thought a little hysterically. But the toddler just sniffled a little and then toddled forward and into Cody's arms, burying his face in Cody's neck, the feeling of snot being rubbed into his neck was still as unpleasant as before, but Obi-Wan was silent in his arms.

The spaceport was middling in size, definitely smaller than anything at Imperial Cent—Coruscant, but larger than say, most of Ryloth's spaceports. Its security was also the most depressingly laughable bit of security that Cody had ever witnessed. Cody wasn't even sure they could call this security.

Of course, that worked in their favor for now, so Cody wasn't going to complain. And it was easy to slip past the guards set up around the spaceport entrance.

He scanned the ships, most looked settled for the night, and Cody doubted they'd be lucky enough to make it through the whole night without the Jedi finding them. They needed to get off planet as fast as possible. Rex nudged his arm and Cody turned to look at see what had caught his brother's eye.

Ah, that would work. From their viewpoint he could see that the back of the transport was fully loaded with cargo, and Cody could see what he suspected was the pilot arguing with one of the port workers. They snuck a little closer, keeping to the dark shadows.

"—don't care. kriff that. I've got a deadline. I aint no smuggler and I sure aint smuggling no kids." Cody exchanged a look with Rex and together they both shifted deeper into the shadows of a nearby ship. Of course the Jedi wanted the spaceport shut down.

"Sir. I understand, but the city stewards have put the spaceport on lock down until the Jedi have found their missing child."

"Look, I work for the Hutts. Legally, mind you. But that don't make them any safer to tick off by being late with a shipment. Do what you have to do. Check the ship. But I got the permission codes to take off, and I'm gonna kriffin' take off."

"You can't—"

"Check my ship!" The pilot looked like he wanted to scream in frustration.

The port worker hesitated. "All right, but I find anything even the least bit suspect, I'm handing you straight to the city stewards."

The pilot threw his hands up. "Fine. Get to it." He whirled away, calling to someone in the ship. "Moro, prepare the ship for take off!"

Cody shifted Obi-Wan into his side, felt the boy trembling against him. "It's all going to be just fine, verd'ika." He whispered, rubbing a hand up and down Obi-Wan's back. "I've got you, General."

The port worker was poking through the back of the ship, Cody and Rex darted across the empty space between their ship and their target ship, sliding under the landing ramp a few seconds before the port worker clambered down. The waited half a second, before Rex pulled himself up onto the landing ramp. Cody handed Obi-Wan to him before pulling himself up after his brother. They darted into the ship and deeper into the cargo hold, hiding amongst the boxes.

Not even five seconds later they could hear the port worker talking to the pilot. "You look clear to go."

"Yeah, well I kriffin' told you."

Cody heard steps on the landing ramp. "Moro! Close us up and get us going."

Something indistinguishable was yelled from the front of the ship and the landing ramp was pulled up.

The pilot snorted. "Yeah, well some idiots stole a Jedi baby. Not my fault." The voice was growing dimmer, responding to something Cody didn't hear. "Yeah, I know. But what's a guy to do?"

In his arms, Obi-Wan suddenly pushed backwards, and in the dim lighting of the cargo hold Cody could see that his eyes were wide. He made a quiet noise, and then pointed. It was impossible to determine direction in the cargo hold, but Cody was almost certain he was pointing towards the entrance of the spaceport.

Jedi.

The hum of the ship as it prepared for take-off was familiar and more than welcoming.

"Come on, come on." Rex hissed quietly, urging the pilot on. "Take off already. You've got a deadline."

The ship took off.

-_-

Youngling retrieval was rarely a particular difficult mission, and Qui-Gon had thought it had been a nice ending touch to what had been a successful, but difficult negotiation mission for his young, fourteen year old padawan.

Xanatos had been somewhat less pleased with the Council re-routing them on their way home, and Qui-Gon had been genuinely amused. Xanatos never did like spending time in the creche, picking up a youngling was far from an enjoyable moment for his padawan.

Things had taken a strange turn from the very beginning of the retrieval. Shar-Ara Saliba had been trying to put forth a good showing, but in the Force her fear and hatred of her child had been obvious. Her husband had been no better.

But the two children, young boys who looked like they were a few years younger than Xanatos, had seemed to quite like the young boy. And the young Obi-Wan seemed to like them as well, the child's contentment in the Force while he was in their arms warm and beautiful.

From what the two had said, they'd obviously been abandoned by their parents, though they didn't seem aware of that, and Qui-Gon was more than willing to get them to the nearest city.

Qui-Gon had felt his first stir of unease when the dark-haired boy had refused to hand over the young Obi-Wan and had instead insisted on carrying the youngling to the speeder himself. But he’d said nothing, dismissing it as his mind being overly cautious from the last mission.

The youngling was obviously distressed at being taken from his home, and Qui-Gon had fully expected that the young child's distress would give Qui-Gon ample excuse to either take the child himself, or get the young boy to hand the child to Xanatos, who would be better capable of handling a young force sensitive's heavy emotions than a young, lost boy.

Except it didn't. The dark-haired boy and his lighter-haired twin handled the child easily, and after a small outburst of tears, the child's grief strong in the Force, young Obi-Wan had fallen asleep holding onto and drooling on the blonde's hand and safely ensconced in the dark-haired boy's arms.

Xanatos seemed to pick up on his unease, because he had turned to pay attention to the two boys, commenting on their unusually strong shields. Qui-Gon mused on how two boys as young as them could have such strong shields. It wasn't unusual for people to develop natural shields, but rarely so young.

Except... he'd felt his compassion stir within him. The boys were young, had obviously been abandoned, and had a strong protective streak of a child who had obviously been unloved by his own parents.

Abuse, unfortunately, could explain all of that.

Qui-Gon had tried to retrieve the child as soon as he'd shut off the speeder, but the dark-haired boy had refused. His blonde brother had rushed to his defense, and Qui-Gon's suspicions about just what sort of parents the boys had had was only strengthened. Cody, according to his brother, had always been this way. Qui-Gon made a note to put out a statement about their parents, the boys said they had younger brothers, and there was a high chance they were still with their parents, and Qui-Gon didn't want to imagine what sort of environment they might be trapped in.

So he hadn't pushed it, the youngling was asleep, and Qui-Gon was almost certain that if young Obi-Wan was woken up that distress from earlier would be back, and Qui-Gon would prefer postponing that outpouring of grief until everything else was taken care of and Qui-Gon could give all his focus to comforting the newest member of the Jedi Order.

The city center had still been open, though it was almost entirely empty, business hours having ended some time ago. Still, it wouldn't take them long to get the rest of the paperwork done, and then he could see about getting the two young boys to a safer home before he and Xanatos headed back to Coruscant.

The swell of sharp distress had been completely unexpected, and Qui-Gon whirled in time to see Cody's brother, Rex, if he heard right, grab Obi-Wan from his brother's arms as the small dark-haired boy fell to his knees and was sick all over the floor.

The boy's distress was sharp in the Force and it woke young Obi-Wan, the child's own distress adding to the Force as he cried.

Xanatos had stepped back, staring at the sick on the floor with disgust, obviously a little overwhelmed at the sudden sharp emotions permeating the air. His padawan was still so new, Qui-Gon thought, the thought fond and amused, and he sent his padawan to grab the receptionist and get help cleaning up. That left a sick boy and a crying youngling, but Rex seemed to be handling himself all right, and the boy was still throwing up.

Qui-Gon had hoped to comfort the boy, but the moment he'd touched the child's back the boy had thrown himself away. The fear and disgust in the Force had firmed up the last of Qui-Gon's suspicions about his home environment, and he made careful excuses so the boy wouldn't have to struggle looking for an explanation for his reaction.

Things had calmed after that, the two boys had finally released Obi-Wan from their hold and Qui-Gon had been relieved.

And then something odd had happened. Obi-Wan Kenobi had stood in front of him, and Qui-Gon had felt a connection.

He'd felt something similar, once, ten years before when he'd found Xanatos, and Qui-Gon suddenly knew without a doubt that he was looking at his future apprentice.

He didn't say as much, he wanted to meditate on the matter for one, and he certainly didn't want his beloved Xanatos to think that he was already trying to replace him. The youngling was young, and Xanatos likely have been knighted for several years before Qui-Gon would present him with his brother padawan.

And then things had gone wrong.

It was hardly unusual for some small-time miscreant to hear that a Jedi was on planet for a Force-sensitive child and decide to try their hand at taking the child.

Qui-Gon had done over a dozen youngling retrievals between his time as a Padawan, Knight, and Master and over half of those retrievals had involved an attempt on the youngling in question. It was practically a matter of course.

The criminal waving his blaster in the hallway had been easy enough to handle. If it hadn't been for the receptionist being taken hostage, it would have been hardly worth mention at all. Qui-Gon would have mentioned it to the Council, but chances are it wouldn’t have even ranked a mention in the youngling’s files.

Xanatos had also handled himself brilliantly and Qui-Gon couldn't help the surge of pride he had in his padawan.

But now, Qui-Gon was standing in an empty waiting room, the boys, Cody and Rex, were gone.

And so was Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Had they decided to hide? With a man in the hallways waving a blaster they might have thought they'd be safer elsewhere, except there was nowhere in the room to hide, and no other doors. A soft breeze caught his attention and Qui-Gon's eyes fell on an opened window.

Qui-Gon crossed the room quickly to examine it. Definitely large enough that the two boys would have been able to slip through, and not so far off the ground that it would have been a problem.

He remembered the way the two boys had looked at the child. Proprietary. He'd put it down as protective, but with sudden hindsight he realized that he'd let himself be blinded by their youth.

Still, how could he have not sensed their ill intent?

"Xanatos, prepare the speeder." He turned to find the receptionist staring bug-eyed at the empty room. "You get a message out to the city stewards, Obi-Wan Kenobi is officially a member of the Jedi Order, and I'm requesting their aid in retrieving him. Have them shut down the spaceport. No one leaves until young Obi-Wan has been found."

The receptionist boggled. "I don't have the authori—“

"Then get me on a comm." Qui-Gon interrupted. "There is currently a child in danger." There was no saying what the boys wanted with a force-sensitive child, or, Qui-Gon wondered uneasily, what their guardians wanted.

It was a clever plan. The guardians had probably hoped for their children to find a way to take the child from Shara and Ori-Van, but Qui-Gon and Xanatos’ arrival had ruined that plan, forcing the children to adapt.

"Qui-Gon." Xanatos was panting as he raced back into the room. "The speeder's gone."

Qui-Gon frowned, and then stormed out of the room and back to where they'd left the miscreant from earlier. "Who hired you?"

The miscreant looked confused. "What?"

"You came in here as a distraction. Now who hired you?"

The criminal shook his head, eyes wide. "No one. I swear. Just me.” Sudden understanding filled the man's eyes. "Someone snatched the kid?" He threw his head back and laughed. "Bet you feel real stupid now, Jedi."

Qui-Gon snarled, the man seemed to be telling the truth, his surprised delight at Qui-Gon’s predicament was certainly real. "Where's your transport?"

The man shook his head. "No way. I’m not telling you that.“

Qui-Gon stepped forward, towering over the bound man. "That's not an option. Now where. is. your. transport."

The man caved quickly, babbling instructions to where he'd left his transport in one of the side alleys. Qui-Gon nodded firmly. "Come Xanatos." The receptionist trailed behind them.

"The city stewards have shut down the spaceport."

"Good." Xanatos was practically jogging to keep up with Qui-Gon's long strides and Qui-Gon made a note to commend his padawan for keeping calm under such sudden pressure. "Have someone come and question the attempted kidnapper further, he may not have been hired directly, but someone might have encouraged him to make the attempt, and we need to know. Tell them to send a few stewards to the spaceport."

The receptionist was quick to assure him that it'd all get done, but Qui-Gon had other matters on his mind. It didn't take long to find the swoop that the criminal had used parked illegally in the alley.

"What are we going to do, Master?" Xanatos asked, and Qui-Gon rested a hand on his padawan's shoulder.

"We're going to find young Obi-Wan and then we're going to head back to Coruscant where the child will be safe with the rest of the order."

Xanatos nodded and Qui-Gon smiled at him.

"Trust in the Force, my young padawan. All will be well."

The two of them climbed onto the swoop and Qui-Gon reached out to the Force, searching for the bright, warm light that was the young Kenobi.

Towards the spaceport.

Qui-Gon gunned the swoop, and took off, weaving through the city as quickly as possible, easily enough done in the mostly empty streets.

"The speeder!" His padawan pointed and Qui-Gon made a sharp turn, pulling the swoop to a stop beside the abandoned speeder.

There was a faint impression of the youngling's presence here. "We're not far behind."

Xanatos nodded, and together they took off for the spaceport. A city steward met them at the entrance. "We've had no one try to get in to the spaceport. They're probably still on the outskirts. We've got all the ships grounded for now and a patrol making a sweep around the spaceport.“

Qui-Gon frowned, there was a ship lifting off from its landing pad a little further in. "If that's so, then why is that ship taking off?"

The city steward sighed. "They already had permission codes, but we checked their ship. They were clear."

The Force was tugging at him, and Obi-Wan Kenobi's presence was like a bright star from inside the spaceport. "Someone got past you. Obi-Wan Kenobi is in that spaceport. Ground that ship. Now."

The city steward opened his mouth. "But—."

"Ground it."

The city steward frowned, but reached for his comm. "We need to get that transport grounded, the Jedi—."

Qui-Gon felt the brush of untrained Force sense against his shields, warm and content. Unharmed, at least for now. But Qui-Gon doubted that would last long.

Qui-Gon stood frozen at the entrance of the spaceport, too far away to do anything, watching as the ship lifted into the air.

There was a tangible shift in the Force, stretching out into a future that Qui-Gon couldn’t see.

"Ground that ship, now." His voice was loud and sharp, and the city steward flinched back, almost dropping his comm.

It was too late. The ship had already taken off and was moving out of range. Leaving Qui-Gon Jinn to watch as his future apprentice was whisked away. His light growing fainter to Qui-Gon's senses.

"Hold on, Obi-Wan Kenobi." Qui-Gon whispered. "We'll find you."

-_-

They’d made it. Cody let out a breath in relief, pulling Obi-Wan close to him. He met his brother's eyes in the dim cargo hold.

Rex ran a hand through his hair, eyes wide. "Kriff. Kriff. We just stole your General from the Jedi."

"Yeah." Cody collapsed backwards, falling against a box. "Kriff."

Rex fell next to him and neither of them said anything as the ship made it out of the planet's gravity well and then pushed into hyperspace.

"I missed you, vod." Rex's voice was quiet, and suddenly the tension from waking up in the meadow was back. Without the immediate mission of saving Cody's General to ease things between them, everything felt sharp and breakable again. "Every moment of those twenty years."

Cody closed his eyes, everything hurt. "I'm sorry I didn't listen." The words came out a little wooden, and he wanted to take them back. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He'd paid the price, knew he had; and far more people than him had been hurt by his failure.

"I'm sorry I didn't save you." Rex whispered. Cody didn't answer, because there was nothing he could say. Twenty years of drowning. He could feel Rex hesitating, could feel his brother's desperation. "Vod. Please."

A small hand touched his face, as though trying to wipe at the tears that Cody would never allow to fall. His General. Obi-Wan. He was alive, he was in Cody's arms. Not drowning in a Utapaun sink hole.

Cody felt his heart ache. He wasn't drowning anymore, either. He had his brother. He had his General.

"I missed you, Rex." He opened his eyes and turned towards his brother. "No one else I'd rather kidnap my own General with."

Chapter Text

In retrospect, Rex mused, there was a great deal about their plan that he and Cody really hadn't considered.

Not that they'd had a lot of time to consider anything. It felt like they'd been reacting since the moment they'd woken up.

Rex was still trying to come to terms with the fact that he was apparently in the past, long before he'd ever been born, while stuck in his five-year-old body.

So the the idea of abducting General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who wasn't really a General, or a Jedi, or anything more than a tired, hungry, little toddler hadn't seemed like the worst idea, at least not at the time. 

If they had had time to really make a plan, things would be a little better. But they hadn't had time. Which meant that they were now hiding on a ship headed towards Hutt Space, with the aforementioned tired, hungry toddler.

Obi-Wan wasn't the only one who was tired or hungry.

Rex had gone without food before. In fact he'd done that far more often than he liked to think.

This body, however, had not.

They wouldn't start starvation training until they were eight, after their bodies had gone through puberty and they were in less danger of having stunted growth. So no, this body wasn't used to going hungry, and while some of going hungry could be alleviated by mental exercises, Rex had no desire to actually get to that point.

And he didn't think Obi-Wan would make it to that point.

And kriff, Rex and Cody had to take care of a toddler.

They had to feed him, and clothe him, and teach him.

Kark it. They had not thought this through.

He ran a hand through his hair and stared down at where Cody was curled around the currently sleeping toddler. They needed supplies. They needed a plan, a long term plan would be preferable, but Rex would settle for a plan that encompassed even just the next few steps. They needed to figure out as much as they could about what the kriff was going on in the galaxy right now.

Supplies. That was a good place to start. He shifted a little, nudging Cody with his foot.

Cody shifted his head a little, not asleep then, raising an eyebrow in question. Rex hand-spoke his idea quickly, his hands and fingers stumbling a little over the old form of communication. His fingers were so small, and Rex had to purposefully not think about it or he'd have the panic attack he'd been carefully shoving off right here and right now. Rex would really prefer to keep shoving it off until they were somewhere a little safer. Or even more preferably, shove it off to right after never.

Cody frowned at him, shifting a little, right hand coming up to hand-speak back at him, his left hand out of commission with Obi-Wan fast asleep on his arm.

/Dangerous./

Rex shrugged a little, pointed at Obi-Wan and then signed back. /Necessary./

Cody's brows furrowed and Rex wondered if Cody had looked this serious the first time he'd been five. Rex didn't think so. /I can do it./

Rex just pointed at Obi-Wan again.

Cody didn't really have an argument for that, and Rex knew it. /Be careful./

Rex didn't bother responding, just sent Cody his cheekiest grin, the one he knew would be anything but reassuring, and slid away.

Rex suspected that Cody would be creatively cursing him out if they weren't doing their best to keep silent.

The ship they'd stowed away on was a relatively small one, which was dangerous, because it meant that it was more likely they’d be caught. But it also meant that there were only the two pilots that Rex had to avoid. Not easy, necessarily, but doable. Especially since the pilots weren't aware they had to be on the lookout for him.

He waited at the edge of the cargo hold for a little bit, ear to the door as he tried to listen to what was happening in the main portion of the ship. It took a while to be able to fully tune out the hum of the ship, but he managed eventually. There was a low, almost-silent murmur of sound that indicated two people talking some distance away, and Rex wished he'd taken a better look at the ship to figure out what model it was so he could build a better mental map.

But then, it was also possible that the ship model had gone out of business by the time Rex would be born, so he wouldn't have a mental map for it either way.

Time travel, it had only been a day and Rex was already coming up with an annoyingly long list of ways it was really screwing with them. He was pretty sure that he’d only come up with more as they kept going.

It wasn't that Rex wasn't grateful to be alive. Because he was. He was grateful to be alive, he was grateful Cody was alive, but at the same time—well, at the same time, Rex had been fully ready to die. His life hadn't exactly been sunshine and freedom.

It had been a whole lot messier than that even from the start and it had only ever seemed to get worse.

So he wasn't exactly pleased either, that he was alive and stuck in the past without so much as a status request.

Was it too much to ask that he actually be given a choice in the matter?

He snorted a little bitterly.

Of course it was.

He pushed it aside. There was no use lodging a complaint now, not that there was anyone to lodge a complaint to. He'd deal with the kriffin cards he'd been dealt the same way he always had.

He slowly eased the cargo hold door open, trying to open it as silently as possible. Once he had a sizable enough gap he peeked through the opening. It had been about a two step sprint to get into the cargo bay from the landing ramp and Rex had been more concerned with no one seeing him and Cody than he had been at getting a look at the rest of the ship.

The hallway curved a little, but Rex could see another hallway jutting off from it where the voices seemed to be coming from.

Lounge or cockpit probably. He closed his eyes to picture the ship again. Cockpit.

That was a little unfortunate, if Rex wanted to get a look at their destination he'd have to get down there. Hopefully it was a long enough trip that the pilots would want to get some sleep.

Rex hadn't even remembered to ask the name of the planet they had just been on, so he had no clear idea of where, exactly, they were in the Galaxy, much less how close they were to any Hutt-run worlds.

Still, if both men were in the cockpit right now, that made this a good opportunity to view the rest of the ship.

Rex carefully opened the door far enough to slip through, keeping his steps silent as he made his way down the hallway, the only truly dangerous moment was when he passed the open hallway leading to the cockpit, he caught sight of what looked like a zeltron as he slid past, but they had their feet on the nav computer and were looking out at hyperspace and didn't see Rex as he slipped past.

Following the curve of the hallway led him past three more doors, he checked them both to find two different bunks and the fresher.

Finally he reached what looked like the galley. Perfect.

He unlatched the cupboard doors quickly, he breathed out a sigh of a relief when he found food, freshly stocked too, by the looks of it.

He grabbed a few ration bars from the back, hopefully that would make them less-likely to be noticed as missing.

He hesitated. Would a two year old eat ration bars?

Could they?

He was pretty sure they could. He'd seen that Obi-Wan was old enough to have teeth.

But would he?

Rex knew from long experience that ration bars weren't exactly tasty, and he was pretty sure children tended to be picky. Right?

He caught sight of a nutrient mash.

He wrinkled his nose. Still not what Rex would consider tasty, he grabbed one of them anyways.

Seasonings he ignored, he opened the cooling unit, but most of it looked like it needed to be cooked to be of any use, and Rex was hesitant to steal fruit. Maybe it was just him, but he knew he would notice if someone took his fruit. Fruit was a special commodity when you spent most of your time in space traveling between battles or hiding out in a desert the way he had with Gregor and Wolffe. Not worth the risk.

He closed the cooling unit again and went back to observing the cupboards.

There were some quick-food meals that only needed water, but water wasn't exactly something they had back in the cargo hold.

Nutrient mash and ration bars it was, for now at least.

He closed and latched the cupboards again before slipping out of the galley, keeping his ears open for any movement from the rest of the ship's occupants.

Nothing yet, so he kept looking around. He found the lounge easily enough, and there was another smaller, and apparently unoccupied bunk hiding behind it. Good to know, wouldn't be a bad hiding spot if it came to it. He found an escape pod next. Not particularly useful while they were in hyperspace, but both a decent place to hide and good to know if they needed to make an escape once they were in real space.

A little more searching saw him finding some storage lockers and Rex bit his lip.

Food was one thing, but Rex didn't like the idea of relying on theft.

At the same time he wasn't sure what the alternatives were.

He opened the storage lockers. Tools, extraneous assortments of clothing—and why weren't they keeping those in the bunk?—various odds and ends, weapons.

He eyed those most carefully. There were only a few. One really old looking blaster, even after taking into account what time they were currently in; an electric prod, good for personal security but not really effective beyond that; another blaster, and this one was in better shape than the first if still an older model than Rex would like, but he suspected he'd have to get use to that; a vibroblade; and a traditional knife.

Huh, the pilot might have been being honest when he'd told the dock worker that they weren't smugglers. Rex didn't think he'd ever known a smuggler to have this few weapons stored.

Rex had regularly walked around with more weapons on his person than this. And he'd known some brothers that carried their weight in weaponry.

All right, so that was an exaggeration, but a small one.

He debated with himself heavily before grabbing the electric prod and the vibroblade. He'd talk with Cody about the blasters. The sound of footsteps headed his way caught his attention and he grabbed a random shirt before he carefully closed the storage container and darted across the room to slip into the empty bunk.

He beat the pilot by about five seconds, he realized. He grimaced when they seemed to settle in the lounge. Not good. He wouldn't be able to move from where he was until they left.

That was fine. Rex reassured himself. It was fine. They wouldn't stay here forever.

Still, after about forty-five minutes Rex was starting to get antsy. Cody probably wouldn't overtly worry about him until chaos started happening, but that didn't mean he wouldn't worry at all.

And he hadn't planned on leaving Cody alone with Obi-Wan for this long. They might be stuck in a cargo hold while in hyperspace, but Rex would never be naive enough to mean that they couldn't get into trouble.

He spent the next fifteen minutes trying not to think about all of the trouble that the two of them might be getting into.

The General was a toddler, how much trouble could he get into?

Rex shuddered and solemnly swore to never think that again. Because he was pretty sure the answer was a lot.

And he couldn't even trust Cody to be the voice of reason, because Cody had been the one to suggest the kidnapping that had gotten them into this situation to begin with.

Rex was perfectly capable of being the rational one with impulse control.

He was.

The past day was perhaps not the best example of that. Because nothing of what they'd done had been particularly rational, and all of it had been impulsive. But Rex was capable of it.

But he had what he thought were reasonable concerns that they might end up in more trouble than they were ready to deal with if he was forced into the position of rational and controlled for too long.

He'd been Skywalker's second.

Irrational and impulsive was practically the motto of the 501st.

It was fine.

Rex was sure he would be able to keep all three of them out of trouble.

Well, at least out of any more trouble than they were already in.

A second pair of footsteps were coming. Which put both of the pilots in the lounge now, and neither in the cockpit.

If Rex could just get past them he'd be able to see just where they were headed and how long it would take them to get there.

Getting past them, however was going to be the difficult part.

He tilted his head as a moan echoed through the air, a little confused. Then grimaced as he recognized just what was going on.

He did not want to be an unwilling eavesdropper to the two of them having sex.

He grimaced as he realized he was going to have to check to see if he had an opening to move out. He chanced a quick glance out the bunk door, trusting that they were keeping each other well enough occupied.

Yep.

Occupied.

Unfortunately not so occupied that Rex thought he could get from the bunk doorway to the hallway.

He bit his lip as he withdrew back against the wall again.

What to do.

What to do.

"How many times for I have to tell you that these lounge seats aren't a good place for this?" That was the first pilot.

"You have a better suggestion?"

"It's called a bunk. And over four hours until we need to make the next hyperspace jump."

The second pilot hummed thoughtfully and Rex silently urged them to listen to the suggestion. "Very convincing argument."

Now if only they'd actually move, Rex thought as the two took their time getting out of the lounge area. Rex was pretty sure they were trying to spend time against every single inch of wall.

Finally he heard the sound of a bunk door opening and sliding shut.

Time to go. He slid out of the room he'd hidden in and back down the hallway to the cockpit. He wasn't going to get a better time to check it out.

The cockpit was a bit of a mess, he thought a little distastefully, as he kicked at a wrapper laying on the ground.

Not the most important thing, right now. He focused on the nav computer, looking for the flight plan.

He grimaced. Of course, Nar Shaddaa, it had been the obvious guess when he'd heard they were going to Hutt Space, but he'd still hoped that they might get lucky. Nimban, Saki, or even Klatooine would have been safer.

But no, Nar Shaddaa, Rex didn't need to be a Jedi to have a bad feeling about that.

He went through the rest of the flight plan. One of the pilots had said something about dropping out of hyperspace in four hours. He found what he was looking for. Three hyperspace jumps were planned, they were already in the first jump and it would be taking them to just outside the Chommel sector, the second jump would land them just out of the Bothan Sector, before the third one brought them to Hutt Space.

An interesting choice. Not the fastest path, not by a long shot, but it did help them avoid some of the stricter regulations.

He went through the flight plan again, and then took another cursory look through the cockpit, but nothing stood out to him as useful.

Time to get back to Cody and Obi-Wan before either of them did anything stupid.

He regretted even thinking it when he got back to the cargo hold. "We're trying to not leave evidence that we were here." He hissed as quietly as he could.

Cody looked up from where he was carefully examining some of the items in the crate. "Says the person who went to investigate the rest of the ship."

"I was careful."

There was a pile of small metal pieces on one of the boxes, Rex looked a little closer to see that they looked like raw materials for datapads and data chips, beside them was the material they'd been wrapped in, and even further was some raw metal. He frowned, the raw materials were decently expensive, but the chunks of metal could be found on probably any number of planets. And were not the sort of thing Rex would pack with his data pad materials.

They would, however, be very good for explaining oddly weighed containers.

"And I'm being careful too." Cody pointed out.

Rex pointed at where Obi-Wan was gnawing on some sort of metal circlet. Wait, he looked closer, pulling it from Obi-Wan's mouth. Was that a collar?

Obi-Wan whined at him a little, pulling the collar back.

"Force collars." Cody said, voice a little harsh. "Our ride isn't quite as legal as they were pretending to be."

"The dock worker checked their load." He paused as Obi-Wan tried to tug the collar out of his hand. "Is it safe for him to be chewing on it?"

Cody scoffed, obviously unimpressed. "False bottoms. You might have missed it, but security on that planet was beyond useless. And the collar's missing key components, I wouldn't be letting him within a foot of it if it could hurt him."

Right, this was Cody, he probably wouldn't have let grown Obi-Wan Kenobi within a foot of an active Force Collar, much less child Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“The poor security was probably why our ride stopped there in the first place." Rex frowned. "They don't really feel like smugglers though." He pulled out the two weapons he'd found, tossing them to the ground. "They only had—"

Obi-Wan made an interested sound and started scooting forward, reaching for the vibroblade. Rex lurched forward, grabbing the weapons up again while Cody let out a quiet yelp, jumping forward to grab Obi-Wan.

Kriff.

Toddler. 

Definitely not supposed to put weapons within reach of children.

He put the electric prod and vibro blade on the far side of one of the still closed cartons, breath still coming out a little heavily. "Uh, they only had a few weapons, none in very good shape." He stuttered out.

Cody was still clutching Obi-Wan to him tightly, and the toddler was starting to protest. "What the kriff, Rex. Don't put—"

"I know!' Rex ran a hand down his face. "I just, I forgot." Cody looked incredulous and Rex felt a flare of irritation. "I haven't spent a lot of time around kids, Cody!"

"Neither have I, but I know better than to—"

"He was playing with a Force Collar!"

"An inactive Force Collar! And he was hungry and grumpy and it kept him from making noise!"

"It was still a—"

Rex jerked to the side as a Force collar suddenly went flying through the air. He looked at Obi-Wan to find that he was no longer holding the collar, and was sniffling a little with wide eyes, hands over his ears.

"Did he just?" Had Obi-Wan just thrown something at him in a temper tantrum?

Cody slid to the ground, staring at Obi-Wan who was looking up at both of them, eyes wide and a little teary. "Kriff. Force-sensitive child."

Right. Rex rubbed at his face. Kids didn't like yelling—and while Rex and Cody had been keeping their tones modulated, because they were currently stowaways, they hadn’t been moderating their emotions, it was probably not a good idea to flood the kid with negative emotions.

Especially not a child that Rex was fairly certain was powerful in the Force and had no way of shielding himself yet.

And no way of learning how, either, he thought a little guiltily. Rex certainly wouldn’t be able to teach him that.

Obi-Wan finally took his hands from his ears and held out his arms towards Rex. Rex hesitantly grabbed the kid from Cody's arms, pulling him close.

The boy hugged him, and then pulled back and rubbed at his stomach.

"Right." Rex nodded, pulling himself back together. "Ration bars or nutrient mush?"

The toddler blinked at him, and then rubbed at his stomach again.

"What flavors did you get?" Cody asked, and his voice was carefully neutral.

Rex pulled the bars he'd grabbed out of his pocket, dropping the extra shirt he'd grabbed on top of a box. "Kelp bars and sea salt caln-nut."

Cody glanced down at Obi-Wan. "I think he might be allergic to something in the Kelp bars?" He sounded suddenly exhausted. "At least in the Kelp bars we were given in army rations."

Allergies. It hadn't even occurred to Rex that allergies were a thing he needed to think about. What else should he be considering that he just hadn't?

Rex slumped onto one of the boxes, shifting Obi-Wan to the ground, and opening up the nutrient mash, which was about as allergen free as he could get.

Obi-Wan took it interestedly, slurping a little at the opening. He made a face, sending Rex the most betrayed look Rex had ever seen on a toddler.

Rex smiled a little and pushed the mash back towards the toddler's still open mouth.

Obi-Wan slurped at it again. Rex waited to see if he'd reject it a second time, but apparently Obi-Wan was hungry enough that he'd take even the nutrient mash.

"What are we doing, Cody?" Rex waved his hand to weapons he'd left on the box with the ration bars still in his hand. It felt like the perfect example of how completely out of their depth they were.

Cody didn't answer immediately and Rex looked up to see his brother staring at him with empty, haunted eyes.

When his brother spoke, the look had disappeared, but there was something deeper, darker, lurking beneath his voice. "I have to protect him, Rex." His brother shook his head, and Rex saw the faintest hint of a tremor in his brother's hands as he reached for Obi-Wan, picking him up and holding him close. Cradling him in his arms so that Rex almost couldn't even see the boy. "I have to protect him."

"The Jedi would have—"

"The Jedi failed." Cody hissed viciously. "They're nothing more than—" Cody cut himself off. "No. I don't trust them, not with Obi-Wan."

Rex pulled back a little, a little shocked by the vehemence in Cody's voice. Cody had always trusted the Jedi, had always claimed that he believed they were doing their best to protect and help the vod'e under their command.

Cody had—

Rex paused, staring at Cody. Cody had spent an awful long time not being Cody.

Except.

Except Cody was holding Obi-Wan tightly, and there was no hiding the genuine concern, the love in his brother's eyes for the toddler.

"Okay." He let out a deep breath. "We'll protect him. I don't know how, but we will. We'll have to find a way to get him to a medic though. We need to know what he's allergic to before we actually give him something that will make him swell up or go into shock or—" he wasn't actually sure what the standard allergic reactions were. He didn't think any of the brothers had allergies, it would make them less efficient soldiers if they couldn't eat whatever was available.

Cody nodded. "Okay." He waved at the shirt Rex had dropped. "What's that for?"

Rex shrugged, feeling a little ridiculous. "I figured we could try and turn it into a second outfit for Obi-Wan, a tunic or something until we can either find a needle and thread to sew it into something better or find some clothes his actual size."

Cody blinked. "That's a good idea." He smiled a little, and then shifted so he was sitting on one of the other boxes, carefully setting Obi-Wan down on the ground again. "I shouldn't have reacted that way to the weapons. I know you didn't mean to."

Rex nodded. "I shouldn't have put them so close to Obi-Wan, I wasn't thinking."

They both sat quietly for a long moment, neither sure what to say.

"I hope they didn't hear anything." Cody said quietly, after a while.

Rex shook his head. "Pretty sure they're still busy having sex. But we should probably be more careful."

Cody nodded, but it was still painfully awkward between them. "Where are we headed?"

Rex glanced at the Force collar on the ground from where Obi-Wan had thrown it. "Nar Shaddaa."

Cody inhaled sharply. "That's, that's bad. We can't take a Force-Sensitive toddler to Nar Shaddaa."

Rex nodded. "The first hyperspace jump is going to get us to the Chommel sector, and the next to the Bothan sector. We could always risk an escape pod."

Cody bit his lip, gnawing at it. "We could."

Rex raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"

"Did you ever hear about what happened to the 371st's ship? That time they were stalled a hyperspace jump out from the fight in the Moddell sector?"

Rex frowned, trying to think back that far. "That was the time with the Tookas?"

Cody shook his head. "No, just some nat-born ship mechanic who got distracted. The fuel-line can make a single hyperspace jump, but if it's connected incorrectly it'll damage in the strain of coming out of hyperspace. It was a tactic we sometimes used in the Imperial Army, with suspected rebel ships." Rex flinched a little at the words, but he didn't say anything. "But if we could get to the engine room while we're still in hyperspace, I could probably safely disable it, not quite the same way, that’d be too dangerous, but enough so that they can't make another hyperspace jump without getting the ship looked at."

That sounded incredibly risky and absolutely idiotic. But somehow less so than landing on Nar Shaddaa in this state. "And we can get off wherever they land." Rex nodded.

Cody shrugged. "If it doesn't work, we're taking the escape pod in the Bothan sector."

But under no circumstances were they going to let just sit there and do nothing and let themselves get taken to Hutt Space.

-_-

There was nothing.

Qui-Gon sighed, running a hand over his face. Beside him Xanatos slept soundly, head leaning heavily on Qui-Gon's shoulder.

Qui-Gon had wanted to leave Stewjon immediately and set off after the ship that carried the two boys and the Jedi youngling, but the Council had instead told him to stay on Stewjon to investigate what he could on that end, and to send the ship's manifest and destination to the Temple where they'd send out a second team to find the youngling that Qui-Gon had foolishly allowed to be captured. The thought left a bitter taste on his tongue, how could he have been so painfully foolish?

Meanwhile, Qui-Gon had remained on Stewjon, trying to determine how exactly the abduction had so successfully been pulled off.

The miscreant who had caused the distraction, a Cal-Ardo Wickasy, had been a dead end. There had been no one encouraging his brash actions. Just the opportunistic behavior of a man who'd heard the Jedi were here and heard why.

He'd planned on raising Obi-Wan, or rather having his sister raise Obi-Wan, until the boy was old enough to help Cal-Ardo with the bigger, riskier jobs that someone with the innate talents of a Force Sensitive would make easier. Stupid, opportunistic, but his actions had been completely unrelated to the successful kidnapping.

It almost seemed like Cody and Rex's actions had been purely opportunistic, left alone in the room with the baby they'd just... taken him.

Except there was a great deal about the two young boys that just didn't add up.

There were no records of any Jango or Taun We arriving on Stewjon. Nor had any of the shipping manifests Qui-Gon had poured through shown sign of two young boys entering Stewjon within the past month.

Cody and Rex, if those were even their names, had seemingly appeared and vanished with hardly a trace. Shara had reluctantly recounted the entire story of how the boys had shown up on her doorstep looking for help. She had felt her involvement with the investigation to be a waste of her time, Obi-Wan Kenobi had officially been placed with the Jedi Order, and her son was no longer any of her concern.

But beyond Shara, her family, Qui-Gon, Xanatos, and the receptionist, no one else that Qui-Gon had questioned had ever seen the boys.

They had seemed so innocent.

Qui-Gon had always thought himself in tune with the Force, following it's will with no regard for himself. He'd felt the Force whisper to him when he'd stared down at the copper-haired child and known that they would one day be Master and Padawan.

Yet he'd been utterly blind to the malicious intent of two children.

There was seemingly nothing left to find on Stewjon. He'd sent the name of the ship and its pilot to the council as well as their destination of Nar Shaddaa. And here, Qui-Gon was filled with horror.

Taking a young, Force-sensitive child to Nar Shaddaa?

Surely the Force had never intended for such a fate for a child who shone so brightly in the Force?

His comm buzzed quietly in his belt and he pulled it out, careful to not wake his padawan with the action. "Jinn."

"Qui-Gon." Mace's voice came through the device clear and resonant. "Depa and I found your pilots."

"And the youngling?" Qui-Gon asked, heart in his throat.

Mace sighed. "Apparently Arth and his co-pilot Moro had some mechanical issues between Stewjon and Nar Shaddaa, they had to make an emergency stop on a small planet in the Chommel sector called Naboo. Apparently, the two were completely unaware that they ever had stowaways."

"Do you believe them?" Qui-Gon asked, a little unnerved. Obi-Wan wasn’t even two yet. How had the boys managed to keep him quiet for that long? While there were a few potentially innocent explanations, there were far more, and unfortunately more likely, explanations.

Mace didn't answer immediately, but when he answered he sounded fairly confident. "I do. After all, I doubt the smugglers were the ones who left their illegal goods out in plain sight. I suspect that the two boys caused the mechanical failure, forcing the ship to land and then took the opportunity to escape." Mace paused. "In which case they were remarkably proficient, since neither Moro nor Arth suspected sabotage. It's impossible to know for sure, unfortunately. Moro and Arth had to replace the fuel line and so I can't inspect any tampering they might have done."

"What do you want me to do?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Head to Naboo, Depa and I are going to poke around Nar Shaddaa a little longer, as unlikely as it might be, it's possible the boys caused the delay not to escape, but to set a false trail. Depa and I will investigate further here. Should we come up empty, we'll meet you and your padawan at Naboo."

Qui-Gon breathed out deeply, grateful to once again have a course of action. "We'll head out as soon as we can find transport."

"May the Force be with you, Qui-Gon."

"And with you, Mace."

It was time to move again, they'd save their Jedi youngling yet.

-_-

Naboo. Of all the places in the Chommel sector to land, the smugglers had to choose Naboo.

It was, in theory, a good place for three kids to get lost on.

Naboo was practically synonymous with peace, especially during this particular era, before the war and the Naboo crisis that had come before it.

Rex didn't like being here at all. He almost wished they'd decided to take the escape pod when they'd reached the Bothan Sector.

It would have been the far riskier option, but Rex thought the risk might have been worth it.

Rex hated Naboo, in a dark secret way that he felt ashamed to admit.

If pressed he would claim it was the bad memories. And the shadow virus had been awful enough that Rex could easily claim it.

Not that Rex thought Cody would press, not with the way Rex was starting to realize Cody was trying to hide his own secrets.

Bad memories, however, didn't quite hit on why Rex really hated Naboo.

Long before they'd gone to Naboo the first time, Rex had often been given cause to hear his General wax poetic about the planet—though everyone listening had known that it had been less Naboo and more its Senator that the General was truly waxing poetic about.

Rex hated Naboo because it was the perfect example of what the Republic had ended up being. Beautiful promises that all proved false.

Rex couldn't hate the Republic. While it had still stood, he had fought for the Republic. He had watched his brothers fight for it, and die for it too. And then when the Republic had fallen, Rex had still fought for it—because the memory and promise of a Republic was better than the reality of the Empire.

Rex couldn't hate the Republic, because hating the Republic would make everything he'd fought for—everything his brothers had died for—a lie. More so than it had already become, with the reveal of a Sith Lord and the birth of an Empire.

No, Rex had been forced to hold onto the ideal of the Republic or he'd have lost his mind.

So he hated Naboo, instead.

He was more than ready to get off this blasted planet.

It was probably par for the course, then, that Obi-Wan seemed to be throughly enjoying himself. Cheerfully pointing at flowers and trees and tiny waterfalls.

And really, Rex thought a little sourly. Who needed waterfalls inside the city? That was just ostentatious.

"Go get checked up in a med center and then get back off planet?" Cody muttered lowly, eyes scanning everything with a sharp attention that seemed more fit for Nar Shaddaa than Naboo.

Rex nodded, a little glad to see that at least he wasn't alone in not wanting to be on this particular planet. “We need to keep moving, make sure we completely lost the Jedi."

Cody nodded, something dark crossing his face at the reminder of the Jedi.

Rex noticed, but didn't say anything about it; Cody was still holding Obi-Wan like he was the most precious thing in the entire galaxy. As long as that didn't change, Rex was going to postpone what he suspected was a conversation he wasn't in any way prepared to have.

"How do we want to go about paying for a med visit?" Rex asked.

Cody hesitated, but it wasn't the hesitation of someone who didn't have an answer. No, that was the hesitation of someone who knew that Rex wasn't going to approve of the answer. It was not a look Rex particularly wanted to see. Even though, in some ways, it was good to see such a familiar look on his brother's face.

"Cody." Rex hissed. "We were trying not to leave a trace."

Cody's hesitation disappeared, going hard. "They made their credits off of slavery. They were transporting Force Collars."

Rex narrowed his eyes. "You could have at least told me."

Cody eyed him. "That's rich." Rex bristled a little, about to ask what, exactly that was supposed to mean. "Given you stole some of their more legal merchandise to sell."

Rex opened his mouth to protest, not the theft, because that was true. But that he'd in any way been trying to hide it. Cody had seen him use the extra shirt he'd stolen to make a make-shift bag to store the food and merchandise.

"You saw me doing it."

"Then you should pay more attention." Cody snapped back. "I don't have to run everything by you."

Rex wanted to snap back, but he held it in. They were not going to get in another fight and make Obi-Wan cry again. Especially in public. He could already see a few people looking at them curiously. "I don't want to fight about this."

For a second Rex could see the aggression still tense in Cody's shoulders but then he sagged. "Neither do I."

For a long moment they just stood there. Awkward and uncomfortable.

Cody straightened again. "I wasn't specifically trying to keep it from you." He sighed. "It's just—" Cody looked away. "It was just me. Me and split second decisions. For a long time. There wasn't anyone to run things past."

Rex frowned, because while it would be easy to dismiss that as Cody saying that he'd had no one to turn to—no one he could trust—while he'd been a part of the Empire. It felt like there was something more to what Cody was saying. But Rex couldn't quite figure out what.

He didn't know what to say, didn't know what the right questions were to ask. "Okay." He smiled a little, but he could tell it probably looked forced. "We'll get better at this whole communicating thing." He grimaced. "And, well everything else." The toddler thing, the being stuck in their younger body thing, the being stuck in the past thing.

It was easier though, to couch it all together and pretend that somehow made it more manageable.

Communicating though, communicating they could focus on. That was something that was in their control.

"So credits for the med check up. Then—"

"Whatever left over from that on food and clothes for Obi-Wan." Cody grimaced. "And us, pretty sure the clothes we're currently in aren't going to help us blend in."

Rex made a face, looking down at the stupid blue uniform.

He ran a hand over where he'd stowed the vibroblade, sending a questioning look at Cody. Cody hesitated, then shook his head. "Don't think they'd have anything particularly useful here of all places." 

Peaceful planet. And even though, if Rex remembered correctly, the Naboo treated kids their age as closer to adults, Rex still couldn't see the Naboo selling weapons to children.

They were still wandering, or at least trying to give the appearance of wandering, when someone approached them.

"Excuse me." The man smiled, a genial looking thing that Rex immediately didn't trust. "Are you three lost?" The man's eyes flicked over him and Cody before resting just a moment too long on where Obi-Wan was settled in Cody's arms.

"No." Rex answered immediately, shifting a little so that he was in front of Cody.

The man immediately stepped back, looking a little abashed. "I apologize. I really didn't mean to intrude. It's just I didn't recognize you, and I'm familiar with most of the families in the area."

Rex clenched his fist behind his back, carefully pushing down suspicion.

This was Naboo, peaceful, pleasant Naboo. The reminder was anything but helpful.

"Well, perhaps we're a little lost." Rex said carefully. "Our parents are still at the spaceport, there was a problem with the ship. But our little brother had a bad reaction to some food during the trip. He's all right now, but we wanted to take him to a med center to make sure there's nothing wrong. Someone at the spaceport gave us directions, but we apparently remembered them wrong."

Rex was grateful they were no longer dealing with Jedi who could sense lies, because the only truth in that whole explanation was that they were looking for a med center. But it was one thing Rex was fairly confident in; he’d learned to be an excellent liar over the years.

The man's face immediately slid into a smile. "Of course!" The man's eyes darted to Obi-Wan again, but this time they didn't linger. "I can give you directions, if you'd like."

Rex nodded. "We'd appreciate that."

The man quickly pointed them in the right direction, and Rex was surprised that he and Cody had actually gotten fairly close.

They waved goodbye to the man before turning down the street he'd pointed them down. "He's still watching us." Cody muttered quietly.

"He might just be a concerned citizen." Rex pointed out, though he didn't much believe it himself. "We do look young."

"Hold on a moment!" The man's voice called after them.

Rex exchanged a look with Cody, but after a moment they paused.

To run or ignore the man would draw attention. And they wanted as little of that as they could get. The man hurried to catch up with them. "I happen to know one of the women working as a medic in the center today." He gave them a charming grin. "I imagine I could convince her to give you a discount. She's always been fond of children." He shrugged. "And sometimes the med center can be so finicky about waiting for the parents, and then you'll end up trapped in the med center for ages waiting for your parents to finish up at the spaceport."

Rex exchanged another glance with Cody.

A discount and someone to help waive suspicion from the fact that they didn't have any parents to speak of.

Oh, they could probably play the orphan card if it came down to it, pretend that they'd lied because they were afraid. But it would be easier if they could avoid that.

It was convenient.

Rex didn't like it at all and Cody clearly didn't either.

"Thank you." Cody answered. "But we don't want to make your life difficult."

The man scoffed. "Hardly, in truth you'd be doing me a favor. I'm afraid my job keeps me quite busy, I haven't nearly had the time to spend with Sare that I'd like. But the three of you would give me an excellent excuse and one her boss wouldn't even have a reason to complain about my presence." The man stepped forward as though that decided. "Come along."

Rex bit his lip, but then followed.

"What do you do?" Rex asked. "That keeps you so busy."

The man glanced back at them, eyes assessing. "I'm one of Naboo’s Senatorial aides, right now. Of course, with the Senate on break right now, the Senator gave us permission to spend some time at home."

That would certainly keep him busy, Rex acknowledged, and rarely on Naboo. Yet, he had still managed to recognize them as not from around here.

He glanced down at their clothes, or perhaps just recognized that they didn't blend in with the Naboo.

Clothing that didn't stand out quite so much as uniform was definitely a necessity. At least it was the blue uniform of the cadets and not the red uniform from when they were older. That would have only made them stand out all the more.

They reached the clinic quickly and Rex ran his eyes over it. It certainly looked reputable, the man gestured them in, already speaking to the receptionist "Is Sare here? The poor child had a bad reaction to some food."

A few minutes later they were being ushered into a pleasant looking room in the back of the center, the walls all painted light blues and greens. A pretty young woman with long dark hair falling in a braid down her back hurrying in.

"Ah, Sare. I've brought you some patients."

"Just the one." Rex interrupted. "We just wanted Obi-Wan to have a check up."

Sare smiled at them. "Of course. Do you have your ident cards so that the receptionist can draw up your records while we check on your brother?"

Rex bit his lip. "I think our parents have those? Do we need them now?"

The medic hesitated. "Do you know when your parents will be here?"

This was the problem with reputable med centers, Rex thought a little annoyed, they actually wanted things like ident cards and parental permission and to follow all of the legalities.

Rex hated Naboo.

If they'd thought the whole abduction through better they would have stolen some of Obi-Wan's files there, at least whatever documentation his parents had filled out, surely it would have had Obi-Wan's medical information.

Why did Obi-Wan have to have allergies in the first place? Not that Rex would ever want everyone to be engineered to not have allergies the way he and Cody were, but right now it would have been convenient.

Cody was shaking his head. "I don't know. There was something wrong with the—" he paused, face furrowing in fake confusion. "The fuel line? I think."

"Surely you can give the boy a quick check up, Sare." The man's voice was smooth, and his smile tempting. Rex shivered. "It's not like they're asking for medication or surgery."

"Well," Sare hesitated. "What sort of check up? You just want to make sure he's not sick?"

"Allergies." Cody said quickly. "Mom thought it might have been an allergic reaction. But no one else in the family has allergies. So we weren't sure."

Sare hesitated again, but a quick glance at their friendly helper and his hopeful smile seemed to convince her. "It's really not even a check up," she muttered to herself, "just an allergy test."

Rex and Cody just nodded, going along with it. The woman muttered to herself for a bit longer, convincing herself more than anything else. But as soon as she was decided she seemed to jump in with great gusto.

She busied herself, moving in and out of the room quickly, and setting up a small medbed.

"Let's see the little one." She stepped forward expectingly, holding her hands out and Rex saw Cody freeze.

"Cody." Rex murmured quietly. Cody had pulled Obi-Wan tighter into his body and was looking at the medic with extreme suspicion. Cody wouldn't be handing Obi-Wan over.

Rex stepped forward carefully, broadcasting his movements so that Cody wouldn't be surprised when Rex stepped forward to remove Obi-Wan from his hands.

Cody fought him for a moment, but then with a grimace allowed it.

Rex had to fight himself a little to let the medic take Obi-Wan himself. They didn't know her, didn't trust her. But they needed the tests.

And this was Naboo, what could happen? 

This was Naboo.

Rex hated Naboo.

Sare removed Obi-Wan from his hand, carefully placing Obi-Wan on the med-bed. "All right, little one. Let's see just what might have caused that allergic reaction."

Obi-Wan made a small noise, looking up at Rex from where the woman had put him, the toddler's eyes wide, the start of tears in his eyes. Rex swallowed. "It's okay, Obi-Wan." He said quietly. "We're right here."

Obi-Wan sniffled a little, looking a little betrayed and started crying in earnest. The sound loud in the small room.

Rex had to step in front of Cody to stop his brother from grabbing the toddler.

Sare didn't seem concerned. "It's normal." She told them almost cheerfully. "The first time in the med center can be scary." She smiled down at Obi-Wan. "You're going to be just fine, aren't you, adorable."

Obi-Wan didn't seem even a little pacified, still crying.

From what Rex remembered, General Kenobi had never liked the medbay.

Not that Rex completely blamed him. Rex didn't like the medbay either, he just knew better than to avoid it when he needed it. For one, not taking care of injury could easily lead to the injury getting worse and causing problems when a soldier needed to be fighting fit, and for the other, Kix had been a menace when he was annoyed—and nothing annoyed Kix more than needing to track down and force a brother into the medbay.

Rex watched as Sare carefully removed Obi-Wan's tunic and opened a small pouch.

Rex wished he knew more about medicine and healing, wished Kix was here to explain what the medic was doing. (Wished Kix was here to do it himself, Rex could trust Kix, he didn't know this woman, didn't trust her. Couldn't trust her.)

Still he watched carefully as Sare rubbed a paste onto Obi-Wan's back, watched as she drew blood—and that was particularly horrible, Obi-Wan didn’t like that part at all. At that point she ran the blood through a computer system, muttering to herself. She left the room and came out with a few small pouches, pulling what looked like different colored gauze from each of them.

"What are you doing?" Cody asked as she started applying the gauze in lines on Obi-Wan's back.

"The blood test let me narrow down possible allergies." Sare explained. "I'm testing those now, to see which, if any, he has a reaction to."

Cody looked horrified and a furious. "You're giving him something he might be allergic to?”

Sare looked up, smiling in a way clearly meant to calm and pacify. "The paste on his back should mitigate the effects of the reaction, and we have bacta and medicine for any allergic reactions that end up being severe. It's not possible to determine what he's allergic to without actually testing his allergy."

Rex could see Cody swallowing heavily, but then nodded. They had to know what Obi-Wan was allergic to. Had to know what they needed to be careful of and Cody knew it.

Sare smiled at them again, turning back to the gauzes and carefully removing them. For the most part nothing seemed to happen, but in a few places where she removed a gauze a thin red line remained, like the beginnings of a rash.

Sare made a note of each on her data pad.

"Well." She smiled at them. "You're right, your brother is allergic to a few things, luckily for you, it's nothing that should require a radical change in your family's diet. Unless you're a fan of Larian spiced food."

Rex frowned. "Is that in Kelp bars?"

Sare shrugged. "It might be, it's a common enough allergy that it's required on ingredient lists for all food corporations within Republic Space, so it shouldn't be difficult to check."

That was a relief. Rex had never really needed to check an ingredient list before, ration bars were ration bars, and he'd never had allergies to be concerned with. But it seemed like an easy enough habit to pick up. No Larian.

"And then there are a few more, rarer seasonings, I’ll get you the list. And—" she snorted. "You can rest assured that your brother will never become a spice addict. He's allergic to it."

Rex just stared at her. "All right."

No matter how he thought about that, it seemed weird. Obi-Wan Kenobi as a Jedi wouldn't want Spice. Obi-Wan Kenobi as a General wouldn't want spice. Obi-Wan Kenobi as a toddler would never get within a parsec of the stuff if Rex could help it.

"Is there something we can keep on hand in case he does get an allergic reaction?" Cody asked, moving things back on track. His vod was standing stock still, and, Rex noted a little sadly, at attention. Like they were cadets, again. Rex had trained himself out of standing at attention, it drew too much attention if he looked too much like a soldier, like a warrior.

Cody, who’d been an Imperial soldier until they’d not-died, had never had a reason, or opportunity, to do the same.

Sare nodded. "I can get you some."

"How much does this all cost?" Cody asked, clearly trying to hurry things along so that they could get out.

Sare frowned. "Do you know when your parents will be here? We really need those ident docs and there’s the paperwork.“

"They gave us a credit chip." Rex said quickly. "And Obi-Wan's really hungry. We can come back with them later to fill out any paperwork."

Sare looked unsure.

Their kindly helper was quick to join them. "Let them pay. I'll take them out to get lunch and then bring them right back once we've collected their parents."

Sare hesitated. "You'll stay with them."

"Oh, they won't leave my sight." The man promised. "I think they'll enjoy the small bakery just down the street, I'm sure it won't be much longer until their parents show up."

Rex glanced at Cody from the corner of his eye. Cody looked about as happy with the situation as he felt. But Sare let them pay, winking at them a little as she handed them a bag with some medication.

It was cheaper than Rex had expected, and he wasn't sure if that was because of the man helping them, Sare's own thoughtfulness, or if Naboo just had low healthcare rates.

He didn't want to stick around long enough to really find out either way.

The man rested a hand on the back of Rex's neck and Rex wanted to flinch away.

"Lunch, yes?" The man said, voice kind.

Rex moved forward, trying to escape the man's grasp.

The man let go, hand falling away.

Cody hesitated. "We don't want to waste your time."

The man smiled. "Oh, I assure you, you won't be wasting my time. Not at all. And I promised Sare."

Rex picked Obi-Wan up, and Obi-Wan seemed to calm as soon as he was back in Rex's arms, wrapping his arms tight around Rex's neck to the point that Rex almost couldn't breathe.

"It's okay, verd'ika." Rex whispered. "It's okay. No more medics."

Obi-Wan buried his face Rex's neck, and he was shaking a little.

"Come along." The man gestured them to follow, Rex hesitated but did.

Cody narrowed his eyes, and Rex could tell he wasn't happy with it, but Rex felt like it was better to just see where things went and followed the man’s lead. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt if the man did provide them food they didn’t have to steal, trade stolen merchandise for, or use stolen credits to buy.

The man took them down to a small bakery only a few doors down, ordering them food without asking and carrying the small tray full of pastries and what looked like tea to a table near the back corner.

"You should sit." The man smiled again and Rex sat.

The man sat across from them, eyes on Obi-Wan again. "What was it you said the young one's name was again?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi." The words slipped from Rex's lips easily. It was dangerous, in some ways, to keep Obi-Wan's name as it was. But Rex would never be party to stealing someone's name from them.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The man repeated, as though testing the taste of it on his tongue.

The man waved for them to eat and Rex took the small pastry he'd been given, splitting it into smaller pieces and trying to hand some to Obi-Wan, but the toddler refused to move from where he was wrapped around Rex's neck; he was still shaking worse than ever.

Rex frowned, but took a bite of the pastry himself. It was light and fluffy, he didn't expect that it would be very filling, but it was tasty.

"You're very brave boys." The man said quietly. "And very good liars."

Rex stiffened, a small buzz between his ears as he took in what the man had said.

"No sir, we haven't—“

"It's all right." The man smiled, and it looked just as genial as the earlier smiles, but this time it sent a chill down Rex's spine, and he felt as though he were frozen in his seat. "You aren't in trouble, I want to help you."

The buzz in his head was getting louder, heavier, weighing down on his brain. "Help us?" His voice felt a little distant.

"Yes. It's brave of you, to try and protect the little one. His potential is—” the man's eyes were on Obi-Wan and he looked almost hungry. "Remarkable. But you’re so clearly out of your depths.”

Cody’s voice was sharp as he pushed to his feet. “We should go find our parents.”

“What parents?” The man’s voice was almost silky. “Sit back down, young one.” Cody froze, unmoving. “Sit.”

Cody sat, his whole body trembling as he did so.

Rex swallowed hard, Obi-Wan was shivering in his arms, small, tiny whimpers escaping. It was nothing like the cries from the med center, but somehow so much worse. 

Obi-Wan was afraid.

“No parents to worry about you.” The man continued. “That’s a dangerous position for three young boys to be in. You need protection.” The man smiled, Rex had never found the man’s smile comforting, but now it felt like death.

"We don't need any help." Cody's voice sounded a little strangled, but Rex couldn't manage any words at all.

The man scoffed. "Poor orphans, since the moment I first caught sight of you, I knew you were afraid. I can feel it off of you." The man's eyes seemed to bore into Rex, and the buzz in his mind seemed to grow louder. "You want so desperately to protect your little brother, don't you?"

That’s what they'd done, wasn't it? Rex hadn’t quite put that together until this moment. When they'd kidnapped Obi-Wan, he would never be a Jedi now, never be a General, now he was just their younger brother. What hadn't changed was that they wanted to protect them, though the means and methods had changed.

"Yes." The word slipped out, honest and truthful, easy to confess. Rex wanted to protect Cody, wanted to protect Obi-Wan. 

”But you don't know how to protect him. You don't even realize just how special your little brother is, the potential of what he could be." The man smiled. "I can help you. I can protect him, help him reach his true potential."

Rex shuddered. How often had Rex thought that very thing? That they didn’t know how to protect Obi-Wan. They were trapped in the past; they were lost, overwhelmed, out of their depth.

"You want him to be safe, don't you?"

Rex nodded.

“I can protect him.“

Obi-Wan was crying, the sound almost silent. Rex couldn’t even rock him, just felt the tears and snot on his neck.

“You can protect him.” Rex repeated.

He and Cody couldn’t. They couldn’t protect Obi-Wan.

“Let me protect your little brother, let me protect Obi-Wan. I’ll take good care of him.”

Rex felt his head nodding, because that was right. That was what they needed, that was what Obi-Wan needed.

“Give me the boy.” 

Rex felt himself stand, trying to disentangle Obi-Wan’s arms where he was holding tight around Rex’s neck. This was for the best, this would protect Obi-Wan.

The man smiled.

Obi-Wan screamed, the noise loud and pained and afraid in Rex’s ear, enough to almost deafen him.

Beside him, Cody lunged forward, flipping the pastry tray and sending the pastries and tea pot on it flying. Before the pastries had even hit the ground, Cody’s hand was wrapped around Rex’s wrist, pulling him towards the exit.

“Cody.” He tried to pull away, his mind stuttering. They had to protect Obi-Wan. The man would protect Obi-Wan.

Cody ignored his protests, forcing Rex to stumble after him as they ran from the small bakery and down a side street. Rex couldn’t focus on where they were going as Cody led them down different streets, not letting them slow down. They had to go back, Rex’s mind insisted. The man could protect Obi-Wan. They had to go back.

Except, they didn’t know the man. The thought came as Cody gave him a sharp pull around a corner. Didn’t trust the man.

But the man would protect Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan was still sobbing in Rex’s arm and Rex had almost given Obi-Wan away. 

The thought was enough to break through the rest of the fog in his mind and Rex wanted to throw up. But right now they had to run.

“Cody.” Cody shot him a look over his shoulder, and slowed.

“You back to yourself?”

Rex nodded, a lump in his throat. “What was that?”

Cody shook his head, eyes dark. “I don’t know. It felt like something between a mind trick and an inhibitor chip.”

“You felt it too?” Rex had been mind tricked before, by Ventress, but this had been different. “How did you break out of it?” How had Cody been able to get them out of there? How had he pushed past the weight in his mind that had seemed to make everything wrong in Rex’s mind?

Cody held out his hands for Obi-Wan and Rex hesitated, not wanting to lose Obi-Wan after what had just happened, and unreasonably afraid that if Cody had been holding Obi-Wan in the bakery that he would have just taken Obi-Wan and run, leaving Rex behind. But Cody looked just as distressed as Rex felt and Rex knew his vod would never have left Rex behind to that.

Rex handed Obi-Wan over and the little boy threw his arms around Cody’s neck, burrowing his face into Cody’s neck and shoulder, and Rex felt a wave of guilt as Obi-Wan’s cries quieted, Cody gently running a hand up and down Obi-Wan’s back.

“Practice.” Cody said quietly, not looking at Rex. “I had twenty years of practice.” 

Rex swallowed hard, reassuring himself that Cody had grabbed Rex and run, instead of just taking Obi-Wan from his arms and disappearing and leaving Rex the way Cody had accused Rex of leaving him. “Vod?” Twenty years of that, but worse? It was something he’d already known, but he’d never felt it himself and it was suddenly clear to him how little he’d really understood.

“I wasn’t able to do much.” Cody said quietly. “But I did what I could, when I could. Now that I’m free there is nothing that would ever keep me from protecting Obi-Wan. Nothing.”

“We need to keep going.” Rex said quietly. “We need to get off this planet.”

Rex hated Naboo.

Cody nodded and the two of them kept moving.

-_-

Qui-Gon looked at the young man, Sheev Palpatine, technically an aide of a senatorial aide, that had put in a report with the Naboo authorities.

“You put in a report asking for authorities to look for three children, and indicated that they might be in trouble and lashing out dangerously. What happened?”

The senatorial aide sighed. “I saw the three of them, wandering around. They looked lost, and of course, I couldn’t just do nothing. They told me their parents were still in the space port, and I saw no reason to disbelieve them, especially when they said they wanted to get the youngest one to a med center.” The man shook his head. “What could I do but help?”

Qui-Gon nodded. “Of course.”

The man sighed. “I started to recognize that something was off about the whole situation in the med center. The children were very on edge. I don’t know what it was that tipped me off, but it became clear to me that the three of them were orphans.”

Qui-Gon had to bite his tongue at that, but nodded for the man to continue.

“I wanted to offer them help, so I took them to a bakery near the med center. I thought food would help comfort and calm them.” The man shook his head. “I should have handled the situation better, I must have frightened them.”

“What happened?”

The man shook his head. “I don’t blame them in the slightest of course, but one of the boys attacked me with the pastry tray, it was lucky I was so close to the med center!” He laughed a little. “I ended up with some severe burns from the tea, but nothing too painful.” The man shook his head, laugh fading. “In truth I just want to make sure those boys are all right. Especially the youngest.”

“How was the youngest?” Qui-Gon asked quickly, and beside him Xanatos straightened as well. “Did he look well?”

The man hesitated, looking considering. “Now that you ask, he did seem a little afraid. I discounted that as being caused by a trip to the med center, but even after we left, the poor boy seemed to be shaking like a leaf.”

It was a confirmation of the worst of Qui-Gon’s fears. Obi-Wan Kenobi was in danger. He nodded.

“Might I ask,” the senatorial aide glanced between Qui-Gon and his padawan. “Why would my report be of interest to two Jedi?”

“They’re kidnappers.” Xanatos piped up.

The man laughed, and then paused when neither Qui-Gon or his padawan laughed. “You’re serious? That’s preposterous, they’re children!”

“The two older boys are kidnappers.” Qui-Gon said finally, he wouldn’t have told the senatorial aide anything, but now that Xanatos had, he thought it was better to keep the record straight. “The youngest is their victim.”

The man’s face shifted into horror. “No. You can’t be serious.” He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t believe it. How could I not have known?”

“They are miraculously deceptive.”

The man’s eyes darted up, and Qui-Gon felt strangely as though he were being assessed. “They fooled you as well, then. The young one, he’s Force sensitive, isn’t he?”

Qui-Gon nodded. “The newest member of the Jedi Order.”

The man pursed his lips. “I feel terrible. I should have realized. Some part of me must have known, I felt so drawn to the child, I wanted to help him. If only I’d realized what it was he really needed help with.”

Qui-Gon smiled a little, the Force was still watching out for Obi-Wan Kenobi. This young man was clearly Force null, but the Force had still led him to young Obi-Wan’s aid. “We are grateful for your attempts to help him. The galaxy could use more men like you.”

The man smirked a little, laughing. “You are too kind, Master Jedi.” He paused. “I recognize that my part in this is over. But it would mean a great deal to me if you would keep me updated, so much as you can. I wish I could have helped the poor boy, and I’d like to know that he is safe.” He smiled. “As it is, I’ll keep an eye out so much as I can, I have a few contacts. Anything to make sure that young boy gets where he belongs.”

Qui-Gon nodded. “Of course, I understand the desire. We’ll do our best to let you know when the boy’s been found” He glanced down at the report quickly, to double check the name. “Thank you again, Mr. Palpatine, you’ve been a tremendous help.”

He rested a hand on Xanatos’ shoulder and together they left the small cafe they’d met the man at. “What now?” His padawan asked.

“Well, what do you think we should do next?” Qui-Gon asked, smiling down at his padawan, trying to hide his own concerns.

“Check to see if we can find any sign of them leaving the planet?” Xanatos suggested. “We need to know whether they’re still on planet or not.”

Qui-Gon nodded. “A good plan, we’ll have to try and get the recordings of the spaceport.”

His padawan beamed, looking pleased at the praise. 

Qui-Gon smiled down at him, even as his mind went through what they knew. The two boys had risked exposure to get Obi-Wan checked for allergies. 

That in and of itself was odd. They were still clearly on the run, and yet they had made it a priority, Qui-Gon would have expected that was something they would have gotten their adult co-conspirators to help for, it would have raised fewer suspicions.

For a moment, Qui-Gon wondered why they hadn’t brought in an adult for that part. Perhaps they were still separated? Or maybe the adults were smart enough to realize that Qui-Gon would track them there and were trying to keep their identities secret.

But they wanted Obi-Wan in good health, that wasn’t necessarily a good sign, but nor was it a bad one. 

But the young Palpatine had indicated that Obi-Wan seemed afraid, and that was a bad sign, as was the boys’ willingness to lash out violently with so little provocation.

They had to move quickly, the sooner they found young Obi-Wan, the sooner he’d be safe and away from the two boys and anyone else who might hurt him.

-_-

Sheev watched the two Jedi walk away, pursing his lips thoughtfully. There was no way his Master wouldn’t be aware that he’d met with two Jedi, Sheev would have to be very careful with what he told him.

It wouldn’t due for his Master to realize he was looking for his own padawan, someone to train to help destroy Plagueis. He’d been looking into Force-strong communities for an easy apprentice, one that he could take and raise to be everything he needed them to be in an apprentice. He had narrowed it down to either the Dathomiran clans or the Jedhan initiates, he had even planned to visit Dathomir next time he had leave from the Senate.

But now a young, powerful Force sensitive had practically been delivered into his hands and Sheev had never been one to ignore the Force’s gifts.

Except, he’d let the child slip through his fingers.

It had been foolish of him to rush the process, to try and force compliance with a powerful Force compulsion. But Sheev had been sure of his success. Yet somehow the darker-haired boy had pushed through the compulsion.

Perhaps it had been due to the toddler’s influence. The child had clearly felt Sheev’s influence, had been frightened by it. The child shouldn’t have been able to free the older boys from Sheev’s thrall, but perhaps Sheev had underestimated them all.

To think the boys were actually kidnappers.

That was quite the feat, kidnapping a child from the Jedi, especially at such a young age, and then managing a capable enough facade to fool Sheev. They could undoubtedly be very useful once Sheev had all three of them under his control.

And he would get them there. The Jedi were clearly incapable. 

The boys had gotten lucky in escaping him once, but Sheev doubted their luck would last long, not now that he knew what the Force wanted to gift to him.

It was a shame that he wouldn’t be able to handle obtaining them all personally, but he was needed back on Coruscant soon. He might be a mere Senatorial aide now, but that was all just a part of the plan. The Sith plan ensured that Sheev would be so much more than that.

Sheev would use whatever tools he had to, in order to ensure it. 

Now he just had to find someone to return his newest tools to him.

-_-

Rex had to hide a small smile as he watched as Cody quietly tried to cajole Obi-Wan into putting on the new tunic they’d made for him.

“But it’ll match me and Rex, Obi-Wan. Don’t you want to match us, verd’ika?”

Obi-Wan’s nose scrunched up as he looked at them and Rex looked at his own new tunic. It was a little ugly, sure; they’d scrounged through a second hand shop on their last stop, but it definitely didn’t deserve the look Obi-Wan was giving it. It was much nicer than the awful blue outfits the Kaminoans had always forced them into.

“How about this tunic?” Rex offered quietly, holding out his own favorite outfit. 

/Traitor./ Cody hand-signed at him.

Rex stuck out his tongue, not caring if it made him look like he was genuinely five instead of just physically.

They were three ships away from Naboo, now. Three ships away from the man who had tried to steal Obi-Wan from them, now. Rex wasn’t sure if they’d lost the Jedi yet, but they’d probably stowaway on a few more ships before they tried to find somewhere to settle.

Cody pouted—though Rex doubted that Cody would ever admit it—as Obi-Wan accepted Rex’s chosen outfit and let them finish dressing him.

Together they curled up in a small corner of the cargo hold where they were hiding, and Cody signaled that he would take watch first.

Rex still wasn’t sure what they were doing, how the two of them were supposed to navigate a Galaxy and time they didn’t belong in. But he refused to let the worries overwhelm him.

The man from Naboo had tried to pretend that he was a better option for protecting Obi-Wan, had fed off and manipulated Rex’s own fears. He shuddered at the memory of another will erasing his own. It didn’t matter how long it’d been or how much space they put between them and Naboo, Rex still felt a hint of terror from those few moments when he’d been out of his own control.

Was that what Cody felt, every time his eyes went dark and distant?

He sighed. They would have to talk, but for now it was easy to keep pushing off that inevitable conversation for when they were safe.

Rex tucked Obi-Wan into his chest, letting the little boy use him as his pillow. It was safe for Rex to sleep, Cody had watch and Obi-Wan was safe in his arms.

Chapter Text

Cody held Obi-Wan tight to his chest.

His General was dead.

It was a truth that Cody had known and held on to for nearly twenty years.

His General was dead. As dead as Cody himself had been. Drowning the both of them. Always and forever drowning.

And now Cody was alive, was real, was free...

But his General was still dead.

Cody had killed him.

Cody missed him. Mourned him. But his General was marching away, marching away with all of Cody’s brothers.

Now there was just Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan who wasn’t his General. Obi-Wan would would never be his General. Because of Cody.

Obi-Wan was a child who would never walk the path he once might have. Obi-Wan would never be a Jedi. And some part of Cody was viciously grateful for that. His Obi-Wan would never be a Jedi. Would never  be a filthy traitor. Some other part of Cody hid away from how sharp that viciousness was, how angry it was. But most of him was glad. Was glad he’d saved Obi-Wan from that.

But Obi-Wan would never be a General.

He’d never be Cody’s General.

Cody’s General was dead.

Obi-Wan was a toddler who needed Cody. Obi-Wan was his vod’ika and his verd’ika.

Cody had loved General Kenobi. Would always love General Kenobi.

And Cody loved Obi-Wan. Would always love Obi-Wan. No matter who he decided he wanted to be.

-_-

Cody woke sharply, eyes immediately darting around the dark room—another cargo hold—looking for the threat as he pulled a sleeping Obi-Wan closer to his body, just in case.

Rex turned from where he was keeping watch, meeting his eyes and giving the all clear sign.

There was no threat. Just Cody, Rex, Obi-Wan, and crates full of rolls and rolls of fabric. Cody couldn't, for the life of him, imagine what someone would need with all of that fabric. And some of the colors he'd seen had been, well, hideous was the word Cody had used. Rex had tried to be more diplomatic and had called them gaudy. He wasn't actually sure if it was that much of an improvement from hideous.

Obi-Wan hadn't seemed to have an opinion on the color of the fabric, he'd been mostly entertained with how soft it was.

Once they could afford it, Cody was going to have to see if they could buy Obi-Wan a soft, warm blanket. Obi-Wan would love it. 

In his arms, Obi-Wan stirred, a small unhappy noise slipping from his throat. An almost, not quite whine.

Cody frowned, Obi-Wan had been having nightmares ever since Naboo. A dangerous pastime when they were still stowing away on ships as often as they could. Cody and Rex had decided to give it a few more ship jumps before finding somewhere to settle, but this was their last jump. The ship they were currently stowed away on was headed to Centares, which Rex and Cody had figured was as good a place as any. Relatively safe, which was a necessity when they were caring for a child, but not so respectable that three children on their own would be noticed, an unfortunate necessity. Maybe when he and Rex looked a little older they could go somewhere a little more respectable. But the risk of going to somewhere like Naboo, where three abandoned children would stand out was too high. 

Plus, it was along the hyperspace route, meaning it had plenty of ship traffic. A necessity if they were going to have to stowaway again if they were found.

Obi-Wan was actually doing very well at staying quiet, even when woken from nightmares. Maybe it was a Force thing, telling Obi-Wan to stay quiet. Or maybe Obi-Wan had just always been quiet in nightmares. 

Cody wasn't sure he really liked either option.

Obi-Wan whimpered quietly again and Cody shifted, pulling himself up so that he could lean back against a crate, shifting Obi-Wan so that he was laying flat on Cody's small chest.

"How long was he whimpering before I woke up?" He asked quietly into the dark of the cargo hold.

"You woke up to the second one." Rex answered. "Do you want me to take him so you can get a little more sleep?"

Cody shook his head. "No. Won't sleep at this point anyways. I can take watch if you want to try to sleep."

Rex made a sound in the negative. "Pretty sure we'll be out of hyperspace soon. No real point."

Cody figured that was fair.

Obi-Wan whimpered a final time, before coming awake with a small sob.

Cody immediately hushed him, pulling the toddler in close. "It's okay, it's okay verd'ika. I have you. We're far away from anyone who could hurt us."

-_-

"Are we going to talk about it?" Rex asked, staring up at the stars. It was lucky it was the summer season on this planet, and it was warm out, so sleeping outside wasn't particularly dangerous, at least in terms of climate.

"Talk about what?" Cody asked, voice easy in a way that Rex knew would disappear as soon as Rex really broached the subject. Still, it needed to be done.

"You hate the Jedi." Rex said, because he wasn't sure what else there was to say, and it was easy to start here. Well, easier.

Cody sighed, and yep, that easiness was gone, replaced by a cold neutrality. "No, we're not going to talk about it."

Rex turned. "Don't you think we should?"

"I don't think it matters." Cody bit out, the look Cody gave him somehow even colder than his brother’s tone. "We're not going to be interacting with the Jedi."

"We're raising Obi-Wan. It's not something we can just ignore."

"And he'll never be a Jedi." Cody retorted. "We've saved him from that."

Rex swallowed hard. He’d heard people say all sorts of things about the Jedi, especially after they’d been destroyed and it was almost a matter of course for people to spit on them. But somehow it had never been as bad as hearing Cody speak poorly of them. "The Jedi Order isn't some terrible thing. They're not something that Obi-Wan needed saving from." Maybe it was because the Cody from before hadn’t hated the Jedi. This was a Cody that was his Cody, but also wasn’t. This was a Cody whose changes Rex still had to learn. “We were saving him from what might happen to the Order, not from the Order itself."

Cody snorted. "Why can't it be both?"

"You love him." Rex backtracked, because he wasn’t going to win the argument if they continued in that vein, but he might just have a chance if he came at it with a different tactic. "And not just our verd'ika. You loved the him that was a General. The him that was a Jedi." They both knew that for all that Obi-Wan Kenobi had the name, he was not the Obi-Wan Kenobi of the past—the future? might-have-been-future? however one said it. That didn't change the fact they loved him now, or that they'd loved him them. Though it was a different sort of feeling all together for how it was still the same.

"Of course I do." Cody sounded confused, as though he didn't recognize the contradiction in despising the Jedi but in loving General Kenobi.

Maybe he didn't, Rex acknowledged. Maybe for Cody there was the Jedi, and then there was his Jedi, and they were two separate things entirely. He wouldn’t be the only vod to have that mindset, and while Cody had seemed to bring it to another level, it wasn’t truly surprising.

"The Jedi are good." They weren't perfect, no, and they had their bad fruit—thoughts of Krell still enraged and terrified him in equal measure—but the Jedi Order itself had so much good in it.

"I'm not having this conversation." Cody told him, scooping the sleeping toddler up and turning so that Cody's back was to Rex, nestling Obi-Wan into his body as though he was protecting him from Rex.

Rex fought back the hurt it caused him. He was in this with Cody, to the very end. 

"Is it the chip?" Rex asked, pushing the subject, perhaps more than he should have, but it needed to be said, it needed to be asked. "Or at least the aftereffects of it. You trusted the Jedi, before the chip, before the Empire. You might have trusted them even more than I did. This can't be how you really feel about them."

Cody didn't answer.

Rex sighed, turning to look back to look at the stars.

He'd let it drop for now. But they were going to talk about this.

-_-

Cody paced the edge of the barn uneasily. They were running low on food and even lower on credits. Not for the first time he cursed his young body. If he was his normal size then getting work wouldn't be a problem.

There was another farm about a kilck to the east, and from what Cody could tell it wasn't abandoned. Maybe they would be willing to share some food if Cody and Rex helped out for a few days.

Cody looked down at the tug on his pants. He raised an eyebrow at Obi-Wan who was smiling up at him angelically. "Can I help you Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan held his hands up, and Cody bent down to pick him up, suddenly incredibly aware of how light the toddler was. Was he too light? Should kids Obi-Wan’s age need more food? Weren’t they doing a lot of growing at this age? Or was that just children with accelerated aging?

They needed to find more information on human-child development. Because the only experience Cody had with the subject was him and his own brothers, and he didn’t think that was the best source.

"What do you need, little one?"

Obi-Wan wrapped his arms tightly around Cody's neck and Cody felt some of his tension slip away with this sign of trust his little General had in—he corrected the thought. This sign of trust and love that his verd'ika had for him. That his Ob’ika somehow managed to project, as though he was trying to wrap Cody in it.

That Obi-Wan, who didn't know how to use the Force anymore than Cody did at this point, still managed to use it to comfort Cody was just something that was so Obi-Wan that it didn't seem to matter how old he was.

It was easier, in times like these, to feel like everything would work out. That everything would be okay.

He could do this.

He returned the hug carefully, making sure not to squeeze too tight in case he hurt his verd'ika.

There was nothing in this galaxy, absolutely nothing, that would stop Cody from protecting Obi-Wan and Rex.

Obi-Wan pushed back, smiling at Cody brightly, and then he was wiggling to be let down.

Cody set him down. "Was that all you needed, verd'ika?"

Obi-Wan nodded and then toddled away, probably to go find Rex and give him a hug as well.

Cody felt his heart seize a little.

They could do this.

-_-

"Their trail has been lost." Qui-Gon admitted, the words feeling like they'd been torn from him.

Yoda's hologram nodded. "Return to the temple you shall."

Qui-Gon felt a flare of frustration. "We can't just abandon a child!"

Yoda's ears flattened. "Abandon the child we will not." Yoda sounded displeased, and despite the improper syntax the tone of it all was almost enough to send Qui-Gon flashing back to his days as a padawan with Master Yan. He did not appreciate the experience. "But a diplomat you are, a tracker you are not. Send someone more capable we have.”

The slight burned. Qui-Gon was perfectly capable. And yet, his failure to catch up with the two boys who'd stolen young Obi-Wan Kenobi showed a different picture.

"Anyone else you might send will have no familiarity with young Kenobi's Force presence." It was his best argument, the closest thing he had to a trump card.

"Already gone to Stewjon, a knight pair has, find traces of his presence there, they shall."

Qui-Gon wanted to scowl with yet another argument shut down so quickly. "They'll waste time, trying to catch up."

"Waste time also you will. Lost their trail you have. No further behind will the Knight pair be. Come to your location they will, once Obi-Wan Kenobi's presence they have learned."

"I feel—" 

"Return to Coruscant you will." Yoda interrupted, and this time his voice was implacable. If Yoda had actually been present, Qui-Gon would probably have received a gimer stick to his shins. "Your padawan too long from the temple has been. Behind in his classes he will be. With padawans his age, time he should spend."

Xanatos. Qui-Gon felt a small wave of guilt. He'd been distracted of late, and they'd been rushing from one planet to the next, constantly on the move, searching for children who were exceptionally skilled at disappearing. Yoda was right, in that at least, it was wearing on Xanatos. He was still young, and they hadn’t spent so much time out of the Temple before this.

"Once we've met with the Knight Pair, we'll return to the Temple." Qui-Gon finally agreed. He didn't like the idea of abandoning Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he and Xanatos needed to recharge, and there was a chance that at the Temple he would be able to better investigate the two young boys and where they had come from.

Perhaps he could convince Tahl to help. She was a far better researcher than he was, and always seemed to know exactly where to look for information, exactly who to ask.

There was no ignorance, there was knowledge. Once he had the knowledge he needed, the Force would be able to better lead him.

Yoda sighed. "See you soon, we will." The hologram flickered out.

Qui-Gon disconnected his comlink from the small projector and moved out of the bedroom he'd been given and into the main room of the small suite Qui-Gon had paid for at the local inn. Xanatos looked up the moment he walked in and Qui-Gon felt a small pang of guilt again.

Xanatos looked tired. "So? What did Master Yoda have to say?”

"We're waiting for a Knight Pair to reach us here, and then we'll hand off the investigation and the search for Obi-Wan to them and we'll return to Coruscant."

Xanatos' eyes widened, Qui-Gon caught a hint of relief in the Force before his padawan carefully shielded his emotions. "I see. This is a good thing, right?" He seemed uncertain. "The Knight Pair might have a better chance of catching up to the three of them, whoever Master Yoda will have sent will be trained for retrieval and tracking after all."

Qui-Gon wanted to grind his teeth at the way Xanatos practically echoed Yoda. "Yes, I hope so as well."

-_-

Obi-Wan's laughter was bright and loud and Rex couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him just listening to it. Cody was trying to give Obi-Wan a bath, but the way it was going, Obi-Wan was being far more successful at getting Cody wet than the opposite.

Obi-Wan actually really liked baths, which, according to their research wasn't always guaranteed with children this young. It was rare, however, that they were in a position where they could actually give Obi-Wan a real bath, and so when it did happen, Obi-Wan got extra excited, seemingly determined to make the most of the ‘adventure’ that was bath time. Unfortunately, that meant he liked to share the joy and get whoever was bathing him just as wet as Obi-Wan was.

“Are you having fun, Obi-Wan?” Rex asked, as Obi-Wan flung a handful of suds into the air, giggling madly.

Cody glared at him from the small tub, his soaked hair plastered to his forehead. "Don't encourage him." The bit of bubble foam on Cody's nose made it very hard for Rex to take him seriously.

"According to the child-rearing pamphlet we found," they might have engaged in a bit of illegal downloading to get it onto their data pad, but the data pad had, at least, been legally acquired, "it's important to properly encourage your children while they're young. A positive environment is necessary for a healthy child."

Cody rolled his eyes. "I don't think this was the sort of encouragement the pamphlet was talking about."

Rex shrugged. "It didn't specifically say this wasn't the type of encouragement it was talking about."

From behind Cody, Obi-Wan beamed at Rex, lifting his hands to splash Cody with more water.

Cody gave Obi-Wan a reproving look. "There's not going to be any more water in the tub if you keep doing that." Obi-Wan covered his eyes with his hands, peering at Cody from between his fingers and Rex gave it less than a minute before Cody had forgotten that Obi-Wan was in trouble.

Cody sighed and Obi-Wan giggled. "Rex is washing you next time, I hope you know that. And you better get him twice as wet."

Obi-Wan just kept giggling.

-_-

Rex set Obi-Wan down, carrying the toy blocks he and Cody had carved a few feet away and settling down with them.

"We're going to play a game, okay?"

Obi-Wan started crawling over to where Rex was sitting and Cody swooped in to pick him up and bring him back to where Rex had put him. "No, we're gonna play from over here."

Obi-Wan made a disgruntled little noise.

Rex held up one of the blocks. "Do you want this?"

Obi-Wan smiled one of his bright, happy smiles.

"All right. If you want it, you need to bring it to you."

Obi-Wan immediately tried to stand, but Cody had a good hold of him. "Uh uh, that's cheating Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan furrowed his eyebrows, and it was really quite unfair that he managed to make confused look quite so adorable.

"Come on, Obi-Wan," Rex encouraged. "Try to bring the toy to you, use your mind, not your hands."

Obi-Wan tried to stand again, but Cody pulled him back down onto his lap. "You can do this Obi-Wan. You don't need to walk over there to get the toy."

Obi-Wan was starting to get upset, the furrow in his brow shifting until his face was screwed up into the look that signified a proper temper tantrum was incoming.

Rex sent Cody a significant look and his vod understood immediately, wrapping his arms around Obi-Wan in a hug. "It's okay verd'ika. Rex and I don't know how to teach you right. But you can do this. No one will be angry with you if you don't get it right."

Obi-Wan's fingers moved clumsily, using the Mando hand signs he’d learned to express his confusion, Rex brought his own fingers up to sign as he talked. "I know this is confusing, verd'ika. But focus on the block, and bring it to you."

Obi-Wan's face scrunched up in proper concentration, and he extended his hand in a grabby gesture. Rex sighed. He was trying, that much was more than clear, but the block didn't so much as shift from where it rested on Rex's hand.

They kept encouraging Obi-Wan for a while longer before it became clear that Obi-Wan's lack of progress and understanding was starting to wear on him. "How about a different game." Rex suggested cheerfully. "Do you want to play Hide and Find?"

Obi-Wan's eyes immediately went bright, the beginning of tears disappearing as he scrambled out of Cody's arms gesturing for Cody to cover his eyes.

Cody did so and started counting.

Obi-Wan scampered away immediately. The room they were staying in was small, and at first glance there wasn't really anywhere to actually hide, but that had never quite managed to stop Obi-Wan from finding excellent hiding spots in the past. Rex watched as Obi-Wan wedged himself into a small cubby hole in the wall, pulling at the cloak hanging from the hook above him so that it hid him from view.

"Maybe we're doing this wrong." Rex said, keeping his voice quiet enough so that Obi-Wan wouldn’t be able to hear.

Cody scoffed, looking a little ridiculous with his hands still covering his eyes. "Of course we're doing this wrong." He sighed. "I wish Waxer and Boil were here, those two always seemed to know what to do with kids.” There was a deep longing there that Rex understood, he missed the 501st, he missed Gregor and Wolffe. But they had each other, and that had to be enough. “Or that we'd had more chance to help with the younglings in the temple. That would be helpful right at the moment.”

Rex sighed. Wasn't that the truth. But no, the 212th and the 501st had both been out on the frontlines for most of the war. There had been no time to enjoy themselves on Coruscant with their own brothers, much less to spend time with the younglings in the Jedi Temple, though the invitation had been open to all brothers.

"How are we supposed to teach him how to use something we can't even touch?" Rex asked, and he could hear the plaintive sound in his own voice.

Guilt threatened to swarm him, but he shoved it down. They were doing their best for Obi-Wan, and just because they hadn't figured it out yet, didn't mean they wouldn't figure it out at all.

They would. Eventually.

He could practically see Cody go through the same process, guilt shifting into determination. "We'll figure it out." Cody uncovered his eyes, raising his voice. "I'm coming to find you, Obi-Wan!"

Rex looked pointedly ahead, not revealing anything about Obi-Wan's hiding spot as Cody stood up to start searching the room.

They'd figure it out. If he kept telling himself that, eventually he would believe it.

-_-

Cody woke to a heavy weight on his chest.

He cracked an eye open to see that, yes, Obi-Wan was sitting on him again, looking down at him with serious eyes.

"Hello Ob'ika."

Obi-Wan smiled down at him, grabbing Cody's right hand and tumbling off the opposite side, pulling at Cody's weight.

Cody jerked upright, trying to catch Obi-Wan before the kid could hit the ground.

Obi-Wan let out a bright laugh, not at all bothered by his abrupt descent from the small bed and onto the floor.

"Obi-Wan!" Cody's voice came out a little sharper than he intended and Obi-Wan stilled, looking up at him with wide eyes. Cody let out a quick breath, softening his voice. "Careful, you don't want to hit your head."

Obi-Wan nodded, and then tugged on Cody's hand.

Cody allowed Obi-Wan to pull him from the small room they all shared and into the kitchen where Rex was making food. "You're up early. I thought I had breakfast this morning."

Rex shrugged. "Obi-Wan had another nightmare, woke me up. Didn't feel like there was any point to going back to bed."

Obi-Wan had let go of Cody's hand and was carefully clambering onto a stool. Cody watched out of the corner of his eye, so he could catch Obi-Wan if the boy started to fall. Again.

"I can take him in my bed tonight. So you can get a full night's sleep."

Rex looked up at him. "You think you'll be getting home before I put him to bed? I thought you had another few nights helping Loras."

It had been a stroke of luck that Cody had come across Loras throwing a droid out of his restaurant, swearing up a storm. The droid had apparently broken one too many glasses, and Cody had convinced the man that Cody could wash dishes until the man had brought a new droid in to replace the one he’d thrown out, and thankfully Loras was just desperate enough, and eager to find someone he could pay under the table and minimum credits, that he’d accepted. "He should be getting a new droid in this weekend." Obi-Wan had climbed from the stool and onto the table, and was settling in the middle, crosslegged as he watched them.

Rex nodded, smiling a little. "Obi-Wan and I will be fine another couple of nights." Rex handed Cody a plate and Cody took a seat. Obi-Wan immediately scooted over and started poking at the food. Cody cut off a few smaller pieces of the flat cake for Obi-Wan to grab. "Lana offered to pay me if I'd run some errands for her this morning. I can take Obi-Wan with me, if you want to go looking for another job."

Cody shook his head, grabbing another fork so that Obi-Wan wasn’t getting the food all over his hands. "I'll take him this morning, we can switch off before I need to go wash dishes after the lunch rush. I was thinking I'd take him to the park this morning, get him some exercise."

Obi-Wan looked up at the word park, smile bright and messy; he already had syrup smeared all over his face.

"That sound good, verd'ika?" 

Obi-Wan nodded, wiping at his face with his hand, smearing syrup and flat cake crumbs around his lips and then wiping his hands on the table. Cody winced a little. There was going to be syrup everywhere. 

Rex smirked at him. "I made breakfast, you get to clean him up."

Cody sighed. "That's fair."

-_-

"Master Jinn!"

Xanatos stopped, just behind his Master and they both turned.

One of the Senator's aides was hurrying towards him, and he looked strangely familiar, though Xanatos couldn't quite place from where.

They'd been on Senate duty for two weeks now, a punishment, Xanatos was sure, for Master Qui-Gon's most recent decision to go off track after a mission in order to 'follow the will of the Force' and had then decided to turn his after report into yet another argument with the council over… well, honestly, Xanatos wasn’t sure what the argument had been about this time. He’d been sent out to wait for his Master the moment the Council had realized that Qui-Gon was settling in for a tirade.

"Ah, Aide Palpatine, yes?" Master Qui-Gon said, giving a short head nod.

Xanatos followed his example.

"Yes. I admit I'm surprised you remember me. You do me great honor."

Master Qui-Gon gave another tilt of his head. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I had only sought you out to enquire how the youngling was, the one you were off to save?"

Xanatos felt a spike of bitterness as the skin around Master Qui-Gon's eyes subtly tightened, a now regular sign of his frustration. Of course, of course it was that Senator's aide. That was just how things seemed to be going these days. 

Xanatos wished people would stop bringing up Obi-Wan Kenobi. Master Qui-Gon needed no reminders about the missing youngling, if anything it only encouraged him further in his reckless pursuit on a mission he had no leads for.

Master Qui-Gon sighed. "I am afraid young Obi-Wan has yet to be found. There is still a pair of knights searching for him, of course."

For how much longer? Xanatos wondered. It'd been some time since a kidnapping of a Jedi Youngling had been successful. How long would the Jedi continue to look for the child? They didn't even have any solid reasons to believe that the child was still alive.

It seemed a waste of resources if you asked Xanatos.

The Senator's Aide looked shocked. "Not found? But surely, with the Jedi on the case..." The Aide shook his head. "I suppose I assumed it would be a matter of a few days, weeks at most, before the youngling was rescued, what with the Jedi being on the case."

Xanatos would have thought so as well, before all this.

Maybe Master Qui-Gon would call that hubris, but then, Master Qui-Gon had expected to find the boy already as well. 

The Aide shook his head. "But hope springs eternal, I'm sure you will find the child soon."

Master Qui-Gon tilted his head. "The Force is with us, and with young Obi-Wan, we will find him."

The Aide's smile was kind. "Of course." His eyes shifted and he was suddenly looking at Xanatos. Xanatos stiffened a little. For an Aide, the man had an astonishingly firm stare, the sort of stare Xanatos was more used to seeing from Jedi Masters who thought they could see into Xanatos' inner being.

Xanatos wouldn't let those Jedi Masters see him truly, and he wouldn't let such an insignificant Aide see through him either.

The Aide sent him a smile. "It was a pleasure to see you again, Master Jinn, Padawan Du Crion."

Xanatos gave him the smallest, stiffest nod he could get away with. Though he could admit he was surprised, and reluctantly impressed, the Aide had managed to remember his name. It was easy, most of the time, for dignitaries and those like them to overlook him as a mere padawan. 

Master Qui-Gon sighed. "Well, let us continue with our services. I do believe Senator Nom Rhemor from Rhommamol has requested our aid with a small matter between him and Senator Ahmshara from Osarion.”

Xanatos obediently followed, bitterly wondering how much time Qui-Gon would spend holed up with Master Tahl looking for more leads on Obi-Wan Kenobi because of this two minute conversation.

-_-

Sheev watched the two Jedi walk away. How interesting. Oh, he'd known that the Jedi had yet to find young Kenobi, his own sources were still searching for the three boys as well. No, his asking had been pretense only.

But it had revealed far more than Sheev had expected.

Jinn was quite determined to retrieve the youngling, and from what Sheev could tell, upset that he himself was not on the search. The Jedi Master seemed… intent. Yes. Perhaps a little too intent.

The padawan however, oh, there had been quite the interesting mix of emotions from the young padawan. There was a strong resentment there. At the Master's devotion to finding the youngling, perhaps?

And even better, Jinn seemed completely unaware of his padawan’s building emotions.

It seemed that Master Jinn was failing to give his padawan the reassurance that the young boy needed. A boy at his age was particularly vulnerable, and it was absolutely fundamental that children receive proper care and nurturing while so… malleable.

Why, wouldn't it be just so terrible if someone were to notice such a glaring weakness and take advantage of it?

Circumstances had contrived so that he could not start training the apprentice that the Force had shown him. No, he needed the youngling retrieved before he could start on that. But that didn't mean he needed to stay idle, no. Young Xanatos needed a kind ear, someone who could understand the frustrations of a master who didn't seem to be providing the necessary support.

The young Jedi padawan already had a fair share of arrogance, frustration, and selfishness stirring below the surface, hidden from the view of the Jedi by a rather paltry shield of 'proper devotion.'

It really would be almost negligent of Sheev to not extend a hand to the young padawan.

The Force seemed to purr in satisfaction. Ah yes, Xanatos would be quite the tool, a pawn that could achieve much if he were guided by the right hand.

And Sheev didn't doubt that he was the right hand to guide the young, impressionable padawan.

-_-

Cody yawned as he pulled another bag over his back. He'd convinced one of the small store owners, an older woman who was blind enough not to realize just how young Cody looked, to let him earn a few credits a day with running deliveries and moving stock for her.

The door at the front opened and Cody looked up as a rather brutish looking fellow swanned through. The blasters holstered at his side marked him out as not belonging to the area.

Blasters might be tolerated in the inner parts of the city where the spaceport was stationed, but here on the outskirts, they were heavily frowned on, and none of the regular residents carried them.

At the front counter Melia smiled at the man, her eyes squinting as she tried to make him out. "How can I help you?"

"I was told you hired a young man to help you out around here?" The man answered. "I don't suppose you know where I can find him?"

Cody froze, carefully setting his bag down. This was the second time a shady figure had tracked them down, and Cody didn't think it was coincidence.

"Oh, you mean Cody?" 

"Yes. Cody, and he has a brother, Rex?"

Melia frowned. “What are you looking for those boys for?”

“My sister’s sons. They went missing after her death.” The man shook his head. “It’s taken me this long to track them down so I can bring them home.”

Cody rolled his eyes. Really? Was that the best this thug could do?

Melia, however seemed appeased. “Oh, the poor boys. I always knew that there had to be something absolutely terrible in those poor boys’ pasts. He'll be in this afternoon, but he doesn't work mornings."

Cody felt his eyebrows raise. He strictly worked mornings, as Rex had a job washing dishes after the lunch crowd at a restaurant closer to the inner city in exchange for leftovers.

"What time this afternoon?"

Melia pulled at a chrono, holding it up to her eyes as though she was trying to see the time. "Oh, he should be in in an hour or so."

The man nodded, before swaggering back out the door.

Cody let out a quiet breath as Melia leaned over the counter, watching the man leave. Before she raised her voice just loud enough to carry back to him. “I don't know why a ruffian like him is looking for you, Cody. But I don't think it's for anything good."

Cody didn't think so either. "Thank you, Melia."

She looked at him, wide, nearly blind eyes staring at him. "Come here and take your credits boy. I'll see you tomorrow morning." She smiled a little sadly. "Or I suppose I might not. You and your brothers be safe now."

Cody gave her a considering look—perhaps she'd seen more than her failing eyes had led him to expect—before stepping forward and transferring the credits to his credit chip. "Thank you." He headed towards the back exit to make sure he didn’t run into the thug again.

Now he had to get to his brothers and get off planet. Again.

-_-

Xanatos sighed. "How long will the Council keep us on Senate Duty this time?"

Master Qui-Gon sighed heavily, face twisting in exasperation. "Probably until someone else annoys them enough to take our place."

Xanatos groaned. They were going to be on Senate Duty until he was Knighted, in that case. No one annoyed the Council as much as his Master.

Perhaps Aide Palpatine would be willing to host him for a few hours. 

Xanatos was still surprised to find that the man wasn't as annoying as Xanatos had thought he'd be. The man was a good conversationalist, and seemed willing to listen to Xanatos in a way that even his own Master wasn't willing to these days.

Xanatos had been almost positive that when the Aide had invited him for tea the last time he and Master Qui-Gon were on Senate Duty that he'd be bored out of his mind. Either that or inundated with questions about Kenobi.

And yes, Palpatine had asked after the boy, but then he'd spent most of the rest of the time asking about Xanatos himself. The man had been so sincerely interested in what Xanatos had to say that Xanatos had almost been late to meet up with Master Qui-Gon to head back to the temple for dinner.

He'd have to come up with a reason to stop by the Naboo offices without his Master to see if Aide Palpatine had any time for him.

He could use someone to vent to after Qui-Gon's latest stunt, and Palpatine might actually be able to understand.

-_-

Qui-Gon rubbed at his forehead as he poured over the most recent reports the Knight pair had sent in.

The Knight pair had gotten close, they estimated that the abandoned warehouse the three children had been staying in had been vacated mere hours before they'd found it. But then the two boys had disappeared again, Obi-Wan in tow, and the Knight pair were once again engaged in the chase.

He wasn't supposed to even know about the reports, but his former Master knew about his interest in following the investigation and search for young Kenobi and had sent on the reports. It was a mixed blessing. Qui-Gon was desperately grateful for the reports, but Master Yan also seemed to think that this favor meant that Qui-Gon needed to stop avoiding his former Master.

Master Yan had invited him and Xanatos to come to dinner with him and his current apprentice, a Komari Vosa that Qui-Gon didn’t know much about, but had heard was quite the duelist.

Qui-Gon had accepted, rather reluctantly, yes. But Master Yan still seemed pleased enough.

And even if Master Yan was still his stubborn-as-a-politician-and-twice-as-pretentious self, it would be worth it. These reports kept Qui-Gon up to date on the search and helped him narrow down his own virtual search.

Although, Qui-Gon found he was a little disturbed at the Knight pairs’ report that there were only the three children.

From all accounts the Knight pair had been able to gather, Obi-Wan Kenobi was being treated well by his two 'brothers'. Reports from those who had crossed paths with them had almost all been sympathetic to the poor orphaned children.

Where were the adults? The masterminds?

Surely these two boys, several years younger than Xanatos, couldn't be the ones behind all this. 

And yet it appeared they were.

Qui-Gon wasn't the only one who was baffled. While the Knight pair hadn't outright stated it, they were equally flummoxed that they were being led on a merry chase by a pair of not-yet-teenagers.

And his former Master had admitted that the Council was also at a loss.

Why would two children kidnap another child?

Qui-Gon sat back in his chair trying to put together everything he knew about the two boys. Abandoned and abused, separated from their own brothers.

Perhaps Qui-Gon had underestimated how aware they'd been of their own abandonment. Perhaps they'd already known they'd been abandoned.

He thought back to Stewjon and how closely the boys had tried to keep hold of young Kenobi. How protective and possessive they'd been. How they had acted like older brothers from the very start.

Perhaps there had been no malice in the boys' desire to take the toddler. It would explain how Qui-Gon had been unable to sense their ill intent. Perhaps they had instead been trying to replace the younger brothers they'd lost when they'd been abandoned.

It was in some ways just as disturbing as his other assumptions. How would two boys learn that abduction was the answer to loneliness if they hadn't learned that from their missing parents?

The thought that out there a couple were stealing and then abandoning children was not a comforting one, though hardly the worst thing that Qui-Gon had seen in his life.

What other habits had the two boys learned from their parents?

The reports indicated that no one around the three boys suspected abuse at least, which was heartening, though certainly not solid evidence that there was no abuse happening. Especially if they were living in abandoned warehouses and empty farmhouses.

And even if there was no abuse, how well could two boys really care for a young child all alone?

Qui-Gon grimaced at the thought of what young Kenobi must be going through.

He sighed. They'd find the boy, they would.

It was just a matter of time.

-_-

"Kar'tayli gar darasuum, Ob'ika." Rex whispered quietly. "Now sleep, verd'ika."

Obi-Wan nestled in closer, one hand reaching over Rex to hold onto Cody's shirt.

Rex was already half asleep himself, it'd been a long day and tomorrow was looking to be just as long.

"Kar'tayli gar both darasuum, too." Obi-Wan muttered quiet against his chest.

Rex smiled a little, tugging at the blanket before his eyes shot open.

Had... had he heard that right?

Beside him Cody had straightened up, staring at Obi-Wan in surprise.

"Did he?" Cody didn't finish the question, as though he was worried that Rex would tell him no.

"He did." Rex confirmed. Not quite sure that he believed it himself.

Obi-Wan had just talked. The language had been a bit of a mix, as though Obi-Wan hadn't quite picked up that Mando'a and Basic didn't go together quite like that. Though, to be fair, with Mando'a it sometimes did. 

But he'd spoken.

In what was pretty much a full sentence. 

Was that normal? According to the parenting and child development texts he and Cody found, kids normally started with single words. But then, the child development texts also indicated the children normally started talking a lot earlier.

Oh well, it was fine Rex was sure. Hopefully.

And then it hit him. Obi-Wan’s first words had been to tell them that he loved them.

Rex had the strangest urge to cry.

"He loves us." Cody whispered, and kriff, Rex's brother was going to have a meltdown at this new realization. He was staring at Obi-Wan as though he'd never seen him before. "He loves us."

"Of course he does." But his own voice was shaking too much to really sound convincing. But then, hadn't he secretly, or perhaps not so secretly, worried that they weren't enough for Obi-Wan? That he deserved more than they could give him?

And that was probably still true.

But if he loved them, despite everything they didn't get right and everything that sometimes went wrong, then maybe they were doing something right.

"He loves us." Cody said again, and Rex suspected that Cody wouldn't get any sleep tonight. "Kriff. He loves us."

-_-

Rex hummed quietly. Obi-Wan was resting with his ear on Rex's chest, it was a favorite position of Obi-Wan's when he was distressed; he liked the feel of the vibrations. There was a small sound, Obi-Wan trying to mimic Rex's hums.

"We coming back?" 

Rex paused at the quiet question. "No." Rex whispered, equally quiet. "We're not coming back."

Obi-Wan sniffled a little, and Rex felt Obi-Wan press his nose into Rex's shirt.

"Hey, hey." Rex ran a hand down Obi-Wan's back. "It's okay. It doesn't matter where we go, verd'ika, we're going to be together."

"Why do we go?" Obi-Wan asked.

Rex sighed, because how was he supposed to explain this sort of thing? "There was a very bad man chasing us." Between the Jedi and the bounty hunters that seemed to be searching for them for some reason—and Rex suspected it had to do with the man from Naboo—they'd been forced to move too many times recently.

"Like in my dreams? The dark man?"

Rex froze. "In your dreams?"

Obi-Wan nodded, still sniffling. "Scary. Don't like him."

Was it just a dream? Or was it something more, something from the Force? "Tell me about your dream, Ob'ika.”

Obi-Wan let out a snuffling sound. "Don't wanna."

"Ob'ika." Rex encouraged quietly. "Cody and I can't take care of something we don't know about."

Obi-Wan sniffled a little more, and shifted up on Rex's chest until he was sitting, looking down at Rex with serious eyes. “You and Cody fix this?”

Rex nodded, meeting Obi-Wan’s eyes and trying to push his determination and love into the Force. “We’ll do everything we can.”

Obi-Wan sighed, and it was much more world-weary than a child of Obi-Wan’s age should be able to manage. He rested a hand on Rex's cheek. "'kay."

"Obi-Wan, wha—" There was a warm feel across his cheek, spreading from Obi-Wan's hand and his sight seemed to dim, a different sight trying to interpose itself over his vision. He closed his eyes instinctively. 

His vision settled, he could see himself and Cody in the small room they'd turned into a home; the same one they'd just left behind. Vision-Cody was making dinner and vision-Rex was whittling at a piece of wood, there were several carved pieces next to him, Rex remembered this night, or at least a dozen like them. There'd been a Market coming up and Rex had wanted to sell a few trinkets for some extra credits. It was a little odd, seeing this from what had to be Obi-Wan's perspective.

Along the edges of the vision a dark mist was starting to seep in, and Rex could feel the coldness, seeping into him from this strange vision into reality, moving closer. Everything shifted as vision Obi-Wan moved, retreating from where he had been sitting and running to Cody.

Cody in the vision didn't respond, and Rex could hear Obi-Wan whimpering. "Cody, Cody. Something's wrong."

Vision-Cody finally moved, crouching down, and Rex felt a swell of love that didn't belong to him. Pure and uncomplicated and strong enough that Rex wanted to cry.

This was how Obi-Wan felt about Cody.

"What's the matter, verd'ika?"

Vision-Obi-Wan's voice was trembling. "It's wrong."

The whole vision shifted as Cody picked up Obi-Wan, and Rex had forgotten how it must be, to be so small, and the world so large. "What's wrong?"

Obi-Wan pointed and suddenly Rex could see the mist again, dark and looming and coming closer and closer. Swirling around the room, dark and menacing and cold. It was going to swallow them whole, Rex knew, though he didn't know how he knew it.

"You can't run, forever. Your fate is mine, child." The voice was chilling, running up and down Rex's spine and leaving ice behind.

"Cody. Cody." Obi-Wan's voice was shaking.

"It's okay, Obi-Wan. It's okay."

"I don't want him to get me." Obi-Wan was crying and Rex could feel the fear deep in his own chest, and he couldn’t be sure if it was vision-Obi-Wan’s fear or his own.

"I won't let him get you, Obi-Wan." Cody promised, and even in Obi-Wan’s dreams, the sound of Cody promising was reassuring.

The mist was coalescing into a figure, all shadows and mist with yellow eyes peering out from beneath a hood. "Where are you, Obi-Wan Kenobi? You can't hide from me forever."

The mist suddenly shot out, covering the whole room, and both Vision-Cody and Vision-Rex disappeared, leaving him alone and falling, falling, falling, everything dark and empty. And there was nothing. Nothing but him. "Go away! Leave me alone!" Obi-Wan was screaming, but the sound was just echoing back at him. It was cold, so cold. Rex couldn't breathe through it.

"Come to me, Obi-Wan. Let me show you everything you could be."

The vision ended as abruptly as it had started and Rex gasped, desperate for air.

In his arms Obi-Wan whimpered a little and Rex realized he was squeezing too tightly. He loosened his grip a little, but kept Obi-Wan close to him. "Do you have that dream a lot, Obi-Wan?" His voice was a little shakier than he’d like, but it would have to do.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Sometimes others, too. But that one's the most scary."

Rex stared up at the top of the cargo hold. Kriff. He knew that dreams and visions could be a Force thing, but he hadn't known that General Kenobi as an adult had had a problem with them.

But then… was this a vision? Manifesting in terrifying ways. Or was it the man from Naboo, using the Force against Obi-Wan?

And what about the other dreams? Were those Force dreams too? Or was this the only one?

This was so out of his league. So out of their realm of experience. What were he and Cody supposed to do?

-_-

His head hurt. An angry sort of throb in his temple that radiated out through the rest of his head. He wished they had painkillers, or the credits to afford them. But they didn’t right now.

Cody rubbed at his temple again, some worry he couldn’t put a name to tugging at him.

He glanced at the chrono, there was almost no chance that he would be getting back to sleep at this point.

He carefully edged out of the bed, making sure that Rex had a good hold of Obi-Wan. 

In his sleep, Rex frowned, hand reaching out as though looking for Cody, but after a minute he settled, curling tighter around Obi-Wan.

Cody smiled down at them, and moved to the small kitchenette. Well, kitchenette was probably pushing it. But they’d managed to scrounge a broken heating table that’d been thrown out and it worked well enough for cooking, and there was access to a sink whose water was clean enough to drink.

What more did they really need?

Cody swallowed a few cups of water. Maybe if he was lucky this was merely a dehydration headache. He ignored the fact that he’d had dehydration headaches before and knew that they didn’t feel anything like what he was currently experiencing.

Stress headache maybe, that was closer. But he’d had his fair share of those before too.

He rested his head against the window, it was cool against his skin, a relief when compared to the ache in his head.

Outside the window he could see the moon starting to slide below the horizon. Making the streets of the city below seem almost magical in a way they never did in the light of day.

It’d be nice if they could stay here. Stop running. Cody was tired. It felt like he’d been going for forever. Always something. Training, then war, then—he blocked that thought away, because thinking about it now would just put damper on the rest of his day, and the day was just starting.

He pulled away from the window and shook his head to rid himself of the self-pitying thoughts, he regretted it instantly as the motion only made the headache worse.

He started shifting through the small storage of food they had. They were running low again, maybe Obi-Wan would like to go shopping with him this morning while Rex was busy helping out down the street.

Porridge. They could have porridge for breakfast. Again.

Still, better than rations, and at least Obi-Wan never seemed to mind.

Maybe they should take a day out past the town outskirts. Cody had heard that there were a few orchards and berry farms whose surplus were available to the general populace. Of course, getting there was a problem. It was too much of a walk for a day journey and stealing a speeder when they wanted to stay in the area for a while was a worse than stupid idea.

Next time they moved they should try to find someplace with better public transportation, Cody noted a little absently. Maer had the worst public transportation and their taxi prices were almost ludicrous.

Something to discuss with Rex later.

He rubbed at his head again, but the headache wasn’t going anywhere and Cody had things to be doing.

-_-

Qui-Gon took a bite of the casserole that Padawan Komari had made. It was… not awful. Better than Qui-Gon’s casseroles had been at any rate.

Master Yan was eating his in the methodical way he always did.  Cutting the piece on his plate into exact pieces. Complimenting—at least Master Yan’s version of complimenting—Komari after the third bite. Taking turns in carefully scrutinizing everyone around the table in that way that meant he was looking for weaknesses to exploit.

All in all, the man hadn’t changed a bit since Qui-Gon had been his padawan.

“Master Drallig says you’re quite the talented duelist, Padawan Du Crion.” 

Xanatos smiled, patting at his lips with his napkin, manners as perfect as if they were at a political dinner. Qui-Gon couldn’t help the surge of pride. “Master Drallig is too kind. I got rather soundly trounced just the other day by Padawan Korin.” His padawan really was turning into a remarkable Jedi, polite yet canny, skilled yet humble.

Yan raised an eyebrow. “A padawan several years ahead of you. She’ll be headed for her trials soon enough. A loss on your side is hardly a sign of lack of skill.” Yan’s eyes narrowed as he watched Xanatos. “And perhaps that’s why you felt that fact worthy of sharing.” Qui-Gon’s former Master turned to his current padawan. “Have you sparred with Padawan Korin recently?”

Komari shook her head. “No, Master Yan. She was on a mission the last time we were in the temple and I haven’t gone to the training rooms since we’ve returned.”

Master Yan hummed. “Well then, you’ll have to seek her out. Perhaps young Xanatos here can give you insight into Padawan Korin’s fighting style.”

It was a challenge. And some part of Qui-Gon hated his former Master for it.

Xanatos had lost to the senior padawan, and so now Yan wanted his new padawan to come out of the same battle the victor. 

A subtle insinuation that Qui-Gon, even as a Master, still had so much to learn before he could be his own Master’s equal.

Qui-Gon could see it clearly, and he suspected that Xanatos saw it as well. Qui-Gon couldn’t say whether Padawan Komari was aware. If she was Master Yan’s padawan she probably wasn’t completely dim, but Qui-Gon doubted she was even half as clever as Xanatos.

Xanatos and Komari were staring at each other from over the casserole Komari had made—it was a padawan’s duty to serve the Master—and Qui-Gon wanted to stop this farce of a dinner and leave Master Yan to his pointless, foolish, ridiculous superiority complex.

And then Xanatos smiled. “Is it true you dual wield, Komari?”

Komari raised an eyebrow, looking surprised that Xanatos knew. But then, Qui-Gon knew his own padawan was never the sort to go into any situation—even one as simple as meeting for dinner with his grandmaster—without knowing as much as he could. “Yes.”

Xanatos leaned forward. “When Korin gets tired she leaves her left side open.”

Komari smiled. “Oh?” Her eyes flickered between where her Master sat and were Qui-Gon was sitting. “Perhaps you’d like to spar with me, to help show me what you’ve learned about how to best beat Padawan Korin?”

Xanatos smiled back at her, and Qui-Gon noted his smile was still just as politician-bright as before. Good.  It would be better that Xanatos not get too comfortable with his Grandmaster and his Grandmaster’s padawan. “I’d love to.”

-_-

He was so hungry. Those starvation techniques they’d learn on Kamino years and years ago were unfortunately being put to good use.

They had been lucky so far, lucky in so many different ways.

But luck ran out.

They’d almost been caught by a hunter. Rex had been injured. They’d had to leave even the few things they had behind. And then the passage they’d gotten off planet—a paid for, mostly legal passage—had almost gotten them killed falling into a pirate trap—and this was why it was better to just hide in cargo holds, Rex thought bitterly—and they’d ended up crash landing on a planet.

But they’d survived along with the other passengers. And now they were stuck on this Force-forsaken planet until they figured something out. It had already been several weeks and they were no closer to getting off planet.

The captain assured them that his extended crew would be searching for them along the route they’d been traveling and that as soon as they got in range of their limited communication array the captain would be able to flag them down.

Rex didn’t know whether he believed him.

Obi-Wan was finally asleep for the night, wrapped up in every spare bit of cloth they could find. It got cold at night, and Obi-Wan didn’t seem to conserve heat well at all. And if that meant he had to be wrapped in Cody’s spare tunic and the scarf that Rex had nicked from a garbage bin when they’d been running off planet… well, they did what they could.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Rex asked, keeping his voice quiet as he watched Cody from the corner of his eye. His brother was standing utterly still next to a weeping tree—he’d probably be pacing if he weren’t trying to conserve as much energy as he could—eyes heavy with shadows.

“I don’t know.” Cody admitted, and they hadn’t been without food for long enough for Cody’s cheeks to grow gaunt, but Rex still worried about how defined his vod’s cheekbones were. “I’ll figure it out.”

Rex stepped closer letting his elbow brush against Cody’s, two years now and Cody still thought the world, or at least their world, rested on his shoulders alone. “We’ll figure it out.”

-_-

Xanatos sighed as he sat next to Komari in the viewing booth of the training rooms. “You’re headed out again soon.” She said, as he used his towel to wipe away the sweat from his spar with Padawan Delinks.

“We just got back.” Xanatos pointed out. Trying to ignore her and everything about her despite the fact that he’d chosen to sit next to her. It didn’t count as seeking her out, of course, since she had been the one to come watch him spar.

Komari shrugged, and Xanatos could see her sharp, dangerous smile. He ignored the way it made his heart speed up in anticipation. Left over adrenaline from his spar. “Doesn’t matter, the council’s going to send you right back out. A political disaster where your Master’s ‘diplomatic skill’ is required. Or so Master Yan says.”

“And is my Grandmaster pleased or annoyed?”

Komari rolled her eyes. “Annoyed. He wanted to force another dinner with all of us.”

They both hated the dinners that Master Dooku was insisting on with irritating regularity. Xanatos had to put up with Master Qui-Gon’s irritated rants about his own Master both before and after, and Komari was given lecture after lecture about how she had yet to compare in any way favorably to her Master’s former padawan.

And while Xanatos suspected that was probably accurate enough, after all Komari wasn’t nearly the Jedi that Master Qui-Gon was, it was still understandably an unpleasant experience.

It was the unpleasantness of the situation, and their mutual frustration over their own masters’ behaviors that had led to them joining—temporary—forces that first time.

“Well, in that case, I hope we’re sent out as soon as possible.”

Komari hummed, and gave him a thoughtful look.

Xanatos was embarrassed to admit that it had taken him longer than it should have to realize that Komari was clever. Oh, nothing on him, but still, she was far more clever than she let most people see.

Not that Master Dooku seemed to notice or care. That was part of why Xanatos had been so slow to realize it himself. Master Dooku seemed to think that Komari was sub-par in everything but her ability to wield a saber and Xanatos had taken that for granted. But she was far more than that.

If Xanatos liked her enough to care, he’d feel bad for her, having to live in the shadow of Master Qui-Gon. As it was, he… well, he recognized that it was far from fair and reminded himself that he didn’t care and that it was useful to manipulate her.

“Master Yan has another set of reports to give Master Jinn.” She paused. “About the kid.”

Xanatos felt a flare of frustration flash through him. “I see.”

“I suppose you’ll be delayed in returning back to the temple from this next mission, then.”

Yes, Xanatos thought bitterly. Komari was too clever and she knew his weak points almost as well as he was learning hers. “Most likely, yes.”

Komari was watching him, and Xanatos waited, a little impatiently. There was obviously something more she wanted to say, but she was taking her sweet time getting around to saying it.

Finally she stood. “Good luck with that.”

Xanatos glared at her retreating back, raising his voice. “Something more you’d like to say?”

Komari just smiled at him over her shoulder, and it was a reflection of the smiles he often gave her, a little cruel and a little taunting. “Nothing you’re ready to hear.”

Xanatos cursed quietly. Yes, too clever by half. He hated it when she got the last word. Hated when she walked away with the upper hand.

Now he’d have to seek her out.

Fine, he’d let her win this round and he’d seek her out, probably after this next mission. But he wasn’t going to let her keep the upper hand in their next conversation.

-_-

It was luck that let Rex spot them.

Or maybe it was the paranoia, extreme vigilance, and a familiarity with the Jedi. But either way, Rex spotted the Jedi before they spotted him and he wasn't about to waste his minute advantage.

Of course, maybe the two Jedi weren't here because of Cody and Rex, it was possible. Jedi had plenty of reasons to be wandering the galaxy, and who knew what it was that had brought them to Moorja. It wasn't the same two Jedi that he and Cody had kidnapped Obi-Wan from in the first place, but Rex would swear that he’d seen these two Jedi before, what was it, four moves before this one?

That was a bit too much of a coincidence for Rex.

He altered his route, taking the longer, more circuitous route home. He didn't think the Jedi had spotted him, but that was no reason to take chances.

He reached home quickly, darting up the stairs to the small attic space that they were renting for cheap, since they'd been willing to fix up the leaking roof and help with maintenance for the other tenants in the regular apartment.

Though really, what sort of respectable realtor let two kids help fix up a roof? Mooria needed to improve it’s labor laws, but for now Rex was more than willing to work within the dubious legality the planet operated under.

Cody was working at the desk, researching something—probably more child development and teaching methods—while Obi-Wan was carefully practicing his letters on the floor.

"Time to go." Rex said carefully. "We've got Jedi."

Cody looked up at him, that familiar flash of rage and disgust that Rex couldn’t seem to get his brother to let go of there and gone. He stood, grabbing his data pad. "You heard him, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan pouted a little, but jumped to his feet, moving to his small corner of the room.

It took less than three minutes before they were ready to go. Everything they absolutely needed was kept packed in small knapsacks unless they were using it, and they didn't keep much extra stuff.

There wasn't much space for things when you always had to be ready to pick up and leave at any minute.

"I'll send the last month's payment once we're in transit." Cody told him. "If the Jedi are looking for us, then no need for the landlord to be able to tell them anything more than what he already can.” And the longer it took the realtor and the Jedi to realize they’d skipped off planet the better.

"Are we going to fly away again?" Obi-Wan asked. "Can I pick the ship this time, please?"

Rex smiled a little. "I don't know," he said slowly, making sure he looked contemplative as he led Obi-Wan down the stairs, small hand tightly held in his own. He glanced out the stairway window, checking as well as he could that the street was clear of Jedi. “You'd need to choose a good one."

"I can do it!" Obi-Wan insisted. "I promise!"

Cody was too serious, at the moment, to be laughing, but Rex saw the barest hint of a smile on his vod's face. 

"Well..." Rex hesitated. "I suppose you can pick the ship this time." 

Obi-Wan brightened, and started chattering about his favorite ships they’d stowed away on in the past, as well as the few that they’d gotten passage on legally, though Rex wasn’t completely sure that Obi-Wan realized there was a difference, and what sort of ships he wanted to try and stow away on this time.

They’d have to be careful, there was a chance that if these Jedi were looking for them that they’d have the spaceport being watched and Mooria’s security wasn’t awful.

Someday Obi-Wan was going to look at their constant running and have questions, someday he'd probably start to resent it. But for now, well, for now Obi-Wan seemed to think that as long as he had both Cody and Rex, then everything was fine.

-_-

"You're doing so well.” Cody encouraged Obi-Wan. "Can you move it up a little higher?"

Obi-Wan frowned, the small furrow in his brow deepening. Cody watched as the small toy slowly went higher. 

Obi-Wan sharing his vision with Rex had shown them an unpleasant reality of their lives. Obi-Wan was being hunted. Well, no, that was something they’d already put together. They had no proof, but both he and Rex were certain that the bounty hunter type figures that had been following them were because of the man from Naboo. Cody shuddered at the memory, he hated Naboo and he despised that man. 

Apparently he wasn't willing to give up after his failure to acquire Obi-Wan back then.

Which led to the ugly reality that Obi-Wan had shown them.

The man haunted Obi-Wan’s dreams, and there were some things that they couldn’t protect Obi-Wan from. 

The experience had led to one good thing though. They finally had a specific example of Obi-Wan using the Force that they could draw on. There had been long conversations about the 'pretty warmth' that had let Obi-Wan share his vision, and how Obi-Wan could use that 'pretty warmth' to do other things.

Cody smiled up at the toy as it bobbed against the ceiling. "That's amazing, Obi-Wan. You're doing so well."

Obi-Wan smiled at him widely, quickly becoming distracted; predictably, the toy came falling down.

Cody caught it and handed it back to Obi-Wan who frowned at it. "It fell."

"You got distracted." Cody acknowledged. "But it's okay. The more we work on it, the more you’ll be able to handle a little distraction.”

Obi-Wan still seemed disappointed. But he perked up and gave Cody pleading eyes. "Play another game?"

Cody held in a yawn, checking his chrono. Rex would be back soon. "All right. What do you want to play now?"

Obi-Wan brightened. "Sneak snake!"

Cody winced a little, he was exhausted and sneak snake was a little more active than he was hoping for, but it was good practice for Obi-Wan in moving without being noticed, so sneak snake it was.

"Okay, we'll play until Rex gets home then it's time for dinner and you need to head to bed."

-_-

"Cody, Cody, Cody, Cody, Cody!"

Cody grunted as a heavy weight landed firmly on his stomach. Small knees dug into his ribs, leaving him a little breathless.

Cody cracked an eye open, a little reluctant to give up his sleep. He'd been up late the night before, taking advantage of the lack of security the local gang had in order to collect some of their ill-gotten gains. It made both him and Rex feel better if, when they stole, they stole from those who didn't deserve the credits. It was, of course, often a little more dangerous to try and steal from those sorts of people, and so they did their best to get by without.

But Obi-Wan and Rex had both gotten sick the month before, and they'd blown through what few credits they had on getting the proper medicine.

So theft it had been.

"Obi-Wan? Where's Rex?"

Obi-Wan shrugged and Cody forced himself more fully awake. "Obi-Wan. You know you're not supposed to run away from Rex."

"Didn't run." Obi-Wan pouted, and Cody reminded himself that it absolutely didn't matter how adorable his verd'ika was, there were certain rules Cody wasn't going to budge on.

"Obi-Wan." He knew his voice was sharp, but running away from them was dangerous.

"I didn't mean to." Obi-Wan corrected himself. "I was right behind him, but then I found Pel’ika, and she needed me."

Cody felt a sharp line of tension. They did their best to make sure that Obi-Wan understood that he wasn't supposed to trust anyone that wasn't Rex or Cody, and that he was under no circumstances allowed to talk to strangers without Rex or Cody there. "Who's Pel'ika?"

Obi-Wan beamed brightly. "Come look!"

Obi-Wan darted to the small bedroll where Obi-Wan theoretically slept, though he ended up curled up with either Cody or Rex more often than not. Though to be fair, he and Rex often shared a bed themselves, cramming all three of them into one bed. It was almost like before, in that life where Rex and Cody had had million of brothers and a brother almost never had to sleep alone if he didn’t want to.

But it was only the two of them and Obi-Wan.

Cody shook the thought, and the hint of melancholy that accompanied it, away and followed Obi-Wan, not quite sure what to expect.

There was a small, pure white, baby nexu wrapped in a blanket of some sort staring up at him. Four crimson eyes blinking up at the two of them, razor sharp teeth bright on display.

"Obi-Wan—"

"Can we keep her? Please?" Obi-Wan looked up Cody with the biggest, widest, most pleading eyes Cody had ever seen. 

Cody blinked at him, and then turned to stare at the nexu who, Cody realized with some alarm, was wrapped, not in a blanket, but in Obi-Wan’s scarf. That meant Obi-Wan had gotten close enough to the nexu’s claws and teeth to wrap it up.

And had then carried the creature back to their small room.

Cody took a deep breath, forcing down the fear that was trying to push out and would undoubtedly come out closer to anger than he was comfortable with.

Obi-Wan was here and safe.

Everything was fine.

He took another deep breath because the fear was still pulsing beneath his skin.

"Obi-Wan. Animals are dangerous, especially on this planet." Really, this was Cody's fault for thinking that it was a good idea to settle on Cholganna when the ship they were on—legally this time, they’d traded passage for work—had stopped here for a delivery. "You can't just grab them."

Obi-Wan's eyes went wide. "But the rude men were going to hurt her. I could feel it. I had to protect her."

Cody closed his eyes. Sometimes it hurt how much his verd'ika, so young and still innocent, was like the General he might have, and maybe still could, become.

"Why didn't you ask Rex to help you?"

"Cause I accidentally lost him when Pel’ika needed me.” The look Obi-Wan gave him made it clear that Obi-Wan thought that was an obvious answer.

Cody sighed and wondered where Rex was. His brother had to be wondering where Obi-Wan was, maybe even panicking. At the thought Cody searched for his commlink to send a message to Rex to let his vod know that Obi-Wan had returned home.

Rex was probably going to have his own lecture for Obi-Wan when he got home for giving Rex a heart attack. Obi-Wan knew better than to run off on them.

"Obi-Wan." He started gently. "I'm not sure we're the best family for a pet." They moved too often and too suddenly, spent far too much time hiding in cargo holds because there was still too often they couldn’t find a better way off planet. Even during their stablest times, when they found small spaces to live, they kept everything packed up so they'd be ready to leave within minutes.

And even if they were a pet family, they would not get a baby nexu. Baby nexus grew into adult nexus. And adult nexus… well, there was a reason nexus were often used as security pets or in execution arenas—and some distant memory told him that his General had once been in an arena with a nexu—and it wasn't because they made good, cuddly pets.

"I'll take good care of her." Obi-Wan pleaded.

"Nexus are dangerous."

Obi-Wan stuck his jaw out. "But she needs us."

"And what happens next time we leave?" Cody asked, trying to keep his voice both gentle and implacable. He wasn't going to budge on this.

"I'll hide her in my knapsack." Obi-Wan suggested, with the sort of logic that made perfect sense to a child. "She's smart, she'll be quiet."

“And when she gets too big to fit in your knapsack?”

Obi-Wan opened his mouth, and then shut it again frowning. “I’ll put a leash on her?” Because that made everything better, just leash the nexu. Cody could almost picture it now. Except, well, knowing Obi-Wan, he’d manage it. His General had always been strangely good with animals, and apparently that wasn’t something the Jedi had needed to teach him, apparently that was just Obi-Wan.

"I don't think we have the credits, to be able to provide for her." Cody offered his next argument, all the while cursing himself, because he shouldn't be arguing this. He should just be saying no, and that should be the end of it. They were not taking in a nexu.

Obi-Wan frowned, clearly not having already thought of a counter-argument for that. But then, at four, he wasn't quite a negotiator yet.

"I can work!" Obi-Wan suggested. "Like you and Rex!"

Cody sighed. "You're not old enough to work, Ob'ika."

Obi-Wan pouted. "But I'm big now."

Cody laughed a little. "I think you need to be a little bigger before you can start working."

Obi-Wan frowned. "How big?" He held his hand up just above his head. "This big?"

Cody shook his head. "Bigger than that."

Obi-Wan pouted, lifting his hand higher. "This big?"

Cody lifted his own hand up, resting it on his chest. "How about once you're this big we can talk about you working."

Obi-Wan's mouth dropped open. "But I won't be that big for forever. I want to help now."

Cody hid a smile, crouching down to meet Obi-Wan's eyes. "Rex and I are handling things just fine, Ob'ika. You don't need to help just yet."

Obi-Wan looked like he was going to start crying. "But what about Pel'ika? Why can't we help her?"

Cody sighed. "Verd'ika. Pel'ika deserves to have a stable life. I don't think we can give it to her."

"But why?" Obi-Wan asked. "What's wrong with our life?"

"Nothing." Cody said quickly. "There's nothing wrong with our life, but we're not nexus, nexus need different things than we do."

"But she needs us." Obi-Wan said, and his voice was quiet now, and there was a focused determination there that didn't mean good things for Cody. “She really, really does. I know it.“

Cody sighed. "We'll talk about it more when Rex gets home, Obi-Wan. But we're not going to be able to take Pel'ika with us when we move on again."

Obi-Wan didn't seem satisfied. "Okay."

Cody rubbed at his forehead. "I know it's rough, verd'ika. But Pel'ika will be happier on Cholganna.”

-_-

"What the kriff is a nexu doing on our ship!?"

"Calm down, Selvus." Another voice spoke up. "You know how much you can get for a nexu?"

Rex froze, eyes darting to where Obi-Wan was curled up in a corner. "Obi-Wan, did you bring Pel'ika with us?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, and Rex could tell he was being honest.

Just outside the cargo hold the first speaker groaned and Rex held his breath. "I know that look in your eyes, Vera, we're not keeping a nexu on the ship. We have no way to contain it!"

"Oh come on, how hard could it be too contain a baby nexu? And we can get a good price for the thing! I've heard of the price getting up to half a million before, and the nexu literally walked onto our ship, the thing is practically begging to be sold!"

"Fine, the nexu can stay, but you better find a way to contain it. And we're not settling for anything less than fourty thousand credits." The speaker, Selvus, sounded aggravated.

"Do you think Pel'ika followed us?" Obi-Wan's eyes were bright and excited. "Does this mean we get to keep her?"

Rex glanced at Cody who was rubbing at his eyes and muttering under his breath. "We'll talk about that when we get off the ship, Ob'ika."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Okay."

Rex held in his own sigh. There was no way they were going to let Pel'ika be put in containment and then sold to some madman who'd put it in an arena to kill for sport.

This was only going to complicate things in ways they really didn't need.

How was Obi-Wan getting them into such ridiculous situations when he was still four? Oh Obi-Wan. 

-_-

Sheev carefully poured the young padawan some tea, smiling a little. "I'm glad the mission went well. I admit I was starting to get worried, I hadn't thought the mission would take so long."

To Xanatos' credit, his smile didn't waver, though in the Force, the boy was clearly frustrated. "Master Qui-Gon had a lead on a separate mission objective."

Sheev tried to decide whether he'd developed a strong enough tie to the young padawan to press further. He'd only had the boy over for tea a few times now, and was more a casual acquaintance than a confidante.

Although, this was the first time Xanatos had sought him out when the boy and his Master weren’t on senatorial duty. That was a good sign. So, perhaps a small push.

"Oh? I hope it was successful."

This time Xanatos' smile did grow a little strained. "It wasn't." His voice snapped a little. "It never is."

Sheev considered that. "In that case, I'm sorry it ended up being a waste of your valuable time." 

Xanatos sighed and went back to drinking his tea. Sheev let the silence linger, watching in the Force as Xanatos mulled on his frustrations.

"I just wish he'd give it up all ready." Xanatos muttered. "I feel bad for the kid, I do. But we're never going to find him."

Sheev hid his smile. "The kid?" He repeated and then paused. "You mean the child that was kidnapped three years ago?"

Xanatos nodded, and then seemed to realize what he'd implied. "It's not like the Jedi have given up on him. There's a Knight pair that is still looking for him. And of course, other Jedi know to keep their eye out for the boy and the little monsters who took him. But Master Qui-Gon and I aren't doing any good, chasing after whispers."

Oh, of that Sheev was aware, especially since some of those whispers that had reached the Jedi Master's ears were from some of Sheev's own sources. Not only was it particularly enjoyable to watch the Jedi Master chase nothing, every failed lead only made Xanatos more and more bitter.

"To be honest…” Sheev hesitated as though second-guessing himself.

Xanatos perked up, looking curious. "What?"

"Well, I'll admit that I'm grateful that you're around. I admit I worry for the boy even if you do find him. Your Master..." He trailed off. "I apologize, I shouldn't have said anything. I’m afraid I’m far too tired to be sensible company at the moment. The Senator keeps me very busy.“

Xanatos had latched onto what Sheev hadn't said, filling in the blanks wonderfully. "Master Qui-Gon hasn't said as much, but I think he believes that the Kenobi boy is supposed to be his padawan." Xanatos admitted.

Sheev made a show of pursing his lips and looking away as though deeply concerned. "That's... good. I suppose."

"He's obsessed." Xanatos continued.

Sheev sighed, as though it confirmed the worst of his fears. Inwardly he was delighted, Master Qui-Gon had already done most of the work for Sheev when it came to building young Xanatos' resentment towards his Master.

The question now, was whether Sheev should stoke Xanatos' resentment for the boy. Oh, Xanatos already resented the young boy a little. How could he not with his Master's obsession for him? It would be easy enough to strengthen that resentment.

But was that the right choice?

Sheev was almost certain that he would be able to get to the boy first. But he'd thought he'd find the boy before now, except the hunters he'd hired were apparently completely incompetent and had yet to catch the boy. This was the problem with using pawns, they were so terribly unreliable. 

If he could get out there himself he’d have already obtained the boy. But no, he was stuck here playing talented, but subservient, Senatorial Aide. And he was being too closely watched by his own Master to take one of his few leaves from the Senate to go chasing after his well-hidden future padawan.

So pawns it was for now. Eventually one of them would prove competent. Until then he’d satisfy himself with nurturing the young boy’s fears in his dreams until he could nurture that fear in a more hands-on fashion.

And if, by some chance, the Jedi did get the boy first, it would be useful if Sheev had a tool in the Temple who would help Sheev get his hooks into the boy the Force had destined for him.

He smiled again. "Oh dear. That's unfortunate. Like I said, I'm grateful the boy will have you."

"You're grateful he has me?" Xanatos drew back, brows furrowing.

Sheev nodded. "Oh yes. Someone with your confidence and skill? Whose vision isn't clouded by these terrible expectations your Master seems to have for the boy, but has been involved enough to understand what the boy has been through. While I’m sure your Master is a talented man, he is training you after all… well, as I said. He seems slightly obsessed with the boy and that would be a poor foundation to start training a child on.” Sheev paused, wondering if he should push it even further. "And didn’t you say that your Master felt that the two of you were sent to Stewjon by the will of the Force? You were there the day the boy was found too, and if that's what your Master thinks is a sign that he's meant to be the boy's Master, then that's just as true for you." Finally he shook his head. “But I suppose it’s a moot point. I know you're only seventeen, you haven't even been knighted yet, though you must be getting close.” He stirred his tea. 

Xanatos seemed taken aback by that. “I’ll be a Knight by the time the boy is old enough to be a padawan.” He said slowly, and he sounded a mix of hesitant and thoughtful.

Sheev smiled. “That’s true, isn’t it!” He paused, and then his head, letting his voice droop a little. “Though I suppose that might be too much pressure, even for someone as talented as you."

Xanatos frowned, and Sheev smiled inwardly as Xanatos' seemed to rebel against the thought that he wouldn't be capable of taking on such a role.

Give it a little time and the boy would convince himself that it was his responsibility to protect the missing boy from his own Master.

It was time to change the subject, he’d let Xanatos muse over what he’d said. “But you said you were going on another mission soon? That sounds exciting. I admit I'm jealous. Being a senatorial aide can seem dreadfully lacking when compared to your work as a Jedi."

Xanatos let himself be distracted, puffing up a little at the thought of being superior. "Oh yes, we should be heading out in a few days."

Sheev let his face adopt a look of deep interest as Xanatos started talking. Ah, he thought a little smugly, resentment was such a useful tool. He really needed to thank Master Qui-Gon.

-_-

"Check your thumbs." Rex instructed, hands gentle on Obi-Wan's arms. Obi-Wan looked down, before carefully moving his thumb to the outside of his fist. In front of them, Cody knelt holding a pillow. "All right, go for it."

Obi-Wan hesitated, but then pulled back to punch the pillow. "Good, now let's look at your feet. What's the matter with them?"

Obi-Wan looked down at his feet. "They're too close?"

Rex nodded. "You won't be able to keep your balance if your feet are this close together."

He pushed gently and, sure enough, Obi-Wan wobbled as he lost his balance.

"Bend your knees a little." Cody suggested. Obi-Wan squatted. Rex laughed, while Cody threw the pillow at Obi-Wan. "Not that much, silly, just a little bit."

Obi-Wan grabbed the pillow before Cody could grab it back, hugging it tight to his chest possessively, but he bent he his knees more reasonably.

Rex gave him another gentle push. "See how much better that is?"

Obi-Wan frowned, swaying back and forth, and then nodded. “I think so.”

"All right, give Cody the pillow back and let's try again."

Obi-Wan pulled back, before throwing the pillow. "Catch!"

Cody laughed as the pillow went for his face. "Nice try, Obi-Wan."

Rex helped Obi-Wan get back into position. "Come on, let's see if we can hit the pillow hard enough to make Cody sway."

-_-

“I thought we were supposed to be returning to the temple.” Xanatos’ voice was a little sullen, it was a tone that Qui-Gon was starting to get very familiar with. His padawan was seventeen now, and sullen came to him just as easy as his charismatic smiles.

“We are.” Qui-Gon assured him. “But I received another lead.”

Along their bond, Qui-Gon felt a flare of frustration before the emotion disappeared behind shields and their bond was snapped shut. “The boy?” Xanatos’ voice was carefully disapproving, and maybe Qui-Gon had led them to stand in front of the Council a few too many times if Xanatos was copying Mundi’s intonations so perfectly. “The Council have told you to stop chasing him.”

Qui-Gon felt his own flare of irritation. “I will not abandon a young boy to the clutches of his kidnappers.”

“The Council haven’t abandoned him!” Xanatos burst out. “They have other people trying to track them.”

“It’s been three years and they’ve found nothing.”

“Neither have you!” Xanatos’ anger was tangible in the Force.

Qui-Gon gave Xanatos a disappointed look. “Be careful of your emotions, my young padawan.” Xanatos drew back, taking a deep breath and Qui-Gon could feel the anger diminish and then vanish. 

It still infuriated Qui-Gon that the Council had pulled him from chasing the two boys that had kidnapped Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

He knew that the shadows were still out searching, in between the rest of their duties, but he didn’t know that he trusted them to be able to find the youngling.

The boy would be five now, Qui-Gon thought, if he were still alive that was.

He shook the thought away. Obi-Wan Kenobi was alive, Qui-Gon was sure of it.

“Why are you even so obsessed with finding him anyways?” Xanatos asked. “After every mission we have, we’re always haring off after insubstantial whispers that never end up getting us anywhere. He’s gone, Master Qui-Gon. I’m sorry you got fooled by a couple of kids. But you need to stop. Why can’t we just do what the Council asks of us?”

“He’s not gone.” Qui-Gon snapped back. “The Force ensured that it was me to find him on Stewjon, and it will lead me to him again.”

Xanatos froze. “Led you to him? It led us to him.”

Qui-Gon paused. “Yes, led us.”

Xanatos had always been an incredibly bright child, and he’d only gotten more so as he’d grown. “You think he’s supposed to be your padawan.” Xanatos’ voice was quiet, and while there was a tinge of hurt in the Force, it sounded more like Xanatos was accusing him of a long-held belief.

Qui-Gon hesitated, but decided that ignoring the accusation would only make it worse, he needed to go forward with this. How long had his padawan been under the impression that Qui-Gon was trying to replace him? “I felt it in the Force. But he’s very young, Xanatos, I’m not trying to replace you.”

Xanatos clenched his jaw, and stuck out his jaw. “Yet. You’re not trying to replace me with him, yet. But that’s not even true, all you can think about is finding him. You’re completely ignoring that you still have me. That I’m your padawan now. If he is really meant to be your padawan, which might not even be true, then the Force will lead him back to you.”

“Oh Xanatos.” Qui-Gon shook his head, a little disappointed with his padawan. “The Force requires that we be active in following its will. Nothing happens for the passive.”

“What about staying focused on the present moment.” Xanatos retorted. “Aren’t I your present? Don’t I deserve your attention?”

Qui-Gon frowned. "Of course you do, and I've given it to you." He shook his head. "Xanatos, I expected better of you than this pettiness. Are you really suggesting that we don't do everything to bring the poor boy back to the Temple?"

Xanatos turned his head, and his shoulders sagged. "Of course not. It's just..." Xanatos didn't finish, but Qui-Gon understood. It was difficult, always searching and never making any progress.

Qui-Gon nodded. "I understand. But we'll find him, and soon. And then things will go back to normal."

Xanatos looked up at him, eyes narrowed in thought but he nodded. "You're right, Master.” Something sharp entered his padawan’s eyes, a fierce determination. “And you're right, the Force sent us to Stewjon for a reason. Young Obi-Wan needs us. And we must always be willing to follow the will of the Force. You taught me that.“

Qui-Gon smiled. "You'll be an excellent Knight someday, Xanatos. I'm very proud of you."

Xanatos smiled back at him, and Qui-Gon could see the way the determination steeled his padawan’s spine. Qui-Gon couldn’t help but be proud. “Thank you Master."

-_-

Cody pulled Obi-Wan into his lap. "You're almost five now." They'd just celebrated three years since Cody and Rex had found Obi-Wan a few weeks ago, and while Cody and Rex didn't know how old, exactly, Obi-Wan had been when they’d been sent to this time, they were pretty sure he hadn't been two yet.

Obi-Wan nodded, and proudly held up four fingers.

"That means you're old enough to know how to use a blaster."

The first time the Kaminoans had put a blaster in Cody's hand he'd been almost four. Though he'd been a little bigger than Obi-Wan was now, thanks to his accelerated aging.

Obi-Wan didn't need to be prepared for war, but he did need to be prepared to protect himself from the worst the galaxy had to offer.

From his bed Rex looked up from his datapad. "No shooting in the apartment.”

Cody gave him his best withering glare. "Obviously. I'm just going to teach him about blasters today. He won't start shooting until he knows every part of a blaster and can assemble and disassemble it without help."

Rex nodded and went back to his datapad. 

Cody looked down at Obi-Wan. "Do you hear that verd'ika, your brother has no faith in me."

Obi-Wan tilted his head. "Why can't we shoot in the apartment?”

"Because shooting is dangerous, and if we shoot in the apartment we'll break things."

"Then why do we shoot things if it's dangerous?" Obi-Wan asked with a confused look on his face/

Cody sighed. "Because sometimes we need to be dangerous to protect ourselves from people who are more dangerous."

"Like the dream man."

Cody nodded. "Like the dream man."

"Or the man with the strange outfit."

"Him too." Cody agreed. "But his outfit wasn't that strange. Armor is very useful."

Obi-Wan made a face. "I think it looked funny."

Rex snorted. "Better put a stop to that now, don't need a repeat of someone who doesn't wear armor when they should."

Cody silently agreed. "It might look a little funny. But it'll protect you from other dangerous people."

Obi-Wan looked like he wasn't sure he believed him, but nodded anyways.

"And the Jedi, too? Are they dangerous?"

Cody froze and on the bed Rex stiffened, looking up to meet Cody's eyes.

"The Jedi too." Cody agreed finally, which was as neutral as he was willing to be on the matter.

Rex frowned and Cody knew that they were going to have another argument tonight. Rex didn't want Obi-Wan to think poorly of the Jedi. Cody wanted to make sure that Obi-Wan never made the mistake of thinking that the Jedi were trustworthy.

There was only one Jedi that Cody would ever have been willing to trust, but Cody and Rex had already changed things so that Obi-Wan would never actually be a Jedi.

“What about Pel’ika?” Obi-Wan asked, suddenly upset. From the corner, Pel’ika looked up at her name, red eyes fixed immediately on Obi-Wan. “You always say that Pel’ika is dangerous!”

Cody sighed. “Because Pel’ika is dangerous and you can never forget that. But Pel’ika loves you, and she won’t hurt you, and so we won’t use blasters on her.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Never. We’ll never use blasters on Pel’ika. She’s my best friend.”

“Yes.” Cody agreed. “She’s a very good friend. But," Cody shifted the subject, "remember, before we fight, we run. Fighting is what we do when we can't run."

Obi-Wan nodded, and Cody grabbed the blaster he'd prepared earlier, charge pack empty. "All right, are you ready to learn about blasters?"

-_-

"What if we went to Jedha," Rex suggested hesitantly.

Cody looked up at him, a streak of grease on his face from where he was trying to fix an engine piece he’d scavenged and planned to sell to a parts shop across town. "What?"

"Jedha," Rex repeated. "They have their own Force religion of some sort there. They might have advice for…” he looked for the right word, but couldn’t find it, “you know.”

Cody frowned, eyes a little distant. "I don't think I remember much about Jedha."

"They're called the Guardians of the Wiils." He frowned, that was wrong. "Whiles? Whillis? Something like that."

Cody hummed, not sounding impressed. "And they just offer help for free?" 

"I don't know," Rex said honestly. "I know they take initiates." Cody's eyes sharpened and Rex held up his hands defensively. "Not that we'd give Obi-Wan to them! But they might be willing to advise us on how to help him, or give us exercises we could do with him."

"What if they contact the Jedi?"

That was an echo of Rex's own fears. "It's a risk, I know. But they aren't directly affiliated with the Jedi." Both he and Cody shifted to watch Obi-Wan who was playing with Pel'ika in the back of the small warehouse.

"And indirectly affiliated?"

"Maybe?" Rex shrugged. "I don't know much, I just remember that they exist."

Cody was narrowing his eyes again. "There's a great deal of kyber there, I know that much. And I know that the Empire sent forces there, both to retrieve the kyber for their ‘secret project,’” Cody shuddered, “which ended up being the Death Star. There were also orders to deal with a variety of other things. I wasn't ever involved with that campaign though, so I don’t know specifics.”

"Saw Guerra's rebel group was stationed there for a while. Causing all sorts of problems." Rex added. He wasn't actually supposed to know that, Saw Guerra liked to keep his secrets, a well-earned paranoia in Rex's opinion, and the tension between the somewhat radical group following Saw and the Rebel Alliance had meant that the Rebel Alliance had done their best to keep an eye on Saw while also limiting who within the Alliance knew it.

Rex had always been good at keeping an ear out though.

"I don't know." Cody said finally.

"We need to do something, Cody." Rex said quietly. "His nightmares are getting worse, and neither of us know where to start in training a Force sensitive." They'd made progress, yes, but Obi-Wan needed more.

They both glanced over as Obi-Wan let out a shriek, Pel'ika was on Obi-Wan's chest, claws carefully away from Obi-Wan's skin and licking all over Obi-Wan's face like an Aak pup and not the terrifying predator she was. And that was so gross, they would definitely need to wash Obi-Wan before bed, Rex had seen the sort of things Pel'ika ate and it couldn’t be sanitary for her to lick all over Obi-Wan.

It was almost astonishing how little both he and Cody reacted to that sight now. Rex had almost had a heart attack the first time he'd turned and seen Obi-Wan on the floor with the nexu over him with her teeth bared. The only reason Pel'ika hadn't ended up dead was because Rex hadn't had his blaster immediately on hand and by the time he'd crossed the room with the kitchen knife Obi-Wan's laughter had had time to penetrate his protective rush.

"I know." Cody said quietly, and there was fear in his vod's eyes. "I know we need help." Cody sighed. "We'll look into it, research these Guardians, see if we can find anything about other Force religions."

Rex wanted to point out that it wouldn't be easy. Most Force religions kept to themselves, and for good reason. But Cody knew that.

"We'll protect him." Rex reassured Cody. "We've been doing an okay job of it so far. He's safe, and more than that, he's happy."

They all were. Stressed out of their minds? Afraid? Wary? Concerned? Yes, to all of those. But somehow, they were happy as well. They had each other, and even if they lived in abandoned houses, hid in barns, rented small rooms where privacy was so non-existent there wasn't even an illusion of it... well, they had each other, and they had hope.

"You realize if we went to Jedha, we'd actually have to pay for transport, right? And figure out something to do with Pel'ika." Cody pointed out. "It would take too long to try and smuggle ourselves onto different ships to try and get there."

Rex shrugged. "Maybe. We’ve gone the legal route before/“ He sighed. "Maybe someday we'll have enough to actually buy a ship."

Cody had an almost dreamy look on his face. "That'd be nice. Our own ship. Wouldn't need to smuggle ourselves everywhere, or trade services to get passage. We could turn it into a proper home, could teach Obi-Wan to fly."

"Maybe we'll be able to get him to like it more this time around." Rex joked. He could remember more than a few arguments between General Kenobi and General Skywalker about Obi-Wan's extreme distaste for flying, though to be fair, despite his dislike he’d still been plenty good at it.

"Shouldn't be too hard." Cody was smiling. "I think as long as we avoid getting shot at all the time and crashing the ship every other time we try to land, he’ll have no reason to hate it quite so much.”

Rex felt like he should be trying to defend his own General there. He hadn't crashed that often. But it also wasn’t as much of an exaggeration as he might like, especially if both General Skywalker's and General Kenobi's retellings of General Skywalker's padawan years had any truth to them.

"You get to teach him how to fly." Rex decided, thinking about just how often General Kenobi and General Skywalker had crashed. "And we're putting him behind a simulator before we let him at a flight console."

Cody laughed. "Why do I have to be the one to teach him how to fly?"

"You're the one who decided to kidnap him." His logic, Rex was certain, was impeccable.

"You helped."

"Because I knew if I didn't, you'd just do it on your own."

Cody shrugged. "Well, yes. But like you'd let me do this on my own."

"Of course I wouldn't." Rex would never doubt that Cody was capable of going it alone. Cody was skilled enough, determined enough, and crazy enough that he probably could. But as long as Rex breathed, Cody would never have to.

Cody's smile softened, as though he knew exactly what Rex was thinking. "It wouldn't be nearly as good without you." And then his smile turned sharp. "Which is why you'll have to help me teach him how to fly. Wouldn't be nearly as good without you."

Rex groaned, Cody just had to put it that way. "I hate you."

"I know. Love you too.“

-_-