#Arc got scolded the last time he lost his temper without thinking about his own well-being

[braceletofteeth]

Phi got into trouble because of me.

[letitrainathousandflames-archive]

drabble/ficlet yet to be organized

characters: Rex, Fives

Warnings: angst, grieving, suicide mention, umbara aftermath

-

Fives had been tending to his duties just fine that morning. Rex had given the men as much of a reprieve as he could manage to, but the war raged on and it didn’t care for the clone trooper’s grieving and trauma. They had to keep working, even while still swamped in paperwork from the massive casualties they had sustained.

Nine hells, it was the fifth time that morning that the fact that the Umbara assignment had been two days ago crossed Rex’s mind. It didn’t feel like time had passed at all. Every day up to now still felt like they had just finally set foot back in the base, some of them limping and being half-carried by their brothers because the medical staff couldn’t possibly handle any more patients, so anyone with less severe wounds had been cleared out until the medbay got less crowded.

Rex had no idea if Kix had even slept at all since, having last seen him with his gloved hands slathered with blood up to his elbows, eyes glazed and forehead drenched in sweat. Every hour or so Rex would be notified of yet another brother that hadn’t make it despite the medic’s efforts, and it would make him clench his jaw so hard his ears were ringing.

He had been watching Fives, heard him telling a particularly shaken brother that he would cover his shift, and that he should try and rest a while. Going against orders, but then again, this was Fives, and if Umbara had taught Rex anything, it was that Fives had trouble balancing his own personal code with his orders.

And then Rex notices the cadence of Fives’ words, and it downs on him. Rex stalks over to Fives, grabs him by the blue pauldron over his shoulder, and Fives spins around to be met with the captain staring at him.

“Sir!” Fives says through the filters of his helmet, white plastoid painted with the rishi eel over his head “Is there something wrong.”

“Helmet off.” Rex orders, eyes hidden by his own helmet; he hopes to be wrong about what he’s imagining, but he doesn’t expect to

“S-sir,” Fives stutters “in this area it’s procedure to-”

“This is a direct order, trooper. Helmet. Off.”

Hesitating, “Fives” removes his helmet, and Rex sighs heavily at the sight of the broad republic cog tattooed over the clone’s face.

“I can explain, sir.” Jesse says earnestly as Rex rips off his own helmet in frustration

“I don’t think you can, Jesse.” he says exhasperated “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you even know how many regulations you’re trampling over with this little stunt?”

“Sir-”

“If anyone ever needs to cover for anyone’s shift, I must get word of it beforehand.” Rex scolds him, weary from stress “You are not an ARC trooper and you are not fit for filling in for Fives’ duties. You’re putting this base and your brothers at risk. Do you understand this?”

Jesse just nods over and over, holding Fives’ helmet like it’s made of glass, faint blush spreading over his cheeks.

“...just wanted to help him.”

Rex is about to continue his rant, but stops dead on his tracks at the helplessness in Jesse’s voice. He runs a hand over his own face, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Where is he?”

Jesse lowers his eyes, setting his jaw. Rex shakes his head.

“Jesse, I promise that none of you will get in trouble. I get that everyone’s still shaken up after...” he trails off, chastises himself for it; he shouldn’t allow it to hurt him this much. “Where is he? Sleeping at the barracks?”

Jesse shakes his head.

“Uh, no, sir.”

“He’s at the mess?” another negative “Doing inventory work?” another negative, then another, then another “Stars damn it, Jesse, where is Fives?!”

Jesse swallows down, biting his lip.

“Out. He... left the base. Said he needed to clear his head.”

Rex just stares at Jesse, mouth dropping open and eyes going wide before he pulls his helmet back on his head. He spins on his heels, shock dissolving into anger, reaching for the comm button by the side of his helmet.

“Cody, I need you to issue a warn-”

Jesse grabs Rex’s wrist, tugging it down hard and cutting off his message.

“What the hell are you doing, sir?!” Jesse hisses, all his sheepish demeanor gone

Rex rips his arm from the trooper’s grasp, turning to face him.

“If Fives is AWOL, I must notify our superiors.”

“Are you out of your damn mind?!” Jesse is visibly trying to keep himself from screaming not to draw attention to the two of them “You saw how they didn’t even let us testify for Dogma before they locked him up! If you let anyone even think that a clone is going against orders after that mess, they’ll either just shoot him dead out there or arrest him to then decommission him without trial!” Jesse draws in a shaky breath “Rex. Rex, just find him and bring him back, quietly. Please.”

“Jesse-”

Jesse brings his hand to his mouth, and Rex notices how it shakes.

“Please, I can’t lose him too. We lost too much already. Please, Captain.”

-

Rex walks into the sleazy bar in lower Coruscant and all eyes immediately turn to him. He could tell that between the spice dealers, assassins, thieves and other kinds of criminals, no one in the place holds clone troopers in high regards.

Only one man doesn’t look up at him. The one that has the same face as Rex, aside for a goatee and a number five tattoo cleverly hidden under a black beanie. Rex walks up to him, hand casually swinging over the blasters on his hips should anyone have any funny ideas before he gets to his brother. He wonders when did Fives get the civilian clothes, a brown leather jacket over his blacks, zipped up over the republic’s cog that marks them, and dark grey pants. He’s still wearing the white boots under them though.

Rex sinks down on the booth at the very end of the bar, sitting in front of Fives. There are plenty of glasses and bottles littering the table, and Fives fidgets with a half-empty cup of a dark blue liquid. Slowly, very slowly, the chatter and clinking of glasses goes back to a level that would allow the two of them to speak with some privacy.

Fives’ voice is raspy at first, then he clears his throat.

“How’d you find me?”

Rex looks around one last time to make sure they’re safe and not being listened to, and he laces his fingers together over the wooden table.

“Wasn’t easy. I had to check almost all the bars up there before I decided to try my luck down here.”

A tiny smile tugs at the corner of Fives’ lips.

“How long did Jesse manage to fool you?”

“Honestly?” Rex shrugs “About five minutes.”

Fives tuts, smile disappearing.

“So much for having the same face and voice and everything.”

There is silence, and Rex stares intently at Fives, but the clone keeps his eyes low at his drink. The captain leans closer to the ARC trooper.

“And what in the nine hells do you think you’re doing?” Rex asks, uncharacteristic swearing bubbling up in his anger; Fives seems unfazed, bringing his drink to his lips “Abandoning your post? Leaving the base?”

Fives downs his drink, grabs a new bottle and cracks it open, pouring himself another glass.

“Want some?” he offers like they’re chatting in the mess hall “Kashyykian vodka. Tastes like shit at first, but then you get used to it.”

Rex sets his jaw. He hadn’t earned his rank by losing his temper at every undisciplined trooper, and even if the attitude from Fives is unexpected, he won’t allow the ARC to think he’s getting under his skin.

“You could’ve gotten Jesse in trouble if I hadn’t been the one to notice it. Did you think about that?” Fives, always so chatty is completely silent, tapping his finger to the side of his cup before taking another sip, and it unnerves Rex to a degree he hadn’t foreseen “Fives, you can’t just turn your back on every-”

Fives slams his glass on the table, hard enough to make a generous amount of the blue liquid spill over its rim. The ARC trooper raises his eyes to his superior, and they’re bloodshot and full of a quiet rage that seeps through his voice.

“I needed time. I told Jesse that, and he respected it. I thought you would too.”

Rex holds Fives’ gaze, brows knitted together.

“I can’t afford to give you time, Fives. Things are hectic back in the base. General Skywalker says we’ll be deployed for an assignment on Felucia next week, I need you to prep the men-”

“The ones that are still alive, you mean?” Fives cuts him, the anger in his eyes still burning brightly “How was the body count when you left? Because last I checked, Kix was running a morgue, not a medbay.”

At that, Rex clenches a fist and pounds it on the table softly enough not to draw attention, gritting his teeth.

“Kriffing hells, Fives, why are you acting like this now? You know the risks, you know the stakes. You know that sometimes we leave the battlefield with our numbers low. I know you do. You’re a damned ARC trooper, you know all that.”

Fives scowls, eyes swimming as he leans closer over the table and Rex wonders how many drinks he’s had because his words are slightly slurred and it’s hard not to notice the booze in his breath.

“Yeah? You know what else I know, Rex? I know that being an ARC trooper, I’m the next in line should anything happen to you. If you were incapacitated, I would be captain. That’s how high my rank is.”

Fives pauses to take another large gulp of his booze, and Rex doesn’t interrupt him. He wants to know what is Fives’ point, even against his will.

“Despite that, all it took was a word from that…” Fives scowls, eyes squinting at the distance, and Rex knows he, too, can’t bring himself to say Krell’s name “That demagolka and you gathered my bothers – my own brothers – to gun down Jesse and I like we were animals, after all we’ve done for our squad, after we had just watched Hardcase blow himself up to save us all.”

Rex shakes his head sharply.

“I had it under control, Fives, I knew they would never fire-”

Fives gives an exaggerated laugh that had no real joy in it.

“And you were willing to bet your life on it. Oh, no, wait. That was mine.”

Rex looks down at the table. He knows it was a risky bet. He knows how he feared to watch his own men shooting their own superior and a fellow trooper dead. He knows he’s responsible for Hardcase’s death, to a degree. He knows all that.

Fives runs a hand over the back of his head, groaning.

“What a nightmare. The whole thing, a nightmare, because you couldn’t take my word for what that lunatic was doing to us.”

And that makes Rex feel a sting of anger as he lifts his eyes up to Fives.

“And how in the moons was I supposed to know? Hm? Just because he was treating us like lesser people? That’s not exactly new to us, Fives.”

At that, Fives’ eyes focus on Rex like he’s only actually seeing his captain now, surprise easing up his tensed-up features. Rex sighs heavily, voice going softer.

“I know you’re tired. I know you’re tired, and angry, and grieving. But you need to come back home. You’re supposed to be better than that, you’re supposed to never abandon your duty.”

Fives pulls back at that, raising an eyebrow.

“How do you figure?”

“You know we were designed to withstand any kind of stress.”

Fives let out a laugh that sounds more like a growl, shaking his head.

“Yeah? Maybe you should tell that to the shiny that sobbed on my shoulder all the way back to base. Or the one Kix had to drag out of the medbay because he wouldn’t let go of his batcher’s body, pissed because he wouldn’t get a proper funeral. Or- or” and Fives jaw is shaking as much as the finger he points at Rex “Maybe you should tell that to the vod I found in a ‘fresher stall with a blaster in his hand and a hole burned through his skull!”

Fives slams a fist on the table hard enough to make the glasses there jump, one bottle tumbling down and rolling over to meet a glass with a loud clinking noise, and Rex swallows down thickly. Things had been difficult the last couple of days. About five of his troopers – six, counting the one Fives had just described – had decided to end their lives after Umbara. Cody was probably facing the same issues with his men as well.

Neither the Captain nor the Marshall Commander knew what to say to their men. In order to inhibit suicidal tendencies, you’re supposed to reassure a person about the value of their life. How was Rex supposed to do that, when all he and his men had ever been taught since birth was that they are expendable? Battle fodder. Meat droids. Living shields of the republic.

And what would Fives even be able to say to give a sense of hope to his vod’e? That they had something to look forward to? As far as they knew, they would live and die in war, their lifespan half of a regular human’s because they were never meant to age and experience life outside of a battlefield.

[noyastalgia]

QUICK GUIDE TO HAYADO KURA

Okay…

First of all, this is my girl

Meaning, this is the one I lean towards the most when it comes to creative stuff

Mostly because I’m a simp for Bakugou, who is her boyfriend.

Lets start off with her name, then, shall we? since it’s the most basic fact about her

(i’m actually not 100% sure about any of this since i don’t speak japanese but I’m fairly certain and tried to doublecheck everything)

Her name is Hayado Kura, which is written like “はやど くら” with hiragana and “ハヤド クラ” with katakana. 

The Kanji for her surname is “速度”, which put together means speed or velocity. It is actually romanized as “Sokudo”, but I used the reading “Haya” for 速. There isn’t really a deep meaning to it, though, it just references her Quirk.

The Kanji for her first name is “宮羅” where 宮 means “shrine” and 羅 means “lightweight fabric”. Again, no deep meaning, but I loved the name Kura and can’t change it now.

Though it doesn’t seem like it, I struggled with her name the most. At first, it was Zeizen Noa, I believe, then it became Nakano Kura, then Rikisou Kura, then Ryokusou Kura before I landed on Hayado Kura. Hopefully, it’ll stay on Hayado Kura, but you never know.

Anyway, her Quirk is called Adrenaline. In short, it converts her adrenaline and energy to physical attacks in the form of blasts and such. She can also fly. 

This is particularly effective in battle, as her attacks become more powerful the more she fights

However, as you could probably guess, it’s quite draining. Though she can start flying from the get-go if she’s well-rested and thus has energy to start up with, she can’t do it if she’s tired.

If she’s being chased and in situations where she would panic, her Quirk lasts longer, but it’s also prone to Adrenaline Rushes. It starts up with her veins glowing scarlet, then her body completely shuts down. 

This is the sequence of an Adrenaline Rush: glowing veins → light shaking → dizzy → cold → generally weak → shut down.

While this can come with perks, as she’s much more powerful in such a state, she often tips beyond the “glowing veins” step and ends up with an Adrenaline Shock.

At the start of the school year, such shocks would leave her unconscious up to ten hours, but with training, she’s reduced the time to where she’s able to stay awake, simply exhausted and unable to use her Quirk. 

Moving on to her fight style, she tends to lean towards an all-out offense, with emphasis on her arms and punches. 

Before Hayado was accepted into U.A., she used to get into fights with other kids at school, where she learnt a somewhat effective aggressive style that didn’t have much technique. She tended to only shoot blasts from her punches, where she found it most natural to focus her Quirk, and threw some kicks in here and there for variations. Thus, she developed a bad habit of doing the same in each fight she was in, which often made her lose against trained opponents. This used to irritate her beyond no end, until she lost against Todoroki in the Sports Festival and Bakugou told her afterwards that she was too predictable in her attacks. Initially, she ignored it out of spite, but his blunt advice resonated with her, and during the internship, Hayado interned with Helia, a Pro-hero with a similar Quirk but vastly different fighting style. 

Helia drilled her in technique and taught her how to utilise her Quirk in  different ways, such as expanding her blasts to be able to come from her legs to add variation. She also taught her to focus her energy on her whole body, which increases her strength, speed, senses and endurance.

When she returned to class, Hayado was a whole other person, which didn't go unnoticed. While her skills had increased, she had also learnt to sharpen her focus, which both made her a more formidable opponent and calmed her overall hot temper ever so slightly. 

This was also the first time she won against Bakugou in a practice match. It was ever so slightly and partly due to his surprise at her sudden improvement, but she didn't let it die down until they had another match where Bakugou won.

Also, Hayado can also use her Quirk to fly.

At first, Hayado seems like a hot-tempered girl who's all brawn and no brain. Since childhood, she didn't respond well to criticism and retorted back with spiteful insults, which put most people off from being friends with her. Sadly, this only furthered her aggression and made her into one of her school's bullies, who constantly got into fights and skipped class often. (the only reason she got into U.A. was because she had a teacher who still believed in her and helped her study for the written exam, which she barely passed, but she got in through the practical exam)

Underneath this surface, however, Hayado is loyal and playful, which she only showed to Class 1-A after she befriended Mina and started messing around with her in class. As she didn't have a lot of them growing up, she deeply values her friendships and would do almost whatever for them, unless another one of her friends tells her to not do as they say.

Admittedly, she's beyond impulsive, and often doesn't think before she goes into action. She doesn't make much of a tactic, most often settling for fighting things out and hoping it works, which highly depends on two factors 1) who she's fighting and 2) if Bakugou shows up to help while simultaneously scolding her and calling her irresponsible (happens more often than you’d think)

Part of her arc is learning how to take more care of herself. Since she’s so fiercely loyal, she tends to forget her own needs and interests for her friends, such as not rushing into battle without plans and tactics, not neglecting her grades, and other things like it. While she does get better throughout high school, I’m thinking that after graduation, she starts dating a guy named Sutora Eki, who is manipulative and exploits her dependence and loyalty. However, Bakugou comes back into her life and helps her see what Eki is doing to her, so she gets back on track after she breaks up with him.

In case you can’t tell, she ends up with Bakugou after she breaks up with Eki and becomes more sure of herself.

Other facts about her

She loves caffeine, mostly as coffee, but she likes energy drinks as well. However, she has to limit her intake since it might affect her Quirk.

She would be an ESTP-T, but I reckon she becomes more of an ESTP-A when she grows older (it’s 49/51 percent)

Her best friend is Yua, another OC

She was born in All for One’s Quirk Facility, which is why her Quirk is so strong, but flawed (I’ll expand on this later, but it’s pretty much what it sounds like)

Overall, she might be one of my favourite ocs of all time. I love her loads, and I love her relationship with Katsuki (i don’t go too into depth with it here, but they start off with an intense rivalry, which unintentionally turns into caring for each other, then they have a rivalry/friendship/romance thing going on where Bakugou realises he likes her, but doesn’t do anything as her relationship starts to develop with Eki).