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Rex looked out into the forest below. Behind him the Ewoks started playing a native tune. The end of the empire celebration party’s going strong. He sighs.
“Too good to hang with the rest of us?” Echo teased as he walked up beside him.
“Parties were never my thing, much less parties hosted by little furry creatures.” Rex shoots back.
“Yet you’ve partied with Hunter before.”
That breaks his thoughts and makes him chuckle.
“Ah! There you are, welcome back to us. Where were you just now?”
Rex sighs again knowing he would have had to have this conversation sooner or later. Echo has always been perceptive, it’s why he was an ARC trooper.
“It’s just I’ve never known life without war. We prepared for war, fought in The Clone Wars, the Clone Rebellion and then we chose to continue the fight against The Empire. I don’t know anything else,” he paused, but Echo let him continue. “What does one do when they’re not fighting for their life? How do you settle down? Where do you even settle down? Yes, there’s Pabu, but what if I’m not cut out for civilian life? What do you do when there’s no endgame?”
Echo stops him before his thoughts spiral too far. Echo’s flesh hand lifts his chin up so Rex makes eye contact with him.
“The endgame is happiness. You’ve been fighting for everyone else’s chance for freedom and happiness, it’s time to fight for your own. We don’t have to live on Pabu if that is not what you want. My only ask is for no planet near as cold as Hoth. That was the worst mission of my life and I had a mission on Felucia. You know it took at least a tenday for my bones to thaw out and for me to finally stop shaking. The Empire is gone now, you know that Organa and Mothma would provide us with back pay that the original Republic never would have. We can go anywhere in the galaxy. We don’t even have to stay in one place if that’s what you want. We’re free to travel the stars without worrying our ship will be shot down. We don’t even have the Hutts to worry about anymore thanks to Organa.”
Rex winced at the reminder of that mission debrief of the trio’s time on Tatooine.
“We are free to choose whatever we want. As long as it’s not Hoth —or Felucia now that I’ve said it— I will be with you wherever you decide you want to go. It’s our choice now.”
Echo searched Rex’s eyes to see if it clicked in that ridiculous blonde head of his. Rex let out a breath and closed his eyes. He brought their foreheads together in a keldabe.
“Thank you. I needed someone to remind me of my own advice. For the record, I would rather eat my blaster than settle on Felucia. Nor do you have to worry about us settling on Hoth. The only cold planet I would consider is Pantora, but I don’t want you to turn as blue as Riyo,” Rex huffed out a laugh. “The only thing I know is that I want to settle down with you.”
“Then that’s where we’ll start.”
They kissed and turned to head back to the celebration below.