"Watch out! On your left!"

The moonlight adds a pale glow to everything in the bedroom, from the dirty walls, to the dirty floor, to the three sleeping men in their beds and floor mattress.

"Man down! Man down-!"

He stirs, first one way, then another, as the laser fire and deafening sound of grenades going off become more and more vivid in his mind.

"We need reinforcements! Commander! Commander-"

The shouts and screams of soldiers rip his eardrums apart, force themselves into every corner of his mind as images of his old life flash before his closed lids. The screams get louder, more terrified and more agonized till Cody thinks he's the one who's screaming and not his former men. He wakes with a jolt, his skin frozen as ice but hyper-aware of everything happening around him. He can feel the creak of the bed as Rex jumps out of it and rushes to the source of the pain-filled noises.

"Commander, watch out-!"

It takes a moment for Cody to realize he's not the one who's screaming. Bliz is curled up on his side, his fingernails digging into his scalp and body shaking uncontrollably, gripped by a nightmare.

"No, stop! Stop! Make it stop-!" He kicks the blanket off the bed, curling into a fetal position on his side and gripping his skull even tighter. Sweat glistens on his goose bump-riddled skin.

Rex is by his side in an instant, clutching his shoulders and nearly desperately trying to shake Bliz awake. "Bliz, wake up! It's just a nightmare-Bliz!"

"Let me go!" he shouts. The nightmares still grip the former soldier, eliciting screams and cries of pain as whatever happens in his mind torments him.

"Bliz, open your eyes!" Rex yells. He shoots a desperate look back at Cody.

Cody rises from his mattress, climbing over Rex's bed and trying his best to hold Bliz down without getting hit. His fingers slip on the sheen of sweat on Bliz's skin, and his foot collides with the bed's frame. Cody stifles a yelp and tries harder to pin his brother to the bed.

Bliz shouts again in terror when suddenly he jolts up, his eyes filled with panicked anguish. His chest heaves, face twisted with the remnants of his nightmare. Cody isn't sure, but it looks like Bliz's eyes are shining. Rex, on the bed now, grips his shoulders tightly, pulling Bliz close to him. Bliz gives a yelp and tries to struggle, but Rex holds him firm. He whimpers, dangerously close to tears. His shoulders shake and he squeezes his eyes shut. Bliz opens his mouth and shuts it, small squeaks being the only things to escape his lips.

"T-The...b-battle…" he stutters.

"Shh…Bliz, it's alright. Your brother's got you," Rex says softly, soothingly. He shifts positions so his back is against the wall, still holding Bliz with his head held against his chest.

Cody, unsure what to do, goes to turn the light on. He's stopped by Rex's swift head shake, mouthing the word "no". He freezes by the light switch, hovering awkwardly in the doorway. Cody wonders again how close the pair could have gotten within a few months.

It didn't look like this was the first time Rex had held Bliz after a nightmare.

The Captain slowly rocks back and forth, stroking the back of Bliz's head and muttering something to him. Cody catches "fine" and "I'm here".

It goes on like this, til Bliz's breathing eventually calms down and his hands stop shaking, til eventually his body relaxes and he falls asleep against Rex's chest just as the Coruscant skies go from black, to grey, to pale pinks and oranges. Rex stops muttering when he feels Bliz's back rise and fall evenly. He, however, doesn't go to sleep. His eyes stare out the window at the coming sunrise.

Cody shifts from the doorway and sits on Rex's bed, having been awake for the entire time and not being in the mood to sleep anymore. "How…" He clears his throat, suddenly awkward watching Rex hold Bliz like a child. "How often does this happen?"

Rex doesn't answer for a moment, and Cody begins to think that maybe he didn't hear him. Years of scowling have etched lines into the captain's face, and they seem to grow and stretch as he releases a heavy sigh. "Too often," he says, his gaze still focused on the window. Absently, he strokes Bliz's back.

A soft snore is heard from him, and he stirs a bit but quickly settles down again.

The sun rises above the horizon. The clouds, sparse but present, are stained pink and purple against the golden background. The small room is awash with the colors of the sky, and the thin curtains flutter.

"He wasn't like this during the war," Rex says suddenly, making brief eye contact with Cody before returning to staring out the window. The lack of speeders and general noise of crowds walking the streets at all hours of the day leaves the city-planet eerily quiet, allowing wind to whistle through the tall buildings and set shivers running down Rex's spine.

Cody remains silent, prompting Rex on with a slight nod.

Rex sighs again, heavy and purely exhausted. A rough hand scrubs his face and his stubbled jaw while the other still rests on Bliz. The bags under his eyes seem to grow, and for a moment Rex just stares at the wall opposite him, into the kitchen. "He was...he just wasn't like this"-he gestures to Bliz- "back when there was still a Republic."

There still was a Republic-it was located in the Jedi Temple, the Senate building, and the Republic Military base. If it existed anywhere else, it was run by gangs.

"How so?" Cody's memory of Bliz isn't the same as Rex's-Cody remembers a man who was angry, violent, yet ashamed at the same time. He remembers Bliz's dark circles that contrasted so harshly with his vivaciousness and willingness to smile and joke with his brothers.

Perhaps Bliz and Rex were closer than he'd thought.

"He was…" Rex's fingers flit through the air, as if he could grab the words he was looking for. "He wasn't so child-like." He flinches as the words leave his mouth. "Bliz wasn't so cheery before. I guess it's a good thing he seems happier now, but…" He exhales, almost in exasperation. "Something's changed, and not for the better. He hears voices, Cody."

Cody looked away from Rex's deeply concerned face, neither understanding nor liking the feeling he gets in his stomach from it. "I've noticed," he says.

"And he does what they say. They apparently tell him not to go somewhere, or what to do or even what to eat."

Cody wants to say "I've noticed" again, for want of something better. He doesn't know how to react to something like this. "How long has this been going on?" he asks instead.

"I don't know. I just picked him up after the chaos was over and he just started saying 'they' a lot. He got defensive whenever I questioned him about it." Rex thinks back to the first month after the outbreak, how he and Bliz couldn't get past the part of the city they were in because a gang held them back. Bliz, back then, was what Rex would consider worse compared to how he acted now; shaking, twitching, and seeing and hearing things that weren't there. Absently, he wonders if the condition has anything to do with his PTSD or depression.

The sky is considerably brighter now, and Bliz stirs in his sleep, rolling over and turning away from the window. His fist is pressed against his eye.

"They even tell him where's dangerous and filled with Infected." Rex smirks without humor. "Would've been great on Birva…" he mutters.

"Our scanners worked on Birva."

"Not well."

Both men fall silent, Rex turning his head again to stare out the window. The sun is rising clearly over the horizon, and it's bright rays change the room's color scheme yet again to early morning. The light does nothing to hide Rex's dark circles, which may as well be a permanent part of his face by now.

Cody wants to sleep, but can't bring himself to. Part of him wishes they were living back during the war, where there was chaos and violence, yes, but Cody knew what to do and always had a plan, where he knew where Rex was and he could actually recall what happened more than a few weeks prior.

The former Commander instead sits back on Rex's bed and watches his brother absently rub circles on Bliz's back. The move is so practiced that the hand doesn't stop until Bliz's begins to rise, bleary-eyed and in no way ready to smile. He pushes against Rex's chest and kneels on the bed, shoulders hunched together and glaring at the buildings through the window.

Rex sighs, kneeling as well to be eye-level with Bliz. His palms gently run along his biceps-as if to calm him and prevent a meltdown-and with a firm yet gentle voice he asks, "What was that about?"

Bliz turned his head in shame although his brows are drawn down low, refusing to meet Rex's worry-filled eyes. "What?"

Rex takes a breath. "You said you'd be able to make it a night. Remember? You said you could do it."

Bliz continues to squint at the window. "I...They said I shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?"

"Sleep by myself yet. They….they said I should wait a bit before I tried."

The former captain looks confused. "Then why'd you go to sleep?"

"You said I should try to get some rest, Rex." Bliz finally meets Rex's eyes. Rex doesn't miss his accusatory tone. "You...you said that sleep was what I needed right then and that you'd wake me up if I-"

"I did wake you up," Rex cuts in.

"Not before everyone died."

Rex purses his lips, forcing down the guilty feeling crawling up his stomach. "I'm sorry, Bliz," he whispers as if just noticing Cody was listening to them. "Next time, I'll listen to you."

"Alright." Bliz stifles a yawn, rubbing a clenched fist against his red eyes.

"I'll get you some breakfast," Rex declares. "Fruit or hot cereal?"

"I'm not hungry."

Rex pats Bliz's shoulder as if he were joking. "I'll get you some fruit. You like the citrus medley one, right? Yeah, you can have as much of that one as you want, brother."

Bliz doesn't respond, only takes Rex's place on the bed after he heads for the kitchen. He wraps the blanket around his shoulders.

Cody follows after Rex. "Where's a spoon?" He's actually surprised to see they have proper silverware and not cheap, broken plastoid spoons and forks.

Rex points to a drawer to the left of the sink. He bangs open cupboards to make a show of getting Bliz breakfast. His face is riddled with guilt and worry, however much he tries to force cheeriness into his voice. "You know we're heading for that one complex again, right?" No answer. "We'll get much more food, maybe even some new clothes."

Cody can feel Bliz looking at them, his eyes not trained on any one object or person. Bliz starts as if just noticing Rex was holding a one-sided conversation. "Sorry," he says, "I was talking to them. We need that red spray paint."

He frowns, casting Bliz an almost disapproving look before turning back to his task. His face twists at the thought of Bliz conversing with voices. "Alright. Anything else?"

Bliz shakes his head.

Rex enters the room with a can of fruit and a spoon in hand. "Here." He hands it to Bliz and sits on the bed. "Today we'll have to clear out the rest of that complex and mark it down. If anything needs to be fixed, we'll do that."

Bliz halts putting the piece of fruit in his mouth, the spoon hovering. Some of the syrup drips onto the blanket. "How do you know we'll find that many people?"

"What?" Cody, still in the kitchen looking for breakfast, can't quite track their conversation. "What do you mean by find people?"

Rex looks about to try and change the subject when Bliz cuts in. "He thinks we'll be able to get clones out of the gangs and build our own community since we can't get to any of the safe houses."

Cody eyes Rex, and the captain looks away. "Really?" he asks, not quite fond of the tone of his voice. He sounds like he's mocking Rex.

Rex scowls fiercely. "There's no point in not trying; if we get enough people on our side, we could save the others."

Bliz speaks up. "That's basically what the gangs do already. They've taken over parts of Coruscant and are clearing out-"

"That is not what the gangs do, Bliz," Rex nearly barks. "They sell drugs and kidnap survivors to sell as sex slaves."

"And they've also cleared up two major cities while the CSF is still having difficulty taking care of the drug dealing in their safe houses and finding actual places for people to sleep." Bliz takes a bite of his fruit, then says with his mouth full, "You know, not all gangs are bad. There was that one from the beginning that-"

"We're not talking about this now, Bliz," Rex says, voice hard with a warning.

Bliz merely shrugs and takes another bite of fruit. He chews silently and watches Rex with an almost bored expression.

Rex stands abruptly, smoothing out the legs of his pants. "You still have a basic layout of the Veris district, right?" he asks Bliz.

"Nope. Burned at Ons with half our gear."

Rex groans and scrubs a hand over his face. "Alright…" Except it wasn't alright; they might have to go in cold to a massive city-district and take out the ring leader. It would require potentially fighting their way both in and out.

It would be three people versus a gang of over one hundred.

"Do we have to necessarily kill everyone and fight our way in?" Cody asks, entering the bedroom.

Bliz kicks the blanket off his legs. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," he says, "the way most gangs operate, you take out the leader and they're automatically loyal to whoever took their place. If we could sneak in and take out the head, we could take control of the gang and have them work for us." Cody doesn't mention that this is something he remembers from before his amnesia hit.

Rex nods, more to himself than to what the commander said. "We'd need to find out where their headquarters is, though, and we don't have the technology for a proper recon." He tips his head back and groans, wishing he could at least have an R2 unit. The captain didn't realize how much he took for granted during the war.

"Maybe there's a rival gang nearby that we can ask for help." There is one. Cody knows where they are and what they're called. Again, he doesn't mention it. "They might be willing to help us."

Rex stroked his chin. "Are they near the versi district?"

"Yes."

"So, that's one possibly potential ally." He turns to Bliz, looking a bit uncomfortable. He doesn't exactly meet Bliz's eyes. "And, um...did they say anything about this?"

Bliz stops chewing his fruit. He looks left, then right, then shakes his head. "No, but they might later. They're not as talkative this early in the morning."

"Finish up," Rex says, pulling his boots out of a closet. "We'll head out in twenty minutes, see who we can get on our side before we try to take an entire district." He starts clipping ammo onto his belt with one hand while he rifles through a drawer for a cleaner pair of pants with the other. "Cody, eat something before we go."

Cody obeys and heads to the kitchen, rifling through the cupboards until he finds a can of beans to eat. As he opens it, he sees figures on the apartment platform across from theirs. They stumble and trip over themselves, dripping fluids and covered in plates of fungus. They seem to be running from something. One of them stops to hiss at something not visible through the window.

Was this how close they were to Infected people? Cody had assumed that the area had been cleared, since Rex and Bliz lived here so comfortably. Perhaps he'd been wrong.

Shouting sounded on the opposite platform, and blue lasers fired into the backs of the retreating infected. A group of people-mostly male, from what Cody could tell-chased after the infected, easily taking them down with a few more shots. One of them has a green scarf tied around his head, and he shouted orders to the rest of the group.

"Rex…" Cody puts down his beans. "Rex, there's a group of infected across from us, and they're being chased by a gang."

Rex answers with near casualness. "What color is the leader wearing?"

Cody checks again: "Green. He's got a green scarf on his head."

"Then they're fine. They don't bother us," Bliz says. "They're the good-"

"There is no such thing as good gangs, Bliz," Rex snaps. "Now armor up and finish your breakfast."

Bliz gives Rex an annoyed look but complies, dumping the syrup into the sink and dropping the fork in after it, but he doesn't move after that.

"Bliz," Rex calls, "where did you put my-Bliz?" He looks up to see Bliz staring out the window, a completely vacant look on his face. His hand hovers above the faucet handle. "Bliz!"

He starts. "Huh? Oh." He blinks and looks around in confusion. "Oh yeah-they just told me we'll be getting some help from…" Bliz's face scrunches up in confusion. "Someone whose name begins with a 'J'."

"Oh, that's helpful," Cody mutters.

"And that we can trust the green gang to be there." Bliz nods almost triumphantly. "Yep. It might be easier than we thought to take the district." He rinses the fork off and drops it back in the drawer.

Cody looks between Bliz and Rex. How specific could the voices Bliz listened to get? They'd almost given a name and had said specifically which gang-out of the twenty or so in the area-would help them take over a district.

Rex misreads Cody's facial expression and glancing as puzzlement. "The 'green gang' is the Royals. They're rivals to the gang that runs the Veris district, the Purge."

"We came across them once," Bliz says to no one in particular. "They gave us a rappel line in trade for of the chili we had. I think we bonded with them."

Rex zipped up his laser-resistant vest with thick, white horizontal bars along the front. Unaffiliated. "Let's go."

Not much progress here, but the next chapter should be interesting.