Okay it’s time to scream talk about my OC Cendre! He’s one out of a few blond clones the Kaminoans created using Rex’s DNA, hoping they’d be as efficient as the captain. Cendre gets his name from how lighter his hair is compared to other vode.
With his appearance, there is no hiding who his template is, and so he grows with the suffocating pressure of becoming as good, if not better, as the captain of the 501st, which definitely fucks him up. After he’s done training on Kamino, Cendre is assigned to the Coruscant Guard and is dying to finally prove himself.
The thing is, it happens after the tragedy of Fives’ death, and the Guard is still recovering from the aftermath. Rex has barely talked to Fox ever since, not because he resents him, but simply because he can’t look at him and not think of Fives. He keeps his distance so he won’t break into tears in front of his brother, but of course Fox misinterprets it and firmly believes his vod’ika hates him for what he’s done.
Naturally, the commander is anything but prepared to deal with a shiny who’s basically a mini copy of Rex. Cendre, like every other rookie, looks at Fox with barely hidden admiration in his eyes, and it only reminds Fox of how Rex behaved around him on Kamino, before everything went wrong. It’s too much for him to handle, and the only solution he finds is to straight up avoid the kid and let the other commanders look after him.
Cendre catches quickly on how Fox treats him differently, not that it’s hard to notice when the other shinies get so attached to the commander that they start following him around like ducklings and calling him things like “ori’vod” and “buir”.
Being left out hurts, but his Trainers on Kamino always pushed him more than the other cadets, so Cendre assumes Fox is doing the same. That he’ll have to prove his worth first if he wants the commander of the Guard to acknowledge him. To show that he’s capable, he tries to get intel on a criminal organization that lies rampant in the lower levels of Coruscant. Alone.
As expected of an inexperienced shiny, he underestimates the danger and things turn sour. He is captured by the men he was spying on and they decide to torture him to send a message to the Guard not to mess with their business again.
Other shinies report that he’s missing and Fox manages to find where he’s been taken, but he’s already been hurt by the time the commander rescues him. When Fox unties him, Cendre is a bleeding, crying mess, unable to stand on his own. But worst of all, he is terrified that all his brothers will now hate him, beginning with Fox himself, because he didn’t live up to their expectations, and how can they keep caring about him when he’s nothing but a failure? When he’s nothing like CT-7567, although it’s supposed to be his whole purpose?
He blabbers about it out loud, begging Fox to please forgive him, and the more he talks, the more the commander realizes how much he screwed up by ignoring the shiny and not catching up earlier on how badly the Kaminoans messed him up, all because of his own issues. And he tells Cendre, apologizes for it too, and promises him that it’s okay, that he’s not Rex and that he doesn’t have to be. That he’s allowed to be his own person.
It's the first time anyone tells Cendre he can be himself, that it’s enough, and so he just breaks down even harder, sobbing loudly in Fox’s arms. The commander holds him tight and only lets go of him once the medics arrive.
Despite their best efforts and many bacta patches, that episode leaves Cendre with a few visible scars. Even though they are linked with bad memories, he doesn’t mind them that much, because they make him look unique. Different from the clone he was created after. He also decides to let his hair grow by a few inches and have fun testing different dyes on it with the help of his vode. All so that when he looks at a mirror, he doesn’t see captain Rex of the 501st, but himself.
Fox wholeheartedly accepts him as his little brother, and makes sure to stop him whenever Cendre is being an overachiever idiot, which happens way too often for his taste. In turn, Cendre doesn’t hide how much the older vod means to him and doesn’t hesitate to ask him for guidance. Older members of the guard might tease him a little about how he has started following Fox around too, but he doesn’t mind. Not when his commander has done so much for him.
A few shinies, those who participated in Cendre’s rescue and almost thought their vod lost when they found him covered in blood, coddle him through his recovery, whether he wants it or not, and stick around afterward. With time, they end up meaning so much to him that Cendre would rather give up his own life than let any harm come to them. They make the best of team during missions, but most of all, when they look at Cendre, they don’t expect him to be someone else.
The life in the Guard is a harsh one, the scars on his skin are there to prove it, but Cendre knows his family will always be here for him, and he’ll be there for them.
(I won’t expand on it here, because my main goal with this post was to focus on Cendre, but obviously Rex and Fox get to talk and reconcile at some point because I want them to be happy. Also, order 66? I don’t know her. Palps dies like he should and Cendre gets to kick his dead body as payback for hurting Fox.)