Trigger warnings: descriptions of a panic attack/panic-attack-like reactions

One minute he's flying down an empty street, and the next he's on his back with his head spinning and the barrel of a DC-17 pointed squarely at his face.

Oh, shab.

Fives knocks the barrel away and rolls to the side before the weapon can discharge. He doesn't get to his feet, scrambling instead for the durasteel shipping crates a few feet to his left. He makes it behind them, presses his back to one, and dares a peek around the corner.

It's the ARC trooper from the base.

Fives swears under his breath. He probably saw him coming out of Fox's quarters and thought he broke in and stole something. Should have checked. Should have been more careful.

Sloppy.

"I just want to talk," the ARC calls. He's not moving. He knows exactly where Fives is but he didn't give chase, so he must want him alive. Maybe for the Chancellor? No, the Chancellor has no idea he's not dead. Well, he will if Fives gets arrested. Can't get arrested. Have to find Fox. Have to stop this – all of this.

Don't get arrested.

The DC-17 is a commando weapon for a reason. It has a lot more attachments than the standard blaster. One of those is heavy ordinance; durasteel or not, the shipping crates can't save him from that forever.

He's laughably outgunned.

"Right!" Fives yells back, and immediately cringes. "Right. About, uh, what exactly?"

The ARC moves a step closer. Fives can hear the crunch of his boots on the gravel.

"What you were doing in the base," the ARC says.

Don't get arrested.

Fives carefully eases off his pack and wraps his hand around the lightsaber hilt. Not the time or place to use it; he has no intention of hurting the ARC: Coruscant Guard or not, he's still a brother.

So much for ret'lini.

Fives replaces his pack, presses a hand to his faceplate for a beat, and wills the buzzing hum away. No time for thinking. No time for grief.

It's not Echo. It's not Echo. It's not Echo.

Don't get arrested.

It's not Echo

"Please," the ARC says. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just have some que—"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence. Fives leaps out from behind the cover and sprays the ground in front of the ARC with stun bolts. Just get him to back up, make a run for it, duck into the alleyway, anything—

Fives takes one to the chest and hits the ground.

Can't breathe, all fire, just breathe, stay with me, Fives, don't go, please.

Can't breathe.

Just breathe.

Fives, please.

It takes him too long to realize he hasn't actually been shot. The ARC is standing over him again; his DC-17 is slung across his back. "I hit you with a stun blast," the ARC says. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to do that. It'll be a little easier to breathe in a minute, I promise."

"Who—"

The ARC crouches down beside him. Fives makes a feeble attempt to swing at him. The ARC catches his wrist and gently sets it down. "I'm not going to hurt you," he says. "You hit your head when you dropped. Let me sit you up and make sure it's not serious."

"No," Fives croaks, but his limbs are slow, too slow, his head is spinning, and it's too late. The ARC eases him so he's sitting and lifts his helmet.

Then drops it immediately.

Fives tenses. The ARC doesn't move.

"Fives?" he whispers.

The fire in his nerves is cooler now, soothing instead of electrifying, but no less intense for the difference. "Um…" Fives says. "I – no. No, I'm…"

The ARC almost rips off his own helmet. Fives stares at him. His skin is more ashen than most clones', his face gaunter and more angular; there are dark shadows under his eyes. His hair is cropped close in the same classic style, but it's slightly thinner in patches across his head, like it's growing around or over something.

Fives would still know him anywhere.

"Echo," Fives croaks. There are tears in his voice and threatening to spill down his cheeks and it's so stupid, there's so much he wants to say, but all he can manage is: "You died."

"So did you," Echo points out numbly. He sits down next to Fives, though Fives isn't sure he had much choice in the matter.

In the fading light of the setting sun, he doesn't look overjoyed; he looks lost.

"Yeah," Fives says. Not dead. Not dead. Not dead. It rings in his chest. "I did. My heart stopped."

Echo's eyes blow wide. Well, wider than they already are. When did he get so thin? "Long story," Fives says, trying to quirk a smile. He shoves Echo's shoulder gently. "Tell you later?"

"I didn't die."

"What?"

"At the Citadel," Echo says. He clears his throat roughly. "I didn't die. So really, it's only you that's been dead."

Fives freezes. His smile loses all its mirth. His gut twists; his chest aches. Left him for dead. Left him behind. What did they do to you?

"I guess I one-upped you, then," Fives says, strained. He tugs on his helmet. Echo tries to smile.

"We should get moving. It's not safe out here," Echo says abruptly, getting to his feet. He offers Fives a hand and pulls him upright too. "There's not much light left and, if I recall correctly, shiny kit has terrible nightvision."

"Hey, I'm still an ARC. I just – don't have the armor on me right now."

Echo's already replaced his helmet so Fives can't see the infernal smirk; he knows it's there. He should be annoyed, should want to shove Echo and scowl, but all he can feel is wave after wave of relief. No more ticking thrum. Just peace.

"I need to rendezvous with my team," Echo says, "and you're coming with me."

Team. Fives, please. "Rex?" Fives asks, a little too hopefully.

Echo shakes his head. "No," he says, and doesn't elaborate. Fives bites back the urge to ask him to. Echo leads them through the alleys to a speeder parked a block away from the base.

The second they're both secure, he guns it.

Fives hangs on for dear life. By the time they make it to a landing platform, Fives can feel his teeth chattering. When he leaps out of the speeder, his legs wobble.

"When did you forget how to drive?" he demands. Echo cocks his head at him curiously.

"I drive fine," he says. "What are you talking about?"

Fives stares at him incredulously. "Come on," Echo says, tugging on his arm. There's suddenly an undercurrent of excitement to his voice. "You have to meet my team."

Fives pulls back. "Hang on," he says. "Who are these guys, exactly?"

"Long story."

"Echo, I'm supposed to be dead. I need to keep it that way."

"Rex told me," Echo says. "About everything. I know, Fives."

Fives stares at him dubiously. "Rex told you," he repeats slowly, and lets Echo lead him up the ramp and onto the ship. Warmth blooms in his chest. "He believed me?"

Echo tucks his helmet under his arm. "Of course Rex believed you," he says. "It's Rex."

The shiny helmet feels so much lighter and easier to crack than his ARC kit, especially when he's holding it so tightly. Fives blinks rapidly. "Yeah," he says. "I, uh, I didn't tell him I'm still alive. I need to tell him. I just – I didn't know if he'd believe me."

Echo's eyes are kind. He squeezes Fives' shoulder. "I have an encrypted line set up," he says. "I'm due to contact him at 2200. We'll tell him then. For now, follow me."

The ship is small. Echo calls it the Havoc Marauder, which Fives snorts at. "The others are up top. Wait here a minute," Echo says, and clambers up through the hatch. There's a long, dead silence. Then the hatch snaps open again and Fives is face-to-face with the barrel of a DC-17.

This is getting old.

Fives stumbles back. "You look very alive for a dead man," the man says. His face is long and thin; he's tattooed a crosshair around his eye. Fives makes a face.

"Crosshair!" Echo snaps, somewhere out of sight. "He's my brother. Put that away."

"Fives is dead," Crosshair says coolly. His aim doesn't waver. "Whoever this clone is, he's not CT-5555."

"Trust me," Echo says. "All right?"

The DC-17 slowly lowers. "Come on up, Fives," Echo calls, and Fives hesitates and then painstakingly scales the ladder.

The second his head breaks the threshold, he's airborne. His helmet goes flying. Fives flails and kicks at his assailant, but it's to no avail: the guy's a mountain with legs.

And he's holding Fives up by the collar of his bodysuit.

"You're s'posed to be dead," the mountain growls.

"Put him down," Echo says, but he's fighting back a grin. Fives sighs and stops struggling.

"Look, how do you want me to prove it to you?" he asks.

"You don't have to prove anything," Echo says impatiently. "Wrecker, put him down."

Wrecker holds him up to eye level. Fives scowls. "Echo," he says without breaking eye contact, "who are these people?"

"My team," Echo says. He blows out a breath. "Wrecker, please."

Wrecker drops him. Fives staggers and finds Echo's suddenly beside him, steadying him until he can get his feet. "Thanks," he says.

"You're welcome," says Wrecker.

"I wasn't talking to you," Fives growls. Echo stiffens. Fives finds his wrist and squeezes, twice.

It's an old gesture, but time and death haven't diminished its meaning. The tension in Echo's shoulders eases. "Fives," Echo says, "this is my team. Wrecker, Tech, Hunter, Crosshair: this is Fives."

"Are you sure?" Tech asks.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"We're trying to take down the most powerful man in the Republic and suddenly your friend is back from the dead," Crosshair says. He has a toothpick clenched between his teeth. His arms are folded. He narrows his eyes. "It's a little convenient."

"He's the one that attacked me," Fives says dryly.

"'Attacked you.' I knocked you on your shebs," Echo says under his breath. Fives elbows him. Echo elbows him back.

Hunter must be the leader: he has the same dead look in his eyes as Commander Cody. "Echo," Hunter says at last, "a word."

Echo hesitates. Fives squeezes his wrist again – I'm okay – and Echo follows Hunter down the hatch.

The second it swings shut, the other three turn.

"If you are who you say you are, then how are you alive?" Tech asks. His tone is calm, but there's a hard note behind every word. "By all official reports and documentation, you were shot by Commander Fox and died in a warehouse here on Coruscant."

"Long story," Fives says. Anxiety ticks in his chest. Fox. They have to find Fox. The Chancellor got to Fox. "Not your business."

"It's about Echo. 'Course it's our business," Wrecker says. He takes a step closer. "What are you doing here?"

Fives raises his chin and stares him straight in the eyes, conscious of Tech and Crosshair moving in to complete the half-circle Wrecker started. It's not a large ship; with the way they've positioned themselves, he's already effectively cornered. The hatch is closed; if they decide to jump him, he won't have time to open it.

"Why are you back now? How did you know where Echo was going to be?" Tech asks. "What do you want?"

"To save my brothers," Fives shoots back.

"You didn't save Echo."

It comes from Crosshair. Fives feels like all of the air has been knocked out of his lungs. Fire. Trapped. We have to go. Not Echo. Not Echo. Not Echo. Fives open his mouth to speak and nothing comes out; he can't form the words.

"You left him behind," Crosshair says. "And for months after he joined this crew, he woke up screaming – for you."

"I didn't want to leave him," Fives manages. It comes out like a croak. "I didn't know."

"You didn't even look for him."

"I thought he was dead," Fives barks. Rage wells in his chest, ripping, roiling, red. "I never would have left him if I'd known. I never—"

"But you did," Crosshair says coolly. He tilts his head to the side. His gaze is unrelenting.

Fives' throat is tight. He can barely see past the crimson haze. "You abandoned him," Crosshair hisses. "Why come back now?"

He doesn't get to say anything else; Fives' fist connects with his jaw and he stumbles back.

There's only one free shot in this fight.

Fives ducks the punch Wrecker throws and takes Tech's blow full-on. It knocks him to his knees; he manages to roll just enough to dodge Crosshair's uppercut and stagger to his feet.

Three on one, and one of them is a tank. Not good odds.

Wrecker's first swing missed. The second doesn't. Fives careens into the wall with a crack and then hits the floor hard.

When he lifts his head, he can't see straight and it's not because of the pain.

You didn't save Echo.

Fives snarls, swiping at the blood streaming from his nose. Their half-circle constricts, closer, closer.

You didn't save Echo.

Heat and flame, grief and rage. We have to go. We have to go.

You didn't save Echo.

He can't see. He can't see. The world is fire and wrath and seething sorrow. Now you see what no one will ever believe. Sickness and disease. Can't breathe. Just breathe. Fives, please. Good luck. Stay safe. Look out. Too late.

You didn't save Echo.

Fives lunges to his feet with a ragged scream and locks his arms in front of his skull to block the blows.

He can't breathe.

It strikes like a shockwave. At first he's sure he's taken a hit so hard it made his brain shake but the ground is roiling beneath him and the wind is rushing and something shatters like glass and no one's touched him but every nerve is on fire. He can't see. He can't see. It's all fury, pulsing in his veins, rippling down his spine, beating in his brain. The thrum in his mind becomes a whine becomes a scream.

He can't breathe.

"Fives!"

A pair of hands lands on his shoulders. Fives starts violently. The world snaps back into focus.

The viewscreen and all the windows surrounding it have been blown out. The panels are sparking. Wrecker and Tech and Crosshair are scattered around the control room and just barely starting to sit up. Fives numbly lowers his arms to his sides. He's breathing hard.

"Fives?" Echo says, and shakes him lightly. "Fives!"

He jolts. Dimly, he realizes he's trembling. Hunter's rushed forward to check on the others. They're all getting up. They're all alive.

"Fives, what the hell was that?" Echo demands. "Fives!"

He can't speak. His legs are shaking; he can't stand. Fives sinks to his knees.

The force in his mind beats in time with his racing heart, a steady thrum, a constant buzz. He feels it in the air, on his skin, in his brain. He wants to claw at his head until it stops, until he's no longer a conduit for the current, until the power pulsing through his veins fades away.

"I don't know," Fives whispers. There are tears on his face. "I don't know."

It takes him a long time to stand back up.

When he finally manages it, Echo loops an arm around his shoulders and guides him below-deck. They make their slow way down a corridor to a corner room that looks like a converted storage closet. Echo doesn't say anything or ask him any questions; he just stows his armor and then helps Fives out of his.

Usually he'd slap at the prying hands. Right now, he's too numb to care. Fives sits on the edge of the bed and fumbles with clasp after clasp until Echo takes over entirely. When he finishes, he makes a neat stack of the plates in a corner.

"Are you hungry?"

Echo's staring at him with big eyes. "Why are you so thin?" Fives asks blankly.

Echo's gaze shutters. "Are you hungry?" he asks again. "When was the last time you ate?"

He's been living off ration bars and some weird complete nutrition cubes he found onboard the ship he stole. Ventress didn't have much better but at least she let him raid her stores. If I let you starve, I'll have a corpse to dispose of.

"No," Fives says. He shivers. The bodysuit's supposed to be insulated. He shouldn't be cold.

Echo sighs and sits down beside him on the bed. He folds his hands in his lap and hunches over them. For a moment, it's silent. Up above, there's clattering and calls for tools; the others are rushing around repairing the damage to the Havoc Marauder.

Damage he caused.

"Is everyone okay?" Fives asks mutedly.

Echo nods.

"I'm sorry."

He can feel Echo's eyes boring into the side of his head. Fives turns to meet them. "What was that up there, Fives?" Echo asks quietly. "Talk to me."

"I left you behind," Fives blurts, instead of answering. His voice cracks.

"Don't do that. You didn't know."

"He said you were screaming for me," Fives chokes. It was all so fast and loud. "After – the shuttle. He said you were screaming for me. And I just left you."

Echo's hand finds his and squeezes. Fives is shaking. He can't stop shaking. "Don't do that," Echo says again. "You had to go."

"I should have come back," Fives says, faster and faster until he's rambling. "I should have come back for you. I'm sorry, Echo. I'm sorry. I should have come back. I'm sorry. I'm—"

"Fives," Echo says firmly. Fives snaps his mouth shut. His eyes burn and he swipes at them with his free hand. "Fives, it's not your fault. You didn't know and even if you had, you never would have made it across that platform to me while the cannon was still active. They'd have blasted you."

"I left you behind," Fives croaks. He can't breathe right.

Echo wraps his arms around him and pulls him close. Fives curls against him and squeezes him tight. His hands brush across something hard and metallic beneath Echo's bodysuit, a ridge that seems to run the length of his spine. Echo stiffens and Fives mumbles, "Sorry," and doesn't touch it again. Doesn't ask what happened to him. Doesn't ask what the Separatists did to him. Doesn't ask what he could have, should have, didn't save him from.

Echo's face is buried against his shoulder. "I'm just glad you're alive," he says, muffled. "I missed you, ner'vod."

"I missed you too," Fives says, and for a long while, neither of them moves.

When Echo does finally shift to pull away, Fives has to make himself let go.

"You didn't answer my question," Echo says. He scoots closer, so their shoulders are pressed together.

Warm. Safe. Real. Here. Some of the tension in Fives' chest eases. "I don't know," Fives says.

"Do you know what it looked like?"

He knows it felt like rage. Like everything inside him was going to break. Fives tilts his head.

"You remember when General Skywalker would blast a bunch of droids with the Force?" Echo hedges. "We'd be surrounded and then suddenly they'd all be trashed?"

Fives twists his face disbelievingly. "I didn't use the Force," he scoffs. "C'mon, Echo, that's ridiculous."

"You blew out all the windows and most of the consoles, and knocked Wrecker on his shebs," Echo says. "Fives, you did all of that without touching anything. What else could it be?"

"I'm not a Jedi!"

"You don't have to be a Jedi to be Force-sensitive," Echo snorts.

Force-sensitive. Like he needs another thing to worry about. The shabla Force.

Fives makes himself remember how to breathe, tries to stay calm, but he knows he's failing at both and he knows there's panic in his eyes and he knows that that's why Echo puts his arms around him again.

"Okay," Echo says and Fives leans into his chest and tries to stop shaking. "It's okay. We'll deal with it later. For now, just…try to keep a handle on it."

Fives isn't sure how to keep a handle on something he doesn't really understand, but with Echo around, with Echo alive, the fire is soothed. Calm. Cool. "I will," Fives says. "I promise."

Echo's fingers card gently through his hair. Fives closes his eyes and breathes. It's tempting to stop talking, to stay here in the silence and the peace.

"They don't think you should trust me," Fives says a long moment later.

Echo sighs.

"Why do you?"

"I know you, Fives," Echo says, annoyed. "I'd know if you weren't right."

"How?"

Echo's hands slow and stop. "I don't know," he says. He sounds genuinely confused. "I just do."

There's more to it. Fives almost asks and then bites it back.

He remembers when they told each other everything.

"What were you doing in the base anyway?" Echo asks.

Fives pulls carefully away. "Looking for Fox," he says.

"So was I," Echo says. He furrows his brow and scrunches his nose. "We need his help. Why were you there?"

"Because," Fives says, "he's the reason I'm alive."

He tells Echo – about Fox and his ashen face and bloodshot eyes, about his own revival, about getting Fox's chip removed, and about running around the galaxy looking for something, anything, to prove what he was shown.

He doesn't mention Ventress.

"What do you mean, what you were shown?" Echo asks.

"What?"

"You said 'what he showed me.' What who showed you?"

Fives' blood runs cold. "After I found out about the chips, Master Ti brought me to Coruscant," he says. When he hesitates, Echo wraps an arm around him and squeezes. Fives clears his throat. "She set up a meeting with the Supreme Chancellor. He asked her to leave. I thought he was going to listen to me. I thought he was going to help me. But he just – I don't know, Echo. He was in my head. He showed me what he was going to do. What he was going to make all of our brothers do."

"Wipe out the Jedi."

"He's a shabla Sith," Fives says hoarsely, grateful for Echo's grounding grip. "He tried to activate Fox's chip, but there was something wrong with it. I guess, uh, you're supposed to black out when it turns on, and Fox didn't. And he found a way to bypass whatever part of it was actually working."

"You think he's in trouble?"

"He hid a note," Fives says. "Two lines. Chancellor. And goodbye."

"That's not good."

"He has to be alive," Fives says. "He's too important for the Chancellor to kill."

A shadow passes over Echo's face. "There are some things that are worse than death," he says. "Let's just hope that Palpatine hasn't thought of them yet."

He wants to ask. He can't ask. He makes himself not ask. "If the Chancellor grabbed him, he's probably still somewhere on Coruscant," Fives says. "We just have to figure out where."

Echo blows out a breath. "We don't have the manpower for that kind of search," he says. "We still have to figure out how to stop the Chancellor from sending out the signal."

"Then we'll split up," Fives says. "I have a…contact I've been working with. You and the others, you do what you need to do. I'm going after Fox."

Echo flinches. It would be imperceptible if Fives didn't know him so well. "I'll catch back up when we have Fox," Fives says. He squeezes Echo's wrist, but this time, Echo doesn't relax.

"Who's the contact?"

"What?"

"Who's the contact?" Echo repeats.

"It doesn't matter."

"Fives—"

"It doesn't matter. I've got it under control."

"It's the fact you have to keep it under control that worries me," Echo says. He scrubs at his eyes with his left hand and sighs. "Just be careful, all right? I just got you back."

"Oh, come on, Echo," Fives says, and shoves him playfully. "I'm always careful."

With the look Echo gives him, it's a wonder he doesn't drop dead a second time.