Chapter 15 - Home
Author's Note: Yeesh the very slowly growing rift between Crosshair and Echo is so hard to write about. T_T But I promise they'll fix it sometime. Cuz at the end of the day, siblings always come first. So. Welcome to 4k of the Bad Batch having no idea how to take care of themselves. :'D ;_; Also, the chapter is long. Considering it's the last... I think it's acceptable. :')
~ Rivana Rita
Thank y'all so much for being along for the ride! This is NOT the end of this universe, I promise. There will be more installments at some point in the future with the Batch trying to adjust to being together again. :)
~ Amina Gila
A strange, bone-deep exhaustion is gnawing at her. She's... tired. Worn. Almost entirely, even if they won this mission and no one was hurt.
They have Hunter back. They have Echo back. They have everyone back, and Crosshair saved AZI, too. And Echo is right that they shouldn't have to worry about bounty hunters anymore, either. They can move on without having to worry.
But still, Omega can't stop remembering Kamino. That was their home. It's just... gone. The Empire destroyed it. She saw it falling, burning. It still feels like they lost something that was an integral part of... them.
Omega climbs the stairs to the gunner's mount, pushing the curtain aside and picking up Lula, ignoring the way Hunter's eyes follow her. So much has changed since he left. Omega should be focusing on him or Echo because they're the ones she should really be worrying about, but instead, she's just... going off to hide, like that will somehow fix something.
Selfish. She's just being selfish. Because she's tired.
"You okay, kid?" Wrecker asks, trailing after.
"Is AZI gonna be okay?" Omega queries instead.
"He will be fine," Tech assures, "Once I restore his power. It didn't even short out under water."
She lets out a soft sigh of relief, turning around to look at Wrecker. She doesn't even know what to say to him.
"You got any Mantell Mix?" Wrecker asks, "I'm starving."
"Uh..." No. She forgot. "Can we sleep first this time?"
"Sure," he agrees, scooping her up. Omega wraps her arms around his neck, clinging to him and still holding Lula. Wrecker's hands are huge, and they're strong enough to break literally anything, but he's always so gentle with her.
That's what she wants – needs – right now.
**w**
Crosshair was following Wrecker and Omega to their bunks but pauses when he realizes Echo is hanging back. Hunter isn't coming, and neither is Tech – likely to stay and watch the ship scans. Someone usually stays awake for that, just in case.
"Tech's repairing my scomp before I join you," Echo explains, approaching him.
That doesn't answer the more important questions of what happened after he was captured. And knowing Echo, he will never bring it up. It doesn't really matter, anyway, because it's part of the past. The mission's over. There's nothing left to say about it.
But still, there's a certain tenseness in him that wasn't there before. It's slight, but it's unusual. Omega probably would've noticed, if she weren't so visibly worn out. Usually, Hunter was the first to comment, but that was before. Now, they... all have to look out for each other, but not in the way they used to.
Now, it's... mutual. It's for more than their teamwork and is just as much about their lives.
Which was why Crosshair was so reluctant about going to Daro in the first place.
"It wasn't his fault," he offers finally. They all know that. He keeps telling himself that, but knowing and accepting are two very different concepts.
"You always knew him. I didn't," Echo reminds, "To think that... there was more to any of you that I didn't understand wouldn't be unreasonable."
He can't blame Echo for thinking Hunter willingly turned on them. None of them understood it at first. It just stayed... silent, hidden, until Bracca. In a way, it's still hidden. It's there, but they all pretend it's not, that it isn't still hurting. Because no one knows what else to do.
"I could see it when I saw him again, that it wasn't his doing," Echo continues, quietly, quiet enough that – hopefully – no one will overhear. "I always knew it wasn't, even if it was hard to believe. It still is sometimes."
No one wants to believe it, but it's... the fact. "We survived," Crosshair reminds. "Mostly."
There's something dark in Echo's eyes now. "Yeah," he agrees, turning away, "We did."
With him, there will always be more. There is always going to be more that no one can truly understand, because that's... how the regs are. And Echo will never truly explain what's bothering him.
Not as if there's much he could say, anyway, because there are only so many words to describe what it must have felt like for Hunter to capture him and... no one knows the details, or ever will, except them, but the fact that they've been pointedly avoiding one another's gaze says everything that needs to be said. Everything that can be said.
When he joins Wrecker and Omega, they're curled up on Wrecker's rack together, her sprawled out half on top of him in a position that couldn't possibly be comfortable, her other arm wrapped tightly around Lula.
"Your rack is far too small for three," Crosshair tells him flatly.
Wrecker's eye immediately opens. "Three?"
He jumps back, dodging Wrecker's wild grab. "What if you crack her skull open on the floor?" If he ends up in that pile, that's guaranteed to happen to someone.
"I won't fall," Omega objects, shifting a little. Wrecker has an arm hooked around her, so he's fairly certain that's probably true, but still.
"I won't protect you from Echo," he warns them anyway, climbing past onto his own rack. It's relieving to finally be able to sleep again.
**w**
Tech is working on fixing Echo's arm. It's not taking long, and he's talking non-stop about something – Hunter lost track of what a long time ago, but it's relieving to hear him again. Over the weeks – the month, the first month they have ever been without each other and hopefully the last – they were apart, he's missed everything about them so much.
Even their more annoying habits.
And especially the mess their ship is.
His eyes keep drifting to the curtain hung over the gunner's mount and the brilliant colors beyond. That's new.
"What's with the gunner's mount?" Hunter asks finally.
"Wrecker made it a space for Omega," Tech replies.
He's... not surprised. And it's relieving to know they've settled into this life, and that Omega at least has something. They still trust him. He's not sure why. He certainly doesn't.
"So," Hunter questions, "What have you been up to?" He's almost afraid to ask, but they have to start somewhere.
"We've been taking jobs to survive," Echo answers, "It's not much, but it's the most we can find right now. The Kaminoans were sending bounty hunters after Omega. We've had to keep a low profile."
"That's a good strategy," he says finally, "We can't win a direct fight with the Empire."
"It doesn't have to be about winning. There are people who need help, and we can give it to them."
There are so many things he could say to that. All things he would have, once. None of them things he wants to voice anymore. "What about Omega? She deserves better than that."
Echo's jaw clenches.
Hunter had been using Omega to try talking them down. It was the best he could think of. And he – he is really worried about her. About them. So, no, he doesn't know what he chose and what he didn't. He doesn't even know how to tell the others that.
"What would you have had us do?" Echo asks finally.
Hunter doesn't look away, even if he suddenly feels uncomfortable. Even in his own skin, like he's not... what he's meant to be. What he used to be. "I wouldn't take our squad on a fight we couldn't win," he supplies finally, "And if she... is one of us, then we have to make choices for her. She's a child. We need to go somewhere the Empire can't find us."
For a long many moments, no one speaks.
There are too many things they could – should – say. It's been a long time to be without the people he grew up with, and... it feels like they don't know each other anymore. And really, Hunter's not entirely sure they do.
He's never apologized for things before. Never had a reason to. That... wasn't what they did, but now, for the first time in his life, Hunter still feels like... he ought to. He hurt them. All of them. He owes them far more than an apology, and if they need him to regain their trust, he understands it. Crosshair was watching him with the same wary, guarded look that he was watching Echo with at first, though it seemed to fade just as fast.
He can't say for the others. Wrecker's eased up, too, but he never takes anything seriously.
"I... put you all in danger," Hunter says finally. He should talk to them all, but... Echo is the one he hurt the worst. Echo is the one he captured. He failed them, and a part of him wants to tell them so, but years of self-preservation keep him from it. "I thought I was doing the right thing."
"It wasn't your fault," Echo waves him off, "We understand."
"Echo is correct," Tech adds, "You could not have stopped it."
He could argue that. Could say he tried, which he did. He kept trying, kept fighting, until he just... couldn't. But he can't describe how... violated it makes him feel. Some things can't be described. Some things... don't matter.
But Echo knows what it feels like, too.
"When we found you," Hunter asks, "After all that time, why did you stay with us?"
There's a knowing look in Echo's eyes. "I went where I was needed," he replies. "Where I belonged."
He's needed here, with his brothers. Hunter already knows that. But still, somehow, it's relieving to hear. Their situations were... similar. Similar enough to understand each other now. Echo was used against his brothers, and...
"We still have your armor," Echo tells him. "We brought it on board."
They... kept it? He didn't even realize they'd have time to get it. He thought... he came to the hangar too fast. That the Empire sent him there right after they got there. It's not as though Hunter was able to pay attention to those details. His head was throbbing badly enough that he's mildly amazed he was able to make a shot as good as he did.
It's a good thing, too, because on a normal day, he'd have been able to think of a much better strategy. He easily could have thrown a flash grenade out there, and that would have taken down Crosshair long enough to neutralize all of them – Wrecker, at least. Echo would have been harder, less emotionally involved.
But at that point – and he still doesn't understand why – he was at the height of all the over-stimulations he's ever had.
He'd been out for hours after they left Kamino.
The immediate memories of what happened after are hazed over, and Hunter is grateful for that. He doesn't want to remember everything he did. Doesn't want to think about how he was leading someone other than his brothers.
"I'll watch the ship," Hunter offers when Echo stands to leave for their bunks, "And... you can have my rack."
"I'll take it as an apology for stunning me," Echo tells him.
He huffs out a half-sigh, half-laugh. "You did try to hit me in the face."
Echo's expression is a combination of sheepish and amused. "You were pointing a blaster at me."
"Anyone else would have shot you."
"You did shoot me."
"I stunned you. Once." At least if Echo is capable of joking about it, he doesn't take it too seriously.
"I know you were still trying to watch over us," Echo says, moving for the back, then pausing. "Thank you."
He should have tried harder. "A good leader protects his squad."
"Which you always have been," Tech interjects, following Echo.
He watches them leave, though the silence is suddenly unwelcome. Foreign. Hunter has been alone in the Marauder while his brothers are sleeping countless times before, but it has never felt like this. He doesn't even know why. He's back. It's time for them to move on. There's... nothing more to say.
He... lost a month of his life, and now, they have to pick it back up, like nothing happened at all.
Avoidance probably isn't the best strategy, though.
But it's not like emotions ever mattered on Kamino. They didn't. Never have. And there's no reason for them to.
He's done... things. Many things. Hunter wishes he didn't remember as much as he did, but he was sent back to Onderon. He was... going to have his brothers do it first, if they hadn't firmly refused. Tech knew how to talk him down – of course, he was smart enough to figure out a way to work around it.
Hunter knows that, technically, it wasn't under his control, but that... doesn't make it better. No, he wouldn't have done any of it if he had a choice – he would never have hurt his brothers for any reason if he could help it – but that doesn't change that he did. And... they accept him, anyway.
They shouldn't. It feels like they shouldn't – that they should be wary of him, cautious. That they should still be expecting him to lash out and try hurting them, because no matter what they said, he's not fully certain it won't happen again.
Because it will, right? It... kept happening.
He kept doing it. He couldn't stop it.
He should... do something, stop brooding, but right now, he just continues sitting here, lost in his own mind.
It's been a while, at least a few hours, when he finally senses someone stirring in the back – it's Crosshair. The soft pulse of his heartbeat picks up from sleeping to wakefulness.
"The ship didn't turn to glass when you were away," Crosshair says, and Hunter hears his approach, even if he doesn't look up.
"I know."
"Then why are you sitting on the floor?"
"You're not angry," Hunter says finally, looking up at his youngest brother.
"Should I be?"
"I tried to kill you."
"You couldn't stop it," he reminds, sitting next to him. They're close. Almost too close. Hunter doesn't... accept they're safe near him. Any of them. But they're not afraid of him. He doesn't know what to think about that.
"It's always been my role to protect you."
"We protect each other."
Which, yes, they have. They always have. Only it was always Hunter's role first and foremost, as their leader. But no doubt Crosshair is going to fight him on this. He's stubborn like that. Always has been. Stubborn and so, so stupidly loyal.
There is... more he wants to ask. More he should ask. More he should say. But no number of apologies are going to undo what happened or change how he couldn't stop it. "Tech said it happened to you and Wrecker," Hunter says finally.
"Head injuries," he replies, sensing the unspoken question.
Hunter's eyes immediately jump to him.
"Not serious," he clarifies, "No one realized until nearly too late, but we were already on Bracca."
"Then I showed up," Hunter adds numbly. He knew something was wrong. It was obvious, though he hadn't been thinking about it, and he thought it was just that he was gone. Not... that.
Crosshair looks at him sharply, tightly. He's angry, but it's not at him, and it's quickly overwritten by a very characteristic smugness. "What are your orders, Sergeant?"
He doesn't know if he's more exasperated or amused. But it's more terrifying than it is anything else, because Hunter doesn't – can't – trust himself the way he used to. It helps that his brothers do, that his squad does, but it hurts just as much.
They're sitting close enough that their shoulders are touching. It's... relaxing.
"The war is over," Hunter replies slowly, "The kid needs somewhere to settle down."
Crosshair makes a quiet sound of acknowledgement.
"And... I think it's time we do the same."
"What about when the Empire finds us?"
Hunter glances at him again. "Then we'll take it as it comes." He can't imagine living without fighting, but if... it's what's best for everyone, and that's what matters most. That they all stay alive and just... live. In the end, they may have been made for the same things the regs were – to fight and die in a never-ending war – but they've always been different.
Of course, they can choose more. Even some of the regs have. Cut did.
They're in this together, as a squad, as... a family. And they'll stay together, too. No matter how much harder the Empire tries taking them apart.
**w**
They're... going into hiding. It's surreal, but Crosshair can't say he entirely minds that. Not fighting constantly will be... hard, certainly, but the Empire is far, far deadlier than the Separatists and droids. Hunter isn't wrong for worrying they could get themselves killed.
Hunter seems to have... lost faith in himself. It's not... surprising, but it still hurts seeing it, and Crosshair has no idea how to deal with this. None of them do. Clones never needed to know anything about emotions, and the little he knows, he's learned from Omega over the past month.
Which primarily is that she seeks out physical contact when she's upset, and he's learned quickly that it helps him, too. Hence why all of them ended up sleeping on the floor by their bunks instead of on them that night.
It's a little different with Hunter, because he's the oldest, and the leader, so it feels close to out of line. But in the end, he's also their brother, and he... needs help. Reassurance. Just like Omega did. It's hard to see, because of how much – how blindly – Crosshair has always respected and looked up to him. It's similar, though far less childish, than the way Wrecker sees Tech whenever they're not going at each other's throats for no reason.
Hunter has never needed comfort before, not truly. And considering the nature of their relationship, Crosshair very much doubts he could give it to him anyway. But Omega has helped him before, simply by being there, by letting him protect her.
Just holding her, back on Kamino, was grounding. Soothing. She's the only younger sibling he's ever had.
Hunter... must feel very similarly towards all of them.
It's awkward, but he leans over anyway, wrapping his arms around his brother's waist.
Hunter twitches slightly, sharply, but he twists sideways a little and hooks his arm around Crosshair's shoulders, pulling him close. They haven't actively hugged since they were very little. It's been... some years. A couple years. They did back after they nearly lost Wrecker. Everyone was there together that time, minus Echo, who hadn't joined them yet.
Hunter's arms are warm around him, and so painfully familiar. They feel safe. Like home.
Like they've been apart for almost long enough to forget, but some things can never be forgotten.
They sit there together, entangled in each other's grip. It takes Hunter a few minutes to loosen up and melt into it, but when he finally does, it feels more comforting than awkward.
"Are you alright?" he inquires quietly, finally.
"Are you?" Crosshair asks him dryly.
Hunter sighs softly, and his hand moves, touching his head. "I know a lot changed," he offers, slightly awkwardly, "But if something's wrong –"
Does he think Crosshair is only doing that for himself? That's... insulting. "We look after each other now. You, too. We're an anarchy."
Hunter freezes. "What did you do?" He sounds part wary, part amused.
"Nothing," he protests. Which was the literal cause of half the problem. Though no matter how annoying any and all of his brothers are, he'd never give them up for anything in the world. He may have been the closest with Hunter in some ways, but Wrecker and Tech are the ones he stayed with through everything. The only ones he never lost.
"It's a good thing I came back."
Definitely.
Somehow, somewhere on the way, they end up sliding onto the floor, curling up together in the back of the cockpit until a very irked Tech toes them awake when they're exiting hyperspace.
**w**
His old armor is down in the cargo hold. Hunter climbs down to put it on again – for the first time in a month – while Tech brings them down towards the surface of Ord Mantell.
It feels... He doesn't know, but he's back home. Back into what he's always done, even if Hunter isn't terribly certain of his abilities anymore.
Wrecker is the first to greet him when he climbs up, once again dressed in his familiar armor, scooping him into a bone-crushing hug. "It's good to have you back."
"Yes," he wheezes, patting his giant brother's shoulder and shoving him off as fast as possible without doing it outright so he can breathe again. "It is."
"I'm not sure how happy Cid's gonna be," Echo admits. "She didn't want to take in anyone else."
"We're a squad," Omega pipes up, approaching. She looks significantly more cheerful than she was last night. "We're in this together." He's still... uncertain about Omega being with them, but his brothers have accepted her, so Hunter will, too. Even if it takes time.
She's so small. Fierce, loyal, and as stupidly bold as the rest of his squad. She made that clear enough back on Kamino when she fought beside them, even back from the day they met. Now that he knows that she's... older than them, her protectiveness makes sense.
"Yes," he assures, smiling faintly. Sometimes, Hunter still can't believe they have a sister, but she's here. She belongs with them. "We are."
Omega brightens visibly, and after a moment, steps forward and flings her arms around his waist. She steps back a moment later, shyly, but she looks so... happy. It's contagious.
"We wanted to come back for you sooner," she adds, hesitantly.
"You made the right choice," Hunter reassures them. "All of you."
There's a small amount of disbelief in Crosshair's expression, but Echo gives Hunter a nod, somehow looking calmer, happier than he has in a long while. Tech turns his head, looking at him, presently wordless, though something about him looks... content. Almost peaceful. It's strange, but welcoming. And Wrecker, of course, just looks happy. He usually does.
Omega is right that they're doing this together. They will, all the way through.
**w**
They're all together again. All six of them. It's...
Omega is ridiculously gleeful that they managed to rope Hunter into joining their Mantell Mix feast just this once. Crosshair and Wrecker seem as ridiculously gleeful about it as she is herself. She... doesn't know Hunter anymore, but they're bonding fast.
For how much the loss of Kamino hurts, Omega is just grateful that they're together.
It's everything she's ever dreamed of, from the moment all four of her brothers were taken from the lab. Everything, every time she was with Nala Se, watching from afar, every time she pressed herself to the glass of their jars or the overhead observatory windows, watching.
"A lot's changed," she hears Echo saying, "But it'll be good to have some... organization back."
Omega hasn't known Hunter for long, but she can easily see why he was their squad leader. He's levelheaded and reasonable in a way no one else is, no matter how smart they are and how they work together.
"It seems like you survived just fine," Hunter replies. "Considering what we know of life outside the army." Which was nothing for any of them. Omega certainly didn't.
"Crosshair sold me at a grocery store for credits," Echo deadpans, grumpily.
Everyone freezes, turning to look at Echo, then to Crosshair.
"You volunteered," he defends.
"I did not," Echo grumbles.
"And it was not a grocery store."
Omega smothers a laugh at the disgruntled look on Echo's face. It's Crosshair's very strange way of showing affection, and she knows that. "Because that makes me feel so much better," Echo grouses, glaring.
Crosshair smirks. "At least I didn't sell you for spare parts."
Echo whacks him.
Hunter steps between them before the squabble can escalate. "How did you survive without me?" He looks part amused, part incredulous.
"You don't want to know," Tech interjects.
Hunter makes a half-amused sound. "That is true. What's with you and Rex? Is he around?"
"After bounty hunters started coming after Omega, we cut all ties until Daro," Echo replies, "But now, if that's no longer a concern..."
"I'm not taking us into a fight we stand no chance in winning," Hunter answers – as he'd said from the beginning, Omega remembers. "We need supplies and a place to settle down. Mostly, we need to stay out of the eye of the Empire. If they think we're dead, we can use that to our advantage."
**w**
Hunter sounds a little more... like himself, Crosshair has noticed. It's little things, slight changes, but he's slowly falling back into his role. But still, he's struggling. They... all are, in their own ways.
He doesn't know how it happened, but somehow, Tech mentioned their inhibitor chips again. Something everyone would like to pretend never existed, but they can't. Too much has changed.
Much of what Tech says doesn't make sense, and he's only partly following. "I am surprised Hunter's reasoning was unable to work it through," he says.
"I was fighting it," Hunter replies, quietly. He's seemed too quiet ever since returning. "I just... didn't know what it was. If I had, maybe I could've..."
"Doubtful," Crosshair interjects, because it's the truth. He doesn't believe that in the slightest. He knew. He couldn't stop it, either. The most he could do was work around it, and thinking back to it, seeing Tech hurt had calmed it. It makes him sick to remember.
"That is unlikely," Tech objects, "Crosshair was unable to."
"So was I," Wrecker protests.
"Your non-functioning prefrontal cortex prevents all impulse control," Tech replies.
"What does that mean?" Wrecker yelps, and Crosshair scoffs. It's just... funny to hear Tech talk about impulse control, given how impulsive he can be sometimes. Most of the time.
"That's not fair!" Wrecker complains, "Why were you the only one not affected?"
"My brain is wired differently," he explains, "I process moments with reasoning, not impulse or emotion. Even if it were designed to fit my brain pattern, I doubt it would have much effect."
Tech is emotional. Rarely, but it... happens. He has a hot temper, same as all the clones – it's genetic, and there are very few who Crosshair hasn't seen it on. It's much less visible with Omega, because she's so... soft and caring. But Tech does, very rarely, act on his emotions, or lets himself be blinded by them. They were all trained to be different from that.
But with the constant, nagging voice running through his mind, over and over, it was hard to think about anything except how his brothers were traitors, and they needed to be stopped.
That's the same thing that was happening to Hunter. He couldn't stop it, either.
And for Hunter, as their leader, who has always put them over himself, that... would be hard.
"I'm just trying to keep you safe" Hunter had said, way back in the cell on Kamino where it all began, and now, Crosshair finally understands why. It's what he thought he was doing, because if they did commit treason, if they were legally considered traitors, he would have no way to stop himself from hurting them.
"You made the right choice by leaving," Hunter says finally, "And by getting Omega somewhere safe."
We left you, Crosshair wants to say. But he already knows what Hunter would say to that. He's said it before, that he's not angry, that they made the right choice. That they should have left, and not come back. He's their leader, their oldest brother. He's always watched over them and... they need to let him keep doing it, even if it's... hard to trust him. Because even knowing none of that was Hunter's choice, it's not so easy to forget.
They have to let him do what he was meant to do, even if it's hard for them. They owe him that. He's their brother.
"In... the hangar," Hunter says finally – it's the first time they've actually talked about any of the things he'd done. "It was... close."
"I'm surprised you didn't choose to use a flash grenade then," Tech interjects.
He leans back a bit. "I didn't think of it. When they took me, whatever they did to me, I couldn't think."
Echo huffs. "I learned that from the General," he says, "We were ambushed at a base. He dropped his lightsaber, and a MagnaGuard took off his arm with a vibroblade. The boys found it funny. I always remembered that."
By that he probably means Fives, but they don't really talk about Echo's former squad. He doesn't talk about them, more accurately. They're just... gone, like so many others. Crosshair can't imagine what that would be like. He doesn't want to think about it.
And they won't have to worry about it, either, won't have to worry about losing each other any more if they do settle down.
"Noted," Tech tells him dryly.
"Where're we gonna go?" Wrecker inquires.
"We'll find somewhere," Hunter assures him.
Which they will. Now that they're together, they can find a place to start. The task of surviving on their own and raising Omega no longer feels daunting. No matter how jittery Crosshair still feels around Hunter, and no matter how exhausting it is, they're home. They're together.
And more than that, they're free. They don't have to worry about rules or orders or any choices being made for them, even if fighting is the only life he can imagine.
Crosshair can't really say how it happened, but somehow, when he and Tech head for their racks later, Hunter and Wrecker are curled up together with Omega, on the floor. Under normal circumstances, he... doesn't mind affection, and never has, but it's something that they've been long taught is a weakness. Wrecker's still extreme about it, and maybe it's partly that Wrecker is the literal child of the Batch and the one that needs to be watched over the most, but it still makes him feel oddly protected. Being squeezed in a crushing hug by someone so much bigger than him just feels ridiculously... childish.
And mostly? He refuses to give into it, just because he's stubborn. Even if he wants to.
He steps around Wrecker, anyway, even if there's suddenly a small part of him that doesn't want to, settling down next to Hunter. Crosshair reaches over him to Omega, who opens her eyes, smiling up at him. He returns the smile as she reaches up to grab his hand. Hers feels so small, but he takes it anyway, draping an arm over their older brother. Hunter himself stirs slightly, and judging from the tenseness in his expression, he's not sleeping – at least not peacefully.
Tech lays down by Wrecker after eyeing them for a few moments, and Echo enters moments later. He joins Crosshair, hesitating for a ridiculous length of time before wrapping an arm around him, too. He's very rarely physically affectionate. It's not comfortable, by any means, but the point is to be surrounded by family, which matters far more.Crosshair edges his left arm out from beneath him to take Echo's hand, squeezing it lightly.
Some of the hurt between them melts away. Echo is just... different. His path is different, as Hunter first told him, in some ways, even from theirs. But he, like Omega, is one of them, and he always will be.
Even if they don't see eye to eye on everything. In the end, Echo is still with them, one of them.
He's not sure how long the six of them are lying there, curled up around each other, but Crosshair is nearly entirely asleep when Hunter finally moves slightly, his hand joining Crosshair and Omega's.
"Thank you," he murmurs, soft enough Crosshair hardly hears him.
"For what?"
"For... taking me back. After everything." His fingers trace lightly over their intertwined hands. It's soft, gentle.
It's a good thing Hunter's laying on his back, Crosshair thinks dryly, and moves closer, twisting a bit and rests his head on his brother's shoulder. Echo makes a grumpy sound at the disturbance, but doesn't wake. Hunter lets out a slightly surprised noise, but he surprisingly doesn't object.
Crosshair thought he would. Not that he's about to complain that he's not. Curled up here together, everything makes so much more sense. "You'd do the same for me."
And it's true. They'd do it for any of them. It's what family does.
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Come hang out on Discord (delete spaces), discord . gg / nqSxuz2 or find us on tumblr at fanfictasia (our more serious blog which does have controversial posts on it; I won't be offended if you choose to block it, promise), and disastertriowriting (which is our fun blog with crack posts or incorrect SW quotes)
We've got a YT channel for tributes! (delete the spaces) youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA
ALSO: We have SW gift request forms for General, Anakin-Clones-centric, and Bad Batch fics. :D (delete spaces) bit . ly / CourtesyTrefflinFicRequests
