Chapter 5 - Coven
Author's Note: Aaaand we've gotten to the end of the story! I hope you enjoy how it concludes! :D
PS. No, I do not know when we'll post another vampire fic with the Batch. But we absolutely will. xP We've got several in the works.
~ Amina Gila
Hunter approaches Tech, and Wrecker feels his uncertainty, though he doesn't hesitate, reaching up to touch his shoulders and leaning closer. Tech hardly twitches when Hunter bites him, and Wrecker feels the shifting change the moment it happens. He feels another flicker of light in his mind as Tech joins their coven.
"Can you turn me, too?" Omega asks, standing. Wrecker scoops her up the way he often does, carrying her back to the others.
The others freeze, turning to her. "Are you sure?" Hunter asks uncertainly, turning to her.
"I'm part of the squad, too," she insists, "I'm one of you."
Wrecker catches Crosshair's eyes on them, and he feels a strange tendril of hurt in his mind. He looks away when Wrecker turns to him, though. He hesitantly approaches Crosshair and loops an arm around his shoulders. Crosshair presses against his side, but he doesn't say anything.
He's still in black armor and all, and it looks weirdly wrong.
"Uh, you okay?" Wrecker asks him quietly.
Crosshair turns closer, pressing his face to Wrecker's shoulder armor. "What do you think?" he grumbles, voice echoing in Wrecker's mind.
He doesn't know what to do. Crosshair hurt them, and it – he doesn't know what to do about it.
"Can you turn me, too?" Omega asks again, "I have it also."
"Tech?" Hunter inquires, turning to him. "Do you think she'll be able to handle it?"
"I would recommend waiting through my own transformation," Tech answers, "Echo and Wecker's may have been without complications, but the circumstances were different."
"How, exactly?" Echo asks, "We all got bitten."
"Crosshair's was first," Tech reminds, "And his began from a... fatality."
Oh. Oh. Wrecker knew that but he never really thought about it. All he'd been able to focus on was how Crosshair did it to Hunter. He never really realized that it happened to Crosshair, too. "Is – what – what happened?" he inquires, freaked out.
Crosshair hisses out a breath. "The engine."
The engine?! Wrecker blew that up. He thought – Crosshair was trying to –
They didn't have a choice, but that doesn't make it any better. He yanks Crosshair closer, clinging to him. "I'm sorry," he blurts out, "I didn't know you were close, that –" He hurt Crosshair, and he can't...
He hurt all of them.
Omega's desperate "please, stop, I don't want to hurt you," is still ringing in his mind, still remembers the panicked way Tech called his name and how Hunter kept trying to reach him, though he was too angry and out-of-it to listen.
He knew that, but he didn't know he would hurt Crosshair, too.
Hunter steps forwards, worry etched on his face, and Wrecker can feel it burning in the back of his mind.
"I didn't know you were there," Hunter tells Crosshair quietly, reaching up to touch his shoulder again. "I'm sorry."
"Are you?" He states more than asks.
Hunter flinches slightly. "Of course. You're our brother."
Crosshair leans into his touch a little, and Wrecker can still feel the hurt burning in his mind, though he isn't angry like earlier. Or last night – he has no idea. All he does know is that they're out of hyperspace now, sitting somewhere mid-space while waiting for Cid to contact them again. Unless it's to make sure Crosshair is... safe first.
"I told you what would happen if you didn't follow orders," Crosshair says, pulling back from Wrecker who reluctantly lets him go. He doesn't have the same anger to him that he did earlier, but he's still expecting it to resurface any moment. And Wrecker hates seeing them argue. It's weird and wrong, and it doesn't make any sense.
"There was nothing else we could do."
Crosshair's eyes narrow, though he doesn't quite look like he's about to go on the offensive. Yet. "You should have stayed."
"Crosshair, you know we couldn't have."
Crosshair glares at him before he stalks off to the front, shoving past him.
Wrecker watches him go, feeling a little like he screwed something up, but he doesn't really know what or how.
He sets Omega down, feeling awkward to keep holding her given the current course of conversation. He doesn't really know what to do.
**w**
Space is dark. It's always dark, but everything just feels a little... different now.
He's just trying to find something to distract himself now, to stop feeling the burning hurt and guilt he feels from Hunter and all of them.
He wishes he hadn't told them, but nothing's really changed, and he wants it to. He wants it to stop hurting, wants to bite Hunter again, though he's afraid to ask. That had helped. It made it stop hurting, dulled the anger and hurt he feels into something that he could stop thinking about. To be fair, the hunger burned some of it away, but he'd been calm, even if there'd still been a part of him that wanted to hurt Hunter for leaving him, for hurting him.
"Crosshair?"
It's Tech.
"Go away," he grumbles, annoyed. He doesn't want to talk.
"You will be fine," Tech assures, easing himself into the seat beside him. "We will find a way to remove your chip."
He scoffs, turning away. Yeah, they mentioned it before, but Crosshair doesn't really believe it. He's exactly the same now as he always has been.
Tech doesn't say anything again, returning to something on his datapad, and they sit there in silence for a little while – the same way they so often used to – before Crosshair finally feels the first bits of his brother's hunger. Tech throws a brief glance his way, shifting a little.
"What?" Crosshair asks, not fully appreciative.
"Nothing," Tech says, looking away again, and oh – he's a terrible liar. Crosshair nearly killed him earlier, he realizes abruptly. He shot at him on Bracca. He nearly killed all of them, and it isn't as though what they did to him was worse than what he was about to do to them.
They all hurt each other, and it's a mess.
They're a mess. They were supposed to do everything together, and he doesn't understand why that changed.
Tech hisses faintly, and Crosshair twists around to look at him. "You planning to bite me?" Crosshair asks dryly.
"May I?" he asks, somehow managing to sound not-quite-hopeful.
Did he really come up here with the sole intent of biting Crosshair? Is he that... attractive? Well, he can't bite himself, so he wouldn't know, but the kid smells the sweetest, so he really wants to bite her, too. That'd be weird, though, because he doesn't really know her. "Fine," he concedes grumpily.
"Do you want to stay here?" he queries, pushing himself to his feet. Crosshair can feel their bond pulsing a little stronger now, can feel Tech's discomfort at the prospect of feeding, though his hunger overwrites anything else. Probably, he can't think of much past his desperate craving for blood either, and Crosshair's been there too, so it shouldn't seem so weird.
Crosshair slides onto the floor, because while he could just as well go to the back, he doesn't really... want to right now.
Tech sits next to him and lays a hand on his shoulder. It's obvious he's hesitant and uncertain about it, which isn't that surprising, because they've never been... intimate with each other in years. It's been a long time, but something inside Crosshair purrs happily at the thought of being close to any of his brothers again, so he leans closer, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close.
He senses as much as hears Wrecker's approach from the back, though he keeps a distance away, lingering.
Tech bites down, drawing blood, and the stinging pain fades away into a strange sense of contentment.
Crosshair snuggles closer, and Tech's other hand lifts to press lightly to his side. It's warm and present, and it reminds him of when Wrecker was feeding on him last night, though he's not as worn out as he was then.
Wrecker settles next to them, arm wrapping around him.
Crosshair curls up between them, content to just be there and wait it out until Tech's transformation is over.
It's been a while by the time he finally pulls back from Crosshair's neck, though he doesn't pull away altogether. Tech doesn't initiate contact with them that frequently, though he doesn't mind it, either. It's still a little weird, but Crosshair really doesn't want to let go, so he doesn't.
Their bonds feel strengthened from feeding, or maybe it's the brother's he's been closest with longest, he doesn't really know. He wishes he could feel like this with Hunter – as if everything he did doesn't matter, that it's still something they can move past.
He really doesn't know what to do.
"What... do I say to Hunter?" Crosshair asks quietly, pressing himself against Wrecker's side.
"What do you mean?" Tech queries, sounding genuinely confused.
It feels stupid to talk about, but Wrecker and Tech have known Hunter as long as him – okay, technically a few minutes longer or so – but they would know. He would've once, too. Hunter's their brother, and it seems most reasonable to go to them for help. "I... hurt him."
Probably, feeding on him again would help, but Hunter didn't want him to. Crosshair was afraid enough to ask as it was, and he doesn't want to try again when Hunter will just push him off, when he'll... He was afraid, and Crosshair hates himself for causing that.
"I dunno," Wrecker tells him miserably, squeezing him tighter. "He knows it wasn't your fault."
It was though. He might've been... hungry, but Hunter was when he bit Crosshair, too, and he still had enough self-restraint to stop when he asked him to.
"Yes, it was," he hisses.
"The turn was sudden, and it was not something you could control," Tech objects, hand still lingering on his shoulder. Crosshair shifts back from him in favor of curling up against Wrecker again, but Tech doesn't pull away.
That isn't what he means though, and he doesn't know how to explain it. They weren't there. They didn't watch Hunter die and come back, didn't see him cold and still and hear his heart stop, or hear him beg and know that –
He was desperate, hurting, scared, and Crosshair knew but it didn't matter enough to him to stop. None of it would've happened if Hunter hadn't left, but that doesn't...
Make it better.
He knows Hunter's right about that, and he hates it.
"You don't understand," he hisses frustratedly. "He tried to stop it, but I..."
He feels Wrecker and Tech exchanging glances over his head, and Wrecker tugs him closer. Tech's hand slips to his, and Crosshair clings to it tightly, desperately. He needs this, it, needs... them.
"I didn't mean to," he whispers, voice raw, tears burning at his eyes and slipping down his cheeks. I knew it hurt, but I didn't stop and whatdidido –
Wrecker's grip stays firm around him, as if that could somehow make it better, but Crosshair appreciates it enough that it feels like it does a little bit anyway.
"I am aware you would never harm us of your own," Tech assures, and Crosshair squeezes his hand a little tighter.
They don't say anything else, just hold him as he cries. Wrecker's hand strokes down his back over his armor, but it's heavy and present and there, which is all he needs.
It's been a little while before Hunter approaches from the back. "Is... he alright?" he asks quietly.
"No," Tech says over Wrecker's very uncertain "uh..."
Hunter sighs heavily, and Crosshair hears him circling around to be in front of him. He presses his face to Wrecker's shoulder, refusing to look up.
He still doesn't know what to do.
Hunter crouches beside Tech, across from Wrecker and Crosshair. "What's wrong?"
"Evidently, his... past actions are catching up with him," Tech supplies.
"It's not his fault," Wrecker whines, and Crosshair cannot fathom his need to constantly repeat that.
"Crosshair?" Hunter asks, almost tentatively, and he can't ignore that even if he wants to.
He shifts a little, twisting around to look at him. And yes, he's a little self-conscious about it, but this is Hunter, and it isn't as though they haven't seen each other cry before. They're brothers, and his mind whispers safeprotected every time he thinks of Hunter, which makes sense because Crosshair would once have done anything for him, and Hunter would always take care of them.
"I'm not angry at you," he tries hesitantly, reaching for him.
"No, you're just afraid of me," Crosshair snaps back.
Hunter twitches back, surprise flitting briefly across his face before he clenches his jaw. "I'm not –"
"Don't lie," he hisses. "I know it's true." He presses back to Wrecker a little, soaking up the warmth and comfort of his presence.
He's never seen such raw vulnerability on Hunter's face before, at least not for a long time. "I'm sorry," he says again, and Crosshair knows he means it. A mix of guilt and shame and hurt rippling over the other end of their bond. "I know we hurt you, and I didn't mean to. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
He's hurting, and Crosshair is itching to bite him again, because that did and would help, if they could get past the fear of what happened last time. He just... doesn't know how to ask.
Hunter must've caught his look or felt his hunger. "If you want to..." he offers uncertainly, and Crosshair moves forwards instantly. He wants – needs – this, desperately. Hunter settles back a bit, tugging down the collar of his body glove as Crosshair climbs into his lap. And yes, he knows it's childish, but he doesn't much care. He's missed being their youngest, even if he's not really anymore with Omega here, missed the feeling of being taken care of.
Missed what it felt like for anyone to care about him, period.
He feels Hunter's spike of apprehension, but they both choose to ignore it.
Up close, he can still see the faintest bruises on his neck, though they're mostly healed over, which is weird. Crosshair could swear they looked worse last night, whatever his idiot brothers got into in his absence, but to be fair? They both healed from dying, so this couldn't be much harder.
Hunter tugs him closer, and Crosshair presses his face to his brother's neck, inhaling shakily. He smells like him, and when he finally works up the courage to sink his fangs through Hunter's skin and start feeding, it tastes like him, too. Wrecker was... Wrecker-like somehow, and they both have their own distinct flavors.
...
He still needs to bite Tech.
Crosshair wraps his arms around Hunter's neck, clinging to him, trying to keep his feeding to a minimum, which is hard when he's as desperate as he is, but he doesn't want to ask too much of him. Hunter slips an arm around his waist, pressing them together.
Crosshair can feel his uncertainty, despite how readily he agreed to it and the calm of feeding. "I'm sorry," he whispers in Hunter's mind, nuzzling against him.
Hunter's other hand lifts to his head. "Me too," he sends back. "Me too."
**w**
Crosshair curled up in his arms feels oddly right somehow, and Hunter wants to hold him, to keep him here, even if there's still a part of him uncomfortable with it. It isn't as though he could refuse him again – he hates himself enough for doing it the first time.
It'd been sudden, and Crosshair was angry, and now's just... different. But still.
Echo and Omega move closer, and Echo catches Hunter's eyes. He doesn't ask if he's alright with it, though the look on his face says enough. Hunter sends a mental confirmation to him, and Echo moves past them to the co-pilot seat.
Tech moves to the pilot's seat, briefly touching Hunter's shoulder – he's being abnormally tactile, but the same can be said about them all.
Omega sits down next to Wrecker, looking up at Hunter with her best hopeful look. She's been insistent about being turned from the start, and Hunter still doesn't know what to think about that.
Wrecker's lingering close, which Hunter is grateful for because if – if Crosshair's going too far, at least he has a guaranteed way of stopping him. He hates himself for thinking that, but he just... can't stop it.
Crosshair bled him dry. He's rather not think about that more than necessary. He's here now anyway, and they're together again. He's not leaving. He already said that.
"Can you turn me, too?" Omega asks hopefully, and how can he say no to that look?
He'd do anything for her. They all would.
He glances to Echo for help, and Echo's just watching with a far too smug and amused face.
Alright, fine.
Hunter lets out a defeated sigh, and Crosshair muffles a laugh. "You've already dragged her through enough chaos," he purrs, briefly pulling back. "What would it hurt?"
"Especially with bounty hunters after her," Tech agrees, "When you were... otherwise occupied, we encountered another."
What?
"On Bracca?" Hunter asks, twisting around to look at him. Crosshair nuzzles against his neck again.
"Yeah," Wrecker answers, "Don't worry, we got 'im."
"Who's after the kid?" Crosshair queries, shifting back, and Hunter feels a flicker of worry from him. It's weird for him to be worried about Omega after everything that happened. He doesn't know her, but it reassures him a little that Crosshair wasn't himself earlier, even if he's somewhat fading back into it now.
"The Kaminoans," Tech replies, "I further analyzed her genetic profile, and discovered she has pure, first-generation DNA."
"Whoa," Wrecker breathes. "Wait! W-what does that mean?"
"All clones were created from a host named Jango Fett. While our genetic structure was modified for growth acceleration and obedience, Omega is a pure genetic replication." That actually explains what makes her so important.
"How many clones like that exist?" Hunter queries, unease creeping up inside him. Crosshair nuzzles closer, still sucking gently, sensing his unease.
"To my knowledge there's only one other," Tech explains, "A male clone code-named Alpha, later referred to as Boba. Since he disappeared at the start of the war, that makes Omega the sole living source of Fett's raw genetic material."
"If... you turn me," Omega asks quietly, "Won't that change it? I won't be... special to them anymore?"
She has a point.
"The kid's got a point," Wrecker offers.
Hunter would offer to bite her himself, but that's not presently possible. "Alright," he agrees, "That... may be for the best."
Omega lights up instantly. "Can you turn me?"
"Are you sure it's what you want?" he asks.
She nods hopefully, looking at Wrecker.
"Uh..." he says, looking freaked out, "I dunno. You're..."
"I'm not that small," she grumbles, and it's adorable. Unreasonably adorable. It reminds him a little of when Crosshair was younger, and Hunter instinctively tightens his grip on his little brother. It's alright with everyone here, when it's been a little longer, when he's had more time to think it through.
"Just be careful?" Hunter requests, because Wrecker has been very, very gentle with Omega, but he still doesn't much like the thought of Omega being bitten. Wrecker's big, and he's often... hungry, but considering how he doesn't see any of that on him right now, Hunter can hope it's fine.
He's about to tell Tech to get something to numb it, but Wrecker's already turning to her, and maybe he should've done it himself, but Wrecker looks so hopeful about it, and considering how close they are, he didn't see much reason to stop them.
Wrecker feels as excited as he does freaked out, but he scoops her into his lap anyway.
"It's okay," Omega assures when he starts rambling an unintelligible string of freaked-out sounds.
Hunter settles back a little, shifting to lean partly against the wall. Crosshair still hasn't moved, though he's not feeding as actively anymore.
Omega tilts her head back, and Wrecker tugs her closer.
"Very carefully," Hunter cautious, "Just enough to break skin. I didn't bite Tech deeply, either, but it held."
"I know," Wrecker says, leaning down to bite her.
Hunter feels another spot of light flare to life in his mind, and Omega feels so bright. He flinches at her sharp inhale, but she doesn't pull back, and wraps her arms around his neck in much the same way Crosshair did last night. Her discomfort seems to fade almost instantly, the same way Hunter's did just now.
He feels a prickle of something from Crosshair, something a bit like fear and uncertainty. There's an endless list of things he could be afraid of, but considering Omega was just turned, he can only guess, even if it's a bit wild.
"Don't worry," Hunter tells him, teasingly. "You'll still be the baby of the family."
Crosshair bites him again, and laughs when he yelps.
Which, okay. Yeah. He deserves that.
It's very light this time, as opposed to last. It's not... meant to hurt, and it was barely deep enough to break through skin.
"Where do we go now?" Crosshair sends to him, and it makes something warm inside him. He said we. Hunter squeezes him tighter, and probably, if their armor wasn't taking most of the pressure, it'd probably be deep enough to bruise.
"We... were staying on Ord Mantell," Hunter explains aloud. He's a bit hesitant about explaining, but Crosshair hasn't tried to hurt them, and somehow, he doesn't think he will. There's a certain sense of blind devotion and loyalty that Hunter feels for the others, and it's something that was drastically increased by the transformation. "We... work for someone. We're trying to get enough credits to get somewhere to lay low, but we haven't managed it quite yet."
Crosshair makes a sound of acknowledgement, fangs lightly grazing on his skin.
Idly, Hunter remembers Crosshair did that earlier, when he drained him, before biting him the third time.
Crosshair shifts a little in his arms, one of his hands slipping down to rest on Hunter's shoulder, pressing against his armor.
He presses his mouth back to the bite, not really feeding anymore, but still staying close. It's gentle and strangely soothing, and Hunter doesn't want him to stop.
Beside him, Wrecker's bandaging Omega's bite, which is impressively neat. He really was being careful.
"Speaking of Cid," Tech interjects, "She is contacting us now."
Hunter Does Not Want to move. "Patch it through," he calls, safely out of range of the transmission.
Crosshair makes a grumpy sound. It's unreasonably adorable, and Hunter wants to press closer to him and feels an unnatural urge to purr. Which is disturbing and weird, but it's slightly amusing for as aggravating as it is.
"I have another mission for you boys," Cid's voice says from the cockpit.
Crosshair snuggles closer, ignoring it entirely.
Not much to hear anyway, except her telling them to get back so she can give them details.
"Take us down," Hunter calls.
Omega settles down next to him, looking up and smiling brightly. Hunter smiles back. With Crosshair here, everyone here, they're... safe.
They're home.
Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^
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