Febuwhump Day Seven: Suffering in Silence
Plot: Hunter has struggled with heights since Kamino. His fall on Daro marked the beginning of when their family fell apart, and it's been engrained into his mind forever. Normally, that isn't a problem, and it might not be enough to stop him like it is Wrecker, but that doesn't mean it's not hard.
Author's Note: Hunter's abilities are cool to explore. Also he needs a hug so, SO BAD.
~ Amina Gila
Hunter can feel the constant pulsing and flowing of electric currents, no matter how small or near invisible. That's not something he's ever been able to explain to anyone. It's the same as all his other senses.
He can taste the metallic-ness, feel the flickering currents buzzing in his skin, can smell the wave imprints hours after the currents moved by. He's never been able to estimate time because it fades at different rates on every planet or ship.
He's been tracking Omega ever since she walked out on them. (Crosshair walked out on them. Echo walked out on them. Now Omega – she's not gone gone but Hunter's still so, so afraid to know what it will take for her to leave, too. He knows he's probably being dramatic now, but he's so, so scared.)
He's been tracking Tech, too, feeling the way their heartbeats mingle with the currents of the planet, flowing outwards, seeping even through the rocky walls separating them.
And Hunter felt it the moment Omega's heartbeat skyrocketed with fear, a telltale, instant sign that something went wrong. He felt them drifting away, fading out from where he'd cornered them to, even as he and Wrecker worked.
Wrecker, of course, catches on the moment he freezes. Many things have changed since Kamino, but Wrecker is still just as... emotionally inclined as he used to be. "What is it, Hunter?" he asks worriedly.
Hunter pulls his comm out, trying both Tech and Omega, but there's nothing. They feel even more distant than they were a minute ago. Their heartbeats are muted, radiating like they're everywhere and nowhere at once, and he can't pinpoint anything. "Something's wrong," he says, pushing himself to his feet.
Wrecker stands wordlessly, and they make for the last place he sensed them.
Tech finally answers his comm before Hunter finishes tracking them. "We took an unforeseen detour, but we are alive," Tech supplies with way too much flippancy.
"Where are you?" Hunter asks.
"That is a good question. Stand by."
That's never a good sign.
Of course, the moment Hunter left the two of them alone, they got in trouble. It seems to happen every time. Wrecker and Crosshair used to get in trouble like this when they were little. Every time Hunter and Tech looked away, it was something else. Now, that... Wrecker doesn't do that anymore.
He's so quiet.
Hunter misses who he used to be.
Doesn't think he'll ever get that brother back. He can't be who he once was anymore, either.
By the time Tech finally calls back to tell them that he found an alternate means out, Hunter's already tracked them to the edge of a cliff drop. There's water below it. The electric currents on this planet are... high, loud enough that they grate on him, but they flicker and flow outwards, and he can hear the distant rushing of water.
That's why it's been so hard to track them. Water is practically the only thing that dulls or mutes his senses, the only thing that makes it quieter. He should've guessed that from the start.
"We've got the gear and the ipsium," Hunter tells him.
He tries not to stare down into the darkness. Isn't quite managing it.
He hates heights.
Still remembers the chest-crushing panic of the fall on Daro, of wondering if he'd even be alive when he made it to the bottom, if he'd even be in one piece. Of not knowing if he'd ever get to see his brothers again.
"Good. Next, you'll need to carefully scale down the narrow crevasse and descend into the aqueduct below. You will come upon us once the rapids eject you over the waterfall." Waterfall? His heart flips at that. How long of a drop is this? How did Tech and Omega even make it out alright? Are they hurt? (He doesn't want to do this.) "But you must not compromise the mineral vials, or you will perish."
Well, there's not really a way to swim down a waterfall. They've had to do many things Hunter isn't exactly comfortable with.
This is hardly a first.
Still, staring down into the darkness is making his gut do summersaults.
"You got to be kidding me!" Wrecker whines, and Hunter swallows any former objections he had to that. He always used to make fun of Wrecker for being scared of heights. He feels so bad about that now – he's living in it, too. He has to be strong for Wrecker, for all of them, no matter how it makes him feel.
"Hang tight," Hunter replies instead, "We're on our way."
"I hate this planet!" Wrecker groans loudly.
Oh, yeah.
Same.
Hunter hates everything about this.
He's hated everything about everything ever since they first left Kamino without Crosshair.
Sometimes, he wishes he had the choice to be by himself for a little while, that he had the lack of self-consciousness enough to give in and cry like Omega does. But Hunter's not a child, and he doesn't have anyone to take care of him like she does. It's always been his role to protect them, so brooding about it won't change anything.
Even trying to climb down the wall without panicking is hard.
Okay.
To tell the truth, he is panicking, but it doesn't really matter.
The water splashes over them when they finally hit it, and Hunter can't feel anything. The pulsing of Wrecker's heartbeat, the more concentrated heat of their blasters, and even their vibroblades and the mining equipment just fades away.
He can still breathe with his helmet sealed. It's so familiar, though. Dark and blurred and falling, and the panic clawing up his chest, whispers of whether he'll even make it out the other end.
If he gives up and screams the whole way down like Wrecker does, well, no one comments about it.
The water is lit with the light blue glow of the ipsium, lighting the area a bit.
Hunter pulls himself up the water bank, pulling his helmet off.
Wrecker's flopped face-first on the ground. Hunter wishes he had the carelessness to do the same. He's so exhausted, he doesn't want to move.
"See?" Omega chirps, crouching by Wrecker and touching his shoulder. Her blonde curls are falling across her forehead, sticking to her face. "That wasn't so bad."
Wrecker groans, offering the weakest thumbs-up known to humankind.
Tech is pulling the ipsium equipment out of the water.
Wrecker stands, groaning unnecessarily loud – except maybe it's really not unnecessary. He wants to, also. He doesn't have the energy to – anything. He doesn't want to move, either.
His heart is still fluttering a little, and he's exhausted. He wants to sleep. That could be everywhere from the fall to the digging they've been doing in the first place. Maybe he's exhausted from Echo leaving, too. It's... hard to say. Hunter admittedly feels better about it than he thought he would, probably because he saw it coming for months now.
Omega seems a little more settled now, and she and Tech must have actually... talked.
(Hunter wishes he and someone could actually talk. Doesn't think he knows what that means anymore. He used to make his brothers talk if they ever argued. He never got that himself.)
"You okay?" Hunter asks Omega when she looks up at him.
She looks less depressed right now, but he knows how that feels. It comes and goes, but it never really goes away. He wishes Omega didn't have to live with this. She doesn't deserve to live under this burden.
She deserves... everything they never got. (Everything that he so selfishly wants for himself.)
"Yeah," she assures, though it's not very reassuring.
"Are you?" Hunter asks, lightly nudging Wrecker's shoulder. They've all become... a lot gentler with each other since Kamino, too. He already knows the answer. Doesn't know why he's taking the time to ask. He's not fine, but Wrecker will brush it off, and they'll keep moving.
(He wishes somebody would do that for him. Can't remember the last time someone actually asked him.)
Wrecker groans again. "Yeah."
"Come on," Omega says, patting Hunter's arm, "Let's get out of here."
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