Nameless
I... didn't mean this to be so short, but here it is. o.o Apologies, it's cringeeeyyyy.
~ Rivana Rita
"I wanted to see you again before you left," Anakin says, breathlessly, catching up to Echo before he can board the Marauder. His new squad is set for leaving, off on whatever chaotic mission they can find – they're different, and he likes them. He knows they'll take good care of Echo.
"Sir." Echo salutes him, entirely unnecessarily, but he appreciates the sentiment. They're loyal. Anakin isn't his superior anymore, and he failed him, but Echo still respects him.
Anakin will never forget the citadel. He'll never forget the moment of standing there, Fives' "Echo look out!" as Echo ran for the ship, trying to get to the shuttle, tried... everything he could so they wouldn't fail.
But the Force had other plans for him.
He was meant to be here, for reasons Anakin can't begin to fathom, but he understands this is the only way it could be.
Words fail him when Echo turns back to face him, the pinkish-orange light of Anaxus's sky shining over them. It makes Echo look more ghostly and white-washed than he already is. This was his friend, one of his men, one of his – his brothers.
He's barely half-human now. He'll never recover from the Citadel, from what Anakin let happen to him, from when the Separatists captured him. Anakin had vowed never to let them get a finger on his men, but he failed.
Words fail him now that he's here.
Echo will be going, off on his own, with people he's never worked with, his polar opposites, and he'll be mourning Fives and all the time he lost alone.
"I – I wanted to see you again," Anakin repeats. "Good luck with – with the war."
Echo nods to him. "You too."
Fives should be here. He should be wishing Echo good luck, too. That's a hole in both their hearts that can never be repaired. Fives is gone, but unlike Echo, his death was entirely pointless.
Echo will never be able to rest assured Fives died fighting for what he believed in.
Fives died before ever knowing his twin survived.
Echo feels of weighted grief, though the fierce, hard desire to keep fighting, for action, to move. He's hiding from his grief, and Anakin wants to help it, but only Echo can choose to confront it.
"And – I'm sorry. About the Citadel. I should've saved you." If I had, Fives could be here. You could have spent your lives together, as one, with each other forever, as you were always meant to be. As we were always – he was my best friend and you never got to see, you missed it all, it thought you were there, watching us, but I was wrong.
"We all know we could die any day," Echo replies, "That was no different. I choose to sacrifice myself for the mission, for all of you, or at least I thought I had."
But it was for nothing. The mission failed, anyway. "The Force gave you another chance, and I know you won't waste it."
They stand together, and Anakin's eyes are drawn to Echo's scomp. It jars him to see a twisted metal arm that should be on a droid on his best friend. "How is it?"
Echo lifts his scomp, turning it over. "Fine enough. I'll get used to it."
"We all work with what we have," Anakin sighs, "It's part of learning to adapt and live, but still. You should never have gone through that."
"It wasn't your fault," Echo says, as he knew he would, but it still lifts something in his heart.
It won't stop the nightmares, the memories of seeing the explosion rip through him, of the fire and blood. Of Echo.
"They'll take care of you," Anakin adds, nodding towards the Bad Batch, "Maybe better than we could."
Echo laughs. "I think they're the ones that need taking care of. Have you seen them?"
Anakin laughs. It feels a little broken and fake, but in truth, he's missed Echo and his dry brand of sarcasm.
"He'll be fine," Wrecker interjects, yanking Echo into a one-armed hug, having wandered off from where Hunter and Crosshair are squabbling with Tech about something interjecting in would be lethal, with siblings and all. "We'll take care of 'im."
Anakin smiles up at him – Wrecker must be about nine, not having seen too much action, but enough for it to brand their chaos, though despite it all, he remains young and childish. He's genuinely a bit adorable. "I know you will. And you'll top Crosshair again."
Wrecker laughs. "Of course, I will!"
Crosshair's head swivels in their direction from across the hangar, like he somehow knows they're talking about him despite being safely out of earshot.
Anakin pats Wrecker's shoulder. Hopefully, he'll go for hitting droids instead of people – Anakin knows siblings fight, and that sometimes the only way of relieving frustration is violence, but well, he would much rather not see the clones fight each other. Had enough of that on Umbara.
Despite the levity, there's a tight lump in his throat when he watches them go. "May the Force be with you."
Anakin doesn't know if he'll ever see Echo or the Bad Batch again, but he knows their futures are together, their fates forever intertwined. What matters is that Echo's found a new home, a new family and a place to belong, as Fives would have wanted.
Anakin waits in the hangar until the Havoc Marauder is gone, safely away on its return to Kamino where Echo can be looked over and adjust, where he can recover before being shipped out again.
He won't be alone. Fives is gone, and he would want Echo to move on, to find solace and comfort, someone else to... care for him.
He has, and Anakin knows this is what he'd have wanted, if he were here to see it. Maybe even when he's safely free of the constant violence and hopelessness of war, safely free in the Force.
Echo will be fine. Anakin is certain of that. He still has a part to play in life, in the galaxy, one with his new squad, maybe something more far-reaching than any of them realized. This isn't his end. It's his beginning. Echo's not meant to be nameless and forgotten, to die in a flash of smoke and flame. He never was.
(Fives would be proud of them. Anakin wishes he could be here to see it.)
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