Chapter 16.5 - Bonus Chapter - Hunter & Crosshair
Author's Note: Because how could I have a BB thing that doesn't have anything from their POV? And I felt like I needed to actually show how Crosshair feels about everything. Or about Vision, anyway. Probably, I'll need smth else later...
~ Rivana Rita
They haven't really had enough time to talk about it, but Hunter still wonders, sometimes, what the others think of her. She's young and small and kind of adorable, even if she's a nightmare of a headache, too. She's their only sister and having to take care of someone else is... difficult, though it isn't as though he hasn't taken care of his brothers their entire lives. It's nothing new to Hunter, though he can't expect her to be able to return it like he can his brothers.
Crosshair is the one he's most uncertain about. They all care about her – of course, they do. She's their sister, and she wants them – but she's their youngest now. Hunter has no issue with not constantly being the oldest – it's lonely sometimes – and Hunter's still the one in charge, so it really changes nothing. Crosshair... always used to be the youngest, until Vision came, and now he's just... not. They didn't know, didn't have much time to prepare. It was so unexpected.
"What do you think about her?" he asks, sitting on the edge of Crosshair's bunk next to him. Vision and Wrecker are curled up sleeping together, and Tech is working on some of Echo's mechanics.
Crosshair leans into his side automatically. "Mm," he says, thoughtful, just watching her. "She's a nightmare."
Hunter laughs. "Yeah, she is." He's still caught the looks his little brother throws his way sometimes though, and he wants to know what they mean, what's upsetting him. "Are... you alright with her?"
Crosshair shifts a little, looking at him. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know. That's why I asked."
Crosshair glances at the others, then shifts closer enough that their shoulders touch. "It's stupid."
He doesn't quite know if he should push or not, but Crosshair will talk if he needs to.
"It's... different for Vision," he says finally, "Like it is with Echo."
"Yeah," Hunter agrees, "But they're still a part of our squad, and we'll get used to them."
Crosshair presses up against his side, lowering his head to his shoulder, and Hunter slides his arm around him. They're in armor and all, so it's not that comfortable, but it's them, and it's Crosshair, so he doesn't care. "Not used to having a kid," Crosshair says after a heartbeat.
"You'll learn," Hunter tells him. "In a couple years, she'll be out there with us." She's only two years younger than they are, and she'll no doubt be out as soon as she's old enough. That will be... tricky.
It occurs to him, fleetingly, for maybe the first time, that between Vision's chaos and Echo's presence, Hunter hasn't had nearly as much time to spend with the other three. Probably, that's what's bothering Crosshair, as opposed to anything else, and it's probably bothering Tech, too. Wrecker has a way of drawing attention to himself, and he's been with Vision most of the time, so he probably hasn't had much time to think about it.
That's... okay. It's something they can deal with when they go back to the fronts, and Vision won't even be with them anymore.
They'll have all the time in the world to make up for it.
**w**
Hunter used to actually believe that, and now, he doesn't understand how. It's... all gone. Crosshair is gone.
And nothing he does will be able to change that. There's nothing – Omega said they'd try to get Crosshair back, but he has to be realistic, too. He doesn't know how that could happen. There's no realistic way for them to go back for him, for as hard as it was to tell Vision that.
She deserves to know the truth.
She hasn't let go of him, and to tell the truth, no one has. They never could. They grew up together, and that means everything to Hunter. It does to all of them. Having to leave Crosshair there is killing him, and it's pushing him to be even more protective – almost obsessively – of Vision and Omega.
Vision is chaotic. She's reckless, and both of them attract trouble.
If he failed Crosshair, how does he know he won't fail them, too?
"If you don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done, you're not fit to lead this squad."
He used to trust everything his brothers said, and sometimes, just remembering is gutting. That was Crosshair, even if he wasn't himself. Hunter doesn't know how much was him, and what was his chip.
He wants to see him again.
He's terrified to see him again.
Either way, he hates it. He hates – well, there's nothing he doesn't hate about this, but especially that he's so afraid. He shouldn't be. It's wrong. This is Crosshair. Hunter shouldn't have to be worried about being hurt by him. He shouldn't have to spend every moment worrying about how to protect his squad from their little brother.
Hunter turns back when their ship is taking off. They're moving away fast, but he's still close enough to catch the image of his little brother standing alone on a balcony outlooking the door they were about to go through. Just as he thought, if not for the reg's intervention, they never would've made it out.
The reg went back for his squad. He wasn't too afraid to.
Hunter was.
He and his brothers have always had something the regs never did, an unshakable closeness, but even this wasn't something he could do.
What does that make him?
**w**
Crosshair watches the ship take off – he caught a fleeting glimpse of Hunter and Echo, but not the others.
They must've been the ones at the capital.
They're fighting the Empire now. They're fighting him. He doesn't know how to feel about that. How to...
They left him.
They hurt him.
They –
Crosshair has no idea how things cane this far. They used to do everything together, and he thought they always would. They're soldiers. They do what they're told. He doesn't care for whatever excuses his brothers use for why they can't follow orders. Even if they had issue with something, shouldn't he be more important?
They deserted. They just walked out.
They didn't choose him, and he doubts that'll ever stop hurting.
They –
He's not even angry. He's something far beyond.
He feels empty – is empty, and he never quite realized how much they meant to him until they walked out.
Hunter was supposed to protect them, and with what he's doing, he's going to get them all killed. Crosshair nearly killed them already. Chances are, it'll happen again. He knows it will, and he's – he wants to hurt them, actually, but he doesn't want them dead.
He wants them back.
Getting them back just to rub it in their faces that he's willing to take them even after what they did to him is awfully appealing, actually.
(He misses them. He misses Hunter's warmth and Wrecker's laughter and Tech's sharpness, and Echo's – everything about Echo is complicated. And Vision. He kind of can't believe she just walked out with the others. They – they had something. She was his sister. He thought that meant something to her, and it's stupid, because he hardly knew her, anyway. It was only a month.)
He saw Hunter again, and they could have come back. They shouldn't have left in the first place. They can't complain when it inevitably blows up in their faces.
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