Chapter 15 - Stay

Lula's hopping around in the background as they sit in the now-fixed Marauder.

She's trying to climb onto one of the seats, but can't figure out how to boost herself, and she doesn't have hands. Wrecker can't figure out if he should give her a boost, or let her learn to climb. She and Batcher seem to be getting along well.

Living on Pabu is nice. Wrecker loves it here. Everything is so calm. He wants to be here forever. Stop worrying about everything.

He keeps dreaming, though. Seeing other worlds. That's what Ahsoka tells him, anyway. He sees a world where they have Vision. Something where they met Ashla in the Clone Wars.

He sees other things, too. He sees them lose Hunter, and those are bits and pieces, but scare him the worst. How can they live without Hunter? Hunter's the only one he's always had. He can't think about that. Definitely can't imagine something where they thought he was dead.

The others try to help. Not that anything can.

His brothers are trynna help. So's Vision.

He still thinks about Crosshair fighting them. Can't stop remembering when he tried to kill them. He's one of them now, but sometimes... it still hurts that he left, even if he's tried to make it right.

A lotta things about these realities are confusing. How is he supposed to not dream? He can't stop it. He's afraid of losing someone else again. Anyone.

"You okay?" Crosshair asks, tapping his arm.

Wrecker grunts. "I – I dunno. I just keep havin' all these weird dreams. I don't wanna lose you again."

"I don't want to leave you, either," Crosshair promises.

"There is nothing to be concerned of," Tech assures, "Considering his inhibitor chip has been damaged beyond use, it is unlikely he will willingly leave us again."

"W – what does that mean?" Wrecker splutters, confused, and looking at Hunter and Echo for help. "I thought ya had it out?"

Crosshair sighs.

"I – I lied to you. I'm sorry."

"You what?" Hunter hisses, "Crosshair!"

He slumps farther into his seat. "Sorry. Really. I didn't mean – I – I don't..."

"Hemlock scanned it in his brain when we were on Tantiss," Tech explains, "It may have been partly removed, but clearly, the surgery was not complete, if it happened at all."

"I didn't really want to think I was being mind-controlled," Crosshair mutters, drawing his knees up to his chest. He looks so small. Skinny. Breakable. Wrecker wants to hug him, but relieved hurt is bubbling up in his chest.

Crosshair lied to them. That's – Wrecker doesn't want to think he chose to leave them, but he's still kinda mad. They could've taken him with them, and they never would've had to lose Tech or the kid.

"So, you lied to us so we'd leave you and think you betrayed us?" Echo asks.

"Yes."

"I fail to see how that was intended to benefit anyone in any shape or form," Emerie interjects quietly.

"I was nine," he grumbles, as if that were an excuse.

"Yeah, and you're ten now. One year's not very much."

"Speak for yourself," Crosshair whines, glaring at Echo.

"I am."

"If that's still in, shouldn't we get it out?" Wrecker asks worriedly.

"It is not enough to be effective, but it is not impossible that it could be a danger," Tech agrees, "Perhaps you can do something, Wrecker? I would not recommend surgery if avoidable. His brain has been damaged, and we have been altered significantly."

"Yeah," Hunter agrees, rubbing at his chest. Wrecker winces.

"I dunno what I'd do."

"Try to write it out of existence," Crosshair mutters, "After what I did to you, I think you should get that chance."

He remembers the burning of the blaster wound through his shoulder. Remembers hitting the hangar floor and seeing Crosshair's rifle raising, braced to shoot again.

"It happens all the time."

Yeah, he thinks he does. "O – okay," Wrecker says, standing and moving to his side, raising his hands and then freezing. "W – what if I mess up?"

"There's nothing to worry about unless you turn my head inside out. I don't want to see my own brain."

"If you have one," Vision snips, grinning.

"It is impossible for a human to survive without a brain."

"Crosshair can. And so can I."

"Doubtful."

"Come on. There's gotta be some species that survives without a brain."

"There are. Several types of fish."

"That actually is a ray of hope for us," Crosshair grumbles.

"Why? Because you are a fish?"

"I might like to be."

"Should – should I try?" Wrecker asks worriedly.

"Go ahead. Just don't turn me into a butterfly."

Maybe this isn't the best idea. Wrecker has no idea – his powers are crazy, though he has had better control of them after Ahsoka absorbed a piece of them. It actually makes sense now. Most of the time. Though he really, really doesn't wanna turn his twin brother into a butterfly. What if he got stuck? It might be cute, but... well, it would be cute, because his baby brother is cute in any shape or form, but still.

"M - maybe this isn't such a good idea," Wrecker blurts out in a panicked rush. "Maybe I'll just make it worse?"

Crosshair rolls his eyes, grabbing his wrist and yanking his hand to his head. "Stars. I was joking. You won't see me as a bug unless you want to."

"Uh," Wrecker says slowly, trying to envision Crosshair with giant, fluttery gray wings and huge antenna. "I think I wanna."

His eyes go comically wide. "No. You will not."

"I think it would be cute."

Vision is laughing. Crosshair glares at her. She sticks her tongue out at him.

"I am not cute."

Hunter ducks his head to hide his smile. Wrecker's pretty sure everyone would vote positively to that.

"I just don't want to get wings like him," he jabs a finger in Hunter's direction. "I'm not floaty." Crosshair grumpily crosses his arms.

"Uh," says Wrecker, blinking and unable to help picturing his little brother with vibrating antenna and a giant, giant pair of wings. "That's what I mean."

He scowls. "Are we doing this or not?"

"What's a butterfly?" Lula asks.

"Ya don't know?" Wrecker asks panickily. How can't everybody know what a butterfly is? Though he supposes he never really used to either.

"No. I haven't seen anything except running after you and moon-yos. And Batcher's mouth."

The hound barks at her name, smiling deviously.

"No, ew. Don't lick me again! It takes forever to dry off!"

"Wrecker," Tech interrupts, "It will be fine. You can do it."

He inhales, reaching for Crosshair again. His hands feel almost unsteady as they linger on either side of his head, trying to feel. He works his mind into his little brother's, feeling and soaking it in.

"We were brothers once. We can be again."

The line that haunted him for weeks is what they are now. That's not a bad thing.

Wrecker thinks he likes it. It's good to be with his little brother again. They were always supposed to be one.

He touches his mind, trying to work through into Crosshair, feeling the gentle fog even if it's tinged dark now. He still feels nice. Wrecker feels him, soaking it in and searching for the damage or irregularity in him.

It's just... a spot. It stands out so much against the rest of his mind. Such a little thing for being so destructive. For being what tore them apart.

Wrecker reaches inwards, feeling the anomaly and unwriting it.

It feels nice for it to be gone. To destroy what destroyed them.

Crosshair looks up at him, blinking a few times and eyes wide. He jerks forwards and wraps his arms around Wrecker's neck. He gathers him against his chest, clinging and holding him close. "'re you okay?" he asks.

Crosshair nods against his shoulder. "Yeah. It feels – nice. Thank you."

"Was it still affecting you?" Hunter asks quietly.

Crosshair sighs. "I don't know. Maybe a little."

"It's okay," Wrecker promises, "You're free now." He's kinda angry, but it's more of a processing acceptance than anything else.

Crosshair's free, though. He chose to come back to them, and that means everything.

He chose them. Finally, after all this time. Crosshair chose them.

He chose him.

He chose Wrecker.

He sees a flash of something, a wispy mirror faded over where he held Crosshair in his arms in another life, on the Ryloth moon. In a world where he never left, and that's faded away by his brother's hands on his face, his touch in Wrecker's mind with its silver mistiness. Feeling and locking the pain away, shielding off the touching of realities far, far away.

"You could've told us it was hurting you," Crosshair scolds.

"It's okay," Wrecker objects, "It doesn't hurt."

"Because I fixed it."

"What's wrong?" Hunter inquires, stepping forwards and touching Wrecker's shoulder.

"I just kept seein' things. Things from other places, I think."

"Other realities?" Vision pipes up.

"Uh, yeah."

"Whoa," she breathes, eyes wide, "I wanna see other worlds."

"We need to stay here right now," Hunter tells her.

"We don't know enough about our own powers or reality right now," Emerie agrees, "But perhaps, someday."

Maybe. Wrecker thinks he wants to stay here for a long, long time. He doesn't wanna see other versions of his family taken apart. Not when his own is finally back together.

**w**

It's still hard to see Tech. Crosshair is very, very grateful that he has his Force-senses now. He knows Tech won't hurt him, that he senses his loyalty now. He's not going to try to shoot him or stab him or strangle him. He doesn't mean pain anymore.

But Tech is still struggling with being here. With them. A part of them.

Crosshair's struggling, too. Emerie's here, and he only hurt him once, but she still did it. Hunter and Wrecker are so much closer. Vision and Omega are together. And then these... all these voices ringing around in his brain.

Dreams.

Fire. Loss. Pain. He didn't know so many people on Pabu were war refugees. How many were hurt by droids and clones alike. Crosshair can see it in their minds. All their layers and layers of pain.

They've all lost their homes.

He feels so much of his brothers, too. He tried to help Hunter stable out. Tried to help Wrecker understand he won't leave again. And when Vision comes to him, wordlessly quiet and eyes down, leaning against his thigh, he lets her lay against his lap.

She's glad to be here, but she mourns the years lost, and so does he, so he just holds her when she cries. Only Crosshair can understand that. They were alone for so long, but they stayed strong when they needed to be, and here they are.

Together again.

And when Tech comes to him, wordless but troubled, Crosshair tries to look at him without any of the gnawing panic in his chest.

"What's wrong?" Crosshair asks.

"I know what I did to you all," Tech says, his voice soft. Abnormally quiet. "That I hurt you, and that I would have even more. I don't know how it would have ended. Hunter says it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't," Crosshair tells him immediately, "That's not the life we're living. We're together now."

"I was going to hurt you again."

No surprise there, though his gut still clenches, unsettled. "It doesn't matter."

"I thought you would say that," Tech tells him, "But I did not tell you what it was that happened."

Tech is shaken from whatever it was. Crosshair can feel that. Flickers of something. Fire. He's trying not to think about it. Can't stop. He can see into the future and past. He controls time somehow. "Did we ever find Tantiss?"

"I would've taken Omega again. I brought her back, after going through you all. And then, when you found Tantiss, I fought you again. I let them hurt Wrecker, and... I hurt you." Tech doesn't trail off like that. Crosshair twitches, slowly reaching for him.

Tech takes his hand, squeezing it gently.

Crosshair feels a flicker of something. "What was it?"

"I do not know if that is something you want answered."

"Tell me," he requests, "I know you want to talk about it."

Tech looks away. Is quiet for a long moment. "You lost your hand in the fight."

Crosshair inhales shakily. He suspected something like that. That he would lose it if it didn't stop shaking. That was something he could never tell the kid. That Tech would probably be the one to do it. He knew, expected, but that's different than hearing Tech talking about it. But this is for Tech. He needs... to be strong for him. For the brother who's given him so much. "That was gonna happen anyway."

Tech stares at him. What did he expect? Crosshair isn't angry at him. It wasn't his fault. He didn't wake up one day and decided to be evil.

Tech might be awful.

But he's not Crosshair.

"You are alright with that?" Tech sounds so incredulous.

"I've done worse."

"No, you haven't," his brother argues immediately. "You have never done what I would have done to you. And you did not deserve any of that. Do not tell yourself that."

"It's the truth."

"Crosshair, no," he retaliates fiercely, "It is not. You have convinced yourself of many things that are not true. And that is one of them."

Harsh. But very Tech.

He tries to focus on the feeling of Tech's hand in his. A calm, steady reassurance for both of them, and the way their bond flickers at the shared contact, whispering with safety. Tech is meant to protect him. Crosshair doesn't know how he knows it, but somehow, he does. It's a dedicated loyalty of the bond they share, and the powers they now have. Not one of their choices, but still one Tech has accepted.

"Maybe it's for the best," Crosshair tells him dryly, "I could do without it."

"I am unsurprised you are joking about this," Tech grumbles, adjusting his goggles, "But I do not believe this to be a good thing in any shape or form."

"I do. I tried to kill you, too. Maybe I wouldn't hurt anyone anymore." A sting of pain shoots through his leg as Vision pinches him. "Ow!" He glowers down at his little sister. "I thought you were sleeping!"

"You're so mean," she tells him flatly.

"You're the one who pinched me."

"I meant to yourself. If Tech's mad at himself, it's because he loves you, and you both screwed up. You'll both hafta let it go. Can I tell you to hug, or would you bite me?"

"I don't hug."

"Don't lie. I saw you hugging Hunter last night."

"Did not."

Vision raises her small hands, some twisted not-Force magic swirling around her hands in an aqua storm. He's pretty sure she's trying to make some sort of mini-illusion, but that isn't something Crosshair is very willing to test. Not if she blows up all of Pabu by accident and Wrecker has to reform the entire world.

"Alright, alright," he concedes with a huff, "Yes, I did, but how would you know? Why are you stalking me?"

"I'm not stalking you. It was in plain sight."

"Was not."

"Was too!"

"Should I leave?" Tech inquires.

Crosshair jerks. "No." He actually feels better with him here, and it's so jarring to realize that for the first time. He wants Tech here, not because he finally wants his family back together, but because he wants him. He wants Tech.

Somehow.

After all this time and everything they've been through, the essence of what binds them together is unchanged.

"We were brothers once. We can be again."

He had said that once, fingers dug into Hunter's shoulder. Even when he was still holding him at blaster point. Even when... everything.

He's starting to think it's real this time. For real real.

Their powers bind them together now, fade into each other's as pieces of themselves. As central of the galaxy's energy itself.

He doesn't think anything could take them apart again.

Hopefully that's not a bad thing to hope.

And he should probably try to find a way to make things right with Emerie, too.

**w**

It is strange to be in control of chaos. Emerie cannot say she enjoys it, though it is merely a fact of life she needs to become accustomed to. She was made to bring order – or at least that's what Hemlock had always told her.

She wishes she could do more for everyone she hurt. To the CX's, who made their minds ripped away. To Crosshair, who she tortured. To Vision, who she left imprisoned for years.

But the past is the past, and there is no true way to make up for what she did.

She knows that.

She still wishes she would feel more as though she belonged.

Her and Vision share their connection to chaos, and unlike the others who have a specific slit between chaos, balance, dark, and light, it feels like they are... swapping. On some days, Emerie is dark and Vision is light. Some days, she is balance and Vision is dark. Ashla, as she can feel in her mind, alternates between light and balance, unlike Vision, who swings from one side to the other.

It is strange to want to use her powers for no reason except that she can use them. On Tantiss, everything was for a reason.

Wrecker comes over to her, and something about his childishness is what makes her let go enough to start talking. "Echo and Tech say I belong here, but I'm not sure what makes me."

"You're one of us," he promises immediately, "You're our sister."

"But I hurt you all. I never chose you all the times I should have."

"Crosshair hurt us, too," Wrecker objects, "We all did. But we still chose each other, an' we always will. We don't have anywhere else to be, and nor do we wanna be anywhere else. I know that's true for you, too."

"Yes, it is," Emerie agrees, "But sometimes, it feels like I should be doing something more."

"We don't hafta worry about the galaxy anymore," Wrecker objects, "There are people out there doin' that. Anakin will do a good job without us."

Emerie doesn't know or trust him the same way they do, but she trusts their judgement, so no matter how hard it is, she does agree. Even if she's still a bit unsettled at leaving the Empire to someone else. Anyone else. But what else would she do? Take over herself? She's not made for that job.

Though it is, apparently, one of her brothers running it. In name. She's not sticking around to find out what was about to happen. If someone died, she would have sensed it. There is nothing to worry about. Rex will not be a danger to the galaxy, though Emerie is still... uncertain.

About everything.

Though that may be connected to her new affiliation with chaos.

"Wrecker's right, Emerie," Crosshair tells her hesitantly, arms crossed. She actually hadn't seen him come, and her new Force-senses are still... tricky. They work naturally, but she struggles to understand what she is feeling. "You are one of us. You're not like the regs, and that's always been what makes us different."

From Crosshair, the one she hurt more than anyone else, that means a lot. It's the most she can ask for, and even more, from the little brother she tortured. This is forgiveness, so much more than she deserves. Definitely more than she anticipated from Crosshair. "You believe I am meant to be with you?"

"None of us fit anywhere else."

"I am sorry for what I did to you," Emerie tells him, "I know I have said it before. I made... a lot of mistakes with you, and with Vision. Omega, too."

"None of us hold it against you," Wrecker promises, patting her shoulder heavily. "It's okay."

Her life feels so pointless now. Purposeless, and it is difficult to believe this is what she wants. But it is. She wants to be with her family, wherever they want to go and whatever they want to do. "I cannot change the past." Though she can understand why Ashla had been willing to rewrite all of reality for her family, regardless of the consequences. Emerie would like to rewrite her own past, but that would break their entire timeline. She will not risk trying. "Though if I could, I would."

Crosshair sighs. "I know. I can feel it."

She blinks, and then Wrecker is yanking her and Crosshair into a hug. The twins are nice. It makes her feel even worse sometimes. She has done a lot. His screams still haunt her. She wishes she could have gotten Vision back safely.

"Me, too," Wrecker supplies, "But we're okay."

Okay isn't the term Emerie would use in any shape or form, but she will believe that. Under Hunter's watch – he is an incomparably better leader than Hemlock – Emerie does accept that.

"It's nice not being alone."

And she will never be alone again.

**w**

Vision is leaning on Batcher, Lula resting in her lap. The stars twinkle above her. An entire galaxy out there, begging to be seen and explored. Pabu is nice, but Vision is a soldier. She wasn't made for a life of peace, even if her siblings were.

She wants more.

She hates it.

There's a galaxy beyond, and reality after reality to be seen and sifted through and explored. A power deep within herself, and she doesn't hafta hurt anything. She can just reach out, give a little poke at the multiverse, just...

Something shifts.

A whistling picks, and Vision gasps, scrambling to her feet.

The ground is shifting into glass beneath her, licking up in purple flames as the Edges of reality itself are ripped open.

It's the Mother.

The glass breaks, and she falls, catching herself with the energy swirling around her hands and straights, flipping her hair from her face.

"I know you," Vision says, eyes narrowed as she studies the towering gray figure in front of her. "But you're not me." The power feels the same, but it resonates differently. Resonates with a dark emptiness that only means one thing. "You're from the multiverse. You're a different version of the Mother."

"Yes. And I bring you here for the same. Not to be alone. Your reality exists because I made it."

This is her. The same Mother variant that Ashla created, who in turn created her.

Coming full circle.

Nonono. She needs to get back.

Vision whirls around to where the portal is still behind her. She can't fight the Mother alone. She needs help, now, and her brain always jumps to the one and only person who will always be there to help her. "Hunter!"

But then the portal closes and she's falling.

Stars and timelines blurring together around her.

Just – falling.

And there's nothing here to catch her.

THE END =)

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