Chapter 30 – It Stays the Same, It Never Changes (2:5)

Author's Note: Warning: Flashback, panic attacks. I hope it sounded realistic.

PS: If not, it's cuz I was having one while writing it. -~-

~ Rivana Rita

"It's a dead end," Omega announces, confused when the compass comes to a stop at a towering, gray and still lifeless mountain. "Maybe we… go around the mountain?"

"Or, we go inside, like we did on Daro," I suggest.

"I was thinking the same thing," Phee agrees, setting her lantern down a gain and pulling out her vibroblade. What? She's cutting her way through a mountain now? Good luck. Except the rocks actually shift a bit when she pushes them, so maybe notthatstupid. "Big guy, help me move this."

Wrecker grunts, dutifully trotting forwards to pry the main, large rock out of the way. He and Phee scramble backwards when more rocks come crashing down towards their heads.

"Look!" Omega gasps excitedly at the dark, gaping doorway it reveals, "It's a secret entrance!"

"Oh!" Wrecker breathes, "Itisa secret entrance."

Hunter and Tech exchange a blatant are-you-kidding-me look with each other. I roll my eyes at the sky. Usually, I think it's kinda cute, but right now, it's just – well, okay. At leastsomeone'shaving fun.

"Come on," Echo prods, touching my shoulder when I hesitate to go inside. I take up the rear, fishing out my flashlight and shining it around.

The room we're heading into is dark and empty aside from the strange etchings extending from the walls in random beams. It looks… eerie. There's something deadly about this place. It's kinda cool. I think I would've liked it once.

"Hunter, these etchings are easily a thousand years old," Tech murmurs, tapping on his datapad.

"Older," Phee objects. "Much older. If I'm right, which is always, we are standing in the entranceway to Skara Nal."

"Towhat?" Echo squawks.

"Every pirate out there's heard the legend of Skara Nal," Phee informs, as if this is somehow important or useful knowledge. "It traces back to the ancients."

"You mean the Jedi?" Echo asks.

"No. Older."

"So, it's… not really that cool."

"You got an interest in the Jedi, kid?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Well, if you like, I'm sure I can find some sort of Jedi lead."

I blink. "Wow. Really?" Don't quite know what to take for that, either – I do not like Phee, but she just offered to be nice. That's not something most people do for us. Even Cid – except repainting Crosshair's helmet counts.

"Not as hard a find as this."

"So, what kinda treasure'sinthere?" Wrecker inquires.

"The Heart of the Mountain. And we're going to liberate it." Liberate? Sure. Phee turns around again, anyway, and the others gather in closer, trying to figure out how to move the bars around to open some other kind of door.

Wish I already knew how. I could've Seen it once. I miss knowing.

Phee calls Wrecker over to push one of them, but everything startsrumbling. "That doesn't sound good," Hunter worries, and the ground is trembling beneath us now. The door slams behind us, and Echo grabs my arm to keep me steady. Phee tackles Wrecker out of the way as a boulder crashes down at him.

Hunter inhales sharply, sprinting to his little brother to check him over, me half a step behind. I skid to a stop, flashlight up, but Wrecker's fine, leaning against the wall and panting a little, but his armor is unscratched.

Thank the stars.

I grab Wrecker's arm to help him up, whether he needs something as tiny for that as me or not. He's fine, and no doubt entirely unshaken, butI was. That boulder was crashing righttowardshim. "You okay?" I ask for good measure.

"Yeah." He rolls his shoulders. "Thanks, kid."

"Booby traps," Phee comments carelessly, "Nowit's getting interesting."

"You've just trapped us in here!" Hunter snarls at her, spinning around and stalking off. I bite my lip, watching. Figures this is about to get explosives. The last time Hunter spent a long time fighting with someone was – was Kamino. I don't want to get involved this time. Last time…

"Relax. There's always a way out," she insists, "We just have to find it. It's part of the puzzle."

"Wait!" Omega's voice breaks up the argument. "We're aligning the wrong symbols?" She climbs up onto a ledge, scanning the room through the compass.

Hunter shines his flashlight onto the one she's looking at. "What do you see?"

"Some of the symbols are glowing."

"Here," Phee offers, setting her lantern down at my sister's feet, "Lay the compass on my lantern."

The room lights up purple when she does, the tinted lighting wildly altering and brightening the area. Four of the bars are a shimmering blue. It is beautiful.

Wrecker and Tech push another of the bars into place, and with another screeching, the door behind us turns open along with the entireroom, twisting to reveal a second opening opposite the entrance.

Wow.

Okay, I actuallyama little impressed.

Phee tells Mel to wait with the coordinates – do I want to know details about that little thing? – and her and Omega take off inside.

"Looks like we're doin' this," Wrecker says with a laugh, following.

"My interest is certainly piqued," Tech announces, already lost in his datapad as he follows. I swear, one day he is gonna fall on his face, and I will laugh at him.

Hunter looks at me again.

I sigh, reaching up to squeeze his hand. "We're this far. Might as well make it worth it."

Echo sighs. "Vision's right," he agrees, and we head inside together.

Omega's following Phee up front like a loyal puppy, listening to whatever she's sprouting off about the Heart of the Mountain. I don't believe a word.

"I have run a preliminary analysis of the minerals in those stone slabs," Tech reports, "They predate the Republic. Pheemaybe onto something."

"Hey, just cuzsomeof what she's saying is true, it doesn't mean therestof it is," I feel the need to point out, "Everything's a little bit true."

"Hey, tough guys," Phee yells impatiently, "Want to pick up the pace?"

Hunter's slowly reaching for his blaster, and my brain shorts out for a millisecond, because while I very much would like to stab Phee, I wouldn't actuallyshoother – oh, he's looking at the ceiling. Never mind.

Wrecker shines his flashlight upwards, following Hunter's gaze, and I shut off my flashlight, reclipping it to my belt. Wrecker turns, about to walk away, and a giantthingsuddenly drops down on him. Hunter's blaster's up in a second, and Echo and Tech have their own. I draw mine, and Omega's reaching for her bow.

Wrecker hits the floor on his back before we get a single shot off, bracing himself to avoid getting his throat ripped out. I fire at the thing, "It's drooling on me!" Wrecker shrieks, like that's top on our list of concerns.

I holster my blaster, going for my knife and jump at it, blade slashing into the side of its body a second before Hunter hits it. The creature howls, whipping out and batting me aside like I weigh nothing. I smack into Hunter, and he catches my weight but tips back, falling to one knee.

My stomach throbs. Nothing broken, but probably bruised.

Ow.

I want armor.

Maybe we should reforge Crosshair's.

Hunter hoists me upright, raising his blaster to where the creature has yanked Wrecker all the way up to the ceiling. Wrecker's punching its massive head, trying to get it to let go, and finally pries his way from its claws, dropping to the floor.

The other four fire up at the creature, but it quickly disappears through the hole in the ceiling.

I stumble back, and we all scramble when the rocks come crashing down, kicking up a cloud of dust. I catch myself on the wall with a groan, shaking my knife a little and stabbing it back into its sheath. This will be a nightmare to clean up later, but I do have other things to worry about right now.

"You okay?" Omega asks, grabbing my hand while Hunter comms the others for a check-up.

I groan, standing. "I'll be fine." Still achy, and I hit my back hard against Hunter, too. Thanks, monster. "This is thelasttime I'm going treasure hunting."

Omega studies my face, worriedly. I pull my flashlight out again, turning to Hunter and trying not to think too hard about the gnawing bitterness in my gut. Wrecker nearly diedagain. I just want us all to besafe.

Phee prods us forwards when Hunter hesitates – the others are trapped from the debris and Tech offers to find another way around – with a way too cheerful "they'll be fine."

"You don't even care," I snap back, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. I know I look like a terrifying parallel of miniature Crosshair. At leasthemanaged to be scary. "You're not part of our squad. You don'tcareif they're fine or not."

Omega twitches, looking between me and Phee.

"You've gone up against worse than this, haven't you? And you came out in one piece."

Anger coils up inside me, hot and live.

Crosshair'sgone. "We're notinone piece," I spit back, "We neverhavebeen."

"Ohhh.Someone'sin a mood."

I snarl, teeth gritted, hands clenching. Wildfire. From calm to violent in a blink. Always dark. Always needing to hurt.

"Vison's right," Hunter points out, standing beside me, "You're not part of our squad. If something happens to us, it won't affect you. Whyshouldwe follow you anywhere?"

"I'm the expert, remember?"

"Hunter," Omega interjects, eyes jumping between us. She looks uncomfortable. "Phee knows what she's doing."

"Sothat'swhy Wrecker's already nearly diedtwice? Sure." I snatch up a small rock, throwing it down the hall as hard as I can. It clangs, bouncing and echoing, and my shoulder aches a bit from the force of the throw. I stalk past them without looking back, fingers gripping my flashlight way too tightly though I want to throw that, too.

One piece?

Sure.

Not like anything's ever gone wrong or anyone's ever gone missing. Not like anyone's ever abandoned us or walked away like we mean nothing at all. Not like Omega's new bestie is some random nat-born she's more –ugh.

I want to cry. Or scream.

I pause when the others catch up, sidestepping to let the girls go to the front. Hunter's in the rear, and I hang back by him, though we'reunfortunatelysticking close together now. Phee draws her knife again, and we keep walking. I keep my hand on my blaster for good measure. Hopefully, I don't end up using it on a person instead of that annoying monster growling in the distance.

"We… need to keep moving," Hunter supplies, passing us and moving forwards thorough the circular hall. It's too dark, and I think something's wrong, though I don't knowwhat. I can't See it. I crouch, anyway, laying my right, gloved hand flat on the rocks, closing my eyes and trying to focus the way I once could. All I feel is the worried danger that's deep within myself. Something's tense, and for some reason, I think there's a void beneath us instead of surface. It's like space, but the weird feeling is gone in a flash, and I stand. It'sweird, but we need to –

"Hang on. This is too easy," Phee mutters, studying the walls.

Up ahead, Hunter's still moving forwards, slowly like the ground is unstable, and I have a really bad feeling. It's churning in my gut, a whispering unease.

I saw him fall once.

"Look, there are more markings," Omega says with a gasp, shining her flashlight through the compass up onto the ceiling. The same blue markings shimmer across it, but I don't know what that means, or how that's supposed to be important.

"Wait!" Phee yells, running after Hunter, but there's a shuddering and grumbling the same time, and Hunter falls.

I don't know who screams loudest. Hunter's voice mingles with Omega's, their voices blurring in with mine.

Hunter falling. Omega's screaming. My hand reaching for his, missing, gripping nothing. Echo dragging Omega inside.

"I'll find another way back."

"This is who I am."

The air is freezing and everything is freezing. The cable digs into my hands when I grab it, digging my feet in and yanking. Phee's just in front of me, and I remember with a fleeting flash when this happened to Wrecker on Bracca and it took everybody to drag him up.

Hunter isheavy. Maybe it's partly the friction of the grappling line dragging on the rocks, but I swear it takes everything I have to drag him up, and my shoulders are screaming in protest.

Branches breaking. Air blowing on my face.

Reaching for nothing.

"Hunter," I breathe, panting.

Omega smacks onto her back when Hunter finally comes over the edge. I throw the line down and run to him. My heart is pounding, my body trembling, and I want to make some sort of stupid quip to drop the tension but words fail me entirely, and all I can do is wrap my arms around his neck and cling to him.

The air is freezing. I can't breathe. I'm shaking and my chest feels heavy. Crushing. That thing didn't murder my lungs, did it?

He's alive. He's here. That's all I care about.

"Hunter," is all I manage to get out, short and strangled. He's panting against me, pushing himself up enough to his knee to hold me, his arm coming around my back to hold me tightly. His vambrace is pressed against my back, my face on his now dirt-covered scarf. It's still soft. I'm still cold.

Still trembling.

(I'm taller than him when he's kneeling. I used to be shorter. Barely shoulder height. I don't know when I grew so much.)

"Hunter, are you…?"

"Are you?" Hunter asks, though he's still panting. Shaky. I can't stop trembling.

The screaming. The fall. Air blowing across me.

Branches snapping far below.

I nod, head bobbing wordlessly in a lie to fake to be reassuring. Hunter's here. He's here. He's safe.Safe. Not captured. Not with the Empire. Not – Kamino.Not Crosshair.

"I think we need to find a way to walk across the ceiling," Omega announces.

"My thoughts exactly," Phee agrees, already standing.

"You're just making this up as you go," Hunter accuses. He's glaring beneath his helmet. I step back from him, though the racing of my heart doesn't lessen. Hunternearly died. He nearly fell, again, and I know he hates falling.

"It's part of the fun," Phee crows, "Loosen up, Bandana. You're in good hands."

"We have almost diedthree times already," Hunter snarls back.

"This reminds me of the time I tracked down the Belmont diadem –" she starts rambling, like someone shouldcare about that?

I don't even think. Maybe I should have, but I'm so, soangryI can't even care. I'm moving before I register it, shoving her a step back. Not actually going tohit, but I'm so, soangryI think I could rip something apart with my bare hands. "Do you haveany idea," I snarl lowly, furiously, left hand clenching tight enough that my nails dig into my palms so sharply they ache and burn, but Ican't stop. I want it to stop. I want everything to stop, but itnever doesbecause there's never a break and never an ending or respite when that's all I want, all Ineed– when I just need to breathe and my family and not have to worry aboutCrosshairbut that's all there ever is, all anything ever leads back to. "How much you're asking, for us to come here? We didn't even want to come here in the first place!"

I want to cry. To scream. Can't stop shaking. I've had these. I hate these.

Breathing is hard. My lungs aren't constricting properly. I can't inhale. I want to scream. To scream my throat raw, but there's nothing to hear, no one to listen, nothing –

"Vision," Hunter's hand is on my shoulder, firm and warm. Grounding. Wish that was enough. "You need to breathe."

He's not breathing, either. It's shaky, jerky, uneven. Tears prick my eyes, burning and I gasp, trying not to cry right now, not rightherein front of Phee.

"And we're only interested in getting outta here in one piece," Hunter sighs. His voice is rough, angry though mostly worried.

There's some sort of beeping and the ceiling lights up. I inhale sharply, shivering, and Hunter pushes himself to his feet unsteady. The hall starts turning, and Hunter pulls me back to the safe, unmoving area, me still leaning into his side.

Omega snatches up a small stone and throws it down the hall. It clangs all the way, echoing. "All clear," she announces, turning to us. "Vision? Are you okay?"

"No," Hunter answers for me before I can get a word out. "None of us will be if this keeps up."

"Viz?"

I blink at her, seeing but not really seeing, her face blurring over. Everything's blurring over, though the light on the ceiling is brighter and lighted for the first time. She's touching me now, tiny hand on my shoulder, but I can't focus on that, can't think about anything other than the ground crumbling and seeing Hunter fall.

Again.

I squeeze his hand, trying to breathe.

"We're okay," she says, voice filtering in from too far off over the rushing in my ears. "It's okay. We're almost there."

"We're almost there."

The water, around me. Smothering, soaking. Drowning. A distant light too far away to reach.

Someone's saying something. Phee, I think. Probably anis she dyingwhich is a fully legitimate question.

I still want to slap her.

"This… happens sometimes," Hunter answers, "Just give her time."

This is so, so stupid. I don't have time to get hit with a stupidly crippling panic enough I can't even move. It's ridiculous. Still shivering. Still freezing. Hunter has me wrapped in his arms now. My head's on his chest, trying to feel. To breathe. Can't inhale.

I'm dying. Maybe. Don't care.

"I just – want – to go home."

"We don'thavea home," Omega points out. "Not anymore."

Kamino's gone in smoke and flames. Like Crosshair.

"That thing's still nearby," Hunter tells me gently, "We need to move before it catches up to us, or something…worsehappens."

I groan. He's right, unfortunately. The thing's out there, and we need to move.

Wrecker's good with – these. He's random enough to think of something to snap me back to me. Hunter tries, but no one's quite made it like Wrecker, though his safe-ness is – helpful.

I knowhewouldneverhurt me.

"I – I can't get the compass," Omega interjects, frustrated, her voice a distance off. When I look up, she's trying to pry the object free.

"It's served its purpose," Phee replies, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Skara Nal's reclaimed it."

"Skara Nal has reclaimed it," Omega echoes with a nod, taking off again.

"So, we have to navigate this death trap without it?" Hunter asks.

"Good thing you have me," Phee snips back. "Come on, kid. There can't be much of this left."

"Can I stab her?" I ask, looking up at Hunter. "Please?"

"No."

"That's not fair. Crosshair woulda let me."

Hunter twitches.

(What am I saying why am I saying this –) "Though I'd probably kill him, first. Assuming he hasn't already killed me."

We don't talk about Crosshair. Wenevertalk about Crosshair, but that's where everything fell, where nothing will ever move back from. And I can't stop wondering who will be next to walk away.

Stop thinking about it.

I try comming the others, just to see if they're okay, but the comms are dead. Ugh.

We've made it to a door when the others finally show up again. "Hey," I mutter, leaning against the wall again.

Phee gets the door open to reveal another massive room, something shimmering a faint bluish purple in the center.

"So,that'sthe Heart of the Mountain?" I ask, "Well, at least it's pretty."

"That's why it's treasure," Phee replies, climbing down into the chamber and crossing the room. Hunter waits to follow, so I linger in the back. She brushes the stone off, twisting it off the rock it's sitting on.

Something…shifts. Rumbling. The ground is shuddering under our feet, and a bit of dust falls from the ceiling. I balance myself on the wall, stumbling. Hunter grabs Omega before she pitches head-first off the opening, and Echo, Wrecker, and Tech scramble aside as a rock or door orsomethingcomes crashing down their way.

Lights flare to life across the entire room, something distantly exploding. I grip into a wall ledge to keep myself from falling –Kamino, dark, oppressive damp empty bottomless water falling–

I'm panting, and my hand slips free, and Tech – he's the only one right beside me – grabs my wrist, though the movement jarshimfree. Echo slides down across the wall. The fall's long but not bad, so I pull away, stabbing my knife into the wall to slow my fall a little. Wrecker's holding Tech now.

Hunter's trying to balance Omega so she doesn't faceplant over a unhappily long fall, but by the time everything's done shifting and shaking, everyone's down on the floor.

"I suspect this is not, in fact, a treasure vault," Tech announces.

"Then what is it?" Omega asks.

"Good question," Echo answers as the floor shudders again.

It jolts as some sort of engine fires, and I shield my eyes from the blinding white light.

Rumbling. Shaking. The ion engine is beneath my feet. The light on my face. The heat burning and burning and burning –

"Try again, Hunter. I told you before –"

I stumble upright, panting, sheathing my knife.

"It just emitted a massive surge of energy," Tech reports, "Whatever we are standing inside is highly destructive!"

"So, what do we do to shut it down?" Wrecker demands panickily.

"If removing the Heart of the Mountain activated it, perhaps we must return it to its proper place to deactivate it," Tech suggests.

"Do you know how much this is worth?" Phee snaps back, glaring and hugging the stone to her chest. "It's what we came for! Can't you find a separate kill switch or something?"

"I think you got your priorities mixed up," I point out.

"Ourship'sout there," Hunter agrees, "If that thing destroys it, we'll betrappedon this planet!"

"All right," she huffs, "But you owe me."

"You'rethe one who wanted us here," I object, but the about to break out argument is cut off when something creaks loudly, and a familiar growling catches my ears. Ah, great. Monster's back. It rips part of some door rightoff, jumping out and flying at us. Our blasters and energy bow are drawn, and we're firing, but it's too fast.

It smacks into Phee, and she falls, dropping the stone somewhere. She takes off after it, and Hunter gives chase. No idea if it's to make sure she doesn't die, we get the stone, or that she doesn't run off with it. Hard to say with her.

It hits Echo, throwing him a good distance off, and I wince in sympathy, eyes narrowing as I try balancing my blaster with both hands to make a better shot. It yeets Wrecker, too, kicking him when he tries to grab it. Tech turns back to the controls, leaving Omega and I to cover for him.

It's toofast. How'd it even survive on a planet this bare? I'd feel bad for how hungry it is if not for how it's trying toeatus.

Echo's up again.

"Soot the window!" Wrecker yells to us. I look up, spotting the small crack lines from when he hit it, and fire. Omega takes a couple of shots, Echo takes one, and the window cracks cleanly across. Wrecker grabs the creature's tail and spins it around, throwing it out with the rest of the glass.

"Tech, do something!" Wrecker calls when the ground shudders again.

"I am trying, but nothing is working!" Tech yells back, stumbling as the ground jerks under our feet again. I don't know what this thing is doing, but being trapped inside a giant, uncontrolled machine is highly unpleasant.

"Tech, the stone!" Hunter calls, throwing the shimmering stone to Tech. The ground is trembling too much to properly stay upright, and Wrecker grabs my shoulder to keep me steady.

Tech nearly drops it again, but he and Omega pick it up and shove it back into place, twisting it off.

The rumbling stops, cutting off, and the stone is sparking. Some sort of shimmering electric current are running through it until it melts away entirely, and something starts exploding. The room goes dark. The structure is toppling now.

"Hang on to something!" Hunter warns. I drop down, trying to latch onto a ledge and safely away from where everything's exploding and falling. Echo and Wrecker are beside me, but we're thrown over a ledge and I land on top of Echo. He rolls us over, arm around my back to shield me, and Wrecker drops down to shield us both.

The rumbling finally slows and stops. I shudder, pushing myself up and looking around. Hunter and Tech are crouched by Omega.

"Now that we're landed," Hunter says, "We need to look for a way outta here. Phee and I found a… potential exit, if it's still open."

"Yeah," Echo agrees dryly, "So much for treasure."

Hunter and Phee backtrack to wherever they Stone fell, and luckily for us, it's overlooking the ground below. It's a drop, but more worrying is the molten rivers of rock flowing past us.

"Ohhh, sothat'swhat lava looks like?"

"That is correct," Tech replies.

It's shiny. And glowy. And – I like it, actually. It supposedly burns, though. "So… we went treasure hunting, lost the treasureagain, and then we melted a planet back to its… unborn state? Sweet. Is theMarauderokay? Can we give Gonky a comm?"

"Considering that Gonky is unable to use a comm, that would not serve any purpose other than to be an unnecessary expenditure of our already limited credits."

"We'll wait until morning," Hunter sighs, "That should give the rocks some time to harden, and it'll give us some cover in case that creature comes back."

"This puts us at 0 for 2 in treasure hunting, evenwitha professional," Tech snips, looking at Phee.

"We did find the Heart of the Mountain," Omega objects, "The legend was real."

"Well, it didn't give us anypowerexcept a nearly lost ship. So, nottotallyreal."

"You always have to ruin the fun, don't you?" Phee huffs.

"Yep." I roll my shoulders, checking to make sure I'm still in one piece. I am.Mostly.

My heart's still missing.

"I'll take first watch," Echo offers, "You all can get some rest."

Well, good enough for me, anyway.

Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^

Come hang out on Discord (delete spaces), discord . gg / nqSxuz2 or find us on tumblr at fanfictasia (our more serious blog which does have controversial posts on it; I won't be offended if you choose to block it, promise), and disastertriowriting (which is our fun blog with crack posts or incorrect SW quotes)

We've got a YT channel for tributes! (delete the spaces) youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA

ALSO: We have SW gift request forms for General, Anakin-Clones-centric, and Bad Batch fics. :D (delete spaces) bit . ly / CourtesyTrefflinFicRequests