#clone medic moony

[hellothere-generalangsty]

Crosshair - Night Terror

Summary: Erys, a medic assigned to the Bad Batch, had to deal with a sleep deprived Batcher. (Happens Pre Order 66, so no Omega here, and no Echo either yet)

Pairing: None (none…yet)

Reader description: Human medic, f!reader [she/her], no real physical description

Word Count: 2724 words

CW/ TW: Angst; Nightmares/ night terror, sort of injury, pain; Fluff too because I’m a softie tonight

Tags: @allamarisss @loth-wolffe @tacticalsparkles @imalovernotahater @ladykatakuri (I don't know why it won't tag you correctly so sorry about that ;; )

@m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s this one I dedicate to you my soft Moony 🌙

As usual, if you want to get tagged/removed, tell me so!

Notes: I’m sorry Crosshair, I know I make you suffer (a bit) but it’s for the p e o p l e

Also due to personal reasons (aka, I need it to be this way), the Marauder has a closed room with bunk beds (4) in it

Lately the nights were short and agitated for the Batchers, and even after all this time in the company of clones, Erys couldn’t get used to it. Their last mission had been quite difficult for them; Tech had been injured and they almost lost the information they were supposed to get.

They couldn’t get back to Kamino yet; they had to safely transport the information to the Senate. Usually she would have been in the cockpit, observing the blue and white strings of hyperspace wrapping the ship, but Hunter and Wrecker had fallen asleep in their seats and she didn’t wanted the door to wake them up. So she stayed in the room, peacefully reading a book on her datapad. Tech had left some time ago and didn’t came back yet, but she didn’t worry much about it. He was trying remain active as a way to distract himself from the pain. His arm had been shot, and he needed a full recovery on Kamino; but for now he had to do with bacta patches only.

As for Crosshair…well, he was one of the reason she remained in the room. She noticed how much he struggled to sleep lately; being a light sleeper didn’t help his situation, and he would spent most of the time simply laying on his bed and staring at the wall or the roof, chewing toothpick after toothpick. Erys couldn’t do much about that, but she didn’t wanted him to feel lonely during these moments.

He wasn’t much of a talker, so she never forced the conversation with him. She would just tell him “I’m here” before settling on a bed, and would find a way to get occupied. Sometimes he would come down to sit next to her and watch her write a report, or fill a medical file about one of them.

Today was one of those days. She was working on Tech’s file, describing his wound shot, the number of bacta patches he had since he got injured, the evolution of the burn and the healing of the tissues.

She felt a small bump on her shoulder. She used the reflection on her datapad to confirm her intuition, careful about her movements. Crosshair had fallen asleep.

Finally, she thought to herself. He deserved some rest. She knew how Tech getting injured was eating him alive; he couldn’t prevent it yet convinced himself it was his fault.

“Crosshair, you couldn’t tell there was another sniper. It happens, that’s part of going on a mission, and that’s why I’m here.”

“I should have guessed; but you can’t understand, you’re just a medic.”

She knew he didn’t mean to hurt, and she wasn’t mad at him. She’d rather have him talking mean to her than bottling everything up. Later, he had asked her if Tech needed to change his bacta patch.

“Yes he can change it now.”

“Where is it?”

She had pointed to her bag, telling him to take the white-wrapped one. He nodded, his voice a bit softer than usual when he thanked her before leaving the room. He wasn’t much of a talker, but he was a man of action, both on and off the battlefield. If anyone wanted to know how Crosshair felt, they would have to look at his behaviour more than listen to his words.

She still couldn’t believe how quickly he fell asleep; against her shoulder on top of that.

He is sleep deprived, of course he was quick to fall asleep. But he should lay down, he’s going to get cramps if he doesn’t lay down.

She thought about it for a moment. Eventually, her arm would feel numb and she would have to move too; but was it worth taking the risk of waking him up? She decided it was better for her to wait. He had to get some rest. She carefully took his toothpick out of his mouth so he wouldn’t hurt himself with it, and focused back on her datapad and the notes she had taken.

.

“Crosshair, sniper!”

He laid flatter on his stomach, eye aligned with the scope of his rifle, scanning the houses a few clicks away, until he spotted it.

“Got you.”

He shot straight, watching as the body jolted under the impact, falling to his side.

“Tech’s down, we need to get out of here!”

He pretended he couldn’t hear the worry in Hunter’s voice, he tried to push away the idea of his brother being hurt, because they had a job to do, and the sooner it would be done, the sooner they could get away from here.

“Bring them out for me.” He told them, eagerly waiting on the bodies to move in his field of vision. He counted in his head to keep his breath regular; now was not the time to get distracted, or nervous.

One, two, three; aim and shoot. Four, five…Wait. Wait…Shoot.

One by one, the bodies were dropping on the ground, and none of them could tell what hit them. When he saw Wrecker coming out of the base, a thumb in the air, he slightly turned his rifle to see were was Tech. Hunter was blocking his vision, but he could still guess the shape of his brother, and the blown out part of his armour. Wrecker joined them and helped Tech get on his feet to get away from there.

“Crosshair, let’s go!”

He jumped on his feet. But something didn’t add up.

“Are you sure they’re all down?”

“Doesn’t matter, Wrecker’s gonna blow it up. We’ll come and get you, so be ready!”

He could see their small silhouettes running toward the Marauder. They barely had time to get in before the base exploded. The wave got to him and pushed him back, making him trip and fall. It took him a second to register the pain, another to roll to his side and try to grab his rifle. A third one to realise there was no rifle anymore.

“Looking for that?”

“Give it back.” He pushed on his hands and knees to get up, staring at the helmeted person standing there, his rifle loosely held in one hand.

“I don’t want it,” they threw it away, “I’m here for you.”

“Go away.”

He kept staring at them, trying to guess their next move, counting the time he had left before the Marauder would come to get him. He had to get his rifle back.

“That’s not a good idea,” they simply said.

But he couldn’t care less about what they thought was a good idea or not. He reached for his blaster, aiming straight between their helmet and the upper part of their chest armour.

“Get back to sleep.”

He tried to shoot, but nothing came out of the blaster.

“Why is it not…”he threw it on the ground, heart clenching in his chest. He felt his hands shaking, and caught himself thinking about being unable to use his guns, standing all alone on a cliff with a masked stranger, waiting on back-up that was still not here; and Tech being inured because he didn’t see that kriffing sniper ambushed right in front of his own hiding spot, and the noise that explosion made, and why didn’t they came for him yet?!

“Crosshair-”

“Shut up!” he snapped, getting dangerously closer to the stranger. His face was covered by his helmet, but the rage, the fear, the guilt; all of it was still clearly discernable in his voice. He grabbed the hand that was coming toward him, bluntly twisting it, forcing whoever it was down on their knees, begging.

“Crosshair, let go now!”

“I told you to go away,” he tightened his grip on their arm, “so why are you still here, why?!”

He could hear the muffled whine coming from under the helmet, and held still even if they were trying to break free. He pushed further on their arm, forcing it open.

“You’re…you’re gonna break it Crosshair…Let go, please…”

.

It felt too brutal. Waking up above her, her arm twisted under his fingers, her skin marked by his too tight grip. He didn’t know how, but he made sure she couldn’t get away. She was trying so hard not to be afraid; he could tell, but he was still scaring her.

He was still hurting someone.

“I- I’m…,” he let go of her, as he realised what just happened. His hands were still shaking, and his breath was way shorter and faster than usual. He straightened on the mattress, backing up as much as he could, until he could feel the cold metallic all against his back. She barely rubbed her arm before turning around, trying to comfort him.

“It’s okay, it happens. I’m fine, Crosshair, I promise you I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry, I- what was that…“ he stuttered, hands close to his chest.

“You had a night terror, it happens, okay?”

She didn’t try to reach him, not physically. She knew it would only make things worse.

“Look, I’ll go get you something to drink and eat, and you can stay there until I come back. Or go to the refresher if you need to,” she gently told him, calmly getting up of the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

She turned around one last time before getting out of the room, but he couldn’t even look at her in the eyes.

First Tech, now her.

She went to the food supplies, grabbed a few bars for Crosshair, as well as a small bottle of blue milk. She almost congratulated herself for not making any noise, but quickly lost that enthusiasm when she crossed path with a still half-asleep Hunter.

“Hey there,” she smiled, holding the supplies close to her arm to hide the bruises.

“What’ you doing with that?” he muttered, lazily stretching his hands.

“I’ve been working on files for hours and forgot to eat, so I’m catching up.”

“Right.”

He looked down at the supplies in her arm for a moment, met her eyes again, silently asking a question she would never answer to.

“Well, I gotta go, lot of work waiting for me.” She said, already heading back to the room.

“Yeah, I guess you do.”

She lost her confident mask the second the door closed behind her. She didn’t wanted Hunter to get involved, Crosshair was already feeling bad enough. Speaking of which…

“Crosshair? I brought you some food.”

She guessed he was in the refresher, because she couldn’t find him in his bed. She sat down, spreading the supplies on the mattress, then taking a closer look to her bruises. Sure, it hurt, but it could have been way worse. She knew clones were more prone to have night terrors; it wasn’t the first time she witnessed one. The incoherent babbling, the fear, the aggressive tone and actions, the blank stares; she recognised it straight away. It didn’t help that he was sleeping against her; it would have been easier to turn off the light and try to create a calmer atmosphere for him if he had been lying on the bed.

She let herself fall back against the mattress, focusing on the pulses running through her arm. A door slid, and she thought it would be Hunter checking on her, but instead it was Crosshair who came to sit next to her, a wet towel and bacta patches in hand.

She softly sighed, straightening once again to lean against the wall.

“Do you remember anything?”

He shook his head from left to right. All he could possibly remember was that overwhelming fear, and the pressure on her wrist.

“Look, I’m not mad, and I know you didn’t do it on purpose. You’ve had a lot of trouble sleeping lately, and the pressure you put on yourself didn’t help. Those things happen, that’s why I’m here.”

He didn’t say anything, but looked down at the blue marks he left on her skin.

“You’re not the only one who get battle scars, sometimes.” She tried to joke, a light smile on her face.

He turned more to face her, bending one of his leg and wedging it under his knee. He then gently seized her hand, bringing it closer to him, softly pressing the wet towel against her wrist. She shivered to the cold contact, but didn’t back off. He proceeded to gently wipe her arm, careful in each movement as to not hurt her.

He spent a few minutes on it, barely pressing against her skin, trying to mostly cool the bruises down a bit before he could get to the next part. When he estimated it was enough, he put the towel away and grabbed a white packet. His hands were not as steady as usual, and he struggled when trying to open it.

“I can help-“

“It fine,” he stopped her, then whispered in a softer tone, “I can do it.”

She didn’t try to interfere anymore, but instead watched him get irritated with the package, taking it to his teeth to rip the corner off. He then peeled the bacta patch off, holding it with the tip of his fingers above her arm.

“Could you…,” she tensed her muscles a bit and got closer, “yes.”

He quickly estimated where he should put the patch, slightly sticking out his tongue as he applied it on the bruises. He gently massaged it to make sure it was sticking correctly, and also out of guilt for being the cause of this injury.

“I should have guessed there was another sniper. It’s my job, and I failed. And Tech got hurt.”

His voice was but barely a murmur, filled with shame and regret. He couldn’t lift his eyes off of the bacta patch, afraid of what he may see in hers if he did.

“How long until he fully recovers?” he then asked her.

“Probably two weeks, maybe less if he gets his treatment on Kamino and if he keeps moving around the way he does. And we both know he will.”

“Yeah,” she managed to rip a subtle smile from him, “he will.”

“You know, you could be a medic too. You got the skills and the soft touch.”

She looked at his hand still on the dressing, quite satisfied with his work. He shook his head to brush that comment off, but deep down it soothed him a bit. He turned around to grab the blue milk and throw the bars between them.

“Well, if I was a medic I’d tell you to eat. So…eat.”

She held a chuckle back, a silly grin on her face, and picked one of the bar from the pile of supplies, unwrapping it before taking a bite.

“Mmh, if you need help to open that…”she pointed at the bottle of blue milk, trying so hard not to laugh. He rolled his eyes at her, but when he tried to open it and it didn’t work, she lost it, bursting into laughter. He couldn’t hold a grin back when he handed it to her.

“Don’t mock- you know what? You earned that right for tonight. Thank you,” he said as she gave it back to him, uncapped.

“You must admit, that was funny!”

“Anything is funny with you, you’re a good audience.”

“That’s true. But it was still very funny.”

He looked at her, a soft smile on his face, and for a short instant, forgot about the façade, and the pain; nothing mattered but the way she was laughing because of him, and the way she was staring into his eyes and-

“Sorry.”

He broke the eye contact, leaning against the wall and trying to look relaxed. He couldn’t tell, but she felt like, overall, this personal time between them was a win. Both on a professional, and a personal scale.

He drank a long sip from the bottle, offered it to her out of courtesy. For the first time in a few days, he felt tired. Enough to get a good night of sleep, at least. So he let himself fall backward, head hitting straight into the soft pillow as he closed his eyes.

“Sleep well.” she whispered to him.

And even though he didn’t answer, did not worded it, he still found a way to let her know, through a heartfelt smile.

I will now.

#the bad batch #star wars #tbb #crosshair #tbb crosshair #crosshair feels #star wars writing #tbb writing #mesa writes #dedicated to you #soft moony 🌙 #also i think this is your new nickname if you're fine with that #hope you'll like it #Soft Hour for Crosshair

[hpdabbles]

Bittersweet Regret P2

Five years go by.

No one has been able to find Regulus, much less heard from him throughout that time. He’s all over the papers for months after his disappearance, his parents convince he hadn’t gone willingly with a half-blood and pressure the Aurors to bring their underage son home.

As a child of an Ancient and Noble House, the search takes one of the top priorities even with the war raging on, but by the end of the first year, it’s pretty clear they won’t find him.  

Sirius watches them desperately search and search from the safety of the Potter Manor. Seeing Regulus ran made it clear he should do the same. That summer, Sirius packed up his bags finally able to breathe relief when he realizes he will never have to go back, ever.

His mother shrieks she’ll disown him acting as if that would mean anything to Sirius and he has the pleasure of shouting back  “It won’t matter if you do! You don’t have any sons left who want to carry your name! Unlovable Hag!”

He barely dodges the hexes and the curses she flings but he does and Sirius accepts James’ hug feeling high on the feeling of joy. He finishes his education at Hogwarts- a little disorientated when he glances at the Slytherin table and doesn’t see his brother two years below him- only slightly aware of the changes.

Around a few months after Regulus leaves, he pulls a prank on Snivellus which gets out of hand. He didn’t mean for it to get that bad, really, it was only supposed to spook him a bit not put his life in danger. It was an accident. 

Luckily the whole thing is kept under wraps, so only the five students, the school healer (she looks murderous ever time she seems him afterward) and the headmaster know what could have happened. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any repercussions. Moony refuses to speak or look in his direction for months on end and Snivellus, just....never returns.

After swearing to never share Moony’s secret with a Life Debt to seal the deal,  the half-blood is given a few days to recover from the encounter, choosing to go home for his rest. Sirius was so busy trying to get Moony to forgive him he hadn’t noticed the Slytherin wasn’t back after the three weeks of the prank.

Dumbledore worries that he could share the secret and sents someone over the Snape household for the student. They instead find a sobbing woman who begs them for her boy and a drunk of a father sneering that he couldn’t care less where his son went off to.

Apparently, mere days after getting home a pair of young teenagers arrived at her door. They were charming in a secretive way, refusing to come into her house but determine to speak to her son. She knew they were wizards since she could see the slight reflection of a disguising spell on their hair and eyes. 

Snivellus exchanged some words with them then agree to go to the local park for a longer conversation. When he came home that evening he had been more thoughtful than she’s ever seen him, acting like someone had taken his whole viewpoint and flip it on its head.

The next morning he packed up all his belongings minus his school robes and walked out the door.

She hadn’t heard from him since.

Sirius couldn’t care less where the greasy creep went, but he held Remus’ secret and the Aurors believes his mysterious visitors could have been his wayward brother. Though what Regulus could possibly want with Snivellus was a mystery.

Not that it mattered. Moony forgave him, it took until half the year to get that kind of forgiveness, but he did. They join the Order right out of Hogwarts, because the war is getting out of hand, too many people are dying and there doesn’t seem to be a future with the Death Eaters winning more and more battles.

Sirius spent a few mornings wondering about his brother, a spare thought of what and where he could be, but he’s so busy with the war, with his relationship that starts to fall apart the longer Moony spends with the werewolf packs, James’ and Lily’s marriage, keeping Peter alive in the fights, and his own career plans of opening a store. 

A book store, because they struggle but Sirius wants to spend the rest of his life with Moony. Silly romantic ideas of the two growing old with the lingering smell of books since Moony loved them so. 

Life goes on.  Five years past. 

A part of him worries his idiot of a brother has joined the Death Eaters if only because he doesn’t want to fight him. He doesn’t want to be the one that may end up killing him. 

He doesn’t see hair or tail of Regulus though, and his mother is still searching. Orion Black died wondering what happened to his son. At the funeral- one Sirius hadn’t bothered to go to but read and heard about enough- witnesses claim three unknown cloak strangers were spotted at the edge of the cemetery, many worried they were Death Eaters but the three had done nothing but watch the burial.

Once Orion had been lowered they left as silently as they came. Though the three had come close to allow one to place a red rose and a purple hyacinth on the grave. 

The purebloods know the meaning of those flowers, as does Sirius. red rose meant “I love you” and purple hyacinth meant “I am sorry," "Please forgive me" and "Sorrow." 

No one bothered to stop them when the three left. Though his mother had called out in a desperate voice just as they disappeared into the fog.  “Regulus?”

She got no reply.

Harry is born then and Sirius is suddenly so overwhelmingly in love with the little bundle of joy he can pretend Moony hasn’t been home in months, Wormtail hasn’t smile in weeks and he has to bury some friends who didn’t move out of a cruse fast enough.

He adores the little baby, almost as much as if Harry was his actual son, and he swears if things work out with Moony the two will blood adopt. If Moony still loves him. If Moony isn’t...hasn’t...betrayed him in more ways then one.

There is a mole in the Order. They figured it out after Gideon and Fabian were nearly killed. The two had been cornered while undercover and the enemy knew everything about their operation, down to the very letter. The only reason they survived was due to some random masked wizard that arrived and fought his way through eight Death Eaters to reach them.

Now Fabian was down a leg and Gideon had yet to wake from his coma, a few months off of never waking at this rate. His family stayed at his side around the clock despite the danger

James and Lily were also in danger, though they were maybe more since little Harry, his precious baby Fawn, had a target painted on his body bigger than half the order and they needed to hide him. 

Sirius figured he can be the Secret Keeper, completely prepared to go through it when suddenly He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is attacked. It comes without warning but somehow, a wizard drags out the Death Eaters, until the leader himself arrives. 

It’s in the middle of Hogsmeade, civilians running in horror as a battle raged out while two sides clash against each other. It started off as a raid, aimed at the refugees that had run to the wizarding village, and the Death Eaters wanted to make an example of never escaping them.

They just weren’t expecting a waiting army ready and willing to run them out of the village. Three cloaked wizards lead a force of werewolves, vampires, Veelas and a few Squibs with muggle weapons. 

The reason the Death Eaters were such a big problem was that they made an organized army against the few handfuls of Aurors, who needed years and specialties to be trained properly. There just wasn’t enough of them to stop the blood purists.

The average witch and wizard weren’t willing to join the fights- well if they weren’t the Order- and slowly they were losing the power of the streets. 

This battle, however, turned the tables of the war. Suddenly the people the wizards treated the worst were doing everything they could to protect them, and they were winning. 

Sirius rushes over to lead a wand just in time to watch the leader of the rebelling army force He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named to retreat, nearly beating him. As soon as the Dark Lord runs ordering his forces to do the same, the leading wizard voice commands against the fighting.

“Spead out! Give medical aid to anyone you find! We won’t lose any more tonight!”

A roar of approval break from the force that follows him all wearing the same type of cloak but none hiding their faces. Every civilian can clearly see who saved them. Can see the fangs of the vampires, can see the yellow eyes of the werewolves, the flames of the Veelas, and the lack of wands of the Squibs.

They rush about, saving as many lives as they can and they succeded. It’s awe-inspiring to see them work so easily and well in tune with each other. Healers arrive with half the patients stable, and the rumble being cleared. 

The wizards and witches keep a wary eye on them, but the magical creatures barely spare them a glance. They are there to defeat the Death Eaters, defend the village and save them. 

Then suddenly Sirius feels his heart stop as the three wizards leading them finally allow their hoods to drop as the Aurors demand to know who they are. The magical creatures (plus the Squibs) bristle at the wand weaver’s tones but almost as if they receive a signal all of them go to stand behind the three wizards. 

A silence settles across the villages, then very slowly the three reach up for their hoods.

He almost doesn’t recognize them. Neither resembling who they once used to be. Gone is the long hair, the thinness and the haunted look replaced with people so vibrate and confident, it’s jarring.

Regulus and Snivellus, in an odd mix of muggle clothes and robes, flocking the Prongs clone.

The Prongs clone who smiles and shouts loudly  “The DA”.

Sirius has one second to process that before a bright circular Rune glows under the feet of the visiting army and then they blink out of existence. Bypassing the wards that should have stopped them.

It’s been five years....and Regulus seems to be doing well for himself.

#hpdabbles #Harry Potter #Bittersweet Regret #slight angst #Feuding siblings #harry x regulus #Time travel #Hinted Harry/Regulus/Severus??? #Wolfstar #But tries are hard #Part 2

[nitewrighter]

Gency Week Day 3

Daffodil: Chivalry/New Beginnings

A Continuation of the Star Wars AU-- Genji’s “A More Elegant Weapon” line spoke to me, so here’s more of that. Genji considers a new start!!!

---

“Mmh...” Ashe’s eyes blearily opened. Her head was pounding, “Whuh...” she suddenly snapped to attention and found she was belted into a co-pilot’s seat, “What the--!?” Her eyes flicked to the exterior. Iego’s moons and asteroids were far behind them. Hyperspace strobed in the ship’s viewport.

Ashe looked sharply over at Hanzo, who was sullenly piloting the ship.

“The kyber--” she started.

“Probably exploded, thanks to you,” said Hanzo.

“Thanks to your brother,” said Ashe, furrowing her brow.

Hanzo just grimaced and rolled his grip on the ship’s steering. 

“You know I don’t miss. You know that blaster shot was going in one place, but then baby brother has to get his choobies in a bunch over some backwater moony and suddenly you’re out a brother, and we’re all out a hundred thousand cred score.”

She’s not a backwater moony! Hanzo remembered Genji’s voice and his stomach turned. Given how much they bickered, it was statistically likely that any last time they would speak to each other would be an argument, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“If he hadn’t---” Ashe caught herself and then gave him a sidelong glance, “I’m sorry for your loss,” she said, pushing her hair back.

“He was my brother,” said Hanzo, “My responsibility. I didn’t think he would...he flirts but I never thought he would get so involved so as to...”

“Well we’re gonna have to find another score... the Dawn had a lot riding on this, you understand,” said Ashe. She leaned back in her seat, “Kriff... Not looking forward to that Holocomm meeting...”

“You were in charge,” said Hanzo.

“And you told me you had your little brother under control,” said Ashe. Hanzo just tensed where he was sitting. Ashe sighed. “Look,” she said, “You and your brother were unique. Most people end up real lonely in our line of work, because when stuff like this happens... it hits harder when you were close to them.”

“You have Bob,” said Hanzo.

“Bob’s a droid, Hanzo,” said Ashe, “Droids can be fixed. Sometimes you can even keep a backup of their personality on a data drive. And with a handful of exceptions, most droids I can trust a helluva lot more than I can trust people.”

“If you hadn’t fired that shot...” Hanzo started and then trailed off.

“If Genji had just acted the way Crimson Dawn are supposed to act and let me shoot that moony, he’d still be here,” said Ashe, folding her arms, “But he didn’t. So he isn’t. That’s how things are with the Crimson Dawn, Hanzo. If you can’t live with it, you die for it. I’m sorry, Hanzo, I am, but that’s our life. That’s how it is.”

---

“Welcome to the Rebel Alliance.”

The woman stood in front of the two of them looking satisfied for several seconds, as if all their problems were solved. Mercy fidgeted with her bandaged hands and Genji looked around. Naturally a medical ship didn’t exactly scream ‘rebel alliance.’ There were maybe two other patients recovering, one simply sleeping and another being looked over by a medical droid with the Rebellion’s emblem on its shoulder. The woman standing in front of them was wearing an X-Wing pilot’s uniform, as well. 

“...The rebel alliance?” Genji repeated, his own voice raspy, “What are you doing this far from the core worlds?”

“Relief work,” said the woman, folding her arms, “We’re also assessing the former levels of Empire control out here.”

“The Empire has fallen,” said Genji.

“Palpatine has fallen. The Imperial fleet is scrambling--They still have enough firepower to be a significant threat if and when they regroup. We were heading away from Millius Prime when we got your distress call, we assumed you had been attacked by them or something--the remains of the fleet have just been... falling on and cannibalizing any poor little ship they come across. The tide’s turned and the galaxy’s fighting back, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Empire still has footholds all over it.”

“So you’re still fighting it,” said Mercy.

“Well of course!” said the woman, she extended a hand, “Tracer, Scout Squadron leader.” 

“Mercira Zygarel” Mercy hesitantly shook Tracer’s hand with her bandaged one. “Friends call me Mercy. I was a healer in my village but if the rebellion has need of me...”

“...are you volunteering?” Tracer tilted her head.

“I thought I was volunteering before--” Mercy started but then looked at Genji, caught herself and cleared her throat, “They say it was a Jedi who took down the empire. The elders say was Jedi who saved my people back during the Clone Wars. I would like to return the favor, if that’s possible.”

“Could always use more healers,” said Tracer, looking around, “You know your way around Bacta?”

Mercy nodded. “Surgical procedures for a handful of species as well. Humans, Diathim, Toydarian, Twi’lek, Besalisk, Togruta, and Rodian. I--I know I could learn more if I could work with the Rebellion.”

Really not a backwater moony then, thought Genji, And I nearly got her killed trying to steal Kyber for the Crimson Dawn...

“And what about you?” said Tracer, looking at him. Her eyes trailed down to his leg stumps within the bacta suit, “You can stay here as long as you need to recover, but you don’t have to cast your lot in with us. Especially not after what you’ve been through. Do you have somewhere to go back to?”

Genji tensed slightly. “I--My brother...” he looked down at his leg stubs and took a steadying breath, “I need some time to think.”

“I understand,” said Tracer, clapping him on the shoulder. She looked back at Mercy. “You said you were both caught in... some kind of explosion?”

“Volcanic!” Mercy blurted out, before easing up in her seat, “It was... a volcanic explosion... We were doing a--a-umm a geological survey and... some magma must have hit a gas pocket.”

“A surgeon and a geologist?” said Tracer, impressed.

“It’s a hobby,” Mercy and Genji said at the same time.

“Nasty luck, that,” said Tracer. She folded her arms, “Welp, as I’ve said, you can take the time you need to recover here. We’re headed away from Iego, but we have your ship--”

“Ichimonji!?” Genji sat up, feeling the bacta in the suit slosh up against him.

“Well we couldn’t very well leave it floating out there!” said Tracer, “It’s mag-locked to this vessel. But when you’re ready to go, just let us know. I need to get back to commanding the squadron, but we do have more to discuss. You just rest and recover and we’ll have more questions, later.”

“Understood,” said Genji as Tracer walked out. The door whirred shut behind her. Genji looked around. 

A long silence passed between him and Mercy.

“You covered for me,” said Genji.

“Well... I don’t know what the Rebellion would do to Crimson Dawn, but from what I’ve seen of how they deal with the empire, they don’t strike me as very fond of bullies and liars.”

‘Bullies and liars,’ thats a nice way of saying ‘murderers and thieves’ thought Genji. 

Mercy suddenly tensed up. “Oh no--I--I didn’t mean that. I don’t think you...” she caught herself her lips thinned, she didn’t know what to think of him at this point. He and Hanzo had given her nothing but lies on Thysoi, but now he was like this because he had jumped in to stop Ashe from shooting her. “You’ve been through so much already,” she said softly.

Genji gave a nod towards her own bandages, “You’ve been through a lot too,” he said. He flinched in bed. “Your wings--” he said in alarm.

Mercy spread her wings once iridescent and smooth, now ragged on the edges, with a hole burned through the lower corner of the other. They still had their iridescence but they were stained by fire, no longer moon-white and more warped, with patches of gray and still iridescent burned spots like black opal. 

“...I’m so sorry,” said Genji, “About everything--you only wanted to help Jedi and the Rebellion and my brother and I...”

“I should have known better. I was so eager to get away from Iego I was willing to believe you--”

“That’s not your fault,” said Genji.

“And you wouldn’t have even taken me with you even if you were in the rebellion,” Mercy’s shoulders bunched up.

“Mercy, if we weren’t in the Crimson Dawn, I would have taken you anywhere in the galaxy you wanted,” said Genji, leaning forward slightly with the bacta sloshing in his suit.

Mercy’s brow crinkled. “But you were in the Crimson Dawn,” she said, still remembering the sting of the truth back in the caves.

“We were brought into it young,” said Genji, “My brother and I were really only able to survive the lower ranks of it because we had each other.” 

“...Are you going to go back to him?” she asked quietly.

“If the Crimson Dawn finds out I’m still alive, they’ll probably kill me for destroying all that Kyber, regardless of how much Hanzo argues for me,” said Genji, “I’ll... I’ll have to find some way of letting him know I’m still alive, but I don’t know how I’m going to do that without alerting all of them. I’m not exactly in any position to fight them.”

“So what now?” said Mercy.

“I don’t know,” said Genji, “Everything I knew how to do before...” he trailed off, “Charming, and good with vibroblades in a tight corner. That’s it. No other redeeming qualities. And I don’t know how good the second one is if...” he trailed off and looked at his leg stumps.

“There are prosthetics available,” said Mercy, “I’m sure the rebellion...” she trailed off.

“Do you think they’d have me?”

“Do you believe in freeing the galaxy?” Mercy tilted her head.

“All my brother and I really believed in was survival,” said Genji with a sigh, “But... if that’s the only thing I believed in and that got me here, maybe it’s time to believe in something more.”

“And why should I trust what you say, now?” said Mercy, glancing off, “Why should they trust you?”

“You can’t. I’ll have to earn it,” said Genji, “You can trust that I want legs, and that the Crimson Dawn will kill me if they find out I’m still alive, though.”

Mercy’s eyes trailed down to his leg stubs. “Why did you step in like that?” she said quietly.

“The way you looked at me when you thought I was a good person... it made me want to be that person. I liked you, I did--I still do. But I understand completely if you never want to see my face again.” He brought up his bacta-suit wrapped hand and brushed the plastex along his lower jawline, feeling the bandages and some plastex, “I probably don’t want to see my own face right now,” he mumbled.

“It’s---It’s not that bad,” said Mercy. She smiled a little and gestured at the bandages lining her own face. “I won’t mind seeing it again. We match, at least.”

“And if you still look amazing--” Genji caught himself and then huffed, “A bit too soon, isn’t it?”

“Definitely too soon,” said Mercy with a bittersweet smile.

Genji let his eyes trail up to the ceiling of the med-bay. “So... Rebel Alliance, huh?”

“I... I think it’ll be good for you,” said Mercy.

“Well I’ve been robbing the galaxy blind for well over the past decade,” he said with a slight smile, “Probably should start paying it back.”

#gency #gency week #gencyweek