#cody: YOU’RE MISSING A LIMB | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ruminate88 · 4 months

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Hi! I'm trying to learn how to be a better person and I've been reading your blog since I found it. I'm sorry for what you went through. I hope you get better soon. I know it's cliche to say you're not alone, but you are probably feeling like you are because narcissistic abuse includes being isolated--by being manipulated or being forced to isolate yourself. It's a very slow healing process like an amputated limb, but it WILL get better as you find peace.

Can you maybe make a post with a list of all the bad things narcs have done to you? I think listing helps.

I appreciate you reading my blog if this is all for you, I’m glad I created it. I wanted to help at least one person see a light at the end of their tunnel. Thank you for the kind words I know I’m not completely alone, I pray to God everyday and believe he hears my cries and cares but physically, yes, I don’t talk to family or friends about any of this, I stay to myself, as I’ve been ashamed and unsure if they would be able to understand all I went through and obviously not to upset family.

I can only tell you I’ve felt like a broken/bad person many of days and I don’t take all the credit in healing myself, I believe God has done most of the work. The best choice I ever made was to admit I failed my life and myself. To ask God to change me and change the direction of my life because I was totally lost not knowing what I needed or wanted!! Nothing had been working for me and I was in the vicious cycle of dating manipulating/controlling men. I HAD to make a change or I was going to hurt myself. I felt like a piece of garage that my exes threw away. 😔😔😔

Things that was hardest about narcissistic abuse:

• You don’t recognize the isolation until you’re out of the relationship with the narcissist. You’re so desperate; worried about pleasing them and making them not upset with you, you spend all your time away from people who actually care about you. Memories of those times makes me so sad to this day.

• The love-bomb phase although it appeared wonderful and my exes were paying me so much attention, I think that phase was the most sickening and disturbing phase. They literally pretend to be the “partner of your dreams” while they’re deceiving you so they can use you and control you. I had been unstable already within my mental health so I was an easy target for them to trick me. My ex Andrew told me, “I mean it with all my heart and soul that I love you and want you to text me” even though he had went no contact from me a whole week prior. Him saying such a great statement kept me pulled in to his toxic pool and I kept on drowning in it.

• so I dealt with 3 narcissists but the 2nd one, Cody, he dumped me twice but the 2nd time he did it by ghosting me. I’m not trying to be dramatic when I say it was very traumatizing… Considering you’re in trauma bond with this person. They create a false narrative that you’re both so obsessed with each other and you believe the feelings are reciprocated but they’re not!! The narcissistic relationship is extremely one-sided. So him ghosting me, he not only made me so attached and crazy about the fairytale love he made up with me but then to just ghost me and rip it all away, took my spirit at that time. I was a dead person walking after that. I saw almost NO hope for me. Then to meet Andrew not even 6 months after and I begged Andrew pleeeease don’t hurt me like Cody did but Andrew couldn’t help who he is. 💔🖤

• Another scar I have had to overcome is after I broke up with Andrew, we continued to flirt and sext a lot but then started to argue a lot. (He would claim he missed sexting me but then blame me and say I was making him wanna sext that I didn’t respect the breakup) Arguing through text is always rough because words can be misconstrued. (I couldn’t hardly get him on the phone ever to actually talk. He only wanted to text.) Andrew said very hurtful things to me. He kept changing “our story” because he couldn’t be honest with himself or take accountability for the fact he was in a real relationship with me for a year. He told me “He pretended all this feelings to just lead me on” but then quickly changed his story again to say “he was in love with me but fell out of love with me and was afraid to tell me” but the biggest slap in my face was eventually he exclaimed, “If I’m hurting you so much then just stop caring about me.” 😭 (as if I could just undo the attachment he allowed me to make with him. The many months he got my hopes up with future faking plus the promises he gave to me that I held onto but he couldn’t take accountability for anything he had done to me or with me.

• Eventually during the many arguments I had with Andrew, I hit my breaking point and had a suicide attack!! I let him know right away I was done fighting and didn’t see how I could continue on with him. I told him I wanted to end my life and then flipped a switch and pretended to be scared for me and pretended to “rescue me” blew up my phone begging me to stay and saying he’s sorry to have said what he said in our arguments. I wanted to believe him so bad. Whenever the attack subsided hours later and I was able to calmly reply to his countless pleas for me to stay, he pretended to have been so “worried about me” but then explained he believed “I wasn’t well and needed to get professional help.” He made me believe I was messed up and had so many issues…. Now I finally look back and think that was a form of gaslighting. He found something he could use to make me look like a problem and it deflected the focus off of him being a cheater and a liar. (He had a new girlfriend already) That whole situation caused me so much anger that I never saw till years later when I am now healing, I realize I had all that anger to deal with. It was uncomfortable!

• Always being nervous with their reactions and consistenly apologizing for them, as they make you to believe everything is your fault. They don’t like when you speak up against their actions and behaviors. 3 times I tried to confront Andrew as he would ignore me 2/3 days at a time but then always come back and treat me like I was his baby and he wanted me. Those 3 times I would ask if he’s too busy for us, does he want to break up and just be friends but he would always get so defensive and act upset like I was causing him so much stress. It would always end with me being sorry and telling him how much I adore him and I would kiss his feet like he was a king and he would then say the most romantic things to me and say how beautiful I was BUT I always knew in the back of my mind he was cheating and hiding stuff from me but I was scared to admit it out loud and “lose him.” My friends would tell me what a loser he was that I should leave him but I would get so upset and push my friends away. Andrew was barely there for me but I was 110% faithful to him.

• Seeking their approval was super exhausting too and it’s taken me years to relax and be comfortable within my skin. Andrew and Cody both gave me so little but they took everything from me. I was pathetic in sitting next to my phone 24/7 begging Andrew to text me and pay me attention because when he did, it was always “hey babe I missed you” and he would Snapchat me selfies and I would melt at his sparklingly blue eyes yet they were fake. Truly his eyes are black!!! I would cry for days with my phone and stalk Andrew’s social media pages hoping I don’t find other women and I could never find proof he was cheating. When Andrew would finally text me back or Snapchat me, I didn’t want him to leave again so I was throwing myself at him!! 🥴🥴🥴 I would dress up with all the makeup and sometimes no clothes on hoping to make him wanna stay and he would tell me how much I turned him on how he wanted me but didn’t wanna tell our parents about our relationship… (I just knew he was hiding things and other girls but I would not admit it for months)

They make holidays miserable 😩 •Halloween - Andrew said he was going to a party, didn’t invite me and I didn’t hear from him again till the next day. (Cheating)

• Thanksgiving, didn’t hear from Andrew at all till later that night and he was out “Black Friday shopping” and treating me like some random person he’s texting. I spent that whole day isolated during my family dinner. I had my phone on a charger in the wall and spent hours trying to type a long text message to tell him how bothered I was with his “hot and cold” behavior but every time I wanted to send it to him, I was scared he would dump me and I kept erasing my message and retyping it. People kept asking “you okay??” And I pretended I was fine. He stole that thanksgiving away from me!! (Mind you any regular day Andrew would text me just fine it was only holidays he ruined)

• Christmas - sucked!!!! No good morning babe or merry Christmas from Andrew till really late when the day is almost over. I yet again was isolating myself during family time. Stayed in my bedroom so sad why my “boyfriend” hadn’t texted me alllll day. When he did finally text, I confronted his absense and he exclaimed “he wasn’t worthy of my love” and “he wasn’t good enough for me.” I thought he was breaking up with me and I cried so hard. He swore that he wasn’t breaking up but that he believed I deserved better than him and he could never be enough for me. It was so confusing and I was actually happy when the day ended because it just sucked so much 😣

• Valentine’s Day - Was the worst one. Andrew was different the whole month of January prior. He was the best boyfriend daily talking sweet to me and showing me “affection” and selfies galore but on Valentine’s Day it felt so forced with him. I begged him would he send me a video of himself saying “I love you” and he did!!! It just all felt off. Then later that night. He was super cold. I asked him “what are your plans tonight??” He said “I never get time to myself, I’m always studying, doing homework or spending time with you.” 🥺 ouch!!! He said he just wanted to play video games and relax…. He continued to snap me some but I felt he didn’t really want to. He took time in between each response, leaving me to sit on my phone all night wishing things were better. He flirted some but that was it. I was in bed disappointed he chose video games over me on valentines day and at some point he never responded back!! I sat up till 3am letting tears fall as I gazed at Snapchat seeeing he still never opened my message… the thing with him is usually if he felt “sick” he would text me about it. So next morning he messaged me first goood morning and asked how I slept. I told him I waited up till 3am for him to respond!! THEN Andrew said “I didn’t sleep at all. I was up sick to my stomach all night”…. What?!! I knew he was lying. 😔 I asked him why didn’t he tell me he got sick and he said because he it was his stomach and he was embarrassed to say he was in the bathroom… haha (the man sent me nude selfies from his shower almost daily. He’s not embarrassed easily.)

I know this is a lot but I am finally at a place where I believe I experienced all of this so that I can better understand and relate to other people. All the anger and bitterness I had from both my exes was hard but gave me tough skin. All the nights and days I didn’t sleep worried if I was impressing them. They never deserved me to impress them but I can’t help but think maybe a small part of me touched their lives but maybe that’s just hopeful thinking. I hate to call them monsters, it makes me feel bad but I can’t hide the fact they hurt me soooooo deep. ❤️‍🩹🖤

(The list of things I endured from both Cody and Andrew could go on for many chapters. I chose the moments that I felt affected me the most)

You said it right!!! It’s exactly like a limb that needs healing. It’s every part of me. Years after I got away from Andrew, I started to randomly lose all the weight I couldn’t before. I lost a lot of hair too and I was so defensive in my marriage. My husband could say the littlest thing to trigger me and I instantly wanted to be so upset and hold everything inside to avoid any conflict. I hate confrontation it didn’t always go so easy with Andrew or Cody. It’s scary to wonder how my husband would react. Would he be different from those men?

I blocked Andrew’s number in 2015 and I didn’t learn about narcissism until 2022!!! That’s a long time that I searched for answers and I struggled in my marriage because I’ve kept a guard up scared to face anymore humiliation or disappointment in my life. Now that I understand a little more about what emotional abuse is, I began to feel everything and make more sense of it. I now see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’ve worked so hard on getting my hair back and getting my gut health under control. I’m spending so much time with family and I stand up for myself more!!!! I believe there is much purpose in all the suffering I faced with the narcissists. (There just has to be) I believe all of it made me a stronger person!! Do I “miss” the false faces and the love bomb phase?? It’s addicting more than it is “missing them”. I don’t know the real Andrew or Cody. Last time I tried to Google cody, I felt like he was sooo different it bothered me so much. I basically had a one-sided relationship with total strangers who hated my guts but pretended to be in love with me… they haunt me every day but I refuse to ever reach out to them and I do try to pray for them every time I feel upset about them. What else can I do?? It’s all over! They can’t change what they did to me and I can’t make them say sorry. If God doesn’t change them, they’re never going to feel empathy for the broken heart they gave me but God is showing me love I never saw ever before. So is my husband. I’m learning just now to finally trust both God and my husband!! (Taking deep breaths because I’m safe now) I’m only looking up now! I’ve already hit my rock bottom! ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 Hope this is all enlightening, encouraging and helpful! Thank you again for taking time to message me!! 🥰

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dumfanting · 2 years

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Same Heart ch 15: A Distant Echo

AO3 Link

Rating: M- Mature

Warnings- loss of bodily autonomy, loss of limbs, prisoner of war, extreme body modifications, body horror, ptsd, nightmares, death, Crosshair is an asshole

Word Count: 6013!

At 6,013 words, this individual chapter is longer than the entirety of “A Common Sense”! I hope you’re comfortable, this one’s a beast. I’m going to take a little break from writing after this, it took a lot out of me! A big thank you to @kaminocasey for being my beta reader, and the biggest thanks to you all for reading! Every single comment, tag, reblog, all of it is the gas that keeps this train running and I cannot express how grateful I am for all the support this story has gotten. And don’t worry, there’s plenty more to come! ETA: ‘Captain Reg’ comes from @superiorsniper, thanks for reminding me!

F! Reader/ Echo

The steam clears, and you can’t help but scream.

You aren’t sure how much time has passed between when the medical shuttle returned to base on Anaxes and when Bortuse tells you that Rex needs you for the next mission briefing. You feel nauseous, but ignore it. After a quick goodbye to everyone, you leave the medical center and make your way to the briefing room. The door slides open as you approach, and you can see Rex, General Skywalker, and the Batch are already gathered inside. Knowing everyone is waiting on you makes your face heat up a little, but you don’t acknowledge anything and instead stand in the small space between Crosshair and Wrecker. Rex begins speaking.

He outlines for you and the General the important parts of the cyber center mission. After you, Cody, and Kix left, he, Jesse, and the others were able to take over an outpost, then found the cyber center. After taking down a lot of droids, he and Tech were able to get into the building as Hunter, Wrecker, Jesse, and Crosshair fought off the new wave of droids that were attacking. He says that Tech was able to boost the signal they had been following, and after a little bit of work, could convert the signal into something audible. Rex takes a second to breathe, then continues. Apparently the signal wasn’t coming from a program. After Tech made some adjustments to the audio, Rex was able to, despite the distortion, hear a voice repeating “CT-1409” on loop.

You feel your hands go partially numb. It’s not possible.

“It’s Echo,” Rex says.

You can’t miss how he, Hunter, and the General glance at you when he says this.

“I fully believe that he survived the explosion at The Citadel, the Seps have abducted him and they’re using his knowledge of my tactics against us,” Rex continues.

“Echo is dead, Rex. Fives saw it happen, and so did you! Did you forget about when he told me?” You feel your face go warm when you realize you’ve said that out loud, but you maintain your composure. Rex is about to speak when he’s interrupted.

“‘Ang on, wasn’ that five guy the one that tried to take out the chancellor?” Wrecker asks.

“ARC Trooper CT-5555, deceased after an attempted attack on Chancellor Palpatine, that is correct,” Tech says, tapping away at his damn datapad like usual. You take a deep breath while closing your eyes, balling your trembling hands into fists in an attempt to mask your emotions, and the thick material of your gloves makes an audible creaking sound. However, General Skywalker must have sensed your anger, as he gives you a warning look.

“Fives did no such thing,” you say, doing a fair job of keeping your voice steady. “He told me so himself, and I've never doubted him.”

“The official report-“ Tech starts to say, but you shut him up with a glare.

Crosshair speaks up while rolling his eyes at you. “Got what he deserved if you ask me.”

Without warning, and before you’re able to stop yourself, you automatically turn towards Crosshair and slap him backhanded across the face, hard enough to make him stumble. He clenches his jaw, but does not retaliate, though his shock is very clear. Before anyone else can really react to this aside from a few gasps and muttered words, General Skywalker says your name, and you stand up straight, dutifully waiting for him to reprimand you. To everyone’s surprise, he calmly, but very firmly, told you to go get some air.

After a terse “Yes, sir” you turn on your heel and march out of the area, shaking terribly.

Once you’re at the Marauder, you cry out loudly in anger and punch the durasteel hull, ignoring the pain this causes. With a huff, you open the gangplank and sit down, head in your hands. You’re still shaking, but the ferocity of your emotions is quickly dying down.

Crosshair has been trying to get under your skin from the day you were assigned with Clone Force 99. You’ve been steadfastly ignoring his attempts to get a rise out of you, but today you have finally had enough. You know you shouldn’t have struck him, for many reasons, but mainly because that means he won; He finally got to you. But, on the flipside, the memory of that look on his face is something you’ll hold onto for the rest of your days. Damn that felt good, but now you just feel weak again.

“Son of a bitch,” you sigh, pressing the heels of your palms against your eyes in a halfhearted attempt at stopping the tears that had formed from falling. A few minutes pass, then you hear footsteps approaching. You’ve been with the squad long enough now to recognize the sound of each man’s walk. Quick but quiet steps, in a long stride, come to a stop a few feet away from you.

Ugh, of course it’s him. You ignore Crosshair, stand, and turn to go into the ship, but he snares your wrist, stopping you.

You pull your arm back with a growl, then turn to address the sniper. You immediately feel a sense of both satisfaction and shame when you see the faint outline of your hand on his cheek. “What the hell do you want?” you say, almost yelling at him. “I snapped, you finally got to me, you won. What else is there? I’m not apologizing,” you say coldly.

Crosshair walks steadily up the gangplank towards you, and you see something different in the way he looks at you, though you can’t place it. “Good,” he says, startling you out of your anger. “You shouldn’t,” he continues. “Took you long enough to stand up to me.”

You scoff. “Then what do you want?” you say, retreating further into the ship.

“I’m supposed to let you know what the mission is,” he says.

You sigh, wipe your eyes, and turn around. You take a second look at him and realize what the change in his attitude is; that’s almost certainly respect on his face, just under his usual grumpy expression. Was all of that some kind of hazing thing? Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter, you have a mission to focus on. You shake your head and walk down the gangplank, making room for the others, who are headed in your direction.

Crosshair follows and tells you that the General and Rex will be joining the group, and the plan is to fly to Skako Minor in the Marauder, find where the signal has been traced, and investigate the source firsthand. He says that Rex seems to be the only one who believes the signal is coming from Echo; even the General has his doubts, and Hunter thinks it’s a trap. You thank Crosshair for filling you in, and he walks over to talk with Hunter and Rex.

You inadvertently meet Rex’s eyes, and doubt, true doubt in what you know to be the truth, flares in your chest for the first time in years. You trust Rex with your life. The situation with Fives did change things, but you still respect the Captain and his intuition. He is very rarely wrong. You want nothing more than for Echo to be alive, but it seems nearly impossible. Fives told you, in great detail after yet another nightmare one night, exactly what had happened at the citadel. Echo was killed when the shuttle was blown up. There was nothing they could do. Seeing the grief in Fives’ eyes convinced you wholly that this was the truth.

“Meds! You coming or what?” Crosshair says loudly over his shoulder. You’re so deep in thought, it takes you a moment to realize he’s speaking to you. A nickname, huh? You quickly walk over to where Crosshair is waiting.

“Meds?” you say when you catch up with him and make your way up the gangplank behind everyone else.

He shrugs. “You’re the medic, we certainly aren’t going to call you Pilot,” he says.

You remember that each of the Batchers got their names from their skills. You are officially part of the group now, apparently. “I’m almost honored,” you say to Crosshair, who smirks at you again.

The flight to Skako Minor is going to be short, but you decide to climb into your bunk and try to get some rest anyway. At minimum you want to put yourself into the right mindset for this mission. The Jedi have their flaws, but there is something to be said about their rule of not letting one’s feelings cloud one's judgement, you think, settling down on your back. The bunk area door isn’t closed, but the others are too preoccupied with Rex and General Skywalker to notice or want to come talk to you. At least, that’s what you thought. Only a second or so after pulling the glowing stone from under your armor, you hear footsteps. These are unfamiliar, but the sound of trooper-issue boots is very distinct. You sigh, and look up at Rex, who is standing in the doorway and looking unsure of himself. You wave him in, and he shuts the door behind him. He sits awkwardly in the bunk across from you, then says your name and tries to speak, but you interrupt him.

“Meds,” you say, shifting into a sitting position.

“What?” Rex asks, confused.

“Apparently lean and lanky out there wanted me to slap him. He’s been a pain in my ass from the start, but I’ve earned a new name, now that I’ve stood up to him,” you explain, trying not to smirk at the memory of Crosshair's shocked face. Rex nods in understanding.

“You really startled everyone with that earlier, Meds. Listen, I wanted to explain myself, for sending you back with Kix and Cody on the last mission,” he says. You twiddle the stone between your fingers, looking distant, but you are listening, so Rex continues. “I wasn’t sure what we would find at that cyber center,” he says. “But, I was worried that if I was right and it was Echo, it would have been too much for you. I thought about it later, and it wasn’t my call to make; I’m sorry for that.”

“Rex,” you say softly, making eye contact with him for the first time since he entered the bunks. “I understand. You were looking out for me, and I can appreciate that,” you say, grasping his forearm with your free hand. “But I’m a big girl now,” you say, making him chuckle. The tension now eased between the two of you, Rex visibly relaxes and you catch him looking at the glowing stone while an expression of understanding crosses his features.

“I wondered what that was for,” he mumbles.

“What, this?” you say. You unclasp the chain and hold it out to Rex. “Echo told me he just happened to find it while on a mission.” You’re surprised when Rex lets out a single laugh. You raise a questioning eyebrow at him. He delicately takes the chain from you and lets the stone dangle from his fingers, watching the swirling colors for a moment.

“‘Just happened to find it’ eh? Every second of downtime we had at the camp, he was wandering around the perimeter picking these weird rocks up. He must have had at least thirteen in his pocket by the time we were going to come back home. He spent a long time looking at each one and mumbling to himself before settling on this,” Rex says before handing the necklace back to you. “I wondered what he was doing,” Rex says.

“Yeah, that sounds like him,” you say sadly as you loop the chain back around your neck and tuck the crystal safely away under your armor once more. You sigh and take a long pause before speaking again.

“You’re sure it was him?” you ask quietly.

“I’m positive. I wouldn’t be following through with this mission if I had any doubt,” Rex says.

“You know Rex, despite what happened with Fives, I do still trust you,” you say firmly after a moment of thought, and can’t help but chuckle a little when you see the genuine surprise on his face.

From outside, Hunter opens the bunk area door, glances at the two of you and tells Rex that the General needs him for something. Rex and Hunter switch places, but the door stays open and Hunter remains standing, leaning back against the doorframe and casually crossing his arms over his chest. You know what he's thinking, and so you answer the unspoken question; “I’m okay Sarge. Nervous as hell, obviously, but I can do this,” you say.

He nods at you, extends a hand, and once you take it, he pulls you off of your bunk and back onto your feet. You hesitate for a second, then follow him over to where the others are gathered around.

“So, I know you all work with Cody sometimes, but who do you report to?” Rex asks as the two of you approach.

Hunter kind of pauses for a second and says “that’s a good question,” and you can’t help but laugh a little before you hear Crosshair scoff. He turns toward you and you roll your eyes. What would it be this time?

“You were back there with Captain Reg for a while,” he says loudly, bringing everyone’s attention to you. “Is Hunter not enough for you?” he asks, smirking.

You take a breath.

“You’ll get your turn,” you say in a teasing tone. “Maybe I’ll smack you again if you ask nicely.”

There’s a beat of stunned silence before Wrecker laughs so hard he nearly drops the gonk droid he’d been casually doing lifts with. The others also laugh a little, and even the General can’t help but roll his eyes good-naturedly. Crosshair, however, cheeks tinted the slightest bit of red that only you can see, keeps his face neutral.

Before you can react, Tech shouts from the cockpit that they are now approaching Skako, and it looks to be a difficult landing. Everyone immediately gets serious and you all take your places as Tech begins the descent to the planet's surface.

It seems like all the landings you’ve experienced since joining the Batch are rough ones, you think, as Tech maneuvers through a large sandstorm that surrounds the ship and severely reduces visibility. Seconds later, when he’s managed to land the ship unscathed on a flat area of land, you thank the Maker under your breath. Now back on solid ground, you and the others who weren’t in the cockpit gather around inside it.

The General asks what anyone knows about this planet, and after Rex describes the local race, the Poletecs, as ‘primitive’, Tech speaks up.

“Primitive is being kind. My sources say that they worship some kind of ancient flying reptile,” he says. Immediately after, something bumps the ship hard enough to shake it and jostle everyone inside. Wrecker leans toward the transparisteel window and wonders aloud what the hell that was. You all find out when a figure astride a winged beast lands onto the nose of the ship. “It’s one of those reptiles!” Tech says.

The creature scrambles upwards onto the roof of the Marauder, and Hunter shouts that he wants that thing off his ship. Within seconds, you all have your helmets on and are rushing outside, blasters aimed at the beast. General Skywalker activates his blue lightsaber as he brings up the rear of the group. The native, who appears to be a Chieftain, says something in an odd, warbling language that none of you can understand. Someone, you aren’t sure who, takes a shot at the winged lizard. It flaps up off of its feet, then swoops down and grabs hold of the General before turning to fly away. As General Skywalker drops his weapon and Rex picks it up, you notice that the Chieftain has been joined by two more natives on their own lizards.

The sandstorm is picking back up, so you don’t fully hear the order that was just given, but you can at least see that Crosshair has taken a shot at the beast holding the General, using Tech's shoulder for stability. Rex asks what they’re doing, and Hunter casually says “going for a ride,” before grabbing the cable of what turned out to be a grappling hook that Crosshair had hit the animal with and being yanked up into the air.

As he goes, Rex turns to look at you and asks “and you deal with this everyday?” He still has his helmet on, but you can imagine the incredulous look on his face underneath it.

“Well, I’m never bored,” you say. “We should get inside, I can’t see if there’s anything else out here,” you shout over the growing roar of the wind.

Once you’re all inside the Marauder, a comm from Hunter comes in. “Tech,” he says, sounding winded, “I’m with the General, take the ship and hone in on my signal.” Tech immediately obeys and the ship is airborne within seconds. Hunter, it turns out, is on the ridge of a high cliff right above a Poletec village. Tech expertly lands the ship despite the uneven terrain, and the group, yourself included, run over to Hunter. After a few seconds you can spot General Skywalker being pinned into place near the center of the village by the same flying reptile that had grabbed him earlier. Rex reminds you all that there will be no casualties as you go in, and you are disarming the people only.

On Hunter’s command, Wrecker pushes a huge boulder down the cliff towards the village, and you all slide down after it, blasting weapons out of the Poletecs hands as you do. From the top of the cliff, Crosshair had stayed behind and took a shot at the beast holding the General. A small shocking device hit its flank and it reflexively let the General go just in time for him to roll out of the way of the oncoming boulder.

Once the chaos dies down, General Skywalker gets to his feet, and the Chieftain cautiously approaches, speaking. With the help of Techs translation software integrated into his helmet, the two parties are able to communicate. The Chieftains name is Qin Yazal, and he had taken your leader because his people do not want your war on their planet. Tech explains that you as a group are here to retrieve a prisoner of war, and Yazal agrees to send two scouts alongside you to lead the way to Purkoll, where Wat Tambor and the Techno Union wait.

The trip to Purkoll isn’t very long, but the persistent wind makes it difficult. You finally reach what looks like an access shaft to the city, and the two Poletec scouts take their leave. General Skywalker calls everyone into a kind of huddle, and since the wind is dying down, you all slip your helmets off as he begins to speak. Before he can, Tech, who has been tracing Echoes signal, tells everyone that he’s lost it. You see the confusion and mild panic on Rex’s face, and suggest that the signal may be lost or weak from all the wind and dust interfering.

“Or,” Hunter says, “maybe it’s a trap.”

“Any mission could be a trap, and this one is no different! Echo is up there, I know it!” Rex says, barely able to restrain himself from shouting.

“I think you’re letting your personal feelings get in the way,” Crosshair says, speaking up from the rear of the group. “I think you feel guilty for leaving Echo for dead at the Citadel,” he continues in a drawl.

“I had no choice!” Rex shouts.

“Oh I don’t blame you,” Crosshair says. Sensing yet another fight, you step in between the two men who are now staring each other down. “He’s just another Reg, it’s not like he was worth anything,” Crosshair says while turning away. You, without thinking, grab his shoulder, jerk him back around to face you, and slap him again, hard enough to make your hand tingle, on the other side of his face.

The others are shocked into silence again, but before you even have time to pull your arm back toward yourself, Rex has shoved you out of the way and sucker-punched the sniper, sending him reeling back a few feet. Wrecker grabs Rex and lifts him into the air, but thankfully General Skywalker steps in and breaks things up before it gets really ugly. He tells the rest of you to stand down while he and Rex have a private talk.

You and the Batch take several steps away until you’re out of earshot. Once you all come to a stop, you single out Crosshair and march over to him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” you shout, having to raise your voice over the increasing volume of the approaching wind.

“I could ask you the same thing!” he shouts back.

“Crosshair, she-“ Hunter starts to say, but is interrupted.

“Is only with us because we don’t look like all the regular clones!” he shouts. Tech and Wrecker look surprised and glance at each other.

“Oh, so you’ve been eavesdropping too?” you snap back at him.

“I heard enough. If you can’t stand the regs, why do you keep defending them?” he says.

“Crosshair! That’s enough!” Hunter says, also shouting while forcing himself between the two of you. You push away from them both, fighting back angry tears.

“You would already know if you’d been nosy a little longer,” you hiss, pointing at his chest. He scoffs and waves you off with a hand before walking away. Before anyone can stop you, you’re stomping over to Crosshair, grabbing his wrist, and wrenching him back around, forcing him to look at you. Tears are flowing freely now, but you don’t notice or care. If you were shouting before, you’re practically bellowing at him now.

“You think my job is easy? You honestly think I just toddle around after you four, taking care of your bumps and bruises like it’s nothing? Fuck you. I’ve seen combat. I’ve seen the same screaming, crying, and dying face every single goddamned day since this war started. Every time I look at anyone but you four, all I see is pain and death and failure. You want to know what my problem is? I have been haunted by living ghosts ever since Echo and Fives died. You try keeping it together when you see the literal exact copies of someone you loved being killed before your eyes, day in and day out, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it! It’s not about the fucking ‘regs’, and it never was.” You stop to take a shaky breath, and drop Crosshair's wrist like it was something filthy.

When you next speak, it comes out as a croak.

“You want me gone? Is that why you’ve been trying to make my life hell? Hmph. You’ll have to try harder than this. I am not going to let someone like you stop me from doing my goddamned job, and there is nothing you could throw at me, nothing, that will ever be worse than what I am forced to see when I go to sleep every single night.”

It takes you a moment to realize that everyone except Crosshair is staring at you. You pause for a second, breathe deeply, and recompose yourself. You calmly take him by the wrist again, and drag him over to a nearby boulder. You tell him to “sit down and shut up,” which he does, retrieve a few things from the medkit on your back, and sit next to him.

You gently grip his jaw and maneuver his head so that you can more easily reach the growing bump on his temple. He, to your absolute shock, doesn’t fight you off, and doesn’t move unless you direct him to. Aside from a sharp hiss he lets out when one of the ointments touches his skin, he stays silent, allowing you to work unimpeded.

You’re badly startled when you hear your name, your real name, said softly from behind you. You turn towards the sound, and see that Rex and the General are back with the group.

“Rex.” You say flatly. “How much did you hear?”

“Everything. You were loud enough that we both could hear you from over there,” he says, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.

“Apologies for interrupting, sir,” you said, catching General Skywalker's eye. He doesn’t speak, but looks deeply sympathetic.

“That’s why you left? Kix told me a little, but I had no idea it was that bad.” Rex says.

You take a deep breath, then nod, before bringing your focus back to Crosshair's face. After a few seconds you’ve moved from his temple to his right cheek, gingerly applying a bacta spray and very gently rubbing it into the skin. You chance a look at Crosshair's eyes, and notice that he actually looks regretful. Then he speaks.

“I… deserved that,” is all he says, quietly. You sigh and turn his head to take a look at his other cheek. The mark you left there has long faded, so you release him and get to your feet.

“I think two is enough for one day,” you say, softly patting Crosshair's less-inflamed cheek. You hold out your hand and he takes it, allowing you to pull him to his feet. He maintains eye contact and simply nods at you.

Tech awkwardly clears his throat and says that he has found the signal again.

“Good. Now, that’s enough wasted time, let’s get moving,” General Skywalker says firmly.

He leads the group as you all walk back towards the access shaft that the Poletech scouts had led you to. On the way, everyone who has one replaces their helmets, now that the wind is bringing dust with it, and Tech is able to get the door to the shaft open after a minute or so. Crosshair checks inside for any threats, but finds the lift inside empty. Everyone steps inside, save for Wrecker, who is looking up at the height of the city nervously.

“Don’t worry Wrecker, I’ll hold your hand,” Hunter teases, getting a loud “oh shut up!” in response as Wrecker finally makes his way inside.

You were the last in before him, so he winds up standing somewhat beside you, at an angle. You comm directly into his helmet and say “Gonna be okay there big guy?” Not to tease, but as a genuine question.

He glances down at you and quietly comms back “I’ll be fine if I don’t think about it, thanks Meds.” You reassuringly grip his forearm and he nods gratefully at you. Hunter notices this, but says nothing.

After another minute or two (it must be a long way up) General Skywalker speaks and reminds you all that this is supposed to be a stealth mission, and that you all need to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible, keeping destruction to a minimum. No sooner have the words left his mouth, the lift comes to a stop, the door slides open to what looks like a loading bay full of droids, and Wrecker runs outside, shooting freely at the machines.

The rest of the Batch follow, while Rex and General Skywalker look at you, and you groan, face palming your helmet. “Dammit. So much for stealth,” you say, exasperated.

Another minute or so passes, and once you, Rex, and the General have also taken out enough droids to clear the area, the chaos stops, aside from Wrecker, who is clearly having the time of his life and hollering. When he notices everyone else staring at him, he awkwardly coughs and apologizes for getting too excited again. Someone finds a door into a hallway, and you all file inside.

The General peeks out of the doorway first, holding up a hand to stop the rest of you from going forward past him. About four or five droids pass, but are quickly taken out by Hunter’s blaster, which appears to clear the area. As everyone steps into the hall, Tech says that he has lost the signal again.

“How?” Wrecker asks. “There’s nothin’ up here to get in the way!”

“I’m surprised I did not think of it before,” Tech says. “It’s most likely that the signal is only emitted when data is being broadcast.”

“In that case, we can’t just wait for it to come back. We need to split up, check every door. If you find something do not go in without backup, call everyone else to your position first,” General Skywalker says. Tech, Hunter, Wrecker, and Rex break off and head left, while Crosshair and the General go right. You don’t immediately move and instead freeze in place; there’s something heavy stirring in your chest.

It’s just nerves, you think. It has to be. After all, you’re only minutes away from possibly finding Echo and bringing him back, or confirming once and for all that he really is gone for good. Whatever the outcome, the possibilities terrify you. If you did find Echo, what kind of state would he be in? Would he even remember you? The nervous feeling then gives way to dread. You force yourself to take a deep breath and still your trembling hands. Can’t be shaky when holding a blaster, you think to yourself as you concentrate on your breathing.

After realizing you’ve been left behind, you hesitate, then follow Rex and the others. Crosshair and General Skywalker are competent enough on their own, you think. Besides, Wrecker seemed to be a magnet for trouble. Decision made, you jog a little to catch up.

You must have been standing there longer than you thought, as it takes you a good minute or two to find the Captain and the others. Just as you fall into step behind Tech, he says that he’s found the signal again, then moves to the front of the group, taking a left turn into a kind of alcove. Hunter points to a set of double doors set back into the far wall and says it’s in there. You wonder how he would know, then remember that he can sense and follow electromagnetic fields. Whatever was behind that door has to be putting out massive waves of energy.

Hunter and Wrecker stand on either side of the small space, keeping an eye out for droids and the other two men in your party. Tech immediately gets to work, using his datapad to try and get the doors open. Rex glances back at you, then comms directly into your helmet: “Stay close. I don’t know what state he’ll be in.”

You nod stiffly.

There’s a bizarre metallic shimmering sound, and the face of Wat Tambor appears on a circular screen near the doors control panel. “You clones are so predictable,” he says smugly, “My algorithm told me your every move into Purkoll.”

“That’s no algorithm,” Rex growls back. “I know you’re keeping a prisoner of war in there, and I am not leaving without my friend!”

Tambor laughs. “Your friend is dead. His mind is ours,” he says.

You hear Rex roar out that he’s lying, but whatever else is said is drowned out by the sound of approaching droids and blaster fire.

You draw your weapon and cover Techs back; he’s having a harder time with this door than the others. You, Rex, Hunter, and Wrecker take down as many of the clankers as you can, but it seems as if they never stop coming. Suddenly, about four or five of the droids fly into the air and slam into another group of them, followed by a very distinct-sounding few rounds of blaster fire. You never thought you’d be relieved to see Crosshair, but here he is, right behind General Skywalker. With the two of them not in the fray, enough time is bought for Tech to finally get the damn doors open. The General shouts for Tech and Rex to get in there. You’re about to follow, when Crosshair says your name, stopping you.

“Good luck in there,” he says, then General Skywalker Force-pushes you through the doors seconds before they close.

After the chaos and noise from the shooting outside, the stillness of the room you and the other two find yourselves in feels ominous and unnatural.

You keep your blaster at the ready, scanning the space, but it’s empty. The three of you reach a large, semi circular console of control panels, and a stasis chamber sits high above them on the wall in the center. Rex says something you don’t quite hear to Tech, who starts to push buttons and pull levers on the control panel. You approach, holstering your blaster, as you stare into the frozen-over window of the chamber.

There’s a vague shadow inside.

You and Rex glance at each other and remove your helmets. He looks just as scared as you feel.

“Got it!” Tech says, pushing two slider switches forward.

The stasis chamber doors pop open a little bit with a loud hiss, allowing cold steam to dissipate into the room. A mere second later, the doors open completely, and a figure falls forward, stopped from hitting the floor by a myriad of cables and tubes attached directly to it. The steam clears, and you can’t help but scream.

It’s Echo.

He looks worse than dead. All of his color is gone, and there’s a thin veneer of frost covering his skin. He’s missing both legs, one from the knee down, the other from the hip, and an arm, which have been replaced with clunky mechanical limbs. He's bone-thin, and his head has been shaved, making way for some kind of electronic apparatus implanted directly into his skull.

The worst thing is his eyes. His eyes are open, but unfocused, twitching and moving independently of one another. The entire scene is like something out of your nightmares.

Rex quickly hops up onto the console and disconnects a few of the… things, whatever they are, that are attaching Echo to the stasis chamber. As he does, Echo’s body lurches forward again, and you instinctively move to catch him before he hits the floor. He’s so cold, but the shiver that shoots down your spine has nothing to do with that. You ignore it and gently maneuver into a kneeling position, resting Echo’s back and head against the lower half of the control panels, allowing his mechanical legs to stretch out on the floor in front of him.

“Tech! Find a way to disconnect him from all of this!” Rex says as he kneels beside you.

“What the hell have they done to you?” you whisper, then nearly scream again when Echo suddenly takes a huge, gasping breath, and sits up straighter.

“The- the shuttle, we need to get to the shuttle. No! I’ll go first,” he mumbles. The citadel, you realize with a gasp. He thinks he’s still at the citadel.

“Echo! Echo, it’s me!” Rex says, shaking him slightly.

“Rex?” Echo says. His voice is so hoarse it’s like a whisper, and after he coughs violently for a moment, awareness returns to his face. “Rex!” he says. “You- you came back for me?”

“We did,” Rex says.

“We did?” Echo repeats, confused. Just then, Rex gets to his feet then stands out of the way, and Echo can clearly see you. Unaware of the tears streaming down your face, you gasp again when Echo weakly lifts his remaining attached arm and brushes his freezing hand against your cheek.

He whispers your name in awe. “It is you,” he says.

“Yeah,” you say through a small sob. You hold his hand tightly to your cheek. “It’s me. You’re safe now Echo, I’ve got you.”

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#my fics #series #tcw echo/reader #tcw echo/you #tcw echo #tbb echo/reader #tbb echo/you #tbb echo

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redrobinhoods · 1 year

Text

seconds and years | homecoming

AO3 Link | 2,500 words (approx) | Prologue, Chapter 17, epilogue

Chapter Summary: The aftermath

Wolffe woke first.

In near silence, he flung off the blanket over his body and stood from his bunk on The Misfit. He crossed the room in a few silent strides, passing Fox and Riyo, curled around each other as they had been the night before their second arrival on Chiron, and the tangle of limbs that was Thire, Jek, and Ilven on the other bunk. It had been like that since they had fled, since Cody had let them flee, let them live.

There had been a few moments, a few silent moments when he had felt the temptation to ask Thire about his time as a purge trooper. The ache had settled on him, to know more about Cody. How he had come to be Vader’s Fist, what sacrifices he had made to get there, if he remembered the execution of Order 66 as Wolffe did. Why he refused to leave. But that question had already been answered. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Rex, Ahsoka Tano, Bly. Wolffe had decided he would still allow himself to think that Rex and Commander Tano were still alive. He would still allow himself to dream of delusions where they escaped. Cody’s guilt need not be factual.

A kettle of warm caf awaited him in the kitchen.

After a short delay in washing out his mug from the previous morning, Wolffe was seated in the cockpit watching the light of hyperspace. They could not go directly to Numidian Prime, but they could go to a place served by a freighter that did make that journey. After that, it would be him and the last Corrie commanders until the time was right for them to split.

Wolffe kept his gaze forward as the sound of footsteps approached.

Thire took the co-pilot seat beside him, another mug of caf in hand.

“We’ll be there in a few hours.” Wolffe said, breaking the silence.

Thire sighed. “And then there were four.”

“And then there were none.”

“And then there were none.” Thire repeated, leaning back as he closed his eyes. “You’re not sticking around, are you?”

“I can’t.” Wolffe said with a frown. “I need some time, on my own. I need to figure things out.”

“Hear, hear.” Thire said with a grim laugh. “All I know is how to maim, injure, kill. We’ve had no life other than death.”

“Maybe we can change that.” Wolffe offered, turning to glace at Thire.

Thire kept his eyes closed, head back, for a few moments before responding. “I can’t. Maybe I could’ve, once, before Vader sunk his claws into me.” He opened his eyes to look at Wolffe. “I felt nothing when I plunged my knife into Twenty-Two’s thigh. I felt nothing when I tried to strangle Fox to death. In the aftermath, sure. But in the moment? Nothing.”

“It’s how we were bred.”

Thire opened his eyes, turning to look at Wolffe. “Do you regret your men killing General Koon?”

Wolffe paused, mouth open as Thire’s words sunk in. “Of course I do.”

“That is what we were bred for. We weren’t bred to kill each other without a second thought. That’s all Vader.” Thire threw his head back once more. “I wish I could rip every memory of what he put me through from my skull.” He paused before turning to Wolffe once more. “I was joking, about the waterboarding. There are far worse things that Vader can do.”

Wolffe leaned towards Thire, placing a hand on his thigh. “Tell me.”

Thire shook his head. “I can’t remember half of it. The other half, I wish I could forget.”

Wolffe took the few moments of silence to look into Thire’s eyes. “Thorn would’ve been proud of you, you know, for making it back from haran.”

Thire closed his eyes once more, turning away from Wolffe.

Wolffe continued. “I still miss him. It’s been years, but I still wish I could speak to him again. One last time.” He paused, thinking through what he was about to say. Then he squeezed Thire’s leg as he spoke. “I need to leave because you remind me of him.”

“The good parts or the bad?”

“Both.” Wolffe admitted, withdrawing his hand from Thire’s leg. “The way you fight, the way you hold your head, your argumentative streak against authority, the self-destructiveness. I can’t follow you down this road without seeing the things Thorn did to undermine the Republic’s control of his body.”

Thire turned back to face him, keeping his gaze low on the ground. “I don’t think it’s the same.”

“And I think that Thorn would’ve followed a similar path of treason to yours. Though, perhaps, he would have bombed Palpatine’s office on the way out.”

That drew a laugh from Thire and he met Wolffe’s gaze. “I see your point.”

The sounds of beings beginning to wake reached the cockpit, the sound of kitchen items being moved about and low, sleepy conversations.

Wolffe reached out to grab Thire’s hand one last time. “We’ll be alright. You and me, Jek and Ilven, Fox and Riyo. We’ll all make it out just fine.”

Twenty-Two shifted his weight on his legs as he waited for Vader. The bacta patches had done their job, mending the muscles and tendons in his leg, but the ache had yet to fade. The scar most likely never would.

The punishment he had been expecting had yet to come, if it ever would at this rate. Vader had appeared to accept his story at face value. There were no other witnesses, all cameras in the facility had gone offline, nothing to disprove his word except his own thoughts and he had worked long enough with Force users to learn how to bury them. If Vader wanted the truth, he’d have to break his mind. If Vader wanted to break his mind, he could have to find a new commander for his personal command. And that would be inconvenient at best.

Twenty-Two straightened his posture at the sound of the door opening behind him.

The sound of two sets of footsteps approached him until First Sister and Seventy-Three stood at his side.

“Tough luck.” Seventy-Three said, glancing down at Twenty-Two’s leg.

“Commander Wolffe has always been ruthless.” Twenty-Two responded with a wave of his hand. “And I was a fool.” Both true.

“We’ve all made bad calls.” First Sister said as she removed her helmet, adjusting her head wrap. “Any news of Forty-Seven?”

Twenty-Two shook his head. “Commander Wolffe now carries his knife.”

First Sister raised her brows. “He stabbed you with our own weapon?”

Twenty-Two allowed himself to chuckle. “Fitting, isn’t it?”

“I have found that the weapons we forge and ideals we uphold do tend to come back to bite us.” For a moment, a look of sadness clouded her blue eyes.

Twenty-Two could still remember a time when those eyes shone with victory despite the hollow cheeks beneath her tattoo of diamonds from the poor rations of the Grand Army of the Republic. The food had been poor, but morale had been rich in the trenches after hard-fought victories. She had recovered since then, her face filled out from adulthood and the good rations of the Inquisitorius. “It seems to be our lot in life.”

She gave him a small smile. “I’ll drink to that.”

Twenty-Two glanced over to Seventy-Three. “Any plans this evening?”

He could feel the eyeroll underneath Seventy-Three’s helmet. “I’m already booked for drinking alone. But I suppose I could cancel that plan.”

Twenty-Two looked back towards the First Sister, the ghost of her smile still on her lips as she spoke. “Your room, nineteen hundred.”

“My room?”

She allowed the smile to fade and lowered her voice at the sound of approaching footsteps in the hallway. “I covet your chair.”

They fell silent as the door opened behind them, backs straight and eyes staring forward, past the throne, to the lava fields stretching beyond. There was a small thought in the back of Twenty-Two’s mind that told him to drop to his knee as the labored breathing approached. But neither being at his side moved to show that respect, and so they stood as Vader strode past them to the throne.

This was not a trial, this was something different, something new.

Twenty-Two fought down the feeling of satisfaction when it became clear that Wolffe was no longer a priority for the Empire.

But a similar feeling soon settled upon him as Vader described the reports to them.

A blond clone. Working against the Empire.

There were too few men who fit that description among the missing and the dead. Too few for him to extinguish the nausea in his chest. Too few for him to fight back against the whisper caressing his mind.

Good soldiers followed orders.

And Twenty-Two had his orders.

“Don’t be a stranger.” Riyo begged as she embraced Wolffe.

He returned the embrace, pulling her close to his chest as he had Fox. “Take care of yourselves. Take care of him, for me.”

“Well, somebody has to.” She retorted and they fell from the embrace with a shared laugh. “You know what he’s like.”

Wolffe clasped her hand and brought it to his chest. “I never thanked you.” When her brows rose in questioning, he continued. “For lying to me. For bringing us all back together.”

Her eyes softened as she gave his hand a squeeze. “Any time.”

A few feet away, Fox stood with the three former Corries before him.

“Make sure Wolffe gets away okay.” Fox said in a hushed tone.

“We will.” Thire promised him. “I can’t guarantee anything after that, but,” he turned his head to look towards Wolffe and Riyo, “he’ll have a fresh start.”

“You all will.” Fox said, looking between the three men before him. It was dangerous, perhaps, for them to stick together. A clone and a human might, a clone and another clone, perhaps, but the combination of the three would draw far more attention. But, despite the dangers, there was a warm feeling in his chest as he beheld the men who had held the Coruscant Guard together after his departure. “I’m trusting Jek to keep you two in line.”

A grin of smug satisfaction filled Jek’s face as Ilven’s filled with fabricated offense. “Why would you say that?”

“Keep in touch, Fox.” Thire said to rein the conversation back in. “I think I speak for all of us when I wish you the best of luck with the serum.”

A decision had been made for Fox to take the YMC-delta back home, under the supervision of the bothan doctor who had examined Fox’s wound from the attempted assassination.

“Thank you.” Fox clasped Thire’s shoulder. “I wish you all the best of luck with… whatever you’re going to do.”

Thire glanced back at the men behind him then back to Fox, his lips sliding into the same smile Fox had seen Thorn wear too many occasions.

Fox laughed.

It was almost like the old days.

Twenty-Two and Seventy-Three sat side by side on Twenty-Two’s bunk in their blacks, a bottle of whiskey sitting on a broken datapad between them. First Sister lounged across from them in Twenty-Two’s chair in a pair of dark blue pajamas, fuzzy socked feet that matched her white headscarf resting on the desk. In their hands they held the assorted drinking vessels they had collected; First Sister’s Coruscant souvenir mug, Seventy-Three’s old flask with the 327th yellow stripes, and Twenty-Two’s water glass he had stolen from the mess hall.

Vader’s best.

It was moments like this that reminded Twenty-Two how young they still were. If the clones had aged in the same manner as humans, First Sister would be only a few years older than them.

The Mirialan held out her hand and the bottle of whiskey floated over to her, pouring a generous amount into her mug before she sent it back to rest between the two clones.

“How drunk are we getting?” Twenty-Two asked.

“It’s a celebration of our new mission, Twenty-Two.” She purred in response.

“If either of you can’t walk back to your rooms later, you’re sleeping on the floor.”

She rolled her eyes, tossing her head as she brought her legs down from the table, leaning over to hold up her mug towards them. “To new directions.”

“To those we’ve lost.” Twenty-Two said.

“To us.” Seventy-Three chimed in, bringing his flask in to join with their drinking vessels with a clunk.

“To us.” First Sister repeated with a soft smile. “May we outlive the Empire.”

Twenty-Two caught her eye as he took a sip from his glass. There was something new there, something alive that had been long dead. Something that stirred distant memories of Jedi when the battle was surely lost before they gained another victory.

For a moment, he pitied the monsters that Vader would soon set loose on the galaxy. But only for that moment. The three beings in this room would never be freed from Vader’s clutches.

But others would, others would find their way out.

He would help them find their way out.

It was weird to wake up in her own bed.

Riyo stretched towards the bedside table to shut off the alarm. How long it had been going off, only the Goddess knew. When she turned back to lay down until the snooze ran out, she found the bed to be empty.

She sat up hesitantly, shutting off the alarm for good as she slipped on the closest thing she could find, her clothes from Boonta that Fox had thrown to the wall the previous night and a pair of fuzzy slippers that lay by the bedside table.

When she entered the living space, she found it to be empty. A hot pot of caf waited for her in the kettle, but aside from that there was no sign of Fox. She helped herself to a generous serving and took a seat on the couch, listening for any sounds of him in the garage under the house.

When the mug was drained and no sound had reached her ears, she stood to seek him out before she froze at the sound of an approaching speeder. Choosing to wait it out, she padded over to the kitchen sink to pour herself another cup.

“Good morning.” Fox chirped as he entered the door, a bag of groceries in one hand and a large box in the other.

“Oh, praise the Goddess, I was starting to worry.” She said as she moved to his side, taking the box from him.

“That’s for you.” Fox said as he set the bag down on the counter. “Take a peek inside while I grab the other bags.”

She watched him with apprehension as he stepped back outside. When the door closed behind him, the box in her hand jiggled.

“What did you do?” She whispered as she walked back to the couch, setting the box down before opening the unsealed lid. Inside, surrounded by blankets, were two young tookas, not yet fully grown. She gasped as she lifted one into her arms, burying her hands in the soft white fur.

By the time Fox came back, she held both the white and yellow tooka in her arms, rocking them back and forth as she stared at them in wonder.

He halted by the kitchen counter as he set the bags down, waiting for her response.

She met his gaze with a beaming smile.

#foxiyo #commander fox #riyo chuchi #commander thire #commander wolffe #clone trooper jek #original character #my fics #seconds and years fic

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the-last-kenobi · 3 years

Note

I love your writing so much!! If you’re still taking requests, could you do 9 with Obi-Wan and Anakin?

Thank you!! <3 And of course! I hope you enjoy.

From this various prompts list.

Set after The Wrong Jedi arc. And it’s way... way longer than I meant it to be. Whoops. I told myself, make this one short. Actually a prompt fill. And then I laughed at myself and wrote a fic and I don’t know exactly how long it is because I was too scared to look at the word count.

I tagged it as long post so I hope those of you who aren’t in the mood for my rambling bs are as to skip it!

I will add a reading cut when I get my hands on a laptop.

When Skywalker stormed into the training bay, his fists clenched by his sides, troopers scattered out of his way like silver-fish before a Bloodfin.

Even without Force-sensitivity, it was impossible to miss the potent fury rolling off the young General in waves, almost visible on the air, scalding anyone who got too near. His eyes glided right over the Clones, however, and fixed on a single figure standing alone on a mat, performing a slow exercise.

Anakin strode over to the edge of the mat and stamped his foot on the edge, twisting it a few inches just as the other man’s foot came back down from a stretch. He slipped. At the last second he caught himself, turning on the spot to regain his balance.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan spoke calmly, as if nothing had just happened. As if his friend wasn’t glaring at him with rage and disdain.

“A duel,” said Anakin, in a tone that brokered no argument.

General Kenobi’s face tightened slightly. But he nodded graciously and summoned his lightsaber to his hands, drawing backwards towards the opposite wall and raising his blue blade in a low Soresu opening.

Skywalker waited only half a second before launching himself at the other man in a blur of blue light and red-hot anger.

Cody, watching from the wall, clasped his hands behind his back as he watched the two Jedi spar at bewildering speeds.

Dizzying swirls of colliding blue light. Last-moment maneuvers, a blade hot as a sun missing moving limbs by inches. Skywalker always on the offensive. Kenobi always giving ground.

Obi-Wan’s eyes widened slightly as his entire body trembled under the weight of a blow that could have removed his head from his shoulders had he not blocked it; his own serenity seemed to shrink in the face of Anakin’s fire and desperation.

There was a blur of motion, and Skywalker stood triumphant as Kenobi crashed to the floor with the younger man’s saber an inch from his chest.

Obi-Wan stared up at his friend. “Solah,” he whispered.

For a moment more, the scene hung suspended. The lightsaber burning close, too close, to Obi-Wan’s vulnerable body, Anakin looming over him with anger in his eyes.

Then Anakin turned and stalked out of the room, leaving his former Master on the floor with a faint scorch mark on his pale tunics.

“Sir.” Cody strode over to his General immediately and helped him to his feet, watching him wince, feeling a surge of helpless anger at the nagging realization that he had never anticipated a time when his General would be hurting because of Skywalker. “Sir.”

“Cody,” the Jedi said wearily. “I need to get up to the bridge.”

“You need to see Hoop,” said Cody, referring to the 212th’s medic.

Obi-Wan shook his head. “No. We’re still two days out through hyperspace and we need to find a way to make contact with the ground troops on Ryloth before we go barging in.”

Cody clenched his jaw but assented, knowing that there was no dissuading his General, not now. He had just one more thing to say.

“General.” He waited until Kenobi looked at him. “You threw that fight.”

Obi-Wan inhaled slowly, a look of what his Commander recognized as pain — grief — flickering behind his blue eyes. “Anakin needed the win,” he said quietly.

The second time Anakin Skywalker stormed into the training bay, everyone moved aside to watch even before Obi-Wan had turned around to greet his former apprentice.

Men from the 501st and the 212th, thrown together on this joint mission as if to both aggravate and soothe the hurt of Ahsoka’s departure, stood side by side and watched as their Generals flung themselves into the fight as if lives depended on it.

As Kenobi let Skywalker take the offensive. As he let Skywalker come to the edge of victory again and again and then held him off at the last second.

As Anakin’s rage grew, as he began to resent Obi-Wan for dragging the battle out and denying Anakin the victory he craved and deserved. Holding him back as always.

As for the second time Kenobi threw the fight in a way that Anakin didn’t notice.

Letting him walk off with his rage dispersed for awhile, the relieved and triumphant victor, while the bruised and shaken loser climbed to his feet and went back to work with an air of gravity around him. As if Obi-Wan had absorbed the weight of his friend’s anger and carried it like a shroud.

Maybe he did.

The third time Anakin confronted Obi-Wan, he won by punching Obi-Wan in the face.

The fourth time Anakin confronted Obi-Wan, he won by burning his leg from hip to ankle.

The sixth time Anakin confronted Obi-Wan, he won by pressing his foot down on the other man’s throat almost to the point of unconsciousness.

The eighth time, he won by knocking Obi-Wan’s lightsaber from his hands and driving him back against a wall with his own saber at Obi-Wan’s neck.

“You have to stop,” Hoop said.

Obi-Wan shook his head. “He... needs this.” A hiss escaped his lips as the medic dabbed bacta along the abrasion above his eye, the bacta he had tried to say he didn’t need.

“He needs a therapist and an ass kicking,” retorted Hoop, disregarding standard respect. He didn’t care about protocol in general, and certainly not when his General turned up every other day — usually dragged in by Cody — with bruises and cuts and strained muscles.

Obi-Wan only shook his head again.

Cody, Rex, Hoop, and many of the others had hoped that the battles on Ryloth would serve as a good outlet for General Skywalker.

They did.

But it wasn’t enough.

Fighting what felt like a futile war for the planet’s freedom, being back on Ryloth yet again, and the gaping hole in the 501st where Ahsoka had once stood only seemed to drive Skywalker��s pain upwards. And for Anakin, all emotions led to rage, eventually.

He could not stand the depths of his emotions, the dark days, the low times. If he was not happy, he chose rage over sorrow.

And there was so much sorrow.

There was a two-day reprieve after the campaign on Ryloth. Temporary victory had been purchased yet again with the blood of the natives and the GAR, and the 501st and 212th departed for another campaign halfway across the galaxy at once.

And for two days there was time to rest and think.

And then Anakin stalked into the training bay again. Not finding Obi-Wan, he waited for him, and as soon as the older Jedi entered the room, raised his lightsaber in an Ataru salute.

The thirteenth time Anakin challenged Obi-Wan, they dueled for over three hours, and both fell exhausted to the ground.

The nineteenth time, Anakin left Obi-Wan with a leg broken in two places. Cody had to physically restrain Hoop — and himself, frankly — from jumping General Skywalker and throttling him.

The twenty-eighth time, Obi-Wan’s guard slipped, and Anakin’s saber drove straight through Obi-Wan’s thigh. A mirror image of the wound Dooku had inflicted on his other leg, a lifetime ago it seemed, back when they had been on the same side.

Were they still?

Anakin’s face had dropped with shock at the injury, and before any of the men could react, he had picked Obi-Wan up in his arms and rushed him to the med bay.

And then the Council called to speak with Kenobi privately, and Anakin’s rage and hurt against them for their role in handing his Padawan over to the authorities rose up again like a serpent reading to strike.

The thirtieth time Anakin challenged Obi-Wan, he fought with his left hand, as if taunting his Master that he was still superior.

The thirty-sixth time Anakin challenged Obi-Wan, the older Jedi fought back, taking the offensive just long enough that it seemed he would be victorious — and then something in Anakin’s face broke. Grief and dismay were revealed in the cracks of his wrath, and Obi-Wan retreated again, and then fell.

The fortieth time Anakin challenged Obi-Wan, he was met with silence.

Anakin stared, his saber already lit in his hands, as Obi-Wan stood up slowly from where he had been meditating.

He dragged himself to his feet like a man on the verge of collapse, but he was as irritatingly graceful as ever, composed, serene. Anakin’s hands tightened on his weapon.

“Well?” he prompted.

Obi-Wan said nothing.

He looked down at the floor, and some of his burnished, ruddy hair fell over his eyes, concealing his face from view. Anakin waited impatiently. A strange feeling rose inside him, something nauseous and uncertain, and he did not want to know what it was.

“Well?” he demanded more aggressively.

Obi-Wan swallowed hard and looked up at him.

And Anakin was struck by how small his Master looked.

Shorter than him by a few inches, yes, but somehow that larger-than-life quality that hung about the man had fallen away. He looked tired. Beaten, humbled, hurt — like a child, like a man driven to the edge and then over it without anyone pausing to take notice of his fall.

His blue eyes were shattered by unshed tears.

Anakin recoiled.

“I can’t,” Obi-Wan croaked. His voice was tight as a wire, strained with the effort of holding back tears. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Anakin. I... I’m too tired to be your emotional punching bag today.”

“Obi-Wan—” said Anakin, not even knowing what he was going to say, and stopped there.

“I’m sorry,” Obi-Wan repeated. And he sounded it. Looked it. Was dripping remorse into the air like a sky about to storm. “Please. If this is what you need, I can keep doing it, but I just need today. I need a day to breathe. And — and if you’re —”

A tear trickled down over one cheek and into his beard. Then another.

Anakin was watching with his expression frozen between anger and shock.

Cody leaned forward as if about to spring. Rex’s hand settled on his shoulder.

“If you just need more time, I’ll give it to you,” Obi-Wan whispered. “But if you’re angry enough to strike me down unarmed... do it. I don’t — I don’t want — I can’t —”

Cody jolted under Rex’s grip.

And still, Anakin’s saber blazed in his hands, casting Obi-Wan in blue light, reflected in his shining eyes.

“I can’t,” Obi-Wan said helplessly.

Anakin hesitated.

Conflicting emotions ran across his face one after the other, grief chasing pain chasing anger chasing despair chasing rage, like shadows passing over deeper waters.

He raised his saber a little higher.

#and that there is an ambiguous ending #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #star wars #my writing #prompt fill #commander cody #captain rex #501st battalion #212th attack battalion #ahsoka tano #the wrong jedi #Anakin has issues #obi wan has issues #someone hug them #long post #very long post #very very long post

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nevertheless-moving · 3 years

Text

Broken Fight Part Two

Star Wars AU #13

Drabble from this dumpster fire of a time travel fix-it au

“General, please. What happened down there.” Cody begged.

General Kenobi stared blankly at the stump where his left hand used to be.

“I’m not...completely certain.” He finally responded, after an excruciatingly long silence, “The force did something very strange- I’m not... supposed to be here- this isn’t what I thought would happen. I’m somewhat at a loss.”

He pulled back the blanket to look at the place where his right leg used to be. Cody sucked in a breath at the sight. “Who did this to you.”

The general chuckled, face pulling into a dark grin; the commander shivered. The smile was... unfamiliar; it showed too many teeth and didn’t reach Obi-Wan’s eyes “Isn’t it obvious?” he drawled. “We were the only people in that clearing.” He jerked a thumb to point at Anakin, lying heavily sedated with a respirator in the bed nearby.

Rex stiffened, “I don’t understand...the General Skywalker I know would never-”

“He’s not the man you knew," Obi-Wan interrupted curtly. “I’m sorry to tell you this but Anakin Skywalker is dead. The creature wearing his skin- Darth Vader- is a Sith Lord who will not hesitate to kill you, everyone on this ship, or everyone in the republic to get what he wants. Vader is a formidable enemy and now that he’s back in a fully powerful body...I fear no force in the galaxy will be able to stand against him.”

Rex and Cody exchanged looks of horror.

“Sir... Skywalker can’t just be gone- there has to be some way of getting him back- the other Jedi maybe?” Rex tried to suggest but General Kenobi just let out a heavy sigh.

“Vader hates the Jedi, if you brought any of them within reach he’d kill them immediately. The only reason I’m still alive is because he wanted me to suffer because of what I did to him- did to him last time.” Kenobi’s hand clenched at the sheet. “His struggle to breathe now is an echo of that. The wisest- the most rational thing to do would be to kill him while’s asleep, slit his throat before he can burn the galaxy down.”

Rex gasped in shock, physically and mentally reeling.

Cody took a step back, alarmed. “...The Obi-Wan Kenobi I know would never give up on Anakin Skywalker.”

Kenobi let out another tired sigh. “I suppose I’m not the Obi-Wan Kenobi you know. I have his memories but... for all intents and purposes, he’s also dead.”

Cody grabbed at the front of the man’s tunic, pulling him up. “Who the kriff are you, then?” He hissed.

The man wearing his General’s face smiled sadly, “I go by Ben these days. I may not be the person you want me to be, but I am not your enemy.”

Cody bit back a scream, voice bitter and low as he yanked the imposter further out of bed, “If you’re not our enemy, then tell us how to undo whatever the fuck this is.”

“I can’t, I’m sorry,” Ben responded sorrowfully. “I don’t understand how this happened- I was dying, becoming one with the force when Vader did some sort of- dark ritual to bring us both to this point in time. I had hoped, for a moment, that it was a way of fixing what he regretted but-” Ben waved his stump around. “I think maybe he just wanted to kill everyone he hated a second time.”

“We’re not killing Skywalker,” Rex spat out angrily.

Ben nodded, “I can scarcely blame you. Nearly 20 years ago I myself had the chance to kill Vader and was quite unable to do so. I can hardly fault you for-”

“COMMANDER CODY! WHAT THE KARK ARE YOU DOING TO MY PATIENT?” A voice rang out, shocked. Patch ran to the bed and Cody dropped Ben as if burnt. He made a soft oof of pain as he fell back.

“General! Are you alright?” the Healer asked alarmed.

“I’m perfectly fine, Patch. The conversation just got a little heated.”

“You’re missing two limbs you Di'kut - you are not ‘perfectly fine.’ And you-” he whirled to face the shellshocked Commander. “What the sith hells were you thinking? Save it for the bunks, or at least not my medical bay, honestly.”

Cody bit his tongue.

“Understood.” Rex nodded at the healer, placing a restraining hand on the Commander’s shoulder. “And you-” he pointed at Ben “this conversation is not over.”

The figure in the bed nodded, “Of course. About Vader-”

“Let us worry about that. You just- you just stay here and avoid losing any more limbs.” Cody stalked away, Rex close at his heels.

“Force suppressing cuffs?” Rex asked grimly.

“Force suppressing cuffs. We have enough sets for both of them, gods help us.” Cody confirmed.

“...Commander, what are we going to do?”

Cody didn’t reply.

#star wars #my au #star wars au no 13 #broken fight au #time travel #angst #star wars au

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one-real-imonkey · 3 years

Note

Well, you talked about the chips, so prompt:

Guard having their chips removed and what happened after

Not for the first time, my mind has created an AU of an AU, so this is another way things could have gone from the point where Hound revealed the footage.

Please enjoy.

———

Fox went into surgery alone, his siblings off planet or in surgery themselves. The Jedi with him was kind, but they weren’t who he would have wanted.

He woke with Cody by his side, and as he shifted to try to get more comfortable and get a better look, he saw Rex on the other, asleep in the chair in what couldn’t be a comfortable position, worry creasing his face.

Cody helped him shift but not sit up with a clearly relieved smile and he took in the recovery room he was in.

It was mostly empty, and though it was designed to hold up to 16 patients, only one other bed was occupied.

Hound was in the bed behind Cody, and next to him Pup, oddly in a chair not a bed, still sleeping. He couldn't see Thorn or Thire or Stone or any of the others, but he had to trust they were ok, because it was over and Hound, his oh so brilliant selfless little brother, had done it.

Palpatine was gone. The war was over, or at least on pause.

His vode were safe.

"Fox, you're awake?"

"Yeah Rex’ika, I’m awake. How are you?"

They both had bandages covering new scars, a scar he was sure he now shared, like all of them. Another way they were identical.

"I'm... shellshocked, but I'm coping. But what about you, how are you?"

"Headachy."

It was true, his head was killing him. But then, it wasn’t like he’d never worked through a headache before.

Wait...

"How are you two here already? No way you made it back to Coruscant that quickly."

"Fox..." Cody paused so he and Rex could exchange a look, and that never meant anything good, "you've been unconscious for a week. We both came back, went in and out of surgery, recovered, but you just wouldn't wake up."

“Well I had mine on the ship, but that’s not the point. You’ve missed a week vod.”

"Do… do they know what was wrong?"

He had a few ideas, none of them good.

"They have a few theories. It's happened a few times across the whole GAR, and they're comparing the chips they had to the rest of us, and... Fox all of the Guard took longer to wake up than any other unit, by a few hours. All your chips have been slightly different, they're not sure why yet but..."

"Use. Palpatine. Using them probably did something."

"Thats what the Jedi are guessing."

"Hound?"

"Get some rest vod."

"No, no!" Fox struggled to sit up against his brothers holding him down, "No, tell me what's wrong!"

"Fine, just calm down."

"Fox, Hound's chip was broken, literally split. They had to take it out in two parts. They're not sure how or why, but it also shows the signs of being active. They don't know why he hasn't woken yet, but his vitals are steady, the healers say it's when he wakes, not if."

"He's not the only one," Rex added, "one of my men is suffering some after affect issues, balance and dizziness and weaknesses in his left limbs, his chip was rotted. And while Wolffe went in and out of surgery no problem, his chip was broken, but then, chances were it was the same injury that cost his eye. There have been a few issues across the GAR, and the Jedi are helping all of us."

"Stone, Thire, Fix, Thorn? They’re ok. And Wolffe, Bly, Ponds?"

"All fine. Fix and Stone are bullying the medics for more intel and Thire and Thorn are resting with other members of the Guard. They'll be back soon. Pup isn't even meant to be in here, the healers tried to kick him out to make him sleep but..."

Fox looked over to where his vod'ika was asleep against Hound's bed. Like hells anyone was going to be able to keep Pup out, not with how much Hound had done. He was actually surprised the rest of the Guard hadn't shown up and refused to leave.

“And the others?”

“Wolffe and Ponds are with the Council, Bly is with General Secura in the lower parts of the Temple setting up accommodation for the Clones.”

“…tell me.”

He knew his vodes faces, knew their expressions. Something had happened.

“Palpatine was arrested, but some of his supporters have claimed he’s being framed. That Hounds footage was faked, that the Jedi and Clones were attempting a coup. It’s… people like Senator Amidala and Organa are on our side, quite a few planets have backed us, but… but for now all Jedi and Clones have been labelled deserters and for deserting traitors, and marked for death. The Temple is locked down and defended, and between the proof and everything we set up, there’s a good chance things will go our way…”

“But we’re having to prepare for the outcome that it won’t. Palpatine planned for everything.”

“Exactly, but we have it in hand, so you can get some rest. There’ll be plenty for you to do once you’re back on your feet. Take a few days, Vod, you’ve more than earned it.”

———

Ohh this is a fun AU AU, I might have to continue this. Some other POV of what’s happening, Hound waking up. Hmmmmm.

Thanks for the prompt. Hope you enjoyed.

Inbox is always open for prompts and headcanons and asks and all sorts. :-D

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #my corrie guard au #au of my Corrie guard au #commander fox #commander cody #captain rex #sergeant hound #oc clone pup #coruscant guard #protect the coruscant guard #prompt response #ask response

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greenygreenland · 3 years

Text

Tired: Omega x Platonic! Slicer! Reader

-Hi I’m back from the dead

-i write for females, keep that in mind (sorry, it's what I'm comfortable with, so I hope you understand!)

-but really, I write in 2nd POV, so you can't tell for the most part

REQUESTED

Summary: You're a former bounty hunter who's also a slicer for the GAAR. You meet Omega by chance.

Tired. That was the only thing that could describe your mental state. Being assigned to mission after mission was no fun, especially when it was solo. You were a civvie slicer, one who the GAAR hired by chance due to your reputation.

By reputation, that meant ex-mercenary-who-so-happened-to-have-a-knack-or two-for-technology. The clones were nice to you though. For the most part, they didn't care about your previous occupation because it wasn't the first time anyone's hired Bounty Hunters for the GAAR.

The low hum of the ship helped to ease your building worries. You wondered what the boys of Clone Force 99 were up to. It was no secret that you were part of the complete package. No one knew how you and them got along when you were a civvie. Being outsiders themselves, they hated anyone who wasn’t part of their group. But not you. You were different. Kind. Caring. Understanding.

That thought made you frown. You missed the boys. They had been gone for at least seven rotations without comming you once. The fact that they promised didn't help their cause either. Were they okay? Maybe one of them got hurt, or worse, killed? Maker forbid such a thing.

"They better come back to me in one piece, or I'll have them begging on their knees for forgiveness..."

Beep, beep, beep!

You jolted upright, swinging your legs out form under you as you hurriedly fumbled for the holoprojector. You tapped a button and the cockpit flooded with a soft, blue light. "Tech!" you cried. "It's been seven rotations! Why haven't you commed me?" He removed his helmet with a sheepish shrug. "We've been busy of course. And it's seven rotations and fifteen hours, meaning--"

"Yeah, yeah." you cut in with a sigh. "I don't like the idea of not coming with you guys on missions. I know you're just as capable--more if you want me to be honest--but that doesn't mean I can't worry."

There was a rustle behind Tech and he looked over his shoulder. Hunter came into view, an apologetic look in his eyes. "Sorry we didn't comm you. With all that's gone down, I wouldn't say we've had the time." You flopped down in your chair helplessly. "I know, it's just..."

Hunter smiled warmly. "Don't worry about us (Y/n)." Tech pushed up his glasses and nodded in agreement. "If there's anyone who we should be worrying about, it's you. You go on solo missions six out of nine times. We have each other but you only have yourself."

"Wow, I feel so much better Tech." You sarcastically muttered. "Speaking of mission, I'm on my next one."

Hunter knitted his brows. "Where?"

"Skako Minor."

"Skako Minor?" they echoed. You nodded. "Something strange is going on there. According to Rex, the Seppie battle plans have been drawn exactly like the ones he used to do with Echo--that’s one of his men." You recalled the face of that fallen soldier. He was always so sweet to you, giving a wave whenever you passed and smiling as brightly as he could. To say you missed the poor boy was an understatement.

"Isn't Skako Minor under the Techno Union?" inquired a coiled voice. Crosshair made his way into the frame and unceremoniously squeezed himself between his brothers. "You better not be going alone." You waved it off. "Even if I did, it’s fine. I can take care of myself.”

“Like the time you nearly fried yourself with a loose wire on that rock in the Outer Rim? Yeah, I don’t think so.” You averted your gaze to the side in embarrassment. No one needed to remind you of that rookie mistake. You could have gotten yourself killed. The watts were off the chart there. “That was one time. I’m a master at this stuff, don't worry. And besides, Cody, Rex, Jesse, and Kix are with me." Cross's brows shot up. "You're working with regs?"

"Don't worry, they're seasoned soldiers from the 501st.” That was the truth, and you meant it. Working under Rex for months made it clear to you. During that time, he taught you a thing or two about mechanics. “General Skywalker’s men are more than capable. So is Cody."

Cross looked doubtful, and you couldn't blame him. This was enemy territory you were sneaking into. It didn’t matter who you had on your side, because anyone could make a mistake.

A deep laugh echoed from over Cross’s shoulder. Wrecker set down his gonk droid, Lula in the other hand. “You guys need to have faith in (Y/n),” he reminded with a grin. “She’s smarter than me, and she’s always kept up with us. Is there anything she can’t do?” Tech pushed his glasses up with a challenging look. “Uh, actually--”

“Just be careful.” Hunter concluded. “We want to see you back in one piece.” You nodded in understanding. “Copy that, Sarge.” He smiled, and it was filled with unsaid words of care. Cross sent you a nod, eyes all mushy and soft while Tech knitted his brows together worriedly. Wrecker grinned, and it was so bright that it could have blinded you.

“Same goes to you Batchers,” you stated seriously. “Come back to me in one piece, or I’ll come over there and kill you myself.” Tech looked like he wanted to comment on that, but he sensed the shift in mood and kept his mouth shut. You memorised their faces as best as you could. It would be a while until you saw them next.

The hologram flickered out and the soft glow of blue hues disappeared. The cold, dim lighting of the ship fell over you. “Well that’s that.” you muttered with a weak smile. Rex patted your shoulder comfortingly. “They really care about you.”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t always like that. I used to be a stranger too.”

The rest of the ride was spent with the occasional joke from Jesse. He made you laugh, and it helped to soothe your worries. But then the ship landed, and you were thrust into a battle zone. You were thankful Anakin made you wear heavier armour today. If he hadn’t, then you probably would have been vaporized on the spot.

“We need cover!” shouted Rex. That was a no-brainer. Being out in the open at the bottom of a ravine was not in the least tactical. “SBDs!” you called. “Twelve o’clock!”

Jesse raced past you. “Get down!” He threw an EMP. It wasn’t as effective as you hoped it would be. If the Bad Batch were here, this situation would have been completely different. You were on your own. There was no cover, save for the piles of smoking durasteel and the very armour strapped to your vulnerable limbs.

You were in a head-on battle.

“I guess we don’t have much of a choice.” You charged forward, tossing a few EMPs as you blasted away. The best you could do was nail them in the head and hope for the best. Jesse was right beside you, with Cody, Kix, and Rex following suit.

“I didn’t think you would be this daring!” called Jesse. You blasted a few droids and kicked another in the head. It fell with a clank and you smothered it in a healthy dose of blaster fire. “I wasn’t about to be bested by a couple of rust buckets!” you retorted with shake of your head. “Come on, we need to get to that tower.”

You made quick work of the droids. You were no Jango Fett, but you managed with the help of the Regs. Cody congratulated your work and motioned for the squad to continue on. “It’s obvious the enemy knows we’re here. I have my doubts on sneaking in, but perhaps we can manage...”

Past the commando droids, through the front door, then up the lift and a little further down a couple halls. Before the mission, Rex had pulled you aside to speak in private. He thought Echo was alive and that whatever was sending out those Seppie battle plans had to be him. But you weren’t about to get your hopes up. Not when so many of your friends long marched far, far away.

You stopped by a door and plugged in your datapad. “I need to slice open the door. I’m not about to challenge fate here with a charge.” Jesse nodded in understanding. “I’d rather come back with all my legs and arms, thank you very much.” He turned to keep guard as Cody stood close to your side. “Is this the control room?”

“Yes.” The door swished open and you disconnected your ‘pad from the panel. “I’ll slice the computer and retrieve the information we need. Rex, I need you for this portion.” He nodded in understanding and followed suit. You connected your datapad to the communications table. A hologram appeared, where dates and names passed by in the blink of an eye.

“You said this might be Echo.” you quietly stated. Rex nodded. “I can’t be sure, but there isn’t another explanation.” You watched as the information scrolled past at the speed of light. There wasn’t anything of use so far. Only old reports, check-ins and...

The scrolling froze. A file opened up, filling the room with a voice you wouldn’t ever forget. It was scratchy and lifeless, but you were sure it had to be the man who went KIA so long ago. “That’s...”

“Echo’s alive.” Rex affirmed. “It--it has to be him.”

“We’ve got company!” called Jesse.

You transferred the file and stuffed your ‘pad in a safe spot for keeping. “In case anything happens, I’m transferring the data over to you.” you stated. “I wouldn’t want to lose any of this.” The two of you rushed out of the room in a frenzy. Blaster fire sounded above, whizzing way over your head as you sprinted down the hall. The lift wasn’t far, only a couple metres. You just had to run a little more and--

BOOM!

Had a droid thrown a charge? You turned to Rex, eyes wide as he turned to face you. With all of the strength you could muster, you shoved him out of the way. Another BOOM!. You turned just in time to see the flash of brilliant reds and oranges.

The force threw you into the transparisteel windows, which spider-webbed out in long cracks. You were suddenly flying out of the four story building. Shards cut past your face and through your sleeves, tearing away at flesh and fabric without an ounce of mercy. If only you had a doshing jetpack.

“(Y/N)!”

You didn’t scream, but Maker did it kriffing hurt. There was a sickening crack, another blinding flash of sharp pain. You held back a cry.

Just be careful. We want you back in one piece.

Your vision faded in and out. Black blurred the galaxy as you knew it.

I'm sorry, boys.

You fell into the painful jaws of darkness.

-----

The first thing that hit your nose was the sterile smell of bacta. Your eyes fluttered open and you found yourself staring at the blank ceiling of the medbay. The incessant beeping of the heart monitor caught you off guard. How hard did you fall? Much less, what did you break?

A head of dirty blonde hair peeked over the edge of your bed. Her eyes, wide with curiosity made you knit your brows together. She was young, much younger than any girl here should be. You were about to sit up, but the girl frantically straightened.

"You're not supposed to be getting up." She gently pushed you back down. "You have a lot more than a few broken bones." That was when the pain began to settle. You stilled under the thin medbay sheets. "I need to comm someone."

"Now?" the girl incredulously inquired. "You're hurt, you have to rest first." But that was the least of your problems. Where was Rex? Had he completed the mission? How long were you out? Were Jesse, Kix, and Cody alright? You winced and the girl frowned.

"If it makes you feel better, there were a few people who came to visit."

That didn't make you feel better. It meant they saw you like this, in the most vulnerable state you could ever be in. "Who are you?"

The girl pointed at herself like she'd never been asked that before. "Me?" You nodded. "I'm Omega." She smiled and it was a little shy and toothy. "You've been asleep for a while. I thought you weren't going to wake up for another day." You tensed and pursed your lips together. "How long?"

"A week, I think." Omega said. "But it's okay! You're recovering steadily." That wasn't the issue. Recovering steadily wasn't good enough because you were missing out on a mission you needed to complete. If Echo really was alive, then you had to save him. It was the least you could do after he put his life on the line for you so many times before.

"I have to..." You pushed your aching body up. "I have to go."

"No!" Omega forced you back down. "Even if you could walk, you can't fight."

"But I have to..." The look on Omega's face made you pause. She was so small, and in that little body of hers, she stored up a good amount of worry for you. How could you say no to that? A sigh escaped your lips and you begrudgingly relaxed onto the bed.

Omega's shoulders slumped in relief. "I'll get a your holoprojector." You raised a brow with a watchful eye as she scurried away. She rummaged through a lone cabinet in the corner of the room. Your clothes sat there, belt, holsters, blasters and all. Omega pulled out your holoprojector, closed the cabinets, and handed it to you.

"I washed your clothes too if you're wondering," she said with a small smile. "But don't think about going anywhere! You can't walk with broken legs."

A pit formed in your stomach. You can't walk with broken legs. That wouldn't be true if you had seen the blast. If you had ran faster. Maybe you wouldn't have ended up like this, a mess of bandages, casts, and bacta patches. If only you had seen it coming.

"Hey, (Y/n)?" You didn't question how Omega knew your name. Whoever she was, she had to be a someone to wear Kaminoan jewellery anyway. "What is it?" Your voice was quiet, sad almost. Omega played with a loose thread on her sleeve. "That was very brave of you." She stepped closer to the bed and pulled up a chair. "Captain Rex came by this morning. He told me that you saved him from that blast."

You shifted to meet her gaze as best as you could. The holoprojector weighed your hand down like a ten kilo weight. "I just...reacted. Nothing special to congratulate." Omega shook her head. "No, that's everything. If it were me, I don't think I'd be able to do that."

A pull in your gut told you she meant what she said. Your eyes softened. You didn't meet her gaze. Maybe that was because you couldn't. It was a hard enough fact accepting that you were injured, adding on that you were going soft didn't help your cause.

Omega took it as her signal to give you some privacy and exited the room. The doors swished shut behind her, leaving you in a much needed silence. You tapped the projector. It opened up, bathing the snow white room in soft blue hues.

"Rex." you greeted. "I apologize for my absence." His brows were knitted, eyes all sad and cloudy. He tried to keep a straight face, but you knew better. Of course you did. He was your best friend since the moment you joined the GAAR. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "I should be asking that to you. Are you alright? That fall was..." He paused and it was like he was choking back tears. "I-I'm sorry. If I had just been more careful, then you wouldn't be..."

"Rex, I'm fine."

"You can't walk." he muttered. "And you can't do much on your own. I took away your independence, this is all my fault." You knitted your brows together. His words made your heart ache, and the very thought of what he faced on his own without you didn't help. Your lips pulled into a frown deeper than Kamino's oceans. "That's not all, is it Rex?"

He clenched a fist as if it would help cease his rolling emotions. "E-Echo...if you had seen him. I'm just glad you weren't there."

"Is he alive?"

"Yes."

"Well where is he?" You had to fight the urge to sit up in anticipation. He was alive. That sweet, loving boy who taught you about protocols and manuals. As boring as it was, all those regulations embedded into your mind saved you more than you'd like to admit. He and Fives always snuck up on you whenever they came back from missions, or commed you in the middle of the night.

They both kept you up at night, but you never minded. Now one of those boys who had marched so far away had the chance of coming home.

"Where is Echo?" you inquired. Rex's eyes fell to the floor. "He's...Watt Tambor made him more machine than man. I-I can't..."

The doors swished open.

"...If only we had..." You shook your head. "Rex, there wasn't anything we could do. It was a miracle you found him in the first place."

The doors closed with a low hiss.

"Found who?"

Your eyes widened and you ripped your gaze away from the projection. A set of worn, tired eyes met yours. He looked different from the bottom up. His new armor, black and red with a familiar 99 on it. His smile, though a bit dampened, remained the same. He made his way over to you and took a seat by your bedside.

"Echo?"

"That's me."

You tried a smile, and it was all watery and shaky. "Oh, you've changed." He chuckled. "So have you. I heard about what happened. That was brave of you." No, it wasn't brave. You did it on instinct, without an ounce of hesitation. "It wasn't brave, I just..."

"Who else is crazy enough to jump in front of an explosion without katarn-class armour?"

You could name a few people. Fives, for example. "Whatever. I just--I'm glad you're alive."

He smiled and it was a little broken. "Me too."

---

Before you knew it, you were up and running again. There was no time to walk because you were needed on a mission today. It was completely solo, but thankfully, a simple retrieval mission with little to no chances of a casualty.

You settled in the cockpit, taking in the familiar scents and smells of the well oiled machinery. Mechanics wasn't your strong suit, but you never minded dabbling in it every now and then. Today, there wasn't time to brush up on your beautiful ship. You had a job to do.

The jump to hyperspace was as smooth as ever. There were no creaks, no fumbling through space, and no bursts of smoke. But that was when you heard a crash from the storage room. Last tine you checked, the door had been sealed shut while the weapons and supplies stowed away as they should be.

Had you forgotten to tie them down? A long sigh escaped your lips. "What a pain."

"So is my backside." piped a chipper voice. Your eyes widened. There was no way you heard that voice correctly. Sure, it was young. You knew a few other people with a young voice. Sure, it sounded girly. You knew a couple other female coworkers.

"Sorry I snuck onboard," the voice added. "I promise, I was going to leave, but then you left and--" You swerved the chair around to face Omega head on. She smiled sheepishly, as if it would fix all the problems in the whole galaxy. Maybe it would have if the whole galaxy were as kind as you.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't turn this ship around and bring you back." you stated. Omega fiddled with the hem of her sleeves like it was the most interesting thing on the ship. "You’re short on time?" You resisted the urge to say something snippy in response. The look of uncertainty on Omega’s little face made you feel just the tiniest bit worried.

Maybe that was because uncertainty could get people killed on the battlefield.

"Omega," you placed a hand to your temple, "do you understand what you've gotten yourself into?" This was bad, really bad. Sure, the mission wasn’t as dangerous as it should have been, but intel was like the weather forecast. It was never correct. Taking Omega along with you wasn’t a good idea in any universe, and like Malachor you’d let her into the crossfire.

“I’m sorry.” She wasn’t sorry. “I didn’t mean to sneak aboard.” She definitely meant to sneak aboard. “I just wanted to do something more than...” She let out a short sigh, as if it explained what she couldn’t put into words. “Being on Kamino all the time is so boring. I want to get out and see the galaxy with my own eyes.”

She threw her arms towards the bright blue of hyperspace. You didn’t miss the look of wonder in her eyes, bright as a sun. “There’s more to life than rain and the ocean and the same people I see every single day!”

You couldn’t argue. Omega was right. Even during your recovery, the frustration of not being on your ship doing anything but sitting settled into you every day. You hated being cooped up in one place more than anything. Poor Omega had to put up with it her whole life, it was nearly unfathomable to understand what she felt.

A sharp sigh escaped your lips. “Fine, you can come. But my only condition is that you stay on the ship.”

Omega did not stay on the ship. More than anything, she was curious. She had no clue what dirt was, what kind of plants were carnivorous and deadly, or how to steer clear of all the battle droids.

You raised your blaster and fired at the rust buckets. “This is exactly why I said you should have stayed on the ship! Can you even fire a blaster?” Omega knitted her brows together and eyes the deece at your hip. More than anything, she was curious. Beyond that? Determined.

“No,” Omega replied, “but I’ll try.” She pulled the deece from your hip and peeked over the top of your hiding spot. The long, durasteel crate was just barely holding up. If you were a Jedi, then you’d say it had to be a miracle only the Force knew about.

The deece wasn’t a perfect fit in Omega’s small hands, but it did the job. She aimed at the droids, eyes focused and hands firmly on the weapon. She fired. Once. Twice. Three times. "Did I hit anything?” You fired your blaster a couple times and glared through the smoky haze.

A collection of bolts and durasteel scraps lay in a pile and you couldn’t help but be proud. Either Omega was a natural or she was incredibly strong with luck. Whichever it was, it helped you through the mission, and before you knew it, you were back on the ship with a data stick and an unharmed Omega.

“See, nothing bad happened!” she exclaimed with a grin. You took the blaster from her hands and strapped it back to your hip. “That was luck, I tell you.” Omega rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t! You saw--I was like, pow pow, and you went and hit that guy right in the face!”

“That was because he called me a filthy bounty hunter.” you said, a small smile creeping up your lips. “I can’t say I took too kindly to his harsh words.” Omega let out a laugh and you joined her.

Tired. That was the first thing that came to mind when you thought of your mental state. Yet with Omega by your side, smiling, and carefree despite all the action, you couldn’t help but feel the electrifying sense of thrill.

“Say, Omega? If you want to come back, maybe we can figure out how to get you off that rainy excuse of a planet more often.” you said with a small smile. She beamed, throwing her arms around you with a vigorous nod. “Yes! I’d love that!”

“Me too, kid. We just have to figure out how to convince whoever looks after you.”

BONUS:

A tall kaminoan towered over you with her beady eyes. Omega sheepishly played with her sleeves as you stared down the kaminoan. Stupid long necks. Nala Se blinked. “So this is where you have been, Omega.” That soft, cold voice of hers warmed at the sight of the girl. “Haven’t I told you not to run off? I see you’ve gone somewhere far today.”

Omega frowned shamefully. “Maybe...” Nale Se motioned for her to come to her. “If you would like, you may stay with (Y/n) again--if you are out of harms way that is.” She turned to you and you froze, eyes wide. “Wait, what?”

“I am giving you permission to have Omega under your care, as long as she is out of harms way.” You glanced at Omega, who glanced at you and then Nala Se with the biggest grin on her face. “Really?”

“Yes.” Nala Se smiled. “‘Really’.”

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars x reader #star wars bad batch #Bad Batch #the bad batch x reader #the bad batch

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eyayah-oya · 3 years

Text

To Hold You Close Again

Clone Ship Week | Day 5 | Reunion | @cloneshipweek

Fives/Echo

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Ao3 link

Fives wasn’t sure what to think when Healer Knight Eerin (as she demanded she be called instead of General since he refused to call her Bant) told him that he was needed in the hangar by mid-morning. When he’d asked about it, Knight Eerin just shrugged her shoulders and blinked her big, luminous eyes at him.

“It’s the will of the Force,” she’d said, much to Fives’s annoyance.

“Karking Force osik,” he grumbled as he made his way through the mess and clutter of the hangar. Far too many ships needed repairs after the toll the war had taken on the Temple’s fleet. He swore extra loud when he stubbed his toe on a stray metal part, only stuttering to a halt when he noticed the youngling (Initiate?? Small child.) standing nearby, staring at him with wide eyes. He apologized and shuffled awkwardly over to the landing pad. Maybe this was where he was supposed to go?

Fives was still on light duty, otherwise he would gladly be out there helping his brothers clean up after the war. But he’d taken a blaster bolt to his chest and actually died on the warehouse floor before General Skywalker had done something with the Force and restarted his heart. He’d been taken to the Halls of Healing and placed in a healing trance for two weeks in the same room as Tup. But Tup had been discharged two days ago, free from the fear of the Kaminoans trying to dissect him, leaving Fives alone in his recuperation. Fives had only been released from constant bed-rest last week, and he was not going to push his luck with the Jedi Healers by pushing himself past his limits.

Still, Fives had absolutely no idea why Knight Eerin had decided to send him on a wild-wampa chase in the hangar of all places. Maybe some brothers wanted to talk to him? Or a group of padawans or younglings? Or maybe he needed to brief a commander from the far fronts of the war on the chips and help them implement a schedule to remove all of them from his troopers’ heads.

A ship swooped down dangerously and landed on the pad it was directed to. If Fives wasn’t absolutely positive that General Skywalker wasn’t off playing house with Senator Amidala all day, he’d say that the ship was some hunk of junk the General had found and decided to fly to the Temple. When a team of Healers practically flew past him towards the incoming ship, only then did Fives wander over to observe. He was curious who had returned and what kind of injuries would require the presence of half the Temple’s Healers.

Knight Eerin waved at him as she readied a stretcher. Her smile was tight with worry, but no less genuine towards Fives. She was nice like that. (And she told the best stories about Generals Kenobi, Vos, Unduli, Fisto, and a few other Jedi.)

Making sure to stay out of the way, Fives leaned against the wall as the ramp lowered. Rex, Jesse, and another vod Fives didn’t know (at least, he assumed they were vod’e since they wore clone armor) rushed out with Commander Cody laid out on a stretcher between them. Rex talked quietly with Master Che, likely explaining what injured Cody to the point that he’d need to stay in the Jedi Temple to heal.

Fives pushed off from the wall and walked towards the group, ready to ask how he could help. He was nearly to Rex, when Kix started walking down the ramp, his arm around a vod who had three missing limbs and far too much metal attached to their body. Fives froze mid-stride, eyes wide and unbelieving as he stared at the vod.

It had been nearly a year since he’d last seen Echo, but he knew his riduur’s body better than his own. The old scar slashed across their ribs was from Kamino when Cutup fell off his pod and took Echo down with him. The blaster wound on their hip bone was from their first mission with the 501st on Felucia. More than the scars, however, Fives recognized Echo’s eyes, a warm brown that always seemed to be glinting with joy or love or mischief.

“Echo?”

The name tore from Fives’s lips like a prayer to the Force. It was barely loud enough for Fives to hear, let alone anyone else in the loud hangar, but something must have alerted the vod, because their head jerked up to look directly at Fives.

“Wha—Echo! What are you—oh,” Kix stuttered when Echo pushed away from him to hobble down the ramp towards Fives.

Oh Ka’ra, it really was them. Fives stumbled forward until he stood at the bottom of the ramp, staring as his riduur stumbled awkwardly towards him. As desperately as Fives wanted to tackle Echo in a hug right there, the pale skin, sunken stomach, prostheses, and other bits of metal stopped him. Instead, he waited for Echo to come to him.

“Fives!” Echo sobbed and threw themself at Fives, who gladly caught them and pulled them close.

Every thought and worry about Echo’s condition flew out of Fives’s mind and was replaced by the euphoria of being able to actually hold them in his arms again. He’d never expected to see his riduur, his sweet cyare, again in this life, but they were alive! Echo was alive!

“Echo!” Fives sobbed, pressing his face tight against his riduur’s shoulder. “I thought you were gone! I thought you died! How are you here?”

Echo only gave a shuddering cry against Fives’s shoulder. Their legs crumpled beneath them, and Fives carefully lowered them to the floor, terrified that he’d somehow hurt his riduur more by moving too fast or gripping too hard. It was only once he was seated on the cold hangar floor with Echo in his lap, did Five realize that he was crying too.

“Echo—Echo—Echo—Echo!” He chanted his cyare’s name, unable to fully express everything he was feeling. Fives was horrified to realize that he’d left his riduur—his living riduur—on Lola Sayu to the mercy of the Separatists. They’d been captured, Fives had no doubt, and forced to endure unimaginable horrors. And he hadn’t even thought to look for Echo. He just assumed they were dead. But Echo was alive! Fives actually got to hold his riduur in his arms again, could feel the way their chest expanded with every breath and the beat of their heart. Echo was alive and Fives didn’t have to live without them again.

He was thoroughly content enough to just sit on the floor of the hangar and never let Echo go, but Echo had different plans. They pulled back just enough to slot their lips together in a wet, desperate kiss. Their tears mingled, and Fives could taste the salt with every shift of his lips against theirs. His nose was running—it always did when he cried—and Echo’s metal implants were digging into some very uncomfortable bits, which was sure to leave some interesting bruises. Echo’s skin was cold to the touch, and he could feel every bone in their body instead of the gorgeous expanse of muscle they used to have. Fives was struggling to breath steadily, still not entirely healed from his run-in with the Coruscant Guard and he kept having to break away to breathe deeply.

He wouldn’t change a single thing about it.

It was the perfect kiss. It said “hello” and “I missed you” and “I love you, never leave me again”. Every desperate press of their lips and hitched sob told tales of heartache and aching loneliness they’d both suffered while apart. Every caress and tight squeeze spoke volumes of how they needed each other, how happy they were to see each other again.

Eventually, the kisses shifted from open-mouthed, desperation to soft brushes of their lips. Fives held Echo close, their foreheads pressing together and their noses brushing with ever minute shift of their bodies.

“I’m so sorry,” Fives whispered. “I should have gone back for you. I should have looked for you.”

Echo shook their head. “No, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known I was still alive. I didn’t even think I was still alive when they took me. You are not allowed to blame yourself for what happened to me, just like I can’t blame myself for not being there to protect you.”

Fives laughed quietly and desperately, though there wasn’t anything funny about what Echo said. The pure relief, the horrors of the last year of the war, his own close brush with death all bubbled out of him in the only way it could since he’d already sobbed most of his tears onto Echo’s shoulder. It took far too long for him to compose himself, helped by Echo’s soothing promises and words of comfort. They carded their fingers through his hair while their other limb pulled Fives closer. The laughter turned to hitching dry sobs, and then tiny whimpers.

With a sniff, Fives drew back and looked Echo in the eye, holding their hand and prosthetic gently.

“I love you,” Fives said with the same kind of unshakeable certainty he’d had the very first time he’d admitted his feelings for Echo. “I love you so much, Eyayah. Don’t leave me ever again. You’re not allowed to leave me ever again.”

Echo chuckled wetly and leaned against Fives’s shoulder again. They looked exhausted and pained. They also looked content for the first time since they’d been pulled out of the cryogenic chamber. Echo pressed a kiss to Fives’s collarbone and vowed, “I’m not planning on it. Darasuum.”

“Darasuum,” Fives echoed.

A throat cleared, and Fives jerked his head up to see Rex standing in front of them, smiling fondly down at the two (Two! Not one!) Dominos. “We need to take Echo to the Halls of Healing, and Knight Eerin says you need to get back to your bed, too. Master Che also wanted me to inform you that Echo will be put in your room, since you “won’t realize he has karking limits now and will injure himself by being an idiot and trying to sneak into the other one’s room”. That’s a direct quote, if you’re wondering.”

Fives laughed. “Sounds about right,” he readily admitted. Rex and Kix helped Fives and Echo climb to their feet and walk over to a hoverchair that would take Echo to the Halls of Healing. Fives refused to let go of his riduur’s hand for one second (which might have made things a little more difficult for Kix since Echo only had one hand ((What the hell happened to Echo?)) and half an arm).

Before Kix could start herding them off to get checked over, Rex pulled both Fives and Echo into a soft keldabe each. “I’m really happy for you both,” he murmured, clapped them both on their shoulders, and then went back to talk to those strange vod’e.

Master Che and Knight Eerin figured that Echo would need several surgeries to remove all the apparatuses in their body, as well as new prostheses. It would be a long recovery, but Fives didn’t mind in the slightest. He would support Echo in every way he could, through rough physical therapy, countless surgeries, and awful PTSD. He would gladly help them with it all with a simple joy that Echo was alive.

Over the coming months, the Separatists officially surrendered and the treaties all signed, the clones were given their rights, and they now had a planet they could colonize themselves. As amazing as each of those things were, none of them filled Fives with the exquisite joy of being able to hold his riduur again. They’d get to live a happy life together and that was all that truly mattered.

#clone/clone #clone shipping #fives/echo #echo5 #they all live #no one dies #arc trooper echo #arc trooper fives #clone trooper echo #clone trooper fives #cloneshipweek2021 #day 5 | reunion

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thatonetimetraveller · 3 years

Text

Chapter 1 - Cin Vhetin - Sol

22BBY - 7955

It started out like many of his nightmares. The shriek of blaster fire and explosions deafening, his father holding him tightly to his chest. Shielding his eyes from the hulking black droid and the ever-present red glow of blaster bolts zooming past their heads. The smell of soot, blood, and fear blended into a soup of sickening stench. His heart beating almost loud enough to drown out the cries of agony of the dying and the panic of the still living. His parents ushered him into a cellar, he was shaking with fear as his mother hugged him the last time and his father placed a gentle tear-filled kiss on his temple. Then they shut the heavy metal door, he reached out but he was left in complete darkness. The sounds of the raging battle muted in his dark corner. His breathing was heavy and uncontrolled, his sobs were barely held in. He sat in silence, his red robe a comforting weight on his shoulders.

The door jerked open with a thud. Light flooded in. The shadow of the droid appeared above him, raising his arm. He held his breath for his inevitable death. A blue blaster bolt hit the droid right in its head. It fell with a thud. He glanced up expecting to see the now comfortable armor of his saviors.

The helmet that stared back was white and definitely not Mandalorian.

His savior held out a hand, arm covered in white and orange plastoid instead of beskar’gam and he flinched.

“Ibic cuyir dush” This is wrong. Din mumbled in confusion mostly to himself, but his savior tilted his head and let out a huff barely audible through the voice modulator of his helmet. Din stood and slowly climbed out of the cellar, pulling his robe tighter around himself. It was quiet now. And he glanced around his ruined home, everything was exactly how he remembered yet white troopers swarmed the streets putting down stray droids instead of Mandalorians. The troopers’ armor was painted gold, all of them with differing patterns. He cast an eye back to the cellar then to his savior. His armor was also painted gold, three lines bursting out of his cuirass in a starburst pattern both his pauldrons were completely gold as well, his helmet had extra plastoid around the visor, and an antenna attached to the comm center of the bucket.

“Su’cuy” The man spoke also in Mando’a, Din gaped in shock, his mind reeling as he suddenly noticed the design of the armor was similar to beskar’gam on a closer inspection that one might think he was Mandalorian. Din could sense the man’s gaze behind his visor as he studied him. A familiar feeling of nakedness overwhelmed him as he hid his face behind his red hood and away from the prying eyes of the soldiers nearby. He longed for his buy’ce and beskar’gam.

“Tion gar gai?” What’s your name? The man asked tenderly as he stepped closer to Din and knelt next to him, shielding him from the others. Din blinked at him, still distracted by the dream. He eyed everything with great scrutiny, trying to find a flaw in the dreamscape; blurry edges on the horizon, things that shouldn’t be there or were just missing in general, or anything that wasn’t behaving as it should. He almost groaned when he found nothing, everything seemed real. It took him a moment too long to register the question.

“Din” he answered absentmindedly, his thoughts still distracted by his search, and after this was a dream even if he couldn’t find a flaw or wake. The man seemed to think about something before he introduced himself, Din’s attention snapped back to him.

“Kote” he whispered like a secret. The anxiety that rolled off of Kote made him cringe internally.

Kote took a breath to say something when his wrist comm beeped, he sighed in fondness as he answered

“General”

“Cody, where are you?” A man’s voice came through the comm, it was heavily accented probably from the Core. Why would he dream up people from the Core? He hasn’t been there in over a decade. In a daze, Din returned to his examination of his surroundings, he touched the walls of a nearby building, kicked up some dirt, pointedly didn’t look at the dead that lay only a few feet from him, the ground stained crimson by their blood. Everything was real. He pinched himself in a vain attempt to wake up

“Meg cuyir gar vaabir?” What are you doing? Kote suddenly asked from behind him after he kicked a downed droid particularly hard making it rattle loudly. He grinned at the dark deactivated eyes of the droid in satisfaction.

“Dayn’viinir” Escape he said and picked himself again, his skin turning angry red at the repeated pinches. Kote made a noise behind his bucket.

“Cody, why are you speaking Mando’a?” The General asked through the comm, Kote jolted in surprise and the agitation in the air was prevalent.

“Hojir!” Wake up He cried out in frustration, his dream was really starting to annoy him. Anger coursed through his veins as he kicked the droid so hard that it caved in slightly. The metal crunched under his feet. Pain exploded in his unprotected shins.

“Haar’chak!” he cursed and kicked another droid, the crunching metal and wire only dulled his violent anger. Kote was next to him suddenly as Din seethed, the whispers to destroy them all was all-encompassing and alluring

“Udesii!” Kote shouted through the ringing of rage in his ears. He placed a cautious hand on Din’s shoulder and pulled him closer grounding him. The sudden shaking that seemed to crush him stopped, his breathing leveled out and the anger slowly dissipated. He did not look at Kote for he knew he would find nothing but concern there. The hair on the back of his neck stood as he felt another presence behind him just as Kote called out.

“General!” Din tensed and scrambled away from Kote embarrassment burning through him. He pulled his hood down, so it obscured most of his face and glanced at the approaching General. Kote stood and observed the man. The man was shorter than Kote, he had neatly styled ginger hair and beard. He wore no armor besides the battle-worn vambrace, and a shoulder plate painted with a symbol. Besides that, he was wearing loose cream-colored robes that swayed in the gentle wind. A jetii-kad hung loosely from his belt. The jetii surveyed the destruction around the pair of them - mostly Din’s work in his blind rage - and quirked an eyebrow at Kote then glanced at Din curiously. The ka’ra sang around the General and Din had to avert his eyes from the brightness of it.

“Hello, there” The General greeted with that posh accent of his, as he approached Din and knelt in front of him. Kote made an aborted motion with his hands but didn’t say anything, still, the apprehension and tension were clear to Din. He glanced between the two in confusion unsure why he dreamed up the pair, he never met anyone like them from his subconscious to draw on. The General’s grey eyes seemed to be searching for something, then he felt the General’s mind poking at his. It was a gentle prod barely invasive but Din still sucked in a sharp breath and fought with the disgust rolling in his stomach as the wrongness of another mind settled over him. He grit his teeth and clamped down on his feeble shields trying to keep the invading mind out. The General’s presence gently retreated and Din almost sagged in relief.

“Interesting,” the jetii murmured. Kote glanced at his General in confusion then back to the exhausted Din. He shut his eyes tightly, he really wanted to wake up now.

“Are there any other survivors?” Kote asked in a low voice, concern emanating from him. The jetii sagged in defeat

“No” was barely a whisper but still cut deep into Din’s heart even after all these decades. He took a shaky breath, closed his eyes in pain their memory still fresh on his mind

“Nu kyr’adyc, shi taab’echaaj’la” Not gone, merely marching away Kote and the jetii stood in silence seeming to honor Din’s remembrance. When Din opened his eyes he found that the jetii was regarding him with great interest. He squirmed under his gaze, missing the comforting weight of his beskar’gam. Instead, he hid in his robe which brought him some comfort, the smell remaining him of his first parents.

“We’ll be leaving soon, young one. You’re welcome to come with us and we’ll take you back to your people or wherever you prefer” The jetii offered kindly and Din knew he wasn’t lying. Kote sucked in a breath of surprise.

“General Kenobi, the kid doesn’t speak Basic” he interjected while Din blinked at the jetii in confusion once he understood what he meant

This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.

Kenobi only quirked his lips at Kote and finally, Din found his voice among the thousands of questions that flooded his mind

“Me’ven?” He blurted out in his bewilderment. His eyes darting between the two of them in rising panic. Where were the Mandalorians? He isn’t supposed to go with Kote and Kenobi. He’s supposed to be at the Fighting Corps being trained to be a Mando’ad. His breathing accelerated as he blindly lashed out at the forgotten droid at his feet, kicking it as hard as he could. It crumbled into pieces. He couldn’t breathe, his limbs were shaking as he lost the feeling of them entirely. He could only stare at the droid’s black mass as the image of it leveling him with a blaster flashed across his eyes more vivid than it had been in years. He kicked the slowly unrecognizable droid again in panic. He still couldn’t breathe.

“Calm down kid!” Kote was speaking to him in Basic and Din in his panicked haze didn’t understand a word. His mind hyper focused on his goal to escape from the dream or the droid? Din didn’t know. Escape, run away, not again! his mind screamed at him. Someone outside his head was also screaming in a language he once recognized. His heartbeat was loud in his ears as black spots appeared in his vision. He had to get out of here. Hands were placed on his shoulder boxing him in. He struggled. A helmet’s T-visor was leveled with his eyes. The armored man held strong against Din’s increasingly desperate and weak struggles.

“Udesii!” he ordered. The Mando’a cut through the haze of confusion and fear. Din stopped struggling, going completely limp in Kote’s hold besides his still labored breathing. Kote’s presence was like a rock grounding him in his panic.

“Dayn’viinir” He spat out between ragged breaths. His mind still buzzing with lingering fear. Kote’s presence grew concerned as his grip tightened on his shoulders.

“Tion’jor?” Why? Kote asked sorrowfully

“Ne’veman” Not real His breathing was finally under control somewhat, though he was still weak, his limbs felt like jelly and he was lightheaded. His thoughts were in a haze. Din hadn’t lost control like that since he was 12, and he can’t do it again. Shame bubbled from inside him as he worked to even out his breathing and think clearly. The Mandalorians were not coming and he couldn’t stay with the dead so he firmly looked at Kenobi hoping he’ll understand

“Elek” he breathed out and then the world turned black.

oOo

Din woke to a blinding light behind his eyelids and a pounding headache. He blinked his eyes open and had to resist the urge to groan from the sharp pain that erupted in his skull. The subtle beeping of medical equipment filtered through his hazy awareness. Why was he in a medbay? Din’s eyes snapped open to mechanical shuffling next to his bed. A medical droid was standing above him. His heart racing with unrestrained panic, Din shot up from the bed and punched the droid. Metal scrunched under his fist and the droid staggered back in surprise. Dean lunged for the droid, snatching its long arm and tearing it out with a violent tug, the sparks flew everywhere and the droid was saying something in alarm. Din rushed off his bed ripping the IV out of his arm in the process and without a second thought dashed out of the medbay, as shouts of alarm echoed behind him.

The hallway was empty and clean, the metal under his bare feet was cold and biting. The shape and design of the hallway reminded him distinctively of the Imperial Light Cruiser he’d been on and he shivered at the thought. He turned the corner and came face to face with a pair of Stormtroopers. His breath hitched as he confirmed that he’d been captured by the Imps. He ran in the opposite direction trusting his instincts, the Troopers didn’t fire on him which while strange was a blessing at least. He cursed at himself for not having a rifle, blaster, or at least a vibro-knife with him any weapon would do. He slowed to a screeching halt as the missing weight of his beskar’gam registered and new panic took hold of him. How many had seen him? These hut’uun demagolka took his runi away from him. The anger and humiliation of being stripped of his armor were all-encompassing. He wouldn’t be able to call himself a Mando’ad anymore if he was still at the Covert. He’ll have to find his armor, then kill every single one of these cowards. No one will know of his failure.

He turned down a corner and spotted a trooper standing guard. Without his usual set of weapons Din approached the guard from the blindspot he knew all buckets had and kicked him in the back of the knee just as the guard noticed him. The guard grunted in surprise but didn’t buckle like Din expected. Instead, he swung for his head, Din ducked and punched which the guard blocked effortlessly with his arm and he did not punch back. Din backed away, assessing the situation. The guard was bigger than Din so it took some effort for him to build up the momentum to slam into the guard with his whole body. A grunt escaped the armored man as they tumbled down into the ground and Din punched him on the helmet with enough force to knock him out. Din rose to his feet, legs wobbling underneath him for a moment as he keyed open the door the guard was standing in front of. It was an armory filled with blasters of varying kinds, thermal and electrical charges, and vibroblades all stacked neatly on the rows of racks. There was even a set of Z-6 Rotary Blaster Canons which he hadn’t seen in almost a decade. Din pulled on the red hood that was covering his face and ransacked the room, grabbing two smaller pistols which he strapped to his things, a larger DC-15 blaster along with a few vibroknives which he stashed up his long sleeves. He checked around looking for any armor but found nothing so he opened the door with a whoosh and stepped outside more confident with weapons in his hand. The downed trooper was still sprawled out on the floor, his chest rising faintly under the plastoid armor. Din considered finishing him off but he decided against it, his instincts screaming at him not to. So he turned down the hall avoiding the troopers the best he could.

His heart was still beating rapidly in his panic as the absence of his adi’ka settled over his chest. Even the faint feeling of their connection that he chalked up magic osik was missing, leaving Din empty. He reached out to his ad again hoping to feel him, the emptiness almost made him lose his footing and his breaths were coming out rapidly. Still, he poured as much hope and reassurance to them as he could, heart aching at the missing warmth.

“Hold on adi’ka I’ll find you” he promised as he rounded the corner and came face to face with a squad of troopers.

He shot into the group hitting one of the troopers’ squarely in the chest, downing him instantly, the stun dissipating with sizzle. The others scrambled to shoot back, similarly with stun shots. He dodged almost too late behind a supporting pillar, the habit of tanking shots with his beskar’gam was strong in him. He fired back blindly, the wall behind him lit blue by the circular stun shots. He ducked his head out to aim better and fired off a volley of shots - all still circular it hit another trooper. He glanced down at his defective blaster, he was sure he switched off of stun. He made sure to press the switch firmly but the light indicating the stun setting wouldn’t turn off, with a growl he threw the DC-15 away clattering loudly on the floor. He grabbed both of the pistols then dashed out of cover while firing downing the last two troopers, their last shots were too close for comfort. On a whim, he glanced at the squad of troopers and drew to a stop. They were not Stormtrooper armor, a bit bulkier and similar to beskar’gam. Their armor was customized painted with orange in varying designs each similar yet unique in their own way, they couldn’t have done that in the Empire. The color reminded him of Kote’s armor in his dream. Something wasn’t right. He sighed and shook his head clearing his foggy mind. He had to find Grogu - that was the only goal he focused on, the missing feeling of his presence was unsettling. A trooper with familiar armor turned down the corner. Din stared at him in shock. What was Kote doing on an Imperial Cruiser? The haze in his mind was overwhelming, he didn’t know where he was and he couldn’t think.

“Kote?” he blurted out in confusion. Kote raised his blaster and stunned him before he could react or move. He collapsed bonelessly.

oOo

Obi-Wan stared at the boy they picked up on Aq-Vetina through the observation glass. He was sleeping on the bed thrashing and turning in his sleep, Helix was there monitoring and tending to his condition and to make sure the boy didn't attempt another escape since the first thing he did was rip the med-droid’s arm out. The boy was young 12 standard, with soft brown hair and eyes, dressed in the traditional red robes of his home planet, and clearly traumatized by the Separatist attack. He looked like an unassuming child, except for the Force swirled around him strangely and he took down some of the best in the 212th effortlessly like a seasoned warrior far beyond his age, in an attempt to escape. Thankfully none of the troopers were badly injured besides their bruised egos. This child was a mystery Obi-Wan was eager to solve. Cody walked up to him and glanced at the still sleeping boy.

“Do you think this was a Separatist ploy, sir?” Obi-Wan stroked his beard thoughtfully

“No. There is something off about him, but it doesn’t appear to be dangerous” He hadn’t got any warnings from the Force relating to the boy since the weird ripple he felt just before they diverted course to Aq-Vetina. The Force wanted him to find the boy. That Obi-Wan was sure of. But why? Obi-Wan sighed

“Still, I posted Waxer and Crys outside just in case he tries to run again” Obi-Wan gave a small smile of amusement at that. Waxer was just a shiny but he was the one guarding the armory and whom the boy took down with the grace of a seasoned fighter.

“You said he spoke Mando’a?” Obi-Wan turned to face Cody, he nodded but he kept his eyes on the boy

“Yes. More fluent than any vode and with a strange accent. I barely understood him” Cody paused mulling over his thoughts “He said some karking strange things, like he was half mad” Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at that prompting his Commander to continue “He was confused, blabbering about escaping as he examined everything in a daze like he was dreaming and expecting to wake up but couldn’t”

“You don’t think it was trauma?” Obi-Wan prodded and Cody shook his head

“No. He was distressed by the sight of us especially when you showed up sir and offered to take him away. He was clearly expecting someone else” Obi-Wan hummed in thought and turned back to the boy. What was a Force sensitive Mandalorian child doing on Aq-Vatina? Why would he accept to come with them then attack them?

A shout and a rattle broke him out of his thoughts. The boy was sitting on top of Helix, eyes dancing around wildly like a caged animal. The Force rippled around him dangerously, as anger, fear and confusion enveloped the room. Obi-Wan put a hand on Cody’s arm without tearing his eyes away from the scene

“Where are they?” The boy asked in a dangerously low and threatening tone even though he had no weapon. When Helix didn’t answer, silenced in his confusion the boy’s glare morphed into ice.

“What have you done to him?”

“Who?” Helix finally found his voice just as Cody wrenched his arm out of his hold, but reluctantly remained in the room since Helix held up a hand to signal to him that everything was under control. Obi-Wan strengthened his shields from the onslaught of negative emotions around him. The boy scoffed as if he didn’t believe him.

“Where is the child?” he questioned, his elbow pressing down threateningly on Helix’s throat, Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow

“What child? There is no child on board besides you” Helix ground out and Cody marched out of the room with a furious expression on his face, he shoved his helmet on his head and busted into the room. Obi-Wan sighed and followed behind though he tried to be less confrontational about his entrance. The boy’s head raised in alarm at the sound of the hissing doors then blinked in confusion at the two of them, relaxing his stance on top of Helix

“Kote?” He whispered. Helix climbed out of the boy’s relaxed hold and glared at them

“What are you doing here? I had it under control” Helix hissed

“Like sith hells you were, vod” After another vicious glare from behind his visor Cody turned to the boy, who was glancing at them suspiciously the anger in the Force evaporating replaced by overwhelming confusion. Cody glared at the boy voice firm under his helmet

“Who are you?” The boy blinked, all fight left him as Cody hauled him and cuffed him to the post of the bed. The boy didn’t answer, only glared at him. Cody continued when it was clear he wouldn't answer.

“Did the Separatists send you?” The boy jolted at that, his face and Force presence morphing through several from fear to anger and then settling back into confusion

“What does the Separatist have to do with any of this?” Bewilderment was evident in his voice as he tugged lower in an attempt to hide his face. Cody glanced at Obi-Wan through his helmet

“You attacked several of my men,” Cody stated. The boy stilled

“I did?” He raised both his eyebrows, and the shock was clear on his face “Those were your men. I don’t understand” he mumbled, then his eyes snapped up to Obi-Wan’s “What’s a jetii doing here on a cruiser?” He asked more venom in his voice and Obi-Wan blinked

“I’m the commanding officer,” Obi-Wan said. The boy glanced around, first to the walls then to Cody and Helix, and finally back to Obi-Wan

“I…That’s not right” he murmured again and examined his hands with strange fascination.

Helix knelt next to the boy and placed a hand on his knee

“Let’s start with something easy,” Helix said, projecting calmness into the Force. The boy’s head perked up and watched Helix with sharp eyes behind the veil of the hood

“How old are you?” He asked and the boy bit his lip in thought

“44,” He said. Cody barely caught a gasp of surprise and Obi-Wan swayed. What happened to this child?

“Alright. Can you tell me where you are?” Helix was still calm, hiding his surprise behind a wall of professionalism. The boy’s nose scrunched up in confusion and he did another cursory glance around the room

“A Light Cruiser, not the kind I thought at first though” Helix nodded

“You’re on the Negotiator, flagship of the 212th Attack Battalion of the GAR” The boy went impossibly still at that his Force presence blanked out then exploded with so much force that Obi-Wan staggered

“Me’ven?” The boy reverted back to Mando’a as he glanced at the three of them then he turned his sharp gaze at Cody and stared into his eyes through the visor

“Am I still dreaming, Kote?” His Commander stiffened, tugged his helmet off, set it on a nearby table, and ran a hand through his regulation cut hair before sighing. He looked at the boy seriously

“No” he stated and the boy deflated, his eyes tracking their positions in the room

“Me’bana?” What happened? He whispered, his posture hunched over his head buried in his hands hiding his face from them. Obi-Wan exchanged a look with Helix.

“You were the only survivor of the attack on Aq-Vetina. We brought you onboard to give you treatment and return you to your family. You woke up about 4 hours ago and tore a med-droid’s arm off and attacked my men” Cody explained gently, making sure to keep his voice steady and clear. The boy stiffened and peeked out from between his fingers

“Ni ceta, Kote” The boy’s voice shook as he kept repeating the apology, tugging at his robes in distress, his breathing slowly increasing in speed and intensity as anxiety, panic, and confusion rolled off of him in the Force. Everyone seemed to be at a loss for words, with no idea how to ground the boy in his sense of reality. Cody stepped closer to the boy telegraphing his movements as the boy lifted his head just enough to peek at Cody with fearful eyes. His apologies had stopped when Cody knelt in front of the child and held out his hand as an offering but the boy shrunk in on himself and did not take it.

“Gar morut’yc” You are safe. Cody murmured voice softer than anything Obi-Wan had heard from him. The boy’s shoulders shook

“K'lamot di'dunla” Apology accepted Cody softly said as he undid the cuffs with a soft click. The boy threw his arms around Cody and hid his face in the pauldron of Cody’s armor. His body shook with silent sobs, Cody murmured low and gentle words to him in Mando’a. The boy whispered something to Cody who tensed for a second before he untangled himself from the mess of limbs. He grabbed his helmet and stared at the T-visor for a long moment. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow as Cody placed the bucket on the boy’s head and gave it a soft affectionate pat. The low constant hum of anxiety that’s been plaguing Obi-Wan since they found the boy finally quieted down to a shimmer.

“Vor entye” Thank you the boy said, his voice deeper and more confident under the helmet’s voice modulator. The boy’s shoulders relaxed as most of the anxiety and tension dissipated into the Force. Cody gave the boy a gentle smile, his presence wavering with intense emotions

“Feeling better?” Cody asked, his voice still low. The boy nodded, his too big bucket wobbled precariously on his head. Obi-Wan let out an amused huff, and Cody smiled softly as the boy placed a hand on it to stabilize it.

Obi-Wan hanged back as Helix moved to kneel next to Cody keeping level with the boy’s T-visor

“Hey kid, my name is Helix,” he said gently, though the hint of fear still lingered in the Force as he said his name, then he pointed to Cody with his thumb

“You know Kote already, but make sure to only call him that around Vode or the General, he is Cody otherwise. And that’s General Obi-Wan Kenobi,” he introduced them. The boy was more alert, both in the Force and in reality now that he had a helmet, nodded to Obi-Wan in greeting though wariness still seeped out of him. Then he turned his head to Cody

“I understand”

“What should we call you?” Helix asked, his voice quiet and conspiratorial barely loud enough for Obi-Wan to hear. He knew names were important and sacred to the Clones; it’s their identity just like their armor. All of their names were chosen by themselves and reflected who they were on some inner level. No Clone called the other something they did not willingly share with the rest. It took months for his own battalion to warm up to him and share their names, Obi-Wan treasured every single one of them to memory and mourned the ones they lost, just like the rest of the Vode. The boy was deep in thought

“Beroya,” He decided. Bounty hunter - interesting choice Obi-Wan thought and Helix hummed

“Alright, Beroya. You don’t have to answer but could you tell us why you were dreaming?” Helix’s voice was gentle as he took one of Beroya’s hand in his own when he sensed the boy pull away from them. Terror spiked in the Force and Obi-Wan had to suppress a flinch as the terrified emotions of Beroya attacked his shields.

“Gar morut’yc” Cody murmured and Beroya sighed barely loud enough for his helmet’s voice modulator to pick up

“It happened before,” he mumbled. Obi-Wan straightened his attention solely focused on the hunched over the boy as he continued to talk “It was different than my usual nightmares, I usually die in them and it was different from the first time where Buir saved me and took me to the Fighting Corps, and I became a Mando’ad. But this time you save me Kote so I thought I must be having a nice dream for once” The boy’s presence grew solemn

“How long have you been having these visions?” Obi-Wan asked, sure that the boy was Force sensitive and suffered from strong realistic visions. Dissociation was and losing a sense of reality was a common side effect of untrained Seers. Beroya cocked his head to the side the helmet banging against his skull with a soft thud

“Visions?” He asked, confused. Obi-Wan sighed and stepped closer making sure not to crowd the boy

“Your dreams” Beroya balked

“The first time was not a dream. It's a memory” Helix’s hand flexed on the boy’s

“When did this happen to you?” He asked, his voice gentle but with a certain edge to it. Beroya hummed in thought

“About 30 years ago” The boy looked about 12 standard but his Force signature was older. And Obi-Wan had to do a double take just to make sure, how had he not noticed this before

“Ok kid, what year is it?” Cody asked and received a confused head tilt

“Uh… 10ABY” Obi-Wan furrowed his eyebrows, that wasn’t a dating system he was familiar with by the confused looks on his troopers neither were they

“ABY?” Helix asked “Sorry kid, not familiar with that system. How about CRC?”

“Hang on” He seemed to be doing some sort of calculation in his head “7987” Obi-Wan sucked in a breath of surprise, that’s 32 years into the future but he could sense no lie from the boy. How tough? Time travel hadn’t been documented in nearly a millennium and could have dangerous far reaching consequences.

“Are you sure?” Helix asked voice probing but betraying nothing of his skepticism

“Ori’haat” It’s the truth Beroya’s voice was unwavering as he stared down the pair of troopers. Cody bolted from his seat and began pacing in the small room, his thoughts a mixture of disbelief and confusion. Beroya tilted his helmet as he followed Cody’s agitated movements.

“You mentioned a child when you woke up. Who is this child you were looking for?” Obi-Wan asked, cutting through the tense atmosphere of the room. The boy’s head snapped to him, the Force around him going through a complicated set of emotions, mainly distrust though. He sighed with weariness that came from a long hard life, not of the 12 year old boy. He tugged on his robes and Cody was staring holes into the side of his head.

“Promise me you won’t hand them over” There was an edge of violence in his voice that could only come from a paternal role. Obi-Wan stroked his beard in thought. Who would want this child? There are many despicable factions out there that would gladly kidnap a youngling, Slaver especially but they were on the edge of Mandalorian space and they were very fond of children, well until the New Mandalorians took power, adoption became less common with them. And Beroya seemed to think that they would put this youngling in harm’s way. That was a troubling thought. But Obi-Wan did not voice any of that, afraid it might cause the distrustful boy to lose what little trust they did build between them, and keep his mouth shut or attempt another escape. So Obi-Wan promised

“They are small, green, have large eyes and ears and their species ages very slowly, I was told they are 50” Beroya began reluctantly and Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow; that sounded an awful lot like a member of Master Yoda’s species. Cody tensed besides Beroya seeming to come to the same conclusion. The boy sensing their mild reaction looked at both of them in surprise

“You know their species?” He asked

“Yes” Obi-Wan did not say anything more but the curiosity in the boy grew

“Please continue. Do they have a name?” Obi-Wan asked. Maybe with a name, he could find this youngling who was most likely Force sensitive.

“They are special he has…” he waved his hand around in a vague gesture “powers, so they want them” He paused as if debating something. Obi-Wan’s list of kidnappers shrunk; not many would kidnap a Force sensitive child, especially one from Yoda’s species unless they wanted the wrath of the Jedi descending on them. He did notice that Beroya left out the youngling’s name.

“He’s supposed to be with the jetii Skywalker, but I don’t feel him anymore so when I woke here I thought the Empire had him”

The room was silent as all three occupants stared at Beroya in shock, then erupted into a mixture of hurried questions

“You don’t feel him?” Helix asked

“Empire?” Cody’s voice was distressed

“What has Anakin done now?” Obi-Wan muttered in exasperation. Knowing his former Padawan, nothing good. Obi-Wan felt the beginning of a headache forming, there was just so much to unpack with that one sentence alone, let alone karking time travel. Mace would have a field day with the amount of shatter point around Beroya. Obi-Wan sighed as the boy blinked in confusion not knowing who to answer first.

“Let’s start with the important one. Empire?” Cody asked again and dread began to build in his stomach at the thought of whatever future the boy came from or witnessed

“Yes. It rose to power after the Clone Wars had ended” Cody sucked in a pained breath

“We lost?” He asked quietly and defeated, Obi-Wan’s heart ached. Beroya shrugged

“I don’t know much but from what rumors I heard it was some sort of coup” Who would have the power to overthrow the Galactic Senate? And why didn’t the Jedi stop them? Force was getting murkier since Master Qui-Gon died and this confirmed some of Obi-Wan deepest fears, a Sith Lord was pulling the string. Dooku told him but he didn’t believe him, it's still hard to believe but he must stay vigilant from now on.

“What I do know was that they killed anyone opposing them, sometimes wiping the populations of a planet” Beroya shuddered “Including turning Manda’yaim into a glass waste and destroying Alderaan” His voice was barely above a whisper as he withdrew himself from the Force. Everyone in the room was deathly silent.

“What do you mean destroyed?” Helix asked with barely restrained horror

“My friend told me, they just blew it to pieces” his voice was hollow under the helmet and everyone reeled back in shock and horror. Cody’s hand twitched with the urge to throw something as a pained expression sat on his face

“What? Where were the Jedi?” Something awfully cold gripped Obi-Wan’s heart and refused to let go. Beroya glanced at his lightsaber for the first time and impossible sorrow emanated from him as he tilted his head to gaze at his own hands, voice barely loud enough for the bucket’s voice modulator to pick up.

“I haven’t heard of the Jedi until about a year ago from the Armorer, she told me that they were enemy sorcerers of the Mando’ade and I only met two” Too many questions filtered through Obi-Wan’s mind. He wanted nothing more than to bolt out of the room and meditate for an entire week.

“Who did you meet?” Obi-Wan’s voice trembled and Cody’s head snapped up at that his eyes boring into the side of his skull

“A Togruta I think her name was Ahsoka and Skywalker” Obi-Wan sighed in relief at least Anakin was okay

“Is the Empire still around, kid?” Cody asked, voice gruff. Beroya shook his head mindful of the wobbling helmet

“No, the Empire fell about 5 years ago” There was only silence in the small room. Everyone was trying to digest the hoard of information thrown at them.

The shrill beeping of Obi-Wan’s comm cut through the silence, he caught from the corner of his eye as Beroya jumped at the sudden noise. Obi-Wan answered the comm with a little apprehension

“Kenobi”

“General, the Jedi Council wants to speak with you” Feedback’s voice filtered through, a bit tense not used to dealing with the Jedi. Obi-Wan sighed

“I’ll be right there,” he thanked the comm’s officer before he shut off his comm unit. He turned to Helix

“Take care of him” he nodded towards the slumping boy, who was nodding off in exhaustion. Helix saluted and Obi-Wan turned to leave Cody following behind. The halls were almost deserted in the night shift

“Transfer all of the recordings to a secure datapad and delete everything from the records” Cody blinked at him

“Sir?” he glanced at his Commander

“No one can know what was said in that room. It could have dangerous and far reaching consequences” The Force sent the boy back for a reason, and Obi-Wan intends to avert the terrible future he saw. Cody stiffened and nodded sharply, his eyes hardening with experience

“Yes, sir!” his voice was firm and Obi-Wan had no doubt it would be done. He stroked his beard thoughtfully

“Ask the quartermaster if he has any appropriate armor for Beroya, discreetly of course” Cody smiled in amusement.

They arrived at the comms center and the holograms of the Jedi Counselors were already present casting the darkened room into a faint blue glow. He stepped up to the holoprojector The Force heavy in the back of his mind. Cody stood behind him just out of sight of the rest of the Jedi, his presence oddly comforting

“Masters” he greeted with a bow

“Master Kenobi, Did you find what you were looking for on Aq-Vetina?” Master Plo Koon asked, his voice probing behind his ventilator. Obi-Wan had sensed a disturbance in the Force - a nexus building for the past couple of weeks. The Jedi Council was reluctant to send someone out to investigate since Aq-Vetina was on the edge of Mandalorian space and the Jedi are spread thin as is. When he felt the pressure in the Force build yesterday so strong that it nearly threw him off his feet, Obi-Wan ordered the Negotiator to Aq-Vetina without hesitation or waiting for the Council’s permission. He only briefed them after they picked up Beroya and that was cut short by his attempted escape. Now he was certain the Force wanted him to find the boy, he smiled ruefully understanding how Master Qui-Gon felt when he found Anakin

“There was a small scale Separatist attack on the planet. We managed to destroy their forces but there was only one survivor” He let the grief pass through him and into the Force. The Jedi were silent mourning the loss of life

“The Nexus?”

“I believe it's the boy we rescued. He is strong with the Force and he had strong and vivid visions to the point of dissociating.” The last time a Jedi so powerful with the Unifying Force had such visions led to the creation of the clones and this subsequent war. Obi-Wan was still unsure if the boy actually came from the future but he wisely kept his mouth shut about that tidbit of information, not wanting to alarm the Council further. Plus the Force was telling him not to, a bad feeling rose in his gut even at the thought of saying anything. Another long silence, this one heavier than the last. Master Windu leaned forward stapling his fingers as he observed Obi-Wan.

“What did the boy See?” he asked after a long pause. Obi-Wan steeled himself, letting the horror of the vision wash over him

“He Saw the fall of the Republic and an Empire rising from its ashes. The Empire destroyed the Jedi and then many worlds including Mandalore and Alderaan” Even summarized, the vision was laced with darkness, like the Force around them. Dark and sticky like tar covering everything that touches it with a sense of dread and unease, suffocating everything in its wake. The silence this time was filled with mute horror as each Jedi tried to release their emotions into the Force

“How would they wipe the Order out?” There were grumblings of displeasure among the Council and Obi-Wan sighed getting ready for a long meeting as an argument broke out between Master Mace and Yoda. They debated the validity of Beroya’s vision to their limited options and even if they should heed his warning

“Always the future in motion is” Master Yoda finished the argument, and the rest of the Council agreed that they needed more information to agree on the next course of action. Obi-Wan wanted to rip out his hair at that expected development as one of the oldest in the Council Master Yoda had the final say in most matters and he often downplayed the significance of visions as he was more aligned with the Living Force, and he had seen too many Jedi fall due to chasing visions and prophecies. Still, it was maddening because of the nature of the information Beroya presented.

Master Yoda regarded him with thoughtful eyes

“More to say, have you?” Obi-Wan tugged his hands into the sleeves of his rope in consideration

“Yes. The boy was looking for a youngling when he woke” He did not tell them about his escape attempt, likely due to not being able to tell vision from reality apart. “He described the youngling as a member of Master Yoda’s species, clearly Force sensitive and about 20-25 standard. I believe he Saw a future with him as their guardian” A flicker of recognition passed through Master Koon

“Initiate Grogu had been quite loud in the past few days” Master Koon rumbled, his voice deep through the ventilator mask. “They appeared to have formed a strong bond with someone and had been insisting on finding them” Obi-Wan stroked his beard in thought and readied himself for the fallout of his next decision

“Master, may I request a meeting between them?” He looked each of the Masters in the eyes confident that his decision was right. The Council erupted into a shouting match as each Master tried to weigh in their voice in the debate. They debated for hours grilling Obi-Wan on his decision and about Beroya, the debate kept circling back to the question of attachment several times

“Bring the boy to the Jedi you will” Finally Master Yoda agreed though by the down turn of his long ears he wasn’t happy. “Test the boy we will. Decide then his relationship with Initiate Grogu” Master Yoda was particularly protective of Grogu since not many of his species were known. Obi-Wan nodded in acceptance

“Thank you Master” He brewed and then sagged in weariness, this Council meeting had been one of the longer ones since the war started. He could feel Cody’s exhaustion through the Force though he stood to attention despite it

“We have considered your petition to appoint a Padawan to knight Skywalker” Master Mundi began. Obi-Wan had to suppress a tired groan, it appears it wasn’t over yet

“While still young the responsibility of a Padawan should teach both of them to become a better Jedi” Master Windu continued. Hope soared in his heart and a small smile crossed his face

“Chosen we have. Initiate Tano meeting you at Christophsis she will” Yoda finished

“Thank you Masters” Obi-Wan bowed, Anakin will freak out at first but he’ll love his new Padawan, he was certain of that. Then the Council briefed them that the aid Senator Organa brought to the planet was in danger of failing due to a blockade around the planet. They’ll have to rendezvous with the 501st and with a stealth ship bring aid to Senator Organa and free the planet if possible. Once the Masters finished briefing him the holocall faded out leaving the room dim and quiet. Obi-Wan sighed and turned to Cody

“Ready the men, we’re being deployed at Christophsis.”

#fanfic #star wars #the mandalorian #din djarin #obi wan kenobi #commander cody #time travel #force sensitive din djarin #the clone wars #chapter 1 #mandoa #also on ao3

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inkformyblood · 3 years

Text

kept on running

Commander Cody Week Day 07: Missing Perspectives @commandercodyweek

Pairing: Cody & Rex, Codywan

Summary: In the quiet after the battle, Rex goes to find Cody.

“Hey, vod.” Rex’s voice was barely louder than a whisper amidst the ever-present rumbling of the engine, a constant vibration like a gigantic beast, and the faint bubbling of the bacta tanks tucked along the back wall of the room. It woke Cody in an instant, his eyes snapping open and staring out at the fragmented grey of the medbay before his gaze focused, trailing along the bright paint on Rex’s armour to his exhausted grin.

“You should be asleep,” Cody murmured, but still carefully moved back along the narrow cot, drawing back the blanket to make a space for Rex to slip into.

The air of the medbay bit at Cody’s bare skin and the shiver rattled through him like an earthquake, as Rex slipped out of his remaining armour with practiced fluid motions, stacking it in the small hollow in the wall. It felt strange without his armour or his blacks on — the fabric having been cut away hours before beneath the careful supervision of Helix to expose the constellation of bruises forming over his ribs.

“It’s been a day.” Rex’s voice cracked as he spoke, a vast undercurrent of unspoken worries struggling to break free past his iron control. Cody’s heart twisted in his chest, regret flooding his chest and drowning the words he wanted to say.

It wasn’t fair, this life they had been sentenced to, this war they had been born to fight.

The cot groaned beneath Rex’s weight as he curled up next to Cody, one arm tucked awkwardly into the space between them as the other was thrown across Cody’s hip, carefully steering clear of the heavy bandages around his chest. His eyes were dark, half-shadowed and gleaming like the edges of deep space as his gaze searched Cody’s face.

Cody bit back a grunt of effort as he moved, the muscles in his arm contorting just shy of pain as he moved to cup Rex’s head — offering his arm as a pillow — fingers working into the rough hair at the nape of his neck.

“You don’t have to carry it all alone, Rex’ika,” Cody murmured as Rex’s eyes slowly drifted closed, their chest rising and falling in unison.

“I know,” came the reply, half-lost as Rex yawned, curling into Cody’s chest even further. “You don’t either.”

Rex’s short hair scratched at Cody’s throat, but he accepted it gladly, tipping his head back to settle his chin on top of Rex’s head. His breath was warm and damp against the base of Cody’s throat, carrying with it the familiar scent of caff and ozone from the blasters that clung to everything.

He was struck with how tall Rex had gotten. Cody could remember, as clearly as if it had been yesterday, how easy it had been to scoop Rex up — all compact limbs that were too big for him still — and settle him on his hip whenever the other clone had begun to fall behind. Alpha-17 had called him ‘gar’prudii’ and the moniker had stuck for the longest time. Wherever Cody went, Rex wasn’t far behind, a little blond shadow peering out from behind Cody’s legs and ready to interject himself into whatever argument on his behalf.

Cody couldn’t even remember what one particular argument had been about, only that Alpha-17 had moved to clip him round the back of the head — the motion slightly harder than it should have been — before quickly aborting the action to instead scoop Rex up, swearing up a storm as the younger clone had kicked the exposed spot on his ankle.

“I see that he’s taking after your style,” Alpha-17 had laughed despite himself, limping a few steps back as he threw Rex back into Cody’s waiting arms.

Cody sighed, feeling the weight of the burden he had carried for so long press him into the mattress. It took some effort to move enough to press a kiss to the crown of Rex’s head, moving in fractions in order to not disturb his sleeping brother, but it was worth it.

Footsteps moved across the medbay beyond the curtain, careful and hushed, but almost rhythmic in time with the rumbling of the engines. The thin curtain revealed the vague outlines of another clone, and moved back silently at Helix’s touch. He stopped for a moment, fingers knocking against his grey-patterned helmet in silent apology, before checking the data readouts. It was impossible to read his expression given that he almost never removed his helmet, but Cody studied the slant of his shoulders, tried to read the glowing letters reflected on his visor regardless.

“I’ll make a note you’re both here,” Helix murmured, his head tilted in a way that reminded Cody of a smile, before letting the curtain fall once.

Cody listened to his footsteps move away once more, the noise rising and falling in time with the beating of his heart, unaware that sleep had overtaken him inch and inch until he was broken out of that slow fall by another movement.

“Sir, you’re meant to be on bed rest,” Cody hissed, craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse of Obi-Wan. He could only see the faintest movement of pale cream fabric, but heard Obi-Wan’s low chuckle, his hand impossibly warm as he smoothed it over Cody’s shoulder.

“I wanted to check on you, cyar’ika,” the man murmured, leaning forward so Cody could see him. Each and every time, Cody thought that the next look would be the one that didn’t rob him of his breath, that didn’t cause his heart to beat fast, and everytime came away bewildered and overjoyed.

Above them, the monitor flashed in warning, and Obi-Wan laughed once more, his grin threatening to split his face in two at the implication.

“Sir.” Helix’s admonishment carried like a sigh, his footsteps trailing over into the steady beat of a tapped foot like a ticking clock.

Obi-Wan curled over Cody to kiss him. The angle was off, barely allowing them anything more than a brief whisper of a kiss, Obi-Wan’s beard scratching against the corner of Cody’s mouth, but Obi-Wan’s grin was warm against his lips. Drawing back, the Jedi kissed Cody’s temple, whispering something he couldn’t quite catch before moving away.

Cody shivered, the movement transmitting into Rex who only moved impossibly closer, nose bumping into the lines of Cody’s throat. Drawing the blanket up exposed his feet to the bite of the night air — Rex’s legs curled with his feet tucked next to Cody’s knees — but it was bearable as Cody tucked the blanket carefully around his sleeping brother.

“Night,” he whispered to no-one in particular, and let himself fall into sleep once more, content and warm and loved.

#codyweek2021 #codywan #commander cody #captain rex #obi wan kenobi #star wars #my writing #fanfic

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calltomuster · 3 years

Note

ooh you’re taking requests! How about “I know it hurts, I’m sorry.” for ani and obi?

Sure! 😁 Thanks for the prompt, @ahsokryze!

From these caretaker dialogue prompts: 15. “I know it hurts, I’m sorry.”

When Anakin had, in his lowest, most spiteful moments, wished Obi-Wan could have felt a fraction of the pain he went through losing a limb, he didn't mean it literally.

But there Obi-Wan was, floating in a bacta tank, missing two legs above the knee.

He looks like half a person, was Anakin's first thought, and then he wanted to hit himself.

"Sir!" A familiar voice came from the corner of the room, and Anakin turned to see it was Commander Cody who had scrambled to attention.

"At ease, Cody," Anakin said immediately, stepping closer to the clone but returning his eyes to Obi-Wan. "What happened?"

"...It's all in the report, sir, I--"

"I don't want to hear what the report says happened, I want to hear what you say happened."

Cody nodded, swallowing. He took a moment to respond. "It was Ventress, sir. She had the General captured and when we found him he was like this."

"Two limbs down," Anakin said bitterly.

"Yes," Cody replied, turning and facing him more directly. "But also... in a bacta tank. Apparently she kept injuring him and then healing it just enough so he wouldn't die before resuming the torture. When we arrived, he was just starting the cycle."

"What?" Anakin asked, finally tearing his eyes away from his former Master and meeting Cody's. "What do you mean she put him in a bacta tank?"

Cody shrugged hesitantly, just as confused as he was. "I guess she wanted the torture without the death that would have come from the blood loss if she had left him alone after."

"Yeah..." Anakin shook his head, moving on for the moment. "How long does he have left in here?"

"Not much longer," Cody said, checking the time on his comm. "You got here just in time."

Anakin forced himself not to feel bitter about that. He'd heard about what had happened to Obi-Wan and had immediately wanted to rush to his side, but the 501st hadn't been done fighting their battle and even after that they were still a day away by hyperspace. By the time the Resolute reached the Negotiator, Obi-Wan had been in bacta for over thirty-six hours, and Anakin was practically tearing his hair out.

But maybe it was good he hadn't been there for those long hours. It wasn't as if he could have done anything.

Fuzzy, the 212th's Chief Medical Officer, entered the room then, followed by a few of his staff.

"General Skywalker," he said grimly. "I'm glad you were able to make it."

"What can you tell me about Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked instead of returning niceties.

Fuzzy did not seem offended at Anakin's lack of tact. "It was a bilateral above-the-knee amputation, as you can see," he gestured to the tank. "Ventress used a lightsaber, judging by the cauterization that was present when we arrived. The bacta he was in and the bacta we transferred him to did him good. I hesitate to use the word 'thankfully' in regards to Ventress, but because she got him in bacta quickly after, he'll have a much less fraught process with prosthetics."

Anakin grit his teeth. This wasn't making any sense. Why would Ventress act like this?

But before he could voice the question aloud, an alarm went off. Obi-Wan's eyes had flown open in the bacta tank, and he was struggling against the various tubes and wires he was attached to.

"Get him out before he aspirates!" Fuzzy ordered to his fellow medics, instantly springing into action. Anakin darted forward too, ignoring the fact that he was probably getting in the way, and concentrated on sending Obi-Wan calming energy through the Force.

It was a chaotic minute or two, but eventually Obi-Wan was half-conscious on the medical bed, wet from the water they'd sprayed on him to get rid of the bacta coverage his skin.

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked, as Obi-Wan opened his eyes all the way and blinked a few times.

"An'kin?" Obi-Wan rasped, confused. "Thought you were on Felucia."

"I was," Anakin said, desperately relieved that Obi-Wan was awake and at least somewhat lucid. "But I heard what happened and wanted to come see you."

"What... happened?" Obi-Wan repeated, eyebrows furrowing. Anakin could tell the moment he remembered, because the heart rate monitor spiked and the Force flooded with fear-pain-confusion.

"Hey, hey, it's alright!" Anakin said, pressing his hand over Obi-Wan's chest to try to prevent him from sitting up, but it was moot. Obi-Wan's eyes had already locked on the bedsheets, and how flat they went halfway down his thighs where the rest of his legs should be.

Obi-Wan went white then, and Anakin was able to push him back down easily.

The room was silent, broken only by Obi-Wan's breath as it went in and out of his nose.

"So," Obi-Wan rasped eventually. "Ventress."

"Yeah," Anakin said. "She..." He shrugged helplessly. "She did that and then put you in a tank."

Obi-Wan frowned. "What kind of tank?" he asked, mind no doubt running through images of the armored vehicles they were used to in war.

"No, a bacta tank."

"A bacta tank?" Obi-Wan repeated, sounding like this was the thing that confused him the most. Anakin could relate.

"Yup."

"But why...?" Then Obi-Wan's face cleared. "Dooku."

Now it was Anakin's turn to frown. "What does Dooku have to do with this?"

Obi-Wan grimaced. "He is my grandmaster, technically, and he has demonstrated on occasion an interest in preserving my life, if not my wellbeing. Ventress most likely obeyed some instruction to keep me alive."

Anakin blinked, processing. "That's... str--"

He was cut off by a cry of pain from Obi-Wan, whose face was screwing up as he arched his back as best he could.

"Whoah, what hurts?" Anakin asked, hands hovering uselessly in the air above Obi-Wan's body.

Obi-Wan looked at him miserably. "I... It's my foot. It feels like my foot is on fire."

Anakin's face cleared, though he still felt miserable inside watching Obi-Wan in pain. "I know it hurts, I'm sorry. Phantom limb pain is the worst."

Obi-Wan huffed, high-pitched and breathy. "Now I know."

"Yeah," Anakin said grimly. "I've got a few tricks I could teach you."

"That'd be--" Obi-Wan paused to grimace in pain again, then continued, "much appreciated, thank you."

Anakin nodded, determined. He would be there for Obi-Wan the way Obi-Wan had been there for him after his arm, and give him endless patience and support. His Master deserved nothing less.

Thanks for reading! Requests are currently closed!

#woohoo I made it through all the 'I know it hurts I'm sorry's!#it's such a KILLER prompt and I love it so much but it was definitely an interesting challenge coming up with three different scenarios #thanks so much for the prompt I had a lot of fun writing this one!#anakin skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #commander cody #clone oc fuzzy #my writing #prompt fills

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rose-blooms-red · 3 years

Note

If you’re still looking for clone prompts. Cody had a rough day in training. Rex decides it is a little brother’s duty to provide a distraction. Shenanigans follow.

<3 <3 sorry this took so long!

[read on Ao3]

Cody winces as he sinks onto the bed with a grunt. His entire body feels like it’s gonna collapse out from under him and his brain feels like its halfway out the door and already melted into complete mush.

He sighs, he’s already iced, made sure to drink water and everything else he should’ve, now there’s nothing to distract him from running through everything he did wrong.

He wasn’t focused enough to see the hit coming in the first round, hadn’t ducked quickly enough after getting his feet under him, missed the feint in the second round and gotten too over confident in the third when he’d thought he’d finally figured out how to win.

He grits his teeth, rubs a hand over his face and can feel the ache setting into his bones.

‘What did you learn,’ 17 had asked before sending him off, and Cody had given some spiel or another about thinking things through more.

17 had looked disappointed, Cody tries not to feel like he’s let him down by failing some sort of test he couldn’t see.

There’s the barely there sound of footsteps near the bed and that's all the warning he gets before his bed is suddenly being overrun by polycotton fluff wrapping limbs around him and clinging.

Cody looks down at innocent eyes and raises an eyebrow, “Don’t you have lessons to be at?”

Rex shakes his head, “It’s the fourth-cycles up right now on the usual range, and I already passed the firearms evals for this cycle.”

Cody smiles, and that bubbling pride burns warm in his chest, he’s smart, their Rex’ika, and he’s good, puts everything he is into learning and growing and it makes all of Squad Shebs proud.

Cody dreads the day Rex starts to think he needs to do his growing alone in order to find his footing. He’ll respect it if — when — it comes, but he’ll dread it till then. Hopes that the growing doesn’t mean losing things like this.

He hums, musters up enough energy to scruff at Rex’s head and poke the spots that tickle and pull that loud, bright, giggle from a pest too stubborn for his own good.

Rex squawks, and wriggles fruitlessly, covers two of his most vulnerable spots and leaves another clear to take advantage of.

He curses, high-pitched and whiney, slaps uselessly at Cody’s sides as he giggles, rearranges himself to somehow take up even more space on Cody’s bed and wriggles limbs out of the danger range and wraps them tight around Cody’s.

He looks unbearably smug about it and it’s an ori’vod’s sacred duty to make sure kih’vod’s heads don’t get too big for their own good.

Cody relaxes, grumbles in surrender and waits for the long, suspicious, minutes it takes for Rex to relax.

Cody bites his lip to hide his smirk, ignores the aching of muscles and pangs of bruises and flips them over, goes limp and ignores the muffled cursing and the wriggling attempts to throw him off.

He sighs, gets comfortable and closes his eyes, slaps at Rex’s side at a particularly creative curse.

“Language,” he chides and Rex curses louder.

Cody rolls his eyes, lets him work it all out of his system.

Eventually, he huffs and gives in, accepts his fate and grumbles, but goes still.

There is, for a moment, blessed silence.

“Wanna move everything in 17’s room 2 inches to the left?” Rex asks and Cody laughs.

“Sure,” he says, and is already looking forward to it.

‘What did you learn,’ 17 had asked before sending him off, and Cody will think it through later, when he doesn’t feel like ripping his hair out. For now, he heaves himself out of bed to Rex’s impatient whines, sweeps feet out from under gangly limbs and laughs at the pout he knows Rex will forever deny.

“Wolffe raised me,” the little polycotton fluff that’s wormed it’s way under his arm grumbles and Cody huffs offence, pokes at spots Rex still hasn’t learned to hide.

“Please, like I’d let him do it alone, you’d end up biting more people than you already do.”

Innocent eyes look up at him and nod solemnly, “That’s why Ponds helped.”

Cody sweeps his feet out from under him again and he smiles at the giggles that ring through the air.

Smart, their Rex’ika, and kind too, Cody hopes viciously that that never changes.

#star wars #the clone wars #tcw #soft wars #Commander Cody #Captain Rex #ro'swriting #mywriting #wanderingjedihistorian #ro answers

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yeah-klave · 3 years

Text

The Sexual Awakening of David Joseph Katz - Chapter 8

Link to Chapter 1 || Link to Chapter 2 || Link to Chapter 3 || Link to Chapter 4 || Link to Chapter 5 || Link to Chapter 6 || Link to Chapter 7

Series summary: A multi-chapter journey of self-discovery and sexual awakening.

Chapter summary: Dave tries something new.

Genre: Developing relationship, smut. (18+ only, please)

A/N: This is set in a nothing-too-bad-happens modern AU. The characters are all in their early twenties (I’m picturing adult!actor versions of them and Dave as a (younger) Cody Ray Thompson). The siblings are all still living at home, relatively happily, and Dave, Lila, Sissy and Carl are friends who hang out with them at the Academy.

Word length: 5.2k

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of The Umbrella Academy characters or settings.

*******************************************************

It was the weekend. Klaus and Dave had spent the day hanging out with Diego, Ben and Luther.

They’d driven out of the city to a hiking trail and explored for a bit, then set themselves up on a rickety jetty to do some fishing in a nearby lake.

Ben had rolled his eyes at Diego and Luther’s competitive sniping, but all three had ended up blaming Klaus for scaring away all the fish after he got board of sitting quietly and decided to dip his toes in the water and attempt to splash the serious look of concentration off Dave’s face. He succeeded.

Nobody ended up catching any fish.

In the afternoon, they returned to the Academy to chill and – at Dave’s insistence – have a Star Wars movie marathon.

At one point, Five wandered through the living room. He paused to roll his eyes fondly at the slouching heap of limbs they had become, before heading off in the direction of the bar. They heard clinking, them a few moments later he wandered back out, distractedly muttering something about quantum mechanics and clutching a Margarita topped with a little blue cocktail umbrella.

At some point during the second movie, Ben extracted himself and wandered off to a quiet nook to do a little reading and, shortly afterwards, Luther left to go pick up Allison from the mall, where she’d been shopping with some girlfriends.

Bored again from too much sitting, Klaus had come up with a game that involved passing random objects between them without letting them touch the floor, using only their feet.

With the movie still playing in the background, they’d been passing Dave’s balled-up hoodie between them for a solid twenty minutes when Diego’s phone pinged and he missed the pass from Klaus, letting the hoodie fall to the floor.

“Dude!” Klaus exclaimed, hands raised.

Diego shrugged and checked his phone.

“It’s Lila inviting me over,” he said. “Her roommate’s out of town.”

“Booty call,” Klaus grinned, winking at Diego and conspiratorially nudging Dave with his elbow. “Sounds like you’re in there, bro.”

Diego grimaced back. “More like, she’s bored of being on her own without anyone to tease, so she’s calling sparring partners to her.”

“If that really was the case,” Dave said, “and all she wanted was an argument, she’d just text Carl.”

“Ha! True!” Klaus barked a laugh. “He’d definitely take the bait. He’s been in such a pissy mood recently.” Klaus made a lewd gesture, “I don’t think he’s getting any from Sissy.”

“I don’t think you can blame Sissy for Carl’s foul mood,” Dave added sagely.

“Definitely not!” Klaus said, “it’s not her fault her boyfriend’s a prick.”

“To be fair,” Diego cut in, “she’s been pretty busy recently with that volunteering group she and Vanya signed up for. You know, the one with the music therapy for autistic kids.”

Klaus and Dave shared a glance and Dave had to duck his head quickly to hide his smile.

“Yeah,” Klaus said slowly, “Sissy and Vanya have been busy with the… volunteering. Recently, in particular, they’ve both got very… busy. Together.”

Engrossed in his phone, Diego didn’t notice the knowing grin that passed between Klaus and Dave.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go,” Diego mused, “maybe it gives her too much power. Coming when she calls, I mean. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.”

“Don’t you mean get the right idea?” Klaus smirked.

“Shut up,” Diego scowled, “I’m not her lap dog.”

Klaus caught Dave’s gaze and rolled his eyes. “Honestly, these Straights,” he said with a mock exasperated sigh, “they have such complicated relationships.” He turned to Diego and levelled him a challenging look. “Seriously, brother mine, you need to let that girl peg the toxic masculinity right out of you. You might have a clearer perspective on the whole thing after you’ve let her fuck you ‘till your true bratty bottom personality starts showing. I bet you’d find it quite liberating to let her watch you shake apart while your ankles are in the air and your knees are up by your ears.”

Diego let out a strangled choking sound.

“But if you’re too much of a sissy to let a woman top you,” Klaus added, “I’d highly recommend levelling up and finding a nice guy to fuck you instead. Tits are nice and all that – but you just can’t beat a big, hard dick. So go find yourself one of them. Just not the one attached to him,” Klaus winked at Dave, “because that one’s spoken for.”

Dave grinned fondly, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t even know where to start with that,” Diego said with a grimace.

“Well,” Dave said evenly, “personally, I’d recommend starting with a bit of dry humping. Then, when you finally get your hands around it, you can start working it properly. Maybe fondle the balls a bit.”

“Dave!” Diego said shocked. “That’s… you… don’t say things like that.” He looked between Klaus and Dave, scandalised. “He’s having a bad effect on you, Dave.”

“He’s had an effect alright,” Dave said, catching Klaus’ eye, ��a big, prominent, pointed effect.”

“Seriously, dude,” Diego grimaced, “I don’t want to hear this.”

“Oh, quit whining,” Klaus chuckled. “We all know you ship us hard.”

“So hard,” Dave added.

“So, very, very hard.” Klaus giggled. “As hard as we make each other.”

“Oh, dear god!” Diego cringed, covering his ears with his hands. “Mental images! Forcing their way into my brain. Cannot un-think!”

Klaus and Dave both laughed.

“Well, on that note, I’m off.” Diego patted himself down checking for his keys and started towards the door. “I’d rather be at Lila’s beck and call than listen to anymore of this. You reprobates stay safe now. And for God’s sake, don’t cum on anything, please!”

“Don’t worry,” Klaus called after him. “We swallow.”

“La-la-la! NOT LISTENING!” Diego called back, hands over his ears again as he left, the front door to the Academy clicking shut behind him.

Klaus caught Dave’s eye and Dave raised an eyebrow and asked simply, “So, shall we?”

And Klaus barked a laugh. “Hell, yes!” he said, pulling Dave to his feet.

They ran upstairs and stumbled down the corridor to Klaus’ room, laughing and kissing and fumbling, hands pulling off clothes and blindly knocking into furniture in their haste.

“Diego’s really going to appreciate the trail of discarded clothing leading to your room,” Dave smiled, glancing over Klaus’ shoulder.

“Don’t care,” Klaus breathed, his lips pressing kisses along Dave’s jaw. “To be honest, Grace will probably pick it all up before he sees anyway.” Dave’s eyes widened in panic, but Klaus took the lobe of Dave’s ear into his mouth and sucked, and Dave’s mind blanked. He shivered and Klaus grinned, grazing his teeth along the flesh.

The door to Klaus’ room was barely shut behind them before Klaus was sinking to his knees in front of Dave, hands scrambling to unbuckle his pants.

Dave rested his head back against the door and allowed Klaus to pull his pants and boxers down, but before Dave had chance to step out of them, Klaus was leaning forwards eagerly and taking Dave into his mouth.

Dave groaned, long and low, both his hands going to Klaus’ head, fingers carding through the unruly curls, fingernails raking slowly and seductively along the scalp. He then tugged gently, in just the way he knew Klaus loved and Klaus hummed in delight. The vibrations sent a wave of pleasure through Dave and he sighed out Klaus’ name. Klaus hummed again, then started sucking and bobbing his head in earnest, his hands steadying Dave’s hips.

Dave closed his eyes and let the feelings overtake him. Klaus was setting a delicious rhythm, with just the right level of suction. His mouth was hot and wet and perfect. Dave could feel Klaus breathe out as he relaxed his throat and took Dave down deeper.

“Oh, Klaus…” Dave moaned, gently tugging on his hair again. “That’s so good.”

Klaus hummed again and, fighting the impulse to gag, took him down ever further.

“Oh, yes!” Dave sighed. “Oh Klaus, your mouth feels so good.” His brain fuzzy, the praises spilled off his lips, “Yes, oh you’re so good at that. It feels amazing. You feel amazing. You’re amazing.” Dave could feel the pressure building, the knot tightening. Klaus kept bobbing and sucking. “Oh yes, there, like that. Klaus! Oh yes, yes.”

Dave twitched his hips slightly and Klaus gave an almost imperceptible nod and squeezed his fingers, signalling that Dave could thrust forwards. Dave let out a strangled little sound and – ever so gently – started fucking Klaus’ mouth. Klaus moaned, his pupil’s blown and his chin wet.

Dave let out a low grunt and concentrated on the feeling of the tiny thrusts of his hips – the raw, decadent pleasure of pushing his cock into his partner’s willing mouth. The slightly strangled moans coming from Klaus were needy and wanton and desperate. The act felt so… base. So… primal. To Dave, it felt… unimaginably good.

Dave savoured the feeling, storing it away to be examined and replayed at another time, another place.

Klaus squeezed Dave’s hips again and then took him all the way down into his throat, swallowed, then hummed. And Dave felt the vibrations rumble through him in a heady wave. His fingers twitched and his hips bucked involuntarily.

Klaus chocked. Just a little. “Sorry, sorry,” Dave said, contrite. He only felt slightly guilty for the sudden rush that had surged through him at the sight and sound of Klaus choking on his cock.

Klaus hummed in response, picking up the pace of his bobbing, cheeks hollowed and his tongue working the underside. His thumb ran soothingly over Dave’s hipbone and even in his state of fuggy pleasure, Dave knew it was a sign of reassurance.

Half out of his mind with pleasure, Dave looked down and took in the sight of Klaus; cheeks hollowed, his lips stretched wide around Dave’s cock, the gentle sway of his wild curls as he bobbed his head. His eyelashes were dark fans over eyelids heavy from desire. Dave felt a proprietary surge of pleasure as he noticed the beginnings of dark streaks on the pale, delicate skin under Klaus’ bottom lashes, where the slight wetness around his eyes had caused his eyeliner to run.

Dave gave another low groan. He could feel himself tensing, his pleasure cresting. “Klaus!” he managed to grunt.

Klaus pulled back and off with a wet pop, a line of saliva still connecting them. He began fisting Dave’s length. He opened his mouth wide, stuck out his tongue and rested Dave’s tip on the wet, pink muscle. He looked up: open and willing and eager. Ready to be claimed, though Dave.

Eyelids heavy and eyes dark with lust, Klaus gazed up at Dave through his lashes. And, staring down into Klaus’ eyes, Dave’s pleasure crested and his orgasm crashed over him like a tidal surge. He came undone, pulsing and releasing, thick creamy ropes of cum landing over Klaus’ tongue and his lips and his chin and his cheek. Klaus closed his eyes and took it, hand still working Dave’s shaft, helping him ride out his high. And Dave just kept cumming, all over his boyfriend’s face and tongue and a bit in his hair. And it felt so dirty, but also so brilliant. And his brain thrummed: mine, mine, mine…

Dave’s cock gave a final weak pulse and Klaus licked the small trickle of cum off the tip.

Dave looked down and blushed at the sight of Klaus on his knees before him, his cheeks flushed, chin wet, face splattered with cum and his hair sticking up wildly from where Dave had been gripping the dark curls.

“Oh, Klaus” he whispered reverently. And Klaus smiled and gently kissed the tip of Dave’s cock one last time before getting to his feet.

Dave’s thumb came up to Klaus’ bottom lip and smeared a spot of cum across the skin. Klaus’ tongue came out to taste it, but Dave leaned forwards quickly and caught Klaus’ lips in a kiss, tasting himself on Klaus’ skin and in the slow slide of their lips and tongues.

“So, I guess we didn’t do what Diego asked after all,” Dave smiled.

“Pretty sure he meant the sofas, or in the kitchen or something,” Klaus grinned. “I don’t think it counts if the thing you’re cumming on is me.” Dave groaned again. Then reached blindly, grabbed his discarded tee and lightly wiped the mess off Klaus’ face. Then he brought their faces close until the tips of their noses were touching and brushed them together in an Eskimo kiss.

Dave stepped forwards, trying to walk Klaus back to the bed but, forgetting about his pants still pooled around his ankles, he almost overbalanced. Klaus laughed and held his arms steady while Dave toed off his boots and socks and stepped out of his jeans. Klaus’ pants had been abandoned somewhere on the trip from the living room to Klaus’ bedroom.

Dave gently placed his hands on Klaus’ immaculate chest and walked him back to the bed, softly pushing him down onto his back. Klaus shuffled backwards, laying his head on the pillow. He was toned and sun-golden and glorious, his erection a prominent bulge tenting his underwear. He’s gorgeous, Dave thought. Completely gorgeous and all mine. And a thrill ran through him.

Dave got onto the bed and pulled Klaus’ underwear off. And then Klaus was spread out before him: standing big and stiff and proud. A meal Dave wanted to both devour all at once… and also savour for the rest of his life.

Dave crawled over Klaus, propping himself up on his forearms so he could bring their lips together again. Klaus sighed and ran one hand down Dave’s spine, resting the other on his backside and squeezing.

“Ass man,” Dave breathed into Klaus’ mouth.

“Bite me,” Klaus smiled back, and Dave caught his bottom lip between his teeth and nipped lightly. Klaus groaned and pushed his hips up against Dave.

Dave grinned and rolled them over. He slotted his leg between Klaus’, presenting his thigh for Klaus to ride. Klaus propped himself up on his arms and pushed his hips down, grinding his erection into Dave’s deliciously solid thigh. He breathed out a sigh and leaned down to continue their kiss, his hips pressing forwards rhythmically. Dave pushed his tongue into Klaus’ mouth and let the kiss get dirty, his hands kneading Klaus’ ass cheeks as Klaus humped his leg. The room was filled with the sound of Klaus panting and grunting and the dull thunk of the headboard against the wall as Klaus increased the pace and vigour of his rutting.

“Look at you,” Dave breathed, eyeing Klaus’ slack mouth and flushed cheeks, “just look at you. So beautiful.”

“Dave,” Klaus gritted out.

“Oh, is there something you need, sweetheart?” Dave teased.

“Yes,” Klaus panted, a little frustrated and desperate to get off.

Dave raised an eyebrow but made no other attempt to move.

“Oh,” Klaus whined, “Dav-uh!”

Dave grinned wickedly, “Maybe you should ask nicely?”

Klaus’ eyes went wide. For a heart stopping moment, Dave thought he might have gone too far, might have misread the vibe, might have killed the moment.

But then Klaus flushed, blinking rapidly, and whispered, “Dave, please.” Dave squeezed his ass cheeks again and Klaus whined and clamped his thighs around Dave’s leg, grinding his erection down harder. “Please,” he repeated in a small, broken voice, “please do something to get me off.” He brought his lips to Dave’s ear, so close Dave could feel his lips moving, and murmured, “please, Mr Katz…”

Dave swallowed hard. A rush of adrenaline, and also something else – something deeper and more primal – ran through him. He could feel the soft, warm weight of his partner, writhing and rutting against him. Needy and desperate. Needy, for him. Dave was suddenly overwhelmed by an instinctive, primal urge to give and please and protect and provide. Mine, Dave thought again. He’s mine.

Dave hooked his leg around Klaus’ and flipped them over. He pressed one final searing kiss to Klaus’ lips and then worked his way down Klaus’ body, trailing kisses down his neck and chest, his tongue flicking over the hardened nub of a nipple. He teasingly kissed his way down the faint trail of dark hairs that started just below his navel and ended at the base of Klaus’ cock.

Dave could feel Klaus breathing deeply, his chest rising and falling in anticipation. But rather than turning his attention to Klaus’ erection. Dave dipped his head lower, and pressed kisses and teasing licks into the delicate skin surrounding Klaus’ cock. He pressed his nose against Klaus’ balls, nuzzling them slightly, then opened his mouth and sucked as much as he could into his mouth, applying delicious pressure and working the skin with his tongue. Klaus whined above him. Dave repeated the action, then moved onto the other.

“Dave,” Klaus panted. “Dave, please.”

A thought started buzzing in Dave’s brain. It felt electric – live and shocking.

Without quite realising he’d done it, Dave made a decision. He felt wired and alive and empowered.

Dave smiled and rose onto his knees. His hands went to Klaus’ hips. “Roll over,” he said gently.

“What?” Klaus’ head came up, eyes slightly unfocussed.

“Come on,” Dave repeated quietly, “roll over.”

“Dave? What’re you…” Klaus looked confused.

“I want to try something,” Dave smiled. He felt a shy, nervous flutter in his stomach, but he swallowed, caught Klaus’ eye and gave a confident little nod.

Klaus held his gaze a moment, eyes wide, but then he obliged, rolling onto his front. Dave encouraged him to spread his legs and lift onto his knees and elbows. Dave sat back for a second and just took in the sight before him: his boyfriend bent over on his bed, flushed and hard and slightly bewildered, but presenting himself so beautifully for Dave. Dave licked his lips and smiled. He was going to enjoy this.

Klaus’ head hung between his arms and he craned around to look at Dave admiring him and – despite all his previous experience – he still felt a small spike of self-conscious embarrassment. He shifted and started to get up, “Dave, what’s… what’re you doing…?”

“Shhh,” Dave reassured, his hand rubbing soothing circles into Klaus’ lower back and encouraging him back down. “It’s okay. Just relax. I’ve got this. I’ve got you.”

Klaus narrowed his eyes slightly but relaxed back down.

Dave positioned himself between Klaus’ legs and ran his hands over Klaus’ ass cheeks, endearingly pale against the tan of the rest of his skin. He gave the right one a quick pat and squeeze. Lowering his head slowly, he pressed a gentle kiss into the soft, fleshy centre of each cheek. Then, using his thumbs, he spread the cheeks apart, finally revealing Klaus’ pink, furled hole.

“Dave…?” He heard Klaus choke out.

Dave blew a soft stream of warm air onto Klaus’ little rosebud and watched as it clenched slightly.

Then, leaning forwards, he brought his face in close and slowly licked across Klaus’ tight hole.

“Fuck!” He heard Klaus exclaim.

Dave smiled and, tongue soft and wet and wide, he repeated the action.

“Oh, Dave! Oh, fuck!” Klaus panted again.

Dave pointed his tongue and flicked it up and down, and left to right, brushing it quickly over the delicate skin. Dave could feel Klaus’ hole fluttering under his tongue.

“Dave! Oh god, yes, oh yes!” Klaus panted. He shifted his hips and repositioned his arm to take his weight. He brought the other hand down to his cock, which was hanging thick and heavy and neglected between his legs. But before he could take hold of it, however, Dave caught his wrist and stopped him.

“Not yet,” he said. And his face was still so close to Klaus’ most private area that Klaus could feel the huff of air against his wet skin when Dave spoke.

Klaus shivered and groaned, but brought his elbow back down to the bed, resigning himself to the sweet torture.

Dave reapplied his tongue to Klaus’ hole and soon Klaus was panting and sighing and pushing back against him, needy whines and breathy little gasps escaping his throat.

Dave switched up the movement of his tongue from strong licks and fast little flicks, and instead covered Klaus’ hole with his lips and then sucked lightly.

Klaus groaned under him, pushing back, his legs trembling. “Oh, fuuuuuck!” he whimpered.

Dave gave the furled hole another slow lick, then pointed his tongue and – ever so slowly – pushed it against Klaus’ entrance. Klaus’ breath hitched. At first Klaus’ muscles resisted. But then, as Dave wiggled his tongue slightly, he felt the tight ring of muscles begin to relax, allowing him to push his tongue in slightly. Dave pressed his tongue forwards in tight circular motions, then slowly pulled back and pressed in again, fucking Klaus’ hole with the tip of his tongue.

“Oh, fuuuuucck me!” Klaus wailed. “Fuck, Dave! Yes! Oh, fuck I need to cum!”

Dave could feel Klaus trembling under his hands, the erratic twitch of his hips, the desperate, broken edge to his voice.

“Please, Dave,” Klaus pleaded. “Please, please…”

And Dave, his face still buried in Klaus’ ass, finally reached around and gripped Klaus’ leaking erection and started pumping.

And Klaus keened. He was caught between thrusting his painfully hard cock forward into Dave’s fist and pressing back into the delicious wet flicks of Dave’s tongue against his quivering hole. He was so desperately, painfully hard; the desire to cum so strong. And the feeling of Dave finally touching his rock-hard cock was toe-curlingly amazing. And Dave’s tongue, pressing and licking and sucking him – there – was beyond amazing. And for Klaus, time seemed to be caught in one delicious, shining moment of wet, hot, hard, fast, urgent, pleasure, clenching, tensing… and then he was cumming. Hard.

Thick creamy ropes spurted onto the bed and over Dave’s fist and Dave could feel Klaus’ hole twitching and clenching under his tongue as his muscles spasmed in waves. And Klaus was moaning Dave’s name wildly… then breathlessly… then a little brokenly as his trembling legs gave way and he finally collapsed forwards onto the bed.

Dave moved up the bed and lay down on his side next to him. Carefully, he ran his fingers through Klaus’ hair, studying his face, his closed eyes, his blissed-out expression.

Klaus opened his eyes blearily and looked at Dave.

“Dave,” he whispered hoarsely. Dave smiled.

“Dave,” Klaus tried again, “That was just so… thank you. Just, wow! Like really. Wow. It was just… so…” he screwed up his face, trying to find the right words and failing, ending instead on just a low grunt of consonants. “Nngggh,” he finished.

Dave smiled, eyes fond and affectionate. “Well, if I’ve rendered you speechless, I guess it must have been okay,” he teased lightly. Klaus blinked. Dave brought his lips down and tenderly kissed Klaus’ forehead and whispered, “I’m glad you thought so. It felt pretty incredible to do it for you too.” Klaus hummed and his eyes drifted closed.

“Hey,” Dave squeezed his shoulder. “You should have a quick shower before you sleep.”

“Don’t wanna,” Klaus mumbled. “Tired and comfy and no energy.”

“Come on, up you get.” Dave encouraged. “You’re sticky and sweaty and smell like sex. You’re laying in the wet spot and you’ve got cum in your hair. Shower, now.”

Klaus groaned and with great effort pulled himself up and moved towards the bathroom.

“Aren’t you coming?” Klaus asked in a small voice.

“You get in, I’ll be there in a sec,” Dave said. Klaus nodded and padded off.

Dave quickly stripped the bed and put on clean sheets from the cupboard where Grace kept the fresh linen. He bundled the dirty ones up and stuffed then in the laundry basket. He then went into the bathroom to join Klaus.

When they were showered and dry, Klaus in a pair of fluorescent briefs and Dave wearing clean boxers and a soft old tee from the stash of clothes he’d started leaving at the Academy, they crawled into bed. Klaus cuddled up to him and rested his head on Dave’s chest.

“Good call,” Klaus admitted, running his hands over the crisp sheets.

Dave hummed in response. Klaus closed his eyes, listening to the rumble of it against his ear.

“So, power kink, huh?” Klaus smiled into Dave’s chest.

“I guess so,” Dave replied. “Believe me, it took me by surprise a bit too.”

“It was good,” Klaus said. “Different. It looked good on you.” Klaus paused, then added, “I like the idea that we can switch stuff up like that sometimes.”

“Me too,” Dave found himself agreeing.

“You know,” Klaus said tentatively, “we could go further too.”

Dave traced the rim of Klaus’ ear with a fingertip.

“Yeah,” Dave said, feeling bold in the gathering darkness of the room. “Give and take, assertive and submissive, top and bottom… there’s so much we can try together. And that’s just power stuff. Then there’s… well, everything else as well.” He felt Klaus hum his agreement into the skin over his heart.

“You know,” Klaus said after a pause, “when we talked about this the other day, I thought we were going to start with some light fingering. But I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated you, Mr Katz. You just dived straight in tongue first.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Dave asked a little worriedly.

“Fuck no!” Klaus exclaimed. “I just didn’t think we’d start with rimming. I mean it’s not really the natural place to start.”

“Isn’t it?” Dave frowned. “To me, it kind of just felt right in the moment.”

“I’m glad you did,” Klaus insisted, “it was mind-blowing.”

Dave grimaced. “Promise you’re not teasing my technique?” He asked. “It’s the first thing I’ve done to you before you’ve done it to me first. I didn’t have any previous experience to work from.”

There was silence and Dave frowned and shifted to look down at Klaus’ face. He was surprised to find Klaus’ cheeks pink and his ears a little red.

“Klaus?” he asked, worried.

“You weren’t bad.” Klaus said quickly. “It’s not that. It’s just that, for once, I don’t really have anything to compare to either.” His eyes widened. “Not that I usually compare you with other people,” he said quickly. “I don’t do that. Just, with this, I don’t have a point of reference. So, all I can say is you blew my mind.”

Dave took a moment to process and then asked the obvious question. “Are you saying none of the people you’ve been with before have done that for you?”

“Um… yeah,” Klaus blushed – actually blushed – “yeah, I guess I am.”

Dave swallowed. “Because they didn’t want to? Or because you didn’t want them to?” He swallowed again. “Did I… I hope I didn’t… Klaus, did you want me to do that just now?”

Klaus shifted to press his face into the hollow of Dave’s neck, his nose nuzzling the base of his throat. “Dave,” he said seriously, “I wanted it. I wanted you to.” He paused. “Before now… nobody ever offered. It wasn’t particularly something that was on my radar. I was just happy for them to fuck me. Just that was okay. I didn’t feel like I was missing out or anything. But then you just… did that for me. Because you wanted to. I’ve never been with anyone who put me first like that before.”

Dave’s heart clenched and his chest felt tight. He wrapped his arms around Klaus’ small frame and buried his nose into the curls on the top of his head.

“Klaus” he murmured, “Klaus…”

“It’s okay,” he heard Klaus sigh into his neck, “you don’t need to say anything.”

Dave swallowed the lump in his throat and tightened his arms around Klaus. The warm weight of words that didn’t need to be said just yet, lying like a blanket over them as they held each other in the gathering darkness.

Finally, Dave broke the silence, “I don’t know whether I should be a little bit offended, you know? About not being complicated, I mean.” He grinned.

“What?” Klaus frowned, opening his eyes.

“That thing you said to Diego earlier, about his dynamic with Lila being complicated.”

“Oh,” Klaus settled back down. “That.” He paused then added. “You might play the deep, strong, silent type sometimes, Dave, but you’re not complicated. I mean, not complicated complicated.” Dave ran his fingers soothingly up and down Klaus’ arm. “It’s not like do you confusing things that I can’t work out. You’re easy.”

Dave laughed.

“I don’t mean easy.” Klaus corrected himself. “I mean…”

“I know what you mean,” Dave cut in. He pressed a kiss to the top of Klaus’ head. “You might be a chaotic, eccentric oddball at times, but to me, you’re easy, too.” Klaus huffed a small laugh against Dave’s chest.

“I love that we always seem to be on the same page about stuff,” Klaus said into the quiet stillness of the room.

“Yeah,” Dave agreed. “We click. Always have. And I suppose we trust each other too, so that helps.”

Klaus blinked and swallowed hard.

“We do click, don’t we?” His voice was small.

“Yes,” Dave said earnestly.

“This really is something special, isn’t it?” Klaus said, just as quietly. He wants confirmation, Dave thought. Despite all the bravado, he’s actually a little vulnerable and insecure and wants confirmation.

“Yes,” Dave said, giving him exactly what he needed. “For me, right from the very first moment, this just felt right.”

“For me too,” Klaus admitted softly.

Klaus rolled over and settled on his side, pulling Dave flush behind him; the big spoon to Klaus’ little spoon. Dave’s knees tucked into the crook of Klaus’ legs, his arm coming over, fingers interlacing and hands curled close to Klaus’ chest. Dave’s groin pressed against Klaus’ backside, but in this moment, Dave felt nothing more than tenderness and affection. He pressed a kiss to the back of Klaus’ neck, the spot right between his shoulders, and shifted slightly, snuggling them even closer.

“After everything,” Klaus mumbled into the pillow, voice drowsy and muffled slightly. “After all this time, and everything we’ve been through to get here.” He paused, let out a breath and then carried on. “It’s hard to believe that this is how it could be from now on.”

Dave thought back to how he used to feel about his relationship with Klaus – like his life had turned into a series of moments as precious… and delicate… and fragile as champagne flutes on a tray in the wind. He wondered when he had stopped feeling like the tiniest wrong move or misstep could bring his happiness crashing down in a shower of irreparable shards of shattered crystal.

“Believe it,” Dave replied, and Klaus sighed and relaxed further into his arms. Dave shut his eyes and held him close, his heart beating a rhythm against Klaus’ back: this, just this, just this, just this, just this…

#klave #klaus hargreeves #dave katz #the umbrella academy #klaus x dave #klaus/dave

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