Tumgik
#s2e12 spoilers
cross-my-heartt · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
his little looks... he's so worried
723 notes · View notes
seriowan · 1 year
Text
by water and ice (crosshair x gn!reader)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
“There is more to your story, Crosshair. Fight to live through it.”
summary: cold and hopeless, crosshair is struggling to continue fighting for his survival. as he considers the prospect of giving up, he is visited by a ghost of his past and is forced to rethink his entire future...
pairing: crosshair x gn!reader
warnings: spoilers for tbb s2ep12; discussions about death; angst
word count: 2.5k
a/n: this is me coping after episode 12. did i cry a lot? mmmaybe. will i ever be the same after watching episode 12? mmmmnoiamsufferingsomuchjustthinkingaboutcrosshair
Tumblr media
In a sick way, he knows it is a punishment. He’s always been cold and unyielding, like the storm that seeks to bury him alive.
   The grand peak of every choice brought him to this point; the point when he has nothing to do but drown in the snow with ice in his lungs. It is in this vast, white sea of consequence that he sits and wonders if he could have changed things in the past. It is in the face of death when he is forced to question what reality would have looked like if he didn’t utter the words that possessed and cursed his body… 
   Good. Soldiers. Follow. Orders. 
   He was once a good soldier. He did as he was supposed to do but now… it all had a weight to it that he didn't quite understand. He made the choices and he followed the orders given to him, but at what cost? Why is it that now, in this spotlessly white hell, he finally questions where he went wrong? 
   It's like a loop of his choices with Cody’s voice echoing in a narration of guilt. 
   “We make our own choices… and we have to live with them too.” 
   He isn’t living with them. Not anymore. He is going to die with them. Every single choice made since Kaller plays over and over like memories that were never his. Actions with consequences that he thought he could ignore or fight off because he was just following orders. 
   But he knows the truth. 
   Death often gives clarity to those who are lucky enough to have a moment of thought before it greets them. In his charcoal armor, shivering alongside a soldier in white and straps of cloth, Crosshair knows that he is the ink spot spilled across the white paper. The stain. His wretched heart has been cold since the beginning but now… now it feels like he has no heart. Like he is just a husk of helplessness, latching onto the one thing that could bring him a bit of purpose — if just for a brief moment. 
   Mayday’s breaths are shallow. The skin of his neck is hot. He burns from the inside out while Crosshair freezes little by little. They remain huddled together in the shelter of a jagged mountainside, sharing the smallest bit of comfort in dying beside a brother. 
   Crosshair finds himself hearing different voices with each one of Mayday’s pained noises. He hears Hunter, sporting a wound in his side from Felucia. He hears Tech, shot down by the training droids in the training facility. He hears Echo every time Mayday exhales with a tremble, cold and frail from the cryogenic chamber. He hears Wrecker, lying on a medical table with the side of his face bandaged beyond recognition. 
   He squeezes his eyes shut at a realization. 
   All he remembers is pain.
He tries to think back to the good times, but they feel stained by his own hand. He can’t think of their past time together, the good times, without remembering Hunter’s wounded look of betrayal when they first faced each other as enemies. Without thinking of Omega’s cry of panic when he shot Wrecker in the chest. He feels the resurging pain in his head like a reminder that he went far enough for them to nearly kill him in response. 
   And for what? False belief in an Empire that controls him and every other clone like a puppet on strings? 
   Meaning? Glory?
   There is too much shame to call it glory. The only word that he can bring to the lips of his chattering mouth is regret. 
   Regret for it all. 
   Regret for what he’d already done. 
   Regret for what he will do. 
   “Crosshair.” 
   At first, he thinks he is hallucinating. Hours have passed since his last drink of water. Hours of trudging through snow and watching his limbs turn black from ice. His body is weak but his mind is brittle, holding onto the thin string of life from the man hunched over by his side. 
   Then he hears it again. 
   “Crosshair…” 
   There was one person who used to say his name so delicately. He remembers their hands — oh, the gentleness of their touch against his cheek. Or the sweetness on their lips that tasted like tea and honeydew. He can remember the softness of their skin and the cotton robes they once wore, scented of incense and pine and everything earthy. So unlike him in his heavy, charcoal armor. 
   But he remembers the pain. The striking grief in their eyes as they lay dying at his feet. A fatal shot to the chest, done with his very own hand. His brothers are unaware that he fired the first shot - the fatal shot - before the regs arrived. They assumed that the Jedi went down alongside Billaba because that is what he told them.
   But Crosshair knows the truth. He knows that what he did was more than just following orders. It was a deliberate murder and he was the tool, now discarded among the blizzard and left to slowly rust and crumble. 
   “Crosshair…” 
   He forces his eyes open, snowflakes caked across his lashes. He squints, looking through the white gusts in search of their voice — that sweet song that pulled him so far from reality, reminding him of a life gone by. 
   When he sees the glowing blue silhouette walking toward him, Crosshair can’t help but sag his shoulders in relief. He doesn’t have the energy for questions, nor the capacity for fear. There is no reason to keep him grounded as he watches the figure walk peacefully through the blizzard, every little snowflake going right through it with ease. 
   The first thing he notices is your smile. Gentle and inviting, as it always was until your very last moment. Your eyes are different than when you died — peaceful, kind, so full of sympathy that made him feel so small. 
   When you crouch beside him, resting a gentle hand on his face, there is no sense of touch or warmth. Your image fizzes like static, lips suddenly flicking down in a soft frown. 
   “You look tired, my love.” 
   He huffs through his nose, shaking his head in disbelief. It almost feels normal, like you’re both picking up right where you left off — long before Kaller could even become a thought. 
   “C-Cyare,” he stutters, the corner of his mouth lifting as he trembles. “I-I m-missed y-you.” 
   "I know," your murmur, sympathy pooling in your eyes before falling down your cheeks. When the droplets fall off your chin, they make no impression in the snow.
When your gaze shifts down to Mayday, you give a gentle sigh.
   “‘No point in carrying deadweight,’” you echo, causing him to look away. “What has changed since you said those words to him?” 
   “You’ve c-come from the J-Jedi afterlife to p-preach to me?” He chuckled humorlessly. “S-Some things don’t ch-change.” 
   You crack a small smile but it is short-lived.
“Crosshair… your thoughts have been a burden to you for too long. Speak to me. You know the dead tell no tales.” 
   “Stop.” Wounded eyes hold onto yours, bleeding guilt and anguish. “Stop it. I did this t-to you. I killed you. I c-can’t talk to y-you without picturing w-what h-happened-”  
   “If it wasn’t you,” you whisper, “It would have been someone else… and in truth, I wouldn’t have wanted to die by anyone’s hand except yours. My life was destined to end one way or another. Now, tell me... when did you change your mind?” 
   Crosshair spares a glance at Mayday before looking back at you.
“I-I don’t know.” 
   “Yes, you do, my love. What did you feel when he was buried and you were alone again?”
  The word bounces through his skull, causing him to grimace. Slowly, his lips move on their own accord. 
    “Fear.” 
   “Of being alone?” 
   He slowly nods. “He d-doesn’t deserve to d-die like this.” 
   “And you do?” 
   The question takes him by surprise. Crosshair has no choice but to stare at you, searching your pale eyes for the answer to why you were here in the first place. Still, he speaks. 
   “A-After everything I’ve d-done…” He palms his head in his hands, trembling when a gust of wind blows snow across his bare face. “I followed orders, cyare…” 
   You set a ghostly hand on his cheek once more, thumb caressing his cheekbone. “To be alone for such a long time is a heavy burden to bear. A consequence far greater than others. It's poison to the mind, my love, and you have been its victim for far too long." 
   “Everyone i-is gone a-anyway,” he murmurs, attempting to place his hand atop yours only to feel nothing. “I drove them a-all away.” 
   “And now you are alone.” 
   Crosshair grits his teeth but nods. 
   “Do you regret not fleeing with Cody?” 
   Again, he nods, shutting his eyes with a heavy exhale. You wait for him to speak and he finds the strength in his voice, low and raspy with grief.
“I-I’m so t-tired of this…” 
   “Of what, my love?” 
   “This,” he hisses, gesturing to his armor. “Of being here. I-I’m just s-so tired and c-cold… There is n-nothing left for me, c-cyare…” 
   “Do you want to die like this, Crosshair?” You ask him, cocking your head. He glances up, blank eyes latched onto yours with absolutely nothing in them. He seems to be a husk. “Besides a dying man in this blizzard? A victim of your anger and misguidance? You are wrought with regret, lost boy. A soul that dies with regret is a soul that has never truly lived. Has your life been so meaningless to you?” 
   You reach, placing your hand atop his when they settle in his lap. “You existed before this time, Crosshair, during which you had your brothers and me. You had a purpose and your spirit was strong within your family, no matter how flawed it may have been… Has it all been for nothing? Have you fought for nothing?”
   He thinks of Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, even Echo and Omega. He thinks of the Jedis he worked with; the Jedi he tried killing - and the one he did kill. All of the battles and close deaths. All of the people saved and soldiers lost. Mayday. Cody. The decommissioned. The forcefully-retired. 
   Were they all suffering for nothing? 
   Was it really his purpose to be used like a blade until dulled? Discarded aside and replaced with another?
   He thinks of Omega’s expression when she placed her hand on his shoulder, warning him about the chip influencing his actions. She tried to stop him from falling down this path and now…
   Now the guilt burns him enough to feel warm in the icy storm. 
   His gaze is that of a broken man, kindling his fire with nothing but memories. Pained eyes flutter shut when you lean over, placing your lips against his cheek, then his temple.
   “I d-don’t want to die,” he admits in a quiet rasp as he meets your solemn stare. “Not like this.” 
   He remembers the days when he imagined dying alongside his brothers. The end of the war was a distant dream that felt so far away, replaced by an expectation that one day, he would meet his final stand alongside those he grew up with. 
   Crosshair never dreamt of dying like this. He never thought that his end would be anything like this — beside a brother he’d known for a day, and buried by a blizzard of ice. 
   He already died once atop the water. Kamino, a planet of roaring blue waves and gray skies. He died when they strengthened the chip in his head. He died when he fired at his brothers and shot one of them. He died when he tried to bring them to the same fate as his own. 
   Now, realization strikes Crosshair as he faces another death among the ice; among the raging frozen waters that came down from the same gray skies of home. 
   The death of his body…
   …or the death of him: CT-9904. The number, full of regret. The victim of the anger and hatred that bled from within. The product of the seed sown in his naivety. His ignorance. 
   His fear of change. 
   Again, you lower your head and hold his gaze, your voice soft as you repeat yourself. 
   “Do you want to die like this, Crosshair?”
   Like this. 
   Not in the snow. Not beside Mayday. Not among the ice and gray skies. 
   Do you want to die without ever truly living? 
   He shakes his head with a bit more determination than before. You smile, nodding. 
   “Your story does not end here among the ice, my love,” you tell him softly, causing him to readjust his grip around Mayday’s waist. "It is here that it begins."
He glances around him, eyes trekking through the blizzard before he wills himself to stand, bringing Mayday up with him. Crosshair’s body trembles, legs quivering under the weight of two men, but he plants his feet atop the snow and looks at you with hopeful eyes. 
   “You will find what you seek if you search for it…” Your voice is beginning to fade and Crosshair begins to mourn it with the grief that was once smothered by the chip. “Redemption is not earned through death, my love. It is fought for, bled for, and it eagerly awaits you among her brothers. There is more to your story, Crosshair. Fight to live through it.” 
   He tightens his arm around Mayday’s side, adjusting the arm over his shoulders. When he looks up, you are hardly anything more than an impression. Nothing but your essence to remind him of the person you used to be before he lost you. 
   “W-Will I s-see you again?” He questions, his tone both hopeful yet cautious. 
   To his relief, you smile and nod. 
   “One day,” you say simply. “But know that I will be with you until then. You are not alone, Crosshair… and you never have been.” 
   To this, Crosshair turns, and with a step forward, he wills himself to continue. He does not want to see you fade for he already did once. He does not wish to say goodbye because, in the end, he knows that it would be pointless. 
   Crosshair says goodbye to something else instead. He leaves it behind, buried underneath the snow and frozen among the ice. He doesn’t mourn it, nor does he feel its loss. It sits among the white like a stain of black, sitting right alongside his lost helmet and his hopelessness. His helplessness. It is a fire of fury and anguish, born on the water and left to die among the snow.
   A new fire burns in its place. A drive to fight for something once lost, something familiar. Kindled by the promise of life, a promise of redemption, the new fire roars as it searches. It crackles and sends embers in the air at the thought of his brothers. It grows with the notion that if he tried hard enough to live, he would see his family again. 
   'There is more to your story, Crosshair. Fight to live through it.'
   CT-9904’s fight for the Empire was lost in the blizzard. 
   In its place, Crosshair began something new.
   He began his fight to go home. 
Tumblr media
taglist form
@questforgalas @dangraccoon @ladykatakuri @sunshinesdaydream @littlebluebatbrat @sskim-milkk @corona-one @eloquentmoon @maulslittlemeowmeow @misogirl828 @theclonesdeservebetter @frietiemeloen @pinkiemme @torchbearerkyle @witchklng @ivela3 @kaminocasey @sunflowerrex  @nekotaetae @literallydontlook @agenteliix @starqueensthings @fives-lover @chicknstripz @discarded-beskar @moonstrider9904 @tararosebloodthorn @burningfieldof-clover @cyarinka @zaddymaul @queenquazar @mo-i-ra @boomtowngirl @lucyysthings @nahoney22 @elismor @techs-ass @echos-girlfriend @babygirlrex0504
184 notes · View notes
in-a-brown-study · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
Well don't you feel sorry
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I'll love where I'm going now
Tumblr media
'Cause I'm about to lose my mind
Back to the beginning.
110 notes · View notes
isurrendertoclones · 1 year
Text
Mayday after he gets buried in the avalanche:
Tumblr media
80 notes · View notes
stray-tori · 7 months
Text
VERY INDULGENT THOUGHT....
dying CXS pulling the "end the dive if it hurts too much" (paraphrased) line from the earthquake arc on LG orz
bonus points if CXS figured it out but LG doesn't know that yet.
its not that much of a grace (if hes diving) bc OG!LG will just regain consciousness to a dying CXS which is equally horrible BUT YKNOW
"you can end the dive if it's too hard..." "...!" "this isnt... the first time (youve experienced this), is it?" "... how..." "im sorry. i cant imagine how much you've suffered..." "..." "this sucks ha ha..... i really want to... make it up to you..."
34 notes · View notes
nobirdtennis · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
some vax screenshots 4 u
100 notes · View notes
ok but WHY DID THE SCORE GO SO HARD???? the crunchy sounds when they ambushed that camp???? I'm obsessed and feral and frothing at the mouth and tearing out my hair I'm going to kill kevin
34 notes · View notes
apocalyp-tech-a · 1 year
Link
Tumblr media
My first Bad Batch story without Tech, lol.  I could not stand idly by and let things happen as they did though.  May contain Season 2 Episode 12 The Outpost spoilers.
35 notes · View notes
Return
The Bad Batch. Drabble. | writing-positivelyexisting🫧
⚠️ content warning: referring to season 2 episode 12: Outpost. hurt/comfort.
Tumblr media
Eventually. Somehow. He escaped. Traveling alone. A renegade.
Stolen ship after stolen ship. Sometimes being a stowaway. His fingertips often go numb. An after effect from almost being frozen to death. Touching the scar on his head sends cringing shivers down his spine. He hates it.
Crosshair sinks down the wall of a transport ship that he snuck onto. In the cramped undercarriage of the ship, he can feel every tremor of turbulence. He hates it.
Tired amber eyes hide behind heavy eyelids. His breathing is deep. Full of restrained sorrow. He can feel it. He hates it.
Cracked, dry lips are haphazardly remedied with his tongue. It stings. He hates it.
Opening his eyes again and staring up at the creaking metal, it burns. Everywhere. Stomach, chest, throat, eyes. Everywhere.
The memories that weren’t supposed to be made play slowly in his mind. He killed the wrong people. He fought for the wrong side. He hunted and fired at the wrong team.
His fear. Being wrong. It sank its teeth into him. It left his skin torn, ripped apart, a mess. Unrecognizable. A silhouette of bones, frayed muscle, and ripped at veins. He is covered in his own blood, washing away the blood of others.
He hates himself.
Crosshair’s tears meet at his chin, dripping down and decorating his armor in wet splotches. Upturned eyebrows and trembling lips. He searches for a miracle. Either by the grace of his Maker or by the Force in the universe.
A thick swallow leaves him in a coughing fit. His hands hold his head as he heaves, barely trying to regain his strength. It hurts. He hates it. His heart is panicking behind his ribs. He fears it.
How does he begin to be himself again? Who was he before all this? He fears it.
In the midst of his haunting mind, the cargo ship lands at a docking port of an unknown planet. He never cared about the destination. He never stays long enough to, anyway.
Once the cargo was carried off and no one was left at the ramp of the ship, Crosshair snuck away. Roaming this city’s streets, searching for cheap food and a place to stay.
This downtown area was similar to that of the lower levels of Coruscant. Vibrant neon lights. Street vendors and booths. Sketchy characters slinking about in alleyways. It almost felt safe in an ironic funny way.
He turned a corner and found a food vendor that smelt the most appealing out of all the other junk that was being sold. It was meat that wasn’t drowned in grease. Something he could stomach longer.
Using almost the last of his credits, which were either pickpocketed or found, he walked away with his meal.
“Crosshair?”
The sniper looked at her and then behind her. He hates it. He fears it. Crosshair is stuck in place. Staring. Has his miracle been given? Could the universe grant it so soon?
His mouth opens to speak but he doesn’t get a chance to use his voice. Like a magnet, Hunter is embracing him. Strong arms are wrapped around Crosshair’s torso, one hand on the back of his head, keeping him still. The same hug when they were young. The hug that was meant to keep the hurt away.
There’s a hiccup in Crosshair’s breathing, his eyes looking at Tech and Wrecker. Wrecker is crying. So is Omega. Tech is staring back, his eyes almost as large as his goggles.
His meal is dropped, forgotten. Crosshair brings his arms to hug Hunter back. Amber eyes closing, letting his body rest in the arms of his brother.
“I’m sorry.”
“Shut up.”
Hate bound by fear will unwind.
Tumblr media
word count: 617.
beta read: @beating-a-dead-plot I’m sorry for hitting you with a lot of sad recently! Forgive me 🥺
tag list: @dangraccoon @i-am-the-geek-overlord
36 notes · View notes
panther-os · 1 year
Text
[pulls out and dusts off get out alive three days grace] [holds crosshair and mayday and Crosshair & mayday and crosshair/mayday up to it like paint swatches] yesgood
24 notes · View notes
seriowan · 1 year
Text
if it isn’t the empire, it’s criminals and convicts
if it isn’t criminals and convicts, it’s a giant machine of death
if it isn’t a giant machine of death, it’s a literal zillo beast
if it isn’t any of these, it’s a TSUNAMI
give them a BREAK
106 notes · View notes
thegalaxys-edge · 1 year
Text
tbb s2e12 thoughts (spoilers)
x
x
- fucking FINALLY MY BOY, crosshair i miss you every second you’re off screen
- out of uniform? leave him alonee
- crosshair defending clones instead of feeling ostracized by them
- immensely worried that crosshairs arc is gonna end in him dying..
- new commander BARK BARK WOOF
- i’ve had hexx and veetch for 2 seconds and if anything happens to them i’ll kill everyone in this room and then myself
- commander MAYDAY?! be still my heart
- crosshair choosing to give his name instead of his number is everything
- NOOO NOT HEXX AND VEETCH I CANT HANDLE THIS :,,(
- seeing crosshair actually worried about things is fantastic
- literally everything about disarming the bomb
- him carrying mayday back, i’m not crying, you’re crying
- NOOOO FUCK ALL I MISS MAYDAY
- the symbolism of crosshair being like the ice vultures, mean but finding a way to survive in a harsh environment
- YESS YES GET HIS ASS
- oh my god he’s at the new facility
30 notes · View notes
derpymidnight · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Mom this empire is shit im rebelling
23 notes · View notes
stray-tori · 7 months
Text
Of all things hitting harder now, LG's "you can't save them" in the earthquake arc……… ugh
Tho I'm rly curious why he's so convinced. I still think "one last chance" implies it's one dive while vortex/overthink and his insistence on nodes imply multiple loops have happened already (and this might be the last possible dive?).
i.e. he has tried before and knows it doesn't work. However....... I find it hard to believe he actively tried to change it and is then so instantly shocked at CXS seemingly saving Emma. Like. If he tried before and the node still happened delayed or differently, he wouldn't be so shocked.
He'd be like "yeah okay she's gonna die some other way in 2 seconds, hold your horses."
He seems so experienced and so lost at the same time shdhsjsj. mindset of a tired failed time traveler and reaction of a newbie haha-
Another reason I'm not yet convinced of multiple dives (for canon, love the endless attempt angst pool fanon) is that I'd imagine there would be more than one death to have PTSD flashbacks to. Unless it somehow happens the exact same way every time...?
If that is the case then both of my problems would be fixed, but I find that kind of hard to imagine? Like, what is the expectation of node persistence here? Do you redirect a gun and the bullet bends around to still hit them bc the node is there?
It's possible that LG's reaction was more of a "oh, but it's... impossible, right??" but idk, that scene seems off......
*puts tinfoil hat on* I'm also convinced that despite the rules, they have changed SOME node in s1. there ain't no way spawning a dudes wife+kid into existence, saving someone who got knife-attacked by a serial killer and stopping a trafficker's activity did not change things.
26 notes · View notes
echos-girlfriend · 1 year
Text
THE BAD BATCH EPISODE 12
SPOILERS AND THOUGHTS
Ok wow.. this episode was amazing…
Crosshair needs to just stop shooting people when he’s mad tho 😭 it’s getting him into trouble (lol)
This was so sad. Crosshair tried with literally all his strength to get mayday back. And no one. No one even tried to help either of them..
I feel like Crosshair has finally reached the tripping point with the empire. This episode showed that the empire truly does not care about the clones. They could saved mayday and they didn’t..
Also the ending is terrifying to me.. he’s back to being experimented on.. I swear to god. He seems so nervous and scared when she says the doctor will see you after you’re healed. AHHHHH
I’m so scared for next episode 🥺
I also feel like maybe we are getting trolled hard by the Kiner brothers and the show creators posts.. yes they are linked to the show in some way.. but so far nothing has happened to our boys or omega
But I’m not letting my guard down 😭😂 if they tease us all this time and something inf does happen I will be so upset lol
22 notes · View notes
fuck-edfrugs · 7 months
Text
I have finished link click season 2
I’m not ok holy fuck
I WAS JOKING WHEN I SAID I WAS WORRIED ABOUT CXS DYING NOW I LEARN THIS SHOW IS PULLING A FUCKING MADOKA MAGICA WHAT THE FUCK
14 notes · View notes