#if only “tech” didn't shoot him down rip

[barissoffee]

Hunter: I'll handle it Narrator: Hunter, in fact, did not handle it.

[ninnosaurus]

AHA! The gang is done!

Thank you @meggahamicide for sharing your lines with us <3

after he found out his brothers had been killed in a raid, Donatello lost it. He dug out old books, books he once didn't believe in. Books about reanimation, and bringing back the dead.

He wanted his family back, one way or another. He studied, for weeks and months all he did was read. Until one day he was ready. His brothers still had their ninpo. He looked at their empty husks.

"I'll see you soon, guys."

His lab lit up as he finished the first step of his ritual. His machines whirred to life and he watched in fascination how one ninpo after the other got sucked out of his brothers.

"Alright... here goes nothing."

Donnie took a deep breath and stepped into the pod created for this and closed his eyes.

The first thing that hit him was the pain. Searing. Burning. Cutting like knives and he screamed as the power from his family raged into him and he watched in horror as his body slowly opened in front of him.

"No! No no no!"

Panic. This wasn't supposed to happen. His body was getting ripped apart by the ninpo. Fuck! What had he missed!? Where had he miscalculated!?

Then. It went black. He was floating, in darkness. Weightless but heavy at the same time. His body jolted like he was struck by lightning. Eyes shooting open he saw his limbs emit a golden glow. Strands appearing from the gold.

He gasped. "Mikey...?"

Donnie woke up on the floor. His lab was dark, only the odd light blinking from his tech. His head hurt. His body ached as he sat up. For a few minutes he believed he'd been dreaming. Until he looked down at his hands. It had worked.

His family was back.

Just not in the way he had expected.

[dearanakin]

trust you | anakin skywalker: episode V

Summary: You go on a mission with Cal... and Anakin. You have a task as a tech engineer, but dealing with General Grievous and his army of droids can be challenging. Ps: There's a character guest in this chapter, remember it doesn't follow the actual timeline of the franchise!!

No warnings, just vulgar language (a lot of it because it's a mission and they're all on the verge of flipping out lol)

Word count: 4.7k

*

(Y/N):

I'm not sure I even had the option to actually deny the offer Cal made. To be honest, he practically begged me and forced me to agree on going with him and his team to a trade with someone with a weird name.

Worst of it all, I had to be their tech guy for the mission. A mission led by none other than Anakin. I wish I could actually have had a choice, because I sure wasn't expecting to see his face this soon.

Especially after he literally threatened me the other day. I don't think I've ever felt this scared in my life. We all know the guy has a temper and he doesn't follow any rules. As much as we all hoped he would change through the years, it seems like it's getting worse instead.

Now I'm sitting next to Cal in his ship, while Artoo is on top of it. He seemed a little distressed, he doesn't show off his emotions a lot because he knows I get worried. But I know after what happened that day he's not getting along with Anakin.

I mean, who would at this point? He looks at you like he's about to rip your eyes out.

And I know Cal didn't want to look like he's only on this mission because of the team itself. He told me he didn't want to collaborate this time, which only made the Jedi Master walk around with a deadly look on his face.

But the redhead never felt intimidated by him in any way. Or at least he doesn't show it. As far as I know, we're heading to General Grievous' spaceship. I feel like I've heard this name before, but I can't collect it.

"So, what's the plan? Leaving me trapped in here with R2?" I ask as he maneuvers into outer pace, a concentrated look on his face as he does so.

He chuckles with dramatic concern. "You'll be looking out for us with commander Poe Dameron first" Cal explains as I nod. Who is Poe Dameron, by the way?

"He's a Jedi as well?" He shakes his head in response. "He's... not?"

Okay, that concerned me. I'm only used to being around force sensitive people, and being a human already scared me enough. Now, knowing I'm going to be around another human makes me wonder whatever happens if we get attacked.

"Nope, but he's a good Resistance's Starfighter Corps member. And a good pilot" He gives me a smile as he turns his head to face me. He can read my panic plastered all over my face and reaches out his hand to grab mine. "We're gonna need you there to break into their system".

So, we'll watch as the trade unfolds and hope for the best first. Do I agree with that? I didn't, but I had no choice but to help them.

"And if something happens, before he drops you there, he'll bring you back to Coruscant" Cal shoots his head back forward as we approach the starship.

Yeah, simple as that, right? If something happens, like, we'll just go back and live it out. Doesn't seem too tragic for me, I love the adrenaline.

Not.

We landed on a hangar, Cal preparing himself up before leaving me out here with only a Droid and a man named Poe. I hope this guy isn't a douchebag like Skywalker is, I won't be able to run away from him if I wanted to.

He gives me a small kiss on the forehead before leaving the ship, sending me a half smile before meeting the others already in formation. I watch as a brunette man walks towards from where the redhead just left and waves back to the others.

He has wavy dark hair, as well as dark brown eyes, and a stubble. Damn, this man looks fine as hell.

Poe steps in and sits down on the seat next to me, looking right up with a kind smile on his face. He finishes buckling himself before introducing himself to me, while I still glance at him like he just came out of a Disney movie.

"Hi, I'm Dameron. Well, Poe Dameron but they call me by my last name since I'm a commander" He explains, extending his hand for a greeting. I grip his hand for a few seconds before releasing.

Good handshake, firm and gentle. What am I even saying at this point?

"You're (Y/N), right?" I nod as he looks back at the panel, starting the ship.

"Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you" I say for the first time, feeling like I have never met anybody that gorgeous.

"Likewise. So, you're an engineer? You fix everything?" Poe asks, concentrating on lifting the flight.

"Well, mostly prosthetics and spacecraft. They're already too much to handle most of the time. But I can manage computers and systems as well"

"You were responsible for creating the robotic arm General Skywalker has?" He seems interested in what I do for my living and it kinda distracts me from the mission we were on.

I wish I could not hear this name on a daily basis.

"You know him?" I didn't mean to sound too surprised, but my voice gave it away anyway. "And not really, I usually fix it for him".

Yeah, and the last time I did it he almost got killed and that led to me almost getting killed as well.

"We've been out and about on a few assignments. I'm mostly doing tasks for the Resistance, leading attacks and all that" He sets the ship on standby as we watch from a distance while the group of Jedi gets in the Trade Federation Starship.

"Are you never scared of doing these dangerous jobs being human?" I ask out of curiosity, it gives me such a bad feeling being out for work like this.

He looks at me and grins. How can someone be so good looking like that? This is so distracting. "Kinda get used to it at some point, I chose this life".

I just nod and stare back at the distance. We both had comlink for communication, R2 looking out for any threats as well. I shuffle uncomfortably on my seat, desperate to be done with this mission. Poe notices my discomfort and rests a hand over my shoulder.

"You're going to be fine, they'll protect you at all costs and we'll be on full alert from afar. That's why we have other starships in position" He tries to comfort me and gives me a nod.

It doesn't change anything about this assignment, we all know how difficult they can be.

My sweaty hands grab my duffel bag and I look over the tools I brought with me. I hope this shitty idea works, because I can't be bothered to feel bad for failing their job.

A few minutes later, which seemed like hours, Cal spoke over the comlink and Poe promptly shifted the gears and flew back to the starship. As we land, I see him next to another General all while waiting for me. My nerves are on edge and I feel like I'm gonna fucking throw up.

Before I leave, Poe gives me a sympathetic look and offers a handshake. "May the Force be with you" He says kindly.

"May the Force be with you, commander" I force a smile that might have come out as a grimace and follow along with the other guys.

Cal stands next to me as we enter the enormous vessel, full of bodyguards and droids. He ignites his lightsaber and gets closer to my ear.

"We're close to the vents that lead to this small control room. We'll have to get into their system and gather as much information as we can" He whispers, walking me through a small hallway.

He and the other Jedi stop on their tracks and immediately drop both of the droids standing there. Cal turns on his heels and approaches me, handing me a blaster gun. One I was supposed to carry around but am too fucking scared to do it.

"You might wanna use it this time" He reaches out for a pocket knife strapped on his ankle and offers it to me as well. "I didn't say you'll have to. Just for self-defense".

He glances up at me with a tender look on his face. This man gives his life to protect me and I'd do the same if I could. I mean, I do but not the same way he does of course.

I just nod at everything he says and we look up at the vent. I'm not doing this alone, am I?

If I had a dollar for everytime he uses his force for mind reading, I would be such a rich person right now. "I'm going with you" He adds.

Getting in a vent with a duffel bag is probably one of the worst scenarios I never thought about. We were dragging our bodies while he tried to drag the bag without making much noise, but obviously not being very cautious with the tools, the gears and other objects in there. We get to the room, me behind Cal as he shoots his blaster against the soldiers. I can't feel my legs at this point, and it's not even because we're in such a small space.

He drops on his feet first, glancing around the room, before looking up at me. He shoots both arms up, waiting for me to jump in as well. I don't know how I was able to pull a stunt like that since I'm afraid of heights. And I mean 8 feet is already too much for me. Cal grabs my hips and slowly puts me down, a large smile on his face.

"There you go, James Bond!" He mocks, arching his back as I swat him on the chest.

"Shut up, smartass" I can barely speak as I feel my voice falter from the stress and the adrenaline.

He walks over a large control panel, hundreds of different colored buttons and keys. They have pretty much a huge system for such a small room. I mean, if there's a bigger room then this is just a gist. First things first, I had to disable the security camera before someone came bursting into the door. I sit on the big chair and Cal leans against the desk next to me. I'm sure he has no idea what the hell I'm doing. I use a small device to hack into the system and quickly find the program to the security camera. 

They clearly need a better safety system, because it's too easy to get into their computer. Either that, or it's a trap. But I'd rather believe they're just that stupid. I turn off the cameras, both of us making sure they're all shut down.

Next, I type in a few things on the keyboard, trying to find what exactly they need. Cal uses his pointer finger to make sure he's looking for the right folder, carefully reading every single word on the screen. "We need strategies folders, every spacecraft and architecture project. List of trades and traders they use".

He said it like he was writing down a fucking grocery shopping list.

I try not to send him a glare or even look at him like I'm pissed. So I just go straight to the point. "Might as well just wipe out the entire computer, Kestis. This might take hours!".

"You can just add them to the device you have?" I swear to God, he can't be that serious.

"You're smart, Cal. Use your head. How big do you think these files are? They're all programs, it's a heavy stack of files" I start to get freaked out with the idea of being there for too long.

"Okay, right I'm sorry if I'm a newbie at technology" He adds dramatically. "Can you just drag the list and the strategies folders then?".

I move the mouse right away, bringing everything to my device, waiting for the system to calculate the estimated time. I can't help but tap my fingernails over the desk while I wait for it. Cal doesn't seem too worried like I am, as though he carries a very serious look on his face.

"We've been in for ten minutes. We probably still have a good half an hour left" He says, still leaning next to me, looking at the watch on his wrist.

"Considering this ship can blow up when we least expect it, I don't think it's good" I look at him like I'm not feeling well. He reaches my right arm and folds his big hand around it, giving it a light squeeze.

"We'll know before it happens, darling" Cal reassures me as his hand goes up and down on my arm in a comforting attempt.

Fifteen fucking minutes. I'm gonna throw myself off the ship. He uses his comlink to let the others know, which they all agree. For the first time, Anakin goes in the line and says he's trying to make a trade. It was all a set up as Cal explained.

The remaining seven minutes turned into a disaster, when a loud blast echoed through one of the hallways outside the room. Then an alarm went off and the lights switched to a dim green light. I just wish they won't turn off any other system before I can transfer everything, otherwise this would be just a waste of time and job. We looked at each other, he was gripping his lightsaber tightly waiting for something to happen, while I held the blaster just for the sake of it. There was another loud burst from a distance, the red head sprinted closer to me.

"Is everyone good?" He asked through the comlink, no one answered. "Damn it" He muttered.

"We need to get out of here before it gets worse!" I try to step in and figure out a way for us to get out. He didn't seem to listen. "Cal!".

"We're closing in on the ship. We noticed a few explosions around" Poe finally chimes in, but not with good news.

Why is it never good?

And then Skywalker called out again, this time shouting words I couldn't understand. I twist my head to the side and look at Cal with desperation.

"It's a code, they're attacking us" He immediately watched as I stood up from the chair. "Hey, look at me! I'm here, you're fine okay?".

Definitely far from being fine. He then proceeded to talk but I'm too busy being stunned to care about it. His voice started to get muffled and I felt like my vision was getting blurry. Is this even the right time to faint or have a panic attack? He shakes both of my arms calling out my name, and I slowly blink a few times before staring back at him.

"For fuck's sake, (Y/N/N). Listen to me" He then places his hands over my face, forcing me to look him in the eyes. "Please, listen. I need to go back there and help them. There's a digital lock on the door, they can't get through if you block it. They'll need to blow it up to get to you".

And you think it's hard for them to do it? That won't be enough.

Again, he furrows his brows and keeps holding my face. "Stop with the overthinking, I can hear it louder. Look, I'll manage it. I'll be back in no time, just wait for the files to finish and you wipe out the rest, fuck it. We don't care!"

I try to agree with the plan, but it was just too hard to keep up with everything. Before he turns on his back to leave the room, Poe speaks up again.

"There's a General lying on the floor, he seems to be injured. It's on Block D" He states before going off again.

This time, me and Cal share the same look. Now he seems more concerned than I do. I follow his gaze up the vent we came from, nudging himself up as he grips the edge literally vanishing. I call out to him, but he doesn't answer.

"Shit!" My hands are shaking so bad, I can't even type without missing the keys. "Shit, shit, shit".

Two minutes. Just give us two minutes and we're out. I hear a lot of grunting up on the room, the floor above me filled with noises and shuffling. The locked door starts pounding and I look straight ahead, fright starting to wash over my body.

"Poe" I have no fucking idea what I'm doing. "Are you there?".

"Definitely here, Miss. How are you holding up?" He asks.

"Do you see any of them? There's someone trying to break in and I don't know what I'm gonna do!" My heart is racing and it feels like I'm going to have a stroke in the middle of the room.

"Just talk to me, alright? How long until it's done?" His voice sounds comforting from the other side until he shouts. "R2! Not that guy, he's friendly!".

I have no idea what's going on outside but I try to shrug it off. "Two minutes! My hands are shaking so bad that I'm not sure I can shoot whoever comes in".

"Okay, not so bad" It takes him another second to keep talking. "I remember I learned a breathing technique, we're doing it together alright?".

I forget he's not next to me and I nod, but I feel like he got that anyway because he started counting and walking me through it. Breathe in and count to 4. Then count to 4 breathing out. Repeat.

"Now, hold your blaster up. Focus on anything as a target and breathe. When you inhale, you count one second and shoot. Don't wait, just shoot. If you miss it, just keep shooting" He explains, wasting his time giving me attention instead.

It makes me feel bad that someone has to do it when he could've been minding his own task. But I'm really appreciative either way. I don't know where the fuck Cal is.

"Don't forget to use anything for hiding and leverage. And please, don't forget to bring back the device" Nice one, Poe. Imagine being in danger like this and not even being able to remember one simple thing.

"Okay, thank you, commander" I breathe through my mouth and grasp the blaster.

Looking over the computer screen, I see that there's only forty seconds left and the door is about to burst open. At the same time, I hear Poe for the last time.

"We're sharing a beer when we land in Coruscant. I wanna learn some technology tricks" I barely have time to laugh as I watch the door sling open.

Okay, breathe. One. Shoot.

Shit.

I miss it by inches. From across the room, I look at Anakin giving me a snide stare as the blast just crossed past his shoulder. I gasp from the outcome and the sudden surprise, but he doesn't give me time to process everything as he shouts at me. His eyes are pure angriness and his shoulders are stiffened.

"Come on, I don't have all the time in the world!" Anakin waits by the door as I quickly set the system to wipe everything out and grab the device before we sprinted out of there.

We rushed with him behind me, there was a mess all over the place and the blaring alarm was deafening. I couldn't even aim while running, my hands were sweating and I was afraid of tripping on my foot. He kept dodging the attacks as well as blocking them from coming at me. This is the most attention I'm going to get from him and it's kinda funny given he hates me.

Anakin pulled a hand over my shoulder to guide me towards the hangar, my eyes shifting to take notice of what was incoming. I tried to at least shoot some of the droids but I was terrible at it.

"Grievous just left the hangar with an escape pod" Cal spoke up after a while and I let out a heavy and long exhale. "Knock down these fucking droids and hurry up!"

I didn't understand the seriousness in his voice, the Jedi Knight behind me still hasn't said a word yet and I have no idea what I'm actually doing at this point. Shooting at them and missing doesn't quite help knocking them down faster and I swear I can hear Anakin just groaning in frustration.

Out of nowhere my arm gets yanked back by a guard droid, pulling me over a room and wrapping its robotic arm around my neck. As if I was panicking already, this time I was pretty sure I was going to collapse. I tried to shove myself off from the tight grip, but it only made me flinch more.

"Drop your weapons, Master Skywalker" It said with their gun stuck to my temple.

I looked at him with such fright, my eyes were desperately crying for help. Anakin frowned, using his flesh hand to hold the lightsaber while the other one he used to pull back using his force.

"Let her go!" He screamed, bloodshot eyes and blue irises staring at the droid holding me. "I said let her fucking go!".

"I'm sorry, Master. We have a mission of our own to do" The droid said before managing to leave me unconscious on the floor.

Anakin:

Fuck. Shit. Motherfucker. Fucking cunt.

I kneel in front of her as she lies unconscious on the floor. She seems to be breathing, but I have no idea what this cocksucker did to her. I didn't expect my mission to be such a disastrous piece of shit. As she's still out, I look back at the droid that's staring at me with a puzzling look on its face.

I know how to read droids' faces and it's a gift from heaven. It's easy to trick them when I want.

"What did you do?" I shout and use my hands to shove it back with the force. I tap her face a few times, she doesn't even flinch. My voice barely comes out as a whisper to avoid the other droids to find me.

How much worse can it get?

I grab her, sliding my arms under her torso and lifting her up in a quick motion. At least she's easy to carry. Through my comlink, Cal starts getting riled up and spitting words like he was worried about something. And then I remember about their friendship.

Fuck me.

I try to ignore all the cursing through my ear, at the same time as I pull (Y/N) up on my shoulder, her body swinging as I run faster. I can't dodge all the attacks at once, but I maneuver myself avoiding getting us both killed. My lightsaber slashes them, knocking them down making it easier to get to the hangar.

"I have her, Kestis! Will you shut the fuck up now?" My voice screeches when I yell at him and my throat hurts.

"Why doesn't she answer her fucking comlink, then? Did you kill her, Skywalker?" His voice started to annoy me, my head was hurting from all the situation. I groan loud enough for him to listen.

"Yeah sure, I killed her and now I'm bringing her body myself because I'm just that smart. She's fucking unconscious, relax!"

And now he's just being even louder and insufferable.

Poe spoke up, his voice emerging like an angel sent from God. "Alright, guys. Let's just settle down, we're not at kindergarten".

I roll my eyes at his statement, rushing towards the hangar. The only ship in good shape was one of theirs, and Cal was standing in front of it. He was pacing around, hands on his hips, his forehead was creased and when he saw us he bolted forward.

"What the fuck happened?" The redhead asked in dread, throwing his arms up.

"We don't have time for bickering right now, Cal. Just help me get her up inside!" I swear my head was going to explode anytime soon. "A droid pulled up some shit on her and she just blacked out".

Could've said it sooner, he would probably understand. He looks at me like he knows something, but I don't bother asking.

"It was probably a spell or something. We need to lay her down" He says sternly as we approach the back of the vehicle and drop her on a cushioned bench.

"This is not what I planned for this goddamn assignment!" I mumble before turning on my back to both of them, heading to the cockpit.

"Well she got the fucking device, you should be glad she could do it and not die either!" He spat back, his hands holding her feet as he props her on the bench.

I just turn away from him making my way to my seat, turning on the gears. Hopefully we'll be back sooner than I expect, I just want to take a long shower and be with Luke for a while.

"We're good to go?" Dameron asks, his voice in a relieved tone as he watches us leave the hangar.

"Yes, commander" I mirror his tone and fly off the starship.

My mind eases as we leave it behind, I feel my hands grip the yoke from the ship tight. We didn't get to do the trade, Grievous noticed our plan way before we could get ahead of them. They attacked us in a matter of seconds, bolting at us with no time to figure out an escaping route.

This one mission is hours away from Coruscant, so it was going to be a pain in the ass to sit this close to Kestis. The moment I realized I had to be next to him it just made me pissed. I don't care about (Y/N) on the back, she tried to help and she barely knows how to blast a gun.

I won't complain about how Cal helped the team out there, as a matter of fact. But I still can't stand seeing his face, considering we just confronted each other the other day. The guy always means good to people, but it doesn't stop me from hating his guts after what he pulled on me during our meetings.

Almost two hours after we left Grievous' ship, we were almost entering the Coruscant atmosphere. That was when she finally woke, a grunt escaping from her lips as she finally took in where she was. Cal helps her lean against the wall, while she places a hand over her head.

"Holy shit" That's her first words after waking up. She can't help but smile at the achievement she made.

I watch as she still keeps the smile on her face, pulling the device between her fingers and raising the object in front of her eyes. It took me seconds to notice I myself had a side smile against my will. The red head leans for a hug, both of them laughing.

I can't help but clear my throat before I regret doing this. "Uh- Good job out there, geek. The team is proud of you" I barely speak and the guy seems to remark that.

"What did you say? We can't hear it!" He says it out loud on purpose, and I feel my hands balling into fists. "Did you just compliment (Y/N/N)?"

"Don't push it, Kestis" My eyes roll to the back of my head, I push myself off the wall. "Good to see you're up".

They stare at my figure quite shocked, their faces almost the same as their mouths hanging open in such a surprise. I'm very aware that's the kind of effect I cause on people when I'm being nice, and I know I'm not really the golden boy of the year either.

But I can't just avoid the fact that, without her, we wouldn't have information about General Grievous and his army. Even though it didn't end how we expected it, that's a win after all.

Before I walk back to the cockpit, I hear her cracked voice speak up. Like she was embarrassed of talking to me. "Thank you for saving me out there".

My head nods before I turn on my heels, it almost feels like I've switched back to the young Anakin. Real smooth, Skywalker.

@jackie-on-the-loose @adorbzliz @himesuedi @kingdomhate @himesuedi @cl0esblogg

[oceansssblue]

might i request: with either tech or echo, the choice is yours

jedi f!reader- she gets fatally injured on a mission in order to protect the rest of the bad batch and dies in his arms

after her death, she appears to him as a force ghost while he is grieving, provides comfort

thanks!!!

Angsty one with Echo coming right up! Can life throw anything else to this poor man? 🥹💔

At least he got some healing&comfort at the end. Hope you like it!

Xx,

Sky.

"THE GHOST OF YOU"

ECHO/GHOST!F READER 📩💔(💖)

WARNINGS: DEATH OF MAIN CHARACTER (AKA YOU) AND APPEARING AS A FORCE GHOST, SADNESS, CRYING, HEARTACHE, MENTIONS OF WAR AND BEING TIRED AS IN BEING TIRED OF FIGHTING&LIFE, DEEP CONVERSATION, COMFORT.

Echo stared at the dried blood staining his hand. He could feel his emotions swirling restlessly inside of him; threatening to spill and destroy everything in its way in just a matter of seconds or minutes. He was alone in the barracks of Clone Force 99; Hunter reporting their disastrous mission to the Jedi while the rest swallowed their pain down and tried to let it drain in the shower.

Echo had done his best not to crumble in battle either. When his general had been on his arms back on the Marauder on their way back to Kamino, though, he's voice had being pannicked and desperate; he literally begged you not to leave him, to "please, please, stay with me". You had answered with a pained tired smile and fluttering eyes; a broken whisper of a "I'll always be with you, my Echo" the last words that left your lips.

You hadn't. You hadn't stayed; you had died on that next moment, your eyes shutting closed and your body growing limp, and all Echo could do was hold what was left of you in his trembling arms, his heart shattering in a million pieces while he fought not to let an ugly loud sob out, needing to be in private before he allowed himself to break down.

Tears blurred his vision again, his own body slumping down on the floor this time; and the tide of his emotions finally ripped his soul, body shaking uncontrollably with his broken cries and sobs. He closed his eyes shut, bending down on himself until his forehead pressed against the cold floor; trying to hold himself together through the heartache and pain.

Tears wet his cheeks. Flashes of his moments with you runned through his mind. Some happy, some soft and vulnerable, some sad and angry. All of his lost oportunities were relived too; all of his regrets of not having persued anything further with you. All of his childish hopes, dreams and desires washed away by the emptiness of your abscence.

His cries turned to small quiet whimpers and sounds when he pressed his jaw shut. He was so tired. He was so tired of fighting one time after another, of loved ones being taken away from him, of him always pushing through under the worst conditions only to be forced to live through this constant heartache. He just...

"Don't wanna do this anymore" he whinned to himself, shaking against the floor, eyes still closed. "Please..."

He didn't know who he was begging to; but he did know for what. He wanted the pain to go away. Wanted his loved ones to come back. Wanted to...

"Echo" a soft, gentle voice whispered at his side.

Recognising said voice, Echo quickly rightened himself to a sitting position, prosthetic knees scrapping against the floor; eyes shooting upwards.

"C-cyare?" his voice could barely be heard in the quietness of the room.

His breath hitched when you nodded and sadly smiled. It was you; the shape of your body and features perfectly recognisable even in this blue, translucent, wavering tone. Echo quickly understood; you were a Force ghost. He had heard it before.

"Cyare..." he called you, voice trembling, before breaking down into another cry again.

Echo felt your presence by his shoulder; almost as if you were touching him, even if he knew that that couldn't be possible like this.

"I'm sorry, Echo" you whispered, softly. "But I'm glad you're all okay".

Echo wanted to snap at you. Wanted to shout that they hadn't needed your help, that the Batch could defend themselves; but the truth was that they would have died without your sacrifice, and it wasn't fair to put it on you. Echo always knew of your devotion to helping others; he knew you would do it all over again.

He took a deep breath in and tried to calm himself. He stared at your Force ghost.

"You know I loved you, right?" He told you, voice unwavering, feelings vulnerable and completely exposed to you.

The raw emotions in his eyes and face would have made your heart ache if you could still feel one. You slowly sat down in front of him.

"I know" you smiled, a tiny fond thing.

Echo felt relieved upon hearing the answer; and confused as well. You could almost hear his question. Then why didn't you do anything about it?

"I had made an oath to the Order" you gently, patiently explained. "No attachments. You always made my promise start to crumble. Now... I wish I had forgotten about it and used my time better".

Echo closed his eyes and saved those words in his soul.

He opened then again and looked at you. He looked like a lost child, your beautiful Echo.

"I don't know how to carry on" he whispered, broken.

You tried to send a wave of the Force to comfort him.

"You have good brothers that will help you to move on" you soothed him, gentle.

Echo sighed and glanced down at the floor.

"I'm tired of this war".

You couldn't tell him much else.

"I know".

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Echo looked back at you.

"Have you... Fives?" He temptitavely asked, hope in his resignment.

You smiled.

"There's a process to become a Force ghost" you explained. "It's easier for the Jedi to complete. But I've felt his esence. He's here. I'll try to help him reach that state".

Echo nodded, smiling sadly.

"Good. Good" he mumbled, exhausted.

Sleep was tugging at the corners of his mind; his emotions draining the last of his energy. He didn't think he'd have strength to even move to the hammock on the other side of the room.

"Will you stay a bit longer?" He asked, blinking slowly, body dropping to one side.

You nodded softly.

"I can't stay permanently, but I'll stay now. And I'll be here in the future if you need me as well. I'll always keep an eye on you, Echo".

You caressed his cheek even if you couldn't feel the warmth of his skin like that.

Echo sighed pleasantly. He did feel a tingling sensation on his cheek. He wasn't totally alone. Never would be.

"Thank you" he whispered, eyes finally closing, body growing lax against the floor.

You smile and keep on comforting him.

"Just find strength in your new family, love. Fives and I will wait for you. You'll help me keep his Force ghost from terrorising shinnies" you joke, quietly.

Echo hums; the thought pulling a soft smile on his lips before sleep finally takes him away.

You stay until you hear the Batch's tired steps making his way back to their barracks, and you know they'll take care of him.

THE END.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

*Cries*

Back to main masterlist here:

[bittersweetcreep]

Yandere!Red Luna!Damian Breaks into His Darling's "Home"

WARNING Unhealthy Behavior, Smelling of Clothes, and a Horny Teenage Boy

The sky was beautifully painted in different shades of orange and red, there was no clouds to be seen for miles. Looking down, Luna can be seen locking the front door of her "house." She was wearing her suit at the moment. The suit hugged her nice and tightly just the way he liked it. His eyes scanned over her hips, thighs, and eventually her ass. Damian smirked, continuing to watch from the building he's perched on.

Damian waited patiently for her to leave, and when she did, he jumped down from the building he was hiding on. Shooting out his grappling gun, he glided his way down until he landed in front of the building. So there he stood in front of Luna's "home." It was easy following her to this place, but getting in was another story. The first time he tried breaking in, he had easily picked the lock. He opened the doors to what looked like a waiting room with 2 doors leading to 2 separate hallways that lead to the same direction. But at the end of both hallways are doors that need a key card, Damian decided to better prepare himself for the next time he was going to "visit" Luna's "home" again.

It took some time to gather everything he needed i.e. using Batman's bat-tech when he's not looking. It wasn't easy getting his hands on them, and at tops took about a week much to Damian's annoyance.

He's been preparing for this very moment. He could barely contain his excitement. He picked the lock and went straight towards one of the doors, he made his way down the hall towards the door that needed a key card. Damain pulled out a copy of the key card the people here before Luna used. He made it with Batman's bat-tech.

He pushed opened the now unlocked door to see a large laboratory with 2 double doors labeled storage. He made his way to the storage doors opening them. To Damian's curiosity, there was an elevator that didn't need some kind of pass code or key card.

Stepping into the elevator, he noticed there were 2 buttons for 2 levels. Pushing the second levels button, the elevator took him straight down. The elevator doors opened to a hallway with 5 doors, all with labels. Embryo Room, Classroom, Medical Room. Training Room and Living Quarters. Damian wasn't interested in the classroom or the medical room he was more interested in the training room, her living quarters, and that embryo room.

The embryo room has a key card lock and needs a pass code too, so there is no going in that room for now. Damian decided to look around Luna's living quarters first. He opened the door to see a living room on his left and a kitchen/dining area on his right. He also found a bathroom in the hallway with a hallway closet too. They're 2 bedrooms, a master bedroom and a spare bedroom. Luna seems to be using the spare bedroom.

Damian immediately started going through her closet. While looking through her clothes, he noticed a smell, bringing an article of clothing to his nose he smelled coffee and cinnamon with vanilla. This scent it was Luna's, and it smelled so god damn good. He deeply inhaled her scent. Damian was getting so high off of the scent that he almost didn't notice she only had 7 outfits.

He made a note to take her out shopping sometime. He takes note of all the scarves, turtlenecks, and chokers, thinking that's her style he made a note to keep those items in mind. Going through her bookshelf, he wrote down all of the novels that's on those shelves. Most of the novels are by the same author. He wrote that down, too.

Next to the bookshelf is her desk, where she keeps all her art supplies and sketch books. Going through one of her sketch books, he saw drawings of Batman and Nightwing, especially Nightwing, even ones where he's just Dick Grayson. Damian can feel his jealousy and possessiveness taking over him, controlling himself enough to not rip out those drawings from this book and burn them until they are nothing but ashes.

Plotting a new way to kill that pretty boy without Bruce interfering again, he turns the page to find a drawing of him as Robin. It makes sense. Luna only knows him as Robin, but still, she drew him. Cracking a smile, he flipped the page to see himself again. There were 10 drawings he found of himself in total. Damian had a crazed smile. His heart was racing with an adrenaline rush, a feeling he could get addicted to.

His phone rang a familiar tone, telling him it was Bruce. Setting down Luna's sketch book, he begrudgingly answered Bruce as he made his way out of Luna's living quarters, heading straight to the elevator to exit the building. Damian will have to come up with another plan to sneak out of the Wayne mansion again and away from Bruce's supervision because he is definitely coming back.

[thatoneloonaticsfan]

I don't know if anyone thought of this, but what about a Loonatics Unleashed opposite au? I already have a few ideas:

Common stuff:

- All the Loonatics are villains while all the villains are the heroes.

- The Loonatics black part of the suits are white.

- The triangles on the Loonatics suits are upside-down.

- Some of these might change.

- Zadavia and Optimatus are gods instead of aliens in this au.

- Might genderbend them later but I don't know.

- They have the same powers as they do in the normal show.

Now, the Loonatics themselves:

- He's usually always angry and has a big temper.

Ace Bunny Rabbit:

- Refuses to share the same last name as his sister Lexi.

- His laser eyes are always activated, meaning he's always ready to shoot and blast at anyone.

- His laser eyes are only off when he looks at someone he likes (cough cough Duck cough cough.) or is calm. (Which barely happens.)

- He literally hates everyone, especially Zadavia, Lexi, and sometimes Rev.

- Only leader because Duck didn't want to be.

- He has a big ego and will usually use it to make himself bigger then he actually is.

- Everyone hates him besides Duck and Tech. (Tech is too dumb to hate him or to really care.)

- "God damn it guys! You always ruin everything!"

Danger Duck(ling):

- Cares about Ace a lot and is the only one who calls him a good leader.

- How is he a villain?

- The others don't understand and see him as more innocent and such.

- He doesn't really like being looked at or having attention on him.

- Hates attention actually.

- Doesn't feel like he deserves to be loved by anyone or anything.

- Everyone likes him.

- Has 0 self-confidence.

- He usually likes staying away from fighting so he always asks Zadavia if he can just stay at HQ because he hates fighting but still does go out in the field to try and help.

- Has never harmed anyone during a fight unless he has to get away.

- He is Zadavia's favorite.

- Cares about the others and if they get hurt. (He usually bandages them up and such.)

- He usually tries to hide when there are a lot of people.

- Hates having a lot of eyes on him. (He's better with one on ones.)

- Never swears (He refuses to and sees them as very hurtful.)

- Everyone respects and loves him, which he doesn't get.

- Hides his face most of the time. (He thinks his scars make him look ugly.)

- "Are you guys ok? Nothing broken or anything right?"

- Unlike what his original name says, he is actually very dumb and stupid.

Tech E. Coyote Experiment 402/The Mutt:

- Doesn't know what is happening a lot of the time.

- He is more like a savage animal.

- Enjoys getting hurt or killed because he at least knows he'll just come back.

- Is around Rev most of the time because he enjoys Rev's threats to cut him open or skin him when he's fully aware he'll be fine.

- Speaks about nonsense a lot of the time, which annoys Rev more as Rev corrects him a lot.

- He would kill the rest of the team if it wasn't for the collar Rev made.

- He has a big kill count.

- Dispite hating Rev as well he does find Rev attractive for some odd reason.

- "Come on, just one bite won't hurt."

Rev Runner:

- His hair or top feathers are down all the time, and his tail feathers are very short and also down

- The smart guy of the group. (Someone has to be.)

- Likes roadrunner meat. (Yes, he's a cannibal.)

- Blames Rip for all his scars. (An accident happened causing Rev to have a lot of burn marks and losing an arm which he had to replace with a robot one and losing vision in one of his eyes.)

- Hates Tech but also enjoys him sometimes.

- Was the hated child who also got abused. (Which is also why he hates Rip because Rip got a lot of good attention.)

- If you ever use 'Runner' when addressing him, he'll completely ignore you.

- Is the only one who can keep up with Tech's nonsense, which while annoying, he knows what to correct.

- Is lazy most of the time and only makes inventions when he feels like he has to.

- The one who least repeats or likes Duck, but he still does somewhat.

- Usually talks business with Slam.

- Never goes on missions because he's to lazy to.

- Always wears a lab coat.

- Rip believes he's dead.

- "No, you can do that later after a few tests I do on them."

Slam Tasmanian:

- Secret Villian

- Is the only Loonatic people don't know about as he doesn't go on missions and is very busy with his business.

- Has a successful business and is very rich.

- Speaks perfect English and is British. (Don't ask how.)

- Hates getting his hands dirty.

- Is the only reason Rev can make his inventions.

- "As you can see on this chart."

Lexi Bunny:

- Is a spoiled brat.

- Hates Ace as she seems him as very usless.

- Will usually say how beautiful she is and comparing herself to the others to bring them down. (She barely does it to Duck.)

- Hates it when people bring up her flaws, but she's perfectly fine with bringing others flaws up to make herself look better.

- Hates video games and sees them as a waste of time.

- Is usually putting makeup on herself or making herself look good before missions.

- "God damn it! You broke one of my nails!"

Zadavia:

- Godess of chaos and disharmony. (Again and her brother are gods in this au.)

- Hates everyone besides Duck.

- Hates Ace the most.

- Actually tries to spoil Duck which he's uncomfortable with.

- Keeps asking Duck if he wants to be the lead, which he says no to.

- "I'm so proud of you Duck."

That's all for now! Note again that some of these might change and let me know if you wanna know if you guys want a part 2. Hope to see ya all later!

[pandagyaru]

Holding Out for a "Hero"

Description: You get compromised during a mission and sombra comes to save you!

Warnings: graphic detail of injury and typical overwatch violence

Pairing: Sombra x Gender Neutral Reader

Author's note: Sombra is one of my wifes fr. And listening to this song gave me a idea!

You crouched behind a large crate, holding your gun to your chest as you breathed a deep breath. A guard stood watch at a door a foot away from you, marching back and forth to scan the perimeter. You look up and over to where Widowmaker laid, her sniper zoomed in on your head as she watched you. Sombra stood a few feet away from you, her tech glowing a slight purple only you seemed to see as she hacked away at whatever it is she was hacking. Your hands felt clammy on your gun, you didn't wanna fuck this up.

"(Code name) you in position?" Reaper's gruff voice asked, knocking you out of the anxious spiral you were falling into. You blinked a few times, reaching up and clicking your ear piece.

"I am, are the cameras down?" You look over where sombra was to see her gone. 'that must be a yes'. You take a deep breath before jumping out from behind the crate, lunging at the guard. You grab him by the neck and twist it, a sickly crunch echoing out in the quiet corner of the warehouse. You look at the door to see it has an eyeball scanner. 'clearly sombra's hacking wasn't for this' You thought. You look down at the dead guard in thought, grimacing as you get an idea.

"This is so fucked up" You whisper, crouching down to the guard. You reach over to his face, digging your fingers into his eye socket. The oils of the eye making a gruesome noises as you reach around his eye, yanking it out. Blood spurts out onto your uniform, You stand up and hold the eye out to the scanner. It scans and lets you in. (so sorry for this image to be put in your guy's heads, zombieland 2 inspired me for that part). The door opens and you step in, pocketing the eye in case you need it again. You click your ear piece.

"I'm in"

"Good, get what we came here for and lets go." Reaper says. You look around the room, the walls covered in what seems to be the owner of the rooms achievements. At the end of the room is a desk and a computer. You walk over to it, not even bothering to get into the computer cause that's not your job. You start digging into the drawers, not finding the very important document Doomfist ordered all of you to get. You're about to call the others when you feel the bottom of one of the drawers lift up a bit.

"A false bottom" You whisper. Just as you start to open it an alarm goes off, locking your hands into the drawer. You curse, using your other hand to reach for your ear piece. A bunch of guards burst into the room, their guns aimed. You duck behind the desk, praying they don't see you. You close your eyes, trying to calm your racing heart. A glowing purple figure appears behind the guards. She aims her smg pistol at them and starts shooting, their bodies falling to the floor. She smiles as she walks over to where your at, looking at your hand and your face questioning you. You breathe out a breath of relief as you see her pretty face.

"It was a trap" You muttered as she leans down to get your hand out. You wince as she rips it out the trap, your thumb aching.

"Sorry. I saw the guard out there with the missing eye. You know I could've just hacked it open right?" She stated, rubbing your thumb gently, her eyes locking with yours.

"Yeah, but I assumed you were busy doing something else"

"I was, I found the actual room they were keeping the document in. Probably should've told you huh?" She teases, leaning over and kissing your cheek.

"Probably. Please don't tell me my thumb is broken. I don't need Moira to check on it" You joke, putting your hand on Sombra's cheek and just holding it. She snorts a bit at you, leaning into it.

"You'd come back to me with a whole new arm" She says, eyes widening as she feels blood on her face. She grabs your hand to make sure you're not bleeding.

"Don't worry, it's not mine" You say smugly, booping her nose with your bloodied finger. She rolls her eyes and wipes it away.

"Let's get going before boss get's all grumpy at us" She stands up, grabbing your arm and helping you up.

"Thank you olivia" You whisper in her ear, smiling.

And well if she finds the guards eye in your pocket, its a secret between me and her.

I seriously hope this is good and not at all over the place.

LOVE YA

[twinsunstars]

Thoughts on The Bad Batch Episode 7 - Extraction - A Discussion Post

This episode was full of even more action and a lot more thoughts and theories than the episode before it. Let's dive into the second part!

(SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODES YET! all screencaps from www.cap-that.com! https://www.cap-that.com/starwars/the-bad-batch/307/)

Before Episode 6 ended, the clones' base on Teth was attacked, and the CX trooper emerges from the rubble that fell on him, clearly alive and well. He looks around, as there is no one to be found.

Everyone is doing okay, but the rubble blocks their way out. Batcher finds a different way out as they decide to take that way, sticking together to reach a ship they can use to contact Echo.

Wolffe arrives at the base, realizing that there were clones who were attacked. He meets CX-2, asking him what his orders were, who refuses to tell him that. Wolffe makes him follow his orders only, while the CX trooper keeps following his own orders. I've seen posts on the parallels between Tech's limping in Season 2 to how CX-2 was limping here, and I'm living for those parallels to keep the theories going. The CX trooper can't reach his ship after his device was damaged, so he sticks with the others.

Also, I love Clone Commander Hilo already.

The boys and Omega manage to find the ship and get it working to make their escape. Batcher starts licking Nemec, and Omega says, "Don't worry. She only bites half of the time," which was funny. Batcher loves all of the clones around her.

While trying to escape, CX-2 shoots their ship down, making their escape fail. They crash into the jungle.

Wolffe argues with CX-2 after he shot their ship down, and tracks down the crashed ship. CX-2 goes with while they try to continue their efforts to retrieve Omega.

Everyone makes it out of the crash safely, continuing to run. Crosshair checks in on Omega, who gets annoyed by his continuous questions. I love how overprotective he started becoming here. Omega said, "You're as bad as Hunter", and Crosshair said, "Oh, I'm much worse." MY HEART-

Howzer starts to talk to Crosshair calmly after seeing how he interacts with Omega and takes care of her, realizing that he's not the same clone he met on Ryloth anymore. Crosshair opens up about how he feels about loyalty, as that is something he values highly. With the Empire betraying him, there was no way he was going to stay loyal to them.

The Empire locates them, as they fight and protect each other. I loved the way that Wrecker had protected Batcher and Hunter was protecting Omega in this scene. CX-2 attacks them as well, and Crosshair decides to go after him. Omega didn't like that idea, to which he responded, "Too bad."

RIP to Nemec 😭

Crosshair faces off against CX-2 in an aggressive fight, and anyone else getting the Winter Soldier vibes here? CX-2 starts talking to Crosshair, saying, "You had your chance to become one of us. You chose the wrong side." If this is Tech, that's going to hurt so much afterwards. If it's someone else, it's still going to hurt. CX-2 manages to take down Crosshair, but is attacked by the others who saves Crosshair. He falls down the waterfall, left behind.

The Empire catches up to the squad, as Rex finally meets Wolffe face-to-face. Wolffe thought Rex was dead after reading the reports, and he believes in the Empire's cause. Rex tries to tell him that he's making the wrong choice and that clones are being hurt because of them, but Wolffe isn't able to believe anything right now.

Echo arrives with Gregor, as Rex waits for Wolffe to make a choice; either leave the Empire and come with them, or stay. Wolffe decides to stay, and allows the squad to leave safely. Rex looks back on Wolffe, and Gregor looks at the whole scene. They have no idea they're going to be roommates in the near future.

I swear, Wolffe looks so good in today's animation. He watches the clones leave, returning to his own squad. I can't wait until he joins them and realizes his mistakes.

CX-2 emerges from the water after going down the waterfall. Another parallel to Tech, though, who knows. My head kept expecting him to take off his helmet so he could get some air, though I guess it's too early for that still.

Rex looks so tired in the back, and Hunter goes to talk to him. Rex immediately straightens up, acting like everything's fine. (Sir, you need to take a break and let your feelings run through.) Hunter tells him he can't keep running forever, but Rex doesn't want to stop fighting yet. We know he will eventually leading up to Rebels, and I fear what will happen to make him stop.

They both talk about Omega, and Hunter vows that they will keep her safe. Rex tells Hunter they have to find out why the people on Tantiss want her so badly, and the two look at a peacefully sleeping Omega, exhausted from the fighting. She is so precious, we all need to protect her.

We lost good soldiers in both of these episodes, and there's still a whole lot to figure out. Every episode so far in this season is hitting a really good mark, as every single one is so exciting. I can't wait for whatever comes in store in the future, so let's keep the theories going!

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

What exactly happened to Crosshair?

This is just speculation on my part because I'm really curious. I know we'll find out hopefully by "Identity Crisis," but it's fun to speculate.

Major Spoiler Warning

What we know: Crosshair has been on Tantiss for at least 5 months, he was experimented on and locked up, he was initiated into the Clone X program, the reconditioning didn't work because of his mutations, his hand tremors due to psychological trauma, Hemlock has no qualms on putting him through the wringer, the Clone X program involves identity erasure, and asking Cross to think about the events makes him avoid the topic all together

Crosshair in both "Bad Territory" and "Infiltration" displays strong reactions when forced to confront the painful memories associated with Tantiss. CX-1 frightens him. When he's asked to talk about what happened to him, he tries to leave in order to avoid talking about it. His facial expressions are also pained and he's clearly clamping up. We also know his hand tremors are connected to his trauma. Cross tries to deny it, but he knows deep down that he can't. He values his sniping skill greatly and that's being taken from him.

Speculation:

My first guess? Hemlock did something that makes Crosshair subconsciously not want to pull the trigger. We don't know what the reconditioning or identity erasure process looks like. I honestly think Hemlock almost succeeded. Maybe Hemlock was able to rip a part of who Crosshair was away? And since Hemlock almost succeeded, Crosshair internally feels broken. To feel like a part of him was taken could definitely impact how he feels about himself.

My second guess is that Crosshair was reunited with someone (Cody or Tech???) or was forced to kill during Clone X trials to see if the conditioning worked. Being forced to confront something he did while under Hemlock's control definitely would mess with him. Crosshair has been through a lot and he has grown. While he doesn't hesitate to take out the bad guys, he's never willingly shot his friends or family. The only exception was Wrecker in S1 when the chip was at the height of its power. Can you imagine the pain he would feel if Hemlock forced him to shoot someone, claiming them to one of the Batch or Cody, as a test?

Another person made an earlier post saying that he might've left someone behind (this assumes Tech or Cody are on Tantiss). Loyalty is a big part of who he is. Although Cross talks a big game, he wouldn't hesitate to save another whom he cares about. The pain and guilt of leaving someone you care for will also do things to the mind.

Conclusion: Crosshair will have to confront his trauma sooner or later. The meditation will help soothe his mind, but he needs to get to the root of the issue eventually. Otherwise, he'll never be truly at peace with himself. I have a feeling he will open up in "Identity Crisis" since that feels like an episode to have that kind of talk.

But what do you guys think?

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

The 'Language is Stupid' Game

Okay, so, I've been rereading your Marvel fics, specifically the Peter-centric ones. And they gave me an idea. What if Peter is sleeping over at his friend's house---let's say with his two besties MJ & Ned---and poor Spider Baby has a nightmare related to his superhero duties as Spiderman? It's a pretty bad nightmare, and he jolts awake, very confused and scared and a bit freaked out. Maybe his friends comfort him cause they already know he's Spiderman and goes through a lot bc of what being a superhero entails. Platonic all the way. Found family shenanigans. Anyway, no pressure to write it! Had it on my mind and wanted to share <3 Take care, Asbod! – anon

Read on Ao3

Warnings: peter has a nightmare/panic attack

Pairings: gen

Word Count: 3205

Peter wakes up from a nightmare during a sleepover with Ned and MJ. After a few moments of let's-all-be-glad-we're-alright cuddles, MJ has a rather unconventional solution for how to pass the time.

Can't breathe. Can't breathe. Can't breathe can't move can't breathe can't move can't let them down acan't stop now can't fail can't breathe can't move can't move can't fail can't can't can't can't—

"Peter. Peter."

There's a hand on his shoulder. The hand is made of concrete. His spine is going to break. He can't breathe. He can't move. He can't stop. He can't breathe—

"Shit, get the blanket off of him."

"I'm trying, I'm trying!"

"Peter? Pete, it's okay. It's okay, you're okay, you're fine."

He's not fine. His spine is about to break. He's about to fail and he can't fail, he can't move, he can't breathe—

"Peter," he hears again, the voice quiet and soft in his ear, "hey, it's okay. You're okay. Can you hear me?"

He gasps. His chest spasms. His hand shoots out in front of him and hits something—soft?

"Oh, shit, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm—hh, I'm fine. I'm good. Is he…?"

"Peter? Hey, Peter, wake up, it's just a nightmare."

Peter blinks. He blinks and one of his hands automatically goes to his neck to try and loosen his costume, but he's not wearing his costume, he's just in a t-shirt and he's…he's in a bed? He gasps again, his throat on fire, and something swims into view in front of him.

"Hey, there he is," he hears as a face appears, "hey, Pete, you back with us? You okay?"

"M—MJ?"

"Yeah, Pete, it's me. Ned's…Ned's on the floor."

A blurry thing sticks up from the other side of a mound of some more blurry things and waves. Ned's arm, probably. Peter blinks. His chest is still on fire too. He looks down at his hand. It's shaking. Why is his hand shaking?

"Hey." He looks up. MJ's still looking at him like he's about to disappear into the floor. "Hey, Peter, can you—can you do one of your grounding tests?"

"Um—" shit, is that what I sound like?— "yeah, yeah, that's…that's probably a good idea."

"Great. Can you, uh, can you tell me five things that you can see?"

"There's a, uh, there's a blue pillow over there that has that weird scorch mark from where we tried to make bottle rockets with the Stark Tech, there's the crack in the ceiling from where we didn't know that I could jump that high, there's the, uh, there's the blanket that Ned's grandma brought us 'cause she thought we'd be cold, there's the watch Yelena gave us last week, and there's the, um…there's the charging cord you ripped apart when you stole it from that Zionist guy at the library."

"Okay. And four things you can hear?"

"Uh…" He closes his eyes only for his chest to tighten right away and they snap open. "Uh, I'm—I'm talking, the air conditioner's going, there's—there are cars outside, and uh, the uh—the light in the bathroom's buzzing again."

"What about touch?"

He fumbles a bit on the blanket—one, nice and soft—to get the charm thing Wanda gave him from where it came off during the nightmare—two, hard and cool to the touch—and then hesitantly reaches out for MJ. She takes his hand and holds hit tight—three.

"Okay, good," she says when he tells her, "and smell?"

He sniffs a few times and has to sniffle through some of the gross nightmare crying stuff. "Uh, someone next door's making pizza again and they didn't close their windows. And, uh, I think your grandma left the candle on in the hall again?"

"Oh, shit." Ned scrambles up and ducks outside.

"And taste?"

He licks his lips. Something coppery catches on the edge of his tongue and his eyes widen. "Blood?"

"Come here, let me see." MJ squints at him. "I think you just bit your lip. You're okay."

"Okay."

"You feel any better?"

"Yeah," he says as Ned comes back in and crawls onto the bed too, "yeah, I think—I think I got it. I, uh, I'm sorry, I just—"

"Hey, you don't need to apologize." Ned shuffles closer. "You're a superhero. You're gonna have shitty nightmares. That's how it works."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you guys have to—"

"Have to what?" MJ narrows her eyes. "Have to be your friends? Have to support you when you have nightmares?"

"I just meant that—"

"Have to treat you like a person who needs support sometimes because we're all human and we have to do that?"

"Okay, okay," he mumbles, shoving her shoulder with their clasped hands, "you made your point."

"Good."

He blinks a few more times, the phantom pain from the nightmare still wreaking havoc on his shoulders. Ned shifts again to get the blanket out from under him and push it on the ground.

"Can I have some water?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's right here." Ned reaches over and picks up his water bottle.

"Thanks. Hey, uh, why were on the floor earlier?"

"Oh, you know," Ned says in that way that he always does when he's trying to hide something and failing miserably, "just, uh, thought I'd give you guys some space."

Peter frowns. He goes back over the last few minutes until his eyes widen. "Oh, shit, did I push you off?"

"What? No, no…okay, maybe, but! It wasn't your fault and it didn't even hurt that bad. Well—the falling off the bed hurt more than the punch. I mean, it wasn't like it hurt bad, it didn't even—okay, well, I don't think I have a bruise or anything. Or—maybe just one. Just one! But it's not your fault," he says when Peter looks even more distraught, "it's not, okay? I'm not mad, I don't blame you, I'm all good. It's like what Dr. Strange said, right? I'm a rubber ball! Everything just bounces off of me!"

"That wasn't what he meant, I don't think," Peter says, reaching out for him too, "are you—you're seriously good? I didn't mean to—"

"I know, I know. And I'm totally fine. Seriously." Ned takes his hand and makes him fist bump. "See? All good, Peter, we're all good."

"Okay."

Outside, a car drives by and a cat runs down the alley, meowing its protest.

"Well, hey," MJ says, reaching down to her backpack, "since none of us are gonna go to sleep for a while, let's play a game."

Ned glances at Peter, who nods. "Sure. I like games. What game are we playing?"

"It's called Language is Stupid." MJ takes out her notebook and flips to a blank page. "Okay, everyone write down five songs you know that the rest of us will know."

Peter takes the notebook and pen with a shaky hand and writes down five songs. He passes it to Ned, who passes it back to MJ. When she's written the last song, she rips out the page and tears all of the song titles into individual strips of paper.

"Ned, where's your hat?"

"It's in the closet, hold on."

"Thanks." She puts all the pieces into the hat and gives it a shake. "Okay, everyone pick one. Don't show anyone else."

Peter takes a piece of paper, glancing at it. "Just one, right?"

"Yeah, just one for now. Okay, now what we're gonna do is put the lyrics of the song up until the first chorus into Google Translate a shit ton of times and then read it out so the other people can guess what song it is."

"Wait, why is this game called Language is Stupid?"

"You'll see. Ready?"

"Wait, hold on, I need my phone."

"Can you hand me mine too?"

"Dude, you have a Spiderman case?"

"Yeah, my best friend's Spiderman, I can have a Spiderman case."

"Thanks, dude."

"Are you two ready?" They nod. "Okay. You have five minutes, go."

The next five minutes are spent peppered with various snickers and noises of confusion before MJ calls time. Peter shakes his head, looking down at his results and Ned fully snorts into his hand while MJ scribbles a makeshift scoreboard on a new page.

"Okay, who wants to go first?"

"Me." Ned sits up a little taller. "You guys aren't ready for this."

"Bring it on."

"We are talking about insects. Words fail me I will say one thing We saw that today It was too far I came with your wife, didn't I?

I like it I like it It will be left behind One or two days."

"I'm sorry, you did what with my wife?"

"Why are we talking about insects? What song is this?" Peter laughs incredulously. "What the—read it again, read it again."

"That's literally—okay," MJ says when Ned reads it again—they have to take a pause about halfway through because Ned's laughing too hard to be understandable—"maybe we should be looking more at the patterns of the sentences than the words themselves."

"So it's a lot of short sentences that sort of repeat but not really." Peter steeples his fingers under his chin. "'I like it…I like it…' What was the ending?"

"'One or two days.'"

"Wait, wait, wait, no way, is that 'Take on Me?'"

"No fucking way," Peter groans as Ned laughs and nods. "How the fuck did you get that? And where the hell did the insects come from?"

"'Cause it's—well, I don't know about the insects, but the wife thing—the actual lyric is 'I'll be coming for your love,' or something like that. So if it went through a bunch of times and turned into 'wife—'"

"Yeah, MJ got it."

"Sweet. So that's one point for me…"

Ned laughs as Peter shakes his head and flops onto his shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy, you'll get the next one."

"Dude, this game is way harder than I thought it was gonna be."

"Okay, me next." MJ squints at her phone. "I think this one is easier than Ned's was."

"Oh, good."

"Ready?"

"Yep."

"Go for it."

"You are my light a desirable feeling Believe me when I tell you This is what I want

But our two worlds are different. I can't hold your heart When you speak This is what I want

Please explain the reasons for this. Not bad, but sad Please explain the reasons for this. This is wrong. Please explain the reasons for this. I don't want to hear what you have to say. This is what I want."

"Oh, come on, this is way easier!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's fucking…Backstreet Boys Brooklyn 99 song. What's it called…" Peter flaps his hand. "'I Want it That Way,' that one."

"Yeah, you got it."

"Not bad, but sad," Ned sings, "this is wrong,' dude, that's so much better than the original."

"I will have no Backstreet Boy slander in this bed, sir."

"This is my house!"

"Then you should know better."

"That's one point for Peter," MJ says, ignoring the two of them, "okay, Peter, your go."

"Alright, you two better get ready for this one."

"Bring it on."

Peter hides a grin. "Imagine you are walking down the hall. I didn't hear, no, I didn't hear any sound. "Easy marriage!" Happy marriage!" - But unfortunately he bit the poor groom.

"Did you hear the door slam?!" No, it's better to approach it with kindness and understanding. "Didn't you hear someone knocking on the door?" I ended the conversation. No, it's my heart."

When he looks up from his phone, both Ned and MJ are staring at him like he's grown two heads. He smiles and tilts his head.

"Well?"

"I'm sorry, I thought we were playing the Google Translate the lyrics game, not who can read the most edgy indie poetry game."

"What the—are you sure this is a song that we all know?"

"Yeah, you guys know it."

"And this is like—this is the first verse and the chorus, right, this isn't like the weird coda of the extended version that's only available on the physical album from 1978, right?" Peter nods, still grinning. "What the—okay, you need to read it again."

Peter reads it again. And again. And each time MJ looks closer and closer to hitting him with a pillow and Ned looks more and more like he's never heard a single song in his life.

"Okay, wait, can we get a hint?"

"It's one of the ones you wrote down."

"Me? Why did I do this to myself?"

"Ned, quick, tell me what songs you wrote down."

"I don't remember!"

"How do you not remember, it was less that ten minutes ago."

"It is the middle of the night, my brain is so offline right now."

"Pssh, what kind of high school student are you?"

"The kind that doesn't know what song this is supposed to be!"

Peter stifles a giggle. MJ rolls her eyes, throwing her hands up and leaning off the edge of the bed. Ned screws his face up and starts muttering to himself, probably trying to remember what it was he wrote down.

"Ugh, Pete, just read it one more time."

"Imagine you are walking down the hall—"

"Oh, wait!" Ned shouts loud enough that they all have to have an 'oh shit' moment before he continues in a stage whisper. "It's the Panic! At the Disco song!"

MJ sits up. "It's the what?"

"The one with the wedding! The poor groomsbride is a—wait, what did that change to?"

"But unfortunately he bit the poor groom."

"What the fuck is that?"

"I don't know, it changed itself to—hey!" He splutters when a pillow hits him in the face. "What was that for?"

"You know what you did."

"This game was your idea!"

"Shut up. Ned gets that point."

Ned's still shaking his head like he has no idea how they got here, which to be perfectly honest, neither does Peter. They exchange a quick fistbump while MJ reaches for the hat again.

"All tied up after round one, let's do another one."

They keep playing. MJ gets them all equally angry about her version of 'Rain on Me,' they have to have a full pause so they can all asphyxiate from laughter at Ned's 'Somebody That I Used to Know,' and Peter's pretty sure he should take a picture of MJ's face as her contact photo when he reads out Google Translate's take on 'Rocketman.'

"That's homophobic, that's what that is."

"Come on, MJ, don't you want the slogan to be 'We will kill you?'" He dodges another pillow. "Rocketman…is the only one here…"

"You suck."

Eventually, they're down to the last one. MJ has 6 points, Ned has 3, Peter has 5. Ned's the last one to go and if the way he hasn't stopped snickering is anything to go by, they're in for it.

"We are not strangers You know the rules as well as I do. So I think so You can't meet anyone else I'll let you know what's on my mind You have to think about it I won't give it to you

I won't give it to you I won't give it to you I won't make you cry I don't want to stop I won't lie to you and I won't hurt you."

For long seconds after he finishes reading, no one says anything. He looks up from his phone, still giggling. Peter is stone-faced. MJ isn't so much as breathing.

"Well? What do you guys think it is?"

"You think you're clever?"

"I didn't write this one down!"

"You think you're really funny, huh?"

"I don't know what's so funny about this one."

"I'm disowning you as my best friend."

"Aw, Pete…"

"Friendship with Ned ended, MJ is my best friend now."

"Aw, but the song says—" Ned doesn't get to finish because MJ throws a pillow at him. "Hey!"

"You will not," she continues, picking up another pillow, "Rickroll us via Google Translate in this decade."

"I won't give it to you, I won't give it to you—hey!" He grabs a pillow and swats back. "Stay back!"

"Oh, yeah? Peter, help me!"

"In the name of decent memery and standards for clickbait, I cast thee out!"

Ned squawks—and nearly falls off the bed again—before he manages to hit either of them with the pillows. The room fills with the sound of rustling blankets and the thwomp of pillows hitting things as the hat tumbles to the ground, spilling bits of paper everywhere. MJ's notebook is the next to go. Phones clunk onto the floor, someone's leg ends up over the headboard, and eventually the three of them get so tangled up in the blankets they can't even move anymore. Peter lies there, panting, still breathless with laughter.

"Hey," Ned calls after a few seconds, still heaving too, "so who won?"

"Oh, uh—nah, fuck it, I can't reach."

"I think MJ, you won."

She raises one arm and lets it flop over her face. "Yay. Victory is mine."

Ned and Peter golf clap. She flips them both off.

"Hey, Peter?" Ned nudges him. "You feel better?"

He blinks. That's right, he'd had a nightmare. That's what started all of this. But even as sleep tugs at him, he doesn't feel as though he's about to fall back into any sort of spiral. Instead, the whole room just feels…fuzzy. Like the way the house feels when you fall asleep on the couch during a party and someone carries you to bed. Like it's safe. Like he's just a normal kid having a sleepover with his friends and he gets to be tired now.

"Peter?"

"Yeah," he mumbles, "yeah, yeah, I'm…I'm all good now."

MJ extricates herself from the worst of the blanket tangle and lies down next to him. "You wanna try to sleep some more?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Ned, get up here."

"Coming, coming."

The three of them manage to sort the blankets out enough to actually get under them. Ned reaches over to turn off the light. Peter stares up at the crack in the ceiling, drifting towards sleep, when the best idea occurs to him.

"Hey, guys," he mumbles, words already slurring, "we should…we sh'ld play this game with the 'vengers this weekend."

"Go to sleep, Pete, tell us dumb ideas tomorrow."

"'S not dumb…it'd be fun."

"Only if Ned and I get to hide when the pillow fight starts."

"Deal."

[moodymisty]

Wondering if you’re in the mood to write a tooth aching Crosshair fluff? Female tall reader if you’d like specifics? I think your writing of the boys is spot on, and all your Tech fluff fics are so cute!

Author's note: Am I in the mood for- of course I am! It's been a hot minute actually since i've done something for snipeyboy, so lets rip. It's as fluffy as I feel Crosshair would get, without treading into what I'd feel was too out of character (for me! everyone has their own vibe). (Also thankies for such kind compliments, I'm glad you enjoy my interpretation of the boys)

Warnings: One or two silly little lewd jokes, shooting a rifle, references to canon typical violence

"So, what's it like?" "Like shooting. What did you expect?"

"Have you always had that same rifle?" "Maybe."

"Can I see?" "No."

Crosshair was, complicated. Is, complicated; For as long as you've known him.

He fights almost every single one of your attempts to get close, and only when the lighting is perfect and the wind sings, does he leave a tiny opening for you to squeeze in.

It wouldn't be worth it, if you didn't love him and those perfect little moments in time so damn much. How his touch lingers for ages and his lips taste like fire, you can never get enough of him because for awhile, he didn't let you have enough.

But your incessant hammering on that wall of his has left cracks, enough so that he lets you close more often now; Enjoying a part of him that no one else has seen. You just needed to prove you were sticking around. And overtime, you've learned that Crosshair enjoys the type of interactions where you can both relax and just enjoy each other's presence, when he feels like no one but you is watching.

Now is one of those moments, as you lean against the wall next to where Crosshair is standing, looking down the scope of his rifle and preparing to take another shot.

You don't really know why he even entertains a range like this; It's so far underneath his skill level that it's almost laughable. Though you've learned it's more of a relaxing thing for him to keep him busy than anything. Much like some people tap their feet or chew their nails, Crosshair shoots. You'd call it a mindless gesture, but when is Crosshair ever really mindless?

You don't mind if he does this anyhow , as it's just as entertaining for you to relax here and just watch him. It's quiet and almost peaceful, the quiet noises other than the occasional shot. He's never directly asked you to leave, and while at first you might've thought it was to show off, he also seems to just like someone being around.

You run at a different pace than Crosshair, and he's become quite attached to it over time. You doubt the words will ever leave his lips, but his body and his eyes show it enough.

He fires another shot, hitting a small rock balancing off the hillock on the far end of the range.

He always makes this sort of stuff look so easy; And though you quite well know it isn't, you can't help but be curious about it all. You're always watching him intently when he shoots, and he's probably caught on, if you're being honest. But he's never let you anywhere near his beloved rifle; The closest is when you sit next to him while he cleans it.

Maybe today he just feels different; Or perhaps your curious stare has finally wore him down enough to share his passion more intimately, as he leans back and jerks his head in the opposite direction of you.

"Come here." He's staring at you, the barrel of his rifle pointed at the ground and the butt at about his hip. It takes you a second to realize what he's trying to do.

He's actually going to let you!

You almost have to contain your excitement, after so many times of just watching him. Scurrying closer he stands just behind your right side, speaking as he does something with the scope. His fingers deftly slide over a million different unknown pieces as you watch, the barrel pointed down to the dusty ground. The all move against each other in different ways, speaking a language only he knows.

"Ever shot a rifle before?"

You’ve shot normal blasters before, but not this. The toothpick between his lips flicks from one corner of his mouth to the other, looking down as his fingers brush over the dials of the scope. The base you're at is mostly dirt and dust; Hot and dry. It makes you miss Coruscant, even Kamino.

"Nope, not like this." He hums in acknowlegment. Crosshair finishes whatever he'd been doing it to ready the rifle for you and sets it in your hands, pushing the butt into your shoulder and adjusting your hands, and then your shoulders and back.

"Handling something a bit big for your first time."

He hears the way you snicker, and sighs.

"Dirty mind."

Once you're firmly holding the rifle he doesn't back away, instead just jerking his head quickly in the direction of the far end of the range and giving you a blunt:

"Shoot."

You can feel his eyes on you; They've always been so sharp that it's as if he's cutting right into you, as they glance over your body. They don't stop when you glance in his direction of a moment, before looking down the scope. You know snipers have to take into account things like gravity and the wind, and at some points even the curvature of the planet, but this is a shitty target range on some dusty no-name planet, so you just decide to wing it and see what happens.

Finger curling over the trigger you slowly tense, feeling the way the rifle kicks back into your body as you fire it. His hand against your back presses harder, as if trying to counteract it. You then instantly pull your face away from the scope, looking down the range.

It's not a perfect shot by any means, but it's a chest shot on the target. For a novice still at such long range weaponry you'll consider it a victory.

"Not bad." Crosshair says it with no undertone, lacking the snideness or venom he usually coats his words with for others. He tells you to do it again, and so you line up as best you can, adjusting before taking another shot at the same vaguely bipedal shaped target.

Better, right in the middle of the upper chest. On a person, it would've been quite close to their heart.

"Hmm. Good job." Crosshair's hand is still laying on the small of your back, and even drifts up and down once or twice, ghosting against your skin through your clothes.

You've seen glimpses of this Crosshair before; You know he's there under all of that prickliness. It's just apparently taken some quality time alone to bring it out.

"I think I still have some practicing to do, though." He looks down towards the end of the range.

"More than some." You can see he's baiting a response from you by the way his eyes are raised and his mouth is tight, trying not to smirk. It's one you know quite well, as it's the main way Crosshair gets you to do the things he might not want to say outright.

“What, are you gonna teach me?” Crosshair let’s a out a small hum. “Depends; Are you going to listen?” He watches the way your mouth curls into a sneaky little grin, with his much more reserved amused expression.

“I’ll listen at least sixty percent of the time.” Gently taking his rifle from your hands, he switches spots with you but doesn't assume a shooting position quite yet.

"That's wishful thinking. I know you don't have any patience." You roll your eyes.

"Can you just come here so I can give you a kiss? jerk." At first he doesn't, looking at you with a shit eating grin; Before he finally relents only in the slightest. You move the rest of the way, hands cupping his jaw as the tips of your fingers brushing against his hair.

His lips are warm against your own, before he pulls away and your lips part with the smallest 'pop'.

"Awfully rude to demand things from someone before insulting them." You see the rest of the Batch walking this way, so you just shrug and smile. "It works, doesn't it?" He can't disagree with it, since it's one of his main go to's.

Especially when he's being particularly bratty.

But with the rest of the group having located you both it's probably time to head out, leaving your brief little moment to end here.

"Ready to head out, you two? We have the coordinates and the ship's engines are hot." Hunter looks between the two of you, while Crosshair puts the Firepuncher in it's case. Hopefully this isn't the last time he shares it with you.

"Lets go!" You nod, before following him with Crosshair right beside.

[yoitsjay]

The Whispers (Ch.2)

Pairings: Hunter X fem! Reader

Summary: you had saved Hunters family, and he promised to keep your secret. Now to Dathomir... where the whispers grow strongest.

Warnings: cannon violence, references and direct mentions to characters from Star wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but before that. Hunter starting to feel things maybe? Cid loves you surprisingly. Rip

Word count: 3,300

You had run out of rations before the week’s end, and the droids were still here, searching for any remaining survivors. In the distance you could still hear screams, but you knew you had to go out to gunt, to stay surviving. So while Merrin slept you gathered your things, holding your bow in your hands as you left the cave, slowly creeping through the forest, keeping your eyes and ears open for any animals, or for any dangers you might face. You could still hear your sisters screams in your head, angry cries… You found yourself crying, albeit silently, the tears just pouring from your eyes.

You shook away the anger and the hate. You moved forward. You heard something skittering so you lowered yourself to the ground, readyyour energy bow to shoot the creature, however when you saw two assassin droids emerge from the trees you lowered the bow, and pressed yourself into a tree, sucking in a deep breath, hoping that they didn't see you.

However when you poked your head out you heard a very childlike scream, and your eyes widened when you realized they had Merrin, and were about to execute her, but not before asking where the others were hiding. You quickly sprung into action, firing two shots with your energy bow before teleporting behind the assassin droids, slicing their heads off with your scimitars. And yet, in all your rage you were, and they grabbed Merrin because of it, and now you were surrounded, blasters aimed at you on all sides.

You were too blinded by your anger to see that it was a trap, they had been tracking you as soon as you left that cave but you would NOT let them kill Merrin, or you… so with all the energy you had, just as they started firing time seemed to slow, and a orb of purple seemed to expand around you and merrin, the energy you had created bursting from your body, destroying all the droids and life around you, trees starting to burn. Your adrenaline kept you going, and you grabbed Merrin and ran, and you didn't stop running, not until you were in a completely different place, one you'd never explored.

You only stopped when your knees started to buckle. You were exhausted, but you needed Merrin safe. She needed to be sa-

You woke up with a sharp gasp, sitting up abruptly, only to slam your head on the bottom of the bunk above you. You let out a loud groan, rubbing your head which you could already tell was starting to bruise. You heard some footsteps, and looking up you Noticed Omega by your side with a medpack at the ready, Hunter, Tech and the others all stood behind her, looking at you with curiosity, and distrust. Omega pressed an ice pack to your head, and you whispered a thank you, turning to face the men in front of you. “You have questions.” You stated rather than questioned, and Tech stepped forward, giving you a quick scan as he seemed to cross reference something before looking at Hunter, showing him the data pad.

“What are you?” Hunter asked, and you sighed. “I am a Nightsister, or I was… before my entire clan was executed, and I was left to survive, living with the fear that I would be found, and killed alongside my sisters..” You explained as water dripped down your face, you quickly wiped it away, revealing some of the markings on your face. “I don't want anyone else to know who or what I am” you stated, keeping the ice back against your forehead. “So you are from Dathomir?” Tech asked, and you nodded. “yes… after this mission… that was where i was going to ask you to bring me… I get these nightmares, and there's something or someone always whispering in my head… it's time i head back, discover how to rid myself of the voices and these nightmares.” You explained, looking at Hunter.

“The price of a witch is high, which is why I hide myself and keep these abilities secret. I don't want to die or get hunted… So please Hunter, keep my secret.” You begged him, Feeling omega place her hand on top of yours. You smiled for a moment, gripping her hand for a moment before letting go.

The man looked back at the others, who all seemed to share a look of agreement before they looked back at you. Hunter nodded to you before speaking. “You saved my family, I think we owe you more than just keeping a secret.” He said, and you let out a relieved sigh. letting yourself relax again.

“We can take you to Dathomir after we drop off what we got to Cid.” Hunter told you and you nodded, standing up and taking a step towards him, pursing your lips slightly before you pulled him into a sudden hug. You didn't know how else to express your gratitude. You pulled away from him, and he offered you a smile.

“Thank you.” You muttered to him, taking a step back as you looked at the others. “And thank you all as well, truely.” You added, looking back at Hunter with a smile.

“You know we work pretty well together.” You started, walking out with him to the cockpit. “Oh yeah?” He questioned, turning to face you. You grinned and nodded. “Well when we set those charges, we were like water and stone, they work together so smoothly that it just looks natural” You stated, sitting down in the cockpit.

You didn't say anything else after that as tech announced that the ship was dropping out of hyperspace, Hunter grabbed a seat beside you, pondering what you said.

The talk was Cid was over as soon as it started, The bad batch got their credits, and Cid seemed happy. However before you could turn around and leave, she gently grabbed your arm. “Hey, before you leave me in the dust with your new friends, I wanted to give you something. I know you've been improving with your sniping, so…” Cid trailed off before she ducked behind the bar, appearing moments later with a beautiful sniper rifle.

She handed it to you, seeing how big your smile grew. “Oh kriff Cid… it's beautiful, it matches the engravings on my scimitars… Thank you Cid.” You breathed out, pulling the Trandotian into a tight hug, however she quickly shoved you away, turning her head to the side.

“yeah whatever just go- and if you come back, stop in and say hi” She stated, pushing you towards the bad batch. You snickered, waving goodbye as you hooked the sniper on your back, letting it connect to a third magnet you had there, just for this moment. You walked up to Hunter, nodding.

You good with that thing?” he asked, and “Please.”the Trandotian into a tight hug, however she quickly shoved you away, turning her head to the side.

“yeah whatever just go- and if you come back, stop in and say hi” She stated, pushing you towards the bad batch. You snickered, waving goodbye as you hooked the sniper on your back, letting it connect to a third magnet you had there, just for this moment. You walked up to Hunter, nodding. “Are you good with that thing?” he asked, however you just shrugged. “I'm good, not great but good.” You stated, taking one last look at Cid before walking out with Hunter.

You made your way back to the Marauder, and quickly you snagged the fresher before anyone else, splashing some water onto your face, giving it a good scrub before drying it off with a stray towel you found. you set it back, and stared at your reflection, dragging your fingers over the markings on your face. You smiled, and walked back out of the fresher, looking over at the clones who were already off doing their own thing on the Marauder while tech set course for Dathomir.

You felt like you still needed some rest, so you made your way over to Hunter, tapping his shoulder to get his attention. When he looked up at you after fiddling with whatever he was working on, you smiled sheepishly. “Sorry to ask but- is it okay if I steal your bunk for a bit longer? I'm still quite tired and… If I'm going to face whatever is on Dathomir, I think I'll need some more rest.” You requested, not expecting Hunter to agree right away.

“Of course, thank you for asking. Go ahead and take my bunk, and if you need anything else just let me know.” He offered to you, and you smiled. “And you.” You replied, turning and walking away from him. You could feel his eyes trained on you still as you walked away, however you didn't pay any mind, and as soon as you reached the bed and got comfortable you were out like a light.

“You can't go!” Merrin shouted, fury in her eyes as green magic surrounded her form. You were standing by a ship that you stole from some unsuspecting travelers, ready to leave this planet for good. You stared at Merrin, shaking your head, noticing Malicos behind her with a smirk spread across his lips. “And you should just come with me Mer! It's not safe here, never has been and never will! And this… whatever he is, he's no good! I don't trust him and neither should you Merrin. If we leave we can find other clans! We can survive together like we always have!” You shouted back.

However Merrin only grew angrier, throwing a blast of magic towards you, which you quickly manipulated into your own magic, making it disappear. “I'm not going to fight you Merrin! Come with me or stay and rot with the pretender. But when he fails you, and you feel isolated, remember you had the chance to come with me and you didn't! Remember that when our sisters were massacred I was the one that kept you safe and made sure you survived!” You shouted, walking up the steps of your new ship, taking one last look at Merrin before you walked further into your ship. However you left the ramp open, just in case she changed her mind…

However when you took off, and Merrin was still standing there you simply sighed, closing the ramp and making your way out of the atmosphere. You had never flown but- there was always one way to learn, and you seemed to get a quick grip on the controls before selecting a random planet on the ships existing database, and you jumped to hyperspace, not looking behind you.

You opened your eyes after another dream, this one not as gory as the others but still equally as sad. You sat up slowly this time, rubbing your eyes before standing up. You fixed some stray strands of hair that fell from how you had it styled, and you made your way out to the cockpit, feeling refreshed and ready to take on your past… you didn't know how long you slept for, but the boys were still busy at work, making small repairs, or doing research.

You took a seat at the back of the cockpit, staring out the window and at the lights of hyperspace, a smile gracing your lips for a moment only for your mind to wander to Merrin… a sigh left your lips, one that was quickly picked up by Omega who was sitting beside you. “Are you okay?” She asked softly, tearing your attention from the window.

You looked down at her and smiled, nodding. “As good as I can be… I left someone behind on Dathomir… another Nightsister like me… I offered her a place with me but- she refused so I left her behind… I'm just wondering if… well… if she's still there… with that price?” You sneered at the last part, and Omega raised an eyebrow. “What prick?” She asked, and you sighed.

“A poser named Malicos. He told us that he was a jedi, and he could help us get revenge on those who killed our sisters but- I refused… Merrin however… she fell into his traps.” You muttered, looking away from Omega. “If I can avoid them… maybe it's all the better. But I have a feeling I'll need to confront her if I'm to rid myself of these nightmares.”

Omega nodded, and rested her hand on your shoulder for a moment before walking away. You heard some beeping coming from the center console and Tech quickly dropped the ship out of hyperspace. And right in front of you was the red planet of Dathomir. You let in a sharp breath, jumping slightly when you felt a warm and firm hand on your shoulder.

You looked up, relaxing when it was Hunter who was by your side. “You've got this. We'll be by your side the whole way.” he said, and you nodded. You entered the planet's atmosphere, flying over old ruins and burnt forests. You pointed out a good place to land and Tech did just that. Once fully landed you grabbed your gear and was the first to step off the ship. You inhaled, the long lost scents of your home filling your nose. You turned to Hunter, watching as the others piled out of the Marauder as well. “ready?” You asked them, staring ahead. “Dathomir’s terrain is dangerous, and some places are most likely blocked so we will have to find new routes to get to the center temple. So follow my lead, step where I step and we will be fine.”

You instructed them all sternly, but they were ready to follow your lead. Your magic felt strong here, and that was both good… and bad… regardless you started leading the way through the burnt forests towards the main temple. There were several different temples all over Dathomir, as well as encampments where your brother tribe lived, and you'd hope to avoid them because you really didn't want to get into a fight.

You and the bad batch walked for what seemed like hours, but was only multiple minutes at best. Tech was scanning the terrain and gathering data on the plants and soil. However when you approached a doorway, you signaled for everyone to stop. You sucked in a deep breath, channeling your magic through the door, hearing a soft click before the large doors opened slowly.

You raised your hand, a purple orb now floating above you, creating a light source that allowed not only you, but the others to see as well as you entered a cave system, one you knew well.

You lead them through, the only things heard being your breathing, or the grunts and coughs of those behind you. Nobody was really talking, and that was probably a good thing. The dead had ears here, and if Merrin was here there was a chance she could wake the dead… if she had Mother Talsins sphere.

A while later, you turned to face Hunter as another door was revealed. “We are getting close, the power of this place is growing stronger, and so are The whispers. Keep your weapons close, and if you see a living, stun, don't shoot. But kill any dead.” You explained, and you could sense the confusion. you sighed and with a swirl of magic you opened one of the beads cocoons, And summoned one of your dead sisters, who looked at you with her jaw slacked open, nothing behind her eyes. “Merrin isn't able to do this unless she has Mother Talsins sphere, and she most likely does, so just keep your eyes open.” You explained, closing your hand into a fist which rendered the dead nightsister into dust, which soon blew away from. The breeze.

You turned back to the door, extending your hand and your magic to open it. This time the door swung open with a bit more force than you intended, and you winced before walking forward. You stared up at the tall pires of the temple, and a sight left your lips. Despite that you continued forward with your newfound friends behind you… that was until-

“I never expected you of all people would come back here. It's been quite a while.” Came The sickly voice of Talon Malicos, who was leaning against the edge of the bridge to your side. How he got there so fast you had no idea, however when you heard the clicks of the batchers' blasters, you gestured for them to lower their weapons. “Malicos.” You sneered, glaring at him. “Why I'm here is none of your business. I suggest you stay out of our way.” You threatened, seeing him raise his hands with a chuckle.

“Please, don't mind me. Carry on with your business. I guess I shouldn't tell Merrin you're here either?” He asked, And Hunter noticed you tense up significantly. Suddenly purple magic lashed out at malicos like chains, and you brought him to his knees in front of you, anger in your eyes as you brought a magic chain to his throat and started to squeeze…

However when you felt a familiar warm hand on your arm, you released those chains, looking at Hunter with a newfound sadness. “Ignore him, let's keep moving.” He whispered to you, and you nodded despite those whispers telling you to end Malicos.

However you didn't, and instead you grabbed his face while he was still down. “Merrin made her choice. And like you, she will stay out of my way.” You spat on his face before letting him go, walking the rest of the bridge until you finally reached the temple, Hunter right beside you, just like he said he would be.

You lead them through the temple, following the whispers the louder they got until you reached what looked like an altar. You knelt down in front of it, grabbing a blade from your thigh as you brought it to the palm of your hand. You brought it up over the bowl on the altar, slicing a small cut in the palm of your hand, allowing your blood to drip into the bowl.

Green and purple magic clashed against each other in an uproar before your purple magic dwarfed the green. You rose back to your feet as two doors opened, one on either side of you. One would lead you to where you needed to go, and one… where your deepest desire lied. A sigh left your lips and you reached out with your hand, feeling with your magic in each door.

Eventually you stepped to the left side, and gestured for Hunter to follow. “Stay close now. No telling what could happen here.” You said softly, watching as they all got a bit closer to you. You lead them down until you reach a room. It was a large open space, one surprisingly unfamiliar to you.

You then turned to Hunter, placing a hand on his shoulder. “The rest I must face alone.” You stated, handing him your sniper rifle, grinning widely. “I'll come back for that.” You added, hearing him chuckle

“You better.” He rebutted. He found it odd however, that he was already caring so much for you. Maybe it was because you saved his family, or maybe it was because you were right. He was the rock that held everything together, and you were the fluid water that moved around him, and yet you fit together…

He watched as you walked away, disappearing down a dark hall. He turned to his brothers, gripping your rifle in his hands. “Best get comfy. This might take a while.”

[clonelyhours]

Stay With Me

Pairing(s): Tech x gn! Reader

tags/warning: angst, major character death

Word count: 1k

heavily inspired by the death at the end of TASM 2

"Come on Tech!" Wrecker shouted. "Hurry!"

"I am climbing," Tech struggled. "as fast as I can."

"Get him up here, Wrecker!" You started barking orders. "Now! We don't have much time!"

You tried to catch a glimpse of Tech, but it was no use. There was too much metal in the way but not enough cover from the blaster fire.

"Why aren't we moving?" Hunter grumbled as he took cover. You all needed to get out of there now, or you'd all die.

Echo moved from his cover spot and returned fire at the enemies, stealing a quick glance at the track above him. "The car's being ripped from the track!"

You were at a stalemate. The car wouldn't move with the broken half pulling it down, and none of you would do anything about it until Tech was on board. "Wrecker, you gotta hurry it up!" You told him.

You too, began to return fire with Echo, Hunter soon joining.

"Wrecker!" Hunter snapped. "Get him onboard!"

Wrecker took a hesitant step forward, quickly stepping back when the car began to rumble.

"Don't!" Tech shouted from where he hung. "Any shift in weight could send both of these cars over!"

"Then keep climbing, Tech!" Hunter took cover once more. "I'll shoot you a line as soon as you get close enough!"

The sound of imperial ships echoed in the sky. You heart nearly sank as soon as you saw them. "We've got ships inbound!"

One of the ships fired at the track, the car dropping a bit. There wasn't much left that you could do. "Hang on Tech! I'm coming down!"

"No! Don't!" He insisted, hanging on as tight as he could to his line. "You must sever the connection hinge!"Now!"

"Not until you're up here!" Wrecker argued back. "I'm not gonna lose another one of ya!"

The second ship shot at the track again, the car shifting tremendously.

"There is no time, Wrecker." He withdrew his blaster from its holster and aimed up. "Plan 99."

"Plan 99?!" Your head snapped down at Tech, eyes wide. "Tech you can't!"

Wrecker was determined to bring his brother up. He grabbed the half of the falling car and attempted to pull it up. "Don't you do it Tech!" Wrecker begged.

"There has to be another way!" You cried out. "Think for a second!"

He sighed and took a deep breath, aiming at the perfect spot to sever the broken half of the car. "When have we ever followed orders?" He shot right at the sweet spot, finally freeing the good part of the car from the bad part.

For a second, Wrecker thought he could handle the weight.

But then he failed. The heap of metal slipped from his grasp and went falling down. "No!"

You wasted no time going after him. With one blaster you shot the grapple at the platform and attached the other side to your belt. You immediately jumped down after Tech, your second blaster in hand and ready to shoot it's grapple towards him.

He stared up at you, his hands subconsciously extending towards you. He was glad you couldn't see his face behind his helmet— he was scared— scared to die.

At least he was able to see your sweet beautiful face one last time.

"I love you Y/N!"

Leave it to Tech to admit his feelings that the wrong time. You'd make sure to tease him about it later.

"Grab on!" You shot the second line to him. He caught the end and attached it to his own belt, attempting to grab the line with his hands for more support.

He was going to make it, he had to— but then he didn't.

You were yanked upward by the first line and the second had shot out too long.

And because of the extra few inches of line that shot from your blaster, his body hit the ground with a thud, instantly lifeless.

And you saw the whole thing. You were too late. You couldn't save him in time.

In a matter of seconds you would be whipped away by the car you were still attached to. Swiftly, you took your first blaster and released the line, falling only a few feet to the ground. You wasted no time getting up on your knees and crawling over to him. "Hey, hey..." you hesitantly slipped a hand under his lower back and lifted him up. "Tech?"

This couldn't be for nothing. He had to be alive.

"Tech." You pulled him into your laps, tears swelling in your eyes and your voice cracking. "Breath... Tech, breath. You're okay."

With your free hand, you careful removed his helmet and set it aside. You then pushed his now cracked goggles to his temple, your heart breaking as you discovered the tears in the corners of his eyes. "Tech... stay with me, please stay with me. Stay with me!"

You gently wiped his tears away as yours rushed down your cheeks. "Tech..." you cried "Tech! No please! Please!" Your forehead rested against his goggles, eyes squeezing shut. "Please..." you begged once more. "Stay with me, Tech."

You pressed a soft kiss to his lips, hoping that maybe he would just wake up. Tech couldn't die like this, he couldn't. Not when he deserved a long and happy life, not when the Bad Batch had finally found a peaceful blade to live on Pabu— not when he had finally admitted his feeling for you moments before.

It wasn't fair.

Tech deserved to rest, but not like this. He deserved to live his life in peace, he deserved to watch that beautiful sunset every single night— he deserved to hold you in his arms every single night— because that's exactly what he had wanted.

To settle down with you.

But now he never could.

When you pulled away, you began sobbing, holding onto him so tight that you were afraid he would disappear if you didn't. You would stay there day and night if it meant not leaving his side, but unfortunately, the empire had other plans.

"I love you too, Tech."

[22hemi12]

Ner Kar'ta

They/Them pronouns used

Pov change: -

Fluff and Angst :)

I keep writing reader as an ex bounty hunter who grew up with a Mandalorian so they know little mando'a. It's cute.

The War was tough on many, even on those who were accustomed to the fighting.

Sighing under my breath I jogged to keep up with Wrecker, It was our job to go behind the Droid battalion by going under them, while Hunter, Tech and Echo took them from the side in caves and out cropings.

Crosshair was to stay up high like always.

The droid battalion was advancing on a battalion of clones on a dangerous cliff side, covered in out cropings and caves. It was our Job to defeat the droids for the clones to go to their waypoint.

Following Wrecker across the cliff face, Wrecker started to grumble about the height, when we got to semi stable ground, the cliff rumbling with the marching battalion above us, I put my hand on Wreckers pauldron making him turn his head.

"It's alright Wreck, Once we get up behind them you can have your fun" Speaking silently into the comms, I heard the chuckle from the man in front of me.

I smile under my helmet knowing I distracted him enough from the height.

"Alright, the first of the battalion are passing us, get ready you two" Hunters voice rang in my ears.

"Roger" Wrecker replied, looking back to me he nods and leans down enough for me to use his back as a step up. Reaching flat ground behind the battalion, I could hear the blaster fire from the others.

It didn't take long for Wrecker to join the fun, quite literally ripping the droids apart. Chuckling I pulled out my baster and started firing back at the droids. I was thrown to the floor as Wrecker accidently threw a droid at me "Sorry Tiny!" I got up as quickly as I could, stopping to look at the rocks on the floor, noting how they are still moving, almost like there is small explosions going off in an ... orderly... fashion.

I got too distracted feeling a burning pain in my back I turned around seeing a droid had caught my distracted self and shot me, shooting it in the head I scanned the cliff face, seeing a small cave I ran into it, taking cover I quickly spoke into the comms.

"Cross! there is rumbling! do you see anything?" It took barely a second for Crosshair to reply.

"Another two more battalions are steadily approaching, there are tanks" I could hear a hitching breath through the coms, we were informed of only one battalion with out tanks so we packed for only that.

"Kriff" Hearing Hunter swear was enough for us to know we were in for a long and painful battle, again. Taking a shot at a droid, I quickly took off my pack.

"Inventory count" I spoke, taking a shot at another droid, Wrecker ran into the cave I was in to shuffle off his pack.

"5 clips, Medi-kit and my tool kit" Tech huffed into the comms, he didn't even bring his data pad, thats how easy this mission was SUPPOSED to be.

"7 clips and my knife" Hunter groaned, he must be regretting not packing heavier.

"10 clips and a pack of toothpicks" I chuckled softly at crosshairs reply, of course he packed toothpicks.

"5 clips" The curt reply from Echo was laughable if it was in a different situation.

"14 clips, 2 smoke bombs and a grenade" Wrecker looked to me.

"Wrecker! I said no grenades!" Hunter yelled. The cliff face is so fragile even walking on it could cause a landslide. Wrecker shoots at the droids as he bickers with Hunter and Tech.

I opened up my pack "I have 15 clips, 3 Droid poppers, 2 smoke bombs and ..." I didn't even realize I packed that.

"And what?" Hunters voice woke me from my thoughts. I looked to Wrecker, taking out the 'thing' in my pack.

"OH! HA YES!" The vibrantly coloured grenade was a prototype Wrecker and I were making, a smaller grenade, a bigger boom. It was brightly coloured as to not mix up with the normal grenades.

"I know that sound in Wreckers voice, No, No 'Boomy'" Echo spoke angrily, such a parent.

"'BOOMY'?! you brought that silly grenade with you?" Techs voice had a hint of terror in it.

"Everyone get to cover, I'll deal with the other two battalions" I ran out of the cave, with Boomy and my blaster in my hands.

The worried voices of the batch rang out, Shooting the lingering Droids as I turn a corner towards the coming battalions.

"Have you Lost your mind?! do you know if it even works?!" Crosshair yelled, I could hear the pant in his voice, he's running.

"Nope!" I smirked as I finally reach the battalions, I click the button on the grenade hearing a whining pitch, I throw the grenade towards the Droids, taking a turn to try and run to cover.

-

Hearing the explosion gave me an uneasy feeling, the shake afterwards though...

Holding onto a pillar of rock as the shake went on, after a minute it finally stopped. I took a deep breathe to steady myself before running towards where the others were.

Turning the corner I found them, "There you are, Crosshair" Hunter spoke walking towards me, limping, must of gotten hurt in the shake.

"Well at least we know 'Boomy' lives up to its name" Echo leaned down to grab his blaster.

"Ha, your telling me, Tiny and I gotta make more of those!" Wrecker laughed loud and proud. I shook my head at that, at the mention of my partner, I look around for them...

"Where are They?" At my words the others looked around too. Without much thinking I ran as fast as I could towards the explosion sight.

"Crosshair! Wait!" Hunters voice was drowned out my the sound of my heart beating in my ears.

'Please no' The run towards it felt longer then it was.

'not them' I skid to a stop panting leaning on my knees, I reach up and rip of my helmet. Still struggling to breath I look at the massive hole where the battalions were last seen, seeing burnt and destroyed Droids but no sign of them.

Feeling an ache in my chest I felt myself fall to my knees, putting one of my hands on my chest.

The sounds seemed to just disappear and all I could see was the hole where They must of stood...

I barely felt the concerned hand on my shoulder.

I barely heard the voices around me yelling their name.

I could barely stand walking towards the edge of the hole.

"Crosshair" I looked down, ignoring Hunters voice... Rocks, metal, droids, armour...

Armour...

THEIR armour!

Sliding down the hole, hearing Hunter follow me, I ran to their unconscious body falling to my knees beside them.

Raising my hand, hesitating afraid of what I'll find, I push through my thoughts to slowly and carefully remove their helmet, with hunters help.

Seeing their face, covered in blood and bruises, made my chest hurt.

I take a breath leaning my ear down towards their nose and mouth, hearing... waiting...

"Anything?" Wreckers voice echoed.

"SHH" Hunter shushed him.

My chest stopped hurting at the feeling of air blowing onto my ear, I jerk to look up to the others.

"They're alive!"

-

The first thing I awoke to was a burning all over my body, what happened again?

oh right, I threw an experimental grenade... I'm stupid.

Opening my eyes I saw the bottom of a bunk, oh we are in the marauder? I sniff, noting this is Wreckers bunk.

I turn my head hearing the whispers of the boys from somewhere on the ship, most likely the cockpit, Feeling a heavy warmth in my hand, looking down I spot a head of grey hair, Crosshairs soft snores reach my ears, he was in his blacks and holding onto my hand.

Oh poor baby, probably was so worried about me. Despite the pain I smile at him, squeezing his hand. Hearing the small angry groan as he awoke told me everything... He's going to yell at me.

I winced as I smile at him nervously when his eyes looks at my face, looking away nervously then looking back at him, His face was blank.

"Cross-" "Don't" He stood. The smile left my face quickly, I thought he was gonna leave and never come back. I wouldn't blame him for it. Looking away I thought I'd cry.

Him shuffling next to me into the bunk was not what I was expecting, I didn't even notice Lula in his arms. Wrecker must of left her for Crosshair.

He carefully laid next to me, the look of pure agonizing sadness in his eyes when he looked up at me, made my heart ache.

"I thought I lost you..." His whispering words shattered my heart. Through the pain of the burns and blaster wound I wrapped my arms around him.

"I'm sorry" He looked away, No words would fix what I unknowingly broke in him. Smiling softly I kissed his cheek, he grumbled, But I saw his ears flush.

Kissing over his face, he tried to struggle away from my affection. "Let go"

"No, take my love" Turning around to face the outside of the bunk, he gave me an opening to his most sensitive place.

His ears.

Kissing behind his ear he laughed loudly "Stop!" He panted. Stopping my attack, He didn't turn back around, allowing me to cuddle him more.

After a moment of silence I Winced as I kiss his shoulder.

"Are you still in pain?"

"No..."

"I'll get Tech" Crosshair tried to get up, But I hold him tighter.

"A little longer... Please" Crosshair stopped trying to get up. He sighed, turning around.

"You know I grew up with a Mandalorian right?" Cross had a confused look on his face.

"Yes I know, he taught you Mando'a" I nodded.

"Yes... Do you know what word stuck with me from his teachings?" I asked.

"No...?" Oh god this man was adorable and no body can change my mind.

"Kar'ta" I spoke, the mando'a rolling off my tongue like it's my first language.

"Kar'ta?" Crosshair must of been racking his brain for what the word was.

"Heart" He looked at me. "gar cuyir ner kar'ta" It took a moment, but the faintest of tears start to form in Cross's eyes. He buried his head in my chest.

Resting my cheek on top of his I heard the words loud and clear.

"bal gar cuyir Pal'vut"

(gar cuyir ner kar'ta- you are my heart

bal gar cuyir Pal'vut- and you are mine)

[the-sidekick-club]

The Professor

Origins: Shadow Wraith - Part 1

Written by: ​​@heroes-villains-side-blog​​★@tratieisdabest★@just-a-space-rabbit​​ 

TW:Implied toxicity, Implied manipulation, and Implied toxic relationship

☰☲☷★☷☲☰

The old classroom was filled with the sounds of keyboards and hushed conversations. 

Lukas, the youngest student there, was sitting in the back corner talking with some classmates while they completed their notes for the day. 

His friend, roommate, and longtime tech rival, Elliot, was just about to get to the punchline of the overdramatized ‘adventure’ he and Lukas had been on the week prior, when a student walked up to them.

“Hi, are you Lukas Aelius?” they asked. 

“Yeah, he is! And who are you?” Elliot huffed, annoyed his punchline had been halted. 

“Professor Andaka told me to give you this,'' the student handed Lukas a note, not sparing a glance at Elliot. 

“Professor Andaka?” Elliot yelled in a mocking tone. “That weirdo who’s so busy studying Aura that he forgets that he’s a teacher? What does he want with Lukas? He’s not even his student!” The student just shrugged at his questions before leaving.

Lukas, who had remained quiet, looked down at the note. It was true that he was not technically part of Andaka’s classes, but that never stopped him from sitting in and listening in on them anyway. But Elliot didn't need to know that. 

Lukas looked down at the note which was just a piece of paper ripped out from a notebook, with some text in a wobbly handwriting.

"Hello Mr. Aelius, hope you had an egg-cellent holiday. Would you please do me the kindness of visiting me in my office after your class at 16:30?

Kind regards,

Professor E. G. Andaka”

Lukas had just started wondering what Professor Andaka could possibly want him for when, “Oooohhh! Someone’s in trouble!” Elliot teased. 

Lukas gave him a light shove, “It’s just an invitation!” he said, placing the note and the rest of his belongings back in his backpack. 

“Yeah, I know that!” Elliot said smugly, rubbing the shoved shoulder, “I mean you're in trouble for being late, since it’s already 16:28.”

Lukas's eyes shot to the clock by the door which indeed said 16:28, “Shoot!” he muttered under his breath, before bolting out the door. 

His departure only elicited an exhausted yell from the teacher, “No running allowed!”

As Lukas was sprinting down the halls, he wondered why Professor Andaka had called him. 

Lukas, though only 18, was an engineering student in his final year in university, a field that was nowhere near Andaka’s studies about the human body and the strange inner workings of Aura. 

Yes, he had been allowed to sit in on his classes but that was only out of, well… personal reasons. 

He opened the front door of the tech building and looked in the direction of Andaka's office. He quickened his pace as he ran over the January snow that was blanketing the ground. It was fresh enough that he didn't have to worry about ice, and there was barely even a crunch as he rushed over it. 

Reaching the first step to the Aura building, he slowed down, panting heavily. The building laid silent in front, the dark stone bathed in the orange and red of the setting sun, a stark contrast to the white snow surrounding it. After collecting himself, he walked up and into the building's shadow.

It took some time to find Professor Andaka's office. After asking the janitor for directions, and walking past it twice due to its confusing placement, Lukas finally knocked on the door. 

At once, there was a sound of something hard hitting the ground with a loud thud, followed by hasty footsteps. “AH! Mr. Aelius, you're here!” said a soft-spoken voice as the door opened up revealing the professor. 

“I’m so sorry! I got the message late and then —”

“Oh, no need to worry! Truly, it is perfectly fine. You are here, and that is what matters,” the professor said, welcoming Lukas in. 

Inside, Lukas was immediately hit with the strong smell of coffee. The office might have been of decent size to the average professor, but to Andaka? Well, papers and books mingled with old and new machine parts. Several cups of coffee were spread around the room, likely the source of the strong smell. There were books on chairs, coats on bookshelves. Even the cute little vase with a single flower in it had been covered with multi-colored sticky notes. And almost like a wash over a painting, the room was submerged in the small amount of orange sunlight slipping past the blinds. It was a mess all around, and yet… Lukas took an instant liking to the room. 

“Now,” Andaka clapped his hands together, “I have seen you sitting in on some of my classes about Aura and its history before, but I don’t think we have formally introduced ourselves. So, hello. I’m Professor Egor G. Andaka,” he said with a grin, holding out his hand. Lukas took it, and introduced himself back. 

“Now, you may be wondering why I brought you here today. And not to worry it’s not just for a cup of coffee!” he laughed at his own joke, a habit Lukas found a bit silly but endearing. “Ahem. Sorry. No, I asked you here for something special!” 

Special? Lukas wondered, why would the professor invite him for something special? 

“I heard that your studies are going well, yes?” Andaka suddenly asked, catching Lukas off guard. 

“Huh? Oh, yes, they’re going great! But not easy though.”

“Well, what's the point of studying if it’s easy?” Andaka chuckled “Still, though, good that you’re doing well. For I have an opportunity for you here. See that on my desk?” He pointed to a highly secured box. 

Lukas had completely missed it in all the chaos. “What is it?” he said as he began moving closer. Andaka grinned as he got to the box, “It arrived this morning, I wanted you to be the first person I show it to,” Andaka smiled as he opened the box.

There was an instant change in the room. It felt colder, the warm sunlight was instantly drowned out by the bright blue light coming from a small oval object placed securely in the box. “This, Mr. Aelius, is the Ekalf zaar ruhatama e wafiz, an ancient relic with an ancient name from a bygone era.” 

“Wow,” was all that Lukas was able to say. Staring at the relic, he felt a rush of questions flow up at once, “How did you- What is- Why?!” uncompromising questions were all that he could get out, far too curious and shocked to be intelligible. 

“Easy, now! I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but you only have one head!” Andaka laughed.

Lukas didn't feel like laughing at his joke. 

“As I said, this is an ancient relic and little is known about how or why it was made,” Andaka emphasised the last part of the sentence, making Lukas ponder more over the strange object. “Its name means 'holder of a thousand souls', and it is believed to be able to separate an Aura from its body,” he said, picking up the egg and turning it in his hand. 

“Godness!” Lukas exclaimed. “Why would you hold it?”

“Don’t worry! There's no danger while the relic is in its current state,” he said, before handing it over to Lukas, who took it after a few moments of hesitation. It felt like he expected, cold to the touch, but as he got closer to it, the beauty of it finally struck him.

As he turned it around, the insides seemed to shift and move, almost like a liquid. Were there really souls in there? The thought sent shivers up his spine, but there was one more question he had. “What is it you want this, um… this relic for, exactly?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked!” Andaka beamed, clapping his hands together. “Well, first of all, I have gone and officially changed the name of the relic from Ekalf zaar ruhatama e wafiz to the easier and improved name: The Emanation And Growth Genesis.”

“The Emanation and — wow! That's not an easy name either!” Lukas said, finally moving his eyes away from the relic and back to the professor.

“No, it isn't.” Andaka chuckled, “But that name was only chosen so we can use the much superior abbreviation for it."

Lukas stood still as he began to think out loud, "Abbreviation? The Emanation, growth, gene — EGG! YOU NAMED IT EGG?! You renamed a legendary and dangerous relic 'EGG'?” he exclaimed, not sure what to feel. Granted it was kind of egg shaped, but still, something so legendary. It was just… madness to call it that.

"Yes, yes, my new dear friend,” Andaka said as he gave Lukas a hard pat on the shoulder. “Maybe that name wasn't all it was… cracked up to be. I was egg-xercising my right to improve the longevity of this relic by giving it a name fit for the modern age. Also, it's my research so I do not need to walk on any eggshells around it." 

Lukas stared at him with his mouth open. 

"Anyway," the professor pivoted, like he hadn't just altered the course of history for the sake of goofy puns. 

Respect, Lukas thought. 

"I'm currently working on plans to build a machine that can activate the EGG's abilities. The hope is that we can control it, and be able to safely remove people's superpowers!" 

"You want to use it to remove powers?!” Lukas froze at the words, “Isn't that… like, villainous, and unethical?"  

"Oh, we won't be removing powers against their will! No, no! This will be entirely ethical, Mr Aelius. I have partnered with the Aura committee who will be overseeing the project and that it will all be handled safely.”

“Yes, but… removing a part of someone’s Aura? A literal part of their soul?” Lukas bit his lower lip, this felt wrong. But Andaka placed a reassuring hand on Lukas’s shoulder.

“Some powers are scary, Mr. Aelius. Dangerous, even." He said in a careful tone. "Those born with powers and those born without have no say in the gifts given to them, and there should be no shame letting them give the gift away.” 

Lukas felt his stomach twist at the words, knowing too well about unwanted gifts. “But what if they want the powers, but… er, others do not?” he asked.

“The machine is only for people who do not wish to have powers themselves, and it is entirely their choice. Neither you nor me nor the Hero Agency gets to have a say in it. Not even your parents" 

Lukas nearly dropped the EGG, “You know?!” he yelped. 

“Mr Aelius. Your mother is a well-known elder in the hero agency, and your father is a Desolite guardian. I may not have powers of my own, but I have a keen eye. I have seen the way you seem to disappear in the shadows — what a fantastic power!”

Lukas was completely bewildered. No one apart from Elliot knew about his powers. “You may think they are fantastic,” he said with a defeated tone, “but, my parents disagree. They only see them as a bad omen and would rather have me be born without them.”

“Bad omen?!” Andaka spat, “There is no scientific proof that a person's powers mean any such thing! And no power is inherently good or bad!” Andaka stopped himself from talking further. 

“Sorry about that. I dislike people who forget that Aura is not some mythical thing that brings good or bad fortune." Andaka turned and placed his hand on both of Lukas’s shoulders, and looked into his eyes "Now, Lukas. Please tell me. Do you like your powers?” he said softly.

There was a meek “yes” from Lukas. 

“Then that power is yours, and it is a part of you.” Andaka said in a soft tone. “And no one should ever take it away from you. But to get this conversation back to the EGG," he said, before they both dropped their gaze to examine the artefact again, "For some people, their powers do not feel like a part of themselves. They do not feel that their power is theirs.” 

"Do such people exist?" Lukas wondered aloud. 

"All types of people exist, Mr. Aelius. And some people would want to remove their powers for a whole wide range of reasons. Maybe their powers are awfully inconvenient. Or, as I previously stated, they might be dangerous. It can also just be a personal choice for reasons that are not ours to know." 

Lukas nodded. He finally understood Andaka’s vision. He understood completely. And his respect for Professor Andaka only grew. But there was only one question he had left. “Professor Andaka? Why are you telling me all this?”

“Goodness, me! I skipped the first step!” Andaka jumped. “You see, I need a partner!”

“A partner?!” Lukas’s face contorted in confusion; this was the last thing he had imagined him say.

“Yes, I may have a great knowledge about Aura, and trust me, I know a good amount about machine building as well. But I would want to have a partner who can really help with the machinery. But also, you know, have some knowledge about Aura as well." Andaka fixed Lukas with a determined gaze, "And that is where you come in,” Professor Andaka smiled. 

Lukas was in shock. “You're giving me a job?” was all that he was able to say.

“YES! You have your final exam in the spring, correct? If you pass it, then you can come here and work for me… that is, if you want of course.” Andaka said as he placed the egg back into the box.

“I would love to!” Lukas almost yelled out, already excited to start.

"Well, I'll be looking forward to breaking a few eggs with you in the future, Lukas. You're as good an egghead as they come. A proper good egg." 

Lukas stared for a few seconds, then finally asked the question that had been running through his mind all this time. “Professor… are you hungry? Would you like me to make you some eggs?” Lukas joked.

At that, the professor clearly deflated. His shoulders slumped and his gaze never met Lukas'. “Yes, please. I don't remember the last time I ate, to be perfectly honest.”

…

Meanwhile outside the office window, Elliot grunted to himself as he heard the two making more egg jokes before leaving. “Got yourself a new job with the professor, ey?” he said to himself “I can’t believe you would go behind my back like that! And for that egghead? If you think I'm going to just let you win at everything. Think again!' He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, “Seems like I was too soft. Time for more drastic measures.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

[cyberpunkplaylist]

Tell Him a Vengeful Ghost is Coming...

So this morning I'm feeling that my playthrough 2.0 of Cyberpunk 2077 is more than a bit bloodthirsty. I delete a lot of gangers on sight with this Feral StreetKid character I'm playing. 6th Streeters, Scavengers, Tyger Claws, Maelstrom. Anyone who shoots at me (OR MY CAR) first. I'll stalk em and quietly put a throwing knife into em. Then while looting their bodies, if they're still laying there twitching and only MOSTLY dead, they get a bullet to the head. And I feel a BIT bad about some of em. Occasionally, I'll feel like I'm crossing the line from videogame protagonist to virtual serial killer whose timing belt has snapped in a fairly significant way. I've happened on Scavengers just watching TV and having a barbeque on a grill. And I drill em anyway. I mean, Scavengers are organleggers and butchers, so I don't feel too bad about messing up their relaxing fun day. Especially after seeing their victims piled up by a dumpster in an alley nearby. But looking at a cute ganger girlie kinda twitching on the ground cos I wirelessly stared a short circuit daemon into their wetware? Yeah, I feel a twinge of guilt for a moment. Now that guilt's not as bad as Star Wars Galaxies 20 years ago when I was given a mission to go kill some lunatics outside of Corel City on Corellia. At first I'm like, "Hey, that's not a problem." I was a gunslinger. I tooled right out there with my blasters cos hey, that's just biz. But I get there and I stopped cold.

Those guys didn't seem like lunatics. They were just swimming in the river. Milling about on the riverside. And I couldn't do it. I abandoned that mission. Cos I'm not an asshole. I'd feel terrible about going down there and busting their shit for breathing on a nice day by the water. Arasaka corpos in Cyberpunk 2077 however… I went to a police bounty posting and found some Arasaka mercs and a work team by some dump site. They'd waxed a whole group of pinks and for whatever reasons Corpos have. I zeroed all of em but one. The guy who looked like the squad leader I didn't do immediately. But Arasaka did my partner and has caused me no end of grief in game in a pretty personal way. "Now… There's a reason I didn't kill you, chummer. If you live, I want you to tell them. Tell them I'm coming. All these dead gangers your people have no doubt been monitoring while I cut a path through the city? I pretty much kill them on sight. But that's just cos they're butchers and rapists, human traffickers and not averse to shooting at me. But that's just biz. I'm not some gonk vigilante. I'm a professional. It's not personal.

Arasaka and all your little soldiers though?

I'm pissed with you.

And you're all going to see the extent of that. See this dumpster here? All of your dead team-mates are in there. I put them in there after putting a bullet through each one's left eye. They'll be pretty ripe soon. So listen carefully. Remember this part. This concerns you.

While their corpses are voiding themselves all around you in the stinking dark, I want you to remember my message if they find you in time. If they care enough about your worthless replace-able life to come and find you. If their actuarial tables dictate that you're worth a recovery op. Remember this.

Tell Yorinobu Arasaka a vengeful ghost is coming. Tell him that nothing will save him from its wrath. And in whatever hell he might believe in, I will be his chiefest tormentor. Tell him that what I will do to him will make his strangling his father to death seem the sweetest of kindnesses. Tell him that.

And if you die in this dumpster choking on your own horrified vomit with my message on your lips, I'm sure he can have his techs rip this memory from your rotting brainware. Waste not, want not and all that.

Now…

In you go."

So like... I don't believe myself to be a violent or vengeful person. Each person in the world contains universes. And the thought of taking away all the days they've filled their lives with is horrific to me. (with some exceptions.) But sometimes, my imagination can be a frightful thing.