#tcw echo/you

[dumfanting]

Same Heart ch 26: Ad Infinitum

AO3 Link

Rating: E, explicit, younglings begone

Warnings: trauma dumping, grief, ptsd, make outs, dry humping, alcohol, so much dialogue

Word Count: 10,554

Aside from what I’m saying now, I’m not going to comment on the word count from here out. Good god though, 10.5k words. I remember when I thought 4k was too long! Sorry the formatting is borked, text posts with the mobile app are terrible.

F! Reader/ Echo

F! Reader/ Crosshair

You finally catch Echo up on everything, then go for a drink with Crosshair.

—//—

The ride back to the hotel is tense, and the sun is beginning to set when the taxi comes to a stop outside. You pay the driver, they take the credits, and they drive away; thankfully this one didn’t give you any trouble. You hesitate before walking to the main entrance, and nervously fidget with the strap of your bag again, which Echo notices.

He softly says your name. “We don’t have to do this right now,” he says, referring to the daunting conversation ahead of you both. You look over at him, and the setting sun is shining at just the right angle to make his eyes look like rich golden honey. Even after everything he’s been through, his eyes haven’t changed. You see the concern in them, and your doubts subside.

“Yes,” you say with a tired sigh. “We do. You deserve to know, and we can’t avoid it forever,” you continue, taking his hand into yours again.

He gives you a reassuring squeeze. “Alright. Let's get this over with then, yeah?” he says, and you nod at him.

The walk back to your shared room is just as tense as the cab ride was. You come to the door a little too quickly for your liking, and reluctantly slide the key card through before you lead Echo inside.

—

You both take a few minutes to change out of the days clothes, then sit together on the freshly-made bed. It’s silent for a while. Echo is waiting for you to speak, and you’re trying to think of what to talk about first. Your newfound Sensitivity, the way your relationship with Crosshair changed so drastically and so quickly, the argument with Rex which would need an explanation of what happened to Fives; Beyond Fives’ fate, which obviously takes precedence, it all seems equally important, and you struggle to find a starting point. It all ties together in some way, so you decide to just bite the bolt and get the hardest part out of the way first.

You shift your weight, sitting back against the headboard, and pull your knees close to your chest, keeping your arms around them. Echo sees how guarded you are and again says that this can wait, but you shake your head at him.

“You need to know,” you say softly. Echo doesn’t respond and still waits patiently for you to speak. You take a deep breath, pray to the Maker that this doesn’t blow up in your face, and start talking.

“So, you don’t know what happened to Fives,” you say, and it isn’t phrased like a question.

“I don’t. Nobody’s told me, and I know you’ve been avoiding it,” Echo says, his tone unreadable.

“I’m sorry,” you say, unable to look at him, though you feel his eyes on you. “I… I didn’t know how to tell you. I still don’t really understand what happened,” you say. He says nothing, but you feel a breeze of confusion drift off of him. You take another deep breath, and launch into the fragmented, messy story, starting with Ringo Vida, and what Tup had done there. You don’t get any further before Echo interrupts you.

“But that makes no sense, he would never do such a thing. And nobody knows why?” he asks.

“Oh trust me, somebody knows why, but they’re keeping it quiet, I can guarantee you that,” you say bitterly. “Kix was there when Tup took the shot, he told me everything. None of us can come up with an explanation for why he would do that. The way Kix described it, it sounded like he was being forced,” you continue.

Echo’s confusion deepens, but he stays quiet, listening intently without interrupting again.

You go over how Tup had apparently been missing for a few days and how the Separatists tried to abduct him after the attack. “The best the Generals and Kix could figure was that the Seps had to have done something to him, and came to the conclusion that it was a virus of some kind, though I have no idea how that would even work,” you say.

“I don’t understand any of this, what does it have to do with Fives?” Echo says, frowning.

“He plays directly into it. Fives was in such close proximity to Tup that they were concerned he may have caught whatever this mystery virus was. They were both sent to Kamino for testing. I only know what happened up to this point because Kix told me so much. Officially, I have no knowledge of any of it,” you say. Echo shifts closer to you.

“Tup… he didn’t make it off Kamino. Whatever had gotten ahold of him, well, I guess it never let go. Everything after that happened so quickly, and I’ve only seen a small part of it, the rest I’ve been told firsthand from Rex and Kix. I’ve tried to piece the whole thing together on my own but there’s so much missing,” you say, frustrated.

“There aren’t any reports?” Echo asks, his confusion deepening once more.

“There’s an official report, but I don’t believe a single fucking word of it. It says that Fives escaped Kamino, which yeah, he did, but then it says he somehow wound up alone with Chancellor Palpatine, and tried to kill him,” you say.

“What?” Echo half-shouts.

“They said it was because of whatever had gotten to Tup. I still struggle to understand, it makes perfect sense but no sense at all at the same time. Something happened to Tup that compelled him to kill General Tiplar. Fives was likely exposed to it, and whatever it was made him attempt the same thing with the Chancellor. That makes sense, like, logically,” you say. As you talk, you slowly move your knees back down and lose some of the tension in your body.

“But Tup would never do that, and neither would Fives,” Echo says.

“Exactly, which is why it also makes no sense, not even a little bit. The day everything happened, I was coming back from work and overheard some whispers about an attempt on Palpatine’s life, and that a clone was responsible. I put two and two together and literally ran the rest of the way home. When I got there, Fives had left me a message on my commlink, which I’m still pissed at myself for forgetting to take with me that day. Maybe things would have turned out differently if I had been able to speak to him as he needed me,” you say, bitter and angry.

Echo cautiously rests his remaining hand on your upper back. “I have to keep repeating myself, don’t I?” he says, and you finally look at him.

“Echo repeating something, what a concept,” you say, and he rolls his eyes.

“I’ll keep it up until it gets through to you if I have to; nothing that happened to Fives was your fault. Nothing that happened to either of us was your fault,” he says, sternly looking you in the eye.

“I know,” you say with a sad sigh. “I wish it would get through my thick skull too, maybe then the fucking nightmares would stop. Or at least those specific ones,” you say, curling back in on yourself.

Echo watches you, unsure of what to do. You were usually so resilient, seeing you broken and lost like this was so heartbreaking to him. He reminds himself that you’ve been through a lifetime's worth of horrors in just a few years, so you’re bound to have worn down eventually.

“I keep hearing about the nightmares,” he says quietly. “Is it really as bad as they say?” he asks.

“It’s worse , Echo. I’ve never told anyone about what I dream, aside from Tech once or twice. They’re only aware of my reactions to it. Hell, I didn’t even know I was talking in my sleep until Crosshair said something about it back there in Kix’s office. And besides that, there are so many more important things going on around us, missions, battles, the entire fucking war. I didn’t want to add my bullshit on top of that. I still don’t,” you say, your voice low and soft, your eyes shining in the dimming light of the sun.

Echo says your name, but you don’t immediately look at him, which is worrying. “You can’t keep this up. And you shouldn’t. Talk to me, please,” he says, and you hear the strain in his voice.

“You’re the last person who needs more shit to deal with,” you mumble, curling yourself tighter again, trying to take up as little room as possible.

Echo startles you by cursing with a growl of frustration. “God damn it, you’re still so fucking stubborn!” he says.

Cautiously, you turn your head toward him the slightest bit, and when you meet his eyes again, your mind buzzes. Of all the things you expected to feel, desperation was not one of them. You sit up a little straighter, and look at him more directly. You’ve never seen him look hopeless like that before, and it physically pains you to know that you’ve caused it. You don’t realize that you’re crying until he gently cups your cheek and brushes a tear away with his thumb while whispering your name.

“You’ve been alone for so long, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you to carry all of this. I’ll say it over and over, you aren’t on your own anymore. You’ve got me. You’ve done so much to take care of me, please , let me return the favor. I want to help you with this, but I can’t if you don’t let me in,” he says, not taking his eyes off of yours for even a second.

You finally crack. Your shoulders heave with heavy sobs, and Echo quickly pulls you into his lap, holding your head against his chest and firmly rubbing his hand up and down your back. “I know mesh’la, I know. It’s okay. You’re safe here, I’ve got you,” he whispers, barely audible over your cries.

As he holds you, the sound of his steady heartbeat keeps you grounded, an anchor stopping you from being swept away by everything you’re feeling at once. Your grief for Fives, the confusion of not knowing exactly what happened to him, even the bizarre moment where you swear you felt his touch. The pain, loss, frustration, and anger of losing so many men, over and over, and feeling powerless to stop it. So many nights spent awake in your bunk, desperately tired but afraid to fall asleep for fear of what you’d be forced to see. Waking up screaming, or in a cold sweat, or both, night after night. It all finally breaks free and pours out of you.

Beyond all of that, though, the feeling of being protected, being cared for, being loved , and the emptiness finally being filled back in, all of it overtakes everything else, and your mind goes blessedly quiet for the first time in far too long. You feel the weight of the galaxy evaporate from your shoulders.

You aren’t sure how long it’s taken for your tears to finally run dry, but, thanks to the change in light coming in from outside, you know it’s been a good chunk of time. Your breathing steadily evens back out, aside from the occasional hiccup. Your eyes feel like they’re burning, and you absently wipe at them with the backs of your hand as you slowly sit back upright.

Echo watches you carefully, allowing you to move away, but keeping a firm grip on your hand. He has to say your name twice before you react, turning your head back towards him, your body following. He kisses your forehead, then gently presses his own into it. A feeling of peace you forgot could exist washes over you, and you barely repress a shiver. He says your name a third time.

“That was,” he says, pausing for a second. “Damn. That was a lot . Do you feel any better?” he asks.

You try to speak, but your voice is hoarse, so instead you just nod. You clear your throat, then are able to whisper a soft “thank you, Echo,” to him.

He smiles softly at you, says “that’s what I’m here for,” then tells you to wait there for a minute before he gets to his feet.

You watch as he goes into the kitchenette of the room and fetches you a glass of cold water. He comes back and hands it to you, and as you sip at it, you can hear him running water in the refresher. A few seconds later, he returns to his spot next to you on the bed with a warm, damp washrag. You set the now empty glass aside on the nightstand, then take the small towel and dab at your swollen eyes with it. Once the warmth dissipates, you toss it over your shoulder, not caring where it landed, and let out a massive sigh of relief, flopping backwards onto your back and staring at the ceiling.

Echo follows suit, and it’s quiet for a short time. Eventually, he turns on his side towards you and speaks. “You don’t have to tell me anything else tonight,” he says.

You pause for a moment, thinking. This really isn’t how you wanted to spend your night with him, but you don’t know when you’ll get another chance like this to finally fill him in on everything, just the two of you with no distractions.

“Maybe not,” you say. “But I’ve been holding onto this for so fucking long, I need to get the rest out before it eats at me any longer,” you say, sitting back up.

“You’re absolutely sure?” Echo says, propping himself up on an elbow to get a better look at you.

“Yes, I’m sure. What was it you said earlier? ‘Let’s get this over with’ ?” you say, taking his hand and pulling him upright as you speak.

He nods at you, then the two of you return to your positions at the head of the bed, backs against the headboard. You need a moment to remember where you were before going off on that tangent, and eventually think of it.

“Fuck me,” you say, tired. “Anyway, Fives left me a message on my comm, and I could tell right away that something was very wrong. His head had been shaved and he wasn’t wearing his own armor. The transmission was garbled, but I was able to understand him trying to tell me not to believe anything, and that ‘they’ were after him,” you say.

“I met with Kix and Jesse at 79’s not long after that; figured a few shots would calm my nerves, but I noticed that Rex wasn’t there. They told me he was with the General and looking for Fives. Kix went into the refresher and about a minute later he insisted I go back there myself,” you say, pausing to try and fight off the intense grief that would always rear its ugly head whenever you remember this.

“It was him, wasn’t it?” Echo says, so quietly you almost couldn’t hear him.

“Yes, it was,” you say, then clear your throat. “He told me Kix was going to deliver a message to Rex for him, so they could meet and he could explain himself. He refused to tell me where, of course,” you say.

“He knew you’d follow him,” Echo says.

“You’re goddamned right I would,” you say firmly. “Even at the end, his priority was to keep me safe,” you say with a sad smile. You then recount, in a shaky voice, everything Fives had tried to tell you. Chips in the clones heads, forcing them to obey any order, a conspiracy that traced back to Palpatine himself, all of it.

“And you believed him?” Echo says, sounding unsure.

“Of course I did. I still do. The official report is bullshit, I don’t give a fuck who tells me that is isn’t,” you say. You slip into silence for a minute.

“I tried to follow him. Out of the bar. But he was ahead of me just enough to get away on a speeder before I could catch him,” you eventually say, your voice thick with emotion. Echo moves closer to you and takes your hand. You take a second and attempt to keep yourself together, then describe how you had fainted, woken up in your apartment, and had nearly run out of the building before Kix stopped you.

“ ‘Don’t’ , he said. I remember it so clearly. ‘There’s nothing you can do now,’ . Like I told you in the taxi earlier, I fainted again. Just before I hit the floor, I was looking at him and he looked so much like you,” you say in a whisper.

“Why do you all have to look the fucking same?” Echo says, guessing your exact words without realizing it.

You hiccup and nod at him, your eyes brimming over with tears again. “When I woke up the second time I was in the medical ward. Rex told me the rest. How… how it happened,” you say, your voice cracking again. You grit your teeth and tell Echo everything. As much as it pains you, you left no detail out.

“Rex told me Fives had said ‘The mission, the nightmares’ would finally be over,” you whisper.

“Nightmares?” Echo says, sounding startled.

You nod at him again. “Yeah, those fuckin’ things again. I’m not sure what he meant though. There were plenty of things Fives never told me about, but only because I never asked. Have you all had a similar nightmare? The way he said it, it sounds like he was referring to a universal experience,” you say.

Echo hesitates, which catches your attention. You softly say his name. “Echo? Do you know what he meant?” you ask. He doesn’t speak and instead slowly shakes his head.

Without even being conscious of it, you close your eyes, your mind buzzes, and you feel two things coming from him. Grief, of course, but more importantly, a sense of finally understanding something after so long without answers. Then, quickly sweeping everything else away, fear , which itself scares you, and you open your eyes. He looks stunned.

“Echo?” you say again, cupping his face with a hand. He blinks several times and shakes himself.

“We,” he says, then takes a deep breath. “We all have nightmares. It’s so normalized, we just accept it as part of life and never talk about any of it. If someone was having the same dreams as me or anybody else, I never knew,” he says, but sounds like he’s trying to convince himself more than you.

You frown at him. Even without being able to ‘read’ him, you can tell he’s holding something back. You decide not to press him about it though. This isn’t the time.

“I… I don’t understand any of it,” he says, his own voice trembling now. You take your turn to hold him close to your chest, all the while barely managing to keep your own tears at bay.

—

It takes several minutes for the two of you to calm yourselves back down. You both slide into lying positions on the bed, holding each other as tightly as possible.

“Echo?” you say softly. He looks over at you with a ‘what’ sound. “We don’t have to finish this tonight. It’s so much to take in, if you need-,” you say, but he interrupts.

“No. No, I… You’re right, I need to know, and you did say you need to get it out. I can see why you were so hesitant about this, it’s all so confusing,” he says, voice barely above a whisper.

“Okay. You can still change your mind if you need to. Although, that’s the hardest part done with,” you say, just as quietly.

Echo laughs humorlessly. “Fuck me, I can’t imagine anything else worse than that,” he says.

“What else was on that list?” you ask, making a feeble attempt at a joke to lighten the mood.

Echo sits up again and leans back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling in thought. He starts mumbling to himself, counting off on his fingers. “There’s still a few things left,” he says. You can see him bracing himself. “Crosshair,” he says quietly. “What the hell is happening there?”

You should’ve guessed that’s what he’d bring up. Looks like he wanted to get past this, though just as reluctantly as you do. You also sit back up, then think for a moment before speaking.

“Remember when I said earlier that the jackass cab driver made the same mistake Crosshair did?” you say. Echo nods at you. “I don’t know how much detail you got from Tech,” you say, leaving the sentence open ended for him.

“I saw you smacking him around a few times, but I didn’t see what the catalysts were. I’m guessing he said something about either me or Fives though,” he says, watching you carefully again.

“Both, actually,” you say, shaking your head. “In the briefing before the mission that led to us finding you, Rex told us that he thought you were alive and the Seps were somehow using you to work against us. I kind of slipped up and said what I was thinking out loud,” you say.

“Which was?” he says, prompting you to elaborate.

“I asked Rex if he’d forgotten about when Fives told me what happened to you. I think it was Wrecker, he recognized his name and asked if he was the one who attacked the Chancellor. Tech, of course, had a file pulled up on his damn datapad before anyone else could respond, and basically summarized the ‘official’ report on the matter. I told everyone that it was bullshit. Crosshair, he kind of scoffed and said something like ‘if you ask me he deserved it,’ and I just… snapped. I only realized that I’d struck him a second after it happened,” you say, fidgeting with your fingers. “I won’t lie though, that was really fucking satisfying,” you say with a smirk.

“So, wait, after however long he’d been trying to piss you off, that’s what finally broke you?” Echo says.

“It was the first time he’d said something like that that wasn’t about me,” you say, nodding.

“But it wasn’t the last,” he says.

You sigh again, then continue speaking. “Yeah. I guess once just wasn’t enough for him. About an hour before we got to you, he and Rex were arguing that the mission was a waste of time. He said that Rex was trying to make up for leaving you at the Citadel, then said, and I remember this so fucking clearly, he said ‘I don’t blame you. He’s just another Reg, it’s not like he was worth anything’,” you say, and Echo curses under his breath.

“I was definitely aware of my actions that time, because I went after him as he walked away. Rex tried to beat the shit out of him immediately after I stepped back,” you say.

Echo softly shakes his head. “Yeah, that sounds like Rex. He’s always stuck up for us,” he says.

“How much else did you see?” you ask.

“You chased after him. Told him about ghosts and death and failure. I’ve never seen you that angry. Even with the cab driver today, your eyes didn’t look the same as they had then,” Echo says.

“Yeah, that was all of it,” you say.

“And things changed after that?” he says.

You nod. “Honestly, I think I knocked some respect into him. Of everyone in the squad, he was the last to really accept me. After I’d hit him the first time, General Skywalker told me to go get some air, so I went back to the ship and tried to get a hold of myself. Crosshair followed me,” you say, and Echo looks surprised.

“Why? Did he not get enough of a rise out of you?” he says.

“Y’know, I thought the same thing, but no, that wasn’t it. I told him I wasn’t going to apologize, and told me that I shouldn’t. ‘It’s about time you stood up to me,’ he said. I don’t know if all his bullshit before was some kind of hazing thing or what, but it stopped after that,” you say. “Well, there was the second time, but that's it. Everyone else was getting into the ship and I was the last one in, so he’d gotten my attention and said, I remember this very clearly too, he said ‘Meds! You coming or what?’,” you say. “It was the first time anyone had ever called me that, he came up with it just then. Maybe it’s silly, but I finally felt like part of the group after that,” you say, smiling without realizing it.

“I don’t think it’s silly. Makes perfect sense to me,” Echo says. “But he’d gotten to you again, before you all found me,” he says.

“That’s right. You all keep saying that you’ve never seen me that angry? Well, I’ve never felt that angry before in my entire life. I’d finally hit my breaking point, and I just unloaded everything on him. Everyone heard me, even Rex and the General from a few dozen meters away. Rex didn’t know why I’d taken the new assignment until then. But, to stay on track, after a few minutes, once I was through, Crosshair admitted he deserved it,” you say.

“Goddamn right he did,” Echo mutters.

You ignore this and continue talking. “Later on Anaxes, when we first brought you back, after the um, misunderstanding you and I had,” you say, Echo grimacing, “I just shut myself away in my bunk. He managed to calm me down. Not long after that, I filled the guys in on what happened to me between when I lost you and when I found them. While I was talking, he actually went out of his way to apologize to me, in front of everyone else,” you say.

“I call bullshit,” Echo says in disbelief.

“Yep,” you say, popping the ‘p’ at the end. “He really did. We were all just as shocked as you are now,” you say, laughing a little. “His attitude changed completely after that. I swear, it’s like he’s a different person now,” you say, before lapsing into silence again.

Echo is about to ask you what else happened, but you beat him to it.

“You remember that weird rock you picked up for me?” you say, sounding far away. Echo nods. “Short version, I lost it while we were getting you out of Purkoll. He found it and held onto it for me,” you say, smiling softly. “He gave it back just before you and I were able to talk. That’s… when my own feelings started changing,” you say, choosing your words carefully.

You pause again, though not quite as long as before. “While you were in the bacta tank, I realized that I would have to decide whether or not I’d leave the squad and go back with you. I remember talking about it on the ship with Wrecker, then Crosshair walked in with a smart comment I can’t recall, and Wrecker fired back at him by saying he was in love with me,” you say.

Echo leans forward to get a better look at you, an eyebrow raised. “And…?” he says, encouraging you to continue and sounding oddly amused.

“Tech basically confirmed it. Cross wouldn’t look at me at all. I could kind of feel something coming off of him, and that’s when I knew Wrecker wasn’t really joking,” you say.

“You felt something?” Echo says.

“Kind of, it was like sensing someone’s mood before speaking to them,” you explain. It’s not a lie, but it isn’t the entire truth either, and conflict bubbles up inside your gut. It’s quiet for a minute or so.

“You and I both know there’s more to this thing with him than that,” Echo says softly.

You sigh heavily. “I think it was either later that day or very early on the next day, when you told me to stay away from you,” you say, and Echo shifts uncomfortably, moving away from you just enough to be noticeable. You move to the side and close the gap again. “He found me right afterward. I got to talking about it, and I said that the question of where I would go was basically decided then and there,” you say.

You can tell Echo wants to say something again, but after you give him a chance to speak and he doesn’t, you continue. “I told myself as soon as I’d calmed down after you stormed off on that first day, that if you didn’t want me around, as much as it would fucking hurt, I’d respect that. What mattered most to me was, and still is, that you’re safe, whether I’m with you or not. So, yeah, the decision was made for me at that point,” you say. “I’d said as much to him, and he admitted that Wrecker wasn’t entirely wrong about him. He said that he wanted me to stay, but not like that. We just kinda sat there for a while afterwards,” you say.

“And when you tried to talk to me later on, and he came with you,” Echo says, trailing off before lapsing into silence. Neither of you needed to recount that fiasco again.

You awkwardly cleared your throat. “Yes. Right after, he caught me in the hall, and I snapped at him. We split off and I eventually calmed down. I found him back at the ship and we both kinda apologized to each other,” you say, and unconsciously rub at the faded mark on your neck.

“So that’s when-?” Echo says, looking at it. You nod apologetically, and have to force yourself to meet his eyes.

“Why?” he asks. He doesn’t sound angry, but you still hesitate.

You take a deep breath. “You and I were through at that point, in my mind. I didn’t mean to just,” you pause, waving your arms up and dropping them back down onto your lap. “Especially that soon. But I, um, got swept up in him. It didn’t get any further than this,” you say, rubbing at the mark again.

Echo doesn’t say anything, but he hasn’t looked away from you or changed his blank expression. “So, when did you really know?” he asks quietly. “When we heard you in the bunks, I saw how he ran to you. The same way I did,” he says.

You think for a second. “After I got shot,” you say. “On the way back, he helped me patch myself up. I couldn’t move right to get the bandages on, so he did that for me,” you say. You shift, lifting the side of your tunic up, and you both get a look at the partially-healed injury. All it needs at this point is a thin layer of bacta and a light wrap, and it already looks significantly better than it did a few days ago.

“I can’t really pin down exactly what it was or why, but I knew then,” you say, tugging your shirt back down. “You started waking up and he told me to focus on you before he left the bunks,” you say.

Echo still doesn’t speak, but it looks like he’s starting to understand.

“I mentioned that last part for a reason, Echo,” you say, quietly but firmly. “He knows you were here first. He’s been nothing but respectful of that,” you say.

Echo appears to be thinking hard, likely reflecting on the days since he’d joined the squad, then eventually speaks. “Now that you’ve pointed it out, I guess I did notice that,” he says, then thinks for another few seconds before saying your name. “I need to ask you something,” he says. You feel a nervous knot form in your stomach, but nod. “Do you care about him?” he says.

You nod again. “I do,” you say.

Echo goes quiet once more. When he next speaks, you can tell he’s having a hard time getting the words out, and you can feel the conflict within him. He says your name again. “You’ve been through so much. I just want you to be happy, you deserve it after everything you’ve done, and not just for me. If… if being with him is what you want, then,” he stops, struggling with the words. “Then I’ll step back,” he says.

Your jaw drops. “Echo, you can’t be serious?” you say, incredulous.

“I am. If that’s what you really want,” he says. You meet his eyes and an odd mixture of love and hurt wash over you, and you both fall into another silence.

He’s startled when you suddenly start laughing. Not loudly, but enough to break the tension. He looks at you, confused, and you take a second to calm down.

“You know what I really want?” you ask, and he shakes his head. “I want to be selfish,” you say, turning around and falling onto your back again, giggling.

“Goddamn it, I’ve spent all of my time in the past few years putting everyone else first, I’d like to do what I want for a change. I want to be selfish and maybe even a little greedy,” you say.

Echo looks at you with an expression that comes across as ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ and you laugh a little harder.

“I want both of you,” you say simply, smirking.

“You, you really,” he says, stumbling over his words in surprise. He clears his throat. “I didn’t think that was an option,” he says.

“Well, why not? You two haven’t beaten each other up yet,” you say, sitting back up with a shrug.

Echo laughs a little and incredulously shakes his head at you. “I mean, you aren’t wrong,” he says.

“Just an idea,” you say. “You two should have a chat and let me know what you decide,” you continue with a smile.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” he says, still sounding surprised. You simply nod at him with a girlish giggle.

You take a moment to calm down, then soberly take Echo’s hand. “But, to be clear, I won’t do anything you aren’t okay with,” you say.

“But you just said-,” he says, confused again.

“There is no way I’d be okay with knowing that you’re miserable, whether I get what I want or not. I didn’t mean that kind of selfish,” you say, trying to sound as earnest as you can. You meant every word and you need Echo to believe you. He meets your eyes for the first time in several minutes, and he seems to understand.

You watch him for a moment as he mulls over everything he’s seen between you and him, and you and Crosshair, over the past few weeks. You nervously chew your lip.

“You don’t need to decide right this second,” you say softly, yet he still looks pensive.

He meets your eyes again and his expression softens considerably. He takes you by surprise when he leans forward and kisses you, then pulls back a second later. “I’ll talk if he’ll talk,” he says.

Your eyes light up, and you sit a little straighter. “You mean it? Like, you're genuinely okay with it?” you ask.

“Yes,” he says without hesitation.

You lurch forward and hug him tightly, whispering a soft “thank you” as you do.

-

Despite all the talking you’ve done, there’s still so much left to discuss and explain, so you both agree to take a short break before you continue to monologue at him. You quickly use the refresher, and when you step back out into the room, you find Echo on the balcony with the door open, staring out over the city. You join him, also leaning onto the half-wall. He hesitates, then puts his scomp arm around you, relaxing significantly when you don’t flinch. He looks over at you and pecks your cheek before saying a soft thank you.

Your skin tingles when his lips leave your cheek, and you feel a light heat spreading across your face. “For what?” you ask.

“Being so honest with me about everything,” he says, pulling you closer.

You’re quiet for a moment, lost in thought. You let out a long breath, and turn to face him. “I haven’t told you everything yet,” you say.

“You don’t have to,” he says.

You shake your head for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “Yes, I do,” you say.

“You really don’t,” Echo insists.

“We got the tough stuff out of the way already, there’s no point in putting off the rest,” you say, turning around and moving to head back inside. You don’t get very far before you feel Echos hand on your shoulder, holding you back.

“Let’s talk out here, it’s too stuffy inside,” he says, and you half-shrug before returning to his side, but sitting on the floor and leaning back against the half-wall. You stare up at the sky without really seeing it as Echo follows suit.

He takes your hand into his. “Whenever you’re ready, Meds,” he says.

This is the first time he’s used your Batch name, and you look over at him, surprised by it. He kind of shrugs and says “That’s what everyone else in the squad calls you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I’m the medic,” you chuckle.

Echo softly smiles at you. “Well, if I’m going to be part of the team I should call you that too. Unless you don’t want me to?” he says, searching your face.

“I don’t mind,” you say, scooting a little closer to him and resting your head in the hollow of his shoulder. Aside from the persistent noise of Coruscant traffic, it’s quiet.

“So… you and Rex got into an argument?” he asks, bringing you back into the conversation from earlier.

You sigh, tired, and nod. You recount the angry words that were spat between you and the Captain back in the Marauders cockpit.

“Ohh, that’s why,” Echo says under his breath.

You sit up a little and look at him, confused. “Why what?” you ask, frowning.

Echo quickly tells you about the short talk he and Crosshair had before Rex stormed by and interrupted. “He mumbled something about hypocrisy while he passed. I went after him and asked what you’d said but he wouldn’t tell me. Though, judging by the ‘fuck you’ we all heard, it wasn’t good,” he says.

“Shit, that’s right, you were just outside of the door,” you say, embarrassed.

Echo nods at you. He appears to be deep in thought about something, and you could tell he wanted to comment on everything you’d told him, so you waited for him to speak.

“You know something? I’d say he’s a hypocrite too,” he eventually says. You make a surprised sound, and he continues; “you were right, my situation was no different from Fives’, even if Rex was right about me,” he says.

You study his expression and see his frown deepen. “But that’s not what bothers you, is it?” you ask.

“He was out of line, going after you personally like that,” Echo says.

You quickly tell him how Rex had found you alone and on your knees before Crosshair. “I promise you it wasn’t what it looked like, but that’s what he walked in on,” you say, and to your relief, Echo seems to believe you.

“Context is important,” he says, and you both chuckle. “Okay, so that explains why Rex was so pissed, but that's still no excuse for it,” he says.

“Did you tell him about the uh, split? At any point? The way he said I replaced you so quickly again was almost exactly what you had said,” you say.

Echo shakes his head. “No, not a word. I didn’t talk to anyone after you left until the briefing,” he says.

“That’s a hell of a coincidence then,” you say. You two sit quietly for another minute or so. Eventually, Echo speaks.

“I’m sorry for what he said to you. He’s always been protective of us, maybe a little too much,” Echo says.

“Don’t apologize for him. Even if I disagree with his reasoning for saying what he did, I understand why he said it,” you say. “And do me a favor? Don’t bring it up with him, please,” you say. Echo blinks at you, confused. “We both said sorry and it’s done with. No point in dredging it back up,” you explain. Echo frowns, but nods.

“Thank you,” you say.

“So that’s what started everything in the bunks?” he asks.

You sigh, tired, then repeat what you had told the General earlier. This time, Echo doesn’t interrupt, listening carefully to your words. You tell him how intrigued General Skywalker is about it all, and he nods, understanding.

“Yeah, I’d like some answers myself,” he says, then pauses, counting off on his fingers silently again. “I think that was everything on the list,” he says, pulling you closer to him.

You hesitate, again. Every fiber of your being is screaming at you to leave it there, but you take another deep breath. “There’s… one last thing,” you say.

Echo can hear the reluctance and anxiety in your voice, and shifts himself so that he’s sitting directly across from you. “What?” he asks, concern etched into his features.

“I-,” you say, then stop yourself again. You look at the worry on Echo's face, and despite the pit in your stomach, you open your mouth to speak.

“I’m force-sensitive,” you say, so quietly that he almost doesn’t hear you. “That’s what those dreams were; you at the citadel and again before our last mission. The two things with Fives, that’s what the General and I are so focused on, since it’s apparently so uncommon,” you say.

“Okay… and?” he asks. “I get that this is important, but I don’t get why you’re acting like it’s some big secret,” he says.

“I’ll get to that in just a minute,” you say.

“Uh, ok. Continue on then,” he says.

“It’s more than just dreams now,” you say.

“Like what?” he asks.

“I can sense things. It’s almost like a gut feeling, but much more intense. When I left the Generals office after I asked about our shared dream, a strange, well, force, seemed to be saying to me with an almost scary urgency that I shouldn’t tell anyone else,” you say.

“Does anyone else know? Besides the General and I,” he asks, concern deepening on his face.

“I’ve told Rex about the dreams where I can see what’s currently happening somewhere else, but that’s it. He’s not an idiot by any means though, I’m sure he’ll figure it out if he hasn’t already,” you say.

“How long have you known?” Echo asks, but he doesn’t sound angry or accusing.

“Since they put you in the bacta tank,” you say. “Between everything else happening and the strong feeling of ‘hey keep it quiet’ I just never said anything. I was actually talking about that with General Skywalker earlier today, while Shalka was working on you,” you explain.

“If it’s so important, apparently, why did you just tell me?” he asks, looking confused again.

“I hated the idea of keeping something from you. I knew it would come back to bite me if I kept quiet,” you say.

“What about Crosshair and the others?” Echo asks, noticing when you hesitate this time.

“I… I don’t think I’ll tell them, at least not yet. I really wish there was a way to put this powerful feeling of dread into words, but I simply can’t describe it. I just know, instinctively I guess, that something is off, somehow, and I think it’ll be bigger than just us and the squad,” you say, after some thought.

“Well that’s cryptic,” Echo says with a smirk. “You already sound like a Jedi,” he says, making you laugh.

“General Skywalker told me that I’m unusual in a few ways,” you say.

“I’m sure I could name a few,” Echo says, laughing when you huff at him.

“It’s weird that the abilities have manifested so late, and that they’re getting stronger, at least according to him,” you say. “I told you I’m meeting with him again tomorrow; that wasn’t entirely true. He’s going to have me meet someone who can take me into the Jedi Archives to try and find anything I can on all of this,” you say.

“Guess I’ll be going back to Shalka’s alone tomorrow then,” Echo says.

“Actually, if it’s okay with you, I was thinking of asking Tech or one of the guys to go with you,” you say.

Echo appears to think for a moment, then shrugs. “Yeah, that’s fine. If I’m going to be a part of the team then I need to know everyone a little better anyway,” he says.

You grip his shoulder, then he shifts and lies on his back with his head resting on your thighs, looking up at you while you try to remember what you were saying before getting distracted.

“You can sense things,” he says, steering you back on track.

“That’s where we were, thanks. Yeah, I can sense what someone’s feeling, and I can sort of tell what they're thinking,” you say. “When I said I could ‘feel’ something from Crosshair, that’s what I meant.

Echo frowns at you. You demonstrate for him, closing your eyes and steadying your breathing. “You’re confused. You’ve heard so much at once that it’s hard to understand it all,” you say.

“True, but that’s not very hard to figure out,” he says, sounding skeptical.

With your eyes still closed, you keep talking. “When I showed up with Crosshair, back in Kix’s office, it was obvious that you were angry. But there was something else. I could feel it again when I told you what Fives said about nightmares. It’s fear Echo,” you say, finally opening your eyes and looking into his, and a strong wave of it washes over you from his direction, as he sits back up. “Even now, I can feel it,” you say.

The shock on his face tells you that he believes you, and you hold his hand and scomp in your own hands, shuffling forward and pressing your lips to his forehead. “I don’t know what it is, or why, but something has been scaring you, and for a very long time,” you say quietly. “Now, I can’t ‘read your mind’, it doesn’t work like that. But I can feel the anxiety in you, Echo. I’m not going to ask about it. You can talk to me about that whenever you’re ready, alright?” you say with finality.

Echo, looking dazed, nods at you.

“There” you sigh, sounding massively relieved. “Now that’s everything.”

You back away. “What do you need from me right now?” you softly ask. He looks over at you, still confused. “Should I leave you alone for a little while?” you clarify.

Looking like his thoughts were miles away, he nods at you. “Y-yeah. I… I think I need a minute,” he says.

“Okay,” you say, kissing his forehead again. “I’m going to talk to Tech for a little while. I’ll have my comm,” you continue, getting to your feet.

He nods again, and watches you walk into the room, slip a pair of shoes on, then leave through the door.

—

The door to your room slides closed behind you, and you lean heavily against it. You tilt your head back and stare at the light fixture hanging from the ceiling, your mind and heart racing. It was done. Echo knows everything now, for better or worse. Much like when you told the squad about what happened to you, you feel physically lighter, but the relief you should also be feeling is overtaken by a sense of dread. You still aren’t sure if telling Echo about your Force abilities was a good idea or not, and the feeling that you shouldn’t tell anyone else deepens even further, making you shiver. You don’t notice the door on your left sliding open and someone walking into the hall.

“So, how long are you going to stand here?”

You’re startled by the sudden drawl of Crosshair's voice and jump a little, cursing. “Dank Ferrik, how long have you been there!” you half-shout.

He laughs in response, shaking his head at you. “Long enough to see that you need a drink,” he says.

“Yeah, I really do,” you say, standing normally again. “There’s a bar on the roof,” you say, stretching your shoulders.

Crosshair turns toward the lifts at the other end of the hallway, then looks back at you from over his shoulder. “You coming?” he says, and it sounds like he’s hoping you’ll say yes.

“In a minute,” you say, glancing at the door to his room. “Tech back from working on the ship yet?” you ask.

Crosshair laughs again, turning around to face you fully. “You and I both know that he won’t take a break unless you tell him to,” he says.

“Uh, I didn’t know that,” you say, taken aback. “Since when?” you ask.

Crosshair raises an eyebrow at you. “You’ve been with us for this long and never noticed?” he asks in response.

“Apparently not,” you say. “Why me?” you ask, puzzled.

“Hell if I know,” he says with a shrug. “He probably hasn’t learned to ignore you like the rest of us yet,” he says, making you laugh a little. “He’s got his comm on him though, if you really need to talk to him,” he says.

“I’ll do that after I have a drink,” you say, taking a few steps forward.

“Does talking to him stress you out that much?” Crosshair says with a smirk.

“Oh ha ha,” you say, rolling your eyes as you walk past him and towards the lifts. You tap the button and step inside, turning back to see Crosshair jogging after you, slipping into the lift just before the door fully closes.

“Thanks for holding the door,” he says, snarky as always. You roll your eyes at him and press the topmost button.

There are twenty-eight floors between your rooms and the bar, and at the speed the lift is going, you know it’ll be a few minutes before you reach the top.

Crosshair seems to realize this at the same time as you, and you catch him watching you with a familiar look in his eye. You lean with your back against the wall and smirk at him, silently daring him to try something. Your eyes meet, you feel your brain buzz, and you’re hit with an also-familiar sensation of want radiating off of him. He takes a step toward you, then pauses, inclining his head in your direction. You bite your lip and nod at him.

The next thing you know, he’s standing close enough for your chests to bump together as the lift moves, bracing a hand against the wall just above your shoulder, and tangling his other hand into your hair, pulling you forward into him as your mouths clash together. His smoky taste floods your senses and you grab onto his shoulders, pulling him even closer to you. The lift jolts, and Crosshairs knee ends up between your legs, making you gasp.

He breaks away from you and growls lowly into your ear. The sound, in combination with his hot breath on your neck, makes you shiver with arousal. He grinds his knee up into you, and you let out a soft moan. The hand that was braced against the wall slides down to your waist, then cautiously moves upwards under your tunic, being careful to avoid your bandages. The light brush of his fingers against your skin gives you goosebumps.

Your lips meet again, and the hand he had on the back of your head drops to your ass, pulling your lower half towards him. As he does, he shifts his knee upwards again, making the seam of your leggings rub deliciously against your swollen clit, and you moan again, but much louder. He repeats the motion, the resulting friction turning you into a whining mess in his hands. The hand that had moved under your tunic has now reached your breasts, and Crosshair groans as he feels you up over your bra.

After a few seconds, he boldly slides under it, his calloused hand eagerly kneading and groping at your soft, supple skin, all the while never letting up as you grind yourself down onto his thigh. He drags his thumb experimentally over your hardened nipple, and you break the kiss to whine his name.

“Fuck,” he groans, “I will never get tired of hearing you say my name like this.”

Wanting to please him, you rub yourself harder against his leg, moaning his name intermittently. He growls into your ear again, then nips at the skin along your neck, taking care not to leave any marks on you this time. He takes his other hand off of your ass and cups you over the crotch of your leggings. He presses the heel of his hand firmly against your clit, and you whimper, your legs trembling as you clamp them together around his strong thigh.

“That’s it Kitten,” he says, kissing his way back up along your neck. “Come for me,” he whispers into your ear. At the same moment, the lift rumbles, and his hand pushes against you perfectly, sending you over the edge. Before you can make another sound, he crashes his lips to yours, greedily swallowing your every gasp and moan as your entire body spasms under his touch.

Just as the lift reaches the top floor, you come back down from orbit, gasping for air and hastily pulling your clothes back into place before the lift doors open.

—

A few hours pass, and you’ve only taken two or three shots of Corellian Whisky since sliding into a booth near the half-wall with Crosshair. He’s had a lot more than you, and it seems to be taking effect.

You absently stare down at the city below and shake your head, chuckling.

“Something interesting down there?” he says, smirking at you.

“Wrecker would fucking hate this,” you say, laughing a little.

Crosshair agrees with you, then knocks back another shot. “So,” he says, leaning towards you. “The hell you been all day?” he asks, watching you closely.

“Well, after the cab driver debacle, we did manage to make it to Shalkas place,” you say, then pour yourself another shot. Rather than downing it all at once, you take small sips of it, and Crosshair laughs at you. You roll your eyes, then continue: “Thankfully she was running behind, so us being so damn late wasn’t a big deal. She was only able to get some preliminary stuff done though, and she needs him back first thing tomorrow and for the next few days to get it done before we ship out again.”

“Shalka, I know that name,” Crosshair says, eyeing the whisky bottle. He goes to grab for it but you snatch it up before he can.

“You’ve had enough, hotshot,” you say. You hand the bottle back to the service droid that brought it to you. “And you should know the name, you were in the cockpit with Hunter when I told him why I wanted to come here and meet her,” you say, finishing off what was left of your shot in a single gulp.

“Yeah, the arm lady,” he says. “So you’re taking the reg worth something back again tomorrow?” he asks.

“His name is Echo, Cross,” you say, shifting backwards away from him. “And I can’t, I have a meeting at the same time tomorrow morning,” you say. He tilts his head to one side and blinks at you, and you can’t help but laugh at him, he looks so much like a confused loth wolf pup. “I’m going back to see Kix about my side,” you say, startled by how easy it was to lie to him. He’s drunk anyway, so it’s not like he’s paying that much attention, you think, trying to shrug it off.

“So you want Tech to go with him,” Crosshair says. He snickers. “You won’t get him away from that ship unless you go down there and drag him out,” he says. He startles you by suddenly standing and moving to sit next to you on the other side of the table. “I’ll go,” he says, throwing an arm around your shoulders.

“No you won’t, you’re only saying that because you’re drunk,” you say, rolling your eyes again.

“Hey now, hey hey,” he says, scooting closer and resting his head on your shoulder. “That’s not true. Since he’s so important to you I wanna know why,” he says.

“Ok, now I know you’ve had too much,” you say, nudging him off of you. He straightens up and looks offended, in a drunken way.

“Wake me up in the morning then,” he says, trying to look you in the eye, but missing by about six inches. “I’ll do it,” he says.

“If you say so,” you say, nudging him again so he would get out of your way. He stands, but stumbles, and you catch him with the help of a passing waitress. “Sorry about him,” you say to her, pulling him back upright.

“I’m used to it hon. At least he didn’t throw up on me,” she says, waving it off. “He’s definitely done, you good too?” she asks.

You say yes, then reach for your wallet, which you now realize you left back in your room. You tell her and apologize again.

“I’ll just bill it to your room. You’re not the first one who’s forgotten something,” she says. You tell her your room number, then thank her as you grab Crosshair by the elbow and move him towards the lifts with you.

You hit the button, and the same lift you came up in opens. You firmly push him inside, following just in time to catch him before he stumbles over his long legs again. You tap the button for your floor, and once the door closes and the lift moves, you turn your attention back to the inebriated man leaning heavily into you.

“You know, speaking of our rooms,” he says, and tries to position himself in front of you like he’d been on the ride up, but instead just awkwardly bumps into you. “There’s a door that connects ours. My side has been unlocked since we got here,” he continues.

“That sounds secure,” you say sarcastically.

“Listen Kitten, if someone were to break through that door that means they’d have to go through your room first. He may be missing an arm but Echo is a decent shot, and you’re better, so I doubt they’d get very far,” he says.

“Crosshair,” you say, cooing at him, “did you just say I’m a good shot?”

“Did I?” he asks. After pausing for a second, he keeps talking. “Well, you are now,” he says.

“That’s high praise, coming from you,” you say with a smirk.

“That’s because I’m the best, babe,” he says, making you laugh. “You’re really pretty when you do that laughing thing,” he says, looking at you with a soft expression.

“Cross. You’re drunk,” you say, again.

“Doesn’t change the fuckin’ truth! I’ve thought you were gorgeous from the moment I met’cha,” he says earnestly.

Out of curiosity, you try to get a ‘read’ on him. The buzz in your mind is faint this time, but you are able to pick up sincerity, much to your surprise.

The lift shudders, and Crosshair stumbles again, leaning more of his weight onto you, and your chests press against each other. You search his face and the unguarded adoration you find in his eyes startles you. Before you can really process this, the lift comes to a shaky stop, and when the door slides open, you find Hunter standing on the other side, looking thoroughly unamused.

“I should’ve figured that’s where you were,” he says with a shake of his head. “How much did he have?” he asks, pulling Crosshair off of you.

“I have no idea, but a hell of a lot more than me,” you say, following them back into the hallway.

“I can see that,” Hunter says, rolling his eyes. “Come on brother, let’s get you to bed,” he says, firmly gripping Crosshair's shoulder and steering him back towards his room. You stay close behind, shaking your head as you walk.

You all reach your cluster of rooms, and the door to Crosshairs slides open. Before Hunter drags him inside, he makes a ‘come here’ gesture at you. This should be interesting, you think, and humor him.

When you come to a stop, Crosshair shuffles away from Hunter and manages to stand on his own. He cups your cheek and softly smiles at you. “I meant it, wake me up in the morning,” he says.

“If she doesn’t, I will,” Hunter interjects.

“You,” Crosshair says, waving his other hand at him. “Go away.”

Hunter obviously ignores this, but does step back a little, giving you two some breathing room.

“I meant that other thing too,” Crosshair says. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful. Goodnight, Kitten,” he says, kissing your lips. The unexpected softness from him makes your heart race.

“Goodnight hot shot,” you say in return.

Crosshair turns and weaves his way towards one of the beds and falls over onto it. Hunter, whom you realize could probably hear your heart thundering in your chest, looks over at you and crosses his arms with a bemused expression.

“Kitten?” he says with a smirk. Your cheeks grow warm, but you don’t acknowledge it. “So, what’s he getting up for?” Hunter asks, glancing over his shoulder at Crosshair, who seems to be asleep, or unconscious, already.

“Echo needs to be at the mechanic's place at the same time I’m seeing Kix for my side tomorrow morning. I was going to ask Tech if he’d mind going with him, but Crosshair insisted,” you say. You don’t like how easily you can lie to Hunter too, but shake it off.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Hunter says, raising an eyebrow at you.

“He and Echo need to have a conversation anyway,” you say with a shrug.

“What about?” he asks, sounding suspicious.

You pause for a second and decide to be transparent with him. “Whether or not they can be civil enough to both be with me,” you say casually.

Hunters expression changes to surprise. “Really?” he says. You simply nod at him. “Well, I’m not going to stop you, but for the love of the Maker, the team has to come first,” he says, stern.

“Of course Sarge,” you say. “Goodnight Hunter.”

He smirks at you again, and says “Goodnight kitten,” as you step through the door to your own room, cheeks blazing.

————

Taglist: @kaminocasey @madameminor @grievouus @wolveria @zoeykallus @jennamelinda12 @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @whore4rex @echo-is-worth-more-than-2000 @thelux1007

To be added to or removed from this list, reply to this post.

[aliettali]

collect my unidentifiable tooka-adjacent mammals (GET IT TOGETHER TROOPERS!!!!!!!!!!!)

(reworking old sketch page from a while back lol)

[gamelpar]

peak arc trooper performance

[zealfruity]

Blorbo

[omaano]

Winter fun with the 212th and adjacent headaches :3

Happy Holidays and New Years @wanderingjedihistorian I hope you'll like this❤️ (how does it feel to be the recipient of all my codywan-related drawings XD?) Jedi are horrible disasters when you put them on ice and I will not be convinced otherwise.

Thank you @starwarsfandomfests for organizing this exchange! ❤️

Close ups under the read more ->

Could I have detailed out any one of these on its own and be done with it? Most likely. Did I get overwelmed with all the cool reference pictures I had found once I decided what I will draw, and then couldn't pick? Absolutely. Will I still draw Cody and Obi-Wan the first time I'll have time for a personal project next year even though I don't want to see them ever again? You know me and can recognize patterns, of course that is what I will do XD

[yukipri]

Hot Toys!!! Is releasing!!!! Fives and Echo!!!!

(images screenshot from their instagram, pre-order link will be added in the replies once available)

EDIT:

Sideshow link to ARC Trooper Fives

Sideshow link to ARC Trooper Echo

[melymigo]

💖🩷💗💓💕💖🤌✨

[suja-janee]

Redraw for my blog’s 4 year anniversary! (Ignore the fact that I accidentally erased echo’s arm oh shitttt)

.

.

Old ver.

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Rewatching The Clone Wars and I just got to Rookies

It's so fun because I'm just like "ah yes, this man right here is my favourite Star Wars character ever"

And it's literally just a dude

[leon-anna]

Okay so there has been a shockingly small amount of Echo in this last season and I'm a little bit pissed. Don't get me wrong I've been loving every minute of it, BUT!!! I miss my Echo. I miss him. And honestly we have to rectify the situation, so here you go!

And obviously we couldn't not include our boi Tech, who is still alive by the way. We know he looks a bit different in Leon's art style, but that comes with trying to meld Tem's looks with the clone wars style and our own personal head cannons.

[arctrooper69]

Mine

Here's my piece for the wonderful @isaidonyourknees for the @cloneficgiftexchange! So sorry it's a day and a half late! 😂😅

Warnings: Suggestive spice (nothing explicit), unwanted advances, jealousy, angst

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

"Leave me alone, Crosshair." The order meant to be snappish slipped out instead with a tired sigh.

"No," came the reply.

You sighed again as you felt him shift and sit down a few feet away. No more words were exchanged - the silence felt both peaceful, yet suffocating.

"Why are you up here pouting?" He finally spoke.

You glanced at him sharply. "I'm not pouting!"

"Yes you are."

"No. I'm not!"

He huffed dryly. "Sure looks like it to me."

"Hunter benched me!"

Crosshair shifted and sighed, "It's for your own good."

You scoffed, "And how would you know what's good for me?"

"You're exhausted. You're off your game."

"I'm fine. I feel fine."

He sighed again and you could practically feel him rolling his eyes. "That constant tapping of your foot and the way you're shaking tells me you're trying to run on stims and caf."

Now it was your turn to roll your eyes. "And how would you know?"

He was silent. "Because I've done the same thing."

"So that makes you think you're better than me?"

"No."

You crossed your arms, turning away from him. “I’m still not pouting.”

“Sure.”

You glared at him out of the corner of your eye. “Just go away.” This time the words did deliver the sharp edge you’d wanted before, but now you weren’t sure it was exactly what you wanted.

You didn’t know what you wanted.

“Fine, came the equally snappish response. Crosshair stood and headed back down the wooded trail. A sudden disappointment threatened to overtake you and a heat burned in the back of your throat as you tried to swallow it back.

“Crosshair wait…” you called out, turning to face him as he paused and turned back.

“What?”

“I…” You stopped. No. Crosshair had better things to do than to deal with emotions that you yourself couldn’t even decipher. “Nevermind.”

For a second he paused, almost as if waiting for you to once again change your mind. He shook his head and turned around once again, disappearing into the woods, leaving you on your own.

Fine. It’s fine. You’d asked for privacy and that’s exactly what he gave you. Yet, it felt lonely nonetheless.

Crosshair was confusing to say the least. One moment it felt like he was trying to make an emotional connection, and the next he acted like he wanted nothing to do with you.

The roar of engines echoed through the trees from the base of the hill as the Marauder soared into the sky and disappeared into the atmosphere.

***

It seemed like forever ago that you'd met the surly sniper on a job. It was forever ago. So much had changed since a heated exchange of angry words led to a moment of heedless passion. One night. A romance ignited by the very intensity that divided you. The same fingers that rested pompously on the trigger of a rifle soon pulled through tangled hair and moved with purpose against your warmth. Tongues once sharp and taunting, now slotted through parted lips with desperate pleas for more.

And then it was over. Back to the cold realities of war. No words were spoken, only awkward avoidances and inverted eyes.

Talk to me, you'd wanted to say. Tell me what you want. Tell me what you need.

Perhaps that's all it was to him. Maybe you'd given him everything he wanted in that moment. Maybe that's all you were to him - a distraction - a soldier's relief from the stress of a never ending war.

You'd wanted to say something but the words wouldn't come. Then the galaxy changed and as the Republic fell, so did your hopes.

And now after so long, he was back.

***

It was nearing dusk before you finally pushed yourself from the ground and headed back down the path.

Fueled by a growing sense of hunger and the need to be around others, you found yourself walking towards the local cantina.

The music blared from somewhere above, pumping a bass that rattled your bones.

Despite the club-like atmosphere the lighting was dim, illuminating the same bar scene that haunted almost every planet in the galaxy.

The air was thick with the scent of spice and the sound of raucous laughter. You sat at the bar, nursing a drink. Despite the bustle, it still felt lonely.

“Hey there, sweetheart.”

Fingers ran across your back as you spun around to face the unfamiliar voice.

A large nikto smiled drunkenly over at you as he leaned against the bar.

“You look lonely. You here alone?”

His breath reeked of alcohol. “You're real pretty,” he slurred, reaching out to grab your arm.

You jerked away, shooting him a glare. "Back off," you growled, voice barely audible over the din of the crowd.

The nikto persisted, his grip tightening. "Come on, don't be like that.”

“Dude,” you rolled your eyes, “leave me alone.”

He sighed, seemingly annoyed at your refusal.

“A pretty girl like you shouldn't be alone in a place like this. Let me at least walk you home, baby.”

“Don't call me that,” You spat, wrenching your arm from his grip.

His jaw stiffened as he stood up straighter.

“You should be more grateful that I'm even giving you the time of day, bitch!”

Now it was your turn to stand. The nikto grabbed your arm again. Your fingers curling into a fist, ready to strike the stupid smirk from his drunken face.

"She's not yours to touch."

A familiar voice growled from behind as the nikto’s hand was wrenched from your arm with a cry of pain.

Crosshair.

What was he doing back already? You turned to face him standing behind you, expression dark and dangerous. His hand rested on the blaster at his hip, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

The nikto's eyes narrowed. “And who do you think you are, asshole?”

Crosshair glowered, taking a menacing step forward. “I'm the guy who's going to put an extra hole in you if you don't leave immediately.”

The nikto paused, unsure if he was bluffing or not.

Crosshair clicked the safety off, loosening the blaster from its holster.

"I'm not gonna ask you again," he said, voice low and threatening.

The nikto had enough. “Geez, okay fine! I'm leaving!”

Without another word, he turned and fled, disappearing into the crowd.

You stood silently watching as Crosshair stepped forward, his practiced eyes scanning every inch of you.

“Are you alright?” He asked, “Did he hurt you?”

You let out a shaky breath, “No,” you murmured, “I'm fine.” A smile flitted across your face as you looked up.

Honey brown eyes stared sharp, pierced with concern and something else.

Jealousy?

“Good.” He replied. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something more but couldn't find the courage to do so.

But this time something rose within your own chest, warm and encouraging.

“Crosshair?” The words came timidly despite their bold intent.

He looked sharply, “What?”

“What did you mean by that? ‘She's not yours to touch’?” You asked. His hand, still on your arm, gripped a bit tighter, pulling you close. Something flashed in his eyes. It wasn't the hardness you'd come to expect from him.

“It means you're mine. You've always been mine.”

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

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[dumfanting]

Same Heart ch 25: Mechanic

AO3 Link

Rating: M, mature

Warnings- prejudice, sexual harassment (not from the Batch), OC introduced, grief, Hunter kinda sees you topless

Word Count 9438

These chapters just keep ballooning don’t they? I had to literally force myself to stop writing and post this before it got any longer.

F! Reader/ Echo, F! Reader/ Crosshair

Everyone takes a break, but problems never do.

The morning sun shines gently across your face, the mild heat waking you up. You blink a few times and yawn. You stretch, and enjoy the fact that the hotel bed you’re in is large enough for you to do so without bumping your elbows or head into anything. You sit up, and your back crackles as you do. You look around the room, eventually focusing on the man asleep next to you. It seems that your movements haven’t woken him. You smile softly and lie back down next to Echo.

Unable to help yourself, you scoot forward a little and press a soft kiss to his lips. You’re mildly startled when he reciprocates, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you closer. The kiss grows heated, and you snake your arms around his back, holding him tightly to you.

You shift your weight, and are able to roll onto your back while keeping him on top of you, your legs entangling with his. He breaks away and leans onto his elbows, caging you beneath him. You reach up and softly cup his cheek with a hand and he sighs, noticeably relaxing into your touch and whispering your name. Your heart soars, and you move your hand to the back of his head, abruptly pulling him back down towards you and crashing your lips into his.

After a few seconds, you break away for air and he moves to your neck, gently nipping at the delicate skin there. You sigh his name.

“I’ve missed you so fucking much, Echo,” you say, and he hums against your throat.

Propping himself back up, Echo softly kisses your lips before speaking. “I dreamt of us. Of you. The entire time,” he says. “It’s like I was never really alone.”

You swallow back an unexpected lump in your throat, but he sees the subtle change in your eyes. He sits back and grips your hand, pulling you up into a sitting position.

“I still can’t really believe that you were alive that whole time,” you whisper. “If I’d known-” you start to say, but Echo cuts you off.

“Don’t,” he says firmly. “Don’t do that to yourself. Nothing that happened to me is your fault,” he continues. He goes to grip your shoulder, but kind of awkwardly pokes you with his scomp instead. He curses and tries to pull away, but you stop him, surprising him by gently holding it to your chest. You lean forward and press your forehead into his, and you both close your eyes, breathing one another in.

You softly say his name and he hums in response. “Remember when you asked me why I was so insistent we come to the capital?”

“That was just three days ago, I’d hope I could remember something that recent. But yeah, what about it?” he says.

You sit back, now holding his scomp with both hands and absentmindedly looking it over. “I want to do something for you. When I went to give my mission report after we brought you back, I asked General Skywalker something,” you say.

“And how does anything about him relate to me?” Echo asks, confused.

“Did you know he’s also missing a hand?” you say.

“I never saw it, but that's fairly common knowledge,” he replies.

“Well, I asked, and he told me he built his own cybernetic, but said that there’s someone he’ll go to here every now and then,” you continue. “I contacted her while we were on the way,” you say.

“You’re not-” Echo starts to say, sounding incredulous.

You cut him off. “I am, and you won’t stop me,” you say, your voice now just as firm as his was a few minutes ago.

“No, I know I won’t,” he says with a shake of his head. “You’re still just as stubborn as ever, aren’t you?”

You release his scomp and lean forward, kissing his cheek. “Yep!” you say with a smile. “Now get dressed, she’s expecting us to come in before lunch,” you continue, turning your back to him and swinging your legs off the bed.

Just as you move to stand, Echo wraps his remaining arm around your waist and pulls you backward, making you fall face up into his lap. He shifts so that he’s laying on his side, then scoots himself so he’s practically on top of you. “Just five more minutes,” he murmurs into your ear. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to just lay around with you, let me enjoy this,” he says.

You sigh exaggeratedly, but humor him, also turning over onto your side. “Alright, fine. Five minutes. But not a second more,” you say.

Echo hums, content, and buries his face in your chest, making you laugh.

—

The next thing you know, there’s knocking at your room door. You sit up, confused by the noticeably different angle of sunlight shining into the room. Echo sits up with a yawn, and when he also hears the knocking, shares a glance with you. You sigh heavily, then swing your legs over the edge of the bed before quickly making your way to the door. On the way, you realize that you’re barely dressed; in fact you’re wearing little more than panties and an almost entirely see-through tank top that leaves nothing to the imagination, but you answer the knocking anyway.

The door slides open and it’s Hunter. Unable to help himself, his eyes roam your body, and when you pointedly clear your throat he catches himself and quickly stares at a point just over your shoulder.

“Yes?” you ask, crossing your arms and cocking your head at him with a smirk, more amused than annoyed.

“Sorry, Meds, just uh, wondering what you’re still doing here. Don’t you have to meet somebody?” he says.

You take a look at the chrono on your wrist and curse. “Shit, we were supposed to be there an hour ago,” you say, loudly enough for Echo to hear you and also curse. You give Hunter a quick thanks before the door abruptly slides shut and you dash back toward the bed.

You dive for a large canvas bag, filled with your clothes and other things, and dig around for something to wear. Echo quickly dresses into his full kit and leans on the wall nearby, watching you with a soft expression. You finally find a bra and underwear in the same color, then grab a long yellow sundress just underneath a pair of socks.

You whip your tank top off, and Echo wolf-whistles at you. Caught off guard, you stand and stare at him until he takes a few steps toward you, then rests his remaining hand on your hip, unabashedly looking you up and down. You wave a hand in his face, exasperated, and remind him that you’re both running late.

“So?” he says, smirking at you and pulling you closer.

You huff at him, but chuckle. “You’ll have me all to yourself once we get back,” you say, pecking his cheek.

Echo takes his hand back and gives you room to change with a shake of his head. “I’m gonna hold you to that, you know,” he says.

You pull the dress over your shoulders, then shake your head and pat your hair back into place. Now that you’re properly dressed, you take your turn to approach Echo and hold him by the hips. “Oh, I’m counting on it,” you purr, and he kisses you.

Before you two get too wrapped up in each other, you step backwards and dig through the bag again, eventually finding a pair of brown sandals and stepping into them. You catch his eye and twirl around once, giggling and making the skirt gracefully flare out around your legs. Echo just kind of stares at you, but before you can ask him what’s up, he walks back to you, takes you by the shoulders and kisses you deeply, leaving you breathless.

“You’re still just as beautiful as the day I left,” he says in a soft whisper, pressing his forehead into yours. Your heart flutters at his words.

Before you can respond, the chrono on your wrist chimes the hour and you curse again. “Alright lover boy,” you say, taking his hand and leading him to the door. “We really need to get going,” you continue as the door slides open.

“I really don’t get a say in this, do I?” he asks, shaking his head a little.

“Nope, my mind’s been made up for weeks,” you respond, power-walking down the hallway toward the hotel lobby.

On the way out, you pass Tech and Wrecker and wave at them without stopping, calling “running late, sorry!” over your shoulder as you go. You don’t overhear Wrecker not-so-quietly asking Tech if you’d always been that pretty, but Echo does. He glances over at them, raising an eyebrow.

“What? I didn’ mean anythin’ by it,” Wrecker says with a shrug.

“It is a simple statement of fact,” Tech says, adjusting his goggles before returning his attention to his data pad.

Echo can’t help but chuckle at them as he jogs after you. They aren’t wrong.

—

When Echo finds you outside, you’re waiting for him next to a taxi. As he walks up, the driver, an old Duros man, spots him.

“Is he coming with you?” he asks, and you hear the disdain in his voice.

You stand up straight, squaring your shoulders, staring into his red eyes. “Yes,” you say tersely.

“Look sweet cheeks, I’ll take you anywhere you want, but that thing ain’t coming anywhere near my cab,” the driver says.

You feel Echo prickle behind you, but hold up a hand and stop him. You take a few steps closer to the open-roofed speeder, hands on your hips. “Let me make some things clear to you sir,” you say, sarcastically using the title. “I’m not going three feet down the sidewalk with you, and if you disrespect him like that again, I will make you regret it,” you continue.

Even without Sensitivity, Echo could feel the barely-contained anger emanating off you; he’s startled by it. He touches your shoulder with his scomp and quietly says, “it’s fine, let’s just-” before the driver interrupts him.

“Ha! That ain’t even a whole man!” the driver said before laughing loudly.

Before either of them can react, you grab your blaster out of your bag and point it at the cabbie, barely controlling your breathing. The man’s volume has attracted some attention, but you don’t notice. He sees your blaster and laughs harder.

“You even know how to use that, little girl?” he sneers.

You try to step forward again, but Echo grabs your shoulder with his remaining hand, holding you back. “Please, just let it go,” he says, and you can hear how upset he’s been made by the whole exchange. You take a deep breath, relax your body, and turn to walk away, lowering your blaster. As you do, the driver decides to push his luck.

“Come find me when his battery runs out, babygirl,” he shouts after you.

You stop, turn on your heel, and fire your blaster at him, the sudden noise dispersing most of the onlookers quickly. You stow your blaster back into your bag and march towards the taxi. Bracing yourself by holding your hands against the body of the vehicle, you lean across it, glowering at the driver. He looks frantically between you and the scorch mark on the headrest of his seat, only inches from the side of his head.

“What do you know, I do know how to use that thing, old man. Now, I suggest you get the fuck out of here and pray that I never see you again,” you say, venom dripping from your words despite your eerie calmness.

You don’t have to tell him twice. The moment your hands leave the speeder, he takes off, yelling “Bucket fucker!” over his shoulder as he goes.

“Asshole,” you mutter under your breath, then turn around to see the main entry door to the hotel closing behind Echo. You pinch the bridge of your nose and curse. Looking around, there are still a few people loitering about and staring at you. You grit your teeth, ignoring them and whatever else is shouted at you, following him inside.

—

After glancing around the lobby, you look through the large, wall-sized window on the far side of the room and see that Echo is in the courtyard, along with the rest of your squad. You curse under your breath and jog over to the door.

It slides open and Hunter walks over, questioning you immediately and demanding to know what the hell just happened. As you try to steady your trembling hands, you quickly report the encounter.

“You missed?” Crosshair says, smirking at you.

“If I did, it would’ve hit him,” you say, also smirking. Crosshair seems almost impressed. “And for the record,” you continue, looking at everyone else, “It was set to stun.”

Echo, seated on a bench nearby, stares at you and shakes his head. “You didn’t need to do that,” he says quietly, his gaze moving from your face to the duracrete floor under his feet.

Still rattled, you’re about to defend yourself, but take a moment to calm down first. Unconsciously, you shut your eyes and kind of “scan” the room, your mind buzzing as disbelief and confusion, but most prominently, self-loathing and shame, roll over you. You know who it’s coming from and your heart hurts for him. You take a deep breath and open your eyes, then make your way over to Echo and hunker down on the floor, looking up at him while you gently hold onto his knees.

“You’re right,” you say, matter of factly, getting his attention. “I let my anger get the better of me, and I didn’t consider what you needed. I’m sorry,” you continue, speaking softly.

To your surprise, Echo laughs at you, just a little. “You get that on camera, Tech?” he says, glancing over. Tech nods. “Good,” Echo says. “Now there’s a record of you admitting you were wrong,” he continues, smirking at you as Crosshair snickers in the background.

You roll your eyes, then move to sit on the bench beside Echo. “Oh haha. I’m being serious here,” you say, taking hold of his hand. “It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not,” Hunter says, his tone stern. “The last thing we need is to bail you out of jail.”

You chuckle. “Fox and the rest of the Corries are too busy with more important things,” you say, then sigh. “Yes sir,” you say, speaking seriously.

“Weren’t you two runnin’ late for something?” Wrecker asks.

You curse under your breath as you take a look at the chrono on your wrist, then at Echo. “That depends,” you say. “What do you want to do?” you ask him.

“Well, it is the entire reason we’re here,” he says after a moment of thought. “I don’t think she’ll see us, being so late, but we could at least try,” he says with a half shrug.

You grip his hand a little tighter, asking if he’s sure. He nods, then stands and pulls you to your feet. “What’ll you guys be doing?” he says, looking over at everyone else.

“I’ll be sleeping as long as I kriffing can,” Hunter says with a yawn.

“I am implementing a modification to the ship,” Tech says, staring at his data pad, as always. Wrecker says he’ll probably wind up following Tech around, and Crosshair doesn’t say anything.

Satisfied, you lead Echo back through the lobby and into the street outside. This time, thankfully, you’re able to get a taxi that’ll take the both of you without any fuss.

—

You tell the cabbie where to go, and once the speeder is moving, you feel Echo’s eyes on you. You glance over and find him staring, his expression unreadable.

“What?” you ask, feeling a little self-conscious.

He just shakes his head at you with a small sigh. “I’m just wondering who that was back there. I mean, you’ve never been one to take shit, but I’ve never seen you get that angry about it, it’s so unlike you. Obviously something’s changed. What the hell have you been through while I was gone?” he asks.

You blink a few times, surprised by how direct he’s being with you. He’s right, too. Before everything fell apart, you would’ve just cursed at the old man and walked away, leaving it at that. Your mind races as you wonder what else has changed about you that you aren’t conscious of.

Echo nudges your side, pulling you out of your thoughts as he says your name. “You okay?” he asks. You nod at him, then take a moment to think about everything you’d gone through. You heave a tired sigh, and when Echo takes your hand into his, you start talking.

“Watching the literal exact copies of someone you love die over and over despite what you do to stop it will really shift your perspective. I always knew what happened out on the battlefield, but I never really knew until I experienced it myself,” you say quietly.

“Back on Anaxes, before you and I were able to talk, Rex and Kix told me you practically demanded to go out into the field,” Echo says, matching your low volume. “I keep thinking about it and I just can’t come up with why,” he says.

You take a deep breath in an attempt to keep yourself calm, but your hands tremble. “I was… angry,” you say. “When you’d gone, I didn't leave the apartment for nearly a week. I felt hopeless. It wasn’t like that with Fives. I was only out for one day, and even then that’s only because Kix insisted on it. I just kept thinking about you, and Fives, and the more I did, the angrier I got.”

“Really?” he says, sounding surprised.

“Yeah. I was too far away to help you. There was nothing I could have done for Fives. I was sick and tired of being there too late to make a difference,” you say, your voice shaking.

“You honestly thought you weren’t making a difference?” Echo says, surprising you when he sounds irritated.

You look over at him, your eyes tearing up, and nod.

“That might be the dumbest thing you’ve ever said,” he says flatly. Your jaw drops and your eyes widen.

Echo says your name. “I told you before the last mission, you matter and you’ve made more of a difference than you think. Again, maybe not on a galactic scale, but you have. You still are. I won’t pretend to understand what that was like for you to lose so many men. But you didn’t lose all of them. Are you really going to look me in the eye and tell me that the men you could save don’t fucking matter?” Echo says, speaking firmly while looking you in the eye.

You suddenly, intensely, feel two things at once: guilt and shame. You look away from him and fidget with the strap of your bag. “I… I never thought about it that way,” you say in a voice so soft Echo can barely hear you. “Makes me sound like a bit of an asshole when you put it like that,” you say.

Echo is still watching you, but the hard look in his eyes has softened. “Nobody knows how easy it is to focus on what you’ve lost more than me. Does it bother me that I’m missing three fuckin’ limbs? Of course it does. But I still have this one,” Echo says, releasing your hand and wrapping said arm around your shoulders and pulling you close to him. “And even if I didn’t, I got my life back. I got you back. That more than makes up for what’s missing,” he continues.

You look back into Echo’s eyes and your mind buzzes again; you feel nothing but love and sincerity coming from him as he looks at you. You try to say something, but only a soft cry comes out. He turns himself towards you and you bury your face in the hollow of his shoulder, sobbing quietly. He holds you tighter.

After a minute or so, you pull yourself back together and sit back up, wiping at your eyes with a humorless laugh. “Well, completely wrong or not, that’s how I felt. I let the anger motivate me. I was so determined not to lose anyone else, I thought that being able to reach someone right away would, I don’t know, change the odds a little bit. I was wrong,” you say, sniffling a little.

You take a second to clear your throat before speaking again. “After I lost you, being back here on Coruscant in the GAR headquarters, every soldier I looked at… it was like seeing a ghost. After Fives, well… it got so much worse. I wasn’t just losing men out there. I was losing the both of you, over and over again,” you say quietly.

“I’m so sorry cyar’ika,” Echo says, holding you a little tighter, but you stop him with a shake of your head.

“Don’t. Nothing that happened to me was your fault. Don’t do that to yourself,” you say.

“Well, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Echo says, trying not to smirk at the way you had unconsciously repeated what he said to you earlier today.

You exaggeratedly roll your eyes, then pause in thought for a few seconds again.

“I tried,” you say. “I tried so goddamn hard to push through my own feelings and fears and do whatever was needed of me, but eventually, it all wore me down. I seriously considered just deserting and running away at the end. I told Kix that, and he told me about them,” you say, glancing behind you, even though the hotel was now miles away.

You pause for a few seconds, then continue speaking. “When Kix told me about Fives, I fainted. Just before though, with my vision fading out, he looked just like you. The last thing I remember before waking up in the medical center a few hours later is asking him why you all had to look the fucking same,” you say.

You can tell that Echo wants to ask how that relates to Clone Force 99, but he stays quiet, allowing you to speak at your own pace.

“I told Kix I couldn’t do it anymore, I was too burnt out. He pulled up a file on the guys and they each looked so different. They needed a medic, and I needed a drastic change. We both got what we needed, I think. I lost track of how long I’ve been in the squad since then. And it did help. More than they probably realize,” you say, smiling softly. Echo studies your face, still listening patiently.

“Maker, it was hard sometimes,” you continue. “Cross being such a dick certainly didn’t help,” you say, rolling your eyes.

Echo frowns at you. “Hunter said you two would ‘butt heads’ a lot,” he says.

“That’s one word for it,” you say with a soft chuckle.

“What changed?” Echo asks, and you hesitate, not sure how to respond. You glance at the driver, whom you know is only listening because of the enclosed small space. “I’d rather not get into it here,” you say. Echo also takes a look at the driver, then makes a sound akin to ‘fair enough’.

“I couldn’t figure out what his problem was, until Hunter told me while you were recovering that I was the only medic they’ve ever had stick around for more than two weeks,” you say. “I’m like the sixth they’ve had this cycle, so I guess Cross didn’t expect me to be there for too long. Good Maker, there were a few times I wanted to just walk away, but I always decided not to give him the satisfaction of getting to me,” you say.

“But he did, didn’t he? Tech showed me that too. What happened In the briefing room and outside of Purkoll,” Echo says.

You snicker a little. “Yeah, well, it seems like I should have snapped on him sooner; he’s still an ass, but it’s bearable now,” you say.

“That’s one way to describe it,” Echo mumbles, looking down at the floor of the speeder.

You feel a twinge of jealousy coming from him, which isn’t surprising, but you don’t know how to react to it, unconsciously rubbing at the faded mark Crosshair had left on your neck. You knew Echo had seen it, but neither of you have said anything about it.

Echo sighs, and looks back at you. Seeing how nervous his comment had made you, he says your name. “I shouldn’t put you on the spot like that, sorry,” he says. “You didn’t want him to get the satisfaction of wearing you down enough to leave,” he continues, steering the conversation back on track.

“Right, yeah,” you say awkwardly, clearing your throat before continuing to talk. “More important than that though, if I had left, I wouldn’t be here with you right now. Hell, it’s very likely that I never would’ve even found out what happened to you,” you say. “It’s like a perfect storm of everything going wrong in just the right way,” you say, trailing off.

“And the cabbie?” Echo says.

“Oh damn, that’s what we were talking about,” you say. You sigh again. “After everything I’ve seen, and everything you and all your brothers have gone through, hearing that asshole say what he did…” you pause, trying to keep yourself calm. “None of you deserve that, but especially not you, Echo,” you say, taking his hand again.

“He made the same mistake Crosshair did,” you continue. Echo looks confused, so you clarify: “It’s such a stupid cliche, but, someone can talk shit about me all they want, it won’t bother me. Go after someone I love? Well, that does bother me, to put it politely. More than that though, these civilians have no idea what kind of hell you’ve each been put through. Someone has to stand up for you all. Does that make any sense?” you say.

Echo doesn’t say anything, instead responding by nodding and pulling you close again and pressing his forehead into yours.

The two of you sat like that, breathing each other in, though not for too long, as the taxi soon comes to a stop and the driver tells you that you’ve arrived. You reluctantly sit back, pulling away from Echo. You go into your bag for the credits you owe the driver and try to hand it to them, but they refuse to take it.

“Sorry to eavesdrop on you two,” they say. “But if even half of what you said back there is true, I think you’ve earned at least one free ride,” they say, softly smiling at the two of you.

“Oh, no, you really don’t have to-,” you say, but they hold up a tendril and stop you.

“No ma’am I don’t, but I want to and I’m going to. I’ve been driving around this town for a long time, too long maybe, and I’ve overheard some wild things,” they say, glancing between you and Echo. “But you two? That’s something special. Don’t lose it,” they say.

You both try to thank the driver but they just wave it off and shoo you out of their speeder. Before you exit, though, you take the credits you still have in your hand and leave them sitting out prominently on the backseat. You watch the cab depart with a smirk, knowing that the driver will find them later.

“You know,” Echo says, taking your hand into his. “I think that made up for the other guy, don’t you?”

You nod in agreement, then glance around the area. It was a long drive to get here, and you know you’ve never been in this part of Coruscant before. The sidewalks are in poor repair, and the facades of most buildings are faded and worn down. Shops and alleyways compete for space, and the block you two are on is noticeably more cramped than the others.

Echo side-eyes you. “Uh, are you sure this is the right place?” he says. You dig through your bag and retrieve the now crumpled up piece of flimsi General Skywalker had given you.

“Myrr’s Cybernetic Chop Shop,” you read off, glancing between the note and the building in front of you. The same name is haphazardly written in faded red paint over a small doorway. You stuff the flimsi back into your bag. “Yeah, this seems to be it,” you say. “How the General found this place is beyond me though,” you say with a shake of your head.

You walk from the curb to the door with Echo following close behind. The door stutters open, and you two exchange an uneasy glance before stepping inside.

—

Once you both are inside, you quietly look around the room, but find yourselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff filling the place. There’s hardly a single space of blank wall or clear, uncluttered surface. The walls are covered in schematics and blueprints that look hand-drawn and there are scattered peg boards with a myriad of what you imagine to be very specialized tools up as well.

The shelves, table tops, and even a portion of the floor are overcrowded with toolboxes and containers of varying sizes and shapes, each one labeled in green ink. You wonder what a “micro crystal bug plant pin” is as you scan over them.

Pulling your attention back to the room at large, you find that even the ceiling is obscured by bundles of wire and hydraulic hoses of different sizes and types, with the lights dangling down almost at random and casting shadows at weird angles. The whole place smells like mineral oil and something metallic. What surprises you most, though, is that there isn’t a speck of dust or dirt on anything besides the cloudy window near the door.

“Good Maker,” you mumble. “This place puts Tech’s ‘organization’ to shame,” you say.

“Does it?” Echo asks, and you chuckle at him.

“You’ve only been with us for three days. Give it another week and you’ll see,” you say, then chance a few steps forward.

You can hear the high-pitched whirring of a stylus-sized drill, which you only recognize because Tech uses one that makes the same noise, coming from the other side of a standing shelf that looks like it’ll collapse under the weight of over a dozen haphazardly stacked metal limbs. You glance back at Echo, who seems just as taken aback by the state of it all as you are.

“Seems like the right place,” he says, still looking around the room.

You're about to respond when something heavy crashes to the floor, putting out a few sparks and making the lights overhead flicker. The sound of the drill suddenly stops and you hear a metallic screech as something is abruptly pushed out of place, and someone curses loudly.

“Dank Ferrik,” they half-shout, annoyed. “That’s the third time I’ve knocked that karking lamp down today!” The voice sounds female, though hoarse and tired.

Echo moves to stand closer to you, and you both exchange another glance before cautiously moving to the other side of the standing shelf. You find a few things; a heavy wood and durasteel workbench, also covered in random objects, and two figures. One is seated on one side of the workbench with their back to you.

You recognize the second figure as Shalka Myrr, although the holonet image you’d seen is clearly out of date, as she had both of her organic eyes in the photo. Grumbling, the lean but obviously strong Zabrac woman straightens up with a broken spotlight lamp in her hands. She haphazardly tosses the object into another room behind her, then finally spots you and Echo.

She half-shouts something you don’t understand but recognize as a curse, startled. “How long have you two been in here?” she demands, her expression stony and suspicious.

“Sorry for the surprise,” you say.

“We just came through the door a minute or so ago, ma’am,” Echo says, speaking firmly, but respectfully.

“The damned chime must be broken again,” Myrr grumbles to herself. “Well? Ya gonna tell me who you are?” she continues, crossing her arms.

You notice that one of her arms is organic; the other is cybernetic and extends upwards past her shoulder. She has an organic eye on the same side as her organic arm, and the other eye is also cybernetic, though it’s a brilliant shade of blue, rather than white like all the others you’ve ever seen. She’s tall, but that may in part be due to the thick-soled black boots she’s wearing. She’s also sporting cargo pants made of a thick green material, and her white tank top is spotted with a few oddly-colored stains. She’s got thick brown leather gloves on as well. You see that she’s also filed her horns back down since the holonet photo was taken, though they’re partially obscured by what looks like high-magnification goggles resting on her forehead.

Before you can reply, a familiar voice says your name, and only a second later, General Skywalker pokes his head around the standing shelf. “I thought I recognized your voices,” he says. “Shalka, these are the two I was telling you about earlier,” he continues, looking toward her. She uncrosses her arms, but her suspicious expression doesn’t change.

“Sorry we’re so late,” you say sheepishly. “We overslept and had some, um, trouble with a taxi driver,” you continue, explaining yourself.

“Lemme guess, some asshole wouldn’t take him with you?” she asks, nodding at Echo, who shifts uneasily on his feet.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened,” you say.

“Disgusting. Don’t worry about being late. I’m running behind thanks to this guy anyway,” Myrr says, waving a hand at the General. “You’re lucky I’m not expecting anyone else today,” she continues, squinting at him. She returns to her seat at the workbench, and the General does the same. You and Echo take a few more cautious steps closer, not wanting to bump into anything and start a mechanical avalanche.

“So,” Myrr says after sucking her teeth. “He’s the Hero of Anaxes, eh?” she asks as she picks the drill back up and switches it on.

“I’m the what?” Echo says, taken aback.

“Yeah, Anakin here told me all about you. Sounds like you’ve really been dealt a losing hand, huh?” she says. Echo blinks at her.

“Ah, shit, that was a poor choice of words,” she mumbles, dragging a gloved hand down her face and smearing a little oil along her nose.

“I mean, you aren’t really wrong,” Echo says with a shrug. Myrr then laughs, the sound more akin to a bark than actual mirth. Echo then turns to General Skywalker and says “So I’m the ‘hero of Anaxes’ now?” with a smirk.

“Hey, I didn’t come up with the title,” the General says, speaking up a little over the whirring of the drill.

“Oh you are so so fulla crap,” Myrr says, pointing the drill at him. “He just told me otherwise about an hour ago,” she says.

“It’s true though,” he says. “We would have lost the entire sector if you hadn’t been there,” he says, looking proudly at Echo.

Echo glances over at you again, and neither of you know what to say. You slip your hand into his and run your thumb across his knuckles, which eases the anxiety you can faintly feel coming from him. He looks gratefully at you and gives your hand a slight squeeze in response. The two of you shift your attention back to Myrr, watching her work.

She changes out the drill for a soldering iron, leaning down as close as possible to what she was doing, apparently forgetting about the goggles, and she’s so focused you don’t think she realizes the tip of her tongue is poking out the corner of her mouth. Watching as she makes a few new connections, you can’t help but think of Tech again. No doubt he’d find this fascinating.

You clear your throat after a little while, and ask if you and Echo should reschedule.

“Don’t. Worry. About. That,” she says, punctuating each word with a touch of the soldering iron. “All I’ve gotta do now is put his plates back on, then he can get the hell away from me,” she says, and you can’t tell if she’s joking or not.

The General seems to know she’s not being serious though, and chuckles at her. “Aw, c’mon,” he says, smirking at her. “I thought I was your favorite,” he says.

“Ha!” Myrr bark-laughs again. “My favorite pain in the ass, maybe,” she says, and turns the final screw into the Generals cybernetic hand only moments later.

“I can live with that,” he says, still smirking. He pulls his hand back and flexes it, moving each finger and joint individually while Myrr watches. “It’s perfect,” General Skywalker says.

“Did you expect anything else?” Myrr retorts, getting to her feet. “I’ll be billing the GAR again this time?” she continues.

The General nods at her and gets to his feet as well.

“It better come through on time this time!” she says, wagging a finger in his direction, squinting at him again. “This place may be a scughole but I still gotta pay rent on it,” she continues.

You and Echo move aside as Myrr and the General walk over to a computer terminal near the door. Echo looks over at her and shakes his head, confusion evident on his face.

“I can’t get a read on her either,” you say quietly. “But I trust the General's judgment,” you continue.

Speaking of, you feel a light tap on your shoulder and turn to find him standing behind you. “I hope you didn’t forget, I still wanted to hear about what happened before the last mission,” he says.

You grimace a little. “Ah crap, I did, to be honest,” you say, awkwardly rubbing at the back of your neck.

At the same time, Myrr has returned to her seat at the workbench. “Oy, Hero, lemme take a look at ya,” she says, waving at Echo.

You squeeze his hand again and nod at him. He takes a deep breath and moves away, sitting where the General was only moments ago.

“I’ve sort of had my hands full,” you say softly, nodding at Echo.

“On top of the other four, right?” The General says sympathetically.

“You have no idea sir,” you say with a chuckle. “Can we talk outside?” you ask.

General Skywalker nods and says “Make sure to tell her what you need first. I’ll be just outside of the door.”

As he walks away, you slide your way over to the workbench, resting a hand on Echo’s shoulder.

“So,” Myrr says, “whatcha need from me?”

“Well,” you say, speaking thoughtfully. “I originally was thinking just a hand to replace the scomp,” you say, getting Echo’s attention.

“It’s come in handy though,” he says, completing your thought for you.

“So, you want both?” Myrr says, frowning and leaning back with her arms crossed.

“If it’s even possible,” Echo says.

Myrr leans forward again and sighs. “Hard to say. I’ve never done anything like that before. It’ll be a long and complicated build,” she says.

“I have almost ninety-thousand credits, and I’ll give you every single one if that’s what it takes,” you say, speaking decisively and ignoring the look of shock on Echo’s face.

Myrr genuinely laughs this time. She says something else you don’t understand and shakes her head. “Good maker lady, I could rebuild all of his limbs entirely for that much. And even if I couldn’t, I ain’t charging you a damn cent,” she says.

Now it’s your turn to look shocked. “Really? Why not?” you ask, incredulous.

“Firstly,” Myrr says, getting to her feet and edging past you. “The clones only exist to fight,” she continues. She searches a wall-sized shelving unit and gathers an armful of tools and small boxes. “You boys go through more than your fair share of bullshit out there,” she says, moving past you again. “Least I could do is fix ya up. Yeah, the GAR does it too, but you’re getting bare bones from their cheap asses,” she says, dumping the items in her arms onto the workbench. “They’ll keep ya just well enough to go die for ‘em,” she says with a scoff.

“Secondly,” Myrr says, sitting back down again. “I know you boys don’t get paid anything, which is a crock of bantha shit if you ask me, so I’m not gonna ask for something I know you don’t have.” She glances over at you and continues, “You may have money but as long as I’m just workin’ on him I don’t want any of it, and you ain’t gonna argue with me on that, got it?”

Stunned, you simply nod.

“Good,” she says. She pushes the pile of stuff she just retrieved to the side and fishes a large sheet of thick flimsi out from the depths of her workspace and spreads it across the workbench.

“And finally,” she says, now haphazardly opening drawers and digging through nearby boxes, “I like a challenge. Plus, on the off chance I fuck it up it won’t cost you anything,” she concludes.

“W-wow. I don’t know how to thank you Ms Myrr,” you say.

She crosses her arms again and raises an eyebrow at you. “Ms Myrr has been dead for eight years, it’s Shalka. And you don’t gotta thank me. I’m just doin’ what any decent sentient should do,” she says. “But, if ya could do me one favor?” she says, still looking around.

“Yeah, of course,” you say.

“Can I bum a stylus off you?” she says with an aggravated sigh.

“Oh!” you say. You weren’t sure what you were expecting her to ask for, but something that simple wasn’t it. “Sure, I’ve got a few in my bag,” you say, digging through it and handing Shalka two new black ones.

“Consider us even then,” Shalka says, and for a brief moment you could swear she had smiled at you. “Alright Hero, I’mma need some measurements from you,” she says, returning her focus onto Echo, who had watched the whole exchange with just as much surprise as you had felt.

You moved closer to him and kissed his cheek. “The General wanted to speak to me,” you tell him.

“What for?” he asks.

“Whatever happened to me back in the bunks before that last mission, he could Sense it,” you say. “I’m guessing he’s going to ask what happened,” you continue with a shrug.

“What did happen back there? I never got a chance to ask you,” he says.

You hesitate for a brief second, and hope he didn’t notice, then say “I’ll tell you back in our room, okay?”

“I’ll add it to the list,” he says with a smirk.

“I’ll be right outside the door if you need me for anything,” you say.

“What, you afraid I’m gonna eat him or somethin’?” Shalka says with a smirk of her own. You just chuckle and continue towards the door.

When it slides open and you step outside, true to his word, General Skywalker is standing only a few feet away under a tattered canopy. You take a deep, steadying breath, then approach him.

—

The General perks up the slightest bit when you walk over, which you notice.

“This interests you that much, huh General?” you ask.

“The Force is constantly growing and evolving, just like we are. Who wouldn’t be interested in something completely new?” he says.

“Completely new?” you repeat. “How can you be so sure about that sir? I haven’t told you what happened yet,” you say.

“I told you back on the ship, I could feel it. There’s still a lot of things I haven’t experienced yet, and whatever that was is one of them,” he says, leaning back against the wall as he speaks.

“I guess that makes sense,” you say, feeling uncertain.

“I can sense your doubt,” he says. He lowers his voice but continues to talk, saying “You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, you do know that, right?”

“Yes sir, I know,” you say.

“I’ll give you a second to gather your thoughts,” he says, and you thank him.

After about a minute, you start speaking, telling him everything that happened after you closed the bunk room door behind yourself. You kind of gloss over how angry you had been after arguing with Rex, and thankfully General Skywalker didn’t ask about it.

“Suddenly I lost all of my energy, like it had been vacuumed right out of my body. I kind of plopped into the floor, and after a few seconds, I heard his voice in my head,” you say quietly. “Fives,” you added, before he could ask. “I’d closed my eyes, and I could feel him, like he was actually there with me, flesh and blood just like you,” you continue. “He touched my cheek,” you say, unconsciously mimicking the motion before falling silent for a moment.

General Skywalker listens carefully, allowing you to take as much time as you need to get it all out. When you do speak again, your eyes are glassy and you sound far away.

“I was so confused, so scared. I kind of slumped forward and he caught me. I knew it wasn’t possible, but I also know, the way I know my own name, that he was really there and holding me. The room was so cold, but he was so warm. I asked out loud what happened to him, why he had to leave me,” you say, pausing to clear your throat.

“And the next time he spoke, it wasn’t in my head. I could actually hear him, his voice even sounded slightly different because of the small space we were in. I felt his breath on my skin,” you say.

You pause again, this time trying to fight away an unwanted lump in your throat. “I was so startled, I opened my eyes, and the very moment I did, he was gone. I was alone in the cold and dim bunks like nothing had happened,” you say, ending your story.

General Skywalker is quiet for a long time, longer than he was when you first asked him about the dream you shared with Echo, and you find yourself getting nervous.

“You’re absolutely sure you weren’t hallucinating? That can happen under extreme stress,” he eventually says.

You shake your head. “I know it as a fact, sir. I just don't know how,” you say, speaking firmly.

“If that’s true, and I’m going to assume it is since you have no reason to lie to me, I have no clue what that could be,” he says.

You barely hold back a disappointed sigh. “I didn’t expect you to know to be honest,” you say softly. “I tried searching on the holonet but couldn’t find anything. I was thinking that maybe the Jedi library, or archives, or whatever you call it may have something, but I know I can’t get inside,” you say.

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask Tech to get the data for you,” he says, sounding somewhat amused.

“Could he do that if I had?” you ask, and General Skywalker laughs while shaking his head. “Just as well that I didn’t then,” you say. “Honestly, the thought never occurred to me. And even if it had, I wouldn’t-,” you say, then abruptly stop yourself, which of course grabs his attention.

“You wouldn’t what?” he asks, pushing himself away from the wall and standing up straight. “Does anyone else know that you’re Sensitive?” he says.

“No, not really,” you say, shuffling on your feet.

“Not really?” he repeats. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he says.

“I’ve mentioned the dream thing to Rex once after it happened again. I saw the meeting where Echo talked to you before the mission on Anaxes,” you say, quickly explaining. “And Echo knows about the dreams too, but that’s all,” you say defensively.

“It doesn’t have to be a secret,” he says, concerned. “Is there any reason you haven’t told anyone besides me?” he asks.

You shift your weight between your feet again. “It’s hard to explain. When I left your office after I first asked you about the dreams, I got a sudden and intense feeling, almost like someone was shouting at me, to keep this to myself,” you say.

“That’s odd,” he says thoughtfully. “My only real concern is how you’ll keep it from your squad, especially Echo,” he says.

“That’s the thing, I don’t want to lie or keep anything from him. I don’t know what to do,” you say, sounding exhausted.

The General is quiet for a moment. “Well, the Jedi library is the most likely place to find what you’re looking for, but you’re right, you can’t get inside. Not on your own anyway,” he says. “I can arrange an escort to go with you tomorrow morning, if you’d like me to,” he says.

Your entire body and energy changes, and you light up at his words. “You’d do that for me?” you ask in disbelief.

“I would,” he says. “Besides, I’m just as invested in this as you are now,” he says with a chuckle.

The two of you quickly establish a meeting place and time for the next day, and once the plan is cemented, you thank General Skywalker over and over again for his help. Before you can repeat yourself any further, Shalka steps out of the door and gets your attention.

“Oy! Didja forget he’s still here?” She half-shouts. You glance over at the General, and he dismisses you with a relaxed wave. You thank him again, then jog over to meet Shalka at the door.

—

You follow her back inside and return to your place next to Echo. You can see that the blank flimsi is now scrawled over with what looks like measurements and material notes, but you aren’t really sure, her handwriting is terrible. There are a few hastily scribbled drawings scattered around the page as well, but it’s nothing you recognize.

Shalka takes her seat across from the two of you on the other side of her workbench. She leans back and stretches her arms out, groaning something else you don’t understand as her shoulders pop.

“Alright Sunshine,” she says, looking at you. You look confused and she gestures at your bright yellow dress. “Here’s what’ll be happening: It’s gonna be a big project, just like I thought it would be. You two shipping out anytime soon?” she asks.

Echo looks to you for an answer and you think for a moment. You had plenty of leave saved up but you weren’t sure about the rest of the squad. You dig the new commlink you bought yourself out of your bag and call Hunter.

“Meds? Something wrong? Where’s Echo?” he says, sleepy but concerned. You realize you probably woke him up and cringe at yourself.

“He’s with me, everything’s fine. I need to know how long we can be here,” you say.

Hunter groans and thinks for a second. “Six more rotations, and that’s pushing it,” he says.

“Thanks Sarge,” you say before disconnecting the call. You stow the commlink back into your bag and turn back towards Shalka. “Will that be enough time?” you ask.

She frowns and pulls a small datapad out of one of her cargo pockets. She taps rapidly at it for a few seconds, then sets it down on the workbench.

“It will be now, I’ve cleared the rest of the week,” she says.

“You really didn’t have to do that-,” Echo starts, but Shalka holds up a hand and cuts him off.

“No I didn’t, but that’s my call to make. I gotta dig some stuff out from the depths of this place before I can really start, so you two can get lost for today,” she says. “I’m gonna need Hero back here first thing in the morning tomorrow, so don’t oversleep again,” she adds with a smirk.

Echo gets to his feet, and Shalka follows suit, stepping around the two of you to lead you back to the door.

“We really can’t thank you enough,” you say earnestly as Echo nods.

She waves it off with a hand, then slips her gloves off and stuffs them into another cargo pocket. “You really wanna thank me? Don’t let the fuckin’ Seppies win,” she says.

The door slides open and Echo follows you outside. Shalka tells you when he should be here tomorrow, then closes the door. You’re about to say something but there’s a loud metallic crash from inside the shop.

Muffled by the door, you both hear Shalka shout “I’m okay! Fuckin shelf collapsed,” followed by the clatter of unknown objects being pushed around on the floor.

You and Echo glance at each other yet again, then laugh at the same time. You take him by the hand and lead him over to the tattered canopy you and the General were just talking under. You use your commlink to hail a cab, then put it back in your bag as the two of you wait.

“She’s… odd,” Echo says.

“That’s one way to put it,” you say with a chuckle. “She’s got a hell of a mouth on her but I can tell she’s being genuine about everything she says,” you continue.

Echo raises an eyebrow at you. “How do you know that?” he asks.

You want to tell him you can Sense it in her, but say “it’s just a gut feeling,” instead, which he seems to accept. You ask him when she needs him back here tomorrow, hoping that the time wouldn’t conflict with you meeting whoever your chaperone would be at the Jedi library. Unfortunately, it’s at the same time, and you curse under your breath, which Echo notices.

“Is there an issue?” he asks.

“The General wanted to see me again tomorrow,” you explain.

“He’s really invested in this stuff, isn’t he?” he says, and you chuckle with a nod. He takes your hand into his and when he next speaks, his voice is low. “What happened back there? It must’ve been serious if he’s still interested in whatever it was,” he says.

You check the chrono on your wrist and sigh. The taxi was still ten minutes away.

You grip his hand and quickly repeat everything you had just told General Skywalker, attempting to gloss over the argument with Rex again. Unlike the General, Echo catches onto that and asks you about it.

“I don’t think you two have ever had even just an annoyed disagreement before, what the hell were you two talking about?” he asks.

You hesitate, chewing your lip. You wanted to be honest with him, but you were also anxious about bringing up how Rex had implied you replaced him so quickly. Not to mention how Fives related to the whole thing. You know though, that Echo could very easily just ask Rex what happened, and the decision is made for you.

Just as you open your mouth to start talking, the taxi speeder you had called for pulls up along the sidewalk across from you, and you silently thank the Maker for it. The last cab was enclosed, but this one isn’t, which means it’ll be too windy and loud for you two to really talk to each other.

Echo notices this too, and you can feel a faint tinge of aggravation coming from him. “Something else for the list, huh?” he says.

“Looks like it, unfortunately,” you say, leading him toward the speeder.

After giving the driver the address of your hotel, they pay you no further attention and don’t seem to notice or care that Echo is with you. That was a small blessing at least.

Just before the cab pulls away, Echo shakes his head at you with a tired sigh. “There’s a lot for us to talk about, isn’t there?” he says.

“Yeah,” you reply. “Lots of talking,” you say, sounding equally as tired.

————

Taglist: @kaminocasey @madameminor @grievouus @wolveria @jennamelinda12 @zoeykallus @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @whore4rex @echo-is-worth-more-than-2000 @thelux1007

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[bibannana]

Rex *finishing a briefing with the 212th*: See you out there boys. *makes finger guns and winks before walking off*

Obi-wan *blinks*: What?

Cody *absolutely disgusted*: Why?

Fives *wheezing*: He did it! He actually did it!

Echo *being held up by Waxer and Boil*: Mission successful!!

Ahsoka *grins and high fives them both*: We've been teaching Rex some modern slang.

Obi-wan *slowly blinks*: I can see that.

Anakin *enters*: Greetings my fellow friends!

Cody *shaking his head*: Force, they got Skywalker too.

Fives *grins*: Nah, he's always been like that.

Taglist: @staycalmandhugaclone @soliloquy-of-nemo @nekotaetae @jiabae @sexy-rex

[kitcat22]

We really don’t focus enough on Echo’s time as a prisoner of war and how earth shatteringly horrific it must have been.

Like i don’t think he would be immediately handed off to the Techno Union so they can cut the secrets out of his head. There was likely a time period spent being tortured/interrogated by the separatists for information before they decided they weren’t getting anything out of him the regular ways and handed him off to the Techno union’s experiments may yield more results. ‘Regular torture’ doesn’t imply it was in anyway easy to resist, by the way. Throughout history prisoners of war have been subjected to immensely disturbing interrogation methods. Physical, psychological,sexual you name it, it’s been done. He would have undergone this treatment by those who consider him less than a droid, so there’s the casual dehumanisation throughout all this.

Seeing as Echo had just been blown up before his capture, he liked would have endured this while already very injured. I headcanon that while he lost one of his limbs in the blast, the other two had to be amputated by the Techno Union because they were so badly infected they were practically rotting off.

His time with the Techo Union is undoubtedly the most awful, traumatising part of this whole ordeal, with forced amputations and unnecessary experimental surgeries. I see a lot of takes where all of this is done in one go but it makes more sense to me that there would be brief recovery periods between operations. Recovery is a strong word when this period would consist of being strapped to a medical bed attached to a whole bunch of machines, knowing what has been done to you and what will be done to you but being utterly helpless in stopping it.

The fact Echo was given prosthetics at all always seemed strange to me but one way I’ve reasoned it is that sometimes scientists do things without reason just to experiment. For reference, Unit 731 (Really suggest not looking this up if this type of thing really triggers you. I’ve only read the wikipedia page and still found it difficult to stomach)

Oh, and either Echo assumes his brothers are coming to rescue him and slowly loses his faith or he assumes at the start that they would believe him dead and is stuck knowing that no one’s coming to save him. Saving himself becomes a harder plan to achieve when he’s suddenly down multiple limbs and is constantly monitored, drugged starved etc.

Honestly the fact he seems at all together when he’s rescued is kind of a miracle because i think i’d have lost my mind multiple times over. I think he probably did straight after he joined the Bad Batch and everything set in.

[izzystizzys]

Echo’s world has gone decidedly… wobbly. Blurry. Fuzzy at the edges, and what-will-you-else. He can’t feel his fingertips, is his first thought. Kriffing overdid it on the glowing green shots, is his second.

“Holy kriff, Echo, that manhole-cover underneath you is moving!”, Fives exclaims, third. Or more like slurs into Lt. Jesse’s shoulder, who is himself moaning indistinctly into the Captain’s pauldron, who is in turn swaying back and forth gesturing at Commander Cody.

And it really is - the manhole cover, that is, once Echo stumbles off it with a shriek. Jumping up into the now open air with sudden force, steadying and then scraping across paveme-

“Are those kriffing hands?!”

In an instant, seven highly drunk pairs of fists and one blaster, courtesy of Commander Cody (the only one present who’s sober enough to be legally handling it) are aimed in a circle around the cover slowly being shuffled to the side, then the hands reaching up to palm at the edges of the hole -

- and are slowly being lowered again when two white-red painted helmets are heaved into view, along with chest-deep groaning and grunting. Two armored Corries collapse in a heap at Commander Cody’s feet, who stares down at them in open-mouthed shock.

Slowly, Echo blinks. Slowly, he raises a hand to snap his fingers in front of his face. No, still there. Slowly, Fives grabs for a piece of flank underneath his blacks and twists. Echo yelps, and slaps his hand away hard enough to hurt himself. “OI!”

“B’have, boys”, Captain Rex makes a brave attempt to slur out as he sways on his feet, still staring down at the trembling heap of armor at their feet. Whoa, Echo didn’t know they had those kinds of funky armor designs in the Guard. Very avant-garde.

“That’s blood, Ey’ika”, says Appo.

Oh.

Slowly, Hardcase raises his right foot, inching towards-

“Don’t even think about it”, Commander Cody snaps, and Hardcase’s foot whips back to the ground next to its companion. Fives chortles. “Yeah, genius, those are Commander kamas - they’d put you down in a second flat!”

“Why would two Corrie Commanders go crawling out of holes in front of 79’s, huh, genius?!”, Hardcase retorts, somewhat justly, Echo feels. Next to him, Commander Cody frowns, and kneels carefully. “Good question, trooper. Fox, can you hear me? Fox’i-“

Which is when one of the bodies - Commander Fox, Echo realizes with a shudder, The Marshall Commander Fox - convulses on the ground, and an arm rears up to nail Cody face-first with the back of a hand, sending him sprawling back into the pavement with an undignified squawk.

“Thorn”, the sad figure that is the highest decorated clone in existence groans, still faceplanted into pavement, “Thorn, I’m hallucinating Cody. Thorn, tell him to shut up.”

“Shuddup”, Commander Thorn heaves, loyally. Cody makes an affronted noise, braced back on his shebs. “Sdubid Codeh.”

Commander Fox’s visor scrapes against the ground with his nod, a sound that sends the surrounding vod’e cringing. “Yeah, you go, Thorn. You’re my favorite.” A considering pause. “Oh, kark. I need to call in medevac - Fox to Stabby, Fox to Stabby - the kriffing Narglatches are back on the lower levels.”

The Commander’s comm crackles to life, as he heaves himself over with a punched-out moan - oh, yup, that dark patch’s definitely not paint, and are those teeth marks?! On plastoid??

“I’m going to wring Senator Hliii’s neck, and then I’m going to twist him into a human kriffing meat-lasso to catch every last one of his little pets with”, sounds through Fox’s comm, who just hacks out a laughcough in response. “Pinging your location now. Where’s Thorn?”

“Pr’snt”, slurs Thorn.

“Concussed”, adds Fox, “We crawled out forty levels to behind 79’s, so no one would see us.”

Awkward silence follows.

“Uh, about that”, begins Rex, only to be interrupted by a deep groan from Fox.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kriffing kidding me! As if Cody’s ugly mug wasn’t - WHAT THE KRIFF ARE YOUR KRIFFING ARC KARKHEADS DOING IN MY HALLUCINATION, REX?!”

“Shuddup, Rex”, Thorn moans bravely.

[omaano]

Echo with his tooka best buddy (and an extra) for @phantasm-echo 's DTIYS 🩵💙❤️