Warnings: Death, past death, death of children referenced, overindulgence of candy, belly aches, body horror, transformation, Vomit, trauma, intense sugar rush, craziness, self hate, guilt, lots of guilt.
A/N: This is a collab between me and @ahsokatano-thetogruta, we both hope you like it. This is in our One Big Family AU. Rebel bad batch designs are based on this art by @d-does-art
Stutter sneaks quietly into the Havoc Marauder, smiling to himself. He has been smelling a sweet smell from Wrecker’s room for the whole month since his chip was removed, and he’s ready for some candy. Stutter quietly sneaks into Wreckers room, and sniffs. Once… twice... Bingo. He goes under the bed and pulls out a giant bag of candy and chocolates! Stutter’s eyes light up for the first time in about fifteen years. He then freezes when he hears a squawk, turning to see Mrs Clucky staring at him. His eyes narrow. “Wh-What are you loo-looking at?” He then walks out of the marauder and runs to his room, hiding in there.
He reaches in and pulls out a piece of chocolate, he places it in his mouth and hums, then he starts digging in. He knows he’s probably overindulging, but he doesn’t care, it’s been too long since he’s had the sweet delicious taste of candy.
xxx
Kanan and Ezra walk through chopper base, they are heading to training when-- “Whooo!!!” They both freeze as they see Stutter go running by with a bucket of paint. “What the--” Kanan whispers, as both him and Ezra go running. They turn round the corner, running into the landing bay, seeing Stutter splattering purple paint all over an Y-Wing. Everyone is confused. They’ve never seen this much energy in an old clone before. Stutter is unable to paint right, making a mess everywhere. Ezra can’t help but hold back laughter, while Kanan just raises an eyebrow.
Stutter lets his craziness run wild, messily painting Tookas all over the ship, creating, what he thinks in his mind, a masterpiece. “Fin-Finished!!! Wh-What d’you g-g-guys think?!” Stutter gestures to the purple massacred ship. Ezra takes a moment to compose himself, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. “I think it looks great, Stutter! What do you think, Kanan?” Ezra smiles widely at Kanan, making the Jedi look down at him with a slightly scrunched up face, turning to Stutter with a smile “It’s, uh...very expressive and colourful.”
Stutter smiles, lips twitch slightly, so does his eye. Kanan and Ezra both get concerned looks, but before they can ask what’s wrong, Stutter runs past them, yelling-- “NYOOOM!!” and running off. Kanan and Ezra go running after him, chasing him around the base. “How much energy does an old man have?!” Ezra yells, Kanan shrugging and sighing. “Usually, not this much.” Stutter has run pretty far ahead, but he slows down a little, almost to a jogging pace.
Kanan and Ezra catch up a little, seeing Stutter transforming as he limps along, not stopping. Though he should, because his legs are rearranging and cracking into haunches, making him stumble a little, but regains his balance. Fur has sprouted all over his much larger body, civilian clothes ripping to shreds, save for his pants. A tail grows long and swishy as his face elongates into a snout.
He growls a bit, but then once it finishes he goes running, Kanan and Ezra’s eyes both widen, and they look at eachother. “I think we might need help.” Ezra whispers, and Kanan nods, then he pulls out his comlink. “Hera, come in.” It’s only a few seconds when he gets an answer. “Yes, Kanan. What is it?” “We need help, something’s wrong with Stutter, and he’s transformed and is running all over the base!”
“What! Is he hurting anyone?” Hera asks, but Kanan sighs. “No, of course not, he just seems to be… I don’t know, full of energy.” Hera hums. “I’m not sure, but me, Sabine and Zeb can come help catch him.” Kanan smiles and breathes a sigh of relief. “Thanks Hera, I just… He seems happy right now. I’m just not sure what is going on.” “We’ll figure it out, Rex and the others should also be back soon, so they can help.” Kanan nods. “Roger that, we’re still near the landing bay, but I’m not sure how long till we’re far away.” Kanan turns the comm off as he continues to run after Stutter, followed by Ezra.
xxx
Rex and the others all get off the ship, happy to have completed the mission. “Yeah!! Another mission completed!!” Wrecker yells Excitedly, making everyone smile, even Crosshair. “Calm down, Wrecker. This isn’t by far our first--” Everyone freezes as they see the massacred Y-wing. “What the kriff.” Hunter whispers, then he and the others notice the Tooka. “Stutter did this?” Jesse asks, and Rex’s eyes get a confused look, then Fives pales. “Hey, Wrecker. Did you not have a stash of candy hidden in your bunk? A large stash?” Wrecker laughs excitedly. “Yeah, why--” He freezes as the realization dawns on everyone. “Uh oh, that is not good.” Tech says, as Rex facepalms.
“Shit, come on, let's go find him.” Rex tells them, and they all sigh. “Wrecker, you know how Stutter is with candy.” Hunter scolds, but Wrecker shrugs. “It's been in there since before we rescued him, I forgot.” Hunter sighs, but Rex smiles. “Hey, it’s not your fault, Wrecker. At least he might have had some fun, this is the first time he’s drawn since…” Everyone nods in understanding, knowing that Rex is referring back to order 66--
“INCOMING!!” The sound of Ezra yelling makes them turn to see a giant blur of grey and brown charging towards them. Their eyes widen and Rex suddenly shouts-- “Move!!!” They all do so, jumping out of the way as far as they can, hearing the heavy footsteps run past them, Stutter laugher and acting downright crazy.
Rex lets out a groan as he stands up, hearing Fives laughing his ass off as he floats above them, whispering under his breath. “I’m getting too old for this.” The rest of the bad batch get up, Crosshair laughing at his baby brother. “Aren’t we all.” “Well, I’m not.” They all glare at Fives, who shrinks down, “Sorry.” He whispers, getting a sad and almost scared look. He floats down and both Jesse and Echo pat him on the back. “It’s okay, we know ya didn’t mean it.” Echo tells him, making Fives smile at them, almost sadly as the others nod as well.
A moment later, the ghost crew runs up to them, Ezra stops right next to Rex, out of breath. Rex chuckles and pats the sixteen year old’s head “You alright there, kiddo?” Ezra holds his ribs, obviously fighting a stitch. “We--....We’ve been... chasing him…. for an hour. How is he so fast? He’s nearly as old as you, right? Like, you’re fifty years old aren’t you?” Ezra is so out of breath, but soon recovers, so do the others.
Rex laughs and rubs the back of his neck “Well, we make look old, but we are actually only half our age. Stutter is only twenty five years old.” Ezra’s eyes widen, then his face heats up in embarrassment “Oh, sorry, I-I didn’t mean to call you old.” Rex smiles sweetly, about to talk, but Tech starts talking “No need to be sorry, us clones all have accelerated aging, so it is very often that we are mistaken to be older than we actually are. Studies say that--” “Shut up, Nerd. we know, you love to spout out facts. But now’s not the time.” Crosshair says, nudging Tech’s shoulder and then signalling in the direction that Stutter ran off to.
Rex sighs as Kanan looks over at him. “What is wrong with Stutter?” Rex barks out a laugh, as the others smile. “Stutter can’t handle sugar very well, and it seems that he ate Wreckers stash, so he’s just on a sugar rush. It’s happened a few times before.” Kanan internally facepalms, how was he so dumb not to think of that. “How did I not think of that? So this has happened before?” Rex nods as Crosshair chuckles. “Yep, the first time our poor Vod threw up on Kix’s shoes, as we were told. We..uh..weren’t there.” Crosshair frowns, trying to forget about what they had missed while they were separated from their Vod’e. Jesse smirks. “I was, it was hilarious, Kix was so grossed out, ha.” Everyone gets sad looks when he s[eaks about their missing Vod, but they brush them away for now.
Kanan chuckles. “He is fast, even when he was in his human form.” Rex nods. “Yeah, Stutter seems to get inhuman speed when he has a sugar rush, we still don’t understand it.” He then turns in the direction Stutter had gone. “Hey, Stutter! We’re back!!” They all wait a few minutes, as Sabine and Zeb leave. Then-- “R-Rex!!!” Stutter comes bolting around the corner, making Rex’s eyes widen. “Stutter! Wait, no--” Stutter slams into Rex, unable to stop and he falls on top of him, Then he quickly jumps up and starts running again. Rex sits up and rubs his head as the others bust a gut laughing.
“How long until he’s going to crash?” Hera asks, making Rex groan. “Matters how much candy he ate, it could be a bit though. Usually he’ll slow down a lot, then crash on the nearest person sitting. It’s pretty cute actually.” Rex tells them, and Echo nods. “Yeah, although it’s also a bit sad, when he gets a stomach ache in the end, but he’s always okay.” Rex smiles at Echo as he stands up as he stretches. “Lets go look for him, I can also transform so at least one of us can keep up with him.” They all nod, but Ezra looks up at Rex, frowning a little.”Are you comfortable with transforming in front of us?” Rex nods his head, returning the smile.
“It’s alright, I don’t mind at all.” Then follow Rex as he walks to Stutter’s room. They find all sorts of candy wrappers on the floor as Rex starts peeling off his armor. “Jeez, how much candy did you have Wrecker?” Kanan asks, and Wrecker shrugs. “I had saved credits for a long time to buy that big stash, so a lot.” Everyone groans, then Rex sighs. “I’m going to transform now, do you guys want to leave?” Everyone shakes their heads. “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, Ori’Vod.” Hunter reassures him, then Kanan looks over with a smile. “As long as you’re comfortable.” Rex nods then he groans as he starts to transform.
Cracking is heard as he grows bigger, ears moving to the top of his head and becoming more pointed. Grey fur grows everywhere as his face elongates, white fur growing where his beard once was, and his bones rearrange. A long, fluffy tail grows from his backside, and swishes as he stands up straight and stretches. “It’s been a bit.” He whispers sadly, he hadn’t transformed since… since he had to fight a chip controlled Stutter, it’s bringing back the memories now. He feels a pat on his side, as he looks down to see Hunter. “How ya doing Rex.” Rex smiles back with sharp teeth. “Good, Hunter. I’m good.”
Rex stretches again and looks around, then he sees Ezra staring straight at him. Rex then realises that he has never seen him transform up close before. “It’s a little scarier up close.” He says quietly, not wanting to offend Rex or make him feel bad. Rex lets out a small nervous laugh. “Y-Yeah, I guess it is.” Rex understands what he means, but because he himself is a werewolf, he’s never really been freaked out or afraid of when Stutter has transformed right next to him while he’s still human. Though the first few times that he ever transformed, he was afraid-- no, terrified of himself.
A moment later, Stutter pokes his head around the corner in search of more candy, but when he can’t find any, he just whines but then starts laughing straight after, letting out a “N-Nope.” as he runs off again. Rex sighs, facepalming “This’ll be fun.” He says, making the others chuckle. “Go and do what you need to do, Rex. We’ll stay here and clean up.” Hunter pats Rex’s back with a smile and Rex nods. “Thanks, guys. I’ll be back soon, hopefully…” Rex sighs again before running out of the room and following Stutter’s scent.
He finds that Stutter has run back to the landing bay to where the purple Y-Wing is once again being attacked with paint. Rex shakes his head and laughs, watching as the twenty five year old goes absolutely wild and hyperactive. Rex swears that Stutter must be getting more paint on himself than the ship. He watches for a few moments more before he calls over to Stutter. “Stut’ika!”
The grey and brown wolf immediately stops at the sound of his nickname, turning around and smiling widely. “R-R-Rex!!” He yells back, running towards his Ori’Vod, almost tripping over when his mind races ahead of his body, unable to process the few crates that are lying around. Stutter reaches Rex and immediately slams himself into him. Rex chuckles, feeling Stutter lean into him. The poor Vod’ika feels so heavy in his arms, body falling almost completely limp into him, so Rex sits down against a wall, pulling Stutter up into his lap and into a more comfortable position.
Stutter starts to subconsciously play with the fur on Rex’s chest, making Rex hum and Stutter smiles at the comforting vibrations. “Y-You’re so f-fluffy, Ori-Ori’Vod.” Rex holds back laughter, instead he rubs the fluffier fur on Stutter’s head, making Stutter hum at the nice feeling, but he immediately whines. Rex’s eyes widen, not sure what has just caused him to sound in pain--
Stutter gags once before puking onto Rex, trickling down his torso and into his lap. Rex runs a hand up and down Stutter’s back. “R-Rex, I-I-I d-don’t fe-feel well.” He’s cut off by a whimper, throwing up a little more. “Shh, it’s alright. It’s okay.” Rex says comfortingly as Stutter chokes out the last bit of puke. Stutter looks at Rex, an apologetic and groggy look in his yellow eyes. “S-Sorry, R-Rex.” He whines a little, feeling bad for throwing up, but then everything goes black.
xxx
Rex hears a whimper as Stutter wakes up again, he’s only been sleeping for ten minutes. Rex smiles softly at him, as Stutter looks up. “You want to get cleaned up now?” Stutter nods, and Rex slowly stands up, holding Stutter bridal style in his arms, he starts heading to the refresher nearest to them. Stutter smiles softly. “Y-You car-carried me like th-this when we first m-m-met, ‘member.” He mumbles, making Rex smile. “Yeah, I remember. You were much easier to carry back then.” Stutter huffs, then whimpers softly as he clutches his stomach and nuzzles into Rex.
Rex sighs softly as he stops at the chopper base communal showers, it’s the only shower big enough for both their werewolf forms. He opens the door and ducks in, gently sitting Stutter down against a wall, right next to a shower. Then he gets it started and makes sure the water is warm, just how Stutter likes it. “There, ready?” He asks, and Stutter nods as Rex gently lifts him up, then he sets them both down in the shower.
Stutter hums as the warm water wets his fur, and Rex smiles as he starts scrubbing the puke out of Stutter’s fur. He grabs a small bottle of shampoo, it’s made for fur. They have some in every shower on Chopper base, just in case. He scrubs it into Stutter’s fur, making sure to be gentle near his head, where it’s still healing.
Stutter sighs as he clutches his stomach. “M’sorry for hur-hurting you… last time w-we were like th-this.” Rex freezes, then he sighs as the soap rinses out of Stutters fur. “Don’t be sorry, you had no control over the situation. I know you wouldn’t have hurt me if you were in control.” Stutter sighs and looks down, making Rex frown as he starts on his own fur.
Stutter starts to fall asleep again, and Rex smiles softly as he finishes washing himself, getting as much of the puke off of his pants as he can before turning the shower off. “Ready to get back to the others?” He asks as he carries Stutter over to a dryer spot, setting him down and grabbing some towels. “Y-Yeah… are th-they mad? Bec-Because I did th-this?” Rex sighs as he starts drying Stutter off, his fur poofing up quite a bit.
“No, no ones mad. We know it’s been a long time since you’ve had candy, and Wrecker’s stash had tempted you.” Stutter nods, and then Rex chuckles. “It was actually really nice to see you so happy, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen you like that.” Stutter chuckles hoursely. “Cr-Crazy?” He asks, and Rex nods. “Yeah, there was a long time we thought we would never get the chance to chase after you on a sugar rush again. So it’s nice. Reminds me of back then.” Stutter nods as Rex starts drying himself off, and he whimpers and clutches his stomach.
Rex feels worried and frowns. “Everything alright? Do you feel sick again?” Stutter nods, whimpering and leaning over to the side, away from Rex this time. Stutter pukes some more, feeling a comforting hand rub his back soothingly until he is dry heaving. “S-Sorry.” Stutter sits back against the wall, rubbing one side of his face with his hand, feeling so exhausted. Rex crouches down and wipes the puke off of Stutter’s snout. “It’s alright, Stut’ika. You don’t need to apologise for something that you can’t control.”
Stutter laughs dryly, wincing at the pain in his stomach “W-Well I was th-the one who got us in this pred-pred-predicament in the fi-first place, s-since I ate Wr-Wrecker’s entire st-stash of candy all i-in one go.” Rex smiles sadly, nuzzling the side of Stutter’s face and licking it a little, an affectionate gesture. “It’s not a problem at all. Like I said, it’s been years since you’ve had candy, so it’s okay that you’ve over indulged. And as long as you enjoyed it in the moment, then that is all that matters.”
Stutter nods, knowing that what Rex is saying is right, but he still feels so bad for letting himself get so sick. He gives Rex a hug, nuzzling into his fur and letting out a yawn. “Shall we go back to the others now?” Rex asks softly and Stutter nods, already wrapping his arms around Rex’s neck, letting Rex know that he’s ready to be picked up and carried back to his room. Rex scoops him up bridal style, then walks out of the showers and heads towards Stutter’s room.
He sees other rebels staring at the both of them, more in shock rather than fear or disgust. It makes a nice change for Stutter though, he was always being bullied by stormtroopers. It was bad enough having a stutter, but being a werewolf too? It was horrible, and he’s glad that he’s no longer a part of that stupid empire.
They both finally get to his room and walk in, seeing the blankets and pillows around all over the floor, creating a giant bed for them to all have-- “A c-cuddle p-pile?” Stutter’s eyes light up, happy that they are going to have a big cuddle pile. It’s been a long time since he’s had one. “Do y-you guys re-really w-want to? A-A-After...A-After all th-that I-I d-d-id.” Stutter’s nervousness is making him stutter more, his ears pressing back when he looks at everyone. They all frown, knowing that he’s talking about when he was unwillingly serving the empire.
Rex lays him down, then he sighs. “We already told you, it’s not your fault. It was the chip.” Stutter frowns, then he growls. “I st-still did i-it.” Rex sighs as the others do as well, they know that the can’t possibly understand what Stutter ws going through, none of the bad batch’s chips worked except for Wrecker’s and Crosshairs, Fives was a ghost, Jesse’s, Rex’s and Wrecker’s only worked for a little while, and even Crosshair wasn’t chipped for half as long as Stutter was. “Look, Stutter. None of us know exactly what you’re going through, but you need to believe us, none of what you did was your fault.” Hunter walks over and sits down beside Stutter, rubbing his back.
“We should have known you were alive, we should have figured it out somehow--” “We might have if I hadn’t of guessed you were dead because of your armor! It was dumb, just because they were throwing out your armor.” Crosshair growls, making Stutter flinch, and Rex and the others sigh. “Alright, it’s no one's fault, so please just stop blaming yourself, Crosshair. I could blame myself too, since I knew about the chips, but didn’t remember until too late.” Crosshair nods, then Fives flies closer to Stutter.
“It wasn’t your fault, the chip completely takes over your mind. Shit, when we found you, you didn’t even remember your name, Stut’ika. And we all know how much you treasure your name, you did nothing wro--” “I kil-killed kids, Fives! Inno-Inno-Innocent children no ol-older than ten, so-some as young as thr-three years o-old.” Stutter completely breaks down, crying into his hand as he clutches his stomach with the other, that feels like it’s trying to kill him. He feels like throwing up again, but he has already rid everything from his stomach, so he ends up breathing quickly as his body fights him to make him throw up again.
Rex feels like crying too. He can’t believe that he went through what he did for so long. He hates that the empire forced his Stut’ika to do things against his will. Rex knows what it's like, to be controlled by the chip and follow orders that are wrong. The worst part is...he knew they were wrong but he couldn’t stop. Rex sees Hunter sitting a little too close to Stutter, so he gently taps his shoulder, gesturing for Hunter to shuffle away.
Werewolves tend to lash out in one way or another when someone invades their personal space and gets too close. They only do this when they feel strong emotions such as intense sadness, stress, worry, fear, anxiety or pain. Rex knows this because he bit Kix. He knows that Kix was only trying to patch up his wounds, but he whipped his head to the side and clamped his jaw down on Kix’s arm. They thought that nothing would happen, but an hour later, Kix drops his datapad and falls to his knees, clutching his stomach and groaning in pain. That’s when he grew bigger, brown fur sprouted out as his armour burst off and blacks ripped.
Rex and Stutter are always careful not to let that happen again, and they hope Kix won’t let that happen either, wherever he may be… Rex is quickly brought out of his thoughts when Stutter launches himself into Rex, hugging him tightly and sobbing. It’s a sign that they don’t mind being touched, so Rex puts his arms around Stutter and holds him close, laying down and nuzzling Stutter’s head as he continues to cry.
Stutter hates that he’s so weak. It brings back all of his horrible memories of his batchmates and the things that he was told by the empire. He lets the tears fall and soak into Rex’s fur, knowing that he doesn’t mind. He feels like the entire weight of the galaxy has been put on his shoulders, bringing him down and imprinting all of his horrible memories permanently into his mind. It’s just… all too...much, and--
xxx
Stutter hums softly as he starts to wake up, his eyes fluttering open as he feels soft fur under him. He groans as his back and legs ache, and so does his stomach, he’s definitely feeling the effects of that sugar rush now. He sees that he’s laying on top of Rex, who’s still in his werewolf form, sleeping.
Stutter smiles softly as he looks around to see that his brothers are all in a cuddle pile, they must have arranged it once he fell asleep. Stutter carefully moves off of Rex and to the blankets, laying between him and Crosshair, he whimpers softly as he clutches at his stomach, it’s not in as much pain as it was before, but he still has a pretty big stomach ache. He doesn’t dare wake any of his brothers though, he had already caused enough trouble during his sugar rush, and then freaking out and breaking down after.
He curls up and closes his eyes, trying to get some more sleep when-- “Stutter? You awake Vod’ika?” Stutter opens his eyes and turns over, seeing Crosshair looking at him. Stutter flinches. “So-Sorry, did I wa-wake you?” Stutter asks quietly, as not to wake the rest of his brothers, getting a guilty look. But Crosshair shakes his head, ruffling Stutters hair like he always used to. “No, I was already awake when you moved off of Rex. Are you okay?” Crosshair has a soft tone, one he always reserves for the people he cares about most, his brothers.
Stutter frowns and shakes his head. “N-No, I’m so so-sorry for last ni-night, the sug-sugar rush then frea-freaking ou--” “Don’t apologize, It’s perfectly fine.” Stutter nods, running a hand through his grey hair, it still has speckles of brown in it. “I still sh-shouldn’t have bro-broken down like th-that, I’m not a ch-child any-anymore.” Crosshair lets out a quiet laugh, making Stutter raise an eyebrow at him. “Stut’ika, no matter how old you get, you are going to act like a kid, it’s just your personality.” Stutter glares, but smiles softly. “Y-Yeah, prob-probably also me being mes-messed up from my batch-batchmates, and the em-empire.” Crosshair frowns. “We’re all messed up, there’s nothing wrong with you though, as I have said many times before. You are perfect just the way you are.” Stutter frowns and looks away.
“Not any-anymore, I killed ki-kids. I’m D-Duse like my batch-batchmates had said.” Stutter whispers, but then Crosshair growls. “No! Never, ever call yourself that, you are not a waste! Not at all, and I don’t want to ever hear you call yourself that ever again, understood!” Stutter flinches, but nods, and Crosshair sighs. “Have I told you about what I did in the empire?” Stutter shakes his head. “N-No.” Crosshair sighs. “My chip partly activated, and I almost killed Caleb when he was a padawan.” Stutter’s eyes widen as he looks at Crosshair, who sighs.
“Then they caught me and my brothers, and they took me and strengthened my chip. I shot Wrecker when they were escaping, and almost killed our baby sister, Omega, you haven’t met her yet. She’s a female clone, no double aging. She works on the other base with Organa.” Stutter nods. “Y-You… you al-almost kill-killed her, and shot Wr-Wrecker?” Crosshair nods then he continues. “I killed innocent Civilians, and almost disintegrated the boys. Don’t ask.” Crosshair sighs, trying to push the memories away, but then he looks over at Stutter. He smiles softly, reaching over and pulling Stutter close. “My point is that I did bad things too, and I’m the closest to knowing how you feel, even if I wasn’t chipped as long as you, or killed kids. I know it’s hard, but just like me, you have us. Always and forever, we will stand beside you.”
Stutter tears up, cuddling into Crosshair and lets out a happy hum of relief. Sometimes, a lot of times, he needs to hear those words, to be told that. “Th-Thank you, i-it’s hard to believe it th-though, after all I’ve be-been thr-through. But it’s ni-nice to hear som-someone telling m-me that.” Stutter hugs Crosshair a little tighter, feeling Crosshair place his forehead against his. “And we’ll tell you as many times as you want. Just remember, you are you. Stutter. Our Vod’ika. No one else, just you.”
Stutter pulls away and feels his lips form into a smile, but then he grimaces and makes a small noise of discomfort, placing a hand on his stomach again. Crosshair frowns with worry “What’s wrong? Do you have a belly ache?” Stutter nods, forcing a smile onto his face. “Y-Yeah, I’m fi-fine.” That’s a lie and Crosshair can tell when Stutter curls up in pain.
Crosshair pulls him close and gently massages his stomach, something they’ve had to do in the past. Stutter feels a little embarrassed that he’s in so much pain that Crosshair is comforting him in the same way he did when they were younger. He won’t lie, it does feel nice, but he doesn’t want to burden Crosshair with his needs “I’m a b-bit too old for th-this Cross.” He says and Crosshair shrugs, continuing. “I don’t think that you are too old for anything. Wrecker still has his Lula, despite him being a fully grown adult now.” Crosshair says, making Stutter softly chuckle, then hum as he feels the effect of Crosshair rubbing his stomach getting to work in making him feel better.
There’s suddenly a shuffling right next to him, making him look to the side to see Rex waking up, who lets out a big yawn. He groggily opens his yellow eyes, which look at Stutter with pure gentleness and kindness. “Mornin’, Stut’ika. You’re human again, how’re you feeling? Still got a stomach ache?” He asks, seeing Crosshair rubbing Stutter’s stomach comfortingly. Stutter nods. “Y-Yeah, but not as ba-bad as y-yesterday.” Stutter smiles as he runs a hand along the fur on Rex’s arm, humming contently “Yo-You haven’t tran-transformed back y-yet?”
Rex looks at Stutter and then down at himself “Ah, yeah. I must’ve just been so subconsciously worried about you that I haven’t been able to transform back yet.” Stutter feels bad when Rex tells him that “S-Sorry, Rex. I-I didn’t mean to w-worry you.” Rex shakes his head and ruffles Stutter’s hair. “No need to apologise, Stut’ika. As long as you are okay now, that is all that matters.” Rex tells him, nuzzling his hair and licking it a few times.
Some moments pass before Rex starts to shrink and transform back to normal. His bones rearrange and fur disappears until he is left bare chested, only wearing his torn pants. The others wake up too, stretching as they sit up and smile, seeing Rex and Stutter both back to human. There’s going to be many times like these, they all know that, but they’ll be there for him, no matter what.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter Summary: That wasn't the time, much less the place, but he had to tell him.
Work Summary: Ration bars became blood, well fitting blacks turned into scratchy clothes that covered his skin from the sun, and busy evenings became even more busier with the constant reminder of having to satisfy his need for the crimson liquid before becoming mindless with it.
or, the au where Rex becomes a vampire. Naturally, he doesn't take it too well.
Snippets that will cover various moments in time, during and post the Clone Wars.
Of course Hunter thought he’d lost his mind when the lights flickered and suddenly there was an unfamiliar vod in front of him smiling a cocky smile. He’d heard Echo talk about a brother very close to him before, but never did he think his ghost would haunt Hunter. But why Hunter? Yes he’d done some pretty bad things, yes he regretted most of them, no that wasn’t him pole dancing at 79’s last tuesday night, but that’s getting off topic here. Hunter was seeing a ghost, and it wasn’t his own.
A shiver ran down his spine, he looked normal apart from being slightly see through. His eyes had a fire in them that burned even in the afterlife, he must be who Hunter thought he was or this would be a very weird scenario, and honestly he doesn't want to deal with that anymore than he wants to deal with wrecker wrecking the place.
Hunter looked him over, he wore 501st colors proudly with kama at his sides. So this one as an Arc trooper as well, terrific. The grin never seemed to leave the man’s lips as he scanned Hunter vaguely. But the one thing that Hunter noticed that was out of place was the blaster burns and the hole in his plastiod chest plate exactly where his heart was. His own heart sank looking at the cause of his death. The Arc’s smile went away, though, his fire never did.
Arc troopers are known widely for surviving pretty much anything, so it didn’t surprise Hunter when it took more than one bolt to the heart to kill the Arc. It was sad to think about. This man must have suffered for a long period before actually dying from his wounds. Poor Vod, Hunter thought as he took a drink of his black caf. He must care for someone. And someone must care for him. Maybe that’s why he’s here.
A questioning look came upon the troopers face as he turned his head to Wrecker’s wrecking, Hunter just sighed. What use is it not to talk to someone if they are clearly confused.
“That’s Wrecker at his finest.” He paused for a moment to add dramatic effect as Wrecker uprooted a tree outside. “Wrecking is kinda his thing.” The Arc made a pleased noise, Hunter just drank his caf like this was normal, well it was, but still.
Hunter honestly kinda liked the presence of the ghost clone. He didn’t know anything about him, or why he was there, but he felt less lonely in a way. Maybe he was lonely too. Hunter couldn’t tell, he looked like a loner, but he also looked like the guy that’d steal your blacks while you're in the shower and then hide them so you’d be naked. In layman's terms, he looks like a little shit.
They both watched Wrecker wreck for a while before Tech stepped out of the ship to whoop his ass for waking him up at 4 am in the morning. The ghost seemed happy watching Wrecker get his ass chewed, like Hunter thought, a little shit.
“Tech and Wrecker are like beauty and the beast, if beauty wasn’t cute at all and the beast was a loth cat kitten.” The Arc smiles and turns his head to look at Hunter, he opens his mouth looking like he wants to say something, but he closes it when he doesn’t have the words to say it. So Hunter continued.
“If they keep up this shouting they're going to wake Crosshair. Gods damn those that wake that sharp shooter.” The Arc nods avidly, listening to what Hunter has to offer in knowledge of the Bad Batch.
“Crosshair is sort of like a loth cat, but has the attitude of a teenager and the silver tongue of a devil. He could kill you with his words and you’d never know it till you were dead on the permacrete.” The Arc smiles softly, maybe remembering something or someone from his past. But Hunter didn’t have a chance to ask when he heard Echo from behind him.
“Hunter, who are you talking to?” The sergeant turned quickly, noticing that his ghost friend was gone and the Echo was the only person in the room with him.
“Uh, no one Echo, why do you ask?”
Gods above, this was going to be a long ass year...
how would the bad batch, all removed their chips, react when they meet rex and the others again. (stutter is already with the rebels, without the chip) and how did they get the chips removed, did echos still work?
Ooh, I love this idea!!! So this happens a few weeks after these headcanons. The bad batch Rebels designs in using are @d-does-art design, go check them out! I'm going to be adding in some ghost!Fives because he's my baby, I hope you don't mind.
The bad batch had their chips removed right after Order 66, Echo didn't have his chip, so him and Fives help to remove them.
It's hard, with the bad batch trying to kill them and all, but Fives being a ghost made it much easier.
After they got the chips out, they all sort of wandered.
Messing with the Empire whenever or wherever they could, then they heard of the Rebellion that was starting.
They joined, but never met up with any of the cells. They got missions, and did them alone.
Fives and Echo always wondered what had happened to their brothers. To Rex, Jesse, and especially their youngest, Stutter.
The Bad Batch wondered to, they had met him whenever Echo and Fives would visit the 501st.
They grew close with Stutter, understanding how it felt to be defective. Although they hated his batchmates.
They heard about the clone that had joined the Rebellion later than they should have. And by then they heard that a second one had joined too.
When they had found out the names, they immediately set the destination.
No one knew that they were coming except for Bail Organa and Commander Sato.
When the Marauder landed, Stutter hides in his room. He felt ashamed for everything he had done, and couldn't face his brothers.
Especially not Fives.
As soon as Fives and Echo get out, they run to Rex and pull him into a hug.
For fifteen years the two of them thought Rex was either dead or enslaved. And Rex thought the same of Echo.
"You got old." Echo would joke to Rex, as Rex raises an eyebrow.
"I can say the same to you." Rex would joke back before Fives pipes in. "I didn't!"
They would do another group hug before Echo asks where Stutter is. Rex tells them that he hid, tells them that he only got the chip out recently.
As soon as he hears that, Fives asks where the room is, Rex would tell him and Gives flies off, telling Echo to come over to the room in a little while.
After that The Bad Batch walk over and start talking to Rex about the Rebellion, what had happened the past fifteen years, and about Stutter.
Fives floats through the hall until he gets to Stutter's room.
He knows that it's his Vod'ika's room because of the Tooka painted on the door, that's most definitely his brothers style.
He knocks on the door, but doesn't get an answer.
He then proceeds to float through the door, making Stutter look up with a gasp.
As soon as Fives see's the tear stained face if his Vod'ika, he floats over quickly and pulls him into a hug.
Stutter starts crying into Fives' shoulder as his older brother just whispers comforting things to him
Stutter holds onto Fives into an almost death grip, and if Fives was alive he wouldn't be able to breathe.
Theres a knock at the door, Fives already knows who it is. He yells. "Come in!!"
As soon as the door opens and Echo see's them, he runs over and joins the hug.
It lasts a while with the twins comforting Stutter, and Stutter crying and apologizing over and over.
When they pull away, Fives cups Stutter's face. Asking him gently what had happened.
It all comes out, Stutter tells them everything. About the chip taking control, killing the younglings. Spending fifteen years as a mindless meat droid and how a Rebel cell found him and reunited him and Rex.
Fives and Echo listen quietly as he tells them all this, and as soon as he's done. They pull Stutter close, telling him that it's alright, that none of it was his fault. They promise that they won't leave him again.
They sit there for what feels like hours, just giving him comfort. Then they ask him to come with them, tell him that the bad batch missed him too.
It takes a little convincing, telling Stutter that no one is mad at him. But he finally follows them.
He reunites with the bad batch, and it's a nice reunion. He gets lots of hugs from them, even Crosshair is acting really soft towards Stutter.
Tech shows him some recordings of his, some cool ones of beating up the empire.
Hunter makes sure to keep an eye on him and hovers a little alongside Rex, while Wrecker gives him lots of Pat's, hugs and cuddles. Lots of physical affection.
Surprisingly Crosshair gives him some surprise cuddles as well.
Without Echo or Fives even asking, The Bad Batch decide to stay.
It's because they want to be an actual part of the Rebellion.. yeah... Definitely not because they've gone soft for the younger clone, Definitely not that!
With even more brothers around Stutter to give him comfort, things are starting to get better. It's not as many brothers as he had before... Everything.
But even when it was just Rex, as long as he has someone, he knows things will get better.
Warnings: Transformation, fear, self hatred, wounds, blood, ghost, body horror, mention of canon death, swearing.
A/N: This is our first fic as part of our fic series The Big, Not So Bad Wolves AU. collab with @ahsokatano-thetogruta
Hunter bites his lip as he paces around his room nervously, he doesn’t know what they are going to do. The Marauder had been damaged on their last mission, so Tech had to crash it on a remote planet, unluckily though, this planet has a long full moon cycle. Hunter pinches the bridge of his nose, they can’t leave the marauder until it's over, no one can know that they are werewolves.
It had happened during one of their first missions, Tech had been bit by an unknown creature, he had been fine, until the full moon cycle. As soon as he had stepped into the moonlight, he had transformed into a werewolf, and in his unknowing state he bit the rest of them. It took until the full moon cycle ended for them to come back to themselves, but luckily, that was just the first time. Every other time they’ve transformed, they have been themselves, albeit, with a bit more wolf-like behaviors.
Now they have to stop at a planet with a full moon every month or two to get some energy out, but now that they have Echo and their resident ghost around, it's been two months since that's happened, and they are all getting antsy, Hunter can already feel the pull of the full moon outside, but they all resist it, it's not that they don’t trust Fives and Echo, not at all. It's only that those two are new, and they are just starting to trust them, and if they find out they are werewolves, it could ruin the bit of trust that has been built.
“Hunter?” Hunter turns to see Crosshair, Tech and Wrecker walk in and close the door behind them. “What do we do, Hunter? We are going to need to go outside for repairs, and Echo will get suspicious if we only send him.” Tech tells him, and Hunter sighs. “I don’t know, the best idea I have is to wait it out. But we cannot let Fives and Echo know, at least, not yet.” Everyone nods, and Crosshair scrunches his eyes. “We need to tell them soon, I can’t go much longer without having a run to get rid of this pent up energy.” Hunter nods. “We will, but they don’t trust us yet, especially not Fives.” Everyone gets a look of sadness. “Can’t believe he was killed by a brother.” Wrecker whispers angrily, and Hunter nods. “Yeah, and he has major trust issues, so he might get really scared of us if we transform, especially with what we look like.” Everyone nods, hoping that when they do tell, they don’t lose their new found brothers.
xxx
“What do we do, Fives!” Echo yells as he paces around his room, Fives is hovering over his bed, legs crossed. “I’m not sure, but you need to calm down, Echo.” Echo glares at Fives. “Don’t tell me to calm down, you're not the one who could transform when they step outside and into the moonlight.” Echo's breathing quickens and deepens as he says that and his pupil's dilate, which is a warning sign that he's being pulled and tempted to go outside and into the moonlight, so Fives stays calm to keep Echo calm and starts to distract him from the want. “Echo, hey, come back to me, Vod. You have to resist it, or the others they'll…” He doesn't finish his sentence because it'll stress Echo out even more, but he seems to get what he's trying to say when Fives notices Echo's breathing has slowed down dramatically.
Fives sighs once Echo calms down. “I know, but you know that I would never let anyone hurt you, ever!” Echo nods, tearing up. “It's just that...they will probably react the same way that Shiny did back on the mission on Kashyyyk, when they could've killed me if Kix hadn't treated my wound quickly enough. You've seen how accurate Crosshair's shots are, and Wrecker...well, he can lift a whole Kriffing gunship, there's no telling what he could do to me--” “Echo, calm down, it's going to be okay. I'll be there for you, and I'll never let anyone else hurt you, ever.” Fives had noticed Echo shaking, so he had stepped in before Echo caused himself anymore stress and pain. Echo smiles sadly, but he's thankful that he has Fives right by him, always.
Fives pulls him close and hugs him. “I won’t let them find out, you just have to stay inside, okay? We can say that… that… you're sick!! That's it, we can say that you're sick.” Fives pulls away and smiles, making Echo give his own. “Okay, thanks Fives!!” Fives smiles and pulls him into a Keldabe kiss. “Of course, I’ll always take care of my twin. Now you just lay down and get some rest, I’ll go talk to them.” Echo nods, and with that, Fives phases through the wall. On his way to find Hunter, who's probably in his room practicing his knife skills like he usually does, Fives notices that the air seems eerily tense, not to mention quieter than usual.
The sound of Wrecker's loud and booming laughter couldn't be heard anywhere in the ship. He can't even hear Crosshair's usual grumpy voice from anywhere. Not even the sound of Tech tinkering with a project, or multiple at one time like he usually does. Fives reaches Hunter's room, knocking on the door. He could just phase through, but being a ghost means that there are rules in place like, for example, not phasing straight into someone's room without permission. He wouldn't anyway, but it was brought up during a small meeting and the bad batch had after a couple of incidents when Fives had accidentally phased into a room with no warning.
The first time was in the refresher. Echo had asked Fives to grab something for him, but then he hadn't even thought about the fact that someone could have been in there. But they had. It was Hunter, and what's worse is that he was standing there naked, staring wide eyed at Fives in the mirror, not sure what to do. Fives rushed out immediately while carrying the hair gel, not realising that it can’t phase through with him. As soon as he hears the clatter, he floats as fast as he can back down the hall to his and Echo's room.
Fives had seen for a quick second that the left side of his body is also tattooed with skeleton bones and features. Echo is confused as to why Fives' face is red, but then he chuckles when Fives tells him what happened. A few minutes later, there's a knock at the door, in which Echo answers it and opens the door to see Hunter, holding the hair gel out to him. “I believe Fives came to get this for you?” He sounds a little nervous, but not as much as Fives feels right now, who is hiding and invisible from the guilt.
The second time was when he phased into Crosshair's room and not his own. Crosshair was in the process of getting changed and had nothing on. He was pissed as hell and was the one who wanted the rule of no phasing into private rooms in place. Fives completely understands and respects that rule.
Only a moment after Fives knocks, the door hisses open. Hunter stands in the doorway, smiling. “Fives, what can I do for'ya?” Fives smiles back, seeing that Tech, Crosshair and Wrecker are also there. He doesn't think much of it, about them all being in Hunter's room, but he is slightly confused, but decides not to bring it up. “I've just come to let you know that Echo is feeling sick.” He explains to them, making the others worry.
Tech is the one to ask “He is? Has he tried getting some fresh air? The atmosphere outside is breathable--” “No! Uh, no, he hasn't. But he'll be okay.” Fives interjects, hoping that the others won't suspect anything by the way he just lashed out. Suddenly, Crosshair groans, making Fives raise an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?” Fives asks, but Crosshair just shakes his head. “No, just worried about Echo.” Fives keeps looking at him suspiciously, then he nods. “Okay, then, I’ll go back and see Echo.” they nod and Fives floats off, when Hunter closes the door, Crosshair groans again. “Now we won’t be getting out for sure.” Hunter sighs. “Yeah, but we need to worry about Echo, he’s sick.” Crosshair gets a guilty look. “Yeah, you’re right.” “We can always open the door a bit? Let some fresh air in?” Tech offers and everyone nods. “Sounds good, you go do that Tech, I’m gonna go and check on our sick brother.” Hunter leaves the room after that, followed by everyone else.
xxx
Fives phases back into his and Echo’s room, Echo is laying in his bed, smiling when he sees his twin. “Hey Fives, how’d it go?” Fives smiles. “It went well, they bought it and didn't suspect a thing.” Echo sighs in relief as he sits up, swinging his prosthetic legs over the edge of the bed and stands up, pulling Fives into a hug. “Thank you, Vod.” He whispers softly, glad that he has such an amazing brother like Fives. “You're welcome. Though remember, you're sick, yeah?” He pulls away and winks at him, making Echo chuckle. Fives has always been goofy, but he'll do absolutely anything when it comes to helping his brothers. Echo nods “Yeah, definitely.” He winks back.
Fives pats his back gently “Anyways, I'm going to go and talk about explosives and explosions with Wrecker now, I'll see you in a bit, Vod.” Echo chuckles at that, knowing how enthusiastic the two get about the subject. He knows for sure if they had the chance to meet when Fives was alive, they would be the best of friends and cause chaos together whenever the time came. But it never will now because Fives can't touch any sort of gun or explosive, as it'll mess with his new ghost form. “Okay, later!” Echo calls to him as Fives phases out of their room.
After a moment, Echo decides that he'll just go and read a book with a hot drink, to make his sickness seem more convincing to the others. He leaves the room with a book and makes his way to the common area. While pouring himself some already boiled caf, he sees Tech and Hunter enter. Tech walks over to the door while Hunter walks over to him. “You okay, Echo? Fives told us you're sick.” He asks and Echo nods, eyes a little closed as he readjusts his body language to seem more energyless and exhausted, also using a groggy tone of voice to seem more convincing that he's sick, coughing a little. “Yeah, I am, but some rest will help I think.” Echo says with the best 'I'm not feeling well but I'll stay strong' smile he can muster.
It's fake, yet convincing because Hunter smiles sympathetically, patting his shoulder. “Well, rest up then.” Echo nods, seeing Tech walking over from where he opened the door. Echo's glad that they can have the door open, luckily the moonlight doesn't shine completely into the room. Tech then pipes up “I'll be working on a project in my room, so you know where to find me if you need any help.” Echo nods in thanks as the two walk away to do whatever.
Echo sighs and walks to the couch, facing away from the door. The urge to go outside and into the moonlight is too tempting, but he fights it easily when he becomes too engrossed in his book. Too engrossed that he loses track of time. Too engrossed that he forgets about his cup of caf next to him that's going cold. Too engrossed that he doesn't even notice the danger silently sneaking up behind him. He hears a little bit of shuffling behind him, then he snickers and sighs “You're still no ninja, Fives.” Echo laughs again, but then he freezes, Fives would have said something by now. “FIVES-AAHHH!!!” He yells out, turning his head to see a creature biting into his shoulder, dragging him over the back of the sofa and onto the floor. He panics as it drags him to the ramp of the Havoc Marauder, closer towards-- The moonlight!! “No! No no no, Fives!!!” Echo feels fear encasing his body, as he feels the pull from the moonlight, he wants to go in it so badly, but he also doesn't want to, not at all. “Echo!!
xxx
Hunter hears the yell and goes running as fast as he can, he runs out of his room to see Tech, Crosshair and Wrecker do the same, as Fives floats out. “Echo!!” He goes flying, Hunter and the others following behind. They get out to see a monster dragging Echo to the door of the Marauder, Crosshair grits his teeth, angry that something is hurting his brother. As Fives grabs onto Echo, the beast pulls them both outside, Crosshair takes aim with his rifle and shoots it, hitting its eye. It squeals and lets go of Echo, running off, but the damage is done.
Echo stares up at Fives with fear in his eyes, but then he just feels glad and relieved that he's finally able to have some moonlight shine on him. Though after a few moments of feeling good and satisfied, he groans as discomfort and pain runs through him. The moonlight has made its course through his body, and he’s transforming now. He knows his body won’t be his own,that he won’t look like himself anymore, and it makes him feel so scared and uncomfortable. He can feel the rest of their gazes on him, making him feel way worse about all of this. It has only been Fives with him in the past, but now with four new brothers here watching him too, who he hasn't known for very long, makes him nervous and terrified that they'll hurt him.
xxx
“Fives!! Is he--” Hunter stops mid sentence as they hear Echo groan, they stay back from the moonlight, as they all see Echo start to grow bigger, white fur sprouting. “Wait! He’s… he’s--” “A werewolf.” Hunter finishes Wrecker’s sentence, then Echo looks up at them as Fives stands in front of him, he whimpers and before anyone can say anything, he runs as he continues to transform. “Echo, wait!!” Hunter and the others go to run after him, they know that he must think they hate him, hell, they thought he’d feel the same to them. Fives pushes Hunter back and away from the entrance, blocking everyone's route. “No! I won’t let you hurt him!!” Hunter raises an eyebrow. “Fives, no. We won’t hurt him.” Hunter tries again, but again, Fives pushes him back. He looks angry, but there is another look, a look Hunter knows all too well, protective. It’s a look he has seen on himself many times.
“How can I believe that?! Everyone else wanted to!! I won’t let anyone hurt him ever again!” Hunter doesn’t ask Fives what he means by again, not right now, he’ll ask that later. “Fives, we are werewolves too.” Hunter tells him, putting both hands against his own chest to make a point, his brothers all nod. “I don’t believe you.” Fives growls, making Hunter sigh. “Fives, you need to listen, I’m not lying.” Fives flickers, showing them his appearance with a blaster wound through his chest. They feel sad and horrible for Fives, but for now, all that matters is Echo.
Without another thought, Hunter sticks his arm out and into the moonlight holding it there until the effect of the light has made it all the way through his body, making him groan the same way Echo had done a few moments ago. “F-Fives, let me out. P-Plea-se, now!!” Hunter growls as Fives turns back to his normal self and steps out of the way and Hunter stumbles down the steps, falling to his knees and allowing the full moon to shroud him. Hunter yells and groans. It's not usually this painful because he steps into the light straight away, not like a minute ago when Fives kept on stopping him and he didn't get enough light to allow him to transform as comfortably as possible and not as slowly as he is now.
Fives watches with wide eyes, not in horror as he's seen Echo transform a few times before, but from surprise that Hunter was telling him the truth, that he is a werewolf. Hunter sprouts dark brown fur all over his body as he pulls his bandana off of his head, his bones rearranging and cracking as he grows a tail, long and fluffy. He grits his teeth, bearing them as they become sharper and his face elongates into a snout. Fives turns to look at the others who seem to be waiting. Hunter huffs as the transformation finishes, the shirt of his blacks torn to shreds around him while his pants are shredded and ripped.
He stands and turns to look at Fives with glowing, yellow eyes. “You believe me now?” He asks, his voice deep and gruff with a slight growl. “I don't think that I really have an option there.” Fives chuckles nervously, feeling bad that he didn't believe them, but he also had a reason not to trust them, that they could have hurt Echo. Tech then walks forward, a little closer to the door. “Can we step out now?” He asks as he removes his goggles and Fives doesn't wait before stepping out of the way and letting the other three bad batchers through the door and into the light of the full moon. But before Tech gets out, Fives places a hand on his shoulder. “Do you need me to hold your goggles?” He asks nervously, making Tech smile. “If you don’t mind.” He hands Fives the goggles, and Fives smiles and holds them gently as Tech walks out quickly.
They all fall to their knees and the same happens to them, but instead of the slightly slower transformation that Hunter had, they change a lot quicker, but the uncomfortable feeling still stays. They groan and let the transformation do its thing, growing bigger, faces elongating into a snout, sprouting fur all over their bodies and their voices becoming deeper. Wrecker's fur is a dark brown like Hunters, while Tech's fur is a light brown, whereas Crosshair's is grey. They all stretch out on all fours before standing on their back legs, so much taller than what they were before.
Hunter puts his bandana back on, and Fives floats over and hands Tech his goggles, who adjusts the straps so that they fit on his head. Hunter then turns to Fives. “Any ideas where Echo may have gone?” Fives thinks for a moment, then snaps his fingers. “A cave? Or a large bush, anywhere he can hide really but those are two places I’ve found him before.” Hunter nods, then he turns to Tech, Crosshair and Wrecker. “Okay, Tech, you and wrec--” Hunter freezes as his ears flick up, and he hears soft whimpers, the voice is deeper, but he knows it’s Echo’s. “Scratch that, I can hear him. And he sounds like he’s in pain.” Fives doesn’t understand why Echo would be in pain, but then it hits him. “Shit! His cybernetics, they wouldn’t grow with him.” Everyone gets worried looks, none of them had even thought of Echo’s prosthetics, not even Tech. “Shit, that is not good.” Cross says as Wrecker nods. “Yeah, that's really bad.” he says as Tech sighs. “Okay, we need to get to Echo now, so I can get those off of him. Which way is Echo.” Tech asks, and Hunter nods. “He’s this way.” with that they all go running, Fives floating behind.
Hunter keeps an eye on Fives as they run, making sure he can keep up. He follows the trail of blood and large footprints, so it doesn’t take them long to come to a cave. “He’s in there.” The others can hear the whimpers now, making their ears press back. “What do we do? He might be afraid of us.” Crosshair tells Hunter, making him sigh, then he turns to Fives. “Can you go in first? He might be more comfortable with his twin?” Fives nods and floats in, looking around, then he see’s Echo. “Echo!” Fives flies over as Echo looks up, tears in his eyes, that's when Fives see’s it. Echo’s cybernetics are stuck on his legs, cutting into the skin, making him whine, the blood from the deep cuts soaking into his white fur. “Oh, Echo.” Fives says sadly as he slowly sits down and pulls Echo’s head into his lap, he changes into his form with just his blacks, to make Echo more comfortable. He also looks at Echo’s arm, which is in the same state as his legs.
“Don’t you worry, we’ll get ya all fixed up, I promise.” Fives says and Echo whimpers softly. “Fives.” He nuzzles his head into Fives stomach and starts to sob hard, making Fives himself tear up. “Shh, it’s okay Echo, you're alright.” Fives runs his hand through the white fur on Echo’s head, feeling the little metal nubs underneath. He hears a crack and looks over to see Hunter slowly making his way into the cave, followed by the others. “Hey, look. The others are here too.” Echo whines and keeps his face hidden in Fives’ stomach, Hunter’s ears press back when he looks at Echo’s legs. “Kriff, the transformation did a number on him.” Crosshair whispers, making Echo whine and try to move his legs. “Woah, no moving Echo, at least, not right now.” Fives tells him, then he looks up. “Think you can get them off, Tech?” Tech nods, and goes to come over, but Echo curls up as much as he can, sobbing into Fives.
“No, please don't! I'm a monster, don't touch me.” Hunter’s ears press back, so do the others', but Hunter looks over to Fives and Echo. “How long have you been a werewolf, Echo?” Hunter asks, gently, he knows it couldn’t have been as long as they have been. Echo whimpers so Fives answers. “Only about three, maybe four months at most before the Citadel.” Hunter’s eyes widen, Echo’s only freshly turned, well, technically. “He’s never really been in his wolf form around other people other than me, Rex, Kix and a shiny who almost killed him, still don’t know how Rex managed to keep him quiet, and he’s only transformed a few times.” Fives explains, and Hunter gives Echo a soft look. “He’s new to this, we can help.” Crosshair says, and everyone nods. Then Hunter slowly moves closer. “Hey, Echo. Can ya look at me please?” Echo shakes his head, continuing to hide his face against Fives’ stomach.
Hunter slowly moves closer. “Please, Echo? We won’t hurt you, I promise.” Echo shakes his head again, but Hunter gets closer and goes to place his clawed hand on Echo’s shoulder. “Hunter, wait--” Hunter's clawed hand touches Echo’s shoulder, and he spins around and strikes with his claws. “No!” Echo yells, not wanting anyone else other than Fives to touch him in this form. Hunter yelps from the pain when Echo draws blood on his arm, not able to see it well on his dark fur, but the way that Echo's claws are covered in his blood tells him otherwise. Echo whimpers when he sees four werewolves standing there. He sits up and then pulls Fives close with his one arm. Echo has such a strong bond with Fives that Fives will never phase through him.
Echo growls as he continues to protect Fives. Fives then tried to calm him down. “Echo, Vod, it's okay. It's Hunter and the others, look at them.” Echo scrunches his face and does so, seeing the black fur shaped as a skull on the dark brown wolf, then the crosshair on the grey wolf's face. “Y-You're werewolves too?” They all nod at Echo, making him press his ears back and whine, looking at the claw marks on Hunter's arm. Hunter covers it and smiles “It's okay, don't worry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tried to touch you while you're in the state that you're in.” He says.
Echo shakes his head “It's okay, I just...don't like others, other than Fives, touching me while I'm like this because I'm scared. But I'll try and work on it.” Echo smiles but then winces and whines at the pain in his legs and right arm. Everyone frowns as they want nothing more but to get them off and relieve him of the pain. “We can help you, Echo. Just trust us, okay?” Tech says softly, hoping that Echo will let them help him. Echo whines, but then the feel of Fives petting the fur on his head soon makes him relax. “Shh, it's alright, Echo.” He says softly, giving Echo a Keldabe kiss, making him hum and press into it.
When Tech walks closer, Echo tenses but relaxes, especially when Fives takes his clawed hand in his much smaller hands, squeezing it gently to let Echo know that he's here for him. “Okay,” Tech starts, “this is probably going to be painful, so I'm very sorry in advance.” He smiles, then begins to tug at the clasps that are cutting into the flesh on his arm. Echo howls in pain, yelling before hiding his face into Fives' shoulder, whimpering and whining as Tech has to dig his claws in ever so slightly to pry out his droid arm. “There, it’s off.” Everyone’s eyes widen as they look at the bloody mess of Echo’s stub, then Tech sighs. “I’m going to remove your legs now, okay?” Echo nods, and Tech gets to work, he rips Echo’s pants so that they are more like shorts. Then he gets to work prying them off as Echo howls in pain. It takes a few minutes for each leg, since the metal is sunk deep into his skin, but once he’s done everyone can see the bloody wounds. “We should get him back to the Marauder, and get him some bandages.” Tech tells him, and Hunter nods. He turns to Wrecker. “Think you can carry him?” Wrecker smiles wildly. “Of course, he’s easy.” Wrecker walks over and gently kneels down to Echo.
“Am I okay to pick you up?” Echo nods nervously, and Wrecker gently puts an arm under Echo’s stumps, and Another around his back, then he picks him up. “There, you comfortable?” Echo nods, hissing a little when the stump of his arm hits Wrecker’s fur. “Yeah, I’m good.” Wrecker nods, then Fives stands up and blinks his armor back on. “Okay, let's head back to the marauder.” Hunter says, and they all nod. Crosshair stands beside Echo and Wrecker, giving Echo a rare smile. “We’ll take good care of you, Reg. Don’t worry.” Echo nods, and they all walk back to the marauder. Once they get back, the six of them walk up the ramp and into the common area, setting him gently on the floor as Tech runs and grabs some bacta and bandages, then he returns.
“This should help take care of the wounds, do you want me to put it on, or Fives?” Tech asks, and then as everyone figured, Echo asks for-- “Fives, please.” Tech smiles and nods, handing the things to Fives, the others sit around the room as Fives dresses Echo’s wounds, who hisses slightly every little bit. Echo sighs once his wounds are covered in bacta and wrapped, then he looks guiltily at Hunter “I’m sorry, for not telling you.” Hunter looks at him and gives him a smile. “It’s okay, we also didn’t tell you. And we were newly turned once too, we know how scary it is.” Echo gives a small smile, that Hunter returns. “Who tried to hurt you, Reg?” Echo and Fives both look over to Crosshair, who does not look pleased. “Wha--” “Fives said a shiny tried to kill you once, I’d like to know who, and how it happened.” Echo’s ears press back as Fives gets a look of anger.
“It was Echo’s second and last transformation, we were stuck on the planet Kashyyyk.” Fives starts to explain, as the bad batch all listen intently, Echo just looks over at Fives. “We forgot to check the full moon cycle, and Echo ended up transforming after me and him were trapped with a new shiny.” Everyone looks at Fives, then Echo sighs and continues. “I ended up transforming, and the shiny… he knew it was me, he watched it happen and heard me speak to Fives.” Echo takes a deep breath, as Hunter looks at him with understanding and sadness. “It’s okay, Echo. you don’t have to continue--” “No, I want to.” Echo interrupts and Hunter nods. “The shiny then shot me, right in the chest. Fives then captured him as he tried to shoot me again and called Kix, the shot had just missed my heart, if Kix had gotten there even a minute later… I’d be dead.” They all have a look of disgust as Echo finishes.
“That's… that's disgusting, he had no right.” Wrecker says, angry that his new brother had almost been killed before they had a chance to meet him. “What's his name, and number?” Crosshair growls, making Echo flinch. Hunter puts a hand on Crosshair’s shoulder. “Easy, Cross.” Crosshair huffs, and Hunter then turns to Echo. “Please tell me that Captain of yours didn’t let him off scot free?” Fives barks out a laugh, making them all turn to him. “Oh, hell no. Rex was absolutely pissed! Lets just say no one ever found out Echo was a werewolf, and that shiny was transferred to a different battalion, we never saw him again.” Hunter smiles and crosses his arms happily, laying against the wall, Tech smiles. “Thank the force, that shiny was cruel.” Echo smiles, then Hunter looks over to him.
“Don’t worry, we’ll help you out with this, I promise. We are kind of experts now.” Hunter smiles at Echo, but then he frowns. “And you aren’t a monster.” Echo frowns, ears pressing back. “I know, but...it's just sometimes difficult to believe that.” He looks down at the floor, feeling like a Di'kut for even thinking about himself in that way, but deep down, there is something telling him that it's true-- “Echo,” The sound of Fives' voice makes him perk up a little. “Remember what I've always told you. No matter what you may look like, you'll always be you. My Echo. And I'll always be your goofball twin.” Echo smiles and chuckles, his tail starts wagging out of his control, making him grab it nervously. He's still not used to being a werewolf yet, so he's still not exactly sure what is normal and what isn't.
Hunter smiles kindly “It's okay, Echo. There's no need to be embarrassed about it, it's normal, so don't worry.” That gives Echo a little more confidence, enough to make him let go of his tail and let it wag, letting his happiness spill out as much as he wants. He then pulls Fives into another hug, nuzzling and then licking the top of his head gently. Echo freezes, then he groans “This is going to take getting used to.” Everyone chuckles, including himself. “Don't worry, Echo! We'll help'ya!!” Wrecker excitedly let's out a shout, making Echo jump but also feel happy at the same time.
“I’m already coming up with plans to make you cybernetics that we can switch you to while in your wolf form, until then we can transform first, then carry you out and just sit out instead of running.” Tech says, smiling. Echo frowns and his ears press back again. “I’d rather not.” Hunter frowns and so do the others. “It’s okay, it’ll be just us. You’ll be safe.” Echo shakes his head. “No.” Echo refuses. Hunter frowns as he looks nervously at the others. “Look, we won’t force you, but let me tell you, if you go too long without the full moon you’ll get sick.” Hunter warns, then Crosshair huffs. “Yeah, we learned that the hard way.” Echo grimaces. “I’ll think about it.” Hunter nods, then he see’s Echo yawn. “Maybe we should get some shuteye?” They all nod, including Echo and Fives, then Hunter and the batchers get nervous looks. “We usually have a cuddle pile when we are like this, would you like to join? You don’t have to of course, we’ll understand.” Echo thinks for a moment. “Sure, I’d like that.”
Hunter and the rest perk up. “Yeah!!” Wrecker yells out, making everyone chuckle, Hunter smiles. “Okay, Tech and Crosshair, go grab a blanket from each room, including Fives.” They both nod and run off, then Hunter turns to Echo and Fives, who have confused looks. Hunter chuckles. “We need a lot of blankets since we take up more room, and having the familiar smells is nice.” Echo and Fives nod as Tech and Crosshair return, and the four more experienced wolves start to make a little cosy bed as Tech closes the door to the Marauder, Wrecker runs to his room, and returns with Lula, the stuffed Tooka looks so much tinier now, almost dwarfed by Wrecker’s arms.
Echo chuckles as Wrecker walks over. “Can I pick you up again?” He asks nervously, and Echo nods. “Yeah, sure.” Wrecker picks him up, then he carries him over to the blankets and lays him down, as the rest of them lay around him. He’s between Hunter and Crosshair. Fives smiles as he looks at his twin, happy that he’s happy. Then he turns and goes to float away. But suddenly he’s grabbed and pulled into the cuddle pile by Hunter. “Oh no you don’t, you are a brother too, Fives, alive or not.” Fives frowns as he’s laid between Echo and Hunter. “But I only sleep every few weeks, and I don’t think that's now. I’ll keep you up,” Hunter licks the top of Five's head. “We don’t care, no brother is going to be left out of the cuddle pile.” Fives smiles as he’s pulled into Echo, then he looks at Hunter. “I… okay, I trust you guys.”
Hunter’s eyes widen, along with everyone else’s. Everyone is surprised, because they thought for sure that Fives' trust issues would have made him act otherwise. It's a big thing for Fives to say that he trusts them, but it makes them glad and happy that he trusts them enough to cuddle with him and Echo. Fives believes that Echo mixing with other werewolves will be a good thing too, as it'll mean that he'll be able to socialize with his own kind, to embrace his new nature.
Knowing that Echo isn't the only one going through this anymore relieves Fives. He's always, and will still be, there for Echo, but also having others there, who are just like him and understand what he's going through, who know how it feels, is going to help Echo a lot more. Fives listens to the soft snores and gentle breathing filling the room as he notices that the others have all drifted off to sleep. He smiles as he closes his eyes, not caring if he can't sleep as much as he used to, he just loves to relax and pretend he's sleeping, to make him feel normal again.
xxx
Hunter is the first to wake up, groggily opening his eyes to find that his eyes are covered by something. He reaches a hand up to his face and pulls it off and looks at it, seeing that it's his bandana. That's when he notices that he and everyone else are back to their normal selves. He looks over at Echo, seeing that he's hugging Fives close as he sleeps. It's not that it's a bad thing that it was just Echo and Fives, but he needs to know that what he is now, is not a monster. That he’s still Echo, and being around himself and his brothers will help with that, they can help with that. They will help with that.
Hunter hears someone shuffling about, so he brushes the rogue strands of hair out of his face and looks over to see Tech stirring awake, his goggles have slipped off of his head too and fell on the ground in between them both. He carefully sits up, then looks around. His vision is pretty blurry, but he can make out the outlines of his brothers, then he looks at Hunter. He can tell it's him because of the vibrant red colour being put around his head. “Hunter, are we…” He begins to whisper out, trying to find his goggles, but then Hunter hands them out to him. He puts them on and is finally able to see now. “Yep, we're human again.” Tech says, answering his own question. Hunter smiles, then gestures over to Fives and Echo, making Tech look over.
“Fives did end up sleeping.” Tech says with a smile, and Hunter smiles as well. “Yeah.” Crosshair then sits up, followed by Wrecker. Crosshair looks down at Echo and Fives, giving his own soft smile. “We’re human again.” He says and Hunter nods as Wrecker stretches. “Fives is sleeping?” Wrecker asks, and both Tech and Hunter nod. “Yeah, Echo is still sleeping too.” They all turn when Echo mumbles something in his sleep, then clutches onto Fives even tighter, hunter frowns. “We need to help him with this, he was alone before, even though he had Fives.” They all nod. “I couldn’t imagine going through this alone, and I would have too if I hadn't bitten you guys, still sorry for that.” Hunter, Wrecker and Crosshair all frown.
Hunter pulls Tech close. “It wasn’t your fault, Tech. You weren’t yourself. We’ve told you this so many times, but if it makes you feel better for us to keep reminding you, then that's what we’ll do.” Tech smiles and cuddles into Hunter. “Yeah, Hunter’s right.” “Yep.” Wrecker and Crosshair say, making Tech smile happily, then Hunter smirks. “Besides, even if you hadn’t of bitten me, I would have had you bite me later. I would never make you go through something like this alone.” Tech smiles. “Thanks, Hunter.” “Ow.” They all turn to see Echo blinking his eyes open, a hand massaging his leg. “We’re human again.” Echo says quietly, and Hunter smiles as he walks over to him and Fives, who’s still snoring away.
“Yeah, how you feeling?” Echo gives a small smile. “My stumps are hurting, but I’m happy to be human again.” Hunter gives Echo a comforting smile. “We’ll get you some painkillers.” Then Hunter looks at Fives. “How has Fives not woken up from us talking yet?” Echo chuckles. “Fives could sleep through almost anything while he was… was alive. It must still be the same when he does get some sleep.” Hunter nods, then Echo places a hand on Fives’ shoulder and shakes him gently, making him wake up.
“Wait! Wha?” Fives looks around and his eyes widen. “Shit, I actually slept.” Hunter chuckles. “Yep! And we are human again, so we should get the ship prepared before tonight.” Fives nods as he stands up, and Tech stands as well. “I’ll get you some painkillers, Echo. You just relax and let the cuts in your legs and arm heal today.” Echo goes to protest when Hunter steps up. “No buts, you rest.” Echo sighs, but he nods as they all go to get dressed, and Echo lays back down, he closes his eyes, happy to know that he and Fives have new brothers they can trust with this secret.
This was requested by @xxamixisxx they requested 8 and 12 from my Christmas prompts for my au The Ghost's that Protect. This takes place in the future after Finn escapes the first order with the ghost clones.
Finn wakes up to Rex shaking him, he looks up at him. He has a big smile on his face.
"Hey kiddo, it's Christmas!" Finn's eyes widen, they weren't allowed to so much as mention Christmas in the first order. This will be his first Christmas ever!
"You want to go open your presents?" The ghost asks, and Finn nods. Rex smiles and picks him up, floating through the doorway of his room and into the resistance base. The ghosts all set up a room special for Christmas, with the help of Rey of course.
Rex carry's Finn into the room, it's got some of the ghost's in it. Not all of them can fit in the room, although they all helped decorate and pick out presents.
"Merry Christmas." They all yell and Finn smile's, he loves his family. Even if they aren't exactly... alive. Rey is here too, and so is Finn's best friend Poe. It seems like the others couldn't make it but that's okay. Rex sits him down in front of the Christmas tree, and all the present's.
"There you go Ad'ika, they're all for you." Finn's eyes somehow widen even more, all of them are for him. He looks at Rex, silently asking permission to open them and Rex nods. Finn grabs them and starts carefully taking the paper off, that's when Fives flies over.
"That's not how you do it Vod'ika, you got to rip it off." Fives tells him, demonstrating it by grabbing a piece of wrapping paper and tearing it. Finn smile's and follows Fives demonstration, ripping off the paper with gusto. He does this for all his presents, his face lights up each time he gets a new toy.
The ghosts all smile at him, especially Rex. He loves his Ad'ika, and he's so glad that they could do this for him. Finn finishes opening all his present's, he absolutely loves all of them.
He's never had toys before, he got a few from the resistance after they joined but before that none. The First Order didn't believe that they needed toys.
"Do you like them Finn?" Rey asks him and he nods his head excitedly, he loves all of his presents. Rey smiles at him, she's so glad that he loved them. A resistance fighter runs in.
"Hey guys, it's snowing outside. Come on." They all look surprised and run out to look, Rex grabs Finn's hand and they walk out. Rex smiles at the snow falling, looking down he sees the wonder in Finn's eyes and realizes that this is the first time he's ever seen snow. Poe comes running up to them.
"Mind if I take the kid to play." Rex nods and they run off, Rex watching them. He's happy that his Ad'ika gets such a great Christmas, he even gets snow. Rex sighs when he feels himself change, he hates that they switch between ages.
He hates being old, it's not because of his looks or anything. It's because he's supposed to be Finn's father figure, not his grandfather. Finn must sense it because he walks over and sits in Rex's lap, snuggling into him.
"It's okay, Rex." Finn tells him, he knows how much Rex hates being old. He doesn't care, he's still his... Well he doesn't really know the word for it but Rex is like a caretaker but nice not mean. He likes Rex, and hopes that nothing takes him away.
Rex hugs Finn close to him, he loves his Ad'ika so much. They sit like that for a while until Finn's teeth start to chatter a little and Rex takes him in for warm clothes, then they spend the rest of the day playing in the snow.
