Forever Life Changing Events
Chapter One
Warnings: needle/injection, transformation, abuse, swearing, mocking, teasing, slight starvation, name calling, blood, slight injury.
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
CT-7707 whimpers as the Kaminoan, Nala Se, comes closer with the needle, he flinches at the slight pain in his neck, the wound from his recent surgery still fresh enough to hurt. He’s strapped down to a table, arms and legs bound. Fear engulfs him as the needle is jabbed into his skin, and he yelps. Nala Se glares. “Quiet CT-7707, you are not to be so weak.” CT-7707 whimpers slightly and nods, trying to hold his tears at bay, he’s so scared and confused. He doesn’t know what they are doing? Is this going to fix his voice? Maybe his brothers will actually love him if he can talk right.
He looks over to the Kaminoan. “Will th-this fix my v-voice?” He asks quietly, and Nala Se looks over at him. “No, you are most likely a lost cause. But hopefully with this injection, you won’t be so weak anymore.” CT-7707 stares at her, wondering what she means by that, he then whimpers as a weird feeling creeps into his stomach. “W-Wait! What's hap-happening, I feel ic-icky!” He starts to panic, struggling to get out of his bindings. She rolls her eyes. “Don’t whine, the feeling is only going to get worse, so save your breath, defect.” CT-7707 whimpers as the feeling keeps building and building. “St-Stop, make it st-stop, ple-ple-please!”
Nala Se turns her back to him, leaving the poor, young cadet all alone. He’s so scared as the feeling turns to pain, and tears start to fall from his eyes. He then hears and feels a crack, and he screams. His throat erupts in pain as his bandages soak with red, his bones crack as he grows bigger, and he screams more. “St-St-Stop!” He screams as loud as his voice can go, making Nala Se roll her eyes as she stares at the wall, there's no need for her to watch this.
Fur starts to grow all over his body, as he feels his body morph and change shape. “I-I-I-I-It h-h-hurts, St-St-St-” CT-7707 can’t get any more words out, he’s too scared to get his stutter under control. His mouth starts to elongate as his legs become haunches. His clothes burst off, all except for his pants as he whimpers. Brown fur now completely covers his body, ears pointier and pressing back as he lets out a little howl along with a whine. He notices that he sounds different, a slight growl sitting at the back of his throat whenever he makes a sound. His back arches as he writhes around, wanting nothing else but to get out of there. He yelps when he feels something grow from his backside, looking down to see a fluffy tail, swishing around.
He stares at it before squeezing his eyes shut and throwing his head back against the table when he feels the restraints becoming too tight around his wrists and ankles, making him whimper and writhe around more, only angering Nala Se even more. “CT-7707, stop overreacting, you don’t want to be weak anymore, do you? So stop--” She is unable to finish her sentence when CT-7707’s restraints break off. They had gotten too tight for him, because they had thought that because he is a smaller cadet, he wouldn’t need big restraints.
CT-7707 whines as he writhes around a little more as the transformation finishes, then he accidentally rolls off of the table and lands on the floor with a thud and a yelp when he lands on his tail, making him jolt up so he’s kneeling. He doubles over in discomfort and wraps his arms around himself. With a small huff, he looks up at Nala Se, who looks down at him, her face expressionless. He whines and whimpers, not from pain, but from fear. If he wasn’t scared enough of the Kaminoans before, he sure is now. “CT-7707, get back on the table. I have some important tests to run.”
CT-7707 stares at her, then when Nala Se sighs frustratedly and tries to grab him, scurries away from her and backs up against the wall. “CT-7707, do as you are told right now!” She yells, only scaring him more as he tries to run on two legs. He falls flat on his face and then runs on all fours towards the door. He bangs as loud as he can on it, whining when Nala Se walks over to him. “CT-7707!” She yells, but then the door slides open.
“What’s goin-- Holy Kriff!!” A cadet with a buzz haircut with a lightning strike pattern stands wide-eyed before jumping out of the way of the small wolf creature running towards him. “CT-6116, stop it!” Nala Se commands, but the cadet just stands looking at her with an expression of confusion and shock. “You’ve done it again?!” Kix scowls at her, feeling pissed that they never treat them as actual people, but always treat them as products that they can do whatever they wish with.
xxx
CT-7707 runs through the halls of Kamino, hearing gasps and yells from the brothers he passes, but he just ignores them as he makes a beeline for his bunks. He finally gets to his barracks, running through the door only to see his brothers standing there with wide eyes. Clank’s, the leader, eyes widen. “What the Kriff--” “Cl-Clank, help!” The slightly deeper voice startles Clank, but he recognizes the stutter. He sneers.
“Holy crap! You are even more of a freak than before.” CT-7707 shrinks down as his brothers glare at him with hatred. “Get out of here, Defect. Now!!! Or do you want another beating.” CT-7707 whimpers and quickly runs out of the room, it doesn’t even process in his mind that he is much stronger than them in this new form. They all chase after him, making him yelp and keep running. CT-7707 runs as fast as he can, dodging brothers as fast as he can.
Then he runs by two older cadets and he hears a shout from the blonde one with a buzzcut. “Wait!!!” But CT-7707 keeps running, but after a minute, he slams into two other cadets. “Hey!! What are you-- woah!” The one shouting in surprise has a five drawn on the corner of his forehead, the other has a reg manual. CT-7707 shrinks down as they stare, then-- “Get back here, Defect.” CT-7707 starts running again, as fast as he can. He ignores all the shouts as he finally loses his brothers, and hides inside of a storage closet.
CT-7707 tucks himself up into a ball on the floor and starts to cry, his throat hurts. He reaches up and can feel the tight bandages, constricting his breathing a bit. He starts to cry harder as he feels the fur sticking out of the bandages, he’s so scared, and doesn’t know what to do. He leaves the door to the closet open, afraid of the dark. Then after a few minutes there's a knock on the wall. CT-7707 whimpers quietly, curling up a bit more.
“Hello? It’s okay, I won’t hurt you, I promise.” A head peeks in, and CT-7707 see’s a young Cadet with Blonde hair, but he whimpers. “Do-Don’t look at m-me.” The Cadet frowns, and pulls his head from the door. “It’s okay, I know that this is scary. But it’s going to be okay, can I please come in? I just want to help, please.” CT-7707 thinks of what he wants to do, he doesn’t know why this older Cadet isn’t scared of him, or making fun of him.
CT-7707 looks down at himself and whines. “I-I don't kn-kn-know.” He cries softly into his knees, then a few moments later, he feels a hand on his shoulder, making him look up to see the blonde cadet crouching down right infront of him, keeping his distance but making sure that he can still keep a hand on the young cadets shoulder to make him feel grounded. CT-7707's ears press back as he shrinks down, hoping that if he makes himself small enough, he'll be able to disappear.
“Don't be afraid, it's okay. My name is Rex.” CT-7707 doesn't look up at the older cadet, he doesn't want to see the look of disgust on his face. The hand moves away from his shoulder and the older cadet walks away. CT-7707 was right. He's a lost cause and doesn't deserve help. Who even wants to be around a monster like he is now?--
Suddenly, there's a soft groan somewhere in the room. CT-7707 looks up to see that the cadet has gone, but then there is movement behind a shelving unit. He hears the same cracking as earlier, when his bones were rearranging, plus the ripping of clothes and heavy, growly breathing. CT-7707 covers his ears and curls up into himself, not wanting to hear the scary, horrible sounds again.
About a minute later, the sounds subside and he hears heavy but soft footsteps walking towards him, making him peek out from where he's hiding behind his knees to see a bigger, blonde werewolf. CT-7707 whimpers and tries to move away, but Rex puts his hands up in surrender. “It's okay, Lil'un. It's me, Rex.” CT-7707 looks at the wolf in disbelief for a moment before realising the torn, red pants that it's wearing. CT-7707 looks with confusion, blinking slightly. “Wh-What?”
Rex gives CT-7707 a soft smile, hoping to put him at ease a bit. “You... you aren’t the first one to go through this, the longnecks did the same thing to me about a year ago.” CT-7707 looks up at Rex with wide eyes, but then winces slightly as the bandages on his neck pull tighter, making him pull at them hopelessly, because his claws aren’t sharp enough to cut through them. Rex’s eyes widen when he notices them, and he gets a look of pity. “You’re stuck, can I help?” CT-7707 whines a bit, but nods. And Rex walks over and kneels in front of him, he winces when he sees the blood soaking the bandages.
“Hold still, let me just--” Rex gently places a hand under CT-7707’s chin and lifts it up, then he uses his sharp claws to cut the bandages off, his eyes widen when he sees the slightly missing fur and surgical scars on his neck, including the open wound. He frowns. “What was this for?” CT-7707 whimpers. “I-It was sup-supposed to fix m-me, bec-because I’m def-defective and I stutter.” Rex gets a look of anger, scaring poor CT-7707, but it turns sad as soon as he realizes. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at you, but the kaminoans are wrong, you don’t need to be fixed. Not at all.” Rex moves around and sits down beside CT-7707, gently reaching over and pulling him into his lap.
CT-7707 yelps a bit, but then he settles down against Rex, who’s much larger than him. He whines as he notices blood from his neck, wrists and ankles soaking into Rex’s fur. But Rex just brushes it off. “It’s okay, I can wash it off later.” CT-7707 nods, and snuggles into Rex, nuzzling him almost desperately. Rex frowns as he notices, because he seems almost touch starved. “Would you like me to go get your batch mates? I’m sure they are wondering what happened to you. And can you tell me your name?” CT-7707 whimpers loudly, starting Rex as he snuggles into him, he starts breathing heavily as he seems to almost be going into a panic attack. “Hey, shh. It’s okay, you’re okay, Lil’un.” CT-7707 whimpers again and Rex pulls him closer, letting him snuggle into his chest.
“D-Don’t let th-them find me, ple-please. Th-They’ll hurt m-me.” Rex rubs his back, not understanding until a realization comes over him. “Were the Cadets chasing you your batchmates?” CT-7707 nods, making Rex’s fur bristle with anger, but he pushes it away and comforts CT-7707, gently rubbing a hand through his fur, making the younger wolf hum. He is definitely touch starved. “You’re okay, don’t worry. They won’t hurt you anymore, I promise.” CT-7707 nods as he snuggles into Rex even more than he is, making Rex smile as he plays with his fur. “Do you have a name yet? And how old are you?” CT-7707 shakes his head. “No, n-not y-yet. I’m just CT-7707. Defects don’t des-deserve names, and I’m f-four.” Rex’s eyes widen, his batchmates told him that? And four?! He’s way too young to go through this.
“I promise you that you are not defective, Lil'un. Having a stutter does not make you defective.” Rex says with a sad smile, nuzzling the young cadet's head. He's had many times where Cody would have comforted him, whether it was about his hair colour, being a werewolf or anything really. Cody was always there for him, so Rex wants to do the same for this kid, whatever it is he may need. He can’t believe that his batchmates were chasing him, quite likely scaring him too. No one should ever have to be treated like that, to be told that they don’t deserve something, all because they are different in some way or another.
There’s a soft knock on the wall, making the both of them look up and turn their heads to see two cadets looking into the room. There’s another two cadets with them too, who Rex notices to be Kix and Jesse, but they seem to be more focussed on stopping other cadets from entering instead of just looking at him and the other small werewolf in the room. Rex nervously glances between the two cadets standing in the doorway, not sure why they are here. “You’re Rex, right?” One of them asks and Rex nods “Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?”
The other cadet, with a drawn-on 5 in the corner of his forehead, turns his attention to Rex after pulling his gaze away from the other wolf. “Kix and Jesse, those two cadets outside, said that the kid was in here, so we just wanted to make sure that he’s okay now. Those four other cadets seemed to be giving him trouble, so we told them that Nala Se needed them immediately, so they’re gone for now.” Rex smiles and nods, but then looks at the young cadet in his arms again. “Those were his batchmates?” He says, making CT-7707 tense up and whimper, as the two Cadets get a disgusted look. Just the thought of them is enough to scare poor CT-7707.
The one with the five looks up at Rex. “What else have they done?” Rex tries not to get angry. His angry side is always scarier when he’s in this form. He covers the young cadet’s ears and starts to explain “They were hurting him. They said that he doesn’t deserve a name because he has a defect.” Rex moves his hands to the cadets back, rubbing it soothingly. Both cadets see red, Rex can tell by their body language and how their eyes widen. “What?! That’s disgusting! His batchmates told him that? Everyone deserves to have a name!” The one with the five colored on the corner of his forehead growls, CT-7707 flinches but hums when Rex rubs his back. “Th-They said that I do-don’t, and would be-beat me up if I ask-asked.” Rex tenses up, and so do the other two, then Rex looks down. “They what?” He asks through gritted teeth, trying to keep his temper in check, but he is failing. CT-7707 flinches, making Rex take a deep breath to calm himself down.
“We will take care of that in a bit, but they had no right to hurt you, you are their brother.” CT-7707 frowns and nuzzles into Rex, as the other two cadets walk closer. Rex’s ears flick up as everyone hears sort of a commotion going on outside the door. “Okay, time to go. There's nothing to see.” The voice of 99 puts Rex at ease, but not CT-7707 who ducks down in his arms and tries to hide away. Rex smiles softly. “Don’t worry, that's just 99, and my brother Cody, they won’t hurt you, I promise.” CT-7707 nods, and Rex looks up as he hears a voice. “Can I come in, Boys?” “Yep, come on in.” Rex yells back, and 99 walks in followed by Cody, Kix and Jesse continue to guard the door. He smiles at the two Cadets.
“Now, what are your names?” Both smile and look at eachother. “I’m Fives, this is Echo.” The one with the five on his forehead says, making 99 smile as Cody walks towards Rex. “You okay, Rex?” Rex nods, but then CT-7707 pokes up from his arms, making Cody chuckle, and 99 smile when he looks up. “Hello, you must be who I’m here to see. May I take a look at you?” The soft, gentle voice puts CT-7707 at ease, and he looks up at Rex, as if asking for permission. Rex nods. “He won’t hurt you, I promise.” CT-7707 nods, and 99 proceeds to walk over, Rex sets him on the ground and 99 hums as he takes a look at him.
“Seems the kaminoans did a number on you, didn’t they.” CT-7707 nods as 99 gently prods at his neck, making him wince. “I’m sorry.” 99 apologizes, but then starts prodding his wrists and ankles, once he’s done he smiles. “How about we get you to my barracks, get everything fixed up, and I can make you some cookies. Does that sound good, little guy.” CT-7707 nods, and 99 smiles. “Alright then, Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix can all come too.” Cody and Rex both poute playfully.
“What about us?” Cody asks, making 99 chuckle. “Of course, come along. Think you can carry him, Rex?” Rex nods and gently picks CT-7707 up into his arms bridal style, making the little wolf yelp. “Don’t worry, I got ya.” Rex smiles at CT-7707 as he carries him out into the halls, CT-7707 whimpers and tries to hide down into Rex’s arms, snuggling his face into the fur on Rex’s chest, making Rex sigh as he holds the tiny wolf close. He feels so bad for what he’s gone through, this shouldn’t have happened to him.
It only takes them a few minutes to get to 99’s barracks, and they all walk in to see four other Cadets sitting around. One is bigger than the others, one has grey hair and looks grumpy as heck, one has longer hair than regulations and one has glasses and is pretty small. They all get wide eyed looks when they see Rex and CT-7707, but 99 hums and just walks into the barracks and smiles.
“Hey boys, think you can get the first aid supplies for me.” They nod and the one with goggles goes running to a footlocker at the end of a bunk, the one with longer hair walks up. “What did the Kaminoans do this time?” He asks gravely, and 99 sighs. “This is Rex, he was given a serum about a year ago that turned him into a werewolf, and the Cadet in his arms was given the same thing today.” Hunter’s eyes widen as he stares at the young Cadet in Rex’s arms, he feels disgusted by what they did, the grey haired Cadet and the bigger one both just stare. “He looks so young, how could they do this?” The one with grey hair asks, a look of disgust on his face.
Rex sighs and sits down on the ground, still holding the Lil’un close. “I don’t know, but all that matters now is that it won’t ever happen ever again.” CT-7707 looks up at Rex, confused as to what he means by that. “W-What do you-you mean? Am I-I not-t going back?” Everyone shares a sad look and Rex shakes his head. “We aren’t going to let you be put back with those bullies. We won’t let them, or anyone else, hurt you ever again.”
CT-7707 tears up, from feeling both happy and thankful. “N-No one has-as-as ever been kind t-to me before. Are you s-sure you want m-me around? I don’t w-want to be the bur-burden I’ve always be-been told that I a-am.” His ears press back, not wanting to intrude into their lives and just ruin it for them. He’d hate to disappoint anyone else-- “Of course we do. You seem like a really nice kid, I can’t see how anyone could dislike you.” Cody tells him, warming his heart as a few tears fall down his furry cheek, which are wiped away with the brush of the back of Rex’s finger.
CT-7707 hums, he’s still so touch starved so it’ll take time for him to heal, to feel normal and loved. The cadet with goggles walks back over to the group with a few medical supplies, handing them to 99. “Thank you, Tech. Now, let’s get you patched up.” CT-7707 whines and flinches away a little, making 99 stop in his tracks. “Sorry, kid. I promise that I won’t hurt you.”
CT-7707 looks up at Rex and back again before nodding. 99 smiles and reaches out to check his wrists first, placing some bacta on before wrapping them up. As 99 continues to treat his wounds, CT-7707 sees that a cadet, who is taller and broader than the others, has walked close to him, smiling and looking at him. CT-7707 doesn’t know what to do-- “Your fur looks so soft and fluffy!” The cadet startles CT-7707 by accident, making him shrink down into Rex’s arms.
“Careful, you’re scaring him.” The cadet with longer hair walks over and smiles at CT-7707. “Don’t mind Wrecker here, he can get a little loud and over excited. I’m Hunter by the way.” CT-7707’s eyes widen, he feels afraid when he hears that. He tries to back up a bit, hitting Rex’s chest. Tech realizes what's going on, and so does Hunter.
“Oh, don’t worry, he’s not that type of Hunter. A usual hunter is a person or animal that hunts prey for food, or game. While our Hunter is more like a person searching for something, as his enhanced ability, or defect, as it is sometimes called. It is actually quite interesting, I could name all the differences between our Hunter and a usual hunter if I wanted--” “Nerd, please don’t.” The grey haired Cadet asks, making Hunter chuckle. “That's Crosshair, he’s pretty grumpy, but has a soft side.” Hunter gets a glare from Crosshair. “I do not!” CT-7707 smiles softly. Hunter then smiles. “We’re the bad batch!”
“Ok-Okay, nice to me-meet you, and it’s ok-okay. I’m just n-not used to atten-attention.” They all nod and 99 walks over and gently gets to work, applying bacta and wrapping up CT-7707’s neck first. “There we go, I’m guessing that was from surgery?” CT-7707 nods. “Mhm, th-they wanted to f-fix me.” 99 shakes his head. “I don’t see what there is to fix.” He then starts on CT-7707’s wrists and ankles, gently applying bacta and wrapping them up. Once he’s done, he smiles and looks up at the youngling. “Anywhere else?” CT-7707 gets a nervous look. “M-My… Um.. tail. I fe-fell on it.”
99 gives CT-7707 a soft look. “Don’t worry, Rex has done the same thing, let me take a look.” CT-7707 gently pulls his tail around, and 99 prods at it with a hum. “Seems like you sprained it, no biggie, I’ll just wrap it with bacta and you’ll be good.” CT-7707 nods and Rex looks over at Kix. “Hey, Kix. Why aren’t you helping?” Kix shrugs. “He might be more comfortable if it's just one person.” Rex nods and 99 finishes wrapping CT-7707’s tail, then Wrecker goes running and returns with a stuffed animal. “Here, you can hold my Lula.” CT-7707 raises an eyebrow. “What's a Lula?”
Wrecker smiles as he hands CT-7707 the stuffy. “She's my friend, and a tooka. You cuddle her and she makes you feel better.” CT-7707 nods and hugs the stuffy close, smiling as he holds it, then he yawns. “Looks like someone needs some sleep, I’m sure one of the boys won’t mind sharing their bunk, and we can have a sleepover.” 99 suggests, and Hunter nods. “They can use mine, if they’d like to stay.” Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix all nod excitedly, as Cody nods as well. “Of course, we’ll have a cuddle pile!” CT-7707 raises an eyebrow again. “What's th-that?” Everyone gets a sad look, but Rex explains. “That's when you and a few other Cadets all cuddle and sleep together, here, we’ll show you.” Rex picks him up and carries him to a bed, laying CT-7707 down and then curling around him. Jesse and Kix come next and curl up on either side of Rex, as Cody sprawls himself on top.
Then Fives and Echo both lay down a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor, curling up on them, as Wrecker joins them, Hunter smiles and turns to his other brothers. “Want to join them?” Tech nods and goes lays with Wrecker, and Crosshair huffs. “Sure.” Hunter smiles and pulls his grumpy brother over, and they both lay down. Everyone falls asleep to the sound of 99 humming as he repairs and cleans some equipment.
xxx
CT-7707 wakes up to the sound of soft and gentle breathing, panicking in his mind for only a second before he remembers where he is. For once in his life, he hasn’t been rudely awakened. His batchmates would wake him up early and abruptly, literally pulling him out of his bunk. He smiles, not feeling like he has to force it. His batchmates threatened him that if he didn’t smile when they wanted him to, he would be decommissioned and beaten up. He sighs and snuggles into whoever he is lying on top of, then looks to see that it’s Rex...who’s human! Stutter jolts up and looks down at himself, seeing that he is no longer covered in fur.
Rex feels the movement and opens his eyes to see the Lil’un awake on top of him. “Morning, Lil’un.” Rex ruffles the top of CT-7707’s head, making him softly giggle and hum at the feeling of someone ruffling his hair. “Mor-Morning, Rex.” He looks down at his wrists, seeing that the bandages have slipped off. Rex smiles sweetly “Don’t worry about those, we’ll get your wrists and ankles rewrapped later.” CT-7707 smiles and nods in thanks, then there’s a growling noise.
CT-7707 looks a little embarrassed, his stomach just made, what must be, the loudest noise in the galaxy. “Are you hungry, Lil’un?” CT-7707 nods his head, looking around the room that the others are talking amongst themselves, giving him and Rex some space. Rex smiles and sits up slowly, letting CT-7707 slide off of him. The others then walk over, all smiling brightly at him. CT-7707 isn’t used to the attention. He sees Tech walk over to them both, carrying a set of uniform and handing it to CT-7707. “Here, these might be a little bit big on you, but it’s better than nothing.”
CT-7707 smiles, but shakes the uniform off and checks it over. He looks around the room to see confused faces. “S-Sorry, my old batch-batchmates would place th-these chem-chemicals in my uni-uniforms that caused itch-itching or burn-burning. And even once g-g-gave me hives. I woul-wouldn’t use the sho-showers until it we-went away, bec-because I didn’t w-w-want the others to lo-look at me.” Everyone gets an expression crossed between sadness and anger. They hate that something like this could even happen to someone as sweet as this Cadet is.
Kix brings over some bandages, handing a few to Rex before turning to CT-7707 with a smile “Hi, kid. Is it okay if I help Rex wrap your wounds up?” Kix asks, earning a nervous look off the young, small cadet. CT-7707 looks at Rex and then back at Kix, nodding shyly. “Thank you, just let me know if I wrap them too tightly.” Both he and Rex kneel down, Rex wrapping his wrists while Kix wraps his ankles up.
“There isn’t a lot of privacy in this room, but we can look away if you want to change in that corner over there?” Hunter suggests, pointing towards the other side of the room. “Th-Thank you, that w-would be great.” Everyone smiles as he walks to get changed. Before he undresses, he turns to see the others looking away and talking to each other. He slips off his ripped pants and slips on the new pair, putting his shirt on and then walking back to the group.
“Hey, Lil’un. So we have a surprise for you.” Rex tells him joyfully, making CT-7707 wonder as to what the surprise could be. He’s sure that it won’t be like the mean surprises that he used to get. “A s-s-surprise? For me?” They all nod. This is obviously a joint surprise. Rex crouches down in front of him and smiles. “It was Fives’ idea first, but then we all agreed on it, your name. Stutter.” CT-7707.. no… Stutter stares at them with wide eyes, and Fives walks forward excitedly. “I hope you like it!! I figured that the name Stutter would make you feel better about it, and it just fits you. Also I am like the all time master of name choosing.” He gets a slap from Echo for that, but Stutter still doesn’t move, Rex frowns. “We all agreed that when we think of you, that name fits. But if you don’t like it—“ Rex can’t finish because Stutter slams into him with a hug, then he does the same to Fives. “Th-Thank you, Th-Thank you Th-Thank you!!!” He chants as he goes around hugging everyone, even Crosshair smiles and hugs him.
Rex smiles. “No thanks necessary, everyone deserves a name, especially a sweet little Vod’ika like you.” Stutter smiles happily as Rex stands up and takes his hand. “Now, let’s get some food, yeah?” “YEAH!!!” Everyone chuckles at Wreckers enthusiasm. “Wrecker's right!! Let's go!!” Jesse yells in agreement, making everyone cheer as well.
“Knock knock.” Everyone turns to see Cody walking in with a fresh set of uniform. Rex sighs in relief. “Thanks Cod’ika. We were just about to leave for the messhall, so good timing.” Rex says. And Cody chuckles. “Of course, can’t let you just walk around half naked now can we?” Cody laughs and passes the uniform to Rex, who moves to the corner and quickly changes. Once he’s done he walks back. “Alright, let’s head to the mess hall.” Rex freezes and turns to Cody. “Also, Codes. We gave our young brother a name, It’s Stutter, Fives came up with it.” Cody gets a smile as he kneels down towards Stutter. “So, what do you think of the name?” Stutter smiles widely. “I love it!!” Cody ruffles his hair. “That's great!! Now, let's get you some food.” Stutter nods as he grabs onto Rex’s hand, the seven year old Cadet looking down with a smile, at his four year old brother.
Everyone nods and follows them out, who holds Stutters hand. They all walk through the halls, getting stares from everyone, but they are actually too happy to notice. Once they get in there, everyone heads over to get their food, and Rex helps out Stutter. “There, now let's go sit.” They all sit down, but after a few minutes of eating, they notice that Stutter is just staring at them. “Is something wrong, Stutter?” Rex asks, making Stutter blink a couple of times before replying. “I-It’s just that my prev-previous batch-batchmates w-w-would push my f-food onto the fl-floor, so p-part of me was-s expe-expecting that to...neverm-m-mind, sorry.” Stutter picks up his fork and starts to eat his food, but then his stomach twists when he hears the all too familiar voices of his previous batchmates.
He startles and hides behind Rex, who looks confused but then quickly realises what the matter is when he sees four cadets coming towards them. “Duse? Wow, I would have thought that you would have been decommissioned the moment that the Kaminoans found out that you are a monster.” The leader of their batch, Clank, smirks when he sees Stutter shaking. Rex sees red, holding Stutter close and hiding him from them.
Rex growls, making them jump when they see him slightly transform. He sprouts a little bit of fur, teeth are sharper, ears a little pointier as he gets a little bigger, making his uniform stretch enough to be noticeable, but not enough to completely rip. Cody places a hand on his shoulder to calm him enough to keep him from fully transforming, then he looks at the four cadets. “I think it’s time that you leave. Now. And I suggest that you leave him alone from now on.” Clank snorts and crosses his arms.
“Who, CT-7707? I didn’t even think that he existed or mattered.” Clank retorts, obviously enjoying this. Rex groans, trying as hard as he can not to completely transform. Crosshair glares at them “He has a name.” “Yeah, it’s Stutter!” Fives adds, making the batch look disgusted and then Clank laughs, the others doing the same “That’s a great name, because now he will never forget why he sounds so stupid whenever he opens his mouth.”
“You’re the only one here who sounds stupid.” Echo’s comeback angers the Cadet, but when Clank starts to walk forward, Wrecker stands up and gets in his way, just standing there. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Reg.” He warns, making the Cadet pale a little, but pretends that he isn’t bothered by him. “Tch, come on guys, let’s get out of here.” Clank tells them, walking past the table and attempting to knock Stutter’s food onto the floor, but Hunter can sense what he is about to do, so Hunter grabs his arm and pushes it away. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Clank only glares at him and goes to walk away, but before they leave, Clank just has to open his mouth again. “He’s such a defect, he’ll be decommissioned soon, so he won’t matter much more.” It’s said barely above a whisper, but Hunter and Rex hear him loud and clear. Unfortunately, Stutter also heard what he said, making him tear up and start crying. Rex growls and has to run out of the mess hall to transform, he wishes he could have stayed, but he didn’t want to scare Stutter with his transformation and it's just not very good for him to be seen.
Hunter quickly walks over and pulls Stutter close, when suddenly a whole tray of food goes flying and hits the four cadets, everyone turns to see Crosshair standing up, he has the most evil glare on his face. “I don’t know what you just said, but you made my baby brother cry, and no one messes with my brothers, ever!” Stutter sniffles and looks up at Crosshair, eyes widening when he realizes what was just said, Crosshair walks over and gives Stutter his best smile. He gently wipes Stutter’s tears away. “He doesn’t deserve brothers!!” Clank yells, making Crosshair tense up, and they run as Hunter has to hold Crosshair back from chasing after them. “Yeah!! You better run!!” Fives yells as Kix and Jesse blow raspberries at their retreating forms.
“Yeah!!! Don’t come back, ya Regs!!” Wrecker yells as Echo cheers. “Yeah, ya sorry excuses for Vod’e!” Echo and Wrecker both high five as Cody chuckles, then he looks towards the door. “Okay, we need to go find Rex.” Then he turns to Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix. “Okay, you four have training, so we’ll see you after.” The four groan, but nod. Fives pulls Stutter into a hug. “We’ll see you later. Vod’ika.”
The other three join in on the hug as well, and nod. “Yep!” “Definitely.” “as soon as training is over.” Then they all run out of the messhall as Cody takes Stutter’s hand, and him and the bad batch walk out slowly, immediately seeing two boots on opposite sides of the hall, Cody sighs. “Rex was definitely transforming, he probably went back to your guys’ barracks.” The bad batch nod and they all start walking, but Wrecker runs up to Stutter. “Would you...uh, like to ride on my shoulders?” Stutter doesn’t know what he means, but he nods. Wrecker smiles and quickly scoops Stutter up, quickly throwing him up and onto his shoulders. Stutter squeals with excitement as he laughs, making everyone smile.
He lays his chin on the top of Wreckers head as they walk, humming and closing his eyes as he relaxes. He finds that he likes having brothers, good brothers. “My brothers.” He mumbles quietly, getting a large smile, but Hunter hears it. “Yep! We're your brothers, so is Jesse, Kix, Fives and Echo. And also Rex and Cody.” Stutter nods. “They are your brothers too, we’re all brothers now.” Hunter gets a surprised look, and so do the others, but then he smiles. “Yeah, you brought us together, and now we are all brothers, our little group of brothers.” Cody smiles as he listens to the conversation, he can’t believe that one little Cadet could bring together so many different brothers. They have a small family now.
They make it to the bad batch’s barracks, seeing torn clothes once they start to get closer, Cody knocks. “Rex! Are you there?” Cody waits for a few seconds, when-- “Yeah! I’m here.” Cody smiles and types in the code, walking into the room, followed by the bad batch and Stutter. They see Rex, fully transformed, torn uniform everywhere, sitting slumped against the wall with his head hung low. He looks up and his tears reflect in the light. Stutter is the first one to run over and hug him, after jumping off of Wreckers shoulders, softly crying. Rex runs a hand over the back of his head, shushing him.
“It’s okay, they’re gone now. We’ll be here for you.” Rex tells him, but Stutter doesn’t stop crying. “Hey, you alright, Lil’un--?” “I-It hurts. I feel re-really uncom-uncomfortable.” Rex furrows his eyebrows for a moment, then he notices Stutter shifting and changing. “Crap, he’s transforming. Can you guys leave us for a few minutes please?” They all nod and turn, walking out the door and closing it behind them. Rex frowns, hating that Stutter is in so much pain.
“R-Rex, it hu-hurts. Why do-does i-it hURT, AHH!!” Stutter yells as he changes and transforms, bones cracking, fur sprouting and body growing, his face elongating into a snout. Rex knows the pain, that there isn’t much to stop it. Even painkillers don’t help, neither do bacta patches for the muscle pain. He rubs Stutter’s back as he writhes and whines, nearly fully transformed. “Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Rex comforts Stutter as much as he can, pulling off the torn pieces of uniform. Stutter whines when the transformation finishes. “I’m s-sorry, R-Rex. I-I can’t con-control it.” Stutter whimpers, nuzzling into Rex’s chest, who runs a hand up and down his back.
“Don’t worry, Stut’ika. I couldn’t control it very well for a while. Emotions are a strong trigger for it, so it can get difficult sometimes, but I’ll be right here for you, always.” Stutter nods, slightly understanding a little more. Rex smiles as he nuzzles the top of Stutter’s head with his chin. “I still have a hard time controlling it, like today in the messhall. It does get easier to hold it back though, I promise.” Stutter smiles with relief, but then looks up at Rex with sad eyes. “C-Can the oth-others come back in n-now?”
Rex smiles and nods “Of course they can. Guys! You can come back in now!” He calls to the others, who are standing right outside. The door slides open and both the bad batch and Cody walk back in. He smiles as he walks over to Stutter and pets his head, smiling softly as the bad batch walk over. Wecker stares at Stutter, making the young wolf chuckle. “D-Do you wa-want to feel my f-fur?” Wrecker nods excitedly as he gently rubs Stutter’s arm, humming as he feels his fur, Stutter hums at the feeling as well, then Cody smiles. “So, I got you transferred away from that squad of yours, and to mine and Rex’s.” Stutter and Rex both perk up, as the bad batch smile.
“And if those di'kutla batchmates give you anymore trouble, you come to us and we’ll take care of ‘em!” Crosshair reassures Stutter, and his other three brothers cheer, Stutter tears up and hugs Rex, knowing he’s going to be part of his squad now. Rex chuckles as the door opens and 99 walks in.
“Hey, boys. How is everyone doing after last night? I baked some cookies!” Rex smiles. “We named him Stutter!” He gestures to Stutter. “And he’ll never have to see his old batchmates ever again, since he’s in my squad now!!” 99 gets a wide smile as he sets the container of cookies down and walks over to Stutter, running hand through his fur. “That's very good, we should get the other four and celebrate.” Cody shakes his head. “99, they’re in train--” “I don’t care, we all know that you have leeway with the longnecks, go get them.” Cody sighs, but chuckles and runs out the door. 99 turns to see Wrecker trying to snatch a cookie, and promptly stops him. “Wrecker, you have to be patient.” Wrecker pouts, but walks back over to Stutter and sits beside him and Rex.
After a few minutes, Cody returns with Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix. Fives squalls and runs over, hugging Stutter as Rex sets him down. “Ha! You’ll never have to see those nobodies ever again!!” Stutter chuckles and hugs Fives back, as 99 walks over. “Here, you can have the first cookie, Stutter!” Stutter smiles and grabs one, as everyone congratulates him. They all have a little party, and Stutter finds that becoming a werewolf is the best thing that's ever happened to him.
Mando’a translations:
Duse- rubbish, waste - lit. unclean things
di'kutla-useless, stupid, worthless
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