if you're wondering why tf the next chapter of wwafpftf is taking so long, it's because i've had this really annoying anon in my inbox that not only regularly sent me hate for the fic but ALSO seems to despise phee and specifically techphee with a burning passion so I've been changing some things up to add a lot more of my girl than originally planned just to piss them off😌💅
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
surprise bitch i bet you thought you'd seen the last of me!
I finally remembered my password so Chapter 32 ("Family reunion Part One") of we were a family pulled from the flood is up!
This sneak peak contains spoilers for the new chapter and the entire fic!
Wrecker carries Tech on board, followed closely by Echo. His brother seems terrified to rustle the broken body in his arms too much but the ship doesn’t actually touch down on the planet, instead stalling above ground so they have to do a small jump to get on.
Now that they’re so close to safety Crosshair suddenly realises just how exhausted he is. Even the ramp hovering just a few hands above ground seems like an insurmountable hurdle. His legs burn, as do his lungs and his hands and his head and-
“Need a hand?” Echo asks. Crosshair barely has the energy to nod which at least means there also isn’t any left to feel humiliated when Echo all but lifts him up and pushes him aboard.
His knees drop heavily against the metal of the Marauder’s floor, sending a jolt through his body and finally waking him up. Echo keeps a grounding hand on his shoulder, fingers squeezing slightly. “We’re all here!” he barks loudly in the general direction of the cockpit. “Go!”
Crosshair watches Wrecker and Hunter make a quick provisional spot for Tech where they lie him down and immediately hook him up to an IV from their med kit. Only then does Crosshair suddenly realise: “If we’re all here…” he meets Echo’s eyes, “are you letting Omega fly?”
As ordered the Marauder suddenly turns to its side sharply, probably avoiding the fighters and Destroyers in orbit. Hunter opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by the shields taking a heavy hit. “Hunter?” Crosshair barks. “Tell me you’re not letting her fly!”
“Of course not!” Hunter snaps back. “Help me with Tech first!”
Crosshair grits his teeth but gets up to help his brothers secure Tech on the provisional flatbed he’s currently on. “At least he’s lost consciousness again,” he mumbles, taking a seatbelt from Hunter and wrapping it around Tech’s hips. “He didn’t,” Wrecker says. “I gave him something to knock him out ‘cause I knew it was gonna be a bumpy ride.”
“Fantastic.”
“Hey, do you have a better idea!?”
Crosshair doesn’t deem that worth answering and instead makes sure the IV is safely attached until another hit shakes the Marauder.
“Damn it!” he snaps.
“Omega’s safe,” Hunter suddenly says. He is looking at Crosshair, eyes dark and understanding as if he can read his mind. “I sent her back with Howzer on the first ship that returned to the fleet.”
Involuntarily Crosshair lets out a relieved sigh. The corners of Hunter’s lips quirk up and he drops to the floor heavily, still clutching his side. “You should have seen her fight, man. She was screaming and kicking-”
“And biting!” Wrecker adds, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah, she was insistent on not leaving you behind and nothing we said could calm her down.” Hunter huffs out a laugh that turns into a pained hiss when it rustles his stomach. “Took Howzer and three of his men to wrestle her on board.”
Crosshair can’t help the smile creeping onto his own face and quickly lowers his head to hide it. “Three? Howzer’s losing his touch.”
Hunter grunts. “Tell me about it.”
“Well, we promised her we wouldn’t return without you,” Echo adds, settling down onto the floor next to the rest of them.
“Yeah, I was about to blow up the side of the mountain when some other asshole got to it first,” Wrecker huffs. “Not exactly an expert if I may add, took down nearly the entire-”
Another shot makes the Marauder shake and screech, the shields’ energy audibly crackling under the effort. “Shab¹!” Wrecker interrupts himself.
“Speaking of not being an expert,” Hunter groans. “I should probably-”
Echo is faster, pushing him down again when he tries to pull himself up with the help of the seat’s armrest. “No, you stay here and put some bacta on that wound. I’ll man the cannons!”
And with that he is gone.
Silence envelops them, only interrupted by the sound of the engine, blaster fire and Tech’s laboured breathing under the oxygen mask.
Hunter begins shedding his armour and Wrecker and Crosshair don’t even have to look at each other to communicate. Wordlessly Wrecker begins helping their eldest with his breastplate and blacks as Crosshair fishes out another IFAK² to apply to the nasty looking wound on Hunter’s abdomen.
“Even with the bacta, that’ll leave a scar,” he mumbles as he presses the edges against the tattooed skin underneath his fingers. You really gotta stop getting stabbed.
“What’s one more?” Hunter mumbles. He is staring at Crosshair, has been ever since Echo left. As if something is just now dawning on him.
Crosshair tries to ignore it as long as he can but by the time Hunter’s blacks are on again and the IFAK² is stored away, it becomes far too irritating. With a sharp twist he turns to his brother and snaps: “You’re staring! What?”
To his surprise Hunter doesn’t deny it, doesn’t turn away or even have the decency to look caught. Instead he tilts his head. “Nothing. Just…When you got trapped behind those ray shields, I thought…” A deep sigh and he turns his head away. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Crosshair clicks his tongue. “And what would have happened to Omega if I hadn’t done that, huh, sarge? What was I supposed to do?”
“Crosshair…” Wrecker interrupts him quietly. “Hunter wasn’t criticizing you.”
It’s Crosshair’s turn to be embarrassed. Right. Not everything is a fight.
“Sorry,” he presses out. The word still feels sour in his mouth, old habits die hard, after all. But it doesn’t burn his tongue anymore.
Still, he can’t stand the eye contact so he turns away and begins fiddling with the parts of his Firepuncher that survived the journey through Tantiss.
The parts left look miserable, to say the least. Scratched and singed, with pieces broken off.
Who knows if it’ll ever work again, Crosshair thinks, trying to ignore the anxious, hopeless feeling in his stomach. It’s just a weapon after all. Stars, he got a brother for it!
He turns around again to look at Tech’s broken form on the floor of the Marauder, looking smaller than he ever has. But his chest is moving up and down, his eye flutters underneath the lid and his breath clouds the oxygen mask from the inside, which means-
“Stars, he’s alive,” he mumbles, realising too late that he has said it out loud.
“Yeah, he is,” Wrecker agrees, sounding choked up. Because of course he does. “You both are.”
Crosshair huffs. “I’m not the one looking half-dead. In fact, out of the four people on this ship, I make the upper half.” He pointedly looks at Hunter, with his heaving form coated in sweat.
Hunter grins weakly. “That’s only funny cause you’re both alive, vod’ika³!”
“Nah. Funny either way.”
“I am going to sleep,” Hunter groans, his head falling back against the wall behind him. “I am going to sleep for four standard months and when I wake up I am never leaving any of you out of my sight ever again.”
“Sure boss,” Wrecker hums, a light smile still gracing his face. “Did ya feel that? We’re in hyperspace!”
Crosshair holds still for a second to feel the familiar pull of gravity pushing them over the edge of light speed and realises Wrecker is right. He groans and lets his head fall back. They’re in hyperspace. His bones ache with relief.
For a while no one says anything. They sit and wait, listening to the Marauder hurl them through the cosmos. Then Echo comes back, loudly announcing that - miraculously - nearly all ships made it out unharmed.
“Nearly?” Crosshair asks and the reg sighs. “We lost three smaller ships and one of the escape shuttles.“
“Four ships isn‘t ‘nearly’ all. That‘s still…“ he does the math in his head, deciding that the painful burn behind his forehead stems from the strain of today’s events, not the grief for brothers he never met, “at least 30 men!”
“34,” Echo sighs, sitting down on one of the seats, metallic legs squeaking painfully. “Don’t start, Cross. I know what you wanna say and you’re right.” He sounds too exhausted to argue so they don’t. The last few months without Tech’s expertise have left their trace.
“Rex will blame himself,” Echo says.
Wrecker barks out a humourless laugh. “And their brothers will blame us, no doubt.”
For some reason that rubs Crosshair the wrong way and he feels the inexplicable need to defend the regs. “You don‘t know that,” he snarls, turning away so he doesn’t have to face their questioning looks. Wrecker opens his mouth to ask, though, and so Crosshair quickly changes the topic. “You said Omega wasn’t the one flying?”
“No,” Hunter mumbles without opening his eyes, undoubtedly already half asleep.
“Which reg was willing to risk their neck for me and Tech then?”
Echo throws him a lopsided grin. “No reg at all.”
“Who else would be suicidal enough to fly back into that?“
[...]
Read the entire fic over on AO3!
You can find my Writing Masterlist here!
I know it's always a bit bad taste to ask this but any chance we're getting an upload on ao3 soon? No pressure just a curious fan! Hope you feeling better🥀
I completely forgot to answer I'm sorry anon😭
No worries at all, I personally don't mind these questions! I'm happy you're still here and interested in my fic🙈❤️❤️
I've had a bit more time recently and managed to get some writing done. Unfortunately we're entering the chapters I've only had notes for so far and not full text that "just" needs to be edited. I will however try to get a bit of a move on with it since it's been like half a year since the last one I think?💀
I'm aiming for the end of April (aiming, can't promise anything!!) for the next one and will try to keep the updates more regular again after that (try!!). Once a week is a bit much but maybe every second Friday? I'll see how doable that is🙈
Again, thanks for sticking by, WWAFPFTF is and will not be abandoned!❤️
NEW CHAPTER IN 2 WEEKS WE MADE IT THROUGH THE GREAT HIATUS NEVER KILL YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (do i get early access on discord pretty pls) ~jane
girl how am i only now seeing this HELP😭 BUT YES YOU MADE IT THROUGH THE DROUGHT
(no you don't fuck off)
