Doomsday

Chapter 5 - Lost

Author's Note: Writing with Omega constantly living in the past of when her brothers were all tiny and cute is so adorable. <3 I'll put a major heartbreak warning with no specifications though. >8)

~ Rivana Rita

Omega's lost track of time, but they must've been looking for the creature for a while before Crosshair finally stops near a rock structure. "Stay here," he says, moving forwards. Up ahead, she sees the part they're looking for atop another rock, its lights flashing a bit in the darkness.

Omega can't say why, but suddenly, she has the gnawing sensation that something is about to go wrong. Crosshair moves towards it, scanning the surroundings before reaching for it. And that's when there's a soft crunching of rocks, and they look up at once as the dragon climbs onto the rock right in front of Crosshair.

She lets out a startled squeak, stepping back, but it's her brother that's really in danger. He raises his rifle to fire at it on well-practiced instinct, but the creature is moving so fast. It throws him down, and jumps for the part, picking it up and taking off.

"It's getting away!" she cries, moving forwards, but there's nothing she can do. She can't stop it. And Crosshair's not moving. She looks back to him, that raw panic flaring again when she realizes the animal knocked off his mask. It's instinct alone that spur her on to run to him, to find his mask lying on the rocks and put it on, even if he's already unconscious.

It's been years. Years, but it feels like she's still caring for her brothers, still watching over them, still fearing that she might lose them again. Nala Se taught her to move past her fear, that letting herself be slowed down by it is selfish. Still, she lingers, hovering nearby just to make sure his breathing is normal for a few moments before shaking him. "Crosshair?" He's not answering though. Unmoving. "Wake up!"

It's useless though. He's unconscious, and that creature is getting away with the part, and if they don't get it back, they'll be stuck here.

"Echo, Wrecker, Tech, come in! We need help," she tries, calling into his comm, but there's no response. She's not even sure if it's working.

If Crosshair's down, then – then Omega has to finish this. That's why she came.

Omega looks up to see the moon dragon crawl down a tunnel into what must be some sort of underground cavern. It's taking the part down there now. They'll have to go down there. She'll have to go down there. "Okay, Omega," she mutters aloud, more to convince herself to do it than anything. "You can do this."

It doesn't feel like she can – she has no idea what she's doing – but it's what she always wanted. To get to put her life on Kamino behind her, to... to find her brothers and live the same life they do. If she's going to be one of them, she has to do the same things they do.

Omega picks up the dropped flashlight, and Crosshair's blaster, forcing away the fear still gnawing at her through sheer willpower. It's not like she's a stranger to being alone, or taking risks, though this is still the first time she's been alone in... a life-threatening situation. But her brothers are all the time, right? The longer they wait, the more likely it is the part will be damaged or destroyed. She can't wait.

Besides, it didn't actually... hurt Crosshair. At least she doesn't think it meant to. And Tech had said they only feed on raw energy, not living creatures.

She climbs inside the cavern, slowly crawling down it. There are all kinds of... what look like odds and ends in here, what was once mechanical parts. If the capacitor was damaged this badly...

But a few turns later, she sees it, sitting in a slightly larger part of the cavern, and undamaged. She approaches it cautiously, just to make sure, but the dragon isn't inside, so she hurries over to it and sets down the blaster. "Guess I got lucky," Omega mutters, picking up the capacitor.