What If All of This Could Make You Braver

Wrecker

This happened after season 3, episode 15, 'The Cavalry Has Arrived', before the epilogue.

Echo sat on the floor of the ship, Hunter piloting it back to Pabu with Omega by his side, sleeping soundly in the cockpit, as Echo began working on Wrecker's wounds with the supplies Emerie brought him.

Crosshair leaned against the wall, cradling his stump where his shaking hand used to be, now numb after the medications Echo had administered after he put Wrecker under anaesthesia. All throughout the operation, Echo had tried to lessen Crosshair's pain by cracking jokes about them both losing their right hands, after which Echo asked him what had happened in their final confrontation, and Crosshair didn't even feel a thing as he told the reg all about the chilling episode.

Despite Echo's insistence on him taking rest, Crosshair stood by Wrecker's side.

"We'll need to take the blacks off, to clean the wounds beneath it and check its depth," Echo told him. Slowly, trying not to wake Wrecker up, Crosshair lifted the blacks off enough for Echo to slice from the shoulder blades to the chest and make a hole showing the deep gashes and bullet marks.

"That's nasty," Echo remarked, but Crosshair's attention was elsewhere. He tried to get an angle of Wrecker's chest, hoping he'd mistaken the scar of an older bullet wound, but Echo had started his work.

When Echo was done, and he laid back and yawned, Crosshair told him to go take some rest, while he kept watch. Evidently the former ARC trooper was exhausted, because he put up no resistance and walked inside to get some well-deserved sleep.

Crosshair looked at Wrecker, the gashes on him, and went into deep thought. Wrecker, the joyous brother of the group, the one who always found a way to make Crosshair smile. The one with the purest heart of them all, next to Omega.

"Oh look, Crosshair, this little clanker likes you!"

"You should see the new armoury! [...] Hey, we both did!"

"Is that...Crosshair?"

"You didn't even try to come back! We would have still taken you in..."

"Yeah. It didn't feel right to get rid of it."

And today he'd made a gamble for his life. Wrecker had such a close brush with Death today, it made Crosshair's hand getting cut off insignificant to him. He was ready to give up everything for Omega and he nearly lost his life. He nearly committed the same act Crosshair was about to do, the same act Tech had executed and fallen for.

Thankfully, he made it. Thankfully, he did not have to lose another brother, and regret over the times lost that he could have had with him.

All of a sudden, his brain brought up a horrifying memory.

Crosshair loading his rifle, all the while keeping Wrecker in his scope as the large man flung boards of metal at the Imperial troops while the Bad Batch tried to make a run to the Marauder.

Three. Two. One. Fire.

Wrecker gave a yell and fell to the floor, Omega rushing to him and nearly missing his bolt if it hadn't been for Hunter pulling her back.

He nearly killed him that day. He had intended to shoot to injure, not kill, to attempt to make them stay back, but if Wrecker had moved at the wrong moment...

Could he ever be forgiven, truly? Omega might have brought him back, they might have accepted him, but have they given him space in their hearts yet? If they haven't, he doesn't blame them...

"Hey, Cross, what's with the even longer face?"

Crosshair broke his train of thoughts at the sound of Wrecker's voice, who was now trying to sit up while wincing and was smiling at him. "Isn't it long enough for you?"

"Grow up, you big oaf," Crosshair snapped, silently relieved that he is alive, as he dashed to his side, giving Wrecker a glass of water.

"How are you feeling?" Crosshair tentatively asked.

Wrecker laughed. "You really have changed after the Empire, Cross," he slapped his bony brother on the shoulder, "but yeah, it will take more than that to take me to my grave."

"You already had one foot in it. Wanted to put the other one, too?" Crosshair snarled, stung by how normally Wrecker talked about him dying.

Wrecker looked at him while adjusting a bandage. "Is something troubling you, Cross?"

Crosshair looked down. "No."

"Look, Cross, I know you since we were cadets. I may be stupid than I look, but I can tell when you're really upset. So, what happened?" Wrecker asked him kindly.

"Why are you all being so...nice to me?" Crosshair blurted out.

Wrecker looked confused. "What?"

"When I and Omega showed up on that Ryloth moon, you could have denied me entry. You could have had shot me down. You could have rejected me and sent me back to Tantiss. But you didn't." Crosshair decided to spew everything out. "Then just mere days later, when we went to Barton IV, you all took my suggestions. Hunter suggested taking me with him. Echo even asked me for more intel, when he had right to ignore me, call me untrustworthy. You gave me my armour. You didn't throw it away.

"There, when Hunter and I argued, I was waiting when would he snap back, call me responsible for all their miseries, for Tech's death, but he didn't. He let me blame him for everything. He didn't even fight back and you must remember our brawls as cadets. When the wyrm surfaced, he threw me to safety, even when I had just called him out, and he trusted me and forgave me. You came and hugged us.

"When Howzer scolded me, Hunter came to my defence. You waited for me before take-off, even when the Empire was there and you could have me turned over. When I nearly drowned, Hunter came to pick me up.

"When I lost Omega for the second time, neither of you said it was my fault. None of you yelled at me, or punished me or anything. You even accepted my plan. And on Tantiss, when you told me not to go in alone. When Hunter trusted me to make the final shot. When Hunter tried to make me stay because I had just woken up without a hand. I do not forget, Wrecker. I do not. And this is just a top skim of what you have done for me, even when I was a traitor and brother-hunter. I don't even deserve a portion of it, so why?"

"Cross, don't think like that," Wrecker, finally having found his voice, said gently. "You're our brother. Tech thought the same of you too. He forgave you for everything, Cross, so why shouldn't we? I always held out hope that it wasn't your fault, and I'm happy I was right. You came back. You risked everything to keep us safe, and even if things didn't go your way, we still value you. You're our brother."

Crosshair, panic rising in his head, croaked hoarsely, "Wrecker, that bolt. Over there."

Wrecker looked in that direction. "I didn't get that now. It doesn't hurt."

"I know. I gave you that wound, didn't I?"

Wrecker looked at a loss for words. Five seconds later, he manages to stand and walk towards a shaking Crosshair. "Cross, you were under the chip that time. You didn't know what you were doing. Echo later asked me that even if you injured me, do I still miss you and I said yes. What matters is what you are now. And right now, you're a softie." He grinned. "Don't blame yourself, Cross. We all make mistakes, that's what we are at our core. What matters is how we deal with them."

Wrecker then pulled Crosshair into a hug, but roared with laughter when Crosshair hugged him back.

"Yeah, you really have changed," he wiped tears, "now let's go get something. I'm starving!"

Crosshair followed his cheery brother, already up as if he hadn't woken up from devastating wounds, and his heart felt lighter.