Miles Away From Yesterday

Chapter 8 - Locked Inside the Nightmare

Author's Note: Echo thinks about the future... and make a decision. :') Thoughts?

~ Amina Gila

It's after Cut and Crosshair leave that Echo finds himself alone with Rex. "Where are you going from here?" he queries.

"I'm not sure yet," he replies, "But I'll keep searching for traces of Fives."

"You want some help?" Echo finds that he can't look at Rex as he asks it. The Batch needs him, yes, but this is Fives. And a chance for freeing Hunter. How is he supposed to pass on that?

"You are the reason this is happening!"

What if Hunter was right? What if Echo is going to get the others hurt? He doesn't think he could handle the guilt of it. They need Hunter. Echo's not their leader, and after how things went down, he can't even pretend to be. He's not sure they'd want him to be, and he couldn't blame them for that. Tech is best suited for that role, even if he's not much of a leader, either. He knows Wrecker and Crosshair in a way that Echo never will. He knows what they need. Echo doesn't, and more than that, he doesn't feel worthy. Leading them was Hunter's role, and maybe it's not Echo's fault that Hunter isn't with his brothers anymore, but trying to lead them now would feel too much like he's trying to replace Hunter.

No one can replace Hunter.

Rex is studying him. "Help would be good, but is that really what you want?"

Echo sighs. "I owe them this," he answers, resting his scomp on the table in front of him. "If we can find Fives and find out what he's learned, maybe we can rescue Hunter."

"Hunter isn't the only one who needs rescuing," Rex adds softly. "I want to help all our brothers. The war might be over, but not for me. I'll be fighting for all our brothers now."

Echo smiles sadly. "The General did promise he'd see us free."

"And he will," Rex answers. "You know him. He won't stop fighting until he's seen this through."

Of course, he won't. That's just the way Anakin Skywalker is. He freed his home planet from the Hutts as a teenager with a ragtag group of half-trained former slaves and his Jedi master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Echo heard the story many times over after General Skywalker took control of the 501st Legion. He's someone the boys always looked up to, someone they idolized and wanted to be like. Unlike with General Baylan, and unlike with many, if not most, of the other Jedi Generals, the 501st wanted to follow General Skywalker. Maybe it was because he wasn't a Jedi anymore, maybe it's because he was a slave, Echo doesn't know. But he does know that if his General needs him, he'll be there no matter what.

"I know." Silence settles over them, and it's strangely comforting. "I need to talk to Tech," Echo admits, "Tell him what I want to do. I don't want to leave them, but I think – I think it might be for the best. I'm needed more elsewhere."

Rex searches his face, and Echo feels like he's being judged, but he doesn't look away, holding Rex's eyes. "Alright," he says, "I imagine help will be hard to come by. I can't turn it down."

He lingers a moment longer before going to find Tech. He's on the Marauder, searching for whatever information he can find on Raada. "Tech, can I have a word?"

Tech turns toward him. "What is it?"

"I'm thinking about going with Rex," he admits. He doesn't know how else to say it, even if it's a bit blunt.

Tech stills, and though his expression hardly changes, Echo gets the feeling that he's hurt – which he'd been afraid of from the start. "I see," he says stiffly. "I presume this is because of Fives?"