Your Spirit Lives Inside

Prologue

Her body is aching. Her head throbs a little, and her leg is still burning. Ugh. She's had more pleasant awakenings, but the rug or bed or whatever is soft beneath her, and her head is propped up on some sort of makeshift pillow.

The light is gold, and the room smells familiar. She remembers something about – about – AZI...

Ord Mantell. It looks like the back room of Cid's parlor.

Tech is beside her, sitting in a chair next to the bed she's lying on. He looks tired, and his arm is in a cast.

Wrecker is standing near her bedside. His neck is in a brace; it must've been broken.

What...

"Tech?" Omega asks, blinking a few times. "What... What happened?"

AZI flies into the room before he can answer. "Hello, Omega," he announces, shining his scanner light onto her, "I am relieved you are awake. You each sustained multiple injuries. However, you all will make a full recovery with proper treatment and rest."

Just the usual, then, though her leg still aches from something she can't quite remember.

Omega pushes herself up, and Wrecker reaches to steady her, moving closer to pull her into a brief but tight hug. "Don't scare us like that again."

Tech passes her the water bottle wordlessly, and she takes it from him. Her head is throbbing and...

"The last thing I remember we were on that railcar and – " She cuts off with a quiet gasp. "Where's Hunter?!"

They're quiet, not looking at her or each other, and Omega's gut plummets along with the panicking spike of her heart. No. No this – no. Not again. First Daro, then – No. No.

"Omega," Tech says, his usually soft voice uncharacteristically rough. "Hunter was not able to make it."

"Tell them to come back!"

"I can't do that."

"Wrecker, don't. It's too unsteady –"

Omega's hands clench over the water bottle. "No," she whispers. Her heart is pounding, and her entire body feels freezing and floaty. "We can't leave him! What if he's hurt? He – he needs us." Tech had been the most pressing to go back for Hunter after Daro, but now, he's –

He won't look at her. Neither will Wrecker when she desperately looks to her other little brother, silently begging him to say something – anything – else.

"We have to go back!"

"Omega," Tech says finally, "I understand your reluctance to accept what happened, but Hunter is gone."

"This is gonna tear both cars from the track. We have to cut the connection."

"Not until you're up here!"

"We will find another way, Hunter, as we always have."

"There's no time. Plan 99."

"Do not do this, Hunter."

"Get the others out of here. You know where to go. It's safe on Pabu."

"Hunter, no –"

"And if you ever find Crosshair –" The blaster clicks as the safety turns off. "– tell him I love him."

"Hunter's not gone!" Omega yells back at him. "He – he made it on Daro – he can't be." She's shaking. Crying. Her body is trembling, and her hands are freezing. Hunter – not – She can't think. For the first time in her entire life, she can't comprehend a single even semi-coherent thought.