Star Wars: Scars

Part 2 - 6

Creed woke up to a sharp scream and a hiss of annoyance. He sat up fast, disoriented for a moment. He rubbed his eyes, his tired vision clearing so he could see the other cadet had jerked up and into Tadem's arms, shaking. Creed backed off a little but soon it was apparent that Dawn wasn't freaked out over Creed but rather the needles and tubes in his arms. He looked like he was gonna hyperventilate and Tadem was trying desperately to calm him.

Crawling forward, Creed touched the cadet's arm, trying to distract him. Wide hazel eyes met his and Dawn froze a moment, his expression lifting from fear to confusion.

"Y-you...y-you're a clone too..." he whispered. 

Creed nodded. "My name is Creed. Your brother Skate told me that your name is Dawn."

Dawn nodded his head. "Y-yeah...m-my names Dawn," he mumbled, but his eyes were already drifting back down to his arms as he began to tremble again. Tadem growled at him in reprimand but Creed shifted closer, sitting crosslegged. 

"Hey, you must be an assassin," he said, distracting Dawn from the needles. "You have white hair like me."

That seemed to work. Dawn's eyes drifted up toward's Creed's hair, then he glanced up at his own. His hair was a bit more of a brown color from dirt and dust, but he still had the same shock of white hair, though his was considerably longer than Creed's mohawk.

"W-What's an assassin?" he asked. Creed frowned, but remembered that Skate had said he'd taken Dawn when he was really little. He probably hadn't ever been told what he was supposed to be. Creed didn't think that was a bad thing, that meant Dawn didn't have to endure everything the other's had.

"It's like a rank. We have special skills and stuff like using swords," he said with a grin. 

Dawn nodded again. He still looked shaky but at least he was distracted. "S-Specter was trying to teach me how to use a sword..." he mumbled. "W-Where's Specter?"

Creed looked around the room. All of the zabrack kittens appeared to be asleep. Tadem was holding Dawn some. He was a little bigger than the cadet, but he didn't look much older. The older zabrack was hugging on Dawn a little bit, like he was trying to keep him calm.

"I don't know, but I can go look for him," Creed said. "You wanna see him?"

Dawn nodded shakily and Tadem shifted to hold him close, now distracting him and occasionally growling if Dawn tried to look down at his arms. 

Creed ignored them for the moment and headed off into the hall, unsure what time it was. Either way, he decided it didn't matter and started yelling for Specter. So what if it woke the older man from some deep slumber? His brother wanted him and if he was any kind of a good brother he'd get up and come either way.

Walking down the hall, Creed was about to yell again for Specter when the older man appeared from the cockpit door, looking down the hall. "Everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Creed said. "Dawn wanted you, though. He's scared of all the life support stuff."

Specter seemed to bolt at that and he started past Creed with a nod, making a beeline for the medbay. Creed turned and followed him back, standing by the door. He watched Specter walk over there and the minute Dawn saw him, his whole face lit up completely. He pulled out of Tadem's arms some, making a bit of a face but he settled back and let Specter pick Dawn up and hold him close. 

Creed slipped further into the room and moved to sit down by Tadem who gave a lonely whine and crawled right into his lap. Creed was a little bit bigger than the zabrack as he was 15 and almost his adult size, but he still wasn't that much bigger than Tadem. Either way, he now had a lap full of teenage Zabrack and Tadem didn't look like he was gonna move anytime soon. 

Specter looked over at him and smiled some. Dawn was all curled up in his arms and happy again. Creed tried to smile back, but the scene reminded him too much of what he'd lost. He wanted that dynamic again. He wanted so badly to have that again, to have his older brother. He found himself looking away, biting his lower lip and trying not to fall into sobbing. 

Then he noticed Tadem looking up at him and forced himself to harden his face so the zabrack wouldn't see. Haze was gone, he had to accept that. He couldn't go on like a blubbering child forever. He knew Haze would want him to move on, so that's what he resolved to do.

"Creed?" 

Creed looked down at Tadem quietly and nodded. "Yeah?"

"Do you have more brother's like Dawn?" 

Nodding, Creed looked at Dawn. "Yeah, I have other assassin brothers, but Dawn is nicer than all of them," he said. 

Tadem nodded. "He's really nice," he said. 

Creed nodded and sighed, looking down again. "I gotta go get some actual sleep," he said, gesturing for Tadem to move. Tadem nodded and got up so he could move.

Creed slipped up and out of the room, wandering down towards his room. He considered going to sleep, but stopped at the cockpit instead, walking in the see Skate there. He hesitated, then walked over there and looked up at Skate some as the man touched the autopilot and looked at him, smiling.

"Hey, kid, you need something?"

Creed shrugged, looking at the floor. "Can...can you hold me?" he asked softly. 

There was an awkward pause and Creed looked up fearfully but he saw Skate nod. "Yeah, c'mere."

Creed crawled up into Skates lap and curled up, settling down some. He closed his eyes and hugged Skate, wanting to feel warm and safe. Skate wrapped his arms around Creed and Creed smiled quietly to himself. 

"You ever had an older brother?" Skate asked. 

Creed hunched his shoulders a little, curling up tighter. Should he lie? Should he tell the truth? Haze was dead, it wasn't as if anyone could hurt him anymore, but Creed didn't know what to do. 

After a long moment he nodded quietly. "Y-yeah," he whispered thinly.

"Was he a good guy?" Skate asked.

Creed nodded again and curled up closer. 

"That's good," Skate said softly and wrapped Creed up closer. Creed just pressed into his arms, relishing the warmth and safety of it. It felt like weeks had turned into years, and while Skate wasn't Haze, he was still there. He was nice, he was kind, and Creed thought maybe he could trust him. Maybe, just maybe, he could move forward and let Skate and Specter be his older brothers.

"Get some rest, kid," Skate said quietly.

Bobbing his head tiredly, Creed closed his eyes and settled into his new brother's arms, and not long after, fell fast asleep.