Just Met North Star In Undertale Yellow And BRO HES MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER ALREADY THIS GUY IS GOATED

Our Own Choices

Chapter 2

Clone forces rally. As the war escalates in the Outer Rim, the Jedi Knights are spread thinly across the galaxy.  Many new clones are rushed into service to support their Jedi generals. Unfortunately, because of the relentless demands of battle, many young clones must join the struggle before their intensive training has been completed. These clones, manning a vital network of tracking stations, are all that stand between the Republic and invasion.

I gotta admit, training isn't fun. Rex says it's hard at first, but I'll get used to it. Rex and some other troopers from the 501st train me, and physical training is a literal nightmare. When I wake up the next day my limbs feel like they're gonna fall off. To be honest, it would be better if they did.

I haven't seen Kix after that first time we met, and I haven't interacted with any of the other clones either.

"We want as few clones as possible to know that you were a deserter," Rex says.

"What's a deserter?" I ask him.

"Someone who left the army without permission. People like you."

"But I'm back now, right?"

"Still, we should be cautious."

Most of the time Rex isn't around for my training, he's planning battle strategies with the Jedi Generals and out in the field. 

There's one time Rex comes back from the Battle of Christophsis and he tells me General Skywalker has a new padawan.

"She really thought since she was a commander she outranked me." Rex and I sit on a bench at the side while I'm taking a break from my training. 

"I'm guessing she doesn't, because-"

"In my book, experience outranks everything."

"In your book, experience outranks everything."

Rex and I say it at the same time. Rex chuckles and pats my head. "I see you've at least learned something from me."

"How could I forget that one line you say at least once a week?"

"You got a point kid."

"If experience outranks everything, then why won't you let me get out in the field to get experience?" I ask, probably for the 4th time that week.

Rex's expression hardens. "We had this conversation before, kid. It's too dangerous out there for you for now, you gotta focus on your training first, and when I say you're ready to get out there, you can join me and the boys in the 501st. Got it?"

I roll my eyes, sighing. "Fine."

Rex hands me a few credits. "Go get yourself some new clothes when we land on Coruscant tonight, okay? Your old ones are getting a bit tight." And then he pats me on the back and walks off.

I put the credits in my pocket and get back to training.

I'm still better using a knife than a blaster, but I'm pretty decent with a sniper as well, my long-distance aim with a pistol is shitty, but in close range I can get a good headshot in. 

Rex let me keep my knife, and he even got me a larger one which looks a lot more like a sword, the orange highlights on it match the ones on my old knife. 

Recently, Rex and Cody have been checking the Republic outposts for inspection, and I haven't seen Rex in weeks. 

When Rex finally arrives back on Coruscant, I'm already standing at the hangar waiting for him, crossing my arms.

"What took you so long?" I ask.

"I told you that it was gonna be a few weeks," Rex sighs. "Nice hoodie you got there, by the way."

"Thanks. And what did you say about teaching me how to use those deflector pucks for trick shots before you left?"

"I said that was after you mastered shooting a pistol." 

"But I already have! I can get a headshot from like 3 meters away." I protest.

"3 meters isn't far. You'll be shot down by clankers before you could even get that close."

"Aw cmon, captain, at least give me a demonstration," I smirk. I know he hates it when I call him "captain".

"No time for that. Commander Cody and I are going to the Rishi outpost in a few minutes, I was just checking in on you."

"Oh, how kind of you," I reply, before walking away.

Once I see Rex turn his gaze away from me, I run behind a box near the ship, and wait for Rex and Cody to get into their ship. As the door of the ship starts to close behind them, I slip in at the last second quietly and hide in the darkness, hoping that no one heard me.

As the ship lands on Rishi, the lights at the back of the ship, where I am, turn on. I draw a quick breath, there's nowhere to hide, and Rex and Cody are coming. So I stand up and smile awkwardly.

"Hi guys."

"Kid, what are you doing here, I told you to stay on Coruscant and train," Rex sounds annoyed.

"Who's the kid?" Cody asks.

"Hey commander, name's Aris, I'm basically like the captain's secret trainee," I say, casting a quick glance at Rex, who puts a hand to his forehead and groans.

"I never thought Rex would personally train a kid like you," Cody says. "Where'd he find you?"

"We-we can explain that later, let's just get this inspection over with first," Rex says hastily.

"Just don't get in the way, alright kid?" Rex asks, not waiting for a reply and walking out of the ship with Cody. I follow behind them.

They're busy complaining about having no deck officers on duty here at the outpost, and that the clones here are sloppy. I don't think they are. Something feels off. I can see faint lights coming from behind the boxes, and I don't really think that's normal. I quicken my pace and move closer to Rex.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Cody says as the door to the outpost opens and a clone walks out.

"Welcome to Rishi, commander. As you can see, the outpost is operating at peak efficiency. Thank you for visiting, and have a safe trip back," the clone says, with some weird-ass hand movements. Something's definitely off, and both Rex and Cody glance at each other.

"We need to inspect the base just the same," Cody says.

"Uh, there is no need," the clone says. "Everything is fine and fully operational."

I pull at Rex's arm. Rex nods back at me.

"Take us to the sergeant in command," Rex says.

"Roger roger."

Rex and Cody look at each other, and I'm slightly confused. Suddenly, I see a flare rising up behind us.

It's a droid attack flare, I was just taught that a few days ago.

"A droid attack flare," Cody and I say at the same time. Rex shoots that clone in the head, and he falls to the ground.

"Woah, Rex, what the heck are you doing?" Cody sounds alarmed.

I don't say anything as Rex goes to inspect the body.

"Relax," Rex says as he takes the helmet of the clone, revealing a lifeless commando droid under the helmet. "Looks like one of those new commando droids."

"That flare must have come from the survivors," Cody says.

Suddenly, blaster shots come from all directions and Rex and Cody start firing.

"Get behind me kid," Rex says as he dodges a blaster bolt. I don't protest, staying as close to Rex as I can. Just the sound of blaster bolts whizzing over my head is enough to make my blood run cold. It's not the same as in training. If I get shot here, I will most likely die.

Some of the commando droids are using the boxes to shoot from the high ground. Cody manages to get a few shots on one of them, but they just get back up again.

"Those clankers have tough armor," Cody exclaims. 

I run as fast as I can behind a box to take cover, covering my ears and closing my eyes tightly, curling up into a ball. I can almost feel the shot on my shoulder again. My breathing quickens.  Rex and Cody go to take cover where I am.

"We're cut off," Cody says, he and Rex keep firing at the droids. His voice sounds muffled in my head.

"Get me outta here...get me outta here..." I whisper to myself, pressing my knees to my forehead.

And then I hear the sound of grenades landing near our area and Rex grabs my arm, shoots a grappling hook to the platform and lowers us down to the ground. Cody's next to us as I hear an explosion.

When my feet touch the ground, I lean against a rock to stabilize myself, my legs are shaking, my shoulders are tensed, I just stare straight ahead, breathing heavily.

"Kid, are you okay?" Rex puts a hand on my shoulder. "Are you hurt or anything?"

I look down at the ground, avoiding eye contact. 

"Aris? Look at me. Are you okay?"

I look up at Rex. "I shouldn't have come."

"Yea, you shouldn't have. But you're here now, and you're still alive, so I'd count that as a win," Rex smirks.

I nod, trying to slow my breathing down, my shoulders relaxing slightly. 

"This is just like training, okay? Don't worry about it."

Rex turns to Cody. "Well this sure complicates things, Commander. No worse than that time on Tibrin."

"We had jedi with us on Tibrin," Cody says as we stare at the flaming wreckage of the ship. "They helped."

"What...happened on Tibrin?" I speak up in a small voice.

"Not now kid," Cody snaps, and I go quiet again.

3 clones walk towards us through the smoke of the wreckage, and Rex and Cody raise their blasters at them. "Hands above you heads. Take your sun bonnets off."

I think he means helmets. But seriously? Sun bonnets? You couldn't come up with something better?

My hand reaches for the pistol at my belt as I stand behind Rex and Cody, wondering if I should follow them and point my gun at the clones.

"Uh, sir?" One of the clones sounds confused.

"Take them off. Now!"

The clones raise their hands in surrender, take their helmets off, and they're not droids.

Suddenly, an really big eel-like thing crashes through the rocks at our side and roars at us. I stand there frozen while Rex shoots the thing and kills it in one shot.

Rex takes off his helmet and goes to check whether the eel is dead. 

"Nice shot," one of the clones says.

I back away from the eel's body but behind me is darkness and I don't wanna get ambushed by any more droids, so I just stay close.

"The name's Rex," Rex says as he checks the eel's body. "But you'll call me "Captain" or "sir"."

"Sir, yes sir!"

I really don't wanna talk to Rex when he's like this. I have a slight fear or superior authoritative figures.

"I'm commander Cody, your new boss," Cody says as he takes off his helmet.

I smile awkwardly and wave at the 3 clones. "Hi..." 

They ignore me. 

"My designation is trooper 27-5555, sir," one of the clones says. 

"We call him Fives. I'm Hevy. This is Echo." Hevy points to the last dude.

"Where's your sergeant?" Cody asks.

"Dead, sir. We're all that's left," Echo says.

"Looks like we got a batch of shinies, commander," Rex says as he walks up to the clones.

"Shinies, sir?"

"That's right. Your armour, it's shiny and new, just like you," Rex says.

At least they have armour.

"Sir, me and my batchers are trained and ready. We'll take back our post, shiny or not."

"There's hope for you yet, rookie," Rex says.

"Hey kid. You're not supposed to be here. It's dangerous."

I look up, Hevy's talking to me.

"I know, I was following the captain along without his permission, cause I thought I could get some experience here, but..." I look down, my voice is soft.

"It's scarier than you thought it would be?" Echo asks.

I nod. "I wanna go back."

"Well, you can't get everything you want, kid. And if you're looking for some experience, you're sure gonna get a lot of it here," Hevy says. "What's your name?"

"Aris."

"Like the leader of the 504th Legion?" Fives asks.

"Rex named me after her."

"You look like a clone. Are you?" Echo asks.

"Mhm. Female clone. Wasn't meant to exist, but here I am. Made to be physically weaker than the others." I chuckle, looking down. "But I'm definitely not weaker. I'm equal to them."

"Alright boys, keep quiet and follow me," Rex says, before starting to climb up a ledge. 

The others all follow, and I'm at the back. 

Okay. You can do this. Just like training.

I take a deep breath and start climbing.

Don't look down, don't look down, there's no harness, just don't look down and don't fall or you're gonna become a piece of roti prata and die-

I cling onto the rock that I'm climbing on tightly, and I make the mistake of looking down. My whole body tenses up, and I draw a few quick breaths before looking back up again. I can feel the sweat running down my face. My arms are shaking. All I can hear is my heartbeat now.

After what seems like forever, we make it up to the top of the ledge, and Hevy helps me up. My breaths are shaky as I wipe the sweat off my face.

"Look sharp, rookies," Rex says. "As long as those tweezers occupy this post, our home planet of Kamino is at risk."

I look up. Kamino? 99's still there, isn't he?

"But there's so many of them," Hevy says.

"Doesn't matter, kid. We have to retake this base, so we will retake this base."

"How do you propose we get through those blast doors, Rex, old boy?" Cody asks.

"I have a few ideas."

I gently tug at Rex's arm.

"What is it, kid?" Rex asks, turning to face me.

"Can I...sit this one out, sir?"

"Look kid. We need all troopers for this. Including you."

"I don't wanna go. I don't wanna die. I'm scared."

Rex puts both hands on my shoulders. "You're not gonna die kid. You'll be fine. What happened to getting experience, hm?" He playfully punches my shoulder. "You'll be okay. I promise. Just remember your training, okay?"

I take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. It's not working, but I don't show it, and I nod. 

We reach the front blast doors of the outpost and Cody and the others hide at the sides, so I follow them, pistol in one hand and my vibrosword in the other.

Rex walks up to the front door.

"Unit 2-6, is that you?" the commando droids in the outpost ask. 

"Roger roger," Rex says.

"You sound strange. Is something wrong with your vocabulator?"

"Roger roger."

"Take off your helmet. Let me see your faceplate."

"Roger roger."

Rex ducks and uses the commando droid's head from just now and shows it to the camera.

"This is never gonna work," Cody puts a hand to his helmet.

The blast doors open and Rex holds up his pistol.

"Clones!"

"Roger, Roger."

Rex takes out the droid in the middle and the others take out the remaining 2.

"Right, let's move."

The others run into the main room and take cover at the sides, shooting at the droids. I stay behind and take cover from the main hallway, not looking behind me. I can see blaster bolts whizzing past me, but they're not going to hit me.

I hear Fives getting shot and Cody telling them to focus. I look back and see Rex in the main room, where a commando droid is trying to melee him.

I draw my vibrosword and run into the main room as Rex dodges the swings of the droid, and I slice the droid in half from behind. The others take out the last 2 remaining droids and the room is clear.

"Thanks kid," Rex gives me a downwards nod of respect.

I sling my sword back onto my back and lean against a wall at the side while the others roast the droids that they just shot down.

"Get to the window. It looks like we have more visitors," Cody says.

We all run to the window and look outside.

"It looks like a separatist fleet."

"That's why the commandeered the outpost," Cody says. "They're mounting a full-scale invasion."

"We have to warn command," Rex says.

"Shouldn't we hide? If they're gonna mount a full-scale invasion we don't stand a chance," I speak up, and everyone stares at me. "What? I'm telling the truth."

One of the clones goes to try and transmit a signal. 

"Those clankers sabotaged our transmitter, and they hard-wired the all-clear signal. It'll take time to-"

"We don't have time. Look."

A ship is descending in front of the outpost.

"Guys we really should go," I'm making my way towards the vent, ready to run.

"Well kid, you're gonna get a lot of experience from here," Echo says.

"We can't protect the outpost long against that army of clankers," Cody says.

"Then we'll destroy the outpost instead," Rex says.

"But sir, our mission is to defend this facility at all costs."

"We have to warn the Republic about the invasion. They'll take notice when the all-clear signal stops."

"That's right. When they stop receiving our beacon, they'll get the message something's wrong," Fives says.

"We'll need every thermal detonator in the inventory," Rex says.

I slowly open up the vent cover, ready to slip inside.

"It'll take more than a few detonators to destroy the outpost."

Then someone suggests an idea to blow up the outpost using liquid tibanna.

"Good. Bring the tanks here and prime the detonators," Rex orders.

Just as I'm about to slip into the vent and run away, Rex notices me.

"Hey kid, don't think about going anywhere."

I freeze, looking up at him.

"I have no interest in dying today," I reply. 

"I thought you weren't weak?"

So I help the boys carry the explosives to the main room as I hear the battle droids marching towards the front gate.

When we manage to get it all to the main room, Rex and the others gather around, and I stand behind Fives, Echo and Hevy.

"Alright listen up. There's only one target of interest in this sector: Kamino. It's the closest thing we clones have to a home. Today we fight for more than the Republic. Today we fight for all our brothers back home. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Rex looks at me.

I take a deep breath and steel myself for the high possibility of dying. "Sir, yes, sir." 

We head into the weapons room where the others take their weapons. My hand rests on my pistol, and the other on my vibrosword. I turn to Rex, who's making his way to the main room. He nods at me.

I can feel my heart in my throat now, and it must have been pretty obvious to Cody, because he puts a hand on my shoulder and says,"We're gonna survive this kid. Trust me.

Hevy goes to the front and takes out a bunch of battle droids with that gatling gun of his, and then Cody, me and the others come in. 

I shoot at the droids with my pistol and blaster bolts narrowly miss me, and everything's going so fast, I can't comprehend what's going on.

One of the clones throws a grenade at the battle droids, knocking most of them off the platform while the rest of us fall back, closing the blast doors.

They get blown up from outside and the battle droids enter, still shooting at us, and I run into the main room, with the others following behind after a few moments.

I hear Rex say that the handset wasn't linking up with the detonator, and Hevy says he'll handle it, telling us to get out of here.

We run to the vents and crawl through them, with Rex leading the way. We reach the outside in a few minutes, hiding behind a ridge.

"Hevy, hit the-" Rex looks behind, and Hevy isn't there.

"Where's Hevy?"

Echo and Fives shake their heads.

Rex talks into his comlink. "Hevy, get out of there."

"The remote isn't working," Hevy reports. "I have to detonate it manually."

I move to run back into the vents and try to make it back to the outpost, the others follow me. I'm running as fast as I can, and crawl into the vents, trying to make it back.

I hear the others trying to contact Hevy, but they're not in the vents yet. I gotta get there.

And then I hear the sound of explosions and debris falling, the vents shake, and I curl up into a ball, covering my head.

When the shaking stops, I open my eyes, and I see Rex pulling me out of the vents.

"You okay kid?" Rex asks.

I nod, staying close to him as we head back to the others.

Hevy's gone.

"We've got those tinnies on the run," either Fives or Echo says, I can't really tell. 

"Thanks to Hevy."

I hear the sound of gunships descending.

"We're getting of this crater boys," Rex says.

We all get on the gunships, and I remain silent for the whole trip back to the cruiser.

Fives and Echo are getting some random award thing from General Skywalker, and Rex says he's considering adding them to the 501st. I head back to the barracks and just chill there for awhile, thinking about everything that's just happened. It all feels so fast.

About an hour later, Rex comes in.

"Hey kid, how're you doing?"

I remain silent.

Rex sits down next to me.

"Yknow if it wasn't for Hevy, we wouldn't be here right now," he says.

I nod, staring up at the ceiling. "I shouldn't have come."

"Yea, it's a lot more different than training, isn't it?"

"It's so...scary, my mind just goes blank, and I forget everything I learned during training. Being a soldier's hard."

"The first few battles are always like that, but...you'll get used to it."

"I'm not gonna be in another battle. I'll just stay on Coruscant and continue training. That's what you want, right?"

"Hm. I could let you come on some of the less dangerous battles, how about that?"

I hesitate. I can almost imagine the sickening feeling in my stomach when the outpost blew up, when I realised that Hevy was gone. I can almost feel my heart pounding in my head every time I see live fire whizzing past my head, when I narrowly miss death by an inch.

I sit up and look at Rex.

"I don't wanna go."

Rex looks at me, confused. "What?"

"I'm done with being in battles. I'm not going to fight out there in the field anymore. I'm done. I'm leaving."

Rex sighs. "Look, ad'ika-"

Fives and Echo come into the barracks. 

"Hey kid, how're you doing?" Echo asks. "You were pretty good out there with your knife and your pistol."

I look up at him.

"I know what you're thinking, kid. You wanna leave after your first skirmish, and to be honest, I can't argue with that. It's a hard life, being a soldier."

I nod.

"But we're fighting for the Republic, for a cause that we believe in. Out there, we gotta be strong, we can't show weakness, and we show those clankers what we're made of, got it?"

I nod again, and Echo and Fives walk away.

Can't show weakness. They always said I was made to be weaker than the others. Gotta prove them wrong.

I turn to Rex.

"Maybe I'll take a few weeks on Coruscant to train and prepare myself, and then maybe I'll consider coming along on those less dangerous battles."

Rex smiles, and nods. "Okay then ad'ika, we've got a ship leaving for Coruscant in a few hours, and I'll see you in a few weeks."

"What does ad'ika mean?" I ask.

"You already know, kid. All clones do."

I roll my eyes. "Fine. Cya, captain."

Rex groans.

"And for the last time, DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

hiii here is my OC

CT-9905 “Aris”

(the one between echo and wrecker)

her number is just coincidental she wasnt made with the batch

She’s a female clone, and she was 14 when the Clone Wars started. The Kaminoans wanted to terminate her but they thought she could be of use for cleaning and stuff, they did give her a bit if training anyways tho. She escaped through Jango Fett’s ship, and found herself of Geonosis. Then she took a Separatist ship during the battle of Geonosis and piloted it to a random planet, living on the streets for a while until the Separatists came to invade the planet. She was cornered by battle droids when Rex saved her and adopted her into the 501st cause *dad rex goated*!!! Rex personally trained her but didn’t allow her to go on missions because protective, she sneaks aboard anyways onto the rookies mission, experienced actual combat for the first time and is super scared, echo and fives comfort her. She’s also a little scared of heights. During the Battle of Kamino, she fought alongside Echo and Fives and Rex and Cody and 99, and 99 was her best friend back on Kamino, so shes super sad when he dies. Rex wants to promote her to ARC trooper alongside Echo and Fives but she refuses, not wanting more expectations to be put on her. She plays call of duty with fives and exho, and theyre like her best friends and big brothers :)

During the citadel rescue, echo “dies” and she tries to help him but shes also severely hurt, rex literally CARRIES her all the way and she makes it back to base alive, but really beaten up and she’s paralyzed cause explosion. Rex and Fives help her walk again, and shes super happy, but since rex is super protective he doesnt allow her to go on missions again, so she clips herself to the outside of the gunship and sneaks onto a bunch of missions. When Fives dies she almost kills Fox but rex stops her. Then during TBB clone wars arc, she joins and the bad batch take interest in her because shes a defective too, and shes also good with a sword and knife + pistols and has *common sense weeee*!!! When they rescue echo shes really happy and she joins the bad batch with echo but hugs rex before she goes cos 😭😭😭

Thats where im at rn shes with the bad batch and her closest friend is gonky in tbb

Relationships:

rex: dad

fives: big brother/best friend

echo: big brother/best friend

kix: good friend

jesse: friend

cody: cool uncle

hunter: “sir”

crosshair: frenemy

wrecker: a little annoying but hes got a good heart

tech: “shut up tech”

gonky: *friendly head pats*

soon to be omega: she sees her old self in omega and doesnt want her to he corrupted

Looks:

Short black hair in a pixie cut, black armor with orange highlights, sword on back (rex gave it to her), 2 pistols on belt, knife on forearm armor, normal helmet but with orange visor, has tbb markings but also rex’s helmet markings, the aurebesh 5, echo’s handprint, the 501st symbol. She also tattoos all the people shes lost on her arm, so theres echo which is canceled on her arm lmfao

im planning on making her depressed after tech dies and crosshair joins the empire and has violent outbursts, especially at omega and hunter, but when crosshair rejoins the batch she calms down

personality: istp, a little reserved but really good homies with the clones, gamer, likes music, likes violence and blood, can kill and will kill if you hurt anyone she loves, and she doesnt usually show it often but she cares about tbb

yea um there we go :)

Welcome back to another OC Sunday Spotlight!

Aka the time in which every Sunday I'll come up with a prompt and anyone and everyone has the opportunity to answer with as many OCs as they wish!

You can reblog this post, answer in the comments, or come up with your own post to answer the prompts! And feel free to submit prompts as well!

It's an excuse to yap about your OCs so feel free to do so! Add pictures, links, or anything else regarding the OC in the spotlight if you'd like! And in addition, feel free to tag any mutuals to hop on the stage :D

Let's get this show started!

SPOTLIGHT ON: WIP OC(s)!

Here are mine!

The beginnings of what I'm calling...

♠️♥️ Deck Squad! ♦️♣️

🃏 All based off of cards in a deck (plus Uno and Wild Card)

🃏 But I have no idea what their armor color is going to be yet :( or how it'll be designed (Suggestions are VERY welcomed!!)

🃏I do want to do something with the number "52" though (like 52nd Battalion or something) since that's how many cards are in a deck

🃏I want them to do cool undercover stuff, like in casinos or whatever - something like that - to match that Ocean's 11 type aesthetic

🃏More info about them individually can be found here! Or just ask me questions about them if you'd like :D

💫 Check out last week's prompt! 💫 Join the tag list here!

Our Own Choices

Chapter 7

It's been a few weeks now, and I can almost fully function again. I've just managed to hold a pistol steady without my arm shaking, and my knife skills are slightly worse than before but I can probably survive out in the field. Rex still hasn't let me go out on missions yet, he says I have to fully recover first, even though I already have.

When Rex and the 501st come back from the battle of Ringo Vinda, but when I look around for Fives he's not there. Rex says he's on Kamino watching over this clone trooper called Tup whose inhibitor chip malfunctioned during the battle. 

I'm also biologically 18 years old now, so Rex allows me to go to the clone bar now, maybe I'll hangout with Fives there when he gets back. I usually go to there in the nights, I occasionally see Kix and Jesse there.

It's been a few days, and Fives still hasn't come back from Kamino. Kix just told me that people said that Fives tried to kill the Chancellor, and he gives me coordinates on where to find Fives. He says Rex and General Skywalker will be there as well. I probably won't be able to keep out of sight anyways, with a Jedi there and everything.

I see Rex and General Skywalker walk through the place, it's kinda dark so General Skywalker ignites his lightsaber and it casts a blue glow around the area, I head towards them, almost completely silent.

I think Rex hears my footsteps cause the moment I walk up behind him, he whips around and points his pistols at me. General Skywalker does the same, lightsaber in hand and probably ready to slice me in half.

"Oh, great," Rex groans. 

"Heyyyy captain, General, Kix gave me the coordinates to come here as well," I say awkwardly. 

"I thought I told you not to go out on missions until you fully recovered?!" Rex says, lowering his pistols. He's definitely gonna give me a lecture later. Rex and General Skywalker turn around again and scan the area for Fives, I stand behind them doing the same.

"Fives? Fives, we're here," General Skywalker calls out. "Cmon out, we just wanna talk to you."

"Fives?" I take off my helmet so that he can recognize my voice. "Where tf u bro?"

"General Skywalker." I hear Fives' voice, but I can't pinpoint where exactly he is. "Thank you...thank you for trusting me." He doesn't sound good. "Have you come without troops?"

"We have," General Skywalker says, he and Rex and both alert, and I do the same, my pistol in one hand and my knife in the other. (It's a new knife that Rex got me, it has the same pattern as my sword, much to my delight)

"Put down your weapons then!" Fives sounds slightly panicked. 

"I don't think so, Fives," General Skywalker says.

"Please sir! Please, I'm unarmed."

General Skywalker nods at me and Rex and I drop my pistol and knife on the floor. General Skywalker retracts his lightsaber as well.

Rex puts his pistols down on a nearby crate and notifies Fives. 

"What are we here for, Fives?" General Skywalker sounds cautious.

"I need your help."

"I know you do. We know you're not well. It's been rough for you, these past couple of days."

"I'm not crazy!" Fives sounds kinda desperate. "Please...please just-just hear...what I have to say." He's breathing heavily, definitely been drugged or injured.

"I don't think someone like you would ever manage to go insane, considering you play sniper in Call of Duty and on mobile sometimes," I try lightening the atmosphere a bit, the dim light in the area is making me feel uneasy.

"We're here to help you Fives, just come with us," General Skywalker says, and we walk in the general direction that we think Fives is at. "Just let us take you back to the temple."

Suddenly, a ray shield comes down from above and surrounds all 3 of us, preventing us from being able to get anywhere. General Skywalker bangs a fist against the ray shield before Fives comes out from behind one of the crates. 

"I just need you to listen to me...please!"

"I'm not really sure we have any other choice," General Skywalker responds, crossing his arms.

"We're listening to you, Fives," I assure him, I don't need him getting anymore mentally unstable than he is right now.

"I was framed! Because I know the truth, the truth about a plot. A master deception."

"By who?" Rex steps forwards a bit.

"Well there's a sinister plot, and it works against the Jedi! I have proof of it! I can prove that everything I know is true beyond a shadow of a doubt!" Fives holds his head in his hands at one point, he's definitely been drugged, I don't know by who, but it feels like he's telling the truth, and someone's trying to get him not to.

"Show me the evidence," General Skywalker says.

Fives holds the left side of his head with his hand. "The...evidence...is..in here," he points towards the left side of his head. "I-it's in here. It's in all of us, every clone!"

"What is it?" Rex asks.

"It's in all of us?!" I ask.

"Organic chips built into our genetic code..." Fives puts a hand to his head again. "To make us do whatever someone wants, even kill the Jedi." Fives takes a step forward, pointing at the left side of his head again. "It's all in here."

General Skywalker glances sideways at Rex, and Rex puts a hand to the back of his neck, I speak up. "Fives-"

"Let's just get you some help first, then we can review everything. It'll be okay, Fives, we'll sort this out," General Skywalker cuts me off. It's definitely not gonna help the situation. 

"YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME!" Fives shouts, and I can hear it in his voice, he's desperate for someone to believe him.

"Fives, we are listening to you, we only want to help," Rex tries to calm Fives down. 

"How do I know you're not tricking me? How do I know...that it won't be a trap? The chancellor was trying to kill me, I-I promise you that!"

"Fives, why would I be here if it was a trap, I may be dumb sometimes in battle royale but I'm not that dumb," I say, trying to reassure him, I'm not really doing a good job.

"The chancellor?" General Skywalker asks.

"He's in on it!" Fives says, putting a hand to his head again. "I don't know to what extent, but I know he orchestrated much of this. He told me in the medical bay!"

"He told you?" General Skywalker sounds slightly more aggressive now. "When you tried to assassinate him? You have gone too far, Fives. The chancellor is incapable of what you claim."

"General, you're not really helping here," I tell him. 

The popular belief isn't always the correct one.

"He is!" Fives protests. "I swear to you, General, you have no idea-"

Suddenly, Coruscant Guard troopers appear from behind the crates, pointing their blasters at Fives. "Stand down soldier. STAND DOWN! GET ON YOUR KNEES!"

"No, no, STAY BACK!" Fives looks at Rex's pistols from the side.

"Don't do it, don't do it soldier!"

"FIVES DON'T DO IT OR I'LL STEAL UR KILLS IN FUCKING BATTLE ROYALE!" I shout, I know he hates it when I steal his kills, and if he doesn't stand down now he's gonna get shot.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Fives takes one of Rex's pistols and points it at the Coruscant Guards, and Commander Fox shoots him in the chest.

"FIVES!" I shout, banging on the ray shield, slamming my body against it desperately as Fives drops the pistol, breathing heavily, and drops to the ground. It's like finding out Echo's dead all over again. That sickening feeling in my stomach as I see his body, the way my insides tense up, I never wanted to experience that again, but here I am now. 

"Fives!" Rex shouts, and General Skywalker orders the Coruscant Guards to turn the ray shield off. Rex starts banging against the ray shield with me, he's calling out Fives' name again.

One of the Coruscant Guard troopers shoots the ray shield generator and Rex and I run to Fives' side.

"Fives...brother..." Rex kneels down next to him, and I kneel beside him. "GET A MEDIC," Rex and I shout at the same time, but no one moves, they know it's too late, and I know as well, I just don't accept it yet.

Fives' breathing is erratic, he's not gonna make it-no he is gonna make it, he is gonna make it...

"Kid...? Rex...?" Fives' voice is half-weak. "Fives?" Rex asks. "This...it's...bigger than any of us...anything...I could've imagined..."

"Save your strength Fives, we'll get you to the medbay," I say, and Rex looks at me with that look in his eyes, I know Fives is not gonna make it, but there's still a slim chance right? I'll take any chance I can get.

"I never meant...to..." Rex holds Fives close to his ear so that he can hear him. "I only wanted to do my duty..."

Fives' breathing is heavy. 

"Fives? Stay with me Fives. Fives?" Rex sounds desperate. 

"FIVES IF YOU DIE...I'M GONNA KILL YOU," I hold back my tears, can't show weakness in front of the other troopers. 

"The mission...the nightmares...they're...finally...over." And then his body goes limp as he closes his eyes, and Rex shakes him by the shoulders. "Fives? No, Fives, cmon Fives, stay with me, stay with me, Fives, Fives, don't go..."

I shake Fives by the shoulders. "Fives? W-wake up! Please, stay with me, cmon man, don't give up on me like this, we still gotta keep our top 5000 in legendary rank until end of season 4 of COD, remember?" I wipe my eyes with the corner of my sleeve. "Fives?"

Rex sighs and puts Fives' body down on the ground, his head lowered. General Skywalker puts a hand on his shoulder, and Rex looks at me, putting a hand on my shoulder, pulling me close to him. 

I stare down at Fives' body blankly, trying hard not to cry. I look up at Commander Fox, the bitch that shot Fives, and then I look at my knife on the floor not too far away, I clench my fist, all thoughts cleared from my mind except one.

Kill him.

I stand up from the floor, moving over to pick up my pistol and knife. I clip the pistol to my belt.

Kill him.

I run over to Fox, my knife in hand, shouting, "FUCK YOU," letting all that grief for Echo, Hevy, and now Fives, out on him, trying to stab my knife through the crevices in his armor, aiming for the neck, getting a good hit on the face as Fox tries to throw me off of him. The other troopers aim their blasters at me as Rex runs over and pulls me back.

"Kid...kid! Stop!" I can hear the desperation in his voice, I struggle against his grip, knife still in hand, trying to reach Fox.

"LET...ME...AT...HIM..." my voice comes out lower than expected, I'm seething with rage right now, my mind still telling me to kill Fox and avenge Fives-

One of the troopers fires a stun bolt at me and my entire body goes numb and everything goes black.

When I wake up, I'm in a Republic prison cell, and Rex walks in, his expression grim, he doesn't look happy. I crack my neck a bit, slightly sore from the stun bolt.

Rex grabs me by the shoulders. "What were you thinking?!"

"I WAS THINKING TO KILL HIM, WHY DID YOU STOP ME?! I WANTED TO AVENGE OUR BROTHER, YOU-" I stop myself before I swear at him.

Rex sighs. "Look kid, you can't just attack a trooper like that and expect nothing to happen. I managed to get them to let you off the hook this time, but you're grounded."

"WHAT?! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" 

"Yes I can. No more going on missions until I say so, and the other troopers will be keeping an eye on you." His stare is blank, yet stern, and I know the blank part is because he's trying to get over what happened to Fives.

"Fives..." I hold my head in my hands as everything comes rushing back. My stomach tightens again, it's like a choking feeling, the grief, it feels like I can't breathe, but I don't allow myself to cry freely, just looking down at the floor and closing my eyes tightly.

"Let's go." Rex grabs my arm and drags me out of the cell, back to the barracks and my room, and he doesn't say anything as he closes the door behind him.

I move to a corner of my room and curl up into a ball, finally letting everything out, crying loudly, burying my face in my knees, I can't stop until there's no more tears left to cry, and then all that comes out from me in the next few hours is just dry sobs, and I punch the wall a few times, my knuckles bleeding, but I don't care.

Fives...

After hours and hours of crying, I take out my datapad and go into Call of Duty. I get to my loadouts for battle royale and multiplayer, and I change the weapons in my loadout to the ones I perfectly memorized just to beat him every time in 1v1.

I change all my loadouts to the ones Fives uses.

i need more crosshair drowning scenes im just addicted to crosshair suffering atp

Our Own Choices

Chapter 13

When we reach back to the Anaxes base, I go to the medbay and get my hand fixed up. Medical droid replaces the shattered bone inside with metal and my hand's good as new. Echo's doing good as well. He's recovering from what damage he took on Skako Minor. 

So Echo has a plan about getting onto a Separatist Dreadnought and into Trench's comm vault so that he can feed Trench strategies that we already know and let the Republic retake Anaxes. I've been hanging out with the batch for a while, and I actually feel like I fit in with them. I don't get weird looks for being different.

Tech's fixing the ship while I show Hunter and Wrecker how I manage to fit 20 knives into my wrist compartment. Wrecker looks shocked, Hunter raises an eyebrow, looking slightly impressed. Then I see Tech trying to get a piece of metal loose from the engine, and I throw a knife at it, hitting the piece of metal with the hilt of the knife, and the metal piece falls to the ground, along with my knife. I head over to pick up my knife and receive a "That was unnecessary" from Tech. I smirk as I throw my knife up in the air and catch it.

Echo, Rex and General Skywalker come over just as Tech finishes the repairs.

"Tech, is everything ready?" Hunter asks.

"Yep Sarge, we are ready," Tech replies. "Still not sure how we are gonna land on that ship."

"Don't worry, Echo says he's got a plan," Rex says, putting a hand on Tech's shoulder.

"That makes me feel so much better," Tech replies, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"What do you mean by that?" Rex and I ask at the same time, slightly annoyed.

"To be blunt, his mind belonged to the Separatists until we unplugged him. We don't really know where his loyalties lie."

Good point.

"Yea. Well I know. Now get moving," Rex orders.

We walk up the ship, and I'm standing next to Crosshair and Hunter, Tech's piloting, and Wrecker's slightly restless.

"Please tell me we are blowing something up," he says, turning to face us.

"Sorry Wrecker, this is strictly stealth," General Skywalker replies.

I like that word.

Wrecker groans. "I hate that word."

Oh cmon Wrecker I thought we were getting along here

"Echo, you're up," General Skywalker says and Echo plugs his mechanical arm into the scomp link. "As soon as I plug in, I'll send a signal to the command ship."

"What type of signal are you gonna send?" Hunter asks. "Nothing that'll give us away, right?"

"As far as the droids are concerned, we're just gonna be another one of their shuttles coming in for a landing," Echo replies.

"And the regs think we take risks," Hunter says as he and Crosshair give a sideways glance at each other.

We fly for a short while, past some of the Separatist ships stationed above Anaxes.

"Sending the signal...now."

Echo I swear if you give us away I will fucking waterboard you and then carve your eyes out.

"Roger roger, Shuttle TC-159. You may approach and land." A battle droid's voice is heard over throughout the ship.

Wow looks like I don't get to torture Echo today. How sad.

Wait tf is my brain thinking rn stfu brain

Wrecker groans. "I'd still rather blow it up."

"I have a feeling you'll get your chance," Tech says.

Really hope he doesn't.

We fly past the fleet of Separatist ships and up to the Dreadnought, flying under it. The ship turns upside-down, much to my discomfort as I land head-first onto Rex's chest, and we're now on the underside of the Dreadnought.

As I stand up on the ceiling of the ship, rubbing my head, I ask, "Okay so how the fuck are we getting from the damn underside of this thing INTO it?"

The door at the bottom of the ship opens and so does the one in the Dreadnought. The ladder in the floor extends and we climb in.

I ready my pistol and knife, in case there are any clanker patrols nearby. Luckily for us, there aren't any.

I help Echo up and we walk through the corridors cautiously, with General Skywalker leading the front and Crosshair and I guarding our flank, walking backwards, on alert in case any clankers show up.

Echo, Tech , Rex and General Skywalker enter the comm vault, while Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and I guard the door.

"So uh how's it usually like on missions without us regs?" I ask, not expecting much of a response from Crosshair. 

"Wild," Crosshair says as Hunter walks into the comm vault to check on Echo and the others. I raise an eyebrow at him, although he can't see it from under my helmet.

"Yeah, our last mission was with those Yalbec males, and they tried to eat us after I cut off the queen's stinger," Wrecker says.

"Why? They jealous that you get that Yalbec pussy and they don't?" I ask, smirking slightly.

Wrecker side-eyes Crosshair, and Crosshair replies, "Yea, I guess so."

I grin under my helmet, holding back a laugh, trying to stay focused.

Echo's taking a while, and some clankers have started to come through the corridor. Crosshair goes to take care of some of them and I follow him.

I take cover at the side of the entrance to the corridor, shooting at the B2 super battle droids with my pistol, throwing my knife at one of them and hitting it in the head. There's about 16 of them, and Crosshair gets more kills than me, which sucks.

Wrecker joins us slightly late, and by then we've almost taken out all of them. As I throw another knife at the last one, I wait to see if there are any more droids before running to go pick up my knives. 

Crosshair, Wrecker and I lead the way through the corridors, shooting droids the moment we see them, littering the corridors with bodies of broken battle droids.

Wrecker runs ahead, and when he turns the corner, some battle droids start firing at him, and he takes cover around the corner. Crosshair and I start shooting at the droids in front of us, Rex behind us doing the same, and Hunter and Tech are taking care of the remaining droids at the back.

Then, Wrecker goes to absolutely destroy the battle droids with his bare hands, and I kinda feel bad for them as I look left and right, scanning the area for more droids as I hear the terrified screams of the battle droids and the crashing of metal against the walls.

"It's all clear!" I hear him shout, and we move out from the corner, Rex half-carrying Echo.

No time to ask what happened to Echo, if Rex is carrying him, he shouldn't be dead.

Some more battle droids come from the back, and Tech alerts us to them. "More droids."

"Go. I'll buy you some time," Crosshair says, throwing up a deflector puck in his hands just to look badass, and proceeds to do an epic shot where he just throws it at the battle droid's chest before shooting it in the head, then waiting for the precise moment to fire another shot at the deflector puck which bounces off the ceiling and at all 3 battle droids' heads. 

I just stand there, frozen for a moment before walking off with the others.

"We'll meet you at the infiltration point," Rex tells Crosshair.

Wrecker groans. "He's gonna try and top me. You watch."

"And me," I say in an annoyed tone.

We start half-walking half-running through the corridors, and we reach the infiltration point.

Tech looks through his visor. "I'm picking up dozens of droids on my sensors, all heading this way."

"Hope you're not waiting on me," General Skywalker says as he runs to our position.

Wow I didn't even notice he was gone I think I literally forgot he existed.

"Now all we're missing is Crosshair," Hunter says.

Right on cue, Crosshair comes running through the corridors to our position, throwing deflector pucks literally everywhere, and stops in front of us, turning backwards and aiming his rifle, using his right shoulder to support it.

"You miss me?" 

No.

"How touching."

Then he aims at the deflector puck as the droids come marching through the hallway and he fires.

The blaster bolt deflects off the first puck and then to the second and then to like the next 30, hitting all the droids in the side, and Wrecker and I just stand there gaping at what just became the most badass shot I've ever seen.

"THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!" I protest.

"Relax Wrecker," Hunter says as he nudges Wrecker in the shoulder. "You'll top him next time."

No he won't.

And then Crosshair just comes up to us just to say "No he won't" to Wrecker's face and now I'm trying my best not to laugh again. I'm quite sure Crosshair has the biggest smirk ever under that helmet right now.

Wrecker groans.

We climb down the ladder to get back into the ship and fly off.

"I've got a present for you, Wrecker," General Skywalker hands Wrecker what looks like a detonator with a green button.

"Oh, seriously? I get to blow it up? The whole kriffing thing?" Wrecker sounds excited as he takes the detonator from General Skywalker's hand, and Crosshair and I watch.

"This..." Wrecker wipes a probably happy tear from his eye. "Is the happiest day of my life."

He presses the button and I can hear all the ships behind us going kaboom as we fly back down to Anaxes.

When we land on Anaxes, we get praised by General Windu, and General Kenobi says we've got some medals coming our way.

I take off my helmet.

"Thank you, General," Rex says as he starts to walk off.

As Echo starts to walk away, and batch and I stay behind.

"You coming?" Echo asks.

"Not really our thing," Tech replies.

"Accolades," Crosshair clarifies.

"Yea, we're just in it for the thrill," Wrecker says.

"You sure it's your thing?" Hunter asks, the question directed at both of us.

Echo looks confused. "What do you mean?"

"Your paths are different," Hunter says. "Just like ours." He motions towards the batch. Echo looks down. "If you ever feel like you don't fit in with them, well, find us."

I...don't fit in with the 501st. Or any of the other regs. And I think Rex knows that. Echo knows that. 99 did. And so did...

Don't say his name. Don't say his name.

As the batch turn around and walk up to their ship, I'm standing beside Echo as Rex walks up to us. "Those are some of the finest troopers I've ever fought alongside." He pats Echo on the shoulder. "Echo. You and I go way back. If that's where you feel your place is, then that's where you belong."

I glance at Rex. "Does that apply to me?"

Rex sighs. "Yes, ad'ika. It does." He turns around and walks away. 

He's...he's letting me...what-

I thought he would-

Nevermind. Don't worry about that right now.

Echo and I look at each other before walking slowly up to the batch, and I see Rex turning back to look at us. Echo salutes him, and then I do the same, with the batch following.

"Goodbye, ad'ika," he mouths to me.

"Goodbye, buir," I mouth back. He smiles, and so do I. 

And then Echo, the batch and I turn around and walk into their-well now it's our ship, and we fly off.

On the ship, I sit on the floor, making myself comfortable, spinning my knife, scanning the surroundings of our ship. When I finally see the toilet sign, I sigh in relief.

Thank god.

I go into the toilet to take a piss, until I realize that there's something very wrong.

"GUYS WHY IS THERE ONLY A DAMN URINAL IN HERE WHERE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING TOILET BOWL?!" 

Into the Dark

Chapter 2: The Darkness Comes

(casual reminder that this story won't be finished unless someone really really wants me to)

Word count: 1.1k

Warnings: War, violence

As I walk out of the office, I can feel many eyes on me. The enemy are not the only ones who have heard of the Demon of The Other Realm. They admire me for my tactics, for not holding back when faced with a choice to kill. That's something most of the others don't have.

It's become instinct now to survive, alone if I have to. Most of the other mech pilots would give their lives up for their brothers in arms. That's weakness. And the Demon of The Other Realm shows no weakness. I will not give my life for anyone on the frontline.

I am called to my next battle in a few hours. I arrive there in a matter of minutes with my mech, which I call Eclipse's Fury. It's shield is now repaired from the previous battle. My mech always gets first dibs when it comes to repairs.

I always feel slightly uneasy when I look down from Eclipse's cockpit down at the battle below, wondering if there are any people who are like me with their metal limbs fighting for their lives down there. But today there is no uneasiness, it almost feels like something is coming home to me.

The enemy mechs are already gathered there, their guns ready to fire. I dive, shield raised to block some of the incoming fire. I get my sword out, soaring upwards to stab one mech from below.

The enemy mechs scatter and fire from far away. I chase after the one with the heavy gun.

"Come here," I smirk. For most people, travelling at this speed would cause them to feel unfocused, but I'm as alert as ever.

I increase my thrusters to max, and catch up with the mech with the heavy gun. It gets out its sword, and clashes with mine.

Under my sword arm, the laser gatling gun there fire, piercing the enemy's cockpit and the light fades from its mech and it falls.

Suddenly, I feel a mech ram into me from behind. I elbow it in the back, one of its hands lets go, but the other is still holding on tight to one of my thrusters, crushing it.

My mech is unstable. Red lights flash in my cockpit showing the damage. I switch my sword to reverse grip and stab the enemy mech holding onto me in the side, while holding my shield up the block the fire from the others.

The enemy mech lets go of my thrusters and falls. My own mech twists to the side where the thruster was destroyed, so now I'm at an awkward angle and a part of my mech is vulnerable to attack.

I get out my gatling guns and fire at the rest, managing to hit around half of them before spiraling in the air and crashing to the ground.

My cockpit is cracked. Wiring from the cockpit digs into my skin, and my metal arm is disabled. I hear gunfire around me, explosions and the sound of flames.

Show no weakness.

My anger at myself numbs the pain. It fuels me. I cannot fail. I must survive. That's all I've ever done.

The enemy mechs land on the ground as I push Eclipse up. I calculate my odds. My shield's still intact, my swords are still sharp, my guns are out of ammo, and it's 5 enemy mechs against 1.

I like these odds.

Their guns are pointed at me, but they're hesitating, giving me enough time to use one of my thrusters to crash into one of the mechs, stabbing it in the cockpit with my sword and I get to my feet.

Suddenly, I feel a rumbling in the ground below me. The air is moving unusually, I can somehow sense it.

It feels...almost welcoming. Like I'm returning to some of my brothers in arms after a hard-fought battle. The enemy mechs are also distracted by the disturbance.

I activate my sword as I charge towards them, slicing 2 of them in half before the other mechs regain their senses.

They fire at me again. I raise my shield, blocking their attacks. Their guns show no sign of low ammo. My shield is glitching out, it's taking too much damage. Their laser bullets get a few hits on Eclipse. One of them pierces my cockpit, hitting me in the stomach.

I wince as the cauterized wound makes me feel breathless. My legs give way and Eclipse falls to the ground. I grit my teeth as I stick my sword into the ground, trying to help myself get up. Pain courses through my body. Not something I haven't felt before. I see one of the enemy mechs raise their sword and ready to stab it at my cockpit. 

Remember the guy who took your arm?

This memory always haunts me. It drives me to fight harder.

As the sword comes down to my cockpit, I block it with my sword, straining to keep it away from my cockpit, as I fight through the haze of pain of wires digging into my skin.

I push the sword of the mech away before swiftly stabbing it in the cockpit. The other mech now starts firing at me again. Most of the lasers hit Eclipse's armour, but a few pierce my cockpit and now I have 3 holes in my chest.

I still fight on. I won't die like this.

Suddenly, a cloud of darkness envelops the enemy mechs and the battlefield. Black clouds...on the ground? Is the pain making me hallucinate or something...

I run away from the darkness as the enemy mechs disappear from view. I feel breathless from my wounds, but they seem to be healing faster than usual. At least, fast enough for me to survive.

I just keep running as I see the Darkness rise over soldiers from both realms, slamming down on them like a giant wave.

I see some lights in the Darkness, I can sense smoke and fire in the cloud. I keep hearing screaming, from I don't know where, and it's driving me insane.

I can feel burning. It's not Eclipse's wires. It feels like a flamethrower burning me. 

I don't look back. I just keep flying away. Tendrils of darkness reach out from the cloud itself and try to hook onto Eclipse. 

My remaining thruster is overheating, it won't be able to hold out for much longer. I feel something grab onto one of Eclipse's legs, weighing me down, pulling me into the Darkness.

I activate my sword and try to cut the Darkness from my leg, but it just moves around my sword and keeps its grip.

For the first time in a while, I feel that choking sensation of fear as I am pulled into the Darkness.

we’re in the endgame now

EPISODE 9 IS OUT AND VENTRESS IS BACK WOOOOO

SHE SAID “ive got a few lives left” IS THAT REFERENCE TO WHEN SHE DIED IN DARK DICIPLE N SHES STILL ALIVE??????

MAN I LOVE VENTRESS SO MUCH AND SHES A BLONDIE NOW??????

Sharpshooter - Only the Strongest will Survive

Chapter 6

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: Blood, violence, injuries (cleaning wounds)

I can't move.

The creature's advancing fast, claw raised to strike the other side of my face. My legs aren't listening to my brain. They're rooted to the ground. My hand reaches for the hilt of my knife but it's nowhere to be found. Blood's still dripping from my eye.

I see the glint of its claws under the moonlight, poised to strike. Sharp knives digging into the other side of my face. And then my chest, blood spilling out from the wounds and dripping to the ground as my legs give out under me. I can barely breathe, the blood from my face flowing into my mouth and down my throat as I try to cough it up, but only more blood comes out.

Everything's blurry now, my vision a red haze of pain. I blink the blood out of my eyes, only to be met with the creature standing above me, claws to my throat. I can't even squirm under the weight of the animal.

My vision slowly starts to fade as the pain at the side of my face intensifies.

I'm gonna die. That's totally fine.

Humor isn't exactly working out right now. I feel the sharp claws press against my throat, and the intensity of my coughs increase as I try desperately to breathe and calm my nerves.

The creature raises its claws to strike, and all I can do is watch as its claws descend to my throat and slice through it like a knife through butter. I want to scream, but it's muffled by the blood in my mouth.

That's when I wake up on the bed of my empty apartment, coughing violently, my hand instinctively shooting up to the left side of my face where I still feel the claw marks indented into my skin. My heart pounds wildly in my chest as I frantically scan the area for signs of any movement in the darkness of my apartment. My chest rises and falls rapidly as I try to regain control of my breathing. My hands now grip the bed tightly, almost as if it could protect me from any danger.

Bed is safe.

My breathing steadies slightly so that I'm not gasping for air anymore, but my hands are trembling, clutching onto the sheets of the bed for dear life.

I press a hand to my forehead. It's sticky and warm. My breath hitches in my throat as I remove my hand from my forehead and put it to eye level. My eye scans for any signs of the sticky red liquid that makes my stomach sick, but there's no trace of it. I lay my head back against the pillow again, and stare up at the ceiling, its white paint coat slowly peeling off of it.

It reminds me of how the skin on Mayday's back was peeling off after he got whipped. I feel a lump start to rise in my throat when I think about it.

It's unfair. He got punished and I didn't. When he told me about it, I could tell that he did something to get me out of punishment. I've known him long enough to know.

I can almost see the blood oozing out of Mayday's wounds, the angry red skin surrounding the deep gashes in his back, the way he winced when I put the bandages there. It must've hurt.

I am grateful to Mayday for getting me out of punishment, who wouldn't? No one wants to get whipped on the back like that. But maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I was right beside him, taking the same punishment. Maybe he wouldn't have that dead look in his eyes that I saw yesterday.

I just want to hug him, to comfort him, to tell him that everything is going to be okay. He doesn't deserve what he got.

After a few minutes of overthinking, I snap back to reality and get out of bed. There's some noise coming from the streets below, but not a lot. I assume it's about 6 or 7 in the morning from the amount of people downstairs.

I head over to Mayday's apartment with a roll of fresh bandages. I knock on the door.

"The door's unlocked." I hear a muffled voice from inside. I open the door to see Mayday lying on the couch on his stomach. When he hears my footsteps, he looks up at me with those eyes that have been haunting me all night.

I sit down next to him.

"Sit up," I pat his shoulder gently.

Mayday shakes his head, his face pressed against the sofa.

"I said sit up." I pull him by the shoulders and force him to sit up. "Now take off your goddamn shirt so I can rebandage those fucking wounds."

Mayday groans. "Fine." He takes off his shirt, his back facing me so that the bandages that I put on him yesterday are visible. They're soaked through with blood, staining them a dark crimson.

I inhale sharply through my teeth.

"What?" Mayday asks, annoyed.

"It doesn't look good," I reply as I start unravelling the bandages around his torso, revealing the cuts on his back.

I cringe at the sight of it. There's some patches of dried blood clumped together, but there's blood all over his back. There's some bruising at the areas where his skin isn't cut open, and his back is swelling slightly. I always hated the sight of wounds. I can deal with death, sure, but not injuries. Those make me sick.

I hear Mayday wince as the wounds hit fresh air. Not really fresh, considering the air in the apartment isn't that well-ventilated.

"I...might have to wash that..." I tell him.

"WHAT?!" Mayday shouts, turning around to face me, but winces again at the pain in his back. It's the reaction I expected.

"If you want it to get infected, swell up even more, have pus in it, have to be taken to the hospital and pay more for treatment and maybe even surgery, go ahead," I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

I head to the toilet where there's an old cloth on the sink, I assume it's one of Mayday's brothers'. I quickly wash it with water, trying to clean it as well as I can, getting most of the dirt off of it.

With the cloth still dripping wet, I head over to Mayday.

"Lie on your stomach and stay still, or I'm going to press this cloth onto your back even harder," I order. Mayday rolls his eyes but reluctantly complies with the order. I then place the wet cloth onto his back, the blood almost soaking through it immediately.

Mayday inhales sharply as a shudder runs through his back. He presses his face into the sofa to muffle his shouts of pain, but I can still hear them. I gently press the cloth down onto his back, and he starts shaking. I can hear him breathing heavily, and almost what sounds like crying, muffled by the sofa.

"Sit up," I tell him after I finish cleaning his wounds, and wrap fresh bandages around his torso to cover the cuts, which are still bleeding, but slower. I catch a glimpse of Mayday wiping a few tears from his eyes but I don't mention it to make sure he doesn't die of embarrassment.

"There. Done." I look up at him. Mayday grits his teeth. "Thanks," he says. I can hear the sarcasm in his voice. I roll my eyes and bring the cloth back to the toilet, soaking it with water and trying to squeeze the blood out from it. By the time I'm done, most of the blood from the cloth is gone and I return it to its original position on the sink.

For the next few days, I help Mayday with his wounds. They've become scabs by now and he's no longer staining the chair in his apartment with his blood. This is the fourth day I've cleaned the area around Mayday's back. It's still bruised but slightly less now, and I make sure to be careful and avoid accidentally peeling the scabs off and reopening the wounds.

As usual, Mayday takes off his shirt and lays down on the couch, his bruised back facing up. That's when I hear a knock on the door. Mayday and I both stand up and open the door ever so slightly to see who's outside. Then five bodies come crashing down on us, and we all fall to the floor in one massive pile.

It's Mayday's brothers. Great. Mayday sighs and lets himself get tackled to the floor by his brothers while I squirm my way out of the pile and head to my apartment to find my own family.

When I open the door, I see my parents and grandparents waiting at the door for me. I immediately run into their arms and hug them as tightly as I can.

"I missed you," I mumble, my arms tightening around them.

My grandfather pats my head, and my father replies, "Missed you too Potato." It's the nickname he gave me when I was younger.

After a moment, I let go of them, but they don't let go of me.

They're not usually this clingy. Something's wrong.

"What happened?" I ask.

They have a solemn look on their faces, my mother and grandparents seem to be holding back tears. While their faces may not show it, I know them too well. My father's got no tears to cry. His tear ducts were damaged from the heat on a trip outside the ray shield in the early days back in North America.

They remain silent.

I hear sobbing and crying from the apartment next to us. Mayday's apartment. It's either tears of joy, or the same tears that my family's holding back.

I've got a feeling it's not tears of joy.

Sharpshooter

Chapter 1

Warnings: None (for now)

My grandparents say that I was born in an unfortunate time. They always tell me about the old world, where we were allowed to go outside and breathe cool, fresh air, without the inconvenience of having to wear a cooling suit just to prevent ourselves from roasting in the heat. I don't believe them. For me, these are all just stories. Stories of a world long gone. 

"8 billion people used to live on Earth, you believe that?" my grandparents always ask, laughing slightly as if they don't believe it themselves. I definitely don't believe that. There's only 700 million people left on this doomed planet.

Some of my friends-wait, I only have one, tells me about how the richer people get transported to Mars while us poorer, starving ones, stay on Earth and wait for our chance to die.

Usually, when my grandparents launch into a full-on rant about the world before, I roll my eyes and slip on sunglasses just to hide the fact that I'll be sleeping for the next hour or so. These stories are meaningless to me. There's no point in clinging on to the past, when I have a family to take care of.

We used to live in Singapore. Sea levels were rising so much that the few transports that remained on Earth brought us to the interior regions of North America, at least the ones that haven't gone underwater yet. That's where I met my good friend, and eventually, scavenging partner, Mayday. He's about a head taller than me, and I'm already considered tall for a girl my age. He's got short black hair. Just like mine. And just like the other 300 million or so kids. Mayday told me that his parents named him that because they're trying to call out to the authorities for help, to bring them to Mars. It hasn't worked for the past 13 years of his life, and I don't think it'll work anytime soon.

Me and Mayday's families are quite close as well. We usually share whatever little food Mayday and I scavenged that day with each other, to ensure that we don't starve to death. 

On one of our scavenging trips, I find a knife and a blaster pistol. The knife's a bit blunt, but it's sharp enough to stab through dead fish or whatever I find in the ruins of the houses that are flooded to my waist. 

Everyone knows the stories of what happens to houses that get flooded. They get abandoned, and whatever wildlife that has managed to adapt to the temperatures tears them up, sometimes leaving nothing behind. 

After spending about a few months in North America, even with the cooling suits on, the air temperature has become too high. Mayday and I can only spend an hour, maximum, outside scavenging before we start to get burns and it gets hard to breathe.

The air conditioning in the "houses" that the authorities give us barely works. I can't even call those things that we live in houses. They're more of a group of tents sewed together and protected by a ray shield, which is the reason why we call the place we live in the Dome. It provides air conditioning, at least, for a few hours a day. The rest of the time, we rely on that limited cooling cream that Mayday and I scavenge to prevent ourselves from roasting to death.

We've been living like this for a few months now. None of us are getting used to it. We have one small screen in the only small area where tents aren't clumped together to watch the news. Usually, the one that stands in front of the small screen shouts the news out to everyone else crowding around.

Today, I squeeze my way through the crowd, it's easy because of my small size, and I make my way towards the screen, getting a good view. There, I see face of the man that always appears on the news when something important is going on, but I never remember his name because I have more important things to focus on.

The image of a globe projects onto the screen, and the man on the television turns the hologram of the globe until it shows a brown landmass.

"Antarctica," the man says. "We will be moving all inhabitants on Earth here. The temperatures here are lower than the ones around the world, so..."

I slip away from the screen and back into the crowd. I hear the people near the screen shouting what the man on the screen just said, and people are muttering excitedly, some cheering. I hate it when this happens. So much noise. I run away, pushing past people, back to my house where I tell them the news.

"The authorities say they're moving us to Antarctica," I say the moment I run into the tent, my breathing slightly heavy from the running. Mayday's in the tent as well, rubbing the ankle that he sprained on yesterday's scavenging trip. My family and Mayday all look up at me, before my family starts to cheer and Mayday remains silent.

I sit down next to him. "How's your ankle?"

"Could be better," he replies, and I definitely know something's wrong. He'd usually crack a joke or something.

"Nervous about going to Antarctica?"

Mayday nods, and I pat him on the shoulder. "That means new territory to scavenge stuff, which means there's definitely some fresh loot there."

Mayday looks up at me. "Antarctica's a barren desert. There's nothing there to scavenge."

"We'll find something," I try to sound confident, but after the stories I've heard of Antarctica, there's only a sliver of hope that Mayday and I could scavenge anything there. Antarctica's also full of wild animals. The ones that managed to get to Antarctica, at least. They're the real danger out there.

The next few days, transports descend from the sky and bring people to Antarctica in a matter of minutes. I'm guessing the transports are from Mars. The advanced technology there lets them travel fast. Really fast.

My family and Mayday's board the last transports after packing everything up. There's not much to pack, besides some of the old ration bars I found a few days ago and those gummies that hydrate us. Authorities give us about three of those per person every month, so we have to ration them. Can't forget about the cooling cream either.

When we enter the transport, we're greeted with a blast of cold air. Is this what Antarctica feels like? I'm shivering slightly from the cold, and it looks like everyone else is too. We're not used to this kind of temperature.

It's really cramped in here. I count about a hundred families with us. I hear murmurings going on in the crowd, and I'm pushed right next to Mayday.

We stand there in awkward silence, and I start sweating, somehow. It's not because of the temperature. Large crowds just make me nervous, and Mayday knows that. He puts a hand on my shoulder reassuringly, and I give him a small nod.

Thankfully, we aren't in the transport for long. In a matter of minutes, the doors open and everyone rushes out. My family and Mayday's are the last to walk out, with a lot of hesitation. 

The air is fresh. Cooling. Devoid of that burning smell of the ground. I scan the surroundings, and so does Mayday. Rugged terrain, with gorges that go so deep that if anyone fell in from above they would definitely die. The sky is navy blue. Clear. Cloudless. Not like the smoke-filled skies of North America.

We stand on a platform that descends into a deep gorge, where I see buildings. Not tents clustered together, actual buildings. They're inside a ray shield, just like the Dome, and I can only guess that it's not to protect us from the heat, but from the wildlife.

After we enter through a hole in the ray shield, it closes up behind us and we are, once again, in a crowd of people. There's a big screen, which everyone is looking at, and it's projecting the image of another man, who's dressed in what my grandparents would call a suit, even though I could not possibly imagine why someone would want to wear such a suffocating piece of clothing.

"You are safe here now, in Antarctica," the man says, and I start hearing people talking again. The man waits until everyone is silent before continuing. "No one goes in or out of the ray shield unless given specific permission to do so."

Mayday and I glance at each other with a knowing look.

"Enjoy your stay here, and good luck."

Good luck? What does he mean by good luck? 

As the crowd disperses and authorities lead others to their respective buildings, I turn to Mayday, and he turns to me.

"I've got a bad feeling about this."