#arc trooper echo

Echo: They were on your feet

Fives: Exactly

tagging some people bc if I gotta hurt then so do you: @ffdemon @saturn-sends-hugs @phantom-of-the-501st @writingmonet

—

“You don’t understand. I know he’s alive, that he’s here.”

Hunter sighed and it grated on Rex’s already fragile nerves. “Even if he is, that doesn’t mean this isn’t a suicide mission.”

“It’s not a trap. He’s here and I heard his voice. I have this gut feeling that I can’t shake. He’s here and he needs m- us.” Rex stepped towards him, wishing he could appeal to him with his tone alone. Hunter’s helmet just stared back at him, empty, disbelieving.

“I’m not risking my men over a feeling. The general agrees. We’re leaving.” Hunter turned away but he paused like he was reconsidering. Rex hoped that was it, but he couldn’t really tell, not with how wobbly his vision had gone. Hunter turned his chin towards his shoulder. “For now, at least. We need to regroup.”

Rex knew what that meant. He knew they’d have to retreat. Then what? Lose what little progress they made and risk losing Echo for good? No. He couldn’t do that, not after everything. Not even for the Republic.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do.” Rex muttered, though he knew Hunter took it as a slight and not the true acknowledgement that it was.

The moment Hunter’s head was turned back he stunned him. It wasn’t smart, he knew that. It would ruin him when this was over, but at least it would give him some time. He knelt to check on Hunter’s pulse, feeling the thrum of it under his skin. It didn’t make his heart stop thumping wildly in his chest.

He stood, this time with a renewed sense of purpose. Steadily, he walked to the edge of that cliff and looked over to the ground that lay far below. In the distance he could see the smoke, the buildings rising over the horizon, the promise of answers, something he needed more than air to breathe. He spun the grappling hook in his hand, looking back at Hunter, the one man who had tried to appeal to him, and felt the guilt of it flash through his gut. He would’ve never left Rex alone. Something told him Hunter could sense a man about to blow it all to bits just by the cadence of his voice. This was the only way. That’s what he told himself as he descended, hook held into the cliff as he dropped down into the abyss.

Echo was out there. Alone, waiting for someone to find him, and bring him home. What would Fives have done if the other half of his soul was only miles away and someone told him to turn back? Rex knew what he would do. He’d tear down whatever stood in his way and march forward towards even certain death, guns blazing. Rex could feel that energy pounding in his chest, but he kept it at bay. He knew what Fives would do, but he knew himself as well, and if this was going to work he was going to have to disappear.

Become the ghost that Echo had spent so long living as, haunting him, visiting him in his dreams. After all this time he could sense it, his voice on the wind, and his eyes staring at him everywhere he went. No one was going to tell him he couldn’t get one of his men back not after everything they had endured. Not after Fives. He could still hear Fives’ voice, broken and raw, begging him to go back, that Echo wasn’t gone.

Rex hadn’t listened then. He was listening now. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He wouldn’t abandon a man that followed him so blindly, his loyalty rivaling Rex’s own. He couldn’t. The Republic would have to understand or they wouldn’t, but it would be worth it.

Droidbait: Don't worry, I'II find him.

Droidbait, shouting: Echo sucks!

Fives, distantly: Echo is the best person ever! Kark you!

Chapters: 23/? Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives/Original Female Character(s), CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo/Original Female Character(s) Characters: CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, CT-7567 | Rex, CT-5597 | Jesse, CT-6116 | Kix, CC-2224 | Cody, Clone Trooper Hardcase (Star Wars), CT-5385 | Tup, CT-6922 | Dogma, CT-9901 | Hunter, CT-9902 | Tech, CT-9903 | Wrecker, CT-9904 | Crosshair, Omega (Star Wars: The Bad Batch) Additional Tags: Fluff and Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Original Character Death(s), Canonical Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

A Fives and Echo story that's been simmering away for a long time! Some regular readers will know that I worked in costume in film and TV for a long time, so I'm dragging the boys into that world.

The title comes from one of my favourite songs by Australian indy band, Augie March. If you like your music with a heavy dose of amazing poetry, check them (and singer/songwriter Glenn Richards) out.

Echo: What's wrong with you??

Dogma: | literally JUST said I ate tomato sauce on iceberg lettuce?? Pay attention.

Fives: No, he means other than that.

Dogma: Ohhhhhh.