#werestutter

He looks over to the Kaminoan. “Will th-this fix my v-voice?” He asks quietly, and Nala Se looks over at him. “No, you are most likely a lost cause. But hopefully with this injection, you won’t be so weak anymore.” CT-7707 stares at her, wondering what she means by that, he then whimpers as a weird feeling creeps into his stomach. “W-Wait! What's hap-happening, I feel ic-icky!” He starts to panic, struggling to get out of his bindings. She rolls her eyes. “Don’t whine, the feeling is only going to get worse, so save your breath, defect.” CT-7707 whimpers as the feeling keeps building and building. “St-Stop, make it st-stop, ple-ple-please!”

Nala Se turns her back to him, leaving the poor, young cadet all alone. He’s so scared as the feeling turns to pain, and tears start to fall from his eyes. He then hears and feels a crack, and he screams. His throat erupts in pain as his bandages soak with red, his bones crack as he grows bigger, and he screams more. “St-St-Stop!” He screams as loud as his voice can go, making Nala Se roll her eyes as she stares at the wall, there's no need for her to watch this. 

Fur starts to grow all over his body, as he feels his body morph and change shape. “I-I-I-I-It h-h-hurts, St-St-St-” CT-7707 can’t get any more words out, he’s too scared to get his stutter under control. His mouth starts to elongate as his legs become haunches. His clothes burst off, all except for his pants as he whimpers. Brown fur now completely covers his body, ears pointier and pressing back as he lets out a little howl along with a whine. He notices that he sounds different, a slight growl sitting at the back of his throat whenever he makes a sound. His back arches as he writhes around, wanting nothing else but to get out of there. He yelps when he feels something grow from his backside, looking down to see a fluffy tail, swishing around. 

He stares at it before squeezing his eyes shut and throwing his head back against the table when he feels the restraints becoming too tight around his wrists and ankles, making him whimper and writhe around more, only angering Nala Se even more. “CT-7707, stop overreacting, you don’t want to be weak anymore, do you? So stop--” She is unable to finish her sentence when CT-7707’s restraints break off. They had gotten too tight for him, because they had thought that because he is a smaller cadet, he wouldn’t need big restraints. 

CT-7707 whines as he writhes around a little more as the transformation finishes, then he accidentally rolls off of the table and lands on the floor with a thud and a yelp when he lands on his tail, making him jolt up so he’s kneeling. He doubles over in discomfort and wraps his arms around himself. With a small huff, he looks up at Nala Se, who looks down at him, her face expressionless. He whines and whimpers, not from pain, but from fear. If he wasn’t scared enough of the Kaminoans before, he sure is now. “CT-7707, get back on the table. I have some important tests to run.”

CT-7707 stares at her, then when Nala Se sighs frustratedly and tries to grab him, scurries away from her and backs up against the wall. “CT-7707, do as you are told right now!” She yells, only scaring him more as he tries to run on two legs. He falls flat on his face and then runs on all fours towards the door. He bangs as loud as he can on it, whining when Nala Se walks over to him. “CT-7707!” She yells, but then the door slides open.

“What’s goin-- Holy Kriff!!” A cadet with a buzz haircut with a lightning strike pattern stands wide-eyed before jumping out of the way of the small wolf creature running towards him. “CT-6116, stop it!” Nala Se commands, but the cadet just stands looking at her with an expression of confusion and shock. “You’ve done it again?!” Kix scowls at her, feeling pissed that they never treat them as actual people, but always treat them as products that they can do whatever they wish with. 

xxx

CT-7707 runs through the halls of Kamino, hearing gasps and yells from the brothers he passes, but he just ignores them as he makes a beeline for his bunks. He finally gets to his barracks, running through the door only to see his brothers standing there with wide eyes. Clank’s, the leader, eyes widen. “What the Kriff--” “Cl-Clank, help!” The slightly deeper voice startles Clank, but he recognizes the stutter. He sneers. 

“Holy crap! You are even more of a freak than before.” CT-7707 shrinks down as his brothers glare at him with hatred. “Get out of here, Defect. Now!!! Or do you want another beating.” CT-7707 whimpers and quickly runs out of the room, it doesn’t even process in his mind that he is much stronger than them in this new form. They all chase after him, making him yelp and keep running. CT-7707 runs as fast as he can, dodging brothers as fast as he can. 

Then he runs by two older cadets and he hears a shout from the blonde one with a buzzcut. “Wait!!!” But CT-7707 keeps running, but after a minute, he slams into two other cadets. “Hey!! What are you-- woah!” The one shouting in surprise has a five drawn on the corner of his forehead, the other has a reg manual. CT-7707 shrinks down as they stare, then-- “Get back here, Defect.” CT-7707 starts running again, as fast as he can. He ignores all the shouts as he finally loses his brothers, and hides inside of a storage closet.

CT-7707 tucks himself up into a ball on the floor and starts to cry, his throat hurts. He reaches up and can feel the tight bandages, constricting his breathing a bit. He starts to cry harder as he feels the fur sticking out of the bandages, he’s so scared, and doesn’t know what to do. He leaves the door to the closet open, afraid of the dark. Then after a few minutes there's a knock on the wall. CT-7707 whimpers quietly, curling up a bit more. 

“Hello? It’s okay, I won’t hurt you, I promise.” A head peeks in, and CT-7707  see’s a young Cadet with Blonde hair, but he whimpers. “Do-Don’t look at m-me.” The Cadet frowns, and pulls his head from the door. “It’s okay, I know that this is scary. But it’s going to be okay, can I please come in? I just want to help, please.” CT-7707 thinks of what he wants to do, he doesn’t know why this older Cadet isn’t scared of him, or making fun of him. 

CT-7707 looks down at himself and whines. “I-I don't kn-kn-know.” He cries softly into his knees, then a few moments later, he feels a hand on his shoulder, making him look up to see the blonde cadet crouching down right infront of him, keeping his distance but making sure that he can still keep a hand on the young cadets shoulder to make him feel grounded. CT-7707's ears press back as he shrinks down, hoping that if he makes himself small enough, he'll be able to disappear. 

“Don't be afraid, it's okay. My name is Rex.” CT-7707 doesn't look up at the older cadet, he doesn't want to see the look of disgust on his face. The hand moves away from his shoulder and the older cadet walks away. CT-7707 was right. He's a lost cause and doesn't deserve help. Who even wants to be around a monster like he is now?--

Suddenly, there's a soft groan somewhere in the room. CT-7707 looks up to see that the cadet has gone, but then there is movement behind a shelving unit. He hears the same cracking as earlier, when his bones were rearranging, plus the ripping of clothes and heavy, growly breathing. CT-7707 covers his ears and curls up into himself, not wanting to hear the scary, horrible sounds again.

About a minute later, the sounds subside and he hears heavy but soft footsteps walking towards him, making him peek out from where he's hiding behind his knees to see a bigger, blonde werewolf. CT-7707 whimpers and tries to move away, but Rex puts his hands up in surrender. “It's okay, Lil'un. It's me, Rex.” CT-7707 looks at the wolf in disbelief for a moment before realising the torn, red pants that it's wearing. CT-7707 looks with confusion, blinking slightly. “Wh-What?”

Rex gives CT-7707 a soft smile, hoping to put him at ease a bit. “You... you aren’t the first one to go through this, the longnecks did the same thing to me about a year ago.” CT-7707 looks up at Rex with wide eyes, but then winces slightly as the bandages on his neck pull tighter, making him pull at them hopelessly, because his claws aren’t sharp enough to cut through them. Rex’s eyes widen when he notices them, and he gets a look of pity. “You’re stuck, can I help?” CT-7707 whines a bit, but nods. And Rex walks over and kneels in front of him, he winces when he sees the blood soaking the bandages. 

“Hold still, let me just--” Rex gently places a hand under CT-7707’s chin and lifts it up, then he uses his sharp claws to cut the bandages off, his eyes widen when he sees the slightly missing fur and surgical scars on his neck, including the open wound. He frowns. “What was this for?” CT-7707 whimpers. “I-It was sup-supposed to fix m-me, bec-because I’m def-defective and I stutter.” Rex gets a look of anger, scaring poor CT-7707, but it turns sad as soon as he realizes. “It’s okay, I’m not mad at you, but the kaminoans are wrong, you don’t need to be fixed. Not at all.” Rex moves around and sits down beside CT-7707, gently reaching over and pulling him into his lap.

CT-7707 yelps a bit, but then he settles down against Rex, who’s much larger than him. He whines as he notices blood from his neck, wrists and ankles soaking into Rex’s fur. But Rex just brushes it off. “It’s okay, I can wash it off later.” CT-7707 nods, and snuggles into Rex, nuzzling him almost desperately. Rex frowns as he notices, because he seems almost touch starved. “Would you like me to go get your batch mates? I’m sure they are wondering what happened to you. And can you tell me your name?” CT-7707 whimpers loudly, starting Rex as he snuggles into him, he starts breathing heavily as he seems to almost be going into a panic attack. “Hey, shh. It’s okay, you’re okay, Lil’un.” CT-7707 whimpers again and Rex pulls him closer, letting him snuggle into his chest.

“D-Don’t let th-them find me, ple-please. Th-They’ll hurt m-me.” Rex rubs his back, not understanding until a realization comes over him. “Were the Cadets chasing you your batchmates?” CT-7707 nods, making Rex’s fur bristle with anger, but he pushes it  away and comforts CT-7707, gently rubbing a hand through his fur, making the younger wolf hum. He is definitely touch starved. “You’re okay, don’t worry. They won’t hurt you anymore, I promise.” CT-7707 nods as he snuggles into Rex even more than he is, making Rex smile as he plays with his fur. “Do you have a name yet? And how old are you?” CT-7707 shakes his head. “No, n-not y-yet. I’m just CT-7707. Defects don’t des-deserve names, and I’m f-four.” Rex’s eyes widen, his batchmates told him that? And four?! He’s way too young to go through this. 

“I promise you that you are not defective, Lil'un. Having a stutter does not make you defective.” Rex says with a sad smile, nuzzling the young cadet's head. He's had many times where Cody would have comforted him, whether it was about his hair colour, being a werewolf or anything really. Cody was always there for him, so Rex wants to do the same for this kid, whatever it is he may need. He can’t believe that his batchmates were chasing him, quite likely scaring him too. No one should ever have to be treated like that, to be told that they don’t deserve something, all because they are different in some way or another. 

There’s a soft knock on the wall, making the both of them look up and turn their heads to see two cadets looking into the room. There’s another two cadets with them too, who Rex notices to be Kix and Jesse, but they seem to be more focussed on stopping other cadets from entering instead of just looking at him and the other small werewolf in the room. Rex nervously glances between the two cadets standing in the doorway, not sure why they are here. “You’re Rex, right?” One of them asks and Rex nods “Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?”

The other cadet, with a drawn-on 5 in the corner of his forehead, turns his attention to Rex after pulling his gaze away from the other wolf. “Kix and Jesse, those two cadets outside, said that the kid was in here, so we just wanted to make sure that he’s okay now. Those four other cadets seemed to be giving him trouble, so we told them that Nala Se needed them immediately, so they’re gone for now.” Rex smiles and nods, but then looks at the young cadet in his arms again. “Those were his batchmates?” He says, making CT-7707 tense up and whimper, as the two Cadets get a disgusted look. Just the thought of them is enough to scare poor CT-7707.

The one with the five looks up at Rex. “What else have they done?” Rex tries not to get angry. His angry side is always scarier when he’s in this form. He covers the young cadet’s ears and starts to explain “They were hurting him. They said that he doesn’t deserve a name because he has a defect.” Rex moves his hands to the cadets back, rubbing it soothingly. Both cadets see red, Rex can tell by their body language and how their eyes widen. “What?! That’s disgusting! His batchmates told him that? Everyone deserves to have a name!” The one with the five colored on the corner of his forehead growls, CT-7707 flinches but hums when Rex rubs his back. “Th-They said that I do-don’t, and would be-beat me up if I ask-asked.” Rex tenses up, and so do the other two, then Rex looks down. “They what?” He asks through gritted teeth, trying to keep his temper in check, but he is failing. CT-7707 flinches, making Rex take a deep breath to calm himself down. 

“We will take care of that in a bit, but they had no right to hurt you, you are their brother.” CT-7707 frowns and nuzzles into Rex, as the other two cadets walk closer. Rex’s ears flick up as everyone hears sort of a commotion going on outside the door. “Okay, time to go. There's nothing to see.” The voice of 99 puts Rex at ease, but not CT-7707 who ducks down in his arms and tries to hide away. Rex smiles softly. “Don’t worry, that's  just 99, and my brother Cody, they won’t hurt you, I promise.” CT-7707 nods, and Rex looks up as he hears a voice. “Can I come in, Boys?” “Yep, come on in.” Rex yells back, and 99 walks in followed by Cody, Kix and Jesse continue to guard the door.  He smiles at the two Cadets.

“Now, what are your names?” Both smile and look at eachother. “I’m Fives, this is Echo.” The one with the five on his forehead says, making 99 smile as Cody walks towards Rex. “You okay, Rex?” Rex nods, but then CT-7707 pokes up from his arms, making Cody chuckle, and 99 smile when he looks up. “Hello, you must be who I’m here to see. May I take a look at you?” The soft, gentle voice puts CT-7707 at ease, and he looks up at Rex, as if asking for permission. Rex nods. “He won’t hurt you, I promise.” CT-7707 nods, and 99 proceeds to walk over, Rex sets him on the ground and 99 hums as he takes a look at him.

“Seems the kaminoans did a number on you, didn’t they.” CT-7707 nods as 99 gently prods at his neck, making him wince. “I’m sorry.” 99 apologizes, but then starts prodding his wrists and ankles, once he’s done he smiles. “How about we get you to my barracks, get everything fixed up, and I can make you some cookies. Does that sound good, little guy.” CT-7707 nods, and 99 smiles. “Alright then, Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix can all come too.” Cody and Rex both poute playfully. 

“What about us?” Cody asks, making 99 chuckle. “Of course, come along. Think you can carry him, Rex?” Rex nods and gently picks CT-7707 up into his arms bridal style, making the little wolf yelp. “Don’t worry, I got ya.” Rex smiles at CT-7707 as he carries him out into the halls, CT-7707 whimpers and tries to hide down into Rex’s arms, snuggling his face into the fur on Rex’s chest, making Rex sigh as he holds the tiny wolf close. He feels so bad for what he’s gone through, this shouldn’t have happened to him.

 It only takes them a few minutes to get to 99’s barracks, and they all walk in to see four other Cadets sitting around. One is bigger than the  others, one has grey hair and looks grumpy as heck, one has longer hair than regulations and one has glasses and is pretty small. They all get wide eyed looks when they see Rex and CT-7707, but 99 hums and just walks into the barracks and smiles. 

“Hey boys, think you can get the first aid supplies for me.” They nod and the one with goggles goes running to a footlocker at the end of a bunk, the one with longer hair walks up. “What did the Kaminoans do this time?” He asks gravely, and 99 sighs. “This is Rex, he was given a serum about a year ago that turned him into a werewolf, and the Cadet in his arms was given the same thing today.” Hunter’s eyes widen as he stares at the young Cadet in Rex’s arms, he feels disgusted by what they did, the grey haired Cadet and the bigger one both just stare. “He looks so young, how could they do this?” The one with grey hair asks, a look of disgust on his face. 

Rex sighs and sits down on the ground, still holding the Lil’un close. “I don’t know, but all that matters now is that it won’t ever happen ever again.” CT-7707 looks up at Rex, confused as to what he means by that. “W-What do you-you mean? Am I-I not-t going back?” Everyone shares a sad look and Rex shakes his head. “We aren’t going to let you be put back with those bullies. We won’t let them, or anyone else, hurt you ever again.”

CT-7707 tears up, from feeling both happy and thankful. “N-No one has-as-as ever been kind t-to me before. Are you s-sure you want m-me around? I don’t w-want to be the bur-burden I’ve always be-been told that I a-am.” His ears press back, not wanting to intrude into their lives and just ruin it for them. He’d hate to disappoint anyone else-- “Of course we do. You seem like a really nice kid, I can’t see how anyone could dislike you.” Cody tells him, warming his heart as a few tears fall down his furry cheek, which are wiped away with the brush of the back of Rex’s finger. 

CT-7707 hums, he’s still so touch starved so it’ll take time for him to heal, to feel normal and loved. The cadet with goggles walks back over to the group with a few medical supplies, handing them to 99. “Thank you, Tech. Now, let’s get you patched up.” CT-7707 whines and flinches away a little, making 99 stop in his tracks. “Sorry, kid. I promise that I won’t hurt you.” 

CT-7707 looks up at Rex and back again before nodding. 99 smiles and reaches out to check his wrists first, placing some bacta on before wrapping them up. As 99 continues to treat his wounds, CT-7707 sees that a cadet, who is taller and broader than the others, has walked close to him, smiling and looking at him. CT-7707 doesn’t know what to do-- “Your fur looks so soft and fluffy!” The cadet startles CT-7707 by accident, making him shrink down into Rex’s arms. 

“Careful, you’re scaring him.” The cadet with longer hair walks over and smiles at CT-7707. “Don’t mind Wrecker here, he can get a little loud and over excited. I’m Hunter by the way.” CT-7707’s eyes widen, he feels afraid when he hears that. He tries to back up a bit, hitting Rex’s chest. Tech realizes what's going on, and so does Hunter. 

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s not that type of Hunter. A usual hunter is a person or animal that hunts prey for food, or game. While our Hunter is more like a person searching for something, as his enhanced ability, or defect, as it is sometimes called. It is actually quite interesting, I could name all the differences between our Hunter and a usual hunter if I wanted--” “Nerd, please don’t.” The grey haired Cadet asks, making Hunter chuckle. “That's Crosshair, he’s pretty grumpy, but has a soft side.” Hunter gets a glare from Crosshair. “I do not!” CT-7707 smiles softly. Hunter then smiles. “We’re the bad batch!”

“Ok-Okay, nice to me-meet you, and it’s ok-okay. I’m just n-not used to atten-attention.” They all nod and 99 walks over and gently  gets to work, applying bacta and wrapping up CT-7707’s neck first. “There we go, I’m guessing that was from surgery?” CT-7707 nods. “Mhm, th-they wanted to f-fix me.” 99 shakes his head. “I don’t see what there is to fix.” He then starts on CT-7707’s wrists and ankles, gently applying bacta and wrapping them up. Once he’s done, he smiles and looks up at the youngling. “Anywhere else?” CT-7707 gets a nervous look. “M-My… Um.. tail. I fe-fell on it.” 

99 gives CT-7707 a soft look. “Don’t worry, Rex has done the same thing, let me take a look.” CT-7707 gently pulls his tail around, and 99 prods at it with a hum. “Seems like you sprained it, no biggie, I’ll just wrap it with bacta and you’ll be good.” CT-7707 nods and Rex looks over at Kix. “Hey, Kix. Why aren’t you helping?” Kix shrugs. “He might be more comfortable if it's just one person.” Rex nods and 99 finishes wrapping CT-7707’s tail, then Wrecker goes running and returns with a stuffed animal. “Here, you can hold my Lula.” CT-7707 raises an eyebrow. “What's a Lula?”

Wrecker smiles as he hands CT-7707 the stuffy. “She's my friend, and a tooka. You cuddle her and she makes you feel better.”  CT-7707 nods and hugs the stuffy close, smiling as he holds it, then he yawns. “Looks like someone needs some sleep, I’m sure one of the boys won’t mind sharing their bunk, and we can have a sleepover.” 99 suggests, and Hunter nods. “They can use mine, if they’d like to stay.” Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix all nod excitedly, as Cody nods as well. “Of course, we’ll have a cuddle pile!” CT-7707 raises an eyebrow again. “What's th-that?” Everyone gets a sad look, but Rex explains. “That's when you and a few other Cadets all cuddle and sleep together, here, we’ll show you.” Rex picks him up and carries him to a bed, laying CT-7707 down and then curling around him. Jesse and Kix come next and curl up on either side of Rex, as Cody sprawls himself on top.

Then Fives and Echo both lay down a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor, curling up on them, as Wrecker joins them, Hunter smiles and turns to his other brothers. “Want to join them?” Tech nods and goes lays with Wrecker, and Crosshair huffs. “Sure.” Hunter smiles and pulls his grumpy brother over, and they both lay down. Everyone falls asleep to the sound of 99 humming as he repairs and cleans some equipment.

xxx

CT-7707 wakes up to the sound of soft and gentle breathing, panicking in his mind for only a second before he remembers where he is. For once in his life, he hasn’t been rudely awakened. His batchmates would wake him up early and abruptly, literally pulling him out of his bunk. He smiles, not feeling like he has to force it. His batchmates threatened him that if he didn’t smile when they wanted him to, he would be decommissioned and beaten up. He sighs and snuggles into whoever he is lying on top of, then looks to see that it’s Rex...who’s human! Stutter jolts up and looks down at himself, seeing that he is no longer covered in fur.

Rex feels the movement and opens his eyes to see the Lil’un awake on top of him. “Morning, Lil’un.” Rex ruffles the top of CT-7707’s head, making him softly giggle and hum at the feeling of someone ruffling his hair. “Mor-Morning, Rex.” He looks down at his wrists, seeing that the bandages have slipped off. Rex smiles sweetly “Don’t worry about those, we’ll get your wrists and ankles rewrapped later.” CT-7707 smiles and nods in thanks, then there’s a growling noise.

CT-7707 looks a little embarrassed, his stomach just made, what must be, the loudest noise in the galaxy. “Are you hungry, Lil’un?” CT-7707 nods his head, looking around the room that the others are talking amongst themselves, giving him and Rex some space. Rex smiles and sits up slowly, letting CT-7707 slide off of him. The others then walk over, all smiling brightly at him. CT-7707 isn’t used to the attention. He sees Tech walk over to them both, carrying a set of uniform and handing it to CT-7707. “Here, these might be a little bit big on you, but it’s better than nothing.”

CT-7707 smiles, but shakes the uniform off and checks it over. He looks around the room to see confused faces. “S-Sorry, my old batch-batchmates would place th-these chem-chemicals in my uni-uniforms that caused itch-itching or burn-burning. And even once g-g-gave me hives. I woul-wouldn’t use the sho-showers until it we-went away, bec-because I didn’t w-w-want the others to lo-look at me.” Everyone gets an expression crossed between sadness and anger. They hate that something like this could even happen to someone as sweet as this Cadet is. 

Kix brings over some bandages, handing a few to Rex before turning to CT-7707 with a smile “Hi, kid. Is it okay if I help Rex wrap your wounds up?” Kix asks, earning a nervous look off the young, small cadet. CT-7707 looks at Rex and then back at Kix, nodding shyly. “Thank you, just let me know if I wrap them too tightly.” Both he and Rex kneel down, Rex wrapping his wrists while Kix wraps his ankles up.

“There isn’t a lot of privacy in this room, but we can look away if you want to change in that corner over there?” Hunter suggests, pointing towards the other side of the room. “Th-Thank you, that w-would be great.” Everyone smiles as he walks to get changed. Before he undresses, he turns to see the others looking away and talking to each other. He slips off his ripped pants and slips on the new pair, putting his shirt on and then walking back to the group.

“Hey, Lil’un. So we have a surprise for you.” Rex tells him joyfully, making CT-7707 wonder as to what the surprise could be. He’s sure that it won’t be like the mean surprises that he used to get. “A s-s-surprise? For me?” They all nod. This is obviously a joint surprise. Rex crouches down in front of him and smiles. “It was Fives’ idea first, but then we all agreed on it, your name. Stutter.” CT-7707.. no… Stutter stares at them with wide eyes, and Fives walks forward excitedly. “I hope you like it!! I figured that the name Stutter would make you feel better about it, and it just fits you. Also I am like the all time master of name choosing.” He gets a slap from Echo for that, but Stutter still doesn’t move, Rex frowns. “We all agreed that when we think of you, that name fits. But if you don’t like it—“ Rex can’t finish because Stutter slams into him with a hug, then he does the same to Fives. “Th-Thank you, Th-Thank you Th-Thank you!!!” He chants as he goes around hugging everyone, even Crosshair smiles and hugs him. 

Rex smiles. “No thanks necessary, everyone deserves a name, especially a sweet little Vod’ika like you.” Stutter smiles happily as Rex stands up and takes his hand. “Now, let’s get some food, yeah?” “YEAH!!!” Everyone chuckles at Wreckers enthusiasm. “Wrecker's right!! Let's go!!” Jesse yells in agreement, making everyone cheer as well.

“Knock knock.” Everyone turns to see Cody walking in with a fresh set of uniform. Rex sighs in relief. “Thanks Cod’ika. We were just about to leave for the messhall, so good timing.” Rex says. And Cody chuckles. “Of course, can’t let you just walk around half naked now can we?” Cody laughs and passes the uniform to Rex, who moves to the corner and quickly changes. Once he’s done he walks back. “Alright, let’s head to the mess hall.” Rex freezes and turns to Cody. “Also, Codes. We gave our young brother a name, It’s Stutter, Fives came up with it.” Cody gets a smile as he kneels down towards Stutter. “So, what do you think of the name?” Stutter smiles widely. “I love it!!” Cody ruffles his hair. “That's great!! Now, let's get you some food.” Stutter nods as he grabs onto Rex’s hand, the seven year old Cadet looking down with a smile, at his four year old brother.

Everyone nods and follows them out, who holds Stutters hand. They all walk through the halls, getting stares from everyone, but they are actually too happy to notice. Once they get in there, everyone heads over to get their food, and Rex helps out Stutter. “There, now let's go sit.” They all sit down, but after a few minutes of eating, they notice that Stutter is just staring at them. “Is something wrong, Stutter?” Rex asks, making Stutter blink a couple of times before replying. “I-It’s just that my prev-previous batch-batchmates w-w-would push my f-food onto the fl-floor, so p-part of me was-s expe-expecting that to...neverm-m-mind, sorry.” Stutter picks up his fork and starts  to eat his food, but then his stomach twists when he hears the all too familiar voices of his previous batchmates. 

He startles and hides behind Rex, who looks confused but then quickly realises what the matter is when he sees four cadets coming towards them. “Duse? Wow, I would have thought that you would have been decommissioned the moment that the Kaminoans found out that you are a monster.” The leader of their batch, Clank, smirks when he sees Stutter shaking. Rex sees red, holding Stutter close and hiding him from them. 

 Rex growls, making them jump when they see him slightly transform. He sprouts a little bit of fur, teeth are sharper, ears a little pointier as he gets a little bigger, making his uniform stretch enough to be noticeable, but not enough to completely rip. Cody places a hand on his shoulder to calm him enough to keep him from fully transforming, then he looks at the four cadets. “I think it’s time that you leave. Now. And I suggest that you leave him alone from now on.” Clank snorts and crosses his arms. 

“Who, CT-7707? I didn’t even think that he existed or mattered.” Clank retorts, obviously enjoying this. Rex groans, trying as hard as he can not to completely transform. Crosshair glares at them “He has a name.” “Yeah, it’s Stutter!” Fives adds, making the batch look disgusted and then Clank laughs, the others doing the same “That’s a great name, because now he will never forget why he sounds so stupid whenever he opens his mouth.”

“You’re the only one here who sounds stupid.” Echo’s comeback angers the Cadet, but when Clank starts to walk forward, Wrecker stands up and gets in his way, just standing there. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Reg.” He warns, making the Cadet pale a little, but pretends that he isn’t bothered by him. “Tch, come on guys, let’s get out of here.” Clank tells them, walking past the table and attempting to knock Stutter’s food onto the floor, but Hunter can sense what he is about to do, so Hunter grabs his arm and pushes it away. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Clank only glares at him and goes to walk away, but before they leave, Clank just has to open his mouth again. “He’s such a defect, he’ll be decommissioned soon, so he won’t matter much more.” It’s said barely above a whisper, but Hunter and Rex hear him loud and clear. Unfortunately, Stutter also heard what he said, making him tear up and start crying. Rex growls and has to run out of the mess hall to transform, he wishes he could have stayed, but he didn’t want to scare Stutter with his transformation and it's just not very good for him to be seen.

Hunter quickly walks over and pulls Stutter close, when suddenly a whole tray of food goes flying and hits the four cadets, everyone turns to see Crosshair standing up, he has the most evil glare on his face. “I don’t know what you just said, but you made my baby brother cry, and no one messes with my brothers, ever!” Stutter sniffles and looks up at Crosshair, eyes widening when he realizes what was just said, Crosshair walks over and gives Stutter his best smile. He gently wipes Stutter’s tears away. “He doesn’t deserve brothers!!” Clank yells, making Crosshair tense up, and they run as Hunter has to hold Crosshair back from chasing after them. “Yeah!! You better run!!” Fives yells as Kix and Jesse blow raspberries at their retreating forms.

“Yeah!!! Don’t come back, ya Regs!!” Wrecker yells as Echo cheers. “Yeah, ya sorry excuses for Vod’e!” Echo and Wrecker both high five as Cody chuckles, then he looks towards the door. “Okay, we need to go find Rex.” Then he turns to Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix. “Okay, you four have training, so we’ll see you after.” The four groan, but nod. Fives pulls Stutter into a hug. “We’ll see you later. Vod’ika.” 

The other three join in on the hug as well, and nod. “Yep!” “Definitely.” “as soon as training is over.” Then they all run out of the messhall as Cody takes Stutter’s hand, and him and the bad batch walk out slowly, immediately seeing two boots on opposite sides of the hall, Cody sighs. “Rex was definitely transforming, he probably went back to your guys’ barracks.” The bad batch nod and they all start walking, but Wrecker runs up to Stutter. “Would you...uh, like to ride on my shoulders?” Stutter doesn’t know what he means, but he nods. Wrecker smiles and quickly scoops Stutter up, quickly throwing him up and onto his shoulders. Stutter squeals with excitement as he laughs, making everyone smile.

He lays his chin on the top of Wreckers head as they walk, humming and closing his eyes as he relaxes. He finds that he likes having brothers, good brothers. “My brothers.” He mumbles quietly, getting a large smile, but Hunter hears it. “Yep! We're your brothers, so is Jesse, Kix, Fives and Echo. And also Rex and Cody.” Stutter nods. “They are your brothers too, we’re all brothers now.” Hunter gets a surprised look, and so do the others, but then he smiles. “Yeah, you brought us together, and now we are all brothers, our little group of brothers.” Cody smiles as he listens to the conversation, he can’t believe that one little Cadet could bring together so many different brothers. They have a small family now.

They make it to the bad batch’s barracks, seeing torn clothes once they start to get closer, Cody knocks. “Rex! Are you there?” Cody waits for a few seconds, when-- “Yeah! I’m here.” Cody smiles and types in the code, walking into the room, followed by the bad batch and Stutter. They see Rex, fully transformed, torn uniform everywhere, sitting slumped against the wall with his head hung low. He looks up and his tears reflect in the light. Stutter is the first one to  run over and hug him, after jumping off of Wreckers shoulders, softly crying. Rex runs a hand over the back of his head, shushing him.

“It’s okay, they’re gone now. We’ll be here for you.” Rex tells him, but Stutter doesn’t stop crying. “Hey, you alright, Lil’un--?” “I-It hurts. I feel re-really uncom-uncomfortable.” Rex furrows his eyebrows for a moment, then he notices Stutter shifting and changing. “Crap, he’s transforming. Can you guys leave us for a few minutes please?” They all nod and turn, walking out the door and closing it behind them. Rex frowns, hating that Stutter is in so much pain.

“R-Rex, it hu-hurts. Why do-does i-it hURT, AHH!!” Stutter yells as he changes and transforms, bones cracking, fur sprouting and body growing, his face elongating into a snout.  Rex knows the pain, that there isn’t much to stop it. Even painkillers don’t help, neither do bacta patches for the muscle pain. He rubs Stutter’s back as he writhes and whines, nearly fully transformed. “Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Rex comforts Stutter as much as he can, pulling off the torn pieces of uniform. Stutter whines when the transformation finishes. “I’m s-sorry, R-Rex. I-I can’t con-control it.” Stutter whimpers, nuzzling into Rex’s chest, who runs a hand up and down his back. 

“Don’t worry, Stut’ika. I couldn’t control it very well for a while. Emotions are a strong trigger for it, so it can get difficult sometimes, but I’ll be right here for you, always.” Stutter nods, slightly understanding a little more. Rex smiles as he nuzzles the top of Stutter’s head with his chin. “I still have a hard time controlling it, like today in the messhall. It does get easier to hold it back though, I promise.” Stutter smiles with relief, but then looks up at Rex with sad eyes. “C-Can the oth-others come back in n-now?” 

Rex smiles and nods “Of course they can. Guys! You can come back in now!” He calls to the others, who are standing right outside. The door slides open and both the bad batch and Cody walk back in. He smiles as he walks over to Stutter and pets his head, smiling softly as the bad batch walk over. Wecker stares at Stutter, making the young wolf chuckle. “D-Do you wa-want to feel my f-fur?” Wrecker nods excitedly as he gently rubs Stutter’s arm, humming as he feels his fur, Stutter hums at the feeling as well, then Cody smiles. “So, I got you transferred away from that squad of yours, and to mine and Rex’s.” Stutter and Rex both perk up, as the bad batch smile. 

“And if those di'kutla batchmates give you anymore trouble, you come to us and we’ll take care of ‘em!” Crosshair reassures Stutter, and his other three brothers cheer, Stutter tears up and hugs Rex, knowing he’s going to be part of his squad now. Rex chuckles as the door opens and 99 walks in. 

“Hey, boys. How is everyone doing after last night? I baked some cookies!” Rex smiles. “We named him Stutter!” He gestures to Stutter. “And he’ll never have to see his old batchmates ever again, since he’s in my squad now!!” 99 gets a wide smile as he sets the container of cookies down and walks over to Stutter, running hand through his fur. “That's very good, we should get the other four and celebrate.” Cody shakes his head. “99, they’re in train--” “I don’t care, we all know that you have leeway with the longnecks, go get them.” Cody sighs, but chuckles and runs out the door. 99 turns to  see Wrecker trying to  snatch a cookie, and promptly stops him. “Wrecker, you have to be patient.” Wrecker pouts, but walks back over to Stutter and sits beside him and Rex. 

After a few minutes, Cody returns with Fives, Echo, Jesse and Kix. Fives squalls and runs over, hugging Stutter as Rex sets him down. “Ha! You’ll never have to see those nobodies ever again!!” Stutter chuckles and hugs Fives back, as 99 walks over. “Here, you can have the first cookie, Stutter!” Stutter smiles and grabs one, as everyone congratulates him. They all have a little party, and Stutter finds that becoming a werewolf is the best thing that's ever happened to him.

Mando’a translations:

Duse- rubbish, waste - lit. unclean things

di'kutla-useless, stupid, worthless

He reaches in and pulls out a piece of chocolate, he places it in his mouth and hums, then he starts digging in. He knows he’s probably overindulging, but he doesn’t care, it’s been too long since he’s had the sweet delicious taste of candy.

xxx

Kanan and Ezra walk through chopper base, they are heading to training when-- “Whooo!!!” They both freeze as they see Stutter go running by with a bucket of paint. “What the--” Kanan whispers, as both him and Ezra go running. They turn round the corner, running into the landing bay, seeing Stutter splattering purple paint all over an Y-Wing. Everyone is confused. They’ve never seen this much energy in an old clone before. Stutter is unable to paint right, making a mess everywhere. Ezra can’t help but hold back laughter, while Kanan just raises an eyebrow.

 Stutter lets his craziness run wild, messily painting Tookas all over the ship, creating, what he thinks in his mind, a masterpiece. “Fin-Finished!!! Wh-What d’you g-g-guys think?!” Stutter gestures to the purple massacred ship. Ezra takes a moment to compose himself, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. “I think it looks great, Stutter! What do you think, Kanan?” Ezra smiles widely at Kanan, making the Jedi look down at him with a slightly scrunched up face, turning to Stutter with a smile “It’s, uh...very expressive and colourful.” 

Stutter smiles, lips twitch slightly, so does his eye. Kanan and Ezra both get concerned looks, but before they can ask what’s wrong, Stutter runs past them, yelling-- “NYOOOM!!” and running off. Kanan and Ezra go running after him, chasing him around the base. “How much energy does an old man have?!” Ezra yells, Kanan shrugging and sighing. “Usually, not this much.” Stutter has run pretty far ahead, but he slows down a little, almost to a jogging pace.

Kanan and Ezra catch up a little, seeing Stutter transforming as he limps along, not stopping. Though he should, because his legs are rearranging and cracking into haunches, making him stumble a little, but regains his balance. Fur has sprouted all over his much larger body, civilian clothes ripping to shreds, save for his pants. A tail grows long and swishy as his face elongates into a snout.

He growls a bit, but then once it finishes he goes running, Kanan and Ezra’s eyes both widen, and they look at eachother. “I think we might need help.” Ezra whispers, and Kanan nods, then he pulls out his comlink. “Hera, come in.” It’s only a few seconds when he gets an answer. “Yes, Kanan. What is it?” “We need help, something’s wrong with Stutter, and he’s transformed and is running all over the base!” 

“What! Is he hurting anyone?” Hera asks, but Kanan sighs. “No, of course not, he just seems to be… I don’t know, full of energy.” Hera hums. “I’m not sure, but me, Sabine and Zeb can come help catch him.” Kanan smiles and breathes a sigh of relief. “Thanks Hera, I just… He seems happy right now. I’m just not sure what is going on.” “We’ll figure it out, Rex and the others should also be back soon, so they can help.” Kanan nods. “Roger that, we’re still near the landing bay, but I’m not sure how long till we’re far away.” Kanan turns the comm off as he continues to run after Stutter, followed by Ezra.

xxx

Rex and the others all get off the ship, happy to have completed the mission. “Yeah!! Another mission completed!!” Wrecker yells Excitedly, making everyone smile, even Crosshair. “Calm down, Wrecker. This isn’t by far our first--” Everyone freezes as they see the massacred Y-wing. “What the kriff.” Hunter whispers, then he and the others notice the Tooka. “Stutter did this?” Jesse asks, and Rex’s eyes get a confused look, then Fives pales. “Hey, Wrecker. Did you not have a stash of candy hidden in your bunk? A large stash?” Wrecker laughs excitedly. “Yeah, why--” He freezes as the realization dawns on everyone. “Uh oh, that is not good.” Tech says, as Rex facepalms.

“Shit, come on, let's go find him.” Rex tells them, and they all sigh. “Wrecker, you know how Stutter is with candy.” Hunter scolds, but Wrecker shrugs. “It's been in there since before we rescued him, I forgot.” Hunter sighs, but Rex smiles. “Hey, it’s not your fault, Wrecker. At least he might have had some fun, this is the first time he’s drawn since…” Everyone nods in understanding, knowing that Rex is referring back to order 66--

“INCOMING!!” The sound of Ezra yelling makes them turn to see a giant blur of grey and brown charging towards them. Their eyes widen and Rex suddenly shouts-- “Move!!!” They all do so, jumping out of the way as far as they can, hearing the heavy footsteps run past them, Stutter laugher and acting downright crazy.

Rex lets out a groan as he stands up, hearing Fives laughing his ass off as he floats above them, whispering under his breath. “I’m getting too old for this.” The rest of the bad batch get up, Crosshair laughing at his baby brother. “Aren’t we all.” “Well, I’m not.” They all glare at Fives, who shrinks down, “Sorry.” He whispers, getting a sad and almost scared look. He floats down and both Jesse and Echo pat him on the back. “It’s okay, we know ya didn’t mean it.” Echo tells him, making Fives smile at them, almost sadly as the others nod as well.

A moment later, the ghost crew runs up to them, Ezra stops right next to Rex, out of breath. Rex chuckles and pats the sixteen year old’s head “You alright there, kiddo?” Ezra holds his ribs, obviously fighting a stitch. “We--....We’ve been... chasing him…. for an hour. How is he so fast? He’s nearly as old as you, right? Like, you’re fifty years old aren’t you?” Ezra is so out of breath, but soon recovers, so do the others.

Rex laughs and rubs the back of his neck “Well, we make look old, but we are actually only half our age. Stutter is only twenty five years old.” Ezra’s eyes widen, then his face heats up in embarrassment “Oh, sorry, I-I didn’t mean to call you old.” Rex smiles sweetly, about to talk, but Tech starts talking “No need to be sorry, us clones all have accelerated aging, so it is very often that we are mistaken to be older than we actually are. Studies say that--” “Shut up, Nerd. we know, you love to spout out facts. But now’s not the time.” Crosshair says, nudging Tech’s shoulder and then signalling in the direction that Stutter ran off to.

Rex sighs as Kanan looks over at him. “What is wrong with Stutter?” Rex barks out a laugh, as the others smile. “Stutter can’t handle sugar very well, and it seems that he ate Wreckers stash, so he’s just on a sugar rush. It’s happened a few times before.” Kanan internally facepalms, how was he so dumb not to think of that. “How did I not think of that? So this has happened before?” Rex nods as Crosshair chuckles. “Yep, the first time our poor Vod threw up on Kix’s shoes, as we were told. We..uh..weren’t there.” Crosshair frowns, trying to forget about what they had missed while they were separated from their Vod’e. Jesse smirks. “I was, it was hilarious, Kix was so grossed out, ha.” Everyone gets sad looks when he s[eaks about their missing Vod, but they brush them away for now.

Kanan chuckles. “He is fast, even when he was in his human form.” Rex nods. “Yeah, Stutter seems to get inhuman speed when he has a sugar rush, we still don’t understand it.” He then turns in the direction Stutter had gone. “Hey, Stutter! We’re back!!” They all wait a few minutes, as Sabine and Zeb leave. Then-- “R-Rex!!!” Stutter comes bolting around the corner, making Rex’s eyes widen. “Stutter! Wait, no--” Stutter slams into Rex, unable to stop and he falls on top of him, Then he quickly jumps up and starts running again. Rex sits up and rubs his head as the others bust a gut laughing.

“How long until he’s going to crash?” Hera asks, making Rex groan. “Matters how much candy he ate, it could be a bit though. Usually he’ll slow down a lot, then crash on the nearest person sitting. It’s pretty cute actually.” Rex tells them, and Echo nods. “Yeah, although it’s also a bit sad, when he gets a stomach ache in the end, but he’s always okay.” Rex smiles at Echo as he stands up as he stretches. “Lets go look for him, I can also transform so at least one of us can keep up with him.” They all nod, but Ezra looks up at Rex, frowning a little.”Are you comfortable with transforming in front of us?” Rex nods his head, returning the smile.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind at all.” Then follow Rex as he walks to Stutter’s room. They find all sorts of candy wrappers on the floor as Rex starts peeling off his armor. “Jeez, how much candy did you have Wrecker?” Kanan asks, and Wrecker shrugs. “I had saved credits for a long time to buy that big stash, so a lot.” Everyone groans, then Rex sighs. “I’m going to  transform now, do you guys want to leave?” Everyone shakes their heads. “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, Ori’Vod.” Hunter reassures him, then Kanan looks over with a smile. “As long as you’re comfortable.” Rex nods then he groans as he starts to transform.

Cracking is heard as he grows bigger, ears moving to the top of his head and becoming more pointed. Grey fur grows everywhere as his face elongates, white fur growing where his beard once was, and his bones rearrange. A long, fluffy tail grows from his backside, and swishes as he stands up straight and stretches. “It’s been a bit.” He whispers sadly, he hadn’t transformed since… since he had to fight a chip controlled Stutter, it’s bringing back the memories now. He feels a pat on his side, as he looks down to see Hunter. “How ya doing Rex.” Rex smiles back with sharp teeth. “Good, Hunter. I’m good.”

Rex stretches again and looks around, then he sees Ezra staring straight at him. Rex then realises that he has never seen him transform up close before. “It’s a little scarier up close.” He says quietly, not wanting to offend Rex or make him feel bad. Rex lets out a small nervous laugh. “Y-Yeah, I guess it  is.” Rex understands what he means, but because he himself is a werewolf, he’s never really been freaked out or afraid of when Stutter has transformed right next to him while he’s still human. Though the first few times that he ever transformed, he was afraid-- no, terrified of himself.

A moment later, Stutter pokes his head around the corner in search of more candy, but when he can’t find any, he just whines but then starts laughing straight after, letting out a “N-Nope.” as he runs off again. Rex sighs, facepalming “This’ll be fun.” He says, making the others chuckle. “Go and do what you need to do, Rex. We’ll stay here and clean up.” Hunter pats Rex’s back with a smile and Rex nods. “Thanks, guys. I’ll be back soon, hopefully…” Rex sighs again before running out of the room and following Stutter’s scent.

He finds that Stutter has run back to the landing bay to where the purple Y-Wing is once again being attacked with paint. Rex shakes his head and laughs,  watching as the twenty five year old goes absolutely wild and hyperactive. Rex swears that Stutter must be getting more paint on himself than the ship. He watches for a few moments more before he calls over to Stutter. “Stut’ika!”

The grey and brown wolf immediately stops at the sound of his nickname, turning around and smiling widely. “R-R-Rex!!” He yells back, running towards his Ori’Vod, almost tripping over when his mind races ahead of his body, unable to process the few crates that are lying around. Stutter reaches Rex and immediately slams himself into him. Rex chuckles, feeling Stutter lean into him. The poor Vod’ika feels so heavy in his arms, body falling almost completely limp into him, so Rex sits down against a wall, pulling Stutter up into his lap and into a more comfortable position.

Stutter starts to subconsciously play with the fur on Rex’s chest, making Rex hum and Stutter smiles at the comforting vibrations. “Y-You’re so f-fluffy, Ori-Ori’Vod.” Rex holds back laughter, instead he rubs the fluffier fur on Stutter’s head, making Stutter hum at the nice feeling, but he immediately whines. Rex’s eyes widen, not sure what has just caused him to sound in pain--

Stutter gags once before puking onto Rex, trickling down his torso and into his lap. Rex runs a hand up and down Stutter’s back. “R-Rex, I-I-I d-don’t fe-feel well.” He’s cut off by a whimper, throwing up a little more. “Shh, it’s alright. It’s okay.” Rex says comfortingly as Stutter chokes out the last bit of puke. Stutter looks at Rex, an apologetic and groggy look in his yellow eyes. “S-Sorry, R-Rex.” He whines a little, feeling bad for throwing up, but then everything goes black.

xxx

Rex hears a whimper as Stutter wakes up again, he’s only been sleeping for ten minutes. Rex smiles softly at him, as Stutter looks up. “You want to get cleaned up now?” Stutter nods, and Rex slowly stands up, holding Stutter bridal style in his arms, he starts heading to the refresher nearest to them. Stutter smiles softly. “Y-You car-carried me like th-this when we first m-m-met, ‘member.” He mumbles, making Rex smile. “Yeah, I remember. You were much easier to carry back then.” Stutter huffs, then whimpers softly as he clutches his stomach and nuzzles into Rex.

Rex sighs softly as he stops at the chopper base communal showers, it’s the only shower big enough for both their werewolf forms. He opens the door and ducks in, gently sitting Stutter down against a wall, right next to a shower. Then he gets it started and makes sure the water is warm, just how Stutter likes it. “There, ready?” He asks, and Stutter nods as Rex gently lifts him up, then he sets them both down in the shower.

Stutter hums as the warm water wets his fur, and Rex smiles as he starts scrubbing the puke out of Stutter’s fur. He grabs a small bottle of shampoo, it’s made for fur. They have some in every shower on Chopper base, just in case. He scrubs it into Stutter’s fur, making sure to be gentle near his head, where it’s still healing.

Stutter sighs as he clutches his stomach. “M’sorry for hur-hurting you… last time w-we were like th-this.” Rex freezes, then he sighs as the soap rinses out of Stutters fur. “Don’t be sorry, you had no control over the situation. I know you wouldn’t have hurt me if you were in control.” Stutter sighs and looks down, making Rex frown as he starts on his own fur.

Stutter starts to fall asleep again, and Rex smiles softly as he finishes washing himself, getting as much of the puke off of his pants as he can before turning the shower off. “Ready to get back to the others?” He asks as he carries Stutter over to a dryer spot, setting him down and grabbing some towels. “Y-Yeah… are th-they mad? Bec-Because I did th-this?” Rex sighs as he starts drying Stutter off, his fur poofing up quite a bit.

“No, no ones mad. We know it’s been a long time since you’ve had candy, and Wrecker’s stash had tempted you.” Stutter nods, and then Rex chuckles. “It was actually really nice to see you so happy, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen you like that.” Stutter chuckles hoursely. “Cr-Crazy?” He asks, and Rex nods. “Yeah, there was a long time we thought we would never get the chance to chase after you on a sugar rush again. So it’s nice. Reminds me of back then.” Stutter nods as Rex starts drying himself off, and he whimpers and clutches his stomach.

Rex feels worried and frowns. “Everything alright? Do you feel sick again?” Stutter nods, whimpering and leaning over to the side, away from Rex this time. Stutter pukes some more, feeling a comforting hand rub his back soothingly until he is dry heaving. “S-Sorry.” Stutter sits back against the wall, rubbing one side of his face with his hand, feeling so exhausted. Rex crouches down and wipes the puke off of Stutter’s snout. “It’s alright, Stut’ika. You don’t need to apologise for something that you can’t control.”

Stutter laughs dryly, wincing at the pain in his stomach “W-Well I was th-the one who got us in this pred-pred-predicament in the fi-first place, s-since I ate Wr-Wrecker’s entire st-stash of candy all i-in one go.” Rex smiles sadly, nuzzling the side of Stutter’s face and licking it a little, an affectionate gesture. “It’s not a problem at all. Like I said, it’s been years since you’ve had candy, so it’s okay that you’ve over indulged. And as long as you enjoyed it in the moment, then that is all that matters.”

Stutter nods, knowing that what Rex is saying is right, but he still feels so bad for letting himself get so sick. He gives Rex a hug, nuzzling into his fur and letting out a yawn. “Shall we go back to the others now?” Rex asks softly and Stutter nods, already wrapping his arms around Rex’s neck, letting Rex know that he’s ready to be picked up and carried back to his room. Rex scoops him up bridal style, then walks out of the showers and heads towards Stutter’s room.

He sees other rebels staring at the both of them, more in shock rather than fear or disgust. It makes a nice change for Stutter though, he was always being bullied by stormtroopers. It was bad enough having a stutter, but being a werewolf too? It was horrible, and he’s glad that he’s no longer a part of that stupid empire.

They both finally get to his room and walk in, seeing the blankets and pillows around all over the floor, creating a giant bed for them to all have-- “A c-cuddle p-pile?” Stutter’s eyes light up, happy that they are going to have a big cuddle pile. It’s been a long time since he’s had one. “Do y-you guys re-really w-want to? A-A-After...A-After all th-that I-I d-d-id.” Stutter’s nervousness is making him stutter more, his ears pressing back when he looks at everyone. They all frown, knowing that he’s talking about when he was unwillingly serving the empire.

Rex lays him down, then he sighs. “We already told you, it’s not your fault. It was the chip.” Stutter frowns, then he growls. “I st-still did i-it.” Rex sighs as the others do as well, they know that the can’t possibly understand what Stutter ws going through, none of the bad batch’s chips worked except for Wrecker’s and Crosshairs, Fives was a ghost, Jesse’s, Rex’s and Wrecker’s only worked for a little while, and even Crosshair wasn’t chipped for half as long as Stutter was. “Look, Stutter. None of us know exactly what you’re going through, but you need to believe us, none of what you did was your fault.” Hunter walks over and sits down beside Stutter, rubbing his back.

“We should have known you were alive, we should have figured it out somehow--” “We might have if I hadn’t of guessed you were dead because of your armor! It was dumb, just because they were throwing out your armor.” Crosshair growls, making Stutter flinch, and Rex and the others sigh. “Alright, it’s no one's fault, so please just stop blaming yourself, Crosshair. I could blame myself too, since I knew about the chips, but didn’t remember until too late.” Crosshair nods, then Fives flies closer to Stutter.

“It wasn’t your fault, the chip completely takes over your mind. Shit, when we found you, you didn’t even remember your name, Stut’ika. And we all know how much you treasure your name, you did nothing wro--” “I kil-killed kids, Fives! Inno-Inno-Innocent children no ol-older than ten, so-some as young as thr-three years o-old.” Stutter completely breaks down, crying into his hand as he clutches his stomach with the other, that feels like it’s trying to kill him. He feels like throwing up again, but he has already rid everything from his stomach, so he ends up breathing quickly as his body fights him to make him throw up again.

Rex feels like crying too. He can’t believe that he went through what he did for so long. He hates that the empire forced his Stut’ika to do things against his will. Rex knows what it's like, to be controlled by the chip and follow orders that are wrong. The worst part is...he knew they were wrong but he couldn’t stop. Rex sees Hunter sitting a little too close to Stutter, so he gently taps his shoulder, gesturing for Hunter to shuffle away.

Werewolves tend to lash out in one way or another when someone invades their personal space and gets too close. They only do this when they feel strong emotions such as intense sadness, stress, worry, fear, anxiety or pain. Rex knows this because he bit Kix. He knows that Kix was only trying to patch up his wounds, but he whipped his head to the side and clamped his jaw down on Kix’s arm. They thought that nothing would happen, but an hour later, Kix drops his datapad and falls to his knees, clutching his stomach and groaning in pain. That’s when he grew bigger, brown fur sprouted out as his armour burst off and blacks ripped.

Rex and Stutter are always careful not to let that happen again, and they hope Kix won’t let that happen either, wherever he may be… Rex is quickly brought out of his thoughts when Stutter launches himself into Rex, hugging him tightly and sobbing. It’s a sign that they don’t mind being touched, so Rex puts his arms around Stutter and holds him close, laying down and nuzzling Stutter’s head as he continues to cry.

Stutter hates that he’s so weak. It brings back all of his horrible memories of his batchmates and the things that he was told by the empire. He lets the tears fall and soak into Rex’s fur, knowing that he doesn’t mind. He feels like the entire weight of the galaxy has been put on his shoulders, bringing him down and imprinting all of his horrible memories permanently into his mind. It’s just… all too...much, and--

xxx

Stutter hums softly as he starts to wake up, his eyes fluttering open as he feels soft fur under him. He groans as his back and legs ache, and so does his stomach, he’s definitely feeling the effects of that sugar rush now. He sees that he’s laying on top of Rex, who’s still in his werewolf form, sleeping.

Stutter smiles softly as he looks around to see that his brothers are all in a cuddle pile, they must have arranged it once he fell asleep. Stutter carefully moves off of Rex and to the blankets, laying between him and Crosshair, he whimpers softly as he clutches at his stomach, it’s not in as much pain as it was before, but he still has a pretty big stomach ache. He doesn’t dare wake any of his brothers though, he had already caused enough trouble during his sugar rush, and then freaking out and breaking down after.

He curls up and closes his eyes, trying to get some more sleep when-- “Stutter? You awake Vod’ika?” Stutter opens his eyes and turns over, seeing Crosshair looking at him. Stutter flinches. “So-Sorry, did I wa-wake you?” Stutter asks quietly, as not to wake the rest of his brothers, getting a guilty look. But Crosshair shakes his head, ruffling Stutters hair like he always used to. “No, I was already awake when you moved off of Rex. Are you okay?” Crosshair has a soft tone, one he always reserves for the people he cares about most, his brothers.

Stutter frowns and shakes his head. “N-No, I’m so so-sorry for last ni-night, the sug-sugar rush then frea-freaking ou--” “Don’t apologize, It’s perfectly fine.” Stutter nods, running a hand through his grey hair, it still has speckles of brown in it. “I still sh-shouldn’t have bro-broken down like th-that, I’m not a ch-child any-anymore.” Crosshair lets out a quiet laugh, making Stutter raise an eyebrow at him. “Stut’ika, no matter how old you get, you are going to act like a kid, it’s just your personality.” Stutter glares, but smiles softly. “Y-Yeah, prob-probably also me being mes-messed up from my batch-batchmates, and the em-empire.” Crosshair frowns. “We’re all messed up, there’s nothing wrong with you though, as I have said many times before. You are perfect just the way you are.” Stutter frowns and looks away.

“Not any-anymore, I killed ki-kids. I’m D-Duse like my batch-batchmates had said.” Stutter whispers, but then Crosshair growls. “No! Never, ever call yourself that, you are not a waste! Not at all, and I don’t want to ever hear you call yourself that ever again, understood!” Stutter flinches, but nods, and Crosshair sighs. “Have I told you about what I did in the empire?” Stutter shakes his head. “N-No.” Crosshair sighs. “My chip partly activated, and I almost killed Caleb when he was a padawan.” Stutter’s eyes widen as he looks at Crosshair, who sighs.

“Then they caught me and my brothers, and they took me and strengthened my chip. I shot Wrecker when they were escaping, and almost killed our baby sister, Omega, you haven’t met her yet. She’s a female clone, no double aging. She works on the other base with Organa.” Stutter nods. “Y-You… you al-almost kill-killed her, and shot Wr-Wrecker?” Crosshair nods then he continues. “I killed innocent Civilians, and almost disintegrated the boys. Don’t ask.” Crosshair sighs, trying to push the memories away, but then he looks over at Stutter. He smiles softly, reaching over and pulling Stutter close. “My point is that I did bad things too, and I’m the closest to knowing how you feel, even if I wasn’t chipped as long as you, or killed kids. I know it’s hard, but just like me, you have us. Always and forever, we will stand beside you.”

Stutter tears up, cuddling into Crosshair and lets out a happy hum of relief. Sometimes, a lot of times, he needs to hear those words, to be told that. “Th-Thank you, i-it’s hard to believe it th-though, after all I’ve be-been thr-through. But it’s ni-nice to hear som-someone telling m-me that.” Stutter hugs Crosshair a little tighter, feeling Crosshair place his forehead against his. “And we’ll tell you as many times as you want. Just remember, you are you. Stutter. Our Vod’ika. No one else, just you.”

Stutter pulls away and feels his lips form into a smile, but then he grimaces and makes a small noise of discomfort, placing a hand on his stomach again. Crosshair frowns with worry “What’s wrong? Do you have a belly ache?” Stutter nods, forcing a smile onto his face. “Y-Yeah, I’m fi-fine.” That’s a lie and Crosshair can tell when Stutter curls up in pain.

Crosshair pulls him close and gently massages his stomach, something they’ve had to do in the past. Stutter feels a little embarrassed that he’s in so much pain that Crosshair is comforting him in the same way he did when they were younger. He won’t lie, it does feel nice, but he doesn’t want to burden Crosshair with his needs “I’m a b-bit too old for th-this Cross.” He says and Crosshair shrugs, continuing. “I don’t think that you are too old for anything. Wrecker still has his Lula, despite him being a fully grown adult now.” Crosshair says, making Stutter softly chuckle, then hum as he feels the effect of Crosshair rubbing his stomach getting to work in making him feel better.

There’s suddenly a shuffling right next to him, making him look to the side to see Rex waking up, who lets out a big yawn. He groggily opens his yellow eyes, which look at Stutter with pure gentleness and kindness. “Mornin’, Stut’ika. You’re human again, how’re you feeling? Still got a stomach ache?” He asks, seeing Crosshair rubbing Stutter’s stomach comfortingly. Stutter nods. “Y-Yeah, but not as ba-bad as y-yesterday.” Stutter smiles as he runs a hand along the fur on Rex’s arm, humming contently “Yo-You haven’t tran-transformed back y-yet?”

Rex looks at Stutter and then down at himself “Ah, yeah. I must’ve just been so subconsciously worried about you that I haven’t been able to transform back yet.” Stutter feels bad when Rex tells him that “S-Sorry, Rex. I-I didn’t mean to w-worry you.” Rex shakes his head and ruffles Stutter’s hair. “No need to apologise, Stut’ika. As long as you are okay now, that is all that matters.” Rex tells him, nuzzling his hair and licking it a few times.

Some moments pass before Rex starts to shrink and transform back to normal. His bones rearrange and fur disappears until he is left bare chested, only wearing his torn pants. The others wake up too, stretching as they sit up and smile, seeing Rex and Stutter both back to human. There’s going to be many times like these, they all know that, but they’ll be there for him, no matter what.