Darth Maul had like, the reverse of a spiritual enlightenment trip. Like instead of going into the woods to find inner peace, he went into the trash compactor to find mental illness.
Read here on Ao3!
ANGST-PRIL 2024 | DAY 3 | PROMPT 3: BROKEN HEARTED
RATED: T | WORDS: 1109 | SUMMARY: Crosshair tells Omega about Mayday. | CHARACTER FOCUS: Crosshair, Omega
“What happened?” Omega asks.
Crosshair doesn’t move, doesn’t shift his gaze to the child sitting behind the grate of his cell door. He keeps his focus on the ceiling above him, where the light has a barely discernible flicker. “What do you mean, what happened?” he asks, hoping that the venom in his tone will make her recant the question.
But he isn’t surprised when she only clarifies, “Why did you turn against the Empire?”
Omega has been nothing if not persistent these past few weeks, regularly sneaking her way down to talk to him. She does most of the talking, while he pretends he’s not listening, and wonders if she will take the hint and stay away.
To his frustration, Omega takes the hint and blatantly ignores it.
“It doesn’t matter,” Crosshair growls.
Omega shifts so that she is kneeling in front of the door, facing him full on. “It must’ve been something terrible. You seemed so sure on Kamino.”
They let him die. The unspoken words taste bitter, so he verbalizes something less distasteful. “It pains me to say that Hunter was right. We are nothing but a number to them. Disposable. You’ve seen the labs here.”
The kid frowns. “Realizing Hunter was right doesn’t put you in a cell,” she observes.
“I already told you, it doesn’t matter,” Crosshair tells her.
“It matters to me.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my brother,” Omega states. “What happens to you – what happened to you – matters.”
An infinite number of retorts line up Crosshair’s throat. Awful, horrid things that he is sure will finally drive Omega away, make her hate him the way he deserves. Keep her safe the way she deserves. Safe from him. Safe from attachment and familial duty.
But not a single one of them comes out.
“His name was Mayday.”
Omega is quiet for a moment. “What happened to him?”
“He died.”
Another meaningful pause. “The Empire killed him?”
“They couldn’t waste precious medical supplies on a disposable meat droid,” Crosshair snaps. Blistering rage burns glacial in his veins. “So I killed the officer who stood by and watched him die.” Crosshair turns his head to look at Omega, who stares back with wide eyes. “That’s what happened. That’s why I’m here.”
He hates the sympathy that washes over Omega’s transparent expression. He does not want her pity or her love. He wants her to leave him alone.
Funny, isn’t it? How these clones around you keep disappearing?
“Go,” Crosshair says, turning away. “I don’t want you to come back.”
He can feel Omega watching him, hear that she hasn’t moved away. Finally, she sighs, a long-suffering exhale that sounds too much like Hunter. “I know you think you’re protecting me, but I will come back, Crosshair. I won’t let you be alone again.”
Crosshair waits until he knows she’s gone before he releases a shaky breath. He rubs harshly at his eyes. He hasn’t cried for Mayday. He won’t cry now.
They’ve been in hyperspace for a couple hours now.
Crosshair sits on the floor of the main hold, Batcher’s head in his lap while he strokes the hound’s smooth, leathery skin. He listens to the rumble of his brothers’ voices in the cockpit, Omega’s melodic voice occasionally chiming in. He imagines this is what it was like before, when the Batch first got Omega. In all the time he has known her, even before he liked or cared or… loved her, Omega has always had something to say, something to contribute. He remembers it annoyed him, but the emotion attached to the memory feels foreign and ugly. He hates that it used to be that way, but he cannot deny that it was.
It was the chip, he reminds himself. After that, his own stubbornness butting up against Omega’s persistence. Regret constricts around the muscle in his chest, memories of the cruel and harsh words he’d used on Tantiss to push Omega away. He can’t remember exactly when he’d given up the effort, resigning to be talked at relentlessly until it became something he ached for. When she’d go days without coming to his cell, he began to worry for her, straining to hear the light tread of her footsteps.
Those familiar light steps approach him now, but Crosshair doesn’t look up at his sister when she stops in front of him.
“You look comfy,” Omega says.
“Yeah, the floor of a ship is luxurious,” Crosshair retorts.
“I was talking to Batcher,” Omega responds, deadpan.
Crosshair rolls his eyes, but smirks in spite of himself.
Omega moves to slide down next to him. “You’ve been quiet since we left the base.”
“Unlike some people, I don’t feel the need to talk constantly.”
“Fine. You’ve been quieter than usual. Happy?”
“Ecstatic.”
Omega turns so that she’s leaning her back against his arm, head tipped against his shoulder. “Is that where you met Mayday?”
Crosshair stiffens, his hand freezing in place on Batcher’s head. He swallows. He could try to lie, or at the very least, brush the question off. Seconds of indecision tick by, Omega patiently waiting Crosshair out. She’ll know if he lies.
“Yes,” Crosshair mutters at last.
Omega hums. “I saw the helmets. Hunter said he saw you picking them up.”
When did he tell you that? Crosshair wants to demand, but the question catches in his throat, giving Omega time to continue uninterrupted.
“I’m sorry for what happened there,” she says, softly. “It must have been hard to go back.”
Crosshair shrugs, purposely jostling Omega’s head resting against him, making her huff. “It is what it is,” he tells her.
“Tell me about him?” The question is gently put, a small voice guarded for rejection.
Crosshair sighs. “There’s not much to tell. I didn’t know him for long.”
“Long enough to care about him,” Omega says.
“Hmmm,” Crosshair concedes. He hesitates a moment before saying, “I guess he reminded me of our brothers...”
Omega nods, head bumping against his arm.
“There was an avalanche,” Crosshair continues, voice low, throat tight. “We were both injured, but Mayday had the worst of it. He…” Crosshair swallows. “He wanted me to leave him behind, said he wouldn’t make it. He was right, in the end, but I tried anyway. We got to the base, but they wouldn’t help him.”
Omega reaches back, her fingers finding his hand and wrapping around it. Her grip tightens. He squeezes back.
“I wish I could have met him,” Omega whispers, and Crosshair knows she means it.
Blinking back the burning sensation that suddenly impairs his vision, Crosshair mutters, “Me too.”
He hasn’t cried for Mayday.
He won’t cry now.
END
Wow! Already to day 3 of Angst-pril, and my time has come to join the collaboration alongside @the-little-moment & @just-here-with-my-thoughts!
(If you haven't already, you NEED to go read their stories for the prompts Homesick and Frozen!!!)
My next prompt is: "This isn't going to work."
✨Let me know if you'd like to be added to my tag list!✨
Tag List: @followthepurrgil @isthereanechoinhere96 @amorfista @mooncommlink @arctrooper69 @nagyanna424 @groguandthebadbatch @proteatook @ezras-left-thumb
Shattered mind.
Feeling some emotions regarding them
One of the best shot of Total Solar Eclipse from 08-04-2024.
Via @nasa-official
I'm not sure if it's canon that hunters face tattoo continues further down, but I came across @lornaka s take on hunters tattoos and really wanted to give it a try myself :3
i’m still hoping for a CX-2/tech reveal, if for nothing else than to see this scene play out
Hunter: I know we don‘t always see eye to eye on things…
Crosshair: yeah, because you‘re short
Hunter:
Crosshair
Crosshair: okay, continue
one of the very few to show the batch kindness back on kamino
They can kill me instead. I've had enough already... Take what I offer and let the man live.
if something happens to cross after everything he went through and just after he started to heal, it would be just funny, i would get so angry and turn into joker. just thinking about it makes me mad. and also i don't think i would be able to watch any shows of sw anymore.
look I know I mentioned this a little while ago but I am fascinated with crosshair's incredibly consistent relationship with leadership vs. following. he has no will! no purpose! no direction! leave him alone and he ends up like he was on tantiss, depressed and apathetic! he is so so desperate to find meaning and direction in other people all the time. he defaults to hunter, i think, but he's also obviously capable of switching it when he wants to. to the empire, and then from there to cody and mayday, and losing them is what makes him snap. he will turn to literally anyone. defer to anyone. even omega. even when it's a terrible idea. and he hates it so much. i'd be willing to bet that's why his relationship with hunter is so consistently fraught; he wants so badly to be independent or to lead but he can't. so he lashes out at the one person he's followed his whole life.
something something the lone wolf who's secretly a pack animal and dial it up to 100.
but… he's also… our only option.
CROSSHAIR ➟ "Juggernaut" [s03e12]
Oh God...
a few crosshair drawings from the past months
Tech told me all about your ... [dramatic pause] "sparkling" personality
The Sass. I love her.
THEY LIED.
watch star was cartoons they said.
they'll be fun they said.
all i've gotten is tears, heartbreak, depression and feelings about clones,
HE SAID THE THING
No. No Crosshair's entire thing is holding eye contact and he can't even look at Hunter while he's speaking I can't
I was trying to find a connection between Crosshair's tremors and Hemlock's gloved hand (which seems to be in constant pain), like them both being experimented on, or maybe a side effect the questionable toxin resistence Royce has worked on developing (for himself at least).
But the answer to Cross's tremors might be so much simpler, and I'm not sure if this has been said before but it could be muscle memory of pulling on his restraints when he got tortured in Tantiss :( that trauma is always on his mind, everything reminds him of it. We don't even know for how long they tried to get information about Omega out of him. Maybe even being near her triggers him too..
But I'm still intrigued about Hemlock's hand.. is it a robotic hand? Why does he need the glove? Why did the writers fixate so much on hands this season? Did they see us thristing over their hands like victorian men seeing ankles?
"tech told me all about your sparkling personality"
"any friend of brown eyes is a friend of mine"
yeah IM CRYING SOBBING SHAKING
SIDENOTE: SHES BEEN DOING THIS ALL IN HEELS???? LOVE.
imagining Crosshair finding out that Omega was waltzing around the Senate with Riyo Chuchi, kind of met Rampart in the process, and was in the room when he was arrested, and going back to the "you've missed a lot" conversation with a newfound horror at his brothers' child-raising habits.
Omega, texting Crosshair: Crosshair there’s a moth on the outside of the bathroom door can you get rid of it?
Omega: Pls hurry because I’m going to cry
Omega: Crosshair
Omega: Crosshair
Crosshair: Crosshair is dead. You’re next. Love, Moth.
Soft ♥ Full uncensored version in my 18+ twitter
cat_does_the_arts
What started as a warm-up sketch, turned into a set of lovingly-crafted nanobangs. I miss those silver bangs of his!
For the people who do not follow me on instagram, here’s a lil sneak peek of how the menu of my game will look like(still a wip)
Make sure you watch it with the sound on, cuz I’ve spent two days on the sound design lol
I pretend I do not see.
The fuck is it now.
Bitch.
The fuck—
Angy.
Certified shithead™
“First of all, fuck the captain—”
Murder on the brain.
Eat shit and die.
~
Man of few words, but many expressions. XD
Rex kept it on comms because he thinks it’s hilarious and just wanted to listen.
I am practicing the comic route as I continue to wish I knew how to write. Comics are a good medium but I get too detailed too quick. Thus! I promised myself this would be a quick comic (that the file tells me I worked on for 33h 6min) to intro a little AU that is essentially ‘Things would have been better if there had been more music playing’. And it turned out both great and agonizing because there are so many issues still but no. No more touching. I shall find my style in the lazy and it shall be good.
How do people comic?
This is also practice for drawing the armour and clones; and again, issues, but I shall continue to practice! You have now been warned of the oncoming content onslaught.
Enjoy!
I miss Tech, Still ignoring the last two episodes, I have a bad feeling.
His intel was good enough and he needs a good mom Echo hug❤️