Chapter Text
Harsh coughing filled the Marauder. Wrecker pulled Crosshair upright, cringing a little at how warm he was. He hit his back with one hand while the other pulled the oxygen mask from his face. It was off just in time for a wad of mucus to fly free and the coughing to slow. He replaced the mask and lay Crosshair back down before cleaning up.
No matter how much Hunter and Tech told him not to, he was worried. Tech had replaced the tube with a mask just a few hours ago, but Crosshair only seemed to be getting worse. This was meant to be a fun relaxing few days on the lake. If he’d only jumped sooner, maybe together they would have both gotten out alright. They were a team. It was unfair that Crosshair was going through this.
He was startled from his thoughts when Tech appeared next to him. His brother scrutinised him with a frown.
“Are you alright, Wrecker?”
“What? Uh, yeah, of course. How long till Hunter’s back?”
Tech looked from him to the towel in his hands, reminding Wrecker what he was doing in the first place. He continued on his way to the fresher.
“Hunter will be back this afternoon, given he can find what we need with the main Republic forces gone.” Tech answered. He waited for Wrecker to return to continue, datapad in hand. “And how has Crosshair been?”
Wrecker ran a hand over his head. “Still hasn’t woken up, not properly at least. The coughing’s getting worse and I think he’s got a fever.”
Tech hummed. “That is to be expected. Between the injuries and how long the water was in his lungs for, an infection was, unfortunately, inevitable.”
Wrecker’s stomach twisted at that. “He’ll be alright though, right?”
Tech looked up at him. “Of course. Given a few days of rest and observation, he will recover.” Tech’s eyes didn’t leave Wrecker’s face, even after he nodded in affirmation. “Are you still feeling any effects from the incident?”
Wrecker’s hand drifted to his chest. “I-”
He was spared from answering when a sound of distress came from the bunks. Tech gave Wrecker a look before investigating the noise. Wrecker followed close behind. His eyes widened when the bunk came into view, but Tech beat him to it.
Another distressed noise escaped Crosshair as he clawed at the wrappings around his neck. Tech was quick to catch his hands and pull them away, frowning when Crosshair continued to struggle against the contact.
“Crosshair, you are fine. You are on the Marauder. You are safe.” He repeated those facts in the calm, even voice he often used to pull a brother back to reality. For a long moment it didn’t seem to be working, but eventually, Crosshair’s struggling slowed to a stop. Though that could have just as easily been due to exhaustion. He slumped back onto the bunk with a wheeze.
Wrecker wrung his hands as he approached awkwardly.
“Is he alright?”
Tech sighed, “He’ll be fine so long as Hunter gets back with antibiotics soon. His fever is growing concerningly fast.” He glanced up at Wrecker when he continued to hover. “We will simply need to keep a close eye on him until it breaks. He will recover.”
Wrecker swallowed thickly and nodded. He couldn’t look away from Crosshair, chest heaving with short, fast breaths, and face flushed red. Tech began fixing the disturbed bandaging. An idea came to mind as Wrecker watched. He hastily returned to the fresher, grabbing a fresh towel and running it under cool water. Once it was soaked through, he squeezed out the excess and returned to the bunks.
Tech glanced up from his datapad at his return. He was now sat on the opposite one. Wrecker gently lay the towel on Crosshair’s forehead, apologising when it made a shiver run through him. When he was done, he hovered again, unsure what to do with himself until Tech’s comm pinged.
“Wrecker, it appears Hunter would appreciate some assistance in bringing the supplies back to the ship. I will keep watch over Crosshair.”
Wrecker glanced between his brothers, the two sides of him wanting to stay and look after his brother and wanting to run and never look back warring inside him. He nodded a reluctant affirmative. He said bye to Crosshair and headed out to find Hunter.
Hunter hadn’t really needed Wrecker’s help, but he could appreciate his brothers’ efforts to get him off the ship for a bit. They walked together in silence, Wrecker carrying the heavier of the packs. He could tell Hunter was concerned with the way he kept looking at him. He was about to say something about it when the lake came into view, and with it came the crashing wave of guilt he couldn’t seem to shake.
Hunter noticed immediately. Probably noticed the way his heart rate picked up or just saw something on his face change. Wrecker had never been good at hiding how he felt. His brother glanced at the lake, then back up at Wrecker’s face.
“It’s not your fault, Wrecker. He’ll be fine.”
Wrecker sniffed. “I know. It’s just not fair. This was meant to be our time off.”
“And it still is, Crosshair just locked it in for us.” Hunter huffed, frowning when his brother didn’t find that as funny as he did. He stopped walking and Wrecker automatically stopped with him. “Look, we’re all still here, we’re all alive, that’s what matters. You got him out of there, he’s alive because of you. He was going into that lake whether you joined him or not, it’s not your fault we didn’t know what’s in there.”
Wrecker looked from Hunter’s face to the lake to the ground. Anywhere but the ship. “I almost didn’t jump. If I’d just done it when he did maybe we would have gotten out of there and been fine, or maybe it got me instead and I-”
“Or it would have gotten you both and I would have been stuck dragging both your asses out of there.” Hunter crossed his arms. “No point dwelling on it. Crosshair’s not going to care. If anything, he’ll learn nothing and insist on doing it again on the next planet.” This time, Wrecker did huff a small laugh. Hunter grinned before hefting the pack on his shoulders and walking again. “Come on, let’s get these to Tech. Maybe he’ll join the betting pool on Crosshair’s next marvellous misadventure.”
“We’re taking bets?” Wrecker asked as he followed.
Hunter laughed. “If he tries to get back in that water, you guys are cleaning my armour.”
Wrecker was sitting on his bunk fiddling idly with Lula when Crosshair stirred with a groan. He sat up quickly as his brother’s eyes blinked open. He tried not the let the glazed bleariness in them get him down, focusing on the fact that he was finally awake. Hopefully for longer than last time.
Crosshair’s eyes glanced towards the movement, and Wrecker felt hope swell in him. It was quickly halted when Crosshair tried to take a deeper breath and his eyes widened with panic. Before Wrecker could reach him, his hands flew to the bandages on his chest, clawing desperately at them. Wrecker leapt across the room to catch them. Crosshair continued to desperately pull against him, panicked wheezing rattling in his chest.
“Crossy. Crosshair! You’re okay, we got you out. I got you out. You’re on the Marauder. You’re okay.”
He blinked back tears as his brother slumped back on the bunk, energy spent. His hands sat limply in Wrecker’s and a chill wracked his body. His breaths came short and fast and he could tell the panic had not entirely subsided. He eyed the bandages keeping his ribs stable. They didn’t seem too disturbed.
He glanced back up at his face when he heard a raspy murmur. The deep bruising was still visible creeping out from under the bacta soaked bandaging on his neck. Tech had removed the oxygen mask when he’d hooked Crosshair up to antibiotics, but kept it nearby just in case. Crosshair’s usually sharp gaze was glazed with fever as he stared towards Wrecker.
Wrecker kept his voice quiet as he spoke. “Don’t try talking, Crossy, your neck’s still healing.” He gently placed Crosshair’s hands down at his sides now that he’d stopped fighting.
Despite antibiotics and rest, Crosshair was flush with fever and he still shivered against a cold that wasn’t there. He lifted a hand to his forehead and frowned at the heat radiating off him. He took the long warmed towel and disappeared into the fresher to soak it again before returning to wipe down his brother’s face and place it on his head.
Crosshair whined and pulled away but didn’t get far. A harsh chill wracked him again. His hands drifted up to his chest again, making Wrecker catch them once more. At the touch, Crosshair’s eyes found where their hands met, following Wrecker’s arms up to his face. Finally, he caught a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. Tears threatened to appear again as he seemed to latch onto Wrecker.
“Hey, Cross.” He greeted now that he had his attention. He quickly cut Crosshair off when he opened his mouth. “No, don’t try to talk. You’re hurt. And sick.”
Despite his new anchor to reality, Crosshair still seemed anxious. Wrecker’s heart sank a little more at it. He hated the fact that his little brother had gone through all of this, he was devastated that he thought he was still trapped down there with that thing. An idea came and he pulled away to reach over to his bunk but was stopped when Crosshair’s grip tightened. He looked back to see him still looking at him, brow now furrowed. He tried to work his hands free as he reassured him.
“I’m just stepping away for a sec, Crossy. I’ll be back.”
He managed to get one hand free, giving himself enough freedom to step away and reach over to his bunk. Crosshair protested with a whine, but Wrecker had a mission. He was glad he hadn’t sat her against the wall as he pulled Lula over. He held her in offering to Crosshair.
“Here, have Lula. She wasn’t in the lake, so if she’s with you, you’ll know you’re safe and not there anymore.”
Crosshair’s grip loosened as he watched Wrecker tuck Lula in beside him, keeping her between his body and the wall so she wouldn’t fall. Crosshair’s eyes followed her before finding Wrecker again. He opened his mouth to try to talk again, but was interrupted by harsh coughing. Wrecker was quick to sit him up as the coughing turned into a fit. They rattled wetly in his chest, and his face was screwed up in pain as they irritated his damaged ribs.
After too long, they slowed. Crosshair leaned into his brother with a wheezy huff when they finally stopped. Wrecker held him there for a moment before beginning to lay him back down. He was stopped by a disgruntled grumble and Crosshair pressing into him. He couldn’t help a small chuckle as he carefully shifted his brother as much as he would let him so he could slide onto the bunk with him.
Wrecker just held his little brother close, ignoring the faint tremors wracking his body from the fever. He smiled when he felt him tuck into his hold, unable to stop the tears from finally escaping down his cheeks. Crosshair settled with his head against Wrecker’s chest with a sigh that was interrupted by a few wheezy coughs. He tensed in his hold, relaxing when the coughing passed. Within moments, he was soundly asleep in his brother’s arms. Wrecker lay there, listening to his breathing, short and fast even in sleep, until he too drifted off.
Wrecker woke to something warm pressed against him. He tried to shift a little to cool down, but was stopped by a grumbled protest. Soft hair tickled his chin as he looked down to investigate, chuckling at the sight of his brother tucked against him. He freed a hand to rub the sleep from his eyes and idly wondered what time it was. That was until he heard the quiet snores coming from the bunk above him, and the ones further into the ship where Tech had almost definitely passed out in a chair.
He looked back at Crosshair, trying to get a good look at him in the darkened ship. Either his eyes were playing tricks on him in the dark, or the fevered flush was beginning to fade from his brother’s face. He wasn’t trembling against him anymore, and now that he was properly awake he could tell that he didn’t seem as warm as he had been when they first settled down to sleep. He spotted Lula keeping up her vigil against the wall and smiled.
His shifting didn’t disturb Crosshair, who still wheezed against his chest. Not wanting to change that by getting up, Wrecker stayed where he was and watched out for his brothers.
He felt the moment Crosshair began to stir against him and looked down to see his eyes blinking open. The fevered glaze was still there, but not as bad as last time he woke. He blinked hard for a moment then slid his eyes around the ship until they landed on Wrecker’s face. Recognition instantly sparked with a huff, though he made no effort to move.
Crosshair’s voice was a quiet rasp when he croaked out, “Found the monsters.”
Wrecker did his best to stifle his laugh. “You shouldn’t be talking, Cross.”
Crosshair ignored him. “Knew I’d get you to jump. How was- was the water?” His voice wavered as he stifled a cough.
“It would have been better if I didn’t have to save you from a monster. You know there are normal ways to get into a lake? Don’t have to throw yourself off the tallest thing.”
Crosshair huffed a breathless laugh. “Where’s… the fun in that?”
He couldn’t hold back the coughs this time and Wrecker sat them up to help him breathe easier. When the fit stopped and neither of their brothers woke up to check on them, Wrecker spoke.
“I’m not doing that again, you know. You can’t make me, that was awful.”
Crosshair managed a pout. “But I didn’t even need to catch you. If I knew all it- all it took was a little spook to get you moving.”
Wrecker huffed. “You’re not doing that again.”
Crosshair chuckled as his eyes slipped closed. “Try and stop me.”