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A loud crash jolted Crosshair out of his sleep. In the pitch darkness that had taken over his room at this late hour, he did not know where he was at first.
It was only when his lazy eyes made out the shadowy outline of his dresser that he came back to reality. The reality that some idiot - he glanced at the dimly lit clock face of his alarm clock - at 3 a.m. seemed to have nothing better to do than throw something around.
If it was Wrecker again, the oaf who was puttering around the kitchen at this goddamn hour because he was still hungry despite Echo's famous vegetable casserole they had for dinner, he could fish Lula out of the toilet tomorrow.
Another crash distracted Crosshair from his revenge plans, which also involved raiding Wrecker's secret stash of sweets, which he meticulously hid from Echo. Because a good night's sleep was out of the question, Crosshair swung his long legs out of bed, ready to vent his anger.
He had one day off and then, of course, something like this happened. It was always touching how much consideration was shown for him.
As he had thought, the kitchen was brightly lit.
"Wrecker, I swear to God, you fucki..." He stopped abruptly in his swaering when he unexpectedly found another member of the household.
The smallest member.
"Omega?" The girl sat slumped on the chequered kitchen tiles, her face buried in the sleeve of her far too large pyjama shirt (Hunter truly didn't deserve the award for best fashion choice for little girls).
At the sound of his voice, she looked up and he saw that she had been crying, traces of tears not yet dried marking her face.
Why the hell did he suddenly feel such a twinge in his chest, as if a beast had extended its sharp claws and wounded him? The air around him had rarely felt heavier.
"I'm sorry." Omega ran her sleeve over and over her reddened eyes, sniffling.
"I didn't mean to wake anyone." Completely overwhelmed with the situation, Crosshair knelt down, but still stayed a few steps away from her.
He just wasn't good at this. If he threw a few pans around, maybe the others would wake up from their Sleeping Beauty dreams and save him? He decided, however, that Echo's hysterical shrieking at the sight of his much-loved pans, which would probably then have a few dents, was not worth it. After all, he wasn't going to fast the entire next week and give up Echo's cooked meals.
"What's wrong?" He tried to make his voice sound soft, like he'd heard so many times from his brothers, except maybe Tech, he always sounded like the automated voice on the answering machine.
Omega looked at him with her big brown eyes and Crosshair had to admit that even he, who didn't care much for children, felt a strong protective instinct at the sight.
"It didn't work," and new tears ran down her cheeks, leaving stains on the kitchen floor.
His breath caught in his throat halfway through. He just wasn't cut out for this.
"What didn't work?" And why the hell are you awake at this hour? but he kept that question to himself.
You've really done a great job with the regular sleeping pattern, Hunter, kudos.
The girl pointed behind her to the kitchen counter, and only then did Crosshair notice the mess she had made: several bowls with unidentifiable contents occupied the counter and kitchen table, scraps of dough stuck to the floor and counter, flour (or sugar, Crosshair didn't spend that much time in the kitchen, to him a lot of things just looked the same) had left its mark on the open drawers. Measuring spoons were scattered around and the kitchen scales lay upside down on the floor. How could such a small person make such a mess?
R.I.P Echo, he would probably not survive this sight.
Another sob made him turn his attention back to the girl in front of him.
"I just wanted to bake something," her tear choked voice sounded. Don't lose your patience, Crosshair.
"You do know you can do this in broad daylight, right? Instead of sneaking around in the dark." And depriving others of their well-deserved sleep.
Hugging her legs into her chest, the trembling of her shoulders revealing the sobs that escaped her throat. Her mouth pressed into her knee, stiffling her words.
"It was supposed to be a surprise" Huh? "Hera had such a great cake at school that her mom made for her. And then I asked her for the recipe because" another sob, "because, I wanted to make something for you guys too. I thought it would be so nice, I was going to set the table for breakfast, and then put the cake with it, and" she drew in her breath sharply, as if she were having trouble breathing, "you always do so much for me, and I wanted to give something for once and not just always receive something".
Stunned, Crosshair struggled to comprehend why his heart was pounding so fiercely against his ribs.
He had expected many things, but not this.
"But nothing worked, first the dough was too liquid, then too solid, then the butter somehow exploded in the microwave, then I dropped it all, then-" but she didn't get any further, because, against all his principles, Crosshair had reached out an arm to her and pulled her to him.
For what else could he do when a painful tugging inside him made him realize that he cared for this child, probably always had, and surely always would.
When Omega buried her face against his shoulder with a surprised sound, he immediately felt his heart calm down.
"You're really stupid, you know that?" Very lightly, he stroked through her curls, a gesture that was not foreign to her, but to him it was. He felt the sobbing grow quieter and quieter.
"You already give us more than enough just by being here. With us." And though that sounded as cheesy as if it came from one of the Disney movies Wrecker always watched: the almost inaudible giggle, as gentle as the first summer breeze that blew through the window in the morning after a long night, was worth so much more than his wounded pride.
And when she wrapped her thin arms around his neck, murmured a soft "Thank you, Crosshair" and clung to him, he was sure that even though he didn't deserve this, he would do everything in his power to protect the girl in his arms.
His sister.
A word he had never dared to utter before because.... it hurt?
For even if sometimes he would like to abandon his brothers on a desert island without a return ticket, he could not deny that in this dark world full of shadows, his family was the only thing that kept him hanging on. The urge to protect them all was always mixed with the fear of what would happen if he failed to do so.
Now to have a sister, too, something so precious.... he would not necessarily have asked for it.
But maybe the universe had given him exactly what he needed.
"I'm not the greatest baker either, but I know we have a cupcake recipe book around here somewhere. Should we try that out?" And the glow of her face as she nodded her head eagerly more than made up for the sleepless hours.
And so it was that the next morning, Hunter was not only awakened by Echo's hysterical screaming at the sight of his kitchen, he also found his usually stoic brother asleep on the couch with the youngest member of the family in his arms, one hand buried in her blonde curls, the other holding an empty cupcake wrapper.
Never before had Hunter seen anything so precious.