Work Text:
The ship door lowers. Echo’s eyes barely have a chance to adjust to the bright wave of Pabu sunlight before he sees exactly what he wants to see. Omega, safe, free, running toward him with her arms already outstretched. He can’t help but give a fond chuckle as he kneels to meet her, opening his own arms wide. She barrels into him with her usual eagerness and wraps her small arms around his neck. Echo holds her tight, closes his eyes and for a moment just breathes it in. Only now, that he can feel her warmth, her chest rising and falling, her heart beating, does a surge of relief finally wash through the worry, guilt, and desperation that's been rooted deep in his chest since the moment she was captured.
He waits for her to pull back. It comes too soon.
“Glad to see you’re back safe,” he says as he cups Omega’s face in his hand and gives her a quick once over. He can’t help but scan for injuries--abrasions on the wrists, burns around the neck, signs of malnourishment--even if he knows logically that anything would have been attended to by now. It's the wounds he can't see that worry him most anyway. Regret swells in again at the sight of her longer hair. Every day spent in that place had been one too many. Echo’s own experience with imprisonment has only caused him all the more grief for failing to protect her from it. Another addition to the list of things a kid her age should never have had to deal with.
Omega places her hand on his and smiles, as if to reassure him. And while nothing would truly allay his concern, he's beyond grateful that she still has that gentle warmth, that hopeful light in her eyes. That, despite it all, she’s still herself.
He can’t, however, say the same for Crosshair, whom Echo now looks up to see approaching with the rest of his brothers. The sniper has changed a great deal since the last time Echo saw him. He seems somewhat withered, hollow. His face slightly more sunken, his eyes shadowed by a lingering weariness. There’s a certain weight he carries with him, one Echo recognizes easily. He’s seen it, felt it, so many times in his rescue work with Rex. He can see it now in the way Crosshair holds himself, the way he hesitates to look at Echo’s face, as if he’s afraid of what he’ll find there, even as he crosses his arms and attempts a sneer.
“What, no hug for me?”
The words themselves sound like something he’d expect from Crosshair, but the tone is…off. Not quite his usual biting yet playful wit. There’s an edge of hurt there, bitterness, and yet a hint of hopeful uncertainty. That, and the tense, intentional distance between Crosshair and the others has something clenching inside Echo’s chest.
Echo answers the quip with a wry snort, mouth twisting into a grin. Then he stands, closes the space between them, and pulls Crosshair into his arms like it’s nothing. Like it's the only natural thing to do. Crosshair jerks slightly, in what Echo hopes is just surprise, then stiffens. Echo holds steady, and after a moment of faltering Crosshair eases into the embrace, tentatively placing his hands, feather-light, on Echo’s back.
“I was…joking,” Crosshair says lowly, as if Echo can’t hear the watery waver in his voice.
“Hm,” Echo smirks and hugs his brother a bit tighter, feeling the emotion building behind his own eyes. “It’s good to have you back, Cross.”
Crosshair doesn’t respond, but Echo feels his hands tremble at his back, then tighten around him. Echo’s heart twists. He’s getting the impression that he’s the first to do something like this, and a quick glance at Hunter and Wrecker, watching with silent wariness, confirms it.
He fixes them both with a knowing glare then says firmly: “We missed you.”
Wrecker at least looks a bit sheepish, shifting uncomfortably, but Hunter narrows his eyes in reply then looks away, seething with self-righteous contempt. Echo holds back an eye roll. He’s seen the skeptical glares before, directed at himself during their first mission together back on Anaxes. But he’s also seen his share of the bickering and sibling rivalry. He’ll admit Hunter has a right to some distrust here, but it’s obvious something else is also at play. Something more…petulant. And that’s not what Crosshair needs right now.
There’s so much Hunter doesn’t know. He hasn’t been there, as Echo has, in the aftermath. Hasn’t seen the haunted looks, in the eyes of rescued prisoners and deserters alike. He doesn’t know that Howzer has more nightmares about Ryloth than he does about the prison where more than half his men died. Or how Nemec was inconsolable after his chip removal surgery, and has only barely started to talk again. How Fireball includes brothers he knows are still alive and with the Empire in his remembrances. How relieved Samson was to be able to paint his armor and use his name again. It’s the kind of stuff Hunter has intentionally distanced himself from. And tries to convince Echo to walk away from almost every time they see each other. Even if he doesn’t realize what he’s arguing for.
Again, Echo lets Crosshair be the first to pull away, but he can sense the hesitation so he keeps a steady hand on his brother’s shoulder. Crosshair gives a short nod in acknowledgment, not quite meeting Echo’s eyes, blinks a few times and clears his throat. Softie, Echo smiles to himself, even as that concern still curdles within him. Later. He’ll talk to them both later, Cross and Omega, alone. They have to know how much he understands, he just needs to give them a chance to confide in him. To let them know he’s here, if they need it. He squeezes Crosshair’s shoulder, hopefully conveying some of that thought, and lets go.
“Thank you,” he adds, making sure the others can hear, “for getting Omega out of that place.”
He decidedly doesn’t glance at Hunter with that one. If he pushes too hard it’ll just make Hunter defensive, give him an excuse to ignore Echo’s input altogether. But he still figures they all could use the reminder, that they’ve come a long way from Bracca.
Crosshair clicks his tongue softly, folding his arms and glancing at the girl in question. “She’s… really the one who got me out of there,” he admits.
Omega beams, shuffling a little closer. And Crosshair actually smiles down at her, it’s small and reserved but definitely fond. Well, that’s an unexpected development. Echo grins and quirks an eyebrow, looking between the pair. Double softie. Crosshair must have caught Echo staring because he scoffs and looks away with a scowl. But that alone is such a genuine Crosshair move that it just makes Echo’s smile grow.
Crosshair shifts a little uneasily, still testing the waters, then the corner of his mouth hesitantly twitches up, “Though I am curious which one of you taught her how to swindle up 30,000 credits in less than an hour.”
Omega gasps indignantly as Hunter flicks her a surprised look and Wrecker barks out a laugh.
“I didn’t swindle anyone!” Omega insists, crossing her arms. “I won that money honestly!”
Hunter sighs and shakes his head, “That, she learned on her own.”
Echo chuckles and ruffles Omega’s hair as the group begins to amble away from the landing pad, “30,000, huh?”
Omega looks down, a little shy but still beaming at the praise, “It was actually 45,000 before the fines.”
Echo gives an impressed whistle, and Wrecker comes in to offer her a high five.
“You’re encouraging this?!” Hunter says, exasperated.
Echo’s grin turns sharp, he flashes a quick glance to Crosshair before he says, “Sounds like someone is still upset he got his shebs handed to him in Dejarik.”
Hunter rolls his eyes. Echo watches in satisfaction as a tentative yet sly grin makes its way to Crosshair’s face, always amused at his brother’s expense.
“Hey, I haven’t seen any of you beat her,” Hunter grumbles.
“And you never will!” Omega chimes, skipping ahead.
As the banter ensues, Echo keeps his eyes on his vod. It might just be wishful thinking, but he thinks he can see something of Crosshair’s old self peeking through, slipping a little closer to their familiar rhythm, and, just maybe, lifting a bit of that weight.
Crosshair meets his eyes again as they walk.
“Sounds like you have a lot to fill me in on…”
Echo grins.
“That depends how good your intel is.”