Chapter Text
You were sitting in the Havoc Marauder cockpit. You drifted through space after another mission from Cid and they were all tired after several hours of continuous escape, so you decided to take first watch.
You stared out the window, admiring the different shades of orange that the star generated, several million light years away. It was too far away to affect the ship, but close enough that you could pass the time staring at it.
Besides, you were listening to the radio. Tech modified it similar to the ship - you could listen to whatever station you wanted and no one was able to detect you. Old songs were playing, sometimes interrupted by news about what was new in nearby systems, so you found yourself a thing to do in listening to imperial propaganda and comparing their words to reality.
“I hate this song.” Echo muttered as he awoke. He found a place to sleep in the chair right behind you. He could fall asleep in all conditions - he didn’t mind the radio - but apparently he didn’t feel like sleeping anymore, as he moved forward, taking his seat next to you. You looked in his direction. He rubbed a hand over his sleepy eyes, then turned the volume down. You could still hear the guitar sound, but not that loud.
“Why?” You asked, and the man smiled slightly and shifted, making himself more comfortable in the chair.
“Because it was playing the first time I went with Fives to the 79’s.” He explained, looking your way. You shifted your gaze at the stair, but nodded, letting him continue. It was the first time Echo started talking about his twin and you haven’t moved away from him to the other end of the ship, cutting the topic off. “We were fresh incorporated into the 501st and the older clones started to tempt us with alcohol. I didn’t want to participate, but Fives… Fives couldn’t give up and accepted a drinking duel. Of course it was the first time he ever drank alcohol and he was lying under the table after three drinks. He threw up at freshly painted armor and guess who cleaned it for him later, because he couldn’t get out of bed the next day.”
You laughed softly and rested your cheek against your fist. “Probably you.”
He nodded. The song changed, this time to something you both didn’t know.
“I miss him sometimes.” He said suddenly, and you felt your muscles tighten involuntarily. You were ready to leave at any time if he wanted to continue hurtful subject, but unfortunately for you, he knew you well enough to anticipate what you wanted to do. Before you could get up, he knelt in front of you and placed both arms on the arms of the chair. You frowned and the man looked at you seriously. “And I know you do, too.”
“And what does that change? Why do you even want to talk about it?” You were still talking quiet, but he could hear the nervous note in your voice.
“Because I know you still haven’t come to terms with it and it hurts when the person closest to me is still tormented by the past.” He explained calmly, and you bit your lip from the inside. You knew he was worried about you, you knew him longer than any other clone. There was no one else who could understand your pain after losing Fives better than he did. “I know you’re a Jedi and you’re not used to talking about your feelings, but you can’t keep it in you for the rest of your life.”
“But this… I don’t even know where to start.” You started and your voice weaker than ever. You curled up in the chair and Echo stroked your knee reassuringly.
“Tell me from the beginning, what did you think about him when you first saw him?” He asked calmly, and you immersed yourself in the memories. It took you a while to answer.
“The first time I saw him, I thought he was an idiot.”
You were in the process of unloading the weapons on Coruscant that you previously used against the separatists. You were a newly minted knight, who had a small clone squad beneath, that was more of a combat aid than a main unit, but you did your job well. As a Jedi, you didn’t have to help them with such a trivial task, but you thought it’ll allow your boys to finish work sooner and get some rest. They deserved it.
You were in the process of carrying a pretty heavy box (you helped yourself with the Force and it was light as a feather) when a clone from the Skywalker legion approached you.
“Such a beautiful young lady is supposed to carry such boxes? What happened to this republic.” He said, theatrically touching his forehead. “Let me help you, miss.”
He took the box from you, and you looked at him with your eyes wide open. Didn’t he know you were a general? Well, you didn’t put your Jedi robes on, because most of them were half-burned by the blast, so you borrowed some clothes from the mechanic, but didn’t notice the lightsaber attached to your hip?
Apparently not, because he started talking again.
“You rarely see a female mechanic, especially so cute! What kind of squad are you in? Maybe we’ll go on a mission together someday.” He spoke unceremoniously, not hiding that he liked you. You decided to play with his ignorance and smiled while folding your hands behind your back.
“In the fourteen-fourteenth.” You said looking at his face. “Are you from 501st?”
“Yeah, the name’s Fives!” He grinned broadly, showing a row of white teeth. In fact, he had his number tattooed on his temple and grew a goatee. He didn’t look bad.
You gave him your name and held out your hand in front of you. He almost dropped the box to shake it quickly, but he controlled himself in time and slowly set it on the ground. Instead of shaking it, he bowed and kissed the back of your hand. You managed to keep yourself from blushing. It was good to be a Jedi, you knew how to control your emotions well, which was good at times like this. You rarely had time and possibility to flirt with someone, which is why the mistake of this trooper was refreshing. “Your name sounds familiar, have I met you somewhere?” He asked, and you shrugged.
“Probably not, I would definitely remember you.” You smiled, then heard footsteps behind you. You turned around and saw your captain. Before he could speak, Fives gave him an unpleasant look.
“Sorry, sir, this mechanic is already taken.” He muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. The captain looked at you in surprise, and you waved your hand.
“What’s the matter, Captain?”
“I just wanted to say that the guns have already been unloaded. Permission to go to the barracks?” He asked and you nodded your head.
“Permission granted.”
“Thank you, General.” He saluted and you turned to Fives, who turned pale and stared at your walking captain. He opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to find the right words, then leaned over and quickly picked up the box.
“I, uh, I’ll put it back in place.” He said, then scuttled away before you could laugh out loud in his face.
Fives, huh? You didn’t meet him that same day unfortunately, but you had the impression that you would meet again.
“That’s why when he came back to the barracks he was so scared.” Echo smirked and you pricked up your ears.
“Did he say something about me?” You asked hesitantly, and Echo rolled his eyes.
“The day you met, he started saying something that he would be judged, expelled from the ward and return to Kamino, but he never said what he was so scared of” Echo snorted. “But honestly, when didn’t he talk about you? He started late at night when you two met again in the 79’s and hasn’t shut up since then.”
You had a few days off that you weren’t going to spend all your time training and meditating, so when your soldiers suggested you go to the clone bar, you readily agreed. You weren’t going to be general tonight. You dressed nicely, you perfumed yourself, and your squad almost didn’t recognized you.
You got a lot of compliments that night, but there was only one you remembered. Or rather, from one person, because when he saw you again he was drunk and instead of feeling fear that you might report him, he started complaining that how could you cheat him like that, but he forgives you, because you are the most beautiful person he has ever seen.
You should be annoyed, embarrassed, or at least upset, but he said it in such a way that it was hard to get angry with him. He was cute. That’s why you decided to spend the entire evening with him, drinking and dancing to the beat of the cheesy, romantic music.
“Then I met you too.” You noticed, and Echo agreed.
“I had no idea you were a general. I found out after that the next day and I couldn’t believe your stupidity.”
“Stupidity?”
“Yes, stupidity. Do you think I didn’t see you disappear in the middle of the evening? Or the hickeys on his neck?” He sighed, remembering how terrified he was. “It was extremely irresponsible. Jedi and clone? If someone found out, you both would be in a lot of trouble. Still, when he told me what happened, I couldn’t be angry with him. I’ve never seen Fives talk like that about anyone. Suns on Tattoine weren’t as bright as his eyes when he talked about you. Although when he said you wanted to keep in touch, I thought I would kill him.”
“Echo, I promise you we’ll be careful. Nothing’s going to happen!”
“You know her for a few days, Fives. A few!”
“I know, but she’s amazing! Kind, brave and respects me! She’s not like the rest, Echo.” The man grabbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, disbelieving his brother’s words.
“And how do you know that he has such deals not only with you?” He asked, and Fives looked away.
“I don’t know for sure.” He muttered softly, but then regained his determination. “But I’ll find out! Give me a few days!”
The clones were naive, they believed blindly in orders, the republic, and Echo hoped you wouldn’t use his twin. As it turned out, he had never been so wrong.
It ended up that what brought you together has survived and evolved. Due to the lack of time and being on other missions, you were rarely able to meet, though, and when it did, you both had to have some excuses to disappear for a copule of hours. Echo helped you as much as he could.
“Eventually Rex got suspicious. Kix, Jesse even Hardcase.” He reminded, and you nodded.
“We told them a few days after you became ARC troopers.” You muttered.
You were in a barracks with no one but you, Fives holding your hand, Echo standing with his arms crossed, and Rex standing over you like a parent. Your secret boyfriend for three months, has been stroking the back of your hand soothingly and stared at Rex, who looked very confused. Echo, despite expressing his support for continuing your relationship, still didn’t know what the captain thought of it. It was tiresome for you to keep hiding, so you took the risk of telling Rex. Telling the rest didn’t make sense, because if the captain was willing to help you, the rest would follow.
“This is…” Rex sighed and scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect that from you, Fives. Or you, General.” Fives looked down and you put your hand to his cheek. Rex’s words meant a lot to him, to both of you at this point. “It’s not something that can be hidden that easily. How have you managed to do it so far?”
“I helped.” Echo said, stepping forward. “Captain, no, Rex. They know they are stupid for falling in love with each other in the middle of a war. I won’t even mention that they are from two extremely different worlds that both prohibit such relationships, because I already talked about it, but you must know, that if it gives them at least a bit of happiness, it would be cruel to take it away from them.” You and Fives looked at him in surprise. “War won’t last forever. If they want a future with each other, don’t take it away from them.”
You felt Fives squeeze a hand on yours and the three of you looked at Rex. He just sighed, walked over to Fives and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you sure of your feelings, soldier?” Fives straightened and nodded.
“Like nothing before.” He admitted, then turned his head towards you. “Now that I have witnesses, I wanted to tell you something. Y/N, I…”
“Enough” You stopped Echo from quoting what Fives said earlier. “Please.” Echo looked up and only then noticed the wet marks running down your cheeks. You put your hand to your mouth to muffle the sounds of crying, and Echo groaned before standing up and leaning in to hug you. You clung to him as close as you could and hid your face in his neck.
He pulled you to get up and started stroking your head, not expecting that the memory would evoke so much emotion in you, but that was his purpose. Allow you to finally be able to let go of whatever was in you after Fives’s death, but now he felt guilty about making you feel like this.
“Sorry, I should have noticed that you have enough, I’m sorry.” He spoke softly, letting you cry. He didn’t expect you to start talking again.
“H-he said he’d like to have a future with me. That he would like to have a big… Big family, three sons and a daughter. He would like to name them Hevy, Droidbait and Cutup, and the daughter would be there for me, so that I have someone to name too. I- I asked if he was joking and he said a little bit, because he really would like to have a family with me and… ” Echo tried to silence you but couldn’t. Eventually you started talking and you couldn’t, wasn’t able to stop. You have kept it within you for years. Anyone would burst after that time. “And I said that after the war I would leave the order, but if he wanted to, we could escape! Become deserters, but he didn’t want too, faithful to the republic and his brothers.”
“I know, that’s what Fives was, faithful to the pain.” Echo closed his eyes, feeling the emotion rising in him. He did not want to show it. He had to be strong for you. Fives would like you to have someone to rely on and he was not going to fail him. “And he loved you very, very much.”
“And I loved him.” You moved away from his neck and rubbed your eyes with your sleeve. Tears kept running down your cheeks, but you were able to control spasms in your chest. “And he loved you. When we were alone, he’d said that he couldn’t wait you to find someone so we could go for a double-date. He even said once that you would be the godfather of our first child.”
Echo looked down and you felt his hand tighten around your waist.
“He liked to look to the future without thinking about the consequences.” He whispered, and you sniffed.
“Maybe, but it pushed us both forward. Were it not for his optimism, I don’t know if I would have had so many wonderful memories with him.” You stroked Echo’s arm. “Were it not for your help, I don’t think we would have managed to hide yourself for so long.”
“I just wanted to see him happy. It was so rare to see a clone so full of life.” You stood so close to each other slowly calming down. Hunter’s shift was coming soon, so if you wanted this conversation to remain private, you needed to worrying. “Would you like to go to sleep? It must have been exhausting.”
“I will do so.” You said, then stood on your tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek. “Thanks Echo, I didn’t know I needed this. I mean, talking to someone.”
“Don’t worry, that’s what friends are for.” He smiled at you and ruffled your hair. “I’ll sit the rest of your shift for you. Go, sleep.”
You made your way to the cockpit door on shaky legs. You used to sleep with Omega in her little room. She liked to cuddle up to you in her sleep, so you were going to quietly join her, but as it turned out, she was the one to join you. Along with the rest of the team that burst through the door when you opened it.
Before you could ask if they were eavesdropping, Wrecker and Omega caught up with you, hugging you with tears in their eyes.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this!”
“I’m so sorry!”
They both shouted each other, and you confused looked at Hunter, Tech and Crosshair who stayed behind. Neither of them knew about your story with Fives, you joined them when Echo did, not wanting to leave him alone.
“We didn’t want to eavesdrop.” Hunter admitted, nervously scratching his neck. “I woke up at night because I heard strange noises. I went to see what was happening, the rest of them came as well and somehow we… ”
“Just tell her we were eavesdropping.” Crosshair muttered.
“Theoretically yes, but not by intending.” Tech corrected him. You stroked Omega’s head, not expecting such a turn of events. Apparently you weren’t as quiet as you thought.
“Still, we wanted to say that if you need to talk to someone…” Hunter started again, but Wrecker cut him off by patting you on the back.
“We’re here for you!” You pressed your lips together and turned your face the other way, feeling the tears welling up in your eyes again. This time not from sadness. “What? No! Why are you crying?!”
Omega and Wrecker hugged you again, giving you no way to escape.
Echo watched view before him with a soft smile. He leaned against the consoles and heard the quiet sound of the guitar on the radio again. He shook his head and turned it off completely.
“Stop making everything about yourself.” He muttered and crossed hands over his chest. “And let us enjoy the moment.”