Moonlight Trails

Fives

Fives remembered the trail. He remembered it like the back of his hand. Nothing Echo ever told him was lost in his mind, but of course Echo never knew that. Echo never knew how much Fives actually listened.

It was a cold night, the wind having a steady, gentle breeze. The stars shone above, twinkling around the moon. The trees rustled softly, the snow falling silently from their limbs. It was quiet except for the sound of you and Fives's boots crunching in the snow.

He'd come to you to tell you about Echo. He was a sobbing mess, utterly broken. You were numb. You didn't think you would feel the heartbreak for a little bit. How could you, when the man who promised to love you forever was gone?

You walked silently with Fives, and he turned back every few minutes to make sure you were keeping up. The only thing he'd said to you after you left your home was "do you need anything warm to wear?" You'd told him no, as you had been wearing Echo's spare blacks he kept at your home when Fives had run in, running to cling to you and cry on your shoulder.

~~~

The action had startled you, but you instantly knew in your mind what had happened. He didn't need to speak the words for you to understand. Fives would have never run into your home like that unless something happened to Echo. And something had.

You'd let him cry in your arms for a while, sitting on your couch and rubbing his back. His grip on you would tighten every few minutes when a particularly hard sob would hit him. Your shirt had been soaked through from tears, whether they were his, yours, or both, you didn't know.

When he'd regained himself a little, he told you what happened. You hated hearing it, but you knew you had to. Fives told you slowly and as gently as he could. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the heart of his closest brother's love.

You'd nodded along to his story, unable to make comments. Fives held it together until he got towards the end, when he told you he hadn't even been able to collect Echo's helmet. He truly had nothing left of his brother except for the face they shared.

When he broke again, you caught him as he fell forward in a sob. You pulled him to lean on you, and you held him again. You whispered comforts in his ear, but you knew they were pointless. Nothing would heal Fives from losing Echo.

After a while, Fives's sobs had stopped, and all you heard were hiccups and sniffles coming from him. Eventually, he pulled away with a heartbroken and pained expression. It was like something horrible had dawned on him, and something had.

You watched as he slowly got up, walking over to one of your plants. You watched curiously as he reached under the stand, and saw as he pulled a tiny 501st blue box out from under it. He opened it, but you couldn't see what was inside because his back was to you. You heard it snap shut and he turned to you, the pained look still in his eyes.

"I need to take you somewhere." Before you could ask questions, Fives was handing you your boots and moving to wait by the door. You quickly slipped them on and joined him, unsure of where he was taking you.

To your surprise, Fives took you to the GAR hangar. You knew the place well, since you lived on Coruscant and visited Echo frequently. He'd often take you on dates while flying around on speeder, but tonight Fives didn't go to speeder, he went to a ship.

"Fives, are we going off planet?"

"Yes. There's somewhere you need to see. Somewhere Echo wanted to take you."

You nodded silently, understanding now why it had hurt him to remember. You climbed up the boarding ramp and sat in the copilots seat next to Fives. He guided the ship out of the hangar and into the late night traffic, soon leaving the atmosphere of your home.