Homowingian

Part 3 - Searching

Flying reminds him of Omega, but the fact that he's so different than his brothers is strange and wrong and –

(And Crosshair didn't want them, and Hunter doesn't know how to be anything other than what his brothers and their kid want.)

"So much for quality control. This one's too big. This one's too small." Wrecker's eyes widen and Omega looks up with an adorable amount of annoyance. "And that one's got wings – I didn't even know clones could have wings. Yeah, real subtle."

He hates how instinctive it is for them to twitch and tighten against his back, self-conscious about their existence and the eyes on them.

Even Cid poked fun at him for it for a while, until she got used to it, but he had to give her a pass on that, because his wings do draw unwanted eyes. If she was accused of hiding a Jedi, there'd be a... situation.

Tech bristles at the mention – Hunter is grateful for how he and Echo on occasion will stand up for him if someone mentions them. They didn't used to, but things changed after Kamino, both for better and... worse.

Part of him wants to say it isn't all bad, but that's stupid and selfish, because he's supposed to take care of them, and he shouldn't want to be taken care of.

He's their leader. He's supposed to be strong for them, to know what to do. He shouldn't need their help – that's always been Hunter's role.

Tech got even quieter and more withdrawn than he used to be, and it's just... different. Not always, but he's darker, emptier. They all are, but it feels like they're drifting from each other, and Hunter loathes it.

"Our genetic mutations result in –" Tech starts, and she cuts him off.

He's going to right off guess that Tech was about to voice his suspicions that something went off in Hunter's DNA because their genetic host had wings. Jango Fett had black wings, oddly enough, and considering how he wasn't a Force-user either – to anyone's knowledge – that makes no more sense than how Hunter does.

"Well, as fascinating as this has been, I have places to be," Phee interrupts. She leaves, taking Wrecker and the crate outside. She's not a visible threat, so Hunter lets them go.

Doesn't mean he likes it.

Or her.

Cid wants them to go to Serenno, but Hunter turns it down.

He's not going to do something that would lead them back to the Empire, to Crosshair. He can't fight him again. Can't see him again. He doesn't – doesn't want to.

He doesn't like it when people... talk about his wings. Their weight and feeling and constant rustling are things he's gotten used to, and Hunter knows they draw a lot of attention, but that doesn't mean he has to like them. He just needs to deal with it.

Crosshair had –

Stop it.

It doesn't matter what he thought. Doesn't matter if he didn't like them, if he – none of it matters, because he's gone, and it's been long enough that Hunter thought he'd have accepted it by now.

He hasn't.

Probably never will.

(Probably, he'll never stop wondering why Crosshair hurt them, what they did to make him turn on them, wondering how he failed him and why – why Crosshair was trying so hard to rip them all apart piece by piece, wondering what they did to deserve his anger. Wondering what they deserved for Crosshair to try breaking them and nearly succeeding. Maybe he did succeed. Hunter has no idea what they are anymore.)