The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Soultwins

But now... anything short of fully armored makes Hunter's skin crawl.

Crosshair's expression flickers with something, trepidation or unease maybe, before he touches Hunter's shoulder. The feelings of samesafemine slam into Hunter full force, and he can feel his soulmark light up as their soul automatically aligns and merges into one.

The images follow, as they always do when healing each other.

He can see the world through Crosshair's eyes, blurring and flashing and overlapping. He can hear an explosion, and he feels himself – Crosshair turning to see the open end of an ion engine milliseconds before it ignites. His stomach drops, horror bubbling up. Crosshair's thrown back against the shuttle, and then, there's just painpainpain –

Hunter wrenches back from Crosshair instinctively, pushing his hand away. His back slams into the sink – or toilet, he's not sure – and the white-hot agony that rips through him as his fractured vertebrae shift steals the air from his lungs, so his scream sounds far more strangled than it would have otherwise.

"Hunter!"

He's pretty sure it's not his imagination that Crosshair sounds a little panicked. He feels Crosshair's arms come around him, pulling him against his chest, and Hunter's too exhausted and in too much pain to fight it, much less the images that come with it. He deserves to know anyway. He deserves to know what they did to Crosshair oh force that was Crosshair what did they dowhatdidtheydo –

Tech suggested it in that moment when they thought they'd all die there. Hunter gave them the go ahead, and Wrecker planted the explosives, and – and –

Stars.

Something inside him shatters. That was Crosshair that was his little brother his twin brother –

They weren't supposed to be twins, but it had happened somehow. They were separated into different tubes, of course, and something about it had messed up Crosshair's development. Hunter was decanted first of the four of them. Crosshair was last. But they're still twins. Crosshair almost hadn't survived, and Hunter had to have been too young to even understand it, but somehow, he'd known, because he'd touched him, healed him, kept him stable so he didn't die. He'd healed Crosshair when they were only babies. It was always their... thing. Hunter would always be there to heal Crosshair, to keep him safe. The Kaminoans stole his ability to heal Crosshair with their bond through their regular injections, but they couldn't stop him from protecting him.

And that – that was it. Hunter always protected Crosshair, kept him safe, kept all of them safe, and he – he didn't know he didn't know he –

He didn't mean to.

He doesn't mean to cry, but he can't help it, can't stop the tears from coming. If he'd known, he'd have done something. He'd have – something. Hurting Crosshair can't have been the only solution. Maybe that's why Bane shot him. He might be one of the best bounty hunters out there, but Hunter's better, and he'd agonized for so long after Bracca about how he could have been too slow. Maybe this is the answer. Maybe he deserved it, for what he did to Crosshair. He'd shut the bond, but that doesn't mean his soul didn't know, doesn't mean –

"Are you crying?" asks Crosshair, sounding freaked out.

"'M sorry," Hunter says on a gasped sob, winding his arms around Crosshair and clinging to him. "I didn't – I didn't know." It's an excuse. He should have known. It was his job to know. He's their leader. He's Crosshair's soulmate. He should have known. It sounds pathetic even to his own ears, but he doesn't – what else can he even say?