The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Soultwins

Crosshair scoffs. He's angry. They're touching, and Hunter might be trying to block their bond, but the longer they touch the more that dissolves. He can feel it. Crosshair's not even trying to hide his anger. It's nipping at Hunter's mind, sharp and cold and vicious, and it makes him want to curl into a ball and cry. "You expect me to believe that?" he snarls bitterly. "Don't lie to me, Hunter. I know you didn't care. You preferred to leave me to suffer, but I'm not like you."

Crosshair's touching him, and his back is healing – it doesn't hurt as much – but Hunter still wishes he had the physical strength to rip away from him. He didn't know. He didn't. He should have, but he didn't. He wouldn't have left Crosshair in pain if he'd known. He'd –

"I didn't know," he whispers again, defeated, and he can't make himself stop crying. "I'm sorry. Crosshair –" His voice breaks on the name, and he presses his face against Crosshair's shoulder, trembling, knowing that Crosshair will feel his tears. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know how he can make this right, if he can make this right. Bane didn't shoot him until later. He should have known.

Crosshair's arms tighten around him, more possessive than protective, but it's still him, and that matters more. His scent is the same, and Hunter has missed him so much. He doesn't answer, but Hunter can feel the sharpness of his disbelief.

He could say so much to Crosshair. He could beg for forgiveness that he doesn't deserve. He could tell him that he knows this isn't him, ask him to come back with him so they don't have to be alone anymore. He could say so much, but the words turn to ash in his mouth. What right does he have to promise to help when he failed him so badly already? He shouldn't make promises that he can't keep. He ought to know that by now. After breaking his promise and leaving Crosshair behind, he should know better than to promise anyone anything.

Maybe he can't explain to Crosshair what happened without it being an excuse, but he can show him. Maybe. Soulmates can see each other's injuries, but scars are... trickier. Theoretically it should work if he wants it to work. ... But does he? Does he want Crosshair to see how he gutted him, hurt him so badly that he closed off their bond, and how he was shot by Bane? If it'll fix this, he's willing to make the gamble. Maybe.

"Lemme just..." he rasps, pulling back a bit, not looking at Crosshair's face. "Give me your hand."

"... Why?" Crosshair asks suspiciously, but he still does. Hunter takes his hand, puts it over the scar he has on his chest from Bane's shot. The scar is a part of him, and he's accepted it, so Crosshair won't be able to heal it in the same way Tech wasn't able to heal Wrecker's scars after they left Kamino. Healing only works so long as they haven't accepted their injury and begun to heal from it in spirit as well as in body.

But just because it's healed doesn't mean Crosshair won't be able to see the history of it if Hunter focuses on it. He bits his lip hard enough to taste blood and focuses.

The shielding he put over their bond crumbles and burns away, and then, Crosshair is in his mind again, their minds syncing, just as their souls have, from the physical contact. He feels whole, complete, but he tries not to let it distract him. He can't trust those feelings, can't trust the samesafemine feelings that pulse through him, but he wishes he could. He wishes that Crosshair could mean family and home just like he always did, just like Tech and Wrecker do now.

The memory skitters along the edge of his mind, and he grasps at it, but it evades him. He's not truly ready to face it again, the horror and pain and all of that. But unless he makes the plunge, he doesn't think Crosshair will ever understand much less let it go. He could break Hunter with this knowledge, though, if he truly wanted to. But then, he already knows how much he matters to him.