#chaosmagicuser!reader

[messyyythoughts]

chaos walking , part 3.

star wars: the bad batch x female chaos magic user

summary: after your first adventure with Clone Force 99, Kenobi needs your help. the Bad Batch step in to help when it’s clear you’ve pushed yourself too far this time. warnings: descriptions of physical injury, reader in pain as per usual tbh mando’a translations (http://mandoa.org/) jaro - death wish, insane act of reckless stupidity mesh’la - beautiful

part 1 part 2

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“Kenobi, do you particularly need this damned cruiser?” You asked with a tight voice. The strain of trying to slow down an entire Republic cruiser starting to crush your body, and you knew you wouldn’t hold out much longer. You’d been called in by Kenobi to help save this cruiser from imminent destruction, and when one of the engines gave out, you took a hold of the entire ship, trying to help the pilots steer it. It hadn’t worked, and you’d ordered Kenobi and any non-essential personnel off the cruiser as you tried to save it. Right now, it wasn’t working, but you were still determined to try. The only thing that was driving you was the fact that there were still men on this cruiser who needed to evacuate before the whole thing crashed and burned at your hands. If you felt any of those connections go out, you’d never forget it.

“Well... yes, I do.” He replied, his voice tense. You could tell he was absolutely overwhelmed on his end. With a final moment of peace, you replied.

“I’m not making any promises. Evacuate the rest of this cruiser, give me a space to land on that planet.” His immediate protests came over the comms, you ignored them. He didn’t want you to do this on his own, but there was no other way. His voice was drowned out by the groaning and shaking of the cruiser. How you were managing to hold this weight… you didn’t even want to think about it. You’d be sick if anything other than the mission on hand came to mind. You didn’t even want to think about what the recovery was going to be like for this one, all you knew is that it was going to be grisly. You felt the evacuation pods leave the cruiser, and then concentrated all of your energy left into altering the path this cruiser was about to take in order to reach the nearest planet.

You went down to one knee, letting out a grunt as another wave of hot sweat and strong nausea overtook your body. Your hands were cramping up already, but you flexed them and the feeling subsided slightly. You attacked once more, putting everything you had into changing the path of the cruiser. You were fighting against gravity and physics and it was killing you. Every tiny movement, from an intake of breath to a shift of your knee, was putting you into agony for longer and longer. There was blood running down your face from your nose and mouth, you wiped it away clumsily, only to smear it across yourself. You had never attempted anything like this, you weren’t really sure if you could do it. If you managed to pull this off, you’d go down in the history books, if not, you’d lose an entire Republic cruiser and your life in the process. There was no mistaking it, you simply had to win.

There was a noise coming from behind you, something repetitive and vague. You focused in, trying to get your senses to cooperate. Everything was becoming blurred and hard to understand the longer you exerted yourself. Finally, you heard it. “Come in!” It was Hunter’s voice from behind you. Your head whipped to follow the sound, and you felt a burning sensation down your neck, and spine. “Damn it, will you say something?!” You stumbled over to the comms and used one shaking finger to hit the button. “Hunter?” You asked, with barely enough breath to speak. “What are you doing? There’s no possible way you can save that cruiser.” Tech butted in, you could practically hear him elbowing Hunter out of the way.

“I can do it,” You sputtered, “trust me.” Blood spilled from your mouth and you coughed, near to vomiting blood.

“We’re on our way to the ship, hold her steady for us.” Hunter said with a hard tone, meaning it was final. You’d learned that after your first mission with the Bad Batch, and they’d learned plenty of things about you too. It had been a whirlwind experience, but you felt like you’d do it again tomorrow if they asked you.

“No! You’ll die—” You started, but you were cut off by Wrecker’s voice.

“No, we’re coming to help. We’ll be there before you know it.” Your head slumped forward onto the desk and your powers went out like a light, before you quickly gained a hold of them and pulled the cruiser back on course for a crash landing. You had to crawl back to the bridge to get a central hold of the cruiser and feel the balance set back in. Your magic came back, and you had a steady hold on the cruiser once again. You took deep steadying breaths to align yourself, before closing your eyes and visualising the path to the planet as clearly as you could.

It was then that you felt a ship land on the cruiser, and you realised that they were here. Images flashed through your head of them, and you tried to not let it distract you. A glimpse of the future was not what you needed right now. What could only be called relief flooded through you, and you felt that nausea subside as four pairs of footsteps came rushing to you. What felt like hours of waiting had really only been five minutes before they burst onto the bridge. Tech made a beeline for the front control consoles and started pressing buttons and reading screens, as Crosshair and Hunter followed. Wrecker stood by your side, like a statue.

“Wrecker, I need you to get behind me and support my arms, it’s gonna be a lot, but you can do it.” You wheezed, as Wrecker knelt behind you and put your arms on top of his massive ones. You rested all of your weight on him, and he took it like a champ. “Maker, thank you.” You sighed in relief, almost brought to tears. Tech had the controls working together and the ship’s engines worked double time to steer towards the planet.

“I need to check your vitals, you’re bleeding enough to fill a bathtub.” Hunter broke off from Tech and Crosshair, putting his hands to your pulse on your neck and wrist. He was directly touching the chaos magic that was surrounding your hands, and didn’t flinch or pull away. He took your pulse, then started to wipe the blood from your face. “Her pulse and temp is sky high, we need to land this cruiser sooner rather than later, Tech.” Hunter called out. “You try steering a Republic cruiser that has one dead engine!” Tech retorted, meaning well, but coming off as heavily sarcastic, as always.

“I’m fine, just help me out will you?” You cried out, nearly collapsing onto Wrecker, but he stayed steady behind you like a foundation of a good house. Tech and Cross went haywire on the controls, setting them to this and that. The ship’s comms were suddenly alive with chatter, as the clones stationed on the planet were giving advice to Hunter on how to navigate the atmosphere and complete the crash landing. As Hunter relayed the information to Tech and Crosshair, Wrecker took on every bit of weight that you were dumping on him. It was a tense few minutes of loud noises, shouting orders and blood running until you broke the atmosphere. The cruiser started to shake and rumble as it broke the planet’s atmosphere, sending everyone on the bridge tumbling about with nothing to hold onto. You felt Wrecker grab onto a nearby console to hold your position, and you strained to stay in place. Your body temperature was getting higher and higher, you momentarily thought about making your clothes disintegrate, but then decided against it. You started to slow the descent of the cruiser by pulling back on it with all of your magic, your hands almost cramping into place with the force you were exerting. Chaos magic was spilling from your hands as bright as the stars, and had completely enclosed the cruiser, taking over all directional control of it. Wrecker’s massive hands carefully moved into place behind yours, and he held on, despite the rampant chaos magic coming from yours. You were holding back the most unhinged scream as the cruiser finally made contact with the planet’s surface, sending a reeling shockwave through you. You didn’t falter once as the planet’s debris flew up and collided with the cruiser, in fact it actually helped to slow the crash. The lights went out, leaving you in the dark, but you kept going with only the light from your hands to guide you now. You pulled and pulled until you were sure the cruiser was at a slow enough speed that it wouldn’t move on its own anymore. The screeching sound stopped, and it was replaced by a stark silence. Nobody moved. Your hands stayed in place, now totally still but empty of magic. Each member of the Bad Batch turned to look at you, no words at the ready, just a variation of stares. Kenobi’s voice came over the comms. You got up, every single inch of you about ready to implode, and pressed the button to answer.

“One cruiser, slightly used, but still in good condition.” You heard his chuckle in reply and smiled, blood dripping from your mouth. “You are never doing that again, I didn’t even ask you to save it!” Kenobi attempted to tell you off, but you shook your head, knowing that there was no way he could punish you for this one.

“Kiss my ass, General Kenobi, I’ll see you when you get down here.” You then let your head roll backwards and gave your body the signal to shut off for the recovery. Wrecker caught you, holding you to him in his arms, which hurt like nothing else from being in contact with your magic. Hunter’s hands also hurt, as if they’d been burned, but there was no damage done to them. You weren’t trying to actively harm either of them, so they’d escaped with minimal injury. Sometimes you had control over the magic, and it seemed like you had won today in more than one respect. .·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. The Bad Batch loyally guarded and stubbornly stayed by your bedside for weeks. You’d fallen into a coma, of your own doing, and this wasn’t the first time either. It had happened on a few rare occasions before, as witnessed by both Kenobi and Skywalker, but they’d never seen you in such a bad way this time. Each of them came to visit, both having to convince the Bad Batch that they knew you and meant no harm, which proved more difficult than they expected. Being Generals of the Republic’s army meant nothing to the Bad Batch, as it so happened. Kenobi was stopped at the door for being the one who ordered you to save the cruiser, even though you’d done it of your own accord, and once he had explained this he was allowed entry. He dutifully brushed out your hair as you lay there asleep, and braided it slowly to make sure there were no knots or tangles. The Bad Batch watched him with a veiled interest, Tech especially, as he had never seen you wear your hair like this before. Kenobi updated you on all of the clone battalions that he knew of, some were stationed too far away to receive any real updates on, so he promised to check on them for you when he had a spare moment. After Kenobi had sorted out your hair, he washed your face and neck with a cloth and warm water. He made sure to get every spot, gentle as ever, talking to you the entire time. He knew that you could sense his energy nearby, and that you’d be thankful he’d been there when you finally awoke. He then told the lingering Bad Batch that after your first coma, you’d awoken in fits of screams and delirium, claiming that no one had sat with you and talked to you the whole time you were out. It was true, apart from the odd visit from Skywalker who’d been the closest one to you when it happened. Kenobi and Ahsoka had been too far away to come and visit, but they were just as horrified when they heard the news through Skywalker. So, from that moment, the Bad Batch had one of them sat by your side. Tech made a habit of reading out his notes to you from when he’d studied you, and once he got through those, he moved onto hefty textbooks of theories and hard science. It bored the others to sleep without fail each time, but inside you were clinging onto Tech’s voice like it was a rope and you were dangling above a dark pit. Even though you would never fully understand what he was saying, it made you feel like you weren’t totally alone. When it was Hunter’s turn to sit next to you, he took to drawing on your arms and palms. He used a washable ink pen and would decorate your exposed skin with whatever was in his head at the time, he’d even talk you through the meanings of the drawings, no matter how nonsensical it sounded. He always made sure to put the names of the Bad Batch in there somewhere, and yours. It was often the medical droid’s job to wash the ink away after Hunter had been sat by your side all day. Wrecker liked telling you his favourite stories of battle, and he had a new one each time he sat by you for the day. Some of them were so outlandish that even Tech questioned him sometimes, but you were enjoying the stories regardless. Wrecker was a great storyteller, using his tone and strange sound effects to bring the story to life for you. He knew exactly how to create tension and suspension by waiting a few seconds before telling the climax of the story, or a twist to the plot. Crosshair always criticised Wrecker’s stories for being inaccurate to the truth, but you didn’t care. When Crosshair sat next to you, however, he struggled to do so much... talking. He tried reading something out once, but it sounded bad, and he stopped abruptly. He found something else to do instead, he would draw out battle plans on your arm with his fingers. He could see it all in his head, it just needed finalising on your forearm or the palm of your hand. He’d explain some parts to you before grumbling and starting over again because he wanted to try something else. He even used little paper clones once to really simulate the battle for you on your arm and hand, which made the others smirk, but Crosshair paid them no attention. Skywalker’s visit had been a tense one. He nearly scrapped on the spot with Crosshair trying to gain entry to your room, but Hunter let him through. When he saw you, his face went icy, and he took a seat next to you. The words he spoke were too low for anyone but Hunter to hear, but he chose to ignore them when he got the idea of what Skywalker was saying. Skywalker stayed there for a while, holding your hand in his, eyes closed. An eerie quiet had settled in your room, and the Bad Batch soon found themselves finding excuses to leave. They didn’t go far, only down the hallway, but whatever mood Skywalker was in, they did not feel like tussling with him right now. Kenobi had been somber, but respectful, Skywalker was fuming and looking for a reason to fight. Someone needed to get him back out to the battlefield soon otherwise he’d start going for his own men. But, after an hour or so, he up and left your room without a word to the Bad Batch. They came back in to see you unmoved, asleep just as you had been when they left you. Now, they just had to pass the time until you woke up. .·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. “That woman has a jaro, I’m telling you.” Hunter said with a shake of his head. The Bad Batch had been discussing your other greatest feats, and Tech was readily compiling a list for further debate. “Who just decides to stop a cruiser like that?” Hunter carried on, “no one but her.” He scoffed. Crosshair watched the conversation in silent interest, having already found a new respect for you after witnessing you successfully crash land the cruiser. “I think the cruiser is my favourite one, I helped with that one.” Wrecker announced from your bedside, having paused his wild story to give his opinion. “Wrecker, your personal involvement does not contribute to the greatness of the feat.” Tech sighed, tapping away at his pad. Wrecker shrugged before continuing his story. Crosshair was about to interject when the ship’s internal alarms started going off, signalling that the enemy was approaching. A rush of footsteps from the clones going to their stations went past, and then a rumble went throughout the ship. They’d been hit. “We need to get her ready to move if this ship goes down.” Hunter shot out of his seat, only to find that your eyes were opening, and you were sitting up in your bed. “Maker above...” “Are we seriously getting attacked right now?” You sighed, getting out of bed and heading for the door with renewed energy. They all watched on in absolute disbelief, before scrambling out of the door to follow you. You moved fast at full health, they had to jog to keep up. You reached the bridge, being greeted with applause, which you quickly silenced with a single finger to your lips. “I can’t be in a coma for more than a few weeks and we’re getting bombed by the enemy? Really, guys?” You shook your head. Your messy braid was coming undone where none of the Bad Batch had dared to take it out after Kenobi had so carefully done it. “Give me a visual someone.” You called out, body positively thrumming with the need to get out there and rip some people apart. “Uh, excuse us,” Tech pushed past the crowd of clones on the bridge, and tapped you on the shoulder, “are you quite alright?” You nodded with a wink. The clones had identified the oncoming enemy pilots for you. With little more than a bent finger and a wisp of chaos, you sent the ships tumbling through space into balls of flame, veering off course and missing their shots entirely. You got a rush from this, no matter how many times you did it, because the clones around you were safe and you were taking out the very thing that would kill them. “Mesh’la...” Wrecker said behind you, as he watched the firework display of ships exploding and plummeting to their demise. You didn’t even need both hands, just one finger. The first wave had been entirely demolished, and the second wave was already retreating, much to your disappointment. Maybe you went too hard on the first ones, scared them off. It wouldn’t be the first time. You lowered your finger, smiling in satisfaction as the clones cheered. Nothing made you happier than seeing them alive, and winning. You turned to leave, and when Hunter asked where you were going now, you told him that unless the new uniform was a hospital gown, you were getting a change of clothes. .·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。. messyyythoughts © 2022 do not translate without my permission, give credit if you repost, support always welcomed <3

[messyyythoughts]

chaos walking, part 2.

star wars: the bad batch x female chaos magic user

author’s note: feedback is much appreciated and welcomed <3

summary: your display of pent up anger against General Krell did not go unnoticed by the Jedi Council, they have come up with a solution for you, whether you agree with it or not is another thing entirely…

warnings: half a swear word lol, apart from that it is all SFW, enjoy my loves <3 part one here! :)

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'Could they have chosen anything itchier than this?' You scowled as you sat deathly still before the Jedi Council via hologram. Ahsoka had given you some spare clothes, that weren’t yours, to dress in for the meeting. General Skywalker and General Kenobi were by your side, as well as Ahsoka and Rex. You'd been dragged out of your drug-induced slumber to get changed and present yourself for questioning by the Jedi Council. You’d been before them many times before, but not like this, not to be scolded like a damn child.

“To conclude, we have taken into account your previous... shall we say, reluctance, to work with General Krell and have made a final decision." Master Mace Windu was speaking to you, a grim look on his face. When was he not scowling? Despite this, you had always liked him really. Unfortunately, you had only worked together a few times. Still, you thought highly of him, until this moment. "You with be placed with Clone Force 99 for the foreseeable future, under the command of Sergeant Hunter. This meeting is now adjourned, unless you have further questions?" Windu somehow managed to stare you down via hologram which didn't actually do anything when you opened your mouth.

"Yeah, I do have further questions,” You began to get out of your seat, “who the fu-" Anakin lunged forward and abruptly ended the meeting as Ahsoka slapped a hand over your mouth. Kenobi released a tight breath and Rex just stood there. Only when they were all sure you weren’t going to start shouting at them did they move again. It was like watching a painting come to life. 

Ahsoka's hand slowly slid from your mouth and you glared pointedly at Anakin. "Clone Force 99?" You spat, still not understanding the implications of what had been decided.

"Trust me, they'll be good for you!" Anakin reasoned as Ahsoka put an arm around your shoulders. Even performing the simplest physical movements meant you were tired out easily and even the medical officers were concerned for your health after Krell's last stunt. Usually, you bounced back a few days afterwards, it had been almost two weeks now and the clones you’d fought with were getting anxious for you. There were whispers around the cruiser of you never recovering, but you knew better than to listen to that gossip.

Even when you had begrudgingly returned to your bed and fell straight back asleep, Ahsoka refused to leave your side. Only when Anakin pried her away did she leave, only to be replaced briefly by Master Plo Koon. When you stirred you saw him at your bedside and sat up with a lot of effort and pain, just happy to see a familiar face. A kind one at that. He took one of your hands in his and spoke to you in low, comforting tones as a father would. You shared your worries and your pain with him and he did his best to comfort you and explain things.

"You understand that it's the best outcome we could’ve hoped for, the Council were... difficult to persuade." Plo Koon had told you in confidence at your bedside. You had learned that if it wasn't for Skywalker, Kenobi and Koon's strong reasoning, you would've been serving under Krell as soon as you could walk on your own. For that, you thanked him many times, before his own squad of clones came to retrieve him. They walked in on you in tears and asked you who they had to ‘shoot down to make you happy again’. That made you laugh a bit through the tears. Then when they departed, you were surprised when they saluted you, even Commander Wolffe, and wished you well as they left for their next mission. 

As much as you wished them victory on their next mission, you wished they could sit here with you and make you laugh until you had recovered fully. 

Nothing could replace that eerie loneliness. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. You were alone for a while then. There were other injured clones that made trips in and out but you were the only consistent patient for about a month. It was Rex who watched as you finally stood on your own again without his help and started walking about without pains in your limbs or sides spontaneously erupting and sending you to the floor. After spending so long in a hospital bed you were desperate for action, but Rex and Skywalker knew better than to let you be on your own for too long. So you did little jobs to build up strength again, redressing a clone's wound or mopping up after a spillage, and overnight you finally bounced back. You felt it as soon as you stirred, that vigorous new energy pulsing through you. You were at your most powerful now, having adequately recovered and rested from the trials Krell put you through.

Skywalker knew it the minute he saw you, dressed in your battle attire and eyes practically shining with power. 

You were fresh, reborn, ready.

"Not so fast," He stopped you as you left the medical bay, "Clone Force 99 are waiting for you in the hangar." You stopped short and remembered. 

The Council's orders. 

Clone Force 99. "Oh, come on Anakin, you aren't serious about this?" You asked in an exasperated tone as he pulled you aside to speak privately. "Listen, these clones are different, they're actually more your style." You tilted your head at this, finally starting to take an interest in Anakin's words. "More my style?" You repeated, thinking about how it would feel to serve alongside people who actually fought the way you did. Anakin could see that he'd swayed you and motioned for you to follow him to the hangar of the Republic cruiser you'd been recovering on for the past few weeks. 

As you followed Skywalker, you couldn't help but feel a faint divination pop up in your mind. Words that related to Clone Force 99 started to rattle in your ears, giving you flashes of images you had never seen before. This happened sometimes before a big battle, your nerves gave way to little glimpses of what was to come, not that it ever helped.

You entered the bustling hangar and spotted Master Plo Koon again, giving a friendly wave to him, but when he didn't return it you felt a bit hurt. It was then that General Krell stepped out from behind Plo and made direct eye contact with you. 

He seemed almost triumphant in his manner, and you felt the cold rage rising quicker than you could imagine. When you deviated from following Skywalker and started making a blazing path towards Krell, who really should've been dead weeks ago, Plo Koon realised and stood between you and Krell. Even Koon’s steady voice calling out your name in an attempt to get through to you didn’t do anything. Then, Commander Wolffe was there, holding you back against him, telling you that it was not worth it. “Cyar’ika, he’s nothing to you. Don’t waste your breath.” Wolffe’s low voice mumbled in your ear. You blinked and realised that the entire hangar seemed to be still, watching and waiting. Anakin had worked his way back, having failed to notice your absence since he'd been talking to himself the whole way. When he reached you, he gave Krell a nasty glare. You'd only ever seen that glare reserved for the Jedi Council when they annoyed Anakin for the tenth time in the span of a week, so it meant a lot that he'd thrown it Krell's way. "Commander Wolffe is right, Krell isn't worth your time or energy, but those guys are." Anakin took you by the shoulders and turned you to face what you finally recognised as Clone Force 99. You had only looked at them for a moment when you heard Krell's vile voice speaking to you from across the hangar. He clearly felt brave being guarded by Plo Koon, who you could never harm in any way. "Don't get any ideas, little witch, you'll be serving under me soon enough." Unbeknownst to you, your eyes glowed with chaos and Wolffe had to pin you to his chest as Plo Koon ushered Krell to just move along. You struggled against Wolffe's hold until Krell was out of the hangar, already retreating into the safety of the cruiser. If Plo Koon hadn't been there you would've torn him limb from limb, let his blood rain down, hear his body hit the floor and watched it with undying satisfaction. "If Wolffe lets you go will you promise not to go after him?" Anakin asked as if he were speaking to a child having a tantrum. You held his gaze for a moment and felt a thought from his mind enter yours. 'This is her one chance at getting away from him, just take it.' You stopped squirming in Wolffe's grip and he slowly released you, staying alert in case you made a run for Krell. 

That feral part of you that revelled in chaos magic and being a chaos witch was bent on going after Krell, hearing him beg for mercy as you tore him piece by piece until he was a mass of body parts on the hangar floor. But the human part of you somehow prevailed and you remained barely composed, still aware of the eyes on you in the hangar. Anakin resumed walking, much slower this time, and Wolffe left to join Plo. When you came close enough to see the faces of Clone Force 99 you realised that they had seen that interaction with Krell and seemed... amused by it. Yes, amused was the word you'd use because even the awfully miserable looking one had a little smirk on his lips. He also had a toothpick between his lips.

You stood a step behind Anakin until you were sure about these clones. There were four of them, and if reports were correct then they had a high success rate with missions. You’d heard some whisperings about them occasionally, they were kept mostly a secret though for whatever reason. Skywalker seemed to have trust in them, and if he’d managed to get you placed with them then you had to at least give it a go.

“Sergeant Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Crosshair, meet your new friend.” Skywalker told them your name, and they all seemed okay with it so far. Anakin had decided to cut the chatter this time, and went to leave, but you caught his hand. When you were in close contact with someone or physically touching them you could slip little messages into their minds, and you did this now with Anakin. “I’m not sure about this.” You told him, without saying the words. “Why not?” He asked, standing completely still a step away from you. “What if I’m too much, or not enough?” You asked, these sudden doubts rising in your mind that you hadn’t thought of minutes ago when Krell was present. “They will grow to like you, trust me, and if I’m wrong then you can tear Krell limb from limb, and I’ll help you do it.” Your eyes met his and he nodded at you, letting go of your hand. The connection weakened and you let it fizzle out, shutting off your mind from Anakin’s. You watched as he walked away, then finally turned to the four clones behind you.

If there was going to be any moment where you had to make a good first impression, it was now. Anakin had already introduced you by name, so what else was there to say? You couldn’t be silent for too long, they might think you were mute. You hadn’t said anything since entering the hangar and even when Krell appeared you hadn’t said anything. It had all been silence since they’d laid eyes on you.

“I’d apologise for my behaviour a moment ago but you’ll be seeing a lot more of it from what I understand.” You said, resisting the urge to take a peek into their minds. Sometimes you just had to do it in order to understand someone better, make sure they weren’t a threat to you, but you held back. “If I get to see more of that then I must say I’ll have to study your powers extensively.” Tech stepped forward and held up his data pad to you, before scanning your body with it. You stood there in an amused silence as Tech finished his scan and then looked at your hands. You wore fingerless gloves when you weren’t in battle to protect your hands, whenever the gloves came off it meant business and the clones usually got rather excited. “Do you want to see the magic?” You asked Tech, to which he stood back and waited patiently. You held up a hand and curled your fingers lightly into a fist but then fanned them back out, letting a mere wisp of what you could use dance between your fingers freely. “Is that it?” Crosshair scoffed, you tilted your head at him and used your forefinger to lift him gently from the floor. He had previously been leaning against the ship but was now floating slowly above it, a very angry expression on his face. You put him down before he could complain, winking at Tech. “Alright, enough playtime,” Hunter spoke, and you bit back a smile, “we’ve got some work to do.” The others filed into the ship save for Hunter and you. “You ready? We don’t do things like the regs do.” It came off as a friendly warning, but you knew he meant better. “Why do you think they placed me with you? I’m too much for the regs to handle.” You replied, he smirked at you and motioned for you to go first up the stairs to the ship. You curtseyed sarcastically in reply and went ahead, being offered a hand by Wrecker to enter the Havoc Marauder. He was clearly pleased when you took his hand and stepped into the ship for the very first time. .·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。.

You didn’t have a designated seat in the ship, having just joined Clone Force 99, so you stood at the back with your arms crossed over your chest. Tech had been nonstop taking samples of you. Your hair, skin and even an eyelash that had fallen onto your cheek. He was starting to become obsessed with understanding your powers and consequently, you. At least it was something, you thought, as he took your body temperature and tapped all of the information into trusty his data pad. He occasionally asked you questions but not often enough that you could get a conversation flowing.Wrecker, on the other hand, was bent on getting to know you. He’d not said much upon first meeting you and seemed to feel bad about it. When you were all inside of the ship and ready to go he came up to you and held out his hand for a handshake.   “Uh, I’m Wrecker. Nice to meet you.” He had said, clearly feeling a bit awkward, but you put him at ease by shaking his hand and sending a wave of warmth through him with your magic. After that he’d been quite chatty to you, asking random questions like what you liked to eat and what was the 'absolute worst injury you’d ever had on the battlefield’. It was nice to talk to Wrecker seeing as the others weren’t that interested. Or, Wrecker could be doing the work for them and they were just listening in. A tiny peek in their minds would tell you what they were thinking—

No, no that was not the move for today. You had just met these clones, there was absolutely no need to go digging through their minds just yet. If they did or said anything odd then you would have reason to, but they had clean slates as of now.

“What about… bodies?” Wrecker suddenly asked. You turned your head to look at him and he waited expectantly.

“Bodies as in…?” You waited for his clarification.

“The bodies you’ve collected during the war, he means,” Hunter threw you a glance that didn’t fully meet your eyes, “how many do you think you’ve killed in the war?” He looked back to the blue of hyperspace.

“I’d be lying if I said I never tried counting,” You started, stopped, but then you let yourself continue, “I stopped counting a long time ago but my rough estimate would be in the thousands, probably.” They all stopped and looked at you with differing expressions. Even Tech who had now become engrossed in his data pad stared at you. “The magic…” You owed them an explanation for that estimation, you knew that much. “It’s chaos magic, unstable and dangerous at the best of times. I could aim to take out one droid and take out ten instead with the best of my focus.” Tech started writing this down for later, the others just kept silent.

“In the thousands, hey? Well, I bet we can do that easy.” Wrecker claimed, clearing the air of discomfort from the ship.

“A thousand bodies is quite the burden,” Crosshair drawled from his seat, “I can respect that.” He added in a quieter voice, but everyone had heard it. Maybe his little airborne moment earlier had given him a better understanding of your capabilities.

“I don’t see it as a burden,” You were looking at Crosshair now, even though he wasn’t looking at you, “I think of it as a reprieve.” Tech turned to you.

“And why would you say it’s a ‘reprieve’?” He asked, as if he were interviewing you for some flashy holoshow that aired on Coruscant. 

“Chaos magic is difficult to use, let alone understand. Every time I took a life, or ‘gained a body’, it meant I’d used my magic properly. It’s like a little bit of weight off of my mind each time I do something right.” You told Tech in reply, not a shadow of emotion in your face or voice as you spoke. This was all the honest truth, whether they found it comforting or alarming or agreeable or not. Tech scribbled this down and Hunter finally turned to fully face you.

“Sometimes I feel that, the relief, the feeling that you’re doing something right for once.” You found his eyes and felt a connection, a good one at that. 

Sometimes, when you felt like someone understood you, a little tether formed that connected you to them in a way. It wasn’t a physical bodily connection, it was a little piece of chaos magic that kept you in touch with that person. You had these connections with people like Ahsoka, Rex, Anakin. Those were the absolute strongest ones you had ever experienced. You had an inconsistent one with General Kenobi where you hadn’t fought alongside him as often as you had with Anakin. There was absolutely no connection with Krell, more of a seething hatred really, but with the clones that you fought alongside? 

There were too many connections to keep a track of.

You’d joined up with many battalions in the years you’d been active in the war and each time you fought alongside one, connections formed. Some were strong, some were weak. Some stayed and some went. 

Recently, though, you had found that a lot of connections were staying. Those tethers were refusing to break, to let go. It hadn’t really concerned you until this Clone Force 99 business, and it got you thinking.

“Well, maybe we all aren’t so different than we think.” You found yourself saying to Hunter. He seemed to agree, and the ship returned to its state of quiet. Wrecker had more questions once in a while but they stopped abruptly once Tech dropped the ship out of hyperspace and you saw the planet before you. There were Republic cruisers in the vicinity, and no Separatists to be seen. 

Just what exactly would you be doing here?

.·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。.

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