There are times when Lucifer is acutely aware of how much he needs you. For so long, he survived without you. How many years had he spent working, fighting, protecting his family, all on his own? He hadn't needed you before. When had you walked so freely into his heart?
Lucifer couldn't be sure when it began. Perhaps it was the day you first made him hell coffee and the bitter flavor exploded on his tongue. The revelation of your feelings was enough for him to realize his own - the acknowledgment of a fondness that had been creeping in ever since he first saw you.
Now he felt it every time you sat beside him in his office, keeping him company late into the night as he tackled his mountains of paperwork. He would look up from his desk to see you there, content to simply be in his presence. He couldn't deny the way his chest became warm when you inevitably sensed his regard, looked up to meet his eyes, and smiled.
Lucifer felt it every time you accompanied him to the store, keeping track of all the things his brothers requested. Things he would have forgotten if not for your consideration. The way you so effortlessly moved with him, working in tandem as though you had but one mind.
He felt it whenever you brought him a glass of Demonus as he sat in the music room, listening to the latest cursed record he had obtained. How you would linger in the doorway with the glass in your hand, giving him the chance to turn off the record if it was one you couldn't listen to before you came in.
For so long, Lucifer had believed he didn't need anyone else. Until you came along and stood beside him as though that's where you had always belonged. And the longer you stayed there, the more difficult it became for him to pretend he didn't need you.
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It took 2 people to fully convince Crosshair to do a 180 on the Empire - but neither of those people were Bad Batch members.
They couldn't be. What would a squad of defective clones who had been disobeying orders since day 1 know about loyalty to an institution determined to establish order for the good of the galaxy? What would they know about finding purpose in being "good soldiers"?
Now, I DO think the seeds of Crosshair's eventual defection were planted by his brothers. Hunter pointing out that "Blind allegiance makes you a pawn" and then telling Crosshair "All you'll ever be to them is a number" are statements that are proven later to be true. But it takes Cody and Mayday to drive the lessons home.
Cody and Mayday share several characteristics that place them in unique positions to influence Crosshair:
Both are regs who accepted and befriended Crosshair - Cody says he specifically asked for Crosshair for the mission, and Mayday is upfront and friendly to Crosshair right from the start. (Contrast this to the other regs getting up to move tables when Crosshair sits to eat, or the other clone troopers who walk past Crosshair to get onto the shuttle without even sparing him a glance.)
Both are commanders. (I believe Crosshair ultimately respects authority for the most part: even when he was arguing with and challenging Hunter in "Aftermath," he still deferred to Hunter's orders until his inhibitor chip was intensified and he was then promoted to commander.)
Both are loyal soldiers who have served the Empire well - again, these regs are still commanders even under the new government. And we all know how important loyalty to the Empire is to Crosshair at this point.
Both save Crosshair's life during their missions.
In short, both are regs, but they are still soldiers Crosshair can quickly identify with and trust.
I think it's key that Crosshair encountered Cody before Mayday, though. And despite their similarities, both soldiers drive home different points.
CODY
Cody is one of the few regs we know Crosshair already respected - and still respects, given that Crosshair almost smiles when he recognizes him.
(Some proof in case it isn't apparent: Crosshair goes from frowny face...
...to relaxed almost-happy-if-you-squint-just-right face)
Anyway, while Cody does drop some hints early on that he has doubts about the Empire, he is willing to carry out the mission to rescue "Governor" Grotton, showing he will follow orders to a certain extent. However, he shows more restraint than Crosshair might have: he doesn't attack the civilians despite their obvious mistrust of the soldiers, he comes to an understanding with Tawni Ames, he's NOT willing to follow an order to execute her, and he is clearly dismayed and disappointed by her death.
And so, at the end of a "successful" mission, Cody more plainly reveals the depth of his dissatisfaction with following orders against one's own moral scruples:
Hunter had said "Blind allegiance makes you a pawn." And Cody, unwilling to blindly and unquestioningly be a pawn - or act like a battle droid - any longer, goes AWOL.
But that lesson alone isn't enough to make Crosshair turn on the Empire. Instead, he needs Mayday to give him the final push.
MAYDAY
First, Mayday indicates how appalled he is by the idea of anyone leaving their own behind - which we know is a sore spot for Crosshair. But most importantly, Mayday has demonstrated since he was first introduced that he strongly believes in soldiers being loyal to and looking out for each other (which is far different than just being loyal to the Empire).
Second, Mayday unknowingly challenges Crosshair's belief that serving the Empire provides meaningful purpose. (Remember that one of Crosshair's main arguments to his brothers about joining the Empire was so they could "find purpose again.")
Then, he unwittingly goes for the jugular and rips apart the motto Crosshair had adopted.
And then, in case Crosshair has any lingering doubts about the answer to Mayday's rhetorical question, Nolan decidedly answers the question for him.
Hunter had said "All you'll ever be to them is a number," and he is proven right in the most heartbreaking way.
Crosshair had accused his brothers of not being loyal to him; unfortunately, now he sees what true disloyalty looks like. And for Crosshair - severe and unyielding - realizing that he has misplaced his loyalty by giving it to an entity that mocks him and casts him AND those he cares about aside for doing so... this is the final straw.
Thankfully, Crosshair has now rediscovered the people who are worthy of his loyalty.
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Barbatos and Solomon's first meeting and a theory of mine, aka: what if Solomon summoned Barbatos to save his friend?
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SWD S3 AND NB S1 AHEAD
Okay, so we've had pieces of info about their first meeting for a while now, but after collecting everything I could on these two to make my recent posts I was able to put them together and here it is.
First, there are the two times the story was briefly told in Obey Me! SWD, this one being from lesson 53-16 when Asmo discusses his first meeting with Solomon and then asks Barbatos about his:
And this next one being from lesson 49-A when Asmo asks about it for the first time and Solomon doesn't want to tell him:
And we learn what happened in the aftermath from Thirteen when she tells us about it in Obey Me! NB lesson 11-10:
So Solomon risked his life to summon Barbatos using an incantation and was left on the brink of death because of it, all because he "desperately needed his powers to control time", and after their interaction and whatever happened there, Barbatos took him to the Fountain of Knowledge and declared him the new protector of it.
By the way, they didn't make a pact during their first meeting but later on instead, or at least that's what I got from Barbatos saying:
I'm saying this because "eventually" is vague enough to be open to interpretation and could mean that they did make a pact during their first meeting and that it only took some bargaining for Barbatos to agree. But the way I saw it was that the pact was made later on.
So, the questions left unanswered from this are:
1 ) What made Solomon want to control time badly enough for him to seriously risk his life for it?
2 ) Did Barbatos help Solomon by using his powers to control time like he wanted him to?
Because it never says that Barbatos agreed to Solomon's "desperate need", and it doesn't say why Solomon was so desperate for it in the first place, only telling us that there was something he wanted enough to risk death for it.
But it does answer WHY later.
At first I thought we didn't have more info on their first meeting, but then I remembered this little moment from Obey Me! NB ( that I added to my post afterward and here's the screenshot from the post because I was too lazy to open the game and go to the lesson again ):
So Solomon almost died summoning Barbatos because he desperately needed his powers to control time after causing serious destruction to the Human World with his...?
Well, maybe, the passage does say that Barbatos appeared before him and not that he was purposely summoned by him, but it could be that the book is just depicting what people at the time thought happened, since it makes it sound like that was their first meeting when Barbatos himself said that Solomon summoning him was how they first met.
Anyway, let's assume I'm right and that's what happened and the reason why Solomon needed Barbatos was to fix the damage he did to the Human World unintentionally.
THE MAIN THEORY: Solomon summoned Barbatos to save his childhood friend's life, who was affected by Solomon's powers going out of control.
This is something that Solomon tells us in Obey Me! NB lesson 14-16, that he had a friend while he was locked up in the basement as a kid. He tells us the story of how they met and says that from then on the friend started visiting him regularly and that they would chat through the bars of the window basement and that's how their interactions went for however long. But then while telling us about them he suddenly stops:
And thus this became my current theory.
Solomon's powers, which have always vastly surpassed your usual human's, start getting out of control and becomes a threat to the world, endangering one of his loved ones ( much like MC's in S2 with Lucifer ). And desperate to save their life and out of what to do, he summons a demon he knows can control time to help him.
Judging by how Solomon struggles to tell the story to MC though, we can assume that it didn't end well.
Maybe Barbatos refused to save his friend/had no way to do it ( he can only travel through timelines and not actually go back and change the one where he is ) and Solomon had to accept the fact that they were dying and say goodbye and this was the moment when he made this promise to them to become a good sorcerer, learn how to control his powers and protect humanity.
Or maybe Barbatos did try to save them/told Solomon how to do it but it ended badly somehow and that's what brings Solomon pain when he tries to talk about it.
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