#usually I just vod watch but I wanna watch it in order and I want multiple POVs and I want watching it to be easy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jessiebanethedragon · 4 years

Text

Scuttle, all chapters in one post

Thought it might be kinda nice to have the full story in one post... idk.

The mission, simple. The planet, a shit show. But that's hardly unusual for Clone Force 99. The elite team of four clones were used to disasters, in fact, they thrive off of them. Arkanis was no different, a rainy planet located in the outer rim. Currently held under control via the separatists. The republic needed to change that, and so of course when their informant’s identity was leaked, they sent the most capable team they had to extract them.

Enter - The Bad Batch.

“Did you know this planet is made up of over 10,000 different species, all localized to it’s rainforest biosphere?” Tech was chattering as usual while the team geared up. Assembling their armour and double checking weapons before dropping out of hyped space.

“How many of those wanna kill us?” Wrecker asked beyond the metallic thunk of his durasteel clicking into place.

“Does not say, but given Arkanis’s tropical climate i would estimate that most of the life forms are plants.” Tech said clicking about on his holopad.

“Vod, in here now.” The Sergeant called from the brig of the Havoc Murdader, having already assembled his armour and stashing away his viroblades. “Here's the info we got from Cody.” Hunter said, pulling up a map of the planet’s capital.

“It’s a kriffing death trap.” Crosshair barked out looking at the maze of intervening trees, houses and streets, all covered with various mosses, vines and other plants.

“We’ll have to go solo on this one.” Hunter added. “We need to cover ground quickly and quietly, remember this is an active warzone so while blasts will blend in we want minimal casualties.” With a flick of his hand he moved the holo so it showed a different area.

“This is their last known coordinates, we’ll drop ten clicks from here and fan out. Tech?” Hunter looked to his brother, waiting for him to take over and tell them how to go about searching for the informant.

“There's no choice but to head in all directions, checking each house, that's our best bet, without a speeder they wont have been able to leave the city.”

“And if they did have a speeder?” Crosshair piped in, attaching an intricate looking scope to his rifle.

“Well, then, I hope you like rain because we’re stuck there until we find the snitch.” Hunter added. “Wrecker, Tech, let's get this show going.” Crosshair watched his brother’s jump to the front of the ship, rolling the toothpick in his mouth around.

“Sarge.” He said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Like usual it was chucking it down on Arkanis, the sky was dark by midday and everyone was wrapped in layers of weather proof fabric. There was no wind today, no sunlight, just buckets and buckets of cooling rain. She watched as the droids started ushering people around, being pushed aside by one herself to make way for the spider droids that were crawling the city. She cursed herself for not noticing it sooner, the anxiety of getting caught was dulling her senses. Focus and precision were not things she could go without right now.

“Yona!” Your mother called, when you had picked yourself up again. Crossing the uneven street with practiced ease.

“I’m fine mama.” You assured her. She clutched to your clothing like a madwoman. Peering at the droids through the rain.

“Return to your homes.” the closest one said, before pointing it’s blaster at the both of you. Causing you to latch onto your mother's arm and take off as fast as you could down the street.

You pushed the door to your small home open with your knees, the latch had long broken and the door itself did not slide open properly anymore. The tips and edges of your hair were soaked, eyelashes heavy and hands slightly shaking.

“Papa?” you called into the emptiness that was your house, cold wooden floors and windows left open allowing the rain to make its way inside. The seprastist propaganda was playing through the Holopad on the main table.

“Yona.” he said softly, sitting on the chair in the main room. None of the lights were on, the warm glow of homeliness wasn't there, and a feeling of dread settled in your stomach. “What have you done?” he asked gravely.

“What are you talking about?” You faked innocence, there was no way he could know, you’d been so careful in hiding the transmissions. Flicking the light switch on the biggest lamp in the room you began to shed your outer clothing.

“Yona…” he started again, and you turned at his voice, shrieking when you saw the figure standing at the end of the room.

“I have to say…” General Krexx hissed out, the separatists trandoshan calmly turned towards you. “I’m almost impressed by how long you managed to remain undetected, little republican.” Without thinking you turned to the door and bolted out into the rain, weaving through the rocks and foliage as fast as you could.

“Go on, scuttle away little roach. Get a good head start.” Krexx laughed, before reaching to his communicator to hail his trandoshan guard. “You’ll need it.”

Crosshair quickly decides he likes the rain. It’s got a way of blending in so nicely with the rest of the planet that he thinks it would be bland without it.

“Anything?” Hunter asked into the comms, and various grunts and groans of ‘negative’ filled his ear. They’d landed in what looked like an abandoned house, it was situated in the branches of a very tall, and very old tree. How anyone would have managed to climb it was a mystery.

“How do we even know what we’re lookin’ for?” Wrecker grumbled as they rapelled down the enormous trunk.

“All we’ve got is that they answer to the name Wren apparently its some animal on this planet.” Hunter grumbled, looking over a tech, expecting a lengthy explanation of what exactly a ‘Wren’ was.

“Fairywren are small birds that live in typical families of small groups, they come in brilliant colours of purple and blue. Very rare in the galaxy, but common to this planet.” Tech immediately replied, as their feet crunched into the ground.

“Okay, Bad batch, let's make this quick.” The sergeant ordered before taking off into the undergrowth.

It had been hours and they were no closer to coming across anyone or anything that looked like a Fairywren. Keeping to the outskirts of a small town crosshair watches as a group of Trandoshian guards (from the look of their intense armour) patrolled the streets.

“What are they doing?” he thought aloud to himself, toothpick ever present in his mouth. His concentration broke when he heard someone laughing at him. A group of teenagers were sitting under a broken piece of metal.

“What does it look like, Laserbrain?” one of them sneered. “The trandoshans are only good for one thing. The hunt.” Crosshair doubled his pace.

You were running faster than you ever had before, and for longer than you thought was physically possible. Your one and only advantage was the extent of your knowledge of the forest paths. The guards would be faster and run longer, they had keener senses than any human, and you knew if they put out a warrant, anyone and everyone would turn you in. But you were so close. So, so close.

It was called the Night Lake by the locals, the canopy here was so dense no light illuminated the water below, giving the area a terrifying essence. But also ensured much needed privacy, and in this particular case, somewhere to hide. You threw yourself into the waters, letting the slightly chilly water envelop you. At least four of them had been on your tail and you knew more of them were waiting at the edge of the city, should you try and circle back.

You swam as deep as you could manage, before stilling in the water, suspended in perfect anxiety as you watched its surface for any movement. Flares began to light up the dark sky and the water below as they tried to clear the area for your whereabouts. Closing your eyes you prayed to anything listening for them not to find you.

Turns out. No one was listening.

Crosshair was sprinting in the forest, creatures disturbed by his arrival scattered in every direction. The Trandoshians had taken off moments before answering a call that he couldn't interpret. But his experience and intuition told him to follow.

It was then that he faltered and fell down the edge of a small but very muddy hill, being followed only by more water filled dirt that almost buried him. Cursing he pulled himself up, checking his whereabouts for signs of a trap.

“So small for such trouble.” Something hissed to his right, clearly unaware of the clone that had just tumbled into their presence. His eyes snapped forward, four trandoshians sat at the edge of what was the largest and darkest lake Crosshair had ever seen.

“Shall we let her drown or yank her out ourselves?” One asked with a snicker.

“The general wants her alive, something about having fun while making an example.” The first one spoke again. “Right, enough is enough, Drisk get her out of there.” with a nod towards the water, Crosshair watched as the slimmest trandoshan (who was probably still twice the size of the sniper) dove into the black waters. The ripples dissipated for a moment before the reptile emerged carrying a struggling young girl. She was sopping wet, and struggling and turning so much they had no choice but to dump her in the mud.

“Now, now little roach, don't run off.” The leader laughed as she started to claw her way through the mud, reaching down he grasped her ankle and yanked her into the arms of the other two reptilians. Crosshair lined up his rifle, he could take out the two grasping the girl and then worry about the leader after. He had the trandoshans in his sight when his comm crackled to life again.

“Crosshair, you missed your check in time, you still out there?” it was Tech, curse him and his punctuality. Because now the other two huge beings were dragging him out of his hiding place.

“Well, would you take a look at this. A clone!” Crosshair was forced to his knees in front of the leader as it spat at him.

“Crosshair! Come in!” Tech shouted into the helmet, thus resulting in it’s not-so gentle removal from Crosshairs head. He watched as Tech’s voice faded away as the bucket rolled into the lake.

“Now that the rude interruption is gone, you wanna tell us whatcha up to in these parts?” he said kneeling down and meeting his newest captive eye to eye.

“Bird watching.” Crosshair deadpanned. Really not feeling in a chatty mood at that present moment.

“Really?” The reptile hummed in thought, pretending to actually believe his answer. “Have you seen any birds yet?”

“No.” Crosshair told him with a smile, “Saw some Bantha-shit - looking lizards though.” He didn't see the flying fist coming, but he sure as hell felt it.

You clamp you both of your hands over your mouth. Hard. in the smallest attempt to muffle your screams. You can't tell the difference from lake water, rain water, and tears. But you know you’re wailing at an unforgiving volume. Your mother's blank eyes stare at you. A single blaster to the head. Your father, you got a blaster to the face is now unrecognizable. You don’t know which is worse. Krexx didn't even bother to keep you restrained, knowing that the horror of what he made you witness would be enough to paralyze you into compliance. The sound of conflict falls on deaf ears as you continue to shriek from your converter of what once was the family home.

The Clone, whose name you either didn't know or couldn't remember, was cuffed to one of the ceiling's support beams by a pair of binders, only just coming to a hit to the head like that will do you in. you watch him lift his head with a groan, the tattoo on his face covered by layers of mud. He starts pulling at the binders before his eyes meet the figure in the corner.

You’re curled in a fetal position, still screaming bloody murder into your hands. And barely, Crosshair sees that the fingerless gloves you wear are embroidered with a bird. A bright blue bird.

“Wren.” He grunted out, the pieces all coming together as his brain shakes the fuzz away. You don't move. “Wren!” he shouts over your tears. And you fall into more of a silent sob, looking over at him. “I need you to get these off of me.” he gestures to the binders with a shake of his hands. You recoil in the corner and shake your head, your cries are picking up volume again.

“Wren, please” Crosshair all but begs. The sound of battle is getting closer and closer. “I need you to uncuff me.” his voice barely registers in your brain. You know you have to move but you feel like you physically can't. There’s no fight or flight left in you, and it appears your entire system has short circuited as a result.

“We are both going to die if you don’t get me out of these kriffin’ binders!” Crosshair renewed his struggles as he shouts at you. But one look at you says that would be a preferable outcome for your current state. So, he switches tactics and tries to remember everything tech has ever told him about shock and trauma.

“Wren,” he tries once again, softer this time. “I can help you, I can help you out of this. But i can't do that if you don't get these off of me.” Your eyes meet his. ‘Progress’ he thinks. You don't know how you do it, but you try to stand.

“Just keep looking at me, okay?” The clone who you don't know speaks again, and your eyes meet his. You stare not into his eyes, more like past them. You're not focusing on anything you're just taking one step after another until you reach where he’s awkwardly strewn up. “There's a release button on the-” He starts to tell you, but you're already reaching up with shaky hands and fumbling around until they drop to the floor with a horrible clank. Immediately Crosshair jumps into action checking by each window and door and gathering all he can in terms of intel.

“We need to move, before anyone-” he trails off again when he’s seen that you’ve slid down the wall that he was against. Curling back into a ball. Slowly, he approaches you. He knows the protocol for a clone with shock, but what you're going through looks completely different all together. And Crosshair, well, let's just say there was never any training for caring for a civilian girl whose entire life just got destroyed.

“My name is Crosshair.” He whispers to you, crouching down to our height. You look at him with wide eyes. “Is it okay if I carry you to a safer spot?” You nod in response fumbling with your arms to lock them around his tall frame. His strength surprises you, as he lifts you with relative ease. And slowly the adrenaline wears off and you sink into his arms, vaguely you feel him pull your head into his shoulder the blasts sound deafening now as he runs through the uproar caused by the execution of an innocent family. Your family. Crosshair tells himself he pulls you closer so that you are not recognized. And that he does it so you don't have to see that carnage. But mostly he does it in hopes that you feel just a little more safe, and a little more calm in his arms.

You don't remember passing out in the troopers arms, waking only when he sets you down, in front of the tree that's all too familiar to you. It’s raining even more now and Crosshair feels particularly inadequate as he paces in front of you. What do you tell someone who’s just lost everything?

“Crosshair…” Your voice is quite as you say his name, he whips around at the sound, terrified someone had followed him into the forest. He waits for your next words, and it takes a moment but a small ‘thank you’ leaves your mouth. He nods and goes back to pacing in front of you.

The crashing sound breaks both of you out of your perspective trances. Something is moving towards you, and quickly. In response, you haul yourself up off of the rainforest floor. Looking to the man in front of you for direction.

“It’s fine.” He tells you, monotone. “Jus’ Wrecker.” You’re not sure what a Wrecker is, but quickly you discover a Wrecker happens to be Crosshair's older and much bigger brother.

“Crosshair!” He booms, when he clears the undergrowth, clapping a rather large hand on his shoulder, and you watch as the trooper takes a step backwards. ‘Not one for touchy-feels’ you think to yourself.

“Ran into some trouble, bucket got chucked in a lake.” He explains. “Couldn't com in.” this ears him a boisterous laugh from Wrecker.

“Accident prone as always.” He chuckles, before turning away to, presumably tell his comrades he's found Crosshair. You on the other hand, had backed up into the tree bark whilst watching this interaction. Crosshair is watching you watch Wrecker, and he wishes he could pick you up again, just to feel your heartbeat go from crazy to calm as you relaxed in his arms. It would be so much easier than talking or trying to talk, to just scoop you up and hide you from the world.

“Tech and Hunter are only a few clicks out.” Wrecker says to Crosshair, subtle nudging him as if to say, ‘stop staring bro, you’ll spook her.’ Before moving over to you, and bringing his hand out, watching as you recoil more into the branches. Wrecker takes the hint, and takes his helmet off before trying to shake your hand again. This time you let him, offering a small ‘hello’ in return.

“You must be Fairywren.” He says, and you confirm the guess with a nod. “Cool name, much cooler than Crosshair.” He smiles at you, and you immediately decide that his talent, even with all the muscle, is undying kindness and radiating happy energy. Crosshair scoffs at his brother.

“I hate to disappoint but it's just a nickname.” You’re still smiling a little, your old self shining through for that brief moment.

“Still” He assures you, “it’s way better than any of ours!” You decide to lose yourself in the moment of happiness. Firing back at him with a:

“Oh I don't know, Crosshair isn’t that bad.” Wrecker laughs again, and you see Crosshair pause as he lifts a toothpick to his mouth, a small smile in the shadow of his tall figure.

“Wrecker” he draws out that voice, so different to any other clone. He gestures to the forest edge he’d been watching as the leaves and twigs break and moves as Tech and Hunter join the three of you. They exchange words, far enough away from you that you don't hear them. A few glances thrown your way. And Crosshair starts to look more and more unimpressed. Breaking from the group with a grumble, and heading over to you, opting to lean against the tree with you.

“Tech’s the small one.” He whispers to you. “Sergeant Hunter has the ridiculous hair.” rolling the toothpick in his mouth, you look up at him.

“Why are you telling me this?” you're not trying so rude, but you're genuinely curious.

“I’m telling you, because you’re going to be putting up with them for the foreseeable future.” He sounds a tad annoyed but you don’t push further.

“You named after the tattoo?” You ask without thinking. Tracing it with your eyes, giving them something to do other than tear up in panic.

“Got it after.” He responds, and from that you can gather he’s not very social, but what you need right now is a distracted mind, so you decide to test your luck.

“Why Crosshair though? Like I get it's your name but like why?” You want to curse at how stupid you sound, but, the adrenaline has totally warn off now and your brain feels like goo.

“Sniper.” He says blankly, turning around so you see the huge rifle strapped to his back.

“Oh…” you say, finally connecting the dots. “Well i'm called Fairywren after-”

“The birds, I know.” Crosshair interrupts, before moving away from you as the rest of the group breaks apart from what you're guessing was a debrief? Taking small steps towards them, taking in how different they all are.

“Sergeant Hunter, at your service.” The one with longer hair says, shaking your hand. You take note of his face tattoo as well and wonder if he got his with Crosshair.

“Wren, thanks for the save.” You introduce yourself, not pausing to think where you’d be without them.

“No problem,” Hunter says, his voice is deeper than Crosshairs but no less gruff. “Shall we get off this kriffing rock?” Turning around to his group, taking in their nods, before scaling the tree.

The Havoc Marauder isn't exactly what you expected, but then again you don't know what you expected it to be like. Maybe a bit more cluttered than it actually is but you like it nevertheless.

“How many species are on this planet?” The clone named Tech asks you, he's the only one that hasn't introduced himself to you, but you're guessing it's only because his brain is working a million parsecs a second.

“I'm not actually sure,” You say, feeling guilty as his face drops. “There's a number of overall species and all but the variations are so unique it's hard to classify them.” You quickly add, watching his eyes light up.

“So why the Fairywren then?” He asks after a lengthy (and largely one sided) conversation of evolution in rainforest species. You feel Crosshair's eyes on you, tuning back into the conversation off and on again as he took or lost interest.

“My grandmother once told me that the Fairywrens kept guard on your heart.” You tell him, and you see Crosshair lean forward on his knees to hear better. “She said that every Fairywren watches over someone, they keep them safe. She said my Fairywren was the brightest one there ever was because of how much she loved me.” Tech stays silent taking in the story, and Crosshair seems to be frozen in place. You don't realize that he’s realizing how stunning you are and kicking himself for not seeing it sooner. Of course you're the Fairywren, bright blue and so beautiful it almost seems fake.

“How do you know Krexx.” Hunter asks walking into the brig area where you had been sitting. And you freeze at the name, Crosshair glares at his sergeant for bringing him up, he hates the way your face falls at the mention of his name.

“He took over when the separatists showed up, and he was put in charge of keeping everyone in line.” You snap.

“Hunter, maybe we should-” Crosshair starts but he gets interrupted.

“How many Trandoshans were on your planet?” Hunter interrupts, and if you didn't think Crosshair could glare any harder than he was, you were very mistaken.

“At least a hundred.” You tell him. “Less now.”

“Why less now?” Tech jumps in, and his honest interest makes you smile a little.

“I used to catalog plants when I was a kid, my dad kept journals, because he was a healer. So it was like a hobby of ours.” You explain, “Trandoshans don’t take too well to plant venom apparently.”

“Genius” Tech breathes and you can't help but flush.

“Any chance of a tail?” Hunter asks, and this time Crosshair interrupts.

“No, checked the whole way back to the ship and then some.” His voice sounds taught, like he's about to snap.

“Good, either way, I'll take the first watch, I don't want any missteps here. Get some rest.” He nods to you all, and even though it's nowhere near close to nighttime you don't argue. Wrecker passes by and ruffles your hair saying “g’night little bird.” Tech offers you a mock salute that makes you smile, before heading to where you assume the bunks are.

“Extra bunk is down the hall. Door on the left.” Crosshair tells you standing up, and the air seems to shift, you feel lonely thinking about him leaving. So you follow him, hoping he’ll stay up just a little longer with you. He stops in front of what you guess is his door. And you thank every god out there that it's across from the empty one. You see that there's no blankets in the empty bunk.

“Need anything?” he asks, and he almost cringes by how rude it sounds. ‘Sure’ he thinks to himself. ‘Be rude to the sopping wet, traumatized girl in front of you, good one Cross.” You turn back to him.

“No it's okay, i'll get blankets from Hunter or just snoop around until I find them.” You joke, Rubbing the back of your neck as the man in front of you sighs and rolls the toothpick in his mouth around.

“Stay here.” He says, a little softer, disappearing into his room. In reality he wants nothing more to let you into his room, to drop that cold exterior he’s created. But he already knows he's no good for you. Crosshair slips out his door again with a blanket.

“Wrecker will be passed out already, Hunter doesn't use blankets and Tech has what he calls the ‘mathematical epiphany of correct blanket weight, fluffiness and size’ to ensure a proper sleep. So the only extra one around is this.” He states, holding out a black fluffy blanket that looks so cozy you want to cry. You take it from him silently, subtly bury your face in it so you can tell if it feels the same way his shoulder does. It's softer but smells the same, and you can't wait to burrito yourself in it. Crosshair has turned away, going crazy as he sees you snuggle into something that's not him.

“Crosshair,” you call as his door slides open again. “Thank you.” And before you can embarrass yourself you slide into the extra room.

“You’re welcome.” He whispers even though he knows you won't hear it.

You wake to the sound of a very angry sniper. And even though his default setting is angry, he seems more perturbed than usual. Muffled voices can be heard from outside the small bunk area that you’ve already made your personal space. Wet, destroyed clothes sit on the floor in the corner and you’re wrapped only in Crosshairs blanket, save for your undergarments. You swing your legs over and plant them on the cold metal floor. As you reach the door, the voices become clearer.

“Absolutely not.” - That's Crosshair for sure, only he would be so blunt.

“I wasn't asking for your permission Crosshair, only your opinion.” The other voice is more of a long sigh at this point. The exhaustion and caring sound to it tells you it’s Hunter. For clones they are all remarkably different you think to yourself.

“Yeah and my opinion is ‘no’.” Crosshair snaps.

“The seppies will come after her whether you like it or not.” He counters.

“Which is why we can’t take her into bounty hunter territory!” You freeze as you realize they mean you. Panic settles in when you come to terms with the idea of being ditched on some degenerate planet with non resources whatsoever. You retreat back into the bunk, pulling the blanket closer to your frame.

“Just get her up.” Hunter finishes and you hear him tread back down the halfway of the ship. Crosshair grumbles something about not being in charge of you before the door slides open. He’s shocked to see you sitting up and awake, and his eyes rest on the pile of clothes on the floor before meeting yours. His blanket looks far better on you than it has in all his years of owning it.

“Food’s up.” He says before turning to leave. Less time spent interacting with you the better. Means less time for him to stare at the one exposed shoulder that the blanket has fallen off of and less time to wonder if you’d ever spare someone like him a second glance.

“Where are you dumping me?” He hears a small voice ask. And all the warmth leaves his body.

“We aren't…” He starts, not turning around. Because if he doesn’t turn around he can claim ignorance if you're crying or not.

“I heard you and Hunter and i’m not stupid.” You interrupt him, voice void of any emotion.

“Then you'd know i'm not going to let him do that.” He snaps, almost angry at you for thinking he’d leave you on your own.

“I’m deadweight, aren't I?” It's a question you know the answer to but have to ask anyways. You want to scream at the republic, for using your intel and then throwing you away. Taking advantage of your selflessness and empathy, just like they take advantage of the clones caring and giving nature at every opportunity.

“You’re not deadweight.” Crosshair states, leaving no room for argument, “You just need to be somewhere off the grid for a while.” He hears you stand, and slowly he turns his head, his blanket bunched awkwardly around your frame. His jaw clenches as his heart pulls at strings he swore weren't there.

“Crosshair…” You start, but don’t continue, words escape you, the right ones don’t exist in that moment. Or at least you can't bring yourself to use the ones you want to. So instead, you opt to blankly stare at the metal floor. He will leave eventually, turn and head out the door. You’re not his problem, your brain explains this as the floor becomes more and more interesting. Except he doesn't go. And the very tips of his fingers meet your chin, gently pulling your head to meet his glance.

God his eyes are stunning, you think, before cursing your brain for being in the totally wrong place at the wrong time. But his eyes might be the prettiest you’ve ever seen. Light brown with hints of ashy tones.

“I won't leave you on your own.” He tells you, but what you want to hear is that he will stay with you. You're already inexplicably attached to the sniper, it's unbearable.

“Thank you.” You whisper to him breathless just from being this close to him.

“Now come on, or Wrecker will have eaten everything before you even get out there.” Crosshair cocks his head towards the door, pulling away from you.

The members of the hold greet you excitedly, Wrecker seems to have really taken to calling you little bird as well as patting your head affectionately. And you find yourself sat wedge in between him and Tech while they both talk your ear off. Hunter is smiling and eating in contentment of his little family and Crosshair is starring, you fit so nicely in this scene. Wrecker piling more and more food on your plate while you laugh at Techs retelling of one of their ridiculous missions.

“Tell er’ about Nal Hutta!” Wrecker says with an evil smile.

“Don’t you dare.” Crosshair snaps at his vod, who's already laughing his blacks off.

“It wasn't that bad Cross.” Hunter admits grabbing some empty dishes and patting his shoulder as he walks by.

“Yes it was!” Wrecker says between wheezes. And you notice the faint flush in his cheeks.

“Okay one of you needs to spill the details.” You demand looking from Tech to Wrecker.

“Well, as you probably know Nal Hutta is run by the infamous Hut cartel…” Tech launches off, waving his hands about as he talks. (you've picked this up as one of his biggest habits.)

“Tech…” Crosshair groans with his face in one of his hands before giving in and leaning back. Preparing for the worst.

“I can't tell you all the details, classified and all, but the important part is that Cross was working recon and cover, like usual. So he's up this step mountain that's basically all dirt and sand. Looking for this Hut fellow right, and before we can warn him Wrecker throws this thermal detonator and the whole side of the mountain collapses.” Tech tells you excitedly. And your worried eyes look across the table. Crosshair had moved so he could lean back with his arms behind his head looking just a tad embarrassed.

“He would've been fine, if he hadn't gone rolling right through the window of the house he was collecting intel on.” Wrecker was killing himself laughing by this point.

“And then the… the” He tried to get out between gasps of air before waving it off and letting Tech continue.

“And well, sorry Cross, there's no easy way to say this.” Tech laughed a little himself. “He rolled right in on a Hutt reproducing session.” Your eyes went as wide as they could, and a hand covered your gaping and giggling mouth.

“Wait, so Crosshair burst in on two Hutts doing it?” You gasped, trying to stifle your growing laughter.

“Gets worse.” The man in question grit out, looking at the mess of comrades before him.

“How does that get worse?” you exclaimed, leaning into Wrecker with his contagious laughter. Tech turned to you, smiling wider than ever.

“Hutts reproduce asexually.” He stated, “scientists don't know too much about it but from the condition we found this one in.” he pointed to a grumpy Crosshair. “It gets real messy.” You closed your mouth into a thin line, blinking as you tried not to laugh.

“Oh…” giggle “no, Crosshair…” More giggles. “That must’ve been awful.” You tried to emphasize you really did, but the look on the snipers face had you laughing all over again.

“He was covered head to toe in green Hutt goo!” Wrecker boomed.

“Well it’s nice to know yet another finds my torment hilarious.” Crosshair grumbled as he stood up to escape the laughing hyenas before him.

“No!” you objected, “I promise I am not finding this the least bit funny.” You told him, trying to keep a straight face. Receiving a sarcastic ‘um hum’ reply.

“I mean it, you could have been seriously injured.” You countered, thinking you had successfully hidden your smile beneath your hand.

“I can see you smiling.” He said, raising an eyebrow at you.

“You could've drowned in Hutt goo…” You quietly said with another round of giggles.

“Ahhh yes CT-7733 of Clone Force 99 killed in action on Nal hutta, death caused by drowning in Hutt goo.” Tech snickered from beside you.

“He will be dearly missed, and as an apology the Hutt has named the child in his honour.” You added taking note of Crosshairs millionth eye roll of that morning alone.

“Okay that's enough of that now.” He said. “Wren, you want clothes or are you spending the rest of your life in my blanket?” He teases, watching you blush a tad.

“I don't take life advice from a man covered in goo.” You shoot back with the biggest smirk on your face.

“No clothes for you then.” he smiled as your protests began.

“Okay, okay, calm down, don’t get your goo in a tuffle.” You say maneuvering yourself from with the blanket and over Wrecker who's still chuckling to himself.

Down back in your makeshift room, Crosshair shows you where the extra clothes are kept, which means you’ll be swimming in extra sets of blacks all meant for clones that are bigger than yourself. But you think your pants may survive given a good enough wash, so for now you roll the waistband and the legs until you look somewhat presentable. Greeting crosshair on the other side of the door.

“See,” He says, “told ya’ it would fit.” Before he turns from you and starts to walk back down the hall.

“Wait Crosshair!” You call jogging over to him, a look of fau-concentration on your face as you reach up to where his short hair meets his right ear. Carefully running your fingers through it. He knows his heart has either stopped beating or hammering so fast he can’t feel it.

“There, all good now.” you declare patting his cheek a few times. hoping he inquires as to why you just hand you hand in his hair. He opens and closes his mouth a few times before deciding on:

“What was that for?” and if there was an inter-galactic clone flirting competition, Crosshair just lost. You grin up at him, pure evil in your eyes.

“Oh no reason,”You say walking past. “Just a little leftover Hutt goo.”

Tech finds your fascination with hyperspace fascinating. You seem to spend hours sitting by whichever window you have chosen for that moment, watching the universe whizz by. Sometimes he sits with you, and you both talk about your theories for explaining the galaxy. He learns that your parents never left your home world once you were born and nicknamed you Yona after the rain that poured down so often. He mentions it offhand to Crosshair and catches him whispering it to himself later that day. Tech himself sticks to calling you Fairywren, while Wrecker has committed to little bird, Hunter goes with Fairywren like Tech but Crosshair has decided on not using your name or any of the many nicknames the bad batch have for you.

In fact, he’s starting avoiding you all together.

You flit around the ship like a plague according to him, Hunter and Tech can’t figure out why the sniper has such a disdain for everything you do but it’s getting out of hand.

“When do we drop out of hyperspace?” He asks one day while you’re perched in the cockpit staring out the window, away from the current conversation.

“Soon.” Hunter states his focus on his holopad, receiving instructions from Cody about laying low.

“How soon?” Crosshair presses, keeping an eye on the door that separates you from hearing him.

“Doesn’t matter.” Hunter says, getting slightly annoyed with his brother, not to be dramatic but you’re literally a joy to have around. All the batchers love you to bits and Hunter is frustrated that Crosshair is being a spoilsport.

“It matters to me.”

“Yeah we get it. You can't stand Fairywren, because she’s the problem and you can't wait to get rid of her.” Hunter snaps, putting his holopad down. “Just days ago you were all over her, what happened to ‘we aren't leaving her’?” He’s staring at Crosshair, enhanced sense burning into his soul.

“Just a little leftover Hutt goo.” You’d said to him, not that he’d heard, his face was on fire, burned from where you had touched it. And he is surprised he didn't flinch away from your touch, had he become that accustomed to you already? Was Crosshair so entranced by you in such a short amount of time that he was already missing your touch? No. He doesn't know you. You don't know him. He’s memorized every part of your face, but you don’t matter to him. His heart seems to beat for every smile you give him. But you have no effect on the sniper. Every shot he takes is one to protect you from anymore trauma. But he doesn't give a damn about your feelings. Love at first sight doesn't exist, soulmates are fake. And even if they did Crosshair doesn't want it.

Kamino broke him, being defected, trained and thrown away for your one purpose does that to person. He tells himself to hate you for putting him back together.

“Nothing changed. But we aint a charity.” He tells his sergeant, who absolutely knows he is lying. But because he doesn't know why he’s lying, Hunter lets the conversation drop, but mostly because he can hear you get up from the co-pilot's seat and head towards the door.

“Wrecker says we’re dropping out of hyperspace soon.” You report, popping your head out of the door. “Says it'll look cool.” You add with a blush. Hunter chuckles a tad and says something about going to let Tech know. Leaving you to stare at Crosshair.

“Ram'ser” you say all of a sudden, slow and precise, testing out the word and being very careful of your pronunciation.

“What?” Crosshair spits, more surprised than malicious. Since when did you speak mando’a?

“Tech likes to talk to me in phrases of mando’a and have me guess what they mean.” you explain slowly. “He uses that word when he talks about you.”

“Yeah? Good for him.” Crosshair is glaring at his reflection in the table. He hates this, he wants to hate you. He can’t stand the way the words come out of his mouth, but his head reminds him that you will be safest far away from the war. And that means he can't catch feelings and any that have slipped through must be thrown away. He hears the door slip closed as you retreat to watch the stars again. Tech and Hunter follow moments later, Hunter looking down at his vod with a sigh. Stupid enhanced hearing. He heard every word.

You land on a desert planet you already can't remember the name of, but apparently it’s a neutral system and a good place to lay low. The sand dunes make you frown because they go as far as the eye can see, and Tech makes you take a spare pair of goggles and a makeshift hooded cape that was fashioned out of a lightweight tarp from the hold. That combined with your clean (albeit mud stained) pants and an oversized shirt you fit right in with the mess of inhabitants on the planet.

“You’ll get itchy.” Hunter tells you when he sees that you’ve sat yourself in the sand and are now in the process of burying your legs in the strange stuff.

“Sorry, I’ve just never really seen this stuff.” you apologize but Hunter waves it off with a smile.

“It’s okay, just a heads up. Stuff gets everywhere.” You reluctantly pull yourself out of the sand, joining everyone by the edge of the sand dune, looking over at the nearby city in the distance.

“So what haven't you guys seen?” You ask as you struggle to walk down the intense slope.

“We don’t see a lot of water usually.” Tech says, “but only because not many species can survive underwater.”

“If you could go anywhere, where would you go?” The bad batch is used to your barrage of questions. It’s one of the things they like most about having you around, from favourite colours to wild would you rather questions, your brain is always humming with things to discover.

“Somewhere small and quiet.” Hunter says quickly, the light, heat and everything else already giving him a headache.

“Coruscant.” Tech answers, the complete opposite of his brother. “Libraries and the Jedi temple.” He explains further.

“Kamino.” Wrecker says, surprising you. You had assumed they all hated it there. “Home is home.” He explains with a smile. Crosshair doesn't say anything, but he can feel the eyes on him.

“What?” He says to the four faces looking at him.

“Cross would go to Hoth, because it’s cold.” Wrecker sasses him with a slight push.

“Shut up Wrecker.” he snaps, in a very bad mood today.

“Or anywhere his cyare is.” Wrecker adds without thinking. Making Hunter, you and Tech very confused. That's a word you haven't heard from Tech before and both him and hunter are trying to figure out who Wrecker is talking about while Crosshair looks like he’s actually going to explode.

“What did you just say?” He says each word is its own sentence.

“Cross has a cyare?” Tech is now thinking out loud (another habit of his) “no way Cross has a cyare we would know if he did. I mean we are with him all the time so it’s not like we wouldn’t know them or have met them…” His rambling fades into the background when Wrecker speaks up again.

“Wait Tech, Sarge? You two seriously didn't notice?” He asks, shocked that his clever brothers hadn't picked it up.

“Wrecker, shut your trap.” Crosshair orders, and a very tense silence falls over the group, and you’re only a third of the way to the city. You decide to ask Tech what the word means later. And the now very awkward walk continues, that is until a speeding starts to approach you from the town.

“Bad batch! Defensive positions!” Hunter calls to them, and within seconds they have their helmets on. except for Cross whose helmet is still in the bottom of that lake, but has a new one waiting for him at base. But either way they’re all ready for combat in record time, leaving you to stand awkwardly in the middle of them hand by where you keep the small knife that's always by your side.

“Civi’s!” Tech calls, having analyzed the people within the speeder, it’s a Twi’lek woman with a young child. She does, however, raise a blaster before addressing the group.

“Saw the ship land. Thought someone or something might need help.” She says, eying the group suspisously. “Clones eh?” She adds. “Can't be here. Neutral system.” She lowers the blaster.

“We just need a few days.” Hunter says, taking his helmet off.

“Perhaps you didn't hear me.” She’s more aggressive now. “You can’t be here. One day or a hundred, we don't care. Get gone.” You step forward.

“Hunter we should go.” You whisper, looking at the mother and her young one.

“Kriff,” The twi’lek sighs when she sees you. “Huxx has already got a bounty on her.” She looks at you with pity.

“Thought you said this was a neutral planet.” Crosshair snaps.

“Bounty is a bounty, no matter who’s side it’s for.” She says shaking her head. She pauses thinking for a minute. “All i can offer you is the fact that any planets around here will have been given the same information.”

“What if I had credits?” You ask, it’s dangerous. But you know if one person saw you and more must know by now.

“You’d need a lot of credits and a really stupid person to let you camp out here. Especially with clones” she says, beginning to bargain.

“What about credits, a nice person, and no clones?” You counter taking a pouch out of your pants pockets.

“That might work. For a couple days that is.” She agrees.

“Absolutely not.” Hunter interrupts. “We aren't leaving you.” ignoring someone with a sniper rifle mumbling ‘hypocrite’ under his breath.

“The name’s Leeya” she tells you, ignoring Hunter.

“Yona.” You reply, moving to hop in the speeder, but stopped by Hunter's hand.

“This isn't happening.” He says firmly.

“Get in the speeder and tell your very angry friends to find something to wear other than armour.” Leeya smiles softly at you.

“We’ll be back soon.” Tech speaks up, very nervous, just as the rest of his batch.

“I know,” You tease, “who else is gunna listen to you if i’m not around?” He laughs a little, and you hug him goodbye, before wrapping your arms around Hunter and Wrecker in turn. Crosshair doesn't move.

“See ya around.” He says, turning away, and there’s a crack forming in your heart. You know he’s been different recently, you know he’s just putting up with you. But you thought there was something there. The present evidence seems to prove you wrong. Wrecker’s looking between you and Crosshair in disbelief. He sees you swallow tears and he snaps.

“Wrecker!” Crosshair all but screams as he’s lifted into the air by his brother. Of course he heard him stomp up behind him but he definitely wasn't expecting to be snatched from where he stood.

“She’s your kriffing cyare!” He booms, before unceremoniously shoving Crosshair down into the sand in front of you. It would be funny if you weren't so shocked by Wreckers actions. Crosshair pulls himself up and whips around, arm cocked ready to throw a punch. The hardest glare you’ve ever seen on his face. But it falls when you gently take hold of his arm.

He’s taken back to the night he kissed you, and you begged him to keep the nightmares at bay. He blinks and he’s taken back to the morning he woke with you in his arms. All at once he remembers and forgets why he was pushing you away.

“Crosshair…” You start, but he pulls you into a crushingly tight hug before you finish. Nose to your hair, and your hands around his neck. Like they were made to be there.

“I-I” he starts what would be an apology that he knows won't be enough.

“It’s okay,” you interrupt. “Just be back soon.” and in a haze he watches you pull away from him and get into the speeder.

“But I promised…” He whispers to himself. “I promised not to leave you…” you’re becoming a speck on the horizon, and he should be happy, he doesn't have to torture himself by refusing to love you anymore.

Except part of him knows, as he feels his heart get torn from his chest, the real torture has just begun.

You see him in your dreams. His corpse, destroyed in front of you. And when you wake with a start, on the dusty planet, in another woman's home, he isn't there to comfort you. Leeya is usually up and so you find her in the kitchen pottering around. You spend those nights cradling her infant child, trying to stop his incessant crying. And you learn that the day she met you she was looking for her husband. Who apparently has been missing for quite some time.

They’ve been gone seven rotations and the nightmares and shakes are getting worse, wrecker isn't here to make you laugh, tech isn't here to drown your thoughts out with ones of his own. Hunter Isn't here to take notice of the smallest changes in your well being. And Crosshair, well, Crosshair isn't here either. But you miss the eternity of him.

Mostly you miss his arms, strong enough to hold you tight but soft enough to cradle the tears away. Wrapping around you away from the universe. An addicting drug at its finest and you’ve only had one hit.

It was late, late enough that you thought no one was awake. Having been travelling through hyperspace with the Batch for 12 regular rotations of 24 hours, you’ve taken to having panic attacks alone in your room, or pacing around the ship when everyone is asleep, pushing away the memories of a family you once had.

“You should be asleep.” Comes the long drawl from the sniper, toothpick in his mouth, wearing only his blacks. You jump back, scared of the sudden noise.

“I’m sorry.” The apology is immediate.

“Don’t be.” He states, looking at you, wrapped up in his blanket like usual, he wonders if it smells like you.

“You’re shaking.” He notes with concern, standing up from his spot and crossing over to you.

“I just do that sometimes.” You admit, trying your hardest not to bring attention to the problem.

“Before we met?” You know what he’s insinuating, did you have a habit of shaking before your parents died.

“Yes.” A lie floods so easily from your lips.

“Promise?” He doesn't believe you, he’s heard stories about the famous fairywren from regs on corosaunt. You were basically famous for heroics and intel, and he’s pretty sure someone like that doesn't shake. You don’t answer him, staring at a spot on the wall behind his shoulder in the hopes you can fake eye contact. You hear him sigh, before his arms encase you.

Once they do, you begin to shake in earnest. From head to toe as if now your mind knows it’s safe, it's letting out all the pent up anxiety. Every breath is interrupted halfway by the next, and tears make trails down your face and into his clothing.

“I’m sorry.” You tell him again, and in response he just holds you tighter. His arms pull you as close as physically possible, and for a moment you let go of everything that's holding you up. Everything you’ve been trying to hide from those you travel with surface with one terrible sob.

“Someone as heavenly as you shouldn't cry.” Crosshair says, placing the gentlest of kisses to your hairline.

“It's my fault they're dead.” You gasp between tears.

“No, Yona, it’s not. You didn't start this war, you didn't ask for your home planet to be invaded. And you didn’t give the order.”

“But I-” You start

“But nothing.” He barges in rather softly. “It’s not, and will never be your fault.”

“He’s going to kill me.” you whisper into the darkness of the havoc marauder. “He would have the day if the neighbours had not heard the screaming. Before he left he promised me, no matter where I hid, he’d find me.”

“I won't let him lay a finger on you.” Crosshair professes to you and himself. His arms that had slacked pull you closer yet again.

“You don’t owe me anything, missions done Cross. I’m just baggage.” You sniffle, lip beginning to tremble.

“Not to me.” He says firmly. You pull back from him just enough to look into his eyes. And with a look both of you ask ‘why me’ and answer the other in one breath. Your quivering hands make their way to the edges of his face. And very, very slowly they start pulling his lips to yours. You stop just before they meet. Waiting for him to pull away, or to ask you to stop, but nothing of the sort happens. His mouth connects to yours as softly as possible and just like that the two of you are kissing.

It’s soft, slow, nurturing and full of feelings neither of you can describe. You never want to leave this embrace and from the way Crosshair is humming against you, he agrees with that statement.

The air runs out eventually, and breathless, the two of you pull away. It doesn't stop him from chasing your lips and placing haphazard final pecks to your slightly agape mouth.

“If i asked you to hold me for the rest of the night, would you?” It's A risky question but you ask it anyway.

“You think i’d say no to someone as stunning as you?”

He wakes to you curled into his frame, arms locked around his stomach where the blacks have ridden up, and he can't tell where his legs start and where yours end because they’re so intertwined. Crosshair looks down at your face, and thinks that he wasn't made to fight in a war. He was made to love you.

And the second that thought crosses his mind, he’s taken back to Kamino where the creepy longnecks tell a younger version over and over again, that he isn't a real person. That he will never have a real life. He begins and ends with this war, and he knows that this war has taken enough from you. And it cant take him from you if he doesn't give himself away.

So he presses one last kiss to your forehead, a tear falling into your hair. He lets himself think about your future, an older happier you, living a free life. It’s just that, in that image, Crosshair isn't there.

“How did you know?” Tech asks Wrecker the second they make it back to the Havoc Marauder and crosshair is out of earshot. He’s been replaying the events back and it makes so much sense, but how was it that both him and Hunter had not clued in?

“Mostly the way he looked at her.” Wrecker says quietly, afraid of his brother overhearing this conversation. “He wasn’t very subtle.” He adds thoughtfully. Tech scrunches his eyebrows together and thinks about all the small smiles the sniper gave you, and yes this was normal behaviour for him around the other batchers, but thinking about it now, crosshair should've been much more cold to an outsider. Perhaps you just blended in so well into their little family he never stopped to notice.

“There's a republic planet not too far from here, we restock there.” Hunter calls to the cockpit, usually maybe he’d poke his head in and check on Tech and Wrecker, but right now, he’s got someone else to check on.

Crosshair is in his room, having collected his blanket from your bunk he sits with it by his bed while wondering how long it’ll smell like you. He’d be angry if he didn’t feel so empty. And because he feels so empty, there's not much he can do but tinker mindlessly with his rifle.

“Cross?” it's phrased like a question but Hunter isn't exactly asking for permission into Crosshairs room. He strides right through the door like he owns the place, (which he kind of does.)

“Sarge!” Crosshair jumps to attention. It’s funny how when your brain does into overdrive it reverts to its base settings and you fall into old habits, and as a clone, habits are kamino training.

“At ease.” Hunter states with a raised eyebrow, when was the last time he asked his crew to stand to attention? He shakes it off. “Cross we gotta talk.”

“We aren't together, you can’t court marshall me.” He snaps, Crosshair has already had this conversation in his head, and he knows that in clone force 99 is where he needs to be. So he’s got every rebuttal and reason stacked in his mind ready to go.

“That wasn’t what I was asking…” Hunter states, and he knows he has to be careful, crosshair is a live wire at the best of times and this, well this is something else entirely.

“What are you asking me then?” Crosshair stands up, coming toe to toe with Hunter, and you don’t need enhanced sense to know cross feels threatened. So Hunter takes a step back, a sign of non-agression.

“I am asking why you would push something like that away.” Hunter says, choosing his words carefully. Not ‘why push her away’ because he knows the answer to that. It’s not allowed, I have to keep her safe, she doesn't feel the same, ect, ect. But in reality Hunter wants to know why he would push away the unspoken feelings they both have for the other. Why would Crosshair throw away something every clone dreamed about? Crosshair doesn't respond at first, but when he does, he explains everything to simply.

“You can’t heal trauma on a battlefield.” and for the first time in his life Hunter sees one of his men shed a tear. It’s gone the second it appears, lost to a face worn down by violence. Gone so quickly Hunter isn't even sure if it’s really there.

“But Crosshair.” He tells him gently “that isn’t your call. It’s hers.” he receives a small nod in return. And Hunter stands in front of him awkwardly, not sure what he is supposed to do next.

“Well.” he clears his throat. “I’ll leave you to it then, because you best start working on your apology.” Crosshair smiles softly at that, and nods with more confidence this time.

“You know sarge, if i didn't know better i’d say you’ve gone soft.” The classic crosshair sarcasm is lacking a tad, but it’s progress.

“Yeah, that Fairywren’s a bad influence.” He says over his shoulder as he leaves the snipers room.

Time has no meaning while they're gone. You decide with an over dramatic sigh while you dig up and plant this strange dessert food. Except it’s not really food, it’s just kind of a thick stemmed thing that oozes out goo that the locals use for a variety of things, including a snack. But you like plants, and you’re more than happy to be left on your own for a bit. Leeya is in the center of town with her son, selling and buying goods for the week.

“Yona!” You hear her shouting from the house, frantic, and worried. “Yona!” she’s sprinting toward you fast as she can with the baby in her arms. You run to meet her halfway, tripping as you scramble to get up.

“What, what is it?” You ask as she collides into you, careful not to squish the infant.

“He’s coming, he’s coming here. Yona he’s coming here.” Leeya pants, terrified. Through the time of your stay you learn her life has also been altered by the trandoshan that hunts you, the kind twi’lek confessed to you one night when you asked why she agreed to help you. And being kind, you didn't press. Her life was her life, and neither of you seemed keen on talking about either of your lives.

“Leeya” You say trying to keep a level head. “Breathe I need you to breathe.” she takes shallow breaths but nods to your suggestion.

“They were talking about it at the market, said someone overheard a transmission.” You look up at the sky for a ship, praying to see one you recognize. But it’s clear skies today and there's nothing in sight. So you can only wrap your arm around Leeya, coo to her son, head inside and pretend not to be scared.

Krexx lands two rotations later, and your occasional shaking becomes constant. Sleep isn’t an option because you always have to be alert. You assume he doesnt know you’re here or he would’ve found you already, but that doesn't ease your nerves. So it’s no surprise to anyone in the household, that when Leeya’s son starts to cry in the middle of th night, you're by his side in an instant.

“Hey little slug, what's got your lekku in a twist?” You scoop him up into your arms and he manages to blow a tear induced spit bubble as a reply.

“See and then you wonder why I call you slug, you slimy thing.” You smile down at him, bouncing slightly, moving your weight from leg to leg trying to stop the crying before his mum wakes.

But don’t worry, it’s okay to be slimy.” You hope your voice will calm him, his wailing has stopped but you can tell from the sniffles one wrong move and you'll be back to square one.

“I know someone who’s got a great story about slime, maybe one day he can tell you about it. Except maybe we’d have to get Tech to tell you, He’s so smart, and because Wrecker, well he’s a lot but you’ll love him either way, and Hunter’s kind rough around the edges but all squishy in the middle…” You trail off, and blink back tears that are a physical manifestation of stress.

“And Crosshair, he’d take such good care of you, he’s kind of intimidating, got this whole pretended beskar exterior, but it’s all an act. He’d get you the softest blankets and he checks on everyone to make sure they eat and sleep and whatnot. I bet you’d really like him little slug.” you let some tears fall and giggle a little.

“See now you’ve got us both crying now what am I supposed to do?” you say, except when you look down he’s fallen back asleep. So you place him back down, carefully wrapped in blankets.

“You know, you don't have to help with him.” Leeya says from the door, with a smile that tells you she’s not being totally serious.

“Just earning my keep.” You joke and she sighs and follows you out of the baby’s room to make some kind of beverage. Pulling cups down and heating water to mix with a scoop of the extract from the plants you gathered today.

“You haven't been sleeping.” She notes as she hands you a cup. You hum in response, not really knowing what to say. So the two of you sit in comfortable silence, until one of the buttons by her door starts to blink. It’s not the lock mechanism, because it's not red or green.

“What's the blue light?” You ask, taking a sip of the drink that you decide maybe isn't too horrible.

“Scanners picked something up, out across the dunes.” She mumbles standing and making her way over to the window to peer out of it. You follow her to squint in the darkness.

“Leeya…” You whisper, “what’s out there?”

“Something big if the scanners can get it from that far out.” she turns from the window, rushing to place the cup down and back to the babies room.

“A ship?” You ask chasing after her, as she scoops up her son.

“Could be, but if it is, that doesn't make us any safer.” She opens her cupboard and hands you her long range rifle.

“I know you think it’s them, but I’m telling you, whatever it is, it probably isn't friendly.” she tells you, a sad look on her face.

“I know.” You tell her, “stay here with baby slug. I’ll check it out.” You tell her heading for the door.

“How many times have I told you, his name is Galer.” She sighs, “be safe.” She adds as the durasteel door creaks and slides open. You look back with a smile before disappearing out the door.

The night on this planet is as annoying as the day, the wind picks up so much that even if you could see through the pitch black, the sand in your eyes prevents you from making anything desirable out. But you know your way to the dunes where you landed, having trekked there almost everyday hoping the Batch had returned for you.

In the distance there’s a hulking shadow, most certainly a large transport of some kid, but if it's a ship (and not some terrifying Jawa contraption) is it the Havoc Marauder? The sand is loose under your feet, and every step is a struggle to unburry the step you took before it. Your heart feels like it’s screaming for Crosshair, while your brain sush’s it with thoughts of untold peril.

In the darkness you see movement appear over a sand dune, and on instinct you throw yourself into the grainy stuff for cover, shouldering the rifle and looking through the scope. There’s just the crickets and your breathing as you make out one figure, then another, and another until the fourth and final body comes into view. You adjust the scope with a flutter of frantic fingers. One smaller than the rest? Check? Hulking gentle giant? Yeppers. You make out a pack on the back of the one that seems to be leading the group and….

And then you see the shadow of a rifle.

You scramble for purchase in the soft sand, like some kind of manic beetle running for cover. Your brain has tunnel vision brought from the gap in your heart.

“Crosshair!” You scream into the darkness, as you start sprinting towards the group, it was a stupid idea, blowing your cover, even stupider to leave your rifle behind. But you don’t care.

The entire group whips around at the noise, and you hear them calling out into the night.

“Wren!” it’s his voice, and you know it’s him that's also running towards you. You’ve counted so many kriffing rotations since you last saw, spoke to or heard from him.

Crosshair can't think straight, there’s so much he needs to apologize for, so much he needs to tell you and maker, if he can’t get you into his arms soon he might implode.

But then, he doesn't have enhanced senses for nothing, he sees it out of the corner of his eye, his brain checking the area for snipers without him even being conscious it’s doing so until it actually finds one.

And so he goes barrelling into you at full speed, hunching down and tackling the both of you into the ground, as the rest of the batch scrambles for cover and to return fire. You feel like you’re being dragged into the sand and you can’t breath, hearing, but not seeing blaster shots.

“Crosshair,” You reach for him as he pushes you further into the ground trying to shield your body.

“Stay down!” He shouts, already looking through the scope of his rifle. You try to get to him again, but he sees you move and he abandons the shot in favour of pushing you into the sand again.

“Stay. Down.” he hisses into your ear. And he registers your mumbles, having forgotten, if anyone knew Krexx and his tactics. It was you.

“They knew. They knew Crosshair! They were waiting for you to come back!” your hands finally find purchase on a part of him and the latch on like magnetic durasteel. “None of you have armour, they knew.” You press, searching his eyes praying he understands. One look up and he sees a group of trandoshans marching to where his brothers are currently defending. He moves for his rifle and starts making shots as you spot your gun, laying useless in the sand a few meters away. Crawling on your tummy over to it, your hand wraps around the butt of the gun as it’s grabbed by a single trandoshan, who must have been scouting on the other side of the city.

The blaster rifle is ripped from you as your shoulder takes a powerful kick that winds you as your back hits the ground. He pulls a smaller hand held blaster on you, but you’re quick enough to send a fistful of sand into his face, followed by a flailing kick to his knee cap. As he drops, a gun fires from behind you, and the creature drops dead. You grab your gun from his grasp and twist to see Crosshairs rifle still smoking, as another reptile runs at him, you pull the trigger on your rifle, sending him to the ground. Crosshair looks over his shoulder, then back to you.

“Never told me you were that good a shot.” he comments as you scurry back over to him.

“You didn’t ask.” you grit out, laying down more cover fire.

“Hot.” He smirks, and you gape at him, yes he looks fantastic in civilian clothes, in fact, given different situations you might take the time to stare at him.

“Really? That. now?” you shout over the desert battle. “You shut yourself off from me, ditch me for weeks on this hell hole, and now you want to flirt in the middle of this sweet hell!” you gesture wildly to the entire situation.

“I have an apology ready, but I figured it should wait until we aren't getting shot at!” He rolls over onto your body as a human shield as the trandoshan sniper, rains all hell down on the two of you. Crosshair looks up just enough so that he can see your eyes, and he knows if he’s about to die he needs to kiss you one more time.

So he does. It’s messy and uncoordinated, less soft than the first one you two had shared. It’s frantic, worried, desperately trying to compensate for kisses he now worries you’ll never get the chance to share.

You respond in kind, pressing open mouth kisses into him as the only way to try and communicate that you know. You know he’s sorry, you know he missed you, you know he’s going to promise to never leave you again. You know him. Maybe better than he was originally okay with, but right now he just doesn't care.

“The blasts.” You say thorough kisses, causing him to pause and check his surroundings.

“They stopped…” he supplies, leaning up a tad more onto his forearms, still keeping you encased beneath him.

“No help from the two of you.” Says Hunter as him, Tech and Wrecker approach the tiny hill you had both been hiding behind. Crosshair stands up brushing himself off before pulling you up and into his arms, glaring at his vod while he places a (slightly angry) kiss to the top of your head.

“Can I say hi to everyone else?” The question sounds squished as you mumble it out from your spot against his chest.

“Fine.” Crosshair relents, letting you go allowing his brothers to crowd you and basically coo over how much they missed you. “So much for my cyare.” he grumbles to himself, only slightly pouting at the attention that isn't his anymore.

And from within a twi’leks house, just off the edge of the sand dunes, one last trandoshan watches. And waits.

Crosshair didn't let you get more than a few steps away from him the entire way back to Leeya’s house. It was almost as if the more you walked the more nervous he got that you would disappear in front of his eyes. His hand slipped it’s way into yours, gently dragging you so that Crosshair could feel the warmth of you.

“Clingy.” You state, leaning into him as you walked through the sand. He hums in response, not bothering to try and deny it. His brothers marvel at how much he’s changed since you came into their lives.

“It’s very impressive.” Tech admits, “the Fairywren seems to be able to trigger evolutionary change in humans. Who knew such a small creature could cause such a shift in personality?” Crosshair makes a gesture at Tech that you don’t see but assume it was rude either way.

“Shove off Tech.” He says over his shoulder. You all but coo up at Crosshair, smiling towards him when he meets your gaze.

“So you’re done pushing me away now?” You ask, teasing a little, but also hesitant, worried that he’ll grow cold again.

“Yeah, someone talked some sense into me.” He tells you, briefly glancing over to Hunter, who only smiles and gives him a mock salute.

“Hmm? And which of your vod do I have to thank for that?” You look at the rest of the batch behind you.

“I guess you’ll never know.” Crosshair says, wrapping his arm around you again, stealing you away from the others. Maker, he really is clingy when he wants to be.

Peaking your head around the corner of one of the edge buildings you check for any other trandoshans. There's nothing. The wind whistles through the city as it sleeps, and you hope by the time morning comes, Drexx hasn't found the mess the five of you left his troop in.

It’s the door to Leeya’s house that makes you stop, Cross feels you go rigid in his arms, and even he doesn't notice the cause at first.

“The keypad.” You shakily whisper, it looks as if it's been removed and hastily replaced. Something only someone who’s been watching their back for as long as you have would notice. Without pausing to think you break away from Crosshair and dash inside. You hear him call your name at the same time a blaster clicks beside your head.

“It’s nice to see you again.” Drexx hisses from beside you, Leeya is sitting on the floor in her living room, Galer crying in her arms.

“He’s just a kid,” You immediately start begging. You’ve been here before, the same blaster, a much wetter planet and two adults shaking in front of you instead of one. Body trembling in its entirety.

“Please.” you try again, “he’s just a baby.” Tears fall of their own accord. Like your body doesn't know what else to do other than tremble from head to toe and poor water from your eyes.

“Should’ve kept away from them then.” Drexx tells you as he places himself on a chair in the room, twirling his blaster happily. Just as Clone Force 99 barges their way in.

“Oh, looks like your friends have finally caught up.” He snarls. Pointing his gun at you again. “Seems to me they are short of some armour though. I wonder how resilient clones are when they’re not protected by fancy plastoid.” A choked sob leaves your body, what have you done? How could this be happening, again?

“Shh, shh, it’s okay, come here little Fairywren.” Krexx hushes you and you know you have no choice to listen to him. Crossing the room on shaking legs, hearing a struggle behind you as Hunter tries to hold Crosshair back.

“You.” Krexx says moving his blaster to point at Cross. “You, I recognize. Last we met, you were passed out in binders. Decided to cuff yourself to some new deadweight I see.” He looks at you and then back to Crosshair. Having a superb time with the power he’s found himself in possession of.

“Krexx…” you’ve got no option but to try and reason with him again, still focused on the family behind you. “Just let these two go. You know you don’t need them anymore. And you know you can’t kill civilians in a neutral system.” His features curl in anger as he turns to you.

“Who would report me? You? The clones?” He’s just playing with his food at this point. Enjoying the terror he’s bringing, and thriving off of your trauma. He places his blaster down on the table and places his feet atop it.

“How about we make a deal Fairywren?” He offers, relaxing into the chair.

“What kind of deal?” You ask timidly. Brain working overtime to try and figure out how to get out of your situation.

“Someone gets to walk away from this alive, I don’t care who. Could be them, could be mama and baby over there. Could be you.” Your eyes lock with Crosshair, you both know what's about to happen.

“Your call. Who gets to live? And more importantly who else gets to die because the famous fairywren couldn't keep her trap shut?”

Everything seems to be put on pause for a second as your brain spirals out of control. Almost like your mind swims away from your physical body, and watches what happens next.

“Me.” You say firmly. “It was my mistake, I am the snitch. I get to die.”Your voice is confident. So much so that you think Krexx might be impressed.

“Then which of them gets to die?” He asks you, willing, wanting you to continue.

“Neither, you get me, that’s it. That's the deal.” You do your best to remain as confident as possible but it’s slipping away quickly.

“And why would I agree to that?” Krexx questions, wondering what plan you've concocted.

“Because killing them wasn't a part of your orders. You kill an entire force of Troopers and the republic will demand your head on a pike. Kill civilians of a neutral planet and the republic gains yet another supporter. You have orders. So did I, I followed them, it got me here. You follow yours and this stops today.” You’re hoping the dramatic rhetoric is enough. It seems to be enough to make Krexx pause and think for a moment.

“You say that like if i shoot you in here, your band of freaks won't tear my head off.” Krexx comments after a long period of time. And you let out the breath you’d been holding.

“Outside then.” You fire back.

“Wren.” Crosshair says, and you can’t even meet his eyes. The crack in his voice is enough.

“Outside then.” Krexx agrees. Motintiong for you to walk onwards the door as he picks up his blaser. “One more thing.” he adds, pausing as the two of you are almost to the door.

You scream as the bolt hits Crosshair in the left leg. All plans forgotten as you turn towards him. He hits the ground on his good knee as Tech and Hunter crowd him desperate to save what's left of the burning flesh. Wrecker turns on Krexx who promptly grasps your bicep and points the gun to your head.

“Just needed a little insurance that we wouldn't be followed. And he seemed to be a trouble maker.” He gives a nod to the scene in front of him, like an artist finally content with their work he pulls you from the house.

Crosshair feels like his leg is being swallowed by Magma, it’s pain that burns bright all up his body. Tech does his best to get the ruined fabric away from the wound, but other than wrap it in non-ruined shirt material and put pressure on it there's not much that can be done.

“Roof.” Crosshair gasps out, trying to move for his sniper rifle.

“Crosshair, you put pressure on a wound like that and you might not be keeping that leg.” Tech tells him, trying to find anything resembling bacta. He feels a hand on his shoulder, the Twi’lek, Leeya he thinks her name is, presses a stim shot into his hand.

“Stairs lead all the way up, on the right.” She deadpans, turning away from the group clutching onto her child. With a grunt, Crosshair stabs the stim shot into his leg, tying the material as tight as he can before the pain becomes overwhelming. His hand goes for the gun again, and Hunter’s beats him to it. He opens his mouth to argue.

“All due respect sarge,” Wrecker interrupts, taking the rifle from Hunter, and hoisting Crosshair to his feet. Wrecker goes to add something, but he doesn't, opting for a curt nod to his sergeant before dragging his half conscious brother towards the stairs.

Krexx leads you to the open sand, the morning sun now on the rise, beginning to warm the land.

“At least it’s a nice view.” You breathe as he pushes you to your knees, moving the blaster into position. Your mind goes blank, unsure of where to go from here.

Your body however, knows exactly what to do. And with one last surge of adrenaline it twists in the sand and you use both hands to get a grasp on Krexx’s wrist, standing and using your momentum to pull him over you and into the sand. From there it’s a scurry as you search for the weapon. Only to be yanked by your hair as the trandoshan regains his footing. A jab with your elbow, loosens his grip enough so that your second jab crashes into his teeth. You make the mistake of kicking him, with such force that you lose your balance in the sand. This gives him time to wrap hands around your windpipe and begin to crush it. You flail in the sand kicking it up in one last desperate fight.

Crosshair stumbles onto the roof, his eyes are dropping and he’s fighting to even keep them open. Wrecker drags him over to the ledge and points at two figures in the distance. From his guess they are about 12 clicks away, a fully functioning Crosshair might not even be able to make this shot, let alone a half dead one. Wrecker can only stand next to him and squint into the sunrise as his brother desperately tries to line up the shot. A figure drops as he pulls the trigger, but it’s impossible to tell who it is.

Krexx falls to the side as the blaster bolt comes into contact with his body. It’s enough to dislodge him but not enough to kill him. Rolling in the sand all you can think about is getting air back into your system, but a death grip on your lower leg reminds you the fight isn't over. You kick the Trandoshan again to dislodge him and you turn to bring your hands together in a devastating hit to where his neck meets his chest. Something in the sand catches your eye as you search for the blaster and your hand goes out to it.

It’s not the blaster, it’s a rock. But a rock will do. Positioning yourself above him, Krexx just laughs.

“Go on then, beat me to a bloody death.” And you gulp, eyes flickering from the rock to him. And you wonder if you have it in you to literally bash a man's head in. He continues to laugh at you. Make you cant viciously kill a man with a jagged stone. But you can certainly knock him out with one.

So you bring the rock down once and then twice for good measure, until he stops struggling with so much power and you can pull him into a choke hold. Eventually allowing him to become unconscious beneath you. Leeya’s speeder is coming towards you, Hunter and her at the helm. She embraces you as Hunter binds the general, he turns towards you, and he picks the blaster out of the sand a few feet away. Pressing it into your hands, you think about shooting Krexx. But you know what good the republic could do with the information he holds.

Whether you shoot him is your decision. And yours alone.

But for now, you have more important matters on your mind.

Crosshair wakes up in a medbay, vaguely remembering your face in the morning sun. someone begging for him to stay awake, and that a republic cruiser was in a nearby system. He remembers feeling your soft hands cradling his face, and thinking dying wouldn't be so bad if he had gotten to say goodbye.

“Wakey wakey.” He hears you call to him, a clean GAR uniform on, but still his black blanket wrapped around you. He tries to shift up, but Cross is stopped by your hand on his chest.

“M’ fine.” He grunts out, trying to sit up again. You sit yourself on the side of his bed and refuse to move your hand.

“Humour me?” You softly ask, Crosshair sighs but lays back down anyways. “Medics say you’ll make a full recovery. Tech says that once Hunter gets a hold of you they’ll say otherwise. Something about disobeying orders?” Your hand moves from his chest and into the hair at the side and back of his neck. Nails running gently over the tense muscle. He hums at the feeling, and subconsciously his hands search for purchase by your waist. Rubbing circles over the material and down into your skin.

“Technically it was Wrecker that disobeyed orders.” He argues, letting his hands drift to the small of your back.

“You know I could give you the lecture of your life for being such an idiot. But maybe i'll just be mad at you later instead.” You say fondly, letting him shift enough to make room beside his good leg for you to squish in the cot next to him.

“You just can’t stay angry at someone this handsome.” He gives you a signature Crosshair smirk and moves his blanket over the two of you.

“I beg to differ. I certainly can stay angry at someone that handsome.” You tease, snuggling closer to him. Feeling his chest move as he chuckles. Crosshair stairs down at you, and just like the first time you found yourself in his arms he’s thinking about a time when the war is over and you’re living a life without fear or bloodshed. Except this time that older version of you is joined by an older version of him, pulling him close and kissing his lips for the billionth time.

“I love you.” He whispers into your hair, breathing away tears.

“I love you too.” You whisper back, shifting just enough to let your eyes flutter closed and press your lips to his.

Some months later…

The airstrip is packed, and yet the wind still manages to find its way into the smallest of spaces, sending shivers deep into the skin of anyone present.

“Experimental unit Clone Force 99. They’re defective clones with, uh… Desirable mutations.” Commander Cody explains to a very hesitant Captain Rex

“99, eh? Nice touch.” He says as the ramp descends.

“They call themselves, The Bad Batch.” Cody states with pride as Wrecker appears in the doorway, slaughtering down shouting something about the cavalry arriving. You stifle a giggle at their dramatics. Pulling your custom helmet, courtesy of Tech, over your head. While the boys had their grey and red plastic armour, yours had been painted with a little extra blue, forming wings that cascaded down the plate covering your back. The helmet however, featured foot prints of the bird ini question, each with a very small crosshair encircling them.

And yes, you had added a delicately placed fairywren painting to crosshairs inner plating beside his ribcage.

“Sergeant. Good to see you again.” Cody greets you all, as you stand beside your Cyare, eyeing him carefully. He doesn't work well with others, especially when others involve regular clones. You jab your elbow into Crosshairs side playfully, reminding him to look a little less like he wants to explode right then and there.

“I see that Wren fits right in.” The commander adds, giving you a smile and a nod, you finally pull off your helmet, much to the shock of Rex, Jesse and Kix.

“That's definitely not a clone.” Kix says to Jesse.

“Long time no see commander.” You say returning his smile, you move for a hug but Cody extends his hand to you.

“Last time I tried to hug you, your Ram’ser almost killed me.” He reminds you with a side glance to Crosshair who looks even more annoyed with every passing second.

“He’s harmless.” You wave him off and hug him anyways. Crosshair tries not to visibly stiffen, he’s wildly protective and even more so possessive. But it’s understandable considering you’re the only thing he’s ever known to bring him happiness.

“Sorry we’re late, Commander. We were putting down an insurrection on Yalbec Prime when your comm came in. Had a few unforeseen… complications.” Hunter cuts in, knowing that this whole debacle needs to get a move on.

“You ever fought a male Yalbec?” Wrecker asks loudly, enjoying the show you’re all putting on for the regs.

“Um, Can’t say i have…” Jesse responds carefully, still looking at your with confusion, of course he’d heard of the Fairywren, but meeting a hero in person hits a little different than the stories.

“You’re lucky! Only way to kill ‘em is with one of these.” Wrecker adds pulling out the biggest vibroblade Jessie has ever seen.

“That’s right. Wrecker here cut off the queen’s stinger while she was still alive.” Hunter adds, still a little pissed off at his vod for the incident in question. “That’s why all those Yalbec males tried to eat us.” You chuckle at the memory, Crosshair had been understandably angry after all you were able to do was sit and laugh your ass off as they frantically ran around surrounded by Yalbec males.

“Ah, technically they were trying to mate with us. And, for your information, the stinger of a Yalbec Queen is a delicacy on some planets.” Tech jumps in causing you to laugh even more, and causing Crosshair to softly tap the side of your hip as if to say ‘cut it out.’ (But with a loving tone of course)

“They call him Tech.” Cody explains to the other three clones who look petrified at the disaster of a family in front of them.

“Yeah, he can fill your head with useless info for hours. Crosshair, on the other hand, is not much of a conversationalist, but when you have to hit a precise target from ten klicks, Crosshair’s your man.” Hunter boasts, causing a ghost of a smile form on his lips.

“Actually sarge,” You cut in. “I believe he’s my man, ten klicks away or otherwise.” Crosshair does smile at that, sending you a look filled with sassy adoration and winding an arm around your middle. Hunter rolls his eyes. Crosshair may be possessive but you’re on a whole other level. He’s all you’ve got, and you’re all he’s got, it’s a recipe for the clingy disaster that is your relationship.

“Don’t get me started on those two.” He grumbles to Cody, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at the two of you. “So Commander, what kind of suicide mission do you have for us this time?” He asks, heading back to the ship with Cody in tow.

“After you.” Crosshair slurs at the blonde captain who bristles at the statement, but follows Cody onto the Havoc Marauder with Jessie and Kix.

“Play nice.” you scold looking up at him with heart eyes, not that you ever look at him without heart eyes.

“Make me Cyare.” He smirks at you, before pulling you into a bruising kiss, not hesitating to make it far too passionate to be shared in public. That's another thing about Crosshair, he kisses you when he sees fit, no matter the setting or situation. After he finally officially had you in his arms he vowed never to miss a moment to kiss you.

“Ugh, jus’ get on the ship already, let's go!” Wrecker booms from behind you, so you cup his face and pull away, letting his lip chase yours as they part all too soon.

“Come on Ram’ser, we’ve got seppie ass to kick.” You tell him, all butt skipping back to the ship. The love of your life right behind you every step of the way.

80 notes · View notes

ptitdrogo · 5 years

Text

In the mind of a “Top Tier” Protoss player

Hey guys, PtitDrogo here, after reading a really amazing post tournament write up by one of my favorite Magic player ( https://twitter.com/lsv/status/1105124626429079552 , seriously, if you’re even slighty into magic go read this) I felt like it would be kind of cool to write down how the past month went for me in term of strategy preparation for the last few tournaments I played, mainly focusing on wesg and WCS ro8.

You win some you lose some

To set the tone, before wesg I was of two minds about my play, I managed to qualify for the ro8 of WCS after beating Mana and Namshar, but I got seriously owned by Bly and Nerchio at IEM, not taking a single map and going home with 0 dollars.

It’s still honestly a little bit confusing to me, the same confidence in my ability to play a defensive style against mana completely failed against bly, and my faith in my timings that worked great against namshar just got dismantled by nerchio. I could go on longer about this but sometimes you just don’t play well, and I’ve learned that dwelling on it is the worst thing you can do.

All eyes on Spaghetti boy

Looking at the groups of WESG, a top 1 finish in my group would give me a good shot of having a “beatable” opponent in the bracket, and winning that match would mean winning 5k, so it was my objective coming into the event.

The man to beat being obviously reynor, who previously kind of walked on me in the last group stage of wcs, I had a couple of ideas in mind and also discovered some new cool stuff beforehand.

I now knew that he actually really liked hydralisk midgame, and I actually really liked it, what was once the bane of my existense is now a pretty manageable opening in my opinion since the hydralisk got quite a bit weaker, you really don’t have to play scared and can even pressure yourself.

I was practicing some kind of 3 base high eco Chargelot archon pressure and having so-so success with it, I kind of wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for it, but without a better idea that’s what I was gonna go for.

“Wow, he actually does open hydralisk every game”.

There’s a bit of a difference between telling yourself something and seeing it for yourself. After watching Probe vs Reynor It really hit my that reynor was playing hydralisks not only on big maps but on everymap, add to that a tendency to add some zerglings to deny the third, and 15 minutes before the start of my match I’m changing strategy without practicing it.

EDIT: Watching the vod of the Bo3, I actually was completely wrong, lol, I looked at the game at the only time he made some hydralisks, to secure a game already won by a roach nydus, and the other game was just a ling queen nydus, I guess I saw what I wanted to see !

“The Yoloswag build”

It’s honestly such a terrible build, it’s not a particulary strong push, and it relies on your opponent not going roachs and REALLY thinking you’re going for a macro while also being a little bit of a bad player for not using your prism.

This is just an 8 gate that wants to cancel its third base in the first place to being able to afford 8 gateways production in the first place, the idea is you poke with 2 archon, run away from the queen, cancel your third because of the nasty zerglings, and while you pretend to being completely owned you warp more archons and zealot in a corner and you go kill the guy, a classic really, and I knew it would be very effective againt lings into hydras, sometimes last minute change of plans do work, color me surprised.

“Oh no you canceled my third dang it”

“Nothing going on over here”

“The 420 Blazing it DT drop”

This one has kind of a funny backstory to it, I was practicing with a zerg for IEM, and he really wanted me to play DT drop because he thought his opponent would do it for sure.

“Alright, but I really think it’s shit” is what I said.

2 hours later and a LOT of wins later, I had to concede that it was pretty good, to quote my practice partner “your Dts being 7 seconds faster is actually a pretty big problem”.

Sometimes you’re very wrong about what is good. Here’s the thing tho, I didn’t have time to check a vod to do the build, so I went by memory, old memories of 2017 in fact, and the way I remembered it you would have to cut a lot of workers and do a lot of little adjustements to get a very fast DT drop going even if it meant sacrificing some economy.

Turn out not a lot of protosses were doing it. The end result was 4 Dts being warped at 4:23, and most games they would just kill the third hatch. So I was feeling pretty confident it would work.

In my game against reynor I warped my Dts at 4:21.

They killed the third hatch.

I was honestly so confused as to why or how I managed to have a better timing than in the game I was practicing against the ia, but hey I’m not complaining.

Later Reynor told me he didn’t know Dts could come this fast, and the 4:20 DT drop kind of became a meme among players for the rest of the tournament, I haven’t warped exactly 4 Dts at 4:20 yet, but hey maybe next wcs I’ll do it without meaning to !

So I ended up with a very pretty to look at 10-0 score, wasn’t easy of course, Iasonu and Probe were two players I was also scared of but I thought that playing standard was my best bet and indeed it was, also almost lost a game to PsiArc where I was very behind in economy but managed to attack right before his bunker finished, sometime lucky.

There is no way the Germans can cross the Maginot Line

My opponent for the ro16 was Lambo, not a bad draw but not the best, I was confident I could win tho, and the new variation I was trying out in practice were going great, I had a great plan for the best of 5 and a build for every single maps.

All of that preparation came crashing down with a pretty swift 3-0 LOL.

Game 1 was death by 12 pool, Cuz here’s the thing, to get a 4:20 DT drop, you can’t probe scout, little guy needs to work overtime ! I actually was mainly hoping he wouldn’t have the balls to 12 pool game 1 and I was going to scout after core anyway, whats the worse that could happen?

Game 2 was a very good game until it all came crashing down, I actually very like this double stalker opening poke, I was practicing against a zerg and made 2 stalkers by mistake on this map, and the overlord that usually always manage to run away died this time, and the very confusing double stalker oracle move out forced quite a lot of lings. So I decided to run with it in the tournament

When I was trying to explain it to the other protoss as a “great opening that looks very confusing to the zerg but doesn’t actually do anything” they were unconvinced; Haters; when it becomes the norm in 2020 don’t forget about me.

In the actual game the 2 stalkers squad worked great, I actually even killed an overlord at his base ahahah. I was in a VERY strong position in the midgame, and thought there was no way I could lose.

Well, nydus happened, no warpin available, no recall, an awkward attempt at a basetrade and a very long death animation trying to rebuild my templar tech to spend my gas bank later, It’s 2-0.

“Money in the bank pimping ain’t easy”

Game 3 was just a standart 2 base nydus that if I was a few second faster to recall my oracle or if I wasn’t supply blocked on 53/54 to then warp one more stalker I would have won, oh well, sometime it’s just not going your way.

“The correct play here is to go alt tab and go complain on Bnet forums”

It was obviously very annoying to lose one step short of making 5k, but there was a silver lining to losing to hard and so quickly to cheese.

All of my preparation could still be used for WCS.

An FFA would pretty much have been the same right ?

The big Round robin was here, and good god is it spooky. All of the players there are good and even if 6 players out 8 makes it it is very very scary.

My goal coming into the group was to barely make it, “maybe 2 wins is enough to squeeze in” is what I thought.

The first thing that is interesting to note is that I got pretty lucky in the order of my matchs, my 4 first matchs were all PvZ, then on day 2 I got the two PvP and the PvT.

That made practice fairly easy and nobody was able to prepare for me for day 2 as I didn’t have any of the same match-ups.

“You lose some…

Against Serral, I had a pretty good first game to be honest, even tho I didn’t do flashy damage with the DT drop I still kept the pressure with the archons and was in what I thought a pretty good situation with the army I wanted.

Here’s the thing tho, Serral is annoying, like VERY annoying with his mutalisks, so before moving out for a strong attack I overmade defensive structures by quite a bit (3 canons in natural mineral line lololol) because I felt like I could afford it. So when I pushed, as you might expect it, broodlords were already out, and even if it might not be a well known fact in the community yet, Lategame PvZ is pretty unwinnable, at least against serral, gg.

Game 2 was just an embarrassing game of me messing up my build order and losing my prism to 6 queens to then die to mutalisks and roachs. Not the most interesting of games and the kind of showing you really don’t wanna produce but it sadly happens too many times.

“Queens defend everything reeeeeee”

Against Reynor I’m actually blaming the first game loss directly onto serral. I actually very efficiently dealt with the mutalisks while teching to storm extremely fast (more on that later) and was in a very decent position. But I subconsciously felt like I needed to attack much faster than I actually had to because of the previous game (Check the Hive Drogo !! Scouting is allowed reeee) And just made the game extremely easy to play for reynor with a reckless attack.

The second game was just a meme, another case of 12 pool, but this time even tho I scout it very late I pull all of my probes and take a very efficient fight against the zerglings, and at this exact moment I am in a very good position.

The correct play was to make a stargate in the wall and just move out with the adept and leave the zealot home.

I didn’t finish the wall and moved out with 2 units, Reynor did a runby with some more lings and I had to go home.

I then proceed to not finish the wall and moved out with 3 units, Reynor did a runby with some more lings and I had to go home.

I then proceed to move out with 2 adepts leaving 2 at home, Reynor did a runby with some more lings and I had to recall home

I then proceed to try to finish the wall but Reynor did a runby with a LOT of zerglings and I had to gg back to the lobby.

This is the kind of game where you just feel very stupid, I like to call these games failing an IQ test, because thats what they truly are.

… You win some”

This is where I finally get the talk strategy, because there’s kind of of prerequisite to win games to be able to brag about how great of a strategical mastermind you are.

“The triple triple”

After all the hype about the 420 DT drop, the first thing I obviously was looking for was a build that would look like a DT drop, but was actually a complete blind counter to the usual DT drop response from most zergs.

Thus came to life the triple triple, 3 gate, 3 oracles, warp twice (not 3 times rip symmetry ) and then you just go for it. The gas timing is very similar, only one adept and stalker are produced by the gateway, you have a proxy pylon from your main that can directly warp low ground so that the overlord at the natural cant see it, and the one adept boy can walk around to deny lonely lings from getting vision. All of that for an explosive cocktail that will kill a zerg making roachs expecting Dts, not having enough spores or queens to handle the triple triple squad.

Also, I’ve come to realize in practice that it’s not even that bad of a build in the first place even if scouted really early for some reason.

“Sometimes it kills 10+ workers”

“Sometimes a lot more”

This amazing innovation of the PvZ metagame that I’m sure will be a staple in the metagame (it won’t) allowed me to take a map off Lambo and Elazer, for the other map I had to resort to the amazing build that comes next.

“This is totally an archon drop I swear you better make roachs”

I really don’t know how to call this, You just go for the normal archon drop build except you mine more mineral and make an early forge, then take a third slightly faster than an archon drop timing and just make 4 templars super early so they can bank energy so you can do a +2 push with 8 storms extremely fast. While you’re doing the build you run around with your first few units to deny vision so the zerg gets scared and think he might have missed the prism.

Oh, and you also make a LOT of probes, I’m talking non stop, enough probes to fully saturate the third when its done.

“But Drogo, wouldn’t it be strictly better to just go storm drop? Zerg would actually see a prism and be scared and you would also do economic damage even if they make roachs !!”

And to that I say, I like to keep it simple ok, maybe next year when I actually get good at the game.

Anyway, This build actually gives you a pretty powerful set-up in the midgame, I used it to kill the Hydra bane of Lambo and succesfully defend the nydus onslaught of Elazer (I didn’t strictly do this against elazer actually, I was pretty scared of a spooky all-in), which is usually not possible unless you were a greedy boy in the early game. So all of that gave me 2 points on the board.

“4 templars just chilling at home, Safe working conditions are too rare in the Starcraft universe”

When the Zerg is away the Toss will play.

For the second day I had 2 PvP, a PvT, and a lot of times on my end to prepare. So I did, I watched a ton of rail footage, and observed that he wasn’t afraid to play his ladder builds in tournament, so I was feeling fairly confident I could just win by having stronger build orders.

Little did I know this would be the hardest series of the tournament by far.

The first game felt like a walk in the park at first, you’re going 3 phoenix against fast expand forge first? There is no way in hell I am losing this. I played it a little bit safer than I could have but I was very confident in my ability to hold his 2 base push.

Turn out, I was wrong, very wrong, Rail just made a bigger army and kept warping in, and eventually our armies got to a size where his two untouched immortal he had over me actually packed quite the punch and our upgrades were equal. So even with a third nexus mining for a while, I’m losing the game.

The second game I was sure of what he was going to do, some adepts with an expand and robo follow up, so my plan was pretty much to play with a lot of gates units and go Stargate to have good control of the game, simple plan, but effective.

The issue is, I forgot to prevent him from pylon blocking my wall, then I didn’t realise he let his pylon finish, I built my Stargate in vision of his pylon …

So yea I canceled that real fast and improvised a blink opening, a build I haven’t practiced in a really really long time, without any possibility of scouting, turned out I didn’t need to, since verdi went for his robo opening into constant presure with adepts sentry immortals, with me sitting and pure useless stalkers, down 1-0 and 30 supply, disruptor knocking at my front door, I didn’t like my odds one bit.

Oh well, sometime lucky.

I’m sure the third game will be much smoother.

Oh no (not pictured here, 3 sentries also died)

This has to be a record for the most amounts of units lost to the 2 initial adepts in a professional game

There’s almost something peaceful about being so far behind, you can just try out wacky stuff and see if it works.

Which is somehow did, after two pretty successful adept and a basetrade clearly going in my favor, I brought back an impossible game and was very happy with myself.

If you’re wondering how on earth I managed to get surprised by 2 adepts, all I can say is that I was way too confident in my preparation, as I was so sure that he was going for his safe expand double probe scout strat, I didn’t have adepts on my mind until the last 3 seconds.

Overall I would say that my preparation for this serie was very bad, even tho I spent the most time on it, even if you can tell yourself beforehand to not mindgame yourself by thinking too hard, it can still very much happen.

So after that emotional roller coaster of a series, it was time to play a PvT against big Gabe, and I had quite the revolutionary strat prepared.

“The triple triple… Again...”

Sometime you watch one series that makes you fall in love with a strat, for me it was Zest vs Innovation where Zest defended a marine drop with 2 oracle and a phoenix, warped more adepts across the map and immediately killed Innovation, I thought to myself “I can do that” as it didn’t look too hard.

I hate Stargate openings in PvT, I truly hate them, I’m always in a good position with them but I always lose anyway, but on the other hand, I’ve loved shading adepts and oracle at random times since LOTV beta, so I thought it was worth to give it a shot, especially because I thought Gabe wouldn’t expect me to play stargate.

Worked just as planned, a refreshing turn of events after the last series.

The second game (what game on kairos ? never happened Protoss doesn’t lose PvT remember) is what I like to call “New Year Zero, the movie”. I really think this map is incredibly protoss favored, it’s really not on everymap that starting 2 forges because you’re supply blocked and can’t start your first colossus ends up being a the best decision you could have made.

After killing the Raven and a decent chunk of bio in the middle of the map, I thought I had a real timing there, I had 5 seconds of hesitation after seeing so many liberators, but after sending an hallucination and seeing that Heromarine was Still 1/1, I decided to A move into him anyway, it was either gonna be a genius, killer instinct like move, or another brick to the monument that is the ThrowGo Legacy, a win win really.

“Sir, this is Hallucinated phoenix speaking, Terran is 1:1 you’re clear to go”

“Roger that”

It went great and the twitch chat of that game had a very reasonable discussion about game design talking about how great it was that protoss could attack into this many liberators.

I don’t have much to say about the last Serie vs Showtime really, I was already qualified so all the presure was off and I felt great, and I don’t think I could talk at length about great of a strategical mastermind I am for faking going phoenix and actually going Dark templars !

He didn’t exactly do what I expected to him to do so this was pretty much freestyle that worked in my favor and not anything prepared.

“Artosis favorite unit showing us what peak starcraft is all about”

The second game was a cheese that I had seen before, Double proxy gate zealot with canon rush, I was fairly confident that it was overall pretty bad, and this game didn’t change my mind.

“The best unit against canons is actually the probe”

Amazing Gaming

So overall it’s a 5-2 Score !! This wasn’t what I expected at all and I was obviously thrilled, too bad I failed so many IQ tests otherwise the first place would have been easily in my grasp.

I have a lot of cool new strats with weird names prepared for LA, I hope I’ll win so I get to brag once again about how smart I am ! (not really).

Hope you guys enjoyed this blog, and I would like to dedicate this victory to this chinese Stuff bear, he kept his promise and without him I would never have survived those nyduses.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvPWIAvhKSl/

For more Yee https://twitter.com/PtitDrogo

1 note · View note

jugxbets · 7 years

Text

Archie's Little Sister: Chapter Four

A/N: guyssss, plsssss lmk what you guys think! maybe suggest what i should do for the next chapter? i’m really liking how this is going so far!

Warnings: cursing(obviii), mentions of sex, again, statutory rape(fuck grundy), slight self harm(thoughts), angssstttt and an asshole Archie

No Summary.

——————————————————————————

“The Last Picture Show”

Archie and Fred were getting ready to go to Ms. Grundy’s performance.

Alex was in the kitchen having a snack when Fred walked in.

“You sure you don’t wanna go?” Fred asked, pouring some coffee for himself.

“Yeah, dad.” She assured him. “I don’t even know her like Archie does anyway.”

Fred nodded.

“Why do you even wanna go?” She scoffed.

“I just want to get to know her.” He shrugged.

“Ew, dad, please don’t tell me you’ve got a thing for this woman.” Alex desperately said.

Fred laughed. “My dating days are over.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “I’m sure.”

Fred sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want to come? We were gonna go to Pop’s right after.”

Alex groaned loudly. “Yes, dad! I was gonna stop there later tonight anyway.”

Fred narrowed his eyes. “You’ve got a date with someone i don’t know about?”

Alex bursted out laughing. “No! I’m just going with Betty, Veronica, Kevin, and Jughead.”

Fred shrugged. “Alright. Be careful.”

Alex nodded.

Archie came down.

“You ready, dad?” Archie asked. He seemed filled with dread.

Fred nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go, son.”

“Bye, guys.” Alex waved.

They walked out.

She did nothing for the rest of the day. The weekend was always her favorite.

——————————————————————————

The gang met up at Pop’s. Jughead had already been there.

He looked upset.

When they got to their usual booth, they noticed and asked.

“The Drive-In closing is just one more nail in the coffin that is Riverdale. No, forget Riverdale, in the coffin of the American dream.” Jughead began ranting.

Jughead was on the window side of the booth, while Betty was on the other side. Veronica and Kevin sat across them, with Alex in the middle.

Betty seemed out of it. Alex was into what Jughead was talking about. Veronica didn’t seem to care. Kevin was only half-listening.

“As the godfather of indie cinema, Quentin Tarantino, likes to say..” Jughead continued.

“Please, God,” Kevin interrupted. “no more Quentin Tarantino references.”

“What?” Jughead snapped. “I’m pissed.”

Alex slightly nodded.

“And not just about losing my job. The Twilight Drive-In should mean something to us. People should be trying to save it.” Jughead continued.

“The Twilight Drive-In does mean a lot to me, too, Jug, if that helps.” Alex tried to be on the same page as him. “I’ll help you save it.”

Jughead glared at her, which he didn’t mean to. He thought she was just trying to make him feel better. But nothing could at the moment.

She rolled her eyes.

“In this age of Netflix and VOD, do people really want to watch a movie in a car?” Veronica argued. “I mean, who even goes there?”

“People who want to buy crack.” Kevin responded.

“And cinephiles, and car enthusiasts.” Jughead added to Kevin’s response. “Right, Bets?”

Betty snapped out of her thoughts. “Totally.”

Alex could tell they were just making Jughead angrier.

“It’s not just about that, though, Ronnie. Jughead is losing his job. And come on, we use to hang down there a lot when we were kids. It hurts. Jug has the right to be pissed.” Alex defended him.

“Thank you!” Jughead exclaimed.

Alex smiled.

“Anyway, its closing the town owns it but didn’t invest in it.” Jughead said in disbelief. “So when an anonymous buyer made Mayor McCoy an offer, she couldn’t refuse..”

Veronica cocked up an eyebrow.

“Anonymous buyer?” She interrupted once again. “What do they have to hide? No one cares.”

Alex cringed at her words.

“I do!” Jughead furrowed his eyebrows.

Alex sighed. “So do i, V.”

“Also, you guys should all come to closing night.” Jughead mentioned.

Everyone nodded as they sipped on their drinks.

“I’m thinking American Graffiti. Or is that too obvious?” Jughead brainstormed.

Veronica made a suggestion. “I vote for anything starring Audrey Hepburn. or Cate Blanchett.”

“Or The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Kevin added.

“Why not Rosemary’s Baby?” Alex also suggested.

They nodded like they agreed.

“That’s a good one.” Veronica said.

“Betty, your choices?” Kevin asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts once again.

“Everything okay, B?” Veronica asked.

“Yeah, i’m just thinking. Um…” Betty didn’t hesitate to respond. “Maybe Rebel Without a Cause?” she smiled.

Jughead smirked at her.

Alex saw and it made something inside of her burn. She didn’t want to believe that she was actually jealous so she ignored it.

“Agreed.” Alex sighed with a smile.

Veronica’s mom came to our table to serve us our food.

Veronica thanked her and she walked away.

Alex and Veronica watched her walk to Cheryl’s table.

“Be sure to put all that cash in the register…” They overheard Cheryl say.

Veronica reacted quick and stood up.

Alex overheard what Veronica’s mom said to Cheryl and snickered.

Veronica returned back to their booth.

Then the heard the door bell chime.

“Now that’s an odd combo of people.” Kevin pointed out.

Everyone glanced to look at them. It was Fred, Archie, and Ms. Grundy.

Alex scoffed.

“What the hell?” Her brows furrowed.

Betty got ready to get to over there. Jughead noticed and started panicking. Alex was confused.

“I’ll be right back.” Betty simply said and got up.

“No, Betty.” Jughead said as he tried to stop her. “No. Don’t..”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Kevin finally asked.

“Yeah, Jug?” Alex questioned looking at him.

They watched Betty walk with Archie outside.

Jughead start nibbling in his fingertips out of anxiety.

Alex was beyond confused. They all looked through the window and watched them talk.

“Should i..?” Alex asked, almost getting up.

“No, don’t!” Jughead said, almost warning her.

“Okay…?” She trailed off as she sat back down.

“What’s happening out there? Do we know? Is it about me?” Veronica began.

Alex scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Jughead peeked outside and cringed.

“I have a strong inkling,… and no.” he said with furrowed brows. “Also, i’d let it go.” he suggested.

“Yes, but you’re you, and i’m me.” Veronica sighed dramatically. “You do you, girl.”

Alex sighed. “Find out and let me know.”

Jughead scoffed.

“I’ll be back.” She grabbed her bag as she got up and walked outside.

“What was it like before she got here?” Kevin asked.

Jughead grabbed an onion ring and shoved it in his mouth as he looked out the window.

“I honestly cannot remember.” Kevin continued.

“Me neither.” Alex admitted.

Kevin decided to go to the bathroom. Alex slid out of the booth for him to go.

She sighed as she saw him walk into the men’s room.

She sat down but slid into Jughead’s side.

“I understand why you’re mad, Jug.” Alex said. “We can try to save it though. You and me.” She smiled.

He sighed. “What’s the point?”

His attention was towards the window.

She put her head on his shoulder. “I know you. You’re not going to be at peace if you don’t at least try. So let’s try.” She shrugged.

He finally looked at her and smiled.

“What would i do without you?” He put his arm around her and rested his head on hers.

“You’d be lost.” Alex chuckled.

He did too. She glanced out the window. She saw Archie get very tense.

“Okay, seriously, what is going on? Why has Betty been acting weird all evening?” She looked up at him.

He shrugged. “No clue.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me..”

Jughead tensed. She felt him.

“It’s nothing.” He looked away.

She shrugged. “Whatever.”

Jughead and Alex stayed in their position for a while.

Until Kevin came out and slid into where he was, completely oblivious about interrupting.

“I’m craving a burger now.” Kevin said.

Jughead and Alex broke of their connection as soon as he came.

They glanced out the window and saw Betty leave.

“Looks like Mama Cooper didn’t think so..” Kevin trailed off.

Alex shook her head. she was still confused but decided not to ask.

“Shall i call Mrs. Lodge over? I want a burger too.” Jughead suggested.

“Same.” Alex shrugged.

They called her over and ordered what they wanted.

Then Archie and Veronica came back in. Archie went back to the booth his dad and Ms. Grundy were in.

Veronica sighed as she took her seat again.

Alex waited for her to tell her what happened. She was about to but she glanced at Jughead who was shaking his head.

“U-uh, nothing happened..” Veronica stammered.

Alex narrowed her eyes.

“Okay, guys, seriously, what the hell?” Alex asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

Jughead sighed.

“Just don’t worry about it.” Veronica tried her best to distract Alex from it.

Alex scoffed.

They all ate their meals and headed back home.

Alex didn’t wait for her dad and Archie since they still had to take Grundy home.

Jughead took her home.

“Do you mind staying with me? At least until my dad and Archie get back?” Alex asked him while they walked.

He was hesitant. “I don’t know, Alex…”

“Come on, you can sleep over. it’ll be like old times!” Alex said with a smile.

He sighed. “Fine, i guess.”

She laughed. “you know you want to.”

“Yeah, alright, i said yes.” He chuckled.

She smiled.

They got home.

They walked into the house, closing the door behind them.

“Do you want a snack or anything?” Alex asked, locking the door and throwing her hoodie in the couch.

Jughead chuckled. “You know me so well.”

Alex smiled. “What do you mean?” She asked like she didn’t know.

“You asked me if i wanted a snack after we just ate like five burgers.” Jughead smirked.

Alex laughed. “well yeah.”

“But i’ll take a snack.” He took her up on her offer.

“Alright, you can wait for me upstairs.” Alex said walking into the kitchen.

He climbed the stairs and waited in her room.

She popped some popcorn and got some potato chips with some canned sodas. She didn’t bother to open or pour the popcorn into a bowl.

She carried everything in her arms and went upstairs.

She got to her room and dumped everything on the bed. Jughead had already made himself at home. He was sprawled out on her bed.

“I’ll go see if Archie has any pajama pants you can borrow. He won’t mind.” She assured him.

He nodded as he began eating the snacks.

She went to Archie’s room and looked through his drawers. She saw some that were awfully familiar and smiled.

“Yeah, he shouldn’t mind since these are yours.” She tossed them to him as she walked back in.

Jughead chuckled.

Alex started getting ready for bed.

She got out an oversized “Led Zepplin” t shirt that used to belong to her dad.

Jughead was laying on the bed, watching her and eating the snacks.

“Your room looks very different.” He pointed out as he looked around.

Alex chuckled. She was taking off her makeup at her vanity.

“Yeah, it’s not pink anymore. I don’t know why Forest Green has been so aesthetically pleasing to me lately.” She shrugged and continued to take her makeup off.

“I get it.” Jughead shrugged.

When Alex was done she got up and lifted her shirt up with both arms and took it off.

Jughead panicked and turn away. “What are you doing?”

Alex chuckled as she took her bra off.

“Calm down, you’ve seen me naked before.” she shrugged.

“When we were kids, Alex!” He put his hand over his eyes.

“It’s the same thing, Jug.” Alex giggled, taking her time to put her t shirt on. “It’s not like i’ve got much to show.”

He swore she was trying to kill him.

“Not really, Alex, seeing as your body has developed.” He unintentionally pointed out.

She rolled her eyes and finally put the shirt on.

“You can look now.” She assured him.

And he did. He was still in shock. She laughed.

Alex went back to her vanity to brush her hair out.

“That’s a first.” Alex admitted, looking at him through her mirror.

“What do you mean?” Jughead carefully asked.

She scoffed. “No one has ever reacted like that.”

He was shocked. “You’ve taken your shirt off in front of other guys before?”

Alex shrugged. “Yeah, and let me tell you, they were not impressed.”

Jughead’s eyes softened.

“It’s whatever, though, i get it. I don’t have much to show off. i could probably use a boob job.” She shrugged as she continued to brush her hair.

“Don’t, Alex..” Jughead stopped himself.

She stopped and turned around to look at him.

“What?” Her eyebrows furrowed.

“You don’t need anything. You’re.. fine.” Jughead held himself back from using the ‘perfect.’

She tilted her head. “You think so?”

He turned to the snacks and his face turned pink.

“Totally.” He blandly said as he ate some popcorn.

She smiled. she got up and took her jeans off, along with her shoes.

“Oh, i don’t wear any pants to bed, so…” She let him know.

He shrugged. “You wear very short skirts, anyway.”

She smiled as she sat on the other side of her bed. “i suppose.”

“Alright,” He said as he got up. “I’m going to get changed.”

He got up and tried walking out.

“Where are you going?” Alex asked, concerned.

“To the bathroom. Wanna come?” Jughead sarcastically asked.

She smiled. “Maybe i do.”

He scoffed. “In your wildest dreams, Andrews.”

He walked off down the hall and into the bathroom.

It wasn’t long until he came back.

Alex had moved the junk food out of the way and got under the sheets, leaving the left side to Jughead.

“Uh, i’m not sleeping in the bed with you, am i?” Jughead stammered.

Alex glared at him. “Is that a problem?”

“N-no! it’s just, is it appropriate?” Jughead carefully asked.

She scoffed. “it’s not like we’re gonna do anything.”

He nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

He switched the light off and got into bed with her. Her bed was small so they were pretty close to each other.

They both looked up at the ceiling. It was awkward.

“I hope Fred isn’t too mad that i stayed over.” Jughead suddenly said.

Alex chuckled. “I texted him. I told him i didn’t want to be alone. He’s actually thankful you’re staying with me.”

Jughead scoffed. “Well, any time, i guess.”

“Hey, did Dilton Doiley ever stop by the office? i completely forgot about that.” She chuckled.

Jughead gulped. “No, he never showed.”

“Hmph.” Alex responded.

She changed the subject.

“So, what’s going on with you and Betty?” Alex asked, afraid of the answer.

He let out a big sigh. “Same as before. Nothing.”

She was a little relieved but she felt bad for him.

“And the other girl?”

“Well, it’s a bit complicated.” He shrugged.

She nudged him. “Tell me about it.”

“No, not right now anyway. Let’s just get some sleep, it’s a school night.” He said, looking at her.

She didn’t look back at him. Her eyes were at the ceiling.

“okay.” she whispered.

He sighed. They both began to close their eyes. Eventually, they fell asleep.

——————————————————————————

It was morning. Alex was the first to wake up. She let out small groans as her eyes were fluttering open.

The first thing she noticed was something poking her waist. She assumed it was Jughead’s elbow, considering the position he was in. She put her hand under sheets to try and move it, only to find out it wasn’t his elbow.

Her eyes widened as she touched his morning wood, not his elbow.

She accidentally stroked it, causing a moan to come from his lips.

She gasped softly and quickly snatched her hand away.

She stirred as she tried to wake him up without having to tell him. His dick was still pressed against her so he kept moaning softly.

She didn’t know whether to be turned on by that or shocked.

Eventually, she woke him up.

“Jug.” She whispered.

Jug sighed. “Hm?”

He opened his eyes and met hers. He smiled.

“Good morning.” He closed his eyes again.

She swore she almost died. His sleepy voice was the best.

“Uh, Jug, i think a certain someone woke up before you..” She hinted.

“Who?” His brows furrowed while he kept his eyes closed.

She smirked and put her hand under the sheets again.

She brushed it ever so slightly, causing his eyes to fly open as he jumped up.

“This.” she grinned.

“Oh, God.” His face turned bright red.

He took her hand off of him. He crossed his legs and he turned around so his back was facing her.

“I’m sorry, Alex.” He began to apologize.

She chuckled. “It’s okay. It happens.”

“No, it is not okay. It’s not gonna go away for a while.” Jughead stammered.

“Well, what do you usually do, jerk it off?” Alex casually asked.

“Jesus, Alex..” He trailed off as her buried his face into the pillow he was on.

“I can help if you want.” She offered. She knew she was getting to him.

“What? Are you insane?” Jughead muttered.

She laughed. “A little.”

He sighed.

“You can do it if you want.” She shrugged.

“No, just distract me.” Jughead desperately said.

All he could think about was her. How she wasn’t wearing any pants. The little red lace panties she was wearing. How she looked when she took off her shirt last night. It was only making him harder.

“What do i say? If anything, i’ll just make you harder.” She teased.

“I’ll say.” Jughead blurted out.

She smirked. He got embarrassed all over again. He groaned.

“Well,” She said as she sat up. “If you won’t let me help you, the least i can do is go shower while you take care of that.”

Great. Now all he can think about is her naked. The hot water running over her fit, petite body.

He sighed. “You can go but i won’t be taking care of it.”

“I think you should.” She finally got up and started looking for her clothes. “You can get blue balls.”

He laughed. “I’ll suffer then.”

“Your call.” Was the last thing she said before walking off and going into the bathroom.

30 minutes later, she went back into her room.

“Are you flaccid now?” She teased.

He chuckled with his face still buried into the pillow.

“Yep.”

She chuckled. She went to go sit by him.

“Don’t be embarrassed.” She said, rubbing his shoulders. “i’m sure if i had a dick, it’s be just as hard for you.”

He looked up at her. “I hate you.”

“I’m so sure.” She mocked him. “Come on, i think i heard my dad cooking.”

He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

She lead them downstairs.

Archie saw Jughead and was surprised.

“Jughead? What are you doing here?”

“Good morning, Archie. Mr. Andrews.” He greeted.

They greeted him back.

“He stayed the night.” Alex said as she ate some bacon.

“With you?” Archie asked.

She nodded.

“I hope you guys didn’t sleep in the same bed.” Fred hopefully said.

She shook her head.

“I didn’t see him in the couch.” Fred narrowed his eyes.

Jughead got anxious.

“He slept on the floor. I didn’t want to be alone last night, okay?” Alex said as she stuffed some more bacon in her mouth.

“This will be the last time, Alex.” Fred warned her. “Jughead?”

Jughead nodded. “Of course, Mr. Andrews.”

“What’s the big deal?” Alex asked. “It wasn’t a problem when we were kids.”

“Yeah, well, you guys were kids. That’s the difference.” Fred said as he made her and Jughead a plate.

“Okay, well, we’re just friends so it’s cool.” She assured him.

Archie wasn’t buying it. Jughead was too hungry to care. So was Alex.

“We better hurry if we wanna make it to school on time.” Alex said to both boys.

They ate pretty quick and went back upstairs.

Jughead jumped into the shower while Alex got ready for school.

She brushed her hair out. She turned on her hair straightener. Once it was hot enough, she began to straighten her hair. It took her about 20 minutes.

Jughead was out by then. All he did was put his beanie on his head and called it a day.

He watched Alex put on her makeup. He was mesmerized.

“Take a picture. It’ll last longer.” Alex teased as she put on some of her favorite lipstick.

He chuckled. “Maybe i will.”

She scoffed and rubbed her lips together.

She got up and looked for her clothes to wear.

“Gee, is this going to take another hour? We’re gonna be late.” He teased.

She went through her closet and observed every piece of clothing she took out.

“You can go if you want.” Alex shrugged.

“Nah.” Jughead laid down on her bed and sprawled himself out.

She chuckled. “Then don’t complain.”

Archie walked into her room.

“You almost done?” Archie agitatedly asked.

“Yeah, i’m just looking for something to wear.” She shrugged.

He rolled his eyes. “Hurry up.”

She flipped him off, but she didn’t take her eyes off of the clothes she was observing.

She decided to go with a black, oversized neck crew sweater tucked inside her gray plaid skirt. She paired it with her fishnet stockings and some Doc Martens.

Jughead made sure not to look at her while she got dressed.

“okay, i’m ready.” She said as she took another look in the mirror.

She ran her finger across her bottom lip.

“Finally.” Jughead stood up.

She grabbed her bag as they headed out. Archie heard them and got up to follow.

They let their dad know they were leaving and headed out.

Jughead said he’d meet them at school since he needed to get his back pack from his house.

They said okay and continued to walk to school.

They arrived.

Everything went smoothly for the most part.

Alex stopped by the Blue and Gold office. Betty seemed to be in a rush.

“Hey, what’s up?” Alex asked Betty.

Betty gathered some papers and a clipboard.

“I’m sorry, Alex, I’d love to stay and chat but i have to go interview Grundy for an article right now. See you.” She walked out.

“Okay..” Alex said as she walked out behind her.

She shrugged, not thinking too much about what she was doing.

She went to the Student’s Lounge instead.

She walked in on Kevin ranting about how it’s the quintessential rite of passage, where you have to make out with your significant other at the movies.

Alex snickered. “No, it’s really not.”

She went to sit down across Veronica.

He sighed as he threw himself on the bigger couch.

“Why don’t we all go together?” Veronica suggested. “I can’t promise you any action, but maybe i’ll bring you good luck.”

Alex nodded. “I’m in.”

“Great. Another night. Another hag.”

Alex and Veronica started laughing.

“Speaking of hags..” Cheryl walked into the room. “Veronica, It’s so devastating to me that your mother has to sink such unspeakable lows just to keep this knockoff Hermes bags on your arm.” Cheryl faked her sympathy.

Kevin and Alex rolled their eyes.

“What’s next, selling her hair extensions?” Cheryl continued.

“My mom’s a waitress, Cheryl, not Fantine.” Veronica responded, interested. “And your faux concern reeks of ulterior motive. What is it?”

“Only to remind you of your place in this high school,” She paused. “nay, the town’s social hierarchy.”

“Threatened much?” Veronica tempted her. “Don’t worry. You may be a stock character from a 90s teen movie, but i’m not.”

“And what does any of this have to do with my mom being a waitress?” Veronica continued.

“It’s just that i saw her talking to a Southside Serpent last night, in the alley behind Pop’s.” Cheryl responded.

Alex and Kevin both shared a look.

Veronica was confused. She looked at Alex and Kevin.

“They were having an extremely heated, intimate discussion.” Cheryl went on as she pulled her phone out to show her a picture. “See for yourself.”

Both Alex and Kevin got up to see the picture.

That looks like Jughead’s dad.. It can’t be.

Cheryl walked alway with a smirk.

Veronica turned to face both.

“Who or what is a Southside Serpent?” She asked, confused.

“They’re a gang of bikers who pretty much stays on the south side of town.” Alex began explaining.

“And thank God, ‘cause they’re sort of dangerous.” Kevin added. “Drug dealers and petty thieves.”

Alex nudged Kevin to make him stop talking because he was worrying Veronica.

“Then what was my mom doing with one of them?” Veronica scoffed.

Alex shrugged. She was more into the idea that she saw Jughead’s dad. She had to let it go.

It probably wasn’t him.

Eventually their free period ended and they went their separate ways for class.

——————————————————————————

After school, Alex went with Jughead to talk to the mayor as promised.

“I’m sorry, but the Twilight Drive-In?” Mayor McCoy began. “It’s a blight that’s become a cesspool, and a hangout for criminals and transients, and the deal’s done.” She assured them.

Alex groaned.

“Andrews construction is scheduled to demolish the lot on Monday.”

Alex’s head snapped towards her. “My dad’s company?”

“Mmhmm.” McCoy responded, not looking up from the documents she was looking at.

“Mayor McCoy, when I was a kid, my family and i would go to the drive-in all the time. We couldn’t afford tickets for everyone, so my sister Jellybean and I would hide in the trunk, until we were parked. We’d sneak out.” He chuckled softly.

Alex looked at his with soft eyes. They were going to lose so many memories if they let the places get closed down.

“It’s like my home.” Jughead continued.

Mayor McCoy just smiled.

“We all hung out there when we were kids, Mayor McCoy. We have memories there. You guys can’t just take that away from us.” Alex said.

The mayor sighed. “That’s a very sweet sentiment, Mr. Jones, Ms. Andrews. But the future of Riverdale is at stake.”

They groaned.

“I’m sorry, but it’s done.” Mayor McCoys said before walking off to a meeting.

The sighed.

“We can go convince my dad.” Alex suggested.

He nodded. “Tomorrow. I can’t handle any more rejection.”

She nodded.

He walked her back home and her day ended.

She ended up saying in that night with her dad, watching movies.

Archie didn’t come home until later that night.

Alex was about to go upstairs when she saw Betty, Veronica, and Archie talking. They look like they were arguing

She peeked out the window. She couldn’t make out what they were saying.

She shrugged and decided to go upstairs and go to bed.

——————————————————————————

“Mayor McCoy says you won the contract to tear down the drive-in.” Jughead began.

He and Alex decided to pay her father a visit at work. They were trying to talk him out of the contract and save the drive-in.

Fred put the coffee pot he was using back in its place and sighed. “I did.”

“Look, I’m sorry, guys,” Fred began as he walked to his desk. “I know how much you guys love the Twilight and so do I..”

“Mr. Andrews, just give us one week to track down the the person who bought the land, and convince them not to demolish a hole house of cinema.” Jughead begged.

Fred glared at Alex. She was pretty quiet.

“It’s a big contract for me, Jug, and for my guys.” Fred reasoned. “Whatever they build in the place of the drive-in could mean more jobs..”

Alex groaned.

“Yeah, in what? Some hypothetical future?” Jughead raised his voice.

He sighed. “You put one Jones out of work, why don’t you put out another, huh?”

Alex grimaced at his words. She had forgotten for a second that FP worked with her dad for a while.

“Jug, your dad was taking materials from one of our job sites. I had to let him go.” Fred explained.

“Right.” Jughead’s voice broke. “You did what you had to do, like you’re doing here now.”

It made Alex’s heart break, knowing how much he was suffering.

Jughead scoffed. “Later.”

He stormed out with Alex groaning and following him.

“Wait, Alex,” He called out. “A word.”

They paused.

“You can go.. We’ll catch up later.” She assured Jughead.

He nodded and left.

“Why are you doing this to me? You know that place means a lot to me, too, but it’s for the sake of Riverdale.” He shrugged.

She nodded. “I get that, dad. We just wanted to try to save it. Neither of us would have been at peace if we didn’t at least try.”

Fred sighed.

“At least now, we can move on.” She shrugged and walked out.

——————————————————————————

It was morning. Alice and Hal Cooper had showed up at the Andrews’ door. They knocked.

Alex opened the door.

“Can I help you?..” She awkwardly asked.

“Hi, Alex.” Alice smiled. “Is Fred here? We’d like to speak with him.”

She glared at her. Then she slammed the door in their face.

“Dad!” She called out.

“In here!” He peeked his head out the kitchen.

“The Coopers are here to pay you a visit.” She said, as she went back upstairs.

She didn’t go all the way, she wanted to hear what the Coopers wanted. She hid behind the wall at the top of the stairs.

“Hey, uh, sorry about that.” Fred opened the door.

Alice seemed pissed but brushed it off with a smile.

“We’re sorry to come unannounced, Fred.” Hal began. “It’s been a rough couple of months for us, But Alice and I…”

He got cut off by Alice.

“We think your children and Betty should stop spending so much time together.” Alice got to the point.

Alex softly scoffed.

“Their relationships aren’t good, for any of them, and their respective behaviors reflect that.” She continued.

“All right. So, if there was anything that you could do on your end…” Hal trailed off.

“My kids are good kids.” Fred responded.

“I live next door, Fred.” Alex sternly said. “I see them sneaking out at night, slinking at all hours.”

Alex’s face scrunched up. She hadn’t sneaked out of the house since summer. Well, besides that time she went to Ethel’s house.

“Alice,” Fred whispered. “Are you spying on us?”

Alice didn’t respond. “Come on, Hal.”

“We said what we came to say, it’s on him if he ignores us.” She continued as they walked away from their doorstep.

Fred walked back in.

Alex came back downstairs.

“Mrs. Cooper is such a bitch.” Alex casually said.

“Hey…” Fred trailed off.

She shrugged. “You totally agree.”

“If you say anything, i’ll deny it.” He sipped on his coffee.

Alex smirked.

——————————————————————————

It was the night of the last drive-in. Alex bailed on Veronica and Kevin to be with Jughead. She thought he would like to spend his last time there with her.

He didn’t watch from a car, though, he would watch the movies in his booth.

Where he would put the movies in and let the audience see through the projection screen.

Where he had been living for the past couple of months.

Alex noticed the bed. “Hey, Jug, have you been staying here?”

She scanned the room and saw most of his belongings there.

He didn’t say anything. His eyes were on the movie.

“Jug?” Alex asked again.

He sighed. “Not after they demolish the place, no.”

Alex scoffed. “Why aren’t you at home? And where are you gonn—”

“Don’t, Alex.” He stopped her.

She sighed. “Fine.”

She sat back down on the other side of the projector.

“If you’re going through some stuff, Jug, you know my dad would take you in.” Alex assured him.

He didn’t say anything again.

She sighed.

“I’m gonna go get some snacks.” She got up and left.

She walked past the cars that were out there. It was like a maze.

She saw Sheriff Keller’s truck and saw that Veronica and Cheryl were in it. She was confused.

“Hey, guys, where’s Kevin?” She asked as she climbed onto the truck.

Veronica brightened.

“Oh, hey! It’s the ditcher.” She teased.

Alex scoffed. “I see you guys replaced me.”

Cheryl glared at her then went back to eating her licorice.

Veronica chuckled. “Kevin is at the snack booth.”

Alex nodded.

“Where are you parked, Power Brows?” Cheryl asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

Alex sighed. “I’m not. I’m in the movie booth with Jughead.”

Veronica and Cheryl paused. They both looked at her.

“What?” Alex asked, completely clueless.

“Okay, i’m just going to ask..” Veronica began. “Are you and Jughead, like, together, or?”

Alex scoffed. “No! We’ve been best friends since we were in diapers. He’s like a second brother to me.”

“Mmhmm.” Cheryl replied with a devious smile.

“A brother you’d like to fuck.” Veronica teased.

Cheryl bursted out laughing.

“Okay, that’s my cue to go.” Alex jumped off the truck and continued to walk.

It was a couple of minutes before she ran into her dad’s truck.

What is he doing here?

She was on the passenger side. She knocked on the window.

Fred motioned with his hand for her to step in

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Alex asked as she closed the door.

“Well, I—”

Fred was cut off my a harsh knocking on his side. It was Alice with a flash light.

“Alice!” Fred shouted.

Alex nearly jumped out of her skin.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your adultery, Fred, but you need to come with me.” Alice shouted.

“What the hell?” Alex furrowed her brows.

“Alice, what..” Fred began but got interrupted again.

“It’s about the kids.” Alice briefly xplained.

Fred looked at Alex for a second and she shrugged. Then they both got out his truck, following Alice.

“What’s going on?” Fred said when they got into her car.

“You might want to see this, Fred.” Alice said as she turned the car and began driving.

Betty was in the passenger side, sobbing softly.

“Betty?” Alex whispered.

Betty didn’t respond.

“See what?” Fred shouted.

“Your son and his teacher!” Alice shouted back.

Alex gasped. “What?”

“Yeah,” Alice nodded. “Archie’s been having an affair with his teacher.”

“Oh, come on, Alice, how could you stoop so low?” Fred asked in disbelief.

“Betty, that’s not true, right?” Alex’s voice broke.

“I’m so sorry.” Betty said as more tears came down her face.

On the way to school, Fred and Alice kept arguing back and forth about it.

Alex could barely hear what they were talking about since they kept talking over each other. She didn’t even care. She felt betrayed. She’s never wanted to hurt someone this badly before.

The ride felt like forever.

But when they did get there, Betty sobbed even more.

She didn’t want to get out of the car but Alice forced her.

They all got out and barged in.

Alice lead them to the music room.

She barged in, where they all saw Archie and Grundy having an intimate moment.

Alex softly gasped. Tears began falling from her eyes.

“Well, well, well.” Alice began.

They broke apart of their connection.

Fred couldn’t believe his eyes.

“There they are. What did I tell you?” Alice continued.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on here?” Ms. Grundy innocently asked.

Alex glared at her.

“Of course. Archie, would you like to share with us what your and Mrs. Robinson have been doing during your 'music lessons?’” Alice motioned quotation marks with her fingers.

“And please don’t leave out any of the lurid details, because Betty here keep a meticulous diary, and i’m more than happy to fill in the details.” Alice continued.

Betty sobbed more. “I’m sorry.”

Alex began breathing heavy. “I’m gonna kill you, you stupid fucking bitch!”

Alex almost ran up to Grundy but Fred caught her.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, Alex, calm down.” Fred held her.

Archie sort of froze. Grundy backed away, full of fear.

She broke free of Fred’s hold.

“How can you ask me to be calm at a time like this?! How can you not want to rip her head off for what she’s doing to Archie?” Alex screamed.

She was angry.

“Alex, she hasn’t been doing anything to me..” Archie began.

“Bullshit! She’s been taking advantage of you and you let her!” She kept sobbing.

She kept trying to go towards Grundy but Fred was blocking her path. “Alex, stop it.”

Archie was taken back. “You shouldn’t even be talking, Alex.” He snarled.

“Shut up!” Alex continued to breathe heavy.

“Everything that happened, i wanted it to.” Archie said. “That’s what you said to me about Jason.”

He got closer to Alex. She looked at him in disbelief.

Betty furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Alex. So did Alice.

“What’s he talking about?” Fred turned to look at Alex.

Alex shook her head. “Don’t, Archie. Don’t you fucking dare.”

“Face it. You’re taking your emotions out on me.” Archie got closer to her face, with their dad in the middle.

“Jason used you. He took advantage of you. Just because you’re having a hard time trying to accept that, does not mean you get to take it out on me.” Archie pushed her buttons.

Alex sobbed. She’s never felt so betrayed.

“Fuck you, Archie.” She growled. “That is totally different and you fucking know that. Grundy is an old hag, she’s twice your fucking age! THERE’S A FUCKING DIFFERENCE.” She sniffled.

“Don’t talk about her like that, Alex. At least she isn’t a 15 year old slut.” Archie snarled.

“Archie, don’t!” Fred warned him.

Alex shoved him and slapped him. Everyone gasped. Fred roughly held her back. Archie froze.

“That is enough!” Fred shouted.

Everyone paused for a moment. Alex’s heavy breathing and sobbing was the only thing they could hear.

Archie didn’t realize what he was doing. He was blinded by anger. He didn’t mean it. But he said it anyway, and he can’t take it back. When he realized that, he instantly felt like shit.

Fred tried holding her but she didn’t let her herself. “No— Don’t!” She screamed.

“And you knew.” Alex sobbed when she turned to Betty. “All of you fucking knew!”

Betty began apologizing but Alex stormed out, not wanting to hear it.

Fred wanted to follow her but he knew he needed to stay where he was to deal with the situation.

“Well, cat’s out of the bag.” Alice grinned as she crossed her arms.

“Alice..” Fred groaned.

Archie still hadn’t said anything. Betty was pissed because he just slut shamed his sister.

Everyone except Alice, it seemed, were mortified about what had just happened.

“I never thought that i would live to see the day.” Alice chuckled. “Both of your kids are dysfunctional.”

“Mom..” Betty growled.

“And i thought the one thing we’d keep Riverdale safe from was child predators.” Alice got in Grundy’s face.

“Ms. Grundy’s not a predator. She’s a good person.” Archie argued.

“Archie, you don’t have to defend me. Not to her and not to your sister.” Grundy assured him.

“No, he doesn’t.” Fred said, full of stress.

“Well,” Alice said with a graceful sigh. “I think the next step is to take this to Sheriff Keller and let the wheels of justice take over.”

Grundy got tense. She moved to the back of the room and took a seat.

“Dad, you can’t let that happen.” Archie pleaded.

“Son, i don’t want to hear it. You see all the problems she just caused?” Fred sternly responded.

“She didn’t force me to do anything! How many times do i have to say it? I went after.” Archie explained.

“Well, there’s so surprise there.” Alice looked at Fred.

“Why are you doing this, mom?” Betty finally spoke. “Putting Ms. Grundy on trial.”

“This ain’t just about her.” Alice began. “This about him and his sister.” She aggressively said.

“I wanted you to see the kind of people they truly are and clearly, they’re both unstable.” Alice pointed to Archie.

“Wait, that’s what this is about? Your crazy grudge against my teenage kids?” Fred asked in disbelief.

“I’m never going to stop being friends with them, mom!” Betty shouted. “Ever.”

“We are done here.” Fred said, turned to Archie.

“Oh, we are far from being done here!” Alice shouted.

“Shut up.” Fred snapped.

“Stop! Please!” Archie begged. “You’re right, Mrs. Cooper. I’m selfish, and i’m stupid. I pretty much just ruined my relationship with my sister and I don’t deserve to be your daughter’s friend.”

Fred looked at him with soft eyes.

“But please, don’t hurt Ms. Grundy because you wanna hurt me.” Archie continued.

“This isn’t about hurting anyone, Archie.” Alice responded. “It’s about doing what’s right, and of course, informing our neighbors.”

“Alice, i swear to god..” Fred began.

“You swear to god, what—” Alice got cut off.

“You say one word of any this, mom, and i will tell everyone that i broke into Ms. Grundy’s car.” Betty snarled.

“Betty..” Alice tried to reason.

“That i robbed her,” Betty continued. “and made up the story of their affair. This applies to what just happened with Alex, too.”

Alice sighed.

“It will be like, i finally..” She paused. “Snapped. Like Polly.”

“Betty..”

Betty wasn’t having it. “It’ll prove what everyone already thinks about us: 'Crazy runs in that family.’” Betty continued.

“Like mother, like daughter.” Betty whispered.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Alice muttered.

“I’ll quit.” Grundy suddenly said.

Everyone looked at her. “I’ll quit my job. Will that satisfy you?”

“Yeah, it will.” Betty answered for her mother. “It has to.”

“And i absolutely would dare, mom.” Betty hissed.

“She has to leave town.” Alice barely spoke.

“The hell she does.” Archie got worked up all over again.

“Son.” Fred sternly said.

“Why does she need to leave town?” Archie raised his voice.

“Because it’s what’s best.” Fred responded. “And Alice will keep her word.”

Archie scoffed.

“I will.” Alice cocked up an eyebrow.

“I’ll pack up my things, i’ll be gone by morning.” Grundy said as she got up and walked out.

Archie went after her. She didn’t say anything.

“Now let’s go, because Im worried about what Alex will do next.” Fred glared at Archie.

Archie sighed.

It wasn’t until they walked back to the drive-in that Archie realized what he just did. He betrayed his sister. He told himself he would defend her if her dad ever found out about Jason. He felt stupid.

Fred got his truck back and they both got in. He could feel his father’s disappointment.

He couldn’t help but feel the lump in his throat.

They arrived at the house and Fred stopped the car.

Archie felt the tears in his eyes.

“Don’t ever call your sister a slut, again, Archie.” Fred quietly said. “Do you hear me?”

Archie nodded.

Fred got out and opened the door for Archie to get out.

He sighed when he wouldn’t.

“You are not those things you said.” Fred began. “You’re not stupid. Alex will forgive you. You just need to give her time. This wasn’t your fault.”

A tear streamed down Archie’s face. “I betrayed Alex, dad. She’s never going to forgive me. That most definitely was my fault. And Ms. Grundy..” He trailed off.

Fred sighed.

Archie eventually got out of the truck.

He couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. Fred went in to hold him while he cried.

Alex saw through the front door’s window.

She felt her heart ache when she saw her dad hugging him.

She sneaked out the back door before they went inside the house.

Fred and Archie walked in. Fred called out for Alex but he didn’t hear anything back.

“Check down here, I’ll check upstairs.” Fred said as he climbed up the stair.

Archie nodded and went through the rooms and called out her name.

Fred did the same upstairs.

They couldn’t find her.

She left her phone on her bed. They couldn’t go through it because it was locked.

“Dad?” Archie called out as he climbed the stairs.

“In here.” Fred called back out.

Archie stood in the doorway of her room.

“She’s gone.” Fred’s voice broke.

——————————————————————————

It was about 7 in the morning. Alex stopped by the local kid’s playground. She used to go there with Archie as a kid when the fighting from their parents became too much for them.

She was sitting on the swing, softly swaying back and forth. She was crying.

Jughead walked past. He glanced over to the swings and did a double take when he realized it was Alex.

He had his back pack. He looked like he was on his way to Pop’s.

He approached her.

“You bailed on me for a playground?” He teased.

Then he noticed she was crying.

“O-oh, i’m sorry. What’s wro—”

“Just go.” She whispered.

He was taken back. “What?”

“Leave me alone.” She said, still not making eye contact with him.

His brows furrowed. “Why?”

She sniffled and sighed. “Because you knew about Archie and Grundy, and you didn’t tell me.”

He froze. He didn’t say anything for a while.

“Alex, you can’t tell—”

She looked up at him.

“Who? My dad? He already knows. Mrs. Cooper knows. She’s the one who exposed them.” She raised her voice.

Jughead stood quiet. She looked back down to her legs.

“All of you knew. And you lied.” She said as her voice broke and new tears fell down her face.

“Alex..” Jughead said full of sympathy.

“Go away, Jug.” She demanded.

He sighed and walked away.

She sobbed.

Then a familiar truck pulled up.

She quickly wiped the tears away when she saw her dad get out and approach her.

She didn’t look at him.

“What are you doing here?” Fred asked, looking down at her.

She shrugged. “I don’t want to be anywhere near you or Archie right now.”

Fred’s face scrunched up. “Why me?”

“Because!” She stood up and finally looked at him.“Your attention will always go to him. Your love, your support, your everything!” She shouted.

Fred sighed. “I love you both, equally, Alex.”

She let out a humorless chuckle as she sobbed.

“Could’ve fooled me. You hugged him because he was crying like a little bitch for his elderly girlfriend while i needed that hug because he betrayed me and i’ve never wanted to hurt myself more in my life.” She cried and sobbed harder.

Fred pulled her in for the hug she needed so desperately. “Ssshh, hon. Everything will be okay.”

She sobbed into his chest and hugged him back.

Archie watched from the truck. He cried when he saw how hurt she was.

“Let’s go home, Alex. You’re freezing.” Fred said.

She nodded.

They got into the truck. Alex didn’t say anything to Archie. She didn’t even look at him.

When they got home, she went straight to her room.

As soon as her body hit her bed, she fell fast asleep.

179 notes · View notes