Homowingian

Bonus Part: Die

Author's Note: This is for Febuwhump Day Twenty-Three: Alt. Immortality

~ Rivana Rita

In which Hunter's wings grow in after Bracca, and none of them can understand why. Omega, as the only Force-sensitive clone, is the only one with wings. Or, in which Tech realizes Hunter's immortal and doesn't quite know how to tell him.

Everything hurts. Mostly, his back, and it makes no sense because that wasn't even hurt, right? But still. Ow.

It hurts enough that Hunter somehow finds the strength to lift his head and ask Tech a way too serious "am I dying?" because it feels like he is. He thinks that should hurt about this much. The pain is agonizing, as he inhales and exhales and the slightest movement jars his back and it feels raw, worse than raw. He can't breathe.

Tech stares at him. Hunter hates himself for even having to ask.

He closes his eyes as the scanner runs over him, not watching, not thinking of anything except trying to force air in and out of his lungs, assuming he still has those.

Something on Tech's face betrays his anxiety. Hunter has never seen that look on his brother's face before. Tech doesn't get scared. He just doesn't. He turns away, snapping something at Wrecker that blurs over in Hunter's ears through a distant world of haze.

"I'm giving you a choice." A voice, deep and raspy and familiar but not one Hunter recognizes, though he thinks he should. "Live or die."

"Live," he wants to say, because he doesn't want to die like this, and he shouldn't have asked Tech something so blunt. They're on Bracca, and they need to go, but his chest is burning from the energy bolt that burned through his armor and body and he wonders if it went all the way through, if it burned through the armor on his back, too, how much bone it fractured when it hit.

He can't breathe.

He keeps gasping in air like a fish out of water, or something equally unflattering.

He's so stupid. Should've shot first.

"I do not understand how you are still alive," Tech says finally, holding Hunter's gaze. They've already taken his armor off. The air feels cold. Everything feels cold, and his fingers are digging into the arm of the chair, and he can't breathe why can't he breathe why does it feel like there's no air in here?

"Whaddya mean?" Wrecker asks, sounding freaked out. Hunter can't even focus on what they're saying, if anything – he thinks Tech ignores him entirely, and his vision blacks out entirely as they tug his shirt up and treat him.

His chest isn't throbbing quite so much anymore, but his back is still burning with a white-hot agony enough that he can't breathe and Hunter leans against the armrest, gasping, eyes squeezed shut.

He needs this to stop.

He doesn't know what's wrong.

"How bad?" he asks, even if he should be focusing on Omega right now, they don't have time. He needs to know if he's really dying though. He doesn't want that. It's not until right now that Hunter realizes exactly how terrified he is if dying. He doesn't want to disappear without a trace, doesn't want to be forgotten. He doesn't want to die and fade away. He wants to be their leader, to protect them, to mean something to be something to –

"Bad," Tech replies briskly, but something in his expression tightens when their eyes meet. At least Hunter thinks it does – it's hard to say. Everything is sort of blurry right now.