Vision

Chapter 21.5 - Bonus Chapter - Crosshair 1

"You're still their brother, Crosshair. You're our brother, too."

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean we have to be enemies."

"We still would have taken ya."

"It is his nature. You cannot change that. He cannot change that."

"You still belong here, even if you don't remember."

Echo and Tech are the only two who didn't outright ask him back. It doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter.

Leaving was hard. Staying here is hard. He hates that he hates himself for doing that to them. For hurting them. They were supposed to stay with him. They were never supposed to leave each other.

He remembers a time when they were young, that they did... everything for him.

Crosshair doesn't know what changed . It wasn't him. It wasn't . He's never been different than he is now. Sure, maybe he's a bit... lonelier and angrier now, but that's because they left him .

How is he not good enough for them? He was. Used to be. He can't understand how that changed the minute they picked up Omega. From – oh, he doesn't even know, but he's still angry. Still hurt.

Echo didn't ask him back. Crosshair had wanted him. He wanted all of them. He did – he helped Echo. Tried to, even if it was hard, even if it hurt. Even if it was hard. He never gave up, because he thought Echo wanted him, that he... mattered to him. Doesn't know why he thought that. Echo didn't even look back .

Vision is – everything about her is complicated.

"You don't care about me that much."

"I would rather die fighting for who I love, than live fighting for something I don't believe in."

"You know, the only thing that has ever made you special is being their brother. Without us, you are nothing."

"We make each other. We always have !"

"I don't care about the – any of this. I just want my family back."

"I know what it's like to be alone."

"We – we miss you. We want you. We can still make this right."

She cared. She did. Once. A long time ago. He's slept every night on Kamino with the hearts she engraved into his bunk over him, and it hurts to see them. It always hurts – a perpetual reminder of what he had and lost. Of who he had and lost. She walked away from him, like everyone else. He cared about her. He hadn't wanted her, but she was there, and Crosshair accepted it. Accepted her, even if he was wary about it. He didn't understand her, but she was... their sister, and it was new and different, but she meant...

She meant a lot to him. He can't even say what.

"Why did you save me " she had said, as if there was even a reason. As if there had to be. He might be angry at her. That doesn't mean he wants to see her die.

She drove him crazy, and she looked at him like he meant the world to her, and he doesn't want her gone. He wanted that. (Crosshair thinks he looked at Hunter like that, too, sometimes. Because it was true. He did. He still does.) But she left and he's still angry at her for that, too, even if there was no way for her to stay with them, anyway. She's not ready. She's not – what they need. What they have. And she betrayed him, too.

Omega – that's so complicated, he doesn't even want to think about it, but he can't stop. She was so gentle. So kind. Vision cared about her. And then, she was gone, too. She said she cared about him, but she didn't try to help . She didn't try to stay.