Star Wars: Spirit of Survival #Watty's2017

Chapter Ten-Family

A/N: Short chapter cause I'm brain dead. Also, Knox is @ARC_Trooper_Fives character and Chance is @Storm-Shadows7 character. Thank y'all for letting me borrow them!

Aboard the Ingot

18 years B.B.Y.

"What did you say his name was again?" Knox asked as he walked in, eating a ration. Chance stroked over Spirit's hair gently and looked up.

"He said it was Spirit," the young clone said quietly. Spirit cracked his eyes open from his half-asleep state and lifted his head a little. He looked at Chance tiredly as Knox plopped down beside them.

"He's taking up my spot," Knox said. He had a deep rough voice, one that Spirit wasn't sure if he liked or not. Sometimes the older clone scared him, but other times he managed not to jump. This time he scrambled up off the couch, though, to let Knox have his spot. He did have a small fear of both Chance and Knox, afraid they would grow tired of him or he would do the wrong thing and they'd stop being nice to him. 

Spirit backed up some and sat on the chair, curling up. He saw Chance looking over at him quietly. 

"You can sit on the other side of the couch," Chance said. "Knox doesn't bite," he added. Spirit watched Knox and caught a half glance from the older man. Knox didn't seem too annoyed with him today, so he quietly slipped over and sat on the other side of Chance. He hesitantly laid back down and felt Chance brush over his hair. Spirit relaxed near instantly and closed his eyes again but not before seeing Chance smile.

"Why don't you like him here? He's not hurting anything," Chance said. Spirit listened quietly to the two of them talk.

"Try that argument again when we're halfway to the junkyard and we run out of food," Knox mumbled roughly. Spirit looked down a little and curled up. He lifted his head some to look at Knox, though.

"I-I can n-not eat if t-that would help," he said quietly, avoiding direct gaze. He saw Knox shake his head, though, and thought he saw a softening in the older man's eyes.

"No, kid, you need food," he said. Spirit looked down and nodded quietly. He felt Chance hug him again. The young clone seemed fond of hugging and Spirit couldn't say he disliked it. He enjoyed the contact. He snuggled a little closer and saw Chance smile.

"I'm sure we can pick up some extra food or something at the next port. We're only a day out, right?" Chance said. He'd acted so eager to help with everything and solve every problem Spirit wondered where the young clone's energy came from. There had been a rumor back on Kamino a long time ago that there was one clone medic who synthesized a perfect blend of adrenaline into a single shot and then gave it to himself so that he would never have to stop working and he could save more people. Supposedly the guy had run his body ragged and died of exhaustion, but it was all just a story to scare the kids and keep older clones from using adrenaline shots to keep themselves up through the night. Wasn't terribly effective, but it sometimes made Spirit wonder if this kid ran on adrenaline shots, judging by his constant eagerness and energy. 

"Yeah," Knox said quietly and finished off the ration. He crumpled the wrapper in his hand and stuck it in his pocket before getting up. "I'm gonna go check the computer, you keep Spirit entertained, okay?" he added.

Chance nodded happily and Spirit felt the younger clone's fingers pull through his hair. He himself smiled a small bit and curled next to Chance happily. 

"Spirit. Do you like it here?" Chance asked after a moment. Spirit cracked his eyes open and looked up. He nodded.

"Why?" Chance asked. Spirit sensed the kid was just trying to make conversation, but since it had been ages since he'd spoken to anyone, we welcomed it and flipped onto his back, looking up at Chance.

"You're nice people. You haven't hurt me," he said. He watched a smile spread across Chance's face and felt glad he could make the young clone happy.

"I like having you here," Chance said. "It's been a long time since I had someone I could talk to."

Spirit smiled a bit and laughed under his breath. It felt good to laugh again, to smile and know no one was going to hit you for it.

"I heard that!" Knox's voice yelled from the cockpit. Spirit laughed louder and Chance grinned. He lowered his voice considerably to whisper the next part to Spirit.

"I don't know if you noticed, but Knox is kind of a grumpy-butt."

Spirit couldn't help but laugh, a grin stretching across his face. He saw Chance's face practically light up with happiness at that.

"You do smile!" the young clone exclaimed and he hugged Spirit again. Spirit hugged him back this time, settling against Chance. He felt Chance rub over his back and relaxed.

"You have a lot of scars," Chance said. Spirit stiffened and just nodded. He didn't like talking about his scars all that much, remembering too vividly most of the events that caused the scars. He heard Chance fall quiet and figured the boy had gotten that. 

"Hey, I'm gonna go check on Knox. You okay on your own in here for a bit? If not you can go back to the bunk room," Chance said, shifting away. Spirit pulled back and got up. He just nodded quietly and looked around as Chance left the room. He was okay with being alone, but he still didn't like being alone for a long time. He felt exhausted, though, and headed back to thr bunk room. 

Finding his bunk, he slipped off the shoes Chance had loaned him and laid down. He stared up at bottom of the bed above him and sighed quietly. He actually felt content here. It had been nearly a week since Knox and Chance had found him and he liked it here with them. Just as he had told Chance earlier, they were kind to him and he liked it. They hadn't given him reason to be afraid and they had given him things he'd once considered luxuries, such as clean clothing, shoes, a full meal a day, his own bed, and the freedom to be a human being again. 

That had been the one thing he'd missed the most. Even as submissive and obedient as he had been. There was an instinctive craving to be human, to be accepted. Here he had that and it was truly wonderful. 

"Spirit?"

Spirit sat up some and looked up to see Knox standing there. He blinked quietly and nodded.

"You doing okay?" Knox asked, stepping into the room. "Chance wanted to make sure he didn't scare you away with the mention of your scars," the older clone added.

Spirit shrugged. "It's okay. He didn't scare me. I don't like to talk about my scars much, too many painful memories," Spirit murmured. He felt Knox sit beside him.

"I know how you feel," he heard the older clone say. Spirit looked up ath im quietly, for once looking Knox in the eyes.

"You do?" he asked quietly. Knox nodded and Spirit felt the older clone wrap an arm around him. He pulled his legs up onto the bed and curled into Knox's side. 

"You know, I don't hate you. Despite what I say, I'm just complaining to complain. You can stay as long as you want," Knox said.

Spirit peeked up at him quietly. "Can I stay forever?" he asked quietly, not caring how childish he sounded. He saw Knox smile and felt a warmth settle in his chest as the older man nodded.

"Course you can. You're family now."