After a bit of coaxing and some relaxation on Creed's part, Creed finally slipped out of his hiding place with a nervous look and followed Specter. He didn't want to get near the older man, not sure if he trusted him or not. He was a clone obviously, but if Creed had learned one thing from being around his batchmates, it was that just because someone else was a clone didn't mean they were a kind or trustworthy person.
Even so, Specter seemed quite gentle and kind, but Creed had his reservations and he preferred to keep back.
He followed Specter up from the hold and away from the safe dark depths into a dimly lit corridor that ran around the cabin and straight towards the cockpit, angling off to the left from there. Creed assumed it ran the circuit of the ship like most wraparounds and walkways did.
Specter stepped into the cockpit ahead of him and gestured for Creed to follow. Hesitating a the door, Creed questioned this again but he finally followed Specter inside. It wasn't like there was going to be any escape so long as they were in the air. He may as well trust Specter for as long as he had to, but that didn't mean he had to trust the older man entirely.
"Hey, Skate, I found a stowaway in the hold," Specter said as he and Creed walked into the cockpit and Specter immediately moved to the co-pilot's seat, looking over at another clone who was currently at the controls.
The other clone, Skate, looked back some at Creed. He seemed to acknowledge that the cadet was there, but turned away without so much as a word or a smile. He simply seemed focused on flying the ship, nodding a little in response to what Specter said.
"He said his name is Creed," Specter continued, going on about the little he seemed to know about the cadet.
Creed himself stayed back, watching the two. Unlike Specter, Skate had the dark black hair that was supposed to be natural to clones, and he looked meaner. He didn't smile but had a perpetual stoic look seemingly plastered onto his face. Creed felt a little more on edge around him, but he said nothing, just wrapped his arm around himself and looked around.
Deep down, he still felt like crying, and he was still quite shaky. He didn't like it here much, and he was beginning to think running away hadn't been such a great idea in the first place. He just wanted Haze.
The thought brought an unwanted sniffle as Creed attempted not to break down in tears again, but the sound drew the attention of the two people he didn't want to notice him at the moment.
"Hey, kid, you alright?" Specter asked, cocking his head some from where he sat.
Looking up at him, Creed nodded firmly, clenching his jaw tight and lifting his chin a little in a look of defiance, meant more to keep back the tears than anything else.
"You sure?" Specter questioned, seeming to know that something was up, and seeming oddly like he wanted to help. No one truly ever had wanted to help before, except Haze.
Nodding his head firmly, Creed looked away, hugging himself tight as he looked around. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get back down to the hold where he could hide and cry in peace. "C-Can I g-go?" he asked softly, looking back up at Specter.
"Back to the hold? It's pretty cold and dark down there, don't you want us to find you a room or something? We have plenty of bunks onboard," Specter offered. That brought an unhappy or disagreeing grunt from Skate. Creed couldn't discern which of the two it was intended to be but it was negative either way.
"U-Uh...o-okay?" Creed finally said. It simply felt like he wasn't going to be able to deny the offer anyway, so he may as well take Specter up on it. Plus, he was quite exhausted still and a bed might be a better place to sleep than the floor.
"C'mon then," Specter said, getting up and smiling as he gestured towards the door again. Creed followed his gesture and slipped out of the room quietly, still highly on edge about all of this.
He followed Specter regardless, though, and looked around as they walked to keep his mind distracted. There seemed to be about three doors on the main corridor. One to the cockpit, one to the cabin, and one that led into a bunk room. There was only one bunk in this room as it was quite small compared to most, but based on what Specter had said about there being room, Creed assumed there were more bunks somewhere else. Perhaps in a larger room.
"Here ya go, kid. You can stay in here as long as you need and if you have any questions or want anything, just come up to the cockpit and ask me or Skate. Also, concerning Skate, I know he looks mean but I promise you he doesn't bite. Probably wouldn't harm a fly unless he needed to, so he won't hurt you," Specter said, sitting on the bed a moment.
Creed stayed back by the door and nodded, mumbling a shaky "thank you" as he waited for Specter to leave. That ensued in a short pause of silence before Specter nodded and turned for the door, stepping out. Creed relaxed a little after that and crawled up onto the bed, curling up tight. He pulled the covers up to his chin, then ducked his head under them and balled up. He wanted desperately for Haze to be there, but he knew his brother couldn't come back. It scared him to think about it, but it was reality. He couldn't change it.
His jaw trembling at the thought, Creed let a few tears slip from his eyes as he screwed them shut. He knew he needed to rest, but it was so hard to fall asleep when his chest was still all knotted with emotion and his mind was constantly flickering back to Haze.
"H-Haze...I-I miss you," he whimpered to the thin air, letting go of the blanket and reaching to hug the pillow to his chest as if that would somehow cushion the pain in his heart.
"C-Come back..." he began to wail, burying his face in the pillow to muffle his crying as he broke anew into sobbing. He didn't want to accept that Haze was gone forever, but he knew he had to. He hated reality. He hated life. It was cruel and horrible and he hated it. He just wanted to have his brother back so he could be happy. He wanted a normal life, like the other teens in the universe. The ones who didn't have to wake up at 0400 just to learn a new skill to kill each other with. The ones who didn't have to worry about having a sword shoved through their chest, or waking up to find more of their brother's had been slaughtered. The normal teens whose older brothers didn't get decapitated or have to hide for fear of death. He wanted to be like the ones who had happy loving families, who stayed forever and never let them go.
"B-but I-I'm just a clone..." he whimpered to himself, allowing himself to wallow in the misery of the statement. He felt his jaw begin to tremble again and he buried his face deeper in the pillow, curling up tighter as he hid away, trying to escape the cruelty of life, but deep down he knew he could never escape. Deep inside his grief-stricken mind, he still knew the truth of it all.
I'm just a clone.
YOU ARE READING
Star Wars: Scars
Fanfiction"The greatest of men are those with a thousand scars. Because great men are forged in the healing of a thousand wounds." Clone Trooper Assasin Creed has spend half his life training and fighting a war for the Republic, but not by their rules. He's s...
