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“Echo?” Rex’s hand fell firmly, but gently onto Echo’s shoulder, but he barely felt it. “I’m so sorry.”
When Echo first woke up in the Techno Union’s lab on Skako Minor, all he could remember were his last thoughts as he ran towards that ship. The last thing he remembered was grabbing a discarded shield and racing towards the shuttle to defend it, so they could escape the Citadel and then…
Then Rex was in front of him and he realized he felt drained as if he hadn’t used his body in many, many rotations. Turns out he hadn’t. Echo didn’t remember the events that resulted in his confinement in that stasis chamber, so much as he just knew things he hadn’t known before. He knew the entire layout of this base. He knew why they’d brought him here and what they had been doing to him. He didn’t remember them doing it, but he knew they had. He knew he’d been left behind.
But Rex had come back for him, even after all this time. Despite how dead most of him felt, Echo had been able to elicit the smallest bit of joy at seeing that his captain, his friend, had come for him. If Rex hadn’t come, Echo’s mind would have remained a captive of the Techno Union until either he died or they killed him. Not that he would have consciously known that while under their control.
They had to move swiftly to escape the base and there was no time for any sort of reunion or contemplation. The more time elapsed, the more Echo remembered. The events of the Citadel were still rushing through his mind and he struggled to focus on the task at hand. Rex, General Skywalker, and this group of unusual clones, The Bad Batch, needed Echo’s help to escape.
Guilt stabbed at his gut. It was the strongest feeling he’d experienced in over year. I failed them at the Citadel. I got myself captured and wasn’t able to help them escape. But I will this time. And he did. Then he helped the GAR retake Anaxes for the Republic. Some of the Batch had initially questioned his loyalty, but he couldn’t blame them. He’d be questioning his loyalty too.
His memories continued to return during the battle. He found himself flinching in the wake of each explosion and it would bring him back to the Citadel, staring down the barrel of the cannon as it fired on him. Then another sound began to reverberate over and over through his mind.
“Echo!”
Fives.
Then Echo remembered that the last thing he had heard, before he blacked out for over year, was the voice of his twin crying out for him.
But… only Rex and Skywalker had come for him. By the time the Battle of Anaxes came to an end, and the clones and Jedi had reunited on the Marauder, a cold twisting feeling had formed in Echo’s stomach and it unnerved him even more than waking up in the Techno Union’s base.
He asked Rex as soon as he could and he saw the pain shift through the captain’s amber eyes as he confirmed what Echo already knew. Fives, his batchmate, his twin, his best friend, his lifeline… was gone.
“Echo?” Rex said again, but Echo still didn’t respond.
I’m the last Domino.
“Echo!”
Fives felt like a part of him left his body when his twin’s name did, after watching the shuttle explode with Echo standing in front of it.
“We have to go now,” General Kenobi called out. Only a lifetime of training allowed the ARC trooper to obey and turn away from the sight of his brother’s charred helmet.
He knew this could happen. He knew it probably would happen. But it didn’t stop the tears from raining down under his helmet. Then the only thing keeping him moving was knowing that if they didn’t succeed, Echo would have died for nothing.
Fives would shoot, Echo would throw the grenades. That had been their system ever since they were old enough to hold weapons. Domino Squad had been a chaotic mess, but Fives and Echo had always stuck together. They loved their other brothers, they did, but a twin was different. Twins were like two halves that needed each other to be whole. Without the other half…
His vision was still blurred as he fired his blaster and simultaneously fumbled with a grenade. He barely managed to throw it and jump to safety in time to keep from being blasted himself. A tiny part of him wished he’d been caught in the explosion. But I won’t let Echo die for nothing. And he didn’t. They completed the mission and managed to escape with the Nexus Route coordinates. They were also the first ever to successfully flee the Citadel.
Finally, the team returned to Coruscant and the surviving clones were able to retreat to the GAR barracks. Of course, Fives knew what had happened, had seen it happen. But it didn’t truly hit him until he returned to his bunk and laid eyes on the empty one beside it. Echo, his batchmate, his twin, his best friend, his lifeline… was gone.
Fives tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat, but he couldn’t.
I’m the last Domino.
One of the best things about the Bad Batch was that they didn’t look like regular clones. So, when Echo looked at them, he didn’t see the man he used to be or the face of his lost twin. They were unique, as he was now, and they welcomed him, despite the fact that he used to be what they called a “reg.”
Echo really hoped that being away from the other clones would ease the heaviness in his heart, but it didn’t. He didn’t need to see Fives’ face to see him. He saw him everywhere. He saw him in the way Wrecker goofed around with his brothers. He saw him when Hunter would say something to inspire the rest of the Batch, calling them to action. He saw him when Tech would cleverly slice into something. He saw him when Crosshair would stay by Tech’s side in battle, so his twin could concentrate on his endless streams of data.
The Bad Batch accepted Echo. They really did. They gave him new armor to match theirs and instantly included him in everything they did, even in their downtime. But they weren’t the Dominoes and none of them were Fives.
Echo had always been the jokester of the Dominoes, while Fives was the prankster. But outside of battle and playful antics, Echo would often feel like he was different from the rest of his batch. While they wanted to play Sabacc and watch suggestive holovids, he’d always preferred to read, study, or otherwise stay out of the way. It was like he thought too much, felt too much, and even his batchmates didn’t quite understand.
Except Fives. His twin didn’t share his interests, but he somehow understood. It was Fives who supported him and encouraged him. It was Fives who comforted him and protected him. It was Fives who pestered him for no reason, but would always laughed at his jokes. It was Fives who saw more in Echo than he saw in himself. It was Fives who said that, if anyone had what it took to become an ARC trooper, it was Echo.
He'd never had to live without Fives, and his boundless determination, encouragement, and love. Sometimes he wondered if he was capable of it. But, rotation after rotation, mission after mission, he would grow accustomed to the weight of his twin’s absence.
Fives had millions of brothers and, more often than not, he had at least a hundred of them in close proximity to him. But it wasn’t the same. None were his batchmate, his twin, his other half that was now gone.
In every brother he saw Echo. He saw him in their faces, of course. Echo had always valued regulations, even to the point of maintaining the GAR standard appearance. Which, of course, meant that more clones were identical to his twin than not. But he knew he’d see Echo, even if they weren’t. He saw him everywhere.
He saw him when Hardcase would crack a groan-inducing joke. He saw him in Rex’s passion, his drive that stemmed from his emotions. He saw him when Kix would focus intently on reading an intricate stream of data. He saw him when Jesse and Kix would lay side by side, comforting each other after a difficult campaign.
Fives was still himself, he supposed. He tried, anyway. The pranks, the schemes, the excursions to 79’s and impressing the women there. But none of it was the same without Echo. It was Echo’s brightness that fueled his own positive spirit. It was Echo who lifted him up and supported him, no matter what. It was Echo who stayed by his side and pulled him back before he could stray too far. It was Echo who believed that he was more than the life he chose to live in his down time, because sometimes he didn’t think he deserved any better. It was Echo who said that Fives had the potential to be the finest ARC trooper in the GAR.
He'd never had to live without Echo, and his ceaseless optimism, support, and love. Sometimes he wondered if he was capable of it. But, rotation after rotation, mission after mission, he would grow accustomed to the weight of his twin’s absence.
When Order 66 happened, Echo was thankful, in some twisted way, that Fives hadn’t had to live to endure it. He’d only just started to get used to his new body, his new family, and his new trauma, when the order was called and the galaxy was ripped apart by its seams.
Everything changed in a whirlwind of events and suddenly the Batch was fleeing Kamino, fleeing the new Empire and all their brothers who were still under its control. Crosshair stayed behind and they managed to rescue Omega, who they hadn’t realized existed until then.
Echo wasn’t sure whether to grieve or not for his brothers outside of the Batch. Most were still alive, but they weren’t themselves. Their personalities had been all but erased and they now carried out orders as thoughtlessly as a droid would. It was when Rex found them that they were able to finally understand what was happening.
The captain had been reported as killed in action, so seeing him alive flooded Echo with a rare sense of relief. Then Rex told them about the chips.
When he’d initially told Echo about Fives’ death, he hadn’t elaborated on how it had happened and, truthfully, Echo was thankful he hadn’t. His entire galaxy had changed when he came out of that stasis chamber and knowing that his other half was gone was agony enough, without knowing the details.
But now he learned about how Fives had discovered the inhibitor chips in the clones’ brains and their true purpose. How his twin had tried everything in his power to warn someone about the chips, but the Kaminoans had managed to drug him and then the Coruscant Guard had silenced him.
Rex wouldn’t have been able to get his own chip out without the knowledge Fives had worked so hard to obtain. Then it was because of the captain that Echo and the rest of the Batch were able to remove their chips too, before they could be taken over by them.
Fives died thinking he failed, but he saved us.
When Fives watched countless numbers of his brothers perish due to Krell’s actions, he was actually a little thankful that Echo hadn’t had to live to endure it. His twin never had to witness the Jedi’s betrayal and watch more of their brothers be massacred in one campaign than they’d ever seen before, or worse, be one of them. But Echo's absence only reminded Fives of how he’d failed him.
The thoughts had started after the Citadel and had never ceased. If he’d done something different, sooner or faster, or stopped his twin from running in front of that shuttle, maybe he would be here now. After they lost the rest of the Dominoes, he’d promised Echo that he’d do everything he could to keep him safe. Of course, they both knew that no one was ever truly safe in a war zone, but he made the vow anyway. And then he’d broken it.
He couldn’t watch more of his brothers die from his inaction. He challenged Krell, challenged Rex, disobeyed orders, and he and Jesse had nearly been executed for it. But Fives had managed to remind the other clones that they were more than just that and they’d finally been able to unite against the Jedi traitor.
He still didn’t feel like he’d succeeded, though. So many were lost, Hardcase included. The ARC trooper felt horror and sorrow weighing him down more than it ever had, and then he wished with everything in him that Echo was there. Echo would know what to say. Echo would find a way to show him that he hadn’t failed. Echo would be able to pull him back up before he sank too far into darkness. Fives needed Echo just as much as Echo had needed him, so when he failed his twin, he’d really failed them both.
Tech was different after Crosshair chose to follow a different path and remain with the Empire. He didn’t think the rest of the Batch noticed, but it was the kind of thing that Echo could just tell, almost even feel it himself. Maybe because he understood what it was like to lose a twin. Of course, the sniper was still alive, but in some ways, betrayal hurt just as much as death.
Echo always fought to protect his brothers, but he never felt like he was the one who was really taking care of anyone. Fives had looked out for him his whole life. But now, with the Bad Batch and the Empire hunting them, he found himself stepping into roles he never would have considered.
He found himself helping Hunter keep a clear head and holding Wrecker back at times, before the massive clone could do anything too impulsive. He spent time with Tech. Tech expressed his thoughts and feelings differently, but when they were around each other, there was a sense of solidarity between them. They’d both lost their other half and, somehow, silently supporting each other made it a little better.
They all took care of Omega. As Echo trained her to shoot, he was reminded of what they had been fighting for during the Clone War. They’d been fighting for a better life. If not for each other, then for kids like his little sister.
Now most of the clones were enslaved more than they had ever been under the Republic. Fives had tried to save them, all of them, and had given his life in the process. When Echo discovered that Rex was working to extract clone deserters, he suddenly knew where needed to be. He loved his new family, but his twin hadn’t died to save just his squad, but to save all of their brothers.
Echo had never in his short life thought he’d be stepping out on his own, especially without Fives at his back. But his twin had begun a mission that he needed to complete.
I promise, Fives. I’ll finish what you started.
The Umbara campaign wrecked the 501st and 212th both mentally and physically. Fives felt like a fog had settled in his mind, numbing him, but he tried to be there for his brothers regardless. Then he saw Tup and it was like a blade cut through his clouded thoughts, sending a familiar ache down into his chest. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a batchmate.
Fives never intended to let himself get too close to any of his brothers again. He loved them, of course, but it wasn’t like what he’d had with Echo and it never would be. But Tup needed someone. The kid had been thrown into this sea of trauma and his closest brother had been lost in it, leaving him without that familiar support.
So the ARC sat beside his younger brother and held him and did everything he could not to think about how he used to comfort Echo the same way. He’d failed Echo. He couldn’t fail Tup too.
But he ended up breaking that promise too. As Fives held his brother’s hand and watching his last breath leave him, he fought back the emotions welling within him. He couldn’t let Tup die in vain and now he had nothing left to lose.
Even as he managed to obtain the data on the inhibitor chips, he feared it was a lost cause. What did it matter if no one believed him? Who would trust the word of a clone, anyway? Not many. But he had to try. For his brothers. He couldn’t protect Echo and he couldn’t protect Tup, so maybe he could at least do this for his brothers who still had a chance.
“Stay with me, Fives! Fives!”
It was too late. Rex’s face was fading and Fives heard his own voice. “The mission, the nightmares. They’re finally over.” Then he saw darkness.
Then Fives felt like he was floating in nothing and suddenly he was blinking his eyes open again. His brother’s face still hovered above him.
“Rex?” he heard himself say.
“No, Fives.”
His vision cleared and he focused on the face looking down at him. The clone had long, dark hair and a teardrop tattoo under his right eye.
“Tup?” Then other faces began to appear. “Hardcase? Hevy? Cutup? Droidbait?”
“Nice of you to join us,” Hardcase said, with a small chuckle. Fives didn’t need to ask where they were.
Tup helped him up and he spun around, taking in the faces of his brothers. Faces he never thought he’d see again, ever. But one was missing.
“Where’s Echo?”
“Fives, he’s not here,” Tup answered and Fives felt a surge of shock blast through him.
“H-he’s not?” His brothers shook their heads. When Fives spoke again, his voice was a whisper of disbelief. “He’s alive?”
“Yeah, vod. He’s alive.”
Fives hadn’t let himself cry since he lost Echo, but now he could do nothing to stop the overwhelming emotions from pouring out of him.