Hi this is my first fan fiction ever so I hop you like! The first section takes place after the episode rookies. The second and third section take place after the episode ARC Troopers.

As the transport ship flew away from the flaming rubble of Rishi outpost Echo couldn't help a feeling of foreboding in the pit of his stomach. As if someone or something was still watching them. He tried to ignore it.

Nothing could have survived that blast he tried to tell himself.

Unfortunately something had. For as the transport ship jumped into hyperspace. Something broke the surface of the rubble. Bloody scared and horribly disfigured its eyes, which once reflected bravery and joy now radiated only hate, hate that it could not define, hate it hade never before known…

what had it known?

The creature howled in anger it did not understand, could not understand. his fragmented mind searching wildly for some tidbit of an explanation.

"I don't like your tone shiny."

Who had said that? ... That man in blue and white! The creatures jumbled mind began to put together an irrational solution

His fault,

Had to get him,

Had to make him pay for…

Pay for what?

The creature began to search the ruble until it stumbles across something.

A body.

The confused being reaches out and pulled off the cracked white helmet. The face was twisted in pain and grief but he recognized it all to well.

"Me." the creator spoke softly, reaching out to touch the corps. Then stood abruptly. "He killed me." the wheals in this creature's jumbled mind began to turn.

Got to get him, he killed me!

But after a while the creature began to calm. Its mind becoming less a jumbled mess of instinct and more distinctly human, as its… his mind began to rationalize… he realized something.

Not me. he decided I'm alive. He was now thoroughly confused.

Brothers.

It hit him like the roof that had caved down on him just moments ago. Something bad had happened to the brothers and some how it was his fault. The man in blue. The man in blue had to pay.

Echo had decided not to become an ARC trooper.

Commander Cody's thought he was crazy, Captain Rex thought he was a fool and Fives… Fives just seemed to blame himself.

The day had come for Five's to ship out to ARC training, Echo had received his new unit assignments. Five's ship took of in less than an hour, but there was still time for one last confrontation.

"How could you refuse to become an ARC?" Five's demanded. They had, had this conversation, or rather argument many times in the past few weeks, and Echo wasn't looking forward to having it again.

"That was dominos dream, not mine, it wouldn't feel right without them." Echo explained carefully, Five's just got angrier at his brother.

"Domino squads dead! They're all dead! They would have wanted us to do this!" Five's shouted at him.

"I' sorry Five's." Echo answered simply.

"We were ordered to be ARC troopers!" Five's countered. Echo turned away and pretended to be reading his new barrack assignments. "I never thought I'd see the day when you disobeyed orders!" and with that Five's was gone, off for his transport, his future, his life.

Echo sighed sadly if only Five's could understand. But how could he understand when Echo didn't understand himself? He'd never been one to go against orders or to think or act irrationally.

It all started when they had revisited Kamino, when he had seen Hevys old badge that he had given to 99.

Something changed that day.

He began having dreams. Strange dream. He had started thinking differently, acting differently. He found himself separating from the group and making jokes at the worst possible times, he found himself picking fights and going of on his own in battle. His mood swings had become so bad the captain himself took him aside for a talk. Which, as expected, did not go well.

Then Echo did something that made everyone worry, especially Fives. He stopped reading the rig manuals.

He didn't know why he stopped. The rig manual had always been present in Echo's life and just like that it was gone.

Kind of like domino squad had been gone. One minute it was a normal boring day on Rissi and the next... It was just him and Fives, the last of domino squad, of the men of the Rissi outpost.

At least that's what he used to think. The thin line between reality and his dreams was blurring more and more every day, he had the strangest feeling they- or, or at least- SOMETHING was out there somewhere… But then he'd snap back to reality

They're gone. He told himself. They can't be alive. Echo knew he was going insane. So he figured he'd just go with it.

That's why he was staying with the 501st, his insanity was telling him to and he wasn't about to argue.

Echo looked down at his knew assignments, he was unfamiliar with the unit, what little he'd heard about them was gossip. Their sergeant had gone rogue back on Christosis and sold his brothers to the separatists. They had been assigned a new sergeant, someone named Dark, but he had been killed in battle recently. Echo would be joining the squad as a regular trooper, one of the other men, a soldier by the name of Gus had been promoted to sergeant of the unit.

Echo knew Rex had arranged it that why. He could just picture the captain explaining to the general that- "in light of recent events he was not fit for a leadership role."

Since when had Echo started thinking like that? Since when had he referred to the captain as Rex?

He shook his head and picked up his bag. He started out to his knew barracks. Your crazy remember. he reminded himself. Just go with it.

Fives was sorry for yelling at Echo.

He knew his brother needed support not adversity. Ever since the beginning of the war Echo had always been kind of like an annoying little brother to him (even if they were the same age.) Constantly worried about the rig manual and following orders.

But Echo wasn't really the goody two shoes he led most to believe. There had been another side of him.

Echo had always been there for him and the others in a kid brother sort of way. When Five's and several other troopers had gotten caught filling the captains helmet with whip cream Echo had helpfully pointed out that no were in the rig manual did it state that it was not okay to fill your captains helmet with whiped dairy products.

And another time when they were caught blaring music a 3 AM Echo had explained that- since there was no beer, vodka, Corelian whisky, ale, exotic dancers, stripers or prostitutes there. It had not technically qualified as a party and therefore was not against regulation. He had concluded this speech by saying- "Sir I was wondering what is a prostitute? I couldn't find a definition for it in the rig manual index." The captain had turned bright red and sent them away with neither a punishment nor an answerer to Echo's question.

But ever since there mission on Kamino Echo had changed. He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming or in a cold sweat and he would refuse to tell the others what it was that scared him. He began having mood swings. In the past Echo was the last person to start a fight. But now… Fives shivered.

A week ago Echo had insisted they go out to a bar for some drinking, something else that wasn't like him. Echo had never had beer before.

But Fives and the others had thought it would be good to get away from the barracks and had agreed. The night ended when a twilek man had attempted to cut in on a dance Echo was having with a rather scantily clothed girl. In the end the bar tender had to call the man an ambulance and the clones, after pulling Echo off of him, had snuck out the back.

Fives shook his head, he knew his brother needed him now more than ever. But he had his own future to worry about, his own legacy to make. He climbed onto the ship with several others and took of for Kamino to begin his ARC training.

"Sorry Echo." he whispered "You're on your own this time."

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