Unexpected

chapter nine: improvising

Fives wakes up the next morning to a door being closed and a loud thud afterwards. He sits up in his bed and looks below him to find Kix flat out on Echo's bed, still in his armor.

"Kix?" Fives asks, jumping down from his bunk. "Kix, where's Echo?"

Kix groans. "Echo." He huffs. "I had to pull a double shift."

Fives furrows his eyebrows. "Is Echo okay?" He shakes him to wake him up.

"His girlfriend." Kix mumbles before falling asleep.

A glance around the room confirms that his brothers are still asleep. He looks at the time to see that it's the middle of the night and slips out of the barracks.

Once he arrives in the medbay, he quietly looks around until he spots Elara on a metal table. His eyes quickly find Echo slumped on the floor, asleep, and he sighs. Fives turns his attention back to the girl laid across the table and his eyes widen at the wounds and bandages littering her body.

Her black suit is missing an entire sleeve and is torn on her side, where a stitched hole seems to be, and on her leg, where a patch surely covers some sort of cut. The blood seems to have been cleaned up and the gash on her forehead has another patch over it. His eyes linger on her cracked lips for a moment before he steps away from the table.

Elara's eyes weakly flutter open and a shiver runs down her spine from the cold metal beneath her. She tries to sit up but immediately regrets it as a pain shoots through her entire body. A muffled cry escapes her lips as she falls back onto the table but a hand catches her before she collides with the flat metal.

Her head turns slightly and she furrows her eyebrows. "Fives?" She speaks softly. "Where's-?

"Echo fell asleep." He informs her, gesturing to the floor. "What happened to you?"

Elara glares at him and pushes his hand away as her back meets the cold metal once again.

Fives sighs. He's not a fan of her being around either, but in a situation like this he's willing to put that aside. "I just came to check on Echo, but I guess I'll leave you to it." He turns to leave the room.

Elara takes a deep breath and sighs. "Wait." She stops Fives, who turns to face her. "Take Echo."

He has to admit, he wasn't expecting to hear that of all things.

"If he gets mad when he wakes up, tell him I made you bring him back." She says.

Fives nods and picks Echo up from the ground. He is not going to be happy about this, but he'll be grateful when his back isn't aching.

"Anything else?" Fives asks with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Elara just rolls her eyes. "Rex should be here soon. I can wait."

Fives raises an eyebrow. "If you need something, I can-"

"Nope. Rex can handle it." She cuts him off.

This causes him to clench his jaw. "If Rex can handle it, so can I."

"Not this." She stifles a laugh. "Just bring Echo to bed."

Fives huffs but brings Echo to the barracks to get some proper rest. On his way to their quarters, Rex walks by with a fresh cup of caf in his hand. He is definitely not awake yet.

After Fives lays Echo on his bed since Kix is on Echo's, he slips his armor on and makes his way back to the medbay.

"Ah, Fives!" Rex sighs in relief. "Perfect timing." The fully functioning Rex would ask why he was here. This just proves that Rex is still in the process of waking up.