On The Run || A Bad Batch Story || Hunter X Reader

11. Y/N

The recent events on Carajam had left me unsettled. Although I was thankful to learn that my bounty problem was taken care of, it didn't calm my uneasiness. Inquisitors were after me and there would be no simple way to get them off my trail. I was still having a hard time processing that the Inquisitors even existed. Jedi who betrayed their own and committed horrible acts against them.

In order to help me sort through my thoughts, feelings, and experiences I decided to meditate. It was challenging to find a good spot for it in the Marauder as there was random junk everywhere accompanied by some interesting smells. I had gotten used to the living space of my companions, but I yearned for the comfort of the Jedi temple. It had been so long since I had last seen it and I wondered what had happened to it after the Empire took over. I wondered if I would ever find out.

I settled into the tidiest and quietest corner I could find and closed my eyes. I took deep breaths and reached out through the force, letting it guide my thoughts and feelings. All I could feel was hate and fear, the dark side had clearly grown very powerful. I tried to decipher what the force was showing me, but it was too much. The weight of the dark side, the awful feelings, I couldn't take it.

When I opened my eyes, I had to take deep breaths to ground myself. My meditation was not the helpful tool that it once was with how the dark side was influencing the force now. Needing to get my mind off it, I wandered the ship. I turned the corner and saw everyone huddled together having what appeared to be an important discussion.

"Having a team meeting without me?" I asked, half joking but also curious. I don't know why, but I couldn't help but feel left out. I wasn't a clone and I had only just recently joined the group, but I very much felt like I had become one of them.

"Oh, Y/N, we didn't want to bother you," Hunter said.

"Yeah," Wrecker added, "it looked like you were doing some important Jedi stuff that we didn't want to interrupt."

"Thanks," I said, smiling at them, "I was trying to meditate but wasn't getting anywhere." My smile turned into a frown when I remembered the consuming darkness that was now the force.

"Are you okay, Y/N?" Omega asked, concern on her face.

I took a deep breath and briefly explained to them what I had experienced during my meditation. With them not being force sensitive, it was hard to convey to them what was happening, but I think they understood.

"I'll be okay, I just wish I knew what to do about this Inquisitor situation," I confided.

"We can help with that," Echo said reassuringly. "One of my contacts has given us the coordinates to a safehouse, that's what we were discussing when you walked in," he explained.

"And you can trust this contact?" I asked. It seemed too good to be true, and with the Empire quickly gaining ground all over the galaxy it didn't seem like anywhere could possibly be safe.

Echo spoke confidently and assertively when he said, "I would trust him with my life."

"Good, because that's exactly what we're doing," Hunter said in response. I looked towards Hunter and he gave me a reassuring nod. Even though I was anxious to put my safety in someone else's hands, I didn't have much of a choice.

I turned to Echo, "So where is this safehouse?"

At first I thought he was joking when he told me the location, and then my heart dropped into my stomach when I realized he was telling the truth. The safehouse was on Coruscant.   

Coruscant. The city planet that had been my home for so many years. The home of the Jedi Temple where I learned the ways of the force. The sanctuary that had been ripped from me so abruptly after Order 66. The place where hundreds of my friends and companions were murdered for simply having the title Jedi. How could I possibly go back there?

"How could we possibly be safe on Coruscant?" I challenged.

Echo looked at me, "You've got to trust me, Y/N", pleading in his eyes.

I shook my head. "There must be somewhere else we can go. Somewhere the Empire won't find us." I was starting to spiral. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I had been running for my life for so long, when was it going to end? And then a steady hand was on my shoulder. I looked up to see Hunter standing next to me, my breathing getting easier.

"Who is the contact anyway?" Hunter asked Echo.

Echo rubbed at the back of his neck, he was hesitant to share, but when he knew he had no other choice he finally admitted, "It's Rex... My old clone commander".

The ship fell silent around me. It couldn't be true. Relying on a clone for my safety, the very people who killed my fellow Jedi after we had fought side by side with them for years. I was too stunned to speak, too upset. I could feel Hunter's eyes on me, the concern coming from him.

"We can trust Rex. It's going to work." Echo said, no doubt or hesitation in his voice.

I took a deep breath, "Very well", and I walked out of the room.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to run. I wanted to cry. I so badly yearned for my old life. I was scared and I couldn't help but let the emotions take over. I was wiping tears from my face when Hunter found me. "Hey" he said in a comforting voice. He sat down beside me and put his arm around me. His warm body soothing my fear and pain. "It's going to be alright, Y/N." He said in a voice I hadn't heard before. "I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let anyone hurt you." He touched my face so that he could move it to face his. "I'm going to keep you safe."

I dropped my head to his chest and cried. His words were so touching and in that moment I truly did feel safe. Hunter cared for me, and I cared for him. I wasn't sure on what level, if we were just allies or friends, or if he wanted to be something more, if I wanted us to be something more... But I knew that when he was around me, I was able to face the things that scared me the most because I knew that he would have my back no matter what.