Doomsday

Chapter 15 - Home

Author's Note: Yeesh the very slowly growing rift between Crosshair and Echo is so hard to write about. T_T But I promise they'll fix it sometime. Cuz at the end of the day, siblings always come first. So. Welcome to 4k of the Bad Batch having no idea how to take care of themselves. :'D ;_; Also, the chapter is long. Considering it's the last... I think it's acceptable. :')

~ Rivana Rita

Thank y'all so much for being along for the ride! This is NOT the end of this universe, I promise. There will be more installments at some point in the future with the Batch trying to adjust to being together again. :)

~ Amina Gila

A strange, bone-deep exhaustion is gnawing at her. She's... tired. Worn. Almost entirely, even if they won this mission and no one was hurt.

They have Hunter back. They have Echo back. They have everyone back, and Crosshair saved AZI, too. And Echo is right that they shouldn't have to worry about bounty hunters anymore, either. They can move on without having to worry.

But still, Omega can't stop remembering Kamino. That was their home. It's just... gone. The Empire destroyed it. She saw it falling, burning. It still feels like they lost something that was an integral part of... them.

Omega climbs the stairs to the gunner's mount, pushing the curtain aside and picking up Lula, ignoring the way Hunter's eyes follow her. So much has changed since he left. Omega should be focusing on him or Echo because they're the ones she should really be worrying about, but instead, she's just... going off to hide, like that will somehow fix something.

Selfish. She's just being selfish. Because she's tired.

"You okay, kid?" Wrecker asks, trailing after.

"Is AZI gonna be okay?" Omega queries instead.

"He will be fine," Tech assures, "Once I restore his power. It didn't even short out under water."

She lets out a soft sigh of relief, turning around to look at Wrecker. She doesn't even know what to say to him.

"You got any Mantell Mix?" Wrecker asks, "I'm starving."

"Uh..." No. She forgot. "Can we sleep first this time?"

"Sure," he agrees, scooping her up. Omega wraps her arms around his neck, clinging to him and still holding Lula. Wrecker's hands are huge, and they're strong enough to break literally anything, but he's always so gentle with her.

That's what she wants – needs – right now.

***

Crosshair was following Wrecker and Omega to their bunks but pauses when he realizes Echo is hanging back. Hunter isn't coming, and neither is Tech – likely to stay and watch the ship scans. Someone usually stays awake for that, just in case.

"Tech's repairing my scomp before I join you," Echo explains, approaching him.

That doesn't answer the more important questions of what happened after he was captured. And knowing Echo, he will never bring it up. It doesn't really matter, anyway, because it's part of the past. The mission's over. There's nothing left to say about it.

But still, there's a certain tenseness in him that wasn't there before. It's slight, but it's unusual. Omega probably would've noticed, if she weren't so visibly worn out. Usually, Hunter was the first to comment, but that was before. Now, they... all have to look out for each other, but not in the way they used to.

Now, it's... mutual. It's for more than their teamwork and is just as much about their lives.

Which was why Crosshair was so reluctant about going to Daro in the first place.