Call It Freedom

Chapter 1 - Some Days It's Hard to See

Author's Note: This fic was so, so much fun to write, and I loved it to pieces! This is for the Clone Bang, and since it has to be fully posted by February 5th, it'll be updated almost daily. Lol. It's quite a wild ride, and I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! My artist for this fic is ReadingBlueWolf on ao3 (@DivilusCorner on tumblr) who drew several pieces of art that will be posted along with the chapters they're for. :)

Finally, all the chapter titles come from the song Dynasty which fits this fic sooooo well. :D

~ Amina Gila

Crosshair's loss fractured them.

Tech's loss gutted them.

Omega's loss... destroyed them.

"We are going to get her back. And we don't stop searching until we do."

Maybe Wrecker and Echo haven't said it, and probably, they never will, because they're too wrapped up in their grief, but all of this... it's Hunter's fault. He was their leader. He was supposed to protect them.

"A real leader protects his squad."

"Look where that's gotten you. They're all going to die here because of your failed leadership."

The words echo in his mind, sharp and cutting. The failure even more so. He failed them. All of them. Crosshair accused him of making the wrong calls, and Hunter hadn't wanted to see it at the time, but... well, Crosshair has always been good at seeing things. Hunter had blinded himself to the truth, and everyone else paid for it. If it had been him, he could have handled the cost. But the cost was Tech sacrificing himself so they could escape. The cost was Omega being captured by the Empire, taken to an unknown location, where they may not be able to find her.

They won't stop searching, of course. They'll search for her until they find her... or they'll die trying. Hunter will accept nothing less.

(He will not let himself think of Crosshair, will not let himself hope that, when they find Omega, they might find Crosshair, too.)

If he can get Omega back, that will make up for some of his failures, and then, he can lay down the mantle of leadership. He can put aside his training as a soldier and take his squad, his family, and go live a quiet life on Pabu. They need to settle down. They need to find a quiet place to live like they should have from the start.

Hunter cannot let this happen again. He doesn't think he can survive losing anyone else.

***

He doesn't know what it is that wakes him, but one moment, he's sleeping restlessly, and the next, he's jerking to wakefulness. The low hum of the Marauder's engines filters into his perception, even as he tries to figure out what it was that woke him so suddenly. Except then, he hears it again, a quiet sound coming from the cockpit.

Voices.

Familiar voices.

His heart lurches, twisting painfully at the cadence of Crosshair's voice, followed by the murmur of Tech's.

... Wait. That – that doesn't –

Hunter is up before he even thinks about moving, head spinning dizzily as he shoves his way back to the gunner's mount, to Omega's room. He stops at the bottom of the ladder, hand curling against the wall as a new wave of grief crashes over him. It's empty, just as it was the last two dozen times he was back here. No matter how many times he thinks it must have been a horrible nightmare, every time he opens his eyes, Omega is still gone, and her room is just as empty.