The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Febuwhump Day Sixteen: Came Back Wrong

Author's Note: You'll never convince me they didn't have a lot of issues after Bracca. :')

~ Amina Gila

They all might have survived Bracca, but it still feels as though something died there. And now, they have to pick themselves up in the aftermath, when there's some things Hunter knows none of them can forget.

Tech is sleeping restlessly. Hunter feels a little numb about that when he watches. Things that are... hard will bother Tech the most because he remembers them the most vividly. Hunter knows the moment Wrecker strangled him and Crosshair nearly killed him must still be bothering him. They're bothering Hunter, burning through his mind on a vivid loop.

He was supposed to protect them. It's always been his role to keep them from getting hurt, but Wrecker's chip activated, and he nearly killed all of them. Rex said he was close to killing Omega when he got there.

Then Crosshair happened, and he tried to kill them, and Hunter knows it's not his fault, but he can't stop thinking about it.

And they ran into Bane, and Hunter nearly died when he's supposed to be the one who protects them. He can't die. He should've been fast enough to shoot first, to act first, to protect Omega, but no, the bounty hunter got her, and now, she's living in constant fear of being away from them.

Hunter's living in constant fear of losing her again, of – of something happening and her being gone.

His neck is still bruised from when Wrecker dug his fingers into it, about to crush it. He'd been so, so scared, and nearly dying three times in a row isn't really something that's ever happened before. Yes, they've all been hurt, but this...

His streak of nearly dying is impressively high right now. Everything after Bane shot him was in jagged, wispy fragments of memories, but he remembers being afraid the Empire would find him, that Crosshair would find him before the others would, that he wouldn't even live long enough for that.

Even Wrecker is sleeping restlessly in the back, and Hunter had a hard time convincing Omega to go back to sleep after she talked to him.

He wishes he could sleep. He's so tired. Once, a long, long time ago, Crosshair was here to help when Hunter needed him. He's gone now.

Wrecker gave him some version of painkillers they had, which is the only reason he's still up, but his chest is still throbbing dully. It still aches. Burns. He wishes it'd stop, and this is ridiculous. Hunter has been hurt many times before. This shouldn't be so crippling. He'll be fine because he has to be.

He rubs absently at the bandage on his chest, but there's nothing to feel.

The wound is still stinging.

Really shouldn't be possible to hurt this much.

It feels like Bracca was full of impossible, and whatever versions of them the planet spit out, it wasn't the same as who came in. Which is insane.

Hunter feels the flickering as Wrecker wakes up in the back. He's half dozing himself now – one thing about being constantly on missions is that they never really get time to sleep. It's never the same if they're not on Kamino, and that's not even a choice they have anymore. There's not room in the Marauder for all of them to sleep at the same time.

Wrecker can still be really quiet when he's trying, and he is right now – Hunter can hardly hear him moving, though he feels it. Omega's finally asleep in the back. Tech's sleeping in his chair, and Echo's in the 'fresher.