The Bad Batch: One Shot Collection

Sister's Struggle

Omega understands what Tech told her about how she had to accept Echo leaving. That doesn't mean she understands. (Missing scene, between Tipping Point and the Summit)

Author's Note: I meant this to be longer, but I hope it's good as it is :D

~ Rivana Rita

"What did I do to push you away?"

"What?" Echo's dark eyebrows in stark contrast to the light skin of his face pinch with confusion.

"What did I do to push you away?" Omega repeats softly, hands rubbing her left wrist. It's an anxious habit she picked up someplace, though she doesn't remember where.

His body twitches, like he's just understanding her words for the first time, and he slowly crouches in front of her so they're closer to eye level, the same way he did on Coruscant right before he left. "You didn't do anything, kid," Echo promises immediately.

Omega wonders if he's lying, if he's trying to be reassuring where she needs honesty. "You can tell me the truth," she blurs, "I can hear it." She needs to know what they did, what Echo needed that they weren't able to give him. She thought they did, but she could have missed something. Families don't always fully understand all of each other's needs.

Tech made her understand that.

She's wondered for all the weeks Echo was gone, wanted to understand what happened and how they'd failed him like they did Crosshair. If she finds Crosshair someday, she just might ask him, too. But she and Wrecker had talked about how to ask Echo, how to talk to him.

Wrecker misses him, too, and he has told Omega so, though he's too self-conscious about it to bring it up to their brothers.

And she remembers what Echo said to Hunter right before Serenno. No matter what he may have said afterwards, he was still angry by how much they changed for her, when he wanted something other then what they became.

Echo sighs. He looks tired. "It wasn't anything you did," he vows, "And it wasn't anything you didn't do."

"But you left." It always swings back to that, the one thing she can never understand.

"Yeah. I did, kid. But it didn't have anything to do with here."

"But you needed something."

"No." He shakes his head. "It's that I was needed. I know you still want me here. But after what we caused, there are so many of our brothers who need my help out there. Our brothers who are dying because we can't help enough."

Omega knows their brothers' lives' are at stake. She also knows that if they try and help, they'll die themselves, and she can't let that happen, either. Or she would have. "I'm sorry I dragged you all into this," Omega whispers, hugging her arms around herself. "You shouldn't have had to give up that life for me."

"Remember what I told you on Serenno. I'm glad we made that choice. It was worth all of it to get you out of there."

"But what about your brothers? They're being hurt because you tried to help me."

"I don't know, kid. I still think it was worth it."

They're talking about lives. Echo thinks that was worth her?

They always have. Her brothers have given so much for her, sacrificed their lives as soldiers just so they could keep her safe. They've been hurt for her, to try keeping her safe, and Omega still feels guilty about that sometimes, though she'd grown numb to it. Hunter nearly died on one of their first mission together, on Bracca, and eventually, she'd tried to stop thinking about it. She had to stop thinking about it, because if she didn't, all she'd be able to think about is seeing her brother still on the ground, a smoking hole in his chest, and wonder how long it would be before she saw another of her brothers the same way.

It was what they wanted. And she hadn't minded until Echo left, when she started realizing there was a growing rift between him and the rest of their squad, when she realized he was going to leave.

She kept trying to prove herself capable afterwards. It was never enough to stop the fear in her heart of not being enough to help them, of not being able to in the way she wants ,and they need.

"I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me," Omega mutters instead, mind on Bracca.

"They won't," Echo promises, "You getting a chance to live is important, too. You're still a kid. You should get to be." He holds an arm out to her, and Omega bolts forwards into his hug, clinging to her brother.

Echo's hugs are rare, and they're meaningful when they happen. He's not openly affectionate by nature.

"I'm glad Phee found this place for you all," Echo tells her, smiling and holding her at arms' length. "It's a good place for you, I think."

"I like it here," Omega tells him, "I'm not sure if we'll stay, but I think I'd like to. At least for a little bit."

"That's good."

Omega jumps at Phee's voice from nearby, looking up at their friend she somehow hadn't even heard approaching. "Oh. Hi, Phee."

"I think you all could use a break," she says, smirking, though Omega's grown to realize that's her form of a scene smile. "What about you? You sticking around?"

Echo scoffs, standing. "Thanks. But I got other places to be." He pats Omega's shoulder again. "I'll be in touch even if I leave, I promise."

That's a start.

With Tech still hacking files about Crosshair, he's busy, so Omega tiptoes past all of them to find Wrecker and tell him, because she knows he's missed Echo, too. With Crosshair and Kamino, they've lost a lot. She really doesn't want to think about loosing anyone else.

"I did talk to Echo," Omega offers, climbing into the seat beside him.

"Told ya!" Wrecker pats her shoulder. "I knew he wasn't angry at ya."

"I know. But I still had to ask him." Wrecker's missed him too. "You can talk to him, you know."

Wrecker shrugs with a bright smile. "Nah. It's okay. He's where he wants to be." He looks a little crestfallen about it, but they both know it's not a rejection. It was never meant to be, because even if Echo is far away, he's still their brother.

Just like Crosshair.

And he always will be.

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