The Bad Batch: Oneshots

In Between

Context: S3.15, on Pabu right after the Tantiss victoryyy

     Omega leaned into Hunter's armored arm as the batch began to finally relax. Tantiss was destroyed. Hemlock was dead. The clones were freed. Everything was fixed.

Hunter's words echoed loudly in Omega's ears.

"We get to choose who we want to be."

The problem was she didn't know who she wanted to be. For as long as she could remember someone else was always telling her what to do and how to act. Finding her brothers was an escape from that life, but it soon caught up. She became the Empire's target. Her life, even with her brothers, was overshadowed by evil individuals defining her by the very liquid that coursed through her veins.

Fighting and fleeing. That's all she knew.

But now... it was over.

Omega shifted next to Hunter, her eyes still closed in deep thought.

"So, kid," Hunter's gruff yet gentle voice broke the silence. "What do you want to do?"

Omega's eyes flashed open. Her heart began to pound. She didn't think she would have to decide so soon.

"I-I don't know..." her voice tapered off. Her mind sorted through all the possibilities.

Hunter gave her a strange look, his brow slightly raising. "If you need to rest, Omega, that's okay too. You've been through a lot. I just figured you'd want to go to the beach with Wrecker or play with Lyana—"

Oh. He meant that.

Omega let out a sigh of relief, her smile returning.

"Right," she said while sitting up straighter. "I guess I should take Batcher for a walk."

The Lurca hound's head shot up at the mention of her name paired with the activity. Batcher rushed over, head lowered at the little clone's black boots. Omega giggled, scratching the hound behind the ears as she stood up.

"Come on, Batcher!" She waved goodbye to Hunter and the others, disappearing into the village.

The sun consumed the vibrant blue sky. Tantiss not only robbed Omega of her freedom, but of the sun's rays as well. She was already pale from the majority of her life on Kamino. Just as her skin started to accept the warmth, Tantiss reverted it back to its sickly color. During the first few months with the batch, Tech insisted on the two of them studying outdoors every chance they got. Omega's heart ached upon the memory. Tech was supposed to be there with them. He was the reason they won. He deserved to see their accomplishment. He deserved to celebrate with them.

Omega ventured on toward the beach, tears pricking at her eyes. She would have liked to blame it on the salty sea air.

Batcher whined, nudging the girl's hand. Omega smiled down at her companion.

"I'm okay, girl."

The two walked along the sandy shore, the water splashing upon both their ankles. The bottom of Omega's gray Tantiss uniform turned a darker shade from the water.

"I guess I should probably change out of this, huh?" the clone told the hound. "Come on, we'll go out again later." Omega signaled toward lower Pabu. The Hazards kindly built them a home between their travels. Omega and Batcher entered the humble house. It was still a work in progress, but it was mainly making the house a home. Crosshair sat on the couch messing with a couple of prosthetics Echo left him.

"Hi," Omega said, plopping down next to him.

Crosshair didn't even glance up. "What's wrong with you?"

Omega sent him a confused and playful glare. "What do you mean?"

"For someone who was so focused on freeing all those clones, willingly offering herself to be taken back to Tantiss, defeating Hemlock, I thought you would be more... you."

Omega sank further into the couch cushions. "Yeah, me too," she muttered. She looked over at Crosshair. "Hunter asked me by the Maya tree what I wanted to do. I know he was asking for the rest of the day, but it made me think about something else he said."

Crosshair eyed her. "Which was...?"

"He said that we get to choose who we want to be."

"And that's bad?" The sniper scoffed, jokingly.

Omega shook her head. "No, of course not! I was just– Ugh! I don't know what I want to do with my life. For the longest time my mission was to escape Kamino, to find you all. Then it was to finally be freed of the Empire. Now, we're here. It's everything I could have ever wanted. Pabu is perfect! But... I'm not sure I know how to live this kind of life. Doing nothing feels selfish, which is stupid, I know, but–"

"Omega, stop." Crosshair placed the prosthetics down. The blonde haired girl looked over to the marksman, her chest heaving from her rant. "You don't need to be worrying about that. You're still a kid."

"I'm–"

"Don't even with the 'I'm older than you' argument," the sniper said before Omega could finish her thought. "We've all been through a lot– you've been through a lot. It's okay to take a break. You probably need one the most."

"I'm not sure I know how to do that," Omega admitted quietly. "Not when there's still more clones out there who need help. Not just the clones either. We've seen so much injustice in the galaxy. I want to help people, but I don't know how."

"You know," Crosshair started, scanning his eyes around the room as if he was nervous to continue his thought. "Echo's still out there. He's still a reg at heart. I overheard him and Rex talking about a rebellion. It's only the beginning."

"Are you saying I should join them?" Omega asked with a surprised expression.

"We both know you're not going to stay on this island... but I also know there's someone here that would like to see you grow up."

Omega's cheeks flushed. "Hunter?"

"You think you can give him a few years?" Crosshair knew all his older brother wanted to do since meeting the kid was to raise her, to love her. She may be their sister, but to Hunter, Omega was like a daughter. The rest of the batch could see it plain as Naboo's summer skies. The sniper wondered how long it would take for the sergeant to admit it.

Omega nodded, a little grin spreading across her lips.

Crosshair continued. "You can also use the time to train, make some more friends, go to school–"

Omega shook her head at the last suggestion. "I don't want another teacher. I already had the best one," her tone grew defensive.

Crosshair rolled his eyes. "Fine, but there's plenty to do within the next few years on this island. Give it a chance."

Omega hopped up, Batcher following. "Thanks, Crosshair. For everything." She leaned down, wrapping her arms around her brother's neck.

Crosshair tried hard not to show his soft side often, but for Omega, she had been chipping away at it since the start. "Don't think this is going to be a usual thing."

"Of course not," the girl giggled. "Well, I'm going to start by changing out of this prison uniform." She motioned at her awful bleak outfit. "Maybe after we could take the boat out?"

The marksman let out an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, but I'm steering."

"You wish." Omega smirked as she vanished down the hall, leaving the smiling sniper to himself.

Heyyy, I'm back in college. The same one I transferred from last fall. Full circle moment like what. So much has changed within this past year and a half, it's all so overwhelming, but I'm trying to find a routine. I want to start getting really back into Star Wars again, also sorry this story is a little bit shorter than usual, tryin' find the the groove lol

💫Feel free to leave requests too 🫶🏽

Omg and the Bad Batch book?! It was so good!! Like in love with it so bad. I need more little stories like that plz 😭🙏🏽