Chapter Text
Everything was crazy, and Omega almost died. Crosshair had almost drowned, but she had done her best to save him and she had. It didn’t matter that he worked for the Empire, she still cared about him. He was her brother and it was her job to watch out for him. She remembered when she had been a small girl and she had seen him being created. She had loved all the Bad Batch.
Even then she had known that they would be her family.
It didn’t matter what Crosshair said.
And she rescued him. She couldn’t let him drown and she wouldn’t let the mean things he said bring her down anyway. She didn’t even when he kept saying things about how they shouldn’t listen to a child and how she wasn’t meant to be with them. Crosshair… It was sad what was happening to him.
She had been wrong.
So wrong.
But Crosshair hadn’t killed them, even though it was so so clear that he was mad at all of them, but especially Hunter. He kept giving Hunter horrible looks and making snide comments. He didn’t like any of them anymore, especially since none of them were going to go to the Empire.
Not that he wanted Omega to do that. He wanted them to ditch her… As if she was nothing. And that… that sounded almost worse than death to Omega. She didn’t want to be alone and without her brothers. She didn’t care if she was on another planet. She wanted to be with her family.
She thought he would be fine with her dying, and it had almost happened. Omega could have escaped with the others, but AZI had freed her and then… She didn’t want to abandon him. He had saved her. He was her friend, even if he was a droid, so she left the tube she had been in and she went after him.
And… she had no air. It going to end.
But then Crosshair shot a longshot into the water and pulled them both out. Safe. Safe. Hunter pulled Omega into her arms, and she knew that everything would be okay. They had survived. They had escaped.
It was over.
It took awhile to reach their ship and by the time they did, it was day and a rare sunny day on Kamino. Omega had seen so few of those and she had lived there most her life. Now everything she had known was gone.
It was fitting in a way. A sunny day for a special day. The last time she would probably ever be on this planet. It was the end. The others took their helmets off, and Omega went to look toward the city that she had been raised in. It was on fire and would soon be completely taken by the sea. There would be nothing left. She was all that was left from that time.
“It’s… all gone,” Omega said. Tears wanted to come to her eyes, but she had to be strong. They were probably sad about it too. It had been their home for awhile too, even if not as long as it had been hers.
“We should leave before the Empire scouts show up,” Tech said, and obviously he was right and yet leaving… This part of her past really was gone.
“You coming with us?” Wrecker asked Crosshair, but Omega already knew what he was going to say. Even though the Empire had done horrible things, even to Crosshair, he still wasn’t going to come.
He wanted to be with them.
“None of this changes anything,” he confirmed.
Omega’s heart twisted. She would never understand how he could still side with them. They had done horrible things, and she knew that they would do even worse things still. Things Omega wouldn’t even be able to imagine. Things she wouldn’t want to imagine.
She wished that he would have said anything different. They cared about him. He had been with the others for so long.
“You offered us a chance, Crosshair. This is yours,” Hunter said. He took a couple steps toward him.
“I made my decision.” Crosshair’s expression didn’t even change. He really was sure of what he wanted. They had betrayed him, but he didn’t care.
“We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn’t mean that we have to be enemies,” Hunter continued.
Crosshair didn’t even respond and looked back at what used to be the city. Did he consider them to he his enemies, even though they had saved each other?
Hunter came over and put his hand on Omega’s shoulder for a moment. He even gave her a small smile. She knew that she should be grateful that he was okay. That all of them were okay, even if Crosshair didn’t want to come with them. But it was still hard.
They would never be the family that they had been meant to be. The one Omega had always imagined they would be.
Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, and Tech all went toward the ship, leaving Omega with Crosshair. Partially. She knew that Hunter was still watching the two of them. At least now they all knew that he wouldn’t hurt her. Not now with the ship gone. Omega turned around and started to run toward the ship to Hunter, but then she stopped and spun around to look at Crosshair who was still facing the city. She might not have known him as much as the others, but that didn’t matter. She cared about him. She always had.
“What?” Crosshair asked, turning to look at her. He must have sensed that she was looking at him.
“Thank you for saving AZI,” Omega said. He might not be Crosshair’s friend, but he had been one of Omega’s only friends for so long. And Crosshair had kept him from being lost in the water.
“Consider us even,” Crosshair said, still not looking at her completely.
She looked at Hunter, but then turned to look at Crosshair again. “You’re still their brother, Crosshair,” she said. “You’re my brother too.”
It didn’t matter if he didn’t like her as much as the others. It didn’t matter that he didn’t think she belonged. She did, even if she was maybe genetically more like Boba and Jango Fett. Clone Force 99 was her family, and Crosshair would always be part of it.
Omega didn’t say anything else and she went to join Hunter and the others. But that didn’t change what she said. Crosshair was part of her family. He was their brother, and she was never going to forget that.
Even if he was staying with the Empire.
She just hoped one day, he would leave and come back to them.
That they would be reunited like she knew they were meant to be.
***
It had been a few weeks and things had gone back to normal. Yes, Omega had hoped that things would change and Crosshair would come back to them, but he hadn’t. They hadn’t even heard much about him. She hoped that the Empire had come back to get him, and they must have. He would have found a way to contact them if they hadn’t.
So he must have returned to them, despite everything.
But at least most of them were still together.
Today, they didn’t have a mission to go on, but Omega could instantly tell that something was going on. Wrecker kept grinning and covering his mouth.
“What’s going on?” Omega asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Nothing,” Wrecker said and he pushed something behind the counter at Cid’s with his foot. “Nothing, Omega.”
“Nothing?” There was no way that this was nothing.
Tech sighed. “She’s already deducted something, Wrecker.”
“We should just tell her,” Echo said and he smiled.
Hunter nodded. “Yes, let her have it.”
“Yeah, then it can leave my bar,” Cid said, scowling. “I don’t want my bar to get fleas.”
“Fleas?” Omega asked confused. This didn’t make sense unless… unless… but she couldn’t be right, could she? Before Hunter said that she couldn’t get a pet. He said that a pet would be too much work but… “Really?!”
Hunter sighed and rubbed his neck. “Wrecker got it without my permission.”
Omega grinned and jumped up and down. “I want to see! I want to see!” This was going to be one of the best days of her life. She didn’t care what kind of pet it was. She had always wanted a pet.
She was so lucky.
Wrecker grinned and then brought the carrier back from behind the counter. Omega gasped right away and ran over toward it. In the container was a Loth Cat! No, more like a Loth Kitten. And she was so cute. She was a sweet little tuxedo one. This… Omega couldn’t believe it. She was in love. A Loth Kitten. It was cuter than anything she had ever seen.
“She’s mine?! She’s mine!” Omega let her out and even though Loth Cats could be aggressive this one automatically rubbed against her. She loved her and Omega loved the Loth Cat.
“Yes, but you need to take care of her.” Hunter looked at Wrecker. “Both of you need to take care of her.”
“Thank you! Thank you all so much!” Omega ran over and hugged them all. She then picked up the kitten and gave her so many kisses. She purred. This was so wonderful. So perfect.
“So, Omega, what are you going to name her?” Echo asked.
“Make sure you pick an exceptional name for a kitten?” Tech asked, looking at his data pad.
“Yeah!” Wrecker said. “Pick the best name.”
“I…” There were so many good names out there. She thought about maybe naming her Sable since she always thought that it was cute and yet… “I’m going to name her Harriet.”
“Harriet?” Hunter asked confused. “Why did you pick that name?”
“It’s after Crosshair. Because hair sounds like Harriet.” Maybe she should have just gone with Crosshair or Crossy, but that didn’t seem right for her kitten. Harriet did. “But it will be confusing when he comes back to us.”
Because she wanted to believe that he would one day. Even now.
Because he was her brother.
However, even if he didn’t, Omega was happy. She had more than she ever imagined she would have. She had a family. The greatest family.
And she would never stop loving them.
Never.