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Hunter was no stranger to nightmares. In fact, he’d say he was quite well acquainted with them. Before life on the run, most tended to center around missions gone wrong, Hunter loosing each of his brothers, or worst of all, the repetitive whispers of good soldiers follow orders, that never seemed to cease, even well after the nightmare had ended. It’d leave his temples pounding and his body shaking with a foreboding sense of anxiety that he found he couldn’t quite place. It was best not to dwell upon it.
Tonight was no exception, for he was endlessly plagued with night terror after night terror, each one leaving him tossing and turning; rigid with tension. There was one difference from usual however: these dreams were far worse than the ones he was usually accustomed too. Hunter had been prepared to see the ghostly pale faces of his brothers lying lifeless and hollow on the ground- Hunter was prepared to be consumed by the whispers once again- Hunter was prepared for the awful normalcy that became his dreaming subconscious.
What Hunter was not prepared for was for Omega to be the center of his nightmares.
It came as a surprise to no one: he had become attached to the little girl. She was sweet, kind, caring- everything Hunter could ever hope for in a sibling.
Everything Hunter could ever hope for in a child of his own.
Hunter was left haunted by the events on Pantora. He was sure Omega and the other were left shaken too (surely the kid must be terrified). Everytime he closed his eyes, the image of Omega dangling from the tower- the image of Omega falling from the tower was burned into the backs of his eyelids. A picture he was sure would forever be imprinted upon the forefront of his mind.
The image did not fade away in his sleep. In fact, that image persisted and pursued him into his nightmares. Any yet it was somehow ten times worse. Perhaps it was because instead of Omega falling onto the bed of a speeder, he saw her continuously falling. Far past the safety of a cushioned landing, leaving her spiraling downwards and downwards until-
He woke up in a cold sweat before she could hit the ground.
He knew not the ending of his dream (nor did he wish to know), but his mind could fill in the blanks.
The first time he awoke, he fell into his normal post-nightmare routine. Get up, chug a glass of water, go back to bed, try not to contemplate things, and attempt to sleep for the rest of the night. The success rate for that plan was... unsatisfactory. Truly, there was nothing more to be done, at least, not in Hunter’s eyes. A tired soldier is a slow soldier, and a slow soldier is a dead soldier.
To Hunter’s surprise, his plan actually worked that night. Briefly. Very briefly. He could not discern whether or not his second nightmare was better or worse than the first. Perhaps they were tied for first place.
The second dream revolved around his fight with the bounty-hunter. One moment Omega was safe, well out of harms way and the next she was being forced to her knees, a blaster placed to the side of her head.
”Please, don’t hurt her! She’s just a kid!” He could hear himself cry. How pathetic.
The woman’s once blank slate of a face twisted into a sickening smirk.
”Or what clone? What could you possibly do?” She sneered. “One wrong move and I’ll blow her brains out.”
His heart all but broke when he heard the scared whimper Omega let out. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms- pull her to safety- away from the dangers of the galaxy. But he was left frozen, stuck with nothing more to do than try his best to comfort her.
”It’ll be ok kid. I got you, you’re gonna be ok. Stay calm.” He wasn’t sure if the reassurances were more for her or himself.
”Hunter please, I don’t want to die!” She pleaded. (His heart cracked a little more at that.)
The woman’s wicked grin only widened. “How sweet. I almost feel bad. Time’s up clone,” she hissed, eyes narrowing into the coldest gaze he’d swear he’s ever seen.
”No!” He cried.
He squeezed his eyes tightly shut as the sound of a gunshot filled the air.
Hunter bolted upright, chest shuddering almost violently as he gasped for air. There was little more he could do than sit there as he tried to regain his breath. Eventually he came to the conclusion that 1.) trying to sleep was a losing battle, and 2.) he needed to see Omega. Just to make sure she was ok.
Logically he knew nothing could have happened to her. There’s no way anyone could have snuck on board without him or the others noticing, especially not while they were floating about in the midst of space. But he had to see her. He would not rest- would not stop until he did. Sure no one aboard the ship could hurt her, but death had a way of sneaking up on people, and Hunter was not about to give him the upper hand.
As silently and as stealthily as he could, Hunter treaded along the floor of the ship, careful to make as little noise as possible. He crept on over to Omega’s little nook in the corner, taking care to be extra quiet when tip-toeing past his sleeping brothers. No need to disturb anyone else’s good night’s sleep just because he was feeling jittery.
With one effortlessly large step, he cleared the ladder, and swept the curtain aside ever so slightly. In the warm light of the string lanterns he could see Omega’s sleeping form, face appearing to be relatively at peace. He let out a deep sigh of relief. All is well, everything is fine, she is fine. He turned to leave, only to wince at the sound of Omega releasing a soft groan as she began to stir.
Kriff.
”Hunter?”
Her voice was slurred, laced with sleep. Her eyes were cracked open, but droopy. Clearly she wasn’t sleeping well either if the light bags under her eyes were anything to go by. Hunter let out a huff of air, annoyed that he carelessly woke her up. “Yeah kiddo? What’s up.”
She blinked at him hazily for a moment before replying. “Is everything ok?” She asked after a yawn, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
He didn’t meet her gaze. “Yeah. Yeah kid, everything’s fine. I’m sorry I woke you up.”
Her face set itself into a frown, her posture immediately becoming more alert as she picked up on his tone. “It’s fine, really. I wasn’t sleeping that well anyways.” He raised an eyebrow at that, indicating for her to continue. “I uh, had a nightmare,” she mumbled.
Ah, so he was right.
He shifted uncomfortably for a moment, a sudden guilt coursing through him. This is your fault, you failed to protect her, the voice in the back of his head whispered. He shook his head, trying to clear that train of thought. “Wanna talk about it?”
She visibly contemplated the idea for a moment, drilling scenarios in her mind before shrugging and letting out a ‘sure, why not’. “Well... I dreamt that I was hanging from the tower again,” - he winced a little at that - “and then I was falling! And I seemed to be falling for forever! It was so awful and scary. I didn’t like it at all!”
He let out a wry chuckle. “No, I’d imagine not.”
”But what made it even worse is that then I saw you hanging from the tower, and suddenly you fell you! And then Tech, then Echo, then Wrecker...” she recalled, counting off each member of the ‘Batch on her fingers as she went. “But we just kept falling, and it wouldn’t stop, and...” Her story was cut off with a little sniffle, which soon turned into full blown sobbing, causing Hunter to internally panic. Kriff, kriff, kriff, kriffing kriff, do something dammit, he berated himself.
He wrapped an arm around her, letting her lean into his side. His other hand wiped away the stray tears that escaped her eyes, hoping she’d find the gesture comforting. Thankfully, it seemed to work as she soon began to calm down. Which was good, because although Hunter was quite a tactician, he did not have a back up plan for this scenario.
“Your’re ok ad’ika, I’ve got you. You’re safe. We’re safe,” he murmured. The sniffles eventually faded, leaving a silence that surprisingly, was not uncomfortable.
After a few minutes, Omega broke the silence. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but what were you doing in here anyways?” She asked, snuggling more into his side.
He grimaced, not eager to remember his own nightly encounter with nightmares. “I had a bad dream myself. A dream similar to yours actually, yet a bit different.”
Omega’s frown soon returned. “I’m sorry I scared you all. I promise I didn’t mean to, I just got distracted, and then...” she rambled momentarily.
”It’s ok kid, really. I know how eager you get to see new places,” he reassured her. “Perhaps next time just stay where I or the others can see you, ok?” She nodded rapidly, saving his request in her mind for the next outing.
Another silence filled the air.
”Do you want to talk about your dream?”
He paused for a moment, debating.
”You don’t have to of you don’t want to!” She blurted, taking his silence as discomfort. “I just thought it might help.” He hummed in agreement.
“I’m sure it will, but I’ll tell you in the morning. We still have quite a few hours before we have to be up, and kids like you need your sleep.” He found himself chucking once more at Omega’s pouting face. But it was clear to the both of them that Omega was in a losing battle as she was already beginning to drift of to sleep again. “C’mon kid, back to bed you go!”
He tucked her in, perhaps spending more time doing so than was necessary. (He really just enjoyed seeing that she was ok. That she was alive.)
At last he found there was little more that he could do and concluded that he probably overstayed his welcome. He turned to leave, only to stop at a soft ‘wait!’
Hunter turned back around to meet the young girls gaze once more. Her eyes held a small plea. “Please stay. At least for a little while?” She whispered in a voice so quiet that it almost seemed as if she were afraid to ask. His face softened, lips quirking up into a soft smile.
”Sure thing Kiddo.”
Before he knew it, he found himself asleep too. Neither of them had a single nightmare for the rest of the night,
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”Wrecker, Echo, I do believe you’ll want to see this,” Tech whispered. The aforementioned two shared a glance, eyebrows raised in question. They both shrugged and walked over to see what the fuss was about.
The two soon found themselves with a matching pair of wide grins.
Hunter and Omega lay curled together, the former forming a protective ball around the latter.
“Somebody grab the holo pad. We have to take a kriff ton of pictures.”
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(Bonus)
Echo clapped a hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “Congrats, you are now a dad.”
”What?”