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Hunter knew that Omega’s avid curiosity had its pros and cons. It made it difficult to take her off of the ship since she always wanted to explore and he was worried she would get hurt, but it also meant that after a long day of exploring and curious questions, she was wiped out and ready for bed.
Cut had warned him that putting children to bed was one of the hardest parts of being a parent, but it was the easiest thing for him. Hunter partially contributed that to the fact that Wrecker had designed a room for Omega and she was always excited to sleep in her little space.
Tonight was no different than the past few days. Omega had been Tech’s little shadow today, following him around both inside and outside the ship as he made repairs. For every question she had, Tech would respond with an answer that almost always led to follow-up questions. Hunter was initially worried that Omega’s questions would slow his younger brother down but on the contrary, he got more work done with her at his side.
Hunter tried not to hover over them too much, but he couldn’t help but observe his brother’s soft side for Omega. Tech was always reluctant to accept help from the others when it came to repairs, even when he desperately needed it. Seeing the soft smiles he’d send Omega when she asked a particularly good question or when he would let her tighten the last screw on a project made Hunter realize just how attached Omega was getting to their team.
She’d grown attached to all of them, spending quite a bit of time with each brother until she’d managed to make a space for herself in all of their hearts. She’d taken to Wrecker like a fish to water, letting the large clone carry her around on his shoulders or, on one memorable occasion, used her as a weight in place of Gonky. Wrecker was like a jungle gym for children, and Omega certainly took advantage of it. Wrecker never seemed to mind as he’d always laugh and try to tickle Omega as she climbed around on his back, giggling away.
Wrecker, in turn, was quick to grow attached to Omega. He’d donated his precious Lula, one of their only physical memories of their oldest brother 99, after only knowing her for a few days. He’d shown that he cared for her well-being and emotions on several occasions, but the most memorable was when Omega went to him after she accidentally tore one of Lula’s ears.
The toy had been gifted to Omega at that point, but Hunter didn’t miss the glimmer of tears in the girl’s eyes as she presented the torn toy to Wrecker with an apology fumbling from her mouth. Wrecker had only smiled at her and gently taken the toy from her grasp, offering to fix it for her. The sight of the giant man hunched over the little toy in his hands, Omega tucked under his arm, was one that Hunter wouldn’t soon forget.
Echo had been hesitant to accept Omega into his life, but he’d been like that with the rest of the Bad Batch too. Even though Echo spoke very little of his years with the Domino Squad, Hunter knew that their deaths had impacted Echo in a way that words couldn’t express. Hunter couldn’t bear to imagine the pain of being the final brother but somehow, it seemed that Omega helped lessen that pain for Echo.
It started once Omega found the trooper doll in the Pantoran market. For every spare second of the day Echo had, he could be found kneeling down next to Omega and playing with her. Most of the time he simply observed while she walked the doll around the ship, but Hunter didn’t miss the day that Echo gave Omega a small strip of fabric and helped her tie it around her doll’s waist to represent a kama. The smiles spread across the former ARC trooper and child’s faces had lasted all day and eventually spread to the rest of the squad.
Hunter thought that Omega only helped Echo with his emotional pain, but that changed when he walked in on Omega helping Echo with putting on his armor. At that time, Echo had been trying, and failing, to hide the pain in his joints from the rest of the team. Omega, of course, has been one of the first to notice and offered to help by aiding Echo in putting on his armor. Since then, it had become a routine for the two.
Even Crosshair, who’d barely been with the girl for a minute, had allowed her to touch him. Hunter hadn’t been listening to their conversation at the time, but he did notice the moment Omega laid a small but comforting hand on Crosshair’s shoulder. Hunter’s youngest brother was usually not one who accepted physical touch, especially from strangers.
Hunter, however, felt that he was different from his brothers when it came to Omega. He certainly cared for the young girl and was constantly worried about her well-being, but he just didn’t think she shared the same attachment to him as she did with his brothers. Hunter was the one that Omega had first drawn herself to and while they’d had their moments together, Hunter wasn’t sure if they were the same as what was happening with his brothers.
Hunter sighed, laying down in his bunk in an attempt to tell his brain to be quiet. These thoughts were not going to get him anywhere. As long as Omega was safe and happy, that’s what mattered. Even if it was his brothers that were what made her truly happy and not him. He took one last peek in the direction of Omega’s room before shutting his eyes.
Hunter’s sleep was plagued by nightmares most nights, but he immediately knew something was off with tonight’s as soon as it started. It didn’t begin in the usual warzone that his other nightmares did. Instead, Hunter was simply walking down an unrecognizable dirt road with dozens of trees growing along the sides. If he had any trust in his dreams, he might have been at peace.
He had been walking down the road for so long that he was beginning to think that this was nothing more than a strange dream when the road opened up to form a small lake with lush greenery all around. A flash of blonde hair caught his attention and he instantly knew it was Omega. Just as he was about to call out her name, she turned around and happily exclaimed, “Hunter! Isn’t it absolutely beautiful here?”
Hunter was left without words as Omega grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to the edge of the lake. She made him kneel down with her as she pointed to every fish, bug, and plant that came their way with excitement laced in her voice. Hunter happily listened to her, enjoying every second of her happiness.
A metallic sound from behind them caused Hunter to turn around to survey the area. He hadn’t felt anyone behind them and after careful observation, he determined that it was probably just a trick of the wind. Turning back around, he found that Omega was no longer by his side. When he looked around the lake, he couldn’t see her at all.
“Omega, where are you?” Hunter called out, getting to his feet. He waited a moment to see if she would reply and after he heard nothing, he bolted for the trees behind them. He hadn’t heard a splash so he knew she hadn’t jumped in the lake, but the sound he had heard might have been a distraction so someone could grab Omega.
He found no traces of any footsteps besides his own, but that didn’t stop Hunter from continuing his search for Omega. He desperately screamed her name to the point that his voice was eventually reduced to a whisper, but that never halted his search for her.
Just as Hunter was about to start searching for Omega on the path that he’d entered from, a flash of blonde hair in the middle of the lake caught his attention.
Before he could even jump in the lake after her, Hunter was released from his nightmare. Hunter sprung up, his body making all of the movement necessary to breathe, but no air made its way into his lungs. After a moment, air finally rushed into his lungs. Hunter was sweating profusely, but his entire body felt frozen. He remembered how frantic he was to find Omega and how quickly fear had taken over his heart when he was unable to find her. The memory of her small body floating face-down in the lake made him sick to his stomach.
After several minutes of deep breathing, Hunter was calm enough to know that he had to check on Omega. In the back of his head he knew she was probably fast asleep, tucked away in her room, but the haunting final images of his nightmare pulled him to his feet. Years of training allowed him to silently make his way around his sleeping brothers and up the ladder to Omega’s room. He slowly pulled back the curtain that hid her room away only to reveal two big, brown eyes staring back at him.
“Hunter?”
“Omega?”
The pair spoke each other’s names in unison, clearly surprised to see the other awake.
Hunter collected his thoughts and spoke, “I’m sorry if I woke you, I just wanted to come by to check on you. You should be asleep.”
Omega put her head down and sniffled, which was the moment Hunter saw the redness around her eyes.
In a shaky voice, Omega admitted, “I can’t go back to sleep. I had a bad dream and I don’t want it to come back.”
Hunter felt a heaviness in his heart as he took in Omega’s words. He had no idea she’d been having nightmares, and the thought of her alone up in her room crying and afraid had his heart in pieces.
Even though he wanted to do more to comfort Omega, he’d never been around a child for long and didn’t know how to handle this.
Hunter thought back to when Echo first joined the team and how his constant nightmares affected him, affected them all. The brothers all eventually formed a schedule where they would sleep close to Echo so that the grounding sensation of having another person next to him allowed Echo to sleep peacefully.
“Would you like me to come up there and sit with you?” Hunter asked, hoping Omega took this well. The girl nodded, but kept her head down. Hunter carefully pulled himself into the small space of Omega’s room, sitting down next to her and stretching his legs out.
Hunter was trying to think of what to say next but before he could even get an idea, Omega mumbled, “Do you ever get bad dreams?”
Hunter thought about how to reply for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I do. Everyone has bad dreams sometimes.”
A silence fell between the pair for a moment before Omega asked another question, “What do you do when you have bad dreams?”
The question stunned him for a moment. Just a few hours ago, Hunter was denying that Omega had a serious attachment to him and now here she was, asking about his ways of handling nightmares so she could use them for herself.
In all honesty, Hunter didn’t have much of an answer for her. He was used to calming and comforting his brothers after their own nightmares, but he seldom went to them about his own. He knew that he should reach out to them, but he preferred to keep up his image as the strong leader. Even though they had their own ways of dealing with nightmares, he was unsure if their methods would work for a child.
Still, Omega was waiting for some kind of answer from him and he’d hate to disappoint her.
Finding his voice, Hunter spoke in a careful tone, “Sometimes, talking through your nightmares to another person can be helpful. Physical touch can work as well.” As desperate as he was to help Omega, he didn’t fully know how to help a child. He could only hope that he could help her through her nightmare.
“So...is it okay if I tell you about my dream?” Omega asked, lifting her head to meet Hunter’s gaze.
“Sure thing, kiddo,” Hunter replied, happy to be able to just listen to her.
Hunter didn’t miss how Omega moved closer to Hunter and tucked herself into his side as she began to recount her nightmare.
“It started when I was walking down this pretty path that had lots of trees and plants and animals and at the end of the path, there was a lake and … and you were there. I don’t remember everything that happened, but one second we were playing together and then you were just … gone.”
Tears began to drip down Omega’s cheeks as she continued, “I looked everywhere for you, but you just left me. I was alone and I was scared, but then I woke up.”
With every shaky word Omega spoke, Hunter’s heart shattered into smaller and smaller pieces. Their nightmares were so similar to each other and Hunter hated having to hear about the girl’s fears.
He’d noticed early on that she never liked to be alone, always insisting on coming out with them on missions even when it was dangerous, but Hunter overlooked that as Omega just being curious. Now, he knew that it was so much more than that.
Hunter thought about telling Omega about his own nightmare, but quickly decided against it. This was about her, not him.
His instincts took over as he wrapped his arms around the crying girl and lifted her into his lap, holding the side of her head with one hand to press her head against his chest. Hunter silently ran his fingers through Omega’s short hair as she wrapped her arms around him and continued to cry softly, her sobs muffled against Hunter’s blacks.
Thankfully, his instincts were right as her tears eventually began to slow down and her breathing evened out after several minutes. Still, Hunter couldn’t help but continue to keep her cradled close to him and keep his hand running through her soft hair.
“I know your dream was scary, but that’ll never happen. I will never leave you,” Hunter spoke in a soft tone he didn’t know he was capable of.
Omega didn’t respond, only snuggling closer to him at his words.
He heard Omega giggle slightly and lifted her head to say, “I can hear your heartbeat! I like the sound of it.”
Hunter smiled at the fact that Omega seemed to completely forget about her nightmare and replied, “Just keep listening to that sound, it’ll help you fall asleep.”
Omega didn’t reply as she tucked her head back against his chest, closing her eyes with a sleepy smile spread across her face.
Hunter knew that he should try to go to sleep himself, but he couldn’t help but stare at the child in his arms as he eventually watched sleep wash over her. Omega looked ten times more innocent asleep than she did awake, and Hunter did his best to commit the image before him to memory.
He wanted to stay awake for Omega in case she woke up from another nightmare, but the warmth of her small body cradled in his arms and the soft sounds of her breathing slowly lulled him to sleep.
Hunter would wake up with a crick in his neck and the stiffest knees of his life, but the warmth nestled in his heart made it all worth it.