((AN: So does seriously not have a Bad Batch section? Anyway, I couldn't find it but I'll look again. Sorry for any typos and this being in the Clone Wars area.))
Omega dreamt of stars, planets, and galaxies far far away. She dreamt of seeing them all. She dreamt of feeling the warmth that those planets' sun or suns provided. There was so much she wanted to see and experience that wasn't on Kamino. Even here on Kamino, she wasn't usually allowed to go outside where she storms raged and the ocean water crashed.
Still when she got out there, she loved the salty ocean small and feeling the rain hit her skin.
But she still wanted more. Not to just occasionally got outside when she managed to sneak out.
Nala Se would tell her all sorts of stories, especially when Omega was very small. Before Omega started to be trained as a medical assistant. Now she usually wanted to concentrate on teaching her things, but Omega could still convince her to tell the stories.
Omega loved every story but she had favorites.
"One day you'll leave here, Omega," Nala said in her soothing voice.
"Really?" Omega asked even as she already started to imagine the adventures she would have and the friends she would make along the way.
And the family she could also make. She already had an idea of where she belonged. Or at least she hoped.
"Yes, really."
And Omega hoped she was right. Nala Se didn't need to tell Omega that she was different from most clones. She had noticed when she was really young but she didn't think it mattered at first.
That hadn't taken long to end.
Nala had been busy that day. Very busy. And so Omega decided she wanted to explore and see what was going on.
And that was when she saw them. Some other clones. Boys about her age. They looked identical of course but that was normal. She paused, suddenly feeling shy. Nala kept her away from most of the others here. Even the other kids.
But she wanted friends.
"Hi," Omega said, going over to them.
The boys who had been playing with toy blasters, probably to practice when they became Clone Troopers, stared at her. Stunned.
Omega didn't like this. Not at all, but maybe they were just shy. Some of the adult troopers were quiet when they came to the medical center even when they weren't hurt badly.
Nala didn't usually let her be there when they were hurt seriously.
"I'm Omega," Omega said. When they still didn't answer she added something else. "Hi!" She sounded stupid in front of her new friends, but she tried not to be bothered by it.
"Who are you?" one of the boys asked.
"I'm Omega," Omega said again. But she didn't get it. She already said who she was.
He kept staring at her.
"Is something wrong?" Omega asked. Yes, she didn't get to be with other kids usually but that was only because she usually wasn't allowed to spend time with other kids.
"You're not a clone," he said as if he was stating a fact and didn't have a single doubt.
"Yes, I am," Omega said.
"But you don't even look like us," the boy said. Omega touched her hair. Yes, she had blond hair but she still looked like them. They had similar faces. And her hair might darken when she was older. Nala had told her that once. She had even said that it was pretty common for kids to be blond when they were little and have darker hair later.
And she knew that the Bad Batch that she was told about looked different and they were amazing. Nala told her about them sometimes.
"And you're a girl," the boy said.
"So?" Omega asked. Even if she was a girl, she was still a clone. She was just a little different.
"But—" the boy started to say.
"Let's just let her play," one of the other three boys said. "I'm Kuma."
The other boy who had spoke exchanged looks with him and then nodded. "And I'm Donis."
This was wonderful. Omega's eyes lit up. She was going to have friends just like she had always wanted.
"We're going to play hide and seek," Donis said.
"Hide and seek?" Omega had never heard of something like that.
"It's fun," Donis said and that was when the boys told Omega how to play. It did sound like it would be fun.
And she spent so much time here that she knew the best hiding place. There was no way that they would be able to find her.
Winning would be amazing.
But even if she didn't, that would be okay because this would be fun and she would make new friends.
She'd have to convince Nala to let her spend time with them but she could do it. Nala was nice.
The first couple rounds of hide and seek were fun. She was good when she was the one searching and found the boys right away. The time she was hiding, she hadn't been the last to be found but she also wasn't the first.
She really liked playing with the other kids.
When the third round happened, Omega ran off. She already knew the perfect place. She could hide in one of the drawers in Nala Se's office. She wouldn't be found there and then she would win. Her friends would be so impressed with her. She couldn't wait.
But then Kuma poked her shoulder. Omega spun around and saw Kuma and Donis standing next to each other. They were grinning in a weird way, which at first confused Omega but then she pushed it away. She just didn't get to spend more time with kids so she was confused.
"I know a good hiding place," Kuma said.
"I have one," Omega said.
"But I know a better one," Kuma said. "And I can show you where it is."
Omega paused but then nodded. She followed the two boys who went down the hall. They stopped in front of a closet.
"You should hide here," Kuma said.
But this wasn't even a good hiding place. She would get found right away and Omega didn't want that.
"I want to hide somewhere else," Omega said. "This is a good hiding place but I know a different one."
It wasn't a good hiding place but she wanted to be nice. Not mean to her new friends.
Kuma rolled his eyes and then shoved her in the closet. Omega fell to the floor landing on her knees. She might have even skinned them.
The boys then laughed and shut the door, leaving Omega in the dark.
What was going on? Why would they do that? It was dark and this wasn't fun. It wasn't even where she wanted to hide and why were they laughing. Omega banged against the closet doors, waiting for them to open them.
But the boys just laughed harder.
"You're not like us," one of the boys said. "You don't even look like a clone."
But Omega did look like them and she was a clone. They were wrong. Not that it mattered anyway. They should be nice to her anyway.
"Let me out!" Omega yelled again, pounding on the door. She wanted it to open, but it didn't. The boys didn't open either.
They laughed again and then footsteps sounded in the hall. Soon they were all gone. This shouldn't be happening. She had imagined they would be her friends. She knew a lot of the other kids here had a lot of friends. Yes, they were their friends who they would fight with when they were older, but still. She knew some of them eventually made friends when they left also.
It wasn't Omega's fault that there were different plans for her.
She tried to find a way out. She looked around the closet, but it was dark. Even when her eyes adjusted, it didn't help. There was just nothing that would help. Still Omega tried. There was a broom and she tried to use it to open the door. There was an old droid and she tried to turn it on so she could get out. It didn't work. She tried to get something from it that she could pick the lock with, but that didn't work either.
She was stuck.
Why didn't have this closet have a light? What kind of closet didn't have some kind of light when it was a decent size? Apparently this one.
For awhile, she yelled for someone to help her, but this hall wasn't visited as much as the others. Eventually she just slid against the wall and waited. Eventually, her eyes started to feel heavy. Really heavy. She let them close and felt sleep take her.
And the closet faded away and Omega was somewhere else. She was on a planet that she had been told about. A planet with two suns and sand. She had heard all about sand and thought that sounded amazing. She had been told that you could build castles with it. She dreamed of herself doing that. In it, she made them so tall that she could crawl in them.
And they were beautiful. Somehow she had shells and she decorated it with them.
And in her dreams, she had a lot of friends. Friends who would also make castles with her. Who she could play the hide and seek game with, but they wouldn't lock her up. They would be the best of friends.
But not only that, she had a family. A family that she had found.
Someone was shaking her shoulders gently. Omega forced her eyes to open up. Now the closet was filled with light.
"Oh, Omega," Nala Se said as she stood up. "What happened?"
Omega bit her lip, about to tell her everything, but something stopped her. This would give her another reason to keep her away from everyone else. No, it would be better if she didn't know this.
Besides, Omega knew that she would eventually make friends. She just knew it. Maybe those boys just haven't been her people. Still, it wasn't fair. She had wanted to be their friend. And she had seen them before and they had always seemed nice.
"Omega…"
"I was exploring," Omega said, standing up and rubbing her eyes. "And I got stuck in here." Nala was always telling Omega that she was too curious. But Omega didn't know if it was a bad thing. Wasn't being a curious a good thing?
The characters in the stories were always curious and got to go on fun adventures, which is what she wanted to do one day.
"Oh, Omega," she said, but she smiled faintly at her, so Omega knew that she wasn't angry with her. "We should go back to the medical wing."
Omega paused but nodded, even though she didn't want to.
"Maybe if it's not busy then you can read a new story or I can tell you one," Nala said.
"What kind of story?" Omega asked as she followed her. Nala knew a lot of good stories, but she also knew some that Omega didn't like quite as much. Still they were good.
But she wasn't in the mood to hear one of those.
"Maybe one about a princess who is stuck in—"
"I don't want to hear a story about a princess." Omega bounced on the heals of her feet. Then she tried to make herself look taller, even though she would never be as tall as Nala since she was a human and Nala wasn't.
"What kind of story do you want to hear about then, Omega?" Nala asked.
"I want to hear about the Bad Batch," Omega said. She loved the stories about them and today… well, today, she really wanted to hear a story about them. Like Omega, they were different. But in a good way. They stuck together and almost always achieved their goals.
And they were a family.
"You're sure, Omega?" Nala asked. "And they're Clone Force 99."
That might be their name, but it wasn't what people called them.
"I love hearing about them," Omega said and it was true, but she wasn't going to tell Nala why she really wanted to hear about them today.
"I think you've heard all the stories I know about them."
Omega pouted and looked at the floor.
Nala sighed. "Maybe I know a couple more."
And with that, Omega brightened up. She looked into Nala's eyes.
"I'll get to meet them eventually, right?" Omega asked.
She paused but then nodded. "Of course you will, Omega."
"When?" Omega asked as she moved slightly in front of Nala and put her hands on her hips. "I want to meet them so much."
"When the time is right, Omega," she said.
Omega sighed, but nodded, but she doubted that she would be able to wait much longer. No, she knew that she wouldn't. She would have to make the time be right.
Omega knew that she wasn't going to be able to wait much longer.
((AN: So I'm posting this a little over an hour before Episode 4. I hope that it doesn't somehow make this story already not canon compliant by saying Omega hates stories or something. Anyway, I love Omega and her bond with the Bad Batch. It's so sweet and cute. I hope you all like this story. Right now I'm hoping to write more in this if this does okay. I'm not sure how popular the Bad Batch is on A03. Thank you all for reading. I appreciate all comments.))