No Repeats

Hello, everyone. Sorry about not posting. December was chaotic at best. I am going to finish the prompts in my PM and that will be it. This prompt was suggested by The Generic Ficer. Enjoy.

The batch had just completed another job for Cid and were on their way to meet her when a communication came through from Rex.

"Hey, boys, got another favor. There's a clone imprisoned on Tatooine. I have all the info you'd need. I'd do it myself, but I'm on another assignment." Rex said.

"I know we said we'd help where we can, Rex, but not this time. We're still... surviving. Right now, we don't want to be seen with the Empire or the Rebellion." Hunter answered.

"But he's a clone. He's a brother." Echo exclaimed.

"Yes, but if we run into Crosshair, we may be forced to hurt him again. And I for one do not want to face him if I can avoid it." Tech stated.

"But Crosshair may not even be there. I'm with Echo." Wrecker replied.

"Look, I want to help our brothers too, but if we can't even help Crosshair, then how can we be expected to rescue our other brothers? I'm sorry, but if we're going to rescue any of our brothers from the hands of the Empire, it'll be Crosshair." Hunter reasoned.

"Hunter, Crosshair made his decision and we let him. Now, it's time to move on." Echo argued.

"We should help this clone. It's not his fault the Empire got a hold of him." Wrecker stated. "I'm sure Omega agrees."

"I know she will, and I know what you boys are saying, but we can't blindly help everyone. There are other people that can help." Hunter sighed.

"Hunter is right. The last time we helped a clone, we almost died." Tech stated. Hunter huffed knowing that he was going to lose. He looked over at Omega who was quietly sitting beside him.

"What do you say, kid? Should we help this clone or not?" Hunter wondered.

"I'm sorry, Rex, but… I don't think it's such a good idea for us to help. Daro was bad enough. I… I can't go through that again." Omega said. She left the room leaving everyone stunned.

"I had a feeling you boys would probably say no, but I sure wasn't expecting Omega to say no," Rex said. "Daro must have really affected her."

"It affected all of us. IT led to me falling and being captured and telling them to leave me behind. It led to Kamino and its destruction. We all watched our home be destroyed. I'm sure she's grieving from all of this. I'm sorry, Rex. Another time, we might have said yes, but… not right now. We're barely about to complete our missions for Cid. We're in no state of mind to help anyone." Hunter explained.

"I understand. I'm sure I can find someone else. I just wondered if you boys might like to try first. I'll be seeing ya."

The communication went dead, and Hunter looked up at the gunner's nest where Omega was hiding.

"I thought for sure she would have said yes." Echo said.

"She's just afraid of a repeat of Daro and to be honest, so am I." Hunter sighed.

"We all are," Tech stated.

"There's more to it." Wrecker warned.

"But what?" Hunter wondered.

"Wrecker's right. If I hadn't agreed the first time, then Hunter wouldn't have fallen, and we wouldn't have had to leave him behind and Kamino wouldn't have fallen. It was all my fault. I pushed and you all paid the price. I don't want that to happen again. I blame myself for what happened, and I don't want to make that same mistake again." Omega explained. "I don't want to lose any of you. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Omega. You're right. And as much as I would like to rescue our brothers, I would never want to jeopardize this family, but Daro and Kamino were not your fault. They were planning to destroy Tipoca City for weeks. All we did was give them a better reason to destroy Tipoca City." Echo replied.

"I just feel so guilty, and I don't want my actions to hurt someone, especially one of you."

"We all feel guilty one way or another, kid. You're not alone in that. I'm the sergeant, I could have overruled all of you, but I didn't, and I won't because we are a team and a family. We do things together as a family." Hunter assured as he laid a hand on Omega's shoulder.

"I can't stop feeling guilty," Omega mumbled. She walked away again, and the brothers looked at each other.

"It wasn't her fault. It just happened." Echo stated.

"But she thinks she should have done more. She was expected to do more and not by us. All we can do is assure her that it was no one's fault." Hunter sighed. "We can all relate to her. We all went through what she's going through. We can help her."

"Well, since you've had to make the most rough calls. Maybe you should start." Tech suggested. Hunter nodded and walked over to the Gunner's Nest.

"Omega, can I come in?" Hunter wondered.

"Um, just give me a sec," Omega mumbled. Hunter could tell that she had been crying, but he waited for her to open the curtain. When she did, Hunter climbed up and sat beside Omega. "Is something wrong?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure you're ok. Anything wrong with that?"

"No."

"Good. I remember when I was your age, and we were in simulations. We didn't have much info on our mission, and I told Wrecker to take down the guards. What we didn't see was the traps. Wrecker went in and it turns out that they were using live ammo that day. A bomb went off and Wrecker yelled in pain. That's how he got his scars. While he was in surgery, I was yelled at, beaten, and punished for my actions. I already felt bad enough, but none of them saw it that way. Wrecker was fine, but I wasn't. I felt guilty… and scared. I was scared of making the same mistake. When Wrecker was better, we went back to training and I had another tough decision to make, but instead of listening to my gut, I panicked, and I hesitated. That hesitation caused us to fail and once again, the blame fell on me. For a long while, I felt like I couldn't do anything right. Every decision I made felt wrong. One morning, 99 found me alone sobbing and he asked me what was wrong. I told him and he told me that there were always going to be tough calls, but he knew I could do it. He said that our trainers would allow others to die mercilessly just to complete their objective. The fact that I cared made me better than them. He said that they yelled and beat me because I wasn't perfect. 99 pointed out that no one is perfect, and everyone will make a wrong choice now and then and sometimes it will cost a lot. It could cost an arm and a leg. Maybe even a life and that was something we all have to live with. But not every supposed wrong choice is our fault. Sometimes, it's not us but the other side that gives us two choices, pain and suffering or death. When you have 2 seconds, you can't hesitate because that's choosing death. You have to use your gut. Your gut knows more than your heart. Listen to your gut, Omega. Sometimes, it'll mean one person getting hurt, but if you hesitate, it could mean all of us getting killed." Hunter explained. Omega looked up at Hunter tearfully and hugged him close.

"Does it ever go away? The guilt and the fear?" Omega wondered quietly.

"No, it doesn't. Sadly, it's here to stay. All you can do is live with it and try and do your best. Daro and Kamino were not your fault, Omega. If it had been for order 66 or this war, none of this would be happening."

"DO you feel guilty about Crosshair?"

"Every day and when one of you gets hurt, that pain is still there."

"But it's not your fault."

"No, it isn't, but I still feel responsible."

"Just like I do about you falling on Daro and Tipoca City being destroyed."

"Yes."

"How do you feel better?"

"Well, I would usually talk to Crosshair, but…"

"Now you can't. SO, you keep it all inside?"

"Yeah, kid, I do. I'm used to Crosshair being there when I needed him, and I was there when…"

"He needed you?" Omega wondered.

"More like when I wanted to be there. I haven't been there for him recently." Hunter sighed.

"But it's not your fault. It's the Empire's. They took him from us. It wasn't his choice."

"But we could have still brought him back."

"Maybe, maybe not. Even if we could have, something else might have happened."

"Yeah."

Omega wrapped her arms a little tighter around Hunter and he hugged her back. Hunter relaxed and he could feel Omega relax. Both of them had many faults and they were both afraid, but for the moment, they had peace.

THE END