Heyo, human beings from outer space!
I know it's been a really reaaaaallllyyy long fat minute since I wrote the two other parts to this one, but this was requested by the_chaotics and I decided that it was worth it! So, if you feel so inclined to, go ahead and read the other parts to this. If you don't wanna, here's a summary:
The Bad Batch stumbles upon Ahsoka in the ruins of a city, in which she recognizes Echo and promptly collapses on him. The boys and Omega decide to take her in and after a painful chat with Echo, he takes her to Cid's Cantina. Omega and Wrecker are simply elated to hear all her stories and Omega is overjoyed to have another girl in the crew. The boys insist she stays at least until her injuries heal, and she agrees.
Read on if you dare.
"I thought you cared for us."
"Was it all a lie to you?"
"Was it all a joke?"
"You told us we mattered. But that was a lie, wasn't it?"
"You've never really cared."
"I wish you were dead."
"You deserve to die."
"You were supposed to save us."
"You failed."
"You should be dead."
"You never deserved to survive."
"You never deserved any of it."
"Ahsoka? Are you okay?"
"Why would you leave us?"
"Why would you let us suffer as you walked on unscathed?"
"Ahsoka? Ahsoka!"
"Your kindness was always an act, a hoax."
"Ahsoka!"
"You knew it privately, that you always thought of us the same as all the others did.."
"EXPENDABLE."
"AHSOKA!"
Her eyes snapped open and she shot up, breaths coming as harsh gasps and puffs. Ahsoka's head whipped back and forth, blurry vision working to focus and disorients slowly clearing as vertigo swam off.
"Ahsoka, are you okay?"
Her eyes landed on the small, blonde-haired girl who looked up at her with those wide, brown eyes. Ahsoka forced a smile. "Yes, Omega, I'm fine."
"But you're crying."
"Oh, sorry!" Ahsoka said, her voice shifting up half an octave as her montrals burned. "I didn't mean to wake you, Omega."
"You were crying in your sleep. Were you having a bad dream?" Omega asks, scooching over to nestle herself against Ahsoka and taking Ahsoka's hand.
"It's nothing, Omega. It's late. You should go back to sleep," Ahsoka said, trying to wiggle her fingers free.
Omega only gripped her hands tighter. "Sometimes Echo has nightmares. And Hunter and Tech and Wrecker too. I help them. I can help you."
Oh, sweet, innocent Omega.
"Seriously, Omega, you need to sleep. And I bet I'll forget all about it by morning, okay?" Ahsoka said, pushing her smile further across her face.
Thankfully, Omega relented and snuggled closer, shutting her eyes. It was only a minute before she was fast asleep again.
But Ahsoka didn't sleep for the rest of the night. She wouldn't forget the nightmare, not for a long time, maybe not ever.
🪐🪐🪐
When Hunter woke up before dawn, he hadn't expected to find Ahsoka sitting in the galley kitchen looking distant and sipping tea.
"'Morning, Master Jedi," Hunter said, and she jumped a bit. He'd startled her.
"You can just call me Ahsoka," she said, pretending like she hadn't been scared.
"Where were you?" Hunter asked.
"Sorry?"
"You looked like you were somewhere else, thinking hard. Where were you?" Hunter grabbed the caf pot and poured himself a cup. He could almost feel her stifen behind him.
"Oh, you know, a little bit of everything," she hummed, trying a little too hard to sound nonchalant.
Hunter knew. Or, he was 98% sure. He'd seen the look she was giving her shimmering cup of tea far too many times. The tired, distraught look.
"You know, talking about nightmares usually helps," Hunter suggested and he knew he'd gotten it right when she flinched ever so slightly.
"Not always," Ahsoka said and he shrugged. "I'm okay for now," she told him. "Talking... takes a lot of strength. And that's something I don't really have a lot of right now." She gestured to the bandages covering her many wounds.
"I'm just saying, any of us would be willing to listen if he wanted to talk. Even Tech will stop being all analytical for something like that."
"Thanks, Hunter," Ahsoka chuckled. "I'll keep it in mind."
🪐🪐🪐
Everyone else was up not too long after Hunter, and before long, they were ready to land and head out for the mission. The Marauder's ramp lowered slowly to touch the ground and Ahsoka took a deep breath.
"You sure you're up for this?" Echo asked.
Ahsoka nodded, but Hunter knew it was a lie.
"If you feel like you can't keep going, just tell us, kid. We don't want you getting all beat up again," Hunter said.
Ahsoka offered him a small smile and nodded reassuringly. "I won't jeopardize the mission. I'll get myself out of the way if I need to."
Hunter didn't like the way she said it, but maybe she'd been wired that way, growing up in war, so he didn't push the matter.
As they began working through the mission, Ahsoka hung back a bit, and Hunter assigned her to easy tasks. But when the old battle droids started firing back at them, it was as if it'd flipped a switch in her head.
Ahsoka leaped forward, her single lightsaber flying through the air in bright blurs. It was, Hunter decided, extremely convenient to have a Jedi on hand.
"Rex!" she barked out suddenly. "Take Fives and Hardcase around back. Echo, Tup, with me."
And suddenly it all made sense.
"What? But Rex isn't here!" Wreacker boomed, and Hunter immediately silenced them.
"Hardcase, less yapping more shooting droids," Ahsoka called back at Wreacker, then turned her attention to Tech and said, "Fives, get moving." She nodded to Hunter.
"Tech, Wreacker, on me," said Hunter, and off they went, around to the back to take the droids by surprise. At the same time, Ahsoka, Echo, and Omega pressed forward.
"I'm not Hardcase! Why did she call me Hardcase?" Wrecker huffed as they rounded on the droids.
"She's probably having a flashback right now, she's here, but she thinks she's back in the Clone War. Just go along with it," Hunter replied.
The plan worked perfectly, and only a few minutes later, they'd retrieved the target– a scraggly animal that both looked and sounded feral, maybe even rabid.
For once, Omega didn't ask if she could have one.
"Don't let it bite off your fingers," Omega said when Ahsoka picked it up.
"Uh-huh, and you were the one who almost got eaten by a plant six times," Ahsoka snorted.
"What?" Omega said.
Hunter motioned for her to stand down and she kept quiet.
"He's not so bad anyway, just scared." Ahsoka held up one of her hands and closed her eyes. Everyone watched with amazement as the creature stopped snarling and sat back in the cage with a cat-like chirp. Its hair lay back and its eyes rounded out, pupils dilating, making it look almost cute... if it wasn't for the two huge teeth poking out of its mouth in an overbite.
"Whoah, that was amazing!" Omega cheered, and Hunter winced as she turned to him excitedly. "Hunter, can I have one?"
Hunter sighed. "How will we keep it nice like this without Ahsoka?"
"She'll just have to stay!" Omemga beamed.
Ahsoka looked like she was going to say something, but then she glanced at Omega and stopped. The color in her lekku deepened and she looked away sharply.
"Com– Ahsoka?" Echo whispered.
"I'm okay," she brushed him off. "Let's get back."
🪐🪐🪐
When all was said and done, the Bad Batch and Ahsoka had gone back to the Marauder and launched it into hyperspace, headed back to Cid's. Hunter, Echo, and Tech were working on repairs. Omega and Wrecker were playing games and begging Ahsoka to tell them stories about her time during the Clone War.
She told them several stories about her best times, mostly humorous stories about her and the clones and her master. Apparently, Echo had been rudely awoken by water balloons splattering all over him on several different occasions.
The whole time Ahsoka seemed to lose herself in the stories as if she was far away and reliving her life before the purge in her mind.
Hunter didn't dwell on it, glad for someone to entertain the two most immature clones while he, Echo, and Tech worked about.
Eventually, Hunter and Echo ran into a mechanics issue while Tech was working on something else, and Echo went to steal Ahsoka so she could help. She showed up a minute later and resolved the issue quickly, but it didn't seem that she was even looking at it, it seemed she was looking right through it.
"Good work, kid, you're a great mechanic," Hunter said, trying to pull her back to reality.
"Anakin was better," she said softly. "Do you need anything else?"
"Not as of right now, but we might need you again later."
"Just call me if you need anything, maybe come and wrestle me from the death grip of Wreacker and Omega," she tried to make her voice light, but it came out drearily.
Hunter kept an eye on her for the rest of the day when he could. He was worried about her, Echo was, too. Hunter only hoped that she would be better in the morning, maybe sleep it off.
But that night, late into the hours, Hunter awoke and he just knew something was wrong. Call it intuition. He shuffled down to the galley kitchen and found Ahsoka there, head down in her arms on the table and quietly sobbing.
"No," she said almost as soon as he got there. "I'm not fine, okay?"
Hunter slipped into the seat across from her and just sat there. He said nothing, set his hand on her elbow, and simply was.
Ahsoka was every bit a strong commander, but also every bit a broken child. He waited until she calmed down before considering speaking, and then she beat him to it.
"I don't want to talk about it," Ahsoka said. "I'm not ready... I'm not brave enough."
Hunter squeazed her elbow so she would look up at him. "There's nothing wrong with that."
She sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Hunter said. "Hot or cold?"
Ahsoka gave him a strange expression.
"It's something I use with Omega. Hot is good and Cold is bad. Where are you?"
"Freezing," Ahsoka admitted bluntly. "I'm not okay. But I will be– eventually."
"Good, that's good," Hunter said. "And until you are, you're welcome to stay with us. You can even stay with us after you're feeling better."
"Thanks, Hunter."
"Anytime."
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Word Count: 1,656
Published: 24 July 2023
I couldn't remember if Ahsoka had one of her lightsabers or not, but I'm just saying she does 'cause I'm too lazy to check.
Also, on an almost completely unrelated note, I spent literally eleven hours in the car and then got rained on. Joy.
Requests are open, feel free to message me or make a comment if you have any ideas!
Bye, peoples!