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hesthermay · 2 months ago

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 (𝐏𝐓 𝟓)

PAIRING: sergeant hunter x fem!oc reader

SUMMARY: the next mission for the bad batch causes some reflection on miri and echo’s parts, and a long overdue conversation is had. hunter and miri finally divulge their true feelings for one another.

WORD COUNT: 4.2k

RATINGS + WARNINGS: general audiences, mature themes, some angst, fluffy ending. female oc, jedi oc, use of she/her, canon typical violence, found family trope. the bad batch time period, follows the timeline of the show.

NOTES: told you i had more on the way. here it is! i wrote the ending for this chapter when i wrote like part 3 but it kept getting pushed bad but HERE WE ARE. enjoy it, take it in, i again have one more on the way

STAR WARS MASTERLIST THE GREAT FIGHT MASTERLIST

Regret had begun to settle in the pit of Miri’s stomach as she sensed the presence of someone just as they rounded the corner into Cid’s bar, narrowly avoiding the shot from Omega’s bow.

Regret, for she was the one that okayed the decision. Now she was beginning to wonder what could have possibly compelled her to do such a thing, she could practically hear Obi-Wan in her ear nagging about how this was a bad idea as Omega called out an apology to the patron before pulling the bright purple string back once again. The bow was neat, she would give her that; a weapon commonly used by the Zygerrians but one the girl had procured herself on their mission, she would need to learn to use it sooner rather than later.

Times are different, she thought to herself as she shooed Obi-Wan away. And I’m not you, she snarked, letting her focus land on Omega once again.

“Steady,” Echo urged as he stood crouched behind her, the one taking point in this lesson. He was an ARC Trooper before he ended up in their Bad Batch, and he had earned that title for a reason so Miri felt it was only fitting and the others soon agreed. “Arms level…and keep your eye on the target.”

Miri couldn’t help but glare slightly at the two regulars that never seemed to do anything but sit in Cid’s bar and spend whatever money they scraped up when they weren’t there. Their cheering and heckling was less than helpful, but alas, she knew when the time came for Omega to really use that bow she would not have the luxury of a quiet background. But, despite their noise her shot landed on the target and she gave Hunter a silent smirk in spite of them.

But when she was ordered to go again, her excitement shifted to childlike defiance. “But I’ve already hit the target three times,” she argued, looking up at her brother.

“Out of twelve,” he countered bluntly but not harshly. Her boys were all rough around the edges, but they were never mean. “That’s luck, Omega, not skill.”

She looked over at Miri for help, but the woman held her hands up. “Hey, don’t look at me,” she grinned, shaking her head slightly. “I spent years doing the same thing, over and over, every single day just to become a Padawan. It’s part of the gig, kid.”

Omega sighed, knowing they were right and she wasn’t going to get out of it. Her first shot was clumsy and rushed and echoed by more heckling. She groaned in frustration as one of them cackled and collected their bet as Echo leaned down to speak with her again. Her next shot was slower, but still missed as she lacked the strength and control needed for the weapon. It wasn’t her fault, though, out of all of them she was the only one who wasn’t trained from the time they could walk to operate weaponry.

Still, Wrecker leaned forward to whisper, “not exactly a natural, is she?” While Hunter only cocked his head in response, Miri shoved an elbow into his side.

“Cut her some slack; different starting lines, remember?” She whispered as she thought of, for the millionth time it seemed, little Ani joining the Order after everyone else in their age group and becoming a prodigy before their eyes. Her old life plagued her thoughts no matter how hard she tried to keep them at bay, but more often than not a whisper of Obi-wan would break through, a flash of a young Anakin appeared, or her Master, and everything there was to him, would come to her whether she needed it or not.

Miri was broken out of her thoughts by Cid hitting Wrecker as well, his outburst causing all attention to shift to them. “Okay, playtime’s over. We need to talk.” She harshly shooed the other patrons out of the bar, much to her appreciation, before turning back to the group. “I assume you lot know what a tactical droid is? They were the op—” she was cut off by Tech shooting forward from the back of their group, launching into his own explanation of what a tactical droid was.

It hardly phased them anymore, as Tech couldn’t sit still when someone else explained something he most likely knew far better, but Cid held her hands up in protest. “Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba,” she rattled to shut him up. “This is my briefing, Goggles.” Miri chuckled to herself as she shoved Wrecker from where he was perched before pressing some buttons on the computer base. The purpose of this briefing, another mission Cid wanted them to pull so she could collect.

“We haven’t decided if we’re gonna work for you or not,” Hunter responded after sharing a look with Miri and the rest of the boys. It was true, they hadn’t decided; there were factors of the job that were conflicting to their morals and values, to the standards they had held themselves to their whole lives, but keeping Omega safe was their top priority at the moment and that backed them into a corner with few options.

“Allow me to decide for you,” Cid offered. “You’re in! I’m talking a mutually beneficial arrangement,” she continued, trying to persuade them and Miri had a suspicion that she had a valid point. “You make money, I make money, and I watch your back,” she pointed at them. “With the heat on you, it’s the best option you’ve got.”

The corner they were backed into offered few options indeed, but one of them sounded better than all the others and Cid served it up on a dingy platter. They had no choice but to accept it.

“I know you’re in, I just told you you’re in,” she sassed before turning to Omega. “And you, you’re releasing too soon because of those weak noodle arms,” her large hands wiggled the girls little arms in emphasis before she took the bow and, advising her to build up her strength, landed three shots in the middle of the target.

Miri knew Cid had it in her, couldn’t do what she did or be who she was if she didn’t, but it left the others more than a little stunned. The sizzling marks on the wall stared right back at Omega as she looked from them to her bow and back, a new determination settling in her bones.

-: ✧

The retrieval of the tactical droid head had been, as almost all things were nowadays, rockier than anticipated. Details were left out, unexpected competition appeared, and Omega found herself in quite a scary situation, though they all made it out alive. Still, on the way back to Cid’s Miri couldn’t help but replay some of the events that stuck with her, because for whatever reason this mission had been different.

The way there was a trace of something familiar around the girls that showed up at the factory. Rafa and Trace, two sisters running jobs to make in the galaxy they all shared, a common occurrence. It wasn’t necessarily them, she had never seen them before, but it was something in the air that lingered ever so slightly, a disturbance in the Force around them that was akin to something she had held close at one point.

Who had they been around, and had they known it was a Jedi? Had they known she was one?

Or the way Wrecker had gone unresponsive for a bit. Odd, and they hadn’t gotten an explanation afterwards, which was even more odd. All that time had passed, all those things had happened to them and he was nowhere to be found? Ignoring their calls? Something had happened to him, Miri knew it, but she was still figuring out what it was.

And the way that Omega had gotten stuck so easily on the belt. Everything was happening so fast, so much was going on that she had been on her own and when she had become trapped Miri couldn’t help but feel so incredibly stupid. She was a little girl, and she could have suffered the unforgiving fate of discarded mechanics and damaged parts, and it was their fault she was there to begin with. Fear, a monster stronger than most, and guilt, an anchor only pulling you down, sat heavy in her chest as she once again contemplated pulling her saber out.

Oh, how the stakes seemed so much higher when her girl was involved. It was almost a warning, a wakeup call that she was falling out of balance and when the scales tipped they never went the right way.

Then there was how she had felt seeing the battle droids again. They were made to swarm, and that was exactly what she had seen them do almost every battle during the war. It had felt like an eternity, now that she was thinking back on it; the Clone Wars had taken so much from so many throughout the entire galaxy, and it had taken just as much from the Jedi. Politics had skewed their way of life even if they wouldn’t admit it, and the war conflicts had taken the forefront of all training and duties. Young Jedi stepping out on their own for the first time only to be thrown into travesty. Padawans, children, raised to fight in a war and knowing nothing else.

The Clone Wars had shaped her more than she had wanted, more than she had seen until then, because for just a second her throat closed up and her nerves buzzed at the sight of them all blending together, following an order they weren’t programmed to question.

But then there was the way she felt when Rafa had called them out on not knowing where the information they were collecting was even going, and the way it almost worsened when Hunter shot back that they were paid to retrieve and deliver, not ask questions.

That was not who they were. That…was not who she wanted them to be. They had never been like others, and now they were even more different. They wouldn’t let the Empire strong arm them into following them, into giving up. Rafa hadn’t believed her when she said it, and her shoulders hung low as she remembered how she had shook her head as she turned away from her and her words that came up short.

She felt good about giving the girls the intel, however. It didn’t make things easier for them, but it was the right thing to do. All this time, she had been thinking of them fighting the great fight, but everyone was fighting it. Whatever the great fight meant varied from person to person, but everyone was in it now, and Rafa and Trace were fighting it on the right side. Of course Cid wouldn’t be too happy about them returning empty handed, but the worlds would keep spinning and she would live to gripe another day.

Miri could tell that what Rafa and Trace were doing had stuck with Echo as he sat in silence as well; he had never wanted to do jobs like these, had never felt right about shifting his focus from fighting for the cause. Noble as ever, her one remaining domino, only ever wanted to do what was right, what was good, what he felt he was supposed to do; and she knew she couldn’t fault him for it for it was in his very genetics. But everything was so much bigger now. So much harder. They often couldn’t afford the luxury of not facing the consequences for being heroes any longer, couldn’t rely on ‘all means necessary’ when they weren’t the ones given the means.

They had all walked away from Order 66 and the fall of the Republic, but had no choice but to walk away different than before. Miri had been struggling with it the entire time, going from living under the thumb of the Order to the thumb of the Empire, shifting the parameters of what was allowed and what wasn’t.

Her head felt as if it were swimming in her thoughts when Hunter’s deep voice shattered the harsh push and pull of the tides with just a few words. “What’s got you lot so quiet?” When she looked up at him, something holy in a galaxy full of blasphemy, his eyes shifted between her and Echo.

For a moment it felt like they were waiting to see if the other would answer first, but after a few beats Echo’s voice filtered throughout the ship. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Doing what?” Hunter questioned taking a few steps forward to the seat nearest Miri.

“This, Hunter,” he stressed, brows furrowed tightly. “These jobs for Cid, her clients, they’re bad news. We knew how dangerous the intel on that droid head could be and we were just going to let her hand it over to anybody. That’s not what we do.”

“Echo—”

“Those girls are running jobs, same as us, but they’re actually trying to make a difference. What are we doing?”

“We’re keeping Omega safe,” Miri interjected, finally speaking up as the attention of everyone else shifted to them. “We’re trying to keep ourselves safe. What good are we fighting the Empire if we’re dead? Captured? Because I know they’d kill me as soon as they got me, and I’m sure they’d think up something pleasant for rogue clones,” her brows raised and Echo didn’t respond. She wasn’t angry with him, but if she had to do the work to find the answers then so did he.

“The age of the Jedi Order has come to an end. The war is over,” she shook her head, “and the Republic has fallen. The very things we were all meant for are no longer paths we can take, and while it will never be easy, Echo, I fear we may not have all the time to mourn the loss of it.” She looked to the others as she spoke now, her words meant for all of them. She had spent time reflecting, shuffling through the files in her mind to compile the thoughts because when faced with the question of what do we do, they needed an answer. “What we can do, what we must do, is trust in ourselves and trust in the Force; we have little choice in taking what we have all been through and coming out different from who we once were. So we better make it count, yes?”

Wrecker was the first to say anything, cheering at her words as they sparked the motivation she had been reaching for, but her eyes found themselves on Echo once again. His face said he knew she was right, but he didn’t like it. She hoped hers said that she knew, and that she just needed him to hold out for her. For Omega. For them all.

When she rose from her seat, feet carrying her towards the bunks as they all carried on, she paused as she passed the man still stuck to his seat. His expression was stoney, as if he was guarding what he was thinking from them. He didn’t look at her until she began speaking, his face pointed up at her now with a look of not knowing where to go next. “Nothing lasts forever, Echo,” she offered, voice soft as she placed a hand on his shoulder. He needn’t be lost, because what the Force willed would be so, and he wouldn't be alone for any of it. “This Empire will fall. One day.”

-: ✧

She had been right about Cid, she had all but chewed them a new one though she hadn’t cut them loose. They didn;t see anybody else doing her business for her so perhaps she needed them just a bit more than she let on when she moaned and groaned and complained. Yes, the worlds would continue spinning and they would work for her another day.

But Miri didn’t know if she could go another day keeping what she had for Hunter a secret. The love, the admiration, all of it could no longer stay hidden away, much like Echo’s frustration, and the glaring fact that things were different and so were they. And so, as they all made their way out of Cid’s parlor one behind the other, she wiped her palms on her pant legs and took a few deep breaths. She was at the back of their group, which gave her an extra moment to think things through, run through the list of pros and cons, and create a plan of action. This was one of those situations where Obi-Wan and Anakin would offer very differing advice, one would say to sit back and seek counsel and the other would say it’s now or never. You’ll never know if you don’t try, something she’d said to Anakin herself at one point.

“I have to tell you something,” Miri rushed out before Hunter could get any closer to the ship, her friend's voice echoing softly in her ears as her feet planted themselves firmly on the ground. The others had already boarded, and she knew that privacy was hard to come by and this needed to happen then and there.

He stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder at her before taking in how serious she was and turning around fully. “Everything okay?” That was one of the great things about Hunter, he never hesitated to listen to them.

In her chest her heart beat faster than she would have liked, nerves causing her stomach to churn, and she knew he was aware of all of this though fighting it was futile. He’d learn to use his skills to read her like a holofile long ago. Instead, she pushed through, knowing what she wanted to say but not really how she was going to say it. “I meant what I said earlier, about things being different now. About us being different now,” she gave him a pointed look to which he furrowed his brows.

After a pause she continued on, knowing if she stopped it would be harder to keep going. “The Order was flawed. No matter how hard you try, no being is perfect. Total enlightenment doesn’t necessarily mean total perfection, and that’s a hard truth I think a lot of Jedi did not want to face. With balance, comes turbulence; that’s what my master used to say. It is up to oneself to maintain their balance, to make the choice. With—with you,” she faltered slightly, shy under his gaze all of the sudden. “I could see how it would have its appeal, the Dark Side; to go to lengths that great and—and grave for someone you love. But…” she shook her head, beginning to move her hands about as she spoke. He knew this as a sign of passion in her, and it was evident in the way her words began spewing out of her. “But it’s up to me to keep that away, to keep myself on the path of Light.”

“I,” she breathed out, “I could never think of straying, because I truly do believe in the Force, in the light, in the balance. But perhaps the reason I never quite fit the mold of the Order is because I believe in something outside of what was traditional? Something venturing away from what we had become and closer to what a Jedi used to be? Should be?” She questioned, face going red slightly as she took a few steps closer. “I—I still feel like a Jedi, and I still feel like a good one, but I also feel like…” she panted, face dropping as she let go of whatever held her back. “I feel like I’m in love with you.”

Tears had begun to line her eyes, and her voice had the slightest tremble despite holding her head so high. “I feel like you are synonymous with the light that is in everything, that you are the freshest breath of air when I have been suffocating,” her words were thick with emotion, face scrunching up as she pushed through, “that I could not possibly keep the balance if I went another rotation without telling you that you are everything, Hunter. If it had come down to it, I would have walked away from it,” she admitted, looking him in his eyes. Unabashedly, she declared the magnitude of her love for him without a shadow of guilt present, lighter than ever as tears fell from her eyes.

“The Order, the Jedi, everything. I would have left,” she whispered the last word, shaking her head. “And that is how I know I love you so deeply in my bones, in the purest and most selfish way; because they are all I have ever known, and that is all that I have ever been, but you are everything, Hunter,” she sobbed, closing the gap between them a little more. Her chest heaved with every heavy breath, vision blurry as everything poured from her as if a dam had broken and the flood was free, and she reached out for him.

That was all it took for Hunter to snap out of his daze and put his body in motion. His hand met hers, gloved fingers wrapping around gloved fingers before he pulled her into him once again. He had struggled so long with these feelings, the weight of them and how much it had been drilled into him that he did not get to have them. The urge to push them down was ever present yet wholly unsuccessful every time. He had caved, ever so slightly, and been almost crushed by the loss of her. To know, to hear, that she had felt the same things reassured him that it had not been for nothing.

“Miri,” he whispered, attempting to hide the tremble in his voice. “You are unshakable, cyare, and I have known that from the very beginning. I had no choice but to love you, Miri,” he admitted, hands holding her just a little more desperately. “No matter how much I believe I don’t deserve to, I haven’t gone a day without loving you.” Hunter’s admission was quieter than Miri’s, but it held just as much weight as hers did. His emotions, that he kept so well locked away, had gotten the better of him and he had bore his heart in the midst of the great fight for a life they could just live. Scary, that was, but among the list of regrets he had, telling the only woman he had ever loved what she meant to him was not there.

He repeated her name, hands going to her shoulders so he could look at her. Her eyes were glassy and red rimmed, and her cheeks were tear stained under his palms as he moved to hold her gently. “I will not lose you again, I promise you that, and you will not lose me. I—” he cut himself off, signing deeply before, too, shaking off whatever was holding him back. “I will give you and Omega the lives you deserve.”

Hunter’s resolve, always unyielding, was intense as he gazed at her. The truth, evident on his face, in his heart, and in his Force signature, lifted a weight she didn’t know how to live without. She loved him, and he loved her. Before her mind could register the thought, her body reacted to the impulse, and her hands shot up to grasp at his face as well; pulling him down into a kiss that was long overdue and much anticipated.

His lips moved against hers in a silent confession of love and longing, one hand going to the back of her head while the other slid down to her lower back. They couldn’t get any closer, bodies pressed against one other closely as their relationship forever changed. Neither one of them knew what they were doing, treading uncharted waters to be together; but it did not matter in the slightest because they had fought the great fight to find one another, and they weren’t going to let go any time soon.

Nothing could have been strong enough to break them apart, not even oxygen, had ot not been so imperative. The burn in Miri’s lungs had reluctantly pulled her lips off of his, panting as she looked up at him in a daze. “Hunter,” she breathed out his name, a song she would forever sing, and his eyes softened impossibly more.

“You know they’re watching?” He questioned, a small smirk on his face as he brushed a finger gently over her cheek.

And peeking out from the entrance to the ship, the four other members of CF99 certainly were watching. They had not cared for the trouble they may get in, with Hunter or Miri, for this moment had been a long time coming. The Jedi didn’t even need to look over, for she had felt them the entire time, but she did give him a quiet laugh. “Yeah,” she nodded, more fondly than anything, and leaned forward to peck his lips once again. “What are we gonna do with them, huh?”

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