Work Text:
Ω
“Pillow, stay still!”
The salamander honked in displeasure, his tail smacking against the metal of the counter. Omega stuck her tongue out as she finished dressing the amphibian in a garment she herself had sewn, with some help from Hunter in the form of sewing lessons. Gripping the brown fabric, she flipped the hood up over Pillow’s head.
“There!” She exclaimed. “Now you wont get sunburned.”
She had fashioned Pillow a brown cloak of sorts to protect him from this planet’s bright sun. The material was already a bit worn, but it would serve its purpose. Picking her plump pet up, she held him up to show the other members of the group, who were all getting ready for their trip to the beach.
“Look, it’s Master Pillow.” She joked, moving one of Pillows arms to make it seem like he was reaching out to the Force.
Wrecker burst out laughing, leaning against a wall for support. The others smiled at her joke, amused by the outfit. Omega had insisted on bringing Pillow with them, and had also insisted that he needed to have the proper clothes on. They were leaving their armor behind today, being heavy was not a good thing when you planned on swimming, so the Bad Batch was dressed in various forms of apparel. Hunter and Wrecker were wearing swim trunks, Tech and Omega sported swim shirts and swim shorts, and Echo had dressed himself in an airy poncho, not intending to go into the water. He would be relaxing on the beach, soaking up some sun.
“Ready to go, Omega?” Hunter asked. They were going to be teaching her to swim today, and although he wouldn’t admit it, he was a bit nervous. Every member of his squad had been taught to swim, of course, but that didn’t mean that they did it often. He himself hadn’t swum in years, and he just hoped that his body would remember what to do.
“Yep! Come on Pillow.” She said, walking out of the ship while still holding Pillow.
The body of fresh water before them was vast, stretching out far beyond what they could see. Tall, sloping mountains rose up all around them, waterfalls dripping down their rocky faces and spraying out into the miniature ocean below. Omega was in awe at the sight of it all. She was practically vibrating with excitement as she rushed down to the water’s edge under the watchful eyes of Hunter. She set Pillow down, who immediately waddled into the water. Down the beach, Wrecker and Tech also entered the water, swimming out deeper.
“Hold on kid.” Echo called, coming up beside her. “Here, put this on.”
He produced a yellow jacket with a couple of buckles on the front. He held it out for her to take, and she stared at it quizzically.
“What is that?” She asked, reaching out and grasping the jacket.
“It’s a life jacket. It’ll keep your head above water if you go in too deep.” Echo explained.
“Good thinking.” Hunter said as Omega slipped on the life jacket. “Alright, come on Omega.”
“Yes!” She cheered, following Hunter into the water as Echo retreated back to the beach. Advanced prosthetics and water didn’t always mix well.
The water was cool, but not cold as they waded in. It took a minute of convincing to get Omega to go in once the water started to touch her stomach, but once they had gotten past that point they were ready to begin.
“Alright, let’s start with the basics. I’m gonna move back a little bit, and you kick your legs to come over to me, okay?” Hunter instructed, swimming backwards in the still water.
“Okay.” Omega said, nodding her head. Pillow swam beside her, honking in glee as he glided through the blue water before diving down beneath the surface.
“Good job.” Hunter praised once she reached him. “This time, use your arms to pull yourself forward like this.”
He demonstrated doing a stroke as he moved back into deeper water. Omega followed behind him, moving her arms as he had. Hunter nodded in approval.
“Doin’ real good kid. Let’s do that again.” He said, swimming back the way he had came.
They repeated this activity a few more times until both Hunter and Omega were feeling more confident in Omega’s swimming capabilities. He taught her to tread water, float on her back, and hold her breath underwater. After all was said and done, Hunter told Omega to take off her life jacket. Upon seeing her confused expression, he clarified.
“In an emergency, you’re not going to be able to rely on a flotation device. You need to know how to swim without one.” He tilted his head downwards slightly. “You can still touch, right?”
Omega nodded.
“Alright, I want you to walk out until you can just barely touch. I wont make you swim out farther than that point until you’re ready.” He said, his tone of voice soft and understanding.
Omega looked nervous for a moment, but she trusted Hunter. Shirking off the life jacket, she took a moment to adjust to the feeling of being in the water without it. She felt heavier, but not so heavy that she would sink. If the others could do it, she would learn to as well.
She walked forward until she had to strain to keep her head above water. Her feet still touched, but she would have to go on her toes if she wanted to walk any farther.
“I think this is as far as I can go.” She said, stepping back a smidgen.
“Then I’ll stand there, and you can go back a bit. I want you to swim to me without the life jacket on.” Hunter said, moving to stand beside Omega.
The young girl nodded and did as she was told. It took a few tries, but she was soon able to swim to Hunter without having to stop and put her feet down. The enhanced clone smiled and ruffled her hair.
“You’ve taken to swimming like a fish takes to water. I’m proud of you, kid.” He praised.
Omega beamed and began swimming around, enjoying her new skills. Hunter allowed himself to float on his back, always keeping an eye on Omega even as he relaxed.
“Hey Omega, come check out this cool shell!” Wrecker’s voice carried easily across the watery expanse. He was holding a spiraled shell, bright green and orange in colour. Omega’s curiosity reared its head, but she looked to Hunter for approval first.
Hunter mentally judged the distance before nodding towards the forgotten life jacket.
“Go, but put that on first. They’re out beyond where you can touch.”
“Okay!” Omega agreed cheerily, putting the life jacket on.
She paddled deeper into the water body, the ripples from her movements ebbing out across the water’s surface. Tech and Wrecker floated in the water, enjoying the warm sun as they waited for her to reach them.
The water was calm.
Suddenly, Pillow exploded up from beneath the water. He honked wildly, making a mad dash for shore. Omega stopped in her tracts and stared at the amphibian with confusion and a little bit of worry. Pillow no longer had his protective cloak, and he sounded distressed.
“Pillow, what’s wrong?” She called, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer.
“He probably swam down towards the bottom of the lake and found a fish that was bigger than him. Small animals frighten easily.” Tech said, raising his voice a bit so that Omega could hear him.
Hunter eyed the water suspiciously.
“Maybe we should go in.” He said, not taking his eyes off of the water.
“Aw come on Hunter, you’re not scarred of a little fishy, are you?” Wrecker teased.
Hunter frowned and looked towards Omega. She still hadn’t continued moving, and kept looking between Pillow, who was now hiding behind a very confused Echo and still making loud honks, and the ripples that the amphibian had left behind.
“Kid?” He called, not sure what she was thinking.
Omega felt something buzz in the back of her mind, a prickly sensation that made her feel very nervous all of a sudden. Pillow was not an easy animal to scare, he had not been afraid of her or Hunter. What was down there that had frightened him so badly?
“I-I think I wanna go in now too.” She said, moving to start back towards shore.
She made ripples in the still water.
Something brushed her foot, and she jerked away in fright.
“Omega?” Hunter called again, his brow furrowing. She was right in between him and Tech and Wrecker, neither party close enough to reach her right away.
Her head whipped towards him, panic clear on her face.
“Hunter,” She gulped, “I think there’s something in the water.”
Then, without warning, Omega was dragged under.
Omega’s mouth clamped shut on instinct, but it was already too late. Water rushed down her windpipe and into her lungs, causing her to choke. The life jacket brought her back up to the surface, and she was able to hack up some of the water and take in a small breath of air before the thing dragged her back under. The first time, it hadn’t grabbed her hard, just holding her foot as it pulled her beneath the surface. This time, however, she felt thick, jagged teeth crush her ankle as her foot disappeared into a monstrous maw.
She screamed in pain, becoming more disoriented and panicked as the creature that held her began to thrash its head about. Blood filled the water as it released her once again, its long, serpent like body surrounding her. It lunged again, this time going for her chest. It bit down on the life jacket and jerked it’s huge head, tearing off the buoyant garment.
Panicking and unable to tell which way was up, Omega thrashed in the chilling water as she sunk deeper down. Her chest burned as the horrid liquid filled her lungs and stole away her air. Adrenaline kept her from feeling the pain in her mangled ankle, but fairly soon it wouldn’t even matter. She could feel herself slipping away as darkness began to encroach on her vision. Whether it came from her own dying mind or from the depths themselves, she could not tell. As her panic ebbed away, and her eyes slipped shut, she felt a sense of peace wash over her.
She welcomed the darkness.
…
She didn’t hear the roar of the creature as a blaster bolt exploded its eye, nor did she feel the desperate, calloused hands that gripped her limp form and hauled her free of the deep’s unforgiving grasp. She was unaware of the frightened, panic-stricken voices, the distressed honking, or the mad scramble to get her onto the beach. The compression and gusts of air that were blown into her were not registered by her consciousness.
The sensation of needing to vomit, however, did.
Omega turned her head and puked up mouthful after mouthful of water. Her lungs burned with the strength of a thousand suns as she emptied both them and her stomach of their contents. Strong, comforting arms were around her instantly, and she could feel small tremors run through the person’s body.
“Oh, thank the Maker.” Hunter’s voice was a bit shaky, like he was recovering from a big scare.
“Omega, can you breathe?” Tech was suddenly in front of her, and with his glasses off she could see that his pupils had constricted into pinpricks.
She nodded. She felt like she’d been kicked in the chest and her throat felt raw and stinging, but air did in fact enter and exit her lungs. She’d never been happier for that simple pleasure than right now.
“Good. We need to get you to a medical centre, but that ankle requires immediate- no don’t look at it! Just, just focus on me or Hunter, okay? Don’t, don’t look down.” Tech’s voice picked up in speed as he directed her attention upwards. She still couldn’t feel her ankle, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t last.
Leaning against Hunter’s chest, she sucked in as much air as she could. She felt like she was going to cough up a lung. A particularly loud honk came from below her, and soon Echo was handing her Pillow. The salamander settled around her neck, pressing himself against her.
“Y’tried to warn us, din’ ya? You knew wha’ was comin’.” She rasped in between coughs. “We should lis’n to you more.”
Pillow honked softly in agreement. Omega smiled weakly at him and leaned against his wrinkly, pudgy body.
“Stay awake, Omega. We don’t know if all of the water has exited your lungs, and you could experience “second drowning”. Tech said apologetically. The poor girl was exhausted, but they couldn’t let her sleep yet.
“Second drowning? The hell is that?” It was Wrecker that spoke up this time. He sounded stressed, as did everyone else.
“It’s a phenomenon that can occur if water remains in the lungs. We need to make sure that her lungs are free of water or she could begin to drown again, even if she’s on dry land.” Tech explained.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Hunter growled. Omega could feel the reverberations in his chest.
“Then let’s hurry up and get off this hell-planet. I’m sick of looking at that makerforsaken lake.” Echo said, moving into the pilot seat. Omega blinked. When had they made it onto the ship?
“Hold tight kid, we’re gonna get you help.” Hunter said, and Omega nodded weakly.
As the ship’s door closed, Omega took one more look at the lake that she had been so excited to be in.
The water was still once more.
She tucked her head into Hunter’s chest and tried to will away the image of the monster that lurked just beneath the deceptive surface.