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Chapter Text

Pouring rain had engulfed the skies over the skylines of London, and it was still heavily doing so. Lena had been chasing down what looked like a spirit of somebody she long knew was gone. How was this possible? Every time she thought of it, she could only remember reading of her supposed death. How things seemed off, yet evidence suggested otherwise and then she disappeared for years and years.

Amélie. That was her name, or at least...what it was. The beloved and shy wife of a man who was in charge of taking care of Talon and their terrorist issues. Recent intel given to Tracer suggested that she only went by Widowmaker now. Any attempt to call her by her real name in the past seemingly failed, and she knew by first hand.

Lightning struck and the reverb of the thundering crackle shook the rooftop she was on. Her goggles fogged up and it made seeing things clearly a little bit harder. Tracer blinked forward every chance she could, but made sure equal footing was secured before going to the next rooftop.

Everything was like a dream. All around her, the world felt surreal, and every time she thought that she’d finally be able to catch up with Widowmaker...she’d always get away to another rooftop. Every time, she’d always yell out over the storm, ‘Stop right there!’, but to no avail.

But, as patience would have it, the two would eventually meet up on the same rooftop. It was only after the Widow had fired a shot from her gun that deliberately missed the Brit. She didn’t want to back off, even if, by some horrible incident, she’d end up dead.

So there they stood, several feet away from each other. Widowmaker’s visor had covered her eyes and shielded her from the raindrops, but her rifle did not convert back into a machine gun. She had a firm grasp on it while keeping her guard up on Tracer.

“You have a hard time listening, don’t you?” The sniper had said over the storm. She had an impish smirk on her lips. “What do you hope to achieve?”

She stood stoic and silent, but Lena clenched her fists. She had too many questions and far too little of them would be answered, and only one word came out of her mouth.

“Answers.”

Tracer moved forward while the woman stood still. “Every chance you had to take me out, but you never did. Why?”

No response.

She got angrier over it simply because Amélie wouldn’t respond to her. Just that smirk on her face, and that was it.

The visor opened up to reveal Widowmaker’s cold and hollow stare. She scoffed and turned the other direction. “Too easy.”

“...What?”

Again, no response. This time however, Tracer placed her hand on the sniper’s shoulder, and Widowmaker did not preemptively resist. Her body was turned around once more and it was forcibly pulled down so she was face-to-face with the Brit.

“What do you mean?!” Her hands has gripped the bodysuit Widowmaker was in, and somewhere lost in the storm, the sound of the rifle the sniper was holding was dropped.

Before she knew it, the icy sensation of Widowmaker’s index finger could be felt under her chin. She blinked a few times, changing her expression to a more bewildered one. Lena could feel her goggles being pulled off, so her emerald colored spheres met with the woman’s yellow ones.

Lena felt Amélie’s lips press up against hers. She froze in place and softly gasped, for of all the things Lena had expected, a kiss was not one of them. Deep in her gut, she kind of felt like wanting more, but every other part of her body was denying that. She was caught up in the moment, still processing what was unfolding. Lightning struck again nearby, but that was overshadowed by this isolated moment.

That was when Widowmaker had pulled away and sharply inhaled. She smirked again, and slowly caressed the young girl’s cheek. “Sweet, foolish little girl.”

Lena felt a slight pressure on her chest, and just like that, she suddenly could see the sky. Widowmaker had pushed her off the side of the building and was now glancing over what she had done.

By the time Tracer registered what was happening, she started screaming. Her accelerator was not going to make her go up, and she began descending down below. Was this how she was going to die? Because she let her guard down and get played like a fool?

It seemed like it. She was too busy frantically trying to recall back seconds before she fell, but just as she was about to do so, her accelerator only rewinded her previous location by a few feet short of falling again. This really was it, she thought. This was how pitiful her death would be.

But then a hand grabbed onto her bomber jacket. The sniper firmly grasped her and saved her from falling into a bloody mess. Tracer’s breathing was heavy and she looked up, half rain-blinded, but she could see who saved her. “W-wh...”

The grappling hook started ascending back up to the rooftop, and Lena was safe within the hands of Widowmaker - ironic as that was. The woman pulled Tracer further up, until she was able to be heard. “Why kill a target when she allows herself to die just as easily?” Amélie had softly whispered into Lena’s ear.

When the both of them were at the top of the building again, Widowmaker let go of Tracer as she was shaking herself off from the adrenaline. “You kissed me.”

This caused a slight laugh from the woman. “I did no such thing.” Smugly, there was a vague hint of emotion lingering about in Amélie’s voice. She bent down to pick her gun back up.

“But you did! Why would you even --”

A cold presence pressed on her lips, and it was just Widowmaker’s finger urging her to be quiet. For a moment, her anger ceased and she calmed. Lena took a few breaths and let go of what she was going to even say.

But then she had to go look into Amélie’s eyes. They had been gazing at her for some time - albeit a little seductively - and her overall train of thought sputtered. Was this love? She had the sudden feeling that maybe, this is just a form of it. Harsher, yes, because Widowmaker was not quite what Tracer had remembered her to be, or was it...

Smack. Lena proceeded to fall down mid-thought as Widowmaker had knocked her out unconscious with the butt of her rifle. A large splash of water sprayed over the woman’s figure, and she proceeded to go pick up the now unconscious Tracer.

She descended down the building as lightning struck once again, this time much closer in their general vicinity than the previous two.

Upon touching the wet floor, Widowmaker gently put Lena down somewhere safe. Once she was sure that nobody would disturb the little Brit, Amélie positioned herself so she could deliver one last kiss to Tracer’s cheek. It left a rather visible stain, but it wouldn’t be washed away by the amount of rain going on. Biting her lower lip, Amélie chuckled and hovered over Tracer’s limp body.
“Keep trying.” She softly whispered into Lena’s ear.

With that, she grappled upwards and disappeared into the night.

Chapter Text

Cars whizzed by overhead and the streets of London seemed a little more brighter than usual. Birds chirped their songs, and people were hustling and bustling about. The scarred wound of King’s Row a few miles away seemed more like a distant memory.

It was a slightly warm and breezy day out, and both Lena and Amélie were out and about finishing up some brunch. They were having a picnic, of course, but Amélie had only recently started dating Lena after some intense persuasion from the latter. The least she could do was go out with the Brit, and nothing else. The two had positioned themselves near a hilltop area, just under the cool shade of an old yew tree. Things were rather quiet between the girls, and they spoke little. By the time brunch was over, the sniper was about ready to leave.

But then Lena had suggested they perhaps could do something even more. Perhaps visit a pet store, or climb that yew tree to pass the time. Or even, childishly, do a water-gun battle of sorts. Anything for fun. It was childish, and it was something the woman had no interest in, for she could not feel the interest rise within her. She was reluctant at best, and proclaimed she never agreed to such terms.

"C’mon, luv! I bet you’ll enjoy yourself!” Lena had insisted, and she tugged at Amélie’s spring-themed dress.

“No,” She began, “I don’t think so.” With a headshake, the woman began protesting. So there she stood still, unmoved by Lena’s pulling and attempts to get her anywhere. People began staring momentarily, but afterwards paid no mind.

“Pretty please?” The little girl kept pulling Amélie and giggling every time she thought she made progress. “Water gun fights aren’t gonna be one-sided, y’know!”

Sighing, the cold woman stared blankly at the smaller girl and grumbled. “Enough. I have no time for childish desires.”

“Well I’m not givin’ up ‘til you agree!” Lena had retorted, and she was determined to do so. She tugged on Amélie once again, but at the same time they were getting a little bit too close to the edge of the hill.

After struggling a few more times, Lena groaned and stopped momentarily to take a breather. “What’s it gonna take?”

“It’s not going to take anything. I simply refuse.”

“Oh, come on! I just wanna have some fun ‘fore we go back.” The Brit pressed her hands together and began softly chanting ‘please’, which slightly irritated the sniper.

“No amount of begging is going to make me do this.” Amélie had sharply replied, and she had a hard and stern expression laden across her face.
“Life is not a game where you can break rules.”

In return, Lena gave a small whimper and something reminiscent of puppy eyes to the woman. “Just once. Please.” Her voice sounded like it was cracking, and it looked like she was about to cry.

That was when Amélie turned the other cheek. She tisked, wondering how she got herself in this mess. But, maybe she could give it a shot. If it made Lena go away, that’ll be for the better. After all, it was just a date and nothing more.
It was something she wasn’t fully invested in. At least, not yet.

“...Fine. One small water fight. But,” Amélie leaned in and raised her index finger up. “Don’t expect me to deign do this again.”

Lena pumped her fist and had a large grin on her face. All those tears had gone away in an instant. “Yeah!”

Swiftly, the girl blinked about and in an instant, she came back with three water guns - two were pistols and one being a large rifle - and she gestured that Amélie take the rifle.

She was reluctant, but the woman took the water gun off of Lena’s hands and closely examined it. She squeezed the trigger, but no water came out. Amélie’s expression changed from one of disdain to one of genuine confusion, and she eyeballed Lena. “...How does this work?”

Giggling, Lena pumped her two pistols twice and shot water at nothing but the grass. “Pump the things. Harder it is to pump, fuller the chamber is.”

Amélie darted her eyes around for a brief moment. Still, she was not sure whether or not she should continue on with this. But, if she didn’t, then Lena would only complain. She egged the young girl on this far, might as well fulfill her wish.

With that, she began pumping water into the chamber and, without warning, squirted water at Lena’s direction. It came into direct contact with Lena who flinched and shielded herself from the cold liquid. “Heeeeey! No fair!”

“Okay. We’re done. Can this nonsense stop now?”

Following a brief moment of letting her guard down, Amélie received a full blast from both of Lena’s water pistols. To the best of her abilities, she covered her face.

“Not ‘til you’re bloody soakin’!” Lena teased, and refrained from firing anymore. She was expecting Amélie to emerge and give her a lecture, but what she found was the complete opposite.

The sniper slowly rose out of her defensive position and - for the first time in a while - she had a genuine small smile on her face. For whatever reason, it felt good to get payback even if it was a childish and immature thing to do. But Amélie didn’t care, getting even was all that really mattered right now. Following the woman’s now raised guard, Lena zipped around avoiding the steady stream of water while trying to counter-fire back.

Though the small battle seemed to last forever, the two girls managed to land hit after hit until their clothes were soaking wet. Eventually, both their guns were running dry - but Amélie was gaining the upper hand. They were exhausted from running about avoiding water. In a final standoff, the spider chuckled as Lena pulled the trigger and no more water shot out of the nuzzles.

“You’re out.” Her expression was one filled with joy, but Lena had a face of smugness. She skilfully dodged the final few moments of water, enough that it stopped flowing. When she saw the opportunity, Lena began charging at Amélie.

“Out of left-field, Oxton’s chargin’ in...Lacroix looks dumbfounded!” The young girl was self-commentating what was to unfold. “The crowd’s at the edge of their seats - she shoots...”

“Quoi? (What?)” Amélie began moving back for a few moments, but it was already inevitable. Lena dropped her water pistols at the last second, and grabbed onto the woman. Unexpectedly, Amélie dropped her rifle, and the two now found themselves tumbling down the hill, rolling and rolling, with Lena giggling all the way down.

Once they stopped, Amélie was underneath while Lena came out on top. A big grin was spread across the young girl’s face while she was breathing a little heavily, but most of all the woman’s face was more of surprise.

“...And she scores.” Lena remarked, and she chuckled to herself. In that moment, she knew she had won the fight. After all, she took down Amélie and caught her off-guard “I win, luv.”. A few strands of the woman’s hair fell out of place and over her eyes, and one of her spring dress straps fell down to her shoulder - rather than remaining in the torso area.

While the girl was catching her breath, Amélie kept up her little smile, and she began glancing over the little details of Lena’s face, from her little freckles to her...almond colored eyes. Last she remembered, they looked more like a shade of ochre, or perhaps honey...but maybe it was the lighting that was messing with her perception. Maybe they were emerald, or maybe even that was a flicker of imagination. Of course, Lena took notice and smiled back, casually chortling. “What?”

There was no hesitation with what came next. Amélie grappled the girl’s top and she ended up tenderly kissing Lena on the lips. From there, she pulled away and made a little giggle of her own. The Brit was a little stunned, for Amélie never really did such a thing unless she willed it so. People slowly noticed two girls down the hill and wondered if they were okay, but both of them also paid no mind.

“Wasn’t that fun?” Lena had asked, and she proceeded to get off Amélie. 

She helped pull the woman up and brush off the dirt from her clothes. Dashing, she retrieved the water guns and returned them to where they belonged. Amélie did the same when it came down to brushing off dirt from her dress, and she realigned her strap.

“...Fun. Oui (Yes).” She replied back to Lena, albeit she scoffed afterwards. Truth be told, it was just a little fun; Amélie had almost felt something deep in her heart when they tumbled down that hill.

Suddenly, both their intercoms rang. Two separate messages - from Overwatch and Talon respectively - were broadcasted out to them. They stared at one another, and Lena tried reaching out for Amélie only to restrain herself.

“I...guess this is the last time we’re gonna see each other for a little while.” Nervously, the little girl scratched her head and grumbled. “So, see ya I guess?”

The woman shifted her body and had her smile on her face again. “Of course.”

“Right. I better go pack up and uh...get ready.” Lena mumbled.

She turned around and started walking up the hill. The picnic basket and little blanket were still properly held in place from when they were at lunch. Just then, the young girl could feel a slight tug on her hand. Her head looked back to see Amélie holding onto her t-shirt.

“You come back to me when we are finished with work.”

Lena was stunned a little. Was Widowmaker truly wishing that she return? It was unlike of her to do such things, but maybe...just maybe, she was making a dent into her hard outer shell.

Chuckling, Lena nodded once. “I will, don't worry!”

That was her promise, and afterwards, Amélie let go, and the two of them marched away.

Chapter Text

The weather around London became severe in the past few weeks. Fortunately, this wasn’t a problem for somebody who was (un)naturally unable to feel the consequences of the cold. It was lucky for Amélie, but...not so much for Lena, for she had contracted a case of high fever and the oncoming set-up for the common cold. As life would have it, Amélie could not force herself to stay out of this situation. Even against Talon's orders to stay, she disobeyed them.

It was in the afternoon around Tracer’s small apartment that Amélie snuck out of Talon HQ to come visit her. Lena kept a box of tissues with her and some medicine, but overall she was too exhausted to do her duties as a global peacekeeper. All these medicinal supplements and the like were prescribed by Mercy herself, and she had suggested Lena stay home - and preferably away from the rest of the team. Though Doctor Ziegler mentioned diverting the cold entirely, there was no guarantee.

The weather was a little chilly, and Lena had turned up the heat and made sure she wore extra bundles of clothes; if anything, the extra clothes were a precaution. She was fairly exhausted from staying home - even more so when nobody was around. The best she could do was go take nap after nap, but not in successive order. That was something which she truly hated. 

But not today. Lena had dozed off, having fallen asleep shortly after reading up on daily news articles and keeping in touch with the world. When her left eye peaked open just a smidge, Lena could see a rather ominous figure loom over her. By then, her drooping eyes shot wide open and the young girl stood up immediately.

Wearing enough layers appropriate for the winter weather ouside, Amélie had donned an outfit that had covered her from head to toe. She had a long blazer and a scarf over her neck, but her hands were only mildly protected by fingerless gloves. Overall, she was warm, but perhaps...a bit too warm.

Amélie had managed to somehow get inside the apartment complex. Not a hint of any break-ins were noticeable, much less a single sound to indicate she got in. Lena’s heart raced in a quick panic, and her breathing was a little more intense than a couple seconds ago.

 “What the bloody -- how did you even get in?!”

The woman raised both of her hands in defense and nervously laughed. She could feel the unnaturally lukewarm room temperature - which was odd considering she hadn’t felt hot or cold in a while - and ensured Lena should calm down.

She did. The slightly sick Brit took a deep breath and groaned while leaning her head on the couch. “Why’re you here?”

A look of genuine concern laid over Amélie’s face. She pursed her lips and took a seat next to Lena. It was okay, she couldn’t get sick because Talon made sure her immune system was in peak condition at all times. Her cold hand found its way over to the girl’s shoulder, and before she knew it, Amélie pulled Lena into a slight hug.

“I...wanted to make sure you were okay. You’re burning up, chérie (dear/sweetheart).” Her tone was calm, but her words had a semblance of emotion emerging out, at least.

In that moment, Lena kept still and blinked a few times. She shifted her head so her mouth was near the cold woman’s ear. “I’m...I’m okay. It’s nothin’, really!” Just for reassurance, Lena patted Amélie by her upper back.

They parted from the hug. Lena raised both her hands in the air and giggled at the ordeal. “Just a little fever, nothin’ more!”

“How high?” Amélie had replied back, but her natural instinct was to go look for a thermometer. The back of her hand was trying to get a feel for how hot Lena’s forehead was. It burned through Amélie’s normal perception of hotness, and she swallowed in a natural instinct of worry. “Stay here.”

Just as the sniper was about to stand, Lena gripped onto Amélie’s icy hand and kept it on her forehead. It felt more or less like an ice pack, but just the right temperature to not be freezing. A rather content breath of relief escaped the young girl’s lips. “I’ll stay ‘ere, alright...feels good...”

Nervously, Amélie’s gaze darted around the area. She couldn’t go anywhere knowing she’d have to forcibly yank her arm out. Surveying the small apartment, there was no sign of a thermometer at first glance. After some few moments of careful observation, in the corner of her field of view, she spotted the stick sitting over a filled cup of water inside the sink. But, Lena would not let go of her arm and casually moaned contently. Once more, Amélie shifted her attention to the little girl and repeated her question. “How high is it?”

“It’s...37.9 celsius. Last I checked, anyway...mm...” Lena mumbled. She was too in the moment to comprehend how dangerously close that was to hyperthermia. Any more and it was potentially - if not outright - dangerous. How long did Lena suffer from this? Amélie didn’t have a clue, and she didn’t care. She desperately wanted to go take care of this problem so it’d ease her conscience.

She shook the girl to awaken her from her daydreaming, and placed her two hands together so she smushed Lena’s cheeks. Her eyes had no sense of glowering laced in her expression, but more of a warm and caring pair of yellow-tinted eyes stared right back into Lena’s view of the woman.

“Did you...eat yet? Have you been drinking lots of fluids? Do you need me to run and get medicine?” Amélie’s tone changed once again. There were more obvious hints of a person who really had interest in nursing Lena back to health, even if it was something simple.

“Uh...yeah.” It was then Lena gently held onto the woman’s hands and blinked a few more times. “Aren’t you overreacting a bit?”

Shaking her head, Amélie remained stoic on the subject. With her arms crossed and her head cocked to the right, she glanced in Lena’s direction and lightly scoffed. “Absolutely not. Is it wrong to worry?”

Grinning impishly, Lena rolled her eyes and let Amélie’s fingers slip down her cheeks. “Didn’t know bein’ sick warranted all these emotions from ya, luv.”

No question about it, but Amélie really was expressing some large amounts of concern over something so menial and minor. Her expressions stayed the same, but right now she merely...cared. A lot.

The woman let go of Lena’s cheeks and lowered her head, releasing a small sigh. She had no idea how to take care of a person who simply had a high fever. It was something she didn’t remember from her old life, just taking care of a fully grown adult.

“Lena...” Amélie began, “I’m serious. I really want to help you get better.”

Of course, Lena tilted her head and kept her grin. “Not much you can do ‘cause I got meds already.” She proceeded to eyeball Amélie’s purple scarf. The girl had noticed that it was definitely out of place, especially in this room temperature. Her hand slid up to the upper parts of the scarf, and she gave a gentle tug at it.

“Buuuut,” She began unraveling the woman’s scarf, and slowly it revealed nothing more than Amélie’s blue-hued neck. The cloth was casually flung on the side of the couch so it was out of the way, and Lena leaned herself on Amélie’s chest. “Least ya could do is cool my fever down with your body.”

“That’s...” Suddenly, Amélie had nothing to say, as her words were all jumbled up. It seemed really stupid in theory, but...she may as well have gone along with it. “...Okay.”

Amélie lowered herself down so the young girl got more comfortable. Hopefully, her slow heart rate wouldn’t bother Lena so much. Together, they stayed on that couch for a little while as Amélie pondered on what to do from here.

Lena had gotten into a position where she snuggled up closely to Amélie. Her forehead pressed up against any exposed skin - that being her lower neck - and she was content.

“Yeeeeeeah...there we go.” Lena softly murmured.

The woman chuckled and took a deep sigh. Was this really all Lena wanted? Was it all she could do for her? Well, a high fever really wasn’t anything deeply troubling, much less serious enough to require a large amount of attention to. So, Amélie eased herself up, letting the warmth of the smaller Brit encapsulate her cold skin.

The woman ran her fingers across Lena’s hair, and in response she got a soft purr out of the Brit, and chuckled at the ordeal before she shook her head. Talon didn’t train her for this. For her, this was a revisiting of an old experience. Maybe Lena was right; she was overreacting about this peculiar day and she needed to calm down.

 There really was no need to worry at all. Everything would be perfectly alright. As long as she could provide support no matter how menial, Lena was going to be safe. In a few weeks from now at the very worst, she’d be in tip-top condition.  Amélie seemed a little more happier at that thought because for once in her life, she did what she wanted, rather than did what she was told.

Chapter Text

A day for desserts? For whatever reasons that Lena did not disclose, both her and Amélie were tasked with making some sweets for the Overwatch team. Talon initially did not advise Widowmaker to attend this matter, but others within the base suggested it would’ve been a perfect opportunity for surveillance. Regardless, the sniper chose not to do these things, opting to rather be done with it and move on.

The two girls were crafting cookies and a specialty cake - suggested by Amélie herself - while the rest of the Overwatch team were focused on drinks and main foodstuffs. They had all the time in the world to do this, but it was optimal that these desserts made it out to wherever the organization required by the evening. Aprons at the ready, the two were about a third of the way in to their next batch of goodies.

“Pass me the batter, will you?” Amélie had asked out of the young girl, who was busy decorating most of the cookies with the Overwatch logo or some other novelty design. The next batch was already baking in one oven, and one cake was in another.

Lena stopped just two designs short of a full batch of cookies and reached over her side to grab some more cake batter mix. She extended the box out to the woman, who swiftly grabbed it and began concocting another cake - this time, out of chocolate.

After some time after Lena completed her second batch however, she slowed down and looked up from her work, then over to the blue-skinned Widowmaker who was too focused on getting everything in order. Her next glance was over at the clock, which read 11:22 A.M. in the morning.

They were working rather intensely. Instead of wanting to work from start to finish without any fun, Tracer took off her gloves and began curling and uncurling her fingers. Noticeably, some fingers were a little rigid from the little changes in movements. Lena’s attention turned once more to Amélie.

“Hey,” She spoke softly, over the gentle hums of the kitchen machinery doing its work. “D’you wanna take a break?”

The woman raised her head slowly upwards. Her body shifted around as her hands - which were caked in gooey batter - dripped a little over the counter. Her eyes gazed over in Lena’s direction, and she took a deep breath, as if she were about to say something.

In her defense, Lena calmly raised her hands up. “I mean, if you wanna keep workin’ be my guest, but I want some air!”

Sounds of water from the sink came rushing over to Lena’s ears. Amélie ran her hands through the steady stream, cleaning off her own gloves in the process. She said nothing, and merely had a little smile on her face. When her gloves were cleaned, she carefully slid them off and placed them somewhere safe.

Two cookies that were from the excess batches were snatched away from their pans by Tracer. She began chewing on one of them, noticing the soft texture on top of the vanilla glaze. It wasn’t too bad, and to be frank it was quite delicious. Her next destination was on the terrace, with the doors nearby exiting outside to the city view.

Clouds hovered over the sky, but it wasn’t too much to bog down an otherwise beautiful city. In fact, the city itself was Zürich, in Switzerland.
Ships flew overhead, several feet above the standard hover car safety range. Ferries below in the river carried their cargoes to and fro, and in the distance the ever-glowing church of St. Peter’s caught the attention of many people passing by, or it was within range to see over the overtly tall structures of buildings.

Something ethereal was about this place. Whether it be the fact it was the first to rebuild after the Crisis - or the ability of the Swiss to keep appearances - there was no denying the view was gorgeous. One broadcasted message on a hologram loud enough to be heard several yards away played every now and then, reminding the denizens of simple duties as being courteous to those around them, whether they be human or Omnic.

The young girl leaned over the railing, holding onto one cookie with her hand and another in her mouth. The cold woman did the same, albeit with no food in her hands to speak of. She soaked in the moment to herself. For a time, Lena gradually crept over and gently prodded Amélie, who in response opened her eyes and blankly stared at the girl.

Lena offered the other cookie to the woman with a grin on her face. Though her mouth was filled with bits of the cookie, she wasn’t hesitant to be a little less decent. “Wh-nt some?”

Reluctantly, Amélie pursed her lips and calmly shook her head. “Non (No). Thank you.” She had said, and afterwards a small smile was revealed.

But this did not stop her, for she pushed on, poking Amélie’s cheek with the cookie instead. She swallowed whatever chunks of baked goodness were in her mouth. “C’mon, y’know ya wanna try some!”

Her incessant, yet gentle pokings continued. Every little poke towards Widowmaker’s cheek provoked nothing, but her thoughts leaned mostly towards flinging it into the river below - though that would cause a non-stop complaint from Lena, which she didn’t want. Instead, she slowly moved her own mouth towards the cookie and took a tiny bite.

Much to Lena’s own happiness, she moved the cookie more towards Amélie’s mouth and gently tried to slide it in. To her surprise, the woman held onto it with her teeth, making her snicker to herself.

“I dunno if you’re messin’ with me or this is your way of sayin’ you like it.”

Moments like these were more or less treasured by Tracer. It was even more so she’d cherish them now that Widowmaker had broke free of Talon’s control over the course of the time they’d been together, though she had to keep appearances by deception. What concerned her the most was that her emotions weren’t really...there. Some days Amélie would act like Widowmaker, and other days it would be vice versa. But what mattered to her is that she was glad that Amélie felt relatively safe in her care, even if she never showed it.

While lost in her own thought with one of her cookies finished off, she hadn’t noticed that Amélie already finished her own, and in the meantime had gotten a bit closer to Lena. Taking advantage of that, the woman moved her arm over to the young girl’s shoulder and brought her closer.

This snapped Tracer back to reality. She flinched and looked upwards, blinking a few times. Amélie had never made a move between the two of them, and the times she did were more of when her intent was warning the Brit off with bullets raining down upon her.

In response, the woman glanced downwards at Lena and her smile became a little a little bit brighter than her usual demeanor. Within seconds, she knelt down so she was of equal height to Lena. After that, she pulled the young girl in for a hug, which caught her off-guard.

“Am --” Lena began, but her words were cut off when she felt cold lips press against her cheek, and then Amélie nuzzled the Brit’s neck while chuckling some. The young girl felt her cheeks flush a little, and suddenly her face felt a little bit hotter than normal.

“I gave you a cookie, luv...” Lena softly whispered, and the woman pulled away gradually. Her cheeks glowed a little more red while the woman glanced over Lena’s face.

“Sorry. I...got lost in the moment.”

It was then Amélie shifted her body back to her regular standing, but she kept a gentle gaze on the Brit.  “I think I’ve had enough air. Let’s go back.”

The sniper proceeded to head back into the kitchen, with the ovens now finished baking more cookies and one full cake. Though it had only been a four minute break, it seemed appropriate that there’d be more time after they were done baking to have one larger break.

Lena did not move from her spot. Instead, she pressed the palm of her hand on where Amélie had kissed her tenderly. Her arm moved its way down to her neck, and the young girl rubbed it some. Did that really just happen?

Just before the woman fully went back to her focused-on-cooking mode, she shuffled her feet around and took a quick scan of Lena. With a few blinks and a calm, yet firm smile, Amélie called out.

“Lena! Are you coming?”

Once more, she had came back into reality and nervously gave a nod. “Yeah, lemme just...gimme a minute!”

“Hurry,” Amélie had commented, “We need to make a few more dozen cookies and one more cake.”

The woman rushed along and put her cooking gloves back on to remove the finish products out from their respective ovens so they could cool down. A blue streak zipped right back into the kitchen, and Lena had gotten back her own gloves to help out momentarily.

For a long while, things resumed back to where they were a couple of minutes ago with Lena decorating her share of sweet treats, and Amélie properly getting the batter sorted out into a proper cake.

This time, however, Lena wanted to be mischievous even if they could’ve had all the extra freetime to themselves afterwards. She blinked over to the woman, who had her back turned briefly, trying to figure out whether to make the last cake some unique flavor or keep it simple.

Dipping a finger into the batter, the small Brit stifled back her giggles, and then ran said finger down Amélie’s cheek. It stained the woman of course, and it made her naturally flinch, and move away. Unable to refrain any longer, Lena laughed heartily and scrunched up her nose with a large grin.

“Got ya there!”

The woman ran her hand through the batter and cleaned up her face. Initially, her eyes had that certain sense of irritation to them, until it softened up and Amélie softly laughed alongside Lena.

“Avez-vous vraiment fait ça (Did you really do that)?” Amélie eyeballed the frosting over at Lena’s station and proceeded to swipe it, and then gave it a good squeeze, dousing the young girl in a sugary coating.

Side-tracked by trying to out-do each other in who was more messy by the end of it. They were well aware they still had limited resources, and after expending more than four packets of frosting, Amélie rushed over and restrained Lena from continuing on. Their skin was sticky from all the gooey icing, but most of their faces were still visible.

Laughs filled the air, and eventually they had subsided, leaving only the small breeze of wind to be heard. Lena had forgotten to close the door out to the terrace of all things, but they enjoyed the silence nonetheless. The kitchen was a total mess, but even then they were not responsible for cleaning it up. With the young girl’s warm hands in her icy grasp, Amélie bent down once more - this time, only to touch foreheads with her eyes closed.

“Je t’aime (I love you).” Amélie whispered, in a much genuine and loving way.

“...Uh...omelette du fromage?” Lena responded, unsure of what to say. She didn’t know a lick of French to start off.

Amélie opened her eyes, and her expression changed to a more amused look, softly laughing. She gently flicked the young girl on her temple, and scoffed. “Get back to work.” Her tone was in a teasing manner, and she had rolled her eyes. Cheese omelette? Really?

But, that was what Lena deserved. Out of sheer tomfoolery she flinched when she got flicked, and a very mild sense of satisfaction twinkled in her eyes. “Aye-aye...”

Chapter Text

Somehow and somewhere in one of the older Overwatch training facilities, Lena had wanted to prove herself to Amélie that she’d be more than capable of keeping up with a hypothetical kill-count if they ever worked together. That, and it was to see how much she improved over the years. She wanted to prove she really was as fast as people made her out to be, even if it meant trying to claim an empty reward that was no longer relevant.

Though the facility itself was rather in shambles in some parts, overall the Watchpoint was still functional to an extent. Fresh water still ran when needed, lights came on when it was needed, doors still opened, and the automated systems in general all worked properly. Even an outdated version of Athena was up and running, albeit it was not obeying the common commands it was assigned due to the command center being decommissioned.

They had wandered the halls for a bit, searching for a shooting range of sorts. Naturally, every single Watchpoint was interconnected globally; if one person participated within the training sessions, it’s likely they could have encountered their friend on a completely different side of the planet and battle them should they desire.

“How much further are we going?” Amélie had asked, for she was quite tired with having to walk long distances. They were getting side-tracked by all the nostalgia from Lena’s own whims.

To calm her, the smaller Brit assured her they weren’t too far. “I just gotta take a look at one other thing, then we’ll go straight there!”

She knew that dilly dallying wouldn’t do them much, so Lena had picked up the pace by blinking to her final destination: her old room. It was out of the sake of revisiting a small memory of course, but much of her belongings were still there. After all, Overwatch was not given the opportunity to pack up and go easily.

A picture frame of when she was merely 15 years old still stood on the lonesome side-table, and a now deactivated accelerator recharge station sat over in the corner.

Through these empty halls, Lena had felt like they were visiting her home away from home. For Amélie, it felt a little worrisome that they were here alone. It concerned her that this place was allowed to stand. What if potential thieves or looters came in?

Lena returned after a few minutes, carrying with her a small stack of photos. She placed it within her satchel bag that Amélie agreed to carry along, and cautiously stowed the photos away.

After some while of searching - and a bit of playful behavior by Tracer along the way - they had found the training facility. In stark contrast to the sleek and clean hallways, the facility was darker, and dust had settled and encrusted some bits of the terminals.

Because Lena had known Overwatch and how things operated in these terminals, the sniper proceeded into the course first. With a push of a few buttons, the young girl kicked in one of Athena’s old programmings so that she could join Amélie.

From that point on, they had to be identified as Widowmaker and Tracer only, to simulate and immerse themselves if the situation was ever real. What was once a dark room within the training course now became something...else.

Blending in a mixture of battlefield manipulation, room expansion, and overall simulated reality, the training grounds now became an entirely different world.

It wasn’t just the room that changed, for Tracer was now wearing standard issue Overwatch attire. Widowmaker was due a cosmetic change, but the program failed to register Amélie as a member. A practical shooting range was deployed, and a large holo-board filled with scores from international agents unveiled itself.

At the top sitting in the #1 spot was Captain Ana Amari, followed by McCree in a few extra points or so, Strike Commander Morrison in third position, Gabriel Reyes in fourth, Genji in fifth, and none other than Tracer in sixth position. Several other members not familiar with Lena were beneath her, but she didn’t bother with them.

The two looked at each other, and Tracer gave a big smile to Widowmaker, who in return had a rather blank stare. “I want you to give it your best, yeah?” 

“Oui (Yes). Expect nothing less.”

Tilting her head, the young girl chuckled and nodded. “Try and beat me.”

With a nod, Widowmaker affirmed it. “Give it your all, ma amour (my love). I will do the same.”

Before she knew it, Lena blinked right into her personal space. She didn’t flinch, but she what she was not expecting was a quick little peck on her cold lips.

“Kiss of good luck. You’ll need it if you wanna beat me then!” Once more, Lena had proclaimed it while snickering. “G’luck, luv~!”

Scoffing, Widowmaker turned her attention to what was now in front of her: a countdown to when the practice would begin. In approximately 30 seconds, holographic projections - produced by hardlight technology - would continuously spawn non-lethal robotic target dummies for them to take down.

Amélie took a long and deep breath, now scanning the scoreboard. She promised to end up in first place, but even then she could simply beat Tracer. By then, Lena had taken her position and stretched her legs, bouncing up and down to warm herself up.

Pulsefire pistols at the ready, the young Brit was determined, and even the aura of her giddiness was remarkably visible. Past this point, she had to treat Amélie more like a teammate than a significant other, and vice versa.

“5...4...3...2...1...” The timer ticked while Athena counted down the numbers. “Begin.”

The countdown now changed to a timer set for a mere 5 minutes, and the score showed 0 to 0 for both.

A swarm of mindless bots appeared in a flash. As if by instinct, Lena dashed around and began firing while Amélie scoped in, wasting no time on aiming more than a second.

Every target Tracer was going after was immediately struck down by Widowmaker’s bullet. One by one, they cracked and disappeared into the void of programs only to respawn at a later point. Though it would not be long before the young adventurer would catch up as she kicked it into high gear. For every one move Widowmaker made, Tracer had to make two.

Like a ballad of beautiful violence, gunshots, distinct swishes, and the occasional explosion filled the air. Amélie kept her calm, simply planting bullets into the robotic heads and moving onwards to the next target. If it was a group, she would deploy one of her venom mines and quickly finish them off with her Widow’s Kiss assault mode. 

The scoreboard showed that the sniper was now in a 20-kill lead - or roughly 200 points -  but Tracer was closing the gap. Every dash equated a few squeezes of her pistols. Holograms of those robots ended up disappearing as quick as they appeared, and it really looked like the young girl would get the lead. The first pulse bomb was thrown out, and it eliminated a grouped up crowd of five bots. There seemed to be no sign of exhaustion coming from Lena, but even Amélie knew she was pushing herself.

Like a light show, the arena became something along the lines of blue streaks blinking all around the battle. Though her accuracy was of no concern, it was her reaction times that mattered more in the moment. Widowmaker would fire, but she would end up missing because in the split second alone, Lena had already confirmed her kill. Suddenly, the gap became closer and closer.

Widowmaker simply could not keep up at this rate. She moved strategically around the arena, but never moved in comparison to Tracer. but just as Lena was behind by two simple kills, her accelerator short-circuited. Next thing she knew, Lena stumbled and fell to the ground, combat rolling to ensure she wouldn’t lose momentum.

“Agh! Dammit!” Lena had cursed herself in the moment, but she kept her determination high and moved onward.

Without her accelerator, Lena was in a bit of a snag. She wasn’t nearly as fast, and Widowmaker saw it as an advantage on her end. It was then she had grappled upwards in the air just to show off. One bullet made its mark, and another headshot came to pass all while she was in the air.

Two minutes passed in the time they had already spent in the training room. A score of 120 to 116 in Amélie’s favor seemed to be a new record at this point in time, beating out Ana’s old record of 112 in two minutes.

There was no banter between them, for they were too focused on trying to constantly one-up each other.

Things escalated from here on out. More bots showed up in increasingly larger volumes, and it became a lot more harder for Widowmaker to eliminate them all without having to leave some behind. Lena’s accelerator came back up and allowed her to move as she once did, but it would repeatedly sputter and fail every few seconds.

Perhaps that was because of the overexhaustion of the functionalities, but if push had come to shove even if this was just a friendly competition, Tracer would do it. After all, the room still kept her anchored in time in case of critical malfunctions. There was no holding back - like Tracer had promised initially to Widowmaker.

Those two more minutes passed by increasingly quicker than anticipated, and now the final minute to win the match was here.

Rather than continue on with an onslaught of bots, there were only a maximum of five being presented every few seconds. The scoreboard now was 353 to 331, a massive 22 point lead for Widowmaker. Lena had gained an upper hand for the second minute leading in with 265 to 247, but her accelerator kept failing at each turn. Thus, her lead was lost.

One minute became thirty seconds. By these final moments, Lena and Amélie were increasingly exhausted from overextending their strength. They breathed heavily, and it was harder to hold their weapons the more they continued.

The sniper was exhausted, that much was true, but she didn’t nearly exert as much power as the young girl before her. Truth be told, she was very impressed that a person with such a small stature had that much energy to keep up. Perhaps...?

For the final set, only three bots showed at one point, but they were in rapid succession. Though it was seemingly guaranteed for the sniper to win, it was nevertheless Lena would give all that she had in swiftly eliminating those three bots.

As soon as the first group was digitally reconstructed by the hardlight tech, Tracer madly dashed and eliminated them in quick succession, giving little to no time for Widowmaker to react. Upon those bots falling, the next set arrived, and so did the fifth pulse bomb from Lena.

But she was getting a little bit careless. Tracer would occasionally just go on ahead to the next stack of mindless targets while she left one alone, and that would be one Amélie would pick off, but the lead Amélie once held was now just two points away from being lost. There were about ten more seconds left on the board, and the scores were now 359 to 358.

Widowmaker took aim at the next group of three, making only one kill while Tracer took home two. Their scores were now tied up, and it seemed like Lena would be able to take it...until her accelerator crashed once again. She groaned audibly to the point where it almost seemed like she was about to swear.

The very last training target appeared right in the middle of the field. Lena took notice of it and swallowed hard, but she wouldn’t let Amélie take it. At the range she was in, there’d be no way she could land a hit. It was right in the sniper’s sights, and she was scoped in for the final point.

But she didn’t pull the trigger. Instead, she watched as her love was running furiously at it while spraying her pulsefire pistols at it. There was a smile - and a genuine one - when Tracer managed to break the tie with 360 to 361.

Practice was over. Widowmaker had lost on purpose, but she didn’t seem to care. More or less, she did it so Tracer wouldn’t be so bitter over it. After the simulations ended and the arena had reverted back to a simple black room, Lena fell to her knees, taking off her goggles and chuckling at her victory. Her accelerator chugged along, turning itself on again. The blue glow on it had been much paler and less radiant, and overall the juice was nearly depleted.

“I win!” The young Brit could be heard speaking weakly. Her breathing was a bit shallow from running and overexerting herself, but it was all worth it.

Amélie’s visor moved itself out of her eyes, and she casually sat down with Lena. “So you did,” She smiled and had a warm smile on her lips. “Outstanding, chérie (sweetheart/dear).”

With a breath of relief, Lena eased her muscles and lurched forwards. Her body had flopped in the direction of Amélie, and the woman responded by holding onto her.

“I did good, didn’t I?” Her voice had muffled off of the catsuit she was buried in.

Rest assured, the woman had nodded her head in agreement and gave Lena one tender kiss on her forehead. “Only because you pushed yourself harder than I did.”

Lena glanced upwards and blinked a few times. “...Whatcha mean?”

The sniper’s warm smile became something more of a comforting one, and she cocked her head to the side. “When we tied, I had all the opportunities to fire. But, I didn’t. The reward for me was something...better.”

For a moment, Lena spent some time registering the thought before swallowing and snickering. “Your love for me overrode your pride, then?”

Correct she was, and Amélie nodded once. “And in that moment, I saw not a sweet, foolish girl...”

The woman leaned into Lena’s left ear and softly spoke into it. “You are now, to me, a sweet girl.” Her head moved back, so now they were facing each other. “No longer foolish. No longer...annoying.”

In a flash, Lena lurched forward some more so now she had made Amélie fall on the floor. She started smooching the cheeks of the cold woman rather ecstatically, and Amélie in return laughed - her first actual laugh that felt quite nice to her. The woman’s hair became displaced, strands moved out of their proper position and drooped over Amélie’s temple.

“That’s the best compliment I’ve ever gotten from ya, luv!”

After her barrage of kisses swiftly ended, Lena got off of Amélie and went back to sitting down. “Best day of my life hands down!”

Amélie moved her locks of hair out of her face for the time being and stood up. “I would very much like to get out of this place,” she said. “Not very comfortable. That, and I’m a bit thirsty.”

Come to think of it, even Lena was weary of this training facility now. She scanned the scoreboard, now with her name moving from 6th position to the newly 2nd place - and Amélie being in 3rd - she stood up and happily agreed.

“Could crash in my bunker if ya want?” Her hand hovered over her accelerator, and immediately her watch indicated the accelerator was running on less than 6.4% life. “I need to at any rate.”

Nodding, Amélie picked up her gun and the satchel from earlier, slinging the latter over her shoulders. “Is there, by any chance, food as well?”

Grinning, Lena blinked forward to the exit as the doors opened up. “I’m sure we could find some nutritious stuff or somethin’ ‘round here. All the natural ingredients are probably way past expiration.”

Together, the two walked out of the training facility, keeping close to each other. From that point on, Amélie escorted Lena to her room and went by herself to search for rations, for she had more energy to do so. They wouldn’t leave the facility until later...

Much, much later.

Chapter Text

Lena shuffled her feet around, having been awoken at the sound of pots and pans clattering over in the kitchen area. It was about 8 o’clock in the morning in her apartment when this had unfolded, and her body overall felt stiff from not moving for too long.

“Mh...? Who turned on the sun...?”

Instinctively, her hand searched her bed for Amélie. Unfortunate as it was, the woman had already left the comfort of the bedroom to start the day. “Amélie, luv? You there?” Lena softly whispered, not wanting to get out of bed right now. “Turn off the sun for me, will you, Amélie?”

 Nobody was there to respond back to her.

Groaning, the still groggy young girl let out a deep sigh and marginally opened up her eyes. Those little slits gradually became larger, until her pupils and general vision became a lot more clearer. They closed again at the sudden burst of light registering, and gradually reopened so those almond spheres could settle.

Something was visibly different than the previous times Lena had risen up after Amélie. For starters, she never woke up first. That was a general thing for her, considering she was always exhausted. The second, Lena’s curtains were opened up. Third, the overall nature of the room seemed tidier than it should be, for Lena was known more as an untidy person. Not due to sheer laziness, but rather she felt it was more of a home that way.

Her eyes darted around, taking notice of clothes returning to their hangar racks and a fresh set of clothes off in the corner of her eye, resting on top of the drawers. They belonged to Amélie, of course, but it wasn’t common of her to leave it out in the open.

The first thing Lena did was take a light footstep off of her bed. She didn’t feel like this was real, or maybe that was just the grogginess talking. The sounds of sizzling ham and bacon over the stove roared over in the distance, and soon came the delicate smell lingering in the air.

Before the day would start, she would wash her face and brush her teeth. It just felt off to Lena to be eating first without brushing teeth beforehand. Cold water flowed down her sink and she cupped her hands together, pushing the liquids into her face. It refreshed her spirit and helped her try to stave off that sense of unreality.

Those smells became a lot more pungent,and it had guided Lena towards the kitchen space when she was done with her hygienic needs. Without a doubt, her S/O would definitely be there. She turned a corner in the hallway until it exited out to an open archway. The young girl peered over, yawning and rubbing her right eye as a means to get the woman’s attention.

Rather than have her hair in a ponytail, Amélie kept it down today. It was flowing all the way to her mid-to-lower back. As for her skin? It remained the same as it always was: A light shade of blue that sometimes turned purple under certain light. It was just the hair above all else that  let her stand out from her usual routine.

Amélie turned her focus on the small Brit with a grin. “Good morning, chérie (sweetheart/dear)! Comment ça va (How are you)?” To fully give her attention, the woman shuffled herself over and delivered a quick - yet meaningful - hug and a soft peck on Lena’s cheek.

“Startin’ the day already?” Lena had asked, and she trudged along so she could catch a glimpse of what else was cooking. Aside from the overwhelming smell of ham and bacon, there were sausage links ready to go and a side of two eggs on its way in another pan.

Amélie scooted the little girl over, promptly apologizing. “I need to finish this,” She moved her hands back on the pan and spatula, flipping over the various meats and the eggs. “Over easy, right?” Amélie asked, and Lena nodded in return.

This was no ordinary day, that was for sure. Something felt off about the woman before her, but it wasn’t something negative; Amélie was displaying signs of more life being breathed into her, and that was the farthest and most advanced sign of progress in a long while.

“Is everythin’ alright?” The young girl asked, and in return Amélie turned her cheek.

“I’m perfectly fine. Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just that you’re really...emotive today. You woke up an’ you’re makin’ breakfast.” Lena scratched her head nervously and leaned on the counter. “Not somethin’ you do every day.”

Judging by her own estimates, the food was done. Amélie cautiously moved Lena’s meal onwards to a moderately big plate, separating bits of it neatly so that it wasn’t a jumbled mess combined all at once. Sausage links were the last bits of items to be prepared, and so was toasting up slices of bread and buttering them. Gesturing, the woman advised the young girl take a seat.

For a while, Amélie spent some time cooking and contemplating what to say in return. Something about today truly was different, but it didn’t seem different to her. Being nice just felt right, giving kisses and tender hugs felt right.

During the time, Lena had promptly checked on her own social media what’s been going on outside of the world. Nothing that exciting seemed to be happening, and before she knew it, Amélie finished cooking and took a seat right by her. Fork at the ready, Lena dug into her meal.

“Do you ever feel like you just woke up from a dream you’ve been lost in for a while?” Amélie spoke calmly, and her fingers entwined with each other. “That’s how I felt this morning. I felt alive, for the first time without taking somebody else’s life.”

Lena stopped chewing, swallowing whatever bits were inside her mouth. “It’s not that I’m judgin’ ya on that,” She began, “It’s just unexpected!”

Amélie’s response in return was a hearty laugh. In Lena’s eyes however, it was really cute. She’d never really heard her love laugh in this way, at least not in the most kindhearted and genuine form.

But there was something else Lena noticed, after the woman’s mirth subsided. Her eyes didn’t have the aura of sadness, but rather of a soft and delicate sense had encompassed the woman.

Out of the blue, her skin got pinched and it did indeed hurt, just a little bit. It was Amélie who had nipped at her with her cold fingers, just to get the young girl’s attention again.

“You’re staring, Lena.”

Nervously, the young girl turned herself away. Her cheeks felt rather hot and she in general was embarrassed. Rather than focus on Amélie now, she focused on finishing up her food. What an odd day this was.

She felt a cold presence run up her arm, and it was just the woman tracing her index finger up and down. Lena nearly choked on the last bit of ham, since this was the most amount of attention she’d ever received.

“Ah, sorry! I did not mean for you to be afraid of me.” Amélie spoke out, her voice now in a lighter and more concerned tone. “Are you okay?”

Clearing her throat, Lena awkwardly grinned. “Y-yeah...I’m okay. It’s just that, well...” She wiped her mouth with a napkin and took a sip of her glass of water. “You never expressed concern about me, or anything at all.”

Amélie hummed, rising up out of her seat. She loomed over the young Brit and relaxed her icy hands on Lena’s shoulders. The chair the young girl was sitting in rotated over so they were now face-to-face with one another. “I’m always concerned. I may never show it, but, I most definitely am.”

With a quick pat, she knelt down and gave a swift kiss to the young girl’s soft lips. Once more, she rose up from her position.

“I think I’m going to go take a nice hot bath,” She had declared, clasping her hands. As she began walking away, she stopped just before the turn-away point. “You are more than welcome to join me, chérie. You smell, how do you say...? Ah, rank.”

At that moment, Lena’s face flushed deep red as the figure of her love disappeared back into her bedroom. Surely she didn’t smell that bad, right?

She felt strangely uncomfortable living under the same roof with this new Amélie, but at the same time...she felt that it was a nice change of pace, even if it was temporary. Over in the distance, the sounds of the faucet on the tub began flooding the air, and Lena quickly stood up out of her chair, grabbing her plate and filled it up with water in the sink.

Her next destination would definitely be the bathroom.

Chapter Text

A couple of hours ago, as it turns out, Widowmaker had been caught far too many times to actually be permitted to go anywhere anymore. Her constant disobedience required high amounts of maintenance on her reconditioning as punishment, but they could not break her. They could not destroy the one thing precious to her anymore. It had been months since the two girls had seen each other again, and in the end it left Tracer in a depressed state.

Her memories would be muddled, that much is true, but every single night, the sympathetic agents around her - the very same that were tasked to keep watch over her - would remind the sniper of what it was like outside of her cold exterior. They’d present her with bits of information, or perhaps change it up a little or even try to make her remember. Something, anything could’ve been better than a nonchalantly empty husk.

They couldn’t.

She didn’t care. She was programmed not to. Not even her colleagues could seem to give her what she needed; in fact, it was truly difficult given that all their surveillance data only served little purpose other than provide them with the information that she was, amazingly enough, dating someone in the world.

Through time, they had managed to piece together puzzles under the discretion that they could potentially be court martialed for their treason. Together, they managed to pinpoint a potential candidate: Lena Oxton of Overwatch. Though improbable as it seemed initially, all pieces of evidence led towards that one Overwatch agent alone.

They didn’t find it hard to believe, but rather this was the last resort they had to take. Against all odds, they’d have to return the Amélie Lacroix they were tasked with keeping an eye on, not a blind, merciless, and hollow murderer.

So as the crew of watcher agents willed it, they presented Widowmaker with a picture of her one and only beloved. Initially, her blank and cold stare had taken a look at a few pictures of the small Brit. She could only remember at the time the two incidents where they had met; one during London and one during the museum, with the former the the only time they had a less-than-idealistic time together.

A few long moments passed, but the more details her watchers gave, the more Widowmaker began to shake off her reconditioning. Bit by bit, she remembered what mattered to her. She had nothing left in her life, and if she truly desired it, she could return home to something she cared for - and yearned for. Thus, they boarded the hover-plane, but not before going through security, and that was what caused the problem.

So she fought. Against all odds, she would not be a tool for untold destruction anymore. Her watchers, knowing they’d be dead regardless, assisted Widowmaker on her escapade all the way to the ship. From there, they piloted their way out of the headquarters. There, they would not return to Talon again. They knew that by acting upon Widowmaker’s desires, they’d be branded criminals for disobeying military law.

 Nobody had managed to find them fast enough to intercept them, and once again, Widowmaker was freed from her chains. Her scratches and some bullet marks from the skirmish earlier would simply prove that she shouldn’t ever return to this organization. She’d have to go through a great deal of flak for what she’d done in the past, and not to mention have to explain herself in front of Overwatch themselves...not like it was the hardest thing she had done in her life.

In the time that it took for Amélie to recompose herself, she could not stop thinking about how much she hurt Lena by forcibly not being so attached to their relationship together. It was...inhumane. And foolish of her. She should have never left behind Lena - and she’d never do it again.

The hovercraft loomed over the skylines of London, but it was low enough that Amélie could jump out of the back without physically harming herself. From there, she’d have to descend down and find her way around the relatively empty streets at night. Equipped with a protective coat on top of her tactical bodysuit and visor, she leapt from the bay of the hovercraft and nimbly landed on a relatively flat rooftop.

Snow gently fell down from the cloudy skies above - something Talon’s HQ did not have - but it would not obscure Widowmaker from getting to Tracer. So that’s what she did, but not before scouring rooftop to rooftop trying to get her bearings. Words rang in her earpiece she kept, just so the agents could try and locate Lena, and they were rather doing a slow job at it.

There was no time to waste. Rooftops were not going to help her jog an already distorted set of memories, so perhaps landmarks of where they went on their various dates would come into play instead.

She descended down the rooftops, making sure not to go down too fast. Rather than do it graciously, she dropped nearly thirty feet down and let her boots absorb the shock, as they were meant to.

Amélie ran, and she didn’t stop running. Those who wandered quietly in the morning had not an idea of where this tall woman was running off to, and they paid no mind. Though the streets were unfamiliar, they slowly became more and more prevalent and memorable as she scanned the names of the streets.

After some point, the hover-plane had to leave. They couldn’t stick around anymore, for Talon had managed to find them and tracked them down. This left Amélie alone to search on her own, which she was perfectly fine with. She had come closer to places where she and Lena had gone before on dates, like the pub or the ice cream shop. It just simply meant she was close.

Lena in the meanwhile had been fast asleep as all this happened, but her holophone was at the ready by the side table. It had been the first time in a while she had been able to sleep without a hitch. Her eyes were puffy from weeping from earlier, but it had mostly subsided as time went on.

The sound of the hover-plane flying by had awakened her. Lena drooped her eyes, rising up out of bed. As she turned, she got a good view of the hovercraft before it disappeared into the skies. No question about it, that was a Talon ship in her eyes. But, as much as she had hoped for it, Amélie wouldn’t return to her.

It simply saddened her a little more when Lena thought about it. She hovered over her holophone to check on the time, getting slightly blinded at the intensity of how bright the screen was. The time read 3:05 A.M. in the morning, which was far, far too early for Lena to do anything.

Just before she set her holophone back down and went back to bed, she received an anonymous text message that had suggested the young girl take a look outside. Confused, yet curious, Lena slumped out of bed to take a look outside the window. Initially, she couldn’t see anything but white snow in the darkness, but then she looked down...

In a dimly lit street lamp, a black and purple figure stood out against the sheets of snow. Though a bit difficult to see at a glance, glowing caramelized eyes had pierced her gaze when she saw them.

Lena’s heart skipped a beat. Was it really her, after all these months? Something in her head told her to go outside, but at the same time, she became skeptical about it. There was no way, no how...
But she had gone anyway. Against her better judgement, Lena strapped on her chronal accelerator again, some slippers, and a warm jacket.

Her heart raced at the thought of it. Lena was rushing downstairs, stumbling out of the front door and silently cursed herself for being so clumsy. Her descent downwards to the ground floor almost caused her to slip again, but she wouldn’t let it happen.

Then she opened the door outside. The cold woman was still standing outside, her face now slightly more illuminated in purple, rather than blue. Upon further investigation, Lena had noticed there was a sense of sadness and regret in Amélie’s eyes. She couldn’t help herself, and neither could the woman, it seemed. They ran towards each other, with Lena crying tears once more.

They embraced, and Lena was sobbing deep into Amélie’s coat, unintelligible words being uttered out of her mouth. The woman calmly stroked her hand behind the nape of the young girl’s neck, soothing her from all the pain she had indirectly caused. Her eyebrows furrowed at the negative thoughts of letting anything harm Lena. She didn’t want that; she wanted the young girl to be happy.

Amélie’s heart beat just a little faster, and she had a smile on her face as she held onto the love of her life ever so tightly. The warmth of the accelerator and the humming emitting from the device felt more natural to her than killing innocents ever would.

It had been too long. Now, she was truly free. 

No more running away.

No more hiding from the truth. 

She was ready to turn over a new leaf, and with a new life, Amélie finally had something worth fighting for. The woman slightly pushed away from the young Brit just so she could whisper into her ear the only words Lena needed to hear:

“I’m home, ma chérie."