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."