Chapter Text
Amélie, Amélie, swirling across the stage like a plume on the wind. Grace and skill incarnated, every movement perfect, every breath timed and joyful.
Her heart was that of a swan, proud and soft, longing for the beauty of the world, while her mind was that of a spider: meticulous, focused, patient, sharp and letal if needed.
Countless days of training routines, diets, pain and perfectionism were a part of her life from such a young age that one could wonder if she even had a chance to choose what she wanted for the future. Truth was that no one knew that, not even her. However, it was well known that she loved what she did: that breathtaking woman with eyes like liquid gold gave it all for her art and flew on the arms of it for a long, lovely time.
Still, it came to an end on a rainy autumn night. It took everything with it - her future and ambitions, her joy, her love, all wrecked like the car she had been in with her sweetheart.
No more stolen kisses between her training routines, or worried comments if she'd overdone them;
No more dancing for the crowds or the sound of applauses;
No more Gerárd Lacroix;
No more Amélie Guillard.
As the rain fell down and mixed with blood, she looked at the empty road without really seeing it and thought that her life was over, and it was such a pity she wouldn't be able to perform next week on the season's premiere. She trained so hard for it…!
It was such a pity.
As she left the hospital a month later with a slight limp in her walk, several pins in her bones and a shattered career, she still thought that her life was pretty much over - but at least she'd probably find sweet Gerárd on the afterlife soon, if that sort of thing really existed.
She withered under the archways of her family estate, no money in the world capable of bringing the joy back, no friend or family enough to push her back to the sun. They couldn't do anything, as they didn't know what was inside and she wouldn't show them.
Grey and dull was her life, every day closer to Gerárd. The swan of her heart was hurt and killed, and now the beauty of world was unreachable.
Amélie, Amélie. Didn't she know she was the beauty of it as she locked herself inside, unresponsive to anything…?
--
Lena woke up so startled it took her a moment to realize she was safe in her room, away from the things that were plaguing her dream. Something hit her bed hard and fell, she was sure of that. The surprise was actually what it happened to be: a person, more specifically, a woman.
A woman that was having a sort of fit on the floor.
“Bloody hell!” Lena stood up too fast and almost tumbled back to bed, managing to lean on it and steady herself. “what do I do?!”
“ Give me… a moment…” the woman replied, her voice a hushed and painful tone.
“ Oh my god, okay…! ” Lena passed a hand through her hair, gaze fixed on her unexpected visitor, eyes wide as plates.
The woman looked like she was panicking or something, from the little she could see in the dark of her room. Lena didn’t want to talk and scare her, sending her further down into the episode - and she didn’t know what to say, anyway.
The moment that followed was a tense one, where the only sound was that of heavy breathing.
“...You people… feel too much…” the woman finally whispered, sighing, her muscles relaxing with the motion. “Too much.”
“I will t-turn on the lamp, okay?”
Lena slowly went to her end table and turned the lamp on with a click. The room was engulfed in a dim light that finally showed more of the woman laying on her back and staring blankly at the ceiling. She was ginger - her hair laid wildly on the floor - and she wore a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans and most importantly, was really, really beautiful. Her face was long and delicate, freckles adorned her cheeks and nose and the eyes were of such a crystalline blue, impressively smart and deep. Lena just stared for a moment like a fool with her jaw dropped.
Those eyes slowly turned away from the ceiling and into her direction, studying her.
“Who are you…?”
That snapped Lena out of the infatuation, if only by the irony of the question.
“Wait, you just appear out of thin air, crash into my room and I’m the one to hear that? Oh no lady, I’ll have you tell who you are first!”
She hummed an acknowledgement and looked away. Her expression gave nothing away. She didn’t speak for the next half a minute and Lena was becoming restless.
“Are you gonna say some--”
“Its Emily.” She said, abruptly. “My name’s Emily. I’m sorry I… landed … into your room. It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Then what was?”
Emily sighed. “I was headed for a friend’s house. I don’t have a clue what brought me here instead.”
Lena frowned. “What are you? Last I checked people don’t go teleporting into somebody’s house.” Something occurred to her and she stiffened, her warm brown eyes going wide again. “You a witch?”
“Not at all. Damn, how do you survive with senses this strong…?!”
“What? You… you need anything down there luv? Aren’t you feeling better yet?”
Emily slowly shook her head, denying, and closed her eyes. She took a slow, deep breath and released.
“Sorry. Good bye.”
Lena suddenly had the urge to look away from her and at the door, to see if it was closed. When she looked back, Emily wasn’t there anymore.
“What the… oh fuck , I knew I shouldn’t have drank so much.” She mumbled, grumpy, and laid down again. She was drowsy and all the alcohol on her system worked fast, before long the brunette was sleeping again.
--
Lena woke up on auto-pilot, as it usually happened that time in the morning. She took care of hygiene and dragged herself to the kitchen, groaning because breakfast was mean and wouldn't make itself. In that drowsy zombie state she almost missed the glimpse of movement on the living room, but caught it on the corner of of her eye and almost jumped out of her socks.
A woman was sitting on her couch. The same woman from the night before.
"Blimey, you're not a dream!" Lena shouted and brought a hand to her chest, her heart pounded against the ribcage like a startled bird.
"A dream? Cheap call, huh?" Emily smiled and Lena's stomach dropped - her smile was like spring and clever things, and the brunette just had to be super enticed by those damn dimples...! "...Breathe, darling."
Lena felt her cheeks burning and shook her head, totally distraught. "W-what the fuck, why are you in my living room?"
"Because staying in your bedroom while you slept seemed to be absurdly rude." The ginger leaned her head on her hand, amusement dancing in those bright blue eyes.
"That's not what I meant!"
"I know." She paused. "What I told you before still holds. I don't have the slightest clue... I try and try, but everytime I materialize, it's on your room."
"Fuck." Lena rubbed her eyes and messed with her hair, pacing around. "Look... Emily, wasn't it? If you'll keep on appearing here I'd really like to know at least what you are. And if you're gonna, like, need food or something, because I'm broke, let me tell you right away."
She chuckled. "You're adorable."
Lena didn't think she could blush even more, but there she was. "S-stop changing the subject!"
"I'm not. You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I am. No need for food or anything, really."
"Right... but really, what are you? Try me, you may surprise yourself. I mean, my best friend is a gorilla scientist..."
"A gorilla? Oh, I'm tempted to ask about this one but darling, weren't you getting ready to work?"
Lena froze, horror clear on her face as she remembered her primary goal and ran to the kitchen, shouting an impressive list of insults at no one in particular. Absorbed into doing the chores as quickly as she could, Lena barely noticed Emily was gone when she passed by the living room again, heading for the door.
--
It was close. A couple of minutes later and she'd have gotten herself in trouble for arriving late again. Lena wasn't exactly an example in punctuality, but at least she was better than Hana - her Korean friend used to play games into the dead of night and beyond, and as a result she was always late to work and virtually unreachable before ten o'clock, when she started making coherent noises and listening to simple commands.
Lena put on the uniform and apron, took a quick look at herself in the mirror - hello deep shadows under her eyes - and headed to the counter. Another half-day boring herself to death in the coffee shop.
Time flew while the place was filled with workers; Lena enjoyed seeing all the sorts of people that walked by and imagining what their stories should be, why they were so sleepy, distraught or happy. It gave her ideas, and she scribbled them on every piece of paper she could grab and wasn't important.
A really cool-looking omnic caught her eye that morning. They stood out amongst the usual crowd with the bright red paint of the markings in their face, and it reminded Lena of those flame patterns older custom cars used to have. She made sure to go take their order and tried a little conversation, which earned her some side-eyeing, but she really didn’t care anyway - she couldn’t believe this sort of prejudice still existed on that century and refused to be intimidated by it. After all, who cared if they were machines magical in nature and no one actually knew how they were alive? They were people all the same.
The workers would come and go, however, busy with their schedules. The coffee shop was empty and boring then, and whenever she could she'd grab a sketchbook and work on the ideas from earlier. It was in one of those breaks that Hana took a peek over her shoulder and let out an amused whistle, almost making Lena jump.
"Look at this pretty babe! Who's she? I don't think I saw a woman this pretty here today."
"You almost made me ruin it!" She scoffed, trying to hide the sketchbook on reflex. "Don't do that!"
"Oh c'mon Lena, let me see! It's not like I didn't see you drawing nastier stuff before." Her tone dropped to a more malicious tone and Lena blushed violently at the memory.
"Urgh Hana! It was once!"
"Hey, not judging!" The girl raised her hands in a peace gesture "you have fantasies pressing naked girls against walls, it's ok, I get it, it's a very sexually-orien--"
"FINE, fine I'll show you, just stop saying this out loud!" Lena almost begged, looking around frantically. It didn't seem like anyone else heard them.
She then sighed and extended the sketchbook. The bust of a gorgeous woman laid there in pencil, drawn in the rushed lines that were so characteristic of Lena's work.
"Wow, her eyes look so alive." Hana commented, a certain awe in her tone. "You're so talented, Lena."
"Thanks" She mumbled back, observing her work. She didn't know who that was, not really - the face just popped on her mind and she had to draw it, but she was glad she did. It was a really pretty woman. "Think I'm gonna clean the tables a bit."
Lena just didn't want to have to show the drawings she made on the weekend, to be honest, specially because there were some other NSFW stuff and she didn't want her friend teasing her for it. What could she do if she liked girls so much she had to draw them and their lovely anatomy, the sexy smirks, the hot poses...
"Now that's interesting."
She accidentally threw the cleaning product back as she was startled by the sudden sound. Emily was behind her, sitting in one of the side tables and looking around with curious interest.
"Are you following me?!" She practically squeaked.
"I guess? I just wanted to materialize when you weren't home to see what happened and turns out I'm not appearing on your room per se , I'm appearing where you are." She frowned. "So technically yes, I'm following you even if I don't want to."
"That's grand." Lena sighed, defeated. "Wanna order something, since you're here?"
"I have no money, sorry." She offered a sympathetic look. "But I can leave if you want."
"No, I have a better idea. Why don't you tell me what the hell you're trying to do and we figure out why you're unwillingly stalking me? Go on, I'll pretend I'm taking your order." She took pen and paper from a pocket on the apron and waited.
Emily looked at her for a moment, unsure where to begin, then her expression shifted to a surprised one and she stood very still.
"Emily...?"
"I'm trying to decide what is it that I'm feeling right now, one moment..."
"uh..."
"Are you an artist?" She took a deep breath. "Definitely. Definitely an artist."
"Ok that's enough, explain!" Lena hissed, crossing her arms and staring at her in anger. "Or I'm really gonna call the plods!"
"The what?"
"The police, woman, urgh !" She threw her arms in the air, frustrated. "By Earhart's grace, I'm gonna throw you out on the street if you don't answer me!"
"Ok." For the first time Emily looked troubled. "I'm a muse, Lena."
"What? Oh, you gotta be kidding!"
"I said you wouldn't believe me."
"No, go on, do go on ." She replied, sarcastic. "I wanna know the rest. You're a diva like Beyoncé, too?"
Emily rolled her eyes and pressed two fingers to her temple.
"First: divas and muses are very different things. Second: I did visit her once or twice." Her tone was harsher. "Look, we're not physical beings like you. If I'm here today... it's a special case, and I'm wasting time standing here while I should be after my goal--"
"Oh, the door is right over there!"
"-- still , there must be a reason." She shot Lena an annoyed glance. "Things like that - being stuck like that -, don't happen by chance."
"...So?"
"So what?"
"What are you gonna do about it? Will you, like, inspire someone to find the answer to why this is happening, oh muse?"
Emily opened her mouth to give her what would be, undoubtedly, a sharp reply, when Hana shouted from the counter.
"Oh Lena, stop hitting on the costumer and get your lesbian ass over here, we need you!"
"Sod off, Hana!" She shouted back and pointed to the ginger. "You. Stay here, I'll be back."
Emily merely raised an eyebrow to her tone and looked away to the window. It was a gloomy morning outside, very few people walking on the streets, but it was better than let the cocky brunette boss her around like that.
At least the unexpected break would give her time to order her thoughts in a coherent manner. She'd need to have everything sorted and explained if she really was somehow bound to Lena.
The ginger was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't see Lena come back to her table with pie and a cappuccino, but differently from her, she didn't jump in surprise when she noticed her presence. She just stared at her, then at the food.
"...I told you I have no money."
"Yeah, this one's on me. Can't have you just hanging around here not drinking anything, we'd have to throw you out. Oh, don't´look at me like that" She added "I still want the truth, Emily. If that's your real name."
"You have waited all your life to say that, haven't you?" The ginger grinned, cynical, leaning her head on her hand.
"Ugh, you're insufferable!"
"Am I? Noted." She upheld the grin "Now, on the subject of being a muse... Listen, we're spirits. We're there to help people create stuff and in turn, we feed on the surplus energy spent on the process, because you humans feel so strongly you can't hold it all inside. Why do you think people who bottle up are the ones that have the ugliest breakdowns?" She paused, raising an eyebrow for effect. "But we don't do miracles, darling, we make suggestions. Sometimes you listen and have ideas; sometimes you don't and it's fine too. We're usually helpers, enablers, mediators - We'll put a song on the radio while you listen so you'll find that last missing piece that prevented you from starting to write your novel, we'll make you bump over a person we think will help you study for that science test you've been dreading since the beginning of the month, but it's your choice to turn off the radio or apologize and go on your way without asking for help.”
"This all sounds really nice, sure, but how do I even know if it's true? I mean ok, you disappear and reappear and that's not something you see everyday, but then again we're in a world full of magic and there has been all sort of weird stuff around--"
"Hush, darling, I'll show you. Your friend over there, she's a gamer, right? She aims to be a pro one day."
"Sure, but--"
"Take her for a walk with you when you're out of here today. There's someone she should meet."
"Uh... ok? There may be a problem because Hana is sedentary as fuck, but..."
"Buy her something, then. Sweets, maybe?"
"How do you know she likes them?!" Emily just pointed to the counter, where the asian girl was shamelessly playing on a handheld console with three pockys sticking out of her mouth, focused on 'raising her APM', whatever that meant. "Oh."
"Do it then we'll talk, deal?" The ginger finally took a sip of her cappuccino and immediately opened her eyes wide from surprise. "God, that's so good!"
"Oh yeah, they're nice..." Lena giggled.
"No, you don't get it, I..." She trailed off looking at the pie, then she took a piece of it. "woah, that's really good too!"
Lena frowned. "I did bring you good stuff luv, but you talk like you never... wait. Oh god, have you ever eaten before?"
"No." Emily chuckled. "I didn't even have a body before, Lena."
"Fuck, I think that's too much for me, Emily. Honestly."
Lena sighed, passing her finger through her hair, and Emily nodded, sympathetic.
"I understand. Well, I'll finish here and leave you to your business, how does that sound? We'll talk later, after your walk with your friend."
"Ok." Lena shrugged. "bye, I guess? Oh, wait, I thought of something. If you go on giving suggestions to people, why don't you give me something wild to work with later?"
Emily gave her that amused smile with dimples that stunned her before, and she had to use a lot of self-control not to do it again this time.
"Deal. Let's see if you catch the hint."
With that, Lena nodded and walked away.
"So, did the flirting work?" Hana asked as she passed by the counter, her mouth still full with a pocky. "Will she go out with you?"
The brunette didn't even bother on replying that, going to the storage room.
Hana shrugged. "Guess not…”
--
It was surprisingly easy to convince Hana to go with her to the place where she'd be working that afternoon. Lena just had to let her record it to put on her Youtube channel later.
They headed to Lena's apartment to eat and get the painting equipment(Paint cans and mask, mostly), stored it all on a backpack and were off before 3pm.
Hana would never understand how her friend could use a bike as transport in a city as big and dangerous as London, and she wasn't even mentioning the point of being an absurdly physical activity. The sore muscles and sweat...!
Now she was used to it, but the first time Lena gave her a ride on the back of the bike she got really impressed by her stamina. That tiny dork brought them from her house to work and didn't even get tired, even though she carried someone else with her.
Now they went to a neighborhood a bit far from theirs. Hana watched as her friend talked with two men about the work she'd be doing, wrapping up the last details, and they gave her part of the payment. At a point they looked at her as Lena asked if it was ok for her to record and Hana waved and chewed her gum, making a ball.
"Ready to start here, Hana" Lena almost sang, shaking some cans of paint.
"Okay, Camera's ready." She pointed to the handheld camera atop a tripod stand and pressed a button, running to the front of the recording area. "Heeeello my beautiful friends! This is D.Va" She blowed a kiss for the camera "and today's off-game video will be something a bit different. Here I am in the streets of London with my friend Lena--"
"Tracer!"
"Hm?"
"Name's Tracer." Lena giggled. "Told ya, right? I couldn't just sign my name."
"Oh true. Well, we'll edit this bit out later." She waved dismissively, then got a bit closer to the camera. "Here I am with my friend Tracer..."
Lena didn't know if she was supposed to do anything, but waved and smiled quite gingerly.
"...and she kindly let us drop by to see her doing rad street art in this dull grey wall. Would you give us insight on your process?"
"Oh!" Lena raised her eyebrows in surprise but nodded regardless. "Sure, let me grab the sketchbook, hang on..."
"Ok, cut!" Hana shouted and went to press stop on the camera. "You did great, Lena! You didn't even stagger!"
"Uh... really? I was caught off-guard there. You really want to know how I do this? I thought it was only about the graffiti itself..."
"Oh don't be shy!" The girl winked, giggling. "It's interesting and gives a whole new depth to the final product."
"Wow, you really know what you're doing, right?"
"Of course I do, silly!" Hana laughed, amused, and messed with Lena's hair. "Now let's see what you got there."
Hana grabbed the camera from the tripod and brought it closer to them in order to show the sketchbook. Lena procceded to show them the sketches for the painting she'd do - two rollerskaters gliding in intertwining patterns, energy ribbons trailing behind them. - and the color studies and notes, all while she explained them and said how she'd go from that to a huge wall. Then it was time to actually start the work there.
With the camera back on her previous, stable place, Lena started marking the wall with lines, angles and pointers, then she moved to rough sketches and a first layer of paint. The korean girl occasionally made questions, but she knew better than to disturb an artist working.
And what a work it was shaping to be. If Lena was better at advertising her stuff, Hana thought, she'd be quite well known out of that part of the city.
The tiny woman painted a part of the energy ribbon in a bright green tone, totally focused. She loved doing it - the drawing, the painting, the finished piece. To make a little piece of that grey city colorful and alive was a fulfilling thing and made her very happy.
It felt almost as if she was flying again. Few things did that - at least when she was sober.
The work had a palette of greens and yellows for each of the rollerskaters and white as a base color. Lena was almost done with the sharp lineart when an idea struck - what if she put roses on the trails of light? Roses for one and lilies for the other, in swapped tones... yeah, that could work!
She finished the lineart and grabbed the green and yellow cans again, changing the caps on them to ones built for details. Green lilies outlined on yellow light, yellow roses on the green one, petals flying away and turning from lines to solid colors. Then she signed her name on a corner and stepped back to look at her creation.
Perfect. It was really perfect.
"Woah girl, you nailed it!" She heard Hana say behind her and turned, taking out the mask and gloves. "That's awesome!"
She laughed and wiped some sweat drips from her face with the back of her hand. "Thanks! Did you enjoy it?"
The brunette said that while looking at the camera, and Hana winked for her in an approving gesture.
"I'm sure they did!" Hana herself turned to face the camera, showing a huge smile. "And that was it for today's video! Like it? Don't forget to subscribe! Love, D.Va!"
Then she went and hit pause, sighing satisfied. "Boooy I'm sore from sitting there the whole time! I'm not complaining though. Why did you never call me to see you doing this before, Lena?"
"Well, I..."
The sound of someone clapping picked their attention and they both turned to see a huge black man in an impeccable suit coming with a warm smile on their direction. One of his hands was complex and robotic, probably animated by magic, as far as those things used to go.
"That was an impressive performance, ladies." He praised, taking a little bow. "Really good art and a really good showgirl." He tilted his head. "Promising, both of you... And I do have an eye for those things."
"Have you been here the whole time?" Lena frowned. "Because that would be cre... Hana?"
Her friend was frozen, her skin pale as milk, making small incomprehensible noises.
"Hana, can you even hear me...?"
"He's Akande Ogundimu." She managed to say in a strangled voice.
"My, so you know me. What an well-informed girl." His smile became broader.
"But I don't." Lena blinked, confused, looking from one to the other. "What's going on here?"
"May I have your names, miss...?"
"Oxton. Lena Oxton." She raised an eyebrow. "and she's Hana Song"
"It’ss a pleasure to meet you, sir!" Hanna finally snapped out of the frozen state and almost jumped to shake Akande's hand. "I never thought... wow!"
"Nice to meet you too, Hana. What's happening, Miss Oxton" he looked at Lena with amusement. "Is that I'd like to see more of what you two can do in your respective areas. Here, take my card." He produced two rectangular cards from an inner pocket on his suit. "Call and tell my assistent your names, she'll make an appointment. Now, if you excuse me, I have somewhere I should have gone at least an hour ago."
Akande laughed and shook his head, giving them the cards and walking away. Hana waited until he was out of sight and started screaming like crazy.
"Oi, what's all that for?!" Lena protested and in turn Hana threw herself on her, hugging her. "H-hana, what?!"
"That man is Akande Ogundimu, Lena!" She repeated. "He's one of the big names of the entertainment industry and he wants. to. SEE US! OMG!"
"Wait, really?!"
"yeah! I can't believe you've never heard of him, you dork! He was a famous fighter named Doomfist until he lost his arm... nothing, really?!"
Lena shook her head.
"You're hopeless!" Hana finally disengaged, grabbing her camera and tripod. "Get your stuff, let's celebrate!"
Lena didn't quite grasp why Hana was so happy yet - sure, the man was powerful and wanted to see them, but that didn't mean he would hire any of them on the spot...! -, but say the word celebration and she's up for it, no matter what. Any excuse to get drunk and possibly get a girl was a good excuse for her.
"Got somewhere in mind, D.Va...?"
--
Sunset painted the sky in tones of red, orange and pink as they were getting close to the pub Hana chose. They crossed a bridge and Lena was finally complaining about the extra weight when she came to an unexpected halt midway to the other side.
"Ow! Hey, mind your passengers!" Hana complained.
"That woman... Oh my god, that woman's gonna jump!"
" What? !"
The brunette was already jumping out of the bike and running for the railing when Hana finally spotted the woman standing on the edge of the bridge, dark and long hair dancing on the wind.
"O-oi, lady, don't do that!" Lena was almost getting to the woman when she turned and faced her, surprised.
"Don't come closer!" She warned, her voice shaking.
Lena stopped immediately. "Ok, got it, just don't jump!"
They just stared at each other for a moment. The woman had stunning golden eyes that studied Lena and an expression that gave nothing away, as if she had lost the ability to express anything but sorrow.
Hana didn't dare to approach them and cause a tragedy - she'd be more useful on the sideline at the moment, taking care of the bike. Lena was the one with the hero syndrome, anyway.
"What do you care...?" The woman finally said, and the artist noticed her accent was foreign- probably french? -, and her voice was soft as velvet, although torn in that situation.
"What do you mean 'what do you care?', no one should go around jumping off of bridges!" She put her hands on her waist, frowning. "Besides nothing is really lost, you know? There's always a different way we may not see at a given time but will discover eventually. And all the places to be, all the food to try and people to love... Would you want to miss that?"
"There's nothing for me." She replied dryly and looked away to the sunset.
"Not true, luv!" Lena's tone was soft, as if she was talking to a lovely child. "You can come with me and we'll have fish 'n' chips then a milkshake! Or, if you're not into that, we could go watch a movie, what do you say? Maybe sit on a park and just enjoy the view... "
" Stop ." The woman sighed and shook her head, still not looking at the brunette. "Stop trying to cheer me up. There's nothing left to do. Nothing for me..."
" Ne fais pas ça, araignée du soir. Vous êtes aimée ." (Don’t do that, evening spider. You are loved.)
The woman turned so fast she almost lost her footing, but managed to hold on the railing and look utterly surprised at the newcomer. Lena also had the same gobsmacked expression.
It was Emily. She managed to appear out of thin air unnoticed again, this time amongst them. How did she do it?!
"Would you join me, Amélie?" The ginger extended a hand to the woman. "It's too pretty a night to let yourself go like that."
Amélie looked like she had seen a ghost, but still obliged. She slowly went back to the safe part of the bridge, with Lena helping her out, and took Emily's hand.
"Who are you...? Why... Why do it feels like I know you?" She whispered
Golden eyes found blue, and Emily gave her a bright, completely happy smile.
"That's because you do, chérie . Not in the way you'd expect, but you do."
--