504A/N: Changed my name, and look out for a lengthy note at the bottom.
Prologue: The Hill and the Man
'I like to live life with no regrets. I did a lot of things because of that. Joined the airforce. Got a girlfriend. Made friends with a space gorilla. I wanted to, so I did. If I didn't, I'd probably be somewhere in London in some dingy old apartment wallowing in why I didn't just do it.
'I like to think of myself as someone who always looks forward. Looking back, it got me into more trouble than I could reasonably list. Heh. I really was a bloody brat when I was younger.'
"Hello? Hello! Is anyone here?"
Lena Oxton found herself beneath the foot of a hill. Somewhere where she shouldn't be, considering she'd been piloting a plane not ten minutes ago. The hill was craggy, mountainous, foggy, and definitely not Gibraltar. The sun bore down on her in searing heat, despite being obscured by the smog.
Either she's hallucinating, or something really bad just happened.
She started walking against her better judgment of waiting for help.
And bumped hip first into the hilt of a sword.
An ornate, silver blade. The hilt was smaller than what Lena had seen in any of those old videos, but the blade itself was all the more curious. As she looked closer, she could see that it was segmented.
Why a sword would be segmented was anyone's guess.
Lena took another look around, and couldn't believe she missed all of them.
Them being the countless blades that littered the hill. They were of every design she could have thought of, and more she couldn't. Every size from the smallest knife to one massive slab of rock that kinda looked like a sword.
'What the hell is this place?'
She looked at the segmented sword, "Well, if no one's here…" She grabbed at the hilt of the blade, before static danced in her hand. Lena yelped and let go as quickly as she could. She rubbed at her hand as she glared at the sword.
She swore she thought that the sword was glaring back.
"Bloody hell you're a bit pissy aren't ya?"
She felt the sword glare at her even more.
"Right, definitely a hallucination then." Swords didn't glare at people. That's what Lena grew up with. If swords did glare at people, then the person was a bit nutty. Lena was worried about that.
She started walking again, avoiding the swords that littered the hill. She started to trace what exactly she'd been doing.
First, she'd been called into Overwatch as a test pilot for their new Slipstream. The Slipstream being an experimental fighter jet, equipped with an all-new teleportation matrix. It was supposed to 'revolutionize air warfare'. Lena thought it was bollocks, but the chance to test a new plane was something she was raring to go with.
Second, she'd had a pretty good meal at the cafeteria. Classic English breakfast. Whoever made that bacon had her pick of best chef.
Third, she had gotten in the Slipstream and left base. Base being Overwatch's Gibraltar base.
And then? Blank.
It was as frustrating as it was worrying.
As she walked, she could feel her throat getting drier by the minute. This place was just way too hot. If this kept up, she'd die of exhaustion.
A gust of wind kicked up even more dust. She coughed as said dust entered her lungs, 'At this rate, I'll die from dust inhalation before anything.' Lena grimaced as she moved once more. She slapped on her aviation goggles before making her way further uphill. It wasn't much, but it was enough to see where she was going.
It was maybe two minutes later that she saw something in the distance.
Or rather, someone.
Just barely, she could make out the figure sitting on a rock further up the hill. She could tell they were wearing red, but nothing else.
Relief coursed through her body as she waved towards the person. Unfortunately, it seems like they didn't see her. Probably because the dust is still in the damn way.
Nevertheless, she strode forward with renewed vigor. Slowly, the hill became steeper. Not impossible to climb, but enough that her increasingly weakening body was having some trouble with it.
Then, the person looked up. She could see them do a double take upon seeing her.
The dust storm cleared. Lena blinked behind her goggles. That was way too abrupt. Still, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She took off her gear and finally had a good look at the other person.
It was a dark-skinned man, with shockingly white hair. He wore some black body armor under a red three piece something. Lena wasn't an expert in fashion, but even she couldn't put a name to whatever it was the man was wearing.
He was also looking at her in abject shock.
She waved at him.
"'Lo there luv. Fancy meeting you here huh?" Internally Lena wanted to bash her head in. 'Of all the things you could say, you went with that?!'
He opened his mouth to speak.
"̶̩̋̑́̌̈͒̋͝W̸͎͚̗̥̱̱͙̣̔̌̉́̆͆͛̇̾͆͝͝ͅͅh̴̛̩͙͍̗̪͉̎̐̅͑̈́̅͗͆̕o̵̰͕͊̚͠ ̷̣̬̻͉̥̱͍͊́̽̄̀̌́͗̅͗͆a̷̛̱̞̘͔͓̻̎̊̂̐̎̽͊̒̚̚͝ŕ̴̼̀̂̅̒͛͠͝ḝ̸̯͕̖̞̂̾̅̐̒͌͘͝ ̴͍̈́̉͑͜y̶̺͒̌̈́́́̐͂̎̚͠ồ̷̢͕̣̙̩̅́͋̊̃̀̚͝ṷ̴̢̬̘̩̦̙̞̙̺̈͋̇͊̓ͅ?̴̨̥̟̮̘̮̙͚̻̝̞͉̹̄̆̊̑͋̊ ̸̢̛̛̘̟͍̦͈͙̜̠̌̉̆͂̌͛̽̉̉͘H̷̡͉̮͕̲͔̘͔͕̪̀̓́͜ǫ̵̧̻̰̱̦͖̲̯̈́̊̌̊͜͠w̸̨̡͉͕̤̲̮̙͖̝͙̰̑͘'̴͎̖̲̱̱̬̙̲̥̻͒̿̒͆̈̕͜͜d̵̡̙̪͔͔̗͉̙̉̈̊̈́̉̋͑ ̵̢͚͇̦̣͎̗̽̐̓̒̂y̷̛̟̟̲̰͖̯̪̾̑̈̆͌͜ṍ̴̡̞͎̱̩̥̖̕͜ṵ̷̧̗̭̯̝̤̿̆̃̿͌͐͗̀̽̂̕̚͜ ̸̡̖̻̦͓̰̖͂̓̋͂̆̌͝g̶̮̰̿͆̃͑̌͐̕e̵̡̛̦̹̤̺̘͙̰̐̐̾̃̿̀͠ẗ̸̯̥̠̱͎͙͇̰͈́͆ͅ ̷̢̫͉͇͇̦͚̪͈̥̗̞̿h̸̢̹̳̹͕̩͈̯̉̈́̑̈́͐͘͝e̶̡̯̪̞̭̝̻̖̫͌͌͊͑̓̾͝͝r̸̪͆͊́̈́͛̔́̌͆̌͛̆̋e̵̢̤͕̲̒̾̓̔̉͐͘͜͝?̷̡̡̫̺̪̳̤̥̖̟̲͕͛͒͐̇̏̀̉̚͜"̴̢̧̮͋̿͘͠
She could see his lips form words, but when they came out, it was like hearing through some garbled radio chatter. She couldn't understand anything.
"Um." She fidgeted in her place. How the hell was she supposed to respond to that? It was a moment later when she saw him sigh and look at her in disappointment.
"̶̺̭̲̑͋̿́͂̓͂̏̐̚̕ͅY̸̢̢̙̘̗̹̜̏̾̑̋̚͜͠͝ò̷̝̮̥̭͗͋̈́̔͂̀̐́u̴͈͍̠̱̪͇͚̾̅̕ ̵̭̹̗̬͖̳͌̍͐c̶͕̰̣̪̩͒̈̃͂̿͘͠ȃ̸̢̧̻̪̭̘̞̻̙̪̰̩̾͒͆͛̂͂́̐̈͑͠n̵̛̗͍̣͚͙̩̼̉̈͘͝͠ͅ'̸̧͇̘̝̯̻̐̅́̌̑t̴̡̞̝̗̼̞̭̭̯̄͆͑̍̃ ̷̺̲͔͓̼̖̹͙̹͎̄̽̎̄͒͐̅̌̚̕h̷̻̬̘̗̙̎͌̓̐̈́̽͝e̵̦̰̣͛̍͒̔͋̐̇̑́͆̒ā̵̧̲͔͇͙͖̫͈͔̣̲͍̱̆̓̋r̷̨̧̭̲̱͕̹͇͕̱̎̆̒̅͌̈́̄̀̎̌̂͜ ̴̛͔̬́̈́͒̔m̵͎̠̻̤̮̥͙̺̟̀̋̀͛e̶͙͙̪̫͚̿̒̉̏̆ͅ,̶͈̻̰̲͈̞̤̙̍ ̸̺̟̻̭̟̰̠̈́͋̍̀͂̀͐͝c̴̹͎̪̟͑̇̋́̅̾̄͋̽͝ͅa̸̡̬̤̝͇͚͂̒͗̾̌̈́̂̄̓͜͝n̵̳̽͌͒̉̌͘͘ ̴͈̳͚͚̝̮̘͔̻̥͖̟̜̓͊͊̔͒̈́̀͝y̶̢͒̌̍̒̿̀̈́̓͐̾̂͐͘o̶̡̢͚͖͚͓̯̙̿͂̀̈͗̿̊̀̃̒̕̕͜͠u̴̠͓̰͇̞̲̽͌̓?̸̢͍̫̙̗̗̪͐"̴̢̝͈̮̗͉͎̙͕͉̄͒
She didn't need to know what he was saying to not get the look he was giving her.
"Nope, you sound like an angle grinder made love to a dolphin and had a baby." She saw him snort. She grinned. She's still got it.
"So, any idea how to get out of here?" She knew that it would probably be futile in having a conversation when only she couldn't understand him, but from his reactions, he could understand her.
If that's the case, then maybe he could help?
At his shake of head in a negative, she frowned, "Wait, d'you mean there's no way out, or you don't know if there is one?" He paused for a moment before lifting both hands up, a finger lifted on one, and two on the other.
"Both? There's no way out, and you don't know if there is one?" A nod.
"Alright, that doesn't make sense. If you don't know if there is one, then how do you know there's no way out?"
"̴͋̽̂̑̽̍̋ͅ"̴̘͎̘͚͗Y̷͚͛͌̑̋o̷͖̫̅̅̕ͅǔ̸̯̽ ̷̣̰̝̘̋̄m̷̢̍̓̚ả̵͕̅̀͌d̸̖̎͂̾̄ê̴͓͇̻͙̔ ̸̧̫̊i̴̙̖̊̈́̚̕ṫ̶̛̞͂ ̷̨̝̎̀͠h̵͍̩̅e̴̳͋̉r̵̦̫̘͒e̵̪͕̓̓̎ ̵̝̯͇͓͆͋w̷̜̟̳̄͗͗͘i̵̞̦̒̅͠t̷̹̯͕͛̅̈́̎ḣ̸̝͗ͅồ̶̘̹͖͌͜u̸̳͕̠̟͊̓̐͠ẗ̸͖͇́̐ͅ ̷̼̔ͅm̴̡̨̒̍̒ḛ̸̟̪̐̃̃ ̴̙̿k̵̰̄̐͋ņ̵̭̓ͅo̷̧̠̪̪͐̓̈́ẅ̵̹́͑̉͝i̴̻͚̎̽͠n̶͕͈̫̙͊͌͗́g̵̼̦͕̎͜.̶̻̪̜̩͐͝ ̵̡̲̼̑̈̐Ḭ̶̛͙̈́̆f̵̡͗͜ͅ ̷̢̜̻͂͌̕y̴̝̎̓̓ȏ̷̧̟͛̈u̴̳͍͌ ̶̩̞̎͛m̵̨̲̲͂̃͘ä̷͇͚͛ň̸̡̛͙̥͇̑a̴͎̰͠g̸̖̬͑͂e̵̘̦͖̺͑́̚d̷̞̮͒̓͘͝ ̷̹̀̕͝t̸̼͒́̄̀ọ̵͝ ̸̲̙̭̏͜͝d̶͍̼̯̖̑̔͒̄o̶̢̿̃̅̈ ̵̼͂̈́į̸͙̻̫̃t̴̠̐͐̒,̴̡̕͜ͅ ̴̢̯͕̝͗̅͐͝t̸̖̯̭̑h̴̬̃ę̵̦̤̻̑̆n̴̝̪͚̹̈́̊̕ ̴̧͓̈̒͝ͅt̸̺̀ḩ̷̝͈̜́̑e̷̱͘r̶̫̠̥͠ȩ̵͓̿́̓ ̵͉͛̈́c̴̢͚̯̥̏̈́͌o̶̗͔̦̓́ú̷͍̐̈́ͅl̶̈ͅḓ̷̬͋ ̷̢̛̝̜͠b̸̩͍͈̀̉e̶̼̓̚͠ ̷̖̒͝a̵̛͓̘͍̿́ ̵̫͖̑w̶̡̟͍̉͌̈͘ȧ̵̜̺͜͜y̵͎̳͇͍̎,̶͔͒́͆͝ ̷͈̇ͅͅḃ̵̛̫u̵̪͌͒̀͠t̶͎̜͙̝̀͊̓͛ ̴̛͚̈I̵̛̙ ̵̛̥͋c̴̢̹̞͊̿ǒ̷̡̢͎͈ű̶̧͎͓̲ḷ̴͉̗͌͂͗͂d̸̟̙͕̘̒̎̽͠n̴͍̼͂̎̅́'̵̜͚̹̻͊̽ţ̴̫͈̘̈̈́̚ ̴̬̰̳́̑̀̚s̶̺̣͌͌́͘a̸̡͓͕̝͝ŷ̴͚̳̽ ̷͍̇f̶̢̗̤̺͛õ̷͇̙͇̦r̵̢̡̥̠̄͝ ̴̼̱͇͙̏͘s̵̗̙̦̉͐̋ù̶̞̔͊̚r̴̺̭̺̎e̶̡͔̱̒̀͑.̸͇̝̮͐̓́͜"̵̢̼͓̝̅̇̅̚
"Gah, stop, stop! You're making my ear bleed!"
The man shrugged. This was going to take a while.
A couple of minutes (Hours? She couldn't really tell; the sun hadn't moved from behind the smog) later, she was sure that the man didn't know of a way to leave.
They were both stuck here.
She slumped in defeat, before standing tall.
"Right! I'll try and find some help. I'm guessing you'll stay here and wait?" The man raised an eyebrow, before nodding. The amused look on his face was concerning though. Lena looked behind the man, the hill sloping downhill.
In the distance, the horizon stretched with the seemingly endless swords stabbed into the earth.
She gave him a nod, his amused face irking her slightly, before heading down.
And she walked. She walked for who knows how long. The sun never moved an inch. Where before, she thought it might have been late in the afternoon, she was now thinking it was closer to midday, despite the Slipstream test happening at eight in the morning.
She could feel the incline of the path she took become steeper, as if climbing another hill. She started to jog now. She wanted to get a new vantage point, see if she could spot civilization or something.
Lena instead found herself looking at the same man in red as before.
"Wha-how'd you get here?!"
She watched as he put two fingers up, one staying still, while he pointed to her with the other. The other then moved away from the stationary finger, before looping back. Again. And again.
There was no need to voice out what it meant. Lena did so anyway, "You, you're telling me that this place loops back to here?" He nodded.
A beat.
"Bollocks!" Lena rarely got angry, but this was too much, "You're just playing some bloody prank on me, aren't you?! Winston's gonna come up from wherever and we'll all have a laugh about it over drinks, right?! There's no bloody way you're serious!" She stormed off into the distance, determined to prove him wrong. Determined to get this charade done.
She ignored him as he shook his head in pity.
"Come on out everyone, the joke's over! Your guy over here gave it all away!"
The hill with the man.
"Seriously, this is getting old already!"
The hill with the man.
"Winston, I swear to God, if you don't come out right now, I'll-"
The hill with the man.
"This isn't funny anymore guys, please! Stop this shite!"
The hill with the man.
"PLEASE!"
The hill with the man.
Lena screamed.
She screamed until she couldn't anymore. She sat on a rock next to the man in red. She couldn't bear to look at him, not when he was looking at her like that.
But at the same time, it was as if he knew what was going to happen.
"This is all just a dream, right?" The whisper was louder than her cries. "I'm just in bed, Emily's gonna wake me up any time now. Just a dream. Just a bad dream." She ignored the man as he stared at her.
She rocked herself to sleep, exhaustion taking over her.
Lena bolted awake to the sound of warbled voices. She frantically looked around, finding herself no longer on that hill. Nor was the person that awoke her the man in red. Instead, it was a woman in blue armor looking at her in concern.
Lena understood why after just a moment of inspection. She was, after all, sitting right in the middle of a busy road.
She looked around. Pedestrians were looking at her, quite a number of them were pulling their phones out to record her. The people, the buildings, all of them looked familiar.
London.
"̴͔̔͗̏M̷̳̲̼̀̽į̷̘̤̅s̵̱̟̩͂s̸̛̞͔̫̖̀?̵̦̬͛͘͘͜"̵̜̯̮͋́́̈́̆ͅ
The woman again spoke in that warbled voice that made her ears bleed. She tried to tell the other woman to stop talking, stop making her head hurt, but it all came out as a pained cry.
She frantically grabbed at the armored individual, noticing too late that another two were behind the woman. They had pointed their rifles at her as soon as she moved. She saw their armor, saw their patches, and recognized them as Overwatch. But their voices were anything but relieving.
She needed to get away.
"̴̨̳̯͔̓̓̈M̸̪̝̄̀a̷̩̮̽'̴̢̦̘̦̝͋̃̌̿ạ̴̡̩͆̈́̎͠m̴̺̈́͘,̴̧͕̞̞̂̿͜ ̶͍̞̈͑̉̓͠p̷̖̥͔̗̫̔̈́͝l̵̤̦̘̽̈́͠é̵͇͔̹̦̥̐̀͝͝a̶̩̠̺͒̓̎̓s̶͇͒̏̎͂̚ȩ̸͕̖̯̜̃̃̈́͆ ̶̝͉̫̑̚c̴͚̼̘̽ͅa̶̧̓̈̿̆͝l̴͓̟̫̰̇͂́̈́m̷̩̼̰͊-̷̣͍͇͠"̵̛̤̘̙̐̈́ͅ
The woman couldn't finish. No, it was better to say that Lena didn't even hear it, as another blink later, she was gone.
She found herself back on the hill.
"No." Her hands now grabbed at empty air.
"No." She tightened her hands into fists, fingernails cutting into her palms.
"NO! Nonononono." Renewed tears pricked at the edge as she bawled on the ground. Behind her, she could hear the crunch of the earth, as a hand came to a rest on her shoulder.
The hill with the man.
"I was there. I was back!" She frantically rambled on, "I made it back!" She shook as she cried harder. The hand on her shoulder squeezed in a semblance of comfort.
It didn't bring any.
"Please send me back! Just do what you did before when I was sleeping!" He shook his head, not unkindly. But there was an undercurrent of sorrow in his gaze.
She cried for what seemed like hours. Even if they seemed to talk the same way as the man in front of her, she had been, for a brief moment, back home. She had been given a lifeline, and had it cruelly taken away at the last moment.
She clung onto the man in red, uncaring if he was a stranger. The man patted her back as she did, and through the tears, Lena couldn't help but be reminded of her mom.
'That doesn't mean I don't have regrets. What kind of person would I be if I didn't have regrets? I can't turn back time after all. All I can do is live with them. Grit my teeth and bear the fallout for each and every one.
…Emily…
Emily, I know I didn't say it enough, and I think I never will. But I love you.
My one regret, the one thing that kept me up at night, is that I never had the bollocks to marry you.'
She started talking soon after she stopped crying. She talked about her life, her regrets, her highs and lows. The man in red listened as she did.
Others might be appalled at ranting at a stranger. To her, it was better than nothing. She would rather talk and talk rather than wallow in silence. She knew it was an escape, but it was still better than nothing.
She talked about her dreams. Of being a beacon of hope. Of achieving that dream by joining Overwatch. She talked about how happy she was that she could help people. Be the hero that she had idolized as a child.
She calmed down. She didn't know how long it took, but her thoughts slowly drifted to better, happier times. Of spending time talking shop with her crew in the RAF. Of her time with her parents before she had to move out.
Of spending time with Emily.
"Heh. You must think I'm some sort of loon, wax poetic over all my problems. Hell, I think I'm some sort of loon, and all of this is just some wacky hallucination." Lena laughed, "The base therapist is gonna have a field day when I get back."
When. Not if.
Not because she knew she would return, but that she didn't want to think of the alternative.
A blink.
A busy road again. But this time, no pedestrians could be found. Instead, a set of police barriers were in place, surrounding the area around her.
"̷͇͖̖̂̂͛̎͐L̶̠̯̈́͗̈͑͋e̸̤̭̤̭̞͊̊̎̊͆͝ń̵̢̺̓̒̎͑ȁ̴̭̲̫̺͖ͅ!̴̨͎͙̮̘͔̔̈́̓̔"̴̤̪̀̑̈́̉̽͜͠
The voices were back. A loud thumping sound rapidly approached her. She barely had time to turn around before a huge mass was on her. She recognized that form, one so completely out of place in London that there couldn't be anyone else.
"Winston!?" How could she not when that voice belonged to a talking gorilla?"
It went to show just how much she trusted him when she didn't question why she was given it, nor did she hesitate to start putting it on despite the grating voices in her ears.
In short order, she had put everything on, and Winston flicked a switch on the side.
"Woah, that's weird."
The centerpiece glowed a soft blue, and Lena felt something shift, as if she was moving this entire time and she just stopped. She didn't even realize it was happening, similar to how nobody notices that they're breathing until someone else points it out.
Winston breathed a sigh of relief, as his previously stiff shoulders slumped down in apparent exhaustion. She looked at him in slight trepidation, "Winston?"
"You're fine now, Lena." A large weight seemingly left the gorilla's body, and he sat down on the ground unceremoniously.
Lena couldn't help but do the same, sharing in his relief.
"Alright, I guess you have a lot of questions?" Winston shifted his glasses, and Lena could see the sand in his eyes, coupled by the bags beneath them. She didn't even know gorillas could get eyebags!
"Yep! We heading back to base?" She tried to keep the cheery voice that she'd been known for. It was incredibly difficult. All of this was just too much. Winston nodded, a smile on his face.
"Commander Morrison, if you'd do the honors?" It was a slap to Lena's face to realize that they weren't alone. Dozens of people milled around, all wearing the eye-catching blue armor of Overwatch. She recognized even a few of them from Gibraltar.
All of them staring at her. It was kinda weird, if she had to admit.
In front of all of them, an older blonde carrying a heavy-looking pulse rifle.
Commander Jack Morrison. Arguably the face of Overwatch in its entirety. War hero of the Omnic Crisis, and one of her childhood heroes. And he was standing right in front of her.
'OhgodohgodohgodismyhairrightshitIhaven'tshoweredohfuck-'
The Commander smiled at her, in reassurance, as he turned and motioned for everyone, "Move out people. I want us all back home by tomorrow. Except you, Lieutenant Wilhelm, you're coming with us." He looked towards a larger man carrying a hammer that was way too big.
"Well," Morrison turned to her, and Lena felt smaller for it, despite the easygoing smile on the Commander. Everyone else started to clear the police barriers. His smile turned somewhat grim, and more than a little apologetic, "We can debrief you when we get back to base. That said, let me be the first to apologize on behalf of Overwatch." He inclined his head downward.
"None of what happened should have, and I can assure you, Miss Oxton, should you wish for reparations, we're ready to give them."
"Ahahah," She rubbed the back of her head. Lena still couldn't believe this was happening. Just minutes ago, she was still on that hill. This was all turning out to be completely out of her depth, "It was just an accident, right? No need to blame you guys for that."
"If only it were that simple…" The uncharacteristic bitterness from Winston caught Lena off-guard.
"What'd you mean by-" A loud beeping sound from the chestpiece alerted everyone. She could see Commander Morrison snap to attention, and she could see that he held back from trailing his gun on her. Winston let out a noise of shock. He started to fiddle around with a rather bulky part of the harness.
Commander Morrison called for everyone else to stop packing up, "Winston, what's wrong?" The question was quiet, but the seriousness left no room to not answer.
"It's the battery. This thing is already running on the best microfusion generators we have, but it's still taking more than they produce!" Lena could tell that Winston was panicking at this point, and but for the life of her, she couldn't do the same.
"Hey, hey. It's fine."
"It's not, Lena! Without this, your temporal dissociation might as well be permanent!" She didn't need to be debriefed to realize that whatever that dissociation was the cause of being on that hill. As much as she wanted to stay, though, they had to face facts.
"Winston, if you didn't calculate for this, then there's nothing you can do." Lena tried to calm down the ever increasing franticness of the gorilla, "I'll be fine. I'll be safe, and the next time I come back, you'll have this all figured out."
She was sure of that. Sure that she would come back - she'd already done so twice, so why not a third? Lena may not have much to go on, but she had faith in the smartest gorilla she ever knew.
A watery chuckle made her realize she spoke that last part out loud, "I'm the only gorilla you know." The chestpiece, the chronal accelerator, beeped one last time, before the glow completely faded. Lena could feel as if she was being pulled apart, but not in a way that hurt. Rather, it felt as if she were in two places at once.
"Lena," she could see the trembling fingers of the scientist, "Know - know that we, me, your parents, Emily, we all miss you, and that these past three months we've never lost hope. I swear, I'll find a way to fix this. You just need to hold on a bit longer."
She could feel herself being pulled away. Back to that hill with the man. She couldn't find it in herself to feel worried about it. She knew that the man meant her no harm, else he'd have done so already.
"Do me a favor though?"
"̵̡̔͛̒̐̽̊Á̴̯͙̳̹͓͐̅͂̆͘͜nyth̶͚̱̰̲̲͗͂̽͘͠ing̵̗̟͓͙̀͑͜͝."
She had to hurry. There were so many things she wanted, needed to ask, but their voices were starting to mold back into the unintelligible mess that she heard before.
"Tell Emily that I love her, and I'll see her soon."
"Hah. W̴̝̖̦̮̫̉̄ill ̵̨̠͋̉͋̕d̸̼̜̖͂ȯ̴̰̮͔͛̒̌̋͆!̶̣̺̈́̉̋̓͜"̸̡͒͒̓
She could see the Commander put a comforting hand on Winston's shoulder. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the smaller man trying to comfort a fully grown gorilla. It was almost time, she could tell, when what Winston said came flying into her head.
"Wait, three-"
"-months?"
She was back. However, this time, she didn't feel like crying. In fact, she felt a lot calmer than she initially did. Knowing that people were actively helping her, that WInston was trying to get her back, that Emily and her family were still waiting for her, eased her to the point of finally relaxing.
"So, the real question is, who the bloody hell are you?"
She turned towards the man in red, looking on amusedly.
"Some coping mechanism, maybe? Some way for my unconscious mind to make sense of what I'm actually seeing without going insane? Winston did say something about temporal dissociation, which might mean I'm having some kind of mental breakdown?"
"It's a lot more physical than that." Lena started as the man suddenly spoke, and her ears didn't want to die, "And try chronal dissociation. Temporal has a bit more connotations than what you're experiencing."
"Holy shit, you talked." The man snorted, a smirk growing on his face.
"My, your powers of deduction are astounding."
"I already liked you better when you were quiet." The man let out a bark of a laugh. When he finished, he held out a hand.,
"I don't believe we've formally introduced one another. Call me Archer." Lena hesitated only for a moment, before taking it in her own.
"Lena Oxton at your service." They shook hands, and Lena could feel the callousness in the man's palms, probably due to the swords scattered among them.
"So, Archer," She started as they separated, "What the hell is this place? I get it must be some sort of metaphor for purgatory, but I don't think I did a lot to end up here. Unless you just enjoy dragging people in here? Better yet, why the hell can I hear you now and not before?" The lack of cautiousness in her voice was palpable.
Before, when she was unable to hear the man, Lena was more trusting. If he had really wanted to do something, he would have just started talking and she would be incapacitated. Now that she could hear him, Archer would be even less likely to do anything.
Either way, Lena felt safe, despite the irrationality of the entire ordeal.
"We're somewhere beyond space and time." The snark was quick.
"That's pretty bloody vague, and you know it." The response was quicker.
"No less true though." Archer sat down on one of the rocks, motioning her to sit as well. She did so, directly across from him. He crossed his arms as he started to explain.
"Again, this place is somewhere beyond space and time. Normally, this place is completely inaccessible to people who don't know it. Or, to be more precise, inaccessible to people I don't want to be here. You being in here was a complete surprise to me as well."
Lena frowned, "Then you weren't the one that brought me here?"
"No. I suspect you ended up here because of the plane you were testing. Wasn't it supposed to be some new teleport tech?" She nodded, "Then it's possible that the accident forced you in here as some sort of 'default' point in spacetime, seeing as you're incompatible anywhere else with your current condition."
Her frown deepened, "My condition? I don't feel any different." She took a once-over and didn't find anything wrong with her, with one exception. Where before the chestpiece she put on sputtered and died out, it now glowed a healthy blue. She tapped at it in confusion.
"Yes, your condition. Your friend, Winston, called it temporal dissociation, if I recall correctly. While correct in the idea, chronal dissociation would be the already-coined term for it. Another term could be quantum displacement. Essentially, you're a ghost in time and space. Schrodinger's cat, if you will. You exist and not at the same time.
"That's also why you couldn't understand me at all when we first met. You didn't just hear me talking right there, but heard everything I could have said at the same time. It's a miracle you could still see properly without the same thing happening, though that's possibly just your brain being unable to comprehend the sight of the Kaleidoscope.
"That thing on your chest? It's a brilliant device that observes you constantly. It forces your existence into reality by confirming to the current timeline that yes, you exist at this moment in time. That's also why you can hear me now. You only hear this one timeline instead of every timeline. Whoever made this, however, didn't take into account a few things."
Lena's head spun as explanation after explanation spewed from Archer's mouth. The man in red was undeterred and continued.
"The energy requirements for something like that is proportional to the amount of stimulants in your vicinity. In here, there's barely any meaningful variables to take into account, so the power drain isn't nearly as much as wherever you ended up after you got booted the last two times. That isn't even taking into account that this place subsidizes the energy requirements that it needs, causing it to use even less energy than normal."
"Wait, wait, wait." Lena raised her arms frantically before Archer could continue. "This is way too much for right now. Can't you like, give me the summary?" The man in red at least had the decency to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his head.
"Apologies. It's just that, you're possibly the first person I've talked to in well over forty years."
"Forty bloody years?! You look barely older than twenty-five!"
"Thanks. I'm glad someone took notice of my skincare routines."
"Oh sod off you!" Lena laughed. It wasn't even forced, to her mild surprise.
"To summarize though," Archer started once she stopped laughing, smirk still on his face, "You got in an accident that destabilized your personal timestream, got shoved in here to not die, that thing on your chest is keeping you grounded to the local timeline, and said chest-thing is eating way more energy than the generators can produce. That good enough for you?"
"Very much professor." She felt the grin on her face drop as she digested the news. A shuddering breath let itself out of her, "I'm never going back, am I?" The whisper was loud enough that Archer heard it.
She'd heard what Winston said about the generators; if this was the best, then even their best wouldn't be enough to keep her from disappearing, if what Archer said was true. Winston was brilliant, but Lena didn't have much hope that even he could revolutionize an energy source that's better than the ones that had been in use for decades at this point.
"Not necessarily." Lena snapped her neck to Archer as he spoke, "Since this place can provide near limitless energy, all you need to do is filter the energy into that thing." She felt giddy with excitement, but was more than a little hesitant. Nothing came for free, after all.
"What's the catch?"
"You need to make a contract with me." The bluntness of the statement hit her like a brick. Lena mentally went through everything she knew about the man. Which was not very much. Slowly, she came to a rather disturbing conclusion.
"Holy fuck, you're actually Satan aren't you."
"What."
"Appears after I probably died, in a desolate wasteland where it's really bloody hot, wears red all over, and tries to make a deal with me for what I want. Actually Satan over here."
"Look-"
"So this is hell huh? Can't say there's a lot of fire and brimstone over here. Guess they couldn't get everything right."
"I'm not-"
"Really, though, I don't think I ever did much to get dragged into here in the first place. Was it because I didn't go to church all that often?"
Lena stopped and looked as Archer, possibly Satan, palmed his face and groaned, "The fact that you're not even the first person to come to this conclusion is baffling to me."
"Wait, no, I was just joking. Are you actually Satan?"
"NO!"
"Anyway," Archer, definitely not Satan, coughed in his hand, "If you want to use this place's power, then you'd need a contract with me. Without one, you'll probably be stuck here until humanity can make something more efficient than the microfusion cells you're using for power.
Lena, ghost of a grin on her face, pondered more on the deal. It still sounded too good to be true. Moreover, it felt as if she got a deal that didn't even benefit the other party, which was just all too suspicious to her.
"What'd you get from this?"
"A vacation." Once more the bluntness of the statement whirled right into her face.
"A…vacation?"
"Yes. Don't worry about it too much."
"I'm very much worried about it, thanks."
"But you don't exactly have a choice, do you?"
No she didn't. Not if she didn't want to never see anyone else for who knows how long. Not if she didn't want to see Emily.
"Fine. But I get the right to cancel it at any time, you hear?"
"Of course." The man readily accepted the condition. Lena felt marginally better at that. At least she had a get-out-of-jail-free card she could use. It wasn't foolproof, but it was better than nothing.
"So, how do we do this?"
Archer held out his hand in a handshake. He was asking her to take it, and Lena couldn't help but snort at the image, "You are really not helping the whole Satan thing when you do that, you know?"
"Oh shut up, Oxton." She took his hand and shook it.
A beat. Nothing happened. She didn't feel any different. She raised an eyebrow, "That's it?" He nodded, before that increasingly infuriating smirk formed on his face.
"What, did you expect anything else? Horns maybe? A tail to go along with them?" She didn't blush in embarrassment, and anyone who said otherwise was just blind.
"But to answer you, yes, that's it." Archer nodded at her, a ghost of amusement still dancing on his face, "Should you leave now, that hunk of metal should be powered with no problems."
"Okay, so how do I leave?"
Archer shrugged, "You just do. Every time you've left, you were whining about something or the other."
"I wasn't whining!"
"Call it what you want, regardless, the power to leave is up to what you want. The fact you've only done so twice is a miracle in itself."
Without the snark that Archer put up, Lena could see that he was telling the truth, or as close as he could get to it. She tried thinking of going home, going back and sleeping in a nice bed, doing missions with Overwatch, spending time with her family.
And she felt a pull.
"I think I've got it."
"Then go. Time is weird here, and you probably don't want it to be three years after you disappeared." Her mind went to Winston mentioning it had been three months since the incident.
"Right! Thanks Archer."
"Do me one last favor though." Archer grabbed one of the swords at his side, and right before her eyes, the sword warped and twisted. It started to shrink, then snapped in half. Both halves folded repeatedly until they were small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. Once more, they twisted before forming into a crisscrossing, metal ring.
He flicked them towards her, and Lena fumbled to grab at them, "That girl you've been talking about, Emily?" She nodded at him, confused as she inspected the rings, "Don't let her go. You never know how much you'll miss something till it's gone." The wistful smile on his face was jarring for Lena, never expecting it from the previously silent man.
"Take the chance when you can, because someday, you might not be given the opportunity to do so."
"...Y'know, I'm pretty sure that this has been all going on in my head, and you're just a figment of my subconscious representing all of my regrets. That? What you said? You're either what I thought you were, or you're actually real and you're just really good at reading people."
He chuckled, and this time, she could tell it was genuine, "Just because this is all in your head, doesn't mean none of this is real." She snorted back at him. No more words were spoken, just a nod, and a solid hold on the rings in her palm.
A blink. Tall buildings, another police barrier, more people wearing blue armor .This time though, there was no thundering of gorilla steps. No, not because Winston wasn't there, but exactly because he already was directly in front of her.
"Lena, quick! I need to install the new generators before you blink again!" Winston went to fix the thing that caused the problem the last time, but was confused when the chestpiece was already glowing as normal.
"Oh it's fine now, Winston. I just had to fix it a bit on my own."
"But-How-No, nevermind. We need to get you to medical as soon as possible, who knows how everything affected your body. I'll also schedule a psych eval, since isolation-"
"I feel fine, you big worrywart! I just need to go see Emily for a bit." Winston was more than a little taken aback with the cheer in Lena's voice. The last time he'd seen her, she was morose, though she tried to hide it behind a small veneer of cheer. Now? This was genuine, and the tone she used was as if she were on a mission.
"Ah, well, she's-" Winston was interrupted once again when a loud shout could be heard from across the barriers.
"LENA!"
A group of Overwatch operatives tried to stop the figure running towards them, but they abated with a raised hand from the lead scientist. The figure barreled towards Lena, and to her credit, Lena caught them easily enough.
"I'msososorrytheywouldn'tletmegolasttimecausetheydidn'tthinkitwassafeand-" The wild babbling by the woman, Emily, continued on. Lena couldn't help but smile, eyes watering at the sight. Winston wasn't proud enough of himself to deny even he was tearing up at the sight.
"Hey, Em. I'm back." Four words were enough to send Emily into a crying mess, hugging Lena as if her life depended on her.
"I thought I lost you. Please, never do that again."
"I won't. I promise." A shuddering sigh let out from Lena. Her eyes were filled with resolve, her hand clenched hard onto something that Winston couldn't make out. Then, she started to talk.
'That's why, I'm going to fix that right now.'
The two separated from each other, Emily's eyes wide at what Lena had just said. For her part, Lena got on one knee and opened her palm, where a ring of glittering metal was held.
"Emily, will you marry me?"
A/N: Okay, so this has been a long time coming. With the release of Overwatch 2, I got back into the game and its lore, and this is the result of me realizing how much I was missing back when I first wrote Slipstream. Moving on, here's a couple of things that I want to talk about for a bit:
1. Slipstream will be undergoing a rewrite, as you may have guessed. This first chapter notably has less pov's, as someone once told me that my writing of too many perspectives in one chapter was a bit confusing for someone unfamiliar with one fandom or the other. This chapter will not be the usual length though, as I want to make the length to be around 2k-3k words to stop myself from burning out. This one was just this long since I really just got way into the game again.
2. Anomaly will come out with another chapter in the coming days, probably next week at around the same time as this came out, but will be shorter than normal. This is due to the same as above; trying to consistently write 6k chapters really turned me off from writing.
3. Another story is coming out - an Oregairu/Re:Zero one if you're interested. This one will be in first person, unlike the stories I've posted here in the past. Look out for that after I post Anomaly, as I am still putting the finishing touches on the first chapter.
4. I'm thinking of launching that thing I can't say but involves patrons, since these past couple of years haven't exactly been kind. If you guys have any questions, feel free to pm me.
Finally, thank you for your reviews. I know I don't reply anymore, but I sometimes will wake up and see that someone has posted another review, and I can't help but goddamn smile and be confused.
Finally finally, onto the end of this chapter.
Lena smiled as she lied in bed, Emily's frame pressed against her. The pilot couldn't help but hug her even tighter, knowing now just how close she was to losing all of this. She could still feel the dampness of her shirt, where Emily had cried earlier.
She wouldn't dwell on those thoughts. Not when she was the luckiest woman alive to have a girlfriend who never gave up on her when the world already did.
No, not girlfriend.
Fiancé.
The giddiness never left her the entire drive back to their flat, even though Winston and Commander Morrison were insistent on getting her to get checked up by the medical team. She could do that later. Tonight, she just wanted to spend time with the woman she loved.
The big hunk of metal on her chest she could do without though.
'Heh. And all it took was for a figment of my imagination to kick my arse into gear.'
Even if he was just some hallucination brought about by the trauma of the accident, Archer really put into perspective just how good she had gotten it, and just how much she took it for granted.
'Hey, if you're in there, thanks again.'
Silence. Lena smiled. It was high time she fell asleep; she still had to meet with Winston to get checked up by the doctors. Her eyes drifted to the ring on her hand, the one gripping Emily's whose own hand had a matching ring on it.
She felt content. She drifted to sleep, thoughts of wedding bells in her mind.
Then abruptly woke up as a stray thought wormed its way in.
If Archer wasn't real, then how the bloody hell were the rings here in the first place?
"Took you long enough, I suppose."