Welcome to the Overwatch fam! It can get kinda salty up in here, but I hope ya stay!
Also: Dragons. ❤ Love me some personified blue noodles.
It wasn’t uncommon to go days without talking to each other. You worked a lot. Between volunteering at the shelter and helping Dr. Ziegler off-base, it was a wonder you saw each other at all. You had to fight for time together, which meant one of you would wake up in the middle of REM to say good morning or good night, and trying to eat at least one meal together. Often, that meal was a midnight snack after a particularly grueling day.
What was uncommon, however, was to go without seeing the other. You liked to sneak off and spy on him whenever you could, not that your spying was very sneaky at all. And Hanzo would peek in on the clinic if he was passing by, just to see your face.
The last time he saw you was a few days ago, before he was sent with McCree to escort some recruits to Gibraltar. You were stressed, worried about him, and sweetly making him promise to return in one piece. You asked him to let you talk to the spirit dragons, which he did reluctantly, and you made them promise too. The surge of emotion he felt watching you cradle those magnificent beasts heads in your small hands was nearly overwhelming, as was the affection and patience they showed you.
He, of course, made it back safely. It was a low risk mission after all. Without turning on the light, Hanzo locked the door behind him and hopped in the shower, knowing full well how ripe he was. He didn’t want the first thing you smelled to be stress sweat and dirt.
When he finally made it to the bedroom, only a towel hanging on his hips, he froze. It was well past midnight, the bed was empty— perfectly made, in fact— and the curtains were open, letting in silvery moonlight. You hated having the curtains open at night, especially when he wasn’t there, it made you feel vulnerable.
Why were they open? Where were you?
Hanzo strode to the bed and reached for the bedside light before stopping himself. Something felt wrong. Off. Like there was an unfamiliar odor in the air he couldn’t pinpoint, or a far-off radio played a song in an unknown language. Silently, he padded over to the window, keeping in the shadows as he looked along the edges of it.
A rock sunk into the pit of his gut. The window was unlocked. Fingerprint smudges dotted the edge of the glass. Bits of paint flaked from the edge of the window frame. Hanzo clenched his fists, he had made a few enemies on his travels before Overwatch, most were dead, but a few slippery ones would still have a bone to pick with him.
They didn’t know the mistake they made.
3 weeks, you reminded yourself, 3 weeks of uninterrupted darkness would make a person blind. It made you grateful for the sliver of light beneath the door and the sudden blast of light that filled the room when they fed you. It had only been a few days at most, but you knew the unchanging amount of light would mess with your circadian rhythm, so a few days for you could very well be a full week.
You counted the seconds between the shadows that crossed your door. Whoever was keeping guard was doing it at regular intervals. You did the math. You knew how often they passed and when. You kept track of daytime and nighttime by the length of time between meals, it wasn’t likely that someone would go so far as to make “lunch” in the middle of the night just to mess with your timing.
Wedged in the corner of the room, you kept your mind busy like this, using the small bones from your meals to scratch your equations into the wooden floor. The thought of making a weapon crossed your mind, but you knew how ineffective it would be against your captors. Instead, you memorized what you could about the place. What good it would do you, you didn’t know.
Futile as it was, it kept the fear twisting in the pit of your stomach from creeping into your mind. Each time it bubbled up, you beat it back with everything in your arsenal. From calculating the time to determining what you’d be deficient in if you stayed there for any length of time, your busy mind kept you level headed through it all. Though, deep down, you were terrified.
Terrified that you’d never see the light of day again. Terrified that you’d never see Hanzo or your family. Terrified at what your captors might do to you and why they took you in the first place.
But today was different. The footsteps were faster, sharper, and frequent. People passed your door all the time it seemed, and often in groups. Nobody brought you anything to eat and you couldn’t tell when the guard change happened. There was an air of anxiety all around you.
Then you heard it. An unmistakable roar that reminded you of heavenly trumpets. You knew that sound. Shooting up from the corner, you braced yourself against the door and listened with a hopeful smile.
Shouts cut short echoed down the hall. The guard outside shifted, his shadow breaking up the light under the door. Several tense moments passed in silence, your heart thumped harder and harder as the seconds drew long.
“Please,” you whispered and pressed your forehead against the door, doubt creeping through you.
You watched the light beneath the door, fear and hope intermingling as you waited for something to happen. Anything.
Suddenly, the guard stepped back and started firing, shouting into his radio for back-up. You fell to floor and scrambled to the corner, covering your head. With one eye cracked open, you watched the light go from fluorescent white to electric blue.
“I’m here! I’m in here!” you shouted, fully aware that you didn’t need to.
The roar sounded again, angrier and more urgent this time, drowning out the guard’s shouts and gunfire. The door shuddered with the sheer energy moving on the other side of it, electric blue light pulsating through the cracks.
It nearly broke from it’s hinges when the dragons phased through it, searching for you. Their massive forms filled the room, casting light into all corners. You cried out in pain with a smile on your face, shielding yourself from the sudden light. Their eyes, old and wild and powerful as they were, became more puppy-like when they saw you. Within an instant, they nuzzled up to you, their own version of a purr ringing in your ears. You clung to them and pressed your face against theirs, openly sobbing.
Wood splintered in all directions as the door crashed open. You jumped and your head snapped up, eyes wide and painfully trying to focus in the light.
“Hanzo,” you sobbed, a smile finding its way onto your face. He dove between the dragons, who willingly moved aside for their master, and scooped you up in his arms.
“I’m here, beloved,” Hanzo held you tight against him, almost crushing you, “I’m here, and they’ll never take you again. That, I promise.”