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Before he decided to commit to the Soldier Enhancement Project, Jack Morrison was just an ordinary soldier fighting the good fight.
He was without family, without any friends to go back to, and he was fine with that. The less people who cared for him, the easier it was for him to move on if they left him. The easier it was to deal with the knowledge that after he died, no one would have to mourn him.
And then, in the year 2038, he met someone who he knew might just mourn him if he did die.
His name was unimportant. It wasn’t something anyone would recognise. But what did matter is that Jack loved him.
It wasn’t that he was embarrassed to love a man. That was something that stopped being as cared about after the start of the 2020’s, and Jack wasn’t afraid to tell anyone who asked.
The thing was, this man, the person Jack had hoped would like far longer than him, was gone before they even had a chance to be something.
It wasn’t even because of the war.
It was because Jack had been careless.
He knew that he was a hotshot in his side of the army, gliding up ranks with ease, and he should have known that there would be people looking for revenge against him. He should have been more careful. Should have warned the other man of the risks created due to knowing Jack, but he didn’t.
Jack didn’t think, too blinded in his love for the other to think of the consequences.
And he learned from it. He learned, and he hardened himself and pushed away everyone.
He became stone. A man people whispered about being heartless and uncaring.
But the truth was that he cared too much.
Skip to the Soldier Enhancement Project, and Jack was still hardened. He didn’t blink twice when his commanding officers told him that he would be apart of it, only bowing his head and agreeing.
He watched as his fellow soldiers glared at him as he strolled into the room.
They didn’t think he deserved this chance. They thought he was just doing it to gain more fame. To gain more recognition.
But the truth of him deciding to do it? It was because he knew it was as much as he could do to help his country.
But they didn’t need to know that. They didn’t need to become friends with him. They didn’t need to listen to his thoughts.
And he was fine with that.
Then came the injections. The scientists and the gas and the explosion.
He and one other were the only ones to survive the bomb dropped down upon them.
This other soldier introduced himself as Gabriel Reyes, a commander who lost his battalion and was hoping for redemption. He was a dark-skinned, harsh-looking but kind-hearted man, and Jack wished he could be all that Gabriel was.
He wished he could stay so kind, so compassionate after going through such a loss.
Gabriel had laughed when he had said this aloud. He’d slapped Jack on the back with one of the largest grins Jack had seen on him and said,
“You’re one of the most heart-of-gold men i’ve ever met.”
Jack didn’t believe him, but hearing someone say that? Hearing someone tell him such a kind thing?
He couldn’t help but look up to the man. The man who saw so much inside people that held their heart close.
(he couldn’t help but fall in love with him)
Then came Overwatch, founded to put an end to the Omnic Crisis.
It was small at first, just the two of them, but slowly others joined.
A woman, equally as bright as she was a brilliant shot, called Ana who had looked at Jack and Gabriel with a smile and told them she would protect them. A man, short but with a temper to make up with it and an incredible engineer to boot called Torbjörn who had yelled at them for a full hour straight before he called them idiots and set up a turret to defend against enemies so they could get some sleep.
A large man called Reinhardt, a former crusader who was easily the biggest of them all, who had slammed into their building with a grin and announced himself their friend. Trailing behind him was an eight year old girl who had sighed and called herself Brigitte. Her eyes shined as she watched Reinhardt battle, but they all knew she’d never admit it.
Slowly but surely that became something bigger, and they began to break down the barriers that Jack had built around himself without him even realising.
He was laughing, smiling so much more than he had before the SEP, and he found that he didn’t mind it all that much.
Jack knew these people were strong, and he knew he had to be strong too. He wouldn’t let them down.
Overwatch became a beacon of hope after they ended the Omnic Crisis . Nobody could stand against them, and they were proud of that fact.
But then everything went wrong.
*
“Morrison?!” He heard Reyes shout at him, but he didn’t really listen to his friend. He collapsed in his chair with his shoulders hunched and his face in his hands. His elbows buried deep into the wood of the table in front of him but he paid it no attention.
He couldn’t help but keep seeing the mission report he had read repeat in his mind.
Dead. The line underneath the photo of one of his oldest friends had said. Someone who he hadn't been there to protect. Someone who had told him not to worry so much as she left the building with her team.
Jack didn’t realise he was muttering the word under his breath until Gabriel shook him harshly. “Jack! Get a hold of yourself!” He heard the man exclaim.
But he couldn't. He kept shaking, muttering the word. And then Gabriel slammed a fist into the back of his head and his face shot up to stare at his long term friend.
He stared.
Gabriel glared.
“This is not your fault.”
The words broke him. He shattered underneath the cold but oh so warm hands of Gabriel Reyes.
And the man did not mind.
–
This was his fault.
Gabriel stood in front of him with a fist raised. The fist was splattered in blood, but neither of them paid any attention to that. The atmosphere was tense and anything as much as a single word could have broken it.
Neither of them said anything, but true to the phrase “actions speak louder than words”, the tension was broken as they shot towards each other once more.
Wounds were inflicted on each other, bones were broken, blood was spilled.
Trust was torn apart, hearts were destroyed, friendships were lost.
They were both staring at each other, waiting for the other to make another more, when one spoke.
“I'm sorry.”
Gabriel Reyes pulled out a gun out of its holster. Jack Morrison did not follow suit.
The explosion that occurred moments later would shape the entirety of the rest of their lives.
Jack Morrison did not finish what he was going to say. The rest of his words were obliterated in the blast, along with the rest of the personnel in the base at that time.
I love you.
I wish that this wasn’t how it ended.
I am sorry Gabe.
Thank you.
*
“Heroes never die”, a saying he had heard Angela ‘Mercy’ Ziegler repeat time and time again.
He supposed that was true. Heroes were remembered, whether because of their good deeds or because of their bad ones.
But they did die. They left one world behind and entered another, another much darker one.
They found themselves no longer heroes.
He found that he was never one.
And Soldier 76 was just that. A soldier.
He was surprised he had forgotten that. It had been so long since he had been known as one, too long he had been called a ‘hero’. He had forgotten what he was.
A soldier. A soldier who had lost people because of carelessness and had pretended it never happened. A soldier who had lost so many due to his arrogance.
And now he knew that he was not allowed to forget his mistakes as one. He was not allowed to pretend they never happened.
Jack Morrison was gone.
Soldier 76 was there, repenting for all he had done wrong.
He looked into the mask that decorated Reaper’s face and said, “I think you were wrong. I never had a heart of gold.
“I have the heart of a soldier.”