Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The mountains were unforgiving, offering no reprieve as you and Mako cautiously navigated its treacherous slopes. He tried to shout over the wind, but quickly found that his volume was, for once in his life, outmatched by something far fiercer than he: the deafening gusts of snow that tore their way across the mountainside. With the wind muffling Mako’s voice, he could only follow closely behind, attentively matching each of your steps on the very palpable chance that you could stumble and fall onto the deadly rocks below.

“Jamie!” you screamed, blinking back the tears that threatened to fog your goggles. “Oh, God, Jamie, where are you?” The sound of your voice barely broke past the red scarf covering your mouth, and yet you kept yelling despite the suffocating sleet before you.

You couldn’t tell if you were going up or down the mountain, direction a mere concept at this point as you both frantically searched for Jamison in between anxious steps. There was a shakiness in your movements that became more and more apparent with every step. Fatigue was biting at your heels, but you were stubborn and chided your body for faltering when you needed it to keep up the most.

Mako’s voice cut through the blaring wind. “—op!”

“What?” you asked.

“Stop!” he blared, grabbing your hand.

Pausing in bewilderment, you became very frustrated. Jamie is out there alone – we don’t have time to stop!

But the anger that swelled in your chest cooled as you noticed Mako frantically pointing to a cave entrance located through a nearby crevice. You squinted at the cave while tightening your hold on his hand, and noted that getting in seemed like a challenge. Still, however, doable.

He ushered you in with urgency, fear and exhaustion radiating off his person. As you got in, you removed your goggles and gave your eyes a few seconds to adjust to the sudden dimness.

There were no tunnels, no secret pathways. With the only way in and out of the small cave bracketed by the walls outside, you questioned if staying in was safer than resuming your search outside. Light barely trickled in, leaving darkness to shroud the farthest corners of the cave while white, baby blue, and navy hues colored everything else in this lonely little pocket of the mountainside.

The wind was still roaring outside like a sleepless monster, hellbent on destroying everything in its path. Some of it whistled into the cave as if it was mocking you, trying to coax you to come back outside so it could finally consume you both - just as how it potentially took Jamison.

Such a thought made your skin crawl.

Mako suddenly dropped the backpack he was carrying to the floor with a grunt, and noticed your wide-eyed, distant expression.

“Hey,” he rasped, quickly rummaging through your communal supplies. “I need you here.”

Gasping again, you slammed a hand to your mouth, and somehow managed to suppress the anxious swell in your chest. Your overall constitution, however, seemed compromised. “Mako,” you said, bleary eyed. “I can’t stop shaking.”

He found some Hogdrogen, and briefly inhaled some of the mixture through one of the filters on his mask. His sigh of relief filled the small space, which was empty save for a few boulders and icy stalactites. He proffered the can to you. “Not a perfect fix,” he said. “But it’ll calm you down for a while.”

You shook your head, gently pushing the canister away. “No, keep it for yourself. We have to go and find Jamie.”

Mako dipped his chin as your voice broke. “We’ll find him, but we need to rest first. You weren’t going to last much longer out there.” He wiped some more snow off his thick coat, and patted his gloved hands together after clearing the top of a flat snow-covered boulder. “Sit.”

“We can’t sit, Mako. We have most of the supplies with us. Jamie doesn’t have much to run on. We have to go and find him, please,” you protested as he blocked your way. You adjusted your goggles on your forehead while delivering a piercing glare.

He stared at you momentarily, leaving you to ball your fists in anger.

“I’m not going to waste time in here when Jamie is out there alone—!”

Suddenly, you found yourself unceremoniously scooped up and placed on the rock.

“I said sit,” Mako said. Placing a finger to your scarf, he slid it down to inspect your face. He noted the circles under your eyes, the chapped edges of your lips. “You need food and water. We’re not going back out there until you take care of yourself.”

“Are you not listening? I’m okay. Jamie needs—”

“We’re no good to him if we’re dead!” he finally boomed, silencing you. Fear hugged his tone, coupled by anger and – partially – regret.

Stunned, you merely sat in place as he grabbed a jug of water and a bland protein bar from the bag and shoved them both into your hands.

Deep down, you knew he was right. You were getting slower and slower outside, a bad sign as you were unused to this type of duress and excursion. Mid-bite, you offered him half of the protein bar, but he raised a palm and jerked his chin upwards: ‘No. Finish it.’ You lowered your head again and resumed your meal, taking your time as nausea swirled in your gut.

The storm outside slowly subsided with every bite, like the imaginary beast was finally wearing itself out. You closed yours eyes and relished the din’s fading, as it left nothing but the residual, distant echoes of milder winds weaving through the mountains below.

Mako wordlessly towered over you as you quietly ate and drank, your body gratefully soaking up all the fuel it could get. As you finished, Mako knelt close to you, placing two strong hands on your defeated shoulders. Tracing circles into your parka with his thumbs, he said your name and looked intensely into your eyes. “We good?”

Like a punished child, the corners of your lips curled downwards as you nodded your head. “Yeah, thanks, I’m just… I’m so worried.”

He gingerly pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you as if he was afraid you’d vanish into thin air. “I am, too,” he whispered. “But I can’t lose both of you. You understand?” The timbre of his voice rumbled through his coat, and it made you instinctively hook your fingers along his collar as you nodded. “Good.”

“We shouldn’t have come here,” you said in a tearless sob. “I don’t know what he was thinking. There’s no ‘treasure’ here. It just feels like death.” Mako tightened his hold as you buried your face into his chest. “… This was a mistake, Mako. I’m sorry for encouraging him.”

The air was thick with silence for a hot minute as he gathered the will to speak. “Not your fault. Mine.”

“No, Mako…” you looked up at him sadly, tracing your hand along the edge of his mask in hopes of sharing some comfort. “We just wanted him to be happy.”

Suddenly, your communicator crackled to life from your bag. A familiar voice croaked through the speaker, but the audio was distorted by a choppy connection.

“Oi—mates—!”

The breath you were holding became heavy in your chest, and your skin paled in shock. “Oh, my God. J-Jamie!” You tore yourself from Mako, who was surprisingly frozen in disbelief, and dove for the comm. With cold, twitchy fingers, you frantically pressed down on the microphone button and yelled into the device. “Jamie! Where are you!?”

“Stuck—broke!”

Mako leaned down as you held the comm between you two. “What?” he asked, keeping his voice levelled.

“Me pros’ leg broke! M’stuck!”

You gripped the comm so tightly you could tell your knuckles were going white under your glove. “Where are you?”

“Look for me—bomb—explodey!”

You nodded with sad laughter as tears pricked your eyes. “Okay, okay! We’ll keep an eye out. We’re coming, Jamie. Oh, my God, please be safe. Oh, my God… oh, my God.”

“No—promises!” He laughed, but you could tell he was feeling vulnerable, and very, very scared. His voice was shaking more than usual, and it was hoarse, as if he was yelling for hours. “Keep—eyes—out!”

Mako ran to the exit of the cave, minding his steps as to not shake your surroundings, and steadily crouched himself at an outer ledge. Still clutching the comm, you immediately followed suit, gasping as you tried to hold back the overwhelming urge to weep with joy.

A couple minutes passed, and then you both heard a few preliminary crackles... followed by a distant BOOM! The sound echoed through the air and shook everything as both of your eyes raced around the slopes until you saw the red and yellow explosion over the ledge below. Mako looped an arm over your shoulders and held you down with him. “Stay close to me,” he barked, anchoring his hook into the snow.

From what little you could see past the burst of fire and billowing smoke, you noticed a smaller cave seventy feet below, nearly adjacent to where you were.

“Down there!” you screamed, aggressively pointing to the source. “He’s in there. C’mon! C’mon!”

“Easy,” Mako grabbed your wrist, and you froze as bits of the ledge crumbled and fell beneath into the abyss below. “Rat shook the whole damn mountain. He can’t go anywhere – has to sit tight. Stay close, like before, okay?”

You took a deep breath and nodded, bracing yourself for another trek down as Mako retrieved the bag from inside the cave. Holding his hand as he reemerged, you gave him a determined look and glanced down at the haphazard path in front of you.

Mako shook his head as he reexamined the distance between you and the blast. “How the hell did that bastard survive that fall?”

“He’s Junkrat,” you smirked with knitted brows. “It’s what he does.”

Mako chuckled softly in concession, squeezing your hand. “Been around long enough to not argue with that.”

“Hang tight, Jamie,” you whispered, anxiously curling your toes in your spiked boots. “We’re coming.”

Chapter Text

Every minute seemed to pass with a most excruciating lull and, although you’ve made it more than halfway there, Mako still insisted you both make your way down the wind-carved trail at nearly a snail’s pace.

He was out of his element and – despite his rugged exterior – it certainly showed.

You wordlessly complied when he tied a short rope to the heavy-duty carabiners on your belts – a reasonable precaution, keeping you both attached in case you somehow slip. He stiffened every time the wind picked up, the uneasy expectation of another storm making his hairs stand on end more than they already were. He listened closely every time you checked in on Jamison over the comm, and balled his fists upon noticing that the smaller junker’s voice sounded weaker and weaker with every response.

As you both shuffled along a sharp curve, he held your arm with an iron-like grip. While this type of helicoptering would normally bother you, you couldn’t blame him. A small voice at the back of your head mocked you. This trip was foolish, the novelty of such an adventure having faded long before you all even got to this point.

The sound of your boots in the snow redrew your attention as, for once, the air was absolutely and totally still. Mako’s labored breathing almost matched yours as you carefully made sure to step on solid ground, and not another unstable ledge or illusory puff of snow.

You smacked your chapped lips behind your scarf and raised your hand. “I need a second,” you said, leaning against a jagged wall with your rolled-up sleeping bag cushioning your back. “And I think you need one, too.”

Grumbling under his breath, Mako readjusted his backpack and turned his gaze towards the peaks.

Staring at the mountainous expanse, you took in the white and gray wonder of uneven, snow-painted mountainside. The sky was desaturated, even with the sun’s lowering glow, as if the storm whisked away all the color in the world with it. A sharp, sudden breeze whistled through a canyon below, its haunting sound cruelly lingering in your ears as it passed.

There was something ominous about how nature worked, you thought. It was unstoppable, uncaring, and every desolate corner of the mountain was a reminder of just that: this place wasn’t meant for you to explore, nor conquer.

To your left, Mako seemed like he was taking all of it in for the first time, as well. This wasn’t like the Outback, rusted and orange and fighting for life. To him, this place was the exact opposite. It was icy and pale and proudly lifeless.

No video could capture how big everything was here. How small you were. How, in some odd way, the silence after the storm was louder and more horrifying than the storm itself.

You looked to Mako with a shudder, and he nodded in understanding. Reaching over, he gripped your hand again and straightened his back, his vocal chords sounding like two strips of sandpaper grating against each other. “I think it’s time to go.”

“Yeah,” you said, and quickly dusted off your back with your other hand.

“Hel—” Jamison’s voice whispered over the comm. “Mates—hate t’rush y—but I’m freezin’ meself to death in he’e!”

Mako remained stone-faced behind his mask as you winced at Jamie’s crescendo. “I’m sorry, Jamie, we’re almost there. It’s getting late. How are you keeping warm? Are you in your sleeping bag?”

“—Mayyy have—dropped—damn thing—”

“Idiot,” Mako grumbled, reflexively pinching the bridge of his mask.

“Are you serious?” you scolded.

“Not me fault—fall was—doozy…” His voice weakened again, devolving into a short spurt of coughs.

You and Mako shot each other a concerned look before you tried to ease Jamison. “Okay, uh, save your energy for now, okay? Okay? It’ll be just a little longer.”

He whined impatiently through the speakers, making you purse your lips in mild disapproval as you released the mic button.

Mako said nothing, faced away from you with squared shoulders and tightened fists.

“Are you alright?” you asked.

After a few moments passed in uncomfortable silence, he sighed. “You’re gonna have to climb down to him,” Mako said flatly. “Sun’s going down, so you gotta do it quick.”

“Huh—what?” you narrowed your eyes quizzically. “Who’s climbing down what now?”

“I can’t,” he said, staring over a ledge with a hint of defeat. “Place isn’t stable enough. You have to do it.”

Laughing as if this was all a silly joke, you shook your head. “No, Mako, we’re going to walk down together. We can’t afford to split up.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, voice unwavering. “But it’s probably been a few hours, and then some, and he doesn’t sound like he can last a lot longer without one of us.” Mako raised his hook and pointed it back to the ledge. “I’ll help you down. Then I’ll turn my walkie back on.”

You stepped back, staring at the hook as if it was the most sinister thing you’d seen in your life. “I am not…”

Noting your apprehension, Mako lowered the weapon and approached you slowly. “Daylight’s running out, and you know Jamison’s not used to this kind of weather. He needs us. Gonna take longer if we both go by foot.”

At a whisper, you stared into one of the lenses on his mask. “What if… what if I fall?”

He took off his knit scarf and used it to cover the hook’s sharp edges, winding it tightly around his curve. “You won’t– just… hang on.” Undoing the carabiner on his belt, he clicked it onto the strongest link on the chain, connecting you directly to the line. “Look. It’s not fancy, but just in case your hand slips, I still got’ya.” Mako yanked the chain a couple times to test its strength, and gave a satisfied grunt when it only rattled in firm resistance.

Recognizing your frozen expression, Mako thumbed your chin and said your name. “I need you to focus. Are we doing this, or what?”

Taking a deep, uneven breath, you nodded and reached for the hook. “I’m ready.”

He stopped you, and put a hand on your shoulder. “Do you trust me?”

You looked up at him without hesitation: “Always.”

(But… could you trust your shaking hands? What if they betrayed you as he lowered you down? What if the edge of the hook’s blade slices through the scarf and your gloves and into your hands, or if the rope attached from your belt to the chain snapped? What if—?)

Giving the hook to you with a grunt, Mako led you closely to the edge and pointed where Jamison set off the blast. “We’re almost there, ‘n this’ll save us some time. Put your feet on the wall, and don’t be stupid. Don’t. Let. Go. You think something’s wrong, say somethin’, and I’ll bring you back up.”

Snapping your comm to your belt, you tested the rope and the chain hook again and nodded to Mako. He started to lengthen the chain bit by bit until he felt like you were able to ready yourself at the edge.

“Watch your feet,” he advised as you tentatively held onto the hook.

“I feel like there’s a better way we can do this,” you said, pursing your lips.

“No time to experiment. Watch the nails. Be steady,” Mako said, thoughtfully eyeing the chain. “… She’ll be right.”

Clinging to his hook for dear life, you steadied yourself as he inched you down. You bent your legs and found purchase along the craggy mountainside. With a deep breath, you slowly started to rappel down and down and down from the ledge, fueled by nothing else but fear and adrenaline.

The chain gave a mild creak as Mako extended it, and you started to wonder if it was long enough to carry you all the way down. Mako grunted softly, but it was more out of duress than physical strain. You know he’d rather be doing this than have you risk your own life – the idea of him failing you both in one day terrified him.

He became smaller and smaller the farther down you went – the knowledge of his limited protection made you more frightened, if anything.

It wasn’t until Mako called to you that you realized you’d been holding your breath. “You okay?” He sounded like he was a hair shy from a yell, holding back as if he was afraid any decibel louder would topple the mountain onto all three of you.

“Y-yeah,” you said, trying to ignore the pain radiating throughout your hands. “Hook—hurts, fuck.” Hissing, you focused on stabilizing your breathing.

“I’m gonna kill him for coming up with this idea,” he said flatly.

A nervous laugh – one that sounded more like a cough – spilled from your throat. “Hey, remember, I’m getting there first,” you said. “Assuming I don’t wring his neck, I promise to save you some.”

He returned a half-hearted chuckle while shaking his head, not wanting to make too light of an absolutely terrifying situation.

The descent kept going in silence, save for the sound of your heavy breathing and boots bounding down against the wall, until you felt a jolt. “M-Mako?” you shouted. “What—”

Narrowing your eyes, you noticed him bristling under his coat.

“That’s all it has to give,” he responded with a hint of frustration. “You’re not far. Can you swing? Jump to—”

You could swear he was squinting behind his goggles as his head abruptly looked to the left and right of you. He pointed to a rocky shelf jutting out ten more feet below.

“—that?”

Horror glazing your eyes, you looked down and noted it was a few feet off your left. Despite Mako’s scarf and your gloves cushioning your grip on the hook, your fingers had gone numb not too long ago, individual joints feeling like someone injected cement in between them.

Paralysis releasing its grip from your throat, you suddenly had the urge to scream. “I can’t do this, Mako! This is crazy—”

Your comm crackled again, Jamie’s voice on the other side.

“I can—hear—ya—lovey—don’t do anythin’—get yerself—killed!”

Heaving, you knew that you weren’t going to be able to hold on for much longer. An overwhelming numbness radiated through your arms and shoulders – a major indication, if any, that it was high time to find a way out of this mess. Glancing at your waist, you remembered the rope, barely five feet long, keeping you attached to the chain. You unhooked the carabiner, and eyeballed the distance between you and the ledge.

“Time to jump,” Mako said from above, voice faint.

Just do it, you thought. Just get it over with.

Within seconds, all the muscles in your body contracted and released as you threw yourself from the wall. You outstretched your arms and found yourself flailing mid-air until you struck the ledge with an audible oomph!, snow and rock piecing away under you. Mako shouted something overhead, but it was lost to the sound of your own screaming as you scrambled to hold on before you went crumbling down with the debris below you.

Finally, you find a solid piece of stone embedded in the ledge, and willed yourself up onto solid ground. Dazed, and barely able to stand, you rolled onto your back, finding yourself sobbing into the chilly air. Your hands were aching, and if your own heartbeat wasn’t ringing in your ears, you were sure you’d be able to hear your fingers crack as you flexed them.

“Love?” Jamison’s shrill voice called from a nearby cave. “Izzat you?”

Fading in and out of consciousness, you raised a heavy arm and plunged one claw-like hand after another into the snow, dragging your body closer and closer to his voice. The wind still felt knocked out of your lungs, and the last thing you remember seeing upon crawling into the dim chamber was Jamie’s worried, pale face centimeters from yours as he rolled you closer and closer to a miserable, miserable little fire.

-

You were stirred by the sound of your partners bickering over the walkie-talkie.

Jamison didn’t sound too pleased. “—‘s here, Hoggie… I got ‘em close to the fire… I’m not stupid… No, you stay put… Rack off, mate! I know this wasn’t part of the plan—” Shivering in between sentences, his teeth rattled like broken drums thrown into the back of a moving truck.

Forcing your eyes open as much as you could, you were barely able to make out the curves of Jamison’s sharp cheekbones near the fireside as he pouted into the receiver. Your chest swelled with chilly air as you quickly realized how dark it was outside. “M-Mako—?” you groaned, raising your head. “Where are you?”

“Found a cave up here since I can’t come down yet. It’s too dark. I don’t have a choice,” Mako replied, sounding less ornery since you’ve awakened. “I’ll see you two in the morning. Stay warm.”

“Mako? Oi, Hog!” Jamie rasped, but there was no response.

You pulled yourself up and stretched out your legs, noting that Jamison did his best to put you in your sleeping bag while you were unconscious. Taking the comm from Jamison, you set it down and ushered him closer to you on top of the blanket already laid out on the floor. “He’s probably saving as much battery as he can—my God, Jamie. You’re freezing.”

Realizing his prosthetic arm probably wasn’t helping, he pulled back and knitted his brows apologetically. Before he could respond, you took his left hand and rubbed it softly. “No, it’s fine, but where’s your glove?”

“You’re wearing it,” he said, pointing to your double-gloved left hand. “I put it on you when you were out.”

“Oh, Jam—” You smiled sadly and slipped the glove back onto his hand. “Thank you, but you need to take care of yourself, too.” The two of you were kneeling silently in the dark for a moment before you quickly threw your arms around his shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“M’glad you’re okay, too, love,” he said, handing you his canteen.

Taking a sip, your eyes finally adjusted in the dark, and you noted how absolutely pale he was. His eyes were sunken in slightly, edged by exhaustion, and his lips were the most chapped you had ever seen them. His coat seemed worse for the wear, as well. The ends of the sleeves were frayed, and there was a couple holes in his pants as if he were caught in something during his initial fall. Finally, you leaned over and saw how absolutely bent and battered his peg leg was. A mild gasp escaped your lips as your hands instinctively went towards it in shock. “Can you walk at all?”

“Er, not very far,” Jamison replied with a nervous laugh, sticking out the broken leg. “Lucky there’s no one else out here but us, right? Bet I couldn’t even outrun a baby.” Another nervous laugh. “Though I’m not too happy about bein’ stuck in an esky.”

You knew what he was trying to do, but you couldn’t find the humor in this at all. “Are they cold?” you asked, gesturing to his prosthetics. “If the liners aren’t keeping you warm, you should take them off.”

Scrunching his face in deep thought for a couple seconds, he shot you a hesitant look. “I dunno, love. Takin’ em off at home is one thing, but…” His eyes wandered to the ground.

Placing a hand on his coat sleeve, you gave him a pleading look. “Just for tonight, okay? We’ll keep them close, and I’ll be here if you need anything.”

It took a couple more minutes for him to cooperate, but he eventually nodded. Lifting his snow pants, which were clearly too baggy on him, you helped unlock his peg and place it to the side. “I bet it wasn’t too comfortable all bent up like that, huh?”

Jamison pursed his lips and shook his head.

“Nothing we can’t fix once we get home.”

You outstretched your hand and removed his prosthetic arm, undoing the straps as delicately as you could while leaving the liner in place. His yellow eyes followed you closely as you placed the prosthetics to the side, his shoulders falling in relief as you immediately returned your attention back to him.

“Better?”

“Sweet as, love.”

 “Get in the sleeping bag, Jamison,” you said firmly. “You’re going to get sick. My bag’s only big enough for one, but I need you to get in it, okay? I’ll be right next to you.”

He knew better than to protest given your commanding glare, and sluggishly shuffled into the sleeping bag. It was too short for his absurdly tall frame, but you were relieved that he was at least going to be warm. You gave the fire a somber glance before looking for something with which to stoke it. “Do you have anything we can use for the fire, Jamie?”

“Nothin’ unless you wanna make this entire place go kaboom,” he said, his voice cracking.

As you reassessed the inventory, you sighed deeply and laid yourself down next to him, using your scarf and hood as a pillow. “Okay… we’ll just… We can make this work. I hope Mako’s okay.”

Jamison turned away from you and curled under the bedroll with a deep groan. “… M’sorry. M’sorry. M’sorry. M’sorry.”

Curling an arm around him, you pulled him to you and kissed the back of his head before putting his own hood up. “Don’t apologize, Jamie. We’ll get out of here soon. Just rest, okay? You don’t look so good.”

He sniffed a little and nodded. You ghosted his skin until you found his forehead, and checked for a fever.

To your relief, nothing.

He’s just worn out. That’s all. We all are. We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. We’ll be oka—

“Uh,” Jamison said your name fondly. “Ta… for comin’. Thought I’d be talkin’ to the ice ‘til I freeze over, meself. Not—not to be a whinger.”

“Jamie,” you said, finding his hand under the shell of the sleeping bag. “We would never leave you. You know that.”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “Yeah, of course.”

Tightening your hold on him, the two of you let the soft crackle of the fire fill in the rest of the chamber until you managed to fall into a dreamless sleep.