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Hanzo hardly spoke a word when he was tasked to end Genji. All that was ever heard was the clashing of swords and the younger one’s pleas for his own life. He easily had him on the ropes, but looking down at his slashed and bloodied brother at the end of his sword, he couldn’t bring himself to deal the final blow and end his suffering. His normally steady hands trembled. At this point, even leaving Genji here, he’d surely die eventually, the elders caring not for him.
However, something felt off. He could feel eyes on him, and hear soft gasps of terror. He swiftly turned, and was met with a heart dropping sight.
All of his Overwatch comrades were here, staring at him in horror. Morrison, Oxton, Zeigler… Sharp. So many of them looked upon him, shocked and aghast, until one finally roared an accusation at him.
“MURDERER!”
One after another, similar incriminations were slung his way, echoing throughout Shimada Castle, ringing in his ears, deafening him. Hanzo eventually crumpled to his knees, clutching his head and being weighed down by every word.
Killer.
Criminal.
Despicable.
Unworthy.
He jolted awake in a cold sweat. Slowly he came down from his panic, realizing that was only a dream… or was it a premonition? Neither Genji or Hanzo had told the entire truth of what happened between the two of them, and after that, he didn’t want to anytime soon, if at all.
That last word he heard before awakening still rang in his head. Unworthy. All these noble people, coming together for the common good of the Earth… he didn’t belong with them. He was not an honorable man.
If they knew the truth, they would surely think so too.
Quietly, he arose from bed, rummaging through his belongings and getting dressed and packing.
Even being as silent as possible, Genji, being his roommate on the Gibraltar base, was stirred by the commotion.
“Hanzo…?” he muttered. “What are you doing?”
He didn’t respond for a few moments, pausing his packing. “I… I cannot stay in Overwatch. If they knew the truth about me… about what happened…”
Genji sat up on his bed. “Hanzo, you are being rash, please just sleep and think on it more in the morning.”
Hanzo shook his head. “I’m sorry, I cannot.”
“You’ll really just abandon all the allies you’ve made here?” Genji’s voice raised slightly now, frustrated with his brother’s stubbornness.
Finished packing, Hanzo zipped his bag and stood, turned away from Genji. “I will give them my regards, if it will please you. Goodbye… brother.” With that, he walked out their room, set on leaving the base.
He scrolled through his phone, looking through his contacts. He really didn’t want to make a scene of saying goodbye, but he supposed he could tell at least someone else.
His eyes fell on one name: Hannah Sharp. He hardly bothered with the nicknames a lot of Overwatch were given, but at the very least hers was fitting. “Octo,” for the octopus tattoo wrapped around her left arm. She once showed admiration for his own tattoo, saying they “kind of matched.” What a silly girl. An admirable artist, however. A shame he was leaving, he was starting to grow fond of her.
He tapped on her name and sent a quick farewell, she at least deserved that. Perhaps she’d see it in the morning.
I cannot stay in Overwatch. I am sorry.
Seeing her phone light up, Hannah checked the notification. Her face scrunched up in confusion. Hanzo was leaving? And just why was he telling her this?? It was a damn good thing she was still up at this late hour. Quickly she saved her work on her computer, putting on some flip flops to head out to find him, quiet enough to not wake her own roommate.
He was walking on foot out the base, so it wasn’t too hard to catch up with him, finding him not too far away outside.
“Hanzo!” Hannah called out, striding up to him.
Hanzo stiffened and stopped, sighing with irritation. Of course she happened to be up.
“What’s up, why… why’re you leaving?” she questioned.
“...I have my reasons,” he simply answered, still not facing her.
She huffed at his non-answer. “Here I thought I’d be the first to give up…” she muttered.
He sharply turned towards her. “I am not ‘giving up’! It is not that simple!”
Hannah held her hands up defensively. “OK, fine, then what the hell’s up? You can’t just send some two sentence text and expect anyone to take that lying down!”
“I am not going to send out paragraphs of explanation, I wrote what I needed to! I can’t stay!” he firmly said.
“Why not?? Overwatch is full of great people with skill to help the world, you are definitely qualified to--”
“I AM NOT GREAT!” he loudly retorted. His anger subsided upon seeing her shocked reaction, hanging his head in shame instead. “I… I am nothing… compared to any of you…”
Hannah frowned with sympathy. “...C’mon, that’s not true.”
“If you knew the truth, you would agree…” he stated, avoiding her eyes.
“...What’s the truth, then? It can’t be that bad, there’s, like, literal ex-criminals here.” She shrugged.
“My crime… was much more severe.” There was only her here, so perhaps he could tell the truth, where it could stay with only her, and be eventually forgotten once he left. “You know of my brother, Genji, yes?”
She simply nodded, morbidly curious where he was going with this.
“...Do you know how he became the way he is now?” He walked towards the cliffside, sitting down and looking at the night horizon.
She shook her head, following behind him. “No…”
“I had attempted to kill him. For the longest time I thought he was truly dead.” He paused, dreading her upcoming reaction.
“...Why did you… try to kill him?” came her simple, timid question as she slowly sat down next to him.
Well, at the very least, she wasn’t outright calling him a killer like his vicious nightmare, so it was a start. “...Our clan was very strict. Our elders weren’t pleased with him not wanting to carry out leading the clan with me after our father passed… so they tasked me to punish him,” Hanzo explained evenly, looking back at her to further glean her reactions.
“...That’s awful…”
He sighed disappointedly. Yes, he truly was.
“Your elders shouldn’t have made you do that,” she continued. “Did you even really want to?”
Hanzo looked at her in surprise. He reflexively wanted to scold her for disrespecting the elders of the Shimada Clan, but having denounced them himself, it was almost cathartic to hear. “Of course I didn’t,” he replied.
“And Genji’s, y’know, not actually dead… How’s he feel about it?” Hannah further questioned.
He sighed. “He came to me on the day I presumed he died, ten years later… and said he forgave me… But even after that, I still do not forgive myself…”
“...’Cause a little voice nagging in the back of your head doesn’t ever let you forget anything you’ve ever done no matter what anyone tells you?”
Hanzo looked at her a bit bewildered, perplexed at how much that resonated with him.
She shrugged and smiled a bit. “Anxiety’ll getcha like that. It’s not easy at all to ignore it, but with help ...” She pointedly looked at him, as if lightly scolding him for trying to leave. “...It can be a lot more silent.”
“...Thank you,” he finally spoke.
She nodded. “So, if you do decide to stay... I definitely think that being here will do a lot of good for the world, and for you.”
After a moment of thinking, he nodded once. “I shall stay with Overwatch, to continue my path of redemption.”
Hannah smiled. “Good. ‘Cause who else am I gonna share initials and tattoo arms with?” She playfully elbowed him, joking with him to lighten the mood. “Hey, what’s that thing you say that summons the cool dragons from yours? Mine can’t do that, it just kinda glows in the dark.” She presented her own arm as her pink octopus was doing just that.
He softly smiled back. Such a silly girl. “ ‘Ryū ga waga teki wo kurau.’ It means ‘Let the dragon consume my foes.’”
“Cooool,” she chuckled. “Anyways, c’mon, we should get back to bed.” She stood, helping him to his feet as well. He grabbed his bag as they both headed inside, back to their rooms, bidding each other a good night before they parted.
“Hmph, that didn’t take long,” Genji remarked upon Hanzo’s return.
“I don’t want to hear a word, Genji,” Hanzo sneered.
“Did you have a change of heart, or did someone else drag you back?”
“...Someone helped me,” he simply stated, undressing back down to his underwear.
“Oh?” Genji tilted his head. “Who was it?”
Hanzo laid back down in bed. “It was Hannah, alright? Hannah Sharp.”
“Ah, the one who likes you and your tattoo because you match… Do you like her?”
“ Good NIGHT, Genji.”