Chapter Text
Something was watching Sniper.
For a week, he'd been hearing strange noises in the night, feeling a pair of eyes on him after dusk, and continuously checking and rechecking his surroundings, finding nothing.
Yes, something was watching Sniper. And he was beginning to get annoyed.
The strange noises kept him up at night. Usually, Sniper was accustomed to the sounds of nature at night. It was calming to him. He'd identify the bird calls and the animal howls, and it would put him to sleep.
He didn't recognize this new sound. It sounded like an entirely different animal that, for some reason, sounded like a bat, a bird, and a wild cat at the same time!
He stoked the fire silently, listening intently to search for that bizarre click. So far all that met him was the conversations between crickets and the occasional rustle of the wind. Maybe he was being paranoid. Lack of sleep could play tricks on one's senses, and it wouldn’t be the first time it had happened. Still, it unnerved him to just lie still in his bed and hear a rumbling trill just outside his window.
Next to him was a rifle. He had spent the past few hours taking it apart, cleaning it, and putting it together. Normally he'd test it after cleaning, but tonight, he did not want to.
Anxious thoughts swirled around in his head. He couldn't attract attention to himself, even if he was starting to think that whatever he had been hearing was just his imagination.
Above him the stars were bright and the moon was big and full. He felt...comfortable, despite his worrying. He wondered if he should go to bed, but his legs did not move. He just sat, and continued to poke at the fire.
Silence stretched on, its warm presence starting to smooth back Snipers frayed nerves. The heat of the fire settled his mind, warming his face until his eyelids began to droop. His mind began to develop a pleasant haze he hadn’t felt in days.
A deep sigh escaped his chest, only stuttering at the distant sound of dry wood snapping.
He heard it before he saw it. A loud screech came from behind him, along with the sound of flapping wings, louder than anything he had heard before. The gust of wind from its wings blew the fire out almost instantly, leaving Sniper in darkness.
Sniper grabbed his rifle, and ducked to dodge a large black figure, almost human shaped.
Now facing him was the large creature, all black save for red eyes that were reflecting moonlight, staring right at Sniper.
For a second, Sniper was frozen. He'd been all over the world, he's seen many, many animals. But none like this one. He could hear his heart beat loudly in his ears, and he wanted to run.
But he didn't.
The creature let out another screech as it stood over Sniper.
He raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Because Sniper had never loaded it.
Sniper didn’t have time for panic- time to feel his face pale, or a stomach drop to the pit of his stomach. All he had time to do was brace against the weight that caught him in the chest, punching the air out of his lungs and sending him sprawling out against the dirt.
The stars spun, and for a second, all Sniper could make out was the moon, before an eclipse of red flashed in front of it, pinning him to the ground. He fought for breath, but in its place he could feel this- whatever it was- inching closer. He felt it’s hot, shuddering breath against the nape of his neck.
His mouth opened in a silent scream as the feel of needles slid into his junction of his shoulder and neck- small and thin like dozens upon dozens of cactus pricks sinking into him.
It burned hotter than his fire could ever hope to be, setting his chest aflame before it washed into an ice cold chill, freezing him in place until the needles retracted.
Soundlessly, it lifted itself off of Sniper, blood dripping from its mouth and onto Sniper's face. A series of clicks came from the creature's throat, and in a snap, it was gone.
Sniper could hear it run away, it's feet pounding into the hard ground. Until it disappeared entirely.
For a minute, Sniper just lay there, tired and confused. He couldn't comprehend what he had just seen, and he was feeling quite faint, either from the adrenaline rush or the blood loss.
Right. The blood loss.
Sniper sat up slowly and lifted two fingers to his neck. His hand was wet with blood when he pulled away, and slowly, he could feel the pain begin to grow steadily.
He needed to get to the base.
Sniper stumbled forward across the desert. The distance between his van and the base really wasn’t that far, but with his hand clutching at wet, slick muscle, it felt like continents away. Thank goodness there were still a few lights on inside, they seemed like a lighthouse in the dark of the night. Finally, his hand gripped the door handle, and stumbled inside.
It was dark. A faint hallway light was on, and Sniper could hear the distant voice of one of his teammates.
He felt hot, he felt sick, he felt tired. All Sniper wanted to do was go back to his van and sleep.
Instead, he stepped into the kitchen.
He saw Scout, who was leaning into the fridge and singing some song that he had heard on the radio. Sniper almost felt guilty for interrupting him.
He took a step forward, and Scout froze. He slowly turned around and-
He let out an ear splitting scream.
"Scout." Sniper mumbled, though he'd been trying to shout, "'S just me."
Scout stopped screaming.
"Sniper?! What are you...are you freaking bleeding?!" He was staring at Sniper's gushing wound, and doing nothing.
Sniper let out a sigh, "Yeah. Little help?"
Scout snapped out of his trance, "Yeah! I'll...get medic!"
Come morning the infirmary smelled of antiseptic and dried blood, finally quiet in the hours just before sunrise, when blue bled into the pitch of night until it reclaimed the sky. Those were the moments that the base came alive again.
Or rather, that’s how Soldier would have it. If he had his choice, the American would have everybody up and at attention before the sun was past the horizon, but he’d grown a bit more relaxed in that ambition after getting a firm knock on the head from Medic after the good doctor had pulled another all-nighter. He couldn’t quite find it in himself to mind though, as a new routine had emerged.
It would never be long after waking up that the soldier would trek out of the base towards snipers camp. It was compact, efficient, and quick to recognize, if a bit on the run-down side. So rather like its inhabitant, which Soldier had to admit was more than a little bit charming.
He approached said camp that morning, entirely prepared to drag his rangy partner out of bed to face the morning. He could see a hundred sunrises but they weren't quite the same without Sniper.
His morning musings came to an abrupt stop when he actually got to the van. Ashes from the night's fire smoked weakly, snipers beloved rifle lay half covered in dirt, but what scared Soldier to the core was the deep red that painted the dusty earth around the campsite. He lifted his helmet to better see and traced a wobbling path that led back towards the base. Without a moment's hesitation he rushed in, prepared to tear whoever or whatever had done this apart.
While the trail of blood, now dried and flaking, had *technically* stopped in the kitchen, Soldier knew where to look first.
His vision was red with anger, and because of this, he wasn't quite as reasonable as he had been before, when he'd been getting ready to spend a relaxing morning with the man he loved most.
If Medic had Sniper, he'd know what happened. And then Soldier could find whoever hurt him and make them feel his pain ten times over!
He slammed open the doors to the infirmary, and saw Medic writing something down in a plastic clipboard, his eyes beady and tired.
"YOU!" Soldier shouted, pointing a finger at Medic, "Where is Sniper?!"
“Shiß!” Medic jolted, scraping his pen across the paper. He looked down at the sudden scratch, then glared wearily at the intruder.
“Ah, Herr Soldier, thank you for knocking. Remind me to install locks onto that door, bitte.”
“I’m not reminding you of anything but the taste of dirt in the face if you don’t answer my question!” Soldier spat, marching forward to prod his finger into the doctor's firm chest. Said doctor only rolled his eyes and took a few steps back.
“Well if you keep shouting you will find out very quickly.” He huffed before realizing his mistake and moving to cover Soldier’s mouth. “That was sarcastic! Do not shout!” He hissed. “If you really want to know, he is resting in a recovery bed. And considering his injuries I-“ he didn’t finish his sentence as Soldier shoved past him to sprint towards the small row of curtained off cots. He swiftly yanked one back to see his partner lying still in the bed, stained plasters across his shoulder and neck stained through with small blooms of red.
His eyes were open but his gaze was vacant, and Soldier could feel his heart wrench. For a moment, his anger turned to pure sadness
"Sniper..." Soldier whispered, unsure of what to say, unsure of how to comfort him.
Then, Sniper's eyes focused, and they made sweet, wonderful eye contact.
An uncharacteristic grin spread across Sniper's face, and his undamaged arm reached to pull at Soldier's sleeves.
"Aw, hey, love." He mumbled, slurring slightly.
Soldier glared at Medic, "What did you do to him?!" And the anger returned.
"Relax." Medic said, "I gave him painkillers. His wound was quite serious, and he wouldn't stop thrashing around."
Soldier looked down at Sniper, who was focusing intently on Soldier's hand, slowly trying to thread his fingers into Soldier's.
Cute! But Soldier needed to find out what happened.
"What happened?!" Soldier asked, as eloquent as ever.
Medic winced, "Keep your voice down. I don't know, you'll have to ask him." Medic turned his head.
"He wasn't in the mood to speak last night." He muttered to himself.
Soldier grimaced, shifting to properly hold Sniper’s hand which pulled a pleased hum from the sharpshooter. Again, cute! But not what they needed. He knew Sniper was a fairly quiet man, getting him to open up about something he was hesitant to mention would be difficult.
“Uh. Sniper?” He asked in a stage whisper
“Mm?” Sniper hummed, smiling warmly up at Soldier.
“What happened last night? What did this? Who did this? I’ll make them pay, I promise.”
Sniper sighed a bit dramatically, squeezing his lover's hand.
“‘S gonna sound crazy.”
“I’ll believe you no matter what! Medic says crazy things all the time and we still believe him.”
Medic made an offended noise at the side, which they both ignored. Sniper hummed, apparently thinking it over before muttering his answer.
“It was some... big BIG shadow thing. Been clicking and chirpin’ like- like a giant bird. Had massive eyes too! Bloody scary lookin’ bugger... maybe it was a bug. How big do bugs get?”
Soldier was quiet, eyes flitting about as he tried to make sense of snipers ramblings. He turned to Medic who was watching Sniper intently.
“Aheh... perhaps I gave him a bit too much. The delirium will wear off in a few hours though, not to worry.”
Sniper let out the smallest whimper, and Soldier knelt down beside the bed.
"I believe you. Don't listen to that quack. You saw what you saw."
"Hey-"
"When you get better, we'll look for that bird bug! I'll make him feel the wrath of a true American Soldier!!!"
Sniper giggled at this, and Medic just groaned.
"Well, at least you aren't stressing him out." Medic brought two fingers to his temple, and shook his head.
"I'm going to talk to Miss Pauling about this, and then I am going to sleep."
"Night, Doc!" Soldier saluted as Medic stepped away from the two mercenaries.
As footsteps grew more distant and the sound of the door closing echoed out, Soldier relaxed a bit. At least now he could focus on keeping an eye on Sniper. At least he would have had his helmet not been knocked askew.
He didn’t know when Sniper had let go of his hand, but in a moment the marksman had reached up and tilted his armor aside, eventually lifting it away from his face.
“There you are.” he sang, dipping his fingers beneath the iron to gently scratch at the closely buzzed hair there. Soldier couldn’t deny the smile that lit up his face. Not that he had ever hidden a smile before then.
“Here I am.” He said back, leaning down a bit to kneel more comfortably. “Do you need me to run anything for you while you wait this out? Water? Rations? Your rifle?”
Sniper laughed in a sweet, melodious way that had Soldier’s heart melting.
“Hmm. Only one thing I need, ‘Kay?”
“Affirmative! Say the word and it’s yours!”
Sniper shifted, wincing slightly at the movement but continuing regardless until there was a sliver of cot between them and he was lying with his back pressed against the wall, bad shoulder sitting at a slightly awkward angle, but still now. He gave the space between them a little pat, brows raised in an almost pleading expression.
“C’mere. That’s the word ‘n I’m sayin it.”
Soldier's grin was large and infectious. One cot was not nearly enough room for the two of them, but Sniper's bed in his van had been even smaller, and they still made it work.
Like the final piece of a puzzle, Soldier neatly arranged himself into the cot, making sure that Sniper's injuries weren't bothered.
When Soldier stopped moving, Sniper let his head fall down on his chest, breathing in his familiar aroma.
"'m tired." Sniper mumbled sleepily into Soldier's shoulder.
"You're allowed to sleep on me." After all, he has done it hundreds of times now. And Soldier loved every single moment.
"Okay." Sniper mumbled, before pressing his lips against Soldier's jaw, "Alright. Make sure...the bird-bug...monster doesn't come back."
"I will protect you with my life." Soldier promised. And he meant it.
When he woke, Sniper had felt the sharp sting of his shoulder, very suddenly missing the distant haziness of the painkillers. Feeling the warmth of a sturdy, familiar body next to him dashed those thoughts quickly enough. The following hours consisted of Soldier ferrying things to and from the medical wing- water, food, clean clothes, anything and everything Sniper requested and then some. Medic returned just before midday, looking more rested than when Soldier had first seen him. A quick examination revealed that the bite was still clean and showed nothing too dangerous, but he decided to remain safe and gave both sniper and soldier gauze to re-wrap the injury every few hours, along with a sling to keep it from jostling about too much.
Beyond that, Soldier stayed true to his word. He hardly left his partner's side in the following days, ever vigilant and prepared to see the beast that had so cruelly caught Sniper in its jaws. Of course nobody else really believed the story, save for Demoman who assured him that whatever it was couldn’t have been too dangerous, as the only thing he could think of that came close to the description lived in the Appalachia’s. By the end, even Sniper began to muse about what he’d seen. He knew wild animals liked to wander the badlands at night, and it was possible migratory creatures were passing through. Still, the memories of red eyes and prickling teeth turned his stomach.
A few days after the attack, Sniper woke up feeling...hungry. He was used to hunger, he'd lived in total isolation for quite a few years, where food was scarce. But this was a different hunger, once that made Sniper's bones ache with want for food.
Soldier was sleeping beside him, and Sniper raided his provisions of mostly dried and salted meat, and ate, well, all of it.
He didn't even realize how much he had eaten until it was all gone.
It was...slightly concerning, but Sniper had more important things to worry about than hunger.
After a while, Soldier woke up, and insisted that they change his dressings. Sniper agreed easily, a bit distracted from his binge, and let Soldier redress him.
They did so silently, Soldier still sleepy and Sniper still hungry.
"Oh." Soldier said, when the old dressings were uncovered.
Sniper looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"It's..." Soldier leaned closer to Sniper's shoulder, and for a moment, his hunger was replaced by fluttery feelings.
"Your wound. It's healed."
Sniper blinked.
He looked down at his shoulder.
Sure enough, the wound was practically gone, leaving behind a harsh and bright scar.
His mind raced, brows knit together in concentration as he tried to grasp for anything that made sense. The punctures couldn’t have been that shallow, they wouldn’t have bled so much. He didn’t have an enhanced healing factor, he would’ve noticed it by now. The gauze had come sealed, so Medic couldn’t have tampered with it.
“That’s uh... heh, well isn't that weird?” He laughed nervously.
“I’ll say! Medic must’ve been giving you something to speed things along!” Soldier cheered, bright as ever.
“Huh?” Sniper questioned
“Medic! I’ll bet he was putting something in the food to speed along the patch up.”
Sniper squinted, processing the idea. It wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. If he could heal someone with vapors from some over-equipped backpack, who knows what he could do to food. Though, speaking of...
“Y’know I think you’re right. Just to be sure though, I don’t want anything opening back up. Let’s see if we can’t find anything to eat, yeah?”
They headed to the base's kitchen, hand in hand. Sniper's stomach grumbled despite the food he had eaten, and his mouth watered when they got closer.
Somehow, despite being separated by a thick wall, Sniper could still smell the food from the kitchen.
Walking inside, Sniper saw that most everyone in the base was in the kitchen. Apparently, Engie was making food.
Sniper's stomach rumbled loudly.
"Ah, Sniper!" Medic exclaimed, before his eyes fell to his shoulder. His mouth pinched into a tight frown.
"Herr Sniper, where is your sling?" He asked darkly. Sniper gulped.
"He's healed!" Soldier exclaimed, "Thanks, Doc!"
Medic looked confused for a moment, searching both soldier and snipers faces for any trace of deceit. Finding nothing, he made a quick, pitched noise of interest.
“Has he?” He asked. “Fascinating... well regardless, I would like to give another examination before letting it rest. Just to be certain the scar tissue won’t cause too much discomfort. Your rifle causes quite a bit of tension in your shoulders, you know.”
Hesitant as he was, Sniper couldn’t disagree. He knew already that he got aches and pains from sitting hunched over all day, sometimes receiving a bruise where the kickback of his gun would catch him in the shoulder. To his side, Soldier beamed, squeezing his hand reassuringly.
“We’ll be there, doc!”
At the other end of the table scout could be heard giving a quiet chuckle.
“Y’guard dog still followin’ you around, snipes?” He teased, though his tone was all in good nature.
“Get bent!” He called back, being reminded of why they came to the kitchen in the first place as a pang of hunger struck his stomach once more.
Sniper focused his attention on the fridge. Inside was a whole variety of foods, all ranging from simple ingredients to complex, pre-made meals. Sniper wanted to eat it all.
He looked over to Soldier, who was toasting bread in a toaster. He seemed captivated. Maybe he wouldn't notice if he...
Sniper swiped about half of the raw ingredients and at them as fast as he could.
For a second, it was almost like Sniper couldn't control himself. The food tasted as bland as usual, but still, Sniper just wanted to eat and eat and-
"Snipes?"
Sniper paused. Behind him stood Scout, wide eyed and confused.
A pause stretched between them for a moment, neither quite moving before Sniper swallowed what was in his mouth, slowly rising to lean against the fridge.
“Uh. Hey.” He greeted, looking anywhere but scout.
“Hey. What was that?” Scout cut to the point.
“Nothing. Eating.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” He said, eyes trained on the ravaged goods. A few vegetables remained, some having been broken or snapped by erratic movements. Fruits and bread had bites taken out of them at random, but scout paled visibly at the sight of a package of steaks torn open, gnawed and torn apart as if ravaged by a wild animal.
“Are you- ok not joking here, are you okay, man?” Scout asked, shifting nervously.
Sniper chewed his lip for a moment, weighing his options before deflating a bit, kneeling down to try and right the mess that lay at his feet.
“I don’t know.” He answered in a whisper, glancing back to see Soldier still busy. “I feel like I’m bloody starving. I don’t know why, I- I can’t explain it. Solly and I just woke up a minute ago and it feels like I haven’t had anything in days.”
Scout stepped forward, crouching down himself to pick up a half-eaten tomato.
“I mean, have you?”
“What?”
“Have you eaten anything in the past couple’a days?”
“What kinda question is that? Of course I have.”
“Coffee and jerky don’t count dummy.” Scout sighed. “Look docs hammered it into my brain enough times I know this by heart: the body gets freaky after somethin’ happens to it. Needs a shitload’a energy t’fix itself. Probably why you’ve been so tired too. Hell, y’remember that time Pyro caught my arm with that shotgun? Slept for two days and ate a whole pizza when I woke up.” Scout shrugged, flicking a seed at his friend before tossing the fruit into the trash can, pumping his fist when it landed in.
Sniper stared at him, his head tilted as he processed. He had been a lot more tired after the attack, and he wasn’t much one for large meals even when he hadn’t been hurt.
Maybe this was all normal, and Sniper was just responding to trauma in a normal way.
...So why didn't this feel right?
Sensing Sniper's hesitancy, Scout continued.
"I'm sure Medic will make sure you're okay. I mean, he's insane, but when it comes to matters like this, he doesn't fuck around."
"No he does not!" Soldier shouted, after piling a whole loaf of toasted bread onto his plate, "What are we talking about?"
Scout chuckled, "And you got Soldier. So I wouldn't worry."
Sniper smiled. It was nice that Scout reassured him.
Sniper thought about what Scout had said while they both sat at the kitchen table. Sniper wasn't one to take advice just anyone, but Scout did have a point. And maybe Medic had a point of Sniper just seeing things.
Next to him, Soldier aggressively ate his toast, throwing crumbs all over the table.
Well, at least Soldier would be there, no matter what. That was the most comforting thought of all.
At the other end of the table, Scout situated himself between medic and engineer, effectively cutting off the conversation they were having.
“Hey, doc, you got a second? Good, so here’s the thing.” Scout began, voice unusually hushed among the small sea of conversation. “I think somethin’s up with sniper.”
“Ja, he’s been through something rather intense. Is that all you wanted to say?”
“Not at all. Look, he just told me he’s started having these cravings. Like, bad ones.”
Medic drummed his fingers on the table, mind already drafting up solutions to problems yet unknown.
“When you say cravings...”
“I mean he’ll eat anything. He raided the fridge and now we’re gonna have to make a supply run in a few days. And don’t tell Engie who tore into the steaks.”
Medic stared, clearly shocked.
“He cooked steaks for breakfast?”
“Oh god I wish he cooked them.”
Medics' face pinched, tapping his jaw thoughtfully.
“I will... take this into consideration. Thank you for telling me, scout, I’m certain this will be helpful during his check-up”
“Any time, doc. Just make sure he’s alright.” Scout nodded, patting the doctor on the shoulder before rising from the table and returning to the kitchen with a now empty plate.
"Ah hell, what was that about?" Engineer asked. He had only caught bits and pieces of the conversation.
"It seems Herr Sniper has been behaving strangely."
Engineer scoffed, "That man got attacked by a wild animal. Pretty sure he needs some time to recover."
Medic nodded in agreement, "Yes, I would say so too. But we cannot rule out anything at this point. I'm sure you are well aware of the strange things we experience."
Engineer paled. He remembered the teleporter incident entirely too well.
"What, are you saying he's some sort of..."
Medic shook his head, and took a bite out of the oatmeal he was eating, "Not at all! I'm just saying that there's no limit to what could happen. Sniper has a check-up with me, later. If all goes well, the only solution will be for Sniper to go to therapy."
"And if it doesn't?" Engineer asked, raising an eyebrow.
Medic just smiled.
"Doc. Don't kidnap him."
"For your information, I was not going to. Soldier would have my head."
Engineer chuckled. At least Medic had enough common sense to know that.