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Soldier: 76 was in Giza for the self-assigned mission of tracking and bringing down Reaper. He had just finished defeating dozens of Hakim’s goons, and had a conversation with the man himself. Not a whole lot of good information this time around, just a general location. Once he got to said location, he used his tactical visor to scan the surrounding area, finding nothing, and a voice appeared behind him. It knew his name.
“Right here, Jack.”
A burning shotgun blast hit Soldier’s lower back before he had the chance to turn around, and he fell to the ground, wrapping an arm around his torso while coughing.
“Always rushing in. I know your every move before you even think it... always have.” The voice said. “I’ve been looking for you since Switzerland. Knew it’d take more than that to kill you.” Reaper said, adjusting his grip on his massive shotgun. “Now here you are. This is how it should have been.”
Soldier heard a grunt behind him, and turned to see a shot had landed in Reaper’s shoulder. There was a second shot, just a second after the first, and the pain from Soldier’s back dissipated. Soldier heard Ana shout encouragement, and took the opportunity of Reaper looking away to get up from his position prone on the ground and tackle him. Soldier was on top of Reaper, getting as many hits in as he could before Reaper managed to get him off and stand up. They continued the fistfight until Jack ended up on the dusty ground once again. One of Ana’s shots got reflected by Reaper’s steel gauntlets, and he turned around frustrated. “You...” Reaper muttered.
Reaper just... faded away? And reappeared behind Ana, who shot a sleep dart into his neck, before he chuckled and casually used his claws to remove it and continue throwing punches. Reaper was speaking, but Soldier couldn’t quite hear from the distance he was at. They both fell from the high ground, about ten feet from Soldier, and Reaper’s mask unlatched in the impact.
Soldier could clearly see Reaper’s face.
Jack panted as he blinked a few times, reaching his hands up to rub his eyes. It was dark, save for the moonlight creeping in through the blinds. To his right, brown eyes were fixated on him, with eyebrows knitted together and a mouth turned into a frown. The figure had one hand on Jack’s shoulder, slightly shaking him. Jack turned on his side to prop himself up on his elbow and briefly meet the figure’s familiar eyes.
“Jack?” The figure whispered. Gabriel’s voice. Jack’s muscles relaxed.
He cleared his throat and blinked once again. “Gabe?”
“You okay?” Gabriel whispered. “You were shaking a lot.”
“Nightmare.” Jack said simply.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Gabriel replied, reaching down to grab one of Jack’s hands and planting a soft kiss on it.
Jack hesitated as he squeezed Gabriel’s hand back. “I guess. It was just... so real.” He couldn’t make himself maintain eye contact.
“Well, it wasn’t. I’m right here with you, and you’re safe.” Gabriel murmured, not needing the dream’s context to know how to comfort Jack; he had always felt better just being in Gabriel’s presence.
“I know, thank you.” Jack whispered, finally looking Gabriel in the eyes with a small smile. The smile disappeared quickly as he recalled his dream. “I was... a vigilante, I guess. Overwatch was gone.” Gabriel’s mouth slanted into a frown to match Jack’s expression, but said nothing.
“I was in Egypt, I think. With Ana. We were a lot older. We were hunting a masked someone that had been killing ex-Overwatch members.” Jack continued to describe the dream in as much detail as he could remember. “Ana knocked his mask off. I thought I recognized his voice at first, but...” His throat tightened and he swallowed. He could barely bring himself to say the following words. “It was you.” Jack’s eyes remained locked onto Gabriel’s hand, which loosened for a moment in Gabriel’s shock. The both said nothing for a short while.
Gabriel took a deep breath and replied. “That doesn’t sound like me.” He said frankly.
Jack let out a small chuckle at that. “You’re right, it doesn’t, does it?” He ducked his head and used his free hand to wipe a drop of sweat off his brow. Gabriel kissed Jack’s hand again, right above his wedding band. It was a nice reminder of when and where he was. Zurich, 2069. Everything was fine. Everything would be fine.