Chapter Text
“It’s been nearly two weeks Winston, and you’re in the exact same place I left you in”
For the first time in hours Winston put down the small project and looked up, finding a shaking head but a small smile as she approached. He blinked hard, glancing at the holo-clock above his work space, last time he checked he was sure it said a.m.
“Two weeks? You’re already back from the honeymoon then?”
She nodded, lifting her hand up just enough to show off a rather impressively sized rock on her finger. Gerard spared no expensive, same for the wedding. Family, friends and nearly half of Overwatch was in attendance. Weapons were permitted of course, they couldn’t risk it being in one place. Even Amélie had a pistol strapped to her thigh underneath her beautiful dress.
Pushing himself away from the desk, the chair he crouched in rolled away just enough to give the thin woman room for a quick embrace.
She smiled, ruffling the tuff of fur on top of his head, “Time flies when you’re having fun no?” she laughed, pointing to the mess that is his work desk.
She could hardly see the table, covered in gadgets and tools that were foreign to her.
He snorted, releasing his grip to push his small glasses further up his nose, “You could say that”
“This must be the emergency I heard so much about”
She carefully leaned over the table, purposely holding her own hands behind her back to hold back the urge to poke and prod. A lesson she learned the hard way many years ago. Despite the confusing tech, it was easy to spot the one in question, a circular gadget that blinked a soft blue hue every once and awhile.
Winston sighed, “I apologize for missing your wedding Amélie. But to be fair it was probably for the best, I am a horrible dancer”
She opened her mouth but quickly closed it, he might have been right but that didn’t she wouldn’t have wanted to see it anyway.
“Besides, this is the solution…in theory” he sighed, turning in his seat to point directly behind them,” That is the emergency”
Following the pointed finger, she turned around, realizing there was in fact a new room in his lab that was clearly not that before. Half of the lab was now replaced with long windows, peering into a circular room with large cables and dozens of light fixtures. But otherwise, there was nothing else.
Her brows furrowed in confusion, slowly approaching a window to confirm the lack of life or anything else inside.
“H..”
She blinked, just once and it was gone. The figure of a person. From the corner of her eye.
“He…llo…!” now a voice but no body.
“What…is this?”
“Wait…wait is she back?!” his tired eyes widened, hopping out of his seat and nearly smashing his face against the window,” Athena, begin monitoring Lena’s movements”
Recording now.
“Lena?! Can you hear me?!” he cried out but there was nothing.
Save for just the tiniest noise Winston didn’t seem to notice but she heard it a mile away. Someone inside was giggling.
“I’M BACK” she screamed, jumping up from her hidden spot beneath the windows and thus sending poor Winston flat on his back in surprise.
The girl inside fell over in a fit of laughter, punching the air in victory, “YEESSS I finally got you! You shoulda seen the look on your face!”
Amélie held a hand to her lips, stifling a small giggle as Winston struggled to stand up with his glasses crooked from his face and clutching his heart.
“Lena…we have company, be polite please” he grumbled, readjusting his spectacles.
She immediately stopped, wiping a stray tear from her eyes, the girl named Lena sat up and stared directly at Amélie with big eyes.
“Ooh but I didn’t get you dint I?” she smiled, hopping to her feet to approach the window.
She was a bit on the short side, young with a smile and hopeful eyes Amélie hadn’t seen in years. Lena was less discreet about scanning the new person.
“Get a load of you, standing tall n cool like that eh?” she was grinning,”I’m Lena Oxton! Pleasure to meet ya!”
Out of habit, the girl offered her hand as one would for a formal greeting, but as if the wall was never there, her hand went straight through it, even flickering and becoming transparent right in front of Amélie’s eyes.
“What on earth…”
Lena immediately pulled her hand back, forcing a smile and laugh, “Oh…right sorry luv…I…..k-keep forg-” her words failed as the rest of her body seemed to follow her hand’s pattern, flickering like a broken light bulb soon Amélie was able to see right through her.
Recognizing the look of confused panic, Lena looked down at herself and groaned.
“Ah bugger all…” she huffed, a puff of air blowing her bangs out of her face in frustration her shoulders sagged in defeat,”Well…awfully nice to have a visitor!” she shrugged past the sad look on her face.
“Winston…what is happening to er?”
He didn’t reply at first, she turned away to find him typing furiously at three different computers at the same time, the lights within Lena’s chambers hummed burning brighter for only a moment in which she appeared to have become whole again but only for a few seconds. The lights cracks and sparks flew before shutting down and she was right back to becoming a ghost.
Winston growled at the beeping computers, slamming a fist on the desk in frustration, “Damnit! I almost had it!”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself…” she sighed,” Ah…luv?” Amélie turned back to find the girl much closer to the window to speak through as her voice was soon fading as her body was,”Could you pat the gent for me?”
This girl was disappearing, before her very eyes and all she could do was sigh and accept it.
This was not what she was expecting on her first day back from vacation but here she was, walking over to Winston and patting him on the shoulder as requested.
“I don’t know what to do…” he mumbled gently, unable to look back at the pair of big eyes that were looking hopefully as they did every time she would return. Instead he looked upwards, staring at the numerous screens of data that seemed to tower over him.
“Not giving up would be a start” she said, gently squeezing his arm reassuringly,” I don’t know a single scientist better suited for this job”
Winston, Tracer is disappearing from existence again.
Athena called out, diverting their attention back to the girl looking rather annoyed.
“Thank you Athena…” she huffed, flopping down on the ground, pouting like a child being scolding by the universe as she began to fade away.
Winston jumped out of his seat, making his way back to the glass his nose flared as he snarled, “Lena I’m going to fix this I promise!”
Amélie stood by in silence, watching the girl’s eyes reignite with life at his determination.
“Aw, thanks big guy. I know you can do it!” she grinned, standing back up to offer him a thumbs up. It was the little she could do to keep his spirits up.
Soon the flickering fell into a sporadic pattern of her phasing into being and disappearing.
“Wha…y-your…..n-name luv?” she called out, her voice trailing away into the void.
She wasn’t sure what was more terrifying. This girl’s condition or the fact that she was smiling through it.
“Amélie Lacroix”
“N-nice… ta m-meet ya Amélie” Lena smiled, bringing two fingers up to her forehead in a mock salute she nodded,”See you soon”
And she was gone.
Not a single trace of the girl.
“Well…she was an odd one”
Winston let out a long sigh and returned to his work desk,”I can’t let her down, not when everyone else had given up on her” he huffed, screens appearing around him with no data recorded just moments ago.
“That sounds like a familiar story, no?”
He paused, though he stayed silent, he offered a small smile up at the tall french sniper.
Leaning in, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning on her heel to let him work in peace, “Let me know when the girlie has returned, oui?”
“She looks like fun”