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The procedure, as it was termed, is a success. No precedent, but Angela Ziegler is a pioneer in medicine. It was a matter of thinking in reverse, she said. If genetic alterations had failed his revival attempt years ago, those alterations would have to be worked around. The US government handed over the enhancement program files - reluctantly, but favors are owed when the second Omnic Crisis is still underway. For his part, Jack is sick of the political game. He stays out.
Global panic makes unlikely allies, but Talon had always been a means to an end for Reaper. He came to the old gang at the watchpoint with intel, the valuable kind, the kind that involved God AIs and corporate secrets. Ana kept her eye on him. Jack didn’t ask what words were exchanged behind closed doors between Dr. Ziegler and Reaper, and he thinks maybe that's for the best. When Reaper is extracted weeks later, all that remains is Gabriel Reyes, worse for the wear, with a decision to make.
It’s selfish of Jack, in a way. Reyes died once, and the kinder thing is to give him back what he lost. Jack tells himself he would have delivered that mercy killing. Something bright lingers in him. His body remembers. Reyes declines a round of pulse ammunition in the skull. Jack is relieved, and it doesn't feel right. He thinks he's been selfish enough in his life when it came to Reyes and the choices he made.
The color returns to Reyes’s skin after a week, but it never reaches the shade of brown it was before. Muscle and sinew regrow over the metal jaw reconstruction, but his mouth stays jagged. His nose repairs itself, too; the new cartilage is bruised and crooked. But Jack listens to his voice, and he sounds the same.
They're quiet with each other, at first. Jack’s mouth used to run a mile a minute, and now he can't think of what to say. He starts with an apology. They’re sitting next to each other on the steps of the watchpoint lookout tower when the sun sets along the uneven foggy horizon. Reyes grinds his teeth. Jack’s ears remember.
Reyes’s voice is rough when he accepts.
A moment passes, and then he offers Jack an apology in return. He tells him he didn’t think the wounds he carved on Jack’s face all those years ago would stay. Jack tells him it’s fine; turns out scars look good on both of them. Gabriel laughs like he’s forgotten how to do it. Jack laughs, too.
Fighting the enemy presents challenges, and Gabriel keeps close to Jack on the field. The adjustment is hard for him. Injuries that stick, escape routes gone. The downsides of a solid, human body. Jack makes a request that's more of a demand for a larger supply of biotic grenades. Ana tells him to add biotic rifle ammunition to the order form before she shakes her head and hands him a list of conversation starters scribbled on paper.
The months pass, and Jack begins to think he stepped into a memory. Gabriel grows his hair out at the top to hide the bumps of the metal grafts on his skull. Grey streaks peek out on the shaved sides behind his ears. He has curls, and that's something new. Jack brings Gabriel coffee like a tradition while he works because Gabriel will forget to eat. Gabriel still takes it black. Late at night when decent people are asleep they sit under the stars and admit the mistakes they made. Sometimes they argue, but that's nothing different. Jack is stubborn and Gabriel is dry, and after apologies they feel the same.
Gabriel’s knuckles feel the same when they graze over the curve of Jack’s forehead.
The sun’s rising through the window over Jack’s bed, and it's a new day. His mattress and his sheets are warm against his skin. Jack’s mind can't recall the last morning like this one, but his body remembers. Next to him, Gabriel rolls from his side onto his back like satisfaction. Jack leans over him, and he feels Gabriel’s heart beat in a slow and steady rhythm.
Gabriel’s palm presses against Jack’s cheek.
“Morning, bright eyes,” he says.
Jack’s eyes are ruined and dim and cloudy, but he feels the scarred lips under his fingers turn up in a grin.
“Morning,” he says back. He meets Gabriel halfway when they kiss, and he feels brighter than sunshine.