"Get up," Amelie whispered, vigorously shaking her husband awake. Gerard did wake up, albeit slowly, and looked up at his wife with bleary eyes.
"What are you doing up? What's going on?" he sat up, sensing his wife's urgency and trying to wake up faster.
"You have to go." Gerard stopped rubbing his eyes and stared disbelievingly, fully alert now. Amelie rushed to the other side of the bedroom, haphazardly opening drawers and throwing things in an open luggage on the floor. "I'm packing your things, I took some money out for you earlier today-"
"Amelie," Gerard got up and grabbed his wife's arms, forcing her to look into his eyes, "Tell me what is going on." She held his gaze for a moment, even as her eyes filled with tears. Alarmed, Gerard pulled her in closer for an embrace. He tried more soothingly, "Tell me what's wrong."
She pressed her face into his chest, trying to breathe evenly. "I'm so sorry Gerard." She pulled back slightly, and looked away, trying to compose herself; but she couldn't quite keep her voice steady as she told him how Talon had tried to brainwash her, and make her into one of their own. "I thought I could stop it," she went on, looking back at him, crying silently, "I thought I could control myself, that we could keep living happily, but I woke up tonight and I looked at you, and I- I-" she hiccupped, no longer able to speak through her tears. Gerard hugged her but she pushed him away.
"Ame-" he began, moving to comfort her, but she cut him off, her voice no longer wobbling.
"I looked at you, and I wanted to kill you." She looked at him with her tear-stained face, seemingly much calmer than she had been just seconds ago. She walked towards him, in such a deliberate way that Gerard expected it would be the last thing he saw. He closed his eyes, ready for the blow, and not wanting the last thing he saw to be the woman he loved brainwashed to be evil because of him. He heard a zipper and, daring to open his eyes, saw his wife kneeling, closing the luggage she had by now filled. Standing up, she pushed it into his arms. "You have to go now, and never let me find you."
She was crying again, and Gerard couldn't help his own eyes from watering. He hugged her, and this time she let him. He could feel her shaking. Or maybe it was him. "Mon cherie, you know this will not work." She snapped her head up, ready to argue. "No," he cut her off before she could begin, because she might convince him against his better judgment, "No. If Talon discovers that I am alive, they will punish you. They could kill you."
He looked at her, crying, and thought about his life and all the decisions he had made that brought the two of them to this point. In spite of all the good he had accomplished with Overwatch, all the friends he had made and the lives they had saved, in that moment, he regretted it all. He selfishly wished he could undo all of it and choose differently, so he and his wife would be safe today, right now.
But wishing couldn't change the past, and the only thing Gerard could do was try to protect Amelie's future. He opened the bag and began taking out his clothes, and putting them back in their drawers. Amelie, horrified and almost angry, tried to take the luggage back. "Gerard, stop, please! You can escape!"
Gerard gently pried her hands off the bag and, leaving the envelope of money inside, began placing Amelie's clothes into it. "Aime, if I escape, you will not have a body, and if Talon doesn't have that proof, they will kill you, or use you again to hurt me." He calmly zipped up the luggage and turned to her. "You go. They don't want you, they want me." She was sobbing, trying to form words to fight back, but her tears kept drowning them. "If they have me, they won't need you, and you will be safe." He sat next to her on the bed, putting his arm around her for the last time.
She leaned into him, shuddering. "I love you," she whispered.
He held her close. "And I love you." They sat like that for a moment. After a minute, he kissed her forehead, then nudged her to get up. "Go. Live your life and be happy." He opened the nightstand drawer, retrieving the pistol he kept inside, to protect himself and his wife. Tonight it would accomplish one of those things. Amelie stood up to leave, grabbing the luggage. She wanted to find a reason to argue, to stay, to come up with a better plan. But she knew Gerard was right. Talon wanted him dead, they had made that clear, and they would stop at nothing to do so. If she escaped, they would kidnap other family and friends until they succeeded. Gerard would die anyway, and so would many others. Amelie tried to tell herself this was the best they could do. The only thing they could do. But she didn't want to be without Gerard. Alone.
When she got to the door, she turned back, for a final look at her husband. "I can't live without you, you know."
Gerard smiled weakly at her. "You lived without me for almost twenty-two years. I believe in you." He had to be strong for her.
Amelie smiled back at him. She wanted the last thing he saw to be her smiling at him. "I love you." Her eyes were blurry with tears, but Talon's training, though brief, had been such that it barely affected her aim. She knew where her target was, and she knew what her weapon was capable of. Gerard raised his pistol, but she was faster as she raised her own, aimed, and fired.
The sound echoed briefly, and seemed abruptly cut off by the silence following it. Widowmaker's laugh cut through the air. "But I think we should see other people."
Amelie dropped the gun. Even in the darkness she could see the blood. She had to be quiet. She wanted to scream, to cry until her eyes dried out and fell out of her head, to die so she could be with her best friend. She wanted to die so she wouldn't have to acknowledge the satisfaction she felt, or what she knew she was becoming. Barely able to see through the darkness and her pain, Amelie felt her way through the house and out the front door. She only took comfort in the fact that she was able to save her husband from the indignity of suicide. That, and the revenge she would soon have.
It was raining outside. A car was waiting on the street. As Amelie watched, the back door swung open invitingly. She strode toward the car and unhesitatingly got in, slamming it hard behind her.
"Clean job," a voice came from the front seat as the car pulled away from the curb. "You'll be a great assassin yet."
Widowmaker smirked. So they had bugged the room. "It's easy when you've gained their trust." She was right to trust Gerard. If she had run, they would both be dead. Maybe that would have been better.
The voice chuckled. "Beautiful and smart. Overwatch should have used you when they had the chance."
Amelie stared out the window in silence. Overwatch had failed to protect her husband. Because of them, she had lost everything. She would make sure they learned what that felt like.