Black Lily

"How about a date after this mission is over?" Sombra playfully asked.

"Non." Widowmaker replied, not even bothering to look at Sombra.

"Oh, come on. I'll treat you to dinner. It'll be fun."

Widow sighed. "I will go on a date with you if I miss my shot." She paused. "I never miss."

Sombra grinned, "I'll start finding us a nice restaurant." She winked at her coworker, who stared back with cold eyes.

"If you sabotage the mission I will kill you." Widowmaker informed her, returning her gaze to the door they were currently watching.

Sombra laughed, and her laugh quickly turned into a coughing fit. She spit out something she couldn't recognize in the shallow light. "Mierda, something flew in my mouth."

"Then maybe you should keep it shut."

xxXxx

Sombra sat down across from Widowmaker in Talon's canteen and took a bite from her food. "I'm so glad they hired a new cook. This food is to die for."

"Really? I was under the impression food is meant to keep us alive."

"I see you're having an extra portion of sarcasm on your plate."

"And you seem to quite like the taste." Widowmaker retorted. When any words Sombra might have wanted to say were drowned in a coughing fit, she returned her focus back to her meal.

Sombra felt something fall into her palm, and her coughs stopped. When she saw it was a black flower petal, her heart skipped a beat. She quickly tucked the petal in her pocket and began shoveling food into her mouth. She didn't want to spend one more second than absolutely necessary in the crowded canteen, she didn't want to say another word, she didn't even want to think.

xxXxx

As soon as she could get away, Sombra had locked herself in her room. She took the black petal from her pocket and studied it. This was definitely not something that had been used as seasoning for the food. Even with her limited knowledge on plants, she was sure this was a flower petal. Which could mean only one thing. Hanahaki.

It didn't even take her a second to realize this would be what would kill her. There was only one person she could possibly have fallen for without noticing, and Widowmaker was unable to feel any emotion. Her feelings would forever be onesided. So unless she somehow managed to get over Widowmaker, she was looking at the last few years, or even months, of her life.

Sombra did not leave her room for the next two days.

xxXxx

Months passed, and Sombra stuck with her routine of playfully flirting with Widowmaker as she had done since the day she arrived at Talon. She simply didn't want to draw any attention by a sudden change in behavior. But her feelings didn't change. The coughing fits became worse. She could hide the petals, suppress the coughs when others were around. But someone was bound to notice at some point.

xxXxx

Sombra leaned heavily on the middle high fence of the rooftop, hoping the fresh air would relieve her of some of the pain in her chest. At first she had been able to manage with a light dose of painkillers on missions, but it was no longer enough. A higher dose would affect her ability to think on her feet, and the flowers in her lungs had grown enough to hinder her in combat. Reaper had even told her to get physical training twice now. But she knew training was useless in the face of her ever decreasing lung capacity. She coughed, and this time only a few droplets of blood came out.

"I can't keep doing this." She sighed to herself. Soon, doing missions would be impossible altogether. She knew what would happen it Talon found out. They'd force her to go through the surgery. But the risk of never loving anyone again was not one she wanted to take. Maybe she could sneak out and go into hiding for a few months, or however long it'd take for her to die. But she didn't want to part ways with Widowmaker. And if she tried to take her with her, she'd likely put up a fight. Not an option either.

"Sombra." Sombra jumped at the sound of her name, and quickly wiped her mouth in case there was any blood on her lips. She turned around to see Widowmaker walk towards her. "Are you okay?"

The question surprised Sombra. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"

"Because you don't appear to be fine. Have not for quite some time now." She crossed the distance between them. "I think you should see a doctor, whatever it is seems to be getting worse."

Sombra smiled half-heartedly. It truly was too obvious. "Thanks, but there's no point."

"Of course there is. A doctor could prescribe you the medicine-"

"There is no cure." Sombra interrupted. She could feel her lungs burn, no doubt there would be a huge coughing fit soon, and she hoped to get Widow to leave before that happened.

"You don't know that. Even if you did some research, you're not a doctor and could have easily missed something important." Widowmaker rested her hand on Sombra's shoulder, pressing lightly as to urge the shorter woman to move.

And that was all Sombra could take. She held her hand to her mouth and started coughing. She tasted blood, and the coughing stopped when she could spit a flower into her hand.

"See, this is what I mean." Widow said, "You need to see a doctor now, no excuses."

"Araña," Sombra started in a hoarse voice, "There is no cure." She opened her hand, revealing a black lily, missing only one petal. She lifted her head to look Widow in the eyes. "I love you, Amélie. And it's going to be the death of me." She dropped the flower to rest between the petals she coughed up earlier.

"…Hanahaki." Widowmaker said solemnly. "But why me? I'm little more than a machine."

Sombra smiled weakly, "You still have a personality. You're so much fun. We get along great and you're beautiful too."

"… I'm blue."

"Ah, my bad. You're bluetiful."

Widowmaker cracked a smile. "Fine, I'll give you that one. But I still think you should see a doctor. I'm pretty sure Moira can arrange a surgery for-"

"I don't want the surgery."

Widowmaker gave her a look. "You'll die."

"We all will at some point. Plus there's a risk of never being able to love again. I think it's enough that one of us can't feel anymore." The conversation was interrupted by a coughing fit, and two more petals were spat on the ground. "Besides, at this stage there's a risk of dying during surgery as well. There's no point in doing it at all."

"I understand. Still, I wish something could be done. I would not like to watch you die."

Sombra smiled. "Keep talking like that and I might think you have feelings after all." Widowmaker's eyes widened in surprise. "Anyways, I'm going back to my room to rest now. And please don't tell anyone."

xxXxx

Sombra pushed herself up from her bed with a groan when she heard a knock on her door. When she opened her door, Widowmaker pushed past her, placed a box on the floor, and locked the door once she was inside.

"Araña, what-?" Sombra started in a hoarse voice.

"I'm keeping you company."

"What?"

"Do you have a fridge? There's food in the box."

"Uh, the fridge is in the corner over there." Sombra muttered confusedly. "What's going on?"

Widowmaker moved over to the fridge and began filling it with the contents of the box before answering. "Since you are so keen on dying over me, I thought I could at least keep you company for the last few days."

"Okay… but why do we need to fill my fridge?"

"Neither of us have been approved to take days off. Make sure to keep your door locked."

"Wait. You are disobeying orders from Talon? I never imagined such day would come. Oh, Amélie, I am so proud of you."

"Don't mock me. I can still decide to leave."

Sombra doubled over in pain as she began to cough again, this time throwing up a whole black lily, slightly wet with blood. She pressed a hand to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut in pain. Would she even be able to make it one more day? A pair of cold hands slid over her back, and she was gently pulled against Widowmaker's body. Was she hugging her?

"Sorry." Widow quietly said. "I won't leave you, I promise."

"It's alright. That one needed to get out anyway." She wrapped her arms around Widow, relaxing into the touch. "Won't you get in trouble for staying with me though?"

"Nothing worth worrying over. They won't know I'm here to be your girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?!" Sombra squeaked, pulling back to look Widow in the eyes. She couldn't possibly be serious.

"Is that not what you want?"

"I…" Sombra couldn't believe this was happening. Of course she wanted to be her girlfriend, but Widowmaker always put Talon, her missions before anything. "Yeah… but what if you get a mission?"

"You are my mission." Widowmaker raised her hand, hesitated for a moment, and cupped Sombra's cheek. Sombra froze, her heartrate speeding up as Widow's face came closer and closer to hers. Soft, cool lips placed a gentle kiss upon hers. A moment passed, and Widow pulled back. Sombra didn't want her to, she didn't want the kiss to end. But she could not bring herself to pull Widow's face back to hers.

Widowmaker's eyes were not cold like usual, there was a softness, and Sombra found it increasingly harder to convince herself she could not feel at all. A thumb stroked her cheek, and she leaned into the touch, closing her eyes. Did it even matter how Widow felt if this was what she chose to do? Sombra then had to turn away to cough up another flower. She muttered a string of curses and trotted over to her nightstand, where she had a box of painkillers next to a glass of water. After she took the medicine, she looked back to Wi- her… girlfriend, who had not moved from her spot. "These are pretty strong, so I might pass out soon." Sombra crawled into her bed. "Do you want to join me?"

Widowmaker's face fell. "I forgot to bring my pajamas."

Sombra chuckled and lifted up the blanket. "Just make sure you wear something, I don't need to wake up to a heart attack."

Widow smiled and took her place in the bed. "I'll make sure to at least keep on my panties." Sombra felt her face heat up, and next thing she knew her lips were captured by Widow's. This time she kissed back, cupping Widow's cheek in one hand, using the other to push herself up. By the time a cough forced her to pull away, she had Widowmaker pinned down to the mattress. Golden eyes looked up at her with such an intensity it could not possibly belong to someone without emotions.

"Are you sure you don't feel anything?"

Widowmaker opened her mouth, but for a long moment, no sound came out. "…No." Sombra smiled, but before she could say anything Widowmaker wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Shut up. I wasn't done kissing you." Sombra grinned and leaned down, kissing her girlfriend many times before the medicine kicked in and she drifted off to sleep.

"La prochaine fois que je suis en haut."