MISSION 3: Traces Part - 1

When Hana woke from her slumber, she did not wake up to the lifeless walls that was once her room at the orphanage. She did not wake up with the knowledge that not one of the parents out there want to adopt her. She did not wake up expecting the other kids were going to play amongst themselves and leave her out of the fun.

No, she woke up to her new father with a smile on his face. She woke up, excited to start a whole new day. She woke up knowing that she won't ever have to feel that loneliness ever again.

"Good morning, Hana."

"Morning, dad."

"C'mon. Breakfast is ready."

A couple of months have passed since Hana's birthday celebration and things have gone smoothly so far. Jack recently established a daily routine that he and Hana follows that keeps her healthy but ensures that she still gets to play games and surf the net or"practice her interests" as Jack calls it. He did not mind this at all, as he acknowledges that people have their own interests, but a healthy mind and body are essential for any growing young girl.

Normally, they'd go cycling around town. But since Hana put in some extra effort on the cycling yesterday, Jack decided a nice stroll at the park would be nice.

"The weather's lookin' pretty nice today. You got all your thing ready Hana?" Jack asked her while tying his walking shoes.

Hana didn't answer right away as she was frantically getting all of her stuff in her bag. "Can't forget Mr. Mekka..." She whispered to herself as she stuffed the Mekka action figure Jack got her for her birthday. She brought it with her almost everywhere and can't ever leave it behind. "Alright dad I'm ready!"

"Are you sure? Did you remember to bring an extra shirt this time?" Jack reminded.

"Urk. Wait lemme check..." Hana dug through her bag and paused for a moment, realizing that she forgot to pack an extra. "I uhh... I gotta go to the bathroom real quick dad. Be right back!" She quickly zipped the bag closed and slung it behind her back before running upstairs.

"Y'know there's a bathroom right here honey." Jack shouted from the base of the stairs, quietly laughing to himself.

"I-I like this bathroom better!" Hana shouted back as she snagged whatever shirt she could get from her closet and stuffed it in her bag before running back downstairs. "Alright dad I'm super ready now."

"Alrighty then. Let's head on out while the weather is still nice."

And so they set forth. The park they were going to was supposedly the most popular in the area. With a nice, wide lake, a big play ground, and stands all around, it's no surprise that a lot of people go there. The biggest attraction of the park, though, was an enormous, bronze statue in the middle of the lake.

It was an impression of General Balderich von Adler, leader of the Crusaders who helped greatly in the Omnic Crisis and good friend of Wilhelm Reinhardt, one of Jack's closest colleagues. The statue was erected in honor of Balderich's noble sacrifice, and the lake was thusly named "Lake Balderich", and the park too was effectively named "Balderich Park."

Jack thought it would have been such an honor to meet Balderich for himself, but then put the thought aside when he realized that he has not seen his old comrades in years. "Best to see them while I still can..." he thought to himself as he walked to the park with Hana's little hands in his.

Hana looked up at Jack, curious at his expression. Jack noticed her concern and gave her a reassuring smile. "Look honey. We're here"

Hana let go of Jack's hand as soon as her eyes lay upon the sight of the park. It was truly an amazing sight to see everytime. It truly never gets old, much like the legacy Balderich left.

Hana ran off to the playground to go on the swings, her favorite thing to do there. Jack smiled at her, thinking how it was nice to see her change from being such a shy and timid girl into how she is today. He also thought how nice it was to see her having fun despite being away from her "interests."

Jack sat down on one of the empty benches just a few feet away from where Hana is and stretched his arms. It was his usual spot under a big apple tree that provided plenty of shade. It was a nice day out. Sunny but not too sunny. There was a nice and cool breeze. It was a perfect day. So perfect, in fact, that he started to feel just a tiny bit sleepy. He tried his very hardest to stay awake but alas. Who could possibly resist, at such a fine day as that day?

As Jack fell to slumber, Hana hopped off the swings and brought out Mr. Mekka and held as high as she could towards the sky. "I am the Mekka pilot, DVa! Evil-doers beware!" In her imagination, she was , cool and stylish Mekka pilot riding Mr. Mekka, shooting down bad guys wherever they may be. "DVa" is actually her alias in every game she plays.

"Wooosh! Take that!" She spun around eratically, over and over until she got really dizzy. She lost balance and fell face down on the grass. She got up, fortunately not hurt, and brushed off the dirt and grass that got on her shirt.

And at that moment, she noticed that Mr. Mekka was nowhere to be found.

She looked around all over the place but could not find Mr. Mekka anywhere. She thought of asking her dad to help and walked towards him, but thought that he might get mad for not taking care of his gift for her and turned back.

"I-I gotta find it before dad gets up..." And so she went back to searching, every bush and everywhere in the playground. She looked everywhere and eventually found it, but it was in quite an inconvenient place.

"Oh no... It's up that tree." She jumped her very hardest over and over, her arm stretched as far as she could but to no avail. She then tried to climb the tree but she felt too afraid to do so. She eventually gave up and sat down at the base of the tree, hugging her knees to her chest, almost about to cry. "Dad's gonna yell at me for sure."

"Need a hand?"

A light, spunky voice prompted her to look up. It was a girl, about as old as her, with short, messy hair and goggles strapped to her forehead. She wore an orange shirt and brown shorts. She was just a little shorter than her, and appeared to have one tooth missing as she smiled at Hana.

"I'm Lena! What's your name?"

A/N: Hey guys! It sure has been a while, huh? Everything has just been so busy the past year or so. So much that I had no time for writing at all.
But with the job I have now, I find myself with a lot of extra time at the office and I thought "why not continue writing?" Now this isn't 100% but I'll try my hardest to deliver content for y'all. A sincere thank you for everyone who favorited and followed me and this particular fic. I hope you like this one, because this is a 2-parter chapter ;) See you guys on the next one! Feel free to PM me for any questions.