10
Ana Amari was a soldier, a skilled, long-lived veteran who has seen and known war and more. But when you face her, you will not recognize it at first. At first you'll just notice an woman, closer to old then young. One doesn't think twice of her.
Then one sees her eyes, and notice how calm and warm they are. She'll make a good granny, one will think. And then, finally, one will notice the strength inside her eyes. You realize you could break her bones and not hear a single scream. You realize she's strong, physical and mental. Stronger then you. You also realize she will never abuse that strength.
That is when you finally realize who Ana Amari is.
And she saw the same in the eyes of her daughter.
A soldier she had become.
The fate Ana had never wished for her.
x
Ana and Angela were sitting still in silence. Part of it was that it has been such a long time since facing the old comrade in arms. Another was the simpler fact, that Angela was dating her daughter.
"Some tea, Angela?"
Ana however, was composed, although it was hard to imagine her ever flustered.
The two of them were alone, and Ana had made tea while Angela had been busy being confused. Angela gladly accepted, and when she took a sip the aroma soothed her down.
"...Do you know how Fareeha has been since I was gone?" Ana asked.
"...Only part of it." Angela replied, "Some of the previous Overwatch members helped her, but mainly she helped herself... studied, got into military school, graduated with excellent grades, got her job in Egyptian army, then the Helix. She lived hard and proud, Ana."
Upon seeing Ana, Fareeha had ran away, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. Angela tried to stop her, but it was Ana who stopped Angela, saying she wanted to talk with her.
A life story any parent would have been proud of. And yet Ana's face was clouded.
"Do you know why she chose to become a soldier?"
"...That is a very private question, Ana. I can't tell you everything, but I'll tell you enough; she wanted to protect the innocent."
In Angela's eyes, there was pride. Pride of the woman she loved and the woman who loved her.
"She did not want fame. Nor money. And she certainly did not choose her occupation to take revenge or to catch up to her mother."
"Then what did she want?"
"To follow her heart. That was all she wanted." Angela said, and smiled.
Ana slowly sipped her tea, thinking about what she had just heard.
"...Thank you for telling me, Angela."
Then, almost nonchalantly,
"So you're close with my daughter?"
"W, Well!? Q, Quite!"
"Quite?" Ana smiled, and it was the all knowing smile. The mother-knows smile. "Maybe a little more than.. quite?"
"S, She's the most wonderful person I've ever met!" Angela found herself half-yelling. "And yes we've been rather close recently!"
"Rather? So you only... rather like my daughter?"
"No! I like her... a lot!"
"Like her a lot... ooohhhhh..."
Ana's smile deepened, and in her face, hair turned white and with new wrinkles, Angela still saw the woman she had loved.
"Youth is such a beautiful thing, is it not, Doctor? And Fareeha, you can very much come in."
Angela turned, and sure there was Fareeha standing at the door, her eyes still red from the tears she had shed.
"Mother...!" Fareeha said in her native Arabic, which Angela was not supposed to understand, but she still understood that one single word. "Why... why did you do this to me... to all of us!"
"...I'm sorry, Fareeha." Ana said.
"Sorry!? Sorry doesn't cover this! Sorry doesn't cover the years I grieved your death day! Sorry doesn't cover the time I tend to your grave! You answer me! Why! Why did you fake your death!"
"I─" Ana began to speak in Arabic, but looked at Angela and switched to English. "I had been weak."
"...What?"
"I had become tired... of life full of fighting and nothing else. But I was the second in command of the greatest military organization in the world. You cannot quit without a valid reason. The world won't accept it... so I chose to live as a dead person instead. That is why the only thing I can say is that I'm sorry. I have no excuse for hurting you, and everyone. So I repeat, I'm sorry."
There were tears in Fareeha's eyes.
"Mother..."
"I'm sorry for the times you have grieved. Sorry for what you felt when you were notified of my death. Sorry for my grave and the time you spent in front of it. I'm sorry, my daughter, for everything my faked death has brought you."
"Mother...!"
"I understand that my appologies are not enough─"
"No... it is."
Fareeha finally broke down crying. She clung to her mother, and cried in her arms, once again, the way she had many times in her life.
Ana held her, and held her dear.
"Shh... Fareeha... shh..."
Of this, Angela watched, and felt tears in her own eyes at the sight of reunion. Fareeha's tears eventually died down, and suddenly, Ana's eyes turned to Angela.
"I see you found someone special, Fareeha."
Fareeha froze at that, her face turning red.
"H, How did you─"
"Oh Fareeha, you two are obvious." Ana laughed. "Anybody would see through you two."
Both of the lovebirds turned red at the not so unfamiliar comment.
─Are we really that...
─No way...
They exchanged glances, tracing each other's thoughts in just that, and it made Ana smile all the more.
"Angela?"
"Y, Yes!?"
"I know how good a person you are, so to say I approve of this relationship would be a understatement. But Fareeha..."
Then she shook her head. "No, I won't intrude on you two. Live your life as you wish to, Fareeha... I also mean to your job."
"...Mother."
Fareeha gasped as she realized that she had just been approved as a soldier. She knew that Ana had never wanted her to become a thought she had cried out all her tears.
Apparently she had not.
Before they left the room, Ana whispered to Angela.
"So, there's no chance left for me anymore?"
At that Angela faced the woman she had once loved. Saw that she was still very much beautiful. Realized she still respected her very much.
And she shook her head.
"Nope."
Ana laughed, very loud and very bright, and patted Angela's shoulders.
"Take good care of my daughter, will you?"
"Oh I will." Angela smiled for the first time today, as she realized she had been finally, properly approved from the mother of her lover. "I vow it."
x
Hana, also known as D Va, has been in a bad mood for some time now. She has been in it ever since she has had her confession rejected, and was generally casting a gloomy aura wherever she went.
She did not like it. Did not like that awkward smiles her friends gave her, the cheer ups, although she thanked them, because she could not cheer up. She couldn't just shake this over like some bad cold and get back to become the everyday Hana.
Because she knew that Fareeha was one of the special person that was going to happen in her life only very few times, if ever. She would have changed her life, and she hers, and shaped each other in their time together, if they ever had it.
Which they won't. Since Fareeha was finally (hooray how wonderful blah blah) lovers with the doctor. No future of 'Parah n' Hana' now.
...And all that was making Hana very depressed.
Which was not good. More than not good. It was downright unhealthy.
That was one of the reasons she turned to her passion, what had been her only love. Gaming.
She didn't bother to deal with streaming, which she did almost every time she played games, and instead got emmerged in one of the best titles humanity has ever produced, going through each and every one in her library, setting new record each time she did so.
After she cleared all that, she felt rather better. And for the first time in many days, she turned on her Twitch stream.
"Hiya guys, D Va's back!"
She announced, and very soon the number of people watching her channel began to rise steeply.
"Let's see what we're going to play today... alright, the unbeatable game! Let's play Starcraft 6!"
The games that she had not cleared over last few days were the ones that could not be. And what better way than returning to her old place─home, almost─than to forget what had happened recently?
So Hana logined to her account, and out of habit, check her ladder rank, expecting nothing more than the number 1.
Instead, she saw 2.
"...What in the fuck?"
Alright, she understood what happened. Someone had gained points while in the few days she had not played the game. If the name had been that of someone she recognized, in high 100 perhaps, then she would have simply won her title back.
But she had never seen the name before.
Sombra.
An account that had not been in high 100, taking the first place in just few days? Impossible. Unless...
Then on the screen it flashed, 'A battle has been requested from Sombra to '
"...Hah."
Hana scoffed.
"Well, well, show me what you're made of, then."
Five minutes later, a large shout was yelled from Hana's room.
"YOU FUCKING HACKERRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Hana won her place back, by the way.
After the game was over, a private chat came from Sombra.
"Nice play, D Va."
"Shut up hacker."
"Harsh, aren't ya."
"No mercy for a hacker. I'm reporting you. Enjoy getting your account banned, ****."
The game's profanity filters stopped the cuss word from reaching the eyes of her streamers.
"No need to do that. I'm deleting this account."
"...Huh?"
"I only wanted to challenge the queen of the game, that's all."
"Wait a ****ing sec! You─"
"Yup, gonna continue hacking in my other account. See ya."
"You─"
The connection broke there as Sombra logged out. And sure enough, her name disappeared from the list soon enough.
"..."
Hana sat silent for a second, then screamed in frustration. She loathed hackers. She could give lecture for an entire semester on how evil and filthy hackers were.
That was when she noticed her phone was beeping. A message? She opened, and the message read like this.
'Meet me in Madrid the next weekend, unless you want me to create&distribute hacks for Starcraft 6.
─Sombra.'
Hana stared at the message in disbelief.
x
For an Overwatch member, going to Spain was not a big deal. So Hana had next to no trouble getting out next weekend and going to Madrid.
─I'm just going for a trip. She's nothing but a... a... something on the side.
Hana told herself, but was not really in the mood for a trip. She had been blackmailed, by the fucking hacker of a bitch.
The city of Madrid was a city of plazas. There were plazas which were connected to each other by roads, and buildings were all built aside said rodes, making a spiderweb-like design if seen from above.
And the center of the Madrid was Plaza Puerta del Sol, the Sun Gate Plaza. It was there Hana awaited the arrival of the person who has called her out.
"Hey there."
And Hana turned around, to face a person she has never seen before.
There stood a Latin American woman; radical hairstyle, sharp and playful eyes, dressed in casual tee and shorts, like Hana was wearing.
"...You the hacker?"
"Call me Sombra, and I'll call you D Va"
She smiled as she said that, and Hana felt a strange stirring, deep in her heart.
"Alright. What do you want with me... Sombra."
"Oh, nothing too much special."
Her smile brightened.
"Just a friend."
And that was how they first met.
As a gamer and a hacker.
A/N: I'm going on a vacation from 1/1 to 1/13, and I doubt I'll be able to write during that time. My apologies to my readers and everyone who's enjoying this story.