Spending Time(2)
"He hates me! H-he hates me!" Melanie wailed as she ran through the halls of Gibraltar with her eyes closed. "Pharah was r-right! Now he hates me!" She took many different hallways just in case one of the three in the room tried to follow her.
Melanie continues to run until she's felt she was in an unknown area. She ends up running head first into something really hard, knocking her to the floor.
Melanie was dazed for a minute until she noticed that she was on one of the jump jets used for missions. She moves to a corner and continues to sob her heart out.
"Are you alright, Melanie!? What happened!?"
Melanie's head shot up to see the blurry form of, "Bastion!" She was sobbing so loudly that she didn't hear if someone was following her.
"I'm fine," Melanie said with a rasp. Her crying has made her throat dry, while her tears slowed to a trickle.
"That is a lie." The statement made Melanie jump up. "You are not fine. You are very upset," Orisa said.
"Orisa's right. You're not okay. What's wrong?"
"I don't wanna talk about it. It … it hurts too much," Melanie replied.
"What if we got the others here? Would that-"
"NO," Melanie screeched. "Then the others would hate me too! I don't want that!"
"But, love, I don't hate you," Tracer said as she entered the jet. "Is this about Anubis?"
"N-no," Melanie said. She looked at Tracer to see a look of unbelieving, and sighs. "I-it i-is," Melanie said looking up at Tracer. Her slowed tears renewed into rivers. "He hates me, Tracy! I told him and he got mad!"
Melanie quickly runs up to Tracer and cries on her shoulder. Tracer hugged her tightly, rubbing small circles in her back. She silently relished in the fact you gave her a nickname. "Oh love, I'm sorry. I should have warned you about 76."
"Ryū ga watashi o sukutte agemashou. Ryū ga watashi o sukutte agemashou," Melanie sobbed.
"Shhh, it's okay, Mel. You-"
"Melanie!" Four people shouted, cutting off Tracer.
Lúcio was speed boosting McCree, Genji, and Hanzo. The Shimada brothers had spirit dragons swirling around them. Once they were close enough, three red spirit dragons moved and swirled around Tracer and Melanie. Then Genji's and Hanzo's spirit dragons came forth and moved alongside the red dragons.
"Tracer, what happened?" Hanzo asked.
"Mel here, remembered some of her past. One regarding the god A.I. Anubis being her older brother. She told 76 and he got mad since Anubis has history of killings," Tracer said.
"It's not just that," Genji said. "This wouldn't make Melanie wrench in pain. There is more isn't there."
Tracer sighed. "Pharah said that when we found out about her relation to Anubis, we would hate her. I think that Pharah…" The statement was left open, but the others knew what she was saying.
"He hates me. Pharah was right. He hates me," Melanie cried.
"Love, Soldier 76 is old. I don't think he-" Tracer stopped as a holo-vid popped up above Melanie.
It showed everything, even after Melanie left which caused her to wail at the end. Everyone's heart was wrenched as Melanie cries out. They didn't like seeing her this way.
Then Bastion got an idea. "How about we leave," he said. Most looked at him, not really knowing what he said, so he explained, "We should leave base for a while. Just until tensions dies down." Orisa relayed the message to the others who couldn't understand.
"That seems like a good idea," Tracer said. "What do you say, love? Do you want to go visit some friends?" she asked Melanie.
Melanie calmed herself down, while the red spirit dragons cuddled around her and Tracer. "Won't we get in trouble if I leave the base?"
"Not if you're with us, no," Tracer smirked. The others caught on, and murmured in agreement. "What do you say, love? Wanna go visit some of your friends?"
Melanie looked up into Tracer's eyes, and regarded her words. From Tracer's view, those dull, lifeless red eyes were staring into her very soul. As if judging her very existence since the day she was born. In all honesty, Melanie has been through so much that it's not easy to trust others.
But Tracer was one in a handful to that exception. "I … I would love to visit my friend … Miah," Melanie finally says. The three red spirit dragons unwrapped themselves and moved back to Genji and Hanzo, while one green and blue dragon returned to Melanie.
"That's a great idea!" Lúcio said. "I want to meet another friend of yours."
"I want to know who Miah is," Hanzo said. "You never mentioned them before."
"I never mentioned him, until now," Melanie said. Her tears stopped, and she made her way to the navigation system. Melanie typed in coordinates into the ship.
"Him? But I thought Miah is a girl's name," McCree said.
Melanie shook her head. "Miah is his nickname. His real name is Jeremiah," she explained as she started the jet up. "Miah isn't well known for the most part. The only other people who know about him is …" she trailed off.
Tracer took the pilot seat and took off to their destination, Hollywood.
"Reaper and Sombra," Genji stated lightly. Tracer and Lúcio gasped.
"We need to hurry then," Tracer said in a panic. She took off in a rush. "He could be in danger."
Though the silence drew the pilot's and dj's attention. The rest of the group's reaction of calm and the silent looks passed between them, unsettled the two. Both of them knew they were missing something about the Talon agents.
" … Tracy, Miah … isn't in danger," Melanie said slowly. " … they don't know his whereabouts or anything like that. They just know about him."
"A-are you sure, Mel?" Lúcio asked. "Are you sure they know nothing about him?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Melanie assured them. "There is a lot I haven't really told them for … safety precautions. I never told them anything about Miah or Nate, other than their names and that they are my friends who I consider brothers."
Silence befell the jet until the the comm. came to life. "Hello, this is Winston. I-Who the hell gave you authorization to take the jet!? Where the hell are you going? Who's with you!?"
Melanie whimpered at the sounds of an angry Soldier 76 who interrupted Winston. She ran over and hugged Lúcio, who held her tightly in his arms.
"This is Tracer, here. We decided that we needed a vacation after all the back-to-back missions, love," Tracer said as calmly as she could. She really wanted to explode and yell at Soldier 76, but didn't want to show such an ugly side to Melanie.
"Where the hell are you going!? Who's with you!?" Soldier 76 growled.
"Oh, just a handful of us are on vaca. You'll know once you check who's at base. We don't need to tell you where we're going. It's our personal time off, we get to have privacy."
"Not when you take Melanie out! You know that there's more than just Talon after her! She's safer-"
"Safer? Safer where?" Lúcio interrupted. "Melanie isn't safer on base. Infact, she's more at risk being there!" Lúcio snapped. His happy demeanor was lost to the wind. "You mean to tell me that Melanie is safer there, when some of our operatives beat her!? Are you insane!?"
"You listen here-"
"No! You listen here," Lúcio said as he walked up to the communication consol. "You may think you know what's best for Melanie, but you don't 76. You're disregard for Melanie's own health and well being has hurt her more than helped. If you had listened to her, let her explain, you would have l-"
"Learned that she was related to Monster!" Soldier 76 interrupted.
Melanie, who was hugging Lúcio, let go. She backed up into a wall. Once she made contact, her legs gave out beneath her and crumpled to the floor. Melanie held her head, while trying to control her breathing. When she couldn't do that, pain bloomed in her chest and head which caused tears to, once again, flow from her eyes.
Everyone was by her side trying to reach out to her, but everything was blurred while the sounds were muffled. Soldier's words rang through her head. Bring up something that was locked very deep within her.
Flashback
"Your words hold no meaning! You have no right to determine the future of my daughter!" Melanie heard her father yell.
She was hidden in a closet, like her parents told her. Her Uncle Alex had come over in a rush. She didn't catch what they were talking about, but she knew the panic in his words. Her mother, father, and Alex were having a heated argument with their boss, McMullen.
"Do you even hear yourself!? You're the one who made her current situation like this!" McMullen said.
"It doesn't matter what we've done," Melanie heard her mother say calmly. "We did it so our daughter's future is assured."
"You two, not only cursed your daughter with her fate, but also created a Monster!" McMullen said.
"We made Family! You hear me, McMullen. Family! Anubis is no monster!" Melanie's father shouted.
McMullen laughed. "You cursed your own flesh and created a monster, Roy! We could have used them together! We could have changed the world with them! But you moved Anubis to Egypt to keep everyone away. Now you're trying to keep Nawala away from us!"
"We don't want that life for them, McMullen," Alex spoke up. "We will not allow you to control the world with them! You're the real monster here. With what you did to, not only me, but Yuki as well!"
"Now, now. I just wanted to help bring you three closer. After I found out Roy was having a kid, I wanted both of you to be the same as him. A Monster. … now give me Nawala and I will spare your lives."
"No," Yuki said in a firm and calm tone. "We would take our fate now, rather than give up our daughter."
"Suit yourselves. I'm going to get her anyway. I'm just killing Monsters that are related to her," McMullen said.
Melanie heard struggling, though she didn't do anything as fear seized her heart. She heard Alex struggling and yelling.
"Don't kill them! STOP PLEASE!" Alex yelled what Melanie was thinking, but all fell silent …
As a gunshot rang out and a body fell to the floor.
"Roy," Yuki said softly and void of emotions.
Then a second shot rang out with another thump of a body that hit the floor.
Present
Melanie's scream pierced the air with raw emotions. The loss of her parents, Alex screaming while trying to save them, and deep void of helplessness overwhelmed her.
"MELANIE!"
"THEY WERE NOT MONSTERS! THEY WERE NOT MONSTERS!" she yelled.
Genji and Hanzo hugged her tightly. They felt her emotions as if they were their own, pulling out emotions of loss and helplessness from the past. All six spirit dragons rushed around them. They were in a raging frenzy around the three, but howled in pain and sorrow.
"Melanie, what's wrong!?" Hanzo asked over their spirit dragons.
"They're not monsters. They didn't deserve to die. It's not fair that Alex saw them die. They didn't deserve to be put down like animals," Melanie said.
It took the two a few moments to think of who she was talking about. Though they didn't have to really think about it, since the memory made its way to their minds. They heard everything and felt Melanie's emotions.
Tears stung their eyes. They didn't know how they saw the memory, but it didn't matter. Melanie mattered and she was in pain. They leaned back to look in Melanie's eyes.
"Melanie, it's okay. We're here for you," Genji said.
"If anything, McMullen is the real monster. Not our family," Hanzo added.
Melanie gasped, the last of her tears coming to a stop, and held them close. All the dragons settled down and returned from who they were with.
"I'm glad my mother was right," Melanie rasped sleepily. "You guys do love me." With that Melanie fell asleep in their arms.
"What was that about?" Lúcio asked. "What caused such a reaction?"
"76 unlocked a very traumatic memory that Melanie's mind locked away," Hanzo said. "By stating that she was related to a monster."
"In the memory," Genji started. "Melanie was locked in a closet. In short, her mother and father were murdered while she listened. Alex was there trying to save them, but couldn't."
"Remembering that brought out the most reasonable action," Bastion said.
"But how do you two know what she remembers?" Tracer asked. The brothers exchange a look, to which Genji nods.
"I believe it's because of our spiritual connection," he said. "Our spirit dragons currently reside within her, while hers are within us. It would stand to reason that our minds and emotions are synced with our spirits, but only to an extent."
"Were you two ever capable of doing this before Melanie came?" Orisa asked.
Hanzo shook his head. "We have never been able to do this, but then again, the thought of exchanging our dragons have never crossed our minds before," he said. "Not many in the Shimada family trusted each other with something as sacred as our dragons."
"So, you're telling me, you could see her memories?" Tracer asked.
"To some degree," Hanzo said.
Tracer nodded and made her way to the controls. "Well loves, sit tight. It will be a while till we get to our destination."
Tracer check some over the jet's systems. She found Melanie's scream made multiple functions to the ship short circuit by sheer frequency alone. Communications was down. They couldn't be contacted or tracked, to which Tracer thought it was okay. She'd fix it later.
Everyone took a seat. Lúcio and McCree were softly chatting. Orisa and Bastion were doing the same. Hanzo held Melanie close as she slept.
Genji leaned his head on Hanzo and drifted off to sleep. Hanzo slowly following suit. Though, Genji's and Hanzo's sleep is far from normal after seeing Melanie's memory.
Time Skip
"Genji, Hanzo, Melanie, we're here, loves," Tracer said as she gently shook them awake. "Come on, we don't know where to find Jeremiah, Mel."
Melanie jumped up, hitting Genji's arm and causing him to fall on Hanzo's lap, waking up the elder Shimada. Genji was apologizing while Hanzo was trying to recover from the blow to his legs.
"You landed the jet at the exact coordinates, right?" Melanie asked.
"Yes, but are you sure we can just park in the middle of this Hollywood studio?"
"Yes, I'm sure. The owners of this studio said that I'm welcomed to hide out here on top of this studio anytime."
"Why is that?" Lúcio asked as he made his way over.
"I saved their lives. They were being attacked, I defended them."
"Who was attacking them," Orisa asked.
"A rivaling company. They almost took their lives. When they took mine, they ran off," Melanie said as she moved to the exit. "I pulled some favors and Miah live here on the studio now."
"Really!?"
"Yes, Bastion, really. Miah live here. He had told me he wanted to get away from his family, so I pulled some favors and here he is. He works here as an assistant to any director."
"Really!? But-"
"There is no Jeremiah in the credits. I know, Lúcio. He doesn't want people to try and get close to him just for his fame or money. Miah wants real people around him, not fakers. He wants people to support him, not being him down or cause problems," Melanie explains.
She walks of the jet and covers her eyes. It was late in the afternoon, but the sun was still high. There were many people who were talking about their jet, but quickly reminded of work and that the studio owners told them to ignore anything that happens on that building.
"Wow, I never thought I'd be in Hollywood. I was always curious about all the know-how of them movies," Tracer said.
"I always liked the soundtrack that played during the movies," Lúcio stated.
"I always enjoyed watching them Wild West movies. With 'em lawless cowboys, righting wrongs with just his gun," McCree said.
"I like to watch scary movies. Especially when I watch them with Angela or my Master," Genji said.
"I never seen a movie," Orisa said. Hanzo nods in agreement, while Bastion also beeped that he hasn't either.
"Well that's not good then. We're going to change that really soon. Or you shouldn't be here in a Hollywood film studio."
The group turned around and saw a teen there. Melanie's face lit up. She ran over and hugged him. The teen returned the hug with as much force.
"Miah!"
"Hey there, Mel. It's great to see you again. It's been what, 3 years!?" Jeremiah leaned back and looked her over, frowned a bit, and then sighed. "You got a whole new set of scars. Probably more than what's visible. I can just guess the world hasn't let up on cruelty."
"It hasn't," Melanie said.
"Well on the bright side, you got taller. You're taller than me. You also have new clothes and it looks like you're eating more," Jeremiah observed.
"Yup! You don't look too bad yourself."
"Well, you know what they say. Time stops for no one. I changed my lifestyle thanks to you, Mel. You're my inspiration," Jeremiah sang the last part, causing the both of them into laughing.
When Jeremiah calmed down, he looked over and stared at the rest of the group. They were uncomfortable under his gaze. His judgement of them was crucial since Melanie had a close relationship with him. They didn't want any problems with him.
"Hmm, Lena 'Tracer' Oxton, Jesse McCree, Lúcio Correia dos Santos, a Bastion unit, an upgraded OR-15 known as Orisa, plus Genji and Hanzo Shimada. Quite the company you bring to me, Melanie," Jeremiah said.
"What!? How did you-"
"Know," Jeremiah finished for Lúcio. "I don't need to tell you."
"And why not!?" Bastion beeped angrily.
Orisa was going to translate, but Jeremiah beat her to it.
"My personal knowledge isn't for you to know, Bastion. Even if you befriend Melanie, you have yet to befriend me. McCree, close your mouth. Even though I can understand him doesn't mean pointing it out. You all should know, Melanie keeps interesting company."
They looked to Melanie for an explanation, but she shook her head at them. "Miah is the one to tell. I have no right to tell anyone his personal information."
"She's right. Oh, and Mel, you need to introduce me to them later. You know when you have time," Jeremiah said in Tagalog. "I need to thank them for taking care of you. And Don't pull that 'It's too dangerous' card on me. You know very well that nothing is dangerous for me."
"I will. Sheesh, you should know I was planning it," Melanie replied. "You know why we came, right."
"Of course, right this way, everyone," Jeremiah said as he walked while guiding Melanie next to him. He lead them through a few flights of stairs, hallways, and rooms until they ended up in a theater room.
"What are we doin' here?"
"Well, to make Melanie feel better, we're having an old movie marathon. Movies back from the 2000s."
"Wow, movies from that far back!?"
"That's right, Lúcio. This always brings up Melanie's spirit. Plus, I think I have a few movies that all of you will like. That would include Orisa, Bastion, and Hanzo," Jeremiah said. "Get comfy, we will put on some action and dystopian movie first. It comes in a series so we're watching all of them. Then we will take requests."
Everyone took a seat. Melanie sat in the middle row and saved a spot for Jeremiah. Genji and Hanzo sat in the row in front of Melanie, while McCree sat next to Hanzo. Lúcio and Tracer sat near the front. Orisa sat behind the seats, while Bastion joined her in the last row.
Once everyone was situated, Jeremiah played the first movie.