~o~
Shadows of Ice
He was sitting there like an idiot.
Jesse had been at that spot where he'd seen her most of the morning, sitting on a tree stump and watching for signs of the woman and icy cold. But he'd been there for a while now and glancing at his watch showed it had been at least an hour.
He sighed, slapped his hands on his knees and rose. "Ugh, must be outta my mind."
Jesse made his way back up the hill, but could make out the sounds of chatter and removed his weapon from its holster, shielding himself behind a tree. He frowned, noticing a few men in hunting gear wandering by, talking in German. He had no idea what they were saying, but they seemed to be anxious, afraid and even heavily armed.
He waited, watching them from his hiding spot before they departed, seemingly searching for something. But they didn't see him.
Jesse continued on back toward his cabin, wondering just what was going on around here. But the sound of deep growling froze him in place. He saw something shift, move behind the bushes before rearing up onto two legs; covered in thick brown fur.
His eyes widened. "Oh, shit."
A brown bear. It was unheard of that one would be here in the alps. He thought they'd been hunted to extinction, but it was right here; black eyes leering at him, mouth open and filled with razor teeth, claws at the ready to tear him to pieces.
Jesse backed away slowly, carefully. He had read about how to deal with bears and he didn't want to end up in a fight with one.
He took another step back, tripped over a root and stumbled, arms flailing as he fell, tumbling down a hill. He rolled several times before finally finding his end at the bottom. The bear above didn't give a single chase and simply wandered away.
Jesse laid there, grumbling to himself. "Goddamn it." he snapped.
Just then, the sound of a gun clicking behind Jesse made him still, and what came next was an icy cold in the air that had him shuddering deep in his bones. He quickly reached for his weapon, but came up with an empty holster, only to realize that whoever stood above and behind him had his weapon pressed into his back. A smile lit the voice of the one wielding his gun.
"Little distracted there, vaquero?"
Jesse swallowed thickly, raising two hands above him. "Hey, come on, now. We can work something out, lady." he said, spitting out a mouthful of grass. "Let's just talk it over."
She had an accent to her voice and she sounded young. Jesse didn't want to test anything just yet and thought he'd wait before speaking.
She seemed to be interested in studying his gun and made a thoughtful sound. "Hm, no iron pellets. Which means you're not with them, are you?"
Jesse staggered to his feet and started to turn around, but the gun pressed insistently to his back and his hands shot up in the air. Yeah, she absolutely meant business.
"Nah-ah, keep your back to me," the woman warned, with a smile in her voice.
Jesse cleared his throat, shut his eyes for a moment before he spoke. "So...you're really what everyone's talking about, huh?" he said. "Say...are you some kind of... ghost?"
There was a sound of static and the woman vanished in a stream of violet light. Then, she reappeared in front of him, still holding his gun. Her cat-like eyes widened and she grinned, leaned into his face with a "boo!"
Jesse frowned now, eyeing her up and down. She paced around him now, still holding his gun in her hand. "Nice piece you have here. But if you weren't here for me, why were you here?"
"I was, well, at first," Jesse admitted, "But ma'am, I wasn't aiming to kill you. I heard a lot of stories in town about the Rime."
She groaned, slouching her shoulders. "Ugh, that's the name they STILL give me?"
Jesse made a face, but laughed softly. "Don't like it?"
She snorted now, but made no further comment. Jesse chuckled a bit, feeling the icy air diminish somewhat. He looked around, noticed the frozen grass at his feet gradually thawing a little. It was an interesting thing and one he thought about looking into. Maybe there were other things to her that he hadn't looked into just yet.
Or he thought about asking her.
No, not yet.
"So, uh, what is your name, anyway?" Jesse asked, still not looking at her. "Figured that'd be a good place to start, huh?"
She was quiet for a moment, then smiled. "Sombra."
"Did you attack Leonhard?"
"The old guy?" She crowed with laughter now. "That little man took one look at me, screamed and tumbled down the hill - kind of like you did - shitting himself all the way down. Then, the dumb chivato told everyone about me and made it look like I attacked him. Been hunted for it ever since."
Jesse actually laughed a little. "Really?"
"You should have seen him! Stumbling around. All I did was just walk by."
She muttered something in Spanish that Jesse didn't catch and he laughed a little. "Sorry. Don't know much Spanish except for what I learned in school."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Uhhh, 'dónde está el baño'," Jesse tried, with a small shrug, "'Tienes queso'?"
She was dead silent for a moment before cackling with laughter. Jesse looked over his shoulder, watching her doubled over, still wielding his gun and laughing hysterically. Jesse shared a laugh with her and that's how it stayed; the two laughing together over his poor Spanish.
Sombra suddenly looked up, beyond him, then winked and vanished in a blur of purple. Jesse looked stunned for a moment, watching as the icy chill departed before he looked over his shoulder, noticing the hunters making their way passed the hilltop. They didn't seem to notice him yet, but he knew now that the Rime - Sombra - was real.
"The dogs smell something! Go! Go!"
Jesse furrowed his brow, looked at the place she used to occupy before he made his way back to his cabin. He didn't know if he'd see her again. His gun had been left behind, so she had no interest in taking it. That was good, at least. His Peacekeeper was one of the few things in life he treasured.
But in a way, he hoped to see her again.
He saw then among the hunters were two of the officers who had stopped him at the Old Village gates and that just made his suspicions worse.
O
Olivia didn't know what to make of the cowboy.
She wouldn't speak her name she had once she had been human. No one knew who she was before except for her friend, Jean-Baptiste Augustin, who lived in the Old Village below ground where he could hide in plain sight after his escape from Talon's clutches.
He was at a table when she walked in and he sighed, not looking up from his work.
"Get into trouble again?" he asked.
"Hey, they shot me first." Olivia told him.
"AND they saw you." Baptiste sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Now, you have that shop guy chasing you down every night."
Olivia waved him off with one hand. "You know what you're problem is? You worry too much."
"And your problem is you don't worry enough."
"They never catch me."
Baptiste didn't see a point in arguing with her and instead, held up a circular device. Olivia wandered over to look at it and he smiled with pride.
"You remember the translocators you used when you were..." he began. He glanced up at her and she raised her eyebrows, questioning with a simple look. "Well, before. This'll project a fake image of you as a distraction. Help keep those dogs off of you for a while."
Olivia smiled her approval. "If you think it's necessary." she said, taking the device and turning it in her hands for study. "You didn't have to."
Still, the idea was neat. She would use it if she had to.
But there was another thing she had to look into.
The cowboy.
O
Jesse was in the market that afternoon.
He was studying an apple before he looked up, noticing the group of hunters making their way through the crowd of tourists. He furrowed his brow, watching them approach Leonhard, shake hands and make their way into his shop. He flipped the sign for OPEN to CLOSED and shut the blinds.
They had to be hiding something.
He'd hoped to move here to get away from any kind of problems, but he wasn't about to turn a blind eye to them either. He only had to look into it.
"Oh! Good afternoon!" an elderly woman made her way by him, feeling around for the fruit. "How do the apples look today?"
Jesse glanced down at her, smiling. "Lookin' good, ma'am."
She was blind; Jesse noticed the walking stick in her hand, the clouded look in her eyes and the scarring around her sockets. She smiled up at him and seemed to be in good spirits. "You sound like a nice young man. Would you mind carrying some of my bags for me to my apartment? It's just at the edge of town. Not far."
"Wouldn't mind at all." Jesse told her.
Once she seemed happy with a few bags of apples and oranges, Jesse was carrying them in both hands for her as they made their way down the street. They started talking once they did; she was interested in his life at the cabin and he saw no harm in talking with her about it.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Jesse, ma'am."
"Jesse. I'm Hilda. I've been here almost my entire my life when my parents moved here from Germany. I lost my sight during the Omnic Crisis." the woman explained, "A flash bang from one of their weapons hit me in the face. But still, I never had them fixed."
"Why's that?" Jesse asked.
Hilda exhaled now and she shook her head. "My eyes rarely saw good things, Liebchen." she explained, "After all, I think it's a good reminder of that."
"Huh. Guess I can understand."
"I heard you purchased the land up north," Hilda seemed interested in changing the subject, "How are things going for you? It's not easy living there, as I understand."
She was interested to learn about him and he didn't question why; after all, she was probably a lonely old lady looking to talk to someone. He explained his effort to hunt, his work on the little bit of land he had. He also went on to talk about valuing quiet life and finding himself.
"...I've just been looking for a place to call my own," he said. "I've had a lot on my plate."
Hilda tilted her head. "It sounds to me like this little arrangement is an effort to fill a certain void in your life." she told him.
"Huh?" Jesse glanced down at her in surprise.
"Well...you sound like you're lonely."
That was a very strange comment and it made Jesse feel even stranger. He was never lonely a day in his life. He'd always been used to having to be on his own without much company. That was how life had been and how he had grown used to it.
But for some reason, it changed how he felt when she'd said it.
"I'm not alone. I see people every day when I come to town."
"Being alone and being lonely are two different things, Jesse." Hilda explained. "You can be among hundreds of people and still feel lonely."
"You talk like a shrink." Jesse remarked, smiling hesitantly.
Hilda chuckled now. "Well, you caught me. Before the Omnics, I once served as a psychiatrist in Berlin."
"Well, there's no void that needs filling here, ma'am."
"I mean, an emotional void, Jesse."
Jesse frowned thoughtfully now, not responding to that for a moment. The old woman took a deep breath and stepped down from the street to cross, her cane tapping away in front of her. Jesse followed beside her, waving toward a car to halt it as they passed.
"This you?" Jesse asked, looking up at the apartment building.
"This is me. I always remember because of the little dip in the steps here." she explained, tapping the stairs with her cane. "It's always funny the details we recall...the little things that stay with our memories, even when we've lost our sight."
Jesse didn't answer, but set the bags at her feet.
"Well, you seem like a friendly, kind young man," Hilda continued, "I hope we speak again sometime. I may be retired, but I am always willing to be a listening ear. Especially to someone who lives as you do."
Jesse frowned intensely at that, but tipped his hat. "Alright, then. I'll be seeing you."
He turned and walked away, but Hilda's words stuck with him.
O
Jesse dumped scraps into the bin for the sheep to eat.
He watched them, leaning against the wooden fence; his mind wandering to everything he'd seen and heard since he stayed there at the cabin. From Hilda's words to the suspicious hunters and Leonhard acting the way he did around them and now Sombra?
He walked to the porch of his cabin, sat down at the chair and looked out toward the horizon; he had a nice view of it from where he was and it definitely took his mind off of everything for a second. The air was colder here now and he shut his eyes before glancing upwards.
"Do you always bring cold with you wherever you go?" Jesse called out.
Olivia reappeared above him, hanging from the canopy with a grin. "Hm, not always."
"So..." Jesse leaned forward in his chair. "Guess it wouldn't be polite to ask what you are, would it?"
Olivia shrugged her shoulders with a murmur. "Mm, no. It's not polite." she told him. Her voice took on a sly drawl. "But that's fine, I get that a lot" She tapped her chin with a smile. "Though you're not the only one doing research on someone. I heard a lot about you."
"Don't know what you heard, but my name's not Joel. Best remember that."
"No, not that," Olivia continued, "I make it my point to understand everyone and everything." She began to pace behind him now. "You were an outlaw, Jesse McCree; but, you also try your best to do better after that. You started life as a farm boy in New Mexico and you like liquor and cookies."
Jesse chuckled, tilting his head. He was more interested in her knowledge of him than upset by the fact she'd known more than most. "What kind of cookies?"
"Chocolate chip. A lover of the classics."
He laughed now. "Damn straight."
Olivia's smile disappeared somewhat. "You also have a 60 million bounty on your head." Jesse's smile disappeared as well and Olivia laughed, shaking her head. "Relájate, I'm not going to turn you in, cowboy. In fact, I think we can help each other out."
"Help each other out. So what do you think I need?"
"You want to find out what's going on in this town and I want to stop being hunted."
Jesse considered her offer for a moment more. "The hunters are on your tail quite a bit, I'm guessing?"
"They are. And they want me dead. But the way I see it, someone like you with your sense of justice can take care of that," Olivia explained, with a wry smile.
"They've been running around, keeping secrets. Like what might be in the Old Village." Jesse pondered this for a moment. Then, he smiled and nodded. "Heh, guess I'm in."
Olivia grinned.
"Hah! Good!"
O
Note - Shadows of Ice is a reference to a World of Warcraft name from the Sunwell Trilogy. Also, the old woman Jesse meets is actually based on a real life person - a neighbor I knew growing up. She was also blind and always gave good advice.