PoVs/Protagonists/Couples:
Hanzo (character belongs to Blizzard) x Ýri (OC)
Genji (character belongs to Blizzard) x Shizuka (OC)

WARNING:
This story will be a very long one, full of dialogs, drama and violence as well as grammar mistakes because none of the authors is a native English speaker. Some parts are for mature audiences only.

We want to give a big thank you to our new beta-reader: Caucasian Commando for fixing all of our big and small mistakes. :)

Chapter 29: Stay with me (Hanzo x Ýri)

He went on deeper into the night, and finally Hanzo recognized the lanterns of a ranch's driveway. Without a care, Hanzo walked straight up to the front door and kicked it open. A small entry hall led him to a somewhat simple but nevertheless cozy kitchen. After throwing Ýri over his shoulder to get a hand free, he swept the flower pot and an already used plate from the long table and carefully placed the Viking's body on it. He switched on the lights, ignited the gas stove and placed one of his knives into the flame to heat the metal. But when he was about to turn back to Ýri, he felt a gun's cool muzzle in his neck. Hanzo heard the silent click as the weapon got unlocked and breathed in the smell of cigarettes.

»Please …,« Carefully he raised his arms. »She needs to be treated right away.«

»J-Jesse?,« Hanzo suddenly heard Ýri's weak whisper and the gun was being withdrawn from him.

»Missy, what happened?!« A tall man with messy brown hair beneath his cowboy hat and a barely accurate trimmed beard was leaning over her.

»L-long story … ,« Ýri silently answered.

»Wish you would have stayed unconscious … ,« Hanzo sighed, loosening his belt. »This is going to be painful now.«

»Luckily I have some decent liquor at hand.« The cowboy offered a large flask to her. »Here, you go, missy. Take one big gulp.« While Ýri was drinking the offered alcohol with a disgusted face, the stranger turned to Hanzo. »You're right. I have a healer at hand, but she won't be here on time, so we don't have a choice.« The cowboy took his flask back.

Hanzo nodded gravely. »Bite into the leather, Ýri. I will make this quick and clean, I promise.« He looked up to the cowboy. »You will hold her down, tall-hat,« Hanzo commanded.

»Name's Jesse McCree.« The cowboy threw away his cigar.

»I don't care,« Hanzo hissed. »Just do as I say.«

»'lright. Don't want to be the one causing our darlin' a nasty scar here.« The cowboy's easy-going nature couldn't distract Hanzo from the serious and somehow mad glare McCree was shooting towards him. »We will have a long talk afterwards … «

Hanzo rolled his eyes at him before ripping Ýri's shirt aside. »Stay strong, little bear.«

He cleaned another knife with the cowboy's whiskey before he started to cut off the inflicted flesh. Her body was trying to rear up against Jesse's hold and her pain felt like torture for Hanzo himself. His hands started trembling as her blood covered them, but he had to focus. He needed to continue.

»You know, I never meant to hurt you … ,« he whispered miserably and returned to the stove to fetch the other knife.

The blade was glowing from the heat already.

»It will be over soon.«

He pressed the hot metal on the bleeding wound and heard her screaming even through his belt. Hanzo saw the steam rising and her skin reddening.

»I am so sorry, Ýri, I am so sorry … ,« he repeated again and again, before finally withdrawing. Her body sunk back on the table, completely exhausted. Hanzo dropped the knives immediately to the ground to clean his hands. Done, he turned back to her, now carefully stroking the hot skin of her forehead.

»It will be alright. Just close your eyes. I will be watching over you.«

The cowboy released his grip on her. His face had turned pale and he was taking off his hat, wiping the sweat from his temple with the back of his hand. »Tough work … «

»Do you have anything to clean and dress her wound? An antiseptic crème perhaps? Maybe even some painkillers?,« Hanzo asked.

»Got a first aid kit and a few standard drugs in the cabinet over there.« McCree pointed in some direction behind Hanzo, but the Shimada did not even look. He did not intend to move an inch away from the Viking's side.

»Fine,« the cowboy grumbled, getting the necessary supplies himself and handing them to Hanzo.

The dragon got to work again. Now and then Ýri flinched a little, but she remained silent otherwise. »She needs antibiotics as well … ,« Hanzo demanded. »The doctor you mentioned, can he be trusted?«

»She«, Jesse corrected him. »But yes. Especially when it was us whom Sígurd called for help in the first place.«

»That's why she recognized you,« Hanzo stated coldly. »You are one of the Overwatch agents looking for her.«

Jesse crossed his arms in front of his chest. »Former Overwatch's, yes. But how do you know?«

»My brother told me … « Carefully Hanzo picked her up. »Is there any room where she can rest?«

»Bring her upstairs,« the cowboy replied. »Most guest rooms are still unused.«

»Good.« Hanzo already made his way up. »I need some clean towels and fresh, cool water as well. And call your damn doctor, while you are at it.«

»Do I look like a geisha to you?,« McCree growled at him.

»No. But I have to bring her fever down,« he glared back at the taller man until the cowboy finally followed his command.

When Hanzo was guided into said empty bedroom, he gently laid Ýri down again and took off her blood- and dirt-stained clothes, simply dropping them to the ground before arranging the blankets around her.

»You are not going to take advantage of that, are you?,« the cowboy asked still standing in the door frame.

»Of course not!,« Hanzo hissed, almost ripping the towels and the bowl from him.

McCree silently watched him prepare a bunch of cool compresses and placing them on Ýri's forehead, around her upper body and her mid along with her arms and legs. »It will take Angela a few hours to get here … ,« he finally told Hanzo.

»I will stay with her«, the Shimada firmly answered, settling on Ýri's bedside.

»Then you better don't put your hands in places, where they don't belong … ,« the cowboy said.

»I am grateful for your help, but do not besmirch my honor,« the dragon growled.

»I'm doubting its mere existence,« the cowboy replied. »I will prepare her something to eat. Surely Missy will be starving when she wakes up again.«

The next passing hours where the longest Hanzo ever experienced right after his passage back to Washington and his search for Ýri afterwards. The strong chicken broth Jesse had prepared quickly lost its heat, while Ýri just did not stop twisting and turning restlessly. Again and again Hanzo changed the wet towels to keep her cool, caressing her face softly humming an old Japanese tune he knew from his late mother in a desperate attempt to calm her somehow. Don't stop fighting, little bear. You are everything I have … It was long past midnight already, but she did not get better. Instead heavy shivers started to shake her whole body …

»Hanzo … I am so cold … ,« she weakly whispered, her teeth chattering.

His eyes widened in shock. Did I overdo it and just made it worse? Hanzo cursed himself heavily. Again I have been inattentive and made her feel bad because of it … Still he knew, he would have been unable to leave her side, even if it was for her best. … I just can't …

»Shhhh … Don't worry, Ýri. It will be alright. I will get your soup warmed up again. You will feel better, when you eat something … «

She shook her head. »N-not h-h-hungry … ,« she chattered. »J-just c-cold. So c-c-cold … «

»I understand.« Hanzo threw back the blankets and removed the cool towels. Her skin was still hot and feverish. Seems like some kind of chill caused by her infected wound … She definitively needs those antibiotics … What is keeping that damn doctor?

»Just leave it to me, little bear,« he softly answered as he took off his own clothes, not really knowing his own voice or even himself. Carefully he laid down beside her and pulled her body tightly against his. »Come here. I will keep you warm personally … Just do me the favor and try to sleep again, will you?«

Ýri weakly nodded. She kept her eyes shut and cuddled even deeper into his embrace. »T-that's much better … «

»Good,« Hanzo hummed, while arranging the blankets anew. »Now sleep.« He really felt like somehow taking advantage for a short moment. But even with her being ill, it just felt too good to hold her that close and judging from the dragons' purrs in his head, they were quite comfortable with the current situation …

Hanzo could not say, if he had been sleeping at all. His only concern was Ýri. In regular intervals he checked her temperature, her pulse, her breathing to ensure himself, that she wasn't getting worse … One cannot be careful enough … The only thing he knew for sure at the moment was that dawn was breaking, when he felt a weapon's cold muzzle again.

»Cowboy, don't you have any manners at all?,« he asked while turning around just to face a tall woman with a blond pony-tail instead. »You are not McCree,« he added frankly.

»Good to know you are not as stupid as you look,« was the woman's blunt answer and she did not stop aiming with her blaster at him. »Now get slowly out of this bed, put on your clothes and get off even further. Away from her and preferably beyond this room's door.«

»Who are you?,« Hanzo demanded to know, inching for his bow even though it was out of reach for the moment.

»Doctor Angela Ziegler, now move,« she insisted.

»So you are the doc the cowboy mentioned and another Overwatch agent on the top of it. That cursed organization my brother betrayed me for … ,« Hanzo growled.

»Will you finally move away from my patient?« She was obviously growing impatient.

»Depends,« Hanzo answered cunningly. Ýri was finally sleeping peacefully and this so-called doctor really wanted to wake her now? »What are you going to do with her?«

»First checking her overall-state before I am trying to repair the damage you caused,« Dr. Ziegler told him in a cold voice. »Furthermore I am going to stabilize her enough for travel. I left my shuttle waiting for immediate departure.«

Finally his hand had reached the Stormbow. »Where are you planning to take her?!«

»You are no relative of hers, so what I do, is a thing between doctor and patient alone,« she glared at him.

»You know as well as I do that you won't bring her to some ordinary clinic just to treat her,« the Shimada dragon snarled warningly. They will try to use her like they did with Genji. Even worse is that they are all criminals by now. »You won't. If she wants me gone and decides to leave with you, maybe. But you won't take her anywhere against her will.«

»This is not for you to decide, Shimada.« She raised the gun to his eyelevel. »I am the doctor, so I know what is best for her.«

A furious roar escaped his throat and he felt the dangerous trickle in his left arm. »YOU WON'T TAKE HER FROM ME!«

Dr. Ziegler stared back at him, obviously startled. Slowly she lowered her gun. »Strange … for one moment you strongly reminded me of your brother … «

»We are nothing alike!,« Hanzo snarled while getting off the bed and raising to his feet. He could feel his eyes starting to glow in a light blue with the angry dragons being ready to defend their most precious treasure at any costs.

»Hanzo?« Her soft hand grabbed his and his dragons immediately calmed down again, purring softly in his head.

They won't take her from me. I won't let them, Hanzo kept thinking, while his fingers closed tightly around hers. »I am here, Ýri. Don't worry.«

But before he was able to stop her, Ýri already sat up groaning from pain. »Dr. Ziegler?«

The doctor finally put away her blaster. »Ýri. How are you?«

»I feel weak and feverish, I guess. And as if I could sleep through weeks,« the Viking replied with an afflicted smile.

»So it is a good thing Jesse found you. I will give you something against the pain and antibiotics, of course.« Dr. Ziegler started preparing an injection.

»When am I fit travelling again?,« Ýri asked, while laying back again and exposing her arm.

»Travelling on your own? Ten days minimum,« Dr. Ziegler declared, when setting her weird scanning drone loose before giving Ýri two different shots and inspecting her wound. »At least that the Shimada seemed to handle properly … nevertheless, we can bring you to the Lindholms at once. You would be much safer with them. Safer as with that lone wolf roaming the wilds, that is for sure. Please, consider it.«

Ýri nodded and finally the doctor gathered her tools and quietly left the room again.

»I don't know if I am really safe with them. But it would surely endanger Torbjörn, Ingrid, Brigitte and the others, when I stay with them,« Ýri seemed to think aloud.

Hanzo only shrugged. »What do I know?« He suddenly felt scared and his dragons became restless and uneasy as well. What if she decides to leave me? There is nothing I can do, I guess …

»Hanzo? What is wrong?,« she now asked when noticing his mood swing as if reading one of her books again.

»Nothing,« he hummed. »I will go and fetch our backpack. Guess it is still out there, where I left it last night.«

Her head sunk and she avoided looking at him now. »I am sorry, Hanzo. I understand, that you rather want to leave … «

»Huh?« He put on his clothes again and looked back at her irritated.

A sad smile had appeared on her lips. »I am much more trouble to you than what it is worth … «

»Indeed … ,« he replied making for the door and while walking down the path to last night's campfire, he felt even more miserable.

He spent far longer outside than necessary. To be honest, he was actually afraid of heading back to the ranch. Somehow Hanzo couldn't help but to feel like being flat on his back. Was it selfish wanting her to stay with him? Nevertheless, he did not want to get in the way of her decision. She should choose on her own what she thought best for herself … It would surely do her some good to be among friends … real friends, but how can I be sure, that they are able to protect her properly?, he kept brooding, but a slowly moving figure made him look up again.

»Goddammit! What are you doing outside?!« Of course Ýri would not even listen to a doctor's advice! »You will just get worse, you foolish Viking!,« he yelled.

»You were gone for hours! I had to go out searching for you!,« she glared at him.

»I just gathered our belongings, so you will have everything for your departure! Now back to bed with you at once!,« he ordered.

»So that's it?! You actually want me to go with them?!« Her eyes were piercing him.

Hanzo was not able to look straight into these glowing emeralds. Instead he walked past her back into the house. »Bed. Now.«

»Look at me, you damn coward!« She shouted after him. »Look at me and tell me, you want to get rid of me!«

Hanzo turned on his heels and faced her. But his mouth felt dry and his dragons were tying up his throat. He wasn't able to. He just couldn't bring himself to say it – even if it had been for her own good.

»Or do you want me to stay with you?,« she asked quietly now.

At least Hanzo managed a weak nod at first. Then a stronger, firmer one again. »T-there is … I brought … well … I thought … because you … like bears, … so I … «

Awkwardly he pulled the necklace with the tiny bear figurine out of one side pocket. » … this is for you … «

A bright smile lit her face, when she approached him again.

»Hanzo, this is … «

She carefully took it and tied it around her neck, keeping the figurine in her hand whole-heartly admiring it.

»Thank you.«

For a few seconds she just stared down at his gift before she raised her head again, watching him with a serious expression.

»Still, I have to make sure. I need you to say it, Hanzo. Please, tell me, if you want me to stay with you or not.«

He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. His reply was silent and even though he meant every word, he had to fight for every single one to leave his lips:

»I … don't … want you … to go … with them … I want you here … with … with me … «

»Okay.« Before he knew it, she had already put her arms around him. »We will leave together then.«

»As soon as you have recovered,« Hanzo added and gently placed one hand on her back to keep her this close. »But now you are going back to bed or I will drag you there … «

»Will you come too?« An adorable blush flushed her cheeks.

Beautiful, he thought for a brief moment and now felt somehow stupid. »Ehm … to make sure you stay there this time? Of course.«

»Alright.« Ýri guided their way back up the stairs in her own pace, mindful of her wound. In the room again, she lied back down with a relieved sigh. »What about you? Don't want to have a room of your own? Or a mattress or sleeping bag at last?«

»No, I am fine,« he answered, sitting down by her side. »I will stay right here, where I can make sure you rest and that you are safe.«

She rolled her eyes at him and moved to the side a little to grant him some space. Hanzo stared down at her, unsure. But she did not move again and closed her eyes. So after another long while of hesitating, he lied down beside her again and after another few minutes past, he even dared to carefully pull her into his arms once more.

[Next chapter already on 12th August due to the authors' holiday trip.]