Shadows and Dust

Chapter 2


Around 5 kilometers away was a small rural French town.

Luckily for this little hamlet the horrors of the nuclear strikes failed to strike it, and its virgin landscape was still not scarred by the fabric of war.
Though there was no guarantee this peace would last forever.

"Hmph." Reaper grunted as he rode a small charred taxi cab down the road that led to this town, "Think we'll find something here, or will it be another ghost town." he fixed the overhead mirror a bit and made the little dice dangling on it shake.

"Seems like there is some activity." Widowmaker spotted a few cars leave the town, "Perhaps they are fleeing to greener pastures?" she scoffed a bit and looked behind them, where all the wasteland lay, "Though they may not find a place better than here."

Reaper sighed and looked ahead, quite bored, "Regardless, we need to stock up, so we're gonna check it out regardless." he shifted gears and kept driving.

"I'm not against it." Widowmaker murmured and saw as they started to slow down due to the fact that a small exodus of cars was trying to leave the town and thus started to clog the small road.

"Son of a bi-" Reaper growled and saw the farming families in their small vehicles pass by, "Where are those idiots going?" he saw that they were heading from the hell they just came from, "Damn..." he clenched the steering wheel angrily.

"Let them." Widowmaker scoffed and looked at Reaper, "Their blood is on their own heads... If they seek hell, they will burn because of that folly." she said.

"Whatever." Reaper muttered and finally broke through the clog up, "Look, we're here." he started to slow down again as they ended up at the first building the town offered.

A small cafe greeted the two as they exited their taxi cab.

Widowmaker stretched her legs a bit before walking to the trunk, "Armed or no- Sacre bleu!" she growled in disgust and annoyance, "Reaper..." she called out, "I thought you were going to throw this rubbish away!" she pulled out the deceased taxi driver.

"Must have passed my mind." Reaper shrugged his shoulders and picked up the man, "Plus we could use this." he snatched up the man's wallet before throwing him down a nearby hill, "Just in case we need a little bit of slip and slide." he pulled out the driver's information.

"Whatever." Widowmaker rolled her eyes and pulled out her rifle, "Are you going to want your gun-"

"What a stupid question." Reaper grunted and pulled out his Hellfires, "I thought you knew me already." he smirked behind his mask, "Now, how do you want to do our welcome?"

"Try not to arouse too much attention." Widowmaker said as she walked up to the cafe's windows and peered in, "Agh... it's empty." she said in dismay, "Lo- AH!" she gasped when Reaper kicked down the two doors and burst in, "Sauvage." she grunted and walked behind him.

Reaper scanned the room and was greeted only by overturned chairs and tables, he then closed his eyes and focused.
His vision became oddly purple, with small little flickers of red and yellow occasionally showing up.

"Find anything?" Widowmaker asked, driving the man out of his concentration, "Or was I right?" she said in a cocky tone, as if to say 'told you so'.

"Nothing but rats and bugs." Reaper responded and turned to her, "Unless you're into that sort of menu." he chuckled.

Widowmaker naturally put a face of disgust.

"Hey, I wouldn't mind it." Reaper laughed shortly, then the two stepped out, "What else is there?" he looked around and saw a small workshop, "Perhaps they may have tools in there."

"And why would we need those?" Widowmaker asked as the two crossed the street, "I thought we were looking for food, water, and ammunition." she saw Reaper kicked down the door.

"Yeah, but what if that old bucket of bolts breaks down?" Reaper gave a quick glance to the cab outside, "My padre always said to be prepared for anything." he looked around and saw that there were some tools inside, "Excellent." he sighed in relief.

Widowmaker was not interested in the tools for their practical use like Reaper was, but she was still drawn to them for another reason. In her hands she rested a monkey wrench, which she looked at with precision and scrutiny.

"How much does this weigh?" she asked Reaper, who turned away from screwdrivers and ratchets.

"We won't need that." Reaper responded and looked back at what he thought were more important tools, "Unless we have a house."

"I asked you a question." Widowmaker repeated with annoyance, quite upset that her question was not answered.

"Madre Mia." Reaper growled and turned, then walked towards her and snatched the tool, "Can't you feel it?" he moved it up and down his hand, "It's probably 2 and a half kilos." he handed it back, "But I told you we don't need it unless you want to enter plumbing."

"Or bash someone in." Widowmaker responded, causing Reaper's ears to perk up, "2 kilos of cast iron would do some serious damage... for self defense." she smirked and looked at him again.

"You have a point." Reaper muttered, "Fine... keep it." he chuckled and returned back to the other tools, gathering them all up in a small toolbox he found.

"It takes a woman to know it." Widowmaker said as she grabbed another monkey wrench, "You're so wound up in your labor and toil... Only looking at the practical use... But you fail to see beyond the box." she grabbed a hammer.

"I know I know." Reaper grumbled, "Come on, that's enough." he started to walk out with his toolbox, "Oh... and put them here if you want." he stopped in front of Widowmaker and opened the box.

Widowmaker set one monkey wrench, two hammers, and one rubber mallet inside, "Alas, I could only find bludgeons." she shook her head and the two walked out, "Such a shame really."

Reaper chuckled and then stopped a bit to see a small fountain still spewing water.

At the top of this stone oasis was a small girl holding a bird, which the man looked at in silence.

It was Mexico, many moons ago.

A young Gabriel sat on the porch of a shanty house, waiting for a hunched figure to bring him a sight that brought a smile to his face. It was a small birthday cake loaded with one single candle and all the love a grandmother could give.

"Gabriel." the hunched figure said softly, the light revealing it to be an old woman, "Gracias por venir... Los Angeles esta muy lejos de aqui. I love when my little baby visits me." she smiled and pulled his cheek.

"I wouldn't miss it." Gabriel said and looked at his grandmother.

"I bought you a special gift." his grandmother said and walked inside the home, leaving the boy anxious and waiting, completely oblivious to the fact that his birthday cake was still on the table.

"Here it is." the grandmother came back out with a small cage, that held a small blue and white bird, "Un periquito" she smiled, "I know how much you love birds."

Gabriel was mesmerized and joyous as he saw the bird look at him and chirp wonderfully-

"Er hem." a strong clearing of a throat brought Reaper back to reality, and Widowmaker stood waiting while holding a canteen, "Are you going to check this water or not?" she asked, quite impatient.

"Oh... yeah." Reaper growled and snatched the canteen, then drunk it. It took him a few seconds, but his body's regeneration was not effected and thus revealed that the water was safe for human consumption, "It's fine." he alerted, and Widowmaker filled her canteen up.

"Do we have bigger containers?" the woman asked, "Because this will probably only last us a day or so." she muttered.

"No... We should look for some." Reaper responded, and the two walked off, keeping a close eye on the fountain.

000000

Widowmaker sighed as she saw Reaper heave the last barrel of water into the back seats of the car, barely returning with a box of food, "Well, our work is done, non?" she asked and dusted off her hands.

"We just need to find ammunition." Reaper responded, "Perhaps in that general store or something." he pointed to the building at the far end of the town proper, "If it hasn't already been cleared out."

"Wouldn't kill us to check." Widowmaker crossed her arms, and once more the two started to trek down the town.

She hadn't noticed it before, but Widowmaker found the town to be very nice. The landscape and the and air around was very calm and peaceful, while the flowers that dotted around were such a sigh for sore eyes.
Strange to see such things in this time, the woman thought to herself, then looked at Reaper, who had his eyes locked dead ahead to their destination.

Of course, she didn't care about the surroundings and only thought they were nice without any emotional attachment, but Widowmaker had a gut feeling that Reaper neither cared or thought it was nice. In her mind, Reaper wasn't a man that was attached to anything- he was, as she firsthand saw it, a phantom with no emotional bond with anything living in this world.

Though she may just be harsh on him, since these were just her assumptions. Reaper was such an expressionless character that it was hard to make up a personality to identify him with.

However, this did not mean he was a clean slate, or that the two had no bond whatsoever.

Widowmaker and Reaper were bound by two things,

and the two knew it.

They were bound by their audacity to finish their missions.

But most of all...
Their love for bloodshed.

And in this hell of a world, perhaps the two will do just fine and dandy.
The two looked at each other-
They sure knew it.


New Widowmaker Reaper story back by popular demand (jk).
No but really I am really liking making stories of these two because they are just so intriguing characters and its great dealing with the psyches. Perhaps this one will be another good jump into the minds of Overwatch's two coldest and darkest heroes.
Please review! And I hope you enjoy!
Also I do expect this one to go up in rating... and expect eventual Reapermaker. I have to fight the Widowtracer establishment, yo.