Chapter 3

Cheers, Love! The Cavalry is Here!

For Lena, time first came to a standstill when her father died. He was a pilot, her hero, but there was nothing he could do against one too many omnic carrier. Lena would always remember coming home from school only to find two officers seating in her living room, and her mother crying on the recliner. Still, it didn't stop her from accomplishing her dream, instead it gave it another value. She would become a pilot because he father was a pilot. And she did.

She was quickly identified as the best new recruit. She had very good eyes, and quick reflexes, plus a very high tolerance to zero gravity. It wasn't long before Overwatch noticed her, and she couldn't have been more proud. When they asked her to test the Splitstream, she fearlessly accepted. Fear did come after a few months, and the closer they came to the date the more she could feel her insides shaking. Outside though, she was still as cool as could be.

Finally the day came for Tracer to enter the plane, and take off. That would be the last everyone would see her for a good year or so. Once again time came to a standstill. Tracer's hands on the controls never failed, even when the teleporting device began to shine like it shouldn't. Her eyes frantically darted between the clear sky ahead of her, and the white light beside her. Multiple alarms went uncontrollably on.

"Central, I think there's something wrong!"

She had yelled, although it wasn't her intention. The roaring sound of the engines and alarms made such a ruckus that she couldn't even hear herself think anymore. Her fear, however, was as silent as ever.

"Tracer, this is Winston. Reduce your speed and prepare to eject."

"Got 'ya!"

So she did as she was asked. She slowed, and the device shone even brighter. Her right hand left the controls for the lever that would eject her seat.

"Ej..."

She didn't need to hear the rest. She pulled the lever, and in a flash of light the windshield opened and her seat was thrown out. She wanted to close her eyes and wait to hit the water. She kept on looking ahead, though, only to see that the plane had disappeared.

"Hey, control, I think the plane just teleported without me!"

No respond. She frowned. Had she lost her ear-piece in the ejection? How could she? It was under her helmet, she was sure of it. She felt something flowing around her, and believed it was the wind currants. She was unhappily surprised when her seat hit land, and she fell on her back, her parachute covering her completely like a blanket. She groaned and unclasped her seatbelt. After crawling away from the parachute, she confusingly looked around. Had the winds really carried her this close to land? She'd been pretty sure she was miles away from any coast. Worst even, there wasn't any sea close to where she had landed.

Her confusion didn't last, as she suddenly felt the worst sickness she had ever felt. She clenched her stomach and doubled over, and began to dry heave. Only then did she feel the ground disappear under her, and that wind again, pushing her away. There wasn't anything solid anymore, only colors and lights, and darkness, and she was floating. The pain in her stomach seemed to be the only thing anchoring her, that and the blood flowing out of her nose, and ears, and mouth. She would have taken the time to puke, but her brain could barely process what was going on. Instead, she let herself float. She didn't try to resist, what would have been the point? She just floated, lost, with only that stupid pain in her stomach, and the tears mixing with her blood.

When everything had gotten cold, she'd thought she'd reached the end. That she'd bled so much, and cried so much, that death had finally came for her. Of course it wasn't the case. She didn't know it yet, but she was in a place where death couldn't reach her. But she'd floated enough now. So she opened her eyes. For the first time in her life, she could see everything. All those images where so strong at first that they burned her mind. She'd seen it all, been everywhere, at any given time. Soon enough the images where gone, there was nothing else to see, beside the end of the universe, and how she would get out of this place. They became strings, woven together until Lena could see everything once again. That was when she saw it. Winston's lab.

In her mind it hadn't been much more than a few days, at worst. For Winston, it had been a year. A year that the Splitstream had disappeared, that Tracer had disappeared, and everyone had given up on her quite a while ago. Imagine the scientist's surprise to see, even for just a few seconds, the pilot's ghostly form in his lab. Lena was saved.

The moment she was attached to time again, she fainted. Her mind had lost its timelessness, and most of what she had seen she couldn't handle anymore. Forgotten was the end of the universe, and its beginning. Back was the happy Lena, who would speed her way through the corridors, only leaving behind a ray of blue light. And back was Emily.

When she was stuck floating in that zone of coldness, Emily was one of the few things she could think about. She knew her girlfriend was going to hate her for this, for disappearing so suddenly. Em had had a bad feeling about this whole thing, and once again she knew she should have listened to her. Of course when she discovered she'd been gone for a good year, she knew she'd lost her. A year without news is a long long time, and there would have been no reason for Emily to wait for her. But she did. Their first meeting after the incident was full of tears and kisses, but they had missed each other so much it was to be expected.

The second time Tracer was allowed to see Emily was after the Uprising in London. Of course Tracer had been reckless as usual, and was covered from head to toes with bandages, but she was so happy to see her girlfriend she couldn't care less. Then it became a series of battles, with Tracer coming back to her girlfriend wounded but smiling. Only a few times had she came back from a fight crying, but Emily was there to pick her up every time. After the end of Overwatch. After the assassination of Mondatta. But she had left Emily with a smile, and the promise of a date, when she'd left for this final mission.

Lena was out of breath from experiencing so much, something which didn't happen often. It took her a few minutes to realized she wasn't in her room, but rather an ever expending one made out of light. She wouldn't have given it much thought, until someone appeared beside her. Messy brown hair, orange goggles and leather jacket. Her chrono-accelerator was still attached to her, although both of them doubted she still needed it.

"Nice shirt." the older one commented.

Lena looked at her shirt. She'd forgotten that she was wearing the tee-shirt she'd made for Emily and herself last Valentine's day. Hers said 'If lost return to Emily'. Emily had found it so cliché she only agreed to wear it inside, but Lena hadn't mind.

"Thanks. I like your shoes."

"You're the first one to ever tell me that."

Silence fell between the two, as they glanced longly at each other, and around them. Finally, Lena declared:

"That was pretty intense, all those things you saw."

"Yeah... I'd even forgotten I'd seen all those things. It's stupid, really, but... I could have stopped it, you know."

Lena nodded. The machine with the beam of light was still fresh in her own mind, and she'd hoped she would never have to see it again.

"Is everyone dead? Back in your world?"

"I have no idea. I... don't know. Is it better that they are, or that they're not?"

"I think they aren't, and that machine failed. I think you saved them."

Tracer pondered longly what Lena had just said.

"I guess you're right. I just wish I wasn't dead, you know."

"Maybe you're not."

Tracer gave her a pointed look, and Lena conceded.

"Alright, maybe you are. But you're a real hero now, you've saved everyone."

While Tracer considered what Lena was telling her, the younger girl was looking around her, and trying to guess where they were.

"Where do you reckon we are?" she asked.

"I don't know. Seems pretty empty to me."

"I wonder if we're in my brain."

Tracer sat down crossed legged, and Lena soon did the same, extending her legs in front of her. Tracer groaned.

"Arg... Emily is going to kill me when she's going to know."

"I don't think so."

"She's gonna cry so much..."

Lena stared blindly ahead, her gaze lost in the light around them.

"She'll know you saved everyone."

"I don't know. Sometimes I just wish... I wish I could've quit, you know? Just to be with her, and not have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders."

Tracer passed her hand through her messy hair.

"I know what you mean. This one time in elementary school I got beat up for defending a kid and Emily was so mad at me. But I just could not not do it. I just had to help him. I think we're the same. We'll always help those who can't defend themselves, even if we don't stand a chance. I think that's why Emily loves you."

Tracer sighed.

"I guess you're right."

Lena nodded. She could already feel her eyes opening, as her mind fogged by sleep became more and more aware.

"I guess I got to go. See ya' around?"

"Guess so. You don't have any magazine in your head? I'm probably going to get bored."

"Sorry."

Lena woke up with a start, taking in a deep breath. Beside her Emily stirred, and her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at Lena, not sure if her girlfriend had had a nightmare.

"Lena, are you okay?"

"Yeah I..."

She turned around and looked longly at the sleepy face of her girlfriend.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"

"Yeah, about five times a day. I love you too. Go back to sleep?"

It had almost escaped Lena's mind that it was only three in the morning. Without another word, she lay back down, hugging Emily as close as she could. The redhead hummed in her arms, and Lena was happy that her girlfriend had agreed to sleep here. She smiled and closed her eyes.

Oh, you two are just too cute.

A/N: Hi guys! I'm happy to see that more and more of you are enjoying this story! So I wanted to thank Sombra main and Kurasu for your reviews. To Kurasu I know exactly what you mean, I've been struggling with this for the past five years but I think I got it under control now. You'll have to tell me as it goes! And to Sombra main, while I don't want to spoil everything, I decided to get on with the story after Lena's nightmare, because francally I was getting bored, so I had to adapt things a bit. You'll see what I mean in the next chapter. But of course, Sombra is the best part, because she always is ;)

Don't forget, you can follow if you want to know what happens next, and you can leave a review, tell me what you think. And on that guys, I'll see you on Wenesday!