The next day, my body tensed up as I took in a deep breath and attempted to sit up. There were hands near immediately on me helping me move upright. "Drink." He said holding a cup to my lips and I did without word. "Can you heal?" I ran a hand down to my neck to feel nothing but skin. "I removed it."

"Staff." I said softly and he moved away from me only to return a second later placing it in my hand. A power surged in me and I rose my free hand, shaking slightly, he moved closer resting his hand on mine, guiding them to my wounds, healing them up one by one until my body was back to normal. Taking in another deep breath, I lowered the staff to the bed and looked over at him, we stared at one another and tears lined my vision. He was taken aback by this and seemed to want to move but instead I launched myself into him, wrapping my arms around him. We crumbled to the floor and laid there, his hands slowly making their way around me.

"What happened?" He asked.

"It was Ghalt. He's an Omnic, he led the second crisis because he wants humanity to fall. He's been an Omnic all along, in the guise of a human. He was pissed I killed him so...he tortured me every day."

"So, Ghalts alive. If he can be brought back, how do we kill him?" I tensed up, thinking about it.

"If we figure it out, we can stop the war all together." I answered lifting up to look down at him. "Thank you, Reaper, for saving me. Thank you so much."

"I said, we'd never be separated. It just took me a long time to find you."

"It's alright, We're together again and now, we know where their base it. If we can figure out how to kill him-"

"The main computer." He said suddenly as if just realizing it. "His body is probably a puppet, being controlled by the main computer. If we destroy that..."

"We destroy him." I smiled brightly. "Let's do it together, yea?" He gave a firm nod.

"But later, your body is still weak, you need your rest." He said sitting up and forcing me to sit up as well. "Come on."

"I got it." I said softly and moved to stand, but he was right, I was weak I couldn't even make it up on my own. So, he helped me back up onto the bed and I sat there a long moment staring at the ground. "Reaper?"

"Yes?"

"What are we going to do after everything?" I asked looking up at him and he stared at me a long moment.

"We will see when that time comes." He answered and I nodded. "Lay down, get some sleep."

"I don't want to sleep." I pouted looking away.

"What is it you want? Food? You've eaten almost nothing."

Blushing lightly, I kept my head turned away. "You."

"Me? Phoenix, we can't, you can't." He sighed moving closer and running his hand to my chin. This forced me to turn my head and look up at him. "I can't promise your safety."

"I don't care. I need you, so...please."

Letting out another long sigh he seemed to debate it a long while. "Even if I become violent?"

"I wouldn't expect any less." I smiled brightly and he nodded laying me back, crawling over top of me. He was violent, as I expected him to be but at the same time he was careful of extra points of my body. When normally he would grab onto my wings, he never touched them, as I could not heal them up so they were still torn apart, the times he pinned my hands above my head, he saw my wince in pain and did not do it. He cared, in his own special way.

It was well into the afternoon when I woke up and moved to roll onto my side. Staring at the wall, I knew I was alone in the room, I couldn't feel him anywhere near me. Sighing softly, I tried to move my wings but winced instead. I sat up and slowly folded one in front of me, running my hands over it with a slight frown. The door opened and without much thought, I grabbed my pistol aiming up towards the door.

"Relax, bird." Reaper said coming over.

"Sorry. I guess I'm still on edge." I muttered lowering the pistol down to the bed.

"It's expected. Though, you were tossing and turning all night. Was it the pain? Or nightmare?"

Frowning, I glanced down, "nightmare."

"My bird." He cooed coming over and sitting beside me on the bed, though facing me. "Have no fear, your devil is here." I chuckled in response shaking my head. "He won't get you again, I'll make sure of it." His hand pat the top of my head, then ran down to the side of my face.

Smiling, I lifted my hand and held his on the side of my face. "I owe you, Reaper. My life, my service, my debt will never be paid no matter what I do."

"Even before we started this relationship, I knew you were stubborn to stay at my side. For that, if the same thing happened to me, I know you'd be right on my ass breaking me out."

"You know it." I laughed lightly, giving him a wink. He took in a deep breath them brought our foreheads together. "Still, thank you."

"You're welcome." He paused a moment and I could just barely tell he was looking at something, though I couldn't tell what. "Your wings..."

"WIll take a week or two to heal but they'll grow back to fighting fit. Until then, we just need to stay low and in cover. Otherwise, you'll have to protect me again."

"Haven't I always?" He mused, causing me to think a moment.

"But, I have always wondered..." I pulled my head back and stared at him, tilting my head slightly. "Even at Overwatch, you were always a lone wolf. Then you took on the control of Blackwatch, then partnered with Widowmaker. Still, you much preferred to work alone. Why allow me to tag along at the beginning?"

"Would you have let me go without tagging along?" He asked.

"I...don't know..."

"I saw the resolve in your eyes. When you stood against me and defied leaving me alone, you made up your mind. You were coming with me whether I wanted you to or not. Instead of arguing, I allowed you to tag along. Besides, I may have known what abilities you possessed even before we crossed paths that night."

"What?"

"Yes, Phoenix, I knew all about you. As second in command of Overwatch, before I died, it was my job to know. I looked into your file and brought you up to my comrades, who hired you to help fight the first crisis." I was shocked into silence. "We tracked your progress during the fights, as we did all the agents and I knew of your impressive ability. There was little I didn't know about you."

"Then...all that stuff about me being useless..."

"I was only trying to push you to be better than what you were, and you did, you exceeded that. Isn't it the job of the leader to do such a thing? Maybe not in the same way, but as you well know, I am a rather violent and twisted individual."

"Did you know about my wings? My eyes?"

"That, I did not. What Winston did on his own time, in his own lab, he never kept records of. Then again, what can you expect from a monkey?"

"The wedding?" I asked and he fell silent staring at me. "You knew about it didn't you?" Still, only silence. "It wasn't...your team...was it?"

"It was." He said lightly. "But I did not give the orders. At the time, I was dead. Those men you killed that day, I personally trained. I brought them up among the ranks, they were not peons with no names. They were strong agents of Overwatch. All of which you killed without armor or weapon."

"Reaper...I'm..."

"Don't. They knew what they were getting into. It only goes to prove just how powerful you really are." He said. "They betrayed me by accepting the command of my rival. 76." My eyes lifted to meet his and we stared at one another a long moment. "I know it was you."

"What do you mean?"

"Answer me this and don't try to lie to me." He paused, I could feel his glare through his mask. "How many Overwatch agents have you truly killed?" Tensing up, I looked away, thinking. "Including the five at your wedding."

Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath then softly said, "ten."

"Give me the names of the other five." He growled lightly.

"Ghalt, Roadhog, Junkrat, Pharah and..." I paused a long moment.

"Say it."

"76." I muttered looking up at him.

"Why did you kill them?"

My eyes narrowed, "why should I say? You already know."

"I want to hear it!" He snapped drawing closer causing me to flinch. "Do not defy me Phoenix."

"Ghalt, you know. The other three were given orders to hunt after me by 76, they did and I killed them to save my own life. 76 I killed because if I didn't, he wouldn't stop hunting me."

"Do you regret it?" He asked and it actually took me a moment to think about the proper answer.

"No." I responded and then we fell into silence, staring at one another.

"Oh, bird." he chuckled stroking my cheek again. "there are no words to speak that could tell my admiration for you."

"W-what?" I asked softly and he chuckled dropping me back on the bed.

In the morning, I growled lowly in the pain radiating through my body, but managed to heal quickly enough that it only bothered me a in a deep breath, I sat up and turned my back on the door, resting my feet on the ground. I could feel my body still weak, my wings were still swore, even though all my wounds were healed, my body needed to replenish itself and my healing wouldn't do it.

Glancing over at the nightstand, I saw my helmet and pistol laying ontop of it, my staff resting against the wall, just out of arms reach. Grabbing my helmet, I brought it closer and ran my hand over the beak. I began to think, or my life, of how I got here. I was an Overwatch agent, bred by life and light but Reaper, he was the exact opposite. An agent who was bred in death and darkness. How did we become like this? We were together, in a weird sense of love but we were so different. Did opposites truly attract? True, I killed agents, but, other than Ghalt, they were all out of self defense. They came after me and it was either kill or be killed.

Reaper? He killed agents because he hunted them down. But why? Was it because of his death? The attack on Overwatch was an inside job but it wasn't done by the heroes of Overwatch. Or was it, he was killing those sided against him, those that sided with 76? Was that it?

I frowned lightly and was leaning over to rest the helmet down when I heard the doorknob turning. I did not feel the familiar coldness of Reaper anywhere nearby, so I knew it wasn't him. Dropping the helmet, I grabbed the pistol and spun around. One arm extended holding the pistol up towards the door, the other pinning the blanket against my bare chest. There in the doorway stood a middle aged male, fearfully looking at me, a gun pointed at his chest.

"Don't shoot! Please!" He cried out, too fearful to move, my eyes only narrowed. "I'm sorry, I was only looking for a place to rest for the day, this was the only door unlocked."

I opened my mouth to say something, when someone else did, "what's going on here?" An older man stepped in, moving behind the guy, who then instantly grinned. "What do we have here? I'd recognize that pistol anywhere. I see you're doing well, Phoenix."

"McCree." I growled lowly. "Get out."

"Last I checked you had a rather large bounty on your head." He said moving his hand towards the pistol.

"And no one to pay it. Get. Out."

"Oh the contrare! The Omnic are paying rather generously for you. If we hand you prisoner, they will grant us peace." He chuckled. "And by the way your hand is shaking, you don't have enough strength to properly fight me."

"I wouldn't suggest it." A third voice said and I felt the familiar coolness again, then sighed contently. I saw his gun pointed mere inches from McCree's head.

"Want to fight again, Reaper?" McCree chuckled.

"I took you down once, I can take you down again. Move on." He hissed and McCree rose his hands.

"Alright. You got it. Let's go compadre." He said grabbing the mans shoulder and leading him out. Reaper stood there long enough to make sure they were gone before he stepped into the room and shut the door, locking it. "Are you alright?"

Nodding, I lowered the pistol to the bed and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." He said nothing as he crossed the room and grabbed the pistol setting it on the nightstand once more, then moved towards the table. I naturally assumed he was upset with me and remained silent.