In the deepest part of the monastery, where sunlight could not filter through, was Master Basho. He preferred to meditate in the dark. He found the lack of light comforting. The constant sound of water dripping and hitting the floor provided a steady rhythm for him. This was the way to meditate. He felt so relax and peaceful. He wondered if this was how Master Mondatta felt all the time. He imagined so. Master Mondatta an omnic who had that effect on everyone. Basho slowed his breathing. He could feel it. He was close to experiencing true tranquility. He-

"Master Basho?"

And in one foul swoop, tranquility had escaped him again. Basho groaned.

"What is it?" He snapped.

Master Eila came forward.

"I left a note on the door not to be disturbed. What is it?"

"You requested to be notified when Zenyatta and Tracer were awake. This is your notification."

Basho snorted. "How kind of you."

"You asked. I can understand why you want to speak with Zenyatta but why Tracer?"

"That woman can't be trusted. I don't care what she says, I know that she's an Overwatch agent. She's waiting to see our weakness."

"Paranoid, aren't you?"

"Of course, I'm paranoid. Wouldn't you be? Look at Russia. Enemies are everywhere. Our movement is their target and I will not allow them to sully Master Mondatta's legacy. Eila, distract Tracer."

"Excuse me?"

"Is the word "distract" not in your vocabulary?"

"Is the word "explain" in yours?"

"Am I the only one who isn't blind? I can't have that woman following him around like the demented speed freak that she is."

"I'm busy drafting proclamations against the conflict in Russia right now. Pass it off to one of the other monks."

"No!"

"Basho." Eila warned.

"Master Basho." He said.

"I don't care. I'm not going to distract Tracer for you because you're paranoid. He'll tell her whatever you tell him. Might as well get it over in one dose."

Basho eyed Eila bitterly. "Where are they?"

"Playing tag with the village children."

"He's doing what?!"

"Playing. Tag. With. Children." Eila said slowly so Basho would understand. "It's a common game played by many children around the world. Adults and adolescents have been known to play it when they are happy. The game involves two or more, preferably more, people running away the person known as "it"."

"You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"It took you that long to realize it?"

"Some days I don't know why I keep you around. I could easily have you banished."

"I wouldn't get so comfy on your throne, Basho. You kick out one too many people and suddenly there's an army against you. Master Mondatta wouldn't be happy if you were the reason omnics continued to live in oppression."

"How dare you bring him into this?" Seethed Basho.

"If I correctly recall, you were the one who thought going to that English hell-hole was a bright idea. You led him to his death."

"I hired bodyguards!"

"And how brilliant they were at their jobs." Her voice was laced with venom. "His safety was priority number one and they fucked up royal. Their failure is on you."

"You think that I wanted this? I don't want this. I can't hold a candle to him!" It was one of the few things that Eila and Basho could agree on. "Please." Basho begged. "Please, get Zenyatta and take care of Tracer for me."

"I'll do it but not for you, for Mondatta."

She left Basho alone in the monastery. Eila guessed that if she were human and had skin that it would be crawling. Mondatta walked with angels but Basho? He was like a slug that crawled out of the deepest pit on earth. She doubted that he had a soul. What did Mondatta see in him? She understood that the monastery was a sanctuary and while she didn't agree with Basho's extreme methods of excluding new refugees, there were some people who should be allowed to be part of the order. Basho…what did he know of people? He spent half of his time cooped up in the temple and the other half was spent with her dictating new proclamations and speeches that were never going to be heard by the public.

She used to do important things with her life. She organized Mondatta's meetings, she made connections with the right people, and she was the one who oversaw change in places that had once held omnics on the same level as roaches. She did work in Australia for crying out loud.

And now what? Being Basho's minion? Was that her life now? Playing fetch for him whenever he said "Go get it"? He say jump and her response was to be "How high"? She was more than this. She was more than Basho could ever be. She was a survivor. She had seen the worst that humanity had to offer and she spat in it's eye.

Eila didn't go to Tracer and Zenyatta right away. She stopped at the gardens to visit Mondatta's tree. She knelt to the little sapling. It was strange that this little thing, this still growing sapling, would one day be a strong shady tree. It didn't seem possible but then again it suited Mondatta. No one thought that what he did, what he accomplished in his lifetime was possible.

"Hello Master." She spoke softly to the tree. She heard that if you spoke to plants, they grew better. She didn't know if it was true or not but it made her feel better to speak to him. "It has been thirteen days, twenty minutes, and sixteen seconds since I've last came for a visit. I didn't mean to spend so much time away from you but a war has broken out in Russia and…and things have been crazy. Basho's ruling the place with an iron fist and-and…" She didn't want to burden her master with Basho. He was at peace now. "Zenyatta is here. You may have seen him. He was in the gardens earlier, meditating in his normal spot. It's funny, you know. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Zenyatta still likes the garden over all other spots in the monastery, Basho is still a prick, and I'm…"

What was she now? She followed Mondatta religiously and now that he was gone, so was her identity.

"I'm lost. Master, we need you – not just us at home but the world needs you. Dear Iris, we're scrambling. I've written more papers this week than I've written in a lifetime. It's been nonstop. Enough about me, how are you? Is it nice where you're at? Is the afterlife all that? I know it sounds selfish but I wish I with you. I wish you weren't gone. I wish that you were alive and well. I wish that bullet hadn't sent our lives spiraling into this hell."

The monastery wasn't home anymore. No place felt like home. She could leave. Leaving was always an option but if she did that meant handing over the reins to Basho completely. He would have control over Mondatta's legacy. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't let him drag their master, her master's, good name through the mud. She would rather die than have that happen. She would cling to dying embers that were Mondatta's trailblazing spirit until they extinguished.

"I will protect your memory, Master. I will not fail you."

She brought Zenyatta to Basho and kept Tracer with her.

"I'm sorry about this." She said apologetically to Tracer as they went to her office. "Basho is being cranky and I don't want to deal with him. It's easier this way.'

"It's alright, luv. Don't worry about it."

Eila settled down at her desk. There were a pile of notes and half-finished press release statements on her right and dozens of new reports of the Second Omnic Crisis on her left. Eila sighed. "It never stops." She worked in silence. Tracer kept to herself and sat in the corner, alone with her thoughts. Eila could feel Tracer staring at her. She liked Tracer well enough. She seemed to be one of the good humans but she didn't want to have to babysit her.

"When did he start floating?" Eila asked awkwardly, breaking the silence between them.

"Zenyatta? He's floated since I've known him." Tracer said. "Can't you float?"

"Only if I'm on my last legs." Eila replied. "Pun not intended."

"What do you mean?"

"We can all float. It's a back-up system but it only happens when our legs are damaged. So how'd it happen to him? What did he get it with?"

"I…I don't know."

"Oh…well that is unfortunate then…um…."

Tracer hung her head in shame.

"Don't feel bad, you didn't know. We don't exactly advertise how our bodies work."

"I admire Zenyatta." Said Tracer. "I really do but lately, I feel that I don't know anything about him. We're supposed to be a team and it feels like we're not."

"I don't think he knows a lot about himself. You heard him last night. He doesn't have any memories before becoming a monk. He doesn't talk about himself. Zenyatta doesn't have anyone."

"He has Genji."

"Who's Genji?"

"Genji Shimada."

"Wait, hold up. Zenyatta, apple of Mondatta's eye, is shacking up with an heir to the Shimada crime family." She shook her head. "Wow. I never took him for tattooed, half-dressed ninja type."

"That's Hanzo."

"So Genji would be the cyborg-omnic, no pants or clothes guy?"

"Yep."

"I don't if that's a step up or down."

Genji laid uncomfortably in the cot that the Russian military had provided for the Overwatch team. The cot was rock hard and the pillow? Genji sighed. He would have neck pain for years to come.

The battle was hell. The omnics were relentless. They had broken through the barrier between the battlefield and the denser civilian area who were unable to evacuate. Within ten minutes, the omnics took over three city blocks. Thirty people died. Zarya with righteous fury took the lead. She left not a single omnic standing. There was little doubt in Genji's mind that the dead omnics would fuel the fires of war. He turned on is side, hoping to find some comfortable sleeping position.

He didn't.

"Sleeping on the floor would be better than this."

Genji left the barracks. The outside air was thick with smoke and ash. Genji went to nearby station. The rickety structure barely survived the attack. Nimbly, he jumped through the air and gracefully landed on the tower. On the horizon, were the burned out and crumbling buildings and in the streets were the dozens of dead omnics. He was relieved that tonight Zenyatta was not here to witness this. Genji folded his arms against his chest. Today he had seen the omnics waving flags with Mondatta's name.

"We shall overcome!" Was their rallying cry. "We shall preserve!"

One blast from Zarya's mini-gun silenced them.

What would Master say about this?

Even Genji found it hard to believe that his master would be able to be optimistic in the face of this madness. He thought of his master's master and how he would react seeing the attacks in his name. He knew what his master would do. Zenyatta would fight back and protect those in need. He would take a stand against the violence. Now he was fighting with words. He hadn't heard a thing from Zenyatta or Tracer. The Shambali monks hadn't released any information on Mondatta's memorial service either.

"Genji?"

McCree was calling out to him. Genji jumped down. "Trouble?"

"Nah. It's quiet out there. I reckon the omnics have turned tail. If we're lucky, we should be able to head back in a week or so. You've got a phone call at the command center."

"Zenyatta?" He said hopefully.

"Sorry, partner. I haven't heard a lick from him. It's from Tracer."

Genji was gone in an instant.

The set up in the command center was a jumbled mess of fourth-hand technology. Genji grabbed the phone.

"Tracer?"

"Hello, luv." Her cheerful voice crackled through the weak connection.

"Is everything okay?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're in Russian, not me."

"We might be returning home soon. How is my master?"

"Zenny's doing okay."

"May I speak to him?"

"He's in a meeting with the head monk, Basho. Sorry, luv."

"Oh…"

"But um, I wanted to ask you a question?"

"Yes?"

"About Zenyatta?"

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I was just curious…about um…his legs?"

"They do have a tendency to lock up." Genji said thoughtfully. "Is he-"

"No, Genji. I-" Was she really about to ask him about this? "I-I meant how it happened?"

The silent went silent. I shouldn't have asked, she thought. "I'm sorry."

"No, it is okay. May I ask why?"

She took a deep breath. "None of the other omnics float."

"Ah, I see."

"So, how did it…"

"I do not know all the details but master told me that a month or so after he left Shambali, he came across a hermit. He joined my master for a brief time. When they crossed the border, the hermit attacked my master. Nepal has severe laws for hate crimes against omnics, Tibet does not. I do not know why but I think he thought my master was an easy target. Zenyatta did not fight back. The hermit crippled my master and left him to die."

"Why?"

"For parts? Or maybe he did not like mechanical men? The hermit did not give an answer."

"How did Zenyatta…"

"He never told me but my master did inform me that he came across the hermit again during his travels."

"And?"

"He forgave him."