Hey, everybody!

I'm so glad to announce a happy New Year. Hopefully, we get past 2017 alright. *ahem* Hollyweed *ahem*

Anyway, all jokes aside, I hope everyone enjoyed my last chapter. I tried to make it a real shocker! I hope it lived up to it.

Please enjoy this one as well.

Chapter 6

I open my eyes only to squint against a fluorescent light above my head. I try to sit up, but my head pounds. I cry out and press my palm against my temple, trying to dull the pain. My vision straightens from a blur, and I find that I'm in the medical ward at our base back in Dorado.

God, what happened to me? I think, trying to get my thoughts together. And, like a lightning bolt in my brain, it all comes back to me.

I saw Reyes, but he was Reaper. Was it a dream? A really awful nightmare? I wish it was but I know the truth.

I glance around the medical ward to find that I'm alone. A clock on the wall opposite me reads 6:34. How long was I out? Suddenly, a sharp stinging feeling appears in my right ankle and I clench my teeth in agony, waiting for it to dull down. I slowly pull the sheets off of my legs and see that my ankle is wrapped up in some medical fabric. I try to move it but I feel that same pain again, and I just sit back against my pillow.

I jump a little when the door to the medbay opens and Mercy makes herself present. She shuffles over to my bed, nervously, I observe.

"Hello, Jack," she says.

"Hey, Ziegler," I mutter, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounds. I clear my throat. She sits down on the bed in the space my legs aren't taking up.

"How long have you been up?" she asks, turning my arm over to look at the IV, pumping numbing medicine into my veins.

"Just woke up, maybe less than a minute ago," I answer, "Did we win?"

She sighs, and I know the answer.

"No, we didn't," she says, with sadness in her tone.

I sigh and lean back against my pillow again, looking up at the ceiling. She cups my cheek in her hand, pushes my hair aside, and kisses my forehead.

"Jack, what...who did you see? What were you trying to say before you passed out?"

I take a shaky breath through my mouth and lick my dry lips.

"I saw my best friend and my worst enemy, Ziegler," I say quietly, "I saw the man under Reaper's mask. I saw Gabriel Reyes."

We sit on the bed in silence for a minute and then I speak again.

"Does anyone else know?" I ask, and then the dreaded question: "Did you know?"

The answer that comes to her lips is one that makes me question everything about us, and where my trust lies, if anywhere.

"I saved his life, Jack," she says, looking straight into my eyes.

I feel a mixture of anger, confusion, sadness, and a million other emotions rising in my heart and I just want to scream. I want to punch a hole in the wall. I want to run out of the room, out of the building, out of this goddamn city, and just keep running, but I don't.

I say, "Just tell me what happened."

She touches my hand, but I yank it away because the anger still takes over the sadness.

"He was ready to leave when the Swiss Headquarters exploded," she begins, "That much you know. But you were told that he died in the attack, which is the truth, but you didn't know that I saved him. When the dust settled, I found you in the rubble. I thought you were dead, that I was the only one not injured, but I needed hope. That's why I took you and brought you to safety. I brought you to my childhood home and kept you there. After my parents died, they left the house to me. Remember?"

I nod.

"Well, I had you there for about two weeks. I fed you and helped you walk as you recovered. I thought everyone else had died in the explosion but Reyes was the only one who had. One day, I got a call from a woman who went by the name of Sombra. I asked her who she was, and she said that it was none of my business; that all I needed to know was that she worked for Blackwatch. She said that they had taken Reyes. They needed a doctor. I declined at first because I did not want to be affiliated with Blackwatch, but I thought about it. I thought about Reyes. I took the opportunity, but first, I asked Sombra why they needed me. She told me that they had tried to find someone before me. They asked a Brazilian man named Lúcio, who had invented a device which could heal people by emitting a song. He's a DJ, and he is highly requested for his genius, incorporating music into medicine. He declined because he was against Blackwatch, Symmetra in particular. I do not know why. Something about a company she worked for. They tried an Omnic monk named Tekhartha Zenyatta. He works at a Shambali Monastery in the Nepali mountains. He gladly accepted, but Zarya did not. See, her village was attacked by Omnics, and they slaughtered her family. She is unforgiving of the Omnics, even though Zenyatta works to create peace between humans and Omnics. They also called upon Ana, though she declined for many reasons. She lost an eye in the explosion and was recovering. She was also training her daughter for the Egyptian military. Do you remember Fareeha?"

"Yeah," I say, "Fareeha Amari. God, it's been a while."

"It has," she replies solemnly, "Anyway, they called me last. Sombra said that I was their last hope to save Reyes. I began to feel like I would regret it if I didn't. You still hadn't woken up. I was working at improving your heart rate. So, I left for Blackwatch Headquarters in Russia. They had medical technology at Blackwatch that I never knew existed. However, they did not know how to use it. I made a deal with them. I told them that I would save Reyes, but they would have to give me some of their medical technology. I did it to help you, Jack. I saved Reyes in about an hour, but he was never the same after that. He was so angry, and his skin had gone sickly, the color of a corpse. That was the Reyes you saw today. I was ready to take him to you, to keep him in Overwatch. But Blackwatch didn't want that. Neither did Reyes. He was ready to leave Overwatch anyway, is what he told me. Then, he became Reaper. I think he was ashamed of himself. He wanted to start over, maybe. So he started wearing a mask and a cloak, and became Reaper. I went back to you after that, with the new technology, and I used it to save you. You almost died, but Blackwatch saved you."

"No, they didn't!" I yell, anger for Reyes and Blackwatch bubbling up again, "You saved me! Blackwatch didn't do it for me! They did it for their new little minion, Reaper!"

"Jack, calm down," Mercy coaxes.

"No!" I yell, "I won't calm down! You would've helped me anyway! You didn't need their technology! You lied to me for Reyes! You lied for Reaper!"

She stands up and paces the floor.

"Jack!" she yells, "I saved Reyes because you would have wanted me to! Not because I'm disloyal to Overwatch! For god's sake, I answered to recall! Do you not understand what you're accusing me of, Jack?! Are you that selfish?! I needed the technology for you, Jack! Tell me, do you really think I would do that to hurt you?!"

"Maybe you would, Angela!" I spit, "At this point, I don't know! I don't know you!"

A silence ensues, and it's a painful one. I become faintly aware of the tears falling down my cheeks, splitting onto the epoxy flooring. She's crying too, looking down at her hands.

"You can trust me because I'm loyal to you, Jack," she croaks, "I love you. I love you, Jack. Why isn't that enough? You spend your whole life asking yourself if you can trust people, but you need to decide for yourself. Trust comes from within you, and you need to decide when to use it. Goodbye, Jack."

She walks out, closing the door quietly behind her.