Chapter Summary: The Shimada brothers are forced to accept that if they ever wish to be free of their curse, something must change. Whether that change will grant both of them their happy ending, however, is another story.

A furious and continuous blast of wind assailed the agents of Overwatch sent out to neutralize a Talon base located in the New Mexican desert. It carried with it a heat so dry it sucked the water from their mouths, leaving them parched as they fought with their swords and their guns to suppress the wave of terrorists Pharah's aerial assault had flushed out of the underground network of caves.

While the others complained as they fought – topics ranging from the sand in their joints to poor footing on the shifting and uneven earth – the soldier held his silence, his focus devoted to the completion of the mission, the cowboy smirked at the grumbling reaching his ears through the comm, since this was exactly the style of fighting he'd become acclimated to, back when fending off the bad guys in the West was still a solo gig, and grit her teeth in muted frustration. Her mech wasn't built for the desert. Sand clogged its servos, hindering her movements, which meant her armored body suit's reaction time was delayed, and every decision she made had to be carried out with that delay in mind. She needed to recognize the danger and react a second faster, then hope that it was enough.

Her role in the team, she knew, was to get hit hard and hit back harder, but when she swiveled in her suit to see her companions had spread out, not enough to be out of sight, but enough to make it very difficult to help her when she was surrounded and overrun by overzealous Talon soldiers, each of them more than willing to snuff out the rising star, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance.

Everywhere she looked there were scarlet lenses and pitch black body armor, and every surface of her body seemed to carry on it a little red dot. It seemed like she wasn't getting out of this in one piece. Once the thought crossed her mind, however, a blur of blue and shimmering scales raced over the top of the nearest dune to land solidly on the back of a Talon agent, squishing him into the dirt. Standing tall, the dragon shook itself free of a layer of dust and sand, then crouched low to shield its head from enemy fire while it whipped its long tail to knock the legs out from the soldiers approaching on its flank.

The instant it'd carved a serviceable path to the mech, it trotted to her side with its fangs bared in a snarl aimed at the remaining soldiers, of which there were still much too many.

With a fierce grin stretching across her face, slammed her hand down on the self-destruct button, leapt out of her cockpit, and landed directly on the dragon's back. It launched itself forward, getting the pair of them away from the blast and clearing the enemy agents like they were little more than a wall to climb over.

"You were early this time, buddy!" She shouted into the dragon's ear over the gale, delighted. "I hadn't even pressed the button yet!" And it's great head twisted around to look up at her, the thick ridge of its brow raised as it gave a disbelieving whuff. Leaning back slightly, with her hands still curled in its mane, Hana replied defensively, "What?" Her shoulders tensed at the dragon's continued skepticism. "Okay, I so do not do this all the time."

Its mouth curled up at the sides to reveal gleaming white fangs, the dragon raced through turrets and sniper fire to reunite her with the closest cluster of agents, which happened to be Genji and 76 fighting melee in a pit. The dragon crouched at the edge allowing her to dismount, even though she would have gladly gone charging into the fray while riding on its back, a desire it seemed to sense because it barked a scratchy laugh at her pout, then sprinted down the slippery copper-streaked sides of the ditch to sink its claws in the agent attempting to plunge a blade into the ninja's chest.

"Hey, Hanzo!" Genji called out cheerfully as he pivoted to swiftly disarm the soldier behind him, allowing the dragon to easily slip into the newly open position at his back. "What took you so long?"

Like Hana, Genji always talked to the dragon like it could honestly understand what he was saying, but anyone that saw the way the dragon exasperatedly flicked its dark brown eyes up to the ledge where Hana waved would be hard-pressed to say otherwise. Chuckling under his breath, Genji entered the fray with renewed fervor, eager to put an end to it so that they could all go home and he could spend more time kicking Hana's name off the scoreboards.

At one point, one of the men dropped their gun in favor of aiming a high kick at Genji's temple, to which the crouching dragon responded by clamping onto the heel of its adversary and tossing the screaming soldier over its shoulder, where he landed directly on the other, wiping them both out. Genji, who'd had his arms up to defend himself, merely shrugged at the tangle of limbs on the ground before whipping out a handful of shuriken and responding in kind.

Eager to help, Hana unholstered her pistol, only to pause when 76 turned his head to yell sharply up at her, "Stay out of it until your MEKA reforms. We've got it handled down here." Except they didn't, really. Even the strongest fighters could fall to overwhelming numbers in a pit.

Without his realizing, a Talon agent he'd merely incapacitated rose to tackle him on his blindside, but before 76 could swing around, the man's temple bloomed a crimson flower, and Hana shouted down, her pistol still poised and smoking, "You really think it's the suit that makes me dangerous, old man?" And 76 nodded, wordlessly conceding her point.

In the end, it took about three hours worth of relentless pushing and several more rocket barrages from above before what remained of the Talon base was subdued, captured, and ready for transport to the nearest detention facility.

Exhausted, sweaty, and covered in grime, they piled into the dingy cargo plane Winston sent to pick them up like it was heaven on earth. Once they were all seated and the plane was ready for take-off, Hana shot the cowboy sitting directly across from her a smirk, "Bet you'll never guess who rode a dragon today."

Though his brows arced briefly in surprise, his gaze flitting to the dragon lying peacefully on the floor, McCree recovered quickly enough to lean forward to respond with a knowing grin, "Blew up your mech again, didn't ya, hotshot?" crossed her arms with a huff. The dragon's ears twitched. "Look, it's all well and good," McCree continued, "but try not to do it too often, okay? Lord knows, you don't need a dragon to be a princess."

Slowly, the dragon rose to stand on all fours with a yawn that was just a tad too pointy to be innocuous, padded over to , and then climbed to sit on her lap. "No!" She protested, attempting to push the large reptile off, but to little avail, as it barely seemed to notice. "You're too heavy for this! Get down!"

Taking in the scene with barely concealed amusement, Genji unbuckled his seatbelt to help the girl out. "Come on, Hanzo," he wrapped his arms around the beast's torso and gave it hard tug, "you're not exactly a delicate flower, you know?" Apparently offended by the implication, the dragon bopped the ninja with its snout, before settling down as though it fully planned to spend the remainder of the trip lying down on a very vocal and irritated pillow.

"Hey, Hana?" The ninja and the complaining internet sensation turned to look at McCree, who seemed thoughtful as he rubbed his beard, "You think maybe he's waiting for you to say you're be more careful?" The dragon's long and semi-translucent ears perked up while Hana gaped at the cowboy in blatant disbelief.

"Fine," she groused after a time. "I'll be more careful and only blow up my MEKA if it's an emergency, which I was totally doing anyway... but this means I get free rides when we're at the base, okay?"

After tilting its head as though to consider the sincerity of her promise, the dragon uncurled from its coiled position to step gracefully onto the floor, allowing Hana to fill her lungs with a deep breath of relief while Genji groused that this was exactly why people around the base kept referring to Hanzo as his weird blue dog. Or maybe that was mostly Jesse's fault, but with stunts like that, Hanzo definitely wasn't blameless.

Though Hanzo had returned to his former prone position, with his head resting between his paws, a low growl reverberated from within the dragon's chest at the grumbling. Folding his arms over his chest, Genji added crossly, "Look, if you were properly scary, this wouldn't be happening. Why don't you try roaring or snapping or something?" He flailed his arms. "Scare them a little!"

After a prolonged silence, during which the pair continued to match their wills through heated stares, the dragon turned its back to him with a huff and rolled over.

Not willing to drop the subject when the alternative was letting Hanzo win this round, Genji gently nudged the dragon with a sly wink, "Or you could let me take a nap so I can show you how its done?" In answer, Hanzo's tail whipped around to swat him soundly on the shoulder. It wasn't an unexpected reaction, yet Genji was surprised by how deeply the disappointment cut, especially since he'd made the offer mostly in jest.

They were both startled when Hana asked, "What's that supposed to mean?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, sensing that she was missing something

"Yeah, you know, we could talk about that, or we could talk about…" McCree floundered, looking to the ninja and his dragon for some assistance, though none seemed forthcoming, so eventually settled with the admittedly lame and unconvincing," something else?"

Brown eyes glittering with mischief, Genji stretched lazily over the dragon's back, clearly unconcerned about upsetting the creature, and for good reason, as it made no move to dislodge him, and indeed, barely seemed to notice the additional weight.

"Okay." The ninja nodded encouragingly. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well," McCree drew out the word with a long drawl, "we could talk about a pair of brothers I know who are terrible and no help whatsoever."

"Ah," Genji said solemnly, his chin placed on the backs of the hands interlocked beneath it as an innocent smile spread across his still youthful face, "a fictional story. My favorite kind."

"What don't you tell them about yourself, McCree," 76 called from the passenger's seat. "This team could do with some cautionary tales."

While McCree ducked his head to conceal a scowl, pulled a face. "Ugh. Who'd want to talk about a stinky old cowboy?"

For a moment, the cowboy simply regarded her with an odd look, before his lines began to soften into something not-quite happy, and he pulled from his pants pocket a folded pieced of paper with his likeness drawn on the front. Holding it up proudly, he asked, "Haven't you seen the signs? There ain't a soul in the West that don't want a piece of this."

The dragon snorted while Genji rolled onto his back, arms splayed out to the sides in a dramatic fashion, and wrinkled her nose. "Ew, yuck. Old man joke."

Over the past few weeks, Genji had begun to notice a subtle change in his brother. While his refusal to transform during the day remained unchanged, any reluctance on his part to allow Genji to initiate the transformation at night had gradually begun to dissipate. He brought it up when they returned to base, as once dinner was finished, Hanzo trotted contentedly to their shared quarters, barely waiting for him to catch up.

Chuckling quietly, Genji jogged to keep pace. "Any particular reason why you're not putting up as much of a fuss as usual, anija?"

Of course there was no answer, they hadn't had a true conversation in nearly a decade, but Hanzo's ears flattened impatiently, the way they sometimes did when he was honestly upset, causing Genji to relent for the time being. It wasn't like they both didn't know the reason for the dragon's newfound happiness, anyway.

The door opened a crack, allowing Hanzo to shoot in, a blur of blue and rippling scales that eventually settled in a rigid sitting position on the armchair like a guardian statue at a temple. Rolling his eyes at his brother's antics, Genji strode to his closet to retrieve his nightclothes, before settling in at the desk to write his daily letter on a piece of blank parchment while Hanzo silently watched over his shoulder.

McCree wasn't sure why his feet kept bringing him to the Shimada's door every night, and yet here he was again, this time with a bottle of sake.

"Hey, Athena?" He waited a second for the AI to respond, before continuing, "You gonna tell Winston about this?"

Immediately, a feminine and modulated voice trickled down from the speakers, "I should think not, Agent McCree." He grinned sheepishly to placate the mild note of offense in her tone. "What Overwatch agents choose to do in the privacy of their quarters is not his concern."

Winking, McCree tipped his hat, "Thanks, darlin'." Then he pressed his thumb to the scanner, causing it to blink green, and pushed open the door. Inside, he found Genji already fast asleep on the bed, his shorter mane of vibrant green hair swept over his back and his snout, causing it to lift occasionally when he snored through his nose.

Hanzo, on the other hand, was reading a letter with a dimly lit cellphone screen. "It seems you all had a very long and exciting day today," he observed without looking up to see who'd walked in, his eyes still scanning the page. "No wonder Genji's exhausted."

Shrugging, McCree placed the bottle of sake on the desk. "Well, that, and somebody doesn't let us get any shuteye on the trips back."

"Yes, because a stranger appearing without warning amongst your company would go over so very well." There was a lamp on the desk that McCree moved to switch on, only to let his hand fall when Hanzo subtly shook his head. "The light may wake him. We were raised to be sensitive to such changes in the environment." And so he settled onto the mattress, his usual seat, though he was considering dragging in a chair from his room, while Hanzo opened a file on the phone to view that day's photographs. Peering over his shoulder, McCree caught a glimpse of a selfie with Genji taking up most of the picture in the foreground, his arms wrapped around Lucio, and in the background, Hana had one arm wrapped a long-suffering dragon while the other threw up a peace sign.

"Do you remember that?" He wondered aloud, half-expecting Hanzo to ignore the question, the way he sometimes did when he felt McCree was overstepping. But this time, he merely hummed softly as he thought it over, and the cowboy waited, taking in the way in which the phone's screen illuminated the weary lines on his face and the silvery strands of hair at his temples.

Finally, Hanzo turned to him and said, "It does not feel like a memory so much as a half-forgotten dream. The details escape while the general feeling remains." His darkened and glittering gaze falling upon the sleeping dragon breathing evenly on the mattress, he continued, "In that way, I could just as easily and as truthfully say that I have not left my brother's side," he reached for the shallow porcelain cup that Jesse held out to him, and rotated it distractedly in his hands, "as I could that I have not seen or spoke to him in a very long time."

After a period of time where neither of them spoke, allowing the silence to draw out like poison flowing from a wound, Hanzo pulled up the sleeves of his kimono to grasp the ceramic tokkuri by its bulbous base, and pour its clear liquid into the cowboy's cup, followed by his own.

That was enough of melancholy for one night.

Eyes going wide, Hanzo straightened with a look of shock. "She didn't!"

The flask was long empty, as they were now a quarter way through a bottle of whiskey, as was apparent by their more frequent lapses when it came to keeping their voices down.

Actually, by this point, McCree had entirely given up, taking the occasional growl from the grumpy dragon on the bed in stride. "Yes! I woke up with 3-inch neon pink talons glued to my fingernails and no way to get them off until after the mission. Even the rogue omnics laughed at me."

Peering curiously at McCree's close-trimmed nails, Hanzo muttered,"Why did you not simply pull them off?"

McCree reared back with a hearty chuckle. "You ever try pulling off acrylic nails, darlin'? It takes skin with it." He looked thoughtful for a moment, before adding with a wink, "Plus, if we're bein' real honest here, I looked mighty fine."

The corners of Hanzo's mouth twitched with amusement, his hand lifted halfway as though he'd meant to hide his mirth and then aborted the attempt. There was a heavy flush in his cheeks, a shine in his eyes, and for the first time since McCree first spotted him sitting by the window, the cowboy saw him, not as something mystical or ethereal, but as a man like any other, and the revelation stunned him.

Unaware of the shift occurring in the cowboy's perspective, Hanzo allowed his attention to drift to the sleeping dragon with a mildly accusatory expression, "I suppose painted talons may be a shared experience of ours. My brother believes it is funny to sometimes paint my claws when I change."

Blinking rapidly to snap himself out of his thoughts, McCree quickly processed what Hanzo had said. "Guess that kid's caught a funny bone or two in his body, after all."

Hanzo snorted. "He certainly thinks he is hysterical."

McCree grinned as the dragon's ears flicked in its sleep and it let out a huge sigh,"Your ears ringing, buddy?"

Outside, light began to illuminate the horizon with a soft glow, and the stars faded while birdsong drifted from the treetops.

Setting his glass down on the table, Hanzo furrowed his brow, clearly upset. "I am being selfish," it spilled from his lips in a near whisper, like a secret. "I covet this time, yet because of that, Genji is robbed of the opportunity to bond with his teammates." In truth, it had been a very long while since Hanzo had looked to his return to human form with anticipation, so long that he could not precisely recall when it had occurred or even if it had. Yet even though he'd insisted that Genji retain his normal sleep cycle and interact with the world as a human during the day, Hanzo had been forced to realize during their stay at the base that reading and writing letters was no longer enough; he was starved for conversation.

"He spends the entire day with us," McCree pointed out. "It's not like you can keep him awake for the rest of his life, Hanzo."

And Hanzo knew that, partly because he'd tried, "But nor should I allow myself to be content when he sleeps." He rested his head in his hands. "This curse should have never fallen upon him. It has isolated him, forced him to keep himself distant." A church bell chimed in the town, and Hanzo straightened, allowing his hands to fall into his lap as the sudden intensity of his too bright gaze fell on McCree, pinning him. "Though it may not seem like it, he is a social creature, Jesse McCree. He needs friends and companionship to survive."

Swallowing down an unexpected lump in his throat, McCree hoarsely replied, "And what about you?"

Just then, a cock crowed to announce the coming morning, and Hanzo pushed himself out of his seat to stride to the bedside, where Genji's tail swayed, and gave the feathery tuft at the end a firm tug, causing the dragon to shoot to his feet with a yelp. Unimpressed, Hanzo told the startled and groggy dragon, "The sun has risen. In a few hours, it will be time for you to go down to breakfast." As the dragon continued to stare blankly at him with Genji's eyes, apparently waiting for something, Hanzo groaned, leaning forward to give it a hard shove. "Move."

The dragon shuffled to the side to allow him space, while McCree mused, his own thoughts already traveling to his own neglected bed, "Should you really be talking to a great and dignified dragon like that?"

"Tell me when you see one and I shall treat it with due respect."

Once Hanzo was laid out in a horizontal position and had successfully closed his eyes, the green dragon proceeded to step on his back, resulting in an audible crack, and Hanzo screamed curses into his pillow. The pair were still at it, with Genji snapping playfully while Hanzo picked up a pillow and threw it at him, by the time McCree had gathered his things and slipped out to catch a few winks, but Hanzo must have found a way to sleep at some point, because Genji was indeed present at breakfast a few hours later, though he yawned loudly at regular intervals, throwing dirty looks at the smug-looking dragon curled up under the table.

It was on one of the rare occasions that they were separated, with Hanzo resting in the control room while Winston searched the news and less public channels for alarming patterns of criminal activity, that Genji managed to meet with the elusive Ana Amari. It wasn't that she wasn't present for the group meals or the meetings or the missions, it was just that whenever Genji attempted to talk with her in private, she vanished like a tear in the sea.

When the day finally came, however, it wasn't so much he'd found her as she'd waited in the hallway for him, then demanded to know why he was following her.

And when faced with the stern and brusque older woman, the legendary sniper of Overwatch, recently believed to be dead, Genji felt his mouth go dry as thoughts seemed to slip from his head. He worried for a moment that he would make a fool of himself, but then he thought about all his most recent experiences with Overwatch and its eclectic members, and reminded himself why he'd been searching for her in the first place. Swallowing down his nerves, Genji said, "I apologize if I seemed too forward, Amari-san, but I was hoping that there was something you might be able to help me with." She raised a single brow, silently inviting him to continue. "What do you know about curses?"

"I know there are many kinds of curses, Agent Shimada, not all of them magical in nature. Some we place upon others out of anger or spite, and some we place upon ourselves. What kind of curse are you referring to?"

Tapping his fingers against his thigh as he thought back to that night at the shrine, Genji answered, "Something powerful… and old." He frowned. "A punishment, I think."

Ana nodded like what he'd told her was entirely reasonable, even expected. "And why is breaking it so important to you? Would it not be easier to let things be?"

To let them be, and spend the rest of his life robbing Hanzo of his.

Once they had listened, rapt, as their father had regaled them with tales of ancient gods and those who served them. Now, those same gods had taken something from them, and it was time for them to give it back. Steeling his resolve, Genji straightened his back to meet the sniper's amber gaze without flinching, "There is someone in my life who I have not spoken to in a decade, despite the length of time they have spent at my side, and I miss him. More than I once believed I could. To stand in front of him as I am, there is nothing I would not do." Including taking the fight to the gods themselves, if that was what it took.

Gradually, the sniper's stern features began to soften, and she reached forward to ruffle his hair."You want to break the curse, and that is a good first step." Stepping back, she retrieved a small purple vial from within her tan overcoat, "However, if that were enough, the curse would already be broken. Take this," and she placed it on Genji's palm, watching as his fingers curled around it. "It is a sleeping draught. Use it at your own discretion."

Shrugging, she added, "See if you can't get your stubborn brother to spend some time with the rest of us."

After she had turned to leave and taken several strides, Genji regained his wits enough to call after her, "Wait! How did you…?"

She paused to look over her shoulder, a hand pressed against her mouth to obscure a smile. "Oh, it was not hard. You boys are not as sneaky as you'd like to think."

And with that, she departed, leaving Genji speechless.

He figured out after a bit of trial and error that the draught guaranteed him a solid eight hours in his transformed state, which also meant Hanzo couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard he tried, and Genji did feel a little bad about that, but hoped that the friendship he was forging with the cowboy made up for it. It got to the point where Genji knew he'd be upset with McCree if he didn't show up, which wasn't really fair to the man, but since he always seemed to come without fall, if Genji's blurred recollections of the nights and Hanzo's letters were any indication, he didn't allow himself to dwell on the what-if's for too long.

Everything was going well, so why overthink it?

And maybe soon, if things continued along this path, something would change.

The only thing Genji didn't account for were the missions, where Hanzo often kept him up for days and there wasn't anything Genji could do about it, not when the majority of his teammates were unaware of their transformations. Worst case scenario, they might actually try to shoot Hanzo.

So they stuck it out in Russia for three days without rest, and while Hanzo in his dragon form could likely continue indefinitely under such conditions, Genji was quickly worn down. It started with him growing more sullen as he struggled to use his energy sparingly, and was followed by a decrease in focus, which directly impacted his aim and reaction time.

It wasn't a problem before, when it was only them, and so it hadn't really come up, but now, Genji was beginning to see how extraordinarily difficult it was going to be to keep their curse a secret without inadvertently endangering themselves or their teammates. They were out in the snow, fending off sniper fire, when a distant stinging in Genji's side tugged him out of his exhausted haze, and he hissed, looking down at his abdomen to see scarlet bleeding through his layers.

He didn't remember dropping to one knee, only that the ground was closer than it had been a second ago, and in his ear voices screamed his name, voices that blended together into incoherent white noise, along with the explosions and gunfire, but above that white noise, a undulating snarl began to rise, and it chased him into the darkness.

Not all of them saw Genji fall. Some were preoccupied with ducking for cover between cars or in the alleys, but all of them felt it, an absence yawning where once there had been energy and life. It did not mean he was dead, only that wherever they were, whatever they were doing, they needed to find him, and fast.

76 tucked his pulse rifle against his chest and sprinted, passing up a chance to take out the omnics surrounding him in favor of barreling through them through brute strength alone, and followed the streak of bright blue curving over the rooftops of cars to where Tracer crouched by his side, supporting him while the dragon anxiously pressed its snout against his cheek, emitting a low and quiet keening.

The omnics were converging on their position.

Activating his comm, 76 yelled, Tracer, you need to get out of there!

Her head jerked up, darting back and forth as she looked for him beyond the automatons, and when at last their eyes met, he was able to see her miserably shake her head.

With a growl rumbling in its chest, the dragon arced its back to snap at the closest automaton, before whipping around to lung for the neck of the barrel-chested bot. The omnic screeched as it went down, and the dragon's massive jaws crushed and ripped through its metal exoskeleton to chomp down on the tubing beneath, and when again the dragon raised its head to move on to its next foe, hydraulic fluid and oil spilled from its fangs.

Upon seeing what happened to the first to approach, the remaining automatons halted their approach, and a rain of bullets pelted the dragon's flank. Genji cried out, his voice a weak, feeble thing amongst the gunfire, but the furious beast didn't appear to be fazed, as it streaked forward like a bolt of lightning, yanking off limbs, shredding metal and circuitry with claws that met no resistance.

Leaping over the heaps of scrap the creature was leaving behind, 76 charged in to lend it a hand, though it seemed to be doing fine on its own. Together, they halved the forces, leaving about six left that remained to fight because that was what their programming demanded they do. The soldier's rifle whined, smoking his hands from overuse. It needed time to charge and cool, but if the way Genji's head kept lolling against Tracer's shoulder as he fought to stay awake was any indication, the ninja needed an immediate evac. There wasn't time to rest.

And just as that thought crossed his mind, just as he braced himself to take on the remaining force with his bare hands if that was what it came to, the standing omnics fell lifelessly to the ground.

From behind their collapsed forms, McCree gave a cheery wave.

A startled gasp arrested the solider's attention, however, and he spun around to see Lena staring in open-mouthed horror as green scales crawled over Genji's skin, covering his limbs, which gradually contorted as muscles and bones began to ripple and shift. His nose flattened, melding seamlessly with his protruding snout, and his vibrant spikes lengthened, growing into an impressive mane that followed his spine. There was a flash of brilliant white light, and then gone was the young man lying in Tracer's lap, and in his place rested an injured dragon.

That was not the only change, however, because where the azure dragon had once stood, now a Japanese man in traditional garb blinked dazedly at his hands, apparently disbelieving of his senses.

Ignoring McCree's shout, 76 pressed the barrel of his pulse rifle against the stranger's temple. Slitted eyes traveled languidly to look at him, and then the man's lips curled, baring his teeth. "Who are you?" The soldier demanded, increasing the pressure until the man exhaled in a pained hiss.

Before it could escalate, McCree rushed forward to shove the rifle down and place himself between them.

"Get out of the way, McCree," 76 snarled.

And McCree moved, but only to place himself more firmly between them. "This is Genji's brother, hoss. I can vouch for him."

The soldier hesitated, but not for long. Surging forward, he sneered through his mask, "And you didn't think to tell us there was an unregistered combatant on the base?!"

Planting his palms on his chest to force the vigilante to step off, McCree shot back with an irritated, "Ah, come off it. Genji told you about Hanzo the second he walked through the door. Not his fault none of us believed him." Then with a mirthless grin, he added, "Now last I checked, you weren't actually the boss of me, so you do what you want, but Han, Lena, and I are getting Genji back to Watchpoint." He paused, uncertainty flickering over his features. "It cool if I speak for you, Lena?"

She offered them a small and tired smile as her arms tightened protectively around the dragon in her care, "No worries, luv. Course I'm going with ya."

While they ironed out the details of their plan, Hanzo gradually distanced himself from the group. He felt anger at himself for allowing Genji's health and focus to deteriorate. Because of that lapse in judgment, not only had Genji been wounded, but his comrades now knew about their curse, which meant that soon they would be chased away or made to leave.

A glinting in the dirt, glass instead of metal, caught his eye, and he bent to retrieve a small vial from the debris. It was a sleep draught, he realized, which explained how Genji had been ignoring his attempts to wake him over the past several days. Wordlessly, he tucked it within the fabric of his kimono.

When the helicopter came, Hanzo and McCree carried Genji in and laid him on the floor. They'd already bandaged the wound as best they could, but it was still seeping slowly, and the dragon's breathing was getting harsher and more labored as time past. Athena and Winston piloted the plane from the base, calculating the fastest routes with the least turbulence, and all things considered, they completed the journey in record time. Genji was still holding on when they carried him into the clinic, much to Angela's shock, which left them with the singular problem of her expertise not applying to reptiles.

"I will do the best I can to save him," she assured them while 76 activated his biofield to buy Genji some time, surrounding him in a warm and comforting glow. "But he needs surgery and stitches and there isn't enough time for me to research how to perform lifesaving medical procedures on a dragon." She decided she would improvise, hope for the best and pray that whatever damage was inadvertently done would heal naturally once his life was saved, because standing guard at the threshold of Death's door was what she did, and even more importantly, she was tired of losing friends.

But improvising and uncertainty wasn't good enough for Hanzo. He asked her if Genji's chances would be improved if he were human, then before Angela could answer, retrieved the vial from within his robe, popped open the vial, and swallowed the remaining liquid. Almost immediately, he stumbled, his hands groping for something to hold onto as his legs buckled beneath him, and Angela clutched him, struggling to hold him upright, as she shouted for Athena to alert Winston and get him down to the clinic for a substance analysis test as soon as possible.

She didn't know what the man had been thinking, but she'd be damned if she were going to let him die. Bright light consumed the clinic, forcing her to shut her eyes, and when she opened them, in her arms was a groggy creature from myths and fantasy, and on the table was Genji Shimada, still bandaged and unconscious, but very much human.

The operation went well. Angela was able to retrieve the bullet and repair the organs it had damaged within a few hours, during which the remainder of Genji's team waited in the room outside with the dragon that refused to move from its spot. While they waited, and Lucio passed up seats to lie down with the dragon, and while they were surprised when Lena explained to them that the dragon was actually Genji's brother, they didn't find the new knowledge upsetting.

Lucio grinned, his head resting on the dragon's back while worked her fingers through its mane, "I've met a few characters in my life, but none of them could do something like this. Man, I am so lucky I joined this team."

Her shoulders shaking slightly, sputtered out a watery laugh.

The clinic opened not ten minutes later, with Angela stepping out in simple frock and a clean lab coat, and she glowed, a kind smile lighting up her face, "He's stable." And the waiting room was sent into chaos. The young recruits enveloped the dragon with hugs before moving onto their teammates, and Reinhardt picked Amari up, tears streaming from the old knight's eyes as she patted him on the shoulder.

Pulling down the brim of his hat, McCree huffed a sigh of relief, while 76 remained stubbornly stoic with Lena's arms jubilantly wrapped around his torso and shaking him. Throughout it all, the dragon didn't move or look up, not until the sedatives wore off enough for Genji to be awake and lucid. Then it padded in to rest its head on the cot with a chuff, and Genji placed a hand on its brow, before addressing the rest of his teammates with a sheepish grin, "Guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?"

In the following commotion of hugs and tears, the dragon slipped away, darting out the door before anyone could recognize its absence. It was when it was struggling to find an exit, an escape, that a calm and stern voice asked, "Do you plan to shackle your brother to you for the rest of your life?"

The dragon whipped around, its hackles raised, to see the old Egyptian woman, the sniper with the silvery braid and the Eye of Horus tattooed around her eye. She was looking, not at the creature, but at the man within, and the man shrank from her gaze. He did not want to be seen.

Eventually, she gave a weary sigh, and pointed him in the direction of the main exit, the one closest to the cliff that overlooked the beach below. And since the exit was automated, as the majority of the base's security was devoted to keeping people from places where they shouldn't be and not preventing them from leaving, it was simple enough for the dragon to wait for the metal doors to slide open and pad outside onto the dirt.

The sun was out and hanging in the sky, yet the dragon could feel a chill as its claws dug into the cool soil, and wisps of steam billowed from its nostrils.

Behind it, the doors opened with a whoosh as a second body exited the base with a casual swagger, "Little cold for stroll, don't ya think?"

A low warning growl welcomed the cowboy's approach. McCree paused in his steps, scratching his beard thoughtfully. "Look, Han, I don't know what the problem is, but Genji's worried about ya. Why don't ya come back inside and we can talk about it?" There was no sign that the dragon had even heard him, let alone understood, yet McCree had spent enough time with the Shimadas to know that wasn't the case. He reached out to grasp the creature by its shoulder, only to pull back with a yelp when Hanzo whipped around so fast he nearly took his hand off.

In place of the warm brown eyes that had always seemed so intelligent and fond, McCree could now see pupils thinned and cut into slits, with fear and fury and no trace of recognition to be found.

That night, when Genji slept, Hanzo remained a dragon.

"What did your draught do, Amari? He won't turn back!"

When Genji found her waiting for him once more outside the kitchen, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to curse her or get on his knees to start begging for a cure. Perhaps it was not befitting of a Shimada scion to entertain the idea of pleading, but frankly he couldn't have cared less about what was and wasn't appropriate. He'd gone to Amari for help, and now Hanzo was even more lost to him than he'd been before.

Placing a gloved hand on his shoulder, she told him as gently as she could, "That is because he refuses to. It was his choice to remain in that form, and if he ever wishes to become a man again, he must let go of the guilt that is trapping him within it." Increasing the strength of her grip to give a firm and comforting squeeze, she finished,"He must want to be free of it, Genji, and that is not something you or I can force."

Averting his gaze as fatigue swept over him, Genji muttered quietly, "I should not have gone to you. It wasn't perfect before, but… it was better than this."

"Seeking my aid merely accelerated a process which was already underway." She patted his shoulder before moving to drift away, leaving him to stand alone. "Give it time, and you shall see what the future holds."

After a time, Genji found the strength to return to his quarters. He sat on his bed with his knees pressed against his chest and Hanzo curled up at his side, unaware of the sun sinking below the horizon until the door slid open and McCree strode in with a bottle of sake in one hand and whiskey in the grip of his prosthetic. Genji regarded him blearily, "What are you doing here, McCree?"

"What can I say?" With an insouciant shrug, the cowboy winked and poured a glass of rice wine. "Suppose I'm just a creature of habit."

They shared the drinks in silence in the time, the alcohol creating a pleasant warmth in Genji's stomach, and McCree waited, not bothering to fill it because that wasn't what the ninja needed right now.

"Do you know what it's like to have a sibling, Jesse?"

McCree up to meet Genji's glassy and earnest gaze, and said, "Can't say that I do, Shimada."

Settling back against his pillow with a sigh, Genji raised his glass of whiskey to the window, as though to see the stars through the amber. Pinpricks of light swirled, and he swallowed hard, his eyes stinging, "It is like… being born into this world with a best friend." No, that wasn't quite right. "Growing up I had a tendency to flit about like a restless sparrow, never satisfied with being still, but my brother and my father, they were my home, my very own place to return to." Expression darkening into a scowl, he continued, "It was never Shimada Castle or Hanamura. I realized that after we ran, because even though I missed my friends and, to be honest," a huff of subdued laughter slipped past his lips, "my bed, I did not miss my home." And he ran his hand over the dragon's back, unaware of the tears spilling down his cheeks as he smiled sadly, "How could I when I had brought it with me?"

Unable to stand it, McCree reached for the shuddering ninja and pulled him in for a hug. Genji's eyes widened in surprise, then he relaxed, choking on a sob, "I cannot lose him, McCree. I just can't… I…"

And McCree stayed until he cried himself dry, then stuck around a while longer, until the ninja was asleep, curled up on the bed like a child with his hand resting on Hanzo's back. As he rose to leave, McCree regarded the dragon with a long and measuring look, "Han, if there is anything you can do to fix this…" He cut himself off, pulling the brim of his hat down to obscure his features. "No, of course there isn't. What was I thinking?" Then he left without any word, and faster than he'd entered.

When Genji woke the next morning, the spot beneath where his hand had lain was bare, and the mattress beside him was cold.

They found Hanzo in the forest after a search that lasted several hours and involved every member of Overwatch. The dragon was only semi-conscious, having succumbed to hypothermia at some point during the night, and they raced him to the clinic, where Angela had a warm bath drawn and waiting for the creature. By the time McCree and Genji lowered Hanzo into the bath, he'd been unresponsive and still for several minutes. While most of the others departed, Genji did not leave. He did the best he could to rub warmth back into the dragon's limbs, to coax a response out of him, but was eventually forced to join the others after the second time Mercy pressed her fingers against the dragon's neck to search for a pulse.

Later on, when Angela stepped out of the clinic with her head hung low and her fists clenched at her sides, Genji didn't stick around to hear what she had to say. He already knew. And he turned around and ran, tearing down the hallways like a fox outrunning a hunt, determined to escape, and then he burst through the exit doors to gulp down fresh, cool air.

A crash of waves attracted his attention, and he strode cautiously to the edge of the bluff. All at once, the rage and grief within him swelled. "You absolute fool!" He roared above the surf. "How dare you leave me here? Did you really think this would make me happy, anija?" After everything they'd been through together, after everything they'd survived, for it to end like this, with Hanzo dying alone in the woods while he slept in his bed. He couldn't accept it. He wouldn't. With a great shudder that tore violently through his body, Genji raised his head and screamed with his whole heart, "I am never going to forgive you for this, do you understand? You took my home away from me!"

"I missed you, too, little brother."

Slowly, the tears still spilling from his eyes, Genji turned to see Hanzo staring back at him, looking awkward and unsure in the scarlet serape wrapped around his shoulders.

He tried to speak again, only to be cut off by a wordless cry when Genji threw himself at him, tackling him into the dirt.