Almost as soon as Gabriel returned, Hanzo found the entire unit become more tense. People were scared of the man, hell even he was weary. He could go from innocent and doting boyfriend to a murderous being in the space of seconds, it was terrifying to see. Even Jack was becoming scared as it went further and further. And on yet another of their evening shifts, he finally opened up.

"He's not right in the head anymore. I don't know what happened to him, who did what to him, but he's not Gabe anymore."

"You cower from the man, when only mere weeks ago you were willing to take a bullet for him. It is evident that he is no longer Gabe, so why not just explain why it will not work?"

"He'd kill me. If he doesn't get his way, he kills whatever stands in his way. Don't have a doubt that he'd take me down if I didn't do what he wants. He wasn't joking, he has killed so many men from both sides that he seems to deserve the name Reaper."

"And that is why I hope we win this war. So you can have him back, instead of just a deranged killer in his body."

"It was less painful when he was further away. When I didn't have to see him. He shot a kid, right in front of me. Said he hated them and put a bullet through her head. I haven't cried out here, or at least I hadn't till I saw him do that."

The words hung in the air, and for a second Hanzo could've sworn the world stopped right then and there. The war evidently was going further than he thought, and he was relatively concerned for Jack. He wouldn't deny the fact that he'd love to kill Gabriel, if not for the fact that he was completely destroying Jack, for the fact he was jeopardizing so much. They simply couldn't afford to lose the battle, lose the war that had been going on for years upon years now.

"I can't stop loving him, no matter how much I want to. He still does things, things I miss so much. He tells me its going to be ok, but I can't believe him."

Jack whispered, and Hanzo placed a hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

"If we manage to blow up these last few bases, they will end this. They will not be able to continue if we succeed. Is there a way we can bring the strikes forward?"

"Only if we avoid securing the second point. We could force them to surrender by next week if we do that."

"Then we do that. We finish this once and for all and prevent any more deaths, whilst also freeing you from him. You can disappear easily, he cannot stop you from doing that."

Silence filled the air, and he let out a long sigh. He could only hope that he was right, and that nothing else was going to happen. Quietly, Jack retired to his quarters, Hanzo following quietly behind. The next morning was bound to be interesting, especially with the new plans.

The battlefield was oddly quiet the next morning. Hanzo hadn't heard a single explosion, only the odd yell of pain. Jack hadn't been around all morning, and the tension could easily be cut with a knife. That was of course, until he was summoned under the orders 'distract as many on the ground as you can, and don't get killed'. It seemed simple, but as soon as he headed out he heard the bullets fly past him, narrowly missing his head.

Arrows soared through the air soon after, men falling left and right as he stealthily moved past their defences. His legs never faltered, the agility they helped enhance causing him to climb walls as if he were superhuman. The bodies littered the floor. Some would call him a killer, but if they fired first it was warranted. Jumping softly to the ground, he spotted another group of men. They noticed him, and of course turned to him before beginning to pursue him. Firing a scatter arrow into the hearts of one of them, he crumpled to the ground. Looking down, he spotted a part of his leg had been blown apart. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped his hands around it and began to crawl away.

Around a corner, he began to work on putting it back on. The metal that was stabbing into his flesh was painful, but it would take more than that to stop him from completing his mission. Continuing onwards, albeit far less gracefully his arrows landed. Heavy footsteps echoed behind him, and though nobody appeared to be behind him he let a single thought pass through his head.

It takes more than that to fool a dragon.

Darting through the shadows, hand poised over the sheath that he had since strung lazily over his back he followed the sound quiet as could be. Hearing another movement, he loaded his bow and fired it in one swift movement. The arrow swung through the air and he heard a yell of pain, one he could only recall from his early days in the base. They had a traitor, and it sent a shiver down his spine to imagine who it could be though deep down he wasn't surprised.

"Show yourself!"

He yelled, his voice unfaltering as he lowered his bow slightly. More footsteps, more whispers, more... gun. Feeling a gun press against his head, he froze in place and his grip loosened on his bow. It rested gently on his fingertips as he felt an arm against his throat. He began to gasp for breath, he couldn't bring himself to move an inch to free himself. But as the man's other hand began to move gently across to his arm, right across the dragons that stirred beneath his skin.

Only someone that knew about how sensitive he was to being touched there would know what to do, and he sure as hell hadn't paraded it around. Only a few people knew, only one of them was on the field. And that's when he felt a lump form in his throat. But it couldn't be him, could it?

Bow clutched tight between both hands, he shoved the other man to the ground with it. Fury filled his eyes, he kicked the guns and pulled back the bowstring yet again. He could only see the silhouette of the man.

"Kill me... we all die."

Came a distorted, quiet voice. It seemed sadistic, he could hear the pleasure he was getting from it. He couldn't recognise the voice; it was just too distorted for him to tell. It was as though he wasn't afraid, scared of what he had to lose. Maybe he had nothing, maybe it was an empty threat. As the arrow left his bow, he dove back behind cover. Hearing a series of faint explosions from further away, he kept running until he collapsed to the ground. But the attempt proved to be futile.

Red.

Red.

Black.

Jack?

The familiar sound of a drill came out of the workshop, Jesse hard at work yet again. The numb that came with Hanzo's departure wasn't unwelcome, however he just had to wait. Waiting was painful, but every evening spent alone brought him closer to him in his eyes. His nights were sleepless, just as they always had been. He found pleasure in helping people to walk again, in fact mere days ago he had helped to craft a substitute arm for a young girl. Even going as far as to give it pink accents, he couldn't quite get over the smile on the girls face as Angela presented it to her. She'd lost everything beside a ragged bear that she'd not let go since the day she arrived. He understood, making sure to pull aside Athena to make sure it wasn't going to be confiscated. Reluctantly she'd agreed, and he left with a smug grin.

Heading out to get himself some food from the mess hall, he spotted a grainy video playing on one of the old televisions hooked onto the wall sloppily. It showed explosion after explosion going off, they believed the omnics were trying to wipe out the units one by one. The largest one, unit 24, was the one they had decided to target. Hundreds of victims, hundreds wounded, bodies lined the ground. With only a muffled sigh, he continued on.

Grabbing whatever happened to be in front of him, he found himself sat at a table with a few of the younger soldiers. They were all extremely spunky in comparison to the majority of the others, it gave him a new lease of life almost.

Lucio was the first to speak, his voice enthusiastic even with the topic at hand.

"Yo Eastwood, you hear about those bombs go off in those trenches and stuff?"

"Didn't know they went off in the trenches, where did ya hear that?"

"It's everywhere Jesse, why haven't you heard about it?"

Joked Hana, earning a poke in the side from Lucio. It was sweet, a fond smile rested on his face. Maybe this was what parenthood was like, if your kid didn't sneak off and join a gang at twelve of course. He still beat himself up about it, but it was far less tender than it used to be. Watching as Lena and Amelie rested against each other, he felt a small pang of hurt run through his chest. He just wanted to be able to hold Hanzo like that again.

"Didn't ya boyfriend used to be in that unit Jess?"

Lena asked, concern in her voice. Zoning out for a few seconds, he tried to remember. At this stage, he'd virtually memorised all the letters he'd ever received from him, so it didn't take long to confirm it. His chest tightened, and with a small nod, it was left at that.

Excusing himself as soon as he could, he wound up in the workshop before anyone could stop him. Pulling out the old radio in the corner, he hesitantly turned it on and began to fumble with the dials as any old man would. Soon enough, static turned to voices, and in turn voices turned to nightmares.

"So far, how many are estimated to be dead?"

"Around five-hundred. The injured are anywhere from two-hundred onwards. That's just from unit twenty-four. It ended up hitting unit seven, and unit twenty-one too."

"Were they hit as badly, or are they expected to recover fully?"

"Hopefully so. However, they are retaliating. I can confirm that there are explosions coming from all five of the bases that the omnic's are residing in."

That was enough for Jesse, and he began to tune out the words that had once filled his ears. Humming a quiet tune under his breath, he soon enough got back to work. It was the best he could do, the best he could offer in the war he was certain would destroy him.

The words echoed in his head for the rest of the night, and when sleep finally overwhelmed him, it was hardly steady, filled only with nightmares of a world without Hanzo Shimada.