Hey, everyone! I'm Ravenclaw'sHeir2020, and I decided to try my hand at an Overwatch story! Nothing too huge, but I figured it might help me in my writing slump I've been in lately :P. So before I start this out I want everyone to know that this story will have some dark themes, either them happening or them being discussed or a flashback to them happening. Ranging from physical, mental, and sexual abuse, to self-harm, to suicidal thoughts or actions. I'll put warnings in bold or italics for when there are chapters with these themes. I'll also put them before and after the discussions or flashbacks or events.

Also don't take the abusive actions as how I think humans should be treated. I think all of us are human and should be treated equally and with respect.


LET THE FANFICTION-ING BEGIN!

A young boy ran down the streets of Dorado, young woman hot on his heels. She held her arms out and snatched him off the ground and held him close to her.

"Alex!" he whined as she gave him a noogie. "Stoooop!"

Alex, the boy's aunt laughed and set him down, fixing his hair for him. "I gotta hand it to ya, kiddo, you're a lot faster than you were when I last saw you. I missed this."

The boy grinned widely, "I missed it too, Alex!"

The boy was visiting his aunt in Dorado with his mother. His aunt decided to show her nephew around the city before the three traveled back home to in order to escape from the oncoming Omnic forces. They would leave in a week's time.

His mother had run to the market to get something for dinner while Cassie showed him around.

Suddenly a loud CLANG! was heard by the two and the boy quickly grabbed his aunt's waist. "Alex…? What was that…?"

"I don't know, sobrino. Stay behind me." She moved forward slowly, the boy staying back but clutching her hand tightly.

Suddenly a man came out of an alley, holding an Omnic citizen by his neck and threw him to the ground.

Alex shoved the boy behind her back as he shrieked. "Shh, it's okay, sobrino, he's not a War Omnic. He can't hurt you."

"But why's that man hitting him! He did nothing wrong!" The boy ran out and stood between the man and the omnic. "Leave him alone!"

"You don't know what you're on about, kid! It's his fault this started! Him and the rest of those walking tin cans!"

The boy looked behind him and say that two of the Omnic's five photoreceptor eyes were broken and the left side of his head had a large dent in it. His gaze hardened as he stood his ground, looking the man in the eyes. "He didn't do anything. He's not a Bastion, he's just a normal Omnic."

The man looked past the boy and at the Omnic he'd begun to beat. The robot sat there pitifully, watching the two with growing fear and anticipation. Sparks flew from exposed wire on his chest. Dirt covered his head and arms. The man looked at the boy again and saw the steely look in the young boys eyes and realized that a small crowd had begun to form. The man looked down at the ground in shame.

"You're right, chico…" He looked at the Omnic. "Lo siento, amigo. Por favor perdóname…" (I'm sorry, friend. Please forgive me.)

"Te perdono, amigo," (You're forgiven, friend) the Omnic responded, relieved. He looked at the boy who may have just saved his life. "Gracias, chico."

"Uhh…" The boy didn't know ,much Spanish, but he knew that that meant 'thank you.' "?Sí?"

The Omnic chuckled, as did the man, who walked over and helped the Omnic up. "What's your name, kid?"

The boy looked to his aunt questioningly. She looked at the man calculatingly before nodding to the boy. "I'm Rory, sir."

The man looked over to Alex. "This boy yours, Al?"

"My sister's," she responded.

"Well, pleased to make your acquaintance, Rory."

"You too. Mister," the boy said with a bright smile. He then looked to the Omnic in concern. "Will you be okay?"

The man repeated the question to the Omnic who responded with a simple, "Sí, chico."

"Er… bíen…"

The two walked off and the crowd dissipated slowly, many giving the boy awed looks on their way away from the scene. His aunt walked up slowly and crouched down, smiling up to the boy. "Ya know, I don't know how you hold such a big heart in that tiny little nine-year-old body, Rory."

"What do you mean?"

"You could've just sat by and let that man hurt that Omnic, but you saw that he was innocent and protected him. Maybe when you're older you can protect people like those heroes in the holovids you love to watch, hm?" She put her hand on his chest, indicating the Green Lantern logo on his shirt.

Rory looked down at the logo and thought about all of the ways the Marvel and DC heroes protected innocent people from the bad guys. Recently DC had even introduced a storyline featuring an Omnic Green Lantern fighting the War Omnics such as Bastions.

"He didn't deserve it."

Alex smiled warmly at him. "And you recognized that and couldn't stand by and watch. That's what I mean when I say you have a big heart."

Rory pondered that for a moment. "Huh. Okay," he replied with a bright smile.

Alex laughed at the simple response. "Big heart, little brain," she said, grabbing him and giving him another noogie.

A young girl walked over and laughed at the sight. "Hola, Ally!" she said brightly between giggles.

Alex let go of Rory and smiled at the girl, "Hola, Sombra."

Rory looked up at his aunt curiously before looking at the girl. "Is that actually your name? Sombra?"

The girl giggled. "No, Ally just calls me that."

"Why?"

"'Sombra' means 'shadow'," his aunt told him. "She's a very quiet girl and is always trying to hide away. Unless I'm around, then it's just talk, talk, talk," she teased. "She thinks it works but no amount of hiding can prevent people from noticing such a beautiful girl."

The girl blushed and smiled. "Gracias, Ally." She turned to Rory. "You can call me Sombra, too, if you want."

Rory smiled. "Okay, Sombra!"

The girl smiled before blushing and looking embarrassed. "Um… who is this, Ally?"

"This is my nephew, Rory," his aunt told her.

The girl held out her hand, which the boy took and shook. "It's nice to meet you, Rory!"

"And you, too, Sombra!"

-Line Break-

It had been five days since then and Rory and Sombra became fast friends. Sombra's parents were very kind and were generous enough to invite Rory, Alex, and Rory's mother, Lena, over for dinner that night. The four adults sat in the living room as the kids were upstairs talking about Marvel and DC.

Sombra had also shown him her skill with technology and showed him her hacking equipment that she was working on. Her father was a White Hat Hacker and she wanted to help him do his job. The tech was far beyond anything that hackers used, and Sombra revealed her intentions to be a White Hat Hacker like her father. And she was good, no doubt about.

"She may even be better than I am, and I'm their number one hacker," her father, Jaime, told Lena. "What is Rory looking to do?"

Lena and Alex looked at each other, smiling. "He wants to grow up and join Overwatch. Most kids do nowadays though, don't they? He has a big heart and wants to help people, and he loves those superhero holovids, so joining Overwatch is his aim."

Sombra's parents smiled. "Do you think he could do it?" her mother, Maria, asked.

"I honestly don't know. He has the heart for it, but I don't know if he could take the pain of losing a teammate and friend in battle like that. When he's set on doing something, it's hard to change his mind. And just a few days ago he showed that he's willing to put himself in harm's way to protect the innocent, Omnic and human alike."

Alex chuckled. "I'm, assuming Sombra told you about what happened?"

Jaime chuckled. "Unfortunate that we couldn't have been there."

Lena laughed as well. "I wasn't either. To think I missed my son being the hero he dreams of becoming."

Sombra ran into the room with Rory hot on her heels.

"?Mamá! ?Ayúdenme! (Help!) That Bastion is chasing me!"

"Beep boop beep boop," Rory said, trying not to laugh. "Buh buh do bah do bah!"

The adults and children laughed at the two's game. "Look out, an entire legion of them is coming!" Alex exclaimed, grabbing Sombra and running around the room, Rory and Lena chasing after them.

Their fun was interrupted by a loud siren going off. The two children looked at the adults in fear, having heard those sirens on the news multiple times when their parents told them to leave the room.

"?Mamá? That's not what I think it is… is it?"

"Mom…? Alex...?"

The adults all looked at each other in the same look Sombra and Rory saw on each other's faces.

Pure, unadulterated horror and terror.

Jaime grabbed Sombra and Lena grabbed Rory, Maria and Alex hot on their heels as they ran to the basement. Jaime put Sombra down and spoke in Spanish to Maria and Alex, Sombra listening closely to what he said.

"No, Papá! You can't go out there!"

Jaime grimaced and approached his little girl. "Mija. (My daughter) My gorgeous sombra. I have to make sure other people are safe. That's what I do. But I can't go out there unless I know you're safe."

"Take me with you, Papá! ?Por favor, te quiero tanto!" (Please, I love you so much!)

"Te quiero tanto, Mija. Eres mi sol, mi vida, mi cielo."

"?NO, PAP?!" Maria grabbed Sombra and held onto her as Jaime ran outside to go be a hero.

That was the last time mother and daughter would see their husband and father alive. His funeral was closed casket. The Bastion turrets tore through him like tissue paper. No one could have identified him if not for the wallet in his pocket. Sombra had one last picture to remember him by at the end of the Omnic Crisis: A bloody picture of the three of them sitting on the beach, dated May 5th. A flash forward in time would show Rory, Sombra, and Alex in a church for the funeral.

The five sat in silence for a long while They entered the basement at 7:53 PM, and it was now 3:27 AM. Maria was holding her hands over Sombra's ears while Lena did the same for Rory to try and drown out the gunfire and screams.

Years later those screams would still haunt the dreams of the two children.

Maria took her hand from Sombra's ears when the gunfire had died down. "Sombra, I'll be back soon, okay, Mija? I'm going to see if it's safe for us to leave."

"Where's Papá?"

"He's probably hiding with another family. I'm sure he's safe." Maria didn't believe that for a minute. He promised he'd make his way back or die trying. It had likely been the latter.

And she was right. What she wouldn't have given in that moment to be wrong, but she was right.

Maria gave a Alex a look. The two had studied sign language to be able to speak to a deaf member of their community. Maria used that skill to sign to Alex. "If I don't come back, take care of my daughter."

Alex simply nodded and signed. "Of course. Be careful, my friend."

"This may be goodbye, but I pray it isn't."

"So do I."

"Te quiero tanto, Mija. Eres mi sol, mi vida, mi cielo," she told her daughter.

"Te quiero tanto, Mamá."

The woman left the basement. Again, the daughter would lose a parent. The poor child lost both her parents in the same night. No one would ever discover, but they were slaughtered by the exact same Bastion unit.

Fate was cruel to that poor girl that night. A flash forward would show a second casket, also closed. The significance of that picture left in her father's pocket grew in the moment that Maria stepped foot out of that basement.

But at least the poor girl didn't lose her mother by having her bleed out in her arms. Unlike the poor boy who sat beside Sombra trying to cheer her up and tell her that everything would be okay. He was deluded enough to believe that all six would survive the night.

That poor, foolish boy…

The four sat for another few hours. 5:54 AM. Rory was the only one who held out hope of Maria or Jaime returning. Sombra knew it wouldn't be likely. Alex told Lena what Maria asked of her, and Alex had a new steely determination to protect the little sombra.

Lena and Alex stood. "You two stay here. We'll be back. Don't come up until we've come to get you."

"Please come back. Don't end up like Mamá and Papá."

"They'll come back with your mom and dad, Sombra. Right, Mom?"

Lena looked at Rory sadly. "We'll try."

"See?" Rory said trying to cheer his friend up. Although he too was losing hope for their survival.

The two sat alone for what felt like hours. And indeed it was.

7:53 AM. Twelve hours in that cursed basement.

Sombra had laid down with her head in Rory's lap and cried to herself before falling asleep. Rory did his best to stay awake and keep watch over her.

He looked down at the girl and really looked at her. He may have only been nine, almost ten, but he could see a gorgeous young girl in his lap. He knew she'd grow to be beautiful when she was older. He stroked her hair to try and calm her as she tossed and turned in his lap.

He was about to start dozing off when hurried footsteps pounded on the stairs. Not mechanical he realized and lightly shook Sombra as Alex reached them, bloody and dusty, but majorly unscathed.

"... Alex…?" Sombra asked blearily.

"Where's Mom?" Rory asked.

Alex grabbed the hands of the children and rushed up the stairs and out of the house. Blood, rubble, dust, and beaten Bastions covered the streets of Dorado. Omnics and humans alike cried in each other's arms over lost loved ones, cleaned the streets up and tried to clear rubble, and searched for any and all survivors.

Alex ran by them all and led the children to an alleyway where a woman sat against the wall, dirty, beaten, and bloody. A particularly nasty gash had blood oozing from her head.

They approached slowly and Rory noticed the metal pole poking out of the woman's stomach. Instantly tears welled up in his eyes as he fell to his knees beside his mother, clutching her sleeve.

"Mom… p-please… we gotta get you up… w-w-we… we can find a doctor… please… please, Mom…"

"My beautiful boy… my handsome, handsome young man. Your father would be so so proud of you, my baby. You've grown into a respectful, caring young man, and you're only nine…" She laughed dryly before wincing in pain.

"Don't-don't do that. This isn't goodbye… you'll be f-fine, Mom."

"I love you, Rory. My beautiful boy. I love you so much. You move past this okay? You live your life…" She looked at Alex. "You'll look after him, won't you?"

"Of course. I love you, Lena."

"And I love you, Alex." She glanced at Sombra and then addressed Rory again. "You take care of Sombra, okay?"

Rory nodded. "Yes, Mom."

"Sombra?" The girl looked at the woman curiously and sadly. "Take this." She held out her hand with a bloody piece of paper. Dated May 5th. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

Sombra teared up and thanked the woman.

"Rory… I… I love you, baby. So… so much…"

"I love you, too, Mom…"

Lena smiled at him before letting out her last breath, her head going limp. Alex walked over and closed her eyes.

One last flash forward would show the three in a separate church, and open casket showing Lena in a beautiful black dress. Rory cried quietly as Sombra sat beside him, holding his hand tightly, as he did for her in that basement.

-Line Break-

Sombra smirked. "Point, Sombra."

It had been seven years since that fateful night. Both children were now sixteen years old. The three went back to Dorado a few months after the incident to help the rebuilding efforts. Overwatch had ended the Omnic Crisis and were global heroes. Sombra's accent was as thick as ever, and even Rory was sporting quite the accent himself.

Alex was married to a nice man named Pedro. He was respectful and respectable and treated Alex well. She was five months pregnant. She hoped it was a girl and the two agreed that if it was, they'd name her Alejandra. They left Lena for when Rory had a daughter.

The two were inside preparing dinner while Rory and Sombra were playing a video game.

"Oh, come on, you cheated! You goddamn hacker!"

"Language, Rory!" A pause. "FUCKING SON OF A BITCH GODDAMMIT FUCK!"

The teens roared with laughter. "Language, Alex!" Rory shouted.

"Boy, I will come over there and slap your face!" she shouted jokingly.

"No, ya won't!"

"Try me, chico!"

He blew a raspberry at her.

"Oh, real mature!"

"NANA NANA NA NA! Ow!"

"Thanks, Sombra!"

"No problem, Al!"

The teens went out to the backyard and Sombra recounted her latest hacking adventures. She had recently discovered that information is power and people were just as easily manipulated as the tech she hacked. She had been noticed and recruited by Los Muertos to hack for them, much to the dismay of Rory.

"They're willing to pay handsomely, Rory."

"Alex already makes plenty to take care of the three of us."

"I don't want to be a burden."

"We've been over this, Sombra."

"But think of how this could go in our favor, Rory!"

"Los Muertos have already proved to be a gang that doesn't exactly mind breaking the law."

"What do you think I do when I hack the governments and corporations of the world?"

"At least you aren't gangbanging."

"What?!"

"Not the rape kind, you dingleberry."

"You scared the shit out of me there, Rory."

"Sombra this is a very bad idea…"

"Oh come on, just trust me. Please?"

He had melted as soon as she flashed the puppy-dog eyes.

"I'm gonna regret this…"

"Haha! Yes!"

She had hugged him afterwards, and that was when he realized he was sporting a bit of a crush on his Mexican best friend.

-Line Break-

Three years later

"It's a huge conspiracy, Rory! I can't just leave it alone!"

"Sombra, please don't get caught in the middle of this!"

"I have to, Ror. I'm sorry. This needs to be uncovered."

-Line Break-

Three months later

"If this wasn't so serious I'd say I told you so. Because I FUCKING DID!"

"Rory, I…"

"Sombra, goddammit, why didn't you listen…?"

"I… I'm sorry… That's all I can think to say… You know I have to go now…"

"I know… just… I'll help you erase yourself… I…"

"Come with me."

"I can't leave Alex and Alejandra. With Pedro gone, they need me."

"I… I'm sorry, I know… Tell them everything. Tell them I said goodbye."

"I will… Adios, amiga."

"Eres mi sol, mi vida, mi cielo."

"What? I don't know what that means."

"You'll learn eventually. Adios, amigo."


And there's chapter one done! I hope you guys enjoyed it, because I had fun writing it! Poor Sombra and Rory, huh?

And the Lena thing wasn't a coincidence. Tracer is gonna play a significant role in this story as well, so.

And that Alejandra tease? Yeah, the short will pop up in this story, and Rory will meet 76.

Okay, well that's gonna do it for this one guys! Let me know what you thought! What you liked, what you hated, constructive criticism always welcome!

See you guys in the next one!

~Ravenclaw'sHeir2020