ribbons-halos replied to your post “La Oscuridad Te Espera” (Chapter 6) - Sombra/McCree”
Oh I love how McCree is so soft and caring with Sombra in this part. Of course he’s a little freaked out and definitely feeling a little protective over her, and it shows. Sombra’s a tough girl but she’s finally seeing she doesn’t have to fight alone! Ahhh, I can’t wait to see more of Hanzo and Genji figuring their mess out and maybe even more mentions of his angel. Loved it!
ahhhh so glad you read and enjoyed it, thank you!!! <333
Yeah, the previous chapter was really intense for both of them, so now that they’re both coming down from that, neither is reacting as confidently as they’d like. I think after everything that happened, it’s hard for Sombra to keep up her tough shell, especially when she’s just seen McCree look all the crazy demon shit in the face right alongside her.
Hanzo and Genji are so... complicated, lol. I thought I’d dig into that a bit more in this chapter but it became more about giving Jesse and Sombra that space. and Mercy has been hovering in the background of this whole thing the entire time, so I’m excited for the next chapter!!!!!
Summary: Sombra’s far into her pregnancy with the twins, and needs some care from McCree.
Tags: Fluff. Pregnancy.
Warnings: None.
A/N: Please forgive any mistakes as I wrote this very late at night when I’m already struggling to keep my eyes open. But, hey, when that muses hits I gotta answer. This was partly inspired by Ana and Magdala’s birthday being July 3rd, which is soonish? I suppose? Also, I’ve been craving fluff with one of my fave pairings. Enjoy!
Sombra lifts one foot onto the steps, then another. Up the stairs, she loses breath as Noé tugs on her hand. His little legs are faster than hers at the moment, but he waits for her to reach the top. It’s a short flight, but her large belly begs to differ.
“La Oscuridad Te Espera” (Chapter 6) - Sombra/McCree
The sadness on Genji’s face as he settles back into his kneeling position makes Sombra turn away again, towards Jesse. She feels shaky and out-of-sorts, the way she always does after an exorcism, but the act of destroying a demon soul after allowing it to briefly possess her has left her completely tapped out.
(a/n: lol I’m done trying to guarantee how long this is gonna be. sorry for the wait! there will be another after this one, folks <3)
Sounds are strange and muffled in Sombra’s ears, as though she’s underwater. She’s suspended in the air… No, she’s being carried. Her boots sway as she gently bounces along in someone’s arms. Something both soft and scratchy grazes across her forehead. A beard.
She smells cigars and woodsmoke. Jesse.
Sombra tries to rouse herself further, but exhaustion overtakes her. Her eyes open for the briefest moment to the dark streets of Hanamura before she slips away again.
“La Oscuridad Te Espera” (Chapter 6) - Sombra/McCree
The sadness on Genji’s face as he settles back into his kneeling position makes Sombra turn away again, towards Jesse. She feels shaky and out-of-sorts, the way she always does after an exorcism, but the act of destroying a demon soul after allowing it to briefly possess her has left her completely tapped out.
(a/n: lol I’m done trying to guarantee how long this is gonna be. sorry for the wait! there will be another after this one, folks <3)
Sounds are strange and muffled in Sombra’s ears, as though she’s underwater. She’s suspended in the air… No, she’s being carried. Her boots sway as she gently bounces along in someone’s arms. Something both soft and scratchy grazes across her forehead. A beard.
She smells cigars and woodsmoke. Jesse.
Sombra tries to rouse herself further, but exhaustion overtakes her. Her eyes open for the briefest moment to the dark streets of Hanamura before she slips away again.
*
“Sombra? Darlin’, can you…”
It’s Jesse again. She turns her face towards his voice. He’s speaking so softly. His metal-fire hand cradles her cheek.
“...make you comfortable. Just your gloves, boots, and jacket, if that’s alright?”
She presses into his warm touch and nods. Jesse’s distraught-looking face fills her vision when she finally manages to open her eyes.
“Hey there. Okay. I gotcha. I’ll...”
Her body is completely drained. Her mind is sluggish. Jesse’s voice becomes muffled again as she falls asleep.
*
Sombra wakes with a start this time as Hanzo sits bolt upright next to her on the bed. She looks up at him wearily and meets his dark brown eyes. They are so similar to his younger brother’s, but harder, somehow. He stares back at her for a moment, gasping for breath, then gets on his knees and presses his face to the mattress. He’s shaking.
Genji immediately rushes over to him and places a hand on his back. “Hey. You are safe now. This is Sombra and McCree, they helped us.”
Hanzo covers his face with both hands and stays there.
“Sombra?”
She looks up at Jesse, who stands next to the bed, running a hand through his hair. He’s down to his pants and black undershirt. He gives her a relieved little smile and squeezes her shoulder.
“How you feeling?”
Sombra looks back at Genji and Hanzo. Genji has dropped to his knees and now sits on his heels, watching Hanzo collect himself with his head resting on top of his folded arms on the bed. He almost looks like a little boy this way, looking up at his older brother with such wary hope.
“It is over, Hanzo,” he whispers. “The oni is gone.”
Hanzo mirrors Genji and rests his head on his forearms, only he looks over at Sombra instead and fixes her with a dark, heavy stare. “You are not oni. You are something different.”
She nods.
Genji puts a hand on Hanzo’s arm, but Hanzo flinches away from him. The sadness on Genji’s face as he settles back into his kneeling position makes Sombra turn away again, towards Jesse. She feels shaky and out-of-sorts, the way she always does after an exorcism, but the act of destroying a demon soul after allowing it to briefly possess her has left her completely tapped out.
“Darlin’... you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Jesse takes both of Sombra’s hands and pulls her up to stand, but she falters and tilts forward into his chest. “Fine, huh?”
She pushes him backwards, walking them away from the bed and towards her bag by the window. She can feel Hanzo and Genji’s tension behind her.
“Hanzo, you heard what I said. I forgive you. Now is not the time for self-pity. That is how that monster took hold of you.”
“Are you still human?” Hanzo asks, eyeing Genji’s mismatched body parts. Genji is still fully covered in his black hooded clothing, but one of his hands doesn’t quite match the other, and neither do his feet. An odd seam in the side of his neck betrays further patchwork under his clothes. These are the parts Sombra forgot when she first met him, the parts that (through her own error) nearly got Jesse killed.
Sombra can’t believe that was only twenty-four hours ago. She has learned so much that her mind, body, and soul have begun to ache with it.
Genji stands and flexes his newer arm thoughtfully. “I am still alive, despite your efforts, and that is what matters. I have made peace with what I am, with what has happened, and I am stronger for it. The same cannot be said for you.”
Hanzo frowns at Genji’s frank assessment. “How did you survive?”
“My angel could answer that question better than I can. She is a healer, and a witch, like Sombra. She also sent McCree to help us.” Genji tilts his head and deadpans, “She may curse you the moment she lays eyes on you, if you ever meet her, but that is a chance I am willing to take.”
Hanzo scoffs. His mood leaves no room for Genji’s attempt at humor. “And you claim to forgive?”
“I do forgive you, Hanzo. But I do not have to forget. Now, will you come with me and eat? Ichika’s light is still on downstairs. I told her we were going back for you tonight.”
Hanzo shakes his head and scoots back against the headboard, tucking himself cross-legged into the corner of the bed. “I need time to… reflect.”
“Then I will bring it to you. Sombra? McCree?”
Sombra still trembles minutely, though she fights to control it when Jesse wraps his arms around her. Only the feel of her body against him would give him any indication of the extent of her discomfort, and he is certainly paying close attention.
Jesse’s voice rumbles against her cheek. “We’d appreciate it, Genji, thank you. Wouldn’t mind somethin’ heavier than miso, either, if you can get it.” He runs a hand over Sombra’s hair as he makes his request. It makes her feel small in his arms.
She hears the door close behind her as Genji departs for the pub. The moment he does so, Hanzo lets out the deepest sigh she’s ever heard and starts shifting around on the bed.
“Thank you for everything you have done. I do not understand what you did, but I owe you my life.”
“You do,” Sombra replies. Her voice is scratchy, reminiscent of the sounds the demon made through her lips, and it makes her shudder involuntarily. She shuts her mouth and pushes away from Jesse to dig around in her bag.
“You felt it. You know what that creature was, from the inside.”
Sombra ignores him. Her fingers wrap around her oversized black sweater and she pulls it to her chest.
“I saw what you did, just before I... passed out. I saw the way you tricked it. You took such a monstrous thing into yourself to free me from it, and for that, I am in your debt.”
A demon settled and comfortable in its host body will always be stronger than not. A demon inside a new host with clear intent and magic laced through her soul will be an easy kill. It was the smart thing to do. The demon’s imprint now lingers inside her, but all hunts stay for a little while, whether they meet death or banishment at her hands.
Sombra sees their souls and learns their secrets. She learns everything they know, which strengthens her magic. And so, while the vision of Genji’s attempted murder now reverberates through her mind’s eye from Hanzo’s point of view instead of his brother’s, she will simply grin and bear it until the information recedes.
“I’ll let you--” Sombra begins, then quiets again, her cheeky response dying in her throat as she tries to clear it. Her voice still sounds foreign to her own ears, and though she knows it is simply from strain and exhaustion, the demon’s cackle won’t leave her memory. She sees herself hurting Jesse all over again, clawing his face with her gloves, choking him and bruising his throat, turning his face red as he struggles to breathe--
She wrings her sweater in her hands and turns to look at Jesse, to see that he’s okay.
The first thing she sees are the thin, red scratches she left on his cheek. Whatever control she gained over her trembling these past few minutes is lost.
“Sombra, hey. Hey.” Jesse curls his metal-fire hand around her shoulder and guides her into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.
She lifts a hand to his scratched cheek and presses her palm to his skin. She focuses her energy as well as she can; as her fingers pulse with purple light, the scratches begin to fade.
Jesse pulls her hand away from his face and lifts her chin. “Hey. Talk to me.”
Sombra tries to clear her throat. Almost immediately, a cup of water hovers in front of her face, and Jesse watches her carefully as he waits for her to accept it. It goes down coolly and soothes her throat. She tries again.
“This has happened before,” she says. A sigh of relief follows now that her voice sounds much more familiar to her own ears. “I’ve done that, let demons take me. Let them think they can take me.”
Jesse’s face is cross, even though a foundation of concern lies underneath. He rubs her shoulders, still trying to calm her. “Just playin’ with the idea? Takin’ a test drive? For what?”
“For whatever I need. You saw how I destroyed it. I had to. They fight me, try to take control, but I always win. I always will.”
“What if--”
“Jesse, callate! You trusted me in there. Trust me now.”
He leans against the wall behind him in the small bathroom and runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Sorry. Just… you seem so shook up.”
She nods, releasing the iron grip she still has on her black sweater in her hands to turn it over and shake it out.
“And, uh. It was scary, watchin’ you get taken over like that. I didn’t get to see it, when Gabe did that, but… it was scary.”
“It used me to hurt you,” Sombra whispers, bringing a hand back up to his neck to caress the slight bruising. She’s never done this around anyone who mattered before, anyone whose pain would have hurt her, so she will never forget the look on Jesse’s face. He was as steady as a rock with her clawed gloves around his neck, even smirking, as though the act had been one of her playful taunts. It grounded her.
“That wasn’t the scary part,” he replies, placing his metal-fire hand over the one she’s got gently resting on his collarbone. “I finally saw you, when I said your true name. You. Your eyes are purple?”
“They are. Here, unzip me.” She turns away from him and pushes her hair over her shoulder so that he can unzip her leather bodice and pull off her leggings. Then she turns back to him, bare, and slips her long black sweater over her head.
“Beautiful.” Jesse lets out a small laugh and quirks up the corner of his mouth. “I knew you had an idea of what you were doin’, ya know. I did trust you. But then when I said your true name, I saw the you underneath it all, and it spooked me, ‘cause what if I never saw you again? What if you really did disappear this time?”
Sombra sighs and steps closer to him. “I couldn’t have.”
He opens his mouth to retort with more worries, but Sombra shushes him and kisses his lips. She intertwines her fingers with his metal-fire hand and, lifting up on her toes, places the other around the back of his neck to grasp his hair and pull him in. She still aches, but the discomfort wracking her body ever since she woke up finally calms, just a little, with the sensation of being so close to him.
Jesse reaches down and underneath her thighs without separating from her and lifts her onto the sink. The way he settles between her bare legs as she wraps them around his waist is easy. Inevitable. His grip on her thighs shifts to the small of her back, where he massages her gently, and to the back of her hair, where he presses just enough to tilt her head down and kiss her forehead.
Sombra tucks her face into his neck and exhales into his warm skin. She hadn’t known that this could be the ‘after’ of her more difficult demon encounters. It’s almost overwhelming. She could cry with how good it feels to have him like this after so long enduring alone. She could, but she won’t.
Instead, she finally surrenders and lets him hold her the way they both need tonight, with her weight fully settling against him as she lets him support her.
(I remembered that every animated short so far takes place around the same time, and then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So, this takes place right after “Reunion.”)
With Echo successfully reactivated and Deadlock preoccupied for the moment, it’s time for McCree to head home. As it turns out, he’s not the only one who needs a breather.
Read on AO3
He’s been riding all afternoon. Twelve hours, to be exact, from that trainwreck on Route 66 to his favorite bar in Castillo. Ashe’s bike, as he expected, is perfect. Jesse grins to himself as he remembers passing her and B.O.B. on the highway, her face contorted in rage and black-lined red eyes lit up with fury as she screamed at him and struggled against her ropes. She’d get out soon enough, she always did, but not before Jesse was out of her reach.
Not that he’s worried about her following him or anything. Even if she wanted to track him, Deadlock knows they aren’t welcome here. Any business across the border is certainly none of theirs, unless Los Muertos feels like sharing.
Los Muertos rarely feels like sharing.
Neon graffiti glows around him, the dark little alley where he parks Ashe’s bike decorated with spray-painted codenames and sugar skulls. Los Muertos protects little Castillo, bigger Dorado to the north, and all the other coastal towns surrounding it where LumeriCo has dug in their claws. But Castillo is not like its flashier big sister. Jesse is safe here. No one comes here to ask questions.
Well. No one except her . Jesse sees the hexagonal skull at the top of the stairs, and the quick, angular “SOMBRA” scrawled on a nearby wall, and gets that familiar tumbling feeling in his chest. He heard her voice just this morning, but it’s been weeks since he last saw her. Touched her. This reunion, much like the last one, is overdue.
ribbons-halos replied to your post “La Oscuridad Te Espera” (Chapter 5) - Sombra/McCree”
Ahhh, I’m in love with this fic! Everything about it, to the Sombra and Genji brotp and to McCree being so soft and honest with Sombra is amazing. I love love love that Sombra told McCree her real name, and how his touch and calling out to her is what gave her the strength to defeat the demon. Lovely writing! I anticipate the next chapter with barely contained patience and eagerness.
EEEEEEEEEEE this makes me so happy. Thank you so much, I’m hoping to finish it soon <3<3<3
They keep coming back to this inherent magic that a true name has, and of course that’s a ~big deal~ in the McSombra ship. Having that be the thing that strengthens/saves everyone was a natural fit! :)
I just love writing the two of them being soft with each other when they’re such badasses otherwise. And I LOVE GENJI SHIMADA. I’m glad this has ended up being longer than I planned, so that I can keep writing him lol :3
Sombra runs a hand over the zombie’s white hair as he groans and gestures towards himself. “Shhh, shhh. I’m not here for you. I’m surprised you scare so easily.”
The zombie shakes his head. “Naagh... Yaagh... haaughr.”
“Couldn’t you talk when you were alive?” she snorts. Frustration settles in the lines around his glowing green eyes. She’d found him shuffling around in one of the back courtyards of the chateau, lost and confused. When he backed away from her and her crossbow with his hands up, making anguished noises, she took pity on him. “Pobrecito. I can tell Junk didn’t make you from scratch.”
He nods, though whether he means he was once capable of speech, or is indeed one of Dr. Junkenstein’s creations, Sombra isn’t sure. He lifts a hand and pats around his cheek. His fingers don’t seem to work very well. He must be brand new.
“Qué?”
The zombie makes a soft, stilted hissing noise, still trying to form coherent syllables. “Scaagh. Scaaaaagh.”
Sombra just watches him, waiting for more.
He touches her hand, and then the front of his... oh, his scarf.
She reaches around the back of his head and unties the knot fastening the skull-print bandana over his face, then pulls it away. Her eyes widen as she sighs, “Sí. That would do it.”
The zombie’s jaw is unhinged, but thankfully, not missing. The bottom hangs from the rest of his face, leaving his tongue on display as he presses it against the roof of his mouth, trying to speak. “Hell... ‘leaaugh, hell...”
“Help, muñeco?”
He nods slowly. She sees, now, why his movements have been so gentle. On top of being born yesterday (Sombra guesses), in a body that’s likely out of practice, a rather important part of his face is in a delicate position.
Sombra gently cups his jaw from the bottom. “This would be so painful, if you could feel it. You’re lucky.”
He narrows those glowing eyes at her, and she smirks right back with her own.
“You know I’m right. Now stay still.”
She presses the fingers of her free hand just below one of his ears, where they start to pulse with purple light. There’s an ugly bone-cracking noise as the right side of his jaw slides back into place. The zombie moans with relief as she does the same for the other side.
He moves his reconnected jaw up and down, testing it, then sighs and closes his eyes. “I don’t scare easily. But you try lookin’ like this, shufflin’ around, growlin’ like a monster, and tryin’ to show a beautiful woman with a crossbow and a mission that you don’t need shootin’.”
Sombra laughs before she can stop herself. His voice is low and warm, with an American, southern drawl to it. The frustration lining his face has already given way to mirth; his crooked grin scrunches up the corners of his eyes as he settles more comfortably in the pumpkin patch. Now this is an improvement.
She leans back on her hands. Both she and this strangely charming, handsome zombie seem content to just rest here with each other. “My pleasure, cowboy.”
have u seen those 'i don't wanna kiss you' prank vides on youtube?? i thinkl like sombra would do that to mccree just to tease him...how would he react?? :3
McCree is the type of guy who would legit be disheartened at the fact that his beau wouldn’t want to give him any kisses. Every time Sombra ducks her face out of the way or presses her hand against his lips, it breaks his heart. It isn’t until he sees Sombra smirking that he figures she’s just playing around. “Better give me my kisses,” he’ll warn before grabbing her around the waist, dragging her toward him and keeping her close until she relents and gives him the kisses she cruelly kept from him. And then he’ll demand interest on said kisses, to which she just laughs.
While playing on my new main account today, I had this amazing experience happen in a Quickplay game. I was a little tense since it was an actual match, but in the end I was fangirling at this cute moment, my entire stack was laughing at me 😂
💕 + 💛 + 💙 + 💘 for Mcsombra! If these asks are too much, then feel free to just do them for Widowhanzo! c:
Hmmmm…..let’s see here…
💕: who is more likely to make huge declarations of love in front of other people?
Probably Jesse, though I have to believe he’s smart enough not to try to pull a stunt like that, knowing how important privacy is to Sombra.
💘: who developed a crush on the other first?
My first instinct is McCree again, probably because he gets cast as the first to develop/express real feelings in their relationship. But what if, just maybe, Sombra was the first to develop a crush? Maybe it takes Jesse a little longer to see that Sombra is so much more than another pretty face at the end of a bar. But Sombra is immediately taken in by his goofy charm and soulful eyes. She brushes it off as just a bit of fun, of course.
💙: who is more protective?
Jesse would like to be Sombra’s knight in shining armor, but his attempts earned him an earful in the early days. From then on, he learned how help keep her safe in a more low key way. I also can imagine Sombra is secretly very protective of him, but it’s a lot harder to spot. As sharp of an agent as Jesse is, it still takes him some time to see how she is working behind the scenes on his behalf.
💛: who believes in soulmates?
Jesse, of course! And he makes not apologies about it once he figures out Sombra is his. She scoffs at first, but eventually he makes a believer out of her, too ;)
I wonder what the conversation was like when McCree confessed his love for the shark mermaid and vice versa.
It’s during one of the times McCree gets into the water to swim with Sombra. She’s impatient though, and will tug him through to get him to places faster, but that’s fine. He gets to marvel at her dorsal fin. After they spend an entire evening in the ocean, McCree has to take a break. Before climbing back into his boat, he persuades Sombra to let him hold her out of the water. Something that she has yet to trust the human fisherman with.
For a reason McCree learns shortly afterwards, Sombra agrees.
McCree: Can you breathe alright in the air?
Sombra: It’s awkward, but fine. Just don’t touch my gills.
McCree: Okay. *shifts his arms slightly around her, dipping the very end of her fins into the water*
Sombra: *tenses*
McCree: Don’t worry, I’ve got you.
Sombra: *flips her tail slightly, jostling them both*
McCree: Do you want to go back to the water?
Sombra: No.
McCree: You sure, darling? I don’t want you uncomfortable or your tail drying out or nothing.
Sombra: It takes a long time for a mermaid to dry out.
McCree: Good, because I intend to hold you as long as you’ll let me.
Sombra: You’re really not that put off by me? We’re completely different species, and live in environments that don’t work together. If there were ever a relationship between a human and mermaid, it would end before it began.
McCree: Put off by ya? I mean, you scared the daylights out of me when I first pulled you out of that net, and your teeth are something else, but I never thought for once that you weren’t something amazing. Maybe I just like to torture myself with things I can’t really have, but I want you, Sombra. I want to see you every day, in sunshine or storms.
Sombra: That’s not very smart.
McCree: Maybe, but I’m just saying what’s been on my mind these last few weeks.
Sombra:
Sombra:
Sombra: *leans forward and bumps her nose against McCree’s*
McCree: *blinks* Darling… You missed my mouth.
Sombra: *pulls away, making a disgusted face* Mouth? Why would I touch your mouth?
McCree: …I might have missed something. Are you trying to kiss me?
Sombra: I just did, stupid human.
McCree: …?
Sombra: *growls before pressing her nose to his again*
Sombra: That’s a kiss, idiot.
McCree: A mermaid kiss?
Sombra: A shark kiss. My kind’s noses are sensitive… but that does explain why you take my boops on your nose without flinching.
McCree: Alright, will you let me show you a human kiss? But you gotta promise me you won’t tear my lip off.
Sombra: *squints* Okay.
McCree: *gently takes her cheek and kisses her lips*
Sombra: *slowly kisses back before pulling away*
Sombra: That’s interesting.
McCree: I love you.
Sombra: *stills*
McCree: I mean it. I love you.
Sombra: That’s a stupid thing to say.
McCree: Is it any more stupid than a kiss? *slowly touches his noses to hers*
Sombra: They’re both stupid.
Sombra: *looks away and flips her fins slightly*
Sombra: You’re the only human I’ve ever let hold me. Take that as your answer.
