Sympathy For Wolves: Werewolf!Blackwatch!Cole Cassidy x Fem!Reader
Chapter 9: The Pain
"The ancients thought pure metals purified the blood." ~ Ginger Snaps
A terrified, wavering scream pierced through the eerily silent woods. Feminine hands wildly snatched at whatever foliage lied before her, swatting a way through the branches and lifted roots, doing her absolute best to not become entombed by such nature and fall behind. Even over the trilling of her heartbeat in her ear, she could still hear it behind her. Was it even still behind her? Her eyes shot in every direction, following intently with every branch snapping and squelching of mud whether it was hers or the beast’s. It came from all around her, surrounding her, damning her to this horrifying hell as she was left in the middle of these forsaken woods cold, soaking wet, and all alone while sporting some nasty injuries.
She kept pushing forward, urged on by nothing more than pure adrenaline at this point. Her palms were numb from grabbing at branches, her fingernails were all chipped and scratched up, dirt muddied her hands and burned at the cuts in her skin. She wasn’t able to move much more out of her way, the pain in her left bicep was becoming too great, throbbing and pulsing the faster her heart thrashed against her ribcage that was starting to feel all too tight now. She was openly bleeding, a deep trio of gashes tore their way through her bicep and destroyed the sleeve of her issued uniform coat, the once proud blue was now a murky purple, blood seeping into the expensive fibers the more she bled out.
The pain was starting to become more present. Her vision was starting to sway and become blurry as she tried to blink away the tears. Her left arm was becoming too heavy to keep up, weakly grasping at branches only to meekly push them away, barely doing anything to get them to move. She was injured elsewhere, too. She was sporting a nasty cut on her right calf, a light gash barely missing her ankle and instead dug right into the back of her leg. She was hobbling now, no longer sprinting as the beast had finally tired the agent out. Her back was also lit ablaze. She couldn’t judge the damage, but she could feel the open wounds torn into her from how the blood dribbled down her back and coattails. She was losing too much blood too fast.
Even as her body tried to shut down, she could still hear it somewhere around her; Snuffling and purring in the darkness, prowling around, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She wasn’t going to give it the satisfaction.
She didn’t know where the relay point was having lost both her compass and communicator when she was jumped by the beast about a mile back, her gun and knife holsters had also been torn from her person which left her with only one pitiful little boot knife to defend herself from a towering monster. She’d never seen anything like it before, it was like something from a horror movie had crawled right off of the silver screen and right into the labyrinth of woods that encased her, drowning her.
She didn’t get a good look at it at first, only catching a glimpse of two yellow eyes cutting through the dark before it pounced on her, nearly overpowering her had it not for have been for the towering trees with tangling roots and branches to halt the thing in its place. She had fallen out of the beast’s clutches onto her back, having to scoot away on her hands and ass, staring up at the thing with wide eyes and her mouth agape as she ignored her wounds at first. It was big, bigger than anyone she’s ever encountered before. It was hairy all over with these big hands that could easily take her out should it so please. A snout carved through the darkness, a long tongue lolling out as its mouthful of fangs glistened in the night. As she scooted back, managing to make it to her feet, she couldn’t help but feel something utterly familiar about the monster before she turned and ran.
She caught glimpses of its eyes here and there, mostly from looking over her shoulder to the void swallowing the foliage behind her. She could smell its rancid breath, gag on the stench of wet dog as it chased her relentlessly.
Something suddenly caught her by the uninjured ankle and cut her off from her hobbling. Her chest smacked the ground first, knocking whatever air out of her and forcing a pathetic wheeze from her lips when she tried to scream. Her jaw ached from where she landed, sore, a shocking pain from the left side of her face where she most definitely dislocated it. Her trembling hands snatched up the muddy grass and roots and tried to push herself up, only managing to have enough strength to prop herself up on her elbows as she weakly looked around. Panting, swallowing thickly, she could taste the blood that started to bite at the back of her tongue as she wildly looked around at the trees for the beast. When she didn’t hear the damned monster, she instead swung her body around as best as she could to her tangled up ankle, biting back the pained scream as her entire body protested. Through the darkness, she could truly see how fucked up her ankle was; Completely twisting in a different direction, boot resting uncomfortably, squeezing tight around her foot and calf as her body did its absolute best to resupply itself with adrenaline.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, rolling over the towering trees and echoing through the woods. A brief flash of distant lightning did so little to light up anything down here- but it did catch something. Her eyes were pinned on one specific group of trees where she had seen it just seconds ago.
It was here.
It was stalking her.
There was no need to keep chasing prey that could no longer run.
She could hear it chuff somewhere around her, almost like it was taunting her for breaking her ankle, belittling her for getting caught. She followed the sounds it made; Stomping through the foliage, branches snapping under its heavy weight, mud sloshing, yet she never caught another glance at it.
Though her heart was trilling in her ears and her body was becoming heavy, fury overpowered her senses. Gritting her teeth, she yanked the boot knife from its strappings on her broken ankle and flipped it open just as the rain started to settle in. She held it out defiantly, her tears mixed with the fat rain droplets that soon soaked her person.
“Come on, you fucker!” she screamed.
The two yellow eyes appeared through the darkness, gleaming at her, towering over her despite being yards away. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be toyed with, to be food for the beast to play with. She didn’t dare sit up more, opting to just hold the knife with both hands and jut it towards the beast.
Another flash of lightning graced her with an actual view of the beast- smashing the wall of false confidence to pieces when she saw it: As clear as day, a monster- a werewolf - bigger than Reinhardt yet wearing the opposite uniform colors as her.
Barely clinging onto thick dark brown fur was a torn uniform of a Blackwatch soldier.
Cole rubbed his eyes roughly, pinching at his bridge while his temples flared with aching pain. He pulled away with an inhale, not fully opening his eyes as the stark and sterile white of Angela’s office combined with the fluorescent lights burned at his retinas. It wasn’t just how bright everything was, it was also the smell. He almost debated on getting up and leaving the second Angela had him hop up on the examination chair. Everything reeked of bleach and various medicinal cleaners; With a doctor as clean of a freak as Angela, it didn’t surprise anyone if they would walk in to see her scrubbing something down with a toothbrush if they had walked in unexpectedly. He winced when he shifted- not because he was in any pain, but from the noise the waxy paper made underneath him when he moved. It was like nails on a chalkboard, making his ears shriek and ache from such a minor movement.
He woke up not too long ago from yet another horrible nightmare, having barely getting maybe four hours of sleep. It had been the norm for the entirety of the past three weeks since he had woken up. Today, it was maybe half past seven o’clock in the evening when he was brutally woken up.
But this time, something was off.
It was like walking into your home, a home you’ve lived in for so long and knew where exactly everything is- and someone had come and shifted everything ever so slightly. He was knocked off kilter, disoriented, head full of fog and cotton while he had an undeniable feeling that something was horribly wrong. When he sat up in bed, it felt like there was a heavy weight on his chest yet he felt absolutely weightless. Through the darkness of the blackout curtains he had drawn, he could make out where everything is in his room despite always stumbling and tripping over every little thing when there were no lights on.
He was thanking his lucky stars when Angela finally got back to him about medical advice, the good doctor finally managing to get a break in all of the chaos to finally sit down with him and try to figure out what could possibly be wrong with him without Moira being around.
He was completely lost in thought, staring down at his boots firmly planted on the short stair before the examination chair, when Angela knocked sharply three times. Cole winced at the noise, sucking at his teeth for a brief second as the Swiss doctor asked if she could come in. The door slid open to reveal the blonde holding a neat stack of folders and notepads in one hand while the other sported a beige coffee mug nearly filled to the brim and steaming.
“How are we feeling today?” she beamed as she set down her supplies at her little desk by the door.
“Not too great, doc,” Cole muttered as his knee started to bounce unconsciously.
Angela frowned at the statement and quickly opened up her holopad and scrolled through Cole’s files.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to see you since you were discharged almost one month ago.” Cole didn’t respond, knowing that she was a busy woman and there was not much he could do to help. Angela took the pen that rested on her ear and clicked it, placing the head to her notepad and looked right Cole. “Tell me, what are you currently experiencing?”
He hesitated for a moment. Does he tell her the truth? The full truth? The nightmares about monsters? Turning into one? Nightmares where you’re involved in gruesome ways? Or his eyes? The claws? His teeth? The recurring bouts of rage or the mind-altering lust?
“I, uh- I’m havin’ nightmares, can’t sleep too long. Haven’t slept much since.” Angela started scribbling. “And I think I’m hallucinatin’ because of it.”
“With what you went through, it’s very common to have post-traumatic stress. I’ll refer to one of the therapists after this.” She made a note on the side and then looked at him. “Would you like to tell me what you’re having nightmares about?”
Cole swallowed thickly, hands gripping the edge of the examination table to the point the leather creaked. He can’t be honest with her. Can he? She is a doctor, after all. But whatever she writes down, she may have to report it to Morrison and Reyes if it’s bad enough.
“That thing that used me as a chew toy- Did ya’ll ever find out what that thing was?” he changed the topic.
“Not really. Some Overwatch ground troops recovered files about experimentations, most of them having passed quickly. The one that didn’t, it just… cuts off. It was the same day it all happened.” That didn’t do much to quell the anxiety viciously bubbling in his gut right now. “I’ve seen the photographs recovered as well-” Angela looked horribly uncomfortable, “-and I can’t quite come to understand it myself. It looked… supernatural. It was almost as if Talon was engineering monsters.” Angela cleared her throat as looked back at Cole. “Now, your nightmares. Anything in particular?”
“Mostly about that thing chasin’ me, chasin’ (Y/n).”
“(Y/n)? How is she taking to this? I know she’s been at your side as much as she can be.”
“She’s worried. Terrified, probably.”
“Of what happened to you?”
“Of me.” Angela’s writing cut off quickly. He gripped the leather tight enough to make his knuckles go white. “Ang, you gotta help me. I don’ know what’s happenin’ to me and it’s eatin’ me alive.” He made eye contact with the doctor for the first time since her coming in. “It’s- It’s more than nightmares and not sleepin’. I’m gettin’ violent, nearly tore into Reyes my first day back! I’m hallucinating things happenin’ to me in mirrors and shit. I’m smellin’ all types of shit I shouldn’ be, hearin’ shit when I shouldn’. I’m exhausted! I’m starvin’ all the damn time! I’ve been cravin’ raw meat and shit.” Angela wore a horrified look on her face. “I’m fuckin’ terrified of what’s happenin’ to me, and fuckin’ Moira’s been no goddamn help at all!”
Angela stared blankly off into the distance before turning to her holopad. She scrolled through and typed quickly before seemingly finding what she was looking for. She had a look on her face like it was dawning on her that her husband cheated on her for years, the slow realization that what she thought all this time was actually a lie.
“She pulled blood from you?”
“Yeah- What? Did she find somethin’ and not say shit?”
“She’s been using it in all of these random tests that make no sense.” Her crystal blue eyes scanned the notes and results before she tensed up. “Do you know if she took samples while you all were there? Anything from the labs?”
“We got split up, I don’ know. Why?”
“Because according to this, she’s been testing your blood to see if it matches up with a sample from there.”
“And?”
“It’s a near match in some areas.”
It felt as though he had been sentenced to hang by high noon, like a bullet had shot through his chest, as though he had been plunged in polar waters. A complete shock went all throughout his body, halting everything; even his blood, he swore. All he could feel was the thumping of his heart- not the sound, but the feel - knocking away against his entire chest. Everything that was racing in his mind, going millions of miles an hour, had come to a screeching halt.
He felt like he was going to fucking vomit.
“What does that mean?”
He went back to staring at the floor, hyper-fixated on the pale gray grout surrounding the sterile white tiles, specifically the intersection right under where Angela had been bouncing her leg on. Dread completely blanketed over him. It was like he was being told he had an incurable disease- Hell, that’s really what’s going on here. He was infected, had been this entire time. Whatever that monster spread to him has been changing him ever since he woke up from that damn coma.
“I- I don’t know, Cole.” She tilted the screen of her holopad and hesitantly looked at him before glancing back at her notes. “I’ll find the answers, I’ll confront her if I have to.”
“And what if she doesn’t tell you what’s wrong with me?”
He could feel the anger start to boil inside of him, flooding his senses all so suddenly, clouding his judgment. He could feel his nails start to sink into the leather, feel the ache in his fingertips as those wretched claws spread from his nailbeds. He heard her swallow as she adjusted her glasses, pushing the thick black frames up the bridge of her nose.
“Then I’ll run my own tests, if you’ll let me.”
Something about that really pushed his buttons. He knew deep down that she was doing her absolute best to help him, but something just felt horribly wrong. Running her own tests on him? What was he- some kind of lab rat? Her own little experiment? What would happen to him if it all really did come back that he was going to become that thing? Like the one from his nightmares? Lock him in a cell? Chain him up like some kind of wild animal? Experiment on him until something finally snaps and he does what that beast did a month ago?
He kept his mouth shut, he knew he had to. He bit his tongue a little too hard on sharp teeth. A copper taste ran bitterly through his mouth and down the back of his tongue as his jaw tensed.
Before either of the two could say anything more, Cole’s communicator chirped to life. It startled him, the high-pitched clicks shocked him out of his simmering thoughts and actually made him flinch. Was it always this loud? Glancing at Angela, she wasn’t wincing at the sound like he was, instead, occupying herself with writing down notes and glancing back at her holopad. Fishing the damn thing from his belt, it kept chirping in his ears like church bells until he brought up the screen, silencing the alert.
‘Private Training Room - G. ~ Reyes.’
Pinned to the message was also Shimada, but not Moira. He couldn’t judge if that was a good thing or not as he slid off of the examination chair.
“I gotta go, Ang,” Cole muttered, unsure of how to end this very awkward and terrifying conversation.
Angela took a moment to think over her words before she nodded, watching as Cole stalked past her.
Just as he waved his hand over the sensor to open the door, it had slid open from the other side to reveal Moira. She looked a bit shocked to see Cole standing before her, but she quickly fixed her face to once again appear impassive. In her arms held stacks of folders - some messy and some neatly organized - as well as a few books and some long sheets of paper with what looked to be test results. He caught sight of some small, thin tubes held in her hand; but he couldn’t make out what was inside of them. His blood, if he had to make a guess, most likely congealed or frozen for Angela to test.
“Cassidy,” she hissed.
He had no means to greet her back. Sensing the tension, she stepped aside just enough for Cole to squeeze by. He didn’t make an effort to say goodbye, just keeping his eyes pinned to the end of the hallways as he started for the private training rooms. He could feel their eyes on him, watching intently as he marched away from them. But despite being a good few dozen yards down the hall, he could hear Moira and Angela give sarcastic greetings to one another.
“We need to talk about Cassidy,” he heard Moira state coldly before the door slid shut.
It made his steps falter a bit, Cole having to come to a complete stop only to start back up. Hopefully, Reyes knew something.
He wasn’t expecting you to be there, so imagine his surprise when he opened the door to the last private training room specifically reserved for Blackwatch members to see you and Genji standing there talking with Reyes patiently waiting propped up by the door. As Cole passed into the room, Reyes shot him a look of unknown emotion, most likely faltering on worry. Genji wore his usual cold and closed-off demeanor while you looked to be an absolute bundle of nerves.
This was the first time seeing you in a couple of days with you having to join along on a short transport trip to the Overwatch base in Maine. No doubt that made his sleeping habits even worse. You looked as though you hadn’t slept since you left, the skin under your eyes was dark and your uniform was all wrinkled and your hair was a bit disheveled. Something deep inside of him thought that maybe you knew what was wrong with him, that you were told before he was, that you all were told what the absolute fuck was wrong with him.
“How’re you feeling?” Reyes was the first to break the silence. “Saw you put in an excuse to see Angela. Things looking okay?”
“Don’t know, had to come here.”
Reyes looked away for a moment, an uneasy expression painting over his face. He looked horribly uncomfortable as Genji shot a questioning look at their commander.
“I got back an hour ago. You weren’t in your room,” you piped up. “Genji passed me by and told me that you three were meeting in here.”
Genji looked between the three of you suspiciously, squinting and probably sneering beneath his faceplate. He had no fucking clue what was going on here and probably thought this was supposed to be some sort of training.
It actually looked to be that too. The mats were splayed out on the floor and anchored in, Reyes had a stopwatch next to him hanging up against the wall along with his trusty clipboard. What’s stopping them all from sparring? Surely not you. Right?
The four of you stood there in tense silence for another moment before Reyes cleared his throat. Before he could actually open his mouth, the sliding of the door once again interrupted what was going on. But instead of Moira being the cause, it was Morrison. He wore a stern face, brow low and his lips pulled into a tight frown. Behind him were a few Overwatch soldiers, each wearing the same facial expression as their own strike commander. Morrison stepped inside and looked directly at Cole, boring holes in his soul before quickly glaring at Reyes.
“I need to speak with you,” he spared a glance at the three of you, somewhat softening his gaze when he saw you standing behind Cole at this point, “alone, Reyes.”
Reyes gave Morrison a curt nod before following him out of the private training room before the door quickly slammed shut behind him. Cole was about to try and listen in when he felt your hand barely graze his forearm. Genji had taken up to stand against the wall, leaning with his arms crossed, staring at the floor to avoid listening to you two speak.
Cole turned to face you, his heart and stomach twisting inside of him from the look on your face alone. You looked so worried and so fucking terrified of the entire situation in general, and you were no doubt fed up with everything that’s been going on.
“How are you feeling? You look so tired, Cass,” you murmured up to him. You brought a hand up to his cheek, his thick stubble scratching at your palm and fingers. Your thumb gently caressed along his cheekbone. Your hand was surprisingly cold to the touch, Cole found himself sinking into your hand just a bit, eyes fluttering at the feeling. Your touch sparked something in him, woke something up deep inside of him, suddenly letting him know that he was actually feeling really warm all of a sudden. “You feel really warm, Cole.”
You brought your other hand up to rest along his forehead, taking his temperature. He was blazing hot under your touch, even pushing up his hair to feel even higher. The heat that was rolling off of him in waves was sickening.
“I missed ya, pumpkin,” he crooned. “Could hardly sleep without ya.”
He looked so fucking tired. He had dark circles around his eyes and he seemed very ill. His usual warm and bright honey-brown eyes looked so dull and so very exhausted.
“You sure you’re not coming down with something, cowboy? You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I’m as fit as a fiddle, darlin’. Just needed you by my side again.”
You wanted to believe him, you really did, but something was nagging at you inside and you couldn’t help but trust your gut. You both glanced at the door when Reyes and Morrison started to argue, neither one of you were able to make out what it could be about this time.
All you and Genji could hear were muffled arguments, but all Cassidy could hear was garbled nonsense as a low monotone ringing sounded in the back of his head.
The tone slowly grew louder and louder, pitching higher and higher until it was all so suddenly blinding to him, blocking out every other sound known to his existence. His skull throbbed, temples feeling like they were about to explode as Cole could only holler in pain and grab at his head. His knees nearly crumbled, almost falling to the floor had you not been there to catch him. He clung to you, hands grabbing at your blue and white coat and pulling so tightly the seams all nearly snapped. You couldn’t keep his weight up for long, both of you slowly going down until you both were on the floor, Genji quickly coming to his other side for aid. As much as the cyborg denies everything, he really does care for Cassidy as he was the only one to not treat him like some sort of threat but almost like a brother.
“What’s wrong?” you called out to Cole, gripping one of his burly shoulders. “Is- Is it a migraine? What-”
The doors to the training room slid open, Reyes and Morrison fumbling in, eyes wide in shock.
“What happened?” Reyes barked.
He went to come to Cole’s aid when Morrison seized him by the bicep, pulling him back. The Blackwatch commander reeled back and was about to snap when Morrison beat him to it.
“It’s too late, Reyes! The sun’s gone down, it’s already starting.”
The other Overwatch agents filed in quickly, waiting for Morrison’s order like the good little drones they were ordered to be. You’ve only seen those few just a couple of times, and just from the stories alone, you knew something was horribly wrong.
“What’s starting?” you grit your teeth.
That horrible feeling was back; The pain in his chest like he had been shot right in the heart. It was freezing and boiling at the same time. He felt both heavy and light. He could barely breathe, mouth hanging open in a silent scream as something inside of him felt like it popped. A thin sheen of cold sweat took over his body, making his clothes cling tightly to his brawny body as his hearty tan became pallid.
“He’s turning.” Cole finally was able to let out a short bellow of pain as something thick and heavy crackled from within him. Morrison looked over the other Overwatch soldiers and nodded to you three on the mat. “Get him. Take him downstairs to Cellblock D.”
“You’re not moving him until you tell me what the hell is going on!” you shouted back.
“Step away from him, (Y/n). That’s an order!”
The soldiers advanced towards you, but you didn’t get up. One withdrew the thickest pair of handcuffs you’ve ever seen since working here, they were a special pair made up of silver and circuits. They were apparently used in only certain occasions.
“Not until you tell me what’s happening.” You glared over at Reyes who was standing by the doorway still, a look of guilt and horror painted on his scarred face. “Reyes!”
Reyes looked so remorseful towards you, bushy eyebrows pinched in worry. You’ve never seen him like this, never seen him back down from Morrison so easily and especially without a fight.
“Get away from him, (Y/n),” he ordered gently.
When you didn’t move out of shock that Reyes finally agreed with Morrison on, the Blackwatch commander nodded his head towards you. Genji suddenly took and pulled you away, locking your arms behind your back when you struggled against him and tried to break loose.
“Genji, what are you doing?” you spat at him.
Cole let out another cry of pain, hunching in on himself as he took two big handfuls of the mat and tore into them like they were paper. He was quickly swarmed by the Overwatch soldiers as you both watched horrified. Cole suddenly seized up and tried to fight back but was quickly outnumbered and outmatched, being wrestled back to the ground, forcing his hands behind his back and cuffing him like he was a criminal. Except, when the handcuffs tightened, Cole hollered in pain as though he was being burned- And from what you could see, it really did appear that the handcuffs were burning his wrists. The skin around them became red and agitated, his hands twitching and seizing, fingers curling and his veins bulged from the pain. They yanked him up and surrounded him, the one that took his place behind Cole seized by the collar of his Blackwatch uniform and they all marched, Morrison quickly leading them out of the training room.
Genji quickly released you when they were starting down the hall and you tried to catch up only for Reyes to catch you in a bear hug. You cried out, calling for Cole, screaming at Morrison, cursing the day Reyes was born and ordering him to let you go.
“(Y/n)!” he barked, locking you against him just as Genji had done just a minute ago. “You can’t stop this!”
You somehow managed to worm your way out of his grasp and stumbled, catching yourself on the wall. You shot a nasty look back at Reyes, panting like a wild animal and wiped away the hair that clung to your sweaty face. Tears had started to trickle down your cheeks and you didn’t even bother to wipe them away.
“What’s Morrison gonna do to him? Why Cellblock D?”
“(Y/n)-”
“What the fuck has been going on? Ever since he came back barely alive it’s been all fucking secrets!”
“If you would just-”
“You told me! You told me you’d tell me. That I would be the first to know! What the hell is happening to Cole?!”
Reyes had grabbed you again, this time by your shoulders, fingers digging in uncomfortably.
“Cassidy is a werewolf!” he barked in your face.
