That was one heck of a Halloween story. Reinhardt sure had a talent for this sort of thing. If the day does come where he decides to hang up the hammer, he'd make one heck of a writer. In fact I think that story got to me so much that I ended up having a nightmare about it and woke up sweating in the middle of the night. Not exactly how I planned to spend my first night in Eichenwalde.

I got out of bed, stretching my arms before making my way out of the room and down the hall. I figured a drink was that I needed to try and help me get some shut eye again. Especially considering we'd be doing some more chores tomorrow. I walked down the stairwell, and as I walked down the main hall towards the side entrance to the kitchen, I could see Winston and Angela at the computer station. All three screens were powered on. The ones to the sides displayed statistics and data, while the screen in the middle showed a man on screen, wearing a suit.

Before heading off to bed I overheard Angela say something about getting ready for another meeting with representatives of the United Nations. More talks about what happened back in Numbani, and possibly what else has been going on before that. Poor Angela. She had it worse than Winston. He's only started talking to these guys. But the doctor? She's been in meetings with them all day, and now it appears almost all night as well. Bags were forming under her eyes, and the poor woman looked like she would collapse at any minute.

I popped into the kitchen, brewing a quick cup of coffee before getting some water for myself. With the two drinks in hand, I quietly made my way out of the room and towards the computer station. Staying to the side as I tried to not interrupt their conversation, I placed the coffee cup at the edge of the table. Thankfully it was Winston's turn to talk as Angela noticed the gesture, giving me a thankful smile in reply as she took the cup in her hands. I smiled back, waving at the blonde haired woman.

I took a gulp of my drink as I began to take my leave, but something caught the corner of my eye. A small spark of light illuminated in the corner, glowing through the arch of a hidden room just beyond the throne. I turned my head back to look at Angela and Winston. It appeared that the two of them were too busy with their meeting with the United Nation Reps to even tear their faces away from the screen. With my curiosity getting the better of me rather than going to back to bed and getting more sleep before working again tomorrow, I followed the light, walking past the throne and under the arch as I entered the room.

The room was a bit small, but it was big enough for a fair group of people to fit inside. At the end was a door that led to the back end of the castle, cracked open ever so slightly to let some air in. To the side of the room was a small table, littered with schematics and tools. Sitting at that table was a small man with a large blonde beard. His red armour hanged from the wall behind him as he wore a light brown shirt with black cargo pants and matching boots.

"Torbjorn?" I spoke up, raising a brow.

The dwarf sized man jumped in his stool, turning around quickly with his claw like implant aimed in my direction. But once he saw me, his muscles relaxed as the man sighed with relief. "Oh, Miss Ivery! You startled me."

"Sorry about that," I apologized, stepping into the room. "What are you doing in here? Are you still working on repairs for the castle?"

"Something along those lines, yes," he nodded as I neared, returning to his work. "What about yourself?"

"Want me to be complete honest?" I questioned, leaning against the wall.

"What happened?" He asked, looking puzzled.

"I think Reinhardt's ghost story got to me way more than I imagined." I answered.

"Had a bad dream did ya?" He guessed.

"Yep," I sighed. "I don't do ghost stories that well, or horror in general," 

"Oh Reinhardt's stories aren't that scary. Every year before Overwatch was shutdown, he'd try to spice things up, adding new twists to the story," Torbjorn rambled. "One year he added in zomnics!"

"Wait, zomnics?" I repeated, sounding dumbfounded.

"As in zombie omnics? Yes, that's what it is." Torbjorn clarified.

"Wow, talk about a desperate reboot," I muttered, taking a sip of my drink as I pushed up from the wall.

I took a step forward next to the dwarf, taking a look around the table. Schematics and tools were scattered everywhere, along with a lantern to light up the room and placed neatly next to it was a photo of Torbjorn, and I would imagine was his wife and children. "Is this your family?"

"Ah, yes," Torbjorn looked over, smiling at the photo. "They're my pride and joy." He set down his hammer, gently picking up the photo so I could get a better look. The woman in the photo had pale skin with long, wavy rich blonde hair braided in two long pig tails and crystal blue eyes and wore a matching blue sun dress. "That there is my wife, Alice," then he trailed his finger along the photo, pointing out all 8 of his children. "And then there's the children, Julia, our eldest, then there's Molly, our two boys, Lucas and William, our twin girls, Elsa and Ebba, finally there's Ellen and our youngest, Junior."

"Junior?" I repeated. "Not Torbjorn Jr.?"

The man let out a hearty chuckle as he set the photo back down on the table. "No, no, not that. Funny enough, I did suggest it to Alice when we first discovered she was carrying him,"

"I take it she didn't agree?" I guessed, trying to hold back a snicker.

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Didn't agree to it at all. Her exact words were, Torb dear, I love you with all of my being, but we are not naming our youngest born son Torbjorn Jr."

"Well you tried," I shrugged teasingly in reply. Tearing my gaze away from the photo, I glanced over at the tools, and the object the dwarf was working. "What are you working on?"

"It's something for outside. I was hoping to save it for tomorrow, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion right now," Torbjorn began, picking up the unknown object he built as he stood up from his stool.

"Second opinion about what?" I repeated, seeming confused.

"I'll show you," Torbjorn elaborated. "It's right outside."

Looking between him and my drink, I gulped down the rest of my water before setting it down on the table. I joined Torbjorn at the back door as he handed me a pair of boots, the object he made, and a blanket. I tried to make out what it was, but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. It appeared to be made of leather.

"You're going to need these. It gets a tad chilly out here at this time of night." He advised.

Slipping the boots on and wrapping the blanket around my shoulders, I followed Torbjorn outside and came upon a narrow path. Cobblestone marked the path as tall trees were aligned on each side of it. With the lantern in his good hand, Torbjorn lit the way down the path through the nearly pitch black night. The stars shined brightly like diamonds up in the sky as they walked, the sound of crickets buzzing in their ears every so often. The walk didn't take too long, but since this was my first time coming this way, it felt never ending.

We finally came up to a clearing a few moments later. There appeared to be a small farm taking up nearly half of the clearing with a fence forming a large square just next to it with a feeder in the center, filled with hay in one half and water in the other. On the other end there were multiple pathways, much larger than the one we just took that trailed to different parts of the forest.

"Torbjorn? What is this place?" I asked.

We came upon the large wooden doors of the barn. The dwarf unlocked the door, pulling it open with a heave as he stepped to the side, allowing me to enter first. When I stepped inside, my nose got a whiff of a strange odour. It smelled like an animal was living in here.

That's when I heard it.

A quiet "NAH" caught my ear as I whipped to the side, yelping with surprise. Torbjorn took a step forward, shining the light of the lantern towards the source of the noise.

"No way..." a smile slowly formed on my lips.

It was a horse. It had a beautiful brown shade colour with a silky black main and tail. This wasn't a barn. This was a stable.

"Spirit, what are you doing up so late?" The dwarf cooed as he increased the brightness of the lantern before hanging it up on a hook attached to the ceiling, lighting up the inside of the stable. Spirit snorted in reply, shaking his head as Torbjorn chuckled. "You're not hungry again, are you?"

He reached into a sack, pulling out an apple as he extended it towards the horse, letting Spirit munch on it.

"There you go, have a midnight snack." Torbjorn smiled.

I took a few quiet steps forward, my gaze never turning away from the graceful creature. "He's beautiful. Has he been in here this whole time?"

"It's not just him," He spoke up, pointing his finger out further into the stable. I followed the trail of his finger, spotting a white coated horse and it's kin pony stationed in their own part in the stable. "That there is Willow and her little one, Echo."

"Where did they come from?" I asked, watching the pair interact with each other.

"I found the three of them while I was doing some exploring and picking up some more wood to repair some of the railings inside the castle, and I stumbled upon them. Willow was injured, and the two refused to leave her side. I brought them back here where they would be safe," Torbjorn explained as he casually walked over to the mother and baby, feeding them some sugar cubes. "I imagined that they would leave once Willow was healed, but it appears that they want to stay."

"Maybe they were grateful for you giving them a home, and decided to stay," I predicted.

"I enjoy the company," Torbjorn nodded in agreement. "Hand me that will you?"

I glanced down at my hands, realizing that I was still holding the strange leather object Torbjorn had built back inside the castle. I handed it to him as he unlocked the gate to Willow and Echo's pen. He cautiously made his way over to the pony, gently petting it.

"Hey there Echo," He greeted. "I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry." 

The pony closed its eyes, accepting the man's warm touch upon its forehead. When he realized he was accepted, Torbjorn lifted his leather invention and place it upon the back of the pony, and it was only then did I discover what he had built. It was a saddle! 

"So that's what you've made," I face palmed, playfully scowling myself for not figuring that out sooner. 

"I've built two more for Spirit and Willow," He added. "I thought it would be a nice surprise for McCree."

I gasped, imagining the cowboys reaction if he'd seen the horses. "I think he'd love to see them!"

Torbjorn laughed in agreement as he set Echo's saddle aside, shutting the pen gate. "That will have to wait until tomorrow when we're finished with the village. I still have to fix a few things, but the place should be ready by tomorrow afternoon." 

"So we'll until then to show him?" I asked for clarification. 

He nodded. "Right, so don't spoil it, alright?"

I imitated zipping up my lips, smirking. "My lips are sealed."

"Thank you, Hope," Torbjorn smiled before stretching his arms out with a yawn. "It's late. Why don't we both head back inside?"

"Agreed." I replied, also surpassing a quick yawn. 

After double checking on the horses, the two of us locked the stable and made our way back up the trail and inside Eichenwalde Castle. I thanked Torbjorn for showing me the stable, and again promised to not say a word about it to Jesse before heading back up to my room. Angela and Winston were still chatting away with the United Nations Representatives at the computer console, the doctor's coffee mug looking almost empty. How long exactly had she and Torbjorn been outside for?

I walked back up the stairs, down the hall, entered my bedroom and just full out collapsed onto the bed. As much as I enjoyed my late night adventure with the dwarf, I was incredibly tired. Besides, if I got to sleep now, the quicker daylight would come. Especially more so so that I could see the look on Jesse McCree's face when he sees his surprise.

********

I woke up late the next morning, at about 10:30am. Quickly changing into my jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket, boots, and slipping on the communicator to my wrist, I darted out of my bedroom and quickly made my way down the hall, eager to get the day going. 

I joined everyone in the dinning room for breakfast as Reinhardt and Bridgette prepared waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns. As Reinhardt said, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! So eat up!"

Once breakfast was done, I helped Winston perform some upgrades and tweaks to the computers at the station in the throne room. As we worked, I asked him about how the UN talks went last night. He gave me a tired sigh in reply before speaking, "Long, but with the cases we've made, let's pray that it will all be worth it."

"I'm sure they will be, Winston," I encouraged with a smile. 

That took about an hour. Once that was over, McCree and I partnered up to explore the village and scavenge for any spare parts, goods, supplies, anything that still appeared to be in working condition. There wasn't much left to salvage from the destroyed homes of the town. Besides, it didn't exactly feel right to take any personal belongings. The two of us decided to move on to the plaza, with the computer store being closest to our location. 

We managed to find a few monitors that were spared, so I decided to back those up thinking everyone could use their own personal computer in their rooms, instead of all communication being restricted to the station. Then we moved on to the music store, finding two manageable radios and Jesse picked himself a guitar at was stashed in the back of the store. 

He whistled with surprise, admiring the craftsmanship of the instrument. "This here's a mighty find. I'm keeping this one," He grinned, finding a strap as he pulled the six string up on his back. 

"You play?" I asked him. 

"I dabble here and there," He shrugged in reply, sporting his signature cowboy hat, a brown shirt with his chest plate over top, black pants and watching brown cowboy boots. "My old commander taught me."

"You were in Blackwatch right? So that would be Reyes." I recalled. 

"Bingo," McCree huffed, blowing out one last puff of his cigar before tossing it aside. "Gaberial Reyes, the king himself."

"What was he like?" I questioned as the two of us left the store, making our way down the street towards the abandoned bar. 

"To put it simply? Reyes was strict according to most people that knew him. Strict, but fair. With him giving me a place in Blackwatch and all, I guess you could say he was a kind of father figure to me." Jesse began. 

"So you looked up to him?" I replied.

"Big time," He nodded, pulling the front door open for me as we both entered the establishment. "We always had each others backs. No matter how tough a mission looked, Reyes always found a way to get us all home. May not be pretty half of the time, but it worked." 

"I'm sorry about what happened to him, and Mr. Morrison for that matter," I spoke apologetically. 

"Thank you, Hope," He replied. "To be honest, sometimes I wonder what today would be like if I hadn't left Overwatch before that. Maybe I could have done something to help. Maybe even save them." 

My eyes widened with sympathy for the cowboy as I reached over, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Jesse..."

The man sighed as he rubbed his eyes before looking over at the girl. "Can we, uh, maybe not talk about this right now?"

I nodded with understanding, slowly moving my hand away from his shoulder. "Sure,"

"Hey," he suddenly spoke up, catching my hand with his robotic limb, squeezing it gently. "Thanks."

"For what?" I asked with confusion. 

"For listening." He smirked.

I smiled back at the cowboy as he let go of my hand and proceeded to look around. I walked to the other end of the building, one of the tables catching my attention. I placed a hand on it and a holographic map appeared on the tables surface. It's sudden appearance startled me as I surveyed the map as it displayed Eichenwalde on one end, the forest in the middle, and then a near by metropolis on the other end. German names that were impossible for me to decipher popped up, and I didn't want to attempt and butcher Reinhardt's home language. 

"Is this some sort of map of the original battle?" I muttered to myself. 

I tapped my finger on the touch screen of my communicator, snapping a picture of the map. Perhaps Reinhardt could help shed some light about this when we return from our scavenger hunt. 

"Hey! You think any of these old taps still work?" McCree spoke up, taking a look behind the bar at all the old bottles machines. "I'm having an all mighty thirst." 

"Well, I may not have any beer on me," I replied, taking off my backpack and unzipping it as I reached inside, pulling out a water bottle. "But I have something that will work just as fine."

"That'll work." He laughed. 

I tossed him the bottle before pulling out another one for myself. The two of us sat by the bar, making the occasional small talk. Just when we didn't find anything else of value and were about to leave the bar, my communicator went off. It was a message from Torbjorn.

"It's all set! Get down McCree down here!" 

I smiled upon seeing the message as I lowered my wrist and looked over at the cowboy. "Hey Jesse?"

"Yeah kid?" McCree perked up, meeting my gaze. 

"You're not busy this afternoon are you?" I asked. 

********

The look on McCree's face when he saw the stable was everything I ever hoped it would be, and when he got sights of the horses? Even better. 

"Well I'll be damned..." He spoke in awe. 

I giggled at the cowboy's reaction, glancing over at the dwarf as he brought out Spirit into the clearing. The horse was all saddled up and ready for a ride. "I think he liked your surprise, Torbjorn."

"Oh I can see that alright," He chuckled in reply as he began to head back inside the stable. "Go on a head Jesse,"

McCree smiled, his eyes twinkling with excitement as he climbed up and sat himself down on the saddle. "Feels good to be back in the saddle again." 

"Since you're here, I was hoping you could help me set up these markers to map out the trails," Torbjorn explained. He walked back out with Echo wearing his own little saddle and reins, and a sack filled with pole markers was tied to the side of the saddle. "I don't want you and the others getting lost out here in these woods."

"No problemeo," The cowboy acknowledged as Torbjorn tied another sack to Jesse's saddle. The cowboy turned his head towards me, "Hope, you coming with?"

I gaped with surprise at the question. Pointing to myself, I raised a brow at the man. "Me?"

"Why not?" He shrugged. "It'll be fun!"

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I've only ever ridden an actual horse once when I was a kid, I'd just slow you down," I replied, brushing my hair back with uncertainty. 

"Aw no biggy, you can ride with me," Jesse offered. 

"Really?" My eyes widened.

"Yeah, hoop on," The cowboy smiled, extending his cybernetic limb towards me. Reaching out, I took his hand as he pulled me up on the saddle, sitting behind him. "Don't be afraid to wrap your arms around me again if you're scared about falling off." Jesse teased with a chuckle, glancing back at me. 

I rubbed the back of my neck while a cheap smile formed on my lips. "Yeah, I guess we don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

Torbjorn couldn't help but laugh after hearing that as he saddled up on Echo. "Always the charmer aren't you, McCree? I thought you were saving that line for that archer fellow?"

Jesse's cheeks instantly blushed a bright red as I gasped at the man. "So you do like Hanzo?!"

The cowboy coughed, whipping the reins of his horse. "I thought we had a job to do? Let's get a move on!"

I rolled my eyes as the three of us began our trek through one of the trails. 

The shined in the bright sky, birds and crickets chirping. The forest sure looked beautiful during this time of day. Every so often, Torbjorn would instruct McCree where to put a marker, and there exactly to make any turns or change of direction. This guy had it all figured out too! There were some pretty amazing views. At one point we even passed by a waterfall! 

I'm not exactly sure how long we were out here for, but it felt like quite a while. McCree jabbed the last marker into the ground, making sure it was stuck in the dirt tight before Spirit backed up away from it. "That's the last one," he reported, looking over at Torbjorn. "Should we head back?"

Before Torbjorn could reply, a loud clap of thunder echoed across the sky. We all looked off over a cliff to see dark storm clouds heading our way. They didn't look exactly welcoming either. 

"Strange, there was never a forecast of rain for today," Torbjorn spoke with confusion. "But, yes, we should be on our way." 

We began make our way back down the trail towards the stable, however it seemed like the rain clouds were moving a lot quicker than we were. What was a light drizzle turned into an absolute downpour in seconds. I'm pretty sure I could speak for the three of us that we were soaked completely from head to too. Torbjorn was kind of hanging in there while wearing his armour, and Jesse had his chest plate and poncho over top that to keep his shirt dry, not to mention his hat. As for me? Not so much. 

The thunder wasn't helping with our current situation either. Could thing the markers came with beacons to light up the trail, other wise I'm pretty sure the guys wouldn't be able to see where they were going through all this rain. The thunder roared through the trees, startling me as my grip on McCree's shoulders tightened. 

"We should be almost there," McCree rose his voice. "You doing alright back there, Hope?"

"I'm surviving!" I yelled back. 

Just as we were cruising by a steep hill, there was a sudden clash of lightning that came out of nowhere, scaring Spirit and Echo. They jumped up like you were performing a wheelie on a motorcycle, startled by the sudden flash of light. They were moving so quick, I couldn't react fast enough and ended up falling off Spirit and over the edge of the hill! I tumbled down the sloop, trying to dig my hands into the dirt to stop myself from falling. When I finally did come to a halt, it was only when my back hit a boulder sticking out from he hill. I hissed from the pain, my eyes locked shut. I'm just glad it wasn't a sharp one. 

"Ivery?!"

"Hope, where'd you go?!"

I could hear Jesse and Torbjorn's voices as I slowly pushed myself up my knees, looking up at the top of the hill. I watched as they looked out over the edge, spotting me. "G-G-Guys?!" I yelped with a stutter. With my clothes soaked and now especially covered in dirt and mud, the cold the storm brought with it was really getting to me now.

"Stay right there, and don't move!" McCree yelled. 

"McCree watch out!" Torbjorn exclaimed. 

Before the two could get off their horses to come get me, a mud slide from the hill above them had given way as they just barely dodged it. I tried to make a break for it but as it came down, it shoved my legs as I was forcibly collapsed to the ground as the mud slide carried me down with it.

"GUYS, HELP!" I screamed. 

The last time I heard their voices, I was sliding down the hill so fast I could barely make out what they were saying. When I made it to the bottom of the hill, I ended up hitting solid ground and my vision turned blurry. I tried pulling myself up from the ground but my arms didn't have hardly enough energy, as I face plated back into the mud again. 

The last thing I remembered complete was hearing a strange whirling sound, followed by some footsteps. Was it my friends perhaps? They were a bit heavy though, even for Reinhardt or Winston. They couldn't have come here that quickly, could they?

I saw a metal hand reach out for me, and then everything went black, along with my body turning numb.