Solar Storm (Overwatch Illari x Male reader)

Chapter Seventeen: Unfamiliar Emotions

Your heavy eyelids slowly opened as the soft beeping of monitors and medical equipment sounded every few seconds in your ears, a small confused mumble rumbling from your throat as exhaustion hung heavily upon your shoulders. Your hair was a mess, you could feel parts sticking up as a light breeze from the ceiling fan shook it gently. A long, drawn out yawn escaped you, your eyes still half shut as you tried to work through the early morning grogginess.

Was it even morning? What happened after yesterday? Was it yesterday that you were with Bastion? Or was that earlier today?

You lazily scratched your neck as you sat up in your bed with a bit of a struggle, your wounds and bruises still very much present as you winced in your tired state. Your eyes went around the room, trying to spot a calendar, or a clock, anything to give you a sense of what time or day it was. As your eyes scanned the room, you couldn't help but notice how empty it was. There was no one here set to watch over you, the room devoid of any other presence aside from your own. Eventually you found a clock on a nearby wall, though to your great misfortune it was an analogue, and there were no windows for you to look out of to see what time of day it was. All you had to go off was that it was 9 in either the morning or at night.

"What sort of infirmary doesn't have windows?" You grumbled to yourself as you began to get out of bed, looking down to see your boots waiting for you on the ground. You noticed yourself in the reflection of the mirror mounted on the far wall, seeing yourself in the same casual clothes you had gone outside in yesterday for your walk. Had you passed out the moment you got back? You remember talking to Baptiste and Ana, and then a strange sound that almost sounded like whistling. However you fell asleep, it kept you out long enough for most of the bruising on your face to clear up, unfortunately the same could not be said for the rest of your body as each step and movement felt like something was going to open up again. You slid into your boots with a little bit of stumbling, wincing as you gained your balance as you stood up straight, your boots thudding through the quiet room as a monitor beep filled the void between your steps.

You passed by an empty bed as you scratched your head, not paying too much mind to anything as you tried to break yourself out of your sleepy state, a familiar Solar rifle resting against a nightstand briefly caught your eye as you kept walking forward. You began to wonder where Angela and Baptiste were, they were supposed to be the ones who wer-

You stopped walking.

Turning back, you stared at the Solar rifle and the empty bed of the occupant who should have been there. Ever since your return to base, you hadn't been able to spend any time with Illari at all, the two of you either separated for different tests or were resting. Her absence felt disorientating for more than one reason, typically you two would always be hanging out, even if you sat there doing nothing. She didn't speak to anyone else if she could help it aside from a few people, though in those days before you departed for that pain ridden mission you had seen Illari warming up to Kiriko and Genji when they had started talking about her augments, saying that her light and power reminded them of a legend Kiriko's mother would tell them when they were younger.

But even with all of that, having the mission play out the way it did, it felt... wrong to not be able to talk with her. She held her anger against you, and then after your victory you shared that kind moment, and then just...

Nothing.

It felt as if it hadn't really been given a conclusion. You didn't know if Illari had forgiven you for what happened, or if the relief of your victory together merely delayed her ill feelings. Regardless of what the reason may be, you wanted to see her.

You felt the weight of your injuries as you took each step, reaching the door with a bandaged hand that scrolled through the keypad, opening it with a loud hiss as you stumbled through. Step by step, you followed the familiar path to Illari's room, your left leg screaming in pain as you continued to move. This wasn't such a nuisance to deal with when you went on your walk with Bastion, and you couldn't figure out if you sleeping for so long had caused it to seize up, or if the medicine had worn off, or if it was both in this case. Maybe it would have been a good idea to grab a crutch before you left, it definitely would have helped.