Broken Bodies, Broken Hearts

7

Between the stacks of paperwork Jesse was handed throughout the day, to the seemingly endless lists of things he needed to fix and create, there seemed to be no rest for the engineer. Though he did take the time to wander down to the mess hall at noon to get himself a proper meal for the first time in weeks. It seemed strange that soon enough he would be out of this place, the others in tow.

Maybe finally he'd get to tell Genji the stories of his time there, whilst the man had gone into hiding he knew he would still thrive off the stories. There were only a few years between the pair, yet Genji still kept some of his teenage enthusiasm with him through the few letters they had exchanged. It never quite dawned on him how much the war had changed them, then again the war had changed everyone in one way or another.

Tossing his waste into one of the overflowing bins in the corner of the room, he marched away, lighting a cigar though he was certain either Athena or Angela would lecture him on it soon enough. They cared so much it was endearing and he felt bad that they'd gotten caught up in the war, most of the nurses and doctors around were just as kind and undeserving of the fate they'd been forced to have.

Fiddling with the keys that were firmly hooked onto his belt, he almost flung open the doors to the workshop he'd grown familiar with in the past few years. Whilst it had indeed been slowly getting emptier as more and more of the group left, it still felt just as cosy as the day he'd stepped foot into it in those darn ridiculous cowboy boots. A small snicker escaped his lips as the nostalgia washed over him. The white papers messily thrown across his desk however, stole his attention instantly.

Gathering them up into a (somewhat) tidy pile, he neatly slipped a clip over them and pledged to get them to Jack before night came, it was the least he could do to help ease the other man's workload. He'd seemingly been drowning himself in liquor when he hadn't been filling out more and more paperwork to cover every lost or missing man. The injured had been draining the medical team in the meantime, whilst Jesse quietly worked his way through engineering new limbs and fixing things like old times. Nobody got enough credit, only the few that had bombed the remaining hubs for the omnics. Five of them, five young kids that had only joined the squad in the last six months. Maybe they were disposable, he would never know, but it seemed unfair that not even Jack was credited with saving their asses.

Kicking a scrap of paper across the ground and tossing the other papers onto the workbench behind him, he let out a huff of frustration. He was hardly bitter about this, hell he didn't have enough energy for that, just frustrated about the whole thing. Ever since he'd gotten back the radio had sat collecting dust, he was too scared to turn it on after hearing what they had to say about everyone. Occasionally they'd dragged him into it, though only naming him as "the bowman's boyfriend", and blaming him for making him go soft. Somehow, everyone got tied up in the media's mess, there was no way out of it so they'd just learnt to suck it up in the end.

He was due to be sent home upon the recovery of Hanzo, the war had no place for the engineers they had once relied so heavily - though it was uncertain with the amount of work that had suddenly begun to pile up. He'd finished most of what he needed to do, the scrap metal lying uselessly on the ground in piles. Though he'd received word of Hanzo waking up from whatever the hell had happened to him, most of those that had visited had mentioned he refused to speak. He was tempted to visit, but he wasn't sure if he could cope with the silence.

Even Jack had made an effort though it proved futile, he seemed to have left the room in a rush. Whether or not he had spoken it was unknown, though if he had he reckoned it was something to do with Gabe. The man had been in their custody for mere days and already things had happened. He hadn't tried to leave, though his ghosting seemed almost... uncontrollable. The screams that left his mouth in the dead of night were haunting, and the one time he had caught a glimpse of him he'd been begging for someone, anyone to kill him.