Demoted || Genyatta

Chapter 19: I Know You've Had Choices to Make But I'm With You

The excitement of the previous night had all but vanished as Genji hurriedly made his way through the barracks at 7 am in the morning. Although he'd had been lucky enough to fall asleep feeling excited, when he awoke this morning he had not been quite so fortunate; there was an intense feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

It wasn't dread for the mission—Genji still wanted to go with Zen after the talk with McCree last night. No, what really got Genji anxious is the realization he'd had. What if Reyes didn't let him join the mission? Genji had made up his mind at the very last second, after all. With the mission officially starting in an hour, Genji really was cutting it short, so it wouldn't be surprising if Reyes decided to make him stay here anyway.

When he reached Reyes' office, he took a deep breath to collect himself and then softly knocked on the door. Genji's nerves only multiplied the longer it took for Reyes to respond (what if he wasn't even in his office?), but after a small while, Reyes' clear voice rang from inside. "Come in."

The commander was sitting behind his desk, flipping through the pages of a file. When he looked up and saw Genji, he quickly snapped it shut and shoved it to the side. "Genji, what can I do for you?"

"Please put me back on the mission." Genji spoke rapidly, like it would help lessen his nerves to get the words out quicker.

Reyes looked a bit taken aback. He stared at Genji plainly for a moment, and the dread in Genji's stomach was worsening every second. He'd been too late. Reyes was going to refuse him.

But right as Genji lost hope, the tiniest of smiles appeared on Reyes' face.

"Alright," he said.

"Alright?" Genji was almost afraid to ask him to clarify.

Reyes laughed. "Alright. You're back on."

At that news, Genji couldn't help but laugh too. He did it! He was going on the mission with Zen! The excitement was back in full force and Genji loved it. He loved feeling like this; he loved the butterflies in his stomach. He never wanted his feeling to leave again.

Reyes was surprised, but visibly happy about Genji's enthusiasm. He was still smiling and looking oddly proud of himself—for what exactly, Genji didn't know. Reyes wasn't one to be proud of others, so he was most likely proud of himself. Genji didn't care.

With a deep bow, Genji said, "Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Reyes rolled his eyes, but had not stopped smiling. "You should hurry to the hangar, the dropship is about to take off. Zenyatta will be very happy to see you."

Genji felt his face flush, but he laughed and nodded regardless, hoping his red face wouldn't show in the darkness of Reyes' office. "Got it. Thanks again."

He bowed again before turning to the door. He looked back once to see Reyes had picked up the file again, and was now writing something new in it. He wondered vaguely if it could be his personal file, but perhaps it was just a coincidence.

The hangar wasn't too far, and Genji reached it even quicker because he'd run all the way there. He was relieved to see the dropship hadn't taken off without him (although Genji assumed Reyes would've notified them of his last second decision) and people were still busy carrying supplies inside it.

Seeing everyone carry boxes upon boxes of weapons, Genji remembered that, although Zen's part of the mission was reasonably safe, it was still a warzone; other Blackwatch members had gotten the unsafe part of the mission, and would have to put their lives on the line today. At least one person here would go out on this mission and not come back.

With a deep breath, Genji shook the gloomy thoughts off and headed for the dropship. He was just thankful that he was on the safe side of the mission this time around.