Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dark and cold. That’s the simplest way to describe the forest as Cassidy made his way through it. Sticks and leaves crunched under his sharp boots. He observed his surroundings carefully with the little noise he made. Nothing was exactly easy as a monster hunter, but he knew that. Plus, Cassidy was good at what he did. Though, at the moment, he was starting to doubt his skills. There were roughly no signs of any type of creature, only normal animals. Which, in some aspect, Cassidy guessed could be a monster, but it was unlikely. Cassidy had listened closely to the descriptions people had given him of this monster; a light gray humanoid figure, a large tattoo covering half its body, black hair that was in a pony tail, distinct horns on his forehead….Now, Cassidy had no idea how anyone was able to get that good of a description, considering they had all said the creature was definitely a demon of sorts. Demons usually don’t let humans get too close without ending them. This little detail made Cassidy hesitant, maybe this wasn’t a monster, just some weird circumstance?

Cassidy kept walking, hoping for some sign of this “demon” - after all, his paycheck was only earned if he killed it. But Cassidy was still at a loss. Just as Cassidy was beginning to admit defeat and turned to leave the woods, he heard a growl - not a dog growl. This wasn’t a wolf or some type of animal, it sounded different, but not in a way Cassidy could describe. Cassidy whipped his head around as quickly as he could, drawing his revolver from his holster, trying to get ready for whatever was near…but he didn’t see anything. Cassidy knew revolvers weren’t exactly the best weapon when monster hunting, or the one you see other hunters used - but Cassidy felt like it gave him some type of gimmick, something he could be known for. Plus, he was terrible at aiming the crossbow on his back. That was just for show at this point. 

Cassidy didn’t dare make a noise and alert whatever was near him, or worse - scare it off - what if this was the demon? Cassidy still had a job to do. So Cassidy stood still, preparing for whatever was out there. The last thing he was expecting was a big blue dragon to come out and launch at him. This wasn’t some normal dragon - not one with scales and darkened colors - this one was almost see through and bright blue…like some type of spirit. Nothing Cassidy hadn’t seen per se, but he hadn’t ever seen anything exactly like this. Cassidy didn’t really know how to defend himself, his shots seemed to be going through the dragon and having no effect. All he could do was tumble backward and cower as this beast stared at him, growling. 

“What are you?” That’s all Cassidy could mutter as he tried to figure out how to get out of this situation.

“I’d expect an expert like you to be able to recognize a spirit.” A thick Japanese accent came out of the forest. The voice was clearly familiar to the dragon, as it turned around and went right to the voice. Cassidy was still on the ground, gripping his revolver and attempting to aim it at the direction of the voice. 

“Put that down,” The voice scoffed as it now exited the trees and came into view. Cassidy gasped. It was the exact demon he had been sent out here to find. Although he had conjured an image in his head of what it would look like, words could not have done this creature justice. Usually, monsters were the definition of ugly, but something about this demon Cassidy found down-right gorgeous. 

Why is that my first thought? Cassidy shook his head, trying to get such a weird thought out of his mind.

Cassidy finally registered what the demon said - and did not comply with the demand. Instead, he aimed his gun directly at the demon’s head. Not that this would do anything, demons weren’t affected by anything but fire. This was common knowledge, but for some reason Cassidy’s mind was lost and couldn’t think of anything logical. He was simply intrigued at the creature before him. 

“Are you stupid? That gun won’t kill me,” The demon walked closer, Cassidy’s heart pounded louder and louder. He had dealt with demons before, but none with this much…expression. Well, okay, this one didn’t really have any expression, but his clear disdain for Cassidy’s actions was much more than most evil creatures. Most creatures, or demons, would have just killed Cassidy by now, especially considering Cassidy’s lack of professionalism about the entire situation. 

“You’re that one hunter, I assume? What do they call you again?” The man bent down, looking directly at Cassidy’s face. All Cassidy could focus on was this demon’s piercing glowing white eyes. No pupils, no nothing. Just pure light. It was…captivating. 

“Cole…Cole Cassidy,” Cassidy took a deep breath and spoke his name. Why was he so fucking nervous? This was insane. He was an expert, as the demon had said. Nothing ever scared him. But there was something different about this…creature. A fully conscious demon who’s able to not only speak, but is clearly human in a sense. This wasn’t a normal demon. Also, he had a dragon spirit? 

“Ah, yes. I have heard of you.” The demon nodded, standing up.

“Well, you best be on your way before he decides to stop listening to me,” The demon pointed to the dragon who was still staring directly at Cassidy with a look of anger in its eyes. 

“Wait,” Cassidy began, stumbling onto his feet and holstering his gun.

“Who are you?” Cassidy needed answers.

“What do you ever mean? I am a monster, no?” The demon raised an eyebrow. Cassidy couldn’t fully understand what he meant.

“Well, yes - but - you seem so…” Cassidy gestured his hands, trying to find the right word that wouldn’t insult the demon.

“Human?” The demon finished the sentence for Cassidy.

“Well…yeah,” Cassidy nodded, shrugging his shoulders.

“You have no reason to be asking me these questions. Leave,” The demon waved Cassidy off, but little did he know how stubborn Cassidy was.

“I can’t do that, darlin’,” Cassidy let out a sigh and shook his head as the demon turned to give him a nasty glare, clearly as a reaction to the pet name, and the fact Cassidy refused to leave.

“And why not?” The demon snarled. 

“I got a job to do,” Cassidy explained the obvious.

“You’re wanted dead, hon,” Cassidy always used pet names on people, but this wasn’t a person. Why was he feeling so...eased around this demon? As if he was a human capable of a human conversation?

“Stop calling me such words.” The demon didn’t move, rather just stared and observed Cassidy.

“I am aware the townsfolk fear me. Keep it that way.” The demon turned his back to Cassidy as an attempt to leave. Cassidy stepped in front of him.

“I can’t just leave without some proof of death.” Cassidy was persistent.

“What are you on about, hunter?” The demon was getting impatient as he folded his arms across his chest. Cassidy noticed his dragon had disappeared by now.

“Well, I’ll let you live. We both know it ain’t easy to kill a demon,”  Cassidy began his explanation, the words that left his mouth were nothing short of his normal charming personality. It was kind of annoying to him sometimes, how he was so eager to get along with everyone.

“Okay…?”  The demon was clearly unimpressed with Cassidy’s revelation; obviously he was not dying tonight.

“All I require from you is some proof I can bring back to say I killed you off. And a promise you’ll stop terrorizing folk.”  Cassidy compromised, a grin growing on his face…as if this was something normal to be saying to anyone, let alone a literal demon.

“I do not make promises.” The demon stated bluntly.

“Darlin’, you don’t have much of a choice,” The words left Cassidy’s mouth, and next thing he knew he was pinned up to a nearby tree, the demon with his arm across Cassidy’s neck, clearly prepared to end the hunter’s life if need be.

“I have endless choices. For one, I could snap your neck right now and end this entire conversation.”  The demon growled his words, it was clear he was sick of Cassidy’s charm and “compromises.” Cassidy gasped for air, unexpecting the demon to be so straight forward and easily ready to kill Cassidy - even though that’s kind of what monsters did. Cassidy’s entire brain was clearly clouded through this entire situation, and he had no idea why he wasn’t able to think logically like normal. 

“No need … to do something…rash…” Cassidy’s breath was slowly leaving his lungs, as he gripped the demon’s wrist with his own two hands, trying to pry him off. It didn’t work.

“Then leave me alone, hunter,” The demon dropped Cassidy to the ground. Cassidy took in as much air as he could and got himself to breathe at a steady pace once again. It was now that he looked up and fully took in the demon’s look; he was wearing the traditional Japanese attire that Cassidy did not know how to describe or what the name was. Which probably says a lot about Cassidy and his lack of cultural education. Cassidy’s mind began questioning this demon’s origins - how did he end up in the woods of Gibraltar if  he was from Japan? Had he become a demon here or back in his homeland? There were many questions intruding on Cassidy's mind, but he was cut off by the demon.

“I told you to leave.” These words did not go unheard by Cassidy, as the man stumbled to his feet, looking as if  he was going to comply, but then he simply sated:

“I’ll leave if you tell me your name,” The statement was met with a loud groan from the demon, who was very sick and tired of Cassidy at this point.

“Hanzo.” The demon spoke sternly. He turned his back after speaking, and retreated into the woods without another word. Cassidy stood there, processing the interaction he just had. 

“Hanzo. Nice ring to it,” Cassidy shrugged with his final thought, as he too left the words to deliver the unfortunate news to the townsfolk: the demon still lived. 

Chapter Text

“What do you mean the demon lives?” Freja was not happy with the news Cassidy brought back to the group. Her anger was prevalent as she slammed her fist into the rectangular wooden table. Cassidy hadn’t expected any good reaction, but he rarely saw Freja this mad.

Cassidy looked around the room and examined the people before him before continuing the conversation. Fareeha - the renowned dragon hunter, fully in her scaled gear that was bigger than anyone else in the room - the wings on the back taking up a good amount of space itself. The braid on the side of her head dangled over her face, almost covering the shocked look she was giving Cassidy. She usually wasn’t this…upset with him. Then there was Sombra - or Olivia - who was sitting at the large table in the middle of all of them, not really paying attention to anyone. She never did, but it was clear she was picking up on every word. She wasn’t interactive - but she was observant. Her outfit matched this trait, as it was dark brown and robe-like, really nothing eye catching unlike most people who lived here. Cassidy liked her most times, she was easy to get along with and very relaxed. He’d consider them to be good friends. Freja was also there, her tactical outfit being basic and breathable, unlike Fareeha’s and Cassidy’s. Her outfit was dark brown with a mixture of gray along, and her cape was attached to her fur hood that he really had never seen her wear. The people that weren’t here would be Brigette and Amélie. Amélie was upstairs, probably doing nothing, and Cassidy had no idea where Brigitte was. Cassidy was snapped out of trying to figure that out when Fareeha spoke, 

“What Freja means is - “ Fareeha  gripped the Danish woman’s shoulders and pulled her away, signaling for her to take a breath.

“You had one job and didn’t do it.” Fareeha’s eyes straightened and started into Cassidy’s. He wanted to advert his gaze, but he knew that wouldn’t make her any happier, so he focused on her wedjat tattoo - she had gotten it when she was younger to honor her heritage, or at least that’s what she told him.

“I know.” Cassidy shook his head, finally responding to his failure. The entire group of hunters had not been thrilled to hear that their epic-gunslining hunter failed a pretty easy mission.

“But it wasn’t that simple, Far,” Cassidy gestured with his hands, trying his best to figure out how to describe Hanzo and get everyone to understand why he hadn’t killed him. Yes, he was a demon. Yes, he was terrorizing people and was a threat. Hell, he had threatened to kill Cassidy. But he wasn’t a normal demon - he wasn’t out for blood. He was almost…human. Cassidy wanted to so desperately just bring everyone in the room out to the woods and show them, but that would end awfully.

“Don’t ‘Far’ me. You messed up big time,” Fareeha turned her back to Cassidy, slowly removing her scaled and bone-plated armor. She placed it on a nearby table, clearly planning to move it to the armory later.

“He wasn’t just some demon,” Cassidy pleaded with Fareeha to understand why he came back without some type of death token.

“Then what was he?” Sombra scoffed from the chair she was sitting in. She was leaning back in her chair, her hood pulled down to reveal her half-shaved head and purple-dyed hair. Her eyes weren’t focused on the situation, rather her gloves - she was picking at the silver plating on her fingertips.

“Well-” Cassidy, yet again, couldn’t explain.

“A demon.” Freja turned back around and scowled the word. Despite her usual fondness towards Cassidy, she was clearly done with him and his bullshit. He couldn’t blame her, he had been doing awfully at his job lately. Last week he had fumbled killing a swamp monster all because he couldn’t fight underwater. Which, in defense, was not part of his training. He was not able to hold his breath forever.

“Yes! But no. He had somethin’ so…human about him,”  Cassidy tried his best to grasp the words, and he was failing miserably.

“Demon or human. You can’t be both, señor,” Sombra rolled her eyes, finally sitting up in her chair and then standing up. She began to make her way to the staircase, signaling she was going to her room. 

“I know! But…” Cassidy was kicking himself for having such a small vocabulary right now. He really shouldn’t have dropped out of school to become a hunter so early on in life.

“Where are you going, Olivia?” Fareeha questioned the woman who was now halfway up the stairs.

“Amélie and I have a hunt later, we’re going to talk about it,” Sombra gave a half assed explanation and was instantly out of sight. Fareeha turned her head back to the group and rolled her eyes, they all knew that Sombra meant the two were just going to go out and do whatever it is they did - definitely not hunt. Cassidy didn’t really care, he had no interest in any of the group’s personal relationships, especially romantic. Despite his charming personality, he was never one to be invested in romance. 

“Cole,” Fareeha let out a long sigh and looked her friend in the eye. The two had been friends since childhood, Cassidy being five years older than her. They had lived in the same village, gone to the same school, explored the forest together…Hell, Cassidy got interested in this career path because of Fareeha. Her mother was an old bog witch that lived in the forest, but she had pushed her daughter to live with proper civilization from an early age so she wouldn’t become an old-brooding witch like her mother. When Fareeha discovered her skills in animal tracking and hunting, she switched it to monsters, and Cassidy tagged along. 

“Whatever happened out there…” Fareeha was clearly trying to find a way to be nice.

“I don’t know why you can’t explain it,” Freja chimed in, her brows still furrowed and her arms still crossed. She wanted nothing more than to slap Cassidy across the face, and honestly, he wouldn’t be mad. He was pissed at himself too. Not only for letting the demon free, but for not being able to explain why.

“The way he spoke - he didn’t even want to kill me, Far,” Cassidy kept trying to explain.

“So you went out into the woods to find a demon, pointed a gun at him, and he was fine with it?” Freja’s eyebrow raised, in disbelief at Cassidy’s stupid story.

“Well, no - but yes. And mainly no.” Cassidy scratched his head, removing his hat and placing it at his side with one hand.

“I’m done. Come find me when you want to make sense.” Freja waved her hand, clearly sick of this entire situation. She made her way to her own room. Cassidy let out a long sigh, and looked down at his boots. 

“Cole,” Fareeha spoke once more, trying to sound reasonable and sympathetic, but it was clear she was frustrated.

“I’m going to sleep,” Cassidy stopped her from speaking and walked off, removing his jacket as he did so. When he made his way to his room, he was shocked to see someone sitting on his bed.

“Really?” Cassidy grumbled, dressing out of his hunting clothes and into something comfortable.

“You seem to need my presence!” The loving Bai Ze jumped off the bed and smiled her usual wide smile.

“I ain’t need nothin’, Kiriko,” Cassidy rolled his eyes as he gestured to the door, his way of telling her to leave. But like usual, she refused. This wasn’t unusual - Kiriko had been a Bai Ze spirit who lived in this large house before the Hunters claimed it, and of course their instinct was to kill her, but she had proven to be no evil being, but rather one that brought protection and help. Due to this, the hunters let her live, as long as she agreed to keep them safe in this house, and she happily agreed. Cassidy didn’t usually mind having a protective spirit around, but Kiriko was very persistent on the wellbeing of each person here and he was not happy about someone bugging him constantly to spill out all his feelings.
“I’m not stupid, Cole. I know every word all of you speak here. And I know you are frustrated,” Kiriko spun around in her little blue dress-like outfit, the ends covered in what looked like clouds to Cassidy. Not that he knew how to describe any of what Kiriko was wearing. It was definitely eye catching, and comforting to look at in a sense, and for sure contrasted Cassidy’s dark metallic wardrobe, while also capturing the fact she was no human.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a type of spirit-guard-thing? Not a therapist?” Cassidy questioned, still putting his uniform away and trying to get ready for bed.

“Wow. A professional hunter and you don’t even know what I do or what I’m called,” Kiriko let out a grumpy response.

“You ain’t a monster, and that’s all I know,” Cassidy looked back at her, she was now standing in the middle of the room, her arms crossed and a frown upon her face.

“Well, what’s your definition of a monster?” She pondered.

“Kiriko, good lord - I do not have time for your philosophical talk. I am tired.” Cassidy waved her question away with his hand, as if that physically got rid of the conversation. He walked closer to his small bed. The room itself was a copy and paste of every other room - a rather small room with nothing more than a twin sized bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. Cassidy’s desk was empty - he wasn’t much of a writer or anything. His room also lacked much decor. He wasn’t a trophy keeper, unlike Freja and Fareeha, whom both had proud trophies hanging on their walls to display their accomplishments. Cassidy’s room was the same as when he first walked in - the only thing different being the shelf he used to hold his gun. That and a shelf near his desk of books - all books about monsters. 

“You are so stubborn, you know that?” Kiriko rolled her eyes, pouting like a child who had just been told no to having candy.

“I’m well aware,” Cassidy sat down on his bed, his elbows leaning over his knees as he stared up at Kiriko.

“Fine. Go to bed. But this conversation isn’t over. I will get through to you,” Kiriko didn’t open the door and leave, rather she turned into a white puff and went right through it like a ghost. Cassidy still wasn’t sure if she counted as one. Damn, she’s right. I’m a monster hunter and don’t even know this basic shit. I really should read more. And with that thought, Cassidy was off to sleep. 

Cassidy awoke  to the sound of laughing from downstairs. Cassidy groaned as he rubbed his eyes and got out of his bed, slowly putting on proper clothing and opening his bedroom door. He dragged himself down the stairs, hoping to be able to grab food - but instead he was greeted with the living area full of people.

“What the -” Cassidy rubbed his eyes and looked at everyone. Fareeha was sitting in a chair, two women next to her that he didn’t recognize, but they were both in witch attire. The only “witch” he had ever known was Ashe - who preferred the term warlock. And things hadn’t ended well between them. So he was confused why there were two standing in the room.

“Ah, Cole,” Fareeha was dressed in normal attire - a white shirt, brown leather pants, black boots - nothing special. It was rare not to see her in her armor, though, even when Cassidy had known her for this long. As kids, she liked to dress up in fake armor she had made from parts around town.

“You’re dressed presentable,” She took a knock at Cassidy’s pajamas - even though it was similar to her outfit now. A white shirt and pants. Nothing special.

“I didn’t know we’d have company,” Cole grumbled, walking into the room and taking a seat.

“Angela, this is Cassidy,” Fareeha gestured from one woman to Cassidy. Cassidy looked at her - she had blonde hair falling from her large hat, the hair covered her right eye. Her outfit was a normal witch get-up as far as Cassidy was concerned. It was a brown robe with small details that Cassidy didn’t really care for, with a large book attached at her hip by a belt. The one interesting thing about her was the wings. Bright orange and spikey, almost mechanical. He wondered if they worked or were just for show.

“Hello, Cassidy! It’s nice to finally meet you! I am Angela - but everyone knows me as Mercy,” The woman’s smile was wide and pleasant, it kind of fit with her German accent. She reached her hand out and Cassidy took it. If he had his hat he would tip it to her.

“Mercy? I don’t know many witches that are…well, merciful,” Cassidy shrugged. Again, the only witch he had known was Ashe, who quite literally used her powers for herself and to control people and nothing else.

“Oh, well, I specialize in a type of magic focused on healing and helping people. I’m not one for spells and curses!” Angela’s smile somehow got wider. She seemed like she had explained this exact thing hundreds of times. Cassidy didn’t really care - he was sick of witches. He had worked for plenty in his time, and they were all cocky and controlling. Mercy seemed nice, but not a bit of him trusted her. Fareeha picked up on this look from Cassidy, that clearly showed his disdain for the witch in front of him, and then she spoke up,
“She is also my partner,” Fareeha let out a smirk, staring directly at Cassidy as he coughed his reaction and sat up in his chair in shock.

“You…what? You never told me you were with anyone,” Cassidy shook his head.

“Never something you cared about,” She rolled her eyes, pointing out Cassidy’s lack of interest in people’s personal lives.

“Well, I guess - but…how long has this been? Yer dating a witch?” Cassidy felt like he’d been shot.

“Okay, don’t say it like that,” Mercy chimed in, a bit offended. Cassidy smiled in apology, not that he cared. 

“A few months,” Fareeha answered, her snarky expression clear as day.

“Wow…I am…unobservant,” Cassidy sighed. He kind of felt bad for being so untuned in his friends’ lives. He never realized how caught up he was with himself and his work.

“We know,” Fareeha laughed, but Cassidy wasn’t amused.

“Anyways…” Fareeha turned her focus to the other witch in the room.

“This is Satya - “ Fareeha began,

“Symmetra,” the woman corrected with a thick Indian accent, not letting Fareeha finish. She was wearing  a bright orange and red outfit that started at her chest, covered her stomach and most of her body, and ended in a cape-like backing at the bottom instead of a full-on dress or robe. It was revealing, but it suited the woman from what Cassidy could tell. Cassidy reached his hand out for a shake, but the woman did not return it. He withdrew it awkwardly.

“Okay. Why are  they both here?” Cassidy finally asked.

“I told them about your little situation yesterday,” Fareeha was clearly referencing Cassidy’s demon encounter.

“What? Why?!” Cassidy gripped the table, feeling a little betrayed by his friend.

“Well, I figured Angela could have some intel on what you tried to describe - she knows a lot about every creature. More than some of us. And she knows the woods well. Sat- Symmetra is good with her magic and is very good with mind control,” Fareeha explained all of it. Cassidy knew it made sense, but something about this fell off. Why didn’t Fareeha just believe him? And why did he have to have an army to back him up? 

“So…” Cassidy begged for a further explanation on what the four of them were going to do.

“So….you and I are going to get geared up and look for this demon,” Pharah stood up and walked to the armory. Cassidy stood up and followed.
“Woah, woah - as a group? That’s…not smart,” Cassidy shook his head, and Fareeha whirled around at his words.

“No, it’s not, but…you seemed very genuine about what you saw. I believe if you didn’t have a reason to kill that demon, then you didn’t. But I need to see it for myself,” Fareeha gave her side of the story.

“Okay, but do we really need two witches with us? Why not just come with me and I’ll show you?” Cassidy questioned this all. Fareeha was always like this - she always needed a team. She couldn’t do things alone, or with just one person. It was frustrating that Cassidy had to deal with this all with people he didn’t even know.

“They are here if this goes wrong. Symmetra can mind control anything, and Angela is there for healing. Plus, they’re both very good at identifying and tracking creatures,” Fareeha argued. She recognized Cassidy’s disdain for the situation, but was not letting him get his way.

“So are we, Far. That’s what we do,” Cassidy was confused. Was their entire job not to hunt monsters?

“Yes, but the extra help is never a bad thing, Cole,” Fareeha reassured. Cassidy was also always like this - a loner. He liked getting the job done by himself. Occasionally he and Freja worked together - but that was it. Never more than two people. 

“You don’t get a say, Cole, we are doing this. It’s our job, after all,” Fareeha turned and went to get geared up. Cassidy followed after letting out a big groan. 

The group geared up, ate breakfast and informed the rest of what they were doing. Sombra hadn’t cared, nor had Amélie, Brigitte wished them good luck, and Freja gave Cassidy the silent treatment. She was still upset that everyone was taking this seriously, it was clear she was convinced Cassidy was screwing with them all. 

When everything was squared away, Cassidy and Fareeha told Kiriko to watch the house (neither of them trusted the others), and Kiriko promised. Then the four trekked out to the forest to find the demon. 

“He was around here somewhere,” Cassidy said when they finally reached the area where he had clashed with Hanzo and his dragon-spirit-thing. 

“I see no signs of…anything,” Mercy pointed out as she glanced around the tiny clearing in the forest.

“I didn’t either when I first ran into him,” Cassidy pointed out, recalling his interaction from the other day.

“Fareeha?” Mercy looked to the woman to see if she noticed anything, but she only shrugged.

“I do not see or even sense any presence,” Symmetra added. 

“Cole, are you sure you ran into-” Fareeha’s question was cut off instantly by a flash of blue shoving her to the ground and snarling its teeth at her. The dragon. Cassidy stood there, unsure of  how to help - when this had happened to him, Hanzo had spoken and the dragon had just left. But Hanzo was nowhere in sight.  Symmetra and Mercy had stumbled back in shock, both women clutching onto one another so they didn’t fall. It was clear they were confused on how to react too. Fareeha struggled with the creature, using her hands to grasp its neck, but that was a lost cause. It kept trying to nip at her face. Cassidy felt beyond awful for just standing there. But what was he supposed to do? Bullets didn’t do anything. Cassidy finally stepped in and tried wrangling the dragon off of her, but it was no use. He was smacked aside by its tail, and cast to the ground.

Cassidy then yelled out:
“Hanzo! I know you’re around here! Now come get your damn pet!” Cassidy stood up, scanning the trees to try and find a sign of someone.

“Who?” Fareeha muttered as she was still trying to throw the dragon off her. A sudden whistle came from the trees, and then the dragon darted towards it. Hanzo. 

“Thank you.” Cassidy shouted as a reply, not really sure what else to say or do.

“That was not a pet,” Fareeha scoffed as Mercy helped her up, wiping her armor off. Mercy immediately checked Fareeha’s face for any sign of injury.

“You’re right,” Cassidy recognized Hanzo’s voice from the trees. Why was he speaking but not revealing himself?

“What do you want, Hunter? I told you to leave,” An interesting question from a demon who was supposed to be violent and blood thirsty. He could have ignored Cassidy’s plea and let the dragon tear Fareeha to shreds - but he didn’t.

“And I did. But now I’m back with some friends,” Cassidy gestured to the people around him, still scanning the trees to try and find Hanzo. The others were doing the same.

“You are not smart.” Hanzo snapped back at Cassidy’s answer. 

“Maybe not, but they didn’t believe me when I said you were…human-like.” Cassidy explained. The others nodded at his words.

“None of me is any of your business. All of you must leave.” Hanzo shouted, clearly getting more impatient.

“I’m afraid we cannot do such a thing,” Cassidy let out the same thing he had said to Hanzo the first time. Cassidy glanced over to see Symmetra and Mercy whispering to each other, pointing to a treetop above them. Cassidy looked over to it. Mercy nodded to Symmetra, and then Symmetra began to cast some sort of spell - and in two seconds Hanzo was on the ground. Symmetra had moved the branches out from under him. He quickly looked up at the group and stood up. He attempted to run away, but Cassidy was quick to snatch his arm.

“Not happenin’, darlin’,” Cassidy was about to hold Hanzo down, but before he could, Hanzo had done the same thing as before - pinned Cassidy to a tree with his arm to his throat. Fareeha launched into action, trying to pry Hanzo off of Cassidy, but Hanzo simply did not move, and rather his dragon came out of nowhere and gripped Fareeha away, putting her in the same position as before - on the ground and fighting the creature. Mercy was looking through her book, clearly trying to find a spell that would help - Symmetra was just watching. It was clear she had a solution, but was waiting to see if Cassidy could free himself without any help. Cassidy, once again, gripped Hanzo’s wrist to let himself try and get some air.

“I don’t know what your motive is, hon, but all we wanna do is ask you some questions,” Cassidy spoke through gasps of air. Hanzo’s grip loosened, and he let Cassidy go. His dragon leaped off of Fareeha and stood next to Hanzo, observing the group.

“I do not answer to anyone.” That was all Hanzo said. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Cassidy.

“You look so familiar,” Mercy blurted out. She was examining Hanzo with her eyes.

“I do not know you,” He stated firmly, still looking at Cassidy with his bright eyes.

“I have seen you somewhere, I’m sure of it!” Mercy stepped closer, but Hanzo shot her a death glare - a warning to step back, which she did.

“Look, Hanzo - “ Cassidy began before the demon returned his stare back to Cassidy.

“They just…wanted to know why I spared you,” Cassidy sighed, trying to say something that wouldn’t get him choked again.

“You did not spare me. You had no means of killing me. I spared you, if anything,” Hanzo let out a slight smirk at his own joke, which, despite its lack of humor, Cassidy was shocked to see a sign of positive emotion on his face, even if it was at his own expense.

“Which, I am grateful for,” Cassidy agreed, trying to get on Hanzo’s good side…if he had one.

“I do not wish to speak to any of you. Leave,” Hanzo glanced at them all, another warning glare. Fareeha was clearly about to speak up, but she didn’t say anything. It was clear Cassidy had control of the situation. That’s when Hanzo’s head lifted up and stared into the forest, like he was being controlled by some weird force - which he was. Cassidy turned to see Symmetra moving her hands, a glow forming around them - she was mind controlling him.

“Will you stop that?!” Cassidy swatted her hands down, and as he did that Hanzo regained consciousness.

“We wanted answers, did we not?” She scoffed, crossing her arms at Cassidy’s actions.

“It ain’t right to do it like that,” Cassidy shook his head. He was sure he could get this demon to speak without the use of magic. Hanzo instantly began to walk off, again trying to escape the group, but he stopped short and turned back around.

“If I see you here again, I will not ask my ‘pet’ to behave,” Hanzo squinted. Although his message was for everyone, it was clearly focused and directed at Cassidy. He had said the smae thing to Cassidy the first time, but he had still spared Cassidy this time.
The demon was now gone, and the four were all alone to process everything.

“I believe you, Cole,” Fareeha finally spoke, her eyes focused on nothing but the ground, like she was trying to figure out what happened.

“That’s no true demon,” She continued, finally looking up at him.

“I told ya,” Cassidy was very happy to say that.

“He may not be a normal demon, but he’s clearly violent,” Mercy chimed in.

“He tried to kill you, Cassidy. He wasn’t just scaring you when he pinned you to that tree, if you had said anything more he would’ve done it. Not to mention Fareeha would’ve been mauled,” Mercy gave her point of view.

“I know. But he didn’t do any of that. He let us live. Is that not weird? And the way he spoke - he has the brain of a human, not some lifeless demon out for anyone’s soul he can find. And that dragon…”  Cassidy kept trying to explain to the group that Hanzo probably wasn’t all that evil, despite how stern he was.

“It was a spirit.” Symmetra chimed in at the last part of Cassidy’s sentence.

“What?” All three looked towards her.

“I have read of them, but never seen them. Meet me at my cottage, I will explain.” And with that, Symmetra was off, kind of signaling for the others to follow, but she didn’t care if they did.

Chapter Text

“See here,” Symmetra guided her fingers through the pages of a book and displayed an image to the group, it was of a dragon that looked exactly like the one Hanzo had. 

“A dragon that is a spirit,” She vocalized what the image was.

“That  much I got,” Cassidy nodded, they had all agreed it was  a spirit.

“But what does it mean? Like, why does he have one?” Cassidy questioned. Cassidy, Mercy, and Fareeha had all followed Symmetra back to her cottage - if you could call it that. It was made of fine stone and brick, but it was in the middle of nowhere -  she clearly liked her privacy, like any witch. It wasn’t small, but it wasn’t huge either. It had two floors like some normal house, but the decor was all of the fanciest and most well designed things Cassidy had ever seen. Either she was rich or she stole all this stuff…or made it all herself with her magic, if that was possible. 

“If you’ve ever wondered why most monarchs get to be monarchs in the first place - it’s because of this. Some bloodlines have been gifted with spirits. The ones in the throne now - although I am not sure which ones they control, surely do have some. Most monarchs are not public about them, for one reason or another,” Symmetra gave her explanation to the others.

“So you’re sayin’ Hanzo was a king or somethin’ before he died?” Cassidy put the pieces together. 

“Most likely. The reason for the spirits with certain bloodlines is unclear, but it’s known that people believe it means they are chosen by some divine being and are meant to rule.” Symmetra was firm and clear with how she spoke, and Cassidy appreciated it. He was starting to make sense of things in his head.

“So -” Cassidy was cut off by Mercy, who ran over to the group. They had all been hovered over a table as Symmetra explained everything, except Mercy - who had been examining Symmetra’s bookshelf, clearly looking for something specific. 

“I got it! I know why he looked familiar!” Mercy shoved Symmetra’s book aside, to which she gave Mercy an angered look. Mercy didn’t notice, and it didn’t seem like she cared. She sprawled the book out on the table in excitement and pointed to one specific page with a photo in it, one of a family, clearly royal.

“The Shimadas!” She exclaimed, like anyone knew what that meant.

“They were a royal family from a long time ago. They were violently overthrown by the kingdom of Talon years ago,”  Mercy explained with excitement, like she had been researching this forever.

“Angela, uh, takes interest in the history of the kingdom,” Fareeha let out a small chuckle, explaining the woman’s excitement.

"How on Earth did a Japenese family come to rule here?" Cassidy had many questions, but he asked them one at a time so everyone could explain. 

"It seems they had traveled from Japan to escape war, and somehow landed here...and like Symmetra said, their bloodline made them royalty material," Mercy looked down at the book, likely speaking as she read it. 

“Okay, if they ruled Gibraltar, then got overthrown by Talon - why ain’t we ruled by Talon?” Cassidy questioned.

“Because we gained back control quickly when Talon realized they could not handle another kingdom, they were simply not prepared. So they retreated,” The words were shocking to Cassidy, Talon had always depicted itself as a kingdom of intensity and not one to be reckoned with. To think they weren’t able to conquer Gibraltar was insane.

“So, they killed a royal family for nothing?” Fareeha blurted, finally having her chance to ask a question.

“Pretty much,” Mercy confirmed.

“Anyways, the family they killed was the Shimadas. And our demon was one of them,” Mercy pointed to a man in the photo, same facial shape and body as Hanzo’s - but his skin wasn’t gray, his eyes weren’t piercing white - he was what one would consider a normal human. A good looking one at that.

“Okay, so he was a prince or somethin’ and got killed by Talon. Doesn’t explain why he’s a demon and haunting the forest,” Cassidy pointed out.

“That’s what I thought, but this book explains the family’s history. Not many copies of it exist now, as the current rulers aren’t fond of focusing on predecessors…or history at all…” Mercy muttered the last part.

“But if you read further, it says Hanzo had killed his brother only a while before he died.” Mercy spoke up for that part, still using an educational tone. 

“Jesus. Why would he do that?” Cassidy’s head lifted in shock at the brutal discovery.

“According to the family, the younger brother was not suited to be royalty and did not align with the kingdom’s values…” Mercy read off the page she was on.

“So they had his brother murder him? Seems pretty fucking intense…” Cassidy couldn’t believe where this story was going. 

“I guess that explains the demon thing - forced to live as the embodiment of sin you committed. Imagine doing something that bad and being forced to live with it forever? He can’t even have the satisfaction of death, only to live with the guilt.” Mercy spoke up with her explanation on it all, and the last part hit Cassidy like a brick. Was he really living forever only to be burdened by his own actions? Cassidy knew that was kind of the point of eternal damnation and being a demon - but hearing it this way kind of hit different. Most times demons were brainless creatures who were reflections of who they were when they lived - evil people. But Hanzo…he was walking, talking and had no desire to suck anyone’s soul. It gave Cassidy the thought that maybe he hadn’t done anything with pure evil intentions.

“Maybe we can get his side of the story,” Fareeha suggested out of nowhere. 

“You’re insane,” Cassidy jumped at Fareeha’s suggestion. Although he agreed that the story was not as clear as it seemed - and Hanzo probably wasn't all that evil - the idea of just running up and asking him about the reason he's a demon in the first place didn't seem smart.

“He said he’d end us all if we stepped back into the woods, you think if we go in there shouting ‘Hey, I know you killed your brother because your parents told you he sucked’ is going to get us anywhere?!” Cassidy shook his head at Fareeha’s idiotic mindset.

“I was going to say - we have no questions to ask him, now. We know why he’s a demon, why he’s haunting the woods, his history… I don’t think he has any reason to keep pushing us away. Nothing to hide.” Fareeha spoke before Cassidy fully broke off from her idea.

“That feels wrong, Far. To just go in there and say ‘I went behind your back and know everything about you now talk to me’.” Cassidy shook his head. 

“Since when did you care?” Fareeha scoffed and tilted her head at Cassidy.

“What do you mean?” He clapped back.

“When it comes to monsters, demons…you usually don’t care. If we had the entire history of a creature you’d run after them with your gun held high, knowing exactly how to combat it. Is that not what we’re doing here?” Fareeha proposed her logic.

“But this isn’t just a monster. Fareeha, think about it. If he was so evil, he wouldn’t be so…conscious. He’d be deadly and rip apart anyone who came close, not even able to do anything but growl. I’m just…I feel like he ain’t that bad,” Cassidy voiced his concerns. He was serious about all of this. The fact Hanzo hadn’t killed any of them yet hit him the wrong way. There was more to this man than being a demon.

“Are you going soft on a demon?” Fareeha was really unimpressed with the words leaving Cassidy’s mouth.

“Maybe,” Cassidy shrugged. Mercy and Symmetra had kind of stepped back and let the two argue. 

“Cole, I trust you and your instincts,” Fareeha softened her look and tone. She turned to him and looked him in the eyes.

“Although I think this is the wrong approach, I will give you time to talk to him on your own terms - but I’m sending Sombra with you if you do so she can watch from afar and help if need be,” Fareeha let out a compromise. Cassidy accepted these terms. 

—

It had been a week since the group had realized what Hanzo really was. Cassidy now sat in a local pub at the counter with his drink. He was in his full gear, listening to the music coming from a local bard who had trekked up here from Brazil, Lúcio Correia dos Santos. Cassidy didn’t know much about him, but he played good music and was friendly enough. Cassidy listened to the sounds of the pub as he took another sip of his whiskey. He was about to get up and leave when he noticed something in the corner of his eye - Ashe. Cassidy instantly jumped out his seat and ran out the back door, throwing some coins on the counter to pay his bill in the rush. He found himself outside the pub, trying to catch his breath. He hadn’t seen Ashe in what felt like years. They hadn’t exactly had a good departure.

Cassidy was a business partner for Ashe when she had decided to become a “warlock” much to her noble parents’ disappointment. Cassidy was just a teenager when he met her. He had Fareeha when he was younger, but she was five years younger than him and still lived with her dad and had a proper family and ambitions. Cassidy had been at a loss. No parents, no guardian, no plans…So when Ashe came along and promised him a beautiful life, he really didn’t have a choice. He had become her “business partner” under the agreement she would pay him. She did, though not that much. She used her magic for herself and only herself. She would cheat, rob and lie to people in any way possible as long as it benefited her, Cassidy taking part in the antics at times. But when he had heard Fareeha had taken up monster hunting, he realized his skills could be used for that much better than Ashe just controlling him constantly. Although at one point he and Ashe were friends, they had become much different people, and she had clearly been corrupted by her power. So Cassidy left. And he hadn’t seen Ashe since, but he knew she wasn’t one to forgive. 

Cassidy stood there, trying to figure out how to not get his ass handed to him by Ashe. He was sure she hadn’t seen him at all, but he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure. He peaked through the back window, trying to hide himself, but his hat was hard to miss. The thought of hiding himself instantly faded once he realized who Ashe was with. 

“Freja?!” Cassidy whispered to himself. A million thoughts rushed through his head, but he figured they would be best to ask Freja herself later. Freja wasn’t a social person, Cassidy had learned this not long after meeting her. And she for sure wasn’t one to hang out with people like Ashe - especially witches. Cassidy didn’t understand Freja’s disdain for them, but she seemed to dislike anything that wasn’t human, which was probably why she was a hunter in the first place. Cassidy didn’t necessarily agree with the mindset she had, but she wasn’t going around killing innocent creatures, so he didn’t object. It was true though that she refused to acknowledge, or praise, Kiriko’s presence in the house.

Cassidy stared at the two women who were laughing and talking while sharing a few drinks. He had never seen Freja this expressive before, what the hell? Cassidy stopped thinking and went straight home to his room to collect his thoughts. And of course, waiting for him was Kiriko. 

Cassidy opened his door to see her sitting on the floor, scribbling in some book. He jumped at the sight of her, although she did this a lot, he was never used to it.

“Do you just sense when I’m upset?” He asked, shutting the door behind him.

“That’s kind of my job, dude,” She sighed as she shut her book and stood up.

“So. What’s up?” She prompted. 

“No, no, no. I’m not doing a therapy session with you - “ Cassidy was cut off by Kiriko gripping his arm and sitting him on the desk chair.

“I have the power to ruin your life, Cole,” She stated firmly. He couldn’t really argue with her.

“Fine. I saw Freja with an old friend of mine. Rubbed me the wrong way,” Cassidy oversimplified his emotions and tried to stand up, 

“Can I go now?” He asked before she sat him back down.

“No. Explain more. Who was she with?” Kiriko persisted.

“No one important,” Cassidy lied.

“You’re so bad at lying! Clearly she’s important or you wouldn’t be upset!” Kiriko complained. She was really annoyed with Cassidy’s stubbornness.

“I don’t know why you need to pry into me like this, ain’t the others got problems you can deal with?” Cassidy groaned.

“Unlike you, they actually deal with their problems in their own ways!” Kiriko crossed her arms. Cassidy just sighed.

“She was with someone who I worked with and was close with for a while. But we kind of left off in a bad way. She ain’t the type of person I’d ever picture Freja near,”  Cassidy explained as little as he could so Kiriko would just leave.

“Do you think that’s the reason Freja’s been so distant with you?” Kiriko read through the lines.

“Excuse me?” Cassidy seemed insulted at the assumption.

“Well, you said you and this woman weren’t on good terms - maybe Freja found that out.” Kiriko shrugged.

“You think she told Freja it’s my fault? So now Freja holds a grudge too?” Cassidy stood up. This wasn’t shocking. Well, it was, but it wasn’t. This was exactly like Ashe. Turn everyone against him so he can feel the pain she felt when he left instead of just confronting him. 

“Fuck,” Cassidy breathed out. For a moment, he was pissed, but then he softened and just gave up.  As much as he wanted to just deal with this, he felt like it didn’t matter. He had buried Ashe so deep down in his mind that the fact she was back - and turning people against him - was beyond exhausting. He didn’t have the energy to care. 

“Can I go to bed now?” Cassidy finally asked Kiriko as if she was his mom.

“I still think you need some help with this stuff,” She objected to him going to bed.

“I…know. But I’m tired, Kiriko. I got something tomorrow.” He gestured as he walked over to his bed.

“Oh! Right! With Olivia!” Kiriko jumped at the realization.

“Yeah…” Cassidy confirmed, trying to get Kiriko out of his room.

“What’s that thing again? What’s the hunt about? Like, what’cha goin’ after?” Kiriko begged for more information, despite the fact she had eyes and ears all over the house and could easily ask anyone else.

“A demon,” Cassidy stated bluntly.

“Oh! Is it the demon? The one they were talking about downstairs - he was a former prince, right?!” Kiriko kept pestering Cassidy.

“Yeah. I’m going to talk to him. Sombra’s comin’ along for support.” Cassidy was beyond done with this conversation. 

“Eek! That’s so exciting. I’ve heard the story of this guy from Pharah. She’s interested in where it goes!” Kiriko was about to leave after that sentence, but Cassidy stopped her.

“Wait, Pharah’s…interested in how this goes? What does that mean? All I’m doin’ is talkin’ to him,” Cassidy didn’t understand.

“Oh, well, she says you seem to have some….you know what? Who am I to tell you? Ask her!” Kiriko spun and in a flash she was a puff of white and gone.

“What?” Cassidy shook his head in confusion, before eventually going to bed. 

—

The next morning he awoke to Sombra banging on his door. 

“Let’s go, tontito!” Her Mexican accent shot through the door, waking Cassidy right up.

“I’m comin’,” He grumbled in his response, having just woken up. As he left his bed and got dressed, he noticed Kiriko sitting at his desk.

“I am about to have some witch use a spell to get you out of here,” Cassidy groaned as he grabbed his hat.

“Not possible! Bai Ze only leaves on their own terms,” She smiled with her response, happy to know she was making Cassidy miserable. 

“Whatever,” Cassidy rolled his eyes, not letting Kiriko talk to him anymore before he left. Sombra was waiting impatiently out the door.

“Why are you in a rush?” Cassidy asked, shutting the door. The two made their way down the stairs.

“I want to see this demon you’re all talking about!” Sombra explained her eagerness. Cassidy just shrugged.

“How’s things going with you and Amélie?” Cassidy felt like another person had gained control of him to ask that. He wasn’t one to ask questions like this to his fellow hunters - even if they were friends, they weren’t this close. But Cassidy felt guilty ever since Fareeha said he didn’t seem to care about her life, which wasn’t true at all. He did care about everyone he was with. He had never realized how little he showed it though.

“Why do you care?” Sombra retorted instead of answering the question. Cassidy shrugged.

“I dunno,” He answered. 

“Things are good,” Sombra gave a half assed answer. 

“I never expected you two to be together, y’know,” Cassidy continued,
“She’s so…closed off, and you’re so…not,” Cassidy explained his point of view.

“Opposites attract, no?” Sombra raised an eyebrow, her accent ringing through the air. 

“True. She seems to care for you, which is more than I’d ever expect from her,” Cassidy expressed how he’s never really seen Amélie show much emotion, if at all. She didn’t even seem to care about her job. Well, most of the time. She was thrilled when she actually got the job done - nothing made her more alive than a kill. Which Cassidy found weird sometimes. But he wasn’t one to judge.

“She’s got a rough shell but there’s a personality under there, you just gotta know where to pry,” And if there was one thing Sombra could do, it was pry. She knew exactly everything about everyone and knew how to press every button to get them to say anything. As evil as that sounded, she usually used it only for personal use or to help someone she deemed worthy. And Amélie was worthy.

Once they got well into the forest, Sombra had taken off to the tree tops to watch from a vantage point so she didn’t disturb Cassidy’s mission, but also had a place to watch. Cassidy walked at his own pace, finding the small clearing he usually clashed with the dragon. This time, Hanzo didn’t let the dragon scare Cassidy, rather he himself lunged from the forest and pinned Cassidy straight to the ground, their noses practically touching.
“Well,” Cassidy gasped from the sudden change of position.

“You really don’t have a brain, do you, Hunter?” Hanzo growled his words, clearly unamused with Cassidy’s persistence that kept him coming back. Cassidy then had an idea - his charm. He had been so confused and tired the first few interactions with Hanzo, he hadn’t really used his biggest skill. His charming personality and presence was one of the only reasons he had made it this far in life. No reason to not rely on it now.

“You know, you’re handsome for a demon,” The words slipped out naturally, even if Cassidy wanted to gag at them. Hanzo’s reaction wasn’t really expected - his eyes widened and he snarled.
“Flattery gets you nowhere, Hunter,” He slowly raised himself off Cassidy, still keeping a sharp eye on him.

“Ya see - that right there,” Cassidy gestured to the situation that just happened as he himself got to his feet.

“You didn’t kill me despite saying multiple times you would. All bark - no bite,” Cassidy was now confident in his words unlike before, he knew what he was doing. Knowing Hanzo’s backstory and the fact Hanzo wasn’t killing him made it obvious to Cassidy that Hanzo wasn’t a monster.

“You aren’t a threat.” Hanzo gave a very simple explanation.

“So that’s it? You just wanna scare me? You admit it?” Cassidy raised an eyebrow, practically begging for Hanzo to speak more.

“Clearly it is not working.” Hanzo growled.

“No, it ain’t, darlin’,” Cassidy smirked.

“Why do you call me those words? You did not call your friends any names yesterday,” Hanzo’s tone was no longer one of violence and anger, rather a genuine question. He seemed to be intrigued by Cassidy, which made sense - he wasn’t exactly your average hunter. Again, most of them would’ve killed Hanzo easily by now. 

“Ah, they slip out naturally, I suppose. Plus, they fit you,” No words could describe the expression Hanzo gave. Cassidy couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed, mad …or what. Cassidy was about to speak more, but he heard something in the woods. Sombra? No, she was up top. Cassidy glanced up to the treetops to see Sombra, and alas, there she was, giving a small wave to reassure that sound was not her. She too had heard it then. 

In a flash, a crossbow arrow flew from the trees and hit the tree directly by Hanzo. It was aiming for him. Cassidy turned his head to see where the arrow came from, and through the trees he saw her - Freja.

“What the fuck are you doing!?” Cassidy shouted out to her, but she didn’t reply. She did not even acknowledge him. She quickly bolted towards Hanzo, attempting to knock him over - that was until Cassidy threw himself in between Hanzo and Freja, so instead she had pinned Cassidy to the ground. She screamed words in Danish that Cassidy couldn’t understand, but then she spoke in English.

“What the hell is your problem, Cole?!” First words she had spoken to him in days.

“Stoppin’ you from doin’ somethin’ stupid, Freja!” Cassidy tried his best to push her off him, but she had taken advantage of the position and pinned Cassidy’s down with her body weight.

“It’s not stupid. It’s my job, røvhul!” Freja snapped with her words, clearly pissed off that Cassidy was being friendly with a demon. Sombra crawled down to the clearing to assess the situation, but she was kind of unsure on what to do. 

“You ain’t gonna kill him!” Cassidy argued at Freja’s intention. She didn’t respond, only furrowed her brows as if to say that was only an accusation from Cassidy and she wasn’t going to kill Hanzo.

“Don’t give me that look! You were gonna stun him with that arrow and then -” Cassidy lifted his arm from under Freja still pinning him down, and dug into her coat pocket to pull out a box of matches.

“And then burn him.” Cassidy squinted and frowned at her. He had been kind of lucky the matches were in there - he really didn’t know if she was planning to kill Hanzo, but it seemed like she would so he assumed she had matches on her. Cassidy quickly took advantage of Freja’s shocked expression and flipped her over and stood himself up, freeing himself from her pinning him down. She herself also began to stand up. At this point, Sombra had just been observing like usual, questioning if she should get involved, but it was obvious this was between Cassidy and Freja. Hanzo was still there, but now he was staring at Freja - his dragon by his side, clearly waiting for the signal to attack.

“I was only going to finish the job you couldn’t! You shouldn’t be out here fucking around and making friends with the enemy!” Freja argued her position and yelled at Cassidy like she had been planning this situation forever.

“He ain’t the enemy!” Cassidy pointed to Hanzo, trying to convince Freja she was wrong about this one. He knew Hanzo’s history and he knew Freja didn’t, so clearly he had a better idea of this all, and he was desperate for Freja to see that.

“You really have always been like this, haven’t you?” Freja kind of mumbled that, but Cassidy heard it. He jolted his head back at her words.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Cassidy didn’t understand the sudden remark from her. But then it hit him - Ashe.

“Is this why you’ve been an ass to me recently? You talkin’ to Ashe?!” Cassidy waved his hands up, all his past anger about that woman was about to blow up. He had tried to hide it - that he had seen Freja with Ashe - but now he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to sit here and take shit from someone who had been told the wrong side of the story.

“What’d she say? That I left her for no reason? I was a selfish asshole? Did she get to the part where she was a ruthless asshole who used her powers for mind control and brainwashing? Did she tell you about how she’d made other people kill for her with said brainwashing? She tell ya ‘bout how miserable she made everyone ‘round her? Including me?!” Cassidy wasn’t done with the rant, he had been holding this in ever since he left Ashe’s side. To know his friend - or someone he thought was his friend - was not only buddy-buddy with Ashe, but believed all her one-sided bullshit hurt Cassidy beyond belief. 

Sombra and Hanzo kind of just glanced at each other, unsure of what to do about the argument. Sombra seemed to be enjoying it, a free way of information for her. Hanzo was invested as well, but not for the same reason as Sombra. 

“She said you’d blame her.” Freja grumbled. It was clear she wanted to believe Cassidy, but she had been so blinded by Ashe’s words herself. Cassidy was about to yell more, but something inside him realized Freja was just a victim to Ashe’s brainwashing. Cassidy didn’t know how long Freja had known Ashe, but it was long enough to make her hate Cassidy.

“I’m…blaming her, yes. Not you.” Cassidy let out a sigh as he softened his look.

“You gotta understand, Freja, I left her because of this. She dug ideas into people’s heads that benefited her and painted others as awful people. I know you probably don’t see it, and if you wanna hate me, whatever, but I’m tryin’ to tell ya ‘cause I don’t want ya to become a victim like I did,” Cassidy’s words hit Freja like a wave. Her look wasn’t intense, rather soft like Cassidy’s, and she was actually listening to him. It was clear she wanted to be defensive, but since Cassidy wasn’t - she had no reason to be. He wasn’t arguing anymore, he was explaining. She had no reason to not listen and hear him out.

“I’m sorry, Cole. She’s been nice to me, okay? I just…” Freja averted her eyes from Cassidy’s, clearly unable to express herself and get sappy with him. He nodded, fully understanding that. If anyone knew the effect Ashe had, it was him.
“I know.” Cassidy just agreed with her so she didn’t have to continue.

“This is beautiful and all, tontito, but what are we gonna do with this guy?” Sombra pointed to Hanzo, who at this point was just invested in the story. He was leaning against a tree, his dragon sitting beside him.
“Right!” Cassidy swung to look at Hanzo. Freja now stood beside Cassidy.

“Hey, I’m…uh…sorry.” Freja scratched her neck as she apologized to Hanzo for trying to lodge an arrow in his eye. He shrugged.

“It wouldn’t have done anything to me,” Hanzo reassured as if that wasn’t abnormal. The four now stood in silence, wondering what to do. Hanzo had become calm, oddly enough. He wasn’t threatening anyone or telling his dragon to maul someone. Freja eventually said her farewells and told Cassidy they’d talk later and then she left.

“Well,” Cassidy sighed.

“Cole, we should get back,” Sombra pointed out, signaling to the sky that it was around noon.

“You go on, Sombra, I’ll tag along in a minute,” Cassidy waved her off and she didn’t argue. Soon enough she was gone. Now it was just him and Hanzo.

“What do you want with me, Hunter?” Hanzo finally asked.

“To understand you,” Cassidy said bluntly, finally giving Hanzo a reason as to why he kept coming back.

“There is nothing to understand,” Hanzo shook his head, unwilling to give into Cassidy’s demands. Cassidy figured he’d say that, so Cassidy reached into his satchel and pulled out the book Mercy had shown him - the one about old monarchs.
“You here to read me a story?” Hanzo scoffed.

“No. Well, kind of,” Cassidy shrugged, flipping to the page about Hanzo’s family and it's history. Cassidy handed it to him. Hanzo took it, and began to glance at the words. His eyes stopped on the photo and instantly threw the book to the ground in rage. He clearly wanted to throw Cassidy to the ground and bolt off but he didn’t, he just glared at him.

“Why are you showing me this?” Hanzo gestured to the book now in the dirt. He was upset.

“To show you I know you already. You got no reason to stay quiet, darlin’,” Cassidy persisted.

“You know nothing.” Hanzo argued back. That was true to a degree - Cassidy knew who Hanzo used to be, but he didn’t know him now. 

“Well, then explain to me what I don’t know,” Cassidy offered Hanzo a way deeper into this conversation. Instead of just killing Cassidy - which he kind of expected with what he said - Hanzo just looked him up and down, and stood up firmly.

“Meet me near the cave east of here tomorrow night.” Hanzo then vanished into the trees with his dragon.

Chapter Text

“I’m here, Hanzo,” Cassidy announced his presence, his voice echoing through the large cave that hid deep in the forest. It was inside of a big hill and was blocked by some trees, but Cassidy knew how to weave past them. Cassidy treaded carefully, aware each step could alert any type of creature lurking in the cave, and with this in mind his gun was not holstered, but in his hand and prepared to be fired. Cassidy noticed the cave was really put together, not a mess of rock and nature - it was as if someone lived here and kept the place tidy.

Cassidy stopped in the middle of the cave, glancing around, hoping to find Hanzo. Did Hanzo forget about this? As Cassidy got lost in thought, a sudden dark beam flew past Cassidy’s face causing him to startle and step back. He looked at the beam, it had hit the rock ground and practically melted it. What the hell? Cassidy looked at where it had come from -  a little ledge near the roof of the cave. All he saw was a pair of glowing white eyes. Hanzo? If it was Hanzo, then where the hell did the beam come from? It looked like some type of magic, now something Cassidy was aware he knew how to use.

“If you’re here to end me, I wish you luck,” The voice that came from the pair of eyes was not Hanzo’s - it was a woman, actually. A thick Spanish accent, but not the same as Sombra’s.

“I ain’t here to do that,” Cassidy holstered his gun and put his hands up. He was not sent here to kill any creatures, and if he had no reason to do that then he wasn’t going too.

“Then why are you here, Hunter?” The voice growled, still refusing to reveal herself.

“Here to see someone,” Cassidy didn’t say anything about Hanzo, he was unsure if this girl knew him or not.

“There is no one but me here. Leave.” The voice became more stern and was clearly done with this conversation. A glowing light came from near her and shot towards Cassidy - the same type of beam as before. Cassidy dodged it quickly.

“Well, if you see him, let him know I was here.” Not wanting to disturb the girl any longer, Cassidy decided to leave and assumed Hanzo had something else he was doing. Cassidy began to walk towards the exit, but was stopped by an all too familiar dragon.

“Hey, pal…you’re kinda cute when you aren’t tryin’ to scratch me or my friends faces off,” Cassidy knelt down to the creature. It was sitting on its hind legs like a dog, looking up at Cassidy like a dog too.

“You look like you want my attention, so what is it?” Cassidy stood up as the dragon clearly signaled for Cassidy to follow. He did just that. The dragon led him through the depths of the cave, into a sharp corridor that was kind of tight, but ended out in one big room like the one when he had first entered the cave.

“Well I’ll be…” Cassidy was kind of shocked by all the furniture and decor the room accompanied. Someone - two people - were living here. There were two beds, Cassidy noticed. One on the far end of the cave, and one on the opposite wall. There were rugs along the floors, dressers and desks near the beds - even a dining table near the middle of the cave. There seemed to be a small kitchen near the end of the cave as well. After that the cave dipped into deep water and that’s where the furniture had ended.
The dragon went to lay on one of the beds, making Cassidy believe this room  is where the dragon wanted to take him. Cassidy quickly spotted Hanzo at a desk near the corner of the furnished cave.

“Hanzo - “ Cassidy called to him to get his attention, and it was clear it startled him. Hanzo stood up and made his way to the hunter.

“Ah - so he found you,” Hanzo gestured to the dragon that now laid asleep on a bed. 

“Yeah, he did. You know, he’s kind of cute when not tryin’ to…y’know,” Cassidy let out a soft chuckle.

“He’s nothing but a big pet. A protective one.” Hanzo spoke in a tone Cassidy hadn’t heard from him before - an honest one. He wasn’t being rude, angry, or stern…he was just being…normal. Well, as normal as he could be.

“I ain’t sure if yer aware of the guard out there in the entrance,” Cassidy gestured to the door he had come in from.

“Oh. I forgot to tell her you were coming,” Hanzo realized.
“Who is she? I didn’t even get a glimpse at her,” Cassidy asked, wanting to know who was behind the death threats towards him.

“Illari,” The woman’s voice came from behind the two. She walked into the room - and Cassidy would’ve never suspected her to look like this. Head to toe in purple and blue shades of color, a long purple cape on her back. Her outfit was decorated with metallic designs, but Cassidy couldn’t really tell if they made any type of logo. He got a look at her face - Her hair bleach white, all fuzzy and thick, with two stands falling down in front of her ears. She had large circular earrings that resembled a moon. Her head also held a tiara of sorts, the top of it being a crescent moon with the base being a pair of wings. Her outfit and the way she looked as a whole screamed royalty, or at the very least - rich. Everything was a metal of some kind, or straight up gems. 

“That’s a Spanish name. Explains the accent,” Cassidy shrugged at the girls entrance and took in her presence. She held herself in a sturdy stance and was clearly not one for talking. She walked past the two men - and Cassidy finally got a look at what she was holding. A gun of some kind - but a rifle almost. Again, like her outfit, it was metallic and covered in shades of purple and blue. Cassidy couldn’t describe how it looked. The base of the gun looked like a big hole that clearly stored some type of magical ammo, and then the gun’s barrel was split into two ways, both covered in feathers. 

“Who is this?” She put her gun down near the other bed - the one the dragon wasn’t on - and pointed towards Cassidy.

“Cole Cassidy. Local monster hunter,” Despite clearly observing Illari’s lack of fondness for the man, he still tried to charm her and reached out a hand for her to shake. When she looked at him oddly, he withdrew it.

“You let a hunter in here?” Illari looked directly at Hanzo. She did not seem mad, rather annoyed. Hanzo didn’t answer her, it was clear he didn’t feel the need to explain himself.

“Am I…not supposed to be here?” Cassidy looked over to the man who had invited him.

“No, you’re not,” Illari didn’t even glance at Cassidy, rather she just stepped past the two men and ignored their existence, clearly wishing Cassidy was not here.
“You are fine, Cassidy,” Hanzo reassured the Hunter as Illari walked off.

“Uh…Cole. Call me Cole,” Even if Cassidy was his professional name, he much rather people close to him - and Hanzo - called him by his first name.

“Well, okay - Cole. Do not mind her, she is just not fond of humans,” Hanzo waved in the direction Illari had wondered too.

“Can’t blame ‘er,” Cassidy shrugged. Cassidy kept looking around and taking in the room, trying to make sense of what it was.

“So, you live here? Pretty impressive,” Cassidy complimented.

“It took a while to set up, but yes. Illari and I made a home here,” Hanzo nodded to Cassidy’s question. 

“So, ya asked me here, Hans, and I’m here,” Cassidy tried to pry into the reason Hanzo had requested him to meet him here - it was awfully interesting that a demon invited a monster hunter into his home.

“What did you just call me?” Hanzo looked directly at Cassidy with a confused face.

“Hans…short for Hanzo,” Cassidy shrugged, not thinking it was a big deal, he always gave nicknames to people - Fareeha was Far, Brigette was Brig, Freja - well, she didn’t really have one - she didn’t like nicknames. Amélie was Ames (when she talked to him), Kiriko was Kiri, and Sombra was…well, she had a lot - Cassidy wasn’t well versed in Spanish, despite having Hispanic blood in him - so he had to kind of make up what he called Sombra. For simplicity, and as a joke, a lot of times it was just Sombríta. Sometimes he called her Olive to fuck with her about her real name.

“I have asked you before - but why do you call me…these things?” Hanzo asked this question again, and like before, Cassidy didn’t have a real answer.

“Well, gee, it’s just natural. I always shorten folks’ names,” Cassidy simply answered.

“I suppose it makes sense…And, it sounds nice with your accent,” Hanzo gave a small smirk with that compliment - an honest smirk. He had been so straight-forward and angry before, but it was clear he was feeling like himself around Cassidy. Was it his charm? Who knows. 

“Well, why thank you,” Cassidy gave a small bow, removing his hat and holding it to his chest as a token of appreciation for the compliment. Hanzo rolled his eyes at the gesture.

“Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?” Cassidy got back to the original question.

“You said you know everything about me,” Hanzo’s tone had changed, no longer one that was trying to spark conversation with small talk - now he was trying to figure out things about Cassidy.

“Well, not everythin’. Just what the book said,” Cassidy shrugged.

“That book wasn’t wrong - but didn’t tell the full truth,” Hanzo sighed.

“I figured. I don’t think you’re a bad guy, Hanzo. I mean, I’ve met plenty of demons - and you ain’t a normal one. It’s clear you ain’t one for evil intent,” Cassidy gave a smirk, hoping Hanzo would hear him out. Hanzo didn’t speak, rather he only glanced at Cassidy, but his face did not give a clear expression.

“What made you feel the need to pry into my life?” This change of tone was clear - it was one of anger.

“I didn’t - it was the others. Yes, I tagged along and asked questions - but that’s my job, ain’t it? Figure out how you demons work,” Cassidy realized where this was going, and under the pressure he couldn’t conjure up a good excuse. There really wasn’t one.

“But you said I was no normal demon,” Hanzo raised a brow, pointing out Cassidy's hypocrisy.

“Hey, I told Fareeha it felt wrong to dig up stuff about ya…but we just…” Cassidy put his hat back on his head - having it off was him showing his comfort around someone, but that comfort had left.

“But what? Felt like you had the right to do so?” Hanzo stepped closer, this time his eyes staring directly into Cassidy’s.

“No - Well…” Cassidy didn’t know how to respond . Of course Hanzo would be pissed at this, who wouldn’t be? Cassidy had told Fareeha that he felt guilty before about it all, but again, he hadn’t stopped it. What was he supposed to say?

“Mhm.” Hanzo simply stared at Cassidy - as if he was about to pounce. But then he just examined Cassidy up and down.

“If you know everything about me, then I have the right to know about that,” Hanzo pointed to Cassidy’s mechanical left arm. Cassidy looked down as Hanzo pointed at it - it was full metal with a glowing orange undertone, the top lined with large metal spikes.

“Well, funny story -” Cassidy choked on those words, the story wasn’t funny at all.

“One of my first days on the job, actually. Freja and I were trekking out to find a werewolf,” Cassidy took a deep breath.

“Did you find it?” Hanzo questioned.

“We did. Well, more like…it found us. Next thing I knew it ripped my flesh and muscle off my arm before I had time to react. Without Freja, shit. I’d be dead for sure,” Cassidy hadn’t told that story to many people - he felt embarrassed to let something so catastrophic happen on one of his first hunts. Only Freja and Fareeha knew - and the doctor that had helped Cassidy. It was a traumatizing story too. Cassidy remembered it like yesterday. The amount of pain and dread that had washed over him so fast was something he’d never forget. Freja had literally saved his life, and that event had kind of bonded them for life. Also the reason he had felt so upset knowing she had been mad at him recently  - after Cassidy’s injury, he and Freja had made a small pact - they had each other’s back for life.

“That must’ve been awful,” Hanzo tilted his head, his expression changing to one of sympathy - not accusatory like before.

“Yeah. It’s all right, I ain’t thinkin’ of it no more. Nothin’ you need to worry ‘bout,” Cassidy smiled at Hanzo’s response. Hanzo looked away, clearly confused on what to do after Cassidy’s story. He looked around and let out a heavy sigh.

“What you said before, about me not being ‘evil’. Although I disagree with you, there’s truth to it. I never wanted to kill my brother.” Hanzo seemed emotional, far more than Cassidy had ever even thought he was capable of. Hanzo walked over to his desk near his bed and grabbed a framed portrait off of it, he handed it to Cassidy.

“This you two?” Cassidy took the photo and looked at it. He recognized Hanzo from the photo from the book. He was young, looked to be in his late teens possibly.  Cassidy’s eyes fell on the boy next to him, who seemed to be a few years younger. He had bright green hair, both were wearing generic royal attire. Hanzo’s hair was still long, just not in an updo like now. His brothers’ was short and spikey. 

“Yes. That was taken years before I…well, you know,” Hanzo didn’t give any type of expression on his face.

“Look, you don’t gotta tell me anythin’-” Cassidy held out his hands and gave the photo back to Hanzo. Hanzo took it and placed it back on the desk.

“No, I do. You deserve the truth. I spend so much of my life running from what I did while I was alive, and you already know most of it. And…you have a trusting presence.” Hanzo gave a slight smirk at the last part.

“Huh. Well, thanks,” Cassidy smiled. He wasn’t expecting the compliment, but he had found it odd Hanzo was so willing to be this open with him, little did he know it was because he was just the type of guy Hanzo wanted to talk to.

“I never wanted to kill him. I never wanted to…betray him. But I spent my whole life being prepared to be king - I was just…I never had the ability to be a brother. He was nothing to me.” Hanzo was clearly beyond upset as he let the words leave his mouth.

“My parents - my father - were very adamant about the fact he was a disgrace to our name and the crown. He would let the kingdom down. So I…was tasked with ending him and preventing that.” Hanzo didn’t even look at Cassidy, he was on the verge of crying or punching something - or both. He was clearly upset with himself the most, upset that he had let himself be convinced of such things and to have been taken advantage of.

“I was weak.” That’s the last thing Hanzo said to finish his story. He sat down on his chair and put his face in his palms. Cassidy stood there, his hat now removed again, and this time he placed it on Hanzo’s nearby bed and stepped a bit closer to the man sitting down.

“To me it sounds like you didn’t have much room to think - they put all that shit in your brain, Hans,” Cassidy sighed, trying to find the right words.

“Look, I ain’t gonna say I can relate to ya - ‘cause I can’t. But I know what it’s like to regret stuff, that’s for sure,” Cassidy closed his eyes and thought of all the bullshit he had done over the years. All of which he would gladly sell his soul to forget.

“It’s hard to get past that shit, if you get past it at all,” Cassidy pulled up another chair and sat across from Hanzo. Now he realized the situation - he was a big time hunter trained to kill demons, yet here he was comforting one. It felt odd, but at the moment the fact Hanzo was a demon didn’t bother Cassidy. It was clear he thought and acted like a human, so what gave Cassidy the right to treat him any differently?

“And I think you’ve got your punishment. There ain’t no reason to keep blamin’ yourself, hell, all those monsters who fed those thoughts to you - they’re gone.” Cassidy tried to console him more.

“So is he, Cole. So is he. And it was my fault,” Hanzo butted in immediately to counter Cassidy.

“No. No it wasn’t.” Cassidy stood firm with what he said before.

“How do you know? You were not there,” Hanzo whipped his head up in a rage.

“I wasn’t, but I can tell this wasn’t ever something you wanted to happen. If you wanted to kill him, you wouldn’t be here all upset right now, explaining the story like this. And you sure as hell wouldn’t be conscious at all. Demons that actually wanna hurt people - they ain’t act the way you do. I told ya that. You ain’t done a single thing wrong, it was the ones above you. And I wouldn’t be shocked if they used some magic on you to accomplish it either,” Cassidy defended his stance. He knew exactly what it was like to hate yourself for doing something at the fault of someone else - he knows what it’s like to be fed these thoughts and think you have no other choice but to do the wrong thing. He knew it better than most. And he’d be damned if he sat here and let Hanzo - someone already facing eternal punishment - feel the same pain. 

Hanzo looked at Cassidy, the emotion on his face becoming less distinguishable. He didn’t speak, he just stared. 

“Thank you, Cole,” That was all he could mutter before standing up. Cassidy couldn’t tell if he meant it or not, but he took it to heart. Cassidy also got out of his chair and looked around the cave once more - waiting for Hanzo to tell him what they were doing next.

“Are you two done talking? I need Hanzo for something,” Illari came walking over to request Hanzo’s help.

“Hm?” Hanzo looked up at her, confused as to why she needed him. Instead of answering, she looked up at Cassidy standing behind Hanzo. Cassidy was putting his hat back on and looked directly at Illari as she stared. He didn’t say anything, rather just raised an eyebrow at her.

“You could help as well,” She seemed skeptical as she spoke, looking Cassidy up and down. He wasn’t shocked she seemed skeptical, as she had disapproved of him being here in the first place.

“What do ya need me for?” Cassidy asked her finally.

“There’s a ghost supposedly haunting a mansion outside of town. I was going to talk to them,” Illari held her head up as she answered, the gun in her arms.

“Ain’t that what me and my friends ‘posed to do? Why you goin’?” Cassidy didn’t understand.

“I like to talk to other creatures instead of sending hunters and witches after them that just want them dead. I make an effort to actually talk to them and try to figure out a better solution.”  The tone in Illari’s voice was clearly passive aggressive and accusatory.

“So why enlist a hunter’s help?” Cassidy asked another question. If she was so against monster hunters, then why ask him?

“I heard you talk to Hanzo. I can trust you not to hurt this ghost.” Illari explained before walking off and signaling the two to follow her.

Chapter Text

“I should really be tellin’ the others ‘bout this little trip,” Cassidy voiced his concerns about this ghost hunt Illari had taken him and Hanzo on. Cassidy and Illari both had firearms, Hanzo had grabbed a bow, and obviously the arrows to go with it - honestly, Cassidy just assumed he could kill anything by looking at it, instead of needing a weapon to kill.

“If you go and tell your crew about this, I won’t hesitate to end you now,” Illari hissed, not even turning to look at Cassidy.

“Fair ‘nough,” Cassidy let out a nervous sigh. Illari wasn’t as…easy to get around to as Hanzo was. But to be fair, Cassidy knew nothing about her. All three of them were walking the trail to the mansion, Illari leading the way. They were a bit ways out of town, so luckily no one would spot them. Cassidy would be fucked if someone just saw him walking with two creatures like they were his friends. Well, Hanzo kind of was. Right? Or were they not even that? Acquaintances? Cassidy considered them friends, after all they both knew a good chunk of information about one another.

The group soon arrived at the mansion, it was pretty large. It stood right in front of a forest. Illari didn’t give a prepping speech - like Fareeha usually did - instead she just walked right in, Hanzo and Cassidy again following.

“So, what do you know about this ghost?” Cassidy finally asked.

“Not much. I’ve just been told there’s one here and it seems to be harmless,” Illari answered. The three walked along the creaking wooden floors. The house wasn’t gutted, there was furniture and it was fully decorated, and not dusty. It was in perfect shape, as if someone was living here and keeping it clean. 

“Does anyone live here?” Cassidy questioned, taking in the fact the house looked spotless.

“Possibly - but this could also be from the ghost,” Illari responded, also looking around.

“I thought ghosts couldn’t touch things? Would their hands not go right through?” Hanzo looked over at her, confused about the logic of ghosts. Illari simply shot a glare at Cassidy, noting that this was his area of expertise.

“Yes and no. There’s different types of ghosts. Considering this house is spotless and presumably there’s no humans here, I’m guessing it’s some type of trapped spirit. Most ghosts that are bound to specific locations - like a house - can usually wander it as if they were a human, but they cannot leave,” Cassidy tried his best to explain it, but he couldn’t even remember the types of ghosts off the top of his head. That was one thing he never could figure out.

“Interesing. Well, if they can touch things, why can they not just turn the knob of the door and walk out?” Hanzo proposed.

“Ain’t that simple. Their spirits are bound, meaning if they try to leave they kinda get sucked back in - like an imaginary force.” Cassidy gestured as he spoke.

“Yes, I think I understand,” Hanzo nodded, obviously trying to relate it to something he himself had experienced. 

Illari walked up the steps of the house, the other two men staying downstairs to investigate. Cassidy took notice of a book shelf, trying to see if anything was dated to a specific time period that could say how old this house was, while Hanzo examined the furniture. As the two men looked around, a sudden screech came from upstairs. Illari. The two ran quickly up the stairs to see what was going on. They were greeted with Illari standing tall, her gun on the floor by her foot, and her hands held up as if she was making peace. Below her was clearly the ghost. It was a small girl, she looked to be around nineteen, maybe a tiny bit older. She wore a type of gown that was white with a tint of gray, her hair long and lavender with ears atop of it. She had transparent tails coming from behind her, Cassidy couldn’t count the exact number but it seemed like nine. She had a beaded-like belt around her waist, her right thigh had bandages on it, and the lower half of her right leg did as well. The bottom half of both her legs looked fuzzy, like fur. Her feet were a dark purple it looked like. 

After taking in what she looked like, Cassidy instinctively went into hunter mode and unholstered his gun.

“Woah!” Hanzo ran up beside him and quickly lowered his arms in an effort to point the gun away from the spirit. Hell, Cassidy hadn’t even thought it through, it was just instinct - what the hell would a bullet do against a spirit anyways? 

“Uh. Oops. Instinct…” Cassidy cleared his throat and properly put his gun away. He looked at the spirit - still cowered on the floor, scared for her life.

“What happened?” Hanzo logically asked Illari.

“Nothing. I came up here to look. But…” Illari pointed to the spirit, “She spooked me, so, like Cassidy, I instinctively raised my gun and fired a shot…but it only hit the wall!” Illari defended herself.

“And I thought you were the voice of peace for monsters?” Cassidy scoffed with a hand on his hip, giving Illari a smirk. She did not think it was funny. 

“Who are you people?!” The spirit finally spoke, screaming like she had just seen…well, a ghost.

“I am Illari,” Illari introduced herself first, in a much more friendly way than she had with Cassidy the first time.

“I didn’t mean to fire at you, I promise. I heard reports of a ghost here, I wanted to talk to you.” Illari explained.

“What? Are you more hunters? Just get it over with. Whatever you’re gonna do, do it. I’m tired of scaring you all off, you just keep coming back!” The spirit screamed, standing up. She folded her arms and stared at the group, accepting her fate.

“No. I am not. I am a fellow ‘monster’. A Night Raven, actually,” So that’s what Illari was. Cassidy had heard about them, he read some stuff about them too, but he had never seen them, it was as if they were ancient and extinct. From what Cassidy knew, they were a group of people that harvested the power of the moon to change them physically and even mentally. From this, they were permanently tied to the night and the moon. They were nocturnal and were kind of “warriors of the night”. Cassidy had heard they had been a huge pain to monster hunters back in the day, but it was like recently they had just vanished. 

“Night Raven? I don’t know what that is!” The spirit huffed.

“Not many do. I harvest the power of the moon, to put it simply. I am not a full human, okay? And this - “ Illari gestured to Hanzo. He gave a stern glare, warning Illari to not say his name and introduce who he was to this stranger.

“Is a demon. Yep. That’s all he’ll let me say,” Illari took the glare as a threat and turned back to face the spirit.

“Then who’s that? He’s decked out in all that gear!” The spirit pointed directly to Cassidy. He had no idea what to do. He was literally the thing this spirit was against.

“Well, okay - he is a hunter,” Illari sighed.

“But I ain’t here to hurt ya! I didn’t mean to pull my gun out - like Illari, it was instinct. Just…insticnt,” Cassidy thought on that for a moment, why was his instinct to pull his gun out on people?

“Okay….” The spirit was skeptical, rightfully so.

“Look, we just…wanted to see what your deal was. Why’re you haunting this place? And who’s keeping it in such good shape?” Cassidy finally asked the proper questions.

“What makes you think I’m going to tell a hunter this? Won’t you use it against me? Actually, aren’t you supposed to know my story?” The spirit kept asking questions, it was clear she was chatty. Her voice was kind of high pitched and expressive, with a tint of a Korean accent. 

“I kind of just tagged along with Illari here. I know nothin’.” Cassidy gave a simple answer.

“I’m not a…” Cassidy wanted to explain that he wasn’t a stereotypical hunter. He wasn’t heartless and he wouldn’t kill any monster unless he had too - that was the number one rule of his group.

“He is not one that intends on hurting you. He’s just here to help,” Hanzo chimed in. Cassidy turned his head to look at Hanzo. They both shared a soft smile - one of appreciation.

“Okay…” The spirit finally let her arms by her side and seemed to be less cautious of the group.

“Look, I know you ain’t a fan of hunters - but I got a friend who’s an expert in spirits. And she’s really good with words and helpin’,” Cassidy offered, directly talking about Brigitte.

“Okay…I guess the company couldn’t hurt. Just - promise me…” The spirit was still hesitant, and was still asking for reassurance.

“She ain’t gon’ lay a finger on ya, promise,”  Cassidy wasn’t ever one to break promises. Well, sometimes.

“What’s your name?” Illari added herself back to the conversation.

“Hana Song,” the spirit answered calmly now.

“Nice to meet ya, Hana,” Cassidy tipped his hat to her. The four talked a bit more before Cassidy asked to depart to go grab Brigitte. They all let him, so he ventured off back home. 

When Cassidy arrived back at the house, he was greeted by a frowning Fareeha. She wasn’t in her gear and her hair seemed kind of messy - her braid still intact though.

“Cole,” she spoke heavily and sternly as Cassidy opened the door.

“Huh?” Cassidy looked up at her, just wishing he could go grab Brigitte and leave.

“Where on Earth have you been?!” Fareeha threw her arms up, yelling. She was upset beyond belief, but it was clear it was out of worry.

“What? I went out to the forest - “ Cassidy shrugged. Fareeha always reacted like this.

“Why? You don’t have any hunts today! I checked the board.” The group had a board in the living area that consisted of a list of monsters they had all been tasked with dealing with. Cassidy hadn’t had one today, only Amelie and Sombra did. 

“Hanzo wanted to-” Cassidy began his explanation, but Fareeha didn’t let him get another word out.

“That’s what this is about! I should’ve known,” She rolled her eyes, clearly unamused by Cassidy’s explanation.

“Woah, woah. What do ya mean by that? I told ya I was tryin’ to get to know him. Hell, you agreed to it,” Cassidy immediately fought back with Fareeha’s shocked response.

“I know - but you can’t just leave without telling anyone. I was worried sick,” Fareeha finally admitted the reason for her anger.

“Far, I am a grown man with a gun,” Cassidy reminded her as he stepped further into the house.

“Cole, just -” Fareeha tried reasoning more, but she stopped herself. Cassidy then realized what she was referring to. The last time he hadn’t warned Fareeha about where he was going was the exact time his arm had gotten ripped off. That situation was the entire reason they had made the hunt board in the first place.

“Hey, look - I appreciate your worryin’. Sorry for not tellin’ ya, I promise I will next time,” Cassidy reached his hand for Fareeha’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” Fareeha rubbed her neck and averted her eyes from Cassidy’s.

“So what was this thing with Hanzo again?” She changed the subject slightly.

“He wanted to talk. I told him about the book Mercy had shared with us - So we talked about it.” Cassidy told the truth.

“And? What’d you find out?” Fareeha pestered.

“I’m afraid that’s not my information to share, Far,” It felt wrong to tell Fareeha what Hanzo had said - Cassidy realized it was monumental that he had even shared it in the first place.

“Really? Is our job not to know all the information about every monster?” Fareeha was clearly upset that Cassidy wasn’t sharing the information.

“He was already upset that we had gone behind his back and looked into his past. I have no right to tell you what he told me, it’s personal stuff,” Cassidy stood his ground. He couldn’t blame Fareeha for wanting information - like she said, it was her job.
“Fine. I trust you. Since you’re not upset I’m assuming it wasn’t anything bad. Are you sure he’s safe?” Fareeha smiled at him, letting her trust outdo her worry.

“Definitely. I promise you, he ain’t gonna do anything,” Cassidy reassured her.

“Good. As long as you keep your word with that.” Fareeha poked fun at Cassidy’s usual lack of keeping promises.

“Ha. I will,” Cassidy smiled at her slight joke. He then parted ways with her, and made his way upstairs. He walked down the hall to the last room on the right - Brigitte’s room. He gave a sturdy knock.

“She’s not here,” Cassidy jumped at the random voice - until he turned and realized it was Kiriko.

“Well, then, where is she?” Cassidy asked, looking at Kiriko directly.

“She’s in the armory,” Kiriko pointed down the stairs.

“Of course,” Cassidy let out a rough sigh. He made his way down the stairs and then down another flight of stairs - to the basement. When he was finally in the armory, he saw Brigitte standing there, polishing her mace.
“Hey, Cole!” She smiled, looking up at him.

“Hey, Brig, you busy?” Cassidy asked, trying to get her to come with him.

“Not particularly. Do you need something?” She put her mace down on the rack and looked at Cassidy directly.

“We got a ghost problem in a mansion outside of town - I was thinkin’ you’d be good to talk to her,” Cassidy answered.

“Explain a bit better, please,” She chuckled, a bit confused at the bland reasoning Cassidy gave.

“The ghost hauntin’ this place - she ain’t no harm to no one. She’s scared, actually. And I know you got a way with words,” Cassidy explained in more detail on why he was requesting Brig’s help.

“What kind of spirit is she?” Brigitte was instantly interested, gearing herself up.

“I ain’t sure. Was hoping you could tell me,” Cassidy smiled at his ignorance.

“Oh, well I’m sure I can! Let’s go!” Brigitte happily walked up the stairs, Cassidy following, and leaving the house (after telling Fareeha where they were going). The two arrived back at the mansion in no time - Hanzo waiting outside.

“Cole! Stand back!” Brigitte instantly went into fighting mode - She took her shield off her back and held it in front of her, pushing Cassidy behind her.

“Woah! Hey, no need for that,” Cassidy stepped in front of her and signaled for her to lower her shield.

“This is Hanzo,” Cassidy pointed to Hanzo, who was giving an unamused glare to Cassidy.

“Oh! This is the demon Olivia told me about!” Brig smiled, holstering her shield and mace on her back. She held out her hand for Hanzo, who didn’t take it.

“How many of you are there?” Hanzo sighed and questioned Cassidy on how many hunters he knew.

“Uh, including me? About six,” Cassidy answered honestly. Hanzo just rolled his eyes. Brigitte was obviously confused as to what to do, so Cassidy quickly got to the reason they had come.

“Oh, before we go in - there’s a Night Raven in there,” Cassidy led the way through the entrance of the mansion.

“A Night Raven?! I thought those were extinct!” Brigitte gasped.

“I did too,” Cassidy chuckled. The three made their way up the stairs to see Illari and Hana both sitting on chairs talking to each other - Hana still visibly scared.

“Hey hey!” Brigitte introduced herself immediately. She looked over at Illari in awe, and ran up to her.

“A real Night Raven…?” She began to examine Illari as if she was a toy. Illari pushed Brig away and looked at her with a death glare.

“I’m sorry! I just - I’ve never seen one!” Brigitte took the warning and stood back.

“Not shocked. They’re all dead.” Illari spoke bluntly - like she was holding emotion back in her voice.

“I always wondered why they had vanished…” Brigitte tilted her head.

“You are not here to talk to me - you are here for her.” Illari gestured to Hana.

“Oh! Yes. Hello!” Brigitte turned to Hana and smiled.

“I am Brigitte Lindholm!” Brigitte reached her hand out like she had done with Hanzo before - the only difference here was that Hana actually shook her hand, even if hesitant.

“A Shin-Ryeong!” Brigitte instantly said in amazement as she analyzed Hana. The other three in the room clearly had no idea what Brigitte had just said. Hana realized the look on their faces and spoke up.

“It’s Korean.  I’m a Korean spirit.” Hana wasn’t amused by the others’ confusion. As the others realized what Hana had said, Brigitte kept talking.

“It’s so cool to see one here! Ah! You don’t look or seem to be acting evil at all,” Cassidy had never seen Brigitte so interested in something before.

“I’m not.” Hana replied simply.

“Well, mind if you tell me how you became this way?” Brigitte tilted her head. Hana looked like she wanted to reply, but the expression on her face made it obvious she was not about to say anything with the others in the room.
 
“I will if they leave,” Hana pointed to the other three. Cassidy shrugged, not really caring that he was being kicked out. The three said their farewells to the two and left the mansion.

“She seemed to feel comfortable around your friend,” Hanzo pointed out as the three began the walk back to the cave.

“Ain’t shocking. Brig’s got that vibe to her. She’s optimistic and trusting,” Cassidy shrugged. He had known Brigitte since he joined the Hunters - and she had always been like this. Cassidy found it very easy to get along with her.

“Like you?” Hanzo raised an eyebrow.

“Heh, I appreciate the compliment - but I ain’t like her. Hell, still ain’t sure why you were so willing to talk to me,” Cassidy let out a small laugh.

“You’re stubborn, persistent and…you already looked into my history without my knowledge,” Hanzo gave a small smile as well, still poking fun at Cassidy.

“I already told ya, that was the others,” Cassidy went along with the joke. They continued to walk, silence growing between them.

“So, Illari,” Cassidy finally spoke up.

“How’d you become the last Night Raven?” Cassidy wondered. She frowned at the question, giving Cassidy a stare. She then looked at Hanzo, as if requesting permission to trust Cassidy. Hanzo nodded.

“I was born a Night Raven. I trained and fought to become a powerful one. I was determined and very good at what I did. Every Night Raven’s initiation is when they turn eighteen, that’s when they truly become one with the moon. When it was my turn - well…” Illari choked up as she trailed off with the end. It was clear she dwelled on this a lot, and rarely spoke about it.

“I was too powerful. I’m the reason they’re all dead,” The words left her mouth almost silently. She didn’t want to talk about this.

“God, I’m…sorry for bringing it up - I was just curious,” Cassidy felt awful for even making her think of such a thing. He didn’t even know what to think - he couldn’t possibly imagine the reason your entire race is dead.

“I don’t blame you. Everyone is,” That was all she said before the silence grew again. The rest of the walk was in that same silence until they reached the cave. 

“I think I oughta be gettin’ back home,” Cassidy said right as they got back to the cave entrance.

“Then why’d you come all the way back with us?” Hanzo asked.

“Eh, just wanted to be an escort,” Cassidy winked at Hanzo, Hanzo returned the wink with a glare.

“Well, it was nice talkin’ to ya two. Nice to meet ya Illari,” Cassidy said his goodbyes and made his way back home.
—
The next morning was the weekly hunters meeting. The group all gathered around the rectangular table. Sombra was in her usual stance - resting her legs on the table as she laid back in her chair. Amelie was staring at everyone like she was plotting their demise, Brigitte sat with the perfect posture and was smiling, whilst also looking down at the papers in front of her. Freja was looking at the map sprawled across the table, clearly planning something. Fareeha was standing at the end of the table, looking over at everyone.

“All right, this mission might require multiple of us,” She said finally.

“There’s reports of some creature stealing from campers and travelers making their way through the forest north of here,” Freja chimed in, pointing to the map. She and Fareeha always made the plans. 

“All right, sounds easy enough,” Cassidy shrugged.

“Not really. There’s two of them apparently. One is described as small, bipedal and furry - some say it has horns,” Fareeha looked at Cassidy.

“And the other one?” Sombra raised an eyebrow, finally looking up at the group. 

“That one is a bigger problem. We’ve been told it’s huge - bipedal as well, but has the shape of a bear. A lot of wintery attire on it,” Fareeha was clearly having trouble describing the creatures, but in her defense she was just quoting what fear stricken common-folk had reported. 

“All right. So, what’s the plan?” Brigitte happily asked.

“We camp out - pretend to be normal travellers taking a break for the night. Cassidy and I will be the ones camping,” Freja immediately took over the planning.

“Amélie and Olivia will take to the trees, scouting out anything that happens,” Freja pointed to the two women.

“All night?!” Sombra shouted, kicking her feet off the table and sitting up properly. 

“Easy,” Amélie scoffed, clearly unimpressed by her girlfriend’s lack of tolerance for waiting.

“Yes. All night. That’s why I’m sending Amélie with you - to make it more tolerable. I know you hate staying up,” Freja compromised.

“And Brigitte - I think you’re fine staying here,” Freja looked back at the map, trying to see if there was anything for Brigitte to do.

“Well, actually - if I’m not needed I was going to see Hana again!” Brigitte smiled.

“That ghost?” Fareeha raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. We are trying to find a way to free her spirit from the house. Speaking of which, Pharah, do you mind if I borrow Mercy for that?” Brigitte explained her plan with excitement.

“Mercy's my girlfriend - not my tool. Ask her yourself,” Fareeha rolled her eyes at Brigitte's request. Brigitte just sunk in her chair and became quiet. 

“Olivia and Amélie are good for keeping eyes out, yes, but Amélie - bring your gun as well in case we need you to take a shot. I doubt it, as these two haven’t been hurting anyone - just robbing. So I doubt we will need to fight, but just in case - all bring your weapons.” The group nodded to Freja’s advice.

“All right. Fareeha is going to come with us and hide out in the woods herself, occasionally taking to the skies if need be,” Freja explained. Cassidy always wondered how Fareeha had gotten her suit to make her fly - she had said it was a mix of mechanics and magic, but Cassidy still didn’t understand it.

“All right. That’s it. We will do this tomorrow, all right?” Freja looked at her group, scanning their faces to see their reactions. No one was hesitant, they were all on board - tomorrow they would trek out into the woods once more.

Chapter Text

Cassidy, Freja, Fareeha, Amélie and Sombra had all officially made it to their camping spot in the middle of the forest - the Eichenwalde forest. Cassidy had been here plenty of times before on previous hunts, so he knew the area pretty well, and so did everyone else. Cassidy and Freja had begun to set up their small camp; they had chosen a clearing in the same area that people had reported being robbed by the two creatures. Freja and Cassidy had made a small wooden shelter out of old tree wood that was scattered around the forest grounds. The shelter wasn’t big at all, but it fit the two of them. They had only built it in case it rained or something. 

Freja and Cassidy hadn’t talked really at all on the walk to the forest and when they were setting camp up - it was clear there was sharp tension between them. Even if they had resolved things with their little fight before, it was obvious that Cassidy wasn’t fully okay with Freja being friendly with Ashe, and Freja wasn’t okay with how Cassidy felt about Ashe. The two sat around the camp fire, kind of doing nothing. Sombra and Amélie were high in the trees scouting, Fareeha was in the outskirts of camp looking for a possible nesting area for the creatures they were hunting. Cassidy looked over at Freja, who was examining her crossbow.

“She’s changed, y’know?” Freja finally spoke up about the topic separating them two.

“How so?” Cassidy was trying his best to be open minded.

“She’s still…mad at you, but she understands why you left,” Freja added.

“If this is a way to get me to be friends with her again, yer in over yer own head, Frey,” Cassidy never really had a nickname for Freja, but that one came out naturally - like they all did. She kind of tilted her head at the name, but then realized it was a sign Cassidy was still comfortable around her.

“No, I just…think you should talk to her,” Freja sighed.

“I don’t see why I need to. If this is about you bein’ friends with her - I don’t care. If you say she’s changed, I believe you. I don’t want no part of it, though,” Cassidy stood his ground - he wasn’t ready to meet Ashe face to face again.

“Typical,” Freja scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Huh?” Cassidy’s eyes shot up to look at Freja directly.

“You’re stubborn. You don’t ever want to do anything. Once you make your mind up on something, you don’t let it go,” Freja’s tone wasn’t calm anymore, it was purely argumentative.

“You think I don’t know that?” Cassidy shot back. Everyone was always telling him how stubborn he was.

“That’s how I survive, Freja. I ain’t got the type of life where I can change my mind. Every choice I make stands on the line of life or death. Hell, you ain’t got room to say this. You’re the same way,” Cassidy defended himself - his job and his lifestyle never let him be one for “choosing new things”.

“I am not! I didn’t even…I didn’t want to be a hunter. I never did. Yet here I am!” Freja argued her stance back, baffled at the accusation that she was just like Cassidy.

“So? That makes you the queen of tryin’ new shit?” Cassidy threw his hands up to express his sarcasm. At this point he was yelling.

“No, I’m just saying - I constantly get pushed in situations I don’t want to be in. But I don’t complain and shut it down, I go through with it and hold my head up. You just walk away,” Freja explained her point of view - on how she lives and that she isn’t one to back down - but Cassidy is. The worst part about that?  She was right. And Cassidy knew it. Anytime something bad happened, or even worse - it reminded him of something bad that had happened to him in the past - he ducked his head and ran. But he couldn’t admit that - he couldn’t let anyone know he was wrong, that would just ruin how people saw him, right?

“You’re doing it right now! You won’t back down! You know I’m right,” It’s like she read his mind.

“Freja -”

“Cole, I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight,” Freja sat back down on the ground, calming down with a deep breath.

“I like Ashe,” She spoke through her new, calmer tone.

“I’m sorry, what?” Cassidy was still standing, and his eyes shot directly to Freja’s.

“I like her. A lot. She’s - well, actually, it doesn’t matter,” Freja realized she was stepping into arguing territory again by describing Ashe.

“You - I’m sorry - when you say like you mean…love?”

“I don’t like that word, but yeah,” Freja sighed.  Cassidy had never once imagined Freja to be like this. Calm and open up. She was sturdy and didn’t really let anyone know anything - like Cassidy.

“Why are you telling me this?” Cassidy didn’t understand Freja felt the need to open up like this.

“Just…I want you to at least reconcile with her. So I’m not…” Freja tried finding the words.

“With someone your best friend hates?” Cassidy said it for her.

“Let’s not throw words around,” Freja smirked, and Cassidy couldn’t tell if she was talking about the “with someone” or “best friend” part.

“I’ll talk to her,” Cassidy finally caved in. For multiple reasons - but one, he wanted to prove Freja (and everyone) wrong - he wasn’t some stubborn fool all the time. The second reason being he wanted to see the smug look on Ashe’s face when he told her that he had found his own career path and group of people and was living a good life without Ashe’s help.

“¡Ey!” A loud shout came from the tree tops. Cassidy and Freja looked up to see Sombra relaxing on a branch about ten feet from the ground.

“As much as I love gossip, we’ve got a job to do, mejores amigas!” Sombra screamed down to the two.

“¡Deja de hablar de tus problemas y concéntrate!” Sombra didn’t yell that, rather she muttered, but not quiet enough that everyone didn’t hear. Freja didn’t understand her, but Cassidy recognized a few words.

“You heard her. Focus, you imbeciles,” Amélie chimed in, she was in the trees as well - about four trees away from Sombra.

“You speak Spanish?” Cassidy asked, looking towards Amélie.

“Yes! Because she pays attention to what I tell her. Unlike you two tontas!” Sombra scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“All right, fine, we’ll focus,” Cassidy reassured the two. He and Freja sat back down.

===

Night eventually came - Freja and Cassidy pretending to sleep in their shelter, but in reality they were sitting there wide awake, waiting for any sign of these creatures. They had left out a bag full of fake coins - they were just made of wood and painted gold. But the creatures didn’t know that. Cassidy was tired and kind of sick of waiting, so to pass the time he lit a cigar - Freja instantly snatched it from him and shoved it in the dirt.

“The fuck?!” Cassidy whispered.

“No sounds - and no light,” She squinted at him. Cassidy huffed and crossed his arms. A few more minutes of mindless waiting went by before the two heard rustling outside - like something was walking through the trees. They needed to be patient instead of running out and scaring whatever it was - because there was a possibility it was just a random animal and not the creatures they were looking for. The group had come up with a signal - if it was just an animal, nothing would happen. If it was the creatures, Sombra said she’d throw a rock at the shelter. Not an effective plan, but a plan nonetheless.
When no rock came shooting at their shelter - they assumed the noise was an animal. That, or Sombra had fallen asleep or just straight up left. Neither Freja nor Cassidy expected her to keep up the whole rock throwing thing.

“Should I peek out?” Cassidy whispered to Freja. She shook her head. She was persistent in waiting for some type of warning from Sombra. Before the two could think of another move, loud footsteps came from outside the shelter, and another pair - smaller ones that sounded like hooves. And then - bam. A small rock tapped the outside of the shelter. Cassidy and Freja quickly grabbed their weapons- but before they left to finally tackle the monsters, the monsters began to talk.

“Oh, would ya look at that Roadie?” An Australian accent? Cassidy and Freja gave each other a look of confusion.

“A whole bag of gold! Right here! For us!” The voice sounded high pitched and frantic, but enthusiastic.

“Seems too good to be true,” The other creature spoke - a deep, muffled voice.

“Look,” Freja whispered to Cassidy, pointing at a tiny crack they had made in the shelter. Both of them peeked through it - though they couldn’t see the creatures that well, they were just as described. One big brute, who looked like a bear - wearing traditional clothing that you’d see someone wear if they were up in the mountains. And then the other creature - he was scrawny, but furry. He had two goat legs. Despite their animal features, both of them were humanoid. 

Freja was about to go out and attack, but before anyone could do anything, a roar came from the trees. Cassidy looked back through the crack in the wood - it was a bear. A real bear. Not the weird one robbing them, but a real one.
“Freja, abort! There’s a real fuckin’ bear!” Cassidy tore Freja back right as she was about to leave.

“We can handle a bear,” Freja scoffed.

“Not at the same time as those two! Just stand down,” Cassidy argued, holding Freja’s arm to keep her from bolting out there. Cassidy peeked through the wood again to see what was going on. The two creatures had dropped the bag of fake coins - the scrawny one hiding behind the big brute, begging him to do something about the bear.

“You’re such a coward,” The brute huffed, getting himself in a protective stance to take on the bear. The bear crawled out of the woods, huffing and puffing at the two. In the blink of an eye, the bear began to charge - but before it could hit anything, the brute picked up a nearby branch and began whacking the bear repeatedly.

“Well, that’s one way,” Cassidy shrugged.

“Interesting tactic,” Freja added.

The branch didn’t hold the bear off for long - eventually the branch broke, leaving the two defenseless, unless the brute decided to think of something else, but he didn’t really look like he used firearms or anything that would be truly effective to a bear. Freja kept begging Cassidy to let her go out there, but he held firm and said no. He kind of wanted to see what else the brute was going to do.

“Hey! Bear!” A voice shouted from up in the sky - it was Fareeha. Her armored wings spread and some type of fuel burned in the back of them. She was waving to the bear - and by association everyone else there - trying to get their attention. At the sound of her voice - knowing they were safe now - Cassidy and Freja hopped out of the shelter to get a better look.

“Eek! They’re awake, Roadie!” The scrawny one pointed to Freja and Cassidy, noticing they had gotten out of the shelter.

“Not important right now, Rat,” The brute responded aggressively, and distracted. The bear was still mad, and now had more targetsto focus on. The bear didn’t get any of them though - because Fareeha had a plan. She was still in the sky, waving down to the group, and all of a sudden she lifted her arm up - a piece of bright blue was wrapped around it. Two, actually.

“Get ‘em!” Fareeha shouted, ordering the two blue streaks on her arm to attack - and they pounced off her arm at the bear, growing bigger as they got closer to the ground. Cassidy finally got a look at them - they looked exactly like Hanzo’s dragon, but there were two of them, and much bigger this time. They tackled the bear, snarling and snapping their jaws, even biting the bear. The bear ran off in no time, bruised and blooded.

“Those - Those were Hanzo’s,” Cassidy finally said after making sure everyone was okay. Amélie and Sombra had joined the group by now.

“¡Ay dios mío! What happened? We heard the bear and then saw Fareeha up there - “ Sombra began pestering for answers. Cassidy didn’t answer, nor did Freja, they were both focused on something else - the brute and the scrawny creature. The two dragons had abandoned the bear and wrapped themselves around the creatures like rope, preventing them from escaping.

“They tried leaving when you were distracted by the bear,” Fareeha was now on the ground and taking her helmet off, with her usual confident smile.

“Far, weren’t those - “ Cassidy pointed to the dragons around the two monsters - who were struggling to get themselves free.

“Hanzo’s dragons? Yeah.” Fareeha answered Cassidy’s question before he could ask.

“I didn’t know he had two,” Cassidy was dumbfounded. How on Earth hadn’t he noticed a whole other spirit dragon?

“Me neither,” Fareeha smiled.

“Also, why do you have them?” Cassidy asked another question.

“She said you might need help,” Hanzo’s voice came from the trees suddenly - as did he.

“Is everyone just hiding in the trees somewhere? Locura,” Sombra piped up, glancing at the seven other people around her.

“Hanzo?” Cassidy ignored Sombra’s comment.

“I went to ask him for help. I trust you guys, I do, but I figured his dragons could’ve been useful for something like this. And I was right!” Fareeha explained happily.

“And he was willing to help?” Cassidy glared at Hanzo.

“Well, actually,” Fareeha let out a chuckle, “I just said you were involved and he was up and at ‘em,” Fareeha gave a teasing smirk to both Hanzo and Cassidy.

“Anyways…I’m glad we got the bear under control. Now, how about we focus on these two?” Freja butted in, reminding everyone why they were here in the first place.

“Right!” Cassidy flung around to look at the two creatures and snapped into Hunter mode.

“Who are you two?” He put his hand near the gun in his holster.

“Well, Jamison Fawkes! That’s my…human name! Now everyone just calls me Junkrat!” He seemed unusually peppy for basically being one act away from a bullet to the head.

“This here is Roadhog! My bodyguard,” Junkrat smiled.

“Shut the fuck up, Rat,” Roadhog groaned, clearly pissed off at how easily his partner gave away information. Cassidy couldn’t blame him. It seemed really annoying.

“Human name?” Sombra began to ask her own question.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t always like this, y’know? I was human. Then some evil witch - she put a curse on me! And Roadie here!” There was a great expression in Junkrat’s voice.

“I wasn't cursed, I was born like this,” Roadhog corrected, still annoyed by his partner just saying shit.

“Why were you cursed?” Fareeha asked, taking advantage of how talkative Junkrat was.

“I may have stolen from her - once or twice,” He chuckled.

“Twenty times,” Roadhog sighed.

“What the hell did you steal to be turned into this?!” Cassidy was astonished that theft could end up making someone be turned into a goat-human-thing.

“Her precious jewels, crystals, runes, what have you! I like some shiny things, y’know!” Junkrat was still so joyful to tell everyone about his heinous crimes.

“Clearly,” Cassidy sarcastically remarked - the two’s outfits were very bland and not shiny at all. The group kind of just stared at the Junkrat and Roadhog before Fareeha spoke up,
“So how’d you get your names?” Considering the situation, that was probably a weird question to ask.

“Well, good question! Townsfolk gave me my name! Don’t know why!” Junkrat blurted out his answer.

“Because it’s fitting,” Roadhog scoffed. 

“Roadie got his name - actually, how did ya get your name?” Junkrat paused and turned his head to look at his partner in crime.

“I was a pig farmer for most of my life. The farm got destroyed by raiders.” Roadhog was still straight forward and unexpressive.

“Pig farmer? But you’re dressed like you live in the snow,” Fareeha noted.

“I’m not pestering you about how you look, am I?” Roadhog grumbled, accusatorially.

“Nope, my bad,” Fareeha backed off immediately. 

“Well…what do we do with them?” Sombra finally asked the main question.

“They ain’t harmful,” Cassidy pointed out, “I ain’t sure what to do,” he shrugged.

“I think your skills could be used in other ways…other than robbing people,” Freja raised an eyebrow to the two. Roadhog was intrigued at the proposal.

“You could help us, probably. You two, despite this ones’…” Freja gestured to Junkrat, “...erratic behavior,” Freja sighed heavily, trying to find the right words.

“I think you could be good for scoping the woods out and letting us know of local creatures that are disturbing people, instead of us waiting on some poor folk to get hurt and then tell us,” Freja’s offer seemed pretty reasonable - but Cassidy didn’t think the two would agree.

“How much you payin’?” Roadhog asked the second Freja stopped talking.

“How much you want?” Freja raised an eyebrow.

“Woah! No, we will pay you a little less than we Hunters get paid - since you’re not actually hunting. You’ll get a cut of whatever the folk pay us to get rid of the creature. The monarchs pay us to keep the town safe as well, you can have a cut of that if need be,” Fareeha stepped in and explained her terms. The two creatures agreed eagerly.

“Can ya let us go now?!” Junkrat asked, looking down at the dragon still warped around him. Hanzo nodded and commanded the dragons off the two.

“Whew! Much bettah!” Junkrat stretched his arms, then looked back at the two dragons.

“What even are those things? Ain’t ever seen anything quite like it,” Junkrat kneeled down to pet the dragons, but they nipped his finger, causing him to jump up and no longer pay attention to the two. Hanzo still stood there, not answering Junkrat’s question, rather giving a small smirk when he saw the dragon bite Junkrat’s finger.

“All right, it’s settled - you two work for us now,” Cassidy nodded his head, returning to the conversation from before.

“Incredible! Do we get to live in that big Hunter House too? I’ve always wanted a room to store all me cool things!” Junkrat looked at Cassidy eagerly.

“No. You’re still gonna be living out here. We’re not housing you. The townspeople would kill you on sight,” Freja stared at Junkrat as if he was an idiot for even assuming they would allow him in the house.

“Ah! That’s a bummer, but it’s all right!” Junkrat waved his hand at Freja’s words.

“Can’t wait to see what adventures this brings! Aren’t ya excited, Roadie?” Junkrat gripped onto Roadhog’s arm like a kid begging their mom for candy.

“Shut up,” Roadhog shook Junkrat off.

“He’s excited, trust me,” Junkrat told the group.

“Is he?” Cassidy whispered to Fareeha, she just shrugged.

“Let’s all just go home -” Freja sighed, leading the way back to the house.

Chapter Text

“Why are you here, again?” Hanzo looked up at the Hunter sitting on the desk chair.

“Gang’s all out gettin’ this big dragon, I was left behind,” Cassidy began, “Decided to pay you a visit,”

“We are not friends, Hunter,” Hanzo reminded him.

“Come on, after all we know about each other? After the way you saved me from that bear?” Cassidy gave a slight chuckle.

“He’s not comfortable knowing he’s gotten so close to you,” Illari butted in from the room entrance.

“Illari…” Hanzo grumbled her name as he looked at her, warning her to not cross the line.

“What’s that big dragon about?” Illari instantly changed the topic, focusing it on what Cassidy had said before.

“Oh, I ain’t sure. The king said there was a big dragon up in the mountains on the outskirts of the kingdom - causing a big problem to towns and stuff. So he enlisted us,”

“And you didn’t go?” Illari wondered.

“Ain’t my type of hunt. I’m more of on-the-ground stuff you can shoot with a gun. My revolver ain’t gonna do nothin’ to a dragon. Fareeha is famous for her dragon hunting - she’s taken down plenty.”  Cassidy explained.

“Why is the dragon a problem?” Hanzo raised an eyebrow, finally joining the conversation.

“Been attacking towns - most turned to complete ash. People escape - but not everyone. Some have died. So Fareeha, Amélie, Sombra, Brigitte and Freja all went to deal with it,” Cassidy waved his hand around, gesturing his words. This wasn’t the first time he had been left out of a hunt - and he wasn’t hurt about it. He knew his skillset, and he knew they weren’t fit for a dragon. Fareeha had slain countless dragons - that’s how she got her title, she was the one who created the monster hunter group in this kingdom in the first place. Before, monster hunters had mainly been mercenaries, doing whatever was needed of them as hunters - but when Fareeha had trained to become one, she figured the kingdom would be better with a group of hunters fighting the same things with a set of rules. She was always one for a team. Cassidy? Not so much.

“So you’re alone? They all went and you stayed?” Illari questioned Cassidy’s story.

“I ain’t alone, I got Kiriko, I suppose,” Cassidy told the truth, thinking of the fact Kiriko was home alone right now. He felt bad for her sometimes - bound to the building.

“There’s another Hunter?!” Hanzo practically screamed his response in fear.

“No, no! She’s uh… a spirit,” Cassidy laughed.

“You’re monster hunters but live with a ghost?” Illari kept pulling questions from Cassidy’s answers.

“She wasn’t human, ever, so not really a ghost,” Cassidy tried explaining. He didn’t really know how Kiriko came to be.

“So, what is she…?” Illari didn’t understand and really neither did Cassidy.

“A protective spirit. She’s bound to the house. I don’t know, I told ya, that’s Brigitte’s area,” Cassidy waved Illari’s questions off. Illari shrugged.

“So why is the dragon being attacked? Aren’t the towns just settled on its land? He would have the right to attack them,” Illari was quick to defend the dragon’s actions - and he understood why. This kingdom had a long history of taking the land from the creatures that lived here - even if not human, it wasn’t right. Cassidy knew that. That’s why the Hunters had such strict rules - they didn’t want to repeat history, but they also didn’t want creatures killing people for no reason.

“No, they ain’t - if they were, we’d still have to go after it - King’s orders. But these towns ain’t nowhere near those mountains - and yet he’s still running after ‘em, like it’s for sport,” Cassidy gave the proper reasoning as to why they were hunting the dragon. Illari accepted the answer.

“I still don’t see why you have to be here. You said you had that spirit at your house,” Hanzo got back to the original topic at hand - why Cassidy was in his cave home bothering him.

“Yeah but she just wants to talk to me like she’s my therapist - I ain’t up for that,” Cassidy dismissed the idea of spending time with Kiriko. He didn’t dislike her, he just hated anyone trying to pry into who he was. Which she always did.

“Really? I think you could benefit from it,” Illari said, but her tone wasn’t sarcastic - she was being genuine.

“I - yeah. I could. But Kiriko…I don’t know,” Cassidy rubbed his neck, not sure on how to explain it.

“I think you could still talk to her normally - and leave,” Hanzo lifted Cassidy off his chair and pushed him towards the cave’s exit.

“I got the message, darlin’,” Cassidy laughed, stopping before Hanzo pushed him even further.

“But-” Cassidy was cut off by Illari stepping over and speaking up,

“You said Kiriko was a spirit of some kind? Bound to the house? Like Hana?” Illari asked randomly.

“Like I said, Kiriko wasn’t ever a human - so no,” Cassidy shook his head.

“Interesting. Do you think I could meet her?” Cassidy was not expecting Illari to ask that.

“What?!” Hanzo turned to her, equally as shocked as Cassidy, if not more.

“You want to go into the house of hunters?” Hanzo’s shocked face was also expressed through his voice  - as if he was seeing an entirely new side of Illari.

“I’m not there to talk to them, I’m there to talk to a spirit. You know I try my best to know all kinds of creatures,” Illari defended herself to Hanzo. He didn’t reply, rather just sighed and accepted the answer.

“Well, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a new friend!” Cassidy answered, letting Illari know she was more than welcome to tag along. He then looked at Hanzo.

“How about you?” Cassidy asked, wondering if Hanzo also wanted to come with him and Illari.

“Excuse me?” He shot a nasty look at the Hunter.

“I mean - do you want to come back to the house with Illari and I?”  Cassidy rephrased his question.

“Why would I do that?” Hanzo’s snarky attitude from when the first two met was now back. It was clear he had no intention of being vulnerable again.

“Because a wonderful, handsome man invited you and you’re willing to make that man’s day by saying yes?” Cassidy joked around with the demon, trying his best to break the walls down again like he had previously. At Cassidy’s words, Hanzo only stared angrily - but it was clear he was blushing. 

“I’ll go - not for you,” Hanzo finally said, “For her,” He pointed to Illari.

“Me?” Illari seemed shocked.

“I do not trust humans - I do not believe you are safe walking into their territory,” Hanzo gave a simple explanation - Cassidy couldn’t tell if that was the real reason or a fake one so he didn’t have to admit he wanted to say yes to Cassidy.

“Even with me watching her?” Cassidy giggled at Hanzo’s distrust. 

“I trust you least of all,” That remark came with a smirk - he was obviously trying to get into Cassidy’s head. And it was working.

—

The three eventually arrived at the Hunter’s House, and shockingly neither Hanzo nor Illari had been stopped by any townsfolk. Cassidy wasn’t shocked, considering it was getting to be late, most people were probably getting ready for bed. Plus, both creatures were walking with a Hunter, what could they possibly do?

When they entered the house, Kiriko was sitting patiently at the big table in the room right at the entrance.

“Cassidy!” She smiled, putting down her book and waving.

“Who’s this…?” She pointed to the two behind him.

“Kiriko - this is Illari,” Cassidy pointed to the Night Raven, then to the demon - “and this is Hanzo,” Cassidy turned back to the Bai Ze, “Illari and Hanzo - this is Kiriko,” Cassidy smiled as he introduced them all.

“Kiriko…” Illari repeated to herself softly, walking up to the Bai Ze. Kiriko stood still, just kind of glancing at her.

“Hello! You look like…” Kiriko squinted her eyes, “A Night Raven?!” Kiriko jolted back in shock once she realized what Illari was.

“Yes,” Illari confirmed.

“I thought they were extinct…” Kiriko began examining Illari - just as Illari was doing to Kiriko. Both women were fascinated by one another. 

“I am the last one,” Illari explained.

“Interesting…” Kiriko nodded, still looking Illari up and down.

“You are a Bai Ze, yes?” Illari asked Kiriko in return.

“Yup yup!” Kiriko smiled, twirling around where she stood.

“I have never seen one,” Illari expressed her shock - just as Kiriko had.

“Oh, well, we aren’t that common out in the wild!” Kiriko was clearly unable to give a proper explanation to Illari, but she tried. The two examined each other, but eventually looked back at Cassidy.

“This is Hanzo?!” Kiriko quickly turned the subject matter back to Cassidy and the demon next to him.

“Mhm,” Hanzo huffed, not really intrigued by Kiriko at all.

“Nice to meet you! I’ve heard much about you,” Kiriko shot her hand out for Hanzo to shake - and for the millionth time - he did not shake her hand.

“You have?” Hanzo shot a glare at Cassidy.

“Not from me!” Cassidy defended himself immediately, “Sombra talks a lot,” He shoved the blame onto her.

“Hehe, yeah…” Kiriko agreed with Cassidy. Kiriko was clearly confused as to what to do now - Hanzo wasn’t really social, so she turned back to Illari.

“How do you know Hanzo?” Kiriko asked.

“Uh,” Illari was clearly hesitant to answer.

“No need to tell me if you don’t want to!” Kiriko quickly realized she was beginning to pry.

“No, it’s okay. He found me after my people died. I was eighteen - very grief stricken and lonely,” Illari was trying her best to give the story to Kiriko, and Cassidy technically, but she was obviously upset remembering the death of her people.

“I found her alone hiding behind a tree. She was crying. I offered her a place to stay,” Hanzo finished the story for Illari, making it short and simple so Illari didn’t have to suffer through her words. Cassidy wanted to give a sarcastic remark about how Hanzo was actually sweet and not all intimidating as he seemed - but Cassidy kept his mouth shut. This physically large demon had come across an innocent girl in the forest who had just witnessed the worst thing in her life and he gave her a reason to carry on and gave her the care she needed. And even now, he had cut Illari off so he could tell the story so she didn’t have to hurt and do it herself. Cassidy couldn’t even begin to describe how heartwarming that was. He clearly cared a lot for this young woman - it was likely he saw himself in her. After all, they had both done catastrophic things that were not fully their faults. Cassidy didn’t know what to say, and neither did Kiriko.

“That’s so…. Sweet,” Kiriko was being honest, trying to find a way to reply.

“It was just common decency,” Hanzo rolled his eyes - why was he so hellbent on not taking a compliment?

The silence between them formed, all unable to figure out how to form the proper words to convey how they felt. The silence was cut short though - when all of a sudden, the house door slammed open - it was Sombra. She was panting, like she had run here the entire way. She was about to yell something when she noticed Illari and Hanzo.

“Why are they - Doesn’t matter! Listen up, todos!” Sombra was still in the doorway, her arms raised in a panic.

“We need to go now -” Sombra was now speaking frantically - her words tripping over one another.

“Woah, woah, woah - slow down,” Cassidy raised his hands to his chest, ushering Sombra to calm herself.

“What happened? Why are you here and not out on that dragon hunt?”  Cassidy asked slowly.

“Fareeha got hurt. She’s the only one who’s really good at this dragon hunting shit - so now we don’t really have anyone to help. So I came to grab you,” Sombra caught her breath and explained.

“God, is she okay?!” Cassidy’s heart sank at the information Sombra just gave him.

“She’s okay - Mercy’s with her,” Sombra reassured him.

“I could help,” Hanzo randomly spoke up. Everyone turned to him, confused.

“What?” Sombra raised an eyebrow.

“I believe you are forgetting I have a way with dragons,” Hanzo looked at Sombra and Cassidy like they were idiots.

“This…is true,” Sombra nodded.

“Whatever, we just need help - you’re all welcome!” She bolted back out the door, clearly expecting them all to follow. Illari was about to join her when Cassidy stopped her.

“You stay here with Kiriko - she could use the company. I’m supposed to be here with her…but, well, you know -” Cassidy tiled his head towards the door to signal he was leaving.
“You stay with her. She gets panicked when she can’t help us with stuff like this - I’m sure she’ll feel better if someone’s with her,” Cassidy had partially whispered all this to Illari. He didn’t need Kiriko knowing he cared about her like this, she wouldn’t let him live it down. Illari didn’t argue, she just nodded - probably thankful that she didn’t have to go hunt a dragon. 

With that situated, Cassidy and Hanzo quickly followed Sombra out the door and to the mountain - it was time to hunt a dragon. 

Chapter Text

“Glad you could make it,” Fareeha greeted Cassidy, Hanzo and Sombra at the mountain top. She was hunched over on the ground, gripping her side. Mercy was beside her, trying to tend to the wound.

“The hell we dealin’ with?” Cassidy tried looking around for a dragon but didn’t see anything.

“Uh,” Fareeha groaned. Mercy looked up to answer for her, “The dragon flew off. Amélie and Freja went to look for where it might’ve gone,”

“Where’s Brig?” Cassidy asked, trying to calm himself about the fact Fareeha was hurting.

“Went with Symmetra to explore the dragon’s cave,” Mercy answered. Cole nodded, looking back at Hanzo. Sombra had disappeared, probably to go look for the dragon. Cassidy had no idea Mercy or Symmetra had joined the Hunters on this mission, but it made sense.

“So, what happened?” Cassidy stepped closer to Fareeha.

“She was flying, trying to get a good shot - smacked out of the sky by the dragon’s tail,” Mercy explained. Cassidy nodded, looking at Fareeha who was clearly in immense pain. As they all kept trying to make a plan, a loud roar came from the sky. They all looked up to see a gigantic dragon flying above them, heading directly for them.

“Fuck!” Cassidy shouted, tumbling himself out of the way. Mercy helped get Fareeha on her feet to get out of the way. Hanzo didn’t move.

“Hanzo! He’s comin’ right for us! Move!” Cassidy shouted as loud as he could, but Hanzo just stood there. His two dragons climbed down off his arm, both growing to full size as they hit the ground.

“The hell is he doin’?” Cassidy whispered to Mercy. She just shrugged. The big dragon in the sky looked directly at Hanzo’s - and he stopped. He stopped charging towards the group, and slowly descended.

“What’s…going on?” Cassidy asked. The others in the group also looked confused. By now, Brigette, Freja, Sombra, Amélie and Symmetra had all returned screaming about the dragon, but they stopped when they saw it was calmly making its way towards Hanzo. The big dragon crouched, sniffing the other two dragons - they were big at full size, but nowhere near the size of the real dragon. Hanzo reached his own hand out to touch the dragon’s snout, petting it.

“The fuck?” Freja shouted.

“Shhh,” Sombra shushed Freja. Freja just shrugged. Everyone watched in awe at what seemed like a literal fever dream.

“I recognize this dragon,” Hanzo said to the group, but he did not look away from the dragon’s eyes.

“You do?” Everyone said in unison.

“Yes. He was here when my family still ruled,” Hanzo explained.

“Damn, he’s old,” Cassidy scoffed.

“Yes…dragons live long, you know that though.” Hanzo nodded.

“Yes…of course I do,” Cassidy scratched his head as he spoke nervously, not wishing for anyone to realize how little education he had at his job. Cassidy walked closer to the dragon, but it snapped, barring its teeth to the monster hunter. Cassidy jolted back before Hanzo stepped between them. 

“I used to come out here when my family was too much,” Hanzo began, “He never came after me. I suppose it’s the spiritual connection,” Hanzo shrugged. It was obvious that the dragon itself recognized Hanzo and that they had a special bond. Hanzo stepped back and let his own dragons introduce themselves to the big one.

“Damn…” Cassidy muttered, “Did he burn towns ‘n’ shit when you were ‘round?”

“No. I don’t know why he’s doing this. Perhaps it has to do with your current ruler?” Hanzo looked at Cassidy with a raised eyebrow. The group looked at each other hesitantly - King Windhelm was a nice ruler and fit for the job, but he didn’t pull all the strings for the kingdom. Unfortunately people misused his kindness often, especially the people that worked with him. Stuff like that often led to problems for the kingdom.

“Maybe,” Mercy spoke up.

“Does the dragon have a name?” Symmetra asked.

“My father used to call him Tatsuya,” Hanzo replied.

“He’s acting out. I think I will stay here for a bit, Hunters. Alone,” Hanzo made a statement, whilst simultaneously requesting the others to leave. Everyone did, thanking Hanzo for what he had done - but Cassidy stayed.

“Cole? I said - “

“I know.” Cassidy stepped closer, the dragon clearly uneasy with the presence of Cassidy.

“I’ll go. I just…wanted to thank you. We were in big trouble,” Cassidy smiled. Hanzo didn’t look at him.

“I might take you on all my missions from now on, since you’re former royalty,” Cassidy joked, but Hanzo wasn’t amused.

“I have no desire to help you take down my kind,” Hanzo looked over at his own dragons, who were now playing with Tatsuya.

“We ain’t like that, you know it.” Cassidy was so desperate for Hanzo to see him in a positive light.

“But you are. You were going to take down that goat-thing and his brute polar bear if the real bear hadn’t stepped in. You only stop when you realize they’re humanoid. What about me, Cassidy? You told me most demons don’t act this way. You would draw a gun on them,” Hanzo crossed his arms. Cassidy wanted to fall to the ground and melt. The fact Hanzo still held disdain for him made him ick.

“Yeah, but only if they attacked me first, Hans,” Cassidy defended himself.

“You Hunters are all the same. As long as it’s ‘self defense’ it means nothing. The creature means nothing. Most of us have been here longer than you!” Hanzo was beginning to yell.

“I…” Cassidy knew Hanzo was right. There was no reason to argue.

“Maybe…you can help?” Cassidy proposed. Hanzo looked at him with a shocked expression.
“I already told you-” Cassidy cut Hanzo off, “I know! I mean, maybe you - and Illari - can help us find ways to be nicer to creatures, compromise, you know?  Get them to leave normal folk alone. We can live in peace,”

“But then you would be out of a job.”

“Not exactly. As long as humans and monsters exist, they’re always gonna be bickering, we both know that. I think turning the hunting thing into more of a compromise business can work. Plus, not all monsters will want to compromise. Not all are sentient like us…those will have to meet some type of fate,” Cassidy explained the extent of his plan, and Hanzo didn’t seem like he disagreed.

“Okay. Fine. I will help - but if it goes wrong, you will never see me again,” Hanzo threatened, his white piercing eyes looking directly into Cassidy’s eyes. Cassidy nodded quickly.

“Yessir!” Cassidy tipped his hat.

“I wanted to say - you’re pretty good with dragons,” Cassidy looked over to the three dragons flying around like they were babies learning to fly for the first time.

“Yeah, well - you’re pretty good with demons,” Hanzo smiled back at Cassidy’s remark, giving his own. Cassidy could feel his entire body turn to mush the second Hanzo said that. His face practically lit on fire.

“Ha…yeah,” Cassidy rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’ll leave ya guys alone now. See ya later, Hanzo,” Cassidy departed with Hanzo on the mountain, making his way back to the Hunter House.