Renée had been declared dead after being hit by a truck driver on November 19, 2025. She expected nothing of the sort as she headed home after work, the bakery she had been with since she was 20 was already far behind her, the warm lighting that shone through the window was now just a distant glow. Her heels clicked against the road which was already darkened from the evening rain that had been falling heavily, and she did her best to keep a goodie bag of leftover pastries the head baker let her keep tucked against her, to avoid the bag getting wet.
So when a truck without its lights on was already inches away from her, she had no time to react. The speed that the driver was going, especially on the slick road, plus the fact that the sun had already set, meant that Renée had not seen the driver nor did he see her.
Renée had heard that in near death, or deadly, experiences, people would see their life flash before their eyes. This was no exception for her, except, there wasn't much to watch. She hadn't been close to her parents for many years, her elder sister and brother kept no contact with her and she was thankful for that, she had no lover in her life, and her one friend was the head baker. She smiled warmly as she thought of the sweet old man, who gave her a job when she had just moved to this town to escape her home situation when she was 18, desperately needing some money to pay for the rent of her apartment.
Now she was thankful that her landlord didn't allow pets. She couldn't be picky, so she went with the cheapest yet still "safe enough" apartment she could rent. She was sad back then, but now she was thankful that she left no one but the baker behind. She wished she could tell him about this, but she knew he'd eventually find out, if the worst happened.
But, he'd be okay and she knew that. Their friendship consisted of "hello", "goodbye", and "take care" when she arrived and left work respectively, and he had a daughter around her age who he spent most of his time with, plus a loving wife of 30 years. He had a good family, a happy life. She was happy for him, truly. Plus, he DID give her some pastries during closing time a few times a week and those alone kept her fed for most of the first month she worked there.
What kept her going was her love of getting lost in fantasy worlds. She had her collection of The Lord of the Rings (both the movies and the novels), her shelves of manga omnibus' with her favorite being Cardcaptor Sakura, her Webnovel library where she read all sorts of original novels and fanfictions, and a huge Steam library full of games of every genre. Yet her favorite game was the one that took all of her focus for many hours every night after work, and all day on the weekends.
Overwatch, or well, Overwatch 2 now. She had been playing, dedicated, for almost 9 years at this point.
She loved the competition and adored the Community even more, she spent time liking all of the voice actors posts, admiring and resharing the fan artist's hard work, and dedicating time to learning about each hero from their gameplay to their lore, plus so much more - she even managed to cosplay once! She even had a favorite, though the few players who knew her decently well laughed due to the clash between her warm and wholesome personality and the "hero" who was her main, a cold-blooded and deadly sniper.
As Renée was loaded onto a stretcher, her arm shifted and fell from the sheet covering her. The paramedic who was getting her body strapped down glanced to her arm, seeing the tattoo in a dusky purple cursive that read "C'est la vie".
—
Renée opened her eyes, or rather, she would have… If she had eyes. "Well, that's that." She "said", as if she was within her body, and while she didn't have a throat.. Or a mouth… There was still a voice that sounded nothing like her own, that echoed in the endless room, bouncing off "Walls" that she couldn't really see. Were there actually walls? She had no way to know for sure. Everything was bright. Bright white, in the version of vision she had.
"Hm, who do we have here?" a voice echoed, louder than her own and more commanding, which made her jump as she had thought she was alone. She certainly felt alone.
Renée had the phantom feeling of tilting her head, smirking. "So, ROB is real, eh?" Good old ROB…
"... Ah, so you are Renée, hm? An untimely passing, but timely all the same."
So cryptic…
"What does your future hold? Do you want a future? You have so many choices, but those who were once Human make so many stupid, and poorly planned, choices here. Poor whatshisname, fueled by his desire to be with his waifu-"
"Waifu, ROB uses the term WAIFU? What a joke…" Renée thought, but the thoughts actually left her the same as her "voice" and ROB stopped talking.
"..." was the feeling his energy gave off.
"..." was all she could think, except her energy was filled with the emotion of embarrassment.
"As I said… Stupidity."
"Wait, what happened to the one with the waifu?"
Annoyed, he explained. "Oh, he just wanted the young lady Sango from Inuyasha. He didn't specify a time or place…"
"Oh, the village…" Renée muttered.
"Indeed."
ROB started their next question, more serious now.
"Have you ever met a Vampire?" She blurted out, interrupting them.
"..."
"You said "those who were once Human", so that leads me to believe you've dealt with non-Humans, too. Am I right?"
"...Moving on."
The woman was careful not to let any more sarcastic thoughts cross her mind. Apparently ROB was rather petty, or at least mischievous, and she didn't want to be on his bad side.
"Where do you choose to go, if anywhere, girl?"
She thought quite seriously, taking her time, thinking of who, where…
She came to a conclusion, the one place she loved the most, more than even her previous world… To help someone who got her through some of her toughest times.
"Can we… Inhabit… Someone? Except, as their thoughts, spirit, consciousness, that kind of thing, instead of becoming them fully?"
"Oho, what a unique question. I don't see why not. Who exactly do you have in mind?" ROB did seem quite surprised, his voice did have more emotion than hers as well, so she had a smug feeling that she was unique but she didn't focus on that, she just wanted to make her wish.
"Widowmaker. Amélie Lacroix. From the game Overwatch. Old Overwatch, not Overwatch 2... I want to go back before she murders her husband Gérard, and stop that from happening."
The ROB was curious now, even more of a rarity. "Also different from most. You've piqued my curiosity. Why do you want this fate, girl?"
"I never cared much for my own life. I was just getting by. I don't foresee myself missing a body or a life of my own, so why not help my comfort character not live a hellish life? I think this will be an interesting experience, more interesting than anything else I've been through, and a good deed couldn't hurt my karma for any… future incidents, right?"
She quickly followed up with another question. "Actually, could something else happen to me, or is this a one time deal? Am I immortal now?!"
"You talk quite a lot, don't you? Regardless… Your wish is impressive. Respectable, even. I'd be interested in watching that. Wish granted. I wonder if you'll ever regret this decision. Well. We'll see, hm? Oh and if you do die in that world, you die. You do not resurrect. This will be your life, the world will be real, the game is no longer a game."
He paused before continuing. "Though for you to die, the woman you wish to help will have to die first. A tragedy that would be.. Best of luck to you, young lady." With that, a crashing sound of thunder, the loudest thunder Renée had ever heard, exploded throughout the vast space, echoing endlessly, and she was no longer in the void with ROB.
—
That feeling you get when having an out-of-body experience right before waking up from time to time, as if you're falling back into your own body, without any feeling of pain or danger, suddenly engulfed her.
She was in Widowmaker's body now… or, if ROB upheld their offer, Amélie's.
The sound of crashing thunder had subsided, replaced with soft beeping. She was confused, she still had no vision, she thought maybe she'd be able to somehow "see" through Amélie's eyes at least?
The beeping continued, never stopping. "Why would there be this constant beeping noise?"
She did have a passing thought about what year ROB cast her into, damn… She hoped he didn't end up sending her all the way back to when Amélie was a baby. Why didn't she specify just a bit more?!
The woman who she chose to inhabit was stirring awake on a cold sheet of metal. She made a sound of annoyance, and the slight wave of emotion she had was filled with energy that Renée could feel. Could her pondering have somehow woken the woman? "Please be a full grown woman, please don't be a baby…" she thought.
Amélie's eyes fully opened, slowly, and she began to take in her surroundings. Renée could feel the woman's apprehension, and confusion. Such a complex feeling. Okay, she was most likely an adult… Could a baby feel this deeply?! She hoped not.
As Amélie scanned the room, Renée realized she could indeed "see" what she saw, though in a way that one could "see" a thought. How odd to have such a view, as if she was seeing life through a muddy puddle.
But, this was definitely not a room where a baby would be born… She noticed the test tubes of strangely colored liquids, the horrifying looking metal tools…
Plus, the lost empty feeling the French woman had… Of having almost no emotion… Now Renée understood. Amélie hadn't murdered her beloved husband yet - ROB did keep Renée's wish intact - but she had undergone the training to do so. Really, he couldn't send her back just a little bit earlier?!
Though, could Amélie be helped the same way Widowmaker could be? Could Renée even help to begin with, if she had become Amélie's spirit instead? Most likely the poor woman would think she had gone crazy and Talon would still end up capturing her.
A depressing thought hit her… Could the current Amélie even be saved? Did Renée's spirit within her have the ability to change her and Gérard's tragic outcome?
She realized she had forgotten to ask, and ask for, a lot when talking to ROB.
Right now, though, she decided to fully focus on her duty as Amélie's spirit, and assess all she could.
—
Amélie blinked slowly, as she took in the dimmed cold white lighting around the room she was in. Her head was aching, and she put a hand up to her temple… She felt as if she heard constant talking while she slept. Oh well. Her back hurt from the metal table, and she didn't remember how long she'd been there. She didn't really remember much of anything that had happened. When she saw the lab she was in, she did remember she had been working with Talon, but why? The memories were fuzzy.
She knew she had something to do. But what was that important thing? She shook her head and started to stand up from the table, wobbling slightly. She glanced down, the white hospital-like gown swallowing her as the size was much too big.
But still, now having fully woken up, the emptiness seemed to replace any and all emotion she had felt moments before.
Renée had known from all the lore she consumed that Amélie had gone through extreme conditioning, so much so that she became a completely different person. Knowing this, and not being corrupted herself, the emptiness struck her even harder… She knew she must change this poor woman's horrid fate. Even if the challenge now seemed daunting and depressing.
Well. C'est la vie.