Chapter Text
Scouts legs carried him at speeds some couldn’t imagine. He was fast, terrifyingly so. One second you’d be alone on the battlefield and the next you’d see the flash of a metal bat and you’d be out like a light.
Running was a part of his identity and his life. When he was upset, he ran. When he was happy, he ran. From a coping strategy to a hobby, running was everything to him.
Too bad he was missing one of his legs right now.
—
Scout had been caught at the feet by the BLU team's Soldiers rockets, blowing him a good distance away from point and taking one of his legs off in the blast.
With a wheeze, he dragged himself off to a shed-like structure where he would most likely die alone. Sure- he’d respawn, but there was always that fear that lingered in the back of his mind; what if the respawn machine glitched out and he didn’t come back? He was only 27. Way too young to just die- so much more to do.
He felt light headed as he straightened out what was left of his left leg. In doing so, his remaining muscles contracted painfully and tears built up in his eyes. The wound burned and sizzled. He had lost his weapons in the explosion so he couldn’t off himself. Even if he had one, he didn’t know the respawn machines rules on self injury.
Even with the knowledge of not truly dying, he was disturbed greatly. His head was spinning and he began to mumble and cry to himself. His eyesight grew blurrier and his tears spilled from his face to his shirt.
Why was this dying process taking so long?! Why couldn’t he have died upon the rocket's impact?
As his racing thoughts and incoherent sobbing continued, a figure appeared to loom over him. Scout couldn’t care to feel intimidated if it was one of the BLU’s. He could only hope they’d just take him out of his misery.
Yet suddenly, the figure crouched and began to physically and verbally soothe him. They rubbed circles into his back and began to whisper a melody. If it weren’t for his body shutting down on him painfully, he would have recognized the tune from his early childhood. Yet, even if he couldn’t make sense of the words, his breathing grew closer to stabilizing and his eyes closed.
The voice that sang was rough, yet slow and quiet.
“Bonne nuit,”
“Cher trésor,”
“Ferme tes yeux et dors.”
“Laisse ta tête, s’envoler,”
“Au creux de ton oreiller.”
“Un beau rêve passera,”
“Et tu l’attraperas.”
“Un beau rêve passera,”
“Et tu le retiendras.”
Scout's brain had identified a few words and so he mindlessly followed along with the lyrics at one point, as if a piece of his memory had been unlocked. The voice halted for a moment before continuing.
Eventually, Scout's senses began to give out one by one, his hearing last, as he finally succumbed to his injuries.
——
Spy watched his son's stiff and pale body for a few moments before it disappeared to whip itself through the respawn machine.
He stood slowly, a slight ache in his chest from an internal overwhelming amount of emotions he had held back. The ache grew worse at one point when his son had begun to whisper along with him. Spy was…shocked to say the least. He didn’t know how he could remember. The thought made him terribly happy and sad all at once.
Dusting his suit off, he turned to head back towards the battlefield. The battle should be almost over anyway, so he’d get a smoke break for himself soon.
—
“Red Team Wins!” The administrator's voice called out over the speakers scattered across the battlefield. Spy flinched at the sudden squeak of the speakers, yet eventually let out a sigh of relief knowing it was over. They had won, simple as that.
He began to make his way back to the REDs base entry, yet it was quite a distance as he was near the BLU base entrance. His mind wandered about the team's performance during today's battle, then to his incident with a Scout- wait Scout…? Where was he?
Spy’s movement paused as he realized he had not seen Scout after he had died within his presence. Scout should have respawned after his body had dissolved, yet Spy could not recall seeing him on the battlefield after that.
Multiple alarms set off in Spy’s mind. What if Scout remembered those last moments with him and connected the dots? What if-
“Spy!” His team's Engineer called for him off in the distance, near the RED entrance. Spy panicked. Scout figured it out and told them all- everyone knew- they all did.
He hastily made his way towards Engineer, internally telling himself to play it cool and to not jump to conclusions.
“What is it?” Spy asked, stopping in front of the short Texan.
Engineer opened his mouth to reply, yet nothing came out. Yet he cleared his throat and tried again. “We had- there’s a problem with the respawn machine.” He scratched at his stubble nervously.
“What do you mean? Is someone dead?” Spy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Just- just come see for yourself.” Engineer sighed, leading Spy inside.
Upon entering the room, he could see the rest of his team huddled up together, chatting away as they inspected something.
Spy drew in closer. “Gentlemen…? What is the- oh.” He paused upon the sight of a young feminine child looking to be 5 years old.
Engineer sighed, “Yep. Scout seems to be gone, yet this lil’ rascal is here.”
The young child appeared to be a girl. A round face and dirty blonde hair that had seemed to be cut real short and choppy with children’s safety scissors. The child’s face was turned down into a frown as Demoman talked away at the small thing, buck teeth poking under their top lips. The child’s eyes were bright with blue and freckles were scattered across their cheek and nose.
“The wee girl has a real pout on her!” Demoman laughed as he attempted to talk with the child.
“Aye- Im not a girl…! Ima boy!” The child cried back angrily at the cyclops, Boston accent prominent in the child’s tongue. It was cute hearing a small squeaky child with such a prominent city accent.
Spy stared into the child’s face, taking in their features and the gears turning in his head.
The other mercenaries around them discussed what was going on excitedly, frantically, a mix of all different sorts of emotions.
“Is this…is this little Scout?” Heavy asked, concerned.
“Bloody hell- why did the respawn machine just drop in some- some child…?!” Sniper spouted out, obviously frustrated. He also seemed concerned about Scout's disappearance.
Soldier and Demoman continued to bicker and argue with the child, the small thing continuing to claim it was not a girl, but a boy.
Pyro seemed standoffish, bothered by the lack of Scout's presence and the new appearance of an unfamiliar child.
Medic stood silently to himself, thinking. Spy could tell he knew the same thing he did.
“This lil’ girl is here now- Scouts gone-“ Engineer started.
Spy cut him off with a sigh, “That is Scout. The child, I mean. The child is Scout.”
Engineer paused, “Huh? But that’s a girl- Scouts a man.”
Spy let out a groan, “This is- troublesome in every way possible.”
Engineer raised an eyebrow at him, but took Spy’s word for the new found identity of the child. He raised his voice a bit to gain the attention of the other mercs. “Alright- uhm- fellas- it seems that the small child is Scout.”
A few heads snapped towards Engineer. Demoman called out, “The lass here is Scout?” A single finger pointed down at the small presence.
“NAWT A GIRL!” The child yelled from behind him, seeming to understand the Scottish slang for girl. Surprisingly.
Medic stepped forward, “I would have to agree, yes. The…feminine child here is Scout.” He seemed hesitant to elaborate any further.
“I do not understand this at all one bit!” Soldier exclaimed.
“That is- understandable.” Medic started again, “It seems the respawn machine malfunctioned, reverting Scout to his 5 year old self.”
The room was quiet for a moment.
“But why is Scout a gi-“ Soldier was cut off by Spy before he could get the child yelling again.
“Look- I hate to say this- but if it will get you fools to shut up about it, then I will tell you. You will connect the dots eventually anyway.” Spy sighed before speaking again, “Scout is- biologically a girl. He was born a girl, yet is truly a boy, his brain is.” He struggled to describe exactly what Scout's situation was. “It’s called being transsexual, or transgender. Scout was simply born in the wrong body, that body being the one of a female.”
The room was silent for a second more after Spy had finished.
“OOOOHH-“ Demoman and Soldier realized in sync. Other sounds of realization and understanding were made from the unknowing mercenaries.
“This is- also true.” Medic spoke up, “The child has obviously not undergone any of the treatments or surgeries that I performed on him yet as he is only 5 here, so he appears to be of his biological sex.”
“You knew, doc?” Engineer asked curiously.
“Yes. But- patient confidentiality of course.”
Engineer nodded understandably.
Now that everyone seemed to understand the situation better, they turned towards the young boy who was messing around with his ruined hair.
Spy stepped forward, then proceeded to crouch to Scout's height. “Do you know who you are, little one?” He asked, deciding to see if the respawn machine had changed any of Scout's memories.
Those blue eyes stared at him for a moment before speaking. “Duh!” The boy exclaimed, “Well, I have a different name my brotha’s call m-me! But I like Jeremy betta’ so my name is Jeremy!” He declared proudly. “Ma calls me it too! My butthead brotha’s are mean about it though!” The child began to ramble on.
Spy smiled internally, “I see. Jeremy is quite a nice name though, is it not?”
Jeremy smiled, “Da best!” He squeeked.
Spy and the others had deduced that Scout only had the memories of himself up until his current 5 year old self. They decided to introduce themselves to get the boy more comfortable around them.
When introductions were finished, Jeremy had leaned in closer to Spy, seemingly sniffing his suit. Spy pulled back a bit, an eyebrow raised. “What are you doing?”
“You smell funny.” Jeremy said.
“Funny? Why is that?” Spy questioned.
“Ah- b-because uhhh-“ the boy seemed to have a very limited vocabulary despite liking to talk so much, “like- smells like my Ma…her room and sometimes dresses…!”
Spy froze as he realized that the child had connected the smell of his cigarette smoke back to his childhood home. He sighed, standing up. “That is quite funny, yes.” He looked down at the young boy for a moment. He felt the old shoved away guilt and regret building up into his stomach, a feeling he hadn’t felt since Scout first joined team RED a few years ago. His mind began to race a bit. He needed a smoke.
Although, Medic popped in between Spy and young Scout, bringing Spy out of his thoughts. “I will take the small Scout for a medical examination. I want to make sure that everything is in order with his body seeing that he was reverted to a younger state by the respawn machine.” He stated.
Spy nodded in agreement, stepping back as he watched Medic take the boy's hand and lead him away. He could faintly hear Jeremy complaining about doctors as the two made their way down the hall.
Spy couldn’t tell what was reality at the moment, or if he was even awake at all. He felt himself stagger for a moment before finally making his way to his room for a very much needed smoke break.