Chapter Text

Dearest Fareeha,

I will be taking vacation soon, and am hoping you could join me in Geneva. Please contact me when you get the privacy and time to do so.

Je t'embrasse,

Angela Zeigler

Fareeha read the message in the compound's cafeteria, all alone except for her phone and a small plate of food. Reheated lentils and flatbread, and a small bowl of meat stew from dinner service. She considered Angela's choice of words. Short, and to the point, with a little bit of flourish. She appreciated how Angela respected the sensitivity of her job--it was always better to transmit any message regarding the guard at Anubis through a secured channel.

A feeling of guilt came about Fareeha. She regretted how little time she had for Angela since the Overwatch days. The two had never met up after going their separate ways, and had shared only a few brief messages with each other in the time since. To be fair, both were busy. Their work had kept them distracted enough to not miss each other. Fareeha's security job required her availability during long and unusual hours, while Angela's world travels meant Fareeha was always confused about when she would be able to respond to her messages. A vacation, especially with her, sounded good. It would be her first break, months after she had taken the job. Her bosses would encourage it. They had a sense of how tedious guard duty could be, and treated their guards generously to maintain their mental health.

Fareeha looked up from her screen for the first time since opening the message, and peered around the large and mostly empty cafeteria. The long rows of lights overhead were soft and stable, turned down slightly. Most of the lights in the kitchen area had been shut off. It was well past normal working hours, so the only people eating were janitors and some lower-level night guards, sitting in small, quiet groups or by themselves. Well, Fareeha thought to herself, at least Raptora guards were treated well. She couldn't say the same for some of the lower-level workers. The requirement upon her to always be on the watch kept her from getting to know them, but she had observed that most of them frequently skipped meals or brought only scraps from home. The world, by and large, was hungry, and Egypt was no exception. Food was pricey, sometimes even as expensive as it was during the Omnic Crisis. The situation was precarious, and would warrant international assistance if there were not so many other regions of the world plagued by even greater humanitarian troubles.

Fareeha checked the time. Her thirty minutes were almost up, and her plate was clean. She sighed and looked over the message a final time. So much time to think to herself on the job, and it felt like a majority of that time was spent worrying about the plight of her home country without making herself feel better. A vacation sounded really good right about now.

She had her shift to get back to. Angela was working in Zurich at the moment, so if Fareeha replied when she got off her post at six as the sun rises, Angela would probably see the message first thing in the morning. The memory of Angela waking up next to her brought a smile to her lips. She wondered if she could head up there this weekend, with only a few days notice...