Overwatch, except that there aren't any Omnics, it takes place in the 1600s and half the characters are mashed up with mythical beasts. Oh, and Overwatch doesn't actually exist — so it's not really Overwatch at all, is it?
A Genji Shimada/Tekhartha Zenyatta Fantasy AU fanfiction for the video game Overwatch. Created by twitchtipthegnawer on Archive of Our Own, it's a currently ongoing multi-chapter project.
I Would Move Mountains contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Sombra has shades of this, though whether or not she's truly heroic remains to be seen.
- Adaptational Wimp: Zenyatta gets hit with this pretty hard at the beginning of the story. He goes from being a 20 year-old warrior monk with enlightenment superpowers to an 18 year-old pampered son of a merchant.
- All Deaths Final: Regardless of the magic present, resurrection is simply impossible. This won't endear the reader to the writer.
- The Cavalier Years: The story takes place at an intentionally ambiguous point during these. The fact that it's alternate history prevents it from being Wooden Ships and Iron Men instead.
- Cute Bookworm: Zenyatta is this. Long before he was allowed to go on an adventure, he lived vicariously through books.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Symmetra is a non-romantic version through her friendship with Zenyatta.
- Depending on the Writer: As with all fanfics. YMMV on whether or not the characters are OOC.
- Emergency Transformation: It's implied that the reason Genji became a Hybrid, as with his canon transformation into a cyborg, was to safe his life after an accident.
- Functional Magic: Of the Rule Magic variety. The witches in-universe utilize this.
- Hates Being Alone: Zenyatta. When he fears losing Genji forever, this is brought up to eleven.
- High Fantasy: Falls into this genre, though the setting is a bit more diverse than your average example.
- Historical AU: Rather than 20 Minutes into the Future, this story moves the characters back into the 1600s.
- In Name Only: As mentioned in the description above and the "In Spite of a Nail" entry. There are certainly plot parallels to Overwatch, but they're far from immediately recognizable.
- In Spite of a Nail: The story displaces the characters from their countries, times, and even upbringings; yet their personalities, appearances, and backstories are often remarkably similar.
- Jumped at the Call: Zenyatta is this. Apparently he's been begging his parents to let him get a call for years, in fact.
- The Law of Conservation of Detail: According to the author's tumblr, chapter 4 in particular is this. What exactly is foreshadowing and what is red herring remains to be seen.
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Les Yay: Sombra gets a moment of this in chapter 4. - Lover and Beloved: Genji and Zenyatta get this dynamic, somewhat flipped from their dynamic in canon. Though it may seem a foregone conclusion, fics have been known to swerve before, so this is considered a spoiler.
- Magic Is Evil: Zigzagged. All magic in this universe is black magic by merit of its cost. However, plenty of magic users are good, the magic doesn't corrupt its user over time, and the general population views magic favorably.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Sombra has these, in the needle variety. They're too pointy to be cute, but not strictly-speaking a sign of evil.
- Odd Friendship: Zenyatta and Sombra; the hyper-competent witch and a bookish man spoiling for adventure aren't a typical pair. Later, Genji and Symmetra.
- Original Character: Several, of varying degrees of importance. The first chapter alone introduces four (Zenyatta's mother and father, his maid Lotte, and his tailor/friend De Vries).
- Our Dragons Are Different: All of the monsters have their mythologies picked apart to varying degrees, but with Genji as one of the main characters his dragon characteristics are particularly well fleshed-out.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Interestingly enough, the chapter titles are this. Each is named after a mythical creature related to the plot of that chapter in some way.
- Ritual Magic: How the witches produce Hybrids. The exact details of this have yet to be revealed to the plot, since Universities guard the secrets jealously. Sombra is a master of this.
- Scars Are Forever: Averted with Genji in chapter four. Played straight later with both Genji and Zenyatta.
- Slash Fic: While not exclusively focused on the romantic relationship between the two leads, it certainly doesn't shy away from emphasizing and foreshadowing where their romance is headed very early on.
- Traveling at the Speed of Plot: The trip from the Netherlands to Nepal fits this trope to a T. The fic glosses over the vast majority of the voyage, leaving only the plot-important parts in the story.
- Warrior Monk: Zenyatta becomes this. It takes quite a long while, however.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Hybrids are treated pretty poorly by the human population, though discriminatory laws differ between the various countries the characters visit.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Zenyatta might not be a very extreme example of this trope, but he certainly starts the story out believing the best of everyone around him.
- Will They or Won't They?: Zenyatta and Genji's relationship. Zenyatta is clearly interested, but does Genji return it? And, if so, would he like to be friends with benefits or full-on lovers?
