She hovered over him, her fingers barely skimming the surface of his wounds. His breathing was steady, but she didn't know if it would last. She blinked slowly before sitting on her heels. The sun was setting low and quick. She needed to get him inside. She carefully snaked her arms under his and hauled him to his feet. One arm held his torso tight while the other held the back of knees. She carried him to her Technical, her boots crunching against the sand.
He stirred one she placed him in the back and she stilled. He settled and she moved on to see what was left of the flaming bits of what was once another Technical. She could see another lying underneath a sheet of tarnished metal. She carefully pried to metal away and saw the red zero painted on his chest. A mixture of emotions sprung up on her and she couldn't stop herself from swearing profoundly. Just as carefully as she was with the Hunter, she moved the Assassin out from the wreckage and onto the back of her Technical.
~x~x~x~x~x~
She was sowing the holes in their clothes when the Hunter woke. Every inch of his body ached and his head pounded to the tempo of his pulse. He turned his head slowly and saw her, her back to him and humming a quiet melody. He wanted to swing his legs over the edge of his cot, but the slightest movement caused pain to flair up. He groaned and laid his head back on the pillow.
"How bad is it?" She asked. She wore a black ribbon mask that covered her eyes. What he could tell was how her eyes were shaded, as if they were a mixture of different colors.
"Bad." Was all he could choke out. She smiled warmly before placing a cool hand on his forehead.
"I'll get something for the pain." She said as she turned on her heel and left him alone in a light silence. He could hear Zer0 breathing a few feet away from him. The girl returned with a cup that had steam rising from the rim. She slid her hand under his head and raised it carefully, bringing the lip of cup up to his lips. The liquid was bitter, but almost instantly turned sickly sweet the more he drank. He finally pulled his lips away from the cup and she moved her hand.
"Who are you?" He asked after a moment. She looked at him for a moment, debating the question. She placed the cup on a crate and stepped closer to him.
"People call me One." She said simply. The number sounded familiar, and that was only then he realized she was the person who killed Zer0's assassin back on Wam Bam Island. She smirked as soon as Mordecai put two and two together. One turned her attention to Zer0, whose suit was removed and he was left with a sheet draped over his legs and waist. Her hands skimmed over his chest carefully, noting how deep certain wounds were and how much attention they needed in order to heal right.
"You're One?" Mordecai asked when she passed by his cot to go into another room. She walked out and looked at him before nodding her head. She held a syringe in one hand and a vile of pink, swirling, glowing goop. "What are you doing?" Mordecai asked as he sat up abruptly, lunging at her. She moved the vile to her other hand and caught Mordecai by the chest.
"Don't exert yourself. You could do more damage." She said coolly. Mordecai stood there stupidly and watched as she stuck the needle of the syringe into the vile, extracted some of the goop, and slowly pricked the needle into the center of Zer0's chest. The liquid slowly disappeared into the Assassin and his veins started to glow dimly.
"What-"
"Seraph crystals. Very useful when turned into a liquid." She answered before Mordecai could finish his question. He stood their dumb-founded while One carefully sat him back down on his cot. "You need a little more." She said more to herself than Mordecai and disappeared into the room again.
~x~x~x~x~x~
She watched them both sleep, knowing that she would have to leave them in Sanctuary without being seen. Maybe she would tip off the Vault Hunters who were still on Pandora, saying they were somewhere far away from the floating city. She could do that easily, but the problem was getting them there without them waking. Her thoughts were interrupted by stranger's voices outside her hut. She walked noiselessly to the door and peeked through a gap between the jam and the door itself. She could make out a blue Siren, a short muscular man, and a girl with a robotic prosthetic and wild red hair held back in pigtails. One watched as they came closer to her hut, their conversation light.
"Why would they be here?" Salvador asked.
"Because we last heard from them in the Dust, and this is the closest thing their signal came from." Maya said stubbornly.
"Shut up!" Gaige whispered. "Someone inside might attack." One almost laughed.
"Well, I say they aren't here." Salvador said stubbornly. Maya groaned slightly before turning to the short man.
"Look, we need to check everywhere for them. If we don't then..." Maya trailed off, leaving her fear for the worst unspoken.
"Some people are tryin' to sleep, ya know!" One cried out in her best imitation of a Pandoran accent.
"Sorry to bother, but have you seen a guy in dreadlocks or a weirdly tall guy in a black body suit?" Gaige asked quickly.
"No. Now go away!" One answered abruptly.
"Don't need to be rude." Gaige muttered before telling Maya and Salvador that they wouldn't be in that hut. One sighed slightly and walked back to Mordecai and Zer0. They were both still asleep. She removed her gloves and untied the ribbon over her eyes and set them on a crate in the middle of the room. She rolled up her sleeves and sat in an old beaten up chair, her heels kicked up on the crate, her eyes trained to the ceiling. Now was a time to figure out how to draw the others away from Sanctuary.
"That would involve a fire fight." One said and smiled.
~x~x~x~x~x~
Mordecai raised his head and immediately banged it on the metal support bars of one of the many bunk beds in the HQ. He groaned and clasped his forehead, his knees bending up to his chest as he rolled around slightly.
"Mordecai?" Zer0's robotic voice sounded from the other side of the room. Mordecai turned his head and saw Zer0 removed his helmet and he looked terrified. It wasn't a shock to Mordecai to see Zer0 without his helmet, but the terror in his face wasn't something he was used to. He was used to the blank slate of a poker face on the Assassin's alien-like face. "Do you know who that girl was?"
"She said she was One." Mordecai said with a slight groan. He rubbed at his forehead as he sat up carefully.
"Wait... she's One?" Zer0 asked in almost hysterics.
"What's wrong?" Mordecai asked. Zer0 didn't say anything, just stood up and ran to the door. Mordecai jumped up and tried to run after him, but the Assassin was too fast. Zer0 made it to the fast travel station before Mordecai could get there and suddenly he was digistructed to wherever his destination was.
"Mordecai, can you hear me?!" Lilith screamed into her ECHO, the sounds of bullets whizzing by and grenades going off behind her were almost deafening.
"I'm in Sanctuary. Zer0 was, but he ran off." Mordecai called back.
"WHAT?! You're not in Thousand Cuts?!" Lilith yelled.
"No, why would I be?" Mordecai asked in concern.
"Someone tipped us off saying you and Zer0 were last seen there!" Lilith replied, a little exasperated. "We're coming back and you'd better explain what the hell is going on!" She said before signing off.
~x~x~x~x~x~
"So, let me get this straight. You and Zer0 were blown up by some Hodunks and were knocked unconscious until some strange woman going by the name of One picked you up and patched you good as new?" Lilith asked with disbelief, a hip cocked to the side and her arms crossed over her chest.
"Yes." Mordecai said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"How come I don't believe you then?" Lilith asked.
"I am not a child! Quit talking to me like I am one!" Mordecai yelled, his face turning a slight shade of red.
"Then tell the truth!" Lilith shouted back.
"Fine then, we ran away to try and get you guys into a heated battle between some lowlife bandits and get you almost killed because we thought it would be funny. That the answer you wanted?" Mordecai asked, sarcasm dripping through his voice. Lilith scowled and turned away to find an outlet to let her rage out.
"Look Mordy, we checked everywhere in the Dust for you and Zer0, but we didn't find you. We stayed out all night trying to find you when some girl said that you guys were kidnapped and taken to Thousand Cuts. It was our best lead at the time." Maya put gently.
"How 'bout you try out ECHO's next time. It might've helped." Mordecai snapped. Maya jumped back, tears lining her eyes and Mordecai sighed. "Sorry." He muttered.
"It's fine." Maya said shortly. Mordecai stood up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"I didn't mean to snap. I'm frustrated." Mordecai admitted. Krieg growled at him from the corner of the room. "Easy big guy, not treading in on your territory." Mordecai said as he stepped back. Maya smiled lightly before turning to Krieg.
"Sorry to cause friction between you and your friends." One's voice called out from Mordecai's ECHO. "Oh, and watch out for Zer0. He's a little upset by my presence." One said before she signed off.
"Who in the hell are you?" Mordecai muttered before sitting down to wait for Lilith to come back so he could apologize for his behavior, and hopefully accept hers for being condescending.
~x~x~x~x~x~
I'm not dead! Anyways, I found a lovely muse to help my creativity flow through and let me tell you, having months of Writer's Block suddenly disappear is an amazing feeling. This is gonna be a series of multiple chapters. Do not worry about my other story (Goodbye's Don't Have To Last Forever), I just need to polish something things and post it.