Authors Notes

So, I've been reading fanfictions for a long time now and decided that I should start sharing some of my ideas. This story follows the character of Zero from Borderlands 2 as he continues throughout his business on Pandora with the other vault hunters. I Don't own Borderlands or its characters.

Story Intro.

A New Life

What if death was never a fear that one had to face? What if your death, no matter how justified, was not a means of escape? This story follows the end of Borderlands 2. A Zero x. Guardian Angel fanfiction. Multiple Perspectives. Mature content rating for profanity, graphic themes, and sexual content.

Chapter One.

External Perspective

The five Vault Hunters sat at the Badass Crater Bar in the Badass Crater of Badassitude immediately after murdering Piston mercilously and reaping the benifits of spilling his cowardly blood upon the Vault's entrence. Everyone, save Zero, was enjoying a pint of Rakk Ale with Moxxi in celebration. The silent assassin simply sat, watching his comrades' loud antics and vulgarities. Axton was hitting on Maya and she was laughing off the unnecessary attention while talking with Moxxi. Salvedor and Gaige were sharing stories of their past achievements, desplaying their weapons in a show of bravado. As he sat, Zero began to feel a strange sensation, as though a force was pressing in on his skull. Then a voice pierced the tranquility of the assassin's mind.

"Don't you ever relax, Zero? We're all having a good time, you should join us. Have a drink, loosen up for a while! We all would like to have a noncryptic conversation with you for once..." Maya's voice echoed.

The Haiku Hitman replied swiftly, his default poetry making him difficult to understand. "Get out of my mind/ My thoughts are my own, Maya/ You should have asked first."

Visibly, the siren grimaced, attracting the attention of the others before turning from Zero with an audible frustrated grunt. Zero just looked back down into his hands in silent contemplation.

Soon after, the Vault Hunters heard their echo recorders begin to beep with an incoming message. The sound that resonated from the small devices was as though one of the locals of Pandora had scrounged up an ancient home computer and an old dial-up connection and was sending the noise of the connection process over the echo. All the vault hunters doubled over, clenching their heads, moaning in ear splittinng pain.

"Such an awfle noise/ The sound of a thousand nails/ Scraping dying cats." Zero said as he desplayed a sad face with x's for eyes. The other vault hunters also voiced their discomfort.

"He's right on that one... I build things out'a junk and I wouldn't touch whatever's making that noise..." Gaige said with a pained expression, typing into her mechanized hand to try and clear up the signal, then the staticy noise dissapated.

"...This frequency is insecure... We'll be meeting shortly..." a heavily disguised voice said over the echo before the signal died off.

"Such a strange event/ Wonder who that could have been/ Rest of you here that?" Zero asked, desplaying a question mark.

"Wait... What?... I didn't hear shit after the static. What the hell did you hear, Zero?"

"Unfamiliar voice/ A person indestinguished/ Lurking in static." the assassin replied, standing from his stool, turning toward the fast travel station. He typed in the code for Sactuary and before traveling off, he turned to his teammates and spoke softly. "Do not follow." Then Zero traveled away, leaving all of his comrades standing in the bar with confusion cemennted on their faces.

Two Hours Later

Zero was hopping from rooftop to rooftop, periodically digistructing his sword to practice maneuvers with his favored blade. He soon decided to return to his underground dwelling beneath the Crimson Raiders HQ when a strange feeling caught his attention. It was similar to when Maya had forced her way into his mind, only it seemed softer, like whoever was trying was asking for permission. Zero breathed in heavily, still making no noise as the synthesized air filled his lungs, relaxing his mind and collapsing elegantly into a sitting position on his shins with his hands on his knees. He then welcomed in the silent visiter, easing his muscles. A voice then punctured the silence of the Pandoran twilight hours.

"I was wondering when you would let a ghost like me in..." the voice reported in his thoughts. The air began to feel heavy, causing Zero to steel himself in antisipation of confrontation. As the weight of the wind compressed on the tightened muscles of the assassin, a hollow glow began to appear above him. The light eventually became so bright that Zero opened his eyes, only to be blinded by a sensory-depriving blast that forced him to stand at the ready or be thrown off of the roof. His hand took to his sword, digistructing the blue, glowing blade. When his vision returned, he looked up to see a figure hovering impossibly above the roof, what looked to be wings behind the distorted being. The voice filled his head again. "...Do you remember me, Zero?" The tone was kind and husky with a lingering sorrow that could be all but cured.

"I'd never forget/ A voice or someone like you/ You're one of a kind." he replied, standing to meet the new individual as they descended. He returned his blade to his hip, looking up at the now apparantly female form. The girl touched down exactly three feet in front of the silent humanoid. "...Angel..." Zero said when he met her gaze with a smiley face emotocon.

"Sorry for the psychic mind piercing... I wanted you to guess who I was before I shocked you..." Angel replied, her tattoos fading to their empty purple and her wings of holographic light disappearing.

"That would be a feat/ I expect unexpected/ Events others don't." He said taking a step back and bowing to the young siren. When he lifted from his respectful bow, he noticed a slight reddening in the girls cheeks and she was averting his gaze, or what she believed to be- though she was right. Confused, Zero desplayed a question mark holographically in front of his faceplate, his thin frame looming over Angel's.

Several uneasy seconds passed as Zero's emotocon desappeared and he just stood before a small noise off in the distance caused him to turn away and look toward the sound. Intrigued, the assassin hopped straight up onto a higher rooftop and pulled out his rifle to aim at the location of the sound. Angel floated up to his place and sat down calmly next to Zero, giggling softly to herself when the hitman seemingly ignored her presence.

"There's nothing there, Zero... From what I can tell, it was just one of the drunks leaving Moxxi's bar and stumbling over a pile of rubble." Angel said in a quiet voice as to not desturb him.

"Please think like I do/ Expect the unexpected/ Don't be ignorant." he replied calmly, his body remaining motionless. Angel looked away from him with a misgevous smile, her eyes beginning to glow a faint white.

Off in the distance, the sound of Claptrap screaming in terror cought the attention of the assassin poised next to the young siren. He looked intently for several seconds down his scope before glancing curiously at his friendly companion, chuckling softly into the modulator in his helmet when he noticed the glow in her eyes and put the pieces together. Zero lowered his rifle, returning it to its holster on his back, standing up slightly straighter.

"So how are you here/ Didn't you perish before/ When we cut your tubes?" Zero asked smoothly, desplaying a question mark.

"As it turns out, being connected to the Hyperion Network was as much a blessing as a curse. Before you all arrived, I uploaded my DNA into the New-U stations and respawned at a later date; I faked my death." Angel replied, smiling faintly, trying to disguise her pained expression.

"Living was fortunate/ But life as a Vault Hunter/ Is very deadly."

"I'm aware, which is why I returned to the Hyperion Corporation as the sole share holder. I effectively inherited the entire thing! Now all of the company is at my fingertips... and yours." Angel said with a resolute tone, shanding up from her seated position.

Zero just knodded, turning from the girl next to him and continuing on with his route across the rooftops of Sanctuary, Angel following slowly behind in the air. They soon reached the HQ and stood outside the window.

"To tell the others/ Would raise many suspicions/ Tell them tomorrow." Zero said with a hand pressing to his helmet to immitate a shushing motion. Angel knodded, waiting patiently for him to open the window. "...Follow..." he stated several seconds later, entering the base. He lead the young girl through a confusing network of coridores, tunnels, and windows before leading her to an unassuming pile of garbage. Confused, she glanced up to Zero's mask when he leaned down and gripped a large piece of trash, pulling at it intencely. The piece lifted, revealing a tunnel that was dark and small. Zero now turned to her and gestured for her to go in, when she didn't, he took the lead once again.

Darkness surrounded the two for several moments before Zero lit a small lamp in the middle of a very well designed cave of sheet metal and concrete. He then pointed to an unused, undisturbed bed saying:

"Sleep." He then walked over to a chair and sat down softly, his sword hilt in hand. Angel then went to sleep, trying unsucessfully for several minutes.

End Chapter 1.

I hope this was interesting to anyone that read it. Also it was heavily influinced by other fanfictions and I hope that's alright... See you guys later.