It was a starry night, there was no clouds covering up the small lights in the sky. The caravan was parked, allowing the entire party to rest. It was the first time all of them decided to take a rest instead of working in tedious shifts.
Rhys found himself sat on top of the caravan, his knees tucked to his chest as he stared up at Helios. He remembered how everything used to be relatively normal, unlike the adventures he had been having down here on Pandora. Yvette must have been lonely eating lunch on her own everyday. Rhys' mind began to pace at all of the little things, who was watering the plant inside his and Vaughn's room? Was the paperwork at his desk being done? Ever since the eridium deal he had set up went through, paperwork flowed to his inbox faster than he could keep up with.
Rhys exhales deeply, he didn't want to think about the sort of process that would have to happen in order for Jack to be removed from his head. The ECHO surgery was painful enough. Off to the corner of his eye he sees Loader bot and Gortys, Loader bot staring blankly at Gortys as she spilled irrelevant information. Rhys didn't even bother to process her words, he was too lost in the relaxed moment.
Suddenly he snapped from the thoughts and feelings riddling his head without permission just as Jack had done. The hatch on the top of the caravan popped open, Rhys ignored it - assuming it was Vaughn. He lifts his chin up to point towards the stars, making sure not to notice the person crawling onto the top of the caravan.
"Didn't expect you to be up here." A smooth voice cooed slowly over the top of a clicking noise as the hatch closed on itself.
Rhys looked up to match a face to the voice. It was Sasha, beautiful Sasha. Rhys had fallen head over heels for the girl with the pink headband and pink tinted goggles around her neck. He hadn't fallen quite this hard since one girl in highschool that frankly he regretted getting involved with, consequently his inner geek took over not allowing him to get very far.
But there was something about Sasha he couldn't quite put his robotic finger on. Ever since the electricity sparked through his pinky finger after the delicate promise, a simple connected meant so much more to him. Perhaps it was the idea of being on Pandora, danger was everywhere. Was he taking more chances because his death crept closer into the inevitable each day on the bandit infested planet? Wanted to live a little more before death slapped him across the face, wanting to feel love before that happened.
But Sasha wasn't a bandit, she was a con artist. Rhys sometimes considered the fact of Sasha's fluttering eyes being nothing more than a casual money grab. She did this on the daily, right?
"I thought I'd...um...look at the stars and well...my home." Rhys rubs the back of his neck not wanting to admit the real reason was to organise his chaotic mind. But he knew that would never happen, not with Jack ready to appear at any waking moment.
Sasha looks down at the slightly older man before turning around, crossing her legs and sitting down beside him on the top of the cold metal. Rhys turned his head slightly to the left and gulped, he already felt the fluttering of drowning butterflies twirl around his aching stomach. The only thing he'd really eaten in the last few days were the scavenged eggs that Sasha some how seeked out on the daily. They tasted pretty good and he couldn't say he didn't enjoy them because that would be a lie, but he did miss his stash of ice cream dearly.
Rhys began to look at the side of Sasha's perfectly sculptured face for a little bit too long as she gazed up at Helios. Rhys knew exactly what she was thinking, about how she thought he was an asshole for being part of the Hyperion corporation. The corporation with no heart or compassion for anything else but profit. He was seen as a bad guy in Sasha's prepossessing green eyes and since day one of setting his eyes on her in return that's all he thought about. They way she viewed him as a person.
Sasha knew she was being watched by the young Hyperion, but she just continued to stare at the 'H' situated in the sky just in front of Elpis. Sasha had always had a one sided opinion on the station in the sky and the company as a whole. Ever since Felix betrayed them both she had come to the conclusion that people on both surfaces sucked. Either way there would be complete and utter assholes on both of them and nothing would ever change that.
"Rhys can I talk to you and not feel judged for a few minutes? I have some things I want to say and I can't really say them in front of my sister because she's a pretty big part of it." Sasha questions softly, a little huff passing her lips in disbelief she was actually asking a Hyperion scum out of all of the people on Pandora. She felt as if even a psycho would understand her better than someone that worked for Hyperion, at least they would know the struggles faced daily on the devil's planet.
Rhys was confounded by her comment, he held his legs tighter trying to think of what to say before timidly allowing words to trickle from his vocal cords.
"Sure...I might not be good at speaking but I can listen." Rhys shrugs as Sasha makes herself more comfortable, leaning against the railing around the top of the stagnant caravan. Everything around them was quiet, even the rusty and shiny robots off to the side.
The rest of the crew was inside asleep, while Athena could have been anywhere. Nobody really questioned her coming and goings. All that mattered at this time was Rhys, Sasha and the stars above them. Rhys' ears prick at the beginning of Sasha's words.
"I've been thinking a lot about Felix lately, how Fiona barely seems unaffected by the whole ordeal. She just seemed to shrug off the fact that the man who raised us sold us both out. That's a pretty big deal, he got us stuck into this mess. But the worst part about that is, Felix did it on purpose and he knew how much it was going to hurt us. That's what gets to me the most." Sasha explains, moving into the same sitting position as Rhys whilst she said the sensitive words. She began to slowly hug her legs to protect the open skin on her stomach from catching a cold whisp of air.
Rhys was nervously trying to think of something wise to say, only halfway through her words turning his head and focusing on the same thing she was looking at. Helios.
"I guess some people are just selfish like that. I'm sorry everything didn't work out the way you planned Sasha." Rhys directly addresses her, the name rolling off of his tongue gently. He guessed from the way she reacted to the money being so close to her that the deal meant a lot to her and Fiona. Perhaps it meant a bit too much to Felix, resulting in the pain and suffering of his raised 'daughters'.
This time Rhys wasn't the one to look over to his counterpart, this time Sasha's eyes turned towards the tall man. The human side of him, without the tattoos or ECHO port. The part of Rhys that she was sure she felt something for. The side of his face that wasn't dominated by Hyperion tech. The side of his face that proved that not all Hyperion's were mindless cogs with nothing more than destruction and murder on their minds.
"The past few weeks have been rough. I can't even begin to think about half of it without a sick feeling inside of me." Sasha focuses her interest back onto Helios, bright green orbs staring so deeply at the moon it would brand onto her pupils if she gazed any longer.
The male couldn't agree more, although getting a tooth pulled out when he was younger and having the ECHO implants were near the top on his list of terrible things to happen to him, this experience was in his top 5. He had done so many things that he never even dreamt of doing, the little things that he could now tell his children. If he even survived that long.
The air around them goes silent again, Rhys could hear nothing more but the woman's breath departing and entering her lungs. Every now and then a jitter of used oxygen was heard through her teeth making Rhys respond immediately.
"I would ask you if you're okay, but that's a stupid question considering all that's happened." Rhys awkwardly states, quickly brushing his hair backwards with his fleshy hands in an attempt to look more casual. A small smile crept up Sasha's cheeks, a tiny huff of breath followed.
"I'm okay."
"You don't have to lie to me." Rhys barely whispers, quickly reminding himself of what he had just said to the girl beside him. Hopefully that wouldn't come back to him in a bad respect.
Sasha looked down to her lap and shook her head, a undersized smile on her pursed lips. It was as if she wanted to smile, but inside she couldn't bring herself to do it. Mind refusing to connect to any body part, nothing working together anymore. Everything abandoned and disconnected. Long gone.
"You're Hyperion Rhys, everyone lies to you and you just lie straight back. A never ending cycle of assholes." Sasha bluntly proclaimed, showing her true feelings for the corporation.
Rhys looked downwards, slowly picking at a fraying bit of fabric on his knee with his fingernail. Once he had done fiddling with the fabric whilst trying to fry up a reply he finally spoke, Rhys was still so nervous about speaking to the girl. But right now she was so close he could feel her body heat radiating onto him.
"I wouldn't lie to you."
Sasha once again nodded up at the comment, this time Rhys met her eyes. Every now and then over the weeks he had known her they would catch each other's eyes in a split second. They both knew they wanted to hold onto that quick glance, turning it into and ogling stare.
"Pinky promise?" Sasha playfully smirks, remaining eye contact with the man as she lifts up her arm and sticks out her little finger.
"I pinky promise." Rhys returns the smirk and the lifting of his fleshy pinky finger, making Sasha have to switch her pinky to her right hand lifting that one upwards instead. He knew Sasha was mocking his past actions, it made him feel warm inside that she would remember such an event.
They connected the two smaller fingers, latching onto each other. The stare continued as they slowly brought down their locked fingers, keeping a hold of each other as their knuckles brushed. Rhys had used his human hand this time, just so he could feel the link between the two of them. The warmth of her hand made the tiny hairs on his knuckles prick. When the fingers slowly disconnected from each other they made sure their eyes didn't.
Rhys felt slightly perplexed about the whole situation, his face shining a bright red underneath the dim light reflecting off of Elpis. He was embarrassed about staring for so long, quickly snapping his neck forward and doing the exact same motion of brushing his hair backwards just as he had done earlier on that night.
"Sorry for...um…staring." Rhys mumbled, not ever wanting to look at the girl again just to avoid further discomfort. The auburn haired male kept his head straight, gazing aimlessly in front of him.
Something caught him by surprise, a set of warm puckered lips pressed against his cheek. Soft to the touch making Rhys shiver. Adrenaline felt as if it shot up Rhys' spine as Sasha's lips slowly brushed against him, leaving the side of his cheek empty once again. But Rhys didn't want the feeling to end, slowly cooling down as she hovered away.
In the spur of the moment Rhys twisted his head, crashing his lips against Sasha's. Taking them both into a state of bewilderment but being too caught up in the moment to realise. After a second or so Sasha accepted the invitation, closing her eyes and allowing Rhys to continue the pursuit of the kiss. She did know where this would lead them exactly, but she didn't care. All she wanted was Rhys' lips against hers.
Moving in unison the two of them allowed their tongues to dance together like never before. Rhys cautiously lifted his robotic arm to her neck just to build a greater bond, they needed more of a connection. Rhys' confidence had gotten the better of him, he felt her shudder at the cold touch of metal against her neck.
Closer and closer the two counterparts continued the kiss underneath the moonlight. Sasha needed to put something else on her mind other than the sickening feeling of Felix and money situations. Rhys needed this to relieve himself of the tension he had felt for a short time now, a stress relief.
A good few minutes of the kiss passed, more than each of them had bargained for. Although Rhys wanted more and more but he knew that it couldn't go on forever. Both him and Sasha seemed to think of the same thing at the same time. Neither of them knew who pulled away first, all they knew was the moment was over.
Rhys nervously smiled at the girl he had spent so long having a 'teenage make out session' with. Sasha just smiled and dipped her head, returning to her previous sitting position.
"Sorry for that." Rhys admits, going back to look at Helios. Suddenly thinking about what it would be like for him and Sasha to be up there together. God, he needed to escape these thoughts quickly.
"You promised you wouldn't lie to me." Sasha snapped back in a playful manner, placing her palm against Rhys' metallic hand resting on his knee cap. He chuckled anxiously at the utterance.
"What?"
"You weren't sorry about that kiss at all." She gave a toothy grin to the top of the caravan. Rhys tilted his head backwards and began to laugh confidently.
"Nope, I'm not sorry about that at all." Little giggles escape his lips as Sasha rapidly swats him on the chest with the back of her hand.