In which Tiny Tina dies

As suggested by Guest

Chapter is rated M

Chapter takes place immediately during or after "Bearer of had news"

_

He was joking.

He had to be.

Tiny Tina stared at the Commando, waiting for the reveal that this was just some joke in extreemly poor taste. "Tina, did you hear me?", he asked, seemingly concerned with her silence. "Roland... Roland's gone, and I need you to come back with me to Sanctuary, ok? It's not safe here, not anymore. Tina?"

She stared at him for several long moments, patiently waiting for the punchline that would not come. "Tina, please say something," she looked into his eyes and studied them closely. If there were any malice or misderiction in them, she could not see it. "You're lying," she whispered, more trying to convince herself than him. Her own words resonated through her brain, and the more they echoed, the more she began to believe them. She repeated herself, this time with more conviction.

"Your lying."

"What?" he said, slightly taken aback. "Yes," she said, feeling more assured by his reaction. "You are lying to me," she racked her brain for a reason as to why he was lying for several seconds until an it came to her."Lying in a foolish attempt to make me miss the union of Princess Fluffybutt and Sir Regonald Von-Bartelsby," she explained, "which will end the blood fued between thier clans, all so that you can profess your attraction to the young knight and whisk him away on an off-world romantic adventure where you can be together. Well I must tell you that the two must marry in order for peace to be insured. So I suggest you put petty feelings aside for the greater good of everyone."

Tina turned around and began to search her dresser for proper wedding attire. She had, until just now, actually decided not to go to the service, as she already had made plans to wipe out the local bandit population via an exploding train, an idea that she borrowed from Jack's Vault Hunter Disposal Initatiave, the only problem being that Jack's train left at least six survivors.

She would leave six less.

But those plans were derailed for the time being.

"Ha, derailed classic," Tina chuckled to herself. She kept digging through her belongings until she came across a shoe that both possessd a pair and lacked any irreparable damage. She stood to marvel in her triumph when she noticed the Commando, still standing there, a look of mournful sadness coating his features. "Tina," his voice wasn't pleading, but it was as close as Tina had ever heard it. "...It was quick, he didn't even see it coming," the Commando then gave a detailed explaination of the events, sparing no detail, but never exaggerating either, as if he were simply debrifing his CO. From the mountain assult to the bunker and, eventually, the fall of Roland, he told her everything.

"... and then I came here to get you," he finished rather unceremoniously and without any addded emotion. "Roland is dead, please come with me," he said, and Tina realized that he was telling the truth.

Roland. Dead.

The words echoed through her soul.

She looked over to her only photo. It was a picture of Roland and herself, taken just after the death of general Rancid, the self-proclaimed "second Knoxx". On thier way home she had noticed a photo booth and, to Roland's astonishment, it was functional. She had asked him if she could pick one photo from the roll that the machine spit out to frame, and he gave her a photocopy some days later. All of the original pictures were still in his wallet, as far as she knew.

Tina stared at the picture for a long time, trying to process the idea that the smiling man in her picture was dead. That he would never suprise her with a gift bag of crumpets and nitroglycerin ever again, or have a real tea party with her, or just stop by to check in.

She heard a sound, like that of a dying skag, and realized that it was her own voice. She was crying. Her face felt very hot. She exhaled deeply, the sound coming out in a ragged sob. Axton managed to look genuinly sad for her, and the emotion in his face was all to real. Tina looked away, only to let out a much more noticable sob. The demolitionist took a deep breath and attempted to regain her composure.

"Roland's dead? Thank you, for-" Tina let out another choking sob and the Commando stepped forward in what might have been an attempt to comfort her, but was signaled to stay back by the girl. If he got any closer, she would fall into him, she would cry, and she would let him take her away, and she didn't want to go away. Her vision was starting to blur by the tears that she refused to let fall.

"Thank you for telling me, please leave," she turned into her garage, fell on her bed, and let the tears fall. They were scorching hot, and ran down her face in streaking patterns and paths. She was sobbing and hiccuping, and she could feel her nose start to run. Tina wasn't sure how long this lasted but eventually she heard something. It was Axton, who had walked up and attempting to appear comforting, but she wanted nothing more than for him to go away.

"Go."

"Not without you."

"GO AWAY!"

Tina let out a bloodcurtling wail, throwing the first thing she could grab at him which, coincidentally was a stick of dynamite. It didn't explode, of course, but the way the Commando looked, it might as well have. "What the hell was that Tina!?" the shock on his face quickly changed to anger then, with an expression that looked as if he was in physical pain, he returned to a forced calm expression.

"Tina, if we don't go, we will die here, ok? Jack. Is. Coming. There isn't much time," Acton approached her the same way he would a wild animal, bent low at the knees and back, hand outstreched.

"No."

The word sounded weak, but Tina stood tall and with composure, her shoulders square in an attempt to seem confident and sure of herself. Her eyes were red and puffy, she could feel an unpleasant weight in her stomach, and her hiccups were gradually turning into sobs.

Axton stepped twards her, and she felt a rush of panic run through her being. She didn't want to go. Tina reached into the folds of her dress and took hold of her detonator. It was already set to blow the charges that were meant for the train, but they were currently sitting in a pile on the ground. Tina pulled the small switch into full view and held it over her head. "I'm not leaving," her voice shook, as did her body. She began to cry again, but she was determined now. "I'm not leaving," this time she was sure. "Roland promised me that this was my home and that I never would have to leave and he never broke a promise so get the hell out of here before I kill you," her words came out in a rush, rising in pitch and ending with more shuddering sobs.

"Tina," his voice was a strange combination of fear, confusion, and something she wasn't able to discern. Concern? ""Just go," she said, her voice barely able to be heard. "Please, I don't want to kill you."

"And I don't want you to die,"

Forcing the thought of what that could mean out of her mind, Tina thumbed the top of the detonator, exposing the button, and started counting. "Ten... nine... eight..." she heard the Commando run off. "Seven... Six... Five..." she dropped to her knees. "Four... three... two..." she cried, loudly, wailing sobs and breaths choking on hot tears. There was a loud crack in the distance. She paid it no mind, her focus only on the small device in her posession. Her tool for destruction. "One," Tiny Tina looked down at her hands, thumb resting on the button. A thought came to her that this was the first time had ever actually finished a countdown.

It would be a shame to waste it.

Her hands started shaking. Then it was her arms. Soon, Her entire body was violently convulsing as she cried, choking on sobs and hiccups.

She cried for Roland.

She cried for her parents.

She cried for this damned planet, and it's corrupting of her, what it had done to such a young girl.

She cried for all of it.

And she had no intention of stopping.

Eventually, though, she did stop. Tina was not exactly sure how long it had been but by the time she felt to exhausted to continue and there were no more tears to fall a small puddle rested on the floor of her cave. She stood up, made a vain attempt to dust herself off, re-pocketed her detonator and noticed the silence. It was usually quiet here, but there was always some background noise, a bandit squabble, a distant explosion or gunshot, a varkid doing... varkid... things... well whatever it was they did but at least it made noise.The space around her felt as if It was growing in the silence, isolating her from everything but her loneliness. Soon it felt as if the soundless void had taken physical form, assaulting her remaing sanity, or perhaps honering her sadness. It was as if the planet itself was in mourning. But this was Pandora, and Pandora did not have the time to mourn all It's dead. There were to many of them.

Tina listined closely, searching for something over the silence to focus on, and she could actually hear a slight thump very far off in the distance. It almost sounded like the Eridian pumps. Almost. These were slightly faster. She strained to hear better, only to end up with ringing ears. Walking closer to the entrance of her cave, Tina began to notice that the thump was actually a series.

Thump. Thuddaddrudda THUMP.

She tried to place the noise, but couldn't connect the sound to anything native of the area. The ringing on her ears was growing into a drone that was clearly coming from an outside force.

Thump. Thuddaddrudda THUMP.

Tina counted the time between the thumps to about two every second. And every three seconds it became louder. The drone was now a very deep note that almost seemed impossible. No, Not a drone but a voice.

"Target detected"

Loaders

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