Pain, it was all Zero could feel when he opened his eyes, he let out an involuntary groan as he tried to sit up and gain his bearings, he wasn't dead, somehow, he wondered if the others were too.

I didn't take long for him to have his answer, he could notice his friends all lying on the ground, all pretty much unconscious, though he could see the soldier stir.

"I feel like I was hit by a train…" Axton groaned, another couple of whines joined his.

"A train named Lilith…" Gaige said as she exhaled sharply.

"Freaking sirens" the Gunzerker shook his head and rubbed his eyes to get rid of the dizziness.

"PRETTY LADY!" Krieg suddenly roared making everyone in the room cover their ears.

"Krieg, please, don't scream" Gaige moaned, her head was still throbbing badly.

"No, he's right" Axton suddenly realizes, he crawled over to the only figure that was still lying motionless on the cold ground, he takes her wrist and feels if her heart was still beating, thankfully it was.

"She's alive" he tells the others, relief evident in his voice. He calls her softly yet she doesn't budge. The soldier gives a sigh and gently slaps her cheek, trying to wake her up. Finally he was rewarded as her gray eyes slowly opened.

"Axton?" she grits her teeth, struggling to sit up, he helps her to do so. "Where are we?" she speaks lowly.

"Good question/ We don't know/ I shall look" Zero answers her as he takes his ECHO to look at the map. "Sanctuary" he says.

"Oh good, so we didn't get killed and we're back home as well" Gaige smiles, though her happiness was cut short.

"Would you say so of Roland too?" Axton spoke, these words fell heavy on their shoulders. "And Angel" the siren whispered, looking down on the ground.

"Yeah…" Gaige sighed. "And Lilith is held captive too" she looks up at the ceiling.

"Today should have been victorious/ But it wasn't/ And we lost 3 people" Zero says in his usual robotic voice, it sounded like he wasn't shaken like his friends were, but the reality was that he was as much as them. Someone had to keep cool and he was that one, he silently thanked his voice modulator that achieved the goal for him.

Before more words could be exchanged, Mordecai barged in the room, followed by Brick. "What the hell happened!? First Bloodwing, now this!?" he raged. "Vault Hunters we need to talk"

"What is there to say!?" Maya snaps at him. "There's nothing you don't know already! We failed"

The sniper opened his mouth to counter but he was stopped by a large hand on his shoulder, he glanced back at Brick, who shook his head. "I know you're sad friend, but so are they, there's no need to put more weight on their shoulders" he says. "Roland wouldn't blame them"

Mordecai looked back and forth between him and back at the Siren, which was still glaring at him, he then sighed. "You're right… he wouldn't" he lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry"

It was true, he had been unfair, he was too shaken to think straight, thankfully Brick was there to stop him, or he would have done something he would have regretted forever. Roland may not have been with them anymore, and it was hard to accept, but he knew the risks he had taken, that they all did, and actually they had been lucky that it didn't end up worse, with all of them gone. They were still there, there was still hope, they had to keep fighting, that's what Roland would have wanted.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and think at the priorities, Lilith was still held captive and they had to find her and rescue her. "So, you should see Zed and get treated, we can't help Lilith if we're not in top shape"

No one said more, agreeing with Mordecai, though as she passed near him the Siren gave him a pointed look. He averted his gaze to the ground again, though through his googles it couldn't be seen. Obviously the Siren must have been the one that was the most shaken, not that the rest of them weren't as well. But he knew, he had listened through the whole convo together with Brick and Lilith, before she decided to teleport away. A good choice, yet not, but at the time it seemed the most logical thing to do as they needed her help.

The group left the place without a word, ignoring Marcus' shouts and curses behind them. Just as they did someone they wouldn't expect made contact with them.

Lilith's face showed up on their HUDs, just the way Angel's used to, though, from the looks of it, the red haired Siren didn't look well at all, her voice confirmed it when she spoke moments later. Maya trembled with anger the entire time she listened.

"Are you okay? Did I get you to Sanctuary?" Lilith breathed, struggling to keep the pain out of her voice, though it wasn't working so well. "I feel... wrong... this device Jack's using on me" she managed before being forcefully cut off from the collar, the thing was giving her the worst headache she ever felt, not allowing her to concentrate enough to even keep talking, much less to keep contact. Hopefully hearing her reassured them enough.

"You sneaky little bitch! You were on the ECHO weren't you?" she heard Jack's voice growl as he entered in the cell where she was being held, strapped down with heavy chains around her arms and legs that limited her movements, and of course, the damned collar. The room was entirely dark, she couldn't see much, but she could hear people from the other side of the wall talking, but she couldn't make up much. She had no idea what was in there.

"What? Do you think you could have reassured them?" he chuckles "Fool, it doesn't matter whatever you say, once I'm done with you I'll kill you" he says coldly, stalking in her direction. He grasped her chin in a not so gentle manner and forced her to look at him, her yellow eyes fiercely glared at him.

"You know… you actually surprise me" he fingers the collar with his free hand. "You know for who this was designed for don't you? Didn't think it would work with another siren" she growled at him.

"You sick fuck! Argh!" she was cut off by another shock. "Language" he scolded her.

"I am not your daughter!" she spat, she saw his eye twitch and suddenly the hand that was touching her collar was around her neck.

"Don't you dare speak of Angel!" his hand tightened, she gasped, struggling to breathe, but still she didn't drop her glare.

"It was your own fault…" she said lowly. "I was protecting her!" Jack showed Lilith on the ground, releasing her neck. "All I did was for her!"

The Siren struggled to pick herself off the ground but she managed, she stared at him with another blazing look, her eyes literally burning. "And that is protection to you!?" she tried to lunge at him but the chains held her down, she once again cursed the collar for forbidding her to use her abilities.

"You caged her in that facility and used her powers for your own desires, like a slave" she angrily spoke through gritted teeth. "You're a monster!"

"Shut up!" Jack swiftly punched her in the face, once again the siren found herself on the ground, blood trickling from her nose. Lilith felt his hand grab her hair, Jack pulled her up with them for her to look at him again. "You have no idea what's coming to you, you child murderer" he threatened before releasing her and storming out of the room.

"You're going to pay…" the Siren gasps. This time she doesn't rise from her position, instead she curls up and sobs. She was all threatening and all but what could she do in her position? With no powers, no strength, and no Roland around to help her… she was lost.

"And then the coward asshole appears and BOOM! Blood flies everywhere and Roland is dead" Gaige drunkenly slurs at Moxxi, she flails her arms around wildly, an empty glass in her human hand.

After being patched up by Zed, the Vault Hunters found themselves at Moxxi's bar to drink away their sorrows, for as little as it helped there was nothing else they could do right now though.

The young Mechromancer was currently filling up the bartender of the recent happenings, along with drinking a lot of alcohol. The Assassin sat next to her, not actually drinking anything, he was there to make sure the girl didn't end up doing something stupid, he did had to catch her a few times to avoid her falling off the stool she was sitting on, as she didn't stay still for a second. Not too far away in another stool there was Mordecai, but he was drinking his own ale and not talking at all.

On their left side, sitting in a booth there were the remaining hunters, Krieg was in the corner, his mask was raised that little bit that allowed him to eat, but unlike the usual he wasn't devouring everything he had under his nose, and not even babbling nonsense, he was just there, nibbling on a piece of meat. For as crazy as he was, he understood something really bad happened, at least the sane part of him did.

Axton and Salvador were there too, chatting on whatever was on their mind besides their recent loss, to try to distract themselves from reality, even if briefly. And then there was Maya, the Siren was sitting next to them, she was supporting her head with her hand, her gray eyes stared down at her still full glass of rakk ale, her expression empty, no movements or sounds came from her, nothing.

Every now and then the Psycho would steal a glance to her from behind his mask, to see if anything changed, if she did anything, or said anything but absolutely nothing came from her, she was just physically there, but her mind was of course elsewhere. He actually wanted to try to say something to her, the crazier side, to distract her, but his sane side convinced him to stay silent, that anything he would have said would have irritated her even more, given the state she was currently in she wasn't in the mood to deal with his shit, most likely. He knew the Siren was usually patient, but she too had her limits.

The Commando and Gunzerker instead, decided to carry on their conversation by themselves, not wanting to push her either, but they were still there to keep her company, if that was useful at all. Axton, that was sitting next to Maya, had tried to put a hand on her shoulder to try to make her feel better, but she had pushed him away immediately.

All of a sudden they saw Maya shoot up from her seat, spilling her drink in the process, though it didn't look like she noticed. She just stormed out of the place.

"I'll follow her" Axton says as he too stands up and leaves, he was worried that the Siren might do something stupid. Krieg followed after them too.

The two found the Siren sitting on the roof of the Crimson Raider's Base, she was facing Sanctuary and not the clouds under it, so it was somehow positive. Still she didn't look any better than before, if back at the bar she kept staring at nothing, now she was hugging her knees, her face hidden from her arms, and from the way her shoulder's shook it only meant one thing… she was crying, and they knew that Maya never cried, no matter what happened, no one ever saw her do that once.

"Maya?" Axton called out softly as he slowly walked in her direction, sadly no response came from her.

"Pretty lady" Krieg called for her too, surprisingly not yelling this time, but still nothing.

"Maya" Axton calls her again, he touches her shoulder, she flinches, but this time she turns in his direction, half of her face remains covered by her arms, but he can clearly see tears falling from her eyes, her blue lips trembling. She hides her face again after a moment, feeling ashamed.

The soldier's expression softens as he sees that, he circles her shoulders with his arm, she doesn't pull away from him this time. "Hey now… there's no need to be ashamed" he speaks softly, still she stubbornly keeps her face hidden.

"Everyone has its sad moments, crying is normal for everyone" he pulls her closer, letting her place her head on his chest.

"I don't…" she sniffs. "Sirens don't cry…" she shakes her head.

"Maya, you may have freakily strong universe bending powers, but you're not any different from any of us, you still feel emotions like everyone else does" she doesn't answer him, she just keeps sobbing, soaking his jacket with her tears but he didn't care as long as it helped the Siren feel better.

He motions with his head to the Psycho to join them, he quietly makes his way to them, he crouches beside them but he doesn't actually do anything, he looked unsure, almost afraid. 'Go ahead big guy, show her you care' his inner voice speaks, he lifts one big hand and then slowly, and carefully, places it on her quivering shoulder. 'Well done big guy, you're learning' the voice speaks again, Krieg lets out a small, pleased sound.

Axton tightens the hold he has on Maya, trying to make her feel more at ease. "Just let it all out, let it all out" he speaks softly.

The soldier heard some steps heading their way, craning his head back he saw the remaining trio of their team of Vault Hunters. Salvador was walking in front, followed by Zero who was supporting a pretty drunk Gaige.

"We were worried/ So we followed/ We paid Moxxi" Zero tells them, as the three had left in such a rush he paid for them all, the bartender was kind enough to make them a discount too, given the current overall mood of pretty much the entire Sanctuary.

Axton nods at him he turns his attention back to the crying Siren, her sobbing had ceased slightly, he noticed that she had her head turned away from the rest of the group, probably she still felt embarrassed to be seen like that.

"What's wrong chica?" the Gunzerker asks in an unusual soft voice, despite his looks he was still able to care for his friends.

"Nothing…" Maya sniffs in Axton's chest.

"Doesn't look like nothing M" the young Mechromancer says as she wobbles over to where the Siren was and flops down on the ground too. Zero and Salvador shared a look, then with a shrug they decided to join too.

"What's the problem? You can tell us" Gaige presses on, though Axton knew that Maya wasn't someone who liked to share too many details on personal things, and he felt that this was one. During the time the group had been together he learned to notice when something was off with the Siren, and he remembered her having the same grim look on her face the day she told them about the place where she lived before, and that power hungry monk.

"Gaige I don't think that-" he starts but he's quickly stopped by the woman he was still holding in his arms, she gently put a finger on his lips. He paused a second in his musing to notice how soft it felt.

"It's okay" she says, raising her head to meet the other's eyes, her own gray ones were puffy and red from crying so much. "After making so much of a fuss about it I should give you an explanation"

"Maya are you-" again the soldier was cut off from her the same way as before. "Shut up" she gives him a stern look. There it was the Siren he was used to see.

"She's got you" Gaige giggled in the background, clearly not quite coherent, still he gave her a slight glare which only made her laugh more.

A small smile formed on Maya's lips as she looked at them, but it went away as quickly as it came as she thought again on the mess they just went through and sighed. "Where to start?" she says more to herself than anyone else.

"With whatever you feel more comfortable I guess" Axton tells her, sounding more obvious and awkward than ever. "Is it about Roland? Or Lilith? Or…"

"CAGED BIRDIE!" Krieg suddenly shouted, cutting off the Commando.

"Let's say about all of them" the Siren continues. "Well you know Roland was our leader, he was kind and all, and I'm sure he will be dearly missed"

"Roland was a honorable man/ Jack is a coward/ What an inglorious death" The emoticon of a frown appears on Zero's helmet as he speaks, indicating that he too was upset like them. The assassin wasn't one that liked to compliment other people, but the soldier was an exception, he was a man of honor, and looked after them. Kindness was something more unique than rare on this planet.

"A Jackass…" the Mechromancer crossed her arms and pouted angrily.

"HURT HIM!" the Psycho shouts. "Hell yeah amigo!" Maya nods and smiles at their enthusiasm for wanting to kill Jack, even more than they already did.

"I have to admit that having someone I could relate as experience about military life was quite pleasant, was nice to have someone who actually knew what meant to be at war, and how it felt" Axton find himself confessing, he and Roland liked to share stories of their past times as soldiers when they could, during the few quiet times they had to rest.

"Someone who understood you… I thought that too of Lilith, she's a siren, I'm a siren, and Angel was too…" the Siren spoke, she stared at her marked hand intently. "Yet, despite all this power I couldn't help them…" she clenched her fist and angrily punched the ground, scraping her knuckles. "Useless…" she muttered.

The others exchanged looks, not sure what to do and what to say, trying to avoid the Siren's wrath. It didn't take long before said woman spoke again.

"If I was stronger… if I had more power I could have saved them… I let Angel die and I doomed Lilith to death too" she grit her teeth in anger, her tattoos lighting up slightly, showing her distressed state.

"It wasn't you fault Maya, you weren't the only person in there, we were too" Axton says, trying to ease her worries.

"Angel was ready/ Saw it in her eyes/ Death was her salvation" the Assassin spoke up. It had been sad to see the girl go, but certainly they gave her what she desired, what she asked and put her trust into them to do this.

"I came to this planet to know more about my lineage, and the only two people I ever met that knew what meant to be a siren are gone" the Siren shot a glare to Zero, but not because she was angry at him, more to her own self.

"THE FIRE STILL BURNS!" Krieg yelled, the others frowned trying to understand then Gaige slammed her fist into the palm of her metal arm. "Of course, Lilith, he means that she's still alive, don't you big guy?" she received a growl and a nod from him, the Mechromancer grinned.

"And for how long? God knows what that psychopathic is doing to her right now! If I was-" Maya was cut off by Axton this time. "Don't give us that again, Lilith is alive, maybe not in top shape, but she lives, and we know that Jack needs her to charge the key, he can't kill her, we still have a chance to save her"

"Si chica, don't worry, that hijo de puta will not win, this man will make sure he'll suffers hell" Salvador puffed his chest out, that ugly masked coward needed to be taught a painful lesson. Krieg made a growl of approval at his words.

"But if she didn't come…" the Siren continued. "You think that jackass would have stopped? He would have got you Maya, things would have gone the same way, if not worse" the Commando spoke again.

"We could all be dead, but we're still here kicking asses, he's got nothing on us!" Gaige loudly screamed, pumping her fists in the air, only to fall on her back because of her drunkenness. Zero put her back in a sitting position as she giggled at her own clumsiness.

Axton looked at the girl, for being in a not sober state of mind she surely still talked sense, he had to give her credit for that. "Gaige is right, but we need you too" he said, returning his attention to the Siren he still had his arm wrapped around to. "Come on, I know you're dying to blow Jack's brain out of his head"

"Of course I am" Maya scowled at him, she would have been crazy if she didn't want revenge on the Hyperion bastard after all he did, to their leader, their siren friend and also his own daughter.

"Then focus on that and not on all those negative thoughts, if not use them to fuel and release your anger on him when we'll have the occasion to" he gently squeezed her shoulder, she sighed.

"All right… I'll try to do that" the Siren looked at them all, one by one. "Sorry I made such a big deal out of this" she shot them an apologetic look.

"It's fine M" Gaige just grinned at her.

"It's a bad moment/ You reacted like this/ No shame in crying" Zero projected her a smile emoticon.

"All good chica" Salvador gave her a thumbs up.

"See? It's all okay, it's normal to have doubts Maya, we all do, but we're here to cheer you up whenever you'll need it" I'm here for you, Axton would have wanted to say but he kept it to himself.

The Siren wiped her eyes. "Thanks everyone" she gave them a smile, only to receive others back from the rest of the group.

"We should sleep/ Been a long day/ Must be in shape tomorrow" Zero spoke as he got up from the ground, followed by the others as they went back inside to get some much needed rest, Axton and Maya trailed behind their friends.

"Can I ask you something? You're free not to answer" the Commando asked, he had a pressing question to ask her since he saw her all sad.

"That's fine"

"Have you ever lost someone close to you before today?"

Maya's eyes widened at the question, she looked away from him, her hesitation didn't go unnoticed by the man near her. "I… well no, I never did, never had anyone I cared about either"

"So that explains it"

"What?"

"Your reaction for what happened earlier, no wonder you were so shocked before, must have been a new feeling for you wasn't it?"

"It was, but I would have rather not have known how it felt like, its awful, like-"

"Like something is ripping you from inside, a constant torment and knowledge that if you did better things would have gone differently" he says, not letting her finish.

"You seem familiar with it"

"When you're in the army you can't not be familiar with said feelings, you see your companions, your friends, the people you care about die all the time, and there's nothing you can do to avoid it, just accept it" he explains her.

"And how do you deal with it?" she demands, obviously clueless.

"The best way I have found is to focus on what good you have left, we have lost some friends but we still have a chance to kill Jack and get Lilith back, because we're alive and we're angry" he grins at her, she nods.

"I think I understand now, thanks Ax"

"Anytime sweetie, if you're still feeling sad I can keep you company oof-" he grunted as she elbowed him in the stomach.

"Don't push your luck soldier" she chuckles, leaving him alone right after.

"What a woman…" he whispers looking up at the sky before heading to his room to catch some sleep too, feeling pretty content that Maya was now feeling better, he hoped this would help her in the following days too.

Whew, this took a while didn't it? I got sick and then I also had some art stuff to do and all so the time to write was reduced, but whatever the chapter is here, its also longer than I planned.

Hope you enjoyed.