"If he be Mr. Hyde" he had thought, "I shall be Mr. Seek."
― Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
"May I join you?" A male voiced asked. Tash jumped in shock, her heart racing as she tried to cover herself, looking for a wall to hide behind and seeking the person to who the voice belonged.
"Jo-Joshua!" She squeaked, finally spotting the man stood by the waterside. Seeing the way her face lit red and her body moved, embarrassed to his presence, Graham wondered on Vulpes Inculta's words. Was she as Jekyll and Hyde? "S-sure you can join me." Joshua gave a curt nod before perching himself on the ground slowly. Shifting he began to remove his clothing. The Courier suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Out of decency she turned away, moving behind a tall, shapely cliff protrusion that jutted out from the main stone perimeter. Leaning back she heard him speak.
"My apologies, I did not mean for you to become uneasy. Everyday, I replace my bandages with new ones." There was a pause as he started to remove the fist bandage from his left hand. She heard his hiss of pain, "I would rather be clean than comfortable, the cold water takes the edge off the pain. At first the pain is almost intolerable, but the water eases it." For a short time there was silence, the Courier was the one to break it as she spoke up,
"You let people see you without your bandages?"
"No. You would be the first, but I wanted you to see. I wanted you to see what arose from my baptism of fire. I want you to see why we need your help to defeat the White Legs. Caesar's new toy soldiers. No more people should be left to his mercy." The thought of seeing Graham scared her; the fear that he may look like a man wandered straight out from a nightmare. She heard the shifting into the water and more pained hisses. "Come on out." Standing still, her back pressed as hard as possible against the stone, she clenched her eyes shut and sucked in a breath before moving around into sight, opening her eyes to the man in front of her.
There he stood. The mighty Burned Man with no bandages and no armor. Only his bare, vulnerable self stood before her and it broke her heart. Steadily she began to move closer to him, holding her arms against herself to cover her chest. As she stood in front of him he saw the tears that had began to well in her eyes, he could see the thoughts behind her disgusted frown. Slowly Tash dropped her arms to her sides before raising her hand, gently running it down his chest, carefully examining the damage the Legion had done to him. He clenched his teeth, his eyes hardening as he bared the pain. The Courier's thoughts became conflicted, Joshua deserved this, and at the same time, she thought, no living person could possibly deserve this.
"They're monsters." She quietly uttered, "The Legion, they're all monsters." Graham moved a hand onto her arm,
"Be careful in the company of monsters that you don't become one." She stared up into his eyes as he looked down at her, "Too late, and to their sorrow, do those who misplace their trust in false gods learn their fate. I should have never followed Edw- … Caesar." Those eyes reminded her so much of the Frumentaari's. Cold and icy blue, as though they hold the power to see into a persons very core and take it apart, piece by piece. "He knows you and although right now you may not know it, you know him. More than you realise." She took a quick step back, how did he know that she was thinking of him. "Save him, before he ends up with a similar fate to my own." Joshua turned heading for his dry clothes and clean bandages. After replacing the white material to his body he turned to look at the Courier before he began to dress. 'This woman, to infatuate a man like Vulpes Inculta, it's no wonder Caesar lost at the Dam a second time, he underestimated her. There's definitely more to her than meets the eyes that I have yet to see.' He felt a smirk spread across his features, something he hadn't felt in a very, long time. 'Edward you fool. Vulpes says this girl spared your life, admirable. I bet you're not about to return the favour.' Realising he had been staring for far too long, Graham averted his eyes and finished dressing. He turned away from the Courier, beginning to walk away before stopping and turning back to her,
"Do you remember what caused your amnesia?"
"Why does everyone keep saying I have amnesia!?" She smashed her hands into the water as an expression of frustration. The ex-Malpais stood silently looking over at her, 'Could she really not know?' Tash's brow was furrowed, glowering at turned and walked off to his cave without another word, leaving the Courier to stew over her thoughts.
Tash had finished washing a short time later and had made her way back to the main camp. Campfires lit the cliffs creating towering, monstrous shadows of the tribal's who sat around them. A black sheep sat among the flock. Vulpes Inculta sat alone near a small fire; the light of the flames stroked his face accentuating every line, every edge. He looked worn out. He turned to see her, but made no effort to move or speak and for the first time since their encounter at Hoover Dam, she wasn't afraid of him. She walked over and sat by him, turning her head so she could inspect his features. Up close she could she the harsh years on him, his age showing more evidently to her. His thoughts seemed far away as he stared into the fire. One by one, slowly the tribal's began to leave, ready to sleep.
"Joshua said I should leave you alone. Give you time to recall me." Without turning to look at her he spoke, his voice was low, impatient, "But I'm not a man that waits." Finally he turned to look at her, "I pray for justice: Let the girl who has made me her prey either love me or give me reasons for always loving her." Vulpes grabbed her arms in his hands with a vice like grip. "I am on fire! And love reigns in my once empty heart, but damp shadows have stolen your fire!" She felt his grip tighten and she flinched.
"Get off me Legion monster." Her voice was slow, cold, "Now." Hearing her change, a sly leer came across his lips,
"Or what?" He spoke slowly, aggravatingly, tightening his grip on her arms. The Courier bit down on her lip as she felt the discomfort of his fingers digging into her muscle. Her eyes staring, burning into his. Tash wasn't stupid; she knew this man could easily overpower her, so she refused to struggle against his grip. Instead, she smirked sardonically,
"Easy as a child picks up a small stone and throws it ... is exactly how hard it would be for me to tear your limbs from their sockets." Her eyes narrowed, her lips maintaining the sardonic smile. Fleetingly Vulpes moved his body, pushing her onto her back and pinning her to the floor. The Couriers eyes wide at the shock she could see the fervor in his, the blue stabbing through her.
He smashed his lips onto hers. Tash wriggled now trying to escape his embrace, but she couldn't help but feel a familiarity in the taste of his lips. They were thin and elegant as if meant for his sharp tongue, fitting perfectly against her rounder ones. For a moment she lost herself in thoughts of him, thoughts of his touch, his body, the fire he was lighting inside of her. Breaking their kiss he glared down at her,
"Now do you remember? Or do I have to trigger more of our memories?" His voice was provocative and was doing a good job at provoking her. She was panting softly, catching her breath. Vulpes leaned in to her ear, "I could give you a damn good reminder of when we first met." She felt her body shudder at his closeness, "The smell of death, the fires, and the pained moans of the crucified." He softly stoked his tongue up her neck before biting her ear,
"Poor legless Boxcars, you wanted to help him, simply talk about what had happened, but he was ungrateful and rude, a shining example of a degenerate. After our little discussion outside the town hall I had followed you, the Courier who didn't run when she saw Legions art of fire and blood, I saw you pull out that weathered 10mm…" Lifting his head to look at her again, he had a dark smile, "And Boxcars blood painted our faces." He pulled her wrists closer together holding them tight above her head with only one hand, immediately using the other to brush down the side of her body, taking in her shape as though he were blind. As he brought the hand back up he grazed it over her chest, and groped "I took you then and there. You showed no resistance, only animalistic want." Tash could feel her heart racing, something about his story-rung bells in her head, but it sounded nothing like her. This is Vulpes Inculta she thought, the Legions greatest manipulator; she wouldn't fall for his tricks. Using all her strength she managed to roll him so he lay flat on his back against the cold floor as she moved to sit on him. He had relinquished his hold on her wrists and now placed his hands against her thighs, almost as if to hold her. Reaching down she pulled her gun from its holster and pointed it to his forehead, holding it with both hands. Vulpes slowly moved his hands onto her rear, "I love it when you play aggressive." and with a quick grab, again he had her on her back, his hands moved to the floor either side of her head holding himself over her.
"These tricks and manipulations may work on everybody else, bit I won't fall for your bullshit!" She angrily spoke. The Fox lost his grin and with a fell movement, had one hand around her neck. In panic Tash dropped her gun to grab at his hand, pulling and tugging, trying to move it away, struggling to catch breathes.
"If you wont remember me." He snarled, aggressively, "I'll make sure no-one else can be in the place where I belong." Her face began to turn red at the lost of air, tears welled in her eyes. Vulpes Inculta paused, as if under the realisation of his action he quickly released her, watching as she coughed and spluttered bent over on the ground. He moved to place a hand on her back and cringed as she pulled away, her eyes showing only horror and fear.
"Don't you dare touch me!" She yelled, "I'm not one of your slaves you can beat around." Standing, Vulpes could only look down at the girl on the floor. Turning at the sound of footsteps he saw Joshua come from the cave, no doubt roused by the commotion. As Graham stared at the Fox, Vulpes couldn't help but feel as though it was a paternal look of disappointment he was being given and it caused him a strange feeling of dismay. Tash stood, quickly moving to the ex-Malpais. Vulpes Inculta could see the two exchanging words and it was only moments before the Courier disappeared into the Angel Cave with Graham.
Vulpes did not sleep that night.
Tashtastic: A quick short chapter update, while I wait for my other 4 favourite fanfics to update (: