After 3 days, Selene, Itus and Hammerlock returned from their mission with lots of samples from the Crysalisks. The first thing Selene did was run to Sanctuary.

She ran to Roland's house as quick as possible. To her surprise, Lilith answered the door. "Sup?" Lilith asked.

"Oh, its Selene!" Roland said, coming up behind her. They let her in and walked upstairs.

"um," Selene uttered, "Is Mordecai here?"

"No," Lilth said, "I'm afraid not. Jack stole Bloodwing."

"What!?" Selene yelped, looking very upset, "Is he okay?"

"We don't know," Roland sighed, "Mordecai left with the 4 Vault Hunters to go save him. We havnt heard anything yet."

"And don't even think about going to help him," Lilith said, "its not worth Hyperion knowing about you and your worth to Mordecai."

Selene felt hopeless. She thanked them for telling her the bad news and then went to go grab Itus. The two of them went to Tundra Express to wait for Mordecai in his tower. Her heart was racing. She really hoped that Mordecai was okay… and more so if Bloodwing was alright…

Selene was standing at the window of Mordecai's tower that night when the door swung open suddenly. It was Mordecai. But to Selene's dismay, there was no Bloodwing.

Mordecai stepped in and shut the front door. "Mordey," Selene said softly, "Hun, are you alright?"

"I'm fine…" he answered, his voice was emotionless. He walked forward and then halfway threw the room, he stopped.

Selene watched him closely and Itus chuffed softly, also watching close. Suddenly, Mordecai fell to his knees. Selene and Itus ran to him and she kneeled in front of him. Mordecai's eyes were welling with tears as he put his hands on her thighs to prop himself up. His arms were shaking and his skin was pale white.

"Sweety…" Selene said, placing her hand on his cheek.

"F-fuck…" Little wet spots started to form on the legs of Selene's pants as Mordecai shook and leaned over her. Even Itus seemed to be upset as he huddled close to the two of them and let our a soft roar of sorrow.

After a few moments, Mordecai spoke, "Selene, hes gone… he fuckin killed him…"

Selene held onto Mordecai tightly and nodded. Mordecai spoke again after a moment, his voice shaking, "I'm all alone now… he was my companion…"

"No, Mordecai," Selene said, "You are not alone. I'm staying here with you. I don't want you to have to be alone…"

Mordecai clung to Selene in his moment of weakness and weptover the loss of his partner who had been with him for so long, who had saved his life countless times and had been the only one there to listen when he needed someone. Selene kissed his forhead and held him there well into the night. She looked up at Itus and began to weep as well. She couldn't even bare to think about how it would feel to lose Itus. There was no way she was going to let him live there alone anymore. Not without Bloodwing there.


Selene woke up to the sweet smell of Itus' 100years rotten, garbage and bandit flesh, fresh breath the next morning. "Oh, jesus!" she gagged out loud and rolled off of the recliner she and Mordecai had passed out on the night before. She stumbled over to her backpack and pulled out a big bar of soap. Itus snorted at the sight of it and started bouncing everywhere. "Itus!" Selene hissed, trying not to wake Mordecai. She chased him down and finally caught him with a rope she had in her backpack. Itus started to roar and Selene clamped his trisected mouth shut, having to use both her arms and her body to do so. "Shut. UP!" she whispered, "God, you're getting too big for this…" Selene dragged Itus into the washroom and wet down the bar of soap, then pried the skag's mouth open and scoured the inside like it was a nasty toilet.

After about 10 minutes of scrubbing, she hosed out Itus' mouth in the shower. "There," Selene sighed, "less smelly." Itus roared softly and then licked his master's face. Selene held his head up and looked into his beady red eyes. She remembered when he was just a Skag Pup she had found the first week she was on Pandora; how the two of them bonded over hunting and fighting for their lives against bloodthirsty beasts and bandits. And the heartbreaking screams he had cryed out for her when she left Pandora. Then all she could think about was what Mordecai must have endured. He was there the whole time. He hadn't told her how it happened, but she was sure it was awful either way. How bad must it have been if there was nothing even Mordecai and the other Vault Hunters could do to save her? Selene cringed and hugged Itus tightly, choking back tears.

Mordecai had told her how he had Bloodwing as a chick. It was almost too much for Selene to stomach. She couldn't even think about living without Itus. Just then, she heard Mordecai in the other room.

"Selene!?" He shouted. He came flying into the bathroom. "Oh," he sighed, "There you are…"

Selene stood up, "What's wrong?"

"uh, nothing," He said, his voice almost void of emotion now, "I was just… I thought you left…"

She stepped over to him and held him tight, "I'm not going anywhere, Mordecai."

The two of them walked back over to the living room and Itus bolted out after them, rolling around on the floor. Mordecai sat back down on the recliner and looked up at Selene. His eyes were filled with sorrow and seemed hazy. Selene leaned down and kissed his forehead before sitting down across his lap. "Oh, Mordey…" she sighed, as he gripped onto her tightly. Even after a few minutes, his grip didn't weaken. He was holding her there. She looked down at him, his face pressed against her arm. He had bags under his eyes and his dreads were all disheveled and everywhere. She sighed again and rubbed his arm a little. Itus sat in front of them and gurgled a little in confusion.

Mordecai began to tremble and Selene looked down at his face. Tears were finding their way out of his eyes slowly. She couldn't imagine how hard it was for him to show this kind of emotion in front of anyone. Pandora was too rough and gritty a place for men to even have time to show that they were sad. 'Pussy shit' would have been what she would expect them to call it.

"Selene," Mordecai whispered after a while.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"I…" He hesitated and sighed softly.

"What's wrong?"

Mordecai looked her in the eyes, his were red and still a little wet, "I.. need you… and that's really hard for me to be able to say… Fuck, the guys would probably call me a totally pussy for even thinking it… but Blood… he was my everything… and now… I ain't got nothin' left…" he stopped for a minute to try and hold back tears, throwing his head back and breathing deep. "Fuckin Moxxi left me for that piece of shit who killed him… I got the guys but they ain't the same, ya know… but you… you have done nothing but show me kindness and now even when I'm a total fuckin embarassing mess, you're still here… I mean you fuckin came back after 5 years… ugh!" he pressed his head back into her arm and shut his eyes, "You fuckin drive me crazy, Selene… whenever I'm happy, I think of you, when I' not feeling my best, I wish you were there to smile at me and… I just fucking need you Selene please just don't go… I have nothing left…"

Selene was smiling softly and petting his head. She leaned down and kissed his forhead again, "I told you, Mordecai, I'm not going anywhere."

She lifted his chin with a finger and kissed his lips slowly and tenderly. His heart melted as she did so. A certain sort of comfort washed over him at that moment as well.

"And neither is Itus!" she smiled as Itus leapt up and slurped all over Mordecai's face, making him smile the most tiny smile one could muster through such sorrow.