p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Coffee. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Coffee/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;". Hwaaaargh-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Still a coffee fiend, huh," Vaughn chuckled at the sight of his best friend devouring the hot coffee as though it was the last cup in the galaxy, "good to know some things don't change."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Tell me /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"you/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" wouldn't inhale this after spending days in the desert drinking body-temperature water," Rhys retorted lightly, but /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"god/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" the coffee tasted good. Some of the tension he'd been carrying over the last few days melted away as he gratefully gulped it down./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys, I /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"live/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" in the desert," Vaughn said dryly, the corners of his mouth turning up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Alright, but you live in the desert surrounded by an endless supply of coffee. Hell, I'm tempted to live here myself!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I think the 'endless' part of that is about to be tested by you," Vaughn said, amused, as he watched Rhys drain the cup./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah..." Rhys eyed his cup then grinned sheepishly at Vaughn, "could I, uhh, maybe-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Machine's behind you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys sprang up from the tattered sofa the pair were occupying and heard Vaughn laugh as he went to make another cup of coffee. The two were relaxing in what looked like a former office of Helios, an office that had seen better days. An entire section of wall had broken off at some point during the fall from orbit, exposing it to the Pandoran desert. The sun had set in the last half hour and the sky was not yet completely dark, though stars were visible and Elpis glowed gently in the dying light. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Leave some for Janey and Athena," he heard Vaughn call from the sofa, "they're about half a day away now. Have a feeling Athena's gonna want to fuel up herself when they get here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ehh, I'll get them a coffee machine for a wedding present," Rhys said as he carefully walked back to the sofa, cradling the hot cup. "Athena seems to like the Atlas stuff in particular, I can hook her up to her own endless supply."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Janey will be thrilled."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys sank into the sofa cushions and propped his feet on the table Vaughn had dragged over earlier, sighing deeply in contentment. This was the most relaxed he'd felt in days, months, even, which was ironic considering they were gearing up to fight a vault monster in a day or so. Finding Vaughn, not only alive, but doing so well? It had been a huge relief. Though Rhys had known Vaughn had been with Cassius, the aftermath of the Helios crash had been so devastating that Rhys couldn't have said for sure that Vaughn was ok./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Vaughn, this, all of this, I mean," Rhys looked over at him, open and honest, "what you've done here, it's-it's amazing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Thanks man," Vaughn said quietly, smiling gently at Rhys before he turned to stare at the desert. "I had a lot of help. Cassius, for one. And some of the more... lucid survivors. Doctors, engineers. It was a team effort."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mmm," Rhys agreed, "but someone had to step up. Take charge, organise everything." Vaughn had changed the most, Rhys thought, but in a good way. He seemed to thrive here, had done since they'd landed on Pandora, once he'd got past his fear of being killed at every turn, anyway. Vaughn was a talented accountant, but Rhys couldn't help but think this life suited Vaughn better. Sure, Hyperion had provided them with everything they'd ever needed or wanted, all of the comforts one could want, but it had come at a cost. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"They were no longer chained to Hyperion. And Vaughn had taken freedom and run with it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I'd had some time to get used to being here," Vaughn said modestly, "but... yeah. I'm glad I was in a position where I could help. Some of the survivors were completely lost and wouldn't have had a clue how to survive here." He chuckled. "A bit like us when we landed here, huh?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys laughed loudly and it echoed through the room. "Yeah, we should have died, like, twenty times by now. More."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Lucky we had Sasha and Fiona, well... you know, /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"after/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" they decided not to kill us," Vaughn smiled fondly at the desert as Rhys' breath hitched in his throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh- yeah, uhh, yeah," Rhys fumbled as he stared down at his coffee cup, "yeah, they, uhh, definitely helped us... not die."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Yeah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"There was a pause, in which Rhys very determinedly focused on drinking his coffee and tried to ignore the sly side-eye that Vaughn was aiming in his direction. He heard Vaughn exhale a soft laugh and out of the corner of his eye, saw him gently shake his head as he looked back out at the desert./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Phew./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""So, what's going on with you and Fiona?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys began to cough violently as he inhaled some coffee, caught off guard. Helpfully, Vaughn leaned across and slapped him sharply on the back and, despite the burning tears now in his eyes, Rhys didn't miss the knowing smile on his best friend's face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh-/spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Vaughn/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"- nothing-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Oh come on, Rhys, I know you better than that." Vaughn sat back and crossed his arms, fixing Rhys with a firm stare that made him want to melt into the sofa cushions so he wouldn't have to talk about this. "We could tiptoe around it, or you can get it off your chest. You two have avoided the hell out of each other since you got here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh- we're not /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"avoiding/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"- or, uhh, I'm-I'm not avoiding /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"her/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", but she... she-" Rhys stared at Vaughn for a beat before he exhaled heavily, sinking backwards into the cushions as he did. Vaughn blinked at his slumped form. "... She hates me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Vaughn's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Where did you get that from?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys barked out a short, mirthless laugh as some of the misery settled in the pit of his gut again. "Well, after I, y'know, reminded her about all my fuck-ups, including and not limited to hiding Handsome Jack in my head and not saying anything, then putting them all in danger from death by sentient space station, she, uhh, suddenly wanted to pretend she lives in a world where I don't exist-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... She's pissed. Like, really pissed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""That doesn't mean she 'hates' you," Vaughn said fairly, struggling slightly. Rhys shook his head and gazed moodily out at the dark desert./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I don't know, Vaughn. Something feels different." The inky sky speckled with stars reminded him of the nights in the desert. Talking. Laughing. A wave of aching sadness washed over him. "This is gonna sound weird, but... I know we were being held hostage and could've been shot at any minute- well, uhh, I don't think Loader Bot would /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"actually/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" have shot- ugh, anyway. Those few days, when it was just-just me and Fiona. I... didn't hate it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Vaughn remained silent, though Rhys could sense him gazing at him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It was actually... nice. Not the desert, dehydration, being tied up part..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""The Fiona part," Vaughn finished the sentence Rhys was struggling to put together, smiling gently./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Yeah." Rhys glanced at Vaughn briefly as he slumped further, before staring at the coffee cup again. The stars had lost their lustre suddenly. "I don't think it matters. Maybe if-if it had just been her, but I think she hates me 'cause of Sasha. 'Cause I could have got her killed. Intentional or not, I guess it doesn't change that."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mmm," Vaughn rubbed his chin as he stared vaguely at a spot behind Rhys. "Sasha's old enough to make her own choices. It's not like you forced her to go and besides, I think Vallory was the one calling the shots anyway." Rhys made a noise of partial agreement, though it was half-hearted. "But, yeah. Those two are close. And I think even now, Fiona's very protective of her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Uh-huh. Hence the whole 'hating me' thing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Did you apologise?" Vaughn said carefully./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys blinked across at him, mouth open slightly. "I mean, I told her and Loader Bot everything, she know why what happened, happened-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know," Vaughn cut in somewhat bluntly and Rhys had the sense he'd missed the point. "But did you /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"apologise/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"? Say you were sorry for what went down?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I..." Rhys thought back to their heated exchanges in those last hours. A sinking sensation in his chest as he realised./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know you didn't intend for anything bad to happen. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" knows." Vaughn shrugged honestly, smiling slightly. "Honestly? I really don't think she hates you. I think she's pissed. And conflicted. Maybe she just... needs to hear it, from you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys blinked at him as a swell of something - hope? - rose through him. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"God/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", now Vaughn had said it, it seemed blindingly obvious./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I don't know if it will change anything," Vaughn warned gently, "but it can't get any worse than it already is, right? Rhys, we might have been killed by a vault monster by this time tomorrow. You... want to leave it like this?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"No/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", Rhys thought. Even if they did die and it wouldn't even matter any more./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You should go find her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... I should go find her." Filled with a sudden nervous, jumpy and wonderful energy, Rhys stood abruptly, practically slamming the half-full cup down as he clambered past Vaughn. He paused to clasp Vaughn's shoulder, smiling down at him. "Thanks, Vaughn."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Finish the damn coffee first, Rhys."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh- it's/spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" cold/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You're the one draining my supply, bro, it's the least you can do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys huffed and hurried back to drain the cup, making an aghast noise as he did, which caused Vaughn to laugh. Rhys glared at him as he wiped his mouth with his jacket sleeve, hurrying out of the room, which only caused Vaughn to laugh harder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Good luck!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.6667px;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Laughter echoing down the hallway told Rhys where he could find her. It sounded like she was with someone else - Sasha? Sasha had arrived the previous day and the two had practically been glued to each other since, which had made Fiona somewhat difficult to pin down. As if it hadn't been difficult enough already./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"He rounded the corner to find the sisters in another former office that had been repurposed as a kitchen by Vaughn and his crew. A large, round table sat in the centre and Fiona and Sasha sat at it, their backs to Rhys, snacking on chunks of some sort of... meat? Rocks? It was difficult to tell. He just stood, watching, for a moment as he contemplated what he wanted to say, chewing his lip slightly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Even from behind, it was easy to spot the tension in Fiona's posture. Rhys had barely seen her since they'd reached the shell of Helios, but it seemed she hadn't managed to relax at all. Well, they /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"were/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" only hours away from fighting a vault monster, though Rhys guessed there was more to it than that./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha, though, looked the most relaxed he'd ever seen her. She'd greeted him with a hug, to his enormous surprise, when she'd arrived, had smiled easily and had been the warm, calming presence that everyone had needed. The thought of taking on a whole vault monster apparently hadn't fazed her at all, in fact, Rhys rather suspected she was looking forward to it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha, laughing at something Fiona had said, happened to glance back and spotted Rhys standing awkwardly by the entrance. She glanced quickly at Fiona, appearing to hesitate for a split second, before she smiled back at Rhys./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Hey!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona turned, perhaps expecting Vaughn and there was a slight delay as she registered it was Rhys. He saw her tense immediately./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Hey Sasha. ... Fiona."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona nodded at him as she turned to her left in her seat and grasped the top of the plastic chair back, fingers curling tightly over the top of it. Ready to bolt, Rhys thought miserably. Sasha glanced back at Fiona, eyebrows raised slightly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Look, Fiona, before you run for the hills, can I talk to you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Can it wait?" Fiona said, not unkindly, but tone cool. "We've got a lot on tomorrow. I'm a little busy-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha snorted loudly. "No, you're not." Fiona snapped her gaze to her, mouth open slightly in outrage. "Well, you're not! You've been clinging to me like a limpet since I got here, I haven't even had chance to pick out my guns yet."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona closed her mouth quickly and shot a mild glare at Sasha, who smiled broadly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Five minutes, Fiona," Rhys said quietly, "that's all I'm asking for. Then, you never have to speak to me again, if you don't want."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona gazed up at him and Rhys could see the conflict behind her eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Fi," Sasha said softly, placing a gentle, warm hand on her sister's knee, "just hear him out."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Whose side are you on?" Fiona muttered, causing Sasha to sit back and fix her with a firm stare./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I'm sorry, how old are we? There are no 'sides' here. I don't know what's going on with you two, but you're being terrible about whatever it is. Just listen to words for a few minutes, then you can go back to being all sullen, if that's what you want." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona went slightly pink as she dropped her gaze and even Rhys was taken aback, having never heard Sasha be so firm with Fiona before. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright," Fiona said as she pulled her gaze back up and met Rhys' eyes. "But first, I need a drink." She stood abruptly and went to one of the makeshift cupboards at the back of the kitchen, out of earshot as she searched for a glass. Rhys let out the breath he'd been holding as he met Sasha's eyes and mouthed a 'thank you'./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""She hasn't filled me in on... this, whatever this is," Sasha said quietly as she stood. "What did you /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"do/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"? I've never seen her like this."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys laughed mirthlessly and softly. "She's still angry about everything that happened. Which, yeah. Can't say I blame her." Rhys frowned as he looked at Sasha and something occurred to him. "Wait... why aren't you angry? You greeted me like an old friend when you got here. I was expecting you to be pissed, too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I was," Sasha admitted quietly as Fiona clattered around at the other end of the room, searching for the alcohol stash, "at the beginning. It got... messy. We barely got back to Hollow Point in one piece. Guess I just accepted everything that happened, and I guess that helped me. I knew you never meant to hurt any of us." She smiled up at him. "You kinda get a measure of someone when you end up travelling halfway across a planet with them. Despite your... questionable choice to work for Hyperion, I could tell you're not a bad person."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Well, thanks," Rhys smiled back, "and you're alright yourself. For, y'know, Pandoran scum."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Careful," Sasha said but she was grinning. Her smile faded as she turned to look at Fiona, who was apparently growing frustrated, having not found anything to drink yet. "Fiona took it harder than I did, I think. She was in a funk for months. She checked the ECHO-Net a lot, you know. We thought you'd died. I think she found it hard to deal with everything, being angry at you and then guilty about being angry at a dead person. She didn't get closure. And I guess that means she didn't, or couldn't, just let everything go."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys remembered his own anger, back when he'd thought he'd been abandoned. But mostly, the hurt. It had consumed him for a time. Focusing on kick-starting Atlas again had provided him with a lifeline to cling to during the darker days. The hurt remained in the background, lingering and threatening to come back without warning. Some days, it had been suffocating./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Why aren't people like robots?" Rhys muttered, prompting a quirk of an amused eyebrow from Sasha. "Y'know? When something goes wrong, you can just... fix it. A loose screw, some bad code. Open up a panel and stick a screwdriver in there and bam. Fixed." Sasha giggled softly as Rhys sighed in resignation. "People are... people are /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"hard/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Some more than others. Fiona definitely got all of the 'stubborn' genes," Sasha offered, glancing at Fiona, who had finally located the alcohol and promptly downed an entire glass of it in one swift move. Sasha shook her head gently, closing her eyes in mild exasperation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright, I'm set," Fiona announced, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "There's a quiet spot nearby. C'mon."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I can just go somewhere-" Sasha called to her, but Fiona had already half-stalked out of the room. Sasha sighed in exasperation. "I love her and I know she's going through some stuff, but she can be really immature sometimes." She hesitated, gazing at Rhys for a moment. "Especially about things she cares about the most. Things, and people." Suddenly overly-bright, she beamed at him and patted his shoulder a couple of times. "So, good luck!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys exhaled a laugh as his mouth went dry. "Thanks. ... Seriously."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You're welcome," she said graciously while pretend-curtseying. "Go on, before she power-walks all the way to the tundra."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah..." Rhys patted Sasha's shoulder in appreciation and hurried out of the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.6667px;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona stood with her hip against a railing residing in yet another broken Hyperion corridor, her arms crossed as she looked out at the view. Part of this corridor had torn away, leaving a surprisingly pleasant, open window into the Pandoran desert. The sky was speckled with stars and there was a warm breeze that gently brushed her arms and face every now and then./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She tapped her arm impatiently with her index finger, torn between wanting Rhys to just show up so they could get this over with, and hoping he'd just wandered off somewhere so they wouldn't have to face the overwhelming awkwardness that had settled between them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Alright, so she could admit she was responsible for a lot of /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"that/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"But, what could he possibly say that would fix this?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys rounded the corner and her stomach flip-flopped uncomfortably./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"They should have just had it out the minute they got to Helios. Instead, the awkwardness had festered and grown into something that clawed its way into Fiona's throat and made it feel like it was closing up. She couldn't have said anything if she wanted to. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"The alcohol had been a bad idea. Instead of helping soothe her nerves, it had set them on fire. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She turned to face him fully. This was /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"silly/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", for goodness sake. They were two grown adults and, what was more, two grown adults who had to fight a bloody /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"vault monster/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" in a matter of hours. They were going to have to work as a team to succeed, which meant Fiona had no choice but to face... this./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"The thought of facing a vault monster scared her less. She steeled herself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Hey." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys' voice was full of gentle caution, as though trying to calm a trapped animal. He hovered awkwardly, but it was his expression that caused her chest to tighten. As though everything that mattered to him rode on this one conversation and one wrong move could shatter it, this, whatever they had, forever./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"If it hadn't shattered already./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Oh god. She couldn't do this. She couldn't be responsible for shattering it beyond repair./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""This was a bad idea," she muttered, throat constricting as she dropped her gaze and made to walk away as quickly as possible and Rhys must have known she was going to do exactly that. He caught her wrist as she tried to dart past him and just held it, not forcefully and she could have pulled away if she wanted. But she stopped and half-turned toward him, though she couldn't quite meet his eyes, fearful of what she'd find there./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Fiona, /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"please/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"," he sounded as exhausted as she felt, "look, you don't have to say anything, ok? I'm just gonna... gonna say a load of words and I'd really appreciate if you listened, I-I mean, I'm not gonna /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"force/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" you to listen, that's up to you, but I'd appreciate it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"He was still gently holding her wrist with his human hand. Fiona wasn't sure whether it was his pulse she could feel through his fingertips, or her own as her heart beat uncomfortably loudly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys appeared to deduce that her lack of trying to get away meant she was willing to listen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ok. So. ... Ok." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She looked up at him as he faltered, having apparently not ironed out exactly what it was he wanted to say./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"The pad of his thumb rested lightly against the inside of her wrist and it was all she could focus on./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys sighed heavily. "I messed up. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Really/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" messed up. And I know I already explained /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"why/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" it happened, but yeah. It doesn't change anything. That I put everyone in danger, that I should have said something. But, no more excuses."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"His thumb moved slightly, a feather touch and it caused shockwaves to ripple up her arm and throughout the rest of her, too. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Was he aware of the effect he was having on her? He couldn't possibly have missed that her breath had caught in her throat, or that her face had flushed - at least, it was certainly a lot warmer now. That her pulse had tripped over itself. Was he doing it deliberately?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I'm sorry, Fiona." His expression was raw, open and honest and a part of a... wall? Whatever it was she'd built up, maybe to protect herself - it crumbled. "I am. For everything. For not telling you. Whatever my reasons, they weren't good enough. I can't change what I did but, believe me, if I could, I would."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She wanted to take the hand holding her wrist and pull him into an embrace, and push him away and run all at the same time and neither side was winning and she just stood as the suffocating sensation of the conflict washed over her in violent waves./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I, uhh, don't really know what else to say," he said with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. "I just... yeah. I should have said it sooner. Umm-" Rhys looked at his hand holding her wrist and blinked a couple of times. Then, with a faint trace of horrified /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"what the hell am I doing/span/ememspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"?/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" on his face, he let go. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona unconsciously grasped the wrist with her other hand, trying to trap in the warmth he'd left on her skin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""So-so, I'm, uh, gonna go now. We can figure out the vault monster details in the morning. And then, uhh, I guess, whatever happens next." He rubbed his neck again and couldn't meet her eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona said nothing and he turned to go, awkwardly waving a hand and smiling painfully as he did. A wave of unspecified emotion roiled through her. He was almost out of sight when she finally managed to force a word up through her throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"He turned, full of caution and something that could only resemble hope./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona just took him in, wondering why she'd called out when she suddenly couldn't think of a damn thing to say. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"It's not gonna make me forget everything? I appreciate it? I forgive you, now kiss me, you damn lanky Hyperion?/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She swallowed the lump in her throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Thank you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Even from this distance, she saw something fracture behind his eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"A brief pause, then he simply smiled slightly, nodded at her in acceptance and walked away./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: Calibri;"span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"-/span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha was in the room they were sharing when Fiona reached it - some sort of ex-Hyperion apartment that had survived the crash remarkably well. Twin beds lined the wall and Sasha occupied one. Propped up with a couple of pillows, she sat, cross-legged, as she serviced one of her guns - her prized Atlas Silver. An array of tools Fiona had never even seen before lay in front of her. The room was dimly lit by a single, warm lamp and Fiona wondered how Sasha could see a damn thing she was working on. She looked up as Fiona walked in and smiled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Hey, you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona made a very small noise of greeting. She then walked to the foot of the other bed and let herself fall forward, not bothering to break her fall onto the surprisingly soft mattress with her arms. Her face hit the pillow and buried itself and she couldn't even bring herself to turn her head to face Sasha. She heard Sasha laugh./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""That bad, huh?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona simply made a noise that was muffled by the pillow./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright, Fi. You've sulked enough. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"What/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" is going on?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona finally turned her head to face Sasha, who studied her with mild concern. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... He apologised."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha blinked at her a couple of times. "And that's... bad? ... Off with his head?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I had no idea what he was going to say. What he /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"could/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" say. Somehow, I just wasn't expecting /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"that/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ok?" Sasha's face was a picture of confusion. "But, that's a good thing, right? Assuming he apologised for what I think he apologised for."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... But?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona pulled herself into a slumped sitting position. Her stomach churned uncomfortably. "It doesn't change anything."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha gently placed her gun and the tool she was using down onto the duvet in front of her and turned to face Fiona fully. She pulled her legs from their crossed position and swung them over the side of the bed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It doesn't change what he /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"did/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"," Fiona continued sadly. "He-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know what he did, Fi. I was there too, remember?" Sasha sighed gently and studied her sister calmly but firmly. "Is this how it's gonna be, now? You're just going to let this eat you up like this?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Sasha, you could have /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"died/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I could have died at any point living on this planet," Sasha countered shortly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""That's different," Fiona said firmly, turning to face her fully. "No-one you've been friends with here knowingly put you in danger like that-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""August shot at me!" Sasha scoffed, half-laughing mirthlessly. "He could have killed me! And you haven't held him to ransom like you seem to be doing with Rhys."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"A fair point. "I knew you could handle August," Fiona muttered but it was a weak argument. "But Hyperion? Handsome /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Jack/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright, look, Fi," Sasha fixed her with a firm look, "you've been out of sorts for months. And now, you're like this and have been ever since you arrived here, according to Vaughn. I know you took everything that happened badly and I really can't blame you, because it sucked." Her expression softened slightly. "But, you're dragging Rhys through the fire for this-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Because he /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"lied/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know, Fiona!" Sasha half-shouted in exasperation. "And don't think that I wasn't pissed at him because he put /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"you/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" in danger, too! It works both ways - you think I don't worry about you, too? But the difference is, I recognise that he didn't mean to do it, and that he's genuinely sorry for it." Sasha paused, seemingly choosing her next words carefully. "You have feelings for him, don't you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona scoffed and looked away, her face growing warm. Sasha took this as confirmation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Look-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It doesn't matter," Fiona cut in abruptly, dropping her gaze and squeezing her eyes closed, "it's done. There's too much that's happened, too much /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"hurt/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;". And not just on my end. I think... I think I've screwed things up." She sighed heavily. "Should have seen his face just now. I just..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ok, Fi," Sasha leaned forward and took Fiona's hands in her own. Fiona opened her eyes and gazed miserably at her. Sasha's hands were warm and it was comforting. "The way I see it, you have a choice here. You can go on like this, continuing to blame him for everything going wrong, unable to get past it. Feeling miserable. Or, you can accept that what happened, happened, and that he's sorry. You know? And even if things aren't quite the same between you guys, look, it's gotta be better than this. People make mistakes. Sometimes they're really big mistakes. That's people." She squeezed Fiona's hands gently. "You gonna let that come in the way of something good? Don't think I didn't notice how well you guys got on when we were travelling together."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"An aching longing as Fiona thought back to the carefree days in the caravan. Dark, starry nights regaling stories about Pandora and their exploits to Rhys. God, she missed it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Look, just, don't throw something good away because you're too proud and stubborn to get past this. It'll just eat you up and you deserve better than that." Sasha smiled at her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona just gazed at her for a moment, then let out a weak chuckle, smiling back. "When did you get so wise?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know, right?" Sasha winked at her, grinning./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"A laugh bubbled its way out from Fiona's chest. "We can shoot bad guys and fight off vault monsters, but this? This is... weird. Why is this the hardest thing to deal with?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""People are... complicated. But, hey. The good ones are worth it." Sasha's eyes became mischievous suddenly. "You, dear sister, can be a pain in the ass sometimes," and Fiona laughed genuinely for the first time in days, "but you're worth it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I could say the same about you," Fiona grinned at her. She paused and looked at their hands, still holding each other. "Ha. Look at us! Getting all soppy and talking about /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"feelings/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""And a boy," Sasha winked at her again. "If I had some nail polish with me, I'd be painting your nails right now."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona laughed freely again. Thank the gods for Sasha. She already felt better than she had in days. Weeks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It's kinda nice though, huh? We've always been so focused on surviving that we never really had chance to do this. Just, talk about girly things."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha snorted loudly. "I don't think either of us fulfil 'girly'," and Fiona chuckled in agreement, "but yeah, it's nice to just... be sisters. Without worrying about where our next meal will come from."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah, all we gotta worry about is taking down a massive vault monster," Fiona said, grinning./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Oh, we've got /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"that/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"," Sasha said, waving a hand in the air dismissively and playfully. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah, I'm not even worried about that part." Fiona's smile faded slightly. She felt a squeeze from Sasha's other hand into her own./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You got that, too." Sasha smiled gently at her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mmm." Fiona's stomach churned again. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Things will look better in the morning. Start simple. With a good night's sleep!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yes, boss," Fiona saluted at Sasha and they both giggled. "Yeah, but seriously, I'm gonna do that. I'm wiped."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mind if I keep the lamp on? I've not had any time to work on my guns since /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"someone/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" has been so intent on moping about the place-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ehh, shush," Fiona took her hat and playfully threw it at Sasha, who caught it deftly and sat it on her own head. "Huh. Suits you. You're not keeping it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Don't worry, sis, I know how terrifyingly attached you are to your wardrobe." Sasha grinned at her. "Now, sleep. You're bad enough on lack of sleep /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"without/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" factoring in a big-ass vault monster that we have to destroy to save our friend."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona waved her off as she removed her jacket and sank under the covers, grateful once again to have Sasha by her side. She watched Sasha work as she drifted off, a comfort she welcomed with open arms./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Still a coffee fiend, huh," Vaughn chuckled at the sight of his best friend devouring the hot coffee as though it was the last cup in the galaxy, "good to know some things don't change."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Tell me /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"you/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" wouldn't inhale this after spending days in the desert drinking body-temperature water," Rhys retorted lightly, but /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"god/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" the coffee tasted good. Some of the tension he'd been carrying over the last few days melted away as he gratefully gulped it down./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys, I /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"live/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" in the desert," Vaughn said dryly, the corners of his mouth turning up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Alright, but you live in the desert surrounded by an endless supply of coffee. Hell, I'm tempted to live here myself!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I think the 'endless' part of that is about to be tested by you," Vaughn said, amused, as he watched Rhys drain the cup./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah..." Rhys eyed his cup then grinned sheepishly at Vaughn, "could I, uhh, maybe-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Machine's behind you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys sprang up from the tattered sofa the pair were occupying and heard Vaughn laugh as he went to make another cup of coffee. The two were relaxing in what looked like a former office of Helios, an office that had seen better days. An entire section of wall had broken off at some point during the fall from orbit, exposing it to the Pandoran desert. The sun had set in the last half hour and the sky was not yet completely dark, though stars were visible and Elpis glowed gently in the dying light. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Leave some for Janey and Athena," he heard Vaughn call from the sofa, "they're about half a day away now. Have a feeling Athena's gonna want to fuel up herself when they get here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ehh, I'll get them a coffee machine for a wedding present," Rhys said as he carefully walked back to the sofa, cradling the hot cup. "Athena seems to like the Atlas stuff in particular, I can hook her up to her own endless supply."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Janey will be thrilled."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys sank into the sofa cushions and propped his feet on the table Vaughn had dragged over earlier, sighing deeply in contentment. This was the most relaxed he'd felt in days, months, even, which was ironic considering they were gearing up to fight a vault monster in a day or so. Finding Vaughn, not only alive, but doing so well? It had been a huge relief. Though Rhys had known Vaughn had been with Cassius, the aftermath of the Helios crash had been so devastating that Rhys couldn't have said for sure that Vaughn was ok./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Vaughn, this, all of this, I mean," Rhys looked over at him, open and honest, "what you've done here, it's-it's amazing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Thanks man," Vaughn said quietly, smiling gently at Rhys before he turned to stare at the desert. "I had a lot of help. Cassius, for one. And some of the more... lucid survivors. Doctors, engineers. It was a team effort."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mmm," Rhys agreed, "but someone had to step up. Take charge, organise everything." Vaughn had changed the most, Rhys thought, but in a good way. He seemed to thrive here, had done since they'd landed on Pandora, once he'd got past his fear of being killed at every turn, anyway. Vaughn was a talented accountant, but Rhys couldn't help but think this life suited Vaughn better. Sure, Hyperion had provided them with everything they'd ever needed or wanted, all of the comforts one could want, but it had come at a cost. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"They were no longer chained to Hyperion. And Vaughn had taken freedom and run with it. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I'd had some time to get used to being here," Vaughn said modestly, "but... yeah. I'm glad I was in a position where I could help. Some of the survivors were completely lost and wouldn't have had a clue how to survive here." He chuckled. "A bit like us when we landed here, huh?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys laughed loudly and it echoed through the room. "Yeah, we should have died, like, twenty times by now. More."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Lucky we had Sasha and Fiona, well... you know, /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"after/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" they decided not to kill us," Vaughn smiled fondly at the desert as Rhys' breath hitched in his throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh- yeah, uhh, yeah," Rhys fumbled as he stared down at his coffee cup, "yeah, they, uhh, definitely helped us... not die."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Yeah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"There was a pause, in which Rhys very determinedly focused on drinking his coffee and tried to ignore the sly side-eye that Vaughn was aiming in his direction. He heard Vaughn exhale a soft laugh and out of the corner of his eye, saw him gently shake his head as he looked back out at the desert./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Phew./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""So, what's going on with you and Fiona?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys began to cough violently as he inhaled some coffee, caught off guard. Helpfully, Vaughn leaned across and slapped him sharply on the back and, despite the burning tears now in his eyes, Rhys didn't miss the knowing smile on his best friend's face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh-/spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Vaughn/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"- nothing-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Oh come on, Rhys, I know you better than that." Vaughn sat back and crossed his arms, fixing Rhys with a firm stare that made him want to melt into the sofa cushions so he wouldn't have to talk about this. "We could tiptoe around it, or you can get it off your chest. You two have avoided the hell out of each other since you got here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh- we're not /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"avoiding/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"- or, uhh, I'm-I'm not avoiding /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"her/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", but she... she-" Rhys stared at Vaughn for a beat before he exhaled heavily, sinking backwards into the cushions as he did. Vaughn blinked at his slumped form. "... She hates me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Vaughn's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Where did you get that from?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys barked out a short, mirthless laugh as some of the misery settled in the pit of his gut again. "Well, after I, y'know, reminded her about all my fuck-ups, including and not limited to hiding Handsome Jack in my head and not saying anything, then putting them all in danger from death by sentient space station, she, uhh, suddenly wanted to pretend she lives in a world where I don't exist-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... She's pissed. Like, really pissed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""That doesn't mean she 'hates' you," Vaughn said fairly, struggling slightly. Rhys shook his head and gazed moodily out at the dark desert./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I don't know, Vaughn. Something feels different." The inky sky speckled with stars reminded him of the nights in the desert. Talking. Laughing. A wave of aching sadness washed over him. "This is gonna sound weird, but... I know we were being held hostage and could've been shot at any minute- well, uhh, I don't think Loader Bot would /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"actually/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" have shot- ugh, anyway. Those few days, when it was just-just me and Fiona. I... didn't hate it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Vaughn remained silent, though Rhys could sense him gazing at him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It was actually... nice. Not the desert, dehydration, being tied up part..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""The Fiona part," Vaughn finished the sentence Rhys was struggling to put together, smiling gently./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Yeah." Rhys glanced at Vaughn briefly as he slumped further, before staring at the coffee cup again. The stars had lost their lustre suddenly. "I don't think it matters. Maybe if-if it had just been her, but I think she hates me 'cause of Sasha. 'Cause I could have got her killed. Intentional or not, I guess it doesn't change that."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mmm," Vaughn rubbed his chin as he stared vaguely at a spot behind Rhys. "Sasha's old enough to make her own choices. It's not like you forced her to go and besides, I think Vallory was the one calling the shots anyway." Rhys made a noise of partial agreement, though it was half-hearted. "But, yeah. Those two are close. And I think even now, Fiona's very protective of her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Uh-huh. Hence the whole 'hating me' thing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Did you apologise?" Vaughn said carefully./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys blinked across at him, mouth open slightly. "I mean, I told her and Loader Bot everything, she know why what happened, happened-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know," Vaughn cut in somewhat bluntly and Rhys had the sense he'd missed the point. "But did you /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"apologise/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"? Say you were sorry for what went down?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I..." Rhys thought back to their heated exchanges in those last hours. A sinking sensation in his chest as he realised./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know you didn't intend for anything bad to happen. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" knows." Vaughn shrugged honestly, smiling slightly. "Honestly? I really don't think she hates you. I think she's pissed. And conflicted. Maybe she just... needs to hear it, from you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys blinked at him as a swell of something - hope? - rose through him. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"God/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", now Vaughn had said it, it seemed blindingly obvious./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I don't know if it will change anything," Vaughn warned gently, "but it can't get any worse than it already is, right? Rhys, we might have been killed by a vault monster by this time tomorrow. You... want to leave it like this?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"No/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", Rhys thought. Even if they did die and it wouldn't even matter any more./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You should go find her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... I should go find her." Filled with a sudden nervous, jumpy and wonderful energy, Rhys stood abruptly, practically slamming the half-full cup down as he clambered past Vaughn. He paused to clasp Vaughn's shoulder, smiling down at him. "Thanks, Vaughn."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Finish the damn coffee first, Rhys."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Wh- it's/spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" cold/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You're the one draining my supply, bro, it's the least you can do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys huffed and hurried back to drain the cup, making an aghast noise as he did, which caused Vaughn to laugh. Rhys glared at him as he wiped his mouth with his jacket sleeve, hurrying out of the room, which only caused Vaughn to laugh harder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Good luck!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.6667px;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Laughter echoing down the hallway told Rhys where he could find her. It sounded like she was with someone else - Sasha? Sasha had arrived the previous day and the two had practically been glued to each other since, which had made Fiona somewhat difficult to pin down. As if it hadn't been difficult enough already./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"He rounded the corner to find the sisters in another former office that had been repurposed as a kitchen by Vaughn and his crew. A large, round table sat in the centre and Fiona and Sasha sat at it, their backs to Rhys, snacking on chunks of some sort of... meat? Rocks? It was difficult to tell. He just stood, watching, for a moment as he contemplated what he wanted to say, chewing his lip slightly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Even from behind, it was easy to spot the tension in Fiona's posture. Rhys had barely seen her since they'd reached the shell of Helios, but it seemed she hadn't managed to relax at all. Well, they /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"were/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" only hours away from fighting a vault monster, though Rhys guessed there was more to it than that./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha, though, looked the most relaxed he'd ever seen her. She'd greeted him with a hug, to his enormous surprise, when she'd arrived, had smiled easily and had been the warm, calming presence that everyone had needed. The thought of taking on a whole vault monster apparently hadn't fazed her at all, in fact, Rhys rather suspected she was looking forward to it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha, laughing at something Fiona had said, happened to glance back and spotted Rhys standing awkwardly by the entrance. She glanced quickly at Fiona, appearing to hesitate for a split second, before she smiled back at Rhys./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Hey!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona turned, perhaps expecting Vaughn and there was a slight delay as she registered it was Rhys. He saw her tense immediately./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Hey Sasha. ... Fiona."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona nodded at him as she turned to her left in her seat and grasped the top of the plastic chair back, fingers curling tightly over the top of it. Ready to bolt, Rhys thought miserably. Sasha glanced back at Fiona, eyebrows raised slightly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Look, Fiona, before you run for the hills, can I talk to you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Can it wait?" Fiona said, not unkindly, but tone cool. "We've got a lot on tomorrow. I'm a little busy-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha snorted loudly. "No, you're not." Fiona snapped her gaze to her, mouth open slightly in outrage. "Well, you're not! You've been clinging to me like a limpet since I got here, I haven't even had chance to pick out my guns yet."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona closed her mouth quickly and shot a mild glare at Sasha, who smiled broadly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Five minutes, Fiona," Rhys said quietly, "that's all I'm asking for. Then, you never have to speak to me again, if you don't want."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona gazed up at him and Rhys could see the conflict behind her eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Fi," Sasha said softly, placing a gentle, warm hand on her sister's knee, "just hear him out."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Whose side are you on?" Fiona muttered, causing Sasha to sit back and fix her with a firm stare./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I'm sorry, how old are we? There are no 'sides' here. I don't know what's going on with you two, but you're being terrible about whatever it is. Just listen to words for a few minutes, then you can go back to being all sullen, if that's what you want." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona went slightly pink as she dropped her gaze and even Rhys was taken aback, having never heard Sasha be so firm with Fiona before. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright," Fiona said as she pulled her gaze back up and met Rhys' eyes. "But first, I need a drink." She stood abruptly and went to one of the makeshift cupboards at the back of the kitchen, out of earshot as she searched for a glass. Rhys let out the breath he'd been holding as he met Sasha's eyes and mouthed a 'thank you'./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""She hasn't filled me in on... this, whatever this is," Sasha said quietly as she stood. "What did you /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"do/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"? I've never seen her like this."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys laughed mirthlessly and softly. "She's still angry about everything that happened. Which, yeah. Can't say I blame her." Rhys frowned as he looked at Sasha and something occurred to him. "Wait... why aren't you angry? You greeted me like an old friend when you got here. I was expecting you to be pissed, too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I was," Sasha admitted quietly as Fiona clattered around at the other end of the room, searching for the alcohol stash, "at the beginning. It got... messy. We barely got back to Hollow Point in one piece. Guess I just accepted everything that happened, and I guess that helped me. I knew you never meant to hurt any of us." She smiled up at him. "You kinda get a measure of someone when you end up travelling halfway across a planet with them. Despite your... questionable choice to work for Hyperion, I could tell you're not a bad person."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Well, thanks," Rhys smiled back, "and you're alright yourself. For, y'know, Pandoran scum."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Careful," Sasha said but she was grinning. Her smile faded as she turned to look at Fiona, who was apparently growing frustrated, having not found anything to drink yet. "Fiona took it harder than I did, I think. She was in a funk for months. She checked the ECHO-Net a lot, you know. We thought you'd died. I think she found it hard to deal with everything, being angry at you and then guilty about being angry at a dead person. She didn't get closure. And I guess that means she didn't, or couldn't, just let everything go."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys remembered his own anger, back when he'd thought he'd been abandoned. But mostly, the hurt. It had consumed him for a time. Focusing on kick-starting Atlas again had provided him with a lifeline to cling to during the darker days. The hurt remained in the background, lingering and threatening to come back without warning. Some days, it had been suffocating./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Why aren't people like robots?" Rhys muttered, prompting a quirk of an amused eyebrow from Sasha. "Y'know? When something goes wrong, you can just... fix it. A loose screw, some bad code. Open up a panel and stick a screwdriver in there and bam. Fixed." Sasha giggled softly as Rhys sighed in resignation. "People are... people are /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"hard/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Some more than others. Fiona definitely got all of the 'stubborn' genes," Sasha offered, glancing at Fiona, who had finally located the alcohol and promptly downed an entire glass of it in one swift move. Sasha shook her head gently, closing her eyes in mild exasperation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright, I'm set," Fiona announced, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "There's a quiet spot nearby. C'mon."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I can just go somewhere-" Sasha called to her, but Fiona had already half-stalked out of the room. Sasha sighed in exasperation. "I love her and I know she's going through some stuff, but she can be really immature sometimes." She hesitated, gazing at Rhys for a moment. "Especially about things she cares about the most. Things, and people." Suddenly overly-bright, she beamed at him and patted his shoulder a couple of times. "So, good luck!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys exhaled a laugh as his mouth went dry. "Thanks. ... Seriously."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You're welcome," she said graciously while pretend-curtseying. "Go on, before she power-walks all the way to the tundra."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah..." Rhys patted Sasha's shoulder in appreciation and hurried out of the room./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.6667px;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona stood with her hip against a railing residing in yet another broken Hyperion corridor, her arms crossed as she looked out at the view. Part of this corridor had torn away, leaving a surprisingly pleasant, open window into the Pandoran desert. The sky was speckled with stars and there was a warm breeze that gently brushed her arms and face every now and then./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She tapped her arm impatiently with her index finger, torn between wanting Rhys to just show up so they could get this over with, and hoping he'd just wandered off somewhere so they wouldn't have to face the overwhelming awkwardness that had settled between them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Alright, so she could admit she was responsible for a lot of /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"that/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"But, what could he possibly say that would fix this?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys rounded the corner and her stomach flip-flopped uncomfortably./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"They should have just had it out the minute they got to Helios. Instead, the awkwardness had festered and grown into something that clawed its way into Fiona's throat and made it feel like it was closing up. She couldn't have said anything if she wanted to. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"The alcohol had been a bad idea. Instead of helping soothe her nerves, it had set them on fire. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She turned to face him fully. This was /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"silly/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;", for goodness sake. They were two grown adults and, what was more, two grown adults who had to fight a bloody /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"vault monster/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" in a matter of hours. They were going to have to work as a team to succeed, which meant Fiona had no choice but to face... this./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"The thought of facing a vault monster scared her less. She steeled herself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Hey." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys' voice was full of gentle caution, as though trying to calm a trapped animal. He hovered awkwardly, but it was his expression that caused her chest to tighten. As though everything that mattered to him rode on this one conversation and one wrong move could shatter it, this, whatever they had, forever./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"If it hadn't shattered already./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Oh god. She couldn't do this. She couldn't be responsible for shattering it beyond repair./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""This was a bad idea," she muttered, throat constricting as she dropped her gaze and made to walk away as quickly as possible and Rhys must have known she was going to do exactly that. He caught her wrist as she tried to dart past him and just held it, not forcefully and she could have pulled away if she wanted. But she stopped and half-turned toward him, though she couldn't quite meet his eyes, fearful of what she'd find there./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Fiona, /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"please/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"," he sounded as exhausted as she felt, "look, you don't have to say anything, ok? I'm just gonna... gonna say a load of words and I'd really appreciate if you listened, I-I mean, I'm not gonna /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"force/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" you to listen, that's up to you, but I'd appreciate it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"He was still gently holding her wrist with his human hand. Fiona wasn't sure whether it was his pulse she could feel through his fingertips, or her own as her heart beat uncomfortably loudly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys appeared to deduce that her lack of trying to get away meant she was willing to listen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ok. So. ... Ok." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She looked up at him as he faltered, having apparently not ironed out exactly what it was he wanted to say./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"The pad of his thumb rested lightly against the inside of her wrist and it was all she could focus on./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Rhys sighed heavily. "I messed up. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Really/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" messed up. And I know I already explained /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"why/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" it happened, but yeah. It doesn't change anything. That I put everyone in danger, that I should have said something. But, no more excuses."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"His thumb moved slightly, a feather touch and it caused shockwaves to ripple up her arm and throughout the rest of her, too. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Was he aware of the effect he was having on her? He couldn't possibly have missed that her breath had caught in her throat, or that her face had flushed - at least, it was certainly a lot warmer now. That her pulse had tripped over itself. Was he doing it deliberately?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I'm sorry, Fiona." His expression was raw, open and honest and a part of a... wall? Whatever it was she'd built up, maybe to protect herself - it crumbled. "I am. For everything. For not telling you. Whatever my reasons, they weren't good enough. I can't change what I did but, believe me, if I could, I would."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She wanted to take the hand holding her wrist and pull him into an embrace, and push him away and run all at the same time and neither side was winning and she just stood as the suffocating sensation of the conflict washed over her in violent waves./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I, uhh, don't really know what else to say," he said with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. "I just... yeah. I should have said it sooner. Umm-" Rhys looked at his hand holding her wrist and blinked a couple of times. Then, with a faint trace of horrified /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"what the hell am I doing/span/ememspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"?/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" on his face, he let go. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona unconsciously grasped the wrist with her other hand, trying to trap in the warmth he'd left on her skin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""So-so, I'm, uh, gonna go now. We can figure out the vault monster details in the morning. And then, uhh, I guess, whatever happens next." He rubbed his neck again and couldn't meet her eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona said nothing and he turned to go, awkwardly waving a hand and smiling painfully as he did. A wave of unspecified emotion roiled through her. He was almost out of sight when she finally managed to force a word up through her throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Rhys!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"He turned, full of caution and something that could only resemble hope./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona just took him in, wondering why she'd called out when she suddenly couldn't think of a damn thing to say. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"It's not gonna make me forget everything? I appreciate it? I forgive you, now kiss me, you damn lanky Hyperion?/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"She swallowed the lump in her throat./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... Thank you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Even from this distance, she saw something fracture behind his eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"A brief pause, then he simply smiled slightly, nodded at her in acceptance and walked away./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: Calibri;"span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"-/span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha was in the room they were sharing when Fiona reached it - some sort of ex-Hyperion apartment that had survived the crash remarkably well. Twin beds lined the wall and Sasha occupied one. Propped up with a couple of pillows, she sat, cross-legged, as she serviced one of her guns - her prized Atlas Silver. An array of tools Fiona had never even seen before lay in front of her. The room was dimly lit by a single, warm lamp and Fiona wondered how Sasha could see a damn thing she was working on. She looked up as Fiona walked in and smiled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Hey, you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona made a very small noise of greeting. She then walked to the foot of the other bed and let herself fall forward, not bothering to break her fall onto the surprisingly soft mattress with her arms. Her face hit the pillow and buried itself and she couldn't even bring herself to turn her head to face Sasha. She heard Sasha laugh./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""That bad, huh?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona simply made a noise that was muffled by the pillow./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright, Fi. You've sulked enough. /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"What/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" is going on?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona finally turned her head to face Sasha, who studied her with mild concern. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... He apologised."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha blinked at her a couple of times. "And that's... bad? ... Off with his head?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I had no idea what he was going to say. What he /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"could/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" say. Somehow, I just wasn't expecting /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"that/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ok?" Sasha's face was a picture of confusion. "But, that's a good thing, right? Assuming he apologised for what I think he apologised for."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""... But?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona pulled herself into a slumped sitting position. Her stomach churned uncomfortably. "It doesn't change anything."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha gently placed her gun and the tool she was using down onto the duvet in front of her and turned to face Fiona fully. She pulled her legs from their crossed position and swung them over the side of the bed. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It doesn't change what he /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"did/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"," Fiona continued sadly. "He-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know what he did, Fi. I was there too, remember?" Sasha sighed gently and studied her sister calmly but firmly. "Is this how it's gonna be, now? You're just going to let this eat you up like this?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Sasha, you could have /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"died/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I could have died at any point living on this planet," Sasha countered shortly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""That's different," Fiona said firmly, turning to face her fully. "No-one you've been friends with here knowingly put you in danger like that-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""August shot at me!" Sasha scoffed, half-laughing mirthlessly. "He could have killed me! And you haven't held him to ransom like you seem to be doing with Rhys."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"A fair point. "I knew you could handle August," Fiona muttered but it was a weak argument. "But Hyperion? Handsome /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Jack/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Alright, look, Fi," Sasha fixed her with a firm look, "you've been out of sorts for months. And now, you're like this and have been ever since you arrived here, according to Vaughn. I know you took everything that happened badly and I really can't blame you, because it sucked." Her expression softened slightly. "But, you're dragging Rhys through the fire for this-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Because he /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"lied/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know, Fiona!" Sasha half-shouted in exasperation. "And don't think that I wasn't pissed at him because he put /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"you/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" in danger, too! It works both ways - you think I don't worry about you, too? But the difference is, I recognise that he didn't mean to do it, and that he's genuinely sorry for it." Sasha paused, seemingly choosing her next words carefully. "You have feelings for him, don't you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona scoffed and looked away, her face growing warm. Sasha took this as confirmation./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Look-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It doesn't matter," Fiona cut in abruptly, dropping her gaze and squeezing her eyes closed, "it's done. There's too much that's happened, too much /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"hurt/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;". And not just on my end. I think... I think I've screwed things up." She sighed heavily. "Should have seen his face just now. I just..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ok, Fi," Sasha leaned forward and took Fiona's hands in her own. Fiona opened her eyes and gazed miserably at her. Sasha's hands were warm and it was comforting. "The way I see it, you have a choice here. You can go on like this, continuing to blame him for everything going wrong, unable to get past it. Feeling miserable. Or, you can accept that what happened, happened, and that he's sorry. You know? And even if things aren't quite the same between you guys, look, it's gotta be better than this. People make mistakes. Sometimes they're really big mistakes. That's people." She squeezed Fiona's hands gently. "You gonna let that come in the way of something good? Don't think I didn't notice how well you guys got on when we were travelling together."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"An aching longing as Fiona thought back to the carefree days in the caravan. Dark, starry nights regaling stories about Pandora and their exploits to Rhys. God, she missed it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Look, just, don't throw something good away because you're too proud and stubborn to get past this. It'll just eat you up and you deserve better than that." Sasha smiled at her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona just gazed at her for a moment, then let out a weak chuckle, smiling back. "When did you get so wise?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I know, right?" Sasha winked at her, grinning./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"A laugh bubbled its way out from Fiona's chest. "We can shoot bad guys and fight off vault monsters, but this? This is... weird. Why is this the hardest thing to deal with?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""People are... complicated. But, hey. The good ones are worth it." Sasha's eyes became mischievous suddenly. "You, dear sister, can be a pain in the ass sometimes," and Fiona laughed genuinely for the first time in days, "but you're worth it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""I could say the same about you," Fiona grinned at her. She paused and looked at their hands, still holding each other. "Ha. Look at us! Getting all soppy and talking about /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"feelings/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""And a boy," Sasha winked at her again. "If I had some nail polish with me, I'd be painting your nails right now."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona laughed freely again. Thank the gods for Sasha. She already felt better than she had in days. Weeks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""It's kinda nice though, huh? We've always been so focused on surviving that we never really had chance to do this. Just, talk about girly things."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Sasha snorted loudly. "I don't think either of us fulfil 'girly'," and Fiona chuckled in agreement, "but yeah, it's nice to just... be sisters. Without worrying about where our next meal will come from."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah, all we gotta worry about is taking down a massive vault monster," Fiona said, grinning./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Oh, we've got /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"that/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"," Sasha said, waving a hand in the air dismissively and playfully. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yeah, I'm not even worried about that part." Fiona's smile faded slightly. She felt a squeeze from Sasha's other hand into her own./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""You got that, too." Sasha smiled gently at her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mmm." Fiona's stomach churned again. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Things will look better in the morning. Start simple. With a good night's sleep!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Yes, boss," Fiona saluted at Sasha and they both giggled. "Yeah, but seriously, I'm gonna do that. I'm wiped."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Mind if I keep the lamp on? I've not had any time to work on my guns since /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"someone/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" has been so intent on moping about the place-"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Ehh, shush," Fiona took her hat and playfully threw it at Sasha, who caught it deftly and sat it on her own head. "Huh. Suits you. You're not keeping it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;""Don't worry, sis, I know how terrifyingly attached you are to your wardrobe." Sasha grinned at her. "Now, sleep. You're bad enough on lack of sleep /spanemspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"without/span/emspan style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" factoring in a big-ass vault monster that we have to destroy to save our friend."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"Fiona waved her off as she removed her jacket and sank under the covers, grateful once again to have Sasha by her side. She watched Sasha work as she drifted off, a comfort she welcomed with open arms./span/p
