Songs: Black Sabbath - Solitude
"So, how are you doing? I mean, how are you really doing?" I asked Gaige. Mordecai and I had gone out to visit Hirschim and Grace and I asked Gaige to tag along, because she seemed really stressed and nervous lately. Plus, after Axton had left, I figured she needed some bonding time.
"Good. I'm good." Gaige said and gave me a nervous smile. I raised an eyebrow. Gaige was a really bad liar.
"Bullshit. What's up?" I wanted to know.
"I dunno. Lots of stuff happening lately." Gaige replied and shrugged. I was absolutely sure there was something she was hiding.
"Is this about Axton leaving?" I asked.
"Kind of. Not really. I don't even know. I just... didn't really think the rest of my life would look like this, I guess. And I've heard something from Zero that's... unsettling." Gaige told me. Unsettling? What was all that about?
"Do you want to leave Pandora?" I wanted to know, making an educated guess. Gaige looked like I had caught her red-handed.
"Please don't tell Lilith. Please promise me, you won't tell Lilith." she said looking scared to death.
"Jeez, I won't, but why are you so paranoid about her?"
"You have no idea how pissed she was when Axton said he was going to leave. I don't know what's up with her, but losing Sanctuary didn't do her much good. I mean, it was just for a little bit, but Axton was just one person. I think everyone is thinking of leaving. Zero said he's going to leave to work for Atlas. And Salvador has said he's worried about his grandma and... it's just that everyone is leaving and Lilith's gonna be MAD. But with everyone leaving... I don't know, I don't want to stay here pretty much on my own. I mean... I thought things would be different." Gaige explained.
"Okay, okay. Are you scared of Lil?" I asked. She gave me a slightly embarrassed look. Oh dear, the poor girl.
"A little. Maybe. Don't tell anyone I said that." she replied.
"Don't worry. Lilith can be scary as shit, not gonna lie. Can't blame you for being afraid of her. I can see her getting unreasonably upset about you guys leaving. So... do you have a plan on where to go or something?"
"That's the thing. I'd like to go back home, I miss my dad and all, but I can't go back because I killed someone. By accident. And then Zero heard that the Holloway's are onto me and they strongly suspect I'm on Pandora, so I'm not even gonna be safe here. I have no idea where else to go right now." Gaige told me and sighed. Damn. No wonder she looked nervous and exhausted all the time. The poor girl was under a lot of pressure and pretty much all her friends were about to leave the planet.
"Is there any place you'd really wanna see? A planet you've always wanted to go? Anything you wanted to do?" I asked. Gaige just shrugged.
"I don't know. I mean, there's lots of places, but I can't really go and travel around anywhere close to home. And I'd always have to use a fake name for everything. It would suck." she replied.
"Yeah, I can imagine. What was your plan before you had to go to Pandora?" I wanted to know.
"I thought I was gonna go to Eden IV. To the university. I wanted to study robotics and maybe politics on the side. And then... I don't know. Smash the system, I guess?" she answered with a shy smile.
"Okay, but wouldn't that be a plan? You've got the cash to pay student loans upfront anyway, and if you get documents under a fake name you might as well go to university under a fake name and with your fake documents. I mean, maybe not Eden IV, but there's other universities." I suggested.
"And where would I get fake documents?"
"It's super easy to get fake documents. I mean, with the kind of connections we have... I guess."
"And who am I gonna ask for fake documents? Lilith? She'll murder me right there and then." Gaige said.
"She won't. Do you want me to talk to her? You've got a good reason to leave if the Holloways are after you and suspect you on Pandora. I'm pretty sure I can explain that to Lil and she'll understand."
"I don't know. It kinda feels scummy to leave you guys alone, too. I mean, it's pretty selfish of me, wanting to head off to university and having fun, instead of finding Vaults before someone worse than us finds them and destroys the whole universe or something." Gaige said, sounding genuinely distressed over this whole issue. Poor girl. I could absolutely understand where she was coming from. But she shouldn't have to think like that. She was only 19, she had her whole life ahead of her.
"Come on, Gaige. You're not serious, are you? You're still super young. You have your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it away on Pandora, girl. Go out, study, learn things and if you still wanna help out with whatever we'll be doing at the time you can always come back. Or, you know, if you miss us. But don't stay here just because you feel like you have to. It's not worth it."
"Are you sure? Because I don't know if I'll do any better once I go somewhere else. On Pandora I have a good few friends that can protect me and help me out, at least. I might not do so well on my own." Gaige replied and sighed. I quickly looked over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of Mordecai showing Grace how to reload a rifle and how to hold it. She was learning quickly.
"Didn't you just say they were all planning to leave anyway?" I asked Gaige, as I looked back at her.
"Well, I suppose Lilith's still there and she is a total badass. Wouldn't be scared of her otherwise." Gaige answered with a grin. She looked a little less nervous, now that she had gotten it off her chest.
"You're a total badass, too. You're gonna be just fine on your own, as long as you try not to be too conspicuous. I can talk to Lilith about it, if you want. Even if she's mad, I'm gonna be gone soon myself, so don't worry. We can manage this somehow." I told her, sounding more confident than I was.
"Well, I sure hope so. If I'm not gonna get killed, I'll probably die of boredom. Since Jack is dead, there is literally nothing left to do. Nothing fun, at least." Gaige replied with a sigh and buried her head in her hands.
"Don't worry. We'll figure something out, even if we have to smuggle you off the planet once we leave." I said. I wasn't sure if I could deliver on this promise, because I really didn't want to make Lilith too angry, myself. But I could at least try, couldn't I? Gaige deserved another shot at doing what she planned to do with her life, didn't she? We all did, really. It wasn't fair keeping everyone here.
"Nova! I hit the target!" I suddenly heard someone shout behind me. I turned around and saw Grace running towards me. She looked incredibly happy with herself. Mordecai was following her, his rifle in his hand and a slight smile on his lips. I could tell he was proud of her.
"Wow, did you really? You're gonna get better than Mordy soon, huh?" I replied to her and held out my arms to give her a hug. Grace was just the sweetest little girl and it almost felt a little as if Mordecai and I were raising her as well. It kinda sucked we had to leave her behind, soon.
"She actually might get better than me one day. She's really good, I'm not even joking." Mordecai replied.
"Wow. You hear that, Grace? Mordy doesn't say that to just anyone." I told her. She nodded and then looked a little apprehensive.
"You're all still much better at shooting than I am, though." she said. I sighed and shook my head.
"You only just started practising. It took me about three weeks to even learn all the basics and then I lived on Pandora for about fifteen years where I had lots of practice and I still wasn't even close to being as good as Mordecai." I told her. She looked at me, as if she was calling bullshit on what I just said.
"Then how did you win in a competition?" she wanted to know.
"Mordecai was torturing me for months with practice. Every free minute I had. It wasn't fun. At all." I deadpanned.
"It's true. Nova's been in a foul mood almost every day. A few times she actually fell asleep while eating her dinner." Gaige added. I gave her a confused look. Somehow, I didn't even remember that, probably because that whole time was just one big haze of reloading, new cartridge, account for the wind, gun safety and try again. All my memories of that time were pretty foggy.
"Really?" Grace asked again. Mordecai nodded.
"Yeah. Took Nova a long time to get where she is now. It took me a good few years, too. And it'll take you a good few years, but you're learning fast." he answered her. Grace grinned and nodded.
"One day I'm gonna be as good as all of you and I'm gonna be a Vault Hunter!" she announced proudly.
"Hell yeah, you will!" Gaige agreed and laughed a little. Honestly, everyone who ever met Grace just loved her to bits.
"Are you guys just taking a break or are we heading back to Sanctu... to the camp?" I asked. I was so used to Sanctuary that I was still confused about it all the time. I just couldn't get it in my head that Sanctuary was gone, once and for all. And with our plan of travelling the galaxy, I probably wouldn't even have to remember it.
"I suppose we should head back soon. Isn't Axton leaving in a few days?" Mordecai replied. I nodded.
"The day after tomorrow. I think Brick's throwing him a leaving party." I told him. He gave me a confused look, but nodded. I knew he'd forget about it. Mordecai really wasn't the best at keeping things like that in mind.
"Oh man, yeah. We gotta head back. I still have to prepare some stuff for that party. And I have to do my watch. Fuck, Lilith's gonna kill me, if I'm late for that again." Gaige said and sighed.
"Alright. Let's pack up and head out soon, otherwise the varkid's are gonna be really difficult to see in the dark." I answered and got up from where I was sitting, so I could stretch a little, before we made our way back.