Chapter 7

As Lilith sat in her cave she was thinking, well more like over-analysing, but thinking nonetheless, she remembers every detail of her little...bathing experience with zer0 and she has no idea on how to feel, she ran her hand through her red hair, the other nursing her wound with her siren abilities, she would be fine in no time and she knew that zer0 knew this too, the question she is wondering is why he wanted her to stay, knowing full well she can handle herself in that dam, she wonders maybe if he is overprotective of those that don't treat him like a psychopath or mindless killer, maybe he underestimates her or maybe he has...no that's not possible, not an assassin that admitted he was going to kill her before, surely he hasn't developed a...soft spot for her, he doesn't even know her or anything of her past or the kind of people she associates with, but as an intergalactic assassin, he's probably seen and dealt with worse.

She flumps down on her bed and stares at the cave ceiling, she needs to ask him this when he gets back, the last person that had showed a soft spot for her had ended up with a bartender instead, and that same person has now been kidnapped and held for ransom, funny how her saviour may save her ex aswell.

She knows how men like zer0 work, they play all hardass and ninja-cliché and as soon as they've been in your pants, they walk, they toss you to the side like a roadkill skag. She doesn't want to end up like that but, she considers if zer0 is different...i mean he has the skill of an elite assassin, the gear and mindset of one and hardly ever talks or touches others unless necessary...most fakers would have jumped right in the bath with her after the incident, not backed off and left without saying the words 'Hot' or 'Damn girl', she knows men that would, and have tried to before, kill to get with her or any siren for that matter, but not him, not zer0, he walked away and doesn't even try a move on her, despite knowing how she is like...naked.

She slowly closes her eyes and lets her mind wander to other things, like how much fun they'll be having without bringing her...god-damn tall dark and dangerous types.

As the five vault hunters approached the dams entrance, they noticed two things:

1) The dam was locked but the courtyard wasn't...thank you to sals eyesight for that.

2) And two the place was filled to the brim with nomads and psychos.

So, as Axton had done so many times before, he started to fill in everyone on his 'Run in and don't die' strategy, zer0 payed no attention to him, he was working on how to destroy those turrets before the drunk marauders begin to sober up and fire, with that being thought (?), he jumped out of the runner he was on,seeing as there was no other tye of vehicle for use, he landed in a swift combat roll and ran to the cliff face,after he had scaled the cliff.

He watched over the bandits as they strolled about, un-aware of the silent hell that was about to break loose, before zer0 could unleash sed hell, he watched as the other vault hunters, his companions, crash into the gate before it rose up to stop them, Axton was the first in combat zer0 noted, from his tales that he told about being in DAHL awhile back, he was the 'Gloryseeker' of the group, Sal was the 'Leeroy Jenkins' of the group seeing as he had the pain tolerance and IQ of a boulder and Maya and Gaige were the overwatch for the two meatshields, however he noticed that the sirens eyes were good but not great and the schoolgirls were beyond bad, he had to watch the overwatch aswell as protect the two meatshields, he sighed, atleast it was a challenge, or an attempt at one at the least.

After the 5 minutes spent on taking out the courtyard, the vault hunters realised their next obstacle, a locked drawbridge.

Axton was the first to speak, "Well, how in the holy hell do we get past this thing?" just as he had finished his sentence, a larger than normal nomad appeared, with what looked to be a key from his chain on his neck, he swung his door-shield infront of him to reveal not one, but three midgets tied to the front of his shield, zer0 reacted swiflty, he brought his newly acquired Jakobs sniper to his shoulder and without aiming, shot through the gap in the nomads shield, and releasing a midget, who tried to punch the nomad but was soon stepped on by him, zer0 guessed he weighed a great deal to be able to squash someone with that much ease, he then saw a turret mount on the ground beside him, a DAHL turret, courtesy of Axton who was shooting at the shield also, he saw sal charge the nomad with a pair of shotguns out and screaming something in spanish, 'Heres one midget that will not be squashed under the boot' thought zer0 with a slight internal chuckle, Gaige was sitting at a broken bus, far left of zer0 trying to spray the nomad, seeing as her humongous death bot was repairing in digistruct-ence (?), he finally looked to the blue haired siren, he saw her also spraying the shield, but with a corrosive smg, hoping to have a god effect on him but to no avail, as he was about to turn around to strike the nomad himself, he heard the faint words "Fuck this guy" being muttered by the siren, and his attention was now drawn to the huge orb that now froze the nomad in place, soon after being obliterated by Gaiges death bot, who had now completely reformed, he must say, he was impressed at how this ragtag group of strangers had effectively cleared about thirty percent of the bandit dam/camp. He was looking forward to the rest as he drew his blade in one hand and sniper in the other, as he heard the door being unlocked and a sense of danger wash over him...something he has waited too long to feel again.

As Lilith awoke, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and began to notice a familiar figure at the end of her bed, wielding what looked like a blue bladed sword and flashing the number '0' on his dark and void-filled helmet, she knew that helmet all too well, she managed to utter out groggily "Zer0, what are you doing?, she began to reach for her pistol, knowing that the blade was out for more than show, but froze as he took a threatening step towards her,still flashing the '0' on his helmet, she could tell by his body language that she would suffer if she moved, so she breathed out deeply and repeated her question,"Zer0, what the hell are you doing?, You're supposed to be with the others not creeping on m-", she was cut off as a blue blade had positioned itself at her neck, she swallowed hard, trying not to focus on this...being that was going to be the end of her, she heard him say, "The weak deserve death, the strong deserve life, you are weak, you give up too easily and so...i must cleanse Pandora of weakness, goodbye siren.", the voice modifier on his helmet showed no emotion as lilith felt tears forming as a searing pain formed quickly on her neck when suddenly...

She woke up, in a cold sweat as she clutched her neck, almost strangling herself, she looked around the cave for that zer0 guy, but saw nothing, she let go of her neck and snatched her pistol up, she fired a few shots into the darkness, knowing that this zer0 thing can blend pretty well with darkness, she lets out an almost forced sigh and collapses back down onto her bed and groans out tiredly "What the hell are you zer0?"

"Maya look out" Gaige screamed as a marauder lunged at her, a knife brandished in his hand, "I got him!" Yelled Salvador, as he jumped ontop of the marauder and pummelled him into a form of liquid...soup if you like a description.

Zer0 was on ahead of his vault hunter companions, going only for the tough ones, the mutant psychos and huge, badass nomads, so far though his thirst for blood has gone unsated with these...pathetic excuses of life, he was no longer paying attention to the others as he felt the sensation of blood splattering on his suit, he loved this, it's one of the few things he enjoyed, he loved the feeling of his blade cutting through bone and muscle, pulling the blade out and feeling the victims blood spray over him, it pulled him into an almost...animalistic state of killing, he does not stop however, these bandits are weak, they deserve what is inevitably coming to us all right? Zer0 is here to make sure that it's... a little sooner than intended. As zer0 finishes the last nomad off, he says, to the dead lump of skin , "The weak return to the void, the strong are strong enough to with-hold death for longer", as Axton approaches with the rest of the vault hunting crew, he asks "Look Z, they're all dead, why talk to them?", Zer0 simply ignores this buffoon, 'he will never understand what this means, he will blow it off and joke about it', Zer0 clenches his fist at this, he wants to show this man what it means, not tell him, 'he will suffer soon enough', As the vault hunters approach, what they assume is the holding area if the cells are any consolation, they should be seeing the target momentarily zer0 thought, but something irked him, he thought that even for a group of bandits, this seemed too easy, perhaps it was due to the more increase in vault hunters this time, or maybe it could be something deeper, something everyone has been blind to, but he has to ignore all of these thoughts as they approached the final cell out of a prison looking room, he saw a coloured man, brown skin but looked battlehardened, much like lilith, the redheaded siren, he looked to be late twenties and looked as though to be formulating something, whatever it was is anyones guess but he spoke up as sal knocked on his cell door, the man spoke, "Ah, vault hunters, it's good to finally meet you all in person, helluva job fighting through those bloodshot bastards"

What happened next was something unpredicted, even to zer0, the wall exploded and some humungous bot floated in,it was a circular shape, well armoured and had a single red eye used for vision, it had a shield built in but not hidden from view, it shot blue beam-links at the mans arms from it's eye, it pulled him from the cell and floated backwards and upwards, towards the top of the dam.

Zer0 heard Axton yell, "We're a' comin buddy!" And the vault hunters began the treck up the stairwell to the top of the dam.

Again as lilith awoke, she saw herself looking fresh, a younger version of herself and the others standing near the defeated destroyer, lilith was puzzled as to why she was dreaming about this, she looked around to see any key things she may have missed before, then she saw it, a dash of black in the bushes not far from where they were standing, she saw the younger mordecai scan the area aswell but he looked back at the beaten behemoth, lilith however did not, she wandered over, ignoring the group of the past versions of her and her friends, she walked over to the bushes to see two figures, knelt down and hidden from sight, she heard them whispering, the larger one, the more feminine shaped one, had a hood to cover her face, and an omega symbol on her back, the other looked to be an apprentice, he had a facemask only covering his mouth and nose, she heard the woman whisper to him, "Zer0, it is time we leave" The younger one simply nodded and followed suit.

Lilith again, awoke in a cold sweat, she has no idea what that was, but it was not a dream, more of a...pre-vision, seeing into the past, 'perhaps another effect from consuming raw eridium' she thought, she never noticed those figures before, she remembers only Mordecai looking around for something, but never asked himwhat it was. God she was a mess right now, she has dreamed about a 'Companion' of hers slitting her throat, and now she finds out that the same assassin companion was spying on her, from what seems to be the very beginning, 'I'm gonna sleep on this, none of this makes sense, i'm sooo askin him when he gets back though, and he ain't slippin away this time.'She thought deviously but also warily, she knew how skilled this man, thing was, and it can blend into any background?, dshe's gonna keep an eye on him for a long time.

As the vault hunters managed to fight through a good chunk of loaders and bandits, who seemed to team against the vault hunters for some reason, they made it to where the huge robot was holding this 'Roland' as zer0 remembers, they had fought too hard to let it end here, as Roland shouted,"Kill this constructor so we can get the hek outta here!", Axton immediately threw down his turret and it rained hell upon the machine, sal ran in and sprayed it's eye with everything he had, maya used her corrisive maliwan to do damage and zer0 and gaige took out the moonshot loaders, they were winning so far and never let it go, until they heard the constructor explode and silence wash over the field, did they start talking, zer0 blocked himself from the rest of them, he hung back from them and contemplated his next move with the redhead, before he moved onto the vault itself.

*
As lilith recieved the echo from Axton saying that roland was safe, she was relieved, but she said something that her brain couldn't shoot down, she asked, "Is zer0 alright?", Axtons only response was a silence, until she heard Gaige yell, "Yeah he's fine, if it is a he, i'm gonna stop talkin now", Lilith almost laughed, she knew gaige to be the socially awkward one of the group, and zer0 the antisocial one of the group.

Lilith noticed that all zer0 does is push the others away, although only meeting for a few hours she got a good impression, he didn't like the others, ot being near them, she knew he was a cold and emotionless killer who killed and shed strangers blood for a challenge, she knew he pushed the others away due to this, for their own sake so he doesn't get attatched or fiind out their a challenge, maybe...maybe thats why he wants her, it makes sense, a warrior who is a siren, would be a challenge for him if he tried anything, but if it was she'd be dead and buried...he wants something more...more than her or her fighting skills...she doesen't know what that is yet...but she will find out, once he gets back here.

As zer0 felt the whirring of fast travel, he spawned in at frostburn canyon with none of his companions, Roland headed to sanctuary with Axton, Maya and Gaige, Sal went off harrasing bandits somewhere and zer0 is here to check on his siren.

The usual stages of combat and disappointing fights ensued until zer0 reached the lair of the siren, he entered to find her lying on her bed, eyes opened and stairing out into the ceiling, he felt he should make his presence known.

"*Ahem*, Hello lilith, are you alright, may i help you with anything?" She jumped slightly at his voice but reacted just as he'd expected, "Nah, i'm good, thanks though, hey zer0, can you help me move this "She was reffering to a metal ammunitions crate, "It's kinda heavy and i ain't fit for heavy liftin", "Of course siren" zer0 replied, as walked up to her however, he never failed to notice the attempt at concealing a pistol in her jeans,zer0 prepared himself for a combat situation, he tensed and went on alert and focused on the sirens movements and gestures, she turned as soon as zer0 had layed his hands on the box and aimed the pistol at his head, she growled out,"What do you want from m-" Just as she was about to finish, the non-hologram version of zer0 tackled her to the ground and pinned her hands to the floor with one hand and wielding his blade to her neck with the other, he said in an almost threatening tone, "Do not try that again siren, i will hurt you if you attempt it"

He dragged her over to the bed and threw her onto it, he displayed a crimson red '0' on his helmet and held his blade up to her neck.

Lilith went into full on panic, this was like her dream, the exact positions, she gulped hard,she was frantically thinking, trying to find a way past the assassin that had her at knife/blade point, she knew it,she knew she should have just asked and not threatened him, she could have waited to find out, but no, she fucked up and now she's paying for it, as she felt her life go by in quick snippets she was unaware of the stray tear that rolled down her cheek.

zer0 took note of a tear from the siren and contemplated two things:

1)He could kill her, and disappear.

2) He could help her, remain on high alert but comfort her, as it is not often you see a sirens tears.

He lowered his blade slightly.

*
She felt him lower his blade slightly, she looked at him with hopeful but tear-filled eyes and uttered out, "I'm sorry, i'm sorry zer0".She reached her hand out, and gently rested it on the top of his hand, she felt him tense up, she knew he did not have much trust in her after her little stunt, she regretted it, she wants to take it back but on the other hand she desperately wants to know about him and his past.

Zer0 looked at her, he saw her place her hand upon his, he involuntarily tensed at the sudden contact, he was about to kill her, he was going to end her and she...holds his hand?, zer0 was confused and his helmet projected a '?', Lilith saw this and asked him, "What does that mean?", zer0 internally sighed, he didn't want to tell her anything but...he felt she was the only person he could tell about something, he was undoubtedly mindfucked and lowered his blade entirely, he brushed her hand off and asked her, "Why?"

"Why?", she heard him ask, she expected this question and replied with, "Because i know nothing about you as a person or whatever you are, you touched me up in the bath and i don't know anything about you, that and i've...seen things", what zer0 did not know, was that while she was here, she had looked him up on the echo, she found him on 'Top 10 of the galaxies most wanted murderers', he was number 1 in the assassin category, she should never had doubted his abilities, she read up on him and saw that he has destroyed 3 corporations and has a kill count of a small country, he was dangerous not just as a fighter but to be around, even for a siren, he brings death and darkness wherever he pleases, so long as a 'Challenge' is promised she knows he will butcher anyone to get to it.

Zer0 was thinking, hard, about what she said, "I don't know a thing about you as a person", he was unsure as to why he was conflicted over this, he never lets anyone know about him, he likes it that way, but he wants to tell her, this one person from the thousands that have asked before her, he wants to let her know how dangerous he is to be around, but he wants her...he wants her...to stay.

He responded to her statement with a slight form of dejection in his tone, "Who i am is unimportant, what i am is unimportant, what have you seen siren?"

He heard her inhale and she began to explain her dream of zer0, slashing her throat and walking off, she then explained her vision of the past, of how she saw zer0 when he had no helmet and just a mask, of his mentor with the hood, he began to feel uncomfortable, he knows of sirens and their abilities but never this type, he asks in a careful but slightly unstable tone,"Did you see my face? my identity?" She shook her head,no, zer0 let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in, he looked at her through his mask and brought a gloved hand onto hers, he muttered to himself,"One day siren, one day you may know, but not today."

She felt his hand, his leather gloved hand rest on top of hers, she looked up to him and saw he had the '...' on his helmet to show he was thinking, she didn't know nearly as much as she wanted to, but it was a start, she looked to the outside of her cave and saw the night creeping, she decided to make a bold move, she grabbed his hand gently and fell backwards, pulling him ontop of her, she rolled him off of her and wrapped an arm around him, she felt him tense and she could just sense the three letters in his head 'WTF', before the darkness enveloped her vision she managed to say,"So i know you ain't killin me tonight", and she fell asleep.

Zer0 was in a state of panic, not for himself or any mistakes that may be made, he knows she has slipped into unconsciousness and before he has any more time to dwell on his thoughts, he too falls asleep.

Authors Note-So you guys know, the '*' was a scene change from character to character...soooo yeah.