Chapter 10

"End of Transmission." The ECHO computer said before ejecting the memory chip Axton put into the computer in the first place. he grabbed the chip and put it into his front pocket and looked around the room to see faces full of shock and disbelief, especially from Maya.

"A city destroyed...a street gunned down...just to find me?" Maya said quietly to herself.

Axton then turned to her and said

"Maya...it's not like that.. there was nothing you could do."

Mordecai looked down on the ground for a second then said quietly.

"You've been working with Hyperion?" Mordecai said

"...Yeah, I was.." Axton said with a hint of guilt in his voice.

Axton heard a little click go off next to his right ear, he moved his head slightly to see that Mordecai was holding a pistol up to his temple.

"What makes me think I can trust you now?" Mordecai said angrily

"Hey come on, Amigo. Axton would never betray us!" Salvador said putting his hands in front of him trying to cool Mordecai down.

"How can I know for sure?" Mordecai yelled "You can be mostly to blame for this mess! My companion that I had for life is now dead, along with the only man I could truly trust, and now my friend is captured!"

Axton then widened his eyes then turned to Mordecai

"I'VE LOST OVER 90,000 PEOPLE IN THE BLINK OF THE FUCKING EYE, ALONG WITH ANOTHER 600 PEOPLE! SOMETHING THAT I COULD HAVE EASILY PREVENTED IF I ONLY ACTED UPON IT! DON'T TRY AND JUSTIFY THIS AND ACT LIKE YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO LOST ANYTHING IN THIS WHOLE MESS!" Axton yelled at Mordecai, now completely furious that Mordecai could make a statement like that.

"Good evening shitbrains of Sanctuary," A frustrated voice said from the ECHO "I would like to inform everyone that my daughter has been murdered by the savages that dwell in that godforsaken town of yours!"

"Jack..." Axton said quietly looking at the Echo computer.
"Oh, and Axton, you probably explained to them how you worked for Hyperion, so that can constitute at Mind Blow #2, being Angel working for me Mind Blow #1, so get ready for Mind Blow #3!" Jack said through the ECHO

"No..." Axton said quietly, almost as if it were a whisper.

"Attention people of Sanctuary! I'm making a few changes to the bounty boards, one in particular. I will reward you 800 Billion dollars...Eight...Hundred... if you turn in my little baby brother..."

"Oh God no..." Axton said

"Axton the Commando."

Axton's face turned completely white at this moment and was frozen.

"I trust the citizens will do the right thing about this... You're glorious and pissed off leader Handsome Jack out."

*BEEP* The ECHO was shut off, to leave everyone in the room dumbfounded and shock to say the very least before Maya had the strength to look at Axton and say quietly.

"Axton...Is that true?" Maya asked hoping Handsome Jack was just pulling every bodies leg.

Axton stool still for about 4 seconds, before breathing heavily and saying to Maya quietly.

"...Yeah...It is"

Maya couldn't believe it, was this a nightmare she was having? The man who constantly fought along side her through thick and thin was not only a former employee of the oppressive company known as Hyperion, but was Handsome Jack's younger brother. She didn't want to accept that, she always perceived Axton as the sanest person alive on this planet, who truly understood the things that went on with her. She could even grow to like the man, more than a close friend. Why did this have to happen now?

Maya quickly ran out of the room, much to Axton's disliking by saying

"Maya wait!" But she didn't listen, she just wanted to be alone for a while.

"Goddamnit.." Axton muttered then proceeding to run after the Siren, leaving the five other vault hunters scratching their heads in wonder and disbelief.

Axton found Maya sitting on the edge of Sanctuary with her arms wrapped around her legs, so she was curled up overlooking the horizon.

"Figured I find you here.." Axton said.

"Leave me alone..." Maya muttered quietly not looking back at Axton, continuing to gaze upon the horizon.

"Look Maya," Axton said walking closer "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't want you to worry.."

Maya glared back at Axton then stood up and said to him

"Didn't want me to worry? That's your excuse!?" She said gradually raising her voice

"Maya..I" Axton tried to explain only to be interrupted.

"Goddammit what is your problem Axton?!' She yelled at him "You didn't want to tell me that you're older brother is responsible for nuking an entire city and gunned down 600 people just to find me?!"

"That wasn't your fault Maya!" Axton said tried to defend himself

"YES IT WAS!" Maya nearly screamed "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME ABOUT THAT FUCKING STUFFED ANIMAL THAT'S CONSTANTLY KEEPING YOU UP ALL NIGHT LONG!"

Axton was in shock. This was the first time he has ever seen Maya this angry. She always seemed to keep her cool amongst the group, but in this situation, it was excusable. The thing that shocked Axton was that she knew he barely gets any sleep during the night.

"W-What?" Axton said still stiff

"OH DON'T ACT LIKE THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN BECAUSE IT DOES! I ALWAYS HEAR YOU SHOUTING AND PANTING UPSTAIRS AND SAYING SOME NAME! SO AM I GOING TO GET SOME REAL ANSWERS OR WHAT?!" Maya yelled moving closer to Axton.

Axton pause for a minute then said

"Siren's can see in other people's pasts right?" Axton asked

Maya began to slowly calm herself and look at Axton confused and ask

"Yeah...How did you know?"

"I did a bit of research," Axton said "If you can look into others people's memories, then look into mine, then you'll find your answers."

Maya let out a sigh then said

"Alright, but I've never done this before,"

Maya then took both of her hands and placed it over Axton's head. She closed her eyes and her tattooed arm began to illuminate as she tried to amplify the memory Axton was talking about, until it became clear in her thoughts as well.

-1 YEAR AGO-

"Axton! What in the hell were you thinking?" Sarah said scolding her husband

"Sarah, I..." Axton tried to say but then cut off by her again.

"You would disobey direct orders to try and chase after some godforsaken person! You're very lucky you're not executed at this very moment!"

"Sarah," Axton began "I joined the Dahl military so that I could fight off against Hyperion, not defend worthless garrison points that didn't even benefit us!"

"Who were you chasing after anyways?" Sarah said to Axton

"It was...someone that I needed to finish off," Axton said quietly

"Well then tell me!" Sarah said

"No way!" Axton said walking away

"Fine!" Sarah said walking upstairs

Axton went into the dining room and sat on a chair pinching his temples together. He wanted to tell Sarah the truth, but he didn't want to risk her safety as well as another. He then heard a childish voice from behind him say to him,

"Daddy? Why are you and mommy fighting?" The little boy asked slightly worried

Axton let out a heavy sigh and said to him

"No, Nathan. Mommy and I weren't fighting. We were just...talking.."

Nathan asked him "Is it about me?"

"Of course not buddy! Mommy and I love each other, and we love you too, okay?" Axton said smiling at him. Before Nathan could say anything. Axton said to him.

"Hey Nathan! I got you something," He said before walking to the cabinet and pulling something out.

"Remember when I took you to the zoo and you stayed at that one giraffe exhibit for hours and didn't want to leave?" Axton asked

"Yeah..." Nathan said quietly

"Well I got you this." Axton said before pulling out a little stuffed giraffe and handing it to Nathan, which brightened up his look by a lot.

"Wow!" Nathan said grabbing the stuffed Giraffe "Thank you Daddy!"

"You're welcome Nathan!" Axton said "So who's my best buddy in the whole wide world!?"

"Me!" Nathan said laughing followed by Axton saying to him "You bet!'

"Spacecraft 1 Come in! We have lift-off!" he said before grabbing Nathan and tossing him in the air and catching him, prompting laughter between them. Sarah walked in to see them playing together, which caused a smile on her face too. Sarah knew she made the right choice in saving him from Athenas.

-3 MONTHS LATER-

"Axton.." Sarah said "The rest of the battalion ships out tomorrow and I don't want you coming with us, not as a soldier, and not as a husband..."

"What?!" Axton said "What the hell Sarah?"

"You have disobeyed enough commands to get executed 10 times, you alone can't take down Hyperion.." Sarah explained

"There's a reason for that..." Axton said quietly

"Which you refuse to tell me..." Sarah retorted "I'm sorry, but the Dahl military has had enough and they're calling the firing squad on you."

"...So now what?" Axton said "You gonna turn me over to the firing squad? Unless they changed the rules, I'm pretty sure 'Semper Fidelis' means 'Forever'!"

"You are correct...At 0900 tomorrow the MPs will escort you to the brink where you'll await your execution. As your CO I can't formally suggest you going AWOL and trying your luck elsewhere." Sarah explained letting out a sigh.

"Too bad.." Axton said tilting his head slightly down "Would've been good advice..What's this?"

"My wedding ring," Sarah said to Axton handing him the ring "You can keep it, I never really like diamonds.."

"Ouch..." Axton said clenching the ring in his hands and closing his eyes.

"Daddy?" He heard a voice say from behind Sarah

"Nathan," Axton said kneeling down to his level "I gotta go away for a while.."

"When will you come back?" Nathan asked holding the stuffed giraffe

Axton paused for a minute, remembering what he told Angel a while back, how he lied about her mother ever coming back. He looked back at Nathan and said.

"I don't know buddy.." Axton finally said. Tears began to come out of Nathan's eyes,

"Hey come on buddy, I'll be back to see you again... I promise." Axton said "Be good okay?"

"Okay..." Nathan said before hugging his father tightly, Axton didn't want to leave his almost four-year old son behind. He didn't even know if he was going to see him again. Axton's eyes began to slightly water up after realizing this. He then pulled away and stood up, gave Sarah a final kiss on the lips and then walked out of the door.

"Why did Daddy have to go Mommy?" Nathan asked sniffling a bit. Sarah kneeled down to Nathan's level.

"Because he had to sweetie," Sarah said hugging her own child, she didn't want to tell Axton to take a hike. She knew Axton loved his son with all his heart, but deep down she knew she had to do it.

-1 MONTH LATER-

Axton was sitting at a bar in Eden-6, It was a place where Dahl had no jurisdiction over, so he felt slightly safer here.

'Happy Birthday, Nathan...' Axton thought to himself before taking another shot of whiskey. In his opinion, it was pretty fucked up that he couldn't be there to see his four-year olds son blow out the candles on his cake after singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. He then heard faint chatter on the radio saying

"Hyperion...Dahl...Officers...Killed...,"

"Wait, turn that up for me," Axton said to the bartender and pointed to the radio, which the man did.

"Hyperion corporation has yet again launched another assault on a major corporation. This time, It was the Dahl military under fire, thousand of Dahl officers were assassinated to try and supposedly diminish the forces of the Dahl military."

Axton went into shock and quietly said to himself "...Sarah.." then putting money on the table and running out of the bar, to try and catch the next ship to Hieronymus, where he once lived.

It was about a 4 hour flight to Hieronymus and during the entire flight he was looking at the two wedding rings he kept around his neck, praying that both Sarah and Nathan were alive and well.
As soon as the ship landed, he ran out of the vessel, and sprinted to the house he once lived in (His house in the barracks was only a 4 minute drive from the ship station. When he got to the house it was about 10 o'clock on a stormy night, so it was pitch black all around him. He saw that the neighborhood was suspiciously quiet, no lights or commotion between the houses. He didn't like it one bit. He ran to the house and kicked down the front door.

"SARAH?! NATHAN?!" He yelled to try and see if he could get a response, he checked the kitchen, dining room, living room, they were nowhere to be found.

He then ran upstairs and checked the master bedroom , they weren't there, until finally, he looked into Nathan's room.

Axton collapsed on the floor with tears in his eyes looking at the sight of his dead ex-wife and son, next to each other, with a small pool of blood surrounding them. Axton kneeled down and was freely crying to himself while clutching and cradling the two lifeless bodies of the people he cared most about. Thunder claps and lightning flashes were seen from the window. He didn't want any of this to happen, none of it. He wanted to be able to be there and sing 'Happy Birthday' and help his son blow out the candles, eat cake, and have an amazing time. He wanted to take Sarah on those walks down the park like they always did and they would sit on the couch together relaxing next to the cozy fire pit. This wouldn't be able to happen again. Sarah, the love of his life, and Nathan, the boy that meant the world to him. Gone. Forever.

It was still storming outside when Axton buried both of the bodies in the backyard. He didn't care about the storm or any of that for the matter. As soon as he put that last clump of dirt, he placed his head on the mound and weeped even more over the loss of of both of his family members. He knew that Jack himself would have killed them. He just knew it. He slowly lifted his face from the dirt and said to himself

"I'm going to find you and kill you Jack...I swear on my own life.."

He then head sirens from the distance along with blue and red flashing lights. If he is seen burying his two family members and he was reportedly missing in action, he wouldn't be able to get revenge on Jack for what he's done. He quickly ran away from the mound and escaped from the barracks to fly out of Hieronymus, to never return again.

For next two months he lived in a little shack on the planet of Eden-5 (he figured Jack would look in Eden-6 first of him). Axton can't remember the last time he ate nor slept ( AN: Think of the "Roguish Renegade" head without the goggles to picture how he looks). He kept drinking straight from the bottle of whiskey to try and drown his sorrows away, to no avail. Every time he lifted up his necklace to his face, he would begin to silently weep to himself. He thought of it as a totem to his greatest failure, as both a husband and a father. He always had a little radio that kept him slightly informed on what was going on in the world, which quite frankly, he didn't give a shit at this point in time. But in this instance, it was different.

"Attention all fortune seekers!" A familiar voice said from the radio "Would you like to seek fame, fortune, and have a chance to meet with me? Handsome Jack?"

Axton jerked his head upright when he heard that and then listened closer to the radio.

"Then head on over to the planet of Pandora and look for the legendary and Mysterious Vault! Riches await you in this glorious place! So come on board! Handsome Jack's countin on you!"

Axton gritted his teeth together and began to build up his rage even more, he sprang up from his chair and walked over to the mirror, picked up the razor and shaved off his beard, until he looked like his regular self again. He was about to take off the rank that was stamped on his forehead to signify he was a Staff Sergeant, but then had second thoughts and put his hand down. He decided to keep it as a memento of his failure along with his ring, to never be able to forgive himself for what he's done.

'This is it Jack..' Axton thought to himself 'I'm coming for you...'

-PRESENT TIME-

Maya slowly lifted her hands from Axton's head. When she opened her eyes, tears began to flow from her face. She had no idea that he had to see his own wife and son murdered and there was nothing he could have possibly done to prevent it. No man should ever bury their child. Axton was right, she shouldn't have asked questions she didn't want the answer to. Now that she finally got her explanation about the stuffed animal, she wished she never even asked about it. Axton opened his eyes to see Maya's extremely saddened look upon her face with tears coming from them. He didn't realize it himself, but his eyes began to water up as well.

"It's..It's not your fault..." Axton tried to explain only to have Maya lunge into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder, sobbing freely about the true tragedy Axton had to go through. Axton wrapped his arms around Maya's back as tight as he could while stoking her hair. He didn't want to let go of her, he just wanted to hold her close.

"It's okay Maya..." Axton said quietly "Shhh..It's not your fault...It's not your fault" He kept on saying that to her to try and calm her down, so she would stop crying on his shoulder, he felt the left side of his shoulder was nearly soaked in tears.

"You didn't do anything...I'm so sorry Maya..." Axton said softly

Finally after ten minutes of an embrace, they finally pulled apart. Axton gazed upon the saddened woman with tears that soaked her face.

'Goddammit' Axton thought 'Why'd I have to go and make another girl cry?'

"Lemme see your Echo," Axton said

Maya handed Axton her Echo, Axton then took a little paper-clip, opened up the interface, grabbed a little light from his back pocket at placed it inside of the Echo. He used the paper clip to act as a little antennae for a certain frequency. He did the same for his device as well.

"If you ever need me in any way," Axton explained "Press this button, And I'll come and help you. I'm not losing you like I did with Nathan."

"Okay..." Maya said softly

"Lets head back to base..." Axton said "They're probably wondering where we went,"

Back at the base, only Salvador and Zer0 were seen, prompting Axton to ask them.

"Where is everybody?"

"Welp," Salvador said "Brick had some stuff to take care of in Thousand Cuts and Mordecai had to go blow off some steam. Nothing you could've done Amigo. Where'd you go?"

Axton paused then said to Salvador

"I just talked to Maya that's all. We better get some rest, I'm edging to kill Jack."

"Alright then Amigo." Salvador said plopping down on his bed and falling asleep. Zer0 walked over to his corner and fell asleep as well.

Maya was wondering why Tannis wasn't in her room at the time being, until she discovered a note scrawled on a piece of metal written with fingernails that said:

"Went exploring, I mean, studying. Won't be back till tomorrow, make sure Fellipe goes to bed. -Patricia Tannis"

She then laid down on her bed and stared at the ECHO device Axton modified for her. She felt like such a bitch at this point. How could she be so inconsiderate? She always thought she was the one who truly lost something. She couldn't believe what Axton had to go through all this time. Lilith may have lost her once love of her life, but to lose your actual wife and your own son in one instance? It's no wonder Axton usually keeps to himself when the stuffed animal was brought up. The giraffe belonged to his little boy Nathan. How Jack got a hold of it, she had no clue. She began to run her left hand down her leg slowly before lifting it up where the leg met the hip. She then pulled out the ECHO and began to press on that button Axton installed, causing a flashing light to appear. She heard loud footsteps come down from upstairs and heard the door open to see Axton holding his ECHO, he looked at Maya and asked her worried.

"What is it? What do you need?"

Maya then stood up from her bed and walked up to Axton. She stared at Axton before putting her hands behind his head and pressing her lips against his, holding it for about 7 seconds until Axton pulled her away.

Axton looked into Maya's hazel eyes for a few seconds, then pulling her back in to kiss her. Axton has been needing this for so long. Maya led Axton onto the bed when it got even more heated up. Maya wanted this as bad as Axton did. She's been edging for the chance to truly express Axton how she felt about him, and vice versa. Axton began kissing down Maya's neck, which caused her to slightly moan in enjoyment before coming back up to kiss her beautiful lips once again. It was truly something that they've been meaning to do since they've been through all of the mishaps and what not. Shirts and Pants began to slowly come off. Both of their bodies were filled with butterflies in their stomach. Axton could've sworn he heard a couple of fireworks go off in his head. Handsome Jack was an oppressive and horrible man who needed to die, but this night was devoted between the two sweaty partners on the bed. Axton truly had no way to move on from his tragedy, until he met this particular Siren. The world began to melt before them as they felt they were the only two individuals in the universe. It was their night, and they wanted it to last.

AN: Hey Guys! Sorry for the delay! Halo 4 and other things really ate up my time. Longest Chapter yet and I believe it's the best one I wrote so far. Thanks for your continued support and please spread the word about this! More reviews means better chapters! Laters!

-LT