A/N: Hellooooo! Oh man, it's good to be back! You guys are still here, right? ...Right? Anyway, sorry about the month break. First exams got in the way then I was just distracted by summer. Well, I'm back now! I desperately wanted to update so this chapter is quite short, sorry! I have more time now so there should be no more 1 month breaks :)
Guardian of all that exists: Haha, thanks! My exams went fine by the way.
BrutusSilentium: Yup, more Krieg to come!
Epic Gamer: I'm really really sorry but I don't quite understand what you're saying... but thanks anyway.
zayathevaulthunter: Thanks! I'll check out your stories when I get the chance! :)
"Things do not change. We change."
-Henry David Thoreau
Gaige opened her eyes and instantly recognised where she was. She didn't know how she got there, she just knew the place. She'd been here a hundred times before, but she'd thought she'd seen the last of it. She became aware that she was lying on her side on a bed of sand. She tilted her head to look up at the sky. It was day time, and the bright sun was beaming down.
She felt the intense heat as she rolled over and pushed herself up off the ground. Her legs felt week under her, like she could hardly stand. She took a few slow steps up a gentle slope onto a small hill of sand. She pressed the back of her human hand against her forehead to block out the sun. She looked around in a full circle. She was right, she knew exactly where she was.
She was in the Dust. Gaige's mind raced, how could she be here? How did she even get here? She looked to reveal yet another surprise. She was wearing a set of clothes that she knew too well. She was wearing her school uniform, but not her normal one. The clothing was the exact same she had arrived on Pandora in. Everything was the same, the denim jacket, the red skirt, the striped socks, the red t-shirt. All of it was identical.
She wondered where everyone else was, above all else. Looking around the vicinity of where she had woken up, she couldn't see anyone else.
"Helloooo?" she called out, hoping that somebody would respond. When she didn't get a reply, she tried again. "HELLOOOOO?!" she screamed again, getting slightly more anxious and a bit angry.
She swallowed hard and decided to just pick a direction and walk, she'd find somewhere relatively safe eventually. Then she had an idea. She pulled out her ECHO to try and call someone. However, her ECHO appeared to be broken, only showing a black screen. She smacked the side of it to try and get it to work, with no success. With a worried sigh, she put the ECHO away and continued walking. She only walked a few feet before she heard a noise that she was all too familiar with. She froze on the spot and looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.
She picked up her pace as the noise got louder, seemingly closing in on her. She broke out into a full on sprint, checking back over her shoulder every few seconds. The sound got louder still, almost as if it was right behind her. She looked back to see a bandit technical speeding straight towards her. She stopped running and just stared at it, her eyes transfixed on the machine that was hurtling in her direction.
Gaige couldn't bring herself to do anything, not even move out of the way. She began to panic silently, her breath coming rapidly. She could hear the insane bandits laughing with pleasure, taunting her. Her trembling arms slowly rose up in front of her face, as if it would somehow stop the technical. The vehicle kept driving, closer… closer… closer.
Then it hit her.
Gaige opened her eyes and jolted forwards into a sitting position. She looked around. She was no longer on Pandora, no longer in a desert and more importantly, there was no longer a metal nightmare about to mow her down. She was back at home, where she belonged. She was her own in her familiar bedroom. She leaned over and flicked on the light, her whole body still trembling. Still feeling shook up over what she'd just experienced, Gaige moved over and sat at the edge of her bed and covered her mouth with her hands.
The nightmare had freaked her out, she'd admit to that. Gaige wondered if she'd be up to going back to Pandora. After a year and a half, she had once again grown used to her normal life on Eden-5. While she was safely living at home, in her mind she never really left Pandora. Even after all the time away from that planet, she still felt like she was there. That nightmare was not the first she'd experienced, and she would put money on it not being her last. Even though she had only been on Pandora for around a month, she felt like she belonged there. Like it was her real home.
Gaige ended up getting next to no sleep for the rest of that night, and so still looked half asleep the following morning. She spent the morning stuffing whatever stuff she may or may not need into a backpack and getting herself ready. The last time Gaige was on Pandora, she regretted the clothes she wore quite a lot. Of course, she didn't have much of a choice, but the school uniform had annoyed her to no end. This time, at least she'd be wearing more comfortable clothes. After some consideration, she decided on a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt. She also decided to ditch the two pigtails she had last time and just let her hair down.
Koen and Marshall had also spent some time getting ready, though most of their preparation involved sorting which guns and ammo to take. They didn't have a lot, and Pandora was a dangerous place, so in the end they just decided to take every bullet they had. So, with their backpacks filled with all sorts of things, they made the short walk to Gaige's house together.
"I still think this is a terrible idea, in case you were wondering," Marshall said, as the two walked down an empty street.
"It really isn't that bad…" Koen tried, but stopped when Marshall gave him a strange look. "Okay, fine, it is bad, but it's nothing we can't handle."
"I mean, I'm not afraid or anything, I just don't want anyone getting hurt, that's all," Marshall shrugged.
"It'll be fine, you got me," Koen laughed, pointing a finger to his chest. Marshall allowed himself a quick laugh and a smile, but it didn't change his mind about the whole thing being a bad idea.
The boys finally reached Gaige's house to see Gaige herself standing in the open doorway, her arms folded and leaning against the frame. She perked up when she saw the two of them approaching, and began walking down the driveway towards her.
"Took you two long enough," She smirked, looking the boys over. Gaige felt a hint of déja vu when she saw Koen, however. He was dressed in almost the exact same way as when they were on Pandora for the first time. He was even wearing the same green hoodie that he cherished so much.
"Is that-" Gaige asked, gesturing to Koen.
"Yes it is," Koen interrupted, grabbing the front of the hoodie and pulling it out, "I see it as a sort of a… good luck charm. Seems like we'll need all the luck we can get."
Gaige gave a short laugh at his strange superstition, but thought nothing else of it. "Whatever you say. Anyway, how are you guys fixed for guns and stuff?"
Koen and Marshall shot each other a quick glance before grinning and pulling out whatever weapons they had at their disposal. Marshall, for his part, had held on to his Maliwan SMG the whole time. He loved that thing almost as much as Koen loved his crossbow. Marshall's SMG fired corrosive bullets at an insane rate, and that was the main reason he loved it. Koen, in addition to holding onto his crossbow, had acquired a new Dahl pistol. He'd grown to love the thing, mainly because of its incredible accuracy.
Gaige raised an eyebrow and looked at the weapons in the boy's hands, before nodding slowly.
"Very nice," She said slowly, then turned around and grabbed something from behind the door. When she turned back around, she was holding a well-kept, Jakobs assault rifle. She smiled and held the rifle up in the air proudly.
"And where did you get that?" Koen asked.
"Well, it was my dad's… and now it's mine," she beamed, "I also have this." She held up her other hand to reveal her own Jakob's revolver that she'd held on to.
Koen laughed slightly as he looked at the weapons Gaige held in her hands. "You're very keen on that revolver, Angel Eyes," he laughed, causing Marshall to smirk noticeably.
"Angel Eyes?" Gaige wondered, confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Heh. Never you mind, dear. Let's just get going," Koen replied.
And so, a short journey and a couple of hours later, Marshall, Gaige and Koen all found themselves standing in front of the open doors to a shuttle that would take them to Pandora. Alex was standing a few metres behind them, ready to see them off. Everyone was as surprised as each other that there were still shuttles to Pandora. Anyway, it was what they needed and so they were happy to take it.
"I still hate these things," Koen said with a blank face, as he looked at the inside of the shuttle.
"Ah, shut up and get in there," Marshall sighed, and shoved Koen into the shuttle.
Once the boys were inside the shuttle, they both threw down their weapons and backpacks and crashed down on the row of seats that lined either side of the shuttle. Gaige tossed her things into the shuttle and then turned around to face her dad. After a second, she ran over and hugged him tight. She had told him and herself that she wouldn't be on Pandora long, but knowing how dangerous and unpredictable that planet was, it may take a long time to get back, if at all. It was difficult for Gaige and Koen to get off Pandora the first time, Gaige just hoped that there was a still a way off the planet, or else she'd be screwed.
They broke the hug and Alex looked down into his daughter's eyes, his expression sad yet sincere. "Listen to me, Gaige, as soon as you get done doing whatever it is you need to do there, you come straight back home, any way you can, okay?" he instructed.
"Yeah dad, I-I got it…" Gaige nodded in understanding.
Then, to spare her the pain of saying goodbye another time, she turned around and joined Koen and Marshall in the shuttle. She walked past them and over to the control console. The shuttle was automatic, so it would take them where they needed to go, without anyone having to do anything. Gaige turned back around in time to see the shuttle doors begin to close. She used one hand to cover her mouth and the other to wave goodbye to her dad. She watched as her dad waved back at her until the shuttle doors closed, separating them.
After a few hours in the shuttle, all three of them were bored out of their minds. Marshall was lying flat out on a row of seats, tossing a bullet up and down. Koen and Gaige were sitting down in seats opposite him, Gaige's head resting on Koen's shoulder. None of them had said anything for a while, so the shuttle was almost completely silent beside the continuous humming coming from the engine.
Eventually, after an hour or so of throwing and catching the bullet, Marshall missed a catch. The bullet fell and bounced off his face, making him flinch, before falling onto the floor with a pinging noise. Marshall tilted his head to the side, looking at the bullet and contemplating whether to get up and grab it or not. In the end he decided he wasn't bothered and stayed exactly where he was.
"Dammit," he mumbled, laying the back of his hand against his forehead and letting out a sigh.
Koen laughed at Marshall's laziness and Gaige lifted her head up, looking very sleepy.
"So… you guys heard of that new weapons manufacturer that's on the rise? Uh… Colt Industries or something?" Koen asked them, trying tos trike up some conversation.
"Oh yeah I know 'em," Marshall responded with his eyes closed, "Got the chance to shoot an assault rifle of theirs a while back. Damn, that thing could tear down walls."
"Sounds like something I gotta get my hands on," Koen said, imagining such a gun, "They make all kinds of stuff, don't they?"
"Yeah, rifles, snipers, pistols, you name it. I'm telling you, these guys are giving every corporation a run for their money. They'll be the next Hyperion in no time at all, just wait and see," Marshall replied.
"The next Hyperion, eh?..." Koen wondered, looking down at the floor. He then turned to Gaige to see she had passed out in the chair next to him. Suddenly feeling pretty tired himself, he rested his head on the side of the chair and shut his eyes. He wanted to know more about Colt Industries, but he decided it could wait. He thought to himself until he slowly but surely drifted into a welcome sleep.
A/N: Well, how was my grand return? xD Also, you may have noticed that I don't have a photo for this story. So I'm gonna ask any artists out there if they wanna do any artwork related to this story, please, go ahead! I'd love to see what you guys can do!
-Kromatick