I'm back bitches!
Binbix: Thanks. I'll try to improve my schedule, but like I said I'm doing a collab as well. In answer to your question: Yes.
Prophet21: To be honest, I saw it in Trepidin's fic 'Restoration of a Broken Planet' and just thought it too funny not to include.
Trepidin: A big steaming cup of… congratulations. Congrats on predicting the future. Now if you could just see next week's lottery numbers… Hope you don't mind that I borrowed Krieg's lines from your fic. They were just too good to ignore.
Lavi D. Walker: Simple and to the point. I'll keep on writing.
Sinfulskate: It will happen, my friend, but maybe not in the way you expect… Mild sleep deprivation might have had a hand in Gen's creation but to be honest I literally made him up as I wrote the first chapter. I just decided that I wanted an OC and I went from there. I started off thinking of someone who could move insanely fast and then it all just sort of built up from there. Nice to have a long review again too.
Right, now that that's done it's Disclaimer Time!
Disclaimer: Disclaimer Time is nothing like Adventure Time.
Chapter 17: The Mourner
The Raiders had made it back to Sanctuary, along with Margaret Tannis, long before Gen and Gaige. When the two teens did return it was too sympathetic looks for their green-skinned friend. Gen walked past them all, ignoring the condolences and reassurances from his friends. He only paused long enough to give a brief hug to his mother and aunt and a quick pat to Monty. Then he disappeared into his room. A minute later they could all hear music begin to play.
"He's taking it pretty hard." Gaige informed them all sadly.
"Kinda surprising if you think about it." Mordecai commented, "I mean, less than a month ago he was ready to kill the man himself."
"Hell, he was ready to kill him today." Maya said softly.
"What?" All of them turned to see Margaret staring at them in shock. "He was willing to kill us? But… But he saved us."
"…Only because I stopped him from taking a shot and Maya talked him down." Gaige informed her, cringing.
Margaret hung her head. A few moments later she whispered, "Maybe we deserved it after everything we put him through."
None of the Raiders said anything, waiting for her to continue.
"He never hid that he loved genetics from us. At least until we tried to stop him he didn't. We tried to push him into a life he never wanted. Our refusal to let him live his life ended up destroying it." She was beginning to choke up, "We left him to die because we couldn't accept what had happened to him! And then, when he's finally moved on and found a new life, we show up and tear it down again! Is there nothing we can do that won't hurt him?!"
By now she had begun to sob uncontrollably.
"Of course there's something; There must always be something; You just have to think." Zer0 offered.
"Like what?" Margaret asked, her voice raw.
"To make some amends; You must first accept mistakes; That is the first step."
"I know that I have made mistakes."
"Then you are ready; Step two awaits your actions; Can you forgive him?"
Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Who? Gen?" At the Assassin's nod she continued, "Why would I have to forgive him?"
"You were blaming him; For Sarah and Incident; Can you let that go?"
"…I… I don't know…"
"Then you aren't ready; Return when you can forgive; Then find redemption."
Margaret remained silent, deep in thought. Then, ever so slowly, she rose up to her full height. She walked, as tall and dignified as any monarch, to Zer0 and looked straight into his faceplate.
"You are wiser than I would ever give an assassin credit for. Protect him. I will return someday."
Zer0 bowed his head in acceptance. Mrs Tannis turned to the other Raiders and said, "My son will need all of you in the days to come." Her eyes lingered on Gaige as she said, "Some of you more than others."
Roland stepped forward. "We're Crimson Raiders. We look out for our own."
"Then goodbye Crimson Raiders. May we meet again under better circumstances." And with that, she walked out of their door.
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When Gaige exited her room the next morning she heard no noise from Gen's room. Guessing that he was asleep she headed downstairs for some breakfast but resolved to check on him later. However she found her path to the kitchen blocked by Maya, Axton and Zer0, who all wore matching looks of shock (except Zer0 who had an exclamation mark) as they stared into the dining area. She squeezed past them and stopped dead, mirroring the shocked expressions of her fellows. A feast lay upon the table. Everything from eggs to croissants, bacon to pancakes, all of it lay spread out on the table and there, carefully depositing yet another batch of waffles onto an already meter high stack, was Gen with a look of intense concentration on his face as he focused on preventing a waffle avalanche. As soon as he was certain the stack wasn't going to collapse and bury his hard work and a layer of doughy deliciousness Gen backed off and only then seemed to notice the others.
"Oh hey guys. Didn't see you there." He greeted cheerfully.
"Gen? What the hell is going on?" Maya asked slowly.
"I made breakfast. What does it look like?" Gen said, amused.
"No, I mean. Yesterday you seemed all torn up and now you're, well, normal."
"I bounce back really fast." He replied back instantly.
"But you were so angry."
The Splicer shrugged and in the most cheerful tone they'd ever heard replied, "Oh I still want to beat Jack with his own spine and nail his balls to a Runner so I can drag him around the Dust, I'm just really good at burying things."
"…That's… really unhealthy." Gaige commented, worried.
The Splicer just laughed. "Gaige, we get shot at on a daily basis and I've been playing with hazardous genetic material since I was five. Health and safety aren't exactly staples of my existence."
Gaige frowned, even as the others glanced uncertainly at each other. Something about Gen's reply had seemed… off. It wasn't obvious; if she didn't know him as well as she did or wasn't paying attention she would have missed it. Though she wasn't even sure what it was.
Maya sighed, shaking her head and saying, "Gen, I really do think that you should take a bit more time to recover from you dad's death."
And that was when Gaige saw it; a crack in what she now realised to be a façade. Just for a split second the calm, mildly amused look in Gen's eyes morphed into something else entirely; a tableau of pain, grief and fear. His smile also shrunk a few centimetres. As quickly as the look appeared it was gone but it was too late for hiding. Gaige slowly made her way towards Gen, eyes never leaving his. Even as she approached she could see his smile fading again, realisation that she had seen the slip in his mask slowly igniting in the Splicer's eyes. By the time she was within arm's reach Gen's cheerful, almost cocky attitude was gone. In its place was something nobody there expected, especially when he was in Raider's HQ: fear. Gen was afraid of what she would say, what she would do. The Mechromancer noticed that light shivers occasionally ran through his body.
"Gen. Let us help you." She whispered gently, slowly reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder.
For a second it seemed like he might jerk away and run like he used to when he wanted to be alone. There was conflict in his eyes as he struggled with running or staying put. Finally staying put won out. Gen visibly slumped. The barely noticeable shivers from before transforming into spasms as the Splicer wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed his eyes shut. A low moan of grief escaped his clenched jaw and a few tears leaked out from behind his eyelids.
"Why? Why, why, why? Why do you keep coming back? No-one ever looks when I go so why do you keep coming back?" He moaned, anguished. He froze up as Gaige gently pulled him into a hug.
"…Because you're our friend, Gen, and we care about you." She murmured softly.
The others moved closer, Maya laying her hand on the green teen's shoulder in comfort while Zer0 did the same on the opposite side. Axton simply patted the Splicer on the back. A minute or two later the spasms and sobbing wracking Gen's frame had died and he slowly straightened up. He released Gaige, not even aware when he had started embracing her and wiped the remaining tears from his face, sniffing. He gave them all a grateful smile.
"Thank you." He said in the most sincere tone they had ever heard from him.
"Anytime, kid." Axton replied gently.
Gen took a deep breath, looking around at the others, and was surprised when he realised that he wasn't seeing them as just teammates or allies, and hadn't seen them that way for a long time. Instead he found himself seeing them as his family, the closest thing he'd had to one in a long time. The thought made his smile widen a bit.
"Hey guys, I just realised something." He said, still smiling.
"What's that?" Gaige asked, smiling back.
"All that food I cooked is probably cold by now." Gen said cheerfully, and his smile turned into a shit eater grin as he heard his newfound family collectively facepalm in perfect unison.
It may be short, but I like it. Read and review as always.
See you all later,
Elemental Hybrid