Chapter Text
I just want to put a little warning on top of this story because of vulgar language.
05 - Tr0ubles
„You’re fighting.“
She didn’t like to admit it but yeah, Axton was right. Obviously he recognized her glances to the assassin and her annoyed tone when she talked to him. Maya didn’t want to discuss this topic and kept cleaning her SMG.
“Yeah. I don’t think that applies to you, Axton,” she immediately replied without looking at him.
The Commando sighed. Of course she wouldn’t explain what happened between the two of them. The siren probably believed that her fight with Zero wouldn’t affect their teamwork. But she was wrong about that. Their last mission bordered on a catastrophe.
Axton already talked to Salvador about it and the Gunzerker also thought it would be the best to talk to the female part about her problems with the assassin. Since Zero wasn’t very communicative Maya seemed to be more comfortable to persuade.
“Listen, I know there’s this err… complicated friendship going on between you two… but,” he paused. “…we can’t rely on you anymore. You don’t pay attention and sorry to say this out loud but you often get in the way and-“
“What?!,” Maya hissed disgusted.
Axton backed away. “Don’t phaselock me please! I’m just trying to…find a solution to the problem,” he quickly explained.
“You think I’m the problem?!”
The siren looked furious. And it really wasn’t any fun to stand in front of an angry siren. Her markings started to glow a bright blue and he took some more steps away from her.
“…kinda? Look, I really don’t want to offend you or something, I would never do that on purpose, but facts are that you’re… distracted. Permanently. Nonstop. Steadily. Conti-“
“I got it!,” she interrupted him. “Shut the fuck up Axton and leave or I swear I’ll phaselock your stupid ass out of the fucking window!,” she shouted enraged.
He hurried to obey her order and left the room. Maya was still mad as hell and watched the door a few more minutes before she let go of her weapon and sighed. The SMG fell to the ground and made an awful loud noise.
“Fuck…,” she murmured.
She knew how distracted she was. She didn’t have to hear it personally from her teammates. It hurt to lack in concentration. Always being alerted was difficult but inevitable if you wanted to survive on Pandora. She felt the heat in her cheeks how her hands started trembling again. They fought because he wanted to end this.
It’s better for both of us to keep this… easy. Let’s not cross this line.
His words still send a cold shiver through her body. She couldn’t believe what he said. It had hurt her and she had felt so helpless. Why the hell did he say that? After all that happened between them he just… end it? Like this?
Maya hugged herself and sat on her bed. She had never been that angry before and she hated herself to vent her wrath on Axton. It wasn’t his fault that she had been so weak in the last few days. She couldn’t blame him for telling her about her mistakes. Every single one of them could cause the death of one of the vault hunters. It was just logical to eliminate the risk.
She looked down at her hands.
Well, guess what? We already crossed the fucking line.
Idiot.
He knew it the whole time but still he told her to keep the distance. Bullshit. She had known he could be dangerous, yeah, even in this way. But she never expected him to give her this shit about them crossing a damn line. The worst part of the whole thing was, that she hadn’t done anything about it. She hadn’t responded. She hadn’t even tried to talk this shit through.
And now it was all on her. The injuries the others got because of her being distracted. The failed missions… It was all her fault and she couldn’t deny it.
Maya didn’t know what to do. For the first time in her life she didn’t know what to do.
Her heart hurt, tears swelled in her eyes and she felt so fucking lonely. She tried to focus on her breathing but that didn’t help. She suddenly took the SMG and threw it on the wall.
This wasn’t the end. She was a siren. Strong and independent. She would survive this shit and no one could convince her otherwise. He broke up with her – if it had been a relationship at all, Maya wasn’t so sure about that – that didn’t mean she was unable to go on. She had lived without this close contact before and could do it again.
Get yourself together and go! You don’t need this. Take some time for yourself. You could use it.
She nodded and packed some stuff. She needed some supplies and different weapons if she wanted to get along alone out there. Pandora was after all very dangerous and she shouldn’t underestimate it.
“Fuck you, you stupid asshole. Don’t you dare to... Bastard…,” she murmured while she took a last look into her room. She didn’t plan to get back so soon.
Sanctuary felt different, since the siren had left. Zero sat on the rooftop of the headquarter and watched the stars. He knew he hurt her, but he had to end it before he got too attached to her. It was nice to experience this warm feeling he had when he had been with her, but he had to stop it. She wasn’t meant to be with him. Sooner or later he would leave Pandora. It didn’t play any role when he left her. It must been done.
“Zero?”
The assassin looked down to the small Gunzerker standing in front of the building.
“Have you seen Maya?,” he asked. Although he spoke English, it still sounded Spanish.
“She left,” was all he said.
“What do you mean? She can’t leave. We need her to beat Handsome Jack!,” the Gunzerker shouted.
Zero watched the rapid transition. She had looked so frantic when she had rushed to the station.
“She’s gone.”
Zero jumped from the rooftop and landed exactly one step in front of Salvador. He didn’t look impressed. Actually he was used to stunts like this.
“What have you done? Did you talk to her about your… problems?,” he asked.
The assassin hesitated. No, he didn’t.
Fool.
“There wasn’t any chance to do so,” he answered.
“Mierda! Get her back! I don’t believe we’ll make it without her,” he complained.
“It’s not my duty to bring her back. It was her decision and I respect it,” he responded.
Salvador rolled his eyes and went inside the building. He obviously didn’t want to talk to the assassin anymore. It made sense, since he made clear that this conversation was over. Zero went to the rapid transit and checked the last travel. She had encoded the data. Clever.