New Perspective ~ A Handsome Jack x Reader Story

Chapter Seventeen ~ A Bitter Speech

          "We're here today to celebrate the death of the prick - Handsome Jack."

          Everyone's eyes were glued on Lilith as she stood in the middle of Sanctuary - holding a cup up in the air. You looked around, as you saw several other people mimicking her with cups in their hands. 

          "I'm gonna get a drink..." Tim grumbled. You turned to him as he walked away, seemingly towards a table with food and drinks laying upon it. You raised an eyebrow at him, yet ignored his odd action, as you turned your focus back to Lilith.

          "After a very long battle - a fight on Helios itself finally brought him down," she began, gazing at the crowd around her. You watched her speak as she reached behind her and pulled out Jack's jacket. It was even more torn than before, dirt smudged all over it. Why would she make it look even more torn apart? "After searching the wreckage of Helios, we finally found proof of his death!" A second after she said that, the crowd erupted into joyful cheering. You furrowed your eyebrows as you stared at her - why was she lying about what happened? Sure, he isn't even dead and she doesn't know that, but why is she hiding her truth from Sanctuary? 

          "They all seem happy," Tim's voice said from beside you as you flinched back. He must have come back without you noticing, his eyes glazing over the ecstatic crowd. 

          "Well yeah, the guy who tormented them constantly finally seems dead," you replied, smiling softly - however, there was a guilty feeling behind it. The citizens of Sanctuary weren't in the clear just yet, and you had the unfortunate burden of keeping this heavy fact to yourself. Little do they know...

          "I wouldn't say tormented," Tim mumbled, catching your attention. As he met eyes with you, he shrugged his shoulders and continued. "I mean, sure he was pretty horrible, but he was just trying to fix Pandora. Half of the people holed up here have blood on their hands anyways, they're practically bandits.." Your eyes widened as you listened to him speak. Is he kidding right now?

          "Everyone came here to find hiding from Jack's wrath.." you argued, raising an eyebrow at how Tim was talking. He was beginning to sound like Jack himself... 

          After a moment, Tim let out a breath of air and looked away from you. "Yeah, I guess you're right..." Tim sighed, looking down as he swirled the liquid in his cup. The sound of Lilith continuing her speech became faded as you focused on Tim and what he said. "Sorry, I guess that sounded pretty bad, huh? I've been working on Jack's side for a long time, so sometimes I find his opinions infiltrating my own." You eyed him carefully as his gaze finally met yours. Then, he chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "I promise I'm not too much like him, pumpkin. At least, I try not to be."

          "Yeah.. I believe you," you responded, sighing softly. "It's just I know everyone here - I know what they went through, and I know a lot of it was Hyperion's fault - Jack's fault." You saw out of the corner of your eye Tim squirm ever so slightly as his gaze shifted uncomfortably from you to his cup. Lilith continued to speak about Jack, hurling insults and ugly facts about him left and right. She recalled the events and actions that took place across the journey to defeating Hyperion - many of these events, you were there for. Maybe you weren't the one shooting the last bullet into Wilhelm's sternum, or on the front lines when fighting through to Control Core Angel, but you were there - you were there for it all.

          "He didn't think the amount of people suffering would compare to the amount that would experience peace once the bandit hordes of Pandora were gone," Tim replied, his eyes holding a look that told you he was deep in thought. However, something Lilith said seemed to pull him out of his trance. You tuned back in to her speech to listen, as well. 

          "...and even his daughter begged to be killed rather than to help him. You know you're a horrible person when your goddamn daughter hates you to bits," Lilith spat. A chill ran down your spine at her speech. Angel...

          You remember that day... the day your friends and you killed Angel. Sure, you didn't exactly agree with killing the girl, but at the time there didn't seem like there was anything else to do. You remember the desperation Jack's voice held as the tubes that kept her alive were destroyed one by one. You remember the struggle you and your friends had as you fought through wave after wave of loader bots. You remember the guilt that rose up inside of you after Angel had finally laid dead on the ground, her pale body limp and unmoving. You remember Roland being shot in front of you by Jack. His body hit the ground with a heavy thump as Jack appeared in front of you all. The look on Jack's face... pure anger and grief.

          "In the end, she killed herself for our sake, and as a last 'fuck you' to her douchebag father," Lilith said, her voice barely reaching you.

          Did she feel guilty at all? You know you did... you still do. You could see it in your friends' eyes that they did as well, although they never said it aloud. Lilith seemed to have finished her speech, as everyone began to clap and cheer. She drank from her cup and grinned the widest grin you had seen her wear. She didn't feel guilty at all... the sound of plastic crunching tore you away from your thoughts as you looked to the side. 

          Tim had a horribly angry scowl on his face. He had completely crushed his cup, the liquid spilling on his hand and dripping to the ground. His grip was tight as you could see his knuckles turning slightly white. His face had turned a beet red. The emotions he showed were clear: pure anger - pure grief. 

          Abruptly, he threw the crushed up on the ground and stomped away. He pushed his way through the crowd and disappeared. The sound of the crowd cheering practically drowned out your thoughts as you felt your heart stop. 

          That wasn't Tim.

          You froze, unable to move yourself to go after him. Jack had been posing as Tim the entire time... that's why Tim was acting so much like him. You winced as you recalled how he acted - how clear the signs were. Finally able to move yourself, you attempted to go after him. However, just as you began to move, a firm hand fell on your shoulder, stopping you from continuing. 

          "Hey, killer, can we talk for a second?"

          Oh, fuck.

          Sorry this is a rather short chapter - the plans I had didn't quite line up as well as I would have hoped. I liked how this ended, and if I tried to add the rest of the content I wanted to add, it would seem rather dragging - I'll just put it in the upcoming chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the new update! ~rose