Rue [Borderlands fanfiction]

Part 5

[Rue's POV]

"Alright pumpkin?"

Jack was standing in front of me, in a blue-ish colour, slight transparent, but I didn't care. It was Jack! I put my hands to my mouth in glee, a tear trickling down my cheek. I usually wasn't this emotional, but my life had been a rollercoaster of emotions recently. 

"Jack..." I whispered, as he walked near to me, so our faces were nearly touching.

"I've missed you too, cupcake. So goddamn much" he said, as he tried to hug me, but his arms went straight through. "Ah shit, forgot about that. I can't touch you, you can't touch me. But at least we can talk again?"

I stood close to him, looking into his eyes, grinning. 

"This... this has been the best moment of my life for a long, long time." I spoke quietly. "I love you, so much."

"I love you more" he whispered, coming as close to me as he could get without going through me.

"Ahem!" Coughed Rhys, interrupting our moment, clearly feeling awkward.

"Way to interrupt the moment, Rhysie" Jack spoke, coming away from me to look at him.

"We better get back outside," Rhys spoke. "See what this whole Gortys thing is about."

"Oh, sure!" I said, in a good mood now I'd been reunited with Jack. As I went to walk out of the caravan door, I stopped. "Thanks Rhys." I spoke, wrapping him in a tight hug. "You've been a really good friend to me." I could feel Rhys hugging me back.

"No problem," he spoke, as we pulled apart to see Jack glaring at Rhys. I looked over to him and smiled reassuringly.

"It's fine, don't worry." I assured him as I started to walk down the steps of the caravan.

"Wait!" Yelled Jack, causing Rhys and I to turn around. "Don't mention me to Athena, she'll cut your head off before you can explain yourselves. Seriously, the chick's nuts. And she really, really doesn't like me. Don't mention me to your Pandoran friends either. They probably won't trust you again, so I wouldn't. Your buddy with the abs, Rhys, he knows already, so that's cool. Let's keep it our secret, eh? Then we can get back to Helios, and get me a new body! There's been a couple of things that I've really missed being able to do." He winked at me, getting a laugh in response as Rhys rolled his eyes. 

"Sure thing" I grinned at him.

"Yeah, no problem" Rhys replied. He looked a little unsure about not telling his friends the truth, but I reckoned we could trust him. He's proven himself so far.

We stepped out of the caravan and walked towards Fiona, Vaughn, Sasha and the Loader Bot, also known as 'LoaderBot', or 'LB'. Fiona was kneeling down, examining something, whilst the others stood over her. Athena stood in the corner, keeping an eye on me, like she promised. I smiled sarcastically at her. She rolled her eyes and looked at the ground. I knew we weren't going to get on.

As we approached the group, we saw them looking at the Gortys Project. As we approached, Sasha rolled her eyes at me. People have been doing that a lot to me lately. It was clear she still didn't trust me. Fine. She can have it her way. 

"Chick still doesn't trust you, huh?"

I hadn't got used to hearing Jack's voice yet. It was a nice surprise. I nodded in response to him, not wanting to say something in case the others heard, and thought I was crazy.

"Where have you guys been?" Fiona asked as we walked over.

"Probably with her lips glued to Rhys." Sasha spoke. "She's been all over him since we arrived, and you Rhys, have been sort of the same."

"No" I spoke, a bit disgusted. I could hear Jack grinding his teeth in the background. He was getting mad at the suggestion of Rhys and I hooking up. The thought didn't please me either, to be honest. I was Jack's, and that was it.

"We haven't been hooking up" said Rhys, glaring at Sasha. "I- I just wanted to show her around the caravan, that's all."

"Why?" Asked Sasha. "It's not like she's coming with us."

"Yes, she is. God, this chick is an asshole!"

"Sash" Fiona spoke, trying to calm her. "It's fine."

"She has got good combat skills" Vaughn commented. "She could be useful."

"Plus," added Rhys, "she's been nice to us. She's helped us. Which is more than what most people on here have done."

"Fine." Mumbled Sasha, clearly still not happy with the idea.

"What were you guys doing before we came over?" I decided to say, to change the awkward conversation. I didn't feel comfortable that I was causing a disagreement in the group. They seemed like such a strong team together, and I didn't want to ruin that. But now I could see Jack, I needed to stick with them, and get back to Hyperion. Get Jack a body. I'd heard that someone was beginning to re-graft one for him when I left.

"We found this button" Fiona explained, pressing it. As she pressed it, the sphere transformed into a little robot. 

"Hi, wow, it's so nice to meet you all!" She spoke happily.

"Welcome to the team!" Fiona smiled back, as the robot introduced herself as 'Gortys'. She was really sweet and friendly, and would definitely be a great addition to the team. She told us that she needed to get upgrades, so she could summon a vault- The Vault of the Traveller. We all grinned at each other. A vault! Sounded great. We asked her where her first upgrade was, but she could only tell us the general vicinity of where her upgrade was located. 

As she started to lead us there, she passed the now deceased Wallethead by the foot.

"Come on, slowpoke! Time's a-wasting!" Rhys and I looked at each other, cringing, as she attempted to drag him.

"Um, Gortys?" Fiona spoke. "He's erm, he's dead."

"Oh" Gortys looked sad. "That's sad."

"But he was a really bad person. Like really bad." Rhys added. That seemed to satisfy Gortys.

"Well, good riddance then!" She said, heading to the caravan, the rest of us following.

As I started to walk over, Jack appeared in front of me.

"Hey pumpkin, how ya doing?"

"Really good, actually! I'm part of a team, we're going to get a vault, I've made new friends... But best of all, I've got the most important person in my life back." I smiled at him.

"Aw, cupcake, I'm so happy we can talk again." Jack grinned. "Wish we could touch, though, there's been some things that I've really been missing!" He winked at me, grinning. I raised my eyebrows.

"Me too. Don't worry, we'll get back to Helios as soon as we can! Not sure how welcome I'll be there though..."

"Don't worry, babe, you'll be fine! You'll have ol' Handsome Jack with you, I can protect you. Although, looking at the way you handled yourself in there, you don't need protecting. But I will still protect you. I couldn't take it if something happened to you."

"Rue, come on!" I heard Rhys yell from the caravan.

"Coming!" I yelled as Jack disappeared, running to the caravan. This was it! My life had finally turned around.