Headsh0t

Maya didn't even care to turn on the lights. She just entered her room and headed straight for her bed. She had way too much on her mind in the last few days, that it sounded so tempting to get some sleep. The events of the last few days made a chance for sleep too enticing to pass up. The other vault hunters were still at Moxxis, trying to get over their last battle. The fight had given Maya some bad wounds that hadn't healed yet. She sat down on her bed, got out of her armor and threw it carelessly on the ground.

And then she noticed another person in her room.

Her new Pandoran reflexes kicked in. She whirled around and hit her visitor hard in the stomach. She started for her gun-

He moaned and staggered away backward. ¨Please stop, it's just me.¨

Maya froze. She recognized his voice and stared at him in surprise. ¨Zero?¨

The assassin went silent. He just stood there, a few steps away from her, holding his hurting stomach. She was much stronger than she looked, he thought. He hadn't been here for many days and didn't even care about telling his teammates where he went. It was not surprising at all that Maya was mad at him.

¨You've been away for god knows how long! What the fuck are you doing here?¨ she hissed, still a little angry about how he sneaked up on her. He didn't answer, but the way he stood there made her stop short. ¨What's wrong?¨

Zero wouldn't be here if he had another choice, but he had to tell someone about his injury and Maya was the only one he really trusted – and who could eventually fix it. The siren waited for an answer, but he didn't know how to tell her what had happened, without driving her really mad. ¨I've got a problem," he simply stated.

Oh really? Yeah, maybe not just one, was what she wanted to say. But the hurt tone in his voice made her think twice. There was something wrong - very wrong, she guessed. Now was not the time for any sarcastic comments. ¨What is it?¨ she asked, stepping a little closer to him, just to see how he stepped back again. ¨I won't hurt you. But I can't help you if you're acting like some anxious shit.¨ She still hoped she made her position clear to him and he wouldn't back away again. But Zero still looked a little bit... insecure.

¨There's a splinter in my eye¨, he explained.

¨What?¨ She blinked, confused and intrigued at once. She tried to think about what he said. A splinter? A fucking sharp splinter? Did that even making any sense? But then she realized, what that meant to him. ¨Wait, I'll turn on the lights and then I'll-¨, she started but was quickly interrupted by his panicked voice.

¨No, please don't!¨, he exclaimed. It sounded strange, foreign. Not like the confident, distant Zero she knew. It had to be very serious.

¨Listen, I can't do anything in this darkness. I need some light¨, she explained but he just took a grip on her hands and shook his head. He had never done that before.

¨Please, don't¨, he repeated.

Maya went silent for a moment. She nodded and pulled him to her bed. ¨Sit down¨, she ordered and he obeyed. ¨How did that happen?¨, she asked when she took a chair and sat down in front of him. The pale moonlight was hardly enough to handle his injury, but she respected his wish to stay anonymous even if his stupid behavior started to get on her nerves. She looked at his helmet, a little puzzled. She tried not to think about what was under it...

¨I hunted and killed him¨, he explained, not caring about telling her who exactly he had killed.

¨...wow, Zero, you got so much better with these social-things you know? I nearly thought I understood what you said,¨ she replied sarcastically. ¨Stop fooling around, idiot and just tell me exactly what happened,¨ she said, when she laid her hand on the cracked spot of his helmet. She made a pitiful sound, already feeling sorry for him. That didn't look good. There was this dark liquid that had the familiar stiffness of blood.