Resolve

Chapter 3: Purpose

An: Sorry about this. My phone exploded and I had to get a new one. I'm still working on this.

A week passed in the relative comfort of Mordecai's roost. Your ribs healed at the same slow pace as most humans. Since the panic attack you'd had, Mordecai thankfully avoided talking about it again, but told you to take your time mending. Lilith and Roland would wait for what you had to say to continue attacking Hyperion. You were currently making your way down the stairs while Mordecai napped fitfully. Bloodwing rustled along behind you, keeping an eye on you for her best friend.

You'd had enough of sitting around. While the Vault Hunters were waiting, Jack wouldn't. Not for much longer. So you steeled yourself for the impact of every downward step on your aching torso. You needed to feel ground again, to be on a stable path. About a third of the way down, your foot slipped and you fell half way down, sliding on your back. With the air knocked out of your lungs, you gasped soundlessly like a fish. For what felt like an hour, you stayed still, your ribs hot with fresh pain. You thought again of the journey you had taken to get here; about your feelings on it all, and you were surprised that you hadn't really ever stopped to consider what it was you yourself wanted most. You were even more surprised to come to revelation that you had not a clue.

Beyond rehabilitating Jack, you had no goals. You'd entered some sort of tunnel vision long ago after the hundredth reset, determined to focus all your efforts. Your mind whirled and you took a deep breath before you could manage to overwhelm yourself. You could dwell on your purpose in life later, freeze time for a week if you had to.

You rolled onto your side before standing on your knees and heaving yourself up with one massive burst. The fire bloomed in your sides, predictably. You grit your teeth, biting your lip. It was bad, but it was survivable to be certain. You continued your descent in a more controlled manner. You wanted to prove you were ready to go back to Sanctuary.

X

Jack considered his next move carefully. The book of possibilities, as he had come to call it indicated the siren was completely obsessed with turning with him around, keeping him alive. He supposed he should have been perturbed that he had already failed five thousand times but instead it made him look at things differently. If, instead of getting angry at this discovery, he saw it as an opportunity to gain power, he was more likely to succeed.

Now he just had to reel her in. The only question was how to get her back from that idiot sniper she had doubtless run to, but it shouldn't be that hard for Jack. After all, he had already taken Moxxi from him. It clicked. Seduction had worked so well for him before, well not now?

X

Finally out in the meadow below the roost you enjoyed that quiet period in which the varkids had not yet risen for the day. Upstairs you could heard Mordecai moving around, talking to Bloodwing and making a call over the echo net. He wasn't surprised to see you gone, having expected you were going to start pushing things to go faster. He brewed some coffee before coming down to sit next to you.

There was a cup for you, which you gratefully accepted. "We should probably get back to the others now before they go after Angel without us. Have you thought about how you were going to...Change that particular outcome?"

You held the liquid in your hand, the hot ceramic mug bleeding warmth into your fingers. "I have, but without my lab and the time of...Another half loop it won't be done."

Mordecai hummed. "That's not going to work, chica. Jack will just kill you again, now that you've been with us."

You had already known that of course. "I'm not sure. Without a massive supply of super refined Eridium, I can't make another loop, and my powers on their own can't freeze or accelerate time for more than..." The doubts began to creep in again. You had already failed, failed for more than two consecutive years. You couldn't take another. You were growing beyond weary. Soon your mind would collapse under the strain,even with all your careful efforts to remain sane. Once Jack was saved, you were seriously toying with the idea of never using your powers again.

Mordecai was quiet. "(Y/n), There's only so much you can do. Take your time. Really think about this one. We're going to make this the last go round."

"The closest I ever got to winning him over was the time I went to him before Zarpedon, before he ever became anything to Hyperion. I got him to tell me about Angel and convinced him she only needed training. That I would cover his needs as a siren and she could just focus on being his daughter. He...bought it. Sent Angel out with Timothy on guard to get an education. But then...Zarpedon and her radicals attacked and though I did my very best, he slowly became distrustful and when Roland and Lilith destroyed the eye of Helios, that was it. The last straw. He strung me up like he did Angel. I kept trying. Doing the things he asked with as little resistance as possible."

You took a breath and Mordecai made a sound of reassurance. "In that last second before Krieg crushed his skull, his eyes...They changed. It...That was the closest I ever got to him. When I was yelling, pleading for his life. It finally reached him." You felt yourself slipping in the trauma, but before it got too far, there was a gentle hand on your shoulder.

X

Jack was waiting, something he did not do lightly. There weren't many things that could make such a strong, angry man exhibit such calm. There was a place described in the journal as her once true sanctuary. (Y/n) would be here soon, he was sure. It was an observatory on Elpis, all reinforced glass and stars for miles. They didn't have the atmospheric barriers to keep oxygen in, but Jack easily brought the generator back online. It was secluded, in the bottom of a moon crater. The ceiling seemed to be able to magnify the sky with a button push.

If he was the kind of man that appreciated beauty, he would've thought it gorgeous. Instead he thought of how it would muffle any screams.