The Good and the Bad ~aarmau/borderlands AU~

~The Good and The Bad~

Italicized is a flashback

*Play Song*

"Aphmau..." Katelyn manages out, embracing her best friend with such intensity, even the girl who defied death was showing signs of no air.  

The group was taking their turns with their heartfelt reunions, but they were sadly hurried as the reunions transpired in the Caravan in The Tundra. They were journeying to hinder a train shipment of Eridium, which Jack was going to use to try and raise the Warrior, a horrid, powerful creature, from the second Vault. Unsurprisingly, the Eridium cargo isn't the group's single target, as there is something even more valuable aboard the convoy.

All Aaron could do was look at her, marvel at her very actuality. Her movements, her words, and her smile. Good god, nothing in the cosmos could ever amount to her smile.

"Hey guys, could I have a moment alone with Aph?" Aaron asks, everyone obliging as they filed out of the room to other sections of the immense caravan.

Aphmau envelopes her robotic and natural arm, like a pretzel of metal and meat. The deafening stillness lasting several seconds before Aaron starts.

Aaron was leaning against the edge of the medial conference table, his arms also folded.

"I want to know...what happened after the...explosion." Aaron says, eyeing Aphmau mindfully, memories of them subtly overwhelming his judgment.

Aphmau drops her head, studying her feet as she inched closer to the man who was a good foot taller than her.

Aaron behaves as he used to, knowing whenever she averts her gaze to redirect it back to him by hooking her chin with his fingertips, holding her gaze.

"I missed you Aph. God, I missed you so much just the act of breathing ached." Aaron reminisces, reliving the times of eternal mental anguish which he had to undergo.

"I know. I missed you too---" Aphmau starts, before getting caught off-guard by Aaron's unforeseen harsh tone.

"Do you know...Aph?"

Aphmau just furrows her brows in dismay at the man, Aaron freeing her chin to step away from her to the other side of the table.

He rest his knuckles against the table, staring at the table's rustic facade. "You never looked for me. I mean, the accident happened months ago—"

"Aaron—" Aphmau risks again, but Aaron doesn't yield.

"I was left to mourn you, Aph..." Aaron asserts fiercely, letting out his past pain. "It was an uphill battle just to get through the day."

"...."

"The pain of losing you was so bad I nearly handed myself over to the damn marauders!"

"I was healing okay!" Aphmau ultimately yells back, also letting out bottled rage. Aaron then goes mute, his grimace still exhibiting anger, however now with a trace of understanding.

"I lost my arm, Aaron. When I woke up, yes, I felt the physical pain, but the mental and the emotional." Aphmau utters, veiled tears outlining her cheeks. Aaron's angry gaze softens at his lover's broken words. "I thought I failed all of you...you remember what happened that day."

"Like it was yesterday."

"You finished it yesterday? SERIOUSLY?!" Aphmau screams over the vibration of the high-speed wind on the vault hunter jeep, which is the other mode of transit besides the caravan, going full speed, buckling her harness with the draft in her brunette locks.

"I fancy milk chocolate too, you know?" Aaron also yells over the racing wind, adhering onto the frame of the vehicle as they bumped quickly across the hilly terrain of The Dust.