Before the War

Surprising Revelations

Granted, she should have known not to underestimate Pandora for madness considering how long she had lived on its surface...but still, she had to admit to herself there was no way to predict that the first pieces of Gortys would be located in the stomach of a young, sleeping Rakk Hive.

She could take pride in the fact she had every damn right to underestimate Rhys, though. Hell, the last time she had seen him he'd looked like he was ready to trip over himself every few minutes, those too-long legs being a nuisance more than an advantage.

Yet she swore in the midst of their little run in he seemed to be darting everywhere, his eyes bright...

She wiped the blood from her neck and flung it to the ground with a noise of disgust, glancing up to see that Percy was cleaning the bayonet of his sniper rifle with what looked like part of an old shirt.

Rhys was collapsed against a rock, breathing heavily as he tried to bandage his hand and wrist to no avail. He clearly had no clue what he was doing, and in other circumstances Fiona would have chided him for it.

Except this time she couldn't muster the will to, and that angered her a little. Because she actually owed the bastard for something now, and she knew he was going to gloat about it at every opportunity. Smug words curling from a handsome mouth, currently set in a grimace as he kept trying and failing to wrap the cloth around his hand.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, wiping some of the excess blood off her hand before she approached him. He barely glanced up at her as she knelt down in front of him, though those mismatched eyes met hers in a glare as she took his hand and jerked it towards her.

He opened his mouth to protest as she expertly unwound the cloth, setting it aside before her fingers went over the delicate bones in his hand. His mouth slipped closed as her fingertips went over every inch of his hand, searching for the bones she had certainly heard crack as he had decided it would be best to take down a Rakk by punching it in the side of the head.

He gave a sharp cry as she set the bones, making sure to hold them in place as she began to wrap the cloth around his hand, not meeting his eyes as he watched her move down to his wrist. He jerked a little as she touched his wrist, and Fiona swore for a moment she saw the clunky blue marks spark a bright blue as she did so.

"You seem like you've done this before," Rhys gasped as she bound his wrist with the makeshift bandages.

She made sure to set the bandages properly before she responded, the small smile blooming on her features just at the memory of it.

"Needed to learn. Sasha was the kind of kid to get into fights every chance she got," Fiona admitted with a chuckle, remembering the bloodied knuckles and the sheepish grins as Sasha held her small hands out to her sister. "I think at some point Felix just got sick of her coming home beaten and bruised all the time so he just bought her a gun. Suppose he's to blame for her obsession with them."

"Sounds like a wonderful childhood," he commented wryly. "So sorry I couldn't experience it."

"Some of us couldn't afford a better one," she replied sharply as she stood up, all but dropping Rhys' wrist into his lap, her anger returning full force as she was once again reminded just how much of an ass he was. "Try not to move it too much."

Fiona walked over to the ECHO comm and checked it for the second location, her mouth set in a thin line as she felt Rhys' eyes on her back. She typed in the coordinates and checked them in comparison to where they were, hissing to herself as she realized they were on the completely opposite end of the desert.

She pulled up the map on the device, searching for a Catch-A-Ride station (and trying not to linger too long on the dull ache she felt rise in her chest) as she stood there.