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Bullets flew overhead, ricocheting off the steel frame of the old Bandit Technical Maya had taken cover behind while her phase recharged. She could hear Krieg, screaming as he unloaded clip after clip on their enemies. She couldn't leave him out there on his own for long. Quickly rummaging in her belt for some ammo for the gun she was currently using, she realized she was out. "Fuck." She hissed to herself. She didn't have time for this bullshit.
Without another moments hesitation she stood, holding three buttons down on the side of her Tediore Semi Auto. They began to blink immediately and she threw it, as hard as she possibly could, towards the bandits she and Krieg were at war with. Right after it had left her hands, she had two pistols in its place, jumping up on the hood of the Bandit Tech to take better aim as the Tediore hit the ground, causing a massive explosion, bodies flying this way and that. Kneeling down, she held her pistols tightly as she fired continuously, the recoil barely registering as she hit her targets, one after another, but still more took their place as they fell. How many of these assholes were there? She scowled, a slight heat starting at her ankle, running up her side and through her arm. Finally.
Holstering one of her pistols skilfully, she held out her arm, the heat growing more and more as she focused her energy, the marking on her arm beginning to glow. Krieg glanced over, grinning behind his mask as he readied for whatever fun trick she was about to pull this time. Fighting with her was always a treat; she could make people catch fire, freeze on the spot, all kinds of crazy shit. He loved it. However, just before she had fully focused her energy to phase whomever her exact target was, a bullet took her square in the shoulder. She cried out in pain, tumbling backward over the hood of the car, gripping onto her shoulder, blood trickling between her fingers. Of course she had taken bullets before, it was nothing new, but the pain of having her phase cut short didn't help.
As soon as Kreig heard her cry out, he shot a look to where she was, his vision going red when he didn't see her there. The last thing Maya heard before the pain of the bullet lodged in her shoulder and the fire burning beneath her skin caused her to lose consciousness was him letting out a primal, blood thirsty scream.
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When she finally came to, all she could feel was a massive throbbing in her head. Her ears were ringing, her body stiff as a board. A soft groan left her lips as she attempted to sit up. Alas, she barely managed to get her head off the pillow before her entire side felt like it had caught fire again. She heard faint voices not far away, indistinct chatter about who knows what. She could make out a few voices.. Tannis.. Roland, Lilith, Mordecai.. Krieg was generally quiet in social situations, so there was no telling whether he was there or not.. She took a deep breath, holding it in as she forced herself up, hissing in pain before a loud, involuntary cry of pain left her lips. There was no way she was going to just lay in this bed like some sort of wounded animal. Just as she sat up, the voices stopped.
She heard a what sounded to her like a stampede of elephants coming down the stairs. "Maya, darling, you really should be lying down with an injury like that." Tannis spoke, approaching the bed first.
"Right. Where's Krieg?" She asked, not really caring all too much about her current physical state. She would be fine, she'd had worse.
"He's fine, don't worry." Mordecai gave a small smirk, leaning against the frame of the neighboring bunkbed and kicking back a swig from his flask.
"That's not what I asked." Maya stated, turning around to put her legs over the side of the bed. All the boys cleared their throats and glanced away momentarily. She narrowed her eyes and looked down at herself. Of course, she was in her underthings. Rolling her eyes, she reached up to grab the underside of the bed above her own for support trying to stand.
"I don't think so, kid." Lilith finally spoke, standing before Maya, blocking her from standing. "You seriously need to stay down for a bit. You took a pretty hard blow, especially with your phase being cut like that."
"It's not like it hasn't happened before." Maya growled quietly, placing a hand on her bandaged shoulder, a small patch of blood showing through the gauze. "Can I just get up and walk around a bit? I'm going to go fucking crazy just laying here." She hissed.
The group knew there was no stopping her, sirens were notoriously stubborn. (Though Lilith would fight the claim until she was blue in the face.) They all basically shrugged and backed off. "You know where we'll be is you need anything." Roland said as he followed the rest of the group back up the stairs. 'Of couse, you're all loud enough. Anyone could find you.' She thought, giving a heavy sigh. After a moment, she finally stood, her left leg burning still. Well, the entire left side of her body felt like it was the smoldering embers left after a brilliant blaze. She hobbled across the room, holding onto random bits of furniture for support as she made her way over to the laundry area, hoping her clothes would be in one of the dryers.
The door opened when she was in the middle of the room; the light flooding in made her head throb even harder. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the form in the doorway. Fortunately, a gruff voice called out and she immediately knew who it was.
"THE BLOOD MAIDEN RISES " Krieg cried out, hurrying over to her. The volume at which he spoke didn't normally bother her, and right now she was going to pretend it didn't split her skull straight down the middle. She was just happy to see him. Before she knew it, his muscular arms were wrapped around her, lifting her up off the floor as he pressed his masked face against her own.
"Oof, not so tight. I still have to breathe." She gave a small smirk as he loosened his grip a bit.
He grunted quietly, gently setting her back down on her feet. Just in that moment he realized she was only in her underthings, his eyes shooting open, though she could only see the one. Quickly he averted his gaze, covering the singular eye hole in his mask. "THE BARE FLESH makes me WRITHE " He shouted, causing her to laugh, despite the pain in her entire body.
"I'm hardly naked, Krieg. " She chuckled, continuing her journey to find the rest of her clothes. His only response was a low hum as he peeked at her through his fingers, his cheeks flushing pink. He continued to not-so-discreetly watch her as she rummaged for her clothes in the dryers. Soon enough, she had finally found them. Holding onto the wall for support she pulled on what she could. If Krieg hadn't been so entranced with watching her, which he frequently did, he probably would have tried to help. She, however, was not one for accepting help normally.
After fighting most of her combat suit on, she sat on the nearest couch, giving a harsh sigh. Kreig planted himself right beside her before she could get the words out to invite him over. She smiled, leaning her head on his large shoulder as she trailed her fingertips down his arm, stopping to lay her hand atop his own. the difference in size between just their hands alone was incredible. Despite the years of combat, her hands were still soft, his rough and scarred. They were nearly polar opposites in terms of appearance. She loved it. He was so different from everyone. He was quiet most of the time, his responses mostly grunts and small growls. Occasionally some strange psycho babble would burst forth from his lips. No one was really bothered by it really, but she thought it was kind of cute.
Today something seemed strange about it. Well, more strange than usual. His breath was deep and slow, and he was more tense than she'd ever seen him. "Hey big guy, what's up? You're acting weird." She looked up at him, furrowing her brow slightly.
He gave a quiet grunt, looking away. Inside his head he was screaming at himself to speak words. To tell her how scared he was that she wasn't gonna make it. That he had been the one to let her die. He growled at himself, shaking his head. His words didn't work like that anymore. He could never say what he was actually thinking. He hated it.
"Come on, you can tell me, K." Maya gave a gentle smile.
A low rumble started in his chest as he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"I AM UNuSED TO THE EMOTIONS I am cuRRENTLY FEELING!!"
"Gotcha." She nodded, brushing a bit of hair from her face.
He was breathing more feverishly now, she could feel his pulse running rapid in his hand. He stared down at her, his heart rate only jumping more. He shut his eyes tight, the voice in his head had not relented in begging him to at least attempt to speak words. Some sort of sentence that didn't include meat, blood, or poop. He growled quietly, shaking his head before he turned to her, grabbing her upper arms firmly. Hopefully, he wasn't hurting her. If he was, she wasn't showing it. She only looked up at him with raised brows and wide eyes.
He stared down at her, his breath loud and slightly strained as he let out small grunts. She knew he was trying to talk to her, so she waited silently.
"THE SLAUGHTER PRINCESS HAD US COWERING." He shouted. Almost.
Again, she remained silent, knowing there was more to come.
"T... For.. ARRRRUUGHH." He growled again, his hands moving to either side of his head, repeating the words 'Shut up.'
"Whoa, hey, Krieg. Relax.. It's okay.. I think I get what you're saying." She gave a comforting smile, raising her hands to his and making him look back down on her. She could tell, after all the time they've spent together, that his face was panicked just by seeing how wide his one eye was. "You were worried about me." She said softly, gently caressing his large hands with her thumbs. He nodded, lowering his hands to his lap with a soft hum of acknowledgment. There was more to it than that, but.. Close enough. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly before looking back down at her, raising one hand to caress her cheek with his thumb.
He didn't know what he would do without her. His siren, his perfect, violent, beautiful, funny, sarcastic siren. She was perfect. He wished he could be even a quarter as smart and amazing as she was. He had no idea what he meant to her, though. Her blue painted lips curled into a smile as she nuzzled into the palm of his hand, closing her eyes. She had never met someone, much less a man, who actually cared about who she was as a person rather than the fact that she was a siren or the size and shape of her chest. (Though, of course, he had noticed that too.) He simply sat there, tilting his head slightly as he watched her, feeling her soft, cool skin against the his rough calloused hand. After a moment she looked up at him, her grey eyes settling on his face. Or rather, his mask. Her smile faltering for a moment, she glanced away.
His brow furrowed sightly; something was wrong. Did he say something without realizing it? Wouldn't have been the first time. No.. She would have responded verbally. He gave a soft grunt, leaning closer to her.
"I wish you would let me see your face more often." She spoke gently, resting her hand on the back of his own.
"I know you don't like people to see the scars, but I still think you're handsome. "
With only a seconds hesitation, he reached up to his mask, touching it gently for a moment before pulling at the buckles impatiently. If his goddess wanted to see his face, she was going to see his face. He wanted to make her happy, always. She looked up, watching him fuss with the straps for a few seconds, a small smile playing on her lips as he pulled the mask off, setting it down gently beside himself. He took a moment to build himself up enough to look at her, his brow slightly furrowed. However, his face softened when his eyes met hers. She was smiling the softest, most loving smile he could ever recall seeing on anyone's face.
"Krieg.." She purred quietly.
His name on her lips was onre of the most amazing things he had experienced, especially when she said it like that. He raised his brows slightly, giving a small, curious hum.
"I..." She bit her lip, cheeks flushing bright red as she tried to build up what she wanted to say. She had never told anyone these words before. Of course, she had never felt this way before. It was strange, confusing, infuriating, embarrassing, terrifying.. But she couldn't get enough of it. Finally, she took a deep breath, looking into his eyes. "I love you.." She finally spoke.
His heart nearly exploded with shock, with elation. His cheeks flushing to match her own. Never did he think he would hear those words from someone for as long as he lived, and from, a mighty Siren, no less.. He could feel a tear welling in his one functioning eye, quickly wiping it away as he tried to force himself to speak.
"I.. L.." He stammered, clenching his fist slightly and tightening his jaw. "I Love.. you.." He grunted, looking down at her. Before he could get the last word out, her lips pressed firmly against his. He quickly leaned into her kiss, moving his hands to her hips to pull her into his lap, where she straddled his hips, her hands resting on his shoulders. They remained lost in the kiss until Maya finally pulled away.
"Wanna take a nap..?" She asked, a small smirk on her face.
He returned her smirk, nodding and gently lifting her, carrying hr over to the bed she had been in previously. He laid her gingerly on the mattress, scooting himself under the covers beside her.