Finding Sanctuary

It was four days before Hammerlock and the others made it back to Sanctuary, and in that time Jaks spent every moment she could with the little pup Earl. Her mother didn't want to know about it, but Crazy Early had teamed up with Jaks to try to convince her mother of the pup's qualities. The day Hammerlock returned with Mordecai, Axton and Brick, Jaks expected to see him on the firing range, but he didn't surface, nor was he to be found in Moxxi's. Jaks was unconcerned, as she had Earl to look after. That evening, at home with her mother, she was alarmed to hear a loud thumping on their door. Jaks opened it to see Mordecai and Brick standing in front of her. Mordecai immediately asked to speak to her mother. Flushed, Jaks called for her mother. They talked in hushed tones for several minutes, then her mother gasped, put her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry as tears ran down her face. "Oh Ruby, they've found your brother. They've finally found my Troy." She fell to the floor sobbing. Jaks looked up at Mordecai.

"We found a recording in the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve, detailing the death of Troy Jakobs by means of experimentation for being a traitor to the Hyperion Corporation," Mordecai told her in a matter-of-fact tone. "Apparently he was sending subversive information about Handsome Jack's slag experiments to the underground network in the hope of bringing Jack down and got found out. It was a brave move. I'm sorry for your loss." She nodded at Mordecai, and helped her mother to her feet.

Her mother stepped between Jaks and the Vault Hunters, and began to thank them for the information and close the door, when Brick spoke up. "Hey Jaks, how's the puppy?" he said cheerfully. Jaks' mother froze. She stared at the Vault Hunters, then turned slowly and gave Jaks a hard look. She closed the door without a word, and retired to her room. Jaks could hear her sobbing quietly, but when she tried to approach her mother, she was pushed away. Jaks' mother fell into a deeper despair than any Jaks had yet seen. Jaks called for Doctor Zed, but even he couldn't reach out to her mother. Jaks was unsure what to do, and apart from visits to check on the puppy Earl, and get advice from Hammerlock, she stayed as close to her mother as she was able. After four days, Jaks woke to find her mother missing from her room. Alive with the hope that she had recovered and gone to Crazy Earl's, Jaks went to find her. But on reaching Crazy Earl's she found her mother wasn't there. Jaks checked with Doctor Zed, the travel log at Pierce Station, even Moxxi's bar, but her mother was nowhere to be seen. She called on Hammerlock, and together they searched Sanctuary for her mother. By nightfall, Hammerlock told Jaks to go home in case her mother returned, but instead she was met by Mordecai.

"Hey Jaks," he approached awkwardly.

"Hi," she started. "Are you here to see my mother? It's just, uh… I'm not sure where she is. She's been gone all day. I've looked all over Sanctuary, and I just can't find her. I even checked the Fast Travel Station, but she hasn't left. I thought she might have gone out to the Preserve to see where Troy died…" she trailed off when she saw the uncomfortable look on Mordecai's face.

"I'm really sorry Jaks," he started. Jaks could feel bad news coming and started to shake. "Your mother… uh, your mother was found a few hours ago by a convoy of Crimson Raiders out on the Highlands. The news came through about half hour ago – I thought I better wait for you."

"What do you mean she was found on the Highlands?" Jaks was now visibly shaking. "Is she OK? Is she hurt? How did she get there?"

Mordecai looked down at his feet, then looked Jaks straight in the eye. "They found her body by the side of a cliff, probably been out there several hours. It was in a bad way. Smashed. You're right, she didn't use the Fast Travel, but she did leave Sanctuary. I'm sorry Jaks, it looks like she jumped."

Jaks stumbled backwards as Mordecai reached forward to catch her. In all the years of her mother's grief and depression, Jaks had never contemplated that she might take her own life, and yet now it seemed obvious that suicide was Grace Jakobs' only way out. Jaks wanted to cry out, but instead stood stunned, held by the Vault Hunter. Mordecai took Jaks inside and sent for Hammerlock. He watched over her until the old hunter arrived, warning Hammerlock not to let Jaks out of his sight in case she follow her mother's example. Jaks didn't sleep that night, though almost catatonic. She played out scenes from her life in her mind, over and over. She cried all over again for the loss of her father, for her brother's disappearance and eventual death, for little Maisy, and for the years of despair suffered by her mother. She felt the weight of guilt settle on her for her own actions over recent months, flouting her mother's rules. She kept coming back to the Vault Hunters' arrival at her house just days before to break the news of her brother, and inadvertently breaking the news of Jaks' own treachery. She cried silently. But as light grew around Sanctuary, another thought touched Jaks' mind. She was not to blame for her father's murder, or for brother joining Hyperion only to be tortured and executed by them. She was not responsible for her sister's illness, not for her mother's grief. If her father had still been alive, he would have wanted her to make friends and she would not have been cloistered away. Her mother had brought Jaks up as best she could, but the time would always have had to come when Jaks stepped out on her own. Jaks was not the cause of her mother's death. Her mother was damaged by forces beyond Jaks' control. She didn't have to wear the grief and guilt her mother had carried for so long.

She roused herself, and found Hammerlock sitting in the small kitchen. She pulled up a seat next to him and began to pour out her thoughts, her dreams, her plans. When daylight began to settle on the streets of Sanctuary, she left her home and ran over to Crazy Earl's. She stopped to say a few words of thanks to him, collected the skag pup, and left. Walking back along Sanctuary's streets, she began to hear a conversation taking place outside the Crimson Raider's Headquarters. She could recognise the voices of Mordecai, Moxxi and Marcus. Jaks stopped at the corner to listen.

"I feel responsible for her. I was there when her brother's recordings were found. Brick and I delivered the message of his death to the girl and her mother," Mordecai was saying. "All these years in Sanctuary… I'd heard the family's story and never reached out to them. Now to have to tell her that her mother jumped… It's not good. We should've done more to help them."

"What more could we have done? Everyone here has suffered, everyone's struggling to survive." This was a woman's voice, but not Moxxi's. Jaks thought it might have been Lilith, but she wasn't sure.

"We could have found some way to help," Mordecai replied. "I just hope Hammerlock's kept a good eye on her overnight. If anything happens to that girl, I'll take it personal."

"You'll take it personal? You barely know her." That was Moxxi.

"Yeah, well, she reminds me of how I was when I was a kid. Only with better manners."

"So what are you going to do Mordy? Take her under your wing? Teach her to drink straight from the bottle? Take it from me sweetlips, what that girl needs is a proper mother figure."

"Like you Moxxi?" Mordecai snorted.

"I'm a damn good mother I'll have you know," she shot back.

"Mordecai's right, we should have done more for them," Marcus growled. "Her father worked for me for a while out at New Haven – before Hyperion came along and shot the place to ribbons. They were a nice family, she was a good kid."

"So what happened?" This sounded like Lilith again.

"I convinced her father, Eli, to leave the Jakobs family business. Jakobs doesn't like it when a family member leaves. The company shut the family out. So he comes to work for me. Everything's working out well. Then I hear about this guy out on the Trash Coast, some merc who's grumbling about my weapons, says they're no good. He starts interrupting my shipments, you know, selling them off real cheap just to piss me off. Says if he ever meets me, he'll blow my head off. I try to placate him, no good. So I try to reason with him, set up a meeting to work it out. But, I can't go myself 'cause I know I'll be killed. So Eli offers to go. Says he's got a lot of experience negotiating tough deals, and it'll sound nice and official because he's a Jakobs. Before he leaves, he makes me promise to look after Grace and the kids – I gave him my word. Then he goes out there and gets shot in the head. I ended up hiring some guys to go out there and kill this bastard, but Grace wouldn't take any money or help from me."

"Jeez." Another voice, well rounded and a little gravelly. Jaks thought it might be Axton. For the first time Jaks knew what had happened to her father. He'd volunteered to walk into the lion's den. She shuddered.

"This doesn't help us figure out what to do for her now, unless you're offering to take her in," Mordecai said to Marcus.

"Me? No way. I'll give her anything she might need but I don't have space for anyone else."

"She can come stay with me," said Moxxi. "After all, we get along real well and I am an experienced mother. Besides, I'll soon be setting up a new Underdome out at Badass Crater and could use an extra pair of hands."

"I'm sorry, stay with you? Are you serious? Have you seen this girl? She's… stunning!" Jaks blushed, and was sure this time that Axton was talking. She remembered the way he'd looked at her out in Three Horns.

"Dude, she's eighteen. Can you please not say that," said Mordecai.

"That's right, she eighteen. Now, I don't know what you're seeing Mordecai, but I gotta tell you, this girl is a knock-out. I mean, if this was Isolus she'd be locked up for the sake of maintaining public order. If she goes to live with Moxxi in the Underdome, how do you think that's gonna go?" Axton replied.

"She'll be fine soldier-boy. I'll look after her as if she was my own," Moxxi assured him.

"Yeah, well I could say a few things about your own. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure Miss Jakobs would be a boon for your business… the bar would always be full just at the chance of getting a glimpse of her. But I'm not sure that qualifies as you being a mother figure."

Jaks heard a loud slapping sound. "Oww!" she heard Axton gasp.

"Now look what you made me do," complained Moxxi. "I've cracked a nail. Damn!"

"I hate to say it," Mordecai spoke up, "But he's right Moxxi. The Underdome's no place for Jaks. She's been through enough already. She's eighteen, I don't think she needs a parental figure anymore, but she does need family. We can make room for her here in HQ."

Jaks had heard enough. She stepped out from behind the corner, with little Earl still in her arms. "Enough, please," she said. "I've been living here for three years, and until recently most of you had never talked to me," she looked at Lilith and went on, "some of you still haven't. So while I appreciate your concern, I'll be the one to decide what I do from now on."

"We're not trying to make decisions for you Ruby-red," Moxxi said tenderly.

"I know. I heard what you said, I know you're just trying to look out for me," Jaks replied.

"Uh, how much did you hear?" Axton asked cagily.

"Quite a bit," Jaks shot back with a teasing smile.

Axton turned a little red and fumbled with shoulder turret. Mordecai stepped forward, "Jaks, nothing needs to be decided yet. No one will be making the decision for you. You should go home and rest."

Jaks smiled softly. "Thanks Mordecai. I want you to know, I'm grateful for your support. But I've already decided, I'm leaving Sanctuary."

"Where are you going to go kitten?" asked Moxxi with some concern.

"I'm leaving for Aegrus. I'm going to live with Hammerlock out at his lodge."

"With Hammerlock?" Axton asked in disbelief. "You know he's – "

"My closest friend. He's heading out to the continent to continue his research on boroks, and I'll be going with him. I'll be able to finally finish my education, and with my medical knowledge I'll be able to help out the hunters who stay at the lodge when they run into trouble. Plus little Earl will have somewhere to grow up." She shuffled the skag pup as he nuzzled against her. "Hammerlock and I talked it through, and it's what I want."

"Well you know who to come to when you want to talk girl to girl," Moxxi stepped forward and hugged her. "I'm always here for you sugar."

"I know Moxxi," Jaks hugged her back. She nodded to Mordecai and Marcus, and shot another shy smile at Axton, then walked back across the square. Ready to start a new life in the wilds of Aegrus.