CHAPTER ONE: THE ICEBRINGER AWAKENS

1 week later:

Nestled far above Liar's Berg, a tall and narrow crack opened up the snowy mountainside. Joey stood before the crack, the veins in his arms lightly glowing to keep him warm from the hail and snow.

The light blue sky hiding behind the dark clouds signaled Joey that it was indeed morning once again.

After searching the entire south mountainside, Joey had begun to lose hope until he stumbled upon this well hidden crack. Joey sighed heavily and placed both of his hands on both sides of the crack while leaning forward to see inside. Water poured off the rocks near the crack once Joey's hot hands made contact with the snow bordering the narrow entrance.

Joey pulled back and rubbed his forehead with one of his hands, "Why did it have to be a woman of ice?"

Joey cracked his knuckles and slowly entered the crack, moving his body so his back was up against the right wall. He carefully maneuvered his body around jagged rocks until his hands touched a solid wall blocking his path. Joey cursed under his breath and stood still in the darkness that was dimly pierced by his fiery veins. Joey closed his eyes and focused his energy to his shoulders. His veins forced fire up and out onto his shoulders, lighting the area surrounding him with an orange glow. Joey ran his hands along the walls, "Well, shit."

Joey moved to scoot back to the entrance when a cold breeze washed over his head and pulled at the flames on his shoulders. He glanced up and opened his mouth wide, fire pouring from his lungs and through mouth. The fire flew up into the tunnel above Joey's head and bounced off the rocky ceiling. Joey could see the fire move off from the ceiling to the right, indicating another pathway above him that could lead deeper into the mountain.

Joey closed his mouth and rolled his shoulders back to flex his muscles. The flames on his shoulders spread down his arms, allowing more light in the small space. Joey reached his arms up and grabbed onto two pieces of rock that jutted out of the side of the vertical tunnel. He pushed himself off the ground and quickly grabbed onto two more rocks higher up, forcing his body to climb through the tunnel.

When Joey reached the top of the tunnel, he climbed up onto the horizontal tunnel and laid down on his stomach. While on his stomach, Joey crawled across the ground.

Joey's arms, pants, and face were covered in specks of dirt from traversing the tunnels.

Joey murmured, "How long is this going to take..."

The ground underneath Joey suddenly broke apart. He grabbed onto the pathway in front of him for support and held on with just his hands. His entire body hung above a large drop into an expansive cavern. Joey kicked his legs while forcing his body upwards until his upper body lay along the pathway he clung onto. While struggling to pull himself up the rest of the way, parts of the rocky wall surrounding the path crumbled and fell to the ground below. Joey moved his head to look down at the debris gathering at the snowy bottom.

Joey's body began slowly sliding off the path. While scrambling to keep his body up, Joey's eyes noticed a small clearing in the cavern below him. From his height, he could see holes in the cavern's ceiling above the clearing that allowed some sunlight and snow to fall through. The multiple rays of light pierced the darkness and illuminated a large crystal of ice that rested in the center of the clearing.

"Is that-", Joey's body completely slide off, sending him down onto the large pile of snow beneath him. Joey hit the snow hard on his back. Small pieces of snow flew up around Joey from the impact. Joey groaned and turned over onto his side, relieving pressure from his back.

Joey then slowly stood up from the ground and brushed off the snow from his jeans and from in his hair; all while still looking at the crystal. He walked forward across the large cavern and as he grew closer, Joey could see Leesa inside of the crystal.

Joey stood right before the crystal, watching Leesa as she floated in the middle of it. Her arms were crossed on her chest with her hands near her shoulders. Leesa's purple hair flowed about in the space around her. Her wings were still there, lightly glowing inside of the crystal. Leesa's eyes were closed shut as if she was in a deep slumber.

"Hello?" Joey asked.

Leesa didn't move.

"I know you're busy and all, doing your meditation thing but I need your help." Joey spoke, raising his voice steadily.

Leesa still didn't respond.

Joey balled up his fist and knocked on the crystal five times, "How am I supposed to wake you up?"

On the fifth knock, the ice underneath Joey's fist started to slowly melt and steam at the contact. Joey pulled his arm back then smirked, "Ok then, allons-y."

Joey opened his palm and held his arm out in front of him, placing his hand ever so lightly against the ice. Fire burned through his veins and caused their red lines to appear along his skin, "Heatbeam!"

Fire erupted from Joey's hand and snaked its way around the ice. The ice surrounding Leesa began to melt and poured out tall towers of steam from the friction. In defense, the ice tried to spread out higher and more forward. Joey backed away when the ice came crawling at him.

Joey continued to summon more flames as the ice continued to grow and shrink from his efforts at contacting Leesa. Slowly, the ice that grew turned into large spikes instead of the smooth edges from before.

Joey held out both of his arms as more of his veins lit up from his powers. Flame completely enveloped the ice crystal, only exposing Leesa's face.

Leesa's eyes snapped open to show Icebringer's. Icebringer burst forward through the ice and flames. Ice shards flew around the room and the fire completely disappeared in a wave of flames that followed the shards. Icebringer grabbed onto Joey by his neck and flew him into the wall far behind him. She slammed his body into the wall and held him up in the air as she floated slightly above the ground. Icebringer kept a tight enough grip to keep Joey in the air, but light enough so he could speak.

"Who are you?" Icebringer bellowed.

"Hey, the name's Joey." Joey said squirming.

Icebringer moved closer to Joey's face and pushed him into the wall more. "Why are you here?", Icebringer growled out between her teeth.

Joey coughs, struggling to breath "Need your help, you don't need to know what for but I do." Joey choked out between coughs.

"You come into my domain and wake me from my slumber then demand help? Do you have a death wish?"

"Well, I'm thought to be dead but that's a different story."

Icebringer cocked her head to the side as her eyes bore into Joey's, "You're an interesting specimen. Fire breathes through you as ice does for me." Icebringer released Joey's neck, "What a useful tool."

Icebringer's wings disappeared and her feet touched the ground. Right before Joey, Leesa's eyes slowly came back, piercing through the swirling darkness of Icebringer's eyes.

Leesa breathed out harshly and held into her head, "What... What just happened?"

Joey grabs his neck to try and ease the pain. He looked up to see Leesa back to normal and confused. It was hard to speak but Joey just managed "You tried to choke me, bloody hurt."

Leesa jumped, startled by the sudden realization of Joey in front of her.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry! Icebringer must've been in control." Leesa's hands turned into ice, "Here."

Leesa slowly placed her hands on the bruises starting to appear on Joey's neck. At the contact, steam billowed from around Joey's neck and Leesa's hands.

Leesa pulled back. "What..." Leesa finally looked up into Joey's eyes and saw he had duo colored eyes just like her.

"You're... Like me?" Leesa asked tentatively.

Joey looked up with a stern face."Kinda, minus the whole Icebringer thing" Joey clicked his fingers and a flame appeared, his veins being lit up with fire running through them.

Leesa looked at the flame, mesmerized. She reached forward and waved her hand through the flame, causing it to flicker. Leesa then stepped back, "Why did you wake me up? I feel like I've slept for only a week."

"Well by my count you have." Joey said, making the flame go out. He crossed his arms and looked around the cave, it seemed to have been cut perfectly with every detail. "Look, I need your help with something."

Leesa looked Joey up and down suspiciously, "I get the feeling whatever you need help with isn't minor."

Joey raised his eyebrow and looked back at Leesa. "You have a good judge of character, well you do, Icebringer doesn't."

Leesa stared at the bruise on Joey's neck, "Yeah, I'm still sorry about that." She shifted her weight to her left, "What do you need my help with?"

Joey crossed his arms, trying to ignore the pain in his throat. "All you need to know is that it involves you."

"And if I refuse? Will you come after me?"

"You refuse, then..." Joey sets his arms alight, "You leave me no choice."

Leesa stepped back, "You'd risk fighting Icebringer to get my help? You'd die for my help?!"

"I'd do anything for this goal, it's important to me."

Leesa bit her lip, contemplating her situation. "You've been watching me, obviously. So you know the reason I'm in here, correct?"

"You want to stay calm and not let Icebringer take control right?" Joey said raising an eyebrow.

"Precisely. I can't ignore that look in your eyes, so I will help you. But you need to know the warning signs." Leesa held up her hand as ice flowed across her palm, "If ice starts covering my entire body for absolutely no reason, get away. If my eyes change into swirls of purple, get away. If my hair starts flowing when there's no breeze, get away. If my voice changes, get away. If I tell you to get away, get away."

The ice vanished instantly, "Only if you follow these rules, will I come with you. If I feel like you're in danger because of me, I will leave. Got it?"

"Trust me, my powers have allowed me to survive a bomb going off in my face. I will be fine." Joey smirked, feeling like a badass.

Leesa chuckled slightly, "My name's Leesa."

"I know, the legendary Icebringer Siren. I'm Joey the Pyromancer." Joey said leaning against the cave wall.

"Well, I hope my reputation isn't all bad. And my apologies when I say that I've regretfully never heard of you, Joey. Do you leave no witnesses?" Leesa asked skeptically.

"No, I'm 'dead' at this very moment. Remember that bomb? Yeah, long story short I faked my death. I guess the Vault Hunters moved on, even Gaige." Joey replied looking saddened

"You knew the Vault Hunters?" Leesa asked, noting the sadness in Joey's normally fiery eyes.

"Yeah, ages ago. It was just after they killed handsome Jack for the first time. I met them during the fight with Terramorphus; the times we had, the friends I made... And then I had to leave, I had to 'die'." Joey said trying to keep positive but was struggling terribly.

Leesa's Phase Sight detected Joey's struggle, "I... Uhm. I'd love to hear more of your adventures. I knew them after... You, I suppose." Leesa placed a hand on Joey's arm, steam appearing once more. Leesa removed her hand quickly, "That's going to take some getting used to." Leesa rubbed her arms nervously, "This probably isn't the best place to chat. Where are we heading?"

"Back to my hideout in the dust. Follow me." Joey said smiling.

- M & B

MoE: This chapter was a lot of fun to write! Brownie and I wrote the dialogue as if we were normally talking to each other but through Joey and Leesa. I'm pretty ecstatic about how they'll work out together as a team!

Brownie: i hope you lot are enjoying this because I am, now if people are confused why Joey's body creates steam when Leesa touches him now this isn't exclusive to Leesa it burns when anyone touches Joey that will be explained when the VH's turn up I promise, so yes this is going well and more on the way