A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long! I was preparing for a convention on top of getting really distracted by another fanfic I started. But here it is. The big climax. ;) I hope this extra long final chapter makes up for the wait. Enjoy!~

The next day, Moxxi didn't call in Christina. She decided to leave the bar closed for the day as she got ready, but stopped to hug Nisha tightly before they went down the steps. "Promise me you'll be careful with all of this, whatever happens. I have a horrible feeling."

Nisha hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. "Of course." The corners of her mouth raised into a smile. "Your mark hasn't even been able to scar over yet. I couldn't let myself go and die now."

Moxxi looked up at her and matched her smile. "Good." She held her tighter and nuzzled into her chest. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too." She gave her another deep kiss and held her hand tightly as they left to meet Roland. They got into HQ and all of them were gathered on the lower level.

"Ah. Nisha. You ready?"

"Yeah. And it seems I actually will have company."

Mordecai was the next to respond. "You mean Moxxi's actually going with you?!"

"She insisted."

Moxxi held onto her arm protectively. "I just want to make sure she's safe." She looked over at her ex-lover, trying to keep her usual facade, but her concern was still apparent in her eyes and expression. "Please don't make anything out of this. I just want to get the….thing, whatever she needs, and go. I don't want to argue."

"Won't that be dangerous?" Lilith asked.

"I don't care. I can handle myself for one mission. I'm a strong girl."

"Just be careful."

Moxxi smiled with a little giggle. "Aww Lilith, I didn't know you cared. Such a sweetheart."

Nisha broke the pleasantries, wanting to just get this over with. "Where is it so we can go?"

Roland picked up a pack of grenades from the table and handed them over to her. "Take them to the eridium mines. Drop them in as many as you can."

Nisha took them and shoved them in her bag. "Right. We'll be on our way then. We should be back by tomorrow at the latest."

"Good."

Nisha tipped her hat, followed by Moxxi waving with a wink, then both left to get a car. Nisha was quick to get in the driver seat.

"Aww, don't you trust me, sugar?" She chuckled as she climbed into the passenger side, remembering the last time she had driven them anywhere, especially her now-lover's reaction.

"No offense, but no. I'd rather live."

Moxxi folded her arms and pouted. "You survived. I know what I'm doing."

"Still. Hold tight." They took off for Lynchwood, though Nisha's driving was only a bit tamer than the other woman's. When they arrived, Nisha climbed out, then walked around as Moxxi fixed some messy hair in the mirror to open the door for her. She leaned over and held her hand out with a smile.

With a giggle, Moxxi took her hand, which was then met with a kiss. "So polite. Thank you, sugar."

Nisha gave her a small kiss on the lips after both stood up again, then her hand instinctively went to her gun, her smile fading. "Now that we're here, keep that gun on you and ready. This place may be even worse than when I left it."

"Right." Moxxi took out Rubi and kept hold of it, just in case, as they made their way to the mines. Along the way, there were a few stray bandits of course, but between the two of them, they took them out with relative ease. As they approached the first shaft, Nisha turned off the drill for the moment and looked down into the glittering purple hole. "Let's hope this works." She dropped one of the grenades and, instead of a huge explosion, it released a dark orange gas. The purple glow faded in brilliance and a terrible smell snuck up from the depth of it. Nisha turned the drill back on and they did the same with others, and a few train cars full, until they ran out of grenades.

"Can we take a little rest now? Don't you have a place here if you lived here before?"

"Yeah, I did. Let's just hope it's still there and still mine." Nisha led her through the little town until they reached a building with a large Sheriff star on top of it. She entered the office first and found the deputy asleep at the desk. "HEY! Wake up, you lazy ass!"

The deputy nearly fell out of his chair upon hearing the voice he hadn't heard for so long, then barely recognized her in her shabbier outfit. "Sheriff!"

"That's right. Now give me the rundown. What's happened since I left?"

"Same old, same old. Jack came by looking for you, sent some men a few other times."

The sheriff's lip curled into a sneer from the mere thought. "Tch. Of course he did."

"And what about your little friend there? It looks like Mad Moxxi herself!"

Moxxi giggled and bowed theatrically, taking off her hat as she did so. "The one and only, sugar." She placed the hat neatly back on her head, a smile now on her face.

"What are you doing here, Miss Moxxi?"

"I've taken quite a liking to your sheriff. I wanted to come along when she came back to see her town."

"Pah! Not much to see here."

"Oh there's plenty to see….and do." Moxxi snaked her arms around her lover's and looked up at her with a grin.

Nisha returned the grin, but had to decline for obvious reasons. "Not now, Mox." She leaned in for a kiss. "Maybe when we get home."

"I hope that's a promise, sugar."

Nisha looked away and back to the deputy. "We'll be heading up to my place for a bit. See ya." With a tip of her hat, she led the way to her home on the second floor.

Moxxi sat down on a couch as she looked around. "Cozy….and very you. We may have to take some of these things home." She grinned, looking over at some of her 'toys' she didn't have the shame nor the care to hide. Some were common kinks, others looked like they belonged in a torture dungeon.

"We can if you want. Just might want to clean them before we use them."

Moxxi's lip curled in disgust. "You mean you don't clean them?"

"Oh no. I do. I just want to make sure every atom of Jack is gone from them before they touch that perfect body." She got a mischievous smirk, the mere thought of using them on her new lover getting her all kinds of excited. She wanted to stain them with the life, blood, and pleasure of her new toy instead.

Moxxi smiled and got up to meander over and kiss her cheek. "So sweet, yet so evil. The perfect combination…."

Nisha chuckled darkly as she slid her fingers down one of the tools. "Soon….we'll take some with us when we leave."

"Thank you so much, sweet thing. I can't wait to try them out." She kissed her cheek again, sneaking in a squeeze to her breast in the process before giggling and walking around.

For the rest of the day, the sheriff tried to catch up on what was going on with the town and straighten anything out that had gotten out of control. Overall, she was surprised with how well the deputy had done. She also made sure shipments of eridium to Jack went as scheduled without a hitch.

Once night fell and she had done as much as she felt she needed to, she went back up to the apartment, where Moxxi was already snoozing on her bed. She looked outside after getting a nasty sinking feeling in her gut, but couldn't see anything worth worrying about thus far. She checked a few more times while and after getting ready for bed to be safe, then climbed in bed as well.

The other woman woke briefly and cuddled up to her, holding onto her a bit tighter than usual. "Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight." She held her close and kissed the top of her head, though she herself wasn't able to fall asleep for awhile longer.

The next morning, they both awoke with a smile and a kiss. "Good morning, Sheriff." Moxxi kissed her nose.

"Morning."

Moxxi cuddled up to her again and they remained for a few minutes until they finally decided to get up. Moxxi threw her legs over the side of the bed and stretched with a yawn. "Been a while since I woke up in someone else's place." She giggled.

"Well we might be coming back eventually. I need to still keep an eye on the place." Nisha got up and started to get dressed.

"This place really fits a cowgirl like you." She got up to do the same.

"Jack gave me the town and I've taken care of it personally since. I feel a bit possessive of it."

"Understandable." Moxxi started on her makeup first since hers took the longest.

Once both were ready, they packed up as many toys as they could fit, as well as anything else Nisha wanted to bring, and headed out.

Nisha stopped at the office one more time to check with the deputy. She gave him some more instructions, but couldn't help but notice he was acting strangely. "The hell's your problem? You keep stuttering."

"Uh….n-no reason. Oh! One more thing before you g-go…." He dug through drawers, seemingly aimlessly, as if he wasn't even sure what he was looking for. "It's in here somewhere!"

Nisha folded her arms, tapping her finger As she waited. "What even is it? It better be important."

"It is, it is! I just need to….find it…." He continued digging around.

Nisha rolled her eyes, then turned to look as she heard the main doors open. Her eyes went wide and she immediately grabbed Moxxi's hand to pull her over. "Get over here!"

Moxxi hadn't looked and therefore was a bit confused, but once she was beside her lover and got to see the doorway, her heart sank. "Jack?"

"Shut up, you skag sucker." His gaze was fixed on the sheriff. "This is between the betraying little bitch and myself."

Nisha glared over at the deputy. "You told him." Her words were met with only a head nod, which was then met by her pistol aimed at the same place. The trigger was pulled without a second thought, then the gun was aimed instead at the unexpected guest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Moxxi had already done the same.

"You did this, I know it, you goddamned whore."

"And just what did I do?"

"SHE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" Jack growled and shot a random bandit out of frustration. His security entourage was just behind him, thankful he hadn't aimed at them.

"Angel, right? Yeah, I know. Worth it to put a damper in your day."

Moxxi looked over at her in confusion. "Angel? But….we didn't kill anyone."

"Yes you fucking did! My daughter is gone because of YOU!" He snapped his fingers and a few entourage members came closer. "Restrain balloon tits. I want this to be just us."

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Nisha shot at the men as they came closer, but upon Jack's instruction, both were detained instead. Both fought and struggled, but there were too many for them to take individually.

"There. Better."

"Give me back my gun, you coward!"

"Coward, eh? Who's the coward here? You could have come after me, but no. You went after my INNOCENT DAUGHTER instead." He slapped her hard across the face. "Oh the things I would love to do to you right now, but see, you would enjoy them all far too much. We can't have that. You have to be properly punished." He stomped on her knee as hard as he could, hoping to at least dislocate it, but not quite succeeding. Still, it resulted in a small cry of pain.

"No! Please don't hurt her!" Moxxi began struggling more, but had a hand clapped over her mouth before it was replaced with a gag. She was then bound with thick ropes to try and reduce the trouble she caused.

"Now let this one go."

Every man he brought looked at him I'm confusion. "What? Let her go? Really?"

"Did I fucking stutter? Do it!"

They quickly did, but pulled off all of her weapons in the process, leaving her defenseless aside from whatever she could do with her own body. "What the hell are you getting at, Jackass?"

Jack pulled out the guns he had on his person and pointed them at her for a moment, then tossed them aside. He pulled a long, jagged knife out of a pocket and tossed it away as well. "Look. You've got a chance she didn't get. Come get me."

Nisha didn't budge, studying every inch of him for any other hidden weapons. "You've got to be hiding something. No way in hell are you going to let yourself be defenseless."

Jack's lips curved into a twisted grin. "Come find out then! You want to get me? Then come get me!"

Nisha still didn't move, but stayed silent.

"Fine, tch, and you call me the coward." He walked over to her, then pushed her back against the wall. His hands landed on each side of her as he pinned her back against it. "You could have had it all. You DID have it all. And you threw it all away for that slutty bag of boobs and some bandits. Apparently that brain of yours is a lot smaller than I gave you credit for."

Nisha scowled and kicked her leg up, right between his legs, getting a perfect shot to make him howl in pain and fall to the ground. "So is yours for giving me that opportunity." She went to kick him again, but the security entourage quickly jumped up to grab her again.

"NO!" Jack barked. "Leave her be. As I said, this is between just us."

Nisha punched one of them in the face once she was released, then turned her attention back to her ex. "What the hell do you want with this? You're being vague as hell."

Jack shook off the pain after the time that had passed and stood up again. "My offer still stands. Come get me."

Nisha, acting more out of rage at this point, charged at him with a fist ready for his face. However, he blocked and redirected it to throw her off and tripped her. The next thing she knew, there was a sharp, piercing pain in her chest that caused her to cry out once again. That small pain was then followed by the worst pain she had ever felt, as if her blood was on fire and burning her alive from the inside. She looked up and saw a rather large syringe in her chest, the canister still containing a dull purple residue.

Moxxi struggled harder than ever as tears began to stream from her eyes; groaning and growling as she desperately tried to free herself.

"Now let her go. I want to see this. It'll be like the end of a sappy romance movie."

The men obeyed and untied Moxxi, who immediately rushed over to her lover. "NISHA!" She pulled her in to lie on her lap. "Nisha, darling, please…."

Nisha's face was contorted from pain too extreme for even her unnaturally high threshold. "Oh god….the back room….medical vials."

Moxxi turned to look and saw the way there was well guarded. "I….I don't think I can."

"Trust me. It won't help." Jack added, now standing with his arms folded.

"What even was that?!" Moxxi shouted.

"The same tainted eridium that killed my Angel."

"Oh god…." Moxxi held her close and stroked her hair, trying her best to comfort her. "Oh Nisha….oh god…."

"Kill….him…." Nisha gripped her jacket as tightly as she could.

"Yes, yes love….sshh…." Tears stung her eyes as they fell like waterfalls down her cheeks and onto the dark hair of the woman in her arms. "I can't lose you…."

"Hey, you know if there's any popcorn here?" Jack asked his men, who all shrugged in uncertainty. "God, you're all useless."

Moxxi ignored him for now, focusing all of her attention of Nisha. "I love you so much….so much."

"And I….love you." Nisha let out a loud groan and her body seized, tensing up. "Moxxi…."

"Yes, yes, I'm here." She held her even closer. "Sshh….I'm here." In that moment, the body she held began to relax. "No….no….please, no…." She held it even tighter as it fell completely limp. "NO!" She sobbed into her hair, then once she could calm down enough, laid her down and looked at her now lifeless face. She leaned down to stroke her cheek and leave one last kiss on her lips.

"Eww that's gross! Kissing a corpse….goddamn, Moxxi, I mean come ON!"

Moxxi's tears of sorrow turned to rage as she slowly turned her head to shoot daggers at Jack through her stare. "You bastard." She stood up and faced him, then slowly inched towards him. "You rotten, heartless bastard!" She swung a fist, then while he was distracted with it, pulled a blade out she had hidden between her breasts and held it to his throat. He retaliated by punching her in the gut, but she managed to swipe and get a deep gash just under his chin.

The entourage took action immediately and pulled her away, then escorted Jack away to get him medical attention.

Moxxi, now alone, wrapped her arms around herself and fell to her knees, sobbing again. She screamed as loud as she could to vent some of the pain, though it barely helped, then crawled over to the body of her lover one last time. She stroked her cheek again as her face fell into her chest, sobbing again. "I'm so sorry….I couldn't help you. I'm so sorry…."

After she was able to calm down enough to ECHO Roland, he arranged to have her picked up and brought back, as well as Nisha's corpse to give her a proper funeral, if only for Moxxi's sake. Just outside of Sanctuary, they dug up a grave and put together a makeshift casket. Few were there, but one face was, for once, only wearing minimal makeup, though her face was pale enough naturally to almost match the white paint, especially right now. She was the only one there actually shedding tears, but they came fast and strong. She left some flowers on top of her before they closed the casket and lowered it down into the hole. Moxxi pulled her nearby son in to hug him tightly, which he returned, hoping to comfort his ailing mother at least a bit.

Once it was in the ground, rather than rebury it, they covered it with fuel and then lit it aflame. Moxxi couldn't stand the thought of what psychos and bandits may do to her body if they found it, so she wanted it saved from the desecration. She buried her face in her son's shoulder, though the tears finally began to slow down. After a few moments, she finally dared to look again and the flames were still strong. "I can't….I can't stay here any longer."

"It's fine." Roland said. "You go relax. We'll make sure this gets fully taken care of."

"Thank you….so much. It really means a lot." She got a small, forced smile, then walked with Scooter back home. She grabbed a bottle of wine before heading upstairs, then sat down on her bed. "You can go, sweetie. I'll be fine."

"You sure, mama? If you want some time alone, maybe I should just wait downstairs."

"If you like. I just need to think."

"Alrighty then. I'll be downstairs, k?"

"Sure, sweetheart. Treat yourself to a beer or two if you like, too." She flashed another forced smile.

"Nah, I'll be fine. You think good now, and holler if you need anything."

Moxxi chuckled just a little bit at his silly way of wording his sentence, then got up to give him another hug. "Of course. Thank you for everything today, dear."

He hugged her back again, smiling. "Aww, no prob, mama."

She looked up at him with a smile, the first that wasn't forced, stroked his cheek, then pulled away as he went down to the bar. Once he was gone, she changed into fuzzy, comfy pajamas and went into the bathroom to wash off her makeup. After doing so, she turned slightly and pulled down the top edge of the bottoms to show the spiral on her hip. Her finger glided slowly over it, tracing the shape she knew so well by now. She looked around for a razor, then pressed it to the skin scarred by the spiral, carving two lines across it in an X. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes again as she did so, making droplets of red rise to the surface. She then went back to the bedroom and found a spare medical vial, which she held tight as she laid down.

She laid there for a long while, staring at nothing in particular. Finally, she tightened her grip on the vial and closed her eyes. She then stabbed it into herself, next to the spiral. The new wounds healed right up, leaving only the blood stained spiral remaining. She tossed it into a nearby trash can and pulled the other pillow close, pressing it to get face to take in the faint lingering scent of the strongest love she had yet to have. Like this, she eventually began to fade as her body gave into the exhaustion of the last few days, holding the pillow tight.