song: Lord Huron - Ends Of The Earth

This was it. My bags were packed, all the guns I needed (and a few extra ones, just to play it safe) were neatly and safely packed away and I was standing in Tundra Express with everyone else, waiting for our shuttle.

And when I said everyone, I really meant everyone. Lilith and Brick were there, of course, as were Maya, Salvador, Zero and Krieg. Mordecai, Gaige and Axton were standing next to me with their bags packed as well.

Apart from them there were a few more people, though. Scooter was there to say goodbye and so was Moxxi (which was really sweet of her, thinking about it). Even Tannis had made it out of her science cave, but she didn't look like she enjoyed it. Tina was currently hugging Mordecai and wouldn't let go. Even Marcus was there, since we had bought out most of his stock of ammunition. Zed had come to say goodbye and inject me with some weird travel vaccines that I "might or might not need, who knows these days, but better safe than sorry". And last but not least, Claptrap was there, as well.

This was exciting and nerve-wracking and sad and everything all at once. I never felt so torn about leaving a place, even if it was only for about a month (and a half, if you counted travel times).

"Tina, you gotta let go of me. You all need to go before the shuttle comes to pick us up or we'll get in trouble." Mordecai said, but didn't make much of an effort to get her to let go of him. Saul had agreed to get us a shuttle up to the cargo ship, so everyone but us had to be gone by the time the shuttle arrived.

"I don't want you to go. You're, like, my momma, Mordy!" Tina cried. It was pretty heart-wrenching. She had taken to calling Brick her dad, Mordy her mum and me her auntie. It was a little weird at first, but it was easier to just go along with it. Apparently, I couldn't be her mum, because I already had a daughter. Go figure.

"It's okay, Tina, I'll be back. Brick'll take care of you, alright? You can do fun stuff with Brick, like blowing up bandit camps and stuff." Mordecai replied. Tina slowly and hesitantly let go of him. She rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Fine. Don't you be back late, mister!" she told him, looking all serious. Mordecai smiled at her and nodded.

"I won't. Promise."

Next thing I knew, she was grabbing onto my leg. I quickly bend down to give her a proper hug. I didn't realize that I'd miss Tina until now.

"Take care of Mordy for me, auntie. Make him eat food and stuff." she said.

"I will. Don't you worry. And I'll miss you." I replied.

"Yeah, you better!" she exclaimed and then let go of me to run back to Brick and hide behind him. Poor kid. Zero didn't say much in terms of goodbye, he more or less just nodded at us and recited one of his haiku. Krieg was screaming something about salting the wound and I realized I'd even miss the psychos and bandits on Pandora while I was gone.

It was like going away got more and more terrible by the minute. Salvador came over next and did our personal elaborate fist bump ritual. Since Lynchwood all me and Salvador did when we saw each other was a fist bump. We barely even talked, it was like we had some quiet understanding that the fist bump meant respect.

Maya came over to give me a hug next. I had taken to hanging out with her and Lilith for a good while since we killed Jack. She was the most relaxed person in the world, which was probably mostly due to her monastic upbringing. And she enjoyed hanging out with Scooter and me, too.

"Take care of this shithole of a planet, while we're gone, okay?" I said to her. She laughed quietly and nodded.

"Of course we will." she answered.

"Good. Because Pandora is an amazing shithole of a planet."

Scooter came up next with this typical happy and excited expression of his. I could already tell that he had been excited for us all to go to another planet, since we had first mentioned it. He just was that kind of person.

"Man, girl, you gonna get me something cool, yeah? You gotta get me the coolest souvenir you can find, aight?" he said and held out his arms for a hug. I hugged him tight, taking in his scent of metal, motor oil, sweat and dust. I'd even miss the smell of Scooter's little workshop. Goddamn it.

"Of course. I'll get you the most awesomest souvenir ever." I promised. His smile grew even wider.

"Aw, that's mah girl! 'M gonna miss ya, I'll really do." he replied.

"I'll miss you, too, Scooter. Y'all better head soon or we'll get in big trouble." I told him. He nodded and walked back over to the rest of the group.

Not long after that, Mordecai and me were pulled into one of Brick's bear hugs. They were the best hugs, no matter how bone crushing they could get. I wished I had some more time with all of them, but they really had to go, because the shuttle would be here soon. They could easily get away via the Fast Travel station, but it was still better not to risk anything, especially after Saul had made this exception for me.

"I'll miss both of ya. I'll probably run out of stuff to punch, because I'll be bored." Brick said. Mordecai laughed and shook his head.

"How about you try a hobby that doesn't involve punching?"

"And what would that be?"

"I dunno? Knitting, reading? Gardening?"

"I'll see about that." Brick answered with a smile and hugged Mordecai again, before he went back to the others. Only Lilith was left now. I was really hoping she'd be okay, more or less on her own. I knew she was still having nightmares sometimes and I was really worried about her dealing with everything.

"Don't do anything stupid, okay? Make this count, you know how much of a dumbass you can be sometimes. Don't screw this up and regret it for years to come." she told me. I was almost in tears at this stage and this just sent me over the edge.

"You... you know me too damn well, Lil. I'll miss you so much. Take care of yourself." I replied, wiping away a few single tears that had managed to escape.

"I will. Don't worry. Send me updates over the ECHOnet."

"I'll spam you with updates."

"Dumbass."

"Love you, too."

We both laughed and finally hugged. She then turned around, going to the rest of the group that was standing at the fast travel station.

"This is goodbye then. Don't die off planet." Lilith shouted back at us and smiled, just before they all vanished into thin air. I was still wiping away a few tears, but it wasn't as bad as yesterday evening.

"You gonna be okay, chica?" Mordecai asked. I nodded.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." I answered and started wrapping a scarf around my hair and part of my face. Saul had told us to try and hide our faces and to speak as little as possible, so there we were, all of us in baggy clothes and turbans and scarves.

I looked over at Axton and Gaige, who looked wildly different. You could easily see how uncomfortable Axton was, wearing a bunch of scarves, but Gaige had made a complete style out of it and was wearing it like some desert freedom fighter.

"This is gonna be so. Much. Fun. I'm gonna stream the whole journey over the ECHOnet. Oh my God, I'll get sooooo many followers." Gaige said and grinned at us excitedly. I smiled at her and nodded. Yeah, it probably would be fun. I was still feeling nervous and scared about it.

I looked up at the sky and saw some dark spot quickly approaching. That must be the shuttle. I shouldered my backpack and took one of the bags that had my guns in it. The rest of them were in a crate, mixed in with Mordecai's guns.

"Is that them?" Axton asked as the shuttle slowly set down on the ground, a good few hundred meters away from us.

"Looks like it." Mordecai said. Some Hyperion employees came running outside, guns in their hands. It made me nervous that I didn't have a gun of my own ready. Sure, under all my layers of clothing I still had a few knives and one small handgun, but if they decided to shoot us, I'd be dead, before I could get to it.

"We're supposed to pick up four passengers? Your names, please?" one of them asked. I stepped up first, my heart beating fast. I had practiced this so many times, but it was still a fake identity.

"Asha Taven, travelling to see family." I said. They nodded and waved me through. I quickly walked over and into the shuttle. This was it.