What do you think makes a great story? Should the hero and their crew taste the pure, satisfying notion of victory, or should they ultimately fall to hands of their enemies? Should the villain wallow in the shadows of their nemesis, never to truly find the light, or should they, by the end, see through their self-made delusions of grandeur and stand beside the heroes in an act of righteous indignation? Should two people, destined to be together, swear themselves to each other, or should they stay apart, in hopes that they never fall to the all-binding curse that is love?
Well, I'll tell you right now, what makes a story truly great, is that it doesn't matter what goes on or what doesn't, as long as it can entertain, anything can happen.
For instance, it is said that a man was once met with tragedy when his daughter revealed her astounding abilities to him, the likes of which no one had ever seen, only to then murder her mother in what could only be seen as an innocent little accident, causing the father to lock the child away, tearing her from a life worth living. The man's true name has been lost to time, but for most, all they knew him as was Handsome Jack.
Many years after seeing his wife eviscerated by the very person he loved the most, Handsome Jack was said to have then fallen down a dark path, filled with conflict, heartache, and most importantly, betrayal. Everything he did was to keep his daughter safe, from the people around her, and from herself. For a long time, Jack walked a fine line between the duel sides of morality, but then one final act of treachery lead him to becoming one of the greatest villains the people of Pandora had ever seen.
In his wake, the man left nothing behind that wasn't either death or destruction. With the power he held, he was close to eradicating all life on the planet, along with the lives of every person who had wronged him. Then, when all seemed lost, six brave "heroes" known as the Vault Hunters stepped forth, pushing back Jack's forces. In their battle, Handsome Jack saw his only child sacrifice herself to the very people he had been fighting in order to see his plan ruin, but all he chose to see was a group of depraved bandits, no better than the scum on his shoe, murder his precious angel in cold blood. He fought with all his might in order to slay the corrupt renegades, until a final encounter ended with the Vault Hunters victorious and Jack dead.
This is how Handsome Jack's story began and ended, with a tragic origin followed by a bitter death.
However, like I said before, what makes a story great is not what actually happened or what didn't. Some stories can be retold, changes can be made, and people can live anew.
Everybody knows of Angel, the daughter of Handsome Jack who was cursed with powers beyond her control, but what of…
… the son?
Our story begins with a boy on a mission to find his father, and a man with a desire to become a hero...
…
Borderlands: The Lost Heir Prologue(Ship Designation: E782 "Hamlet" / Destination: Elpis /ETA: 32 Minutes, 54 Seconds)
The lights above him where slightly flickering, which went well with the itchy fabric of the seats and the slightly dank odor that permeated the air, all of which indicated the quality of the ship he chose to board, or lack thereof. Still, it was all he could afford with what little money he had. Not that he minded.
You see, the boy currently within our field of view was of a rare sort. His eyes, which held a light so bright it could blind you in a matter of moments if materialized, was a swirl of green and brown, a mix up of his father's eye colors. His hair was a dark brown mess, complementing his round-ish face and celestial nose, both of which came from his mother. The only other thing the boy could say for sure he had inherited from his dad was his bone-thin physique, but even that could be due to his prolonged malnourishment.
Again, not that he minded. Like I said, the boy was a rarity in this universe, where the standard for decency was whether or not you pissed on the person you just stabbed to death for no reason other than they looked at you funny. The child himself was what you would call an idealistic optimistic, but really he would just tell you he was just trying to be what his mother had demanded he be; a decent person.
The fact that his brain was wired a bit differently than most could also explain this strange behavior, but everyone that had met him up to this point came off with the notion that whether or not the boy was born the same wouldn't have changed a thing. He still would have grown up to be the nice little man that he was today, no matter what.
However, being a savant surely helped. Some say that people with skills like him were gifted. After meeting the boy, those same people would have just called the boy a gift, instead. At the age of seven, the boy began blowing the minds of everyone around him with his prodigy-like talent with technology, specifically robotics. A few people today would be lying if they said they didn't steal a couple of ideas from the poor child, turning a huge profit in the process.
The boy didn't care about that, though. Hell, he'd have probably just given them his ideas if they had asked. He didn't care about such things as profits or plagiarism. No, all he ever wanted was to have a happy life with his family. A family that was still alive, apparently.
Long ago, when the boy asked his mom for the first time about his father and why he wasn't around, the mother resorted to lying and told him he had died in an accident. Harsh words to say to a four-year-old, but the boy took it in stride and just counted himself lucky he had a mom who could be upfront with him, even if it hurt. He lived out the rest of his life in utter bliss, but that all changed on his tenth birthday.
HIs mother had gone out drinking, like she usually did on his birthday, and came back far more drunk than usual. As soon as she laid eyes on him, the mother spouted nothing but foul language at the child, going on about how much she hated him, how he had ruined her life and so on. This was, of course, all routine for him. As she stumbled through the house muttering revolting words, the boy guided his mom towards her room, picking up discarded pieces of clothes and the like he always did.
However, once the boy started helping the mother onto the bed, the woman became silent, instead focusing her half-lidded eyes on her son. As soon as the boy tucked the mom in and told her he loved her, she couldn't handle it anymore. Tears began to drip down her cheeks, trickling at first, eventually cascading like a waterfall. She started uttering words of kindness and of thankfulness. She told him she loved him, the first time in what felt like forever. The mother rapped her arms around him, held him tight, and continued to cry into his shoulder. All the boy did was let his mom do what she wanted, not surprised in the least that she still loved him. He knew she always did, even if she never really showed it.
It was then that she told him the truth. In her hazy state, she let something spill that she promised herself she would never say. She told him who his father was. She told him he was alive.
She told him he had a sister.
He didn't say goodbye to her. He didn't have time, for he left that night. As soon as his mom fell asleep against him, the boy tucked her back into bed, made his way to his room, grabbed every dollar bill he could find, packed a change of clothes, wrote a note, and walked out the front door.
It didn't take long to find out where his father was, for him anyway. All he had to do was cross reference Hyperion employees, past and present staff, and his father's name, leading him to the discovery that his father was being stationed on the space station Helios, which was now currently orbiting a planet named Pandora, more specifically it's moon, Elpis.
So now here he was, on the cheapest ride he could find, on its way to an apparently infamous planet with a slightly less infamous moon, just so he could snag a chance at meeting his long lost father, that was if he could somehow find a way to board the space station.
Was this a long shot? Yes. Was this he endangering his own life? Absolutely. Should he turn back and pretend he never heard his mother's words? Probably. The most important question, however, was if the boy care or not.
Nope, the boy thought to himself with a smile.
"ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS! ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS! WE ARE NOW ARRIVING AT OUR DESTINATION! T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES!"
Hearing that, the boy practically bounced up and down his seat, annoying the person sitting next to him.
Dad, sis, here I come, he thought with glee.
END
…
Author's Notes:
Hello! I'm the Social Monstrosity and this is my first Borderlands fic! I was originally gonna do a Tales From The Borderlands fic a long time ago, but I couldn't find that certain spark to try and start it.
For this one, though, I'm going all in.
So, let's get some things out of the way
NOTE 1: The boy is the son of Jack and his second wife, which he mentions in Tales From The Borderlands. If someone knows what actually happens to her, let's just say she survived in this scenario and that she found out she was pregnant after she left Jack.
NOTE 2: This will start off in Pre-Sequel and end sometime after 2. From what I remember, Borderlands 2 takes place 5 years after Borderlands 1, and that Pre-Sequel takes place a little after Borderlands 1. I might be playing around with the times a bit, so be ready for a little inaccuracy. As stated, the son is ten now, and he will age over the course of the series, especially when I do a time skip.
NOTE 3: PAIRINGS! They will happen, that's all I can guarantee. I might just play it safe and give him one, but hey, if enough people ask for something a little "more", well then I guess I'll have no choice. But only if you guys ask. If no one asks, or if people say no, then I'll stick with one.
NOTE 4: Shit will change. That's all I'm gonna say on the matter.
And that should be everything.
Let me know what you think with a REVIEW or ask me a question with a PM.
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See you next time!