A/N: Guess what's back? Back again? That's right my lovely legends. The one and only Legendary has returned! I know this chapter is pretty much the same but don't worry. After re-working the plot...well you'll see. I hope the wait has been worth it and that you'll stick with it!

SPOILER ALERT: THERE ARE KEY POINTS FROM BORDERLANDS THE PRE-SEQUEL IN THIS. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED, PLEASE DO NOT ADVANCE.

Prelude: The Vault Hunters say their "Farewells".

The sun was setting on another day on Pandora; a day that had probably been filled with murder and mass mayhem. The bright stars in the universe began to make an appearance as they spotted themselves through the inky sky. Hovering menacingly above the Arid Nexus was the Helios moon base, its bright blue glow illuminating the sands. Skags howled in the distance as the creatures themselves chased their prey across the sands-an obnoxiously painted Bandit Technical. They snarled and snapped their jaws as they pursued the vehicle, howling wildly from the hunt. One of the beasts managed to snap its jaws on the rusted bumper. A loud ferocious screech broke the ambience as a large bird-like beast dove down and dug its claws into the tough flesh of the canine-like monster before taking back to the skies. In the bed of the Technical a Mordecai gruffly laughed, "Aha, atta boy".

This didn't deter the pack though, the skags kept chasing and the passengers all stared at the beasts with incredulous looks. They all drew their guns and fired into the pack. The skags scattered and regrouped at each side of the Technical.

"Hold on, I got this." Maya commented, throwing up her arm and trapping a skag in her Phaselock. The beast writhed and yelped as its flesh was set aflame. The Siren twitched her fingers and the other creatures were forcefully pulled towards the orb.

Salvador laughed wildly as he dual-wielded rocket launchers and fired into the mass. An explosion of blood and gore splattered the sands. The Gunzerker plopped back down with a large grin plastered on his face. The other Vault Hunters all peered into the distance, noticing a warm orange glow in the distance. Everyone smiled and exchanged glances.

Soft chatter and laughter floated through the cool night air as the vehicle drew closer to a blazing bonfire that engulfed one of the Arid Nexus' few trees over the horizon. The passengers all became excited as the blaze grew brighter and brighter.

"Well…Here we are!" Lilith cheered as she activated the vehicle's boost and charged across the dunes, leaving a wake of dust behind.

Silhouetted by the fire, two figures seemed to be having an argument of sorts, and a larger, much bulkier, figure paced back and forth, carrying large objects and dropping them into the sand.

From atop the overhanging cliff by the bonfire, a lone dark figure was nearly invisible against the evening sky. The only way to see he was there was by the bright red '0' projecting into the night. He drew his sword and swung it in an arc, as if to direct the Technical where to go.

The Technical pulled up to the bonfire where the passengers departed and noticed the two figures arguing happened to be none other than Gaige and Axton.

"This isn't some Girl Scout camping trip pipsqueak, why did you only bring marshmallows?!" The Commando huffed at the Mechromancer who was just rolling her eyes. The other Vault Hunters strolled up towards them.

"I didn't just bring marshmallows, I brought chocolate and gram crackers too."

Axton groaned loudly and threw up his arms. Salvador laughed loudly as he scuttled over to the fire with a case of beer and a guitar strapped to his back.

"Lighten up amigo!" The dwarf slapped his friend on the back, the soldier coughed and staged forward from the gesture.

The Vault Hunters gathered by the cliff side and began setting up further; setting up food and music. A mix of various aromas began to fill the air, along with the familiar scents of gunpowder, sweat, blood, and pizza. Everyone took a seat around the fire. They all instantly began chattering away about various memories of past missions, embarrassing moments, and legendary finds.

"Remember the Flynts?" Someone laughed.

"Oh man I found a Bee Shield the other week…" Another bragged.

"…and all those late night jobs?"

In the midst of the conversation, Maya scanned the group and noticed someone missing.

"Hey, where's…Krieg?" She asked; her companions all shrugged.

Some loose pieces of dead wood fell from the blaze, a large hulking figure stood within. The man laughed maniacally.

"BORN INTO FLAAAAME!" He bellowed before stumbling into the open, his flesh set aflame. The group laughed at their companion's actions. Lilith rose to her feet and pulled out a carton of cigarettes then drew one of the small sticks.

She held out the cigarette, "Care to help?" Krieg poked its end with a burning finger. The Phasewalker brought the non-smoldering end to her red lips and inhaled slowly, taking in the familiar aroma before exhaling a large cloud into the clear sky. Maya flicked a finger and suffocated the fire on the Psycho to extinguish.

Krieg made an audible grunt and slumped over, much like a child being told to go to time-out, everyone else shared a soft laugh at their companion's reaction. Salvador pulled the guitar from his back and began mindlessly strumming some chords as Gaige reached into her bag of marshmallows and stabbed one with her prosthetic finger. She then proceeded to remove her artificial limb and held it close to the fire, toasting her marshmallow to perfection. Everyone looked at the Mechromancer curiously.

"Uh…Lil'Slab, ain't ya worried about that arm?" Brick commented after taking a sip of Rakk Ale. The Mechromancer looked at her disembodied limb and pursed her lips.

"Yeaaaaaaah. It seemed like a good idea at the time…" She slid the gooey mass in between two crackers and took a bite, "Oh that's good."

The conversations died down, and everyone listened into the softly crackling fire.

"That reminds me," Axton started with a smirk, "Remember when you got stuck in the sand?"

The teen shot up and glared daggers at the Commando, whom just broke out into laughter, "Man, you were screaming and hollering, I thought something was trying to eat you. But no! You…" He had to pause from laughing too hard, "You were just stuck!"

Gaige's eye twitched in annoyance and she gritted her teeth.

"How did she even get stuck?" Mordecai inquired, the other Vault Hunters all looked at Axton curiously, ignoring Gaige's building anger.

"Okay…hoo…okay. So, we were out where the Sawteeth were, and this kid here was shooting at some barrels. Well one minute I'm fighting, the next I hear 'AH! FUCK! HELP!'" Axton did his best imitation of a girly scream. The younger Vault Hunter flared her nostrils and marched up to her team mate. She tightened her grip on her robotic limb and pulled it back before swinging the disembodied limb hard across Axton's cheek.

"Fuck man…I was just telling a story…Sheesh." He rubbed his aching jaw.

Another awkward silence.

"Then should I tell them of the time you were a piñata?" Gaige narrowed her eyes and smirked evilly. The Commando pressed his lips into a line and sneered, "Yeah, Axton here was being dumb in the Bloodshot Stronghold and fell off a ledge into some wires and well…let's just say for the next half hour psychos were whacking him at with sticks."

A thunderous laugh erupted from the group. Axton shrunk back slightly.

"Oh yeah? Well with The Nortia all fixed. I can't wait to be out of here." He retorted, instantly shutting everyone up.

The silence hung heavy over the group as the Commando's words sunk in. A few of the Vault Hunters exchanged glances, while others looked away.

Right.

That's why they were here.

Lilith took a long drag of her dying cigarette before dropping it and stomping it out in the sand. She exhaled sharply, catching everyone's attention. The Phasewalker rose to her feet and paced over to the fiercely burning fire and stared long into its flames.

"It's…It's been fun guys." She mumbled, her shoulders drooping. Mordecai walked over to his partner and hung his arm across her shoulders and pulled her into a sideways embrace. A soft sniffling sob escaped the Siren as she wiped away a tear, "Damn it, hold it together girl." She hissed to herself. Lilith turned around to face everyone.

"I'm not good at these speeches, but…without you all…well…"

"What I think Lil is trying to say, is thanks. Without y'all, Jack would have wiped us out."

"Yeah."

The other Vault Hunters stood and drew closer to the red-haired Siren, forming one rather awkward group hug.

After the sudden sadness, the Vault Hunters all returned to their seats and sat through a few moments of silence, Salvador began strumming chords once more. His fingers stumbled a few times before he found the right rhythm. Everyone let the soft tune surround and soothe them, even the psychotic Krieg allowed the music to calm him. Gaige hummed lyrics and swayed side to side.

"...'nother turnin' point, a fork stuck in the road..." She murmured. The tension of the past year and a half unwound its grip from the Vault Hunters and dispersed into the vast expanse of the sky. It was all over now. The obvious question hung in the air though. What now? They had already wiped Hyperion off of Pandora, invaded the Helios station and hi-jacked a starship named "The Nortia". They had fought in arenas, gone on hunts, played tabletop RPGs, vacationed at the beach (and killed a huge ass sand worm-crab-thing), sailed the dried up oceans, what next?

Maya looked over at Axton who had moved to the sand and was resting against a log. He looked back at her and gave a small smirk, "I'm heading out to one of the Vault Planets" he commented, "What about you?"

The Siren pulled an ancient looking tome from her stack deck, "researching Sirens."

"Nerd." Axton laughed jokingly. Maya giggled as well then looked over at the Psycho scraping lines in the sand.

"What are you going to do Krieg?" She asked, already fully aware that his answer was going to be deranged, "But whatever, he's a part of the team too."

"Find a way to communicate. We want to say something without screwing up...we want to be a real part of this team."

"I'LL SCOUR THE KNIVES FOR THE COLD BLOODY PAINS AND EAT ALL THE JUICY FLESHBAGS."

"...Thanks. We're *really* gonna get there now." The Psycho dropped his head, mentally scolding himself.

Maya pursed her lips and patted her partner on the shoulder and smiled, "Well I hope you find all those...'juicy fleshbags'..."

Krieg looked up, a spark of joy behind his bloodshot eye. He smiled behind his mask and patted the Siren on the head with a satisfied growl. A marshmallow came flying out of nowhere and bopped the Psycho on the shoulder. Krieg thrashed his head over to the direction the sweet came from to see Gaige smirking.

"Get a rooooom." She giggled and tossed another marshmallow. Maya huffed and stuck her tongue out as the puffy sugar blob bounced off her nose.

Lilith looked over at Salvador and motioned for him to cut the music. The Gunzerker raised a brow, but obeyed. The Phasewalker sighed out another puff of smoke, obviously concerned about something. Brick and Mordecai looked up at their friend and gave small nods.

"Uhm...Guys, there's something else I need to say..." The Firehawk flicked away a few ashes, "When you were up at Helio-"

"Ohyeah! What did you all do up there?" Brick interrupted.

"Well we were going to level the whole damn place..." Salvador started.

"BUT! There were people up there...like...People...good people...all scared and...stuff..." Gaige continued.

"So we just kinda stole the starship and hightailed it outta there..." Maya finished and looked up at the moon base.

The Firehawk tapped her fingers together and huffed, fairly agitated that she was itterupted, "We were interrogating Athena...and well...You're not going to believe this but an Eridian came down and warned us that well...War is coming..."

"What and fighting Jack wasn't war? I think we can handle." Axton laughed and gulped down a bottle of ale.

"Axton...I think it meant like...full scale intergalactic warfare...There's only nine of us...ten if Athena helps...that's still not enough."

The group fell silent.

"Well what should we do?" Maya inquired.

"Quoting the Eridian...'War is coming, you'll need all the Vault Hunters you can get.' "

"We'll expand our reach/find a lot more allies yes?/Is that what you mean?" Zer0 stood.

"Yeah, but we'll also need to fortify here. I mean, don't get me wrong, go out and hunt more Vaults and do what you want, but keep your eyes peeled for new recruits. Now that we have The Nortia, it'll be easier to go out farther."

"Do you know how much time we have?" The Commando rose to his feet.

"I'm not sure...The Eridian was pretty vague..."

Everyone packed up the supplies and said their farewells. Hugs and handshakes were given, backs patted, and fists bumped. The Vault Hunters all did their best to keep up their smiles, but it didn't take much to see that behind their proud expressions, fear and uncertainty swirled.

Four months had passed since the bonfire farewells. Patricia Tannis scurried about her office, re-evaluating all her current footage. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw slacked. She prayed that maybe her equipment was malfunctioning. Yes that had to be it.

A large tremor sounded below the floating city. Those had been becoming more frequent in the last two weeks...

With shaking hands she brought her ECHO to her lips and contacted Lilith, uttering the news to the Siren.

As soon as she hung up, she dropped the device and slumped over on her desk.

"Of all the times...It had to be now."

SO HOWS THAT FOR AN INTRO EH? SEE YA SOON!