"So, what's the play, Lilith?" Zane watched FL4K give Typhon a burial, over by where his wife was put to rest. Sure, they had to go out of their way to make it happen, and it cost them a lot of time, but it had to be done. It was the right thing to do. The team stood by it, along with Lilith and Tannis, the former of the two wearing an expression of…dread and sorrow. Something the Operative never saw before in the commander.

"The play is…we get to Pandora as fast as we can."

"But, we won't make it," Tannis stammered. "As fast as Sanctuary is in hyperspace, even you should know it won't be fast enough to get us there in time to stop her from leeching the Destroyer…n-no offense."

"Well, we gotta do something." Moze sighed. "Can't we use the Maliwan ship or something?"

"No hyperspace." Amara grunted. "And even then, she could just shoot it out the sky. As it stands…we don't have a lot of options."

"Or…do we…" Tannis spoke up, tapping her chin and doing her weird thinking process. "Hear me out, everyone…there might be a way to simply teleport you all to Pandora. The Machine we were to use to stop her, it works across interstellar distances. Maybe there's a way to rig its connection to Pandora to make a portal."

"Sounds insane as fuck," Zane nodded. "Do it. We'll meet ya down there." The weird scientist took off with her Siren powers, leaving the rest of them to get moving the old fashioned way. Given the sheer insanity of Tannis' plan, things would be ready by the time they arrived.

"Lil, ya got a lot on your mind, best say it now 'fore we hit the endgame."

"It's just…I've been telling myself ever since this happened," She gestured to her tattoo-less arm. "that I need to be on the frontlines, helping to stop Tyreen…but earlier reaffirmed what Maya told me. I can't do this…I can't do any of this. It's up to you four to stop her, at any cost."

"We'll stop her, Commander Lilith," FL4K started. "but your leadership is not to be questioned. It's what brought us together, after all, and granted the Crimson Raiders the best means to stopping the Children of the Vault. So, in conclusion, the war would have been lost ages ago, had you not found us."

"I guess you're right…thanks. You four know what to do when you get to Pandora…I just hope I'll see you all back when it's over."

"We won't let you down, Lilith." Amara firmly nodded. "You have my word."


Moze sucked in air after her boots sank into the familiar gravel of Pandora. She never though leaping through a portal could…fuck with things so much, but she was in one piece, and the others were just ahead of her.

"Shite!" A thud ahead got her attention. Moze looked up and saw a rock right by Zane, having just barely missed him. "Fuckin' planet's fallin' to shite already!" Zane was right; the ground was quaking and rocks were falling. The planet was opening the fuck up, and they were right in the middle of it!

"This ends two ways, people. Make sure it ends the right way."

"Lilith, there still remains a vital issue," Tannis butted in. "Elpis is FAR too close to Pandora. The Great Vault will continue to open!"

"Augh…let's worry about that after Tyreen's dead. Get moving, Vault Hunters!" Another rock fell and they got moving as fast as they could, ducking and dodging falling debris the entire time. The planet probably had mere minutes from opening up! Moze knew what they were doing was borderline suicidal, but…well it had to be done, and no one else could do it except them.

They came to a stop atop a wide, spacious area, much like the place they killed Troy at. And, sure enough, Tyreen stood at the edge, staring at the utterly massive shape of the moon as it approached Pandora.

"Welp…we all know this was how the show was gonna end, superfans." The bitch sighed, almost…joyfully. "I was gonna become a God, and you morons were gonna attempt to stop me. Still kicks me right in the heart that you didn't see reason; you didn't wanna play for the winning team."

"Why? Cause ya were scared of us?" Zane shouted.

"Because I know what happened here before." She rolled her eyes. "My 'loyal followers' clued me in; about how that Hyperion whack job Handsome Jack tried something like this before. Difference is, he tried killing the Vault Hunters right off the bat, and spent the rest of his miserable little existence trying to and failing. I opened my hand in friendship, 'cause I knew psychos and monsters like you all were better off on my side. I don't even see why you fight it anyhow, I can give you everything you want. A literal planet to retire on, Vladof turned into ash, your name in the heads of everyone everywhere, and the literal universe as your hunting grounds. Just," She actually chuckled. "I don't see why you thought it'd be smart to go against that, especially with everything we did to you idiots. You beat a skag enough, it'll learn who to call master, after all."

"I can give you a list." Amara grunted, racking a slug in her shotgun. "One big reason? We're Vault Hunters, and we kill monsters. And right now I'm looking at the biggest one in the universe."

"Hah, I'm no monster." Tyreen raised her hands to her sides and backed up to the edge. "I'm a god."

And then she fell. And then a series of violet tentacles emerged from below.

"Oh shit." Moze muttered. The ground shook again, and a massive claw stabbed down onto the ground. Tyreen's visage rose again, but it was deformed, twisted, and…she was in the maw of a massive creature.

Moze put the pieces together as if it were a gun she disassembled. Tyreen fused with the Destroyer.

"Hey! Moze! I got something for you!" Ellie's voice chimed in her ECHO. Something SLAMMED down nearby, and relief flooded her when she saw Iron Bear, fully restored and ready for combat. "Even added some neat fixes to it, too! Give that bitch hell!"

"With pleasure!" Moze leapt into her mech just as the fighting began. Everyone collectively open fired at Tyreen, only for the bullets to bounce off of or simply…fade when they made contact with her new body. Her claw smashed the ground and a wave of magenta energy shot towards Zane, causing him to teleport to his decoy just in time.

"Don't get hit by that shite! Fuckin' melted my copy!" He called from afar. Moze grabbed the controls of Iron Bear and open fired, dousing Tyreen in a literal hurricane of bullets, many of them varying in element, too! Ellie really went above and beyond for the repairs!

"Keep shooting!" She called to the others. "If she's anything like her fucking brother, she's gonna expose something we can hit!"

A rocket struck the demented Siren's leg, sending her to a kneel, and exposing her twisted, regular self. The mere instant she was exposed, they concentrated fire on her and utterly doused her in gunfire, earning screams of pain from her.

"AGGGGGGHHHHH! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT ONE!"

Moze saw her claw swing for her. She braced as it made contact, and nearly hit her head on her chair when Iron Bear was sent flying, slamming into the wall. "FUCK!" She didn't have time to assess the damages but there were a lot of them, enough to force her to pop the chassis and leap out, landing just as a magenta energy wave shot past.

"Okay, she's a lot stronger than I thought." Zane huffed, tossing his drone out and sending it to whirl around Tyreen, peppering her. "Anyone got an idea?!"

"I have one." FL4K seemed to…stand completely still a—

And then an utterly ear-piercing, ringing noise left the robot. Ear-piercing enough to force Moze to nearly drop her gun and cover her ears. And, sadly, it had no effect on Tyreen. "What the fuck?! It didn't do anything!"

"It wasn't for her." The Beastmaster pointed, and….Moze saw a cloud moving towards them.

No…not a cloud…a swarm. More specifically, a swarm of rakks, varkids, and so much more. The robot pointed and the swarm descended upon Tyreen, causing her to swing her arms around blindly, killing dozens of the creatures. But with each one she swatted down, ten more took its place.

"I simply needed to calibrate my audio output, and then find a noise to attract as much wildlife as I could bring." The robot stated, reloading their sniper. "They'll leave her distracted for a moment, until we can come up with something else to stop her."

"Hmm…I got something." Zane mashed his finger into his ear. "Ellie, ya got somethin' on Sanctuary that generates a metric fuck ton of power?"

"I got a LOTTA things that do that; can you be specific?"

"Fuckin'…a generator or something. Digistruct that bitch on my position." Zane moved to the side and, sure enough, one digistructed nearby.

"Wait, what the fuck's your plan, old man?" Moze asked just as Zane grabbed some cables from his belt and jammed them into a port on the generator.

"Somethin' that maaaaaaay fuckin' hurt. Tell me somethin' Mozzy Moze, how annoyin' is one of me?"

"Pretty annoying."

"How 'bout fifty?" Zane jammed a cable into the generator, and literally all around dozens of hardlight copies of himself appeared, all staring down the still-blinded Tyreen. "I swiped that thing Katagawa used to make copies of himself, and wondered, what if I turbo-charged the bitch? The answer, this." He said triumphantly.

"Just…what're they gonna do?"

"Oh, that's easy," Every clone, at the same time, raised their arms. And from their gauntlets a set of blades jutted free, the same he used when slashing cultists. "THAT." All at once, the clones stampeded Tyreen, slashing, striking, and attacking her. Some were crushed by her flails, but the ones who got severely injured just blinked out of existence, and another took their place. It was…almost insane to watch, but it gave them a chance.

"I'm gonna try and get Iron Bear up and running! Fuck her the FUCK up while I do that." Moze sprinted back to Iron Bear and got to work, glancing over every so often to watch the fighting. The swarm of wildlife cleared out, but Tyreen's attacks were centered on Zane's clones, which still led to her getting shot to high hell.

Moze grunted in exertion as she tightened a bolt by hand and smashed another in place with the butt of her gun. Iron Bear wasn't gonna hold for long, but she could at least get it up and moving—

"Heads up!" She turned and brace when the ground shook! Tyreen had slammed into it, causing a literal shockwave to wash over the area, and sending everyone staggering and stumbling back. Several more energy waves shot out and she heard Zane hit the wall close to her, grunting in pain.

"Fuckin'…ow." He groaned.

Another crash. FL4K landed nearby…missing their arm. Despite that, the robot stood up, reaching for their handgun and continued to fire, despite the spot where their arm was sparking and crackling. Ahead of them, Amara swung with her astral arms, but even Moze could see from where she was that she had little to no effect, and despite it all, it barely looked like Tyreen was wounded. This wasn't a heroic fight to save the universe…it was a last stand at this point!

She had to think…they needed an opening. A surefire way to fuck up Tyreen enough to get her.

Moze jumped into the damaged chassis of Iron Bear. She didn't even bother closing it when she spooled the guns up and open fired at the demented Siren, riddling her mutated flesh with bullets and causing her to, temporarily, stop swinging at Amara.

"Hey BITCH!" She called, keeping her fingers primed on the controls. "Your brother screamed like a bitch when I gunned him the fuck down." She yanked a lever and the hatch closed up just as the Vault abomination lumbered towards her, sickle claw at the ready.

The entire time Tyreen approached, Moze primed the last ditch effort. Something she installed into Iron Bear if, somehow, Vladof got the drop on her and gave her absolutely nowhere to run, nor hide.

A bomb. An extremely powerful one. And it was charging. All she needed was to buy enough time and get the bitch close enough to ensure she didn't get away unharmed…even if it cost her Iron Bear.

She could…she could fix her. She always did. And this was no different.

WHAM!

She grunted when a strike sent the already damaged mech to its side, obscuring her aim.

"Is this really your best?!" Tyreen's two-toned voice chided them. "The 'Vault hunters' who undid ALL our work, killed so many of our devoted followers, and killed my brother?! I could've wiped you fuckers out from the start!"

"You wouldn't have." FL4K coldly answered. Something slammed into Tyreen's back, causing her to stumble to the side. Moze popped the chassis and crawled out to see it was…an enlarged, irradiated rakk.

Another struck the abomination, then another. Moze saw FL4K holding another rakk that, in seconds, grew to huge proportions and bolted at Tyreen, screeching.

"You good, Mozzy Moze?" Zane asked nearby, leaning on Iron Bear for support and clutching his side. No doubt the hit he took earlier cracked his shields, which meant he felt the full brunt of it. "Cause one've us has to be."

"I can…I can keep going. And I might have a way to give us an opening."

"Lemme guess, bomb in your bot?"

Moze rose a brow. "How did you…"

"I had a look at the specs one night. Great plan, but ya want that shite to hit her directly, as in without that weird shite coverin' the real her. We just need to keep her still long 'nough to make sure she has nowhere to run."

"I can handle that." Amara huffed, cracking her knuckles. "She's tough, but I can get that mouth open, and expose the bitch inside."

"Then do it," FL4K irradiated another rakk and sent it at Tyreen. "My power is fading. I cannot do this forever."

Amara nodded and sprinted towards Tyreen. All her arms appeared around her and the Siren leapt upwards, kicking off the bitch's demented arm and landing on her mutated torso, digging all her arms into it. She grunted in exertion, but slowly, the pieces holding the maw together were strained and stretched out.

"Now let's get the bitch ready for her payload." Zane grunted, still using Iron Bear for support. "Can your thing walk?"

"No, but we could propel it towards her." Moze slid back into the cockpit and angled the guns, angling them towards the wall and turning the mech onto its back. "Can you make any more clones?"

"Nah, my shite's fried. We're gonna need another way to…" Zane trailed off and picked a grenade up from his side. "…I got an idea. Stay inside, and hang the fuck on." He disappeared from sight, and Moze heard the unmistakable noise of a grenade pin dropping.

Scratch that. Several grenade pins. She gritted her teeth and held on tight, and Iron Bear LURCHED across the ground. She felt it come to a stop when it slammed into something, and Moze found herself staring up at the horrific face of Tyreen. Amara had did her job, and got her true self exposed.

And then Moze yanked the fuse, which started the seconds-long countdown.

"When you get to Hell, tell your brother he's still a bitch." Moze growled before leaping out Iron Bear and sprinting for cover.

She felt the explosion long before she heard it, sending her to the ground from the unspeakable force. The Gunner rolled onto her side and saw Tyreen on the ground, still and motionless…with Iron Bear's smoking chassis underneath her.

…she could still fix that…but it was over. They killed her—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several explosive rounds struck Tyreen's immobile head, splattering it open. FL4K stood nearby, holding a Torgue pistol.

"Double tap. I don't want this bitch getting up."

She fully agreed. Last thing they needed was a repeat of the earlier incident.


"Well, she's dead. After all that…she's dead." Amara and the others stood over the dead husk that was Tyreen. Burned, mangled, and bloody, the self-proclaimed god was dead. Lilith knelt by the newly killed Tyreen, and from her corpse, vibrant orange light erupted and struck the former Siren…and her tattoos returned.

"Hey, your powers're back." Zane chuckled, then grunted and clutched his side. He was still hurt, but at least he was alive.

"Yeah…I can't thank you all enough for this…for everything." Nearby, Tyreen's body began to fade away; literally breaking down into ash and fading from existence. "If it wasn't for you all, we'd all be dead or worse, so…I'm glad you all decided to stick with us, despite it all."

"It was the least we could do; inevitably, the COV would've fucked with us all." Amara noted. "More importantly, feels good to have your powers back, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it does. Spent so long without them, I almost got used to it. It's certainly a welcome change of pace. But," Lilith turned her gaze towards the still approaching moon. "we're not done yet…the Great Vault's still opening, and it's gonna tear Pandora apart."

"Well, what can we do? Blow up the moon? Cause…I really feel like that's gon' fuck up the oceans or some shite." Zane coughed.

"No…I think I know what needs to be done." Lilith sighed. "We need to push Elpis back into orbit. Or, rather, I need to."

"You know that will kill you, correct?" FL4K inquired, holding their severed arm. "Even with your awesome Siren abilities, pushing back a celestial body like that will cause catastrophic damage to your body, and there's no telling if you'll even succeed."

"I know, but…sometimes, you gotta run towards the fire. Roland told me that a long time ago, back when we first started as Vault Hunters…and now it's what I'm going out on." She sighed. "Tannis, Sanctuary's in your hands, along with Ava's. Kid's…not the best choice, but she'll grow into it. And I need you there to teach her how."

"I-I can certainly try." For once, Tannis didn't say anything weird…even she understood the graveness of the situation.

A burst of fire made Amara shield her eyes, and Lilith was gone. She was already flying towards the moon, fire lighting the sky as she soared towards it.

"Zane, Moze, Amara, FL4K; take care, all of you. I know we didn't get a lot of time to really learn about each other…or even become friends, but I'm glad I met the four of you. I just wish they were under better circumstances." She said through her ECHO, but it was growing gnarled and crackled. She was losing connection. "Stay safe, no matter where things take you. It's…b…n a p…sure."

And the line went dead. Amara stared up at the moon as literal orange fire erupted across its surface, damn near turning it into the sun. She brought her hand up to block the blinding light, and when she dropped it, she saw Elpis much further back in the sky, where it needed to be…with something new adorning its surface.

A sigil, of a fiery hawk.

"She was a helluva commander." Moze pulled her helmet off and tucked it under her arm in a show of respect. "…and she went out like ever commander wishes they could; accomplishing something."

"And now she'll light the way for future Vault Hunters forever." FL4K nodded. "Typhon's words are honored. We are not the last Vault Hunters, nor shall we ever be."

"Course we won' be." Zane chuckled, already working on stumbling off. "Ain' no rest for the wicked, after all."


[And here we are, the "end" for the story. There'll be one final chapter next week, with an Epilogue to truly conclude things, but for the most part, this is it. Happy Together has come to an end. It's been an odd road, and this project was one I never thought would garner so much attention. The support on it's been helpful, too, with feedback and reviews coming in to keep me motivated on it.

I did struggle for a bit to write this current chapter, paired with cleaning up after the holiday, and other issues, but here it is. The story's over, for the moment. The story grew over the course of a year, and I'm glad it's gained so many followers of it during its course. I do plan to touch on the DLCs, but far down the road, when I sort out my more pressing projects.

Until then, thanks for reading, and I'll see many of you for the true finale.]