AN: Surprise! I was just so excited to release this chapter I couldnt wait, its s long one too :D. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Lemme know what you think, there will only be a couple more chapters to come.

Chapter 32: Finished

Her feet echoed a lonesome sound through the dark, damp cave. The only other noise to be heard was her heart thudding painfully in her chest, anxiety shooting through her veins like a dizzying drug, but still she trudged on. She tried to steady her breathing to no avail, so she stopped a moment and took a knee. She glanced over her shoulder, torn between going back for her friend and continuing forward. But she already had her answer, there was no turning back. She had come too far now to even think of going back. Lilith, her lover, her savior, now needed her more than ever. She would not let her down.

Her breathing regulated and she listened carefully for any signs of movement ahead, but all that could be heard was the occasional drop echoing off the cave walls, and the thudding of her damned heart. She let out a whoosh of air and stood, raising her hood to her head. She unslung her largest assault rifle, gripping it tightly, menacingly, as though it were a natural extension of herself. She stepped light on her feet, pushing herself forward. Her jaw set, she knew she was as ready as she could have been.

The cave opened up slightly as she carried on, the walls lit up with a purple luminescent glow. She realized that there would most likely be Guardians to stop her from reaching the Vault, and she found herself wishing she hadn't left Axton behind. She would have to be careful not to do anything to reckless, lest she get herself killed before she can even reach Lilith.

"You're a plague, bandit. You and your kind have corrupted Pandora with your greed and your hatred. It comes down to me to save this world from your kind. But I'm more than happy to do it." Jack sneered over her echo.

The man was sounding more unhinged with each day, and now he had finally reached a breaking point. It baffles her that he truly thought he was doing good, and had the nerve to call them bandits. After everything he's done, everyone he's murdered, he still thinks himself a hero. Well she had Jack running scared now, and he knew it. She could hear the fear in his voice, but she was not afraid. He didn't even expect them to make it this far.

She surprisingly wasn't thinking much about the Warrior. All she was thinking about was getting Lilith to safety and murdering Jack. The Warrior was more of an afterthought, which she knew was foolish, but it just seemed so insignificant in comparison to Lilith and Jack.

She noticed the temperature rising some time ago, and she could now see why. Through a mouth in the cave to her left, a great lava fall was pouring from somewhere up above, giving an idea of just how deep underground she must be. The heat should be unbearable, but once again the forefront of her mind was occupied with more important things.

She approached a Hyperion bridge leading over the lake of fire as she exited another mouth of the cave. The heat was blasting from all around, but she almost didn't feel it. She breathed deeply, in and out, with every step she took across the narrow bridge. She could somehow sense what was coming on the other side.

Once she got there she was on an elevator, descending down closer to the lake of boiling lava. Great bursts of fire and magma threatened to splash her once she reached the bottom, but she paid no mind. She followed the cat walk that sat atop the lake, topping up on ammo and supplies she found along the way.

Large, concrete steps descended before her, and she had the startling realization that she wasn't deep underground at all, but on some unknown location on Pandora. When she looked up, she could see Helios and Elpis against a fiery orange sky.

She couldn't see too far from the bottom of the steps, but she somehow just knew she had arrived. Her suspicions were confirmed when Jack messaged her again,

"This is where it all ends. Once Lilith here charges the key, I'll control the Warrior and wipe you bandits off of my planet. When you get to hell, tell your Vault Hunter friends said hey."

Lilith. She was here, and Maya could finally see her with her own eyes, still alive. There was still a chance to save her, and heart started beating hard once again. She missed Lilith, missed waking up with her, caressing her, telling her that she would love her for the rest of her life. And she would, she knew since they first met nothing would be the same. She couldn't give that up, not to Jack.

She reached the landing and continued forward until she saw a bright light shooting from the ground and hovering in the air above. That figure-

It was Lilith, and Maya took off in a dead sprint, her heart threatening to leap out of her chest. She kept going, faster than she had before. Not being stupid, she summoned a phaselock around herself, should something jump out at her.

"Lilith!" she screamed, as she approached the base of the light. The three Vault Keys were spinning around her, glowing a dangerously bright purple, and Lilith didn't seem to hear her.

She looked around, desperately trying to find something to stop this, to get her down. Then she saw Jack, constructing himself on the other side of the light.

He looked menacing, but she guaranteed it was only because of the mask. Seeing him here, in front of her, she realized he is just a man. Shorter than her, even, and while he tried he just wasn't intimidating to her. She could picture his brains splattering all over the rock already. Then she would gladly kick him into the lava, never to be seen again. No, she wasn't afraid of this man, because his army of loaders screamed insecurity, the way he treated his daughter screamed of an inferiority complex, for he was but a mortal, and she, Lilith, and herself were all Sirens, all trying to go against him and his master plan.

She could see the fear in his eyes.

"Hey you're right on time," he said, clapping his hands together, "the keys nearly ready. But before I cleanse this planet for good, I'm gonna avenge my daughter."

He disappeared, deconstructing as quickly as he arrived. She raised her weapon, glancing around before taking a few paces back in order to get a better visual.

There was only so many places he could go, unless he wanted to throw himself in the lava. She just needed to catch him in a phaselock once, and she could put a bullet in his head without even breaking a sweat.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him, sprinting towards her. She fired off a well aimed shot before he even got close, getting him dead in the eye. The triumph was short-lived, when she realized it was a fake, a copy.

Then, there were dozens at him coming towards her. This definitely fucked up her plan a little, she couldn't phaselock all of them. But they were easy to take down.

She would just have to eliminate them, one by one, and hopefully leave the real one standing. She just hoped she didn't run out of bullets by then.

She pulled out a pistol, and began putting bullets in skulls. She whirled around gracefully, one, then another. She rolled to the left, another one, and the one behind it. One of the Jack's tried to grab her, but she tossed him over her shoulder, putting a slug in his belly on the way down. Looking up she caught another just under the chin, and another that jumped at her from the right, into the heart.

"Over here!" came Jack's teasing voice, a little further ahead closer to Lilith. The doubles were gone, and she raised her cannon. Before she could fire, he disappeared again.

Cursing, she phaselocked herself, quickly running in a zig zag motion towards where he once was. Invisibility could definitely give him an advantage over her, but he would have to come out sometime.

Sure enough he did, right behind her. But she heard him, and there was no way he was faster than her. Besides, she was still protected by her phaselock.

She whirled around and fire, hitting him in the shoulder causing him to cry out. He had tried to simultaneously fire at her, but the bullet ricocheted harmlessly off of her. She smirked as he disappeared again. The fight was painfully easy, and she wondered if it showed. Jack was nothing without his loaders and constructors and Siren captives.

He appeared, further away, and began shooting at her with a pistol. She was sure he had some state of the art Hyperion weaponry, even if he didn't know how to use it, and she made a mental note to grab it off his body when she was done.

He made the mistake firing at her like that, enraged, completely out of control. It's as though he forgot she was even a Siren at all. Or perhaps, he wasn't underestimated her powers.

"I'm not dying yet!" he screamed, and he looked up to where Lilith was still in the air. She followed his gaze, and watched with horror as the Vault Key came together. She thought she heard Lilith say something, but she couldn't be sure.

The Vault Key slammed into the ground, fitting into the groove beneath it perfectly, and Jack began to cackle maniacally. He collapsed to the ground, bleeding like a stuck skag, though he didn't stop laughing.

The beam of light died and Lilith came crashing to the stone, crying out in pain.

"LILITH!" Maya screamed, but she was still too far away. She ran as though she didn't feel the ground beneath her begin to quake.

"You're too late, Bandit!" Jack wheezed from the ground, "I WIN! The greatest alien power Pandora has ever seen- and its MINE TO CONTROL!"

A great roar came from ahead, loud enough to tremble the entire rock they stood on. Maya wasn't sure what she expected the Warrior to look like. It had never come up, presumably because no one had ever seen it. If asked, Maya would imagine it would look something like in the stories of old she had read when she was younger, in the books snuck to her by handmaidens and servants. Great beasts that were taken down by glorious knights, back when mankind was first developing. She knew all of these stories to be fairy tales, however. She knew the existence of monsters, sure. But surely nothing as grandiose as a fire breathing dragon, or a kraken or a demon, right?

But the question, if she were to think of what the Warrior might look like, she could easily see herself conjuring the very image towering before her.

It could only be described at some sort of reptilian looking creature, but instead of scales it was made of hot, black stone. In the creases and cracks of its body she could see the fiery orange glow, same as the lava surrounding them. It made sense, coming out of the lake of fire. Two great horns mounted its ugly head, which held two burning, red eyes that were nearly the size of her. It scaled up the rock, the rock where they stood, exposing more of its body. It was frightening to see how big it really was.

The beast reared its head and let out another earth shattering roar, as Jack raised his fists in delight.

"WAAARRRIOOOOOOR!" he bellowed, looking at the monster with awe. "Kill!" he pointed at her.

The Warrior leapt from atop its rock, crashing to the platform below where she stood, kicking up lava and debris. She phaselocked and leapt back, unscathed.

It jumped again, soaring through the air before splashing into the lava to the right of her. The weight of the beast in the lake caused the lava to rise dangerously close to her.

She doubled back to where the cliff was, near the entrance, narrowly avoiding melting her foot along the way. She bit her tongue as she felt the burning sensation in her heel spread, her boot melting to her skin. She climbed the wall, and hung off the side.

The Warrior's ugly head was surfacing, and she aimed her rifle with one hand as best as she could. Thankfully, she had a big target to work with. She would have to use her phaselock on herself, it would be useless on something as large as the Warrior. Even then, she would have to use it sparingly to ensure she didn't run out if energy.

The rifle was doing little damage, and the Warriors tail shot out of the lake in her direction.

She released the cliff just in time, phaselocking herself as the tail crashed into the rock, sending boulders flying in her direction. She grunted under the force of the rock smashing into her shield, but she held on.

She ran towards a different set of rock a little ways away, hopefully to gain some cover. She slid to a stop, praying the creature didn't jump back into the lake too soon. She shouldered a sniper and aimed for its eyes. She was only able to get one shot, for it bellowed and tossed its head in pain. The beast was now blinded in one eye, but it was also thrashing around violently now. She scrambled away just as its tail collided with the rock she had been crouching behind.

"The lavas rising again!" Lilith cried weakly.

She pulled herself up to a ledge surrounding the platform, terribly exposed from here. The lava crept dangerously close to her, and she pulled her knees to her chest and tried to think.

The Warrior came out of the lake again, and she threw a grenade as hard as she could, hoping it would reach it. It hit its mark, and it curled in pain thrashing its tail around itself. She put a phaselock around herself in case the tail reached her.

She jumped from the ledge, and backed up towards the exit, shooting it with her assault rifle again. It let out a roar and jumped at her.

She promised herself she wouldn't be reckless, not when she was facing the Warrior alone. But she soon found it she wasn't going to have a choice in the matter, if she wanted to take such a beast down. The thing was far too large, its rocky skin far too hard for bullets. She ran back to the cliff and began to climb; making the Warrior follow her with its snapping jaws. It reached closer, nearly swallowing her, and she pushed herself off the cliff, towards the Warriors head, hoping he didn't angle his head enough for land in its mouth.

It didn't, but she didn't exactly stick the landing either. It had cocked its massive head the last second, causing her to slip to the side. She cried out as she felt herself fall a short moment, before clinging onto a crack on the side of its head.

She was face to face with its mangled eye; she knew better than to shoot it and cause it to thrash around some more, possibly mangling her in the process. Instead she unclipped a grenade and stuffed it into the meat of its eye, giving her a few seconds to jump away.

She pushed herself off the beasts head and went falling feet first to the ground. Before she got there, the movement out of the corner of her eye was all she needed to know she fucked up.

Its tail came whipping at her, colliding with the side of her body and just kept going, as though she were made of nothing. It send her flying into the ground below violently, and the pain that rippled through her was unlike anything she felt before.

She immediately knew the right side of her ribs were completely broken. She both felt and heard that shortly after she heard the tail whipping through the air. The pain came after, then the panic of not being able to breath.

She saw white spots, and began to suspect her lung of being collapsed. If her ribs had pierced her lung, she likely only had minutes until she began to choke on her own blood.

Panic began to set in as she reached for a health booster in her bag, screaming in pain as every slight movement felt like fire in her chest. She trembled as she injected it into herself, moments away from blacking out.

She gagged on the air as she felt her lung open up slightly, and began to cough in agonizing breaths, each time feeling like a hot poker in her lung. She gagged again, rolling to the fetal position, desperately trying to will the pain away, but she couldn't. She didn't taste blood, which meant she would live from the blow, but surely die from the Warrior. She couldn't get up.

She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, the pain making her dizzy, and for a moment she thought she was going to throw up.

She could hear the Warrior shrieking in pain behind her, but she knew it wasn't enough to kill it. They were all going to die here, and Axton had been wrong. She wondered where he was now, wondered if things would have been different had she forced him to come with her.

She was foolish, to think she could save everyone.

All she could think about now was Lilith, laying not far from where she lay now, and she will never get to touch her again. She got so close, but never actually reached her. She failed everyone else, but failing her hurt the most.

She wont even be able to say goodbye.

She heard faint screaming through the ringing in her ears. She tried to focus on the sound, anything to ground her to reality, to keep her from blacking out completely.

"…Maya!..."

They were calling for her. She knew the voice, even though the ringing, she knew. She felt it.

"…MAYA!..."

She screamed as she rolled onto her knees, resting her head on the ground. She took a few deep breaths, but they weren't as painful as before.

"…MAYA GET UP! PLEASE, MAYA!"

It was Lilith screaming for her, and she heard the desperation, need, and utter fear in her voice. It was so jarring it tore her from her own body, lifting the white spots and the bone crushing pain that threatened unconsciousness.

"Uurrghhh!" she heaved herself from the ground, blinking furiously in an attempt to focus her eyes. She stood shakily, her breath coming out in short, pained gasps.

The Warrior was still thrashing around dangerously, near the lake, and it was a wonder she hadn't been hit by it yet. A large portion of its head had been blown off completely, leaving it misshapen with lava oozing from the side.

She had to finish this now. What little strength she had was draining, and she was surprised she was even standing at this point. If she didn't put it down now, she wouldn't be able to. If not now, then it might go after Lilith at Jack's command.

She pulled out an explosive pistol she had, rigging a scope onto it. She would have to hit it in its other eye in order to kill it, and doing so with a pistol wouldn't be easy. But with an explosive pistol, it should only take one shot.

She held the gun up shakily, closing one eye and tried to follow the Warriors head. It hadn't yet seen her, where she lay, and she knew that she was about to give away her position.

Frustrated, she used her other hand to support the pistol, which was beginning to feel like a thousand pounds. She followed, carefully, if she missed, she was dead.

She held her breath painfully, as the Warrior reared its head again, letting out a painful roar. This was her chance, and she didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

She watched with bated breath, praying it didn't move last minute, praying her weak aim was good enough.

There was no good enough, it had to be perfect.

She heard the scream before the explosion. The Warrior bellowed once again, though greater than before, before its eye exploded in a fiery blast, along with the rest of its head. Fire and magma spilled from its maw in a river, and the beast fell in a dangerous crash. Lava and rock spewed up, hurtling towards her, but this time she created a phaselock when she had to. She squeezed her eyes shut until the sound of rock subsided, and she dared look from where she crouched.

The Warrior lay unmoving, its body crumbling before her eyes as it was engulfed by the lake from which it came.

"MAYA!" Lilith screamed in agony again, jerking her from the moment.

She half ran, half limped towards the Siren, her lover, before she spotted Jack. It seemed with all the excitement she had almost forgotten about him. Almost.

She had her eyes on Jack as she approached, where he lay curled on the ground bleeding out onto the rock. She thought she had seen fear in his eyes before, but now he looked terrified. He looked like a man afraid of death, a look she had seen before.

She phaselocked him, enjoying the surprised squeal that came from his hanging body. She couldn't believe how easy it had been to kill him. The man was so light, so weak, she could honestly hold this phaselock all day, despite her condition.

She burst into laughter as she approached him, heard his strangulated cries as his muscles spasmed in her tight grip. She saw the veins bulging in his neck, and thought of how easy it would be to cut them now, but that would be letting him off too easy.

She stood before him, cocking her hip and placing a hand there. "You look like a puppet!" she laughed, feeling genuine happiness for the first time in a while.

"You…f-fucking….cunt…" he groaned, as she tightened the phaselock just a little more.

"I want you to know, Jack, that the only one avenging Angel here is me. For everything you put her through. You were her father for fuck sake, you were supposed to protect her."

"Angel…arrgh…w-was….happy!"

"If you took the time to listen, you would know that wasn't the case. You know it even now, don't you? You're scrambling to excuse your actions, because you know what a monster you are!"

She didn't expect an answer this time; she knew she was constricting him past the point of talking now.

"For everyone you've hurt, for all the damage done, we will all take comfort in knowing you won't ever have the chance to take advantage of, manipulate, or harm anyone again," she said with finality, venom dripping from her voice.

She thought of Brother Sophis as she watched Jack writhe in her grip; how traumatizing, but how sickeningly satisfying it had been to have him in this same grip, to watch the life leave his eyes before they burst forth from his skull, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore. It was the most freeing time of her life.

That moment paled in comparison to this. In this moment, the satisfaction was beyond compare.

She clenched her fist together, and that was all it took.

His body combusted in on itself in a quick implosion, as though he had been squeezed by a giant. She saw as his body turned to jelly on the inside as his form took a very unnatural form, and blood spurt forth from his orifices, covering her in a red blanket.

And then she released, and allowed the pile of mush to fall in a heap on the stone. She wiped her face with the back of her sleeve, breathing a painful sigh of relief.

She ran to Lilith, laying like a broken angel on the pavement. Maya desperately wanted to get her off of that pavement, and she used her strength to drag Lilith to her arms, cradling her.

"M-Maya," she whimpered, and she had never seen Lilith like this before. She had always been skinny, but now she was gaunt, like the life had literally been sucked out of her. Dark circles framed her tired eyes, which were now dulled of their fire. Her breath came out in shuddering gasps, and tears began to flow.

"Maya…it hurts…" she cried, squeezing her eyes shut. Maya quickly pulled out the second health booster she had, the one she saved for Lilith. She gave her the injection and held her as they waited for it to take effect.

"You came for me," Lilith said as though she were surprised. Maya let out a tearful laugh and kissed her forehead softly.

"Of course I came for you," She pressed their foreheads together, drinking her in. She let out a quiet sob, "I cant live without you after all."

Lilith just gave her a weak smile, too worn to say anything more. Maya leaned down and kissed her gently on her dry, cracked lips, pouring as much love as she could into the simple gesture. She was overwhelmed with relief, and everything that happened before was non existent; she found her, alive, and nothing could mean more to Maya in this moment.

She left the loot behind, Lilith was far more important. There would be other Vaults.

"Let's get you home."