A/N: Okay, I'm gonna keep this quick. I've really been struggling to focus on this story recently, BUT, I am definitely not giving up on it. Just having a tough time with it at the moment. It has taken me a month to write even this much. I wanted to update so I thought I'd split this into two parts. This part is really short but the next will be longer and will be coming soon.

Thanks for your patience. ^_^

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

- Anthony Brandt

Gaige, Koen and Marshall were all woken up at the exact same time by an incredibly loud crashing noise, as well as the shuttle shaking violently. One second Koen was fast asleep, the next he was flung off his row of seats and onto the floor of the shuttle. However, as quick as it had come, the shaking stopped. The vibrations had already stopped by the time Koen smacked into the floor. Marshall and Gaige were luckier as they were both still lying down on the seats they had fallen asleep on, grabbing onto whatever they could to keep steady. Gaige's eyes were wide open in shock, and Marshall looked more confused than anything. Koen groaned as he lay face down on the floor, still trying to contemplate what exactly had just happened.

Marshall and Gaige both looked down and Koen and laughed at the same time. Koen rolled over onto his back and looked up at both of them.

"Screw you guys," he muttered, before sitting up and then getting to his feet, bending over slightly to avoid hitting his head off the roof of the shuttle.

"If I didn't know any better," Marshall said, peering out the window of the shuttle, "I'd say we're here."

"You don't say," Koen grumbled, as he pushed Marshall out of the way slightly to look out the window. The shuttle was surrounded by a big cloud of dust that completely obscured his view. He sighed and stepped over to the door of the shuttle, hitting the button to open the door. With a loud hiss, the door slowly began to open outwards.

By the time the doors had opened, the dust cloud had cleared and Koen could see exactly where they were. He even recognised the location. They were at the exact same Hyperion launch station that he and Gaige had used to get off Pandora in the first place. After staring for a few seconds, Koen turned around to face Gaige, who was frowning slightly.

"Is that…?" Gaige asked, moving towards the door to get a better look.

"Yes it is," Koen confirmed, knowing what Gaige was going to say.

Marshall leaned in between the two, faking a huge grin. "Uh, I'm sorry, but is there something I'm missing here?" He added, looking around the place.

Koen rolled his eyes, then leaned over and gently shouldered his friend aside. "Never mind, Marshall…" He replied, stooping down to pick up his things. He pulled his backpack on and hitched the crossbow to the back of it. He then holstered his Dahl pistol. Koen waited a few seconds for his companions to do the same. Once they were all ready, they all filed out of the shuttle. Koen first, followed by Marshall and then Gaige.

All three felt the heat from the scorching sun instantly. Koen and Gaige had spent the last year on Eden-5, while Marshall had never experienced heat like this.

"Hooooly crap," Marshall groaned, lifting a hand to his forehead and looking up towards the sun, "This fucking heat."

"Better get used to it," Koen answered him, still looking towards the Hyperion launch facility. "It's not gonna get any cooler. Anyway, I say we check out the launch station."

Gaige turned her head and looked at Koen, frowning slightly. "Whhhyyy would we wanna do that?" Gaige asked, obviously not liking the idea.

Koen then raised a hand towards the launch facility. "Gaige, look at it. It looks like it's been abandoned for a while now. If there was anyone there, we'd have seen them by now."

"Okay, fine…" Gaige sighed, still not fully sold on the idea.

And so, the trio headed up a gentle hill of sand and dust towards the facility. They soon reached the cracked, dusty concrete of the facility and stopped to have a further look around. The entire facility not only seemed deserted, but was in a much worse state than Koen and Gaige remembered. Marshall, however, was none the wiser and so just figured that the wrecked facility was a sign of just how damaged Pandora was. A cracked Hyperion logo above one of the buildings served as a reminder that the mega-corporation had long since left the harsh planet, and was pretty much dead.

Koen noticed a large metal door around twenty metres away from them that looked like it led into the main part of the facility. "Hey, there's a door over there, let's go for it," He suggested.

Marshall shrugged and glanced back at Koen. "I'm game," he said quickly.

With that, Koen began walking towards the large door, Marshall following after him slightly. Gaige stayed where she was for a second, getting an idea. She quickly pulled out her ECHO and excitedly began to call Axton. However, just as she was connecting to Axton's ECHO, she began to feel uneasy. Axton had specifically told her not to come back to Pandora, and she had completely ignored him. She worried about what his reaction would be, but she figured it would be bad.

"…Gaige?" Axton's voice came over the ECHO, "What's going on? Is everything okay? What happened the last time you tried to-"

"Axton, I'm here on Pandora," Gaige interrupted him. She felt there was no point hiding it. There came a silence over the ECHO during which Gaige's heart and mind raced. She waited in anticipation for Axton to speak again.

"…You what?" Axton replied finally, sounding a lot more annoyed than he did five seconds ago.

"U-Uhh…" Gaige stammered, trying to find something to reply with. Then, in what was questionably one of Gaige's worse decisions, she awkwardly switched off her ECHO. As important as talking to Axton was, she decided to let him get his head around the fact that she was here once again.

With that, she jogged to catch up with Koen and Marshall, who were standing outside the metal door. Koen turned around when Gaige came up behind him, looking at her curiously.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Oh, um, nothing," Gaige replied quickly. Koen shrugged and turned back to the door.

The door looked like it slid open from the left, seeing as there was a small gap between the door and the wall. They figured the door mechanism had long since broken down, and now the door was slightly ajar.

"Right, let's see if we can get this thing open a bit more," Marshall said, gesturing to the tiny gap in the door, "Help me with this, Koen."

The boys then reached over and grabbed the edge of the door with both hands. Marshall counted backwards from three and they both gave the door a hard pull. The door opened up slightly and they continued pulling. They kept going until they had made a gap big enough for someone to fit through.

"Right, well, ladies first," Koen smirked, pointing at the gap in the door.

A/N: Okay, there's part one. A much longer part two is coming soon, promise.