Donatello's POV

Aching, bloody, tired. Three things I now had plastered on my mind constantly. The battle against the Fallen was long, hard and grinded my muscles into nothing. However, I was safe, I had escaped death and live another day. Despite the fight being over, I can't help but leave my mind towards the battle. Only three statistics were whirling around in my head: over 6000 Fallen killed, 1600 Guardians went in, and 56 came out alive. You can't get past anything other the number of those who lost their lives in the fight. I left the battle field as it was when all the Fallen was confirmed dead. Blood and gunpowder stained my armour, my gun generated a small bubble of heat and I stank of the putrid guts of the Fallen I killed. Walking towards my ship that would carry me home, I shuddered as I saw a dead Guardian laying in front of me. He was a fresh Hunter new in from training. Only a few hours ago he was sat in front of me and smiling. But now here he lay; Skin scorched, eyes open and a helpless expression moulded onto his face. Slowly turning away, I heard the fleet of ships leave, their jets' noise growing as they flew on overhead and vanishing into the clouds. I was the only living Guardian left in Old Russia, Earth. A chilling wind blew, picking up dust and shredded cloth with it. Everything was so silent, so eerie. I thought it best to leave before I am ambushed by Fallen again. Strapping my auto-rifle to my back, I walked slowly back to the ship. My muscles screamed and begged for a rest with every step I take. Thankfully, my ship wasn't too far away.

I breathed a sigh of released as I stood beside it, running a hand up and down the golden paint work. I removed the largest pieces of my armour and slid them neatly into a storage compartment on my ship. I still wore basic armour pads, just in case, but I knew there would be no need to wear them. Climbing into my ships cockpit, I groaned in relief as I sat down in the padded seat. The relief was amazing, my body went limp in the cold chair. Groaning, I strapped myself in and powered up my ship. The ship left the ground and hovered in place just above the ground. Flashing lights and countless switches and buttons surrounded me. Clutching the joysticks in my hands, I watched as the scene of the battle left and Old Russia changed from a run-down battle field into a blur of browns and greys. Gradually descending into the clouds, I eagerly awaited a cold shower and a long night's sleep in a warm bed. That's all I focused on: to go home and be safe. Suddenly, a rapid monotonic beeping distracted me from my thoughts. My eyes darted around madly and quickly latched onto a flashing blue light. That light meant that my jet engines are damaged and it normally comes on when you are on the ground. A trail of smoke was emitting from my ship's jets, my ship itself was losing altitude. I put on my speakers and began feeding an urgent relay message back to home base.

'Home base this is Titan 1854. I have a faulty engine and I am losing altitude. Do you copy?' I relayed back and awaited commands from home base. No voice came through. 'Home base, this is Titan 1854! I am losing altitude, do you copy?' I repeated but once again, no voice came through the speakers.

My heart pounded in my chest like a drum, my heart was in my mouth and my breathing grew uncontrolled and rapid. I began shaking. The ground grew ever closer to me, building tops began zooming closer. As if that wasn't bad enough, the smoke turned from grey to black and fire began spreading from my jets towards the cockpit. Heat began filing through the vents and trapped me inside a heatwave in my own ship. My mind was now thinking the worst. I was going to die. That's all that was filling my mind. I began tugging on the ejection lever but it was jammed and couldn't move. Harder and harder I tugged on it. It still didn't move. I wasn't going to move. I was trapped inside a falling ship. The heat from the flames were seemingly choking me, I found it harder to breath. My eyes widened as the ground still grew ever closer towards me. Screaming, I pulled on my seat restraint as though it would save me from my impending doom. The ground was hurtling towards me at break neck speed now. Suddenly, my ship began digging into the ground, hurtling me forwards. My head smashed into the dashboard, sending small trickles of blood crawling down my face. A constant high-pitched ringing replaced my sound entirely and my body grew numb with pain. I was being tossed around like a ragdoll, glass showering me and making paper-cut like scratches on my skin and uniform. The ground was piling up either side of me, leaving me guessing if we were moving or not. I clenched my eyes shut and hoped that when I opened my eyes, all of today would be nothing more than a bad dream, a nightmare. Launched backwards, I was catapulted into my chair. This acted as a signal towards confirmation that I had stopped moving. Prising my eyes open, my right eyes was encrusted over with blood. Looking around, I was collapsed in my chair like a discarded rag doll. My ship was emitting black smoke as golden fire surrounded me. I had to get out of here or else I would be cooked alive in my own ship. Glancing around, there was an opening where the fire had not yet spread. My seat restraint had been shredded by glass and I was able to finally move. My body was filling with a painful tingling sensation, leaving me hissing in pain at the slightest movement. Grasping the side of the ship, I yanked myself out of my seat and towards the freedom of the outside world. I screamed and cried out as my body gave up moving me anymore. I was in excruciating pain. There was hardly any fresh air outside, giving me no release from the painful heat of the fire or salvation from the smoke filling my lungs. My body ached, my head pounded and my eyes felt as though they weighed a thousand tonnes each. I can't stay awake any longer although I knew that if I shut my eyes I wouldn't wake up again. My breathing was slowing down and I couldn't move any more. A single final groan escaped my lips before I rested my head on the ship's gold paintwork and let the blood from my wound slither down the sides of it. I allowed my eyes clamped shut. The world around me began to silence into nothing as I lost all feeling in my body.

Raven's POV

The wind blew cold and dust flew and danced in the wind. I was walking through the barren wasteland of Old Russia. My tattered shroud didn't provide any head against the winds, nor did any of my clothes. But through this deserted land, I wasn't alone. Standing by my side was my Ghost. Well he wasn't standing, he hovers more than anything. However, he wasn't the pristine white ghost that you would normally see. My ghost was broken when I found him and I fixed him with scraps of gold and silver metal pulled from buildings. But we have been together ever since, companions and friends.

Together, we began scouting for a place to rest. It was set to be a chilling night. We would search for anything as a form of shelter: caves, buildings, plane wrecks. I pulled my coat around me tightly, hoping to withstand the cold.

'Are you alright?' Ghost asked me, his voice concerned.

Nodding, I replied with a sigh 'Yeah, I just can't find anywhere to sleep.'

'Me neither. But we have to keep looking.' Ghost said, knowing that we had to find a place to rest soon.

I walked carefully, hoping anything would provide shelter. Looking upwards towards the sky, I stopped walking and simply gazed upwards. The clouds had a pink lining as the sun began setting. The sky itself looked as though it had a colourwash from red to yellow. It was so serine, so calming. Ghost stopped flying forwards when he realised I wasn't next to him.

'What are you doing?' Ghost asked.

'It's so pretty tonight. I've not seen the sky like this for ages.' I smiled.

'It looks very different.' He agreed.

I didn't reply with anything towards Ghost. Instead, I sighed happily and contently. Out of the corner of my eye, something weird captured my attention. Turning towards the weird something, I titled my head as I tried to figure out what it was. It was falling from the sky with a thick trail of black smoke flowing from it. A happy gasp escaped my lips as I began pointing towards the falling object.

'Ghost! It's a shooting star!' I smiled, showing him where to look.

He flew higher, and blinked his blue eye. 'That's not a shooting star.' He paused and looked at me. 'That's a Guardian ship.' He finished flatly, clearly unimpressed at my immaturity.

'A Guardian.' I repeated in fascination. 'I have always wanted to see one. Can I keep it?' I begged. 'I'll feed it every day!' I pleaded.

Ghost was about to reply however the newly confirmed ship vanished behind a hill. A moment later, a loud explosion sent a sudden shake through the ground as billowing smoke began engulfing the amber sky in blackness.

'We should see if they are alright! Come on,' Ghost shouted urgently and began flying away.

Sprinting after him, I climbed my way up the hill, careful not to slip on loose rocks or plants. Reaching the top, I stood up next to Ghost. We looked at the flaming pile of broken ship sending smoke into the sky. Anybody in there be dead or seriously injured. In amongst the shimmering flames, I swore I saw something white laying there. That had to be the Guardian. Even from here, there was a clear wall of heat radiating from the ship.

'I have to help them.' I stated firmly.

'You'll die if you go.' Ghost retaliated.

'They might be alive. Besides, I'll be fine. Stay here.' I commanded as I galloped down the hill towards the Guardian. Ghost shouted something after me but I didn't hear it.

The heat grew stronger and stronger the closer to the Guardian I got. Covering my mouth, I leaned towards the Guardian. I found it was a guy with a still bleeding wound from his forehead. He must have found a way out but he couldn't make it. Linking my arms around his shoulders, I dragged him out of the ship. Glass slithered off him and the remainder of his seat restraint let him free. Sparks flew from the dashboard and I knew that it would explode when we least expected it. Grunting, I pulled him away from the ship carefully. He was covered in ash and blood, he must be hanging on for life. Lancing back at the ship, I saw his amour inside. Furrowing my eyebrows, I knew that I couldn't save it. It was lost. Clutching the Guardian tightly, I began pulling him towards the safety of the hill. With every step I took, the hissing fire of the engine seemed to grow louder.

'Hurry! It's going to explode!' Ghost's voice echoed around.

Turning back, I see the ship constantly spewing out sparks and my eyes widened. I began running as fast as I could, dragging the Guardian with me. There was no way I was going to get behind the hill so I dived behind a large rock, laying the Guardian on the floor safely. Ghost flew over, hovering in front of my face.

'We aren't safe here.' He began to panic.

'I know! But I can't move him in time.' I glance at my now blood stained trousers. 'I can protect us here.' I say and look back at him.

'I found a building over just beyond the hill that should be safe to stay in.' Ghost said, not hearing what I said. He looked me dead in the eye as he blinked twice. 'You can't do that! You could hurt yourself!' He shouted at me, realising what I just said.

But no time was given to respond as the ship began vomiting orange and white flames violently as a loud frying sound echoed out of it. Ghost buried himself in my hood as I leant over the Guardian. I looked up and throw my hand in the air, a purple light emitting strongly from it. The light grew, forming a barrier around us made out of purple translucent light. As soon as the edge of the barrier touched the floor, the ship exploded in a ball of orange flames. Metal and glass shot around us like a hundred streaks of light. Scrunching my eyes shut, I flinched as the electronic bangs echoed around me as metal hit the barrier and reflected off again. A minute later, I looked up to find nothing else flying towards us. The barrier vanished as I stood up. Ghost wriggled his way out of my hood and flew closely in front of me. There was nothing more than a smouldering pile where the ship lay. Flaming and sizzling metal surrounded us, the ground was stained black with ash. My hands felt as though they were on fire, wisps of smoke still radiated off them.

'We should get somewhere safe. Follow me.' Ghost said, I nodded once in reply.

I lifted the Guardian so he was on my back. Slowly, I plodded behind Ghost, following him into an abandoned warehouse. I lay down the Guardian on a large sheet of grey fabric. Gathering dead sticks, I make a fire for warmth near the Guardian. Ghost hovered above me as I tended to the Guardian's wounds. I placed a length of clean cloth along his head wound to protect it from infection. I sat back, tending to the fire for a silent ten minutes. Then, the Guardian twitched slightly and I sat up straight.

'He moved. He's waking up.' I whispered to Ghost. Ghost hovered in front of the Guardian's face and spoke to him.

'Hey. Guardian. Hey, Guardian. Eyes up Guardian.'