The Rebel Titan
Prologue:
…'What, where… where am I? …Who am I?'
"Guardian?"
I look down at my hands, flexing my fingers awkwardly, then…
"God, NO!"
"Eyes up, Guardian."
I finally look up, what greets me confirms my fears…
I can remember, the ships, the Aliens…
My Failure.
"Your alive!" the machine in front of me says, its tail spinning in joy, "You don't know how long I've been looking for you. Listen… you've been dead a long time, so you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand."
A distant roar, a roar I can remember, echoes over the field of destroyed cars, the machine drifts to my left, its front shifting nervously, "This is Fallen territory," it says, looking back to me then darting toward the Cosmodrome wall, "we aren't safe here, I have to get you to The City"…
'City?'
It comes back toward me, "hold still," there's a flash and it disappears, "Don't worry, I'm still with you," it says as I glance around in fright, not seeing it, "we need to move fast!"
I get up slowly, my balance of after… whatever it did.
I take three steps then stop, a memory drawing me back, I drop to my knees and start searching for something.
"Err… we won't last long in the open like this, we HAVE to get inside the Wall," it says, noticing my search.
It tries again after a few minutes, by now I'm digging into the soil.
"You can hear me, right? We are going to die out here."
I throw a glare over my shoulder then roll my eyes as I realise it's not there, then I find it.
"Erm… what is that?" it asks curiously.
"Enfield Model 2195 Plasma Pistol," I tell him, carefully inspecting the Desert Eagle sized weapon. (It looks like a Desert Eagle sized Westar-35 from the Clone Wars.)
"I've never seen anything like it," it admits, reappearing and playing its scanner beam over the weapon.
"Only issued to the Royal Space Service six months before the Fallen attacked," I told it, standing up and clipping it and its holster to my thigh, "I had a rifle too but I'll come back for it later."
"Good idea," it agrees, "I didn't bring you back just for you to die again."
"Are all… Guardians, raised from the dead?" I ask as I vault over a car.
"…I think so."
The Enfield's heavy in my hands, my body's screaming at me from many lacerations and bullet wounds, sweat is pooled under my chin inside my helmet as I try to melt into the rock.
The Hive are swarming but haven't found me yet, but neither can I get out to use my med-pack, the flash produced would attract the horde and I'd be virtually paralysed as the pack worked, I needed a plan… or help.
"Guardian?"
"Not now, Antioch," I hissed, fighting not to scream as pain lanced through the two broken ribs threatening my lungs.
"You need to get out," Antioch, my Ghost, stated, "You won't survive, even with my help, if you stay here."
"I'll draw them away," my head snaps up and I move to grab him but he hurries past before I can stop him, the chorus of cries from the horde tell me he's successful.
I will never forget the nerve wracking ten minutes it takes for the horde to file out, nor the long walk to the surface, once I was out I set my emergency beacon and found a spot to use my Med pack.
I heard a response to my beacon as I waited to heal but I didn't wait for the others, once the pack was done I told them I was going in to rescue someone then dove back in.
The horde was thick but not as overwhelming as earlier; conveniently they were a strange beastly trail of breadcrumbs through the tunnels, leading me to Antioch…
They lead me to the Temple of Crota.
It was more of the same, trading aimed fire with Knights and Acolytes then Spray and Pray on the Thralls.
Then the Wizard came… it had Antioch.
At first I tried to avoid shooting my Ghost, my friend, but I saw the light of his eye fade with each passing second, I needed to end this fast.
When I dropped the Wizard's shield I shot its hand, sending Antioch to fall down the steps. The Wizard tried to follow but I slammed a Fist of Havoc underneath it and incinerated it.
Gunfire erupted behind me just then, pulling the remaining horde that had flanked me away, I jumped down, slung my rifle, scooped up Antioch and drew my Enfield, its plasma bolts proving downright lethal to the Acolytes.
Once the last Hive fell, I lifted Antioch up, his eye was flickering.
"You… you came for me?" he asked.
"You're my Ghost," I exclaimed incredulously, trying not to panic as my connection to Antioch wavered, along with my connection to the Light, "of course I came for you".
"Most Guardians wouldn't," he admitted, "Ghosts can be replaced."
"Even if they can, they're not you," I countered, ignoring the other Guardians stopping behind me.
"… Thank you," he said tiredly, then his eye, and my connection to him, faded.
Not failed, not severed, no he wasn't dead, I could still feel him… distant, faint, but he was there.
I couldn't feel the Light any more, faint whisps barely in my grasp, if I used my powers like I normally did I could put myself into a fever or coma, Guardian's bodies need the Light to survive.
It left me cold, empty… the terrible feeling of something missing… the sense of no longer being whole aching through my soul.
I fell to my knees, "Antioch? ANTIOCH!"
His body nearly fell from my hands, "please wake up," I whispered, not noticing the hand that settled on my shoulder for several minutes as tears streaked down my cheeks.
"Take him to the Speaker, he may know a way to help," the masked Hunter said.
I nodded in agreement and rose, thanking him and his companion as we left.
It hadn't been enough, the Speaker believed Antioch was in a coma and would need to come out of it on his own.
I soon became an outcast, the Titan with the dead Ghost, losing a Ghost carries a heavy stigma in the Tower.
It wasn't helped by my success in the Crucible, my mortality had forced me to hone my skills to the point where I was nearly untouchable, both Lord Shaxx and Lord Saladin had taken me under their wings, further increasing resentment among my peers.
But it was when my only true friends, the Hunter and Warlock who'd helped me rescue Antioch, Leon and Petra, began to avoid me I knew it was time to leave.
Holliday needed a test pilot for an experimental inter-system Jump Drive, I volunteered. The test was successful, I reported the success then told Holliday I was leaving, before she could reply, I jumped again…
Far away from Sol and I never looked back.
"Where'd she go?"
The young Mandalorian sprinted down the alley, glancing back to make sure she lost the Imperials, and tripped.
She crashed into a set of crates, the noise reverberating around the alley.
"Down there!"
"Oh crap," Sabine hissed, curling her fingers around her twisted ankle.
"Need a hand?"
She looked up to see a handsome man about her age in silver and gold trimmed forest green armour holding out his hand.
She took it and was glad her helmet hid her wince as he pulled her up, but it didn't hide her gasp.
"Ankle?" he looked over her shoulder when she nodded.
"Running from the Imps?"
"Yeah," she said, glancing worriedly to the alley entrance, "not gonna make it on this ankle."
He looked at the entrance to the alley then her, before gently pulling her into a doorway, "take your helmet off."
"What?" she asked, not understanding where he was going with the request.
"They won't look twice at a couple of teens in love kissing in a doorway," he said.
"You're nuts if you think I'll just kiss a stranger," Sabine protested,
"Your alternatives all involve a one way ticket to a cell, if not a firing squad," he pointed out.
Sabine looked at the alley entrance then back to him, then blushed and looked down thinking that kissing such a handsome guy wouldn't be so bad, "ok, but no funny stuff," she sighed, taking off her helmet and clipping it to her belt.
"Never on the first date," he joked, sliding his right hand around her back to rest between her shoulder blades and his left fell onto her right hip just over her shapely behind and pulled her close.
"Can't believe I'm doing this," she mumbled as she put her arms around his neck, their faces now less than an inch apart.
"Close your eyes and it'll all be over," he advised then lowered his lips to hers.
A spark ran through her lips then down her spines as their lips met, making her moan and pull herself into him instinctively. It was gentle but bursting with restrained emotion, conveying everything yet leaving her wanting more. It was just like she dreamed her first kiss would be. No, better.
The moment was broken by a frighteningly familiar voice, "Excuse me?"
He broke away and looked to her right, "Something wrong, Officer?"
She chanced a look and found an Officer in the Imperial Army's grey dress uniform standing At Ease with a full platoon behind him.
"Did you see a Mandalorian girl in purple armour pass?" the officer asked, actually looking down his long nose at them.
"Yeah, gave us a fright," he said, then pointed to the far end of the alley, "she headed to the end then went sharp right, running like a Nexu was on her heals, if you're quick you might catch her."
The officer nodded in thanks, and motioned his troops on, with typical Imperial efficiency in less than a minute the two teens were alone once more.
"That was close," Sabine muttered, then she noticed something, "why didn't he recognise my armour?"
He just grinned at her, "look down."
She did and gasped, her colourful breast plate was now a dark green with red markings, her helmet was the same, then she felt him remove his hand from her back and the colours returned to normal.
"Holographic armour shader," he explained, "very useful when raiding supply depots."
"That would make things so much easier," she said, then looked up, "Where can I…" she stopped when she saw his eyes just before he looked away, her heart clenched at the sheer depth of pain, sorrow and loss in them.
"I picked it up a long time ago, on a small world beyond the Outer Rim," he said, not looking at her.
"Sorry," she said quietly, "didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
He shook his head, "just something I've left behind," he looked at her, thankfully his eyes were normal, "You ok from here?"
"Yeah, I can make it to the ship from here without those idiots on my heels," she said, then realised he had turned to leave, "Hey, I didn't get your name," she blurted out.
She blushed again as he smiled, amusement dancing in his eyes, "Ezra, a pleasure," he said, holding out his hand.
Her eyes were drawn to a symbol on his armour, previously hidden by his cloak, two facing wolf heads under a white tree all in a circle, "Sabine Wren," she replied, shaking his hand.
"A pleasure," he repeated, "we both better get moving in case those tin soldiers come back, see you around," and with that he left.
She watched him for a few minutes, until he left the alley, then started away herself, not knowing how both the symbol and the teen's eyes would be burned into her mind for weeks to come.