Disclaimer: This is a short one-shot for Destiny that has been floating in my head for a while now, and decided to finally write it down. Please review and critique. Warnings for feels and death.
I knew this day would come. The floating cube sighed, looking at the weathered face of the Titan before him. His Guardian.
Karen sat on the forest floor, purple eyes locked on the foliage below. For a place called the European Dead Zone it was quite beautiful. Old forests, older than the City itself, blotted out the sky, offering the ideal refuge for someone looking for solitude. Or in Karen's case, the final peace.
Ghost had seen it coming for years. His Guardian was centuries old, and tired. It was in the lines of her dark skin, the bags under eyes. The dull haze that obscured her once sharp eyes. The weight to her voice that grew with each death, slumping her once proud shoulders.
Karen was tired. She was tired of the war, the endless war to establish the Last City and hold it against the Fallen. The centuries before protecting refugees, only to watch them fall to their own stupidity and rivalries. The generations that have come and gone under her watch, the generations she raised only to watch fall to Fallen and time and Crota. He slew so many, a generation of Guardians gone forever.
Everything was changing, yet here she stayed.
"Ghost." She said, voice hoarse. "I need you t-"
"You don't have to say it." Ghost cut her off, single eye looking down. "I know it's time, I've known for a long time."
"I need to say this." Karen insisted. "You've been there through so much, my heart and soul. My Little Light." She said, sweetness on her tongue as she lightly held the Ghost, bringing its eye to meet her's.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do enough for you. I failed, as a Ghost and as a friend and as…" Ghost began to stutter out, sadness overflowing from a being without the features to show it.
"It's ok, we had a hell of a run together." Karen said, a small smile on her lips. "But I need to go now. And this time I can't come back. He is calling to me, and I need to face him now."
"I...I understand." Ghost said. Karen brought him to her forehead, and he nudged himself against her. They held that position, centuries of memories passing between them in minutes.
"You should go now. Go find your true Guardian." Karen said as she released him, nudging him along with her strong hand.
Ghost gave her one last look. "Goodbye, Karen."
The Titan gave one last smile. "Goodbye, Little Light." She turned around, ready now the face death one final time. As an equal instead of an adversary.
Ghost turned around, wishing he could silence his auditory systems.
The hand cannon rolled into her hand. Ghost began to float away.
BANG!
Ghost stopped, his instincts flaring. He heard his Guardi- the woman's body hit the forest floor with a soft thump.
Ghost hesitated for a second before carrying on. He could not do anything for the woman, he had to start the centuries old search once again. The search for his Guardian.