A ferocious battle was raging on in the European Drop Zone. Fallen were everywhere. After the Red War, there were no shortage of messes to clean up. The minions of the Darkness had spread.
Cayde-6 had his back to Ruby Rose, one of his best hunters. While she sniped targets farther away with her Crescent Rose, Cayde shot targets closing on them with his Ace of Spades.
They were starting to get overwhelmed. Ruby had switched her weapon to scythe mode, slashing the encroaching fallen warriors to pieces.
Suddenly, a glowing rift appeared between them. Except it wasn't the same as any warlock's rift. It was more intrinsically designed, more elegant. There was only one warlock who could make rifts like this.
"Stand in the glyph!" A woman's voice shouted.
Cayde and Ruby did as they were told and jumped into the safety of the glyph, feeling the empowering light surge through them. They shields regenerated almost immediately.
The glyph's creator, Weiss Schnee, appeared within the circle alongside her fellow guardians. She stabbed one Fallen with her sword, Myrtenaster, before blasting two more with a single wave of arc light.
"Good to see you, Weiss!" Ruby shouted. Cayde noted the excitement in Ruby's voice.
"Nice to see you too, Ruby," The warlock replied.
Empowered by arc light, Weiss's ghost appeared and fired orbs of arc energy at the Fallen.
Within seconds, the swarm had been abolished. The bodies of whatever Fallen hadn't been disintegrated by light lay scattered, lifeless.
"Woohoo!" Ruby cheered. She turned to Weiss with a raised hand. "Way to go, team! High five!"
Cayde heard a soft giggle escape Weiss before she slapped Ruby's hand.
"Battle's not over yet," Weiss said, still holding her weapon. "We still have work to do."
Ruby's face was concealed by her mask, but Cayde knew behind it was a big beaming smile. He also couldn't help but notice Ruby still gazing in Weiss's direction as she walked away.
"Hey, where's my high five?" Cayde whined, raising his hand, snapping Ruby out of her daze.
"Oh, sorry," Ruby giggled. "Of course you get one too!" She slapped his hand.
A few hours later, the mission was successfully completed. Amanda Holiday had offered Cayde, Ruby, and Weiss a lift back to the Tower. Weiss and Ruby sat next to each other in the hull, Cayde studying them from his seat across the hull. They had both removed their headgear, and were happily chatting with each other, with Amanda occasionally chiming in over the com. Cayde wasn't really listening to what they were saying. He was studying their faces. Both had a beaming smile, eyes locked on each other, the other woman their sole focus in that moment. Clearly, they were very happy in each other's company.
This wasn't the first time Cayde had noticed Ruby acting this way around this warlock. They would pass each other in the Tower, wave at each other, flash each other these same smiles. Sometimes they would bump into each other when getting coffee and sit down together. Sometimes they would run into each other out on the field. During the calm times they would sit and chat. In firefights, sometimes they would fight together, almost in perfect synchronization. Sometimes one would save the other, take a blow for the other. Occasionally Weiss would scold Ruby for being brash or impulsive. It were as though they had been on the same fire team for years.
They only thing they hadn't done was go out on an official date.
Finally, they arrived at the tower hanger and hopped off Amanda's ship.
"Alright, I'll see you both around," Weiss said, about to head off to... wherever she was heading.
"Hey, Weiss," Ruby called after her.
Weiss turned back to her. "Yeah?"
But then Ruby froze, hesitated. It was like one of those moments where you forget what you were going to say right before you say it, but Cayde knew exactly what Ruby wanted to say. For whatever reason though, she didn't want to say it.
"I..." Weiss gave the girl a concerned look. "I enjoyed our talk on the ship," Ruby finally blurted out.
"Yeah, me too," Weiss shrugged. "I'll see you around."
"Yeah, see ya."
And then Weiss left, leaving Cayde alone with a crestfallen Ruby. Cayde wanted to smack Ruby upside her head for being so afraid. This girl was one of the bravest hunters he had ever known, yet she was too afraid to ask someone out? What was wrong with her?
"So, ramen time, Cayde?" Ruby asked excitedly. Often after a successful mission together, Ruby and Cayde would go out to one of his favorite ramen shops to celebrate.
"Oh, uh... can't today Ruby," Cayde stammered. "I, uh... I need to meet with Zavala. I got some important vanguard stuff to take care of, you know how it is."
His ghost appeared. "What do you mean, Cayde?" She asked. "Zavala didn't-"
He lightly smacked her behind her eye before she could finish.
"Ow... oh, I mean..." Good. She got the message. "Yeah, important vanguard business. Meetings, reports, all that."
"Oh, alright," Ruby shrugged. "See you later, boss!" She held out a fist to him. He bumped it with his own, and she left.
"You see it too, right?" Cayde asked his ghost. "Like I'm not the only one."
"Oh, totally!" the ghost answered. "They're SO into each other. It's so obvious!"
Cayde and his ghost were at one of the Tower's resident bars, discussing the situation.
"It's so obvious they like each other!" Cayde said. "What is Ruby afraid of? Why won't she ask Weiss out?"
"Well, you know how people are about these sort of things," his ghost answered.
"Well, I won't stand by and do nothing!" Cayde announced, though not so loud the whole bar could hear him. "From this point forward, it is our personal mission to bring Ruby and Weiss together!"
"I'm with you!" The ghost nodded. And then she chuckled. "You know, if I were Ikora, and I'm so glad I'm not, I would probably say something like, 'our followers' personal lives is not our concern.'" She imitated Ikora's voice.
"I'm also glad you're not Ikora," Cayde replied. "But if you were and you said that, then I'd say 'Ruby is one of my top hunters and my close personal friend. Her happiness IS my concern.' Oh, and don't even get me started on what Zavala would say."
They both laughed.
"So, I have a plan to get them together," Cayde whispered, "But we'll need a little help."
Cayde found Yang Xao Long, a very powerful titan, out leaning against the railing, chatting with another one of his hunters, Blake Belladonna. They looked happy together. Cayde made a mental note to give Blake her own extra push on a later day.
"Hi ladies," Cayde said, sliding up to them.
"Cayde-dash-six!" Yang greeted him. "What's shaken?"
"Can we talk for a sec, Yang?" Cayde asked. "Just you and me? As long as I'm not interrupting."
"Sure, no prob." She started walking away with Cayde, but turned back to Blake first. "Catch you later, Blake."
"We still doing some crucible tomorrow?" Blake asked.
"Wouldn't dare miss it!" Yang called back.
They stopped once they were out of earshot from Blake.
"So what's up?" Yang asked.
"Here's the deal; I need your help," Cayde answered. "It's about your sister - and before you give me that death glare, she's totally fine, nothing wrong with her, she's not hurt or anything." He took a breath and spoke more calmly. "Anyway, what if I told you Ruby has a little crush on someone, and I my keen hunter instincts tell me that this person may feel the same way?"
A grin spread to Yang's face and she leaned in more closely, and whispered, "I'm listening."
The next day, Cayde rushed to Ruby's bunk to find her playing a game on her scroll.
"Hey Cayde!" Ruby cheered. "Wanna play?"
"Ruby, as much as I'd love to stomp you again, we don't have time right now," Cayde answered. "I just got a distress call from some warlocks trapped in a cave on Mars. We gotta get down there to them right away.
"Say no more!" Ruby put her scroll away and zipped over to her footlocker, already getting her supplies together.
"Super! Meet me in the hanger in five!" Cayde commanded as he marched away.
About an hour later, Cayde and Ruby had touched down on the frozen mountains on Mars, and were hiking towards the cave that the distress signal had come from. They had encountered a few hive thralls, but nothing they could not handle. Finally they reached the cave, both of their ghosts illuminated the passage as they crept through, both of their weapons at the ready.
"They should be somewhere around here," Cayde said.
At last they saw another light dancing on the walls.
"Hello?" Ruby called out excitedly. "Guardians? Sound off!"
"Here!" Called a voice around the corner.
The hunters rounded the corner and bumped into none other than Weiss, who seemed to be aimlessly searching around the cave with her ghost.
"Weiss!" Ruby cried out. She dashed right up to the warlock and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Hi! Are you alright? You're not hurt?"
"Hi Ruby," Weiss choked out, Ruby's hug nearly crushing her. Finally Ruby released her, and she caught her breath. "Yeah I'm fine. What about you?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Ruby looked over behind Weiss's shoulder, searching for the other warlocks. "Where's the rest of your fireteam?"
"There is no fireteam," Weiss answered. "I came here alone. I was in too big of a rush. I didn't have time to get a fireteam together."
Ruby was confused. "But your distress call said there were several warlocks trapped down here."
"My distress signal?" Weiss repeated. Now it was her turn to be confused. "I didn't send out a distress signal. I'm here responding to Cayde's distress signal. It was coming from this location."
"Cayde? But he was- how- why?" Ruby turned around to face the exo. "Cayde, what is going-"
"Oops!" Cayde casually tossed a grenade at the wall farthest from them. "I am such a klutz."
A brilliant flash of light, a wave of heat, and a loud crash. Rocks could be heard crumbling and clattering together.
"It's coming down!" Ruby screamed. "We gotta get out of here!"
The three made a run back towards the entrance.
"What the Hell was that?" Weiss demanded. "What kind of guardian just drops a live grenade like that?"
"Hey, everyone makes mistakes sometimes!" Cayde shrugged.
"Not like that!" Weiss barked. "And definitely not a vanguard!"
They made it to the entrance. Cayde made it out the mouth, but before Ruby could follow him, he suddenly turned and shoved her back. Weiss caught Ruby, but before they could continue out, the roof of the cave other the mouth suddenly came down.
Weiss and Ruby jumped out of the way of more rocks. Weiss grabbed Ruby and pulled her close, then unsheathed myrtenaster and created a protective ice glyph under the two of them. "Hold on!" She ordered.
More rocks kept coming down, pounding on the protective ice barrier surrounding the two girls. Ruby and Weiss clung to each other. Weiss didn't budge, didn't release the glyph until everything was silent and still.
Weiss released the barrier. It was pitch black. Neither girl could see anything. Thankfully, both of their ghosts had survived, and both projected light for them all to see in the dark collapse.
"Ruby? Weiss? You guys okay? Sound off!" They could hear Cayde's voice through the rubble.
"Cayde! What the heck?" Ruby barked through the rubble. "You almost killed me!"
"It was coming down. You weren't going to make it!"
"I totally could have made it!"
"Nope! You would have died. I saved your life. You're welcome."
"Relax, Ruby," Weiss said, putting a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder. "We got grenades, we'll just-"
"No! Don't!" Cayde cried out. "It's... uh... not structurally secured. One wrong move could bring down the whole cave on you two."
A brief pause.
"Don't worry. I'll got find help. In the meantime, you two just sit tight and... get comfortable."
"Cayde! What is the big idea?" Weiss demanded angrily.
No answer. He had left.
"CAYDE!"
Still nothing.
Weiss huffed. Ruby sighed. They were trapped.
"I'm not getting a signal," Ruby said, putting away her scroll. "I guess we're really stuck here until Cayde comes back with backup."
"Great," Weiss huffed. She plopped down on the ground. Ruby came over and sat beside her.
Deciding to get comfortable and breathe some more, she took off her mask. Weiss removed her helmet.
"I think he planned this whole thing out," Weiss said. "But why? Why would he want to kill us? It makes no sense. That's not like him. I thought we were all friends."
"I really have no idea," Ruby shrugged. "Cayde's a weird guy. He can't want to kill us. No. He's planning something else here."
"What reason could he- no, scratch that, anybody- have for trapping you and me together in a cave?"
Before Ruby could think of an answer, she glanced at her ghost to see that he was examining an object in the rubble. She stood up and crept over to him.
"What you got there?" Ruby asked him. She knelt down to examine what looked like a glimmer chest. Weiss came over to join her. "What do we have here?"
Ruby opened the chest, and was surprised by what she found. She and Weiss rummaged through the contents of the chest, carefully pulling it all out; a large thermos of soup, some cups and spoons, a blanket, a bottle of wine and some glasses, a deck of playing cards, and a battery-powered lantern.
All the things one would need for a picnic.
"What is all of this?" Weiss asked. "Why would someone just leave a chest of this stuff just lying around out here?"
"I don't..." Ruby paused. It suddenly dawned on her what was happening, why Cayde had gone through all this trouble. Her eyes widened, her face grew hot and she could physically feel her stress spiking. "Oh no."