Hey guys! First attempt at writing here! Lemme know what you think, thanks for reading! I will be posting to this once every other day unless critique is given!
A gentle sigh escaped the lips of the Awoken Titan, as he kept staring out over the city from his new post in the tower, listening to his fellow Vanguard discuss a topic that had been brought up to them by a rather upset Ghost. "I fail to see the downside as to why we should not permit her to rest Zavala, she has done so much in such a short time." his fire teams only female member, Ikora stated irritably, using her feet to gently shift the newest tower mascot, Colonel, towards his owner, who was sitting slumped against the wall nearby. "Its not just that Ikora, we have lost to many good Guardian's, we cant afford to have one of our best to take a few days off, not yet, the city is still reeling from the Red Legions attack!" He responded, prompting the teams comedian to look up in one of his rare bouts of serious attitude.
"Zavala. She has lost almost everyone and everything she cared about. I don't know about you, being the unfeeling wall of the city that you are, but us Hunters don't exactly trust others easily. For us to join a fire team, means explicit trust. Don't get me wrong, I can see the need as much as the next guy for us to keep up our defenses, but... It doesn't take a Warlock to see she is struggling just leaving her room and going to get food. She hasn't had an ounce of sleep since she got back from saving Rasputin on Mars, and her time away only caused the followers she has gained to become more zealous. They call her the Travelers Chosen, The Golden Guardian, Light Bringer, The Iron Guardian... The Next Osiris… And she was never one to appreciate those kinds of people or the attention the deliver. She hasn't removed her helmet in months according to her own Ghost unless its to eat." He said, obviously uncomfortable with forcing one of his hunters into the field again so quickly.
"Strange as it is for me to say this, Cayde is right Zavala. She hasn't had time to vent or grieve. She lost her fire team on the Red Legions command ship mission, and had to immediately take the fight back to Ghaul. In a way she refuses to tell anyone. She had maybe a day before She had to fly to Mars in order to respond to Ana Bray's signal, and that took months to sort. After defeating Ghaul." She said, sighing.
Hearing a commotion behind them, she turned, Caydes gaze following the direction of her own gaze to see the object of their discussion walking briskly from the elevator that had led to the Guardians housing. Following her were several Guardians, two Hunters, a Warlock and a Titan. The Titan and Warlock bringing up the rear, they were carrying what appeared to be flowers behind them. One of the Hunters, a human, was rubbing his shoulder and had fallen behind the other, an Awoken that Cayde recognized as Brand.
"This cant end well." He said, standing up to go and prevent what was sure to be a bad situation. He paused however when Ikora held out her arm, preventing him from moving forward.
Upon Seeing the Vanguard, the Guardian being followed immediately made a beeline after them, her steady gait leaving her forest green cloak behind her. Her green and gold armor had a steady shine in true hunter fashion, as looking as fresh and well made as the day she had taken them from Lord Saladin, her helmet a gleaming gold as she held it to her hip, the opposite holding her now iconic Crimson hand cannon. With each step, her features resolved and grew sharper, leaving the now mute Titan Vanguard to inspect the rare sight before him.
"She does NOT look happy..." Cayde Grimaced, noting the irritated glare coming from the human Guardian's striking glowing emerald eyes that always seemed to remind him of the Awoken. He inspected her, approving how good she made her armor appear, doing his Class proud, but noted with some curiosity of her new hairstyle, something his Ghost whispered to him was a popular Golden Age haircut referred to as a "Pixie Cut", although with some modifications. The Hunters dark oak hair, longer than usual, framed her tan face, and gave her a striking appearance, almost exotic when paired with her eyes. Most striking, was the thick braid, a quick guess said maybe an inch thick, that started just above and forward of her right ear, and went down to her collar bone, ending in a silver weighted band interwoven with what could only be two hawk feathers.
Brand, now having caught up, was walking to her side, obviously displeased about her obvious intent to ignore him, reached out to grasp her shoulder and force her to look at him. their one-sided conversation interrupted by a shimmering green ghost whos core was suspended within several glimmering pyramids, the shell an obvious gift from Ikora's former teacher. "Brand! That is a really bad ide-" The digitized female voice began, and then the hand made contact.
Cayde paused, having just barely caught the fluid motion. In the span of a few seconds, the male hunter, was now on the ground, an irate female above him holding a knife to his throat with what could only be described as a feral snarl on her face. "I thought I had made my self clear Guardian. I do not care for you're petty games right now, I do not care for you, and I do not care for this farce of a holiday that Lord Shaxx is purporting, this joke called Crimson Days. If you wish to test me, I will thrash you so hard your Ghost will take weeks to heal the damage…" She said with a cold whisper, her face now inches from his, her braid thumping hard against his adams apple.
"Guardian! Remove yourself from him this instant! Save it for the Crucib-" The large titan said loudly, expecting his order to be followed before a knife found itself in the wall next to his left thigh, a hiss as his only response from the irate Guardian in front of him. "I will remove myself from him when I am DAMN well ready and willing Commander. Right now, I have had all I can take from these... These children!" She growled, shoving off of the offending Awoken who now scurried off to his fire team. Seeing him glance back at her only caused her to glare harder, and his group doubled their pace, her rage fueled gaze slowly turning back to its previous passive state after a few moments of heavy breathing. "I was coming to ask for a leave of absence in person. Judging from your looks, I am no longer asking. I am telling you I'm taking my leave of the tower, and field work in general."
"You cant be serious Guardi-" The large Titan began before he was silenced by her hand in the air. "I cant? I CANT?! Let me tell you Zavala, what I CAN do. I have decimated gods and demons in the name of the traveler, forsaken my own happiness time and time again for the sake of the city, and I am damn well fed up with saving a bunch of people who don't even know my name, they only know me by the many titles they all bestow upon me." she said, the irritation and sarcasm obvious in her voice. "In the 3 years i have done what I do, only ONE of you three has taken the time to ask my name. To see if I was okay, see what I wanted, looked after me." She growled, pointing at the Exo of the group, who was holding his terrified feather friend. "Myst, Myst Runja. Must have slipped your fucking minds to ask, didn't it." She said, her eyes tearing up.
"No one in this damn city cares about who I am as a person besides my mentor, and you all treat him as a joke... They all care about my actions that I have done, and my appearance. I have literal mountains of gifts stacked in my room that people have left in front of my door in hopes to win me to their side for this joke of a holiday, and I am fed up with every single one of you. Don't bother trying to stop me, don't bother sending anyone after me. You do..." she said, her finger prodding into the massive chest of the Awoken commander of the Last City with enough force to make him take a step back. "... Not even the Traveler will keep them alive for long… You don't scare me, Titan. I have killed gods. I have suffered pain far worse than you have in your long service, in much shorter time." She said harshly as she pried her knife from the wall, before taking off in a full sprint before her tears began to show with only the speed that a hunter could manage towards the hangar.