The Cosmodrome, Old Russia. Once a nexxus of trans-planetary transport, now reduced to rusted ruins. Atop one of the dilapidated buildings, a pair of figures reclined, sharing a bottle of something once called "Vodka."

The purple-blue haired ex-gaurdian regaurded her companion. "And there I was, between a group of Fallen and a group of Taken. It was probly one of the most confusing battles I've ever beeen in." She smiled, remembering those days. But, her smile turned a bit bitter. She trailed off in thought.

The tower had rejected her as much as they had Lavender, calling them "mistakes". They had basically told them they could be 'fixed', as though their unclassed powers were some sort of mistake. Kalara frowned. Lavender had commed her at the time, right after she'd had a discussion with the Vangaurd leader. The morning after the day they had defeated the last remnant of the darkness at the heart of the black garden. That had been a week ago, now. It still hurt a bit. She glanced over at her teammate, knowing she remembered it, also.

- FLASHBACK - ONE WEEK AGO -

It was morning, and Lavender yawned as she walked though her living room, trying to ignore the sound disrupting her wake-up routine. The comm on her desk dinged again. A message. "Time to go talk to the boss again." she hummed softly as she go into the elevator.

She walked into the hall of the Vangaurd, headed over to Cayde, but he motioned toward the far end of the table. "Zavala wants to speak with you." She walked over, stopped next to him. " Commander."

"You have driven back the last renamnt of the darkness that nearly ended this world. For that, you have our thanks. However, there are those who could view your... enhanced abilities as a threat, rather than an asset."

She noticed how he chose his next words carefully.

Lavender frowned as he continued.

"We have kept knowledge of the Transcendants secret for a reason. There are those who would try to use such superior power for their own purposes. Factions have battled in the tower before, with devastating consequences." He looked her in the eyes as he continued. "If you choose to stay here and persue the path of a Gaurdian, it must be the path of the class of which you have been chosen."

Lavender made a soft noise of discontent. "And so the darkness is defeated, and you don't need me anymore? You think I'm a threat? is that it?"

"No. You misunderstand. You were created a Gaurdian with a single class. And that is what you were meant to be. Where there is confusion, there is the possibility of conflict. The Vanaurd work together to drive back the darkness, and placing one gaurdian above any other would be nothing lesss than detrimental to the whole. It would cause jealousy, even altercations are a possibility. There have been confrontations in the past here in the Tower. Not from Transcendants like yourself, but from the factions warring for power, with equally devastating cosequences."

He paused before continuing.

"But you know nothing of the faction wars. They had nothing in common with what you are, but such a level of conflict must never be seen again. You are something unique, an abbarition that must never be revealed. Knowledge of your kind is forbidden, yet you have been somewhat careless in your use of your unique skillset. other Gaurdians have witnessed it, now."

Lavender muttered "Ouch."

The Vangaurd leader added "The speaker has requested your prescence, so he can remedy the situation."

Lavender took a step back, replying "I only used my skills in the Black Garden. I don't think anyone but Kalara was with me."

"And before that?"

"...I was defending the tower!"

She saw the look that he gave her. She retorted "I'm not broken! you can't fix what's not broken!" she glanced over. "Right, boss?"

Cayde caught her glance and added "They did destroy what was left of the darkness."

Lavender folded her arms.

Zavala didn't budge. "These orders came from the speaker himself. Either you agree to them, or you leave the tower." He shook his head.

Lavender nearly collaped, leaning on the edge of the table.

She finally whispered "I can't believe you." she shook her head. "After all I've done. and you still don't think I'm worthy."

She looked up, temper flaring. We faced down Hive superweapons, infiltrated the Dreadnaught, and you want to kick me out!?"

"Those were not my words."

"No, but you implied that I'm a mistake. Something that should not be." she snorted dirisively. She had to pause a moment, realising her next words would decide her future. "I have to think about this." She turned and stalked out.

When she reached the plaza, she hit her comm. "Kalara, it's Lavender, we need to have a talk."

Kalara Baxtin stomped down the steps and strode past the crucible stands. Down the steps to the hall of leaders, face brimming with anger. She ignored Cayde and stomped right up to Zavala.

"what did you say to her!?"

A blank look, then "to Whom?"

"Lavender! She's sitting in my living room right now bawling her eyes out!"

The Vangaurd leader thought for a moment, then replied "It was not my intention to hurt her feelings. I was explaining the desicion that she must make." He looked over at her. "And, you must as well." Kalara took a step back in suprise.

"Even with as much as you two and your teams have done for the tower, you are not exempt from the rules." Kalara held up a hand "Stop right there. Lavender told me what you said to her."

She turned and took a couple steps away. "Lav? it's Kalara. You were right."

Lavender replied "I'll be right there."

Kalara looked over at Cayde and added "And you could have at least defended her."

"I did! I mentioned how you two defeated the darkness, and stuff."

Zavala added "You two cannot continue to use your enhanced abilities as Gaurdians."

Kalara jumped in when he paused. "Then I'll take this to the Speaker, if I have to."

"These orders *are* from the speaker."

Kalara felt her temper flaring a bit more.

Lavender appeared and walked up. Kalara added "Then our choice is made." she glanced at Lavender, who was nodding. Kalara summoned her Ghost. "Oberon, please go get my things." She shook her head. "And you three." she motioned "Can worry about killing the Taken king without us."

Lavender mumbled "Lots of luck with that."

Cayde spoke up with "Just like that? with everything that's happened? you're just gonna leave. abandone the pack." Kalara turned to look at him "I know where *my* loyalties lie. This.." she waved a hand to indicate Lavender and herself. "This is my pack. We're the only ones like this." Another glance sideways, toward Zavala. "I can't be where I'm not wanted."

Lavender folded her arms, lowering her voice slightly. "You know, they probably want to 'fix' us because they're intimidated by us."

"Lavender, There's no need to be condescending." Kalara frowened slightly. Her ghost reappeared a moment later. It looked around, seeming sad. It finally asked "Are you sure you want to do this?" Kalara looked at it.

"My bags, please." her ghost teleported a medium-sized bag with a flap on top and a shoulder strap.

She reached up and undid the pin from her arm. She leaned over and placed it on the table in front of Cayde. "This." it clinked as metal touched wood. "Is over." she shook her head. "and you are no longer my boss." She turned away, reached down and grabbed the bag, shouldering it as she turned and walked out, Lavender following.

They walked part of the way into the next room, teleporting as they went.

- PRESENT MOMENT -

Kalara glanced to the right, pulled out of her memories by the flash of a transmat. "oh, hello." She looked through the scope of her sniper rifle.

"Hey Lavender, rookies at twelve o-clock!" she sounded amused. There were five of them. Lower level ranging from 11 to 17, all but the sixth, a level 40.

Her fellow hunter sighted the group through the scope of her sniper rifle. "Thunder and Lightning, scaring the armor off KinderGaurdians, one rookie at a time." She took aim and fired. She struck one squarely in the helmet.

"What the hell!?" Kalara jumped up, grabbing the barrel of Lavender's rifle and pulled it off target.

"Oh, come on, they'll just respawn."

"It's not about that. We don't shoot other Gaurdians. Period."

Kalara realised it was probably a group out on training excersises. She added "And did you happen to catch that their group had a level 40 with them?"

Lavender gave her a blank look until said Gaurdian materialised on the rooftop behind them. He raised his pistol. Kalara summoned her ghost "We're out."

But the Gaurdian, whoever he was, fired off a shot from his sidearm.

It was something Kalara had never seen before. It hit her Ghost, and it wobbled midair. It muttered something about something called an "EMP", and started to float downward, as though losing power.

Kalara swore. "Lav, with me!"

The Gaurdian fired again, and Kalara jumped up, grabbing her Ghost out of midair as she went, falling toward the now-empty ground below. She went into a glide, Lavender behind her, and commed "Were did all the others go?"

They landed in the small area, and suddenly, all five of them appeared at the same time, surrounding the duo. All five had their weapons trained on the pair. "Don't move." one commanded. "Do Not Move."

Kalara looked around, impressed. "Wow. A full-team three-hundred-sixty degree Jack-in-the-box maneuver. Im-pressive."

"Why, thank you." Their leader had jumped down to join the main group.

Kalara regaurded the Gaurdian with a bit of mistrust. She said "We heard your little patrol beacon. So Now the tower thinks we're unstable and dangerous?"

The mystery-Hunter kept his tone nonchalant, as thought it were just another friendly conversation. "Well, not so much dangerous as out of control."

"Oh really."

"Yeah, so, you two can come back with us. Or, we can handle things here."

Lavender put in "You can't fix what isn't broken."

The hunter ignored the comment, adding "Oh, and, they were also wondering where Thorn went."

"WHAT!?" Kalara exclaimed.

Lavender exchanged a look with Kalara, then looked at the Gaurdian in front of them. "I don't have it." She declared. She looked at him. Then added "I swear, I don't have it."

Kalara nodded. "And we're not going back. We can still do good out here. It doesn't have to be like this. We're not dangerous."

The hunter took a step forward. "We both know it doesn't work that way. So just hand over your ghost..." Kalara took a step toward him, shoulders squared, challenging "Or what!? You'll shoot me?"

The group readjusted their weapons, signaling for the rogue gaurdians not to move again.

Their group leader motioned to them "Guys." They lowered their weapons. then to Kalara "Is this really how you wanna handle this?"

Kalara slipped her paralyzed ghost into her bag. She saw that the EMP weapon had been replaced by his hand cannon. She shook her head. "I'm not going back. And I'm guessing you're not gonna shoot me, either."

Lavender looked confused. "But we don't even know who he is." Kalara looked over, then back at the hunter. She shook her head. "No, you don't. But I do." she let her gun drop to the ground. "I can't believe you. We didn't do anything wrong except be different. And yet, here we are." She made a broad motion.

"And I'm guessing taking potshots at rookies isn't your idea of wrong?"

Kalara shot Lavender a glare. She mumbled "sorry."

Kalara said "I'm sorry. that should never have happened."

"And the last three times? what was that?"

Kalara shook her head. After a moment, she replied with "we were out here all alone. We were super bored. There were no Fallen or Taken in the immediate area, so I -we- just figured they would just reappear, not even seeing us. It was also showing them that one should never let their gaurd down in the wilds, because there might just be a sniper waiting somewhere to pick them off." She shrugged. Also, there was a group of Fallen, off at a distance, but headed straight for them. It was kind of a heads-up."

The mystery-hunter looked like he was actually thinking about it. "You know, now that you put it that way... Waitaminute waitaminute. we're getting off track here." He motioned to forget it. "Look. I have orders -we- have orders to bring you two back to the tower by any means neccesary. So why don't we just wrap up this conversation and get going before any more fallen show up."

Lavender simply shook her head. Kalara echoed her statement. "You can't fix what's not broken." She took a step back.
His hand cannon came up, aimed at her. "I can't just let you two leave."

she stared at it for a long second, then looked back at him with a mixture of hurt and betrayal "And that's it? you just shoot me?" she paused, then continued, anger replacing regret. "I respected you. Looked up to you. Hell I even jumped in front of a mad gaurdian's hand cannon because he was trying to kill you." she paused. "And now, you're just gonna put down one of your own, no questions asked." she looked truly hurt. "And I don't even get to look you in the eyes when you pull the trigger."

"Oooooh." the group chorused. He glanced sideways. The hand cannon lowered, and his ghost came out. The helmet dissapeared and Lavender gasped in suprise.

She hadn't expected to see the Hunter Vangaurd leader, but it made sense he was out on a training excersise with a group of rookies. Kalara glanced over at her.

Cayde casually tossed off "Have I ever told you, you can be really dramatic sometimes?"

Kalara's face turned red. She could feel tears forming, forced them back. They hadn't done anything but try to help humanity. And now this? Just for being different. She glared daggers.

"Uh..." He was confused a second before realising she was close to tears. "Oh no, hey, don't do that. Don't cry. Do not Cry." He took a step back, not sure what to do. Kalara looked away, trying to get her emotions back in check. Lavender walked over to stand next to her. she glared daggers at him. "How could you!"

"I can't let you just walk away, even if I wanted to, you know, too many witnesses." He motioned to the group he was with. Kalara glanced at them. "So how do we handle this, then?"

"I didn't see anything." one said.

Another retorted "Yeah, because you were on the ground."

There was a series of chorused "Oooooh." but the hunter shook his head, not replying.

Another looked at the first hunter to speak, then added "Me either." He looked at the pair, then to his group. After a moment there were nods and murmurs of agreement. Another, a blue clad female hunter added "I think the pack is in agreement. And the packs sticks together. Allways."

Fon, who had spoken first, added "Nicely put, Flitter."

She nodded.

off to one side, Nox kicked at the ground, mumbled something along the lines of "I hope they find you and shoot you." Next to him, Danaxia glanced at him, but stayed silent.

Cayde looked from them back to Kalara and Lavender. "I guess I'm out-voted." a pause, then "Just be careful out there. You never know what you might run into."

Lavender smirked. "I think they should be scared of us."

Kalara smiled faintly, then nodded. "Thunder and Lightning."

Cayde turned to walk back to his group and froze. Kalara and Lavender both gasped.

Nox raised his weapon, but it wasn't his usual auto-rifle.

It was Thorn.

It had been repaired, and now hummed with dark energy once more.

He fired.

Kalara made a pained noise as the three black thornlike projectiles made contact, with her shoulder, chest, and midsection. She stumbled back. She had forgotten thorn could also fire poisonous 'darts', daggerlike projectiles. She could feel it slowly taking effect.

Cayde had his hand cannon aimed at the young gaurdian. "Put the Hive weapon down. Now."

Sensing trouble, the other members of the group dissapeared quickly into orbit.

Nox slowly placed the weapon on the ground in front of him. Danaxia edged over, her own weapon trained on him, and lifted it gingerly.

Kalara suddenly felt very tired. Lavender caught her as she started to collapse. Kalara grabbed her friend's arm tightly, trying to stay upright.

She took out her ghost and looked at it. It's light was still there, but it wasn't moving. Lavender kept her friend sitting upright, and Kalara looked around desperately.

Without her ghost, there was no coming back. Ever.

She choked out "So this is it. No more respawns." she shuddered. "No more second chances." She looked at the ground, remembering the missions they had been on, how the whooped and hollered when they had defeated the last echoes of Oryx, or when they finally destroyed the Cabal tank on the Dreadnaught.

How they danced when they killed the Black Garden's heart.

She remembered the first time she and Zanthyr kissed.

She felt like panicking, like crying, screaming against the darkness that was inevitable. She had died and came back countless times. But this, this was it. Final. No return.

She looked up at her old mentor, who was keeping a keen eye on Nox, who had set the pilfered weapon on the ground. She told him "I forgot, I figured it out. what all the Transcendants have in common... I was gonna tell Ikora, I never got the chance."

Lavender was staring intently past Kalara, well beyond mad.

The hunter tried to catch her breath, but it was too much effort to stay awake. She could feel her vision begin to fade to black, the outer edges of her vision were already starting to fade into darkness. And there was no stopping it. She managed to get out "Don't let the fallen get me."

"Huh?" Lavender followed her friend's gaze. The colony ships. There were stasis chambers there, but it was too far away. "We'd never make it in time."

Kalara tried to take one more breath. The darkness had almost encompassed her vision. "Just... make sure nobody finds me."

"I will." Lavender glanced at Cayde then glared daggers at Nox, who folded his arms.

Kalara collapsed. Lavender lowered her friend to the ground, and her head raised, eyes glowing with barely-restrained lightning.

She launched herself at Nox, who glanced over at Danaxia. She tossed him Thorn and he snapped off a shot. Lavender phased, and the projectiles passed harmlessly through her. Both turned and ran, Lavender hurled a blinding bolt of lightning at them, but they had allready double-jumped and it missed them as they phased and dissapeared. She followed.

Cayde started after them, but remembered what Kalara had said. He couldn't just leave the fallen Hunter where she was. He thought for a second, then hit his comm. "Hey, how long did the tech guys say this gun's effects last?"

Zavala answered "you found them? Where?"

"The old Cosmodrome. And we also found thorn."

Zavala muttered "As I suspected."

"No, Actually, Lavender wasn't the one who took Thorn. Turns out, it was another Gaurdian. Goes by the name of Nox."

"Are they there with you?"

"Uh..." There was a pause then "..sort of."

Another pause, then Cayde explained "Nox ran away, Lavender went after him, and Kalara, well, how long does this EMP gun last, again?"

This time, Ikora answered "How far away from them were you when you fired?"

"About five feet."

A second or two passed, then Ikora answered "The effects of the weapon should be temporary, unless you are extremely close to the target."

"sooo, what? five minutes, ten?"

"It should only last about fifteen minutes, give or take."

"Okay, thanks." The comm switched off.

He commed his class "Hey, need you guys to head back to the tower. I'll be back there in a minue to fill you in, okay?" He recieved three affirmative comm dings, and the group headed back toward the tower.

Meanwhile Lavender was chasing down Nox and Danaxia, and had glided up above the pair, glidng down toward them. "You chose the *wrong* Gaurdian to mess with!" she hurled another lightning bolt at the pair. They leap out of the way, phasing as they went.

Nox looked up at her as he dodged the void orb following the lightning. "You're too slow, slacker." His Ghost appeared, hovering over the palm of his gloved hand, and he dissapeared. Danaxia muttered "loser." and dissapeared as well. Lavender snarled and punched the closest wall.

She looked around, having no idea where in the Cosmodrome she was. And to make things worse, she heard the roar of Fallen up ahead of her. She swore, then jogged toward the sound, which she guessed it was between her and her fellow hunter.

Kalara sat up, sucking in a breath, gasping for air.

"Easy, there, Gaurdian. Take it slow."

She looked around, eyes wide with terror, Like she had just witnessed some kind of nightmare.

Cayde tried to pull her to her feet, but she wavered as she looked around, face filled with fear. She fell to her knees.
"Okay, if you need a minute, I can understand." he looked around for any threats. Kalara swayed, then passed out.

When she came to again, she rolled over onto her stomach, sucked in a breath, realised with sudden joy that she was still alive. She summoned her Ghost. "I'm alive!?"

"Yes, you are."

"Whew. But.. how?"

""The effects of the electro-magnetic pulse generated by the weapon were only temporary. While my light was uneffected, my mechanical components were completely paralysed."

"Oh, Oberon, I'm sorry."

"It was not your doing, although, I would suggest evacuating the area. The weapon is now in posession of the Fallen."

She spotted Cayde laying on the ground next to where she had just respawned, and spotted his Ghost on the ground next to him. It wasn't, moving, but it's light was still there, glowing steadily.

She went over to him, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. She shook one shoulder, hoping he might have been knocked out.. No response "Come on, boss, wake up, please!"

The motion rolled the Exo onto his back and Kalara gasped, mind racing. An energy bolt had hit him squarely in the chest. She squeaked, trying not to freak out.

"Oh no. nonononono."

She looked to his Ghost. "Come on, little light, do something, please." she pleaded. But it didn't move.

She heard a distant roar. Her head snapped up, focusing on the source of the sound. She glanced back down, then hit her comm. "Lavender, it's Kalara. If you can hear me, I'm alive. Please come back to the Cosmodrome. I need backup. A.S.A.P. she paused and said "That means NOW."

The group of fallen appeared at the opposite end of the area they were in.

"oh HELL no." She picked herself up and looked toward the other end of the space. Then she glanced right. And down.

Panic raced through her. Then anger.

She looked at the group of Fallen, across the opening. She had only seen an Archon once, and whatever this was, it looked heavily armored, and had a whole lot of Dregs, four or five captains, and a few other creatures that were moving too fast for her to see.

One fired a cluster-swarm, a spray of four energy bolts at her. She threw her hands out, summoning a dome shield. Ther energy blasts splattered aginst it harmlessly, but the Dregs ran forward into the shield. Kalara punched each one as they reached them.

"I don't *think* so!"

She eyed the Captains. "You want some, come get some!" she launched herself into the air, summoning a blindingly bright light. She slammed down into a group of two, taking the first two out and ran-slid behind the second pair, summoninng her blade as she went. She twirled, bringing up her blade to catch the first in the midsection, ducking under the swipe of the second.

The sword in it's other hand caught her in the chest. Kalara laughed, malice in her tone "Kill you later."

She reappeared across the battlefield, running to launch herself into a double-jump. She summoned what she liked to call the 'fist of fury' as she came down, obliterating their remaining forces. Now it was just her and the Fallen Archon.

She backed up and looked the Archon squarely in the eyes.

It said something in it's language, probably an insult. Kalara put her sword away. It raised it's weapon and she ducked under the first shot, phasing to turn invisible. She ran up and power-punched it in the legs. It collapsed. She whirled, dagger flashing as she tore the weapon from it's hand. A palm-strike shattered the remaining appendage, and the EMP weapon dropped from it's grasp. Her left hand held behind her, she summoned an orb of solar energy. It howled out insults at her in it's native tongue. "Nas Mi e Sha'ir gu!" it tried futiley to swing at her. "ne sha di!"

She hissed out "Gu dres Na sha di Kas kur Ka!"and launched the fiery orb at it. The creature screamed as it was incinerated. She bent to pick up the weapon, and turned to walk away.

Her comm came on, and Lavender's voice came through, so staticky Kalara couldn't tell what she was saying.

She walked back across the empty space, eyes darting to the cylindrical tubelike objects littering the area for more fallen.
When she had reached Cayde, she stopped, still wondering what she could do.

She started pacing, trying to think of something, anything.. She decided to comm the Tower. They had made the EMP. They would know how to fix this.

She just hoped they didn't try to blame her for it. she turned on her comm. "Exactly how long do the effects of this EMP weapon last?" she was allready starting to lose her nerve.

Zavala answered. "Baxtin! What happened!? Where's Cayde?" Kalara really hated when he used that tone. She opened her mouth to try to explain, then closed it. She wasn't sure if the weapon's effects would be temporary or permanent. She hoped for the former rather than the latter of those two.

"Uh..." she almost cut the connection. hand hovered over the switch. She took a deep breath, although shaky, and tried to find something to say. "Um.." But she couldn't make herself say it.

"Look, someone has Thorn, I got shot, I came to, I blacked out, I came to again, the Fallen got their hands on the EMP weapon..." She tried to take a deep breath and continue. "Just tell me how long, okay? HOW LONG!" She had to put a hand over her mouth to keep any other sounds in.

Ikora asked "How close were the Fallen to you?"

"I Dont Know!" shw whimpered, trying to take a couple more breaths. But that wasn't solving the problem. the hunter was trying to figure out what would happen if this went worst-case scenario. And she didn't want to imagine that. But it wasn't looking so good.

"How long ago did this happen?"

"I don't know! I passed out. Just please tell me it's only temporary." Kalara bit her lip.

"There isn't any data for a point-blank burst, but depending upon the range and duration of the blast, the effects of the Electro-Magnetic pulse should only last up to fifteen minutes." Kalara made an exasperated motion with her hands. "So, what if they were really close?"

"I doubt anyone could get that close to Cayde."

Kalara frowned. She wondered how one of them even got a clear shot at him. That was nearly impossible. She wanted to scream in exasperation.

"WELL SOMEBODY GOT A CLEAR SHOT AT HIM!" she realised she was almost yelling, and started pacing again. "I'm sorry. I'm just.. It's just..." she saw lavender appear in on corner of the open area. "Hang on." she ran over to where the other hunter was.

Lavender took off her helmet and her Ghost transmatted it. She looked super happy. "You're alive!" then she saw Kalara's face. "Everything's good thing, right?" She suspected something wasn't right. Kalara looked at her friend. "no, everything's not good. In fact, we have a very bad problem." She walked back to where they had been before and Lavender spotted Cayde "Oh no." she stopped suddenly, looked at Kalara. "Did he try to shoot you?"

Kalara looked offended "No! The Fallen came in here when ..." she paused. "The effects of the EMP are temporary, at a range. At least I think. I DON'T KNOW!" She was starting to get upset again. "I came to, then I passed out again. In that amount of time, the Fallen came in here and got ahold of the EMP gun and..." she trailed off.

Lavender started to reach for her comm.

"wait", Kalara caught her arm. "I already commed the tower."

Lavender paled slightly. "And they think we did it?"

"Kalara shook her head. "No. I explained the situation. I just don't know how long it takes the effects to wear off." She looked to the ghost laying in the grass. "Or if it will."

Lavender looked shocked. She finally asked "And what do we do if the effects don't wear off?"

Kalara let her head drop. She shook her head. "The Tower would never be the same."

There was a dull beep, so soft the two almost didn't hear it. "huh?" both looked over at Cayde's Ghost. Kalara reached it first and knelt next to it. "come on... please?" There was a slight twitch of one finial, as though it were struggling to move.

Kalara reached out and picked it up. She looked it in the eye "Come on, little ghost, you can do it." It beeped, a little louder now. Another tiny movement, then finally it's finials wiggled back and forth, as though it were readjusting. It floated slowly up from her hand, backed up, and fell like it had lost it's balance. She reached out and caught it.

"Woah there, take it slow. You're gonna be okay." She gave Lavender a smile, which then turned into a huge grin as the Ghost floated out of her palm and over to Cayde. "Oh my." It scanned him, and Kalara commed "Cayde's ghost is okay." she sighed with relief, then to Lavender "Crisis averted."

She turned off her comm, not wanting to continue any long discussion. Her mind was still made up.

She walked past Lavender, wiping at already dry tears.

Cayde sat up, putting one hand to his head, trying to stop being dizzy. A hand appeared, and he looked up. Kalara was standing there. She pulled the hunter to his feet. He looked over at Lavender, then back to Kalara. "You two didn't leave?" a pause, then "Why?"

Lavender replied "Why not?"

Kalara smiled. "The pack sticks together. Always."

Cayde's ghost floated over to hover over one shoulder. Cayde glanced at Lavender "So ya *do* care."

Kalara held out the EMP pistol. "We never stopped caring. About the tower, about the city." she looked to Lavender before continuing. "We've been out here fighting the Fallen and the Taken, this whole time. We even found a group of survivors. They were being hurrassed by raiders, then a group of Fallen came along. They were justabout done for, but we took care of them and told them how to find the City. They should be arriving there any day now. Called their settlement Whispering Oaks."

Cayde's comm came on "Cayde, get back to the tower and bring those two with you."

Cayde looked at the two of them, then "Uh, can't exactly do that, they just transmatted to orbit. You want me to go after them?"

"No. Just get back to the tower. We have important matters to discuss." The comm clicked off.

He turned and started to walk away, but Lavender suddenly said "Wait!" He stopped and turned. Lavender sighed, then added "We can help you find Nox." She paused, unsure if she wanted to elaborate.

Cayde encouraged "Go on."

She looked to Kalara, then added "*I* can help you find him." another pause.

"And?"

"And, I can... sense Thorn."

He walked back over to them. "Okay, now I'm interested."

Kalara turned to Lavender. "Actually, that makes two of us that can." she explained "That fifteen minutes I was out... It was like a horrible nightmare. I saw into the Hive. Into Thorn and the horrors it has inflicted. It's connection to the Hive. I don't know why or how, but that's why I woke up wailing like a terrified child." She glanced sideways. "That's why I passed out. I couldn't handle it." She looked at the ground.

Cayde nodded. "Well I know one thing. *I'm* not going after that mad Gaurdian. And you two faced him before. So if you're in, I can sneak you back into the tower." The two exchanged a look.

Lavender said "But they'll know our ships when we land, they probably have our ship ID's flagged." Lavender nodded.

Cayde shrugged "Then we'll just use mine." two nods.

Kalara suddenly realised their stuff was still atop the old building. "Hang on, I gott a go get some of our stuff." She ran and power-jumped, double jumped to a pipe then power-jumped the rest of the way up. A few moments later, she jumped and glided back down. "Ready."

Cayde saw the bottle "What's that?"

"Something called Vodka."

"is it any good?"

"It's okay."

Lavender smirked "It gets the job done."

Kalara rolled her eyes. "At least you got a buzz. I had one before all that, then BAMF no buzz." She made a hand motion to elaborate.

Cayde added "Well just don't drink it on my ship."

"We won't. but I don't want to leave it for someone else to find."

They transmatted away.

End notes: For the scene where Kalara basically yells at everybody, I had a peice of music playing while I wrote it. It's called "Everybody Wants to Rule The World". It's kinda Destiny in a nutshell. Just ignore the part of the song that mentions holding hands. That's not these two. Where the song speeds up and the line "There's a room where the light can't find you" is where Lavender walks in.
But anyway, here's a link: /DaVA6sgOpws

Also, the translation for the Iliksni (Fallen) dialogue:

"Nas Mi e Sha'ir gu!", and "ne sha di" is literally : all house the GiftofLight cower and "I gift death"

This translates into (in our language) all Gaurdians are cowards!" and "I'll kill you!"

What Kalara hisses back, "Gu dres Na sha di Kas kur Ka!" is (in directtranslation) "cower, dreg, I gift death burn strong!"

This translates into (in our language) "Cowardly Dreg, I'll kill you, you will suffer!" and calling an Archon a Dreg is a supreme insult.

I hope I got the Iliksni sentence structure right. I just started studying the language.