This fic probably speaks a little too much to my unhealthy love of Lord Shaxx. Maybe I'm reading into it too much. Ahh? aaaahhhh? Okay I'll see myself out now.
Contains heavy implications of rape/non-con. Don't like? Don't read. This isn't tumblr. I'm not here to coddle you.
Anywho please RnR.
With its Guardian distracted, the Ghost knew that now was the best time to sneak away and question her attacker.
Because raping a fellow Guardian was no way to conduct oneself when you are the Crucible Handler.
Before the Warlock noticed, her Ghost had sped away through the Tower and flitted through the air, diving and weaving between Guardians and civilians alike until it found itself in the corridor that acted as Lord Shaxx' staging ground. The hulking Titan was nowhere to be seen but the door to his office was cracked slightly. The Ghost could hear faint sounds coming from within and it peered through the gap.
It couldn't see much, just a few cabinets lit by dim orange light and a few trophies- skulls mostly. It heard more grunts, and even a few moans. The little spark of Light was overcome with a righteous fury at the thought of the crazed rapist attacking yet another Guardian and used its tiny mass to push the door open.
Its words died in its circuit before it could get a word out as its singular eye fell on the sights before it.
Lord Shaxx sat at a large desk, helmet angled down as he watched the screen before him. The screen in question was semi-transparent, allowing the Ghost to make out the image on it. It was helmet camera footage from a recent Crucible match, with two Guardians locked in heated combat.
The Crucible Handler peered up and gently closed the screen on his terminal.
"Yes, Spark?"
The little construct was at a loss for words. The man, its Guardian's attacker, was absolutely calm, as if he hadn't forced himself onto a fellow Guardian the night before.
Shaxx' broad shoulders seem to hang ever so slightly as he recognized the Ghost before it. "Ah, her Ghost. What do you want?"
His words were biting, but the Ghost was certain it could make out a faint smile in the man's baritone notes. The Traveler's spark watched as the man stood and effortlessly strode, no, glided over to the door and shut it, every step filled with confidence then returned to his seat. It was infuriating.
"Why did you do it?" The Ghost spat out as best it could, points narrowed in the imitation of a scowl.
It was obvious in Shaxx' posture as he sat back in his chair, reclining ever so slightly before putting his boots up on his desk that he knew exactly to what the Ghost was referring, but he chose to play the fool. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb. You know very well what I'm talking about. You recognized me, so you must know who I belong to." The Ghost was indignant, back half spinning in frustration. "You raped a fellow Guardian- MY Guardian."
The hulking Titan was quiet and uncomfortably still for what felt like an eternity. The Ghost only felt its short temper rise that much more. Then the man moved, dropping his legs before rising again and rounding the desk to stand before the little Light. The Ghost barely realized it had recoiled, but stopped itself from drifting any further, refusing to give up more ground. It 'glared' once more, closing the gap until it was only a few inches from the elder Guardian's face.
"I'll report you- To the Vanguard. They're going to know what you've done. It was wrong, what you did."
The Crucible Handler did the most terrifying thing of all.
He laughed.
Not a deep, billowing guffaw but a small chuckle, almost under his breath. His massive hands were fisted, resting on his straight hips. His posture was completely relaxed, shoulders at ease.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?!" The little Spark shouted, suddenly taken aback by its own outburst. It fell silent and only the soft squeaks of the natural leathers of Shaxx' armor as he breathed filled the stifling silence.
"Let me make a guess- and correct me if I'm wrong. She told you not to confront me, didn't she?" The way the words rolled off his tongue unsettled the Ghost greatly. Lord Shaxx was no blind man. "As I thought. Truth of the matter is, even though the Traveler created you Ghosts to bring us Guardians back to life and defend humanity, you were never made to understand sentient emotions."
"What does emotions have to do with this? What you did is an abuse of power- a violation of the trust and bonds between Guardians- a violation of the sanctity of what 'Guardians' stand for!" The little Light shouted once more, staring down the hulk of a man who stood before it unwavering and all too confident.
"Yes, we are Guardians- of Earth, and her people. We fight the Darkness to retake our Home from Fallen and Hive and Cabal and Vex, to push it back and bring about a Second Golden Age, but that is not all 'we' are. What you fail to understand, Spark, is simple instincts and desires..."
"You ruined a Guardian's life. You took advantage of someone years your junior, broke her trust, used her.. all.. all so you could get off like some kind of animal?! How many.. hmm? How many more victims are there- Dozens, hundreds!?"
It was then that Shaxx went still. The air in the room seemed to turn to ice. The Ghost suddenly felt a pang of fear course through its tiny body and it knew then that it had infuriated a god.
The sound of Shaxx inhaling sharply through his nose was heard through his helmet's external speakers. He shook his head, held up a single finger before turning and walking around, back to his chair.
"I would have thought that Ghosts, of all the sentient things to call this place home, would've understood that a Guardian's life is already ruined, from the moment you pried our corpses from the cold soil, with no memory of who we were. We never chose to come back- we were never given a choice. We were simply brought back and told what we were supposed to be. We fight to reclaim Earth, to defy our own extinction. We've each died a thousand deaths. And with the Traveler's Light at our backs, we will die a thousand more until we win or die trying. Guardians are not civilians. She is not a civilian. She is a Guardian, thanks to you and nothing that happens here will change that, no matter what you think you know."
The silence was thick enough to cut with an Arc Blade. The Ghost drifted away some distance, glancing nervously at either side. A wave of guilt overcame it.
It had no argument, no rebuttal. Sure what the old Titan had done was wrong, if what it had learned from observing humanity for so long was any indication. How could someone who stood as such an inspiration to so many, so blatantly and disgustingly abuse his power?
"Besides, I'm inclined to believe that she enjoyed our little encounter. If she didn't, I'm sure she would've told me. In fact maybe she's here to tell me herself."
The Ghost spun sharply, its singular eye locking immediately with that of his Guardian's. It frowned, shaking its frame back and forth.
It could sense the elevation in her heart rate, the rush of the blood through her body, the rise of heat in her chest, the scent of her arousal.
"Ghost.. I thought I told you not to confront him."
"How can you be Ok with this? He forced himself on you, held you down and raped you... treated you like you weren't human.."
"..Its true. At first I was scared, I mean who wouldn't be when faced down by.. that.. But.. after it was all over, I found myself wishing for more, to feel wanted again. I don't know how to explain how that feels. That said, I may look human but.. Humans can't come back from the dead. Human's don't channel Light or harness arcane powers. They can't fly, or defy the laws of physics with a thought."
Her body shimmered with shifting Void energies as she held a miniature singularity in her palm, keeping its destructive powers in check with just her sheer willpower. A powerful reminder of how little she shared with the people she fought and died for daily to protect.
"That's why the Traveler made the Ghosts, to find and resurrect Guardians, to protect the people. Not just Humans but Exos and Awoken too, to fight back against the Darkness. What happened last night.. Were it anyone else, were it not a Guardian, it'd be condemned. But to a Guardian, its meaningless, just sex- blowing off a little steam. If it means we come out of it fighting better than before, then its only a small price to pay."
The Ghost watched as Shaxx placed himself behind its Guardian, large hands on her small shoulders, thumbs rubbing gentle circles as he seemed to pull her close almost possessively. The larger man craned his neck, seeming to whisper something into her ear and she went stiff. The little construct narrowed its eye, blinking in utter disbelief before bolting for the door and disappearing beyond. The last thing it saw was Shaxx pushing the smaller Guardian against the wall, one massive gloved hand combing her robed contours greedily before he closed the door once more.
It hovered there for a while, and were it organic, it would've vomited. Here now, so close to its Guardian, it could feel what she felt- shame, guilt.. but also euphoric pleasure mixed with delight. Shaxx had been right, the Ghost did not understand the complexities of sentient life, even despite its own history.
The hall had grown dark and quiet as the evening hours settled in. Even the Crucible Quartermaster frame Arcite had closed up shop for the day, tucked into its station to charge. The Ghost turned toward the Vanguard's hall when it heard hushed chatter and it watched as Ikora and Cayde strode cooly by and it was only now that the little Spark noticed how close they stood together. The two Guardians made eye contact with the Ghost and it peered nervously back at the door, as if to silently plead for anyone to intervene., to put an end to the madness.
Ikora feigned a weak smile, lowering her brow and seemed to nod in a way that told the ghost to just 'let it happen.'
They knew.
They knew and they did nothing about it.