Cayde knew the end was coming. He'd known for a while. Even beings like Guardians couldn't hope to last forever. It was pretty grim, especially for him, but he'd seen too much, lived through too many of his friends' deaths to pretend otherwise. It was only a matter of time before he joined them, though he had hoped it wouldn't be this soon.

At first, after he'd fallen, he was sure he'd make it out. Sure the Fallen had started swarming, but he'd beaten worse odds. The bashed head, the messed-up face… He'd lived through worse. But then they'd gotten his Ghost. His closest friend. The strongest bond he could ever have. A true partner for life who was practically his conscience. Shattered into oblivion before his eyes. And well… there couldn't be odds much worse than that. He and Sundance had been together for decades, centuries eveyn. Even when their Light had been ripped away, he could still count on her to have his back. Losing her… that was when he knew he wouldn't be making it out. Not that he gave up or anything. They may have gotten his Ghost, but he wasn't about to throw in the towel. He'd make a stand against those bastards, even if it was his last.

As he lay on the cold ground waiting for the inevitable, his thoughts turned to Petra and the Guardian. Here's hoping they're in a better situation than I am. He'd gained a lot of experience over the long years. He remembered his early escapades in the wilds, the endless freedom that came with being a Hunter. Befriending a fellow Guardian named Andal Brask, then taking over from him after losing the Dare. He'd griped and groaned endlessly, but truth be told, there was a small part of him that enjoyed it. Not necessarily being stuck in the Tower, but being looked up to by all those Hunters… that had been something else. He'd seen hundreds of Guardians come and go over the years, but one, in particular, had stuck with him.

He recalled a conversation with Shaxx he'd had several years ago. At the time, he'd thought nothing of it. They had only been discussing the disappearance of Saint-14, a topic that had been long-exhausted by that time. He'd scoffed at Saint's belief that some kind of Guardian savior would eventually show up and fix everything. "Sure, yeah. One Guardian's gonna fix everything. Kick Crota off the Moon. Make it look like us Vanguard know our head from our hindquarters." Shaxx had started to leave and Cayde asked where he was going. The Titan had said that one of the new recruits from Old Russia was entering the Crucible for the first time and Cayde had jokingly replied, "Hey, maybe they're the one. We'll call 'em Crota's End."

But then he watched as that Guardian went on to uncover Rasputin, destroy the Heart of the Black Garden, and defeat Crota, the scourge of Mare Imbrium, once and for all. The same Guardian that aided the Awoken in capturing Skolas, defeated Oryx, the Taken King himself, and nullified the SIVA threat in the Plaguelands, becoming the first new Iron Lord in centuries. Saint-14 had been right. A Guardian savior had come. Then the Red Legion had struck, ripping away the Light and plunging the system into chaos and war. One Guardian alone managed to reclaim their Light and Cayde couldn't have chosen better himself. The Guardian singlehandedly gathered the Vanguard together and provided a rallying point that would result in casting Ghaul from his stolen throne and taking back the Last Safe City. This one Guardian had defeated beings as old as eternity and allied themselves with lost legends. Osiris, Rasputin, Ana Bray…

And Cayde found himself minding death just a little bit less knowing that those Fallen Barons wouldn't be enjoying their freedom for long. They had put themselves in the path of a hurricane that had yet to be stopped and he only wished he could be around to see the desolation it would leave in its wake.

He looked up as a shadow fell across him and stared into the glowing yellow eyes of someone they had long thought lost in the orbit of Saturn. The Prince raised a gun and Cayde felt the floor drop away as he stared down the barrel of his very own Ace of Spades. Neither of them spoke. They were past words now. The only thing exchanged between them was a single bullet. The bang echoed through the space and then Cayde was falling and falling but not moving at all. As his vision dimmed, he looked up at his killer with retribution in his eyes.

You'd better run, Prince. Run for all you're worth. Because there's a storm coming, Uldren, and it's coming for you

A/N: So there's my tribute to Cayde. For those of you that have read my other Destiny works, this oneshot is not set in the same universe as those stories. Everything in here is strictly canon.

The title and summary are based on the James Blake song Retrograde. I put it over the Gunslinger's Last Stand video, and you can find the finished content by typing in (h)(t)(t)(p)(s)(colon)(double slash)(you)(tu).(be)(slash)(OgiQyd1AD6c)

For those of you that follow my Destiny stories, I'll see you in part 3 of Chasing Fate!

- TheWolfParadox