Warning: Feels.

Warning: If you have not read Fever yet...this is a prequel/eventual sequel to that, so there will be MAJOR spoilers if you read this first. Basically; go read Fever first if you don't want major spoilers about Silverhawk, and basically everything else.

Quote of the Day: "Well, you didn't kill him hard enough."-Agent May

The Ghost glided through the forest, occasionally scanning the ground or a nearby tree with melancholy carelessness. Brought back to the City again; and I actually needed rescuing this time. About a day ago, a team of Guardian had burst in to save him from the destructive grasp of a Fallen Captain. It wasn't the first time Guardians had interfered with his search for a Guardian; he had been "rescued" multiple times before, many of them, in his opinion, he could have been alright on his own.

Now, he was a few miles outside the city, having picked a direction at random...about five times before he landed on a way he hadn't gone yet. Now, he floated gracefully through the wilderness, just behind a ridge he had gone over. He floated into a ravine, which looked like it had been a stream or a river at some point, when his sensors alerted him to it. He looked to the north.

Power? Electrical systems? An old station of some sort, perhaps? He followed the old riverbed. He couldn't sense any above-ground electrical activity; the echoes of power were coming form somewhere beneath, to the north. There could be an old sewage outlet along here somewhere... His shell twisted, and he let out a bleep of displeasure. Any remaining waste would likely be hundreds of years old, but it still didn't make the idea sound pleasing.

He began to scan the riverbed as he went, looking for any tunnels or pipes that he could use. Nothing...nothing...nothing...WAIT! He froze in mid-air, and then back-tracked a little. His shell spun, and he let out a whir, excited. Could it...could it really be?

He scanned again. Ghosts only had enough power in them for one or two revivals. After that, they were stuck looking for Guardians among the living. Some gave up looking among the dead, and got assigned to the child of a Guardian. Some lost their Guardians, and were assigned to Guardians who lost their Ghosts.

He had never had a Guardian. He had refused to get one the easy way; assignment, re-assignment.

And at last, his search ad come to an end.

"I found you!" he yelled excitedly, not caring that he might attract predators, animal or Fallen. He flew around, doing loops and aerial ricks int he air, shell spinning and twisting, bleeping and whirring excitedly. He came to a halt with one final spin over the spot he had found the remains, buried by silt and dirt somewhere beneath the ground, the bones nothing more than dust, that he could sense.

But it was enough.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to finally meet you!" he chirped. He gave a start. "Actually, I CAN tell you! Just wait a quick moment!"

Parting his shell, he formed a small shield around his center automatically, to protect himself from weaker attacks. Concentrating, pulling nearby materials into a pocket-matter dimension, he pictured light armor, fitted for his Guardian, whomever she-or he-may be, and then he focused with all his might on the little flicker of light down below him.

The flicker grew larger. The dirt and silt and forest debris shifted. He could sense the dust. Slowly, eerily yet beautifully, bone dust began to rise out of the ground, particle by particle, forming along the ground a rough shape. He let out a pulse of energy. There's so much missing! But I CAN do this! I have to! He was starting to feel tired.

His and the light of the flicker seemed to touch one another, and he used it as a channel. He let out another pulse of energy, honing in on his Guardian's natural frequency and DNA patterns. The patterns confused him, and he almost lost the process entirely, but he held fast. He pumped the dead being with light and energy, willing them to grow.

And they did. The bone dust grew bigger, turning into bone fragments, which turned into bones. That's when he first noticed; that's when the feeling of dread sunk it's claws into him. His Guardian was so small...

Then tendons began to appear. Muscles and organs followed, and a strange energy invaded the body. He tried to filter it out, but when he did, the half-formed body almost collapsed. Whoever they were, they were stuck with this strange energy...which, he suddenly noticed, matched the signature he had been following. Could his Guardian have been the source? Surely not?

She, could she have been the source? he corrected himself with pleasure as his Guardian's gender made itself known. The armor in the pocket dimension began to form almost immediately, and as skin wrapped itself around his new companion, he pulled the dimension apart, and the armor lapsed into the position it had in this dimension; directly on the girl's body, dressing her. I hope she's just underweight...not...not...that would be terrible if she was...

He heard as her heart began to beat again, and her lungs began to breath once more. She took in a gasping, heaving breath, and he ended the process, bonding himself to her. He felt exhausted. Pulling his shell back to his "body", his small shield fading, he approached his new Guardian, more excited than ever, eager to learn her name. Still gasping, she pushed herself to a sitting position as he hovered in front of her. She seemed shocked to see him, though he couldn't see behind the makeshift helmet he had made her.

"Hello!" he greeted cheerily."I'm sure you're more than a little confused. I'm a Ghost, that's what we're called. But now, I'm your Ghost; I'll be keeping you company from here on out. I'm really nice, I promise; won't bite, or anything. Not that I could bite if I wanted to. I'm good at lots of things, but I'm really more a of a lover...than a fighter...hey, hey, are you okay?"

His Guardian had started crying. He hovered closer, concerned. Emotional breakdowns after revival were to be expected; after all, dying as quite a traumatic experience, and being brought back even more so. Some revived Guardians would write laments to what they had been snatched from by the call of the Ghosts, mourn being torn back down to Earth. It brought a lot of ethical issues to the table whenever a revived Guardian went crazy because of the loss. Some couldn't remember where they had been, but those that could walked around with a constant look of loss glazed behind their eyes.

Then he noticed the tone, the pitch of her silent sobs, and his worst fears were confirmed, hitting him like the blast of a Scorch Cannon. She's a child! My Guardian is a child! If he had a head, it would be reeling, from shock or pity or both.

"Hey, hey; it's okay." He comforted, hovering in closer to her. "You're alright now; you're safe. Nothing can hurt you anymore."

"He-he put a sharp thing in my tummy," she sobbed, crying now uncontrollable, "and th-then he-t-tore out, he t-tore my t-tummy out!"

She was MURDERED!? It was ad enough to revive a child, but a murder victim? I need to get her back to the City! She's going to need help...

"Well, he's gone now. He's dead, like you were; but now you're alive again, and he's still dead. He can never hurt you again. No-one can, or will." he told her, sidling up next to her head, trying to comfort her. "I promise, where we're going, you'll be as safe as safe can be, and I'll be with you every step of the way. Trust me; I promise."

Unexpectedly, she wrapped her arms around the Ghost, squeezing him close to her, still sobbing. He let out a sigh, resigned to his fate. So what is she's a child! he thought. My job is to help her, to be there for her! And by my shell, if that means I have to become a security blanket, then so be it!

Whoo, whoo! The feels train has left the station! All passenger, please keep you arms and legs inside the ride at all times. Please wear safety belts, tissues will be handed out accordingly. Please dispose of all booger-rags in the appropriate manner-by burning them with fire. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

originally, I was going to post this AFTER Fever was finished. Buuuut...I really just wanted to see MaybeALittleBroken's reaction to this, I just couldn't wait. XD

...I am a cruel unusual person, aren't I?

That being said...react! Everyone react! React your little hearts out! Sympathy for Silverhawk? Eagerness to see how she and Martin met? Still aching to see how Cayde-6 plays into all of this(remember, from Fever chapter eight? I think I mentioned his knowledge of 'Hawky's secret somewhere in there...)?

Well, Grumpy Cat says, you'll have to wait for the rest of eternity to find that out. But hey; who better to use as Grumpy Cat repellant than Uldren? Fight fire with fire, as they say, eh?

U-I swear; Silverhawk put you up to this, didn't she?

Actually...it was Petra*makes troll face*. I'm sure you can talk to her about it later, if-

U-PEEEETRAAAAA!

Agent May-"Well, you didn't kill him hard en-what's that sound?"

Ummmm...I'm just, uh...going to repair the slight rip in the fabric of reality I just created...Cheers!^^'

But yeah, this is just to stave off the strange need to update now that the last chapter's author's not has been finished; I promised myself I would wait until the end of the week to post, but I'm just having such a hard time...So, we have THIS!

BACKSTORY! SILVERHAWK! MARTIN! CAYDE! FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS!

Yeah, this is going to be a LOT more emotional that Fever, or even Heartbusters, when it comes out. I plan n doing a short piece for each year leading up to the events of Fever, and after that...well, you'll have to wait until Heartbusters is over for me to post the little Martin-centric mini-adventure that this fic takes its name from. Let's just say, after this fic, 15 is going to become a very ominous, stressful number for Silverhawk.

If you knew someone with a situation just like Silverhawk's, what would your ethical, political, etc. take be? What do you think the world today would condemn her to doing? Would she be punished, pitied, or used?

Next time: We meet Martin for the first time, Cayde-6 makes an appearance, and we learn how our favorite exo knows Silverhawk's secret...

Cheers!^^