We found you in Siberia and pieced you together as well as we could.
Are you able to travel?
Awake.
Awake is something she has not known in a long time.
She stares, eyes blinking in the sun. Gears turn, motors move and something creaks. The sensation of brightness against her eyes, rock hard against her back, the wind causes the small cape on her shoulder to flap. There are cars around her, little more than rusted machinery left to rot. A bit like herself, she thinks. A relic of a time long since passed, abandoned and lost to the ages. She is here, awake, alive. She groans and holds her hand up in front of her face, flexes her fingers.
"That doesn't sound good," says a voice, somewhere above her head.
Her head snaps up, she reaches for a knife.
A gun clicks and she's looking down the barrel of a rifle.
"Don't shoot her! She's only just woke up!"
In front of her a flying device made up of triangles appears, its eye slot, a circle halved, narrowing as it examines her. She glares in return before another appears, this one shielding her from the first.
"We found this Ghost wandering in the ruins, she was looking for something. I think she was looking for you."
The device, Ghost, turns to face her. It closes its eye, she would swear it does it shyly, backing away.
"What are you?" she asks, propping herself up on her elbows. She extends her hand, the Ghost sitting in her palm.
"The trigger-happy one behind me is Kal. He's a Guardian." Said 'Guardian' steps forward into the light. His hair is longer than most, reaching his chin, and he sports bulky armour that make him look twice his size. He reaches for her and she glares at his hand, opting to get to her feet by her own power thank you very much. Kal shrugs.
The Ghost makes a sound, drawing attention back to it. "And I'm his Ghost." It floats up proudly, extending its outer shell to reveal a small sphere inside it.
"If that Ghost revived her, does that mean she's a Guardian too?" Kal says and looks to his own Ghost once it has reassembled itself.
The Ghost flies up, faces Kal. "We should see the Speaker, he'll know."
Gunshots echo in the distance.
An inhuman screech.
She scans the horizon, picking out the source of the noise.
Fallen.
She reaches for a knife, a weapon, something. She remembers her purpose, it's coming back to her now. A war machine, made to fight. Once dead, her past life forgotten, now revived to fight again.
Kal's hand clamps around her wrist, his grip strong. How much of that is the armour, she wonders. Regardless, she struggles against it, she does not trust him. He does not let go.
"Move. I have a ship nearby."
She glares. Nods once.
A war machine without a weapon. She can't fight, not here, not like this.
"Device," she calls to the other little Ghost, hovering where she used to be. "Come." It shakes with excitement, eye widening and narrowing in quick succession. It scoots over to her, taking up a place at her shoulder. The quiet hum it emits is calming and absently, she reaches up to pat it. It clicks in response.
Kal drags her into a run, gun still drawn and he all but throws her forward ahead of him while he guards the rear. The ship is small, barely enough to carry two passengers. It's her only escape. Oh she could try and make it on her own, figure something out as she goes. She has a vague recollection she was good at that. But with nothing to defend herself with, what's she going to do? Punch the Fallen to death?
She climbs into the ship, Kal still on the ground firing off rounds into the wave of Fallen. When the last one falls, he leaps onto the ship. He presses buttons, brings the top down, starts up the engine.
"That was too close, there's been so many Fallen hanging around these days," Kal's Ghost remarks. It turns to her. "What's your name? Since we never got the chance to ask."
She opens her mouth to answer. Stops. Has to think. "Annie. My name's Annie."
"Pretty name," Kal says. "Any idea how long you've been out for?"
She shakes her head.
The ship has ascended into the air by this point and is moving through the sky at a reasonable rate. She looks down, sees the Fallen on the ground. Looks up and into the distance. There is a large sphere hovering above a city of lights.
"That's the Traveller, so I'm told. The Speaker can explain better than I can."
"It is old, yes?" she says, gaze lingering on the giant mass.
"Golden Age. The Darkness took most of its power, now it just sits there." He glances to her. "Like I said, the Speaker at the Tower can explain better than me. I'm the brawn, my job is to hit things or shoot them. Whichever works."
"You're a Titan?"
Kal nods. "How'd you guess?"
"I vaguely recollect something about them."
"Nice to see you two getting along better, especially if she's a Guardian too." The Ghost turns to Kal. "It won't help a working relationship by pointing a gun at her on your first meeting."
"Little Light…" Kal glares at his Ghost. The Ghost narrows its eye slot and is equally as unimpressed by the nickname given.
"I said not to call me that," it mutters, floating over to her own Ghost. It on the other hand has remained silent, not leaving her place at Annie's shoulder. She doesn't push, it will engage with her when it feels ready.
The ship flies across dead, abandoned cities. There is no Light left in these derelict buildings, nothing but Fallen. Dregs, Vandals, here and there a Shank hovers around scanning the landscape. She stares out across the land, the cities now lost to the Darkness. Ahead of them is the Last City, the one shining light of hope. The Tower looms above, stretching into the sky, through the clouds and out of sight. It is a marvel, humanity's last bastion.
"We're nearly there."
Kal's Ghost teleports them out onto the Tower.
The Tower is teaming with activity. Guardians run back forth from the Awoken Cryptarch that's set up shop in the corner, others storing equipment in the digital vault ahead of them. Some do their dealings with the frame on the balcony between the two trees, some teleport back to their ships with their Ghosts. It is a hive of activity and it makes Annie dizzy to watch them for any length of time.
To her relief, Kal notices this and gently takes her arm, guiding her to the Speaker he claims will have the answers. She straightens her back, looks ahead of her. Whoever heard of a war machine that was afraid of her surroundings?
They walk up the stairs, across a bridge and up more stairs. The Traveller peers through the window that runs from floor to ceiling, an equally large device spinning in orbit, an orrery of a sort. Birds fly off the bridge, a frame sweeps the floor while others pass them by and nod in greeting. There is a steady drip, drip, drip of water into a puddle and it draws Annie's attention. The sun gleams in the puddle and by the time she looks back, Kal is already halfway up the stairs.
The Speaker is engrossed in his work, a pile of books on his desk, more sitting in a misshapen heap on the floor while his own Ghost hurries to record the Speaker's mumbling. Kal waits to be noticed, then after a few moments, clears his throat. The Speaker looks up from the scroll he has been reading, eyes falling to Annie and the Ghost still hovering at her shoulder.
"Speaker, I found this Ghost on Earth. She woke up this Exo," Kal says by way of explanation. "We think she's been chosen to be a Guardian."
The Speaker steps away from the desk, and in a few short strides, he's standing in front of her. His eyes narrow behind his mask. It bothers her, the mask, the robes. She can't see his face, can only judge by what little body language he displays. The lack of emotion, of reaction, puts her on edge and not for the first time, does she wish for a gun.
"You did right to bring her here, Guardian," the Speaker says. "I believe Zavala has a mission for you."
Kal takes the hint, nods to her and leaves.
"There have been many Ghosts finding new Guardians recently. This is good, if we are to push back the Darkness and defeat it." The Speaker walks down the stairs, his Ghost floating behind. Annie follows. "You have questions, I'm sure. Guardians always do when they're first awoken."
"Does it speak?" Annie asks.
"I speak for it." The Speaker stops at the barrier and leans forward against the railings. "There is much I could tell you, much to be explained to you. Yet there is much I cannot."
Annie frowns. "Why?"
He turns to face her. "Because there is no time. Because the Darkness grows ever closer to the Last City, to the Traveller. Because we need the Guardians, all of them, out there to destroy it before it destroys us."
She narrows her eyes. "So who will explain it?"
"You will learn, like the others have just why the Darkness is a threat." The Speaker turns away, waves to her over his shoulder. "Go and rest, Guardian." He leaves the same way he came down, going back to his desk and books to gaze at scrolls that to her have no meaning.
She leaves, tries to find her way around and ultimately fails. She sits down on the plaza, watches the ships come and go, dropping off their Guardians. The city lights up as night gathers, the Traveller engulfed in shadow. The Tower however does not sleep. Guardians still come and go as the night drags on and she finds herself dozing off. She shakes herself awake, staring into the distance, to the Traveller, the clouds that form around it.
"I thought I'd find you here," a voice says from behind her.
She's on her feet in seconds, hand at her waist. She will remember by the time the sun comes up she still has no weapons.
Kal stands there, significantly smaller now his armour is gone, though his presence is no less. Over his arm there is a blanket and he holds it out toward her. "The nights are getting colder, figured you might need it."
She takes the proffered blanket with a nod and sits down once again. Kal sits next to her, puts the blanket around her shoulders. She stiffens somewhat.
"Sorry," he pauses, "Do Exos feel the cold?"
She blinks, frowns at him.
"Sorry. Stupid question, of course you don't."
"Why? Because I am a machine?" she says. She pulls the blanket tighter around her shoulders, as if this will prove her point.
Kal shakes his head, his Ghost dips and lets out a sigh. "He's very good at putting his big Titan feet in it," it tells her.
There's a small laugh and she snaps her head round. It's her own Ghost. Finally it has deigned to make its presence known. "You've been very quiet, Device."
Her Ghost's eye widens and it hides behind her shoulder.
"I think she needs a bit more time."
"You mean not all Ghosts are as talkative as you?" Kal says, a small smile on his face.
She smiles then offers her hand to her Ghost. It floats up and hovers over the palm of her hand. Kal's Ghost on the other hand is glaring at him from the safety of her other shoulder.
"How did it go with the Speaker?" Kal says, ushering his Ghost back over towards him.
She shakes her head. "Futile. He expects me to be glad of half-truths." She fiddles with a loose thread on the blanket. "I'm no further forward in my purpose, in what it is to be a Guardian."
Kal tilts his head to the side. "To fight the Darkness, to protect the City." He shrugs. "At least that's the way I've always looked at it."
"You are a Titan though, yes? Honour and duty are encoded into you as much as my being a thing of war," she says. "There is more to it than that."
"You make it sound as if you're an object, like a gun or knife."
"Am I not? You use those tools to fight, I am also to be used in this war, against whatever this Darkness is."
Kal frowns at her. "Annie, you're far more than that. You're not made to be picked up and thrown away when your usefulness has ended." He stands up, brushes his knees off then offers his hand to her. She takes it and he pulls her to her feet. "I'm sure you'll find more meaning in it as time goes on. You find your way to the dorms all right?"
She opens her mouth to answer, stops and rubs the back of her neck, eyes darting away.
The frown disappears and there's another smile on his face. "C'mon then. I'll guide you there."
She takes the blanket from her shoulders and goes to hand it back to him. He shakes his head. "Keep it, call it a 'welcome' gift."
He guides her through various rooms and corridors, all of which look the same to her. There are other Guardians, some in armour, others in more casual clothing, one or two with fluffy bunny slippers. She has to admit they do look comfortable. Kal deposits her at an empty room then bids her good night, wandering off to his own room. She enters it. It is homely, if anything. The main amenities are accounted for, bed, food dispenser, digital vault to store belongings or salvage from missions. Adequate for a Guardians' needs.
She lies on the bed, blanket still in her grip and shuts her systems down for the night.